January 11, 2022 • 40 mins
“Kobe Bryant dead? That can’t be." Kobe Bryant’s death affected those people who knew him when he was a kid differently than it affected anyone else. It's not that Kobe’s Lakers teammates or his friends from the NBA weren’t profoundly saddened by his death but the connection between Kobe and people like Jeremy Treatman and his high school coach Gregg Downer and his classmates and teammates from Lower Merion High School was something else entirely.
With two years of distance from his death, we can see more clearly what we ought to take away from Kobe's life and his career. We see the value of passion. And determination. And an unwavering belief in yourself. We see his singular and blinkered focus on becoming the best — and his resolute willingness to work as hard and as long as he needed to to achieve it. We see how the people around him fostered and encouraged that focus. And we see the cost of that focus: the entitlement, the self-centeredness. And we see that that cost can be steep.
We see, most of all, the everlasting effect that Kobe Bryant had and still has, on the people who knew him. For them, he’ll never really be gone. He’ll always be there: his scowl, his smile, his breathtaking talent, his relentless desire and tireless will, the kid he had been, the man he was becoming. Forever.
Purchase Mike Sielski's related book: “The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality": TheRiseOfKobeBook.com
Join the conversation about “I Am Kobe” on social media: on Twitter and Instagram: @diversionpods
Our theme music is “Create Yourself” by Grover Braam feat. Justin Starling: Listen to Create Yourself on Spotify
Cover photo © Eileen Blass – USA TODAY NETWORK
“I Am Kobe” is a production of Diversion Podcasts in association with iHeartRadio. This season is written and hosted by Mike Sielski. Produced by Jacob Bronstein and directed by Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein with editorial direction from Scott Waxman. Editing, mixing, and sound design by Mark Francis. Production Assistant: Stephen Tompkins. Music Supervisor: Scott Velasquez for Frisson Sync. Executive Producers: Mark Francis and Scott Waxman.
Thanks to Oren Rosenbaum, Susan Canavan, and Jeremy Treatman.
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Diversion podcasts, Born next next and only going into met
the government will be like I did that. We just
said we found out how this already noted. It was
(00:27):
going on the way back on the bus ride, like
two hour bus ride. Bus had a leak in, it
was raining, rain, got bustings in the head. The only
thee was fun because we were point another. We're making
jokes on win another and having a good time. You
know we always do with a basketball here. That's that's
the only found fight about it. That was Kobe Bryant
with his friend and confident Jeremy Treatment from the spring
(00:50):
of talking about one of the last obligations that Kobe
had to fulfill during his time as a student and
a basketball star at Lower Merion High School. He and
his teammates and coaches had taken a bus trip out
to Harrisburg, the state capital, to meet Governor Tom Ridge
and to receive a special acknowledgement from the state legislature.
(01:10):
It was one of Kobe's last opportunities to be a
kid among other kids before almost everything in his life
changed forever. Nearly twenty four years later, on the afternoon
(01:34):
of Sunday, January, I was driving home from my in
law's house. My wife had gone grocery shopping. Our sons,
Evan and Gabe were in the car with me. Evan
was eight at the time, Gabe was five. At a stoplight,
I picked up my phone and checked my Twitter feed
Britney moves in this Sunday afternoon. Five time NBA champion
(01:58):
former League MVP Kobe Bryant died earlier this afternoon in
Los Angeles and a helicopter crashed. The news reports are
just coming in among multiple victims. Kobe Bryant on that helicopter.
We're gonna have. Ramona Shelbern joined us now from Los Angeles.
She is what Kobe Bryant had died. I actually said
(02:19):
what out loud in the car, and Evan got a
little worried, wondering what was wrong. I played it off,
told him, oh, nothing. I didn't bring it up until
we had gotten home ten minutes later and I parked
the car. We are coming back on the air with
new details and the tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
ABC News confirming the five time NBA champion for the
(02:39):
Los Angeles Lakers was among five people killed when a
helicopter crashed and caught fire in southern California. Authorities in
Los Angeles County are holding a news coup. I off
handedly told Evan what had happened. I was trying not
to make a big deal out of it, Like he
had just gotten off the school bus and I was
asking him how his day had been. Besides, we had
to hustle. He had to get changed and he had
(03:00):
to head right out again. He had, of all things,
a basketball game. As Evan was putting his uniform on, though,
I had to make a phone call. I searched my
contacts for Jeremy Treatment's number. Tell me about the day
he got. What were you doing that goes on the
phone with you. I'm Mike Sealsky and from Diversion Podcasts.
(03:32):
This is I am cobD wat sne wht Slee to
Create myself Saigned signs up and create yourself. Say nice,
go on, create yourself. You gotta line of fren great minds,
but we ain't line. Tell him that's getting time, Episode ten,
(03:58):
Remembering Greatness. Two things happen when someone famous dies, especially
when that person dies before their time. The first is
(04:18):
something we all do. If that figure meant something to you,
like Kobe meant something to so many. We mark the
moment we burn into our brains exactly where we were,
what we were doing when we learned that this person
was gone. Millions of people did that. When Kobe Bryant died,
I happened to be in a car with my kids.
(04:38):
Maybe you were at church, or at your daughters swim meet,
or sitting with your feet up in your living room.
Doesn't matter. You don't forget it. But there's something else,
and it happens only to people who knew the person.
You review your own life and you try to figure
out where you fit into their life. You remember the
(05:00):
best times you had together, the hardest times, the times
that made you smile and laugh, the times that made
you furious. You remember the last time you saw them,
the last time you spoke, the last time they crossed
your mind. Aren't tell him. Kobe's first agent went through
that process when Kobe died. At that point, tell him
(05:23):
hadn't represented Kobe in about twenty years. He actually retired
from being an agent and became an executive with the
Detroit Pistons, And it was in Detroit where he and
Kobe talked in person for the last time during Kobe's
final season with the Lakers. We certainly had our you know,
(05:45):
issues where we disagreed, but I have to say that
in the end he was always great to me and
my family and my kids. And then, you know, five
years ago write something, Chop of the Pistons called to
congratulate me. And when I saw him in Detroit as
last year, my first year of the businesses, last year
(06:07):
playing with the Lakers, came up to before the game,
gave me a hug, thanking for everything, and you know,
I couldn't have been nicer. And he asked me if
I was happy what I was doing and and I said,
you know how life is. You have to always change
and adapt and challenge yourself. And I said, you're gonna
do the same thing as you go into your nice
chapter and I'll never forget. He said, yeah, my next
chapter will even be greater, and they ran off further.
(06:28):
John Paul tell him had known Kobe a long time.
Kobe's friends from Lower Marion had known him even longer
from spending the last year and a half talking to
them from my book and for this podcast, I can
(06:50):
tell you the Kobe's death affected those people who knew
him when he was a kid in a different way
than it did just about anyone else. I'm not suggesting
that Kobe's Lakers teammates or his friends from the NBA
weren't profoundly saddened by his death. I'm not saying that
at all. But the connection between Kobe and people like
(07:13):
Jeremy Treatment and his high school coach Greg Downer, and
his classmates and teammates from Lower Marian was something else Entirely.
They knew him before he was a star. They bonded
with him when he occupied a space somewhere closer to
our own, before he became a star. Then they watched
(07:34):
him become a star. It's like they were friends with
Peter Parker before that. Radioactive Spider bidden listen to his
friend Guy Stewart, his teammate at Lower Marian, talk about
what it was like to find out that Kobe had died.
