Ever since the tragic passing of Los Angeles Lakers legend and his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash in 2020, murals have popped up across the country and world paying tribute.
There is believed to be more than 300 murals of Bryant in Southern California alone, and unfortunately that number is in danger of shrinking.
One of the most popular murals downtown depicts both Kobe and Gianna in their basketball uniforms with angel wings in heaven. It is located about 0.5 miles from Crypto.com Arena, so fans often go visit it before games as artist Sloe Motions did a beautiful job creating it in 2020.
But unfortunately, the owner of the building is reportedly looking to turn the wall into advertisements, getting rid of the mural altogether. When news of this got to Kobe’s wife Vanessa Bryant, she pleaded to fans on social media to sign a petition in hopes of keeping the mural up:
PSA from Vanessa Bryant: If you haven’t already, please go sign this petition to ensure this Kobe and Gianna mural does not get taken down!https://t.co/0U4RsH7e3Q pic.twitter.com/JyP1xwdd46
— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) September 16, 2023
The petition, which can be signed HERE, has already reached its goal and has been picking up even more steam since Vanessa posted about it.
Unfortunately the landlord still has the ability to take the mural down if he/she chooses regardless of how many signatures the petition gets as it has no legal impact. But perhaps if they see how many people have enjoyed that mural and want it to stay, they will change course and do what’s right for the Bryant family and Lakers fans.
Aaron Rodgers thought of Kobe after suffering Achilles injury
It’s clear to see that Bryant’s impact across the sports world remains evident to this day, and one example was one Monday Night Football this past week.
Unfortunately, Aaron Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles just four plays into his New York Jets career. While it’s an extremely tough injury to recover from both physically and mentally, Rodgers seems to be in good spirits and Kobe played a huge role in that.
Rodgers said that he thought of Bryant immediately after suffering the same injury that Kobe had in 2013. He remembered that Bryant got the surgery right away and wanted to do the same, even flying to L.A. to get it done by the same surgeon, Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
Now that the surgery is behind him, Rodgers is on the road to recovery and certainly will continue to use Bryant as inspiration during his rehab.
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