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Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts. Always played basketball. My family moved to Italy,

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Speaker 1: and uh, I was raised over there. I think mature

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Speaker 1: very well over there, fascinating anybody else here in American media.

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Speaker 1: And when I came back, Um, I had to adapt

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Speaker 1: the lifestyle and I became a basketball because it was

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Speaker 1: totally different, more and fast paced. Life was more upbeat. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: playing a basketball food it was more physical, So I

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Speaker 1: had adapted both frames. On the morning of September seven,

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Speaker 1: Labor Day, I got a text message from my father

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Speaker 1: in law, who's a real estate Did you know He

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Speaker 1: asked that Kobe Bryant's old house is up for sale.

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Speaker 1: I did now. I was still in the midst of

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Speaker 1: researching and writing my book on Kobe the Rise, and

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Speaker 1: I thought there might be a chance, if I got lucky,

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Speaker 1: that I could get in touch with the owners and

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Speaker 1: arrange a time to see the house. Actually, I got

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Speaker 1: even luckier than that. The owner's names were Richard and

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Speaker 1: Kate Bear. I looked up the name of their realtor.

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Speaker 1: I called him, and he called them, and by eleven

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Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, I was standing inside the five

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Speaker 1: bedroom colonial at twelve two Remington Road in Windwood, the

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Speaker 1: house that Joe and Pam Bryant had bought it for

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Speaker 1: eighty two thousand dollars on Christmas Eve. The house they

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Speaker 1: kept while they spent eight years living mostly in Italy.

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Speaker 1: The house where Kobe Bryant grew up. And I was

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Speaker 1: going to go look inside. I'm Mike sealscup and from

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Speaker 1: Diversion Podcasts. This is I am Kobe. I quest to

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Speaker 1: create myself. Exact, I'm self about to create yourself. Say

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Speaker 1: nice and go on, create yourself. Gotta letter for the

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Speaker 1: great minds. But we ain't selling nest gain Time episode three,

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Speaker 1: A young man in Lower Merit. However, the health does

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Speaker 1: have a story, and I can I can remember clear

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Speaker 1: the day that reach O the tour in the house

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Speaker 1: hal I dodn't know who she was or anybody was

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Speaker 1: this elegant woman, long long skirt on every day start

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Speaker 1: and hair down to her shoulders, big hoop he shoulders.

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Speaker 1: Around Philadelphia, the area where Kobe Bryant lived when his

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Speaker 1: family moved back from Italy to the States is known

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Speaker 1: as the main Line, and for most of its history,

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Speaker 1: old money Protestants have made up its upper class. In

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Speaker 1: the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the main Line

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Speaker 1: was a vacation haven for big wigs who lived in

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Speaker 1: the city, especially for executives with the Pennsylvania rail route,

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Speaker 1: which cut right through the region. Eventually they started moving

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Speaker 1: out there to live full time. By the nineteen thirties,

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Speaker 1: black people clustered in particular neighborhoods and worked as bell hops, maids, laborers,

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Speaker 1: and another collar jobs, and by the nineteen fifties, Jews

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Speaker 1: relocated to the area from West Philadelphia, diversifying Lower Merion

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Speaker 1: township even more. Over time, it became a melting pot,

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Speaker 1: but it's affluent neighborhoods remained very Guy Stewart was a

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Speaker 1: year ahead of Kobe at Lower Merion High School, and

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Speaker 1: he was a teammate and friend of Kobe's. Two the

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Speaker 1: Bryant's lived in a suburb called Windwood. Guy grew up

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Speaker 1: in another nearby township called Ardmore, So his experience as

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Speaker 1: a kid was a little different from Kobe's. It was

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Speaker 1: good and challenging, right, So, growing up in Laurer Marian

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Speaker 1: you had the luxuries of being in in in the suburbs.

