From Ye Olde Mail Bag

I see we have some post-NBA Finals reaction in the mail bag:

From: andrew
To: thecalvinator@hotmail.com
Subject: absurd blog entry
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 18:29:34 -0700 (PDT)

your [sic] words:

>As I said, I don't watch except for the finals.
>So despite living in South Florida, this
>is my first real look at this Heat team.
>My newest copy of SI has Dwayne Wade
>on the cover, and I'm told his is
>the best-selling jersey in the NBA.

>Let me say: I'm not impressed.

let [sic] me say this is some comical stuff..you admit you never saw the guy play and then you proceed to slam him after seeing him play the first two games of the finals. how [sic] rediculous [sic] does what you wrote look now? my [sic] advice to you, don't write about things you no [sic] nothing about. anyone [sic] who has watched wade over the past three seasons knew he was a special player.

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Dear Andrew,

I think you may be overestimating my importance a mite. Enjoy the win and relax a little bit. How sad it must be to be so bitter even in victory! But since you took the trouble to write....

I'm not the least bit embarassed by what I wrote. I've written many, many things to be embarassed about. That's not one of them.

Let's give this some thought. Why do you think I specifically mentioned that I hadn't watched Wade play? Think about that a minute: why would I have pointed that out? Indeed, that was the whole POINT of the post: Wade is a celebrated player, and yet showed nothing in Games 1 and 2 of the NBA's biggest showcase. Nobody who'd only seen him in those two games would have any idea what all the fuss was about, and considering it was the NBA Finals, there were millions of people watching in exactly that position.

I figured that "he was a special player," seeing as though he was on the cover of SI and all. Duh. If you're anything other than a dull literalist, you'll understand that the real point I was making was that "Dwyane [sic] Wade is not even close to playing up to his capability." After that, he began to play in a way far more consistent with his reputation, obviously. Of course I was more impressed in Games 3 through 6. Who wasn't? What, are you saying I should have been impressed with games 1 and 2? I don't think even Wade would say that.

And my larger point, namely that the comparisons with Jordan are inane, still stands. Show me any two consecutive games in the playoffs where Jordan didn't show anything. Show me two Finals games where he didn't show anything. Show me a time Jordan would ever have missed two crucial free throws in a huge game like Wade did at the end of Game 6, which have been forgotten only because Dallas missed a wide-open 3-point opportunity.

He's a nice player, and I was rooting for the Heat to win. I'm excited, and I think Wade has a great future. But my post was correct: Games 1 and 2 were an embarassment to him, and he's not in Jordan's universe. It's okay. He doesn't need to be. Nobody else is either. But Jordan never embarassed himself in big games, and if a Martian were to come to earth and randomly select from history one Jordan Finals performance to watch, he'd never find a game where he was wondering what the big deal was at the end of it.

That's the difference, and that's what I was saying. And I was (and am) right. As always.

Cheers,
John Rabe