Consider me the rain on the parade. Consider me a hater in the lovefest that is Hornets-fandom. But our mission here at HornetsHype is to destroy all opposition to the perfect Hornets experience. Our mission is not yet complete. Although as Jim Eichenhofer at Hornets.com has pointed out, corporate sponsors are rolling in with the continued successes of the Hornets organization, one is conspicuously missing. It is a recent loss. At the beginning of the season it was there, but only like that sick relative who is just wasting away in a hospital, dying. And then, like a whisper in the night, it faded and was gone. And now, the New Orleans Arena no longer sells Abita Beer.
So I invoke one of the oldest of New Orleans’ traditions: the Jazz Funeral. Grab your instrument, put on your Sunday black best and march for a remembrance of an old and dear friend. Abita Beer.
Some would say this is a gripe better left for the after the season when the team has less to worry about. But let’s focus on of the image of New Orleans as a unique locale; this failure reflects on us all. We used to not only have Abita taps with four different brews at each Bacardi stand last year and early this year, with unique, full-flavored beer (any fans of Coors Light, Miller Light, Bud or Bud Light need not comment), but over the course of the year found these outlets limited to one on the 100 level and one on the 300 level. More than that, Pre-K we had a little Abita Brewpub in the Arena. It was awesome. Abita is awesome. It’s almost always stocked in our fridge and I’d bet it is in most New Orleanians’ fridges. And like many people, when I watch basketball, be it at home or at the arena, I enjoy a quality beer. A quality beer.
So bring back the Abita, New Orleans Arena. Be it trying to better represent Louisiana or just because you love beer. Bring it back because it’s the common sense approach to marketing. It’s a natural tie. Feature seasonal beers all-year round. It would be glorious.
Or at the very least, break out some Abita kegs at the Buzzfests.
[EDIT: no, this was not photoshopped. This happened in Treme. This morning. At dawn. Unfortunately, the police broke it up. It was sad.]
… Speaking of Peja on a Stick, and when are we not this week? I JUST saw the new flash intro on the Hornets website for the Spurs series, and I almost spit water all over my laptop. I missed it the first time. Just wait for it to load, and don’t do what I did at first and click right through to the regular site.
Just. Wait.
Ball Don’t Lie wanted some of that Peja on a Stick today. (What should I say? We got BDLed? Doesn’t quite lend itself to verbmaking the way “We got TrueHooped” does.) Coincidentally, they’ve also picked Hornets in 7. And SI’s got Hornets in 6. See, now, the reason I was so PO-ed about everyone picking the Mavs and giving the Hornets no love was because, hello, the #7 over the #2 seed? Like the Hornets tripped one morning and fell into the #2 seed in the West by accident. But the Hornets only have home court against the Spurs by virtue of a tiebreaker, and the Spurs are the defending champions (even though they only win in odd years). Just when I wasn’t gonna be particularly militant about the national media picking the Hornets to lose this one… go figure, they start getting all trendy and picking them to win.
And finally, via the T.P. and falling under the broad heading of “Only In New Orleans”…
Who’s got their ride decorated for the playoffs?? I’ve been seeing more and more Hornets gear around town. The “GEAUX HORNETS” decals have been given away free at every official Hornets playoff event I’ve been to in the last three weeks. If you still haven’t gotten your hands on one, I’d investigate the Buzzfest on Saturday night. I saw some there on Tuesday. I also picked up about four at the Watch Party (what? those people won’t take no for an answer when they’re tossing free swag).
If you’ve got a Hornets ride, send me a picture at ticktock6@gmail.com, and I’ll put it in my album and on the site! (But I doubt you can beat mine. 
I mean, my car is friggin’ teal.)
Just a roundup of the good hype I’ve read over the past couple days:
Holy Positive Attendance Article! In USA Today. Finally. I’ve been waiting for a bunch of these to roll in. Of course, the positive ones have been slower in coming than the negative ones that were all over the place during the winter.
