Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz had some fighting words to say about the Barclays Center opening contest against the “Manhattan” Knicks:
“I’m thrilled that fans won’t have to wait long for our Brooklyn Nets to take the floor against the Manhattan Knicks, and kudos to the NBA for scheduling their first matchup on November 1 in the true home of NBA basketball in New York City—Brooklyn’s spectacular new Barclays Center. Between the two teams there will certainly be lots of excitement and star power in the house that night, and no doubt the arena will be filled to the ‘rim’ with Nets fans and their Brooklyn swagger drowning out the desperate cheers of the few Knicks faithful brave enough to venture into enemy territory. You know who I’ll be rooting for, so move over Knicks—you may have a ‘Kidd’ but now you have to play the big boys! And it won’t be long before a championship banner so elusive for the Knicks over the past forty years will be hanging in its rightful place from the rafters at Barclays Center.”
As much as I love all this confidence from the Nets brass, as it is certainly a change in pace, I kind of wish they would shut up and let their playing do the talking. In case they don’t realize, the game isn’t for another four months and this lineup has played as many games together as I’ve played one-on-one with LeBron James.
Having said that, I’m glad Markowitz has embraced the Nets, which is more than I could say for Gov. Christie in New Jersey. At the very least, all he is doing is hyping up the borough for their new team and that is pretty awesome.