An Appreciation of Shaquille O'Neal
Written by Maxwell Effort   
Wednesday, 11 November 2009 12:47

Shaquille O'Neal. Those are probably the 2 most hated words in the history of the Orlando Magic. I have never met a single Orlando Magic fan who was not disgusted with Shaq moving on to the Lakers and his comments about the city. We watched Shaq win 3 championships with his new franchise. He then moves on to our chief rival and wins another!!

During this time our team bordered between mediocre and abysmal. We missed on nearly every draft pick and our 2 biggest free agent signings were a quitter and a guy who could never get himself healthy no matter how hard he tried.

But now as Shaq's time in the NBA winds down and he has become a shell of himself I find myself appreciating what he gave to this franchise. Before last year he led us to our absolute apex and put the Orlando Magic on the NBA map. Magic fans always feel like the mainstream media dismisses us but the truth is if you are not winning or compelling the national media does not care about small market teams. Shaq forced them to take notice of our team and notice they did. Our city was rocking and it was next to impossible to get a ticket to a Magic game. It was a whirlwind of joy and excitement and as great and as fast as it came it seemed to leave that much quicker.

I think it speaks to Shaq's greatness that we hate him so much. If he goes to LA and is just average we feel vindicated and we get to say I told you so. We care less about his constant comments that put us down and the fact that the NBA seemed to circumvent the cap so he could move to LA. The fact is he dominated and we got to watch him do with Kobe and Wade what he should have been doing with Penny. We were betrayed and each year it seemed to get worse and worse.

Now our franchise is thriving as we get to enjoy the best big man in the game and our roster is an embarrasment of riches. The city is again abuzz and expectations could not be higher.

It seemed like we would never get here again and somehow we did. Our franchise has been able to turn the corner and so I can now say thank you Shaq, your time here in Orlando truly was great and memorable.

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We are Terry and The Pump Fakes, Jareth Cutestory, Vile Feminista, Maxwell Effort, I 3 Freely, Paul Ego, Supply and Demand, El Fantasma de Carlos, The Big Train, The Nickel Steak, Ayo!, and Tyson J. Perfect. Together, we are Magic fans. We remember Nick’s steal against Jordan, Billy Donovan, Scott Skiles, Jerryl Sasser and Reece Gaines, The Mac Attacks, the NBA on NBC, and Grant Hill’s ankle. We also watch TV and read the internet, thus noticing the endless flow of unoriginal Orlando Magic related puns. We have combined to discuss the Magic, the NBA, and from time to time supply side economics and the life of Leonardo da Vinci. Together we are The Puns Are Starting to Bore Me.

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