Farewell to the Big Box in the Swamp

as the catcher of the last burrito?

When I was in game 6 against against the raptors…rj intercepted the ball at the end to seal the win and advance to the second round.

Had some nice memories with my dad there..,but looking foward to the rock.

the biggest was the star struck feeling when i was lucky enough to get the arena credentials when i was like 10 years old, walking through the tunnel seeing all the hockey nets, Zamboni’s, rehearsing cheerleaders. I was like a pig in….you get it.

It was great to stick by them and see the building house two serious contenders simultaneously. I wish the Nets could have brought a championship to Brendan Byrne like the devils,(though many outside the franchise countlessly mock that notion) but they didn’t. They did however play host to a team that made me proud to watch.

I just ordered two nets tickets for the last game, i’m not sure if i’ll find anybody to go with me but even if not i’ll be going anyways. Personally i feel like i grew up on sports in that building so i have to see it off

I will be attending tomorrows nights game and I can say it will be an emotional night for me. I started out as a Devils fan thanks to my dad who loves hockey. He is a Rangers fan but he brought me to Devils game seeing as we lived in New Jersey and it was cheaper than MSG. I remember being so excited whenever I would come home from school and he would tell me we were going to a game. That excitement would build as we would walk over the bridge, which at that time was 3 bridges…one to start, a short one in the middle, and a final walk down into the parking lot. Walking up to those big blue doors and riding the escalator up to the concourse.

I remember to this day what my pre-game ritual was at every game. Maybe it was a sign of things to come and how avid of a fan of the Nets I would become. But at every game while watching ice practice, I would ask “Dad, tell me the story of number 3.” You see a few years before that when I got old enough to understand retired jersey’s my dad had told that one of them died in a car accident. For some reason it always stuck with me. I couldn’t wrap it around my head that a player could be playing basketball one minute, and gone the next. Maybe it was because I saw sports figures as heroes, who could never die. Their version of death to me was old timers looking like their knocking on deaths door, but nothing else. To this day I look up at the #3 hanging their and think about that very ritual.

I have so many great moments in that building. From my first game, to my first playoff game. My first playoff game didn’t come to a bit in my Nets fan life. Up to this time I couldn’t ever afford Nets playoffs tickets and in 04-05 my dad got me and a friend 2 tickets in the last rows of section 241 where their are just 2 seats. I remember erupting as a one handed Jefferson, broken wrist and all, slammed down a break away dunk screaming into the air. The fans booing Alonzo as he checked in. I watched as Vince Carter bounced a shot of the top of the backboard and in to send the game into double overtime. Which sent me running from section 241 all the way to section 237 along the top stairway of the arena high fiving fans. I remember 07 watching Kidd vs Nash. Me and my friend in a section with no people in it (but still sitting in the next to last row) screaming with every shot and every defensive stop. So many memories to name.

As I end this before it becomes a rant (I know too late) I will say that no matter where the Nets play they will always be a second family to me. But Continental will always be its home to me. As I watch Monday from my courtside seats, I am going to feel a bit odd. Something deep inside tells me I should be sitting as I did for many years. Last row of the arena. Screaming my head off. Thanks for the memories! GO NETS!

Chris Morris shooting warmups from behind the bench.

Drazen.

Walking out of a regular season game in early ‘02 with a Knicks fan who couldn’t imagine the Nets (who had the best record in the East at the time) on ABC in June… and then remembering that moment when the Meadowlands hosted its first Finals game a few months later.

The first two games of the Knicks series in ’04. The place was 50% Knicks fans and they were loud to start the game, but they were leaving by the start of the 4th quarter each night.

how he wanted to see Barkley play. During the game, I remember looking over at a Nets fan in full regalia and thinking, God, how could you get so worked up over the NETS?

Oh Well.

It was a great game but the Nets lost with two seconds left on Mayor KJ’s shot. As Barkley left, he stopped several times to autograph things including a kid’s jacket. My son was thrilled…and hooked. So was I. We kept going. On Friday, we went again to say good bye. Obviously had a great time.

I had many great memories at Continental Airlines Arena too (I refuse to call it Izod, which sounds to me like a circus palace sometimes). I started off in 95 as a New Jersey Devils fan after watching a couple of games with my brother. Together we watched the Devils take the cup that year, an improbable run after clinching the 5th seed in the conference. They ended up sweeping the best team in the league, the Detroid Red Wings, in four games in the finals. amazing. The Devils went on to win two more cups in this building, one on the road against Dallas in 2000, and another at home in 2003 against the Ducks.

When the Nets acquired Kidd, I became an instant Nets fan. I always wanted to get into basketball, but never watched the NBA until Kidd became a Net. He brought me to love the team. I only went to a handful of Nets games during my time (two playoff games, one against the Pistons in the 2nd round which was a hell of a game), but some of those games were just so memorable and great to be a part of.

When it comes down to it, for the past decade and a half, Continental Airlines Arena was a home of champions. At one point, both the Devils and the Nets were in the finals during the same year. Not many other states can claim that they had both an NHL and NBA team in the finals during the same time. It was an exciting time to be a New Jersey fan in general. The Rock is a wonderful home for the Devils, and I eagerly look forward to the Nets transition to a building that they should have been in many years ago.

Game 6 was a unforgettable moment. I’m actually in that highlight I’m sitting a couple rows behind the basket. I remember losing my voice too. After the game it was awesome because their was a good amount of Raptors fans their and everyone started chanting “USA! USA!” on the way up the tunnel towards the parking lot. As well as “BRING ON CLEV-LAND! BRING ON CLEV-LAND!”….Definitely one of the best moments I have ever been apart of…..

to move on.
Started going to games in 1995 watching Ed O’Bannon stink it up. Then came Kerry Kittles and KVH. I must say this team, like a living organism, has been through different phases. From a grub, to a caterpillar, and those special two years at the beginning of the century when they metamorphosed into a beast. Then came the low years, which we been living in since. Throughout it all though, the Nets have always been a good fall back. I don’t think I’ve missed watching a game when I could. I remember my old man, taking me from Somerset, NJ the hour drive as he bought me half season tickets. I can even remember the day he was diagnosed with Diabetes, left the Hospital, and came to take me to a Nets Bulls game that was in that ticket package. I never knew why he was so intent on taking me to the game, but I look back now, and see it was just as much for him as it was for me. Basketball was our father/son sport, and it’s something I’ll cherish, and I can thank the Nets for making bball possible in New Jersey. That being said, I will never fault the TEAM for how they treated the fans of late, it’s as much management and business as it is anything. I just know that I’ll be there next year with the team in Newark, and I’ll be with them in the future. I look forward to seeing what shape this team will materialize into next. They don’t owe me anything. I on the other hand, owe them appreciation for being there, 15 years for me.