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St. John's University, a Catholic University based in Queens, is New York's college basketball team, and their comeback story is perhaps the best thing in New York sports right now. The Johnnies are off to a 20-3 start, the best record since 1985, which was their last "final four" team. That roster had New York heroes like Chris Mullin, Mark Jackson, and Walter Berry. Last night, they beat Marquette University in a tough 70-64 battle at Madison Square Garden.
A good St. John's team is a long time coming: It is a legendary program that had watched its lore dissipate. For many reasons, such as the closings of longtime HS basketball programs, people of color not being able to affordable living in NY, the rise of the prep school program, New York basketball at the college level has suffered. St. Johns went through a period, after Ron Artest's 2000 team, of perennial losing and embarrassment. (There were a few decent seasons under Steve Lavin, but it wasn't the place that it used to be; it wasn't a landmark in the cultural hub of New York).
But, now, the Johnnies are back. Rick Pitino is now on the sidelines, and at 72 years old, he is still the best coach in college basketball. This is a New York story: Pitino, after years of exile after his ousting at Louisville, is back in his hometown, coaching a typical New York squad. The Johnnies don't have the best shooting in the Big East, nor the tallest players, but they're sensational athletes, and they attack the paint every minute of the game. On defense, they're ferocious, and are constantly up in the opposition's faces. Kadary Richmond is a slasher, pure slicer and diver; there hasn't been a guard that fearless since Kemba Walker, Lance Stephenson. He is old school.
I went to the game last night. I was in the press section smiling and clapping the whole night, and I never do that in the press section. But, I could not help but cheer. The Johnnies matter again!
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I cannot believe the run these guys are on.
I grew up in southwest Connecticut and my grandma needed the cable package with UNIVISION and TELEMUNDO so we also got the MSG network channel. Despite me being a Miami Heat fan (coolest franchise in the league) I watched a ridiculous amount of Knicks basketball from 2011-2015. They had so many shitty teams during that run. Completely wasted Melo’s prime.
And naturally I grew to be a Knicks hater on account of the franchise being historically ass And also in my face style ass.
But I am so happy to see the run they’re having with these Villanova guys. Brunson might be the truth. He’s having his Isaiah Thomas (the young one) season. Their championship run might be loading. I don’t think they have it this year tho.
+ Hartenstein’s new tattoo sleeve is ass.
May 9, 2024
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New Yawk. The Big Apple. Greatest city in the world. Best basketball team in the world as a result. It doesn't matter that the last championship this team won was in 1973. It's not about winning. It's about NY grit and determination. It is about paying $400 for nosebleed seat tickets at an aging stadium built on the broken corpse of one of this city's most beautiful landmarks.
I like the team colors. Blue and orange is fun and aligned with the Fibonacci Sequence.
This is god's chosen team. Leon Rose is leading us all on a crusade to Eastern Conference Championship glory. When the Knicks do well New York experiences a revival of the summer of love.
I hope this is convincing.
Mar 17, 2024
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Another routine-- This typically airs at 7:30 (right after Jeopardy!) unless its a west coast game or a weekend matinee. NYK is the greatest basketball club to root for in the world. They’re in the best form they’ve been in since their 1990’s seasons with final appearances. Go Knicks.
Feb 8, 2025
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I'm often accused of being an "old soul", a categorization I vehemently dislike because it pretends as if my taste is because of nostalgia, as opposed to what is actually cool and compelling. (If something cool comes out now, I enjoy it, but we're in a down period when it comes to culture). But, something old about me, is that I do not care at all about TikTok ending, if does happen. If Elon takes it over from the Chinese, you might as well leave anyway, but I'm just worried at why this is a huge deal for people. It's just an app. Another one will be made. TikTok is not culture, it directly flattens culture into these ten second clips that take music, movies --- things that you need to process --- into something that is now consumed by everyone at a rapid pace, not allowing for the nuances, the style, the aesthetics to sit with us.
I have never watched something on TikTok and thought that this is something in that pushing American culture to deeper heights. I am sorry. Now I am sure they're good stuff on the app, but it's not really a necessity. Whenever I hear the words "it's blowing up on TikTok", my mind immediately growls.
I understood why X becoming overrun with Elon bots and right wingers is a big deal; X actually created things, made careers, made American life, and American events available to be seen by everyone. However, TikTok is a corrupt fantasy, chopping at the wires that make physical connection important.
Read a book! Go to the movies! Go to the restaurant of a cuisine that is unheralded, go to a baseball game. Who cares about TikTok?
Jan 14, 2025
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There's something quite startling about Martin Scorsese's 1980's period compared to the rest of his decades as one of America's greatest filmmakers. In the 80's, he was weird, strange, and making weirdly manic films that feel more New York than even some of his movies about the mob. They're movies about characters who aren't glamarous people that they want to be, but rather, are losers who can't seem to correctly fucntion in normal society. They're non-violent sociopaths. I saw The King of Comedy at Metrograph recently, and it's exhilarating, hilarious, manic, and scary. With Jerry Lewis, Bobby De Niro and Sandra Bernhard, Scorsese was able to create a world where incels who are bad at comedy are wishing for fame. Sound familiar?
This is a great movie. In 1983, it was a box office flop. But in 2025, it is magical in how it's telling the future. A future of scam artists who don't want to work to get there, and don't want to sit in their mediocrity: they want to steal to get their fifteen seconds. Go watch this masterpiece.
Jan 28, 2025
It's a perfect movie. It's almost too perfect. The fashion, the look on Cate's face when Theresa (Rooney Mara) is walking to her at the end, the line reading of "ask me things, please"; the fact that men are the joke throughout the movie.
It makes me wonder about representation and the limits of it because of how womanly and queer this movie is, despite the fact that it never feels like a movie made for women. It's just a great movie.
Feb 13, 2025