Can we just admit that the Miami Heat arent going to be the best NBA team ever during this 2010-2011 season ( I still have hope for 2013)? 6 Months ago, I openly pledged my allegiance to the fearsome twosome (I will not mention the former Chris Bosh) and company and I have yet to give up on that. Sure, there were those awful back to back losses against the Pacers - who sport a roster with SEVERAL white, non european players, and Memphis who wont have a basketball team come 2013. Then there was the turning point of the season - the game in Cleveland.
This was beyond ridiculous - sports writers legitimately thought LBJ would be scared and timid and that this Heat team would crumble under the pressure. They forgot that Joey Graham was starting against LeBron and probably couldnt guard anyone that wasnt hobbled by some crippling disease. LeBron and Wade destroyed and yet, people still doubted. A friend I was at the bar with was still "unimpressed" by the Heat offense, even if they had a 40 point lead at one point in the 3rd quarter. He's a Bulls fan, so he might be in scared shitless mode.
Now, Miami is in the midst of a 7 game winning streak - including a convincing win at Utah earlier this week. Their upcoming schedule goes Sacramento, New Orleans, Cleveland, New York and Washington. A fairly easy 5 game stretch that could put them on a 12 game winning streak as they head into Christmas week against Dallas, Phoenix and the Lakers. Great teams have double digit winning streaks and, of course it is easy to pick on the cupcake schedule and to over embellish, but thats what this Heat team has been and will be.
They started 8-8 and random people who never follow basketball were overjoyed that the Heat "sucked" and were only in 4th place in the Eastern Conference. Oh!!!! How terrible they are to be at .500. This is the problem that we are facing - no one wants to see a winner and even though LeBron and Wade have ostensibly drawn more attention to the NBA this season ( a good thing), we have created a new fan thats not even considered casual. We have relaxed fans. These are the fans that know the Heat play in Miami and LeBron plays for them. The end. They do not know, or need to know anything else about the sport, just that LeBron is overhyped and they hate him.
Relaxed fans can't even fathom why the Heat had a "terrible" start and even worse when I try to argue with them about the reasons, they are unintelligibly incoherent about the topic. It has almost become like politics - relaxed fans believe in something because they are told to and then dont research the topic and are too dumb to even debate with. I now know how Al Gore felt in the 2000 primaries.
No song and no apostrophes where needed? Last time I was this angry was when McDonald's stopped the two cheeseburger meal.
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