And I remember how a few months after that I would watch him on a bicycle, racing with his fellow wounded warriors on a sparkling spring day, inspiring other heroes who had just begun the hard path he had traveled -- he gives me hope.
It was a little bizarre this winter and spring, as they soared toward the best record in the conference, only to watch the ragged and volatile Knicks take all the headlines with their various, overdramatic ascensions and implosions.