Tonight’s a night that depending upon your generation and POV has either been slightly more than a quarter-century or slightly more than a half-century in the making. The New York Knicks will be hosting an NBA Finals game for the first time since 1999 in pursuit of a championship for the first time since 1973. A sweep tonight and Wednesday night would allow them to clinch a title in front of their home fans for the first time since 1970 and tie an all-time NBA record for consecutive playoff victories in the process. Historic is an insufficient adjective for what may be transpiring at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 33rd Street within the next 72 hours.
And yet–there’s a sour tone that’s accompanying this euphoria that reached a crescendo yesterday, as NBCNEWS.com’s Doha Madani reported:
New York Knicks fans can cheer on their beloved team pretty much anywhere in the city’s five boroughs on Monday night — except outside of Madison Square Garden. The city’s iconic watch party outside of the arena has been canceled for Game 3 against the San Antonio Spurs due to the planned attendance of President Donald Trump. A spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed to NBC News on Sunday that the decision was made in coordination with the Secret Service.
The team’s official social media accounts announced a series of additional security measures for fans attending the game. Fans were asked to limit personal items as a strict no-bag policy will be enforced alongside a TSA-style screening procedure. Fans were also advised to arrive at least two hours before tip-off on Monday and to review the Secret Service’s list of prohibited items before entering the arena.
YAHOO! Sports’ Tushar Bahl felt it was his generational duty to scour the internet for clickbait reactions that have already resulted in a few additional vigils including an impromptu bonus “No Kings” gathering outside Trump Tower last night. Here were a few more remote reactions Bahi was able to cull:
(S)ome NBA fans have criticized the decision. A Minnesota Timberwolves fan page predicted that this could impact the crowd atmosphere at Madison Square Garden, possibly allowing the Spurs to steal a road win. “Ngl, the vibes are torched. If Spurs demolish tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised,” they wrote on X.
Another fan called for Knicks fan and director Spike Lee to bring former President Barack Obama to Madison Square Garden. “He ruins everything. Hey Spike Lee, bring Obama,” he wrote.
Journalist Pablo Torre also shared his take on the security measures being put in place for President Trump’s attendance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals. “James Dolan invited his friend Donald Trump to watch Game 3. In order to do that, they have to ban the organic, historically joyous parties happening outside MSG for fans who can’t afford to be inside. Modern sports in a nutshell,” he wrote.
Oh, for the love of Brunson, enough.
There is indeed plenty to hate about our s(h)itting president, especially in light of the temper tantrum he threw in a Wisconsin barn that Madani’s sorta colleague Kristin Welker endured and showed to her MEET THE PRESS audience yesterday. But one of them should not be his choice of basketball team he chooses to root for. I am grudgingly forced to admit we hail from the same borough and his fandom was likely shaped at roughly the same time mine, as well as his emotional maturation process, was. I am further forced to concede we have a few more things in common, including the strong likelihood that his McDonald’s addiction was likely escalated at the very same drive-through location at Springfield Boulevard and Union Turnpike that my day camp van would regularly hit up when it was one of the few Mickey D locations located in Queens and began my own obsession with double cheeseburgers that I at least found a path to conquering at some point.
Of course, of late he’s got a LOT more in common with Dolan. Both are unabashed nepobabies who were handed the keys to their daddies’ kingdoms at young ages and partied their way through the New York City club scene when the Knicks were at their competitive nadirs. Dolan may have literally been the drummer and conductor but Trump and his posse (and we know who that often included) were the loyal ones who showed up to be seen even when the games themselves were unwatchable. Just like Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Timothee Chalamet, Tracy Morgan et al do now.
Every single one of these folks who will be inside Madison Square Garden tonight willingly fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars to ultimately Dolan’s bank account. For that matter, any of you who have purchased any official Knicks merchandise at any point–whether recently at inflated prices to join the bandwagon or historically at a steep discount as I did–have been able to put whatever personal feelings you have for someone like Dolan aside. And now with the Knicks two wins away from a championship, somehow bygones in his case are even more the order of your day.
As even Bahi conceded:
In a recent update, the MSG team has confirmed that the cancellation of watch parties is not related to the President…The NYPD has announced that the decision was made after consideration with the Secret Service. They have made it clear in a statement that there would be watch parties in other locations, which could be some consolation for fans…team-sanctioned events will be held at Wollman Rink in Central Park and the Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg.
Maybe if some of y’all had been able to act a tad more mature on Friday night when the Knicks escaped with a one-point win a coupla thousand miles away than the farter-in-chief did when he was yet again berating a black female reporter doing her job perhaps the NYPD might have had a shred more confidence that you were capable of being focused exclusively on basketball tonight–even in the wake of the inability of so many to do that last night?
Torre’s at least got press credentials–not to mention a recently received Edward R. Murrow Award–to get him into the building tonight should he choose. Didn’t see him take the chance to offer his to anyone who will be forced to avoid midtown Manhattan on a weeknight–usually pretty good advice even under much more normal circumstances.
If you’re enough of a fan where you’ve been able to deal with the fact that you’re empowering and honoring a putz like Jim Dolan at the same time that you’re cheering the blind squirrel-acorn decisions that resulted in a couple of Brunsons, a Rose, a Towns and a few dozen other actual savants putting him thisclose to a title, then you should be able to accept the reality that you probably weren’t gonna get anywhere close to the actual action tonight anyway–and you probably haven’t since the G.O. card stopped being accepted at MSG. That’s at least my story.
You’d be far better off somewhere near your couch, ideally with a loved one and a New York-themed food item, reveling to Mike Breen’s play-by-play that might just include a BANG! or a chance for you to shout BING BONG in the key that the closing doors of the F train that stops in the bowels of Penn Station intones. Those are my warm fuzzy memories of Knicks games, and you bet I’ll be more than a little misty-eyed if they’re further reignited by anything positive that might transpire tonight.
And hell, if it produces any similar feelings in a nearly 80-year-old dementia patient who Jim Dolan might high-five at some point, honestly who the f-ck cares? It’s arguably his most redeeming quality. I guarantee if you follow my lead you’ll have a much mor enjoyable evening. #GNYGNYGNYG.
Courage…