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Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts. I know that the media I probably nobody.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm gonna make my own because I want to

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Speaker 1: go to the sound board in the sound I want

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Speaker 1: to go to hine. What I was on was no

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Speaker 1: question that I'm making my own. To sty know, it

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Speaker 1: a right good job to print something. It's just good job.

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Speaker 1: Probo believe that they print, happy to do what they

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Speaker 1: happen to do. On a hot Monday afternoon last August,

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Speaker 1: I went back to a place that is very special

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Speaker 1: to me. In fact act, it's the place where I

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Speaker 1: first heard the name Kobe Bryant. So I've just parked

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Speaker 1: here at my alma mater, LSU University, and I'm heading

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Speaker 1: to the Connelly Library so I can find the very

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Speaker 1: first article I ever wrote about Kobe Bryant. I graduated

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Speaker 1: from Lasal. It's a private Catholic university in Philadelphia, a

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Speaker 1: mid size university with about four thousand undergraduates. And I

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Speaker 1: was kind of meant to go there anything. After all,

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Speaker 1: my father went to Lasal and his brother went to Lasal,

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Speaker 1: and my mom's brother went to Lasal, and my younger

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Speaker 1: sister went to Lasal. And while I was there, I

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Speaker 1: spent a lot of my time in a tiny, cramped

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Speaker 1: office in the basement of the student union building, the

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Speaker 1: headquarters of the university student newspaper, The Collegiate. I don't

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Speaker 1: know how many times I've come through this door left

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Speaker 1: the store late at night, back when I was writing

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Speaker 1: for and editing the student paper. Just feel so weird,

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Speaker 1: like all this happened yesterday, or it all happened a

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Speaker 1: quarter century ago, A kind of violing back and forth

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Speaker 1: between those two feelings. Plus, it's always a little strange

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Speaker 1: to come back here. In some ways, it feels like

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Speaker 1: I haven't graduated. Everything kind of comes rushing back. The

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Speaker 1: campus doesn't look that different from when I was here

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Speaker 1: in the early to mid nineties, and some of the

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Speaker 1: buildings and rooms even smell the same. My freshman year

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Speaker 1: at LaSalle began in the fall of another person's tenure

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Speaker 1: at the school began that year too, Joe Bryant's Kobe's dad,

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Speaker 1: Speedy Morris, La Salle's men's basketball coach, had hired Joe

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Speaker 1: as an assistant, and one of the intended by products

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Speaker 1: of that move was the belief that Kobe would decide

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Speaker 1: to play college ball there. Actually, for those of us

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Speaker 1: who were connected to Lasal. It wasn't really belief. It

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Speaker 1: was hope. Who was this kid playing at Lower Marian?

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Speaker 1: Was he that good? Was he as good as his

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Speaker 1: dad had been when Joe played for LaSalle? Was even better?

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Speaker 1: So yes, I remember the first time I wrote about Kobe.

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Speaker 1: I just don't remember what I wrote. I'm not really

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Speaker 1: looking forward to seeing this article. If there's one thing

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Speaker 1: that I think all writers hate, it's going back and

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Speaker 1: looking at their pieces or stories or whatever they wrote

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Speaker 1: when they were young. I know for me, I was

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Speaker 1: trying so hard to find my voice that what I

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Speaker 1: wrote was really stilted and kind of old fashioned in

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Speaker 1: a way. So I'm not looking forward at all to

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Speaker 1: seeing what I actually wrote about him. I didn't know

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Speaker 1: much about Kobe then, his background, his personality. I just

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Speaker 1: knew he was this tremendous high school basketball player who

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Speaker 1: might end up being a tremendous college basketball player at

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Speaker 1: my college. To find the article, I got in touch

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Speaker 1: with Carol Brigham, whose official title at LaSalle is Associate

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Speaker 1: Dean of Operations and Collections Management, which means he's in

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Speaker 1: charge of a lot of the archival material at the

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Speaker 1: Connelly Library, which means she's in charge of all the

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Speaker 1: back copies of the Collegiate. She was waiting for me

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Speaker 1: when I got to the library and went through the

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Speaker 1: front turnstyle. I'm sorry you, Mike, I am, and then

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Speaker 1: I'll say hi, I'm caring car with the you can't

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Speaker 1: tell Vernice to see you. Thanks for doing this problem. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so I'm here to check out the Collegian. You know

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Speaker 1: what it is to your hair is very much Were

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Speaker 1: you here when I was a student here? Oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: okay back in the nice yes, yes, yes, I should

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Speaker 1: have warned you. That's okay. Am. I allowed to ask him?

