WEBVTT - The Mind of a Champion 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:14.920 Diversion podcasts. This is all I ever want to uh. 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.319 When I first came to high school, I knew I 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:19.640 was a pretty good player. I'm just gonna work hard 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:24.279 trying to accomplish all the individuals. But I went forward 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.280 twenty say any man, I hate you. There's no way 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:30.600 how I want to go to this again, and then 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:34.159 you will benna fool. You're asking me and food. Throughout 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:35.920 the whole time, I could just remember saying that I 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:37.480 want to stay changed and I want to be knowing 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:39.440 at the best I only have the best player or 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.720 the guys guy will playing the best, and that meant 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:45.519 so much. I just wanted to do with everybody that 0:00:45.600 --> 0:01:01.240 I can carry Temple State Championship m H. In the 0:01:01.280 --> 0:01:04.880 weeks just before his final season of high school basketball began, 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.399 Kobe Bryant would wake up each morning before dawn. It 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.160 would still be dark and chilly outside when he'd hop 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.880 into his SUV and drive himself at two and a 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.240 quarter miles from his house to Lower Merion High School. 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.520 He got there before the principal, before the teachers, before 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:25.520 the other students. He'd parked in a prize spot near 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:28.440 the entrance to one of the school's gymnasiums. A janitor 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.520 would let him into the building and for an hour 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:34.760 before his first class of the day, Kobe would shoot 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.880 and work on his footwork and his handle and dunk 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.520 for an hour. Sometimes on his way to school, Kobe 0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:45.600 would stop and pick up Robbie Schwartz, one of his teammates. 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.240 Robbie wasn't one of the Lower Marion Aces star players. 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.080 He was a year younger than Kobe, five ft seven, 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.040 a guy who was just happy to be on the 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.840 roster and along for the ride, and he was happy 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.440 as hell did join Kobe for a few of those 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:04.120 early more workouts. Robbie still lives in the Philly area. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.760 He's not a short, stumpy kid anymore. He's a personal trainer. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.720 Really got into Waitland and when it comes to this podcast. 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.760 In my book, the best part about Robbie was that 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.639 he remembered a ton of details about his time in 0:02:17.720 --> 0:02:20.960 high school with Kobe, and he loved to talk about 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.720 I called him up one day to do just that. 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:31.239 Here's rob My role on the team was a practice player. 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:33.640 I was I was the last guy on the bench, 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:35.519 Like I had to fight to get on the team. 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:37.200 I had to fight to stay on the team, and 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.680 so I would do anything to be a part of it. 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.360 And I think in the back of my mind, I 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:49.320 always sort of knew he was something bigger than what 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.280 was going on just in high school, and I always 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.160 wanted to be around it. I mean, I can tell 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:55.240 you that honestly because it's the truth. You know. It's 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.840 It's like, dude, it's not a coincidence. I'm in all 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:00.919 of these pictures that are all over the place, Like 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:03.800 I think in my mind, I was like, I gotta 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:06.960 get in this picture. I asked Robbie what those early 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.800 mornings that lower marrying with Kobe were like, just the 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:12.040 two of them playing ball in the gym together. And 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.079 I remember a couple of things about those mornings. Number One, 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.560 I've never been so cold. I am not I don't 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.640 do well in the cold as is. It was so 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.520 cold in that gym. The janitor opened it up for us. 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.280 It took five minutes for lights to come on, about 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:28.919 a half hour for the heat to couple O. I 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:32.960 was like literally freezing, and I remember thinking, like, you know, 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:35.480 I wonder what we're gonna do. Like in my mind, 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.920 I had all of these thoughts of like we're gonna 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.840 develop this great chemistry and like, you know, somehow it 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:44.120 would lead to me playing more and we're playing at all. 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.400 And I just ended up rebounding for him for an hour. 