Icons Kobe Bryant and Jason Witten, Watching Film Together: 'You Can't Cheat The Muse'
DALLAS - The death of Kobe Bryant, involved in a helicopter accident that also took the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, is touching millions of people who never knew the iconic basketball player personally.
It's also touching the lives of people in the sports world, like another icon, Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, who honored the late Bryant with an Instagram tribute about how "You can't cheat the muse.''
"May 2018, a few weeks after my retirement speech, I see Kobe in NYC. He had seen the tape, and was instantly fascinated by the intricacies of the Y-Option Route. For the next 30 minutes, we pull up the clip, and he asks question after question of the technique, the strategy, the mindset of every variation of the route, and how the defense would try and stop it.
"I told him how I had adopted a mantra of his over the years: 'You can’t cheat the muse' - as a way to stay disciplined. Those mornings when you didn’t want to wake up, or get in the extra balls after practice. If my son wasn’t putting in the effort for a test at school I would tell him, 'You can’t cheat the muse.'
"You can’t. And everything Kobe did in life, he set the standard. Kobe Bryant knew that the path to success in anything in life is not easy, and not for everyone. You might be able to slide by a day at practice, and get away with it. But, the muse would know. The muse always knows. As a father, and as a competitor.
"Few weeks later, I get a note from Kobe: 'I’m excited for the world to learn from you. Be in touch. KB.'
"I’ll never forget you Kobe, what a damn life. You never cheated the muse, and we are all better off because of your standard of excellence. RIP
There are athletes and non-athletes from every walk of life who did, or who are now, finding inspiration in the life and death of Kobe Bryant. For Jason Witten, the future Pro Football Hall-of-Famer, the inspiration came in a chance meeting two years ago.
"You can't cheat the muse.''
