http://www.nykfanpage.com/editorials/viewarticle.php?articleid=177

Somewhere along the way, the great passion that I once shared for the New York Knicks turned into a great and utter disdain for the only NBA team that I have ever loved. At one point, I could not imagine there possibly being a bigger fan than myself.


After several seasons of futility, Knicks fans may have something to cheer for again.
Spike Lee? Of course not. Bill Crystal? Please.

I wasn’t just a fan in the sense of, “The Knicks are my favorite NBA team.”

No, I was a fan in the sense that I ate, breathed, and slept the New York Knicks. Whenever the team played, my entire day quickly became centered around watching the game. As a kid, I would lay on the floor in front of the television and feeling as if I had the best seat in the house. I was truly prepared to go to war with my favorite team in the whole wide world.

You see, being a fan was never easy. A war always seemed inevitable.

We never had Bird, Magic, or Jordan. The great Knicks teams of the ‘90s will never be confused with being one of the greatest NBA teams ever. Sure, we had Patrick Ewing, who was a great player in his own right, but there always seemed to be a stigma attached to Ewing. He needed another star player on the team while the Big Three always seemed to make their teammates better in the eyes of the experts. So while Bird, Magic, Jordan and even Hakeem Olajuwon were winning championship after championship, the Knicks were good but ultimately never were good enough to win it all. But their plight never went unnoticed in the hearts of fans such as myself.

The Knicks I fell in love with never were a team filled with an array of All-Star players, nor talented players for that matter. But the Knicks in which I came to know and love were a team that always played the game with a certain grit and passion.

You couldn’t help but to fall in love with them.

The intense manner in which they played defense made their opponents feel as if they really were in a war and not just a basketball game. They played the game as if they wanted to win it for the fans as much as the fans wanted to see the team win it for themselves. And Madison Square Garden seemed to provide the perfect stage for a team.

While the majority of my friends went on to become Bulls fans, then Rockets fans, then Lakers fans, then Knicks fans again before comfortably settling in as Nets fans and now Spurs fans, I chose to remain loyal to the orange and blue jerseys. It has not been an easy road traveled these last few seasons. There were times when I felt imprisoned by my love for the franchise. I felt as if I was a hostage. I felt held against my own will.

Jeff Van Gundy, a coach who has been rumored to eat and sleep the game of basketball, eventually quit on the team. He was free.

They fired Marv Albert. Another man freed.

Not only had the Knicks become losers, they had become the laughingstock of the NBA with Scott Layden—the most hated man in the history of the Knicks and usually the punchline of all jokes. Even Russ Granik seemed to find things funny.

When it became clear the organization was no longer being loyal to its fans, I still remained a die-hard Knicks fan. I couldn’t help but wonder if the nightmare would ever end. I went from desperately watching my team play its heart out in an effort to bring a championship to the Big Apple to watching a bunch of overpaid bums show little or no emotion on the court. I went from going to war with my team to watching my beloveth franchise go AWOL on me.

There were no more wars.

Well, unless you count the neverending wars fought daily over the Internet on whatever message boards where you may find Knicks fans gathered. Everyone has their own ideals and can’t-miss blueprints of how to restore the franchise back to prominence. So needless to say, things can and usually do get quite heated when discussing a team loved by fans everywhere. Sure I’ve had my share of unforgettable moments where I vehemently swore off the team and anyone that had anything to do with the team.

I would be lying to you if I said I didn’t.

I can now admit to logging onto any Knicks messageboards and ripping the entire organization. I can now speak on how I would verbally attack cheesy fans, without fail. You know...the fans who loved the trade which brought Mark Jackson—a player drafted in 1987—back to the Knicks in exchange for yet another first round pick. The same fans who love to proclaim that you are not a true fan if you bail out on your team when they are losing. But the team wasn’t just losing, it was more about the entire organization being lost. The team I had loved since a kid was being ruined before my very eyes. I felt betrayed and used. Eventually I would find myself watching the games only to root against the Knicks. Something had to be done. It was my way of showing spite and contempt for the organization that was clearly showing the same to me.

When Latrell Sprewell directed a profanity-laced tirade at his former boss, Knicks owner James Dolan, I actually got satisfaction from it. I have no idea what Latrell said, but in my mind, he said exactly what I had been dying to say for a long, long time. Did a part of me want to see him go into the stands and put his hands around the neck of Dolan?

Again, I would be lying if I said I didn’t.

Travis Knight, Howard Eisley, Clarence Weatherspoon, Keith Van Horn, Shandon Anderson, Lee Nailon?

These are not Knicks!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect to see Ewing, Oakley, Mason, Starks, LJ, Sprewell, or even the "X-Man" Xavier McDaniel, but I do expect to see a group of players play with the same passion displayed by those players when they donned the jersey.

They finally fired Scott Layden as General Manager. Thank God. We may never know what took so long. He has been replaced with Isiah Thomas. If Isiah is able to restore the franchise back to being one of the elite NBA teams, he will forever be loved in the hearts of die-hard Knicks fans just as much as he is loved by die-hard Pistons fans.

After the initial period of not wanting to “wear my heart upon my sleeve” as well as doubting every move made by Isiah—a man with a sinister smile known for spinning his words with the ease of the greatest campaign manager, but clearly a better GM than Layden, I began to allow myself to believe in the Knicks again. Of course, I wanted rebuilding. Of course, I want to see the organization make a conscious effort to get under the salary cap so it can sign a “difference maker.” But still it seems as if the Knicks are trying to make a name for themselves in the NBA, much like the players they are drafting. Instead of players who never showed up to camp after being drafted and players who are infamous for being leaped in a single bound, the organization now drafts players who will be doing the leaping and players who can contribute immediately. Once the balls and chains were taken away from my state of mind, I realize we actually were a younger and more athletic team.

Amazingly, it actually seems there is another objective besides selling tickets.

We even have a real coach. The coaching reigns have been handed over to Larry Brown, a man known for transforming losers into winners. If this was a movie, the script would have been written for Larry Brown. His resume includes an NCAA championship, a NBA championship, and reviving the dead. Okay, so he can’t revive the dead, but he does seem to know how to get his players to play for him, which in this day and age of the NBA is all fans can really ask for. There is no question the Knicks have talent, but getting the most out of his talent is a gift which Brown undoubtedly possesses. So one has to figure the wins will eventually come. Never mind the playoffs. Let’s just forget about winning a championship for a moment. We may actually win more games than we lose.

These last few years of watching the New York Knicks have been short of a living hell. It has been a wrongful conviction. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have felt trapped.

So whether it turns out to be simply an appeal or a presidential pardon, I’m just glad I am now free.

Posted by raven:

great great post ! so true.