Earlier this year, a poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts and the market research firm YouGov found that 70 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Dolly Parton, with just 5 percent expressing an unfavorable opinion. That makes the blonde phenom America’s most broadly liked public figure. In other words: old or young, Democrat or Republican, woman or man, black or white – chances are, if you’re American, you like Dolly Parton.

Until recently, I was convinced the Knicks were to New York what the 11-time Grammy winner is to the whole country: the last remaining bastion of common ground. Everyone, I thought, had at least a soft spot for the Knicks. But now, though, I’m reconsidering. I’m starting to understand that the Knicks aren’t just New York’s Dolly Parton. They’re New York itself.

Just before midnight on June 13, the New York Knickerbockers outran history. After 53 years of false starts, heartbreak and punchlines, the blue-and-orange franchise won its first NBA championship since 1973, turning half a century of waiting, wanting and hoping into........

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