“When asked if Miami is the worst professional sports town, Barkley, who reiterated his admiration of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, said: “Yeah they have the worst fans. No question. It’s not even loud in there. You’re at the game and you are like, ‘Man this place isn’t even loud.’ At least when you go to Chicago, it’s loud in there, it’s crazy down in Dallas but it’s not even loud in Miami.”

“Listen, if the Miami Heat were playing the Washington Generals I would pick the Washington Generals,” Barkley said with a chuckle. “It’s something about that team that annoys me.

“They just a whiny bunch and I can’t root for them.”” (http://sports.espn.go.com)

Barkely never one to mince words makes very good points, last season the Miami Heat ranked 15^th in attendance out of 30 teams in the NBA.  While the Bulls and Mavericks were both in the top four #1 and #4 respectively.   This season the Bulls and Mavericks retained their same ranking, but the Miami Heat moved up to the #5 ranking in attendance.

That fact alone shows the “fair weather” nature of Miami fans, so of course they are not going to be passionate when they show up.  The influx of fans is attributed to a very simple concept, everyone wants to be associated with the fad team or who they think will win a title.  The loyalty from the fan base seems to dwindle every season, and the 2011 Miami Heat is a perfect example of people jumping on the bandwagon.  The first home game of the season against the Orlando Magic a fan paid $26,000 for two courtside seats to the game; Jack Nicholson does not even pay that much for his Lakers courtside tickets.

Then the fact that during the Chicago Bulls series when Barkley and his TNT colleagues were outside of the American Airlines Arena trying to do Inside the NBA Heat fans were obnoxious and belligerent.  These so called “fans” even started throwing things at Barkley on the set causing Barkley to make a few threats that he would defend himself.  Real fans don’t act this way, and they may give you a hard time for rooting for the other team, but there is a line that they won’t cross.  As a result TNT moved the show inside the American Airlines Arena because of the fans, this ruined an opportunity for fans to be able to get on TV and interact in the TV show.

All Heat fans are not like this as there are some who have been fans since the teams inception, but this latest group of people who only recently started following the Heat make the entire fan base look bad.

You can throw those games out of the window though because the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls both took the season series from the Miami Heat, but fell to them in the playoffs.  Despite what Miami did to the Bulls and Celtics the Mavericks are going to present something the Heat have not seen during the playoffs, a team that has four or five players who can put up big games.  The entire Mavericks team is shooting the ball at a high percentage right now, and that will be a big change from the Bulls lack of difference makers on offense.

The Mavericks are looking to avenge their 2006 Finals loss to Miami after they went up 2 – 0 and then watched the Heat win four games in a row to take the title.  The only players left from that 2006 team are Jason Terry and Dirk Nowitzki, and the 2010 version of the Mavericks is a different animal to deal with than the 2006 version.

Keys for Dallas to win

Dallas will win if they can stop the dribble penetration of the Miami Heat, and force Wade, Bosh, and James to be primarily jump shooters.  This will give Dallas more opportunities to take advantage of their size in the paint and create second chance opportunities.  The Mavericks have an overall size advantage against the Heat, and they will need to win the rebound battle in order to win this series.  Some or all of Miami’s big three will get hot at different times during the series, and the only way to weather that storm is for Dallas to not foul and rebound when they miss shots.

Putting Wade, Bosh, and James on the free throw line repeatedly is what killed the Bulls, Dallas needs to play disciplined defense, rebound the ball effectively, and utilize the match up advantages they have with Dirk in certain situations.  The final key is for the Mavericks bench to outplay the Heat’s reserves significantly because they have an advantage there with JJ Barea and Jason Terry coming off the bench.

*One key note the Mavericks had Caron Butler for those games, and he will not be playing in this series.

