This week, I’m abroad à Paris (by the way, if you’ve got extra Saints/Steelers tickets, let me know)! We’ve got some very special guest writers lined up to take the writing reins, and our team of crack editors will make sure the newsletter goes off without a hitch. Today, we’ve got Isabella D’Ambra! À bientôt!

…Or, at least he got thousands of texts from her. Last year, Sandra Brunson partnered with the Knicks and Siegelman Stable to broadcast one of her pregame texts to Jalen. This year, Sandra swapped a text for an open letter to Jalen in The Players’ Tribune. Get the tissues ready before you read about their bond and pregame text tradition. We have plenty more to say about the King of New York below (positive).

It was a Knicks-a-palooza all day Tuesday (are you sensing a theme here?), with the reigning champions opening their title defense against King James and the 76ers. Max Siegelman styled Josh Hart, OG Anunoby graced VMAN’s digital cover in Burberry, and Fanatics launched a $1,500(!) Knicks Championship Varsity Jacket by Angelo Baque. What more could Knicks fans want (other than another ring)?

OK, enough men’s basketball (and the Knicks, they are 0-1 after all). The WNBA Finals are delivering in a major way, from the fashion-forward pregame show on E! And USA (shout out Tina Thompson) to the nail-biting action between the Dream and Valkyries. Angel Reese sweetened the pot by releasing her Reese’s x Angel Reese 1 sneaker, and that’s suddenly all I want in my trick-or-treat bag this year.

Friend of the Pod (newsletter) Leah Faye Cooper interviewed Richard Ontiveros-Gima, “Your Favorite Athletes’ Favorite Street Style Photographer,” for Cultured. It’s required reading, so get to it. (Well, bookmark it for after you’re done reading this.) 

Get ready to love Devin Cooley of Calgary Flames after his earnest (and now viral) postgame interview about playing hockey with his “unconscious brain” because his conscious brain “is really bad at playing goalie.” I, too, achieve greatness by entering a flow state. This newsletter is obviously proof. 

While Ashtyn is out, we've lined up three writers to go off on subjects near and dear to their hearts. First up: Isabella D'Ambra, a California native taking notes on New York City, where she works for the NFL. Isabella, a USC grad, began her career in CAA's sports media division, where she recognized a need for a platform to share her insights into the intersection of sports and culture, good style, and a well-curated lifestyle. The result: her excellent "Front Row" Substack, which you should sprint over and subscribe to... but only after reading her guest post. Go off, Isabella. 

On the 29th day of fall, New York got one last night of summer.

The World’s Most Famous Arena raised the Knicks’ championship banner. The World’s Most Famous Basketball Player made his Philadelphia 76ers debut. And New York felt flirtier again.

The excitement had been building for days. At my Equinox class, I overheard one guy describe the anticipation as “the night before Christmas.” On social media, the countdown was on and it was déjà vu all over again. New York had found renewed reason to pull on the championship merch, go out, and drop a “Knicks in 5” on a subway stranger only too happy to return the rallying cry. For old time’s sake.

Two Kings. One Garden.

For a city that spends much of its time chasing the Next Big Thing, there was something satisfying about watching a hometown hero take center stage. LeBron was the biggest name in the building. But Jalen Brunson had something else: ownership of that building, ownership of last night’s grand stage.

Let’s rewind to the summer, when everyone in New York was a little hotter. Maybe it was the championship. Or the weather. One glance out of my Bleecker Street apartment window, and I felt like I was watching my entire neighborhood in a movie. Maybe all of us New Yorkers had been cast in a movie.

Bars spilled onto sidewalks. Dinner turned into drinks, which turned into running into friends who had an extra seat at the bar for you to watch the game, and suddenly you were cheering alongside strangers who felt like lifelong friends. I was grateful when I remembered to put on makeup before leaving the apartment in the morning. There was a real chance I wouldn’t be home for a while.

Whether you were a born-and-raised New Yorker, a transplant, a diehard or maybe not even a sports fan at all, the Knicks became the center of the New York City social scene. The Knicks became the conversation that you carried from a seat at the bar to a first date. For a while, talking Knicks was a foolproof pickup line.

I’ll never forget the night the Knicks won. I was standing in the streets of the West Village, where people cheered from stoops and fire escapes, and neighbors had projected the game onto the sides of buildings for anyone to watch. Afterward, thousands of us belted out Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.” I can still hear it. 

Then came the parade and the weeks-long hangover and then… summer started to slip away. The first sign was when the outdoor tables began to disappear. The evenings got shorter. The man who seemed charming over a second martini in June became more of a drag out of the house when the temperature dropped.

Then came last night. The buzz was so familiar, nostalgic. Seeing jerseys make their street-style debut and hearing the chatter again about where to watch the game.

LeBron has the world. But Brunson has a city’s heart, full surrender.

I live in New York, but I grew up and went to college in L.A. I know the kind of attention LeBron brings with him wherever he goes. Brunson’s connection to New York, though, feels different. Watching the city rally around him during that playoff run, you could tell how much it meant, how personal it was to so many millions.

Everyone wants to be the King of New York.

The title is a local obsession. Some men have the resume, others have a downtown address, a Platinum Card, maybe even a table at Rao’s. Brunson didn’t need any of that to get a city’s attention. He knows something bigger than impression is connection, and that’s why the crown is his. The NBA crown. The New York crown.

Now the jerseys are back out, the Garden is full again, and a simple “Go Knicks” is the perfect way to shoot your shot. For a city that is always looking for its next obsession, it’s nice to have one that is so enduringly familiar.

Blake Griffin famously posterized Kendrick Perkins and spearheaded Lob City, and all the while he was nurturing his superpower as the funniest guy in the NBA.

Now, he’s the funniest ex-NBA player, and based on the premiere of “The Stepback with Blake Griffin” on Prime Video and YouTube on Tuesday — in which he pondered “What Happened to Sports Journalism?” — he might actually be the best talk show host in the game.

Griffin called his shot and told The Hollywood Reporter that he wants to be “sports’ John Oliver,” and he’s already giving John Oliver a run for his money. Casting Stavros Halkias to hilariously play the part of “Anonymous Sources”? Sold!

The official trailer from last week showed Griffin indulging self-deprecating bits, outrageous skits, and honest commentary before an intimate audience in a cozy set. It harkens back to Griffin’s years doing standup in small comedy clubs at the peak of his NBA superstardom. (It’s also an excuse to revisit his “Broad City” cameo.)

On “New Heights” with the Kelce brothers, Griffin said, “I love standup, man. It’s fascinating to me. It’s a really fun challenge. I just love comedy, man. [...] I keep a notes folder of jokes, so I’m kind of always writing jokes if I think of something. I don’t know what I’m gonna do with it.” 

Here’s a suggestion: Keep unloading the notes folder on “The Stepback.” The series is billed as “a bold new series where late-night comedy collides with the hottest sports debate.” So far, so good, and we desperately need Griffin to keep living up to that billing.