Thank you. Premature. That's nothing personal word of the day for Tuesday, June 9th,

2026. Premature as in me, the entire game last night, game three of the NBA finals.

I was prematurely celebrating a NBA championship.

I was prematurely thinking about what it would be like for the Knicks to win a title and how

it would feel. I was prematurely not just winning game three, but already going past the off day, the pregame, the first half,

third quarter, and fourth quarter, and trophy presentation of game four on the parquet floor.

The only parquet floor that I love, Madison Square Garden.

I wasn't alone.

Forget Charles Barkley and his guarantee of a Nick victory

when they were up seven at the half.

There were at least 19,812 people in Madison Square Garden

who prematurely believed that every penny they had spent to go to that game

with those prices was not only worth it, but they were part of going from 50% to 75% toward the first

title since 1973. But then sports happened. One of the things that we have to love

about sports is the up the down, the emotional distress that we feel as we're watching a game

slip away and then all of a sudden it's back in our grasp.

And then it's slipping away.

And then we just need a shot.

We get the shot, but then we get the turnover.

And you can talk about baseball.

You can talk about basketball hockey

with the Stanley Cup tonight.

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