<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Lamar Odom has to take a break. He tries to fight it, taking deep breathes and swallowing hard, but the pain is still there. As he talks about the sudden death of his seven-month-old son Jayden this summer, he must compose himself and wipe away the tears streaming down from his eyes. "It hasn't gotten any easier," he says. "I feel a little lost sometimes." Odom discovered that he had lost his son in the middle of the night while he was in New York, attending the funeral of his aunt, which fell on the same day (June 28) that he had lost his grandmother two years earlier. As Odom held his lifeless son in his arms at the hospital, cradling him and talking to him, hoping and praying the little boy would somehow come back to life, the only thing that gave him some semblance of strength was the date on the calendar. "That's what kept me strong," Odom says. "He died on the same day that my grandmother died. It's one of those things where it's just out of your hands. You know, you just have to accept that it's God's work." Following his son's death, Odom stayed away from basketball and even away from friends and family at times. "I spent a lot of time alone thinking," he says. "I kind of needed it." Odom returned to the court last week as the Lakers opened up their training camp. After not touching a basketball for nearly three months, he is beginning to feel that his return is just what he needs right now. "It's funny because I think it's going to make me a better basketball player as far as the mental approach to the game," he says. "I take my time right now more than ever in everything I do. I'm just looking forward to getting back out there and being among my teammates every day and whipping myself back into shape so by [Oct. 31, the season opener against Phoenix], I can give this team everything I got." Odom had many other things to say about his difficult summer, his relationship with Kobe Bryant and his near-death experience in New York during a recent one-on-one interview. </div> Read the Interview
What was the near death experience in New York about? This is the first time I ever heard about that. Anyways, good to hear that Odom is getting stronger mentally.
<div class="quote_poster">LAKERSKB8 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">What was the near death experience in New York about? This is the first time I ever heard about that. </div> Odom: I came up with this idea after I went through a real violent incident back at home. I was robbed a week after my son passed. It's so crazy. When you think of rap and hip-hop, you think of young black men. When this kid robbed me, he shot a gun at me, and let's just say it was too close. I have my own AAU team in New York and L.A., and I have a great foundation. When this happened to me, I said, "Wow, we are so far from God as a people and as a community." Somebody has to do something about this. Maybe if I give them something they can identify with a little bit more than the usually description of Jesus, which is far away from us. It just so happens that I'm reading Revelations, and they give a description of Christ, and I'm saying maybe if these kids can identify with him, it will bring them a little closer and it's not just about him being black. That's one of the questions I would love to ask Mel Gibson. I've seen his movie and it was beautiful, but in the Good Book they said he looked different with his look and walk and he was a carpenter and the description of his hair and dark skin tone. It really uncovers a lot about American history, the difference between white and black. I just want to give them something to identify with and think about and hopefully make a difference. Wow. Odom had a crazy summer. If my own son passed away, and then I had a freaking gun shot at me, I'm sure I would be thinking about retirement too.(Odom talks about retirement thoughts in the interview).
Man, it's such a shame, Odom seems like a great guy, it's really great to see that he's fighting through his tough times.
Im glad that Odom is using all these negative events in his life and channeling what could be negative energy into a postive one for himself. Maybe Odom really has grown up from those free-willed days with the Clippers to a real man with the Lakers.
