Showing Love for San Antonio

I'm an American sports fan, so I say that I love teams with solid work ethics that make up for a lack of athleticism with smarts, effort and execution.  I'm an American sports fan, so I claim that I love seeing great athletes play their entire careers as a member of one team.  I'm an American sports fan, so I insist that I root for small market franchises and underdogs.  And I'm an American sports fan, so for some reason I don't want to see the San Antonio Spurs win the 2012 NBA Championship.

Like most sports fans I know, I'm unable to reconcile the first three of the above facts with the fourth.  After all, the Spurs are methodical and boring.  They lack the flash and sizzle of the Heat, the celebrated youth of the Thunder and the big city appeal of the Celtics.  Never mind that the Spurs are built on a foundation of everything we as American sports fans say we stand for - hard work, consistency and stability.  We claim to hate the way the NBA has turned into a league based around superstar athletes and slam dunks, yet we're hard pressed to find anyone rooting for San Antonio to take town younger, flashier and sexier Oklahoma City in the Western Conference Finals.

  San Antonio's "Big 3" isn't as heralded as either Miami's or Boston's.

Take a look at the Spurs' playoff roster.  It's a seemingly random mix of aging stars (Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker), undervalued young players who have been with the organization since they were drafted (James Anderson, DuJuan Blair, Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal) and veteran role players that have been kicked around the league (Matt Bonner, Boris Diaw, Stephen Jackson).  What's not to love about this team?  Other than Duncan, who was heralded since his time at Wake Forest, every guy on the roster was overlooked at some point in his career, some as recently as a year or two ago.  Why aren't we all fawning over these guys?  Why do we all want the Durant- and Westbrook- led Thunder to represent the West in the NBA Finals?

The Spurs are a sports mystery.  They represent everything we as sports fans always say we want in a champion, yet we'll root for pretty much anyone to beat them - this year it's Oklahoma City, but during the past decade it's been Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas and even Seattle.  Even as I write this, I have to admit that I want OKC to take Game 2 tonight and march closer to the NBA Finals.  If the San Antonio Spurs do win the 2012 NBA title, though, we'll have no choice but to remember them as one of the league's great dynasties.  The question is: Will we want to?  

Save Orlando from Shaq

For much of my life, I dreamed about being the General Manager of a professional sports team.  As recently as last summer, I had made career decisions based on the hopes of one day making draft choices, free agent signings and trades - this time one year ago I was getting ready to start a summer internship in Major League Baseball's Labor Relations Department and continue to pursue this dream.  As I learned more about the sacrifices required to become a professional sports GM, though, I quickly realized that the life wasn't for me.  In order for a non-former-pro-athlete to get a high ranking front office position, he has to sacrifice virtually every other aspect of his life - family, friends, compensation, etc.  In the end, I decided that I'd go a different route within the world of sports business.

People are constantly asking me why making it as a GM is so difficult.  After all, I'm smart, qualified and extremely knowledgable - aren't I exactly the kind of candidate that teams are looking for?  Shouldn't I be able to show my resume, go through a handful of interviews, walk away with a job as a director of basketball / baseball / football operations and be well on my way to being named General Manager in 10-25 years?  While I'd like to think this could be true, sadly it isn't meant to be.  And a large part of the reason why it isn't nearly that easy is because, despite everything we hear about Moneyball and Sabermetrics, former professional athletes with zero front office experience continue to take all of the good jobs.

This week, sources revealed that the Orlando Magic is considering Shaquille O'Neal for its vacant General Manager position, which became available when it fired Otis Smith earlier this week.  No, that isn't a misprint or an article from the Onion Sports Network - it's actually a "legitimate" news story. ESPN notes that, "if O'Neal were to be hired by the Magic, the organization likely would bring in a more experienced basketball executive to work alongside him."  Thus, hiring Shaq as Magic GM would have two negative effects on young and talented aspiring front office executives.  First, a GM job goes to a guy with zero qualifications.  Second, another senior position goes to an industry veteran, further hurting the growth prospects of talented junior executives in the Orlando organization.  Young executives are willing to take jobs that pay $30K per year in order to earn the right to some day have the opportunity to prove themselves in a decision-making role.  Instead, the Orlando job might go to a multi-millionaire with no business experience while dozens of more qualified candidates wait in the wings.

