MAGIC: Carlos Arroyo’s Blog

Since arriving in Orlando last February, Carlos Arroyo has quickly become one of the most popular players in an Orlando Magic uniform. Throughout the season, Carlos will be blogging for OrlandoMagic.com. Check back often for updates from Carlos.

Spanish Version

By Carlos Arroyo | January 15, 2008

We just ended up another trip out West and it feels good to be home.

The team wishes we could be playing a lot better right now but we all know that it is the time in the season where we need to step up.

We have played a lot better, but the energy and focus at the defensive end is something we need to concentrate on.

With the team being on the road a lot, it is hard to find time to spend with the family, but when I am home I spend as much time with them as I can.

The holidays were good because my family came to visit on Christmas and it was a great time for myself and everyone. I am looking forward to the All-Star Weekend so I can spend a little more time with them.

I have been in the starting lineup more lately and Jameer and I have gone back and forth in that role for the last month or so. It really doesn't matter to me who starts, and I just want to be out there playing. I am happy when I can help or contribute to the team in any way.

We have a great opportunity coming up in the second half of the season with most of our games at home and we hope to take advantage of that opportunity.

By Carlos Arroyo | September 28, 2007

Hey fans, I had a busy summer this year. I went on a vacation with my family in June. After that I started training hard every morning at 7, not only for my personal training but also preparing with the Puerto Rico national team. I played in three tournaments this summer with the national team and it was a great experience for me to stay in shape and represent my country.

I also like playing with my national team because it is something I have dreamed of doing since I was a kid. It is always great playing for and representing your country. We went to Vegas for the FIBA Championships and placed third which was good.

I was busy in Puerto Rico this summer working out and running a couple of youth camps. It is always nice to be able to give back to my country. It always nice to spend time at home and get those good home cooked meals.

I am really excited about the up-and-coming season. I think we got some good new additions and Coach Van Gundy will help us out a lot. I am looking forward to the season and advancing further into the playoffs this year.

By Carlos Arroyo | February 7, 2007

Everything is great for me right now. Like I've said before, this is the best job in the world. I'm healthy and got the best family, so everything is great.

This last Saturday was Latin Night at the Arena and it was just amazing. It's great to see the Hispanic community coming out, especially the Puerto Ricans, to show support for Latin Night. The after show was also pretty great. It was really a celebration. Any time you have something like Latin Night and you see that type of support, it really opens doors to be able to do more and more for the Hispanic community. That's something that the Magic understand and look forward to doing.

We've had a streaky stretch of games lately that we are trying to overcome. We have to look back on some of those earlier victories and see what we were doing to win. It was things like seeing the type of energy we were bringing to the game and understanding the things we were trying to do as a team. We just played our game and played as a team - and we always played with a lot of energy. That's all we need to do to start winning like that again.

Right now, we are playing without Keyon Dooling, Grant Hill and Trevor Ariza. Without those guys, our defense really needs to pick up, because that's what is going to help give us easy baskets. Everybody needs to contribute a little more than usual and this is really the time everyone needs to step up and take the challenge. We are a great time with or without the talent and have the guys to do it to make it happen. We can't just sit back and be sad for ourselves because we don't have these guys out on the floor.

This is a very important time right now for us. This is the time when teams start to give up or show what they are all about. It's the time when we need to concentrate the most because of the All-Star break and guys start thinking about where they are going to go on the time off and what they are going to do. That will be a time to relax and take a break, but we really have to be focused now on concentrating and finishing the first half of the season strong.

By Carlos Arroyo | January 4, 2006

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! The holidays were great for me and my family. We tend to do some very traditional Puerto Rican things around the holidays, like eating rice and beans and everything. You have your family cook, get them all together and just have a real good time.

As many of you already know, tomorrow night's game against Charlotte is also my bobblehead night at the arena and it's awesome. I really like the fact that the Puerto Rican flag was included, that means a lot to me. It's always very meaningful for me to have the flag everywhere like my shoes and all over. It really looks great. It looks like me, just a little more tan. But I hope everyone likes it!

Everything has been great lately. I've had a lot of my family over, which is always great support for me. They flew in from Puerto Rico for the holidays. Just spending time with them has been wonderful. I don't get the chance to see them for much of the year, because I'm here and they are all in Puerto Rico. So seeing them is a great feeling.

As a team, we are excited for 2007. We kind of got in that little downfall, but every time goes through that. It is better early, than late. Hopefully we can pick up our game in 2007 and we've already started off great with the win against the Clippers. I hope the year will keep bringing us great things for the team.

We understand that for us to be successful, we have to have fun and have lots of enthusiasm and energy. That's what this team is all about - energy. And lots of chemistry - both on and off the court. When you have chemistry between two players - and everybody - it's just amazing. When you have a young team with a lot of young talent, that's going to show a lot.

For me, I just want to stay healthy. But more than making resolutions for the new year, I'm always grateful for the things that I have and you've always got to count your blessings. But what better way to live your life than to do the job that we do and earn money and live your life the way that you want to and this is something I've wanted to do since I was a kid.

By Carlos Arroyo - December 12, 2006 - 2:04PM

We are truly grateful for the opportunity that we have playing in this amazing league and having the fans that we have around the NBA. I believe the support we get from you fans is a part of the success we'll have throughout the whole year. Your support means a lot to us and motivates us to take our game to another level. We understand that when every time we are on the road, we talk about coming back home and playing in front of you guys. It really means a lot to us that people take time out of their lives to come out and support the team and follow our careers.

Since Day 1 here in Orlando it has been an amazing experience for me. I've had the best time of my life with this team, who are a great group of guys. And the city of Orlando has embraced me since I got here. The Puerto Rican community has been great in supporting me and that really means a lot to me. Knowing that I have a group of people that are there for me night in and night out is truly amazing. When you get fans like that, it helps your games and it helps you know that you're not out there by yourself. When people respect what you do, that makes us work even harder.

I have my wife and my daughter here with me in Orlando. For a long time, we had wanted to be here and be apart of this franchise and live in this city. Orlando has been great to us and we look forward to being in this city for many years to come.

Because I have a lot of family in Puerto Rico, being in Orlando has truly been a gift from God. There are so many Hispanic people in this community that it has made us feel like home, or even like Miami, because that's where I went to school. Orlando is very similar in that way because of the weather, the food and the people. It's truly amazing because now my family can come up and visit every now and again because it's only a three and a half hour flight from Puerto Rico. So they can now come up and visit a lot more than they used to and they come to visit also because of the weather. In Detroit there was a lot of snow and in Utah there was a lot of snow, so they like the warm weather here.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I look forward to writing more throughout the season.