by Alejandro de los Rios
OK, after much back and forth amongst commentators, basketball players and this blogger regarding the name of New Orleans’ newly-beloved basketball team, I decided to take it upon myself to e-mail fans of other teams with similarly strangely named teams.
But before introducing today’s panel, questions and answers, let’s look at the history regarding the name “Hornets.” Seeing as how the Hornets media guide has no official word on the origin of the name, I turned to Wikipedia which provided this historical morsel:
[”Hornets” is] derived from the city’s fierce resistance to British occupation during the Revolutionary War, which prompted Lord General Cornwallis to refer to it as “a veritable nest of hornets.” The name had been used for Charlotte teams before; the city’s minor league baseball teams had been called the Hornets from 1901 to 1972; and there was also a short-lived team in the short-lived World Football League.
Man, I love the internet. Also, as one of our panelists pointed, the team name came about through a name-the-team contest held in the Charlotte area. Strange then, that when the Hornets moved, they didn’t hold a similar contest here. Oh well, onto the discussion. Our panel today: Wizards fan Unsilent Majority from Kissing Suzy Colber and Deadspin; Hornets fan Ron Hitley from Hornets247.com; and Raptors fan Ryan McNeill, editor at HoopsAddict.com. Read the rest of this entry »
