完整标题 Obituary Love story Kobe Bryant died on January 26th
The five-rings champion basketball player was 41
来源: https://tinyurl.com/slesoo3
https://www.economist.com/obituary/2020/02/01/kobe-bryant-died-on-january-26th
这是本期经济学人杂志的一篇文章，放在Obituary(讣闻)专区，用来悼念刚过世的名人
(btw 最近看Youtube影片都会自动推荐这个影片，个人觉得蛮适合放在一起播放
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjDu__K6Q5M
Kobe Bryant - 'Till I Collapse (A 2017 Tribute Mix)
Feb 1st 2020
Whenever he was asked why his whole life had been spent playing basketball,
Kobe Bryant’s narrow eyes searched upwards, and his mouth trembled. The
answer was simple, yet so complicated. It began with the orange ball, the
smell of it, the feel of the pebbled leather grains and the perfect grooves
under his hands; and its bounce, and the way it sounded different on concrete
or polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through it
with that triumphant springing whoosh, while he howled with joy. Then every
movement of the game, the strategies, the dodging and feints, the squeal of
sneakers on the court. Whatever had thrilled him as a child (watching his
father, also a pro player, on tv, wearing his own little 76ers outfit,
running and jumping along with him) still thrilled him when in 2016 he
retired from the game. “Dear Basketball”, he wrote,
From the moment
I started rolling my Dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots...
I knew one thing was real:
A love so deep I gave you my all.Feb 1st 2020
Whenever he was asked why his whole life had been spent playing basketball,
Kobe Bryant’s narrow eyes searched upwards, and his mouth trembled. The
answer was simple, yet so complicated. It began with the orange ball, the
smell of it, the feel of the pebbled leather grains and the perfect grooves
under his hands; and its bounce, and the way it sounded different on concrete
or polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through it
with that triumphant springing whoosh, while he howled with joy. Then every
movement of the game, the strategies, the dodging and feints, the squeal of
sneakers on the court. Whatever had thrilled him as a child (watching his
father, also a pro player, on tv, wearing his own little 76ers outfit,
running and jumping along with him) still thrilled him when in 2016 he
retired from the game. “Dear Basketball”, he wrote,
From the moment
I started rolling my Dad’s tube socks
And shooting imaginary
Game-winning shots...
I knew one thing was real:
A love so deep I gave you my all.
每当被问到为什么这一辈子都在打球时，Kobe总会想一下，答案可以是很简单，
或是很复杂。一切就从那颗橘色的球开始算起、是那个味道、是那个颗粒的触感
、是当球被紧抓在手上、是球在不同地板上反弹的声馨、是投出的球穿过网子那
清脆的涮声，以及伴随而来的欢呼声混杂着胜利的叫喊、各种战术、闪躲、假动
作、球鞋尖锐的摩擦声，场上的每一瞬间都让他像回到孩童时期穿着七六人球衣
模仿著在同是职业球员的父亲在电视上打球的动作那般心响神往。
就像他在2016年退役时写的告别信
亲爱的篮球，
就在那一瞬间，
当我卷起了老爸的长袜，
投进了脑海中的致胜球时，
我就知道了，
我爱你，此生不渝。
“My all” meant training obsessively, like a maniac. He would go to the gym
and shoot for hours, all day, all night. Hundreds of times, not just taking
shots, but making them, running steps and patterns, practising shots off the
rebound.
I ran up and down every court
After every loose ball for you.
He would ponder what would make his game unstoppable and then work backwards
from there, building it piece by piece, move by move, repeatedly. Then, when
the actual game arrived, it was all just muscle-memory. He perfected his own
works of art: the jab-step-and-pause, using unexpected footwork to pass the
defender, and the fadeaway, shooting while he jumped high and backwards from
the basket.
像一个疯子一样痴迷于训练，没日没夜地，不是练投篮，而是要练投进，所以各种脚步
、各种角度、要如何击败各种对手可能的防守，一遍遍，一次次，每个细节都要做到滴
水不漏。直到场上见真章的时候，只需回想那再熟悉不过的动作。他把武器库的技能都
琢磨的炉火纯青，刺探步、花式脚步、后仰、篮筐后跳投。
For 20 seasons, a very long time to stay with one team, he played as a
shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. With them he won five nba
championship rings and was most valuable player in two finals. His 81 points
at home against Toronto, in 2006, was the second-highest individual score
recorded in league history. By the time he retired he had the third-highest
points total, 33,643, overtaken only days ago by the game’s present leading
star, LeBron James. His own stardom brought him in a salary of around $30m a
year, allowing him to dress in Gucci and to keep house in a gated community
in Newport Beach, California. It also brought sponsorship deals, such as the
one with Nike, whom he asked to design shoes with heels and midsoles that
could shave precious hundredths of seconds off his reaction time. For he didn
’t care so much about money, points, or the fans’ applause; they could turn
against him anyway, as they did after he was accused in 2003 of sexually
assaulting a woman in Colorado, a case dropped but never cleared up. He cared
about being the best, winning games. Simple and plain.
20年的终生湖人，5座冠军金杯，2度FMVP，史上第二高的单场个人81分，史上总得分第
三高的33643分(刚被LBJ打破)，卓越的表现带给他3千万美金的年收入让他可以穿华服、
住豪宅，更吸引NIKE等厂商捧著为他量身打造的球鞋合约请他代言，但是钱财、数据或
是粉丝并不是他所在乎的，毕竟粉丝说走就走，就如同2003年被指控性侵却因撤案而无
从厘清的案件发生时，他只在乎做最好版本的自已，然后赢球，就这么简单。
His obsession could make him by turns hustling, mean and dejected. When he
joined the Lakers, his dream team, in 1996, traded from the Charlotte
Hornets, he was only 17, the youngest player in the nba. He had been picked
for the pro leagues straight from his suburban high school and had lived as a
boy in Italy, two things that made him odd. But he came in burning with
self-belief. No babying for him; he was hard, focused, a lone artist, and
much of that stayed. He called himself the Black Mamba later, an
assassin-snake, ruthless in the strike. Unjust foul calls and lost play-off
games—especially the finals against the Detroit Pistons and the Boston
Celtics—threw him into misery and vows of revenge.
他对胜负的执著也让队友感到难以相处、刻薄甚至是沮丧。当他以最年轻的高中跳级生
身分被黄蜂队选中并交易至LA紫金豪门湖人队时，这个意大利长大的少年急于表现自已
，独来独往的刻苦训练，其后更以一种如杀手般凶猛无情的毒蛇