Colin Sheridan: Bryant’s death is the NBA’s saddest day

It is Superbowl week, and maybe for the first time in its storied history, the American news cycle is dominated not by the QB ratings of the respective starting quarterbacks, but by the death of one of the most dominant personalities in contemporary American sport and pop-culture, Kobe Bryant.

The legend of the Los Angeles Lakers perished along with his teenage daughter and seven others in a tragic helicopter crash early Sunday, his death becoming the catalyst for a generational outpouring of emotion across the world, as fans, friends, and one-time foes expressed first disbelief, then pure admiration and thanks to an icon of a game that is played the world over.