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Backlash #27 - January 6, 2003
NetsNut Returns
[Editor's note: He's back! One of our favorite Netsfans, self-described "most passionate fan" when he first emailed us last season, was missing in action throughout the long playoff run of 2002 and the beginning of this season. Here are his thoughts - in two parts - as we start 2003. Buckle in, hang on and read the most mind-bending manifesto on Lou Lamoriello, the Nets organization and Coach Byron Scott that you'll be unlikely to get anywhere else.]

Joe:
I know you guys haven't heard from me in a while but I've been pretty busy lately and I know that you miss me!!! So I'm back with my slant on things.

Let me tell you about my loves and hates with the Nets. I'll start with the hates, cause I'm ready to bust.

First off, I have lost that zeal that I once had before heading out to a Nets game. When I realize the Nets have a home game, I ask everyone in my household if they want to go, instead of me. I look for people to buy me seats but stupid me, they're too expensive for most people to afford. My stomach turns. It's not entertainment for me anymore, it's torture. If feel like I'm addicted to dope and need a fix or just my money back!!! I feel like I have been ripped off and can't do anything about it.

The whole time I have been a season ticketholder (since the 70's) I've always, always looked forward to going to a Nets game. There were years that I didn't miss one home game, not one. I would go to Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Washington, Cleveland, Atlanta, Miami to see the Nets also in the same seasons. I would average about 50+ games a year. I would plan my vacations in the off season, which wasn't hard to do because by April 15, it was the off season. My house is even painted in the Nets colors, for cryin' out loud. I'm a Nets fan, through and through. My wife took down our Nets flag, which we've been flying for about 10 years!!! So for me to tell you that I've lost my zeal for the Nets, is a pretty big thing to me. I'm a real die-hard Nets fan and I feel like I'm dying!!! I want my money back.

So let's start with why. Like I said earlier I've been a season ticketholder for a while (I used to go and see them in Long Island) and had front row seats when they were $25.00 each, and thought they were overpriced then!!! But now, those same seats are $700.00 EACH!!! Seats that I have that were $100.00 and $50.00, just a few years ago, are now $400.00 and $225.00 EACH!!! Up to last year, they used to include the Winner's Club passes and parking with those prices but this year, to really burn our asses, they decided that it would be in the best interest of the Nets organization (Organized Crime) to make us longtime loyal fans pay for those items on top of the ridiculous increase in prices for tickets. Just in case no one realizes this, the Nets have the most expensive tickets in the entire NBA right now except for the front row/side court and under the basket!!! Not bad, since they won only one playoff game prior to last year and sniffed a championship once in their 30+ year NBA existence. They are fuckin' criminals. I couldn't think of a better adjective!!! Sorry.

The Nets, as an organization (I would prefer to call them thieves), are led by the arch-criminal, Lewis Katz and his Capo, Lou Lamoriello. They are extortionists or thieves and should be jailed!!! That's my first and biggest peeve. Then there is what they give you for your dollar. The Nets, since raising ticket prices, have stopped any entertainment during half-time (which is no big deal), have some idiot (which you guys love by the way) upstairs in Section 212 come down and do a J-E-T-S chant at the Continental Arena for the NETS. This is the Nets dammit, not the Jets. And you can believe what you want, the Nets paid him to do that!!! These assholes have enough of a time trying to gain an identity and they use the Jets and a clone of "Ed the Fireman." They have their cheerleaders wearing the same outfits that they have worn for the past 10 years!!! Real sexy!!! What clowns. They stopped giving away little things like bobble heads because they have to pay for them. First they limited them to kids only, then they completely cut them out. They give away promotional items that they nail their sponsors for.

Overall, there customer service attitude is "Fuck em,' they'll pay." Actually, one of my friends, who is a top NJ Nets exec. told me that was Lamoriello's exact words when there was concern over raising ticket prices!!!

I still have many friends that work for the Nets and feel for them. I don't know how they can stay there. They got their salaries cut in half and have twice the responsibility. I bet that longtime season ticketholders all feel the same way I do. All of them. This is how screwed up it is. All the ticket reps used to come over and say hello before the games and bring a goody bag to a client. It was like one big family, it really was. The new regime wouldn't know anything about that, nor do they wish to. Now, there are no ticket reps, and if your old one, who still suffers there, gets caught talking to you, he risks being fired!!! There are spies I tell you, spies!!! Talk about thin ice. Anyway, I'm ranting now.

Byron "The Moron" Scott sucks as a coach. I was furious the day that Thorn hired him. I hated him then and even more, now. I hate his substitutions, time outs, prejudices, his wife, "Mrs. Moron," walking around the arena before every game chanting and praying for a win (please, Mrs. Moron, if you are God fearing, then you should only say thank you for what he has already given you, not beg for more), his wife asking fans around her to "stop calling my husband names," their arrogance (hers and his), his belief that he was somebody special in the NBA at one time. Granted, I'll give him credit for being part of that championship run with the Lakers, but they still would've won if Norm Nixon stayed and he didn't get his job. Who the hell does she think she is (Mrs. Moron) telling fans to stop yelling at her old man??? It's bad enough that us fans have to tolerate him as a coach here. Go sit in the booth next to that dork Katz and eat all their food and listen to what they are saying about your husband!!! Fans who've paid their hard-earned dollars to go see a game and blow off some steam and have some fun need to be reprimanded by some bitch who thinks she's somebody special cause she's the coaches wife???

