Lakers fans posed next to burning paper while celebrating their team's 99-86 NBA Finals win over Orlando in downtown Los Angeles Sunday. Police arrested 18 people for disturbing the peace, arson and other infractions. Eight officers received minor injuries. (Philip Scott Andrews/Associated Press)
Think about it. Aren't you glad now that the Orlando Magic didn't win the NBA Finals? If the Magic had won, then Orlando Magic fans would've felt compelled to destroy their own town, keeping up with a long tradition of vandalism from sports victories around the world.
Now that it's over, I'll say my peace about the Orlando Magic and the fans. I don't care. Really, truly, I just don't really care about professional sports. The Orlando Magic do not represent Orlando. Trust me, they will leave Orlando if their contract allows and there is a better job opportunity awaits them elsewhere. That isn't a criticism, it's just a business reality. The Orlando Magic is a show. It's paid entertainment. They did a great job of entertaining their fans this year, but so did the cast of Burn Notice taping their TV show in Miami. When that series ends, the cast and crew will go on to the next job, and so will the Magic.
So why do people get excited about professional sports, particularly at playoff time? There is absolutely no reason to do so. They aren't playing for your honor. They aren't playing to earn a tax break for you. As residents of Orlando (and the surrounding area), we get absolutely the same result if the Magic had won or lost the NBA finals - nothing! Not a damn thing.
While I don't care one way or another about the final outcome, I have to say that I'm glad it's over. Everywhere I went, people were expressing their "support" for the Orlando Magic. All of which had absolutely no effect upon the outcome, but it deludes the fans into thinking that "we" are all in this together. "We" can win.
Jesus, please. "We" weren't slugging it out during the whole NBA season. "We" weren't showing up for practice. "We" didn't have to fly back and forth across the country during post-season. "We" didn't do shit to affect the outcome of the game. Give the players, coaches and staff of the Orlando Magic the credit that THEY deserve.
I've heard that some of the "real" fans of the Orlando Magic didn't like all the new, "fake" fans who only start cheering once the team has already made it to the playoffs. On the one hand, I can understand. It's as though some interlopers showed up to take a piece of the glory that they didn't earn. Except, on the other hand, there is no glory for the fans. Remember, you didn't do a damn thing. At least, you didn't do anything to help the team win. Sure, you filled up the bars and yelled at TV sets, but I suspect most of you realize that a guy busting his ass on a basketball court isn't really able to psychically glean your beer-induced screams and push that much harder toward victory.
There is no point in having civic pride in the results of paying entertainers to come work in our town. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean I have anything against them. I've met a few Magic players and each one seemed like a nice guy to me. I worked out in the same room at RDV with General Manager Otis Smith and thought the man was a great gentleman. I've run into other former pro basketball players around town who were assisting the Magic at one time or another (everyone from Curly Neal of the Harlem Globetrotters to Dr. J) and found each of them really nice. Even Dennis Scott was nice back in the days when he was hanging out at Pure Platinum watching naked women dance. I won't say that I know these people, but they were nice when we crossed paths. However, that's just not an excuse to believe that they really represent the town. They have a business endorsement from the city. We spend a LOT of our tax dollars supporting the Orlando Magic. Let's not forget when the Magic threatened to leave Orlando for another city during the 1990's. Money talks.
Wearing those Orlando Magic jerseys and t-shirts is really no different than the tourist that goes home with a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. It's just a way to show people who you like to pay for your entertainment.
So let's be glad it's over and we didn't win. Now we don't have to spend more of our tax dollars repairing the destruction to our town. We'll let Los Angeles deal with the burning cars, broken glass, and injured cops. Congratulations, Lakers.
