Knickerbocker Glory

Tonight I was offered a rare opportunity to watch the New York Knickerbockers (aka the 'Knicks') play 'hoops' at Madison Square Garden. Thanks to a client's hospitality, I was able to watch proceedings from the expensive seats and thus properly assess a sport which has tended to pass me by since moving to the US.

The Knicks have the highest payroll in the NBA but already have a disappointing 7-14 win/loss ratio this season following on from their ridiculously poor 23-59 showing last season. Indeed despite having the obvious advantage of being the only basketball team in the largest city in the country, they have not won the NBA finals since 1973 (a fabulous year incidentally).

At least if the current owner of the nearby New Jersey Nets gets his way, the Knicks can share the pain of the fans from this expectant city, because he is hoping to move them to Brooklyn, just across the East River from Manhattan.

The Knicks are owned by media giant Cablevision, who also own Madison Square Garden. Despite its rather bucolic name, it is no longer based in a square nor does it remotely resemble a garden, situated instead in a non-descript building quite literally on top of Pennsylvania Station. The name derives from its original location close to Madison Square, where 23rd Street meets Broadway. Nonetheless, it is an imposing venue once inside, and it holds 20,000 people, thus dwarfing say Wembley Arena (12,750).

As for the game itself, true to script the Knicks got beaten 113-102 by the Washington Wizards. There are certainly elements of great skill which even a non-connoisseur like myself could appreciate, but the constant back-and-forth lacks variety and once a team (Washington in this case) builds a 10+ point lead, the atmosphere is sucked out of the arena.

I'm also troubled by the fact that virtually every player was a giant Peter Crouch-esque beanpole, with the notable exception of the 5 foot 9 inch Nate Robinson (below) who has a ridiculous vertical leap of 43.5 inches. It was no surprise therefore that he became my favourite player almost instantly, and not just because he was called Robinson, but because he played a bit like our beloved Robbo too. More seriously, I think it's one of football's greatest attributes that size rarely matters.