Cheapest available seat for the next Laker home game: $12,000. EDIT: FAKE NEWS. Cheapest around $1,000.
Bleacher ReportVerified account@BleacherReport 2m2 minutes ago Breaking: Tuesday's Lakers vs. Clippers game has been postponed out of respect for Lakers organization after the death of Kobe Bryant
Shams CharaniaVerified account@ShamsCharania 18m18 minutes ago Lakers players, coaches and officials and entire organization have been deeply grieving loss of Kobe Bryant. “These guys are not ready to play basketball right now,” one source close to Lakers and Clippers players said today. Shams CharaniaVerified account@ShamsCharania 3m3 minutes ago Sources: After tragic death of Kobe Bryant, NBA and the Lakers/Clippers consulted all day, with grief counselors on sight with Lakers organization. Ultimately, the decision was made to postpone Tuesday's game and allow entire Lakers franchise to continue to grieve, mourn, heal.
TheBillRussellVerified account@RealBillRussell I woke up hoping this horrible tragedy for all the families involved could not be true, the realization it is, is a living nightmare! Our condolences to Vanessa and the other families could never be enough. Our thoughts & hearts are with all of you! @NBA @SInow @NBCNews @Lakers
Will be interesting to see the date they choose. Lakers/AD trade rumors upstaged the Super Bowl last year, so second year in a row that the NBA has upstaged the Super Bowl, though they obviously didn't want it like this. Lost the game's greatest global ambassador
The SB is gonna be weird this year. Not feeling it anymore. Wanted to make my traditional fried chicken. Now I might just order.
Allen Iverson’s full statement reads: “ Words cannot express how I’m feeling today. The only 2 words that ring in my head — devastated and heartbroken. I cannot seem to shake this feeling no matter what I’ve tried to do since hearing this yesterday. People will always remember how we competed against each other in the league, but it goes so much deeper than that for me. The story of us being drafted in arguably the deepest class of its kind ever in the history of the NBA can be debated for many years to come. However, his generosity and respect for the game is something that I witnessed first-hand every time we stepped on the dance floor to compete. It’s one memory of him that I can’t stop thinking about. It was our rookie season and my first trip to LA for a game against the Lakers. He came to my hotel, picked me up and took me to a restaurant. When we returned before he left, he asked me, “what are you going to do tonight?” My reply was, I’m going to the club, what are you going to do?” He said, “I’m going to the gym.” That is who he always was, a true student of the game of basketball and also the game of life. He prepared relentlessly. There is something we can all learn from the “Mamba” mentality and from the way my brother lived his life. He will always have my respect as a competitor, as a friend, as a brother. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife Vanessa, their children and the families of all of the victims of yesterday’s tragedy. As a father, I cannot wrap my head around how they must feel. We are not okay. But we will find the strength to pull through this together because that’s what Kobe would want us to do. ”
Probably a ton of people that feel that way. And then some may feel as though diving into the Super Bowl will help take their mind off of this tragedy for a day or so. No wrong way to deal with it - outside of negativity and cynicism about trivial shit
Kyrie sat out yesterday, grieving CP3 out tonight, same Giannis has deleted his Twitter and IG accounts
Basketball fans in Europe and Asia reacted to the sudden death of former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant with tributes and praise. Bryant and his daughter Gianna were among several people killed Sunday in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, a source confirmed to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Bryant was 41. Gianna was 13. In Europe, where Bryant grew up, the retired NBA star was remembered for his "Italian qualities." "All of the NBA players are important because they're legends, but he's particularly important to us because he knew Italy so well, having lived in several cities here," Italian basketball federation president Giovanni Petrucci told The Associated Press. "He had a lot of Italian qualities. The Italian basketball federation said Monday that it has ordered a minute's silence to be observed for all games "in every category for the entire week." "It's a small but heartfelt and deserved gesture to honor the life and memory of Kobe Bryant, an absolute champion who always had Italy in his heart," the federation said. "Kobe was and will always be linked to our country." In Asia, Bryant was a hugely popular figure, nowhere more so than in China, where basketball rivals soccer as the most popular sport. Commemorations began rolling in online Sunday, many of them accompanied by photos of Bryant and Gianna with "R.I.P." Others showed the two dressed in uniform walking away into clouds under a basketball net. "For our generation, our memories of the NBA begin with Jordan and move through Kobe and Yao Ming. You were a part of our youth. Already missing the bright sun of Kobe. Go well," commentator "ZhanHao" wrote on Weibo, a popular social media platform. "Your willpower has inspired a generation. Thank you," "Teacher Kai Ting" wrote. "I hope there is basketball in heaven. Kobe just went to another world to play basketball with his daughter,'' wrote "Cici's green paper." In Taiwan, where the NBA also is an enormous draw, President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted that her "thoughts go out to the Bryant family & the families of all those who lost loved ones today." "Kobe inspired a generation of young Taiwanese basketball players, & his legacy will live on through those who loved him," Tsai wrote. Philippine presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo noted that Bryant was a frequent visitor to the Philippines. "He was well-loved by his Filipino fans," Panelo said in a statement. In Japan, Tetsunori Tanimoto, an official at the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association in Kobe, Japan, expressed his deep condolences for Bryant's death. "He helped make Kobe Beef known throughout the world," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday. Kobe got his name, the legend goes, after his father ate Kobe beef during a visit to Japan and loved the taste. Tanimoto, who watches NBA games on TV but never met Bryant, said people know the story of how Bryant got his name. "We have always felt a closeness to him," he said. "It is so sad. And we offer our deepest condolences."
