For anyone who cares, here's what I wrote last night to some fellow Piston fans. I was very distraught:
as i sit watching alonzo mounring talking about "the darkest moment," or pat riley trying to get the phrase "15 strong" going, or antoine faking tears, and so on and so on, i wonder if these guys really believed they accomplished some basketball dream, a la Hoosiers? Or do they - deep down somewhere - understand that Wade fought a war and they carried his ammo?
i can't take it. there was no chill factor in this championship. i can't take pat riley, in hindsight, painting this season as being some epic, romantic race towards destiny for his team. they were an unlikable team built with an almost Knicksonian degree of reckless abandon. the role-players played with a confidence that only a wade safety blanket can provide. wade played like he was invincible, and in essence, he was. nobody has ever drawn such a favorable whistle, and i think the league's blatant acceleration of wade's legend will almost certainly backfire on the NBA.
shaq, you might have promised this, but much like rasheed's "they will not win game two," your involvement in the fulfillment of said promise was secondary. this must be the emptiest ring for you.
to the miami heat other than wade: you are disposable pieces. you are rick fox and derek fischer. you can act like you're a band of brothers all you want - but nobody's buying it except for Sportscenter and all other lazy sports writers in the world. you are the filler, the non-marshmallow cereal in Lucky Charms.
and to wade: you're a good basketball player, but you're not great yet. you've been given too much, too fast. you're a vehicle for the NBA's commercial machine, the latest model from the star factory. i won't believe you're great until a.) you don't play with shaq and you win a ring; b.) players are allowed to defend you using standard NBA rules. and seriously - seriously - show some character. i've seen Spurs more emotional than you. you're the most boring dynamic player since shaq.
i will go to my grave believing that this Miami team was nothing more than a collection of players and egos using each other as a means to an end. they were not bound together in pursuit of a greater good. and likewise, the league used wade as a means to their end. everyone used everyone to get what they wanted. and i'm left feeling empty watching them smile.
otherwise, congratulations to the Miami Heat: your 2006 NBA Champions!
and here was a follow-up (i don't think i made it to bed until after 2 o'clock, because I'm a moron
and the things that kills me is that history will not remember this team as mishmash of means-to-an-end personalities who no one believed midseason had the stuff to be a champion. history will sell us pat riley's carefully chosen words, the "mythology" of the secret pit that bound them together, "15 strong" and all that. it will sell us redemption for Mourning, Walker, Payton and Williams. and it will probably forget that last year's Heat was much more balanced and believable as a "bound unit," and that the 2004 Heat was a truly fun display of basketball.
i'm so afraid history will remember this in all the ways, for all the wrong things. must every wart be remembered as a flower once you're crowned champion?
1 comment:
For anyone who cares, here's what I wrote last night to some fellow Piston fans. I was very distraught:
as i sit watching alonzo mounring talking about "the darkest moment," or pat riley trying to get the phrase "15 strong" going, or antoine faking tears, and so on and so on, i wonder if these guys really believed they accomplished some basketball dream, a la Hoosiers? Or do they - deep down somewhere - understand that Wade fought a war and they carried his ammo?
i can't take it. there was no chill factor in this championship. i can't take pat riley, in hindsight, painting this season as being some epic, romantic race towards destiny for his team. they were an unlikable team built with an almost Knicksonian degree of reckless abandon. the role-players played with a confidence that only a wade safety blanket can provide. wade played like he was invincible, and in essence, he was. nobody has ever drawn such a favorable whistle, and i think the league's blatant acceleration of wade's legend will almost certainly backfire on the NBA.
shaq, you might have promised this, but much like rasheed's "they will not win game two," your involvement in the fulfillment of said promise was secondary. this must be the emptiest ring for you.
to the miami heat other than wade: you are disposable pieces. you are rick fox and derek fischer. you can act like you're a band of brothers all you want - but nobody's buying it except for Sportscenter and all other lazy sports writers in the world. you are the filler, the non-marshmallow cereal in Lucky Charms.
and to wade: you're a good basketball player, but you're not great yet. you've been given too much, too fast. you're a vehicle for the NBA's commercial machine, the latest model from the star factory. i won't believe you're great until a.) you don't play with shaq and you win a ring; b.) players are allowed to defend you using standard NBA rules. and seriously - seriously - show some character. i've seen Spurs more emotional than you. you're the most boring dynamic player since shaq.
i will go to my grave believing that this Miami team was nothing more than a collection of players and egos using each other as a means to an end. they were not bound together in pursuit of a greater good. and likewise, the league used wade as a means to their end. everyone used everyone to get what they wanted. and i'm left feeling empty watching them smile.
otherwise, congratulations to the Miami Heat: your 2006 NBA Champions!
and here was a follow-up (i don't think i made it to bed until after 2 o'clock, because I'm a moron
and the things that kills me is that history will not remember this team as mishmash of means-to-an-end personalities who no one believed midseason had the stuff to be a champion. history will sell us pat riley's carefully chosen words, the "mythology" of the secret pit that bound them together, "15 strong" and all that. it will sell us redemption for Mourning, Walker, Payton and Williams. and it will probably forget that last year's Heat was much more balanced and believable as a "bound unit," and that the 2004 Heat was a truly fun display of basketball.
i'm so afraid history will remember this in all the ways, for all the wrong things. must every wart be remembered as a flower once you're crowned champion?
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