Why Does Kobe Bryant Make Me Emotional?
I hosted a book club last night (for Lessons in Chemistry, obviously) because I am esoteric and oh-so-smart. Before people started showing up, I was on YouTube and watched some of the Kobe Bryant statue dedication outside the Staples Center, which I think is now called Crypto.com Arena, and which many consider to be “the house that Kobe built.” As I watched Phil Jackson and Vanessa Bryant speak, I cried several times. I am generally a very emotional person, at least more emotional than most men I know, so crying jags are not uncommon for me. However, I wanted to look at this a little bit more.
Because, in fact, I thought about this: when Kobe died, one of my friend’s wives posted on Facebook something like “good riddance, rapist!” and while there is a very strong possibility that Kobe did some bad things with females in his life, that shit triggered me at the time. Maybe it was because the body wasn’t cold yet and we were going to the lowest bar for Mr. Bryant; maybe it was because the woman that posted that is an “avowed feminist” who would also probably quit her job in 1.7 seconds and be a “trad-wife” if her husband had more earning potential in this broken world. I don’t know.
