Doin' Work

Tangentially related to the recent KG brouhaha, I stumbled onto this in a Sports Illustrated profile of Kobe from 2008:

It's 1995, and Bryant is the senior leader of the Lower Merion team, obsessed with winning a state championship. He comes to the gym at 5 a.m. to work out before school, stays until 7 p.m. afterward. It's all part of the plan. When the Aces lost in the playoffs the previous spring, Bryant stood in the locker room, interrupting the seniors as they hugged each other, and all but guaranteed a title, adding, "The work starts now." (Bryant remains so amped about his alma mater that when he taped a video message for the team a few years ago, it contained few of the usual platitudes and instead had Bryant reeling off a bunch of expletives and exhorting the boys to "take care of f------ business!")

As odd and alienating as I sometimes find the kind of overrevved intensity that fuels the Kobes, KGs and MJs of the world, I find this totally winning. Kobe too amped up to do anything but curse at high schoolers? Yes please.