Or perhaps he just digs Nick Hornby adaptations for the American market? The former Knicks/Rockets head coach was already in mid-season form last night on ESPN during coverage of the Celtics’ 103-83 win over Washington.
JVG : (as Red Sox owner John Henry appeared onscreen) Do you think they’re going to make “Fever Pitch 2”? That was such a great movie.
Mike Breen : Great? Would you really call it great?
JVG : Hey, I think it was a great sports movie.
Breen : It was certainly entertaining, but could you really call it great?
JVG : Hey, you’re not in charge of what I think! Who sings that “Sweet Caroline”?
Breen : (incredulous) How do you not know that’s Neil Diamond?
For those who might consider this discussion superfluous to the basketball game on offer, I submit it was more edifying than a subsequent chat with Junior Seau, whose evening at the Nuevo Garden was interrupted for the obligatory questions about Super Bowl 41 1/2.
Van Gundy was endearingly free associative throughout the game — there was a great bit in which he tried to defend his (apparently real) decision to drop out of Yale and transfer to a junior college because he thought he’d get more PT as a basketball player — and generally seems a lot happier when not coaching a basketball team. Looks a lot better-rested, too.