Kobe Bryant Gives Alex Rodriguez Pep Talk, Duo Forms Legion of Doom for Boston Sports Fans

by Mike Cole on Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 8:38AM

One is arguably the best clutch player in NBA history. The other is one of baseball's biggest choke artists. And they are both hated by Boston sports fans far and wide.

Those two men, of course, are Kobe Bryant and Alex Rodriguez, two of the biggest sports vilains in Boston sports history. Now the duo is teaming up as some sort of team of evil, with Bryant handing out advice to Rodriguez.

The NBA's best closer revealed that he had some words of encouragement for the Yankees third baseman when they spoke recently.

"You can only control what you can control," Bryant said of what he told Rodriguez, according to ESPN.com. "You go out there and do the best job you can. If they take you out of the lineup, it's really on you to be a good teammate and support the other guys, which he's good about doing."

Joe Girardi took Rodriguez out of his Yankees lineup for Game 3 of the American League Series, in the middle of what has been a putrid posteason for No. 13 in pinstripes.

"I just say to him, 'You're Alex Rodriguez. You're A-Rod. You're one of the best to ever do it,'" Bryant continued. "I think sometimes he kind of forgets that and wants to try to do the right thing all the time. Which is the right team attitude to have. But other times you really have to put your head down and say, 'Hell with it' and just do your thing."

If anyone knows about putting your head down saying "Hell with it" and just doing your thing, it would be Bryant. He is the king of doing your own thing; just ask Smush Parker.

"Hopefully the next game they'll kind of give him a chance, maybe put him back at third and let him respond to the pressure, which I think he'll do."

As long as there's not a right-handed pitcher on the mound.

From there, Bryant indulged his own narcissism in a way only he could do.

"We're different," Bryant said, according to ESPN.com. "But you're talking about, 'He's one of the best to ever play.' I think really the difference is, sometimes he forgets he's the best. … Where, I don't."

No, Kobe, you certainly don't.

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