Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith have both been yapping to Kobe throughout the first two games of the Lakers/Nuggets series, prompting him to state, with a typical Kobe mix of wisdom and bullshit, "Better learn not to talk to me. You shake the tree, a leopard's gonna fall out." Obviously, that's a badass thing to say, but the curious thing about this quote is that the structure: "You shake a tree, and X falls out" usually means that X is something that's in great supply, e.g., "If you shake a tree in Bahia, a musician will fall out."
I've been madly Googling for the past half hour to see if Kobe's usage is some African proverb or something, but I haven't been able to find anything. I have, however, found numerous other African proverbs involving leopards that I hope he breaks out in Game 3, such as the Nkundo-Mongo zingers: "The foolish little antelope cut firewood for the leopard" or "The small spotted wild cat mistook the leopard for a relative!" To which J.R. could reply with the classic Baluba retort: "The leopard's skin is beautiful, but his heart evil."
Also, read the new Quotemonger, and the McGrady quote that helps a little (found via Mutoni).
Considering the great supply of Kobe's leveling the court with his scoring, one might consider leopards a metaphor for points arrived at with fundamentally sound, ankle crunching, body bruising moves. Hence, the quote works.
ReplyDeleteI sense the first FreeDarko/Language Log crossover thread.
ReplyDeleteHe was gonna say "cougar" but didn't want to offend Dyan Cannon. Zing! Sincerely, he might want to use the old African saying Gary Payton threw around in college--"Put in somebody who can guard me."
ReplyDeleteFinally, the essential nature of Kobe Bean Bryant is revealed: he's the subject of a totemic battle between a mamba and a leopard. Winner decides KB24's legacy and cements forever his elusive psychology.
ReplyDeleteEven if he said it in Italian, I still think it's some old "knowing is knowledge"/"i've had to overcome a lot of diversity".
ReplyDeletewv:houhexan- that which refers to rocket curses in past tense
For what it's worth, the Leopard is probably the most populous of the big cats, so they are, by one metric, relatively common.
ReplyDeleteThey have a lower profile than other big cats like lions because they don't gather in groups and they're primarily nocturnal.
America needs more African American 5 star generals wearing WIZARDS WHITE OUT shirts.
ReplyDelete/See ya next year, Gilbert
Would it be insensitive to say Rockets in 7? Karma's gotta count for something.
ReplyDeleteI feel insanely insensitive for walking around saying this series was over. That I wanted it to go ahead and end.
ReplyDeleteThough I still think that, for any team down 0-2, they have to make it 2-2 before it's really within sight again.
That Landry block reminded me of Hakim Warrick's in the championship game. I don't know why.
@Shoals:
ReplyDeleteDon't. For a non-Rockets fan, you've been pretty evenhanded. There are Rockets fans who have been saying a lot worse. Me, I've just been quietly supporting. Hey, our season isn't over yet, there's still games to be played, so I'm going to keep rooting. It would be an understatement to say that I was into the game last night.
That block was pretty heroic, especially considering that Landry had just had his tooth knocked out. Damn.
I saw a fan get booted and Boozer doing some amateur dentistry within a couple minute span. Damn, SLC is raw. Particularly impressive was Rafer's post-game commentary--he talks like a coach, or at least a graduate-level student of the game. Much deeper than the average "we wanted it more."
ReplyDeleteJosh Howard was asked by Michael Irvin (on his radio show today) whether or not he smoked weed in the off-season.
ReplyDelete"Well, yeah."
Somebody needs to tell him you can still be a good person and LIE for the white men in advertising and marketing.
damn, anyone see that sixers game?? nice prediction shoals on evans beasting it up in the postseason. both he and the haitian sensation are showing copious amounts of swag.
ReplyDeletelast night was officially the end of an era.
ReplyDelete