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Home , Eric Lindros, Kordell Stewart, Tommy Maddox

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Generation Next Two decades ago, we predicted that the four athletes who appeared on our first cover would lead their sports into the next millennium. Kobe, A-Rod, Kordell and Lindros more than justified our faith. And, like us, they’re not done yet.—STEVE WULF

SEEMS LIKE YESTERDAY. wear, and he has a generation to carry, and, when he sees a kid with KB8 Adidas and There they stand, four young men in well, he wants the job.” telling him, “Nice sneaks, how’s your game?” black, posed against a white backdrop: Kobe, That he did. Bryant won five NBA titles That desire to reach out remains in evi- Alex, Kordell, Eric. Above their heads is a for the Lakers and two gold medals for Team dence. “I’m tremendously proud of my bas- gold ESPN logo, and above that, at the top of USA, became the first guard in NBA history ketball accomplishments,” Bryant says. “I the page, PREMIER ISSUE. The date in the to play 20 seasons, made 18 All-Star teams, want to be remembered as a player who did lower left hand corner reads March 23, 1998. scored 81 points in a 2006 game against the everything he possibly could to succeed and But it’s the red cover billing on that very Raptors and 33,643 for his career. He re- ended up overachieving. But I want my true first issue that speaks the loudest: Next. tired in 2016, which means he’ll enter the impact to be on the players of today. I hope With a period. End of sentence. Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020. they see me as a North Star.” From the perspective of today, there is a His life is not without fault. Depending Those who have seen Gigi play say she has bittersweet irony to that word. This is the last on one’s perspective, he has or has not paid the Mamba Mentality. “She has her heart set regular edition of ESPN The Magazine: an appropriate price for a well-documented on UConn,” Kobe says. “Geno Auriemma October 2019. And while staff members past transgression. But at the end of the day, he has been incredibly nice to her, and the play- and present are naturally wistful about the has two retired numbers (8 and 24), four ers treat her like their little sister.” But for end of an era, we’re also grateful for the daughters, ranging in age from 16 years to 3 now, Kobe’s next order of business is to start opportunity to have taken readers on a voy- months, a 2018 Oscar for Best Animated editing the second book in Wesley King’s age around the sports world. In many re- Short (Dear Basketball), an ongoing rela- Wizenard series, which is about a group of spects, we’re lucky: Back in the spring of ’98, tionship with ESPN (the Detail series), as young basketball players who come under Sthe futures of our Next Four were far more well as Kobe Inc. and Granity Studios, the spell of a mystical coach, Professor Ro- assured than ours was. Had you told those of which is producing an animated series (The labi Wizenard. us who were there for the launch that we Punies) and publishing Young Adult novels. Each of the chapters in the first book, wouldn’t pull into port for another 21∏ Oh, and he coaches his 13-year-old daugh- Training Camp, begins with one of Wize- years, we would have thought you were crazy. ter Gigi’s AAU basketball team. nard’s Plutarchian proverbs. The one above As for the four men we thought would In that original story, Bryant quotes the Chapter 3 reads, “The past is a gift. It re- lead their sports into the next millennium, ancient philosopher Plutarch: “Those who minds you there is a future.” well, they more than justified our faith, put- are serious in ridiculous matters will be ri- ting up numbers as oversized as we were diculous in serious matters.” Friend also IT’S AUG. 4, and Alex Rodriguez has good and distilling the most from their careers. describes Kobe getting out of his BMW reason to feel jet-lagged. And since that was then and this is now, we After working a game at Fenway Park the asked the original Gen Next to take a look week before, he had flown to Israel with his back at that first issue. fiancée for a concert Jennifer Lopez was giv- ing in Tel Aviv—his fiancée and J-Lo being, “OH, MAN, I have a full head of hair,” Kobe of course, one and the same. “Not the usual Bryant says one morning from his offices at way to go from Boston to New York,” he says. Granity Studios in Newport Beach, Califor- “But what a fantastic trip.” nia. “And I like that I’m standing next to Now sitting in the broadcast booth with Alex. I only knew who Alex was at the time, daughters Natasha, 14, and Ella, 11, as he but we became good friends over the years.” prepares to do this week’s Red Sox-Yankees The profile of Bryant written by Tom Sunday Night Baseball game from Yankee Friend in that issue is prescient: “He is 19, Stadium, A-Rod takes a look at that first and he has a book to read, and he has a cover. “Girls, look how skinny your father BMW to drive, and he has a floppy hat to was.” Natasha takes a photo of it with her

