Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts, Born next next and only going into met
Speaker 1: the government will be like I did that. We just
Speaker 1: said we found out how this already noted. It was
Speaker 1: going on the way back on the bus ride, like
Speaker 1: two hour bus ride. Bus had a leak in, it
Speaker 1: was raining, rain, got bustings in the head. The only
Speaker 1: thee was fun because we were point another. We're making
Speaker 1: jokes on win another and having a good time. You
Speaker 1: know we always do with a basketball here. That's that's
Speaker 1: the only found fight about it. That was Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: with his friend and confident Jeremy Treatment from the spring
Speaker 1: of talking about one of the last obligations that Kobe
Speaker 1: had to fulfill during his time as a student and
Speaker 1: a basketball star at Lower Merion High School. He and
Speaker 1: his teammates and coaches had taken a bus trip out
Speaker 1: to Harrisburg, the state capital, to meet Governor Tom Ridge
Speaker 1: and to receive a special acknowledgement from the state legislature.
Speaker 1: It was one of Kobe's last opportunities to be a
Speaker 1: kid among other kids before almost everything in his life
Speaker 1: changed forever. Nearly twenty four years later, on the afternoon
Speaker 1: of Sunday, January, I was driving home from my in
Speaker 1: law's house. My wife had gone grocery shopping. Our sons,
Speaker 1: Evan and Gabe were in the car with me. Evan
Speaker 1: was eight at the time, Gabe was five. At a stoplight,
Speaker 1: I picked up my phone and checked my Twitter feed
Speaker 1: Britney moves in this Sunday afternoon. Five time NBA champion
Speaker 1: former League MVP Kobe Bryant died earlier this afternoon in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and a helicopter crashed. The news reports are
Speaker 1: just coming in among multiple victims. Kobe Bryant on that helicopter.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have. Ramona Shelbern joined us now from Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: She is what Kobe Bryant had died. I actually said
Speaker 1: what out loud in the car, and Evan got a
Speaker 1: little worried, wondering what was wrong. I played it off,
Speaker 1: told him, oh, nothing. I didn't bring it up until
Speaker 1: we had gotten home ten minutes later and I parked
Speaker 1: the car. We are coming back on the air with
Speaker 1: new details and the tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
Speaker 1: ABC News confirming the five time NBA champion for the
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Lakers was among five people killed when a
Speaker 1: helicopter crashed and caught fire in southern California. Authorities in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles County are holding a news coup. I off
Speaker 1: handedly told Evan what had happened. I was trying not
Speaker 1: to make a big deal out of it, Like he
Speaker 1: had just gotten off the school bus and I was
Speaker 1: asking him how his day had been. Besides, we had
Speaker 1: to hustle. He had to get changed and he had
Speaker 1: to head right out again. He had, of all things,
Speaker 1: a basketball game. As Evan was putting his uniform on, though,
Speaker 1: I had to make a phone call. I searched my
Speaker 1: contacts for Jeremy Treatment's number. Tell me about the day
Speaker 1: he got. What were you doing that goes on the
Speaker 1: phone with you. I'm Mike Sealsky and from Diversion Podcasts.
Speaker 1: This is I am cobD wat sne wht Slee to
Speaker 1: Create myself Saigned signs up and create yourself. Say nice,
Speaker 1: go on, create yourself. You gotta line of fren great minds,
Speaker 1: but we ain't line. Tell him that's getting time, Episode ten,
Speaker 1: Remembering Greatness. Two things happen when someone famous dies, especially
Speaker 1: when that person dies before their time. The first is
Speaker 1: something we all do. If that figure meant something to you,
Speaker 1: like Kobe meant something to so many. We mark the
Speaker 1: moment we burn into our brains exactly where we were,
Speaker 1: what we were doing when we learned that this person
Speaker 1: was gone. Millions of people did that. When Kobe Bryant died,
Speaker 1: I happened to be in a car with my kids.
Speaker 1: Maybe you were at church, or at your daughters swim meet,
Speaker 1: or sitting with your feet up in your living room.
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter. You don't forget it. But there's something else,
Speaker 1: and it happens only to people who knew the person.
