Kobe
Remembering Kobe Bryant five years after his tragic passing...
Today marks five years since we lost a true giant of the sporting world in Kobe Bryant.
Bryant, his daughter Gianna, John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser and Ara Zobayan were all tragically killed in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, Calif., on Jan. 26 2020.
When I opened up social media earlier and realized it was the fifth-year anniversary of Kobe’s heartbreaking passing, I was stunned.
Five years? Really?!
It is really hard to grasp that it has been five years already since the sporting world was brought to a sudden halt.
So much has happened since that inconceivable day, and the world has quite literally changed. But finding out the horrible news of Kobe’s death still feels fresh and raw.
I, like I’m sure many of you do, can still picture exactly where I was and what I was doing when that horrific news first broke five years ago today. I was in my room watching TV and scrolling social media when I first saw TMZ’s initial report. Like everybody else, I refused to believe it and quickly convinced myself that TMZ had got it terribly wrong. After all, celebrity death hoaxes seemed to be a thing back then.
I kept scrolling social media until my thumbs bled, desperate for any sliver of hope that TMZ screwed the pooch and Kobe Bryant was actually safe and well.
Sadly, that hope proved to be terribly misplaced.
As the minutes ticked by, the initial report got more and more real. Our worst fears had been confirmed.
But things only got worse. Within a few hours we had learned that Gianna, Kobe’s beloved 13-year-old daughter, who was a regular fixture at Lakers games with her dad, had also been on the helicopter, as well as two of her teammates. In total, nine innocent people lost their lives.
I spent the rest of the night in a daze and with a heavy heart. I just couldn’t wrap my head around such awful news. It just seemed unfathomable to me.
Such loss of life was beyond heartbreaking.
I cried a lot that night. Not just over the loss of Kobe the iconic basketball player, but of Kobe the husband and father, who was doing incredible things after calling time on his legendary NBA career. I cried over the loss of Gianna, a talented hooper in her own right, who left behind a heartbroken mother and three sisters. I cried over nine people having their lives tragically cut short for no reason at all.
The entire sporting world was in a state of shock, and that carried over into the following day. I remember spending the entirety of Monday just staring at my laptop screen, unable to focus on anything. I didn’t have the mental capacity or the will to try and do anything remotely productive.
Instead, I did what everyone else was probably doing in that moment and that was to reflect on what Kobe meant to me.
Now, before we go any further, I’ll admit that I’m a devoted disciple of Michael Jordan. I always have been. MJ will always be the one true basketball goat in my eyes.
However, MJ’s prime was in the 90’s, when I was a young boy living in England. I probably didn’t know what basketball even was back then. I didn’t grow up watching the NBA like many kids my age would have done in America. I came to appreciate Jordan’s greatness by gorging on a vast array of highlights on YouTube later in life.
By comparison, Kobe was still very much at his apex by the time I did discover the NBA, and I just became fascinated with the Lakers icon. I think what first attracted me to Kobe was the way he played the game. He gave the game of basketball everything he had. He left every single ounce of blood, sweat and tears out on the court every time he played without fail.
That relentless, single-minded desire to be a master of his craft and to pursue excellence no matter what resonated with me. I was raised to understand that the most important thing you can do in life is to work hard. Well, one of the most important things, anyway. But giving whatever you do everything you’ve got was drilled into me from an early age. Be it soccer practice as a kid, my exams at school and then later when pursuing a career as a sports writer, I knew to always finish every day knowing I had nothing left to give. If I did that, I could sleep well and with a deep sense of satisfaction that night.
It’s why I embraced the ‘Mamba Mentality’ and studied Kobe religiously. Kobe led by example and showed the entire world that anything was possible and achievable as long as you were willing to give everything you had every single day.
Who can forget the final game of his storied NBA career? On weary legs, with his body bruised and broken, his heart, mind and soul drained and depleted, Kobe dug into the deepest reservoirs of his very being to drop 60 points on the Jazz.
What a way to go out.
What a way to once again show that anything is truly possible with hard work, steely determination and an unbreakable resolve.
That’s how I will always remember Kobe Bryant.
Kobe wasn’t just a great basketball player - although he was that - he was a role model, an inspiration and a shining beacon of hope to so many individuals around the world. And not just phenom athletes or aspiring basketball players, either. It didn’t matter what your chosen craft or path was, Kobe’s blueprint was applicable.
Kobe’s impact stretched well beyond basketball.
I have tried to carry Kobe with me throughout my career and my life ever since that awful day five years ago. Whenever things have gotten tough, I’ve tried to muster the same kind of strength, courage and iron-clad mental fortitude and self-confidence that Kobe displayed every time he stepped foot on the court.
Kobe’s exploits in a Lakers jersey will live on in basketball lore forever. So too will his impact on millions of people around the globe.
Kobe.
Five years on and it still doesn’t feel real.
I don’t think it ever will.