CP3 = King of PER: Chris Paul leads, oh, everyone in the playoffs in PER at 32.36. Kobe and Dwight come in a distant second and third at 28.31 and 28.26 respectively.
Who Made You? with Tyson Chandler: Video here. LOL at lil Tyson looking exactly like now Tyson, minus facial hair.
Mo Pete/Bart Fun: In case anyone missed it (and you shouldn’t have, since it’s been various places including Sportscenter), here’s the video of the Hornets doing trick shots in practice the day after clinching the Dallas series. Along with bonus extras from Alejandro de los Rios. And– if you’re a fan of sketchy low-budget local ads– the original Mo Pete trick shot in the Morris Bart commercial!
Why Am I Not Surprised? … that after they spent 40 minutes doing trickshots, the Hornets broke out in a spontaneous dodgeball game.
I Told You TrueHoop Dispensed Hornets Love: And here’s more, in the form of a fun Mike James interview.
And One Bee-llion (Ha. See what I did there) More Links: … located at Hornets247.
And here’s a bonus: If you’re in the CBD and you’ve got a lunch break, there’s going to be a Hornets second line going through the Quarter, starting at Café Du Monde at 11:30 and concluding at Harrah’s. There will be Soul Rebels, Hugo, Honeybees, and our favorite SerbSicles. They’ll be tossing out giveaways (T shirts, car stickers, and such) too.
Enjoy your Fan Up Friday!
Huge breaking news. Straight from the Hornets website:
May 3: Hornets vs. Spurs, 9:00 p.m.
Giveaway: Gold “Fan Up New Orleans” T-Shirt, courtesy of Toyota (everyone in attendance)
Peja Stojakovic Head (everyone in attendance)
Yes! Seriously! No joke.
Oh wow, so let me get this straight. We’re going to have CP3’s “Gold Out” on Saturday… the game is at 9 PM, meaning everyone will be Jazzfesting/partying in the street all evening beforehand… and… and Pejas on sticks! This is almost too much for HornetsHype to handle.
The Hornets are also not messing around with the Buzzfest. Dollar beers will start flowing at the fine, fresh hour of 6:30. Except if you’re a season ticketholder. Then you’ll get the only thing better than a dollar beer. And what’s the only thing better than a dollar beer?
Yeah, you know it.
(Edited: This is just indicative of the kind of fan I am. mW just walked through the door and I said I just posted huge breaking news. He was like, “Chris Paul is MVP?” I was like, “Dude, Peja on a STICK!” … yeah. It’s a good thing y’all don’t come here for deeply compelling statistical analysis.)
This is just to spread the word. What’s it all about?
On Tuesday, Chris Paul turns 23 years old. And by Tuesday, Kobe Bryant will probably have won his first Most Valuable Player Award. But this day isn’t about griping over MVP trophies or anything like that. Tuesday, May 6th will simply be a celebration of the season Chris Paul has had and what he means to the future of this league.
We will be participating here, and I think it’s a great idea. Even if CP3 doesn’t get MVP, it’s important not to forget that he’s had a historic season. And it’s just a nice added bonus that his birthday’s coming up. So I encourage everyone with a blog to blog about Chris Paul next Tuesday! Everyone on the internet’s doing it. It’s the cool thing to do.
Go to At the Hive to sign up!
… that the Hornets have a Giant Peja Head wallpaper up on their site.
Don’t expect any graphical wonders. It is exactly what it sounds like: a giant smiling Peja head exactly like the ones that run around on sticks. So if you can’t get enough Peja On a Stick, this is totally for you! (Hmmm… it occurs to me the thing is probably high res enough that if you have the right printer and special paper, I dare say you could use the image to craft your very own mini-Peja On a Stick…)
Click here to check it out, and the other playoff wallpapers too. (Thanks to Mark for alerting me to this little morsel of greatness.)
