CLEVELAND, Ohio - If you got a lump in your throat when Kobe Bryant won an Oscar for his short animated feature film, "Dear Basketball," this is for you.
The short starts with Kobe as a little boy, shooting the rolled-up tube socks of his father at an arena garbage can while an unseen crowd, stirred by his heroics, roars its acclaim in his head. It ends: "... no matter what I do next, I'll always be that kid ... ball in his hands ... 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Love you always, Kobe."
Honesty leads me to note that I covered his father, Joe, at LaSalle and with the Philadelphia 76ers.