Kobe

January 26th, 2020 Kobe Bryant along with eight others unfortunately went down in a helicopter crash with no survivors. One of those individuals was his daughter. The thought of the fear in their moment is horrific and a little reminder that no one is promised tomorrow. I was listening to a podcast today, Michael Kay Show, of the episode labeled 'Saying Goodbye to Kobe.' A lot of his life is pretty poetic. Like, his first game in Madison Square Garden he only scored 1 point. Then, eventually held the most points ever scored against the Knicks in their home with 61 points. Carmelo Anthony beat it with 62 points. Lebron James passed him in the all-time scoring list the night before his death. He was celebrated on his last season in the NBA, literally a Kobe Farewell Season. From what I can tell, he could've kept playing, but he went out as the greatest Laker of all time and still saved some of his youth to be with his family, overall. He had moments with so many individuals, famous people, famous athletes and fans of his. To me, we had some kind of moment that I can only recognize and understood that it was meant to be. I was never a huge fan of Kobe, because I knew he was great, but favored Michael Jordan. Maybe because the ideology that Jordan was the greatest ever and I didn't want to put anyone else in the same class as him and I felt that his style was so similar, even a copy of Jordan's. Personally, I saw more of myself in Jordan then I did in Kobe. Think what you want, but my will to win and never giving up or give in to pressure is our relation, in my eyes. Who am I kidding, Kobe saw himself in Jordan with skill and perseverance more than anyone. But, one greatness about Kobe that i idealize is that he never put himself on top of anyone. Never on top of Jordan, James or any of the greats, but everyone knew he was Great. A quote by Bruce Lee goes, 'never settle to be second best, but understand that there is no number one.' Kobe was very grounded.

My moment with Kobe happened when I visited L.A. for the first time. I competed in a Three Point Shooting contest in Six Flags and made enough shots to win a Jersey of my choice. I looked at the choices and I said how can I not pick Kobe, but I was annoyed they didn't have the number 8. He just changed his number on his jersey for a reason I didn't understand, but I did try to make sense of it back in the day. 24 seconds in the shot clock. I just loved the way 8 looked. I have a love for numbers in thinking how some are so individually 'magical,' and couldn't tell you the number I would wear if I was a professional athlete, and come to think of it maybe Kobe was the same like me in that aspect.