Podcast: Remembering Kobe Bryant
2020-01-27No fan base in American sport ever loved a player the way Lakers fans loved Kobe. We grieve for them and all the families who lost so much today. Tom Pestak and Nate Smith got into the podcast booth and mourned the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and all the victims of the tragic helicopter crash in California today.
Tom’s basketball fandom was intertwined with years of sportshate for Kobe Bryant, and he’d spend hours trolling messsage boards and combing through stats: arguing with Kobe stans to prove that Kobe was the inferior player to LeBron. “Ringz was always their answer.” As he and Kobe grew older, it seemed a silly pursuit and Tom gained a grudging respect for Mamba, especially for his never ending competitiveness, and his embrace of being a husband, father, and mentor.
Our best Kobe memories: games against LeBron in 2008, the Game Seven against Phoenix in 2006 when he refused to shoot, and the last night of his career. In that game, Tom came full circle and was rooting Bryant on to 60 points. We went into Kobe’s influence on LeBron: Bryant’s singularity of focus was why Kobe was the heir apparent who took the torch from Michael Jordan and then passed it to James.
We got into some Cavs history and reminisced about the last twenty or so years, and how Kobe was there for almost our entire adult love affair with the NBA. There’s so much history here, and so much lost today. Hug your kids and realize that life is precious. Via Con Dios, Kobe.
You can listen below, on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Spotify.
So…you guys are amazing. Your dedication, willing attitudes, and your absolute perseverance is inspiring. Cavs the blog isnt inevitable…it was made. We have the two of you and several others to thank for that effort. Genuinely…you have made my individual life better. Thank you. That said…and I mean this…you just said Kobe Bryant should have won mvp in some year. Dudes…he was never as impactful as any other player in his best years even if you include dantoni teams and account for Steve nash’s stats. Fans always discount nash for playing in dantoni’s system but he was better than harden… Read more »
Did you mean that we said Kobe “shouldn’t” have won? I’m confused by what you’re arguing. (I’m dense and not mocking you). Please clarify. In addition, Thank you for the compliments.
Sadly I’m also confused by what I’m arguing. I must have been listening while busy.
Lol. No worries.
Wrt Kobe’s MVP I was just saying that it came in a year when he wasnt his best season in terms of value added. I called it a lifetime achievement MVP and argued that he was more deserving of that kind of MVP in the seasons prior. But thats just my opinion on how the MVP should be awarded. I think baseball does a better job with MVP. NBA it’s much more tightly coupled to team success and media narrative (people get bored). Nash is one of the best point guards of all time, but I do think that he… Read more »
Just had a chance to listen to this — agree with Nate, Tom was excellent (you both were). Tom is always at his best on things like this. I’m one who thinks Kobe was overrated — how could he not be, with the absurd cult around him — but still a top 15 or so player in NBA history. Obviously, that’s a good player. I’m older than you guys, I was watching the NBA since the mid ’70s (I was a kid, pretty much), but didn’t start watching more closely until ’79/ ’80, coinciding with Bird and Magic. Even for… Read more »
I appreciate that MikeO, thank you very much. I also appreciate the opportunity to just talk with Nate about anything. Our pods have become less Cavs centric this year but hopefully we’ll have more to get excited about in years to come
Kobe spent 20 years trying to find his identity and didnt really discover it until his last year in the league and really after he retired. Its why this news is so tragic because he just acted normal with his daughter (RIP) and family and developed that documentary that won an Oscar, etc. I will give the podcast a listen because he has such an interesting career but one with a lot of ‘what if’s despite winning 5 titles. I do think he spent more time trying to prove he was the best instead of being a consummate team player… Read more »
Our house is near enough the crash site that we were notified of a brush fire when the helicopter crashed. We of course didn’t have any idea that it was a helicopter or Kobe until the TMZ bullshit. It was an incredibly foggy morning. It was a weird day that got weirder when the details were released. I, too, wasn’t a Kobe fan, but I thought his post playing role was admirable, his competitive fire was advantageous for an athlete and detrimental for a human being. The sadness hangs over the entire area. I honestly don’t remember anything like it… Read more »
Wow, Great Podcast. One of the best I’ve heard on this site. RIP Kobe.
Kobe’s rise coincided with a lot of my friends’ disinterest in NBA basketball. Fairly or unfairly–maybe it was being in our twenties, growing up, etc.–a lot of people I knew simply couldn’t let Michael Jordan go, and were never going to give Kobe a chance to be the face of the league…as he became–again, fairly or unfairly–the face of a new generation of ball-dominant, iso-centric, over-dribbling, shot-hogging stars trying to out-Jordan Jordan. As you also noted, he was, for a long time, the other half of one of Cavs:The Blog’s favorite bar stool debates… now, it seems kind of silly… Read more »
Thanks for sharing the story and video. I’m sure today makes you feel as mortal as I do.
