Yesterday a survey went out to the Season Ticket Holders of the Bobcats. Different from the past surveys this one was fully on a rebrand and asked hypothetically about different names if we were to switch! These pictures may be out of order BUT here is the full survey! 🙂
The 3 “Swarm Time Warner” events we’ve organized over the past year have been some of the most joyful, important moments in the 3 year history of this wacky little Movement. Not a day goes by that a diehard True Beeliever doesn’t ask us or John from “We Beelieve” when we’re pulling together the next one.
We’ve also spoken directly with the Charlotte Bobcats on numerous occasions (no bigwigs; don’t worry…we’re not holding out on y’all ;). Here’s the gist of of their response: they love our enthusiasm. They love the attention we’ve brought to the squad. They wouldn’t trade the energy and support we bring to the arena for anything. That being said: they get it. The front office gets it. In their (and frankly, our) opinion, we’ve kind of done what we can do with the ‘Swarm’ format. Anybody who was there knows: we were loud but respectful; we were organized and unified, but it felt like we were “everywhere”. It was just as perfect as we could’ve hoped (especially the last one).
All things considered, it’d be pretty close to impossible to top.
Now, even though that may be the case, we thought it’d be nice to do a little something to close out the season (and hopefully the “‘Cats” brand) in style. Our last weekend home game is Saturday, April 13th against the Milwaukee Bucks. We have a group of 10-15 True Beelievers that’re planning to get together, wear our teal and purple, and come out in support of the home team. A “Silent Swarm” , if you will. But don’t let the title mislead you; we’ll be as loud and as proud as ever. We just thought it’d be a good idea, here at what very well may be the end of Charlotte’s B**Cats’ era, to drop any sort of perceived divisiveness that our coordinated chants/section takeovers might’ve engendered within the minds of the uninitiated. Simply put: we want and come together one last time in support of our Cats (before they become our Bugs :).
And we’d positively LOVE IT if as many of y’all as possible would join us. Here’s the plan: buy as good a seat as you can afford (right now, there are lower level seats available for as little as $17, and uppers available for as little as $1.50 on StubHub!), wear your teal and purple, and get rowdy for the “Cats”, one last time. No coordinated chants, no overt acts of what might be misconstrued as ‘defiance’. Just pure, unadulterated support for OUR team.
It’s been a rocky relationship for the B**Cats in the Queen City from the start; that much is undeniable. But through each and every one of their semi-annual uniform updates, one thing has remained constant: the all said CHARLOTTE across the chest (well, the ‘away’ jerseys, anyway…y’all get my drift ;). That fact alone has been what’s carried me through the rough patches with this franchise. And you know what? All that struggle is what’s going to make Hugo’s triumphant return that much sweeter.
I hope most of y’all feel the same.
APRIL 13th.
Bee There 🙂
Facebook Event link:
https://www.facebook.com/events/134513976722814/?notif_t=plan_user_joined
If you were watching the History Channel last night you got to see the “Hornets2013 Charlotte – Take Back Our Buzz” commercial by Blackhawk Hardware. They were nice enough to create a series of commercials that will be airing within the Charlotte region promoting the name change.
They have also created a website called http://www.hornets2013.com that comprises both our movement and the We Beelieve: Charlotte…take back your Hornets! on one page.
In the midst of the worst season in NBA history, the Charlotte Bobcats had a rare opportunity to win at home against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Cats kept it close well into the fourth quarter, but in the end they just couldn’t hold on. But the loss – one of the team’s 59 that season – does not stand out in particular, except for one exchange that remains etched into my memory.
As frustrations boiled over, Bismack Biyombo told Grizzly Rudy Gay, “This is my house,” pointing toward the hardwood.
Gay shared his response with the Charlotte Observer after the game: “Who are you kidding? This is everyone’s house, who plays here.”
This statement incensed me. I didn’t care that Gay won the war of words with Biyombo. Gay’s words stung because it brought to light what everyone thought about Charlotte as an NBA destination: Time Warner Arena is essentially a neutral court that opponents can commandeer on a nightly basis to embarrass our team and our city.
Charlotte wasn’t always the laughing stock of the NBA. In fact, the Charlotte Hornets were one of the most successful small market teams in professional sports. Last year, I learned that a local group called Bring Back the Buzz sought to reclaim the Hornet’s namesake. I was ecstatic.
The Hornets boasted the NBA’s highest attendance in eight of the 14 seasons they called Charlotte home. They may have never raised a championship banner in the now-demolished Charlotte Coliseum, but the attendance banners attested to the city’s successful entry into professional sports. Riding the coattails of the Hornets’ success, the Carolina Panthers became the region’s second professional franchise with their inaugural season in 1995.
