The Charlotte Bobcats-soon-to-be-Hornets announced Sunday the team will sport familiar hues - purple and teal - when the name returns home next season, but the new color scheme will be accented by secondary colors of black, cool gray and light blue.

The original Charlotte Hornets sported purple and teal during their tenure here from 1988 to 2002. The new/old colors chosen by the most unnecessary survey in history, in which locals were asked which colors the team should use.

"It was important to us to acknowledge the heritage of the Charlotte Hornets when bringing the name back to the market," said owner Michael Jordan in a statement. "The purple and teal color scheme was instantly recognizable as being associated with the original Hornets and we felt it was only appropriate to utilize the colors once again with this historic brand."

Read the full statement here.

Beating the Charlotte Bobcats-Hornets use to mean so little that teams would purposefully bench their starters in an attempt to keep them fresh for more important games. In media circles, they called it a "scheduled loss."
During Charlotte's quest for mediocrity, they stumbled headlong into the Era of Despair.

As Charlotte entered one of the toughest parts of the early-season schedule last week - games against perennial contenders and an upstart Suns team - fans learned a little about the Bobcats-Hornets. We exited the Era of Despair, despite our sub-.500 record.

In losses to Chicago (pre-Derrick Rose injury), Miami and Phoenix, fans learned that Charlotte could not beat good teams. In a blowout win over Milwaukee, we learned that bad teams could not compete with us. And, perhaps most importantly, in a win over Brooklyn, we learned that teams could not play without stars and still beat us.

Charlotte does not suck. We have entered the Era of Mediocrity.

My childhood household cheered for Boston sports. My grandfather raised my father on Ted Williams stories and my dad raised my sister and I on Larry Bird legends.

When Charlotte and Boston traded blowouts last year, I felt fine about it. The games were essentially meaningless. I had an affinity for my local sports team and an intense love for the Celtics, so seeing them split games late in the season suited me just fine. Charlotte had fallen apart and the Celtics older players had taken nights off prepping for the playoffs.

The biggest knock on the Bobcats-Hornets for the past few years centered on their lack of scoring. So much so, that Papa John's offers pizza at half the menu price any time the team scores 90 (!) points or more.

Drafting Cody Zeller and getting Al Jefferson in free agency showed that this organization wants to fix their biggest problem. With Jefferson missing the week's games after reaggravating an ankle injury, the assumption would be three low-scoring contests and at least two losses - both to the New York Knicks.

Before Friday's game, you could have taken up Papa's offer during two games, both of which the team won.

It would be easy to write about the players that dominated the Bobcats-Hornets last week. Anthony Davis deserves 300 words for his performance, CJ Miles looked like an MVP candidate for a game, and Dwight Howard looks good again. Even easier, I could attack Charlotte's start to the season as a recalculated version of last year's team's efforts.

Because really, last year's team played last week's games.

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The Charlotte Bobcats-Hornets had a dilemma this offseason. With a chance at a top pick in a stacked 2014 draft, they could have put together another historically bad season. They could have tanked, fixated on the ever-elusive "future." But they chose to get better.

The 2013 draft had a prime candidate for tanking fall directly into their laps. Nerlens Noel looked like the overall No. 1 pick until he tore his ACL during his lone college season. A seven-footer with great defensive skill but a rough offensive game, Noel slipped to the fourth spot in the draft and into Charlotte's laps.

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- In the ever-growing market of watching games on television at the stadium in which you paid to watch a game live, Time Warner Cable Arena has opened a beer garden. Featuring a set of tables and TVs, fans now have a chance to possibly watch other games rather than enjoy the Bobcats.

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Of course, the Bobcats could be winning at the time. The management made strides to be better than the last few teams.

No matter, now with the addition of craft beer, fans can ignore the team win or lose for a tidy (as of yet unfounded) $10 to $12 a beer.

Support mediocrity in style.

-Al Jefferson will be ready for the start of the season. No one really doubted that Jefferson would start game one after he scratched a good deal of the preseason with a right ankle sprain. Veterans often miss a lot of preseason games, even with new teams, so this news is no surprise.

-The roster, after Charlotte cut former top-10 pick Patrick O'Bryant, now stands at its maximum allotment.

Likely fans will say goodbye to Jeff Adrien, James Southerland or both before the season begins. Their unguaranteed contracts stand in the way of 10-day contracts and D-League prospects, since most teams don't carry a max roster for most of the season.

-More and more, people are talking about Cody Zeller as a good pick in a bad draft. Rufus on Fire notes how Zeller ranks second among rookies as voted by GMs. As my friend who came over for NBA Draft night might remind me, I hated the pick so much that I renounced basketball as my only God. Needless to say, my pilot light relit, I beckon Zeller's brilliance. I would even sacrifice the cat that keeps coming onto my porch to please Basketball enough to make Zeller a rookie of the year candidate.

-Oct. 30 marks the beginning of the season, a game against the Houston Rockets. The March Toward Mediocrity begins this week. Needless to say, excitement abounds. By then, this column will be in full swing,

On that note: HELLO EVERYONE MY NAME IS JEFF NICE TO MEET YOU ALL.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified the day the season starts and which team the Bobcats' will play. The season begins Oct. 30, against the Houston Rockets.