Whatever the opposite of doomscrolling is, that’s how I spent last Saturday night — toggled between Bluesky and Instagram and TikTok to gorge myself on the sight and sound of New York City’s elation after the Knicks became NBA champions for the first time since 1973.
Videos shot from high above Manhattan captured the moment when the city held its breath and, after that, the moment it exploded in ecstatic cheers; cheers that spanned the boroughs, cheers that could be heard across the Hudson River in New Jersey. There were shrieks of relief and whoops of disbelief; tears and fireworks and renditions of “Empire State of Mind” and “New York, New York.” People celebrated on roofs, on fire escapes, at watch parties in parks and bars, at Radio City Music Hall, atop buses, on the balconies of Times Square hotels, on airplanes and in subway cars. A brass band performed in Brooklyn’s Park Slope. Drummers embellished the rhythm of partygoers chanting “Knicks in 5.” The Brooklyn street performer/stuntman Leh-Boy rode through throngs of revelers with a trash can balanced on his head. People cheered dogs in Knicks jerseys. People cheered babies just because.
