True Story– One time I cared about Chris Paul. Now I don’t. It’s nothing personal, since I find him to be a great basketball player and a great person, but he’s no longer a Hornet. Not sure if you knew this about me, but I’m a Hornets fan. I know about Chris Paul.
Everyone else is the enemy. I used to hassle fans who wore jerseys of the opposition to our New Orleans arena, yelling at them as our 07-08 Hornets crushed their souls. I’ve dressed up in costume repeatedly, been a part of Thornton’s Thunder, taken second place in the dance cam at least three times, hosted and organized multiple watch parties, had an “I’m In” event at my house, and now I’ve even taken the step of deciding to cover the team as a pretty much full time writer/blogger.
What may strike you as odd (maybe not, since all of those things are 100% Hornets) is that I barely care about the rest of the NBA. I only follow other teams because it’s essential to covering the Bees properly. Truly, if there wasn’t a team in New Orleans, I’d be a casual NBA fan. That’s what my interest level in the NBA was before I became a die-hard Hornet fan. That’s what it would be if they had never come.
So stop telling me about Chris Paul, New Orleans writers.
I don’t care how he’s doing on the Clippers. I don’t care if he’s getting quadruple doubles nightly*. Not my concern unless he’s playing us. Get it? It’s just annoying at this point, and it’s only going to get much, much worse as casual observers of the game get their first extended look at him.
We don’t have to be part of it. He’s not a Hornets player. He’s not from New Orleans. He desperately wanted to get out of here. The national media is going to have me reaching for barf bag by the first week of January at this pace. We don’t need to be reminded that he didn’t want us. We especially don’t need to be reminded that he’s really, really good. We’re all well aware.
(edit- I was told it may not be clear that I’m being a bit silly. So here, ENTERING HOMER MODE)
In a few years, when the Hornets are better than the Clippers and Paul’s head is spinning wondering if somehow he was the problem here, we can talk about Chris Paul. We can talk about how insane it was (and is) that he wanted to go to the Clippers to win. We can talk about how, at the age of 30 or whatever, he’s more desperate than ever to win a title.
Perhaps best of all, though, is that we will be talking about how ironic it is that his best chance to make max money and win a title was actually with the Hornets, but he just couldn’t see past the bright lights of a big city, or the not so ideal past of the New Orleans franchise.
Until then, let’s just let the Clippers writers talk about the Clippers players. We have better things to discuss.
19 responses to “Don’t Tell Me About Chris Paul”
as a cavs fan…yah I hear you.
Lebron played until his contract was up and he gave management a chance to sign him…i honestly believe that if Gilbert would have put the pieces around him to win, he would have stayed…New Orleans never had a chance to keep CP3!
Amen. So True! I want to hear more about the current players and match-ups and what not.
Yes…. I feel like you need to say “whose coming with me man?….” in the voice of that guy from the movie half-baked lol
plus one. it hurts to see CP3 where a jersey. But don’t tell me how he’s doing. I don’t care if his winning or losing, or how many lobs he threw. All I care about is how Gordon will fit in with the team. How Kaman will fit in off the bench, how Pondexter/Aminu rivalry will turn out and about the Hornets. it’s my only concern.
that’s *wear
I feel differently. I guess I’m just almost as much of a CP fan as I am a Hornets fan. Hornets will always take precedence…. but I’ll follow and root for the Clippers these days as well unless they are playing the Hornets.
And I’m sorry, but his best chance to win a title was here? That’s just pure homerism. I usually love your writing Joe, and I can understand wanting the local media to focus more on the actual TEAM, but to me this comes off as unnecessarily bitter. Chris Paul doesn’t owe us anything… he certainly doesn’t owe us anything more than the amazing years he already gave us. The dude wants to win, and getting a chance to play with a guy who looks like he could be an MVP-level big man is possible way to do that – even if it is the Clippers.
I also think had we kept Paul we wouldn’t be in as good a position as we are now. It would’ve been a lot harder to build a true championship contending team around Paul because we’d keep getting poor draft picks. Not saying it couldn’t be done by Dell, but this is definitely a more realistic chance that we can build a winner.
Yeah, homer for sure. Sorry if that wasn’t clearly made out to be my optimistic dream about the future. I guess I forgot to add a line of text saying “You Are Now Entering Homer Mode” that clarified. Sometimes I read things and know what I mean, but it’s maybe not so clear to the reader. Always learning.
What I’m trying to say is that in a few years that could be the case, and if so, I’d like to talk about it Chris Paul then. I’m extremely optimistic about the Hornets future right now. There is a path to us being one of the best teams in the league in three or four years. Not saying it will happen, but it could.
I find it hilarious that he wanted to go to the Clippers to win. I’m 99% sure that won’t work out. My gut tells me it can’t.
Also, not really bitter. Well, kind of. I wanted to see him stick it out and win a title that would have been probably the most meaningful one of a players life. He had the chance to do something really awesome. I was disappointed that he doesn’t share the same love on New Orleans that so many of us do, that he didn’t want to be part of this awesome rebirth that the franchise is about to emerge from.
I don’t think he owes us anything at all. He’s just not the person I wanted him to be. So I want to move on.
Im coming with you!!! I feel the same way. Let’s focus on Eric Gordon. Let’s make him feel welcomed and not as though he is playing in CP3’s shadow.
+500
Good post. To put things in perspective, Chris Paul spent a total of 4 years in New Orleans (2 in OKC). The last year he made it known that he did not want to be in New Orleans. As a result, he was committed to the New Orleans Hornets for about 3 years. There is no reason for the media to cover him as they would if Brees left New Orleans. In the scheme of things he just wasn’t that crucial to the team or to the city.
I completely agree that its best for hornets fans that we put CP in the past. But I find it hard to believe that any hornets fan would think the clips aren’t instant contenders with CP running the show. Heck we were contenders at one point last season, and we even looked dangerous in the playoffs, primarily due to CP’s individual brilliance and leadership. Our roster was atrocious in the playoffs and we took it to the lakers. It’s naive to think he won’t have some serious success with his new team.
That aside, onward and upward. Go bees!
I have been a long time basketball fan, but I wasn’t a Hornets fan until the I realized how awesome CP3 was in 2007-2008. After that I followed the Hornets religiously. I think I will still follow CP3 while he plays for the Clips. They need a bone thrown their way after 40 years of suck. So, I guess I will cheer for both teams while holding a secret desire that CP3 comes back to the Hornets once we get our “Mark Cuban” like owner.
I will miss CP but I won’t follow him anymore. IMO he let guys like melo and lebron woo him into leaving us; and in truth it was clear a long time ago we never had a chance of keeping him. i am also disheartened by the loss of D. West, i believe he was the true heart and soul of the hornets. if west would not have been injured i have no doubt we would have done much better in last years post season….well heres to the future.
I couldn’t agree more. I’m not interested in our local media feeding the CP3/LAC frenzy. I don’t think they are in any better position to compete with the elite teams than we would have been here. Leave that crap to ESPN, etc. Let’s report on our team and our players.
Remember, ESPN was bright enough to reach out to Niall and Ryan. Joe, Michael, and I may be stowing away, but they did do something right.
Maybe “the rest of ESPN?” “Most of ESPN?”
Isn’t it just a little cool that we’re sort of infiltrating them.
Quote I like: “Don’t hate the media; become the media.” — Jello Biafra