As the world celebrated the first Kobe Bryant Day on 24th August 2020, Twitter paid homage to the Lakers legend with a nice touch of its own.
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2020 was a tough year for humanity as a whole. The world has been under siege for over 20 months because of a Covid-19 pandemic. And a few of us have also had the burden of the Black Mamba’s passing to carry with us.
It is really hard to overstate the kind of impact that Kobe Bryant had on a whole generation, globally. Mike Breen, who commentated at the Beijing Olympics, told us an unbelievable tale of a cab driver overcome by emotion at just meeting someone who knew Kobe.
For many of us, Kobe was like a friend we all knew and held close to our hearts. Most of us never had the opportunity to meet him, but we still swear by the Mamba Mentality.
This man represented Lakers basketball through and through for 20 years – a bastion of loyalty. He only ever wore 2 uniforms – the other being that of Team USA.
We’ve heard countless tales from NBA players, coaches, staff, youngsters and media members about Bryant’s brilliance. This man was perhaps the best ambassador that basketball could have hoped for, especially after retirement.
Twitter paid tribute to Kobe Bryant on Mamba Day 2020 by replacing their like button with a black mamba
Even with a pandemic raging at full intensity, the whole world came out in tribute for the Black Mamba on Monday, 24th August 2020. Los Angeles County has declared this date to be ‘Mamba Day’ in tribute to 24 & 8 – his jersey numbers for the Lakers.
Google added a special doodle in the memory of the Lakers legend, while Twitter changed the animation after users hit the like button to reveal a black mamba for a fleeting moment.
When Twitter did this to the “Like” button on #MambaDay in 2020 🐍💜💛 pic.twitter.com/0B3eGZsEi1
— ESPN (@espn) August 24, 2021