Charlotte shouted to the nation that we may be a small, Southern town masquerading as a city, but we had made it to the big stage.
Then, the NBA lockout happened, and George Shinn’s alleged sexual misconduct happened and George Shinn’s demand for a new arena happened. By the year 2000, it was clear the Hornets would relocate. Oddly enough, many of us washed our hands clean of our once beloved franchise and said, “Good riddance.”
Sometime during that acrimonious divorce between city and team Charlotte’s attitude about professional sports changed. “Maybe we don’t need to have professional sports here,” we told ourselves as we licked our wounds from Shinn’s flight to New Orleans.
The NBA had a different plan. Commissioner David Stern reflected on Charlotte’s high attendance figures and believed it was still a viable market for his league. The NBA quickly announced Charlotte would be home to an expansion team, and Bob Johnson would be its owner.
One would think that the Hornets’ ignominious departure was Charlotte sports hitting rock-bottom, but as we would soon find out, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The NBA and Johnson simply half-assed professional basketball’s return to Charlotte. They were blinded by dollars signs and couldn’t recognize that Charlotte was a scorned lover. The Hornets were our first girlfriend. We had already planned for marriage, kids and the house with the white picket fence.
Well, she dumped us and we learned an important fact of life: No relationships, no matter how special, are permanent.
How a businessmen as savvy as Bob Johnson failed to take the city’s pulse is baffling. He mistakenly thought that by bringing basketball back that the city would grovel at his feet. Not so fast my friend. We learned about heartbreak, and our expectations for the courtship of our next relationship were high. A few free t-shirts and smiles at press conferences would not suffice this time.
His brand, the Bobcats, never caught on in Charlotte, and the product on the floor wasn’t worth the price of admission.
The tables had turned, and now Johnson was the scorned lover. He sold the team in 2010 and bashed Charlotte in a post-breakup interview. He said, “Charlotte is a very, how would I call it, close-knit, arrogant, sometimes incestuous town … It’s close-knit, and if you come to this town, and you look like you’re one of those people that might break some glass … it’s going to be tough for them to relate to.”
Although I’m a firm believer in taking criticism, I believe Johnson’s perception of Charlotte shows how out-of-touch he was with city – one of the main factors contributing to his failure to woo fans.
Citing Charlotte as an “incestuous town” could not be further from the truth. Much like Atlanta, Charlotte attracts transplants from the Northeast and the entire country. After living in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Orleans, I can confidently say Charlotte is the most open place to newcomers. We don’t judge. We want you in Charlotte.
Whereas we still embrace all people in Charlotte, we no longer embrace our NBA team. Disregarding how poorly the Bobcats have played the last few years – and trust me, I understand how hard it is to forcefully remove that from your brain – they are ours.
What made us fall in love with the Hornets was regardless of how well – or poorly – they played, they belonged to Charlotte. Unlike the majority of teams, who have their franchise name stitched on the front of their jerseys, the fronts of all the Hornets uniforms proudly displayed “Charlotte.”
We are almost painfully aware of how our city is perceived by outsiders. Charlotte has all the amenities and sites of other cities, but our identity has not been cemented. Returning home every two years, I find it hard to believe that this is the city of my childhood. It’s hardly recognizable. The Charlotte that was once a small southern town masquerading as a big city has become the Charlotte of suburban conformity, and the Charlotte of urban sprawl, and most importantly, the Charlotte that still just doesn’t quite know who it is yet.
The Hornets provided us a foundation to explore that identity – whatever it might become. Their loss spelled the end of an era for Charlotte, and the Panthers and Bobcats haven’t been able to fill that void.
Some say that recapturing the Hornets’ storied past is impossible. Naysayers, who argue the support for the Hornets was an aberration, have never been able to riddle me this: how did Charlotte sustain such a strong passion for the Hornets for all those years? It extended far beyond the novelty of the city having its first professional sports team, and we never advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs. Most importantly, it extended beyond an identity crisis. That passion lasted because the Hornets franchise became a part of who we are.
It’s about our mascot Hugo, named after the hurricane that wrecked our state in 1989. It’s about the Hornet greats: LJ, Zo, Muggsy and Dell, who embraced us with open arms. It’s about the Teal and Purple. It’s about Lord Cornwallis, who called Charlotte “a veritable nest of hornets” during the Revolutionary War. That history and that pride can never be taken from us. That’s our identity.
