I don’t know if I can call myself a Kobe fan despite having spent countless hours in the gym trying to emulate Kobe’s impossible shots. I don’t even know if I have the right to pay tribute to his career when I tell my friends, “I am an ex-Kobe fan”. Frankly, I was quite nonchalant about his retirement until yesterday when I was at a gym doing some weightlifting and watched some of Kobe’s career highlight plays on TV in passing. Out of nowhere, that’s when I suddenly felt the tears coming up and I had to try really hard to hold it down. I wasn’t expecting this but I guess I do end up writing something about this Kobe Bryant guy.
I started watching Kobe play before I learned how to speak English. In 2003, he was wearing number 8 at the time and was basically invincible on the court. His breakaway 360s, fadeaway jumpers, elbow iso leading to one dribble pull-up, patented jab-and-go baseline double clutch dunks……. He was a complete package and it didn’t take long for a teenage boy like me to be hooked.
I don’t want to talk about how I spent hours and hours into mastering his jab-and-go or one dribble pull-up jumpers because I know everyone else did too. We have millions (if not billion) of Kobe fans around the world and I understand that I am simply just one of them. However, one thing I wanted to talk about was his impact on my life. I am going to go ahead and say this. I am who I am because of Kobe.
As a foreigner having difficulties fitting into a new country and new culture, Kobe’s mentality was a perfect escape route for me to rely on, which helped me overcome many life challenges. His isolation-heavy mentality, I believe, came from not wanting to rely on anybody but himself wherever he goes whether it’s Italy, US highschool or NBA. This “I only believe in myself” mentality kept me strong through some tough times. Perhaps this mindset contributed a lot to my self-centeredness, but I ain’t complaining. His attitude and approach towards the game of basketball and his “come earliest, leave the last” work ethic are somethings I still admire and apply on everything I do to this date and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.
I don’t know where I’m going with this, but I am still quite overwhelmed by the fact that today is my last day watching my childhood role model play. With the way I reacted to his retirement in the gym yesterday, I think I’ve always had him as my role model deep inside, but I just didn’t realize that. It’s not what a true fan does, but perhaps I just couldn’t stand watching my idol get deteriorated this badly.
I am very sad to see you go Kobe. Very Very Very Very sad. I am little embarrassed to say this, but I am going to watch your last game from home by myself walking through all the memories I had with you probably with some tears. It’s so damn hard to say this, but thank you for your… everything and making me who I am today. Bye Kobe.
NBA on Grid 