HEAT Love

http://-heat.tumblr.com/post/23450687555 

With so many fans abandoning hope of the Miami HEAT winning the Eastern Conference Finals after losing Game 5, one HEAT fan provides an important reminder of what loyal fans are all about.

HEAT fan @drzmorenachula blogged about her love for the Miami HEAT on Tumblr and was gracious enough to allow it to be re-posted here. Follow her if you're looking for a true HEAT fan on Twitter.

My Relationship With the HEAT...
My love for basketball began at an early age. I’ve always been friends with boys, and all the boys I hung out with at my young age were huge basketball fans. So all I remember seeing and hearing was about Jordan. Posters, video cassettes, playing in the court with them and all of them were mimicking him. And I quickly fell for the sport as well. I remember seeing Jordan’s fade away jumpers and it looking like poetry. Dunks made my heart skip a beat. Vince Carter amazed me. Allen Iverson driving through the competition breaking ankles was the most beautiful thing ever!! I LOVE BASKETBALL! And I’m too young to really enjoy the Jordan era, and in my house sports watching wasn’t big, so for me the real enjoyment in following playoffs started in the 2000’s when I had my own TV.

The Heat was always around. I remember hearing of them in my early childhood. I would talk to other boys, and sometimes the Heat would come up, and they would tell me how they were no good, not to even look at them. And as most young minded girls, I instead looked at the popular guy, and that’s when Kobe came out. I fell for his stats, all the hype of him, how we was going to be the next Jordan, and I believed all that sweet talk. I was in love with him; I defended all the bad things they would say about him. How he was an asshole, and a ball hog, and I always defended him, like the typical girl who is in love with a bad boy does. I also grew to care a lot for his best friend Shaq. Something about Shaq grew on me while dealing with Kobe, and I began to be more friends with Shaq. Eventually things came to light and I started seeing Kobe for who he really was, and slowly my love began to turn into hate… there’s a thin line they say.

So during my break of basketball one summer in 2003, I was in NY. I was finally getting over my sour relationship with Kobe, when the Heat began to pull my interest. In June 2003, they courted me with flowers as they acquired Dwyane Wade. I remember a guy friend of mine say, “With Dwyane Wade, Miami will go far.” I beamed, and something in my heart began to swell. For them to get something so beautiful, meant that they cared and really wanted me as a fan. So I began to follow, and they began to grow with me. In 2004, they acquired one of the people I cared about from the Lakers, and that was Shaq. I was the happiest girl. Every season I would be hopeful of a great year. Wade was so amazing… and having Shaq with us made the Heat even sweeter. Finally in 2006, after such an amazing playoff series, I fell in love. The night we won, is a night I could NEVER forget. It was like saying ‘I love you’ for the first time. I was irrevocably in love with the Heat, and I knew it was going to be a love that will never end.

After that, the relationship went through little speed bumps. Shaq left. Wade being hurt and out, but when he came back, he did amazing things that kept my love and flame alive. Finally, after seeing my loyalty and dedication to our love, in 2010 the Heat bought me a promise ring, and they brought LeBron James. And because the Heat knows how much I loved their funny and silly side (Shaq), they brought Chris Bosh as well. With this ring they promised me that they were going to be loyal to me as a fan and when ready give me the real ring I deserve. I was soooo happy!!! This showed me that my team was the best team ever! And that they were working on being the best team for me. Since the promise ring, we’ve had some issues. Last year we had a couple of issues, we lost a Finals that devastated both of us to the point that we both needed to take a break. And during our small break up (the lockout) the Heat became a better team, and my love for them only grew even more. As they say, you don’t know what you have until you lose it. Oh, we both grew with love and appreciation for each other.

This year has been great, but we’re going through rough patches. And although so many people want me to break up with them, and they talk shit about them, and they tell me they’re no good, and want to call me stupid for my love for them, I will never give up because I love hard, and I love for real. And after everything they have done so far to make this relationship work, I will not leave them because of their small flaws. WE ALL HAVE FLAWS. And in life we slowly learn how to overcome them, or work around them. And I know the Heat care; I know their heart is in the right place. So I’m not going to stop loving them, or lose faith in them. I am only going to love them harder. And I will be right by their side until they give me that ring that they promised. That’s what loyalty is all about, and I know when someone loves you, they reward your loyalty.

Win or Lose tonight, I will always love you!!