Time to reflect and enjoy the moment

This is going to be one of those columns. Everyone in the Magic blogosphere is doing it. It is the post-mortem to the season. And it is the only way to cope with losing in the NBA Finals.

But I guess I have to throw my hat into the ring. This season was the season I became a fan again.

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but it bears repeating. Since I have become serious about journalism, the fan in me has slowly withered. I was always still passionate about my team. I stood up and cheered, pointed to the Fat Guy at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and cheered my ass off when I went to games.

But it was very different.

I started playing more seriously and actually learned the game. I looked at the game differently. And it changed my relationship to the Magic.

Going to college did not help. Not being able to watch the team on a consistent basis gave me an odd feeling of detachment. My first game after leaving for Northwestern was admittedly odd.

So I became more a journalist -- objective, analyzing and less optimistic -- when I watched the Magic. At the beginning of this season, I believed the goal was to get to the conference finals (or lose by seven in the second round). At the beginning of the playoffs, this would have made me happy.

As the Magic advanced, I stopped believing what my brain was telling me. I started believing my heart. I believed Orlando could give me the world.

My fandom was restored when I went to my first playoff game. Game Four against Boston. I was home for my cousin's Bar Mitzvah. Sure the Magic lost in the most crushing manner possible (although I was illogically upbeat about it), but the atmosphere reminded me why it was so great to be a Magic fan. I forgot how loud the building could get when it was full of crazed Magic fans.

Enjoying this season for me can be summed up in one crazed early morning.

After coming home from work after Game Five, I jokingly e-mailed my Mom telling her tickets were too expensive for me to fly home for Game Six. I received an e-mail from her the next morning asking me if I wanted to do it, she was willing to arrange it.

It took hours of weighing the pros and cons. And then I said, "When is the next time we will be here. I'm doing it." An 8 a.m. flight later (and half a paper), I was in the O-Rena for the Magic's Eastern Conference Championship-clinching game. It is a moment I will never forget.

This was the year I became a fan again. It was the season I believed my team could do anything. It was the year I drank the Kool-Aid and enjoyed it.

I truly believe the Magic could win the title. My brain told me the Lakers would win it. My heart told me Orlando could bring it home. And for the first time in a long time, I went with my heart.

And I do not regret it.

This was a fantastic ride. And I am happy to be along with it. I am happy the city jumped on. You never know when you can get back to the Finals again (it took the franchise 14 years to make its return). That makes it hard to swallow a championship loss.

But it made this season so much sweeter. It made this the most memorable team in Magic hisotry, maybe its best. It reawakened the basketball craze. And more than anything, that is what Orlando should remember about this team.

Magic Wands: June 12, 2009

-Why Dwight Howard is such a nice change of pace from the tyrannical reign of Shaquille O'Neal.

-Interesting compilation of NBA Finals coverage on ESPN. I am still working my way through everything, but it seems like there are a lot of nice factoids inside here.

-Once again, vote for your all-time favorite Magic player. And don't just pick someone on this year's team because you have only been following the Magic for the last three months.

-Something will have to change in this rule in the near future. Ricky Rubio is suing his team in Spain to allow him out of his contract -- or to reduce his buyout -- so he can play in the NBA. NBA teams are only allowed to contribute $500,000 to buyouts. Rubio's buyout is expected to be $4-5 million.

-Want to live next to Dwight Howard and golfer Chris DiMarco? Here's your chance.

-The other 28 teams are in offseason mode. And it looks like the New York Knicks will zero in on Marcin Gortat.

-The Magic are winning the tug-of-war battle with the Heat for the state's affection right now, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel says.

-Irsraeli league champion Carlos Arroyo is cheering on his former team.

-Apparently Reebok is all of a sudden unhappy that their client Marcin Gortat has a Michael Jordan tattoo on his right leg. He has had that ink for a while now. Don't know how they didn't notice.

-The NBA scores high marks for gender diversity in a new study.

-Deconstructing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's historic sky-hook.

-Marcin Gortat has the fastest car in the NBA. Or at least the loudest.

-The Magic have officially hit the big time. Dwight Howard will become the second Magic player to grace the cover of a video game box and the first to do so for the wildly popular NBA Live series. Howard will be the cover boy for NBA Live '10 (wanted to write 010, but that is just wrong). Looks like I will need to buy the newest version of NBA Live.

