Would You Play Ball With Wyndham Timeshare CEO Franz Hanning?

Emotions were high Tuesday night in Orlando as the Orlando Magic, who had waltzed unbeaten through their first eight games of the play-off season, struggled against a very focused Boston Celtics team in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Yet despite the fact Magic fans were clearly hyped, anxious not to head to Boston 0 and 2, you probably wouldn’t expect Wyndham Vacation Ownership CEO Franz Hanning to be the fan in a verbal altercation that involved tossing around a basketball with NBA referee, Joe DeRosa.

At halftime, as the three officials headed to the scorer’s table to retrieve their warm up jackets, DeRosa still carried a basketball. Disgruntled fans heckled the referees as the three approached the officials table with one fan saying something that clearly struck DeRosa the wrong way.

DeRosa responded by flipping the basketball he was carrying toward the irate fan who countered by immediately tossing it back at the referee. Of course, in the game of one-upmanship with a ref, expect the fan always to come out on the short end of the deal. DeRosa simply called in Amway Arena Security Officials, although it is unclear whether he asked that the fan be ejected or just relocated to another seat. At the time, ESPN and other sources covering the game did not identify the fan, who was later said to be Franz Hanning, CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, the Wyndham timeshare ownership division of Wyndham Worldwide.

It is believed that Hanning was directed to seating in another area of the arena, perhaps out of earshot of the game officials. Regardless of what he or others said, seasoned ref Joe DeRosa, was out of line in throwing a ball at or to a spectator and the NBA is looking into the matter. And although Hanning is an Orlando resident, he is reported to be a friend of Doc Rivers, former Orlando Magic coach and current Boston Celtic coach—all of which makes hard to determine whether Hanning was unhappy because he felt the referees were favoring Orlando or favoring Boston.

Basketball fans score big on accommodations when they schedule timeshare vacations to correspond with big games by their favorite teams. Your Orlando timeshare could make it much more convenient for you to catch the Magic throughout each year’s season play.

Here’s a look at what happened Tuesday night between Hanning and DeRosa: