WEBVTT - A Young Man in Lower Merion 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:16.640 Diversion podcasts. Always played basketball. My family moved to Italy, 0:00:17.440 --> 0:00:21.520 and uh, I was raised over there. I think mature 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.800 very well over there, fascinating anybody else here in American media. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.400 And when I came back, Um, I had to adapt 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:31.960 the lifestyle and I became a basketball because it was 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:36.200 totally different, more and fast paced. Life was more upbeat. Yeah, 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.400 playing a basketball food it was more physical, So I 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:53.520 had adapted both frames. On the morning of September seven, 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:57.440 Labor Day, I got a text message from my father 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:01.000 in law, who's a real estate Did you know He 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:04.919 asked that Kobe Bryant's old house is up for sale. 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:16.080 I did now. I was still in the midst of 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:19.679 researching and writing my book on Kobe the Rise, and 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.520 I thought there might be a chance, if I got lucky, 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.120 that I could get in touch with the owners and 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:28.920 arrange a time to see the house. Actually, I got 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.400 even luckier than that. The owner's names were Richard and 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.520 Kate Bear. I looked up the name of their realtor. 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:40.839 I called him, and he called them, and by eleven 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:44.000 o'clock in the morning, I was standing inside the five 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:49.880 bedroom colonial at twelve two Remington Road in Windwood, the 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:53.320 house that Joe and Pam Bryant had bought it for 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:59.200 eighty two thousand dollars on Christmas Eve. The house they 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.000 kept while they spent eight years living mostly in Italy. 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:07.760 The house where Kobe Bryant grew up. And I was 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:21.720 going to go look inside. I'm Mike sealscup and from 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:30.639 Diversion Podcasts. This is I am Kobe. I quest to 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:38.079 create myself. Exact, I'm self about to create yourself. Say 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:42.519 nice and go on, create yourself. Gotta letter for the 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:47.520 great minds. But we ain't selling nest gain Time episode three, 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:52.000 A young man in Lower Merit. However, the health does 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.760 have a story, and I can I can remember clear 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:58.160 the day that reach O the tour in the house 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:02.160 hal I dodn't know who she was or anybody was 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:07.840 this elegant woman, long long skirt on every day start 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:14.639 and hair down to her shoulders, big hoop he shoulders. 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.040 Around Philadelphia, the area where Kobe Bryant lived when his 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.119 family moved back from Italy to the States is known 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:25.880 as the main Line, and for most of its history, 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:33.680 old money Protestants have made up its upper class. In 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:37.080 the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the main Line 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:39.880 was a vacation haven for big wigs who lived in 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:44.040 the city, especially for executives with the Pennsylvania rail route, 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:48.760 which cut right through the region. Eventually they started moving 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:52.800 out there to live full time. By the nineteen thirties, 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:58.960 black people clustered in particular neighborhoods and worked as bell hops, maids, laborers, 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:03.920 and another collar jobs, and by the nineteen fifties, Jews 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:08.280 relocated to the area from West Philadelphia, diversifying Lower Merion 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.040 township even more. Over time, it became a melting pot, 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:19.880 but it's affluent neighborhoods remained very Guy Stewart was a 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:22.960 year ahead of Kobe at Lower Merion High School, and 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.960 he was a teammate and friend of Kobe's. Two the 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:30.280 Bryant's lived in a suburb called Windwood. Guy grew up 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:35.000 in another nearby township called Ardmore, So his experience as 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:39.000 a kid was a little different from Kobe's. It was 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.120 good and challenging, right, So, growing up in Laurer Marian 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.320 you had the luxuries of being in in in the suburbs. 