With respect to Kobe, I've got a lot of thoughts in my head going on right now. He (along with Jeremy Lin) made me become a basketball fan. Even though I didn't end up rooting for his Lakers team, he was for sure an important part of me/my peers' childhoods.

I grew up in the Bay Area back when the Warriors were shit, so ask most of my HS friends who played basketball and they'd tell you the same thing - that their inspiration was Kobe. This was the guy's name that they yelled when they threw shit into the trash can, or a pencil into a holder from 10 feet away. As I grew up, the spotlight on him faded during the Lakers' rebuild, at least up until his final season. During his retirement tour, he stayed humble, telling people that he didn't want any farewell gifts, just that he wanted to play ball. I saw the final game of his career where he put up 60 on the jazz, and celebrated as did millions of other basketball fans. It's been three years since that day, but it feels like just a month ago. When he left, we all thanked him for his contribution to the game, and today, we do the same.

I think there's something poetic about the fact that he died flying his daughter to a basketball game, because he died doing what he loved. He loved the game and inspired millions of kids to play ball, and even after his retirement, he was still involved with the basketball community. The man was an absolute icon. i know for a fact that the tragedy of his death will motivate many people out there to keep playing and keep watching the game, and when they succeed, they'll thank Kobe for inspiring them - because Kobe was an inspiration.

You'll be missed, big man. Rest easy.