It's been two weeks since the worst day of my life and so I think I'm ready to write about it. We'll see how this goes...
On Thursday, December 22 2011, I woke up expecting a pretty low-key day at work. Instead I got one of the biggest nightmares any expecting parent could imagine.
My wife was 38 weeks into her pregnancy. For those not in the know - that's in the "can go any minute" zone. Due dates are 40 weeks for reference. On Wednesday (12/21) - Amy got a perfect report from the doctor: Heart-rate was perfect; fluid was perfect. They talked about possible induction dates. That night (Wed) - Amy mentioned that she hadn't felt the baby move that much during the night-time and was a little concerned. We thought the baby was just sleeping. On Thursday morning she still hadn't felt the baby move that much so we went to the doctor's office for peace of mind. The doctor wasn't in but the nurse mentioned she was working at the hospital so we went there. They brought Amy into a "triage room" and then brought me in a minute later... It's the scene we will remember forever - where doctors were searching for the heartbeat but couldn't find anything... We didn't understand. We were sure there was a mistake. We were wrecked and absolutely lost.
Our doctor came to us in tears with the "when am I going to wake up from this nightmare" look... She, too, had that look on her face a little...
For those that are reading this saying "that's gotta be the worse of it" - it was the worst from the shock perspective for sure ... but the worst day of my life wasn't close to over...
After we were told that the baby Amy was carrying for 38 weeks was no longer alive - we were told that Amy would have to deliver it - just as if it were alive... This process took about 13 hours. 13 hours of Amy in a hospital bed hooked up to machines feeling beyond lost and sad. 13 hours to ask ourselves every question you can think of... Amy described it like being a POW just waiting to be tortured. Her torture was obvious and the only thing that got us through was knowing that every step brought us closer to the nightmare being over.
Amy delivered the baby in an amazing and remarkably strong fashion. Looking at her go forward (and fight through that) is something I will never forget. In such a painful day at a horrible moment - my love for my wife actually grew seeing how brave and strong she was. We asked the sex; It was a girl (something we kept a surprise). The pain got more intense/more real after we knew that. Cause of "fetal demise" was determined a "cord accident" with the cord wrapped around our unborn daughters neck and legs extremely tightly. While rare - it's apparently a known cause for stillbirths throughout time and nothing technologically can prevent that.
We decided not to hold or look at her (or get any other visual details) as we didn't want any more visual scars for the rest of our lives. We cried. A lot.
Our Doctor was such a big part of us getting through the torture. We are convinced that while she has seen these cord accidents before, that it's never happened to any of her direct patients. She was supposed to go away with her family - but rescheduled it to make sure she was there for us that night. While leaving - she said "Guys - I will remember this day until I'm 80 years old." That was something that will stick with Amy and I for a while. What I'm also hoping will stick with us for a while are the facts that:
1) There is no one/thing to blame. Just bad luck
2) If we were to go back in time and do anything differently - there really is nothing we would do. Again - just bad luck.
So - that's the summary of our worst day ever. It still hasn't been two weeks - so I can't say we expect the pain to have eased much - and it hasn't. Our friends and family have been incredibly supportive - but it's a hard thing. There's nothing anyone can say, do, buy, etc. that will make us truly feel better. The only thing is time and experience I suppose.
We are so thankful for our absolutely amazing daughter, Alexa. Telling her was undoubtedly one of the hardest things I will do in my life. Amy and I are thankful for the love, support, and bond we have for one another. We are determined in the long-run to not let this horrible occurrence define our lives. This said - it's going to take some time to allow for that. We appreciate the support throughout our lives - but there's going to be a point when we will expect our family and friends to treat us the exact same they did before this happened. We are going to try and move forward as best as possible. Alexa mandates that we don't stay and sulk all day, every day - and we are determined to not let this effect her needs.
So - that's the worst day of my life. There will always be a scar in my heart - but I will not let the size of that scar overwhelm my family's life. I truly hope that this experience brings perspective to Amy and I that actually can enrich our appreciation for the great things in life and dissipate the nuisance of daily frustration as much as possible.
