Not Yet Ready to Rumble

As many professional sports team as there are in New York, I would argue that there are no real New York sports rivalries.  The Mets and the Yankees are in separate leagues, so they don't compete head-to-head often enough to really be considered rivals (the 2000 World Series not withstanding).  The same can be said of the Giants and the Jets, who have never met in the Super Bowl and play each other in the regular season just once every four seasons.  While the Rangers, Devils and Islanders compete head to head for the NHL's Atlantic Division crown every year, I don't consider New York hockey to be a true rivalry, either.  With three teams it's hard to create real drama on a yearly basis, and the Rangers vs. Islanders rivalry has been dulled by the fact that the Isles haven't been competitive in a decade.

This is why I'm so excited about the prospect of a true New York NBA rivalry between the Knicks and the newly relocated Brooklyn Nets.  While it still remains to be seen if the Nets can drum up enough of a fan base to make Knicks vs. Nets close to a 50/50 proposition, I like what I'm seeing so far.  The Nets will open the 2012-13 season, and the brand new Barclays Center, with a game against the Knicks on November 1, and the trash talk between the two franchises has already begun.  Nets president Brett Yormark requested the Knicks as his team's first home opponent, apparently not worried about having his new arena taken over by the blue-and-orange-clad Knicks faithful.  Later in the week, Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz taunted the Knicks and their fans by saying: "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."

Yormark was certainly right last week when he said that "[The Nets] are now part of the conversation, and I can’t say [they] were in New Jersey.”  Part of the talk will revolve around the Nets new arena, which I had the opportunity to take a tour of this past Thursday afternoon.  With just over two months to go before the arena officially opens (to host a preseason NHL game between the Islanders and the Devils, actually), the Barclays Center still has a long way to go before being NBA game ready (see the photo, below).  But while there's still a lot of construction left to go, it's already clear that the incredible new Brooklyn arena - combined with the sure-to-be-awesome renovations currently going on at Madison Square Garden - will only add to the Knicks-Nets rivalry.

While it still needs work, it's clear that the Barclays Center is going to be a great venue.

Barclays is going to have a lot of elements that MSG won't, including a glass-walled practice court that fans can look directly into, an open area behind one of the baskets (or, in the case of a concert, behind the stage) that allows fans to get a great glimpse of the playing surface immediately after walking into the arena, and subway access from nine subway lines (MSG is accessible from only six).  As a Knicks fan, I actually hope that Manhattanites don't overtake Barclays this season and give a true Brooklyn-based Nets fan base the chance to develop.  I'm excited about the prospect of having a real New York-area rivalry to debate - something I haven't really had since Islanders vs. Rangers was actually a thing back in the 1990s.