Do NOT Tell Rich That His Beloved New York Knicks Will be Just a One-Title-Wonder

The NBA season is beginning, which means, according to Rich, somewhere John Tesh is leaving a music studio to see if he sees his shadow.

For Knicks fans, the start of the season means something bigger. The parade is done. Saturday Night Live is done. The ESPYs are done. The Emmy Awards are done. "The off season of the New York Knicks is over," Rich said. Tonight, the banner goes up.

And Rich knows exactly how the rest of the league will react. The fans of the other 29 franchises will shrug and say that was a good one for you, now let's see who's next. That's how it has gone lately. There have been eight different champions in a row since the Golden State Warriors' back-to-back titles, and a lot of people assume the Knicks will just be the latest in that line.

Rich doesn't love the framing. To the doubters, the Knicks aren't even a one-hit wonder. They're "a one-playoff season wonder." He acknowledged why people see it that way. It's not like the Knicks won 60 games and walked into the playoffs as prohibitive favorites. "A lot of people think it's just a one-spring wonder," Rich said, noting the Knicks won it before the summer solstice.

Not everything about the title run gets Rich's full endorsement. He spotted owner James Dolan on screen and, for the radio audience, described him "with those choppers," adding that "this guy could go away as far as I'm concerned." But Rich gave him his due. "At least it happened," he said. "And he helped make it happen."

What Rich wants now is simple. Everybody thinks the Knicks can't do it again, so take that chip, the figurative one, and put it next to the literal one from last season. "How wild would that be?" he asked.

He also knows what a repeat would mean for everyone else. If the Knicks felt like they were everywhere in June, July and August, plus September with SNL, a second title would be something else entirely. Rich predicted instant Knicks fatigue on the level of the Patriots plus the Chiefs, then divided or multiplied by Warriors fatigue, depending on how you want to do the math.

The orange and blue skies being even brighter, Knicks fans being everywhere: Rich played the rest of the league's nightmare out loud. "Better hope that doesn't happen," he said.

Then he dropped the act. "I would love it to happen. Let's go."