This past Wednesday, Los Angeles, NBA and the world said good bye to Kobe Bryant as he played his last game. I stayed up for it on the east coast and watched as in his last game he put up 60 points in a come from behind win in his final appearance of a 20 year storied career. A sweet ending and amazing way to go out (forget for a moment that his teammates gave him the ball to score basically every possession…he still had to make the shot over defenders).
There are some great videos and tributes to him as a basketball player and competitor. He’s had some ups and downs both on the court (possibly draining all talent from the Lakers which might take years to replenish) and off the court (Colorado incident comes to mind). No one is perfect, nor should excuses be made to ignore a person’s actions. But for a moment, focus with me on his work ethic, resolve, performance under pressure and leadership. That is truly worthy of praise and admiration. That is truly greatness.
What is greatness? Greatness cannot be self-proclaimed nor bestowed through words alone. Greatness must be earned from actions and authentically given by others. And that is exactly what Kobe got:
Now of course it’s LA which means Hollywood which means glitz, glamour, and wringing out the last ounce of pomp and circumstance (aka $$$) out of a situation, but the homage paid by his peers (and their own accomplishments with Kobe) is testament to his 20 years of greatness.
Let the pundits now argue ad nauseam as to how great he is compared to others. But the main difference between him and those pundits is that he went out and did it. They went out and watched him do it. He did. They speculated.
My question to you is
Which type of person do you want to be? What areas in your life are you more of a pundit as opposed to a Kobe?
What a great moment for a great athlete. And what a fairy tale ending, regardless of if you’ve grown to love to hate him.
Happy Friday.