http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/dan-le-batard/article88135197.html
Messy breakup is sad, traumatic ending to Wade’s epic Miami story
Dwyane Wade is the most beloved athlete South Florida has ever had, its greatest champion
Wade felt unwanted, underappreciated, and his relationship with Pat Riley was in tatters by the end
When asked how he was feeling after the Wade news broke, Riley texted: “SADDDDDDD!!!! SO saddddddd!”
So cruel sometimes, the emotions business.
Dwyane Wade leaves Miami now, all wrong, and the people who care deeply, too deeply, unreasonably deeply, will argue and yell about where the blame should go for that. It will be passionate and hurt and angry, but then that will exhaust itself, and you know what will take its place? Sadness. Deep, awful, empty, dark sadness that feels a lot like a sickness in the bones. Sports, man.
Heat fans. Pat Riley. Wade himself. They will all feel this sadness and mourn how they botched the ending, and they will remember the best times with nostalgia and stinging eyes, and it’ll leave them hollowed out like all of the best relationships fresh from breakup. Those were good times, man. So, so good. It might have been the right time for all of them to move on, given how they felt about each other at the end, but it can be hard to see clearly through the rage and grief and tears of the present. It was a really great and healthy relationship … right up until it wasn’t.
DWYANE WADE LEAVING MIAMI HEAT FOR CHICAGO BULLS
How mad and wounded and disrespected and taken for granted and distrustful must you feel to do what Wade just did?
To throw away your blessed relationship with a city and the only professional workplace you’ve ever known for an offer that wasn’t much better than Miami’s?
WADE’S LEGACY SHOULD BE SAFE IN MIAMI DESPITE UGLY ENDING
Wade is the most beloved athlete South Florida has ever had, its greatest champion. He brought Shaquille O’Neal his last championship as a center, and Riley his last championship as a coach. He owns more rings than the Dolphins. More rings than the Marlins. He helped bring his friend, LeBron James, to us, and created the most interesting team this city has ever known. His Hall-of-Fame résumé is soaked in sparkles and proves he is about as good at what he did as anyone has ever been at anything.
Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal celebrate the Miami Heat’s title in 2006. JARED LAZARUS / Miami Herald file
South Florida watched him grow up, from the kid who needed student-loan help for his kid’s diapers at Marquette to an international icon. Saw him get divorced, write a book about fatherhood, marry a Hollywood starlet, become a businessman. We saw him age before our eyes, from a baby-faced, fast-twitch acrobat who could get 25 free throws in an NBA Finals game to a savvy, slower killer who finished the last season Charlotte played.
BITTER ENDING BETWEEN WADE, HEAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED
This ending, though, it feels like watching your kid trip and fall off the graduation stage. Miami tried to keep him. But not enough for his liking, clearly, and not enough to mortgage its future to repay him for his past. Riley talks a lot about family, but the mafia is a family, too, and the godfather wasn’t going to handcuff his flexibility to do his job in the future by tying himself emotionally to an aging star whose percentages are all in decline. This wasn’t about money, rest assured. Chicago gave Wade approximately $47 million, but Miami’s $41.5 million final offer (all its remaining salary-cap space) was about the same once you throw in Florida’s lack of state income tax.
Wade felt unwanted, for whatever his reasons. Wade felt underappreciated, for whatever his reasons. That’ll all come out soon enough. His relationship with Riley was in tatters by the end, damaged by the way Wade’s allegiances always seemed to be to LeBron James. The Heat’s proud reputation as loyalty lifers takes a hit today as its prodigal son leaves behind all the warmth in his past for a cold Chicago. Ego and pride and willfulness and stubbornness — some of the things that helped make him a champion — also made him pack his bags and move out.
PHOTO GALLERY: DWYANE WADE'S HEAT CAREER IN PHOTOS
Riley was too raw to talk about it Wednesday night, but I asked him if he wanted to say anything about how he was feeling, and this is what he wrote by text:
“SADDDDDDD!!!! SO saddddddd! I will never forget the sixth game in Dallas in 2006. DW rebounded the ball, and threw it to the heavens and the Heat universe was perfect for that moment. Our first world championship. Our universe is not perfect today. It will be fraught with anger, judgment, blame instead of THANK YOU!!! Ten years ago. Ten years older. Ten years wiser. Ten years changed. All of us. Dwyane had a choice, and he made it. He went home. Bad, bad summer for us. But there will be another 10 years, and it will be someone or something else in 2026. Move on with no blood or tears. Just thanks. I truly loved Dwyane, but families grow, change and get on with another life. He will always be a part of us. ALWAYS! And no more bruises and enough fighting. Let’s just fly above it if we can and never forget. I feel his pain and pride for what pushed him over the ledge. Been there. Forever, for always, your coach I will be. FOREVER!”
I swear I take that shirt personal as fuck too. "Hell naaa, you were a ... Fan the last 5 yesrs, stay the fuck over there!!!"
