This post is in honor of the ten-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant scoring 81 points. A good song to listen to while reading this is post is “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa.

Growing up as a young child in Southern California, my father and I often watched the Los Angeles Lakers on television, particularly tuning in at KCAL 9. When a player committed a turnover, my father would yell in our Filipino dialect at the television, “Ay, bilat sang kanding!” (The phrase translates to “a goat’s vagina,” but it was his way of saying “son of a bitch.”)

The time spent watching the game with my father and listening to him swear made me a fan of basketball and the Lakers. For over 20 years, I enjoyed the Shaq-Kobe dynasty, the Kwame-Smush era, the Kobe-Pau dynasty, and to a certain extent, the hot mess the Lakers are now under Byron Scott’s coaching ineptitude. As you all know, this is Kobe Bryant’s last season in basketball, so I used this as a reason to see him play one last time in person.

The setting took place on an early December weeknight. I drove to Washington DC to watch the Lakers play the Wizards at the Verizon Center with my friend. I was not expecting the Lakers to play well because their record for the season was 2-15 at that point, and they were losing to their opponents by an average of 11.5 points/game. Those statistics mean the Lakers are a terrible team. However that evening, my friend and I were in for a treat. About three-quarters of the people in the sold-out arena were Lakers fans, making it feel like Staples Center away from home. A Wizards fan who sat in front of me posted angry tweets on his phone about the Lakers and their fans, much to my amusement. When Wizards fans started chanting, “Let’s go Wizards!”, my seatmate, who also is a Lakers fan yelled, “Man, cut that shit out!”, bringing laughter to our row of Laker fans. Kobe Bryant had a “vintage” performance that evening, scoring 31 points and making tough shots late in the fourth quarter, resulting in a much-needed win.

Kobe Bryant’s vintage performance that evening got me thinking of the experiences I had over the past 20 years not only as a Lakers fan, but also as a person who has crossed paths with many people. I had some great friendships, but later found that those friendships were not meant to last. The circumstances as to why those friendships did not last were either a difference in life philosophies, drifting apart from each other, selfishness, my oversensitivity to matters, or a combination of them. The feeling hurt realizing that there was no point in holding onto those friendships, despite having invested so much of my time and emotion with them. I had great relatives who have passed away before I had the chance to know them better than I already have. The feeling hurt realizing that I no longer have the opportunities to make more lasting memories with them. When I lost those friendships and relatives, I held onto the pain, because I was in denial and had trouble accepting the circumstances for what they were. The unhealthy habit of holding onto the pain resulted in me having a low self-esteem.

The key as to what helped me move on from past friendships and deceased relatives was expressing gratitude for what has happened so far. (I mentioned about expressing gratitude in a previous post, but I feel like it bears repeating a second time.)

I expressed gratitude for the pain I went through in moving on, and the learning experience. I expressed gratitude for the positive memories shared with those people. Above all, I expressed gratitude for crossing paths with those people, who will always be a part of me. Sometimes it is best to remember the past friend or relative for who they were, and the experiences shared at that time. Remembering the good times spent speeds up the healing process of moving on, and provides an optimistic outlook on what lies ahead in life.

The next step after remembering the good times is looking forward to what the future holds. I look forward to forming new friendships and strengthening existing ones. I look forward to creating more memories with the relatives who are still living. Most of all, I look forward to making new mistakes and learning from them, bringing me one step closer to a better Noy Sauce.

I will miss watching Kobe Bryant play. He is the closest basketball player to Michael Jordan we have seen, and we will not see a player like Kobe for a long time. Whether you like him or not, there is something admirable about someone who clearly did the best he can in honing his craft, and lived with the results. It is difficult watching him play because of injuries and age taking a toll on his body, and I am glad he is calling it quits after this season for his sanity. I will not remember him as the ineffective player he is now, but the MVP-level player who once dominated and demoralized opponents with his skill and will. At the same token, I look forward to the Lakers moving past Byron Scott’s coaching ineptitude, and their young core of D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson improving their games to where they become a force to be reckoned with.

On a side note, my fondest memories watching Kobe play have got to be during the Kobe-Pau dynasty, where Kobe Bryant made Pau Gasol look like the third coming of Jesus Christ (not just because of Pau’s long hair and beard; Tommy Wiseau is the second coming of Jesus, in my opinion).

Kobe drew so much attention from opposing defenses, which allowed Pau to score more efficiently and run the fast break, as if Pau was walking on water while opponents were struggling on the floor. When I look back at the Lakers championship teams of 2009 and 2010, the Lakers were not as talented as the Boston Celtics. I remember Game 5 of the 2010 NBA Finals, where Kobe was the only Lakers player scoring in the third quarter and the Lakers were down by at least 10 points. No one else on the Lakers stepped up to make a defensive stop or make a critical shot in that period, yet the Boston Celtics still double-teamed Kobe. Although Kobe scored 38 points in a losing effort, his performance showed the resolve of someone who did his best to will his team to win when the stakes were high in a tied series for the championship. 

The most important lesson I learned from Kobe is when people rely on you to lead, you do your best and live with the result without holding back.

As my father would put it, do not be a “bilat sang kanding.”

For one night, I caught a glimpse of the player Kobe once was and be reminded of the good times I had watching him the past 20 years. And sometimes, being positively reminded of someone whom you have once shared a bond with is all you need to move on in the journey of life.

Cheers, Kobe. You will be missed.