科比的足球緣

杰夫·卡萊爾

The magnitude of Kobe Bryants reach was such that his death， along with his daughter Gianna， in a helicopter accident resonated well beyond basketball and into other sports， and soccer proved to be no exception. When reports emerged of Bryants death， there were tweets from soccer teams all over the globe， including AC Milan， the team he supported in his youth. It felt like the sport had lost a dear friend.

These days， its not unusual for a professional athlete to show an affinity for other sports， even of the international variety. There is a commonality in the struggle， an acknowledgement of the slog and skill it takes to get to the top. Soccer has been a full beneficiary of this trend. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been known to sport a Real Madrid jersey. In an interview， San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was seen wearing Paris Saint-Germains colors.

Go back 20 years or so and such overt signs of approval were not as common， but even back then Bryant was an unabashed soccer fan. His roots in the game ran deep. He was a soccer aficionado before the sport was remotely close to being mainstream.

The sport of soccer has tended to appreciate these shoutouts more than most. While it touts itself as the worlds game， mainstream acceptance in the U.S. has been slow in coming—painfully at times—over the past several decades. Acceptance by the likes of Bryant—be it by wearing a jersey or talking up the game—meant another smidgen of added street cred.

When Bryants father， former NBA player Joe “Jellybean” Bryant， opted to continue his career in Italy， he took his family with him， including a then-6-year-old Kobe. The younger Bryant was soon immersed in the countrys sporting culture， playing soccer one moment and basketball the next on the neighborhood courts where his family lived. And he took what he could from soccer and applied it to basketball.

“[Soccer] is strategic，” Bryant told ESPN during a 2017 interview. “Upon receiving the ball you already have to have a good idea of what youre reading in front of you and what the next move is. And also the structure; they taught me at an early age how to play in triangles and how to utilize space， which wound up helping me tremendously in basketball as well. I loved the idea of how quickly the ball moves and how quickly you have to process whats moving right in front of you to make decisions.”

By the time Bryant and his family left Italy and returned to the U.S. in 1991， he had adopted AC Milan as his team. At the time in the U.S. the sport of soccer at the professional level was still struggling. The 1994 FIFA World Cup was still three years away. MLS wouldnt launch for another two.

And yet Bryants fandom continued. His friendship with Brazil great Ronaldinho， and later Argentina superstar Lionel Messi， meant his allegiance tilted toward Barcelona as time wore on. He even took time out during the 2008 Summer Olympics to watch Messi in person during Argentinas 3-0 semifinal win over rivals Brazil. A swarm of fans followed him out of the Workers Stadium that night in Beijing， his head bobbing above the throng in the evening light. He also hit up Messi in the cafeteria.

“At the Olympics， the cafeteria is always the best place to be because you have all the athletes from all the teams in one place，” Bryant said. “When we were in the cafeteria walking around， we saw [Messi] and his team sitting at one of the tables and I just walked up and sat down with him and kind of talked about the Olympics， the game a little bit. It was fun.”

Bryants assortment of endorsements， including BodyArmor， meant he stayed connected to the game of soccer in a sponsorship role. He spoke often of how the U.S. womens national team inspired his daughters. In an interview with ESPN television analyst Herculez Gomez at MLS Media Day， Bryant spoke of how he felt the Lakers were much like present-day Barcelona， storied teams in transition.

Now that connection is gone. The sport of soccer in the U.S. is on solid enough footing now where famous players arent just fans but investors， with the Houston Rockets James Harden buying a stake in the Houston Dynamo and the Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson investing in the Seattle Sounders. But Bryant was like the old friend whom you might not see much of these days but are comforted by the mere thought of him being around. He is already missed.

