oedipus' online complexes

the other sure sign that spring is here
(or, the REAL miracle on 34th Street)

ever since manhattan's magnificent penn station was demolished and the station proper put underground - underneath the third (and undeniably ugliest) incarnation of madison square garden and an affiliated high-rise office building, there's been no way for ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus to unload their elephants for their run of performances at madison square garden...

so, when the circus comes to gotham, the elephants get off at long island city, and are paraded through the queens-midtown tunnel, down 34th street, across manhattan - past macy's - and to the 34th street entrance of the modern madison square garden...

for a few years, i was fortunate enough to work in the building that occupies the corner of 34th and 7th avenue, smack across the street from both penn station and madison square garden, so i didn't have far to travel to witness the ritual, as i was usually at work late enough to catch the middle-of-the-night march of the elephants...

and when i walked past madison square garden from the very tail end of march through the first weeks of april, when the circus was in town, i smiled to myself as i passed the huge olfactory clue that i was headed towards the correct corner... and, since my employment at the corner of 34th and 7th avenue, coincided with a repeated (well, in the grover cleveland sense) run at the NBA, or at least the eastern conference, title...

no - we never won the title in the age of jordan, but the knicks made the playoffs during the hayday of patrick ewing's career for 15 years running, so there was always plenty of meaningful, exciting games played in the early weeks of april...

taking advantage of the fact that, for a time, i worked right across the street from madison square garden, i tried to make every important game i could, since going to a knicks game was as easy as crossing the street - which, i suppose, is easier said than done, considering the traffic and taxi queue on 7th avenue... and yes, in april in the nineties, the garden was redolent with elephant excrement which to me was the smell of victory...

Image Description: Elephants from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus arrive in New York on March 27, 2007. (photo by Eric Thayer, Reuters)