And welcome to another episode of Gymnasticsville. I'm your host, Midnight Robin. And today we have talk about the Simmons and Carrie Adderley on. I bring you today's show with a very heavy heart and horrific news that Kobe being Brian, my athletic heroes died in a helicopter crash yesterday.
And I thought it was important to just talk about this because I think the three of us, Kobe has meant a lot to us. And obviously, if you've listened to our shows over the last year and a half, we talk about basketball a lot. And we relate to a lot of these athletes and basketballs. At least I do.
And I'm going to let Taki and Carrie kind of talk to you about their feelings on this. But Taki and Carrie and I, we're on a group, what's that message? And I was just going about my day. And then Carrie is the first person to kind of reach out to us.
It messes us about Kobe Brian being involved in the helicopter accident, and that he passed away in the accident. And I just couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe that it happened. And I think the world right now was shot, the NBA family, basketball family.
I think anyone that was a fan of Kobe Brian and what he meant to basketball and what he did outside of basketball is just truly in shock in the morning right now. And I'm going to leave that debt right now, but I'm going to come back around to myself. But Carrie, you broke us the news first. Can you just kind of just talk about how the news came about to you?
And then how do you feel right now? Yeah, I saw it in another group chat, a couple, I saw a TMZ article, and then I clicked that website, it wasn't on. The website was shut down because I think a lot of people got that same kind of alert. And then saw a CNN article and I saw a variety article.
And I was like, oh, well, this could be real. Because at first I couldn't, you know, with TMZ, I don't take it too seriously. But they prematurely, they was preemptively put man, when it kind of broke out, when it was actually happened, it was tough. Like you said, you grew up watching Kobe.
I guess I wasn't much of a Kobe fan because I, you know, shackled to LA. So I was like, man, I wasn't really much of an LA fan. You know, even though I still like shack. But the fact is that they changed a lot in basketball culture, shacking Kobe.
Like I mean, so many people grew up watching him. So it was tough. 20 years in the league Kobe, Kobe was there, you know, from 2000 almost, you know, for a long time. It was there for a long time.
And so, you know, I got a funny Kobe story. So not funny. It's actually more funny about me because I'm the only injured myself. So I was dunking with the Sixers and I just got my first dunk gig.
And then of course, yeah, we got the dunk, the Lakers game. That was huge. First Lakers game, first time ever performed at a Lakers game. And obviously in Philly at the arena there.
And then, you know, so we were amped up, you know, we get one chance to go. And you know, first round of dunk is okay. I made my first dunk for a pass or something like that. And then the second round I had a dunk on my own, a solo.
And I shorted it right in front of Kobe. I shorted it. And he saw me laying on my face after the Sixers game. I'm pretty sure.
I remember that moment. I literally just kind of picked myself up and just ran off the court because I was in pain. But that's my glimpse with Kobe Bryant. My chance to impress him and I failed.
It was not more about. But I remember forever because at least I know Kobe was appreciative of the dunk team and the stuff that the guys did. So and then shout out to Bill Roth, Cross Point, Cross Point gymnastics. But put me on that.
And then, yeah, who else was on that team? Eddie Crane, Christian Crosby. But it was dope. I was a hair raiser and I got to perform for Kobe and still remember it.
So it was awesome man. Rest of peace, Kobe. You were the next kind of in our message that responded. Like I said, I was kind of doing a few things at the time.
I had my phone on me. What are your thoughts going on right now with you and Kobe Bryant? It's news. Well, it's really tough because I grew up watching him.
My entire sports upbringing was essentially Kobe's time. I think he got in the league at like 90, sweat, 96, 97 and 10 years old then. So I'm officially paying attention to sports. So I grew up with him.
So it was tough news because him being from Philly, I remember hearing about him all the time. My mother went to high school with his father. So she spoke of him. And so I followed his whole career.
I don't know. It's just it's really tough for me to talk about just because how he went about his life on the court was something that I admired a lot as a, you know, as someone who also took athletics really seriously. So you know, when you played basketball as a little kid, you know, you used to say, you know, you put up a jump shot. You say Kobe and that was kind of, you know, he was that.
He was that guy, you know. So he was a lot of my childhood, my sports, you know, when I think of sports, you know, think of basketball, you know, it's, I think Kobe first. I think Kobe, Iverson and then Jordan in my eyes. So for me, he's, he is my favorite basketball player.
