You're gone. Well the physical you is. I can't believe I'm typing this sentence. Yeah, he's a human. Humans are born and humans die. But Kobe Bryant wasn't supposed to die. That energy, that fervor for greatness. That felt eternal. It is. It hurts right now but it's true. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another." Mamba Mentality is forever. You channeled your passion and drive into a relentless pursuit to accomplish your goals. Whether the 8 you wore at the beginning of your career was a constant reminder of the amount of championships you wanted to win in the NBA. To the 24 you switched to as a reminder of the amount of hours needed to master your calling. You retired from the game. Most assumed you couldn't stay away. All you did was enter into a new arena as a writer and director. You won an Oscar for crying out loud! You transferred that manic work ethic and attention to detail to go be great somewhere else. You are an inspiration. An inspiration to me, looking to find my footing in this craft that I care about. Determined to not simply fit into a box and eager to explore all topics and areas that I am passionate in. An overthinker and always cautious with words, I want to be great in this discipline. I want to inspire and encourage others. I want to attack a topic with such depth that there's no rebuttal. I want to learn. I want to educate. I want to grow. I wrote about you two weeks ago. You sat down with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, reminiscing about your career but I was so enamored with the father you are. How you wrote as an ode to your daughter wanting young girls to have athletes to look up to in bedtime stories their parents read to them. How you only came back to watching basketball because your daughter picked up your obsession with the game. What's wild about all this is I grew up an avid Allen Iverson fan. I hated the Lakers so much for that Finals series! As I got older I grew so impressed with your longevity and re-invention. As I started back writing on Par 4 and What You Expect and I would dedicate prime sleeping and eating hours to writing, I came to understand your mind. I felt the same passion. The same energy. My life is the Earth and writing is the sun. And while it's stressful with all the things to do, I fucking love it. It's almost all I want to talk about. I have so many notes filled with content ideas and people to reach out to. Basketball was the conduit to getting to know you. And when that adventure was over, you went on to the next. It was never just about basketball. It was deeper, there were lessons. A bigger picture. It hurts you won't be here to continue that path. To continue to inspire and influence. To continue to teach. Just as some were beginning to see. It hurts that it seems like the people with so much "lust for life" leave us so unexpectedly. And while I am not religious in even the slightest, I feel that it's a lesson to those of us that get to experience these people to keep their energy alive. To incorporate their passion, their mantra, their essence into our lives. The man, the physical entity, known as Kobe Bean Bryant may not longer be here with us but we have been so fortunate to be introduced to Mamba Mentality. Thank you for blessing us with this knowledge and I hope to utilize the way you attacked the craft of basketball, writing, directing, coaching, fatherhood, etc., into my writing and my relationships as well. Mamba Forever. |
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Ty FosterQuestion everything. WQHC Archives
June 2020
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