The Orlando Magic hosted a holiday party for 42 local families.
"“This is one of the nicest events that I’ve ever been a part of,’’ gushed Lopez, who attended a Christmas party put on by the Magic’s players and coaches for 42 families affiliated with the Apopka Family Learning Center. “This is just what it’s all about, guys like these players giving back to the community. It’s just a great gesture by them.’’The Magic’s players, coaches and basketball operations staff donated approximately $30,000 to fund a party in which the 42 local families were given a large box of toys and supplies for the kids and adults. And then, just as the families thought that the Magic players had left the event, the players returned with shiny new bicycles under their arms for all of the children."
John Denton discusses the holiday party here.
Click the link below to read more notes about the Magic and see more pictures.
The Orlando Magic host the Houston Rockets Wednesday night. Read about the game here.
Brian Schmitz discusses the new, kinder Stan Van Gundy. The players like him.
"“He’s been doing a good job at it. Me and Stan talk a lot, text a lot, whatever. One thing we just asked him is that, ‘Coach, when you have a positive energy about yourself, it makes our team better.’ We flow better. We play better.”The Howard-Van Gundy heart-to-heart took place just before the Oklahoma City game in Orlando on Nov. 18. The Magic are 13-4 since then. While the last few weeks have been rocky — including a stretch of three losses over five games — players say that Van Gundy did not need to be approached with a whip and a chair.“You can tell he’s biting his tongue a lot and really wants to blow up. You can tell he’s holding back as much as possible and has done a lot better job,” Lewis said."
Read the full story here.
Superman shirts will not only invade Amway on Christmas day, but the Magic, along with these other nine teams playing will unveil new shooting shirts.
"The Magic, the Celtics and the eight other teams playing on Christmas will debut new adidas shooting shirts (left).A league official said that after Christmas, all of the league’s home teams will wear the shirts for games on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Teams also will have the option to wear the shirts on any other day they wish."
Read that story here.
Mike Bianchi wishes Holiday tidings to former Magic General Manager John Weisbrod while Tracy McGrady is in town tonight.
"What’s that? You say drafting Dwight Howard was the most important decision the Magic have made in the last decade? (If you have time, please vote in the poll at the bottom of this blog) Yes, maybe, but I contend unloading the selfish and lazy Me-Mac actually made it possible to draft the young Howard out of high school and start over with a new nucleus of players.If you’ll recall, McGrady, if he was going to stay in Orlando, didn’t want the Magic to draft Howard. He thought it would take too long for a high school player to develop and he wanted help immediately. He was more in favor of the Magic taking Emeka Okafor out of college.Can you imagine how disastrous that move would have been? Yes, Okafor would go on to to win Rookie of the Year, but Dwight is on his way to becoming a player for the ages."
Read that here.
Those are just a few of my favorites. You can see the complete photo gallery here.
I’d also like to wish a Happy Festivus to all Howard the Dunk’s readers.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)