ESPN goes overboard with special page to follow the Miami Heat

This is not really Bay Area news but since I know most of us have a massive hatred for the east coast bias that ESPN provides I thought I would pass it along.

ESPN has announced that they will launch a new section on the NBA page of ESPN.com called “The Heat Index.” This section will be used to keep up with the Miami Heat all season long and provide daily coverage of the Heat.

They have hired four writers to contribute to The Heat Index: 

• Brian Windhorst – formerly with the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, Windhorst is one of the leading authorities on LeBron James. Windhorst has written two books about James and has covered him since middle school. Windhorst has been the Cavs beat writer/blogger for seven years and has won awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Associated Press. Windhorst will be based in Miami as one of two regular beat writers assigned to the team.
• Michael Wallace – Wallace has been the Miami Herald’s Heat beat writer for the previous three seasons and is an experienced sports and news reporter. Wallace, an award-winning writer, will team with Windhorst as regular Heat beat writers covering the team daily throughout the season.
• Kevin Arnovitz – in addition to his role as managing editor and contributor to ESPN.com’s TrueHoop Network, Arnovitz will provide digital media content and edit portions of The Heat Index.
• Sebastian Martinez-Christensen – Martinez-Christensen will be a regular contributor to The Heat Index. He formerly served as a multi-lingual columnist and contributor for ESPNDeportes.com, a reporter for ESPN Deportes (radio and television) and ESPN Deportes La Revista magazine.

On top of the daily coverage they have added some absolute ridiculous features to this page. Here are some of the more obsurd ones:

• Chase for 72 – an automated, daily forecast of how many games the Heat will win including ESPN.com’s John Hollinger projecting the odds of the Heat matching the Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins.
• Tracking the Big 3 – an automated tracking of how James, Wade and Bosh stack up against the best trios in NBA history.
• Hollinger’s All-Time Power Rankings – a ranking pinning the Heat against the NBA’s all-time great teams.
• Triple-Double Tracker – a module tracking James’ progress towards averaging a triple-double for an entire season