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.480 And I never said anything because I was like, I 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.800 was like, you know, he's my teammate, he's a year 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.040 older than me. But like there was I I look, 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.880 I I was a very small person in high school, 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.080 and I was not going to speak out of turn. 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.240 And again, like I just wanted to be a part 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.160 of whatever his journey was. And so I was like, Okay, 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:10.760 I'll rebound for him for a couple of minutes, we'll 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.560 do some drills that it just was like an hour 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:25.200 of me or after he passed away, like people would 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:27.000 It was such a weird time where I was getting 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:28.800 all these phone calls from people I've talked to in 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.400 a long time. They would have done anything to been 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.640 in my position, just to rebud you know what I mean. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:35.760 It's like you don't think like I. I didn't think 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:37.599 about it like that at the time, but now I 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:39.080 have such an I have such a high level of 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:43.039 appreciation for every single second that was spent with with 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.800 him and spent with the team like that was just 0:04:45.839 --> 0:04:49.960 like the best year ever, like every moment the bus rides, pregame, 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.800 post game practices, just like you you know, I mean 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.720 being our age. I would kill to go back and 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:06.080 do any one of those activities. I don't think there's 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.320 a single member of that high school team who would 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.320 disagree with Robbie. They would all look back at that 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:13.680 time of their lives and see it with a kind 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:20.400 of golden hue, and I think Kobe would too. Of 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.120 all the subplots of his early life, there's one in 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.600 particular that when I talked to people about Kobe always 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.560 seem to get overlooked or ignored, and it shouldn't be. 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.240 It's not that the other aspects of Kobe's adolescens aren't fascinating. 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:36.200 As I've talked about on episode two, his time in 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.400 Italy shaped him, and those infamous pickup games with the 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:43.800 Sixers in the summer proved to him beyond any doubt 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.840 that he could and should turn pro right out of 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.839 high school. But to me, the most dramatic storyline of 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:53.880 that period doesn't have anything to do with the NBA 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:59.200 or Jerry Stackhouse or Kobe's appreciation for different cultures. Or 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:01.800 any of those things. It has to do with the 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.520 community in which he grew up, the pressure that a 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.280 young athlete feels to perform, and the joy that accompanies 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.159 the achievement of a goal. You've been chasing for years, 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:16.239 but seems you're superstar. Kobe Bryant aboard for the ninety 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.839 six season. The Lower Marine coaching staff knew that there 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:20.840 would be no team in the area that would attract 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.760 more attention than the asient. The pressure would be high 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:28.120 from the start, and so would the expectations. Alright, alright 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.320 to me, the most important Kobe Bryant's story of that 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:38.919 time is the story of the season of the Lower 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:50.760 Marian Aces. I'm Mike Sealsky and from Diversion Podcasts, this 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:58.520 is I am Kobe. The brat steps to create myself 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:09.160 said create Yoself. They nice, create Yoself. Got a letter 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:15.600 for any great minds getting time, Episode seven, The Mind 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:28.600 of a Champion. There wasn't a whole lot of drama 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.760 for most of Kobe's senior season at Lower Merion. After 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.960 that crushing loss and Myrtle Beach I told you about 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.320 in the last episode and Greg Downer's speech chewing out 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.600 the entire team. The Aces were so inspired and so 0:07:40.760 --> 0:07:44.120 together that they started rolling and seemed like they couldn't 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.000 be stopped. They won their final sixteen regular season games, 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.400 and they won them by an average of more than 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:55.080 twenty points a game. Kobe's numbers were just nuts. Here 0:07:55.080 --> 0:08:01.200 were his point totals in one five game stretcht thirty two, fifty, 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:05.680 thirty two and four. Then in the second game of 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.760 the district playoffs, Lower Marion faced Academy Park High School. 