Lack of Effort + Ability to Quit = 58 point loss

I was going to sit on this. Let it rest for a couple days, but I couldn't. No, you see losing by 58 points in a basketball game is horrendous. But, for an NBA team to lose by 58 points, oh well that's a crime.

Let me put it this way what the Hornets put on tonight is worse than what your dog leaves in the grass in the morning.

Much worse.

Tonight the New Orleans Hornets at home, against the Denver Nuggets, trailing only 2-1 in the series, lost 121-63. The game is epic in all proportions, specifically on the quit-scale.

I'm sure there are some choice words from the Hornet fans for George Karl running up the score. That is understandable in some aspects, but I really do not think Karl is the one at fault.

See if a team loses by 25 and the other team is still working to increase that lead, being angry at the opposing coach can be more understandable, but not for 58 points. The main thing is in order to get to the land of being down by 50+ points that team has to do something remarkable, absolutely unprecedented, they have to quit.

And folks the New Orleans Hornets quit. No team loses by 58 without quitting and there is nothing more disheartening, more gut-wrenching than to see the team you root for throw in the towel. I can't point fingers at specific people, but I'm sure those guys know who they are, and frankly I think I'll be mentally disturbed for the rest of my life.

You never forget the day your team quits. No, quitting is not when your team lets up when down by seven with 15 seconds left. That's just facing the reality that you lost.

This is different. Far different.

The last time I can think of a team quitting on me was the New Orleans Saints, and I am not talking about the 52-3 loss they had at Lambeau Field in 2005. (Frankly, I think the events of Hurricane Katrina played a role in that, but that's another story.)

The day the Saints quit on me was January 6, 2002. The Saints were 7-8 going into the final game of the season against the 12-3 San Francisco 49ers. Sure, the previous two weeks the Saints had lost by a combined score of 88-31, but that was nothing compared to this.

In a lackluster effort the Saints got shutout 38-0. The pinnacle of loneliness with your team is when you see them quit. I saw that with the Saints in 2002 and I saw it with the Hornets tonight.

It might be one loss, but it speaks volumes about the character of some of the guys on this team. And frankly, I don't like it.