This has to be one of the silliest stories of the year thus far. The Miami Heat loses a game they felt they should have won, and during his post-game press conference, Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said that some of his players were crying in the locker room after the loss. Judging by the reaction from the sports media, you’d have thought the Heat had just signed Charlie Sheen to a 10-day contract. Apparently, the idea of grown men crying is just a wee bit more than some of the he-man sports media could tolerate without frying a few synapses.
Personally, I find the idea that a few obscenely overpaid and pampered multimillionaire athletes might possess enough passion to take a loss hard to be rather refreshing…but that’s just me. Over the past couple days, I’ve listened to all manner of ex-jocks, from the erudite and well-spoken to the incoherent and barely lucid, opine over the appropriateness (or lack of same) of the Heat’s alleged lachrymose ways.
Coming up on Eyewitness News: The Miami Heat…girlie men, or just in touch with their feminine side?? We’ll talk to a local sports psychologist about this disturbing trend….
I suppose my reaction could be summed up in two words: “Who cares?” So what if a few players were crying? What could possibly be thought newsworthy about a few allegedly overly emotional basketball players? What DOES seems newsworthy is the sports media’s reaction, which had me wondering for a few moments if perhaps someone hadn’t found the Lindbergh baby in the Heat’s locker room. Of course, being a rather emotional person myself, I’m the last person who could credibly criticize anyone for crying. Still, I do have to think that yesterday must have been a horribly slow sports news day if crying was the lead story for so many jock news outlets.