Kobe Bryant's self-directed media tour continues. Bryant further expounded on the events that have shaped his career in a Q&A with Chuck Klosterman for GQ, published one day after revelations came out during an hourlong interview with Ahmad Rashad on NBA TV.
The three-page piece is vintage Black Mamba -- and, to a certain extent, vintage Klosterman, right down to a characteristically axiomatic first line.
Bryant's best quotes throughout the piece include references across the historical and pop cultural spectrum. Here are a few:
Secretariat
"I was like a wild horse that had the potential to become Secretariat, but who was just too f---ing wild. So part of that was [Phil Jackson] trying to tame me. He's also very intelligent, and he understood the dynamic he had to deal with between me and Shaq."
Mozart
"I've shot too much from the time I was eight years old," Bryant says. "But 'too much' is a matter of perspective. Some people thought Mozart had too many notes in his compositions. Let me put it this way: I entertain people who say I shoot too much. I find it very interesting. Going back to Mozart, he responded to critics by saying there were neither too many notes or too few. There were as many as necessary."
Slytherin wizards
Bryant views branding as a modern form of "storytelling." I note that this comparison is only partially accurate, since branding is a form of storytelling with a conscious commercial purpose. "For some," he concedes. "But that's not a universal thing. That's like saying every wizard within Slytherin House is a villain."
The full Q&A is worth a read.