Hating The Heat

There is one thing that seems to be clear about this young NBA season so far: the Miami Heat are taking a lot of heat. I cannot remember the last time I've seen so much venom displayed towards one NBA team. No doubt when free agents, LeBron James, Chris Bosh & Dwayne Wade decided to sign with the Heat there was going to be some resentment towards them; but that should have been more of the natural "let's hate the biggest, baddest team" type. I think we are seeing a "hate" that is much deeper and larger. James I think has a lot to do with it. Though we are in the age of instant everything, we have probably never witnessed someone fall from grace so quickly. James turned off a lot people starting with the loss with his former squad, the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the playoffs to the Boston Celtics last spring.  Some people felt that James quit; flat out gave up in the last couple games of that series. Then came the off season and free agency period in which James had been courted by a few teams but ultimately chose the Heat. What really irked most folks wasn't the actually decision but 'The Decision", the primetime show on ESPN dedicated to the announcement of his free agency choice. If he hasn't already, I think he will one day regret ever doing that show. It really tarnished his reputation and every thing he has done since to reverse it has made things worse. Everything from his tweets to the infamous "What Should I Do" Nike commercial has only seemed to sully his name even more. Now, nothing would satisfy these haters of LeBron more than to see his new Miami Heat team fail. These feelings are displayed every time the Heat loses a game. It's almost like a party when they are defeated. You even hear the negative talk from the media. I heard a lot of media folks predict that the Heat would challenge and break the Chicago Bulls' NBA record of 72 wins in the regular season. I scoffed when I heard these lofty expectations. No way could you expect a team that was just pieced together to have that kind of success, regardless of the new talented nucleus. I think they are more in line to challenge the 60 win mark. But now that the Heat has only won 8 of their first 13 games, folks in the media is wondering "what's wrong"? Well, first give the team a chance to meld.  Why do we always expect things to occur overnight in this microwave society? Now while I have heard some disturbing quotes come out of South Beach, (one in particular about them wanting to chill instead of being worked hard, to paraphrase something allegedly said by Bosh) I still think this team will not disappoint by season's end. With that being said, don't be surprised if they don't win the championship and heck, don't be surprised if they don't represent the Eastern Conference in the finals. But do expect to see this team compete and play at a very high level. By the time June rolls around, most will forget about the sluggish start if they do win the championship but anything short of that, I would expect the hate to continue.