Dear Kobe,

You don’t know me. I’m a fan speaking for fans that asked me to send this letter to you from The Q. Here, there are Laker fans that love and miss you, alongside Warrior fans that respected you. We are going to miss what you meant to the game of basketball.

I’ve watched you since you came into the NBA in 1996. I wondered what type of player you’d become, coming straight from high school.

It didn’t take long for me to see what you were capable of doing with the ball in your hands.

I was speechless.

I saw in you Michael Jordan, who was an idol for both of us.

I saw that deadly, killer look in your eyes. I saw that same look in Jordan’s eyes when he stepped on the court. The look that makes your competitors lowers their gaze.

The look that says, “Gimme the rock and watch what I do with it.”

The look that says, “None of y’all can stop me, I’m destined for this.”

The look that says, “I dare you to try and stop me. Step up and see if you can do it.”

The look that says, “Nothing you do in this game will stop me from achieving what I am destined for: Greatness.”

The look that says, “The Champ is here!”

I heard ex-NBA player Bruce Bowen, a legend for his defensive skills, say on the radio the day you left us, “At first, I didn’t like Kobe. I thought he was arrogant, entitled. But, I came to respect him. He brought out the best defender in me and he still went a step higher.”

Pundits are trying to compare you and LeBron James. But LeBron didn’t see it that way.

LeBron said, “I’m happy to be in any conversation with Kobe Bryant, just humbled. He’s a five-time NBA champion. The man has two jerseys hanging up in the Staples Center. To pass him up on the scoring list? It’s surreal. To be compared to him? That’s huge. I play in the house that Kobe built. I’m blessed to be in that conversation.”

LeBron said that on Saturday Jan. 25, 2020. The night he passed you to become the third highest scorer in NBA history.

And we read the tweet you sent him that night, congratulating him. Telling him to keep striving for greatness.

The night before you left us all here, wondering, “God, why him and Gigi? Why Kobe and his daughter? Why the other people on that flight? Why them?”

I do play-by-play here at The Q for the annual Golden State Warriors versus SQ Warriors games. I’ve called a game with Bay Area sports guru Larry Biel and current Laker Javelle McGee.

I’ve called thousands of games over the past 26 years inside of CDCR.

I wish I had the opportunity to do play-by-play for just one of your games.

You allowed a middle-aged, out of shape, former athlete to dream bigger than myself.

That was what you brought out in me.

Rise in Power, Kobe Bean Bryant. We’re going to miss what you did on the court. But we’re also going to miss what you were going to do with life after basketball.

Now, you and Gianna — the Mambacita — can play ball together in the clouds. You can teach her your signature fall-away, while we watch for the next person to step up and fill your shoes.

Players like you come around only once in a generation.

You were the Black Mamba, the deadliest assassin on the court.

During your playing years, people called you arrogant.

After you stepped off the court, they called you another name: mentor.

I saw fans crying for you and Gianna; fans all over the world chanting your name:

“KOBE! KOBE! KOBE!”

You did it. You became The G.O.A.T. The Greatest Of All Time.

I just wish you didn’t have to leave us to do it.

Thank you for being you. We are all going to miss you.

Peace, my brother.

Aaron Showtime Taylor

The Voice of SQ Sports

#thankyouKobe #BlackMamba #8theGreat #deucefour #LakerGOAT #Mambacita #girldad

The death of Kobe Bryant and his 13 year old daughter Gianna – along with the other seven people on that fatal crash – has had an impact on the San Quentin community as whole.

Many within the population wanted to offer their condolences and say a few words about the man known as “The Black Mamba.”

“Kobe is the Jordan of my generation, someone I idolized growing up. After I watched him on TV, I would go outside and emulate his moves on my brothers,” said Montrell McDuffie, an All-Madden Flag Football player housed at The Q.

James Metters stated, “Kobe’s death is a wakeup call that death can happen to anybody, at any time, poor or rich. That we should live everyday happy and healthy.”

Salvador Clement from Southern California offered his thoughts. “It’s a big lost for his wife. She lost two persons that she loved. What makes it worse is the media is still talking about the accident. I send my prayers to the family of those who lost their lives.”

Greg Eskridge, one of the founders of KALW 91.7 and a former SQ Warriors power forward, said “I’m a diehard Laker fan, and what Kobe did for the Lakers organization and city of Los Angeles, for the NBA – at home and internationally – as well as being the type of family man and a father? My heart is raw in its emotion for his family and children. We lost some great role models in that helicopter crash.”

Trevor Byrd, a former SQ Kings, Giants and A’s player said, “I’m a post playing career Kobe fan. What he did for the league away from the game, he was huge in China. He is a global icon, on the level with Jordan, Magic and Barkley when you think of it.”

Many of the men here at The Q spoke about Kobe as a father.

Vaughn Reid offered, “I believe that his demonstration of fatherhood was very good. I recognize him to be completely involved in the development and nurture of his girls.”

Golden State Warrior fans at The Q had kind words and memories as well.

Wilson “Well Built Will” Nguyen, guard for the SQ Warriors, stated “He was one of the greatest. What’s really sad for me is that his daughter won’t get a chance to live a long life. That has got to hurt.”

“The Black Mamba is in the top 5 of the NBA’s all-time greats, he was a bad boy,” Wayne Tariq Mobley said enthusiastically. Mobley is a Bulls fan.

“Kobe’s untimely passing felt like a close and personal death that deeply moved my spiritual consciousness,” a New Orleans Pelicans fan stated.

Joshua Griffin stated “Baseball is my sport, but I definitely know the Black Mamba.” After a pause, he offered an afterthought: “Legends never die.”

Whether one was a Kobe fan, or a basketball fan, it’s clear that the impact of the man that Magic Johnson has deemed “The Greatest Laker Of All Time” has transcended his sport and was revered as a global icon.

Dennis Jefferson was reflective in his thoughts. “Kobe said in an interview that basketball is what he does, no who he is. This affected me because it made me realize that I’m bigger than the crime I committed.”

—By Contributing Writers