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Monday, February 9, 2015

No James Dolan: It's You We Don't Want

     Say this for brand new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: he has no mercy. 

     "NBA commissioner Adam Silver told the New York Post that Knicks owner James Dolan will not be punished for his controversial email to an unhappy fan of the team."

      "In a response to an email from Irving Bierman, who criticized Dolan's ownership and management of the team, the embattled Knicks owner suggested that Bierman is "an alcoholic" and told him to "start rooting for the Nets because the Knicks don't want you."
     Silver commented on Dolan's email Monday, one day after the contentious exchange surfaced.
     "Jim is a consummate New Yorker," Silver told the Post. "Jim got an unkind email and responded with an unkind email."
      "Sources with knowledge of the NBA's decision told ESPNNewYork.com's Ian Begley that Dolan's remarks did not broach territory that would cause the league to insert itself. That territory includes the use of vulgarity or any comments addressing class, race or sexual orientation."

      http://nypost.com/2015/02/08/with-email-dolan-sets-new-standard-for-arrogance-stupidity/

     Maybe not, though the absurd and risible comments about alcoholism are borderline. If Silver had any mercy at all he'd do something for us abused Knicks fans though.  As for Dolan, maybe this is the trouble with inheriting billions of dollars: it makes you clueless. I mean this has got to be the dumbest thing any owner has ever done whether it breaches league rules or not. I mean your telling a fan to stop rooting for your team?!

    What if he and the many of us who were appalled by this take you up on it? As a Knicks fan I clearly don't believe in bandwagon jumping. I've always been a Knicks, Rangers, Yankees, and Giants fan and always will be. 

    In recent years all my teams have giving me something to cheer for except the Knicks. The Yankees are the Yankees. Mike Vaccaro talks about how the Knicks are the most futile team since the Giants of the late 60s and the 70s. 

     http://nypost.com/2015/02/08/with-email-dolan-sets-new-standard-for-arrogance-stupidity/


    There is no comparing the Mara family to James Dolan though. Yes, who can forget after The Fumble of 1978 and the fans who rented out the plan with the sign '15 years of lousy football, we've had enough.'

    Of course, it never would have occurred to Wellington Mara in a million years to 'respond to an unkind comment with an unkind comment'-if that had been Dolan he'd probably have had a missive for those fans in Newsday or something. You'd think that nobody would be so stupid as to attack your own fans but then again, you haven't met James Dolan. 

    The 15 years of lousy football sign 'worked' in the sense that things turned around almost immediately after. The Giants hired GM George Young. Then they drafted Phil Simms and LT in 1981 and the Giants were on the mend. In the last 3 decades they've been to 5 Super Bowls and won 4 of them and have one of the best records in football in that period. Most years, they've been playoff contenders. 

   I'm not really a fan of the idea of boycotting my teams as Steve Smith on ESPN's First Take has suggested in the past. 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag7QusXFjuY

   Still, when does it end? I mean I think I probably speak for most Knicks fans in that I'd willingly pay for a ticket hike or even a hike on Cablevision for Dolan to no longer own the team. If the 73 year old fan's message was 'unkind' at least it had the virtue of being 100% true. 

   Dolan's email was well beyond unkind-to the point of just being surreal at how stupid he really is-and simply vile. I think far more unkind is that we can't get rid of this crumb of a man, that we can't pry his cold, dead hands off our beloved Knicks. 

   Where is Robert Kraft when you need him? Is there no Robert Kraft for the Knicks-some wealthy Knicks fan who can buy the team from under Dolan? If only he went bankrupt like the Sullivan family that originally owned the Patriots did. 

    So what we've learned is twofold. 

    1. James Dolan's arrogance has made him very stupid, almost too stupid to believe.  Clearly being born very wealthy is not a guarantee of even a room temperature IQ. 

    2. Alan Silver is a man wholly lacking in even the slightest amount of mercy and compassion for us suffering Knicks fans. Can someone entrap this dimwitted billionaire like they did to Donald Sterling? You'd be doing a true public service. 

    P.S. I may not like boycotts and fan strikes and I may not be able to do it myself, but I have absolutely no basis to criticize any Knicks fan who does this at this point. Enough is enough. At least the Giants even when they lost were a first class organization. 

   

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