Hornets Extra: Yesterday was a great day to be a Charlotte Hornets fan

Hello everyone! Welcome to this, the first installment of "Hornets Extra", a fan blog talking about the Charlotte Hornets!  In this blog, I will post my thoughts and opinions on the Hornets from a fan's point of view, and along the way, I'll discuss some of the stories and issues around the NBA.  For the first post, let's talk about what was indeed a huge day for everyone here in Charlotte yesterday.

It all began with the official announcement that we've been all waiting for, as the Charlotte Bobcats officially changed it's name back to the Charlotte Hornets, and we was all excited to finally see the name return home to where it originally began, because if you were a basketball fan growing up here in Charlotte, North Carolina during the late 1980's and into the mid-1990's, then you know that the Hornets were a household name during their glory days which saw a run of 364 consecutive sellouts at the old Charlotte Coliseum off of Tyvola Road, leading the league in attendance for eight out of 10 seasons, and players we grew up to admire so much, such as Muggsy Bogues, Dell Curry, Rex Chapman, Kelly Tripucka J.R. Reid, Kurt Rambis, Baron Davis, David Wesley, P.J. Brown, and Jamal Mashburn, and yes, we absolutely admire a little purple and teal bee named "Hugo".

In the end, the love affair between Charlotte and the Hornets turned for the worse, and in 2002, the franchise moved to New Orleans, taking the name with them, and that left us a bad taste in our mouths when that happened.

Yesterday, Charlotte Hornets President and COO Fred Whitfield was absolutely thrilled to finally see our city get what it rightfully deserved, bringing back the Hornets name to Charlotte and the Carolinas.  "As a former original Hornets season ticket holder myself, I'm especially excited to usher the Hornets name to Charlotte. Our fans were the driving force behind the name returning, and it couldn't have happened without the commitment and the open-mindedness of our owner." Whitfield said.

The name dates back to the Revolutionary War, and the Battle of the Hornet's Nest that happened in October of 1780, and when General Cornwallis left Charlotte, he called the area a "Veritable hornet's nest of rebellion.", and the name was also used for Charlotte's minor-league baseball franchises in some shape or form from 1901-73, and a short-lived World Football League franchise from 1974-75.

Also, another exciting announcement took place during yesterday's press conference, as the Hornets, in partnership with the NBA and the New Orleans Pelicans, would regain all the records and history of Charlotte NBA basketball.  This means that the Hornets will have exclusive access to not only the records from the Bobcats era(2004-2014), but records from the original Charlotte Hornets era(1988-2002). The New Orleans franchise, now known as the Pelicans, will retain all records from the team's first season, which began in 2002. 

In addition, the team announced several different events over the next several months to get the fans excited about the return of the Hornets to Charlotte, which includes the following:

• June 5th: The return of one of the most popular mascots in NBA history, Hugo the Hornet
• June 9th: The entire Hornets organization will take part in a "Swarm to Serve" Community Day of Service at Hornets Nest Elementary School with Fox Sports Carolinas/SportSouth.
• June 19th: The Hornets new uniforms will be officially revealed for the first time.
• June 26th: On the night of the NBA Draft, the new court design will be revealed at "The Hive".
• July 11-21: For the first time in 12 years, the Charlotte Hornets will return to action in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• October 2014: "BuzzFest", a multi-day festival, will take place to coincide with the start of the 2014-15 NBA season and to celebrate the Hornets return to Charlotte.

Then last night, the Hornets landed the number 9 pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which was won by the Cleveland Cavaliers again, and what happened was that Charlotte acquired the pick from Detroit in the Ben Gordon trade a few years back.  The full list of the selections from last night's Draft Lottery are as follows:

1. Cleveland Cavaliers

2. Milwaukee Bucks

3. Philadelphia 76ers

4. Orlando Magic

5. Utah Jazz

6. Boston Celtics

7. L.A. Lakers

8. Sacramento Kings

9. CHARLOTTE HORNETS(from Detroit)

10. Philadelphia 76ers(from New Orleans)

11. Denver Nuggets

12. Orlando Magic(from New York via Denver)

13. Minnesota Timberwolves

14. Phoenix Suns

Long story short, yesterday was a great day to be a Charlotte Hornets fan, you finally got the name back, got all the records back, and the number 9 overall pick in June's NBA Draft, and as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran said in the song, "Everything Has Changed", and it has indeed changed right here in Charlotte as we are now officially the Hornets, again.

