Web writers wage war over Hornets
TIM WHITMIRE
Staff Writer
I am so tired of the CLT whining. We didn't ask for this ... .You guys barged in here after hearing that your team was leaving you. Take your whining somewhere else.
"West Coast Hornet," on the neworleanshornets.com message board.
C'mon in -- just be warned: It gets a little rough.
There's talk about rednecks, murder rates, drunkenness ... not to mention many forms of sexual activity, perverse and otherwise.
It's another day, another "flame war" on any of the handful of Internet message boards dedicated to the Charlotte Hornets and their proposed move to New Orleans.
On
www.neworleanshornets.com, a conversation thread entitled "How to Survive in the Hills of Carolina" offers advice larded with references to overalls, incest, toothlessness and wife-beating.
Over on charlotte.com (The Observer's online partner), "russl179" is advising New Orleanians to "go to Bourbon Street and puke on someone."
Bradley Coburn, 25, has had a courtside view. Coburn started neworleanshornets.com with a partner in January, around the time Hornets co-owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge began focusing their search for a home on Coburn's native New Orleans.
Coburn, who posts messages on his board under the name "Spongey," acknowledged things can get out of hand.
"You take a heated situation already, and the sadness of losing a team, and New Orleans people are fearful that the NBA is maybe playing with us again," said Coburn, an senior in economics at Southern Mississippi. "Add that to the fact that you're on a message board, and you can't smile and show you're joking and ..."
As with many Internet communities, the number of participants in online battles over the Hornets' future is small. On Wednesday, neworleanshornets.com listed 943 members -- from newcomer "mongo" on up to "Harvey Hornet," who was posting toward his site-record 1,200th message.
Sounds like your sour grapes make good whine.
"Harvey Hornet," taunting "Charlotte" on Wednesday.
For many eagerly awaiting a resolution to the drama over whether the Hornets stay in the Queen City or relocate to the Crescent City, the boards are a place to grasp at straws of insight. Comments of NBA officials and team owners on the Hornets' proposed move are scrutinized with the kind of intensity that Cold War-era Kremlinologists once reserved for photographs of the leadership lineup at Moscow's May Day parade.
With that kind of scrutiny comes paranoia -- such as when New Orleans posters suggested ESPN reporter David Aldridge was being paid by Charlotte to make negative comments about their city.
Keep up the good work, Nawlins. We like your town, we really do ... We'll be back down there to visit before you know it. We'll help bolster your floundering economy. ... Seriously, somebody has to help finance the most spectacular homeless population in the country.
Posted by Charlotte radio host Mark Packer on neworleanshornets.com on March 17.
I understand Packer's anger and frustration actually. Think about it, with the Hornets in New Orleans next season, what is he going to have to talk about? Chris Weinke? The nightly cow-tipping contests?
Response from "Adam the Legend."
WFNZ host Packer is a favorite target of New Orleans postings.
Packer is very much in his element.
"It's the written version of sports talk radio," Packer said. "I just go on there to have fun with them and stir them up. It's never personal -- I throw a jab and then I run."
Packer said a number of New Orleanians who initially e-mailed him in anger after provocative posts have become Internet pen pals who ask for the latest gossip.
For Coburn, the flame wars between Charlotteans and New Orleanians got to be too much. Last week Coburn decided to deny access to many Charlotte posters.
"It wasn't just the Charlotte people who were causing the problems," he said. "But I decided to focus basically on the target audience of the board, which is New Orleans Hornets supporters."
Meanwhile, the battle continues ...
All I know is that I am glad (the Saints) play the Panthers twice a year. That is like starting the season 2-0 for us.
Harvey Hornet," opening a new line of conflict ..