Speaker 1: You review your own life and you try to figure
Speaker 1: out where you fit into their life. You remember the
Speaker 1: best times you had together, the hardest times, the times
Speaker 1: that made you smile and laugh, the times that made
Speaker 1: you furious. You remember the last time you saw them,
Speaker 1: the last time you spoke, the last time they crossed
Speaker 1: your mind. Aren't tell him. Kobe's first agent went through
Speaker 1: that process when Kobe died. At that point, tell him
Speaker 1: hadn't represented Kobe in about twenty years. He actually retired
Speaker 1: from being an agent and became an executive with the
Speaker 1: Detroit Pistons, And it was in Detroit where he and
Speaker 1: Kobe talked in person for the last time during Kobe's
Speaker 1: final season with the Lakers. We certainly had our you know,
Speaker 1: issues where we disagreed, but I have to say that
Speaker 1: in the end he was always great to me and
Speaker 1: my family and my kids. And then, you know, five
Speaker 1: years ago write something, Chop of the Pistons called to
Speaker 1: congratulate me. And when I saw him in Detroit as
Speaker 1: last year, my first year of the businesses, last year
Speaker 1: playing with the Lakers, came up to before the game,
Speaker 1: gave me a hug, thanking for everything, and you know,
Speaker 1: I couldn't have been nicer. And he asked me if
Speaker 1: I was happy what I was doing and and I said,
Speaker 1: you know how life is. You have to always change
Speaker 1: and adapt and challenge yourself. And I said, you're gonna
Speaker 1: do the same thing as you go into your nice
Speaker 1: chapter and I'll never forget. He said, yeah, my next
Speaker 1: chapter will even be greater, and they ran off further.
Speaker 1: John Paul tell him had known Kobe a long time.
Speaker 1: Kobe's friends from Lower Marion had known him even longer
Speaker 1: from spending the last year and a half talking to
Speaker 1: them from my book and for this podcast, I can
Speaker 1: tell you the Kobe's death affected those people who knew
Speaker 1: him when he was a kid in a different way
Speaker 1: than it did just about anyone else. I'm not suggesting
Speaker 1: that Kobe's Lakers teammates or his friends from the NBA
Speaker 1: weren't profoundly saddened by his death. I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: at all. But the connection between Kobe and people like
Speaker 1: Jeremy Treatment and his high school coach Greg Downer, and
Speaker 1: his classmates and teammates from Lower Marian was something else Entirely.
Speaker 1: They knew him before he was a star. They bonded
Speaker 1: with him when he occupied a space somewhere closer to
Speaker 1: our own, before he became a star. Then they watched
Speaker 1: him become a star. It's like they were friends with
Speaker 1: Peter Parker before that. Radioactive Spider bidden listen to his
Speaker 1: friend Guy Stewart, his teammate at Lower Marian, talk about
Speaker 1: what it was like to find out that Kobe had died.
Speaker 1: Guy was getting calls and text messages, dozens of them
Speaker 1: from people who knew him and knew Kobe, but he
Speaker 1: didn't want to believe them. And then I remember the
Speaker 1: moment I see it on CNN, and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: started like, I'm like my body shaking, I can't like
Speaker 1: focus on anything. It has been confirmed CNN is able
Speaker 1: to tell you now that NBA star Kobe Bryant was
Speaker 1: on board that helicopter and is now dead at the
Speaker 1: age of forty one. Or Christine Brooke, I'm like texting everybody.
Speaker 1: I call a sister. She doesn't answer, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, well, like what's what's going on? Not to
Speaker 1: say that she always answers my calls or whatever like that,
Speaker 1: but Texas cousin no response. I'm like, this can't be true.
Speaker 1: And I'm just like stuck in my seat and I
Speaker 1: just couldn't think of anything. And you know, once they
Speaker 1: confirmed it, it was just like complete just breakdown. You know,
Speaker 1: like you expect to see this guy who was like
Speaker 1: Superman to everybody that he that that knew him personally,
Speaker 1: even you know, even if you didn't know him person
Speaker 1: you just think, like, that's not supposed to happen to
Speaker 1: a guy like that, That's not supposed to happen to
Speaker 1: his daughter, you know, and you almost questioned God's plan,
Speaker 1: like how like how could this happen? Do you expect
Speaker 1: like the blame the crash and he's like holding everybody
Speaker 1: in his arms and they come out and he's fine,
Speaker 1: you know, or just like the story is just just
Speaker 1: isn't true. And I still can't believe it to this day.
Speaker 1: I still can't believe that he's gone to this day. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I remember that day like like it was yesterday.
Speaker 1: Emery Dabney, the point guard and Lower Marrion State championship team,
Speaker 1: the kid who had joined Kobe for those scrimmages and
Speaker 1: pickup games at St. Joseph's and Episcopal during the summer,
Speaker 1: was doing pretty much the same thing I was doing
Speaker 1: on that day. He was going grocery shopping with his wife.
