In 40 or 50 years from now, when we're fortunate enough to be old men and women, one of us will take our grandchild to a Laker game. The kid will be wide-eyed and in awe as Grandpa points out the championship banners hanging from up high.

Looking up to the rafters, the kid sees No. 24 hanging among the Laker legends. "Grandpa, did you see Kobe play? What was he like?"

Grandpa stares at the massive jersey for a while. His whole demeanor changes, like he's just finished punching out a pipe-wielding heavyweight champ of the world in a bar fight and jumping a motorbike over a canyon that would make Evel Knievel crap.

Grandpa turns to the boy, and this being Hollywood and all, he says through clinched teeth, "Kid, you ever see the movie, Jaws?"

The dumbstruck stuck kid blinks his answer and Grandpa continues anyway. "He was like that shark. His court was like that water. You know what they told people in that movie?"

The kid shakes his head.

"Get out of the water," the old man says.

Grandpa continues to ramble on with hyperbole as if he's describing the biggest bad ass of all superheroes and supervillains combined into one being. "He was forged of molten steel, ate it for breakfast, too. While the sun slept, he woke and worked out with the Devil. He called it his 666 workout. Know what game he scored 81? His 666th. He once outscored an entire team in three quarters before they called him off. He was a one-man pack of wild dogs. He was the black mamba. He was..."

Of course, now the kid thinks Grandpa has lost his mind. While Grandpa rambles on, the kid thinks back to the first thing that he said, "Get out of the water." Yeah, the kid thinks, I bet that's what Kobe was like.

Meanwhile, Grandpa's lost in memories of the 2007-08 season when Kobe won his first MVP.

"Legends leave their footprints, boy," Grandpa says. He continues on and the kid gets the gist of what the old man is saying. It doesn't matter the job, the industry, the competition. Whatever the realm, the true legends leave a mark of greatness.

Kobe Bryant is Legend. You may not like him, you may hate that he can drive you crazy a thousand different ways...or you may love him like a brother. Regardless of your opinion, you cannot argue that the man is legend... more

Source: forums.lakersground.net