How to Be a Red Bulls Fan In Carolina -- 2022 Edition

On May 25, at home at Red Bull Arena, the New York Red Bulls played MLS expansion team Charlotte Football Club in the U.S. Open Cup, and won, 3-1. It was the 1st-ever meeting between the teams.

This coming Saturday, June 11, the 1st league game between the teams will be held, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Before You Go. Being in the South, it's going to be warmer in Charlotte than in New York. In this case, hot. Check the website of the The Charlotte Observer, the Carolinas' largest newspaper, after you order your tickets. They're predicting the mid-80s in the afternoon, and the mid-60s at night. Remember to stay hydrated.

Unfortunately, "staying hydrated" does not count getting rained on. "Scattered thunderstorms" are predicted, including for the hours of 3 to 5 in the afternoon, when the game would be played. And the stadium doesn't exactly have much protection from the rain. This matchup is in that tricky range of "Too far to drive, too close to fly." If you're a completist, and need to see your favorite team play every other team in the league, maybe you should wait until next season for this one.

Charlotte is in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fiddle with your timepieces. It is in North Carolina, a former Confederate State, but you won't need your passport or to change your money.

Tickets. This is an expansion team, so attendance figures are meaningless. Fortunately, it's an MLS team, and an entire section is set aside for visiting fans. In this case, it's Section 254, in the northwest corner. Tickets are a whopping $61.

Getting There. It's 634 miles from Times Square in New York to downtown Charlotte, and 618 miles from Red Bull Arena to Bank of America Stadium. It's in that tricky range: A bit too close to fly, a bit too far to go any other way.

If you're going to drive, take the New Jersey Turnpike/I-95 all the way from New Jersey to Petersburg, Virginia. Exit 51 will put you on I-85 South, and that will take you right into Charlotte.

You'll be in New Jersey for about an hour and a half, Delaware for 20 minutes, Maryland for 2 hours, inside the Capital Beltway (Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia) for half an hour if you're lucky (and don't make a rest stop anywhere near D.C.), Virginia for 3 hours, and North Carolina for 4 hours. Throw in traffic at each end, rest stops, preferably in Delaware, near Richmond and near Raleigh, and it'll be close to 14 hours.

Greyhound has 7 buses a day leaving from Port Authority to Charlotte, but only 2 of them are no-changeover routes. It costs as much as $294 round-trip, though it can be as low as $178 on advanced purchase. The station is at 601 W. Trade Street, 9 blocks west of the arena.

Amtrak's New York-to-New Orleans train, the Crescent, is suspended for the time being. That leaves as their only other option the Carolinian, which leaves New York at 7:17 AM and arrives at 8:56 PM, which means you'd have to leave early Friday morning and arrive on Friday night. And it's not available this coming Sunday, so even if you were willing to spend 2 nights in a hotel, you couldn't take the train this time. Like I said: Maybe it's best to wait until next year.

Perhaps the best way to get from New York to Charlotte is by plane. After all, lots of routes change planes at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (named for Ben E. Douglas Sr., the 1st directly-elected Mayor). A round-trip fare can be had for $731, but it might not be nonstop: You could have to change at Dulles in the D.C. suburbs. The airport is 8 miles west of downtown, and the Number 5 bus can get you downtown in about 25 minutes.

Once In the City. Although both North Carolina and South Carolina were named for the King of England at the time of their initial settlements, King Charles I, Charlotte was named for a Queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg, the wife of King George III. For this reason, the city is known as the Queen City of the Southeast. (Buffalo is the Queen City of the Great Lakes, Cincinnati is the Queen City of the Midwest, and Seattle the Queen City of the Northwest.)

Founded in 1755, Charlotte is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, with a city population of about 875,000, making it the largest city in the Carolinas and the 5th-largest city in the South (the 2nd-largest behind Jacksonville if you don't count Texas), and a metropolitan area population of about 2.6 million, ranking it 23rd among the 30 MLS markets.

It is known as the Mint City, because it was the home the earliest "branch mint" in the country, making gold coins for the United States from 1837 to 1873. That wasn't a long time, and it's even less when you consider that, from 1861 to 1865, they were making gold coins for the Confederate States of America. Today, when we think of cities with mints, we think of Philadelphia and Denver, and maybe San Francisco. Nevertheless, Charlotte FC have embraced the "Mint City" name, saying they were "Minted in 2022," although their uniforms are "process blue" rather than the color known as mint green.

The city is about 45 percent white, 35 percent black, 13 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian, and 1 percent Native American. This is a big shift from 1970, when it was 69 percent white and 30 percent black. The suburbs and the south side of the city are mostly white, the north and west sides of the city mostly black, and the east side mixed.

The street grid isn't north-south-east-west, at least not geographically. Rather, it's on a diagonal. However, Trade Street separates street addresses from north and south, and Tryon Street separates them from east and west. Their centerpoint intersection is sometimes known as "Trade & Tryon," "Independence Square" or just "The Square." Interstate 485 serves as a beltway.

The Charlotte Area Transportation System (CATS) runs buses, the LYNX Blue Line light rail system, and the CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar service. The fare is $2.20.

LYNX Blue Line

The sales tax in North Carolina is 4.75 percent, but it rises to 7.25 percent in Charlotte. ZIP Codes for Charlotte start with the digits 280, 281 and 282. The Area Code is 704, overlaid with 980. Charlotte Utilities runs the electricity for Mecklenburg County. The Charlotte Observer is the city's daily newspaper.

In spite of Dean Smith's activism, and the apparent racial harmony on the Tar Heel and Blue Devil teams, the State of North Carolina is still Southern, and a former Confederate State, and has had its racial issues.

In 1870, 5 years after the war, the Ku Klux Klan used murder and intimidation to prevent recently freed slaves from exercising their right to vote, newly granted by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. Governor William Holden (no relation to the later actor of the same name) assigned Colonel George Washington Kirk, who went from Union Army to Confederate Army and back to the Union, to handle things imposing martial law in Caswell and Alamance Counties, in the north-central part of the State, on the Virginia line. This became known as the Kirk-Holden War. The Wilmington Insurrection was carried out on November 10, 1898, white supremacists burning down the office of a newspaper, The Daily Record.

The Battle of Hayes Pond took place near Maxton on January 18, 1958, when KKK members tried to attack members of the Lumbee tribe of Native Americans, and got their asses kicked. On February 1, 1960, the Greensboro Sit-In began when black students at North Carolina A&T sat at the lunch counter at a Woolworth's, and refused to leave until they were served. The site of the store is now home to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. On June 6, 1963, a group of black patrons was refused service in Lexington, and they fought back. One died, and it was one of the few times in the era when it wasn't the whites who started it.

North Carolina is known for its beaches on "The Outer Banks," or "OBX." This includes Kill Devil Hill, with the Wright Brothers National Memorial, on roughly the location where Orville Wright, with brother Wilbur Wright watching, took off in Flyer I on December 17, 1903, marking the 1st heavier-than-air human flight. The Outer Banks are centered on Nags Head, about 360 miles east of downtown Charlotte.

Going In. The official address of Bank of America Stadium is 800 S. Mint Street, at Graham Street. The nearest stop on LYNX is Stonewall, 4 blocks away. Most likely, you'll be going in through the arena's north or east gates.

If you drive in, parking can be had for as little as $5.00. This being the South, tailgating is encouraged, with some suggestions. Many fans set up tents like at college games, which is what the Carolinas had to go on until 1995: UNC, Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest in the North; USC (only Carolinians use those initials for anything other than the Los Angeles school) and Clemson in the South. If you want to tailgate, reserve a spot online in advance.

The stadium opened in 1996, and was named Carolinas Stadium in the planning stage and Ericsson Stadium until 2004. The Panthers and the stadium were owned from their inception until 2017 by Jerry Richardson, a wide receiver on the Baltimore Colts' 1959 (but not 1958) NFL Championship team. He was thus only the 2nd former NFL player to be the controlling owner of an NFL team, the 1st being league and Chicago Bears founder George Halas.

Richardson had to sell the team, because he was one of the entitled rich white men who got exposed in a sexual harassment scandal -- not unlike the former owner of the neighboring Hornets, George Shinn. The new owner is David Tepper, a Pittsburgh native, a Miami hedge fund manager, and a former 5 percent stockholder in his hometown Steelers.

The field at Bank of America Stadium had always been natural grass until the 2021 season. It has been converted to FieldTurf, so that it can host both the Panthers and MLS expansion team Charlotte FC. The field is aligned east-to-west -- or, more precisely from a literal geographic standpoint, northwest-to-southeast.

The stadium, known as "BOA," "The Bank" or "The Vault," has hosted the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game since 2010, understandable given Charlotte's size and centralized location within the league. The city usually also hosts the ACC's basketball tournament. Since 2002, it has hosted the Belk Bowl, and in 2015, it added the Belk Kickoff Game.

Five times, East Carolina University has played home games there. The North Carolina-North Carolina State game was played there in 1998 and 1999, and North Carolina and South Carolina opened their 2015 seasons there. Number 5 Georgia just defeated Number 3 Clemson there.

Ordinarily, only the 38,000 seats in the lower bowl are opened for MLS matches. But for Charlotte FC's home opener on March 5, the entire stadium was opened, and a new single-game MLS attendance record was set, 74,479, breaking the record that Atlanta United set for the 2018 MLS Cup Final. Good: That stadium in Atlanta is hideous, especially their artificial turf. 

BOA hosted the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship in 1999 and 2000. It hosted 2 games of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2011, 2015 and 2019. It's hosted the national teams of Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Iceland, Martinique, and Trinidad and Tobago. It has hosted the U.S. women's team, in a 2-0 win over South Korea on October 3, 2019, but not, as yet, the U.S. men's team.

In club soccer, it's hosted Liverpool over AC Milan in 2014, Chelsea of London over Paris Saint-Germain in 2015, Bayern Munich over Internazionale Milano in 2016, Borussia Dortmund over Liverpool in 2018, and Arsenal of London over Fiorentina of Florence, Italy in 2019.

It's only hosted 5 concerts: The Rolling Stones in 1997; and Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw in 2012; and, earlier this year, Billy Joel, and Chesney again. But it's picking up as a concert venue: On June 28, it will host a bill with 1980s hard-rock stalwarts Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Joan Jett and Poison. Garth Brooks will play there in July, and September will see Red Hot Chili Peppers and the farewell tour of Elton John come in.

When the Democratic Convention was held in Charlotte in 2012, the Party was considering moving the acceptance speeches of President Obama and Vice President Biden outdoors to the stadium, as had been done in Denver in 2008 (and in Los Angeles in 1960, for John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson), but a rainy forecast put the kibosh on that, and so they stayed indoors at the Hornets' arena.

On September 12, 2017, Thrillist had an article ranking all 31 NFL stadiums. The Panthers' stadium ranked 24th, in the bottom quartile: 

The amenities and convenience at BoA are top-notch. HD video boards, ribbon boards, a brain-jostling sound system make the field a real show, while escalator bays, tons of Carolina barbecue, fantastic sight lines, and sturdy Wi-Fi make a day there plain ol' pleasant. You can see the action from anywhere in the stadium, with an open-air view further heightened by a skyline backdrop that lights up to coincide with the scoreboard. It's a refreshing reminder that you're still in the city center, with post-game options galore for 75,000 sore-throated fans. Just plan to arrive early if tailgating is on your schedule; the address puts parking lots at a premium. 

On November 4, 2020, MoneyWise published an article ranking the worst NFL stadiums. Bank of America Stadium was ranked 2nd -- 29th out of 30: "This stadium has fallen behind others as it approaches its 25th birthday. And as other NFL venues find new and unique amenities to appeal to every level of fan, Bank of America Stadium is missing modern features."

Food. This is the South, tailgate party country, and North Carolina is among the places in this country particularly known for good barbecue. And while the NBA's Hornets are a little vague on details of their concessions, the Panthers have apparently figured out that football fans care about food, and they've gone to the other extreme: Very, very detailed. So much so that I decided to just post the link. Enjoy. (Yes, lots of barbecue.)

Team History Displays. As was said, not that long ago, and truthfully at the time, of another CFC in blue, London's Chelsea, they ain't got no history. Except that isn't even true anymore: As I said, their home opener set a single-game MLS attendance record. So they can point to that with some pride.

