THE JOY OF A FAN FINALLY EXPERIENCING A KNICKS CHAMPIONSHIP

The New York Knicks are NBA champions!

- By JASON GONZALEZ

Those words sound beautiful, don't they? When the final buzzer sounded on Saturday in the Knicks’ 94-90 win over the San Antonio Spurs to capture the NBA Finals 4-1, the weight of more than five decades of generational sports trauma vanished into thin air. Almost immediately, my mind went to my father, who didn't live to see this day. I thought of the agony I've endured as a lifelong fan, and of the city I love so dearly. I'll admit, I shed a tear or two.

Much like the tortured fan base of the Dallas Cowboys, being a Knicks fan required a faith bordering on delusion for as long as I can remember. It meant believing that somehow, someday, the franchise at Madison Square Garden would stand alone at the summit of the basketball world. It meant enduring heartbreak after heartbreak, only to convince yourself that next season would be different. Today, every ounce of that stubborn loyalty has been rewarded.