Laker Town
It’s been just over a year since I retired from writing about miles and points. I haven’t looked back to see how interesting (or strange) the things are that have popped into my head each month since. But that’s how it goes…whatever is in my head is all I write about now.
Over these past few days, I’ve absorbed countless hours of information about a helicopter crash 10 miles from my home. My brain is currently in obsession mode. I just can’t turn this coverage off. I’m watching and reading everything.
A little backstory…
Los Angeles is (obviously) a different kind of place. One that confuses the hell out of tourists. It can feel like an endless maze of freeways, obviously. But it’s also more like 100 towns than it is a typical big city with a real center. My sister moved here a few years ago and I warned her how important it would be to build her own community. Because, in a lot of ways, the city doesn’t offer a normal sense of one.
LA is full of people from somewhere else. Which is why you don’t hear any chatter about LA pride like you do so often in New York or Texas or wherever else. A big percentage of this city arrived here later in life with their roots planted elsewhere. Even the buildings tend to lack history here. If you want to walk through a 200 year-old relic that overflows with interesting stories…jump on a flight to New Orleans. Here, old structures get replaced by something new and shiny every time. But Los Angeles does have one institution that fills its people with pride. Something so powerful that it can even pull this city together with a semblance of community…
I am, of course, referring to the Lakers.
It’s hard to describe just how much this city adores their team. More than Dallas loves the Cowboys…more than New York loves pizza…hell, even more than Alabama loves illiteracy.
The Lakers have been the gold standard for athletic franchises over the last 40 years. You’ve heard all the “Hollywood” stereotypes of “too cool for school” California people, right? All the vanity about how they look? Well, throw it out the window when it comes to the Lakers. Expensive luxury cars are decorated in purple and gold flags just like the old clunkers are. Famous faces are dressed in the same mismatched team gear as blue collar fans. And every bar on every block…in rich neighborhoods and poor…will erupt with the same jubilant cheers during each playoff win.
This disconnected city comes together for their beloved team every season.
Contrary to current opinions, Kobe was neither the best nor the worst human being who has ever lived. But he was the recognizable face of a remarkable franchise for a long time. I’ve watched movie stars giggle like starstruck teenagers when getting a chance to meet the guy.
In the 20 years that I’ve lived in this city, I’ve never experienced a collective emotion like what has happened since that helicopter went down. I haven’t seen anything close to this. It feels like everything stopped for a few days here after that crash. But it’s national news. As always, my biggest passion is observing humans. And there’s just so much to observe right now. These are my thoughts on various subjects that have to do with all this. My writing will be much sloppier than usual because I’m obsessively reading and watching everything right now. Please forgive the unusually poor grammar and consider this to be more of a stream-of-consciousness type of writing than usual.
Thought 1 – Death is wild
It’s incredible how we humans will keep seeing death over and over in our lives and then continue to respond to it by saying stuff like, “I can’t believe it. I just talked to him yesterday.”
Obviously…logically…we talked to him yesterday because he was alive then. And now he’s dead. But that seems to be a very difficult part of our human nature. We just can’t grasp how precious life is or how suddenly it all ends. We understand the concept in our heads, but then each day we go right back to acting like it’s a sure thing we’ll wake up tomorrow.
No wonder we’re all so drawn to people who live life fully like the valuable commodity it is.
Thought 2 – Celebrities vs. “regular people”
This whole concept of celebrity is strange. But so many people automatically think of “celebrities” as either better or worse than “regular people.” And that takes a weird dynamic to an even weirder place. It’s so scary how easily we lump individuals into a “type.” Shouldn’t it be common sense that there are both wonderful and awful white people, black people, Christians, Muslims, celebrities, coal miners, rich people, poor people, and everything else? Why’s it so hard for us to see humans as individuals? Automatically thinking of “celebrities” as good or bad is absurd. We have more thoughts about Kobe than the others simply because we’ve spent more time watching him. It’s impossible to have as many opinions about the others in that chopper because we haven’t had years of footage of them. That doesn’t mean they’re better or worse. Just that they’re strangers to us and he isn’t.
At first, I found myself thinking, “It must be extra tough being a family member of the other passengers because the story is all about Kobe.” But then I looked closer at the coverage. Those other names and faces are being shown all over. And then I heard this man talking about how helpful it has been for him to see so many other people grieving at the same time. Finally, it was touching to see this foundation dedicated to helping the other victims with the financial side of this. I believe they’re receiving significantly more attention than they would have if this were just a “regular” helicopter accident.
Thought 3 – Being sad for people you don’t know
I went to the post office yesterday and the clerk was a sweet woman who looked to be in her early thirties. She greeted me warmly and asked how my day was going. I told her it seems like this has been an odd week for everyone. That’s literally all I said. And then I noticed her eyes welling up with tears. She said, “I’m not even into basketball, but can’t watch any of the stories. I don’t know why it makes me cry but it’s just so sad.”
Why do people get emotional when someone famous dies?
It seems to be a very common theme. I’m hearing a bunch of stuff like, “I can’t believe I’m this sad about someone I didn’t know.”
But…why?
First, we’re human. It would be very strange to feel nothing when hearing about a guy taking his daughter to her basketball game and them dying in a fiery crash on the way. But, beyond that, I think the more positive memories we have with someone…the more they mean to us emotionally. And millions of people had countless good times “with” Kobe Bryant from afar. Grilling steaks with loved ones while cheering on a team can become real highlights in our life. Those can become great memories for us. Doing that kind of thing for years while watching a person can become a relationship of sorts. So, I don’t think it’s strange at all when I hear this impacted someone like a “real” loss would. Especially because these people died prematurely.
Thought 4 – A need to canonize or crucify
Kobe clearly wasn’t a perfect man. And I find it strange how we suddenly start viewing people as that after they die. But it’s also odd that so many others are convinced they know…without a doubt…this guy was a violent rapist. If true, then obviously he should be in jail. But what do most of us actually know? Whenever there’s a settlement and statement, there is so much negotiated that we simply have no knowledge of. So, why do we need to act like we know what happened? Whether we think of him as innocent or guilty, why do so many of us feel convinced that we know what happened in that hotel room?
Media is a very powerful tool. And social media has taken that to another level in the last few years. It happens more than we realize. Media tells us what to feel. And then we feel that. We’re programmed no matter what side of a narrative we’re on. I find this to be a very dangerous trend.
Obviously, nobody should get away with rape. My point is this…if you see him as the bad one and the other victims as the good ones, what are you basing that on? Your intimate knowledge of the lives of the people on that helicopter? Because I don’t know if you have that. And if you see Kobe as a heroic figure who could never rape anyone, what are you basing that on? All the times you hung out together by the lake? I think many of us are very comfortable forming strong opinions with limited information.
(Clearly, there are legal and medical experts who are much smarter than I am when it comes to the specifics of a case like this. And if they do actually know it intimately, then I’m certainly not referring to them and their expertise)
Thought 5 – What about luck?
I’ve been trying to read about the crash itself, but it seems like those answers won’t come for months (if at all). And I don’t know if that really matters. We move on while those families stay devastated by this indefinitely. And I guess that’s how this stuff goes. Life moves on, but the families involved in tragedies are left with a supersized hole in their world. There has been a staggering amount of love and emotion with this incident, while similar deaths happen every day. I guess it’s good that this one captured our attention. And maybe one day we’ll really grasp just how short all this is…how lucky we are to make it to the end of a day.
Or maybe we’ll just keep acting as if tomorrow is a sure thing.
