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March 2, 2011
Nets' rebirth should include Renaissance of classic hoops name
CBSSports.com
by Jan Hubbard
[Prokhorov] has to create instant tradition and his location provides a perfect setting. His new arena is being built in the Atlantic Yards area of Brooklyn, where a renaissance is taking place. Less than 15 miles from that arena is a place where one of the great basketball teams in history was formed -- the Harlem Renaissance, also known as the Harlem Renaissance Big Five and the New York Renaissance.
That is the perfect name for the rebirth of Prokhorov's franchise. The New York Renaissance is a name grand in tradition. The shortened name, the Rens, is friendly to tabloids and one-column headlines alike.
NoLandGrab: OK, we get the paying tribute to a famous all-black basketball squad from an era well before any professional sports were integrated, but could there be a more insulting name to residents around the arena? The actual renaissance of those neighborhoods was well under way long before Bruce Ratner cooked up his land-grab scheme, and implying that the abysmal Nets — however you package them — would somehow be fueling the Borough's climb would be just one more slap in the face to the "Atlantic Yards area."
Posted by eric at March 2, 2011 10:23 PM