2020 has certainly started off with a fury.
Yesterday, the very shocking news that basketball superstar Kobe Bryant died, along with his young daughter and seven other people, in a helicopter crash.
You can read the full story here in an article by Christina Maxouris and Artemis Moshtaghian and presented on CNN.com:
For a while several years ago I became something of a HUGE sports fan. It built up slowly, first being mesmerized by the quarterback talents of Dan Marino, then moving into hockey, basketball, and baseball.
During those years, I had the extreme luck of seeing the Dolphins threaten to get to the SuperBowl year after year after year. I saw the Panthers reach the finals but ultimately get defeated by the Avalanche. I watched the Heat play with LeBron James and win quite a big. I had the extreme luck of seeing almost every game in the season the Marlins won their second World Series.
As can be seen from the above, all these teams are South Florida locals.
Yeah, I tend to be a “homer” when it comes to watching sports. Local teams are what engage me, not so much others.
Having said that, I lost interest in watching even those teams.
Nowadays, I watch Football -the Dolphins- but not religiously.
I didn’t see many of Kobe Bryant’s games, not all the way through, but did catch highlights and… he was pretty spectacular.
What is shocking more than anything else is the fact that he was so young, 41 years old, and it wasn’t so very long ago he retired. It is also shocking to see images/video of his daughter, who also perished in the crash, laughing and talking with him.
As a parent, that tears my heart out.
Thus, I never was a huge fan of Kobe Bryant, basketball player, but I knew who he was and knew about his incredible skills.
And now, he’s passed in a most shocking way.
So many things have happened so far in January, and we’re still a few days away from the end of January.
I hope the rest of the year calms down… if only a little.
Rest in Peace.