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How a sportswriter singlehandedly brought back the most electric NBA theme song you've probably never heard

November 12, 2021

In the summer of 2003, I was an intern for the Westchester Wildfire, a now extinct team in the now extinct United States Basketball League. It was a fun gig because it was fairly easy, it involved going to all their home games at the County Center, and I got to meet my first sports hero, New York Knicks legend John Starks, who coached the team.

But aside from saying hi to Starks every time he arrived to the arena, and getting coupons for free Nathan's and Carvel before the games started, there's one other thing that stands out from those nights: the Westchester Wildfire theme song.

"We're gonna have a party tonight, the Westchester WildFIYAHHH!" It was an absolute banger, as the kids would say now. I'd share it here, but unfortunately, that song doesn't seem to exist anywhere on the Internet.

Fortunately (and now we're getting to the actual point of this post), that's not the case for the original Orlando Magic theme song, which many—including myself—were introduced to on Friday thanks to The Ringer's Kevin Clark. Seriously, stop what you're doing right now and have a listen/watch to this beauty from Orlando's first-ever game in 1989:

What a spectacle! "Abracadabra, razzamatazz! Slam dunk sesame!" Just electric stuff. As a Knicks fan, it's no "Go NY, go NY, go!" mind you, but it certainly tops that Westchester Wildfire song.

The best news, though, is that this classic is coming back. And it's all thanks to Kevin's tweet.

After it got shared a bunch, the Orlando Magic quote-tweeted it and said they'd play it at the next home game if it got 1,000 retweets. And, well, that didn't take long.

You've got to give the people what they want! And then the Magic said if it gets 10,000 retweets, they'll play the song at EVERY home game this season.

That escalated quickly, huh? Hey, after a 3-9 start to the season, the Magic could use all the help they can find.

Way to use your clout to bring some good into this world, Kevin. Who says sportswriters can't make a real difference?