This week’s post is about my interview on my two friends Jaylen Cruz and Jalen Jackson, asking them about their history ever since being a fan of their favorite NBA team. Ever since befriending both, we always talk about basketball and share our wishes for our favorite team in hopes of bragging rights to one another, or just to simply be a proud team of who we are repping. As sports fans, we all share a common goal for what we want our teams to achieve when a new season comes around, and that’s to win a championship.
My first interviewee was Jalen Jackson, which he is a fan of the Miami Heat, who one had stars like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and more. Growing up, Jalen didn’t attach himself to a specific team, but instead had favorite players that he liked to watch when they were on screen. He said that his dad was a big Dwayne Wade fan, so then Jalen seen Dwayne play for the Heat, liked his game and shortly after became a fan of the organization. Watching Wade play, Jalen stated that Dwayne Wade is “the best shooting guard to ever touch the floor, forget Michael Jordan”. Being a sports fan, they are endless ups and downs you take apart of with the team you root for, but the memories you carry while being a fan is what makes moments special, so I asked Jalen what some of his favorite memories are of being a Heat fan. Jalen said that he has two memories that are his favorite while being a Heat fan, the first one is in the 2014 NBA finals when Ray Allen hit the game winning three point shot in game 6 to force a game 7, which resulted in the Heat winning the NBA finals. “I thought it was over” Jalen said before Ray Allen hits the three pointer. He then continues to share his second favorite memory and it’s the Miami Heat winning the 2012 NBA finals, the second year they had LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.
Staying on that topic of his team winning the championship, I followed up to then ask what were his emotions like during that moment. “The first time I was really hype, I’ve never experienced that, so I felt like I was apart of that”. He continues to say express how the journey of watching them play through the regular season, playoffs, all of it had made the Heat winning the finals a overwhelming feel of joy for Jalen. The big 3, as they were known in the NBA, only lasted for four seasons until LeBron decided he wanted to go back and play for the Cleveland Cavaliers and won a championship over there in 2016. Ever since his departure, the Heat have struggled with championship success until they acquired Jimmy Butler, who is currently one of the league’s best small forwards, to go on and face LeBron in the 2020 finals. The heat fell short losing 4-1 in the bubble, which they played in during the covid had came around. To further this interview, I questioned Jalen if he has any expectations or goal that he wants the Miami Heat to achieve in this upcoming season. He goes on to express that he unsure about the roster they have as far as personnel. Jalen states that the team has let a lot of fans down last season as they had complications with covid and injuries, which led them to have a mediocre season and then getting beaten the first round of the playoffs by the Milwaukee Bucks. He hopes for the Heat to be a better team than last season, Bam Adebayo(center), Jalen hopes that he wins defensive player of the year (DPOTY) and Tyler Herro(shooting guard) to win sixth man of the year. Jalen feels that the Heat may have some challenges this season with the Bucks and Brooklyn Nets, but he feels if they play to the best of their abilities then the Heat should be fine. Being a sports fan, everyone has to have a favorite player of all time, someone they enjoyed watching or loves their skillset towards the game, so to wrap up his interview, I asked him who is his favorite player of all time as a Heat fan. Like a true Heat fan, of course his answer was Dwayne Wade. Jalen says he enjoys watching him play and how effective he is on the floor when he’s in. To him, Dwayne’s skill has made him, in Jalen’s eyes, the best shooting guard ever, just like it was stated earlier.
My second interviewee was my other friend Jaylen Cruz, who is a New York Knicks fan. To star off this interview, Jaylen got into the backstory of how he became a Knicks fan. He started watching the NBA around 2008-2009 where he saw the dunk contest and Nate Robinson was participating that year. He was fascinated that someone of Nate Robinson’s height was able to dunk that well and he related that to himself because he is short and that caught his eye to the game of basketball. Jaylen then saw that Nate Robinson plays for the New York Knicks and then notice that he has the channel that the Knicks always play on, so that made Jaylen become a New York Knicks fan ever since that day. He says that he also liked how the Knicks at the time were considered the underdog, so that gave him another reason to be a fan, because Jaylen likes rooting for the underdog. When reminiscing on his favorite memory, it was when the Knicks had just drafted Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen went to Madison Square Garden for the first time, “the atmosphere was amazing, I felt at home because I’m with everyone who’s a Knick fan…”. Jaylen said he very much enjoyed watching Carmelo Anthony play, one of the best forwards in the league at the time.
Figure 6 Carmelo Anthony
Figure 7 Fans at MSG
When asked what’s his expectation for this season, Jaylen just wants the Knicks to return to the playoffs again. Last season they made it to the first round, but had a quick exit as they lost 4-1 to Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks. “ I say this every year but this is our year” he said, Jaylen feels that the Knicks roster is better than the previous season as they added Kemba Walker and Even Fournier to the starting lineup. Transitioning to Jaylen’s favorite Knick of all time, he said it’s a tie between Patrick Ewing and Carmelo Anthony. He said he likes Carmelo Anthony because watching him play while on the Knick team was amazing to see, but when he looks at the 90s and watch is Patrick Ewing and what he did for the next back then, he says was also amazing to see. When wrapping up the interview, jalen shares one of his happiest moments as a Knick fan. It was when they were versing the Chicago Bulls in Carmelo Anthony hit a clutch 3 pointer in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime. Towards the end of overtime Carmelo Anthony hits another 3 pointer it at the same area and the crowd went crazy “it was one of those moments where I wish I was there to experience that type of environment”.
Therefore, being in the world of sports and a fan of a specific team bring you on a roller coaster of joyful and sad moments. Even during the highs and lows being a fan, it is always a wonderful experience being a sports fan and witnessing history almost every time watching a game play by professionals. It is amazing to see a bunch of strangers unite to cheer on professionals playing the sport they love and having such an impact on those players in a positive way to the point where part of those players play for the fans so they can have a once in a lifetime experience.