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Speaker 1: You know, all the amenities that are that are available

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Speaker 1: to you through lawer Marian school districts. Through being in

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Speaker 1: Armore and growing up near and near that area. We

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Speaker 1: lived in an area in a section in our more

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Speaker 1: where you know, you were still able to be around

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Speaker 1: people that that looked like you and you guys had

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Speaker 1: the same kind of goals and thoughts and experiences, so

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Speaker 1: you were able to kind of relate to some things

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Speaker 1: um or actually to a lot of things right. But

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Speaker 1: on the on the other side, it's like you're growing

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Speaker 1: up in an area where it's predominantly you know, white,

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Speaker 1: as you know, the main line is there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of money out there, so you know, getting used to that,

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Speaker 1: having friends that live in these big mansions, driving you

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Speaker 1: know cars, especially in high school, you know, your your

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Speaker 1: classmates are coming to school and in different types of

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Speaker 1: cars than you are, And unfortunately there there were times

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Speaker 1: where you were just singled out or not included because

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Speaker 1: you know, you were kind of different. But a lot

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Speaker 1: of great people with Laura Maryan that I grew up

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Speaker 1: with them with the school with um a lot of

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Speaker 1: great relationships that I continue to have now with with

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Speaker 1: a lot of those guys, whether it be you know,

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Speaker 1: in my neighborhood or or outside, and like narbarous and

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Speaker 1: Winwood and ballotim Wood areas, so you know, it's those

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Speaker 1: are the kind of like the two sides of it.

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Speaker 1: But you still live close enough to Philadelphia where you

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Speaker 1: were able to kind of drive in and play in

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Speaker 1: those playgrounds and kind of get that different experience of

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Speaker 1: playing with guys from the city. Joe and Pam Bryant

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Speaker 1: moved out to Los Angeles with Kobe after he joined

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Speaker 1: the Lakers in and apparently other members of a Bryant

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Speaker 1: family would continue to use or stay in the house,

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Speaker 1: but Joe and Pam didn't sell it to the Bears

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Speaker 1: until two thousand eight, which got me thinking, why would

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Speaker 1: they hold onto it that long. I could only guess

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Speaker 1: that the house meant a lot to them. It was

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Speaker 1: where their children, especially their youngest child, had grown up,

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Speaker 1: and if you've seen the house, you'd understand why they

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Speaker 1: might have felt such affection, for it had colorful beds

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Speaker 1: of flowers in the front, a driveway that wrapped around

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Speaker 1: the entire property, and of course a basketball whop above

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Speaker 1: the two car garage. Still, by the standards of the

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Speaker 1: main line, it was pretty modest, which is pretty incredible

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Speaker 1: if you're standing inside it or walking around it, and

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Speaker 1: you can imagine that they would sit here watch their

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Speaker 1: basketball right there. I mean, which is so that's pretty cool.

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Speaker 1: All this tap room, this is an interesting room to me,

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Speaker 1: play room they had here a table of gorgeous would

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Speaker 1: from Africa, And I didn't know, you know who Pa was,

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Speaker 1: but I just said, oh my gosh, would you be

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Speaker 1: willing to sell that? She says, no, it all has

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Speaker 1: you know, personale feniaminal value. Kate Bear remembered every detail

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Speaker 1: of the way the Brian's house used to be, and

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Speaker 1: she described all of it to me as she gave

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Speaker 1: me a tour from room to room. In the family room,

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Speaker 1: the brian It's had a giant television that covered the

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Speaker 1: entire wall, not far from a set of sliding glass

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Speaker 1: doors that led to their backyard. That tells you something

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Speaker 1: about the people living in the house. Here was a

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Speaker 1: playroom for the kids. This wasn't the only player. I

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Speaker 1: just want to say, I have my own bias about

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Speaker 1: who these people were, and I saw this house as

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Speaker 1: being very caring and warm and affecionate. So there are

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Speaker 1: lots of little things and you piece them all together,

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Speaker 1: like even the big TV, and don't maybe you just

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Speaker 1: see them sitting around the TV. The walls top to

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Speaker 1: ceiling were covered with wo She led me down a

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Speaker 1: hallway and opened a panel to a crawl space. Inside

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Speaker 1: there was a heating pipe with something written on it

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Speaker 1: in fat black marker. It looked like a label, so

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Speaker 1: that you know what pipe led to what part of

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Speaker 1: the house, second floor, Kobe's room. That's why when we

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Speaker 1: had this all insulated, we had them cut that piece out.

