Kobe Bryant’s Last Season

Brandon Guerreo, Staff Writer
December 14, 2015

News of Kobe Bryant’s retirement from basketball came from The Players’ Tribune website on Sunday, Nov. 29. Bryant announced that this season would be his last, in a short story titled, “Dear Basketball.” Where he personifies basketball and explains how strong his passion for the sport really is.

From the moment I started rolling my dad’s tube socks and shooting imaginary game-winning shots in the Great Western Forum,” Bryant said in his story, “I knew one thing was real, I fell in love with you.”

Bryant has accomplished much in his twenty-year career with the Lakers. With two Olympic gold medals, five championship rings, 17 All-Star selections, and an NBA MVP, his career is nearing its end.

“He kind of shocked me when he told me,” Lakers coach Byron Scott told reporters. “I think it’s always hard when greatness like Kobe decides to hang it up.

Fans of Kobe Bryant are not just the ones that show up to the games or watch them on television. Bryant has the respect of numerous professional basketball players. Most of the players on the Milwaukee Bucks were teens when Bryant was starting his career.

“I remember when I started watching basketball, like seventh or eighth grade, and really sitting down and watching him dissect the game,” Jabari Parker, player for Milwaukee Bucks, told Aron Yohannes. “Nobody was ever close to even competing against him; that was something amazing back then.”

Bryant has stated that he has been contemplating retiring for a while. He has said that his “body knows its time to say goodbye.” He has suffered from twenty-two injuries over the span of his two-decade career. Injuries include: lacerations, fractures, sprains, surgery, bruise, swelling, torn tendons, flus, and even a viral infection. It is possible that the thirty-seven year old cannot take any more beatings.

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Cintia Macias, Co-Photo Editor

With little experience but her sister as an inspiration, senior, Cintia Macias joined the Downey High School yearbook staff the summer of her junior year, and later became photo editor for both, the school newspaper and yearbook.

“I’m really critical of my work,” Macias said. “Naturally, I didn’t think that me, out of all the other wonderful photographers on staff, would be photo editor.”

Having little to no interest in the subject, Macias took a liking to photography after an opening for yearbook, just a week before her junior year. At first not being sure, photography would later become one of her greatest passions, although she still had a lot to learn.

“I didn’t know how to teach her. It was an entirely new concept for her and she had no interest in it until about a week before she started her junior year. I couldn’t project what I knew and what was in my head to her,” sister Cindy Macias said. “I always love seeing new photos of events she goes to.”

While being shy at first, Macias has been able to develop many things thanks to photography. Having the will to learn, and being able to seek help from the then photo editor, Fernando Mandujano, Macias was able to come out of her comfort zone, meet new people, and become a leader, all while doing something she loves.

“She’s definitely learned to become more of a leader because of photography,” Mandujano said. “She can lead a group of photographers and she’s managed to teach them how to work with cameras.”

Macias plans on pursuing a career in photography in the future, with her goal being able to work for a big publishing firm and becoming a well-known photographer.

The Downey Legend

The Downey Legend

Kobe Bryant’s Last Season

The Downey Legend

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