Kobe Bryant Jersey Retirement Speech

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Rhetorical Analysis of Kobe Bryant’s Jersey Retirement Speech
Introduction
Nobody has aced the craft of remaining focused on their goals and working tirelessly towards them like the legendary icon, Kobe Bryant. He is generally viewed as an extraordinary player compared to other basketball players of all time. He won five NBA championships with the Lakers and drove the NBA in scoring during two seasons. He was a 15-time member of the All-NBA Team, a 12-time member of the All-Defensive Team and 18-time All-Star. He holds the NBA record for the most number of seasons played with a single franchise for a whole career, which is 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In 2018, he got an Academy Award for his animated short film "Dear Basketball." He then started a podcast called 'The Punies' that is meant for kids and tells of morals and history in a really fun and creative manner. Kobe was known for his 'Mamba Mentality', however, it's his huge heart that is admirable. He was continually reinventing himself and continuing to seek to achieve new dreams and challenges in his life.
Kobe Bryant is one of the NBA’s most revered legends, having retired after a stellar career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is famous for his kind demeanor, aggressive attacking play, being a family man and of course, the only player to have had two jersey numbers retired by the Lakers. This paper seeks to discuss a rhetorical analysis of Kobe’s jersey retirement speech as recorded during the decorated ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The jersey retirement ceremony was such a big deal that aside from being televised live to millions of viewers around the globe, many basketball legends, coaches and media personalities, both past, and present, turned up in their numbers to cheer on the 'Black Mamba'. This paper further seeks to identify parts of his speech as a cultural object, in addition to making three relevant claims in the discussion.
First Claim
Kobe Bryant put respect above all else, thus living a life that was proof that having respect breeds getting respect from others in a similar manner. This was echoed as soon as he took the microphone to make his first remarks after the hung jerseys were unveiled in the rafters. Kobe began by stating that the ceremony was not just for him, but rather a milestone achievement for all the other jerseys that were hung in celebration before his and also, the coming generation of legends among the current and future NBA stars.
He reiterated his respect for legends like Michael Jordan, Will Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal who inspired him to give his all in the basketball court. This claim is backed up by the fact that Kobe is known to have accorded respect to other players in opposing teams, respect for the fans and the media. Even opposing players who hoped to beat Kobe in a basketball game spoke highly of him, giving credence to his dedication, team spirit and someone who could inspire a team to victory after victory. Magic Johnson was quoted at an interview when he mentioned that Kobe never cheated on the game of basketball and by extension, he never cheated on his fans. This is attributed to the character and relentless forward momentum of Kobe as he played through serious injury and personal strife to earn his team the legacy of championship banners and other accolades.
Similarly, Kobe Bryant was known to address media personalities with respect, the same respect which his teammates admired him for and regarded him with. In social circles, however, Kobe Bryant was respected for his attitude and personality off the court. He was a family man, having gotten married on the 18th of April, 2001. Kobe and his wife Vanessa have since raised four daughters, with the older siblings showing increasingly potent ability to play basketball well. The influence of Kobe Bryant, a man of the Catholic faith who was among other talents, multilingual and a gifted orator seems to have had a similarly positive effect on the young family.
Second Claim
Kobe Bryant emphasizes the importance of hard work to achieve success in one’s life. He tells of his mantra, the ‘Mamba Mentality’ which propelled him to play as aggressively as he did. This is further supported by Kobe’s mentioning of working out and training at dawn over the years to get better at basketball. Kobe spoke of waking up in the witching hours of dawn to pursue his work out and training drills. This coincides with a past comment that Kobe made when making his statements on an Amazon Book Review. He mentioned as he did in his speech when addressing his wife and daughters, that it is all about trusting the process and hard work despite the many challenges one may face.
Kobe thus believed that the ‘Mamba Mentality’ is the core mantra for having a competitive spirit as he did. He was a firm believer that waking up to work hard, staying late to perfect one’s technique outweighs talent each time. Kobe was the sort of player who believed in killing the playing spirit of the opposition, and always finding the inspiration to play and win (Bryant, 2018). He played through personal injury on certain occasions, as one of the driving forces behind the ‘Mamba Mentality’ is attempting to reach and surpass expectations despite the influencing circumstances. One of the key demonstrators of this sentiment is the frequency with which Kobe fiercely jumped to take free throws despi...