Pic by wfae

by Scotty Kent

Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on where my relationship stands with the Hornets. Last season was the first season in years that I wasn’t at the arena for the majority of the games. My daughter was born at the start of the season and as a result, I was forced to watch most of the games from my couch. Once it became evident (soon after the all-star break) that this team was unraveling and not making the playoffs, I found my interest in the team beginning to fade. Towards the end of the season, I even caught myself turning off the TV out of frustration from the product on the court. This is something we (my brother and I) were more or less raised not to do, you stick with your team through the good and the bad and you damn sure don’t leave the game early or quit watching.

With that being said, I am just fed up as a fan and like everyone else, the older I get, the harder it is to fit 82 games into my schedule…especially when the product isn’t worth watching. As a Charlotte NBA fan, I’ve also become numb to the endless draft picks, coaching changes, player trades, and empty promises from the organization that things are going to change. So naturally, my interest is slipping back to where it was during the Bobcats era when we decided to start Bring Back the Buzz. I don’t like that I am currently apathetic as a fan about our new coach, new GM, and overall future but I’ve got little to no evidence that I should be optimistic.

This upcoming season is our 30th anniversary of basketball in Charlotte (well, kinda but we won’t get into that) and the marketing team has done an incredible job. The promos look amazing, the logo is perfect, the digital content is great but the current state of the team almost sucks all the excitement out of it. I genuinely don’t envy their jobs. There can only be so much smoke and mirrors before people start to pick up on the fact the product isn’t any good. Unfortunately, the Hornets are constantly fighting for a spotlight in a city where the Panthers hold most of the attention and are a much better team. But who knows, we have the All Star Game here for the first time in forever, maybe the team can capitalize on the fact that all eyes will be on the NBA in Charlotte.

Nevertheless, Bring Back the Buzz will always be here. Over 7 years of BBTB and we are still growing. It is needed and the followers continue to show us that. There has to be a platform to show the organization people are watching, care, and will call them out if they phone it in (like the 212 degrees Bobcat promo days) or will let them know when they are doing a great job (Big Al’s Paint can). With the 2 of us both being in marketing rolls now because of BBTB, we are both pretty busy with our jobs and are currently debating what the next phase is for us (we are kicking around the idea of a podcast where we discuss everything Hornets…with more of a culture, marketing, state of the fanbase feel). Whatever that phase is we will find it, we just really felt obligated to let any fan out there that currently feels like us…know they aren’t alone and that one day when this thing turns around and there are Hornets bandwagon fans…we will know we were there through it all.

🙏