Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts. Always played basketball. My family moved to Italy,
Speaker 1: and uh, I was raised over there. I think mature
Speaker 1: very well over there, fascinating anybody else here in American media.
Speaker 1: And when I came back, Um, I had to adapt
Speaker 1: the lifestyle and I became a basketball because it was
Speaker 1: totally different, more and fast paced. Life was more upbeat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: playing a basketball food it was more physical, So I
Speaker 1: had adapted both frames. On the morning of September seven,
Speaker 1: Labor Day, I got a text message from my father
Speaker 1: in law, who's a real estate Did you know He
Speaker 1: asked that Kobe Bryant's old house is up for sale.
Speaker 1: I did now. I was still in the midst of
Speaker 1: researching and writing my book on Kobe the Rise, and
Speaker 1: I thought there might be a chance, if I got lucky,
Speaker 1: that I could get in touch with the owners and
Speaker 1: arrange a time to see the house. Actually, I got
Speaker 1: even luckier than that. The owner's names were Richard and
Speaker 1: Kate Bear. I looked up the name of their realtor.
Speaker 1: I called him, and he called them, and by eleven
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning, I was standing inside the five
Speaker 1: bedroom colonial at twelve two Remington Road in Windwood, the
Speaker 1: house that Joe and Pam Bryant had bought it for
Speaker 1: eighty two thousand dollars on Christmas Eve. The house they
Speaker 1: kept while they spent eight years living mostly in Italy.
Speaker 1: The house where Kobe Bryant grew up. And I was
Speaker 1: going to go look inside. I'm Mike sealscup and from
Speaker 1: Diversion Podcasts. This is I am Kobe. I quest to
Speaker 1: create myself. Exact, I'm self about to create yourself. Say
Speaker 1: nice and go on, create yourself. Gotta letter for the
Speaker 1: great minds. But we ain't selling nest gain Time episode three,
Speaker 1: A young man in Lower Merit. However, the health does
Speaker 1: have a story, and I can I can remember clear
Speaker 1: the day that reach O the tour in the house
Speaker 1: hal I dodn't know who she was or anybody was
Speaker 1: this elegant woman, long long skirt on every day start
Speaker 1: and hair down to her shoulders, big hoop he shoulders.
Speaker 1: Around Philadelphia, the area where Kobe Bryant lived when his
Speaker 1: family moved back from Italy to the States is known
Speaker 1: as the main Line, and for most of its history,
Speaker 1: old money Protestants have made up its upper class. In
Speaker 1: the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the main Line
Speaker 1: was a vacation haven for big wigs who lived in
Speaker 1: the city, especially for executives with the Pennsylvania rail route,
Speaker 1: which cut right through the region. Eventually they started moving
Speaker 1: out there to live full time. By the nineteen thirties,
Speaker 1: black people clustered in particular neighborhoods and worked as bell hops, maids, laborers,
Speaker 1: and another collar jobs, and by the nineteen fifties, Jews
Speaker 1: relocated to the area from West Philadelphia, diversifying Lower Merion
Speaker 1: township even more. Over time, it became a melting pot,
Speaker 1: but it's affluent neighborhoods remained very Guy Stewart was a
Speaker 1: year ahead of Kobe at Lower Merion High School, and
Speaker 1: he was a teammate and friend of Kobe's. Two the
Speaker 1: Bryant's lived in a suburb called Windwood. Guy grew up
Speaker 1: in another nearby township called Ardmore, So his experience as
Speaker 1: a kid was a little different from Kobe's. It was
Speaker 1: good and challenging, right, So, growing up in Laurer Marian
Speaker 1: you had the luxuries of being in in in the suburbs.