Nevertheless, there are no on-field achievements to celebrate. There are 2 statues outside the stadium, but they are both of Panthers figures: Linebacker and assistant coach Sam Mills, and team executive Mike McCormack.

If the distance between Charlotte and Atlanta isn't enough to make Atlanta United the new team's biggest rival, breaking United's attendance record might. They've already played each other home and away in league play, with each team winning at home: Atlanta 2-1 on March 13, and Charlotte 1-0 on April 10.

Stuff. The Carolina Panthers Team Store is on the ground floor of the stadium, at the east corner at Mint & Graham Streets. It has the usual team-related doodads available, and this should extend to Charlotte FC as well.

As MLS' newest team, they don't have any books written about them, or team videos.

During the Game. Unless you're going to a basketball game between Duke University and the University of North Carolina -- especially at Duke -- North Carolina fans, in any sport, don't have a rough reputation. Your safety is unlikely to be an issue.

Charlotte FC will be holding a promotion on Saturday, Black Excellence Night. These days, MLS is doing a better job of reaching out to African-Americans than Major League Baseball is, which is good for American soccer, and good for both Carolinas, who have a higher percentage of black people among their citizens than most States do.

The team holds auditions for singing the National Anthem, rather than having a regular singer.

Their mascot is Sir Minty, a giant soccer ball playing on the royal theme with a crown and a royal robe.

There are 5 officially recognized supporters' groups, in the southeast end, at the Main Street end: Mint City Collective, Southbound and Crown (obviously, a takeoff on the Jerry Reed song "Eastbound and Down"), the Uptown Ultras, the Carolina Hooliganz, and the Latino group Blue Furia. They're one of several teams that have adapted Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough," and the "Olé, Olé, Olé" song.

After the Game. Charlotte is not notorious for having a crime problem. It's still a city, so you should be aware of the possibility. But, most likely, you will be safe, and if you drove in, so will your car.

There are several restaurants within a short walk of the stadium, but finding one with an obvious sports connection in the name might be hard. A Mellow Mushroom is at 255 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 4 blocks from the stadium, closer to the new minor-league ballpark. Lebowski's Neighborhood Grill was rated by Yelpers as Charlotte's best sports bar, but it's at 1524 East Blvd., over 2 miles from the stadium, and not reachable by the LYNX system. And I can't find a reference to any bar in the Charlotte area that is home to a local fan club for any New York team.

If your visit to Charlotte is during the European soccer season, as we are now in, your best bet to watch your club play is at Big Ben, the city's original "football pub," at 1535 Elizabeth Avenue, 2 miles south of downtown. LYNX to Elizabeth & Hawthorne.

Ri Ra, 208 N. Tryon Street, downtown. That's an Arsenal bar, so if you don't like Gooners, try another possibility. The Valhalla Pub & Eatery, at 317 S. Church St., 4 blocks from the Panthers' stadium and 6 blocks from the Hornets' arena. However, it's a Liverpool bar, so it's a question of how you feel about Scousers, real and pretended. As for the Other Scousers, Queen City Bites & Crafts, an Everton bar, is at 135 Brevard Court.

Courtyard Hooligans is at 140 Brevard Court, next to Queen City Bites. They also had an outlet at 1523 Elizabeth, a few doors down from Big Ben, but it's closed -- temporarily, they say.

Sidelights. On February 3, 2017, Thrillist made a list ranking the 30 NFL cities (New York and Los Angeles each having 2 teams), and Charlotte finished 28th, 3rd from the bottom. Charlotte's sports history, at least as far as the major league level is concerned, is not very long, having only gotten their 1st team that could remotely be considered major league 34 years ago (the original version of the NBA's Hornets).

* Spectrum Center. Built in 2005 as the home of the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, who have now reclaimed the Hornets name from the team that moved to New Orleans in 2002, this arena was known as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena until 2008, then the Time Warner Cable Arena until 2016, when Time Warner sold Time Warner Cable to Spectrum. This arena should not be confused with The Spectrum, the former Philadelphia arena.

It is 11 blocks from the stadium, at 333 E. Trade Street, at Brevard Street. CTC/Arena stop on LYNX. It hosted the 2012 Democratic Convention, and has been chosen as the site of the 2020 Republican Convention.

* American Legion Memorial Stadium. It doesn't look like much, just a concrete horseshoe seating 21,000 people. But this relic is the city's leading high school football stadium, and, in 1974 and '75, it was the home of the city's 1st pro football team, the World Football League version of the Charlotte Hornets.

Despite its age (it opened in 1936), it still hosts high school sports, and the Charlotte Hounds of Major League Lacrosse. 310 N. Kings Drive at Armory Drive. Number 27 bus from downtown.

* Bojangles' Coliseum. Previously known as the original Charlotte Coliseum, the Independence Arena and the Cricket Arena, this arena went up in 1955, and is now named after the Charlotte-based fast-food fried chicken franchise. When it opened, it had the world's largest dome, but it didn't hold that title for long.

This Coliseum was the home base of the Carolinas' 1st team that could have been called "major league": The Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association, from 1969 to 1974. At the time, none of the Carolinas' cities were large enough to support a team by itself so, management used several home courts, including this one, Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, and the Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum. This path would be followed by the ABA's Virginia Squires (Norfolk, Hampton, Richmond and Roanoke) and Texas Chaparrals (the forerunners of the San Antonio Spurs played in Dallas, Fort Worth and Lubbock).

In 1973, with Larry Brown in his 1st season as a head coach anywhere, the Cougars, led by Billy Cunningham, Joe Caldwell, Gene Littles, Roger Brown and Steve "Snapper" Jones, lost the ABA Finals to the Indiana Pacers. Despite some success on the court and at the box office -- both rare for ABA teams -- it was thought that a "regional franchise" could not succeed in the NBA, with whom merger talks were ongoing, so the team was moved to what was then a larger market, St. Louis. On occasion, the Hornets will wear Cougars "throwback" uniforms.

The Charlotte Checkers brought minor-league hockey there in 1956, left in 1977, returned in 1993, left for the larger new Bobcats Arena (Spectrum Center) in 2005, and in 2017 they returned, and are now the major tenant in the Carolinas' 1st major sports building. Elvis Presley sang there on June 26, 1956; April 13, 1972; March 9, 1974; March 20, 1976; and February 20 and 21, 1977. (The Beatles never performed in the Carolinas.)

2700 E. Independence Blvd. Number 27 bus to Chipley Avenue, then walk 3 blocks up Chipley.

* Site of Charlotte Coliseum. When "The Hive" (a nickname now transferred to the new arena) opened in 1988, it seated just under 23,000, making it the largest arena in the NBA. (The Detroit Pistons played many years at the Silverdome and the Seattle SuperSonics many home games at the Kingdome, but neither was meant to be a regular basketball facility.) And the Hornets filled it, getting 364 consecutive home sellouts -- just under 9 full seasons.

Founding owner George Shinn -- whose son Chris Shinn is lead singer of the rock band Live -- moved the team to New Orleans in 2002, because he thought he could no longer live in the Carolinas due to the local anger over his sex scandals, as fans stopped going to games, just to spite him. He ended up selling the team in 2010, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Hornets name wasn't given to the replacement team until after that.

He also owned the Charlotte Knights baseball team, and the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks of the short-lived World League of American Football. (Playing at N.C. State's stadium, they've been called the worst team in pro football history.) He also tried and failed to get an NHL expansion team for the Norfolk area in 1997.

The NCAA Final Four was held there in 1994, with Arkansas overcoming Duke's "home-court advantage." (The only other Final Four to be held in the Carolinas was in 1974, at the Greensboro Coliseum, and visiting Marquette wasn't so lucky, losing to North Carolina State.) The WNBA's Charlotte Sting played home games there, and it was used for the basketball-themed films Eddie, He Got Game and Juwanna Mann.

A new arena, downtown (as the Coliseum and the Coliseum before it most definitely were not), with better luxury boxes, was seen as a prerequisite for getting a replacement franchise, and so the Bobcats only played their 1st season there, 2004-05. Ironically, considering where the old Hornets ended up, the Coliseum's last major use was as a refugee center for people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina's near-destruction of New Orleans in 2005.

It was demolished in 2007 -- after only 19 years, a disgraceful waste, but Camden Yards really did change the game in 1992 when it came to stadium and arena construction -- and mixed-use development is currently under construction on the site.

100 Paul Buck Blvd. Number 501 bus to Tyvola Station, then transfer to Number 60 bus to N. Falls Drive, then walk up Tyvola Parkway and Yorkmont Road. The street leading to the arena site is still named Hive Drive.

* UNC-Charlotte. The Charlotte campus of the University of North Carolina plays at Jerry Richardson Stadium, named for the Panthers' founder. The Charlotte 49ers (when referring to the school, it's usually "UNC-Charlotte") didn't have a football team from 1949 to 2012, then started up again, and joined Conference USA in 2015.

Richardson Stadium, which opened with the 2013 restart of the football program, isn't much: It seats just 15,314, less than the Hornets' arena and only a little bit more than the Knights' ballpark. 8701 Phillips Road, just off Tryon Road/U.S. Route 29, 9 miles northeast of downtown. Light Rail route 501 to J.W. Clay Blvd. Station, then a 10-minute walk.

On November 19, 2018, Moneywise compiled a list of their Worst College Football Stadiums, the bottom 19 percent of college football, 25 out of 129. Richardson Stadium came in 16th. There is a plan to expand it to 25,000 seats, and even another stage which would raise it to 40,000 if it turns out to be necessary.

* Charlotte ballparks. The original Charlotte Hornets were a minor-league baseball team, on and off from 1892 to 1973. Prior to the building of their most familiar ballpark, they won Pennants in their various leagues in 1902, 1916, 1923, 1931 and 1938.

From 1937 to 1972, they were owned by the Griffith family as a farm team of the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise. In 1940, they opened a new ballpark, named Griffith Park after team owner Clark Griffith. When he died in 1955, his nephew Calvin Griffith inherited the franchise. He wasn't willing to stick his own name on the Senators' D.C. ballpark, but renamed the Charlotte facility Calvin Griffith Park. At this stadium, they won Tri-State League Pennants in 1946, 1947 and 1952; the South Atlantic League Pennant in 1957; and the Southern League Pennant in 1969 and 1971.

Founded in 1976 as a Class AA team, the Charlotte Knights have been a Class AAA team since 1993, and a Chicago White Sox farm team since 1990. They played at Griffith Park, renamed Jim Crockett Sr. Park, after the new owner, and won SL Pennants in 1980 and 1984, before the park burned down in 1985 -- due to arson, although not an insurance scam. George Shinn bought the team in 1987, and moved them after the 1989 season.

400 Magnolia Avenue, in the Dilworth section of the city, about 2 miles south of downtown. Number 10 bus to East Blvd., then a half-mile walk down South Blvd. and Magnolia.

Shinn built Knights Castle, later renamed Knights Stadium across the State Line, 16 miles south of downtown Charlotte. A stadium seating 10,002, it was intended to showcase the Charlotte area as a future site for a Major League Baseball team, either expansion or moved. And the Knights did do well there, getting as many as 15,427 fans for a 2007 game with the Durham Bulls. They won International League Pennants there in 1993 and 1999, and a Division title as recently as 2012.

In 1990, MLB chose Charlotte as 1 of the 10 semifinalists for the 2 new teams they wanted for the 1993 season. But, in spite of a decent ballpark by Triple-A standards and a growing fanbase, MLB did not choose Charlotte as 1 of the 6 finalists, also eliminating Nashville, Phoenix and Sacramento. In mid-1991, they rejected Buffalo, Orlando, Tampa Bay and Washington, and chose Denver and Miami. Charlotte did not even submit an application in 1994 for the 1998 expansion that went to Phoenix and Tampa Bay.

Knights Castle closed after the 2013 season, and was demolished in 2015. 2280 Deerfield Drive, Fort Mill, South Carolina. Not reachable by public transportation, unless you want to take a train to a bus and then walk 4 miles from the closest bus stop.

BB&T Ballpark (named for a bank) opened in 2014. It was renamed Truist Field in 2020, after Truist bought out BB&T. It seats 10,200, slightly more than Knights Castle, and has a nice view of downtown Charlotte, which is actually called Uptown. However, there is no room to expand it to 35,000 or more seats, as a major league ballpark would need, so, despite the inabilities of the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics to get new ballparks thus far, the new Uptown Charlotte ballpark pretty much eliminates the Carolinas from future contention, unless MLB expands again in the next few years. 324 South Mint Street at W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 2 blocks north of the Panthers' stadium.

