I was just reading an article on the New York Post website today about the new Atlantic Yards Stadium being built for NBA's New Jersey Nets and was immediately struck at the irony. Located at the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, this is the exact site that Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to build a new stadium to replace the crumbling Ebbets Field. It was going to be financed entirely by Mr. O'Malley, but the powers that be said "NO", so he took his team and moved them to Los Angeles at the end of the 1957-58 season.
Brooklyn has not had a professional sports team based in it's borough since then and STILL mourns the loss of it's beloved DODGERS as if they just moved to LA last week.
The old-timers tell a great joke that sums up their feelings about Mr. O'Malley and the rusty, dull knife they feel he jammed into their hearts:
"You're in a room with Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Walter O'Malley, and you have a gun with two bullets. Who do you shoot first?"
"YOU SHOOT WALTER O'MALLEY TWICE!"
God I love that town.
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