Speaker 1: You know, all the amenities that are that are available
Speaker 1: to you through lawer Marian school districts. Through being in
Speaker 1: Armore and growing up near and near that area. We
Speaker 1: lived in an area in a section in our more
Speaker 1: where you know, you were still able to be around
Speaker 1: people that that looked like you and you guys had
Speaker 1: the same kind of goals and thoughts and experiences, so
Speaker 1: you were able to kind of relate to some things
Speaker 1: um or actually to a lot of things right. But
Speaker 1: on the on the other side, it's like you're growing
Speaker 1: up in an area where it's predominantly you know, white,
Speaker 1: as you know, the main line is there's a lot
Speaker 1: of money out there, so you know, getting used to that,
Speaker 1: having friends that live in these big mansions, driving you
Speaker 1: know cars, especially in high school, you know, your your
Speaker 1: classmates are coming to school and in different types of
Speaker 1: cars than you are, And unfortunately there there were times
Speaker 1: where you were just singled out or not included because
Speaker 1: you know, you were kind of different. But a lot
Speaker 1: of great people with Laura Maryan that I grew up
Speaker 1: with them with the school with um a lot of
Speaker 1: great relationships that I continue to have now with with
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys, whether it be you know,
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood or or outside, and like narbarous and
Speaker 1: Winwood and ballotim Wood areas, so you know, it's those
Speaker 1: are the kind of like the two sides of it.
Speaker 1: But you still live close enough to Philadelphia where you
Speaker 1: were able to kind of drive in and play in
Speaker 1: those playgrounds and kind of get that different experience of
Speaker 1: playing with guys from the city. Joe and Pam Bryant
Speaker 1: moved out to Los Angeles with Kobe after he joined
Speaker 1: the Lakers in and apparently other members of a Bryant
Speaker 1: family would continue to use or stay in the house,
Speaker 1: but Joe and Pam didn't sell it to the Bears
Speaker 1: until two thousand eight, which got me thinking, why would
Speaker 1: they hold onto it that long. I could only guess
Speaker 1: that the house meant a lot to them. It was
Speaker 1: where their children, especially their youngest child, had grown up,
Speaker 1: and if you've seen the house, you'd understand why they
Speaker 1: might have felt such affection, for it had colorful beds
Speaker 1: of flowers in the front, a driveway that wrapped around
Speaker 1: the entire property, and of course a basketball whop above
Speaker 1: the two car garage. Still, by the standards of the
Speaker 1: main line, it was pretty modest, which is pretty incredible
Speaker 1: if you're standing inside it or walking around it, and
Speaker 1: you can imagine that they would sit here watch their
Speaker 1: basketball right there. I mean, which is so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: All this tap room, this is an interesting room to me,
Speaker 1: play room they had here a table of gorgeous would
Speaker 1: from Africa, And I didn't know, you know who Pa was,
Speaker 1: but I just said, oh my gosh, would you be
Speaker 1: willing to sell that? She says, no, it all has
Speaker 1: you know, personale feniaminal value. Kate Bear remembered every detail
Speaker 1: of the way the Brian's house used to be, and
Speaker 1: she described all of it to me as she gave
Speaker 1: me a tour from room to room. In the family room,
Speaker 1: the brian It's had a giant television that covered the
Speaker 1: entire wall, not far from a set of sliding glass
Speaker 1: doors that led to their backyard. That tells you something
Speaker 1: about the people living in the house. Here was a
Speaker 1: playroom for the kids. This wasn't the only player. I
Speaker 1: just want to say, I have my own bias about
Speaker 1: who these people were, and I saw this house as
Speaker 1: being very caring and warm and affecionate. So there are
Speaker 1: lots of little things and you piece them all together,
Speaker 1: like even the big TV, and don't maybe you just
Speaker 1: see them sitting around the TV. The walls top to
Speaker 1: ceiling were covered with wo She led me down a
Speaker 1: hallway and opened a panel to a crawl space. Inside
Speaker 1: there was a heating pipe with something written on it
Speaker 1: in fat black marker. It looked like a label, so
Speaker 1: that you know what pipe led to what part of
Speaker 1: the house, second floor, Kobe's room. That's why when we
Speaker 1: had this all insulated, we had them cut that piece out.
