My major complaint about opening night

[TheREALBrooksThompson 157]

So you're upset about the possible perception people will have of Orlando's fan base based on the number of people who left a massive blowout early?

 

Do you guys just look for things to be upset about?

 

It's more than that though, because Orlando is the ONLY place in the league where things like this happen. Every other team keeps their arena full no matter what the score, and their fans are always louder than ours too.

 

One reason I have been against this new arena from the start is that there is too much to do there. It's supposed to be a place to see basketball, not a place to go to a playground or a bar. You can do that somewhere else. You wouldn't go to Disney World to watch a basketball game, so don't come to a Magic game to hang out at a bar. Watch the entire game. It's that simple.

 

The sad, sad fact is that Orlando will never be a marquee team because our fans are so horrible. Golden State beat Dallas in the playoffs that one time mainly because of their fans. We could have that too, but people in Orlando just don't care enough and the Magic suffer for it. Disgraceful.

[Sabian Jackson 0]

It's more than that though, because Orlando is the ONLY place in the league where things like this happen. Every other team keeps their arena full no matter what the score, and their fans are always louder than ours too.

 

One reason I have been against this new arena from the start is that there is too much to do there. It's supposed to be a place to see basketball, not a place to go to a playground or a bar. You can do that somewhere else. You wouldn't go to Disney World to watch a basketball game, so don't come to a Magic game to hang out at a bar. Watch the entire game. It's that simple.

 

The sad, sad fact is that Orlando will never be a marquee team because our fans are so horrible. Golden State beat Dallas in the playoffs that one time mainly because of their fans. We could have that too, but people in Orlando just don't care enough and the Magic suffer for it. Disgraceful.

 

Seriously....the heat never filled out there stadium before the superfriends. Maybe we just notice our stadium more because we actually care about our team. I dont ever remember looking at other peoples stadiums and wondering whether they fill it or not.

[Osprey 199]

Some people don't know how lucky they are. What i wouldn't give to watch an NBA game live. Living in Australia sucks.

 

I'll happily trade with you.

[Marc Acres 3:16 418]

That wasn't just a blowout, if the team really wanted to they could have held them to 60 or under and won by 50. I'm with you on people leaving early but it happens especially in a game like that, they just wiped the floor with Washington.

 

Some of my observations from last night-

 

I loved seeing Church street crowed before the game, I can't remember the last time I've seen that.

The baseline bar is pretty sweet!

As I was walking up and getting on the escalator that seems to go up forever, I throught to myself, I knew the old building was old and tired but I never realized how old and tired till I saw this.

You finally get the party atmosphere that we were missing with the old building walking up to this building and when you are leaving this building, I can't describe it.

The opening video, specifically when the jumbo screens switch to full screen with giant videos of the players is MIND BLOWING. Every single one of my friends in attendance in different areas of the building texted me after they played those videos with a similar reaction.

 

The only thing I would change about the new building is the O3 bar. They really need to put in more registers or more servers or something because it took almost the entire half to get a beer.

[Tatoo Magoo 1]

Whats up guys

 

I live in Miami. I went to last year's game where we went into overtime with them, remember?

 

If you think we are bad, imagine at the end of regulation when there is so much tension and anxiety going into the final seconds, when the buzzer rings to go into overtime. I saw rows and rows of people just exiting the game. There were empty seats everywhere when Overtime began. I would have been embarassed if I was a heat fan.

 

Believe it or not it happens at most places especially in a blowout. Now if people were leaving at the beginning of overtime or an intense game, then I would be disappointed.

 

Besides, I doubt this will happen often because people are still scoping out the new arena so it's not that big of a deal.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

EFF the Heat

[skinnyhoops 12]

I wouldn't worry about any negative public perception about the fans leaving early. TNT frequently showcased the arena throughout the game, proving there's more to do there than just watch the game. So with that said, the public knows it's a new arena, they know it's the most tech-advanced arena in the USA right now, and those who were watching the game on TV know we ran Washington off the court as soon as the game started. With that said, don't worry about empty seats. Even the TNT announcers mentioned it during the 3rd quarter, and they appropriately brushed it off saying the fans were probably checking out the new building. It's like whatever, it's just Washington.

[ricflairWOOO 6]

Just because we get a new arena doesn't mean we get new fans, we still gonna have the same ol crappy fans :P

 

Facing the wizards on opening night doesnt help either, and to be honest I probably would of left during the blowout too, just so i could explore the cool new stuff in the arena.

[ChevyBallinHot 0]

I was walking in and some homie with his homie was like "how many games you been last year?"..."never been to a game" "omg dude this is your first game you're gonna love this"

 

Going to be a ***** about things and the people in Orlando for a second but there are very few educated basketball fans that attend these games and know the game head to toe or even the Magic the team they came to cheer for. I was listening to the Scott Anez pregame and I couldn't believe the idiots that called in and complained about what the Magic lacked or weren't good enough to beat Miami or Boston. Anez basically told them in the nicest way possible that he disagreed.

 

Nobody wants to sit through a full blow out of course and I don't mind it being empty in the 4th like it was but I always sit through the whole game no matter what anyways.

[Live or Die Magic 383]

There are a few other factors at play here:

 

 

• It was a late game. It was 8:20 before the game actually tipped-off and by halftime, it was after 10pm on a weeknight. For most games that start at 7pm, fans would be home (or at least heading home) by 10pm.
  
• It was the first game in a new building. While I'm sure many of those fans did leave the building entirely, many of them chose to explore instead of watching the blowout. Also, the Skybar opened last night...I bet many folks went to check that out.
  
• Finally, many folks weren't certain about the traffic flow getting out of the area. I'm sure some folks chose to leave early to lessen pontential problems getting home in traffic. I stayed for all the post-game stuff and ended up leaving the Amway Center close to midnight. Yet, as I drove on 408 over I-4, the eastbound lanes of I-4 were totally stopped. There will be a breaking in period until fans get comfortable.
  

[Franchero MVP 391]

So you're upset about the possible perception people will have of Orlando's fan base based on the number of people who left a massive blowout early?

 

 

People who aren't already Orlando fans probably changed the channel by the 4th quarter anyway.

[ucfknights22 5]

Like others have said, the TNT announcers brushed it off because it was a blowout. Me personally, I would have gone to the bar in the 4th when there was about 8-10 minutes of garbage time. But then again, I'm never in bottom 15 rows so you wouldn't notice me being gone.

 

I picked up on this little tidbit. The announced attendance was 18,918. I thought capacity was 18,500?

[Hungry Hedo's 29]

I hope they don't give us those stupid noise makers this year so our crowd actually uses their voices and hands to make noise!

 

Oh, about this, I always stay the whole time even when I'm in the nose bleeds but I guess it is understandable when the team is up by 30 in the 3rd quarter and the game has zero emotion in it.