The Charlotte Bobcats are in the process of changing their name back to “Hornets,” a source with knowledge of the situation told CBSSports.com’s Will Brinson, including arranging digital assets that would allow a return to their original nickname.

There is no timetable for the switch though NBA commissioner to be Adam Silver told Bobcats season ticket holders in April that such a change would take at least 18 months to implement. Moreover, the change is not unexpected and would likely be popular with the North Carolina fan base.

Bobcats chairman and owner Michael Jordan confirmed in February that the team hired “a national polling group” (previously reported as Harris Interactive) to determine how fans felt about a change back to Hornets. Jordan called the reaction to the poll “very mixed.” Numerous grassroots groups have pushed for a return to Hornets.

Charlotte’s NBA team was known as the Hornets from its 1988 inception through 2002 when then owner George Shinn moved the team — and mascot — to New Orleans. When the New Orleans franchise changed its nickname to Pelicans this past season, it opened the door for “Hornets” to return to Charlotte.

Silver told season ticket holders re-acquiring the name “Hornets” would not be an issue, stating that the NBA and not the Pelicans owned the moniker. Acquiring and rearranging the necessary digital assets would be a major part of any change. Hornets.com and CharlotteHornets.com are owned by NBA Media Ventures, LLC and currently redirect to NBA.com/Pelicans.

However, a WhoIs.net search for the domain name NBAHornets.com shows that the URL was created and registered very recently — on May 15, 2013 to be exact — by NBA Media Ventures, LLC.

NBA Media Ventures, LLC, is the media branch of the NBA and owns NBA.com, Hornets.com and CharlotteHornets.com.

Obviously the first Charlotte Hornets were the Charlotteans who fought in the Battle of Charlotte during the Revolutionary War and received this nickname! Ever since then there have been countless things in Charlotte and the surrounding region adorned with the Hornets name in honor of the fighting spirit of this community!

The first NBA franchise in Charlotte was not the first sports team in the area to have the name. Starting 1901 one of the original Charlotte Hornets was a minor league baseball team which was a feeder team for the Washington Senators. They were on and off until about 1973. Then Jim Crockett Jr. bought the Asheville Orioles (affiliates of the Baltimore Orioles) and they became the Charlotte Orioles. Some names you might recognize from the Major Leagues that played for the O’s at the beginning of their careers were Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, and Curt Schilling!

In the late 80’s the team was bought by George Shinn ( Yes, the very same George Shinn who founded the Charlotte Hornets NBA team) then renamed them the Charlotte Knights which we know and love today!

Here are some cool pics of the Charlotte Hornets Minor League Baseball Team!

I have been tossing this idea around in my head for quite some time and just dismissed it as me being crazy, until I heard WFNZ discuss the topic for their show this morning and surprisingly …. a lot of other people agreed with me!

Is the NBA, right now,  the best it has ever been?

Initially, it seems almost blasphemous to think that the NBA could be better now than it was during the Jordan era.  After further consideration , I (Scotty…not Evan) have come to believe that it is.

The playoffs underway right now are absolutely amazing!  The play is the best I have seen in a loooooong time and I’ve come to the conclusion that professional basketball is finally beginning to recover from the doldrums of the “post Jordan” era.

I think too often we have people who fell in love with the NBA in the 80s and 90s, then stopped watching it when Jordan left, and refuse to believe that the product on the court could possibly be better. Now there are certain things that will always be better about that time period, like the aggressive physical nature of the big man and the rivalries. However, the athleticism, the finesse, the competitiveness, the defense, the offense and overall quality of the game is better now….in my opinion 😉

As someone with no dog in the fight ( the Charlotte Bobcats are my team), I’ve found myself watching on the edge of my seat during almost every game. I haven’t felt this way since the days when my Charlotte Hornets were in it!

What do you think?

Even if you don’t believe this is the NBS at its best , I think we can agree that playoffs are a lot better than just a few years ago and now is a perfect time for the Hornets to return!

Our app is now available for the android market!

Here is the audio from our interview this morning on WFNZ’s the Mac Attack.

Scottie Kent Discusses The Bring Back The Buzz Movement « CBS Charlotte.

Allan Bristow and the people at WFNZ discuss everything from our little movement to get the name back to Charlotte to The glory days of old!

MAKE SURE YOU GIVE IT A LISTEN

***Also tune in to 610 AM tomorrow at 7:30 to hear Scotty talk with the gang about Bring Back The BUZZ***

http://charlotte.cbslocal.com/2013/05/06/allan-bristow-every-hornets-game-back-in-the-day-was-a-big-event/

BITTERSWEET NEWS

At around 4 minutes the interview turns bittersweet. He explains that the only way Seattle will get their Supersonics back is if another franchise moves to Seattle. He then goes on to list possible teams that could relocate there “Teams like the Bucks, the Grizzlies, the Charlotte Bobcats…soon to be Hornets”. 

While we just heard from an NBA TV Legal analyst that the Bobcats were going to be the Hornets, we also just found out that we are being eyed as the new “Sacaramento Kings”. Most likely this will not happen in the near future and he was trying to come up with some warm fuzzies to give the Seattle faithful. 

We Beelieve: Charlotte…take back your Hornets! and us have been saying since day one that this rebrand needs to happen to ensure that the NBA stays in Charlotte. However, regaurdless of name this teams belongs to our city and we need to make sure we support them.

Link to audio: http://www.sportsradiokjr.com/player/?station=KJR-AM&program_name=podcast&program_id=softy.xml&mid=23154286