Orlando Magic fans certainly were taken down memory lane with This Magic Moment. However, the documentary also had meaning for Orlando newcomers as well.
As I anxiously anticipated Thursday’s debut of ESPN’s latest 30 for 30 documentary, This Magic Moment, I had a basic understanding of what I was going to watch.
The story of the star-crossed mid-1990’s Orlando Magic is something well documented for most basketball fans and certainly for someone like me that just finished his eighth season covering the Orlando Magic franchise.
That inevitability of watching the Magic make a quick rise and take a hard fall did not make the film any less entertaining or illuminating. While there was no new outcome for Orlando, it certainly hammered home a few realities of where the city was and where it is today.
As a transplant from South Florida that did not arrive until the University of Central Florida came calling in 2007, I did not live that Magic experience like several of the friends I have made here did. However, my connection now to the city makes me feel like I did.
And, I am sure I am not alone.
After all, most people that inhabit The City Beautiful today cannot trace their roots here back very far if at all.
Regardless, we have come together in recent years to form an undeniable bond, a common identity. I truly believe the first signs that a community of one was possible in Orlando occurred while Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee Hardaway were doing their thing for the Magic.
That was the first unifying ray of light that shot through this barren tourism hodgepodge. Some will often disregard the impact of sports, but this is a shining example of what a pro team in town can do.
Seeing old Orlando images in the background of This Magic Moment was a perfect illustration. Plenty of dirt roads could be seen in some of the cityscape views.
Roads unpaved, unformed, seemingly leading to nowhere. Most Central Florida residents had forged their own path from somewhere, but had yet to build toward the future together on common ground.
Original owner Jim Hewitt and team president Pat Williams sent the town down a trail that would eventually galvanize its residents with an NBA Finals run in 1995. The chaos that happened afterward was almost inconsequential because Orlando had made it and was here to stay.
Perhaps it took some time after that, but Orlando had further moments of convalescing in the years to come. Swaths of growth stretched out from downtown to further define distinct neighborhoods with personalities all their own.
Certainly, the wheels were set in motion for Downtown Orlando to get its own facelift that culminated with the new Amway Center in 2010 and revived business interests. There is no doubt that President John Hitt’s vision for the growth of my alma mater, UCF, also has fueled the fire.
All these tentacles of prosperity however can trace their origins to that moment in the national spotlight more than 20 years ago. By the time I arrived in 2007 the city was primed to truly become just that: a city.
Look at the success story Orlando is today. Our quality of life, our entertainment options and our sense of community cannot easily be topped anywhere on the globe.
While tourists still flood the theme parks, Orlando has been able to break away from the shadows of Mickey Mouse. We have certainly grown up beyond the “dried-up little pond” O’Neal labeled the city on his way out in the summer of 1996.
In the world of sports, Orlando City has created another rallying point as well. Much of what was discussed in the documentary regarding Williams in the early days of the Magic struck me as eerily similar to the experience I have lived watching Orlando City founder Phil Rawlins build his brand.
Orlando is not about to rest on its laurels either. People from outside are taking notice, with recent Census Bureau data pointing to Central Florida as the fastest growing region among the largest 30 in the U.S.
That ensures new people will continue to bring new ideas and keep this budding metropolis spiraling upward into the future. It should be viewed as part of the lasting legacy of Hewitt, Williams and other early Magic power brokers left by bringing big time sports here.
With all the platitudes out of the way, I come to the realization I will likely move away from Orlando at some point. That is just sort of the way of the condensed modern world that has us more mobile than any generation in history.
That in no way diminishes the impact this city or indirectly those 1990s Magic teams has had on me. I owe them a debt of gratitude for the wheels they put in motion.
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In fact, I want to thank everyone who took those first steps toward fostering a spirit for Orlando residents all those years ago. You play a significant part in why no matter where I go, I will always think of Orlando as home.