Rant #2,512: Heaven Help Us

Yesterday afternoon, during a very lazy afternoon, I was talking to a friend on the phone while I had my bedroom television on.

Prior to speaking to my friend, I went from channel to channel to try to find something to watch, and I couldn't find anything to suit my fancy, so I simply had our local news channel on, my friend called, and we spoke.

Right in the middle of him bringing me up to date on his personal goings on, I had to interrupt him.

"Oh ... I see a breaking news headline that Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash," I said, or something to that effect.

My friend said to me, "Oh God ... and [my partner] is reading the report now ... ."

I have to say that I did like how at least television covered this horrid story, as I immediately turned on the NBA channel and they had their regular programming on, and I went through lots of channels, and they had their regular shows on too.

At that point, the news was unsubstantiated. Within minutes, the tragedy was real. And the programming changed to fit the story.

Bryant and his daughter were among nine people who died when the helicopter they were riding in went down in Calabasas, California. The accident happened at about 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, so it happened at about 10 a,.m. in California.

When the loss of a celebrity like Bryant happens, the world mourns. Yes, I said the world, because Bryant had as much to do with making the NBA an international sport as any other player did.

With all his records and the bravado that went with it, Bryant was almost sort of a throwback player during his time in the NBA. The son of a former player, Bryant took no prisoners when he played, and if you were on the other team, you were his enemy.

He could take over a game like few could, and he was the idol of millions of people, including an entire generation of players who populate the game today. Leaving us at just 41 years of age, Bryant played list last game only a few years ago, so for the 20, 21 and 22 year olds who play in the NBA today, he was their Joe DiMaggio, their Derek Jeter, the guy they looked up to and wanted to be just like.

Whatever the case, Bryant was a human being, and he had human flaws. He was not perfect, and none of us are.

But his flaws came to light several years ago, and they have followed him around to his last moments. In fact, Bryant won an Oscar for a cartoon short he was instrumental in creating, and hundreds of people signed a petition that the Academy should rescind his award for his past indiscretions, indiscretions that were heinous but were largely unfounded.

Here is what I wrote on Facebook yesterday, which some people did not get the gist of, which was this: Bryant was a human being first, a superb basketball player second, and that we often, myself included, put famous people on pedestals that they not only do not belong on, but would be uncomfortable sitting upon:

"Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter accident today. He perished along with his 13 year old daughter. What a shame; he was taken away from us way too soon.

I guess it is human nature to deify those famous personalities who leave us, and that is certainly the case with Bryant. People are saying what a great person he was, what a family man he was, but again, we are putting him on a pedestal that I do believe he might be a bit uncomfortable with.

If memory serves me correctly, in the early 2000s, Bryant was accused of raping a hotel employee while he was rehabbing an injury. Even though he was acquitted of the charge, he did admit that an encounter did occur, and that the incident was a consensual one.

The damage control that he, the NBA and the Lakers had to do was considerable, and he admitted his indiscretion to his wife, with every bauble he bought her to show his love becoming national news.

If the MeToo movement were around then, Bryant would have been permanently ruined.

So, even though I, too, mourn Bryant's loss, let's not make him something that he wasn't.

He was human, made mistakes, and repented for his indiscretions.

He was not a god... but heck, he was some basketball player.

R.I.P."

We, as a society, often give a bye to those we idolize, and while they do things we cannot do, you and I and Kobe and others are really no different; we all put our pants on the same way.

He had extraordinary basketball talent. He had resurrected himself from his past indiscretions, he and his family had moved on from those, and he was entering a new phase of his incredible life.

It is just a real shame that he was taken from us, and he was taken from his family and his dreams, at such a young age.

Nobody could predict where his dreams would have taken him.

Goodbye, Kobe, we will never forget you.