It's Live Arena Vote Diary Time! Complete Coverage PART 1

Well, here we are...on the precipice of Orlando Magic history. Either this thing is going to go fantastically well or horribly wrong. -Votes are like that.

As many of you already know, we need 5 of 7 votes for this thing to pass through. Early word is that there are 2 commissioners of the 7 that are already pointing their thumbs down in this Roman Gladiator matchup: Fred Brummer and Tiffany Moore. Fred Brummer just hates the projects and wants them squashed while Tiffany Moore wants the proposal altered significantly before it goes through so there aren't any holes the commissioners have to clean up in the future.

Using the absolutely nonexistant prior knowledge that I have of these two commissioners, I will attemp to explain why they have sour grapes: They just have awful names.

Fred was probably teased a lot in school with a name that sounds so much like "bummer", and used that hatred to nix votes from the popular crowd. Can you imagine a little kid walking around during the heyday of "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" with people slapping him on the shoulder and saying, "You're name is Fred? Brummer, dude!" To make matters worse, the people making fun of him probably looked like this:

As for Tiffany Moore, I firmly believe that most people named "Tiffany" hate the 80s pop star of the same name. The fact that her last name is "Moore" only makes it worse. It's like having a name that demands more of the pop star, akin to other names like "Prince Marathon", "Madonna Please", and the increasingly popular "Seal Letmelistentomore". It's like that scene in "Office Space" where the guy named Michael Bolton is being asked if he likes the famous Michael Bolton's music. I see Tiffany Moore in a seat, uncomfortably saying to her eager friends "Yeah...I guess Tiffany's music is alright. A favorite song? I really don't have one."

In related news, the Tourism Development Council voted on the arena issue today, which is interesting because the council happens to have Darth Rosen as a member. Here is how it went:

The Tourist Development Council voted 7-1, with hotelier Harris Rosen the only
dissenter. Rosen typically uses his appointed position on the advisory board as
a platform to blast what he considers irresponsible spending. The outspoken
venues opponent was silent today, however.

That's because, if you read the blog entry yesterday, you know that the Magic effectively stuck a spiked barb up Darth Rosen's rectum with their actions yesterday. Score one for the good guys.

So things are looking pretty good so far for the vote. The last minute deals by the Magic have hopefully swung commissioners Stewart, Fernandez, and Segal onto commissioner Crotty's side. That gives us four. The deciding vote apparently will be Teresa Jacobs, whose picture above reminds me of someone. I'm trying to put my finger on it...

The good news for us is that Mildred Fernandez is likely to be on our side, and looks like Peppermint Patty.

Whoa! It's almost time already! Everyone cross their fingers, rub your lucky rabbit's foot, and for heaven's sake someone please tell me they slept with Teresa Jacobs to get her vote!

Um...

So I called it: The Sentinel's player sucks ass. I can't hear any audio and the video freezes after about 10 seconds.

Instead I am going over to the television station WESH2's streaming player, which appears to work a lot better. I loaded it into my VLC Media Player. Phew!

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-The proceedings thus far are akin to something that looks like show an tell at the front of class. A bunch of older gentlemen and ladies are gathered listening to a bunch of youths talking about the venues with powerpoint presentations. Even the graphics in the powerpoint presentation look pretty old, like something out of the 80s. All of this is pretty silly looking, as everyone knows that these commissioners have already made up their minds. I hope no spitballs are thrown.

-They are showing the inside of the proposed new arena. Tons of natural light and space. Holy cow it looks gorgeous. The thing even has PLAYGROUNDS for kids inside of it! Too bad we got rid of Diener, as he would have loved playing on the monkey bars.

-I didn't know that the arena would be the first one in history to be certified as being eco-friendly and green. Looks like the Magic can make history for something other than 'most stars applied to a logo in an effeminite fashion'. Alex Martins, the guy we've been talking about for a little while now, put on a green hat to illustrate this. One of the commissioners (sounded like Tiffany Moore) burst out laughing at him. Your Orlando Magic: Giving chuckles during key arena proposals!

-Alex Martins looks like a slick salesman type, complete with gelled hair and content smirks. I wouldn't trust him if he weren't a Magic exec...heck, I still don't trust him. Stay away from my fiancee, Martins!

-Moore and Brummer are grilling Martins about the Magic. Martins is telling them that the Magic will be around during the life of the stadium. Don't these two read the newspaper?

-Mildred Fernandez commending Martins, with some flirty words about how good of a job he did (Did Martins sleep with her? Ewwww). Commissioner Bill Segal makes an appearance, looking like a more haggard Bill Gates, which I didn't even know was possible.

-Marcy, I mean Teresa Jacobs, still seems a bit guarded. I really worry about her vote.

-Linda Stewart says thanks to Martins. She seems like a nice mom type.

-Next to speak is...some dude who is wearing a green jacket to speak about the stadium going green...who looks EXACTLY like Tim Daly from "Wings". He is a guy talking about the citrus bowl and is showing pictures of some of Orlando's founding fathers. -Are we SURE that this isn't a show and tell presentation? If someone presents a house made of popsicle sticks I am turning it off...

-This Tim Daly guy sounds incredibly boring. After the relatively swagger-riffic presentation by Martins, this guy is killing the mojo in the room. "Tim Daly Guy" is definitely a meathead guy who got where he is on his looks. The commissioners just asked if he could stay into the evening hours to answer their questions. Ummmm...I have plans with friends tonight, so I might have to pick this up later on if it goes long.

Taking a quick break. Next: PART II!