WEBVTT - Conversations with Kobe 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:09.319 Hey, welcome in. This is the All Ball Podcast. I'm 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.120 Doug Gottlie Band. I'm joining you actually from Super Week, 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.400 and you know, I thought about how to put together 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:18.960 a Kobe podcast. Next week we'll have I've reached out 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:23.479 to a couple of other people, and um, I you know, 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:26.160 we have some really good guests lined up to talk 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.360 some more Kobe. But I want to share with you 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.239 guys a couple of things because one, I think it's 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.560 cathartic too. I kind of got to know him and 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:40.680 and and honestly, he was he actually had asked me 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:43.200 to come on this podcast. And this is a weird 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.360 thing in our business, you know when you make a friend. 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.040 And Kobe and I weren't always friendly or friends or whatever. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.440 Like I didn't really know him. Um it's like we're 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.440 like ships passing the night, like Los Angeles. Orange County 0:00:56.520 --> 0:01:01.360 is my hometown. Yet he moved into Newport Beach when 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:04.080 I was you know, I was away college and then 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:09.000 playing overseas, and you know, for the first was a 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.840 twelve years out of college. You know, there's two thousand. 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.360 I didn't live in southern California. I barely vacation in 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.520 southern California. Just my in laws are in Oklahoma. We 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:22.560 were we were east coast or traveling. I would would 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.600 come out maybe once a year. But you know, I 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:31.039 didn't thim a native Los Angeleo or native of Orange County. 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:35.560 I didn't, um, you know, he he kind of dug 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:38.080 roots in Orange County that I had already had and 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:41.600 maybe it had been uplifted a little bit. So anyway, UM, 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:46.160 I just here's kind of the my Kobe Bryant story. 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:50.560 As we all kind of collectively grieve, and I think 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.760 the grieving is multi layered. You're grieving the loss of 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.240 Kobe Bryant. You're grieving, you know, for many people a 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:02.880 basketball hero. What he become as an iconic figure um 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:07.520 in the American sports lexicon in coming back from personal failures, 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.480 right professional failures, and he was the picture of what 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.040 what what work ethic is supposed to be. Like, what's 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:20.280 amazing about Kobe Bryant is he's known for this Mama mentality. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:22.120 And this's a bunch of different ways in which people 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:26.280 look at the MoMA mentality, but he's known for something 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.720 in terms of his work ethic that goes counter to 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:35.560 the stereotype of the son of a professional athlete. Right, Normally, 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.720 the son of a professional athlete is supposed to be 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:43.079 somebody who acts entitled. And there's there was some entitlement there, 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:44.960 there was some arrogance there. There was a lot of 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:50.240 confidence there obviously. But I think what's, um, what's what's 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:55.000 fascinating about it is like, how many sons of NBA 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.520 players don't work that hard because they were born with 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:00.640 a silver spoon in their math, you know, born at 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:02.880 their base and thought they hit a triple like that 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:05.960 wasn't Kobe Bryant. He he didn't just want to make 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:10.760 the NBA. He wanted to. He wanted to He wanted 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.280 to rip everybody's heart out, that's what he want to do. 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:14.880 And he wanted to just get better and better and 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.120 better and didn't want to be an NBA player. He 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:21.520 wanted to be the best NBA player. So here's my 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:27.640 Kobe Bryant story. When I was at CBS, UM, I 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:31.360 was driving home one night when the Eric Garner story 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.000 kind of reached a peak. Right, that was the I 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:39.000 can't breathe movement, And so a lot of like what 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:43.160 happens I think with Twitter, with social media is that 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.560 we tweet from like our perspective, our time, our moment, 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.440 thinking everybody else sees it that way because that's our 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:58.240 egocentric way of using social media to to like display 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:03.400 our own kind of arrogance ecocentric nature. Right, that makes sense. Like, 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:09.760 so I'm driving home through Manhattan and I think I 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:12.240 either had a dinner or I was avoiding traffic. I 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:16.440 