Kobe Bryant: A Hero by Definition By Michael Del Muro, Correspondent Jun 9, 2009

Buddha. Moses. Jesus Christ. ?

When Kobe Bryant came into the NBA, he wasn't your average high-school player.

Then-Laker General Manager called Bryant the most talented player he'd seen.

But very quickly, Kobe became one of the most hated players in the league. Rumors of him being a “ballhog” and “uncoachable” leaked quickly out of the Lakers locker room.

And jealousy abounded from the other massive talent on that team, Shaquille O'Neal.

Kobe ended up being successful by winning three NBA titles en route to unseating a retired Michael Jordan to become the best guard in the league.

The on-court success tells only part of Kobe’s story, however. Bryant is more than just a player. Like Jordan, he’s a transcendent figure. He’s one of the most recognizable people on the planet and arguably the biggest star in sports.

So that begs the question, what is it about Bryant that makes him so popular? What is it about him that makes him so loved, and so hated at the same time?

My answer is simple: Kobe Bryant is a hero.

I am not attempting to say that Kobe is a god, or that he’s god-like (even though he is, at times, on the court). Rather, it’s my belief that all universally transcendent athletes go through what's called a hero's journey—Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali come to mind immediately.

He’s not a hero in the common way in which the word is used—saving someone's life or fighting and dying for a cause. He is a hero in the way mythologist Joseph Campbell used the word. Bryant fits the archetype of someone fulfilling what Campbell, who guided George Lucas through the creation of Star Wars, called the “monomyth”.

All heroes, according to Campbell, must overcome specific types of trials while trying to achieve a quest. All major religious figures, Campbell argued, go through similar trials, which lead to self-awareness and the eventual fulfillment of a quest.

Although there are different variations of the monomyth, or the hero’s journey, there are three main phases—the departure, the initiation and the return. The one taught by Campbell includes 17 steps within these phases. I will just cover some of the major ones and how Kobe fits this archetype.

A. DEPARTURE Step 1: Call to Adventure In 1996, Kobe was 17-years-old and was attempting to do what only seven footers had successfully done before—enter the NBA Draft and be a successful player. He was picked 13th by the Hornets and traded to the Lakers so he could eventually be Shaq’s running mate.

Step 2: Refusal of the Call One thing we know about Kobe is the role his father played in his youth. We know that Kobe's father had a huge ego—he thought he was the best player on the Sixers teams he played for (he imagined himself better than Dr. J, better than Moses Malone).

We also know that he encouraged Kobe to be more selfish.

In addition, we know that Shaq and the older Lakers didn't make it easy for Kobe. So he was tagged "selfish", a "ballhog". His stubbornness and refusal to play within the system his first couple of years didn't help either. Kobe was immediately cast down as the bad guy.

The belief that both Kobe and Shaq couldn’t succeed was already growing both in local media and nationally.

Step 3: Supernatural Aid, or Meeting the Guide After another failed attempt at winning a title, the Lakers brought in as coach. Jackson had won the NBA Finals six times previously. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was brought in not only to coach the team, but to guide the young upstart to become a better teammate.

Step 4: Crossing the First Threshold One year after arriving, the Lakers won the title. But this was mostly because of Shaq. Kobe, already considered one of the best perimeter players in the game played a huge role, but it was a supporting one.

Step 5: Inside the Belly of the Whale

This is said to be the hero’s lowest moment. This is the in which the hero becomes ripped from himself.

In Star Wars, Luke was stuck in a trash compactor with Han, Leia and Chewbacca.

Kobe Bryant was stuck in the back of a police car.

Both despaired. Bryant came out flawed. He was no longer a clean-cut family man. The 17-year-old phenom was dead. In his place stood a 23-year-old man whose reputation had been torn to shreds.

B. INITIATION Step 6: The Road of Trials In this step, the hero undergoes a series of tests to undergo his transformation.

Bryant went through a losing season.

Then he played three straight years as the most dominant player in the NBA. In 2005, he scored 35.4 points per game and had his 81-point outing and had outscored the through three quarters a few days earlier.

However, during this three-year stretch, the Lakers missed the playoffs, and lost to the twice in the first round.

Step 7: Atonement with the Father

Bryant and Jackson had a rocky relationship during the coach’s first stint with the Lakers. And with the Lakers losing repeatedly in the first round when Jackson returned, many worried that Kobe would never get back to complete his quest of winning a title without Shaq.

But somewhere between the end of the 2007 playoffs and the beginning of the 2008 playoffs, Kobe had found a way, or had an epiphany that Jackson did know what he was talking about.

Since then, and it can be seen now especially, the two call the same plays without even having to talk. For the most part, they are of one mind.