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Speaker 1: I don't blame you, so we know exactly which room

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Speaker 1: was his, which I'll take you too, next man. To

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Speaker 1: get to Kobe's old bedroom, we had to pass through

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Speaker 1: the living room and they're on the floor. Taking up

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Speaker 1: half the space was the basketball hoop and backboard that

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Speaker 1: had once hung above the garage and driveway. Right. It's

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Speaker 1: right here in the living room. And that's because after

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Speaker 1: them stopping by taking pictures, and this must have been

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Speaker 1: madness for me over the last few days. It was

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Speaker 1: we were standing guard like window still there, still there,

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Speaker 1: oh man. So then we had to have it taken down.

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Speaker 1: Somebody would steal to the front of the rim was

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Speaker 1: bent downward about an inch. It was impossible to look

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Speaker 1: at the hoop and not think about Kobe and his father.

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Speaker 1: How many games of one on one had they played

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Speaker 1: on that basket? Was that rim bent because of all

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Speaker 1: the times they had dumped on it? Had to be right, God,

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Speaker 1: This basket represented all the thousands of hours that Kobe

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Speaker 1: had spent honing his craft, learning the nuances and little

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Speaker 1: tricks of the game from Joe. So many hours a

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Speaker 1: father and son together, and now there it was, up

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Speaker 1: ended and askew on the living room floor, which I

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Speaker 1: don't want to call it art, but you know, suspend right.

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Speaker 1: Kate then turned to me and showed me a photo

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Speaker 1: that she had kept on her phone. It was of

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Speaker 1: a picture that Pam Bryant had hung above her son's bed,

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Speaker 1: a representation of two guardian angels, both of them black.

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Speaker 1: Between the angels were these words. God has given each

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Speaker 1: of us an angel in our life, and if in

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Speaker 1: life we seek his way, he will surely guide us. Right,

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Speaker 1: that would thinking here I was right above his bed,

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Speaker 1: totally right above his bed. Pictures, pictures, pictures everywhere. I mean,

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Speaker 1: little framed things like this. But this, you say, so sweet? Yes,

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Speaker 1: I mean, of course we're just taking it, Georgia. That

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Speaker 1: the I don't know who they are, and I'm thinking

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Speaker 1: these are sweet. E Bay would be here, you know,

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Speaker 1: these pictures something like that. They tell a story. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: TVs and all those things to tell a story. And

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story is one of those calmness

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Speaker 1: and comfort, it's just and sweetness and caring. It's a caring,

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Speaker 1: loving house. That was my own Christian Well. I'm a

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Speaker 1: career counsel from you know, with executives for one most

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Speaker 1: of my life, and so I remember thinking, like you know,

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Speaker 1: and I've noticed things, something bad. We moved on to

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Speaker 1: the study. There were old magazines from the nineteen eighties

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Speaker 1: and nineteen nineties on the shelves of a All You

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Speaker 1: and on Joe Bryant's old desk. It felt like we

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Speaker 1: were walking through a museum, but there were no ropes

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Speaker 1: to keep us from touching and examining the exhibits. One

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Speaker 1: magazine stood out. Michael Jordan was on the cover wearing

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Speaker 1: his white Chicago Bulls jersey, smiling brightly, a cigar in

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Speaker 1: his left hand. This was a sports and then here's Kobe's.

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Speaker 1: The dressed sticker is to Kobe, how old was he?

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Speaker 1: He would have been fourteen? Is that sweet? Because he

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Speaker 1: turned would turned thirteen years old. That was his idol

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Speaker 1: and you're a dressed to him. It was all set

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Speaker 1: and that was my impression, and I always felt pretty

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Speaker 1: acciment about that. Yeah, I was like, no, this is

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Speaker 1: a whole family. This isn't just Kobe's house right. Without

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Speaker 1: that family there would you know Kobe exactly? So who

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Speaker 1: was Kobe Bryant back then? Right after he and his

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Speaker 1: family returned from Europe in the fall of Hey. This

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Speaker 1: is Mike Selsky, 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 n b A, and his earliest days

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Speaker 1: with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit

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Speaker 1: of Immortality is out now. Just head over to the

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Speaker 1: Rise of Kobe book dot Com and you can buy

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Speaker 1: it from any of your favorite retailers. That's the rise

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Speaker 1: of Kobe book dot Com. Thanks. Kobe wasn't quite flashing

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Speaker 1: the Mamba mentality yet. He was thirteen years old and

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Speaker 1: he was jumping into the middle of the school year

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Speaker 1: at ballykin Wood Middle School. Then after a few more months, boom,

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Speaker 1: he was heading to Lower Marion, a public high school