can't remember how I got caught on. Like I'm gonna say, 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:23.560 eighth Avenue or uh Avenue right, eighth Avenue. Yeah, um, 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.279 but eighth Avenue became shut down because there was a 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:31.120 march marching across Eighth Avenue with the ie can't breathe, 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:36.400 you know, I can't breathe movement, and I look, I'm 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:40.599 no one's probe police brutality that I know. Um, I 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.279 knew a little bit about the story. I knew that 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.560 there was there was a lot to it, right. I 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:52.720 just remember feeling super unsafe, super unsteady, just because I 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.479 was a white dude in a I think I was 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.160 in a GMC truck at the time, and I'm like, 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:01.440 there's like people surrounding the car and like banging on 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.039 the windows, and I was like, what what, I didn't 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.000 do it. I'm just I'm trying to drive home now, 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.119 i'd also carry then this is like a far avel. 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.760 But like, look my childhood Eli Riots and I remember 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:15.960 dudes getting hauled out of trucks and the ship kicked 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.120 out of them, right, and I'm like, what what what 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:25.119 happened here? So I mentioned the march and the people 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.359 pounding on my windows in my car and kind of 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.120 feeling super unsafe, and like I remember calling my wife like, 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:33.440 I mean, I'm coming home, but like, I just gotta 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.320 wait till this thing dies down before they opened up 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:38.320 Eighth Avenue and she's like, what do you mean open 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.720 it up? Like they're having this massive, massive march. She's 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.599 just going on, you know, three or four or five 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:46.440 thousand people walking across Eighth Avenue. I don't know they're 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:51.600 walking to Times Square or where they were walking to anyway. Um, 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:54.160 So I got home. I think it was that night 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.000 or maybe the next night. And if you remember, the 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.080 Lakers were playing, I'm gonna say I don't rememb where 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.599 they're playing. Were they playing the heat? And Lebron was 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.440 still on the heat I think, and they all had 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.400 I can't breathe shirts on I remember I distinct remember 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:15.279 Kobe and lebron with I can't breathe shirts and I 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:21.120 can't breathe, while the idea behind it is to end 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:26.680 police brutality. Right, the guy was selling cigarettes outside a 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:28.919 liquor store for Christ's sake and he lost his life, 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:33.640 Like it's crazy. So anyone who's reasonable is like, you know, 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.440 I don't know what the punishment should have been for 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:40.359 a guy who's repeatedly selling bootlegs cigarettes, but dying is 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:44.479 not even on the list of things. Right. On the 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.440 other hand, like when you hear more about the story 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.240 was it was the liquor store owner who's you know, 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.040 doing trying to do things the right way and sell 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.960 his own cigarettes and er gardener out front had been 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:58.960 told to move. Who knows how many times he had moved? 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:00.480 Like what do you do if you're a top right, 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:03.480 you're much smaller than a guy he doesn't want to move. 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:07.680 He's a gigantic man. He's like a known person personality, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:12.040 and he's not obeying your orders, Like what do you do? 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.960 And I guess you probably just could have pepper sprayed 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:17.560 him and moved him, right, Is that right? That's a 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.120 non violent way. I don't believe anybody's ever died from 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.120 pepper spray a little, you know, so you know, it 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.720 looked like a chokehold to me. And then you know, 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.320 the reports are that he and he had obviously had 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.080 a weight problems, he had a heart attack, and then 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:33.680 I mean the bigger thing was if you again, my 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:38.520 memory of this is pretty uh, pretty thorough. I believe 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:42.080 the bigger thing was that when the paramedics came, like, 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.680 he's just laying there. Nobody performs CPR for however long. Right, 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.400 there's a there's a layers. There's a layers to any story. 