Hornets Hype

Hey, I wanna have lunch with Po & Mo. And now I am madly jealous. WWL TV has lunch at Emeril’s with James Posey and Morris Peterson. (Actually, I wanna have lunch at Emeril’s, period, now that I think about it. It would be infinitely better than what I had for lunch today.)

I love random Hornets video.

The dreaded moment has come…. dun dun dun. Yes, the Saints are on Monday Night Football tonight the same night the Hornets play in L.A. Now, other cities with more than two professional teams might be used to this kind of thing. But we generally don’t get much overlap between the two. I mean, it’s not that hard to schedule around. But never fear, friends, because the Saints game is at 7:30 and the Hornets, on the West Coast to play the Clippers, don’t tip off till 9:30. So there should be ample time to get to watch both games.

Wait. What?

The Hornets aren’t on CST tonight. The game is not being televised. In fact the entire roadtrip is not being televised, with the exception of Denver on Thanksgiving, which will appear on TNT. Not the Clippers game, not the Portland game on Friday. Looks like Bob and Gil are just not making the trip. And they know how I feel about Brandon Roy too. They know.

I feel completely betrayed right now. Seriously. I had no idea of this travesty until this morning. And it just got worse as I pulled up the schedule and did some investigating into our wasteland week of Televised Nowhere games. Hark, the refreshing stench of someone new being added to The List. CST, it is on.

Or… not.

They totally cut to our sign on the jumbotron as James Posey shot his free throws after various acts of world domination in the 4th quarter. So the team is 1-0 when we display Posey signage.

The only thing I am disappointed about is that I can’t find any pictures of Varejao’s fro vs. Melvin Ely’s fro.

In other news, the sun came up this morning, trees are green, and Chris Paul and David West were beastly.

mW: Which of the Poseys was that who just dunked? ticktock6: Oh, that was the one who plays the 4. mW: I see.

There are a lot of upcoming events this week to kick off the regular season, so I’m just going to hit the big ones. Because Hornets Hype loves parties and fun, oh yes we do.

Rally Downtown: Fulton Square, Monday 5:30 PM -8:30 PM

From the press release: “The Hornets will host “Swarm at Fulton Square on Fulton Street,” Monday, Oct. 27, from 5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. The pep rally is free and open to the public. Fans are encouraged to come out and meet their favorite Hornets’ players, Hugo and the Honeybees, while listening to a live performance by the Topcats. Hornets players will be located around Fulton Street signing autographs and previewing the upcoming season. Fans can purchase new team merchandise from the Hornets Nest. Guests can also sign up to win hundreds of giveaways and enjoy food and drink specials. Swarm at Fulton Square kicks off the Hornets’ 2008 “Buzz in Blue Week.”

I’m leaning toward going to this, but mW has to work. Drop a line in the comments to let me know if you’ll be there. I’m thinking I’d like to go anyway, at least for a little bit, and take some pics and stuff.

Official Watch Party: Fox & Hound in Harahan (1200 S. Clearview Pkwy), Wednesday 9:00 PM- 12:00 AM

Hosted by Rob Nice. Appearance by Hugo & the Honeybees, and Hornets giveaways. Hornets Hype will not be at this, because we’ll be at…

Hornets 247 Season Launch Party: Handsome Willy’s (218 S Robertson St), Wednesday 7:00 PM -

It’s where all the cool kids will be for the GSW game. Sorry, official Hornets party. 247 totally planned theirs first, so we’re going to that one. You should go too. It’s going to be hot. Full info here.

Official Watch Party: Ernst Cafe (600 S. Peters St.), Thursday 9:00 PM – 12:00 AM

For NO @ Phoenix. Hugo. Honeybees. Giveaways. Etc.

Cavs @ Hornets: New Orleans Arena, Saturday 7:00 PM

The one we’ve all been waiting for. Plus dollar beers outside starting at 5:30. Tomorrow is coming… starting today.

