Sports have always been a major part of my life. Heck, it's been in my life as soon as I was born... I was almost named Mark or Stephane, from Mark Messier or Stephane Matteau, after the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, ending their drought, much to the delight of my father. I've been watching sports for as long as I remember with the first ones being baseball and basketball. People measure the stars of sports through generations. As a young boy, my generation, my childhood was Kobe Bryant and Derek Jeter. There retirements were two years apart, but the impact they've made was just the same. Now that they're both gone, I guess you can say my childhood is over.
Basketball, for as long as I remember, is the sport I fell in love with first. Whether it was the tiny basketball hoops or rec league basketball, it was my first sport. I was born but still too young to enjoy the Michael Jordan's reign of dominance, but I saw Kobe and Shaq win plenty of rings together. It was a bittersweet time watching Kobe at times because he'd dominate my team of rooting interest, the New Jersey now Brooklyn Nets, but hey, gotta appreciate greatness.
After Shaq's departure, the Los Angeles Lakers became Kobe's team, and some kid named LeBron James took the NBA by storm. LeBron was great and all, but he was not my era. He was the new era, along with Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony. His 81 point performance is something that I'm glad to have witnessed, even if it was over the television, what was even better though was watching him his first NBA Championship as Batman. A second title with Pau Gasol by his side made me think, could he really tie Jordan? Well, you know how the rest of it goes, he fell short of Jordan but passed him on the all-time scoring list. The era of Kobe has passed, the era of LeBron is ending soon. Now we're in the era of the point guard, Steph Curry to be specific. Kobe's mark on the game has been without a doubt second to none. He's a brilliant ambassador to the game and his work ethic is unparalleled. However, what everyone will always think of in my level of basketball, i.e. the pickup games at the gym, are yelling Kobe every jumper you take or calling yourself Kobe after making the big shot.
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The fans of the Staples Center get up on their feet once final time for Kobe Bryant before he heads off the floor. (Christina House / For The Times) |
After early dominance, the Yankees were shutout of World Series titles for awhile, that is until 2009. It was a fifth ring for Jeter, and a year later, a fifth ring for Kobe. Both had a knack to thrive in the big moments. He hit a walk-off home run during the World Series in the MLB's first non-exhibition game in November, earning him the nickname Mr. November. How did he get his 3000th hit? In style, Derek Jeter style I might add. He hit a home run for his 3000th career hit because that's how Derek Jeter does it. How did he end his Yankee Stadium career? With his trademark opposite field single, that just happened to be a walk-off. I was sitting in my dorm room when ESPN cut to his final at-bat, as soon as he hit it, I knew. Goosebumps. It was a vintage Derek Jeter hit to win it, the hit that's made him millions of dollars and millions of villains.
Players don't last forever. Childhood doesn't last forever. It's a tough goodbye for Kobe, and it was even a tougher one for Jeter two years ago. "It's not a goodbye, it's a see you later." In sports, it doesn't work like that, once it's goodbye, it's goodbye, barring a few exceptions. It's a wrap to the final bits of my childhood sports wise. Thank you Kobe and thank you Derek. The ride for 21+ years was great, but now the storybook closes on my sports childhood as a new storybook is ready to be written.