TGC 109 - Mamba Mentality

The guys talk about mamba mentality coined by Kobe Bryant and how he lived like an athlete after leaving his sport.

Team By Aristotle 1:30
Foodie 3:50
Mamba Mentality 7:30

Transcript

Tyler:   0:08
Welcome athletes into the gym closet. We have a somber but great episode today, and we're gonna talk a little bit about Kobe. We got some segments that we're gonna start first. But if this is your first time joining us, the gym closet is a krave gym podcast. We talk about kind of dive deeper into what we do it Krave Gym, give our athletes a look behind the curtain, if you will, and see everything that we do and try to be as transparent as a business and as a gym is possible. And in doing so, we like to think we give a lot of good information that anybody can take with them in life and live a better life in a more successful life. And some tips of the trade and the people that we talk to often are experts in different fields, and we love to get new people in. So if starting off, if you know anyone that you would like to hear from, let us know. And we would love to get in touch with them and get new interviews and new people in here, but we're going to start with a couple of segments this week. Last week we talked about team and Jordan had some research that he had to do for work on some team stuff. It sounds like

Jordan:   1:23
Yes. So in 2015 Google did this thing called Team Aristotle. What's Aristotle again? So he's the philosopher, yet one of the famous flocks. Okay, I don't ever remember which one. I think he's the one. The top. Later. I think he's the one that had Plato's Plato's Republic was about. I think I'm wrong. Sorry. Um, anyway, so they named it that for a reason. That was one of his philosophy, things where he said that he thinks that he could break down exactly what it means to be the perfect human or whatever. Basically that anyway, um, Google massive data center, able to do a lot of different research and pull things and did a bunch of interviews with companies across the world and try to figure out what it is that makes a good team. Is it getting the best of the best in each of the fields? Is it a conducive relationship with people around and the things that they found were pretty close to what we talked about. It's not always getting the best of us and feel it does matter about people around with number one thing by a mile. They said was that there was a safe psychological space where you were comfortable to try new things and veil and that obviously, what makes awesome. Yeah, reminded me exactly of our gosh dang team championships, Right, Bert, do you know I'm like, Yeah, definitely you when you see some of those folks trying p ours for the first time in every single person standing around, cheering him on or doing, you know, cheering for them to do the new thing. Those championships, I think, is exactly what that meant. Where you're comfortable with your team, right? You're comfortable to try new things. You're comfortable to fail because you're not gonna win every single time, right? But you're still comfortable doing all of that. And I think those championships

Tyler:   2:51
and we talked about it last last week, how unique of a competition. Those championships  

Jordan:   2:56
are rooting for the person beating you, right? Yes. Crazy. Yes. Like I I thought that's also cool, man. And it just it hit right on the things and this was after the fact. So right, you know, and Google's pre smart  

Tyler:   3:07
Google, They know their stuff a little bit like everything.  

Jordan:   3:11
Yeah, it's like I I thought that was really cool. I wanted to bring that up.  

Tyler:   3:14
That's awesome. And again, like sometimes we accidentally know what we're talking about. Yeah, that's me, accidentally, but it always feels good that after the fact to kind of be like, you know, that kind of solidifies the point that we're trying to get across the other day. That's awesome. Um, we also have the booty will jump into foodie right away. We got a victory for Mexican food.

Jordan:   3:40
Mexican food beat pizza. It's a  

Tyler:   3:44
pineapple. Went a long way. OK, so for those who don't know, we always do. A foodie foodie is a usually categorical vote on what food you like. Or or now we're going to expand into food your duty. So it's going to be a category vote your favorite in whatever it is. So we did a Grand Slam tournament of 2019 winners of foodie, so there was no category for any of this food. It was just kind of random. Like, What do you think of when you think of it? It was like pineapple versus Reese is like in no way are those How do you pick just what's your favorite? You know? And so I was super interested to see how much pineapple round one beat. what a burger.  

Jordan:   4:36
Second round second.  

Tyler:   4:37
Okay. But regardless, chick fil A in a different side of the bracket went a lot farther than what a burger. So I'm gonna give you what? A burger. The kick in the ass to the end of the fast food lining. Right?  

