When my niece first told me about it, I thought she was surely pulling my leg. I had to check for myself, because sometimes things like this have a way of going around but not being true. Then I found out she wasn’t kidding.
Kobe Bryant, dead in a helicopter crash along with daughter Gianna and several others.
Kobe Bryant never played college basketball. But he impacted the game to a degree few who didn’t play it did. That the past tense is being used is what is simply unfathomable. We send our thoughts and prayers to Kobe’s family and the families of others killed in the accident (at least one of who, interestingly enough, also had a place in sports as a current college baseball coach who once coached in the Cape Cod Baseball League).
A player like Kobe is one you can spend hours talking about in terms of legacy. ESPN certainly tried on Sunday, covering his death for hours and sharing the reaction from all over the sports world and more. But even all of that feels like it doesn’t do enough, and a big reason is undoubtedly that this was way too soon. Kobe was 41 years old, younger than I am, and now he is no longer with us, while I’m here writing about a player I never saw as a high school or college player.
Reaction poured in from all over the NBA, including Mavericks owner Mark Cuban saying the organization has decided that no Maverick will ever wear number 24 again, and Shaq, with whom Kobe for a time had well-publicized feud that had been put to rest, talking about how hard this hit him. That was only the beginning; you name the significant figure in sports or not, and they had a reaction: Usain Bolt, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Patrick Mahomes, Barack Obama, Mike Trout and Tiger Woods were among many others whose reaction was noted there.
One of the most powerful reactions was also very brief. USA Basketball, where Kobe saw some highs and lows as the Team USA had some down years before rebounding in 2008 and 2012 on teams he played on, released a statement that was just four short sentences but spoke volumes, especially his support of women’s athletics.
I interviewed a young high school player a little over a year ago. He was a high school freshman who had come to the United States from China and hoped to use basketball as a path to a better life. When I asked him what got him into basketball at a young age before coming here, he wasted little time in mentioning Kobe. He had that kind of international appeal.
Kobe’s death has a connection to Hoopville as well. A one-time teammate of Bryant’s in LA, John Celestand, also once wrote for Hoopville, and he’s as grief-stricken as anyone. His time with Kobe meant a lot to him, and this article gives you an idea of that and is a great read.
The wave of high school players who went straight to the NBA for about a decade before the NBA came out with its age minimum (the “one-and-done” rule) started with Kevin Garnett in 1995. A year later, Kobe was different, because he was the first to go straight out of high school without also being a likely academic non-qualifier (Jermaine O’Neal, who went in the same year, was also a likely non-qualifier). One of the reasons Kobe checked off every box you could want in a young athlete is that he was a solid student with an SAT score of over 1000 and also spoke another language fluently (Italian, from spending eight years there while growing up). He was a student of the game and its history, and he appreciated all of that as well.
As Kobe went on to a legendary career that included being part of five NBA championship teams, he had a major influence. His work ethic was long known as being unparalleled, and you could tell from watching him that this was someone who put in countless hours mastering his craft. In fact, one of the reasons I saw a number of people posting about him on LinkedIn was because the very idea of his work ethic and overall drive to succeed can be inspiring outside the world of sports. He was an amazing competitor, and there’s every reason to believe life after basketball was going to have plenty of success as well.
I’m a diehard Celtic fan and bleed Celtic green as much as anyone. But I’m also a fan of the game, and I grew up watching Magic and (at the end of his career) Kareem, two quintessential Lakers. For Magic to call Kobe the greatest Laker is quite a statement, to say the least. I took no joy in watching the Lakers win five titles over his years, including one in 2010 that the Celtics let get away. But they all spoke to his greatness, and any fan of the game can tip their hat to him. He appreciated the rivalry of the two greatest franchises in NBA history as much as anyone. In many ways, watching him as a Celtic fan was like watching Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera as a Red Sox fan, hating that they’re on the arch rival team but as a fan of the game appreciating them as players (and in Rivera’s case, appreciating him for the man he is as well).
The NBA went on as scheduled on Sunday, with teams taking 24-second (shot clock) as well as eight-second violations in remembrance of him. Life will go on. The words to describe this are hard to find, though many of us try our best. But one thing is for certain: we are all more than a little poorer this morning than we were 24 hours earlier.
Side Dishes
San Diego State got all they could handle in Las Vegas, but held off UNLV 71-67 to go to 21-0. UNLV took the lead in the second half, but a 15-5 run by the Aztecs shortly after that gave them the lead back for good.
It was a rare good day to be a road team in the Big Ten, as Michigan State won 70-52 at Minnesota, Maryland stunned Indiana 77-76 in Bloomington and Ohio State pulled away from Northwestern 71-59 in Evanston. The Spartans were in control for much of the game and pulled away from the Golden Gophers in the second half, while the Terrapins scored the game’s final seven points to rally from being down by six with 1:27 left. Jalen Smith, who had 29 points on 10-14 shooting and 11 rebounds, had the game-winner and also started the game-ending run for the Terrapins, who committed just five turnovers. Ohio State, meanwhile, didn’t have an easy time with Northwestern, but the Buckeyes needed a win after losing six out of seven.
Xavier continues to be an unpleasant surprise in the Big East, dropping to 2-5 after losing 77-66 at Creighton on Sunday. The Musketeers could never get much going offensively, shooting 40 percent from the field including 6-20 from long range and committing 15 turnovers, all of which helped Creighton overcome a 45-28 rebounding deficit.
Chris Duarte capped a great weekend for Oregon with 24 points to lead the Ducks past UCLA 96-75, and the Ducks have pulled ahead of Stanford after Cal rallied past the Cardinal 52-50 in Berkeley.
The Missouri Valley is all tied up at the top after Northern Iowa took control in overtime to beat Loyola-Chicago 67-62 in Cedar Falls. Three teams are just a game back, including Drake, who held off Missouri State 71-69.
Other results of note: Tulsa edged UConn 79-75 in overtime to go to 6-1 in the American Athletic Conference and keep the Huskies reeling as they are 1-5; Houston dumped South Florida 68-49 to stay right with Tulsa; Virginia edged Wake Forest 65-63 in overtime; and Monmouth took over sole possession of first place in the MAAC by winning 94-88 at Iona as Siena blew out Quinnipiac 84-61 in Loudonville.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s the usual light Monday night overall with 17 Division I games on tap, one involving a non-Division I school.
- North Carolina heads over to Raleigh to face NC State in an early game (7 p.m.)
- The MEAC takes over the early games from there, highlighted by Florida A&M at undefeated Norfolk State (7 p.m.), Bethune-Cookman at South Carolina State and Delaware State at North Carolina A&T (7:30 p.m.)
- A Big Ten battle is up later as Wisconsin goes to Iowa (8:30 p.m.)
- The SWAC takes over a few later time slots, highlighted by Alcorn State hosting Alabama State and Texas Southern hosting Arkansas-Pine Bluff (8:30 p.m.)
- Oklahoma State snapped a losing streak on Saturday, but the Cowboys are still seeking their first Big 12 win as they host Kansas (9 p.m.)
- Among the Big Sky games, the best one is the battle of 5-2 teams as Eastern Washington hosts Northern Colorado (9:05 p.m.)