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Speaker 1: Why sure? Um? So an in January? That vie um

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Speaker 1: and that also, which is why A here today right

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Speaker 1: come out later this year, and as part of it,

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Speaker 1: one of the episodes delving into the possibility to Coobe

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Speaker 1: would have come here and the fact that I was

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Speaker 1: a student in right third with Collegian at the time,

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Speaker 1: so I wanted to take up I know this is

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Speaker 1: the first article. Yeah, so in front of me, I

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Speaker 1: have about eighteen issues of the Collegian from my junior year,

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Speaker 1: and I've got to find the article that I wrote

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Speaker 1: about Toby. So let's see the saying it and here

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Speaker 1: it is. I found it Wednesday, December and guess what

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Speaker 1: it is? Every bit as bad as I feared it

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Speaker 1: would be. I'm Mike Sealskip and from Diversion Podcasts, this

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Speaker 1: is I am cooked the White wat Stein, Create myself,

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Speaker 1: exact signs, Create yourself, say nice, go on, create yourself.

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Speaker 1: You gotta learn of friendly great minds that we gained

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Speaker 1: line selling that's getting signed. Episode five. We need a hero.

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Speaker 1: Growing up just outside Philadelphia, I got turned onto Big

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Speaker 1: Five Basketball at an early age. The Big Five is

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Speaker 1: an informal association of college teams from Philly, some of

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Speaker 1: the oldest and most successful men's basketball programs in the country.

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Speaker 1: Villanova won the national championship just before I turned ten.

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Speaker 1: I can remember watching that incredible upset of Patrick Ewing

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Speaker 1: and the Georgetown Hoyas at home with my mom while

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Speaker 1: my dad was out of town for work. Penn was

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Speaker 1: the Ivy League school that held its own and then some. St.

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Speaker 1: Joe's always had this kind of underdog status, fit for

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Speaker 1: its motto the Hawks Will Never Die. Temple had its

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Speaker 1: wild eyed genius coach John Cheney. He had his team's

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Speaker 1: played this weird matchup zone defense that nobody could figure out.

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Speaker 1: But of course my team was LaSalle. My family had

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Speaker 1: all those connections to the school, and I'd watched the

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Speaker 1: Explorers games with my dad, including a few with the Pialester,

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Speaker 1: which we talked about previously in this series. Plus LaSalle

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Speaker 1: I thought was the best team in the Big Five

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Speaker 1: to watch. The school had won a national championship in

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Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four and had been great in the late

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixties when my dad was a student there. It

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Speaker 1: would traditionally recruit and get one or more of the

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Speaker 1: best players in the city, if not the best, and

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Speaker 1: in the late nineteen eighties, the Explorers coach Speedy Morris

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Speaker 1: continued that tradition. Speedy is still around, but he's experienced

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Speaker 1: some health problems in the last few years, including Parkinson's disease.

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Speaker 1: So I spoke to his oldest son, Keith, who played

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Speaker 1: for him at LaSalle and became a high school coach himself.

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Speaker 1: When you think of the Big Five, what comes to

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Speaker 1: mind tremendous history, worse didn't matter if you were University

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Speaker 1: of Penn having a tough season. We'll say having a

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Speaker 1: tough season, anybody could beat anybody. Any given night, sadness

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Speaker 1: a little bit, and then it's not what it was.

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Speaker 1: TV money, conference money obviously ended those palestrial doubleheaders, and

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Speaker 1: you know, you get it. There's nothing like it in

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Speaker 1: the country. We all know that. And some great teams,

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Speaker 1: great players, great coaches, and just it's silly Philly. I

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Speaker 1: missed the old days with it, to be honest. Speedy

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Speaker 1: is a Philadelphia institution himself. Grew up in the city,

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Speaker 1: got his first coaching job in a C Y O league,

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Speaker 1: was a great high school coach here for years. One

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Speaker 1: writer in town said that Speedy was as much a

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Speaker 1: part of the fabric of Philadelphia as Chiefe steaks, dripping

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Speaker 1: adjecta and soft pretzels flavored with bus exhaust. What a

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Speaker 1: great line. During games and practices, he had a volcanic temper.

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Speaker 1: He'd scream at his players, ball up his sport code

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Speaker 1: and chucking in the stands, roll up a game program

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Speaker 1: into a baton and smack a kid in the back

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Speaker 1: of the head room. He could be tough to play for.

