Kobe Bryant Discussion: Mamba Out!

That's a great quote. That is a huge self imposed burden and responsibility.

 

You know what, for me, Bron is now a LAKER. I admired him for saving our butts by signing with us but this, puts him over the top. Nash wasn't a Laker. Richmond wasn't a Laker. Hell, Rice wasn't a Laker. Bron is. Thank You.

 

Sorry if this was posted already, saw this on reddit (originally a FB post). Translated by user zisho on reddit, special thanks to that person.



Hi kid,

I'm the guy in the white jersey in this picture, and it took me two days to process what has happened.

Hi kid, I was saying... To me you will forever be that nice kid at the Piattelli Trophy in Montecatini Terme in 1989: a scrawny kid with the longest legs, with lively eyes and a smile that would have, later, charmed not only basketball but the world as a whole.

A kid that one night, thirthy years ago, did something unique and unrepeatable: step on the court alongside your father "Billy Joe", with the "grown-ups" during the Finals of a summer tournament, with his jersey down to his knees and the shamelessness of Champions, even if you were only eleven. You tried to leave a mark on the game, to be a protagonist and not just an extra, like you would have done later and for the rest of your career.

The Finals of a summer tournament, probably one of the most important tournaments at the time, played in Montecatini during the best years of basketball in Tuscany; on the court there were only adult players, from Serie A, Serie B, Serie C and Serie D; from Montecatini, Pistoia, Livorno, Siena and Florence: nobody wanted to lose, it was serious business...

Matters of local rivalries and honor, "italian suburbs" stuff, but feelings and emotions that you would have brought, with your immense talent, to basketball overseas.

"A kid on the court, how cute!", was the thought of the 1,000 people on the stands, among them your mother, that looks at you, entranced.

"A kid on the court, what a bore!", the athletes thought.

"What am I supposed to do now?", the thought of the man that had to guard you.

And that man, for better or for worse, was me, a mediocre player from the lower Tuscan divisions.

The kid catches the ball... And I tell myself "don't move, don't do anything... It's a kid!"

The kid shoots from 3... Nothing but net, the crowd goes wild, my teammates show signs of disapproval.

On the next play, the kid gets the ball again... I think "get closer, but don't raise your arms... It's a kid!"

The kid, careless, shoots again from 3... and he scores again! The crowd shouts again, my mates grumble again, my coach that didn't want to lose (nobody did) calls a timeout and demands me to defend.

We get back on the court.

Again the kid has the ball.

The whole arena wants the kid to shoot. And cheers him.

All my teammates want me to defend. And shout "don't let him shoot!"

"F- me" I think "what should I do now?"

I get closer to the kid and with my eyes I try to tell him "don't do it, please"

No chance, he's got only sheer determination in his eyes (was the mamba mentality already there?)

The crowd is out of their minds: shoot! Shoot again!

I raise my arms without even looking at the kid.

As reckless as before, he takes the ball, bigger and heavier than him, and shoots it.

Unintentionally and inevitably, I block the shot: what's his mother going to think about me?

The arena screams disappointed at me, my mates keep on playing like nothing ever happened...

I start laughing facing this tragicomical situation and tell the coach "either you bench me now or you're coming here and guard this kid!"

Right... The kid... That kid, that in a few years would have given to basketball so many emotions that nobody could ever imagine, including the best love letter, the best farewell that anyone has written.

Goodbye kid...

Now you'll make angels fall in love with basketball: every basket a divine "plan"!

Maybe one day we'll play again 1 on 1, and, without any doubt, you'll give me back that ridiculous block, while your daughter will watch us and laugh.

5...4...3...2...1...

Farewell, Kobe. It has been beautiful.

Original post in Italian -

 

We'll never get an athlete like Kobe again. He was one of the few athletes who was obsessed with their craft. I never seen him brag about his milestones. He never took to interviews or social media to gloat and say he's on top of the world when he passed the greats in whatever statistical category. When he did it, he did it and that was it. I never knew how much of a maniac he was about the game of basketball, and how he only respected the players who matched him.

I wish that achilles never happened. I truly believe he wanted #6-7, and he was gonna tweak whatever part of his game he needed to, to try and get it. But his body threw in the towel before he wanted to.

I'm so heartbroken because my fandom for Kobe is entirely different. I'm a fan of other athletes in other sports, and that's where my line is drawn. They're just great athletes to me. But with Kobe it was different. He was a great athlete in a way that bonded me to him. His accomplishments seemed more raw, and rough and gritty like he fought to earn it.

That's why I no longer get into the G.O.A.T. conversation anymore. It's pointless.

 

I enjoy Bron. Even more now, because he is a Laker. He's apart of our history now. But he'll never replace Kobe for me. I'm sorry he just doesn't fill that void. No matter how many records he breaks or lists he tops, I can't do it.

But him helping us win a championship will be one of the best things ever in this time of sadness for our great organization.

 

Lebron was my villain for 15 years. I’ve come around on the guy and while he’ll never come close to Kobe level for me, I do hope all of Lakers nation embraces the man now. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s part of the family now and Kobe would not approve if we didn’t support the fam. Kobe was the first guy who embraced the challenge of pursuing Jordan’s greatness. Win or lose, let’s stand behind our stars, especially one that was willing to step up to the challenge when no other free agents would.

