Hometown Heroes

I'm really proud of two of my old high school classmates who still live in New Orleans, Cory Morton and Hal Braden. Not only did they get inSports Illustrated recently--they did so for a good cause. Here's the story: These guys are big basketball fans, and have season's tickets to see the New Orleans Hornets play. Only, lately the Hornets haven't been playing in New Orleans because of Katrina. Instead, the team has been playing in Oklahoma City. So, my two buddies, presumably because they're season tickets holders (and big movers and shakers to boot), got to attend a private cocktail party in Houston for the Hornets. In a speech delivered at that event, they claim, Hornets owner George Shinn basically hinted that he was ready to abandon New Orleans and move the Hornets to Oklahoma City. More specifically, according to Morton and Braden, Shinn even went so far as ...