"My Childhood is Over"

I'm 21 almost 22-years-old. I'm also a rising senior in college. However, just as the saying goes, "Age is but a number." Despite being over two decades old, I'm still a child at heart. After a vintage performance from Kobe Bryant on #MambaDay, the legend, the Black Mamba, Kobe, "signed off" his NBA career with one more show.

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.

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)

Baseball. My second sport. Growing up in New Jersey, my family is full of Yankees fans. No one embodied the spirit of the Yankee as much as Derek Jeter. Jeter is just as important to the New York Yankees legacy as Kobe is to the Lakers legacy. I didn't get into playing baseball until middle school but like the Lakers, I witnessed the Yankees dominate the late 1990s/early 2000s. The heart of it all? Mr. November himself, Derek Jeter.

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.

Derek Jeter #2 of the New York Yankees celebrates after a game winning RBI hit in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles in his last game ever at Yankee Stadium on September 25, 2014 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)

2016. A new generation of baseball. The new young wave of superstars is around with Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, etc. I still enjoy baseball, but Jeter's retirement took a little of that passion I had following it away. Why? My childhood was gone. Now, Kobe Bryant has played his final game. 60 points in his last game at the Staples Center... Sounds just like Jeter's opposite field walk-off single at Yankee Stadium. It was just meant to be.

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.

Passing The Torch

Overseer’s/Caretaker’s Note- Noel John Alberto

Dear VAVEL USA Tennis Writer,

It’s been a wonderful journey leading you guys for nearly a year now and am thrilled to be promoted to Recruiting Chair under the new regime of VAVEL. I’m first of all proud to pass this section down into wonderful hands with Max Gao as production/lead editor, Grace Cooper as assignment editor, Pete Borkowski as an editor, and Chris Spiech as our Sponsorship Chairperson. No, I’m not leaving at all, I’m just passing down the torch of lead tennis editor down to Max and Grace, when Max isn’t around. I’m here as your caretaker and overseer. For those who get the reference, I’m the Sir Alex Ferguson of this section, even though I’m not the one in charge anymore. I’m here to still post schedules, have fun/nag you all in the tennis chat, coordinate coverage, and much more. It’s impossible for me to leave, I just can’t. Leaving this section is the equivalent of leaving your baby. I just have no heart to leave, even with how busy I am. Why? Because this is my baby, I built this from the ground up, and more than that, I love tennis, and I love this tennis team even more. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but heck I think we built this juggernaut faster than the Roman Empire built theirs.

We’re still technically the baby of the site, as the youngest section of the site, but that has not stopped us from reaching unbelievable heights. From when I started with VAVEL back in February of 2015 and VAVEL USA in March 2015, I did not think that only after a few short pieces, I would be promoted as the lead tennis editor. After writing over in the UK site with my first core group of writers, special shoutout to Joely Cook, Pedro Henrique, and now assignment editor, Grace Cooper, I began the revolution to try and get actual coverage on the USA site outside of the more sports tab. Not only did I fight, but I won. Starting in late May 2015, the tennis tab has it’s own section on the VAVEL USA site, on the far right side on the top of the home page.

In our first full month on the site, we hit over 100 articles for the first time and began challenging the Big American sports as the top of the food chain. In just three short months in August 2015, we broke a VAVEL USA edition record, as well as a VAVEL English (US/UK) record, for most articles in a month at 233, and that was with only one day of the US Open. Despite the drop in articles over the following months after that, a newly-formed team of myself, Grace, Chris Spiech, and Max Gao spearheaded a massive movement at the turn of the calendar year.

With the four of us, and the short offseason, under my leadership, we not only broke, we smashed the VAVEL USA/VAVEL English record with 433 articles. Every single one of your contributions meant so much as we went from being non-existent to the biggest impact that we could have. However, there was still something missing. Despite the 433, we were still second. Second is the first loser. Just remember, if you’re not first, you’re last. Over the next two month, I vowed to gun down VAVEL Spain Tennis, the juggernaut of the VAVEL Tennis world. They had just beaten us by 18 in January 2016, and with these two months, I was ready to come in “locked and loaded”. We were once again the bridesmaid, not the bride, sorry Andy Roddick, in February.

