My NBA Finals Journey: Game 2 2010/11

If I'd already made out my bucket-list, yesterday's experience would have been at the very top.  Throughout my adult life I've always ventured to Orlando Fl to watch the Orlando Magic battle against the NBA team of my choice; seeing them face the Miami Heat, my favorite team became a yearly event for my best friend and I.  Year after year my best friend and I would make the trek to catch a glimpse our favorite players from around the league just as my father took me years earlier to see who was my favorite player at the time Charles Barkley when he played for the Houston Rockets....two technical fouls and a 20 point blow out later, Barkley was ejected, the Rockets lost, but I was the happiest person who was seated in the O-rena!  That night it was never about the individual performance of Charles Barkley, nor was it about the fact that the Rockets lost, it was about a man in his youth attending his first NBA game with his dad, a former NBA fan until the retirement of Dr. J, it was about the respect the fans of Orlando showed Hakeem Olajuwon by giving him a standing ovation that seemingly lasted forever during player introductions only three years after his Rockets defeated a young Magic team in the 94/95 NBA Finals.  Last night, June 2nd 2011, wasn't about the Miami Heat losing the game after an unbelievable comeback by the Dallas Mavericks, it was about another dream of mine that came true and the biggest one to date.  I was at the NBA Finals cheering on my favorite team the Miami Heat!

As a teen Charles Barkley was the main celebrity I looked up to and of course that made me very, very different from my other friends.  There were five of us and we all loved all things NBA, but of all my friends I was the only one who liked a western conference team which at that time was the Phoenix Suns and later the Houston Rockets due to the fact that Barkley played on both.  My friends however were fans of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls but once he retired the first time, many of them converted over and became fans of the Orlando Magic and their young stars Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway and Shaquille O'Neal.  After only five years in the league, the Magic had constructed what many considered at the time as a championship roster with just the right mix of young talent and grizzled veterans.  Even Horace Grant who'd won three NBA championships while playing for the Chicago Bulls found himself in a Orlando Magic uniform.  That team was on the threshold of becoming the next great dynasty in the NBA but something was brewing in South Florida, Biscayne Bay was about to witness the arrival of Head Coach Pat Riley and Heat dignitaries Tim Hardway and Alonzo Mourning.

Hardaway, Riley, Mourning

I can't remember the exact year but I was in middle school and all of my friends would bug me about not liking an Eastern Conference team, a team from Florida.  They were all expecting me to be like them and follow the Orlando Magic and it's two young, great stars, they thought that their dynasty was complete and all the team had to do was win multiple championships.  That dynasty was to start after the retirement of Michael Jordan but I must say we all were wrong; their championship dreams never came to fruition.  The Magic were the media's darlings and their two stars were all the rage with endorsements and even movie deals; all the while the Heat wave in South Florida grew stronger and stronger like a hurricane and it seemed as if I was the only one in my group of friends to notice.  I secretly watched as many Heat games as I could, all the while falling in love with their passion, their grit, their coach.  During the times that the games weren't televised I would grab the sports section every morning and read the box scores to keep up with the latest Heat happenings.  I thought to myself, it's time, I had to choose a team from the Eastern Conference to follow and I left it to chance because I am a gambling man.

Again dates are lost and I do apologize for that but at the time one of my best friends was George Lawrence and he was crazy about the Magic and Penny Hardaway.  His mother bought him all of Hardway's shoes and  if my memory serves well he always bragged about having a Lil Penny doll.....now that's old school!  "Hey Tyra"......lol!  The stage was about to be set, the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic were having a nationally televised showdown in Orlando one weekend and I made this my opportunity to strike.  I became at peace with myself for what I was about to do but it was one of the first times in my life that I was on my way to making a deal with the Devil but at this point I had to strike.  I don't remember much about the conversation as it was most likely filled with tons of trash talk as teens rib each other about their strengths or weaknesses but I remember the bet like it was yesterday and I was fully prepared to face the consequence either way because I was tired of the Miami Heat being overlooked by my friends and for the most part all of the basketball universe.  Keep in mind that no one knew that I had become a Heat fan but I was prepared for the worst.

"Since I need to follow a team in Florida, I said, I will bet you this, if the Heat lose the game, I will become a member of the Orlando Magic, but if the Heat wins, I will become a member of the Miami Heat."

The Heat pulled out the victory and my basketball fate was set for the better, it was a gamble, a 50/50 decision but my heart didn't fail me because I knew that I had picked the better team and I embraced them just as if I would have if Charles Barkley had played for them.  Alonzo Mourning became my Charles Barkley on the east coast, his fighting spirit was akin to mine and he struck fear into all of his opponents with his great defense, ferocious blocks/attitude and that always present scowl,  Zo was the Kendrick Perkins of the 90's just much more offensively gifted than Perkins will ever be.  Just as the Miami Heat were becoming a national NBA powerhouse on the backs of Mouring, Hardway, Brown, Mashburn, and Marjele, the magic in Orlando began to fade.

