I had felt this before, a stunned feeling, butterflies in my stomach. When I was a kid in Compton with next to nothing, it would happen when the Lakers games would be on KCAL 9. And five years ago, it happened again, this time at my home in Toronto.
My team at the time, the Raptors, was playing in Brooklyn and left a bunch of us behind with our playoff spot already sealed. So I was able to sit down on my couch, turn on my TV and watch every second of my idol, and my friend, Kobe Bryant play his last NBA game.