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:48.839 You know, all the amenities that are that are available 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.720 to you through lawer Marian school districts. Through being in 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.680 Armore and growing up near and near that area. We 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.000 lived in an area in a section in our more 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.880 where you know, you were still able to be around 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:05.360 people that that looked like you and you guys had 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.840 the same kind of goals and thoughts and experiences, so 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:11.120 you were able to kind of relate to some things 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.479 um or actually to a lot of things right. But 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:17.560 on the on the other side, it's like you're growing 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:21.000 up in an area where it's predominantly you know, white, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.120 as you know, the main line is there's a lot 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.320 of money out there, so you know, getting used to that, 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:31.719 having friends that live in these big mansions, driving you 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:34.640 know cars, especially in high school, you know, your your 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:37.479 classmates are coming to school and in different types of 0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:41.240 cars than you are, And unfortunately there there were times 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:45.800 where you were just singled out or not included because 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.240 you know, you were kind of different. But a lot 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.880 of great people with Laura Maryan that I grew up 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:53.960 with them with the school with um a lot of 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.280 great relationships that I continue to have now with with 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.919 a lot of those guys, whether it be you know, 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.440 in my neighborhood or or outside, and like narbarous and 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:07.920 Winwood and ballotim Wood areas, so you know, it's those 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:09.680 are the kind of like the two sides of it. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:12.039 But you still live close enough to Philadelphia where you 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.039 were able to kind of drive in and play in 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.560 those playgrounds and kind of get that different experience of 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:27.320 playing with guys from the city. Joe and Pam Bryant 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:30.160 moved out to Los Angeles with Kobe after he joined 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.159 the Lakers in and apparently other members of a Bryant 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.239 family would continue to use or stay in the house, 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:40.200 but Joe and Pam didn't sell it to the Bears 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:44.400 until two thousand eight, which got me thinking, why would 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.599 they hold onto it that long. I could only guess 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:49.880 that the house meant a lot to them. It was 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:53.640 where their children, especially their youngest child, had grown up, 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.560 and if you've seen the house, you'd understand why they 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.400 might have felt such affection, for it had colorful beds 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.680 of flowers in the front, a driveway that wrapped around 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.320 the entire property, and of course a basketball whop above 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.800 the two car garage. Still, by the standards of the 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.360 main line, it was pretty modest, which is pretty incredible 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.720 if you're standing inside it or walking around it, and 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.200 you can imagine that they would sit here watch their 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:27.960 basketball right there. I mean, which is so that's pretty cool. 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.080 All this tap room, this is an interesting room to me, 0:07:32.760 --> 0:07:37.920 play room they had here a table of gorgeous would 0:07:38.040 --> 0:07:41.560 from Africa, And I didn't know, you know who Pa was, 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:43.360 but I just said, oh my gosh, would you be 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.480 willing to sell that? She says, no, it all has 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:52.080 you know, personale feniaminal value. Kate Bear remembered every detail 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.360 of the way the Brian's house used to be, and 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:56.560 she described all of it to me as she gave 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.560 me a tour from room to room. In the family room, 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.120 the brian It's had a giant television that covered the 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:05.280 entire wall, not far from a set of sliding glass 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:10.800 doors that led to their backyard. That tells you something 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:12.840 about the people living in the house. Here was a 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.080 playroom for the kids. This wasn't the only player. I 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.440 just want to say, I have my own bias about 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:24.360 who these people were, and I saw this house as 0:08:24.400 --> 0:08:29.560 being very caring and warm and affecionate. So there are 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.880 lots of little things and you piece them all together, 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:33.480 like even the big TV, and don't maybe you just 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.800 see them sitting around the TV. The walls top to 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:41.240 ceiling were covered with wo She led me down a 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:45.040 hallway and opened a panel to a crawl space. Inside 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:47.760 there was a heating pipe with something written on it 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.080 in fat black marker. It looked like a label, so 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.680 that you know what pipe led to what part of 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:58.240 the house, second floor, Kobe's room. That's why when we 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:01.320 had this all insulated, we had them cut that piece out. 