I'm sure most active people will agree, being injured in any way, shape or form is one of the most depressing things in the world. I've been recovering from a wrist injury for five months now and it's absolutely taken a toll on me both physically, and more importantly, mentally.
Yes.
I had 3 tears in the shoulder on my dominant (right) arm last summer. I went from running, swimming, rock climbing, playing basketball, racquetball, lifting weights, and doing disc golf to gaining about 25 pounds of fat, getting depressed, breaking up with my girlfriend, and sitting on my ass doing nothing but working or playing Diablo III for 5-6 months because I felt like there was fuck all else I could do until I had surgery and recovered.
It's been nearly a year since my injury and almost 6 months since my surgery. I'm finally able to work out again and have shed about 20 pounds of what I gained, but I still can't do most of the things I enjoy that helped keep me in shape. Feel like I'll never truly be able to throw a football or baseball again or swing a racquet with as much force as I'd like, but I know the time for a "full recovery" is still several months out so I'm hopefully just being pessimistic.
The most depressing time of my life has been this one; well, the worst of it was the beginning but it's getting better. Now that I'm getting active again I'm at least more optimistic but deathly afraid of re-injuring my shoulder and going back through all this again. The mental part is much harder to bear than the physical toll an injury puts a person through. At least from my experience.
As for Kobe: Second greatest player I've seen in my lifetime. Toughest player I've ever seen in my lifetime. You don't have to be a Lakers fan to feel terrible about this. One less reason to watch the NBA. I hope he makes a full recovery, but I'm not so sure. If anyone could pull it off, a young Kobe would be that guy. I have no doubt this older model will do all he can to prove everyone wrong and I hope he does.