According to an April 23, 2014 article in The New York Times, the Yankees are actually the most popular MLB team in Charlotte, a little bit ahead of the Atlanta Braves, the closest team at 246 miles away. (The Washington Nationals are the next-closest, 402 miles.) The closest NHL team is the Carolina Hurricanes, 160 miles away.

Population is also an issue for Metrolina getting an ML team anytime soon: It would rank 29th among MLB markets. And, unless the 'Canes want to become a "regional team," as was experimented with in pro basketball in the 1970s and '80s (most recently with the Boston Celtics in Hartford in 1995), Charlotte won't get an NHL team either, as they'd rank 23rd -- although that's 3 places ahead of where Raleigh is now. Combining the 2 markets would jump it to 16th, but the logistics of alternating between Charlotte and Raleigh would make the move too risky.

The U.S. national soccer team has never played a game in Charlotte. There have been 7 such games played in North Carolina: 3 in High Point, 2 in Cary, and 1 each in Greensboro and Davidson. The U.S. women's team played at Bank of America Stadium on October 3, 2019, defeating South Korea, 2-0.

In 2017, the Western New York Flash of the National Women's Soccer League moved, and became the North Carolina Courage. They NWSL Championship in 2018 and 2019. WakeMed Soccer Park, 201 Soccer Park Drive in Cary, 8 miles west of downtown Raleigh. Bus 300.

Auto racing is not a sport. But, if you think it is, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is at Brevard & Stonewall Streets. Stonewall station on LYNX.

Charlotte has the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a "mid-major" college basketball team, but in terms of college football, here's the distances to the closest Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly "Division I-A") teams: Wake Forest 82 miles, South Carolina 99, Clemson 139, University of North Carolina 140, Duke 141, North Carolina State 160, Virginia Tech 173, University of Tennessee 231, and East Carolina 247. (Wake Forest's Wait Chapel hosted Presidential Debates in 1988, between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, and in 2000, between George W. Bush and Al Gore.)

North Carolina A&T, in Greensboro, about 92 miles northeast of Charlotte and 76 miles west of Raleigh, has won "the National Championship of black college football" 6 times: 1951, 1968, 1990, 1999, 2015 and 2017. Winston-Salem State University, in the city of the same name, 75 miles northeast of Charlotte and 104 miles west of Raleigh, has won it 4 times, all recently: 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016. North Carolina Central, in Durham, has won it 3 times: 1954, 2005 and 2006.

Fayetteville State University, in the city of the same name, 136 miles east of Charlotte and 57 miles south of Raleigh, won it in 2002, although they compete in NCAA Division II. And Shaw University, in Raleigh, won it in 1947, and also now competes in Division II.

In addition to the old Charlotte Coliseum in 1956, Elvis Presley sang in Charlotte earlier in the year, doing (believe it) 4 shows at the Carolina Theater on February 10, 1956: 2:30, 4:30, 7:00 and 9:00. 224 N. Tryon Street, downtown.

In addition to Charlotte -- Raleigh, which I've covered in my guide for the Hurricanes -- Elvis sang at the following North Carolina locations: In New Bern, at the Shrine Auditorium in New Bern on May 14 and September 13, 1955; in Asheville, at the City Auditorium on May 17 and September 16, 1955, and at the Asheville Civic Center on July 22, 23 and 24, 1975; in Thomasville at the High School Auditorium on September 17, 1955; in Wilson at Fleming Stadium on September 14, 1955, and 3 shows at the Charles L. Coon Auditorium on February 14, 1956; in Greensboro, 4 shows in 1 day at the National Theater on February 6, 1956, and at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 14, 1972; March 13, 1974; July 21, 1975; June 30, 1976; and April 21, 1977; in High Point, 4 shows in 1 day at the Convention Center on February 7, 1956; in Williams, at the High School Auditorium on February 15, 1956; in Winston-Salem, 3 shows in 1 day at the Carolina Theater on February 16, 1956; in Lexington, at the YMCA Gym on March 21, 1956; and in Fayetteville, at the Cumberland County Memorial Arena in Fayetteville on August 3, 4 and 5, 1976.

If you're paying attention, you saw that he did 4 shows in 1 day on February 6, 7, 8 and 10, 1956. That's 16 shows in a span of 5 days. He was 21. It was easier to do that than to do 2 in 1 day when he was packing on the pounds in his early 40s in 1975, '76 and '77.

Charlotte features some downtown museums. The Levine Museum of the New South is about Southern life since the American Civil War, and it doesn't shy away from racial issues. 200 E. 7th Street at College Street. Discovery Place, a child-oriented science museum, is 2 blocks away at 301 N. Tryon Street at 6th Street.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is at 420 S. Tryon Street at 1st Street. The Mint Museum Uptown is not, as its name might suggest, a museum dedicated to money. Rather, it's a former mint converted into an art museum. 500 S. Tryon Street, across 1st Street from the Bechtler Museum.

Bank of America Corporate Center, at 871 feet, is not only the tallest building in town and the tallest in the Carolinas, but the tallest building between Philadelphia and Atlanta. 100 N. Tryon Street at 5th Street.

Charlotte has never produced a President. The Carolinas have produced 3. No one is precisely sure where Andrew Jackson was born -- not even whether it happened in North or South Carolina, only that it was in the Waxhaw region along the State Line. He was the 1st President born in a log cabin, but that cabin is long-gone. Andrew Jackson State Park, at 196 Andrew Jackson Park Road in Lancaster, South Carolina, is considered the likeliest place. It's about 33 miles south of Charlotte, and not reachable by public transportation.

James K. Polk State Historical Site is in Pineville, which, like Charlotte, is in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It's about 12 miles south, at 12031 Lancaster Highway. It's easier to reach without a car: The Number 20 bus can get you to within half a mile.

Andrew Johnson was born in the State capital of Raleigh, 167 miles to the northeast. His birthplace was a log cabin (which didn't help him as much as it helped Jackson, or Johnson's immediate predecessor, Abraham Lincoln) on the grounds of Casso's Inn, where his father worked, at Morgan Street and Fayetteville Street, across from the State House. It was moved to Mordecai Historic Park at 1 Mimosa Street, a mile north of downtown. Number 1 Bus.

All 3 Carolina-born Presidents have their main historical sites in Tennessee: Polk is buried on the State House grounds in Nashville; Jackson's home, The Hermitage, is in the Nashville suburbs; and Johnson's Museum is in Greeneville.

Yankee Legend Jim "Catfish" Hunter was from Hertford, North Carolina, 315 miles east of Charlotte, in the coastal Inner Banks region, and is buried in Cedarwood Cemetery there, on Hyde Park Road. Another major baseball legend, though not a New York one, Willie Stargell, is buried at Oleander Memorial Gardens, at 306 Bradley Drive, in Wilmington, 206 miles east of Charlotte. (Wilmington is also the hometown of Michael Jordan and TV journalist David Brinkley.) And, considerably closer to Charlotte, about 25 miles north, football legend Reggie White is buried at Glenwood Memorial Park in Mooresville.

A few TV shows have been filmed in North Carolina, most notably Dawson's Creek in Wilmington, but set in the fictional Capeside, Massachusetts. The Andy Griffith Show, of course, was set in the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry and based on Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy. One Tree Hill was set in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina. But both were filmed in Southern California.

Shows set in Charlotte are few and far between. Recently, The Carmichael Show, based on the standup comedy of Jerrod Carmichael, aired on NBC. Homeland has had scenes shot in Charlotte. Scenes from the Hunger Games films, whose "District 12" includes the Carolinas, have been shot in Charlotte.

*

Charlotte had no major league sports teams as recently as the Summer of 1988. By the Fall of 1996, it had the NBA and the NFL, and now they have MLS. MLB in the future is not yet out of the question.

It's true that North Carolina prefers college basketball over all sports. But a Red Bulls vs. Charlotte FC game could be a fun experience.

How to Be a Devils Fan In Carolina -- 2022 Edition

The New Jersey Devils travel to play the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh this coming Saturday night. The 'Canes have given the Devils fits over the years, including in the Playoffs.

They didn't seem to do so from 1982 to 1997, when they were known as the Hartford Whalers. (They were the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association from 1972 to 1979, then were brought into the NHL and changed their name to the Hartford Whalers.) But as the 'Canes, yikes. That loss at home in Game 7 of the 1st Round in 2009, going from 3-2 up with 1:20 to go to losing 4-3, still sticks in my craw.

Needless to say, I don't like the Hurricanes. And hockey doesn't belong in the South, anyway. Y'all go back to Hartford, y'hear?

Before You Go. Being in the South, it's going to be warmer in Raleigh than in Newark. But, this being November, it won't be hot. For next Saturday, the Raleigh News & Observer is predicting high 30s for daylight, but dropping to the low 20s for night. And rain for Friday, the day before. But no rain for Saturday or Sunday.

Raleigh is in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fiddle with your timepieces. It is in North Carolina, a former Confederate State, but you won't need your passport or to change your money.

Tickets. The Hurricanes averaged 16,595 fans per game in 2019-20, before COVID shut everything down. That's less than 89 percent of capacity, and that's a big improvement over most seasons in Carolina. So tickets shouldn't be very hard to come by.

Tickets in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $155 between the goals and $125 behind them. In the upper level, the 300 sections, they're $62 between and $48 behind.

Getting There. It's 510 miles from the Prudential Center in Newark to the PNC Arena in Raleigh. It's in that tricky range: A bit too close to fly, a bit too far to go any other way.

If you're going to drive, take the New Jersey Turnpike/Interstate 95 South all the way from New Jersey to Petersburg, Virginia. There, Interstate 85 will split off. Take that South to Exit 178. Take U.S. Route 70 South to Interstate 40 East, and Exit 289 will put you on Wade Avenue. Edwards Mill Road will be about half a mile ahead, and turn right for the arena.

You'll be in New Jersey for about an hour and a half, Delaware for 20 minutes, Maryland for 2 hours, inside the Capital Beltway (Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia) for half an hour if you're lucky (and don't make a rest stop anywhere near D.C.), Virginia for 3 hours, and North Carolina for an hour and a half. Throw in traffic at each end, rest stops, preferably in Delaware, near Richmond and near Raleigh, and it'll be close to 12 hours.

Greyhound has 9 buses a day leaving from Port Authority to Raleigh, but only 3 of them are no-changeover routes. It costs as much as $299 round-trip (though it can be as low as $166 on advanced purchase). The trip takes 13 hours, including a long layover to change buses in Richmond. The station is at 2210 Capital Blvd., 3 miles northeast of downtown. Take the Number 1 or 3 bus in.

Amtrak's Carolinian leaves Newark's Penn Station at 7:39 AM, and arrives at Union Station in Raleigh at 5:22 PM, ordinarily giving you enough time to get to a hotel and then to the game the same night. On Sunday morning, it leaves Raleigh at 10:13 and arrives back in Newark at 8:12 PM. Round-trip fare is $216. The station is at Cabarrus and West Streets, 8 blocks southwest of the State House. Take the Number 11 bus in.

Perhaps the best way to get from New York to Raleigh is by plane. If you fly United Airlines out of Newark, and you order your ticket online at this writing, you could get a nonstop round-trip flight for $311 -- but only if you fly down Friday night, and spend 2 nights in a hotel. You can still get a flight for under $500 if you fly down Saturday afternoon, but it won't be nonstop: You'll have to change planes at Washington Dulles, for a flight that would be less than 2 hours nonstop.

Once In the City. Both North Carolina and South Carolina were named for the King of England at the time of their initial settlements, King Charles I. Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, the English soldier who led the early English colonization of the Atlantic Coast (Virginia and the Carolinas).

Founded in 1792, Raleigh is home to about 475,000 people, making it the 2nd-largest city in the State, behind Charlotte. The Raleigh-Durham area, known as the Triangle (or the "Research Triangle," to give it a tech-savvy nickname to suggest it's an East Coast version of the Silicon Valley) is home to a about 2.2 million people. This ranks it 26th among NHL markets, and would rank it 27th in the NBA, and 29th in both MLB and the NFL. Don't expect it to ever get a team in the other markets, though.

