The heart-warming video was filmed seven years ago, but the bout was recently repeated. This is the late Kobe Bryant at home, cheering as his hometown Philadelphia Eagles win their first Lombardi Trophy.

It was captured in 2018 by Kobe's wife, Vanessa, and was originally posted on her Instagram account. The legendary Lakers star cradle his toddler daughter Bianka in a dark room at home while watching the Eagles' Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots won the final victory.

"Oh my gosh, yeah, man," Bryant exploded as Tom Brady's final Hail Mary fell incomplete. "We won...the Super Bowl. That's it. That's it. That's it. We won...the Super Bowl."

The 1:25 clip of Kobe dancing during the celebration is particularly poignant now. Not only did the Eagles earn a victory in another trip to the Super Bowl - they hosted the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game - but Sunday also marked the fifth anniversary of the horrific helicopter crash that appeared to be his 13 years of Bryant's life. eldest daughter Gianna and seven others.

The Super Bowl tape is stuck in a happier time, when Bryant wasn't accomplishing his great athletic feats and was a relatable, everyday football fan.

Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Mike Sielski is the author of the 2022 book "The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Quest for Immortality." NBA.

"People here knew him when he was Kobe Bryant, a high school basketball star, a great student, a kid we hung out with in the hallways," Sielski said. "They didn't know he was Kobe Bryant. Leante, Los Angeles Lakers superstar.”

Bryant had a complicated relationship with the city of brotherly love. His father, Joe, played for the Philadelphia 76ers, and at one point Kobe dreamed of following in his footsteps. In 1996, the 76ers drafted Georgetown guard Allen Iverson 13th overall and Bryant was drafted 13th overall by the Charlotte Hornets, who promptly traded him to the Lakers. Team.

When the Lakers played Philadelphia in the 2001 NBA Finals, Bryant famously said he wanted to "cut the (Sixers) heart out." Naturally, that was enraged basketball fans in his old neighborhood.

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"If the 76ers drafted him and he played for them instead of the Lakers, I have no doubt he would be the most popular athlete in the history of Philadelphia sports," Sielski said.

"Because he's going to be the perfect combination of talent and commitment to win greatness. The idea of ​​a Mamba mentality being born in Philadelphia and being a part of that is going to make him an absolute god here. I don't have any doubts about that."

Mike Egan understood, passionate and loved Kobe. Egan was a top assistant under head coach Gregg Downer during Bryant's junior and senior years. , and first encountered the hoops on the court at the local Jewish Community Center.

"The first thing I noticed about this kid was that he was really hooked, he could jump up and touch the rim," said Egan, an assistant coach at Wilmington College in Delaware. "You're sitting around, waiting for the home game to end, and he must have jumped up and touched the rim a hundred times. Repeatedly.

"The game started and he was good. He's a small kid, maybe a 6-foot kid, but he did a great job and I thought he came out victorious."

Egan is always on the lookout for talent and thinks if the kid improves and gets bigger, he might be a good fit at Wilmington. He asked young Bryant where he played high school ball.

"He whispered, 'I'm going to Bala,'" Egan said. "I was thinking, 'Where the hell is Bala High School?' I said, 'Wait a minute, how old are you?' "He told me he was 13."

The coach put it all together quickly. Kobe is a student at Bala Cynwyd Junior High School and the son of Joe Bryant. Clearly, his trajectory led him to greater things than Wilmington. As the years passed and Egan worked in Lower Merion, the two became good friends.

"I was lucky enough to get to spend as much time with him as I did," Egan said. "I always said Kobe, even though he was a terrible player, he would be my favorite player that I coached. One because he just loves it.

"You have to be a little bit crazy to be a coach. To give up all your time and energy and coach a game with the kids. But he's just as crazy as we are. Just to see him and his work ethic and dedication and passion, it's just Want to keep getting better.”

Jeremy Treatman was a family friend of the Bryants who dabbled in coaching but also organized and promoted basketball games. In fact, he was competing in the women's race when he received the helicopter crash five years ago.

Like many people, Treatman was shocked by the news. He considered ending the event then and there, but decided to go ahead, adding 33 seconds of time (to match Bryant's high school jersey number) and asking the crowd for silence.

"I remember just grabbing a man I didn't know and starting crying on his shoulder." "It was crazy. Just a complete stranger. Whenever it hit me, I did it. "

A month later, he attended a celebration of Kobe and Gianna's life at the Staples Center and was surprised by the outpouring of love from the sports world and beyond.

"I'm glad that Kobe has had this impact and been loved by people." "Some people didn't like him during his career. He had a star-studded career. Fighting with his teammates, fighting with the press, fighting with the law. Fight. To get him to respect him.

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“When he died, he was viewed as the tragedy of JFK’s death as the Kenyan princess. It had a big impact. That blew me away. Take Kobe Bryant off What does the airwaves and the news cycle need? You need a story like this to make people stop thinking about Kobe.”

With the Eagles' victory away from the semblance of another Super Bowl and the anniversary of this tragedy, Bryant returned to the hearts and minds of those in his hometown.

"The magic of that video is that you rarely see his absolute, unbridled joy," Sielski said. "It's always the next thing. Even when he wins the championship, it's almost like a relief, and Not 'Oh, I'm the champ. This is the greatest thing in my life.

"But in the video, he's so happy, dancing around his house. I'm sure for people who know him and love him, there's a part of him that's thinking, boy, he's going to love this too."

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.