Keys for Miami to win

The formula for Miami is relatively simple to win this series, they will not have a size advantage against Dallas and will need to take quality shots.  That means Wade, Bosh, and James getting in the lane drawing fouls on Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzki, and Shawn Marion which will get them off the floor and allow the Heat to score easy points.  No one can match up with Lebron James, so the Heat always have an advantage there,  and the Mavericks will probably put Deshawn Stevenson on him.  Jason Kidd is a few steps behind Dwayne Wade, so whomever has Kidd on them will have an advantage.  The Mavericks are big in the paint and Bosh may struggle a bit this series because the Mavericks do defend the post well, it will be dribble penetration by James and Wade that will break this Mavericks defense down.  The Oklahoma City Thunder had a lot of success getting in the lane with Russell Westbrook finishing a the rim, the Heat have two of the best in the game at that.

The Heat play solid defense, but it’s going to be tough for them to slow the Mavericks down with the amount of offensive talent and shooters they roll out there.  The Heat will need quality minutes from their bench to help supplement the scoring from the big three, if the bench can contribute enough points and rebounds then the Heat can win this series.

Sports Session Prediction – Dallas Mavericks win in 7 Games

Whether warranted or not, there is one glaring disparity between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat in their conference finals matchup. It isn’t a tangible discrepancy, such as free throw attempts or second chance possessions. It is an intangible that has been looming over the Miami Heat all season, and now looms larger than ever after the Heat’s Game 1 loss to the Bulls. So, what is it?  Pressure.

The Heat’s season has been riddled with scrutiny intense enough to make Barack Obama blush. And as the playoffs have progressed, the intensity of that scrutiny has reached new heights. After its poetically dramatic Game 5 win over the Boston Celtics, many assumed the worst was over with for the guys from South Beach, and that there was now a clear path to the franchise’s second championship.

But as the Heat’s Game 1 meltdown in Chicago indicated, that assumption was dead wrong.  The season-long attention with which the media has showered the Heat has created the perfect remedy for the higher seeded Bulls to “upset” the most hated team in America.  While being incessantly analyzed by the national media, the Heat’s 58-win season, good for third-best in the NBA, was deemed underwhelming by the majority of the basketball universe.

On the contrary, the Bulls began the season with no major expectations outside of the city of Chicago. Their biggest off-season story was that LeBron James didn’t sign with them. The Bulls flew under the radar and finished the season boasting a league-best 62 win season. Considered by most to be overachieving, the Bulls haven’t been getting the credit they’ve rightfully deserved.

So here we are, the Bulls up one game to none and the pressure mounting on the Heat. In Game 1, the overlooked Bulls relished their first true opportunity to prove themselves, while the Heat looked vastly over matched while attempting to prove itself for the 93rd time this season.

Chicago played like a team with nothing to lose, shooting confidently from deep (47 percent) and relentlessly crashing the offensive boards, snagging 13 more than its Miami counterparts.

To be honest, no one will blink an eye if the Bulls lose this series. They are playing a team with two roster spots reserved for two of the best basketball players on the planet, players who came together for the sole purpose of winning championships, and to start doing so immediately.

The Bulls, meanwhile, are lead by the 22-year-old MVP Derrick Rose, whose breakthrough season also warranted Most Improved Player consideration. He, unlike LeBron, has no playoff reputation to correct. He, as well as the rest of his team, has nothing to lose. But unfortunately for the Heat, it believes it has something to prove.

At this point, Chicago’s season has already been credited as a success by everyone not named Derrick Rose or Tom Thibodeau.

On the other hand, the Miami Heat’s season will be considered a failure unless it brings the Larry O’Brien trophy back to South Beach.

The Heat has bounced back from adverse situations all season long, and is undoubtedly prepared to do so again against the top-seeded Bulls.

Doing so, however, will unquestionably be the highest hurdle of the Miami Heat’s season thus far, as it will have to overcome a team with nothing to lose and out to prove that it is as good as its 62-20 record indicates. And after the shellacking the Bulls gave the Heat in Game 1, those 62 wins are beginning to seem like an accurate reflection after all.