The State House is the divider for addresses. The north-south divider is New Bern Avenue east of the State House, and Hillsborough Street west of it. The east-west divider is Halifax Street north of the State House, and Fayetteville Street south of it.

The State House

Capital Area Transit runs buses around Raleigh. The fare is $2.25. GoTriangle serves the Triangle region: Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. There is a light rail system being planned for the area, but it won't open before 2026.

The sales tax in North Carolina is 4.75 percent, but it rises to 6.75 percent in Raleigh. The sales tax in North Carolina is 4.75 percent, but it rises to 6.75 percent in Raleigh. ZIP Codes for Raleigh and Chapel Hill start with the digits 275 and 276; and for Durham, 277. The Area Code for the area is 919, overlaid by 984. Interstate 540 is an incomplete beltway for the area. Progress Energy runs the local electricity.

The Raleigh-Durham area is about 70 percent white, 22 percent black, 5 percent Hispanic and 3 percent Asian. Durham County (including Durham), however, has about twice as many black people as Wake County (including Raleigh), and about 3 times as many as Orange County (including Chapel Hill).

In spite of Dean Smith's activism, and the apparent racial harmony on the Tar Heel and Blue Devil teams, the State of North Carolina is still Southern, and a former Confederate State, and has had its racial issues.

In 1870, 5 years after the war, the Ku Klux Klan used murder and intimidation to prevent recently freed slaves from exercising their right to vote, newly granted by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. Governor William Holden (no relation to the later actor of the same name) assigned Colonel George Washington Kirk, who went from Union Army to Confederate Army and back to the Union, to handle things imposing martial law in Caswell and Alamance Counties, in the north-central part of the State, on the Virginia line. This became known as the Kirk-Holden War. The Wilmington Insurrection was carried out on November 10, 1898, white supremacists burning down the office of a newspaper, The Daily Record.

The Battle of Hayes Pond took place near Maxton on January 18, 1958, when KKK members tried to attack members of the Lumbee tribe of Native Americans, and got their asses kicked. On February 1, 1960, the Greensboro Sit-In began when black students at North Carolina A&T sat at the lunch counter at a Woolworth's, and refused to leave until they were served. The site of the store is now home to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. On June 6, 1963, a group of black patrons was refused service in Lexington, and they fought back. One died, and it was one of the few times in the era when it wasn't the whites who started it.

North Carolina is known for its beaches on "The Outer Banks," or "OBX." This includes Kill Devil Hill, with the Wright Brothers National Memorial, on roughly the location where Orville Wright, with brother Wilbur Wright watching, took off in Flyer I on December 17, 1903, marking the 1st heavier-than-air human flight. The Outer Banks are centered on Nags Head, about 193 miles east of the State House in Raleigh, and 199 miles east of the Hurricanes' arena.

Going In. The official address of the PNC Arena is 1400 Edwards Mill Road, at E. Stephen Stroud Way, about 5 miles west of downtown Raleigh. Stroud Way separates it from Carter-Finley Stadium, home field of the football team at North Carolina State University. N.C. State also uses PNC Arena as its basketball home, succeeding the Reynolds Coliseum, where it won National Championships in 1974 and 1983.

Parking is $15. If you're using public transportation, use Bus 100. That will get you to Blue Ridge Road at the State Fairgrounds, but then you'll have to make a left on Trinity Road to the stadium and the arena.

The arena opened in 1999 as the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena, and was named the RBC Center from 2002 to 2012. The name was changed when PNC bought the U.S. division of the Royal Bank of Canada.

The rink is aligned northwest-to-southeast. The Hurricanes attack twice at the southeast end, the sections with 2 and 3 as the middle digit.

Food. This is the South, tailgate party country, and North Carolina is among the places in this country particularly known for good barbecue. Tailgating is usually not done before NHL games, but there are enough options to satisfy all but the most discriminating foodie.

A bar called The Locker Room is at Section 110. Pub 300 is at, no, not Section 300, but Section 312. North Carolina BBQ Company is at 104, 115, 123, 130, 306 and 326; The Carvery sandwiches and chips (potato chips, not what the British call thick-cut fries) at 104 and 123; Metro Deli at 104 and 326; Sausage Stop at 105, 120 and 304; Rituals Coffee Company at 105 and 120; Dos Bandidos pseudo-Mexican food at 112; South Street Cheese Steaks ("cheesesteak" is one word, guys) at 123 and 324; Fire It Up! Grill Stands (burgers, chicken, fries, onion rings, corn dogs) at 130 and 301;

For dessert, there's Nutty Bavarian at 101, 116 and 316; Gourmet Pretzels (as if there is such a thing) at 103, 118 and 304; Breyers Ice Cream at 105, 110, 126, 309 and 329; Dippin' Dots at 105, 110, 120, 306 and 326; Sinfully Sinnamon at 110, 128 and 304; Twisted Waffle at 116 and 322; Poppin' Plants popcorn and cotton candy at 118, 124, 130 and 324.

Team History Displays. Despite having been around for only 24 seasons (23 if you don't count the canceled 2004-05), the 'Canes do have some history, which they display with banners for their 2006 Stanley Cup; their 2002 and 2006 Eastern Conference titles; and their 1999, 2002, 2006 and 2021 Division Championships.

The name banners are not in place of retired numbers.

They represent Olympians on their team.

Their retired number history is complicated. When the Whalers moved to Carolina to begin the 1997-98 season, the previously retired Number 2 for Rick Ley (defenseman, 1972-1981) and Number 19 for John McKenzie (right wing, 1977-79) were returned to circulation. The Hurricanes have never issued Number 9, which Gordie Howe wore with the Whalers (right wing, 1977-80), and consider it unofficially retired, as there is no banner to recognize it.

Number 2 has now been retired anyway, for defenseman Glen Wesley (1994-2008, 1997-2008 in Carolina). Number 10 is retired for Ron Francis (center, 1981-91 in Hartford, 1998-2004 in Carolina). Number 17 is retired for Rod Brind'Amour (center, 2000-10).

Steve Chiasson (defenseman, 1996-99, 1997-99 in Carolina) was killed in a car crash in 1999. The 'Canes have not reissued his Number 3. But they can't officially retire it, because he was driving drunk.

Josef Vasicek (forward, 2000-06, a member of their Cup team) was killed in one of the worst sports-related disasters in world history, the 2011 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crash, carrying an entire Russian hockey team; 44 died, everyone on board except 1 member of the crew. Vasicek's Number 63 is withheld from circulation, but not officially retired, which is strange, because, A, there's no criminal reason why they can't; and, B, 63 isn't a very common number anyway.

Several Whalers were named to the WHA's All-Time Team: Gordie, Mark and Marty Howe; Rick Ley, John McKenzie, Dave Keon, Al Smith, Andre Lacroix, Ron Plumb, Ted Green and Tom Webster.

The only Hurricane players in the Hockey Hall of Fame are Francis, Paul Coffey (who spent a year and a half with the team toward the end of his career) and Mark Recchi (at the end of the 2006 season, helping them win the Cup).

Jim Rutherford, general manager from 1994 to 2014 (including the movie), was elected in the Builders category. Chuck Kaiton, the voice of the franchise from its entrance into the NHL in 1979 until his "retirement" (they wanted him to take an 80 percent pay cut) in 2018, is a winner of the Foster Hewitt Award, tantamount to election for broadcasters. He joins fellow Whalers Gordie and Mark Howe (but not Marty), Keon and Hull.

Despite the achievements that Ron Francis and Rod Brind'Amour had already had, and would add, when The Hockey News named its 100 Greatest Players in 1998, Gordie Howe was the only player they selected who had played for the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise, unless you count the sad last few games of Bobby Hull. (Not even Keon was named.) Gordie, Keon and Ron Francis were named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players in 2017.

Mark Johnson and Rob McClanahan, members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team, played for the franchise when it was still the Whalers. No members of the Team Canada that beat the Soviets in the 1972 Summit Series did so.

One of the streets in the parking lot of the arena is named Peter Karmanos Jr. Drive for the team's owner.

Gordie and Mark Howe, former head coaches Larry Pleau and Paul Holmgren, former scout Bob Crocker, and Karmanos have been given the Lester Patrick Trophy, for contributions to hockey in America. But only Karmanos got it for what he did in Carolina; the rest, in Hartford.

The Arena also holds banners for the N.C. State basketball team: Their 1974 and 1983 National Championships, their 1950, 1974 and 1983 Final Four berths, their 13 regular-season conference titles, and their 17 conference tournament wins. They also have 24 "honored numbers," including 1983 heroes Dereck Whittenburg (25), Sidney Lowe (35), Thurl Bailey (41) and Lorenzo Charles (43); but only 1974 hero David "Skywalker" Thompson's Number 44 is actually retired.

Stuff. Official Carolina Hurricanes merchandise is available at multiple The Eye store locations throughout the PNC Arena. For non-event hours, The Eye is located on the south end of the building, across from Carter Finley Stadium, and is accessible through an exterior entrance. 

Hockey is not exactly a glamour sport in the South. In North Carolina in particular, it trails basketball, football and NASCAR (which, of course, is not a sport). So there haven't been many books written about the 'Canes. And, since hurricanes frequently hit the Carolinas (hence the name of the team), if you type "Carolina Hurricanes" into Amazon.com, you get books about local storms.

Erin Butler recently published the Hurricanes' edition in the Inside the NHL series. And after the 2006 Stanley Cup, the sports staff of the News & Observer published a commemorative book, titled Whatever It Takes.

Commemorative DVD sets were produced for the 2006 Cup and the team's 10th Anniversary in 2007, but that's about it as far as videos go. There was no 20th Anniversary video in 2017.

During the Game. A November 19, 2014 article on The Hockey News' website ranked the NHL teams' fan bases, and listed the 'Canes' fans 23rd out of 30, saying, "Canes put weak product on ice, so fans won't come even if tickets are cheap."

At least your safety is unlikely to be an issue. Unless you're going to a basketball game between Duke University and the University of North Carolina -- especially at Duke -- North Carolina fans, in any sport, don't have a rough reputation.

This game will not feature a promotion. The 'Canes hold auditions for National Anthem singers, now that former regular Amanda Bell has had to move to Denver for her regular job. Their fans haven't yet come up with a chant more imaginative than "Let's go, 'Canes!" Their theme song is "Noise" by the Chris Hendricks Band. Their goal song is "Song 2" by Blur (a.k.a. "Whoo Hoo"), and, according to actor Liam Neeson, who, despite being from Northern Ireland, is a big hockey fan, the 'Canes have "the manliest goal horn in the league."

Their mascot is Stormy the Ice Hog. Fortunately, he's not a wild boar, a warthog, or even a Razorback hog like the University of Arkansas' mascot. He's a friendly-looking brown pig, whose jersey has Number 97, in honor of the year the team moved to North Carolina.

After the Game. Unlike Charlotte, whose sports facilities are now all downtown, Raleigh's arena and football stadium are in a suburban part of town, 2 islands in a sea of parking. Crime should not be an issue: Most likely, you will be safe, and if you drove in, so will your car.

But this setup also means you'll have a bit of a walk back to public transportation, and to any place serving late-night food and/or drinks. Backyard Bistro is across Trinity Road from the complex, and there's a Wendy's at Trinity Road and Edwards Mill Road. If those aren't good enough for you, you may have to head back downtown.

Amadeo's Italian Restaurant is the home of a local Jets fan club. It's at 3905 Western Blvd. at Whitmore Drive, across from the N.C. State campus.

If your visit to Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill is during the European soccer season, as we are now in, your best bets for a pub to watch your club are London Bridge Pub, at 110 E. Hargett Street in downtown Raleigh; or Bull McCabe's Irish Pub, at 427 W. Main Street across from the Amtrak and Greyhound stations in downtown Durham.

I should note that the former is owned by Liverpool fans, so if you don't want to be surrounded by Scousers and wannabe Kopites, you may wish to look elsewhere; while the latter is the home of the local Arsenal supporters' club, so if you're not fond of Gooners, you may want to avoid that one.

Sidelights. Charlotte's sports history, at least at the major league level, isn't much, and Raleigh's is even less than that.

