Dunno what it’s like where you live, but here in western New York it’s been day after day after week after week of gray, chill and muck. Climate change here doesn’t garner the same amount of attention as when it’s sparking Canadian wildfires or Category 5 hurricanes in the Caribbean, but while WNY real estate prices have held flat for 30 years the weather sure hasn’t. Winters used to be white and brutal and last half the year. Ice storms? [Survived](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ebkxRG3Fc). Three feet of snow overnight? Schools will 100% be open come morning. 40-below zero? Perfect weather for your first live NFL game, which the Jets lose 16-14 while missing three field goals.
But winters aren’t the same now. They’re shorter, warmer and wetter. It’s two weeks before Christmas and we haven’t even had a foot of snow. Most December 25ths are no longer white, but muddy; the holiday season is now more rainy than anything else. And you don’t get the rush of seeing stores and malls decorated and full of people in the spirit of the season, because the malls closed years ago and the spirit of the season is “How soon can Amazon ship it?”
It’s all combined to make me long for six months from now in either direction. Six months ago there was sun. There was warmth. Six months from now, there will assumably be both. Both feel a million miles away today. But maybe we can escape today’s drudgery by dredging up dreams of better days.
Thus we mailbag! What have you seen — from the Knicks or across the NBA — that’s got you wondering something? What went down last summer that you wanna discuss, e.g. 76erschedenfreude? What do you wanna look ahead to next summer, e.g. bailing early on Mikal Bridges and projecting him into what new superstar trade? If you’re highly anticipating watching your baseball team’s new right fielder, baby I am right there with you.
We can talk Knicks. NBA. Sports. Life. Whatever you want. Anything to get me to stop thinking about how even in a hoodie and winter cap, I am somehow freezing indoors when it’s 40 degrees out, which tells me my middle-aged ass is gonna have a helluva time in a month or two when temps literally drop 60 degrees. Let the Knicks keep pouring in the points! They do make the nights easier over these long, dark months. They always have.