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:05.600 I don't blame you, so we know exactly which room 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.720 was his, which I'll take you too, next man. To 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.160 get to Kobe's old bedroom, we had to pass through 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.360 the living room and they're on the floor. Taking up 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:18.280 half the space was the basketball hoop and backboard that 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.920 had once hung above the garage and driveway. Right. It's 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:26.439 right here in the living room. And that's because after 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.280 them stopping by taking pictures, and this must have been 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.840 madness for me over the last few days. It was 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.640 we were standing guard like window still there, still there, 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.280 oh man. So then we had to have it taken down. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:43.800 Somebody would steal to the front of the rim was 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:47.199 bent downward about an inch. It was impossible to look 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.760 at the hoop and not think about Kobe and his father. 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.560 How many games of one on one had they played 0:09:56.559 --> 0:09:59.720 on that basket? Was that rim bent because of all 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.800 the times they had dumped on it? Had to be right, God, 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:08.160 This basket represented all the thousands of hours that Kobe 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.079 had spent honing his craft, learning the nuances and little 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.520 tricks of the game from Joe. So many hours a 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.440 father and son together, and now there it was, up 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:27.600 ended and askew on the living room floor, which I 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:33.400 don't want to call it art, but you know, suspend right. 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.240 Kate then turned to me and showed me a photo 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:38.880 that she had kept on her phone. It was of 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.240 a picture that Pam Bryant had hung above her son's bed, 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.120 a representation of two guardian angels, both of them black. 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.920 Between the angels were these words. God has given each 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.080 of us an angel in our life, and if in 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:58.120 life we seek his way, he will surely guide us. Right, 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:03.480 that would thinking here I was right above his bed, 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:09.040 totally right above his bed. Pictures, pictures, pictures everywhere. I mean, 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:16.000 little framed things like this. But this, you say, so sweet? Yes, 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.199 I mean, of course we're just taking it, Georgia. That 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:20.920 the I don't know who they are, and I'm thinking 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.440 these are sweet. E Bay would be here, you know, 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.600 these pictures something like that. They tell a story. Yeah, 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:30.079 TVs and all those things to tell a story. And 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.840 I'll tell you the story is one of those calmness 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:39.160 and comfort, it's just and sweetness and caring. It's a caring, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.400 loving house. That was my own Christian Well. I'm a 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.840 career counsel from you know, with executives for one most 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:50.959 of my life, and so I remember thinking, like you know, 0:11:51.120 --> 0:11:54.120 and I've noticed things, something bad. We moved on to 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:57.560 the study. There were old magazines from the nineteen eighties 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.320 and nineteen nineties on the shelves of a All You 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.280 and on Joe Bryant's old desk. It felt like we 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.240 were walking through a museum, but there were no ropes 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:14.720 to keep us from touching and examining the exhibits. One 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.240 magazine stood out. Michael Jordan was on the cover wearing 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:22.640 his white Chicago Bulls jersey, smiling brightly, a cigar in 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:31.199 his left hand. This was a sports and then here's Kobe's. 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.240 The dressed sticker is to Kobe, how old was he? 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:41.839 He would have been fourteen? Is that sweet? Because he 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:47.000 turned would turned thirteen years old. That was his idol 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.439 and you're a dressed to him. It was all set 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:52.720 and that was my impression, and I always felt pretty 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.920 acciment about that. Yeah, I was like, no, this is 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.800 a whole family. This isn't just Kobe's house right. Without 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.760 that family there would you know Kobe exactly? So who 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:05.920 was Kobe Bryant back then? Right after he and his 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:24.960 family returned from Europe in the fall of Hey. This 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.080 is Mike Selsky, host and writer of I Am Kobe. 