In a soldiers stance

 I aimed my hand

At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I’d become my enemy
In the instant that I preach (Dylan)

Watching the Knicks game 3 of the NBA finals and i was getting aggravated and quite frankly sick to my stomach. The false idol worshipping of Patrick Ewing and his era of Knick underachievers....they went to the finals twice and lost both times.....his entire tenure was one of high expectations and bitter disappointment. Broken promises and worthless, laughable guarantees.

Now i am old enough to remember the 1973 Championship team very well, and i am grateful that my brothers woke me up for the 4th quarter of the clinching game from Los Angeles, after midnight on a school night.....and i was lucky enough to go to a half dozen reg season games at MSG and sit in the Red Seats that year , compliments of Pfizer pharmaceutical ......but the real era for me came soon thereafter......in my teen years i was blessed to watch perhaps the Greatest Knick of them all.....or at the very least a stone chiseled member of Mt Rushmore.

Bernard King was the best i ever saw wearing blue and orange.....he did not have the supporting cast that Frazier, Monroe, Bradley, Reed and Debuscherre had.......he had to carry the Team and he did.....the bigger the game, the better opponent, the higher stakes........the brighter he shined.......I specifically remember the 1984 playoff run......he broke fingers on each hand and played the last week of the season and the playoffs with soft casts and fingers taped together......imagine having to live like that ?  imagine trying to dribble a basketball or shoot around.......now try to imagine doing that against Parrish and Mchale............after knocking off the Mighty Pistons by avg 42 points a game and shooting 60% from the floor, MR King carried the Knicks up to Boston.....in an epic 7 game series against the eventual champs....Bernard avg 29 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.........with their backs against the wall and facing elimination in game 6......He scored 44 points and willed the team to victory.

I watch the Knick fans today, fighting each other and the Police in Bryant Park and Times Square and i just can't relate.......the night of that game 6 in 1984 I was in the Old Imbiberie Pub.....we did not have MSG or Cable in Brooklyn yet and so the game was NOT on Television........so they muted the televisions and put the Knicks on the Stereo Radio.........we hovered under a speaker at one of the high tops and listened time and time again as Marv Albert punctuated each of Bernard's shots with his signature YES !!......King drives the lane , YES..........Bernard from the corner, YES......Bernard with a running one hander, YES !......it was the greatest game i never saw.........i went onto you tube TV about 15 years ago and finally found the extended highlights of the game......heart stopping, breath taking, a one man show..........they went up to Boston 2 days later on Palm Sunday , on the fabled parquet in a Garden matinee ; they came up way short......Bird went Off and Bernard was double and triple teamed....Truck Robinson and Rory Sparrow couldn't help at all....the C's of course went on the defat the lakers and win the Title......but i still feel that Bernard was the best player on the court that spring and he should've been the league MVP.

I wish this current team well......hopefully they can get it done.

today is June 10th......41 years ago this morning I left Brooklyn for the Great Lakes Training Facility.......where does the time really go ? 

2+3=BEEER

 My pathway led by confusion boats

Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I’m younger than that now