Kobe: It Still Hurts

One-year ago the universe lost a legend and what would have become a legend. It was the the worst news to ever come across the Twitter timeline. I had just gotten to Brazil for vacation, logged onto the Wi-Fi, and started scrolling. Right before I had taken off from Miami on the 8-hour journey I had liked a tweet from Kobe to Lebron about moving the game forward. Lebron had just passed him on the all-time scoring list and I was thinking to myself, what class, leadership, and dignity to tweet a congratulation Goat to Goat. When I landed and was able to connect to Wi-Fi, I would quickly find out that at 41 years old, that was Kobe’s last tweet.

I was DEVASTATED as I continued to read.

The last tweet on Kobe’s account was King James up and recognizing greatness. It makes total sense for Kobe to be in awe of what King James has accomplished. Lebron, like Brady, in a sense, immediately makes your franchise a contender. James used the “Mamba Mentality” and drove the Lakers to a World Championship in the midst of a global pandemic to honor Kobe, creating a narrative that will never be re-written in sports.

Kobe was some sort of super-hero out of a comic book. He made so many buckets that people all over the world yell, “KOBE,” when throwing anything ball shaped through a “hoop.” The dude scored 81 points in a single game. It’s almost impossible to score 30 points on NBA2k21, a video game. If the game was on the line you would call Kobe’s number, no questions asked. From buzzer beaters, to slam dunks, to World Championships, Kobe did it all.

That’s why his sudden and tragic helicopter accident on this day one year ago will always be a day that hits the sports community a little different. Kobe had that kind of effect on people. Kobe’s devotion to making those around him better was the core of the mamba mentality. He was devoted to the Lakers organization. He was a devoted Father, Dad, Coach. Kobe made those around him Great. Teams from all over the league would try and adopt the Mamba mentality. However, the only person that truly adopted such mentality was Kobe, himself. It’s not a learned trait, it’s not something you turn-on, it’s something you live by every day in order to be the best at whatever you do. The World would be a better place if we all just tried to adopt a fraction of a percent of the Mamba mentality.

Imagine the impact he would have had in 2020 with his reach., the things he would have came up with during quarantine to captivate America, the impact he would have had on Gianna on her way to being the greatest WNBA player ever, or maybe even the first Woman to ever play in the NBA. We learned through Kobe that with the Mamba Mentality anything is possible. The sports community was robbed of a legendary story that wasn’t even midway through.

Kobe is a legend that will never die.

RIP Kobe and Gianna. This crazy world will never, ever, forget you.

#RIPKobe