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.800 This podcast project came out of my work on a 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.880 related book called The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.920 of Immortality. If you want to explore other parts of 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.320 Kobe's story, check out The Rise. It's not just a 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.480 book version of the podcast. I dive deeper into some 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.240 of the topics covered in this series and even some 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.600 that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing, his family, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.120 his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates, his 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.880 journey into the n b A, and his earliest days 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.679 with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:04.240 of Immortality is out now. Just head over to the 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.840 Rise of Kobe book dot Com and you can buy 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.559 it from any of your favorite retailers. That's the rise 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:24.080 of Kobe book dot Com. Thanks. Kobe wasn't quite flashing 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:27.440 the Mamba mentality yet. He was thirteen years old and 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.400 he was jumping into the middle of the school year 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:34.680 at ballykin Wood Middle School. Then after a few more months, boom, 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:37.480 he was heading to Lower Marion, a public high school 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.480 in the suburbs just outside Philadelphia, a school whereabout ten 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.120 percent of the students were black. Joe got a job 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.680 at a Cuba Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school on 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.240 the main Line. You might have heard of Akiba, or 0:14:51.280 --> 0:14:54.720 at least some of its alumni. Jake Tapper from CNN 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.360 went there, and so did the best selling author and 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:02.000 media personality Mitch Album. Joe was the girls basketball coach there, 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:04.720 but it wasn't like a Keeba's players were all ticketed 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.080 to play for Yukon or Baylor someday. These girls were 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.680 just learning the game, trying to master its fundamentals, and 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.880 Joe was happy to teach them that and a few 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.520 other things. He'd have the players practice dribbling behind their 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:21.000 backs and between their legs, stuff that to him was 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:24.360 just fun. That's kind of what the job was to Joe, 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.080 just fun. He'd even bring Kobe to practice from time 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.600 to time, and it was there where both Joe and 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:34.240 Kobe Bryant met Jeremy Treatment, the man who would become 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.720 their friend and confident for the first time. First time 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.200 I remember saying Kobe on a basketball court was at 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:44.520 a Keyba Hebrew Academy on a side basket. I was 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:48.560 coaching the jav boys and his father, Joe Brian was 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.120 coaching the girls. It was a Sunday morning, and Kobe 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.280 came in and he just started doing the mic and 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.400 drill on a side basket. Then he was taking some 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.440 short john person and mind you, both both courts were 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:06.520 being used at the time for practices, so he just 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.200 he didn't have anywhere to really to go. But then 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.800 I just started watching him elevate. It wasn't really dunking, 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:14.880 but his but his both hands were over the room. 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:16.800 I mean he was he was kind of laying him 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.560 in and then I saw him hitting some side corner 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:24.240 shots from on both rims, and that's when I started 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:27.920 to ask Joe about him, and what did you say? 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:29.800 I said, how how could this Kobe? Is he going 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.960 to be anything like you at twelve years old or 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:35.360 two years old? If he's so much better than than 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:38.280 I was, it's not even close. I said, really, I 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.520 mean you were like you went to bart From you 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.240 were like the number one player in the area. You 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.000 went to the South, you were number one draft pick. Um. 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.600 Are you are you employing that he's going to be 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:50.280 better than you? He said, Jeremy, he's gonna be so 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.000 much better than me. It's not even funny. I'm like, really, 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:57.240 he goes, you're six, so ten, you're Magic Johnson. It's Jeremy, 0:16:57.360 --> 0:16:59.680 it's not even close. And he's so much better than me. 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:17.160 It's not close. Jeremy couldn't believe what he was hearing. 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.560 He'd grown up loving Philly basketball. He'd seen Joe Bryant play. 