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Speaker 1: in the suburbs just outside Philadelphia, a school whereabout ten

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Speaker 1: percent of the students were black. Joe got a job

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Speaker 1: at a Cuba Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school on

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Speaker 1: the main Line. You might have heard of Akiba, or

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Speaker 1: at least some of its alumni. Jake Tapper from CNN

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Speaker 1: went there, and so did the best selling author and

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Speaker 1: media personality Mitch Album. Joe was the girls basketball coach there,

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Speaker 1: but it wasn't like a Keeba's players were all ticketed

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Speaker 1: to play for Yukon or Baylor someday. These girls were

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Speaker 1: just learning the game, trying to master its fundamentals, and

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Speaker 1: Joe was happy to teach them that and a few

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Speaker 1: other things. He'd have the players practice dribbling behind their

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Speaker 1: backs and between their legs, stuff that to him was

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Speaker 1: just fun. That's kind of what the job was to Joe,

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Speaker 1: just fun. He'd even bring Kobe to practice from time

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Speaker 1: to time, and it was there where both Joe and

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Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant met Jeremy Treatment, the man who would become

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Speaker 1: their friend and confident for the first time. First time

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Speaker 1: I remember saying Kobe on a basketball court was at

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Speaker 1: a Keyba Hebrew Academy on a side basket. I was

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Speaker 1: coaching the jav boys and his father, Joe Brian was

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Speaker 1: coaching the girls. It was a Sunday morning, and Kobe

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Speaker 1: came in and he just started doing the mic and

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Speaker 1: drill on a side basket. Then he was taking some

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Speaker 1: short john person and mind you, both both courts were

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Speaker 1: being used at the time for practices, so he just

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Speaker 1: he didn't have anywhere to really to go. But then

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Speaker 1: I just started watching him elevate. It wasn't really dunking,

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Speaker 1: but his but his both hands were over the room.

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Speaker 1: I mean he was he was kind of laying him

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Speaker 1: in and then I saw him hitting some side corner

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Speaker 1: shots from on both rims, and that's when I started

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Speaker 1: to ask Joe about him, and what did you say?

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Speaker 1: I said, how how could this Kobe? Is he going

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Speaker 1: to be anything like you at twelve years old or

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Speaker 1: two years old? If he's so much better than than

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Speaker 1: I was, it's not even close. I said, really, I

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Speaker 1: mean you were like you went to bart From you

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Speaker 1: were like the number one player in the area. You

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Speaker 1: went to the South, you were number one draft pick. Um.

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Speaker 1: Are you are you employing that he's going to be

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Speaker 1: better than you? He said, Jeremy, he's gonna be so

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Speaker 1: much better than me. It's not even funny. I'm like, really,

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Speaker 1: he goes, you're six, so ten, you're Magic Johnson. It's Jeremy,

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Speaker 1: it's not even close. And he's so much better than me.

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Speaker 1: It's not close. Jeremy couldn't believe what he was hearing.

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Speaker 1: He'd grown up loving Philly basketball. He'd seen Joe Bryant play.

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Speaker 1: He knew how good Joe was and Kobe was going

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Speaker 1: to be better. And how did your relationship with Kobe

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Speaker 1: developed from there? It went kind of through Joe Bryant

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Speaker 1: because me and Joe hit it off from the beginning,

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Speaker 1: and we were very close for about nine years two

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Speaker 1: thousand and one, and there wasn't a week that we

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Speaker 1: went by. We didn't talk. So the more I got

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Speaker 1: to be around Joe, the more I got to be

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Speaker 1: around Kobe and been over the house a couple of times,

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Speaker 1: and to see them at a Cuba many times, solo

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Speaker 1: mental sal a few times. It's a rare thing to

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Speaker 1: have a genuine epithan, to be able to pinpoint then

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Speaker 1: when you know you've uncovered something or come across someone

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Speaker 1: who will be famous or special in some way. There's

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Speaker 1: a story about a man named John Landau, who was

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Speaker 1: a music critic and became an influential record producer. In

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, Landau went to a concert for an

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Speaker 1: up and coming band at the Harvard Square Theater in Massachusetts. Afterward,

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Speaker 1: he wrote this, I saw my rock and roll past

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Speaker 1: flash before my eyes. I saw something else. I saw

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Speaker 1: rock and rolls future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. Well,

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Speaker 1: Jeremy Treatment had just had his Bruce Springsteen moment. He

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Speaker 1: saw the future of basketball and its name was Kobe Bryant.

