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[DJ_Tet]

I'm an OH, or Original Hornet fan. This section of article is something that pissed me off, and this is what I wrote at a Charlotte website. I'd love to hear some Orlando fan's responses to this.














I know we are supposed to post links to stories etc, but I get the USA Today delivered (free) and am typing up this story myself.





It was a bumpy weekend for the Magic and the city of Orlando. NBA Commisioner David Stern said at the team's tip-off luncheon Friday that if the Magic didn't get a new area, "then I think we'd have a problem."







It goes on, but what the fuck is that shit? Man if he had said that about the Hornets there's no way in hell I'd support the Bobcats. Is the commish looking at new arenas in Kansas City and St Louis for a team? I thought KC already LOST a freaking team? I'm pretty sure New Orleans already lost a team too? For that matter, Charlotte lost a damn team. I thought the commish should be involved in the health of the game, not individual franchises? Fuck Stern, and pretty much fuck the NBA at this point. That's a totally irresponsible thing for the commish to say in my eyes. If I was an Orlando fan, I'd say fuck your multi-million dollar ass! They mention in the article how much Sept 11 hurt tourism in Orlando, but go on to say that now is the time for a new arena!

I'd say listen here STERN. You've been commish how long? You've had 6 expansion teams in your tenure (before the Bobcats). With Orlando, that would be THREE that have moved! Maybe the problem isn't with the fans but with your jackass? Maybe you should have seen that these arenas would need to be replaced in 10 years? Either way, way to absolve yourself of personal responsibility and create markets of hate in Charlotte, Vancouver, and soon to be Orlando. Could have easily been Minnesota you fuckface.

This article seriously hurts me more than even the Hornets moving. To imply that the LEAGUE has a "serious problem" because a city is reluctant to build a new building, WHAT THE FUCK?? Go to hell Stern. Take your fucking league with it.

 

[Catalyst]

What used to be the Charlotte Hornets aren't the Charlotte Hornets anymore. They moved to New Orleans. An expansion team had started this year in Charlotte, they're called the Charlotte Bobcats, owned by that Bob-something guy who owns BET

EDIT: Damn, I should have read your post, oh well.

 

[DJ_Tet]

What used to be the Charlotte Hornets aren't the Charlotte Hornets anymore. They moved to New Orleans. An expansion team had started this year in Charlotte, they're called the Charlotte Bobcats, owned by that Bob-something guy who owns BET

Really? I had no idea. I was born in Charlotte, saw at least 200 Hornets games in my life. I had NO IDEA they moved to New Orleans! I was wondering why I couldn't buy Charlotte Hornets tickets the past two years. They kepy wanting me to buy tickets for this strange team callet the Bobcats who used to own this black-MTV network. Go figure.






And yeah, read the post before you respond. Thanks.







EDIT: Still a CHARLOTTE Hornets fan here, hate the NO Hornets though. Should be pretty much self-explanitory.

 

[etiolate]

David Stern is a super duper douchebag.

 

[DJ_Tet]

David Stern is a super duper douchebag.

I'm telling ya.


We only got Tracy McGrady fans here and no Orlando Magic fans? That should tell Stern ALL HE NEEDS TO KNOW!

It's about the franchises and NOT the superstars dude. Jordan's gone. Magic is gone. Bird's gone. THEY AREN'T COMING THROUGH THAT DOOR! <end Patino!> Marketing "stars" has a limited shelf life. People loved the Celtics, they loved the Lakers, they didn't have to follow their star from team to team. Jordan came about at the end of that. That era is over. If my favorite player (i.e. McGrady) wants to go to a new team cause he can't win on his own, what am I supposed to do as a Magic fan? This league is marketed wrong, and Stern wants to blame it on THE FANS? Fuck you fat boy!

I swear, if he had said that about the Hornets I'd STILL BE BANNED! He had enough sense NOT to say that about the Hornets, because it wasn't the fan's fault that the owner was a jackass son-of-a-bitch, an adulterer, and more. I'd wager the Magic owner didn't deserve this attack.

I'm not a fan, but I'll spell it out for you anyway. The owner gave out TWO MAX contracts. One was to a proven star and one was to a 6th man. If you don't remember, Grant Hill was the proven star, who was to be signed with Tim Duncan. Duncan didn't sign, so that left the Magic with boucoup cap space that they spent on the 6th man Tracy. The rest is history. The point is that the owner tried to make the franchise better in the aftermath of losing Shaq and Penny. The freaking commish CALLS OUT THE FRANCHISE afther it doesn't work out to their liking? You've got to be kidding me Stern. What a jackass son-of-a-bitch move this is. If you had done ANYTHING CLOSE to this with the Hornets move, I would have told the Bobcats to shove it up their ass! I'm about at that point WITHOUT you saying anything like this about the Hornets or Bobcats. You can't force a team that YOU GRANTED to build a new building fuckface! Your league is STRUGGLING. THERE IS NO NEW JORDAN! THERE WILL BE NO NEW SUPERSTAR THAT MAKES HIS HOME WITH THE TEAM THAT DRAFTED HIM! TIM DUNCAN WILL BE THE LAST. BUT WE'RE SUPPOSED TO FRONT THE BILL FOR NEW BUILDINGS TO MAKE PEOPLE LIKE RICKEY DAVIS MULTIMILLIONAIRES?