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Speaker 1: I'll give you an idea of what I mean. Andrew

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Speaker 1: Trella grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and was a year

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Speaker 1: behind me. At LA South. His dad went there too,

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Speaker 1: just like mine. Andrew was six ft four, a really

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Speaker 1: good basketball player, used to destroy me and my team

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Speaker 1: and intermurals. These days, he lives and works just outside

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Speaker 1: Philly and coaches bass the ball at his local high school.

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Speaker 1: His sophomore year at LASAL, he tried to make the

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Speaker 1: team as a non scholarship player, a walk on, which

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Speaker 1: meant he got an up close look at Speedy's approach.

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Speaker 1: Here's Andrew. The one thing that really stuck out to me,

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Speaker 1: and it actually has affected me a little bit. I

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Speaker 1: think in the way I coach my kids at high school.

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Speaker 1: At the high school level, is he I don't want

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Speaker 1: a bad mouthing, but boy, he would curse up a storm.

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Speaker 1: He would just dress kids down and just you know,

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Speaker 1: I couldn't believe his mouth. I was like, wow, he's

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Speaker 1: really ripping guys a new one here. So he didn't

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Speaker 1: take any nonsense, and I respect that, but I certainly

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Speaker 1: have a more kind of gentler approach and maybe less

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Speaker 1: profane approach to coaching than he did. But it was

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Speaker 1: like a mile a minute he was he was slaying

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Speaker 1: into people and it wasn't you know, PG rated for

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Speaker 1: him It was just kind of a constant riding and ride,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, this is kind of uncomfortable. Not

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Speaker 1: everybody loved the way Speedy went about things, but man

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Speaker 1: could he coach offense. When he took over Asal's men's

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Speaker 1: program in the n c a A had just added

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Speaker 1: the three point shot to college basketball. It didn't take

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Speaker 1: him long to fall in love with it, and he

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Speaker 1: got guys who could shoot. Tim Legler dug over to

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Speaker 1: Randy Woods and the best of the bunch, the l Train.

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Speaker 1: Lionel Simmons, during the sideline report from Philly broadcaster Mark

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Speaker 1: zoom Off, explains exactly how LaSalle's offense could easily score

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Speaker 1: inside or kick it out to a three point sniper

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Speaker 1: like Tim Legler and destroy you from left marks. Team

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Speaker 1: failed to win a single Big Five game last year,

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Speaker 1: as Big Five Player of the Year had posted decided

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Speaker 1: that weight hy dramatic dial Lionel let Let's dottle a

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Speaker 1: perfect record so far. Clearly the Explorers are back if

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Speaker 1: that's the state. But those days were fading away when

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Speaker 1: Kobe was making his rise through the high school ranks.

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Speaker 1: It would have been a miracle for LaSalle to win

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Speaker 1: a national championship or even sniff one. The school didn't

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Speaker 1: spend much money on its basketball program, didn't even have

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Speaker 1: an on campus arena. The team played all its home

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Speaker 1: games at the Palestra or the Philadelphia Civic Center, twenty

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Speaker 1: minutes away from campus. But somehow the Explorers were contender

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Speaker 1: to win their conference every year, make the n c

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Speaker 1: A tournament, and earned some city bragging rights. Here's Keith

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Speaker 1: Morris again explaining how his dad tried to keep Lasale competitive.

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Speaker 1: Get those solid Philly players one or two a year

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Speaker 1: if you can, and build around it. Was his philosophy,

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Speaker 1: get them here, and I think one of his greatest

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Speaker 1: attributes was making it known and making guys feel like

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Speaker 1: I'm here for you off the court as well as

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Speaker 1: on the court. There was a family atmosphere for sure.

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Speaker 1: My mother, Mom Morris, as many of them call her,

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Speaker 1: cook many a spaghetti, lasagna, meatball dinner for a lot

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Speaker 1: of these guys. So the family atmosphere, and that I

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Speaker 1: think enabled him to coach them hard. The kids knew

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Speaker 1: he had their back off of the court, that he

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Speaker 1: was more than just their coach, he was a father figure. Hey,

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Speaker 1: this is Mike Sealsky, host and writer of I Am Kobe.

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Speaker 1: This podcast project came out of my work on a

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Speaker 1: related book called The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit

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Speaker 1: of Immortality. If you want to explore other parts of

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Speaker 1: Kobe's story, check out The Rise. It's not just a

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Speaker 1: book version of the podcast. I dive deeper into some

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Speaker 1: of the topics covered in this series, and even some

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Speaker 1: that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, his family,

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Speaker 1: his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates, his

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Speaker 1: journey into the NBA, and his earliest days with the Lakers.