If you have any questions about this experience - feel free to reach out over time.
6/13/2011
2010-2011 NBA Season
The Dallas Mavericks are this years NBA Champs - and while I'm not happy about it - I respect it. They did everything a championship team should do and they were just the better team in June.
It's been a long few weeks - with a number of thoughts running through my head - so thought I'd just document them here:
I'm definitely bummed - but it's not like a feel slighted as a fan. My team just lost to a better team this series - and all I can hope for is that the pain they are feeling right now will drive them to win more in the future. These guys have PLENTY of basketball left in them - and so I'm approaching "the big 3" from marathon perspective and not sprint.
Let's Go Heat!
It's been a long few weeks - with a number of thoughts running through my head - so thought I'd just document them here:
- The Miami Heat are the villains of the NBA. I get it. I think the critisism is extreme - but again - I get it. The truth is that this entire season had zero upside for this team. They made it to the NBA finals - and everyone (especially the media) is saying "See - we were right - you failed". C'MON people! This team did such amazing things (um - including financially for the NBA and every other team) - so be glad that the Mavs won -- but slow your roll on the lack of greatness/accomplishment of this team. At the start of the play-offs - The Heat were not the hands-down favorite to win it all -- yet come The Finals -- suddenly they always had been..
- As an NBA fan - you cannot hate on Dirk. Period. Love to see him get a ring. Love that Cuban got a ring. Outside of "hating" Jason Terry right now -- I got respect for the Mavs team and organization - so respect due.
- This said - Lebron James sucks(?) Again - C'mon people. He didn't perform at Superstar status at the end and when it really counted. He's still an unbelievable NBA player and oh yea - only 26 years old. I actually think losing in this years' finals was better for his long-term career accomplishments. In 2004 - he was playing with house money. This year - I think he really tasted it - but it was taken by a team that wanted it more and executed much better. He will learn from it and again - I think the loss will sting and this will drive him.
- So - why did the Dallas win? Well - for starters they just exectuted better. Another part for me is that I saw the Heat just wore down. That's not an excuse that makes me feel better - again - Dallas won - period, however - this team was literally in play-off mode for pretty much the entire season. Every game they played was the other teams biggest game of the season... They had to justify their play to the questioning media after every single game. This is a team that was known for it's defense forcing contested shots - and in this finals series (even in the games they won) - Dallas had a plethora of open shots. I don't think a great defense all year forgets how to play -- I think mentally and physically drained teams are a crucial reason why defenses looked mediocre.
- Jim Carey did all the right things. SUPER-impressed at his post-season run. I think coaches are generally limited in their true impact in the NBA - but Dallas coaching staff did every single thing that they could to add their value. Match-up changes - Defensive sets - time-out control. I don't hate on Coach Spo - but I think he was out-coached in this series and hopefully he learns from it.
- Such a big deal was made of the fact that the Heat are D-Wade's team. So what? They are! Seems as if everyone (especially the media) are so obsessed with Lebron's legacy with total disregard for D-Wades. I suppose one positive to this finals series is that D.Wade was put back on the map (as I have always known he should be). This said - the Lebron legacy thing is so frustrating for me. It's like asking how the movie is going to end within the first 30 minutes. I get that it eats up air-time, but at some point it's just useless. Tom Cruise is crazy or Vin Diesel is is a horrible actor .... Do Americans really care when it comes to being entertained (or spending money). Absolutely not - and it's the same with Lebron and the NBA. Who sold more Nike Shoes - MJ or LBJ? Maybe that's a more appropriate question in 2011. Guy is a beast and perhaps people's expectation level of "greater than MJ" are the real issue rather than LBJ himself. So what - he's not a top 5 player of all time .... That's HIS inner demon - not ESPNs.
