By Nick Carroll

Since 2007, being a Phillies fan has had its benefits. Watching baseball’s most clutch team is certainly one of them. However, on the other side of the coin, we also have the opportunity to watch and compete against baseball’s version of the circus – the New York Mets.

Throughout these past three seasons, the Mets have been in what is seemingly constant turmoil. Whenever they appear to have things fixed, they find a way of one-upping themselves to blow it. As if one monumental September collapse wasn’t enough, the Mets came back in 2008 to repeat the feat and send the Phillies on to their first World Series championship in 28 years. Although they were unable to challenge the Phils in 09, hilarity still ensued. Whether it was seeing the Mets’ rotation in shambles, David Wright overmatched by Citi Field, the minor league fight club or Carlos Beltran’s personal decision to have serious surgery done behind the team’s back, the Mets could not get out of their own way, and was there ever a doubt that this would happen?

Since the 2007 collapse, every Phils fan knows deep down that they own them. It’s true. Even after all the injuries the Phillies have suffered this year, and now Chase Utley and Placido Polanco going on the disabled list and Beltran finally getting close to returning, is anyone concerned about the Mets?

Just like the Phils have had a flair for the dramatic over this span, the Mets have never failed to disappoint (and that can really be traced back to losing the ’06 NLCS to the 83-win Cardinals).

We all know the NL East is all about the Phillies, again.

But what this brings me to is the ensuing mess the New York Knicks are about to end up with. Unfortunately, with the way the NBA is designed, no five teams are allowed to be competitive at the same time, and since the Knicks and Sixers have not crossed paths, the rivalry leaves a lot to be desired.

With that said, as a Philadelphian who has to spend eight months every year at school in New York, it could not be sweeter to see everything the Knicks have planned for fading away.

I recall having friends and acquaintances telling me how LeBron James could not turn down the big city; how everything else is small potatoes compared to the New York and he could not truly tap his potential unless he ended up in New York, and that he knew this.

Well, as rumors and reports are surfacing that mostly link LeBron to Chicago or to recreate the ’08 Olympic team in Miami, I could not be happier.

There will not be a more satisfying feeling then moving into school in September to gloat over my prophecies that foresaw a Knick team built around Joe Johnson, the Khloe Kardashian of the free agent class.

Even though I would gladly take the credit for this brilliant prediction, wasn’t it obvious? The Knicks are a joke, and I am sure LeBron knows this, for the record.

Even though a lot of this can be attributed to Isaiah Thomas, the team has done nothing to rid themselves of this stink, the same stink that the Mets exude (see, there was a point to that intro).

For whatever reason, the Knicks believed that LeBron would be willing to play with a team built around an unathletic center who takes care of the paint defensively like Bernie Madoff takes care of his investors and a homeless man’s Peja Stojakovic in Danilo Gallinari just for the opportunity to play in New York. Like if LeBron plays in Cleveland he’ll be covered like Wilt’s 100-point game, just urban legends spread throughout America. Nothing could make me happier than LeBron turning down the Knicks, and it looks promising.

But what really makes this sweet is that plans B and C probably won’t be happening either. A franchise that has made LeBron and the summer or 2010 the entire point of its existence is going to be left like the Jewish kid on Christmas.

As the dominoes are starting to fall, it appears that Chris Bosh is just going to ride LeBron’s coattails, which will most likely follow him to a potential contender (Chicago or Miami). Even if LeBron re-signs in Cleveland, there is a better chance Bosh returns to Texas with the Mavs, or joins forces with Wade in Miami.

While on the subject of Wade, he is not even an option as it looks like he is staying in Miami.

So that leaves Amare Stoudemire, a very incomplete player, and Johnson, whose best work came on that legendary 53-win Hawks team that crashed and burned in the playoffs this year.

While the Knicks and Sixers have not fulfilled their potential for a rivalry, the rivalry between Philly and New York still exists, and it could not be more exciting to watch the Knicks brace themselves for another decade of mediocrity. Hell, the 12-win Nets are in a better position for the future.

By allowing numerous other teams to put themselves in a better position in the last year (meanwhile, the Knicks have been looking towards this summer for the last two-plus years), they continue to make things a mess.  Just like the Mets always find a way of doing......and it couldn’t be sweeter.