4:53 pm UTC Jan. 24, 2021
USA TODAY Sports is marking the first anniversary of the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant and eight others with a six-day series of stories, photos and videos looking back at the Lakers legend and the aftermath of his death.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Sitting on a couch in a music studio, Matt Mauser demonstrated how he used to react when a helicopter passed overhead.
Mauser thrust a middle finger toward the sky.
His wife, Christina, died alongside Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and seven others in a helicopter crash Jan. 26, 2020, leaving Mauser, 50, to raise three children.