There is not a day that goes by that I don’t miss my hometown. My connection to our teams remains a source of pride and my one tangible tie to the city. I know it’s different for those of you, who still have the privilege of calling the Queen City your current home. Maybe, like Bob Johnson, I haven’t properly taken Charlotte’s pulse. Maybe, we are done with sports.
Yet, I’m not convinced that the fandom that filled the Hive every night has left the people of Charlotte. I believe it’s simply waiting to be tapped.
Michael Jordan and the Bobcats now have the golden opportunity. With the New Orleans franchise renaming themselves the Pelicans, our namesake is ripe for the picking.
We’re at a crossroads, and I’m not entitled to choose the fork we take. I’m only one person, and hell, I don’t even live in Charlotte anymore. But the city faces a choice: to fully embrace professional sports for the future, or to merely accommodate them without a care whether they stay or go.
Call me naïve. I know that professional sports teams are businesses, but Charlotte does have power to keep this franchise here forever. Some marriages do survive; they just require some hard work. I just hope we haven’t become a completely jaded lover, unable or unwilling to make a commitment after our first messy breakup.
Obviously, I have made my choice, and I hold out hope that the majority of my fellow Charlotteans will support reclaiming our namesake. But a return to the Hornets will mean nothing, if we can’t love them with the same reckless abandon that led to those attendance banners and those wounds that still haven’t healed.
Can Charlotte get burned again? Of course. But we need to take the plunge for better or for worse.
I had a long conversation with a sales rep for the Charlotte Bobcats this morning, the conversation was refreshing, wonderful and a little bit frustrating. I called her, informed her of who I was, and told her that I was planning on purchasing tickets for the Millwakee Bucks game. Once I was done discussing tickets, I asked her if she had a problem with me picking her brain about what the impression was of our group. She made it very clear the team knows who we are and what we want. “You guys were very visible and loud at your SWARM event. The energy is a good thing because it is definitely something that is needed. However, some of your supporters can come accross as being rude”.
I told her I agreed with her 100% and that I have even mentioned in previous articles how we have 2 types of followers. One group, (including my brother and I), love the current team and just want this team to have an identity that represents the city and its history. The second group is comprised of individuals that have not gone to an NBA game since the Hornets left. They tend to take out their frustration over the NBA’s treatment of Charlotte on the current team (which in my opinion is not fair to the Bobcats). I also explained to her that we as organizers have been nothing less than supportive of this team and that we can not control who follows us anymore than they can….she agreed 100%.
I later went on to explain to her that how the group was started. And told her that last night’s Clippers game was the only game I have not watched all year (because it was a west coast game) and that I have only missed 7 home games this year…she was shocked. She was really excited to hear that the guys who started this thing were Bobcats fans! I told her I have 3 cats jerseys, merchandise with the new logo on it, and a ball signed to me from Okafor. She then told me she would spread the word in the office and at the meeting she had later that day.
That leads me to say this…
This movement was started by 3 Charlotte Bobcats fans who are still Charlotte Bobcats fans. We support the current team and between the 3 of us have only missed 6 games this year. This movement was created to return the name that was given to us over 200 years ago by Lord Cornwallis and put it back into the community in which it rightfully belongs.This movement was created to bring back a passion and an identity to a team that plays in a city with very rich history This is and has never been an “us v them” movement….because in our mind we are one in the same. To think that we are not makes absolutely no sense, since the Charlotte Hornets will be the exact same franchise as the Charlotte Bobcats just a different name.
We kindly ask our followers to be positive when dealing with the Charlotte Bobcats and to support the team as much as possible. Keep in mind that when you are asking them to change their name to the Charlotte Hornets, you are representing the thousands of people who want this to happen.
This is happening. Michael Jordan is a smart man, he knows that if he had no intentions on changing the name the last thing he should do is bring it up…for this will only upset the thousands of people who want it to happen. Keep your heads up and stay strong, we have come to far to stop now.
Thank you for your support,
Bring Back the Buzz
“Judging from the e-mails you’ve sent me, the opinion seems to be very mixed” Michael Jordan
This is a direct quote taken from Michael Jordan and his Chairman’s Corner post that came out last night about the Charlotte Bobcats changing their name to the Charlotte Hornets. Immediately this sent our social networking sites into a frenzy. This response from MJ tells me two things…. The first one is that we need to be louder and let them hear the BUZZ. The second one is that this is happening, mentioning a possible name change if you have no plan on doing it is only going to cause way more damage to your fanbase…..they know this.
Within the past day we have become inundated with questions about how people could let MJ know that they want to Bring Back the Buzz. Well John Morgan from We Beelieve was nice enough to come up with the list below. 
