No, seriously. Go to this thread on Hornets Report. I promise it will make you feel better, if you keep in mind that it was posted prior to the game. Just click on it. I promise… Peja on a Stick in London!

P.S. SPURS TROLL INDEX: HIGH. If you are trolling, I will delete you. Consider yourself fairly warned. Wah, wah, free speech, wah, Hornets fans suck. I’m not the one who spends my workday after victories making myself feel cool by saying douchey things on the internet. You’re a real f@*king winner. Whatever. Go complain about it to the owner of the site… Oh wait.

… 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”…

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.)

… 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.)

This post is dedicated to Peja on a Stick. I have nothing to say about it. It’s self-explanatory. The crazy speaks for itself.

Now that’s some hot 5:00 shadow action… Is it me, or does the Peja Stojakovic bobblehead look remarkably like Peja? This thing kills me.

The only thing I find to criticize about it is… why is it running? For a guy whose sole job on offense consists of planting himself in his special magic spot in the corner outside the 3 point line, it’s just funny. They should have made it with its arms stretched over its head, looking down to check its feet.

The PejaHead: Tonight only at New Orleans Arena!

Also featuring: $1 beers outside starting at 5:30, the Free Agent Brass Band, and the Utah Jazz’ abysmal 16-22 road record.

The Saturday Skills Competition was awesome, albeit not the Hornets day to shine. Nonetheless, it was New Orleans itself which shined. The first event, Shooting Stars, featured four teams, each which had to make six shots in order, each further back than the former, culminating in a half court shot. No Hornets, as it featured a current NBA star, WNBA star, and NBA legend (retired) from San Antonio, Detroit, Chicago, and Phoenix. San Antonio won. And as it wasn’t said in ANY other outlet I saw, it was the WNBA player, Becky Hammon, who carried them in the first round, and fully pulled her part in the finals to win. That woman can shoot!

Next up was the Skills Challenge, featuring our very own someday-MVP, Chris Paul (picture above). There, competitors had to make a lay-up/dunk, dribble around several obstacles, make a serious of passes, shoot from the free throw line, pass again, and then sprint through more obstacles before making a final lay-up/dunk. Chris dazzled in the first round, to the delight of many Hornets fans, but unfortunately got ousted in the finals by the perfect (and record-breaking) performance by arch-nemesis, Deron Williams. Well guess what, we’ll see what happens on the 29th. Look to see CP3 rebound.

Next up was Peja in the 3-Point contest. Despite being a two-time champion in this event, he started off cold, missing from his usual money-spot in the corner. But then he got hot, passing several competitors, but missed the 2-point ball after making all the other four in the final rack, meaning he fell just below two other players, which proved his undoing, when last year’s champ, Jason Kapono blasted past everyone, knocking out Peja. Kapono went on to win the contest handily. Although we were disappointed, we dare the other five guys in the contest to do that with the game clock expiring and a seven footer in their face like Peja does. We know you’re still the best, Peja.

That left the dunk event, also with no Hornets. Boo. They tried to get Julian Wright in it, to no avail. As ticktock6 pointed out, the only bummer about this amazing event was that it was all gimmicks. So here is our shot out to Jamario Moon, who probably pulled out the most athletic dunk with his first round bounce-down jumping 360 catch and full bring back tomahawk slam that started it all. Dwight Howard, however, was the ultimate winner. And deservedly so.

Hypemeter: although the Hornets didn’t win any events, New Orleans won them all. And so we’re proud of that!

There was just this point where I felt it, but I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to jinx it. Sometime in the 4th quarter I just thought, “There is no way they lose this game.” Phoenix tied it up, and tied it up, and tied it up. The Hornets had lost three in a row. But not this one.

Chris Paul had 42 points, 9 assists, 8 steals and 1 turnover.

If there is any highlight show on TV not talking about that game tonight, they will be on my personal Shit List FOR LIFE. (As I was typing, it was the #1 play of the night on ESPN. If it was not, I was prepared to storm the building. And I mean fly personally to New York or wherever and storm the building. I am not even joking.)

Chris Paul. Peja. Double OT. 132-130 over Phoenix.

This is the top, baby. I can say no more.