A NET LOSS: On Friday I went to my first NBA game of the year, as the New Jersey Nets defeated the Chicago Bulls by 20 points at the Meadowlands. It was my first time ever at Continental Arena, and while I'd heard bad things before, I was shocked by the passivity of the crowd. Now, I have often lamented that skyrocketing ticket costs have priced out more and more of teams' logical fanbases over the years, robbing sporting events (especially basketball) of their traditional, authentic blue-collar feel. You'd think that Nets games, with their much-lower-than-the-Knicks ticket prices, would be the exception, but the crowd was both small (about 2/3rds capacity) and surprisingly quiet for a crowd watching a team that was in the NBA Finals last year and is in strong contention again now- and Friday's game was a blowout win. I went to five Timberwolves games a year back in the dark, dark pre-Garnett days, and even those crowds were always more into the game than Friday's Jersey folks. Perhaps things will change when the Nets and Devils get their new state-of-the-art, reachable-by-public-transit arena in Newark.
Also, those who attend Knicks games are used to spotting celebrities, from Woody Allen to Spike Lee to Billy Crystal. The Meadowlands' top celeb in attendance was Joe Piscopo, who at halftime MC'd an "American Idol" knockoff called "Jersey Idol," in which all five singing contestants were booed.
Still though, I always enjoy the NBA, and I had an overall good time. And I can imagine few things more heartwarming than the opportunity to spend Valentine's Day with Wife Beatin' Jason Kidd.