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.040 He knew how good Joe was and Kobe was going 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:29.040 to be better. And how did your relationship with Kobe 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.119 developed from there? It went kind of through Joe Bryant 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:33.960 because me and Joe hit it off from the beginning, 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:37.919 and we were very close for about nine years two 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:39.240 thousand and one, and there wasn't a week that we 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.640 went by. We didn't talk. So the more I got 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:45.600 to be around Joe, the more I got to be 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.199 around Kobe and been over the house a couple of times, 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.399 and to see them at a Cuba many times, solo 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.480 mental sal a few times. It's a rare thing to 0:17:55.600 --> 0:18:00.160 have a genuine epithan, to be able to pinpoint then 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:04.400 when you know you've uncovered something or come across someone 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:08.920 who will be famous or special in some way. There's 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.960 a story about a man named John Landau, who was 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:15.879 a music critic and became an influential record producer. In 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.399 nineteen seventy four, Landau went to a concert for an 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:24.639 up and coming band at the Harvard Square Theater in Massachusetts. Afterward, 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.000 he wrote this, I saw my rock and roll past 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.600 flash before my eyes. I saw something else. I saw 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:40.119 rock and rolls future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. Well, 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:46.159 Jeremy Treatment had just had his Bruce Springsteen moment. He 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.440 saw the future of basketball and its name was Kobe Bryant. 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:55.440 I could never be a real nervous I'm going to 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:59.520 shoot around. Didn't know what to expect playoff game, team 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:01.439 abiss so young. I really don't know what to expect. 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.560 I just came ready to play for myself, but I 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:06.359 probably didn't want to shoot nor shooting hond. I was 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:10.440 just so nervous. But during a game, teammates came out 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:13.680 but a lot of enthusiasm and started playing very hard, 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:16.000 and I knew right from there that we can go 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.840 a long way. And I was struggling a little bit. 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:21.359 That game, I got my first technical foul. I was 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.560 trash talking a little bit to go on the other 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.439 team and the rest are as I was talking or 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.800 something like that, So we getting a technical foul. Uh. 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.080 But I didn't score like that game. And the same 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.600 guy I was talking trash you said, uh that they 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:37.080 were locking me up or something. So I told that 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.200 the next player was gonna dope in the whole team. 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.199 He just kind of looked at me funny. And the 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.840 next player I came down dont an old team. I 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:45.119 told him. I said, I told you I could do 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.840 what if I want out here. But before Kobe could 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.840 take over American basketball, he had to adjust to America 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:56.920 and that process wasn't quite so smooth. Here's Jeremy again. 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:03.040 He just come from it. He kind of used basketball 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.920 too as a social life, like he would just played basketball, 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.159 play bad, just like he did in Italy. Everybody was 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:10.880 kind of different to him because he was from four 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:13.239 to twelve. He grew up in Italy, so he was 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.320 he was like a farmer. He was like a foreign student. 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:18.479 You know, it was like he was. I mean, forget 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:20.159 that he's born here and his dabaged a Priyan. He 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:24.720 was more like an Italian kid coming to a versatile 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:29.399 neighborhood six miles from the city of Philadelphia. And so 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:32.119 if you're going to be a basketball guy, you know 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:35.560 soon you're gonna learned what West Philly was and where 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.399 Philly was and South. He wasn't. I think he may 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.200 have heard it all from his dad, but until you 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:43.320 experienced it, you know, I think it was all. I 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:56.159 think it was a little mind blowing. Kobe and his 0:20:56.240 --> 0:20:59.960 sisters didn't know much of anything about American pop culture. 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.520 What was cool, what wasn't, What to wear, what to watch, 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.960 what music to listen to, the catchphrase, the slang, the 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.920 shared language and experiences that are so important to making 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:17.840 friendships and bonding with peers at that age, Cheers, the 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:22.840 Cosby Show, the Arsenio Hall Show, Eat My Shorts. Kobe 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.480 didn't know what any of those things were. He didn't 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.399 have the same familiarity with that stuff that he's peers. 