Photo: Wikimedia Commons
There are dozens of stories about Kobe Bryant that laud his work ethic, from his 40-mile nighttime bike ride through the Las Vegas desert before a Team USA practice to his intense workouts to predawn phone calls to his trainer to let him in the gym for conditioning work.
There are an abundance of stories that glorify his audaciousness, from his fisticuffs with fellow Los Angeles Laker Shaquille O’Neal to his “promise to destroy” the top perimeter player for every opponent that Team USA played in the 2008 Olympics, to this gem on Bryant introducing himself to his Lakers teammates from Jeff Pearlman’s book Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty:
“Yo, I’m Kobe. Kobe Bryant. I’m from PA — went to Lower Merion High School, dominated everything.” [Pause] “I just want y’all to know, nobody’s gonna punk me. I’m not gonna let anyone in the NBA punk me. So be warned.”
But, perhaps, the greatest stories to emerge about Bryant following his death last year in a helicopter accident — a tragedy that took the life of his daughter, Gianna, and seven others — were the ones that highlighted his out-of-the-spotlight encounters with everyday people. We present eight of those stories here:
Read rest of story here.
