I listened to Adele’s “Someone Like You†for a good two hours or so yesterday. It’s a pretty great song, and deserving of all of its commercial success. It’s sad, though; and (especially) after two hours of it, cripplingly so. I had no real sorrow to align the song to, but it was an invigorating experience nonetheless. You start allowing emotion to flow out of the limbic cortex, and soon it emerges like second skin. Moments of clarity follow, or at least that’s the plan.
It’s not that I would recommend this emotional exercise to New Orleans right at this instant, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep a burned copy of the song nearby.
Chris Paul is leaving, has left, is gone, and isn’t coming back. Very soon, the Hornets will start on their road to recovery that will involve the unenviable task of being terrible for 66 games. It’s not the best deal for the fans watching live, but it’s the speediest method of recuperation. The Hornets will find a face for this franchise soon enough, if they haven’t already found it in Eric Gordon. Their two Top-10 lottery picks for 2012 — one of the deepest and most talented drafts in the last decade — will help with that. It’ll be a rough season, though that isn’t exclusive to just the Hornets. Watching a team plummet after giving the then-defending champion Lakers a rough first round series will be difficult. No one on their roster will be able to come close the magic Paul seemed to carry in droves. Someone of that caliber will require some waiting. And the city will have to be patient. But for the prideful community of New Orleans, rallying around their newfound youth shouldn’t be difficult. They’ll find solace there for now.
Chris Paul wasn’t the Hornets’ first love. He won’t be their last. In the whirlwind of trade rumors and conflicting reports in the past week, it’s easy to lose perspective. Maybe all it takes is a little cry from a little song that wraps the conflicting feelings all together. Adele starts the chorus unconvincingly. Her nevermind – a half-hearted attempt to rescind lingering feelings – is hardly given time to register. But the song (and Dell Demps’ work in getting the trade together) isn’t about erasing the past. Chris Paul, for the past six years, has done everything he could for the team and the city. Now, it’s about accepting the situation, and hoping for the best. The road to recovery begins with acceptance, with moments of clarity. Chris Paul no longer plays for the Hornets. That, we know for sure. New Orleans will have 66 games to let all it sink in.
