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OT: Kobe and other Shocking Deaths

A

Anon1751594821

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Jul 28, 2001
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Of course there are personal deaths that each of us have had, but I was thinking about which public deaths have been the biggest shocking ones that had the biggest outpouring of emotion in the USA that I could think of in my lifetime.

I was only 5 when JFK was shot and killed, so I am not including him.

Of course we have learned many things and have developed medicines to keep people alive since Magic's announcement, but who in 1993 would have thought that Kobe Bryant would have died before Magic Johnson?

Thinking quickly off the top of my head and not in any order:

1. Martin Luther King
2. Robert Kennedy
3. Michael Jackson
4. Whitney Houston
5. Kobe Bryant (I am thinking that his funeral will be broadcast on national tv unless his wife wants it to be kept private).
6. Not his death, but OJ Simpson for his double murder and the chase and that amazing Friday of the Rangers parade and the Knicks finals all in the same day.

Best of Luck,
Groz
 
D

DHajekRC84

Heisman
Aug 9, 2001
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Today felt just like the night Howard Cosell interrupted MNF to announce that John Lennon had just been shot and killed in NYC.
 
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A

Anon1751594821

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1984 said:
Today felt just like the night Howard Cosell interrupted MNF to announce that John Lennon had just been shot and killed in NYC.
Click to expand...

Agree. I am pretty sure that Kobe will be on the front and back pages of the Post and Daily News tomorrow.
 
A

Anon1751594821

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bac2therac said:
Kurt Cobain
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Bac, I would think that at the time of his death, more people than not, did not know who Kurt Cobain was. Maybe for you it did, but even though I knew some of the music of Nirvana, I did not think it had the same national appeal as the others that have been mentioned.

I was shopping at a Harmon Store this afternoon and a 15 year old girl in front of me was telling a woman behind the counter about Kobe's death and both knew all about him and were crying about it. I was very surprised.

Best of Luck,
Groz
 
C

ClassOf02v.2

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Sep 30, 2010
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Groz said:
Bac, I would think that at the time of his death, more people than not, did not know who Kurt Cobain was. Maybe for you it did, but even though I knew some of the music of Nirvana, I did not think it had the same national appeal as the others that have been mentioned.

I was shopping at a Harmon Store this afternoon and a 15 year old girl in front of me was telling a woman behind the counter about Kobe's death and both knew all about him and were crying about it. I was very surprised.

Best of Luck,
Groz
Click to expand...
I dunno. Kurt Cobain was a legend when I was a teenager. He was definitely not an unknown while alive.
 
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H

hughthompson

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You have to include JFK on your list, that was big, very big especially when your consider the government murdered the POTUS.
 
bac2therac

bac2therac

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Jul 30, 2001
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Groz said:
Bac, I would think that at the time of his death, more people than not, did not know who Kurt Cobain was. Maybe for you it did, but even though I knew some of the music of Nirvana, I did not think it had the same national appeal as the others that have been mentioned.

I was shopping at a Harmon Store this afternoon and a 15 year old girl in front of me was telling a woman behind the counter about Kobe's death and both knew all about him and were crying about it. I was very surprised.

Best of Luck,
Groz
Click to expand...


Cobain was an icon of alternative music in the 90s. Anyone under 30 were pretty distraught over his suicide..
 
B

BigEastPhil

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Nov 25, 2007
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Len Bias was also a tragic death I remember.....

But the others that I recall as tragic in my lifetime as I am 56 years old:

- John Lennon
- Thurman Munson
-Princess Diana

I was too young to realize / live thru the assasinations of JFK; MLK and Robert Kennedy
 
T

theRU

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Dec 17, 2008
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Ayerton Senna- the whole weekend was horrendous with another driver killed in qualifying

Missed the USA part but he was a world wide icon
 
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N

Newbrunfus

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Jul 29, 2010
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Roy Halladay was a more recent one but Payne Stewart stands out more to me since his golfing wardrobe made him so memorable.
 
C

Colbert17!

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Heath Ledger
Freddie Mercury
John Denver
John Belushi
Tim Russert (a personal favorite)
Reggie Lewis.
Hank Gathers (died on the basketball court during a game)
 
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NewJerseyHawk

NewJerseyHawk

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Jan 11, 2007
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I think the music and sports seem to blend together as a sort of iconic for all youth and for that reason, it reaches so many in walks of life.

And because Kobe was a part of American sports history and his status in Southern California, this one will resonate for a significant amount of time, because of the suddenness of it all.
 
MadRU

MadRU

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Jul 26, 2001
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Guess the ones most personal to me were

John Lennon
Roberto Clemente
Pete Maravich
 
R

RUSONIC

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Sep 18, 2001
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Chris Ash and Terry Shea. I remember when both programs died suddenly.
 
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