Knicks fans haven’t experienced anything like this in years, maybe since the summer of 1993. It’s a completely different feeling than actually watching your team win a championship. As a Knicks fan, you’d probably have to have been born around 1965 to experience this feeling, but it’s close.
That’s the moment you realize: Might be happen.
Shocking moment: This did it It would be so.
Sometimes, that can lead to failure. In ’93, the Knicks were full of enthusiasm to make a serious move towards a title. They had performed well in the playoffs the previous year, pushing the Bulls to seven games. The Knicks had upgraded their talents, acquiring Doc Rivers for point runs and Rolando Blackman to add offensive power to the perimeter. It was Pat Riley’s second year as coach. And the Knicks lived up to expectations. They won 60 games and earned the top seed in the Eastern Division. They beat the Bulls 2-0 in the conference finals.
And then… well, you know.
Sometimes there’s a waiting period. There were great times to be a Rangers fan right after the Rangers acquired Mark Messier in the fall of 1991, and right after the Mets traded for Gary Carter in the winter of 1984. Suddenly, it seemed possible. Then the Rangers won the Presidents Cup in 1992 and the Mets won 98 games in 1985. They were where fans had originally dreamed they would be.
The Rangers and Mets suffered heartbreaking defeats in 1992 and 1985, respectively, and the Rangers also had a dismal season in 1992-1993.
But we have evidence of what it did. We have photos of the parades in the summer of 1994 and in October 1986. All that optimism, that little injection of hope, paid off. Sometimes that happens.
And then this happens: Jets fans who had Super Bowl hopes from the start of training camp in 1998 and 2023 were fueled by the fact that so many people outside their circle of belief thought the same thing. Then Vinny Testaverde collapsed in the second quarter of the 1998 first game, and Aaron Rodgers didn’t have to wait until the second series of the 2023 first game to find himself in the same situation.
This kind of hope can be cruel.
But in many ways, what sustains us as fans is this period of time when we can dream, hope and envision without our opinions being swayed by the inconvenient and sometimes frustrating details of the game. The Knicks won’t play games that matter for four months. It’s all in front of their eyes, or better yet, in the imaginations of fans where best-case scenarios thrive in the offseason.
This week, the Knicks added Mikal Bridges to the team and retained OG Anunoby, giving Knicks fans reason to talk about their team and next season for the first time in decades. This is a good thing. Hope is a really good thing, no matter how many times the rug gets pulled out from under our feet. If disappointment ruled the day, we would have stopped watching long ago. And, indeed, disappointment hits us pretty hard. It swings the baton.
But hope keeps us going again.
Can the Knicks win next year? No. A lot of things have to go right, a lot of crises have to be overcome, and we can only hope that no one hurts an ankle or a shoulder. And then there’s the small matter of whether there are other good teams out there who want 2024-25 to be their season. That’s a big ask. It’s a tough road. It’s unlikely.
But can it be done?
It’s only June. June doesn’t need logic or skepticism. Dreaming about a title is very different from winning it. But it’s a good starting point.
Vax Wax
The Bears have returned and the world is at peace again.
Dick Vitale is moving on to the next phase of his fight against cancer, and if you can spare a minute or two and send some positivity his way up there in Florida, please do so.
I’m not sure if “NBA French Invasion” would have been on anyone’s bingo card 10 years ago — or even two years ago, in fact.
Aaron Judge is batting .390/.500/.919 with 24 home runs and 61 RBIs in his last 49 games before Saturday. I can honestly say that I have never seen a better baseball player in my life.
Counterattack against Vac
Larry Weinstock: For years, the Mets’ strong starts have been marred by a poor June month, so it’s somewhat refreshing to see a terrible start salvaged by a strong June month.
Vac: Let’s be honest, there are few things more schizophrenic than a 162-game baseball season.
Scott Wolinetz: I just saw the results of the NBA Draft and it looks like a roster of “Who?”
Vac: I consider myself a big basketball watcher, and I’ve never Googled so much on draft night.
thank you Francisco Alvarez is an absolute superstar, and as a Yankees fan, I think he’s everything the Yankees hoped he would be from about eight players.
Mike Vack: Anthony Volpe is already living up to what the Yankees expected him to do, and I firmly believe he will ultimately exceed that.
Alan Zoldan: So should the non-Villanova Knicks attend Villanova’s summer classes to build team unity?
Vac: Or you can just memorize the team song, which is actually very catchy: “V is for Villanova, V is for victory…B is for blue, W is for white…”