* Carter-Finley Stadium. After playing football at Riddick Stadium from 1907 to 1965 (demolished in 2005), North Carolina State moved into Carter Stadium in 1966. It was originally named for brothers Harry C. Carter and Wilbert J. "Nick" Carter, N.C. State graduates and major financial contributors. Albert E. Finley, another big contributor, had his name added in 1979. The playing surface is now named for yet another contributor: Wayne Day Family Field.

Currently seating 57,583, the N.C. State Wolfpack have won 3 Atlantic Coast Conference football titles there, in 1968, 1973 and 1979. This is in addition to the 8 titles they won in their various leagues at Riddick Stadium, for a total of 11: 1907, 1910, 1913, 1927, 1957, 1963, 1964 and 1965. Those last 3 conference titles provided the revenue for the building of a new stadium, to replace the obsolete Riddick. It features a display of 10 retired numbers, including current NFL quarterbacks Philip Rivers (17) and Russell Wilson (16), and former New York Jet Dennis Byrd (77 for them, 90 for the Jets).

It was also home to what's been called the worst team in the history of professional football: The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks of the World League of American football. Their red, kelly green, black and white uniforms, and their jets in formation leaving vapor trails helmet logo, were weird enough. Their cheerleaders, tapping into the aviation theme and the Wright Brothers' first flight in the Outer Banks in 1903, were named the Kittyhawks. Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn owned them, and Roman Gabriel, another N.C. State quarterback whose number has been retired (18), was their head coach.

But even with Shinn's money, Gabriel as head coach, and former pro quarterback Johnnie Walton and eventual Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Claude Humphrey as offensive and defensive coordinators, they went 0-10 in a weak league (the WLAF was nicknamed "The Laugh League") in the 1991 season. And, with no beer sold, they averaged just 12,066 fans per home game. (Even the Hurricanes can usually top that.) The team was moved to Columbus for the 1992 season and renamed the Ohio Glory.

Carter-Finley Stadium hosted a summer tour soccer game between Italy's Juventus and Mexico's C.D. Guadalajara (a.k.a. "Chivas") in 2011. It has also hosted concerts by Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, U2 and The Rolling Stones. The Stadium and the Hurricanes are set to host a game in the NHL Stadium Series in 2023. Neither the exact date nor the opponent have yet been chosen. 4600 Trinity Road at Youth Center Drive, separated from the PNC Arena by Stephen Stroud Way.

According to an article in the September 2014 issue of The Atlantic, as you might guess, the Charlotte-based Carolina Panthers, just 168 miles from the State House, are the most popular NFL team not just in Charlotte and in the Raleigh-Durham area, but in the entire State of North Carolina.

However, both Carolinas have significant pockets of support for the Washington Football Team, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys, mainly due to the media saturation (and, in Washington's case, proximity is also a cause). In particular, these teams tend to cancel out Panther support in the ocean resort communities, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and at Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head in South Carolina.

Charlotte FC, an expansion team beginning play at the Panthers' Bank of America Stadium in a few weeks, is now the closest MLS team to Raleigh.

* Reynolds Coliseum. Home to N.C. State basketball from 1949 to 1999, the William Neal Reynolds Coliseum (named for the former chief executive of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and brother of R.J. himself) hosted the Wolfpack teams that won the National Championship in 1974 and 1983, reached the Final Four in 1950, and won the ACC title in the regular season in 1950, '51, '53, '55, '56, '59, '73, '74, '85 and '89; and in the tournament in 1950, '51, '52, '54, '55, '56, '59, '65, '70, '73, '74, '83 and '87. (They haven't won either since moving into the new arena.)

The Coliseum was the home of the ACC Tournament from 1954 to 1966, and has hosted many NCAA Tournament games, and still hosts them for the women's tournament. It remains the home for N.C. State women's basketball and wrestling. It is currently undergoing a renovation that is scheduled to be completed next August, providing more space for offices and a school Athletic Hall of Fame, but also reducing the seating capacity from 9,500 to 5,600. 2411 Dunn Avenue at Jeter Drive (not named for Derek Jeter), next door to the Talley Student Union, 2 miles west of downtown.

The only Final Fours held in the Carolinas have been 1974 at the Greensboro Coliseum (N.C. State interrupting the UCLA dynasty in the Semifinal and beating Marquette in the Final) and 1994 at the 2nd Charlotte Coliseum (Arkansas beating Duke).

According to a May 12, 2014 article in The New York Times, the Charlotte Hornets' reach doesn't get much beyond the Charlotte area. Then again, it doesn't help that the Hornets play 168 miles from downtown Raleigh. The most popular NBA team in the Raleigh-Durham area, as it has been since the dawn of the 21st Century (dovetailing nicely with the post-Michael Jordan fall of the Chicago Bulls), is the Los Angeles Lakers.

* Five County Stadium. Home to the Carolina Mudcats since 1991, the original owner wanted to get as close to downtown Raleigh as possible without infringing on the territory of any other team, including the Greensboro Hornets, which he also owned. Zebulon was as close as the Durham Bulls would let him get.

The Mudcats won Pennants in the Class AA Southern League in 1995 and 2003, but have not won one since moving to the Class A Carolina League in 2012. Ironically, where they were once higher in classification than the Bulls, they are now lower. 1501 State Highway 39 at Old U.S. 264, 26 miles east of the State House. Accessible by car only: No public transportation out there.

* Durham Athletic Park. Made famous by the 1988 film Bull Durham, which jump-started the minor-league baseball craze of the late 20th Century, the Durham Bulls played at the site of "The DAP" from 1926 until 1994 (with a rebuild in 1939-40 after a fire), mostly in the Class A Carolina League. Having already won Pennants in 1924 and '25, they won them at The DAP in 1929, '30, '40, '41, '57, '65 and '67.

The film, which takes place in 1987, the year before it was released (a fact confirmed by the calendar in the manager's office), gives the impression that they weren't very good, and hadn't been for a long time, but got to 1st place by the 4th of July, and then faltered.

In real life, they went 67-75 that season, but they did have 6 players who went on to reach the major leagues: Kevin Brown, Kent Mercker, Mark Lemke, Derek Lilliquist, Gary Eave and Rusty Richards. Not bad for a Single-A team that was 8 games under .500. Then again, this was before their parent club, the Atlanta Braves, got good again in 1991, so they needed whatever help they could get. But Mercker and Lemke were a part of the Braves' quasi-dynasty.

The film made The DAP the most famous minor-league ballpark ever. But the park became a victim of the film's success: Soon, people came flocking to it, and its 5,000-seat capacity was now obsolete. A new ballpark was built, but the old one was left standing, and is still used for local baseball.

428 Morris Street. Unlike the Mudcats' home, The DAP can be reached by public transit from Raleigh. Take Bus 100 to the Regional Transit Center, then switch to Bus 700, and take that to the Durham Amtrak station. Then Bus 4 or a short walk.

* Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The DBAP (pronounced DEE-bap) has been home to the Bulls since 1995, and since 1998 they've been the Triple-A farm team of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Bulls have won International League Pennants there in 2002, '03, '09 and '13, making a total of 13 Pennants in various leagues at various levels.

Although it seats twice as many, 10,000, the Bulls tried to make it as much like the old DAP as possible, including the 305-foot right-field fence, nicknamed the Blue Monster, complete with the famous bull "HIT SIGN WIN STEAK" sign that was erected for the movie and kept. Even the overhanging roof, although up to public safety code, looks pretty much the same. 409 Blackwell Street at Willard Street, a 5-minute walk from the train station.

According to an article in the April 24, 2014 edition of The New York Times, the Yankees are the most popular MLB team in the Triangle, averaging around 26 percent, with the Boston Red Sox at 20 and the Atlanta Braves at around 12. That's mainly due to the national media's exposure of the Yanks and Sox, since the Braves are easily the closest team, 265 miles away. It could also be due to the fact that UNC and Duke have a national reach with their student bodies.

Raleigh's relatively low metropolitan population means it would rank 31st and last in MLB, 29th in the NFL, and 28th in the NBA.

* Duke University. As with the Durham ballparks, reachable by taking Bus 100 to the Regional Transit Center and transferring to Bus 700. Cameron Indoor Stadium, opening in 1940, is at 115 Whitford Drive. Wallace Wade Stadium, opening in 1929, is next door. Wade Stadium hosted the only Rose Bowl away from Pasadena, in 1942, because of concerns over the Pacific Coast just 25 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Duke lost it to Oregon State. 27 miles northwest of downtown Raleigh, up U.S. Route 70.

* The University of North Carolina. About 28 miles northwest of downtown Raleigh, but in a slightly different direction, on Interstate 40. The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center, a.k.a. the Dean Dome (where they've won National Championships in 1993, 2005, 2009 and 2017), is at 300 Skipper Bowles Drive. It's just 11 miles between the Dean Dome and Cameron.

The old court, Carmichael Arena, where the Tar Heels played from 1965 to 1986 (and won the National Championship in 1982), is at 310 South Road. Woollen Gymnasium, where they played from 1937 to 1965 (and won the National Championship in 1957), is also at South Road. And Kenan Memorial Stadium, home to Tar Heel football since 1927, is at 104 Stadium Drive.

According to an April 23, 2014 article in The New York Times, the Yankees are actually the most popular MLB team in Raleigh, a little bit ahead of the Atlanta Braves, the 2nd-closest team at 408 miles away. The Washington Nationals are the closest, 278 miles, but are not as popular in the Triangle as either the Yanks or the Braves.

Sahlen's Stadium, part of WakeMed Soccer Park, is the home of the North Carolina Courage, winners of the 2018 and 2019 National Women's Soccer League Championship. In 2019, it also hosted 6 games of the CONCACAF Women's Championships, including 3 U.S. games: A 6-0 win over Mexico, a 5-0 win over Panama, and a 7-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago.

It's also hosted the only 2 games played in the Triangle by the U.S. men's team: A 1-1 draw with Jamaica on April 11, 2006, and 1-0 win over Paraguay this past March 27. 201 Soccer Park Drive, in Cary, about 8 miles west of the State House. Bus 300. 

North Carolina A&T, in Greensboro, about 92 miles northeast of Charlotte and 76 miles west of Raleigh, has won "the National Championship of black college football" 6 times: 1951, 1968, 1990, 1999, 2015 and 2017. Winston-Salem State University, in the city of the same name, 75 miles northeast of Charlotte and 104 miles west of Raleigh, has won it 4 times, all recently: 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016. North Carolina Central, in Durham, has won it 3 times: 1954, 2005 and 2006.

Fayetteville State University, in the city of the same name, 136 miles east of Charlotte and 57 miles south of Raleigh, won it in 2002, although they compete in NCAA Division II. And Shaw University, in Raleigh, won it in 1947, and also now competes in Division II.

* Museums. The North Carolina Museum of History and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences are next-door to each other, across Edenton Street from the State House.

The Beatles never performed together in the Raleigh-Durham area, although Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have done so on solo tours. Elvis Presley only did so early in his career, all in Raleigh (never in Durham or Chapel Hill), at the Memorial Auditorium on May 19 and September 21, 1955; and a whopping 4 shows in 1 day at the Ambassador Theater on February 8, 1956. The Memorial Auditorium is now the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, at 2 E. South Street, 7 blocks south of the State House. The Ambassador is at 115 Fayetteville Street, just south of the State House, but was demolished in 1989.

In addition to Raleigh -- and Charlotte, which I've covered in my guides for the Panthers and Hornets -- Elvis sang at the following North Carolina locations:

* In New Bern, at the Shrine Auditorium on May 14 and September 13, 1955.
* In Asheville, at the City Auditorium on May 17 and September 16, 1955, and at the Asheville Civic Center on July 22, 23 and 24, 1975.
* In Thomasville, at the High School Auditorium on September 17, 1955.
* In Wilson, at Fleming Stadium on September 14, 1955, and 3 shows at the Charles L. Coon Auditorium on February 14, 1956.
* In Greensboro, 4 shows in 1 day at the National Theater on February 6, 1956, and at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 14, 1972; March 13, 1974; July 21, 1975; June 30, 1976; and April 21, 1977.
* In High Point, 4 shows in 1 day at the Convention Center on February 7, 1956.
* In Williams, at the High School Auditorium on February 15, 1956.
* In Winston-Salem, 3 shows in 1 day at the Carolina Theater on February 16, 1956.
* In Lexington, at the YMCA Gym on March 21, 1956.
* And in Fayetteville, at the Cumberland County Memorial Arena in Fayetteville on August 3, 4 and 5, 1976.

