Gave It A Shot

The Charlotte Hornets are the former iteration of the current New Orleans Hornets ⇒ National Basketball Association ⇒ (“NBA”) franchise. The Hornets returned NBA basketball to New Orleans after the departure of the current Utah Jazz ⇒ and were replaced in Charlotte by the Bobcats ⇒ franchise. The Hornets franchise was awarded to George Shinn to start play in 1988. The team played at the Charlotte Coliseum ⇒ through 2002. Attendance dropped dramatically when Shinn was accused of sexual assault, of which he was found innocent, and admitted to cheating on his wife. After those revelations, there was no taxpayer interest in paying for a new arena to replace the “outdated” Coliseum. The team then made good on a threat to leave Charlotte.

As a franchise, the Hornets struggled early and got better late. The team made the playoffs seven times out of the possible fourteen years earning two trips to the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1993 and 1998. There were no division championships. for most of their history the Hornets played in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference, but in the first year they were in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference and for the second they were in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference.

Larry Johnson ⇒ and Alonzo Mourning ⇒ were the biggest stars organically acquired by the franchise. This tandem was broken when Johnson was given the largest contract at that time before injuring his back which made Mourning jealous. Bobby Phills ⇒ was to be the only number retired by the franchise while in Charlotte after he was killed in an car crash. The team also had Hall of Famer Robert Parrish ⇒ play for them at the end of his career better known for his time as a Boston Celtic ⇒. Kobe Bryant ⇒ was selected with the 13th pick by the Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft ⇒, but he refused to play for the team and was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers ⇒.

Cults Of Consumptions

Wearing free shirts that other people give me typically avoids cult brands that have followers that can be zealots ⇒ about corporations. Obviously, such shirts will never be donated while ritual consumption is ongoing. Consider how there currently are not any Apple ⇒, Google ⇒, or Harley-Davidson ⇒ shirts donated to the Free Shirt Archive; no one has ever offered any shirts commissioned from those companies for appraisal.

Every sports team within the major team sports is a cult brand. Donor, Donor, Receiver, & Proofreader Adam* clearly is not a member of the Hornets cult, nor was his brother who initially wore this shirt. As I told Adam at the time of donation, I am more comfortable with the obsolescence of the Charlotte Hornets than the relevance of a current team. This is because current teams have far more tribal emotions attached to them that most defunct teams. There will still be fans that still care after their team is long gone, but they will be of a minimized and manageable number.

I want to celebrate my friendships and my thrift while avoiding dealing with other peoples’ passions either for or against. I admit that I am not a “true fan” of either the team or the game itself. I do not need to be. There is no authority from which acquire permission nor administer a purity test in order to meaninglessly wear a shirt.

Of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The only time, so far, that I was able to visit Charlotte started off as a trip to Aiken, South Carolina ⇒ with Donor & Receiver Nick* to help non-donor Ryan move some of his stuff. So we thought. It turned out that we drove through multiple states just to deliver Ryan’s sister’s stuff, to have his uncle yell at us for “having the nerve” to park on his long driveway, and to have his aunt not let us in their house. We left South Carolina as quickly as we could.

Nick and I were extremely tired from driving the whole day through multiple states, so we decided to pull over and get some sleep at the next exit which happened to be in Charlotte, North Carolina. I will remember the general good vibes which seemed to permeate the city. This was likely due to the growth spurt that city was undergoing at the time. In particular, a hotel desk man named Jose was really nice about finding a room at a competitor’s hotel as he probably could tell how both tired and out of town we were. I partially regret not seeing what the two girls who provocatively shouted out of their cars to us wanted to do, but then again we were too tired to do anything.

The next morning I woke up early enough to get a continental breakfast for myself and Nick who barely woke up before check-out. We chilled a little bit in the city. Random people said hello. There were slot machines in the stores. The vibe that day in that part of town just felt bustling and positive in contrast to the earlier destination.