http://www.wcnc.com/video/index.html?nvid=148862

gonna miss that place....i still remember the first time i went there and saw mugsy, alonzo and lj when i was 8.

6/3/2007 11:50:53 AM

6/3/2007 11:52:18 AM

the lifespan of arenas is amazingly short

6/3/2007 12:02:17 PM

yea that just made me tear up watching that. some of my best childhood memories were in the hive. i remember going to the 1996 eastern conference playoffs vs MJ and the bulls

6/3/2007 12:34:01 PM

Charlotte is turning into Las Vegas we like blowing buildings up in this town. Though I think this might be the last implosion for awhile.

6/3/2007 12:55:51 PM

where are they going to have the ACC Tournament?

6/3/2007 12:59:18 PM

Bobcats Arena?

6/3/2007 1:08:28 PM

yes

6/3/2007 1:29:46 PM

That really is sad. I have lots of fond memories of that place. Hornets were the first time time I loved. PERIOD. Losing them caused me to have the crappy attitude that I currently have about the NBA. They were the first real professional sports team we ever had here in NC. The coliseum also was first in a lot of things. That huge scoreboard was the largest during its hey-day (remember when it fell?) and the arena itself was the largest at one time. I'll remember Zo hitting "the shot" against the Celtics in the playoffs, the white rally towels we used to twirl, the hornet noise-meter when it lit up to full capacity, the circus as a kid, sr. yr. in high school going to see DMX, Limp Bizkit, and Godsmack in concert there and of course Jules and Marcus Melvin sticking out their tongues as we stuck it to 'Merryland' during the ACC Tourney . Good times...

6/3/2007 2:55:32 PM

im sorry you had to witness such shitty music in there

6/3/2007 2:58:10 PM

I had dedicated a thread by the same name a couple of years ago, after it hosted it's final NCAA Tournament game, b/c I knew it wouldn't be around much longer.

The Charlotte Coliseum was a magnificent building used for many functions. It was a building truly built for the people and true fans of the sport of basketball. There was tons of parking, the sight lines were good, and the 24,000 seats seemed to be always full for many of the first few years of the Hornets existence, despite the team not being a winner. In a state known as a hot bed for college basketball, having two teams win national championships just 5 and 6 years before its opening and another going to the past couple of Final Fours, it was fitting that the North Carolina's first major professional team would be a basketball team, and it be the largest arena in the league. People waited in very long lines just so they could get their hands on some of those first tickets (I know I was one of them, despite only being 5 years old). It hosted the 1991 NBA All-Star game, and the fans welcomed back their favorite basketball son, Michael Jordan with much fanfare. The arena was also used for a variety of collegiate basketball events. The Coliseum hosted President Bill Clinton and the 1994 Men's Final Four as he watched his home state Arkansas Razorbacks defeat Duke for the 1994 NCAA National Championship. It also was host to the 1996 Women's Final Four, in addition to many NCAA Tournament regionals, sub-regionals, eight ACC men's basketball tournaments and the 1989 Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball tournament. Many concerts would be held there over the years, and the first performance in the Coliseum was by none other than old blue eyes himself, Mr. Frank Sinatra. I know I saw many concerts in there myself. Many high school seniors walked across the podium for there graduations in that building. I know because I was one of them. In 2002 I listened to local CBS news anchor Bob Knowles deliver a very inspirational speech to my graduating class nearly a year before he would pass away due to uveal melanoma, a rare form of cancer that affects the eyes. Few major sports venues now place more importance on the common man, than the rich business man. The Charlotte Coliseum had few sky boxes, which although make a ton of money, puts the fans in the upper deck farther from the action, and seem only to often cater too those who are at the game because it's fashionable, and not because they want to be there to passionately root on their team. The 19-year old arena cost only $52 million to build. The total cost of its successor, the Bobcats Arena, to the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County was estimated at $260 million. Despite at the expressed disapproval of the people, the city's government officials ignored them and pushed the new arena on through, and cost the people even more money when they failed to make sure that the Bobcats organization fit the bill for the police presence during Bobcats games. It would have been very easy for only a portion of that $260 million to be used to renovate the Coliseum and put more sky boxes in the building. The Bobcats organization again tried to take more money from the people when in early 2006 they tried to charge a $15,000 fee for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools graduations. The fee was eventually waived following a story in the Charlotte Observer concerning the fees, all this despite the building truly being owned by the city. The people already had a sour taste in their mouth due to the way the last team's owners treated them. The people will gradually begin to embrace the Bobcats, because we are a basketball crazy state, but after coming in amongst a fair amount of controversy you would think that they would try to get on the good side of the public rather than anger them. Many thought that the NBA awarded the expansion franchise to Bob Johnson rather than NBA legend Larry Bird, due to their own agenda for wanting an African-American owner. This being a man that's made millions by exploiting African-American culture. Many African-Americans have complained that BET rarely focuses on the public affairs of the black community and feel that the channel perpetuates harmful Black stereotypes by primarily airing hip-hop videos that often have misogynistic, materialistic, and/or violent themes. Let us all hope that in 19 years we aren't demolishing the Bobcats arena just to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for another new arena.

