There May Be No Crying in Baseball, But.....

Perhaps there's crying in basketball.

Who knows if there were Heat players actually crying in the locker room after their loss to the Bulls on Sunday, but their coach, Erik Spoelstra, felt compelled to tell the media that "there are a couple of guys crying in the locker room right now."

I see this two ways. Either:

- Heat players were actually crying following this game and their coach thought it was a good idea to tell the media, or

- Heat players weren't actually crying following this game and their coach thought it was a good idea to tell the media.


If the Heat players were crying after a loss in March they are more fragile emotionally than an average high school football team.


I know.


I was on an average high school football team.


And I did cry after a game.


Once.


But it was a playoff game, so the loss ended our season.


And it was against a team we had beaten earlier in the year.


And I was 16 years old.

A professional athlete shouldn't be crying after a regular season loss that occurs two-thirds of the way through the season. You lose game seven of the World Series? I can see crying. You miss a field goal when your team is down one with four seconds to go in the Super Bowl, let the floodgates open.

Regarding the second situation, the coach saying his players are crying. I don't understand the motivation. What is he trying to prove? Whether they were actually crying or not, he shouldn't say that to the media. His players need to appear tough. The last thing he needs is other players thinking his team is soft.

Reports are saying that Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire of the Knicks were laughing when they heard Spoelstra's comments. And they should laugh, because Spoelstra is a joke. He doesn't know how to command respect. He is not respected by his players for either his coaching skills, or his ability to talk to the media, or his leadership, or his play calling......

So here is my prediction -
Spoelstra gets fired. Pat Riley comes down from on high, handles the egos, doesn't talk about his players crying, gains respect from the team, and then loses to Orlando in Eastern Conference Finals.