*Toward the end of the All-Star game, things got a little ugly when Kobe Bryant began bleeding after Dwyane Wade broke his court enemy’s nose.
Wade, however at Tuesday’s Miami Heat practice Wade says he apologized to the Los Angeles hero during the game and said he didn’t mean to cause an injury when he went up and fouled Kobe.
But the two will meet again in Los Angeles for a close out of the Miami Heat’s three-game road trip on Sunday.
It looks like the injury, which also resulted in a slight concussion for Bryant, will keep him out of tonight’s Lakers’ game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In the meantime, Wade has some other things to deal with such as being a father figure in America.
During the All-Star weekend on Friday, he sat at a round table discussion as part of President Barack Obama’s Fatherhood & Mentoring Initiative. Wade was accompanied by the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Joshua Dubois.
The basketball player was actually asked to join the coalition of fathers and leaders after he won a long custody battle against his ex-wife Siohvaughn Wade.
Dwade you have nothing to apologize for. You have no history what so ever of dirty play. It was an accident amidst intense play. Folks really need to let this go.
It’s a nice gesture to apologize and shows you to be the classy player you’ve always been but again, not necessary.
The All Star game is supposed to be an event where offense in on display. This doesn’t mean that the game is a sham or not competitive, but defense is given a lower priority in favor of all out offense. The intended purpose is to put on a show for the fans while minimizing the chance of injuries to the players. This is the way it has always been, the unwritten protocol governing All Star games. Certainly someone like Wade knew this. So why did he choose to display such totally irresponsible and reckless behavior?
Well, you now have the distinction of not only breaking another player’s nose and giving him a concussion all in one All Star game, but with being the only player to be penalized with a flagrant foul in the history of the game. You may not, by definition, be a dirty player, but that’s a perception that you may now have to live with.