The sudden death of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven other people aboard a helicopter last Sunday has shocked the sports world and the nation beyond it. Kobe was a professional basketball giant who transcended the game.
His stats across 20 years in the NBA tell the story. He turned pro straight out of high school. He was an 18-time All-Star with five NBA titles (including three in a row from 2000-2002), and on and on and on. Bryant was a prodigy who changed the game and left it better. He was the hardest working talent of his era.
The world, according to Kobe Bryant, was one in which he would never be out-worked, out-thought, or out-hustled. He told former Chicago Bulls player and journalist Jay Williams, “I wanted you to know that it doesn’t matter how hard you work, that I’m willing to work harder than you.” And he did.
Bryant’s quotes just on the subject of work ethic could fill a self-help book. “The most important thing,” he once said, “is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
He couldn’t even relate to anyone who sought anything less than the best of themselves. “I can’t relate to lazy people,” he said. “We don’t speak the same language. I don’t understand you. I don’t want to understand you.”
A born leader on and off the court, Kobe knew that winning was ultimately up to him: “It’s my job to pick us up when we are down. I had to sharpen my focus.”
Through victories and defeats, injuries and an unforgettable 81-point demonstration of mastery against the Toronto Raptors in 2006, the Black Mamba never lost his love of the game or that focus. Part of the reason was his unbending dedication to his sport and his obsession with being the best and winning the most. Everything else was a distraction.
To those who complained that he shot too much, he would refer them to Mozart: “Some people thought Mozart had too many notes in his compositions … He responded to critics by saying there were neither too many notes or too few. There were as many as necessary.”
Bryant followed in the footsteps of the previous basketball generation’s legend, Michael Jordan, and comparisons between the two ran throughout Bryant’s career and into his retirement. They were different players and different men, yet much alike. Like Jordan, who never sought to emulate anyone else but instead to surpass everyone, Bryant said, “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan. I only want to be Kobe Bryant.”
Throughout his career, Jordan had said similar things about Philadelphia 76ers legend Julius Erving.
Jordan and Bryant shared more than other-worldly basketball genius. They both disdained the politics that has come to infest sports over the past few years. Michael Jordan famously said, when asked why he doesn’t speak more on political and social issues, “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
Jordan said that in the context of a now-forgotten North Carolina race for Senate. Had Jordan weighed in, the Democrat would still have lost, and Jordan would have politicized his own image. For what? Those on the Left who wanted him to become political would have just moved on to another contest, another issue, and demanded more of Jordan. Jordan was wise in resisting them, and so was Kobe Bryant. Sports fans tend to turn to the game to escape their everyday concerns, including politics.
Bryant was not another Michael Jordan. He was and always will be Kobe Bryant.
Kobe Bryant built as many championships, scored as many points, inspired as many of his teammates, delivered as many quotes on work and leadership, and touched as many lives as necessary during the decades of his dominance. Five rings and 33,643 points in 1,346 games played. A legend on the court and a graceful and generous leader and father away from the court. He leaves behind a family who will be mourning and deserve grace from the rest of us.
Bryant also made as many political statements as he deemed necessary across his glittering career: Zero.
In an era of crybaby NBA stars and hypocrites, I have a hard time believing Kobe would ever turn down a White House visit as insufficiently woke. The man won two Olympic gold medals with USA written across his chest. He loved this country.
Like Mike, I never knew Kobe’s view on immigration, taxes, or defense spending. His legendary status will persevere across all demographics forever because the only people he ever sought to alienate were the players in the other team’s jersey.
A.J. Rice is CEO of Publius PR, a communications firm in Washington, D.C.