Get ready for a bunch of Shaq press conferences starting this summer.

I like Shaq.  As a player, he was a great ambassador for the sport of basketball and he continues to entertain fans as a TV personality.  He's funny, charismatic and understands the sport - basically, he's got the perfect job right now as an NBA TV analyst for TNT.  I still can't understand, however, how Orlando could hire him as General Manager, or why he'd even want to job.  All we hear about is how teams need to get smarter, embrace new decision-making processes and move away from the traditional approaches that have become stale.  Savvy GMs like Sam Presti in Oklahoma City and Daryl Morey in Houston have taken the league by storm - doesn't Orlando want to find the next young superstar GM who can turn the Magic into another small market contender?  By considering Shaq, the Magic is telling its fans that it doesn't take winning seriously.  Hopefully, the people will speak up and tell ownership that they want the GM decision based on meritocracy, not popularity.

Farewell, Kid K

Despite a multitude of injuries that transformed him from a starter to a reliever way back in 2007, Kerry Wood has had a solid Major League Baseball career.  While he never lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he broke into the league as a 21 year old rookie in 1998, he did have flashes of brilliance.  His 20 strikeout game as a rookie is his most famous accomplishment (and I would argue is the greatest game every pitched), of course, but there were others: his two wins over Atlanta in the 2003 NLDC that pushed the Cubbies into the League Championship Series and his surprising 34 save season in 2007, to name two.  For his career, Wood is one of only three pitchers (along with Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez) to average better than 10.0 strikeouts per nine innings with a minimum to 1,000 career innings pitched, and has always been a fan favorite in Chicago.  With his career winding down, he has earned his one last moment in the spotlight.

Wood's 20 strikeout game was one of the best anyone has ever pitched.

That's why I think Wood's recent announcement regarding his retirement plans is awesome: in short, "Wood will retire after his next outing, which could come as soon as Friday."  Just as every kid, including the ones that grow up to be Major Leaguers, dreams about hitting a game winning homerun or ending a game with a strikeout, Wood has a dream for what he wants his MLB career to look like.  After 14 seasons, the Cubs reliever wants his final appearance on a baseball mound to be special, and I'm sure he wants to savor every last moment of it - how it feels to grip the baseball, how the crowd reacts to a strikeout, how the grass and the dirt smell.  By announcing that his next appearance will be his last, Wood can ensure that he and the fans make the most out of his final pitching appearance, and he can leave the game without regrets about not having gone out the right way.

The announcement makes a lot of sense for the Cubs in addition to Wood.  With the team scheduled to start a three-game series at home against the crosstown White Sox tonight, the team can ensure that Wood's final MLB appearance will come at Wrigley Field (assuming they want to use him this weekend) and that the hometown fans can give him a proper send off.  After that, the team will embark on a week-long road trip, before which it can call up a replacement pitcher from the minors, begin to realign its bullpen rotation and continue to work on improving its 15-23 record.  While the Cubs fans don't know much about winning, they do know a lot about history and will undoubtedly appreciate the opportunity to see Kerry Wood pitch one more time.  With a notice in advance that his next appearance will be his last, Wood can ensure that his fans, teammates and bosses give him the exit that he deserves.

At the same time, I respect how Wood refrained from forcing the Cubs to do something overly "special" for him.  He didn't ask for one more chance to start.  He didn't even ask for one more chance to close a game.  All he did was give some advance notice that his next relief appearance - whenever it comes - will be his last time on a mound.  The Cubs coaches have the opportunity to use him however they'd like (ideally in a non-critical situation, since he's posting a 8.64 ERA and a 2.28 WHIP this season) and then can move on with their regularly scheduled (and seemingly never-ending) rebuilding process.  As someone who's enjoyed watching Kerry Woody pitch over the last decade and a half, I'm glad that he's giving us all this heads up.  Without it, I might have missed and failed to appreciate the last appearance of one of the most exciting hurlers of our time.  Thanks for the memories, "Kid K."