Jordan:   4:51
But it's not a burger.  

Tyler:   4:52
That's true. That's true. But it's a better establish whatever the in the Midwest. Um, so yes. Oh, uh, some of those votes were just crazy. I thought what was interesting is that it is It came down to the end and it was like it. I don't No, I think it was almost like four and 44 suites for, like, savory, hearty foods. Okay, Sure.  

Jordan:   5:17
And the sweets lost all of them. Really? Yeah. Dude, that's crazy. It was like steak. Yeah, pizza, a Mexican food. And then I think maybe chocolate chip cookies. Oh, yeah, That waited Thio Mexican, uh, against pizza pizza. But they lost pretty handily.  

Tyler:   5:35
So all the sweets lost in yeah, which I voted opposite of, like a lot of the ones that one. I voted the exact opposite. I really don't I don't know. I had no idea where it was going with everyone.  

Jordan:   5:49
We're real close. Someone would be like, really exciting. I'm going back and forth, back forth.  

Tyler:   5:56
So Mexican food Overall, I think the best Mexican food the winner. Yeah, and I think that it comes down to a variety.

Jordan:   6:03
I think that people probably like the fact that they were able to choose more. That's the one thing I'm upset that steak lost. I would I was once eyes. I didn't think you'd go that far. But once it was like Sure, why wasn't I?  

Tyler:   6:14
I'm not stick. I'm giving a steak, and I I just because I think it's variety, because if I have a steak, I just want the best steak and I've had a very, very good steak it like Fleming's and I don't want any other steak like that. I've had a really good steak and so like having a sub par steak just is very disappointing, and I don't want to get back to the facts. Yeah, you got a Mexican restaurant, you get quite a bit of food. But

Jordan:   6:39
But I mean on said within that, I think margaritas count. That's true. I think that that's that's a lot of mental game.  

Tyler:   6:47
I mean, what what side of what side of what do you get on the side of your Mexican food all the time? That would bring that mentally into the play,Margaritas, chips in case of every every time. So that's I think it was probably the right, even if that's true, that that's true. So we wanted to get a couple of our segments out of the way. That's kind of what kind of all you got for a statement. That's all I got for statement. I'm gonna rustle through some paper so it looks like I'm like, I'm doing something. I actually I actually have nothing on this, But I flipped it over and I heard it, so I was like, That's kind of weird. Um, but we wanted to. I mean, if you if you didn't know already, I don't know anybody that probably doesn't know. Um, but Kobe Bryant passed away in a helicopter accident, Um, with his daughter and some other of his daughter teammates, Um, and coaches and parents in just an untimely death. And, um, the big the big thing that kind of hit me is I'm not usually any emotional person When it's someone I don't know whether their famous or not. I have not felt a certain way about anybody that has passed that that I don't personally know. This hit me, and we kind of talked about it before the show. This hit me like I knew the guy like it was, and I think it did that for a lot of people. But it was the first time that it was like a shock to me, because this is one of the guys that, you know, I looked forward to seeing the next 20 years of his life outside of basketball, you know, and doing some of the things that that he was doing off of the court was was amazing, and it's it's it really boils down to, you know, the human side of things and being able to think about the little things, you know, it's Ah, lot of people were talking about it. And it really makes you realize that that everybody's human, even in a legend like him is has, you know, may not have tomorrow.  

Jordan:   8:57
Well, and that's I think one of the reasons that Kobe feels so so different was because of the legend of who he was, where he gave off this invincible aura he just you couldn't bringing down. He tours Achilles and came back out onto the court and shoots thes free throws and nails the Mamba mentality. Crazy shot game winners. He just constantly was looking forward to get better. I mean, he gave off the aura, and it was part of everything that he did. The was an invincible man that couldn't be taken down.  

