Basketball Career Games- Kobe Bryant: Mamba Mentality
What's Up Guys!
Hope you've been enjoying some ball since the last time you heard from me :)
So I was surfing on YouTube today watching Lakers highlights as I usually do...
(Happy to see Lebron and the Lakers win last night by the way! :) )
When I came across an interview with Kobe Bryant...
Kobe was on Jimmy Kimmel Live taking some questions about his new book, Mamba Mentality, which he released a couple of days ago.
It got me super AMPED!
As we watched his basketball career games, we all knew Kobe was in love with the game of basketball, but I had never heard a story that expressed it so clearly...
Turns out Kobe was SO IN LOVE with the game of basketball, and by extension, with WINNING, that he did something no other player would even think about.
He read the NBA Referee's Official Handbook to learn where the referees stood on the court at certain times, so he could increase the chance of strategically drawing foul calls.
What?! How specific is that!
Seems a bit over the top to most. What player in their right mind would do such a thing?
Only 5 time Champ, Kobe Bryant of course!
Some would label Kobe as obsessed, or as a lunatic for going to such great lengths.
But when you love the game as much as Kobe, he NEEDS every edge he can get so he can GIVE HIS ALL to the game he knows and loves.
It's a love for the game that drives him to learn all that he can to perform at his best.
Such a cool mindset, one that we can all benefit from, even if we don't necessarily apply it to basketball
(Although I know you would! :) Lol)
By picking up the book, you can tap into his mindset, which is exactly what I plan to do!
Here's a quick excerpt from Kobe's book 'Mamba Mentality'
"I remember when, as a kid, I got my first real basketball.
I loved the feel of it in my hands. I was so enamored with the ball that I didn’t actually
want to bounce it or use it, because I didn’t want to ruin the pebbled leather grains or
the perfect grooves. I didn’t want to ruin the feel.
I loved the sound of it, too. The tap, tap, tap of when a ball bounces on the hardwood.
The crispness and clarity. The predictability. The sound of life and light.
Those are some of the elements that I loved about the ball, about the game. They were at
the core and root of my process and craft. They were the reasons I went through all that I went through, put in all that I put in, dug as deep as I dug.
It all came back to that special tap, tap, tap that I first grew infatuated with as a boy."
Pretty romantic if you ask me (Like in a cool I-like-sports kind of way haha)
If I had to briefly summarize Kobe's basketball career games, I'd do so by saying this...
Fall in the Love with the game, and anything becomes possible.
It's as simple as that!
So For the Love of Basketball!...
Quit reading this email and get back to the game you know and love!
Until next time,
Joey Erlic