Written By: Jovan Popovic
Edited By: Cameron Schoffro
Two years already. It’s been two long, sad, difficult years since the unfortunate and shocking passing of the great Kobe Bryant.
I still remember the day like it was yesterday. I was at home, listening to some asynchronous political science lectures. I check my phone after hearing a notification, to find a message in a sports group chat I had. A friend writes: “guys, I think Kobe just died.” I dismissed it as a weird joke and unpaused my lectures.
A half-hour later after the lecture, I checked my phone again, but this time there were a lot more messages. Bleacher Report, theScore, ESPN, Instagram, my phone was just blowing up. As I read them one at a time, my heart sank. Kobe Bryant, along with several others, had died in a helicopter crash.
I remember sitting there waiting for a follow-up notification saying he jumped out at the last second. That notification never came.
It was a quiet day in my household, which would turn into days, and then weeks. I couldn’t believe it. My favourite player, one of my idols, and one of the most well-respected athletes of all time was gone.
Kobe, who would later become a hall of famer, was an 18x all-star, a 2x scoring champion, a 5x NBA champion, 2x finals MVP, and the 2007-2009 MVP award winner. He made the 1996-1997 all-rookie team, was featured on 12 all-defensive teams, and made the all-NBA teams 15 times. He became the first player to ever have two numbers retired by the same team. He scored 33,643 points in his career, good for fourth all time (third when he retired), and he and his father were (and still are) the highest-scoring duo of all-time, even over Steph and Dell Curry.
Despite all the incredible NBA achievements, it was his talents and work off the court that garnered the respect of the world. Kobe wasn’t supposed to be an all-time great. It was through his incredible work ethic that he got as good as he did, a work ethic that remains unmatched today. A work ethic that's now known as the mamba mentality.
There was a point in his career where Kobe was in a huge slump, and just couldn’t figure out why. He had spent hours and hours in the gym, and it just wasn’t showing on the court. When he would eventually talk to the team trainer, they would realize that he spent so much time training, that he was actually sleep-deprived. Once he scaled back his training schedule to allot for more sleep, the results would finally start pouring in.
Kobe’s work ethic was always on display. Team USA teammate Chris Bosh once told a story from his Olympic days with Bryant about what the team referred to as the “breakfast club.” The goal was to be the first one to breakfast every morning because that means you’re the first to start your day and the first to get to work. Bosh, determined to be the first, set his alarm for 5:00 AM. In the morning he got up and rushed down to breakfast.
Bosh was sure he had won on the first morning with the team, until he turned the corner and saw Kobe Bryant sitting there. He was amazed. Not just because Kobe had beat him to breakfast, but because he had two ice packs on his knees. He had already finished his first round of training for the day. This was just days after a strenuous finals run (where he lost). Bosh was in disbelief.
The stories of Bryant go on and on. Nobody pushed themselves as hard as he did, and nobody earned it more than he did. This is why he was so well-respected and why Kobe Bryant was so widely beloved.
In his honour, let us reflect on this day. Look back at the great memories he created. Think about how many people pushed themselves that extra mile because of him. All the people that looked up to him, and realized what it took to achieve greatness, everyone who realized that anything is possible, as long as you’re prepared to put in the work.
Kobe may not be with us anymore, but the mamba mentality will live on forever. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.
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