Kobe Bryant:
I'm so sorry for what happened to you and your family today.
As a faraway, devoted, nostalgic, weepy, greedy, lifelong Lakers fan, I loved you in the way you love people you can never know, and I judged you in the way you judge people who operate on a different plane from your own.
Today millions of us mourn for you, even as we are aware that there is a grief we cannot know, and dare not intrude upon, within your family, for you, your young daughter, and your friends.
We pray for the repose of your soul, for comfort and peace for all who knew and loved you, the real person.
In the summer of '96, I celebrated when Shaq came to L.A., because I believed he alone would carry us back to the Finals. I was wrong about that; we only got back there once you came into full form as a star alongside him.
We Lakers fans are spoiled, as you know, and nothing else matters to us besides the banners. Our dream is that someday we will have more of them than Boston has. We're awfully close now, thanks largely to you.
Five titles.
Same as Magic.
The greatest Laker ever? It's hard for any of us who grew up in the 80's to let that crown be taken from Magic, but for the generation who came up later, it's only you. And how could anyone blame them?
Thank you for helping make the Lakers matter again. It had been a long drought when you arrived, and it meant so much in the early 2000's to see the purple and gold back on top.
I'm sorry for my longstanding discontentment and inability to be satisfied with your success. I always wondered whether our team could have, might have, accomplished more.
What if you and Shaq had been able to make it work?
Did we really have to lose to the Pistons in '04?
Was there really no way to make anything out of Dwight Howard's first stint with our team?
How much did your intensity elevate your teammates, and how much did it drive them away?
Is there anyone who could have been committed enough to earn your trust as a teammate?
I'm sorry for never being excited about the 81-point game, as I had let my heart grow cold by that time. I didn't feel that game even mattered, because it's all about the banners.
I'm sorry for my faint interest in the free throws you hit with a torn Achilles, and for the grudging nature of my goodwill at your retirement, as I held against you the Lakers' struggles in the twilight and the aftermath of your years with the team.
Many teams would love to have one championship title during a star player's career, yet I have spent more time than I am proud to admit wondering why we only got five while you played. I'm sorry for that.
What amazes me now, and what I probably misinterpreted at the time, is the fact that you knew how gifted you were. You knew what you could do, and you knew you were willing to work harder at it than anyone else. You embraced your gifts, worked to hone them, and made no apology for them. If only the rest of us could learn this from you.
At the time, I saw this as arrogance, and maybe some of it was. But compared to so many of us, who can't seem to accept God's gifts and put them to use, you are an example and an inspiration.
It's also clear from your career that no one can succeed by going it alone. It was a dark, frustrating time, toward the end, when the Lakers just didn't matter anymore, despite the presence of a living legend on the team. I'm sorry I unplugged. I just couldn't take it.
Kobe Bryant, you captured the hearts of the entire Laker Nation, and you even won over most of us whose hearts will always really belong to Magic.
Embrace your gifts, embrace your teammates. And work at it with all your heart.
Thank you for teaching us so much.
Thank you for giving us such amazing memories.
May you rest in peace.
