(written Aug. 1, 2001)

Hornets and Bobcats

Menu:
http://www.donredding.com/bobcatsandhornets.html 

This is What is (was) wrong with Hornets:
http://www.donredding.com/20010801hornets.html

See Letter  re Hornets at
http://www.donredding.com/robertjohnson20030619.html

Smugmug Bobcats and Hornets Pictures:
http://donredding.smugmug.com/Sports/127466

Hi

I have looked back through my emails to you and do not believe I gave you my background involving the Hornets. I am a charter season ticket holder with 5 tickets until I dropped to 4 this year.  I have missed few games but often cannot give away tickets now, much less sell them. I feel if an arena is built I along with other folks interested in the Hornets should pay for it, not the public. If they chose to leave, that is ok with me after all I have seen from the very first game. Even when they win, there is little magic left. They need a new start elsewhere I think

I have written the Coliseum and Hornets' management and to city officials on many occasions with little response from them.

The things I have enjoyed with the Hornets include

  1. Kurt Rambus tip in beating Chicago
  2. the first night formal party even though we lost by 40
  3. the Charlotte Coliseum, it is a neat place, has been and is.
  4. Help in getting more season tickets and then getting them  together where I wanted them
  5. All Star game in 1989?
  6. Shout
  7. Half time entertainment
  8. Honey Bees
  9. prayer before games
  10. kids as ball boys
  11. National Anthem  singers
  12. Hugo
  13. Super Hugo
  14. Hugo Dolls
  15. (big) Hugo Blimp
  16. the purple shirts
  17. games away on tv
  18. Wendy's chili and yogurt
  19. the free roster given out as one enters arena
  20. Last game parties for the first few years, recent ones were just another night.
  21. draft nights a couple of times
  22. parking in the Farmer's Market lot and home in a flash
  23. Spike and ???
  24. The dancing Fool
  25. full arena at times
  26. empty arena at times
  27. (This year first time) free membership in Crown Club which might be fun
  28. the shorter strike season when I learned going to 41 games is something dumb I do. Learned too many, too much $$$.
Issues bothering me include
  1. $1 a year rent paid by the Hornets for years
  2. poor scoreboards (none on the sides), hard to read
  3. closing of the Farmers market parking because it would cost $200 or so a game to keep open
  4. City officials do not  give details of the original $1 a year rent deal when questioned.
  5. City officials un supportive of buses and better parking arrangements
  6. no bus service as in other cities to games,
  7. Choice parking given to City and Authority members
  8. harassment of folks like me by police as I try to sell my extra tickets at the Coliseum
  9. City officials state a survey of various cities show bus service not viable; admit no survey when copy requested.
  10. Shinn playing around with the Honey Bees while married.
  11. Shinn making all those "inspiring" speeches and
  12. the newspapers loving Shinn even after it became clear what kind of guy he was
  13. Arrogance of the Hornet management during their popular days
  14. No response ever from Shin to several letters to him with suggestions and photos showing problems
  15. responses to my letters or suggestions only after things turned bad for Hornets; little improvements and mainly when I objected to the closing of the Farmer's Market
  16. Too much amplified noise
  17. False Sound meters
  18. loud music, actually too loud music.
  19. music during play,
  20. encouragement of un sportsman like behavior when free throws are shot,
  21. alcohol at college events which is supposed to be prohibited (no one wants to touch this one)
  22. alcohol policy allowing multiple purchases
  23. alcohol policy allowing intoxicated persons to purchase more
  24. Alcohol sales to kids
  25. too much advertising on the tv screens and scoreboards.
  26. impolite ushers,
  27. Unsafe parking lots,
  28. abuse in the parking lots,
  29. drunks in the arena and parking lots,
  30. beer spilled on me and seats and in floor under seats,
  31. impolite parking attendants (not in Farmer's Market)
  32. no food allowed to be carried into area,
  33. high food prices,
  34. Unreliable food supplies (sometimes Chile was there, sometimes not)
  35. sorry food (though that has improved lately with fewer people to serve),
  36. little support from black fans; most paying fans white; all players black (almost).
  37. rowdy unsupervised black children who are given free tickets,
  38. No crowd control of rowdy children by ushers.
  39. ushers often leave posts early in second half
  40. Ushers (many) do not stand at attention with hand over heart during National Anthem
  41. integrity of the hornets players and management,
  42. legal problems of Coleman ,Wesley. Shinn, Mason, Phills etc. and on and on,
  43. the martyrdom of Phills. He  was racing and that not only is illegal, it is stupid. To keep mentioning him as a hero is just not right, he was not a hero but just a human. I am sorry for his wife and child but her frequent "appearances" are a reminder of how unwise her husband was.
  44. the crowning blow was Coach Silas making an obscene gesture resulting in a technical and his picture in the paper. ( I must admit, he called me after I wrote him and he apologized for doing it and said it was a dumb move, That  took guts and I do  admire him and the job he has done.)
Only this year when they realize they had a problem did they show  interest in my concerns. Shinn  never answered about 4 letters and no one else did either. I did talk with someone on the telephone about the poor scoreboards and they tried to remedy it by putting the score on the tv screen but that is unsatisfactory. I wrote to Mayor McC with a copy to the Coliseum and that got some response.

I of  course was disappointed in the legal problems of Coleman, Wesley, Shinn, Mason, Phills etc. and on and on, and feel the martyrdom of Phills has gone too far. They were racing and that not only was illegal, it is stupid and to keep mentioning him as a hero is just not right.

So I feel I should be the one to pay for an arena, not tax payers. The first arena might have been needed for the good of the city but it is still a good one and taxpayers should not pay to replace it, even if we lose the Hornets.

I have 8 PSL's to Panther games and I think that is the way any new arena should be financed. I give money to the Blumenthall center in the original drive of several thousand dollars  I have given a few thousand dollars to Theater Charlotte and I am sorry to see they are bundled with all this other stuff. I support several of the other bundled groups and feel the bundling in the long run will hurt them; it will affect my support.

I played high school and college basketball and football and attended college on a football scholarship. I am now retired and still love sports.

OOOOps about game time, got to go.

Don Redding Aug. 1, 2001