Lee Lowenfish

If there is one team that unites perpetually argumentative New Yorkers, it is the New York Knickerbockers. Pretty amazing given that the franchise has won only two NBA titles in a frustrating history dating back to the 1940s.  The first was in 1970 over the LA Lakers - in the dramatic Game 7, injured Willis Reed limped out of the locker room to give a morale boost to the team and after scoring a few points, Walt Frazier took over and contributed 37 points to the team's victory.

With essentially the same team except for the addition of sharp-shooting forward (and telephone book memorizer) Jerry Lucas and former Baltimore Bullet adversary Earl Monroe aka Earl the Pearl and Magic, the Knicks prevailed in 5 games. 

 

The 2026 Knicks have gotten hot at the right time.  They have won 11 in a row in the playoffs, the last two were sweeps of Philly and Cleveland. and the last 10 games set a NBA record for playoff point differential.  Their rebounding, fast break artistry and overall passing has been breathtaking to watch. Southpaw point guard Jalen Brunson - barely six feet tall - has done whatever is needed in any game - assisting, driving to the basket, or taking outside shots. Their domination has reminded me of Columbia's women's basketball 5-game streak just a few weeks ago to win the consolation WBIT tournament. (Here's a shoutout to other outstanding Lion women performances this spring season including women's golf. crew, national title-winning archery, and softball.)  

 

The Spurs will be a formidable opponent and I'm not surprised that they are slight favorites to win the title. They dethroned the Oklahoma City Thunder winning decisively the 7th game on the road.  How 7-footer Karl-Anthony Towns matches up against the wunderkind 7' 5" Victor Wembanyama might be a big key to the outcome. Also important will be the availability of backup center Mitchell Robinson who will be playing with a broken pinky on his right shooting hand.  The joke that immediately comes to mind is that the injury might help his absolutely dreadful foul shooting. 

 

I hope it is a competitive series and certainly it will help the Knicks if they at least split the first games in San Antonio. Here's the TV schedule with all games at 830P EDT on ABC:  Wed June 3, Fri Jun 5 in San Antonio; at NYC M Jun 8, W Jun 10. (Rumors have President Trump wanting to come to one of the Knick home games - sure hope someone can talk our petulant faux leader out of that bad idea but he and Knicks owner James Dolan share the same imperious temperament that too often comes with inherited wealth.) Game 5 goes back to San Antonio on Sat Jun 13 (if necessary). I AM SO GLAD THAT THE NBA HAS RE-INSTITUTED THE 2-2-1-1-1 format instead of the 2-3-2 setuip that put enormous pressure on the team with the supposed home court advantage because of best record.  Interestingly, though, the record in Game 7's lately favors the visitors 12-9.  Maybe travel is so luxurious these days that the road is not the obstacle it once was. If there is a game 6, it is at MSG on Tu 6//16 and Game 7 will be in San Antonio F 6/19. 

 

I hope it is a memorable series and that the Knicks win, maybe ideally in Game 6 at home. But San Antonio has plenty of feel-good stories, including Dylan Harper who emerged as a star against Ok C only a year removed from Rutgers where he only played one season.  (Dylan is the son of former Knick Ron Harper whose other son Ron Jr. stayed for a full career at Rutgers.) Former coach Greg Popovich remains a palpable presence in San Antonio. He presided over the 5-time NBA champion Spurs led by Tim Duncan-Manu Ginobili-Tony Parker. Slowly recovering from a stroke that forced his retirement from coaching, Popovich has been cheered by the presence of Duncan who attends some of his rehab sessions. 

 

Turning now to baseball, the college game rarely gets much coverage in the NYC area.  As readers of this blog know, I am an ardent Columbia baseball fan and we did make the Ivy League tourney this year as the #4 seed. The Lions beat Penn in an elimination tourney game after losing to eventual winner Yale.  A close loss to Brown ended their sub-.500 overall season but a lot of talent remains with undoubtedly reinforcements on the way. The Ivy League may have had a down year - Yale lost soundly to Oregon and Oregon State in the Eugene regionals - but league parity is becoming the rule which is fine with me and Lions coach Brett Boretti. Brown was a surprise second place regular season finisher and also finished second to Yale in the tournament.      

 

The big NYC college baseball story is Cinderella St John's who are heading to the Super-Regional in Tuscaloosa to start a best-of-three series Sat night with U of Alabama. The Red Storm swept the Tallahassee regional beating host Florida State twice. In the final game, redshirt sophomore catcher Adam Agresti's 5th inning grand-slam was the big blow. The Yorktown NY native was joined by four teammates on the tourney's All-Star team.  Quite an accomplishment for coach Mike Hampton (NOT the former Met reliever who bolted Gotham for the supposed better school system in Denver) but a man who served for 18 years as a hitting coach and recruiter for former head coach Ed Blankmeyer.    