Speaker 1: I don't blame you, so we know exactly which room
Speaker 1: was his, which I'll take you too, next man. To
Speaker 1: get to Kobe's old bedroom, we had to pass through
Speaker 1: the living room and they're on the floor. Taking up
Speaker 1: half the space was the basketball hoop and backboard that
Speaker 1: had once hung above the garage and driveway. Right. It's
Speaker 1: right here in the living room. And that's because after
Speaker 1: them stopping by taking pictures, and this must have been
Speaker 1: madness for me over the last few days. It was
Speaker 1: we were standing guard like window still there, still there,
Speaker 1: oh man. So then we had to have it taken down.
Speaker 1: Somebody would steal to the front of the rim was
Speaker 1: bent downward about an inch. It was impossible to look
Speaker 1: at the hoop and not think about Kobe and his father.
Speaker 1: How many games of one on one had they played
Speaker 1: on that basket? Was that rim bent because of all
Speaker 1: the times they had dumped on it? Had to be right, God,
Speaker 1: This basket represented all the thousands of hours that Kobe
Speaker 1: had spent honing his craft, learning the nuances and little
Speaker 1: tricks of the game from Joe. So many hours a
Speaker 1: father and son together, and now there it was, up
Speaker 1: ended and askew on the living room floor, which I
Speaker 1: don't want to call it art, but you know, suspend right.
Speaker 1: Kate then turned to me and showed me a photo
Speaker 1: that she had kept on her phone. It was of
Speaker 1: a picture that Pam Bryant had hung above her son's bed,
Speaker 1: a representation of two guardian angels, both of them black.
Speaker 1: Between the angels were these words. God has given each
Speaker 1: of us an angel in our life, and if in
Speaker 1: life we seek his way, he will surely guide us. Right,
Speaker 1: that would thinking here I was right above his bed,
Speaker 1: totally right above his bed. Pictures, pictures, pictures everywhere. I mean,
Speaker 1: little framed things like this. But this, you say, so sweet? Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course we're just taking it, Georgia. That
Speaker 1: the I don't know who they are, and I'm thinking
Speaker 1: these are sweet. E Bay would be here, you know,
Speaker 1: these pictures something like that. They tell a story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: TVs and all those things to tell a story. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you the story is one of those calmness
Speaker 1: and comfort, it's just and sweetness and caring. It's a caring,
Speaker 1: loving house. That was my own Christian Well. I'm a
Speaker 1: career counsel from you know, with executives for one most
Speaker 1: of my life, and so I remember thinking, like you know,
Speaker 1: and I've noticed things, something bad. We moved on to
Speaker 1: the study. There were old magazines from the nineteen eighties
Speaker 1: and nineteen nineties on the shelves of a All You
Speaker 1: and on Joe Bryant's old desk. It felt like we
Speaker 1: were walking through a museum, but there were no ropes
Speaker 1: to keep us from touching and examining the exhibits. One
Speaker 1: magazine stood out. Michael Jordan was on the cover wearing
Speaker 1: his white Chicago Bulls jersey, smiling brightly, a cigar in
Speaker 1: his left hand. This was a sports and then here's Kobe's.
Speaker 1: The dressed sticker is to Kobe, how old was he?
Speaker 1: He would have been fourteen? Is that sweet? Because he
Speaker 1: turned would turned thirteen years old. That was his idol
Speaker 1: and you're a dressed to him. It was all set
Speaker 1: and that was my impression, and I always felt pretty
Speaker 1: acciment about that. Yeah, I was like, no, this is
Speaker 1: a whole family. This isn't just Kobe's house right. Without
Speaker 1: that family there would you know Kobe exactly? So who
Speaker 1: was Kobe Bryant back then? Right after he and his
Speaker 1: family returned from Europe in the fall of Hey. This
Speaker 1: is Mike Selsky, host and writer of I Am Kobe.
