Transcripts For CNNW Kobe Bryant Memorial Service 20200224

Daughters memorial as soon as it gets started. Omar is joining us now. Give us a sense of what its like in there. Reporter brianna, a lot of people are still filing in at the moment. We heard from the Staples Center that things would be starting a little after 1 00 eastern time. When you look at the stage and how everything is set up, basically everyone is seated around what would be center court in a normal basketball game, lots of roses surrounding. Were told a little over 30,000 roses are set up in place. There are instruments where we are likely to see a performance and choir earlier this morning. This is a chance for not just the family, for the bryants to reflect, but its for the public to get a sense of closure for an event that happened so suddenly that happened almost a month and a day ago at this point. When this gets going and you look around at people in here, there are some media members, people close to the family and things like that, but there are also many fans who paid money and in some cases went on a lottery just to get a chance to come in here. Tickets were sold between 2. 24, the significance of the date of the accident, 2 24 2020, and the amount that kobe and his daughter were together. His wife talked about this in the media as well. This is going to be a big celebration, a somber celebration at times, and this is going to be a celebration from people who knew kobe bryant and Gianna Bryant best. Tell us how this is going to unfold and who is going to speak. Reporter thats the thing, at this point we dont know the speakers. The people who are going in are finding some of that out, and we know that on the back of the pamphlet theyre getting that has all the sort of memorial on it, there is a quote from kobe to his daughter. But people are finding that out as it happens. They have been very tightlipped about what is going to happen. I can tell you that when the first game the lakers had after kobe died, i was inside, and they had shirts on every single seat, whether you came for the opposing team or you came for the lakers, and it had 24 on the back and 8 on the front, and those shirts symbolized, you know, what kobe brought to the Staples Center. His daughter gianna, were expecting to hear a lot more about her, a 13yearold who died on that fateful flight along with seven other people and her father kobe, but everything has a significance, as you were hearing omar say. The tickets themselves, do you know there were 80,000 people trying to get into that lottery that only had 20,000 tickets to sell . Every single one of them sold. They started at 24. 02, 24 being one of kobes numbers when he was with the lakers, the 2 signifying his daughter gianna, and then they went up to 224. And the date, of course, is significant. But we have seen thousands upon thousands of people who are really sharing their stories about kobe with one another while they stand in line, and nobody in l. A. Likes to stand in line because theyre always in traffic. It has been the most loving, peaceful, kind place that ive seen in a scenario like this, because everyone is waiting to stream in. And as they were doing so, they were sharing their love of what he did not only while he was on the team as a fivetime winner for the lakers and also an mvp, but also what he did to share what its like to come out of adversity, what its like to go through something, come out the other side and do something for the community. The mamba and Mambacita Sports Academy he and his wife founded, all the proceeds are expected to go to that. It was about kobe and his wife trying to lift girls up, show them they had the ability to become good citizens, be role models and could go into athletics with a strong mind. His daughter one of those who really wanted to be as good or better than her father, and she was working towards that when she died. Thats why people are here, not just because of the stories when he was a player, but after he became a player, won an oscar for a beautiful ode to basketball. A lot of people have seen what hes done after his time, but they are here to mourn him but they are also here to celebrate what he meant to the city. Sara, that is a beautiful picture you are painting even just as people heading into the Staples Center. Omar mannis, thank you as well. Were going to bring this tribute of kobe and his daughter gianna as soon as it begins. But were also following other breaking news. Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been charged with two out of five charges. Weinstein was taken into custody following this conviction, and jean casarez is outside the courthouse in new york. She has been following this entire trial as it has unfolded. Jean, to you first. Tell us what these convictions mean. Reporter well, this is truly a mixed verdict, right . As you said, the most serious counts, predatory sexual assault, which really have a life term as the maximum punishment. He was found not guilty of those. But with some of the others, and they are serious felonies, criminal sexual act in the first degree which is a maximum of 25 years, a minimum of five years, and then also rape in the third degree. Now, he was charged with rape in the first degree, and that was a not guilty verdict. But rape in the third degree he was convicted on, and that is up to four years in prison, but it is a probationary offense also. Someone can be put on probation for that. But it was a lot of the end, because prosecution wanted to remand him in custody and the defense really fought hard in court saying hes been to court every day, hes not well, his back, his eyes, and then also the fact that he was not convicted of the most serious charges. And i guess to help him, the judge is looking into the inf m infirmary for him to go to, which is obviously possibly better conditions, its like a hospital rather than the general incustody situation for someone who has just been convicted. But conviction on two counts. They are sex crimes, they are felonies, so he is remanded into custody. So i think a win for both sides, actually, today in a sense. And jean, reva martin is with us, civil rights leader. R ee vr reva, tell us whats going to happen with Harvey Weinstein. His defense team will be appealing probably with respect to one of the jurors who was writing or reviewing a book about older men who was a predator and sexually assaulting a younger woman, but also the addition of other witnesses. There werent just the two victims who were the subject of this trial, but there were also four additional women who were allowed to testify. So we should expect to see an appeal with respect to those two issues. I dont think we can underscore a major victory for victims all over this country. When you think back to 2017 before the stories that were written by the journalist exposing the conduct of Harvey Weinstein, and then the close to 100 women who have come forth since then and told their stories, i have been involved in these kinds of cases pre2000, so i know what it was like to try to move forward on a case where women were alleging that they have been sexually assaulted by a powerful man such azhar vs Harvey Weinstein. Women were ridiculed, harassed. They were put under a microscope and it was almost impossible to bring charges like this. Even though the prosecutors in this case did not get a guilty verdict on the two most serious charges, we cannot take lightly the seriousness of the charges in which they did receive a guilty verdict. Ar ee vareva, thank you, and thank you outside the courthouse there. You can see the dow is down a thousand points as more coronavirus appears. 