Tyler:   9:26
So this so just some stats on on Kobe as far as kind of his basketball days, which, you know, I most of what we're gonna talk about the data isn't isn't him in his sport, you know? But he was, you know, an 18 time All Star. He won five NBA championships. Um, he was drafted straight out of high school. He was one of one of the early guys to do that was the first. I don't I don't I don't know, I don't know. But yeah, he was one of the early guys to do that 12 time member of all Defensive team 2008 N B. A most valuable player widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, or at least in the circle of talk with the greatest basketball players of all time. Um, and he ranks fourth on the league's all time regular season scoring. Ah, he ranks fourth on all time postseason scoring, and he's the first guard in the MBA to in n b A history to play at least 20 seasons. So I mean, he was there forever. And, um, you know, so those are some things for people that don't know who he is or kind of what he did in the sports arena. That's what his basketball stats words. And then those are just unreal. Like if you talk about who's the best in basketball, there's there's usually three names and an argument. There's Michael Jordan, and Kobe learned everything about my everything that he did from Admittedly, he admitted that he learned everything he knew from Michael Jordan played against Michael Jordan and and, you know Michael Jordan respected the hell out of him in the game, you know, and that that automatically says a lot. Did you see? Did you ever see the play by play videos where it shows Mike Michael doing moves and then Kobe doing my habits when they were very similar?  

Jordan:   11:09
It's the same thing. It's incredible to watch, Right? It was

Tyler:   11:13
in one of the interviews that that I listened to. He was like he was like that. It's interesting because well, the interview the interviewer was asking him, You know who's the Who's the goat was Is it Michael, or is it LeBron and just kind of, uh, poking at him? Right? And he was like, he he was like, You know it. Really It's everybody together because, uh, Jordan learned it from X, Y and Z. I don't know that God generation. I learned it from Jordan. Everything LeBron knows. He learned it from me and Jordan. Ah, they were on the Olympic team together. And so LeBron was on the Olympic team with Kobe Bryant and and so he taught him a lot of like the work ethic stuff and all that kind of stuff. And so, you know, he was like, You don't have one without the other So it's to me. And so he took it, like in a different direction, which was cool, because you always have that stupid argument, right? Whoever you're a fan of is who you think is the greatest, and you have you have a legitimate argument in any in any arena to say who's the best of all time, right? But he was the first person that I've ever heard that said, You make that point of, we're in different generations. We may play at the same time. We may have played each other, but I don't I'm not Kobe Bryant without Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan's not Michael Jordan without X, Y and Z and LeBron's not LeBron without Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. So it was. It was really interesting how he spun that question and and made me think of like, yeah, I mean there. If if you don't have one without the other than they're all they're all the best, you know what I mean. So it's It was interesting. His point of view on that. And so, like with that news Ah, I did a bunch of listen to a bunch of his interviews and and every it was, it was on every single story. And so, um, you know that it It's something that, like I've heard him a lot speaking and doing some different things. But it was It's interesting because it was almost an excuse for me to go back and listen to some of these things, and and I and another reason why it's so tragic to me is because of all of the things that were inspirational and what he would do, what he has done since he's been out of the league and the speaking engagements and how he'd done some of these interviews and stuff, it was I I went back and listened to him, and I forgot that every time I hear him, I'm like, Okay, there's a new This guy's awesome like, you know what I mean? Like, this is one of the guys that that you hear that the John Wooden, uh, those guys where you hear something that they say or something that they write and you're like, Yes, that's That's exactly what it in for him, you know, He invented the coin, the Mamba mentality and and what that was. And, um, you know, it's it's interesting because he had that. And what that was was basically, just never give up the greediness, the grind, the hardest worker out there, type of mentality. And, you know, he got labeled a lot of times. I think he got labeled as selfish and he got labeled as all of this stuff. But he was just a competitor. And when you were competing against him like a mama, he was there, too, to crush you. Yeah, he wasn't your friend when when you were competing. And that's an attitude. I think that, you know, a lot of people need to have more of it if if they're going to be successful and do some different things. And so, like, today, we want to kind of talk about what we can learn from him. And what are some of the things that why he's a legend and why he'll always be remembered? But, um, he was a great, you know, in Flint, influential human, Um, and you know, it's it's very sad and emotional that that ah is the reason we're talking about it today. But there has been so much that he has instilled in people, and and we we posted on on crave. Um, but, you know, the impact on other people might be the greatest gift to somebody. Um, the energy, the intelligence, the generosity he had. Ah, and he's an incredible athlete, Incredible leader in every sense of the word and the ability to challenge others to get the best out of them, how he rubbed off on other people and just worked harder and just to be a little bit better. His He's kind of the definition of heroes. Get remembered. Legends never die because I think some of the work ethic and some of the things like that in athletics. I think that he was the inspiration for ah, whole generation of athletes, you know? I mean,

