Kobe Bryant appeared to walk back a recent Instagram caption that blew up.
The NBA legend posted a photo of his daughter’s basketball team that he coaches after a fourth place finish a couple years back. (RELATED: Kobe Bryant Says Shaq Would Have Been The Greatest Ever If He Had His Work Ethic)
Nobody was smiling in the photo, and he captioned it with the following:
Here’s our fourth place “winners” picture lol six of the kids in the picture stayed with me and worked every single day to get better and continue to work to this day. The 7th player (not in pic) missed this game for a dance recital so that should tell you where her focus was at this time, meaning she enjoyed dance more than ball which is fine. Now? She eats sleeps and breaths the game. So from this original group of 7 we have added a player TWO years YOUNGER (6th grade now), a player who’s team in our area folded and a player who’s family moved here from Tennessee. The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. That journey continues #mambas#2yearsago
However, the Lakers legend seemed to backtrack just a little bit on Twitter late Wednesday afternoon when he said he was “sorry” if the dance recital comment came across as a “slight.”
sorry if it came across as a slight, trust me it wasn’t. I was just giving the reason for her not being in the pic. They chose not to smile for the pic I actually followed their lead. Our team has become family and this includes the 7th player
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) September 11, 2019
I have no problems with what Bryant wrote or the fact nobody was smiling. You shouldn’t be happy about a fourth place finish.
Nobody should be, and he has every right in the world to mention one girl chose to be at a dance recital instead of the game.
That doesn’t mean he’s ripping her. He’s just stating facts. You’re either all in or all out. That’s the kind of mentality champions are required to have. There can’t be any middle ground.
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Bryant didn’t do anything wrong, and he shouldn’t have walked back or apologized for a single word. He should have stuck to his guns.
If you’re not here to win titles, then you’re doing it wrong. It’s really that simple, and that’s the kind of attitude that put multiple rings on his fingers.
Stop being so soft, people. Sports are supposed to be very competitive, and I don’t care how old you are.