At what point does our team stop being the Bobcats?

the fact that they are the local team. If I was born and raised in Florida, I’d be a Miami or Orlando fan. I do have players that I cheer for, but the only team I cheer for is the local one (or anyone playing the Lakers).

i love NC and anything tht represents it so thts why i like them but even if the Bobcats moved to another state id love them but still Gerald my hero so i never wanna see him leave but if it will make the team better then u gota do it

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Born & raised in North Carolina, and as soon as the Panthers were born, I dropped the Redskins like a bad habit. As soon as the Bobcats were born, I (gladly) thumped the N.O. Hornets off my radar.

For me, the Bobcats are the Bobcats until they leave the Carolinas.

i dont think the Bobcats will ever leave Charlotte i mean if we keep being a playoff team NC love college basketball and i dont see why NC wouldnt love them

As the reveal that Shinn was a douche…and the team left…I stopped being an NBA fan. When they announced we were getting a new team…I was glued to the internet…
I watched the arena being built online…
Glued to it all.
Bobcats for life…no matter how good or bad they become.

I’m not as big of a football fan, and I’ve been a lifelong Steelers fan…and when Charlotte for the Panthers…I just didn’t have interest in jumping ship. I’m an NC State fan over Duke and Carolina…
I viewed the Panthers in that same “Fan Base”…and I don’t want to jump on the
bandwagon…

So Steelers and Bobcats for life…through the good, through the bad…

I get disgusted seeing people who I knew were born and raised in Gastonia just like me rooting for the Redskins and Steelers when the Panthers are right there. I feel like the Bobcats and Panthers are not only representations of franchises in the NFL and NBA, they are representations of the people whose city they play for. I don’t want teams from across the country supporting us like the Lakers and Celtics have. It takes away from being a fan. And I don’t want to be derogatory on here, but to me, a lot of that is just dick riding, something I have never approved of. If someone from my city told me they were a Minnesota Timberwolves fan, I could dig it, because at least I know you don’t only like someone because they are winning.

most people who like basketball alot of times only like players and if Kobe wasnt on the Lakers i rlly dnt think they have this big of a fan base on the east coast and the same with LeBron alot of people were Cleveland fans and now of course Miami will get a big fan boost across the country

Players?
MJ?
Geography?
Uni’s?

it too, is a geography thing.

i was born here, moved to florida when i was little, moved to illinois a bit later, and then back here (columbia SC).
when i was younger and lived in columbia, my dad would always take me to Hornets games, and it was the most fun i’d ever have in my life. i vividly remember Hugo doing all the stuff Rufus wishes he could do (SuperHugo included), and i also remember the very first time i saw Michael Jordan play (we lost by the way). but both times it was in the good old “Hive”. not to mention, i instantly fell in love with Mugsy and the court design. i know, weird.

but by the time i moved to illinois, i had all but forgotten about the Hornets. i had lost my Mugsy jersey, and also by then, Michael was officially retired.
and then, as my luck would have it, as soon as i moved back to Columbia, the Hornets are leaving. great. i was lucky enough to go see them play that last game against Orlando, and i still have my towel from that game that says “Just Win!”.

and just like that, they were gone.

once the Bobcats came around, it took me awhile to truly understand what had just happened. my childhood favorite team had just left me as i was returning to my hometown. and then this new team came up out of nowhere and was telling me “Okafor in 04!”.
that first season, i ignored the Bobcats, but i did go to one game that season. it was against Golden State, and it was my last game at “The Hive”.

the very next season, i was captivated by the new arena. everything about it made me stare at its amazement. when i saw the ginormous jumbotron, i figured i was in for something special.
and on opening night, when we took out the Celtics in 2OT, i was hooked. Gerald’s play caught my eye, and i knew from that night on, that i was a fan, and i wanted to see this team play like this every night.

ive been hooked ever since.

