稻读译介丨科比与他的挚爱

编者按：

高一那年，有一次在学校旁边小吃铺看CCTV5体育转播，看到你那么不讲理投篮命中，那么张狂的个性。问同学，这谁啊？科比啊！就这样开始关注你。大一那年，大把时间投向你，逃课去网吧看直播，笔记本下载保存，整合赛季82场比赛没落下，你的单场81分，三节61分，你的连续4场50+，荡气回肠。踏入社会后，各种不顺，一度消沉，但你的比赛我依然会看，一边带耳机听直播，一边对着电脑敲代码。你那句“你见过洛杉矶凌晨四点的太阳吗？”，正是我所需要的精神。我要不服输，力争上游。我常挂嘴边一句“这个世界纯天然属于我们的东西不多，该争取的一定要努力争取。”2016年最后一场常规赛你全场拿下60分，逆袭爵士，完美谢幕，而此时我的事业也有了起色。

确认噩耗的那一刻，我泪奔了，一种空落落袭上心头。NBA球星有很多，而我独爱你，爱你对比赛的专注、爱你的勤奋、爱你的好胜心、爱你力挽狂澜的大心脏……看你这些年的比赛，除了你的比赛带来的震撼和享受，我还看到你陪伴的青春岁月里自己的样子，更看到了跌宕起伏的人生。（时小P）

Kobe Bryant

科比·布莱恩特

Love Story

挚爱故事

Kobe Bryant, basketball player, was killed in a helicopter crash on January 26^th, aged 41.

篮球巨星科比·布莱恩特于1月26日在一架直升机坠毁事故中罹难,终年41岁。

原载于《经济学人》2020年2月刊

翻译：时小P   校译：Sandy、一宁   统稿：一宁

Whenever he was asked why his whole life had been spent playing basketball, Kobe Bryant’s narrow eyes searched upwards, and his mouth trembled. The answer was simple, yet so complicated. It began with the orange ball, the smell of it, the feel of the pebbled leather grains and the perfect grooves under his hands; and its bounce, and the way it sounded different on concrete or polished hardwood. Then came the net, the shot slithering right through it with that triumphant springing whoosh, while he howled with joy. Then every movement of the game, the strategies, the dodging and feints, the squeal of sneakers on the court. Whatever had thrilled him as a child (watching his father, also a pro player, on tv, wearing his own little 76ers outfit, running and jumping along with him) still thrilled him when in 2016 he retired from the game. “Dear Basketball”, he wrote,

From the moment

I started rolling my Dad’s tube socks

And shooting imaginary

Game-winning shots...

I knew one thing was real:

A love so deep I gave you my all.

每当被问起为什么一辈子都在打篮球，科比总会眯起眼睛往上看，嘴角颤动。答案很简单，却也很复杂。一切缘于那个橘黄色的球，它的气味、皮革颗粒的手感和在他手掌之下完美伸展的凹槽；以及球的弹跳，在水泥地面和光滑木地板上的声音差别；还有篮网，空心球嗖的一声穿网而过，伴随着他兴奋的吼叫；然后是比赛场上的每一个动作、战术、躲闪和佯攻以及球鞋的唧唧作响。2016年他退役之时，孩提时代让他热血沸腾的记忆（在电视上观看他职业球员的父亲，穿着自己的76人队队服，和他一起奔跑、跳跃）仍然让他激动不已。“亲爱的篮球，”他写道，

从我把爸爸的筒袜卷成球状开始

就幻想自己投入制胜球

我知道有一件事是真的

爱之深切让我为你倾尽所有

“My all” meant training obsessively, like a maniac. He would go to the gym and shoot for hours, all day, all night. Hundreds of times, not just taking shots, but making them, running steps and patterns, practising shots off the rebound. I ran up and down every court/After every loose ball for you. He would ponder what would make his game unstoppable and then work backwards from there, building it piece by piece, move by move, repeatedly. Then, when the actual game arrived, it was all just muscle-memory. He perfected his own works of art: the jab-step-and-pause, using unexpected footwork to pass the defender, and the fadeaway, shooting while he jumped high and backwards from the basket.