Speaker 1: It was so crazy because I had a friend who
Speaker 1: had found an old picture of me and Kobe and
Speaker 1: it just text me picture of us maybe like an
Speaker 1: hour before. We're driving home and I get a cough.
Speaker 1: My friend who lives in l A and he's kind
Speaker 1: of scene out there. Well, one of our teammates from
Speaker 1: college actually, and he told me, he's like, yeah, Kobe
Speaker 1: died up the helicopter crash. Like you're you're a line,
Speaker 1: there's no way look at the Hollida. He's like, I'm
Speaker 1: telling you and this is before the news of broke,
Speaker 1: so he's like Emory and he's kind of a prankster.
Speaker 1: So I was like, you're you're full of ship on it.
Speaker 1: There's no way in the world that that happened. So
Speaker 1: he's like, Imry, I'm serious. And I got calls from
Speaker 1: people like I'm telling you. So we kept driving. I'm like,
Speaker 1: this be So my wife is looking on her phone
Speaker 1: for the news and we don't see anything. Calling back,
Speaker 1: I'm like, there's nothing on the news. You're you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're full of ship, and like maybe like forty or
Speaker 1: five minutes later, the news broke. Jeremy Treatment was the
Speaker 1: guy I knew best was close to Kobe. When I
Speaker 1: called him that day, I just wanted to touch base
Speaker 1: with him, to see what he knew and how he
Speaker 1: was doing. He was at Jefferson University in the East
Speaker 1: Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. He was overseeing a high school
Speaker 1: basketball tournament there and a big game was about to
Speaker 1: start between German Town Academy and Newman Garrett, two of
Speaker 1: the top teams in the Philadelphia about all this and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, and I was getting his text,
Speaker 1: and the first text came from my friend Jeff Isais
Speaker 1: is probably the biggest jokester I know, so how ironic
Speaker 1: He's the biggest jokes right now. It's it And it's like,
Speaker 1: I see this little image from t MC. It says
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant eyes in helicopter crash. I got twelve people
Speaker 1: around me, so it's not like I was at home,
Speaker 1: just you know, sitting there. It could be glued to it,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, well, like like I I didn't think
Speaker 1: it was real. And then I got another one and
Speaker 1: another one and I think you called it's called I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, this is just happening. This is this
Speaker 1: is real. Listen carefully to this next part. There were
Speaker 1: children playing in a pool in a house near Jeremy's
Speaker 1: while I was recording him. In the background, you can
Speaker 1: hear one of the kids crying. I think of that
Speaker 1: every time I listen to what Jeremy says. Next, I
Speaker 1: broke down for a minute talking to this guy del
Speaker 1: Greco Wilson and who I knew, and this other guy
Speaker 1: came over. I didn't know who he was, and I
Speaker 1: I put my head on the shoulder and I started
Speaker 1: to a complete stranger. To this day, I don't know
Speaker 1: who it was. Hey, this is Mike Sealsky, host and
Speaker 1: writer of I Am Kobe. This podcast project came out
Speaker 1: of my work on a related book called The Rise
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. If you want
Speaker 1: to explore other parts of Kobe's story, check out The Rise.
Speaker 1: It's not just a book version of the podcast. I
Speaker 1: dive deeper into some of the topics covered in this series,
Speaker 1: and even some that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing,
Speaker 1: his family, his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates,
Speaker 1: his journey into the n b A, and his earliest
Speaker 1: days with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the
Speaker 1: Pursuit of Immortality is out now. Just head over to
Speaker 1: the Rise of Kobe book dot com and you can
Speaker 1: buy it from any of your favorite retailers. That's The
Speaker 1: Rise of Kobe Book dot com. Thanks. A month after
Speaker 1: Kobe's death, a memorial service was held for him and
Speaker 1: his daughter Gianna in Los Angeles at Staples Center, the
Speaker 1: Lakers home arena. Jeremy and Greg Downer flew out to
Speaker 1: l A to attend the service for both of them.
Speaker 1: There was an odd feeling in being there. They still
Speaker 1: couldn't believe Kobe was gone, still couldn't reconcile and come
Speaker 1: to terms with his death. They woke up early on
Speaker 1: the morning of the service, and the scene around the
Speaker 1: arena shocked them back in the sorrow. I think you're
Speaker 1: feeling a little bit like the Enturig guys, you know,
Speaker 1: driving around l A and then all of a sudden
Speaker 1: you get to the Forum and like, I mean, the
Speaker 1: Staples Center was like, oh my god. And you see
Speaker 1: all these people with Kobe stuff and Kobe flags and
Speaker 1: Laker flag and Kobe shirts and a boy, this is
Speaker 1: not gonna be easy. And U I'm glad I was there.