Cowboy Peja and the Wild West

So there I am in Roly Poly, purveyor of fine wrapped sandwiches, waiting for my #31 Delhi Chicken… when I see what is on the front of Where Y’At magazine. “That is too awesome to be real,” I think to myself. And yet, there are Peja and D. West, regulating Wild West style, complete with leather and bullet holes. Oh, New Orleans, I love you. Fortunately, since Where Y’At is free for the taking, it was easily and with much glee added to our collection of Hornets stuff.

Go on, take another look at it. You know you want to.

This isn’t the first local publication to have the Hornets gracing the cover this month. Below, the current cover of New Orleans Magazine, and the Hornets cover the Gambit did in September. I’d say the local HypeMeter is high.

I’m out like Peja’s six gun…

A look at the Hornets season tickets, which were packed in a nice fleur-de-lis-covered purple shoebox, and came today via UPS. Also in the box were two lanyards, two clear plastic ticketholders, and one gold Hornets pin. Pretty slick presentation. Last year’s tickets were teal, and this year’s are purple. I bet you can’t wait to see our analysis of whose head on the ticket = the best record. (We take this quite seriously.)

UPDATE: mW would like to state that he takes full credit for the fact that there is no Morris Peterson ticket this year. Now, we love Mo to death. But the fact remains that he was the only Hornet last year for whom the team had a losing record in home games when he was on the ticket (2-3 regular season, 0-1 playoffs). Plus he was on the ticket for Game 7. Sorry, Mo. But you know you can’t fight karma.

Stat of the Night: In 2007-08 the Hornets went a combined 8-0 whenever David West appeared on the ticket.

Because would I be the Hive Queen if I didn’t make you aware of the good word on Hornets freebies? (Dariusz called me the Hive Queen the other day… I’m going to keep it. Cause, you know, I devour all my mates when I’m finished with them. And also, I blog the Hornets.) The Hornets 2008-09 promotional schedule is out! And I would not want you to miss anything that’s free.

So I am promoting the promotions.

Some Freebie Highlights:

10/21 vs. Pacers: Pack the Hive in Pink, aka Breast Cancer Awareness Night. That’s tonight. Now I feel sort of bad for my scorn of all pink women’s sports gear, because you’re supposed to wear pink. Guys, I’m sure you can come up with a dress shirt. If not, you are clearly not as preppy as me.

10/27 Swarm @ Fulton Square: A block party like the one they had during the playoffs, from 5:30-8:00. The players will be there. Food, drink, and gear will be there. Music and freebies will probably also be there.

11/1 vs. Cavaliers: Opening Night. Free t-shirts and schedule magnets.

11/8 vs. Heat: Hornets car flags.

12/10 vs. Bobcats: Retro New Orleans Buccaneers night. CP3/Buccaneers bobbleheads to the first 8,000.

12/17 vs. Spurs: Gold towels.

12/20 vs. Kings: Hornets Christmas ornaments.

1/19 vs. Pacers: The night we’ve all been waiting for… DAVID WEST BOBBLEHEADS! But… with the new uniforms, I am wary about how he’ll look posed in a funny picture with the rest of the guys. (And also, what Star Wars quote I could possibly use next. I guess by then, we’ll know. Always in motion is the future.)

2/4 vs. Bulls: Tyson Chandler basketball, first 5,000 fans. I don’t know what it is, but I know I want it.

2/18 vs. Magic: Hornets beeeeaaaaaadds!

3/5 vs. Mavs: Hornets swirlers. Again, I don’t know what it is, but I’m sure there’s a treasured place for it in the collection of random Hornet-colored stuff in the corner behind my entertainment center.

3/7 vs. Thunder (HA! Lame): Honeybees poster. If, you know, this type of thing is your bag, baby.

3/18 vs. T-Wolves: Peja action figure (!!!!!! I need!)

4/12 vs. Mavs: Last home game before the playoffs (optimism, optimism). Team poster.

But I would continue to check the schedule, because they’re always adding stuff as the season goes on. And also, I noticed that Every. Single. Home. Game has a Buzzfest this year. Even in the cold. And you know what that means.

Dollar dollar beers, ya’ll.

Oh, and on a funny note, check out Ball Don’t Lie’s season preview for the Hornets. And, um, look very carefully? (I have no idea. But it cracks me up.)

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

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!”