-John Hollinger uses his fancy stats to rank the NBA franchises. The Magic come in 15th (Insider Only) and Lakers are No. 1.

LATE Magic Wands: June 5, 2009

-Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated discusses the art of flopping.

-Former Magic center Ben Wallace may retire after Cleveland ousting from the postseason.

-Dennis Rodman now on Twitter.

-The Puns are Starting to Bore Me update the latest LeBron James and Kobe Bryant puppet commercials in light of Saturday's Game Six win.

-The WNBA's Phoenix Mercury will have an advertisement prominently displayed on their jerseys this year. Could it open the door for the NBA to have ads emblazoned on their jerseys?

-Going to the Finals will pay big dividends for the Magic.

-As long as the fans want him, Dwight Howard wants to be in Orlando. This article provides an interesting look into the motivations of a star player as he weighs whether to leave the city that drafted them or stay.

-It's OK Gators fans, Tim Tebow paid for his very expensive courtside seat to Game Six against Cleveland last Saturday.

-Former Magic coach Brian Hill compares Dwight Howard to Shaquille O'Neal. Let the fun ensue.

-Maybe now Dwight Howard is out of LeBron James' shadow.

-This trip to the Finals is clearly for the fans.

-There is an economic windfall from Orlando's advancing to the Finals. Translation: more money for Orlando businesses thanks to the city pride in its team.

-ESPN broadcaster Jeff Van Gundy talks to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Ira Winderman about the upcoming NBA Finals.

-Funny movie posters for the NBA Finals!

-Sweet wallpaper from The Orlando Sentinel for the NBA Finals.

-Kobe & LeBron: you will take this VitaminWater commercial and you will like it!

-Be sure to join the Twitter game against the Lakers. Put the hash tag (those happy "#" that underline the following word) before BeatLA on all Tweets tonight and for the rest of the series. Or copy and paste this: #BeatLA. Go Magic!

-NBATV is expanding its reach and Bethlehem Shoals of the Baseline blog hopes they find a way to take advantage of it.

-John Paulsen of The Scores Report says Otis Smith is the real Executive of the Year and defends his move to trade a much-improved Trevor Ariza last year.

-Lakers fans apparently REALLY hate LeBron James.

Magic in the conference finals? Still hard to believe

Orlando led by five points entering the fourth quarter. It was the type of situation in the team's series with Boston that was precarious.

Then the Magic extended the lead to double digits and built their lead back to 17 points. Even with the lead, it still seemed the Celtics had a great chance to close out and make a Game Five-type comeback. To Orlando's credit, the team learned its lesson and closed out the game.

And even with the Magic pulling away, it is tough to imagine them being in the Eastern Conference Finals. This was a series they should have finished in five.

But in the true character of the team, the only celebration was Rashard Lewis raising his arms and embracing Dwight Howard as the clock at the TD Banknorth Garden went to zero.

I will get to Cleveland a little bit more tomorrow.

But it still has not completely hit me that the Magic are in the conference finals, halfway to an NBA title. I have played the "this team is not ready to win a title" card all season. I still do not think the team has that special something to get the eight more wins it needs to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

What a step for this team though.

To get to this point for the first time in 13 years is an incredible accomplishment that deserves some recognition. I am sure after some reflection in the offseason -- or tip off on Wednesday -- I will begin to realize what this team has accomplished.

But perhaps right now, I am too close as a fan to appreciate everything. I guess I cheer like a coach. I expect perfection and after a game, I turn my attention to the next game. With a Finals berth only four wins away, it is a greedy get greedier proposition.

Reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 1996 is a fantastic accomplishment worth celebrating. It is just hard to celebrate as you get ready to go to war with a realistic -- and it is realistic chance -- to win a series.

But the Magic have certainly gained the respect of their hometown. Going to Game Four, made me extremely happy to be a Magic fan. I had not been to a playoff game since Game Six in the 2003 first round against the Pistons and the atmosphere was fantastic.

The city has gotten behind the team again. And people who were not fans before this year are fans for the first time, or fans again.

It is a good sign, but excuse me for not celebrating quite yet. There is plenty of work left to do. Reflection and celebration for a great season -- and this is a great season -- are for the offseason.

