Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
We’re good with Dwyane Wade missing 7 games as a new dad — uh, aren’t we?
OK, I’ll confess. I was confused. And confounded. Torn in two, really, because sometimes in this crazy sports business you need a compass to know what’s too personal to be public and what’s too public to be personal.
So it’s good Dwyane Wade knows. It’s good he’s taking as much time he needs to help his wife and welcome his new baby into the world.
Miss seven Heat games?
“As much time as he needs,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Obviously this is an incredible blessing for he and [wife Gabrielle Union]. I actually can relate to it in the first time in my life. I was thrilled for them.”
Sports is often the sounding board for social issues these days. Drugs. Gambling. Social protest. In this case, it’s how to thread the needle between something as personal as having a new baby against the professional responsibility to your business.
Where does commitment to family butt against commitment to a team?
Because when Wade initially said he was missing seven games this nagging, Neanderthal voice wondered if Wade should have returned for this victory lap to his career when priorities are so far elsewhere. And, again, that’s good and fine they are elsewhere. They should be, after all.
Yet the Heat could have used Wade in two tight losses this past weekend. They could use him this coming week now that they’re off to a slow start. And let’s also not pretend half the fun of one of the few big games on the Heat schedule is gone Sunday now that Wade has declared himself out for the Los Angeles Lakers’ visit.
The other half probably will miss it with no Wade, too. LeBron James likes to skip games in his old gym. So what was a circled day on the sports calendar looks like a game between two middling teams that don’t move the needle of interest.
Ultimately, the question becomes this: Does a player owe his team anything in a personal situation like this? Do you in your business?
It passes through a rare filter in Wade’s case, too. He’s playing the final season of a Hall of Fame career that either suggests he should take all the time he wants for something this personal ... or shouldn’t overstay his absence as a nod to his professionalism.
Others in this same Heat organization took a different, if equally committed view of fatherhood. Heat center Alonzo Mourning flew 20 hours from the Sydney Olympics to Miami to be at the birth of his daughter, Myka Sydney Mourning. He then flew back across the world to be with the U.S. team after missing two inconsequential preliminary games.
“It was important for me to follow through on my commitment to my team,” Mourning said at the 2000 Games. “I had to be there, and I have to be here.”
Last March, Spoelstra missed a Sunday game in Indianapolis to be at the birth of his first child. He coached the next game two days later.
“I don’t think anybody
expected my son to be born three weeks early, a very similar situation [Wade and Union] going through,” Spoelstra said. “Life is unpredictable, even in this league. But you just hope and pray for health and all that. So it’s all great.”
Everyone hopes and prays for them in the same manner you do for any new family. Wade told The Associated Press he wanted to ensure, “health-wise that she’s OK. And for me once I leave and go back to the season, not really being able to be with me everywhere I go, this time right now, this bonding moment with my daughter is the most important thing in my life at this time.”
One of the healthy advancements in recent society is fathers taking on a more loving role. And, like most of fatherhood, there are a lot of ways to be a success.
Spoelstra elected to miss one game. That worked fine for him. Wade chose to miss seven games. And, well, that’s what he felt he, his wife and new baby needed.
Prayers to them.
And, well, hurry back.