Plus, I grew up in Charlotte but moved away from NC to go to college. I didn’t really come back to town for longer than weekend until 2006, when I lived in Charlotte for a year or so between schools. I remember being at work and some dude employed by the team coming by drumming up season ticket sales. Remembering how tricky it could be in those early years to get Hornets tickets, it made the Bobcats seem to me like they needed a little love. They used to cut some incredible deals, like $15 for a ticket, T-Shirt, hotdog, and Coke—I mean that’s ridiculous. I’ve never seen them win a game in person, but it got me following the team and by extension the league again. For someone who lives far from NC now, I’d also have to say RoF is a big part of the Bobcats experience for me, since I’m not going to have casual conversations about the team with people in Austin.

man u cnt stop likeing ur team because they trade a player. i love Gerald he is my basketball hero and always will but u cnt stop likeing the team bc a player isnt there anymre

most definatly a NC thang. Carolina is home and the home of great basketball. Its like the feeling so many of us had durring the Playoffs, all the loosing seasons and we had finally arived. The energy in the building ( alot of people that had never been there before and you knew were not there through the hard times) Its the chance to be apart of something and to say I was here from the begining. Banwagon Lakers, Celtic, Heat fans will never have that feeling like they were apart of something bigger than themselves. They wont realy have a team to call their own. theres nothing better then being the only guy at the Gym wearing a Bobcats jersey and taking all kinds of Crap for it. Its all worth it Represent NC Basketball

I was a Hornets fan from the beginning. I began to notice a trend I really despised. Shinn would get the team to the very threshold of excellence and then sell off the pieces to the highest bidder. We lost Mourning and Larry Johnson and I began to get angry. Then it happened. Despite being willing to almost beg for a job, Mugsy was tossed out like so much trash. I turned away from the Hornets because I couldn’t remain loyal to a team that was more interested in dollars and cents than winning. Shinn’s personal scandals were just the icing on the cake. Once they were gone I began telling everyone that Stern would let the dust settle and then return a team to Charlotte as quickly as a viable ownership coalition could be pieced together.

Then came the Bobcats. They were everything I had initially loved about the Hornets. They were the junk of the league (nobody puts their “A” squad up in an expansion draft) but the players didn’t seem to care. It was almost painful to watch some of those early games where the team was completely outplayed but the players themselves were never outclassed.

For me, there’s something about being able to say I was there when the foundation was poured. I watched the team being constructed from the ground up. Even though I quickly discovered that Johnson was not an NBA caliber owner, I still had hope that the team would succeed. The sale couldn’t go through quickly enough for me.

Now, once again a Charlotte basketball team is at the threshold of great things. Only this time the owner isn’t looking to sell off anyone with a semblance of star cachet, he’s trying to attract even higher quality players to move into town.
The owner isn’t making foolish choices in a panicked effort to salvage a business venture that keeps hemorrhaging money, he’s cagily playing a game of chess that has already surprised the other owners. Half the fun of it is waiting for the owner to slide the next ace out of his sleeve. (Yeah I know it’s a mixed metaphor, but it still fits the way Jordan is playing the game.)

The loss of Gerald Wallace would be hard for me. I have a sense of greater justice and if there is any player that has paid the dues through the hard times and earned the right to be there for the first true run at greatness it’s Crash. The idea of Wallace watching from a distance as the Bobcats fight their way into the upper tier of the league makes me a little bit sick to my stomach. Silly, I know, but beneath this analytical brain beats the heart of a romantic.

I’ll remain a Bobcats fan with or without Gerald Wallace although whatever team Crash winds up with will instantly become my second favorite team. Like many others here, my hope is that Jordan pulls off some wonderment without having to send Wallace packing. But I’m a working class guy living in a working class state. To me the Bobcats are a blue collar team where second chances are given and the sum is greater than the individual parts. They are a team that doesn’t give up regardless of odds and adversities and prima donnas need nod apply. That’s a concept and a team that I can get behind.

it has to ender itself to the city and make fans feel invested and we need carolina blue in jerseys and logo and gotta get rid of bobcat name just dosent ender its self and i kinda thought the team would have done alittle better near raleigh

charlotte is nearer so im happy easier to go to games

I had followed the NBA and loved to watch it, but living in Australia I really had no connection to any team in particular. I followed players and loosely followed the Hornets (because of Baron Davis).

When I heard that an expansion franchise was starting I saw it as a chance to take interest in and support a club in the NBA from the start. I still follow players, but the Bobcats are my team in the NBA.

I think it also had to do with supporting the underdog (which is sort of part of the culture in Australia), and the fact that the Hornets had just upped and left → it put me off following the Hornets anymore.

I don’t think I can explain all the reasons. All I know is that the Bobcats are the team for me.