Kobe

From a young age, I knew I was going to love sports. Anytime my dad took me to the park, all I wanted to do was go to the ball diamond and slug a few. Once I got older, my parents bought a basketball hoop and put it in our yard. We didn't have a paved driveway, so we turned the grass into dirt by the hoop. I spent hours in the summer trying to perfect my shot. You could still hear the thud of my bank shot even after the sun set.

As the 90s gave way to the 2000s, I began to follow sports. And as most young kids who play sports do, they pick an athlete whom they look up to. Since basketball was the sport I loved to play the most, naturally I gravitated that way. Surely I would pick Michael Jordan right? Nope. Jordan was in the NBA six years before I came into existence. Kobe came into the league as I was approaching 6 years old. His face was everywhere. When I went to McDonald's, cardboard cutouts of him holding a big mac could be seen. He appeared in Sprite commercials and Nike ads. Him and Shaq were doing great things in L.A. I watched him play and was enthralled by the magic he could make simply by holding a basketball. I jumped aboard the Lakers bandwagon. I didn't know their storied history. I had not yet learned about the Laker greats Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, and Magic Johnson. All I knew was that I loved watching Kobe play.

My love for sports and the game of basketball grew as Kobe, Shaq, and the Lakers completed a 3-peat championship right into the 2000s. I watched the beginning of most games, but being 8-10 years old, my parents sent me to bed before they ended. But I checked the news the next day to watch the sports report and see the final score. I'll never forget when I saw the replay of Robert Horry hitting the buzzer beater over the kings and seeing an elated Kobe Bryant charging him in celebration. I was in basketball bliss.

When Shaq and Kobe got into a feud and Shaq was traded to Miami, I was not a happy camper. The Lakers didn't do so hot the next handful of years, but Kobe was still Kobe, making basketball magic. Yet critics still came at him. "You can't win a championship without Shaq" they said. That lit a fire in him and come 2009 & 2010, the Lakers won back to back championships led by non other than Kobe Bryant.

Those were the last championships he won. He played in the NBA 6 more years, but in his final game in 2016, Kobe proved he still had the magic. The Lakers were playing the Jazz and at the same time the Warriors were trying to go for the best record in NBA history. But unless you were a Warriors fan, you were watching Kobe's last game. Late in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were down. In respect for Kobe, his teammates fed him the ball all night long. Kobe went full Black Mamba (his nickname) and put up an incredible 60 points, taking the lead and winning the game. It's one I'll tell my kids about one day. It was an incredible ending to a storied career.

Today, the news broke that Kobe Bryant was tragically killed in a helicopter crash. Normally, celebrity deaths don't hit me emotionally as I had no personal connection to them. But this one was different. Kobe was the athlete who made me want to play basketball and at least try to be good at it. When he took the court, you knew you were going to see something special. Kobe was what me and my friends shouted when we were trying to sink a sweet shot. His smile was infectious, his down to earth personality was something to be admired, and his love for the Philadelphia Eagles really hit home with me. He was my childhood hero.

Thank you for inspiring my childhood basketball dreams. Thank you for inspiring many people around the world. Thank you for giving us many great years of basketball memories. And thank you for being you, You will be missed.