So it was really tough, you know, and that's all really that, you know, I can obviously elaborate more on just other stuff, but I just think like, you know, who he was on the court was, you know, someone that I admired because his drive to win was, was super high. And coming from someone who also loved to win or I guess maybe even closer hated to lose, I just admired him out on the court and what he did for me growing up and, you know, someone to just look up to when it comes to his ability to really go after what he wants in life, you know, especially, especially as a basketball player. But yeah, it was very tough news, you know, it's still, it's still hard to me. You know, when I look at pictures, I was like, all right, hold on.
So you're telling me he's, you know, Kobe Bryant, you know, you know, unfortunately he passed away. And you know, and then it hit me even harder when I heard the news of his daughter, you know, his first his oldest, his oldest passing away as well as the, you know, the three other people on the plane on the helicopter. It's, you know, it's, it's rough to think about, you know, the family and how, you know, losing, losing, you know, the wife losing, you know, her first child and losing her husband. So there's a lot of just life hitting at once.
So, yeah. For me, when I first found out, it was a surreal moment and an unbelievable moment. Literally, I didn't believe it because in my mind, I'm thinking, wasn't it just last night that LeBron passed Kobe and scoring and then Kobe tweeted out, you know, changing the basketball. It's great.
Congratulations. And within 12 hours, Kobe's helicopter goes down. So that was the first thing. And even now I'm still coming to grips with it.
And it made me think about the power of an athlete that I've never met. I mean, obviously you mentioned, talk, our mother went to school with his father. He grew up in the area. So that was as much of the connection I've had with Kobe.
I've never met him, but, you know, he was 41 years old, a few years older than me. So I always looked at Kobe to a certain extent was like an older brother. And in a lot of ways, whenever I had a bad day in practice and whenever I had a bad competition, which was frequently, I wasn't the greatest competitor, it was always great to go home and turn on a Lakers game, even with you talk, because obviously we live together. So it was always great after I had a bad meet or a bad practice to go home and watch Kobe do his thing.
That was the one constant thing that always brought me up. Well, I had a bad day, but yeah, Kobe just scored 81 points. I had a bad day. Kobe just won a national championship.
And I had a bad day, but hey, people talking a lot of smack on Kobe, he shoots too much. He does this. He goes that. But he's got his fifth ring.
So obviously he's not that bad. He's a team player. So I just felt like a lot of the things that Kobe was going through, I could relate to him what was going on in my life. And I used him for motivation.
And he was my favorite athlete as well, growing up. So this hits me hard. It's still hitting me, but it just goes to show you the power that great athletes have over people in the world. I think right now the world is in mourning.
Like I said, I mean, I think so many athletes, non-athletes, fans are in complete shock. And when you look at our culture and sports, and we were talking about this earlier pre-show, that of all the great NBA players, of all the great athletes, this probably has to be the most horrific with the top athlete barely hitting 40 years old is gone from this world. You know, you got, cream up the ultra bars, number one on that list. Okay.
Carmelone is number two on the all-time points. Number three was LeBron. Okay. Then it was Kobe.
Okay. You still have Bill Russell alive. So you've all these great, great athletes, but Kobe's the one that left this world too, too soon. It's going to take me a little while to get over it because of how close I felt with Kobe, and I never met the man in my life.
So it also, you know, life is precious, and you don't know when you're going to go back to your maker. So I just think, I think at this point, is this, once again, is this another lesson in life that life is precious? It can be taken away at any moment. And you know, not to take too many things seriously in life, appreciate what you have, appreciate the family and people around you, appreciate the time that you're going to be spent on this earth because life is short, life is short, man.
And as we're talking about Kobe a little bit, Keri, so you talked about your Kobe moment. You probably were out of all of us, the closest that you got to Kobe. I'm never even going to a game where Kobe played. I was just a die-hard fan from a distance.
But is there any one moment from Kobe's basketball career or even after life? You know, like I said, the man want to Oscar his first time up in play. You know, he was writing children's books. He was a great, you know, great.
He was getting back to his family, you know, he loved Gigi and his wife and his kids and going to basketball games, coaching, you know, he was on his way to practice. If I'm out mistaken, he was on his way to practice and the other people in the game, he was on his way to a game. He was on his way to a game. He was on his way to Gigi.
You know, so, man, this is, this is, this is tough, man. This is tough. I'll say, yeah, you know, I've been to a couple of games where Kobe's played, man. And yeah, I mean, that's what Kobe Bryant did.
I've been, you know, I've actually been to a couple of games where he didn't do too too so well. But, you know, obviously that was like the first thing in my performing career. And so that was in 2007, Kobe had already won three wings. Right?
Yeah, by 2007, Kobe had already won three wings with Shaq. So you know, he was already, yeah, it was already like the peak Kobe Bryant at that point. So yeah, like that was, that was, it was a humbling entertainment experience for me. I'm telling you that set the tone for the rest of my entertainment career to learn how to not be starstruck or even like struck by, you know, your family or friends or people that you revere to make sure that you're focused in that moment, you know, of what you're doing.