- To that note - assuming there is a season - who do you think are the 2011-2012 favorites to win the ring? Would anyone hate it if their team was favored every year? At some point it's annoying - but generally - I was able to watch over 100 games of Lebron James and Dwyane Wade do amazing things and I look forward to that continuing. I don't think anything gets blown up on this team minus some supporting cast help and I'm OK with this.
I'm definitely bummed - but it's not like a feel slighted as a fan. My team just lost to a better team this series - and all I can hope for is that the pain they are feeling right now will drive them to win more in the future. These guys have PLENTY of basketball left in them - and so I'm approaching "the big 3" from marathon perspective and not sprint.
Let's Go Heat!
1/10/2011
Appoinment TV (Sorry Honey!)
Everyone knows I'm a die-hard Heat fan.
When Lebron made "his decision," I was torn about it. While I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the Heat being the favorite/villain -- I was looking forward to the opportunity to watching the team play. For my birthday, my father-in-law bought me the NBA package. When this happened, I expected to catch many of the games - but I was never one of those guys that revolved my schedule around NBA regular season games. For NFL football - ok - there are only 16 games that happen at the same time each week - but there are 82 games in the NBA - no way that's reasonable....
This said - over the last 21 games, "my Heat" have only lost only once - and I think I've caught 18 of those games. Last night, I was riveted by a true overtime show in Portland ... I don't remember the last time I'd stay up way past my bedtime to catch a west coast regular season game (and let me tell you - it was worth it!) .... Now I don't know when the next time is that I won't do stay up.....
Having Lebron and Wade on the same team is just an insane thing to watch as a fan of that team. They haven't totally shown just yet that they've got what it takes to win when it counts, but they've shown that they are worth the price of entertainment and then-some. Rooting for this team is definitely more fun than I thought it would be and I recommend the Heat as appointment TV for any fan of NBA basketball - it's unquestionably the best show in town any night they play.....
12/29/2010
Fantasy Football 2010
Quick update / documentation on my 2010 Fantasy Football season .... As many of you know - I take a great deal of pride in fantasy football - in particular - the league I have been commissioner for the past 13 years (The BigTime).
2010 was a remarkable all around year for my fantasy football efforts. I was in three leagues:
2010 was a remarkable all around year for my fantasy football efforts. I was in three leagues:
- The BigTime (I share the franchise with Colediggy)
- Funk Air (Wah-Nee league) (I share the franchise with BBBC)
- "Goodie League" (Goodie is the commissioner - I only joined last year because they needed another team and Colediggy/Salis owned one of the other franchises.
Anyway - In all three leagues - I made it to The Finals in every one! I am really proud of this and recognize that I sound like a complete geek - but I'm not ashamed to say it.
The end result: We won the Funk Air and lost the other two in the finals - but again - still very proud of the overall effort. I don't know if this will ever happen again which is one of the reasons I'm sharing on my blog... and ... here's a picture of Alexa and Daddy cheering on "The Commission" with T-shirts made by Tuna Glantz:
10/13/2010
Our Bed Bug Experience
In case you don't watch the news - Bed Bugs are a huge problem in the US right now (and particularly in NYC). We currently went through a few weeks of hell on the issue (a lot of which was self-imposed hell) and thought I'd share it with others to learn from ...
While I'm not allowed to write about why I called a company to come and check our apartment out for bed bugs, trust that it was a good reason. Also trust that the reason I called the specific exterminator was of sound thinking...
This said - here's what went down ... I called an exterminator to come to our apartment with a dog to come sniff for bed bugs. Before (and after) they came - we had looked and there were absolutely no signs of them - but again - I had good reason to call. The dog "alerted" at our bed. Not anywhere else in the apartment but in our living room. When I asked the guy who came with the dog a question or two - his response was literally "Dude - I don't know - I'm just a dog trainer. Call the company for a quote and plan of attack." Suffice it to say that both Amy and I were freaking out ... When I called the company - they said they gave me a ~$2,000 quote to treat our apartment and basically sent over a one page document of how to prep for treatment. Because we have a little baby - we obviously wanted the issue treated as soon as possible - and we somehow got them to find an opening for the end of that same week (4 days later). Before hearing about what needed to get done - I honestly thought it may take a day or two to prep and definitely never could have imagined the amount of work that needed to be done ... So ... that's what Amy and I did. We spent the next 72 hours putting all of our clothes in the dryer - folding them - putting them in bags closing them and putting them in our living room or bedroom. All of our daughters stuff. All of the stuff in our closets. EVERYTHING CLEANED AND PUT IN BAGS.
