Why? Because.

I promised to address why I am writing this blog over the next few days. I also promised to talk a little bit about David Lee today. I will do both, because in a large part, they are one and the same. David Lee isn't a Knick anymore, and Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf, and (hopefully) Kelenna Azubuike have taken his place. The trade happened a while ago yes, but its taken me a while to come to terms with it. Not that I have, or ever had, a problem with the trade. Basketball-wise it was a great move, and without a doubt improved the team. However, this isn't about basketball-wise, or team improvement, or Anthony Randolph. This is about David Lee, and how painful it is that the Knicks lost him.

It took a while--I probably didn't accept it until some time into last season--but David Lee was my favorite Knick. He wasn't perfect, but he was the brightest star in the darkest night. A source of happiness during a time when the Knicks, nightly, seem hell-bent on taking happiness away. It wasn't just his hustle, or his dedicated improvement, or his constantly being underrated, overlooked and under-appreciated. He was an offensive force though no one would admit it. He tried on defense every game, though he was always coming up short. He worked on his jump shot constantly and was finally rewarded by 20 and 10 and an All-Star berth (though grudgingly given).

I'm a Knicks fan by location. I grew up in New York, I grew up to love basketball, and so I grew up to love the New York Knicks. In all honesty, that's a lousy way to pick a team. One should be a fan of, one should love a team that appeals to them personally. The players, the coach, the style of play, the culture, should make sense, should appeal, for someone to be a fan. And this is why David Lee is so special. He made that possible; I was incredibly lucky that the Knicks had David Lee. He was, for the past however many years, a huge part of what made the Knicks make sense to me. I didn't just love them as a New York basketball fan' I loved them because they meant something to me, on a deeper level. Despite the losing records, and the bad times, and the misery of those years, the Knicks were my team because they were my kind of team and David Lee was by far the biggest reason for that. Luckily, that's still the case, and will be the case for as long as I live, but I will always be grateful to David Lee for getting me through those dark years and for reinforcing my fandom and love when there was so much reason to despair.

I don't want to be a fan out of necessity or geography. That's what important to me. That's something only a fan can understand or feel. That's why I'm doing this. Because that's a point of view that gets lost or ignored; it's totally alien to the Knicks organization, but I feel it should be noted and that's what I hope to do. And I hope to complain when there's something not right with the Knicks, when I start to feel like an obligate or geographical fan.

I'll start tomorrow.