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January 3, 2009
NJ Nets: Mail's In (Pharmaceutical Edition)
NJ.com
Dave D'Alessandro/Star-Ledger
Dave: I found your story about fan support at home interesting in that it did not point any blame at ownership, who have essentially made them a lame duck for the state they play in. As long as Brooklyn keeps getting thrown in our face, it's hard for even me to get excited about what is actually a pretty good team. Love to see them embrace NJ and either stay put or go to Newark. Seems to me people have forgotten just how few people went to Nets games in the early 90s. What turns up these days at the Meadowlands those teams would have killed for. There was a legit base building during the Kidd era and Ratner just killed it, since his interest has always been real estate and not the Nets -- and certainly not New Jersey. Eddie TrunkET: All valid points, and you're crawling around an interesting issue pertaining to fan psychology. Do they really have to feel emotionally attached to a team in order to go out to a game once in a while? I can't speak with any authority on that, because I haven't rooted for a team since before you were born. If I weren't professionally obligated to attend these games, I'd go fairly regularly, but only if they promised not to shoot T-shirts at my head.
Dave: How can you justify New Jersey's largest paper giving so much space to a guy solely dedicated to taking the Nets out of Jersey? Shame on you. Thomas Greco
Tom: You already know I'm the most parochial clod in the room, but we can't take this stuff personally. You are hereby invited to vote with your wallet - knowing full well that your disdain (and the indifference of your friends) are the primary inspirations for their leaving in the first place.
Dave: Yormark is a salesman. Not much else. If he has a functioning IQ, he'd realize his Atlantic Yards is a long shot. Also why no mention of the poison pill this guy signed with Meadowlands? You know the one, the clause that allows Nets to break lease for any destination penalty-free except for Prudential Center? How is that good for New Jersey or the Nets? It isn't on either count. Their home regard arises from tipping off in an empty barn. There is no other valid explanation. I think Newark would give this team a buzz at home it needs. Patrick Sullivan
Pat: Why would the NJSEA give them an out from their lease if there was a chance they'd take their business to a competing arena?
DD -- Nice job, you didn't drink the Kool-Aid. Ratner and Yormark's obsession with Brooklyn is the reason I gave up my season tickets after 15 years, even though the team won't get to Brooklyn until 2011 -- at the earliest (or if ever). They ripped the team apart with Brooklyn in mind. The last two seasons of mediocrity was enough for me to bid adieu to the Meadowlands before they do. If they were staying in New Jersey, I would have remained a loyal fan through re-building. After all, I lived through the Butch Beard era, and started to follow the team closely when Coleman was a rookie. The Nets were my hobby; a very expensive hobby, but a hobby nonetheless. I have to think that season tickets are way down; my former seat neighbor told me that my seats have been empty all season except for one game, and four other couples in my former neighborhood didn't renew either. And indeed, hot dogs were $4.25 and the beer was $7.75. David Wald.
DeeDubya: Here's the thing. They like to talk about how their core constituency is pleased with the game presentation, the TLC, and the future of the team - even if it involves a schlep across two rivers in a few years. And maybe their demographics support that assertion. But it's pretty obvious to the rest of us that they are shoveling sand against the tide - and that people just like David Wald represent the tide, and he's going out.
Posted by amy at January 3, 2009 10:08 AM