18 pages • 36 minutes read
Kobe BryantDear Basketball
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Love and Obsession
While Kobe Bryant’s retirement from basketball prompts the poem, the theme of love propels it. What pushes Bryant to play in the NBA for 20 years is his lifelong love for basketball, and love isn’t a moderate feeling: It’s an obsession. The speaker tells basketball, “I fell in love with you. // A love so deep I gave you my all” (Lines 8-9). Love is all-consuming, and love for basketball dominates Bryant’s life starting when he was six years old—pretending he was playing for the Lakers and had to make game-winning shots in their arena. Love transcends age and every part of his body. Love for basketball takes over the speaker’s “mind & body” and his “spirit & soul” (Lines 10-11).
Like a genuine obsession, Bryant’s true love for basketball is unceasing. There is no light at “the end of the tunnel” (Line 14) because there his love is boundless. The speaker says, “I only saw myself / Running out of one [tunnel]” (Lines 15-16). Bryant’s obsessive love keeps him on the go. He notes, “And so I ran” (Line 17). He runs up and down basketball courts and after the loose balls, and the running exemplifies his fixation. He’ll do anything for basketball—basketball makes him feel more “alive” than anyone or anything else (Line 29).
Bryant explicitly articulates the theme of love and obsession when, as the speaker, he tells basketball, “I can’t love you obsessively for much longer” (Line 32). The forceful love takes its toll on Bryant’s body and, as is often the case with dramatic love affairs, is unstainable. Bryant and basketball break up. The speaker tells basketball, “I’m ready to let you go” (Line 38). Yet people can physically separate and still love one another. Thus, Bryant ends his letter, “Love you always” (Line 51). Bryant won’t be in the NBA anymore, but his obsessive love for basketball will still be there, albeit in a less bodily sense.
Fate and Destiny
“From the moment” (Line 2) alludes to the theme and fate and destiny, with Bryant connecting his lifelong love of basketball to his childhood. The speaker adds, “I knew one thing was real: // I fell in love with you” (Lines 7-8). The image of young Bryant pretending to be a Lakers player in a game-winning situation suggests playing basketball was a part of his fate. The world meant for him to be in the NBA, with the world representing basketball. Bryant writes, “YOU called me” (Line 25), and the “you” is basketball, so basketball picked out Bryant and set him on the path to stardom. The theme gives the poem a somewhat religious atmosphere. Instead of God knowing everything about what will happen to people (including where they’ll go once they’re dead), basketball knows what’s in store for Bryant.
The theme of fate and destiny, and the relationship between Bryant and basketball, brings in the question of agency. Typically, destiny doesn’t leave much room for choice. If something is part of a person’s fate or destiny, there’s nothing a person can do about it—it has to happen. Bryant reinforces the inevitability of his NBA career with the repeated image of him playing basketball as a child and the claim that basketball “called” him” (Line 25).
Yet Bryant has room to maneuver, and his actions help him realize his destiny. He chooses to run “up and down every court” and “[a]fter every loose ball” (Lines 18-19). He also chooses to “play through the sweat and hurt” (Lines 23). As he retires, Bryant severs his physical ties with basketball, indicating that it’s not his fate to play basketball forever (or for a 21st season in the NBA). The speaker says, “I’m ready to let you go” (Lines 38). Bryant’s destiny is not beyond his control. He can stand up to basketball and leave it. In the poem, fate and destiny isn’t a one-sided relationship but a collaboration.
How to Let Go
Retirement from NBA is the reason for the poem’s existence, so Bryant has to let go of basketball. As he states, “I’m ready to let you go” (Line 38). Letting go of something or someone isn’t always easy, particularly if there’s intense love, yet Bryant makes the process seem rather obvious. Bryant isn’t conflicted about breaking up with basketball—he senses the moment is arriving, telling basketball, “[M]y body knows it’s time to say goodbye” (Line 36). His body says it can’t deal with “the pounding” or “the grind” (Lines 34-35) anymore, so Bryant listens to his body and does what his body tells him. In the poem, letting go is clear-cut. There’s no messy breakup or drama. Bryant’s blunt diction allows him to frankly communicate to basketball why he has to move on to other things.
If a person wants to know how to let go of something or someone, the poem can act as a guide. A person should be honest. They should maintain a straightforward tone and articulate why they need to split up. Often, there will be powerful signs that the relationship should conclude. Through the reference to his body, Bryant alludes to such signs. In the 2013-2014 season, Bryant played in only six games due to a torn Achilles tendon. In the following season, his penultimate season, Bryant only played 35 games because of a torn rotator cuff. His body was breaking down—it was telling him to let go of playing professional basketball full time, and he did through this poem.
