NBA

Heat Release Statement On Dwyane Wade’s Suspension In Apparent Attempt To Make Everyone Hate Them

So you know Dwyane Wade kicked a guy in the groin, and you know he got suspended for it. Perhaps you were pleasantly surprised by this message sent from the NBA that even a superstar can’t get away with a groin kick. Or perhaps you were unpleasantly surprised with the league’s decision, as the Heat franchise seems to have been. And they weren’t going to rest until we all knew it. They released a statement on the matter, which reads:

“While we accept the decision of the NBA regarding Dwyane Wade, we do not agree with it. In his 10 years in the league, Dwyane has never been suspended, and has been an exemplary player and positive influence to his teammates and fans and we have been honored to have him as part of the Miami Heat family.

Unfortunately, he is the type of player, along with other players on our roster, that defenses take privileges with. We stand with Dwyane and support him in this situation and have made our feelings known to the league office.”

No one would expect the Heat to come out and say they agreed with the NBA suspending one of their best players. But it was they did it – specifically the “privileges” line – that got some people real riled up. A sampling of the reaction:

LEBRON HASN’T FOULED ANYONE SINCE 1964 RT @windhorstespn Heat issued a statement complaining how star players have been treated by officials

— Myles Brown (@mdotbrown) December 28, 2012

These can’t be real words. “@windhorstespn: Heat issued a statement complaining how star players have been treated by officials”

— John Dorn (@JSDorn6) December 28, 2012

The part of the Heat statement saying Wade is the type of player defenses “take privileges with” is hilariously self-serving.

— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) December 28, 2012

Heat issued a statement complaining how star players are treated by officials? Oh Lord, is THAT f**king rich?!?!

— Kirk (@WFNYKirk) December 28, 2012

It’s like everyone’s least favorite Heat fan wrote that press release. “We don’t think Wade should be suspended, AND the refs are cheating!”

— Nick NoHeart (@Nick_NoHeart) December 28, 2012

As for the guy whose original tweet led many to find out about the statement, Brian Windhorst…

It should be pointed out that the league has reviewed several Wade fouls in recent years & not taken further action.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) December 28, 2012

Also, LeBron James went through a 17-day span with no fouls called on him this month.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) December 28, 2012

I am just stating facts.

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) December 28, 2012

You get the idea. It’s like the Heat thought to themselves: “Hmm, people don’t seem to have as much fun hating us now that we won a title and LeBron’s less easy to rag on. We miss being the butt of everyone’s jokes. How can we get that feeling back?” Well, bingo. And we at SportsGrid fully support this kind of everyone-trolling by the Heat. Twitter is never more fun to follow than when large masses of people are all making fun of a deserving target at once, and the Heat’s statement gave us exactly that.

Hey, we enjoyed LeBron shutting doubters up as much as anyone, but sports needs villains to be at its most compelling. As long as the Heat don’t get too obvious with their trolling (releasing a statement protesting LeBron getting called for a foul when his foul-less streak ended would have crossed that line, we think), they’ll be a fun one.

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