“倾尽所有”意味着像个疯子一样痴迷地训练。他会去体育馆练习投篮，一练就是好几个小时、一整天、一整晚。成百上千次，不仅仅是投篮，还有投篮、跑动的步伐和模式以及练习篮板球。为了你，我在每个球场上全场奔袭，不放过每一个争球机会。他会思考如何练就自己在比赛中的势不可挡，然后从那里开始反向拆解，一点一点地构建，一步一步地重复练习。当真正的比赛到来时，一切都只是肌肉的记忆。他的球技日臻完善：试探步和停顿，用出其不意的步法避过防守队员，后仰投篮——高高跃起，极限后仰，完成出手。

For 20 seasons, a very long time to stay with one team, he played as a shooting guard for the Los Angeles Lakers. With them he won five NBA championship rings and was most valuable player in two finals. His 81 points at home against Toronto, in 2006, was the second-highest individual score recorded in league history. By the time he retired he had the third-highest points total, 33,643, overtaken only days ago by the game’s present leading star, LeBron James. His own stardom brought him in a salary of around $30m a year, allowing him to dress in Gucci and to keep house in a gated community in Newport Beach, California. It also brought sponsorship deals, such as the one with Nike, whom he asked to design shoes with heels and midsoles that could shave precious hundredths of seconds off his reaction time. For he didn’t care so much about money, points, or the fans’ applause; they could turn against him anyway, as they did after he was accused in 2003 of sexually assaulting a woman in Colorado, a case dropped but never cleared up. He cared about being the best, winning games. Simple and plain.

他效力于洛杉矶湖人队长达20个赛季，司职得分后卫。和球队一共赢得了五次NBA总冠军以及两次总决赛最有价值球员。2006年，他主场对战多伦多猛龙得了81分，是联盟历史上个人得分第二高的记录。退役时，他的生涯总积分33643分位居历史第三，仅仅几天前刚被现在的头号球星勒布朗·詹姆斯超越。科比的明星身份给他带来了大约3000万美元的年薪，让他足以穿上古驰的衣服，并在加州新港海滩购置奢华豪宅。很多赞助商也找到他，比如耐克，科比要他们为自己打造中底和低帮的战靴，这样可以让他在赛场缩短零点零几秒的宝贵反应时间。科比不太在乎钱和得分，也不在乎球迷的掌声；毕竟球迷也可能会翻脸抵触他，就像2003年科比陷入性丑闻，被指控在科罗拉多州性侵一名女子，虽然这起案件最终被撤销，但却从未真正被澄清。他只在乎两件事：成为最佳和赢得比赛。简单而纯粹。

His obsession could make him by turns hustling, mean and dejected. When he joined the Lakers, his dream team, in 1996, traded from the Charlotte Hornets, he was only 17, the youngest player in the NBA. He had been picked for the pro leagues straight from his suburban high school and had lived as a boy in Italy, two things that made him odd. But he came in burning with self-belief. No babying for him; he was hard, focused, a lone artist, and much of that stayed. He called himself the Black Mamba later, an assassin-snake, ruthless in the strike. Unjust foul calls and lost play-off games—especially the finals against the Detroit Pistons and the Boston Celtics—threw him into misery and vows of revenge.

他的痴迷会使他时而拼命，时而苛刻，时而沮丧。1996年，当他从夏洛特黄蜂队转会到他梦寐以求的湖人队时，只有17岁，是NBA历史上最年轻的球员。从郊区的高中被直接选进职业联赛和在意大利度过的童年，这两件事让他有别于他人。但他依然胸中燃烧着自信进入联盟。对他来说，不需被百般呵护；他很坚毅，很专注，是个孤独的艺术家。此后，这些特质大部分伴其一生。后来他称自己为黑曼巴，是蛇中杀手，在出击时冷酷无情。不公正的判罚和季后赛的失利，特别是对阵底特律活塞队和波士顿凯尔特人队折戟总决赛，让他陷入了痛苦并誓言复仇。

On the court, lithe and nimble, he wanted every game for himself. Team-mates thought him selfish, not passing enough and shooting far too much, missing more shots in his career than anyone in NBA history. He hit back at that, since at least he stayed with one team and didn’t go off somewhere else; he wanted the glory of winning the play-offs for the purple-and-golds, not just himself. Yet he so loved the ball that it just seemed drawn towards his hands. And he went on shooting, and shooting, not least because he sometimes saved a game with a fabulous floater in the final seconds. Besides, airballs too could look and feel good, good from trajectory to follow-through, on-line, on target. Some people thought Mozart had too many notes.

