We are all just Mercenaries

The contempt surrounding the NBA Finals this week is palpable. Rarely has there been such a lopsided opinion on who fans want to see win a championship. Yet the reasoning behind their choice is unfounded and very subjective. People are quick to deny reason in the face blind love.

I know very few people who are rooting for the Miami Heat to win over the Dallas Mavericks. I understand that position but only to a small extent. The basic argument against Miami is that they are trying to buy a championship. LeBron James has played the villain since last July when he decided to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. LeBron's one-hour special on ESPN regarding his free-agency decision pissed off thousands. That part I understand and agree with. He obviously could of handled that a lot better but he didn't.

Back to the stars joining forces, since when has that been against the rules? Haters want to claim LeBron lost his cache' as a true superstar when he left Cleveland. How is that possible? All he did in Cleveland was win two MVP awards and willed a very weak Cavs team to the Finals on his own. Now he didn't win a ring that year, in fact he got swept. He tried his hardest but without legitimate star power alongside him he had hit his glass ceiling.

Now that LeBron plays with Wade and Bosh there is no ceiling. Throughout NBA history, players that win championships never do it alone. Every champ has an outstanding one-two punch paired with a solid bench. Jordan had Pippen. Kobe had Shaq and then Gasol. Pierce added Garnett and Allen. Robinson had his "Twin Tower", Duncan. The list goes on and on. None of those guys won a ring without the other. Very few were drafted to the same franchise, thus they were acquired via trade and free agency. Sound familiar?

The sub-level to this trend are the Mavs and Heat role players that are essentially mercenaries seeking their first ring. You think one team deserves this championship more than the other? Tell that to this list of NBA veterans now in the Finals; the Mavericks have Dirk Nowitski, Jason Kidd, Peja Stojakovich, and Shawn Marion. The Heat have guys like LeBron, Bosh, Mike Bibby and the NBA's oldest player (38) Juwan Howard.

The beauty of sports is taking a side and standing by it. Passion tends to get in the way of logic, hence the "homer" mentality. Unfortunately for all the sudo-Mavs-fans that will surely not care for Dallas next year, the Heat have weathered the venomous storm and rose to the top where they are sure to stay for the foreseeable future...