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Kobe Bryant loved ‘Sex and the City,’ found it ‘informative’

Los Angeles Lakers star and noted unique online content creator Kobe Bryant recently penned another guest column for the female-focused website iVillage.com, where the Black Mamba this summer shared a handful of healthy living tips that he says have helped him stay in such good shape over the course of his illustrious NBA career. In this piece, published Thursday afternoon ahead of the upcoming November elections, Bryant discusses voting, sharing his reasoning for casting a ballot and why he believes exercising the franchise is a matter of major significance.

As was the case with the August column, Bryant references his own personal experience and family life in promoting what he believes to be responsible, beneficial behavior, which is mature and thoughtful. And as was the case with the August column, we are going to slide right past that to focus on a small nugget of awesome that he buried in the middle of reasoned advocacy.

In that case, it was Kobe, while suggesting readers maintain a healthy diet, copping to scarfing down some pepperoni 'za before dropping 81 on the Toronto Raptors back in January 2006. In this case, it is Kobe, while emphasizing the importance of becoming informed about the key issues facing America today and each candidate's stances on them, talking about what kind of stuff he used to pay attention to instead of the news:

The change occurred when Vanessa and I had our babies. Neither of us grew up in politically charged households so the issues weren't things we were necessarily excited to read about and discuss to say the least. It was ESPN for me and "Carrie Fever" (Sex and the City) for her. (Yes, I watched the show and loved it... It was quite "informative.")

First of all: Let's just be glad that "Carrie Fever" refers to "Sex and the City," because that could really have gone in another, much more troubling direction.

Secondly, let's agree with Jack Moore of BuzzFeed Sports that "informative" is just about the weirdest word that Kobe could have picked there:

What did he learn? Was he surprised that middle aged women have sex? Was he unaware of how hard it is to be a single gal in the city? Did he discover a deep erotic love for Kim Cattrall?

I suspect the answer to two out of three of those final three questions is "yes," although I remain unsure precisely which ones.

Also, we cannot ignore the possibility that, as he presumably wrote this column recently, well after the Lakers imported Dwight Howard and Steve Nash this offseason, Bryant is studying "SATC" to break down power and relationship dynamics in a group of successful and professional, yet in their own ways sensitive and emotionally needy individuals. Ever a student of the game, that Kobester, both on the court and between the ears.

Thirdly, let's note that a guy liking a sitcom that is about women, geared toward women, and in which it has been argued by some that men are reduced to cipher-like roles typically filled by women in programs more generally directed at male viewers, is not weird, and that it's certainly no weirder than saying you hate it because it is about shoes, which seems pretty reductive. It's in no way a commentary on Kobe's masculinity, although I'm willing to bet a lot of folks will read it that way. Tastes in comedy/drama/dramedy vary; perhaps Kobe also dug other Darren Star joints, like "Beverly Hills 90210," "Melrose Place" or the CW reboots of "90201" and "Melrose Place." (Also, isn't it kind of weird that the writer who said he hated "Sex and the City" because of the shoes also said women wouldn't enjoy a show about dudes liking cars, getting drunk a lot, trying to sleep with women and being crude about it all, and wrote all that in 2010 without noting that "Entourage" was a thing?)

Lastly, let's all thank the Black Mamba, once again, for being there for us. Whether it's randomly hating on Smush Parker, inserting himself into Alex Rodriguez's struggles at the plate or giving us something to think about Carrie Bradshaw-wise, he's always doing his part to continually make our lives more interesting and a little odder. He's like a contested-jumper-shooting Artie, the Strongest Man in the World.