Hating on the Heat

So according to a recent ESPN poll, LeBron is currently the most hated athlete in sports. Then, this week Dwayne Wade made no friends by comparing a possible Heat losing streak to the World Trade Center attacks. Add this with the negative public backlash to LeBron's "The Decision", and you have a Miami Heat team that has become very easy to hate for the average fan. Let's just say outside of Miami, these guys are not going to be very popular.

So now, we have to ask, what should the Heat do now that they're possibly the most hated professional sports team in America (next to the Yankees of course). They could try to get some good publicity, do some commercials, some charity work, and maybe gain some good karma back.

OR...they could go the complete opposite way. Become the bad guys of the league. Sort of like how professional wrestling has their bad guys that fans love to hate, the Heat could be the heels of the NBA. This gimmick works remarkably well for professional wrestling. Fans love to have someone to hate. Across the country, people will show up to boo the Heat. This would be great for business. This is the route I recommend for LeBron, Wade, and Chris Bosh (I also would have recommended this plan for Tiger by the way). Here's what I would encourage the Heat to do this year to become the most popular bad guys since the NWO.

- Act as arrogant as possible in every interview all season. Every player should refer to himself and the team in the 3rd person. For instance, Wade could answer a question like this, "All Dwayne Wade has to do is continue to be the great player that he is, and everything will be fine." LeBron could answer questions about the team's success like, "The Miami Heat will undoubtedly win the NBA championship this year." They can start predicting the margin of victory for upcoming games just like Muhammad Ali used to predict the round he would knock out his next opponent. Basically, use every public appearance as a way to upset as many people as possible. LeBron got this off to a good start by constantly referring to himself in the 3rd person throughout "The Decision".

- Insult every city and its fans on every road trip. Complain about how boring Milwaukee is. Talk about all the rednecks in Indiana. Comment on how all New Yorkers smell bad. This can get especially entertaining when LeBron complains about how boring Cleveland is and Bosh makes fun of all of Canada.

- They should show up for all games wear all black suits and sunglasses. Keep the sunglasses on as long as possible, through warm-ups if at all possible. This is a common way wrestlers and bad guys in movies show off how bad they are. Carrying this a step further, LeBron should wear a crown to every game to reinforce his "King" James image.

- Instead of the dance music most NBA teams use as entrance music during introductions, the Heat should pick hard rock or the most offensive rap song possible for their entrance music. A choreographed dance or strut while entering to the chosen song would also be good.

- Irritate opposing fans as much as possible throughout the game. They should encourage the boos, prance after made shots, celebrate during timeouts. Actually, when winning during a game, they should ignore the other team's timeouts. Instead of going to the bench and pretending to listen to whatever pointless advice their coach is trying to give them, they should stay out on the floor during opposing timeouts. How irritating would it be to opposing fans, if their team calls a timeout to regroup and discuss strategy, and the Heat stay out on the court dancing or encouraging as many boos as possible. This would be wildly entertaining.

The Heat are going to be very good this year, let's just get that out of the way right now. But embracing the role of the bad guys would be the best move for everyone involved. It would be the most fun option for LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. I mean think about it. They could work really hard to regain some of their lost fans and get back into the public's good graces. Or, they could go out every night and do whatever they want and forget about looking like the good guys. The NBA would not discourage this at all because it would be good for business. People love to hate. The Bad Guy Heat would be the talk of the sports world. Sportscenter, Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, all of ESPN, and any other sports show would talk about the Heat, and therefore the NBA, every day. The Heat could make Bad Guy Heat t-shirts, bandannas, and all sorts of other stuff. Other teams would sell anti-Heat gear all the time. NBA publicity would be up, merchandise sales would be up, and everyone would have an opinion on the Bad Guy Heat. Their antics would be entertaining to watch, even to people who really don't have a big interest in basketball.

I'm also not against jumping the other team's best player before the game in the locker room and hitting him with a steel chair (well maybe that's a little too much like pro wrestling).