When you are 105 years old you don’t have time to beat around the bush.
You get directly to the point, so you have to admire Wynn telling Kobe things that probably Mike Brown wouldn’t say.
“It just made me feel good all over to meet him in person. I’ve been wanting to meet him for years,” Wynn told ESPNLosAngeles.com about her interaction with Bryant. “I got to touch him. I shook hands with him and hugged him. I said, ‘Wait, let me hug you, baby.’ “
Wynn, who says she watches every Lakers game she can and has a wall in her living room covered from floor to ceiling with Lakers-related photos and memorabilia, didn’t let her fandom prevent her from critiquing the team.
“I told him what I thought about his playing,” Wynn recalled. “I said, ‘You don’t play like I want you to play.’ I said, ‘I done came all the way over here and I don’t want to see none of that sorry stuff.’ “
Bryant and Wynn spent about five minutes before the game together. Wynn kindly asked Bryant to remove his sunglasses and then requested that he pronounce her first name correctly. Bryant signed his game-worn sneakers for Wynn after the game: “To Allene, with love, Kobe Bryant.”
Gasol had a similar encounter.
“She was excited,” Gasol said. “I told her, ‘Enjoy the game.’ She told me, ‘Well, you better win, otherwise I won’t be enjoying anything.’ “
Kobe didn’t heed the advice about not doing that “sorry stuff” as he missed his first 18 shots against the Hornets, but he redeemed himself with the game winning three.
Pic courtesy of Larry Brown Sports