Some random memories of mine
When I was 11 years old, my parents couldnt afford cable or league pass. So I would "watch" the play-by-play on NBA.com to see the latest play, and that is how I followed Tracy McGrady's 62 pt game live.
In early middle school, high school years, I still had no way of watching Magic games. I couldnt afford league pass, but NBA.com offered free radio broadcasts, and that is how I followed Magic games. The most memorable one was Dwight Howard's game winning dunk vs Spurs. I heard that game live and it was insane, one thing people forget about that game is that Jameer Nelson scored like 18 pts in a row at one point. (Maybe not in a row, but he was on a heater)
The very first Magic game I attended was in 2008, it was vs Rockets. Back in the day, they would open the arena, like an 60-90 minutes before tip off, and we could go courtside and see whoever was warming up. And the players would go sign autographs when they finished. I still have Jameer Nelson, Tony Battie, Carlos Arroyo, Adonal Foyle and Brian Cook's autographs on sheets of paper and on the game pamphlets. Anyway we lost that game, I remember Rafer Alston killing us in the 4th quarter. And Adonal Foyle hit a tip-in shot to tie the game at the end of regulation but it was waved off but on the replay, it looked like he got it off in time. If this was social media era, I think it wouldve gotten a lot more controversy
anybody remember this game?
One more thing, I was still listening to games on NBA.com, and I think I was the only one listening to the games, because at halftime they would ask to write in a question, and eventually would giveaway courtside tickets, well I wrote in almost every game, and like 65% of the time, it was my question they read and I won the courtside tickets. When I won, they were surprised that I was not local and a high school student
. They put me on air to answer the question, and the question was do we need to upgrade at point guard, and I nervously said no, Jameer Nelson is a good player and Carlos Arroyo is a good pg off the bench lol. Btw Dennis Neumann and Richie Adubato were the best in the business, yes it sucked having to listen to radio, but they were an absolute joy to listen to and they made the games so visual and exciting.
Anyway I think our series vs. Cavs in 09 was the peak moment in my fandom. Nobody thought we were going to win except Charles Barkley. I remember being scared **** after the first half, but we stormed back and won the game. I think the OT Win in Game 4 is my favorite Magic game of all-time.
Its been a dull years but still some good memories, the last 3 playoff series, we've had, we won game 1 every time?? I remember Big Baby having a great series vs Indiana. The DJ Augustin gamewinning 3 was really memorable to me because it ended being such a good day for me in other ways besides basketball.
I hope my next great memory is in this years playoffs, I hope to make it to Orlando for a home game but Im also broke right now
If you actually read this post, I appreciate you because this is a lot of TLDR
