I'm not usually one to rant about the blabberings of sports announcers during games, because most of what they say is irrelevant to the action on the field, or court, or rink, but I must call out the three-man TNT team of Doug Collins, Steve Kerr and Marv Albert, who must have done the game with their hands joined in tribute to Miami Heat star guard Dwyane Wade.
This happened last week with ABC's Al Michaels and Hubie Brown, too in regards to retiring Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller, but that was forgiveable because it was Miller's last game and you expected such fawning over.
But last night, it was hard to tell who was happier about Wade's "bounce back" performance (I lost count of how many times "bounce" and "back" were strung together by Tweedles Dee, Dee and Dum) of 40 points after a lousy Game 1 -- Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, Heat fans, Wade himself, or the TNT crew.
Right from the get go, you knew what you were in for with the microphone types. They pounded home the "great players bounce back from bad games" theme before the opening tip, and never let up. Wade's every move, every jump shot, every dunk, every pass, every bead of sweat was glorified. The Pistons played Washington Generals to the Heat; the only thing that was missing was the confetti-in-the-water-bucket trick.
Like I said, I normally don't get my shorts in a knot over such things, but the Dwyane Wade Love Fest was incessant. But the good news is maybe it's over. What will their Wade theme be next game? "Can Dwyane Wade match his great performance of Game 2"? Ugh. I hope not.
The only thing that rang true out of Wade's performance was my contention that if you contain Wade, you win. The Pistons did it in a Game 1 victory, and failed in a Game 2 loss. But of course, Collins, Kerr and Albert didn't say that, despite all their drum beating for Wade. It was all about how great of a game he had -- they treated an alley-oop dunk as if they'd never seen one before -- and not about the effects of his performance on the series.
Everyone has three days off before Game 3. Maybe enough time to debut "Dwyane Wade: The Movie" on TNT. Whaddya think?
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