 

For some reason, the St. John's-Alabama best-of-three series is the last game on ESPN's Super-Regional card. The Crimson Tide hosts the Red Storm on

Sa Jun 6 9P EDT, ESPN 2.  The second game will be on Sun aft Jun 7 game will be on at either 2 or 3p. The order of the other Sat games are Mississippi State at Georgia at 12N on ESPN; then the revival of a Big 12 rivalry, Oklahoma at Kansas 6P on ESPN2, Oregon at Texas 8P ESPN, and St John's at Alabama 9P ESPN.  But again better check your listings.

  

Here are the PSAL high school championship schedules with all games at the Staten Island Hospital Stadium, home ot the independent league Ferry Hawks just a short walk from the SI side of the SI Ferry:  Sat Jun 6 5P HS title game from the highest division, 3A, pits John Jay of Bklyn vs perennial contender Tottenville from SI. Preceded at 2P by the smaller school game between Port Richmond & East Side Community.

Su Jun 7 Noon A Division title game pits Kingsbridge Academy against Baruch HS 3P is the annual Exceptional Players All-Star Game 

 

Next blog will have more detailed thoughts on the MLB season.  The Orioles' improved starting pitching and some timely hitting have given this ardent Bird watcher some cautious hope that there will be a summer ahead of agonized pleasure watching games, after all.  But they are still 3 games under .500 before the Wed night game Jun 3 game against the currently cellar-dwelling Red Sox.  We'll see where things look later in the month of June which has been known for baseball swoons as well as lyrical moons. I'm happy that chronic recent losers like the White Sox, Pirates, and Nationals are above .500 and I hope that doesn't change drastically in the days and weeks ahead.   

Here's a TV note:  The MLBTV network on Su June 14 at 1P EDT: "Grass Routes" highlights the Rochester Red Wings. This show may only be on intermittently during the summer but I've enjoyed earlier shows on the Portland Sea Dogs and the Asheville Tourists. The Red Wings were home to the Cardinals for decades and then the Orioles came in for a long time.  Currently it is a Twins farm team.

 

And now it's time for TCM tips that doesn't include many sports movies but if you never tire of the classic Noir "Double Indemnity", on Fri Jun 5 at 10P, listen closely to what bored housewife Barbara Stanwyck is complaining about her husband during one of her early fateful meetings with insurance agent Fred MacMurray.  At 8p "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) is on and at midnight "Detour" (1945) which might be worth seeing once but I wouldn't make it a favorite.

Muller's roster on Fri Jun 12 is more appealing to me:  8P "Scarlet Street" (1945) Edward G. Robinson is played for a sap by Joan Bennett & Dan Duryea helps her out.  I got so annoyed by Eddie G's victimization but I guess it is a tribute to his depiction of what an unhappy husband is capable of feeling & doing.

10P "The Killers" (1946) the film that made Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster stars and Hemingway said that the opening scenes were the best Hollywood ever

did with his original stories.

Midnight "Nightmare Alley" (1947) A grueling film set in a circus with Tyrone Power and Joan Blondell.  This one I must see again.

Eddie Muller's regular Noir Alley on Su June 7 at 12M, repeated at 10A, is the classic "Blue Dahlia" (1946) with Alan Ladd as a WW2 veteran returning home to find his wife dead.  On June 14 it's "Blackout" (1954) which I've never seen.

  

That's all for now.  Take it easy but take it, and Stay Positive Test Negative. 

 

 

NYC has been blessed with spring-like and even summery weather since late August.  It has made the the end of Daylight Saving Time less somber. I've made it a point to be outside as much as possible in the waning daylight - walking and reading on park benches often up to dusk.

 

Yet drought is now becoming a problem around here. Fires have raged this weekend in area parks, probably caused by a toxic combination of heat and dry leaves. Nothing is ever simple in life, is it? 

 

The election results on Nov 5 were not to my liking, in the understatement of the year, but it didn't really surprise me.  Kamala Harris turned out to be a better candidate and a more appealing personality than I expected, but hers was a hasty entry into the race after President Biden succumbed to pressure and withdrew from the race after a disastrous June 27 TV debate against Donald Trump.

 

It happened on my 82nd birthday and I was eating a great Cuban meal at Amor Cubano on 3rd Avenue and 111th Street. I wasn't gonna be bothered with the kind of TV situation that Trump knew how to manipulate. I sensed too that incumbent administrations would always take the blame for what happens on their watch.  (I don't think the government of any country where there was some kind of legitimate election since the pandemic has survived.)    