And there you have it, our first of many posts about the Charlotte Hornets here on "Hornets Extra", and I hope that you can check it out for yourself and we begin this new chapter in our franchise's history as the Hornets.

Special Comment: I am mad and upset that we missed out on getting the #1 pick in the draft.

And now at the request of my friend and "Boss" Jake Cook, another "Special Comment" about why the Charlotte Bobcats didn't get the number 1 pick and settling for the 4th pick and why are we not getting any love in the lottery over the last couple of seasons.  Last week we once again entered the dreaded NBA Draft  Lottery hoping that we would get the #1 pick on the same night that Michael Jordan announced that he was changing the team's name to the Charlotte Hornets in the 2014-15 campaign. We were keeping our fingers crossed hoping that we would get the top pick overall, but we settled for a disappointing 4th as the Cleveland Cavaliers locked up the top spot and continuing our so-called curse of not getting the top pick.  I WAS SO MAD, I WAS ABOUT TO FLIP OVER MY CHAIR AND CURSE THE YOU-KNOW-WHAT OUT OF THIS OUTRAGE THAT TOOK PLACE ON TUESDAY NIGHT ONCE THE DRAFT LOTTERY ENDED! IT WAS DISAPPOINTING, HURTFUL AND MORE IMPORTANTLY UPSETTING THAT THIS TEAM, THE CHARLOTTE BOBCATS DID NOT GET THE COVETED TOP PICK IN THE NBA DRAFT! THIS IS THE REASON WHY WE AREN'T GETTING ANY LOVE WHEN WE ENTER THE NBA DRAFT LOTTERY AFTER ONE DISAPPOINTING SEASON TOO MANY, LIKE THIS SEASON WHEN WE FINISHED A DISMAL 21-61 THUS ENDING THE FAILED EXPERIMENT OF MIKE DUNLAP!

THE DRAFT LOTTERY HAS NOT TREATED US WELL OVER THESE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, AND I AM SO SICK OF NOT SEEING US AT THE NUMBER ONE SPOT IN THIS MESS KNOWN AS THE NBA DRAFT LOTTERY AND AS A FAN, I AM STILL DISAPPOINTED IN NOT GETTING THE NUMBER ONE OVERALL PICK. HECK, IF WE DID HAD THAT PICK, WE WOULD BE SITTING ON TOP OF THE BASKETBALL UNIVERSE, BUT NO! WE ARE STILL A BUNCH OF "CELLAR-DWELLERS"! CELLAR-DWELLERS, YOU UNDERSTAND! WE ARE ALWAYS NEAR THE BOTTOM OR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE LEAGUE WHENEVER WE HAVE A LOSING SEASON, THAT'S A CASE THAT WE'VE BEEN SEEING HERE IN CHARLOTTE OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS, AND AS A FAN OF THIS TEAM SINCE THE BEGINNING, WE HAVE NEVER GOTTEN THAT CHANCE!

I am still not sold on us getting that 4th pick in the NBA Draft, and as a fan, it makes no sense that this draft lottery that took place on Tuesday was absolutely rigged so the Cleveland Cavaliers can steal that spot and put another dent in our misery when we enter the NBA Draft Lottery because of those ping-pong balls that tell us if our team will improve or fail in the next season, and once the verdict came down for us, it was going to be another long failing season.  IN MY WORLD, IT WAS COMPLETELY A DISGRACEFUL DISAPPOINTING DRAFT LOTTERY BECAUSE THEY WERE ALL LOOKING AT US AS THE LAUGHINGSTOCK OF THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION, A TITLE WE'VE BEEN HAVING SINCE 2004, AND HECK, THE LOTTERY WAS RIGGED LAST YEAR AND IT WAS AGAIN LAST WEEK! LOOK AT THE 2012 DRAFT LOTTERY, WE HOPED TO GET THE NUMBER ONE PICK, BUT NOOO! IT WAS TOM BENSON, WHO TOOK OVER THE NOW NEW ORLEANS PELICANS THAT WANTED TO GET THAT PICK AND RUB IT IN OUR FACE! THIS YEAR, IT WAS "LITTLE NICKY" GILBERT, SON OF DAN GILBERT THAT WANTED TO CONTINUE THE BOBCATS MISERY OF NOT BEING ABLE TO GET THAT TOP SPOT IN THE NBA DRAFT LOTTERY!

