The Knicks will soon begin playing meaningful basketball, which means it's time to settle back into your game-day routines. We, the P&T staff -- in our infinite generosity -- have decided to divulge the secrets of our fan experiences.
Prepare to be amazed!
1. Do you prefer to watch by yourself, or with others?
Seth: By myself. I don't mind if other people are around but they have to shush. I can't comfortably watch at a bar. I even get a little overwhelmed at an actual game.
MattRW: I usually don't care, though if I'm not watching alone, the people I'm watching with either need to be similarly interested in the game or be quiet the whole time.
ChristianBaber: I prefer to watch the Knicks by myself. I like to speak my thoughts aloud to myself as I'm watching, and that's frowned upon in public. Plus it's easier to watch Twitter as a second screen when I'm solo.
Jonathan Schulman: Man, I can't be giving no type of damn about any old body else! I do my thing, and I does it any type of way I damn well pleases. I don't pay attention to nobody else for no type of reason. You might catch me pulverized on this or that. You might catch me trying to calmly explain a nuance. I'm watching the game, and that's just the way it is.
MMiranda: I can watch a regular season game with pretty much anyone. But I can't watch a playoff game with anyone other than an equally invested Knick fan. I am a twisted-up ball of anxiety and otherwise unseen volcanic rage toward officials, announcers, and anyone not wearing orange & blue. Playoff games are not recreational viewing for me unless the Knicks win. I grew up wanting to be a head coach, and when playoff games are on I channel my inner Riles: there's winning, misery, and nothing in-between.
WScottD: I sometimes watch with my mother or father or my begrudging girlfriend, but I often like to watch by myself. With a beer, preferably, and my own delusional thoughts.
Joe: I know for sure that I can't watch with non-Knicks fans, but, in all honesty, I haven't tried to watch a game with a fellow Knicks fan in quite a while. I went to college near Pittsburgh and then moved to China -- not exactly hot beds of New York supporters. I'd probably get into fights with people regardless.
2. Do you have any game-time superstitions?
Seth: I used to. I wouldn't go to the bathroom during a game. If someone entered the room and the Knicks went on a run, that person had to stay in the room (and vice versa). I wore a crown for almost every second half of the 2010-2011 season. I used to stand up during free throws. My superstitions are fewer and subtler now.
MattRW: If I'm watching the game live, I try to make sure I watch it on the same TV the whole time. I won't go up to my room and finish watching the game in bed even if I'm super tired.
Christian Baber: Lol, nah.
Jonathan Schulman: I'm proactively not superstitious. I have noticed, though, if I don't get angry at Bill Pidto we usually win. I guess I could start doing 150 seconds of transcendental meditation at half time or something.
MMiranda: Totally. If I'm on one end of the couch and they go on a run, I won't leave that end the rest of the night. If I'm holding the remote in my left hand and the other team goes on an 8-2 spurt, I switch hands; if the Knicks respond, the remote doesn't move. Not even a centimeter. Once during a playoff game I rubbed my nose and there was a runny booger on my fingertip. I was rubbing it between 2 fingers when the Knicks went on a run. I didn't pull my fingers apart until the game was over. The booger? Absorbed right through the skin. #13THMAN.
WScottD: I truly used to believe that coming into a game late and watching too far after tip threw the Knicks off. Now, not so much.
Joe: Why you askin'? You trying to counteract my juju?
3. What is your policy if you're missing the game? Do you watch it later? Do you check score updates?
Seth: I don't miss many games (and almost never important ones) but if I do, I have no problem checking the score or reading stuff about the game before watching on DVR.
MattRW: Depending on if I think I'll have time to watch it later that night, I may record the game and avoid checking the score. However, if I didn't record it because I either didn't feel like it or forgot to, I'll check the score pretty often. In a close game, I basically end up refreshing nba.com over and over for the last 5 minutes or so.
Christian Baber: If I have to miss a game, I'll usually pass on checking the updates and watch the encore performance later. I try my best not to miss any games, though, because I don't like MSG shortening the game for the encore. I wanna see every play.
