Are the Miami Heat Frauds or Cowards?
The Miami Heat had a big dust-up on their bench on Wednesday night during a loss to the Golden State Warriors. If you missed the game and tuned into the Heat's local broadcast for the postgame, you would never know this because they acted like it did not happen. This editorial decision was made by the team, not anyone at Bally Sports Sun. Via the Miami Herald:
Lorrie-Ann Diaz, Heat vice president of business communications and social responsibility, said “it was our decision not to air the incident, which is consistent with past practice, not Bally’s.”
Bally's did show the postgame press conferences of Erik Spoelstra and Kyle Lowry, but if you caught any of the comments from anyone involved with the Heat after the game, you wouldn't think anything out of the ordinary happened. Teammates have disagreements, the team didn't know where they were going to dinner. No big deal.
So why couldn't their broadcast partner show the incident if the people involved repeatedly told us that there was nothing to see here? Does Bally's not employ anyone the Heat trust with properly conveying how threats of violence between teammates is the ultimate example of Heat Culture?
It's kind of surprising in 2022 where you can't really hide this stuff. It's not a great endorsement of the local broadcast if you're better off going to ESPN to see Brian Windhorst laughing as hereports every detail of the incident. And it has to be the most glaring example of local sports broadcasts being state-run TV.
If the Heat don't beat the New York Knicks tonight, will Bally's be allowed to talk about it? Will highlights only include the shots that went in? Will they mention the skirmish on the pregame show? Is it fair to cover how the team has dealt with the incident, which we were told was completely normal, or is it business as usual?
That's up to the Heat. A team that has lost two straight and four of seven as their hold on the top seed in the East has started to slip. Will a win against the Knicks at home mean much at all? Will a win against the lowly Knicks be evidence that they're turning things around like Or are the Heat starting to look a little like frauds as the playoffs approach. Or are they too afraid to talk about it? Recent evidence may suggest both are true.