If you're paying attention, you saw that he did 4 shows in 1 day on February 6, 7, 8 and 10, 1956. That's 16 shows in a span of 5 days. He was 21. It was easier to do that than to do 2 in 1 day when he was packing on the pounds in his early 40s in 1975, '76 and '77.

Andrew Johnson was born in the State capital of Raleigh. His birthplace was a log cabin (which didn't help him as much as it helped his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln) on the grounds of Casso's Inn, where his father worked, at Morgan Street and Fayetteville Street, across from the State House. It was moved to Mordecai Historic Park at 1 Mimosa Street, a mile north of downtown. Number 1 Bus.

He is 1 of 3 Presidents produced by the Carolinas. No one is precisely sure where Andrew Jackson was born -- not even whether it happened in North or South Carolina, only that it was in the Waxhaw region along the State Line. He was the 1st President born in a log cabin, but that cabin is long-gone. Andrew Jackson State Park, at 196 Andrew Jackson Park Road in Lancaster, South Carolina, is considered the likeliest place. It's about 33 miles south of Charlotte and not reachable by public transportation.

James K. Polk State Historical Site is in Pineville, which, like Charlotte, is in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It's about 12 miles south, at 12031 Lancaster Highway. It's easier to reach without a car: The Number 20 bus can get you to within half a mile.

All 3 Carolina-born Presidents have their main historical sites in Tennessee: Polk is buried on the State House grounds in Nashville; Jackson's home, The Hermitage, is in the Nashville suburbs; and Johnson's Museum is in Greeneville.

Yankee Legend Jim "Catfish" Hunter was from Hertford, North Carolina, 150 miles northeast of Raleigh, in the coastal Inner Banks region, and is buried in Cedarwood Cemetery there, on Hyde Park Road. Another major baseball legend, though not a New York one, Willie Stargell, is buried at Oleander Memorial Gardens, at 306 Bradley Drive, in Wilmington, 130 miles southeast of Charlotte. (Wilmington is also the hometown of Michael Jordan and David Brinkley.) And football legend Reggie White is buried at Glenwood Memorial Park in Mooresville, 150 miles west.

PNC Plaza, at 538 feet, is the tallest building in Raleigh, and the tallest building in the Carolinas outside of Charlotte.

Bull Durham was filmed almost entirely in Durham and other North Carolina minor-league towns. Mitch's Tavern, site of the bar scenes near the beginning and the end of the film, is still in business, at 2426 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Other movies filmed in the area include The Handmaid's Tale
(which used Duke University for some location shots) and Brainstorm (Natalie Wood's last film, which also did some filming at Duke).

A few TV shows have been filmed in North Carolina, most notably Dawson's Creek in Wilmington, although it was set in fictional Capeside, Massachusetts. One Tree Hill was set in the fictional town of Tree Hill, North Carolina, but filmed in Southern California.

But shows set in Raleigh are few and far between. The Andy Griffith Show, set in fictional Mayberry and based on Griffith's real-life hometown of Mount Airy, mentioned Raleigh a few times, but was filmed in Southern California.

A statue of Griffith and Ron Howard as Sheriff Andy Taylor and his son Opie was dedicated by television network TV Land. It depicts them walking down the fishing trail, as seen in the show's famous opening. Unfortunately, the fishing poles the figures hold are frequently swiped. Pullen Park, near the carousel. 408 Ashe Avenue, a mile and a half west of downtown. The 100 bus gets you about halfway there.

A copy of the statue stands outside the Andy Griffith Museum at 218 Rockford Street in Mount Airy, 139 miles to the northwest, near the Virginia State Line. Pilot Mountain (known on the show as Mount Pilot) is 16 miles southeast of Mount Airy.

*

The Raleigh-Durham Triangle isn't really big enough -- yet -- for a major league sports team. And the Carolinas are certainly no place for hockey. But, for better or for worse, the Hurricanes are there, and they have a Stanley Cup and are a perennial Playoff team. Maybe the Devils can show the fans down there -- the ones who show up, anyway -- what a real hockey team looks like. 

How to Be a New York Basketball Fan In Charlotte -- 2021-22 Edition

The New York Knicks visit the Charlotte Hornets on this coming Friday, November 12; and again on March 23, 2022. The Brooklyn Nets do so on March 8.

Before You Go. Being in the South, it's going to be warmer in Charlotte than in New York. The Charlotte Observer is predicting low 70s for daylight on Friday, and high 40s for evening. They're also predicting rain for throughout the day. Bring a jacket, but not a Winter jacket.

Charlotte is in the Eastern Time Zone, so you won't have to fiddle with your timepieces. It is in North Carolina, a former Confederate State, but you won't need your passport or to change your money.

Tickets. The Hornets averaged 15,434 fans per game in 2019-20, before COVID shut everything down. That's only 81 percent of capacity, so your chances of getting a ticket are better than for most teams.

Tickets in the lower level, the 100 sections, are $350 between the baskets and $160 behind them. In the upper level, the 200 sections, they're $47 all around. Who knows.

Getting There. It's 634 miles from Times Square in New York to downtown Charlotte. It's in that tricky range: A bit too close to fly, a bit too far to go any other way.

If you're going to drive, take the New Jersey Turnpike/I-95 all the way from New Jersey to Petersburg, Virginia. Exit 51 will put you on I-85 South, and that will take you right into Charlotte.

You'll be in New Jersey for about an hour and a half, Delaware for 20 minutes, Maryland for 2 hours, inside the Capital Beltway (Maryland, District of Columbia and Virginia) for half an hour if you're lucky (and don't make a rest stop anywhere near D.C.), Virginia for 3 hours, and North Carolina for 4 hours. Throw in traffic at each end, rest stops, preferably in Delaware, near Richmond and near Raleigh, and it'll be close to 14 hours.

Greyhound has 7 buses a day leaving from Port Authority to Charlotte, but only 2 of them are no-changeover routes. It costs as much as $268 round-trip (though it can be as low as $154 on advanced purchase). The station is at 601 W. Trade Street, 9 blocks west of the arena.

Amtrak actually isn't a good option. Their New York-to-New Orleans train, the Crescent, leaves Penn Station at 2:15 PM and arrives in Charlotte at 2:30 the next morning. And their other option, the Carolinian, leaves New York at 7:25 AM and arrives at 8:56 PM, meaning you would have to leave the day before the game. The Carolinian leaves the next morning at 6:45 and arrives at 8:35 PM, while the Crescent leaves at 1:46 AM and arrives at 1:46 PM. Round-trip fare is $227. The station is at 1914 N. Tryon Street, a mile and a half north of downtown. Take the Number 11 bus in.

Perhaps the best way to get from New York to Charlotte is by plane. After all, lots of routes change planes at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (named for Ben E. Douglas Sr., the 1st directly-elected Mayor). And a round-trip nonstop flight can be had for under $400. The airport is 8 miles west of downtown, and the Number 5 bus can get you downtown in about 25 minutes.

Once In the City. Although both North Carolina and South Carolina were named for the King of England at the time of their initial settlements, King Charles I, Charlotte was named for a Queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg, the wife of King George III. For this reason, the city is known as the Queen City of the Southeast. (Buffalo is the Queen City of the Great Lakes, Cincinnati is the Queen City of the Midwest, and Seattle the Queen City of the Northwest.)

Founded in 1755, Charlotte is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, with a city population of about 875,000, making it the largest city in the Carolinas and the 7th-largest city in the South (the 2nd-largest behind Jacksonville if you don't count Texas), and a metropolitan area population of about 2.6 million, ranking it 22nrd among the 30 NBA markets.

It is known as the Mint City, because it was the home the earliest "branch mint" in the country, making gold coins for the United States from 1837 to 1873. That wasn't a long time, and it's even less when you consider that, from 1861 to 1865, they were making gold coins for the Confederate States of America. Today, when we think of cities with mints, we think of Philadelphia and Denver, and maybe San Francisco. 

The city is about 45 percent white, 35 percent black, 13 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian, and 1 percent Native American. The suburbs and the south side of the city are mostly white, the north side of the city mostly black.

The street grid isn't north-south-east-west, at least not geographically. Rather, it's on a diagonal. However, Trade Street separates street addresses from north and south, and Tryon Street separates them from east and west. Their centerpoint intersection is sometimes known as "Trade & Tryon," "Independence Square" or just "The Square." Interstate 485 serves as a beltway.

The Charlotte Area Transportation System (CATS) runs buses, the LYNX Blue Line light rail system, and the CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar service. The fare is $2.20.

LYNX Blue Line

The sales tax in North Carolina is 4.75 percent, but it rises to 7.25 percent in Charlotte. ZIP Codes for Charlotte start with the digits 280, 281 and 282. The Area Code is 704, overlaid with 980. Charlotte Utilities runs the electricity for Mecklenburg County.

In spite of Dean Smith's activism, and the apparent racial harmony on the Tar Heel and Blue Devil teams, the State of North Carolina is still Southern, and a former Confederate State, and has had its racial issues.

In 1870, 5 years after the war, the Ku Klux Klan used murder and intimidation to prevent recently freed slaves from exercising their right to vote, newly granted by the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. Governor William Holden (no relation to the later actor of the same name) assigned Colonel George Washington Kirk, who went from Union Army to Confederate Army and back to the Union, to handle things imposing martial law in Caswell and Alamance Counties, in the north-central part of the State, on the Virginia line. This became known as the Kirk-Holden War. The Wilmington Insurrection was carried out on November 10, 1898, white supremacists burning down the office of a newspaper, The Daily Record.

The Battle of Hayes Pond took place near Maxton on January 18, 1958, when KKK members tried to attack members of the Lumbee tribe of Native Americans, and got their asses kicked. On February 1, 1960, the Greensboro Sit-In began when black students at North Carolina A&T sat at the lunch counter at a Woolworth's, and refused to leave until they were served. The site of the store is now home to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. On June 6, 1963, a group of black patrons was refused service in Lexington, and they fought back. One died, and it was one of the few times in the era when it wasn't the whites who started it.

North Carolina is known for its beaches on "The Outer Banks," or "OBX." This includes Kill Devil Hill, with the Wright Brothers National Memorial, on roughly the location where Orville Wright, with brother Wilbur Wright watching, took off in Flyer I on December 17, 1903, marking the 1st heavier-than-air human flight. The Outer Banks are centered on Nags Head, about 360 miles east of downtown Charlotte.

Going In. The official address of the Spectrum Center is 333 E. Trade Street, at Caldwell Street. If you drive in, parking can be had for as little as $5.00. If you're using public transportation, use the CTC/Arena stop. Most likely, you'll be going in through the arena's west or south gates.

The arena opened in 2005, and was named Charlotte Bobcats Arena until 2008. The expansion team was named after its 1st owner, Robert L. Johnson, the TV executive who became America's 1st black billionaire -- yes, before Oprah Winfrey -- and the 1st black majority owner of a major league sports franchise. But the name made sense for an additional reason, as the bobcat is indigenous to the Carolinas.

Johnson sold the team to Michael Jordan in 2010. Charter Communications recently bought Time Warner Cable from Time Warner, and renamed the arena for their cable service, Spectrum. This may confuse some of you who remember the old Philadelphia arena of 1967 to 1996, The Spectrum.

The Hornets name, which had also been used by a minor-league baseball team and the city's entry in the ill-fated World Football League of 1974-75, refers to the American Revolution, when the British commander Lord Cornwallis the Carolinas "a veritable hornet's nest of rebellion."

In addition to the Bobcats/new Hornets, it also hosted the WNBA's Charlotte Sting in their last season, 2006; and minor-league hockey's Charlotte Checkers from 2005 until 2015, when they moved to the Bojangles Coliseum. It also hosted the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which renominated President Barack Obama. It will host the 2020 Republican Convention, but whether Donald Trump will be renominated -- or even be available -- is getting less certain by the day.

The court is aligned north-to-south -- or, more precisely from a literal geographic standpoint, northeast-to-southwest. In keeping with the "hive" theme, it has a honeycomb pattern.

