Every now and then, the schedule, the wife or just plain common sense forces us to take a break from the intensity of covering this beat and realize how blessed we truly are in this job.
Thursday was one of those days. It was "Take Your Kid to Work" day. So not only did I step back and watch in amazement as my boys, Charlesson and Kori (pictured right) take over the weekly Heat Q&A online chat, they also wanted a piece of the blog.
Full disclosure: Charlesson (left) is a Celtics fan. Kori (right) likes the Heat, but has a beef right now because he doesn't think it's fair that Daequan Cook can't get into the game. And Heat staffer Nick (above middle) couldn't give Kori the answers he demanded.
For the hard-core fans looking for a nuts-and-bolts blog that examines yet another facet of this Heat-Celtics series that resumes with Game 3 Friday, check back after the game for the usual breakdown.
But today was about giving thanks. And giving back. First, the thanks. I'm giving a shout out to the Heat's
media relations staff - Tim, Rob, Nick and Mike - for giving several of us media types the opportunity to take our kids to practice Thursday. It was a joy to see how the room was filled with reporters and their kids.
It wasn't necessarily a Martin Luther King Jr. moment. But my boys and Ira Winderman's boy shook hands in harmony, caring nothing at all about the newspaper competition their dopes for dads endure daily to bring you Heat news and analysis.
ESPN's Mark Jones brought his beautiful family. And so did members of the Heat TV staff. And the players seemed to soak up the extra attention. I had never seen Dwyane Wade, Jamaal Magloire or Jermaine O'Neal so happy to see a pack of reporters.
Or maybe it was the kids. This I know for certain: If the Heat wins Game 3 on Friday, at least a
few cub reporter sources I know are going to take credit and demand to quit school and cover this team on a full-time basis.
Now, to the giving back. Charlesson, 14, was geared up from the moment he knew he'd be skipping school for the chance to cover the Heat for a day.
"While we were still on the road (going to practice) thoughts came out of my head out of nowhere as if I were an author," Charlesson wrote in his one-page report about the day's doings. "One of the things I was thinking about was how my reaction would be once I stepped foot in the same room as the Miami Heat players."
Charlesson immediately went into photographer mode with his cell phone to provide the pictures for this blog.
Meanwhile, Kori, 10, took my recorder and did the dirty work of fighting into the crowd to get quotes from Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers for the story that will appear in Friday's paper about the Heat's need to step up its game at the point guard position.
Kori's take?
"As I interviewed, I got information on how Dwyane Wade feels the next game will be. He says, 'We all know that I'll be handling the ball a lot, but the team needs to mix it up."
Then, Kori approached Michael Beasley.
"Michael Beasley said, 'There is definitely something I can do better to help the team win."
After practice, I took the boys to lunch and we pored through some of the questions on the Heat Q&A on the Miami Herald's website. They took turns giving their answers. And that's when they really took over.
"There were some wild questions on short notice that had to be answered," Kori wrote in his report. "I noticed that lots of these questions were on Michael Beasley and Erik Spoelstra (coach) being traded or fired. After this was finished, I finally got a chance to take a break."
I cover this team every day and still learned plenty on Thursday. Two things that stood out?
1. I'm blessed to have a great job
2. I might be out of work soon if these kids keep this up, considering they'll work right now for only Gatorade and video games.
(For live news, notes and updates on the Heat, follow me on Twitter @ twitter.com/wallacesports. To post a question or join our live Heat chat each Thursday from 1-2 p.m., click here.)
Comments