We saw Kobe Bryant play at The Staples Centre in Los Angeles at Eastertime in 2005 when he was in his prime. He was a special sportsman and one of the greatest basketball players the world has ever seen. If I could link his death to the world of football - what Americans call soccer - I would say that losing Kobe Bryant would be on a par with losing George Best or Cristiano Ronaldo. Kobe Bryant was that big. He spent twenty years with the L.A. Lakers and won five NBA championships and two Olympic gold medals.
Helicopters, trains, boats, cars, aeroplanes - they all have the potential to take us to untimely deaths. But how should we live our lives? Cushioned in cotton wool? Avoiding all risks? That's no way to live. We must live with optimism, humility and courage as Kobe Bryant did. May he rest in peace.
We grieve also for his daughter Gianna and the other seven victims of a helicopter flight that ended in flames on a foggy L.A. hillside just yesterday.
We grieve also for his daughter Gianna and the other seven victims of a helicopter flight that ended in flames on a foggy L.A. hillside just yesterday.
Yes...a tragic accident...very sad. Very sad also his 13 year old daughter perished with him in the helicopter crash.
ReplyDelete...and seven others. So sad.
DeleteWe were shocked when they broke in on the news with this today. I never saw him play but he certainly was a basketball legend.
ReplyDeleteSome people have the label "legend" applied to them when they are not "legends" but that does not apply to Kobe Bryant.
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ReplyDeleteIt's true that you've got to take risks in life, but personally I wouldn't get on a helicopter.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't get in one in fog. It's crazy that Kobe Bryant's helicopter was allowed to fly.
DeleteIt's so sad and a reminder to live life fully. It sounds like he was a good man who did a lot of good in his life.
ReplyDeleteThe rape case leaves questions though.
DeleteIt is probably because top sportspeople move around quickly and are, these days, wealthy, that they seem to figure in fatal helicopter/small plane crashes quite a lot. Having flown a lot in helicopters I wouldn't hesitate to do it all again. I suspect that it's a lot safer doing 15,000 miles a year by air than in a car. It's just that one's survival chances in a crash are higher in a car.
ReplyDeleteNow I am intrigued about why you had so many helicopter flights. I have never been in one.
DeleteHis behavior was a mixture of good (ability and work ethic) and bad (selfish on the court, rape case and infidelity in personal life). I think we need to be honest about that.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Jenny. Like the two of us, he wasn't a saint that's for sure.
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DeleteLet me try to rephrase my earlier effort: I appreciate the point you are making; however, I think there are different degrees of unsaintliness :)
DeleteWell, there is being too cautious and then there is being not cautious enough. On that same morning, the fog in Los Angeles was so thick that police and television crews refused and/or were unable to use their own helicopters. If he were alone with a pilot and chose to fly under those conditions, fine. But his choice put others in danger (and eventually killed them) including his own child and other children and women. So, I do not consider that to be totally accidental. I do consider it to be totally poor judgement on his part. It was his decision to make as to whether to fly or not.
ReplyDeleteSurely it is up to the pilot along with air traffic people to decide on flight safety - not customers.
DeleteSad, but I'd not heard of him or any other MLB player - even that's a set of initials newly learnt today, so the comparison with football players is illumnating.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't just tall he was big on the basketball court too.
DeleteNever heard of him until yesterday, but from the comments in the news, it sounds as though he was revered as a god! A man with feet of clay, to judge by his rather unsavoury private life.
ReplyDeleteGeorge Best and Cristiano Ronaldo's reputations are not unblemished either.
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