American sports have seen a plethora of legendary athletes take the fore in the new millennium. None are possibly as big as Kobe Bryant or Tom Brady for their respective sports, however.
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The two superstars broke into the scene as superstars and set their franchises into perennial championship contention. Bryant and his Lakers won 5 championships while Brady led the Patriots and the Buccaneers to 7 championships during their respective stints. Success was a guarantee around these two franchise cornerstones.
It is therefore only natural that there was mutual respect between the two revered stars. Tom Brady for one, appeared shaken up by the nature and timing of Kobe Bryant’s untimely death.
Bryant was part of an unfortunate group who met with their death in a helicopter accident in early 2020. The then-Patriots star Brady was heavily affected by the event and claimed that it often kept him up and got him to tears even.
Brady described Kobe Bryant as a superhero who was fighting against the norm.
Bryant was one of the brightest sparks in the NBA in the early 2000s. Kobe’s stellar play and his “Mamba Mentality” drove fans in bucketloads to him. The fighting-against-all-odds mentality Kobe instilled in a generation was unprecedented.
Brady saw this as a superhero-esque trait. In the NFL superstar’s eyes, Bryant was a hero who fought and broke the existing norms with love, joy, and inspiration. Fear, doubt, and hate also were eviscerated in the fandom by the Lakers star, according to the 7-time Super Bowl champion.
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) February 25, 2020
“That’s what we will all miss. That’s why we hurt. Because we know that he was always fighting against the norm. He was doing more than his share. Now who is going to do the work that is still here to be done? Who is going to fight and break the norms with love and joy and inspiration?” stated Brady. The former Patriots star reminisced as he went on to talk about the responsibility passed on by Kobe.
Who is going to discard fear, and doubt, and hate? Who is going to carry the load and be the superhero that he was? The answer is simple to me, ALL OF US. Decide to make the change in yourself. If there is anything I have learned and been inspired by through this tragic event, it is this, SEIZE THE DAY. That’s what Kobe always did, and that’s what he wanted for us too” wrote Brady as he celebrated Bryant’s memory via Twitter.
Brady called on everyone in the community to take on the responsibility of carrying Bryant’s legacy. It is unclear whether it is the “seize the day” mentality that got Brady thinking of moving past his Patriots career, however.
Tom Brady has since moved to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and recently announced his second retirement.
While the Patriot era for Brady was a constant till that point in time. The association between player and franchise was very much like Kobe and the Lakers.
However, a couple of months after Bryant’s death, Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The GOAT of American Football also went on to win an NBA championship and have two separate retirement announcements.
Seizing the day is something often associated with landmark changes. Brady certainly did take that out of the message he imbibed from the late great Bryant. Landscape-altering changes that were unheard of before awaited Brady.
