I made my way downtown yesterday evening to check out the Hornets pep rally. They had the whole crossroads of Fulton and Lafayette closed off and a big stage set up. The crowd was pretty big; "several thousand" strong according to John Reid in today's Times-Picayune.

The players came out on stage early. They were introduced one at a time and threw t-shirts into the crowd. Dudes didn't stay long, and everyone was distracted by the Honeybees dancing on stage as the players left the area. Gil McGregor and Jeff Bower mingled a bit in the crowd afterwards, although most folks still don't seem to recognize Bower. I bet he loves the anonymity.

The music and the dancing and the good times continued into the evening but I bailed soon after 8pm. I'll stay later for the Championship celebration.

Pictures from the rally…

(Massive thanks to Tyler for sending along the images)

Amazing to look back yesterday and consider where we came from. My buddy Mikey always tells the story of how he was the only fan at the first live radio show from Gordon Biersch at the start of the season. Nobody in New Orleans much cared for the Hornets back then.

Look at us now.

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Bonus linkage:

• Hornets.com: Special Playoff section launched
• NOLA.com: Slide-show review of the regular season

Be sure to stay tuned to our news section over the course of the Playoffs. The links are coming fast and furious. You can also make sure you don't miss a thing via our RSS feeds.

[UPDATE] Check out a recap and some pictures from the rally over at Hornets Hype.