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Speaker 1: The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality is

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Speaker 1: out now. Just head over to the Rise of Kobe

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Speaker 1: book dot com and you can buy it from any

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Speaker 1: of your favorite retailers. That's The Rise of Kobe Book

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Speaker 1: dot Com. Thanks. The first look that Speedy and Keith

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Speaker 1: Morris got at Kobe was during a Summer League game,

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Speaker 1: right around the same time that Speedy hired Joe Bryant

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Speaker 1: as an assistant coach. Keith was impressed with the kid.

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Speaker 1: Kobe was raw in that game as a freshman, but

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Speaker 1: you could tell very very talented, and what nobody realized

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Speaker 1: was that kids. Work ethic was just off the charts,

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Speaker 1: and each and every year after he's getting better and better,

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Speaker 1: to the point where my dad's LaSalle can't in the summer.

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Speaker 1: You know, there are ages eight through seventeen, so you know,

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Speaker 1: when I attended that camp, there were actually juniors heading

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Speaker 1: into their senior year in high school that attended it.

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Speaker 1: There were some decent players that came. Kobe I think

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Speaker 1: stopped coming after maybe tenth grade, because he just started

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Speaker 1: he culminated the camp. He was just he became that good.

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Speaker 1: It didn't take long for people, especially people around LaSalle,

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Speaker 1: to start to think that maybe, just maybe Kobe would

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Speaker 1: turn out to be good enough to play for his

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Speaker 1: dad in college someday. Kobe played a ton of pickup

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Speaker 1: games in Lasal's little sweat box of a practice gym.

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Speaker 1: Andrew Trella got to go up against him a few times,

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Speaker 1: and he could see how much better Kobe was than

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Speaker 1: anybody else in that gym. He had moves. I would

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Speaker 1: go back to the dorm after plane and see that.

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Speaker 1: My body's like, I don't know how he gets around

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Speaker 1: the court so quickly. I don't know if he's traveling,

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Speaker 1: but he kind of had a game that I was like,

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Speaker 1: it seemed like it was already NBA ready, and maybe

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Speaker 1: he was traveling. Maybe he just had that good footwork

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Speaker 1: that I didn't know how to get in front of him.

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Speaker 1: But he was really adept at getting around the floor,

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Speaker 1: maximizing the two steps that you get college basketball. I guess,

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Speaker 1: super competitive kid. The way he got around the floor,

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Speaker 1: that's what I really remember. It's kind of it was

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Speaker 1: very effortless, how he could get around the floor. You

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Speaker 1: think he might come to a sale if if Oh, yeah, no,

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Speaker 1: I definitely did so. And this was a running in

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Speaker 1: conversation I had with my buddies who I lived with,

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Speaker 1: was his dad's here he could be this second coming

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Speaker 1: of line one really turned the program around. You know,

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Speaker 1: there was a lot of talk at that time. I

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Speaker 1: believe it was Duke was mentioned pretty heavily. I remember

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Speaker 1: getting a lot about Duke um and then obviously he

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Speaker 1: heard the whispers about the NBA. But I guess I

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Speaker 1: just had never been around with someone who made that

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Speaker 1: kind of jump to the n B A And you know,

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Speaker 1: he was still what at six six six seven, he

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Speaker 1: wasn't physically he hadn't failed out completely, So it seemed

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Speaker 1: to me, like, you know, he would be an awesome

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Speaker 1: college player for a couple of years, and the fact

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Speaker 1: that his dad was on campus and helping out with coach,

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Speaker 1: and I was like, yeah, this seems like a great fit.

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Speaker 1: I certainly hoped and thought that, you know, he would

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Speaker 1: be kind of the next guy to turn the program around.

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Speaker 1: So because he could have walked in and the ball

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Speaker 1: was his, Andrew was onto something back then. Early in

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Speaker 1: his high school career, Kobe was actually open to the

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Speaker 1: idea of going to a sound He was genuinely considering

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Speaker 1: it because he knew he would be a superstar if

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Speaker 1: he went there. But I thought that was fund probably

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Speaker 1: be a nice right, not a couple of years, and

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Speaker 1: right sounded great to us. Kobe could come to Lassal,

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Speaker 1: stay for a year or two and dominate. We'd have

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Speaker 1: been cool with that. Heck, we needed him to do that.

