I wish: Kobe

[Cowbell Man]

I was a wrestler. I was a coach. I wish I had been better at both.

As wrestlers we always said,,, and BELIEVED... “It was better to wrestle and lose than play basketball”. It’s just fun sport rivalry. It doesn’t matter. Unless you are the basketball player getting fouled by a wrestler.

I cycle. I have played football. I have been a Lion Mascot to all of you. But I have also wondered what it would feel like to be blessed with the talents of Kobe Bryant, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, or my own personal hero, Ed Marinaro. I know what it feels like to wear something cool, be someone else and have 100k people cheer for me. But it don’t know what’s it like to be so good at something that people can’t speak. They just open their mouths and stare. I wish I knew.

I’m also a dad. I know that that’s like.

This hurts. I’m a Celtic fan and...And a dad. This sucks.

 

[District four]

I was a wrestler. I was a coach. I wish I had been better at both.

As wrestlers we always said,,, and BELIEVED... “It was better to wrestle and lose than play basketball”. It’s just fun sport rivalry. It doesn’t matter. Unless you are the basketball player getting fouled by a wrestler.

I cycle. I have played football. I have been a Lion Mascot to all of you. But I have also wondered what it would feel like to be blessed with the talents of Kobe Bryant, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, or my own personal hero, Ed Marinaro. I know what it feels like to wear something cool, be someone else and have 100k people cheer for me. But it don’t know what’s it like to do so good at something that people can’t speak. They just open their mouths and stare. I wish I knew.

I’m also a dad. I know that that’s like.

This hurts. I’m a Celtic fan and...And a dad. This sucks.

I hear you. This has hit me harder than most. Thoughts and prayers to his family.

 

[Dogwelder]

Why are we talking about this guy here?

 

[Cali_Nittany]

Why are we talking about this guy here?

Well, Kobe is from Pennsylvania. The wrong side of the state but still a Pennsylvanian.

 

[NoVaLion2]

I was a wrestler. I was a coach. I wish I had been better at both.

As wrestlers we always said,,, and BELIEVED... “It was better to wrestle and lose than play basketball”. It’s just fun sport rivalry. It doesn’t matter. Unless you are the basketball player getting fouled by a wrestler.

I cycle. I have played football. I have been a Lion Mascot to all of you. But I have also wondered what it would feel like to be blessed with the talents of Kobe Bryant, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, or my own personal hero, Ed Marinaro. I know what it feels like to wear something cool, be someone else and have 100k people cheer for me. But it don’t know what’s it like to do so good at something that people can’t speak. They just open their mouths and stare. I wish I knew.

I’m also a dad. I know that that’s like.

This hurts. I’m a Celtic fan and...And a dad. This sucks.

Well said! Thank you.

 

[El-Jefe]

I was a wrestler. I was a coach. I wish I had been better at both.

As wrestlers we always said,,, and BELIEVED... “It was better to wrestle and lose than play basketball”. It’s just fun sport rivalry. It doesn’t matter. Unless you are the basketball player getting fouled by a wrestler.

I cycle. I have played football. I have been a Lion Mascot to all of you. But I have also wondered what it would feel like to be blessed with the talents of Kobe Bryant, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, or my own personal hero, Ed Marinaro. I know what it feels like to wear something cool, be someone else and have 100k people cheer for me. But it don’t know what’s it like to do so good at something that people can’t speak. They just open their mouths and stare. I wish I knew.

I’m also a dad. I know that that’s like.

This hurts. I’m a Celtic fan and...And a dad. This sucks.

Being a Celtics fan should hurt.

Seriously... coincidentally, tonight we had dinner in Ardmore -- the exact town where Bryant attended high school. Overheard the topic coming up at a few tables, but thatis as far as it went.

I realize he alienated a lot of Philadelphians by forcing his way to LA and then calling that his hometown, but it's still odd that it was like any other celebrity death, as if nobody knew his family, neighbors, classmates, teammates, coaches, etc. In the town where he grew up.

Weird.

 

[Annieat285]

Why are we talking about this guy here?

It's worth talking about Kobe anywhere. He was the ultimate competitor and a consummate professional who rose to the zenith of his game through hard work and dedication. He approached life with the same zeal and, despite his transgressions, touched and positively influenced a large number of people. He became very active in his daughters lives post retirement and seemed to be every bit the father people should aspire to be.

Yes, Kobe wasn't a wrestler, but the dedication with which he approached his craft is exactly what you would want from a wrestler. Or any athlete for that matter. Tireless effort, ceaseless intensity and a desire to learn from others and improve himself in any way possible. These were the things that made Kobe great, and they are attributes to which any athlete, or any person for that matter, should aspire.

 

[nerfstate]

 

[SWPA]

Seriously, the above post can stay? Sheesh!

 

[CholleyVandine]

Being a Celtics fan should hurt.

Seriously... coincidentally, tonight we had dinner in Ardmore -- the exact town where Bryant attended high school. Overheard the topic coming up at a few tables, but thatis as far as it went.

I realize he alienated a lot of Philadelphians by forcing his way to LA and then calling that his hometown, but it's still odd that it was like any other celebrity death, as if nobody knew his family, neighbors, classmates, teammates, coaches, etc. In the town where he grew up.

Weird.

He grew up in Italy. When the family moved back to the States as he was about to enter high school, they settled in Wynnewood. Lower Merion High has an Ardmore mailing address, but Ardmore is not in any sense the town where Kobe is from. (Jesus is also not from Ardmore, so Kobe is in good company.)

Even in Wynnewood, Kobe does not have deep roots. He lived there for four years in high school and then moved to LA to play for the Lakers.

I have family members in Wynnewood who went to high school with him. I know the news hit them hard. One of my cousins took her kids up to the high school yesterday afternoon to leave flowers. She said there were something like 100 people there. It was most definitely not treated like just any other celebrity death.

Weird aside, when the kids who would become Kobe's classmates at Lower Merion High were still in elementary school, the wreckage of the helicopter crash that killed John Heinz landed in their schoolyard. Two helicopter tragedies hitting so close to home would be enough to make me swear off choppers forever.

 

[CholleyVandine]

Why are we talking about this guy here?

Kobe went to high school in Lower Merion Township.

Billy Pincus went to high school in Lower Merion Township.

Billy Pincus lost to Daryl Burley in the 1981 EIWA finals.

Daryl Burley beat Bob Bury in the quarterfinals of the 1981 NCAA tournament.

Three degrees of separation from Kobe to Penn State wrestling. How can you question the relevance?