Wins and Losses

Blowing out candles on a matcha green tea cake from a French-Korean bakery in New Haven.

Good news/bad news-wise, June 13th, 2026, takes the cake.

Faith was here. Both of my kids were here (they’re not kids by a long shot anymore, but what’s the alternative? Spawn?). They and a small group of friends joined us for a watch party, slash birthday celebration.

The birthday person was me. The watch party was for my beloved NBA team, the San Antonio Spurs, fighting for their lives, down 3-1, in Game 5 of the championship Finals series. They lost.

Sidenote: One person couldn’t make it, my daughter’s girlfriend, who’s an ER doctor in New York. She spent the evening tending to stabbing wounds resulting from the infamous mayhem of Knicks after-parties around town.

After the game, New York Knicks fans lost their minds, and rightly so. Their last trip to the Finals was in 1999, against the Spurs, and the Spurs won. The Spurs also won before that in the 1990s and a few times after that in the 21st century. The last time the Knicks actually won a championship was the year I was born, 1973, 53 years ago. They won against the LA Lakers in five games. Were it not for the fact that NBA playoff series in those days were five games instead of seven, they could well have won it all on my birthday in 1973, the same way they did yesterday, in 2026.

The consensus opinion among NBA journalists, commentators, and pundits appears to be that this new Spurs team, anchored by “the Alien,” Victor Wembanyama, aka “Wemby,” will have success for many years to come, but they’re too young and too early, not yet ready for the big stage.

I don’t totally agree. The Spurs suffered from a poor performance from their recently acquired All-Star point guard, De’Aaron Fox, who was playing through an ankle injury. He’s one of only two veteran players on the team, and the only starter, with playoff experience. In regular-season (non-playoff) games, he would not be playing right now. He would be sitting on the bench and rehabbing. But it’s the playoffs, the Finals, and he wanted to play. He just couldn’t bring it last night. He tried and tried, but the shots weren’t falling. Before the Finals started, I bought Faith a Fox jersey, because he’s their favorite player, and they wore it at the watch party and to bed last night like some tragic commemoration of heroism falling short.

We spent half-time outside on the patio with a fire pit and sparklers. The Spurs were leading 42-37.

So much for the Spurs this year, and so much for my uninvited commentary on their loss to folks who may not even be sports fans and don’t care.

This is now my effort to be earnest and optimistic on the day after.

‍There were wins last night, the most obvious one being the presence of family and friends. People brought food. We borrowed a large projector screen from the New Haven Public Library and hung it on a wall in what we call the “sitting room,” which is either a den or a formal living room that otherwise doesn’t get used much. My friend Oliver brought a projector. We arranged a sofa, some chairs, and ottomans so that the ten of us could comfortably watch the game together.

One of my kids sat in the Rhizome chair I made, and used the Levitation Stool as a side table to rest drinks and food. Getting excited about a basketball game in a group setting is about the best stress test I can think of for the stability and comfort of a chair and stool. The Spurs may have caved in the end, but the furniture held up with ease. Hot damn.

If I’m shooting for a metaphor, I guess it would be this. Faith and I are still early. A year ago, we said we’d give ourselves a year to practice and prototype. A development year, as they say. I think we’ve outperformed some of our expectations, but we’re not quite there yet. We need another year. This summer is our off-season. Our Summer League. There are great things to come, but it’s a process, and we’re patient. In the meantime, we’re taking lessons from our wins and losses.