Kids & Family
Perfect Timing For Lakers Superfan, New Dad In New Jersey
As the shot clock wound down at a Newark hospital, little Kobe was born late on Jan. 8… the jersey number of his basketball namesake.
NEWARK, NJ — So you think you’re a Lakers superfan? You might have a hard time competing against a New Jersey basketball dad and his newborn son, Kobe.
Although Craig Dozier’s son – named after sports icon Kobe Bryant – was scheduled to be born on Jan. 11, the die-hard Los Angeles Lakers fan had hoped that his progeny would have a Jan. 8 birthday… the same as Bryant’s first jersey number.
As fate would have it – while the shot clock for a Jan. 8 birth winded down – the little bundle of joy was born at 11:37 p.m. on Tuesday, the staff of the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center reported.
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And almost 3,000 miles away from the Staples Center, Dozier was there to swaddle his newborn son in a Lakers jersey.
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Photo: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (used with permission)
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