Kobe Bryant announces his retirement

Mark it down. November 29th, 2015. A day that will live in NBA infamy.

As announced today in The Player’s Tribune, Kobe Bryant is calling it a career at the end of the 2015-2016 season.

You gave a six-year-old boy his Laker dream
And I’ll always love you for it.
But I can’t love you obsessively for much longer.
This season is all I have left to give.
My heart can take the pounding
My mind can handle the grind
But my body knows it’s time to say goodbye.
And that's ok. 

Father Time is undefeated, although Kobe had him on the ropes for a while. Kobe Bryant was the most fun person to root against for nearly 20 seasons, and for nearly 20 seasons I have had fun doing so.

The Celtics-Lakers rivalry is peerless in sports, and while those jerseys will continue to clash, I don't think the emotional punches of seeing Green and White do battle with Purple and Gold will sting as much in the future as they have in the past.

And maybe that's ok, too.

For the first time and the last time...

Thanks, Kobe.
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Follow Padraic O'Connor on Twitter @padraic_oconnor 

Photo Credit: The Player's Tribune