<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><div align="CENTER"></div> Kobe Bryant was at the Amway Arena in Orlando ready to make his entrance. Waiting patiently in the tunnel, he listened for his introduction. After hearing his name echo throughout the arena, he strutted onto the court and immediately the place went crazy. Nearly everyone got out of their seat and showed their support for the Los Angeles Lakers’ shooting guard, with one girl even shouting, “I love you, Kobe!” What’s going on? Why are these Magic fans giving an opponent such a warm reception? Because the roaring fans are students from surrounding Orlando middle schools and many of them are meeting their idol for the very first time. The superstar is not here today to play basketball. He’s not donning a #24 purple and gold jersey, and his right hand is wrapped up after dislocating his pinkie several nights earlier. The reason Kobe is in Orlando is to speak to the boys and girls that are a part of a program called After School All-Stars, an organization that Bryant has paired up with to promote academic success and encourage children to set goals and achieve them. If you haven’t been living under a rock for the past decade, then you know Kobe Bryant is a remarkable athlete. He is one of the greatest basketball players of all-time and can do some ridiculous things when he laces up his signature Nikes and steps onto the court. Kobe has embarrassed numerous players – Dwight Howard still has nightmares of Bryant’s brutal throw down – and he has made an entire country fear him after dropping 81 points at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto and then delivering an insane facial to a certain Canuck in Phoenix two years ago in the playoffs. While Mr. Bryant’s basketball accomplishments have been well documented, he doesn’t receive nearly enough attention for his work in the community and his passion for helping others. His Vivo Foundation, which he started in 2002, promotes education and reaches out to students who seek financial aid as well as helping the families of the men and women serving overseas. Back at the Amway Arena, Kobe stepped up to the podium, facing his young audience. “You’ve all been on buses for awhile now,” shouted Kobe, “so I want to hear everyone scream!” The kids screamed and jumped up and down, but Kobe wasn’t impressed. “Is that all you got? Let’s try that again and this time, act like you’re Laker fans!” This left the children yelling at the top of their lungs and going wild as Kobe cracked up laughing. Then he delivered his most important message of the day: “Growing up, everybody told me I couldn’t be a basketball player. They’d spit stats at me about how hard it is to make it, but I didn’t let anyone stop me. You can accomplish anything but it starts with your education. When you have knowledge and an education, nobody can take anything from you.” Bryant has been called selfish by both critics in the media and the fan’s of opposing teams. These people do the same thing that that doubters did to Kobe when he was younger – spit out stats. They talk about things like his assists numbers or his feud with Shaq, but they fail to mention how much time and money he gives to others. Would a selfish person pay to send eight minority college students to Italy to help them learn about other nations and continue their education? I don’t think so. Would a selfish person spend much of their schedule making appearances for causes like the one he made in Orlando? I doubt it. Much of Kobe’s time is spent at these events and he’s even gotten his family involved. “My family and I put a lot of time into this. We feel like it’s a blessing to be in this type of position and if we can make a difference in a positive way, we’ll spend as much time as we possibly can,” Kobe explained. This is genuine Kobe. He’s not just saying all of the right things and he doesn’t just stick his picture all over these organization’s websites. He’s active and wants to make use of his resources to help these programs. “I want to spread the message and have other people take notice, jump in and help out as much as they possibly can as well. In this position, I have a national platform and I intend to spread the message to a wide audience,” he says. Whether you’re a Lakers’ fan or not, you have to respect what this man is doing off the court. He wants to spread positive messages to the next generation and as he puts it, “give these kids an opportunity to be creative while putting them in a safe environment.” So the next time he sinks a buzzer beater against your team or puts your favorite player on a poster, nobody is asking you to stand up and cheer like the star struck students at the Amway Arena. But you could just clench your teeth and tell yourself, “At least he’s a good guy.”</div> http://lakers.realgm.com/articles/125/2008...yond_the_court/ I wrote this a couple days ago. Enjoy!
Good stuff man, excellent read. It's great to hear how much Kobe does off the court to help out the ones that may be less privileged.
It felt good. I was kind of disappointed with the amount of time I had with him and that I could only discuss his community work. However, I emailed his publicist back and I may be able to have an email interview with him so that I can get the rest of my questions in. He's a great dude though. Real polite and looks you in the eye when you're asking him questions. Big change compared to some of these guys.
