Rashard Lewis Wines and Dines with Otis While Darko Sulks In Serbia/Jane Moves On To Round Two

See Jane. See Jane win. Win, Jane, win.

Congrats to Jane for beating Jeanise over the weekend by a hefty margin. Jane advances to the second round, which is already looking like some tough competition.

In team related news, the fireworks this 4th of July have already begun (I will give word in my blog as soon as I hear of the writer that rips that phrase off in the coming days)

The explosions in Orlando revolve around the Magic getting Rashard Lewis on a plane and wooing him in Orlando while not even contacting Milicic's agent.

Pow! Crackle! Blam!

This comes as a major surprise to a lot of people because it was widely believed (and said by Magic management) that the team would deal with Milicic before anything and that he was our 'top priority' this offseason. Already Milicic and his agent are pretty shocked and annoyed at the snub by the Magic and, in typical Darko fashion, are making it known to the press. The Orlando Sentinel labelled it "Free Agency Shocker: Magic Mum To Milicic", which sounded like a tabloid title. I expected it to be above the article "From Flab To Fabuloso: Kirstey Alley Slim And Loving It!"

Meanwhile, Rashard's agent, Tony Dutt, is smiling as wide as that famous creepy sign in Asbury Park. Dutt came out and said flatly about Orlando and Rashard, "There is no better fit." Furthermore, on Sunday Dutt met with representatives from the Sonics in Houston...and Rashard reportedly didn't even make the trip.

Orlando fans are too scorned to celebrate, but the possibility has to at least make one smile and think of the possibilities.

To go back to the fireworks analogy for a second though, this situation is a risky proposition. The Magic are gambling that their offseason is a festival of oohs and ahhs by signing the most coveted free agent this summer (19 teams have contacted him? Holy cow!), and leaving Darko in the dust. If things work out well, our high powered offense will be a force next year with Rashard and we'll light up the scoreboards as much as the sky.

...If we miss out on Rashard, and have to then deal with Darko, it will be the equivalent of a firework going off in our hands and having to get rushed to the emergency room. We will probably go for Gerald Wallace (which is a great consolation prize), but our chances of getting a Wallace-Darko signing in the offseason will probably have dwindled. Vince Carter already agreed with the Nets on a deal, but we all saw that coming and I've said since the beginning that our team wasn't interested anyways.

It's time for Otis Smith, the smoothest mumbling talker in town to do his Magic. He's already convinced Billy Donovan to leave the job he was born to do. He convinced Stan Van Gundy to coach us despite public opinion that he was a 2nd choice. He convinced Evil Riley and the Heat to back down off of their 1st round pick demand for Van Gundy's services. Now, it's time for Otis to convince the biggest free agent of the offseason to join our ranks and become the Penny Hardaway to Dwight's Shaq.

I'll be holding up my sparkler and hoping for the best.