SB Nation User Blog: DieSlowKeyshawn

Reebok asks Gortat to cover up his Jumpman tattoo, Gortat gives them the Hammer!

DieSlowKeyshawn — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:14:23 -0000

Good for Marcin!

Back when Magic backup C Marcin Gortat was coming up in the European leagues he developed quite a reputation for his high-flying tendencies.

Along the way Gortat, an afar admire of Michael Jordan, got the Jordan jump man logo tattooed on his right calf. Well, it seems that one competing shoe giant doesn’t share the same love for MJ.

Gortat recently got a call from Reebok – who he has an endorsement contract with – asking if he could cover it up. Gortat and his colorful Jordan shoutout apparently appeared in a picture on the front of a Polish newspaper after Game 1.

Reebok’s suggestions were apparently to wear high socks or body makeup. But Gortat wasn’t too keen on either.

“I've been wearing it four or five years now, and it helped me get to the NBA,” Gortat said after Tuesday’s shoot around. “They didn't say anything about it when I signed the contract, so it's not going anywhere. I don't think they are paying me enough to take it off.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2009/06/gortat-asked-to-cover-up-jordan-logo-for-rest-of-finals.html

BSPN Lakers v. Magic predictions

DieSlowKeyshawn — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:05:10 -0000

The predictions from the BSPN analysts are in!

The predictions from the BSPN analysts are in! To nobody's surprise, the analysts (9 out of 10) to be exact have picked the Lakers to win in 6 or 7 games. The sole Orlando supporter, True Hoop's Henry Abbott, picks the Magic in six. Hey, we can't exactly be mad about it, they've all been counting us out since game 7 in Boston (actually since game 5 in Boston) and this team's back up against the wall brings out the best in them. Four more game are all that remain, four more games of doubt, four more games of disbelief and four more games of shocking the world. This Magic team is a team of destiny, c'mon baby!

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/matchup/_/teams/magic-lakers#

Jameer Nelson says HE MAY suit up for the NBA finals should the Magic advance

DieSlowKeyshawn — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:42:39 -0000

Jameer just confirmed live on NBA TV's pregame show, should the Magic advance to the NBA Finals, he will seriously consider suiting up for the Finals. And yes, he was 100% serious, wow. Yes I have to copy this again:

Jameer just confirmed live on NBA TV's pregame show, should the Magic advance to the NBA Finals, he will seriously consider suiting up for the Finals. And yes, he was 100% serious, wow.

OFF TOPIC: Fantasy Baseball League

DieSlowKeyshawn — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:43:57 -0000

disclaimer: This is off-topic and related to a money Fantasy Baseball League that I'm running. Ben and E, feel free to delete this if you don't want it up, I just felt I'd use my fellow sporting community to see if people are interested in fantasy baseball as that time of year is upon us.

The basics:

$50 to enter -- you must pay via paypal BEFORE we draft. It will be a ROTO league, should be your basic 5X5, however we will vote on that once all the members sign up. Email me at sportspicks365@gmail.com and I will send you the invite.

If we get 10 entrants the payout will be: $400 for 1st, $100 for 2nd.
The prizes will go up/down accordingly, based on how many entrants we
have. This is the 2nd league I'm running, so we've got currently 5 signed up, another 3 are verbally committed, so I'm looking for another 3-5 players.

Please ask your friends if they'd like to join too, the more the merrier, (up until 12 entrants) and have them email me at sportspicks365@gmail.com so I can get an invite sent to them.

Any questions, feel free to email me. Good Luck!

Nick Anderson Plays Piranha Russian Roulette

DieSlowKeyshawn — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:01:41 -0000

This past Sunday afternoon 03/09/09 I watched the Magic narrowly hang on to defeat the short-handed celtics, despite quite an awful second half Orlando collapse. I leave the city, jump on the Mass-Pike and stop at your typical fast-food rest stop. I get in line to order a chicken salad and protein shake as I'm approached by a man in a thick Boston accent, "they really gave it to the C's today, huh?" I was shocked at the question, "uhmm, well they had a huge lead, about 25 points (22 in reality) and it came down to Allen missing a game-tying three with 33 seconds left in the game."

The man then asked if I was from Florida, I let him know that I'm just a resident of Connecticut who grew up and remained a life-long hardcore Orlando Magic fan. Then casually he replied, "Oh yeah? Nick Anderson is a good friend of mine." Not sure of what to say, I got a bit excited and said something along the lines of, "Wow, really? Yeah man, Nick Anderson, I love him." (I decided against mentioning anything to do with free-throws) He then said, yeah Scott Skiles is my favorite point guard ever and I agreed and threw in, "yeah I'll always love D-3 too." So, we're still waiting for our food and I say, "What's Nick up to now?" to see if he was really friends with him and he says, "I really don't know what he's doing now." At that point, I began to question the validity of the man's prior statement. Then, it got really weird as he said,"You gotta hear this story about Nick man."

