Why the Kobe News Made Me Cry

"Kobe” he says while kicking out his leg, fall backwards, and tossing a crumpled up piece of paper into the trash can.

Kobe Bryant is a legend in every sense of the word. He is a global icon who was idolized by mostly everyone. 

I was born in 1988 and wasn’t old enough to remember Michael Jordan’s prime. That’s why the career of Kobe Bryant, is the best full length career I watched in my lifetime. That makes Kobe my GOAT. Maybe I have seen better players. Maybe I have seen better performances. But I have never seen a better career, than Kobe.

I love Kobe Bryant. And I don’t think I realized how much until Sunday, when the news broke. I got a text from my brother about it and immediately started tearing up. I wasn’t sure why. I refreshed twitter hundreds and hundreds of times waiting for someone to dispute the report, that came from TMZ. I hoped it was hoax, a cruel and sick joke. Or misinformation. It wasn’t. It was true.

Kobe’s basketball career has been over for a few years now. But the best part of his life was just beginning, and that’s what makes me sick. He and his wife were raising four daughters. No more basketball. Just chilling and watching his girls grow up. The oldest, Gianna, wanted to grow up to be like him. Kobe said in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, that any time someone mentioned “you need a son”, Gianna would step in and say “hey, I can carry this legacy”. He talked about her playing college, being in the WNBA.

I remember everything from Kobe’s career. The 81 points. 61 points at MSG. The 5 championships and 2 losses. I loved watching him do work in every All Star Game. These memories will last a lifetime, but there weren’t going to be any new basketball-related memories (outside of his Hall of Fame speech). There wasn’t going to be any more dunks or threes. He was long retired.

There was going to be lots of smiles, lots of life. Lot of celebrations in the future. I loved watching him interact with the older and younger generation. He fully embraced being a role model and guys like Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard, Trae Young all idolized him. It wasn’t because he was dominant on the court, it was the way he presented himself. “Mamba mentality”. It was because of how hard he worked, how much he cared, how he treated his teammates.

Everyone should live life the way Kobe played basketball. Work hard and treat people right and conduct yourself in the right way.

I am sick because of the family. Everyone has Kobe stories. Everyone except his youngest 6 month old daughter, who was born in June. She is going to grow up reading stories, watching videos, and being told how amazing her father was. But she will never experience it. She will never get to know her father. She will never sit on the couch and watch a game together. She will never get to have a father/daughter dance or any type of experience. That’s what hurts me most of all.

So why did I cry?

Well, we lost Kobe Bryant the basketball player 3 years ago. We’ll always have the memories and highlights. I watched his 60 point finale 3 times yesterday.

But the memories we, the fans, don’t have, and never will are the ones of Kobe the family man. We lost, not a basketball player, but a father of 4 daughters. We lost a 13 year old woman with all the potential in the world. The thought of seeing 3 young children lose a father and a sister, seeing a mother lose a husband and a daughter is beyond gut-wrenching. This about more than just Kobe.

We lost a guy who was universally loved, by millions of people who never even met him. Who were never even in the same building as him. But just knowing how much joy and fun I had watching Kobe play and watching highlights, it made him a hero to me.

RIP Kobe. RIP Gianna.

Note: I want to acknowledge the other 7 people too involved in the accident. It’s truly awful that 9 people were directly involved and the impact on all of those friends and families is unfathomable. I don’t want to be insensitive by not recognizing them. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved, not just the Bryant family. But the Bryant family meant something to me so I wanted to share my thoughts. The others mean something from a humanity standpoint, where I am sad and hurt that something like this happened to other people.

Revisiting the Jimmy Garoppolo Trade

 

Jimmy Garoppolo was drafted in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft (#62 overall). After backing up Tom Brady for 3.5 years, he was traded mid-season to the 49ers in 2017. The Niners started the year 0-9, before eventually inserting Jimmy G into the lineup and finishing 6-10.

Patriots acquired a second round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. That pick would be slotted at #43 overall. It would also ultimately turn into 6 total players via 8 trades.

This article from NBC best highlights the moves made by the Patriots to maximize the return on the trade.

“Maximize” being a subjective word here, as through two seasons none of the 6 players drafted have had any real impact on the Patriots, but that’s not to say they won’t.

CB Duke Dawson

2018 second round pick (#56). Their third pick in the 2018 draft. Spent the 2018 season on injured reserve and was traded to Broncos before the 2019 season. Dawson played 14 games in 2019 (started 3), had 2 pass deflections, 1 fumble recovery, and 19 tackles.