The drama that took place on Tuesday was a disaster for us, but let's hope we can put that 4th pick in the NBA Draft to good use.  Good Night, and Good Luck.

Special Comment: How I feel after last night's Draft lottery disaster

And now, as requested by Jake Cook, a "Special Comment" about how I feel about the Bobcats not getting that #1 pick in the NBA Draft.

I'm not going to say much about this "Special Comment", but I'm going to keep it short, and simple.

Last night, me and my long-time partner of 22 years, Jake Cook, were at the NBA Draft Lottery Open House that was hosted at Time Warner Cable Arena by the Bobcats, and things were looking up for us that night, but when we got to the top 3 in the lottery, we were keeping our fingers crossed, and keeping our good luck charms tight, hoping that we would get that top spot, but we...were....screwed.

I feel kinda bummed like all of us Bobcats fans that were hoping we would get the top pick, and I for one blame the National Basketball Association for working out a DUMB DEAL with Tom Benson for giving him the number one pick in his so-called quest to find a way to keep the guy who considered to be his secret "Good-Luck Charm", quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, and do you want to know why I feel bummed, IT'S ALL THE LEAGUE'S FAULT! THEY WERE IN CAHOOTS WITH TOM BENSON FOR GETTING THE TEAM THAT HE WILL SOON OWN, THE TOP PICK AND ULTIMATELY TAKE THAT MONEY FROM THAT BOUNTY HE PLACED ON THE BOBCATS TO HURT OUR FEELINGS LAST NIGHT SO WE CAN JUST WALK AWAY IN DISBELIEF KNOWING THAT WE HAD A 25% CHANCE TO WIN THE STUPID DRAFT LOTTERY IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT NO! THEY HAD THIS TO SAY IN PRIVATE, AND I QUOTE:

"After tonight, Charlotte will never and I repeat never be an NBA town again once we give the New Orleans Hornets that top pick so Mr. Benson can collect the money from our bounty and place it in the 'Keep Drew Brees a Saint' fund. Then we can go out there and injure every single remaining Charlotte basketball fan and player next season."

THAT'S WHAT THEY SAID. WE SHOULD BE ANGRY AT THE LEAGUE FOR SCREWING UP THE DRAFT LOTTERY IN THE FIRST PLACE BECAUSE WE ALL KNEW THAT TOM BENSON CALLED MR. STERN YESTERDAY AND SAID THE WORDS I JUST QUOTED BECAUSE THEY HAD A BOUNTY PLAN IN PLACE TO MAKE US SICK TO OUR STOMACHS SO THEY CAN COME IN AND HURT US ONCE THE NBA SEASON BEGINS. Is that too much to ask? IS THAT TOO EFFIN' MUCH TO ASK?

IF YOU THINK THAT'S WHAT THE LEAGUE SAID IN THURSDAY'S DRAFT LOTTERY, YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF "Why did we got stung by a team, who called this city home from 1988-2002, with a grassroots movement to get the name back for good, steal our prized possession in the draft lottery?"  THAT'S WHAT WE THINK THE LEAGUE SAID.  MAYBE WE SHOULD START UP A BOUNTY OF OUR OWN TO GET SOME REVENGE ONCE THE HORNETS GET THEIR SO-CALLED PRIZED POSSESSION IN ANTHONY DAVIS, BUT FOR US, SOME THINK WE MAY BE CRAZY TO SET UP THIS BOUNTY, BUT HECK, IF IT DID, WE WOULD SHOW THE WORLD WHO SHOULD'VE BEEN RECEIVING THE TOP PICK IN THE DRAFT, AND THAT TEAM WAS THE CHARLOTTE BOBCATS.


WE SHOULD ALL BE ANGRY AT THE LEAGUE FOR WHAT THEY DID TO SCREW US FROM GETTING THAT #1 PICK, AND WE SHOULD REMAIN ANGRY FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER.  Now, word on the street is that they have a "Buy this season, Get next season free" season-ticket deal, and some of the fairweather fans that are just hoping that this city fails again in being an NBA city, YEAH I'M TALKING TO YOU, THE ONES THAT STILL BELIEVE THAT CHARLOTTE HAS BEEN A SO-CALLED "MINOR-LEAGUE" SPORTS TOWN WITH A LITTLE NFL AND NASCAR ACTION THROWN IN, SHOULD JUST GET OVER IT! That's all I have to say about that.