Guy was getting calls and text messages, dozens of them
(07:55):
from people who knew him and knew Kobe, but he
didn't want to believe them. And then I remember the
moment I see it on CNN, and I'm like, I
started like, I'm like my body shaking, I can't like
focus on anything. It has been confirmed CNN is able
to tell you now that NBA star Kobe Bryant was
(08:18):
on board that helicopter and is now dead at the
age of forty one. Or Christine Brooke, I'm like texting everybody.
I call a sister. She doesn't answer, and I'm like,
all right, well, like what's what's going on? Not to
say that she always answers my calls or whatever like that,
but Texas cousin no response. I'm like, this can't be true.
(08:39):
And I'm just like stuck in my seat and I
just couldn't think of anything. And you know, once they
confirmed it, it was just like complete just breakdown. You know,
like you expect to see this guy who was like
Superman to everybody that he that that knew him personally,
(09:00):
even you know, even if you didn't know him person
you just think, like, that's not supposed to happen to
a guy like that, That's not supposed to happen to
his daughter, you know, and you almost questioned God's plan,
like how like how could this happen? Do you expect
like the blame the crash and he's like holding everybody
in his arms and they come out and he's fine,
(09:23):
you know, or just like the story is just just
isn't true. And I still can't believe it to this day.
I still can't believe that he's gone to this day. Um,
but yeah, I remember that day like like it was yesterday.
Emery Dabney, the point guard and Lower Marrion State championship team,
the kid who had joined Kobe for those scrimmages and
pickup games at St. Joseph's and Episcopal during the summer,
(09:49):
was doing pretty much the same thing I was doing
on that day. He was going grocery shopping with his wife.
It was so crazy because I had a friend who
had found an old picture of me and Kobe and
it just text me picture of us maybe like an
hour before. We're driving home and I get a cough.
My friend who lives in l A and he's kind
of scene out there. Well, one of our teammates from
college actually, and he told me, he's like, yeah, Kobe
(10:12):
died up the helicopter crash. Like you're you're a line,
there's no way look at the Hollida. He's like, I'm
telling you and this is before the news of broke,
so he's like Emory and he's kind of a prankster.
So I was like, you're you're full of ship on it.
There's no way in the world that that happened. So
he's like, Imry, I'm serious. And I got calls from
people like I'm telling you. So we kept driving. I'm like,
(10:33):
this be So my wife is looking on her phone
for the news and we don't see anything. Calling back,
I'm like, there's nothing on the news. You're you're you know,
you're full of ship, and like maybe like forty or
five minutes later, the news broke. Jeremy Treatment was the
(10:58):
guy I knew best was close to Kobe. When I
called him that day, I just wanted to touch base
with him, to see what he knew and how he
was doing. He was at Jefferson University in the East
Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. He was overseeing a high school
basketball tournament there and a big game was about to
start between German Town Academy and Newman Garrett, two of
(11:20):
the top teams in the Philadelphia about all this and
all of a sudden, and I was getting his text,
and the first text came from my friend Jeff Isais
is probably the biggest jokester I know, so how ironic
He's the biggest jokes right now. It's it And it's like,
I see this little image from t MC. It says
Kobe Bryant eyes in helicopter crash. I got twelve people
(11:42):
around me, so it's not like I was at home,
just you know, sitting there. It could be glued to it,
and I'm like, well, like like I I didn't think
it was real. And then I got another one and
another one and I think you called it's called I'm like,
oh my god, this is just happening. This is this
(12:02):
is real. Listen carefully to this next part. There were
children playing in a pool in a house near Jeremy's
while I was recording him. In the background, you can
hear one of the kids crying. I think of that
every time I listen to what Jeremy says. Next, I
broke down for a minute talking to this guy del
(12:23):
Greco Wilson and who I knew, and this other guy
came over. I didn't know who he was, and I
I put my head on the shoulder and I started
to a complete stranger. To this day, I don't know
who it was. Hey, this is Mike Sealsky, host and
(12:53):
writer of I Am Kobe. This podcast project came out
of my work on a related book called The Rise
Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. If you want
to explore other parts of Kobe's story, check out The Rise.
It's not just a book version of the podcast. I
dive deeper into some of the topics covered in this series,
(13:14):
and even some that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing,
his family, his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates,
his journey into the n b A, and his earliest
days with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the
Pursuit of Immortality is out now. Just head over to
the Rise of Kobe book dot com and you can
(13:34):
buy it from any of your favorite retailers. That's The
Rise of Kobe Book dot com. Thanks. A month after
(14:08):
Kobe's death, a memorial service was held for him and
his daughter Gianna in Los Angeles at Staples Center, the
Lakers home arena. Jeremy and Greg Downer flew out to
l A to attend the service for both of them.
There was an odd feeling in being there. They still
couldn't believe Kobe was gone, still couldn't reconcile and come
(14:30):
to terms with his death. They woke up early on
the morning of the service, and the scene around the
arena shocked them back in the sorrow. I think you're
feeling a little bit like the Enturig guys, you know,
driving around l A and then all of a sudden
you get to the Forum and like, I mean, the
Staples Center was like, oh my god. And you see
all these people with Kobe stuff and Kobe flags and
(14:53):
Laker flag and Kobe shirts and a boy, this is
not gonna be easy. And U I'm glad I was there.
It's all I can say. I was glad I was there.
It was surreal. It was just too hard to believe inside,
as one speaker after another paid tribute to Kobe and Gianna,
(15:15):
his wife Vanessa, Shaquille O'Neill, Michael Jordan's when Kobe, a
piece of me died. And as I look in this arena,
across the globe, a piece of you die, else you
wouldn't be here. Those are the memories that we have
to live with, and we learn from Greg Downer thought
(15:37):
about the attribute that to him always seemed to define
Kobe best. The quality of the Kobe embodied was that,
either on a basketball court or in life, he could
not would not be stopped. When he wanted something, he
pursued it until he got it Downer believed that Kobe
(15:57):
could not be defeated, even by death, and he believed
it right up until he heard something during the memorial service.
You know, I heard this round of applause, and you
know it was it was shock in the corner. Somebody
was entering the building, and part of me was like,
you know, here he is, Like you know, all of
a sudden, he's alive or he um he recovered from
(16:22):
the helicopter crash and Superman is back. But I totally
agree with you that he had an indestructible way about him,
and I definitely need to feel the same way. As
(16:48):
the ceremony ended, Jeremy and Greg caught a glimpse of
Kobe's parents, Joe and Pam, sitting near the front, a
massive people around them. Neither Jeremy nor Greg had seen
(17:10):
or talked to Joe and Pam since Kobe's death. In fact,
neither of them had seen or talked to them in years,
but they had a chance now and they made their
way towards I'm Pam's like, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe.
It's Jeremy. We journey saw me like had a thick smile.
I'm like, huh. The hug was thirty seconds long, and
(17:32):
it's like just it goes to show you, like like
he just knows his family, Like yeah, I'm not Seaquille Emeial,
but like it's just somebody trust for twenty five years,
who had Kobe's best interest at heart. We we knew love.
Kobe and I hadn't seen in a long time, and
it was especial and he told Greg the same thing.
