Anything can happen!!!!!

#158

My mom told me to call her if the Knicks won, and in those jubilant few moments after the game was called I ran out of LIC Bar to do so. “I know,” she said, when I yelled to tell her.

“I heard the cheering from outside a few seconds ago.”

The cheering was everywhere Saturday, distant and right in my ear as crowds spilled out into streets. The city skyline was lit up blue and orange. People set off fireworks. The car parades started almost immediately, with fans hopping out of sunroofs waving flags.

I hit three boroughs, and saw the same thing — joy in the street, cheering, people marching down the street with someone holding a speaker over their head. When someone yelled “LET’S FUCKING GO!” you knew exactly how they felt.

It wasn’t all fun. A 17-year-old was shot in Times Square, police said, and had to walk to Bellevue Hospital because an ambulance couldn’t get to him. People destroyed World Cup buses, lighting at least one on fire. Dozens of people were arrested. After Game 4, a cabbie was mobbed by a crowd, the taxi he leased destroyed. He spoke exclusively to my colleague Jose and told him, through tears, that he wanted to quit.

But for the doom and gloomers who thought “the city’s gonna burn” — it was mostly jubilation and happy tears and spontaneous embraces of strangers.

This week will be about preparing for Thursday’s parade, which will be the team’s first despite this being their third win, which I get into here.

The Knicks took it in five, so here are five charts breaking it all down.

If coming back from a 29-point deficit this week doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what can. There is only one city, and I’m lucky that it’s mine.

Other interesting stories

Oh, early voting also began this weekend. [THE CITY REPORTER]
Midtown businesses are still unclear about World Cup restrictions [TCR]
Mamdani has already started fundraising for 2029 [POLITICO]
A council bill would codify the mayor’s municipal grocery stores [TCR]
On clowning [TCR]
Judges will have to see prison conditions firsthand soon [TCR]
Relatives want Delaney Hall renamed [NYT]

LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOO

Thanks for reading, and GO NEW YORK!