Finally, Orlando Magic executives have decided to retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey.
It wasn’t what was supposed to happen, but it’s time. It’s time for the Orlando Magic to put aside nearly three decades of pain and heartbreak: The front office has decided to retire Shaquille O’Neal’s jersey.
The Magic announced earlier on Thursday night local time that Shaq’s No. 32 jersey would become the first in team history to be hung high in the home court of the Amway Center (now known as the Kia Center). From the outside, this It can only be an act of humility, grace and pride from the team’s top brass.
“When someone asks who was the first player to officially put the Orlando Magic on the map, the answer is simple – Shaquille O’Neal,” Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins said in a press release from the team. “He’s taken this team to new heights, both on and off the court.”
That’s a positive, but there have been times when Shaq has indirectly brought the team, the fans, and the city to new lows that won’t be mentioned in the press release for obvious reasons, between the Magic and O’Neal. The relationship between them can only be described as “very complicated”.
Pride, resentment, joy, regret… all of these emotions are there. Yes, Shaq made this team famous, and for a while it was as popular as the Chicago Bulls, who were also in the East. However, after the 1996 postseason Sweeping the series and ruthlessly leaving the team, despite the blind operations of the top management, the team’s decline from the heights has become irreversible, but as Robert Frost once said: “In three words, I can summarize what I have learned. To everything about life: It goes on.”
In other words, anyone who’s still bitter about Shaq’s departure from Orlando needs to get over it. O’Neal’s departure from the Magic was blamed (the newspapers asked fans if it was worth it), but it’s hard to argue that Shaq was ready to join a big team. However, if the issue of “jersey retirement” is purely discussed, the debate seems to be of little significance. He entered the Orlando Magic Hall of Fame in 2015. If the team wants to start to retire jerseys, then there will be no You have to start with the big man. As the Magic celebrate their 35th anniversary this season, Shaq was undoubtedly the franchise’s first great star and the city’s first sports superstar.
His impact on the Magic and the Orlando sports community has been huge, almost single-handedly transforming a confused and stumbling expansion team into a strong playoff contender, all while working with his good partner Penny Hardaway. The Magic has become a contemporary NBA team known for its youth, popularity and fashion.
Shaq was more than just a basketball player, O’Neal was a colorful cultural icon, literally and figuratively, who infused emotions of happiness, hope, ecstasy, excitement, and more around Orlando, Florida, Along with the vision of packed arenas and championships, Shaq is the Walt Disney of Orlando sports, where there was nothing before and then he came to town and built a Magic Kingdom.
Despite the Disney presence here, between a manipulative agent, an unreasonable and even insulting contract offer, an unfortunate Orlando Sentinel poll, and Shaq’s own desire to make movies and record, O’Neal He left Florida amid a series of chaos and controversy. Although he returned eight years later, it was not the city where his dream began. Some people still harbored these complicated emotions until Shaq retired.
Former Magic player and current team ambassador Nick Anderson once told the story of the day Shaq signed with the Lakers in 1996, “I was sitting at home in Chicago watching the Olympics, and suddenly a news break came on, and I happened to see this guy wearing The big guy in a Lakers jersey was standing next to Jerry West,” Anderson recalled. “I was shocked, and two minutes later my phone rang and it was my dad, saying, ‘You know, your champion has arrived in Los Angeles.’ And he was so right.”
2024-01-05 04:01:12
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