Is Anybody Home?
Posted November 3, 2005, 9:03 AM ET

This week on my radio show I have asked..."Where is the buzz for the Bobcats?"

The response has been silent...but I hope that picks up after the home team's first home game this weekend against the Boston Celtics.

However, after watching the season opener in Chicago, it will be fascinating to see the response to the Bobcats. The reason I'm writing this is because the Bobcats blew a 25-point lead in the second half, including an eight point lead with under two minutes to play in losing to the Bulls in OT.

It was brutal.

I know the team is only playing their 83rd regular season game ever...but the loss has to be the worst defeat in franchise history. I know the Bulls are an up and coming teram, but the Bobcat players are being paid millions of dollars, too....and that loss was unreal.

Could you imagine the outcry if the Tar Heels or Blue Devils or any other basketball team in the area blew a 25-point lead and lost in the same manner?

If there isn't a major discussion on my radio show about the way the Bobcats lost on Wednesday, then the NBA issue in Charlotte is in bigger trouble than I originally thought. This wasn't just another game in a marathon season, this was the first game....a game that a peripheral fan would watch and get some immediate feedback about the new guys Felton and May, not to mention a chance to check out star-in-the-making Emeka Okafor.

It was also a game that you could watch on TV...evidently a unique concept for the Bobcats, after last year's disastrous C-SET experiment. Maybe the Bobcats would have been better off if the game wasn't on TV.

Bernie Bickerstaff said afterwards that, "What happened was that Chicago got Christmas early."

Wrong, Bernie.

Chicago got their Christmas present with a World Series championship a week earlier....what Chicago witnessed was a basketball team choking all over itself in crunch-time. The Bobcats were outscored 30-9 in the fourth quarter of what should have been a solid win on the road.

I know it is a long season, and getting worked up over the first game is probably dumb...but if there is going to be a passion about this team in this city, then the opening night performance needs to have some meaning. If the fans aren't disappointed and upset with this loss, then what difference do the Bobcats make in the sports marketplace?

Can you imagine the reaction of the fans if the Panthers blow a 3-touchdown lead to Tampa Bay this weekend in the 4th quarter? Fans would be going crazy...and they would have every right to complain about it.

I think you understand my point....we'll find out if there is any buzz with the Bobcats. I hope people care.