cboothe09 said:

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Didn't particularly care for him as a player early in his career, but grew to respect his game. He will go down as one of the best to have ever dribbled a ball.

That isn't what hits me the hardest here. It was the family man he became after retirement. The father he was to those four girls. Those girls were his world, and to lose one of those girls in the crash makes this so much more tragic. Prayers to his wife and those three girls. I cannot imagine the pain of losing your father/husband and daughter/sister in the blink of an eye like that.

Same prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the others on that flight. So sad...

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Agreed. He made a good amount of mistakes and bad decisions early in his career, all stuff any of us could have done at that age with that much fame/money. But Kobe was special in that he was the perfect example of a how a person can grow and change.

The family stuff is just gut wrenching. He was doing everything right after retirement, helping kids, writing kids books, creating inspirational films. I never got to see him play unfortunately, but his era was THE era of NBA for me. I was lucky enough to get to listen to speak at a convention 2 years ago, and it was just amazing to listen to he. Extremely intelligent. Just a sad moment, and I can't get on social media much because it just makes my stomach hurt to see the videos and pics of him and his daughter.