9/22/00 8:55 a.m.
One Less New York Giant
The Patrick Ewing era dies.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

uring an odd time to follow sports in New York, the Big Apple bid goodbye to one of its greatest players.

For most of the year, baseball has been topsy-turvy. The perennial also-rans, the New York Mets, had played well for most of the year, hot on the heels of the Atlanta Braves for the second best record in the major leagues. The Yankees, conversely, had been playing lackadaisically for much of the year, though the infusion of post-All-Star Game talent had invigorated the world champions. Fully one-third of the team wasn't with the Yankees at the beginning of the season. However, in recent weeks both teams have been playing terribly. The Mets have, for the third year in a row, completely tanked as soon as the calendar turned to September. The collapse has paralleled the offensive drought of MVP candidate Mike Piazza. Meanwhile, the Yankees who usually round into form have been giving up football-type scores to opposing teams. They've lost seven of their last eight games, having been outscored 60-19 during that period.

And speaking of football — that's all anybody is doing around the metropolitan area right now. As the baseball teams fall apart, the two pigskin franchises are having a golden first month. The Giants are 3-0 for the first time since 1997; the Jets are 3-0 for the first time since 1966. Needless to say, neither team has ever been 3-0 at the same time. This upcoming weekend, both teams find interesting grudge matches. The Giants face division rival the Washington Redskins who embarrassed them at home last year, 50-21. The Redskins went out on a huge shopping spree during the off-season, adding stars such as Deion Sanders and Bruce Smith. They were expected to challenge for the Super Bowl. They are underperforming at 1-2, already two games behind the Giants in their division. So this will be a tough contest. Meanwhile, the Jets travel to face also-undefeated Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers nearly made it to the Super Bowl last year. During the off-season, they acquired former Jet wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who has been trash-talking non-stop recently. Tampa Bay is, on paper, a much better team, but the Jets would dearly love to beat the Bucs — just to get Keyshawn to shut up.

But, all of these stories took a back seat as, on Thursday at 2 p.m., an era ended. The real New York giant headed West. Patrick Ewing concluded 15 years as center for the New York Knicks, traded to the Seattle Supersonics in a four-team deal. It was a move that had been anticipated for more than a month, but still dramatic nonetheless, as a decade-and-a-half promise went sadly unfulfilled. When Ewing arrived in 1985 from the Georgetown Hoyas, it was expected that he would bring multiple championships to a franchise that hadn't won it all since 1973. In college, Ewing had won one championship and lost in the finals on two other occasions. But it never seemed to work for Patrick Ewing. In part, it was because he had the misfortune to play during the same period as arguably the greatest hoops player of all, one Michael Jordan. Jordan has managed to be responsible for many Hall of Fame careers coming to an end without having "the Ring." Charles Barkley has already retired. John Stockton and Karl Malone in Utah are near the end of the road. Like Ewing, they faced the curse of playing in the Jordan era.

What Ewing had to live down though is 1994. It was the year Jordan was in retirement, trying to learn baseball. The Knicks made it to the playoffs to face the Houston Rockets and their star center, Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon and Ewing had been connected since their college days. Both centers made the NCAA Final Four three times — Ewing won one championship (over Olajuwon's Houston Cougars) and Olajuwon came away empty-handed. Yet, the pros would be different. Game 7 in Houston buried the Knicks. Ewing played well, but guard John Starks had a disastrous 2-for-18 shooting night (0-for-11 from the three-point line). Coach Pat Riley should have probably sat Starks down. He didn't; Olajuwon and the Rockets won. The next year, the Knicks were upset early in the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. Ewing missed a game-tying lay-up at the end of that Game 7.

And those are some of the heart-breaking memories that many fans have of Patrick Ewing. It seems the fact that he holds the team records in just about every offensive and defensive category matters little. He was not able to bring home the championship. Part of the problem was that Ewing always boasted that "this will be the year" and he wasn't able to back up those boasts.

Ewing was also very distant, perpetually stiff-arming the media — a habit he picked up from his college coach John Thompson. But, it should be kept in mind that (and this shows what times we live in), he never embarrassed the team on or off the court. Unlike Barkley, he didn't get in bar brawls or get picked up for drug or alcohol abuse. Unlike even Jordan, he didn't become involved in suspect gambling activities. On the court, he was a fierce competitor, relentless on defense and one of the best outside-shooting centers ever. Yes, many blamed Ewing and the Knicks for the dearth of offense in recent years. But that was just the league adopting the defense-happy, grabbing style of Pat Riley. Don't blame Ewing for that. Another criticism was that he was unwilling to share the ball. The truth was that, only in the last couple of years did he ever have teammates who could be counted on to reliably put the ball in the basket.

Ewing says he wants to play for another couple of years. Yet now he has to face Shaquille O'Neal (and Kobe Bryant) of the current champion Los Angeles Lakers five times during the regular season — even before the playoffs. It will be, pun intended, a tall order. However, perhaps the more laid-back atmosphere of Seattle may put a little bit more spring in his step and provide him some relief for his perpetually bad-knees. His body has betrayed him regularly during the last couple of years.

It would be nice if the stars aligned and he managed to eke out a championship during the next two seasons, actually playing with an all-star point guard in Gary Payton. Yet, the way the fates work, Ewing may end up like the other great New York sports figure of the '80s and '90s — Don Mattingly. The Yankee first basemen retired following the 1995 season, finally appearing in a playoff series after twelve years. Of course, the Yankees won their first World Series since 1978, the very next year. With that precedent, the Knicks are likely to win it all in the upcoming year.

Well, the wheel turns and time moves on. The baseball teams await the playoffs and the football teams face a possibly historic season. But New Yorkers — and, truthfully, all basketball fans — still should give a tip of the hat to Patrick Ewing, a warrior to the end, possessed of a champion's heart — if not a champion's ring.