I post here and now in this thread mainly because I'm a huge bron fan and also a huge Ad fan because im from and still reside in New Orleans. I spent years rooting against Kobe. He made me completely dislike the Lakers franchise. But when he retired I was like damn dude retired I never had a player who was so great to root against because they were so great! I watched Kobe in person destroy my hornets(before the name change) I watched him destroy Ai in the finals, I watched him just cook all my fav players and teams. Hitting that fade away on bron in the all star game burned my soul. I was like JESUS I can't stand that dude!! But it was out of respect i disliked him because he has been the only great I felt deserving of my energy to hate on but it was all in fun. When he retired the NBA just hadn't not been the same for me because no one has been my what you can say Thanos. He was my great villan. When he retired I was sad because I was like damn, that mufukka made it great to be a hater. Because I watched and followed his games looking for some ammo to use to pick apart but, that was the thing he was damn near flawless on the court. Also in following a saw all his greatness And he was a coooold mofo. Seeing him happy in interviews, him with his kids on the sidelines and how at peace he was made me just appreciate his greatness not as a hater but as a sports fan. Seeing him as father and more than anything as a great man. It came full circle for me. I was born early 80 and I will say this has to be the most devastating things I've ever witness, my heart hurts major from this one. Rest ya head king kobe........I still can't wrap my head around this shyt.