"Meet Me In Temecula"

This won't be a collection of highlight videos. No Twitter memorials. No Instagram posts. This is the story of an argument on Twitter, Temecula, and how it encapsulates Kobe Bryant.

 Our characters in play here are @SnottieDrippin, a regular on NBA/Basketball Twitter, and @MyTweetsRealAF, his adversary on one fateful day on the Internet's Wild West. RealAF had tweeted on Christmas Day 2014 that Russell Westbrook was the best shooting guard in the NBA, interesting in part because Russ is a point guard and not a shooting guard. Snottie did not enjoy this take...

This is pretty stupid RT @MyTweetsRealAF: Russel Wetsbrook the best SG in the NBA right now.

— JaysonTatUmaThurMannieFresh (@SnottieDrippen) December 25, 2014

You see, RealAF was fed up with people saying the Lakers would be better without an old Kobe and began firing off sarcastic takes and comparisons. Things devolve to the point of name calling, its ugly business and people are LOVING it. Great entertainment on a fine Christmas Day. Snottie, like any Celtics fan would, is needling RealAF about Kobe being washed up and a detriment to the Lakers at the time. Things get so heated that the challenge is officially thrown out:
  (Tweets are now deleted, h/t SBNation for archiving) RealAF is so hot at this point that he sees Snottie has listed San Diego as his location on his Twitter profile and promptly challenges him to meet up for a fight in Temecula, CA. ON CHRISTMAS DAY. Snottie, actually in Arizona at his mothers house at the time, you know because it was CHRISTMAS DAY, accepts in jest.    And then... well, then RealAF did something unthinkable.

He drove 35 miles to Temecula, CA on Christmas Day in order to throw fisticuffs over Kobe Bryant slander. So how does this take Kobe Bryant's legacy and roll it up into one, crazy instance on Twitter?

That's what he meant to his fans. That's how much they loved him and still love him. It's about how far his fans would go to defend him. It's how polarizing he was. Everything about Kobe Bryant was so uniquely Kobe Bryant. How many athletes, artists, movie stars, musicians, etc. have meant enough to someone that they openly challenge a detractor to a fight on Twitter for the whole Internet to see, and then drive 35 miles to Temecula in order to follow through on the promise of violence.

Jordan, Brady, Gretzky, DiCaprio, Jeter, McCartney. I have yet to hear about any of their fans leaving their homes on Christmas to fight over their favorites legacy. Few people generate the kind of passion in conversation that Kobe does. Is he an all-time great, or just a Lakers great? Was he overrated or underrated? Motivated perfectionist or bad teammate? It's hard to put it into words how much he meant to a city, to the current crop of NBA players, to a sport and to sport around the world as a whole. Kobe Bryant left his mark in countless place, ranging from LA to Milan, the NBA Finals to The Oscars. His accomplishments speak for themselves, but its the intangible feeling he gives that is his lasting legacy.

Oh and Kobe's reaction to the "Meet Me In Temecula" situation? Everyone has an opinion on Kobe. And sometimes those opinions lead you to Temecula.

 RIP Kobe Bryant, GiGi Bryant, and the seven other victims of the horrible events of Jan. 26, 2020.