We're going home, too
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2014 10:43 am
From "not six, not seven" to not one, to got one, a month ago we were were two-time champions in our fourth straight Finals, three wins from three. A month later, almost four years to the day after it started, it ended. Lebron goes home.
This hurt. We ache. Last Friday, I read Lebron's letter to Northeast Ohio in a blur, vision blurring, wondering how thoughts that seemed so pure and genuine could crash and thunder around me. "Everything ends badly; otherwise, it wouldn't end." The random quote from a forgotten movie, making a sudden appearance in what had been an intoxicating few years for Heat fans. I thought I had spent weeks preparing for this possibility. Friends and family did the same. Provisions, as they were, were insufficient. You can't prepare for this.
Still, as Dan Lebatard might say (might rant), give it to me again. If going through this was the price of admission, paid in arrears, for the last four years, I hope it's offered to us again. I'll be the first to opt in.
"I feel like when I go out there, if it's someone's first game to ever see me play -- I want them to remember me." - Lebron James, December 2012. Forget you, forget this? Not a chance. That much should be clear to every Heat fan out there -- we might never see this again. One of the best ever, in his prime, playing alongside the player that taught so many people in this city to love the NBA in the first place, chasing history together. You only get this type of run once. And now, Lebron goes home.
My thank you letter to Lebron was written three years ago, as it happens. (http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_ba ... -heat.html) I suppose I owe him another, but I'll have to write it another day. He's back in Cleveland. This is a Miami day.
Chris Bosh stayed. That means everything. Chris Anderson stayed. That means everything too. Four years ago, this came together as Wade announced his return, only to be joined by Chris Bosh and, soon after, Lebron, and everything began. Last Friday, as reports and rumors swept across Miami, a scary reverse symmetry seemed to emerge. Lebron had left, and Chris Bosh was leaving, and everything was over. But then Chris Bosh stayed. And just like that, nothing was over. Just like that, nothing is over.
Before Miami was "Hollywood as hell," as Joakim Noah called us, we were Alonzo Mourning. We were Keith Askins and Dan Majerle. We were 80 point games, but we keep you in the 70s. And, since 2003, we were Dwyane Wade.
Lebron is going home. But so are we.
I fell in love with Dwyane's game earlier than most. On a lousy DSL link with a choppy video feed, I watched him dissect and devour the 2003 rookie class in his summer league games in Orlando. I'd love to find the video -- I think he hit a game-winner over a Cleveland rookie named James. His first NBA game, he crossed-over Kyle Korver with a move that made the Philadelphia crowd gasp. Miami had never really had a player that could do that. He's the reason Lebron came here. He's still here.
Tuesday, with a simple post and a simple message, Dwyane announced his return to his home, his city, his house. One of the best guards who's ever played, who has spent his entire career and will spend his entire career playing in his house, our house, our city, reminded us of something. Home isn't just a place. For Dwyane, home is playing for Miami. For Miami, home is watching Dwyane.
Welcome home, Miami.
This hurt. We ache. Last Friday, I read Lebron's letter to Northeast Ohio in a blur, vision blurring, wondering how thoughts that seemed so pure and genuine could crash and thunder around me. "Everything ends badly; otherwise, it wouldn't end." The random quote from a forgotten movie, making a sudden appearance in what had been an intoxicating few years for Heat fans. I thought I had spent weeks preparing for this possibility. Friends and family did the same. Provisions, as they were, were insufficient. You can't prepare for this.
Still, as Dan Lebatard might say (might rant), give it to me again. If going through this was the price of admission, paid in arrears, for the last four years, I hope it's offered to us again. I'll be the first to opt in.
"I feel like when I go out there, if it's someone's first game to ever see me play -- I want them to remember me." - Lebron James, December 2012. Forget you, forget this? Not a chance. That much should be clear to every Heat fan out there -- we might never see this again. One of the best ever, in his prime, playing alongside the player that taught so many people in this city to love the NBA in the first place, chasing history together. You only get this type of run once. And now, Lebron goes home.
My thank you letter to Lebron was written three years ago, as it happens. (http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_ba ... -heat.html) I suppose I owe him another, but I'll have to write it another day. He's back in Cleveland. This is a Miami day.
Chris Bosh stayed. That means everything. Chris Anderson stayed. That means everything too. Four years ago, this came together as Wade announced his return, only to be joined by Chris Bosh and, soon after, Lebron, and everything began. Last Friday, as reports and rumors swept across Miami, a scary reverse symmetry seemed to emerge. Lebron had left, and Chris Bosh was leaving, and everything was over. But then Chris Bosh stayed. And just like that, nothing was over. Just like that, nothing is over.
Before Miami was "Hollywood as hell," as Joakim Noah called us, we were Alonzo Mourning. We were Keith Askins and Dan Majerle. We were 80 point games, but we keep you in the 70s. And, since 2003, we were Dwyane Wade.
Lebron is going home. But so are we.
I fell in love with Dwyane's game earlier than most. On a lousy DSL link with a choppy video feed, I watched him dissect and devour the 2003 rookie class in his summer league games in Orlando. I'd love to find the video -- I think he hit a game-winner over a Cleveland rookie named James. His first NBA game, he crossed-over Kyle Korver with a move that made the Philadelphia crowd gasp. Miami had never really had a player that could do that. He's the reason Lebron came here. He's still here.
Tuesday, with a simple post and a simple message, Dwyane announced his return to his home, his city, his house. One of the best guards who's ever played, who has spent his entire career and will spend his entire career playing in his house, our house, our city, reminded us of something. Home isn't just a place. For Dwyane, home is playing for Miami. For Miami, home is watching Dwyane.
Welcome home, Miami.