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We here at Sportaphile are in the late stages of putting together the 2008-09 NBA Preview Package that will run next week. In the meantime, there was the strong urge to respond to the latest juice making its way around hoopsland. Honestly, I am writing this because I am starting to see some disturbing trends developing in Miami, and the common denominator equals one Michael Beasley. Will he be able to maintain the off-court pressure of being a star rookie playing so close to South Beach or will Pat Riley have to schedule an intervention for him by season’s end? I’m just saying… Who gets fined $50,000 before ever receiving their first NBA paycheck?

This late breaking news on Thursday caught many eyes primarily because Beasley is apparently receiving the stiff penalty for not being a stand-up guy about his role in the much-talked about incident involving Darrell Arthur and fellow Heat rookie Mario Chalmers. The dust had pretty much settled on the storyline of alleged blunts and babes at the Rookie Transition Program last week. At least that was until the news of Beasley being hit with the 50k fine kicked it back to the forefront and oddly this pic surfaced, though the two aren’t related.

Or are they? Read the rest of this entry »

I spent a lot of time giving attention to things that don’t really matter like videos of drunk fans, and Kim Kardashian, so it’s necessary to have a little balance. I caught this story about Dwayne Wade buying his mother a church and thought you guys should see it.

For many years Dwayne Wade’s mom Jolinda abused drugs, wasted her life, and her activities eventually placed her on the run from the law. Things changed when she was persuaded by her daughter to attend church. The day in church sparked a chain of events that led to Jolinda turning herself in to the cops, going to prison, dedicating her life to god, and starting a ministry behind bars.

Jolinda Wade is now seven years sober and the proud owner of a church thanks to her son Dwayne.

“I respect my mother so much, from the life that she used to live and to see her today in the life that she lives. I’m so proud of her,” Dwyane Wade told The Associated Press before the service. “Everybody thinks I’m the miraculous story in the family. I think she is. I think what I’ve done means I’ve been very blessed, but she’s been more than blessed. She’s been anointed.”