Timberwolves assistant coach Bill Bayno grew up in the village of Goshen 55 miles north, but he considers New York City and its boroughs his second home because of all the time he spent playing in the projects of Brooklyn and because of the "million friends" he has there, now picking up their lives after superstorm Sandy hit last week.
He played outdoors in the Coney Island parks and indoors at the Crown Heights project when he was growing up and has seen Brooklyn transformed from the "wild, wild west" and a "scary, dangerous place" in the 1970s and '80s into a stylish example of urban renewal these past 15 years.
Old factories and warehouses have been converted into luxury lofts, theaters and art galleries in that time, and now a borough that by itself would be the nation's fourth-largest city behind only the other New York boroughs, Chicago and Los Angeles welcomes back professional sports.
It arrived Saturday officially -- delayed two days by Sandy -- for the first time since the Brooklyn Dodgers bolted for California in 1957, a devastating move that quite possibly plunged Brooklyn into despair for decades.
The New Jersey Nets are now the Brooklyn Nets, and the Wolves on Monday will play the second regular-season game at Barclays Center, the $1 billion new home to a reborn franchise that has a new name, a new logo and a brand-new vibe.
"It's only mere miles, but the mentality is completely different," said Nets center Brook Lopez, who played his first four seasons with the franchise in New Jersey's swamplands and forgotten downtown. "We are in the city now."
The Nets are trendy now, with a sparkling arena and retro uniforms and logo designed in collaboration with part-owner Jay-Z.
"Brooklyn's just a great, cool spot now," Bayno said. "Crime has gone down. Real estate has gone through the roof. I just love New York for the diversity. It's like being in Madrid or Rome; every ethnicity you can think of lives there. There's just this energy."
