Kobe Bryant Legacy

Every so often, a person comes along that transcends their field and touches lives across the board. Elvis is a good example of this. Michael Jackson was a good example of this. From the sports world, there's a few names that comes to mind. Babe Ruth, Roberto Clemente and Thurman Munson come to mind right away. In modern times, Kobe Bryant fits that bill. He was one of the greatest players to ever step foot on a basketball court. His humanitarian effort off the court was the same way. The world lost Kobe on Sunday, who passed away, along with eight other people, in a helicopter accident. He was 41 years old.

Kobe's career on the court speaks for itself. Drafted in 1996 right out of high school, he spent his entire 20 year career with the Lakers. He won five NBA titles, and was MVP of two of those finals and was a 14 time all star. Don't need to get into any more of it because, well, its been well documented. Kobe is considered, and rightfully so, to be one of the top five, if not top three, players that have ever played in the NBA.

Kobe was known as the Black Mamba. Thanks to CBS Sports, it became clear as to why Kobe chose that nickname:

In a 2018 interview with Kent Babb of The Washington Post, Bryant revealed that the movie "Kill Bill" was the primary motivation for the "Black Mamba" nickname. In the film, an assassin uses a black mamba snake to kill another character. "The length, the snake, the bite, the strike, the temperament," Bryant said during the interview. "'Let me look this s--- up.' I looked it up — yeah, that's me. That's me!'" The purpose of becoming the "Black Mamba" was for Bryant to have an alter ego. It was a chance for Bryant to become an assassin on the court. (CBS Sports)

Kober did whatever he had to do to try and win at basketball games and help his teammates get better. There was more to Kobe Bryant than that. There was the man away from the floor. Bryant was the official ambassador for After-School All-Stars (ASAS), an American non-profit organization that provides comprehensive after-school programs to children in thirteen US cities. Bryant also started the Kobe Bryant China Fund which partnered with the Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity backed by the Chinese government.

After the story broke yesterday, you could see the outporing of love from players and fans of not only the NBA, but sports fans and people in general, spoke volumes for who Kobe was and the impact he had on this planet. Some questioned the decision to have the games played yesterday. You could see it on the players faces that a lot were uncomfortable trying to play. Canceling games would have been a bad idea, but postponing them might not have been such a bad idea. It would have given people more time to collect themselves and to grieve.

I've seen friends of mine take to social media yesterday and expressed their emotions over this. They said that Kobe was the reason they not only started watching basketball, but the reason they started playing as well. It wasn't just his style of his play, it was his bulldog attitude. That's what drew people to him, he had this confidence about him that was almost magnetic. His playing ability, his personality, the total package. Kobe was it. It's almost hard to put into words what Kobe had, as far as drawing power goes. You couldn't see it, but you knew it was there, you could feel it.

It sucks that Kobe Bryant went the way that he did. But his legacy will live on stronger than ever. Kobe, you had such a great impact on all the lives that you touched and you will be missed