It Never Goes on Forever . . .

In 1996, after being declared the #1 high school basketball player in the nation, one Kobe Bryant, of Merion, Pennsylvania declared himself an eligible candidate for the NBA draft. He was selected in the 13th round by the Charlotte Hornets, who then traded him to the L.A. Lakers. There was some speculation about a high school kid being able to play at the NBA level. As it turned out, there was no need for such debate . . . this kid came in and immediately took the game to pretty much a new level. At the Lakers, he joined Shaquille O’Oneal, an absolute giant, and the two were a force to be reckoned with for certain. It was a rather frequent, galling for me personally, event for them to thrash the San Antonio Spurs.

I love the game of basketball . . . enjoying the rapid pace of the game . . . the intensity of the competition . . . and I respect and appreciate a player’s skills and talent. In spite of this kid joining the Spur’s old rival and how that had a negative impact on my team, I was glad to see him join the NBA. I admired his tremendous ability to play the game. Yet, over time I began to lose interest in him . . . simply because he became a “showboat” and developed and nurtured a high opinion of himself. That showed as he strutted up and down the court, hogging the play to himself . . . ever in pursuit of the day’s highlight reel. It didn’t take too terribly long for his high opinion of himself to cause friction between him and Shaq (who perceived himself as the Man at the Lakers), and also with legendary coach, Phil Jackson. After winning two NBA Championship titles, the team began to crumble and (unhappy) Shaq was traded to the Heat, and Kobe then became the only star on the Lakers . . . and he would never again allow another quality player to play on the team; thus, he pretty much ran any potential help away; he was just unwilling to share the spotlight in LA!

Last year, Kobe was paid $25 million to play for the Lakers. Earlier in his career, he likely had earned close to that same amount annually in his endorsements and appearance in ads, but over recent years such has slimmed down as his popularity has faded. In 2003, he was publicly accused of raping a hotel employee at an upscale resort in Colorado. Charges were later dropped when the victim declined to testify, but there was also a private settlement of a personal lawsuit for an undisclosed sum of money. The general consensus was that he had bought himself out of a problem.

One of the harsh realities of life is that circumstances, physical abilities, and skills are diminishing assets and time and gravity catch up and take their toll. This past week, Kobe suffered a season-ending injury . . . and it may well prove to be a career-ending injury. The networks have, without warning, simply dropped something like six of the Lakers scheduled televised games just in recent days. Suddenly, the L.A. Lakers, one of the hottest sports franchises in modern history, are suddenly yesterday’s news. Gone for Kobe is the sportscaster’s declaration, ” . . . and Kobe pulls up and knocks down the 30′ jumper . . . and the crowd goes wild!” That is something that he has come to thrive on . . . to gain identity from.

There have been many who have passed through the pages of sports history who have had similar stories . . . and similar career endings, but I just have to wonder what could have been . . . if he had developed a bit more character . . . as opposed to having become such a character . . . another truth of life is: there are no mulligans here . . .

Adios Hotshot . . . you were fun to watch most of the time . . . but you really could have been something special . . . if you had just learned three important principles of life, as follows:

1. To respect others;
2. To play well with others; and
3. A very important truth of life which fellow Californian Rick Warren wrote on page 1 of his best-selling book, The Purpose Driven Life . . . and that truth being . . . “It’s Not About You!”

 

 

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