Amy then called a friend who went through this bed bug hell a few weeks earlier and told her what happened. Being more educated on the topic she said that the story sounded a little off and recommended that Amy call the exterminator she used for a "second opinion." They were scheduled to come a day before we had planned for treatment from the other company. When the other company came - the same thing happened - where the dog "alerted" at our bed but no where else. The difference was that the people with the dog looked to verify - and couldn't find anything. They said that we DEFINITELY went overboard with prepping our apt. and had we called them instead of the original sketchy exterminator - we would have saved ourselves hours of stress and work. It's fair to say that neither Amy nor I slept very well for those 2 weeks...
Because we had already prepped our apartment and the dog had alerted - it just made sense to do the treatment. We decided to not treat the whole apartment (avoiding chemicals with a baby in the house seems like smart parenting to me) but rather our bedroom only. This obviously was at a much lower cost - but more importantly - gave us much better piece of mind with what was going on. We got the treatment - and then gradually put all of our stuff back to where it belonged. It sounds minimal but trust that it's a huge time-suck.
Fast forward to earlier this week - and we are 100% bed bug free. They came out 2 weeks ago and pretty much said the same thing - but we needed earlier this week to be 100% sure. I can speak for myself by saying how relieved I was. The scary part is that apparently over 10% of NYC is infected with the epidemic - and so you have to be very careful everywhere: In cabs, public transportation, putting your bags down on the floor (at work for example) especially overnight, etc.
Based upon my experience above - here are my Top 5 Bed Bug related tips:
1) Before you assume you have bed bugs - look for the signs:
a) Blood spots on your sheets
b) Black marks (like a felt pen marking) on your mattress, etc
c) Bites - which usually come in a linear line in 3's - but can be single ones as well.
- If you don't show any signs - there probably isn't a huge rush to have someone come out. Dogs coming to your apartment can range from $100 - $350 - so it's definitely not cheap - but for me, personally, it was worth the piece of mind for the dogs to come.
2) Get a reference from exterminators and don't be scared to get a second opinion.
This business is like .com boom of 1999. Everyone (especially these companies) are trying to make money and they know that many people in NYC will pay whatever they need to in order to get rid of the problem. They have more business than they know what to do with - but - that doesn't mean that companies can treat people like crap. Make sure you feel comfortable with the company you are using to treat the problem and if you are someone who needs to be hand-held - make sure you find a company who can accommodate that.
3) If you rent - talk to your landlord about treating for bed bugs before making the treatment plans yourself.
4) Try not to let your mind think of the worst. (I should have listened to my own advice - but didn't)
Bed bugs are ENORMOUSLY mental. I can't tell you how many nights/days I wake up still feeling like something is crawling on me -- and -- nothing is or has! The truth is that while bed bugs are a huge pain in the ass - outside of the pain of the bites - they are not harmful. They don't carry disease. So - yes - the worst case scenarios are that you are inconvenienced - and while that is still mentally daunting - you have to try and put it all in perspective. This said - I recognize how horrific this issue is - and definitely stressed out majorly while it was going on. While I still freak out once in a while - I'm really trying to beat it mentally. I don't want this experience to change the way I live or think in my own home.
5) Learn how to limit your risk
Bed bugs are a problem and while there is nothing you can do to guarantee you'll never get them - there are some things you can do. For example, if you're staying at a hotel - leave your bag by the door as soon as you enter - and check out the mattress. If there are black dots on it - BOUNCE. When you travel, use a bag that can be put in the dryer. When you get home (outside your door), put all your clothes from the bag in a plastic bag then immediately put the bag in the dryer (Heat of 120 degrees+ for 20 minutes+ kills them). Then put the clothes from the bag in the dryer after. Buy mattress and box spring covers - they're expensive - but they limit places that the bed bugs can hide.
