Kobe Bryant Divorce: Why off-Court Problems Won't Affect Mamba's Play

Everywhere I read about Kobe Bryant's divorce, I see the same debate: Will Kobe's divorce affect his on-court play?

Besides the fact that I inexplicably continue to read about this ridiculous so-called news, I have one problem with this. 

Are people crazy? Do they really think something like this is going to affect Bryant's notoriously famous focus on basketball? 

I just don't get why this is even a discussion. Is it a discussion because people like me continue to bring it up? That could be, and for that I'm sorry. But I'm just trying to put an end to it.

I swear.

People act like Kobe Bryant isn't a 33-year-old who has shown a love and addiction to this game unrivaled by a lot of other stars. He simply won't let a divorce distract him. He strives to be the best and letting something like this bring him down would make him a joke.

I don't understand why people continue to believe off-court problems truly affect on-court play. Is Kobe Bryant really going to go out there thinking, "Man, I'm really sad my wife left me. I'm not even going to put any effort into this basketball game."

It's unfortunate this happened to him, but 99 percent of sports stars are able to keep their personal life separate from their career. Those two things just don't intertwine. 

Unless you ask the media. 

You may point to the Tiger Woods conundrum, but he was starting to struggle before his off-the-course problems, and he had a bunch of knee injuries that affected his play.

If you said Kobe will struggle this year because he has a lot of miles on his legs and he'll go through injuries, I would tend to believe you.

If you said he would struggle because he's sad, I might laugh at you.

I am by no means a Los Angeles Lakers fan. I would love to see Bryant and the Lake Show struggle this year because I've seen them have enough success in the last decade. 

Or maybe because I'm a "hater."

It would be foolish to think that. So let's just all stop and wait for the actual season to start. 

Rant over. Seriously this time.