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Speaker 1: I could never be a real nervous I'm going to

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Speaker 1: shoot around. Didn't know what to expect playoff game, team

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Speaker 1: abiss so young. I really don't know what to expect.

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Speaker 1: I just came ready to play for myself, but I

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Speaker 1: probably didn't want to shoot nor shooting hond. I was

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Speaker 1: just so nervous. But during a game, teammates came out

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Speaker 1: but a lot of enthusiasm and started playing very hard,

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Speaker 1: and I knew right from there that we can go

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Speaker 1: a long way. And I was struggling a little bit.

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Speaker 1: That game, I got my first technical foul. I was

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Speaker 1: trash talking a little bit to go on the other

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Speaker 1: team and the rest are as I was talking or

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Speaker 1: something like that, So we getting a technical foul. Uh.

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Speaker 1: But I didn't score like that game. And the same

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Speaker 1: guy I was talking trash you said, uh that they

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Speaker 1: were locking me up or something. So I told that

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Speaker 1: the next player was gonna dope in the whole team.

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Speaker 1: He just kind of looked at me funny. And the

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Speaker 1: next player I came down dont an old team. I

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Speaker 1: told him. I said, I told you I could do

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Speaker 1: what if I want out here. But before Kobe could

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Speaker 1: take over American basketball, he had to adjust to America

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Speaker 1: and that process wasn't quite so smooth. Here's Jeremy again.

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Speaker 1: He just come from it. He kind of used basketball

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Speaker 1: too as a social life, like he would just played basketball,

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Speaker 1: play bad, just like he did in Italy. Everybody was

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Speaker 1: kind of different to him because he was from four

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Speaker 1: to twelve. He grew up in Italy, so he was

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Speaker 1: he was like a farmer. He was like a foreign student.

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Speaker 1: You know, it was like he was. I mean, forget

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Speaker 1: that he's born here and his dabaged a Priyan. He

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Speaker 1: was more like an Italian kid coming to a versatile

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Speaker 1: neighborhood six miles from the city of Philadelphia. And so

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Speaker 1: if you're going to be a basketball guy, you know

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Speaker 1: soon you're gonna learned what West Philly was and where

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Speaker 1: Philly was and South. He wasn't. I think he may

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Speaker 1: have heard it all from his dad, but until you

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Speaker 1: experienced it, you know, I think it was all. I

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Speaker 1: think it was a little mind blowing. Kobe and his

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Speaker 1: sisters didn't know much of anything about American pop culture.

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Speaker 1: What was cool, what wasn't, What to wear, what to watch,

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Speaker 1: what music to listen to, the catchphrase, the slang, the

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Speaker 1: shared language and experiences that are so important to making

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Speaker 1: friendships and bonding with peers at that age, Cheers, the

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Speaker 1: Cosby Show, the Arsenio Hall Show, Eat My Shorts. Kobe

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Speaker 1: didn't know what any of those things were. He didn't

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Speaker 1: have the same familiarity with that stuff that he's peers.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I was a new student my freshman year

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Speaker 1: of high school too, way back in the fall of

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Speaker 1: but at least I knew who Paula Abduel was. Here's

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Speaker 1: guys Steward Again, I think it was a real culture

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00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,360
Speaker 1: shock for him and his family. They dressed different when

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Speaker 1: they first came to Lawyer Marian, So you know, there

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Speaker 1: was some teasing, there were some some people being a

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Speaker 1: little bit standoffish um with them being new and and

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Speaker 1: and kind of looking different and dressing different. And I

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00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:05,720
Speaker 1: think being on the basketball team being as good as

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00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:10,280
Speaker 1: he was his freshman year kind of helped him, uh,

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00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 1: integrate into the school a lot easier than it would

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Speaker 1: be for somebody that wasn't playing a sport. I think

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Speaker 1: so over time, you know, as they got used to

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Speaker 1: the kind of the the way we dressed here, and

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Speaker 1: and and and different things, they were quote unquote, and

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Speaker 1: I'm doing air quotes, they were accepted a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: But you know, but I don't think it was it

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Speaker 1: was that bad. They are a great family. The sisters

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Speaker 1: are great, and obviously Kobe is great. It was an

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Speaker 1: easier transition because of the character that they had, and

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Speaker 1: it's just the way that they interacted with people. They

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Speaker 1: didn't have their nose up or or anything like that.

