Kobe Bryant has returned to basketball...for now. In a candid interview with reporters in Honolulu, Kobe describes the toll the criminal charges have taken on him and his family. He says he's "terrified" for his family and that basketball now comes second.

A telephone status conference is set for Tuesday of this week. Kobe's preliminary hearing is set for Thursday. An hour before the hearing the Judge will entertain motions to close specific portions of the hearing to the public.

If the preliminary hearing goes forward, it will not be a long one. The investigator who interviewed the accuser will testify as to what she told him. He will also testify as to what a nurse told him about the accuser's physical condition the night after her and Kobe's encounter, when she went to the hospital for an examination. Photographs showing the accuser's physical condition will be introduced in evidence. Whether those will be made public is yet to be determined.

The prosecution will not be introducing the accuser's videotaped statement to investigators or Kobe's audio statement. They bartered these away to bolster their argument for a public hearing. (See page 13, Paragraph 2 of the Judge's order.)