He proceeds to tell me he worked at a golf-course in the Orlando area, where he met and befriended many of the players over the years. Nick was a frequent golfer at said golf club and the two struck up a friendship. He said a bunch of the guys at the club and a bunch of players would hang out at another buddy's house, quite often. They played a rare and dangerous, I mean very, very dangerous variation of a drinking game. This friend had a huge fish tank which was inhabited by two large piranhas.

The story goes, that the group of friends, maybe 5-6 guys, would start the game by drinking a 12 pack. When the 12-pack ran out, every guy would then simultaneously dunk one hand into the piranha tank and whoever was the first to pull their hand out had to go to the store to buy the next 12-pack and on and on they would play. The man told me the first time they played with Nick was right after he signed a long-term deal with the Magic and knew there would be no way, absolutely no way Nick would ever take part in such a dangerous game. To my surprise, the man swore that Nick had never missed one "game" and was always up for dunking his hand into the tank. Thankfully Nick was never injured, but he said guys often got nicked and one of their buddies even lost a portion of one of his fingers.

We shared a laugh about the stupidity of the game and the dire consequences Nick would have paid with his career and with his contract obligations if God Forbid, he lost a finger. His buddy then walked over said, "Hey! You guys really whooped the Celtics today!" to which I continued the same response about the near epic collapse and the original guy said to his buddy, "Hey! I've told you about Nick Anderson and the piranhas before right?" His friend answered shaking his head, "What a nutcase." I then said goodbye, wrapping up what was the most random & strangest rest-stop conversation of my life.

Shaq vs. Van Gundy

DieSlowKeyshawn — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:44:22 -0000

LINK

The episode that inspired this latest Shaq rant came after O'Neal took an elbow to the chest from Dwight Howard during a third-quarter Magic possession during Orlando's 111-99 victory and crumbled to the floor looking to draw an offensive foul.

"I was shocked, seriously shocked," Van Gundy said, "and very disappointed because he knows what it's like. Let's stand up and play like men, and I think our guy did that tonight."

Shaq:

"I heard his comment. Flopping to me is doing it more than one time, and I realized when I tried to take the charge, as I went down, I realized that that play reminded me of his whole coaching career," O'Neal said of Van Gundy. "And one thing I really despise is a frontrunner, so I know for a fact that he's a master of panic, and when it gets time for his team to go in the postseason and do certain things, he will let them down because of his panic. I've been there before, I've played for him."

"Flopping is playing like that your whole career. I was trying to take the charge, trying to get a call. It probably was a flop, but flopping is the wrong use of words. Flopping would describe his coaching," O'Neal said, steering the conversation back to Van Gundy. "I'm not going to just sit abound and let nobodies take shots at me, and he is a nobody to me. And if he thinks he can get in a little press conference and take shots at me like I'm not going to [give] something back, he's got another thing coming."

"I said I flopped, but flopping is falling and crying and complaining to the ref. I tried to take a charge. The rules say when a guy comes into your chest and you fall, that's an offensive foul, and that's all I tried to do. I fell, didn't complain, he made a great move, spun and dunked it, but flopping is the wrong choice of words. So that's all I've got to say about that, but again, I despise frontrunners, I despise them. And that's what he is to me."

DSK's Night At The Wachovia Center, 02/28/09

DieSlowKeyshawn — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:40:18 -0000

Here is this week's showcased fanpost. In this piece, DieSlowKeyshawn shares his experience watching the Orlando Magic play the Philadelphia Sixers in person this past Saturday. - ER

WOW. I still can't believe we won that game. I tried to comment last night after the game, but the iphone was giving me issues with my connection and I was more concerned on celebrating among heartbroken Philadelphians and getting my drink on.

Bad news first... I wasn't allowed to meet any players, get autographs, or pictures. The doors didn't open until 6pm and ushers wouldn't let people onto the floor who didn't have a floor ticket. I was in the 4th row (1st row off of the floor) so that news was disappointing, but I was able to get a couple players to acknowledge me during their lay up drills and a few refused to. As Dwight walked back in my direction I yelled, "DWIIIIIIIIIGHT!" to which he threw up a peace sign and got back in line. Rafer, was in ear-shot range three times to which I yelled a variety of "RAFER," "ALSTON," and "SKIP," no dice on any. J.J.'s turn and no surprise, cold shoulder. Even Anthony No-Neck Johnson refused to acknowledge polite greetings of "Anthony! or AJ!" The only other player who acknowledged my greeting was Turk, I shouted out "Hedo! Congrats on the baby!" to which he responded with a nod and thumbs up.