Magic Wands: March 13, 2009

-Very sad news for the Magic family. Former coach Chuck Daly has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I know everyone associated with basketball wishes the two-time NBA championship coach a speedy and complete recovery.

-Interesting thought from Henry Abbott. Next time you are at Amway Arena, give the person behind you a high five after a Dwight Howard dunk.

-Orlando is getting ready for the playoffs and you can really tell as Stan Van Gundy has experimented with Dwight Howard and Marcin Gortat in the same lineup. It worked Sunday. It did not work Monday. Expect to see it for the postseason. But Dwight, instead of the Polish Prince and Superman, can we call them Superman and Thor (he uses a hammer, just like the Polish Hammer).

-Magic games become more about the, well games.

-I wonder if players think about this kind of stuff. The Jazz won their 12th straight game on Wednesday and have a trip to Orlando planned pretty soon. The streak was snapped Wednesday in Atlanta, but if they had kept winning they would have gone for a franchise best-tying 15th straight win at Amway Arena on Sunday. This has to be the quietest 12-game winning streak in the history. But I am curious what the locker room in Orlando will be like if the Jazz escape Atlanta and Miami this week.

-Never take this for granted guys. But there was little fanfare for the Magic clinching a playoff berth Tuesday night. Sure it is better to do it and celebrate after a win (especially the way they beat down Chicago). But one thing I learned in Orlando's three-year absence from the postseason from 2004-2007 is not to take it for granted. So congratulations on officially making the playoffs. Still more work to do.

-I thought Dwight Howard wanted to go to Georgia Tech. Then again, Georgia Tech is not going to the dance this year.

-So what WOULD happen if Grant Hill were healthy? Glad you asked. Someone took the time to project the Magic's season (including draft picks) from the time Hill and Tracy McGrady signed on until McGrady was supposed to be traded. It is an interesting little study. Interestingly enough, Orlando does well... but not that well. More of a testament of how poor Doc Rivers and John Gabriel did selecting players to surround McGrady with. Then again, having Hill's salary off the books or on the court would have helped.

Why can't we be friends?

This is the kind of thing that makes me hate Shaquille O'Neal all over again.

Everyone knows the Magic drafted O'Neal with the first pick of the 1992 NBA Draft. Everyone knows he led the team to its first playoff berth and to the 1995 NBA Finals. And everyone knows he left in a very controversial, and somewhat shady, deal to Los Angeles in the summer of 1996.

He won his titles with the Lakers and then moved on to the Heat, leaving a wake of destruction and depression behind him.

You can understand if he has a little bit of an ego. He has four titles and has redefined his position -- by pushing big men to the outside rather than the inside.

In the twilight of his career, it seemed like he was finally going to be a likeable person and someone who realized his mistakes. He was doing so well.

I remember growing up and hating everything aobut the man. His departure was partly Orlando's fault, but everyone got the sense that he was going to leave the Magic from the moment they drafted him. So it was partly his ego too.

I could not stand the sight of O'Neal for most of my childhood.

And then I started to come around. I started to believe that the big kid had grown up and realized how great his career and how many teams he really disrupted -- he was at fault as much as Kobe Bryant was.

Then I read these comments about Dwight Howard, the guy most like him in the NBA. It brought out all those feeling of hate and disgust toward him.

He has not changed.

Howard says that he has asked for and gotten advice from all the great centers still around -- from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Bill Russell to David Robinson. He asked Shaq, who was his teammate at the All Star game two years ago and the clear next in line for the baton of big men, and had not received it.

Look, Howard is going to be better than Shaq in one sense. Shaq did not keep himself in shape and it hurt his overall legacy. Elliot Kalb listed him as the best player in basketball history ahead of Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain in his book Who's Better, Who's Best in Basketball. And he really could have been that good. He never cared enough to keep himself in shape.

Howard will do that and could be a much better player for it -- titles notwithstanding.

It is sad Shaq still has the ego that he cannot respect the future. Don't parents want to see their children become better?

If he built the Amway Arena -- which the sell outs in the first three seasons before O'Neal's arrival prove otherwise -- then he could at least help the guy who is building the new arena.

Over .500, got to love it

It is never not significant when your team gets win No. 42. Orlando got there with a win last night at New York.