Speaker 1: This podcast project came out of my work on a
Speaker 1: related book called The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit
Speaker 1: of Immortality. If you want to explore other parts of
Speaker 1: Kobe's story, check out The Rise. It's not just a
Speaker 1: book version of the podcast. I dive deeper into some
Speaker 1: of the topics covered in this series and even some
Speaker 1: that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, his family,
Speaker 1: his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates, his
Speaker 1: journey into the n b A, and his earliest days
Speaker 1: with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit
Speaker 1: of Immortality is out now. Just head over to the
Speaker 1: Rise of Kobe book dot Com and you can buy
Speaker 1: it from any of your favorite retailers. That's the rise
Speaker 1: of Kobe book dot Com. Thanks. Kobe wasn't quite flashing
Speaker 1: the Mamba mentality yet. He was thirteen years old and
Speaker 1: he was jumping into the middle of the school year
Speaker 1: at ballykin Wood Middle School. Then after a few more months, boom,
Speaker 1: he was heading to Lower Marion, a public high school
Speaker 1: in the suburbs just outside Philadelphia, a school whereabout ten
Speaker 1: percent of the students were black. Joe got a job
Speaker 1: at a Cuba Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school on
Speaker 1: the main Line. You might have heard of Akiba, or
Speaker 1: at least some of its alumni. Jake Tapper from CNN
Speaker 1: went there, and so did the best selling author and
Speaker 1: media personality Mitch Album. Joe was the girls basketball coach there,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't like a Keeba's players were all ticketed
Speaker 1: to play for Yukon or Baylor someday. These girls were
Speaker 1: just learning the game, trying to master its fundamentals, and
Speaker 1: Joe was happy to teach them that and a few
Speaker 1: other things. He'd have the players practice dribbling behind their
Speaker 1: backs and between their legs, stuff that to him was
Speaker 1: just fun. That's kind of what the job was to Joe,
Speaker 1: just fun. He'd even bring Kobe to practice from time
Speaker 1: to time, and it was there where both Joe and
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant met Jeremy Treatment, the man who would become
Speaker 1: their friend and confident for the first time. First time
Speaker 1: I remember saying Kobe on a basketball court was at
Speaker 1: a Keyba Hebrew Academy on a side basket. I was
Speaker 1: coaching the jav boys and his father, Joe Brian was
Speaker 1: coaching the girls. It was a Sunday morning, and Kobe
Speaker 1: came in and he just started doing the mic and
Speaker 1: drill on a side basket. Then he was taking some
Speaker 1: short john person and mind you, both both courts were
Speaker 1: being used at the time for practices, so he just
Speaker 1: he didn't have anywhere to really to go. But then
Speaker 1: I just started watching him elevate. It wasn't really dunking,
Speaker 1: but his but his both hands were over the room.
Speaker 1: I mean he was he was kind of laying him
Speaker 1: in and then I saw him hitting some side corner
Speaker 1: shots from on both rims, and that's when I started
Speaker 1: to ask Joe about him, and what did you say?
Speaker 1: I said, how how could this Kobe? Is he going
Speaker 1: to be anything like you at twelve years old or
Speaker 1: two years old? If he's so much better than than
Speaker 1: I was, it's not even close. I said, really, I
Speaker 1: mean you were like you went to bart From you
Speaker 1: were like the number one player in the area. You
Speaker 1: went to the South, you were number one draft pick. Um.
Speaker 1: Are you are you employing that he's going to be
Speaker 1: better than you? He said, Jeremy, he's gonna be so
Speaker 1: much better than me. It's not even funny. I'm like, really,
Speaker 1: he goes, you're six, so ten, you're Magic Johnson. It's Jeremy,
Speaker 1: it's not even close. And he's so much better than me.
Speaker 1: It's not close. Jeremy couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Speaker 1: He'd grown up loving Philly basketball. He'd seen Joe Bryant play.
