The sports world was rocked with the news of Kobe Bryant’s death. I’m not here to either elevate him as a man or pull him down from the legend status he achieved during his 41 years here on Earth.

I’m just thinking how I’m struggling to live my life. Hopefully when my time is up I will have passed along a few words of wisdom. To set an example of the good I’ve done can outweigh the bad, which is inside of us all.

When I first heard the news of Kobe’s death it didn’t rock me that hard, but I’m not a big sports fan. I did revisit in my mind how I felt when Dale Earnhardt died.  I grew up on NASCAR, my dad and I went to races. We watched pretty much every race each season.

The bond created wouldn’t have happened outside of the sport. Each Sunday, or Saturday night if they were at Bristol in August, you could find us in the living room. We would show off some piece of NASCAR attire, rooting for our team.

Dad was a big Bill Elliot fan, naturally that opened the door for a lot of back and forth between us. The racing was good but the time we spent rooting for “our man” – those are the moments I will remember for the rest of my life.

When Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed, it really did rock my world. Dale was the type of man that I loved. I yearned to have his same character traits in my own life.

He was a rock star on Sundays. He was just that good. He and his car were one. Earnhardt knew exactly where they were on the track, how much room they had or could make. Just saying ‘we can do it’ without knowing exactly how it would come out; it made for great racing every time he was behind the wheel.

He was known as the Intimidator, and he lived up to it.  I don’t think he tried, he just did. I suspect Kobe was a lot the same. His talent, passion for the sport, it was all just what he loved and emulated every day.

More than anything else, the news of Kobe’s death alongside his 13-year-old daughter, shook me. She loved the sport, quickly becoming a basketball star in her own right. It all brought back a lot of memories of my dad and I.

How one man helped bridge a gap between a dad and a son.  I’m sure Kobe Bryant has done the same for other parents. He seemed to be a genuinely good guy, wanting to bring positivity to others. It makes the loss even more raw. But those with a positive light have memories, and a legacy, that live on.