Bryant, his 13 year old daughter Giana and seven other passengers perished in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California. The Bryant’s were in transit to a youth basketball tournament, Kobe a coach for the team Giana was a member of.
Let’s get one issue out of the way. A decade or so back in time, Bryant was involved in a possible rape of a hotel employee. The case was dismissed but a civil suit reached a financial settlement to the hotel employee. Bryant showed contrition in statements to the press. He moved onward, seemingly to a good place both in the NBA and as an avid supporter of women’s sports.
The world seemed to take a sudden timeout at the untimely announcement. Games needed to play, literally minutes after the occurrence. Energy was sucked out of the arenas in North America as news spread of the crash. Kobe was a magnificent basketball player, a perfectionist of the art of roundball, and the proverbial hard ass to both himself and all others who failed to dedicate more than 100% of themselves to all phases of the game. Some of us like that sort of think. Maybe we think of our own shortcomings; finding solace in the world of sports and now the associated social media that is unescapable. We the former players and aging fans prescribe to the player, the teacher, the entrepreneur, those who exceed their potential. For sure, we take the bait of an escape of the common and mundanity of life. Sometimes we need it.
Yesterday, LaBron surpassed Kobe in all time scoring, placing him third place on the all time list. A retired Kobe was magnanimous. Kobe was spreading his wings into movie production and other worthy projects including his sports academy in Thousand Oakes.
What they said:
“You think about his family and his friends and the struggles they are going through. You just want to go home and kiss your kids and your wife. The rest is irrelevant right now” Marc Gasol, Toronto Raptors
“He was a very international player, spoke several languages (Spanish and Italian), played all over the world. I think he was very relatable” David Robinson, former NBA great, San Antonio Spurs.