 

The role of television, and now even more perniciously the instant streaming services readily available online, is more insidious than ever. I picked a good movie to watch on TCM the Friday before the election, Hal Ashby's "Being There" (1979). 

 

It really holds up well with Peter Sellers as the illiterate gardener whose emotions are entirely dictated by what he sees on TV.  In one particularly memorable scene, Sellers reacts to Shirley MacLaine's amorous advances only when he sees a couple kissing on TV. Sellers delivers a bravura performance with some fine work by Melvyn Douglas as the dying chairman of a big corporation, MacLaine as his wife, and Jack Warden as the befuddled President of the United States. 

 

Speaking of TCM, on Tues Nov 12 there is quite a lineup of sports-themed films beginning early in the morning with:

6A "Crazylegs" (1954) starring football star Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch playing himself.  For those of you moaning and groaning about the new freedoms for college football players, I'm glad I learned that the great Wisconsin Badger All-American also played for U of Michigan when he was stationed nearby during WW2 

 

730A "Viva Knievel" (1977) - remember him? the crazy motorcycle rider specializing in stunts

 

*930A  "Speedy" (1928) Harold Lloyd's memorable silent film that includes Babe Ruth suffering thru a cab ride to Yankee Stadium by adoring Lloyd 

 

11A  "The Jackie Robinson Story" (1950) with JR playing himself and young Ruby Dee as his wife Rachel

 

1230P "The Greatest" (1977) a dramatization of Muhammad Ali's fight against his refusal to fight in Vietnam - starring Ernest Borgnine  

 

(*430P  "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)  Not a sports film but the Beatles' first film under Richard Lester's artful direction of a more hopeful age)

 

8P "Strangers On A Train" (1951) a Hitchcock classic with some wonderful photography at the Forest Hills tennis center; Part of Ruth Roman Tuesday

nights in November with Farley Granger as the tennis pro trying to avoid Robert Walker's eerie stranger 

 

On the college basketball scene, I am happy to report good news in the early going for Columbia basketball, both women's and men's teams.They are undefeated in the early going. There will be plenty of home action this month, esp. for the men, at the Levien Gym on Broadway just east of SE of 120th Street.

 

The women, expected to contend for another Ivy League title, routed Stony Brook in the home opener and won an overtime thriller at Providence, their 9th win over a Big East team in the last 10 tries.  Next home games are :

M Nov 11 7P against powerhouse Florida Gulf Coast U.

W Nov 20 7P against Pacific of Stockton, CA where Eddie LeBaron played QB and Janet Leigh attended

And mark down Sa Jan 20 2P for Princeton's visit to Levien.  

 

The Columbia Lions men upset Villanova last week on the road.  They are an experienced team with no defections for transfer portals and the like.

Tu Nov 12 7P Lehigh

Sa Nov 16 Mercyhurst 12N

W Nov 20 at LIU Brooklyn 7P

Sa Nov 23 7P Stony Brook

M Nov 25 New Hampshire 7P 

 

Down at the NYU gym at Mercer and Bleecker Sts, the defending Division III champion women Violets play:

Fri Nov 15 6P Kean of NJ

Su Nov 24 2P Colby from Maine

 

The men's home opener won't be until Dec 3.   

 

Wisconsin, my graduate alma mater, is also off to undefeated start against middling competition.  They were hit hard by losses in the transfer portal, but

they have enough veterans back and newcomers to perhaps make life interesting this season.  

 

On the other hand, the second season of football coach Luke Fickell has hit major bumps in the road.  At 5-4, with Oregon coming up this Sat Nov 16, they

are not assured of even a minor bowl appearance.  Tearing down a good but not great program under Wisconsin native coach Paul Chryst doesn't look like

a good decision right now.  I'm glad they have kept for the time being at least another local basketball stalwart, longtime coach Greg Gard.    

 

Next time there may be news of baseball free agent signings though it looks like super-agent Scott Boras will string out his clients into the holiday season.

It didn't work out well for many of his players last off-season but we'll see.  I don't like the incessant talk of money so won't go into it here.

 

Instead, I will be relying on the saving grace of humor in the four years ahead - while keeping alive my love of good sports and finding where I can fascinating connections about people. 

 

Eg. Just found out ago moments ago from reading a Guardian.com post, that Susie Wiles, 67, Trump's campaign manager who will be his White House chief of staff, is the daughter of Pat Summerrall, former New York Giant place-kicker in their glory days and later the understated effective sidekick to John Madden on NFL broadcasts.

 

For now, always remember:  Take it easy but take it, and Stay Positive, Test Negative.