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:52.640 But I do think that there was a good portion 0:07:53.000 --> 0:07:56.800 of people that put on the I Can Breathe shirt 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.880 and the message was fucked the police. It just us. Look, 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:03.240 I grew up listening to n w A. I've had 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.200 anybody who's had a run in with a with a 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.480 cop who's just a jerk, who's you know, who's feeling 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.320 himself a little bit. He's got the badge, he's got 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.040 the gun, he's the tough guy. On the other hand, 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.640 I'd like to believe we live in a country where 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:21.080 the greatest highest percentage of police officers are really just 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:23.880 there you know, to keep the peace, to do their job, 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.400 to go home safely and collect good benefits, right, like, 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:30.360 let's be reasonable. So I was. I just I felt like, 0:08:30.480 --> 0:08:32.880 especially the class of NBA players, not they're not all 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.679 this way, but look, NBA players, many of them are 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.760 in fact protected by police, and Kobe was the perfect example. 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:42.920 I had lived when I first moved to California, and 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.480 I believe that was during the UH before the I 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.640 Can Breathe movement. Right two thousand, two thou fourteen, I 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.120 was living in in Orange County, and two thousand twelve 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:55.400 and two thou thirty, I was living in Irvine, right 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:57.560 on the border of Newport Coast, which is where Kobe lived. 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:02.120 I would go to the same Starbucks and Code would 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.280 just pull up and not even park, like you know, 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.760 right out in front, tinted front window. Like in California. 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.440 I I rolled up in my car, I tinted side 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.199 windows like passenger side, driver's side. I got pulled over 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:15.679 like three or four times. Finally I had to get 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:18.240 the tent peeled off, tack me off like he had 0:09:18.520 --> 0:09:22.480 like Limo tinted front. Now, I'm not disputing that Kobe 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:26.960 Bryant is a completely different realm of anybody else in 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:29.880 the world in terms of Superstar. But like, look, dude, 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:32.000 you're kind of part of the protected class. You live 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:35.800 behind the gate. Nobody would ever mess with Kobe Bryant, especially, 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.600 and that's why he lived in Newport, Newport Coast at 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.280 the time. Was my belief was because he was part 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:43.840 of protected class. So like a protected glass of people 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.720 wearing a the police shirt, I felt like was a contradiction. 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:49.640 And so I had some tweet I don't really remember 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:51.360 what is. I'm sure I could Twitter search. You probably 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:53.480 get Twitter search you want. And it was like, hey, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:57.640 how ironic. Kobe Bryant, who lives you know, you know 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.360 it does what he wants, lives behind the gate. He's 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.760 the one criticizing the police who protect him every day. 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.920 So that nothing ever happens to Kobe. I tweet it. 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.520 It doesn't go over well, you know, Twitter already fucking 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.760 hates me. Um. And so now I become like a racist, 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.200 which I'm not, and I'm a racist. I'm this, I'm that, 0:10:20.240 --> 0:10:23.079 I'm a right winger, I'm pro cop, I'm anti black people. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:27.480 Black lives matters, all that matters. I became blue lives matter. 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.439 I don't even know. I I just kind of figured 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:32.839 it was just a I'm a sports guy who was 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.160 a sarcastic, kind of caustic sports tweet. It's when I 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:41.760 specialized in. So Jason Whitlock at the time actually text 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:43.320 me like, what what are you doing? This is not 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:44.760 a place to joke. And I was like, oh, I 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:47.000 take it down. So I just took it down, and 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.360 you know, things go viral and they get crazy, and 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.280 my bosses at CBS at the time like what are 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:54.040 you doing? And I was like, it's just a tweet. 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.880 Doesn't nobody got hurt by it. I didn't choke anybody out. 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.840 So I called my friend Rick Buker, because Buke, going 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:05.040 back to our days at ESPN, he had a he 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.120 had a line to Kobe. When Kobe was first wanted 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.640 to be traded, he talked to Buke. Um Buker had 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.280 done a great job of establishing a relationship. I used 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:17.560 to mess with him that you could barely see Kobe's 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:21.520 lips moving when Rick Buker talked, but he thought it 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:23.520 was funny, and I knew that was my best way 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:25.960 into Kobe. So I called him and I was like, hey, man, 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:27.920 can you give me Kobe's number? He's like why. I 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:29.600 was like, I put on a tweet and he's like, oh, 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.280 I saw it was funny. I go, yeah, I'm not 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:35.440 sure Kobe thinks it's funny. So I'm gonna I'm gonna 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.200 apologize in a text. Yeah. He's like, just text him. 