Because of Hurricane Sandy and its lingering effects on the New York metropolitan area's mass transit system, the LIRR was only offering trains every hour from the Island to the the city. Obviously, this complicated getting to Brooklyn a little bit. But, once I stepped out of the terminal and saw the bright blue lettering of the Barclays Center, my mind was on the game, and the arena as well.
Let me break my visit into a few categories to make the review a little more comprehensive:
Food- The section me and and my dad have season tickets in allows us to have free reign of the Barclays Center concession stands. Thusly, we decided on the Bed Stuy Grill, the burger place right next to the Honda Club (sections 16 and 17). We each got a single (double was an option, but obviously a little pricier) cheeseburger with fries in addition to a soda (less than 16 ounces of course) each. I was very pleased that Coke Zero was an option at the soda fountain as well, as Coke Zero is awesome.
Later, we each got soft pretzels from the same concession stand. A little pricey for a pretzel but still good nonetheless. Grade: A
Atmosphere- Much better than in New Jersey, no doubt. As the Nets played really well throughout the first half and into the third quarter, the crowd got a little excited and started a bunch of chants, which weren't the norm in Jersey. Obviously, my favorite, and the most intimidating to opposing teams to be sure, was the "BROOK-LYN" chant that rang through Barclays Center at some points in the third with the Nets' lead still firmly intact. However, those cheers turned to boos as the Nets fumbled away their once-strong advantage en route to a chilling loss. Grade: A-
Crowd- Not great size-wise (about 3,700 below full capacity) and in my section (Section 17) there were a ton of empty seats. Granted, that is acceptable considering the circumstances extenuating from Hurricane Sandy, the fact that the T-Wolves without Rubio and Love aren't a big draw, and that Monday night games tend to not be well-attended because of their mid-workweek status. Like I said above, though, those who were at the game made a lot of noise, positive early on and terribly negative later, and seemingly gave the Nets a homecourt boost at some points. Grade: B
Overall- Other than the terrible Nets collapse that I saw, Monday's game was a lot of fun and certainly a positive departure in game experience from the rough years in New Jersey. The food was good, staff helpful, crowd pretty into the game. I don't have any major complaints, besides the crowd size of course. Grade: A-