FUCK YOU STERN! Between you and me, I LOVED paying $15 a seat to get into Hornets games their last year in Charlotte. I sat so close that I could tell Paul Pierce to floss.

 

[Doth Togo]

George Shinn sucked. He was hated by the power players in town and told him to get the hell outta town.

Myers Park, my 'hood, gave up on the Hornets after Grandmama left.

Charlotte's a NFL town now. NC still has good college basketball. Consider getting (back?) into that?

 

[DJ_Tet]

Duke fan here, but yeah, I know a LOT of people who aren't supporting the Bobcats.

 

[Shinobi]

Either way, way to absolve yourself of personal responsibility and create markets of hate in Charlotte, Vancouver, and soon to be Orlando. Could have easily been Minnesota you fuckface.

Could've been Toronto as well. There were three bidders for the franchise, and they handed it to the worst one by far, probably because they paid a little more while promising an arena in a couple years (took five years for it to arrive). Eventually one of the other two bidders got a hold of the team, which then got folded into the Maple Leafs when they went snooping for new digs. Between that time though, fans here were witness to a completely hapless team in a pathetic Skydome venue, and the ugliest uniforms ever seen. If the Raptors hadn't drafted Vince in '99, they would've left on the same Greyhound as the Grizzlies.

I'm a huge NBA fan, but I can't disagree with your points. And the one made about marketing players instead of teams is very appropriate. This wasn't a big deal when players stayed with the same team their entire career, but that day is done. I can understand the marketing of players since no athlete is more recognizable in the big four due to the lack of protective gear, but there's gotta be a balance.

 

[Meier]

Orlando fan since day 1... been following the team religiously for I guess it's been 15 years now. The idea of them moving from Orlando kills me because we are such a huge city and yet we'd have no major sports franchise. It isnt the lack of an arena that caused attendance to drop in recent years, it was just shitty management. I do agree though that we could probably use a new arena -- but the idea that unless one is given will result in the team moving pisses me off to high heaven.

 

[Incognito]

Orlando fan since day 1... been following the team religiously for I guess it's been 15 years now. The idea of them moving from Orlando kills me because we are such a huge city and yet we'd have no major sports franchise. It isnt the lack of an arena that caused attendance to drop in recent years, it was just shitty management. I do agree though that we could probably use a new arena -- but the idea that unless one is given will result in the team moving pisses me off to high heaven.

who cares how big the city is? orlando has no market. same reason SA is #8th largest city yet only 1 proffessional team.

 

[etiolate]

What is the market exactly? A sports market is different than just a general market. I'd rather put a sports team in St Louis than LA. Sacramento is a better basketball market than Atlanta. Even when the Hawks are good, attendance isn't great.

 

[Meier]

who cares how big the city is? orlando has no market. same reason SA is #8th largest city yet only 1 proffessional team.

Huh? Orlando sold out all of its games for years upon years, it wasn't until very recently that we didnt. The market is there for major sports. Hell, Predators games routinely sell over 12,000 tickets which is pretty solid for an AFL team I'd imagine.

 

[Incognito]

Huh? Orlando sold out all of its games for years upon years, it wasn't until very recently that we didnt. The market is there for major sports. Hell, Predators games routinely sell over 12,000 tickets which is pretty solid for an AFL team I'd imagine.

same with the spurs and all the minor league teams here. unfortunately, that's about the extent of the market.

both orlando and sa are tourist-centric cities that are surrounded by larger cities in the state with embedded fan bases that greatly exceed local boundries..

 

[element]

i think Stern has been an idiot the last couple years once Bird, Jordan, and Johnson left the league. They didn't have anyone worth putting focus on, so they should have been really pushing the teams, but decided to focus on players that didn't stand up to 'all-star' levels that were set by Bird, Jordan, and Johnson.

Also the salary cap has really hurt how people view NBA players, in that you can score 5 points a game and making $7 million dollars Guaranteed!!

 

[Dyne]

I was a Vancouver Grizzlies fan. I still have my Reeves jersey. It's signed! My friend has his Abdur-Rahim jersey signed too.

God damn, I miss them. I use to do basketball camps with them. When they left, I stopped playing basketball altogether.