在球场上，他轻盈灵活，恨不得每一场比赛都是他独自的表演。队友们认为他很自私，传球不够，投篮太多，被认为是NBA历史上打铁最多的球员。他对此进行了回击，因为至少他始终效力于一支球队，没有去别的地方；他要为紫金军团赢得季后赛的荣耀，而不仅仅是为他自己。科比挚爱篮球，以至于球似乎是粘在他手上一样。他不停地投篮，投篮，并不仅仅因为有时他会在最后时刻用一个漂亮的行进间抛投绝杀比赛。况且，三不沾看上去也可以很好，从运球轨迹到保持射姿、空中弧线、奔着目标而去，都那么好看。就像有人会认为莫扎特的曲子音符太多了一样。

As in most love affairs, he had competition. One was Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of the era, the Buddha on top of the mountain and winner of six rings, whom he once asked for advice while he was guarding him. Another was Shaquille O’Neal, a charming giant who also played for the Lakers, but infuriated him because he little-brothered him and did not train like he did. (No one trained like he did.) To prove he was the best of basketball’s lovers, he would go on playing when he was hurt, shooting left-handed when his right hand was injured, staggering on when ankles, knees and back were all sore. If he decided he was playing, no manager or coach could do anything about it. I played through the sweat and hurt/…because YOU called me.

如同大多数恋爱故事那样，科比也有竞争对手。其中之一就是迈克尔·乔丹，这个时代最伟大的篮球运动员，被誉为“篮球之神”，六枚总冠军戒指得主。他曾在防守乔丹的时候向他请教。另一个是沙奎利·奥尼尔，一个迷人的巨人，他也为湖人队效力，但是奥尼尔曾经让科比很恼火，因为他把科比当成小弟，也不像他那样刻苦训练。（事实上，没有人像科比那般训练。）为了证明他是篮球的最佳情人，科比时常带伤上阵，右手受伤就用左手投篮，脚踝、膝盖和背部都疼痛时也要咬牙上阵。如果他决意参加比赛，球队经理和教练都拿他没办法。汗水也好，伤痛也罢，我都会继续打球，全因你在召唤我。

He claimed to have no memory of the last game he played, though he scored 60 points in it from 50 shots. For a while his interests had been branching into multimedia, writing, film-making and setting up a Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks. But most of these still had basketball at the core. His longest film, “Muse”, was about his career, and an animated short based on “Dear Basketball” won an Academy Award. He gave motivating talks in America and Asian which all his life-lessons were carried over from the court. At Thousand Oaks he coached his second daughter Gianna, among many others, in how to play his way.

他声称对自己的退役之战没有记忆，可那场比赛他50投砍下了60分。长久以来，他的兴趣一直延伸到多媒体、写作、电影制作等领域，以及在加州千橡建立曼巴体育学院。但其中大部分还是以篮球为核心。他最长的一部电影《缪斯》讲述了他的职业生涯，另一部根据《亲爱的篮球》改编的动画短片斩获了奥斯卡奖。他在美国和亚洲进行励志演讲，以此把自己在球场上积累的人生经验和教训进行传承。在千橡市，他担任包括二女儿吉吉在内的诸多球员的教练，把自己的球技传授给他们。

With a lover’s impatience, he increasingly took helicopters to get to and from games, events, his office and the academy, in which case he might take Gianna with him. Carpe diem, seize the day, was his motto, learned at school in Italy; tempus neminem manet, time waits for no man. Bad weather would hardly deter him.

他挚爱篮球，只争朝夕，因而越来越多地乘直升机往返于比赛、活动、办公室以及曼巴学院之间，每次去曼巴学院，他总会带上吉吉。他的座右铭是Carpe diem，意为抓住这一天，是他在意大利学校里学到的；tempusneminem manet, 意为时间不等人，纵使天气恶劣，他也风雨无阻。

---