Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 2-28-20

Sports
Tiger Woods Reveals
Fans Unhappy
Kobe Bryant’s Memorial
Masters Champions Dinner
That Kobe
Brought Out A Side Of
Menu, Connects It To '97
Bryant’s Parents
Michael Jordan Nobody
In selecting this year’s menu for the Champions Dinner Tues- day night of the Masters, Tiger Woods is going back to his roots.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, Woods said the menu will be a nod to his southern California roots: Steak and chicken fajitas plus sushi and sashimi.
The offerings are a callback to Woods’ menu from 2006, the fourth (and most recent) time he served as dinner host. The op- tions for that night included stuffed jalapeño and quesadilla appetizers with salsa and gua- camole; green salad; steak faji- tas, chicken fajitas, rice, refried beans; apple pie and ice cream for dessert.
He featured sushi on the menu in both 2002 and 2003, after he’d won back-to-back green jackets — though Porter- house steaks were the main event those years.
Weren’t
Never Seen Before
Mentioned At
Memorial
Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever, —and, in retirement, a distant and private figure made a emotional speech Monday at Kobe and Gigi Bryant Me- morial Service. On the court, he never failed to meet the mo- ment. On the stage, he said what needed to be said.
“Jordan spoke from the heart,” ESPN’s J. A. Adande wrote of that night in Spring- field. “The thing is, his heart’s as cold as liquid nitrogen.”
Jordan turning himself into a punchline is damn near unprecedented, and would’ve seemed unthinkable in 2009. “I’ll have to look at another crying meme,” Jordan said, pausing to let the laughter and cheers wash over him. “I told my wife that I wasn’t going to do this because I didn’t want to see it for the next three or four years.”
Jordan was the comic re- lief on a day when thousands filed into Los Angeles’ Staples Center for a somber spectacle that, as UConn women’s bas- ketball coach Geno Au- riemma aptly noted, was also “the greatest collection of tal- ent I’ve ever been around.” The event opened with Beyoncé’s lilting vocal tribute, and Jimmy Kimmel emceed. Snoop Dogg was there. So was Alicia Keys and Spike Lee. Bill Russell was, too, as were several generations of Lakers royalty from Elgin Baylor to Magic Johnson to LeBron James.
Vanessa Bryant started things off with a moving trib- ute. Other speakers—WNBA great Diana Taurasi, Au- riemma, and current women’s college star Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon—spoke of Kobe and Gigi’s shared pas- sion for basketball. Shaquille O’Neal hinted at the complexity of his pairing with Kobe, a partnership that produced three NBA titles but still fell short of how many they felt they should have won. “Maybe it surprised people that Kobe and I were very close friends,” Jordan told the crowd. “But we were very close friends. Kobe was my dear friend. He was like a little
LeBron James: 'Never Going To Be A Closure' Over Kobe Bryant's Death
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- A day after Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were honored with a "celebration of life" at Staples Center, LeBron James said his emotions are still raw.
"Emotionally a wreck, like everyone else," James said after shootaround ahead of Tuesday night's 118-109 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. "Another challenging day for all of us. Like you've been hearing me talk about the last couple times you guys asked me about
LEBRON JAMES
the whole situation, it's just been hard to kind of talk about it. Trying not to go back. It's just tough." Lebron ended the game with 40 points.
TIGER WOODS
But Woods added that he’s considering a throwback to his first-ever Champions Dinner, which he hosted in 1998, as a 22-year old — half a lifetime ago. The menu that night? Cheese- burgers, chicken sandwiches, french fries and milkshakes.
“I’m debating whether or not to have milkshakes for dessert,” he said on Tuesday, speaking to the 2020 menu. An all-time fa- vorite memory of his, he said, was watching Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead sip milkshakes on the porch at Augusta Na- tional’s clubhouse.
JOE AND PAM BRYANT
Thousands of fans attended Monday’s sold-out public me- morial to Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
Some of the celebrities and athletes in attendance at the Staples Center included: Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Kanye West, Kris Jenner, Gabrielle Union, Dwyane Wade, Ciara, Russell Wil- son, Magic Johnson, Jen- nifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez, Michael Jor- dan and Shaquille O’Neal.
Popculture.com writes, “while the majority of fans were focused on the touching tributes, there were thousands that had some questions for those that planned the cere- mony. Why weren’t Bryant’s parents, Joe and Pam, men- tioned on Monday?”
Fans are said to be pissed that Kobe’s parents didn’t re- ceive even the slightest ac- knowledgment. Several took to social media to note that Joe and Pam, as well as Bryant’s sisters, Shahya and Sharia, weren’t men- tioned during the ceremony, and inquiring minds wants to know why?
MICHAEL JORDAN
brother.”
Soon, it was clear why this
particular task fell to Jordan: Kobe, in his playing days, had mirrored the older Jordan to the point where their identities were forever linked—from their footwork to their speech patterns to the reverence they earned from their peers.
“Forget about the endorse- ments, forget about the rings for a second, let’s forget about ballet movements and all this other shit. Let’s forget about that,” Bryant told Bleacher Report in 2017. “The tech- nique is what’s most impor- tant. Because that is what’s actually timeless, that the next generation can study and carry on and then pass on to the one after that.”
“As we grew up in life [we] rarely have friends that we can have conversations like that,” Jordan explained of his bond with Bryant. “Well, it’s even rarer when you can go up against adversaries and have conversations like that.”
“I walk in and Kobe’s sit- ting there,” Jordan said. “I’m in a suit, and the first thing Kobe said, ‘Did you bring your shoes?’ No, I wasn’t thinking about playing.”
He also told a story of get- ting a late-night text from Kobe a couple months ago. “He said: ‘I’m trying to teach my daughter some moves. And I don’t know what I was think- ing, or what I was working on, but what were you thinking about when you were growing up trying to work on your moves?’ I said, ‘What age?’ He says ‘12.’ I said, ‘12, I was try- ing to play baseball.’ ”
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