(17:53):
But he just said, we made a kid for the world.
And I'm just like I had to. I had to
wait till I left the building, until her I could
start to cry. I did. Pam was telling both of us,
don't cry, don't cry. I'm leaving, don't cry, and it
was this very immergtional I didn't amount Joe recently, and
he did right back. He was wishing us all well.
(18:13):
It was very sad. Of course, at the beginning of
this episode, I made an assertion about the things we
do when someone famous dies, the people who knew that
person try to figure out where they fit into his life.
That's all Kobe's friends and mentors from his teenage years
have been doing since his death. They've been weighing where
(18:37):
they fit in Kobe's life and where Kobe still fits
in theirs when they think of him. What comes to
mind first for Greg Downer, it's Kobe's relationship with Brinn Downer,
Greg's daughter. They were close. Greg has several photos of
Kobe holding Brick hugging her. I'm glad that they got
(18:58):
to me, and uh, you know, I'm glad that Brand
got to feel greatness. And as Brand has gotten older,
she understands a little bit more as to who Kobe was.
And sometimes we'll just watch some highlights of him. And
you know, Kobe had four girls. I I only have one.
What makes this really difficult is the loss of Gianna
(19:22):
and what what she was and what she could have been.
But I'm so so thankful that that that Brendan Kobe
got to meet on several occasions. For Mike Egan, Downer's
assistant coach on Lower Marion State title team, one memory
of Kobe stands out. One day that season, the coaches
(19:45):
arranged for a gentleman named Harry Middleton to attend practice
and meet the team. Middleton had played for the Aces
fifty three years earlier. In that was the last eight
championship team for Longe here r and I just remember
she's Kobe being kind of in awe of the guy.
(20:07):
This is an older guy now white hair. Um, you
wouldn't pick him out of the lineup as a former
captain of a state championship team. But just the respect
that Kobe showed for him, um, and the admiration he had,
like as a guy who um, you know, Kobe was
such a student of the game and he realized that, hey,
(20:27):
I might be the man now, but this guy was
the man in this school fifty three years ago. That
was really really cool for Emery Dabney. One anecdote doesn't
stand out about Kobe. His whole attitude does, just like
his share will to succeed when you've been close to
that throughout your life, like you you have no choice
(20:49):
if to be successful, I mean whatever success is. But
he saw a gold and if you really think about
him at a young age, he was gonna do everything
he could have to accomplish that goal. Um, And that's
what I really think of when I think of him,
Just like him having no fear and his relentless pursuits
(21:09):
of of a goal, That's what I think of, Like
on every time I think of that's what That's the
first thing that comes to my mind. Dabney's perspective, I think,
is a good summary of the macro view of Kobe.
(21:30):
It wasn't just Dabney who saw him as incredibly driven.
Everyone who watched him play basketball, or heard him talk
or read anything about him saw him the same way.
But for Jeremy Treatment, the memories of Kobe have been
building up within him for a long time, even before
the horrible events of January. During that season, when Jeremy
(21:56):
was along for the ride to the state championship victory
with Kobe and the Lower Marian Aces, he compiled and
narrated a highlight video of the team's season. The soundtrack
he picked for the video was one that every basketball
fan knows one shining moment, the song that CBS always
plays after the final game of the n c a
(22:18):
A men's basketball turning down got Lower Marion prepared for
the season right away, with a game against superpower Roman
Catholic at Dreadful University. The videos highlights don't just feature Kobe.
His teammates are hitting three pointers and dropping in layouts,
and Greg Downer is barking instructions from the side the
line and cheerleaders are screaming and shaking their pomp pomps.
(22:43):
But there's a lot of Kobe in the video, alley
oops and breakaway dunks and breathtaking plays. The kids at
Jeremy's camp see them fresh for the first time, but
Jeremy gets to relive his time with Kobe over and
over again, and he relished is it. It's funny like
(23:06):
when I when I played one China Moment every year camp.
I'm like, this was like special, special thing that happened
in this one special special time, And you know, you
could go seven years without anything even close to that happening.
And that's kind of how I feel about this time,
like it was. And I look at my bucket list
and look at things I've done and didn't do or
(23:27):
with part of or experienced, and this is a one.
This is a major experience in my life. If you
spend any time with Jeremy, it becomes obvious how much
(23:48):
his time with Kobe means to him and still affects him. Yes,
he was there when Kobe got his start, but Kobe
was also there when Jeremy got his start. Jeremy had
had a terrific career and his friendship with Kobe really
was his launching pad to Jeremy. The two of them
will always be linked us in incredible. It's like I've
(24:12):
known somebody pretty well that when they were on their rise,
to see them all the things they said we're gonna happen,
to see them actually happen. And how many people can
live up the hype. How many people are Lebron James
and Kobe Bryant, and how many people are like that?
There's very new. It's like you're seeing a percosa spenom
live up to the up to his own life, looked
(24:32):
up to his own life. That's even harder than living
up to the other people's hype. I mean there was
part of me that felt like you know, I was
part of that, not a small part, but that was
it was part of it. And special. I mean we
all idolized people people who were special. I mean we're
all special, but very This was incredibly unique person. Yes
(24:55):
he was, and in the unique story that was Kobe
Bryant's life, I think Jeremy Treatment holds a pretty special place.
He made these tapes with Kobe, and more importantly, he
kept them, He dug them up after all those years,
and he allowed them to be released into the world. Now,
(25:16):
the people who knew Kobe so well back then, who
loved him so much, can know how they fit into
his life because they and the world can hear through
Kobe's own voice how they fit and how much they
meant to him. They can hear Kobe teasing and joking
around with Jeremy during their interviews together, the easy comfort
(25:38):
they have with each other. Go hi, everyone, Okay, now
how do you feel about They can hear him acknowledge
(25:59):
the impact at that Greg Downer had on his life,
the care that his high school coach had for him.
He knew that eventually I would becoming a great play
in the NBA. He knows that I would not have
anything left. But right now I have a word upon
my hand, and oh the NBA, you don't produced? Do
things been tappulate? And maybe I'll lose it. I'll go
(26:22):
to college, he knows I don't. They'll have to learn
abound writing. Comes had a world up my head. That's
that's what this man's learned always till I told him
I really don't care about that. They can hear the
way that Kobe spoke about his mom and dad back
when he still lived under their roof, when he was
just a teenager. Later on, once he was well into
(26:44):
his career with the Lakers, Kobe and his parents had
a falling out over his decision to get married so young,
over their roles in his life and his career and
his day to day existence. It lingered for years. I
(27:05):
wanted desperately to speak to Joe and Pam for my
book and for this series, especially Joe. He was the
person Kobe had looked up to the most, and in
a way, by pushing his father away, Kobe lost Joe
before Joe lost Kobe. But the Bryan's declined to speak
(27:25):
with me. As far as I know, they haven't spoken
publicly at all since Kobe's death. I completely understand and
accept that. I can only imagine that Joe and Pam
and Shariah and Shaya and Kobe, all of them presumed
that they would have more time, that they would have
(27:45):
an opportunity to reconcile, to be the same close knit
family that they were when Kobe was still in high school.