The Chicago Bulls dismantled the Miami Heat in Game one of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals 103 – 82.  The long known weaknesses of the Miami Heat were exposed as the Bulls racked up 31 second chance points, and limited the Heat to just 10 fast break points.  The Heat have run into a team that has the tools to exploit their weaknesses, and it’s going to take some major adjustments for the Heat to win this series.  Derrick Rose put in 28 points to lead the Bulls, while Chris Bosh led the Heat with 30 points.  The Heat will need to find a way to break down the relentless defense played by the Chicago Bulls, and that means their offense needs to consist of more than Lebron & Wade isolating one on one match ups.

NBA

The Oklahoma City Thunder prevailed 105 – 90 in their hard fought series with the Memphis Grizzlies.  Kevin Durant showed up like a star should in a game seven scoring 39 points, and Russell Westbrook contributed with a triple double (the first in a game 7 since Scottie Pippen in 1992).  Mike Conley scored 18 points to lead Memphis, and O.J. Mayo scored 14 for Memphis but couldn’t provide the same amount of room for Randolph as he did after moving into the starting lineup in Game 6.  The Grizzlies proved they are going to be a team to be reckoned with in the NBA next season, with this impressive run as an eighth seed.  The Thunder have the Dallas Mavericks up next, who took the season series from them 2 – 1, does that mean the Mavericks will win this series?

NFL

NFL receiver Chad Ochocinco backed up his promise to ride a 1,500-pound bull on the Professional Bull Riders circuit Saturday night, earning $10,000 for making it out of the chute atop Deja Blu.  The ride lasted 1.5 seconds before Ochocinco was bucked off with no apparent injury.  Ochocinco, who wore a helmet and a standard protective vest, fell 6.5 seconds short of the time needed to win a new Ford truck and to earn the right to rename the bull after Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis.

NFL

The locked-out NFL players asked a federal judge Thursday to make $4 billion in disputed broadcast revenue off limits to the league and to award them at least $707 million in damages, too.  U.S. District Judge David Doty took the request under advisement after a two-hour hearing that included arguments from attorneys for the league and the players.  This is another move that can have a major effect on if there is football next season, the NFL and it’s lawyers feel that the players have no claim or right to any damages.  If the players are awarded a ruling in their favor it could become a major piece of leverage in the ongoing labor dispute between the owners and players.

MMA

Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has diverticulitis again and has withdrawn from next month’s title elimination fight.  Lesnar had diverticulitis two years ago. He says the digestive disorder is not as serious this time as it was the last time which almost saw his career end.  Lesnar vows that he will not retire as a result of this and he will return to fighting, but all the buildup on the Ultimate Fighter this season was for not.  Shane Carwin will replace Lesnar in the UFC 131 main event against Brazilian Junior Dos Santos at the Rogers Arena. The winner will get the next shot at heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez.

The NFL draft started on Thursday and ended on Saturday, and like many expected the Carolina Panthers took Cam Newton with the first pick in the draft.  That wasn’t the most controversial pick though, as Florida State’s Christian Ponder was taken by the Minnesota Vikings with the 12^th pick in the draft.  Many had Ponder as a late second/early third round pick, and the Vikings taking him so high is a bit puzzling.  There was a run on QB’s in the first round with four taken in the first twelve picks, and a majority of the rest of the first round was defensive players.  The sad thing is that only one running back (Alabama’s Mark Ingram) was taken in the first round, if you would have watched the draft about six years ago running back used to easily go in the top ten.

NFL

The NFL lockout is back in force after a short hiatus last week.  A St. Louis appeals court could determine as early as Monday whether the league deserves a permanent stay of an injunction granted to the players in Minnesota to block the lockout.  The NFL owners were granted a temporary injunction so that the three judges ruling on the case would have enough time to determine if they should grant a permanent injunction.  Players started arriving at facilities on Friday to workout, only to end up locked out again by Friday afternoon.  This is really going to hurt draft picks from this past weekend’s draft as they have team playbooks, but are not allowed to talk to coaches to decipher and explain the plays to them.

