Friday, September 26, 2008
Hornets Take Pictures, Hold Signs, Entertain Media
Posted by Alejandro de los Rios on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 8:23 PM
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Of all the days I decided not to bring a video camera, this had to be the worst one to choose. Hilton Armstrong getting coached on how to bob a sign up and down? Tyson Chandler singing out radio promos? Hugo the Hornet casually chatting with Hornets' staff in full costume?
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May the blog Gods forgive me.
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Walking in, the Hornets media day had all the feel of an elementary school fair. Different stations were set up for all the local TV stations and players rotated through those seats plus the media guantlet and the different team picture and video stations. It was all very glamorous.
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The highlights (in bullet form):
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- Morris Peterson got a new tattoo. As you can see, it's pretty well scabbed-up, but that's not because he got it recently. "I got scratched up playing basketball," he said. Um...Shouldn't he have waited a little longer before playing? "Probably," he said. What inspired the ink? "I got bored," he said.
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- Tyson Chandler does not have any new tattoos, even though I thought otherwise. Why didn't I notice them before. "They look better now cause I'm all tanned," he said. Of course. His funniest moment, though, came when he was reading a promo for "Old School" 102.9 FM. While looking over the script, Tyson stumbled on the part that said "number." "What do I say here?" he asked the radio people. "Oh that's just your jersey number," someone replied to the amusement of anyone who heard. Hey, at least he didn't say "Hi, this is 'say your name' of the New Orleans Hornets."
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- As I mentioned, all the Hornets players had to rotate through team photo shoots and standing in front of a green screen and doing video bits for the jumbotron. This is high, high comedy. Hilton Armstrong was being coached on how to hold a sign properly without blocking it. "There were no words on it," he said, explaining why he needed so much instruction.
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- In other, unrelated news, Armstrong told me the most interesting things he did this summer were that he "got engaged and got a daughter." I think congratulations are in order.
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- Chris Paul, talking about what it's going to be like to be playing in Oklahoma City on the opposing team: "I hope that they remember who was there first and maybe they'll be rooting for us." I'll be sure to be on the lookout for any and all NOOCH jerseys when New Orleans plays the Thunder.
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- Chris Paul also talked about looking forward to going to Europe and Barcelona. He said that he's been taking Spanish classes since high school and that he's always looking forward to speaking it. I know a certain New Orleans blogger who's fluent in Spanish that won't be afraid to test him when he gets back.
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- Tyson Chandler on raised expectations: "Now people are starting to believe [the Hornets' can win a championship], they're starting to wake up," he said. "Whatever you do, if you tell someone you're gonna do something and they don't believe you, but then you do it, you're welcome to join along." So the Hornets welcome bandwagon fans? "Everyone's welcome. Hop on, baby," he said.
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- Ryan Bowen on how teams will prepare for the Hornets this year: "Before people would see the Hornets on the schedule and maybe think that they didn't need to prepare as much," he said. "We're not going to sneak up on anyone this year."
Comments (3)
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Great notes. Looking at some of the pics from media day, I could have sworn DWest got some new ink, too. Did he always have that tattoo below the X on his left shoulder?
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