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Miami Heat and Florida Panthers on verge of victory. We shouldn’t be fair-weather fans | Opinion

We haven’t been here in awhile.

As a region, we have not been on the verge of starting a run at the NBA Finals since 2013, thanks to Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, who took us there. Seems like a lifetime ago.

And the last time the Florida Panthers were in the Finals was in the “rat-infested” 1996 season. That was 27 years ago.

But is it the fluke that some say?

Both the Heat and the Panthers were ranked eighth when the playoffs began, and they are now one of two teams left standing in their leagues. Each are four games from reaching the pinnacle in their sport.

It all begins first for the Heat with Thursday’s Game 1 in Denver against the Nuggets. The Panthers set off on their quest on June 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Fluke or not, we love the magical things sports or, more precisely, a winning team, can do. They can create a sense of community and unity in a city bearing the cracks of divisiveness and strife.

Nothing brings Miami together like a sports team to root for. We’re often accused of being fair-weather fans. We own it. We excel at it.

It’s a great time to be here. And we get to go out on the street with our kitchen pots and pans and make fools of ourselves in front of Versailles or the La Carreta.

That’s always been the beauty of sports in Miami. And, at this level of competition, it also offers an examination of the human spirit and the will to win.

In the next few weeks, we will fall in love with this or that player. Some of us will learn who Jimmy Butler is and how to pronounce Bam Adebayo; we’ll learn to loathe all the Denver Nuggets players collectively — especially Nikola Jokic.

We’ll scream at the top of our lungs; or cringe when a crucial play goes south for either team.

We’ll go to watch parties or stay on the couch at home.

We’ll have our hearts broken or have our belief that miracles can happen affirmed.

We’ll crown new heroes.

There are always life lessons in sports.

We’ll learn the value of never giving up and reaching past exhaustion because you desperately want to win.

As we watch the Heat and the Panthers, we’ll also be keeping an eye on the saga of soccer superstar Lionel Messi saga. Is he coming to Miami? Speaking of uniting the community, he could do it.

The latest rumor is that FC Barcelona and Inter Miami have discussed the possibility of an arrangement in which Miami signs the Argentine superstar and then loans him to Barcelona for six to 18 months.

We know Messi’s contract with Paris Saint-Germain expires on June 30. Will he move to Major League Soccer? Messi owns a vacation home in South Florida.

Sports and speculation — what would we do without them?