For Kobe

I was just a young boy sitting in my dad’s bed watching history in the making. The TV hung on the wall played with cheers and chants flowing through it. It was nothing to me then. I didn’t even know what basketball was. There on the screen was you, the fearless mamba come to life making his opposition crumble. “Kobe for the win, IT’S GOOD!!! LAKERS WIN!” I jumped to my feet not from happiness, but a certain thrill that came from the crowd roaring. That was the start, it was because of you.

Growing up I tried many sports but basketball was the only one I picked up by choice. After seeing the way that Kobe tore up the court, I wanted to be like that. As I watched and played more and more I resented him. How could he play like that? How is that fair? It doesn’t matter how you guard him, he’s gonna score somehow. A Los Angeles boy who didn’t want to cheer on the Lakers. Where else would I turn but the Clippers? I was and am a Clippers fan but Kobe was special. The older I became, the more I understood. Stories of how hard he worked and how determined he was shocked me. It wasn’t like I thought at all. He was an inspiration.

As a teen I stopped playing basketball for the most part. The fire inside had just died but that was okay. I knew that I just didn’t love the game enough to push myself to the highest level and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to reach the top in something that I loved and basketball just wasn’t it.

I remember when I heard the news. The winding road to my left and the rumbling hills of green flew by my vision. “Kobe’s dead?” a voice from inside the car brought my mind back into my body. “what?” “That’s not possible.” My phone shot into my hand and my fingers glided across the screen like eagles soaring through the sky. The initial headline “Helicopter crash killing 5 people including Kobe Bryant.” It didn’t feel real, like a passing thought of disgusting origins. The car fell silent.

Kobe was more than a basketball player. He inspired millions. He taught many people that hard work pays off. People across the globe have mourned and will continue to mourn his terrible death. I know I will. The only NBA player that went on the win an Oscar. He did it all, and he was going to do more.

Kobe taught me to find my passion and then just work at it. Grind it day and night until you either are the best or the passion flees. Kobe once said that the days where he didn’t want to work or didn’t want to practice, if you can see love the game in that time, you love the game. I’ve been searching for that, my love, my passion. I’m searching for it to this day and once I find it, I will be the best. For you. For Kobe.