Whats the difference between a hero and a villain? I always thought that the easy answer was that the hero was always good and the villain was always bad. When you take a deeper look, that might not always be the case. Perhaps who the villain and hero is in a situation is simply a matter of perspective.
I am a huge fan of basketball. I fell in love with basketball when i was only 8 or 9 years old. I was never all that good at it. I talked a big game like anyone who loved basketball and tried to find my identity in it. When you’re a fan of a sport, you end up having heroes in that sport. I grew up telling myself that I was a Michael Jordan fan and the man was my hero. I still remember being in the living room of one of my friend’s from church when Jordan hit his “Farewell Shot” against the Jazz in Utah in 1998. I remember jumping up and down screaming with my buddy because we thought that we were watching the greatest player ever do the greatest thing ever on the greatest stage.
In the NBA and basketball in general, there are essentially three camps of player clubs as far as fandom goes for people my age. There’s the Michael Jordan club, the Kobe Bryant club, and the LeBron James club. There really isn’t a whole lot of debate outside of these three guys as to the matter of greatness. They are three guys who were known to put their team on their back and win games virtually by themselves. All three of these players have legendary moments in their careers and stats that define them. MJ never lost a finals. If he got there, then he would win it, six for six. Kobe once scored 81 points in a single game and in the final game of his career scored 60 points at the age of 38. LeBron went to seven straight NBA Finals (and he’s still not done yet).
Being in the Michael Jordan camp, I basically had to dislike Kobe. It wasn’t personal. It was more about loyalty for me. When LeBron came along, I liked watching him more than Kobe too. It was because of the loyalty to these guys and watching him take out my favorite team (OKC Thunder) in the playoffs that I decided that I wasn’t a fan of Kobe Bryant. Not only did he hadve an off court issue or two, but he also was out to take down my two favorite players and my favorite team. He was the villain. He was the enemy. I loved cheering against Kobe. I wanted him to lose.
The problem with cheering against Kobe was that he didn’t lose often. He was a part of five championship teams and was the best player on at least two of those teams (the other three could be debated). He regularly led the NBA in scoring and for most of his career was one of the most unstoppable one on one players in the league. Kobe didn’t just want to win games though. He didn’t just want to defeat those playing against him. He wanted to take away their passion to play. He wanted to embarrass players and make them not want to play anymore basketball at all. Most players wanted to stick a sword in their opponent, but Kobe wanted to twist it. Many of the players whom Kobe had rivalries with ended up playing with him on the Lakers. The running joke was that these guys couldn’t beat him so they joined him.
I remember so many different huge shots that Kobe made. I remember being in so many different places when he hit them. I remember Kobe making massive shots in Nashville, Oklahoma City, Houston, and Huntsville. Kobe made his career while I was growing up. He entered the NBA when I was only 9 years old.
Regardless of whether or not you’ve watched any basketball in your life, you probably heard about the news today that Kobe was tragically killed in a helicopter crash this morning. Just like when anyone else you know of dies, you think back on times when that person was alive. As I thought back through Kobe’s career and how it aligned with some of the big moments of my life, I realized something.
Jordan hit his “farewell shot” when I was only 10 years old and just starting to really fall in love with basketball and MJ’s career was over after that shot (basically, I try not to remember the Wizard years). Lebron entered the NBA when I was a freshman in high school and my love for basketball was already pretty high at that point. Kobe’s career started when I was 9 years old which is about the time when I was deciding that I was more in love with basketball than I was baseball, football, or any other sport. As my love for the game grew, Kobe became a bigger and bigger star. I kept telling myself that Jordan was better and when LeBron came along, I told myself that LeBron was better. The truth is that Kobe was the best basketball player in the world as I was learning about and falling in love with basketball. I told myself I didn’t like him, I think I did that because I wanted so much to either be like him, or watch my other heroes or favorite team beat him and they simply couldn’t. Kobe fueled my love for basketball. He fueled my love of competition that still exists to this day. Kobe is a major reason why I still watch basketball today. Watching Kobe Bryant play basketball was a part of my childhood, my adolescence, and my adult life. He exemplified greatness in so many ways and I got to watch it during some of my most formative years.
I started off talking about the differences between heroes and villains and how it might really just come down to perspective. Kobe was a great, notorious, legendary villain. He embraced the role. You were either all for him or all against him and he was going to be who he was and no one else, for better or worse. I think my perspective changed about Kobe toward the end of his career and definitely after he retired.
You see regardless of what you thought of Kobe as a player, the number one thing that everyone talked about with Kobe after he retired was his relationship with his kids. Kobe was always at his daughters’ games and activities. He was constantly talking to other people about what was going on in his daughters’ lives. I’ve always had a ton of respect for any pro athlete who is a part of his/her kids lives because of how often pro athletes have to be on the road and on the other end of the country, not to mention the late games and extra training sessions. Kobe went from pro athlete to full time dad almost seamlessly.
Growing up, I would shoot in empty gyms by myself and count down to shoot a fake buzzer beater “3….2…1…” and imagine celebrating after making shots. I found myself mimicking Kobe when my shots would go in. That was 10-15 years ago. Now, I like to dream about sitting at games and concerts with my own kids talking to them about what they are passionate about. If you’ve seen any of the footage of Kobe and his late daughter Gianna, it’s mostly footage of them talking and bonding over the sport that they love.
I don’t know if any of my kids will share my love for basketball as they get older or a love for any sport. To be honest, I don’t care. I want to be passionate about what my kids are passionate about. Deep down, I wanted to be like Kobe the player. Now though, I’m proud to say that this player I grew up villainizing in my head is in fact one of my heroes as a father. Kobe Bryant was my hero and he was my villain. He was my past and he is my present. He is who I wish I was and who I hope to one day be. Thank you for showing me how to live life intensely and love my kids deeply all the way to the very end, Kobe. You will be missed
