The U.S. men’s national team just got bounced from the World Cup in the Round of 16. On home soil. By a 4-1 score against Belgium. For a country that’s never sniffed a final, that’s the kind of loss that sits in your chest for a while.
Unless you’re Josh Hart.
The Knicks guard and Chelsea fan posted what might be the most concise coping mechanism in sports history: “US lost but Knicks still Champs. Goodnight!” On X, formerly Twitter, Hart essentially said what a lot of dual-sport fans were thinking. But he meant it more than most.
Hart just won an NBA championship with New York. That title, the franchise’s first in over 50 years, gives him a kind of emotional armor most athletes don’t have when their other teams fall short. The Knicks aren’t just champs. They’re his champs. He played a real role in it.
Soccer’s been rough for Hart
It’s been a tough year for Hart on the football side. Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League, which is basically a disaster by their standards. Meanwhile, his Knicks teammate Jeremy Sochan got to watch Arsenal lift the PL trophy for the first time in 22 years. That has to sting when you’re in the room.
So the USMNT loss was just another layer on an already crummy soccer season. But Hart’s got a counterweight. The Knicks title doesn’t erase the sting, but it softens it. A lot.
For most American soccer fans, there’s no fallback like that. They’re left staring at a World Cup run that ended way earlier than anyone hoped. The US has never been past the quarterfinals since 1930. That stat doesn’t change just because you hosted the tournament.
Hart’s post was a reminder that athletes are fans too. They feel the same letdown when their team loses. The difference is, he can go to bed knowing he’s got a ring. Most of us just have a replay of that 4-1 loss and a headache.
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