ESPN to launch "Heat Index"

[canefandynasty]

ESPN.com will launch The Heat Index, a special section devoted specifically to daily, season-long coverage of the Miami Heat and their new superstar core of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, on Monday, October 11. The Heat Index will be housed under the ESPN.com NBA section and will include in-depth editorial coverage (columns and blogs), video, audio, automated modules, social media elements, photo galleries and other multimedia offerings.

Editorial contributors to The Heat Index:

Brian Windhorst – formerly with the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Windhorst is one of the leading authorities on LeBron James. Windhorst has written two books about James and has covered him since middle school. Windhorst has been the Cavs beat writer/blogger for seven years and has won awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Associated Press. Windhorst will be based in Miami as one of two regular beat writers assigned to the team.
Michael Wallace – Wallace has been the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer for the previous three seasons and is an experienced sports and news reporter. Wallace, an award-winning writer, will team with Windhorst as regular Heat beat writers covering the team daily throughout the season.
Kevin Arnovitz – in addition to his role as managing editor and contributor to ESPN.com’s TrueHoop Network, Arnovitz will provide digital media content and edit portions of The Heat Index.
Sebastian Martinez-Christensen – Martinez-Christensen will be a regular contributor to The Heat Index. He formerly served as a multi-lingual columnist and contributor for ESPNDeportes.com, a reporter for ESPN Deportes (radio and television) and ESPN Deportes La Revista magazine.


Among the features of the Heat Index:

breaking news surrounding the Miami Heat;
coverage of every Heat game and team practice;
constantly updated aggregation of all ESPN stories regarding the Heat;
Chase for 72 – an automated, daily forecast of how many games the Heat will win including ESPN.com’s John Hollinger projecting the odds of the Heat matching the Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins;
Tracking the Big 3 – an automated tracking of how James, Wade and Bosh stack up against the best trios in NBA history;
Heat Tweets – a module that collects tweets from Heat players and fans;
complete video, podcast and story contributions from ESPN reporters Marc Stein, Chris Broussard, Chad Ford, Chris Sheridan, John Hollinger and Ric Bucher;
Heat content from ESPN TV analysts;
Hollinger Stats – automated applications featuring Hollinger’s analytics on the Heat team and players;
Hollinger’s All-Time Power Rankings – a ranking pinning the Heat against the NBA’s all-time great teams;
Triple-Double Tracker – a module tracking James’ progress towards averaging a triple-double for an entire season;
Hoop Schemes – basketball analysis and video breakdowns by TrueHoop’s Arnovitz;
video analysis by Scout Inc.’s David Thorpe;
live chats during each Heat game involving Heat Index contributions;
a Heat Index Facebook page;
photo galleries of Heat players and celebrity fans;
The Scene – Jemele Hill covering the culture, scene and lifestyle angles tied to South Beach as it relates to the Heat and the buzz surrounding the team;
contributions from athletes, including former Heat players, and celebrities who live in South Florida and are regulars at Heat games.

http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/1 ... to-launch-“the-heat-index”-oct-11/

Karl was right...and this will make people even more jealous.

[omerome]

SMH.

Really? REALLY?

[j-ragg]

Oh my.... this is getting embarrassing for ESPN.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Lord, help this team if they don't meet expectations. SMH.

[HailtoLaker]

SMH. In bed with Lebron since high school. The station is foxnews.

[semi-sentient]

I just deleted ESPN's NBA section from my bookmarks. Should have done it a long time ago.

[Jvaughn]

And the LBJ blowjob continues. ESPN please remove yourself from Lebron's d***. This is getting really pathetic.

[Geoffrey P]

I'm thinking of whether or not this is a step above the decision in terms of being douchebags.

[Percules]

HA HA HA!!! HA HAA HA! Haa Ha Ha... haaa...
What the hell is wrong with espn?

[Lord Hades]

Just posted about this on the Heat board. This is overkill ...much, MUCH overkill. The potential is there for me to even find it nauseating.

It's something you'd expect from one of the local media outlets, like the Herald or Sun-Sentinel. Get a grip, ESPN.

[pass first]

Karl was right...and this will make people even more jealous.

Right on the money. As always. I would kill for a Raptors index on ESPN.

[Vertical Limit]

Great for Heat fans, we'll get up to date status/coverage about our team. Annoying for everyone else that isn't a Heat fan, but understandable. Don't think ESPN will come out with the Timberwolves Index in the next century so I can see why this is so annoying.

[Jugs]

this is just absolutely ridiculous

[Flash3]

I read this last week and laughed.

Talk about overkill....this is like Overkill x 5. But, it's all good, as they say....

[RapsGirl]

as much as I hate this over-saturation.......the interest is there, whether it's to watch them succeed or to watch them fail. and trust me, ESPN knows that. they are going to capitalize on this....win, lose or draw.

[AceDegenerate]

I just deleted ESPN's NBA section from my bookmarks. Should have done it a long time ago.

I think that your sig makes it very apparent why too.

[Optimism Prime]

I mad.

So much for journalistic integrity.

[No Offense]

I haven't watched ESPN since The Decision. I will continue to not watch it unless there is a sporting event on. I don't have any interest in that channel for getting news after they decided creating news to sell was a good idea.

[MiamiHeat04]

I too was upset when ESPN was trying to be Kobe's mascot when they put Los Angeles index but luckily now they have one for the Miami Heat.

[Optms]

ESPN isn't even one of my sports fix sites and hasn't ever been. This won't be a big issue to me. They suck so much ass over there anyway that them doing something like this fits right into their line of work. Perfectly.