[Ed's Note: PC Worship's Justin Frye has spent a decade in Brooklyn, but the presence of a new NBA franchise in his Borough with marketing aimed at his demographic and Jay-Z's .067 percent ownership are not persuading him to give up his allegiance to the New York Knicks. With the maiden match-up of the Battle of the Boroughs tomorrow, Frye weighed in on why he rides with the original New York NBA franchise.]
The road to being a New York Knicks fan, for me, has been pretty similar to how myself, and most people, end up in NYC in general; a series of weird moves and traveling that brings you to a place where everything, shitty and awesome, happens all at once. New York City sucks, but New York City also rules, and that’s what the Knicks are all about. Representing every side of the coin, being deep in a bum’s pocket or kicking off the ultimate washing machine. This is the pointless fucking story about why they became something that, I care enough about, but it’s also why I can’t just hop on the Net’s bandwagon so easily (+ there’s not one Net on any Basketball hoop in Brooklyn, they need to change their name to the Chains or the Nothings).
When I was a kid my whole bathroom was painted in teal and purple, in Charlotte Hornets worship. I got Alonzo’s autograph at the Bruce Smith celebrity golf tournament in Virginia Beach (along w/Dan Marino & OJ) and wanted to be Grandmamma for Halloween. When they moved from the Carolinas to New Orleans I lost interest. The Bobcats never stuck, the Wizard’s always sucked and anywhere else on the eastern seaboard was barely an after thought. I had a semi-uncle that was the Head Coach of the Pistons during a shitty season and rode with Reggie during Indiana’s glory years, this made me start following teams, like a transient, with no home team of my own. Maybe if the Bullets had the balls to be total dicks like the Redskins and not appease the PC public and change their name, I could have run with it, but I only like Wizards in fake weed and blockbusters. My “semi-uncle” was with the Pacers when Spike fucked up, so I couldn’t give a fuck about the Knicks before I moved to NYC almost 10 years ago.
The first couple years I was in NYC the NBA was in a weird zone for NYK fans, I tried to rally with em, but shit was tuff after their soul crushing loss in 99 and the Nets didn’t look like a Black Metal band yet. “Starbury” had his stride for a couple of those years, but pulled that shit where he faded on the Celtics & convinced China to suck his dick. Isaiah Thomas was running the franchise into the ground and the only-ish time in Y2K they made it to the playoffs they got shut out by the NEW JERSEY NETS in the first round. In 2006 I was a lost dog, with no team to root for. I said, “fuck it” and followed Iverson cause he’s a bad bitch from Hampton Roads, a real hometown anti-hero. He was basically shamed off the 76ers for being late to games and not coming to practice…practice? Then the angel of light brought him to Denver where he wrecked shop with god’s gift to the game, Carmelo Anthony & my newly formed homage began. Concurrently, my passion for shitty tattoos came into play, and Denver had more payday ink than the Red Hot Chilli Peppers with Dave Navarro on guitar. J.R., Birdman, K-Mart, Melo, Iverson, I think even Marcus Camby got a couple burnt out, mall-carpet tribal stamps. So sick.
Anyways, there’s really no reason I should be writing anything about the Knicks. If I break it down I can argue that my fandom is a seed from my mom and grandparents who were NYC born and bred, my grandfather ran a window pane shop on Broadway and Marcy and my great grandfather had a nickel and beer movie spot in Coney Island that my grandma “danced” in, but for real, I was a fleeting fan, it basically wasn’t interesting until Donnie Walsh rode into town and fixed everything Isaiah Thomas had burnt down (see Obama post-Bush post-Clinton post-Bush). That’s when shit got real, that’s when NY traded their whole team for the Jesus of NY Basketball and his apostles soon followed. I’ll admit, I was bummed when the Knicks crossed Birdman’s crack pipe off the list, & “Linsanity” lasted about as long as a bong rip of the weed it’s named after, but when they re-sparked ‘Sheeds bowl and brought him and his Sublime tats off the couch, then somehow created a Bermuda Triangle of killer point guards & 3-point junkies, the Knicks went next-level and are now on their way to, not only a highly entertaining and long awaited season for devout Knick’s fans, but a hopeful deep playoff run and a heavy roster worth rooting for.
