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KalienteGirls - COMMEMORATES THE LEGACIES OF KOBE BRYANT (8:24), HIS PRECIOUS PRODIGY, GIANNA BRYANT, AND THE OTHER 7 PASSENGERS OF THE CALABASAS CRASH

It has been a rough couple of days, and I personally felt it would be a disservice to the men, women, and children who passed on January 26, 2020, in Calabasas, California at 9:47, to A.) POST A PIECE TO MAXIMIZE HEARTS AND REBLOGS and B.) WRITE SOMETHING SHORT THAT EXPRESSED MY FEELINGS IN THE MATTER. 

I guess the second part smoothly coincides with the first, but I had to process what was going on.

Kobe Bryant meant something so much more than basketball. He was a pop culture icon the moment he donned the number 8 jersey for the Los Angeles Lakers. For 10 years, he wore the number 8. Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were an unstoppable duo, who fought like brothers, but together, they were the energized duo that dominated the competition.

Nobody played the game like Kobe, and even after 10 years of wearing no. 8, Kobe changed the game as no. 24, the ultimate Laker. If no. 8 was Kobe as the Green Ranger from The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, then Kobe as no. 24 was him as the White Ranger. He was a magnetic Zeus, and The Staples Center was clearly his Mt. Olympus.

I hate to admit this, but shortly before the news hit Twitter, I went on TMZ. It was music’s biggest night (the GRAMMY’S), and I wanted to see some scoop. Suddenly, the world stopped rotating. Right before my eyes, I saw the news. I overheard my roommate talk about the mysterious helicopter crash in the early morning. It was on the news that morning, but nobody thought nothing of it. Nobody thought the casualties would be this devastating.

And then, I saw the news. Kobe Bryant died in a fiery helicopter crash, and my heart hurt so much from the extreme shock and panic attack this news hit me. I was catatonic for moments. I wrote on Twitter if this was a cruel joke. But it wasn’t. As I sedated my tears, momentarily, I broke the news to my roommates and family, whom I called from Florida.

Everybody was just in shock. 

HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? 

That’s what we all said. As word spread out, misinformation was spreading out like the wildfire that was burning Kobe at the moment. News outlets broadcasted that all members of the Bryant family were killed, and I prayed the rumors were placated, categorized as unruly yellow journalism.

For the most part, it was untrue. But unfortunately, as news quickly unfolded, the world found out that little Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, GiGi, was with her father that morning. They were on their way to the Mamba Academy, to play basketball. GiGi was with her two best friends, Payton and Alyssa, their parents and coach. 

On January 26, three little girls perished, and their dreams of happiness vanished without a trace. 

That’s what destroyed me to the core. It’s painful to know that anybody could die this way. Being burned alive and in a plane/helicopter crash (with all that jet fuel) is a tragically horrific way to die. Still, Kobe Bryant, Joe Altobelli, and Christina Mauser were legends to their respective communities and positions. But GiGi, Alyssa, and Payton had their whole lives to define their legacies, but we were robbed of that precious discovery. 

Instead, we are at the epicenter of a profound misfortune, where three little girls are no longer living their best lives. They are now footnotes to their remaining parents and siblings. Alyssa Altobelli died with both parents, the aforementioned prolific Orange Coast College Pirates’ coach Joe Altobelli and his wife Kerri, leaving behind her sister and brother. Payton Chester died with her mother, Sarah Chester. Little is known of Payton and her mom, but their beautiful faces will forever be trapped in the memory of a 13 and 45-year-old mother and daughter pair.

And finally, Gianna loses her life in the arms of the man she grew up to share with the world. But in her final moments alive, Kobe sealed his fate, intertwining with hers forever. She was his ultimate pride and glory. He was the first person she ever laid eyes on, and it is he who closed her pretty brown eyes and comforted her as they laid dying at the mountains of madness, forever embraced by that numbers of 2, 8, and 24.