One Horse Town

Earlier tonight, I watched Chesapeake Energy Arena erupt as the hometown Oklahoma City Thunder erased a late seven point deficit and defeated Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers 77-75.  Despite the low score, it was an exciting game to watch - back-and-forth action with numerous lead changes throughout - and through it all the OKC crowd was fantastic.  Dressed in white and blue matching T-shirts - each section alternated shirt color for a cool effect that I hadn't seen before - the Thunder faithful were desperate for their team to pull out the come-from-behind victory over the hated Lakers.  The Chesapeake Energy Arena atmosphere may be the best in the NBA, and a large part of the reason is that the Thunder are the only team in town.

As a New Yorker and as an NBA fan, I love the Knicks and consider Madison Square Garden among the best places to watch a basketball game.  But while MSG can be raucus and loud, it lacks the intensity and desperation associated with a fan base that lacks a backup plan.  When the Knicks falter and the NBA season ends, New Yorkers have Yankees or Mets baseball to enjoy and can soon start to focus on the Giants and Jets as they battle for a spot in the Super Bowl (or, the Giants do anyway).  In Oklahoma City, NBA basketball is the entire professional sports scene.  There might be Oklahoma Sooners football down the road in Norman, but once the Thunder season is over the state's professional sports scene doesn't pick up again until the NBA season restarts in the fall.

The Thunder faithful love team owner Clay Bennett, and for good reason.

In 2010, Bleacher Report ranked the top places to watch an NBA basketball game, and among the top ten were Oklahoma City, Portland, Sacramento and Salt Lake City.  What do these four metros have in common?  None of them have another professional sports team, so all of the city's rooting interest is poured into pro basketball.  Add in top ranked Indianapolis, a city with only one other professional franchise (the Colts), and you can see the correlation between great fan bases and fewer competing interests.  While it's great to live in New York and have nine local professional sports teams to follow, all of that choice fragments the market and makes each team's success seem less critical.  When you live in Oklahoma City and it's Thunder-or-bust, the fan base becomes much more rabid.  Plus, it's Oklahoma City - not only isn't there competition from other professional sports, there doesn't seem to be competition from anything. 

While I am quick to criticize the NBA for many things, market selection isn't one of them.  The league has realized that you don't need a massive market to have a successful and popular franchise - some of the league's most successful teams, both on and off the court, are located in one-team markets like San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Salt Lake City.  Unlike the NHL, which has taken the opposite approach (put teams in big markets whether they have any interest in hockey or not), the NBA's small market teams have managed to hold their own with the big boys.  When the Thunder finish off the Lakers some time next week, people in Los Angeles probably won't be too upset - after all, there are Dodgers games at Chavez Ravine all summer long.

You Decide: Lakers vs. Clippers

Ohio State or Michigan? Dodgers or Angels? Cowboys or Redskins? "You Decide" is a segment where I take a side in the greatest rivalries in sports. Who has the better stadium? Who has more history and tradition? Who has cooler uniforms? I'll make a choice, but in the end You Decide.

In the last 24 hours, I've watched both Los Angeles-based NBA teams battle for their playoff lives in Game 7's and have started thinking about the L.A. basketball scene.  Having lived in Southern California for almost three years, I've spent some time sizing up the Clippers and the Lakers and have seen both teams play home games at the Staples Center (in addition to attending the 2011 NBA All-Star game, technically a jointly-hosted event).  Unlike the Cubs / White Sox rivalry which I know basically nothing about, I'm mildly qualified to weigh the pros and cons of Lakers / Clippers fandom.

Most of the benefits of being a Lakers fan in L.A. are obvious, starting with the fact that the purple-and-gold are one of the greatest on-court NBA franchises of all time.  The Lakers have won consistently since they moved to Southern California from Minneapolis, and their legacy has been built by some of the game's most recognizable stars - Kareem, Magic and Kobe are just of the few Lakers stars that require only one name.  In addition to their on-court success, the Lakers resonate deeply with the city of Los Angeles; one look at the courtside seats at Staples during a Lakers game reveals dozens of A-List celebrities, and the Lake Show fits perfectly among the glitz and glamour that defines Los Angeles.  At the same time, being a fan of L.A.'s premiere franchise isn't all good - game tickets are prohibitively expensive, the purple-and-gold uniforms - while classic - aren't wear-out-in-public-material, and the 2012 version is aging and headed into rebuilding mode sooner rather than later.