科比·布萊恩特和女兒吉安娜因直升機失事不幸喪生——科比影響力巨大，這一噩耗不僅震動了籃球界，也震驚了包括足球在內的其他運動領域。科比離世的報道一出，全球各地的足球隊紛紛在推特上發文哀悼，他青少年時期一直支持的AC米蘭也在其中。足球界就像失去了一位好朋友。

如今，某項運動的職業運動員熱愛其他體育項目，甚至跨越國家的界限，都不是什么稀罕事。體育運動有一個共同點，就是承認需要苦練與技巧才能抵達運動的巔峰。足球一直充分體現了那一趨勢。NBA費城76人隊的球星喬爾·恩比德據說曾身穿皇馬球衣。在一次采訪中，人們還看見NFC舊金山49人隊的四分衛吉米·加洛波洛穿著巴黎圣日耳曼的隊服。

時間倒回約20年前，這樣的公開喜愛并不普遍，但即便那時，科比也毫不掩飾自己對足球的喜愛。他深愛這項運動。在足球遠未成為美國的主流體育項目之時，他就已是個足球迷。

足球運動向來非常需要這樣支持的力量。雖然它自詡是世界第一運動，但過去幾十年，美國主流社會對它的接受一直很慢——有時可謂緩慢至極。像科比這樣的球星對足球的認可——無論是身穿球衣還是談論比賽——就意味著街頭巷尾又增添了一點兒談資。

科比的父親是前NBA球員“甜豆”喬·布萊恩特，科比6歲時，父親選擇去意大利繼續自己的職業生涯，家人也隨同前往。小科比很快就融入了意大利的體育文化中。在家附近的球場上，他要么踢足球，要么打籃球。他盡力從足球中學習知識并運用到籃球上。

“[足球]講究戰術配合，”2017年科比接受ESPN采訪時說，“接球時，你必須已經認清場上形勢，知道下一步該怎么做。另外，還得知道陣型。小時候在足球場上我就學會了如何進行三角配合，如何利用場上空間，這對我打籃球幫助很大。我喜歡琢磨球有多快，根據場上形勢作出決策得有多快。”

1991年，科比隨家人離開意大利回到美國，之前他就已成為AC米蘭的球迷。當時，美國的職業足球還在苦苦掙扎。那時離1994年國際足聯世界杯的舉辦還有三年，離美國職業足球大聯盟的建立還有五年。

然而，科比始終保持著對足球的熱愛。他先后與巴西球星羅納爾迪尼奧及阿根廷巨星梅西建立起友誼，這說明，隨著時間推移，他對西甲豪門巴塞羅那也愈加喜愛。2008年夏季奧運會期間，他甚至抽出時間親臨現場觀看梅西的比賽——在那場半決賽中，梅西率領的阿根廷隊以3：0戰勝對手巴西隊。當晚，一群球迷跟在他身后涌出北京工人體育場，夜光下，他的頭高出旁人一截，在人群中晃動。他還在自助餐廳碰到了梅西。

“奧運會期間，自助餐廳永遠是最棒的地方，因為所有參賽隊的運動員都會聚集在這里。”科比說，“我們在餐廳四處溜達，看到梅西和他的隊友坐在一張桌子旁，我就走了過去，往他身邊一坐，聊了聊奧運會，還說了幾句比賽的事。非常有趣。”

科比為包括運動飲料BodyArmor在內的各種品牌做代言，意味著他能以贊助者的身份與足球保持聯系。他經常提及美國國家女子足球隊如何激勵了他的女兒們。在大聯盟媒體日接受ESPN電視評論員赫拉克勒斯·戈麥斯采訪時，科比談到，他覺得湖人隊很像現在的巴塞羅那隊，都是處于轉型期的大牌球隊。

現在這種聯系已經沒了。美國的足球運動如今基礎足夠堅實，許多著名的球員不僅是球迷，還成了投資人，比如休斯敦火箭隊的詹姆斯·哈登擁有了休斯敦迪納摩足球俱樂部的股份，西雅圖海鷹隊的拉塞爾·威爾遜投資了西雅圖海灣人足球俱樂部。而科比就像個老朋友，可能這些日子不常看到他，但只要想到他在身邊就會感到很安慰。我們想念他。

（譯者單位：宜春學院體育學院）