I was an avid Los Angeles Lakers basketball fan in the 90s when I lived in California – so I was stunned by the tragic deaths in a helicopter crash of retired Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant (who was only 41 and building a new career as a storyteller) and his teenage daughter Gianna, eager to follow in her father’s footsteps and active in a youth basketball league. Other passengers also died in the foggy crash yesterday in southern California. Bryant leaves behind his wife and three other daughters. It was unbelievably tragic!

The shock of this unexpected ending inspired me to read a lot of coverage on Bryant and I was particularly moved by Mitch Albom’s front page column in the Detroit Free Press.  He emphasizes how much more Kobe had to share on his new path and that we are left with tragedy instead of the triumph Albom is sure would have marked Kobe’s new endeavors. For more, read Mitch’s column at https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/2020/01/26/kobe-bryant-death-mitch-albom/4585619002/