The death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter in a helicopter crash earlier this year touched us all. Even those who weren’t fans of him at all felt the tremendous loss and grieved for his family who lost a husband, a father, a sister, and a daughter.
For some, like Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, the loss was much greater.
“As a kid, I watched every YouTube video, I watched every game. I would tell my Dad by the way he ran down the court, ‘Oh, this is going to be a post-up fadeaway. He set him up last time, this is a fadeaway.’ And it would happen. I just watched everything. He meant so much to me and then when I got to know him, I got to talk to him and then he followed me on Twitter, that blew my mind. (laughter) That was the day of my life, so to speak. Just getting to know him and talk to him, have conversation with him, just what he meant to me as an athlete…the Mamba Mentality is trying to be the best version of yourself every day.”
Carr grew up in Bakersfield California and was big into the Lakers. He literally grew up idolizing Kobe who was drafted by the Lakers in 1996, when Derek was five years old and the Lakers won their first championship in 2000, when Derek was nine.
It’s not hard to imagine what it would have been like to go from that to eventually getting to meet Kobe and form somewhat of a friendship. Then for him to be lost so tragically would be utterly devastating.
Derek knew that this season, he had to find a way to honor his hero and friend.
“What would be a cool way to honor Kobe Bryant?” Carr pondered. “He always wore an arm sleeve on his arm. I can’t wear one on my right arm, so I was like, ‘You know what, I’ll wear one on my left arm.’ It’s really just to honor Kobe. . . So, I’ll wear it all year and for the only reason to honor him and just what he meant to me as a kid growing up. That’s the extent of it. I don’t care about looking good unless it’s for how my wife wants me to look at dinner. It’s to honor Kobe and just what he meant to me.”
Many players will be honoring Kobe this season across all sports. A number change seems to be common. An arm sleeve seems a pretty good way to do it. Each time we see it, we’ll think of Kobe. And who knows, maybe it will help Carr conjure up some ‘Mamba Mentality’ on the field. If it does, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that sleeve stick around past this season.
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