James' first moments in a Heat uniform in July (Click on the photo for more)

Two months before the Miami Heat and its all-star trio — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — take on the National Basketball Association, scalpers report ticket prices for Heat games home and away are burning up.

A Fort Lauderdale ticket broker tells Page2Live that some courtside seats for the Heat’s Oct. 29 home-opener against the Orlando Magic are selling for $7,500-a-piece!

“And if the Heat win their first 10-12 games, it’s going to go past $10,000,” said Todd Chitoff of ticketplayground.com.

Nosebleed ducats with face values around 50 bucks are going for an average of about $450 at the Boston Celtics, where the retooled Heat open the season Oct. 26, and at American Airlines Arena for the Orlando home opener.

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

Wade with Union Friday at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood (Click on the photo for more)

Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade is finally out of the closet. With B-list actress Gabrielle Union. For the first time in the nearly two years they’ve been dating, Wade and Union, 37, walked the red carpet of an event together instead of having her sneak in through the back door. Wade, 28, a former Father of the Year, had his divorce from high school sweetheart Siohvaughn finalized last month. Lovebirds Wade and Union were at his, and former Heat star Alonzo Mourning’s, the Summer Groove’s Comedy Jam Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Resort in Hollywood. Then Sunday, she visited D-Wade on the bench of at the Groove’s All-Star game at the American Airlines Arena.

Union visited D-Wade on the bench during the Groove's hoops game Sunday (Click on the photo for more)

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– Click here for more on The Summer Groove

The Summer Groove, a four-day charity fundraiser started by former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning and partly run by Dwyane Wade kicked off with a golf tournament Wednesday at The Doral. The Groove continues through the weekend with a comedy show and a gala at the Seminole Hard Rock Resort in Hollywood, and a celebrity hoops game Sunday at the American Airlines Arena downtown Miami. Click here, or on the photo, for Michele Sandberg’s pictures of Wednesday’s golf, which lured the likes of former Heat star Tim Hardaway and former Dolphins’ running back Keith Byars. New Heat LeBron James has yet to be seen at the event, but there’s a rumor he may play in the celebrity basketball game:

Heat superstar Dwyane Wade prepares to swing Wednesday at The Doral (Click on the Michele Sandberg photo for more)

– Click here for pbpulse’s story on the Summer Groove

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Hoops superstar LeBron James arrived at the W South Beach about 3:30 a.m. today after announcing he’d be playing for the Miami Heat in the upcoming NBA season. Current team franchise player Dwyane Wade, who was instrumental in convincing James to sign on with the Heat, welcomed James at a small gathering in a secluded room at the hotel. Click here for more exclusive pictures.

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King James, partying in Miami Beach this weekend?

If there’s little doubt basketball superstar LeBron James will pick the Miami Heat as the team on which he’ll win a slew of NBA championships, here’s a clue that should make his ESPN announcement at 9 p.m. even less of a mystery: James and his posse will be partying in South Beach all weekend!

Word is starting to seep out that the dunk demon has reserved two dozen rooms and six poolside cabanas at the fashionable W South Beach, starting tonight and through Sunday.

I mean, if the guy were to tell the world he’ll play in a crappy place like, say, Cleveland, or one full of itself like, say, New York, then would he be planning a weekend in South Beach?

A spokeswoman at the W said hotel officials never comment on guests. But then, she didn’t deny the report, first put out by US Weekly.

The Heat yesterday announced they re-sign all-star Dwyane Wade and Toronto Raptors artist Chris Bosh.

James will make his announcement from Greenwich, Conn. But three hours later, he’s expected at the W.

Welcome home, big guy!

The Wades, in better times (Click on photo for more)

Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade’s ongoing divorce case is getting stranger by the day.

A week after the baller’s soon-to-be-ex-wife filed a lawsuit against Wade’s mistress, two-bit actress Gabrielle Union, a judge ordered sheriff’s deputies to find and arrest the mother of Wade’s two boys. Siohvaughn Wade failed to materialize for Monday’s divorce hearing in the couple’s hometown of Chicago.

Exasperated by a pattern of erratic behavior, the judge also ordered Siohvaughn to pay a $10,000-bond to regain her freedom if the deputies find her, according to the Associated Press.

UPDATE: Siohvaughn turned herself in Tuesday morning, paid her bond and was released an hours later.

Dwyane Wade’s attorneys were planning to ask for the custody of the boys at Monday’s hearing, which was postponed.

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

Miami Heat President Pat Riley, team superstar Dwyane Wade and retired Heatster Alonzo Mourning at the Miami Children's Hospital Gala (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

The sideshow of Dwyane Wade making it sorta official that he’s dating C-list actress Gabrielle Union didn’t distract from the true nature of Friday’s fund-raiser for the famed Miami Children’s Hospital, a traditional kickoff of SoFla’s social season.

