post your favorite memories/players/games from NC's most beloved team of the 90s.

the Hive was awesome and I pretty much grew up inside that building...I still miss it



i loved Bobby Phills, DC for 3, so many more.

who else remembers when they changed the court to the honeycomb lane?!?


that was the talk of the town for a while! loved that mural...




Kelly Tripucka was a badass.





[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 9:33 AM. Reason : .]

4/24/2009 9:21:01 AM

Appreeeesh!

I loved when I got to go to Hornets games. I would still head up for a few games if they were around but I have absolutely 0 interest in the Bobcats.

Quote :

"that was the talk of the town for a while! loved that mural..."

yes! I used to see that every day on my way to school when that was up haha.

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 9:25 AM. Reason : ]

4/24/2009 9:24:19 AM

i need to scan and find the pic of me and dell curry. He's smiling and I look scared to death.

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 9:29 AM. Reason : e]

4/24/2009 9:29:38 AM

that mural was so cool

4/24/2009 9:31:57 AM

my first hornets game was in 1994 against the Suns...we were tied 105-105 and Charles Barkley hit a 3 with 5 seconds left to beat us

I saw Jordan play a game there with the Bulls in 94/95, Shaq/Penny in a season finale in 96 i think

several other games

4/24/2009 9:32:26 AM

one of my favorite memories was that exact game against the suns...my dad told me that the suns had a "real nasty player that liked to spit on the court" and i was all worked up about this nasty guy named Charles Barkley so i booed the entire game. then he hit the shot at the buzzer

i was 8 years old.

talk about a preview of my NCState fandom.

4/24/2009 9:35:21 AM

i was more into the NBA back then than I think I'll ever be again...I could name the starting 5 of like every team... i think that night they started like Barkley, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, danny manning... maybe danny schayes or some other guy at center

now the league is just different and people move around so much, it's hard to follow as closely

4/24/2009 9:49:40 AM

I'll post here

cause I sure as hell don't appreciate the fucking bobcats

4/24/2009 9:50:54 AM

Quote :

"Shaq/Penny in a season finale in 96 i think"

I went to that game, but Shaq and Penny didn't play b/c Orlando already had their playoff spot locked up.




[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 10:13 AM. Reason : pic]

4/24/2009 10:05:42 AM

hmm, at all? or just a couple quarters

i went and thought they played most of the game, Darren Hancock had a sick breakaway dunk

4/24/2009 10:06:44 AM

hmm... now I'm wondering about that one. anyone else there for that game?

4/24/2009 10:14:18 AM

Anyone remember waiting in line at the Charlotte Coliseum for some of the first tickets to go on sale?

4/24/2009 10:36:31 AM

4/24/2009 10:39:53 AM

I almost cried the day we lost Alonzo Mourning.

And that honeycomb court was the sweetest the NBA has ever had.

4/24/2009 10:43:15 AM

best court design in nba history lol

4/24/2009 10:46:12 AM

this thread only makes me hate George Shinn more and somehow makes me even MORE apathetic towards the Bobcats.

4/24/2009 10:52:08 AM

I agree, at least when it was the hornets, they did make it UNC in the NBA...

4/24/2009 10:55:09 AM

Did anyone ever get the stockings around Christmas time that were Hugo the Hornet stockings? I've still got a couple of those at my parents house. I also had all the "Alive at the Hive" shirts for the season openers because my uncle had season tickets and we would go to a lot of the games. Remember Super Hugo, the first of the mascots that did the high-flying dunks.

4/24/2009 11:03:57 AM

Sadly, I doubt folks that aren't from around here even know where the mascot's name came from. I had a Rex Chapman poster that my mother told me to keep forever because it would be worth something.

4/24/2009 11:10:09 AM

Hahaha. I also had some of the team posters. The one I remember the most was "Men of Teal"

4/24/2009 11:11:27 AM

My favorite Hornets memory is when Larry Johnson hit the 3 and got fouled in the Garden in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals with less than 5 seconds to go to win by 1.

NBC used that shot of the Garden on their playoff promos until their contract ran out. Fun stuff... Thanks Hornets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5kyzvyM6KU&feature=related

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 11:19 AM. Reason : x]

4/24/2009 11:18:12 AM

when did the hornets make the Eastern Conference Finals

nvm, though why is in included as a Hornets memory?

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 11:46 AM. Reason : asdf]

4/24/2009 11:45:24 AM

No reason except I wanted to piss off the OP...

But LJ was a Hornet and I remember back before Isiah killed my Knicks love how LJ used to talk about how amazing it was to play in front of MSG crowds and that he never experienced anything like that any other place in his life...

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 11:50 AM. Reason : X]

4/24/2009 11:49:30 AM

I used to go to like 3 games a year when i was a kid

4/24/2009 12:01:23 PM

I stopped following the NBA after the Hornets moved

4/24/2009 12:25:01 PM

4/24/2009 12:29:10 PM

that was the most excited i had ever been about a draft pick

then i saw the news of the trade...

