RIP Kobe

News just broke that Los Angeles Lakers icon Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas this morning. Five people were in the chopper; we still don't know who was traveling with him.

I can see the sour among the Twitter commentariat already stating that his death isn't important. That in the face of fascism, what does it matter that a pampered former athlete met his end?

They can go fuck themselves.

Los Angeles was a raw wound from the Northridge earthquake and the Rodney King uprising when Kobe showed up in town. Through sports, this teenager would help unite a city which was teetering. A community is not just about politics; it's also about the pastimes which bind us, the shared social interactions. We can criticize the outsized role sports have in our culture; but they do help to unite a fractured people.

Kobe, like so many people transplanted to LA (like me), made this his home. It's where he grew up. It's where he succeeded. And, fittingly, it's where he died.

Rest in peace, too soon gone, while others more deserving of a final quietus flourish.