“You asked me for my hustle, I gave you my heart”
– Kobe Bryant (Dear Basketball)
Dear Kobe,
Its been over 24 hours since the last time I feel like I took a breath in. I am still waiting for someone to just tell me it’s not true. It can’t be true. You were as immortal as immortal got.
A kid growing up in India with a 11 hour time difference from LA, with no prior scheduling of NBA games available, waking up every other morning at 5am to check if the Lakers game was on ESPN, was how far your impact went.
It was all worth it for the moments of delirious joy, that came quarter after quarter, game after game, season after season; for nearly 2 decades. I have spent half a lifetime watching and fawning over every sport I could find, yet nobody impacted me as much as you did.
I remember a childhood where all that was important to me was to fight with people who said Jordan was better. I spent the next few years admiring your career transition from a young brash superstar, to the leader so unique, that your leadership style; the Mamba mentality, became an everyday term, in my life and in the lives of so many.
I stayed up all night to watch your final game early in the morning on a night before a terrifying International Commercial Law exam and nearly failing it because I was too delirious with joy to actually focus on writing. That night of vintage Kobe was totally worth it all.
I watched “Dear Basketball” after it won the Oscar and I was so proud to see the life you were building so gracefully beyond the NBA while still finding the time take all these players of my generation and younger, under your wing. The massive number of players all across the NBA, who are out on the court showing their emotions, telling your stories and changing their numbers for you are things that show how great an impact you had on a whole generation, of not just fans, but these larger than life NBA stars as well.
But there was nothing that made my heart warmer than watching you with Gigi, courtside at the NBA games, WNBA games and the Mamba Academy games.
And nothing breaks my heart more than watching this amazing journey cut short so tragically.
As more time passes, it starts to hurt a little bit less. There are even times when it slips away from my mind for some time. But everytime I see a basketball, it’ll take me back to you. To shooting that ball of paper into a trash can and shouting “Kobe”. To trying endless turnaround jump shouts before I could even make a layup.
The term “rest in power” has never been more appropriate for anyone and yet has never been more difficult to write.
NBA will never be the same. Basketball will never be the same. To me and to millions of others.
Goodbye Kobe.
Sport Microcosm 