1993 was the year I fell in love with the Knicks. I was 13, living in NYC with my family, and I can remember instantly falling in love with the Knicks. You know how you can remember a song from a particular time and place, from a special summer or your graduation? My early teenage years has the soundtrack of the NBA on NBC theme song.
Me and my brothers loved the Knicks with all our heart. The same cannot be said for the rest of the NBA. They hated the Knicks. With a passion. Because the Knicks were the anti-hero to their precious Michael Jordan. Because they were all about playing hard, not fancy. Because they bored the crowd to death with menacing defense. Because of Pat Riley‘s hair and slick suit. And because they didn’t care about who didn’t like them. But these Knicks were perfect for New York. We embraced that hate. We took pride in defense. And when we look back on those days we do so with a nostalgia that is much bigger than the actual success the team achieved. We made it to the finals and we were always competitive, but in the end we never won it all, yet sometimes when we think back to that era and compare it to the years since it seems that all we want is to relive another era like that.
So that got me thinking. How am I supposed to feel about the Linsanity-Knicks going forward? I’ve been starving for successful Knicks basketball for the last 10 years of the forgotten 00s era. Of course, I’m going to embrace Linsanity, or whatever-ity that brings my team wins. But my point is, this lovey-dovey Jeremy Lin story will ultimately put my hated (and underachieving) Knicks into a whole other category. The whole world loves Jeremy Lin. As Theo pointed out to me, Derrick Rose can kiss his All-star starter position good-bye, next to Wade you can take to the bank that Jeremy Lin is going to be right next to him, there’s a whole continent that will make sure of that. Hell, Yao Ming, was voted a starter even when he was injured, and he’d probably be there this year again if he was on the ballot even though he is retired. Jeremy Lin will be the same thing, except he’s more endearing because of his underdog story.
On top of that we have an offense that is the exact opposite of the Knicks 90s culture of hard-nosed defense and grinding down the shot clock for 23,5 seconds each possession. And instead of thugs like Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley we have goody-two shoes guys like Landry Fields and Jared Jeffries. And even though we had Patrick Ewing he was never a star in its truest form like a Jordan or Magic, or even Barkley or Olajuwon, and besides Patrick was never one for showing off his personality and embracing that persona of a superstar. Not to take anything away from him, I appreciate that type of star as well, but Amar’e and Melo are embraced as larger-than-life superstars in a whole different way, which can be traced to the fact that Carmelo was voted an All-star starter despite a poor season, and Amar’e was voted 3rd forward despite an even worse season so far. And then of course, there is Jeremy Lin, potentially the most popular player out of everyone. All these things combined, and this Knicks team has the potential to become something completely opposite to what I grew up on. And I’m not talking about the years 2001-2010, those years I want to forget altogether, anything opposite of that era would be welcomed. What I’m talking about is of course the last time around we had real success in the 90s.
How will I react when random people hear that I’m a Knicks fan and instantly just assumes that I’m just another bandwagon fan? Or another Linsanity fan that knows nothing about basketball? Or that I’m one of these morons who was rooting for the Lakers a couple of years ago, the Heat last year and OKC until about a week ago? I’ve never been in that position before, similar to a Bulls fan in the 90s, or a Lakers fan throughout their whole existence. And I’m not sure how I will respond to it. But I do know one thing, if we win it all at some point, I will love it more than anything else.
And even if we don’t, I guess I will embrace it too. You can’t duplicate the past, and 19+ years of being a Knicks fan never brought me a championship anyway so why would I want to go back really? Every era is different. And all teams have their own charm. Regardless of how this Knicks team will be viewed in the eyes of the public, all I can hope for is that I will view them as the team that finally did what no other team I’ve supported has done before, and that is to win it all.
Diary of a Knickaholic 