My Sunday Feeling

We think we know them.  

We think we know the men and women that play (or coach) the games we watch in our living rooms.   Or maybe it's something else.  Maybe something more akin to the Freudian concept of "transference" in which the patient recognizes something comfortable in the therapist which causes him to open up to him or her.  

Whatever it is, Madison Avenue counts on it as a thing because they know that an athlete's endorsement for a product can often translate into serious money for them and their clients.

And perhaps because we thought we knew him, the passing of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash in the fog, along with his daughter and 7 other souls was a shock to the nation and to the world of sports.

After all, there's only a handful of athletes that are recognizable by their first names: Rafa, Roger, Serena, Tiger, Shaq, Kareem, Aaron, Derek, OJ.  You get the idea.

But we don't know these people.  We can't.  Even though thanks to the Internet we can sure learn about their foibles and failures at the speed of lightning. Just like we learned about Tiger's in 2009.  And Kobe's in 2003.  

But shock is an appropriate response when one so young, one who was a dominant force in his chosen profession, exits the stage in such a tragic (which is appropriate) and needless (which is also appropriate) fashion.  

I know that the FAA has just begun its investigation.  And by all accounts the pilot on board was experienced and instrument rated.  But the fog was sufficiently dense that morning to cause the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to ground its helicopters.  And other helicopter pilots interviewed expressed the view that it was too dangerous to be flying that morning.  At least by visual flight rules.

So why didn't the pilot proceed by instruments?  One theory that I have read is that flying by instruments would have made them late to the basketball tournament his daughter was scheduled to play in.  

All great players do risk calculation.  The great ones take them and they largely succeed. But not all risks are worth it.  Any lawyer can tell you that.  

Today is Super Bowl Sunday.  The Chiefs and the 49ers.  There will be a tribute to Kobe before the game and to the others that perished that day.  Players will bear his number on their shoes.  Perhaps his number will be sewed upon the jerseys.  

Meanwhile, those left behind must grieve the loss of their loved ones. Their children.  

So who failed the risk calculations here?  The pilot? Kobe?  We don't know.  We weren't there.

And we only think we know them.