OK, I'll confess. I'm confused. Confounded. Torn in two. Because I know in this new time and developed age Dwyane Wade should take all the time he wants to help his wife and welcome his new baby into the world.
Miss seven Heat games?
Miss double that, if he wants.
Heck, he could bond with the baby all winter and not return until the playoffs _ and probably not even then, since this team isn't on an early track to make the postseason. Who isn't happy for the happy family in the universal way we are for any new parents?
And yet there's also this nagging, Neanderthal voice injecting professional responsibility into the equation. It wonders why Wade returned for this victory lap to his career when priorities are so far elsewhere. And, again, that's good and fine they are elsewhere. But should be there some commitment to team, too?
This puts where the heartwarming story turns confusing. It must be for the Heat, too. The team has, thus far, said nothing to confirm Wade is taking extra time off, which was reported by the Associated Press. The Heat have done nothing to counter the idea they were blindsided by this decision. It's a bit odd, if that's the case, right?
The Heat could have used Wade in two tight losses this past weekend. They could use him this coming week now that they're off to a 5-7 start. And let's also not pretend half the fun of one of the few big games on the Heat schedule is gone Sunday now that Wade has declared himself out for the Los Angeles Lakers' visit.
The other half probably will miss it with no Wade, too. LeBron James likes to skip games in his old gym. So what was a circled day on the sports calendar looks like a game between two middling teams that don't move the needle of interest.
Even typing that idea seems like having no perspective, of boo-hooing the loss of a day's fun. Ultimately, the question becomes this: Does a player owe his team anything in a personal situation like this?
It passes through a rare filter in Wade's case, too. He's playing the final season of a Hall of Fame career that either suggests he should take all the time he wants for something this personal or shouldn't overstay his absence as a nod to his professionalism.
Others in this same Heat organization took a different, if equally committed view of fatherhood. Heat center Alonzo Mourning was flew 20 hours from the Sydney Olympics to Miami to be at the birth of his daughter, Myka Sydney Mourning. He then flew back across the world to be with the U.S. team after missing two inconsequential preliminary games.
"It was important for me to follow through on my commitment to my team," Mourning said at the 2000 Games. "I had to be there, and I have to be here."
Last March, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra missed a Sunday game in Indianapolis to be at the birth of his first child. He coached the next game two days later. Sure, it's different for a coach, the leader of a franchise. Or is it?
No one knows what Wade and his family are facing right now. Every birth, every baby is different.
"With my daughter coming a couple weeks early, she's a little tiny right now, so we're making sure health-wise that she's OK," Wade told the Associated Press. "And for me, once I leave and go back to the season, not really being able to be with me everywhere I go, this time right now, this bonding moment with my daughter is the most important thing in my life at this time."
It's all confusing, confounding and so personal. One of the healthy advancements in recent society is fathers taking on a more loving role. That's what most of me says. Part of me trots out the line of comedian Ray Romano: "If my father had been around more, I'd be an accountant."
You can picture Wade snuggling with the newborn baby against his chest. You don't even have to imagine it. He put the photo on social media, the happy father living the good life with his famous wife, Gabrielle Union. It wasn't an easy road to this baby by surrogate mother, as Union has shared.
Congrats to them.
Take all the time you want, Dwyane.
I'll just sit here trying not wonder how much time off in this case is too much.
