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May 20, 2016As the Miami Heat fell victim to the Toronto Raptors in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, ESPN’s Pablo S. Torre fired off a tweet that any writer can appreciate. Here was the Heat, led by Dwyane Wade, one game away from making basketball’s head explode thanks to a seven-game series against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers—and they were getting demolished. The effort-free radio and sweet takes that existed ahead—gone. The storylines that actually required some work, however, were unfortunately apart of the collateral damage.
I filed a feature on Wade and LeBron that I've been working on for weeks so this game in no way makes me want TO HURL MY LAPTOP OUT A WINDOW
— Pablo S. Torre (@PabloTorre) May 15, 2016
Fearing that Torre would have to spike a piece that required so much work, I attempted to come to the rescue.
WFNY will gladly run it. Holler.
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) May 15, 2016
While Pablo acknowledged the offer…
http://twitter.com/pablotorre/status/731971343428812801
…all it took was the work of ESPN’s editors to take all of the reporting that Torre did, rework the narrative arc, structurally edit it to fit the new story, and boom: A fantastic piece on friendship in the NBA, told through the prism of two of the league’s best.
Getting the support of Gabrielle Union sure didn’t hurt matters.
https://mobile.twitter.com/PabloTorre/status/731976819180769280
Here’s Torre:
Being one with Wade isn’t the same as being best friends with James. “If we played ‘The Newlywed Game,’ ” [Gabrielle] Union admits, “I don’t know if I’d have more information on my husband than Bron would.”
Wade laughs.
“Me and Bron would know waaay more,” he says. “Obviously.” …
A recent playoff practice has just ended inside Miami’s American Airlines Arena, and Wade, still in uniform, is thoughtfully marshaling proof while perched on a tall brown chair. Like the fact that whenever he is running late to meet James at a group dinner, there is only one person whom the finicky Heat guard can entrust with culinary power of attorney. Even when Union is also waiting at the table. “My wife wouldn’t know what to order,” Wade says, “but Bron’s like, I got it.” Two years ago, at just such a dinner in New Orleans, Union could only watch, deeply confused, as James unilaterally picked seabass for a man who’d expressed a lifelong distaste for fish. “It’s what I wanted,” her husband would later explain, shrugging. “Bron got me on seabass.”
There are, by Union’s eye-rolling estimates, “a thousand and one instances like this” — each of them underscoring a rapport as heartfelt as it is quotidian.
Not only is “Bron go me on seabass” one of the best quotes ever, the story is great look into the nuances, complications, and understandings of two of the leagues most fierce competitors who also happen to be best friends. For instance, did you know that the two, when they communicate electronically, they trade voice notes (that disappear) rather than sending tone-free text messages? Did you know that they didn’t meet until 2003? And did you know that Pat Riley loathes the fact that these two are friends, despite said friendship leading to four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals?
The story addresses the lack of the LeBron-Wade (as well as Cavs-Heat) thanks to that Game 7, but also shares that, as much as they’re friends, they love beating one another at the game of basketball. Oh, and the “L-word?” That gets addressed too.
Would’ve made for a helluva WFNY story—don’t you think?
4 Comments
And Riles is officially a psychopath. Fining for helping players off the floor? Sick fake tough guy act.
Why isn’t Wade in the stands rooting his BFF on?
LBJ would…
They’re no Turk & JD
https://media.giphy.com/media/11p1apCPqM7WEw/giphy.gif
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