Food. This is the South, tailgate party country, and North Carolina is among the places in this country particularly known for good barbecue. Tailgating is usually not done before NBA games, but the arena website is a little vague on concessions. Here's what they have to say about food options:

Spectrum Center partnered with industry-leader Levy Restaurants to develop food offerings unlike anything the community has experienced before. We created an incredibly diverse menu with something for everyone; from unexpected items to fan favorites on the concourses to restaurants and social areas for premium seatholders. To find out more about our fan favorites on the concourse and our restaurants and lounges for premium seat holders, click here

Throughout the arena, guests will find traditional event-goer favorites such as char-grilled hamburgers, hot dogs with regional toppings and chicken sandwiches along with more unique items such as house made veggie burgers, Niman ranch sausages, house braised short rib sandwiches and homemade ice cream shakes.

And we thought about the Little Sports Fan too – A kids' menu offers hot dog or crispy chicken in a combination meal that includes chips and a choice of drink.

In addition to the permanent eating areas on the Club and Uptown Concourses, Spectrum Center also offers several portable stands where guests can feast on everything from carved meat sandwiches to bratwurst and flavored popcorn.

Team History Displays. Of all 30 NBA teams, only 2 have never won at least a Division title: The Hornets and the Memphis Grizzlies. (The New Orleans Pelicans have won one under the New Orleans Hornets name). Therefore, the Hornets don't have any title banners.

The old version (the one that's now the Pelicans) won 5 Playoff series, but the furthest they got in the Playoffs was losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 2001. And the Bobcats/new Hornets have made the Playoffs only 3 times, in 2010, 2014 and 2016. It took until 2016 for them to win a Playoff game for the 1st time.

The Hornets have 1 retired number, 13, for guard Bobby Phills, who played for the original version of the Hornets from 1997 until 2000, when he was killed in a car crash. Only 3 Hornets players have yet been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, all centers: Robert Parish and Vlade Divac, each of whom played only 2 seasons for them; and Alonzo Mourning, who played only 3. (Dave Cowens coached them from 1996 to 1999, and Larry Brown from 2008 to 2010, but both were already in the Hall before they got to the Bobcats.)

Neither has yet had his number retired by the Hornets. Nor do the Hornets have a team hall of fame, despite having (sort of) 33 years of history.

When Mourning came into the NBA in 1992, he did a Nike commercial that imagined the honors he would go on to receive. One was the retirement of his jersey. The commercial was half-right: His Number 33 has been retired, but by the Miami Heat, not the Hornets. Nor has Larry Johnson, a Hornet before he was a Knick and made nationally famous by his "Grandmama" commercials for Converse, seen his Number 2 raised to the rafters; but then, he's not in the Hall of Fame yet, either.

Parish was the only Hornet player named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players, and the only one named to its 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players.

Geographically, the Hornets' chief rivals should be the Atlanta Falcons, or maybe the Washington Wizards, or the Memphis Grizzlies. But they don't really have a rivalry with any team.

Stuff. The Hornets Fan Shop is on the Trade Street (south) side of the arena. The arena website mentions that it sells not only Hornets merchandise, but Jordan brand items. Just so you know who's in charge. (Of course, that means that, in 11 years, Jordan the owner has won nothing, not even a single Playoff game, which must truly gall Jordan the player. Then again, Bill Russell was a lousy coach when he didn't have Bill Russell playing for him.)

With a lackluster history, there aren't many books written about the Hornets. In 1989, Joe Drape published In the Hornets' Nest: Charlotte and Its First Year in the NBA. Original owner George Shinn, with collaborator Jim Nelson Black, ripped off the Mets and Tug McGraw for the title of his team memoir, You Gotta Believe! The Story of the Charlotte Hornets. Even that was all the way back in 1996. For something more recent, Jim Whiting recently published the Hornets' edition of the NBA's A History of Hoops series.

Team DVDs are out of the question. Not only have the Hornets never reached the NBA Finals (or even the Conference Finals), so there's no commemorative official videos, but they technically didn't exist for their 20th (2008) and 25th (2013) Anniversaries. Perhaps the 30th (2018) will lead to an official team history, even if they haven't done anything special by then. (Although a moved team "returning" is certainly special.)

I looked the Hornets up in the Movies & TV section of Amazon.com, and the only Hornets-related video I could find was a VHS commemorating their 1st season: Hornets Hysteria. The Hornets were the team coached by one of the main villains, Dennis Farina's coach character, in the movie Eddie, in which Whoopi Goldberg plays a fan who, through a weird series of events, is named head coach of the Knicks, and they have to beat the Hornets in the last game of the regular season to make the Playoffs.

During the Game. A November 13, 2014 article on DailyRotoHelp ranked the NBA teams' fan bases, and listed the Bobcats/new Hornets dead last, in 30th place. That's understandable, since they're the newest franchise: It's not that they have a bad reputation, it's that they have hardly any reputation.

But they were only without a team for 2 seasons, 2002 to 2004, so these are basically the same fans that the old Hornets had, and there wasn't anything particularly notable about them, either: No great moments of class, no shocking moments of misbehavior, no intimidation (clean or otherwise). They were "just sort of there." Which, I suppose, is better than having a bad reputation.

Unless you're going to a basketball game between Duke University and the University of North Carolina -- especially at Duke -- North Carolina fans, in any sport, don't have a rough reputation. Your safety is unlikely to be an issue.

The February 22 game against the Nets will be Miles Bridges Bobblehead Night. The games against the Knicks are not promotional nights.

The Hornets hold auditions for singing the National Anthem, rather than having a regular singer. They have cheerleaders, named the Charlotte Honey Bees. But the most famous person associated with the Hornets -- aside from Jordan, and how many people associate him with them? -- never shows his face.

Hugo the Hornet

Hugo the Hornet was introduced as the Hornets' mascot on their debut, and became famous for being lowered from the arena ceiling, and, at least once a game, removing his head, wings and padding, to become the stripped-down "Super Hugo" that would perform stunt dunks, like the Phoenix Suns' Gorilla.

Super Hugo

He went with the team to New Orleans, and when the Bobcats arrived in 2004, their mascot was named Rufus D. Lynx, as Lynx rufus is the scientific name for the bobcat. Rufus became popular, but not as much as Hugo. When the franchise got the Hornets name back, effective at the end of the 2013-14 season, Rufus was retired, and a new-look Hugo was introduced. It remains to be seen if Rufus will return, as some former mascots have done.

Hornets fans haven't yet come up with a chant more imaginative than "Let's go, Hornets!" Chris Miller (no relation to the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback) recorded a theme song, "Hornets Fever." Other songs frequently played during Hornets games are "Let's Do It Again" by the Staple Singers, "Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra, "Every Little Step" by Bobby Brown, "Feel So Real" by Steve Arrington, and "Just Another Day" by New Jersey's own Queen Latifah (an All-State basketball player at Irvington High under her birth name of Dana Owens).

After the Game. Charlotte is not notorious for having a crime problem. It's still a city, so you should be aware of the possibility. But, most likely, you will be safe, and if you drove in, so will your car.

There are several restaurants within a short walk of the arena, but finding one with an obvious sports connection in the name might be hard. Lebowski's Neighborhood Grill was rated by Yelpers as Charlotte's best sports bar, but it's at 1524 East Blvd., over 2 miles from the arena, and not reachable by the LYNX system. And I can't find a reference to any bar in the Charlotte area that is home to a local fan club for any New York team.

If your visit to Charlotte is during the European soccer season, as we are now in, your best bet to watch your club play is at Ri Ra, 208 N. Tryon Street, downtown. Another possibility is the Valhalla Pub & Eatery, at 317 S. Church St., 4 blocks from the Panthers' stadium and 6 blocks from the Hornets' arena. However, it's a Liverpool bar, so it's a question of how you feel about Scousers, real and pretended.

Sidelights. Charlotte's sports history, at least as far as the major league level is concerned, is not very long, having only gotten their 1st team that could remotely be considered major league.

* Bank of America Stadium. After playing their 1st season at Clemson University's Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina, the NFL's Carolina Panthers moved into this Uptown stadium (originally named Ericsson Stadium for the mobile phone company) for the 1996 season. They reached the Playoffs 8 times, including 6 Division titles, 4 NFC Championship Games and 2 Super Bowl losses, in their 1st 23 seasons. But they've missed the Playoffs the last 3 seasons.

In March 2022, Bank of America Stadium will begin hosting the expansion Charlotte FC of Major League Soccer. 800 S. Mint Street at W. Stonewall Street. Number 2 bus from downtown.

* American Legion Memorial Stadium. It doesn't look like much, just a concrete horseshoe seating 21,000 people. But this relic is the city's leading high school football stadium, and, in 1974 and '75, was the home of the city's 1st pro football team, the World Football League version of the Charlotte Hornets.

Despite its age (it opened in 1936), it still hosts high school sports, and the Charlotte Hounds of Major League Lacrosse. It is the last home of the Charlotte Independence, who will give way to Charlotte FC this coming Spring. 310 N. Kings Drive at Armory Drive. Number 27 bus from downtown.

* Bojangles' Coliseum. Previously known as the original Charlotte Coliseum, the Independence Arena and the Cricket Arena, this arena went up in 1955, and is now named after the fast-food fried chicken franchise. When it opened, it had the world's largest dome, but didn't hold that title for long.

This Coliseum was the home base of the Carolinas' 1st team that could have been called major league: The Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association, from 1969 to 1974. At the time, none of the Carolinas' cities were large enough to support a team by itself so, management used several home courts, including this one, Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, and the Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum. This path would be followed by the ABA's Virginia Squires (Norfolk, Hampton, Richmond and Roanoke) and Texas Chaparrals (the forerunners of the San Antonio Spurs played in Dallas, Fort Worth and Lubbock).

In 1973, with Larry Brown -- who would later be named to the ABA's All-Time Team -- in his 1st season as a head coach anywhere, the Cougars, led by Billy Cunningham, Joe Caldwell, Gene Littles, Roger Brown and Steve "Snapper" Jones, reached the ABA Finals, but lost them to the Indiana Pacers.

Despite some success on the court and at the box office -- both rare for ABA teams -- it was thought that a "regional franchise" could not succeed in the NBA, with whom merger talks were ongoing, so the team was moved to what was then a larger market, St. Louis. On occasion, the Hornets will wearing Cougars "throwback" uniforms.

The Charlotte Checkers brought minor-league hockey there in 1956, left in 1977, returned in 1993, left for the larger new Bobcats (Time Warner Cable) Arena in 2005, and this fall they returned, and are now the major tenant in the Carolinas' 1st major sports building. Elvis Presley sang there on June 26, 1956; April 13, 1972; March 9, 1974; March 20, 1976; and February 20 and 21, 1977. (The Beatles never performed in the Carolinas.)

2700 E. Independence Blvd. Number 27 bus to Chipley Avenue, then walk 3 blocks up Chipley.

* Site of Charlotte Coliseum. When "The Hive" (a nickname now transferred to the new arena) opened in 1988, it seated just under 23,000, making it the largest arena in the NBA. (The Detroit Pistons played many years at the Silverdome and the Seattle SuperSonics many home games at the Kingdome, but neither was meant to be a permanent facility.) And the Hornets filled it, getting 364 consecutive home sellouts -- just under 9 full seasons.

With this photo, you can see how far it was from the heart of Charlotte.

Founding owner George Shinn -- whose son Chris Shinn is lead singer of the rock band Live -- moved the team to New Orleans in 2002, because he thought he could no longer live in the Carolinas due to the local anger over his sex scandals, as fans stopped going to games, just to spite him. He ended up selling the team in 2010, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Hornets name wasn't given to the replacement team until after that. He also owned the Charlotte Knights baseball team, and the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks of the short-lived World League of American Football. (Playing at N.C. State's stadium, they've been called the worst team in pro football history.) He also tried and failed to get an NHL expansion team for the Norfolk area in 1997.

This Coliseum hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1994, with Arkansas winning the title, beating Duke, despite Durham-based Duke having (for all intents and purposes) home-court advantage. The only other time a Final Four has been held in the Carolinas, a "home team" did win: Raleigh-based North Carolina State over Milwaukee's Marquette at the Greensboro Coliseum in 1974.

The WNBA's Charlotte Sting played home games there. They won the WNBA's Eastern Conference in 2001. Dawn Staley was named to the league's 15th Anniversary 15 Greatest Players, and Andrea Stinson had her Number 32 retired. The Coliseum was used for the basketball-themed films Eddie, He Got Game and Juwanna Mann.

