“ ’Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam; Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
Humble, yeah. But those who have called the Meadowlands Arena home see it as something else.
“To me, the Meadowlands Arena was always a cold, dark, gloomy place,” said Buck Williams, the greatest power forward in the history of the Nets franchise.
“If it was in New York, it would have been a great place, especially with the type of team we had,” said Jason Kidd, the greatest player, period, in the history of the Nets NBA franchise.
So humble, cold, gloomy, misplaced. Call the arena — now the Izod Center in its latest rebirth after being known as the Continental Airlines Arena and the Brendan Byrne Arena — all those things. And after tomorrow night, when the Larry Brown’s Charlotte Bobcats, call it empty of NBA basketball — and call it empty of professional sports. The Nets are moving to the Prudential Center in Newark — where the Devils bolted to beginning in the 2007-2008 season — for two or three years starting next season, and then plan to go to Brooklyn. Unlike the old Giants Stadium, the Izod Center will remain open for family entertainment events.
16W GREAT MOMENTS AT THE SWAMP
Brown will be the guy who coached the first and the last NBA games in the building that opened in 1981 (with six Bruce Springsteen concerts) and housed the Devils from 1982-2007 after being built for $85 million with a maximum capacity of 20,000. Brown coached the Nets for the first NBA contest, a preseason game that had a huge glitch, and then opening night on Oct. 30, 1982. Both were against the Knicks.
Brown didn’t recall too much about those games. His prime memory was that “when Boston and Philadelphia and the Knicks came in, they had more fans [than the Nets did].”
Not much has changed.
“What I remember most is the first [preseason] game. Opening night. New team, new arena, new coach. And the lights went out,” recalled ex-Net Albert King.
“It was the second quarter, and you couldn’t even see yourself it got so dark,” ex-Net player and assistant coach Mike O’Koren said.
For years, the Nets were a standard joke. Clippers East. Coaches said no to offers of employment. Or, like Rollie Massimino in 1985, said yes. And then said no hours before a scheduled press conference. Players sent messages on their sneakers. Chris Morris wrote “Trade Me . . . Please” on his shoes. They sent messages on ankle tape. Stephon Marbury wrote “All Alone 33.” The Nets were runaway leaders in drug scandals. And there was losing — lots and lots of losing.
Everything changed with the arrival of Kidd, acquired July 18, 2001, from Phoenix for Marbury in the greatest swindle since the Louisiana Purchase. Kidd predicted a .500 season. He was wrong. It was a .634 season with 52 wins — and a trip to the Finals.
Excitement was everywhere. Except in the stands.
Opening night attracted 8,749 fans. “I think [that’s] pushing it,” Kidd said of the total.
Kidd provided so many moments. Triple doubles. Two Finals. Jaw-dropping plays.
Kidd’s first season led up to what all consider the greatest pro game played at the Meadowlands, the Game 5, double-overtime, 120-109, win over Indiana to clinch the 2002 first round.
“Game 5, Indiana,” team president Rod Thorn said without hesitation about his favorite Meadowlands memory. “We overcame Reggie [Miller].”
Miller banked in a 39-footer to force overtime, then dunked with 3.1 seconds remaining to force a second overtime. Kidd then took over and the Nets were on their way to the Finals, where the ending wasn’t as happy against the Lakers, who swept.
The Nets came back the next season and established the fourth-longest NBA playoff win streak — 10 wins — when they completed a sweep of the Pistons in the Eastern finals. But again, they failed in the Finals, as the Spurs won in six. It’s a far cry from this season’s highlight: their 10th win, coming against the Spurs, to avoid the NBA’s worst-ever record.
The arena is not barren of championships. Thank the three-time Stanley Cup champ Devils who, like the Nets, had their you-gotta-be-kidding moments.
After Edmonton crushed the Devils, 13-4, on Nov. 19, 1983, Wayne Gretzky called them a “Mickey Mouse operation.” So on Jan. 15, 1984, it was like Disney Night in the arena. Mouse ears reigned and the Devils fought hard, losing 5-4.
“I’ve made a few mistakes in my life and saying that was one of them,” Gretzky said.
Doughnuts. After the Devils lost Game 3 of the 1988 conference finals 6-1 to the Bruins, coach Jim Schoenfeld blocked referee Don Koharski’s exit. A camera crew caught the exchange. Koharski fell and charged that the coach pushed him.
“You fell and you know it,” Schoenfeld said.
“You’re gone. . . . And I hope it’s on tape,” Koharski shouted.
“Good, ’cause you fell, you fat pig. Have another doughnut.”
Legal action delayed Schoenfeld’s suspension so officials refused to work Game 4. Off-ice officials filled in for the Devils’ 3-1 win.
The Devils left for the Rock but not before winning three Cups (1995, 2000, 2003) with Martin Brodeur in the nets. They clinched the first and third Cups in the Meadowlands.
But perhaps the overriding hockey moment was Mark Messier’s guarantee for Game 6 of the Conference Finals in 1994.
“We know we have to win it. We can win it. And we will win it,” Messier said. Messier delivered. His natural hat trick in the third period brought the Rangers to victory and a Game 7 they won en route to the Stanley Cup.
Drama of another kind arrived on Drazen Petrovic Night, when the Nets honored their fallen European star by retiring his number on Nov. 11, 1993. Petrovic died in a June car accident in Germany.
“I don’t know if you can put into words what Drazen meant to this club, both emotionally, physically and in every way,” the late coach, Chuck Daly said that night. “I guess all of us will always remember . . . that smile, that emotion, a competitiveness and above all, from the basketball standpoint, the shot.”
There were small gatherings (and not just Nets crowds). Club 334 became a select group representing the number of fans who battled 20 inches of snow Dec. 22, 1987, to see the Devils beat the Flames 7-5. It was the smallest-ever NHL crowd. The Devils got everybody’s name, made up buttons and brought them back to a future game.
There were large crowds, too. When Seton Hall, en route to the Final Four and an NCAA Finals loss to Michigan, ran its record to 13-0 by beating Georgetown on Jan. 3, 1989, the crowd was 19,761. The joint was filled for the 1996 Final Four when Kentucky won it all.
Nets president Michael Rowe was in search of a coach when he went to the Final Four and watched one of the national semifinals. Kentucky had Rick Pitino. Massachusetts had John Calipari.
“I’ll take either,” Rowe thought. Rebuffed by Pitino, he hired Calipari.
Two shots stand out among all others among the college games. Tate George’s shot for UConn to beat Clemson at the buzzer in 1990. Fun fact: three future Nets were involved in the last-second, full-court pass, catch and shot: George, Scott Burrell who threw the pass, and Clemson’s Elden Campbell, who defended the inbounds.
And two years before he beat Kentucky, Christian Laettner beat UConn in the Eastern Finals, propelling Duke toward the NCAA title in 1990. Scoring off an improvised play, Laettner hit a 14-footer for a 79-78 win.
The moments are many and varied. And for the Nets, it ends tomorrow night. With few regrets.
“I don’t know if it was the location, the organization, the very structure or the product on the floor,” Williams said. “But it never had the feel of home.”
fred.kerber@nypost.com