Author Scotty & Evan

Evan Kent’s Letter to Michael Jordan

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Dear Mr. Jordan,

I was there at the first NBA game the Charlotte Coliseum had hosted since George Shinn took the Hornets to New Orleans. I was so pumped at the idea of the NBA coming back to the Queen City. It was October 20, 2003 and the Atlanta Hawks were hosting the Washington Wizards and we had just received the news that our team would be called the Bobcats. My parents were so excited they bought tickets for us to go. The old “Hornets game feeling” was back and I couldn’t resist it. I made a sign that said “Who are these guys? We want the Bobcats”. I walked into the Coliseum and everyone was adorned in Hornets apparel. Nostalgia had never had such a young victim. The memories flooded back, I could practically see Hugo running around the court with a deer head on a plaque to shatter the Buck’s reserve. I could hear the Buzz noise building in my head as the “Hive was Alive”. A swell of pride for my city was in my heart.

Nine years later you would never find a larger advocate for the name change. I’ve been to over several Bobcats games every season in that time. I have sat in box seats, was in the arena for draft day when we got Adam Morrison. I’ve sat in the nose bleeds and bought jerseys. But I am embarrassed. Embarrassed of how detached I have become with the identity of a Bobcat. Not the Flight because we are “First In Flight”. Not the Spiders for an arena called “the Charlotte’s Web” and a cheerleading team called “the Black Widows”. Not the Cougars after the original ABA team but “BOB”cats for a man’s ego.

I pity every kid who misses out on what I had as a child. Nothing was like going to a Hornets game. It was a carnival; an atmosphere I have never seen again. Every Thanksgiving my brother and I would conspire on how to get our parents to take us to the game. I would get so giddy that I would ruin it every time and Scotty would get so mad because I couldn’t help but ask my parents if we were going. I know this is redundant but I will never forget the last game on TV. I will never forget listening to 1110 WBT the next morning and listening to their montage of Hornets sound bites. We all cried. They were gone. We didn’t just lose the team of that year. We lost every Hornet ever. We lost Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Vlade Divac, Muggsy Bogues, Baron Davis, David Wesley, Jamal Mashburn, Bobby Phills etc. I felt robbed of my identity and there was nothing I could do about it.

You have a chance Mr. Jordan to not just change NBA history but a city’s history. You have the ability to impact a community like you haven’t since you retired from the court. You have the ability to make a sacrifice and give us a gift that we will never forget.

Bring Back the Buzz!

Evan Kent

Major Charlotte Sportswriter Changes Stance

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Charlotte Observer sports columnist Tom Sorenson finally realized that the Bobcats brand in Charlotte was going nowhere and expressed his support for a name change in a blog post yesterday. Less than two months ago, he indicated his skepticism about a name change, saying that the Charlotte franchise should invest more in winning than rebranding. But for the NBA to succeed in Charlotte, it needs to do both.

To Tom’s credit, he did say that he respected the grassroots effort and is very responsive to fans’ emails. I would like to think that we persuaded him. Better late than never, welcome aboard Tom!

 

Sports Illustrated Says New Orleans NBA Team Will Likely Be Rebranded

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In Sports Illustrated’s Ian Thomsen’s own words…

In years to come, there promises to be a new cable-TV partnership, the NBA All-Star Game will return to the city, the New Orleans Arena will undergo $50 million in improvements, and the franchise, in all likelihood, will be rebranded. The “Hornets” nickname, which followed the team to New Orleans during its 2002 relocation from Charlotte, will probably be replaced by an identity more fitting to the city to which the team is now married, for better and for worse. Though everyone involved hopes the worst is now far behind them.

Excited now?