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Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Lets take a look at the dow down over a thousand points there amid fears of the spread of the coronavirus. This, of course, wiping out most of the gains that the market has made so far this year. We are going to continue to take a look at this and bring you more information as it becomes available. We are at this point monitoring special live coverage on cnn coming to you from los angeles where a city in mourning since the loss of kobe bryant and his daughter is going to pay tribute to them at the Staples Center here in just a moment. Well be right back. As a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. At liberty butchumal cut. Liberty biberty cut. Well dub it. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Back to our breaking news now on wall street. There you see it now. The dow down about a thousand points. Its wiping out most of the gains the market has made this year. Lets go to cnns alisyn kosick who is at wall street. What is the fear of this now . Reporter over the weekend, the number of cases outside china doubled, so there is this complacency about wall street keeping an eye on the coronavirus. Now that weve got this news that the number of cases jumped and those cases were outside of china, that is essentially whipping wall street, and were seeing that play out in an index called the volatility index. It jumped 4 in one day. That is shocking traders. One trader coming up to me and saying this is all about anxiety, surprise and all the unknowns. Although its too early to tell what the price tag will be for the impact on the Global Economy with the coronavirus. Were already seeing the impact on china, and china is a huge player in the World Economy and has direct ties to how the u. S. Economy could react in this situation. Its part of the reason youre seeing this fear on wall street. One analyst, alice young, says this virus represents the most uncertain market that it has faced in years. In 2018 and 2019, it was the trade war between the u. S. And china that was really the wild card. I think now youre seeing the coronavirus being the x factor in 2020. Alison, thank you so much. Alison kosik at the New York Stock Exchange putting it into perspective as we see the dow go down a thousand points. In just moments, the public memorial for kobe and Gianna Bryant will begin as the city remembers a legend. Stand by. Oh not again oh, thanks you know automated lights are just the beginning. Pretty soon theyre gonna have eyes. Everywhere. Well goodnight. Geico. Over 75 years of savings and service. Rowithout the Commission Fees and account minimums. So, you can start investing wherever you are even on the bus. Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. Kelly clarkson whatre you doing on our sofa . Hey there whatre you doing on your sofa . Try wayfair. You got this woah. Yeah let me try all alright, get it blow it up thats what im talking about. Except thats my seat, so. All right, so maybe after the movie lets talk about that bedroom of yours when was she in our bedroom . [cheering] when you need the fuel to be your nephews number one fan. Holiday inn express. A book that youre ready to share with the world . Get published now, call for your free publisher kit today any minute the celebration of kobe bryants life and his daughter gianna will begin. They are packed in the Staples Center right now, bryants home court, to pay their respects. Weve been hearing stories from people outside Staples Center, gathering as they went in, stories of kobe bryant that made such an impact on them. Really just in contrast to the excitement of game day there at Staples Center, so many people who normally would be there for this moment. Lets listen. Yes. Im ready. Good morning and welcome to the celebration of life for kobe and Gianna Bryant and their friends, john, carrie and alyssa altibeli, sarah and payton chester, Christina Mauser and azra zabayan. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers in this difficult time and appreciate your love in coming to celebrate the life of these remarkable individuals. While this is a memorial event, the word celebration is very much a part of its purpose. And while we ask you to respect the solemnity of the occasion, we must not forget to celebrate the lives of kobe, gianna and their friends. There is no doubt he would have wanted that. To begin this event, a very close friend of the Bryant Family is here to show her love and support to vanessa and all the families here today. Please welcome Beyonce Knowles carter. Im here because i love kobe, and this is one of his favorite songs. So i want to start that over, but i want us to do it all together, and i want you to sing it so loud that he hears your love. Are you all ready . Love you. Your love is priceless ever even in the shadows baby, kiss me when they turn the lights out may your heart flow in and come into you so baby, kiss me before they turn the lights o out. All that i see is going to give you everything baby, love me lights out we dont have forever ooh, baby you better kiss me before the time has run out oh, yeah nobody sees when we see you better kiss me when i turn the lights out baby, the lights out in the darkest night hour search through the crowd i want to give you everything baby, turn the lights out you love me like xo i want to give you everything love me whith the lights out ooh ooh ooh ooh. I found a way to let you in but i never really had a doubt standing in the light of your halo that my angel would awaken never going to shut you out never going to let you down surrounded by all the praise baby, i can see your halo. Pray it wont fade away halo, halo, halo halo, halo, halo ooh, halo, dont fade away halo, dont fade away, away, away, away halo, dont fade away halo, dont fade away halo, dont fade away halo, dont fade away halo, dont fade away halo im confused ooh, im confused he will be your, oh your halo [ cheers and applause ] well, he might be only 18 years and five months old, but this guy can do everything the veterans can do and do it better, perhaps. Kobe bryant. Please welcome kobe bryant. If you work hard enough, dreams come true. Those times when you get up early and you work hard, those times you stayed up late and you work hard, those times when you dont feel like working, youre too tired, you dont want to push yourself, but you do, anyway. That is actually the dream. Thats the dream. Its not the destination, its the journey. If you guys could understand that, then what youll see happen is that you wont accomplish your dreams. Your dreams wont come drew, something greater will. You guys will always be in my heart. I sincerely, sincerely appreciate it. No words can describe how i feel about you guys. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I love you guys i love you guys what can i say . Our thanks go out to beyonce for being with us today and for expressing her love so beautifully. Another good friend of the bryants and the laker family is here to guide us through this mornings celebration. Will you please welcome jimmy kimmel. [ applause ] you picked the wrong person to guide you through, im going to tell you that right now. I want to thank everyone for being here and thank you for gathering to celebrate the lives of alyssa altobelli, her parents, sarah chester, Christina Mauser, azra zabayan, Gianna Bryant and kobe bryant. This is a sad day, but it is also a celebration of life, of their lives and of life itself in the building where those of us who are lakers fans and kobe fans celebrated so many of the best times of our lives. And im honored to have been asked to speak here. The proceeds from the tickets you bought go directly to the mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation which supports youth sports in underserved communities. I also encourage you to go to mambaon3. Org to give to the mamba on 3 fund which was coordinated to provide support to the mauser and zabayan families. I can only imagine how difficult this is for them. I dont think any of us could have imagined this. Everywhere you go, you see his face, his number, gigis face, gigis number, at every intersection. There are hundreds of murals painted by artists who were inspired not because hes a basketball player but because kobe was an artist, too. And not just in l. A. , across the country in kobes hometown, philadelphia and italy and india, the philippines, china, new york, phoenix, boston, for gods sake. In places where you would be booed on the court, kobe is missed. Even the great Boston Celtic bill russell wore number 24 on a lakers jersey to yesterdays game. I knew he would come to us eventually. Today were joined by kobes teammates and opponents alike, his friends, his family and his fans, as we try to make sense of what happened to these nine Beautiful People who were by all accounts so full of life, who left behind parents, friends, coworkers, classmates, siblings and children. Ive been trying to come up with something positive to take away from this, and it was hard because there isnt much, but the best thing i think i was able to come up with is this gratitude. It seems to me that all we can do is be grateful for the time we had with them and for the time we have left with each oth other, and thats all. In the catholic church, you know, which the Bryant Family is part of, at mass we share the sign of peace. This is a moment to hug or shake hands with people around you, and it occurred to me that that is something that only seems to happen at church and at sporting events when perfect strangers who love the same team are suddenly hugging and highfiving and celebrating together. So since we are here today to celebrate, id like to invite you right now to take a moment to say hello to the people around you, whether you know them or not, to be grateful for life and for the fact that we are all here together. Now id like to introduce a person who invited us all here today on 2 24, but she knew we needed it. We cannot celebrate the lives of kobe and gigi and all the people we lost without honoring the woman that kobe and gigi loved most. Please welcome vanessa bryant. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. Thank you all so much for being here. It means so much to us. Love you, too. First id like to thank everyone for coming today. The outpouring of love and support that my family has felt from around the world has been so uplifting. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. Id like to talk about both kobe and gigi, but ill start with my baby girl first. My baby girl. Gianna bryant was a sweet soul and she was very thoughtful and always kissed me good night and good morning, and there were a few occasions where i would be up from being with bianca or capri, and i would text and say no reply, but she would say i kissed you but i didnt want to wake you. She was so thoughtful to remember to kiss me every day. She was daddys girl but i know she loved her mama. She was one of my very best friends. She loved to bake. She loved putting a smile on everyones face. Last august she made a beautiful birthday cake for her daddy, and it had faondant and had blue crystals. It looked like it was professional baked. She loved baking cookies and loved watching sports with her daddy, and disney. Her smile was like sunshine. Her smile took up her entire face, like mine. Kobe always said she was me. She had my fire, my personality and sarcasm, and she was tender and loving on the inside. She had the best laugh. It was infectious. It was pure and genuine. Kobe and gianna naturally gravitated towards each other. She had kobes ability to listen to a song and have all the lyrics memorized after listening a couple times, it was their secret talent. She was an incredible athlete. She was great at gymnastics, soccer, softball, dance, and she was a great dancer, too. She loved to swim and do cartwheels and jump into the swimming pool. Gigi was confident but not in an arrogant way. She loved helping and teaching other people things. At school she offered the Boys Basketball coaches to help give the Boys Basketball team some pointers, like the triangle offense. She was very much like her daddy and they both liked helping people learn new things and master them. She was very sweet, she was always making sure everybody was okay and she was our shepherd. She loved family traditions, and family movie night was important to her. She was very in tune with our feelings and wanted the best for us. Gianna was smart, she knew how to read, speak mandarin, and she knew spanish and had great grades and kept them up all while becoming a great basketball player. She was directors assistant for her school play just like her big sister. She was looking forward to graduating eighth grade and moving on to high school with her big sister, natalia. I am so happy she was given the opportunity to know that she was accepted to the same high school. She was really happy. Gianna made us all proud and she still does. Gianna never tried to conform. She was always herself. She was a nice person, a leader, a teacher, wearing a white tee, black leggings and converse and a flannel tied around her waist was her goto style. She had rhythm and swag since she was a baby. She gave the best