The Stranger and I went to the Hornets vs. Sonics basketball game last night. Over the past two years, the “New Orleans Hornets” have been known as the “New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.” The league in general has been very careful not to refer to “our” team as simply the Oklahoma City Hornets. Most of the official merchandise available still says “New Orleans” on it.
Two years of having an NBA franchise here in OKC is coming to an end. At the end of this season the Hornets will migrate back to New Orleans. It remains to be seen if the post-Katrina NOLA economy can support such a massive franchise. I suppose we’ll all find out. Our local stadium has begun dumping merchandise at “close out” sale prices. $75 jerseys are now $25. $20 baseball caps are now 2-for-1, and t-shirts are now $10. As I said to Stephen last night, I wouldn’t mind having a Hornets shirt or jersey, but my Chicago Enforcers shirt (from the brief XFL league that came and went a few years ago) never gets worn and I suspect a Hornets one would meet the same fate soon.
The reason last night’s game was particularly interesting was because of our opponent, the Seattle Supersonics. Depending on which website or newspaper you hear the story from, there’s somewhere between a slim and a good chance that the Sonics will be relocating to OKC within the next couple of years. While it would be exciting to have another (or any) NBA franchise here, the Hornets aren’t currently playoff contenders, and the Sonics are worse than that.