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.480 Academy Park didn't have the Aces overall talent, but it 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:16.080 was a tough team. It's players weren't going to be 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.200 intimidated by Kobe, but he was ready for them. He 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.520 talked to Jeremy Treatment about that game and his preparation 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:26.320 with that. Then next practice, I was taking a lot 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.480 of jump shots getting ready for the Academy Park game 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:30.920 because I knew that I'm gonna be a tough talent 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.480 for especially if we didn't come ready to play. I 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.920 came to school early at six o'clock, shooting consistently looking 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.760 on my jump shot, trying to find a groove. We 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:42.760 came up with Academy Pardcam. I just knew I just 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.600 had to take over early. It's in the message saying, hey, 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:47.920 we're ready to play, and if you're gonna be this, 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.560 you wanted to play a perfect game. I only doing it. 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.160 Didn't expected his seventh three pointers. I was in the 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:56.640 groove and I just kept running for the three point 0:08:56.720 --> 0:08:59.360 line and I started handing him. I remember when I 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.839 was shooting a round, Oh oh, the academy party came 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:07.240 in and saying there is like by saying all this 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:10.360 other stuff, and I kind of listen to it real 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.320 way in my memory bank. When I came on the court, 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.079 I was ready to play. Ready would be an understatement. 0:09:23.440 --> 0:09:26.680 He hit those seven three pointers and matched his career 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:33.240 high with fifty points lower Merriyan one. The aces next 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.800 game against Norristown was a different story. It was a 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:41.120 struggle for the Aces and for Kobe. Norristown was exactly 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.240 the kind of team that was built to give him trouble, 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:48.160 lots of tall, quick, athletic wing players who could harass him, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.800 and they did. Kobe was whipsawed by two emotions after 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:58.040 the game, joy and annoyance. Joy because lower Merriyan one five, 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.160 which meant the Aces were heading to the Palesti for 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:05.080 the district semifinals. Kobe was so joyful, in fact, that 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.200 he couldn't contain his emotions. But after the game in 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.439 the locker room out crying because the road to the 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.839 Palestia seeing a little cloudy at the beginning of the year. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.800 I had no clue what to expect at the beginning 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.640 of a year. Our chemistry wasn't there, said me and 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.560 Jermaine both was just like, I wish we had Evan, 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.800 I wish we had guys, but to see them come 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.959 through the way they did, just like one of the 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.000 best fingers in the world to know that we're going 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.840 to get back to the Palestia. But then there was 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.440 the annoyance or maybe something more than that, because he 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.640 had his worst game of the season. He scored only 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:45.480 twenty points, he missed nineteen of his twenty four shots, 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.800 and he pictured those Norris Town kids strutting around full 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.280 of themselves. Well, we may have lost, but at least 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:56.960 we played awesome defense and the great Kobe Bryant. Yeah, 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.559 he hated that thought, and it was kind of aggravating 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.880 because I didn't want Northtown to think that they held 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.120 me because they've been it was me and I was 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.760 just missing. I then want them to say that, yeah, 0:11:09.800 --> 0:11:12.960 we shut down clude Ryan. When the state tournament started, 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:14.520 I wanted them to win and keep winning so we 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:16.679 could play him again. I can get him fifty sixty 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:18.760 or something like that, just to show him, hey, you 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.160 didn't do what I did. Yes, it had to be 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:24.959 that Kobe had a bad game, not that the Norristown 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.480 players were capable of guarding him well enough to shut 0:11:27.559 --> 0:11:31.400 him down. In his mind, with his ego, there were 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.160 no high school players who were capable of shutting him down. 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:36.640 It was like he couldn't conceive of such a thing. 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.319 It also sounded like Kobe was looking ahead a little 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.800 bit there, anticipating a rematch in the state tournament with 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.200 Norristown before he and the Aces had actually finished the 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.600 district tournament. So much for the cliche take him one 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:53.959 game at a time, but actually there was no way 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.520 Kobe was going to look past either of the teams 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.920 that Lower Marion ended up playing in the district final four. 