hugs and kisses, and she had gorgeous soft lips like her daddy. She would hug me and hold me so tight i could feel her love for me, and i loved the way she looked up at me, and it was as if she was soaking me all in. I miss her so much. She was so energetic. I could not keep up with her energy. She left natalia and i are on track once, and she was about six years old. We let her have a head start and she still dusted us. I miss her sweet kisses and cleverness, and i miss her sarcasm and her witt, and that grin followed by a first of laughter. We shared the same cat that ate the canary grin. She was sunshine and she brightened up my day every day. I miss looking at her beautiful case. She was always so good. A rule follower. I knew i could always count on her to do the right thing. She was the most loving daughter, and thoughtful little bigger and silly big sister. She often helped to carry the baby bag, and she loved helping with bianca and capri. I used to tell gigi i thought coco thought she was her favorite sister. P we will not be able to see gigi go to high school with natalia and ask her how her day went. We did not get a chance to teach her how to drive a car. I wont be able to tell her how negotiate just she looks on her wedding day. I will never get to see my baby girl walk down the aisle, have a fatherdaughter dance with her daddy, and dance on the dance floor we me or have babies on her own. Gianna would have been an amazing mommy. She was very maternal since she was very little. Gigi most likely would have become the best player in the wnba. She would have made a huge difference [ applause ] she would have made a huge difference for Womens Basketball. She wrote papers in school defending women and wrote about how the unequal pay difference for the nba and wnba leagues was not fair. They knew her goal was to play in the wnba, and i am still so proud of gianna, and she was kind to everybody she met for the 13 years she was here on earth. Her class mates shared many fond stories with us, and those stories reminded us that no act is too small to make a difference in somebodys life. She was always, always considerate of others and their feelings. She was a happy, kind, silly, thoughtful and loving sister and daughter. She had so much life and had so much more to offer this world. I cannot imagine life without her. Mommy, natalia, bianca, and carp carpri love you and miss you, gigi. I miss you, all of you, every day. I love you. Okay. Now for my soulmate. Kobe was known as a fierce competitor on the Basketball Court. The greatest of alltime, a wri writer, an oscar winner and the black mamba. But to me he was kobe kobe, by boppy chew low. I was his bebe, his queen mama, mamba, his vessy, manneeky, fabuleeky. He was my husband and the beautiful father of my children. He was mine. He was my everything. Kobe and i have been together since i was 17 1 2 years old. I was his first girlfriend, his first love, his wife, his best friend, his confidant and his protector. He was the most amazing husband. Kobe loved me more than i could ever express or put into words. He was the early bird and i was the night owl, and i was fire and he was ice, and vice versa at times. We balanced each other out. He would do anything for me. I have no idea how i deserved a man that loved and wanted me more than kobe. He was charismatic and a gentleman, and loving and adoring and romantic. He was truly the romantic one in our relationship. I looked forward to valentines day and our anniversaries every year. He planned special anniversary gifts for every year, and he thought outside the box and was so thoughtful even while working hard to be the best athlete. He would give to me the actual notebook and the blue dress Rachel Mcadams wore in the notebook movie. And it was because it was the scene when alley comes back to noah. We hoped to grow old together like the movie. We really had an amazing love story. We loved each other with our whole beings, and two imperfect people raising a beautiful family. A couple weeks before they passed kobe sent me a sweet text and mentioned how he wanted to spend time together, just the two of us without our kids because i am his best friend first. We never got the chance to do it. We were busy taking care of our girls and just doing our regular everyday responsibilities. But im thankful i have that recent text. It means so much to me. Kobe wanted us to renew our vows. He wanted natalia to take over his company and he wanted us to travel the world together. We talked about how we would be the fun grandparents to our daughters children. He would have been the coolest grandpa. Kobe was the mvp of girl dads, or mvd. He never left the toilet seat up. He always told the girls how beautiful and smart they are. He taught them how to be brave and how to keep pushing forward when things get tough. When kobe retired from the nba, he took over dropping off and picking up our girls from school sp since i was at home pregnant with bianka and nursing capri. He was late one time, and we most definitely let him know that i was never late. So he showed up one hour and 20 minutes early after that. He always knew there was room for improvement and wanted to do better. He was a doting father, a father that was hands on and present, and he helped me bathe bianka and capri almost every night. He would make them laugh and smile as he got them ready for bed. He had magic arms and could put capri to sleep in only a few minutes, and he had it down to a science, eight times up and down our hallway. He loved taking bianca to the koi pound. He showed the love of movies and breakdown of films with natalia. They would have movie marathons and he enjoyed every second of it. He loved the typical tearjerkers, too, and he loved watching step mom, steal magnolias, and little women. He had a tender heart. Kobe knew where i was at all times, specifically when i was late to his games. He would worry at me if i was not in my seat at the start of each game and would ask security where i was, and my smart ass would tell him he was not going to drop one points within the first ten minutes of the game. I think anybody with kids would understand that sometimes you cant make it out the door alltime, and eventually he got used to my tardiness and bawled out. He loved being giannas basketball coach. He told me he wished he would have convinced natalia to play basketball so they could have spent more time together, and he also wanted her to pursue her own passion, and he watched her play volleyball, and he was convinced she would have made a great point guard with her vision of the court, and he told me he wanted bianca and capri to take up basketball to spend time with him just like he did with gigi. Now they wont have their daddy and sister here to teach them and thats truly a loss i do not understand. I am so thankful kobe heard coco say dada. He is not here to drop them off at kindergarten, and he will not be here to tell me to get a grip when we have to leave the