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.680 He's a text guy. So I texted him. We text 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.000 back and I was like, hey, man, I just want 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.959 to tell you I have put out a tweet. Um, 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.680 I wouldn't. I didn't. There was a little bit of 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:51.360 truth to it because our kids had gone Our kids 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.480 had gone to school together for a year at a 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:56.679 school called Harbor Day and Giohn was very little at 0:11:56.679 --> 0:12:00.200 the time, like in um, say, second grade, and our 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.880 girls were all together in second grade. I have I 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:06.360 have twin daughters exact same age, and so when we 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.880 knew each other a little bit. Um anyway, I was like, hey, sorry. 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:13.839 He was like no, he text me back, no problem 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:20.440 at all, don't worry about it. So fast forward two 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.080 years later from that point and I actually moved back 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.800 to Orange County, and the reason we moved back to 0:12:27.000 --> 0:12:30.120 honestly renting the same house we had rented the time before. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.120 Was we wanted because we're moving so much with our kids, 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.760 we wanted them to be in the same school. So 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.080 my daughters got back into Harbor Day. My son did not, 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:44.560 and just because I didn't have space, and all was 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:47.080 good and I kind of reconnected with They have a 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.640 big opening kick pick Dick or whatever. And Kobe was 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.000 there and he had a The year that we were 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.040 there before was the eory towards Kill, his tenant, and 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:59.520 he was always at the school, always, always, always, and 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:04.320 so um it was interesting that like my daughters who 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:08.120 didn't know anything about Kobe Bryant, just knew Kobe because 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:11.360 he was always around, like serving lunches at their school, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.359 like one day a week, and like field trips occasionally 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:18.119 go on, and you know, he started running Mamba volleyball 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:23.960 back then for his older daughter. Anyway, Um, so I 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:28.800 said hi to him, and you know, we explained, exchanged 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.640 pleasant trees. And Rob Polinka's kids also go to that 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.040 exact go to that school as well, and this is 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:38.400 this is going back, this is uh, I don't know, 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:40.760 was it three years ago, yeah, almost two and a 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.520 half years ago. So we started kind of a text 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:50.000 relationship and Gianna asked my daughter Harper to play on 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:54.000 Mama's basketball team, and I think they played a pe 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:59.000 and Harper was super intimidated by Gianna in basketball. She's like, 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.160 Gianna is the nicest kid ever. And just for the record, 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.240 so people understand, there are kids that are sons and 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:11.319 daughters of a rich important people that are jerks, are 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:15.079 little assholes, right, Gianna Brian is not among those people. 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.240 She was a sweetheart. Like I had two daughters there, 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.280 uh both one was definitely getting a little bullied. Um, 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:27.480 one was kind of getting bullied, and Gianna was the 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.160 one who She's the kid who, like you see in 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:35.440 an after school special, like she would step in like 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:37.600 this is again part of my girls. She would step 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.560 in and say like no, this is You're not gonna 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.160 treat anybody poorly like she's she's a she was a 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:49.440 great kid, great um and apple trees make apples, right, 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.760 So it speaks to Vanessa, it speaks to Kobe and 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.760 how they raised her. Of course she's my daughter. Harper 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.320 would say, like, I'm not playing basketball Gianna because when 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.720 you play with her, I drink pa. She's like a 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:05.000 different person, Like she flips the switch kind of like remember, um, 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:08.080 over the top, remember Sylvester Stallone's character, and over the top, 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:09.600 like when he turned his hat to the back, he'd 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.160 become a different guy. That's how Gianna Bryant was when 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.400 she played bass play basketball, So she didn't play the 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.600 basketball team. She kind of kicked herself for it. And then, 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.920 you know, if you know anything about Mamba early on 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:24.560 when it started, you know, it's just a bunch of 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.600 girls from Harbor Day and Newport Beach and it was 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:30.000 just a little club team and they got smashed by 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:33.320 another team. And Kobe was he wasn't embarrassed that they 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.080 got smashed. It was that they didn't know how to 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.480 play basketball like that. He's like, they're not playing back 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:41.680 like anybody who's watched AU. It's like, you know, if 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:43.800 a team is bad, you can't drow, we can't pass cans. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.360 She just doesn't look right. And he was like, Okay, 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.480 we're not playing in a tournaments. We're gonna do six months, 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.760 five days a week of just teaching you how to play, 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.880 and then we'll play tournaments. And so that's what happened. 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.440 That's how Mamba the basketball things started. And obviously, Gianna, 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:05.480 you've practiced that much he hired Christina Mauser Mauser, who 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.520 was the p teacher, to be one of her coaches. 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:09.720 He hired other coaches as well to come in and 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:13.800 work with his his girls, and soon enough they became 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:16.360 the best team in southern California, the same team to 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:18.160 beat in by forty. They smashed by forty like the 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:23.400 next time they played. So our friendships started really because 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:25.800 our kids went to the same school, and he was like, hey, 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:27.600 you know, Harvard Day Dad, we should get We should 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.360 get together with a bunch of Harvard Day dudes and 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:34.120 all the parents. They are really pretty cool, and so 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.400 first it was like, hey, we gotta range schedules. And 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:39.920 then I actually we took one of my daughters, Grace, 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.960 out of the school. She was struggling academically. And then 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.760 Harper didn't love like the social scene just because she 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:49.320 didn't play basketball Gianna, so her friend group was like 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:51.640 one or two other girls, and she's just like, I 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:53.400 want to go to a big public school anyway. So 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:55.760 I was part of me was a little embarrassing, like 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:57.560 does he want to get together with me just because 0:16:57.560 --> 0:16:59.840 my kid goes to school with his kid or do 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.120 we have a legit relationship and I actually texted him 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.800 and asked him and said, hey, dude, just so you know, 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.200 like I think we're pulling my girl out of harbor day. 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:11.520 He's like, yeah, we're still good though, right. I was like, yeah, 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:17.840 So anyway, spring of now spring at two thous eighteen 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:21.159 or maybe nineteen, I remember, Um, I remember getting a 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.560 text from him because we had we had talked a 0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:27.800 bunch on text come uh once on the phone, a 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:29.480 couple of times in person and events, and we're like, 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:31.359 we gotta get it to get a good drinks. Sends 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.679 me a text, and we had missed each other in 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.200 other texts in terms of getting together. There's a place 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.960 called Javier's. If you listen to Jim Rome show, Jim 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.840 kind of made the thing popular. Um it's uh, it's 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:49.440 now become a chain. It's a high end masking place, 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.880 good drinks, and Kobe has his own drink, the Momba there. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.240 So he's like, hey, Javiers like seven thirty. So here's 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:02.359 my I'm not gonna tell you everything that happened, but um, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.000 this is like a night with Kobe, just me and him. 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:08.600 So my wife is a little weird out by it 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:14.199 because she's like Why does he wanted? Why does he 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:16.760 want to talk to you? Like I don't know the 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.160 guys get together and have drinks. She's like, I don't. 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.399 I did. Why would he just wanted? Like he has friends, 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:26.320 you're not as friends, like we've actually been kind of friends, 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:28.280 like text friends. That's not a real friend. I was like, 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:32.159 all right, fine, So I assumed I'm gonna show up. 0:18:32.160 --> 0:18:34.080 There's be a bunch of some other like Harvard Ay dads, 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:35.840 some other dads. I know, a couple of other dudes 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.200 that are you know, like um one of the guys 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.239 that died Alto Belly Alta is like everyone knows him. 