Oscars 2018: Basketball legend Kobe Bryant wins Best Animated Short Film award – March 4th – Check out more videos https://www.youtube.com/c/JCoulterJ

Video recap on YouTube- Kobe Bryant 2018 Oscar WinKobe Bryant 2018 Oscars Winhttps://youtu.be/lArLNv6L82s

On March 4th, 2018, Kobe Bryant won Best Animated Short Film award at the Oscars.

Kobe Bryant’s inspiring poem –

Dear Basketball

From the moment

I started rolling my dad’s tube socks

And shooting imaginary

Game-winning shots

In the Great Western Forum

I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —

From my mind & body

To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy

Deeply in love with you

I never saw the end of the tunnel.

I only saw myself

Running out of one.

And so I ran.

I ran up and down every court

After every loose ball for you.

You asked for my hustle

I gave you my heart

Because it came with so much more.

I played through the sweat and hurt

Not because challenge called me

But because YOU called me.

I did everything for YOU

Because that’s what you do

When someone makes you feel as

Alive as you’ve made me feel.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream

And I’ll always love you for it.

But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.

This season is all I have left to give.

My heart can take the pounding

My mind can handle the grind

But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.

And that’s OK.

I’m ready to let you go.

I want you to know now

So we both can savor every moment we have left together.

The good and the bad.

We have given each other

All that we have.

And we both know, no matter what I do next

I’ll always be that kid

With the rolled up socks

Garbage can in the corner

:05 seconds on the clock

Ball in my hands.

5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1

Love you always,

Kobe

“I mean, as basketball players, we are really supposed to shut up and dribble. But I am glad we do a little bit more than that.”

NBA great Bryant spent 20 years with the Lakers and was named MVP in 2008. He also won two Olympic gold medals at the Beijing and London Games.

Kobe Bryant passed on January 26th, 2020 at the age of 41 in a helicopter crash along with his daughter, GiGi, 13, Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50.