Speaker 1: It's all I can say. I was glad I was there.
Speaker 1: It was surreal. It was just too hard to believe inside,
Speaker 1: as one speaker after another paid tribute to Kobe and Gianna,
Speaker 1: his wife Vanessa, Shaquille O'Neill, Michael Jordan's when Kobe, a
Speaker 1: piece of me died. And as I look in this arena,
Speaker 1: across the globe, a piece of you die, else you
Speaker 1: wouldn't be here. Those are the memories that we have
Speaker 1: to live with, and we learn from Greg Downer thought
Speaker 1: about the attribute that to him always seemed to define
Speaker 1: Kobe best. The quality of the Kobe embodied was that,
Speaker 1: either on a basketball court or in life, he could
Speaker 1: not would not be stopped. When he wanted something, he
Speaker 1: pursued it until he got it Downer believed that Kobe
Speaker 1: could not be defeated, even by death, and he believed
Speaker 1: it right up until he heard something during the memorial service.
Speaker 1: You know, I heard this round of applause, and you
Speaker 1: know it was it was shock in the corner. Somebody
Speaker 1: was entering the building, and part of me was like,
Speaker 1: you know, here he is, Like you know, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, he's alive or he um he recovered from
Speaker 1: the helicopter crash and Superman is back. But I totally
Speaker 1: agree with you that he had an indestructible way about him,
Speaker 1: and I definitely need to feel the same way. As
Speaker 1: the ceremony ended, Jeremy and Greg caught a glimpse of
Speaker 1: Kobe's parents, Joe and Pam, sitting near the front, a
Speaker 1: massive people around them. Neither Jeremy nor Greg had seen
Speaker 1: or talked to Joe and Pam since Kobe's death. In fact,
Speaker 1: neither of them had seen or talked to them in years,
Speaker 1: but they had a chance now and they made their
Speaker 1: way towards I'm Pam's like, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe.
Speaker 1: It's Jeremy. We journey saw me like had a thick smile.
Speaker 1: I'm like, huh. The hug was thirty seconds long, and
Speaker 1: it's like just it goes to show you, like like
Speaker 1: he just knows his family, Like yeah, I'm not Seaquille Emeial,
Speaker 1: but like it's just somebody trust for twenty five years,
Speaker 1: who had Kobe's best interest at heart. We we knew love.
Speaker 1: Kobe and I hadn't seen in a long time, and
Speaker 1: it was especial and he told Greg the same thing.
Speaker 1: But he just said, we made a kid for the world.
Speaker 1: And I'm just like I had to. I had to
Speaker 1: wait till I left the building, until her I could
Speaker 1: start to cry. I did. Pam was telling both of us,
Speaker 1: don't cry, don't cry. I'm leaving, don't cry, and it
Speaker 1: was this very immergtional I didn't amount Joe recently, and
Speaker 1: he did right back. He was wishing us all well.
Speaker 1: It was very sad. Of course, at the beginning of
Speaker 1: this episode, I made an assertion about the things we
Speaker 1: do when someone famous dies, the people who knew that
Speaker 1: person try to figure out where they fit into his life.
Speaker 1: That's all Kobe's friends and mentors from his teenage years
Speaker 1: have been doing since his death. They've been weighing where
Speaker 1: they fit in Kobe's life and where Kobe still fits
Speaker 1: in theirs when they think of him. What comes to
Speaker 1: mind first for Greg Downer, it's Kobe's relationship with Brinn Downer,
Speaker 1: Greg's daughter. They were close. Greg has several photos of
Speaker 1: Kobe holding Brick hugging her. I'm glad that they got
Speaker 1: to me, and uh, you know, I'm glad that Brand
Speaker 1: got to feel greatness. And as Brand has gotten older,
Speaker 1: she understands a little bit more as to who Kobe was.
Speaker 1: And sometimes we'll just watch some highlights of him. And
Speaker 1: you know, Kobe had four girls. I I only have one.
Speaker 1: What makes this really difficult is the loss of Gianna
Speaker 1: and what what she was and what she could have been.