Step 8: Apotheosis (Becoming God-Like)

One of the things I’ve noticed about Kobe recently is that he really doesn’t pay attention to his opponents. During an ABC interview, Bryant said as much. He feels them, but doesn’t see them.

He stopped the one-on-one battles with other players. He’s risen above it.

He doesn’t even seem to have a problem with members of the media saying that Lebron James is the best player in the game. His ego has been “disintegrated in a breakthrough expansion of consciousness.” And Bryant seems to have found “an ability to do new things or to see a larger point of view, allowing the hero to sacrifice himself.”

Step 9: The Ultimate Boon

This is what I think Bryant is about to accomplish.

He’s two wins away from achieving his quest of winning his first title without Shaq. In addition, Bryant’s past has led to this moment. He’s no longer thought of as the “ballhog” or the whiny player who can’t get along with his teammates or coach. He’s no longer the standoffish all-star. No, Bryant is now seen as the ultimate competitor.

When he wins his fourth title, he’ll be firmly enshrined as one of the league’s all-time greats. His name will be unabashedly mentioned next to Michael Jordan’s and ’s.

The Conclusion

There are several steps remaining in the hero's journey, but these come after the quest is completed and involve the hero attempting to hold on to his prize.

That's why when Kobe raises the Larry O’Brien Trophy over his head sometime in the next five games, this hero's quest isn't over.

In fact, the rest of his journey will be much more treacherous and his adversaries try to take what belongs to him.

Hello, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1956378kobe8bryant8a8hero8by8definition! Kobe Bryant’s Achilles Injury: Coincidence or Fate? by Mark Milner - @thejockocracy Monday, April 15, 2013

In classical mythology, the rage of Achilles doomed him to an early death: given the choice of living peacefully and living to a ripe old age or and dying young in battle, Achilles chose to go to Ilium and fight alongside Odysseus and Agamemnon. His mother, seeking to grant him immortality, dipped him in the river Styx, leaving only his ankle bare.

There are many ways classical mythology continues to pervade modern life and one was at the forefront Friday night: on a seemingly routine looking play, a drive toward the basket, Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant went down in a heap. According to Golden State’s Draymond Green, Bryant asked if he’d been kicked in the heel. He wasn’t, that feeling was his Achilles tendon snapping, the one end slapping the back of his heel.

The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscle to the heel. As per WebMD, it’s the tendon you can feel at the back of your foot. And when it breaks, the tension snaps it back to it’s connecting points, hence that kicked in the heel feeling. In any athlete, it’s a serious injury and often has a recovery time of months and months. With Bryant, estimates start at six months. But Bryant isn’t the average athlete, either. Despite a ruptured tendon, Bryant walked off the court. After hitting two free throws.

Like Achilles, Bryant is a singularly driven personality, bent on immortality even at personal cost. Few, if any, players in the league have the same determined drive, the same sense of being cold blooded, what sports scribes like to call “Killer Instinct”. Bryant’s one of the most focused players in basketball history: he seems bent on bettering history’s other famous 6’6” guard. He doesn’t let things get in his way.

This is a player who took 46 shots while dropping 81 points on Toronto. Throughout 2006, he carried a half-powered Lakers team on his back into the playoffs and dropped them in Game 7, taking just three shots in the second half of a blowout 121-90 loss. He teamed with Shaquille O’Nel to create one of the most fearsome combos in NBA history and his feud with him sent the team into splinters.

He’s a proud, driven player who likes to do things his own way, even if it means angering his teammates or coaches. So was Achilles, who brooded in the long ships at the shores of Troy until Hector killed his friend Patroclus. There’s never been anyone quite as polarizing as Bryant in the NBA. He has legions of haters and a cadre of vocal superfans. There aren’t many in the middle. Between everything from the Shaq/Kobe spat to his incident in Colorado to his role in getting people like or Mike Brown shipped out of Los Angeles there are plenty of reasons to hate the guy.

And yet, there’s almost as many to like him: he’s reinvented himself from one of the best dunkers in the league to a shooter, giving his career a second stage few achieve. His career numbers have him among the NBA’s elite: Jerry West, John Stockton, Magic Johnson. He’s won five titles, was named league MVP in 2008 and is fourth all-time in scoring. Even this late in his career, after 16 seasons and over 45,000 on-court minutes (third-most among active players), he’s still one of the most important players in the league; it’s hard to make a similar case for those around him in minutes, too. Without Bryant, will this Lakers team wash out of the postseason?

In a league filled with interesting personalities, Bryant is maybe the most enigmatic: he doesn’t seem to have as much fun on the court as LeBron James does and doesn’t have as much fun off it as, say, JaVale McGee. His social media accounts seem more staged than anything: photos of shoes, tweets where he calls himself mamba. But his post-injury Facebook rant is curious, a mix of doubt, introspection and him psyching himself up. It’s the most human thing Kobe’s done in years, maybe ever.

