« Rapper Jay-Z Decides to Boycott Cristal | Main | BABES OF B'KLYN »
June 18, 2006
From New York City Sporting News
by Mark Clayton
"We’re helping Forest City Ratner come to Brooklyn because they promise that they will get jobs for the community and it’s always better to be sitting at the table since the Nets are coming here anyway….." This is a statement that has been heard from people who are entrenched in the Brooklyn sports community, ever since the announcement was made that Forest City Ratner was purchasing the Nets and moving them to Brooklyn.Well folks your hopes and dreams are fading fast because the Nets have pulled the ultimate "dis" on the Brooklyn sports community. For over a year sports directors and coaches from Brooklyn had been standing behind podiums, making speeches and gathering kids to form clinics, all in the name of supporting the Brooklyn Nets and their possible move to Brooklyn. They all have hopes of being a part of the Nets system if they ever get to Brooklyn.
Hold on to your hats because this is a good one; The Forest City Ratner Group has gone across the water to Manhattan to allow the folks at Basketball City the opportunity to be in charge of basketball clinics in Brooklyn. For those of you who are serious Brooklyn basketball fans you can ask yourself "when has Basketball City ever cared about Brooklyn?". You know the answer.
This is the ultimate slap in the face to those of the Brooklyn sports community who have been operating basketball clinics for years and have been crucial to the development of Brooklyn kids. Here it is that the Ratner Group is still in need of support from the Brooklyn sports community but their disrespect is so deep that they would rather risk the support in order to have the owners of Basketball City in charge of their Brooklyn clinics. Obviously they do not feel that anyone from Brooklyn is capable of overseeing their clinics for kids. If they do not feel that the Brooklyn sports community is capable of running kids camps then ask yourself what will they allow you to do if they get to Brooklyn? The answer is "nothing".
Posted by amy at June 18, 2006 11:19 AM