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Speaker 1: They just they were just super friendly. It just took

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Speaker 1: them time to kind of get used to how we

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Speaker 1: were back in the States. You mentioned that they dressed different.

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Speaker 1: How did they dress, Um, it was like a lot

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Speaker 1: of European clothing and and you know, bigger clothing. I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously they dressed different in Italy than they did over here.

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Speaker 1: So we were more into different fashions at that time

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Speaker 1: and wearing our clothes differently. They just weren't used to that,

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Speaker 1: but you know, they quickly were able to adapt and

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Speaker 1: and kind of get rid of the Europe being closed

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Speaker 1: and get with the fashions that that we're here at

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Speaker 1: that time. Plus he had basketball. Kobe joined the team

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Speaker 1: at Ballykinwood Middle School right away and he was the

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Speaker 1: best player on the team right away, which was great

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Speaker 1: news to anyone who followed or cared about Lower Merion

368
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,440
Speaker 1: High School basketball. Bala Fetti students and its student athletes

369
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:59,000
Speaker 1: into Lower Marian once they graduated eighth grade, and just

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00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,239
Speaker 1: a couple of years ero here, the high school had

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Speaker 1: hired a new boys basketball coach, Gregg down And as

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00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,040
Speaker 1: soon as he got there, Downer knew that the program

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Speaker 1: needed a shot in the army. I inherited kind of

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Speaker 1: like a sub five hundred type program. UM. They were

375
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Speaker 1: struggling with academics, get back cleaned up, and you know,

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Speaker 1: I didn't really have any long term goals other than

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Speaker 1: probably working hard, infusing some energy into the program with

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Speaker 1: the young person, and you know, trying to make basketball important. Uh,

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Speaker 1: basketball had become probably unimportant when they were struggling before

380
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Speaker 1: I got there, with some of those sub five hundred seasons. UM.

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Speaker 1: But there was there was no master plan. And then

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00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: certainly any coach would be lucky to come across a

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00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,840
Speaker 1: town like Hersan Bryant. But the coach at Ballykin with

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Speaker 1: Middle School, Dr. George Smith, had strict rules that he

385
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:04,919
Speaker 1: expected all his players to follow, including Kobe Balla played

386
00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:08,679
Speaker 1: only zone defense and on offense. Dr Smith insisted that

387
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 1: the team passed the ball three times before taking a shot.

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00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:16,000
Speaker 1: He was like Gene Hackman and Hoosiers. Kobe, of course,

389
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 1: didn't want to pass the ball so much. He didn't

390
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,639
Speaker 1: want to pass the ball at all, and he took

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Speaker 1: Dr Smith's instructions as a slight as a sign of disrespect.

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Speaker 1: In his mind, he was getting slighted a lot, and

393
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,360
Speaker 1: like many great athletes, he used those doubts to motivate himself.

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Speaker 1: In a year after Kevin Garnett had gone straight to

395
00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,440
Speaker 1: the NBA out of high school, Kobe talked with Jeremy

396
00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:04,960
Speaker 1: about how long he'd been thinking about turning pro himself.

397
00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,879
Speaker 1: And what was stunning was Kobe had been thinking about

398
00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:13,560
Speaker 1: it seriously since eighth and nine. Friend. I met a

399
00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 1: great friend I named Matman called He's always been there

400
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,080
Speaker 1: for me, and I could tell him anything, and I

401
00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:23,840
Speaker 1: think that I don't know if people leave me. At first,

402
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: he's gonna be just mat Hey, I can do this

403
00:26:28,640 --> 00:26:30,560
Speaker 1: and this, and like two minutes, I can do this

404
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,520
Speaker 1: or whatever. He was really really gonna believe. And then

405
00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: when I started to achieve things I was going to do,

406
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,040
Speaker 1: and he started believe me. He had no doubt. Whatever

407
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,160
Speaker 1: I said I was gonna do, I was gonna accomplish.

408
00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,159
Speaker 1: And I came with Damn. I told him I was

409
00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:45,320
Speaker 1: going I'm gonna have an option that you can go

410
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 1: to the nba Um just split out of high school

411
00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 1: and he kind of looked at me said was doubting.

