New Jersey governor Chris Christie knows how to play the political game. It’s about knowing your constituents.
After 35 years in the state, the Nets are leaving New Jersey for Brooklyn, their last game in The Garden State was Monday night. Which they fittingly lost. While we’ve all known this exodus has been coming for a couple years, it doesn’t mean the people of New Jersey have come to like it or accept it graciously. So, Christie was playing to the crowd when he told the Associated Press:“I’m not going to the Nets game (Monday night) and my message to the Nets is ‘goodbye.’ They want to leave here and go to Brooklyn? Good riddance…
"(The Prudential Center is) one of the most beautiful arenas in America they have a chance to play in, it’s in one of the country’s most vibrant cities, and they want to leave here and go to Brooklyn? Good riddance, see you later. I think there’ll be some other NBA team who may be looking to relocate and they might look at that arena and the fan base in the New Jersey and New York area and say, ‘This is an opportunity to increase our fan base and try something different.’ ”
Good luck getting a team governor. I know Shaq says he is working on it, but you can ask Kobe Bryant about his work ethic. Getting a team into that building will not be simple — crowded market and who wants to move there and move into the shadow of the established Knicks and Nets. In the shadow of New York. Especially when you could go to a place like Seattle or Kansas City and be king. It’s a nice dream, but it’s not happening.
You still have the NHL’s Devils and Rutgers football. That will have to do for now.