Yes, the Magic are playing pretty mediocre basketball right now -- at least to their standards. But getting to win No. 42 more or less gets you a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

Better days are certainly ahead for this team. I think they are in one of their spells (they tend to happen in an 82-game season). They should right the ship soon.

Orlando got to win No. 42 and now have a guaranteed .500 record this season. For a team with such a mediocre history, that is an accomplishment worth noting.

Meet the people of Amway Arena

If you have been to Magic games at all in the last 20 years, you probably have seen all of the people described in this Orlando Sentinel article by Josh Robbins. They are as much a part of the game experience as the game itself.

I have been to plenty of games (and at one time could have probably made this list... still might, now that I think about it even though I have moved away to college) and have seen all of these people. I do not know them personally and this article was great to learn more about the people of Amway Arena.

I have some guys I would like to add to this list. Hopefully they write a second edition in the near future because the Magic have a lot of great and devoted fans.

The Fat Guy

This is a guy I do know pretty well. Sitting near the top of Section 102, he is the quintessential Magic fan. Dressing up completely in what looks like a home-designed shirts. He is great at pumping the fans up, taking laps around the stadium late in games to rile up the crowd. He is probably the one fan that would be allowed on teh court at any time (during a timeout) and no one would ever bat an eye.

The Sign Lady

Way up in the 200 sections, she waits for a point late in the game. A fourth quarter timeout is showtime for her. She displays her homemade signs of encouragement from the railing at the end of the upper bowl were a staple of the teams of the 90s. If I remember her uniform correctly she has some googly-eared head band to go with her Magic getup. I think she is back in the arena now after a short absence, but her signs have been a staple of Magic games and what one fan can do to inspire a team.

Got fan stories? I would love to add to this list, but it has been a while since I have been to a game. There are plenty of great fans at Amway Arena and they are certainly some of the best in the league.

Frame of mind all that is left

A few things suck about not being in Orlando. One of them is that I cannot watch the Magic. That leaves me needing to fill time when I would be watching Orlando play.

So after three hours of NBA Live 2004 (the best of the series... that I have played. And yes, I know that was the 21-61 team. But they did not know that at the time), I turned my computer back on and caught the Magic score. The game had just ended and I had no clue what happened.

But the Magic won.

First reaction? That was a solid win. I am impressed.

My second thought? Wait a second, of course we won. We are one of the best teams in the league. Why wouldn't the Magic win?

Thus I found the last hurdle to winning a title. Mediocrity has beaten down into our heads that wins against the elite are a special thing that do not come around very often. That good teams are fleeting and the Playoffs (let alone home court advantage) should be treasured.

If you have been a long-time fan, this guarded optimism should come natural -- as should the feeling of unexpected and immediate collapse. I cannot be the only one who thinks it is crazy that the premier Magic blog on the Internet is called Third Quarter Collapse and that I named my own blog after something that kept Orlando down in the dumps for a decade.

This Orlando team CAN win a title. Repeat after me. This Orlando team CAN win a title. Repeat. This Orlando team CAN win a title.

Maybe repetition will burn it into my skull. Now that the national media is starting to notice the Magic's exploits, it is time for the fans to start believing.

The team believes it can win a title. Otis Smith has been telling them that for three years now, probably longer. The media is beginning to gravitate in that direction.

All that is left is for us, the fans, to believe every game is a win. Which at this point it should be. A win over San Antonio should be as expected as a win over Washington.

OK, maybe that is a little extreme. But wins are expected, losses are shocking. Maybe if I keep telling myself that, I will believe it and will start prepping for June basketball.

A game that doesn't matter

I am home for the holidays. And when I am home for the holidays I do not miss an opportunity to go to Magic games.

I have been going to games my entire life and it meant so much to me growing up. I will not lie, when I was in elementary school and middle school I was one of those blind, naive superfans who would believe in anything the team did.

It was different going away to college and not being able to watch every game or go to as many home games as I did. The first trip back home for Thanksgiving to Amway Arena felt very odd. I felt disconnected from the team and I felt I needed to catch up on how the team was doing (the only game I had watched to that point was an opening day blowout win versus Chicago).

I have gotten used to this feeling a little bit and have grown to love reading everything about the team.

