re: Anyone else surprised at how upset they are personally by this Kobe news?

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Anyone else surprised at how upset they are personally by this Kobe news?

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I grew up a fan of Houston sports. I "hated" Kobe as a kid, because him, and the Lakers were always better than T-Mac, Yao, & the Rockets, and beat them a few times in the playoffs, some games almost single-handedly because of Kobe. I always had respect for his game tho, as, like most young kids did at that time during pick-up games, whenever I shot fade aways, or one that I was certain was going in, I would yell "Koobbbeeee" cause that's just what you did. The man was synonymous with getting buckets, and being great. I remember being a bit older, and watching the Celtics vs Lakers finals, and just admiring how good he was every game, especially in the 4th. I remember either freshamn or sophmore year in college I saw the video of him, not even slightly flinching when Matt Barnes faked throwing a ball right in his face, and then smirking. I remember thinking "oh that's what "you put no fear in my heart" personified looks like. I genuinely liked Kobe from that moment on. Over the years with his charitable work, his "Mamba" team and their sucess, his obvious love and devotion to his kids, and his movie "Dear Basketball" I began to really like him as a person and not just a player. I think who he's shown us he is as a person over the past few years, the favt that one of his kids was on the choper, combined with the suddenness and surprise of it all has added to how hard people have taken it.