Feel the Heat
I don’t care what you say. I’m pulling for the Miami Heat in the NBA Playoffs. I'm not planning to watch any of the games or anything. It was 81 degrees in Des Moines today and there are tons of baseball games on the other channels. But I'm picking them for my favorite.I can’t understand the resentment people seem to feel towards LeBron James. The superstar forward had every right to leave Cleveland as a free agent last summer. (If you thought James’ departure was ugly, just watch the reaction when Dennis Kucinich leaves town.) James put in seven years there as a player. That's pretty good. He gave it “the old college try,” as we say, although he technically skipped right over college on his road to success. James isn’t even a native of Cleveland. That's an oft-repeated inaccuracy by many repeaters who know better. He's actually from Akron, as they know. And catch me agreeing to a lifetime contract with any sports team in Sioux City.
“Loyalty to community” is one thing, but “loyalty to team” is something potentially quite different. Too many fans like their sports best when they’re soaked in the traditional patriarchies. That's especially true when the stars on the fields and courts of glory are rich, young black men. The owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dan Gilbert, is a pretty odious figure incidentally, a legalized loan shark as head of the "0% interest, no money down" Quicken Loans internet mortgage provider. "Subprime Dan" attacked James viciously and personally when the player signed with Miami, likening his departing employee to a child, and calling the decision a "cowardly betrayal." That made it pretty clear, at least to some of us that don’t pay close attention but nevertheless have opinions, just why it was James might have been looking for greener pastures of employment.
James’ successful attempt at timing his free agency signing in Miami with the team's signings of two other greats of the game, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, is a threat to the establishment of the game, according to many fans. These fans are correct. Coordinated team building by the participants makes it painfully obvious that team owners in sports are superfluous. These businesses could be just as-- and even more-- effectively run by the players themselves, or by their local communities, such as it's done with the NFL’s Packers in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Last I checked, the Heat had won only a single NBA Championship prior to this year. Meanwhile, their Eastern Conference rivals, the Chicago Bulls, whom they lead 2-1 in a best-of-7 series, have won six titles since I started high school. Combined with their home court advantage, I’m not so sure why everybody thinks the Bulls are the underdog team we should all be pulling for. As recently as the 2007-2008 season, the Heat had the worst record in the league. They're kind of a great story.
Would I like to see LeBron James, who is often thought of as a "brand" rather than an actual person, evolve into a more socially-conscious superstar in the game? Yes. Would I like the Miami Heat to adhere more closely to the traditional customs of American sport in regards to pluralistic team nicknames? Also yes. But I’m pulling for James and his teammates in their current series and this post-season. It would be a marvelous event if a terrific player delivered on his grand ambitions. But again, I'm not going to watch any of the games. I haven't sat down to watch an NBA contest, beginning to end, since I attended a game in the Twin Cities in 2004. It was an afternoon game on Super Bowl Sunday and because of my traveling, I missed seeing Janet Jackson's nipple on television. I will be damned if I let something like that happen again.
posted by CM @ 8:33 PM
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