you can be mentored by people who aren't
alive 100
because their stories still live these
muses are here it's important to learn
from them
because you realize there are people
just like us they make mistakes just
like
us and they kept going
we can do the same
you know they say we die twice
once when the breath leaves our body and
once
when the last person we know says our
name
and he would be shooting baskets in the
dark
because they hadn't even turned the
lights on yet
he'd be there an hour two hours before
everybody
everybody would be at breakfast and he
would show up fully sweated out
like he just done three hours of work
and before anybody did anything
how much harder will you work in this
offseason now to get back to the
championship
i push myself too exhausted
i play games with the flute i play games
with 102 degree fever man
i made a promise to myself i was going
to work that hard every single day when
i do retire
i have no regrets if i can work that
hard
every day
what would my career
this kid right here mark my words it's
gonna be unbelievable
there you see kobe bryant in the
foreground the man many have dubbed the
next michael jordan
once it's so bad and he's willing to go
to the extremes at the age of 34 and
play in 38 minutes that's really cool
he's cursed he's much nicer
to me it was fun to be happy
this man played with a broken finger
and won a championship
[Music]
victory the united states of america
back-to-back titles for the los angeles
lakers
a three-peat and a sweep
[Applause]
falls down and he is hurting but the
lakers eat him at the free-throw line
my family walks in i had tears in my
eyes
and you know they're looking at you and
stuff and i'm like you know it's all
right dad's gonna be all right
we'll be fine as a parent you gotta set
the example this obstacle cannot define
me
it's not going to be responsible for me
stepping away for the game that i love
i'm going to step away
on my own terms
we all have [ __ ] that we go through we
all have things that obstacles that were
in our way at some point or another we
all had doubt
but we chose we chose
using the darker emotions the anger
or resentment or frustration and
sadness using that as
a weapon no matter what happens
the storm eventually ends and when the
storm does end you want to make sure
that you're ready
really learning to put one foot in front
of the other because eventually that
storm
passes
those times when you get up early and
you work hard those times when you don't
feel like working you're too tired you
don't want to push yourself but you do
it anyway
that is actually the dream
i didn't know if i could do it you know
it was my daughter who kind of put
things in perspective for me gianna
she's now 13 and she was like well
you always tell us to go for it
we're not on the stage just because of
talent or ability
we're up here because of 4am we're up
here because of two a days
or five days we're up here because we
had a dream and let nothing stand in our
way
if anything tried to bring us down we
used it to make
us strong
we were never satisfied never finished
we'll never be retired that's how you
have to be if you want to be a winner
there's just no way around it
rest at the end not in the middle i took
that to heart
my next dream is to be honored one day
for inspiring the next generation of
athletes to have a dream
sacrifice for it and never
ever rest in the middle
uncommon amongst uncommon people
[Music]
yesterday was supposed to be a
celebratory day and
um then we got tragic news about kobe
bryant
and everything changed in a second
life is short and it's fragile and we
don't know how many birthdays we have
so celebrate life and if you haven't
told someone you love them
do it now do it tell people you love
them
call your friends text your friends hug
them kiss them and when i took it to the
laker game
we just had so much fun because the
first time i was seeing
the game through her eyes and she had
such a great time and as a father
that's all you want that's all you can
ask for no one knows how much time we
have
that's why we must live in the moment
we must enjoy them all it was her like
she was having such a good time and the
players were coming up and saying hi to
her right
you know brian was talking about her
fade away
we must reach and see and spend as much
time as we can with our families and
friends and people that we absolutely
love
the most important thing is how
your career moves and touches those
around you
and how it carries forward to the next
generation
but you realize that's what makes true
greatness
[Music]
you