The King is Dead. Long Live the King!
In the parks, the gyms and the driveways, Miami has always been about hoops. Where Miami once had no basketball team to rally around and two football dynasties to gloat about, the city has now celebrated and debated the Heat for two decades. My generation has grown up with them.
Dolphins and Hurricanes football owned the sporting crown in Miami once upon a time, but that was before the King came to town, before Miami even had a basketball team. Between the seven championships brought by the Dolphins and Canes and the lack of any alternatives, of course there was no better place to love football than Miami.
Of course you always hear that Miami’s arena is only packed during the playoffs (when it is rocking). But when Dwayne Wade played to a half-full arena, that meant he was playing the Bucks or the Hawks in a mid-season game that didn’t matter. Most South Florida sports fans can find better things to do than watch Wade in a meaningless game, even if he is the most electrifying player in the NBA.
Miami is known for swagger for a reason – there are places to go, beaches to see, mojitos to drink. Americans may only pay attention to the best of the best, butwith Miami’s caliente culture, warm beaches, and hot bodies, Miamians only take notice the best of the best of the best, sir.
I have been a hardcore Heat fan since the age of five. I think the saddest period of my childhood was when Baron Davis and the Hornets demolished a loaded Heat team headed to the Finals in the first round. Game One, Game Two, Game Three, I thought the Heat would pummel the Hornets, and every game, Baron left me staggering. I was sick over it for weeks.
When the Heat became champions in 2006, I blanketed the walls of my college apartment with lamenated front pages of the Miami Herald chronicling the Heat’s rise to power. Yet even with my passion for the Heat, with firsthand knowledge that Wade was the illest player to watch in the NBA, I have personally turned down free tickets to go see Wade and the Heat.
Why? How could I possibly turn down tickets to see Flash, D-Wade – the official heir to his Airness – dunk and dominate? Because I had better things to do. I live in Miami, bro.
And this is coming from someone who cares. The Heat are my borderline obsession. For the average Miami sports fan, when the Heat aren’t hot, there’s no chance of spending sixty bucks on tickets instead of South Beach.
That’s why the arena is often half-empty. But that doesn’t mean Miami doesn’t love the Heat. What you don’t often hear is that our entire fan base showed up in white for the 2006 playoffs and gave the Heat a true homecourt advantage – they won all three Finals home games.
That Shaq got a parade just for showing up.
That the old Miami Arena was packed for the Heat’s inaugural year, even though the team started 0-17.
That Miami showed major love for every hoops hero that lifted us up along the way, from Glen Rice and Steve Smith to Tim Hardaway and Jamal Mashburn.
That Alonzo Mourning’s charity event – The Summer Groove – is a huge success every year, mostly because Miami loves the Heat.
With LeBron’s arrival and alliance with Wade and Bosh, basketball has taken it’s rightful seat upon the throne of the Miami sports scene. It feels as if Miami has always been a hoops town, waiting for our champions to settle in.
The counties in South Florida are easily tailored to fit our new heros, like it was meant to be. “Miami-Wade”, ”LeBroward”, and “Palm Bosh” Counties are now officially basketball country, by royal decree of King James.
Miami will always love tailgating on Saturday and Sunday, but even if the Dolphins win a Super Bowl this season, the King is dead. The buzz in the court has long been about the heir to the throne. Long live the King!
Basketball.