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This is the first time that you said you were a female that I can recall. I'm not trying to "argue" anymore than you are. We can agree to disagree. No need to go postal.
I think winning matters more than the perfect name but I can definitely seee why its more important to you.
The Hornets were in Charlotte for about 15 years. Are you really trying to put the Hornets on the same level as teams with over 100 years of history?
LA Lakers
Utah Jazz
Indianapolis Colts
St. Louis Rams
Arizona Cardinals
It's not like these teams have names that scream out their cities history. They all went to a championship as well... if the Bobcats go to a championship I'm pretty sure no one will care about the name.
The funny thing is that the Lakers were originally a Minnesota team (how many lakes are there in Southern Cali)? The Jazz were in New Orleans. The Colts were in Baltimore (the same Baltimore Colts that Panther's owner Jerry Richardson played for btw). The Rams were in LA I believe (now LA has no NFL teams, weird for such a large city). Ummmmm, who were the Cardinals before Arizona; I'm too lazy to google it?
Part of the reason I would like to get the Hornets name back is because the name Bobcats more-so symbolizes the previous, self-serving team owner Bob Johnson. I remember the excitement when Charlotte was awarded the NBA franchise, and the excitement about choosing the name. The citizens of Charlotte were greatly involved and put forth possible names for the team and then voted on it. The Hornets name won! The name Bobcats was not chosen by the citizens of Charlotte.
The Phils stunk up Connie Mac stadium, but it was packed, in spite of being in a dangerous locaton & decrepid. Rizzo had the Vet built to house the Eagles & the Phils. He named it Veteran's Stadium. People hated the stadium & the name. It wasn't built well & when it started showing wear, people stayed home & watched the game because they had always hated the place & the name. No one called it Veteran's Stadium. It was always the Vet, because people didn't like the name..
Names have an effect on the public.
I liked the Vet, mainly because I grew up with it (and I also never heard people say they didn't like the name of the place, just that it was a dull concrete jungle). People had no problem packing the place when the Phillies went to the World Series in 1993 (and when they won it in 1980, but that was before I was born) , but all the other years around then the team was terrible. Sure, the team still had a lot of fans, but there isn't going to be many people that want to pay to watch Robert Person pitch on opening day.
If the Bobcats weren't one of the worst teams in the history of basketball then their attendance would be a lot better. They might be able to sell some more merchandise with the name of the Hornets (and that would probably be enough reason to change it), but I don't know how much it'd help the attendance (although as I said it couldn't hurt).
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GoPhils
I liked the Vet, mainly because I grew up with it (and I also never heard people say they didn't like the name of the place, just that it was a dull concrete jungle). People had no problem packing the place when the Phillies went to the World Series in 1993 (and when they won it in 1980, but that was before I was born) , but all the other years around then the team was terrible. Sure, the team still had a lot of fans, but there isn't going to be many people that want to pay to watch Robert Person pitch on opening day.
If the Bobcats weren't one of the worst teams in the history of basketball then their attendance would be a lot better. They might be able to sell some more merchandise with the name of the Hornets (and that would probably be enough reason to change it), but I don't know how much it'd help the attendance (although as I said it couldn't hurt).
I remember the Phils plying at Connie Mack. I remember when the Eagles played at Franklin Field, too. People were unhappy that the Phils would be playing in a stadium instead of a ball park & wanted involvement in the naming of it. Had Veterans Stadium won in a public poll, the people would have been fine with the name. I remember hearing WWI & WWII veterans fume about the name.
I know how packed it was in '93. I worked with the broadcast crew.
People fell in line until Camden Yards was built. Then the people who remembered Connie Mack got angry again. The city paid for the Vet & that means that the residents & commuters paid for it. People wanted involvement & got none.
This is the same complaint that I hear from natives about the Bobcats. Winning would help, but if the natives resent the team, it won't fix anything.
If the Bobcats get Davis and put on a show like the Panthers last year it won't really matter what the name on the jersey says....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
How exciting will it be to watch the Hornets if they start out 0-15? Gotta win games...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
win games... the name change wouldn't hurt but I think people are overplaying the significance of the name to attendance.
New name...same owner, same arena, same players.... lets keep it in perspective. A lot has to change for the name change to have an impact.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
winning makes you forget about things like that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
if we had Blake Griffen getting alley oops from Chris Paul with Lebron on the wing and were 50-7 you could call them the doo doo birds and no one would talk about a name change.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
Win games... that is the bottom line.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
if the Bobcats go to a championship I'm pretty sure no one will care about the name.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Feltdesigner
I think winning matters more than the perfect name but I can definitely seee why its more important to you.
LOLOLOLOLOL.
We get it. you think winning is the only thing that matters. Others don't appreciate the egotistical name "BOBcats" and would prefer a return of a name that actually meant something to this city. Saying it 10 times, or 100 times, or 1000 times probably won't change many opinions, but it does become irritating.
In the late 80s and 90s, before the massive influx of people from other cities with existing loyalties, the inhabitants of this city embraced the Hornets and sold out game after game after game... setting NBA records for attendance. We supported this team with the likes of Tripucka and Rambis. We supported this team before LJ and Alonzo. We supported this team despite a stingy owner. We supported this team because we love basketball, and we loved our NBA franchise.
Shinn turned into a beast, and David Stern let him take his team and his name to some other market and tried to capitalize on the teams former monetary success by saddling us with a terrible owner that felt like this city "owed" him attendance despite his tin ear, terrible PR campaign, and borderline racist policies. We got stuck with an arena we didn't want and the most self-serving egotistical name anyone could think of - The BOBcats.
The city doesn't need the transplants to support an NBA team, and they probably won't anyway considering they all come from cities with long professional histories and loyalties that run generations deep. We all know the new arrivals speak often and loudly, but that carries about as much weight as a wet kleenex when it comes to real loyalty and support of a city and state that many new arrivals seem to still hold in low regard. So forgive me, and others who may share my opinion for considering the bloviations of the new-comers to be without merit.
The city doesn't need the transplants to support an NBA team, and they probably won't anyway considering they all come from cities with long professional histories and loyalties that run generations deep.
The city definitely needs the transplants to support the team.
I think we can all agree that the best case scenerio would be New Orleans gets the Jazz name back from Utah, which then allows them to give the Hornets name back to Charlotte. We then get MJ out of the picture to someone who actually gives a damn so the franchise can rebuild and start winning...
That may be a pipe dream, but like the economy, I think we are just bouncing around the bottom here.......
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