Were The Heat Most Scrutinized Pro Sports Team Ever?

JonDMiller

JonDMiller

Publisher/Founder
Doris offered that one up interviewing the Heat coach after the game, saying The Heat were one of the most scrutinized teams in the history of professional sports.

Is that near the mark?

I guess if you substitute scrutiny for general dislike, perhaps. I don't recall too many teams that were as universally disliked or that as many fans who didn't have a dog in the fight rooted against as this year's Heat team.

The Yankees have their haters (I am one)..through my life as a sports fan, the Cowboys and Steelers were hated en mass, as were the Lakers and Celtics

But the reason for that dislike was because those organizations were the most successful for solid periods of time.

The Heat? They were hated before they did anything...well, I take it back...we had 'The Decision' last summer, and they as some people put it, The Heat held their own indoor championship-like dog and pony show before ever playing a game.

So...were they one of the most scrutinized teams in pro sports history (American)?
 
This is what happens when you have the decision, the celebration of the big 3 after that, and then ESPN driving the hype from the start of preseason camp. To answer your question, yes, I think they were, but most of it was their own doing.
 
JonDMiller said:
Doris offered that one up interviewing the Heat coach after the game, saying The Heat were one of the most scrutinized teams in the history of professional sports.

Is that near the mark?

I guess if you substitute scrutiny for general dislike, perhaps. I don't recall too many teams that were as universally disliked or that as many fans who didn't have a dog in the fight rooted against as this year's Heat team.

The Yankees have their haters (I am one)..through my life as a sports fan, the Cowboys and Steelers were hated en mass, as were the Lakers and Celtics

But the reason for that dislike was because those organizations were the most successful for solid periods of time.

The Heat? They were hated before they did anything...well, I take it back...we had 'The Decision' last summer, and they as some people put it, The Heat held their own indoor championship-like dog and pony show before ever playing a game.

So...were they one of the most scrutinized teams in pro sports history (American)?
Click to expand...


No. They're not the most scrutinized pro sports team ever.
 
If not them, I'm not sure who. ESPN devoted the "Heat Index" for covering them the entire season.

They brought it on themselves. The Decision, their preseason celebration, & and predicting 7 titles for themselves is asking for serious trouble.

Love them or hate them, they're great for the NBA. As Jon said, they give people without a dog in the show a reason to watch and root against them.
 
Scrutinized hardly seems like the proper word as I don't think a whole lot of people wanted to know about the inner workings of coach and players. I know part of scrutinizing something/somebody involves critical inspection. However, all of that inspection was surface only. If it went deeper it as usually just LBJ. The heat in general and LBJ in particular are very polarizing. While other teams have long gotten the ire of sport's fans I can't think of another team that got it so quickly. However, the Lakers going after title 4 early in this decade qualify in some way. Sure, many people already despised the Lakers for years of dominance, but things were made worse when they brought in two more HOF caliber players -and- Kobe had that while rape thing goin' on. That Lakers team may have had it worse in some ways and Kobe can relate to being everybody's villain like LeBron appears to be now.
 
I'm taking my talents to South Beach. Those words will haunt him his entire career. He made himself the villian.
 
I think the only equally scrutinized teams were the Dream Team and the '07 Patriots. The Dream Team is a wholly different element, so I won't count them. By the end of the year, the Patriots and their failure was more scrutinized, but it wasn't a start to finish thing the way the Heat were this year.
 
Also the 1947 Dodgers, with a rookie Jackie Robinson, were as scrutinized as was possible at the time. For obvious reasons, the situations aren't analogous, but the Dodgers felt the heat like no other team in their time.
 
Most scrutinized team ever? That seems kinda strong.

Just in recent memory, I think when the Patriots were going on their undefeated stretch they were more heavily scrutinized. A lot of people watch the NBA, but there were many more watching the NFL.