1) Sign our Petition (every signature sends an email DIRECTLY to the ‘Cats).
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-charlotte-bobcats-rename-charlotte-s-nba-franchise-the-hornets
2) Visit the link below and send an email DIRECTLY to Michael himself. Be calm, be cool, be collected, but let him know just how valuable that teal and purple is to you.
http://www.nba.com/bobcats/mj-mailbag
3) Continue to make your voice heard on the ‘Cats Facebook page, as well as their Twitter account (@bobcats). Social Media is what’s gotten us this far, gang…let’s keep pushing in this arena.
www.facebook.com/bobcats
https://twitter.com/bobcats
4) You can also call them at (704) 688-8600
5) Their mailing address is “333 East Trade Street” obviously Charlotte, NC 28202 (Send them a letter)
6) KEEP THE FAITH! I can’t help feeling like we’re on the precipice of something great, guys, but the battle isn’t won. Keep spreading the Hornets Gospel amongst your social circles. Keep letting anybody and everybody who’ll listen know how you feel about this whole thing. Together, we’ve watched this Movement grow from a handful of guys with laptops posting old Grandmama pics to the point that MICHAEL JORDAN is acknowledging our mission. Just let that sink in for a little bit. Y’all have been nothing short of amazing throughout this entire process, there’s ZERO reason to let up now.
HEY, CHARLOTTE!
Let’s take back our Hornets 🙂
I always hear the term “Small Market” thrown around when the media is discussing the Charlotte Bobcats and it got me wondering, “population wise” how does the city of Charlotte stack up against other cities in the NBA. Now, I know other things get thrown into determining what is a viable NBA market, but I would say population is the most important one.
Well, the information I found was surprising to me. According to multiple sites Charlotte is ranked 17th in the country in population and is the first/second/third fastest growing city (depending on which site you visit). Then, out of the 16 cities that are bigger than us, 10 of them have NBA franchises (New York has Knicks/Nets, Dallas/Fort Worth have Mavericks so I counted them as one and I gave San Francisco the Warriors even though technically they are in Oakland).
So what does this mean? It means that out of the 29 teams in the United States the Charlotte Bobcats would fall into the #12th spot in terms of population and that Charlotte is bigger than over half of the cities in the NBA with teams.
This may mean nothing to you. However, is said to me that Charlotte is bigger than it gets credit for and that we have more than enough people to support an NBA franchise….so I say we Bring Back the Buzz
(l realize we have a relatively small metro area, we also have a pretty low population denisty and like I said “I know other things get thrown into determining what is a viable NBA market, but I would say population is the most important one”
My main message was that Charlotte has more than enough people to support an NBA franchise)
So we wanted to try something fun! I’m sure all of you have heard the motto for the B**Cats this year, “Tougher, Faster, Stronger.” With that being said we wanted to hear everyone’s opinion on what the motto should be for the Charlotte Hornets when they return to the Hive!
Just comment on here or send them to us on Facebook & Twitter and we will then make another post of all the submissions and put them on a poll! The winner will obviously be the one with the most votes and we will do something special with it 😉
With the NBA trade deadline coming very fast and arriving this Thursday at 3pm the B**Cats have some moves they should be making in the near future if they do indeed wish to make this team “Tougher, Faster, Stronger”!
The recent developments with Ben Gordon and his increasing disrespect for Dunlap has caused the organization to consider his welcome “worn –out” in Charlotte.
Link to Gordon flare-up story: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/02/14/3856178/source-bobcats-gordon-dunlap-involved.html
With Gordon getting paid a hefty 12.4 million this year and a negotiated 13.2 million next year. He ironically only averages 12.6 PPG this season and not so impressive 2.2 APG & 1.9 RPG. So the B**Cats are looking to trade him to another team and hopefully get rid of an extra Shooting Guard
.
One of the options being rumored is the possibility of trading him for Kris Humphries of the Nets ( you might know him better as the soon to be X-husband of Kim Kardashian) . Kris gets paid around the same amount as Ben and though he does average a little less baskets per game (6) this season, he could be a much needed boost to our very weak post game.
Another option being explored is the center Andre Bargnani from Toronto. He has a very weak defense and rebound game but has a very good perimeter shot and averages 14.8 points per game. This is also a good deal for the pockets of the B**Cats because he is only getting paid 10.7 in Toronto for next season if they keep him. A problem with him is the fact that he’s missed 79 games in the last two-plus years.
So the question we are coming to you with is “What should the B**Cats do with ‘Ol Ben?”
Bring Back the Buzz 