Rant #3,348: I Remember the Feeling

I cannot believe that 54 yesrs ago today, I had my bar mitzvah.

May 9, 1970 ...

I member everything about that day ...

How sick I was ... how I literally forced myself to get up on that stage to recite my haftorah ... how I got a lot of solace from what the New York Knicks did the night before ...

How do the Knicks work into all of this?

I was really sick leading up to my big day.

I had 105 temperature, and it all had to do with nerves.

I was the first great grandchild, the first grandchild, the first son, the first of everything in my family.

No sickness was going to stop me.

The night before, my orthodox grandfather told me flat out that I was going to do my haftorah, even if I had to do it in my bed.

Well, I just had to do it; I had no choice.

I felt horrible, but I was able to watch the Knicks NBA championship game, that famous game where center Willis Reed limped onto the court with really one fully working leg, spooking the Los Angeles Lakers and providing the adrenalin to power the Knicks to their first championship.

(The game was blacked out on Channel 7 in New York, but I was able to watch it on Channel 8 from Connecticut.)

Anyway, I saw Reed limp out to the court, and I literally thought to myself, "If this guy can do it, then I can too."

Sick as can be, that game invigorated me, and even though I was still sick the morning of May 9, I did what I had to do, nearly passing out doing it, but right after I was done, I was fine--no more fever, and I felt great!

How ironic that it is now me who has the gimpy leg, and I am watching the Knicks all these years later try to do the impossible, and make their way to (hopefully) another championship.

Where once I idolized Reed, Walt Frazier and all the rest of that team, today I marvel at the talent of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and the other Knicks as they battle the Indiana Pacers to get to the Eastern Conference finals.

A win of this series will get them to that next step, and if they can get past the conference finals, they will be in the finals for the NBA championship.

Sure, I am putting the cart before the horse here, but if they could win the whole thing in 1970, I do believe that they could do it again in 2024.

The Kicks haven't won an NBA championship since 1973, so maybe this year is the year that they do it again.

I love baseball and the New York Yankees, but no team galvanizes the New York Metropolitan Area like the Knicks do when they are a championship-calibre team.

And Madison Square Garden is really hopping, what with the New York Rangers gunning for their own championship in the NHL.

So as I look back at May 9, 1970, I also look forward to today and beyond, I guess what comes around goes around, but it is not a completely circuitous route, at least for me.

And I think back to Willis Reed, and I still believe that if he could do it, I can do it too.

We ALL can do it.