September 28, 2012: The Barclays Center Opens

September 28, 2012: The Barclays Center opens, at the eastern edge of Downtown Brooklyn. It is bounded by Atlantic Avenue on the north, 6th Avenue on the east, Dean Street on the south, and Flatbush Avenue on the west. The official address is 620 Atlantic Avenue.

It is across from the Atlantic Terminal of the Long Island Rail Road, and the Atlantic Terminal Mall. It is thus accessible via the LIRR. For this reason, it was the site chosen by Walter O'Malley in 1954 for the new home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, a domed stadium he was calling the Brooklyn Sports Center. It never happened, because Robert Moses, who controlled several City and State agencies, and had to decide whether or not to give the order to clear the land necessary for the stadium, decided not to. This became O'Malley's excuse to take the Dodgers out of Brooklyn.

It is also accessible by Subway: The Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station on the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R, and W Trains; and the Bergen Street station on the 2, 3 and 4 Trains.

It was part of the Atlantic Yards project, built by real estate developer Bruce Ratner, who had bought the NBA's New Jersey Nets in 2004, at the height of their success: A 3rd straight Atlantic Division title, and the 2 previous Eastern Conference titles. He said he would build an arena at the site, and move the Nets there.

Delay after delay happened. Not only were the Nets a lame-duck team even longer than baseball's Montreal Expos were, but they ended up moving in the interim, in 2010, from the Meadowlands Arena to the Prudential Center in Newark. I had hoped that the crowds in Newark, a good basketball city, would impress Rather so much that he would keep the Nets there.

Instead, the crowds were every bit as sparse at The Rock as they were at the Meadowlands. And Ratner lost so much money on the project that he had to sell the Nets, to Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov. Contingent on the sale was agreeing to move the team into the Barclays Center as soon as it was ready.

The 1st event at the Barclays Center was a concert by Brooklyn native Shawn Carter, a.k.a. rapper Jay-Z. Within its 1st year, the new building had surpassed its intracity rival Madison Square Garden to become America's highest-grossing venue for the category of concerts and family shows.

The Nets' 1st regular-season game there, originally intended as November 1, 2012 against the New York Knicks, was delayed due to Hurricane Sandy. Instead, it was November 3, against the Toronto Raptors, and the Nets won, 107-100.

The Nets have played there ever since. Long Island University, based a few blocks away (Brooklyn and Queens are part of Long Island geologically, if not politically or culturally), have used it for some home games since then as well. The NHL's New York Islanders used it from 2015 to 2020. And the WNBA's New York Liberty started using it as their home court this year. Seating capacity is 17,732 for basketball, and 15,795 for hockey.

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September 28, 2012 was a Friday. The NBA and NHL weren't quite ready to start their seasons, and the NFL doesn't play games on Fridays. But Major League Baseball was moving into the last weekend of its regular season:

* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 11-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Russell Martin and Eric Chavez hit home runs in support of Hiroki Kuroda.

* The New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Turner Field in Atlanta.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Homer Bailey pitched a no-hitter for the Reds, striking out 10 and walking 1.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-5 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-1 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Houston Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-2 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals, 12-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Texas Rangers, 7-4 at Globe Life Park (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-3 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 3-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Avalanche, 8-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 8-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the O.co Coliseum).

Also, my high school, East Brunswick, lost to Monroe, 27-0 at home at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey.