Now on some occasions, the case of Madison Square Garden rooting for the opposing team much less one player is pretty minimal. I went to Madison Square Garden last night with Matt Soldano who (Like the post before mine) is an avid Lakers fan. To be honest, I was expecting a close game and even a Knicks win. I could have seen this coming especially with a somewhat large fan base for the Lakers but in my mind, I never knew it was as large and as loud as it was last night. I'd even go as far as to say last night that the fan base for NBA Teams in the Metropolitan/Tri-State would go as follows:
1. New York Knicks
2. LA Lakers (Has to be because of Kobe Bryant and former Knick, Trevor Ariza)
3. New Jersey Nets
4. Boston Celtics (Because of their recent success in 2007 along with the Boston Three Party and the closeness of the area between New York and Boston)
5. New Orleans Hornets (Because of Me and someone by the name of "CP3" Chris Paul)
When the Lakers are in town, there is always that aspect of "Showtime" coming to town. When I purchased these tickets with the guys back in October, I was looking forward to this because of the travel and honestly coming together as a unit, Minus Max Caster in the Sports Department and have alot of fun going to the game and just taking in the experience. Boy, maybe its me and just Sports Memories but whenever I go theres something memorable that goes down. I mean, The last Mets game I remember I went to in 06, Reyes went for the Cycle against Cincinnati. Then in 08, I went to a September game of the Mets at home against the Phillies in a day night double header and the Mets lost the opening game like 6-2 eventhough they won the nightcap. The game I went to started really the Mets collapse Pt. 2 by loosing to the Phillies as Philly would eventually replace the Mets as NL East champs and go on to win the World Series against Tampa Bay. I went to the Royal Rumble at MSG and John Cena came back unexpected at 30 and won the whole thing. Anyways, The experience that I witnessed along with Mike, Jordan, Matt and 15,000 other fans was in itself history.
History itself is the recognition and observance of past events that are memorable for several reasons. On Christmas Day of 1984, Bernard King was a King on Jesus birthday and scored 60 points against the cross town rival, New Jersey Nets. Now, I was not born at that point in time but to scor 40+ points in any game is a good feat. To score 50 is a great feat and to score 60 is just extroadinary. I have to give respect to where its due and what I was in attendance for was extroadinary and I'm not even really a Knicks or Lakers fan. Kobe Bryant, in garbage time really after sitting out the first few minutes of the fourth quarter scored 61 points with the Lakers already up by 16. Final score 126-117 Lakers eventhough it was worse than what the score indicated.
What I was hearing in Madison Square Garden was terrible. Granted the Knicks are playing 3 of the best teams in the league this week in LA, Cleveland on Wednesday, and Boston on Friday (I believe or Saturday) and tough games were expected after the Knicks had won 5 straight home games and were coming off a stretch where they beat the Hawks at home and then in Indiana over the weekend. The Knicks were seemingly playing their best basketball of the season up to this point. The Knicks hung in there, in the first it was a respectable 5 points, in the third it was an bad but reachable 9 point deficite and then getting the game out of hand after the third was 11 but in the third, the Knicks had even cut the lead down to two 69-67 before they fell apart. As the chants for MVP got louder and louder I was disgusted simply because the fans that chanted MVP a good 2/3 of theme weren't even real Lakers fans. I was disgusted that as these chants got louder throughout the night, there was little to no Knick support. I seriously doubt the "Knicks Fans" will even show up Wednesday night when Lebron and the Cavs come to town. They pin their hopes on 2010 when he "Could" become a Knick but most forget that he could resign an extension with Cleveland at the end of this season. Where is the True Knicks fanbase? The one I grew up acknowledging would never gie up on their franchise even when they were down. It was disappointing to see. What I saw and heard Monday Night was shameful at best from the "Knicks Fans" all I heard towards the end of the game was MVP and it wasn't even for Montel Vontavious Porter (WWE Reference for those non Wrestling Fans). Guys like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard at this point deserve it more than Kobe but a 61 point performance in NY against the Knicks doesn't hurt.
In closing, For Shame "Kicks Fans". I was appaled and embarassed to see these "Fans" cheer for the opposing team from all the way on the other side of the country. Where is Your support?
I am disgusted and will discuss more of that factor or Non-Factor later tonight on Off The Glass tonight at 9PM on WCWP and on youcastr.com
- Nick Malone
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