 

 

“Dear Michael Jordan, What You Don’t Understand” by Scotty Kent

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Dear Mr. Jordan,

What you don’t understand

I have been putting off this for a long time. I was afraid that I would not be able to capture the emotion and sincerity behind my choice to spend countless hours working towards bringing the Hornets name back to the city in which it belongs. I ran through the many memories in my head of waiting for my father to pick me up from “after school” in elementary school, eagerly anticipating the moment our car would pull into the parking lot of the Coliseum. I thought about the many nights I spent lying awake in bed listening to the games on the radio because I was not permitted to watch TV during the school week. Through all this, the same feeling kept coming into my head – this was normal. I knew the Hornets’ players names by heart, I owned several jerseys, I had all of their cards, I followed all the games, and I wanted to be just like them. As a middle school teacher, it disappoints me to see my students identifying with superstars they will never get the opportunity to watch (except when that team comes to Charlotte). Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, and Blake Griffin are not from Charlotte and they never will be. When I was growing up, I admired Michael Jordan, I liked Jason Kidd and Gary Payton, but I loved Glen Rice, Baron Davis, and Anthony Mason….they represented my city and they did it well. When I shot a ball of paper into a trash can I did not shout “Kobe”, I shouted “Curry!” Never in a million years could I picture a kid today saying “DJ” before he launched his balled-up notes across the classroom. This feeling is more than nostalgia, it represents a time when I did not have to TRY to like my team, they made me like them. They gave me no choice. There was a passion, there was a buzz, and there was a fire lit in Charlotte that only one man had the power to put out – George Shinn.

I was in 8th grade when the Hornets left. I watched the last game in the living room of my parents’ house and I was in shock at the end of the video montage showing the Hornets history. I can count on one hand the number of times I have cried since elementary school – an argument with my parents, the death of my grandfather, my wedding last summer, and at the end of the video they played after the Hornets last game. As soon as it was over, I ran up to my parents’ room, opened the door and said “their gone”. I have yet to watch that video again and I refuse to do so until the day their name returns to Charlotte.

I will now fast-forward 8 years to the current state of the NBA in Charlotte. There is only one word I can think of to describe the way the city of Charlotte feels about the Bobcats and that word is…apathetic. This city, no matter how hard they try to sugar coat it, flat out does not care at all about the Bobcats. Why? Is it the name? Was it the previous owner? Is it the marketing? Is it the team? All these factors play a role and we would likely have the opportunity to fix much of that within a year or so if we change the name back to the Hornets. You can make the argument that even if you change the name, they team is still awful. While this is true, at least the city in which they play will know they are awful. Charlotte can’t be apathetic about the Hornets. The Bobcats are dismissed by Charlotte; there has been no “positive” time for Bobcats fans to turn to in the past 8 years. One horrendous playoff appearance against the Magic does not establish a fanbase. The moment the Hornets return, the city can immediately look back and say that the Hornets went to the playoffs seven of their fourteen seasons in Charlotte. As someone who attends Bobcats games and who attended Hornets games, I will not go into detail here about the difference in the atmosphere or take the time to explain how much the paid “fake fans” infuriate those who attend. The games are an awful imitation of what the Bobcats marketing department feels an NBA game in Charlotte should be like. You cannot fabricate passion and this fact is evident both in the stands and on the court. You cannot hire people to run around on stilts, drums strapped to the front of their shirts yelling Bobcats, with spray painted orange hair and expect a fan, to be too stupid to realize the how staged it is. You didn’t have to pay people to scream at the Hive when Baron Davis dunked on Kevin Garnett, but you do have to have to pay people to ignore when Blake Griffin puts his groin in Kemba Walker’s face as he reenacts NBA jam against my hometown’s team (Griffin got a standing ovation at the Bobcats game in mid-February).
Mr. Jordan, – this is where you come in. I feel like you owe this much to my city and my generation. I bought Space Jam, I bought your jersey, I bought your shoes, I bought your documentary, I watched your games, and I still defend you when they compare you to Kobe or Lebron. You came into my city, bought my team, gave me hope then sat back and watched the Bobcats disgrace my city with Charlotte adorning the front of their jerseys. I asked for none of that, but I am asking you for this:

Can you please Bring Back the Buzz?

Thank you,

Scotty Kent