Monday night, Kobe Bryant passed Michael Jordan to move into 3rd place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Afterwards, the great Derek Jeter had Bryant pen a nice editorial for the ‘Players Tribune.”
Bryant wrote about his journey to the NBA, what passing Jordan means to him, and most importantly, how MJ’s own failures helped propel Kobe to greatness.
I considered maybe just giving up basketball and just focusing on soccer. Here’s where my respect and admiration for MJ was forged. I learned that he had been cut from his high school team as a freshman; I learned he knew what it felt like to be embarrassed, to feel like a failure. But he used those emotions to fuel him, make him stronger, he didn’t quit. So I decided to take on my challenge the same way he did. I would channel my failure as fuel to keep my competitive fire burning. I became obsessed with proving to my family — and more importantly to myself — that I CAN DO THIS.
It became an obsession. I learned everything about the game, the history, the players, the fundamentals. I wasn’t just determined to never have a summer of zero again, I was driven to inflict the same sense of failure on my competition as they unknowingly inflicted on me. My killer instinct to score was born.
Twenty-four years later, I pass my muse.
I think it’s a wonderfully written narrative and his final quote speaks volumes about his life and the process that Bryant went through to become an all time great.
“Father time has sent me to my room to brush my teeth before he tucks me in, but I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t walk to the bathroom slowly.”
Kobe’s going to do it his way, and he’s likely to do it with a passion and scowl that produces an intense admiration, or completely turns you off.
I had the opportunity to compete against Bryant as a teenager and watch him grow from the dominant 11th grader who gave Jerry Stackhouse the business during a summertime encounter, to the guy who’s likely to retire as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the NBA.
When other high school kids were out partying or making plans for spring break, Bryant was always in the gym. You can count on one hand how many night club or strip club photos there are of Bryant floating around in cyberspace over the years.
He eats, sleeps and dominates because that’s all he knows and has ever wanted. I watched Bryant and his Lower Merion teammates get dominated twice by Chester High School during his junior season. Bryant cried like a baby both times, but spent the rest of that winter, and the summer gearing up for revenge.
He and Lower Merion got that state chamionpship the following year in dominant fashion and Bryant had moster performance against Chester in two high profile playoff matchups.
People really won’t have the proper or true appreciate for Kobe Bryant until he’s gone.