I can't imagine the what ifs and the might have
been that have been running through their minds, that run
through the minds of any parent who has had to
bury a child, especially when I hear this. It's a
(28:07):
clip of Kobe talking about the idea of getting into
an argument or a conflict with Joe and Pam, And
of all those hours Jeremy spent interviewing Kobe, it's the
most heartbreaking thing in any of these tapes. It's a
little simple to me. I grew up in Italy. I
have any very reliable my sisters. One of my father
(28:30):
and I know from that he built such a strong relationship,
such a great fristship. We came back over here and
kind of take it into play a class. Me came
back get along with the boss, saying I hate online
Jim or whatever. I'm right away from home, like my
(28:51):
parents can't wait to get out. Um, I can't get home.
My mother, my father is really enjoyed. The family have
said that I have I know it's not gonna be
it forever, and that's why it's really important for my
mother and father to come out there they were so
(29:12):
I can enjoy the COMFORTA gotta working out. You gotta
working out that that's your mother. If I should bat
into his world, his world, how can you disrespect them?
There no whether you have an argument or whatever, mother
and father or messing up or child's messing up. But
it's tough things out before, it says now, and I
(29:34):
feel I feel out better as a person knowing that
that love is there that I take. No one's top
of me the top of the bird beats. That's the time.
But I'm gonna enjoy them now while I ask them
to the fullest. Did you never know what can happen?
No day anything? Um? No, you never know what can happen.
(30:39):
After I talked to Jeremy on the day Kobe died,
I drove to a nearby elementary school, just ten minutes
away from my son Evans basketball game. Tip off was
We stood by the court waiting for a game to
finish so ours could start, and there was a buzz
among the parents and the kids. Did you hear can't
(31:00):
believe it, and his daughter Gianna too. There were how
many people in the helicopter. God, it's so awful, so sad.
The news had been coming out in a trickle all day,
a drop of information here, a drop there. Out on
the court, there was a kid nine years old, maybe ten,
(31:21):
wearing a green uniform tank top over a white T shirt.
And Evan pointed out to me that the kid had
a word written in black marker on one of his sleeves.
Kobe for men and women. He was the figure in
sports that made them want to pick up a basketball
and made the monomax sel in basketball with his drive
and his love for the game, and particularly here in
(31:42):
Los Angeles, that will never be forgotten. Before my son's
game began, my phone buzzed. It was my editor at
the Inquirer. I was expecting the call, Hey, we need
you to write a Kobe column. I don't know that
there was a sports columnist in America who wasn't writing
a Kobe column. That day. After Evans game, I got
(32:05):
home and went up to my office, opened up my
laptop and tried to put the breath of Kobe's life
and the shock of his death in some perspective That's
the cliche Columus and writers use in moments like that,
put it in perspective as if such a thing were possible.
So I sat down at the keyboard and with a
deadline looming, I wrote a ninety five word column and
(32:29):
it sounded like this. Kobe Bryant dead. That can't be.
Kobe is strong. Kobe is always smiling or scowling, and
both faces showed how strong he was. Kobe can't die.
Wasn't Lebron James just passing him on the NBA's all
time scoring list at the Wells Fargo Center the other night,
(32:50):
then speaking with eloquence and depth about Kobe's influence and
effect on him. Wasn't he on Jimmy Kimmel's late night show,
Charming and Smart, proud father talking about his daughter Gianna's
basketball career just the other night, a helicopter crash in
the middle of a Sunday and Gianna to what that
(33:12):
can't be? But there it is? First on TMZ. Then
one confirmation coming after another, Kobe Bryant gone at no, no, no,
So now do me a favor, and do yourself a favor,
and do someone you love a favor. If you're reading this,
(33:36):
Shut off your phone, close your laptop, or put the
paper down. Go to your wife or your husband, or
your mother or your father, or most of all, your
son or your daughter and give them a hug, Call them,
visit them, tell them you love them. Go to their
basketball games and their dance recitals, or just stop by
(33:59):
for a beer a laugh. Turn off the trickle for
a while, and remember what the lasting lesson of Kobe
Bryant's life and death should be. It was difficult that
(34:24):
day to consider Kobe Bryant's life in full, to dwell
on anything other than the tragedy of his death. He
was gone, so was his daughter. So we're seven other
people who have lives and loves and achievements of their own.
With the nearly two years of distance from that day,
we can see more clearly, I think, what we ought
(34:46):
to take away from his life and his career. We
see the value of passion and determination and an unwavering
belief in yourself. We see his singular and blinkered focus
on becoming the back, and his resolute willingness to work
as hard and as long as he needed to achieve it.
(35:07):
We see how the people around him fostered and encouraged
that focus, and we see the cost of that focus,
the entitlement, the self centeredness, and we see that that
cost can be steep. We see most of all, the
everlasting effect that Kobe Bryant had and still has on
(35:28):
the people who knew him. For them, He'll never really
be gone. He'll always be there, his scowl, his smile,
his breathtaking talent, his relentless desire and tireless will, the
kid he had been, the man he was becoming. Forever.
It has been absolutely beautiful. You guy. I can't believe
(35:50):
it's comes to an end. Um, you guys will always
be in my heart and uh I sincerely, sincerely appreciated.
No words can describe how I feel about your guy,
and uh thank you. Thank you from the bottom of
my heart. God, I love you guys, and uh I
love you guys and my family, to my family, my
(36:15):
wife Vanessa, I thought it's not thali a Gianna. Thank
you guys for all your sacrifice, you know, for all
the hours I's been in the gym working and training,
and Vanessa, you holding down the family the way that
you have. I can't there's no way I can thank
you enough for that. So, from the bottom of my heart,
thank you and uh, what can I say? Mombow? I
(36:48):
Am Kobe is a production of the Version podcasts in
association with I Heart Radio. This season is written and
hosted by me Mike sealskin GE's, produced by Jacob Bronstein
and directed by Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein
with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, Editing, mixing and sound
design by Mark Francis. Stephen Thompkins is our production assistant.
(37:11):
Our theme music is Create Yourself by Grover Brown featuring
Justin Starling. Find Create Yourself wherever you stream music. Music
supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sinking. Executive producers are
Mark Francis and Scott Waxman. Join the conversation about I
Am Kobe on social media on Twitter and Instagram. It's
(37:35):
at Diversion Pods thanks to Orin Rosenbaum, Susan Cannavan and
Jeremy Treatment. The ibis before the son. They don't want
to stand when I said to briand is fun. Never
clack you out even when my work is done. If
they're trying to black me, I might Heart someone throw
the blood sweat and say, as we parted, Sufi, stay
tending in, let it keep varius in. If they don't
(37:56):
believe in themselves, tablet to fit that at Santa says,
so set, I don't ask my am. This the reason
why my work so damn different to the negatives. I
can't listen see me at the tip, you can't listen
where I'm a vote to play like cash is see
I pay my dudes because of taxes. Gotta work, I
think and grind ahead of his time. So I'm saying
(38:17):
that they made you. Don't tell them you create yourself
the besh you finn or watch us by this by
that time you gotta stay clock then break clock break
we create ourselves. Watch me question, watch me want to
create myself? Exack climb, signs up and create yourself. Say nicey,
(38:41):
ain't no hard to create yourself. You gotta learn from
the great minds. But we ain't lying. Tell them that
any time this talent wasn't given, it was made the future.