 

Hey fam. Finally woke up this morning feeling a little better. Hope the gloom is starting to lift for some of you too. I know it's hard to imagine now, but in my heart I know there will come a time when remembering Kobe will bring us more joy than sadness.

 

hope these all give you a smile like it did for me







and lastly a nice tribute song if you like rap

 

f***. Still can't.

 

we as kobe/laker fans kinda know how he was as a player, a father and overall person around the league with other players. Just sucks it took his death for the rest of world who didnt appreciate him to see how special this man is and was.

 

Couple more players changing numbers





Spider Salley sharing his Kobe memories

 

watch at your own peril. the fact that this was so avoidable makes everything 100x worse

 

Great post. It looks like Kobe was wearing Magic Converse. Nice lineage connection.

 

I am a professional pilot with around 30,000 hours experience.

This video is very compelling. There have been some others I have seen as well.

I know at some time after we all get through the initial stages of healing questions of "why" will naturally develop with this type of accident.

Whenever you are ready, if you wish I can try and give you the readers digest versions of what I may have learned since 72 hours ago and using my own experience. It may take me a few days to get back to you since my job takes me away from home days at a time and I communicate better on my PC than iPad or phone.

Today I do feel a bit better than yesterday. One day at a time.

 

One of these days I will read through everyone’s post and give them the attention they deserve.

I can’t handle it right now but man the recent quote from Lebron...

“god gave me wide shoulders for a reason”

Every Laker season is championship or bust but if there was ever a season where LA needed a championship its this season. Call me crazy call me selfish but we need this, no pressure Lebron. I am grateful hes here.

 

I wanted to keep all my post in one post in this thread. I wanted to be able to look back and see what I thought at the time without having to figure out where all the writing was in a sea of messages. So I clicked back to page 341 cause I thought that's were my original post was... mistake. OK, so a couple pages further maybe... Mistake. I'll try one more time with a couple more pages... FK me, Mistake!!!! I'll find the post and maybe add this to it. I'll write more, hell at some point I'll make blog about this all but right now I'm trying to write past the mistakes I didn't realize I was making. Before I get to what I was going to write I'll share why it was a mistake to go back. It was mistake cause I read about Kobe and Gigi at a game. It was a mistake when I saw the meme that had a pic of 18yr old Kobe scowling on the court and a pic of 13yr Gigi with the same scowl as dad pointed out parts of the game they were watching. It was a mistake because I saw the tweet DWade shared asking "why ya'll bringing up old stuff" when someone had shared Kobe's game winner over Wade's outstretched arm. It was a mistake cause he isn't here to make these debates any more. He isn't here to be "knocked down a few pegs" by people who didn't consider him the greatest. He isn't here and though I know it, hence I was coming to write again, I made the mistake of being reminded of what he was to me as a fan of the Lakers and his and me as a father. It was a mistake just like the accident. I came here to share a thought so.....

I haven't watched much of sports since Kobe's death. I did watch Highly Questionable, Around the Horn and PTI the day after (maybe a bit yesterday too Im not sure) but not much else. I happened to stop on a NBAtv spot where they were talking about Kobe. I hadn't planned on it. My wife just home from work was sitting in the room watching. I stood the entire 25 minutes I watched. She sat in silence and I could see her eyes getting red. Then they showed Doc Rivers and she broke. She said, "When I watched games with you I loved watching him play. I watched the 81 pnt game, The 62 in 3 quarters and the back to back championship runs." (side note: we went to game 1 of the Den series was our first and only playoff game ever) Through tears she said, "it isn't his death that is getting me it is all these grown men, professional athletes and people from all the world that are breaking down in tears over his loss. And, more importantly, its the images of him and his daughter and the love they had.... they fking got me!" And I watched my wife slowly gain her composure and I turned the channel and then came to here to see what you all were saying.

I read messages and skipped videos cause after watching my wife my cup is full. This page and group is therapy for many of us. This time is powerful because a giant in most of our lives fell. We are all one breath away from death. We all know that and we all expect it. As a person who spends his life talking and teaching I want to thank you all for sharing your stories because, as I just told a friend on twitter, "When a bright light gets extinguished it doesn't go away it simply spreads to all those who had been impacted by its glow." We are all brighter because we carry on.

Until I need to be here again....... Stay strong Lakers Nation!

 

Got to spend some time & pay my respects at the Memorial at LA Live across from Staples Yesterday.
Don't think I've ever experienced anything like it. LA truly loves Kobe.

 

I have no words to provide beyond what everyone has eloquently stated. Thank you all for sharing.

I am all in on this season and will support these guys, roster change or no roster change, game by game the rest of the way regardless of where we end up. Let’s go...

 

My questions is why did it drop so suddenly

 

Devin Booker who said Kobe was his idol just broke Kobe's record of being the youngest guard to 7000 points. I hate that all his records are being broken but all of the players who looked up to him are breaking them like LeBron, Booker etc so it's kind of symbolic almost.

It's great.