Speaker 1: But I'm so so thankful that that that Brendan Kobe
Speaker 1: got to meet on several occasions. For Mike Egan, Downer's
Speaker 1: assistant coach on Lower Marion State title team, one memory
Speaker 1: of Kobe stands out. One day that season, the coaches
Speaker 1: arranged for a gentleman named Harry Middleton to attend practice
Speaker 1: and meet the team. Middleton had played for the Aces
Speaker 1: fifty three years earlier. In that was the last eight
Speaker 1: championship team for Longe here r and I just remember
Speaker 1: she's Kobe being kind of in awe of the guy.
Speaker 1: This is an older guy now white hair. Um, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't pick him out of the lineup as a former
Speaker 1: captain of a state championship team. But just the respect
Speaker 1: that Kobe showed for him, um, and the admiration he had,
Speaker 1: like as a guy who um, you know, Kobe was
Speaker 1: such a student of the game and he realized that, hey,
Speaker 1: I might be the man now, but this guy was
Speaker 1: the man in this school fifty three years ago. That
Speaker 1: was really really cool for Emery Dabney. One anecdote doesn't
Speaker 1: stand out about Kobe. His whole attitude does, just like
Speaker 1: his share will to succeed when you've been close to
Speaker 1: that throughout your life, like you you have no choice
Speaker 1: if to be successful, I mean whatever success is. But
Speaker 1: he saw a gold and if you really think about
Speaker 1: him at a young age, he was gonna do everything
Speaker 1: he could have to accomplish that goal. Um, And that's
Speaker 1: what I really think of when I think of him,
Speaker 1: Just like him having no fear and his relentless pursuits
Speaker 1: of of a goal, That's what I think of, Like
Speaker 1: on every time I think of that's what That's the
Speaker 1: first thing that comes to my mind. Dabney's perspective, I think,
Speaker 1: is a good summary of the macro view of Kobe.
Speaker 1: It wasn't just Dabney who saw him as incredibly driven.
Speaker 1: Everyone who watched him play basketball, or heard him talk
Speaker 1: or read anything about him saw him the same way.
Speaker 1: But for Jeremy Treatment, the memories of Kobe have been
Speaker 1: building up within him for a long time, even before
Speaker 1: the horrible events of January. During that season, when Jeremy
Speaker 1: was along for the ride to the state championship victory
Speaker 1: with Kobe and the Lower Marian Aces, he compiled and
Speaker 1: narrated a highlight video of the team's season. The soundtrack
Speaker 1: he picked for the video was one that every basketball
Speaker 1: fan knows one shining moment, the song that CBS always
Speaker 1: plays after the final game of the n c a
Speaker 1: A men's basketball turning down got Lower Marion prepared for
Speaker 1: the season right away, with a game against superpower Roman
Speaker 1: Catholic at Dreadful University. The videos highlights don't just feature Kobe.
Speaker 1: His teammates are hitting three pointers and dropping in layouts,
Speaker 1: and Greg Downer is barking instructions from the side the
Speaker 1: line and cheerleaders are screaming and shaking their pomp pomps.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of Kobe in the video, alley
Speaker 1: oops and breakaway dunks and breathtaking plays. The kids at
Speaker 1: Jeremy's camp see them fresh for the first time, but
Speaker 1: Jeremy gets to relive his time with Kobe over and
Speaker 1: over again, and he relished is it. It's funny like
Speaker 1: when I when I played one China Moment every year camp.
Speaker 1: I'm like, this was like special, special thing that happened
Speaker 1: in this one special special time, And you know, you
Speaker 1: could go seven years without anything even close to that happening.
Speaker 1: And that's kind of how I feel about this time,
Speaker 1: like it was. And I look at my bucket list
Speaker 1: and look at things I've done and didn't do or
Speaker 1: with part of or experienced, and this is a one.
Speaker 1: This is a major experience in my life. If you
Speaker 1: spend any time with Jeremy, it becomes obvious how much
Speaker 1: his time with Kobe means to him and still affects him. Yes,
Speaker 1: he was there when Kobe got his start, but Kobe
Speaker 1: was also there when Jeremy got his start. Jeremy had
Speaker 1: had a terrific career and his friendship with Kobe really
Speaker 1: was his launching pad to Jeremy. The two of them
Speaker 1: will always be linked us in incredible. It's like I've
Speaker 1: known somebody pretty well that when they were on their rise,
Speaker 1: to see them all the things they said we're gonna happen,
Speaker 1: to see them actually happen. And how many people can
Speaker 1: live up the hype. How many people are Lebron James
Speaker 1: and Kobe Bryant, and how many people are like that?