Jordan:   15:52
I think to me one of the biggest things that's impressive is not the impact that he's had on basketball players, because that, I mean, which is enormous. You get all these kids that are coming up now talking about how they grew up watching Kobe and the effect he had on them, but the effect that he had on all the like soccer players, like even a few days before he dies. Nico Djokovic, who is Ah, one of the greatest tennis players of all time from Russia, was on a podcast, talking for 10 minutes about how Kobe Bryant was the reason that he was labeled his own and do these things. Neymar scored a goal, reaches out because he was Kobe had a huge effect on him, new, like three or four different languages so that he could go and speak to all these different athletes that he sought. Thought he saw talent in right. I was like, No, the guy could just nudge in the right way and  

Tyler:   16:36
and that's what won't other crazy things. The education. And so So he coined the term mama mentality, and that's just like the unwavering being unwavering in mental fortitude. And he was comfortable being uncomfortable, and he always pushed himself into the point where, like if if he was, if he saw something as his weakness, not only on the court, but then off the court, he would just work it until it was a strength. And so like in one of the interviews that I listened Thio. He was talking about how he was reading and writing on the Plains to all of his basketball trips when he's still playing. And everybody was like, What are you doing? All that? You know what? What are you doing? He's like, Well, I'm just practicing writing. I'm practicing reading. I'm practicing, you know, learning a different language and you're doing these different things. So it was always attacking different things that he felt would better himself as a human being. And so it's amazing to see that it's It's funny, you know, So after, um and I'll get into some of his stuff that he did after basketball. But one of the things that he said that that, like he's a perfect example of how we talk about at Crave living like an athlete outside of the gym, right? Um, in past past your sport, I mean he he was one of the epitome of a success after his sport, and one in an interview that that he did, um, with the Court A Rod Corp with a rod and big cat from bar stool. He was saying how It's like if he said publicly how if the next 20 years aren't better than the last 20 years that I've failed and and when he said that, he was like, Well, it got, you know, in the guy that was he was talking to was like, Well, that's kind of that's kind of Ah, you know, That's kind of an insult to the what you've accomplished in the last 20 years. Like Why? How do you top that? What were you doing? He's like, I wouldn't have accomplished any of that without the mentality of having of having the next 20 years be the best. And that doesn't just go away. And that, to me, shows that athlete in your DNA that's the mentality that he always, um, that he just that he just had And you have that past your sport and so you know, it's crazy. So one of the one of the cool things that and he took that every aspect of life. One of the things he did, um, was coaches daughter's team. And that's one, you know, that's what he was doing when, um when the helicopter went down, but they so he took over his daughter's team the previous year. They had. They had a game against this other team, right? And it was They lost 22 to 20 or something like that. And so the Kobe takes over for the next year and they play that same team at the end of the year, um, end of the next year. Same girls a year old or whatever. So being a year older, you could see that you may be the scores different. Maybe one team mature better, whatever the case might be. But they won the next year 117 to 21 and that. And so he continued to have that tenacity about him and be the best coach that he could. And not only the best coach, but but he had to like he had to pull something out of those girls Thio toe. Have them compete in a way that beats the same team that you lost two last year with the same Tina 117 to 20 life thing. Yeah, that's just that's amazing.  

