last night we beat the hawks, who are terrific.  tomorrow we play the nets, who are horrific.  it's different.  those teams are so different it's like a day (game) and night (game) comparison.  they are oppositesies.  yep, oppositsies.

if there's anything i've learned from watching the knicks for the past 20 years, it's that we win like a bunch of suckers.  every time we get a nice win against a quality opponent, we turn around and lose to a group of bums because we act like we don't have to be prepared. another dummy move the knicks do is to take a great team to the brink on the road, and then lose to the worst team in the league the following day by 20 points.  check out these stats i made up:

knicks win by 20 or more in 6% of all wins.

knicks lose by 20 or more in 38% of all losses.

knicks win by 10 or less in 79% of all wins

knicks lose by 10 or less in 83% of all losses.

knicks go 1-1 in back to backs 69% of the time.  pause.

knicks get big wins in 100% of all wins.

knicks manage to lose after big wins 900%!!!!

during the oakley-era (and the entire 90's for that matter), if we came out sluggish the players would hold each other accountable.  they would go down by 10.  call a time-out, body some jerk and lay him out on the floor, just for thinking about a lay-up; and go on to conduct business like a group of motherfuckers, that totally egged your mom's molars during warm-up's.  we didn't always know who was going to step up and win the game for us.  sometimes it was the steady contributions and late heroics of a guy like derek harper.  maybe it was anthony mason muscling everybody to start the fourth quarter, get the opposition in early foul trouble, and then we could coast to a win because the other team had to play on their heels.   fuckin rolando blackman could win a game for us!  the point is - we always showed up, and never gave in. 

this century has been the dawn of a new day in such a real way.  a decade-plus of great success has been met with rudderless ineptitude.  false idols, plagues, anything you can think of, it's happened to us.  well, acutally i take that back, because we have not had a bonerfide super-mega-star get a season-ending injury.  but everything else that could ruin a team's season, has come our way.  the malaise of chaos which has entombed the franchise is not absolutely going to end this off-season either.  although rampant speculation tries to make it a reality, it's just not true.  we can be spurned, used toward greater gains elsewhere - we could even be bullied out of being the only team that plays home games in new york!!! we might sign frivolously in an attempt to over-compensate for the loss of a coveted star.  it could all happen to us.  and judging by the locusts swarming around the garden, i would be prepared for everything that is out of our hands to go completely wrong.  low expectations, keeps you from having your self-esteem hurt?

but we must realize, not everything is out of our hands!  well- obviously we're not on the court, and that's probably for the best, how many of you lumps are actually world class basketball players?  obvious aside, though, the knicks have a decent group that has a reasonable level of depth at every position, despite some clunky parts, and some undersizedness - we have the parts to ride this damned 82 game bicycle.  no, this team is not going to win 50 games a year.  we'd struggle to get to 40.  but if we played with passion every night and desired to out-work our opponents no matter what it takes - we could at least be as good as the rockets.

via www.pgc.state.pa.us

here we have chris duhon sporting the latest in predator/prey wear.  the fall guy full body jumper. 

the current knicks' favorite thing to do (besides gives me an ulcer) is let their guard down.  they love getting a timely hoop, and they love grinding out a nice win (especially in a strip club on the dance floor), but what they love more than anything is to lose to a team that has no business getting a win.  check this out, todd macculloch, is the starting center for the nets right now.  as you can see, he gets in there, and gives it to shaq on the regular.  we have trouble with big physical players.  so we'll probably just be like, "shit man, we won yesterday over a good team, this shut sucks, i ain't playing hard against these palookas."  and then we will lose, and basically be the laughing stock of the nba, along with the nets and bocats.

