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Separating Team From City

by Tom Ziller

Ben Swanson of SB Nation's Bobcats blog Rufus On Fire had penned a passionate response to a Grantland piecethat fondly remembers the '90s Charlotte Hornets while dumping on Charlotte itself. The Grantland essay asserts that the magic of those Hornets had nothing to do with Charlotte. Ben disagrees:

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The team, the players, the jacket, the everything - they represented our city. They were Charlotte. We roared as one when Mourning hit the 20-footer against the Celtics to help win the franchise's first-ever playoff series. We spat when George Shinn showed his true self. We wept when Bobby Phills died. We were the Charlotte Hornets.

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