Jay Chou and Kobe Bryant: Two Kings

One is the King of Mandopop.
One is/was the King of the Basketball Court.
The former has long been an avid basketballer and had even dreamed of playing professionally; sadly his lack of height soon put paid to that....for which I am grateful as this blog would otherwise not exist.

The other King, of course is Kobe Bryant who retired from professional basketball on 13 April 2016, at the age of 37 and after 20 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Read about his career here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nba-lakers-bryant-newsmaker-idUSKCN0XB0DV

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-kobe-farewell-plaschke-20160413-column.html



Apart from being a huge star in his home country, Kobe has visited China every year since 2006, to promote the game and connect with his multitude of of fans there who revere him even more than Yao Ming!

Read more about his China connection in the links below:

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-demand/watch-kobe-bryants-china-connection/

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/15184228/eight-reasons-why-retiring-los-angeles-lakers-legend-kobe-bryant-rock-star-china


http://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/1936323/dark-day-how-kobe-bryants-retirement-has-hit-his-china-fans-hard


Solid work ethic, passion for the game, learning from his mistakes and moving on, giving back to society, willingness to embrace new cultures....all these made him a perfect fit to collaborate with the other huge star in China who also possesses all those attributes AND even better, loves basketball, none other than His Royal Diaoness, Jay Chou.

And Sprite was oh-so-savvy to pair them up in 2011 in the link below, which also has an interesting behind-the-scenes vid:

http://advertising.chinasmack.com/2011/sprite-china-kobe-bryant-jay-chou-music-video.html

This is the condensed JVR version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6L9FsmnIVs


The two Sprite ads featuring Jay and Kobe:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_LA_HrCEeQ&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssvnLGI2Ax4

So what's next for Kobe?

Perhaps this article will offer a clue:

http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/02/28/whats-next-for-kobe-bryant/


Meanwhile, it's back to Jay who at 37, is hard at work juggling work and family as he just performed at yet another all-stars concert in China yesterday:

Will Jay and Kobe have another collaboration in future?
That's anybody's guess and hope, I suppose.

Keep watching the Page!