Again - just some thoughts for those that were interested. A horrible experience for sure - but definitely could have been worse and I'm so glad it's behind us.
While I'm not allowed to write about why I called a company to come and check our apartment out for bed bugs, trust that it was a good reason. Also trust that the reason I called the specific exterminator was of sound thinking...
This said - here's what went down ... I called an exterminator to come to our apartment with a dog to come sniff for bed bugs. Before (and after) they came - we had looked and there were absolutely no signs of them - but again - I had good reason to call. The dog "alerted" at our bed. Not anywhere else in the apartment but in our living room. When I asked the guy who came with the dog a question or two - his response was literally "Dude - I don't know - I'm just a dog trainer. Call the company for a quote and plan of attack." Suffice it to say that both Amy and I were freaking out ... When I called the company - they said they gave me a ~$2,000 quote to treat our apartment and basically sent over a one page document of how to prep for treatment. Because we have a little baby - we obviously wanted the issue treated as soon as possible - and we somehow got them to find an opening for the end of that same week (4 days later). Before hearing about what needed to get done - I honestly thought it may take a day or two to prep and definitely never could have imagined the amount of work that needed to be done ... So ... that's what Amy and I did. We spent the next 72 hours putting all of our clothes in the dryer - folding them - putting them in bags closing them and putting them in our living room or bedroom. All of our daughters stuff. All of the stuff in our closets. EVERYTHING CLEANED AND PUT IN BAGS.
Amy then called a friend who went through this bed bug hell a few weeks earlier and told her what happened. Being more educated on the topic she said that the story sounded a little off and recommended that Amy call the exterminator she used for a "second opinion." They were scheduled to come a day before we had planned for treatment from the other company. When the other company came - the same thing happened - where the dog "alerted" at our bed but no where else. The difference was that the people with the dog looked to verify - and couldn't find anything. They said that we DEFINITELY went overboard with prepping our apt. and had we called them instead of the original sketchy exterminator - we would have saved ourselves hours of stress and work. It's fair to say that neither Amy nor I slept very well for those 2 weeks...
Because we had already prepped our apartment and the dog had alerted - it just made sense to do the treatment. We decided to not treat the whole apartment (avoiding chemicals with a baby in the house seems like smart parenting to me) but rather our bedroom only. This obviously was at a much lower cost - but more importantly - gave us much better piece of mind with what was going on. We got the treatment - and then gradually put all of our stuff back to where it belonged. It sounds minimal but trust that it's a huge time-suck.
Fast forward to earlier this week - and we are 100% bed bug free. They came out 2 weeks ago and pretty much said the same thing - but we needed earlier this week to be 100% sure. I can speak for myself by saying how relieved I was. The scary part is that apparently over 10% of NYC is infected with the epidemic - and so you have to be very careful everywhere: In cabs, public transportation, putting your bags down on the floor (at work for example) especially overnight, etc.
Based upon my experience above - here are my Top 5 Bed Bug related tips:
1) Before you assume you have bed bugs - look for the signs:
a) Blood spots on your sheets
b) Black marks (like a felt pen marking) on your mattress, etc
c) Bites - which usually come in a linear line in 3's - but can be single ones as well.
- If you don't show any signs - there probably isn't a huge rush to have someone come out. Dogs coming to your apartment can range from $100 - $350 - so it's definitely not cheap - but for me, personally, it was worth the piece of mind for the dogs to come.
2) Get a reference from exterminators and don't be scared to get a second opinion.
This business is like .com boom of 1999. Everyone (especially these companies) are trying to make money and they know that many people in NYC will pay whatever they need to in order to get rid of the problem. They have more business than they know what to do with - but - that doesn't mean that companies can treat people like crap. Make sure you feel comfortable with the company you are using to treat the problem and if you are someone who needs to be hand-held - make sure you find a company who can accommodate that.
