💜💛 Celebrating Kobe and Gigi

Monday’s Celebration of Life for Kobe and Gigi Bryant was full of stories, tears, and love. Now, just maybe, the healing process can begin. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: The world honors Kobe and Gianna so that the healing process might begin ... we turn back the clock to the first time we heard about Kobe ... and Tom Brady and the Patriots reach the starting line for their potential negotiations. Something new will happen now, in the weeks and months that followed Monday, when an afternoon of haunting perfection served as the true goodbye to Kobe Bryant. You’ll always remember where you were when you heard Bryant, along with eight others, including his daughter, Gianna, had died in a helicopter accident. You’ll always remember how you heard it, whose text or phone call alerted you, what show you were watching when it was interrupted by the breaking news, or where you were when the alert popped up on your phone. If you watched the ceremony ([which is available in its entirety]( on the FOX Sports YouTube channel), you’ll always remember where you were, too, when Vanessa Bryant spoke with devastating sweetness of her daughter and husband, and the void in her world that they have left. [STORY IMAGE 1] But for even the most ardent of Bryant idolizers, and for everyone else except the close friends and families of the victims, things will change a little. Now, a month has passed. And now that the tear-jerking, emotionally fraught yet profoundly uplifting Staples Center farewell is complete, the pace of how Bryant is remembered won’t be the same anymore. We will remember, to be sure, over and over again. But it won’t be like the past month, one where the shock overshadowed so much, even things like Super Bowl week and the NBA All-Star Game, and was a part of virtually every sporting event you can think of. It won’t be at the forefront of the news cycle. It won’t be like it was, where every fresh day brought new memories recalled, new tributes. It won’t be the most common topic of conversation — any conversation — nor will there be the same communal thread of disbelief. Because, with this time that has passed, the tributes and the memorial did their job. We can believe it now, though we don’t want to. Bryant’s loss has provided many lessons. A reminder to live each day to its fullest potential is the most typical one, yet this month just gone has shown us something about how we see the most cherished athletes and what they mean to us. [STORY IMAGE 2] “We sometimes come to believe that we know many celebrities more deeply than we do our families,” Dr. Gretchen Kubacky, a leading health psychologist and bereavement counselor, told me. “We follow their careers, research their personal histories … they feel like extended family. But they are not family — and in that way, we are able to grieve more deeply, because of the simultaneous sense of detachment and impossibility. We will never know them, and it allows space for other unfelt grief to bubble up to the surface as well.” And so, the sports world and the wider community will think of Bryant less often than they have been, if only because thinking of Bryant had been so all-consuming before Monday’s memorial. Few who follow American sports closely have had a day without him entering their thoughts since it happened. That was never going to continue forever, and it wasn’t supposed to. There will still be reminders, anniversaries, a coming statue outside Staples. But just as Bryant approached each day, game and challenge with fresh voracity, so too do we move on. And it is okay to do so. [STORY IMAGE 3] Bryant will never be forgotten, of course. The worst thing about those taken too soon is that all that potential, all those golden years will never come to pass. The only saving grace is that they are frozen in time, remembered at their finest. Bryant at 41 was a man at his true peak, a glorious basketball career in the books, an Oscar collected, a business empire thriving and embracing each moment of #GirlDad fatherhood. He was remembered with tears on Monday, but also in the fondest terms. Shaquille O’Neal spoke with deep grace and inimitable humor about their fascinating relationship, likening himself and Bryant to the Beatles’ lead duo John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “Many of you know Kobe and I had a very complex relationship throughout the years,” O’Neal said. “Kobe and I pushed one another to play some of the greatest basketball of all time. “And yeah, sometimes like immature kids we argued, we fought. We bantered, insulted each other with offhanded remarks. But make no mistake, that even when folks thought we were on bad terms, when the cameras were turned off, he and I would throw a wink at each other and say ‘let’s go whoop some (expletive).’” [STORY IMAGE 4] Michael Jordan was at his most human, speaking touchingly of how Bryant pestered him for advice so persistently that it broke down his natural resistance. Jordan had tears roll down his face just like when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. There won’t be any mocking memes this time. Thousands watched and cried and laughed in the heart of Los Angeles. Millions more did the same on television. Eventually, it had to come to an end. For some, the jokes and anecdotes and stories and appropriateness of the ceremony felt like the lifting of a dark cloud. It