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Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) points to a player behind him after making a basket in the closing seconds against the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the NBA basketball finals on June 7, 2009, in Los Angeles. Bryant, the 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, died in a helicopter crash Sunday. (AP FILE PHOTO)
I’ve been trying to put this piece together since Sunday and, man, it’s been tough.
Kobe Bryant’s sudden death in a helicopter crash really hit me like a ton of bricks.
Anyone that knows me knows that I’m a huge basketball fan. I have been ever since I was able to pick up a ball when I was a toddler.
But my basketball memories going back to my childhood days are sort of a blur. Outside of Space Jam I have vague memories of Michael Jordan, most notably his game-clincher over Byron Russell to beat the Utah Jazz for his sixth title in 1998, but I was eight years old when he won his last ring.
I certainly recognize Jordan as the greatest to ever do it. Six titles in six trips are unparalleled in the sport. For some of you, you got to grow up with Jordan. I didn’t, but I had Bryant.
Bryant was Jordan, not just to me, but to an entire generation of fans with his five NBA championships. And the news of his death Sunday was heartbreaking for me.
My girlfriend and I were getting ready to go to Halpatter that afternoon when the news broke. That changed our plans. I was glued to my television following news coverage in utter disbelief.
Then the report came through that his 13-year-old daughter Gianna perished with him and I was frozen on my couch for what felt like hours. I kept hoping, praying, that another report would come across the TV and tell me none of it was true.
I didn’t want to believe it.
I mourned Bryant on Sunday. It’s odd, isn’t it? Mourning the loss of someone you’ve never even met. But I felt immense sadness.
Sports provides this odd attachment for us as fans. We don’t actually know these athletes but we feel like we do, between watching them on television to their interviews with reporters to now their social media accounts giving us a glimpse into their daily lives.
In a way, they become a part of our lives. Even after they retire.
And there was so much more for Bryant after basketball. The guy even won an Oscar in 2018. An Oscar! And if you’ve followed Bryant’s career, that wasn’t surprising either. The guy hated losing, just like Jordan. When he was nominated, you knew his name would be called.
That’s just who he was. He really could do it all.
We feel that way about superstars, too. We view them as superheroes. They’re invincible and there’s nothing they can’t accomplish.
But Sunday was a hard slice of reality that I wasn’t ready for at all.
Then there was Gianna, who Bryant said was even more talented than he was at her age. She had such a bright future ahead of her and being taken so young was just so unfair.
I spent a good chunk of Sunday evening repeating that in my mind: “None of this is fair.” This was a tragedy in every sense of the word, a word we sometimes use too loosely in sports.
I have so many memories of Bryant. After all, he was the first superstar guard that I can remember growing up, aiding Shaquille O’Neal on the Los Angeles Lakers’ 3-peat from 2000-2002.
I can still remember Game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference finals when he crossed over Scottie Pippen and threw that alley-oop to O’Neal to help put the Portland Trailblazers away after rallying back from 15 down. The kid was just blossoming then but you knew he could ball.
Everybody wanted to be Bryant on the blacktop at school. Every fadeaway a kid took when I was in middle school was coupled with a shout of “KOBE!” as they released the ball. He was the GUY when I was growing up.
Jordan was a distant memory then. Bryant had taken his place.
And even after O’Neal was traded, Bryant showed he could also do it himself, winning back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 and MVP honors in both finals. And who could forget his 81 points against the Toronto Raptors sandwiched in between? I know Jalen Rose hasn’t.
His Hall of Fame résumé is one of the best ever, which also includes 18 all-star appearances in 20 seasons and two scoring titles. It’s why he’s considered by many to be the second best shooting guard of all-time.
Bryant wasn’t perfect but he defined an entire generation for basketball fans just like Jordan did before him. I don’t remember much of Jordan but I will never forget Bryant.
Taken too soon but etched in my memory forever, Bryant will forever be immortal.