Friday, February 27, 2009

"Let's keep in touch..."


This evening the Orlando Magic welcome the Detroit Pistons to town in what is a rather important game for both squads. Detroit is trying to get back to their old winning ways while Orlando is trying to get past a team that has been giving them troubles for years.

A focal point of this game will be Rasheed Wallace, everyone's favorite crybaby. After receiving his league leading 15th and 16th technical fouls against Denver on Wednesday night he should have been suspended for tonight's game. However, the NBA withdrew two techs from a previous game this year, thus lowering his season total to 14 and allowing Sheed to suit up tonight.

Mr. Wallace is a poor sport. He whines, moans and complains at every opportunity. He comes off as what is what is wrong with sports and society today: Me first all the way.

Now backup to yesterdays Orlando Sentinel.

Last week when Orlando traded for PG Rafer Alston the Magic parted ways with Brian Cook, Mike Wilks, and Adonal Foyle. That said, Mr. Foyle purchased some ad space and sent this message to the community.

"Let's keep in touch..."

How pleasant and relieving. Mr. Foyle was here less than two seasons and never made much of an impact on the court. Buried on the bench behind Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat, and Tony Battie, we never heard him complain. We never saw him act unprofessionally. Towels were never thrown on the court and at Stan Van Gundy. Most of this season Adonal was dressed in a suit with no chance of playing. However, he was always up congratulating and willing on his teammates. He had a clipboard in his hand, either making game notes or breaking down Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract.

But that was just his basketball side. A few weeks ago we discussed Adonal's presidential abilities. To take from that:

Adonal grew up in the tiny island of Canouan, where he was raised by his grandmother and pet donkey and relied on a kerosene lamp to light up his room while doing homework.

At the age of 15, he was adopted by two college professors and moved to New York. He lived the middle-class American lifestyle throughout college, and after being selected 8th overall by the Warriors in the 97 draft, he entered the life of an NBA player, basically guaranteeing him financial security and a sudden opinion on the Capital Gains Tax.

So there you have it, rags to riches. Nice story. But that is isn't even half of it. Just take a visit to AdonalFoyle.com. He is at the helm of Democracy Matters (Seriously, look at this) and the Kerosene Lamp Foundation (Seriously, look at this one too), two organizations that tackle both political issues and poverty.

No one twisted his arm on this one. He's not doing this to further his career. It's not a publicity stunt. Heck, I'm sure most people don't even know about any of this. As a reader pointed out on our last Adonal post:

You left out how genuinely nice he is. I went to high school with Adonal. He's not just smart, he's educated - and he worked hard to be. Between the end of school and the start of practice he would get extra help from his teachers in all subjects so the he could be a straight A student.

Just a few days before the trade Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel wrote a piece about Adonal. Bianchi received a letter from a coach who took a group of kids to see the Magic play in Denver. The letter said:

There were about 20 people (mostly kids) on the bench just as the Magic players took the court. Within the first few minutes, many of the Magic players took the time to wave, say hello and throw a smile toward our group. One player in particular went out of his way to interact with us. As it turns out, this player was Mr. Adonal Foyle.

Mr. Foyle came over and sat on the floor in the middle of our group. He faced us (not the court) and made small talk as he stretched. The kids (ages 4 to 12) were quite scared of Mr. Foyle at first (he is a VERY large man). This is when Mr. Foyle literally laid down on the floor and asked the children if he could be included and play with them. Now that this enormous man was lower than the kids, they warmed up to him quite quickly. Mr. Foyle smiled and spoke to the kids with a very sincere and gentle voice and before we knew it, he was holding the kids on his lap for photos. Mr. Foyle shook hands, high-fived and signed autographs for about 10minutes.

As he started taking practice shots, Mr. Foyle passed the ball back and forth with the kids and then invited them to come on the court and run some line drills with him. All I can think of are the stories that must have gone around at school on the Monday after the game. This is the stuff of dreams; these memories will be cherished by these kids for the rest of their lives!

Mike approached Adonal and asked why he treated the fans the way he did. The answer? "Why not?"

This is the anti-Sheed. I really hope Orlando keeps in touch.

Thanks to TPASTBM contributor El Fantasma de Carlos Arroyo for catching the Adonal ad.

10 comments:

  1. I couldn't disagree more with the Sheed comments. I don't think his attitude is a 'me first' kind of attitude. I think he is a solid team player that lets his emotions get the best of him.

    If he is the Anti anyone, I would say he is the Anti-"MeMac".

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  2. I read that Foyle could have nullified the trade too, the same way Devean George did last year in the Kidd trade. He then said he realized the Magic needed a PG and had no problem going to Memphis. Class act all the way.

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  3. I'm definitely going to miss that man.
    And Jareth is correct, he could have nullified the deal but chose not to.
    God Bless Adonal.

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  4. A true team player wouldn't have gotten himself thrown out of a close game like he did the other night...

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  5. Like I said, sometimes his emotions get the best of him. That is a fault. But I don't think that points to him not being a team player.

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  6. Couldn't be more wrong about Sheed. He is an excellent locker room guy willing to do dirty work and help his teammates excel. His own teammates have said in repeated occasions that they draw strength and inspiration from Sheed's fire and the Pistons have a tendency to back that up with better play after a Sheed tech.

    Sheed may be immature when it comes to dealing with his emotional but selfish and me first couldn't be farther from the reality.

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  7. Whether you like or hate Sheed (personally I would love to him on the Magic, but his on court antics do get tiring).

    This is really about Adonal Foyle, I would put money on it that this is a person who twenty years from now will have made a bigger impact off the court than on it.

    Thanks for your efforts Mr. Foyle and yes lets keep in touch!

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  8. Agreed with Jackie!
    I would give so much to see the US government throw everyone out of office and just let Adonal run the whole damn country!

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  9. Perhaps I was a bit over the top with Sheed. I know, for example, that Dwight respects him very much, as do most other players in the league. However, I was comparing the events of the last few days. Sheed acts like a baby... Mr. Foyle takes out an ad in the OS thanking Orlando for his time here. Polar opposites if you ask me.

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  10. There is no denying Sheed's talent. I'd love if we signed him as well. However, his attitude would have to be adjusted slightly to mesh with our guys. First of all, there is no way SVG gives into Sheed and his tantrums. Just isn't going to happen. Second, from all accounts, our locker room is pretty laid back and full of laughs. Somebody who is going to walk in and start complaining is going to disrupt team chemistry. Now, having said all that, I wouldn't mind Sheed to have constructive criticism and have it be team oriented. You know, light a fire under the guys when they giggle too much.

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