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Speaker 1: Thanks to the programs athletic director Bob Mullen, LaSalle had

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Speaker 1: just changed conferences, moving to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, which

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Speaker 1: included schools like Detroit Mercy and Illinois Chicago. It was

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Speaker 1: supposed to be an upgrade, better competition, more money, but

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Speaker 1: it was a ridiculous decision. No one from the Philadelphia

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Speaker 1: area wanted to watch basketball games against those schools, And

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Speaker 1: you could be darn sure no Philly area players wanted

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Speaker 1: to go to Lasal to play against those schools. I

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Speaker 1: mean it, I was there. Nobody showed up sitting courtside

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Speaker 1: at the Civic Center for a Lasau game. It was

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Speaker 1: like being at the bottom of the Grand Can. One night,

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Speaker 1: I was sitting courtside on press row and the Civic

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Speaker 1: Center was practically empty, and a sportswriter leaned over to

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Speaker 1: me and said, you know, if you put everybody in

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Speaker 1: this building on the court, no one would get called

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Speaker 1: for three seconds. It was a great line. It's stung,

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Speaker 1: but he was right. Competitive ball game, turning it inside

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Speaker 1: out as always be winning. That clip of a loss

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Speaker 1: from a matchup between LaSalle and Temple was just one

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Speaker 1: of many examples of the Explorers getting trounced in that era.

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Speaker 1: If Lasal basketball was going to have any kind of renaissance,

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Speaker 1: it needed Kobe bad and everyone knew it. So Bob Mallen,

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Speaker 1: the a D pulled out all the stops. He gave

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Speaker 1: Joe a raise, and he arranged for Kobe's older sister, Shia,

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Speaker 1: who played volleyball at Lower Merion to get a full

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Speaker 1: athletic scholarship to less out, even though the women's volleyball

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Speaker 1: coach never even met her, let alone recruited her. Through

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Speaker 1: all that, though, Kobe was pretty ambivalent about the idea

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Speaker 1: of becoming an explorer. For example, one of his pickup

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Speaker 1: partners at LaSalle was Larry Kentner, a six ft ten

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Speaker 1: stud at Roman Catholic High School, a Philly basketball powerhouse.

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Speaker 1: Kenner was a year ahead of Kobe in school, and

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Speaker 1: he was thinking about going to Losal himself. Kobe told

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Speaker 1: his friend Jeremy Treatment that Kentner basically gave him an ultimatum,

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Speaker 1: if you go Ala each other. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, Kobe,

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Speaker 1: I'll commit to that. I have no clue what I'm doing. U. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: It was fun about goal there to play there. I

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Speaker 1: thought I could play there. I never really were out

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Speaker 1: there like it didn't man, that's all. Larry said, I'm

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Speaker 1: there tomorrow. And Larry Kenner wasn't the only big time

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Speaker 1: recruit who was considering the Sound just because of Kobe.

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Speaker 1: I got another one for you, Corey Benjamin. Corey Benjamin

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Speaker 1: was a six ft six shooting guard from Compton, California.

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Speaker 1: Kobe met him on the AUTH circuit. He'd go on

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Speaker 1: to be a first round draft pick and play three

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Speaker 1: plus seasons in the NBA. He said, going to I'm

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Speaker 1: going to because you know, you can't cout happen a

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Speaker 1: good time of hanging out. It started that he played

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Speaker 1: in comin with each other very well, going to the South.

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Speaker 1: I'm going all the way out there and I'm going

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Speaker 1: that's for you. I mean, what players standpoint. Then they're

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Speaker 1: saying if you college, If you do go to college,

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Speaker 1: I'm coming rich girl, I'm saying, but they know. I mean,

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Speaker 1: if they were my things, she may be taking man

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Speaker 1: and it would be a nice plot. But at the

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Speaker 1: same time, you might want to go to college and

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Speaker 1: having become a good time. So you never know what

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Speaker 1: to happen. So even in retrospect, it sounds too good

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Speaker 1: to be true. Kobe Bryant, Larry Kentner, Corey Benjamin All

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Speaker 1: a little old lassal well, guess what it was too

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Speaker 1: good to be true? Kentner picked you Mass. Benjamin ended

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Speaker 1: up going to Oregon State. As for Kobe, he was

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Speaker 1: keeping most of these plans to himself and even though

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Speaker 1: his dad was in a tough spot being an assistant

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Speaker 1: coach and everything. He and Kobe were kind of stringing

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Speaker 1: Speedy Morris along. Here's the other thing. Jeremy Treatment was

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Speaker 1: the radio play by play guy for the Explorers at

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Speaker 1: the time, and he was tight with Joe Bryant. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I saw your dads being Marson's jumping out the sound. Well.

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Speaker 1: I think at good time, I thought I'd be going

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Speaker 1: to the South. IM be a nice back my father.