Any time I could change better, tell them that I
made it. Back home. As I walked through the harts
of the fan, I can't from the valley of the
shadow with death waiting for us. Some spoons don't hold
(39:01):
your breath. The same town sat trains. But I did
it with less. I know one that the being, so
there's nothing to guess. Yeah, there's nothing to guess. It's
our times on the we up next. We don't got
any with rests. I did it with my soul hands,
and we never forgets my a. This the reason why
my work so damn different to the negatives. I can't
listen see me at the time. You can't listen for
(39:25):
where rebuild, re shape, give me your eye. You got
to risk take do it now. When I'm saying why,
waits im saying that they may you don't tell them.
You create yourself on the bench, you finn watch us.
Why it's by that time. You gotta steak clock then
break clock break. We create ourselves. Watch me watch them
(39:48):
create myself. Shack climb, signs up and create yourself. Say nice,
ain't so hard create yourself. Gotta line pretty great minds,
but we ain't like telling. Let's getting time m HM.
(40:28):
Diversion Podcasts
Diversion podcasts, Born next next and only going into met
the government will be like I did that. We just
said we found out how this already noted. It was
(00:27):
going on the way back on the bus ride, like
two hour bus ride. Bus had a leak in, it
was raining, rain, got bustings in the head. The only
thee was fun because we were point another. We're making
jokes on win another and having a good time. You
know we always do with a basketball here. That's that's
the only found fight about it. That was Kobe Bryant
with his friend and confident Jeremy Treatment from the spring
(00:50):
of talking about one of the last obligations that Kobe
had to fulfill during his time as a student and
a basketball star at Lower Merion High School. He and
his teammates and coaches had taken a bus trip out
to Harrisburg, the state capital, to meet Governor Tom Ridge
and to receive a special acknowledgement from the state legislature.
(01:10):
It was one of Kobe's last opportunities to be a
kid among other kids before almost everything in his life
changed forever. Nearly twenty four years later, on the afternoon
(01:34):
of Sunday, January, I was driving home from my in
law's house. My wife had gone grocery shopping. Our sons,
Evan and Gabe were in the car with me. Evan
was eight at the time, Gabe was five. At a stoplight,
I picked up my phone and checked my Twitter feed
Britney moves in this Sunday afternoon. Five time NBA champion
(01:58):
former League MVP Kobe Bryant died earlier this afternoon in
Los Angeles and a helicopter crashed. The news reports are
just coming in among multiple victims. Kobe Bryant on that helicopter.
We're gonna have. Ramona Shelbern joined us now from Los Angeles.
She is what Kobe Bryant had died. I actually said
(02:19):
what out loud in the car, and Evan got a
little worried, wondering what was wrong. I played it off,
told him, oh, nothing. I didn't bring it up until
we had gotten home ten minutes later and I parked
the car. We are coming back on the air with
new details and the tragic death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
ABC News confirming the five time NBA champion for the
(02:39):
Los Angeles Lakers was among five people killed when a
helicopter crashed and caught fire in southern California. Authorities in
Los Angeles County are holding a news coup. I off
handedly told Evan what had happened. I was trying not
to make a big deal out of it, Like he
had just gotten off the school bus and I was
asking him how his day had been. Besides, we had
to hustle. He had to get changed and he had
(03:00):
to head right out again. He had, of all things,
a basketball game. As Evan was putting his uniform on, though,
I had to make a phone call. I searched my
contacts for Jeremy Treatment's number. Tell me about the day
he got. What were you doing that goes on the
phone with you. I'm Mike Sealsky and from Diversion Podcasts.
(03:32):
This is I am cobD wat sne wht Slee to
Create myself Saigned signs up and create yourself. Say nice,
go on, create yourself. You gotta line of fren great minds,
but we ain't line. Tell him that's getting time, Episode ten,
(03:58):
Remembering Greatness. Two things happen when someone famous dies, especially
when that person dies before their time. The first is
(04:18):
something we all do. If that figure meant something to you,
like Kobe meant something to so many. We mark the
moment we burn into our brains exactly where we were,
what we were doing when we learned that this person
was gone. Millions of people did that. When Kobe Bryant died,
I happened to be in a car with my kids.
(04:38):
Maybe you were at church, or at your daughters swim meet,
or sitting with your feet up in your living room.
Doesn't matter. You don't forget it. But there's something else,
and it happens only to people who knew the person.
You review your own life and you try to figure
out where you fit into their life. You remember the
(05:00):
best times you had together, the hardest times, the times
that made you smile and laugh, the times that made
you furious. You remember the last time you saw them,
the last time you spoke, the last time they crossed
your mind. Aren't tell him. Kobe's first agent went through
that process when Kobe died. At that point, tell him
(05:23):
hadn't represented Kobe in about twenty years. He actually retired
from being an agent and became an executive with the
Detroit Pistons, And it was in Detroit where he and
Kobe talked in person for the last time during Kobe's
final season with the Lakers. We certainly had our you know,
(05:45):
issues where we disagreed, but I have to say that
in the end he was always great to me and
my family and my kids. And then, you know, five
years ago write something, Chop of the Pistons called to
congratulate me. And when I saw him in Detroit as
last year, my first year of the businesses, last year
(06:07):
playing with the Lakers, came up to before the game,
gave me a hug, thanking for everything, and you know,
I couldn't have been nicer. And he asked me if
I was happy what I was doing and and I said,
you know how life is. You have to always change
and adapt and challenge yourself. And I said, you're gonna
do the same thing as you go into your nice
chapter and I'll never forget. He said, yeah, my next
chapter will even be greater, and they ran off further.
(06:28):
John Paul tell him had known Kobe a long time.
Kobe's friends from Lower Marion had known him even longer
from spending the last year and a half talking to
them from my book and for this podcast, I can
(06:50):
tell you the Kobe's death affected those people who knew
him when he was a kid in a different way
than it did just about anyone else. I'm not suggesting
that Kobe's Lakers teammates or his friends from the NBA
weren't profoundly saddened by his death. I'm not saying that
at all. But the connection between Kobe and people like
(07:13):
Jeremy Treatment and his high school coach Greg Downer, and
his classmates and teammates from Lower Marian was something else Entirely.
They knew him before he was a star. They bonded
with him when he occupied a space somewhere closer to
our own, before he became a star. Then they watched
(07:34):
him become a star. It's like they were friends with
Peter Parker before that. Radioactive Spider bidden listen to his
friend Guy Stewart, his teammate at Lower Marian, talk about
what it was like to find out that Kobe had died.
Guy was getting calls and text messages, dozens of them
(07:55):
from people who knew him and knew Kobe, but he
didn't want to believe them. And then I remember the
moment I see it on CNN, and I'm like, I
started like, I'm like my body shaking, I can't like
focus on anything. It has been confirmed CNN is able
to tell you now that NBA star Kobe Bryant was
(08:18):
on board that helicopter and is now dead at the
age of forty one. Or Christine Brooke, I'm like texting everybody.
I call a sister. She doesn't answer, and I'm like,
all right, well, like what's what's going on? Not to
say that she always answers my calls or whatever like that,
but Texas cousin no response. I'm like, this can't be true.
