Love does not see as clearly as logic.

Forming opinions in an emotional state can cloud reality. It buries facts, but more importantly, the truth.

Sports are a microcosm of society. They mirror our culture.

This is why sports can often be rationalized through a sociological perspective, one that allows us to see things through a much clearer lens.

Opinions, perceptions and expectations in sports are formed by answering one simple question: Do we, or do we not like you?

For example, if the New York Yankees are down 4-0 in the ninth inning and Alex Rodriguez hits a solo home run, we see it as meaningless.

‘Of course A-Rod would hit a home run right now,’ we’d grumble. ‘A-Rod took steroids,’ we’d protest.

We don’t like him.

But, if Derek Jeter hits the same home run he’s seen as captain clutch, the leader taking it upon himself to rally the troops and bring the team back.

Do we, or do we not like you?

Mike Bibby just sacrificed $6 million – MILLION – dollars to sign with the Miami Heat for the chance to win a title, something you rarely see in this era of excessive greed.

Yet, they continue to receive such vicious criticism. People just don’t like the Heat.

They’re forever plagued, all because of one person, LeBron James, and one television program, “The Decision.”

Clearly unanticipated by LeBron and his handlers, the fallout from “The Decision” is still being felt, and is in turn negatively affecting the Heat and our perception of them.

And it’s finally starting to resonate in the Miami locker room.

“The Miami Heat are exactly what everyone wanted, losing games,” Dwayne Wade said after Sunday’s home loss to Chicago. “The world is better now because the Heat is losing.”

Unfortunately, Wade is angling for sympathy that doesn’t exist.

Because there is so much negative emotion and so many pessimistic opinions floating around Miami, the people who don’t like the Heat will call them inept, choke artists and mentally weak whenever the tiniest sample is presented that might reiterate these existing and standoffish opinions.

Even if it’s as microscopic as an inadvertent shoulder bump from player to coach.

The reality is that the Heat don’t lead off SportsCenter when they’ve won 21 of 22 games. Chris Bosh is seen as soft and untrustworthy when he puts up a disturbing 1-18 performance against Chicago in a primetime game.

But what about his 24 points and 13 rebounds against the Lakers on Christmas? What about the 13 first-half points he sparked the Heat with in Sunday’s game against the Bulls? Oh yeah, they lost.

And so the rule of thumb is for the Heat: no-win, unless you win every time.

What’s that old saying? Happiness is your reality, divided by your expectations?

What’s wrong with the Heat? Nothing except an inability to reach unprecedented and inflated expectations thus far.

The Heat’s expectations are absurd, and now, after a disturbing stretch of failure – starting a 10-game stretch against playoff competition 0-4 – those expectations are drifting further away.

Ever wonder why divorce rates are so high? Because we make serious – and sometimes forever – decisions when we are happiest, which actually is as smart as doing the same when we are angriest.

We say, “I love you” when we experience our most joyous moment, just as we “need to talk” after a drunken argument at Kilroys the night before. Emotion clouds our perception and judgment and we forget about reality, leading to rash decisions.

So every time the Heat struggle, we critique, poke fun and take our best jabs at them as fast as we can – losing sight that Miami ranks second in the NBA in point differential (historically, the best determinant of how good a team is) – because when they lose, we are happy and while maybe not our expectation, a Heat loss is in fact our desire, and we make decisions based off emotion.

And if you haven’t noticed, emotion in Miami is at an extreme. This is why the NBA and the Heat’s following has become so appealing and entertaining to America.

This might be the most interesting NBA regular season we’ve ever seen.

The emotions have raised the stakes, and it’s a burden the Heat must shoulder; the burden of every regular season carrying a playoff like atmosphere, with only a jam-packed room full of irritating reporters and bright camera flashes waiting on the other side.

Three, two, one…smile.

Ask Mike Bibby if he’s enjoying his stay at LeBronapalooza. He was thrown into this frenzy just under a week ago. Bibby was greeted with a standing ovation when he entered his first game midway through the first quarter (most likely for not being Mario Chalmers).

About an hour and a half later, he was being booed back to the bench. Welcome to Miami, home of LeBronapalooza where the emotional rollercoaster never stops.

It’s predictable that amid all the hype people would find holes to peer into, even if they are small, or not there at all, especially seeing that America has met the hype with disapproval.

The Heat have felt doubt before though. But what’s troubling is not that they’ve felt it before, it’s why they felt it before.

There were valid and logical reasons to shield the Heat’s troubling 9-8 start.

Wade missed the preseason, and then Chris Bosh was hurt. And then James and Bosh hadn’t played together before. Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem were injured. The team needed to gel at full health, all of which totaled a head-scratching 9-8 start and all of the smoke from July’s premature firework celebration having all but evaporated.

Then, after an emotional uplift against Cleveland everything was fixed and Wade, James and Bosh were hash tagging #winner.

To their dismay, it was not because of a newly found cohesiveness or putting locker-room issues to rest, but more so due to a soft schedule resulting in #winning 21 out of 22 games.

Now, again being faced with panic and doubt, those excuses are long gone. There is no PR team to shelter them now.

There are no Torontos or Minnesotas on the upcoming schedule, and they will unlikely be meeting Cleveland in the playoffs.

There’s nothing to make everybody ignore the most frightening week of basketball the Heat have played all season.

It’s not frightening because they blew an unfathomable 24-point lead to Orlando, or two double-digit second half leads to Chicago, or got whacked by 30 points at San Antonio.

It’s frightening because the excuses have run out. Wade, James, Bosh and Miller are all healthy. They have a veteran point guard. They’ve had time to gel. Actually, according to Chris Bosh they gelled after 20 games (don’t jump the gun now, Chris).

They’re healthy, gelled, and still getting beat. A lot.

The idea of losing four in a row, blowing a 24-point lead and getting shellacked by 30 didn’t seem possible when Wade, James and Bosh were rising from a smoke-lit stage in July like a rock band.

LeBron likely never imagined missing four game-winning shots in as many games when he was holding the sports world hostage last spring.

It’s starting to get a little cloudy in here, huh?

Maybe these losses mean something. Or maybe Orlando just got hot and San Antonio hit a franchise-record 17 three pointers?

What is for certain is that it is producing another emotional cloud, blocking the larger truth.

The truth that the Heat are inarguably a good basketball team and as much as America is rooting against them, doubting them – myself included – the only question that really matters is: do they, or do they not care?