“New Yorkers are not a monolith, and while some yell out ‘Let’s go Knicks!’ at every given opportunity, others are impervious to the buzz.” — New York Times
That would be me — unshakably impervious to, totally unimpressed and unmoved by the buzz that’s so electrifying Knicks fever in the Tri-State Area.
Nothing personal against the mighty Knicks, which is barreling its way to the championships or something like that. (I really don’t know. I really don’t care.) But I have never been a team sports fanatic — I’m not sure what’s more grindingly tedious: basketball, baseball or football — and I have never understood its allure. I’m not a big fan of shouting.
I’ve said it before: I find sports at once boring and obnoxious. The whooping, clamoring fans alone are the apotheosis of crazed, numbskull tribalism, smacking of little less than nationalistic Neanderthals.
Tonight the Knicks face, I believe, the Spurs and I care more about the lint balls on my bedroom floor. Everyone enjoy themselves during the high-stakes spectacle of peerless skill and outsize athleticism — “Let’s go Knicks!” — while I watch a movie or read a book or attempt some more of this writing thing.
For some reason — enlighten me — this relegates me to eternal wussdom. I abhor herd mentality and that’s what I see in the raucous “community” of big time sports. It’s all a little gross, chest-thumpingly, high-fivingly gross.
Believe me, I have tried earnestly to care and understand the mechanics of the games, and I have reliably dozed off. I enjoy Olympic sports, especially the individual games, far more. In that sense, I’m a loner. While I played soccer a lot as a kid, snow skiing and BMX were my real passions.
For all that, I wish the Knicks the best. Stomp the Spurs, or whoever you’re playing. Go, um, Knicks!
GNASHING. 
You are not alone…
Mary Ann Livengood melivengood@breezeline.net
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Count me in.
Yes to the Olympics, no to team sports on TV.
I’ve learned late in life I can enjoy a pro baseball game IN PERSON. I have been to two, and enjoyed both. Would be willing to attend a third. But not watch one on TV, where I’m told by the camera man what I must look at.
I have never attended a pro basketball or football game. But the chest thumping there is worse by far than baseball fans, so I’m content to NOT reach out.
Pass me a book.
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TV sports just don’t work. I’ve been to a dozen-plus live MLB games and, you are right (she shoots, she scores!), they’re much better in the flesh. Still, I was more interested in the hot dogs, ice cream and Cracker Jacks than the actual games. And the crowds are indeed more restrained than the footballers.
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