(08:39):
And I'm just like stuck in my seat and I
just couldn't think of anything. And you know, once they
confirmed it, it was just like complete just breakdown. You know,
like you expect to see this guy who was like
Superman to everybody that he that that knew him personally,
(09:00):
even you know, even if you didn't know him person
you just think, like, that's not supposed to happen to
a guy like that, That's not supposed to happen to
his daughter, you know, and you almost questioned God's plan,
like how like how could this happen? Do you expect
like the blame the crash and he's like holding everybody
in his arms and they come out and he's fine,
(09:23):
you know, or just like the story is just just
isn't true. And I still can't believe it to this day.
I still can't believe that he's gone to this day. Um,
but yeah, I remember that day like like it was yesterday.
Emery Dabney, the point guard and Lower Marrion State championship team,
the kid who had joined Kobe for those scrimmages and
pickup games at St. Joseph's and Episcopal during the summer,
(09:49):
was doing pretty much the same thing I was doing
on that day. He was going grocery shopping with his wife.
It was so crazy because I had a friend who
had found an old picture of me and Kobe and
it just text me picture of us maybe like an
hour before. We're driving home and I get a cough.
My friend who lives in l A and he's kind
of scene out there. Well, one of our teammates from
college actually, and he told me, he's like, yeah, Kobe
(10:12):
died up the helicopter crash. Like you're you're a line,
there's no way look at the Hollida. He's like, I'm
telling you and this is before the news of broke,
so he's like Emory and he's kind of a prankster.
So I was like, you're you're full of ship on it.
There's no way in the world that that happened. So
he's like, Imry, I'm serious. And I got calls from
people like I'm telling you. So we kept driving. I'm like,
(10:33):
this be So my wife is looking on her phone
for the news and we don't see anything. Calling back,
I'm like, there's nothing on the news. You're you're you know,
you're full of ship, and like maybe like forty or
five minutes later, the news broke. Jeremy Treatment was the
(10:58):
guy I knew best was close to Kobe. When I
called him that day, I just wanted to touch base
with him, to see what he knew and how he
was doing. He was at Jefferson University in the East
Falls neighborhood of Philadelphia. He was overseeing a high school
basketball tournament there and a big game was about to
start between German Town Academy and Newman Garrett, two of
(11:20):
the top teams in the Philadelphia about all this and
all of a sudden, and I was getting his text,
and the first text came from my friend Jeff Isais
is probably the biggest jokester I know, so how ironic
He's the biggest jokes right now. It's it And it's like,
I see this little image from t MC. It says
Kobe Bryant eyes in helicopter crash. I got twelve people
(11:42):
around me, so it's not like I was at home,
just you know, sitting there. It could be glued to it,
and I'm like, well, like like I I didn't think
it was real. And then I got another one and
another one and I think you called it's called I'm like,
oh my god, this is just happening. This is this
(12:02):
is real. Listen carefully to this next part. There were
children playing in a pool in a house near Jeremy's
while I was recording him. In the background, you can
hear one of the kids crying. I think of that
every time I listen to what Jeremy says. Next, I
broke down for a minute talking to this guy del
(12:23):
Greco Wilson and who I knew, and this other guy
came over. I didn't know who he was, and I
I put my head on the shoulder and I started
to a complete stranger. To this day, I don't know
who it was. Hey, this is Mike Sealsky, host and
(12:53):
writer of I Am Kobe. This podcast project came out
of my work on a related book called The Rise
Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. If you want
to explore other parts of Kobe's story, check out The Rise.
It's not just a book version of the podcast. I
dive deeper into some of the topics covered in this series,
(13:14):
and even some that we don't cover at all. Kobe's upbringing,
his family, his identity, his effect on his friends and teammates,
his journey into the n b A, and his earliest
days with the Lakers. The Rise Kobe Bryant and the
Pursuit of Immortality is out now. Just head over to
the Rise of Kobe book dot com and you can
(13:34):
buy it from any of your favorite retailers. That's The
Rise of Kobe Book dot com. Thanks. A month after
(14:08):
Kobe's death, a memorial service was held for him and
his daughter Gianna in Los Angeles at Staples Center, the
Lakers home arena. Jeremy and Greg Downer flew out to
l A to attend the service for both of them.
There was an odd feeling in being there. They still
couldn't believe Kobe was gone, still couldn't reconcile and come
(14:30):
to terms with his death. They woke up early on
the morning of the service, and the scene around the
arena shocked them back in the sorrow. I think you're
feeling a little bit like the Enturig guys, you know,
driving around l A and then all of a sudden
you get to the Forum and like, I mean, the
Staples Center was like, oh my god. And you see
all these people with Kobe stuff and Kobe flags and
(14:53):
Laker flag and Kobe shirts and a boy, this is
not gonna be easy. And U I'm glad I was there.
It's all I can say. I was glad I was there.
It was surreal. It was just too hard to believe inside,
as one speaker after another paid tribute to Kobe and Gianna,
(15:15):
his wife Vanessa, Shaquille O'Neill, Michael Jordan's when Kobe, a
piece of me died. And as I look in this arena,
across the globe, a piece of you die, else you
wouldn't be here. Those are the memories that we have
to live with, and we learn from Greg Downer thought
(15:37):
about the attribute that to him always seemed to define
Kobe best. The quality of the Kobe embodied was that,
either on a basketball court or in life, he could
not would not be stopped. When he wanted something, he
pursued it until he got it Downer believed that Kobe
(15:57):
could not be defeated, even by death, and he believed
it right up until he heard something during the memorial service.
You know, I heard this round of applause, and you
know it was it was shock in the corner. Somebody
was entering the building, and part of me was like,
you know, here he is, Like you know, all of
a sudden, he's alive or he um he recovered from
(16:22):
the helicopter crash and Superman is back. But I totally
agree with you that he had an indestructible way about him,
and I definitely need to feel the same way. As
(16:48):
the ceremony ended, Jeremy and Greg caught a glimpse of
Kobe's parents, Joe and Pam, sitting near the front, a
massive people around them. Neither Jeremy nor Greg had seen
(17:10):
or talked to Joe and Pam since Kobe's death. In fact,
neither of them had seen or talked to them in years,
but they had a chance now and they made their
way towards I'm Pam's like, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe, it's Jeremy, Joe.
It's Jeremy. We journey saw me like had a thick smile.
I'm like, huh. The hug was thirty seconds long, and
(17:32):
it's like just it goes to show you, like like
he just knows his family, Like yeah, I'm not Seaquille Emeial,
but like it's just somebody trust for twenty five years,
who had Kobe's best interest at heart. We we knew love.
Kobe and I hadn't seen in a long time, and
it was especial and he told Greg the same thing.
(17:53):
But he just said, we made a kid for the world.
And I'm just like I had to. I had to
wait till I left the building, until her I could
start to cry. I did. Pam was telling both of us,
don't cry, don't cry. I'm leaving, don't cry, and it
was this very immergtional I didn't amount Joe recently, and
he did right back. He was wishing us all well.
(18:13):
It was very sad. Of course, at the beginning of
this episode, I made an assertion about the things we
do when someone famous dies, the people who knew that
person try to figure out where they fit into his life.
That's all Kobe's friends and mentors from his teenage years
have been doing since his death. They've been weighing where
(18:37):
they fit in Kobe's life and where Kobe still fits
in theirs when they think of him. What comes to
mind first for Greg Downer, it's Kobe's relationship with Brinn Downer,
Greg's daughter. They were close. Greg has several photos of
Kobe holding Brick hugging her. I'm glad that they got
(18:58):
to me, and uh, you know, I'm glad that Brand
got to feel greatness. And as Brand has gotten older,
she understands a little bit more as to who Kobe was.
