http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basketball/heat/ sfl-skolnickheat24apr24,0,1841169.column?coll=sfla-sports-heat Sports columnist ------------------------------------------------------------- Ethan J. Skolnick SKOLNICK: Not much buzz about Hornets at home Published April 24, 2004 NEW ORLEANS ?Standing in the lobby of the Marriott hotel late Friday morning, spotting yet another man attempting to sell his $40 seat for Game 3 to yet another bellhop. "$20? OK, $18?" Trying to ignore it. Setting out instead on a lunch-hour quest, a good-will mission, starting on Canal Street and heading to Bourbon, slipping behind the line forming outside the Acme Oyster House, staying clear of every last Lucky Dog stand, wishfully mistaking every young man with a hangover for one struck by Hornets fever. Hoping to prove New Orleans can't possibly have the Mardi Blahs about its NBA franchise already, in just its second season here since relocating with fanfare from Charlotte. Searching for the fans who can save the Hornets' season, by inspiring their adopted home squad to play with the passion it lacked in its 30-point Game 2 loss and make this a series. Looking for a buzz in the Crescent City, one that could make the visiting Heat, coming in up 2-0, feel as if it was hit by a 151-proof Hurricane. Finding it hard to believe all those tales of apathy could be true, that the perpetually unlucky Heat could actually have lucked into a series against a team with such tepid support, in a place that has the same "event town" reputation as fickle South Florida. Recalling how Louisiana excitedly built a $112 million arena, presenting a favorable lease and generous tax breaks solely to attract an NBA team to replace the Jazz franchise that left in 1979 for significantly less jazzy Utah. Thinking, however, of those 2003-04 regular season attendance numbers at New Orleans Arena for these competitive Hornets -- 28th out of 29 NBA teams, drawing an average of 1,400 fewer fans than the previous season, with five sellouts compared to 12 in 2002-03 despite lowering ticket prices. Willing to challenge my theory, the one that says all four diluted sports leagues already have too many teams, filled with too many unrecognizable names and featuring too much spotty play, and that New Orleans didn't need an NBA franchise any more than Charlotte needs an expansion one to replace this one that left. Wanting to believe this is a worthy place for an NBA playoff game, that it really has the same basketball interest it did when 35,000 stuffed the Superdome to watch Pete Maravich, and cares about more this weekend than just Jazzfest and LSU's spring scrimmage today. Taking P.J. Brown's words to heart, since the Hornets forward grew up in Louisiana: "It's football country. We all knew that going in. But I think they've done well. Again, this year hasn't been where we wanted it, but there have been times when fans have turned out and given us great support. Maybe not on the consistent basis that we would want. But they've been there, and when we go home for Saturday, I'm sure that arena will be rocking and rolling. I'm sure it's gonna be sold out. They'll be hungry for a win." Noticing the people filling up the Bourbon grills do seem, well, hungry. Noticing the other sights while walking both sides of a street as distinctive as any in America: the adults of ambiguous gender, the kegs lining the flooded sidewalks, the traveling choir team ("it's a choir thing" on the back of their shirts) peeking in adult book stores. Noticing only one sign that the Hornets play less than two miles away, and it's neon -- the logo flashing from the Tropical Isle window at Bourbon and Orleans. Noticing only a couple of others inside other bars, but no sign of the Hornets inside Johnny White's Sports Bar and Grill, where Baseball Tonight does play on four TVs. Hunting for a Hornets shirt, a Hornets flag, some Hornets beads, something Hornets sold or worn on this street of schlock stores. Slipping into one where hundreds of sports beads (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA) are sold, including a rung for the Hornets, though those hardly get prominent display. Popping into another store. "You have Hornets beads?" "Who?" the counterperson asks. "Hornets." "We should," another employee says. "What colors are they?" Entering Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo. Wondering if the little man in the tiny room behind the beaded curtain will give the Heat-Hornets series a reading, maybe give New Orleans a reason to get behind a basketball team that has lost 19 of its past 30 games and looked lost in Miami. Getting $35 out. Getting told, very quietly and politely, that he works only in light, never in that sort of darkness. "God gave me a gift. Not to use it like that. He didn't give it to me to predict the casino, and he didn't give it to me to predict a game." "No, no, no, this isn't for a bet," I say. "I'm just up from Florida, and ... " "So these, um, Hornets? They're from there?" Ethan J. Skolnick can be reached at [email protected] Copyright c 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel --

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