We’re a pro town. There’s no getting around that. We are all about the NFL and the NHL, all about the NBA and MLB. College football? Some of us send our kids to Ohio State or Georgia or Notre Dame, so we develop rooting interests that are as tied to tuition payments as they are to any great affinity for State U.
College hoops? Same deal. We have our rooting interests, and those, as often as not, are interests that occur well out of town, out of the spotlight.
But sometimes we are reminded of our roots. After all, long before the NBA was even founded New York was a college hoops hotbed that you could put up against any of the burgeoning blue bloods in Lexington, Ky., or Lawrence, Kan. Madison Square Garden was the headquarters of it all, and the roster of local teams that fostered deep, abiding loyalties among the faithful is strong.
St. John’s and Fordham. LIU and NYU and CCNY. Manhattan and St. Francis. Later, we would see manifest destiny take over and Seton Hall became huge for a while, and years later Rutgers, and Iona.
In 1950, CCNY won both the NCAA and the NIT, both titles coming at the Garden, and though what happened there the following year does take a little of the blood off that rose, the fact is the Beavers were double-champions before they were point-shavers. In 1971, Digger Phelps’ Fordham Rams made a habit of selling out the New Garden. In 1985, St. John’s came two wins away from a title, with one of the most popular teams the city has ever seen, any sport, any level.
It’s been a while since this has felt like a genuine college hoops town. It always helps when St. John’s is playing better, since they’re the local representative in the best basketball league of all. And they’re 6-2. It’s a nice start. It’s a nice taste.
Rutgers, of course, found itself at the eye of the sport’s hurricane this week, when the Scarlet Knights got a commitment from Dylan Harper. Back in ’76, when Rutgers won every game it played up until the Final Four in Philadelphia, the Knights were a regular staple of the back pages in this town. And if next year’s nights are as good as it seems they might be, that might be the case again.
Just a year ago we had wonderful NCAA Tournament runs out of Fairleigh Dickinson and Princeton, two years ago it was Saint Peter’s making an extraordinary run to the Elite Eight. Iona is always percolating just to the north of us, as is Hofstra just to the east.
Back in 1963, as Joe Lapchick’s second tenure at St. John’s was winding down, he was asked to compare the two jobs he’d had most of his adult life, two stints at St. John’s bookending a successful tenure with the early Knicks.
“I played pro basketball and I loved pro basketball and I really think that sport is going to take off,” he said. “But there’s something timeless about college basketball, especially in New York. Kids in New York who go to school around here want to defend their home court. Kids from out of town want to make their mark here. We’ve had our problems, it would be wrong to think otherwise. But when there’s a good college game scheduled at the Garden … there’s nothing better than that.”
We’re a pro town. Nothing is ever going to change that. We are all about the Yankees and the Knicks and the Giants, the Jets and the Mets and the Rangers, the Nets and the Islanders and the Devils.
But we also understand where we came from. We know what it’s like around here when we have a couple of college basketball teams worthy of our attention. That’s now. It might not be forever. But for now, it’s going to be awfully damn fun.
Sometimes JFK conspiracy theorists can take things a little too far, but halfway into the 10-episode podcast “Who Killed JFK?” it’s clear co-host Rob Reiner did his homework.
He took a circuitous route to get there, but John Gibbons, the Mets’ new bench coach, is the proud owner of a 1986 World Series ring. Injuries (and Gary Carter) limited the former first-round pick’s chances to become a starting catcher, but he made it to that postseason by warming up pitchers in the bullpen. “I was shocked I got a ring,” he says. “It was certainly a nice gesture by the organization.”
Rowing is usually considered an elitist sport, but New York-based USA Rowing and Row NY are looking to change that. Riding the wave of George Clooney’s upcoming film “The Boys in the Boat,” based on the best-selling story of the 1936 Olympic rowing team, the groups are showing the film to hundreds of inner city kids hoping to inspire them through teamwork and the values the sport brings. Think “Rudy for Rowing.”
Is it too much to ask for one more cool week out of Tommy Cutlets?
John Romanelli: Given how the Jet QBs now appear nervous playing behind that offensive (well-described) line, shouldn’t the Jets just throw in the towel, and Default for (Notre Dame tackle Joe) Alt?
Vac: Sign me up for that!
Matt Deakin: When I think of Ohtani, as great as he is, I think of ex-Mets GM Steve Phillips once saying that A-Rod would be a 24-and-1 situation. Last year the Broncos Russell Wilson was that. Is Ohtani the next one?
Vac: Well, considering his special skill sets, I guess Ohtani would be more like a 23-and-2, but the point is well taken.
@frankboesch: “RU, Rah, Rah. RU, Rah, Rah, Whoo-Rah, Whoo-Rah. Rutgers Rah. Up Stream Red Team Red Team Up Stream. Rah, Rah, Rutgers Rah.”
@MikeVacc: I assume this burst of team spirit wasn’t inspired by the berth in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Neil Ptashnik: Watching the Knicks-Bucks tournament game and it just struck me how ironic it is that Bobby Portis would have been a perfect compliment to have on the Knicks … oh, wait.
Vac: As I said earlier in the week when the Braves got Jarred Kelenic: We call that the Wheeler (or Jordan Montgomery) Postulate around here.