A courtside Hornets fan in a purple shirt and headband drew lots of attention in Game 6 of the Hornets-Heat series on Saturday night. ESPN’s cameras caught the fan heckling Dwyane Wade multiple times. He became known as Purple Shirt Man/Purple Shirt Guy on Twitter. Purple Shirt Man even yelled things at Wade while his team was losing late in the fourth quarter.
This guy was dedicated. It didn’t work because Wade scored a clutch 3-pointer and a fade away jumper within the final minute that helped seal Miami’s win to push for a Game 7, but still, this guy never let up. The Charlotte Observer‘s Théoden Janes spoke to Purple Shirt Man the day after the game (his name is Michael Deason). Deason said that he has been trash talking players from his courtside seat for years.
He told The Observer that on Friday night, he was telling 34-year-old Wade that he should retire.
Deason told the Charlotte Observer he has been a season-ticket holder for about seven years and drives down to every game from the Greensboro area and admits there’s been bad blood between him and the Heat for awhile.
Additionally, Deason confirmed that he is indeed that fan who was almost ejected for getting into it with Kevin Durant (he told Janes he said to Durant, “You’re third (best) in the league, dude – stop crying”). And he said that this might be his final season sitting in that seat for various reasons. #PurpleShirtMan #PurpleShirtGuy
It was interesting while it lasted.
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