12 ESPN OCTOBER 2019 ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC HEINTZ OCTOBER 2019 ESPN 13 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: FOCUS ON SPORT/GETTY IMAGES; MARK CUNNINGHAM/MLB PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES; BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS/GETTY IMAGES; MARK J. TERRILL/AP PHOTO; INSET OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES PORTO phone. When he leafs through the issue and much pressure for him and me, so we’re not sees who wrote his profile, he chuckles. going down that road.” “Timmy wrote this? I forgot.” Stewart has always had a complicated The byline is that of Tim Kurkjian, who love/hate relationship with the position. today provides commentary for Monday Even though the native played Night Baseball. They now have similar jobs for the University of Colorado, on back-to-back nights, although Rodri- the Steelers drafted him in the second round guez has 696 more homers than Kurkjian. in ’95 with the intention of making him a Here’s what the latter wrote back then: “The wide receiver. But Pittsburgh coach Bill date of birth must be a typo: 7/27/75. Some- Cowher noticed Stewart’s arm and his run- one who is so often compared to the best ning ability and his vision. He gifted him shortstops in history, who says all the right with the nickname Slash and then, before things, who does so many great things can- the ’97 season, the QB job. not possibly be only 22.” Kordell responded by leading the Steelers Rodriguez was only two years removed to an 11–5 regular-season record and the Our first four have season and beat the Ravens 27-10 in their “PRETTY GOOD COMPANY.” might have a greater impact on the game from perhaps the best major league season AFC championship game, throwing for had notable second AFC divisional game. In the AFC champion- So says a 46-year-old father of three now as an advocate for concussion aware- acts: Bryant as an by a minor in history: .358, 36 homers and 3,020 yards and becoming the first quarter- author, Rodriguez an ship game against New England, Stewart young children, who owns a lumber mill ness and safer play. “That’s what I want my 123 RBIs. He would help revolutionize the back to run for two TDs and pass for three analyst, Stewart almost brought the Steelers back from a 21-3 and still plays recreational hockey. He is sit- “I want my true impact legacy to be,” he says. “That’s why I’d like to shortstop position. “That’s one of the things in the same game twice. a high school coach deficit, but they lost 24-17 to the eventual ting in the offices of the NHL Play- see body contact eliminated in hockey be- I’m proudest of,” he says. “The three of us— That’s why he made that first cover, which and Lindros an XXXVI champs. “That hurt,” he ers’ Association, for which he also works, to be on the players low the age of 15.” advocate for concus- Derek [Jeter], Nomar [Garciaparra] and he’s looking at as we speak. “Kobe and A-Rod, sion awareness. says. “The Super Bowl was in New Orleans. and looking at the 25-year-old Eric Lindros. It took Lindros longer than it should have myself—took the position even beyond what wow. That’s quite an honor,” Stewart says. My father would have loved it.” “Kobe, A-Rod, Kordell and me. I didn’t real- of today. I hope they to get into the , but he Ernie Banks and Cal Ripken had done.” “I’m not a hockey guy, so I don’t know much That season was pretty much his last hur- ize the importance of the cover shoot at the see me as a North Star.” finally made it in 2016. “I’m fortunate be- As a shortstop for the Mariners and about Eric Lindros. Goalie, right?” Uh, rah. He lost his job to the time. What’d I know? I was just a kid from KOBE BRYANT yond measure,” he says. “I’m happier than Rangers, and then a third baseman for the wrong, but when told that Lindros was a next year, then got actually slashed by the London, .” I’ve ever been. [My wife] Kina and I have the Yankees, Rodriguez was a 14-time All-Star, forward who’s in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Steelers. Subsequent stints with the Bears Lindros was actually the most established kids, I get to work at the timber mill with my a three-time MVP and a World Series cham- Kordell says, “I didn’t have their longevity, and Ravens didn’t work out. He became a of the four. His nickname was “The Next dad, and a few times a week I play shinny pion (2009). He finished his 22-year career but I am proud of my role in the evolution football analyst, co-hosted a radio talk show, One,” a play on “The Great One,” Wayne with a bunch of old pros at the local rink. with a .295 average, 2,086 RBIs, 3,115 hits of the quarterback. Look at all the mobile appeared with soon-to-be-ex-wife Portia Gretzky. The pressure to be a superstar had “And every time, I’m reminded of what a and those 696 blasts. His numbers look an in the NFL now.” Williams on Platinum Weddings and started to build. As Dan Shaughnessy wrote That was the first concussion. Over the great sport hockey is. Without the hitting.” awful lot like those of Willie Mays. In the first issue, writer Rick Telander worked on his golf game. in his Lindros profile, “The game is hard next two seasons, he suffered at least five But that won’t be his baseball legacy and poses the question of why Stewart had to wait In the summer of 2015, Stewart found enough without folks carving your face into more. Flyers general manager AND SO WE come to the end of our shift. Af- A-Rod knows it. It was not a life without three seasons to become an NFL QB: “Who himself