Kobe Bryant gives fans the shoes off his feet

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Kobe Bryant was greeted by about 1,000 fans in Manila, Philippines, today on the first stop of a tour of Asia to promote a new shoe.

The Lakers star at one point stopped, took off the shoes he was wearing, autographed them, and gave one to a man and his son and the other to a girl who had called out to him.

‘They love the game, and I love being around their energy,’ he said of the fans, as quoted by the Associated Press. ‘It takes me back to when I was a kid.’

Bryant said he was inspired by fans who make sacrifices so they can afford to purchase tickets to watch him play. ‘[I] get my heart out there on the court to play because this may be the first time or the last time that a kid or a family ever comes to watch us play or perform,’ he said. (And somehow I always thought he was inspired by that contract that will pay him nearly $50 million over the next two seasons.)

Bryant, according to AP, said he wants to be remembered as someone who enjoys a good time and loves basketball.

Of course, he often looks tortured while actually playing the game, but he explained that, too, saying, ‘When you step onto that basketball court, then it becomes business, then it becomes hard work, focus and drive and everything else. We focus on one thing and one thing only, and that’s playing the game.’

Bryant will also make tour stops in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Shanghai and Chengdu in China.

-- Mike Hiserman