412
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,359
Speaker 1: He said, you know, he said, no, I can't. I

413
00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,840
Speaker 1: can't doubt you anymore today till my DoD poffy wrong.

414
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: And now they they have come, I'm seeing him. Everybody

415
00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,119
Speaker 1: started talking about, you know, I have the ability to

416
00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:11,840
Speaker 1: go to the especially because Kevin had made the jump

417
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 1: through kind of open doors, and people thought that that's

418
00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: why I was considering. But I never crossed my mind. Really,

419
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,399
Speaker 1: I had it. I had it all on all along.

420
00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,760
Speaker 1: He's just beat good puns. He kind of wing Yeah,

421
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 1: you know, actually I'm kind of happy that he didn't

422
00:27:28,840 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 1: because take a little bit of the pressure off me.

423
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:33,640
Speaker 1: I came back in the middle of the eight great

424
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: year and I just played basketball and Mat just tell

425
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 1: you body app would be a pro one day. Basically yeah, yeah,

426
00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,120
Speaker 1: whatever whatever, and not even going that far. People she say, oh,

427
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:44,800
Speaker 1: he's not that good now. Yeah, I was about the

428
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:47,119
Speaker 1: FO points. That's because of coach. Don't let me shoot.

429
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,800
Speaker 1: That's another stories. It was a matter of fact, there

430
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: was a three on three food but up tournament. I

431
00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: was in middle school and Bella kent with and just

432
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,520
Speaker 1: doing on people. But up tourn the man at Mary

433
00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,520
Speaker 1: in high school and it was me, Matt mccalf and

434
00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:03,800
Speaker 1: Day laugh that's lost. No, we went they said, uh

435
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,120
Speaker 1: people were saying that and like uh yeah, you guys

436
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: are not gonna win, and like yeah right, you back

437
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:11,439
Speaker 1: just going in this high school. Didn's not gonna win.

438
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,680
Speaker 1: It's like such a big deal like that, like it

439
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:19,040
Speaker 1: puts money with your mouth. So good. We went there,

440
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: did that, So I come back. I'm like, guys, let's

441
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,600
Speaker 1: start of busing next. Heybody started laughing like yeah right,

442
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,520
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like okay, yeah, Like I'm

443
00:28:31,560 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: in high school scenes and my classmates, people in my

444
00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 1: in my green like yeah yeah, yeah whatever, and I'm

445
00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 1: starting leading score leading rebounded. It was funny, man, it

446
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: was funny. But it's not a doubt. I said that thing.

447
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: He's gonna be in the Vision one college player kid, right, kid,

448
00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,880
Speaker 1: You're not gonna be Just not a doubt right there.

449
00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: Damn he said he's gonna be a pro. I even

450
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: go out of high school. He went into yeah. Right,

451
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 1: So when one Day came out to other, everybody shut up,

452
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 1: you're on him, get all that massage I'm not saying

453
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 1: just to be saying. I'm telling him with him every

454
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: days that good? Yeah, okay, because it is day now

455
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: it's money. He comes up to musical people are starting

456
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:22,920
Speaker 1: to dodge with him. I don't understand why people were

457
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 1: dodging because the dybody wrong. Now the same people are

458
00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:46,120
Speaker 1: starting to down you because I listened to Kobe here

459
00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 1: and I can't get over the chip that he carried

460
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 1: on his shoulder back then. He cared so much about

461
00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,040
Speaker 1: what people thought about him when he was fourteen years old.

462
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: You want an insight into the mamba ment Hallardy, that's it.

463
00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,360
Speaker 1: That's a fourteen year old who doesn't believe he's going

464
00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,000
Speaker 1: to play in the NBA. He knows it, and he's

465
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: going to do whatever he has to do, work harder,

466
00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: practice more, shoot more, anything to make his dream a reality.

467
00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: And he's gonna do it because so few people think

468
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:25,160
Speaker 1: that he can do. I mean who believed in him

469
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 1: then his family obviously, but beyond that, his friend Matt,

470
00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:34,960
Speaker 1: Matt Cooff, Jeremy Treatment and himself. That really was it.

471
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:40,640
Speaker 1: But that was all going to change very very quickly.