Speaker 1: He knew how good Joe was and Kobe was going
Speaker 1: to be better. And how did your relationship with Kobe
Speaker 1: developed from there? It went kind of through Joe Bryant
Speaker 1: because me and Joe hit it off from the beginning,
Speaker 1: and we were very close for about nine years two
Speaker 1: thousand and one, and there wasn't a week that we
Speaker 1: went by. We didn't talk. So the more I got
Speaker 1: to be around Joe, the more I got to be
Speaker 1: around Kobe and been over the house a couple of times,
Speaker 1: and to see them at a Cuba many times, solo
Speaker 1: mental sal a few times. It's a rare thing to
Speaker 1: have a genuine epithan, to be able to pinpoint then
Speaker 1: when you know you've uncovered something or come across someone
Speaker 1: who will be famous or special in some way. There's
Speaker 1: a story about a man named John Landau, who was
Speaker 1: a music critic and became an influential record producer. In
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, Landau went to a concert for an
Speaker 1: up and coming band at the Harvard Square Theater in Massachusetts. Afterward,
Speaker 1: he wrote this, I saw my rock and roll past
Speaker 1: flash before my eyes. I saw something else. I saw
Speaker 1: rock and rolls future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. Well,
Speaker 1: Jeremy Treatment had just had his Bruce Springsteen moment. He
Speaker 1: saw the future of basketball and its name was Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 1: I could never be a real nervous I'm going to
Speaker 1: shoot around. Didn't know what to expect playoff game, team
Speaker 1: abiss so young. I really don't know what to expect.
Speaker 1: I just came ready to play for myself, but I
Speaker 1: probably didn't want to shoot nor shooting hond. I was
Speaker 1: just so nervous. But during a game, teammates came out
Speaker 1: but a lot of enthusiasm and started playing very hard,
Speaker 1: and I knew right from there that we can go
Speaker 1: a long way. And I was struggling a little bit.
Speaker 1: That game, I got my first technical foul. I was
Speaker 1: trash talking a little bit to go on the other
Speaker 1: team and the rest are as I was talking or
Speaker 1: something like that, So we getting a technical foul. Uh.
Speaker 1: But I didn't score like that game. And the same
Speaker 1: guy I was talking trash you said, uh that they
Speaker 1: were locking me up or something. So I told that
Speaker 1: the next player was gonna dope in the whole team.
Speaker 1: He just kind of looked at me funny. And the
Speaker 1: next player I came down dont an old team. I
Speaker 1: told him. I said, I told you I could do
Speaker 1: what if I want out here. But before Kobe could
Speaker 1: take over American basketball, he had to adjust to America
Speaker 1: and that process wasn't quite so smooth. Here's Jeremy again.
Speaker 1: He just come from it. He kind of used basketball
Speaker 1: too as a social life, like he would just played basketball,
Speaker 1: play bad, just like he did in Italy. Everybody was
Speaker 1: kind of different to him because he was from four
Speaker 1: to twelve. He grew up in Italy, so he was
Speaker 1: he was like a farmer. He was like a foreign student.
Speaker 1: You know, it was like he was. I mean, forget
Speaker 1: that he's born here and his dabaged a Priyan. He
Speaker 1: was more like an Italian kid coming to a versatile
Speaker 1: neighborhood six miles from the city of Philadelphia. And so
Speaker 1: if you're going to be a basketball guy, you know
Speaker 1: soon you're gonna learned what West Philly was and where
Speaker 1: Philly was and South. He wasn't. I think he may
Speaker 1: have heard it all from his dad, but until you
Speaker 1: experienced it, you know, I think it was all. I
Speaker 1: think it was a little mind blowing. Kobe and his
Speaker 1: sisters didn't know much of anything about American pop culture.
