The lore of Kobe Bryant is already established; he isn’t afraid of anybody, he has a 6-6-6 workout routine during the off-season where he works out for 6 months, 6 days a week for 6 hours a day and lastly, no injury formed against him shall prosper, although it has slowed him down naturally because of age.
One thing Bryant has always thrived on, though, is self motivation. When his 2008 Los Angeles Lakers lost in the NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics in 2008, it further enhanced the notion that Bryant couldn’t win in the leading role or better yet, without Shaq. To drive himself to insanity for losing, he chose to listen to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” every single day for two years until 2010 when he got his revenge on the Celtics.
From CBS Sports
“It was a tough two years in between,” Bryant told reporters. “I remember when we were losing, they played that song, that Journey song, and the whole arena started singing that song, and I hated that damn song for two years. Seriously, man. But I listened to the song every single day because it just reminded me of that feeling.
“Same thing with the Dropkick Murphys,” Bryant continued. “Like, I’m listening to the Dropkick Murphys all the time just because I wanted to remember that feeling, you know what I mean? To go back in 2010 and have that redemption — I was telling Metta [World Peace] on the bench when Paul Pierce was running back down, ‘You know, Metta, I’m so damn happy we won that 2010 Finals. I’d be sick a s— sitting here right now.’ And he felt the same way.”
More reason to believe Kobe Bryant is literally a scientist who happens to play basketball. I don’t think anyone would listen to any song for two years straight. But then again, we aren’t Kobe Bryant.