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| Uptown Charlotte in 2012 |
Why is "Hornets" so patriotic? The reason goes back to the Revolutionary War. After his defeat at the Battle of Charlotte in 1780, British General Charles Cornwallis dubbed the then-frontier town a "veritable nest of hornets." While Cornwallis did capture Charlotte, he was later forced to withdraw.
For most of the twentieth century, the Charlotte minor league baseball team went by the Hornets name. And of course, there was another Hornets NBA team, but they moved to New Orleans in 2002. Charlotte was awarded another pro basketball franchise in 2004, the Bobcats, who were mostly known for their futility, including a worst-ever NBA record for the 2011-12 season. I had the honor of sorts to attend one of those losses at the Time-Warner Arena that season, as the Memphis Grizzlies devoured the Bobcats.
But last year owner Michael Jordan, after the Hornets changed their name Pelicans, asked the NBA if Charlotte could get the Hornets name back. The league agreed.
Oh, someone could argue that the New England Patriots have the most patriotic team name in American sports, or the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Well, they are grand names, but just not as imaginative as Hornets.
In other North Carolina Revolutionary War news, the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed in Charlotte on this day in 1775.
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