The parallels between Dwight Howard and Shaquille O’Neal are astounding. Same position, same physical style of play, the disputable “Superman” moniker, goofy personality. Orlando fans are hoping that the parallels stop there, as Dwight Howard’s impending free agency gets tossed around more frequently and the prospect of him leaving town looms. Read the rest of this entry »

Stop me when this sounds familiar. The Orlando Magic draft an amazingly gifted center first overall. He develops over the years to live up to his potential adopting the nickname “Superman.” That center leads the Magic to the NBA Finals. Then, at the first opportunity, said center bolts out west to transform into a pop culture icon. The previous four sentences obviously define the career path of Shaquille O’Neal and possibly Dwight Howard. The perennial All Star and part-time coroner has already gone on record saying debating his future long before his contract expires in the summer of 2012 has grown tiring.

With fans of teams who have a superstar with an expired contract, paranoia is at an all time high. Hence the reason one Magic fan has taken matters into his own hands to make sure history does not repeat itself.

Ryan Totka, a celebrity booking agent, said he witnessed 10 years of bad NBA basketball after Shaquille O’Neal bolted from the Magic to the Lakers. He couldn’t stomach another big guy potentially leaving Orlando.

“The whole point is to show that Orlando is behind him,” Totka said. “Bringing a new arena, bringing players around him, I think that’s where Cleveland failed. There’s only so much one person can carry.”

He added, “Ultimately, it’s not just the sports thing and fan thing. It’s more of an economy thing. It just shows how one person can affect an entire economy. [Orlando Sentential]

Fans of the team and Howard are also allowed submit messages and videos on StayDwight.com with hopes that the big man will see them and feel compelled to stay. The entire campaign is admirable and understandable. No team wants their star player to bolt for presumably greener pastures, but as we saw last summer, there’s really no amount of begging, pleading or creativity that will make that player stay outside of his own desire. If Cleveland recreated “We Are The World” for LeBron and he ditched them on live TV, Orlando better have something legendary to give this crusade the steroid shot it needs – like everyone in the city getting the number “12″ tatted on their chest as a sign of solidarity. If you’re going to go all out, go all the way out.

Previously — Jrue Holiday Could Use A Vacation

Either that or Dwight Howard is just a big bully.

I’ll usually drop qualifying statements about Jrue at this juncture of the post before I get to the point. This time’s obviously different. “Wrong place, wrong time” is an understatement on this play even though he “tried” to stop the oop. All I can say is he’s a braver soul than me. Read the rest of this entry »

This Sunday, a day ritually reserved for football, belonged to basketball. The TV scheduled proved such.

1. The two powerhouses of the ACC, Duke and North Carolina, ran into each other again. This time with the conference title on the line. Again.

2. The revealing of the brackets and the subsequent arguments about teams who were snubbed. Read the rest of this entry »

Carol Seleme Daniel

Serene Branson: Auto-Tuned Remix [Warming Glow]

Dwight Howard’s NBA All-Star Party Has Debauchery Written All Over It [The Big Lead]

Oprah Winfrey’s Secret Former Lover Speaks Out [GOT]

NAACP Fights Against KKK’s Commemorative License Plate [The Atlanta Post] Read the rest of this entry »

The Orlando Magic were in the unfavorable situation of suffering a losing streak while two of their main rivals in Boston & Miami are in the midst of ripping off double digit win streaks of their own. Feeling the need to make a move to remain competitive, the Magic engineered a three-team deal with the Phoenix Suns & Washington Wizards. Read the rest of this entry »

Masika Kalysha

Vatican Says Homer Simpson Is A ‘True Catholic’ [Gawker]

Fear Of A Black Planet: Black Presidents in Film and Television [Pajiba]

Ron Artest Taking a Jab at LeBron? [Hoop Doctors]

‘Jackass 3D’ Stars on Girlfriend Pranks, Disgusting Stunts and Shots To The Groin [Moviefone] Read the rest of this entry »

This has to be the best golden hued commercial not made by DirectTV. It’s got Dwight Howard on the keys, Slim Chin filling in the blanks and D Rose filling the lane. Oh yeah, it also has kicks Read the rest of this entry »

Renee Divine

Battle Of The Butts: Deelishis vs Serena Williams [The Urban Daily]

The 50 Most Racist TV Shows Of All Time [Complex]

Twitter Trends Poke Fun at Bishop Eddie Long [The BVX]

Dwight Howard Is A Musical Genius [With Leather] Read the rest of this entry »

SueLyn Medeiros

Bishop Eddie Long Hit With Third Lawsuit [Creative Loafing]

Five Weirdest PETA Campaigns [Uproxx]

10 New Mixtapes You Should Know About This Fall [BroBible]

Where The Party At?! 12 Athletes Who Should Stay Out of the Club [TheBVX] Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome Boston, we’ve been waiting on you. As your reward for knocking off the top seed, you’ve been tasked with taking on a well rested Orlando team that’s gone through the playoffs so far looking like gangbusters. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to hand the Magic their first playoff loss. Four times.

