The Lohud Knicks Blog

First of all, thank you to Jamie O’Grady for the warm introduction, and for building something tremendous here. I was struck by how Jamie seemed to know everyone and be everywhere last season, not to mention what an entertaining read he is. I’ll work hard to continue what he’s started, filling his Bob Lanier shoes.
And thank you to Sean Mayer, who has given me the opportunity to work for LoHud in the first place, and now, to cover the Knicks. In this brave new journalism world, it is vital to have an editor like Sean, and I am grateful.
For those of you who already know me from the LoHud Mets Blog, thanks for coming over! For those of you who are meeting me for the first time, let me tell you a little bit about myself.
I’ve been writing about sports for most of my adult life. I write the LoHud Mets Blog, and I’m a writer-at-large for Capital New York, covering the Mets, Yankees, Knicks, Nets, Red Bulls, college basketball and anything else that strikes me as vital. I’ve written for publications ranging from ESPN.com and The New York Times to New York Magazine and the Rockland Jewish Reporter. My most recent book was Wilpon’s Folly, published by Bloomsbury in 2011. I’m very active on Twitter under my primary account @howardmegdal, and I plan to be the same way @Lohudknicks.
From a Knicks fan perspective, I grew up as a Patrick Ewing acolyte in South Jersey. I consider the Charles Smith Game to be one of my most significant childhood traumas. I cannot think of the O.J. Simpson car chase without picturing Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals in the corner of my television screen. And I believe to this day that if P.J. Brown hadn’t flipped Charlie Ward, the 1997 Knicks would have vanquished Michael Jordan.
On the current team, I am cautiously optimistic about 2012-13. We’ll get into more details, but I think the Knicks are in a group with Philly, Indiana, Brooklyn and Boston battling for the second seed in the East, all well behind Miami. I am hopeful Raymond Felton will do well, I think the jury is still out on Amar’e and Carmelo working together, I think Tyson Chandler is criminally underrated, and I think the Jeremy Lin decision was a terrible one for both present and future.
Also, every time I enter Madison Square Garden, walk the steps to my seat in press row, and get to write about the New York Knicks for a living, I feel like a cosmic error has been made in my favor.
I’ll give you everything I have. Thanks for giving me the chance.