A year after my Decision, Shaquille O'Neal departed the Orlando Magic the join the Los Angeles Lakers and the Magic fell on very hard times.  The departure of O'Neal devastated the fan base the likes of which I'd never seen up until the 2010 departure of Lebron James from Cleveland.  I based my decision off of a timely hunch and even though the Miami Heat didn't win their NBA Championship until 2006, the journey was well worth it.  I had to endure the pain along with my team to fully appreciate the joys of winning it all.  As a fan, I won my ring before they did and I even purchased a championship ring to have a daily reminder that even though I didn't follow what was considered to be normal at the time, I was still able to enjoy the success of my basketball team and even now as the Miami Heat are in the finals battling for the right to earn the city's second NBA Championship, the Magic fans are sitting at home, hating and hoping that somehow, someway the Miami Heat loses.

I can say this, for a brief moment in time, the fans of the Orlando Magic got their wish.  The Miami Heat lost the game and now the series stands at 1 game apiece.  Seconds after Dwyane Wade missed a desperation 3 in which he could never properly set his feet, the collapse was complete and I held my head down to say congrats to the Mavs on their comeback, they earned that win but my resolve, much like that of the Heat's is very strong.  That loss wasn't going to make my first trip to Miami meaningless.  It was the first time in my life that I felt as if I fit in.  I was around my people, sat in my arena, fueled by my hometown fans.  I could count at least three times during the game where I almost lost control of my emotions due to the fact that everything just seemed right.  From looking up to the 2006 Championship banner and the retired numbers of Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, to seeing the Heat's intro live and for the first time feeling the energy of all the Miami Heat fans from the live band outside of the arena to the raucous crowd on the inside, everything was just perfect, Heaven like for five hours with everyone dressed in some sort of white and the sounds of "Lets go Heat" filling the amazing sky.  I was home......among my people and even if I were to die today, my Heart and Soul would be in Miami, I am a Miami Heat fan until forever and a day!

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The Fans I hate the most

I remember the call like it was yesterday, "Stockton, open, three, goooood! John Stockton sends the Utah Jazz to the NBA Finals."  The call was made by Greg Gumbal on May 29th 1997 and for me that night the realization finally hit me that one of my favorite players at the time Charles Barkley would never win an NBA title having just been knocked out of the Western Conference Finals for the final time.  Those who knew me then knew that it took a while for me to get over that loss and now looking back I can honestly say that it took until 6/20/2006 for me to fully get over it.  The life of a true fan is full of emotional swings almost like one diagnosed as being bipolar.  Emotions can range from euphoric bliss to stomach churning pain and vice versa.

Throughout my life I've always followed two teams, one in each conference in the NBA and NFL but the pain had grown too much so I had to drop an NBA team, "the Houston Rockets" when Hakeem Olajuwon was traded away.  Let me be very clear on this, I am a legit Miami Heat fan since 1996, a Ravens fan since 1996, and a Washington Redskins fan since birth, with the Skins I had no choice in the matter, it's in my blood.  Those are the teams that I will ride and die for without thinking twice!  With that being said, I don't always agree with every decision that they make but my love for those teams will never disappear nor will it make me blind to the reality of what really is and that is what separates true fans i.e. me from those other fans, the ones I like to call the other type or some use the term band wagon fans, which I'll admit is a general term but it works here but since I'm so not politically correct I'll use my term which is, drum roll please.....fake ass fans!  Lets just be real about it!

An awesome Super Bowl ended last evening, great job to the Packers for winning but I'll be the first to say it, I was wrong, I picked the Steelers to win 31-25 but that doesn't mean I like the Steelers nor does it mean I hate them, I am a Redskins and Ravens fan in the NFL and I was astonished this past week when normal folk would say "I'm a Steelers fan or I'm a Packers fan", honestly half of these faf's I didn't even know liked football again lets be honest here!  Personally I know of two, dos Steelers fans; one would be my older brother and the other a neighbor who I love dearly....that's it folks.  Please let's cut out the bullshit!  I know people need something to believe in no matter what but it's called religion and not called being a fake ass fan.

