This clip of Kobe Bryant and Jalen Rose from the TV pilot for Jalen vs. Everybody is, well, you’ve just got to see it.
Jalen Rose’s sitcom pilot features Kobe Bryant making a brutal 81-point joke
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
The show was made for ABC but wasn’t picked up for a full season. Judging from this clip, we wish it had been.
Rose finds Kobe in a restaurant and the two chit-chat for a little while about life in retirement. A waiter asks Bryant what he wants to drink, and his response is a vodka martini. Everything is fine, things are cordial — until the waiter asks how many olives Kobe wants. His response: 81.
Why is that number so important? Well, a little game that happened in 2006 when Rose just so happened to be guarding Bryant.
To this day Rose HATES anyone referencing the 81-point game. He’s known to block people on Twitter just for mentioning it to him, and used to respond to anyone who said something.
When Kobe announced his retirement, Rose saluted him for the 81-point game, but still, over the years it’s been a moment that defined his career. Eventually he accepted the game and started poking fun at it himself.
