R.I.P.

I've never been much of a sports guy. My Dad never idolized any team so neither did I. I don't mind at all but he did watch the super bowl every year and we watched the NBA finals up until the Lakers dynasty collapsed. Kobe was the last Lakers star that I cared about and I'm old enough to remember Kareem and Magic throwing up championship winning skyhooks.

This kid was barely younger than me, and I remember thinking

Why isn't he going to college? He needs to go to college!

I had watched Tracy Murray crush three point shots in our gym when I was a junior in high school. He made one after another after another while he warmed up, and when he finally missed one, we all cheered. He was playing against us. We lost of course. Tracy Murray when on to UCLA and then the Blazers and a bunch of other teams but never achieved what Kobe did. Murray blew us all away as a high school kid—I can't even imagine what Kobe must have been like in high school. He didn't even play in college. Most players go to college to learn to play, to mature, etc., but this kid was drafted before he graduated. The Lakers had played out their first dynasty of Kareem, Magic, and some other dudes I don't remember and they were at the bottom so they had a top draft pick and they grabbed Kobe. I didn't pay attention much to sports, like I said, but I knew about him. Everyone in southern California did. He signed with Shaq Attack and after a few rough starts, they won. A lot. He was an amazing athlete. I remember reading about his intense workouts. One thing he did was take a huge medicine ball and jump vertically while throwing it to the roof of the gym. He was a phenomenon.

I pay attention to celebrity deaths these days. I have been, even before this. So many people die tragically all the time. Young people, in accidents or overdoses or whatever. Old people die too, of course, but you don't see many reports about them. They're supposed to die. Everyone sees it coming. 

My mom's Aunt Jenny just died. She was quite the pistol. Full of piss and vinegar, as they say. We expected this but that's not why I'm not sad about her. I'm sad, but I'm not really sad, not like I am about Kobe. She knew Jesus. 

All I can think about... what makes me really sad, is that I don't know if this phenomenal, amazing, brilliant guy was prepared to meet his Creator.

It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.