To the Editor:
Re “Pinch Yourselves, Knicks Fans: Next Year Is Now; First Title Since 1973 Transforms a Hardened City Into a Puddle of Joy” (front page, June 15):
Why do the Knicks keep making me cry happy tears?
Any franchise that double-sweeps its way to the N.B.A. finals is sure to garner tremendous support from hometown fans. Something more has been happening in New York. One team, five men at a time, has caused a city of more than eight million people to freeze and roar in unison.
This is not just about basketball. At a time when inequality and technology have damaged New Yorkers’ sense of community, the Knicks have given us an opportunity to celebrate the common threads that still connect us.
As the countless watch parties, impossibly full bars and exuberant crowds spilling into our streets show, the city has enthusiastically seized that opportunity. All New Yorkers, from those born here to the freshest transplants, have needed this atmosphere of togetherness and belonging.
Thank you, New York Knicks. Your hard-won victories have allowed each of us to feel, if only for a moment, exactly what Frank Sinatra meant as we sing, “Start spreading the news.”
Stephen Mageras
New York
To the Editor:
As a 10-year-old in 1976, I watched heartbroken as the Boston Celtics felled my Phoenix Suns in the Suns’ first trip to the N.B.A. finals. I quickly recovered, with the hope that there is always next year, and besides, joy and hope were everywhere in that celebratory bicentennial summer.
I’m still waiting for the Suns, but the Knicks’ joy and spirit have done much to assuage this troubled summer of the semiquincentennial. Watching them has touched my 10-year-old heart.
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