I understand your meaning, but f I can employ some humor, being a husband and father of three means I reminded of my mortality on a daily basis. My mother and father lost their fathers too early (at 14 years and 11 months old, respectively), and in their own way impressed upon me the importance of making each hello and goodbye subtly meaningful.
A fantastic lesson.
There was a weird era during Jordan’s last couple years and after he retired when every superstar wing seemed completely intent on being the next Jordan by duplicating his game at the end of his career (the fadeaways, pullups, turnarounds, etc), when none could do that as well. Ironically, excepting drives and drawing fouls, Jordan probably was most dominant from about 8-17 feet for most of his career. But it seemed like in the early 2000s guys like McGrady, Kobe, Carter, AI all wanted to shoot 18-20 foot hard fadeaway js rather than work just a little closer. More ironic,… Read more »
Phil, is that u?
Ha maybe my dad was a secret Phil disciple. I have a vivid memory of him watching me practice js one day when I was pretty young and saying something along the lines of, “why are you dribbling so much, shooting from 20 feet, practicing turnarounds? Just pump fake and/or drive hard with one or two dribbles, stop, and go straight up from 12-16 feet. Also you should be practicing finishing, one dribble pull-ups from the foul line, and catch and shoot, not fadeaways.”
John B, I agree with you…Jordan’s discipline was the heart of his artistry… he never really chased the three-point line, save the freak success he had in the Blazers finals. As much as he wanted to be great, he wanted to win that much more, and the offense they ran almost always yielded results, so why mess with it? The same could not be said for other teams… Concerning the list of players you named–was their misinformed style of play born of the backyard/playground “fun” of emulating their hero, or the rise of ESPN’s highlight machine that only features such… Read more »
For me growing up in the Jordan era, the anecdote I responded to Nate’s comment with was specifically me emulating the spectacle that was Jordan’s most spectacular shots. But I am sure the ESPN machine played a role in that for me. I was around 12 when Jordan won his last ship. I definitely was affected by the Jordan aura/sports center highlight factory. But my dad sort of coached me out of that.
Tom was so good on this pod
Thanks Nate – I’m glad we podded – felt good just to articulate some complex emotions/thoughts
I never liked Kobe, not his wannabe MJ style, nor his personality, but I did respect his competitive fire, and his work ethic, which were very near Jordan level. It’s always a shock when someone so insanely famous is taken too young by some fluke…I felt the same way when Stevie Ray Vaughn died in a chopper crash, and also when Prince died recently. These people seem somehow immortal, and when something like this happens, my first reaction is a disbelieving “WHAT??”. Very sad news, particularly for the children. Whatever I or anyone else thought of Kobe Bryant, he was… Read more »
‘ DITTO / DITTO / DITTO ” WHAT JOHN B POSTED —COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER —–THANK YOU JOHNB / THANK YOU GUYS FOR A GREAT JOB FOR A GREAT BASKETBALL PLAYER !!!————-MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO KOBE’ S WIFE AND DAUGHTERS —THE TRAGEDY OF LOSING BOTH A FATHER / HUSBAND / DAUGHTER / SISTER ARE ALMOST UNBEARABLE TO GRASP !!!
Just a tragedy all around. Anytime lives are cut short in an instant, especially those of children, it is just brutal. Shocking because of who was killed. Cruel because of the fragile and unpredictable nature of life. Definitely agree with Nate and Tom, that events like this really remind you to take stock of those around you. As for Kobe he definitely was the best player on the teams for his last two ships. Obviously Shaq was the driver of the three peat, but you can’t make me believe that Gasol was more important or better. Just too limited in… Read more »
This is such a weird day. I didn’t feel “qualified” to join in the pod after an event like this. Much of Kobe’s career was when I had personally taken a “break” from watching basketball and I didn’t feel like I would have the appropriate context to add to the conversation. What is so erie to me is that I thought Kobe died last night. I got a news alert on my phobe last night that only displayed part of the headline: “LeBron James comments on the passing of Kobe Bryant…” And that’s where it cut off. For a long… Read more »
That’s a trip, Ryan! For my part, Kobe was at least in my thoughts with the news of LBJ passing him, how the Laker fans would take it etc. I missed a bunch of messages this morning as I was so busy here, then logged in later to find out what all the comms were about. Just awful. Like you, I had logged out of basketball for much of the Kobe era, though I still saw highlight packages around playoff time etc. I think partly because I wasn’t a fan of Shaq for various reasons. Ultimately I felt Shaq was… Read more »