And sometimes we'll just watch some highlights of him. And
you know, Kobe had four girls. I I only have one.
What makes this really difficult is the loss of Gianna
(19:22):
and what what she was and what she could have been.
But I'm so so thankful that that that Brendan Kobe
got to meet on several occasions. For Mike Egan, Downer's
assistant coach on Lower Marion State title team, one memory
of Kobe stands out. One day that season, the coaches
(19:45):
arranged for a gentleman named Harry Middleton to attend practice
and meet the team. Middleton had played for the Aces
fifty three years earlier. In that was the last eight
championship team for Longe here r and I just remember
she's Kobe being kind of in awe of the guy.
(20:07):
This is an older guy now white hair. Um, you
wouldn't pick him out of the lineup as a former
captain of a state championship team. But just the respect
that Kobe showed for him, um, and the admiration he had,
like as a guy who um, you know, Kobe was
such a student of the game and he realized that, hey,
(20:27):
I might be the man now, but this guy was
the man in this school fifty three years ago. That
was really really cool for Emery Dabney. One anecdote doesn't
stand out about Kobe. His whole attitude does, just like
his share will to succeed when you've been close to
that throughout your life, like you you have no choice
(20:49):
if to be successful, I mean whatever success is. But
he saw a gold and if you really think about
him at a young age, he was gonna do everything
he could have to accomplish that goal. Um, And that's
what I really think of when I think of him,
Just like him having no fear and his relentless pursuits
(21:09):
of of a goal, That's what I think of, Like
on every time I think of that's what That's the
first thing that comes to my mind. Dabney's perspective, I think,
is a good summary of the macro view of Kobe.
(21:30):
It wasn't just Dabney who saw him as incredibly driven.
Everyone who watched him play basketball, or heard him talk
or read anything about him saw him the same way.
But for Jeremy Treatment, the memories of Kobe have been
building up within him for a long time, even before
the horrible events of January. During that season, when Jeremy
(21:56):
was along for the ride to the state championship victory
with Kobe and the Lower Marian Aces, he compiled and
narrated a highlight video of the team's season. The soundtrack
he picked for the video was one that every basketball
fan knows one shining moment, the song that CBS always
plays after the final game of the n c a
(22:18):
A men's basketball turning down got Lower Marion prepared for
the season right away, with a game against superpower Roman
Catholic at Dreadful University. The videos highlights don't just feature Kobe.
His teammates are hitting three pointers and dropping in layouts,
and Greg Downer is barking instructions from the side the
line and cheerleaders are screaming and shaking their pomp pomps.
(22:43):
But there's a lot of Kobe in the video, alley
oops and breakaway dunks and breathtaking plays. The kids at
Jeremy's camp see them fresh for the first time, but
Jeremy gets to relive his time with Kobe over and
over again, and he relished is it. It's funny like
(23:06):
when I when I played one China Moment every year camp.
I'm like, this was like special, special thing that happened
in this one special special time, And you know, you
could go seven years without anything even close to that happening.
And that's kind of how I feel about this time,
like it was. And I look at my bucket list
and look at things I've done and didn't do or
(23:27):
with part of or experienced, and this is a one.
This is a major experience in my life. If you
spend any time with Jeremy, it becomes obvious how much
(23:48):
his time with Kobe means to him and still affects him. Yes,
he was there when Kobe got his start, but Kobe
was also there when Jeremy got his start. Jeremy had
had a terrific career and his friendship with Kobe really
was his launching pad to Jeremy. The two of them
will always be linked us in incredible. It's like I've
(24:12):
known somebody pretty well that when they were on their rise,
to see them all the things they said we're gonna happen,
to see them actually happen. And how many people can
live up the hype. How many people are Lebron James
and Kobe Bryant, and how many people are like that?
There's very new. It's like you're seeing a percosa spenom
live up to the up to his own life, looked
(24:32):
up to his own life. That's even harder than living
up to the other people's hype. I mean there was
part of me that felt like you know, I was
part of that, not a small part, but that was
it was part of it. And special. I mean we
all idolized people people who were special. I mean we're
all special, but very This was incredibly unique person. Yes
(24:55):
he was, and in the unique story that was Kobe
Bryant's life, I think Jeremy Treatment holds a pretty special place.
He made these tapes with Kobe, and more importantly, he
kept them, He dug them up after all those years,
and he allowed them to be released into the world. Now,
(25:16):
the people who knew Kobe so well back then, who
loved him so much, can know how they fit into
his life because they and the world can hear through
Kobe's own voice how they fit and how much they
meant to him. They can hear Kobe teasing and joking
around with Jeremy during their interviews together, the easy comfort
(25:38):
they have with each other. Go hi, everyone, Okay, now
how do you feel about They can hear him acknowledge
(25:59):
the impact at that Greg Downer had on his life,
the care that his high school coach had for him.
He knew that eventually I would becoming a great play
in the NBA. He knows that I would not have
anything left. But right now I have a word upon
my hand, and oh the NBA, you don't produced? Do
things been tappulate? And maybe I'll lose it. I'll go
(26:22):
to college, he knows I don't. They'll have to learn
abound writing. Comes had a world up my head. That's
that's what this man's learned always till I told him
I really don't care about that. They can hear the
way that Kobe spoke about his mom and dad back
when he still lived under their roof, when he was
just a teenager. Later on, once he was well into
(26:44):
his career with the Lakers, Kobe and his parents had
a falling out over his decision to get married so young,
over their roles in his life and his career and
his day to day existence. It lingered for years. I
(27:05):
wanted desperately to speak to Joe and Pam for my
book and for this series, especially Joe. He was the
person Kobe had looked up to the most, and in
a way, by pushing his father away, Kobe lost Joe
before Joe lost Kobe. But the Bryan's declined to speak
(27:25):
with me. As far as I know, they haven't spoken
publicly at all since Kobe's death. I completely understand and
accept that. I can only imagine that Joe and Pam
and Shariah and Shaya and Kobe, all of them presumed
that they would have more time, that they would have
(27:45):
an opportunity to reconcile, to be the same close knit
family that they were when Kobe was still in high school.
I can't imagine the what ifs and the might have
been that have been running through their minds, that run
through the minds of any parent who has had to
bury a child, especially when I hear this. It's a
(28:07):
clip of Kobe talking about the idea of getting into
an argument or a conflict with Joe and Pam, And
of all those hours Jeremy spent interviewing Kobe, it's the
most heartbreaking thing in any of these tapes. It's a
little simple to me. I grew up in Italy. I
have any very reliable my sisters. One of my father
(28:30):
and I know from that he built such a strong relationship,
such a great fristship. We came back over here and
kind of take it into play a class. Me came
back get along with the boss, saying I hate online
Jim or whatever. I'm right away from home, like my
(28:51):
parents can't wait to get out. Um, I can't get home.
My mother, my father is really enjoyed. The family have
said that I have I know it's not gonna be
it forever, and that's why it's really important for my
mother and father to come out there they were so
(29:12):
I can enjoy the COMFORTA gotta working out. You gotta
working out that that's your mother. If I should bat
into his world, his world, how can you disrespect them?
