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Hilarious Optics, as Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Will Honor a Nova Knick at 2027 Banquet, Which is at The Palestra
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This is pretty funny:
Why is it funny? Well, Brunson plays for the hated Knicks, who recently swept the Sixers en route to their first title since the Stone Age. Recent winners of this award include Cristopher Sanchez, Saquon Barkley, Carli Lloyd, Jaron Ennis, and Jalen Hurts, so they usually give it to a current Philadelphia athlete or someone who is actually from the Philadelphia region.
Brunson played at Nova, of course, but he’s from New Brunswick. He doesn’t fit the pattern of athletes they’d typically choose for this honor.
What’s also funny is that they’re holding the event at The Palestra this year. It usually takes place at a Cherry Hill hotel. The timing makes me laugh because sure, let’s honor a Villanova guy within those hallowed halls just a few months after the Cats split with the Big 5 over a format dispute. The timing couldn’t be worse when you consider that the Temple/Saint Joe’s/etc. attitude towards Villanova is lower than it’s ever been. My idiot employee who went to SJU is probably rallying the troops on Hawk Hill as we speak, to gather in protest.
“Not a Philly school! Down with the Patagonia vests! We currently have a two-game winning streak against Nova!”
But the PSWA doesn’t make its decisions based on fan zeitgeist. They’re not sitting around at a table saying, “you know what? Temple and St. Joe’s alumni hate Villanova right now… maybe we should pivot off Brunson.” At least I don’t think that’s part of the discussion. They’re operating in a neutral sports writer vacuum, and within that vacuum Brunson is a great choice for the award. He certainly deserves whatever accolades are out there. He led the Knicks to a championship! Who does that? It was thought to be an impossible task. He also cut down on his insufferable foul grifting and lessened the amount of times he’d get to the elbow and then fucking lean into a defender for a cheap whistle. That was appreciated. And even though he plies his NBA trade for a Sixers rival, Brunson is a decent dude and played on the classy Jay Wright teams that trounced opponents on the court and comported themselves well off of it. He’s also an Eagles fan, which helps.
If you remove the hilarious optics from this story, it makes plenty of sense. But we will chuckle at the optics.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com