Mendoza: Bryant’s fierce defender

I will keep on writing about Kobe Bryant because he was my idol.

He was here a few times but, for some reason, I never covered his public appearances.

I saw him play in person at the Staples Center in LA, but that was a long time ago—in 2006?

I had wanted to shake his hand after the game, but I was up in the rafters. Too far to get to him.

Before I could go down and approach him at the hallway leading to the lockers, he was gone. Guards galore. My luck.

It was his fellow superstar, golf’s Tiger Woods, that I had rubbed elbows with.

Woods I had known since he was nine in 1984, the year I first covered him when he defeated our very own Martin Valdes for the 10-and-under world juniors crown in San Diego, California.

“I knew I’d win,” said Woods, rallying from two shots down with a birdie in the last hole to win by one.

So young, so confident already.

I would cover Woods since, nearly yearly, the last time when he played his last World Team Golf Championship in Paris in 1994.

One unforgettable encounter in France with Woods was when Jake P. Ayson and I went to a hotel to meet up with a friend in Versailles.

And who do we see at the lobby munching burgers like a kid gone foodless for a day?

Woods, who else.

“How ya doin’ fellas,” mumbled Woods, who had just completed a round for the US Team—after having just autographed a golf cap owned by Benny Gopez, the Philippine Team manager.

Woods was playing at Torrey Pines in San Diego when Bryant met his fiery death by a helicopter crash in nearby LA on Jan. 25, 2020.

When he was about to make a putt, Woods heard the crowd yell, repeatedly: “Do it for Mamba! Do it for Mamba!”

He wondered what was going on.

Only when he was done playing did he learn about Bryant’s death.

They were almost of the same age: Woods, 44; Bryant, 41. Accomplished superstars: five NBA titles for Bryant, 15 golf majors for Woods.

“He was my dear friend,” Woods said.

He was my idol, who I had fiercely defended against those accusing him of being a buwakaw (ball hog).

Guilty, but deadly as can be.