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.240 These were the sorts of games that Kobe always loved, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.240 whether he was playing for the Lower Marion Aces or 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.600 the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. They were the 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.480 games against the league's best teams and best players Tim 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.440 Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs, Alan Iverson and the Sixers, 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:22.040 Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and the Celtics, and 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.800 the district semifinal game against Coatesville marked Kobe's third game 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:33.920 against one of his earliest NBA rivals, Hambleton Final semence 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:41.160 handed his face two quarters. Just shut it up. There 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:43.679 they get it to Hamilton's. He get it to clean 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:49.240 looking Cary. If it weren't for Kobe Richard Rip, Hamilton's 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.959 would have been considered the best player in the Philadelphia 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:56.400 area in He was thin as a blade, quick as hell, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:58.720 able to shoot off the dribble or get to the 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.800 basket against any He was heading off to play for 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.120 Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun at the University of Connecticut, 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.040 where he lead the Huskies to victory in the National 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.000 Championship game. Here's a clip of him hitting a buzzer 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.640 beater during that n c A tournament. Brother was going 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:39.760 prell mead ten seconds remaining. Yeah. During his junior season, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.000 Kobe had played against Rip and Coatesville twice and had 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:45.880 beaten them twice, once on a buzzer beater in a 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.720 great game at Coatesville won in the district semis. Now 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:52.800 was the rematch, and Kobe knew the game would define 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.240 their rival. I was excited because it was a personal, 0:13:56.480 --> 0:14:00.640 personal dual type thing we're to have with People would 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:04.360 say how he can compete with me and he can 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:06.680 give me some word. When people say that, I just 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:09.600 kind of laugh and smile, but think, in the back 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:11.160 of my mind, now I can kill it this guy. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.160 If you had a big game, that he would possibly lose. 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:16.560 But I also knew that I could have a big game. 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:32.200 Eight years later, in two thousand four, Rip would finally 0:14:32.200 --> 0:14:34.920 get the better of Kobe when his Detroit Pistons wiped 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.880 out the Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals. 0:14:38.360 --> 0:14:40.880 Rip even out played Kobe for most of that series, 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:46.360 but not this night, back, not at the palestri Kobe 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.480 scored twenty nine points and let a fourth quarter come back, 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.560 and the Aces won seventy sixty five. The two of 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.200 them talked after the game, and the vibe you get 0:14:56.240 --> 0:15:00.280 from Kobe is obvious. He likes Rip, He's friends with Rip. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.800 He wishes the best for Rick, but he also wants 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.320 to kick rips it to say that one of us 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:11.120 always have to lose, like, yeah, I go yeah, and 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.120 uh he said, Uh, how come any time I played 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.840 always he would love. I kind of laughed, Well, I 0:15:17.840 --> 0:15:21.400 have no clue. I guess I'm more competitive. I guess 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.000 I don't. I don't know. I just do whatever it 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:29.280 takes to win. Personally, Yeah, that kind of wished he 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.840 was another bracket so he could he could play and 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:34.680 I get to the Bische Championship. I know that's what 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:38.760 he wanted the most, but A should have been another bracket. 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:40.400 I mean, we're in another bracket. We're gonna be in 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.000 the championship anyway. Somebody has to take it, and it 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:45.840 might as well be me. The winnever coachs Fill and 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.960 Rip Hamilton's set up another rematch for the Aces, this 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:52.440 time for the district championship, and one more time against 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:57.120 their nemesis, the Chester Clippers. The defending Chaps, the team 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.080 that had destroyed Lower Merian by twenty seven point to 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:04.080 the year before. That loss remained a bitter memory and 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.480 had become a motivating factor for Kobe and the entire 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:11.760 Lower Marian program. For Kobe, for all of Lower Marian's 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:14.840 coaches and players, for anyone who paid attention to high 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:19.040 school basketball, Beating Chester would mean that the Aces matter, 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.720 that they had earned their championship by knocking off the 