Staying within the same sport, I think the LA Lakers have been scrutinized pretty heavily since Kobe arrived. First it was all the Kobe-Shaq drama, and then it was all the post-Shaq drama. LA being a huge media market drives a lot of that scrutiny, but it is scrutiny nonetheless. It hasn't been as intense this year, since they were non-contenders, but it will fire up shortly again. Back in the Kobe-Shaq days, there would be stories about what happened in the locker room after a practice. The internet community was alive and well then too; I don't remember that level of scrutinty for a Heat practice -- but I suppose Wade and James get along better than Shaq and Kobe did.

Going back a bit further, I think the Bulls for the second three-peat were under huge amounts of scrutiny. They also certainly didn't have any love from either coast. Much of flyover country loved Jordan -- but Celts, Knicks and Laker fans absolutely despised those Bulls team.

During that 72-10 regular season run there were people saying they shouldn't drop a playoff game. In the season following, the expectations were even higher, if that can be believed. The difference between between them and the Heat, is that the Bulls delivered, so I think all of that pressure is forgotten -- whereas with the Heat all of that pressure seems like it may have had something to do with the outcome.
 
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You know, it wasn't really scrutiny. People weren't critiquing every move. They were watching and paying attention, but they weren't really breaking things down. If they were, they would have seen the holes in LaBron's game like Jon Barry did.

Instead, it was just, "can the two superstars co-exist?" So, I think it might be more fair to call them the most hyped team in history that didn't end up winning the NC. They are the pro version of the flop-five.

Now, will they be appropriately scrutinized this off-season? Only if the media gets WAY better at actual analysis. I won't hold my breath for that.
 
CAARHawk said:
You know, it wasn't really scrutiny. People weren't critiquing every move. They were watching and paying attention, but they weren't really breaking things down. If they were, they would have seen the holes in LaBron's game like Jon Barry did.

Instead, it was just, "can the two superstars co-exist?" So, I think it might be more fair to call them the most hyped team in history that didn't end up winning the NC. They are the pro version of the flop-five.

Now, will they be appropriately scrutinized this off-season? Only if the media gets WAY better at actual analysis. I won't hold my breath for that.
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This is ridiculous. Of course they were, when they started off 9-8, everyone wanted Spoelstra fired or Bosh traded. LeBron took more criticism for coming up short in meaningless regular season games than any player before. ESPN had a whole section on their website breaking down every game. Zach Lowe wrote more about the Heat than any other team this season. To say they weren't scrutinized is just ignorant.
 
The Bulls in the 90's were like the Beatles when they rolled into town,especially the 96-98 version. It was a positive attention,really,versus what the Heat brought.

But no doubt,they are in the top 2-3 if not #1 in terms of sheer tonnage of media/press attention. Stern cannot be displeased with the way the NBA pushed into the spotlight from last June til now....as they say,no such thing as bad publicity.

I think it will now recede with the looming lockout really coming at a horrible time for the league,and with the ''blush'' off the bloom that is the new girl(Heat) in town. They still will be favorites in the East,but one of a handful that can win next year,including the Lakers,Mavs,Bulls,Thunder, and maybe even the Celts.
 
I couldn't agree more. That is what I don't understand about America's hatred for Lebron. He took the free agency route like thousands of others have over the course of time. Sure how he did it was rediculous, but the fact is it was a glorified free agency move and had it not been for the way he went about it (keeping his ego in check) then I'm not so sure it would have been a big deal. But I'm sure because he is one of the top players in the league, as stated previously, someone would find a way/reason to villify him.
 
His ego is exactly why people hate him and exactly why he is vilified. He absolutely had the right to exercise his free agency and play for Miami. People would have called him a coward (which is true, but beside the point), but they would have gotten over it. He chose to make himself a spectacle and claim victory before they had a practice, and this is what he gets.

And yes Lebron I am a hater and I have moved on with my life. Watching you lose last night made me really happy, but not as happy as watching my kid at swimming lessons this morning.
 
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