Wednesday, Jul 9, 2008
The New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets: Like the sound of that? How about this: OKC might not get screwed in this deal. Plus: Salon vs. Top Ramen.
Sep 22, 2005 | When the New Orleans Hornets announced Wednesday that they'd play 35 of their 41 home games in Oklahoma City this season, I went over to NewsOK.com, the Web site of the city's daily newspaper, the Oklahoman.
The Hornets were the big story, of course. The main photo showed owner George Shinn and coach Byron Scott at a news conference.
Over to one side of the Web page was a section called "Top Headlines." The top headline there read, "City police find pot in car."
Oh, Oklahoma City! Stand by for culture shock. The NBA is coming to town.
The Hornets will play their other six home games at LSU, to keep a presence in their home state, one that had barely noticed the team's 2002 move from North Carolina even before Hurricane Katrina came along.
I love that the team will officially be known as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, a throwback kind of name that immediately made me think of the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, who had a history every bit as glorious as that of the New Orleans Hornets so far. If I were an older person it might make me think of the New York-Arcola Original Celtics.
It's all so retro. Maybe the NBA can help the mood by figuring out a way to keep from paying the N.O./Okla. City Hornets players their pensions when they get old.
Where the Hornets' jerseys used to say "New Orleans" they'll now say "Hornets." The only acknowledgment of the team's temporary home will be an "OKC" patch on the sleeve. If New Orleans and its arena are ready by March, the Hornets say, they might move the three games scheduled for Baton Rouge back home that month.
On the other hand, there's a team option for the Hornets to spend a second year in Oklahoma City if moving back to New Orleans is still not an option. And of course the Hornets may discover that OKC is a more hospitable place than New Orleans, hurricane damage or no.
Shinn moved the team south because Charlotte called his bluff rather than building him a new arena. It wasn't because New Orleans was such an attractive market, as the Saints, not to mention the Utah Jazz, could explain.
One nice feature of the Oklahoma City deal is that while taxpayers are taking on some risk, they'll also be rewarded if the enterprise ends up making money. Usually the way deals between cities and sports teams work is the city gets the risk of loss while the team takes any profits.
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