It came as no surprise to me that Jim Dolan got into a heated e-mail exchange with a Knicks fan upset about the team's play in recent years. It simply serves as further proof that Dolan is among the worst owners, if not THE worst owner, in sports. It's also the last straw for a lot of people, this one included, who will no longer be able to support the New York Knicks as long as Jim Dolan is the team's owner.
Now, to be clear, I'm not a fan of the NBA, and I haven't been in a few years, so my interest in the Knicks' current plight is minimal at best. However, I also remember those days when I grew up idolizing Patrick Ewing, and I'm still convinced that John Starks was fouled on that three at the end of Game 6 in the 1994 Finals. I always was a Knicks fan, and if I had to pick an NBA team, it would be them.
My distaste for the NBA has nothing to do with the Knicks. But, by sheer coincidence, I tuned out right around the same time Dolan bought the team. AKA, the same time the Knicks started to become irrelevant. That was 1999. In the 15 years since they made a Finals appearance that season, they've won a grand total of one division title and one playoff series. During that time, they've become more famous for being a dysfunctional mess that's made some historically bad decisions than for anything they've actually done on the basketball court.
Where do I start? Isiah Thomas? Larry Brown? Frederic Weis? Amare Stoudemire? Carmelo? Steve Kerr? Phil Jackson? The thing all of this Knicks mismanagement has in common is their meddling owner. He's kind of like Al Davis in his later years running the Raiders. Whether he realizes it or not, he doesn't care how much damage he's doing to his own franchise while he, in fact, is the one running it into the ground. (Notice how the Rangers didn't good again until Dolan stopped interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the team?)
Everyone knows that the biggest reason for the Knicks' problems is Jim Dolan. That includes Knicks fans. One of those fans is Irving Bierman, who's been going to games since 1952. Bierman decided he'd had enough and sent Dolan an e-mail expressing his frustrations. He might as well have been speaking on behalf of all Knicks fans. Because a lot of what he said was right. As Marisa Tomei said in My Cousin Vinny, it was "dead on, balls accurate."
Instead of just ignoring the e-mail or sending a polite "Thank you for your concerns" response, Dolan went on the offensive. He attacked Bierman and even went so far as to suggest he start rooting for the Nets. Talk about offensive. Dolan's response was not only uncalled for and unnecessary, it was completely unprofessional. This is the behavior of a man who owns a professional sports team? That alone speaks volumes.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said he won't punish Dolan. He chalked up the owner's behavior to "being a New Yorker" and responding like one. But that's not even the point. Dolan showed his true colors with his e-mail back to Bierman. It's a PR battle that he's definitely not winning. How can anyone justify calling themselves a Knicks fan now? How can anyone root for a team knowing that this is type of treatment fans get from the owner? I have a cousin that has DirecTV for the sole reason that he refuses to get Cablevision and give money to Dolan (the Dolan family also owns the cable giant).
Donald Sterling, before his antics last year that led to his being forced to sell the team, famously put no effort into making the Clippers any good because he knew he was going to make money anyway. He did this for many, many years until fairly recently. Well, that's exactly what the current state of the Knicks is. A once proud franchise has been reduced to a laughingstock because of the way a clueless and inept owner runs his team. He should be embarrassed, but Dolan doesn't even care.
Why should he? The Knicks still sell out every game. People go there to be seen. That's how they can justify ridiculous ticket prices to see a terrible team. And who knows, maybe if you go to a Knicks game, you can say you sat next to Spike Lee. Or Billy Joel. Or Al Roker. Or any other celebrity that likes basketball and is currently in New York. Dolan's got no reason to have a vested interest in whether or not the team is even good. He's making money regardless. And the less he has to spend on quality players, the more he gets to keep.
One of the solutions Bierman suggested is something that's probably not going to happen. Dolan's not going to sell the team. The Knicks are his little toy that he likes to play with.
Even though there's no way in hell anyone's going to convince him to sell, there is one thing Knicks fans can do. It's the same thing Dodgers fans did before Frank McCourt finally sold the team. Boycott. Don't come to the games. Don't even watch them on TV. Hurt Dolan the one place it'll hurt him the most. His wallet. Then maybe he'll get the point.
The Knicks aren't worth watching. They haven't been in quite some time. And now their owner has proven that he doesn't care at all about his fans. This should be the last straw. Because until something is done, it'll be more of the same for the New York Knicks. And the only person satisfied with the status quo is Jim Dolan.
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