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:26.480 district juggernaut. Greg Downer even had warm up shirts made 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.200 up with the number twenty seven on them to remind 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:32.200 everyone on the team that they had lost by twenty 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:36.240 seven points the last time they played Chester. This time, though, 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.920 Kobe's teammates entered the game with just as much confidence 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.800 as he had. Here's Emery Dabney, who is the Aces 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:46.680 starting point guard. So we haven't building up this big 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:49.840 rivalry for years. And it's funny because it lasted his 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:54.080 day with Chester. So they were kind of like, you know, 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:58.280 Chester kids, kind of intimidating, and um, it was kind 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:00.680 of like, uh, we're sick. We don't care who they 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.640 where they're from. We don't care. And at that time 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:05.320 when I got in there, they were just sticking up 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.359 when we didn't care how where they were from. We 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.640 didn't care the Chester talk. Whatever that meant. That meant 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.280 nothing to us, It made a lot to everyone else. Then, 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:21.800 Kobe spent the days before the game reading through the 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:26.040 local newspapers searching for motivation, and he found some In 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:30.400 a quote from Chester's head coach Fred Pickett, I knew 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:32.159 that everybody was pumping it up at the end. The 0:17:32.240 --> 0:17:35.159 daily was it the daily news at Kobe where his 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.800 goods that I was fighting? I mean, but there was 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.560 a total inspect to my team because they didn't even 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:44.800 mentioned them, And I can't. I can't take that to heart. 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.960 I know my teammates did. But the whole week was great. 0:17:48.320 --> 0:17:49.720 A lot of people come up to me saying, do 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.200 you think you're ready for Chester? You think you guys 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:53.959 can be dumb? I think they're better than you want. 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.439 A lot of trash on them been going on, especially 0:17:56.480 --> 0:17:59.240 from them, from them in the paper. But I really 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:00.840 didn't expect that was would come out and say what 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.720 he said. I mean, he actually when people say what 0:18:03.760 --> 0:18:05.359 you gonna do about Kobe Bryant will say, well, I 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.640 won't try to contain him, and you know, things like that. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:11.480 But hey, but the picket just came out and said 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:14.520 we're gonna shut him down. Period. When did you see that, David? 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.880 I said, uh, I saw the day came out. I'm 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:20.880 not swing that when it came out, but I think 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.000 it was a couple of days before the game. I 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:24.840 just kind of looked at it. I was like, a shot, 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.440 Why would you give me something like that too? It's 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.800 a look forward to, you know. For the first half 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:32.119 of the game, it looked like Pickett was right. The 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.760 Clippers led by eight points at the bridge, just like 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:37.240 they had the year before when they blew Lower Marian 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:39.920 out of the building. But Greg Downer made a couple 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.520 of coaching adjustments at halftime and Kobe got going offensively. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.439 He sparked a fourteen to one run that put the 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.919 Aces in front, and even as a youngster, the Mamba 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.119 wasn't above taunting his opponents in a big game. But 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.080 the one guy, I think he's twenty one, I think 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:58.560 some las kid. He came in the game and he 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:00.679 I think his coach put on put him on me, 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.640 just to provoke me or something. As soon a detecting 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:05.520 the game, ran right to me and started talking to 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.720 all this trash. Yeah, col Yeah, you're a pomp, You're 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:11.000 a punk. I will shut you down saying all this stuff. 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.120 I'm just looking at my just smile said, man, I'm 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:19.200 a hundred and temper unguardable. That was so funny because 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.359 he just looked at me like yeah right, you ain't, 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:26.040 you ain't shoot and all this other stuff before Yeah, 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.800 I started killing him. Man. I drew like three pounds 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.159 on him and uh like the next second you just 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.880 heard he was going out of the game. Hey, come 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:36.320 back and the rest of the game. That was funny. 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:40.480 Lower Marian won the game and the district championship comfortable 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:45.919 with three and Kobe stat line was just insane thirty 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:51.280 four points, eleven rebounds, six assists, and nine block shots. 