Speaker 1: What was cool, what wasn't, What to wear, what to watch,
Speaker 1: what music to listen to, the catchphrase, the slang, the
Speaker 1: shared language and experiences that are so important to making
Speaker 1: friendships and bonding with peers at that age, Cheers, the
Speaker 1: Cosby Show, the Arsenio Hall Show, Eat My Shorts. Kobe
Speaker 1: didn't know what any of those things were. He didn't
Speaker 1: have the same familiarity with that stuff that he's peers.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was a new student my freshman year
Speaker 1: of high school too, way back in the fall of
Speaker 1: but at least I knew who Paula Abduel was. Here's
Speaker 1: guys Steward Again, I think it was a real culture
Speaker 1: shock for him and his family. They dressed different when
Speaker 1: they first came to Lawyer Marian, So you know, there
Speaker 1: was some teasing, there were some some people being a
Speaker 1: little bit standoffish um with them being new and and
Speaker 1: and kind of looking different and dressing different. And I
Speaker 1: think being on the basketball team being as good as
Speaker 1: he was his freshman year kind of helped him, uh,
Speaker 1: integrate into the school a lot easier than it would
Speaker 1: be for somebody that wasn't playing a sport. I think
Speaker 1: so over time, you know, as they got used to
Speaker 1: the kind of the the way we dressed here, and
Speaker 1: and and and different things, they were quote unquote, and
Speaker 1: I'm doing air quotes, they were accepted a little bit more.
Speaker 1: But you know, but I don't think it was it
Speaker 1: was that bad. They are a great family. The sisters
Speaker 1: are great, and obviously Kobe is great. It was an
Speaker 1: easier transition because of the character that they had, and
Speaker 1: it's just the way that they interacted with people. They
Speaker 1: didn't have their nose up or or anything like that.
Speaker 1: They just they were just super friendly. It just took
Speaker 1: them time to kind of get used to how we
Speaker 1: were back in the States. You mentioned that they dressed different.
Speaker 1: How did they dress, Um, it was like a lot
Speaker 1: of European clothing and and you know, bigger clothing. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously they dressed different in Italy than they did over here.
Speaker 1: So we were more into different fashions at that time
Speaker 1: and wearing our clothes differently. They just weren't used to that,
Speaker 1: but you know, they quickly were able to adapt and
Speaker 1: and kind of get rid of the Europe being closed
Speaker 1: and get with the fashions that that we're here at
Speaker 1: that time. Plus he had basketball. Kobe joined the team
Speaker 1: at Ballykinwood Middle School right away and he was the
Speaker 1: best player on the team right away, which was great
Speaker 1: news to anyone who followed or cared about Lower Merion
Speaker 1: High School basketball. Bala Fetti students and its student athletes
Speaker 1: into Lower Marian once they graduated eighth grade, and just
Speaker 1: a couple of years ero here, the high school had
Speaker 1: hired a new boys basketball coach, Gregg down And as
Speaker 1: soon as he got there, Downer knew that the program
Speaker 1: needed a shot in the army. I inherited kind of
Speaker 1: like a sub five hundred type program. UM. They were
Speaker 1: struggling with academics, get back cleaned up, and you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't really have any long term goals other than
Speaker 1: probably working hard, infusing some energy into the program with
Speaker 1: the young person, and you know, trying to make basketball important. Uh,
Speaker 1: basketball had become probably unimportant when they were struggling before
Speaker 1: I got there, with some of those sub five hundred seasons. UM.
Speaker 1: But there was there was no master plan. And then
Speaker 1: certainly any coach would be lucky to come across a
Speaker 1: town like Hersan Bryant. But the coach at Ballykin with
Speaker 1: Middle School, Dr. George Smith, had strict rules that he
Speaker 1: expected all his players to follow, including Kobe Balla played
Speaker 1: only zone defense and on offense. Dr Smith insisted that
Speaker 1: the team passed the ball three times before taking a shot.
Speaker 1: He was like Gene Hackman and Hoosiers. Kobe, of course,
Speaker 1: didn't want to pass the ball so much. He didn't
Speaker 1: want to pass the ball at all, and he took
Speaker 1: Dr Smith's instructions as a slight as a sign of disrespect.
Speaker 1: In his mind, he was getting slighted a lot, and
Speaker 1: like many great athletes, he used those doubts to motivate himself.
Speaker 1: In a year after Kevin Garnett had gone straight to
Speaker 1: the NBA out of high school, Kobe talked with Jeremy
Speaker 1: about how long he'd been thinking about turning pro himself.