LB Christian Sam

2018 sixth round pick (#178). Like Dawson, he spent the 2018 season on injured reserved, and was cut on the same day that Dawson was traded (August 30, 2019). He spent time on the practice squad of the Dolphins, 49ers, and Lions.

CB Joejuan Williams

2019 second round pick (#45). He appeared in 9 games as a rookie, mostly playing special teams or as a reserve cornerback. Williams was recently arrested, casting a cloud over his future.

RB Damien Harris

2019 third round pick (#87). The former Alabama running back appeared in just two games for the Patriots in 2019 (both against the Jets), getting just 4 carries total.

T Yodny Cajuste

2019 third round (#101). Cajuste did not play in 2019, he was placed on injured reserved with a quad injury.

QB Jarrett Stidham

2019 fourth round pick (#133). Former Auburn QB appeared in relief in 3 games, most notably throwing a pick six against the Jets in his debut.

The 9 Guys Drafted Before Patrick Mahomes

 

Patrick Mahomes was the 10th overall pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 NFL Draft, and was the second QB drafted overall.

The 9 players drafted ahead of him vary from successful to bust and with hindsight being 20/20, it’s fun to go back and see which teams would truly be better off with Mahomes and which teams are still in a strong position based on the subsequent drafts and roster moves.

1. Cleveland Browns – Myles Garrett

Mahomes is great. Maybe even the greatest. But passing on a QB in 2017, set the Browns up with Garrett and allowed them to draft Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward in the top 4 picks of the 2018 Draft. At least those three have the potential to do something special in Cleveland. What use would Mahomes have served in Cleveland, if the Browns defense had no talent. Based on how Cleveland cycles through coaches and front office personnel, let’s just be thankful this worked out the way it did.

2. Chicago Bears – Mitchell Trubisky

Imagine Mahomes at QB with that 2018 historic defense? Yeah, there’s no convincing me that the Bears wouldn’t have beaten the Saints and Rams to go to the Super Bowl last year.

3. San Francisco 49ers – Solomon Thomas

This is a fun one, simply because of how it worked out in hindsight. Thomas isn’t very good, but the 49ers ended up trading for Jimmy Garappolo halfway through the 2017 season. Garappolo’s torn ACL in 2018, led to them drafting Nick Bosa in 2019. I guess we’ll see how well hindsight worked in Super Bowl LIV, if the 49ers are indeed better off with the duo of Jimmy G and Bosa.

4. Jacksonville Jaguars – Leonard Fournette

This one hurts. Fournette is a good running back, but in the last three years they have started, mostly, Blake Bortles, Nick Foles, and Gardner Minshew at QB. And now they probably need another QB, while Fournette is due for a new contract.

5. Tennessee Titans – Corey Davis

Corey Davis has been extremely underwhelming, but part of that is poor QB play. Ryan Tannehill came on strong in the second half of 2019, but probably isn’t the long term answer, like Mahomes would have been. Imagine a team with Mahomes and Derrick Henry? Just give them all of the Lombardi Trophies.

6. New York Jets – Jamal Adams

Adams has developed into one of the top safeties in football and by passing on a QB in 2017, it positioned them to draft Sam Darnold in 2018. I like Darnold and believe he has a ton of potential, meaning the duo of Darnold and Adams (plus 2019 #3 pick Quinnen Williams) “could” be worth the sacrifice of Mahomes one day.

7. Los Angeles Chargers – Mike Williams

Mike Williams has had a good couple of years in 2018 and 2019, but the Chargers are in need of a QB for 2020 and beyond. Plus, they have Keenan Allen which makes the need for Williams less pressing. The most painful thing about passing on Mahomes is they have the pleasure of facing Mahomes two times a year, every year, until he retires. Lucky them.

8. Carolina Panthers – Christian McCaffery

Moving forward, Carolina is likely going to be in the QB market, but at the time, Cam Newton was still very much in his prime. Plus, while many people don’t value running backs, Christian McCaffery is one of the best in the game.

9. Cincinnati Bengals – John Ross

Ross has 49 catches in three years and has started in just 19 games. If you want to consider that the Bengals are now positioned to draft Joe Burrow, that’s fine. But Ross was a completely awful pick and they have stunk for the last two years. Mahomes would have brought some serious excitement to a team in desperate need of a spark.

10. Buffalo Bills – Trade

Buffalo originally owned the #10 pick, but moved down to allow the Chiefs to grab Mahomes. They acquired two first round picks which turned into CB Tre’Davious White and LB Tremaine Edmunds. Bills also drafted Josh Allen with a first round pick in 2018 and made the playoffs this past season, so things are at least going well in Buffalo.