I know this is weird but I feel some hard to explain super positive feeling whenever I hear about a Chinese person mentioning God or heaven. Or maybe I'm just a child. But we kind of grew up around people who were indoctrinated to believe Asians but specially Chinese where sneaky evil godless communists. In communism believing in heaven and God is probably almost like being an anarchist here. And the icon worship of Kobe by all the people who ever had any connection to him would be an affront to the leader of the party. The stories of how he has inspired and helped motivate thousands of people with his life would be treated as rumors and old wives tails kept off the airways. And folks talking about how his sudden death reminds them how there's never a better time than right now to make right whatever wrong you have with someone you love. And probably even those you don't because death also comes like a thief in the night and you don't want to go away kicking and screaming because you never got a chance to repair a relationship. You want to rest in peace. I saw big tough dudes like Kendrick Perkins put their petty shit to the side and apologized on air for talking shit in air. Sometimes we talk way too much shit. Shit we don't even mean. I had a bad feeling that night. I could see clearly the whole valley to the the city from here. And I could see nothing but thick white. It was bad all day but you could still sorta see the skyline but as it got dark the fog was like a giant pot of whirling vapors being stirred inside the giant bowl that is the valley of los angeles surrounded by the night sky. The worst part was the noise. I kept hearing a weird type of thundering but NOT thunder. It was a weird thunder like noise but short staccato sounding. It kept being a concern making me pause the TV to check it out repeatedly. It wasn't the dog. The wind was not strong as evidenced by lack of treebranch sway so it wasn't flapping of debris in the roof (roof gardening seemed like a fun idea at one point). Besides none of those explanations made any sense anyway. Thunder claps or flaps or cracks or maybe just short waves or rolls. I thought it was gonna be a Whittier narrows kind of morning with that weather. Because it was all the way cloudy with zero chance of rain but all the humidity in the world locked in one spot. Man this was a post about how much Kobe inspired people with his life and even more with his death and I go turning it into being about my experience during the wee hours of the night before anyone got on a chopper like a typical self centered american. But... I had a bad feeling. And the barometric pressure was rising all night. At least that's how it felt. And now it's fallen and it's making old heads explode and setting hearts aflutter. This new year has been a test. Thank the Lord because we probably needed it worse than we know. Now we need to start feeling better. Its what mamba woulda wanted. But it's like we all in mourning. And who could be like him? He's the GOAT.
But we kind of grew up around people who were indoctrinated to believe Asians but specially Chinese where sneaky evil godless communists. -------------------------------------------------------- They're not?
Per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium on Wednesday, Cook will wear the No. 28 as a combination of Gigi's No. 2 and Kobe's No. 8. "No. 2 is Gianna's number," Cook told Charania. "I feel it should be retired. It's hers."
Said it better than I could've. I feel the same, although you nailed it with the grief analysis. (Irish) My wife could tell something was on my mind two nights ago and eventually got it out of me. I said, similarly to you, "I'm probably a bad person for saying this...BUT..." My sentiments were, mainly, that I'm shocked and saddened by what happened to Kobe... ...He was a blast to watch play basketball and appeared to transform into a great family man... ...I'm asking God for answers as to why these things happen and how He will use it for His glory (because I am at a loss)... ....I will pray daily for his family and I cannot imagine the grief. BUT...How long will we have to put up with the full page portraits in the newspaper? How many 'Jose from Whittier, Lifelong Lakers Fan' takes do we need on the news and radio? After all, he is just one human being who (whom? You're the teacher, bkitch) none of us actually know. That does not mean we cannot be sad. But there is a lack of self-awareness to the degree the media and fans of his celebrity take it. It's almost like people relish in the communal experience of the situation. Idk.
I find a lot of people making themselves part of the story. And people that weren't fans when he was alive acting like he changed their lives or something. It's weird.
