Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among several people dead in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California on Sunday. Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and the several people on board were on their way to a travel basketball game, where the helicopter crashed and everyone on the flight were killed at the scene. Kobe Bryant was 41, and his daughter Gianna was 13.
Wow……….This is crazy……….this doesn’t even seem real.
Just yesterday, LeBron James passed Kobe Bryant on the NBA all-time list, Kobe was posting on Twitter about his accomplishment, and Lebron and ESPN were talking about him all night on how outstanding of a player he was. It’s crazy to think that less than 24 hours this tragedy happened. It is so sad and this has been on my mind all day.
How I first heard the news was my girlfriend called me while I was on my way back to college after going home for the weekend. I picked up the phone, expecting that she had to ask. me a question about something, but it turned out with her telling me the news that Kobe Bryant died.
I kept telling her “Stop playing with me.” or “Is this a prank you are trying to pull on me?”. And she kept saying to me “No I’m serious, this is true, he died in a helicopter crash.” I couldn’t really believe it, I kept thinking that there is no way on earth this true. I pulled over to a gas station to get some gas, and I see my phone just blowing up with notifications about his death and seeing it all over on social media.
After reading that it hit me that it was really true, Kobe Bryant really has died. For me, it wasn’t one of those things that it made me cry or anything like that, but it just leaves you feeling sad and shocked to even think about anything else.
Kobe Bryant was a person I always hated growing up, especially after he lead the Lakers to win the title in 2010 in seven games vs the Celtics. He was so tough to play against as he would knock in these ridiculous fade-away shots and drop about 25-30 points on you without even trying. He was a person that I always hated, because of just how good and cocky he was. After the 2010 finals, I had fun watching him not make the playoffs with all the terrible teams he was a part of. I remember laughing when he couldn’t get the All-Star center Dwight Howard to return back to the Lakers, or him trying to get all these players to come play for him, and no one would come to play with him and the Lakers.
I got to admit him scoring 60 points in his last game ever in the NBA was cool, but I was so glad that he was gone, because I never had to deal with him on the floor ever again. But today with seeing that he died just left me stunned and made me think differently about him.
As much as I hated Kobe (mostly because I am a Celtics fan) Kobe Bryant was always serious and focused when it came too basketball. Kobe was always determined to reach his goal and nothing was ever going to slow him down. He took criticism personally and always worked hard in the gym so he could prove the people wrong. Like when people said that he couldn’t win a title without Shaquille O’Neal, he went out and won two NBA rings, one more than Shaq in his whole career. Or the time when he won the MVP in 2008 and lost in the finals to the Celtics, he responded to winning the NBA title the next year.
Looking back at it, a lot of people, including myself, hated this guy because he was good and he always going to respond and shut the haters up. He was like the Tom Brady of basketball, how people enjoyed to see him lose, or dreaded every time he would win an award or a ring. Kobe was one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball.
Kobe played 20 seasons in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers, winning five NBA Championships, 18 time All-Star, 15 time All-NBA team member, 12 time defensive team member, and an NBA MVP. When outside people think of NBA Players, the most average top three answers that come to mind to them are LeBron James, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. Kobe was an icon to the game.
One last thing to say before I end this blog, today was an eye opener to a lot of people as tomorrow as not always a given. Life can change in a blink of an eye, real fast. Always enjoy every day you have with family, friends, and many other things as any day could be your last day you spend with them.
RIP Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and many of those who were killed in the helicopter crash.
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