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.800 He has been the junior college baseball coach at oc 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.520 C Orange Coast College forever. Like I just figured I 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:48.879 walk into a room and they'll be those kind of 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:51.080 guys and we'd all be bullshitting having to a couple 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.080 of drinks. So I walk into Javier's and I was like, 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:57.880 I'm gonna go to the bathroom first. Now he might 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.600 be asking like why would you go to the bathroom first? Well, 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:01.119 I just thought, like if I get engaged in a 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.879 conversation with Kobe Bryant, like I don't wanna have to 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.240 go pee, and like then, you know how guys are, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:09.159 like you lose your train of thought, you move on 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.879 somebody else at the table, the conversation never starts again. 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:16.040 I'm not a clinger, just the reality of I would 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.199 have to be at some point. I remember going pe 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:21.040 washing my hands and walking out and expecting to walk 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:22.680 into the back part of Javier is gonna be a 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.160 bunch of dudes there, and it's like Kobe Bryant sitting 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:31.440 by himself, almost like it was a blind date. And uh, 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:38.800 we talked for we talked for hours, and the conversation 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.200 started talking about basketball and about how basketball should be taught, 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:45.600 and so I said, you know, he told me a 0:19:45.640 --> 0:19:48.560 little bit about when he first started playing in Italy 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.480 and how he was taught, and he didn't really know. 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:55.520 He knew my dad had been a you coached locally, 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.320 but he didn't know like made my dad coach in 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:02.520 college and all the different ties and um, so we 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:06.359 just started talking about teaching kids. And this is where 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:08.879 like he kind of won me that night, like he 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:10.959 had already won me over based upon his text and 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:13.960 the fact he was just he started to become like 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.600 an he's still a superstar and superstars do things just differently. 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.840 But there was a real human being and a pretty 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:22.880 good and I was like, man, this guy's a good dude. 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.040 Like we started talking about how to how to coach, 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:29.280 now to teach kids and and here's kind of my story. 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:31.720 So when we moved back to Orange County, I wanted 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.560 my son to get in some workouts. And there's a 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:39.440 guy named Shae Freeze who uh shay is a works 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:41.960 for Bill Duffy. He's a very good workout coach. You 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:43.440 good basketball player in his own right. I think D 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.159 three up in uh Washington and he was running a 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:50.960 program called point Break. So um, my longtime friend Dylan 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:52.760 Rigg didn who played a U s Irvine and an 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:56.600 Arizona and then played in Australia. He has uh two 0:20:56.600 --> 0:21:00.199 older kids kid named walk. His son Joaquin is two 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:02.320 years older than my son. He was like, hey, wha, 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.919 kinos this point break? Bring Hayes to a workout. So 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.440 I go. And they were really good, but their teams 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.199 were ship like. They literally every tournament they play in 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:14.240 they get beat by thirty forty points because they couldn't 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:18.440 pass and they couldn't play together. And yeah they could 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.439 all Eurostep and they had some advanced moves, but they 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.399 didn't pivot well. And you know, after doing this for 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:28.560 like two months, three months, and Hayes played up and 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:30.080 played in a couple of games and he's one very 0:21:30.080 --> 0:21:34.600 good at time. Full disclosure. Uh Shade texted me after 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:36.439 a workout and he's like, what do you think? And 0:21:36.480 --> 0:21:39.879 I was like, well, say, when are you gonna do passing? 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.160 When are you gonna do pivoting? What are you gonna do? 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.920 You know, some of their work on their defensive form 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:48.159 and their positioning, it's like, should we do that? Like yeah, 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.760 it's actually the first they just skip steps. It's like 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:52.600 they taught kids how to run and forgot that you 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:54.879 have to walk first, or even crawl before you walk. 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.040 So I kind of took over and started coaching a team. 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:00.919 When we started competing and winning. And then fast forward 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:04.040 to the next year, Say struggled to get a gym, 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:06.240 and so I got a gym and eventually kind of 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:10.359