Jordan:   20:05
I think it speaks volumes to, and I think he chose mamba mentality, probably for a reason where it's so much more than just being the hardest working person. Hardest working doesn't necessarily mean that year, and he did. And so he did all these things but don't necessarily mean that year in the gym longer than other people on your doing. Whatever. It's a mental thing where you have to believe in yourself. Well, you have to know that you that works when you know that you've done things, the little things that matter the most. And I think that if he's able to resonate with his daughter, who was 13 or 12 13 okay, when she's, um at that time, you're not. You can't just run 12 year olds into the ground and write and make them that good. So he's connecting on a level making it, and it's got to be having fun. It's got to be love and winning. It's got to be, you know, I mean, he's able to pass on this mentality of letting people know what it means to believe in themselves and push harder is a team to succeed like that? I mean, I mean  

Tyler:   21:00
and he went as far is and this was another thing that I heard in one of his interviews is he went as far to reach out to Michael Jordan, and he was like talking Michael, and he was like, Hey, ah, you know what? I can't remember what I was doing in basketball it at 12 years old at 13 years old, like what? Can you remember what you were doing at that time? And and Michael Jordan says, Ah, he was like I was playing baseball, man, Like I said, I wasn't doing, but I wasn't playing basketball. And just think about that for a second, that that's the the two greatest of all time. Um, you know, And he was like, Yeah, we weren't even playing the sport anymore. And so he also then understood, like the parents that are putting their kids through crazy running in the ground, being year round sports. You know, that doesn't necessarily get the job done. And him as a coach. He understood that, and he did things to educate the girls and toe, get the girl to be better. Fundamentally, he is like, I literally we don't work on any crazy moves. We don't work on anything past just a couple of the fundamentals, because once You just have to do that all the time. And you can, like you said you can't overwork your 12 year olds in their kids. So it's gotta be fun. And if it's not fun, then you're not gonna you know, you're not gonna be able to sustain any success long term. And so yeah, so, I mean, he studied all of that. He just understood. You know what, What that was I mean, after So we have we have another segment on here that we do athletes in the wild. And that's basically athletes that are doing stuff outside of sports because again, that's that's our That's our demographic. We are post sport athletes that are continued athletes, and we, you know, continue tohave that athletic prowess in that athletic gene in our body, and so that to him equated to a lot of different things. And I think that, um, you know, he had ah foundation that he started really early. Vive foundation. He started that in 2002 that reached, um, reached out to students who were seeking financial aid and some different things. But, um, he was ambassador for after school programs after so are all Stars, which was the S A s. Um, that's an American nonprofit. Um, and then he did a bunch of stuff in china. Ah, he did a bunch of stuff. Um, the black What? It was this one. He, ah, uh, was the call of duty black ops launch event at Santa Monica Airport, where they presented a $1 million check to the call of duty endowment. Um, in Activision and Activision founded a nonprofit organization that helps veterans transition to civil careers after their military service. So he was involved in all of that kind of stuff. And, um, you know, he established Kobe Inc. Which then, you know, as far as his business stuff, Um, one of the guys that was interviewing him one time at his office was like he just had this presence about him. And so he went like he visited him in the office. And so he was at work at 6:30 a.m. And he was walking by his office and like, he was the only one in there. They were getting ready to prep for this interview, and he was in there working at 6:30 a.m. And So he was like Was like, This guy is what? $500 million? And then he made a ton of different money. He could just You could be sitting on the beach anywhere he wants right now. And he's in his office working at 6 30 getting ready in for working on other stuff, probably. But the getting ready in that interview process, you know? And so it was just created. He said it was crazy to to see him, you know, still with that mentality at all. Just a bunch of hoopla, right? Yes. I accidentally walked in and found the guy doing this, right? Yep. Yeah. It's one of those things where he was just kind of, like, taken aback and being like, holy crap like, That's Ah, that's crazy. Uh, and then another thing, you know, he Ah, it was the first African American to win an Academy Award for the best animated short film. Ah, for um for what was it called? His short film was called dear Basketball. I haven't It's excellent. It's on anything I think before, but they've got it for free right now. I have to watch that he's about five minutes. Not very long, really it,

Jordan:   25:24
But it is. It is excellent, isn't it?  