at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in hockey’s Mount Rushmore before you’ve accused him of being soft, but Lindros had ter 7,837 days, 693 covers and countless fault: He will always have an asterisk knows?” Stewart says now—as if we don’t. Canton for the induction of friend and team- skated a shift as a professional.” every reason to be concerned: His younger moments of pride, we’re putting the regular around his neck for his use of performance- Stereotypes are even harder to outrun mate . “I loved being a Steeler,” He was big and fast and something of a brother, Brett, had to quit the game after issue to bed for good. Granted, it’s only the enhancing drugs, which led to his suspen- than opposing defenses, and they caught up he says, “but that weekend, I was reminded lightning rod, thanks to his refusal to play two seasons with the Islanders because of end on paper. We will continue to produce sion for the 2014 season. Unless there’s a to him the very next season, when the Steel- of what I didn’t like about it. , the for the hapless , who had concussions. The end of Lindros’ Flyers ca- stories for ESPN’s many platforms, scan- dramatic, empathetic swing among Hall of ers didn’t make the playoffs. InTruth , Stew- Steelers’ owner and a lovely man, was there, drafted him in 1991. So they had to trade reer came in Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern ning the horizon for our audience as we Fame voters, Rodriguez will be shut out of art’s 2016 autobiography, he describes a and I went over to him to pay my respects. He Lindros to Philadelphia, where he and his Conference finals when Devils defenseman always have. Still, we wish to thank our Cooperstown, the way Barry Bonds, Roger particularly ugly scene after a game in Pitts- didn’t recognize me at first, but then I bent other Legion of Doom linemates (John used his left shoulder to blast readers, the powers-that-be that let us be, Clemens and Mark McGwire have been. burgh. “As I walked off the field and into the down to his eye level. He smiled and said, LeClair and ) became the Lindros in the head. As Lindros lay on the and the many talented people we’ve worked “I made a terrible mistake,” he says, “and tunnel,” he wrote, “someone threw a cup full ‘Kordell! You know, if you had just stayed at most feared offensive force in hockey. Be- ice, true hockey fans began to realize that with over the years. We also need to express I have to live with it. But I also have a won- of beer at my head that gushed into my eyes. wide receiver, you might be here too.’” fore he made our cover, he had already been the game itself had to come to its senses. our gratitude to the many athletes who tol- derful opportunity to make amends, to show I looked up. A man looked me dead in the For now, Stewart is content tending to his named team (’94), won the Hart After sitting out the next season, Lindros erated our requests and allowed us to bring my girls you can learn from your mistakes. eyes and yelled, ‘N-----!’” business interests, raising his son as a single Trophy as league MVP (’95) and taken the was traded to the Rangers, and he seemed them into your homes. “Look at them, laughing over there. Stewart walked away. Somewhere in the parent and teaching the high school QBs Flyers to the ’97 Stanley Cup Final, which to pick up where he left off: 73 points in In Dear Basketball, Kobe says, “I’m ready That’s Next.” back of his mind was the Edgar Albert how to play the position. And now it’s time they lost to the Red Wings. 2001-02. But he wasn’t really the same, and to let you go,” then counts down the final Guest poem “See It Through.” He had mem- to go to practice. But just as our first issue was going to after brief stints with the Maple Leafs and seconds on an animated scoreboard clock. HAS a few minutes before orized it growing up and took comfort in the One more thing. Does he still remember press, Lindros was crossing the blue line in Stars, he knew what all good hockey players That brings to mind the very real score- he heads off for practice. He is helping the words “You may fail, but you may conquer/ the poem? Pittsburgh when he glanced down after los- are trained to know—it was the end of his board we had when we published the maga- quarterbacks at North Atlanta High School, See it through!” He laughs. “When you’re up against a ing the puck in his skates and got blasted by shift. He had to get off the ice. After he did, zine in New York. It was there to remind us where his son Syre is a junior. “He’s Little Three years later, he had his best season, trouble …” When he finishes 24 lines later defenseman . In the he donated $5 million to the London Health of the time remaining before deadline. Five, Slash,” Kordell says. “Cornerback/scatback. throwing for 3,109 yards and rushing for 537 with “See it through!” he laughs again and showers after the game, he became disori- Sciences Centre to study brain trauma. four, three, two, one … Playing quarterback would be a little too more as the Steelers went 13–3 in the regular says, “How’s that?” ented, thinking he had been traded. Still, as great a player as he was, Lindros Next.

14 ESPN OCTOBER 2019 FROM LEFT: MATT ROURKE/AP PHOTO; PHIL ELLSWORTH/ESPN IMAGES; COURTESY KORDELL STEWART; ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP PHOTO OCTOBER 2019 ESPN 15