4/24/2009 12:34:27 PM

I was more excited about LJ

4/24/2009 12:38:43 PM

i wasn't really big on the hornets till about 1993-94, i didnt follow the draft much till then

4/24/2009 12:41:30 PM

I went to one game, I think I was 11 or 13 or something. The only thing I rememer was that they had this giant inflatable hornet flying around, dropping free tickets onto people in the stands. Eventually, whoever was piloting the giant hornet epicly failed because the hornet hit one of the metal beams up in the ceiling and popped and fell on the people in the crowd. Then everyone started jumping on it trying to grab free tickets.

It was great.

4/24/2009 1:38:42 PM

lol Air Hugo was the shit

I recently went to a Suns game in Phoenix and they have a similar thing where they drop subway sandwiches i think...its just a regular blimp though, not shaped like a sun or gorilla or anything.

4/24/2009 1:49:14 PM

i was in court for a speeding ticket when the bobby phills/david wesley accident went down

4/24/2009 1:52:59 PM

Quote :

"Did anyone ever get the stockings around Christmas time that were Hugo the Hornet stockings?"

Yep, I don't have mine anymore but I still remember the bubble gum that came in the stocking.

4/24/2009 2:00:14 PM

it pissed me off too when the NBA allow George Shinn to move the Hornets to New Orleans. Just to show you how much the NBA care about its fans.

4/24/2009 4:55:48 PM

i was working at a laser tag place in charlotte back in the late 90s when i found out dell curry had rented the place for his son's bday. i'm pretty sure it was stephen's 10th bday or somethin like that. anywho, dell wasnt playing laser tag and i'd already spoken to him a couple times from behind the counter to sort of break the ice, so i saw him standin by our arcade bball shootout game, just kinda checkin it out. we had it rigged to play for free, so i walked up and asked if he wanted to play. he said sure, and he shot his shots, and then i challenged him and took mine and ended up beatin him. i know its cause i'd been playin with the game for months and he'd probably not even looked at one, much less played on one in years, but he was still cool about it. he congratulated me and gave me a high five, and then walked back to their party room.

nothing22 wanted me to share this tale because apparently its the best story i have.

4/24/2009 5:09:01 PM

I still have a framed team photo of the 1988-89 inaugural team. I had a lot of great memories there. I remember being there for game 3 of the 1st round the year they swept the Heat. 20000 people brought brooms to the coliseum that night, chanting sweep throughout the game. The game was never in doubt.

Maybe the 2nd best memory was Bobby Phills hitting a game winning 3 in the corner to beat Washington. I probably went to about 20 or so games while they were here, but have been to just 1 Bobcats game. However, that was the 1st season (in the Coliseum) when Kobe brought the Lakers back from about 12 down in the final 6 minutes, and nailed a game winner over Keith Bogans. I'll end up going to more of their games, but the Charlotte Hornets truly will be the team I loved. Fuck George Shinn and Ray Woolridge

4/24/2009 5:15:33 PM

My favorite is probably one of the saddest. I think it was the first or second game after Phils death and David Wesley for some reason was isolated on the court and the whole crowd gave him a standing ovation. That was a rough season.

4/24/2009 9:49:21 PM

^^^lazerquest on independence?

also, good story

[Edited on April 24, 2009 at 10:28 PM. Reason : .]

4/24/2009 10:28:06 PM

no, it was q-zar at windsor square. didnt last very long unfortunately.

4/24/2009 11:12:53 PM

^
Qzar hahaha...Had like 3 birthday parties there. I lived kinda right behind Windsor Square, that place was the shit while it was there.

4/25/2009 12:07:53 PM

4/25/2009 12:15:09 PM

4/25/2009 12:22:03 PM

Wasn't a huge Hornets fan but I sympathize. I was a Magic and Bullets/Wizards fan for the most part since I didn't grow up in the Charlotte area, but I've lost interest gradually. Here's a memory everyone can enjoy, though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe-TEQ0yMN0

4/25/2009 12:30:28 PM

i got goosebumps hearing the nba on nbc john tesh theme in that video

4/25/2009 12:43:11 PM

Quote :

"lazerquest on independence?"

I fucking loved lazerquest

4/27/2009 12:29:27 AM

its all right but the packs suck...i've shot people from 2 ft away and it wouldnt register. been a few years since i've been though. maybe they've gotten new ones.

4/27/2009 12:40:45 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thbUkBW_ftM

4/27/2009 1:33:31 AM

We had 2 of the 5 members of the Monstars on Space Jam.

4/27/2009 3:41:20 AM

^ and i cant stand how we are the "bobcats" now

4/27/2009 4:07:05 AM

i had no idea sidney lowe played for the hornets.

i need that card.

4/27/2009 9:31:07 AM