There are few first names that people can identify with in the history of mankind. Jesus, Adolf, Elvis, Madonna, Beyonce, Lebron, Rihanna and Kobe. After playing for the NBA's most popular franchise for the last two decades and becoming one of the ten greatest players to ever touch an NBA court, Kobe Bryant made his first name memorable in pop culture history.
Being born in 1995, I personally grew with Kobe, from being a baby to becoming grown-ups in the world and in the NBA. Every person has their own personal story of Bryant in the basketball world, however.
Former player Dennis "3D" Scott first met Bryant when Kobe was a middle schooler who approached Scott, telling him how he would go to the NBA and break the records that he has since broke today. A pair of Los Angeles fans who stood in Phillips Arena an hour before tip-off for the Hawks vs. Lakers said they saw Bryant's first game-ever in The Forum and have seen every Bryant visit in Atlanta since they moved to the city in 2005.
My memories of Bryant began during the golden days, when the big Shaq and young, electric, Bryant who sported the number eight and an Afro, were on NBC seemingly every weekend and the team won championships every year. Fast forward to the year the Lakers acquired Gary Payton and Karl Malone, the first super team I have seen, before the Celtics assembled one in 2007. Bryant cut the 'fro that season. The team fought a lot and still made it to the Finals that year after Bryant was in-and-out of the courtroom among other team drama. I remember the Lakers blowing the entire team up: Shaq and Payton were traded, Phil Jackson was fired and Karl Malone retired. Through it all, Bryant remained a Laker, sporting his number eight jersey. I remember the biggest beef in Hollywood was not in hip-hop, but in the NBA as Shaq and Bryant exchanged some words, or lack thereof, through the media. I remember waking up one morning to go to school in fifth grade and reading on the ticker of SportsCenter that Bryant scored a lot of points...like an amount of points I've bragged about scoring on NBA Live to my friends at school about before amount of points. I remember later that year, coming back from my Dad's house on a Sunday, watching Bryant hit the most clutch shots I have seen up to that point in life against the Suns in the historic 2006 first round of the playoffs. I remember the Lakers trading for Pau Gasol and coming back to contender status, even though they lost in Atlanta that year and Shaq's rap that followed that season. I remember Bryant being not quite ready to hand his keys to Lebron just yet, by scoring 50 in four straight games and absolutely going off in Madison Square Garden. I remember his battles with Lebron and the puppet commercials those two had. I also remember when Bryant finally won the MVP award, when he finally became a part of Team USA and the "Redeem Team" in 2008 and the crazy stretch of game winners he had in 2009-10.
So if you could imagine, having the opportunity to ask him a question in-person was my favorite Bryant memory. I asked if he ever gave the young guys a hard time about being on the Lakers longer than they've been alive and his response was classic Kobe.
"[Laughs] I mean no player really, except this one time someone was trying to talk trash from the bench and I made that one comment to him and quickly, he seemed he understood- but no. If anything, it's just helping the young guys out more than anything," he said.
Bryant's resume stands on its own. His focus and passion stand out even more. For my generation, we didn't see Jordan's game-winner in Cleveland, but we saw Bryant's game-winner against Phoenix. We didn't see Jordan's 61 in Boston, but we saw Bryant's 61 in New York. We didn't see Jordan's meanest posters on opponents live, but we saw Bryant's. That's why it's so hard to say goodbye, even to a man who is going 4-for-17 on a nightly basis now. Because even if we weren't living in the city of the Staples Center, Kobe Bean Bryant was still a staple in our Basketball hearts.
Being born in 1995, I personally grew with Kobe, from being a baby to becoming grown-ups in the world and in the NBA. Every person has their own personal story of Bryant in the basketball world, however.
Former player Dennis "3D" Scott first met Bryant when Kobe was a middle schooler who approached Scott, telling him how he would go to the NBA and break the records that he has since broke today. A pair of Los Angeles fans who stood in Phillips Arena an hour before tip-off for the Hawks vs. Lakers said they saw Bryant's first game-ever in The Forum and have seen every Bryant visit in Atlanta since they moved to the city in 2005.
My memories of Bryant began during the golden days, when the big Shaq and young, electric, Bryant who sported the number eight and an Afro, were on NBC seemingly every weekend and the team won championships every year. Fast forward to the year the Lakers acquired Gary Payton and Karl Malone, the first super team I have seen, before the Celtics assembled one in 2007. Bryant cut the 'fro that season. The team fought a lot and still made it to the Finals that year after Bryant was in-and-out of the courtroom among other team drama. I remember the Lakers blowing the entire team up: Shaq and Payton were traded, Phil Jackson was fired and Karl Malone retired. Through it all, Bryant remained a Laker, sporting his number eight jersey. I remember the biggest beef in Hollywood was not in hip-hop, but in the NBA as Shaq and Bryant exchanged some words, or lack thereof, through the media. I remember waking up one morning to go to school in fifth grade and reading on the ticker of SportsCenter that Bryant scored a lot of points...like an amount of points I've bragged about scoring on NBA Live to my friends at school about before amount of points. I remember later that year, coming back from my Dad's house on a Sunday, watching Bryant hit the most clutch shots I have seen up to that point in life against the Suns in the historic 2006 first round of the playoffs. I remember the Lakers trading for Pau Gasol and coming back to contender status, even though they lost in Atlanta that year and Shaq's rap that followed that season. I remember Bryant being not quite ready to hand his keys to Lebron just yet, by scoring 50 in four straight games and absolutely going off in Madison Square Garden. I remember his battles with Lebron and the puppet commercials those two had. I also remember when Bryant finally won the MVP award, when he finally became a part of Team USA and the "Redeem Team" in 2008 and the crazy stretch of game winners he had in 2009-10.
So if you could imagine, having the opportunity to ask him a question in-person was my favorite Bryant memory. I asked if he ever gave the young guys a hard time about being on the Lakers longer than they've been alive and his response was classic Kobe.
"[Laughs] I mean no player really, except this one time someone was trying to talk trash from the bench and I made that one comment to him and quickly, he seemed he understood- but no. If anything, it's just helping the young guys out more than anything," he said.
Bryant's resume stands on its own. His focus and passion stand out even more. For my generation, we didn't see Jordan's game-winner in Cleveland, but we saw Bryant's game-winner against Phoenix. We didn't see Jordan's 61 in Boston, but we saw Bryant's 61 in New York. We didn't see Jordan's meanest posters on opponents live, but we saw Bryant's. That's why it's so hard to say goodbye, even to a man who is going 4-for-17 on a nightly basis now. Because even if we weren't living in the city of the Staples Center, Kobe Bean Bryant was still a staple in our Basketball hearts.