Happy Thanksgiving

Things I'm Thankful For Today:
-That I'll be sitting down for a meal later today with all four of my grandparents who are still running around and having a fine time.

-Game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. Game 7 of the 2000 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Game 5 of the 1998 Eastern Conference First Round Playoff Series.

-The POSSIBILITY that Isiah Thomas could be fired soon. Maybe even tomorrow. Even if it is not likely it is still possible and for that I am thankful.

-Endy's catch. I was there.

-That David Stern rigged the NBA Draft Lottery in 1985.

-The Dunk.

-The chance to attend so many Knicks games when I was kid. I'm very thankful for all those nights that started out with dinner at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called The Print Room in Hackensack, NJ. Hamburger with fries. The hamburger was usually a little over done and the fries were those thick "steak fries." And, then off to MSG with my dad, my grandfather and my uncle.

-The 4-point play.

-That for one afternoon all of New York and New Jersey and Connecticut will be rooting for the same football team: The Jets. As a Jets fan in a family full of Giants fans it will make the day go a bit smoother. Of course, they'll all be blaming me after the 'Boys roll over Gang Green.

-That Guillermo Mota is history. The Mets traded this horrorshow yesterday for the artist formerly known as Johnny Estrada. Addition by Subtraction.

-That Trent Tucker hit that shot to beat Chicago before they invented the Trent Tucker Rule.

-That my sister, Sarah, made it home from New Mexico for Thanksgiving.

-Anthony Mason, Xavier McDaniel, Kurt Thomas and every crazy-eyed and hard-nosed player who has donned a Knicks uniform.

-Game 5 of the 1990 NBA Playoff Series between the Knicks and the Celtics. Ewing and Bird each scored 31, but Patrick lead the Knicks over the C's with a memorable three-point shot in the deciding game of this series.

-That the Knicks found Gus Johnson after they shamefully fired Marv Albert. The only way Thanksgiving could be better was if Gus was at our table and announcing the meal. And, "Marilyn PASSES the sweet potatoes! OOH! This IS Thanksgiving!"

-Gerald Wilkens, Kenny "Sky" Walker, Johnny Newman and every other good Knick who gets forgotten.

-All of the food that I'll be eating in a few hours and the great nap that I'm going to take afterwards.

-And of course, I'm thankful for June 27, 1988. On this day the New York Knickerbockers traded Bill Cartwright and some draft picks for Charles Oakley and some draft picks. Oak was three seasons out of Virginia Union and the inside presence that the Knicks needed to pair with Ewing. Say what you want about Rick Pitino as an NBA coach but this was an inspired move. It is one of the best days of an era that is finally starting to be recognized for how good it actually was.