472
00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:48,240
Speaker 1: What if exposed? All right? That was a good exposure

473
00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 1: on the Bat That's next week on I Am Kobe.

474
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: I Am Kobe is a production of the Version podcasts

475
00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:12,720
Speaker 1: in association with I Heart Radio. This season is written

476
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Mike Sealsky. It's produced by Jacob

477
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 1: Bronstein and directed by Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob

478
00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:25,280
Speaker 1: Bronstein with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, Editing, mixing and

479
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: sound design by Mark Francis. Stephen Tompkins is our production assistant.

480
00:31:30,160 --> 00:31:34,160
Speaker 1: Our theme music is Create Yourself by Grover Brown featuring

481
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: Justin Starling. Find Create Yourself wherever you stream music. Music

482
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:45,040
Speaker 1: supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Fressan Sink. Executive producers are

483
00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:49,360
Speaker 1: Mark Francis and Scott Waxman. Join the conversation about I

484
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,000
Speaker 1: Am Kobe on social media on Twitter and Instagram. It's

485
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:58,080
Speaker 1: at Diversion Pods thanks to Orin Rosenbaum, Susan Cannavan and

486
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: Jeremy Treatm love our Rise before the Sun. They don't

487
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 1: understand when I say the grind is fun. Never clock

488
00:32:05,400 --> 00:32:07,440
Speaker 1: you out even when my work is done. If they're

489
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,720
Speaker 1: trying to block me, I might hurt someone through the

490
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,840
Speaker 1: blood sweat and says we perseverit, stay tilling it, let

491
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:14,840
Speaker 1: it keep the horses, and then if they don't believe

492
00:32:14,880 --> 00:32:17,600
Speaker 1: in themselves, they revert to find that the champon's head.

493
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,560
Speaker 1: So I'm telling them, ask my am, this the reason

494
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:23,760
Speaker 1: why my work so damn different to the negatives. I

495
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,160
Speaker 1: can listen see me at the time. You can't listen

496
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 1: where I'm amote to play like cash is see. I

497
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 1: pay my dudes because taxes gotta work. I think you

498
00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: grind ahead of his time. So I'm saying that they

499
00:32:36,320 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 1: made you. Don't tell them you create yourself the best

500
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: Finn watch us by it's that time. You gotta stay

501
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 1: clock then break clock break we create ourselves. Watch me

502
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:57,080
Speaker 1: quick watch Steve create myself. Exact signs up and create yourself.

503
00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:03,160
Speaker 1: Say nicey names are create yourself. You gotta learn from

504
00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: the great minds. No, we ain't lying to tell them

505
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: next game time. This time wasn't giving. It was made

506
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,440
Speaker 1: the future. Any time I can change better tell them

507
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: that I made it back home. As I walked through

508
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,160
Speaker 1: the hearts of the fact, I can't from the valley

509
00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 1: of the Shadow with death waiting for some spoons, don't

510
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,280
Speaker 1: hold your breath, Sat Town, sat Train but I did

511
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: it with less I know on them that the being

512
00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: so there's nothing to guess. Yeah, there's nothing the yes,

513
00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: it's our times. Tell them we up next. We don't

514
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,000
Speaker 1: got any regrets. I did it with my soon hands,

515
00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 1: and we never forgets my bit. The reason why my

516
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 1: work so damn different to the negatives. I can't listen

517
00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:43,200
Speaker 1: to see me at the time. You can't listen for

518
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:47,600
Speaker 1: where rebuild, reach shape, give me your you got to

519
00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:50,640
Speaker 1: risk take do it now. When I'm saying why breaks,

520
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:52,480
Speaker 1: I'm wonna saying that they mayn't. You don't tell them

521
00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: you create yourself the besh you finn watch us, but

522
00:33:57,720 --> 00:34:01,200
Speaker 1: it's by that time you gotta sneak clack then break

523
00:34:01,240 --> 00:34:05,880
Speaker 1: black break we create yourself, Watch wee quest me, watch

524
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:12,360
Speaker 1: the create myself exact like that. Signs up and create yourself.

525
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:18,239
Speaker 1: He say, nice, ain't go on create yourself. Gotta line

526
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,919
Speaker 1: for the great minds. But we ain't lying telling next

527
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:48,640
Speaker 1: any time. Ye Diversion Podcasts