February 24, 2012 - Kobe Bryant told reporters after Thursday's game that he is indeed blinded by black bushy man beards. "I tried to hide it for all these years," Bryant said. "But sometimes the beard is just too bushy." Bryant has experienced blindness from bushy beards since a small child. "My blindness never affected my game in high school because no one could grow a beard, and if they could it wasn't bushy."

Bryant has quietly petition for the NBA to put in place a rule to ban bushy beards from being allowed in the NBA, but so far has seen little success. NBA Commissioner David Stern commented on Bryant's condition, "We have to treat Bryant just like any other player. Many players have disabilities holding them back and Bryant's just happens to be black bushy beards."

Bryant played blind against the Thunder after being faced with James Harden's massive black bushy beard. "I still managed to score 24 points blind," Bryant said. "But it was a difficult task." Harden started to sense towards the end of the game he was affecting Bryant. "Every time I got near him his eyes would glaze over," Harden said. "The glazed eyes freaked me out a little." Bryant is worried that more players will grow black bushy beards now that his weakness has been exposed.