完整標題 Obituary Love story Kobe Bryant died on January 26th
The five-rings champion basketball player was 41
來源: https://tinyurl.com/slesoo3
https://www.economist.com/obituary/2020/02/01/kobe-bryant-died-on-january-26th
這是本期經濟學人雜誌的一篇文章，放在Obituary(訃聞)專區，用來悼念剛過世的名人
(btw 最近看Youtube影片都會自動推薦這個影片，個人覺得蠻適合放在一起播放
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjDu__K6Q5M
Kobe Bryant - 'Till I Collapse (A 2017 Tribute Mix)
Feb 1st 2020
Whenever he was asked why his whole life had been spent playing basketball,
Kobe Bryant’s narrow eyes searched upwards, and his mouth trembled. The
answer was simple, yet so complicated. It began with the orange ball, the
smell of it, the feel of the pebbled leather grains and the perfect grooves
under his hands; and its bounce, and the way it sounded different on concrete
or polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through it
with that triumphant springing whoosh, while he howled with joy. Then every
movement of the game, the strategies, the dodging and feints, the squeal of
sneakers on the court. Whatever had thrilled him as a child (watching his
father, also a pro player, on tv, wearing his own little 76ers outfit,
running and jumping along with him) still thrilled him when in 2016 he
retired from the game. “Dear Basketball”, he wrote,
From the moment
I started rolling my Dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots...
I knew one thing was real:
A love so deep I gave you my all.Feb 1st 2020
Whenever he was asked why his whole life had been spent playing basketball,
Kobe Bryant’s narrow eyes searched upwards, and his mouth trembled. The
answer was simple, yet so complicated. It began with the orange ball, the
smell of it, the feel of the pebbled leather grains and the perfect grooves
under his hands; and its bounce, and the way it sounded different on concrete
or polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through it
with that triumphant springing whoosh, while he howled with joy. Then every
movement of the game, the strategies, the dodging and feints, the squeal of
sneakers on the court. Whatever had thrilled him as a child (watching his
father, also a pro player, on tv, wearing his own little 76ers outfit,
running and jumping along with him) still thrilled him when in 2016 he
retired from the game. “Dear Basketball”, he wrote,
From the moment
I started rolling my Dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots...
I knew one thing was real:
A love so deep I gave you my all.
每當被問到為什麼這一輩子都在打球時，Kobe總會想一下，答案可以是很簡單，
或是很複雜。一切就從那顆橘色的球開始算起、是那個味道、是那個顆粒的觸感
、是當球被緊抓在手上、是球在不同地板上反彈的聲馨、是投出的球穿過網子那
清脆的涮聲，以及伴隨而來的歡呼聲混雜著勝利的叫喊、各種戰術、閃躲、假動
作、球鞋尖銳的摩擦聲，場上的每一瞬間都讓他像回到孩童時期穿著七六人球衣
模仿著在同是職業球員的父親在電視上打球的動作那般心響神往。
就像他在2016年退役時寫的告別信
親愛的籃球，
就在那一瞬間，
當我捲起了老爸的長襪，
投進了腦海中的致勝球時，
我就知道了，
我愛你，此生不渝。
“My all” meant training obsessively, like a maniac. He would go to the gym
and shoot for hours, all day, all night. Hundreds of times, not just taking
shots, but making them, running steps and patterns, practising shots off the
rebound.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
He would ponder what would make his game unstoppable and then work backwards
from there, building it piece by piece, move by move, repeatedly. Then, when
the actual game arrived, it was all just muscle-memory. He perfected his own
works of art: the jab-step-and-pause, using unexpected footwork to pass the
defender, and the fadeaway, shooting while he jumped high and backwards from
the basket.
像一個瘋子一樣痴迷於訓練，沒日沒夜地，不是練投籃，而是要練投進，所以各種腳步
、各種角度、要如何擊敗各種對手可能的防守，一遍遍，一次次，每個細節都要做到滴
水不漏。直到場上見真章的時候，只需回想那再熟悉不過的動作。他把武器庫的技能都
琢磨的爐火純青，刺探步、花式腳步、後仰、籃筐後跳投。
For 20 seasons, a very long time to stay with one team, he played as a
shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. With them he won five nba
championship rings and was most valuable player in two finals. His 81 points
at home against Toronto, in 2006, was the second-highest individual score
recorded in league history. By the time he retired he had the third-highest
points total, 33,643, overtaken only days ago by the game’s present leading
star, LeBron James. His own stardom brought him in a salary of around $30m a
year, allowing him to dress in Gucci and to keep house in a gated community
in Newport Beach, California. It also brought sponsorship deals, such as the
one with Nike, whom he asked to design shoes with heels and midsoles that
could shave precious hundredths of seconds off his reaction time. For he didn
’t care so much about money, points, or the fans’ applause; they could turn
against him anyway, as they did after he was accused in 2003 of sexually
assaulting a woman in Colorado, a case dropped but never cleared up. He cared
about being the best, winning games. Simple and plain.
20年的終生湖人，5座冠軍金盃，2度FMVP，史上第二高的單場個人81分，史上總得分第
三高的33643分(剛被LBJ打破)，卓越的表現帶給他3千萬美金的年收入讓他可以穿華服、
住豪宅，更吸引NIKE等廠商捧著為他量身打造的球鞋合約請他代言，但是錢財、數據或
是粉絲並不是他所在乎的，畢竟粉絲說走就走，就如同2003年被指控性侵卻因撤案而無
從釐清的案件發生時，他只在乎做最好版本的自已，然後贏球，就這麼簡單。
His obsession could make him by turns hustling, mean and dejected. When he
joined the Lakers, his dream team, in 1996, traded from the Charlotte
Hornets, he was only 17, the youngest player in the nba. He had been picked
for the pro leagues straight from his suburban high school and had lived as a
boy in Italy, two things that made him odd. But he came in burning with
self-belief. No babying for him; he was hard, focused, a lone artist, and
much of that stayed. He called himself the Black Mamba later, an
assassin-snake, ruthless in the strike. Unjust foul calls and lost play-off
games—especially the finals against the Detroit Pistons and the Boston
Celtics—threw him into misery and vows of revenge.
他對勝負的執著也讓隊友感到難以相處、刻薄甚至是沮喪。當他以最年輕的高中跳級生
身分被黃蜂隊選中並交易至LA紫金豪門湖人隊時，這個義大利長大的少年急於表現自已
，獨來獨往的刻苦訓練，其後更以一種如殺手般凶猛無情的毒蛇