Remember Who We Cheer For

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Published: June 28, 2011

The life of being a Hornets fan is tough. And as it appears, life is only going to get tougher. Not many teams face the same daunting questions that our organization is currently facing. The Hornets as we know them are hanging desperately by a thin strand of fiber that could snap at any moment, sending the franchise tumbling down a path that could lead them straight out of town. There are questions from top to bottom: Will the Hornets be staying in New Orleans? Will we find a new owner? Will the new CBA help out small market teams? Can Dell Demps and Monty Williams build a championship contender? Can we keep Chris Paul? Can we re-sign David West? Can we re-tool the roster to our superstars’ liking? Can we keep selling tickets? Those are the most important questions that need answers. The elite teams have most of them figured out, but the New Orleans Hornets appear to be the dumps of the NBA in the eyes of elite, high level, and even mediocre players. What can we do to stop this? As fans there’s not much we can do. We’re in a unique situation, think of it as a mixture of the Kings, Sonics, and Vancouver Grizzles, with the Orlando Magic and the Carmelo era Nuggets. We’ve got possible relocation issues, ownership issues, superstars wanting out issues, mediocrity issues, man we just got issues. But this is no time to give up.

Being a fan of a team means being a fan of all of the players, not just one or two, being a fan of all the coaches, being a fan of the front office workers, being a fan of the owner(s), and being a fan of the NBA as a whole. In today’s world that’s run by the large-market media, the focus of being a fan has reverted to following just a handful of players, mainly the superstars of the game that dominate the league. It’s a far cry from the balanced team sport we saw from teams like the Detroit Pistons of the early 2000s. You can say that we all depend on the actions of Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Paul, Dirk, Carmelo, Amar’e, and Dwight Howard. As things start to shake out (and they will, in due time), we will start to see some changes. Some changes we may not like because we may lose a great player or two, but some changes we will have to respect, deal with, and learn to love. The saying goes “all good things come to an end”, and in the NBA that saying still holds true. When facing the darkness of those unanswered questions looming above us, we can’t turn around and give up, saying it’s a waste of time, it makes us look weak, and only further cements the case against having a team in New Orleans. It’s always easier to take the quick way out, but I’m here for the long haul.

We all need to remember who we cheer for, and why we cheer in the first place. We are fans of the New Orleans Hornets, not just Chris Paul or David West. If any of us want to keep basketball in this great city, we need to remember that. If we give up on the team because we lose one or both of those guys, then the Hornets are as good as gone. If you keep the spirits up, and continue to flex your virtuous muscle of patience that we have worked so hard on in this city, eventually the tides will begin to turn in our favor. So, I beg you to continue to support and promote this team and city, be fans of the whole team, buy tickets, contribute your ideas, and give your heart to keeping basketball here, don’t just take the easy way out, it’s not in our DNA to do that. We didn’t leave when Betsy hit in ’65. We didn’t leave when Katrina hit in ’05. We didn’t leave after the BP oil spill. And I guarantee that there is no other evil that could possibly make us leave in the future, so why does it have to be any different when it comes to the Hornets? I’ve always been an optimistic and upbeat person, I’ve also always been someone that supports my team through the good times and especially the hard times. I know it’s not easy, but I’m In for the long haul wherever it takes me. You should be too.

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