I just had to post this in it's entirety - this is what we have been alluding to for months now.. and we are labled bloodsucking vultures etc etc - why can everyone else in the country see this??

NBA Insider

New Orleans has enough to deal with without NBA
By DWAIN PRICEStar-Telegram Staff Writer

It doesn't make any sense for the Hornets to play games in New Orleans this season. Don't the good people of New Orleans have more pertinent things to worry about?

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Aug. 29, many homes were destroyed and lives were shattered. What's important now for the citizens of New Orleans is to get their lives in order.

Attending a Hornets game is not high on their to-do list.

After Hornets president Paul Mott toured the New Orleans Arena two months ago, he wasn't so sure playing basketball there this season was a bright idea. Mott should have followed his first instinct.
"It smelled, and when I came out, my eyes were itching and my nose got clogged up, and I was bothered by it and concerned," Mott said. "It was still really wet, and I didn't think it was healthy -- at least for the athletes."

We all want New Orleans to be rebuilt.

Still, the fact that the Hornets have announced plans to play three games there this season -- starting with a March 8 contest against the LA Lakers -- is disturbing.
Memo to the Hornets: The folks in New Orleans didn't come to your games pre-Katrina, and they sure won't be coming post-Katrina.
If the truth be told, New Orleans has never shown signs of wanting to embrace the NBA.

The Jazz didn't draw in five seasons, so they left in 1979 for Salt Lake City and haven't regretted it a bit.
T
he Hornets also have been unsuccessful at the gate since moving from Charlotte in 2002. The Hornets averaged 15,651 fans in their first season in New Orleans, 14,332 two years ago and 14,221 last year.

This season, the Hornets are 10th in the league in attendance, averaging 18,096 fans per game in Oklahoma City. And that takes into account the meager 7,301 fans that showed up when the Hornets played the Phoenix Suns last month in Baton Rouge -- another Louisiana city that has other matters on its mind.

In addition to the Lakers game, the Hornets will play in New Orleans on March 18 against Denver and on March 21 against the LA Clippers.
It's a noble gesture trying to give the folks in New Orleans some NBA entertainment. But you can't force-feed fans.

As Mott returned to check on the New Orleans Arena last month, he saw some progress.
"What I was pleased to see was they got that wet stuff out," Mott said. "The ceiling tiles had gathered humidity and were buckled, even though the water hadn't got up there. They pulled all of that out, and it probably helped a lot."

Maybe it did, but will families really pay to see the Hornets play this season?

New Orleans is a city in distress. Many of its citizens might never return to live there again.

And if they do, the last thing on their minds will be the NBA.
They need jobs, schools for their kids, a roof over their heads and someone to repair the levees so they can withstand a Category 5 hurricane.

They don't need the Hornets.