SPORTS: Local team's practice interupted by Kobe story.
Make no mistake, either, that the Bryant case is one of the hottest topics among kids.

Rashmir's son, Nicholas, a center on the Valley Xtreme youth travel basketball team from Reseda, said he and his middle-school friends send each other instant messages about it on their computers at night.

"They say that if he did it, he was wrong," Nicholas said. "If he didn't, then the girl was being stupid and did it just for attention."

Teammate Maurice Sample, who lives in North Hills, said: "There's a lot of people talking about it still. I know almost all of it."

In a telling scene at the Xtreme's practice last month, 11-year-old Trevor Wiseman was talking about the Bryant case when one of his teammates ran past him. The boy laughed and yelled out the words "abuser, rapist" in true junior high fashion when Wiseman mentioned the name "Kobe."

"It's kind of hard because he's a great player," Wiseman said, "and then he does that and it could end his career."

Meanwhile, Wiseman's mother, Trish Brown, uttered perhaps the most accurate statement about the relationship between youths and the Bryant case. Her son has a television in his room and she's not always certain what it's tuned to.

"They know more about things," Brown said, "than we think they do."