Off-Day Open Thread: A Question For Orlando Magic Fans

This team is not sexy enough for the average fan and doesn’t get pumped up enough by the national media for the fair weather fan to really stay tuned.

Love to see turk back of course, but its my team no matter what. No fair-weather fan here

If not GREAT too!!
Orlando MAGICS if 1st and foremost!!
I better have TRUE fans of the Magics than bandwagoners! Those come and go!!
I have taken a beating for been a Magic fan(ImfromPuerto Rico), since day one and that was in 1992,went they drafted Shaq “the imbesile”. Never look back and even tho im more a Dolphins fan, i always try to go to a MMagic game went i domy yearly trip to Miami for a Fin game! This was a great season,like the 95 one, but better, cause we did something diff, we lost 2 games that coulld change the history of the finals. I have been fighting with me friends(with words) about the Magics,so it has been a lil tuff forme,but now im feeling good and ready to get started next season.
About been a fan,i will keepbuying jerseys,baseball caps, etc and trying to acomodate a Magics game in the Dolphinns schedule as always, soo count on me. Dont really care about bandwagons!!

I was a little embarrassed by the Lakers-heavy crowds in Game Four and Game Five. The Lakers are a team that have a large fan base throughout the country (and a few people who only care about superstars). The same thing happens with the LeBrons. And I think the same thing happened with Boston.

Fans are attracted to winners. There is no deep-seeded attachment to the Magic. They have only been around for 20 years and struggled a lot. That is not how to build a fan base with people (read: kids) who can say this is my team, not just my town’s team.

If Orlando can maintain success next year, it may not just be a bandwagon full of fair-weathered fans. The actual fan base might grow (and we might get some of those national bandwagoners). I know SO many people who told me in high school and once I got to college that they were Magic fans back in the mid-90s.

Winning a title will get the attachment the team needs to build a true fan base. Orlando cannot leave the national spotlight right now.

I speak for myself when I say that the support for the Magic WILL be there next year, regardless of the Turk situation. I know, my family and I WILL be there; we will even commit to going to a couple of games (can’t do much more; just got out of bankruptcy a few years back, PLUS the Am Arena is NOT very wheelchair accessible-few fixed spots)

But I did not miss a single game, either on TV, or the radio. All the way to the end.

By the way, I digress of Andrea’s assessment of the end of game reaction. The fans turned their backs and left, NOT in reproach, or rejection of our Team, but on rejection of the whole Lakers Hoopla.

The Lakers won… or, rather we gave them this series; don’t matter. They deserved it. Congrats! BUT, I don’t have to KEEP rooting for THEM the whole night on!
I watched the Trophy presentation and turned the TV OFF. I LOVE OUR TEAM! I WILL support it any way I CAN. BUT, I don’t care for the Lakers 15th priced banner (though I really liked the OLD Lakers, with Jabbar, Worthy, Magic, etc…) and I am REALLY up to here (you know where) of the Lakers Legacy, the hyperbolic praise, the endless butt-kissing by the media. Season’s OVER; let’s get on with LIFE and see what happens next…

What did Andrea want? That the fans should have STAYED, give the LAKERS a 5-minute standing ovation? If I had gone, personally I would have stayed- no applause. But I understand if most fans left right after the final whistle: It’s NOT on OUR Magic; it’s on the Lakers and the whole absurd idolatry behind them THIS year…

We need to EARN our FIRST banner… trophy. We NEED it; the city NEEDS it. ALL of us who live in this small, beautiful landscape full of lakes, serene and secluded spots, yes, and this capital of lightning: We NEED this FIRST championship… and we WILL stand by OUR Team next year and for the next 20!

Turk is good but not THAT good!! He miss a LOT of easy shoots,them he save his butt by making a couple of 3’s. Overall hhe was a decent player maker, but not outstanding. He can be replace fr sure. The team dinamic is made for shooters, so anyone can shoot on open shoots. Look at this, we bring Alstod, Prietus, Johnson etc, all of them have great carrer stats THIS year in MAGIC uniform. Thats because Howard is in the middle getting doble and triple coverage,so u r gona have a lots of oopen shoots.
So! As long as Howard is in Magic uniforn we r good for a couple of runs to the final!!

However, unless Howard develops an actual post game, he will never fully realize his potential. I’m going to make a suggestion that will probably make long-time Magic fans cringe and/or call for my blood: get rid of Patrick Ewing and replace him with Hakeem Olajuwon. I respect Ewing as a player, but The Dream destroyed him in the Finals, and was a vastly superior center in nearly all aspects. Seeing Dwight equipped with his version of the Dream Shake would probably make most opposing centers pee their pants with fear. Just a thought, feel free to castigate me to your hearts content if you like(or laud me as a genius, that works too.)