Rant #3,952: Red Rubber Ball

When the New York Knicks are good, it truly galvanizes the region.

In the other sports, you have Yankees/Mets, Rangers/Islanders, and Giants/Jets.

But when you have the Knicks, you don't really have anybody else to split loyalties.

Yes, you have the Brooklyn Nets, but quite honestly, it was a huge mistake for Nets ownership to move the team to Brooklyn, where they are going to be overshadowed by the Knicks no matter how successful they might be.

And right now, they aren't successful at all, nothing but a last place, rebuilding team.

Nobody proclaims themselves a real Nets fan. 

Fans go to Barclays Center to see NBA basketball because the ticket prices are cheaper than at Madison Square Garden, and when the Knicks visit, it is like being at the Garden, anyway.

The Nets should have moved to ... I don't know ... maybe Kansas City, where they would have a solid fan base, but locating in Brooklyn, however nice the nostalgia was, was a great mistake.

So no divided loyalties here--

When the Knicks are good, nothing else matters.

Here is what I wrote on Facebook about what is going on with the NBA championship round-bound Knicks.

"As a Knicks fan since 1965, I am just so happy that this time they finally may have gotten through the curse that has been on this team since at least 1999, but probably since 1973, their last championship.

They pretty much bull-dozed through their opponents, and find themselves four wins away from the NBA championship.

But with all of that comes the realization that whoever their opponents are--the San Antonio or Oklahoma City--it won't be a cakewalk this time around.

These two teams are probably the two best teams in the NBA, top to bottom, unlike the teams the Knicks played to get here, who were good but very flawed teams.

That being said, I do believe this Knicks team has the potential to win it all--

And the great thing is that some of the greats of those two championship teams--including Walt Frazier and Bill Bradley--are still with us to take it all in.

With Willis Reed among those watching this team from the basketball courts in the sky, I do believe that this team is finally going to break that curse.

And you still have plenty of fans around like me--the real superfans of this team--who have gone through the ups and downs of this team, first as a child, then a teenager, then as adults, and now as veteran fans who have seen it all.

I wish I could be at Madison Square Garden to see it all, but that is another story for another time.

Whoever the Knicks play in the finals, I predict the Knicks in six."

My father took me to my first Knicks game in 1965.

It was part of the old NBA doubleheaders that the league used to have, and I think the Warriors--then known as the San Francisco Warriors--played the first game against the Philadelphia 76ers, and while we came in late to that game, that was technically my first NBA game.

Then the Knicks played the Los Angeles Lakers, the Knicks lost the game, but I was hooked.

I went to dozens of NBA--and ABA--games after that, with my dad and at other times with friends, and I have continued the tradition, as my son and I have also seen several games in person.

I still marvel at the talents of these athletes, even though it is through the lens of the TV, as I haven't been to a game in several years.

The prices are exorbitant, and it is simply out of my current price range.

But with the Knicks knocking on the door of the NBA championship, the so-called "City Game" is all anyone is talking about, and all anyone in this area seems to care about.

That is what sports is all about, taking us away from our daily worries.

That is the best thing about sports, it brings people together from divergent communities and beliefs and unites them in watching their team excel.

Quite frankly, the success that the Knicks have had galvanizes this area--New York City, Long Island, Westchester, and probably New Jersey too--to have one focus, and one focus only.

Sure, it is still a kid's game, but even at age 69, it is fun to watch--if I can stay up long enough to actually do that.

The team debuted in 1946, so it is 80 years old.

I am 69 years old--11 years younger than this franchise--so I have to tell myself that there is no reason that someone of my age can't stay up and watch a team that is older than I am compete in the championship round. 

Easier said than done, like going to the line and shooting a foul shot.

That is how the ball bounces ...

And I hope that it bounces the Knicks way when the championship round begins on June 3.