In order to be a real fan you must deal with ups and downs for years!  My Redskins haven't been to a Super Bowl since 1992 which they won and I'm still a fan.  I was so young that I don't remember watching the game live, I've seen it on VHS tape...remember those...but I have no memory of the live game.  I'm still a die-hard fan and I'm blessed with my own personal Super Bowl twice a year...when we play those Cowboys!  I love my team, would die for my team but I don't live in a world of fantasy, the Redskins need tons more help before they can compete for another Super Bowl!  I don't wake up the start of every season and say hey, my skins are going to win the Super Bowl this year, that's asinine!  There are a fraction of fans in this world that are just lame, so lame that the start of every season until the end they think that their team are going to win it all every fucking year and they will fight you to the death to prove that their team will win and every time they set themselves up for defeat.  See these fans are worse than the fake ass fans, these fans are the delusional fans.  I debated one last week on facebook after my basketball team defeated theirs and this fan was so delusional that he completely ignored the many flaws of his team "and there are tons of them" and yet continued to bash my team blindly not even making much sense at times.  I'd bet everything I own that even after the defeat his team saw yesterday after shooting 3-24 from beyond the three point line which equates to 12.5% from a team that uses the three point shot as their primary weapon "are you laughing with me right now" that he would still tell me today that his team will win the NBA championship this year and finish better than my Miami Heat.  Say it with me....delusional!  To quote Bart Scott of the Jets, that team can't stop a nose bleed and you know who are!

When Lebron James stated this summer that he was taking his talents to South Beach, the arrival of new Heat fans began.  This is an extremely touchy topic for me because I bleed Miami Heat and I appreciate the love but I don't like fake love.  I'm not cool with these fake ass fans claiming the Heat like they'd gone through the playoff battles with the Knicks in the late 90's or gone through the dark ages after Alonzo Mourning went down do to illness.  You just got here YESTERDAY, please don't act like you've been a fan for years or that you know more about the Miami Heat than I do.  Eventually your love will be accepted but please don't mock the tradition of the Miami Heat and disrespect Heat dignitaries like Pat Riley, Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, or Udonis Haslem.  Learn Heat history; as much as I love Lebron, he didn't just walk onto the court and become the greatest player in Heat history, fuck no, he's not even the best player on the current team, Dwyane Wade is and the truth lies with the rings but both James and Wade are playing in the house that Alonzo Mourning built make no mistake about it.  These fake ass band wagon fans make me sick!

Despite enjoying the ups and despising the downs, the most important element in being a true fan is accepting the truth and most times that truth can be cold and hard.  Every team in each league can't be good all at the same time so there will be times when a team that you follow may be on the bottom of the standings, but the true fan will accept and appreciate the journey, still show their fandom by leaving the tag on their car or by still wearing team branded merchandise.  The true fan won't jump ship to the next best team or the hottest team in the league that year ditching their "old" team just for bragging rights.  The true fan will realize the true expectations of their team and not exaggerate them just to make themselves feel important or well liked amongst friends and finally the true fan, the real fan, the master of fandom will accept and cherish the orgasmic feeling of the win but also respect the growth that can be achieved from the loss.

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My Birthday Gift!

First I would like to thank all of my family and friends for the wonderful birthday wishes that I've received thus far today.  I can't even remember the last time I felt so good and loved on this day.  As you all know despite the fact that it's extremely sad, the NBA is my life so I decided that I need to ask the NBA for a birthday gift since over the years I have spent thousands of dollars on the NBA product i.e. jerseys, tickets, basketball cards, NBA League Pass, and yes a championship ring!  The question of the day is, What would Cam like as a gift from the NBA?  Hmmm a signed autographed photo of Tim Hardaway, Dwyane Wade, or Alonzo Mourning...got those.  Maybe rookie basketball cards of Alonzo Mourning, Tim Hardaway, Kobe Bryant, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson, or even Charles Barkley......wait, damn I have those too.  Omg I just had an epiphany!  The gift that I should ask for from the NBA is a time machine and since I'm old school not the hot tub time machine but the original time machine, I need the DeLorean!

Again I love the NBA but there have been some terrible wrongs that has happened to my favorite teams over the years that just destroyed their fan base.  I'm taking it upon myself to go back in time and right the wrongs of the past because justice needs to be served.  Lets go back to the beginning, the first NBA finals series where I understood everything that was going on 1993.  I had no idea of the years of pain that would follow.

Charles Barkley, the greatest power forward to ever live led the Dream Team in scoring while leading the US to a Gold Medal the summer before the season started and was traded from the Sixers to the Suns.  Barkley led the Suns to 62 wins and won the NBA's league MVP award and was arguably the second most popular player in the league behind Michael Jordan.  The Suns had the best record in the NBA that season and all of the momentum having been perfect against the Bulls during the season, the Bulls were the two time defending NBA Champions coming off a grueling 6 game playoff over the hated New York Knicks.  Six games later and until recently the highest rated NBA finals later, the Bulls got lucky, John Paxson converted a game winning three point shot off of a botched play by the Bulls to defeat the Suns by one point to win the series...WTF!  By going back in time I will stop Paxson from making the shot by swooping in with the DeLorean and kidnapping him as time expired, the Suns would have one won the game by 2 forcing a game 7 in Phoenix and most likely a Suns Championship.  