3) If you rent - talk to your landlord about treating for bed bugs before making the treatment plans yourself.
4) Try not to let your mind think of the worst. (I should have listened to my own advice - but didn't)
Bed bugs are ENORMOUSLY mental. I can't tell you how many nights/days I wake up still feeling like something is crawling on me -- and -- nothing is or has! The truth is that while bed bugs are a huge pain in the ass - outside of the pain of the bites - they are not harmful. They don't carry disease. So - yes - the worst case scenarios are that you are inconvenienced - and while that is still mentally daunting - you have to try and put it all in perspective. This said - I recognize how horrific this issue is - and definitely stressed out majorly while it was going on. While I still freak out once in a while - I'm really trying to beat it mentally. I don't want this experience to change the way I live or think in my own home.
5) Learn how to limit your risk
Bed bugs are a problem and while there is nothing you can do to guarantee you'll never get them - there are some things you can do. For example, if you're staying at a hotel - leave your bag by the door as soon as you enter - and check out the mattress. If there are black dots on it - BOUNCE. When you travel, use a bag that can be put in the dryer. When you get home (outside your door), put all your clothes from the bag in a plastic bag then immediately put the bag in the dryer (Heat of 120 degrees+ for 20 minutes+ kills them). Then put the clothes from the bag in the dryer after. Buy mattress and box spring covers - they're expensive - but they limit places that the bed bugs can hide.
Again - just some thoughts for those that were interested. A horrible experience for sure - but definitely could have been worse and I'm so glad it's behind us.
8/13/2010
My Disdain for a Specific Type of Reality TV
I'm not a frosty old man (yet). While I may not know what the current "hot spots" around town are - I'm not completely out of the loop (yet). I may not be familiar with all of the artists who compromise the top 10 songs on iTunes - but I know and download most of them (today). Bottom-line - this isn't a post about why I'm old or why "kids these days" are _____ (insert your frosty comment here).
This said - I CANNOT stand the current popular format of some reality TV. By "cannot stand," I truly mean that I get ill merely listening to the voices of these characters. It's the type of RealityTV that the Hills brought us... So ..Anything "Kardashian", anything "Housewives of," "Bethany Getting Married," etc. Really - anything that's premise is: Here is a train wreck of a person or people - let's follow their lives, have some forced drama around ridiculous things, and make these people think they are the class of America.
While I can bucket Jersey Shore into the description above - it also falls into the "let's put random people in the same living environment and see who hooks up, doesn't get along, etc. I don't watch the show (and don't know why literally 10X times more people watch that show than Mad Men), but the show doesn't make me physically sick if it's on in the same room as me... I can at least understand why people watch this kind of show...
Given that my wife works in the television biz, she likes being in the know of hit TV shows. She's DVR'd them in our bedroom - which means that before going to sleep she thinks it's a good time to watch them. I disagree. Those shows make my blood boil - so that's like saying - let's drink a case of red bull and then try to go to sleep ... My wife and I definitely do not have to agree on every TV show that will be on when we're together -- compromise is obviously needed. I try not to watch too many sports or poker shows with her in the room, (I definitely don't have anything UFC on, etc) and to me - this is really the only thing where I have a very low tolerance.
If given the choice of listening to 2 hours of Oprah or 15 minutes of hearing Chloe Kardashian pontificate on the BS that are forced plot lines for a reality show - I'm choosing Orprah every time!
While I really want to .... I can't judge people who watch the show because different people like different things ... I just don't want to watch or hear these kinds of shows, personally. Is that so wrong?
7/12/2010
The New-Look Miami Heat
If you're a friend of mine at all, you will know that I'm a rarity: An original Miami Heat fan. I can name the entire roster of the inaugural 1988-89 Miami Heat. It's been my favorite sports franchise of my lifetime - and 2006 was an extra special year for me (and not only because it was the year I asked my wife to marry me)....
