Adulation for and Celebration of the Miami Heat winning the 2012 NBA championship has been muted. Predictably.


Erik Spoelstra, the Haymitch of the Heat?
White folks are pretending that this NBA finals win is not the biggest in the history of the league. No one is supposed to talk about it for what is is: Three black males, with genius talent, accepted the challenge of walking through the gate called “free agency” without permission from massuh and making a run for what they thought the free colored man’s promised land. They did this while in the cross-hairs of marksmen perched in trees throughout the landscape and, still, brought their crops to market. Those were long odds that were not supposed to be beaten. Las Vegas odds makers sure didn’t have the Bosh/James/Wade combo standing at the end of these Hunger Games. White folks like their prey to have a sporting chance. Ya know, “tally-ho” and all that. But, when precisely handicapped competitors actually convert the sporting chance into an escape, these maniacal predators seethe and sulk. And, like all tyrants, they create a threatening atmosphere against celebrating anything they don’t like. Then, to design a field with that “sporting chawnce” (British accent) that is far less likely to yield more than the occasional amusing fluke, they have high-level semi-secret summits like: NBA season lock-outs, rules change committee meetings, and conversations that have no formal acknowledgement.
So, Heat fans, a repeat, let alone a “three-peat,” for the Miami ensemble is highly unlikely.
Sportscasters and writers are busy giving the Miami Heat Coach, Erik Spoelstra, his credit for winning the league championship this season. But, he deserves less credit than the Hunger Games’ negligent coach, Haymitch, for the triumph of Katniss. Spoelstra’s glaringly absent smiles during his team’s successes have become his trademark. This feature has been attributed by various sportscasters to his goal-focused disposition. But, I HIGHLY suspect that Spoelstra’s lack of apparent joy in the successes of the Heat is much simpler than that. I suspect that Spoelstra’s assigned role was to ensure that the Heat did not win. Spoelstra, with his white father and brown skin is quite eager in his anti-blackness, me thinks. And, therefore, the perfect pick to carry out this dicey assignment. But, I think he got “made” (spy-talk for “exposed”) sometime between the end of last season and this year’s finals. That’s when the players–certain players— started coaching themselves and Spoelstra probably had to stop withholding playing minutes for the best combos and to stop directing play in ways that neuter talent. It is poetic that legendary and very black Bill Russell, the only player-coach to win a championship since black players have been in the league, presented the Finals series MVP award to LeBron James last night. It was also fitting that Spoelstra felt compelled to say during the arena celebration last night that, “Everyone knows I’m a Manny Pacquiao fan.” Yeah, Mr. Spoelstra, everybody also knows that rabid Pacquiao fans are about as fond of Lebron James as they are of Floyd Mayweather.
Congratulations to Mr. James and to Mr. Wade and to Mr. Bosh. But, as John Carlos and Tommie Smith can tell you, it’s just beginning. So, always watch your accountants and call on the name of the Most High. (Geezus not being it—from the evidence.)
The whole purpose of The Hunger Games is to provide an entertaining, transparent submission. As, Haymitch told Katniss, “They’re not happy with you. You showed them up.”
Mr. Wade and Mr. Bosh, you might want ask Mr. James to borrow his copy of the book if he marked it up and a discussion or two might be in order if you haven’t already done that.
Best wishes, sirs, as you and yours breathe and make moves off the basketball court.






