[花邊]Obituary:Love story-Kobe died on 1/26

完整標題 Obituary Love story Kobe Bryant died on January 26th
The five-rings champion basketball player was 41

來源: https://tinyurl.com/slesoo3

https://www.economist.com/obituary/2020/02/01/kobe-bryant-died-on-january-26th

這是本期經濟學人雜誌的一篇文章，放在Obituary(訃聞)專區，用來悼念剛過世的名人

(btw 最近看Youtube影片都會自動推薦這個影片，個人覺得蠻適合放在一起播放
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 concreteor polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through itwith 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 concreteor polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through itwith 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.

每當被問到為什麼這一輩子都在打球時，Kobe總會想一下，答案可以是很簡單，
或是很複雜。一切就從那顆橘色的球開始算起、是那個味道、是那個顆粒的觸感
、是當球被緊抓在手上、是球在不同地板上反彈的聲馨、是投出的球穿過網子那
清脆的涮聲，以及伴隨而來的歡呼聲混雜著勝利的叫喊、各種戰術、閃躲、假動
作、球鞋尖銳的摩擦聲，場上的每一瞬間都讓他像回到孩童時期穿著七六人球衣
模仿著在同是職業球員的父親在電視上打球的動作那般心響神往。
就像他在2016年退役時寫的告別信

親愛的籃球，

就在那一瞬間，
當我捲起了老爸的長襪，
投進了腦海中的致勝球時，
我就知道了，
我愛你，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.

像一個瘋子一樣痴迷於訓練，沒日沒夜地，不是練投籃，而是要練投進，所以各種腳步
、各種角度、要如何擊敗各種對手可能的防守，一遍遍，一次次，每個細節都要做到滴
水不漏。直到場上見真章的時候，只需回想那再熟悉不過的動作。他把武器庫的技能都
琢磨的爐火純青，刺探步、花式腳步、後仰、籃筐後跳投。

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 caredabout being the best, winning games. Simple and plain.

20年的終生湖人，5座冠軍金盃，2度FMVP，史上第二高的單場個人81分，史上總得分第
三高的33643分(剛被LBJ打破)，卓越的表現帶給他3千萬美金的年收入讓他可以穿華服、住豪宅，更吸引NIKE等廠商捧著為他量身打造的球鞋合約請他代言，但是錢財、數據或
是粉絲並不是他所在乎的，畢竟粉絲說走就走，就如同2003年被指控性侵卻因撤案而無
從釐清的案件發生時，他只在乎做最好版本的自已，然後贏球，就這麼簡單。

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 aboy 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.

他對勝負的執著也讓隊友感到難以相處、刻薄甚至是沮喪。當他以最年輕的高中跳級生
身分被黃蜂隊選中並交易至LA紫金豪門湖人隊時，這個義大利長大的少年急於表現自已
，獨來獨往的刻苦訓練，其後更以一種如殺手般凶猛無情的毒蛇--黑曼巴自稱。在場上
要不到哨音，球隊在季後賽失利，特別在總冠軍賽分別敗給活塞和賽爾提克除了讓他絕
望並讓他矢志復仇。

On the court, lithe and nimble, he wanted every game for himself. Team-mates
thought him selfish, not passing enough and shooting far too much, missing
more shots in his career than anyone in nba history. He hit back at that,
since at least he stayed with one team and didn’t go off somewhere else; he
wanted the glory of winning the play-offs for the purple-and-golds, not just
himself. Yet he so loved the ball that it just seemed drawn towards his
hands. And he went on shooting, and shooting, not least because he sometimes
saved a game with a fabulous floater in the final seconds. Besides, airballs
too could look and feel good, good from trajectory to follow-through,
on-line, on target. Some people thought Mozart had too many notes.

太想要一肩抗起勝負的他是隊友眼中的球霸，三夾之內皆空檔，史上第一打鐵王，但他
堅持到底，一日湖人隊，終生湖人隊，在他帶領下，再度讓紫金王朝重返榮耀，他對球
的熱愛和自信，讓他從不懼怕出手，球進，帶勝利回家；不進，帶大家回家。

As in most love affairs, he had competition. One was Michael Jordan, the
greatest basketball player of the era, the Buddha on top of the mountain and
winner of six rings, whom he once asked for advice while he was guarding him.Another was Shaquille O’Neal, a charming giant who also played for the
Lakers, but infuriated him because he little-brothered him and did not train
like he did. (No one trained like he did.) To prove he was the best of
basketball’slovers, he would go on playing when he was hurt, shooting
left-handed when his right hand was injured, staggering on when ankles, kneesand back were all sore. If he decided he was playing, no manager or coach
could do anything about it.

I played through the sweat and hurt
/…because YOU called me.

(這一段應該是雙關，想不太該怎麼翻)球場上，即便是敵手的Jordan他也敢討教要怎麼
守他，就像孫悟空問如來佛祖要如何逃出五指山一般。即便是同隊的O'neal，因為不甘
人後，(而且不像他一般刻苦訓練)，為了爭取籃女神的芳心，受傷了?咬牙繼續打；右
手骨折?用左手繼續投；腳踝、膝蓋還有後背酸痛?還是要繼續上，總管或教練勸不動

He claimed to have no memory of the last game he played, though he scored 60
points in it from 50 shots. For a while his interests had been branching intomultimedia, writing, film-making and setting up a Mamba Sports Academy in
Thousand Oaks. But most of these still had basketball at the core. His
longest film, “Muse”, was about his career, and an animated short based on
“Dear Basketball” won an Academy Award. He gave motivating talks in America
and Asia in which all his life-lessons were carried over from the court. At
Thousand Oaks he coached his second daughter Gianna, among many others, in
how to play his way.

With a lover’s impatience, he increasingly took helicopters to get to and
from games, events, his office and the academy, in which case he might take
Gianna with him. Carpe diem, seize the day, was his motto, learned at school
in Italy; tempus neminem manet, time waits for no man. Bad weather would
hardly deter him.

他說已不記清那個狂砍60分的生涯最終戰，或許是他早已將目光投向寫作、電影以及曼
巴籃球學院，但這興趣仍是根基於籃球，他的紀錄片Muse講的是他的籃球生涯，金獎動
畫短片「親愛的籃球」是源於那封寫給籃球的告別信，那些激勵人心的演講也是基於從
籃球場上悟出的人生智慧，甚至曼巴學院也是為了要教二女兒Gianna以及有志籃球者如
何正確打球。
為解有情人相思之苦，他總是用最快的方式--直昇機--赴約，只為快一點到見面，帶上
Gianna一同踏上球場。Carpe diem(拉丁語，活在當下)這是他在義大利學到的座右銘。
tempus neminem manet(時間不等人)，沒有任何人可以阻擋他對籃球的熱愛，即便是惡
劣的天氣。

雖然這種轟轟烈烈的走法很有老大的風格，但是多希望這不是真的QQ
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→ realtw: 經濟學人?哈 原來加上這四個字 連人名都沒有的就變權威了 11/16 14:19
→ realtw: 我也是經濟學人 我權威嗎 11/16 14:19
→ realtw: 台日韓新某經濟學家=全世界=權威 11/16 14:21
→ realtw: 知道啊 經濟學人是英國一個小報啊 就是故意留梗啊 11/16 14:42

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