A celebration of life. Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant are remembered at Staples Center.
On Monday morning the city of Los Angeles stopped to remember Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant, who passed away on January 26th. The memorial was appropriately held at a Staples Center, which was Kobe’s home for 20 years, full of stars who gathered to celebrate their friend and his daughter.
It was a most touching ceremony, where lots of familiar faces could be spotted in attendance, people from the world of music, TV and cinema, Kobe’s former teammates, rivals and mentors.
The event, opened by Beyoncé singing “XO” and “Halo”, was hosted by an emotional Jimmy Kimmel, who had the hard task to guide the public through the entire ceremony. Other singers followed through in the course of the celebration, while personalities of the world of basketball were called to talk about the Bryants.
Kobe’s wife, Vanessa, showed incredible strength, giving a speech about her missing loved ones and opening up about her family much more than we ever knew. Thanks to her we got to know them in a way we had never seen them before.
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WNBA star Dian Taurasi, Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu and Uconn’s head coach Geno Auriemma recounted their experiences meeting Kobe and Gianna and how she was on course to become someone. As females figures, Diana and Sabrina celebrated the legacy of little Gigi as an eventual difference-maker in women basketball. Uconn would be the eventual destination for the young girl.
Then, it was time for the NBA mourning the loss of one of its greatest champions. Although everyone would have had something to say about Kobe, not many had the chance to talk, but they were the finest, what Bryant deserved.
Michael Jordan said he lost his little brother, Shaq cracked some joke and Rob Pelinka remembered us how caring he was, revealing that he got texted by Kobe from the helicopter right before the crash. Kobe was trying to help coach Altobelli’s daughter obtain an internship.
A heartfelt celebration, where Kobe and Gigi were remembered as the great persons they were. What Kobe had accomplished, what Gigi was on her path to accomplish. How much promise she had as a human being and a basketball player with her father’s help. The two were indivisible and how Vanessa said, “God knew they couldn’t be on this Earth without each other.”
They left us too soon, their story still had to be written, but legends are forever, and these two were among the greatest.