A whole lot of stuff had to happen for the Knicks to win but if you are the Spurs you will be thinking about this moment in particular for a very long time. At this moment, there are like 50 ways you can win the game and maybe one or two ways you can lose.

It's tough because I normally root for the more tortured fan base.... but New York sports fans are so insufferable and the Knicks finally winning after 53 years would be so overbearingly obnoxious. But the world needs some joy right now, and the Knicks are unquestionably providing lots of it.

I couldn't believe it. They had the game essentially won. (Blowing a 29-point lead notwithstanding.) They've gift-wrapped this series for the Knicks with some all-time gaffes. Absolutely astonishing how their brains just melt at the end of games.

This Cavs team is so unenjoyable. They are capable of doing great things for stretches but are equally capable of being the worst team you’ve ever seen. You can neither trust nor enjoy anything with them. Even up 22 with 7+ left in the game.

By my count, #Crew96 are 7th MLS team to allow hat tricks in consecutive league games. (And the second this year already!) 1998 NE 2011 RSL 2022 COL 2024 NE 2025 RSL 2026 ORL 2026 CLB

*Two guys have equal claim to the ball.* NBA: “Let’s do a farcical little ceremony that awards the ball to the team of the taller player.”

Surround yourself with the kind of people who find the Oxford comma to be illuminative, beautiful, and necessary.

NEW POST: Cleveland Astra Lighting the Way Cleveland's WPSL Pro team, debuting in 2028, now has a name and logo. And it turns out that @clevelandprosoccer.bsky.social CMO @ginaprodan.bsky.social and I thought of the same teacher as the brand came into focus. sirkbook.com/2026/05/04/c...

Austin FC Fans Start "#MoveTheCaps" Campaign www.thenutmegnews.com/current/2026...

13-year anniversary of the greatest Tweet in MLS history

I know a game is about to kick off, but I have been asked to share the sad news that longtime #Crew96 team ops legend Tucker Walther has passed away. I don't have the words right now.

The synthesis and sharing of hard-won acquired knowledge is the job. Philadelphians had 43 years to conduct dozens of in-depth interviews and do years of newspaper and magazine research in order to tell this specific story. Philly fans should thank the midwestern guy for doing it.

That was a very aggravating baseball game.

Points: PHI 92, NYI 91, #CBJ 90, WSH 89, NJD 83 Real W-L-T hockey records w/o loser points: NYI 39-31-9, 87 pts WSH 38-33-8, 84 pts NJD 36-38-5, 77 pts PHI 31-35-13, 75 pts CBJ 32-38-9, 73 pts Loser points make the NHL standings meaningless for determining who is any good.

Arfsten's 61st minute goal (after #Crew96 conceded in 60th) was the 9th time in club history the Crew answered a conceded goal by scoring within the next "game minute." The first since Federico Huguain on 5/17/14 at Portland.

Feels good to hear that first Underwood-shouts-like-it's-a-no-doubt-about-it-long-gone-homer-but-the-ball-is-caught-like-30-feet-in-front-of-the-warning-track. It's officially baseball season now.

On the bright side, the #Crew96 Banana Kits were GLORIOUS as always. Nice to see them again.

Tonight was the 18th stoppage-time game-losing goal in #Crew96 history. It's the third 1-0 stoppage time game-loser in club history. All at home. 6/12/11: Cristian Nazarit 91+ vs CHI 9/24/11: Chad Barrett 93+ vs LAG 3/14/26: Hany Mukhtar 94+ vs NSH

ICYMI, I wrote an essay about Forest City Cleveland's brand unveiling and why I so strongly connected with it. sirkbook.com/2026/03/10/f...

Miami going 31-0 and then shitting the bed in their first conference tourney game against a team that went 7-11 in the MAC is a delightful, heart-warming sports story. A+++. 10/10. Five stars. The main plot was annoying and went on far too long, but the crescendo was <<chef's kiss>>.

Exciting news! @clevelandprosoccer.bsky.social has announced the identity and crest of the MLS Next Pro team that will kick off in 2027: Forest City Cleveland I wrote about why the club's branding resonates with me. sirkbook.com/2026/03/10/f...

It’s time to stake our claim, Cleveland. We need a statue outside the Jake of the Joe Carter and Cory Snyder “Indian Uprising” Sports Illustrated cover from 1987. (“Believe it! Cleveland is the best team in the American League.” They went on to lose 101 games. Not Joe Carter’s fault though!)

