ESPN’s Sports Nation site polled readers about who they’re rooting for in the Miami Heat-San Antonio Spurs NBA Finals series that begins tomorrow, and the results are a little surprising.
The online poll is unscientific, of course, but 430,000 responses is a lot. Heat star LeBron James gets criticized far less in the media than he used to—you’re more likely to find writers and pundits praising his intelligence than calling out his ego or propensity to choke—but apparently he’s still a guy that many fans love to hate.
For reference, here’s a Facebook-driven map of NBA rooting interests that the New York Times’ Upshot site ran a few weeks ago, which seemed to show a more solid base of support for the Heat across the South than is showing up in the ESPN poll.