The Clippers, on the other hand, are one of the NBA's hottest and most exciting teams.  Led by superstar tandem Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, the Clips have suddenly taken Southern California by storm and injected a sense of rivalry into the area's basketball scene.  With a solid core of talented young players, the Clippers seem poised to do something they've never done in the history of the franchise - play well consistently.  Additionally, being a Clippers fan allows you to be different - a fan of a blue collar franchise in a clearly white collar city.  As I mentioned in picking the White Sox over the Cubs, I value the underdogs, and in L.A. the Clippers most definitely play second fiddle.  Throw in the fact that, unlike the Lakers, the Clippers have some of the sweetest jerseys in the NBA (I love the red unis with the script writing almost as much as I love these Denver jerseys), and you've got a surprisingly tough call to make.

I'll take the Clippers road red over the Lakers home gold any day of the week.

In the end, though, for me it comes down to the quality of ownership.  Whereas your team can change players, coaches and management, ownership is much more permanent and ultimately controls a team's destiny.  Whereas Lakers ownership has always remained committed to winning, Donald Sterling is notorious for frugality, racism and sexual harrassment.  While the Clippers have the makings of a high growth franchise, chances are that Sterling will do something to destroy the team's future and send the Clippers back towards mediocrity.  While I'm not thrilled about picking the Lakers, as long as Sterling owns the Clippers I feel like I have to pick Kobe and Co.  Now, if only we could get them some slightly less offensive uniforms, preferably with a sharp script font . . .

Damn You, Josh Hamilton

One of the things I'm looking forward to about getting older is being able to wax poetically about athletes that I had the pleasure of watching as a younger man.  Not yet 30 years old, I already find myself talking nostalgically about the good ole' days of the 1990s, when I watched Larry Johnson and Allan Houston take the Knicks to the NBA Finals and Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz led the NL Cy Young voting year after year.  When I'm a little older, I'll be able to ramble on about the guys I love watching today - Chipper Jones and Eli Manning, to name a couple - and argue with conviction that they were better anything the 2030s or 2040s has to offer.  I envy the older generations that can do that today, and I can't wait to do it myself in the future.

When I'm old and rambling on about the greatest athletes I ever had the pleasure of watching, Josh Hamilton's not going to make my list.  And to me, that's a damn shame.  As we've known for some time now, Josh Hamilton is one of the greatest baseball talents to come along in years - this week's four homer game against Baltimore simply reinforces something we've known since the Texas outfielder kicked his drug habit and stormed back to the major leagues a few seasons ago.  The 2010 AL MVP is a phenomenal all around hitter, a solid outfielder and a unique personality - a dynamic mix of attributes that should have resulted in a Hall of Fame debate post instead of the one I feel compelled to write today.

For those of you not familiar with Hamilton's sordid past, you can read all about it on Wikipedia.  Clearly, Josh Hamilton has lived a life filled with many demons, and has battled his addictions for years.  As recently as this year, Hamilton suffered an alcohol relapse, and will never be fully cured of these diseases that have plagued him for over a decade.  And while no one has been more adversely affected by Hamilton's drug and alcohol abuse than himself and his family, Hamilton's problems have also taken something away from baseball fans like us.  While it may be trivial compared to all that he has suffered, I feel like Hamilton has robbed us all of the opportunity to watch one of the greatest talents of our generation give his career a real chance.  While this week's four homeruns were impressive (see the video below), for me they served as yet another cruel reminder of what could have been.

Hamilton isn't the first athlete to damage his career by making bad life choices, and I know he won't be the last.  But since he's retuned to baseball and led the Rangers to back-to-back American League titles, I've enjoyed watching him so much that I'm angry every time I think about all the years he missed because of his addictions.  I realize it's not his fault - his addictions are part of a disease that he can't fully control - but that doesn't change the fact that he threw so much of his career away.  I'm not naive enough to expect much from professional athletes - I'm not asking them all to be role models or heroes against their will.  All I ask is that they make the most of their God-given talents, get out on the field or court and dazzle fans with their natural abilities.  Even against this extremely low bar, Josh Hamilton has come up way short.  While I'm glad he's back and better than ever, I will never remember him the way I remember Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas or Pedro Martinez.  Damn you, Josh Hamilton.

