Is the Heat hype dying down just a bit?

I recall chatting with Chris Bosh at all-star weekend in a rather quiet moment – the throngs were over bothering Dwight Howard about his future and Chris was been left pretty much alone.

We were talking about that very thing, how the Heat were, it seemed, close to “just another team” rather than a circus sideshow that they had become their first year together.

He liked it, of course, and figured that maybe all the hoopla was, in some good way, dying down.

It has. But only to a point.

The Heat pays its only visit of the season to Toronto tonight and they come in carrying much less baggage and intrigue than they did last season.

They are good, no question, but they don’t seem to be The Basketball Beatles any more. They attract crowds but not nutty ones; they are popular but not as loathed.

Guess that’s natural with the passage of time and the calming of emotions, but the one thing they’ve done to help ease thing is not do anything stupid; they’ve played – and played extremely well for most of the season – but they have pretty much just gone about the business of doing it.

It will be interesting to see the reaction they get tonight from the audience, which might be a full house but that’s not assured since a check of ticket availability Thursday afternoon showed all kinds still out there ready to be purchased for exorbitant prices.

I’m sure there will be a smattering of boos for Bosh (still contend he needs more cheers than boos for the seven years he gave the franchise; seven years where he was never really, truly surrounded by another star for long enough) and I’m sure there will be a smattering of cheers for LeBron (although certainly not to the disproportionate level of love shown, say, Kobe Bryant or Jeremy Lin).

But the overall sense I get, and it is perhaps because we haven’t over-hyped the game (I remember going to Indy a day before the Heat came here a year ago for the express purpose of seeing Chris), is that this is just another game, albeit one against a marquee opponent.

I could be proved wrong but there seems to be a lack of the venom which was free-flowing a season ago.

How they manipulated the system is still wrong and still rankles but it seems to rankle a little bit less.

Agree?

-

I am all about apps.

A week after the switch, I gotta tell you, I’m quite okay with this iPhone thingy.

Have learned to type using the pads of my thumbs rather than the nails (hello, autocorrect!), the speed is amazing and we’re good to go.

Apps time, people. I don’t play games, would rather have printed information that video and all suggestions gratefully accepted.

-

Mail?

I have no idea when our website got entirely back to normal – huge glitches yesterday – so I have no idea how many, if any, of you got to check things out yesterday.

But if you didn’t, I really need some mail and you can click here to send it.

Say hi, I don’t bite.

-

Brawl?

They call that TFC-Santos dust-up the other night a brawl?

I’ve been around a few bouts of fisticuffs in my day – I’ve seen flares lit in Greek arenas and machine gun-toting guards flanking fans for their safety, I remember a Canada-Brazil (I believe it was) tussle in Montreal where a chair might have flown, recall a minor Canada-New Zealand scrape in either London or Kitchener a few years back.

What’d they all have in common?

A lot of guys swinging while backing up and looking askance for teammates, coaches or police officers to come in and save the day.

Sure, it’s emotional and there’s lots of jawing and chatting and gesticulating but brawl? In the loosest form of the word, I guess.

-

So, how many of you looked at the giant jar of pennies somewhere on some counter in the house last night and thought:

“What the heck am I going to do with these now?”

-

With our website issues, not sure if you’ll be able to find Nothin’ But Net or all the stuff that goes with it. Suffice it to say, it deals with the surging San Antonio Spurs, mainly, and how you cannot discount them as a legitimate championship contender.

But it also includes a very good Dwane Casey line that came from when we were talking about the Heat and how you go about playing them.

“Make sure you go to mass in the morning, that’s the key.”

-

This one caught me entirely by surprise yesterday.

The NBL Canada has lost its commissioner – John Kennedy has to step down after this weekend’s all-star weekend in Halifax due to a “family emergency.”

That’s a tough blow to the league – and I don’t know what the private family emergency is but I hope it’s not too too serious because John’s a good guy who helped me a lot this season – and the next hire is even more important.

A lot of groundwork went into getting ready for this huge off-season when sponsorship deals have to be put in place, expansion needs to be discussed and some franchises need to be guided through tough markets.

One of the problems leading into the first season was the short time some teams had to make deals; they need the entirety of this season to get ready for Year 2 and the board now has to act quickly – and get the right man – for the job.

Better polish my resume, eh?

(I keed, I keed)

 

Comments

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:

Don't know if you've had a chance to check out Griff's Q & A, but you got a mention - someone asked Griff about MLB following the NBA idea of putting corporate logos on uniforms. The reply? "I think the idea was that the Star's grunt, Doug Smith was going to buy space on jerseys to promoted his 24/7 blogs and mailbags."

Also, if you get a chance, check out his reply to a Geddy Lee question!

[Hope Caper]

I agree on Bosh Doug, absolutely carried the team with little thanks other than his checque of course. As James, Wade and he demsontrated that while making coin is important so is winning. I wish him all the best. As for the iphone I'm happy with the "T" phone and so have no need for apps. Game should be fun to watch if our guys play with the grit they have been showing against tough opposition.

[Ray]

want more apps? iTorch4 is a great app (functions as a flashlight). urbanspoon isn't bad either since you do a lot of travelling (helps you find restaurants nearby)