Over their long and un-storied history, the New York Knickerbockers, the Knicks, have consistently found ways to lose important basketball games.
Whether it's allowing an opponent's star player to score eight points in just 16 seconds, or seeing your star shoot just three for eighteen in a crucial game, when the going gets tough, the Knicks find a way to stink up the court.
Just a week ago they were leading an aging Boston Celtics team in their first-round playoff series three games to zero. Then their second leading scorer threw an elbow and got suspended from game four and they lost in overtime.
The Knicks played the Celtics again on Wednesday night. The Knicks players showed up for the game all dressed in funereal black, as if they were going to the Celtics' funeral. They promptly lost the game. Badly.
The series which they had led three games to none they now lead just three games to two.
Dressing in black to taunt the Celtics is a foolish display of bravado. But that's not my point here. My point is where were the leaders of the team?
Why was there no player capable of standing up and saying "guys, this is stupid. Don't tug on a tiger's tail."
The Knicks have a roster of very talented and very expensive players. Theirs is the oldest roster in the National Basketball Association. Yet no one said "no."
The Knicks will probably win the series--they are the better team.
But I think they are an apt symbol of our world.
When leadership is missing dumb things happen.