You Gotta Have Heart

When healthy, the New York Knicks are one of the most talented teams in the NBA.  Even in addition to All-NBA superstars Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire, the full Knicks roster includes a number of talented players and athletes including stout defenders Tyson Chandler, Jared Jeffries and Iman Shumpert, electrifying scorers Jeremy Lin and J.R. Smith, and talented role players Steve Novak and Landry Fields.  Yet despite all of this talent on paper, the team struggled with consistency throughout the year and failed to reach its potential.  On Sunday, however, with their backs against the wall and their lineup decimated by injuries, the Knicks did something they hadn't done in over a decade - won an NBA playoff game.  More than anything else the team accomplished this year (and there were a lot of exciting highlights), yesterday's game made me proud to be a Knicks fan.

Jeremy Lin and Iman Shumpert were already out heading into Game Four at Madison Square Garden.  Amar'e Stoudemire suited up (and played well) despite a shredded left hand wrapped in eight thick layers of protective tape and padding (see below).  Baron Davis was lost for the playoffs after dislocating his right knee cap during the game, leaving Mike Bibby to run the point.  With so much of the roster lost for the year, the Knicks replaced some of their on paper talent with something they've lacked for much of the 2011-12 season - heart.  While it may not mean much in the grand scheme of this season, the Knicks refused to go down without a fight when it would have been easy (and perhaps even forgivable) for the team to roll over and give in to a sweep on its home floor.

Stoudemire scrapped his way to a double-double despite a heavily wrapped left hand.

I know that the Miami Heat are a much better team than the Knicks, and I'm pretty sure the Knicks know that too.  Despite the Game Four victory, I don't think there's even a 1% chance that New York wins three straight games against Miami to take the series, and I'd bet that a lie detector test on Carmelo Anthony or Tyson Chandler would reveal that, deep down, they don't think it's possible either.  Game Four was all about pride, and whether or not the depleted Knicks could look deep down inside of themselves and overcome some adversity.  It reminded me of the Knicks teams I loved watching in the '90s, when New York basketball was more about energy, heart and hustle than it was about skill, flash and sizzle.

I'm not expecting much from New York in Game Five - the Knicks will be forced to play in Miami, where they've had zero success this season, and will be starting Bibby at point guard even if Lin can make a miraculous comeback before Wednesday night.  If the Knicks are going to have any chance of extending this series to Game Six, however, it won't be because they one-up LeBron, Wade and the rest of the Heat.  It will be because, despite all of the obstacles working against them, they bust their you-know-whats and out-hustle, out-work and out-smart a vastly superior Miami team.  As a fan of the 2011-12 Knicks, I know that's their best chance at pulling off another shocking upset.  As a fan of the Knicks teams of the 1990s, I wouldn't want them to approach Game Five any other way.     

Rooting For One Mo Year

I'm not a fan of the New York Yankees.  In fact, the way they carelessly spend money and constantly win the AL East (at the expense of smaller market clubs like Tampa Bay, Toronto and Baltimore) makes me actively dislike them.  I'm also not a huge fan of Closers.  As a proponent of advanced statistics, I prefer to believe that a manager would be best suited choosing his pitcher based on a combination of game factors - inning, opposing batter(s), field conditions, etc. - rather than just throwing a guy out there because it's the ninth inning.  All of this being said, I think Mariano Rivera's freak season-ending ACL injury is a huge blow to Major League Baseball.  As excited as I am about the prospect of the Yankees struggling in his absence, I truly hope that Mo comes back at a high level for the 2013 season.

Rivera was hurt on the warning track, not on the mound.

In the past, I've gone on and on about how many athletes continue to play well past their primes, damaging their legacies and hurting their teams.  Ken Griffey Jr., for example, was extremely washed up by the time he returned to Seattle for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, and his numbers reflected it - he hit .214 in 117 games in '09 and .184 in 33 games during his final year.  Had "The Kid" retired after, say, the 2008 season (during which he was traded mid-season from the Reds to the White Sox), he could have avoided these final two sub-par years and done the Mariners a favor in the process.  Instead, he tried to hang on way past his prime, forced Seattle to delay its youth movement in the outfield and tarnished his still-Hall-of-Fame-worthy career.