1996, three years after the 93 tragedy, Charles Barkley was traded to the Houston Rockets and it was my first year of high school and during this time I followed the Houston Rockets and the young Miami Heat which turned out to be a great year for both as they both made it to the conference finals.  I hated the Bulls as a kid so this was a great scenario, I had the Heat playing the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals with a chance to go to the NBA Finals and then I had the Rockets battling the Jazz in the Western Conference Finals.  My thought process was with the Rockets being older I was hoping they could pull off the championship first by defeating Utah and then going on to face Miami/Chicago with the intent that Miami would be my only team when Barkley then 32 would decide to retire.  Unfortunately, Miami lost to the Bulls in five games so Houston was who I had left and they were having an epic war with Utah, having lost the first two games in the series the Rockets stormed back and won the next two unfortunately Utah won game five of the series forcing a must win for the Rockets in game 6.  The score was 100-100 with about 4 seconds to go and then the unbelievable happened, John Stockton popped open off of an illegal screen by Karl Malone and converted a three point shot to win the game.  WTF x 2!  13 Years later this shot still haunts me because the dream of one of my two teams taking out the Bulls wasn't full filled.  When Stockton popped open for the shot I rose up out of my chair and then it went in, needless to say my house phone rung and rung and rung.  Ten minutes later I'm still standing there staring at the television in shock of what just happened and my father came home, put his hand on my shoulder and said "Better luck last year."  Father it took, ten years long years!  Using my time machine I would "accidentally" land on John Stockton between games five and six, Houston would have won game six, forced a game seven and defeated the Jazz to face the Bulls who wanted no part of the Rockets, can you say 2 NBA championships for Charles Barkley versus 0.

There was a pattern forming and that's why I need my DeLorean.  I understand I may need a new flux capacitor and 1.21 gigawatts of power but I can work that out with a nice thunderstorm lol.  Back to the Mission, during the 1999 NBA season, Charles Barkley was in his last full season and just as I had predicted years earlier, the Miami Heat were taking their place as one of the best teams in the league.  They entered that years playoffs with the best record in the Eastern Conference and I knew for sure that this would be the year I finally got that elusive Championship ring.  Enter the New York Knicks who were the eight seed and the Heats first round opponent.  These days the first round of the NBA was a five game series vs a seven game series like it is today and the rivalry between the two teams was a fierce one.  Long story short years earlier Pat Riley left the Knicks to coach the Heat and the two teams met in the playoffs the previous two years splitting the series.  Game five, in Miami, series tied two games a piece, Allan Houston sinks the shot of his career at the last second and pushed the Miami Heat into the period that I like to call the Dark Ages.  I was so devastated after the one point loss that I remember going to my girlfriends home and she did her best to cheer me up, "very fun times" but afterwards the pain of that shot stung again.  I would fire the DeLorean up and hover above the crowd and when Houston takes the shot I will flash my head lights in his eyes to make him miss, then I would swing by the now ex girl friends home and talk her into more "fun times" before traveling back to present day lol.

The tragic events of the past will be averted and The Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, and Miami Heat would all have 1 more championship and in the case of the Suns it would have been their first to date.  I need to right one more wrong and this one isn't personal, this one was criminal.  Game 6 of the 2010 NBA Finals, Celtics starting center Kendrick Perkins blew out his knee and had to miss game seven with the severe injury.  15 year veteran Rasheed Wallace was asked to start the game in place of Perkins so the Celtics could dethrone the Lakers.  At 36 he played 35 of 48 minutes, grabbed 8 rebound, blocked 2 shots and scored 11 points before his fouled out of the game while trying to stop a basketball by the Lakers in the finals minutes and there he laid for a few seconds which felt like minutes, battered and bruised, defeated, but knowing that on what would be the final night of his career he left it all on the court for the sake of the game.  It was courageous, sad, and poetic.  I once heard that it never ends well for professional athletes, endings like David Robinson, Jerome Bettis, or John Elway who all left champions doesn't happen often.  Rasheed's ending was the one most common but more majestic than ever.  With the DeLorean I would appear in the Staples Center, hover above the crowd and watch Rasheed's masterful performance again but I wouldn't interfere, the outcome would stay the same because it was a pleasure and privilege to see a great athlete give all he could until he could give no more.  That is why I love the game.  Warriors like Charles Barkley, Alonzo Mourning, and Rasheed Wallace inspired me in life and this is how I honor them.

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