Watch: Colin Cowherd Tears up Discussing Kobe Bryant’s Death

Sports radio host Colin Cowherd has long been viewed as a fairly divisive figure among fans of MLB, the NFL, and the NBA, but he has also found a way to channel the emotions of those tuning into his show. This became evident in the week leading up to Super Bowl LIV. Cowherd took several minutes to reflect upon the life of Kobe Bryant following the helicopter crash, and he became very emotional multiple times.

Broadcasting from Miami, the host of The Herd with Colin Cowherd dove deep into the life of Bryant and his career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He split up the 20 years into several portions based upon jersey number, maturity level, hairstyle, and other factors.

There were several moments during this discussion in which Cowherd nearly broke down in tears due to the emotional weight of the tragedy. However, he didn’t truly have to take a break until the very end of the segment. That was the point at which he became choked up while talking about taking a break.

“Truly amazing. Seeing Colin tear up is devastating,” one fan on Twitter wrote after seeing Cowherd’s speech. “Especially with how often he talks about his daughter on the show you know it just destroyed him.”

One of the prominent points of Cowherd’s discussion was the continued maturation of Bryant following his entry into the league at the age of 17. The young budding star butted heads with his teammates, including Shaquille O’Neal, but he transformed over the course of his career.

“Kobe learned from that,” Cowherd said. “He always evolved, he made mistakes. But Kobe then started giving more of himself the last 10-15 years. He gave a lot of himself. He went from teenager to teammate; from hard to coach to a pleasure to coach to a doting father.

“And the more Kobe gave of himself, the deeper – I felt – the connection was,” Cowherd continued. “It is hard to leave it out there when you are a public figure, and Kobe did that a lot.”

Cowherd said that these moments of Bryant leaving everything on the field led to moments where the fans loved him and times where they disliked him. The majority screamed for the late NBA icon as he put together a multitude of dominant performances. This included a 60-point game during his final outing in a Lakers uniform.

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