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Speaker 1: Those of us who weren't really in the know, thought

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Speaker 1: that bond between Joe and Kobe might be enough to

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Speaker 1: pull the kid to the South. Our school might have

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Speaker 1: a chance to get him. Our school might be the

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Speaker 1: one that Dick Vitale was screaming and shouting about on ESPN.

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Speaker 1: Our school would be in the spotlight for a change

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Speaker 1: that chance. However, Slim made a certain high school basketball

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Speaker 1: game in December of a huge event in Philadelphia, and

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Speaker 1: particularly to everyone who followed was sal Who's The game

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Speaker 1: was between Lower Marian and Roman Catholic. Larry Kentner had graduated,

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Speaker 1: so Romans best player was a guard named Donnie Carr.

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Speaker 1: He and Kobe were friends. They played summer ball against

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Speaker 1: each other for years, and Donnie was Speedy Morris's top

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Speaker 1: recruiting target. He was just six ft three but strong,

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Speaker 1: could shoot from the outside and had a great handle,

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Speaker 1: the perfect Lasal player. The game was at Drexel University,

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Speaker 1: and Donnie and Kobe went toe to toe. That was

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Speaker 1: the game that inspired me to write my first article

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Speaker 1: about Cope. There had been so much build up to

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Speaker 1: it and so much reaction after it, and Kobe and

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Speaker 1: Donnie had played so well that I felt I had

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Speaker 1: to weigh in. I had a regular column for The

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Speaker 1: Collegian back then, and here's a snippet of the one

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Speaker 1: I wrote after the lower Marian versus Roman Catholic game.

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Speaker 1: Prepare yourself for some awful probes. Last Monday night, the

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Speaker 1: prospective saviors of the LaSalle basketball program stood out in

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Speaker 1: the center of Drexel's Physical Education Center, drew their cult

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Speaker 1: forty five, and blasted away at one another. Neither blinked.

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Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant, Lower Marian's sleek and supple guard, scored thirty points,

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Speaker 1: flying and floating through the heavy gymnasium air. Roman Catholics

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Speaker 1: Donny Carr scored thirty four points. The game was a

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Speaker 1: victory for Roman, the gunfighting duel a draw the future

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Speaker 1: for Explorer basketball should these young snipers choose to come

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Speaker 1: here blinding Yikes, that's some overwrought college paper garbage. But

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Speaker 1: I was just one of several writers who read way

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Speaker 1: too much into that game, who didn't really know what

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Speaker 1: Kobe was thinking. And as I would learn much later,

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Speaker 1: what he was thinking was I don't want to play

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Speaker 1: for La Salle, and I especially don't want to play

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Speaker 1: for a coach who screamed so much. Right as the

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Speaker 1: season when I really I really begin to dislike me

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Speaker 1: more because the way he's coaching. A couple of things

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Speaker 1: you did, I mean didn't like. I said, Man, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you know, it's not you. I really just don't like

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Speaker 1: like I did. Decided to college, and I would not

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Speaker 1: be side. I really want to thinking, you don't realer

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Speaker 1: what you're doing. I remember, but I know my mother

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Speaker 1: dart where Kobe was pretty emphatic there, and you have

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Speaker 1: to put his thinking in the right context, the context

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Speaker 1: of that time and the context of him Back then,

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Speaker 1: it was a pretty natural thing for a great high

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Speaker 1: school basketball player to go play for a coach like

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Speaker 1: Bobby Knight or John Chaine or Speedy Morris, a coach

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Speaker 1: who would scream and yell and push his players to

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Speaker 1: the breaking point. But Kobe was at the vanguard of

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Speaker 1: a new generation of players, young men who knew how

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Speaker 1: much power they had and knew that they could wield him.

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Speaker 1: Kobe could choose any path he wanted, college, the NBA, whatever,

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Speaker 1: he could do what was best for him. He just

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Speaker 1: had to be bold enough to follow through on it.

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Speaker 1: Kobe's future wasn't dependent on Speedy Morris. If anything, it

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Speaker 1: was the other way around, and Speedy Morris's future wasn't

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Speaker 1: exactly a high priority for Kobe. It got to the

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Speaker 1: point that he started mocking the idea that he choose

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Speaker 1: lasal Remember the volleyball scholarship that Shaya got. Well, Kobe's

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Speaker 1: other sister, Shariah, already was a Division one player at Temple,

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Speaker 1: another Big five Phillies school, And as Kobe told Jeremy Treatment,

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Speaker 1: he had a lot more fun watching Sharia's matches than

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Speaker 1: he did. Shays, Oh yeah, yeah, there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: fund game the South, like Temple bar on the south

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Speaker 1: of the really stinks. Saying those the teams stinks. You

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Speaker 1: attended the day volley board teams stinks. So Jeremy asked

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Speaker 1: Kobe the logical question, if you weren't going to Asal,

425
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,560
Speaker 1: where were you going? What are you going to check out? There?