Kaliente Girls salutes Kobe Bryant, and celebrates his love for his daughters, especially GiGi, whom they now have together forever in eternal paradise.Kaliente HONORS THE NINE 

PASSENGERS, BY NAME:

1. Kobe Bean Bryant, 41
2. Gianna Maria-Onore Bryant, 13
3. Joe Altobelli, 56
4. Keri Altobelli, 46
5. Alyssa Altobelli, 13
6. Sarah Chester, 45
7. Payton Chester, 13
8. Christina Mauser, 40
9. Ara Zobayan, 50  

 As a film exhibition site, KalienteGirls likes to introduce to the audience Kobe’s Academy Award-winning short animated film, DEAR BASKETBALL. Based on a letter Kobe wrote on November 29, 2015, Kobe narrated his journey from boy wonder to an Olympian God, high up at the very apex of the Mt. Rushmore of the sport he loved and elevated. In this penned love letter, Kobe announced his retirement from the game he conquered at the end of the season in 2016. This would mark the end of Kobe’s 20 years as a Los Angeles Laker, his only home. 

The beautiful short won both an Oscar and Emmy, and Bryant drew from his favorite world-renowned artists. Bryant enlisted in legendary Oscar-winning Disney Animator Glen Keane (animator for Ariel from THE LITTLE MERMAID and Beast from BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) and the iconic film composer, John Williams (STAR WARS, JURASSIC PARK, SUPERMAN, INDIANA JONES) to help breathe life through Bryant’s animated memoir. In short, Bryant’s First Act was wonderfully etched inside Dear Basketball, saying goodbye to the man who once donned the numbers 8 and 24. 

But it was the Second Act, for which Dear Basketball, helped usher in. Bryant was a proud champion of the inclusion and legacy of women and sports, coaching young women’s basketball teams through the Mamba Sports Academy. The Mamba Mentality, which helped him dominate basketball at the highest caliber, was now being passed down through the next generation of female champions and challengers. It was here, where Gianna rose to the highest mantle as the next successor of the Bryant sports empire and legacy. She was supposed to be the Serena Willaims of Basketball. She was supposed to be, but we lost her in a fog during a flight in the skies.

I broke down in tears, hyperventilating. Not since the death of Michael Jackson, has the world felt the loss of this magnitude. The cataclysmic nature of these deaths has shown us a world that is cruel and unkind to the good people, that this world is not fair as to the kinds of deaths different people are served with, and the mourning of four families, strangers of every kind, can bring us closer together.

If one thing that can be attributed to the legacies of both Kobe Bryant and Joe Altobelli is this, they were extreme #GirlDads. Men proud of the little women their precious daughters were growing up to be and would have become had their fates been kinder to them. As men, we should aspire to be the lights at the end of the tunnel for our children, especially for our little girls. Men are the first experiences we, as women, encounter with the language of love, and it’s up to fathers to raise their children up to become more than what they’re meant to be. They are instrumental in absolving the discriminations and harassments against them, as well as the leaders at the forefront of a Me-Too society.

Kobe and Joe exemplified the GirlDad force for change.

If nothing else, we owe to little girls like Gianna, Alyssa, and Payton to make that change. To face the dangers headstrong, and be the face of a movement that capitalizes on women reclaiming their power and equality.

Please enjoy Dear Basketball on YouTube, and from the Kaliente Girls family, we like to send our love to the families affected with the deaths of the 9 passengers on the helicopter crash, especially Vanessa Bryant. 

JAN. 30 2020#KOBE BRYANT #KOBE #BLACK MAMBA #MAMBA #MAMBACITA #GIGI BRYANT #GIANNA MARIA-ONORE BRYANT #BASKETBALL #SPORTS #LA LAKERS #LOS ANGELES #LOS ANGELES LAKERS #NBA #WNBA #DISNEY #FILM #CINEMA #OSCARS #CINEMATOGRAPHY #ART#ANIMATION #DEATH #OBITUARY #LEGEND #THE LITTLE MERMAID #BEAUTY AND THE BEAST #GLEN KEANE #JOHN WILLIAMS #8 #24