Kobe!

 Spoilers, I guess…

Hey everyone, I'm back!!! I hope you guys had a very peaceful and fun spring break. Anyway, I went to Chicago way back on the weekend of March 1-2, and on that road trip, I just completely devoured Kobe Bryant’s The Mamba Mentality: How I Play. To quote the man himself, Mamba Mentality is “to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself.” For those who don’t know, Kobe Bryant was a professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers and is considered by many one of the greatest players of all time (he’s easily in my top 5). Kobe also recently died in January 2020 at age 41, in a tragic helicopter crash that included him and his daughter.

In my recent years, this was one of the few books I read start to finish in that short of a timespan (It helped that it was a picture book with not a lot of words). This book details Kobe’s work ethic: how he works, how often he works, and why he works. It also talks about the different matchups he faced in the NBA, from Michael Jordan to Kevin Durant. The book includes amazing photography on every page, done by Andrew D Bernstein, and the book wouldn’t be the same without it. The pictures include Kobe getting focused before games and him hitting a crazy dunk or move during games. The pictures were one of my favorite parts of the entire book, and I spent days before actually reading it flipping through the pages, gazing at the imagery. 

This book was part of a streak of sports books that I read in a row. After and during my freshman basketball season, I got into the sport more and more, visiting the Y frequently to play there and working out during the offseason. The great season wasn’t necessarily part of my excitement (4-26), but the thought of great seasons to come contributed heavily (*ahem* two 6' 3'' twins in our grade). This book both helped start the passion and fed logs into the flame. As of right now, I’m still experiencing the effects this book had on me, and I would recommend this to anyone who is super dedicated to something or wants to be (or anyone in general: as I mentioned, the pictures are top-notch).

Thank you for reading! Luke