The Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors are in the middle of a great series for a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals and last night’s game was no different. However, before the game tipped off Dwyane Wade surely put some heat on his own back.
Since the Raptors were in town, the Heat had both “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Oh, Canada!” sang before the tipoff. However, Wade took it upon himself to get some extra practice shots in during the latter national anthem.
https://youtu.be/cWIhq65KKdQ
Of course, this video has been shared multiple times and there were a number of Canadian fans in attendance in South Beach. This lead to some pretty crass comments towards the Heat superstar on social media.
That was pretty disrespectful stuff from Dwayne Wade. Taking warm up shots during the Canadian Anthem? pic.twitter.com/EittokQ6F9
— Peter Roumeliotis (@PeteyBeats) May 8, 2016
Dwayne Wade, a revered elder statesman in the NBA, can't cool off for a minute and stand for the Canadian anthem? Bush league.
— NormanJamesCTV (@NormanJamesCTV) May 8, 2016
I have NO respect for anyone disrespecting the national anthem. I lost respect for Wade. Then again never had any for him.
— Gareth Campbell (@gareth1campbell) May 8, 2016
I understand the whole notion of “This is America!” but it was still pretty rude of Dwyane Wade to not stop shooting for a minute to give some respect to the anthem, even if it wasn’t his native country’s. Take into account what Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun tweeted after seeing the video.
Not a fan of anthems before games but will say if a Canadian did what Wade did yesterday for the other anthem, there'd be huge outrage.
— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) May 8, 2016
Point made.
You also have to remember what happened to former player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who was suspended for a game in 1996 for failing to “stand and line up in a dignified posture” during the national anthem. Hopefully, Wade’s actions don’t come back to bite his team big time.
I guess they actually did, at least for last night. The Raptors won Game 3 95-91, taking a 2-1 lead in the series.