Knicks Morning News (2026.06.01)

Chalamet is also a Booker T. Washington middle school alum, as is my son something like six years later. According to said son, TC was seen on the UWS quite frequently BITD and (maybe) somewhat known (?) amongst the younger kids. Probably, but not entirely sure on the latter.

Said son’s first game was the “Amare in a big gauze bandage because he punched the fire hydrant cover,” i.e., Game 4 of the 2012 Knicks/Heat ECSF. Screamed himself hoarse at age 7 with the old school “DEE-fense” chant. Knicks won a thriller. Baron Davis was not so lucky; in the third quarter, his knee went ineluctably into a position nature most definitely did not intend (*). Pretty sure it was his last association game.

(*) Shown to an audible gasp on the big scoreboard screen while I was getting another beer.

Could be forgetting people, but I’d put TC at #2 on the all-time Knick fan celebrities, behind Woody Allen. Maybe 3 behind Woody and Spike Lee, depending on the weight between directing and acting. He’s definitely got a chance to get to the top spot and is clearly #1 of this modern era.

He wasn’t rich and famous Timothy Chalamet until like 5 years ago.

Without getting into “rich,” more like nine it looks like. My son (his reporting) had the same film and Latin teacher in middle school that TC had years before, and the film teacher mentioned him (TC) in 2017-18 class as someone who was an alum.

Son apparently was friends with a girl in fourth grade whose older brother was good friends with TC.(*) Supposedly, although this is 80-ish percent certain, TC was known back then amongst this group of people who knew or knew of him as a St. Etienne soccer club fan (**) — not surprising because the first thing a lot of that generation of NYC kids know about other NYC kids is what soccer club they support. (As another aside, and I believe this one entirely, few if any (pretty much none) of the NYC kids of that generation support the US Men’s National soccer team, but instead other national teams.)

(*) As a complete aside, the girl had a peanut allergy and at a bar mitzvah both she and my son attended had a bad reaction to some or another peanut-containing product.

(**) Not sure how well known this is, or even if it’s known at all. I’d bet a lot of money on its dependability, though.

Dustin Hoffman was a big fan back in the day, before he moved to L.A. I recall being at a Knick game with Ms. Nateman, in the early ’90’s and we observed Woody Allen making out with Sunny-Yi Previn, before their relationship became public.

That’s a really good one and going purely on true celebrity stature and accomplishment a very good argument could be made that Hoffman is #1.

Another one that doesn’t show up on the ’99 clips for whatever reason is Tom Brokaw, who was a giant in the days when network news really mattered.

A lot of these guys — Brokaw, Woody, Hoffman — were true fans who didn’t sit on “celebrity row” — not sure when that even started — but just had really good seats in the reds, then purples, and would be shown occasionally by the TV cameras. It took awhile for it to become an every-game ritual to show the list of celebrities who were at an association game. There’s no doubt that some, in NYC and other places, who are only there because the team has comped them tickets to sit down low for the TV cameras. That was never Spike, Woody, Hoffman, Brokaw, and I’m sure some others. (And obviously TC, as TNFH has relayed.)

Woody’s been banned for over a decade, E.

So’s Oakley. I put no credence or stock in any James Dolan nonsense.

It’s a career “ranking,” in any event. Hoffman and Brokaw haven’t been there in ages.