How Aussie Hugh Jackman Became a Die-Hard New York Knicks Fan

Hugh Jackman grew up in Australia watching five-day cricket matches, so sitting through a baseball game is nothing for him. "That's it? Come on, let's keep going," is his usual reaction. But right now the Australian actor isn't locked in on the Yankees. He's all NBA, and specifically all Knicks.

Jackman played sports his whole life back home, cricket in the summer, rugby, high jump, swimming. The NFL, he said, is probably his number one sport now, but the Knicks have taken over. He's lived in New York for many years, never with a championship team, since the last time they reached the Finals was just before he arrived. So this title hit differently.

His best story was about the clincher. Jackman finished a theater show with two and a half minutes left in the game and a four-minute bike ride home, and figured he'd make it back for the end. To pass the ride, he played a game: predicting the score by the noise of the city. Cheers pouring out of apartment buildings and a pickup basketball game told him the Knicks were leading. Then ten silent blocks told him otherwise, and he realized it was the close game. He got his read exactly right and made it home just in time.

What struck Jackman is how the city galvanized around the team. Rich noted you usually can't tell anything from New York noise, since it's typically just someone angry about being cut off in traffic. Jackman, still relatively new to the dynamic, said he didn't fully grasp that basketball is the rare sport with only one real team in town. Despite the Nets, it's a Knicks town, and that's what makes the biggest city in the world feel, for a moment, like a small one where everyone comes together.

Jackman appeared while promoting The Death of Robin Hood, in theaters nationwide June 19th.