Bleeding Blue and Orange - Chris "Preach" Smith

Around this time every year, the air gets crisp, the leaves change
and the streets of New York become slightly less noisy. It's about this time
of year where you start seeing members of a group that used to number
in the thousands sporting blue and orange here and there. Basketball
season has arrived. And that weary tribe of folks known as fans of the
New York Knicks are front and center. For better or (more than likely)
worse. See, I understand because I am one of them. I do bleed blue and
orange, but in a more understated way.

You see, I grew up as the son of a major Knicks fan, my father. He was
around to catch their last World Championship season. In 1973. Let me
repeat that again...in 1973. I used to hear all about former Knick greats
like Willis Reed, Walt 'Clyde' Frazier and Earl 'The Pearl' Monroe. Growing
up in the 1980's, being a Knick fan basically meant that your hero, your
patron saint of the hardwood was Patrick Aloysius Ewing. Ewing was
cherished in the household because he was a Knick and also because he
was Jamaican. He was a truly great player, and the cornerstone of great
teams that never could quite get past the Chicago Bulls. And we all know
why that was. To see the Knicks now is like watching the popular girl you
had a crush on in high school ten-plus years later with the same hairdo,
but also rocking forty extra pounds running around with cats who
looked like they used to eat crayons for lunch. It can get downright
painful at times. I mean, when you have C.L. Smooth say in the lyrics
to 'Chocolate City', 'laid back watching the Knicks/we up 10/we need to
stop shootin' bricks'...it is almost unbearable at times.

While it has been ten years since the Knicks' last trip to the NBA Finals,
it might as well seem like thirty. I mean, things have been so bad here
that hoping for Lebron James to spurn Cleveland for here has become
the new lottery dream. Isiah Thomas' disruptive reign has only made
the whole thing even more sad. I mean, this man killed the NBA's minor
league system and he comes to run MY team? Oh, the agony. Now when
I tell people I root for the Knicks, they look at me as if I got a bad
diagnosis from the doctor. Look, I want to believe this year will be
better. I want to believe this year will be the year we break through
and become..repsectable. We've got Nate "Kryptonite" Robinson, and
we've got David "Better than Kiki Vandeweghe" Lee. Those two along
with Mike D'Antoni at the helm gives me hope. Trust me, when you
sit and watch Eddy Curry basically gain weight each quarter, and when
you remember Stephon Marbury's rambles on and off the court, you
realize the Knicks need it. So on opening night, like many others in
New York City, I will be bleeding blue and orange and dreaming of
the day when we make the playoffs.

I just hope that day isn't too far off.