Tuesday, January 20, 2009

2008-2009 Knicks' Pregame Video Montage

Growing up one of my favorite moments of any Knicks game was the video that played above the court immediately before the Knicks' starting lineup was introduced. The house lights went down, the neon lasers fired, the strains of "Go NY, Go NY" mingled in the rafters with the retired jerseys of the 1969-70 club and all eyes were on the GardenVision screens.

I never wanted to be late for a game because I didn't want to miss the action on the front end. Even as the team started to decline you could count on the pregame highlight montage. When Nazr Mohammed was heading out to the center circle for the opening tip you still knew that you'd have a chance to catch an image of Patrick Ewing throwing down a dunk over the Empire State Building. At least until last season, when fans were ocularly accosted by some sort of dance/aerobic video featuring freestyle walking and hopping and scampering of various non-Knicks persons around town. The video made a tolerant individual want to spew homophobic invective at whomever was responsible for this sham of a montage. At first it was a sharp disappointment. The video was so bad that you almost felt hope before each game that it had been changed. But it wasn't. And, it eventually became another source of comedy. Another self-contained flaw in the patchwork travesty that was the Isiah Thomas Era.

The removal of the franchise's heros from the video montage also kept in line with Thomas's seeming disdain for Knicks history. Thankfully, Donnie Walsh and co. have again embraced the past and the fans. And, the pregame video montage is returned to its former glory.