From our correspondent in Los Angeles,
It is a story of love and loyalty. That of a kid who signed his first professional contract at 17, in the presence of his parents, and of a city to which he gave everything - five titles, his blood and his Achilles tendon - for twenty seasons with the Lakers. Three days after the brutal death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi in a helicopter accident that left nine victims on Sunday, Los Angeles continues to mourn its "Black Mamba" in collective mourning which recalls by its magnitude the one who had followed the death of Michael Jackson 11 years ago.
Almost everywhere in the city, murals (frescoes) by Kobe Bryant are transformed into places of pilgrimage where Angelinos and tourists stop to meditate. On Melrose Ave, a stone's throw from Fairfax High, where the Red Hot Chili Peppers started, the basketball player is immortalized in the air by 413 triangles - for the last game of his career, April 14 (4/13) 2016, when he said goodbye by scoring 60 points against Utah. "Kobe, you are LA", a fan wrote on a post-it note. Jonnyesha, who works at the Shoe Palace boutique, is struggling to find an empty space on a wall covered by 1,000 messages.
"I grew up with Kobe and Shaq, I almost felt like they were part of my family," she says. Michelle, she knew the basketball player. “I took care of the flowers at her wedding to Vanessa. He was 19 years old and she was 17. He didn't fit under the ark, we had to make one more than two meters high, ”she recalls. Her smile quickly disappears when she talks about Gigi's death. “Kobe and Vanessa had their ups and downs, but the family was everything to them. It is a huge tragedy. "
"Kobe taught me to never give up"
Another neighborhood, another atmosphere. Right in Central LA, where the Crips, one of the main gangs in the city, was still rampant a decade ago, the street artist MuckRock immortalized the basketball player and his daughter in a few hours, Sunday. "I was very moved, especially when I made the banner" Kobe & Gigi, Forever Daddy's girl "", she explained to CBS.
A jacket from the Lakers and their 16 finals on the back, David had come specially from Hawaii to attend the game between the Lakers and the Clippers, which was to take place on Tuesday but was rejected by the NBA. He explains, “Kobe, he was my mentor. He taught me to never give up, to always get up. Like when after having chained four elimination airballs against Utah, in 1996, at 18, the young player returned to Los Angeles at 3 am and spent the night - and all summer - improving his shoot. Journalist Roland Lazenby, author of a biography of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, summarizes: “No one has worked harder than him in training. His engine was his rage. He was the ultimate competitor. "
This “selflessness” is also what Darryl remembers: “I followed him from his first match to his last. He was a workaholic, and through his example, I was able to instill this value of effort in my son. When he heard the news of the basketball player's death, Darryl would not believe it, thinking of a TMZ error. “I called Ice Cube, which I know well. He texted Kobe. He never got an answer. For this fifties, the importance of the basketball prodigy for Los Angeles went far beyond the floors: "It happened in 1996. We were coming out of the riots after Rodney King and the OJ (Simpson) trial. All the kids grew up with Kobe and Shaq as heroes. Darryl sighs: "After the death of (rapper) Nipsey Hussle, Kobe. It does a lot for the community. "
Those who could not be there turn to social networks. C Terrence Anderson, director of the center for urban planning at the University of Minnesota but a native of Los Angeles, sums up this feeling of universality: “Kobe and his Lakers were our culture. When we played on the field, the floor or the carpet by throwing a ball of paper in the trash, we pretended to be Kobe. Everytime. "
Collective emotion at Staples Center
In the city center, passers-by take selfies in front of a famous painting by Kobe Bryant gripping with pride his flocked jersey of number 24. No one wishes to evoke the cloud that will hover forever over the legend of Bryant, accused of rape in 2003. The accuser had given up testifying after the controversial attacks by the player's lawyers, and the charges had been dropped - but the civil proceedings had ended in an amicable settlement accompanied by a check for two million dollars, according to the Los Angeles Times .
It was a stone's throw from there that the crowd gathered, in front of the Staples Center. It is here that the native of Philadelphia wrote the most beautiful pages in his history. Here he scored 81 points against Toronto in 2006. Here he won his fifth NBA champion's ring in 2010 after a thriller in seven games against Boston.
Flowers, photos, stuffed animals, basketballs, shoes… The central square of the LA Live complex has been transformed into a huge burning chapel in memory of the deceased hero and his daughter. Chants "Kobe, Kobe, Kobe" go up intermittently. Sitting on the ground, a father cries hot tears and hugs his wife and their three children in his arms. Further on, a woman prays on her knees. Jesse drove four hours to come and "celebrate" his idol.
The crowd is like Los Angeles and sport: cosmopolitan and without borders. Thousands of messages in English, Spanish or Chinese blacken a dozen five-by-two meter signs. When there is no more room, the chalk remains to write on the cobblestones. Some make it short: "RIP Kobe", "Mamba Mentality forever". Others write letters and share the trials that the champion helped them overcome.
A man places a bouquet of flowers. On his printed t-shirt, Kobe Bryant bows out in the Staples Center tunnel. It says: "Heroes come and go, but legends are eternal. Kobe Bryant's, shaped by records and sealed in tragedy, seems set to transcend generations.
Sport
Tributes to Kobe Bryant: NBA "devastated by tragic death" of player and daughter
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- Los Angeles
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