Diehard NYC fan built a brand on local groups’ misery — but Knicks are…
He’s having a change of Hart.
A diehard Knicks fan who cashed in on a decade and a half of palpable New York sports activities misery is altering the tune to “Go NY Go NY Go!” with a lot more optimistic merch as the team is one game away from its first title in 53 years.
“I’ve been just posting a lot of my raw emotions about how happy I’ve been and how far we’ve come from 10, 15 years ago,” “Forever Next Year NY” creator Justin Silberlust told The Post of New York’s magnificent finals run.
Silberlust created a clothes line based on his hopelessness as a New York sports activities fan. Aristide Economopoulos for NY Post
“At the time we felt hopeless, but now we’re here,” added the 28-year-old from Dix Hills, who’s in awe by a historic Game 4 comeback on Wednesday, when the team erased a 29-point deficit to win 107-106 over the Spurs.
Silberlust is immediately a in style beacon of unequalled Knicks religion on-line — coming after he built up the relatable and pessimistic brand about latest Big Apple sports activities futility.
Mike Brown’s group has impressed sufficient hope that the entrepreneur has needed to rebrand from “Forever Next Year” to merchandise like blue-and-orange basketball t-shirts that read “next year is now.”
“Finally getting to the finals, for the first time in 27 years,” he said, “people have really been resonating with the ‘Forever Is Now’ slogan.”
He has aligned himself in the Bermuda Triangle of God-awful fandom, rooting for the Knicks, Jets, and the Mets. Aristide Economopoulos for NY Post
“We were always saying, there’s always next year,” Silberlust said of the Brooklyn Dodgers favourite phrase that turned a one-size-fits-all for the local groups.
The finance employee is also a glutton for punishment — making the prospect of beating San Antonio for the Knicks’ first NBA title since 1973 even more savory.
He’s aligned himself in the Bermuda Triangle of God-awful fandom, pulling for the Jets and the Mets — two groups finishing the trifecta of what’s been a whole younger lifetime without a single championship.
“It feels like it’s never going to happen. It feels like we’re always going to be saying this.”
Silberlust took action on his sports activities demons in 2025, having his brother Jared build a web site that includes count-up tickers for his favourite groups’ prolonged title droughts —1986 for the Mets and 1969 for the Jets.
Soon after, he turned the angst into a viral aspect hustle clothes and social media brand about the poisonous relationships.
“We’re always going to be showing up for these teams every single year, almost just out of blind loyalty, out of this delusion,” said Silberlust, who arduous launched during the Mets’ September collapse last yr.
“Being a Mets, Jets, Knicks fan is just my personality, it’s who I am…I combined this idea of this hope that just doesn’t seem to go away with this frustration.”
Fans recognized with the hopeless sports activities romantic and attire in the local groups’ colours, displaying the gut-punching “Forever Next Year NY” phrase, which said all an excessive amount of — and apparently by all ages.
“I’ve had 83-year-old grandmas email me, saying that they love the merch.”
Many also rapidly signed on for Silberlust’s movies highlighting cheery but lifeless end occasions of the past, like that of Jeremy Lin turning Madison Square Garden into “Linsainity” circa 2011.
“I’ve grown my following from about 1,200 followers. Today, I have almost 15,000 across platforms.”
He didn’t do it to state the apparent; instead, “I wanted to reverse the curse.”
Silberman began his line with Jets and Mets Forever Next Year logos. Aristide Economopoulos for NY Post
As the Knicks take a 3-1 stranglehold on the collection, Silberlust can already start to really feel the “out of body experience” of lastly seeing considered one of his groups reign supreme.
“We have waited for a while, but we’re here right now,” he said. “We’re going to embrace it. We’re going to be happy about it.”
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