Numero Otto

As Kobe Bryant & the Lakers rise to the top of the Western Conference, here's a commercial from the early part of his career. It highlights Kobe Bryant the cosmopolitan--or maybe, simply Kobe Bryant--the Italian.

The great sadness of Kobe's marketing maturation process is that his Italian-connection has been lost or over-looked. His Afro-centricity and his Jordan-appeal has overtook the reality that much of his youth was spent growing up in Italy, and had an influence on both his game and his image.

Here's an homage to Kobe--the old, youthful quasi-afro, Italian speaking #8.