created the sense that it is okay to begin to stop mourning Bryant, and instead to start living in a way he would approve of. “The next chapter in life is just beginning,” O’Neal added. “And now it is time for us to continue your legacy.” [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times: “Vanessa was not only revealing about the intimate past moments, but also the horrors of her present reality. Through her words, a city was reminded that this is about far more than the loss of celebrity athlete and his daughter, it’s about the gaping hole in a family’s future. ... She concluded with the words of grief, yet another statement of incredible strength. And here’s hoping this is not the last Los Angeles hears from Vanessa Bryant.” Jeff Zillgitt, USA Today: “As Jordan explained in his 11-minute remembrance, they shared a bond and had an inextricable link in the history of the NBA — high-flying guards who were determined to dominate the opponent with their scoring and mental edge. For them, losing was intolerable. And the friendship extended beyond basketball. ... ‘The thing about him we could talk about anything that related to basketball, but we could talk about anything related in life,’ Jordan said. ‘As we grew up in life, rarely we (do) have friends that we can have conversations like that. It’s even rarer when you grow up against adversaries and have conversations like that.’” Baxter Holmes, ESPN: “A source close to the family says the most important thing to them was that the day focused not only on Kobe, but on Gianna — that she didn't get lost in the mix. Vanessa opened by speaking about her daughter, and the next three speakers — [Diana] Taurasi, Oregon star Sabrina Ionescu, UConn women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma — were all from the sport Gianna loved and pursued. ... After those long seconds pass, Taurasi finds the words about the last time she saw a young girl considered to be the future of women's basketball, who aspired to play at Connecticut and dominate the WNBA. 'It was the look,' Taurasi says of Gianna, fighting tears, 'of excitement, a look of belonging, a look of fierce determination.'” [IN OTHER WORDS] - She delivered a stirring eulogy for Kobe, then went out and extended her NCAA record for triple-doubles that very night. [USA Today’s]( Bumbaca profiles]( Sabrina Ionescu, the nation’s best college basketball player. - Luka Doncic learned from him. The Houston Rockets pursued him. Yet he remains the man who said no to the NBA. [Matthew Foley explores the riveting story]( of Spain’s Sergio Llull for Bleacher Report. - A club recently praised for its methods on and off the field has descended into crisis. [The New York Times’]( Smith investigates]( how Barcelona lost its way. [THE BRADY HUNCH] [THE BRADY HUNCH] The NFL Combine in Indianapolis kicked into high gear today with media availability, exams, and interviews, and you know what that means. No, it’s not time to evaluate draft prospects — it’s time for Tom Brady and the Patriots to get in the same room and see if they can figure this whole thing out! NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport previously reported the two sides were expected to meet at the Combine, [and according to the Boston Herald]( that meeting should represent a new “starting point” for negotiations. With Brady reportedly wanting a two-year deal, we’ll have to wait and see if there’s any progress to be had in Indy. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( The glimpses into the love between Kobe and Gigi Bryant have been the most emotional, tear-wrenching moments in the wake of their tragic passing. The program for Monday’s Celebration of Life offered a number of those moments, including this photo of a beaming dad and his daughter at her school’s “Career Day,” with Kobe in full Lakers regalia and Gigi wearing his Olympic gold medal. May they and the seven other victims of January’s tragic helicopter crash rest in peace. [VIEWER'S GUIDE] New Orleans Pelicans at Los Angeles Lakers (TNT, 10 p.m. ET) Well, this is quite the treat. Zion Williamson and the Pelicans square off with LeBron James at Staples Center on Tuesday night in what might be a first-round playoff preview. WWE Backstage (FS1, 11 p.m. ET) The newest inductees in the WWE Hall of Fame, the Bella Twins, make their Backstage debut, and the crew breaks down the biggest stories headed into Thursday’s Super ShowDown. Real Madrid vs. Manchester City (TNT, Wednesday, 3 p.m. ET) Manchester City head to the Bernabeu with extra motivation after being handed a two-season ban from UEFA club competition, which should spell a thrilling first leg to this Champions League matchup. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Zion Williamson to make 4+ dunks: +350 Sure, there might be a little bit of recency bias here, given that Zion just threw down five rim-rattling slams against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, one of two games so far this season in which the Pelicans rookie has had at least four dunks. But at 3.5-to-1, the opportunity to root for a ton of Zion highlights is pretty compelling. If you want to pull for offense on both sides, LeBron and Zion each scoring over 24.5 points is going off at +300, as well. A new FOX Sports app and website is coming. [Click here]( to be notified when the reimagined app is available. 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