I had previously sent this as an email to both men and posted this in another thread, but I wanted to make sure the message was seen. Feel free to sign on, but be respectful with your comments and language as this thread is meant to be our dignified response, as fans of the NEW ORLEANS HORNETS, to the OKC announcement.
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Dear Commissioner Stern and Mr. Shinn:
It is with great sorrow that I have read today that the New Orleans Hornets will be referred to as the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets. Already the official website for the team identifies the site as "THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS/OKLAHOMA CITY" and the drop down navigation menu to select other teams lists us as NO/Oklahoma City.
Mr. Shinn, as a season ticket holder and Hurricane Katrina survivor, I take great offense to this redesignation of the team's identity. Although I understand the need to play games elsewhere, I was shocked to see that the league would allow the team to be identified as anything other than the NEW ORLEANS HORNETS much less reduce New Orleans to an abbreviation in the navigation menu. To top things off, I understand that the uniforms will now include an arm patch for Oklahoma City - how inappropriate when the only patch that should be added is one in support of the New Orleans region and Hurricane Katrina survivors. The final blow was the removal of NEW ORLEANS from the home jerseys. Too see another city's name on our team's uniforms and the removal of "NEW ORLEANS" from the home uniforms is just too much to bear in light of the tragedy we have experienced - it's like the team and NBA are abandoning us during our greatest time of need.
Mr. Shinn, I thought that you said that this team would continue to represent New Orleans while we recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. However, it looks like you and the league might have other plans. This is our team, New Orleans' team and I desire to fight for the team's continued presence in New Orleans. Please make things right and correct this wrong that is being perpetrated on the fans of the New Orleans Hornets who have lost so much because of Hurricane Katrina and don't want to see their NBA team become the next casualty of the storm.
A fan and a Hurricane Katrina survivor,