When I was in middle school, I would always play basketball outdoors with my friends, and in wanting to make my pickup scrimmage seem like the NBA Finals, I’d imagine there were three seconds left in the game, and I had to score for my team to win. My go-to move was a jab-step to the right and a fadeaway from my defender, with the seconds ticking off in my head. “3! … 2! … 1!” and as the ball would sail out of bounds, as it almost always did, I’d try to channel the energy of my favorite NBA player by yelling his name, hoping against hope that divine providence would will the ball towards the basket and through the hoop.
I wasn’t alone in doing this. I know for a fact all my friends did this, and perhaps millions of kids did it too on their own driveway basketball hoops — even the hollering of their favorite players’ names. And if you were a kid who grew up in the mid- to late 2000s, the same player was on everybody’s lips: Kobe Bean Bryant.
This habit of saying “3! … 2! … 1! Kobe!” followed me off the pavement and into other areas of my life. I’d be finishing a test with a few minutes left in class, and as I got up and handed my paper to the teacher, I’d think in my head “3! … 2! … 1! Kobe!” I’d do it when I was playing Mario Kart with my buddies, and I was about to beat them narrowly in a race: “3! … 2! … 1! Kobe!” In fact, whenever I needed to complete a seemingly herculean task (or any task for that matter) in a short amount of time, I’d always say “3! … 2! … 1! Kobe!” Unlike on the basketball court, I’m pretty sure I was the only one that did this.
Even so, I’m part of a generation of NC State students that grew up watching Kobe Bryant and idolized him for his endeavors in basketball, despite never playing for our college (or any university actually). But as great of a basketball player he was, I always got the feeling that he would’ve been successful in whatever he wanted to pursue.
Kobe Bryant won five NBA championships, made 18 NBA All-Star games, scored 33,643 points, grabbed 7,047 rebounds, and contrary to popular belief, dished some assists in his career too, with 6,306. Judging off of his statline, one would surmise he was very talented at basketball, and they’d be correct in saying that. But people who admired Kobe’s talent often run the risk of forgetting his work ethic and his dedication to basketball. After all, one doesn’t happen to play 20 seasons in the NBA if they don’t look forward to the hours spent in the gym honing their craft. I’ll try to put it in another way: At 19 years old, I attend an established and fairly well-respected university, but other than that, I can’t say I’ve done anything particularly noteworthy. At the same age, Kobe was a McDonald’s All-American, first round pick in the NBA Draft, and a NBA All-Star alongside his idol Michael Jordan. Talent or no talent, hard work is what got him to that point. And even though I certainly worked hard to get into NC State, it takes another level of grit and grind to achieve what Kobe did.
After a lifetime spent dedicated to sport, most athletes fall off the face of the earth, unsure of what to do outside of competition. But Kobe wasn’t like most athletes. Kobe was a musician in his youth, was a successful children’s book author, made television appearances, was a charitable philanthropist, and was a disciplined businessman. Perhaps the crowning jewel of Kobe’s off-court achievements came in 2018, when he won an Academy Award for the Best Animated Short Film. It amazes me how Kobe was able to carve out a niche for himself in popular culture despite being typecast as just another basketball player, albeit an exceptional one. Despite already establishing himself as a basketball player, he was always willing to try new things, and it was something in him that I always respected.
It might seem cheesy and superficial to say that Kobe Bryant changed my outlook on life, but I don’t know any other way to say it. It’s true. Maybe I don’t have the words to properly explain how much Kobe meant to me and to most of the community of basketball fans we have at NC State, but if that is the case, it’s because Kobe’s legacy looms large and casts a great shadow on all of us who looked up to him.
For those of us who grew up watching him, he showed us an array of flashy basketball moves that could make the crowd ooh and aah, but what he really put on display was the dedication required to excel in one’s profession. For those of us who saw Kobe Bryant in every facet of American culture, he showed us how popular you could be when you made yourself a figure for public consumption, but in essence he also showed the importance of maintaining multiple interests in growing yourself as a person all-around. Call it a stretch, but I feel like displaying determination and having a variety of interests is what got many of us accepted into NC State.
If we all share that common virtue of understanding the value of persistence and the value of being well-rounded, then I think we can all appreciate Kobe Bryant and learn from him, and then use those lessons to deal with our own trials and tribulations. I’d agree that ‘What would Kobe do?’ shouldn’t be the sole mantra we live by, but to me, Kobe’s life is an example of how storied one’s life can become if they work hard and commit to excellence, and it should be for everyone else too. Whenever I feel like I have too much on my shoulders, I might not consciously think about what Kobe would do in my shoes, but I’d like to think I carry myself in the fashion that he would. Why not? It certainly worked out for Kobe. Because even though his time on earth was tragically cut short, I have no doubt in my mind that he accomplished everything he set out to do in his life. And that’s a goal we should all aspire to have.
I’m not quite sure how to end this op-ed, so I’ll end it in what I think is a fitting way:
3! … 2! … 1!
KOBE!
Kevin Sebastian is a third-year majoring in political science and minoring in history.
