Rick Reilly is an idiot

I wrote before that Rick Reilly is a horrible writer. He also is an idiot because he has no idea why people dislike Kobe Bryant.

And talking about the fact that people dislike Kobe, Reilly writes, "John Stockton makes Bryant look like a stand-up comedian and nobody hates on him."

That's because John Stockton wasn't unlikable -- he wasn't likable either, but he wasn't unlikable. He was (not talking about his skin color, I promise), vanilla.

People is actively unlikeable. He's hateable. That's why nearly everyone who isn't a Lakers fan isn't happy that Kobe won his first non-Shaq title.

If only Reilly, arguably the biggest sports columnist in the United States, would realize this. But in addition to being such a very successful columnist, Reilly is an unabashed and unrepentant Kobe lover and apologist.

YouTube is popular, but a horrible business

From Business Insider:

Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell projects that both the iPhone and Kindle stores will generate more gross revenue than YouTube this year. And Apple's net revenue -- the 30% it takes from transactions -- could overtake YouTube in 2010, he predicts. (And that's not even including the hardware sales these products generate, which is a major reason these stores -- especially Apple's -- exist in the first place.)

In other words, though YouTube is an insanely popular website, it isn't so successful as a business.

Lakers win championship; fans riot, loot

While there is rioting going on in Iran, there was also some unrest going down in Los Angeles, but for a vastly different reason. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic and the fans went around lighting fires and looting in celebration.

On one hand, I have to wonder what point it is for people to light things on fire when celebrating. On the other hand, I want to be in a city when they win the championship just to witness it.

But some people in the city surely wish they weren't in the city -- like this sneaker shop owner.

Torres and his girlfriend entered through the back door and saw the storage room all but empty. Fewer than 20 pairs of shoes were left out of the 800 pairs they had in stock. The floor was littered with receipts, price tags, tissue paper and crumpled-up shoe boxes.

Torres’ eyes grew teary at the sight. Neighbors told them the revelers had gone to the back of the store, and pulled and pulled at the white metal door until it broke open, all the while chanting: “We want shoes, we want shoes.” Glass display cases had been shattered. Two computers, cash, sunglasses and hats were also looted.

“It makes me not want to be a basketball fan,” Torres said, adding that he opened the store near the Staples Center in November 2007 because he was a fan and thought the post-game crowd would be the right clientele for his consignment sneakers.