Like most sports fans, I was abruptly greeted late Sunday morning with the news of the passing of NBA great Kobe Bryant.
At first it was a single post on Facebook that I saw that read, “Is Kobe Bryant dead?”
It’s Facebook, so naturally I was skeptical. If your first inclination to something you read on Facebook isn’t skepticism, then remind me to invite you over for poker some night.
The fact the initial posts and reports were citing TMZ as the reporting agency didn’t help.
Right or wrong, TMZ has a reputation. It’s celebrity gossip on steroids. That being said … how often is TMZ wrong. Sensational, overly dramatic, blowing things out of proportion? Yes. But wrong …
But as minutes turned to hours, more reports emerged from more mainstream and credible sources.
Kobe Bryant was dead at the age of 41, and, as we learned later, eight other lives were claimed: Kobe’s 13-year old daughter Gianna, baseball coach John Altobelli, wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, Sarah Chester and her mother Payton and pilot Ara Zobayan.
Gianna, Alyssa and Sarah all played on the same Mamba Sports Academy basketball team and were traveling to the academy for a game.
The one solace you can take is that, in their most trying hour, the young girls were surrounded by family and friends. No one wants to die, but I imagine dying alone is worse.
Still, on this side of the country, the chances of any of us knowing any of these victims in person, as astronomically slim.
While tragic and terrible, it shouldn’t have a great effect on your day-to-day life. In theory anyway.
And yet, it does. Many basketball fans, both grown adults and younger kids and athletes, know who Kobe is. As a sports fan, how could you not?
He’s one of the top players of all time and, arguably, the best, depending on whom you ask. He will be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, not that the Mamba needed to leave the world tragically for that to be realized.
My first reaction upon getting the news confirmed was a natural one, “Dang, that sucks.”
I am slightly more interested than your average, casual basketball fan. I’m not a junkie as football and baseball are the sports I follow most closely. But I’ve always like basketball. My team, since the days of Mark Price and Brad Daugherty, is the Cavs.
So, while I’ve never been a Laker fan, nor really a Kobe fan, I was definitely an appreciator. You have to admire transcendental talent when you see it. Kobe was certainly that. But his talents were equally matched by his competitive spirit and singluar-minded need to win.
That I could respect, no matter what team he played for.
Plus, you have to root for him when he puts on the Red, White and Blue of Team USA for the Olympics. And in Kobe fashion, his tenacity rubbed off on his teammates as the ‘Redeam Team’ won gold in Beijing.
He retired in 2016, a winner of five NBA titles, 11 first-team all NBA selections, an MVP, two finals MVPs and he did it all playing for one team.
The NBA seemed a little, well, less, even with the Cavs finally winning a title in 2016 and reaching the finals the the next two seasons.
But that’s not what had me noticeably distracted Sunday morning at work.
While my daughter seemingly has been playing softball and soccer since she could walk, we were late to basketball. It just got lost in the shuffle.
So after her first season of 5th-6th ball playing for St. John, I decided I was going to get her a nice set of shoes for the upcoming winter and following fall seasons.
I researched all the marquis-player’s shoes and knew it had to be something customizable.
I also wanted her to feel a connection somehow to the player whose shoes she’d be wearing. Lebron’s were an obvious choice as she, like me, follows the Cavs.
So I delved deeper into my research. I knew Kobe was a fierce competitor but got a true understanding after reading Mamba Mentality. I also discovered some of Kobe’s philanthropic pursuits, those that were known and publicized, and those that weren’t. Bryant made many appearances, only under the condition of no PR or cameras or notoriety. That’s someone acting out of a sense of caring and compassion, not bettering his brand.
I enjoyed his short award-winning film Dear Basketball. But it wasn’t until I watched videos from his Mamba Sports Academy and videos of Kobe helping to coach his daughter’s teams and the joy the two shared in basketball that answered my question.
So I showed my daughter some of the videos, how Kobe and his daughter’s relationship grew stronger through basketball, and how he played the game the right way.
That’s all it took. We ordered a customized pair of Green & White Nike’s, probably one of the few pairs of Kobe’s to be made with Celtics colors.
So naturally, with the closing of St. John Central Elementary School announced, we found a new home at St. Clairsville. But she still has those Green & White Kobes. She loves what they represent for her, not just from her recent past but also her mindset going forward.
I’m sure we’ll get an updated pair here in a season or two as she grows out of her Green Mambas. We’re both hoping they continue to carry Kobe’s signature line of shoes so we can get an updated pair in Scarlet and Grey.
So again, I circle back to Kobe, after retirement. Kobe the man, Kobe the dad.
The man loved his daugthers and never seemed to believe he was missing out on anything fathering all girls, or coaching them.
So even though I never met the man, nor interviewed him after a game, I felt a kinship.
Putting myself in his place, in that moment, when you know not only is your life about to end, but so is the life of your daughter, with nothing you can do about it except hold her and be there for her, had to be heartbreaking.
My daughter is a year younger than Gianna, and I hate that they got robbed, like the other young girls’ who perished in that accident, of the chance to grow older, no only in life, but in their relationship with their fathers.
So yes, I admit it. I got a little misty-eyed.
Rest in peace Mamba, Mambacita and the other seven souls whose lives were tragically cut short that day.
