The catwalk leads for the last time this gray day to the sales barn, a half-arena facing a ring covered with wood shavings as fine as beach sand.
A black Perspex insert (650 lux) was used to create a test field in which half the arena was dark and half was light.
We expected something a bit more quaint – a place where they would nod to the potential absurdity of "football meets table tennis" – but we found a setting that was half-pool party, half-coliseum arena.
Half the arena might have heard.
The dinosaurs seem to have commandeered nearly half the arena for their backstage business.
The proceedings are witnessed by half an arena of fans, most of them wearing jerseys of the Knicks, Boston, Philly, Lakers, OKC, and so on, including two different Shawn Kemp Seattle SuperSonics jerseys.
More than half the arena's 1,200 ushers, custodians and concessionaires have local ZIP codes, and eight of the outlets in the Taste of Newark food court will bear the names of popular local establishments.
They created another instant classic Tuesday night at Barclays Center, battling through a taut fourth quarter until Kidd — at 39, the N.B.A.'s third oldest player — hit the decisive shot, a 3-pointer with 24.1 seconds left that sent half the arena into delirium and the other half into despair.
The agreement under which both teams could substitute as many as seven players was the difference between the first half, when Arena said the Koreans had control of the game, and the second, when "we started to get comfortable out there".
"I've got the whole crowd to entertain now, which is going to be good, rather than having just half the arena to myself.
"When you know you've thrown it away, it's important to learn what you did wrong, analyse and try not to make that same mistake". That added half an arena's extra peering eyes, triggering an anxiety attack from which he did not recover, going on to lose heavily.
