The Yankees, Knicks, and Everything That Turned Me Into a New York Sports Fanatic

My Yankees Fandom is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

I was nine years old when the Yankees won their last World Series in 2009. That’s old enough to celebrate the moment, but too young to say I was truly present for it all.

I can’t say with much confidence that I watched all six games of that series against the Phillies. Like most kids, I had a bedtime. Now that I’ve grown, I yearn for an opportunity to live through another championship.

It just means more when you can truly grasp the moment.

That’s why I wanted to change pace and talk about the Knicks and their run to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999, the year I was born.

Like the Yankees, the Knicks have been a constant presence in my life since childhood. The first year I began watching was in 2008-09, when Mike D’Antoni and his hurry-up offense led a below-average squad led by guys like Nate Robinson, David Lee, and small forwards Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari.

Jamal Crawford was my very first favorite basketball player, and his #11 Knicks road jersey was the first of my collection. It later expanded to Amar’e Stoudemire, who proclaimed “The Knicks are back” when he signed in 2010.

A lot of time has passed since Stoudemire uttered those words. Some seasons were better than others. Much better. But you probably knew that.

To the best of my memory, I tuned in for every single possible game. The D’Antoni years, Mike Woodson’s up-and-down tenure, and the mess that Phil Jackson created by hiring Derek Fisher and Jeff Hornacek. That includes Jackson’s failed attempt to integrate a triangle offense with no stars besides Carmelo Anthony. I can’t even look at a picture of David Fizdale without getting a headache.

Playoff appearances were both scarce and special, despite little to no hope of a championship. Losing became the norm for the Knicks during my teenage years, as I truly believed players like Langston Galloway and Frank Ntilikina were much better than actuality.

The Knicks’ losing ways got so bad that my friends and I lived for NBA Draft predictions and even the lottery. Anything in the top 10 gave me hope that things were about to change.

Now, things are, well, different. Much different.

Just like the Yankees, anything less than a championship is a failed season for Jalen Brunson and the current-day Knicks. Twenty-seven years since falling to the Spurs in the Finals, the Knicks are back.

They’ll take on the same organization that beat them in ‘99, with just four wins standing between themselves and basketball immortality. Oh, there also might be a 7-foot-4 Frenchman.

A day like this was unthinkable when fans at Madison Square Garden wore paper bags over their head. There was a dark cloud over the arena, but Wednesday and the last five years leading up to it are a welcome change.

There’s definitley some readers who have been following the team much longer than I have. I applaud you for sticking with them.

Eight-year-old me had no idea that the Knicks would someday have this in them. Getting a chance to watch them on basketball’s biggest stage is an honor in itself.

This is the championship that gets remembered. This is the championship that lasts a lifetime.

Image Credit: Knicks 2026 NBA Finals generated by ChatGPT

More to come!