J-Speaks: "The Black Mamba" Nabs Oscar

The first act of Kobe Bean Bryant was very special. In 20 NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, he helped them win five Larry O’Brien trophies, while winning Finals MVP twice. He was selected as an All-Star 18 times, winning MVP honors in the game four times. Was a 15-time All-NBA selection, with 11 of those selections on the First-Team; and a 12-time NBA All-Defensive Team selection, with nine of those on the First-Team. He also won league MVP in 2008. The question was after his retirement following the 2015-16 NBA campaign, what would the future Hall of Famer do for his second act in life? He made a big splash and the nation got a chance to see it on live television two Sunday nights ago in the town that he made a name for himself in that first act. 

Bryant won the Academy Award for the short animation film “Dear Basketball,” which stems from a poem he wrote in 2015 explaining his love for the game that he poured his heart and soul into. A poem that explained how much the game meant to him that started when he was a young child as well as his exit from basketball. 

Sharing the proud moment on the stage of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA was artist Glen Keane. 

In accepting his Oscar, Bryant used his speech to take a jab at Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who last month said that basketball players should not voice their opinions on matters like politics, which drew the ire of current stars of the NBA like four-time league MVP and three-time NBA champion LeBron James and perennial All-Star, 2014 league MVP and reigning 2017 Finals MVP Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors. 

“I don’t know if it’s possible, I mean, as basketball players, we’re really supposed to shut up and dribble. I’m glad we do a little bit more than that,” Bryant said during his acceptance speech. 

He elaborated more on that back stage one hour later where he said, “I think for us, not just athletes, but as people in general, we have the ability to what it is that we believe in. Whether you’re a professional athlete or not, whether you’re an actor or not, you still have the ability to speak up for what it is that you believe in.” 

Bryant also said about winning an Oscar backstage, “I feel better than winning the championship.” 

While all the nation basked in the Bryant’s latest accomplishment, he like most professional athletes had a challenging time in finding a new opportunity once his playing days concluded saying, “The hardest thing to do for athletes is to quiet the ego. “My advice is find something that you love to do, and everything will make sense.” 

Bryant found his calling in storytelling, which he did very well on the NBA hardwood for two decades. 

Like he did in his animated short film, Bryant first act consisted of a basketball as his pen/pencil. The floors of the Staples Center in L.A. and all the other 29 arenas in the NBA were his canvas; his unrelenting work ethic; a consistent focus on the task at hand were the emotions along with many others provided the theme for the story and the previously mentioned individual and team honors were the results of all of that. 

He took all those tools, replaced them with a pen/pencil, paper, and some help from Keane to put together this animated short film and the result was Oscar. 

What also helped is Bryant he received some good advice from two very prominent people in the world of production. 

He mentioned to Variety magazine’s Dave McNary, who talked with Bryant after winning his first Oscar that he credits the queen of media Oprah Winfrey and television creative genius Shondra Rhimes who gave him the advice on how to start a studio, as well as helping him to make the decision on him doing the voice-over work on “Dear Basketball.”

Bryant also gave credit for his latest milestone to his second daughter, 12-year-old Gianna Maria-Onore who gave him the motivation to press on as a filmmaker, saying, “Well, dad, you always tell us to go after our dreams, so man up.” 

As he did so many times on the hardwood, especially in the final years of his career where injuries came fast, and furious Bryant did and left the game on his own terms and earned his first of hopefully many Oscars by that same creed. He worked hard at it, sought advice of people he trusted and respected, went to work and earned accolades. 

What also made this latest achievement for the future Hall of Famer even sweeter is that he had no control of whether he was going to win or not, which he said to Kelly Ripa of “Live with Kelly and Ryan [Seacrest]” backstage after he won.

“Here’s the thing. This was what I was telling my wife that this is such a different thing because normally when I’m competing to win something I have control of that outcome,” Bryant said to Ripa. “There’s a game. I make a shot, or I don’t, right.” 

“Here, there’s nothing. You just got to sit and just wait. And so, as it got closer and closer, the butterflies started fluttering a little bit faster, and faster.” 

While this was a shining moment for Bryant in his post basketball career, it was a tough moment for some in the midst of the “#MeToo” and “Times Up” Movement. 

For those who may not remember, in the summer of 2003 in Eagle, CO, Bryant was arrested in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault complaint against a 19-year-old female employee at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera in advance of knee surgery. 

The accuser stated that Bryant raped her in his hotel room the night before the procedure, and while he admitted to committing adultery, he denied the allegation that he sexually assaulted her. 

The accusation tarnished his reputation; cost him endorsements from McDonald’s and Nutella; and Bryant’s public perception plummeted. 

The case was dropped in September 2004 by the prosecution after the accuser refused to testify at the trial. While the accuser field a separate civil lawsuit against Bryant, the two did settle things ultimately, but the terms were not disclosed publicly. 

Bryant did regain his reputation after that, but that did not change the uncomfortable feeling a couple of sports journalists had about Bryant’s latest triumph. 

“It was a little uncomfortable,” ESPN.com NBA columnist and freelance newspaper sportswriter Jackie MacMullan said on ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” the Monday after the Oscars. “I think a little awkward because of the ‘#MeToo’ backdrop, which was supposed to be the central theme of the entire evening.” 

Sports journalist and Philip Merrill College of Journalism professor at the University of Maryland Kevin Blackistone also said that he was disturbed that he read in reports that in the press room journalists were instructed not to ask questions about the context or the character of the award winners. He called that “unfortunate,” especially when it is of important context in the moment of an evolving moment that has taken the country by storm and has taken down some very prominent people in Hollywood, those involved in the national media both in print and broadcast, and our national politics. 

“It should be about everything,” Blackistone said. “I think the context is what is important here, and no matter where these incidents have happened in society, I think we’re talking about it in a larger picture, and not just as a singular event.” 

Perhaps the most important point came from ESPN.com writer and ESPN the Magazine’s Pablo S. Torre about why Bryant was not banished from society when that horrible moment happened in 2003 saying that we reckoned with that moment at its occurrence 15 years ago. Bryant evolved as a person, and above all that while we may have preached about harassment, especially of women, particularly in liberal Hollywood as much as we like to pretend that we do. 

Kobe Bean Bryant was a great basketball player in the NBA, winning championships and garnering a number of individual records. His post NBA career has seen him win a prestigious award, an Oscar that most great actors and actors never received in their careers. He has entertained, inspired, and motivated all those that have watched him, seen him, and been in his presence from the hardwood to know entertainment. While his latest accomplishment has given pause to some, he has not let that stop him. He fell flat to some extend from that difficult moment 15 years ago, evolved as a person and has become a better person, husband to his wife Vanessa, and father to his three daughters Natalia Diamante, Gianna Maria-Onore and Bianka. On Sunday Mar. 4, 2017, Kobe Bryant earned an Oscar in his first chance and showed that he was more than just a jock who can dribble a basketball. He had a story to tell and it earned him a prestigious honor, and you can bet that was just the beginning. 

Information and quotations are courtesy of 3/5/18 9 a.m. edition of “Live with Kelly and Ryan’s: Live’s After Oscar Show,” with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest; 3/5/18 5 p.m. edition of ESPN’s “Around the Horn,” with Tony Reali; 3/5/18 NBA.com article, “In His Oscar Speech, Kobe Bryant Takes Jab at Fox News;” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Byrant; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_s._Torre: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Blackistone; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_MacMullan.