RIP Kobe — 5 Things You Taught Us
We wanted to believe it was fake news. That it was another hoax.
We prayed TMZ was irresponsible and got it wrong.
And then multiple reports confirmed Kobe was onboard the helicopter that crashed in Calabasas on Sunday morning. Reality hit. Kobe was gone. The news was as real as a 37-year old dropping 60 and riding off into the sunset in their final game.
The world will continue to mourn the loss of a father, husband, son, teammate and one of the greatest basketball players and entertainers to ever live.
I meticulously followed Kobe through his 20-year career. His impact on the culture goes far beyond his accomplishments on the court. Kobe Bryant was just beginning to teach us about the things that made him so successful as a player and the things that were going to make him even more successful as a creator, builder and parent.
- Be Fearless
In the last game of his rookie season, a win-or-go home playoff game against the Utah Jazz, Kobe airballed 4 shots in 5 minutes including the potential game-winning basket in regulation and the final shot in overtime.
That sort of failure would crush most 18-year olds.
To fall flat on a national stage not one… not two… not three… but four times is embarrassing for your regular at the Y let alone a professional basketball player.
Story has it that coach Dell Harris asked who wanted the last shot. Even after a series of airballs, the recent high school graduate volunteered to take the last shot when no one else on the team wanted to take it. Another airball.
“I’ll just work hard this summer and keep this game in mind,” Bryant told reporters after that game. “Like my father always told me, ‘To win some, you’ve got to lose some.”
Kobe Bryant did not care if he missed his previous 1,000 shots. He always believed he was going to make the next one. The confidence he displayed as an 18-year old reminds us that failure is not missing the game-winning shot or losing, but in not using our failure as motivation to do and be better.
BONUS FEARLESSNESS FOOTAGE:
2. Finish Strong
An Achilles tear is every athlete’s nightmare.
Kobe lived that nightmare in 2013 against the Warriors, tearing his Achilles on a shot attempt that resulted in him being sent to the foul line.
The normal thing to do would have been to hobble to the locker room.
Kobe showed us time and time again that he’s not normal.
After a break in action he actually went back out to the free throw line and sunk two free throws on a torn Achilles.
Everyday we have the opportunity to throw in the white towel early. It’s easy to take shortcuts on a workout, a project at work or even time with someone we care about. What often makes the difference between us being good and great is how we finish. Kobe was a finisher at his core.
3. Burying the Hatchet
Despite a historic championship run from 2000–2002, Kobe and Shaq‘s relationship had disintegrated. They rarely spoke and preferred to play telephone with each other through the media rather than settle their beef for the good of the team.
It led to one of the most consequential divorces in sports history, with the Lakers opting to keep Kobe and trade Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat.
The NBA milked the drama between two of their biggest stars, scheduling their respective teams on the biggest stage (namely Christmas) at every opportunity.
The rivalry was fueled further by speculation that Kobe snitched on Shaq, which Shaq addressed at a club some years later. “I’m a horse… Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced,” and more famously “Kobe… tell me how my ass tastes.”
It was clear this beef went beyond basketball. There were legitimate reasons for the two to not like each other.
Kobe, obsessed with winning and being the best, resented Shaq for being out of shape and not giving as much to the game as him. Shaq, feeling micromanaged by the ‘second banana’, felt betrayed by Kobe’s admission to the police about alleged infidelity and paying off women which played a role in his divorce.
We all have a relationship or two that has soured beyond what we thought was repairable.
Kobe and Shaq’s relationship seemed like that. But, time sprinkled with humility and reflection heals wounds if you let it. It’s never too late to accept blame, ask for forgiveness and move on from the past.
They both displayed incredible maturity that manifested in a rekindling of their relationship. It was having a beautiful impact on their lives.
Kobe even sent his son a text the morning of the crash asking how he was doing.
4. Sports is ‘Not Just a Game’
Kobe did not mean to teach us this lesson.
The world collectively spent Sunday mourning over the loss of Kobe and his daughter, Gianna, a very talented basketball player in her own right.
To basketball junkies and Kobe die-hards like myself, it felt more like a family member dying than someone I had never met before.
Sports is a powerful connector in that way. Many of us watched him grow up in front of our eyes, from the bright-eyed rookie with an afro to the adulterer behind a podium to a mature and proud father of four beautiful daughters.
We paid attention to the best and worst of Kobe over his career. That helped us feel like we knew him. We saw past his ball-hogging and intolerance for anything but his way. He reached a point of greatness where fans who hated had no choice but to respect him.
Today proved that sports is more than a game. Sports is how we connect.
5. Reinventing Yourself
There is a short list of basketball players who have won an NBA championship and an Oscar.
Here it goes:
Kobe Bryant.
Many people predicted Kobe would cling to the game the way many other greats have. Michael Jordan came out of retirement — twice. Brett Favre teetered with retirement just about every year near the end of his career.
Kobe was basketball. Basketball was Kobe. We thought his obsession for basketball was impossible to temper. Our projections speak volume to the intensity and effort he played with throughout his career.
And then after Kobe hung 60 on the Jazz — coincidentally, the same team he airballed 4 shots against his rookie season — in his final game he did something few of us predicted. He enjoyed ‘retirement’ and spending time with his family. It was like he forgot completely about basketball, going cold turkey from the game he had obsessed over for the first 37 years of his life. He gave basketball everything he had.
Instead of dwelling on the past, he channeled his ‘‘Mamba Mentality” to inspire others through visual storytelling.
His ability to reinvent himself and focus on what’s next instead of what was is how he could say with a straight face that he rather be known as an investor than a basketball player.
“If you really want to create something that last generations, you have to help inspire the next generation, and they create something great, and then that generation will inspire the one behind them, right? And that’s when you create something forever. And that’s what’s most beautiful.”
RIP to Kobe, his daughter Gianna, and the other families suffering from the loss of those they cared deeply about.