Speaker 1: And what was stunning was Kobe had been thinking about
Speaker 1: it seriously since eighth and nine. Friend. I met a
Speaker 1: great friend I named Matman called He's always been there
Speaker 1: for me, and I could tell him anything, and I
Speaker 1: think that I don't know if people leave me. At first,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be just mat Hey, I can do this
Speaker 1: and this, and like two minutes, I can do this
Speaker 1: or whatever. He was really really gonna believe. And then
Speaker 1: when I started to achieve things I was going to do,
Speaker 1: and he started believe me. He had no doubt. Whatever
Speaker 1: I said I was gonna do, I was gonna accomplish.
Speaker 1: And I came with Damn. I told him I was
Speaker 1: going I'm gonna have an option that you can go
Speaker 1: to the nba Um just split out of high school
Speaker 1: and he kind of looked at me said was doubting.
Speaker 1: He said, you know, he said, no, I can't. I
Speaker 1: can't doubt you anymore today till my DoD poffy wrong.
Speaker 1: And now they they have come, I'm seeing him. Everybody
Speaker 1: started talking about, you know, I have the ability to
Speaker 1: go to the especially because Kevin had made the jump
Speaker 1: through kind of open doors, and people thought that that's
Speaker 1: why I was considering. But I never crossed my mind. Really,
Speaker 1: I had it. I had it all on all along.
Speaker 1: He's just beat good puns. He kind of wing Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, actually I'm kind of happy that he didn't
Speaker 1: because take a little bit of the pressure off me.
Speaker 1: I came back in the middle of the eight great
Speaker 1: year and I just played basketball and Mat just tell
Speaker 1: you body app would be a pro one day. Basically yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: whatever whatever, and not even going that far. People she say, oh,
Speaker 1: he's not that good now. Yeah, I was about the
Speaker 1: FO points. That's because of coach. Don't let me shoot.
Speaker 1: That's another stories. It was a matter of fact, there
Speaker 1: was a three on three food but up tournament. I
Speaker 1: was in middle school and Bella kent with and just
Speaker 1: doing on people. But up tourn the man at Mary
Speaker 1: in high school and it was me, Matt mccalf and
Speaker 1: Day laugh that's lost. No, we went they said, uh
Speaker 1: people were saying that and like uh yeah, you guys
Speaker 1: are not gonna win, and like yeah right, you back
Speaker 1: just going in this high school. Didn's not gonna win.
Speaker 1: It's like such a big deal like that, like it
Speaker 1: puts money with your mouth. So good. We went there,
Speaker 1: did that, So I come back. I'm like, guys, let's
Speaker 1: start of busing next. Heybody started laughing like yeah right,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like okay, yeah, Like I'm
Speaker 1: in high school scenes and my classmates, people in my
Speaker 1: in my green like yeah yeah, yeah whatever, and I'm
Speaker 1: starting leading score leading rebounded. It was funny, man, it
Speaker 1: was funny. But it's not a doubt. I said that thing.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be in the Vision one college player kid, right, kid,
Speaker 1: You're not gonna be Just not a doubt right there.
Speaker 1: Damn he said he's gonna be a pro. I even
Speaker 1: go out of high school. He went into yeah. Right,
Speaker 1: So when one Day came out to other, everybody shut up,
Speaker 1: you're on him, get all that massage I'm not saying
Speaker 1: just to be saying. I'm telling him with him every
Speaker 1: days that good? Yeah, okay, because it is day now
Speaker 1: it's money. He comes up to musical people are starting
Speaker 1: to dodge with him. I don't understand why people were
Speaker 1: dodging because the dybody wrong. Now the same people are
Speaker 1: starting to down you because I listened to Kobe here
Speaker 1: and I can't get over the chip that he carried
Speaker 1: on his shoulder back then. He cared so much about
Speaker 1: what people thought about him when he was fourteen years old.
Speaker 1: You want an insight into the mamba ment Hallardy, that's it.
Speaker 1: That's a fourteen year old who doesn't believe he's going
Speaker 1: to play in the NBA. He knows it, and he's
Speaker 1: going to do whatever he has to do, work harder,
Speaker 1: practice more, shoot more, anything to make his dream a reality.
