this is going to sound corny, but I don't care:
I've been a Nets fan all my life. I grew up a Nets fan because my father was a Nets fan since they first joined the ABA. I really remembered the early 90's Nets...Colemen, Drazen, Kenny...I remember them having rough times in the mid 90's until Kidd came.
Kidd came at a crucial time to me. I was in high school, a Junior actually. The Nets, my Nets team I loved all my life, were THE team to beat. They were cool, they had K.Mart and Kidd, Kittles driving to the lane, KVH draining 3's. Kids in the high school started to wear Nets gear, something that was very rare before that!
The 2nd year they made it to the Finals, I was a senior. Perhaps the best times of my life happened that year, but the same goes for the Nets. They were amazing again, more and more people around here started to wear their gear and support them. It was playoffs and Finals time and I was having proms and graduation and graduation parties. The Nets took 2 games from the Spurs, I was having the time of my life in so many different ways.
Fast forward to now. I'm 22, going to be graduating college in December. I'm leaving my current job in May. Clearly, this is a year for HUGE changes for me. And yet, just like in my last years of high school, I can fully relate to Jason Kidd and the Nets. I want out of my current employer. I need a change of scenery. I want to win in this part of my life.
The youth of this year's Nets remind me of the freshmen and sophmore kids who I help out with when they are working on editing videos or audio mixes. It's like, "been there, done that, but let me teach these kids a trick or two before I leave" .
Now, there's new faces on the team, a new era...and I'm expereincing something similar.
I know this sounds stupid. But really, it's just how I feel deep down inside. Each and every one of us have our reasons for following the team. That's just mine.