Onto the game...

I was on J.J. from the very beginning, I couldn't believe that SVG was riding with him for what seemed like 15 consecutive minutes. I was on him the entire night as he refused to play defense, I couldn't fathom why SVG was leaving him in the game with Lee & Pietrus well rested on the bench. The Philly fans were screaming "A.I. abuse him!" whenever he, for whatever reason, decided to ATTEMPT to play defense on Igoudala and I often responded with the palms to the face. When J.J. was ejected, the crowd was standing up cheering on, urging him to get out of the stadium, I was right there with them, yelling "GET OUT! GET OUT YOU BUM!" The Sixers fans in my area got a kick out of that, one turned around and said, "Looks like you got your wish," in regards to my frequent pleads to SVG to get "that scrub out of the game!"

After being DOMINATED for 36 minutes, we saw, what I believe was the most improbable and most thrilling comeback victory the Magic have had all year. Of course, I may be a bit bias being 20 feet away from the action, but nonetheless, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I can't tell you how many sixers fans in my area left to go home with 10 minutes OR MORE remaining. Boy, did they miss a hell of a finish, but for their sakes, it probably worked out for them. I was sitting next to a father and son (son Magic fan, father Sixers) well, with the Magic up 1 with 22 seconds left and Hedo going to the line to shoot 2 free throws, the Father gets up and makes his son leave to his sons' dismay. I wanted to say ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!? Hedo could have nailed both, Sixers could have hit a three and it's tied! In no way was it over! Anyway, I was shocked at the role AJ played in the comeback. I saw you guys posted his stats last night, so I won't get into that, I just remember saying, "NO! Don't shoot it!" whenever he raised up for a jumper, yet later in the night when he hit that three in the last 2 minutes to put the Magic up 4, I think I might have uttered, "I love you AJ" under my breath.

After Turk sealed the deal, I stayed in the arena for about ten minutes, in amazement of what I had just witnessed. I also shook hands with some sixers fans in my area, shared some small talk and I expressed my sympathies, before walking up the stairs thinking and saying to my friend, "I can't believe what just happened, I can't believe anything about what just happened."

A link to my photo gallery is below, half the pictures taken from the iphone camera (no zoom) and the other half from a crappy point and shoot, check them out nontheless.

PICS HERE

Nelson seeking second opinion on shoulder before surgery

DieSlowKeyshawn — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:06:15 -0000

All hope may not be lost:

Nelson is seeking another medical opinion on his dislocated shoulder, part of a rehab plan outlined a few weeks ago by his agent, Steve Mountain.

Nelson said he has a "pretty good-sized tear" in the labrum in his right shoulder Feb. 2 against the Dallas Mavericks.

He wants to rehab and attempt to play, but Smith has intimated that the long-term risks might not be worth the short-term rewards, given Nelson's penchant for contact.

Smith also notes that Nelson is also dealing with the injury to "his strong [right] hand."

LINK HERE

The Orlando Magic's connection to the Alex Rodriguez steroid scandal

DieSlowKeyshawn — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:15:42 -0000

The reporter who broke the story, Selena Roberts, check out her BIO:

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/sports/bio-roberts.html

Selena Roberts became a columnist for The New York Times sports department in October of 2002. She previously served as the Olympic writer for The Times, tennis reporter, general assignment baseball writer and beat reporter for the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets. She joined The Times in 1996 to report on the Nets.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Selena Roberts.

Prior to joining The Times, Ms. Roberts had served as the Minnesota Vikings beat writer at The Minneapolis Star Tribune since August 1994. There, she wrote daily on the team and also worked on special sports projects during the off-season.

Previously, she was the Orlando Magic beat writer at the Orlando Sentinel from July 1993 to August 1994; N.F.L./Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat writer from July 1992 to July 1993, including coverage of the N.F.L. playoffs and Super Bowl; and motorsports/Volusia County beat writer from August 1991 to July 1992, covering NASCAR and IMSA events, including the Daytona 500 and 24 hours of Sebring. She also covered Bethune-Cookman College, area preps and wrote the metro TV/Radio column.

Brian Schmitz conspiracy theory regarding Bogans/Lue/Ridnour

DieSlowKeyshawn — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:09:03 -0000

Brian Schmitz, of the Orlando Sentinel has proposed a conspiracy theory that has the Bucs "failing" Keith Bogans physical to nix the trade that sent Lue to the Magic.

After Luke Ridnour injured his finger in practice, he is looking at missing three-four weeks, the Bucs suddenly need Lue back in their rotation. Check out Brian's blog for more:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2009/02/hmmmbucks-pg-hurt-and-bogans-has-yet-to-pass-physical.html