kindergarten classroom, and he is not going to be able to walk our girls down the aisle or spin me around on the dance floor, and i want my daughters to remember the amazing person, husband and father he was, the kind of man that wanted to teach future generations better and keep them from making his own mistakes. He always liked working and doing projects to improve kids lives. He taught us all valuable lessons about life and sports through his nba career and his books and his podcast series. We are so thankful he left that behind for us. Gigi had his ability to make you feel her love through his words. Everybody naturally gravitated towards them. They were funny, happy, silly, and they loved life. They were so full of joy and adventure. God knew they couldnt be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to have them together. Babe, you take care of our gigi. I got nat, bb and coco, and were still the best team. We love and miss you, booboo and gigi. May you both rest in peace and have fun in heaven until we meet again one day. We love you both and miss you forever and always, mommy. The speaker from whom we are about to hear was very special to the Bryant Family. She is their dear friend who is also a fourtime olympic medalist, and three time ncaa champion, and if thats not enough to convince you shes one of the best of alltime, he nicknamed her after himself. Please welcome the white mamba, diana taurasi. My name is diana taurasi. Thanks, jimmy, you stole my first joke. I am the white mamba. I would first like to offer my deepest condolences to all the families who lost a loved one. In 1996 i was a awkward freshman in high school, obsessively shooting night after night in my driveway. On the nights the lakers played i wouldnt miss a second of the game. Every timeout, every commercial, i would run to their front yard to imitate my favorite laker, kobe. On a few lucky occasions my dad would come home from work. He was a metal sheet worker in los angeles he would come home with laker tickets. Watching kobe play at the Great Western forum as a rookie made this little girl believe she could be a laker one day. It was like getting to know myself every single day. He made it okay to play with an edge that borderlined crazy. Early on the mamba mentality was in full effect. Years later when i spent time with kobe at the olympics, i learned firsthand it was not limited to the Basketball Court. His competitive fire ran through his veins just like many of us today. Every single workout i end the same way, with the kobe game winner. Three hard dribbles going right, left foot plant pivot, swing right leg through, elevate, square up, followthrough. I remember when i got to go home and its that exact same shot that won us the championship in phoenix in 2014. Kobes willingness to do the hard work and make the sacrifice every single day inspired me and resinated with the city of los angeles we struggled together. We grew together. We celebrated victories together. The same passion we all recognized in kobe obviously gigi inherited. Her skill was undeniable at an early age. I mean, who has a turn and fadeaway jumper at 11 . Lebron barely got it today. But it was her curiosity about the game that was pushing her to pick up the basketball every single day. Gigi was in the midst of the best time of a basketball players career, no expectations or responsibilities, just basketball with your best friends. Every weekend was a new adventure, an opportunity to work and Grow Together as a unit. As a young kid theres nothing you look more forward to than a long hot day in the gym with your homies. I am sure i am not the only one that received a text from kobe asking what drills to do when they were 13. Gigi in many ways represents the future of Womens Basketball, a future where a young woman aspires to play in the wnba the same way i wanted to be a laker. Gigi had goals to play for uconn, and that showed her fearless mentality. She represents a time when a young girl doesnt need permission to play. Her skill would command respect. The last time i saw gigi, there was a big tournament and kobe brought them into the locker room to watch practice. I always remember the look on gigis face. It was a look of excitement, a look of belonging, a look of fierce determination. As a daughter, a sister wife and mother. We embrace svanessa, natalia, bianca and capri. We promise to carry out kobes. Just as her father was to her next speaker, mentors know no gender, and one of giannas friend. Please welcome allteam leader in ports and assists in field goals, sabrina lonescu. Growing up i only knew one way to play the game of basketball. Fierce with obsessive focus. I was unapologetically competitive. I wanted to be the best. I loved the work even when it was hard. Especially if it was hard. I knew i was different, that my drive was different. I grew up watching kobe bryant game after game, ring after ring, living his greatness without apology. I wanted to be just like him, to love every part of the competition, to be the first to show up and the last to leave, to love the grind, to be your best when you dont feel your best and make everybody around you the best version of themselves, and to wake up and do it again the next day. Thats what i did, wake up, grind and get better. Wake up, grind and get better. A year ago, my team, oregon was playing at usc. The morning of the game our coaches told us there was a surprise for the day, and i was thinking nike sent us new shoes or swag or something, and shortly kobe walked in his daughter, gianna and two of her teammates. They sat courtside while my jaw sat dropped. They watched the entire game and that was the first time i met kobe. Kobe, gigi and her teammates came into the locker room after the win, and he congratulated us on the win, and he said dont shoot yourselves in the foot, and he meant dont stop grinding, and i remember gigi excited and smiling in the locker room. I would always watch a ton of film playing basketball, and she had a better fade away than mine. She had the will and determination to play wherever she wanted to go, and she and her teammates hung out with us for a while, starstruck and a little shy but always observing. Whichever school she would come to choose, it doesnt matter f. I represent the present of the womens game, gigi was the future and kobe knew it, so we decided to build a future together. I worked out twice with gigi over the summer, and i had gone down to help kobes team, and gigi had so much of her dads skill set. She smiled all the time, but when it was game time, she was ready to kill. I remember one time somebody grabbed her jersey and she sort of just knocked them down and stepped right over them. Me and kobe looked at each other and kobe said smiling, i dont know where she learned that from. I laughed, and i said i do. You cant teach that, not at that age, and kobe was right, she just had it. She always wanted to learn, to go to every game she could, all college, nba, wnba, and