RIP Kobe Bryant

Status
Not open for further replies.
Truly shocking news. I was busy all day and not watching TV and heard from a friend on social media. I first thought that it was a fake news thing. Then it hit the news media and my 95 year old dad and I were watching Italian station RAI for Sunday soccer scores and it preempted the current program with the Kobe news. They did almost a half hour prime time special report on his career and showed him as a young pre high school student while in Italy where he spent his grade school years and featured interviews with him speaking fluent Italian with reporters. He was a big Inter Milan fan and even attended Milan games even after he retired and visited Italy where spent his formative years. The Italian newscaster said his love of things Italian extended to his giving his 4 daughters Italian names. Gianna, Bianka, Natalia and Capri. Condoglianze caro Kobe.
 
Kobe was a good dad. He was spending his Sunday supporting his daughter Gianna's basketball dreams.

Kobe had more time for his family after retiring. He seemed very close to Gianna.

It's such a tragedy. Sending best wishes to all nine victims families.
:(
 
Last edited:
Spent the day entertaining a visitor from out of town. Ironically, one of the tripadvisor recommendations is helicopter tours in NYC, which I rejected as unsafe. I chose the 911 museum, despite having deliberately avoided ever visiting ground zero all these years. It cast a necessary somber and dark tone on the rest of the day. On the way home from dinner afterwards, Sirius interrupted broadcasts to advise that the Kobe Bryant had died.

At dinner I jumped up to watch a moment of TV when I saw Torrey Pines was on and wanted to see how Keegan was doing. When they flashed Kobe's face a few minutes later, I presumed it was just about LeBron breaking his record.

I'm reminded of some of the beautiful prose in "A River Runs Through It":

“My father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things—trout as well as eternal salvation—come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy.”
― Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

With Kobe, we had witnessed a form of art, practiced in its highest form of athleticism. There is something beautiful about the game of basketball, and Kobe played it as well and as beautifully as anyone could. Yes, our main attraction to him was accomplished on the court, and yes his playing days were over. Still, the sense of loss that we all feel is still real despite being witnesses to a completed career of excellence that few have ever approached.

If there is any example at all, it is perhaps the diligence with which Kobe Bryant applied to hone his God given talents, some thing each of us can do in applying to any and all corners of our life. He was certainly gifted in a way that very very few of us are, but also extracted an incredibly high quotient of that ability through diligence, something that those who are highest achievers do.

R.I.P.
 
Absolutely gut-wrenching. Not only was he one of the best players ever, he was one of the best people too. I always saw him as the Derek Jeter of the NBA. Great individually, has several rings, but is also truly one of the good guys. The antithesis of an Antonio Brown type player. One team his whole career. Never wanted to try to make a super team to beat the Jordan teams and the like. You don't see that today. To also lose Gianna and the others it's just so tragic. She probably would have gone on to be one of the best in college hoops and then in the WNBA. You could see the video clips now of a proud Kobe smiling and cheering her on. Devastating. RIP Mamba. Also thought it was cool to see the Bryant Park subway sign edited to say "Kobe Bryant Park" with a sticker. MSG lit up in purple and gold. Nice gestures.
 
Horrible, horrible tragedy. Now that this has sunk in, the next step is to find out how this happened.

Why would the chopper take off if even the LAPD choppers were not allowed to takeoff that morning?
With a coach and 3 kids from the team on board, did kobe coax the pilot into leaving as the teams best players were on board? Lots of parents treat these travel basketball games like the nba finals and we know how competitive kobe was.

This is a horrible tragedy that sounds like it could have been easily avoided. Someone is at fault here because that chopper should not have been up in that fog.
 

Horrible, horrible tragedy. Now that this has sunk in, the next step is to find out how this happened.

Why would the chopper take off if even the LAPD choppers were not allowed to takeoff that morning?
With a coach and 3 kids from the team on board, did kobe coax the pilot into leaving as the teams best players were on board? Lots of parents treat these travel basketball games like the nba finals and we know how competitive kobe was.

This is a horrible tragedy that sounds like it could have been easily avoided. Someone is at fault here because that chopper should not have been up in that fog.


[URL]https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/us/calabasas-helicopter-crash-kobe-bryant-monday/index.html[/URL]
 
[quote="capmaker" post=374439]
Horrible, horrible tragedy. Now that this has sunk in, the next step is to find out how this happened.

Why would the chopper take off if even the LAPD choppers were not allowed to takeoff that morning?
With a coach and 3 kids from the team on board, did kobe coax the pilot into leaving as the teams best players were on board? Lots of parents treat these travel basketball games like the nba finals and we know how competitive kobe was.

This is a horrible tragedy that sounds like it could have been easily avoided. Someone is at fault here because that chopper should not have been up in that fog.


[URL]https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/27/us/calabasas-helicopter-crash-kobe-bryant-monday/index.html[/URL][/quote]

The helicopter was operating under "special visual flight rules," according to an air traffic control conversation with the pilot, captured by website LiveATC.net.
An SVFR clearance allows a pilot to fly in weather conditions worse than those allowed for standard visual flight rules (VFR).

I dont know anything about this but the fact that you need that "clearence" doesnt everyone know it is alot more dangerous to fly? y put 3 barely teenage kids up in that weather. When it was apparent clearence was needed, the thing should have been shut down as a basketball game is not worth the risk.

Again, I know nothing about this just angry this happened.
 
im reading many experts saying the pilot was disoriented in the fog. Sounds like they crashed and died instantly. No warning and no one on board had any clue it was coming.
 