There no whether you have an argument or whatever, mother
and father or messing up or child's messing up. But
it's tough things out before, it says now, and I
(29:34):
feel I feel out better as a person knowing that
that love is there that I take. No one's top
of me the top of the bird beats. That's the time.
But I'm gonna enjoy them now while I ask them
to the fullest. Did you never know what can happen?
No day anything? Um? No, you never know what can happen.
(30:39):
After I talked to Jeremy on the day Kobe died,
I drove to a nearby elementary school, just ten minutes
away from my son Evans basketball game. Tip off was
We stood by the court waiting for a game to
finish so ours could start, and there was a buzz
among the parents and the kids. Did you hear can't
(31:00):
believe it, and his daughter Gianna too. There were how
many people in the helicopter. God, it's so awful, so sad.
The news had been coming out in a trickle all day,
a drop of information here, a drop there. Out on
the court, there was a kid nine years old, maybe ten,
(31:21):
wearing a green uniform tank top over a white T shirt.
And Evan pointed out to me that the kid had
a word written in black marker on one of his sleeves.
Kobe for men and women. He was the figure in
sports that made them want to pick up a basketball
and made the monomax sel in basketball with his drive
and his love for the game, and particularly here in
(31:42):
Los Angeles, that will never be forgotten. Before my son's
game began, my phone buzzed. It was my editor at
the Inquirer. I was expecting the call, Hey, we need
you to write a Kobe column. I don't know that
there was a sports columnist in America who wasn't writing
a Kobe column. That day. After Evans game, I got
(32:05):
home and went up to my office, opened up my
laptop and tried to put the breath of Kobe's life
and the shock of his death in some perspective That's
the cliche Columus and writers use in moments like that,
put it in perspective as if such a thing were possible.
So I sat down at the keyboard and with a
deadline looming, I wrote a ninety five word column and
(32:29):
it sounded like this. Kobe Bryant dead. That can't be.
Kobe is strong. Kobe is always smiling or scowling, and
both faces showed how strong he was. Kobe can't die.
Wasn't Lebron James just passing him on the NBA's all
time scoring list at the Wells Fargo Center the other night,
(32:50):
then speaking with eloquence and depth about Kobe's influence and
effect on him. Wasn't he on Jimmy Kimmel's late night show,
Charming and Smart, proud father talking about his daughter Gianna's
basketball career just the other night, a helicopter crash in
the middle of a Sunday and Gianna to what that
(33:12):
can't be? But there it is? First on TMZ. Then
one confirmation coming after another, Kobe Bryant gone at no, no, no,
So now do me a favor, and do yourself a favor,
and do someone you love a favor. If you're reading this,
(33:36):
Shut off your phone, close your laptop, or put the
paper down. Go to your wife or your husband, or
your mother or your father, or most of all, your
son or your daughter and give them a hug, Call them,
visit them, tell them you love them. Go to their
basketball games and their dance recitals, or just stop by
(33:59):
for a beer a laugh. Turn off the trickle for
a while, and remember what the lasting lesson of Kobe
Bryant's life and death should be. It was difficult that
(34:24):
day to consider Kobe Bryant's life in full, to dwell
on anything other than the tragedy of his death. He
was gone, so was his daughter. So we're seven other
people who have lives and loves and achievements of their own.
With the nearly two years of distance from that day,
we can see more clearly, I think, what we ought
(34:46):
to take away from his life and his career. We
see the value of passion and determination and an unwavering
belief in yourself. We see his singular and blinkered focus
on becoming the back, and his resolute willingness to work
as hard and as long as he needed to achieve it.
(35:07):
We see how the people around him fostered and encouraged
that focus, and we see the cost of that focus,
the entitlement, the self centeredness, and we see that that
cost can be steep. We see most of all, the
everlasting effect that Kobe Bryant had and still has on
(35:28):
the people who knew him. For them, He'll never really
be gone. He'll always be there, his scowl, his smile,
his breathtaking talent, his relentless desire and tireless will, the
kid he had been, the man he was becoming. Forever.
It has been absolutely beautiful. You guy. I can't believe
(35:50):
it's comes to an end. Um, you guys will always
be in my heart and uh I sincerely, sincerely appreciated.
No words can describe how I feel about your guy,
and uh thank you. Thank you from the bottom of
my heart. God, I love you guys, and uh I
love you guys and my family, to my family, my
(36:15):
wife Vanessa, I thought it's not thali a Gianna. Thank
you guys for all your sacrifice, you know, for all
the hours I's been in the gym working and training,
and Vanessa, you holding down the family the way that
you have. I can't there's no way I can thank
you enough for that. So, from the bottom of my heart,
thank you and uh, what can I say? Mombow? I
(36:48):
Am Kobe is a production of the Version podcasts in
association with I Heart Radio. This season is written and
hosted by me Mike sealskin GE's, produced by Jacob Bronstein
and directed by Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein
with editorial direction from Scott Waxman, Editing, mixing and sound
design by Mark Francis. Stephen Thompkins is our production assistant.
(37:11):
Our theme music is Create Yourself by Grover Brown featuring
Justin Starling. Find Create Yourself wherever you stream music. Music
supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sinking. Executive producers are
Mark Francis and Scott Waxman. Join the conversation about I
Am Kobe on social media on Twitter and Instagram. It's
(37:35):
at Diversion Pods thanks to Orin Rosenbaum, Susan Cannavan and
Jeremy Treatment. The ibis before the son. They don't want
to stand when I said to briand is fun. Never
clack you out even when my work is done. If
they're trying to black me, I might Heart someone throw
the blood sweat and say, as we parted, Sufi, stay
tending in, let it keep varius in. If they don't
(37:56):
believe in themselves, tablet to fit that at Santa says,
so set, I don't ask my am. This the reason
why my work so damn different to the negatives. I
can't listen see me at the tip, you can't listen
where I'm a vote to play like cash is see
I pay my dudes because of taxes. Gotta work, I
think and grind ahead of his time. So I'm saying
(38:17):
that they made you. Don't tell them you create yourself
the besh you finn or watch us by this by
that time you gotta stay clock then break clock break
we create ourselves. Watch me question, watch me want to
create myself? Exack climb, signs up and create yourself. Say nicey,
(38:41):
ain't no hard to create yourself. You gotta learn from
the great minds. But we ain't lying. Tell them that
any time this talent wasn't given, it was made the future.
Any time I could change better, tell them that I
made it. Back home. As I walked through the harts
of the fan, I can't from the valley of the
shadow with death waiting for us. Some spoons don't hold
(39:01):
your breath. The same town sat trains. But I did
it with less. I know one that the being, so
there's nothing to guess. Yeah, there's nothing to guess. It's
our times on the we up next. We don't got
any with rests. I did it with my soul hands,
and we never forgets my a. This the reason why
my work so damn different to the negatives. I can't
listen see me at the time. You can't listen for
(39:25):
where rebuild, re shape, give me your eye. You got
to risk take do it now. When I'm saying why,
waits im saying that they may you don't tell them.
You create yourself on the bench, you finn watch us.
Why it's by that time. You gotta steak clock then
break clock break. We create ourselves. Watch me watch them
(39:48):
create myself. Shack climb, signs up and create yourself. Say nice,
ain't so hard create yourself. Gotta line pretty great minds,
but we ain't like telling. Let's getting time m HM.
(40:28):
Diversion Podcasts
Host
Mike Sielski
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