The Pre-Pregame

Since Game 4 of the Magic-Pistons series is scheduled for 5pm on Saturday -- whatever it takes to make ESPN happy -- I found myself in a production meeting on Friday morning, a full 30 hours before tipoff. Hope we make it in time.

(Note: Saturday's game is a "side-by-side," meaning that Sun Sports will produce and televise this game right alongside ESPN's national broadcast. If you love your country, you'll choose to watch the Sun Sports version over the Four Letters. We'll give you the familiar announcers with the hometown vibe, plus the added bonus of me, potentially reporting something totally mind-blowing from the Pistons huddle. Hey, it could happen. You better watch.)

Usually, we hold these meetings on the day of the game, but with the early tip, we figured we could gather a day early and make it a more casual affair. So it was on Friday that I wandered into the Magic's headquarters, the RDV Sportsplex in Maitland, to hear what my assignments might be for Game 4.

Our roster included Tye Eastham and Kevin Patterson, the two gentlemen who produce Orlando Magic basketball on Sun Sports, plus play-by-play announcer David Steele, color analyst Matt Guokas, former Magic GM John Gabriel (who will join us as a special guest on Saturday's pregame show), sideline host Paul Kennedy, and me. We were lounging around a glass coffee table in a lobby at the Sportsplex, watching the palm trees sway outside as we waited for practice to end.

While still killing time, we welcomed Magic Chief Operating Officer Alex Martins, who stopped to chat while on his way to something undoubtedly important. Alex goes back to the expansion days of the Magic in 1989, and therefore knows John Gabriel quite well. In fact, I couldn't help but notice the high levels of expansion-era experience in the room -- Alex, Gabe, David, Paul, and Matty were all on the ground floor of this franchise in one way or another. That's a ton of Magic history in one lobby. For what it's worth, Tye, Kevin and I can all trace our connections back at least as far as the Shaq-Penny era. Call us the JV division.

As the casual chatter continued, in walks the irrepressible Pat Williams, best remembered around Orlando as the Magic's original general manager and the man who made the NBA happen in Central Florida. Pat still holds an executive role with the franchise and is highly sought after as a public speaker. The man can flat-out work a room.

If you know Pat at all, you know he's always on his game when faced with an audience. And so it was that he looked around the table -- at Alex Martins, John Gabriel, Matt Guokas, David Steele, Paul Kennedy, and the rest of us -- gave it a perfect pause, and then dropped this one:

"Wow. I hired everybody in this room."

Never mind that he didn't, really -- great line nonetheless.

Oh, yeah, and one more thing: the Magic are going to win this series against Detroit. This team is going to the Eastern Conference Finals. Been saying it for two weeks now, to anyone who would listen. It's gonna happen.

Know how I know? Because going to the Eastern Conference Finals would REALLY throw my work schedule into the washing machine. Most likely, it would mean live pregame and/or postgame shows on Sun Sports. That's how I know. It's been too quiet around here for too long. My hair has not been on fire for a full week. Thus, the Magic will beat Detroit and make all of us nuts again. Book it.

Gotta go do a pregame show. See you on TV.