Unfortunately, the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn cleared another major legal hurdle yesterday. As much as I wanted them to thrive (in Newark), and start picking up the pieces, I've just about given up at this point, and am just waiting for the Nets to leave so I can give up on pro basketball entirely. That is, if Forrest City doesn't bungle this step as they have all other aspects of the process. It's truly sad what Bruce Ratner has done to what was a successful franchise only several years ago. This isn't just about uprooting a team; the Atlantic Yards project is on a Dickensian level of evil owing to the fact that it's going to destroy a perfectly good neighboorhood for no good reason at all. New York is telling the little guy to take a hike for the whims of a private developer, for a project that isn't even viable without state subsidy, and is projected to have a negative economic impact.
Once again, kudos go out to Steve Politi from the Ledger, who's made this story his own. At one hand, I just want to be out of my misery at this point, but then Politi has to go and drop a scoop about the Nets moving to The Rock next year. Has to be hedging their bets, as there remains a glimmer of hope is that the sordid mess gets Xanadu'd (2), with no investor interest in a completely superfluous project having zero in the way of grassroots community demand or interest. The real estate bubble is over, and both seemed garish and risky back when any idiot could get overleveraged credit and pass along the risk to the next sucker that came along
I have to take issue with somethng Timothy Du said the other day; it's not fair to blame Lawrence Frank for this mess (by the way, Byron Scott was a bad coach, our boy Eddie Jordan was running the show back then). No, Lawrence Frank is awesome, and I'd take that Jersey guy in a second at the helm of Rutgers men's basketball.
That's all I'm saying for the time being; my post on Fred Hill a few weeks back was so long because I wanted to cover points so that I didn't have to keep revisiting the subject throughout the year. What else is there really to say about a team that can't make free throws or prevent turnovers? Hill's tenure is so pathetic that he can't even match Steve Kragthorpe's futility as the worst coach employed by any Big East conference team. He's failed at failing. Unfortunately, due to finances Rutgers is most likely going to keep backsliding over the next two years. A lot of good Rosario and Echenique do when they can't beat Vermont (who were just blown out by a Providence team that lost everyone), and there aren't any more Rosarios or Echeniques coming down the pike. Honestly, two more years of this level of futility will set the program back so far that any buyout will look like a pittance. The facilities hurt, sure, but not nearly as much as having a head coach far in over his head.
Forget Syracuse; football season needs to never end at this point. Not when USF fans are joking about our basketball team. USF! Oh well, at least there's always the wrestling team.