Tyler:   25:27
I'm gonna have to watch that right when I get done here, because I haven't watched it yet, but, um I mean, t get out. And of be the only guy to win the Academy Award. That's pretty sweet. Yeah. Um, but, you know, so he was doing so much. He he played how to play. Um was a book that he wrote All of this kind of stuff was was stuff that he didn't have to do. No, no, no. I mean, like, you know, you don't have to and talking about, you know, the, philanthropic A ll part of his life and giving back to the community and all that. You know that that resignation so much with us at Craven and what we do as athletes is a a big part of, you know, everything that we try to do in the community. And ah, you know, I think that the biggest takeaway after you know, looking back at his life is just if we can be, you know, at crave. If weaken live like athletes. Like like he did you know, that's that's gonna be ah, you know, if we can get half half assed faras him, um, in that sense, that's that's a huge step. And, you know, in the movement of living like an athlete and America needs athletes, he he kind of saw all of that and yeah, it's Ah,  

Jordan:   26:44
I don't think it was just him who believed that the next 20 years of his life we're gonna be better than the 1st 20 heard that chapter of his life. I was the main things I'm seeing from folks that knew him and, you know, on ESPN and listening to a lot of that stuff is that they're saying this the best was yet to come like this was gonna be better than the first, um, in the fur. And, you know, it's only been three years for people to be that confident. After three years of the success, outside of being on the basketball court to believe that he was gonna outdo all that, I just Yeah, it's impressive, man. Yeah, it's crazy.

Tyler:   27:20
Yeah, you know, it's It's one of those things. It's untimely death, but I mean, it's it's it's crazy how it just makes you feel a certain way. We didn't know him. I didn't know so I mean, he just touched so many people in, you know, in all that he did that. He just he you know, he just made you feel that something to the world. And I didn't even know that he meant something to my world will be just like I didn't You know, I've never been sad from a celebrity death. Not on what? That I just I didn't know him, so it didn't Is not that it didn't matter, but it was like, you know, somebody I've known has died, and this is not the same thing. Right? Um, but this this is weird. I You know, I I woke up from a nap and I had to text that said, Kobe Bryant died, right? I was like, it was one of those things. So I watched it. So it I think t m z broke it first. Like, pretty substantially. First,the word got around on the Internet on ESPN. Hadn't even gotten to right. My dad was watching ESPN. He's like, it's bull crap. It's not really  

Tyler:   28:18
That's what I was thinking, too. Yeah,  

Jordan:   28:19
until ESPN was like breaking news, this actually happened, right? I also saw there was a report where, like, the a new station reported the helicopter crash separately. It was like the helicopter crash, and then you're fine about it. And then it took a while for people to put it together. That that was, in fact, Kobe Bryant,  

Tyler:   28:36
right? And that's that's what's crazy to me is like, You read it from Tim's and you know, that's all like the that crazy celebrity gossip stuff. So, like to me, Amber, Amber actually saw it in. Ah, I got the news off a Twitter or something, and and I was immediately like buying a different source. Give me something. Yeah, like that's not That's not right. And, you know, to me being a dad now, like being with your daughter in a situation like that, you know, I just couldn't even imagine he's got three more right  it just makes you you know, that I think the bottom line as a human and we're not. We go through life like not thinking about how, like, destructive all we actually are. You know what I mean? like. Yeah, well, let me take it. But it was It's been like, a couple of days for me that it like, I I've I have not taken little things for granted for the last couple days. It's I've said, um, you know that I appreciate the people that I love. And I you know, that, um, I've said I love you to the people that I love because it was just like an eye opener that, like, damned if if he could, you know, it's one of those things. Like if he could go today like anybody's on. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's it's just crazy That that, you know, is is how you know it. It ended. So, um, so that's kind of all we got today. Um, you know, we really wanted to kind of pay homage to an incredible athlete and kind of guy, a guy that, um, really kind of is the epitome of, ah, living life as an athlete after your sport. That's a lot of what we a lot of what we preach on a daily basis here and and who were trying to be at Krave, um and so we can learn a lot from him. That's one of the biggest reasons we wanted to talk about him today. Uh, but thank you guys for listening.  

Jordan:   30:44
Go say I love you, too. Somebody.  Yeah, that's the biggest thing you know after after that, you know, today you should be going telling everybody that you appreciate you appreciate him, everybody that you love. Um, good. Go tell them you love Them.