kobe was helping with that because he saw it in her, just like he saw it in me. His vision was bigger for others than what they saw in themselves. More importantly, he did not show up in my life and leave, he stayed. We kept in touch, always texting, calls, game visits, and i would drop a double and have a text with him, and another triple a flex emoji. I felt pressure early on in the season, and he wrote, be you, it has been good enough and that will continue to be good enough. He taught me his stepback, and he told me if i could bring that to my game it would be over for any defender trying to defend me. He taught me how to angle might foot which liked to kick out and how much power to push off with. He was giving me the blueprint. He was giving gigi the same blueprint. He united us. He made it so that the outsiders who outworked everybody else, and they were driven to be different every single day, and to make those behind them, above them every single day, and i wanted to be part of the generation that changed basketball for gigi and her teammates, where being born female did not mean being born behind. You have too much to give to stay silent. Thats what he said and thats what he believed, and thats what he lived through his investment in gigi and me and in Womens Basketball. Basketball in many ways was just a metaphor. I still text him even though hes not here. Thank you for everything. The rest is for you. Rest easy, my guy. The last one i sent him said, i miss you and may you rest in peace, my dear friend. It still feels like hes there on the other end, and sometimes i find myself still waiting for a response. Its so strange to describe him and gigi in the past tense. You dont get used to that. Nobody tells you that about grief. The week after the accident i was in colorado and i had a game and like i do before every game i pray. This time i was thinking about kobe and gigi. His voice is still in my head even if he is not still on this earth. All i wanted was a sign he still heard me, too. I looked off into the sky and there it was, a beautiful golden sunset. The beautiful yellow, lakers yellow, and then appear helicopter off in the distance. A sign he will always be with me. From one of his books, today may feel like darkness, and he was in so many ways, a sun, beaming, radiating and fixed in the sky. I ask each of you, every girl dad, every human here with a voice, a flat form and a heart to not let his sun set, and shine for us in our sport as he once did, and in the end she was a sun just starting to rise, and god, did she glow. My their light forever shine. G gigi and kobe, i will love you forever. Among the many dreams that the lovely gianna would have realized in her life, was playing for the huskies of uconn. One of the highlights of her and her fathers lives was the visit they made to the kpacampus in mh of 2019. Here to speak is the coach of the huskies, geno oriama. There are some amazing women in this room, arent there . [ applause ] and you just heard from three of them. I am the coach of the uconn Womens Basketball program. A lot of people are going to talk about basketball today, and i dont know that thats why i am here. I am not here for the basketball part. I tried to write a long flowing speech about basketball and i cant do it. Theres too many thoughts in my head every since vanessa asked me to speak, too many things that made me realize more that im here as a father, not as a basketball coach. Us italians, were very, very emotional people. Right, mike . Hes half a tank. The thoughts i started to have after i was asked to speak were obviously about all the people that were onboard. And if you are a father, a grandfather, you feel a different a different kind of emotion when there are children involved. Because this is always about the children. Weve lived our lives. We have a little bit left, and they are just starting their lives. And then my next thought came to the original team that kobe was responsible for, natalia, bianca, capri and vanessa. Because were always teammates, you know . Were always on a team. Sometimes its a big team and sometimes its a small team, and thats the most important team. And kobe and i shared some history. He started in italy and went to philadelphia, and then went to the limelight and the lights and glamor of l. A. I was born in philadelphia, and went to philly and went to the cows, and that was a joke because theres no lights or glitz and glamor in the stores of connecticut. And how ironic that he would talk to me about coaching. The uncoachable one wants to talk about coaching. Probably the most uncoachable player in the nba during his career wants to know about coaching, and i wanted to know why. He said, im coaching my daughters team. I said, oh, my god. That poor kid. So when i watched highlights of her playing and on about the third or fourth time she touched the ball, gianna passed it when she was open. I thought shes not listening to her father. So he would call and say, what kind of defensive drills should i do . We have practice tonight and we want to work on defense . What do you think is the most important thing in teaching mantoman . Further proof he never listened to one word any of his coaches told him. So i would try and explain, kobe, they are 13 years old and i think you ought to say, hey, see the kid with the ball and try not to let her go by you, and if you are guarding the other guys, see that kid, dont let her throw the ball to that guy, so keep it simple, you know. He said, no, i want to know the rotations when they drive i said, come on. Those are the conversations we had as basketball people and dads that ever coached your kids, if you have ever been in that situation like a lot of people in the room here have been. I remember when gigi gacame, as you saw in the video, i remember the very first game she came to, and she came into the locker room. Here she is, and the look on her face, the smile, the way her eyes just took everything in, how excited she was to be around in her mind royalty. Its ironic. Her father is royalty, and shes excited to be around royalty that looks just like what she wants to be. And the most impressive thing about that point in time was how kobe stepped as far back as he could so anybody taking pictures, anybody there would not know that this was kobe bryants daughter. This was her moment. This was her time to shine. This was her time to experience all the things that hes experienced his whole life. He was being dad. He wasnt being kobe bryant. He was allowing gigi to be gigi, not kobe bryants daughter. In todays day and age, thats a hell of a thing for parents to be able to do. Im going to leave you with just two things. We got a letter oh, i got to tell you you didnt see it, but she did meet the Womens Basketball team, and they all gathered around and said do you want to take a picture. Everybody ran over, and gigi goes, no, im good. She knew where her heart was. You know that little sarcasm, im good. And when they came to