Why I’ll Always Love Kobe Bryant

By MH
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Updated: November 30, 2015

Last night while I was at the Orlando Magic game my hero Kobe Bryant announced that this will be his final chapter of NBA basketball. Anyone who has spent significant time with me knows that I’m not that comfortable showing emotion.

My best friend calls me out during emotional scenes of movies as I’ll reach for the popcorn or soda. I usually make fun of couples that give the extended goodbye hugs as I figure they’ll see each other again sometime soon. I didn’t cry during my last game of highschool or college basketball when a lot of peers showed that emotion. But last night I felt something that I’ve never really felt before, a true heartache. It kinda felt like highschool when I walked into tests without studying and knew I was going to receive the lowest grade in the class.

I instantly thought back to all the memories I have of Bryant and the Lakers. I remember being six years-old and watching the Lakers get smacked by the San Antonio Spurs as that was the last game played in the Great Western Forum. I cried my eyes out as if I was on the team or something.

Living in the Bay Area I remember going to a Lakers vs. Warriors game and everyone being excited to see Shaquille O’Neal and I just wanted see Kobe. For me, there’s something about Robin that’s attractive to me. At the time Shaq was Batman and was the most dominant player in the world and got all the attention but I could see what Bryant was, I knew he would be something special one day.

I was six years-old. I didn’t know that he was a highschool phenom, or his Dad played in the league. But as I grew up and the Lakers won championships and I began reading more and more about Bryant. Every Halloween I wore a Kobe jersey. I wanted to be an Laker like Bryant when I grew up.

I remember playing in a local city league and being one of the better players on my team. My coach gave me number 23 because he said that I deserved to wear the same number Michael Jordan wore, but I wanted Kobe’s number 8. It wasn’t disrespect to Jordan. The Jordan that I got to watch was the Washington Wizards Jordan. I wasn’t alive to see Jordan go up against the Celtics and the Pistons on the 80’s.

I’ve heard a lot of people this season and throughout Bryant’s career say that they don’t like him because he’s not Jordan. Or that he tries to hard to be Jordan. My response is that we all try to be like our heros. Some of us are just able to imitate it better than others. And no, Kobe is not Jordan. He’ll never be better than Jordan. Even if he would have won all 7 times he went to the NBA Finals people still wouldn’t give him credit, and that’s fine.

Bryant is one of the greatest of all time. First ballot Hall of Famer, and that’s good enough for me. It’s hard for people to leave the game. He has spent more than half of his life in the NBA and he loves it. It’s hard for people to walk away from things.

Yes, he has not played well this year at all. I’ll be the first one to say Kobe has been bad, but let’s stop the trash talking that he should retired three years ago. Three years ago Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to the playoffs during a year that was full of drama with coaching changes, injuries, and much more.

People saying that he needs to retire right now stop yourself. The Lakers didn’t get anybody this summer, and the playoffs were a pipedream. The people who say we would have signed someone in free agency if Kobe was gone, LaMarcus Aldridge said Bryant was the best part of his presentation.

I’ll always love Kobe Bryant for his work ethic and relentless pursuit of greatness. He’s my hero. He’s the reason why I played basketball as a kid. He’s the reason I wore number 24 in high school. He’s the reason why I played college basketball.

Thanks for the memories Kobe Bryant. I’ll be rooting for you until the end.

Oh, by the way, this won’t be the last time I write about Bryant this year.

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