With the King’s coronation put off for another year, we the fans, are in for a treat with the past two Eastern Conference Finals representatives vying for another trip back for the ultimate prize. In one corner, you’ve got a veteran group who’s championship window is rapidly closing. While in the other, you’ve a team looking to finish what it started last year, finally having the experience to go along with the talent they relied on this year. Regardless of who’s standing once the series comes to a close, the real winner is us the fans, who’ll be treated to watching two teams at full strength & playing at the top of their games at the right time of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

It took him 88 games, but Rasheed Wallace finally came to play for the Boston Celtics. Throughout the season ‘Sheed’s been somewhere between a running joke & major disappointment. The Boston Three Party thought they would be getting the Rasheed from a few years back, the one who could stretch the defense with his timely outside shooting & vast array of post moves. Instead, they got an out of shape, aging player who could’ve been charged for committing fraud… for impersonating a basketball player (I see you Biggga).

Shoot, if it wasn’t for this basket he scored for the Bulls late in the season, half of the country wouldn’t have even known he was still in the league. So you can imagine the pleasant surprise Wallace provided his teammates last night: seven of eight from the field, three from four on three’s for 17 points and two rebounds thrown in for good measure. As a NBA fan nomad & fan of Rasheed since his days in Carolina blue, it was good to see the mercurial forward have a good showing. Mainly because who knows how many outings like this he has left in him. Perhaps Doc needs to call him out more often… or maybe they told him it was time to earn his paycheck.

On another note, isn’t it funny that LeBron’s elbow hurt much more after missed jumpers than when he makes his now nightly chase down block? I’m just sayin’…

On to other matters, let’s welcome the Atlanta Hawks to the second round. For a moment it was looking like Orlando was going to get a bye or something.

Orlando Magic Vs. Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta can be one of the more entertaining teams in the league – especially when they don’t have to play on the road. But few (if any) outside of Milwaukee thought they’d get pushed to seven against a undermanned Bucks squad running on nothing but heart. The Hawks can (& should) play up to their competition, but they’ve yet to prove they can hang with the true class of the league. If they want this to be the start of that, they’ll need to steal one on the road & hold home court.

They’re 2-10 in their last 12 playoff road games, which doesn’t bode well for them coming into this series. Stranger things have happened & if they want to change that stat, they’ll have to get Dwight Howard in early foul trouble  & get to the hole.  The first part of that shouldn’t be too hard, with fouls being the only thing Dwight gets faster than blocks. Stopping the rest of the team will be a bit harder.  The Hawks are moving in the right direction, but they’ve still got some work to do.

MZ — Magic in 5 Patrick M. | S. Cadet | Jason H. — Magic in 6 J. Tinsley — Magic in 7

We’re back again with the second part of first round preview.  Hopefully today’s games will follow the lead of the later games yesterday and provide a great game from start to finish.  Read the rest of this entry »

Krisana

Farewell Def Jux: A Recap Of The NYC Label’s Finest Moments [Pop & Hiss]

9 Reasons NBA Players Shouldn’t Look for Love at All-Star Weekend [Street Level]

Dr. Dre Sues Over Unpaid ‘Chronic’ Royalties [Billboard]

Marijuana Convention In Las Vegas Canceled [Hail Mary Jane]

Tinker, Mark & Michael: The Three-Headed Monster [Sole Collector]

The Funniest Characters on TV Right Now [Paste] Read the rest of this entry »

Attempting their play on Michael Jordan and Larry Bird’s memorable original, LeBron and Dwight tried their hand @ a McDonald’s commercial that made its debut last night before the game. While MJ and Bird’s centered around their shooting acumen, this new version was a dunk contest.

When I first watched it, I thought “cool.” As I watched it to do the writeup, I kept giggling, expecting the dialogue to change and LBJ to say something slick about Royce. “Yeah yeah, that ain’t nothing. Royce touched it in Miami, boy.” on some Jay & Nas shit. Corny, but that would’ve made one for the ages.

If you’re looking for more million dollar commercials from Sunday, check out the whole lot @ Ad Age.

[Nike LeBron]