Miami Heat: The Best Answer To Haters Reveling in Their Struggles

We see the numbers in front of us.

One-for-16 on shots to close out games.

Terrible against the top six teams in the league.

Only five wins in close games.

I'm not going to refute these stats. You can't. They're facts, and there's no way you can refute facts unless you're talking politics and the stats don't match up to your political world view. (Or you're Adrian Wojnarowski and you still say that Derrick Rose didn't want LeBron as a teammate despite Rose coming out and refuting that during an interview shown during the game on Sunday, all because it would spoil the narrative of your latest anti-LeBron piece.)

I'm not going to say they have a shot to win it all either. I covered this last week and said that they didn't. I'm a non-bandwagon Heat fan but I'm also realistic based off of the evidence that's in front of me.

But that doesn't stop the hate that has been directed towards me.

Over the summer my inbox and formspring account was flooded with readers who wished all sorts of misery on me for defending LeBron James. Then when I tried to explain that the hatred was unwarranted and that the so-called "ESPN Love" the Heat received was from people being so interested in the team, all it did was bring out more haters who criticized my writing style. Check out this article from October that was a clear satire, yet was still criticized as being Bleacher Report hack writing, which ironically it was meant to make fun of.

Over the course of the NBA season the personal hatred towards me stopped. It was focused on the Heat, which I still found unnecessary but hey, its a free country where you're allowed to like and dislike what you want, and while I think you're a deplorable human being for saying something like "I hope you tear both ACL's and get cancer and die LeBum" on his Facebook page, I will defend your right to say it under the first amendment.

But after the Heat's recent struggles, I received this "question" on my personal formspring account, which I would like to respond to here on Bleacher Report. 

"Watchin LeBron and your Heat struggle like this is the best thing to ever happen in my life. I know you're probably all down in the dumps and depressed over it, which makes it even better. Hope this drives you to suicide you .

Here's my response to this man.

Good sir (or ma'am), while it is tough to watch the Heat and their struggles right now, I am very happy for you that there's one thing going on in your life that is going your way. Anything that brings you happiness is a good thing. If the Heat struggling means giving you a small glimmer of hope, then good. 

As for me, yes, I'm worried and I'm upset with the Heat, but I'm far from depressed. The fact that I can look at the Heat's struggles and confidently say that its the worst thing going on in my life tells me only one thing: that I am a fortunate and blessed man. I am sure that there are fans of other teams doing better than the Heat who would probably trade places with me because of many other factors that have nothing to do with sports. Overall, I'm a happy man, and I do get over Heat losses about 10 to 15 minutes after the fact. No use sulking over something, that in the end, you don't have any control over anyways.

Now obviously you're somewhat disturbed to write something like that. I hope that you get the help needed. I don't know if you're a religious man (or woman), or if you even have some faith, but I'll pray for you.

The Heat will get out of their struggles. Maybe it won't be this season, maybe they won't be a true contender until next year, but eventually it will end. On top of that, I can at least say that this year's Heat season has been entertaining. Their struggles are actually a positive, not just because they make you happy, but also because it's allowing us real Heat fans to shine through while the rest abandon the bandwagon like its in flames.

So to the person that wrote me this message on formspring, feel better, and be well, and God Bless.

Thomas Galicia is a Miami Dolphins Featured Columnist who also writes about the Miami Heat, Miami Hurricanes and Chicago Cubs. Follow him on twitter, @thomasgalicia, and visit his page, www.thomasgalicia.com