Heat dancers go for "Three-peat"
At least someone at the Heat is having success.
With his team in the cellar, it probably wasn’t the kind of success he was hoping for. But Heat coach Pat Riley agreed to let the Heat dancers borrow his trademarked term “three-peat” in their quest to win the title of best NBA dance team for the third consecutive year.
The Heat dance team is pitted against the Los Angeles Clippers Spirit Dance Team in the finals of the league’s Dance Team Competition. Fans can vote until noon today here or at heat.com.
The dance team bracket competition was launched in 2006 as the NBA’s answer to March Madness. Each team’s dancers “compete” online for votes with bios, photos and videos. This year’s competition has drawn more than 7 million page views — up from last year’s 2.6 million.
Heat dancers have been wearing “Three-peat” T-shirts for appearances, and e-mail blasts reminding fans to vote for the team include the term, which Riley trade-marked in 1988 when his L.A. Lakers were attempting to win their third straight NBA title. But the Detroit Pistons swept the Lakers in the 1989 Finals.
“It was probably not the context he had hoped,” Heat Executive Vice President Michael McCullough said.
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