Great write up Swish. Kobe is a great player and all together a great person. Sure, he's made some mistakes in the past, but haven't we all?
Thanks Brian. Yeah, I've gotten some interesting emails, mainly about that last line. People like to believe that Kobe was actually convicted of raping a girl despite evidence suggesting otherwise and the case being settled. He made the mistake of cheating on his wife but people make mistakes (especially when they're being faced with temptation on a daily basis). That's all he did wrong as far as I'm concerned.
Both the article and Kobe are great. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>He's a great dude though. Real polite and looks you in the eye when you're asking him questions. Big change compared to some of these guys.</div> Was he surprised that such a youngster was interviewing him?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (The Joker @ Feb 14 2008, 03:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Both the article and Kobe are great. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>He's a great dude though. Real polite and looks you in the eye when you're asking him questions. Big change compared to some of these guys.</div> Was he surprised that such a youngster was interviewing him? </div> Nah, I think he respected what I was doing. Most NBA players just seem impressed. Kobe can't really talk anyways, dude came to the NBA right out of high school, I can go right into writing.
That's a great experience for you to interview the best player on the planet, albeit for a few minutes. Hopefully they get you more one on one time with him and with Kobe's recent injury it might create an opportunity for you. I'd be interested to hear Kobe's take on the political issues for the upcoming Presidential race. I wonder if he would have the courage to through an endorsement out there to Hillary, Obama, or McCain and whether or not he's familiar with the issue. I want to see him take advantage of his "voice" and really put himself out there like a Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, or Magic Johnson.
I found the guy who stole your shine Swish. <div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ZdY6sCP1ho&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ZdY6sCP1ho&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shapecity @ Feb 15 2008, 02:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I found the guy who stole your shine Swish. <div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ZdY6sCP1ho&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ZdY6sCP1ho&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div></div> Watch out Raja...just watch out.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Shapecity @ Feb 15 2008, 02:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I found the guy who stole your shine Swish. <div><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ZdY6sCP1ho&"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ZdY6sCP1ho&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /></embed></object></div></div> I've seen that dude's work before. He's annoying and all of the players see him as a joke.
yeah Elie is really annoying. He likes to press questions onto people and I don't like his voice. Honestly I could be doing his work.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DynastYWarrioR6 @ Feb 20 2008, 06:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah Elie is really annoying. He likes to press questions onto people and I don't like his voice. Honestly I could be doing his work.</div> Swish don't eat your heart out. seckbach kicks ass. i have seen his clips too. he goes to the players homes, offices to do interviews. from shaq, kobe, kaman, mo evans. looks like they like his style. dont' hate. you should wish you get his skills.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (shadowging @ Feb 21 2008, 11:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DynastYWarrioR6 @ Feb 20 2008, 06:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah Elie is really annoying. He likes to press questions onto people and I don't like his voice. Honestly I could be doing his work.</div> Swish don't eat your heart out. seckbach kicks ass. i have seen his clips too. he goes to the players homes, offices to do interviews. from shaq, kobe, kaman, mo evans. looks like they like his style. dont' hate. you should wish you get his skills. </div> OMG, It's Elie himself. Shut up kid, you suck. Do some interviews when your balls drop.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Black Mamba @ Feb 21 2008, 11:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (shadowging @ Feb 21 2008, 11:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DynastYWarrioR6 @ Feb 20 2008, 06:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah Elie is really annoying. He likes to press questions onto people and I don't like his voice. Honestly I could be doing his work.</div> Swish don't eat your heart out. seckbach kicks ass. i have seen his clips too. he goes to the players homes, offices to do interviews. from shaq, kobe, kaman, mo evans. looks like they like his style. dont' hate. you should wish you get his skills. </div> OMG, It's Elie himself. Shut up kid, you suck. Do some interviews when your balls drop. </div> Lol you're probably right, that was that kid's first post and he wasted his time on that? It could only be him.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (shadowging @ Feb 21 2008, 11:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DynastYWarrioR6 @ Feb 20 2008, 06:06 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>yeah Elie is really annoying. He likes to press questions onto people and I don't like his voice. Honestly I could be doing his work.</div> Swish don't eat your heart out. seckbach kicks ass. i have seen his clips too. he goes to the players homes, offices to do interviews. from shaq, kobe, kaman, mo evans. looks like they like his style. dont' hate. you should wish you get his skills. </div> huh? are we seriously having a debate over something this pointless and not worth my time?
