We Had A Literary Expert Analyze Kobe Bryant's Basketball Poem
On Sunday (Nov. 29), Kobe Bryant announced his retirement from basketball, after playing professionally for over 20 years and helping the Los Angeles Lakers win five NBA championships. To announce his departure from the game, Bryant did something pretty uncommon in the sports world: He wrote a poem.
After reading "Dear Basketball," published on The Players' Tribune on Sunday, we wanted to get into Kobe's head, and analyze the nitty-gritty details of his words. So, we asked a professional. Jameson Fitzpatrick is a poet and a professor of writing at New York University. He's been published in the Awl, Poetry Magazine, Prelude Magazine, The Offing and more. Read Kobe's words here, then check out our literary expert's professional analysis:
6m
18m
1h 38m
30s
1h 20m
1h 25m
2m
3m
1m
1m
16m
24m
1h 16m
20m
41m
4m
1h 42m
20m
1h 25m
20m
1m
43m
24m
20m
47m
21m
22m
20m
47m
1h 39m
20m
1m
42m
2m
23m
44m
20m
57m
1h 37m
22m
21m
2m
20m
2m
22m
2m
14m
9m
5m
20m
45m
21m
41m
2m
3m
2m
20m
20m
8m
22m
4m
20m
20m
2m
1m
30s
2m
20m
5m
23m
48s
23m
21m
1h 39m
20m
2m
6m
2m
5m
8m
1m
51s
6m
20m
2m
9m
1m
10m
1m
1m
6m
1m
4m
1h 42m
20m
5m
1m
1m