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” That quote from Samuel Beckett, or as most of you know it from, a tatoo on Stan Wawrinka’s arm, is what I wanted for March. I wanted us to, “Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.” I wanted that gold medal, that trophy, that elusive missing jewel in the Grand Slam/Olympic cabinet. We’ve achieved everything I wanted in nine months. However in month 10, March 2016, we did it. We became Roger Federer at the 2009 French Open, Nadal at the 2010 US Open, Andy Murray at Wimbledon 2013. We captured the missing coveted jewel, and that was toppling VAVEL Spain Tennis as the number one section in ALL OF VAVEL. We just ascended to world number one and now the VAVEL version of the Fedal rivalry was born. The head-to-head is only 2-1 in favor of Spain for now, but I’m sure these numbers will begin to hit astronomical totals just like Federer-Djokovic, Federer-Nadal, and Nadal-Djokovic have done in over the past decade-plus.

I want to end on this note. Thank you, to every single one of you, whether you’re a writer, active or currently busy with school which I understand, an editor, or someone in charge of the social media. I thank you. I thank every single one of you for making these past 10 months the most memorable while I was in charge. Like I said earlier, I’m not leaving, and technically it’s not a new regime. However, I want it to be known that Max is your lead man now, and not myself, but I just can’t bare to let “my child” go. Just like the Olympic Torch, I’m passing the flame on to another runner who can keep the flame lit in this section, as I know that the fire will continue to shine brightly here.

Thank you,

Noel John Alberto

Dear Rafa, Thank You

I've stayed away from my blog away for awhile, and that's due to school, being an editor at VAVEL, and a plethora of other things. After reading pieces from The Player's Tribune, I feel I need a place to get in touch with more personal things in my writing. Well, here's the first of many.

Ever since I was about four or five years-old, I've always been an avid fan of tennis. Whether it was the thought of being able to whack a ball and have someone hit it back or the thought that it was different compared to other sports, it was an individual sport, not a team sport like all the others I've played. I grew up watching the near-end of the Andre Agassi and the Pete Sampras era. At a young age, I was never able to fully grasp their dominance in that era.

Fast forward a few years, Sampras had retired and Agassi was on the cusp of retirement. Some young kid named Roger Federer began to take over the game, winning title after title. His dominance gave tennis a new face of the game for years to come, and no one was ready to challenge him. Andy Roddick, the "next great American" player had stepped up to win one major, the 2003 US Open title, and even reached world number one, but could not stop the machine that was the "Fed Express". Cue Rafa.

Early 2004, a kid named Rafael Nadal took the stage at the now called Miami Open to face Federer in the round of 32. Though the now 17-time major champion did not play his best, the Spaniard stepped up to the plate to take the match in straight sets. After that moment, I felt a sense of a new wave in the tennis world, a sense of that maybe Federer wasn't unstoppable... And Nadal was that driving force.

Nadal and Federer after their first ever meeting in Miami back in 2004/Tennis World USA

The Fed Express and his dominance nearly made me lose my love for the sport since all he did was defeat favorites of mine, ranging from Roddick to James Blake to even good ole Lleyton Hewitt. Once Nadal came into the fray, my love for the game reignited. People always ask why is Nadal your favorite, here's why.

He's the man who could keep Federer in check throughout all these years, and even the man who inspired me to play tennis as my main sport, now my favorite sport throughout the seven years I've been playing it. The 2008 Wimbledon final was a massive turning point, as it gave me belief that if Rafa could do anything, so could I. So to the Spanish Bull, the King of Clay, the Prince of Paris, and to some, the GOAT, thank you Rafa for keeping me inspired to play and love tennis the way I do now.