SAN FRANCISCO -- When the news filtered out that the most vigorous of earthly creatures, a man whose spirit and deeds insinuated that Superman is indeed possible, had died so suddenly in the prime of life, shock hit the NBA and the planet like a sledgehammer to the gut.
Not Kobe.
Can’t be Kobe. His first name alone had become a synonym for imperishable.
And please, no, one of his daughters, 13-year-old Gianna, too?
A helicopter crash Sunday morning, in foggy conditions near Calabasas, 45 minutes northwest of Los Angeles. There were no survivors.