The fortunate opportunity I have with my platform and this blog is that I can write about whatever I want. Though my goal is to share my experiences as it relates to building my own business, I am able to deviate from the trail as I feel it is warranted. This is one of those times.

Growing up in Pittsburgh with grandparents who live in South Florida and not having our own NBA team in Pittsburgh equated to me being an avid Miami Heat fan my entire life. Every time I’d visit my grandfather, we would make the drive from Boca Raton down I-95 to Miami to watch the Heat play. Dwyane Wade is my favorite basketball player of all time and I’ve been lucky to witness some great basketball in-person throughout my life. When I would take trips with my family to New York City I would spend HOURS in the NBA Store (when it was still on Fifth Avenue) playing around on their hoops on the bottom floor, trying on different jerseys and being mesmerized by the photos and life-sized sculptures they had. I love the NBA. That said, one of the first NBA jerseys I can remember getting as a child was a Kobe Bryant #8 yellow Los Angeles Lakers jersey. There was something special about the Lakers in the late 90s and 2000s if you were a “90s kid”. Kobe Bryant, one of the fiercest competitors in NBA history was an idol to millions. I loved him. I loved watching him play and winning championship after championship starting with Kobe’s first in 2000. Any time you crumple up a piece of paper and shoot it into a garbage can, you HAD to yell “KOBE” as you took the shot.

Kobe Bryant tragically passed away at the age of 41 on Sunday, January 26th, 2020 as well as his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna and 7 others. I am devastated. My thoughts are with ALL families & friends who are impacted by this.

Around 2:30pm last Sunday, I received a text from my cousin who first broke the news to me. My world stopped. I flashed back to memories of myself wearing my #8 yellow Lakers jersey to school, wearing his jersey as I shot around in my driveway and the times I would watch the Heat play the Lakers. Kobe and Dwyane Wade had a very close relationship. Seeing Dwyane’s Instagram story following the news breaking was impossible to watch without tearing up. I was infatuated over the fact that two rivals could be such great friends. They understood the big picture which is that life is bigger than basketball.

I closely monitored my Twitter feed for the next few hours while watching ESPN, waiting to hear more news on this absolute tragedy. Tweets started pouring in from celebrities, athletes and thousands of others clearly feeling the impact of this loss. Group texts between friends of mine started to form talking about how devastated we all are, in utter disbelief that one of our childhood heroes just died.

To my generation, I think this is the first childhood hero in sports and possibly elsewhere that we have lost. Kobe was KOBE. How could this happen to Kobe? He was just a few years into retirement and looked happier than ever with his family just living his life. Kobe was not just a basketball player. He was an icon around the world. This loss is not being felt just by NBA fans in the USA, but by people everywhere. This is just different.

A friend of mine, David Green, who is a Senior Account Executive of Season Memberships with the Dallas Mavericks and an avid NBA fan posted the following tweet shortly after the news of Kobe’s death was confirmed:

“Today I cried over the passing of someone I never met or knew. That’s how big of an impact he had on me growing up. My childhood hero. Man this sucks.”

I didn’t personally know Kobe. He didn’t know me. Why is this loss impacting me so much? Are we allowed to mourn someone we don’t know?

While I am sad and still am just genuinely shocked at this loss in the world, I started to think how amazing it is that someone I have never met and had no idea I exist had such a profound impact on me. The majority of my activity on Twitter typically includes sports news or items centered around my work, however I LOVE when I see a great sports story. I love sports. I have played and been a sports fan my entire life. I am thankful every day for sports. I worked in professional sports. I majored in Sport Management at Ohio University. Sports are my getaway. Sports can be physical exercise and oftentimes sports teach us wisdom that we can’t receive elsewhere.

Stories like the Pittsburgh Penguins assisting a lifelong fan finding a much needed Kidney or the story about a young beautiful girl named Laila, who is an avid St. Louis Blues fan essentially becoming a member of their Stanley Cup team are stories that recently stick out in my mind. There is nothing quite like a great sports story.

Sports are powerful. I started playing team sports when I started to walk and without a doubt my participation in team sports at such a young age has helped to shape me into the person I am today.

The NBA decided not to cancel any of their games this past Sunday after the news broke and confirmed the death of Kobe Bryant. I was conflicted, trying to decide if that was the right decision. This tragedy is much bigger than basketball. Every game that was played started with each team taking a 24-second shot clock violation to honor Kobe, who wore #24 for the majority of his career (he started as #8). Video clips started to come in of various players, clearly emotional, reacting to the news of Kobe and still they continued to play. Kobe was not just another guy. To many of the current players in the NBA, Kobe was a friend, teammate, idol and much more. Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks who is #11, grew up idolizing Kobe. He started his game Sunday wearing a #8 jersey to honor his childhood hero.

These players were hurting. Why would they play? There are two sides of the aisle on this and I could not help but think that the games still being played is exactly what Kobe would have wanted. We each are allowed to have our own opinion (that’s how opinions work) and I like to believe that he wouldn’t want the basketball world to stop, though he would want these men to do what they needed to grieve with their families. After the Portland Trail Blazers game, Kobe’s long-time friend and former Team USA teammate, Carmelo Anthony said of the game, “Probably the hardest game I’ve ever had to play….knowing him the way that I knew him, he would have wanted me to play”.

I thank Kobe for teaching us the “Mamba mentality”, that you shouldn’t be scared to face your fears and do whatever is needed to be successful. That hard work is more important than talent. Michael “Mikey” Dougherty, a long-time radio host in Pittsburgh is a voice that many in Pittsburgh are familiar with. Mikey is someone I have listened to and been a fan of for years because he is not only hysterical, but he keeps it real 100% of the time. Mikey does a great job at separating humor and serious topics and gets his points across very well. He and his co-host, Bob, find a way to make an early-morning commute fun. He is great follow on social media (Twitter & Instagram). I haven’t had the chance to meet him in person, though we’ve messaged back and forth on occasion when he brings up something relevant and is always one to respond. He posted a tweet last Sunday regarding a conversation he was having with his daughter:

“There’s not much in life that TRULY matters….family, friends, how you treat other people. Don’t complicate things. Show love. Spread love. Live life with love.”

This tweet really resonated with me, enough for me to reach out and ask if I could discuss this in my blog to which he gave me a thumbs up. In the big picture, whether it is a friend, family member, athlete or anybody else, life is too short for BS. Life doesn’t care if you are the most famous, talented, rich person in the world or someone who is homeless with nothing. NOBODY is invincible. Life can change in one second. Once you can accept that you might find yourself much happier.

Enjoy the presence of those around you. Stop using the word, “hate” (thank you, Rabbi Myers). Love more. Apologize. Don’t hold grudges. Be kind to one another. Hug those around you and tell those who you appreciate how much you appreciate them.

It’s that simple.

RIP Kobe. Thank you for being a focal point of my childhood.

“Mamba, out”

- Andrew

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