I was at a Knicks game in Madison Square Garden one night and I was sitting next to Mark Jackson's Mom, when he was playing for the Knicks, and she told me, in a very arrogant way, to stop yelling bad things at her son and I told her to buy my seat and I'll move, otherwise shut up!!! If Mr. or Mrs. Moron want to pay for those people's seats then she can open her mouth and tell them what to say or how to act, till then, only open it to eat which seems to be what she does quite often anyway.

Byron Scott should be Eddie Jordan's assistant. I've spoken to other NBA coaches that are coaching today and guys that have recently left the game and they all think he's an idiot and predictable and terrible coach. If there are any naysayers out there who don't agree why was he fourth in the voting for "Coach of the Year"??? I'll tell you, because Rick Carlisle was better, because Jim O'Brien was better, because Isiah Thomas was better. The only reason this fool was mentioned was because of Jason Kidd and Eddie Jordan and the tremendous turnaround that Kidd established. They deserve the credit for what's going on, on the basketball court. Rod Thorn knows that too!!! Don't you remember that Seattle or Portland game, on the last road trip, when there was a couple of seconds left and the camera was on Thorn and the words that he mouthed were "What the fuck are you doing?" You don't think that was toward Lou Lamoriello, do you??? And he was voted "Executive of the Year," wasn't he???

By the way, the Nets players know that "The Moron" is a moron, too!!! If you don't believe me, watch next time that you are at a game during the timeouts and you'll see Byron (looking clueless) standing around while Eddie Jordan, Mike O'Koren and Lawrence Frank are talking and diagramming plays, then they tell Byron "The Moron" what to tell the players. It's amusing. When there is a camera, you can watch it. Does anyone remember Marbury's quote last year when he congratulated the team on making the finals and said "Coach Jordan has done great things with them..." Last thing on "The Moron." Does anyone here or any of your readers really believe that if Jeff Van Gundy, Larry Brown, Pat Riley, Eddie Jordan or me for that matter, were coaching this team, the Nets wouldn't be better??? I believe that coach "Moron" cost the Nets 4/5 of the Nets losses this season alone. Last year during the regular season, they lost over 16 games because of his ineptitude. Here's why. If the Nets need one basket, the coaching staff draws up the play, then Byron "The Moron" goes into the huddle and says, "Jason you take the shot and the rest of you stand around the perimeter for a dish-out if J gets in trouble." Now, let me see, if I'm the rest of the NBA, who, out of all the players on the Nets, who am I going to put everyone on??? Hmmm. Let me think. That's what they do every time they have an opportunity to win a game with a last shot, every time.

Last year, purely by accident, Van Horn was that guy standing around, and he delivered. Like him or not, Keith Van Horn has won more games with last-second shots than any other Net in Nets history. That's a fact. So Byron "The Moron's" theory is, let's trade him. "The Moron" does his own thing for timeouts, substitutions and end-of-game situations. He throws out everything that they've practiced and prepares for. So if you want to see what has Byron "The Moron's" fingerprints on it, just look at those instances. Almost every coach, worth anything, never lets a 10-point lead get cut to 9 or less without a momentum-stopping time out. Scott "The Moron" always lets the opposing team cut the lead down below 10. That's what teams play for when they are getting beaten up bad. Not our illustrious "Moron" coach. Substitutes whether a player is on fire or not. Oops, it's the 6:00 mark, time for a substitution!!! What strategy. Clueless. I better stop here about that, I could go on for hours.

Want to hear something funny??? Lou Lamoriello was quoted in the Bergen Record saying that he, "couldn't understand why attendance is down." Now that's funny. Last year, because of increased ticket prices, they lost over 3,500 season ticketholders. Lamoriello has everything to do with the place staying empty, everything. Aaa, Lou, Aaa, do you think if you lowered the ticket prices instead of doubling them that might have an effect on attendence??? Huh, Lou??? Well, do ya??? What a buffoon. They couldn't even sell out the Lakers/Nets game. Now that's sad...

Those are the things I hate. I hope I wasn't too bitter.
- NetsNut, December 31, 2002

NetsNut,
Uhh, no, NetsNut, you don't come off as bitter at all. Maybe a guy with a serious ax to grind, but not bitter. First off, let me say that the views expressed in this email, while often on-target, are NetsNut's alone. I do think the front office arrogance is a problem – I've seen it and heard about it too many times, though it sounds like you know more about what goes on behind the scenes than the rest of us do. As for your problems with Byron Scott, well, he's an arrogant S.O.B., for certain, which hopefully rubs off on his players. Strategy ain't his bag – that becomes pretty apparent reading your critique. But the man did get the Nets to the NBA Finals without them tuning him out (although, perhaps Kidd in the locker room had a lot to do with that?).

Now, I'll turn it over to you, Netsfans. Do you think Scott is a lousy coach? Is the Nets organization out of control? Email me and let me know.
- Joe

Be sure and catch Part II of NetsNut returns tomorrow, as NetsNut runs through the Nets roster with a much more sunny analysis.

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