Orlando Sentinel
March 7, 2008

Dwight Howard just couldn't resist.

He may have been a little late -- there was this issue about attending practice first -- for the building of the new playground at the Santa Barbara Apartments on Aloma Avenue, but he still was the first to try out the shiny green slide after wedging his larger-than-normal frame into the chute.

No one told him it wasn't quite finished yet.

"If the playground brings a smile to the faces of all the kids here, that's better than any dunk, winning any slam-dunk contest, could be," he said. "It's good for everyone."

The Orlando Magic organization shut down its offices Friday -- except for the team practice -- and sent an estimated 200 employees to spend the day building the entire 40-x-100 foot playground, turning a muddy plot in the midst of the apartment complex into a children's paradise by the end of the day.

It was done in conjunction with KaBOOM!, the Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization that provided the supervision. The Magic, though, paid the tab and provided all of the labor...

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Learn more about KaBOOM!'s Team Play program