With Kobe Bryant now officially retired and out of the Los Angeles spotlight, there is now a major hole in L.A. sports. Bryant has been the face of Los Angeles sports for more than a decade, but with him gone, who will step in to take his place? Now that the Rams are back in L.A. many believe it will be Todd Gurley.
As the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, Gurley is already well known amongst football fans. Being in L.A. however, would up Gurley’s celebrity significantly, and if he continues to play the way he did in his rookie season, his popularity will skyrocket.
Getting into Kobe’s stratosphere is a whole different level and one that Gurley doesn’t think he’ll get to. According to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report, Gurley doesn’t believe he would ever take Kobe’s place and isn’t really interested in doing so:
“It would be cool to take Kobe’s place,” Gurley said. “But that would never happen. I don’t really care about all that. I just want to play football, win some games. My goal is not to be the superstar in L.A. It’s to play for the Rams, score touchdowns and try to win games.”
Gurley would be wise to focus on winning games for the Rams as more than anything else, winning games and championships will endear him to the fans of Los Angeles. Kobe’s popularity in Los Angeles, and across the world, is something that very few people in any sport could ever match, so shooting for that goal is unnecessary.
With his talent, and the Los Angeles spotlight, Gurley will be a household name very soon. Scoring touchdowns and winning games is the way to go for Gurley; everything else will eventually fall into place.