But something odd happened last night. I made the conscious decision not to attend Monday's game against the Warriors.

My rationale? Look at the final score of the game.

A lot of people I know were kind of shocked when I told them this. I was kind of shocked by my own decision, in fact.

But I think it means something about the team itself. Orlando has reached the point where the team is good enough that this game is not a question. It was a four-point game in the third quarter and then, bam, it was a 20-point lead. The Magic were in control of the game the entire time.

I know I am a bad fan and I salute the 17,461 (that cannot be right, it did not look like there were that many people) that attended the game. But this is the luxury of having a great team.

Don't worry, I still watched the game. And I will be back Thursday afternoon.

Attendance problems in Orlando

Nick Friedell from Yahoo!Sports' Ball Don't Lie blog filed a great report on the state of attendance in the NBA.

With the economy as bad as it is and people not looking to spend money on luxuries -- like, say, sporting events -- NBA attendance is taking a little bit of a hit. Friedell cites one columnist who even believes some NBA teams might be thinking of suspending operations because of financial problems. I don't think this will be the case. It is November and the perception is the season does not really start until February.

But this has to be a concern for Magic fans.

With only six games so far at Amway Arena (No. 7 tonight against the Toronto Raptors might draw a few more people because of last year's playoff series), Orlando is the only team with a winning record ranked in the bottom third of the league (at No. 20).

The Magic have always had attendance problems. Ever since Shaquille O'Neal left and the sell-out streak of the mid-90s ended, it has been an up-and-down roller coaster of support in the city. Usually by playoff time, people care. But generally, they do not.

I know last spring in the playoffs, people were going nuts over a team that advanced out of the first round for the first time in 12 years. Attendance that season was not even that great.

It did not help that Orlando lost local draw Carlos Arroyo. Despite Arroyo's mediocre play, it can't be doubted he drew a significant amount of the Hispanic market of the city (that Orlando had been trying to tap in to for years) to the arena. After the team acquired him, the next three games sold out and Puerto Rican flags could be seen waving throughout the stadium. His loss hurt ticket sales this year.

Don't underestimate the passing of the Orlando Events Center legislation either in attendance. It was a controversial topic and now that it has passed, maybe fans are expecting a little more from the team and organization.

The economy is not getting better any time soon. So expect attendance numbers to drop throughout the league.

All the team can do is win and put a pleasing product on the court so when someone decides to shell out $50 for a basketball game, they will want to do it in Orlando.

The Curse of the Big Aristotle

In 1997 the history of professional basketball was changed inexplicably.

It was that summer when Shaquille O'Neal left the Magic Kingdom in Orlando and leaped across the nation to the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland. It was that summer that the Los Angeles Lakers became a championship contender while the Orlando Magic were left to pick up the pieces.

It was that summer that the Curse of the Big Aristotle was born.

Ever since Orlando won that fateful Draft Lottery in 1992, the team's history would forever be tied with O'Neal's. He led the Magic to their first and only NBA Finals three years later (where they were swept by the defending champion Rockets).

His departure left a gaping 7-foot-1, 300-plus pound hole in Orlando's front line. The Magic were forced to watch from the sidelines as the Lakers won title after title while they slipped into mediocrity and irrelevancy.

It was at this moment that Orlando became somewhat of a laughing stock -- making questionable moves (trading Ben Wallace), poor draft choices (Reece Gaines) and poor free agent decisions (Grant Hill).

It was at this moment the Curse of the Big Aristotle began.

The time after O'Neal's departure was not horrible for the franchise. Orlando has made the playoffs in seven years in the 12 years since Shaq left. But the team did not make it past the first round until last season.

Between then there were successful years, unsuccessful years and mediocre years.

While the curse may be broken, its effect on the Magic fan will not be forgotten. An indelible print on the franchise forever.

This blog is dedicated to the culture of the Orlando Magic. As the team enters its 20th anniversary, it is trying to find the Magic Generation.

I am part of that generation. These are our (my) stories.

The Magic have been part of my life since I was born 20 years ago and I have been going to games ever since I can remember. While I am at school now away from Orlando and Florida, I keep a close eye on how the team is doing and the perception of the team away from the City Beautiful.

I hope my experience and commentary will add a new perspective on the Magic.

Welcome to the Curse of the Big Aristotle...