NBA

The Boston Celtics were dominated by the Miami Heat in Game 1 99 – 90.  The game was chippy throughout with both teams committing hard fouls and talking trash throughout.  This started to get out of hand when Paul Pierce and James Jones got into it after Jones committed a flagrant foul on Pierce, which prompted Pierce to get face to face with Jones.  Shortly after that Dwayne Wade ran through a screen set by Pierce and after Pierce barked at Wade the official gave him a second technical foul throwing him out of the game.  Boston looked rusty and out of sync the entire night, and the layoff may have had something to do with that.  The Heat need to hold off on any premature celebrations they won the first game of the series at home, all Boston needs to do is win game 2 and mission accomplished.

NBA

Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies powered their way to another playoff upset – not that he considers it one.  Randolph had a playoff career-high 34 points and 10 rebounds, Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 boards, and the Grizzlies outmatched the Oklahoma City Thunder inside for a 114-101 victory in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday.  The Grizzlies have announced that they are for real as they beat the Spurs in six games, and handled Oklahoma City on Sunday.  Is it too early to say that the Grizzlies may be title contenders at this point?

College Football

North Carolina State head football coach Tom O’Brien announced Friday that Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson has requested and been granted a release so that he can pursue opportunities in football at another university if he so desires.  This is a puzzling move because Wilson was one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC last year, and for this information to come out of the blue is questionable.  There may be things that happened behind the scenes at NC State which led to this, but right now no one knows anything.

The Miami Heat had the opportunity to be the first team to enter the second round of the NBA playoffs, but the Philadelphia 76ers had other ideas.  The Sixers were down by six with a few minutes left, and it looked like they were not going to be able to overcome the Miami Heat.  Well a 10 – 0 run to finish the game capped by a Lou Williams three pointer put the game away for good, sent the series back to Miami with the Heat up 3 – 1 looking to close it out at home.  Lebron James took the last shot for the Heat, and once again came up short.  Miami will ultimately win this series, but you have to wonder will they be able to fix their late game woes.

NBA

The Boston Celtics were up next, and had the opportunity to move on to the second round if they could take care of the wounded New York Knicks.  Chauncey Billups did not play, but Amare Stoudemire did recover from back spasms enough to take the court.  None of that mattered ad the Celtics dominated the game, and at one point opened up a 20+ point lead.  The Knicks battled back behind Carmelo Anthony and a surprising performance by Anthony Carter off the bench to bring the game within four points.  The Celtics put them away down the stretch and are now waiting on the Miami Heat to finish off the Philadelphia 76ers.

NFL

The wife of Brandon Marshall stabbed him with a kitchen knife, sheriff’s deputies said Saturday, and his publicist said the Miami Dolphins receiver was released from a hospital and would fully recover.  It is unclear at this point what led to the stabbing, but with the history of Brandon Marshall and his wife the thinking is domestic violence.  The both were seen back in 2009 punching and kicking each other outside of their condo in Atlanta, and both were charged with disorderly conduct.  Marshall’s wife Michi Nogami-Marshall told authorities that the reason she stabbed Marshall was self-defense, and she is free on a $7,500 bond.  What really happened is only known Brandon and Michi know the truth, but anytime someone gets stabbed it is never a good situation.

MLB

The Atlanta Braves swept the defending world champion San Francisco Giants over the weekend for their first sweep in San Francisco since 1998.  In the final game of the series the Braves roughed up the Giants star closer Brian Wilson who is best known for his beard and emphatic pitching mound reactions during games.  Wilson’s ERA this season is 9.82, and the Giants team as a whole is struggling which is not uncommon for teams the year after they have won a championship.