And, you know, that was a part of Kobe, you know, say focus in the moment and do that. So after that point in my entertainment career, I mean, being so early in my entertainment career, like I'm glad, I'm glad that happened at that point and not later on, you know what I mean? And so, you know, yeah, it was like Kobe was teaching me a lesson and even know it, you know what I'm saying? So, it was great.
It was great to have been around those games and the atmosphere when he was doing things like that. Yeah, you know, you never really, I mean, you only seen him angry on the court and that's it. And I was really angry, you know, just he was so focused. So but another than that, you know, there was an honor, you know, it was a good deal.
You can be close to a guy, you know, it was caliber. So it was great. Talk any, any one moment where, you know, Kobe's had a lot of moments. I mean, you don't get number four all the time in points and win five championships.
A lot of moments. But is there any one moment that stuck out to you as far as like motivated you in your life at all? Um, I don't think so. Unfortunately, I can't.
It was, it will, no, not really. It was, it was, okay. I like freaking up and under. I mean, you said you come and murder nothing.
So I just, no, well, yeah, but the thing is it's, it's, well, yeah, the, the, no, that was a good one. And then the, the, the behind the back, you know, 360 off the break. That was, that was great. But you know, you know, that's just a moment that you remember, you know, him being great at playing basketball.
But for me, it was just, it was his unapologetically being who he was. That is something that I would probably take the most from him is that, you know, he wanted to win so bad. Like I remember game seven against Boston. And at home where he couldn't hit a shot, he was struggling, but he decided that he was going to get rebounds because he just knew that whoever won the rebound battle won the game and he just got rebounds instead and then to keep taking shots.
You know, I think of that. And then I also think of his, his final game where he was like, I'm going to do me today, like, like how everyone expects me to do me, but they didn't think that he would actually do it like that. And he just did it. You know, he put it with 50 shots score 60 points or something like that close to, you know, he scored over 60 points, but he just kept shooting because he knew that that's actually what the people wanted to see.
And he went against everyone that was like, well, Kobe takes too many shots and all that and all that and just was like, I'm just going to be me and I'm going to give the fans what they wanted. And it was his mentality that for me, just those are the things that I take with me. I can't think of one moment and stuff like that, but I take that stuff with me. But and for me, like I said, you know, he wasn't perfect, but it was his mentality and what he did for me as an athlete and the mentality that he gave me and helped get me through stuff about being strong and being driven to your craft.
And I think that's something that I learned so late in my career and I hate that and learned early enough. But now I really, you know, I try to give it to my athletes that I coach about, you know, being relentless in what you do. And if you have the ability to be relentless and be relentless because you owe it to yourself, if you actually say you love something and care about something to actually go for it with everything you got. And I think that's what Kobe's mentality was was just give it everything.
It's like, why I'm here right now? Why am I not going to be ultra focused on where I am and what I'm doing in this moment? And I think that speaks to just level of focus that everyone could try to adopt in life as being present, being the best of who you can be in those moments. So that's what I take from it.
And that's what I remember most of him, not any one moment. Yes, he was relentless. And for someone that came after Michael Jordan and emulated his his likeness, his career, or wanted to be not just like Mike, but better than Mike, I think that's what everyone or athletes try to do, you know. And even from a parent perspective, and you have kids, you want your kids to be better than you, you know, in a lot of different ways in life.
And he loved his family, loved his daughters, you know, his family is in my prayers. Hopefully they'll be able to get through this. You can only imagine what they're going through. But Kobe, thanks for the memories, man.
Thanks for living in life you have, because I can tell you that a lot of the accomplishments I have right now, you helped inspire in me. So that's why I wanted to have a show and talk to you guys while I called you guys up. I was like, hey, we got to do a show about this. You know, Kobe been a lot to me.
He was definitely my, you know, my favorite athlete. He was a hero to me. I followed his career extensively. So thanks, Kobe, for the memories, rest in peace.
And I pray for his family. Anything else you guys want to say? No, here we go. You said it right.
Just, you know, I wish everyone can, especially in this immediate family, I wish them all to, you know, I wish them to have the, you know, their chance to grieve properly. And, you know, I pray that his family, you know, continues to move forward in a way that makes them happy and, you know, or gives them some relief and happiness in the future. So, Gary, do you want to say, because we close out the show? Rest in peace, Kobe.
All right. I mean, not ripen. This is your Massey's bill, the voice of acrobatics. We'll see you next time.