It's unfortunate that everyone (myself included) has met their "Lebron" quota for a while -- but I wanted to take a second to document my thoughts of the new look Heat...
For starters, it's such a weird feeling for me. The Heat have NEVER been the true favorites in the NBA. They've been contenders and one-time champions ... but they've always casted a heavy shadow of doubt for it's fans... Regardless if the new trio works or not (and I'll get to my thoughts on that soon) - they will be the "NY Yankees of the NBA" for the next few years. The team that everyone outside of Heat fans will vigorously root against and frankly I'm not used to that with them or for almost any team (Michigan is like that in Football I suppose - but they've won one National Championship in the last 20 years ... so ... it's a little different and tempered for sure).
When D.Wade and Bosh announced earlier in the week - I was PUMPED. I never imagined that they'd be joined by the reigning MVP and so my brain is honestly still processing what just happened....
At first glance, how can I not be happy? Seriously! In watching every game of my favorite franchise, I will get to watch arguably the best and most exciting 2 players in the league - plus Chris Bosh who is arguably the best power forward in the league... I've read almost every writers opinion on why it won't work -- or what a jack-ass Lebron made of himself, but here are my top take-aways:
It's unfortunate that everyone (myself included) has met their "Lebron" quota for a while -- but I wanted to take a second to document my thoughts of the new look Heat...
For starters, it's such a weird feeling for me. The Heat have NEVER been the true favorites in the NBA. They've been contenders and one-time champions ... but they've always casted a heavy shadow of doubt for it's fans... Regardless if the new trio works or not (and I'll get to my thoughts on that soon) - they will be the "NY Yankees of the NBA" for the next few years. The team that everyone outside of Heat fans will vigorously root against and frankly I'm not used to that with them or for almost any team (Michigan is like that in Football I suppose - but they've won one National Championship in the last 20 years ... so ... it's a little different and tempered for sure).
When D.Wade and Bosh announced earlier in the week - I was PUMPED. I never imagined that they'd be joined by the reigning MVP and so my brain is honestly still processing what just happened....
At first glance, how can I not be happy? Seriously! In watching every game of my favorite franchise, I will get to watch arguably the best and most exciting 2 players in the league - plus Chris Bosh who is arguably the best power forward in the league... I've read almost every writers opinion on why it won't work -- or what a jack-ass Lebron made of himself, but here are my top take-aways:
- Anyone who says that "there won't be enough balls to go around" is making super-star generalization and doesn't know Lebron or Wade's game at all. Neither of them actually NEED to be 30 PPG guys. They are just a true superstar and realized that in order for their teams to win games - that's what they had to do. Season stat averages do not mean anything to either of these guys! They are arguably in the top 5 in the league in Basketball IQ - and I honestly think the number 1 reason why they decided to join forces was because they both enjoy "the right way" to play the game rather than the new-school 1:1 game -- and that's why they decided to join forces.
- Lebron wasn't happy in his old job. He loved it for a while, and then something last season just wasn't right and he wanted a change. I think I know 2 people who've worked at the same company for more than 10 years. Why is it any different for these guys?
- The way he announced was douchey and very un-Lebron. I think he was just naive rather than anything else. People are jumping on him aggressively for it - and that's fine - but the guy is 25... Let's settle down a little bit people...
- I'm so excited to watch these 3 guys play together - I can't even explain it - but for those that know me - this will resonate: I am more excited for The 2010-2011 Miami Heat than I have for 2010-2011 Fantasy Football. (Note: This doesn't mean that I'm any less excited for Fantasy Football - it is merely a barometer of my excitement).
- Three players can't win a championship on their own - but analysts are all enjoying the reasons why the Heat won't be that good a little too much. The Heat will find serviceable players. Pat Riley historically can find plenty of no-name role players (U. Haslem, B. Bowen, I. Austin, M. James, A. Carter, etc).... And this doesn't even include Mario Chalmers and Joel Anthony who WILL flourish with the 3 superstars!!
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