With the New Orleans Hornets coming to Madison Square Garden tonight to face Linsanity, it got us to thinking.
Isn’t it about time for some nickname swaps in the NBA?
First off, we’d suggest that New Orleans gets the Jazz nickname back from Utah since, well, you know, Utah isn’t really known for being a Jazz hotbed.
The New Orleans Jazz began as an NBA franchise in 1974 before moving to Utah in 1979.
New Orleans still hosts the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival, which this year runs April 27-May 6 and will feature Bruce Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Eddie Vedder, among others.
If that switch were made, the Hornets nickname would then be free to return to its rightful spot in Charlotte.
The Charlotte Bobcats just sounds weird. We all know them as the Charlotte Hornets, who began as an expansion outfit in the 1988-89 season and thrived during the Larry Johnson and Alonzo Mourning days.
The Bobcats name could then be scratched altogether. Which it should to be.
All of this, of course, leaves Utah in need of a nickname.
How about the Mormons or the Latter Day Saints?
And yes, we know, there aren’t any lakes in Los Angeles, either.
But for some things, you just can’t mess with history.
