There are tons of memorable moments in Kobe Bryant’s illustrious basketball career. But possibly the most talked about moment is the “Kobe No Flinch” that took place when Matt Barnes pump faked the ball right in Kobe’s face during an inbound play and Kobe didn’t move. This moment was immediately revered as the pinnacle of mental fortitude and fearlessness. Absolutely stone cold. Absolutely rock solid.
And absolutely, one hundred percent, a lie. A total sham.
Yesterday the aerial image of this moment surfaced on the internet and it blew this whole fairy tale out of the water.
Yikes. Not even close. The ball wasn’t an inch from his nose. The ball wasn’t even aimed towards his shoulder. Not a good look. But you can’t believe everything you see on the internet. This could just be another misleading picture. So I looked further.
Everything we know about the Kobe flinch GIF is a lie 😱
(via @TribStarAusten)pic.twitter.com/1R71OZEy4a
— Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) October 2, 2018
Yep, that’s it. It’s over. The pump fake is aimed away from Kobe as he is in the middle of swaying in the opposite direction. He had no reason to flinch. He is not a symbol of strength.
Okay so what now? I think it’s time to talk about who will be most affected by this news.
Is it Kobe? Is his legacy tarnished? No, obviously not. I mean he probably should have not hid behind this lie for so long but who among us wouldn’t be quiet while being the subject of a legendary myth.
Is it the Kobe stans? The people who hang onto every little aspect of Kobe’s career in a never-ending crusade to prove that he is the greatest of all time? Nope. They’ll take a beating online but they have enough good moments and championships to shield themselves. They’ll get through this. This shall pass…
Do you want to know who is truly affected by this breaking news? It’s prototypical tough guys. Ohh baby this is bad for them. Tough guys love the idea of non-flinching. Non-flinching means so much to them that it is part of their personality. It’s one of the main symbols of being tough.
To any reasonable person this is obviously ridiculous. There is no reason that non-flinching means that you are tough. It’s a fallacy. I actually think it means quite the opposite. Non-flinching means you are weak. At least mentally that is. Flinching is clearly one of your body’s natural involuntary reactions used to protect you from harm. It’s like how your brain tells you to take your hand off of the stove if it is hot. You get it. I don’t need to explain the body to you. All i’m saying is that flinching is good and we have just taken away the one example that tough guys can point to that showed an alpha male looking alpha while alpha-non-flinching. Kaputz.
Kobe is no dummy. Had the ball been coming towards his face he would have flinched.
I guess I do feel bad about one thing though. The tough guys never saw this news coming. I’m just praying they had the wherewithal to flinch before it hit them in the face.
