I mentioned before that we got to do something really cool the last time I was in Florida to see the family. When Sarah and I attended the Black Ties and Tennies Charity event for the Orlando Magic earlier in the year, I had won a bunch of chips playing poker. Those got turned into raffle tickets and then during the drawing, we won the oppurtunity to have the kids participate in the "High Five Squad" before one of the games.
So the Magic were really cool and gave us a few options for while I was going to be in Florida and let us pick which game to go to. We decided to go see the Magic play the Phoenix Suns mainly because I wanted to see Steve Nash play over some of our other options. They gave us 4 really good tickets to the game, along with letting the kids be on the court during pre-game and high five the players.
We got there early to pick up our tickets and meet with the Magic staff. They gave us a backstage tour of the Arena and took us by the locker room. Then we sat courtside and waited a bit while the Suns did their warm-ups while they told us the night would work. Even though the thing was supposed to be just for the kids, they let Sarah and I do it too which was really nice of them.
So when the Magic came out for the warm-ups we walked over and stood on the court while they did their shoot around. Marcin Gortat (the Polish Hammer) came over and talked to Max and Ella a bit who were standing a few feet away from Sarah and I. Not sure what they talked about, but it was pretty funny to watch 3ft tall Max next to the 7ft tall Gortat.
Then they took us to the center of the court and put us up on the big screen above center court and announced us to the crowd. Then we got to sit courtside while warm-ups finished. When it was time to announce the starting line-up, we actually went out on the court to form a line that the players ran through when their names were announced. It was pretty awesome, the lights went down, the place was going crazy and we were down there high fiving all of the players. Dwight Howard was the best high fiver, he made sure to hit each person's hand in the line, while some of the other players skipped Max and Ella because their hands were kind of low, but Dwight made sure to get each one.
It was definitely really cool, the Magic organization were really helpful and very cool in setting the whole thing up. I hope it is something that the kids remember as they get older, it was a real once in a lifetime experience. On another note, I do have a new goal to actually go to a game and watch it from courtside seats, because watching some of the pre-game from there was pretty awesome.
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