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:32.000 I mean, I was a new student my freshman year 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:33.920 of high school too, way back in the fall of 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.879 but at least I knew who Paula Abduel was. Here's 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:44.520 guys Steward Again, I think it was a real culture 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:48.360 shock for him and his family. They dressed different when 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.840 they first came to Lawyer Marian, So you know, there 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:55.399 was some teasing, there were some some people being a 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.320 little bit standoffish um with them being new and and 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.439 and kind of looking different and dressing different. And I 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.720 think being on the basketball team being as good as 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:10.280 he was his freshman year kind of helped him, uh, 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:13.520 integrate into the school a lot easier than it would 0:22:13.560 --> 0:22:16.320 be for somebody that wasn't playing a sport. I think 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:19.399 so over time, you know, as they got used to 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.399 the kind of the the way we dressed here, and 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:28.000 and and and different things, they were quote unquote, and 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:29.960 I'm doing air quotes, they were accepted a little bit more. 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.920 But you know, but I don't think it was it 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:39.240 was that bad. They are a great family. The sisters 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:42.520 are great, and obviously Kobe is great. It was an 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:46.240 easier transition because of the character that they had, and 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:48.480 it's just the way that they interacted with people. They 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:50.800 didn't have their nose up or or anything like that. 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.359 They just they were just super friendly. It just took 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.200 them time to kind of get used to how we 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:59.960 were back in the States. You mentioned that they dressed different. 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:02.840 How did they dress, Um, it was like a lot 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:06.960 of European clothing and and you know, bigger clothing. I mean, 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:09.960 obviously they dressed different in Italy than they did over here. 0:23:10.119 --> 0:23:14.240 So we were more into different fashions at that time 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:18.160 and wearing our clothes differently. They just weren't used to that, 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:22.080 but you know, they quickly were able to adapt and 0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:24.560 and kind of get rid of the Europe being closed 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:26.760 and get with the fashions that that we're here at 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:43.000 that time. Plus he had basketball. Kobe joined the team 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.600 at Ballykinwood Middle School right away and he was the 0:23:45.640 --> 0:23:48.440 best player on the team right away, which was great 0:23:48.480 --> 0:23:51.240 news to anyone who followed or cared about Lower Merion 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:55.440 High School basketball. Bala Fetti students and its student athletes 0:23:55.480 --> 0:23:59.000 into Lower Marian once they graduated eighth grade, and just 0:23:59.080 --> 0:24:01.239 a couple of years ero here, the high school had 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.280 hired a new boys basketball coach, Gregg down And as 0:24:05.280 --> 0:24:08.040 soon as he got there, Downer knew that the program 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:10.760 needed a shot in the army. I inherited kind of 0:24:10.760 --> 0:24:14.479 like a sub five hundred type program. UM. They were 0:24:14.520 --> 0:24:19.480 struggling with academics, get back cleaned up, and you know, 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:22.120 I didn't really have any long term goals other than 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:29.119 probably working hard, infusing some energy into the program with 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:34.719 the young person, and you know, trying to make basketball important. Uh, 0:24:35.080 --> 0:24:39.760 basketball had become probably unimportant when they were struggling before 0:24:39.800 --> 0:24:44.960 I got there, with some of those sub five hundred seasons. UM. 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:47.600 But there was there was no master plan. And then 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:53.600 certainly any coach would be lucky to come across a 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:56.840 town like Hersan Bryant. But the coach at Ballykin with 0:24:56.960 --> 0:25:00.280 Middle School, Dr. George Smith, had strict rules that he 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:04.919 expected all his players to follow, including Kobe Balla played 0:25:04.960 --> 0:25:08.679 only zone defense and on offense. Dr Smith insisted that 0:25:08.760 --> 0:25:12.240 the team passed the ball three times before taking a shot. 0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:16.000 He was like Gene Hackman and Hoosiers. Kobe, of course, 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:18.399 didn't want to pass the ball so much. He didn't 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:20.639 want to pass the ball at all, and he took 0:25:20.760 --> 0:25:24.879 Dr Smith's instructions as a slight as a sign of disrespect. 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:28.439 In his mind, he was getting slighted a lot, and 0:25:28.520 --> 0:25:32.360 like many great athletes, he used those doubts to motivate himself. 0:25:53.680 --> 0:25:58.080 In a year after Kevin Garnett had gone straight to 0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:01.440 the NBA out of high school, Kobe talked with Jeremy 0:26:01.880 --> 0:26:04.960 about how long he'd been thinking about turning pro himself. 0:26:05.680 --> 0:26:08.879 And what was stunning was Kobe had been thinking about 0:26:08.920 --> 0:26:13.560 it seriously since eighth and nine. Friend. I met a 0:26:13.560 --> 0:26:17.520 great friend I named Matman called He's always been there 0:26:17.520 --> 0:26:20.080 for me, and I could tell him anything, and I 0:26:20.080 --> 0:26:23.840