Unfortunately I'm sure they knew it was coming since I saw the video and it goes into a clear tailspin for several seconds before impact. But how LAPD helicopters are grounded and not Kobe's is beyond me. Helicopters are scary as it is, but to fly into fog bad enough to ground LAPD choppers was unnecessary regardless of who called it.
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=374444]Unfortunately I'm sure they knew it was coming since I saw the video and it goes into a clear tailspin for several seconds before impact. But how LAPD helicopters are grounded and not Kobe's is beyond me. Helicopters are scary as it is, but to fly into fog bad enough to ground LAPD choppers was unnecessary regardless of who called it.[/quote]

Here's something to chew on, Zaun: Don't believe anything you hear and only half what you see.

The helicopter you saw was old footage of an helicopter in the middle East.

It's also important to do your homework on things you see and hear. Even more so nowadays because things can get tossed on social media and there are no logic or facts behind it.
 
Last edited:
[quote="Duke of Earlington" post=374442]im reading many experts saying the pilot was disoriented in the fog. Sounds like they crashed and died instantly. No warning and no one on board had any clue it was coming.[/quote]

They didn't say the pilot 'was disoriented." It was said that one can become disoriented when navigating through inclement weather.
 
Is that confirmed Dinkins? I saw it last night so wasn't that long after...ridiculous if people are posting fake videos out there about something so tragic. Regardless of a video or not, there was zero reason the chopper should've been in the air if LAPD choppers couldn't.
 
[quote="MJDinkins" post=374448][quote="Duke of Earlington" post=374442]im reading many experts saying the pilot was disoriented in the fog. Sounds like they crashed and died instantly. No warning and no one on board had any clue it was coming.[/quote]

They didn't say the pilot 'was disoriented." It was said that one can become disoriented when navigating through inclement weather.[/quote]

Sounds JFK Jr-ish a little
 
[quote="Mike Zaun" post=374449]Is that confirmed Dinkins? I saw it last night so wasn't that long after...ridiculous if people are posting fake videos out there about something so tragic. Regardless of a video or not, there was zero reason the chopper should've been in the air if LAPD choppers couldn't.[/quote]

I'm positive! Always do a follow up check on information. Particularly when it involves a very, serious situation. People have been doing stupid and inconsiderate shit for decades, so I don't expect to see anything different. It's probably worse now being we're at the height of the social media era.

The more info that comes out, the more it sounded like poor judgement. Regardless, a pretty sad situation for the victims and their families.
 
yea someone sent me that video of a helicopter crash and it is fake. As of now there is no confirmed footage of the incident, not that I care to see their final moments that much
 
[quote="MJDinkins" post=374451][quote="Mike Zaun" post=374449]Is that confirmed Dinkins? I saw it last night so wasn't that long after...ridiculous if people are posting fake videos out there about something so tragic. Regardless of a video or not, there was zero reason the chopper should've been in the air if LAPD choppers couldn't.[/quote]

I'm positive! Always do a follow up check on information. Particularly when it involves a very, serious situation. People have been doing stupid and inconsiderate shit for decades, so I don't expect to see anything different. It's probably worse now being we're at the height of the social media era.

The more info that comes out, the more it sounded like poor judgement. Regardless, a pretty sad situation for the victims and their families.[/quote] definitely people will put out fake info vids or whatever. Who knows what the final cause is yet but this is what my brothers opinion is who is a plane pilot and a helicopter pilot and he’s emergency landed a plane with me in it. Lol and emergency landed helicopters due to malfunctions in both

“ That particular helicopter always flys with a 2 pilot crew here in the northeast. Crazy that it only had one pilot. That helicopter is capable of flying in bad weather like fog if you’re flying strictly on the aircraft instruments going from airport to airport. Problem was that flight was being flown under visual flight rules where you need to see the ground. 2 completely different types of flying. Huge screw up that should never have happened. We fly strictly in visual flight rules so when it’s foggy we don’t fly. “
 
Last edited:
[quote="mjmaherjr" post=374478][quote="MJDinkins" post=374451][quote="Mike Zaun" post=374449]Is that confirmed Dinkins? I saw it last night so wasn't that long after...ridiculous if people are posting fake videos out there about something so tragic. Regardless of a video or not, there was zero reason the chopper should've been in the air if LAPD choppers couldn't.[/quote]

I'm positive! Always do a follow up check on information. Particularly when it involves a very, serious situation. People have been doing stupid and inconsiderate shit for decades, so I don't expect to see anything different. It's probably worse now being we're at the height of the social media era.

The more info that comes out, the more it sounded like poor judgement. Regardless, a pretty sad situation for the victims and their families.[/quote] definitely people will put out fake info vids or whatever. Who knows what the final cause is yet but this is what my brothers opinion is who is a plane pilot and a helicopter pilot and he’s emergency landed a plane with me in it. Lol and emergency landed helicopters due to malfunctions in both “ That particular helicopter always flys with a 2 pilot crew here in the northeast. Crazy that it only had one pilot. That helicopter is capable of flying in bad weather like fog if you’re flying strictly on the aircraft instruments going from airport to airport. Problem was that flight was being flown under visual flight rules where you need to see the ground. 2 completely different types of flying. Huge screw up that should never have happened. We fly strictly in visual flight rules so when it’s foggy we don’t fly. “[/quote]

People will use the death of someone and use a fake video, those people are.shit.
People like that should be slammed face first. I know there's decent people, but it's people like that, that I'm not a people person.
A.witness said that visibility was only 60 ft, but he got special clearance to fly, how is that possible.
Some things I'll never understand.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top