Kobe

I got a message on my phone yesterday afternoon saying that Kobe Bryant had died in helicopter crash.

I did not want to believe it.  But yesterday, a day that started off so good quickly turned into an absolutely awful day.

January 26th, 2020

We spent the morning celebrating my mother’s birthday.  She brought me into the world 36 years ago and it is always great to honor her on her special day.

After her celebration, I was about to leave my house and go to The Center to film some new videos.

At that same time I started getting messages from my friends saying that Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash.  Those words are very hard to write.

Initially like most folks I thought it was a despicable hoax.  I’ve seen these unfunny reports before and in most cases they turn out to be just that: a cruel hoax.

This one however was unfortunately not.

Kobe Bryant perished in a tragic helicopter crash on January 26th 2020.

Along with Kobe, his daughter Gianna, John and Keri Altobelli, their daughter Alyssa, Sarah Chester, her daughter Payton, Christine Mauser, and Ara Zobayan also died on that flight.

I was so stunned after hearing that news that I never left my house to film anything!

The horrendous news knocked all the steam out of me.  I don’t even really watch much TV, but I watched ESPN, NBA TV, and CNN most of the day Sunday.

I want to send my condolences to all of the families involved in this horrific event during this trying time.

Kobe

You might ask why on my website, where the main conversation is about fitness are we talking about Kobe.

Today is a day of reflection.  Nobody wants to hear about muscle and nutrition today.

Kobe was always an inspiration for me.

He was born in Philly and went to a suburban Philly high school just like me.

I truly admired his work ethic, his drive, his attitude, and his determination to achieve greatness and maximize his ability.

Any athlete from the Philadelphia area in the 1990’s knew even then that Kobe was the definition of greatness.

We were in awe of him because he was a guy who was born in Philadelphia who made it big.

For basketball at that time the Suburban League did not get the respect around Philly that the Public and Catholic League did.

Suburban Philly always had the bogus “soft” narrative placed around it but Kobe destroyed that narrative all by himself.

He is one of the best two athletes Philly ever produced and the absolute best athlete who ever played in the suburbs.

As a young teenager I did not possess top end talent.  But the one thing I got from Jim Brown (my dad) and from Kobe were the traits of work ethic and discipline.

I applied those traits to the second act of my track career, my natural bodybuilding career, and my gym business career.  Those traits have allowed me to have success in all of those endeavors.

And not only did Kobe make it big, he was the absolute best at what he did during the time he was playing.

You knew when Kobe was on the floor you were going to get 100 percent effort from him.

I literally watched his entire career unfold.  He had absolutely no fake hustle in him.

I even remember when Kobe had a video game he released in 1998 called NBA Courtside for the Nintendo 64.

Every other teenage boy who we knew at the time was playing NBA Live.

But off the strength of Kobe, we bought Courtside and it was actually better than Live.  Even in animation Kobe was better than the competition!

When Kobe was in his early 30’s he was still a dominant player in the NBA.

Kobe playing at a high level at an older age was one of my reasons for getting back into competitive track and field again at the age of 31.

Conclusion

Kobe’s legacy will live on forever.  The Black Mamba inspired an entire generation.

He is one of the great all-time basketball players to ever put on ball sneaks.  Kobe was also just getting started in other business ventures that I’m sure he would of dominated.

He personally inspired me through his Mamba Mentality to step my game up and start to maximize my abilities in my chosen fields.

Kobe showed me that if you are intensely focused on mastering your craft that you can become great at it.

Conclusion

This news about Kobe and this tragic helicopter crash hurts real bad.

I would strongly urge you to bury any petty drama you have with family or friends because tomorrow is not promised.

The small stuff just doesn’t matter.

I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer
Fitman