Dwyane Wade's (Heat)ed Comments Spark Major Controversy

Late Sunday evening, Fanhouse Senior NBA Writer, Tim Potvak, published a story on the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade.  In the story, which can be found here, Wade discusses the massive expectations being placed on his team now that both Chris Bosh and LeBron James have joined him in South Beach.

The story itself was nothing extraordinary except for this quote, which appeared near the end of the article, If we lose a couple in a row this season, it will be like the World Trade Center is coming down again."

Stop. Rewind. What?

Did he seriously just compare losing basketball games to the tragedy of 9/11? Tell me he didn't just do that because if he did, he just became one of the biggest douchebags of the year—hell, the decade!

Well, alas, Fanhouse came clean and alerted the disturbed public—which included this author—that the goof was not Wade's but their own and attributed the misquote of Wade to a "transcription error" by their editorial staff.

Phew, tragedy averted, right?...well, not exactly. The clarified quote is a touch less inflammatory but still leaves a somewhat bitter taste in your mouth:

"...there's going to be times when we lose 2-3 games in a row, and it seems like the world has crashed down. You all are going to make it seem like the World Trade is coming down again, but it's not going to be nothing but a couple basketball games."

Uh-huh.

See, here's the problem, I get what Wade was trying to say but it's still utterly insensitive to reference 9/11 when discussing something as unimportant as a "couple basketball games." 9/11 was one of the greatest tragedies to have ever taken place on American soil and there are plenty who live with the reality of those losses on a daily basis.

It's not a trivial reference to make and when it is made, there should be a lot more respect and sensitvity given to its importance.

I think the spectacle and the glamour of being a part of one of the most anticipated lineups of the 2010 NBA season has made Mr. Wade forget that he is just a basketball player, and the Miami Heat are just a basketball team.

They are no more important than the L.A. Lakers or the Boston Celtics—just prettier on paper.

It's impossible to know how much of a hit Wade's public persona will take as a result of this misguided statement but, one thing is certain, that match-up with the New York Knicks certainly got a little more interesting.