uconn and sat behind the bench and theres dad bringing his daughter to a game, and they had their shirts on and she has this coat on and she has her hat on and shes just a little kid at a game, and again, i felt more like a dad than a basketball coach, because i have done that with my kids. Lastly, number 24, number 8 and number 2. Those are basketball numbers. Those are numbers in the past. Those are numbers were not going to get back. What we do have is today, how many numbers of kids like diana have been inspired to do more, to work hard, to strive for more. The numbers we also dont have is how many numbers of kids in the future, how many women are going to be inspired by gigis life . How many fathers are inspired by kobe to be fathers, to really be fathers, the way a father is supposed to be . In this room theres an incredible amount of talent. In this room theres maybe the greatest collection of talent that i have ever been around. But in this room theres a family and theres still a team back home and they still have a great coach and i am going to be rooting for that team from here on end. Thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you, coach. Now i want to play for uconn Womens Basketball team. Our next speaker is the general manager of the los angeles lakers. Before that he was kobes agent and most notably for our purposes today he is one of kobes closest friends and godfather to gigi. Please welcome rob polinka. The world knows kobe has a basketball legend but i have been blessed for 20 years to know him as so much more. He had three sides i hope to honor today. Kobe the best friend. Kobe the dad and kobe the husband. I will start with kobe the best friend. Do you remember where you were on that foggy sunless morning on january 26th when the axis of the world seemed to shift for all of us. I was in sunday church with my family and my phone was deep in my jeans when i noticed the text buzz, and i ignored it at first, and then i felt the urge, and i slipped it out of my jeans and it was from kobe. Nothing uncharacteristic or unfamiliar about this. For the last two decades kobe and i talked or texted every single day, because thats what best friends do. And in that moment my instincts were to put the phone down and get back to the message. And then i looked at the text, and kobes question did not have any urgent to answer the question, and i thought i would wait to respond. Then again, there was a gentle nudge. I texted him back and was happy to help him with whatever he wanted. It was just now past 9 30. Kobe texted back wanting to secure a baseball intern ship for one of his young daughters, and he vouched for the girl. I texted kobe right back and said i would put a plan in motion to help him get that done. A handful of minutes later kobe and gianna and seven other beautiful souls ascended into heaven. Kobe had been texting me from the helicopter. The girl in that text that he was wanting to help so badly was lexialotbelli. He wanted to use his platform to bless and shape a young girls future. Hasnt kobe done that for all of us . Kobe was literally the best friend anybody could ask for. He always chwould always buzz w excitement when somebody he loved would each even a simple goal. With any achievement kobe was always the first to call. This was one of his greatest gifts as a friend and something i will forever miss. Theres one story that shows this beautiful side to kobe. As vanessa shared in the years following his retirement kobe was often one of the first carpools to pick up his daughters from school. With kobe in poll position, my kids who attended the same school got to see him often, and he would greet them with enthusiasm if they had done Something Like won student of the year. My daughter had big tears in her eyes the other day, and i asked her why, and he said whenever kobe would see me, he would scoop me up in his arms and raise me high above his head, and kobe made me feel like i was queen of the world. Kobe made every moment magical as if it was in a fantasy novel. This is one of the cases when kobe and my family went camping. At each turn kobe made everything an adventure, especially for the kids. And, of course, with all the wilderness activities we did, they had to be done to the nth degree. No short cuts. Kobes enthusiasm and joy for all things life made that trip one for a lifetime. Another remarkable friendship quality of kobes is he mastered the art of making the things his friends loved things he loved. When i got the lakers gm job, kobe would often say my life and his life flipflopped. Instead of him i was now the one with the regimented lakers schedule of practices, games and road trips. I was the one with the daily commute up the 405. On the flip side, kobe was home doing work from his favorite spot in the world. Living with the demands of the nba career, kobe understood the demands it would make on my family, and so kobe and vanessa would check in on them and even celebrate holidays like halloween with them. Kobe lived to make other peoples lives better, even up to his final text. The day after kobe was gone, i was at home and feeling totally lost. I could not imagine life without the strength and guidance of my best friend. As part of my grieving i felt an overwhelming need to connect with something tangible that represented our friendship, a picture, a voicemail, something he left behind. And my wife reminded me of the book kobe gave to me, and on the inside cover he penned in with his own pen, these two words, to rp, my brother, may you always remember to enjoy the road, especially when its a hard one. Love kobe. Kobe wrote these words to me just a few months ago. Now i realize that perhaps they were meant for us all. Kobe, my brother, this road is so so hard and i dont know how to journey on without you. But i know you want us to keep goi going and our memories with you will give us strength to somehow move forward. As you wrote even in the valley of unimaginable loss we will somehow find a way to have joy. On to kobes next side. Kobe, the dad. When he retired from playing basketball people asked me how i thought he would fuel his competitive drive. The answers came in a couple surprising ways. The first was in a new sport, tennis. Right after kobe started playing for the lakers we took up tennis in newport beach. We began having epic oneonone battles. I picked the game up faster than him so early on he would fall behind and that did not sit well with kobe at all. So what does the black mamba do . The next time we met at the club, there he was sitting there with a sweat. He secretly reached out to the clubs pro for secret private lessons but did not share that with me. We loved the memories and stories we would share on one of the beautiful california mornings. Coaching giannas youth basketball team. He talked constantly about his dream to create the best youth basketballs team on the planet. He did. It started with his individual work with gigi and quickly spread to all the girls