The Bing Bong Phenomenon: Ecstasy and Mockery
A viral video, a rallying cry, and an excuse to mock New York
Last year’s Knicks team was special. A team that was predicted to be one of the league’s worst, transformed into one of the better teams in the NBA. For Knick fans, it was a magical season where a scrappy team won the hearts of the entire fan base. On April 21, 2021, Julius Randle was doing a post-game interview with Rebecca Haarlow following a double-overtime victory against Atlanta. It was during this interview that Julius said a simple statement that came to define last year’s Knicks. That statement was “New York, we here”.
“We here” came to define last year’s Knicks, to the point where some were calling last year’s squad the “We Here Knicks”. As last year ended and this season started with elevated expectations I wondered what the battle cry and calling card of this team would be. After the Knicks opened their season with a double-overtime victory against the Boston Celtics, a video from Sidetalk NYC seemed to answer that question with two words: Bing Bong.