Speaker 1: There's very new. It's like you're seeing a percosa spenom
Speaker 1: live up to the up to his own life, looked
Speaker 1: up to his own life. That's even harder than living
Speaker 1: up to the other people's hype. I mean there was
Speaker 1: part of me that felt like you know, I was
Speaker 1: part of that, not a small part, but that was
Speaker 1: it was part of it. And special. I mean we
Speaker 1: all idolized people people who were special. I mean we're
Speaker 1: all special, but very This was incredibly unique person. Yes
Speaker 1: he was, and in the unique story that was Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant's life, I think Jeremy Treatment holds a pretty special place.
Speaker 1: He made these tapes with Kobe, and more importantly, he
Speaker 1: kept them, He dug them up after all those years,
Speaker 1: and he allowed them to be released into the world. Now,
Speaker 1: the people who knew Kobe so well back then, who
Speaker 1: loved him so much, can know how they fit into
Speaker 1: his life because they and the world can hear through
Speaker 1: Kobe's own voice how they fit and how much they
Speaker 1: meant to him. They can hear Kobe teasing and joking
Speaker 1: around with Jeremy during their interviews together, the easy comfort
Speaker 1: they have with each other. Go hi, everyone, Okay, now
Speaker 1: how do you feel about They can hear him acknowledge
Speaker 1: the impact at that Greg Downer had on his life,
Speaker 1: the care that his high school coach had for him.
Speaker 1: He knew that eventually I would becoming a great play
Speaker 1: in the NBA. He knows that I would not have
Speaker 1: anything left. But right now I have a word upon
Speaker 1: my hand, and oh the NBA, you don't produced? Do
Speaker 1: things been tappulate? And maybe I'll lose it. I'll go
Speaker 1: to college, he knows I don't. They'll have to learn
Speaker 1: abound writing. Comes had a world up my head. That's
Speaker 1: that's what this man's learned always till I told him
Speaker 1: I really don't care about that. They can hear the
Speaker 1: way that Kobe spoke about his mom and dad back
Speaker 1: when he still lived under their roof, when he was
Speaker 1: just a teenager. Later on, once he was well into
Speaker 1: his career with the Lakers, Kobe and his parents had
Speaker 1: a falling out over his decision to get married so young,
Speaker 1: over their roles in his life and his career and
Speaker 1: his day to day existence. It lingered for years. I
Speaker 1: wanted desperately to speak to Joe and Pam for my
Speaker 1: book and for this series, especially Joe. He was the
Speaker 1: person Kobe had looked up to the most, and in
Speaker 1: a way, by pushing his father away, Kobe lost Joe
Speaker 1: before Joe lost Kobe. But the Bryan's declined to speak
Speaker 1: with me. As far as I know, they haven't spoken
Speaker 1: publicly at all since Kobe's death. I completely understand and
Speaker 1: accept that. I can only imagine that Joe and Pam
Speaker 1: and Shariah and Shaya and Kobe, all of them presumed
Speaker 1: that they would have more time, that they would have
Speaker 1: an opportunity to reconcile, to be the same close knit
Speaker 1: family that they were when Kobe was still in high school.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine the what ifs and the might have
Speaker 1: been that have been running through their minds, that run
Speaker 1: through the minds of any parent who has had to
Speaker 1: bury a child, especially when I hear this. It's a
Speaker 1: clip of Kobe talking about the idea of getting into
Speaker 1: an argument or a conflict with Joe and Pam, And
Speaker 1: of all those hours Jeremy spent interviewing Kobe, it's the
Speaker 1: most heartbreaking thing in any of these tapes. It's a
Speaker 1: little simple to me. I grew up in Italy. I
Speaker 1: have any very reliable my sisters. One of my father
Speaker 1: and I know from that he built such a strong relationship,
Speaker 1: such a great fristship. We came back over here and
Speaker 1: kind of take it into play a class. Me came
Speaker 1: back get along with the boss, saying I hate online
Speaker 1: Jim or whatever. I'm right away from home, like my
Speaker 1: parents can't wait to get out. Um, I can't get home.
Speaker 1: My mother, my father is really enjoyed. The family have
Speaker 1: said that I have I know it's not gonna be
Speaker 1: it forever, and that's why it's really important for my
Speaker 1: mother and father to come out there they were so
Speaker 1: I can enjoy the COMFORTA gotta working out. You gotta
Speaker 1: working out that that's your mother. If I should bat
Speaker 1: into his world, his world, how can you disrespect them?
