The complicated and simple reasons Kobe Bryant will be mourned by many
Kobe Bryant was scheduled to coach Sunday in a game at his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks and was en route there when the helicopter crashed. The tournament, called the Mamba Cup, featured boys’ and girls’ travel teams of from fourth through eighth grade. He died alongside his daughter, Gianna and seven other friends. Since then there has been an outpouring of grief and investigations ongoing regarding the cause of the crash. Prior to his death Bryant was both loved and hated for his competitiveness and not afraid to defend his opinions, however unpopular.
Globally sportsmen are worshipped and excellent sportsmen assume superpower status and a cult following. Americans adore the game of basketball and would do anything for its stars. The first time I really paid attention the body of work that was Kobe Bryant was when he made dismissive comments in 2014 about the case of Trayvon Martin, the African American teenager who had been shot to death in Florida by the neighbourhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman two years before.
Martin’s death and Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal on second-degree murder charges incensed many black athletes — but not Bryant, who told The New Yorker, “If we’ve progressed as a society, then you don’t jump to somebody’s defence just because they’re African-American.” many criticized Bryant as being tone-deaf amongst other things.
Here are 6 reasons many continue to mourn him
He was a family man
For all his ambitiousness and dedication to his pursuits, Bryant never put work before his family. In an emotional piece written for the Players’ Tribune on Sunday, the soon-to-be Baseball Hall of Fame member Derek Jeter opened up about his friendship with Bryant, emphasizing that the late basketball star was a family man first and foremost.“All I ever needed to know about Kobe Bryant was this: that throughout our friendship, the most meaningful conversations we had — they were always about family,” Jeter, 45, began the essay.
He added: “When I think of Kobe, I really just end up thinking about those special few personal conversations that we were lucky enough to share together, each time one of us had a new baby daughter. After retiring from the NBA, Bryant stayed near the basketball court through his role as coach for his daughters. Bryant got married at a young age of 21 and his family didn’t attend his wedding because they didn’t approve because they felt he was too young and possibly because his wife was not black. Bryant didn’t let that stop him from marrying the woman he loved and building a strong family.
A not unblemished record
His life was not without its downs and errors in judgement. When Bryant was accused of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old Colorado hotel worker in 2003.
Bryant insisted the encounter was consensual. The criminal sexual assault charge was dropped in 2004, and the accuser agreed to settle her civil lawsuit against Bryant in 2005. Since that time Bryant has been trying to drown out of his story. Though this happened more than 15 years ago the reverberations continue today. When Bryant won an Oscar for his animated short, “Dear Basketball,” more than 17,000 people signed a petition asking the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to rescind it. Last year protesters forced Bryant’s removal from the jury of an animation festival. In a Washington Post feature article with Kent Babb, Bryant said that in the aftermath of a landmark sexual assault scandal, Cococola and Macdonalds cut ties and Bryant’s jersey sales plummeted “They didn’t want the gritty s — -,” he says. “And most people still don’t.”
Didn’t apologize for his competitiveness
He was a fierce competitor, one of the greats of the game and a creative force,” said fellow NBA icon Michael Jordan. Many of us shy away from making comments about how hard we work and are modest about our aspiration and even our achievement for fear of being disliked or thought to be arrogant, but Kobe Bryant was not afraid to proclaim his greatness and has received criticism and love for his boldness and win at all cost attitude to life. On his desire to be the greatest of all times Bryant modelled his game after Jordan and saw himself as the heir apparent — and occasional rival — to the former Bulls superstar. “I was thinking in my mind: I didn’t care,” Mr Bryant said in 2017 on a podcast hosted by Geno Auriemma, the 11-time national championship coach of the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team. “I’m going to destroy this guy. I don’t care if I’m 18; I’m coming for blood.”
His enviable work ethic
Tales of Bryant’s work ethic have become folklore. From his early morning workouts to marathon shooting sessions, to a relentlessness to improve himself.
Former Lakers player and head coach Byron Scott said he once found an 18-year-old Bryant shooting in a dark gym two hours before practice. Scott told Business Insider:” I heard the ball bouncing. No lights were on. Practice was at about 11, it was probably about 9, 9:30. And I go out to the court and I look, and there’s Kobe Bryant. He’s out there shooting in the dark. And I stood there for probably about ten seconds, and I said, ‘This kid is gonna be great.’” He also used to show up to practice at 5 a.m. and leave at 7 a.m. … in high school. When it came to focusing and tenacity he was the man everyone wanted to be like
We love to see focus payoff
Bryant wore his self-discipline and commitment like a badge, never missing an opportunity to let others know he worked hard to get to where he was. He was also an 18-time NBA all-star with five NBA championships and two Olympic gold medals. He was a regular-season MVP and a two-time NBA Finals MVP. But as outstanding as Bryant was as a player, his growth in retirement was more impressive, in away. Once the epitome of precocious arrogance, he evolved into being a true champion for others. It was comforting and inspiring to know that Bryant was embracing being an elder statesman — especially because there had been a time when fans and fellow players thought he was far too competitive. Marlon Nichols, a managing partner at MaC Venture Capital, one of his investment partners has this to say. “He was one of those rare talented humans whose effort matched his talent,” Mr Nichols wrote in an email. “I personally learned so much about focus and dedicating yourself to a goal from him.” He also personally invested $6 million in sports drink startup BA Sports Nutrition LLC, which does business as BodyArmor, to take a roughly 10% stake in the company in 2014. When Coca-Cola Co. purchased a minority stake in the startup in 2018, the value of Mr Bryant’s investment soared to roughly $200 million, according to a report by sports outlet ESPN and reposted on BodyArmor’s website. Mr Bryant, along with longtime entrepreneur and investor Jeff Stibel, in 2016 established Bryant Stibel, a $100 million fund backed by their own capital, to target technology, media and data companies.
An active post retirement life.
Post-retirement many worried about what Bryant would do with his boundless energy and competitive spirit. He proved critics wrong by establishing himself as a storyteller and filmmaker. “Dear Basketball,” a five-minute film based on a poem he wrote in November 2015 to announce his retirement won an Oscar award for best short film in 2018. His dedication to Gianna was total, coaching her middle-school basketball team, watching Lakers and college games with her courtside. From that came a wider commitment to women’s basketball, advising the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, holding coaching camps for younger players.
All of it , good and bad, the love people have for him sprang from the traits that his great friend and on-court rival Vince Carter say defined him: “His drive. His mentality. His will to win.”