NBA

The Orlando Magic are on the brink of elimination after losing another close game to that Atlanta Hawks.  With Jason Richardson out the Magic got a lift from Gilbert Arenas (20 points), but the Magic’s shooting touch left them for this game and was almost non-existent.  The Magic shot 8.7% from three point land which is an NBA playoff record for futility shooting the three with a minimum of 20 attempts.  Joe Johnson scored the last 10 points down the stretch for the Hawks as the Magic fouled to attempt to cut the deficit.  Jamal Crawford was huge again, and the Magic simply do not have an answer for him in this series.  The series shifts back to Orlando for Game 5 to see if the Magic can stave off being eliminated in the first round by a team they dominated in the playoffs last season.

If you were a person who felt that Bosh was an elite tough big man, then the video below should change your opinion fairly quickly.  In a game against the Chicago Bulls Bosh is defending the Bulls Carlos Boozer, who appears to elbow Bosh on accident (the video shows he never touched him).  Bosh delays for a second or two after the elbow has passed then he simulates his head getting knocked back and throws himself on the court, and appears to be writhing in pain from the Boozer elbow.  The only problem is there was no elbow and Bosh went so overboard with the acting it was ridiculous, covering his face, acting like he was partially blinded and barely able to get up.  The whole thing was absurd.  Because of that Chris Bosh is being inducted into the Hall of Fail, next time Chris make sure the guy actually makes contact before you start your acting job!

The first day of the NFL combine started on Sunday, and of course Cam Newton was the center of attention. Newton said before the combine that he was going to participate in all the drills that the other quarterbacks are doing, and he started out with an impressive 4.58 40-yard dash.  That was probably the highlight of his day as he struggled throwing the football and had several wild or errant throws on the day, but it’s just the first day and you can’t really gauge how good a player is off of one day.  Ryan Mallett and Jake Locker are two players who most agree helped themselves big time during QB drills on Sunday as their throwing performances were two of the best on Sunday.  This might help Mallett dispel rumors that he uses recreational drugs off the field because he clearly came to the NFL combine prepared and ready to show what he can do.

It seems that the St. Louis Cardinals have in fact lost one of their ace pitchers Adam Wainwright for the season as he is scheduled to have Tommy John surgery to correct the injury to his elbow.  That means that Wainwright will be out for the entire season, and maybe parts of next season depending on how things go.  The injury occurred at the right time at the beginning of Spring Training so he will have maximum time to heal and try to comeback next season.  It’s a crippling blow to the ST. Lous Cardinals who may also lose their slugger Albert Pujols to free agency at the end of the season.  Wainwright has easily been one of the top 10 pitchers in baseball the last two seasons, and even with Wainwright they were unable to overcome the Reds last year for a playoff spot.  The Cardinals season may in fact be over before it even gets started, and may signal the end of the Pujols era!

No one seems to want to hold on to the #1 ranking in college basketball this season as Due lost to Virginia Tech 60 – 64 on Saturday. This is the second time Duke was knocked off of the number one spot this season, and it just adds to the list of teams like Kansas and Ohio State who also failed to keep that ranking earlier this year.  What is it about the #1 ranking in college basketball that makes teams lose these types of games?  It is really an indication that there are no dominant teams in College Basketball this year, and some would even say that it means the product itself is getting worse.  Ohio State looked unstoppable for most of the season, but now they have lost a few games down the stretch and it looks like teams have a blueprint they can use to beat them as well.

There seems to be no movement in the NFL Labor Negotiations, and a lookout seems imminent. The NFL Players Association briefed over 700 Agents over the weekend on the status of the labor talks, and several people in the meeting came out of it thinking that the sides are no closer on an agreement.  There was a lot of optimism when the mediator became involved, but apparently that has not helped the sides get any closer to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).  The NFLPA is set to decertify itself which will open the door for them to take this to the courts and attempt to settle it that way, as the owners seem determined to reduce the amount of money the players are currently getting.  The agents of the players are solidly on the side of the players because that’s how they make their money, but at the end of the day it is not going to matter the owners hold the keys to the 2011 NFL season.