By Tyshawn Taylor, New Jersey Nets

Taken By Storm

Nov. 5, 2012 — I guess I have a pretty interesting story this week. Sandy hit really close to home. It’s been a different experience for me because I grew up in the Hoboken, NJ housing projects. And since I play for the Brooklyn Nets, I am still able to live in Hoboken. My entire family and closest friends were affected by the storm.

I underestimated the storm a little bit. My power went out at about 2:30 a.m. It didn’t rain that much, but the wind pushed the water from the Hudson River on to Hoboken. My building was surrounded by five to six feet of nasty water on all four sides. My family lives about four blocks from me in the housing projects where I was raised. They don’t have power, and they had flooding, too.

Hoboken is in bad shape. There is still no power, and it’s pitch black. The streets are full of branches, dirt, trees, garbage cans. A lot of the buildings are flooded. All of the stores are closed, and the restaurants aren’t serving. There’s no school. They are starting to get help, but it took a while for the help to get to the projects. The Red Cross is out there giving away blankets and food now, which is very much needed.

Our team was supposed to practice on Tuesday, but practice was canceled. On Wednesday morning, I woke up wondering if we were going to have our home opener against the Knicks on Thursday. I got a text saying that we would still be playing as scheduled. Then, about an hour later, I received another text saying that it was canceled. It was bittersweet. We were so excited for our first game, but I obviously understood the circumstances. It was the right decision to cancel it. (more…)