More than 400 well-heeled South Floridians plunked down $1,000-per for the black tie at the Biltmore Hotel. They watched Wade getting inducted into the hospital’s Hall of Fame for his work with children. And they heard Oprah Winfrey protege Charice, a 17-year-old singer, perform in a voice that puts Whitney Houston’s to shame.

Hard to believe, but the gala was scaled down from last year, when the party on the floor of the AmericanAirlines Arena in downtown Miami featured pop superstar Beyonce.

Still, the guest list this time around wasn’t too shabby. It included Miami Heat head honcho Pat Riley and retired Miami Heat tall-head Alonzo Mourning, who flashed a photo of his month-old son Alijah to anyone who’d offer congratulations.

Organizers already knew they wouldn’t be able to equal last year’s loot, a SoFla-record $12 million. But they tried hard, with clever things like the $1,000 lemonade glass (Frangelico, Stoli, lemonade — and a diamond).

For a slew of pictures of the gala by Michele Sandberg, look below

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Ball chairman Juan Carlos Mas and wife Vivian

Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade and his mistress, C-list actress Gabrielle Union, have tried desperately to keep their relationship a secret, but this week has been a coming out party of sorts for them.

Either that, or they’re getting careless.

First, the lovebirds were spotted in full on canoodles in a private club level suite at Land Shark Stadium during Monday Night Football, and missed long stretches of an epic game.

Then last night, although she sneaked in through the back door, Wade took Union to the yearly Miami Children’s Hospital gala — one of Miami’s biggest social rendez-vous of the year.

Wade and Union at Friday's Miami Children's Hospital gala (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Wade and Union, who has a recurring role in the ABC scifi series FlashForward, giggled like school kids at the table of Miami philanthropist Juan Carlos Mas. They held hands under the table, when Wade didn’t rest his left paw on her lap or sneak an occasional peck.

Wade later in the evening pronounced himself honored to be inducted in the famed hospital’s hall of fame.

Who gets in?

Wade and Union at Friday's Miami Children's Hospital gala (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

“People who have gone above and beyond for children,” said the hospital’s VP for marketing, Jamie Holt.

Wade joins in the hall the likes of songbird Beyonce, legendary University of Miami QB Jim Kelly and actress Kelly Preston (John Travolta’s missus).

Holt tells me Wade, who obviously forgot his dinner jacket on his way to the black-tie, first came on the fund-raisers’ radars two years ago. As Wade nursed a serious injury, he quietly spent hours watching Heat basketball on television with ill children treated at the facility. Holt also cited Wade’s own charity for at-risk children, Wade’s World, as another reason for his induction.

“I was floored when I was picked,” Wade said. “A lot of people helped me when I was growing up. Helping children is in my DNA.”

Wade’s nasty divorce from wife Shiovaughn, by the way, is still pending in a court in the couple’s native Chicago. Allegations in the case include that last season’s top scorer hasn’t been seeing much of his own three young boys and repeatedly cheated on Shiovaughn. Wade is also entangled in a legal battle with a business partner who claims he rented a pad in Miami Beach for Wade where sex parties took place.

Wade's publicist, Lisa Joseph, try to hide what the world knows (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

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Update: Marc Anthony was introduced as the Miami Dolphins newest minority owner in New York this morning. In addition to his plunking down his and JLo’s hard-earned cash, he gets to sing the national anthem at the Oct. 12 Monday night home game.

We knew that Palm Beacher Stephen Ross, the new owner of the Miami Dolphins, has some sort of obsession with celebrities, but it’s getting ridiculous.

Word is that Ross, one of the country’s largest land developers, is trying to sell a piece of the football franchise to Miami Beach salsero Marc Anthony.

Like BFFs, Anthony and Ross arrive at Thursday's Univision Premios Juventud awards in Coral Gable

Whether Ross succeeded is unclear. Sources are playing it close to the vest. But Ross is wheeling out Anthony for a press conference in New York City Tuesday. There’s supposed to be a “major” announcement.

How major? Major enough to have NFL commish Roger Goodell sitting in.

For much more, including what else Ross may be up to, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Dwyane Wade on the red carpet of the Summer Groove Friday night

The Summer Groove, a weekend long charity wingding thrown every year by Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade and Heat retiree Alonzo Mourning, is in full swing.

In addition to a celebrity ball game with the likes of Lebron James Sunday evening at the Triple A downtown Miami, the duo has come up with a full schedule of goodies, including a $500-a-head gala dinner tonight at the Seminole Hard Rock.

And Friday night, Cedric The Entertainer had Groove goers in stitches at the event’s comedy show, also at the Hollywood casino/resort.

For more Storms Media Group photos of Friday night’s red carpet arrivals, including Wade galpal Gabrielle Union, look below or click (Read more…)