Kobe Bryant's Fan Prediction

Dictionary.com defines a fan as " an enthusiastic devotee, follower, or admirer of a sport, pastime, celebrity,..." Lakers organization has been in Los Angeles for years. I came to know Lakers when I returned to my birth place, Los Angeles, California. Prior to my destination to L.A, I was raised in Koforidua, Ghana, West Africa. Growing up as a teenager, I never heard of National Basketball Association (NBA) in my life. Basketball definitely was not the major sport or professional sport in Ghana. I loved playing Football; this is not referring to National football League in United States of America. Ghanaian referred to Football not as Soccer and so do other international countries. My peers never associated Soccer with Football. To us, Football was a term that was self-explanatory. Children and citizens were not confused about Football. Logically, Ghanaian and International communities were right by referring to Football.

When I arrived in Los Angeles, I ascertained the concept of soccer in relation to Football. Sometimes, I kept confusing myself with the two terms (Football and Soccer) because in school, classmates used Football that had multiple meanings in the context of international communities. Slowly, I assimilated and accepted the concept of Football to mean NFL, not Soccer. I loved playing Soccer in Ghana, but I soon realized that recreational parks did not have soccer fields or space to play soccer. My interest as a Soccer Player decreased because my environment tended to reinforce the game of basketful over Soccer. I learned how to play the game of basketball in the middle school, senior high school, and afterschool playgrounds. I really enjoyed the game and got involved in unprofessional tournaments in my neighborhood.

My household members for the most part were Lakers Fan. My mother was a fan of the Lakers. Players like Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, etc., were my mother's favorite players. Sometimes, she would tease her boyfriend that Byron Scott was her boyfriend and this created fun moments observing the game. Therefore, Los Angeles Lakers were my family team. One of my brothers loved Chicago Bulls because of Michael Jordan. This created interesting conversations in my house and myfamily playfully teased my brother about his team.

I was fortunate to watch Lakers Hall of Fame players play the game of basketball. After Magic Johnson and other players retired, Lakers as a team deteriorated and they were not playing well. In 1996, NBA Draft took place and Kobe Bryant was drafted by Charlotte Hornets, but trade to Los Angeles Lakers. This event marked the beginning of Lakers organization in moving forward to brighter future. Later, Shaquille O'Neal was traded from Orlando Magic to be part of Lakers organization.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to three championships. As a fan, I was excited for Los Angeles to have successful basketball team again. I always appreciated Lakers game and tried to watch them as much as possible because Kobe Bryant was extraordinary player. Three things I liked about him. First, he learned to play with another super star like Shaq. He humbled himself and understood his team by being a team player. Secondly, he respected his teammates leading by example. Also, he had an extraordinary work ethic. He was known for always developing his game and worked more than any other player in his time. Lastly, his performance on the court was a work of art. Among many unique basketball skills he had, my favorite was his established well developed post-up and fade ways. These moves were the works of art. Now I have arrived at the gist of this short blog.

In Kobe Bryant's career to this day, he has not had, for the most part , major injuries in his career. With many seasons, he played with some significant injuries and was able to dominate and perform his craft. After the first knee surgery, he was optimistic about coming back strong. Recent injury with his knees has led me to make predictions about his future endeavor. These predictions are based on my own observation of the career of Kobe Bryant. This is not a biblical prophecy, but a fan based opinion.

1) I predict that Kobe Bryant will not have another championship ring.

2) I predict that Kobe Bryant will not play the whole season.

3) I predict that Kobe Bryant will have a career ending injury 2014-2015 season.

4) I predict that Kobe Bryant will retire because of injury.

I would love for Kobe Bryant to have six rings because he really deserves it. I am praying that these fan based predictions do not materialize.

I have been a faithful fan Kobe Bryant for long time without buying his shoes. I notice that he has several different kinds of shoes. During middle and senior high school, I saw many students wearing different players shoes and my mother was not fortunate to have the means to buy me athletic shoes. I plan on purchasing one Kobe Bryant athletic shoe.

I am still Lakers fan and will be for a long time. It seems to be that Lakers organization always know how to get players that are able to contend for championship. Lakers fan, do not worry, our time will come again.

I expect people to disagree or agree with me. It is okay to disagree and to agree and both are okay. We live in a society that promotes freedom of speech, but attack individuals who have opposing point of view. Our society must learn from the game of sport. We can have different people disagree with other and they accept their differences and views. This principle needs to permeate our communities, television media, social media, religious, and political.

Often, people referred to individuals who have different perspective. or worldview as bigot or intolerant and yet these same people are identifying with names they are projecting. These projections are often associated with physical abuse, emotional abuse, media defamation, demeaning of character etc.

We need to grow up as society; we need to move from infancy development thinking to mature adult critical thinking society.

4 A soothing tongue is a tree of life, But perversion in it crushes the spirit.

Kobe Bryant has had a great and wonderful career on the basketball court. When we experience trials, we must stop and reflect on the general grace of the triune God. We must be thankful and appreciative for our lives. We must reflect on the person of Jesus Christ and what the Bible has to say about our future life coming after we leave this imperfect world and move to the next world.