"For Brooklyn, By Brooklyn." The floundering Nets' latest ticket promotion has no stars for fallback.

Quoting Wikipedia, "There's an old legal aphorism that goes, 'If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table.'"

I was reminded of that when I saw the latest Brooklyn Nets tickets mailing, titled "For Brooklyn, By Brooklyn," which recalled promotions from the debut years of the team, when they emphasized local identity.

The sports adaptation of the adage is, "If you have stars, promote the stars. If you don't, lean on Brooklyn." Today, they have no stars, and are stuck in mediocrity.

(And what if they can't lean on Brooklyn? Well, Brooklyn will always be there, but if there are diminishing returns, we might see more discounts and promotional bundles, such as food or gear.)

Bad times

After all, it's getting bad. NetsDaily reports on a podcast in which Nets semi-star Mikal Bridges (on the right in the image above) joined two college teammates from Villanova (and now on the New York Knicks) for a podcast recalling a Knicks win at the Barclays Center:

“It felt like an away game when they made their run,” said Bridges, post-game. “It’s not fun when you feel like you’re in an away game at home. That’s for any person sitting in here, any person alive; it’s not fun.”

Moreover, while the Knicks crowd that night was an extreme example, virtually every home game at Barclays Center lately, whether it’s against the Lakers, Warriors, Heat or Raptors, has been an embarrassment, pure and simple. Nets fans aren’t showing, their tickets sold to fans wearing colors other than black-and-white. And there is no way to fix that other than winning some games.