Fifty-five years is a long time. A very long time. That’s more than three times the life span of Pascack Hills’ oldest students. Well, that’s also the amount of time it has been since Brooklyn has been home to a professional sports team.

The Dodgers left the bureau for Los Angeles after the 1957 season and there has yet to be another team to fill the shoes of the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 2012, this is no longer the case.

Once considered one of the worst teams in all of basketball, the New Jersey Nets have undergone a serious makeover and have become the Brooklyn Nets.

There was Van Mungo and, of course, Jackie Robinson. Now, Brooklyn has NBA all-stars Deron Williams and Joe Johnson leading the Nets into the bureau.

The team enters Brooklyn with a slew of talent, certainly capable of giving the defending champion Miami Heat a run for their money.

Not only do the Nets bring a more than respectable team, but they also have a billion dollar arena, the Barclays Center. Considered one of the most, if not the most, advanced arena in sports today, the Barclays Center will attract fans from all over the world.

All of the pieces are lined up for success; however, with the eyes of all sports fans focused on them, it is ultimately up to these new-look Nets to bring relevance back to the Brooklyn name.