Hornets Believe: Stojakovic, Armstrong, Ely Visit Ochsner Patients
By: Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com
March 25, 2009
Among the numerous Ochsner Hospital patients who were visited by Peja Stojakovic, Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely on Tuesday, March 24, there certainly was no shortage of avid Hornets fans.
As Stojakovic, Armstrong and Ely stopped to chat with sick patients of various ages in the New Orleans hospital, Stojakovic was often asked “So Peja, how’s your back injury doing?” or “Are you playing tomorrow night against Denver?” Meanwhile, many of the same patients spotted Armstrong and asked “Is your finger OK?”
Armstrong had just suffered the injury – a laceration to his right ring finger – less than 48 hours earlier, during the Hornets’ Sunday victory over Golden State.
The three players, all listed as either 6-foot-10 or 6-11, drew started looks from patients and the hospital staff at Ochsner, in between dropping off Hornets-related gifts. Stojakovic pushed around a red wagon that was filled with the gifts, including team posters, mini-basketballs and teddy bears that were outfitted in Stojakovic’s No. 16 white home jersey.
“Hey, how come there aren’t any bears wearing No. 12 jerseys?” Armstrong jokingly asked, referring to his uniform number.
After stopping in the rooms, the trio of Hornets posed for pictures with kids and autographed the gifts. Upon wandering into an Ochsner room in which a couple was sitting with their newborn infant, the players were asked by the parents if one of them would hold their baby boy and pose for a picture. Stojakovic volunteered for baby-holding duty, which prompted Armstrong to point out, “Peja’s definitely the expert on that. He and his wife have three kids, so he’s done this before!”
Armstrong, who at age 24 is several years younger than Stojakovic (31) and Ely (30) and has listed his favorite TV show as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” enjoyed trying to guess the names of some of the TV programs and movies that were playing in kids’ rooms.
In one room, Armstrong began discussing the plot of a movie that a young patient was watching. Armstrong told the girl that he remembered enjoying the film, but he couldn’t remember if the scene they were watching was at the beginning or end of the movie.
After hearing this conversation, a laughing Stojakovic joked, “You know, Hilton, if you want to stay here and watch the rest of the movie, Melvin and I can go to some of the other rooms. We’ll make sure we come back and get you when we’re done.”
By: Jim Eichenhofer, Hornets.com
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Among the numerous Ochsner Hospital patients who were visited by Peja Stojakovic, Hilton Armstrong and Melvin Ely on Tuesday, March 24, there certainly was no shortage of avid Hornets fans.
As Stojakovic, Armstrong and Ely stopped to chat with sick patients of various ages in the New Orleans hospital, Stojakovic was often asked “So Peja, how’s your back injury doing?” or “Are you playing tomorrow night against Denver?” Meanwhile, many of the same patients spotted Armstrong and asked “Is your finger OK?”
Armstrong had just suffered the injury – a laceration to his right ring finger – less than 48 hours earlier, during the Hornets’ Sunday victory over Golden State.
The three players, all listed as either 6-foot-10 or 6-11, drew started looks from patients and the hospital staff at Ochsner, in between dropping off Hornets-related gifts. Stojakovic pushed around a red wagon that was filled with the gifts, including team posters, mini-basketballs and teddy bears that were outfitted in Stojakovic’s No. 16 white home jersey.
“Hey, how come there aren’t any bears wearing No. 12 jerseys?” Armstrong jokingly asked, referring to his uniform number.
After stopping in the rooms, the trio of Hornets posed for pictures with kids and autographed the gifts. Upon wandering into an Ochsner room in which a couple was sitting with their newborn infant, the players were asked by the parents if one of them would hold their baby boy and pose for a picture. Stojakovic volunteered for baby-holding duty, which prompted Armstrong to point out, “Peja’s definitely the expert on that. He and his wife have three kids, so he’s done this before!”
Armstrong, who at age 24 is several years younger than Stojakovic (31) and Ely (30) and has listed his favorite TV show as “SpongeBob SquarePants,” enjoyed trying to guess the names of some of the TV programs and movies that were playing in kids’ rooms.
In one room, Armstrong began discussing the plot of a movie that a young patient was watching. Armstrong told the girl that he remembered enjoying the film, but he couldn’t remember if the scene they were watching was at the beginning or end of the movie.
After hearing this conversation, a laughing Stojakovic joked, “You know, Hilton, if you want to stay here and watch the rest of the movie, Melvin and I can go to some of the other rooms. We’ll make sure we come back and get you when we’re done.”
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