on team mamba, and the individual drills and the set plays and the triangle cuts and defensive schemes. It was all kobes masterpiece. I will never forget when kobe challenged my sons allstar team to his mamba team. Yes, girls versus boys. He hosted a game, and he coached from the bench but rarely said anything. They were so well prepared, functioned like a swiss watch, and our boys got smashed. Kobe and gigi took it all in stride, and thats what the mambas do. I remember when kobe turned 40, to celebrate our families flew to cabo to spend a long weekend at one of the most beautiful ocean estates in the world. What was the one thing kobe wanted to do in this beautiful setting, watch the mamba team with gigi and me. This was a representation of how deeply he loved his daughters. At the center of all this was his precious gigi, who my wife and i are blessed to be the god parents of. From the moment we dressed her in the white dress as an infant. Gigi was an incredible combination of strength, courage, grace and dignity with a witty sense of humor that was captivating. She smiled with her glittering eyes and was everything in the world that is good. At our home, gianna and her sister, natalia have become the gold character for kindness. Simply put, gigi was kobes pride and joy on the Basketball Court and you could see it with every move she made, and with nat, the two shared movies, and they had a common language built on joy. They could remember movie lines and sing disney songs. Kobe and around young children, he was like santa claus. He would make kids mismile, lau and love. Kobe met a make a wish kid, and it was as if heaven came down to the real world. This is how he would love and father his daughter, bb. Every moment of bb was in awe. Kobe also had an energy level that would match bbs. When the two of them would play, i imagine a world coming alive where toy animals would dance, and teacups would sing and rainbows would shine. I never had seen anything like the two of them playing together. If you think kobes hands were good with the basketball, you should see how good they were with his daughter, coco. He had the touch to put her to sleep, and he was literally the ba baby whisperer, and kobe would never miss a detail of his daughters lives. He would spend hours on the phone connecting and listening to the stories of their days. He just loved his girls and there was nothing in the world that meant more to him. I remember being in the tunnel with kobe right over there, the last time he would wear his purple and gold. Kobe fist bumped each of his daughters before he ran out the tunnel, and he said heres what you do when the world tells you you cant do it anymore. Kobes 60 points and win that night is only out shined by the love he has for his family, as the worlds greatest girl dad. Kobes final side, the husband. They were matched perfectly together and i had a front row seat to being a witness to their love for 20 years. I remember all the way back to their wedding day in 2001, and in typical kobe fashion he wanted to master every detail of that day to reflect his love for vanessa. One of the things he was excited most about was carrying vanessa over the threshold of their home for the first time. Vanessa brought out kobes romantic time like nobody else could in the world. He loved to celebrate holidays with her, especially valentines day. Often he would call me to brainstorm ideas for romantic gifts. Simply put, kobes love for vanessa was the energy for his life. One particular story captures the depth of kobes love for vanessa. There was a stretch of days where work travel was causing kobe to be away from vanessa longer than he wanted, and he called me to explain how hard the stretch was for him. One night on the phone, kobe noticed a grand piano in the hotel he was staying in. During one of our calls he shared an idea with me. He said he had not been sleeping much at night because he was missing v and the girls so much. While he was away he wanted to live in his love for vanessa, so in the night under a moonlit sky he wanted to teach himself by ear to play the First Movement of beethovens moon lit sonata. I told him there was no way, and he was not a trained musician and that was a difficult piece of music to play. But kobes passion and love for vanessa and the focus that only the black mamba has made this seemingly impossible goal a reality. The next morning he called and played the first few measures. And by the end of the week he had the entire piece mastered and played it for me without a mistake. In my heart i knew that was one of his grandest feats for his greatest love. To close i will say this, just as the sun lights the moon to guide us through the night kobe and gigi will continue to shine light in all of us. But unlike the sun, kobe and gigis fuel will never burn out, because their light is eternal. Yes, the axice of our world shifted, but because of their light we will never have to live in darkness again. We will all journey on until one day we will be in heaven together again, and this time it will be forever. I love you, dear kobe, and precious gigi. We love you, vanessa, nat, bb and coco, and we are here with you with great care until the end of our days. Ladies and gentlemen, in a moment here to play tribute with her own version of beethovens moon lit sonata, ms. Alicia keys. I belong to you and you you belong to me, too you make my life complete you make me feel so sweet you make me feel so defined but since i opened my eyes and with you theres no disguise so i could open up my mind i always loved you from the start but i could not figure out that i had to do it everyday so i put away the fight now im going to live my life giving you the most in every way oh, i belong to you and you, you belong to me, too it was grammy sunday when we learned about the tragic loss of kobe and gianna and their group. Here at staples we were preparing for the grammys and so was alicia keys. As the world began to mourn them here at the house that kobe built, we had to do more than that. Thats to the inner strength of alicia keys, she became a messenger of kurpl furthcomfort people gathered there that evening, and shes here to perform beethovens moonlit sonata. Please welcome, alicia keys. Stphet [ applause ] youll always be that kid from philly. [speaking foreign language] from Lower Marion High School in pennsylvania. This kid right here, mark my words, is going to be unbelievable. 4 00 that morning, 5 00 in the morning, taking 500 shots. How good is this kid . Backtoback titles for the los angeles lakers. Threepeat and a sweep. Your fourth nba championship. The lakers, 2010 nba champions. Thats the first time i knew about greatness. 81point game. The United States of america. He is hurting. The lakers need him at the free throw line. A 60point game. What an exit for number 24. He didnt just show up at games. He was deeply involved in them. Coaching young kids is the most important thing we can do. You couldnt have written this