Heat Shame (Beck)

Having your number retired by the team you led to its glory days is one of the greatest accomplishments in sports. It shows that you, as a player, stayed with that team long enough to contribute heavily over several seasons, that you did indeed contribute heavily to the success of that team over that span, and that you are respected enough by the organization to be enshrined forever in their rafters. In honor of your memory, your playing number is taken off the market, and if any incoming players think they deserve to use that number with that team, you have to give your permission.

And on March 30, 2009, Alonzo Mourning will be memorialized by the Miami Heat by raising his #33 to the American Airlines ceiling. There is no doubt that he deserves it: he was brought to the Heat in 1995 in a trade that sent Glen Rice to the Charlotte Hornets, as he was hitting the peak of his career. With the Hornets in 1994-1995, Mourning averaged 21.3 points per game, 9.9 rebounds per game, and 2.92 blocks per game. Over the next seven seasons, Mourning led the Miami Heat to six-straight postseason appearances and four division titles. He won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1999 and 2000 due to his famous shot-blocking abilities, and was named All-NBA First Team at center in 2000.

However, a rare kidney disease derailed his 2000-2001 campaign. He managed to play in the 2002 NBA All-Star Game, but when the disease worsened he miss the entirety of the 2002-2003 season. The Heat released him, but Mourning refused to retire, signing with New Jersey Nets. He was forced to halt that in December 2003, when he underwent a successful kidney transplant. He bounced around with the Nets and the Raptors until coming back home to the Miami Heat in 2005, and was an integral piece of Miami’s bench as they stormed to the 2006 NBA Championship behind Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal. Knee issues effectively ended his career, but not before he became the Heat’s all-time franchise leader in points scored during the 2007-2008 season.

Combining his personal statistical success with the Golden Years of the Miami Heat organization – before this current regime being led by the most-exciting player in the NBA, Dwyane Wade – and also with his epic comeback from a kidney transplant, plus his charitable foundation in Miami, Alonzo Mourning was a lock to be immortalized in South Florida. While his points record will inevitably be shattered by Wade, as long as he stays with the Heat beyond 2010, Mourning still brings a smile to every Heat fan’s face when they look back on the good times during the late-1990s and the early-2000s. There is not a single argument against why Mourning’s number should not be retired by the Heat, but I do take umbrage with the numbers that 33 will be joining in the arena.

#13 and #23, belonging to Dan Marino and Michael Jordan, respectively.

Excuse me . . . what?

The Miami Heat have retired Dan Marino’s number and Michael Jordan’s number? You have got to be kidding me. Dan Marino is undeniably a legend in Miami, becoming the most prolific-passer in the NFL with the Dolphins from 1983-1999, and taking the team to its last Super Bowl in 1985. Marino was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, in 2005. For Christ’s sake, he even starred in Jim Carrey’s breakthrough film Ace Ventura as himself! The guy is a celebrity without a doubt, but never, not once in his entire life, did he step onto the court for the Heat and play basketball!

And don’t get me started on Michael Jordan. The Greatest Player in the History of the Game of Basketball deserves to have his number retired league-wide like Jackie Robinson’s 42 was in the MLB since he transformed the game and made it the popular, globalized behemoth that it is today, but David Stern will never allow that to happen. Jordan was spectacular, and I’m not going to waste any space in this post listing off his many accomplishments in the NBA. The fact of the matter is that he never played with Heat, and more often than not was the single reason that they Heat, whenever they advanced into the playoffs, never got into the Finals. Jordan knocked off the Heat twice during Mourning’s tenure with the team, including a 3-game sweep in 1996 by the 72-10 Bulls. It made tons of sense when Jordan’s number was raised to the roof in Chicago’s United Center, but it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense when it’s raised in sunny Florida.

I thought about giving the Heat a break since they were an expansion franchise who played their first season in 1988, and haven’t really had the time to have enough players worthy of having their numbers retired. Mourning seems like a start, and the next in line, in my opinion, would have been Tim Hardaway, who was the point guard with Mourning during those successful years in Miami. That being said, Hardaway is a nasty homophobe, and his recent tirade regarding Jon Amaechi’s outing destroyed his own public image beyond repair.

Then again, with further due diligence, I found that five current-NBA teams do not have a single number retired: the Charlotte Bobcats, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Toronto Raptors. Let’s look at this list, starting at the top. The Bobcats were formed in 2004 as an expansion franchise following the Hornets’ move to New Orleans. They definitely haven’t had enough time to have any franchise players yet. The Clippers have been terrible since their inception in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves, moving to San Diego from 1978-1984 and playing the scrub little brother to the Lakers in LA since 1984. They haven’t been good enough, or kept players around long enough – Elton Brand, I’m looking at you – to have franchise players. The Grizzlies, originally formed in Vancouver in 1995, the same year their Canadian counterpart the Raptors came into the league, and neither has a franchise star yet (Chris Bosh, if he stays in Toronto, might be their first). Lastly, the Thunder moved to Oklahoma this year, and left behind all their franchise history in Seattle, so they’ve effectively started over. Beyond these five, the Orlando Magic have retired the #6 in a move to immortalize their fan base – the 6^th man – like the Seattle Seahawks did with #12, and the Minnesota Timberwolves retired Malik Sealy’s #2 following his tragic death.

The Heat would’ve been perfectly fine just waiting to retire Mourning and not embarrassing themselves with the other two numbers due to their “contributions,” whatever that means. No one argues that Marino’s number should have been retired by the Dolphins or Jordan’s with the Bulls, but the fact that the Heat took a number from someone who never even played the sport and the number from a player that consistently beat them in their own sport, is inexcusable. Have some pride! Until now, the Heat just looked desperate to have some banner hanging in their arena, but they were never deserved. They just hung some stuff up there to take up space. Have a little respect for yourself! Take down Marino and Jordan, put Mourning up, and start over with a clean slate, knowing that, this time, the number you’ve commemorated makes sense.

Bravo Alonzo Mourning, and it will only be a matter of time before Dwyane Wade’s #3 joins you at the top of the American Airlines Center. Maybe you’ll receive your highest prize from the Miami Heat in the same year that Wade takes home the MVP.

I can only hope.

- Beck