Kobe Bryant on Monday night played his final game in Salt Lake City and had one of his patented farewell tour performances — five points on 1-for-11 shooting in 28 minutes. There’s nothing quite as noble as a once-great athlete going out on their terms.
When he checked out of the game the Lakers would lose 123-75, he threw his sleeve into the crowd. A fan caught it and appeared to freeze like a deer in headlights. Smelling weakness, superfans one row back wrested it away and did what anyone with Kobe’s sleeve would do — smelled it.
The whole thing is bizarre. The first guy catches it seemingly out of reflex. Perhaps the horror of how wet the sleeve is freezes the man. He appears to immediately regret his decision. Notice the horror on the face of the woman two seats to his right.
After what is essentially a mugging, perhaps by teens, one of the teens wants a high-five while the other one tries to sniff it when no one is looking.
Then one of the assailants begins to shout, perhaps at Kobe, thanking him for the wet clothing and five points while the victim of this thievery seems angry or like he feels bad for a guy who loves a basketball player way too much.
Either way, there are eight more games left in Bryant’s career. Three will be true road games. Hopefully the crimes don’t escalate if he tosses wet socks or underwear into the crowd in Oklahoma City.
(h/t Reddit)
