Shorting the Hornets

In today's most laughable fraud, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Jefferson Parish President John Young, and Hugh Weber, the NBA executive temporarily playing the role of a franchise owner gathered together to hype the sale of 10,000 pieces of over-valued commercial paper.

New Orleans Hornets team president Hugh Weber said Thursday now that the team has surpassed the 10,000-season ticket mark, it could have a new owner in the next 60 to 100 days.

"These deals are sometimes complicated," Weber said, "so there could be some issues that come up. But we have established a track record that, again, I think we'll get this done. Contingent upon any ownership transaction would be that the team is going to be here for the long term.

Like many victims of "complicated deals" during the recent financial crisis, the holders of this paper were no doubt disappointed later in the day when it may have finally dawned on them that the Hornets aren't really an NBA franchise per se, so much as a Structured Investment Vehicle where the lelague parks all the crap assets so the real dealmakers can reap all the profit.

Update: Also true to form, the regulatory response only serves to reinforce the great divide between the haves and have-nots. Where we momentarily thought the rich would get richer through an inequitable trade, we now see that they will get richer for free at the end of what is now certain to be a disastrous season. Way to go, guys.