The Fan Voice: "Gortat's Favorite Nickname"

By Live or Die Magic | March 12th, 2009


First off, I feel the need to be up front and honest with you guys. Marcin "The Warlock" Gortat may not be aware of just how great his legend is with us Magic Message Board members. At least, not as much as we might have hoped.

You may recall that our very own Marc Acres 3:16 had lunch with Gortat at a season ticket holder event about a year and a half ago and took the opportunity to explain the origin of the Warlock nickname to him in person. According to Acres, Gortat was extremely excited by the nickname and even told other Magic players about it. But it is quite possible that since that time, Gortat has missed out on just how much of a phenomenon that he and his nickname have become on our boards. In fact, I've even heard that someone named a home brew after him! That must be one ferocious beer!

After Gortat's comeback performance in last night's victory over the Chicago Bulls, I asked for a moment of Gortat's time so that I could discuss his ever increasing legendary status with him.

LOD: “You obviously took the Pistons loss hard. Coach said in his post-game press conference that what he told you was that you played a bad 7 minutes (against the Pistons), not necessarily a bad game. Did that make you feel better and did it help you tonight?”

Gortat: “Definitely, I mean, the message from Coach was straight, and I am happy to get this message from him and that gave me a lot of confidence before the game. Obviously, I...I kind of disappointed my coach, you know, with my last 7 minutes of the game in Detroit. I tried to pay him back today and obviously I’m going to try to pay him back the rest of the season.”

LOD: “Are you aware that the fans on the Magic Message Boards have nicknamed you “The Warlock.?

Gortat: “Ah...nicknames, you gotta talk to this guy right here (points to Dwight Howard at the next locker).

Howard: “What is it (the nickname)?”

LOD: “On the Magic Message Boards, the actual message boards for the team at orlandomagic.com, the fans on the site have nicknamed Marcin ‘The Warlock.’”

Gortat: “That’s probably the oldest one. Right now the popular one is ‘Polish Prince’ and you’ve got ‘Polish Hammer’...I could name you a dozen at least.”

LOD: “Do you have a favorite?”

Gortat (without any hesitation): “Polish Machine.”

LOD: “Polish Machine?”

Gortat: “My nickname from as soon as I played basketball.”

[I then proceeded to give him the 30 second synopsis of how the "Warlock" nickname came about and explained to him that he has become a legend with the Magic fans on the Orlandomagic.com message boards. I explained that he has quite a following among the fans, that we are all excited to see him playing more, and that if he every gets a chance, he should check out the boards so that he can see for himself.]

Gortat: “I appreciate that, I’ll try to check it out.”

So, we now know that Gortat's favorite nickname is the "Polish Machine." Obviously I still prefer "The Warlock," but if a different one had to be used, I'd prefer the "Polish Hammer." But the "Polish Machine," seems to have some sentimental value to him, perhaps it was the nickname given to him by his countrymen, versus all these others that have been given to him since he came to the NBA.

Still, to us board members, he will always be the Warlock. And you never know, he might come around to liking the Warlock better than the others. Here's hoping he has many seasons in a Magic uniform to get used to the idea!


This message was not subject of approval by the NBA or the Orlando Magic. The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of the Orlando Magic or the NBA, but solely the writer.

Gortaminator.

A frenzied arena full of the chant "Warlock, Warlock, Warlock..." should bring him around.

I am still for nicknames that have nothing to do with the player. For example, we should call Tony Battie "Canned Ham." Why? Who knows, I just thought of it.

I was thinking about his Warlock (which is still my favorite) knickname from his standpoint. If the online translator is accurate, then "The Warlock" means "The Magic" in his native language. Not really an attractive knickname just adopting the team name from his viewpoint.

He will always be The Warlock to me though.

quote:

Originally posted by bhnole:
I was thinking about his Warlock (which is still my favorite) knickname from his standpoint. If the online translator is accurate, then "The Warlock" means "The Magic" in his native language. Not really an attractive knickname just adopting the team name from his viewpoint.

He will always be The Warlock to me though.

Yeah, I wondered if he understood the humor behind it as well as the fact that a warlock is quite an imposing figure.

quote:

Originally posted by bhnole:
I was thinking about his Warlock (which is still my favorite) knickname from his standpoint. If the online translator is accurate, then "The Warlock" means "The Magic" in his native language. Not really an attractive knickname just adopting the team name from his viewpoint.

He will always be The Warlock to me though.

You know... I was thinking the same thing... Then I thought, they probably were calling him a Magician, as a player on the Magic squad, which is roughly what a Warlock is (magician, male witch, what have you).

I do not know if he could be anything other than the Warlock to me.

I haven't checked the game thread to see if this was mentioned, but during a time out, Paul Kennedy talked about Gortat's nicknames, adding "we LOVE these!" The four that were displayed on the screen were:

The Warlock
Polish Prince
Polish Hammer
Polish Machine.

Kennedy added that the last one was one that he had given himself.

Anyone else think they've been reading the boards and maybe even my post about this? I mean, the four names mentioned were the four that I mentioned!
Pretty wild.

quote:

Originally posted by Live or Die Magic:
I haven't checked the game thread to see if this was mentioned, but during a time out, Paul Kennedy talked about Gortat's nicknames, adding "we LOVE these!" The four that were displayed on the screen were:

The Warlock
Polish Prince
Polish Hammer
Polish Machine.

Kennedy added that the last one was one that he had given himself.

Anyone else think they've been reading the boards and maybe even my post about this? I mean, the four names mentioned were the four that I mentioned!
Pretty wild.

I think they also said that the Warlock was the oldest.