Column: Starting with his favorite cheesesteak haunt, Kobe Bryant's spirit is all over Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — I arrived in the City of Brotherly Love on a recent Friday evening tired, hungry and with places to go.
The Liberty Bell wasn't on my mind, or even Independence Hall. I was looking for Kobe Bryant's Philadelphia.
The late Los Angeles Lakers superstar spent the majority of his life in Southern California — but he never forgot his hometown. It's where his father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant, starred at La Salle University and played for the 76ers. Where Kobe first achieved national prominence as a prep superstar at Lower Merion High School in the suburb of Ardmore before skipping college to go pro.
Bryant regularly swung by his favorite places while playing for the Lakers, even as Philly fans booed him and even after his retirement.
"I always come back. Always," Bryant told the Associated Press in 2007 during a visit to his alma mater. "I'll never forget what the school has done for me, what the city has
