You can scream, you can curse, you can cry, you can throw your food across the room. Or if you are like Sister Margaret Ann and the four other nuns at Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School in Miami -- you can pray.
And that's exactly what the five sisters did, and they were seen doing so as virtual fans on Tuesday night when their Miami Heat beat the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. (The prayers worked, as Miami won 117-114 in overtime.)
Sister Margaret and her fellow nuns posted a video last week cheering on their hometown team, and also adding extra cheers for Heat guard Kendrick Nunn (#NunsforNunn, get it?) and telling coach Erik Spoelstra they are available to help out on the court. After the video went viral, they were invited by the team to be virtual fans.
Nun to Nunn @miamiheat if you need to expand your roster for the Eastern Conference Finals
— Archbishop Carroll (@CarrollBulldogs) September 10, 2020
We Got You! #NunToNunn#CarrollStrong #CarrollProud #UnitedInBlack @nunnbetter_ @nbc6 @local10news @foxsportsflorida pic.twitter.com/Jodynm2BKg
The fandom isn't new for these nuns. It dates back to 2013, when former Heat superstar Dwyane Wade surprised a Carroll student as her date to prom after she asked him multiple times. The school made news headlines again in 2017 after the Heat honored Sister Margaret at a game for helping clean up after Hurricane Irma. The two have been intertwined in the South Florida community ever since.
"I played basketball in high school and college and so did one of the other sisters, so we like basketball and of course you always root for your hometown team," Sister Margaret told ESPN ahead of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. "And our students, they love basketball and athletics is such a big part of their life. And so we kind of join in the fun with the students as well."
The sisters haven't been invited back as virtual fans -- yet -- but depending on how the rest of the series goes, Heat fans may be pushing for them to make a return.
mood pic.twitter.com/66FKpbRBhC
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) September 16, 2020
"Whether we're there or not, we'll be praying that they do well," Sister Margaret said.
Sister Margeret told ESPN that basketball was her future "until God called me elsewhere," but that hasn't stopped her from explaining basketball to the other sisters who might not know as much as she does. It is also helping the nuns and their school find joy during the coronavirus pandemic.
"Right now, with the pandemic, our students are suffering by not being able to be with their friends, our teachers, everybody," Sister Margaret said. [To] have your hometown team doing well and bringing that joy and excitement -- we just need it. We need it to give us hope, to bring us forward, to get us moving."
