TORONTO -- "Kobe! Kobe! We're from Toronto. We just wanted to give you a retirement gift," the local radio station reporter said, pushing a cream-colored envelope and shimmering red gift bag replete with a white bow across the table.
"Dear Kobe," the envelope read in cursive, and inside the bag: a bottle of Brio, a sweet Italian soda produced in Canada.
"Ah, thanks, man," Kobe Bryant said, nodding before taking both gifts and carefully placing them beside his feet.
By that point Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers icon was nearly one minute into a 25-minute media session leading up to his final All-Star Game on Sunday at the Air Canada Centre.