Kobe case short on substance, big on hype

All that for seven minutes in court?

That was must-see TV -- Kobe in a cream suit walking in and out of court?

At one point Wednesday in Kobe Bryant's much-hyped court appearance, the judge actually said something to the effect of, "This is moving pretty fast for something that's getting so much attention."

Most of the time all we saw was the back of his head. He stood up once, and said two words the whole time, "No sir."

That's it.

For that there were, according to one colleagues, in the neighborhood of 30 satellite trucks, folks wearing "Free Kobe" T-shirts and cars driving by the Eagle County courthouse with purple and gold balloons. There was a riveting conversation on one network where the debate centered on whether Kobe should have worn a blue suit.

Good thing Kobe didn't start tapping his foot under the defense table because there would have been 90-minute specials on all the networks by the end of the night.

There is nothing substantive to say about Bryant's case because we don't have the facts about what happened between Bryant and his accuser five weeks ago in that hotel room in Colorado. Repeat after me: We just don't know. It's all filler, conjecture, speculation, titillation. But we're a society totally given over to celebrity and fascination with the rich and famous, so we check in every day because we don't want to miss anything, even if it's only a picture of a famous man in a cream, not blue, suit saying, "No sir." Bryant wasn't about to do anything Wednesday in that court room that was going to make legitimate news. So we deal with issues on the periphery of the Bryant case, which brings me to Mark Cuban's comments on notoriousness being good for NBA business and Commissioner David Stern's understandable and pointed criticism of Cuban's comments.

Cuban, first in an e-mail to Associated Press basketball writer Chris Sheridan, wrote that while the Bryant episode is regrettable and something the league would rather not see, it would probably have a positive impact on NBA business. In an entertainingly heated exchange with his friend Dan Patrick, live, on ESPN Tuesday night Cuban not only didn't back off those comments, he put forth an eloquent argument, at least to my ears. He said it would be wrong for the NBA to seek financial gain from what is already a notorious episode with one of its marquee players, but insisted the criminal charges, the trial and the aftermath will have at least in the short term a positive economic impact on NBA business.

Specifically on TV coverage, Cuban said, "I would expect the first Lakers game to draw the biggest ratings for a regular season game in a long, long time. Nobody wants to see these things happen, but the reality of our world today is that this will help the business of the NBA, not hurt it."

Stern, a man with few peers when it comes to marketing and image managing, issued a statement saying, "Any suggestion that there will be some economic or promotional benefit to the NBA arising from the charge pending against Kobe Bryant is both misinformed and unseemly. That idea does not reflect the views of the NBA, NBA owners generally, or others associated with our sport."

Any response other than that would have been shockingly irresponsible. Stern is the caretaker of the most important basketball entity in the world. And this case is explosive.

But I don't disagree with Cuban. Two sources, one on Madison Avenue, told me Wednesday that sales of Bryant jerseys are up. You think the ratings of the Lakers-Mavericks game to start the NBA season won't be up? Of course, they'll be up. People will want to see how Kobe reacts, what his face looks like, whether there will be signs of protest in the stands, whether his wife will be there, whether he cries or falls apart emotionally. Of course, the ratings will be up, probably substantially.

Is that unseemly, as Stern said? Of course it is.

It's also reality.

Controversy sells, and sometimes it sells big. As Cuban said, "The 'I'm horrified' and `What happened to the good old days?' perspective has long died as a perspective among the general public."

Sad as that may be, it's mostly true.

After being in a murder trial, Ray Lewis is more popular than ever. He's got national endorsements, including one for EA Sports. Mike Tyson's biggest paydays came after his 1992 rape conviction, even though by that time he was fighting bums and nobodies. Latrell Sprewell choked his coach, went to the biggest media market in America, then rehabilitated his image in less than 24 months to become something of a media darling. Sprewell's notoriety, unwanted as it was, not only didn't hurt him or the NBA, it ultimately worked to his advantage. He's bigger now, a star, a celeb. Calvin Klein tried to grab him during a game.

Stern has to, of course, look at the big picture here. And the NBA has had one long summer of discontent. Damon Stoudamire has had another marijuana run-in. Darrell Armstrong and Glenn Robinson have had domestic violence issues. Long term, no league can maintain its status if it suffers one black eye after another. Stern remembers where the league was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the championship games were televised on tape delay in most markets, when drug use was known to be a problem. It's Stern's duty to keep the league from backsliding anywhere near that.

But let's not kill the messenger, which is easy to do with Cuban. He's so outspoken people often react not to what he is saying, but who is saying it. "I think it's necessary to have this conversation," Cuban said over and over.

In response to a question, he gave a thoughtful answer that is worthy of debate. And that's more than we can say, at this point anyway, about anything else related to the Kobe Bryant case.

Michael Wlibon is a columnist for The Washington Post.