Hornets Hype

Exhibits A & B:

See what I did there with the alliteration. So I was just on TysonChandler.com and I noticed some videos I hadn’t seen before. Of course, I naturally thought, “HOW could I have missed this, being the slightly excessive Tyson fan that we all know me to be?” If you ever wondered how many tattoos the big man has, and what they’re all about, he explains them in a new video. Bonus: You get to see the big one across his upper back that I knew was there, because sometimes the very ends of it stick out on either side of his jersey, but had never seen.

There’s also a new video with TC and his trainer explaining his summer workout. And if you missed Tyson’s Cabo vacation, from earlier in this summer, clearly you do not have as much free time on your hands as I do and are definitely missing out. Update: And a new TysonBlog about training camp today too…

And after you’re done, you should shoot on over to ChrisPaul3.com and check out the pics of CP3′s brand new summer ink…..

…… OK, you didn’t really fall for that, did you?

So if you’ve been on board here since last winter, you know that one of the founding principles of this site is bitching about the Times Picayune and NOLA.com‘s sorely lacking coverage of the Hornets. They spent most of the season on our $#*t List, and we gave them their own tag called “T.P. Watchdog.” Gotta keep the media responsible and buzz-friendly, ya know.

However, I am not above giving props where props are due. And, quite simply, the coverage in the first week of training camp is already at a much higher level than Hornets coverage last season. We’re seeing two articles a day, plus there’s usually also some kind of practice update in the afternoon in the Hornets Beat section of nola.com. If you get the Times Picayune analog print newspaper, you’ve also been seeing some snazzy color pictures. Media Day got the front page (a silly color photo of Tyson Chandler and Chris Paul messing around with a giant Peja head). And all this while the Saints are playing. YES! I know! Football season is actually happening as we speak, and there is a Hornets training camp article in the T.P. And it’s not even about Chris Paul. It’s about, like, Melvin Ely and his multiple injuries.

This is a far cry from last season, when the cover story the day after the 2OT win over Phoenix was Tulane and LSU’s freshman signings for NEXT YEAR. Seriously. College football in February was more interesting than the Hornets on top of the West. The Hornets couldn’t buy coverage on that site, or in the sports section, until close to the playoffs.

Clearly this is a new year. Thus I say: Well played, Times Picayune, so far. Well played indeed.

Forgiven!

Now my universe is exactly where it’s supposed to be.

David West rocks the hell out of the new home whites at Media Day today

David West. SUPPOSEDLY.

In my mind, D-West is, like, this superhero of extreme badassery who possesses special powers that allow him to somehow mentally deflect sweat from his eyes, despite the fact that he shaves his head completely bald and never wears a headband.

Therefore, the pics that accompany this SLAM Q&A with David West disrupt the fabric of my universe in so many ways. That is all.

A roundup of all the Hornets ticket info I know:

• If you sign up for Bee Mail, you will get emailed a link and the password for single game tickets in the pre-sale that starts Wednesday 10/1 at 10:00 AM. This is basically the same format they used for individual playoff tickets. Really, there’s no point in not signing up. They don’t email you a lot, and when they do, it’s usually good stuff. You might get to find out about some promotions before they go on the site (although it’s definitely not as timely or special goodie-filled as the season ticketholder email, which unfortunately mW gets and I don’t).
• If you don’t have Bee Mail, then general tickets go on sale Saturday 10/4 at 10:00 AM.
• There will be $8 tickets this year. Obviously for the rows in the way, way top of the upper bowl, but this is still a slight price drop from last year, when the cheapest tickets were $10.
• Half Season ticket packages are currently on sale. You can pick Plan A or Plan B. I suggest going to the site to check out the breakdown of which games you would be getting with which package.
• 10 Game packages are also on sale. For more details about these packages, here’s the official page.
• Of course, you can still buy Full Season tickets if you want to be cool like the other 10,300 people. But not in the lower bowl, as I believe it’s sold out.
• Additionally, tickets for the two home preseason games are already on sale. That’s Golden State on Sunday, 10/5 at 6:00 PM, and the Pacers on Tuesday, 10/21 at 6:00 PM. We, of course, will be there rocking out in Lower Corner C. You can also trek to Mobile for Hornets/Heat on 10/23.

HOLY CRAP!!! October 5th! THERE’S A GAME NEXT WEEKEND!

As a wise man once said…. “Woo!”

In case you haven’t caught it yet, Dariusz Ejkiewicz has released his newest Hornets wallpaper. Notably, it features the entire Hornets schedule, as well as all sorts of itty bitty interesting details. I had the 82 Nights of Destruction one on my desktop last season (what can I say? I like happy-Tyson and intense-DWest), and it was truly awesome.

82 Nights of Destruction Wallpaper

Download:
1600×1200 | 1280×1024 | 1280×800 | 1280×960 | 1024×768

Check out the rest of Dariusz’ portfolio here. And rejoice! Schedule wallpaper means basketball is coming!

Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie is doing “The Blog Association,” which takes a team-by-team look at the top NBA blogs. Here’s what they had to say about us:

2. Hornets Hype — OK, so Ticktock6 and mW are a little perturbed, at times, and I’m pretty perturbed that they stole the sportcoat and jeans look that I told everyone to lay off of back in 2001 because I was going to be the one to bring it back.

Either way, they run a great blog, they’ve the right attitude, and the former’s post about Katrina and its aftermath ranks up there with just about the best thing I’ve ever read on any blog, at any time, on any subject.

Also making appearances, naturally, were At the Hive, 247, and our German Hornets friends. Don’t burst my bubble by pointing out there aren’t that many Hornets blogs… just don’t.

Concurrently with seeing ourselves on BDL, I decided to celebrate with an act of startling ineptitude: I (apparently, can’t figure out how the hell else it happened, so it had to have been me) accidentally deleted about 15 comments on the previous two posts. So, if it was your comment, sorry. I think I did it while I was trying to regulate my penis spam.