How Will ESPN.com's Dan Shanoff Explain Away This One?

Anybody who knows me personally knows that I have trouble letting things go. I think that this is something Seymour and I have in common...

People familiar with this blog are familiar with my sports rants. My story about ESPN's Dan Shanoff trashing the Hornets in their New Orleans return is just the latest. I'm still having a hard time with it, because his premise was so far-fetched that it wasn't even funny. Just like other "national" media people fuel the fire that the whole KTMB catastrophe was "our" fault, even though the government historically ignored our levees and told our officials "They are fully prepared." Somehow it's our fault for trying to live in this geographical nightmare.

But I'm digressing again. Since the loss Wednesday was "our" fault too, I wanted to see what happened next time the Hornets played in OKC, where they could feed off that incredible "fan vibe." I wanted to see if Shanoff was right, or if the facts I presented in my article were valid.

Judge for yourself:

Peja Stojakovic scored 26 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer, and West missed a shot at his fourth game-winner of the season as the Pacers beat the New Orleans Hornets 92-90 on Friday night.

The Hornets had a final possession after Stojakovic missed a long 3-pointer with the shot clock dwindling and took the ball out of bounds with 6.1 seconds left after play was stopped because an orange toy ball was thrown onto the court.

West took an inbounds pass and was forced to call timeout with 3.1 seconds left when he was swarmed by the Pacers' defense. Indiana's Anthony Johnson was called for a technical foul walking to the sidelines, but Chris Paul missed New Orleans' ensuing foul shot.

The Hornets have now lost five straight, and 7 of 9 since the break. Only one of those games was played in New Orleans.

That's one hell of a "fan vibe." The Hornets couldn't close a big game again. Those superior OKC fans couldn't lift the Hornets to a victory. Hell, they even throw toy balls on the court as they are trying to win the game.

But I'll probably wait for a Dan Shanoff apology for misleading American opinion just as long as Seymour waits for an apology from Ruth's Chris.

Dan will probably still blame it on New Orleans. If they wouldn't have played here, they wouldn't have had the terrible jet lag resulting from that 2-3 hour flight to Oklahoma City. Or maybe they were tired from hammering all those nails in as they tried to help rebuild the city.

Oh well. Maybe next time I'll have something positive to say. Maybe if Drew Brees comes to town and Aaron Brooks gets the hell out...