Speaker 1: And he's gonna do it because so few people think
Speaker 1: that he can do. I mean who believed in him
Speaker 1: then his family obviously, but beyond that, his friend Matt,
Speaker 1: Matt Cooff, Jeremy Treatment and himself. That really was it.
Speaker 1: But that was all going to change very very quickly.
Speaker 1: What if exposed? All right? That was a good exposure
Speaker 1: on the Bat That's next week on I Am Kobe.
Speaker 1: I Am Kobe is a production of the Version podcasts
Speaker 1: in association with I Heart Radio. This season is written
Speaker 1: and hosted by me Mike Sealsky. It's produced by Jacob
Speaker 1: Bronstein and directed by Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob
Speaker 1: Bronstein with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, Editing, mixing and
Speaker 1: sound design by Mark Francis. Stephen Tompkins is our production assistant.
Speaker 1: Our theme music is Create Yourself by Grover Brown featuring
Speaker 1: Justin Starling. Find Create Yourself wherever you stream music. Music
Speaker 1: supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Fressan Sink. Executive producers are
Speaker 1: Mark Francis and Scott Waxman. Join the conversation about I
Speaker 1: Am Kobe on social media on Twitter and Instagram. It's
Speaker 1: at Diversion Pods thanks to Orin Rosenbaum, Susan Cannavan and
Speaker 1: Jeremy Treatm love our Rise before the Sun. They don't
Speaker 1: understand when I say the grind is fun. Never clock
Speaker 1: you out even when my work is done. If they're
Speaker 1: trying to block me, I might hurt someone through the
Speaker 1: blood sweat and says we perseverit, stay tilling it, let
Speaker 1: it keep the horses, and then if they don't believe
Speaker 1: in themselves, they revert to find that the champon's head.
Speaker 1: So I'm telling them, ask my am, this the reason
Speaker 1: why my work so damn different to the negatives. I
Speaker 1: can listen see me at the time. You can't listen
Speaker 1: where I'm amote to play like cash is see. I
Speaker 1: pay my dudes because taxes gotta work. I think you
Speaker 1: grind ahead of his time. So I'm saying that they
Speaker 1: made you. Don't tell them you create yourself the best
Speaker 1: Finn watch us by it's that time. You gotta stay
Speaker 1: clock then break clock break we create ourselves. Watch me
Speaker 1: quick watch Steve create myself. Exact signs up and create yourself.
Speaker 1: Say nicey names are create yourself. You gotta learn from
Speaker 1: the great minds. No, we ain't lying to tell them
Speaker 1: next game time. This time wasn't giving. It was made
Speaker 1: the future. Any time I can change better tell them
Speaker 1: that I made it back home. As I walked through
Speaker 1: the hearts of the fact, I can't from the valley
Speaker 1: of the Shadow with death waiting for some spoons, don't
Speaker 1: hold your breath, Sat Town, sat Train but I did
Speaker 1: it with less I know on them that the being
Speaker 1: so there's nothing to guess. Yeah, there's nothing the yes,
Speaker 1: it's our times. Tell them we up next. We don't
Speaker 1: got any regrets. I did it with my soon hands,
Speaker 1: and we never forgets my bit. The reason why my
Speaker 1: work so damn different to the negatives. I can't listen
Speaker 1: to see me at the time. You can't listen for
Speaker 1: where rebuild, reach shape, give me your you got to
Speaker 1: risk take do it now. When I'm saying why breaks,
Speaker 1: I'm wonna saying that they mayn't. You don't tell them
Speaker 1: you create yourself the besh you finn watch us, but
Speaker 1: it's by that time you gotta sneak clack then break
Speaker 1: black break we create yourself, Watch wee quest me, watch
Speaker 1: the create myself exact like that. Signs up and create yourself.
Speaker 1: He say, nice, ain't go on create yourself. Gotta line
Speaker 1: for the great minds. But we ain't lying telling next
Speaker 1: any time. Ye Diversion Podcasts