Villains

I'm pretty much to blame for the fact that the Miami Heat are in the NBA finals.

Well, they were probably going to win the next game had they lost tonight, but... I am the reason why they're in the Finals so soon. I turned on the game with 3 minutes left to go, Chicago 77 Miami 65. They then went on a ridiculous 18-3 run to close out the game and win the series.

Uhh, sorry about that.

I was listening to the radio on the way back from work today, and someone was arguing that the fact that the Heat are doing well is actually for the good of the NBA, that the fact that they so greatly fit the part of villains gives reason for everyone to turn in to see if anyone can topple them. And if no one can, then people will keep turning in until someone finally does. I kind of get that reasoning, but I don't think it's true. Or at least it's not true depending on how you prefer your villains.

Listen, in terms of the most hated teams, the Patriots are my favorite--to the point where I kind of cheer for them in the playoffs a lot (especially since they match up with the Colts a lot... and I kind of dislike the Colts). And really, if you wanted to create an easily hated team that makes your league overall better, I couldn't think of a better formula than the Patriots. Cause this is what everyone dislikes about them: they have a grumpy, misanthropic jackoff of a coach, a pretty-boy QB who everyone overrates because he always wins... and there's a lot of evidence that they cheat a whole hell of a lot.

But the reason why they're such a great villain is that the whole organization is completely brilliant. They've been able to piece together championship teams from athletes considered to be minor role players, they've gotten more value out of the draft than perhaps anyone else has, and they've out-gameplanned and out-maneuvered every single team in the league. And they've done this in a league which values an even playing field moreso than any other league--they've essentially gamed the system.

So essentially, you hate them, but respect them for being the evil geniuses that they are.

On the flipside, you could have a team so hated and so powerful, that beating them entails becoming just as evil as them. Which is what the Yankees are to me. See, baseball's popularity is probably 2nd only to the NFL's and I think is getting stronger every year, so it's not as if the Yankees' constant presence is causing a lot of attendance problems or anything (personally, I really only pay attention to the Twins nowadays, which I think is due to largely the Yankees and Red Sox and Phillies trying to outspend their way to the top (and now that the Twins' payroll is getting up there, I feel less invested in them as well)), but you have a clean-shaven team that has an astronomical payroll, takes your favorite player away from you, and expect to win the championship every single year. To me, it's boring.

I guess it sort of annoys me that the model of success in the MLB is to outspend your competition. I mean, sure, you're going to get your success stories like the Indians with their minuscule payrolls contending for best in the league, but while they might put up a fight for a championship this year, it's not going to be sustainable unless you start doling out cash.

And I mean, it's not like the Yankees and the Red Sox win every year out (the Premier League in England would drive me nuts, for example, since it's the same 3 teams contending every year), but they are always consistently contending and will always have an advantage over 90% of the league. The Patriots will have a shelf life--once Belichick leaves or loses his mind, or even when Brady declines in ability, they're not going to be the same. But the Yankees are a constant. They're not going to go away, they're always going to win, and the Twins will always get swept by them.

Essentially, it seems to me like some form of a backwards comic book--sometimes a good guy comes along and wins a battle or two, but the bad guys will win out in the end.

Anyway, this is a long way to arrive at a point (I'm writing this in a library killing time while I wait to pick up Sara/go back to work), but I'm expecting that the Heat are about to fall into the Yankees mold of villains, in that they become so powerful and deadly that they create an environment where the only way to win is through the Heat method. It's already happened, too... Carmelo Anthony demanded to be traded to essentially only the Knicks because it would be easier to attract more star players to play with him (like a Chris Paul). Hell, there's speculation that Dwight Howard is clamoring to get out of Orlando in order to play for the Lakers, who have only won 5 out of the last 10 titles.

And if this continues, there's only going to be 6 or so teams that actually matter out of a 30 team league. And with a league that's so reliant on superstars, that'd be killer for the rest of the league... and the best result a team like the Timberwolves could strive for would be a 2nd round appearance (this assumes that the Timberwolves are going to be anything other than cellar dwellers for years, but still).

And I know that there's precedent for the NBA flourishing when they have great superpowers (Lakers and Celtics in the 80's, the Bulls in the 90's), and I really can't say much other than this feels different. (Also, Jordan was an absolute God. I hated the Bulls because they always won, but I always watched because you wanted to see if the greatest ever to play the game could be toppled.)

Look, the Heat are probably good for the league. They make great villains. But they need to lose. I don't even really like Dirk and the Mavericks all that much, but he's been stellar so far this postseason, and it'd be nice to see him finally win one after years of toil, especially going up against the unstoppable bad guys of the league. This is sort of like a mashup of your classic story archetypes--a long-suffering, underachieving, aging hero steps up to the occasion to slay the fire-breathing dragon. The Heat win and it feels like another case of the rich taking from the poor and reaping the benefits. Which will then result in the Heat winning the next 3, until the Lakers and the Bulls and the Knicks stockpile their superstars culled from other teams in order to take them out. And again, that seems boring.

That said, though...

That comeback was amazingly impressive.