While there are tons of guys like Griffey who stay in the game too long, I still want to see star players leave on their own terms.  When one of my all-time favorite players, Chipper Jones, struggled through his injury-riddled 2010 campaign, many baseball fans were calling for him to hang up his spikes for good.  Chipper knew, however, that he still had some gas left in the tank, and wanted to retire because he was ready, not because injuries forced him out.  Chipper returned for 2011, was reasonably productive (.275 with 18 homers in 126 games), and has had a great start to 2012, which he has already announced will be his final season.  Assuming he stays reasonably healthy this year, Chipper should have a solid farewell campaign and will walk away from baseball at his own pace.

As for Rivera, I'm glad to hear that he plans to follow in Jones' footsteps and return for the 2013 season (and possibly beyond).  As much as I hate to admit it, Rivera is one of (if not the) greatest relief pitchers in baseball history, and was still pitching well in 2012 prior to his freak accident.  When a star player starts to lose his skills, I believe that it's his responsibility to go out before he hits rock bottom.  When he knows he can still play and injuries have limited his performance (Peyton Manning, anyone?), however, I'll always be pulling for that guy to get back on the field for one last go at it.  Ideally, Rivera will use the rest of this season to rest, get healthy and remember why he loves the game of baseball so much.

Dropping Like Flies

It's certainly not looking good for the New York Knicks.  Already overmatched against an extremely talented Miami Heat team, the Knicks have been decimated by injuries late in the 2012 season.  Jeremy Lin has been out for weeks and, given the way the series against Miami has been going, appears unlikely to return to action this season.  Amare Stoudemire has been banged up all year, and isn't the same player he was prior to the injuries he's suffered over the past few months.  Iman Shumpert is out for months with a knee injury, Baron Davis isn't 100% and a host of other players (including Jared Jeffries and Tyson Chandler) are hurt as well.  While the chances of a healthy Knicks team taking down Miami were slim, the odds of a decimated New York club getting the job done might be zero.

The Knicks are hardly the only NBA team to have suffered an inordinate number of serious injuries this season, however.  The Orlando Magic are without star center Dwight Howard for the remainder of the season, Miami has been without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh for long stretches (though both are currently playing well) and Kobe Bryant has missed significant time for the Lakers.  Most recently, the Clippers' Caron Butler broke his hand and, even more significantly, reigning MVP and Chicago star Derrick Rose tore his ACL and will miss the rest of the playoffs.  Although Commissioner David Stern insists that these injuries are not the result of the NBA's post-lockout compressed schedule, you have to wonder if so much game action, combined with so little rest, has affected player health.  Philadelphia head coach Doug Collins, for one, disagrees with Stern's assessment:

"I don't think there's any question.  The wear and tear -- I don't think there's any question, the fatigue. What happens during the playoffs, it gets ratcheted up even more. All of a sudden in two games, you've seen Shumpert, D-Rose. Howard was out before the playoffs started. Caron Butler broke a hand last night.  Now, these things all could have happened. Who knows? But I think the wear and tear, there's no question, it has taken its toll."

When the NBA signed a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Players Association and announced its compressed 66-game regular season, many (myself included) were concerned that the lack of off days and practice time would lead to sloppy basketball and fatigue.  No one could have predicted, however, that the 2011-12 season would be marred by so many injuries to star players.  While the NBA was desperate to keep the number of games up in order to protect revenues and get as much as possible out of the game's stars, it seems increasingly likely that the league's short-sighted scheduling has contributed to hurting some of the game's most marketable assets.  Lin, Rose and Howard are the poster children for the NBA's ill-advised decision to rush back in time for Christmas and cram 66 games into a four month schedule.  As a result of the packed itinerary, the game has lost some of it's brightest stars just when it needs them the most - the playoffs.

In my opinion, anyone who contests that the rash of injuries is not at least partly related to the compressed schedule is, at best, in denial and, at worst, a liar.  As it often does, the NBA made a crucial decision based only on the "here and now," without thinking of the potential consequences.  At least partly as a result, we have to watch an NBA playoffs without Superman (Howard), the defending league MVP (Rose) and the game's biggest surprise in history (Lin).  Even sadder for me, without Lin and Shumpert it looks like I may have to watch the Knicks suffer through another first round sweep at the hands of a bitter Eastern Conference rival.