The North American Sports Almanac: Charlotte Hornets

When I think of the Charlotte Hornets, I think of T-shirts. Maybe with a giant, funky wasp, or perhaps an airbrushed Alonzo Mourning. Before the internet and social media, we had fewer outlets to express ourselves, and corporate T-shirts were just one of the ways you did it in the ‘90s. Whether it was the Tasmanian Devil, Big Dogs, or sun belt expansion teams, you had to let the world know what you were all about. It’s a curious legacy for this basketball team, but at least it has a legacy at all. The "original" Hornets moved to New Orleans in 2002, before being reincarnated as the ill-fated Bobcats two years later. The ‘Cats won zero playoff games in 10 seasons, so a deal was struck: Charlotte could reclaim the rights to the Hornets' nickname and history, and the imposter Hornets could be renamed the Pelicans and pretend they were a 2002 expansion team. A happy moment in a franchise that’s had very few of them. Although Larry Johnson, Glen Rice and the aforementioned Mourning all wore the teal and purple at some point, this club has never even reached a conference finals. It was figuratively owned by Michael Jordan in the 90s, then literally owned by Michael Jordan in the 2000s. Neither went well. Fortunes have not improved of late — they have won three total playoff games since 2002 — but the T-shirt fortunes made 30 years ago should one day pay off. For if this is a team with no history, it certainly has a past. Maybe one day it will move from your closet to the record books.