View full size photo »

Forgot to mention this in the recap of the Grizz game, but it's worth mentioning in its own article, so perhaps that was for the better.

The team runs this little timeout program/gimmick/fan contest thing during timeouts periodically where CP3 gives his top 3 somethings, and a fan has to arrange them in order (from 1 to 3) in order to win a prize. It's dumb, but it also beats the hell out of most of the fan contests.

Anyway, so the Grizz game featured CP's top 3 places in New Orleans. The 3 that made the cut? The New Orleans Arena, Harrah's, and his condo. The correct order? Witness:

1. Harrah's
2. His condo
3. The arena

So, in case you missed that, CP enjoys hitting the high stakes rooms at a casino moreso than simply lounging around his pad. Oh, and both of those options are preferable to being at the arena playing this "basketball" thing. Let that sink in.

Rant after the jump.

Ok, what?!

Seriously, Hornets. What gives? Who okayed this?

I know we have to pay tribute to sponsors and all, but shouldn't we at least sort of try to maintain the illusion that our star player—the guy who saved basketball in this city—would prefer to be shooting hoops than say, gambling or... well, nothing at all? I mean, even if that is the order he would have arranged them (and now that he's riding out an injury, it really might be), shouldn't someone in the Hornet's organization have piped up immediately, realizing how ridiculous (and insulting) this would appear to the fan base, to say nothing of promoting gambling in such an unabashed way. Perhaps next week we'll find out that one of his top 3 hobbies is "getting crunked on Bacardi," which will barely edge out bowling and playing video games against LeBron.

Clearly the order should have been "Number 1: The arena" and then whatever else. It's not like Harrah's had to be first on the list to sell the fact that they are clearly giving the organization a sizeable sponsorship. In fact, with all this city has to offer, it's still a pretty big statement that CP ranks it that high to begin with (though he probably could give a flip about Harrah's).

Perhaps I'm simply blowing hot air (after all, I haven't heard any backlash yet), but I just can't abide that the Hornet's organization would allow for their bread-winner to ostensibly announce that basketball isn't as much fun as craps or blackjack. I might have been ok with this if CP promised a percentage of his winnings to season ticket holders (you know, the people that pay a substantial portion of his paycheck), but I doubt I'll be getting any kickbacks.

Ok, I feel better now.