Heat Fan Sitting Courtside Was Texting Instead of Watching the End of the Game

Pardon me, ma’am, but could you please stop playing Temple Run? It’s kind of the NBA playoffs, and you’re kind of sitting courtside.

With seconds left in regulation, the Indiana Pacers were trailing the Miami Heat by three and Game 1 of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals was on the line. Everyone in American Airlines Arena knew this was it—make-or-break time—and they all stood in rapt attention.

Everyone except one fan, who was busy tapping away at her smartphone as Paul George threw up a game-tying three-pointer. 

The stadium erupted—mostly in gasps—and if you look closely in this video, you can see her head pop up like a Whack-a-Mole.

People watching at home didn’t fail to notice, and the next thing you knew, the Internet was blowing up about the latest Heat supporter disregarding all the rules of fan-ship. 

"

Sums up a heat fan RT @jadande: Check out the woman texting someone while Paul George's 3 is swishing ... tmi.me/WozCO

— Logan Johnson (@LogieJohnson) May 23, 2013"

Maybe that’s what the hip thing to do is in Miami—attend the game but only watch the score on your phone (TeamStreamers would never do this).

Perhaps this was just a bit of cocky confidence? Some gamesmanship? In other replays of the game, she seemed to react a bit and pay attention. At this point, she probably was just confident the yellow team wasn’t going to beat her mighty Miami Monstars, or whoever the guys in the white outfits were. 

I’ll say this: I’ve missed some exciting plays at home while talking trash over a mobile device. With that being said, I’m seated on my couch when this happens—not in $6,000 seats behind the opponent’s bench. Those are seats that some fans would heedlessly shed blood over, just for the opportunity to sit there.

For her sake, I hope she was at least texting something relevant to the game. If not, I hope she enjoys her three stars in Angry Birds.

That's not heads-up basketball.