426
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:56,200
Speaker 1: What I'm thinking about checking out? Mr? Game? You're gonna

427
00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:02,040
Speaker 1: go to all these places? I definitely check out what's

428
00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:07,840
Speaker 1: ks trying to percentage cheese? You might change the funds

429
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 1: a little defender, but you never know what happened. I

430
00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:17,240
Speaker 1: never never right right out there at the best time

431
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:26,280
Speaker 1: in your life. Enjoined the coach choo where you wait

432
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: for you. There's a couple of schools that I like,

433
00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 1: like North Carolina, but I'm gonna pick them. You don't

434
00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:38,480
Speaker 1: pick them because of affects. Michael Jordy not able to

435
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: have your own identity right now? You do. There are

436
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 1: a couple of really interesting insights into Kobe just from

437
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 1: that clip. One, even though he admired Michael Jordan's and

438
00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 1: patterned his game after Michael Jordan's, he didn't want to

439
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,040
Speaker 1: go to North Carolina because that's where Michael Jordan's had

440
00:30:03,080 --> 00:30:05,960
Speaker 1: gone to school. He wouldn't be his own man, he

441
00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: wouldn't have his own identity there. Two, he would have

442
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,880
Speaker 1: gone to Duke. That admission confirms what a lot of

443
00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:15,080
Speaker 1: people were saying at the time and have said in

444
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: the years since, that if Kobe went to college, he

445
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,640
Speaker 1: was going to play for Mike Chaszewski. But here's what

446
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 1: very few people knew at that time. All the lip

447
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 1: service that Kobe was paying to the idea of going

448
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,520
Speaker 1: to college would turn out to be just that lip service.

449
00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 1: There was no chance he was going to Duke or

450
00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:41,480
Speaker 1: North Carolina or Michigan or Arizona or LaSalle. Looking back,

451
00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 1: all of us who are around back then can see

452
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: that possibility of Kobe going to LaSalle for what it was,

453
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,160
Speaker 1: a flight of fancy for a prodigy with bigger dreams,

454
00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: a one in a million shot at glory for a

455
00:30:55,360 --> 00:31:00,440
Speaker 1: struggling college program, A notion that captured our imaginations. But

456
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,320
Speaker 1: that turned out to be a pipe dream. But man,

457
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: it was fun to dream. Even Carol Brigham, tucked away

458
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:13,840
Speaker 1: in the Connelly Library about as far from the world

459
00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: of basketball as you could get, hoped Kobe would end

460
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:20,360
Speaker 1: up at the site. I remember it all. I remember

461
00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 1: being so disappointed when I decided, yeah, yeah he uh

462
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 1: he thought about it, thought yeah, yeah, you met him, Yes,

463
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:34,760
Speaker 1: I met him a number of times, but once Kobe

464
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 1: reached a certain point in his development as a player,

465
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:49,600
Speaker 1: he was never ever going to do it. He had

466
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:52,640
Speaker 1: made himself stronger and smarter. He was adding muscle to

467
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,280
Speaker 1: his skinny frame. He had more experience. He knew better

468
00:31:56,360 --> 00:31:59,720
Speaker 1: how to CounterPunch against just about any defense, how to

469
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 1: up and safe for any deficiencies in his game. On

470
00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 1: a particular night, if his jumper wasn't falling, he'd drive.

471
00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 1: If an opponent played his own, he'd bomb away from

472
00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 1: the outside. Heading into the summer between his junior and

473
00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:16,800
Speaker 1: senior years of high school, the Summer of Kobe had

474
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: a plan, and it did not involve saving the basketball

475
00:32:20,400 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 1: program at my alma mater. It didn't involve college basketball

476
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,760
Speaker 1: at all. The plan was so wild and so forward thinking,

477
00:32:27,840 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: in fact, that even Jeremy Treatment couldn't see its full

478
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:35,560
Speaker 1: scope at the time. The summer of nine was going

479
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: to be Kobe's springboard to the NBA. In the next episode,

480
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,760
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story of that summer, The summer

481
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:47,680
Speaker 1: when Kobe Bryant truly became a superstar. At one point,

482
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 1: Stack House started found him high. They almost got into it,

483
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: and you know, stack house grabbing him and we had

484
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:54,360
Speaker 1: to kind of break them from those two up. He

485
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,960
Speaker 1: was relentless because, like I said, for a guy in

486
00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,320
Speaker 1: high school, it was not even its going out the

487
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,960
Speaker 1: number one over pay. What's kind of crazy? That's next

488
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:27,360
Speaker 1: week on I Am Kobe. I Am Kobe is a

489
00:33:27,400 --> 00:33:31,040
Speaker 1: production of the Version podcasts in association with I Heart Radio.

