24.
Since Sunday afternoon I’ve been typing a blog to pay my respects to the legend, and Icon Kobe Bryant was. I don’t see myself as the most qualified person to express who he was but all I know is that wow, what a loss! I remember going on Twitter and reading
“RIP Kobe”
“This Can’t Be Real”
“God Please let it be a joke”
“Wtf man, kobe? I’m sick”
Those were some of the tweets I read and as I read them each I started feeling sicker. Because how? How could someone bigger than life, bigger than basketball die? How the fuck can Kobe Bryant be taken away from his family, from his fans, from the city of Los Angeles, FROM HIS DAUGHTERS! FROM HIS WIFE!
After I thought I couldn’t feel any sicker or upset I then read that his young daughter was in the helicopter with him. I’m telling y’all I was sitting in a lounge having brunch celebrating my friends birthday but my mind was not there, at all.
This tragedy didn’t only take the life of one of the best basketball players to ever play the game of basketball but of one his young talented daughter who was undeniably the future of the WNBA. With them a great coach of OCC, his daughter, and wife. Another young basketball player and her mother, an assistant coach of the Mamba Academy & the pilot. All these people shared one thing, the love for basketball. What a cruel world, correct?
Indeed the world is cruel, I couldn’t believe the way many reporters went about this news. So many lies, false reporting all for what? To be first, but wrong? In this age of social media we’ve all lost touch with who we are. With what is important. With that being said, shame on anyone who is laughing or ridiculing individuals for feelings pain for someone “they never met”.
Growing up I was a boys girl, I had all guy friends, I was the girl in the lunchroom who participated in the Kobe Vs Lebron Vs Jordan argument. I must admit I didn’t really care who was better but they did and I just loved arguing and seeing the passion on their faces when we spoke about this. How much they idolize these players, how much they fought for Kobe in some of their cases. Kobe, might not have met more than 1% of his fans in his life but his fans felt him always. They lived and breathed his stats, his games, every fade away.
Basketball is a game that takes over your body, it’s unpredictable comebacks bring inexplicable joy. Seeing your favorite player score 81 points as his highest scoring game and 60 on his last, I mean common. He was God Like. He brought joy to so many of my friends, he was the reason so many of them watched games over and over. Studied his tapes, and tried to mirror his game. So many people have done this; boys and girls.
I’ve seen my friends struggle through the last week. Accepting that he is gone. I understand many of us don’t understand what it’s like to admire someone you’ve never met but believe me when I tell you, it’s beautiful. It’s beautiful to believe in someone and that their accomplishments in life inspire you. So obviously this hurts like hell. To my friends who are in pain, feel it. Admit that it’s okay to feel it, because it is.
Kobe wasn’t only God like on the court he was like that as a father and a husband. My favorite thing about Kobe was how much he loved being a father. Being a Girl Dad. How proud he would be to say he didn’t need a son because Gigi would make him proud and continue his legacy. And oh how does that break my heart. I just hope in heaven they find a nice court and ball and play a mean 1 v 1.
Kobe Bryant wasn’t perfect we all know it, I mean who is? If you meet someone perfect please let me know. We all go through things in life that make us questionable. The truth is though, one thing doesn’t undo the other. Kobe was and forever will be one of the best basketball players to play the game. He was an amazing father. A pro women's sports advocate. An advocate of hard work and dedication.
He was the epitome of hard work.
I know so many of us are hurting. I know the Bryant family is devastated and so are those other families. But from losing the two most important people to me I’ve understood that the best way to honor them is by doing what they did best. In Kobe’s case, WORKING HARD.
I’ll leave yall with this quote from Mr. 81 himself, “Continue to dream and then work hard to make that dream a reality”
Xoxo P$
In Loving Memory of John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, Ara Zobayan, Gianna Bryant & Kobe Bryant. May your loved ones find the peace their heart will so deeply need and may you all find a nice view from above to enjoy Basketball for years to come.