i don't know what i'm getting at, probably just a rally cry, but i know we need to continue playing together and we have to get wins against inferior teams, no matter what!  sure, harrington needs an alterior motive to get up for a game.  and, of course, duhon can come through 3 out of every 20 games.  and obviously, david lee has one of his best games this year when nobody notices.  and i'm not surprised wilson chandler played well when nobody focuses on him.  and it's clear to me that toney douglas gives other teams conniptions with his defensive intensity.  and despite the fact that jared jeffries, is not talented offensively, and only marginally talented defensively, that doesn't mean jared wants to lose. i wish nate was in there, i do.  but i want wins more than anything else.  and i really do trust coach d'antoni, even if he drinks too much.

so let's rally and give another strong effort, make some shots, hold each other (accountable).  say sexualy-charged things about basketball (it's a business).  and get after the nets and beat the fucking shit out of them.  cus if we don't, we might lose!

via www.pinballnews.com

larry hughes playing efficient basketball doesn't exactly make sense.  he came into the league in 1998 and has played for six different teams, and has not lasted longer than three years anywhere.  he has always had low shooting percentages, and high shooting volume.  shooting roughly once every two minutes is major.  he has shot 31% from beyond the arc for his career and in two games this year is right on target shooting 33%.  despite the none too pretty shooting from distance, he is still shooting 62% overall.

via assets.nydailynews.com

yes jared, larry has the flattest shot on the team.  and he turns the ball over some.  and he doesn't get huge assist numbers (too busy shooting).  but he is in control with the rock, and never seems flustered by pressure defense.  on the other side, larry consistently makes very nice, clean swipes, and he does it at a pretty high clip.  in his best year, statistically, larry was scoring 22 a game, getting 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2.5 turnovers while getting to the line 7 times in 38 minutes a game.  that is rather exceptional (except for the shooting %'s) i know it's only been two games so far, but it's impossible to ignore larry's production, and with nate out for two weeks, we (as fanatics) have to consider what to expect from larry hughes.

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It would be nice to sign David Lee.  I think it would also be very nice to sign Nate Robinson.  I like those two and I want them on the team, and they deserve to be on the team.  Apart from any bartering and argument, they have paid their dues to the franchise.  Furthermore, it would be nice to sign Ramon Sessions.

Another nice thing would be to trade Eddy Curry to a slower paced environment.  A town without all the rush and the hustle and the expectations.  A new home where he could re-focus himself and clear out his mind, start fresh.  He needs the open space, and he deserves it.  With all Eddy has gone through, it would be nice to see him land on his feet.  He had a harder year than most of us can even possibly imagine.  After those nice things, i'd love to ship Jared Jeffries and one year of on-call-anytime hand jobs to Siberia for a conditional second round pick, a carton of cigarettes, and money for cheap whiskey.  Yeeaaap... That would be nice!

Then we could watch Larry Hughes disappear, and Al Harrington's contract would evaporate.  Chris Duhon will move on.  Cuttino Mobley will come off the cap.  Oh it would be nice!  Perhaps Toney Douglas matures quickly into a force.  Jordan Hill figures out a thing or two, and makes some real progress each day.  Darko Milicic becomes the man he was expected to be when he was just a boy.  So many nice things!  

I like nice things!  I really do.  You know, though, what would be really nice, and absolutely attainable... how about some new uniforms for whoever the bunch of clowns we got is.  I'm sayin:  could i get a mufuckin cursive new york jersey out this bitch somewheres in here or what?  yo.  for real, can we rock a new logo, or like a updated one or somehting?  i mean, the whole style we got is kinda chump.  i can dig the color scheme.  mattera fact.  keep that.  for definite.  but i'm saying....

just cursive my new york across the cest, and rock some cursive last names on the back.  you could cursive up the numbers a little somethin, and we're good.  just like that.  boom!   cursive.

It started out simple enough.  There i was in the city council meeting with all the other people who just like to see a shit-show.  the crowd is the usual new york crowd:  insatiably unimpressed.  Every now and then a comment gets a rise out of a few muttering clusters.  Work it up enough and a few people can make a decent wisecrack to temporarily shatter the council's dominance.  But all in all, the council goes from old business to new business and not much changes.  

That's when the Hassidic contingent from South WIlliamsburg bumrushed the stage and took the microphone's hostage.

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