These Knicks

When I was 9-years old, my baseball team was two outs away from a championship with a few runners on. A short grounder bounced in front of our star catcher who proceeded to throw the ball over my head at second in what could have been the start of a game-ending double play and championship-clinching victory. Instead, the ball sadly rolled into centerfield, and the tying and winning runs scored.

This my friends, was the closest I ever came to a championship. No team I played for, from little league to intramurals, and no team I root for, from my Mets to my Bills to my Knicks to my Johnnies, has won it all. Every season ends in tears.

This week, this downward trend may come to an end. My Knicks, the first team that made my 12-year-old-self weep over a sporting event (after Game 7 of the 1994 Finals), has a chance to bring home a championship.

For Knicks fans of my generation, we only know defeat. We witnessed other superstars, from Jordan to Miller to Lebron to Haliburton, turn MSG into their center stage.

Finally, we have our superstar in Brunson. We have heroics from KAT as he is transforming before our hopeful eyes. The supporting cast of Bridges, Hart, OG, Alvarado, Shamet, and Robinson have captured our imagination, and tonight, with a 2-game lead in the Finals, and the Spurs playing for their season, a title is suddenly within reach.

Now, any time-tested New Yorker knows that despite the historic 13-game playoff winning streak, a loss tonight will make the Big Apple sweat. The series is not over until the orange and blue confetti falls from the rafters and our Knicks raise the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

Tonight, with a life-long losing streak on the line, I will cherish every minute. The magic of this beloved team will end shortly, and even if a parade down the Cannon of Heroes is their destiny, we will never experience this again. The Knicks can stack up titles, but this one, if accomplished, would stand above the rest.

So, cherish these games, my fellow Knicks fans. Enjoy what many of us black and blued fans couldn’t even imagine just a few years ago. If you are jumping on the bandwagon, or have decades of scars, cherish this basketball team as they may finally bring home the championship, we have so desperately desired.