490
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,760
Speaker 1: This season is written and hosted by me Mike Sealsky.

491
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 1: It's produced by Jacob Bronstein and directed by Mark Francis.

492
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 1: Story editing by Jacob Bronstein with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, Editing,

493
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,760
Speaker 1: mixing and sound design by Mark Francis. Stephen Tompkins is

494
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 1: our production assistant. Our theme music is Create Yourself by

495
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 1: Grover Brown featuring Justin Starling. Find Create Yourself wherever you

496
00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: stream music. Music supervisor is Scott Velaska's for Free Sons Sinking.

497
00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:08,440
Speaker 1: Executive producers are Mark Francis and Scott Waxman. Join the

498
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: conversation about I Am Kobe on social media on Twitter

499
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:16,880
Speaker 1: and Instagram. It's at Diversion Pods thanks to Rain Rosenbaum,

500
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:22,359
Speaker 1: Susan Cannavan and Jeremy Treatment The Eyebries before the Sun.

501
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,759
Speaker 1: They don't understand when I said the grind is fun.

502
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 1: Never clock you out. Even when my work is done.

503
00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:29,360
Speaker 1: If they're trying to block me, I might hurt someone

504
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 1: through the blood sweat and says, we perseveit, stay tending in,

505
00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:34,719
Speaker 1: let it, keep the hurses and then if they don't

506
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,800
Speaker 1: believe in themselves, gave a vert, defend that at Tampa says,

507
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,719
Speaker 1: So I'm telling no, pass my a. This the reason

508
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,799
Speaker 1: why I'm gonna work so damn different. So the negatives.

509
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,200
Speaker 1: I can't listen to see me at the time. You

510
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 1: can't listen where I'm a mute to play like cashes

511
00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:53,840
Speaker 1: see I pay my dudes because Texas gotta work. I

512
00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:56,200
Speaker 1: thinking grind ahead of his time. It's someone saying that

513
00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: they made you. Don't tell them you create yourself the

514
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:04,279
Speaker 1: best you ben or watch us, but by that time

515
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,880
Speaker 1: you gotta snake clock, then break clock, break we create yourself.

516
00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:15,520
Speaker 1: Watch creet question, watch to create myself, sat climb, signs

517
00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: up and create yourself. They nice, ain't so hard to

518
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,400
Speaker 1: create yourself. You gotta learn from the great minds. No,

519
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,439
Speaker 1: we ain't lying to tell them that this is any time.

520
00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 1: This talent wasn't given. It was made the future. Any

521
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 1: time I could change better, tell them that I've made

522
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: it back home. As I walked through the hearts of

523
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:37,880
Speaker 1: the fame, I came from the Valley of the Shadow

524
00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:40,640
Speaker 1: with death waiting for us. Spoon, don't hold your breath,

525
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 1: same town, sat train. But I did it with less.

526
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,399
Speaker 1: I know one that to be so there's nothing to guess. Yeah,

527
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:50,080
Speaker 1: there's nothing. Yes, it's our times. Tell them we up next.

528
00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:52,560
Speaker 1: We don't got any regrets. I did it with my

529
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:55,719
Speaker 1: soul hands and we never forget my an. This the

530
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,080
Speaker 1: reason why my work so damn different to the negatives.

531
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,040
Speaker 1: I can listen see me at the time. You can't

532
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:07,200
Speaker 1: listen for where rebuild, reach shape, give me your eye.

533
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 1: You got to risk take do it now. When I'm

534
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,080
Speaker 1: saying while braves, I was saying that they made you,

535
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,680
Speaker 1: tell them you create yourself the best you finn l

536
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:20,480
Speaker 1: watch us by. It's by that time. You gotta sneak

537
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:25,000
Speaker 1: clock then break clock break we create yourself, watch me,

538
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: watch watch the create myself. Exac clia signs up and

539
00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:37,239
Speaker 1: create yourself. They're nice and ain't go on create yourself.

540
00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:40,240
Speaker 1: You gotta learn from the great minds. But we ain't

541
00:36:40,320 --> 00:37:08,840
Speaker 1: lying telling them that ain't time diversion podcasts,