Whoever thinks famous athletes have special treatment, will be surprised by the Orlando Magic. The team is without a hotel in Indianopolis when the Magic are in town to play the Indiana Pacers during Super Bowl weekend.
Being from a popular tourist destination like Orlando, one would think the team personnel would know to plan in advance for hotel accommodations…. but the late release of the NBA schedule because of the lockout left the team with little options.
NBA officials denied the Magic’s request to fly into Indianapolis on the morning of the game for fear of bad weather or mechanical complications. Instead, the team will stay in nearby Cincinnati, allowing the team to also have the option of driving to the game.
“You guys can comment on that and save me my money,” Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy told reporters, “But when you come out with the schedule in December and have a game in the Super Bowl city, lodging might be a problem.”
The NBA playoffs are the hottest tickets in town in Chicago, but there were two noticeable empty seats last night at the United Center for Game 1 of the Orlando Magic- Chicago Bulls second round matchup. Just before the end of the regular season, the Bulls and Magic faced eachother. After the game, Orlando’s Jameer Nelson was caught on camera telling Bulls’ Derrick Rose, “I’ll catch you in the second round.” But Nelson ran into one small road block, the Atlanta Hawks bounced the Magic in the first round.
Luckily, the Hawks were there to help Nelson out by leaving two tickets in his name at will-call at Chicago’s United Center. Head of Atlanta Hawks PR Arthur Triche tweeted, @HawksPRGuy, “Taking a page out of [former NFL coach] Jerry Glanville’s book, I think I’ll follow through on Jameer’s request to catch Derrick Rose in the 2nd round.”
While the tickets were not claimed, in Nelson’s defense they were in the 300 section!
Move over Tony Parker! Back in December, basketball fans were stunned when Pheonix Suns star Steve Nash filed for divorce from his wife just a day after she had a baby. Since then new information has surface about the separation.
Nash married Alejandra Amarilla in 2005 but broke up a few months before the baby was born after rumors of cheating allegations. The allegations were confirmed when Aljejandra gave birth to a black baby. Now the father is said to be Nash’s former teammate Jason Richardson. The Suns abruptly traded Richardson to the Orlando Magic in December, around the same time the baby was born.
Sounds like an entire season’s worth of material for basketball wives!
Gilbert Arenas was served child support papers during halftime of Thursday’s Orlando Magic-Miami Heat game. The California petition was filed by Arenas’ ex-girlfriend and baby mama, Laura Govan. Govan, who is also pregnant with Arenas’ child, claims she was cut off financially from the NBA bad boy and is seeking $109,000 a month in child support or $1.3 million annually.
After the game Arenas’ said: “I don’t pay much attention to it because this is who she is as a person… It’s sad that it has to be in the public’s eye. She gets money. I mean when a girl asks for $100,000 a month and you say no, that doesn’t mean you’re cut off. You’re still getting 20. … That’s the thing that bothers me. She tells the world that she’s not getting money. She gets $20,000 a month.”
$20,000 or not, it looks like you got served!
