Over the past week, I conducted a very non-scientific poll to see how people felt about the Miami Heat making it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Results:
“I wish a bomb would hit the United Center on Sunday.”
“LeBron James is a f@#%ing wuss. Seriously, he’s a big baby.”
“I think the Heat are pretty damn annoying. How could you root for a team like that? Shouldn’t this feel tainted?”
“I wish Chris Bosh would just realize he’s a figment of James Cameron’s imagination already. I mean the dude’s a true blue avatar.”
(Funny thing is I only made the last one up. The rest were either directed at me or at the TV at some point this week.)
If I remember one thing about the 2010-2011 NBA season, it will be how people loved to hate the Heat. The non-threatening franchise morphed into the NBA’s answer to the Yankees with a few offseason deals. This was an interesting sports experience for someone who was born and raised in South Florida. If you live in the Midwest (or probably anywhere outside of American Airlines Arena) and you say a few kind words about the Heat, everyone starts looking at you like Darth Vader’s your homeboy.
Initially, that hate was certainly warranted. The Big Three’s ill-fated “celebration” was a shameless display of egotism. I thought that once they experienced some struggle—and they did experience some tough moments in the past year—that the Big Three haters would soften a bit. It’s clear that’s not the case.
The Heat celebrated after they eliminated Boston and they were criticized. Too many people, though, didn’t focus on the reverence they saved for the Celts’ Big Three. LeBron alluded that they were the inspiration for the move to South Beach. James has had several moments of striking self-awareness during the second half of the season, but it doesn’t matter.
It’s too damn fun to hate the Heat. It’s understandable, too.
I just wonder what happens if Miami’s Big Two-and-a-Half wins a championship (or two, or three, or four, or five….sorry). Will public opinion sway or has the past year done too much damage?
For now, they roll into Chicago as everyone’s favorite villains. Get the boo birds ready.
I have never liked bron bron or the Heat that much. However, i do not wish bad things upon them. What really annoys me is that cluster of Miami fans that only show up when its teams are doing well. This includes all Miami teams: Marlins, Heat, Dolphins, Hurricanes, and Panthers. When the teams are doing well there is that cluster of "fans" that start talking all kinds of trash, but then those fans disappear when the team does poorly.
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