Tag: charlotte hornets

New in the collection: Charlotte Bobcats souvenir gnome

This 6-inch-tall composite figurine of Kemba Walker was given away to fans at Time Warner Cable Arena, Jan. 22, 2014.

The Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Los Angeles Clippers, 95-91, despite point guard Walker’s missing the game with an ankle sprain.

This was the last season the city’s NBA team went by Bobcats.

It’s complicated: After the 2002 season, the original Hornets moved to New Orleans. In 2004, Charlotte was granted a new franchise, the Bobcats, named for owner Bob Johnson. After the 2013–14 season, the Bobcats, now owned by Michael Jordan,  changed their name to the Hornets.
Facts from Kemba Walker gnome box
Box top for Kemba Walker gnome
 

Yet another way to knock off Julian: Instagram

“The clothier Alexander Julian once quipped that imitation is the sincerest form of aggravation. In the years after he designed the inaugural uniforms, in 1988, for the Charlotte Hornets, his purple and teal—especially the teal—started popping up on everyone from the Detroit Pistons to the San Jose Sharks and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“The streetwear label Supreme, founded six years after Julian’s colors débuted, loves both mischievous appropriation and nineties pop culture, so it’s not hard to see where it got the idea to drop a Hornets-inspired basketball jersey last year. That’s an easy reference to spot, but not every Supreme graphic and logo design has an origin that is so simple to place. Enter the Instagram account Supreme Copies….”

— From “Supreme Copies: The Instagram That Attempts to Decode Supreme Clothing” by Melvin Backman in the New Yorker (June 1)

 

Critics of Alexander Julian, prepare to be criticized

Did you see this morning’s rave in the New York Times over the Tar Heels’ argyle-accented basketball and football uniforms? The Times noted that Dean Smith’s eye initially had been caught by Alexander Julian’s award-winning pin-striping of the NBA Charlotte Hornets in 1988. Not mentioned, however, was Julian’s less well received work for the minor-league Charlotte Knights.

Here’s what the Los Angeles Times reported in 1991:

“The Knights’ parent club, the Chicago Cubs, is about to junk its farm team’s Julian-designed black uniforms, described by one sportswriter as ‘Knightmarish’….

“Of the Cubs’ decision to change the Knights’ uniforms, Julian said: ‘I’m very disappointed. I did the best I could.’

“Of the sportswriter’s fashion review, he said: ‘I’m tracing the way this guy dresses. Let me just say this. It’s like having an illiterate criticize Hemingway.’ ”

 

Ngram: Good old mountain dew? Not exactly

More phrase-frequency charts from Google Books Ngram Reader:

— mountain dew vs. Mountain Dew

— Michael Jordan vs. Thomas Wolfe, Andy Griffith and Sam Ervin

— Lumbee Indians vs. Catawba Indians

— Wilmington 10 vs. Chicago Seven

— Charlotte Hornets vs. Charlotte Bobcats