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:56.400 It was great because nobody expected us to win. Were 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:01.480 the underdogs. I wasn't gonna get a championship, and the 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:06.560 championship with just vote really really good. Who anybody going 0:20:07.720 --> 0:20:10.320 the way? That's one of the best films ever. Somebody 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:12.439 says you can't do something, didn't do it. I'm not 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.000 sure it's right to say that no one expected lower 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.160 Marian to win. I mean, the Aces were seated third 0:20:18.200 --> 0:20:20.439 in the district and they had the best player in 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:24.240 the freaking country. But there was a caveat to that championship, 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:26.720 a reason for Kobe and the Aces to be a 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:31.200 little reserved in how much they celebrated it. Lower Marian 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.400 still had the state tournament to play. It wasn't enough 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.560 for Kobe and his teammates just to win a district championship. 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.280 Remember what he said in the tape I played at 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.040 the beginning of this episode. Throughout the whole time, I 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.119 could umer stand now on the state champie, and I 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:46.639 want to be known that the best I only had 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:53.600 the best player the best I want to be known 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.359 as the best player on the best team. He and 0:20:57.400 --> 0:20:59.640 the rest of the Aces wanted a state title. Two. 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.400 They needed a state title, and it was still possible, 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:06.600 maybe even likely, that they would have to play Chester 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:10.199 again and have to beat Chester again to win that 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:13.720 state title. And if they couldn't do that, if they 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.240 lost their final game that season, if Kobe lost the 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.600 final game of his high school career, he would consider 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:38.000 himself a failure. Hey, this is Mike Selsky, host and 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.760 writer of I Am Kobe. This podcast project came out 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.639 of my work on a related book called The Rise 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.360 Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. If you want 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.720 to explore other parts of Kobe's story, check out The Rise. 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.959 It's not just a book version of the podcast. I 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.879 dive deeper into some of the topics covered in this series, 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:01.360 and even some that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:05.640 his family, his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates, 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:08.200 his journey into the n b A, and his earliest 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.879 days with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.280 Pursuit of Immortality is out now. Just head over to 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:19.200 the Rise of Kobe book dot com and you can 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:22.679 buy it from any of your favorite retailers. That's the 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:49.679 Rise of Kobe Book dot Com. Thanks so now. The 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.600 Aces are in the state tournament. They coasted through their 0:22:52.600 --> 0:22:55.359 first three games, which were so one sided that they 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:58.560 were worth In fact, the most interesting thing about them 0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:01.960 was the hoop blow that surrounded Kobe. People around the 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.160 country knew who he was. They'd heard about it, read 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:08.240 about it, and wanted to see him. They packed every 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:11.120 gym he was in. Here's a good example of how 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:14.720 crazy he's got. In the second round, Lower Marian played 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:17.840 Scranton High School. Scranton was happy just to be in 0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:19.920 the second round of the tournament. They'd beat in the 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:22.560 higher seeded team in the first round, but even they 0:23:22.560 --> 0:23:24.879 didn't expect themselves to hang with the likes of Lower 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:28.399 Marian or Chester. During one of his interviews with Jeremy Treaty. 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:31.119 Kobe talked about how he approached such an a poem 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:33.280 right down the bus. I kind of thought that this 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:35.479 team might be easily in tim and simply because they 0:23:35.520 --> 0:23:37.760 came over a big upset and I knew that they 0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:40.159 were gonna be very excited about that and come in 0:23:40.560 --> 0:23:43.119 visiting team like us. I knew that they could be 0:23:43.160 --> 0:23:46.560 in SIMD. Plus they're very young, and when I loved 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:50.000 at Exam and it's around their way amy a nice 0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:53.879 little partible and I had to start playing talking about 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:56.960 how he dreamed about the day that he could call 0:23:57.080 --> 0:23:59.160 me and come out and play against me and things 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:01.520 like that, and they said, just a dream come true. 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:03.399 And he said, well, I really looked up to him. 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:05.320