Jonathan Schulman: It's a little too complicated not to find stuff out these days, I'm too plugged in to too much complete crap. I used to be maniacal about just dropping everything and getting my ass to the games on time. I've lost steam on that though. I'm old. I'm probably the oldest writer on Posting and Toasting by as much as 15 years and as little as 5, if I had to guess. Therefore, I can't be bothered by too much. Did I see it? What's the difference? I can see the tunnel at the end of the light from here.
MMiranda: I DVR any game I can't see live. Other than the last few months of the Isiah era, I never miss a game on TV.
WScottD: If it's a highly anticipated game or good matchup, and I know I'll be able to watch the replay later, then I'll hold off until the late replay or the next morning on MSG. Weekend games were tough in college cause of the whole "having a life" thing, so then I'd usually just follow scores/Twitter. I did leave a party early to watch the second half of Melo's 62-point game, though.
Joe: When you live 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, you're going to miss games. In the days before smart phones I used to run to the office and check scores in the 10-minute break between the classes I was teaching. I miss very few games now that I'm back in the States, but I've learned to live with the ones I do miss. If they win, I'm happy; if they lose, I'm happy I wasn't subjected to it.
4. Have you ever been so nervous for a Knicks game that you couldn't watch?
Seth: I've been so nervous for a Knicks game that I couldn't, like, function as a human being, but I always watch.
MattRW: Lol, nah. I'd much rather watch the game and be pissed that they lost than miss an amazing win.
Christian Baber: I've never felt so nervous that I had to miss a Knicks game. The closest I've been recently was probably Game 6 of the 2013 first round. I was in Boston with a ladyfriend (a Celtic fan). With the Knicks up by twenty going into the 4th she asks, "Are you happy the Knicks won?" Almost collapsed as New York completely fell apart in the final quarter. Almost walked away before the end. Don't watch playoff games with rivals.
Jonathan Schulman: As a young buck the Knicks used to really throw me for a loop. I never crossed the threshold of being physically unable to bear watching. I think the last time I really felt some type of way was the '99 finals. God damn, I love the Knicks.
MMiranda: Nah. I've seen at least a dozen elimination games, two Finals, Riley's return to NY (most intense feels for a regular season game ever), etc. There's no nerves anymore. I remember being unusually nervous in games leading up to the 2010 trading deadline. I was freaking out that guys like Jared Jeffries would get injured and kill their chances to make trades for cap room. Ah, the 2000s. (Ed.: This might be the most 2000s-era Knicks fan answer of all time.)
WScottD: I remember my heart rate being physically spiked for the Knicks-Celtics series in 2011; I hadn't seen playoff basketball in, like, a decade. I was able to watch, but it was uncomfortable because I was legitimately nervous. Never actually couldn't watch before, though.
Joe: I'm so damned high-strung, it's a wonder I can watch any game at all. When things are bad -- which they often are with this team -- I sometimes have to take a five-minute break out of disgust. I find working a jigsaw puzzle helps calm me down. I will admit that I purposely avoided watching Game 3 of the 2011 first-round series against Boston; I was just completely devastated by Games 1 and 2.
5. Most importantly: pants or no pants?
Seth: I genuinely wear normal going-outside pants maybe 20% of the time when I'm inside/watching TV/watching the Knicks, and that's just if I walked my dog recently.
MattRW: Definitely pants. I've never legitimately considered no pants, which some of you will probably see as a travesty. (Ed.: You sick son of a bitch!)
Christian Baber: No pants, of course! I thought that was, like, a blogger rule.
Jonathan Schulman: Nah that's out, man. I'm sayin'-- what can we the lords do with some pants like obese capris? I'm sans pants, and I'm heavy like your stoned hands. And I'm on your couch. Holding grands.
MMiranda: Knicks = sweatpants/pajama pants. Although as I age, I'm increasingly intrigued by the equation life = pantless.
WScottD: Oooh, given that it's fall/winter/early spring during NBA season, I like to go pajama pants or gym shorts, given the proper room temperature.
Joe: Lol, nah.