Speaker 1: There no whether you have an argument or whatever, mother
Speaker 1: and father or messing up or child's messing up. But
Speaker 1: it's tough things out before, it says now, and I
Speaker 1: feel I feel out better as a person knowing that
Speaker 1: that love is there that I take. No one's top
Speaker 1: of me the top of the bird beats. That's the time.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna enjoy them now while I ask them
Speaker 1: to the fullest. Did you never know what can happen?
Speaker 1: No day anything? Um? No, you never know what can happen.
Speaker 1: After I talked to Jeremy on the day Kobe died,
Speaker 1: I drove to a nearby elementary school, just ten minutes
Speaker 1: away from my son Evans basketball game. Tip off was
Speaker 1: We stood by the court waiting for a game to
Speaker 1: finish so ours could start, and there was a buzz
Speaker 1: among the parents and the kids. Did you hear can't
Speaker 1: believe it, and his daughter Gianna too. There were how
Speaker 1: many people in the helicopter. God, it's so awful, so sad.
Speaker 1: The news had been coming out in a trickle all day,
Speaker 1: a drop of information here, a drop there. Out on
Speaker 1: the court, there was a kid nine years old, maybe ten,
Speaker 1: wearing a green uniform tank top over a white T shirt.
Speaker 1: And Evan pointed out to me that the kid had
Speaker 1: a word written in black marker on one of his sleeves.
Speaker 1: Kobe for men and women. He was the figure in
Speaker 1: sports that made them want to pick up a basketball
Speaker 1: and made the monomax sel in basketball with his drive
Speaker 1: and his love for the game, and particularly here in
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, that will never be forgotten. Before my son's
Speaker 1: game began, my phone buzzed. It was my editor at
Speaker 1: the Inquirer. I was expecting the call, Hey, we need
Speaker 1: you to write a Kobe column. I don't know that
Speaker 1: there was a sports columnist in America who wasn't writing
Speaker 1: a Kobe column. That day. After Evans game, I got
Speaker 1: home and went up to my office, opened up my
Speaker 1: laptop and tried to put the breath of Kobe's life
Speaker 1: and the shock of his death in some perspective That's
Speaker 1: the cliche Columus and writers use in moments like that,
Speaker 1: put it in perspective as if such a thing were possible.
Speaker 1: So I sat down at the keyboard and with a
Speaker 1: deadline looming, I wrote a ninety five word column and
Speaker 1: it sounded like this. Kobe Bryant dead. That can't be.
Speaker 1: Kobe is strong. Kobe is always smiling or scowling, and
Speaker 1: both faces showed how strong he was. Kobe can't die.
Speaker 1: Wasn't Lebron James just passing him on the NBA's all
Speaker 1: time scoring list at the Wells Fargo Center the other night,
Speaker 1: then speaking with eloquence and depth about Kobe's influence and
Speaker 1: effect on him. Wasn't he on Jimmy Kimmel's late night show,
Speaker 1: Charming and Smart, proud father talking about his daughter Gianna's
Speaker 1: basketball career just the other night, a helicopter crash in
Speaker 1: the middle of a Sunday and Gianna to what that
Speaker 1: can't be? But there it is? First on TMZ. Then
Speaker 1: one confirmation coming after another, Kobe Bryant gone at no, no, no,
Speaker 1: So now do me a favor, and do yourself a favor,
Speaker 1: and do someone you love a favor. If you're reading this,
Speaker 1: Shut off your phone, close your laptop, or put the
Speaker 1: paper down. Go to your wife or your husband, or
Speaker 1: your mother or your father, or most of all, your
Speaker 1: son or your daughter and give them a hug, Call them,
Speaker 1: visit them, tell them you love them. Go to their
Speaker 1: basketball games and their dance recitals, or just stop by
Speaker 1: for a beer a laugh. Turn off the trickle for
Speaker 1: a while, and remember what the lasting lesson of Kobe
Speaker 1: Bryant's life and death should be. It was difficult that
Speaker 1: day to consider Kobe Bryant's life in full, to dwell
Speaker 1: on anything other than the tragedy of his death. He
Speaker 1: was gone, so was his daughter. So we're seven other
Speaker 1: people who have lives and loves and achievements of their own.
Speaker 1: With the nearly two years of distance from that day,
Speaker 1: we can see more clearly, I think, what we ought
Speaker 1: to take away from his life and his career. We
Speaker 1: see the value of passion and determination and an unwavering
Speaker 1: belief in yourself. We see his singular and blinkered focus
Speaker 1: on becoming the back, and his resolute willingness to work
Speaker 1: as hard and as long as he needed to achieve it.
