Wonder where that crazy new Brooklyn Nets mascot/superhero comes from? A comic book tells the story, and in doing so helps perpetuate a "new normal" about the Atlantic Yards project, which lacks an office tower.
This comic book, created by Marvel, provides the backstory on the origins of BrooklyKnight. The comic book was given out at Barclays on opening day.
Note that the hokey and inopportune description read by Nets announcer David Diamante--"born from the beating heart of your borough.. forged from the same steel and stone as your arena... your passion given form"--comes directly from the comic book.
One comment on The Brooklyn Game: "Too corny for me. Too lame, too dumb, too stupid, too un-cool, too silly."
The towers
I've excerpted a few pages below. It's notable how three separate panels portray the arena as already surrounded by three yet-unbuilt residential towers, as in the latest renderings by SHoP, as shown on AtlanticYards.com.
There's no flagship office tower, of course, obviating the (temporary) arena plaza, even though the jobs in that office tower were crucial to the cost-benefit analyses used to justify Atlantic Yards. Apparently even the BrooklyKnight couldn't bring those jobs.
My essay, A Brand Called Brooklyn, appears in the November issue of the Brooklyn Rail. The first few paragraphs are below.
“It makes me mad / and it’s such a pity / they’re trying to rename Brooklyn / “Forest City,” lamented roots rocker John Pinamonti in his fight song/elegy “The Burrow,” performed in 2007 at Freddy’s Bar & Backroom in Prospect Heights, the clubhouse of the Atlantic Yards resistance.
His target: developer Forest City Ratner. After building MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn and the Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal malls, Forest City had just muscled through state approval of the Atlantic Yards project, which promised a basketball arena and 16 towers over just 22 acres, including an 8.5-acre M.T.A. railyard.
Now Freddy’s (since relocated) and its row-house neighbors have been obliterated for the Barclays Center, the spaceship/rusty turtle/Brooklyn monument that occupies the confluence of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, its hulking mass encroaching on residential Prospect Heights.
Meanwhile, the folks running the show are “trying to rename Brooklyn,” or at least exploit its reputation as a world-class destination. Built by Forest City, the Barclays Center is named for the shady British bank, while the Brooklyn Nets are owned by a Russian oligarch with his own dubious track record. All are doing their best to wrap themselves in variable elements of Brooklyn’s allure: earthy history, hardscrabble streets, and nouveau creativity.
"Life is more than just a dream/when your team's strong," sings Forté. "We write anthems/this is more than just a theme song." Cue the "Brook-lyn" chorus. Later: "There's only one city/that we lean on/we call that/Brooklyn."
Indeed, the song has a propulsive urgency and the "Brook-lyn" refrain's catchy, even if, as one member of my small focus group suggested, it has something of a "We Are the World" vibe. The song sure reminds us that the team is all about the borough; there's no mention of the name "Nets."
But can it really be the theme song for not just the team but the borough? It's just another example of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center laying claim to (and exploiting) borough identity. (See my essay on The Brand Called Brooklyn, from The Brooklyn Rail.)
The New York Post provided explanations from those behind the song:
“Creating the team's song felt like a way of saluting my birthplace and the beauties and complexities the borough represents,” said Forté, best known for being a member of the 90s-rap group the Fugees. “Most important, however, I wanted to salute the multifarious swaths of culture that elevate Brooklyn to the international level of notoriety, which it deserves. My love for Brooklyn made this an easy job – that, and becoming the Nets new number one fan.” "We are touched by John 's work as it captures the soulfulness and energy that represents Brooklyn," said Petra Pope, senior vice president of event marketing and community relations for the Nets. "This song will be heard around the borough, and it will be part of the new generation of Brooklyn Nets fans."
Below, the video used to introduce the players at games, excerpting the song. It leaves less to the imagination, pairing images of Nets players in street clothes and uniform, on the way to (and at) their important iconic destination, with glimpses of older Brooklyn icons--the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Museum, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch, Brooklyn Public Library central library.
Maybe if they spent more time on the actual streets, it would be more convincing. "They're so not Brooklyn," one member of my focus group suggested. "They're just wearing the shirts."
Well, players are fungible--the Nets' team is hugely different from the one last year, and guys can be shipped off in a flash. The more we hear the anthem, perhaps, the more it will seep into public consciousness. I can't believe Marty Markowitz didn't get a cameo.