"Walmart Saturday Showdown" sounds like...a trip to Walmart on a Saturday.

ANOTHER random find while doing Force research.... I had never seen the Toronto Towers logo! Here is Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien unveiling the team's logo at Maple Leaf Gardens in March 1983 as he intended to relocate the Cavs there.

Another random find: 8 English top-flight teams participated in an indoor soccer tournament in 1983, looking to reverse soccer's struggles in England. There was talk of shutting down outdoor in winter to play the indoor game. Lack of arenas was a hindrance. Opening paragraphs...

Random thing I came across during Force research: In 1982, Art Modell was rumored to be selling the Browns to start an expansion team in LA to block the Raiders from moving there. NFL insiders said it was in the works, but he denied it. If only it had happened...

Well, not really. Totally different stakes. But it still sucks when what would have been an all-time classic moment is ruined to the point you wish it had never happened in the first place because all it did was give false hope and ratchet up the residual anguish forever.

Now Chicagoans know how the Rajai Davis homer feels.

A QB heaving a ball from 25 yards behind the line of scrimmage to a guy in the corner of the end zone to tie the game in the closing seconds is a play so preposterous I can’t believe it didn’t happen against the Browns. Other teams must suffer when the Browns never make the playoffs.

Jose got six turns and still lost to the non-Joses at tic-tac-toe. I never thought it possible, but I guess we found something he's not awesome at?

imagine hitting 13 walk-off home runs

Attn: @michaelarace1.bsky.social Guy being interviewed on local news in Cleveland kicking it old school Hartford.

Akron Beacon Journal readers' favorite athletes by team, circa June 1988: Kosar, Carter, Haaskivi, Price. That's a fairly representative mixed-franchise local Mount Rushmore of my childhood.

A hazard of Cleveland Force research is that sometimes you catch strays...

Jeff Kent being in the HOF is really stupid when 2B like Lou Whitaker and Bobby Grich are not. Those two were comparable at the plate (Grich a little better, Whitaker a smidge below) when compared to their eras, but were so much better defensively. Kent is in b/c "most HR by 2B" in HR-inflated era.

It remains stunning to me how even with Magic and Bird, the NBA still was not that popular in the 1980s. The NBA as we know it didn't really happen until the 1990s. Here's a clip from the ABJ in March 1983 looking at the Major Indoor Soccer League vs. the NBA. Look at even those "good" NBA numbers.

Codify hot take: the introduction of an ABS Challenge System will increase Steven Kwan's batting average.

Seems you can make a pretty good living with consistent paychecks by being the person who writes those "The lottery prize is enormous, but the winner will take home less than that" stories. The people-who-know-how-to-read-but-have-never-heard-of-taxes demographic is highly coveted and catered to.

Congratulations to Lionel Messi for amassing 67% of the MLS Cup assist total of 2008 #Crew96 Guillermo Barros Schelotto. You approached the general vicinity of greatness, Leo, and that's quite a feather in your cap.

I wonder if @michaelarace1.bsky.social ever went to see the Hartford Hellions.

Just saw a newspaper ad from 1981 where you could get a buy-one-get-one offer for Cleveland Force tickets if you filled out a form and mailed it in with two UPC cut outs from packs of Newport cigarettes. The good old days.

Yet @mrgeorgewallace.bsky.social keeps inciting the Yo Momma Wars. This award is a sham!

Why is the soybean oil always PARTIALLY hydrogenated. Finish hydrogenating that shit, you lazy wockaflockas!

Dashboard display of an adjacent contact while pulling up someone to call. Sometimes it’s nice to get a random reminder of the weird things that have happened in my life.

The white helmet sucks. The brown helmet sucks. The Oregon Duck-ification of NFL teams with classic, rock-solid identities is annoying.

One of the cool things about being a #Crew96 fan is thinking, "Man, that first championship was so long ago" when it really wasn't that long ago, but it's so long ago compared to the more recent championships.

Announcer just said Nagbe was "cool as a cucumber." To be clear, cucumbers are cool as Nagbe. #Crew96

Flawless sports day. Crew won. Cavaliers won. Browns didn’t play. Couldn’t have gone any better.

Incredible playoffs. Incredible World Series. Yet in the end, the bajillion dollar super team that everyone anointed as the champion well before the season won the title as expected. Such a bummer that baseball’s brokenness won out in the end to put a damper on all the thrills of the past month.