6/3/2007 3:58:16 PM

Quote :

"Hornets were the first team I loved. PERIOD. Losing them caused me to have the crappy attitude that I currently have about the NBA."

ditto, i was at that celtics game where zo hit the last shot, place went nuts

6/3/2007 4:03:08 PM

wow i think thats mashburn calling for the pass on the left wing with t-mac as mash's closest defender

6/3/2007 4:06:18 PM

6/3/2007 4:15:56 PM

^ The movies "Eddie" starring Whoopi Goldberg and Dennis Farina, and "Juwanna Mann" starring Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Vivica A. Fox, Kevin Pollak, Tommy Davidson, Lil' Kim, and Ginuwine were also shot there.

6/3/2007 4:31:10 PM

I have fond memories of the hive. I saw numerous Hornets games even when I was in the upper deck you could see great. I saw R.E.M. there in 1995 their last tour with Bill Barry. I saw UNCC and Johnson C. Smith play a thriller that went to OT in the early 90's. I saw a few ACC Tournaments there. It will be missed. Ray Woolridge ruined the cities franchise and George Shinn's horniness helped drive a split between the city and the team. The Hornets led the NBA in attendance on at least 3 different occaisons.

6/3/2007 5:30:33 PM

I still remember the first time I saw Larry Johnson on Family Matters

6/3/2007 8:41:55 PM

lol at a sign of things to come

In the bottom right corner of that 2001 picture treetwista posted, a guy is rocking a NY Jets Keyshawn jersey

6/3/2007 8:45:31 PM

RIP

i guess we could look at it as another step of moving on from the Hornets mess and onto the Bobcats

[Edited on June 3, 2007 at 9:37 PM. Reason : ...]

6/3/2007 9:36:08 PM

i saw tim duncan, tracy mcgrady and chauncey billups, etc get drafted there

6/3/2007 9:41:25 PM

I think we all loved damn near everything about the hornets except for shinn.

6/3/2007 9:51:50 PM

I remember back in third grade the Hornets sponsored the "book and the bugs" reading competition in CMS, a program where classes would race to see who could read the most books and i dont know if a class won per school or if there was an over all winner but i know my class won and i remember getting tickets to a game personally given out by Alonzo and we got a poster of him which he signed. I even remember the article in the observer about it. It was great. The poster still hangs in my garage at home to this day. And he has that bad ass gold tooth in it too haha

6/4/2007 11:00:57 AM

wtf

http://thewolfweb.com/photos/00322319.jpg

6/4/2007 11:02:02 AM

^^ Ahaha I still have a poster hanging on my closet door at my parents' house from that. It has Larry Johnson and Hugo along with a bunch of kids going down the first drop on Thunder Road at Carowinds.

6/4/2007 11:09:49 AM

I dont remember Zo having a gold tooth. I know LJ did, but I didnt think Zo had one.

6/4/2007 11:43:14 AM

^

6/4/2007 12:37:53 PM