<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Security officers line the walkway that connects Trask Coliseum's basketball floor to the outside world, the UNCW campus and a climate-controlled bus. If groupies were going to loiter, this would be the spot. The Bobcats are in town, to which at least two people I know said: "Who are the Bobcats?" That's the biggest problem facing the third-year franchise from Charlotte, a city that used to support an attendance leader and now is a poster town for the new NBA: Never-ending Basketball Apathy. The team hasn't won and hasn't swayed a region that seems hooked on all things Panthers. This despite a new arena downtown, several notable players and an ownership team that kicks the Shinns out of the former group. The only groupies here: An anti-horde that includes writers for the team's Web site and exactly one reporter from Charlotte. No Charlotte TV stations have been here. Perhaps they know their market. The Panthers' next game is days away, against the lowly Cleveland Browns. The Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway isn't until Oct. 14. We've attended practice every day, listening to the players and affable coach/general manager Bernie Bickerstaff. I like watching drills, deciding who's playing well and hearing about competition for playing time. Truth: I'm a basketball fan. I want to see if Emeka Okafor and Sean May can play injury-free. I want to see if Brevin Knight or Raymond Felton plays more at point guard. Certainly I'm not alone in wondering about the impact of first-round draft pick Adam Morrison. But am I alone in curiosity about the Bobcats? Feels like it. "I don't think anybody even knows we're here," small forward Gerald Wallace said. "Besides those that maybe read the paper or the guys here on the college campus."</div> Source
