Stinging Their Opponents . . . and Stung By Their Fans

The New Orleans Hornets are off to their best start ever, but that has not translated into high attendance at their games.

Apparently, they just can't get enough butts in the seats to watch their games against sorry and half way decent teams. They had their biggest attendance of the year at a San Antonio Spurs game with attendance of 15,297, which exceeded their opening night game by about 100 tickets, but they haven't had any sellouts. But when the Philadelphia 76ers came to town, only 8,302 people showed up. A sellout would be 18,000. And that's with the availability of $10 seats. Ouch.

These numbers are lower than they were even when they actually did suck. Well, New Orleans, these are the breaks when you have years of losing, especially when you move from another city where the team was not so great, either. You're just not going to get a good crowd unless you a) have some "NBA superstars"; b) play in a huge market; or c) are playing a team with "NBA superstars." Let me explain.

NBA superstars are ones that may or may not be tops in the league, but they are usually among the most well-known players; players that you're likely to see at the All-Star game.

Hornets' point guard Chris Paul may be one of the most underrated players in the entire NBA. He's averaging over 17 points and 10 assists per game - a double-double - and he's a lot of the reason why the Hornets are off to a 10-4 start.

But he's no Kobe Bryant. No Dwyane Wade. Not even Kevin Garnett. So he's not going to put Kobe or Wade numbers (i.e., fans) in the arena, not even on his home floor. But if the Hornets make a solid run this year, I expect that to change.

Also, New Orleans is just not a major market. Not only is New Orleans still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, but the Hornets are still the relative new guys in town, having moved from Charlotte in 2002. They have also played away from home in Oklahoma City for the past two years because of Katrina.

Given the NBA superstar and market issues the Hornets face, it's no surprise that games against teams that also lack NBA superstars are going to be low-turnout affairs. With situations like these, the mini-packages, which include the not so popular games, are a great idea that almost all teams have developed to get attendance up at games against poor opponents. (Hopefully they've already exhausted the possibilities of tie-ins and giveaways.)

So, Hornets fans, take heart. I know you're not getting the attention of the Boston Celtics or the respect of the Spurs, and the truth is that you may never get that fanfare. But I say control what you can control. If the players do their part on the floor, the fans will come eventually.

Just keep being good. And if you take out the Celtics along the way . . . even better.