The New Jersey Nets player blog has only two entries: one posted by Brook Lopez after the All-Star game, and most recently an entry from Devin Harris after his game-winning shot against Philadelphia. Two entries is not a lot, but it's two posts and a template more than what the Knicks have, making it the only active player-blog in town (Nate Robinson is the only New York player with a blog and it hasn't been updated since May 2007).
Devin Harris's post is interesting because the young point guard is apparently still having nightmares about being taken to the hole by an amateur streetballer named Stuart Tanner (for those who haven't seen the virally popular video clip, in it the Nets All Star gets embarrassed when the ball gets dribbled through his legs And-1/Harlem Globetrotter style). We know this video weighs heavily on Devin Harris's mind because there's only one entry on the blog and he chooses to mention it within the first ten sentences, and the post is long enough to have four sections. More proof: he mentions the video before he mentions his birthday (now 26, he doesn't really feel older). So yeah, even though he could be argued as the best point guard in the Eastern Conference, the man knows getting humbled.
Mildly amusing youtube sensitivity aside, it's pretty cool from a fan's perspective to have this type of access to one of the young stars of the team. Especially when the player can have fun with the medium and feel comfortable with being transparent about his feelings. With the NBA in the throes of their own escalating financial crisis, blogs should become more popular as a smart easy way to enhance the fan experience. And for franchises trying to change the culture (ahem, Knicks), they're missing a primetime opportunity to connect if they don't at least set it up for the players to use.
So while the Nets only have two posts, those two posts represent New Jersey Nets 2.0 and put them ahead of the curve for fan-team relations. Who knows, if they start pumping out more content maybe they'll eventually get LeBron James to read it and decide he wants to join the team because he absolutely loves their list of top twenty hip hop albums.
Patrice Evans writes about post-racial America and prepares for the summer of 2010 at his blog The Assimilated Negro.