It’s already being asked if Bryant’s career is over. But that’s an easy question to answer: barring any unforeseen setbacks, there’s no way he’s finished. There’s nobody as determined as him in the NBA. After a loss to Miami last year, he spent the better part of two hours shooting jumpers in front of the media.

It was part publicity stunt, sure, but it was the move of someone consumed. He has to be better than, his peers, than Jordan, than everyone else. As he said to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “I want what all men want. I just want it more.”Achilles said that, too.

! Kobe's ambition futile but heroic

UPDATED JUL 24, 2014 10:13 PM ET

Kobe Bryant is much more heroic in his current role as gallant, doomed warrior than he ever was a conquering ruler.

This thought occurred to me Monday when I was chatting with Pat O’Brien and Steve Hartman on FOX Sports Radio about Kobe, LeBron James and Tiger Woods positioning themselves for total redemption from their personal indiscretions and/or public-relations nightmares. James is in position to pick up his fourth MVP trophy and second NBA title. Tiger is once again the favorite to win the Masters and get his pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record for major championships back on track.

For Kobe, things are a bit different. He’s not likely to pick up any new trinkets for his trophy room. But his story of redemption is just as compelling and significant.

When Kobe ruled the NBA, he always struck me as King Joffrey, an immature, narcissistic kid pretending to be king (see "Game of Thrones" on HBO) by mimicking all of the previous king’s worst qualities. Kobe was a cheap knockoff of Michael Jordan. Kobe walked, talked and played like his idol, Air Jordan, and exercised a level of ruthlessness that would make Jordan jealous.

Kobe overthrew Shaq and then threw a tantrum until the league delivered the necessary pieces () for Kobe to rule the NBA.

I could never buy in. Kobe seemed inauthentic. In the aftermath of his Colorado indiscretion, The Fresh Prince of Basketball placed a silly tattoo on his right arm, bought an overpriced apology ring and squabbled with The Mailman over harmless flirtation with Vanessa.

King Kobe was King Joffrey.

People loved Kobe because of their affection for the previous king. We wanted the next Jordan, and Kobe tried to give us what we wanted.

I like Kobe as Ned Stark, the principled and virtuous hand of King Robert Baratheon. This is a role that fits Kobe and exposes him as a true hero.

We know the Lakers cannot win a title this year. The organization is flawed. is an idiot. The man passed over the chance to rehire Phil Jackson and instead gave the task of meshing Kobe’s talent with ’s to Mike D’Antoni, the coach capable of making the Lakers’ oldest and fourth-most talented player () happy.

With 18 games left in the regular season, the Lakers are two games above .500 and locked in a tie with the for the last playoff spot in the West.

And yet Kobe is playing some of the best basketball of his career. This is truly remarkable. At age 34, Kobe is averaging 27.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and shooting a career high .475 from the field. I have been slow to warm to Kobe for a number of reasons. I’ve already stated a few of the reasons: The Jordan imitation rubbed me the wrong way, his feud with Shaq, his behavior following his Colorado mistake.

In a previous column, I admitted I’m a hardcore, lifelong Magic Johnson fan. It bothers me that some foolish people argue that Kobe is the greatest Laker, ahead of Magic. It might be impossible for me to judge Kobe objectively until his career is over and he’s no longer a threat to Magic’s legacy.

Earlier this season, I blamed Kobe for Howard’s poor start to the season. Kobe’s alpha-male, smartest- person-in-the-room personality makes it hard for him to play with people who don’t share his basketball-is-the-most-important-thing-on-the-planet approach. Kobe would’ve lasted about three seasons with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before starting a blood war over Kareem’s lack of emotion.

Now, I view the Lakers’ rocky season and Kobe’s role in it much differently.

Stuck with a bad coach, Kobe has tried everything he can think of to inspire his teammates. He has been the ultimate gunner, determined to single-handedly will his team to victory. He’s been the ultimate fourth-quarter gunner, determined to single-handedly close out opponents with last-minute brilliance. He’s been the ultimate facilitator, determined to feed his teammates easy looks to boost their confidence. And he’s finally settled into being the ultimate all-around player, determined to give his team whatever it needs on a night-to-night basis.

I respect what he’s doing. He knows that this season is likely to end with his head on a chopping , the sword swung by or Kevin Durant or maybe even . Kobe knows he’s going to be denied the showdown he desperately wants with the Kingslayer (LeBron).

Futile ambition is heroic.

If Kobe avoids a late-season meltdown/tirade and takes his beheading like a man, he will be as popular and respected as he’s ever been. He will silence his critics, those of us who have long questioned his character during times of adversity.

Kobe Bryant as Ned Stark is a Kobe Bryant worthy of being placed alongside (or even ahead of) Magic Johnson. !