The Farewell Retirement Tour

[Mitch Henessey]

It's no secret Kobe Bryant plans to retire after the current NBA season. ESPN, other media outlets and other sports networks, and other NBA teams and cities (for the most part) are going out of their way to honor Kobe's career and his accomplishments, and more recently we've seen similar farewell retirement tours with Derek Jeter, Ray Lewis, and (presumably) Peyton Manning, with age and injuries catching up to him, and Manning telling Bill Belichick this might be his "last rodeo" after the AFC Championship game.

Whenever I catch the highlights on ESPN after a Lakers game is over,"Is all this really necessary?" is the first thought that pops into my mind. Sports fans and most casual fans know, who Kobe Bryant is. They know all about his accomplishments, and they know he's one of the all time greats, so is it really necessary to constantly put spotlight on every game, the all-star game, or other game during the tour? After all, it's not like we're watching Kobe in his prime, or a Kobe Bryant, who has a good amount of gas left in his tank.

Also, the Lakers are a lousy team with a lousy record, so the constant losing sort of puts a damper on Kobe's grand send off for me. The media coverage and commentators constantly playing up both men's career's during Ray Lewis and Peyton Manning's final runs was excessive and over the top more often than not, but at least you knew they were chasing a grand prize to complete a possible storybook ending, so a lot of the hoopla was bearable to an extent.

I'm not saying said athlete doesn't deserve respect and admiration for their accomplishments. But all the taped video messages from former teammates, other players, and the weekly coverage focused on the final run? Everything just feels so forced, repetitive, and well, unnecessary.

Any thoughts on farewell retirement tours?

 

[SSJPhenom]

I agree with you to an extent. We shouldn't be celebrating Kobe's every game, but there were some instances that I did think it was warranted. His last game against Lebron for instance or the All-Star game were warranted and necessary situations to honor Kobe. Also, I expect his last game and last home game will be big events as well. Other than that, though, the farewell tour is starting to get redundant and tedious. I understand that he is one of the greatest of all time and he does deserve our respect, but it's not something that needs to happen every night. Hell, it's probably more of a distraction to the Lakers team than anything else. Might be why they're losing so much, other than absolutely sucking that is.

 

[A11oftheLights]

Yeah every team doing a video package the last time he plays at their court is rather annoying. It's a minor inconvenience when you start scrolling through facebook and its just full of people reposting it. He could just get a quick introduction (i.e "and now for the final time Kobe Bryant").

The all-star game though deserved to be a dedication to Kobe (even though he didnt really deserve to be there statistically)

 

[Fugazi]

It's money. Think about it, Kobe Bryant is without a doubt one of the greatest players who have ever played the game, and now he's on his way out. It's not such a common thing that fans are aware of it being someones last year. Retirements are more often than not, sad, sudden, and confusing.

Think of the money the NBA and EVERY team is making thanks to Kobe's retirement tour? Teams that have trouble selling out stadiums are now seeing a rise in attendants for the Laker game because everyone wants to see Kobe before he goes.

I'm from portland and an absolute Blazers fan. Kobe has single-handedly crushed our towns dreams more than a dozen times, but you have to respect who he is and what he's done. People want to see him off because he is someone who will be talked about far into the future, and probably as long as basketball exists.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

I agree. Kobe is one of the greatest basketball players ever who had a storied career so of course he deserves some attention on his way to retirement, I wouldn't expect any less but it's definitely been overkill and considering the Lakers are a low end team at this point it gets eye-rolling after a while.

It's understandable why they are doing it, it's become the norm for great sports figures on their way out but at the same time it's a bit odd seeing one of the worst teams in the NBA get so much coverage (at least where I'm living), at this point the only team that gets more coverage than the Lakers is the Raptors and that's only because they're the Canadian team.

I think it wouldn't hurt to cut back on the Kobe love a bit but as the season gets ever closer to the end I imagine Kobe's going to get even more coverage as time goes on.

 

[Stormtrooper]

I don't have any problem whatsoever with any retirement tour. Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest ballplayers of all time and if the teams want to honor him they should do it.

The media coverage, on the other hand, is getting a little much. They don't need a daily report from someone on-site, since nothing is changing. The networks playing the game is completely understandable. An all time great is retiring from an super-popular team in the #2 market.

As a Yankee fan, I have had 2 consecutive seasons of retirement tours with Mariano Rivera in 2013 and Derek Jeter in 2014. The opposing organizations were always giving the legend a gift during a ceremony before the game and usually the crowds were more respectful towards the departing legend. The last game was a spectacle and (in Derek Jeters case) the road fans (in Boston) were showing appreciation. In terms of the coverage, it never seemed like it was too much, if the game wasn't on national television, they'd bring up the ceremony during the highlight package for the game.