Hornets Hype

I dropped in on yesterday’s Hornets.com chat with Jim Eichenhofer and rookie Darren Collison, and managed to get several questions in. I thought I’d recap some important bullet points from the chat, since we did find out some new info that fans, especially local fans, will want to know.

• Season ticket sales have dropped slightly this year, understandable with the economy and the disappointing playoff showing … Remember the first rule of Fight Club, ticktock. But group sales and sponsorships are doing well.
• There will be a pep rally held somewhere downtown the Monday of the week the season starts. The reason we haven’t heard anything is they haven’t finished confirming some of the details. But you can fairly reliably put October 26th on your calendars.
• The Buzzfest will be returning! (For you out of towners, a Buzzfest is an outdoor block party with free local bands, free beers for season ticketholders, and $1 beers and hot dogs for everyone else.) They’re going to have them before every home game, weather permitting. See, we’re so spoiled that it hadn’t even occurred to me they might not have Buzzfests … but this is something we have that most NBA cities don’t have and also something that could easily have been cut out due to the poor economy. So, thank you Hornets!
• I asked which players have the coaches been most surprised with in camp, and apparently– though surprised is not the word since he’s been in the league a number of years– the Hornets staff have been impressed with Darius Songaila.
• Darren Collison said the NBA game is different from the college game in that there’s a lot more space and guys are faster getting around the floor to different spots.
• He has the best chemistry on the floor so far with Marcus, Peja, and Posey, because those are the guys he practices with (guess we’re looking at our bench!).
• He’s been in New Orleans about a month and he loves the seafood.
• He has worn the #2 since his freshman year in high school.
• His biggest goal is to improve his three point shot.
• Dariusz Ejkiewicz’s question totally won at being the best though. He asked, “Is David West as scary in real life as he is on TV?” And Darren said, “Yes. And he’s even bigger in person. But he’s a great teammate.” ….. HA!
  

Posted in Around Town, Rookies |

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