We’ve previously touched on the NBA Finals side story involving Charles Barkley, the Miami Heat, and their fans. Barkley was one of the loudest critics of LeBron James when he left Cleveland for Miami and that disgust spilled into the season when he called the Heat a “whiny bunch.” Then TNT had to move their pre and post game show indoors during the playoffs in Miami because Barkley was being heckled by fans outside the arena. If you thought that incident would have taught him to lay off the fans, you’d be wrong. During a visit on the Waddle & Silvy Show, Barkley let Heat fans have it.
“There’s something about that team that annoys me,” Barkley said. “They’re just a whiny bunch and I can’t root for them. Yeah, they got the worst fans, no question. It’s not even loud in there. You’re at the game and you’re like ‘Man, it’s not even loud.'”
That last complaint is something I’ve previously mentioned. When the Heat were behind in playoff games, it was silent at American Airlines Arena. It really is pathetic sometimes. And the wealthy fans who show up wearing ugg boots and sunglasses to sit in the front row show up late, leaving plenty of empty spots. It honestly makes them look worse than LA fans, and that’s hard to do. Are Heat fans the worst fans? I don’t know about that — they’re pretty passionate about their team now, but they’re not exactly your die hard version. And you definitely wouldn’t see ugg boots on men in the front row at too many other arenas, so that automatically places them in poor company.