A new arena, downtown (as the Coliseum and the Coliseum before it most definitely were not) with better luxury boxes was seen as a prerequisite for getting a replacement franchise, and so the Bobcats only played their 1st season there, 2004-05. Ironically, the Coliseum's last major use was as a refugee center for people made homeless by Hurricane Katrina's near-destruction of New Orleans in 2005. It was demolished in 2007 -- after only 19 years, a disgraceful waste, but Camden Yards really did change the game in 1992 when it came to stadium and arena construction -- and mixed-use development is currently under construction on the site.

100 Paul Buck Blvd. Number 501 bus to Tyvola Station, then transfer to Number 60 bus to N. Falls Drive, then walk up Tyvola Parkway and Yorkmont Road. The street leading to the arena site is still named Hive Drive.

* UNC-Charlotte. The Charlotte campus of the University of North Carolina plays at Jerry Richardson Stadium, named for the Panthers' founder. The Charlotte 49ers (when referring to the school, it's usually "UNC-Charlotte") didn't have a football team from 1949 to 2012, then started up again, and joined Conference USA in 2015.

Richardson Stadium, which opened with the 2013 restart of the football program, isn't much: It seats just 15,314, less than the Hornets' arena and only a little bit more than the Knights' ballpark. 8701 Phillips Road, just off Tryon Road/U.S. Route 29, 9 miles northeast of downtown. Light Rail route 501 to J.W. Clay Blvd. Station, then a 10-minute walk.

* Charlotte ballparks. The original Charlotte Hornets were a minor-league baseball team, on and off from 1892 to 1973. Prior to the building of their most familiar ballpark, they won the Southern League Pennant in 1902, 1916, 1923, 1931 and 1938.

From 1937 to 1972, they were owned by the Griffith family as a farm team of the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise. In 1940, they opened a new ballpark, named Griffith Park after team owner Clark Griffith. When he died in 1955, his nephew Calvin Griffith inherited the franchise. He wasn't willing to stick his own name on the Senators' D.C. ballpark, but renamed the Charlotte facility Calvin Griffith Park. At this stadium, they won the South Atlantic League Pennant in 1946, 1947, 1952 and 1957, and the Southern League Pennant in 1969 and 1971.

Founded in 1976 as a Class AA team, the Charlotte Knights have been a Class AAA team since 1993, and a Chicago White Sox farm team since 1990. They won Pennants at Griffith Park, renamed Jim Crockett Sr. Park, after the new owner, and won SL Pennants in 1980 and 1984, before the park burned down in 1985 -- due to arson, although not an insurance scam. George Shinn bought the team in 1987, and moved them after the 1989 season. 400 Magnolia Avenue, in the Dilworth section of the city, about 2 miles south of downtown. Number 10 bus to East Blvd., then a half-mile walk down South Blvd. and Magnolia.

Shinn built Knights Castle, later renamed Knights Stadium across the State Line, 16 miles south of downtown Charlotte. A stadium seating 10,002, it was intended to showcase the Charlotte area as a future site for a Major League Baseball team, either expansion or moved. And the Knights did do well there, getting as many as 15,427 fans for a 2007 game with the Durham Bulls. They won International League Pennants there in 1993 and 1999, and a Division title as recently as 2012.

In 1990, MLB chose Charlotte as 1 of the 10 Semifinalists for the 2 new teams they wanted for the 1993 season. But, in spite of a decent ballpark by Triple-A standards and a growing fanbase, MLB did not choose Charlotte as 1 of the 6 finalists, also eliminating Nashville, Phoenix and Sacramento. In mid-1991, they rejected Buffalo, Orlando, Tampa Bay and Washington, and chose Denver and Miami. Charlotte did not even submit an application in 1994 for the 1998 expansion that went to Phoenix and Tampa Bay.

Knights Stadium closed after the 2013 season, and will soon be demolished. 2280 Deerfield Drive, Fort Mill, South Carolina. Not reachable by public transportation, unless you want to take a train to a bus and then walk 4 miles from the closest bus stop.

BB&T Ballpark opened in 2014. It was renamed Truist Park in 2019, after BB&T was bought out by another bank. It seats 10,200, slightly more than Knights Stadium, and has a nice view of downtown Charlotte, which is actually called Uptown. However, there is no room to expand it to 35,000 or more seats, as a major league ballpark would need, so, despite the inabilities of the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics to get new ballparks thus far, the new Uptown Charlotte ballpark pretty much eliminates the Carolinas from future contention, unless MLB expands again in the next few years. 324 South Mint Street at W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 2 blocks north of the Panthers' stadium.

According to an April 23, 2014 article in The New York Times, the Yankees are actually the most popular MLB team in Charlotte, a little bit ahead of the Atlanta Braves, the closest team at 246 miles away. (The Washington Nationals are the next-closest, 402 miles.) The closest NHL team is the Carolina Hurricanes, 160 miles away.

Due to population as much as to the size of the ballpark, I wouldn't count on Charlotte getting an MLB team anytime soon: It would rank 28th among MLB markets. And, unless the 'Canes want to become a "regional team," as was experimented with in pro basketball in the 1970s and '80s (most recently with the Boston Celtics in Hartford in 1995), Charlotte won't get an NHL team either, as they'd rank 22nd -- 3 places ahead of where Raleigh is now. Combining the 2 markets would jump it to 15th, but the logistics of alternating between Charlotte and Raleigh would make the move too risky.

The U.S. national soccer team has never played a game in Charlotte. There have been 6 such games played in North Carolina: 3 in High Point, and 1 each in Greensboro, Cary and Davidson.

In 2017, the Western New York Flash of the National Women's Soccer League moved, and became the North Carolina Courage. WakeMed Soccer Park, 201 Soccer Park in Cary, 8 miles west of downtown Raleigh. Bus 300.

Auto racing is not a sport. But, if you think it is, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is at Brevard & Stonewall Streets. Stonewall station on LYNX.

Charlotte has the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a "mid-major" college basketball team, but in terms of college football, here's the distances to the closest Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly "Division I-A") teams: Wake Forest University, 82 miles away in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; University of South Carolina, 99 in Columbia; Clemson University, 139 in Clemson, South Carolina; University of North Carolina, 140 in Chapel Hill; Duke, 141 in Durham; North Carolina State, 160 in Raleigh; Virginia Tech, 173 in Blacksburg; University of Tennessee, 231 in Knoxville; and East Carolina, 247 in Greenville, North Carolina. (Wake Forest's Wait Chapel hosted Presidential Debates in 1988, between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis, and in 2000, between George W. Bush and Al Gore.)

North Carolina A&T, in Greensboro, about 92 miles northeast of Charlotte and 76 miles west of Raleigh, has won "the National Championship of black college football" 6 times: 1951, 1968, 1990, 1999, 2015 and 2017. Winston-Salem State University, in the city of the same name, 75 miles northeast of Charlotte and 104 miles west of Raleigh, has won it 4 times, all recently: 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016. North Carolina Central, in Durham, has won it 3 times: 1954, 2005 and 2006.

Fayetteville State University, in the city of the same name, 136 miles east of Charlotte and 57 miles south of Raleigh, won it in 2002, although they compete in NCAA Division II. And Shaw University, in Raleigh, won it in 1947, and also now competes in Division II.

In addition to the old Charlotte Coliseum in 1956, Elvis Presley sang in Charlotte earlier in the year, doing (believe it) 4 shows at the Carolina Theater on February 10, 1956: 2:30, 4:30, 7:00 and 9:00. 224 N. Tryon Street, downtown.

In addition to Charlotte -- and Raleigh, which I've covered in my guide for the Hurricanes -- Elvis sang at the following North Carolina locations: In New Bern, at the Shrine Auditorium in New Bern on May 14 and September 13, 1955; in Asheville, at the City Auditorium on May 17 and September 16, 1955, and at the Asheville Civic Center on July 22, 23 and 24, 1975; in Thomasville at the High School Auditorium on September 17, 1955; in Wilson at Fleming Stadium on September 14, 1955, and 3 shows at the Charles L. Coon Auditorium on February 14, 1956; in Greensboro, 4 shows in 1 day at the National Theater on February 6, 1956, and at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 14, 1972; March 13, 1974; July 21, 1975; June 30, 1976; and April 21, 1977; in High Point, 4 shows in 1 day at the Convention Center on February 7, 1956; in Williams, at the High School Auditorium on February 15, 1956; in Winston-Salem, 3 shows in 1 day at the Carolina Theater on February 16, 1956; in Lexington, at the YMCA Gym on March 21, 1956; and in Fayetteville, at the Cumberland County Memorial Arena in Fayetteville on August 3, 4 and 5, 1976.

If you're paying attention, you saw that he did 4 shows in 1 day on February 6, 7, 8 and 10, 1956. That's 16 shows in a span of 5 days. He was 21. It was easier to do that than to do 2 in 1 day when he was packing on the pounds in his early 40s in 1975, '76 and '77.

Charlotte features some downtown museums. The Levine Museum of the New South is about Southern life since the American Civil War, and it doesn't shy away from racial issues. 200 E. 7th Street at College Street. Discovery Place, a child-oriented science museum, is 2 blocks away at 301 N. Tryon Street at 6th Street.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art is at 420 S. Tryon Street at 1st Street. The Mint Museum Uptown is not, as its name might suggest, a museum dedicated to money. Rather, it's a former mint converted into an art museum. 500 S. Tryon Street, across 1st Street from the Bechtler Museum.

Bank of America Corporate Center, at 871 feet, is not only the tallest building in town, but the tallest building between Philadelphia and Atlanta. 100 N. Tryon Street at 5th Street.

Charlotte has never produced a President. The Carolinas have produced 3. No one is precisely sure where Andrew Jackson was born -- not even whether it happened in North or South Carolina, only that it was in the Waxhaw region along the State Line. He was the 1st President born in a log cabin, but that cabin is long-gone. Andrew Jackson State Park, at 196 Andrew Jackson Park Road in Lancaster, South Carolina, is considered the likeliest place. It's about 33 miles south of Charlotte and not reachable by public transportation.

James K. Polk State Historical Site is in Pineville, which, like Charlotte, is in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It's about 12 miles south, at 12031 Lancaster Highway. It's easier to reach without a car: The Number 20 bus can get you to within half a mile.

Andrew Johnson was born in the State capital of Raleigh, 167 miles to the northeast. His birthplace was a log cabin (which didn't help him as much as it helped his predecessor, Abraham Lincoln) on the grounds of Casso's Inn, where his father worked, at Morgan Street and Fayetteville Street, across from the State House. It was moved to Mordecai Historic Park at 1 Mimosa Street, a mile north of downtown. Number 1 Bus.

All 3 Carolina-born Presidents have their main historical sites in Tennessee: Polk is buried on the State House grounds in Nashville; Jackson's home, The Hermitage, is in the Nashville suburbs; and Johnson's Museum is in Greeneville.

Yankee Legend Jim "Catfish" Hunter was from Hertford, North Carolina, 315 miles east of Charlotte, in the coastal Inner Banks region, and is buried in Cedarwood Cemetery there, on Hyde Park Road. Another major baseball legend, though not a New York one, Willie Stargell, is buried at Oleander Memorial Gardens, at 306 Bradley Drive, in Wilmington, 206 miles east of Charlotte. (Wilmington is also the hometown of Michael Jordan and David Brinkley.) And, considerably closer to Charlotte, about 25 miles north, football legend Reggie White is buried at Glenwood Memorial Park in Mooresville.

A few TV shows have been filmed in North Carolina, most notably Dawson's Creek in Wilmington.
The Andy Griffith Show, of course, was set in the fictional North Carolina town of Mayberry and based on Griffith's hometown of Mount Airy, but was filmed in Southern California.

Shows set in Charlotte are few and far between. Currently, The Carmichael Show, based on the standup comedy of Jerrod Carmichael, is airing on NBC. Homeland has had scenes shot in Charlotte. Scenes from the Hunger Games films, whose "District 12" includes the Carolinas, have been shot in Charlotte.

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Charlotte had no major league sports teams as recently as the Summer of 1988. By the Fall of 1996, it had the NBA and the NFL, and MLB in the future is not yet out of the question.

It's true that North Carolina isn't the hotbed of professional basketball that it is for the college game. But a Knicks vs. Hornets or Nets vs. Hornets game could be a fun experience.