Speaker 1: We see how the people around him fostered and encouraged
Speaker 1: that focus, and we see the cost of that focus,
Speaker 1: the entitlement, the self centeredness, and we see that that
Speaker 1: cost can be steep. We see most of all, the
Speaker 1: everlasting effect that Kobe Bryant had and still has on
Speaker 1: the people who knew him. For them, He'll never really
Speaker 1: be gone. He'll always be there, his scowl, his smile,
Speaker 1: his breathtaking talent, his relentless desire and tireless will, the
Speaker 1: kid he had been, the man he was becoming. Forever.
Speaker 1: It has been absolutely beautiful. You guy. I can't believe
Speaker 1: it's comes to an end. Um, you guys will always
Speaker 1: be in my heart and uh I sincerely, sincerely appreciated.
Speaker 1: No words can describe how I feel about your guy,
Speaker 1: and uh thank you. Thank you from the bottom of
Speaker 1: my heart. God, I love you guys, and uh I
Speaker 1: love you guys and my family, to my family, my
Speaker 1: wife Vanessa, I thought it's not thali a Gianna. Thank
Speaker 1: you guys for all your sacrifice, you know, for all
Speaker 1: the hours I's been in the gym working and training,
Speaker 1: and Vanessa, you holding down the family the way that
Speaker 1: you have. I can't there's no way I can thank
Speaker 1: you enough for that. So, from the bottom of my heart,
Speaker 1: thank you and uh, what can I say? Mombow? I
Speaker 1: Am Kobe is a production of the Version podcasts in
Speaker 1: association with I Heart Radio. This season is written and
Speaker 1: hosted by me Mike sealskin GE's, produced by Jacob Bronstein
Speaker 1: and directed by Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein
Speaker 1: with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, Editing, mixing and sound
Speaker 1: design by Mark Francis. Stephen Thompkins 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 Freesan Sinking. 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 Treatment. The ibis before the son. They don't want
Speaker 1: to stand when I said to briand is fun. Never
Speaker 1: clack you out even when my work is done. If
Speaker 1: they're trying to black me, I might Heart someone throw
Speaker 1: the blood sweat and say, as we parted, Sufi, stay
Speaker 1: tending in, let it keep varius in. If they don't
Speaker 1: believe in themselves, tablet to fit that at Santa says,
Speaker 1: so set, I don't ask my am. This the reason
Speaker 1: why my work so damn different to the negatives. I
Speaker 1: can't listen see me at the tip, you can't listen
Speaker 1: where I'm a vote to play like cash is see
Speaker 1: I pay my dudes because of taxes. Gotta work, I
Speaker 1: think and grind ahead of his time. So I'm saying
Speaker 1: that they made you. Don't tell them you create yourself
Speaker 1: the besh you finn or watch us by this by
Speaker 1: that time you gotta stay clock then break clock break
Speaker 1: we create ourselves. Watch me question, watch me want to
Speaker 1: create myself? Exack climb, signs up and create yourself. Say nicey,
Speaker 1: ain't no hard to create yourself. You gotta learn from
Speaker 1: the great minds. But we ain't lying. Tell them that
Speaker 1: any time this talent wasn't given, it was made the future.
Speaker 1: Any time I could change better, tell them that I
Speaker 1: made it. Back home. As I walked through the harts
Speaker 1: of the fan, I can't from the valley of the
Speaker 1: shadow with death waiting for us. Some spoons don't hold
Speaker 1: your breath. The same town sat trains. But I did
Speaker 1: it with less. I know one that the being, so
Speaker 1: there's nothing to guess. Yeah, there's nothing to guess. It's
Speaker 1: our times on the we up next. We don't got
Speaker 1: any with rests. I did it with my soul hands,
Speaker 1: and we never forgets my a. This the reason why
Speaker 1: my work so damn different to the negatives. I can't
Speaker 1: listen see me at the time. You can't listen for
Speaker 1: where rebuild, re shape, give me your eye. You got
Speaker 1: to risk take do it now. When I'm saying why,
Speaker 1: waits im saying that they may you don't tell them.
Speaker 1: You create yourself on the bench, you finn watch us.
Speaker 1: Why it's by that time. You gotta steak clock then
Speaker 1: break clock break. We create ourselves. Watch me watch them
Speaker 1: create myself. Shack climb, signs up and create yourself. Say nice,
Speaker 1: ain't so hard create yourself. Gotta line pretty great minds,
Speaker 1: but we ain't like telling. Let's getting time m HM.
Speaker 1: Diversion Podcasts