Very good piece! If someone is a stellar athlete that says nothing at all about the quality of their character. Kobe apologized to the woman after the fact, so he did admit wrongdoing. Maybe he changed, maybe he grew from that experience but making him out to be a saint just because he died tragically is out of line and as you said, it’s disrespectful to all of the women, such as his victim, who have been harmed by men like him.

Noone is all White Hat or all Black Hat. I think it would honor Kobe more fully to embrace his humanity, as well as that of the others who were traveling with him rather than to lionize him.