Will The Clown Sell the Knicks? Keep Dreaming

Many Knicks fans have believed James Dolan to be a clown with the way he has run the Knicks and the Rangers (especially in the Knicks case).  You can constantly hear him being bashed year after year if you tune into some sports talk radio shows in the New York area.  Under Dolan the Knicks have gone from a proud and storied franchise to the punch line of a lot of jokes.  Let’s review some of the sad history of MSG under Jimbo:

-The New York Rangers missed the playoffs for seven straight years after making it in 1997, the longest playoff drought in franchise history.  And this occurred with the league’s highest payroll.

-Gave Allan Houston a 6 year, $100 million contract in 2001.  No one else offered him more than $75 million.  He retired 4 years later due to injuries.

-There were all the bad personnel decisions including the Jerome James contract (5 years, $30 million).

-In 2005, he signed Larry Brown to a 5 year, $50 million contract to be the head coach.  Brown won 23 games in his first year and was fired.  Dolan bought out Brown’s contract for $18 million.  That’s $28 million for a 23-win season.  $28 million sure doesn’t buy what it used to.

-Then there washe rest of the Isiah Thomas era which was capped by the embarassing sexual harassment lawsuit which forced MSG to pay Anucha Browne Sanders $11.6 million.  An all-time low for MSG.

-Then there was the situation in September when the Rangers filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NHL.  This after the league allegedly threatened to kick the owners out of the league if they did not give up control of the team’s web site. 

You can see what Knick fans have had to endure.  So you can imagine the reaction of Knick fans when rumors of Dolan selling the Knicks began to surface.  There was some speculation that Dolan might sell MSG, the Knicks, and the Rangers as a way to satisfy shareholders of Cablevision, whose stock price has gone down.  It was reported that this rumor got Knick fans more excited than when they see Marisa Miller in a bikini.

But it appears these rumors could be nothing more than wishful thinking.  A recent report by Newsday addressed these rumors:

“Not so fast, though. Dolan’s gesture to investors – allowing them to voice concerns during a “listening tour” last week – seems to have been little more than a head fake. People knowledgeable about MSG in particular, and the sale of sports franchises in general, tell Newsday that it’s premature to run out onto Seventh Avenue traffic and celebrate Dolan’s departure from the Garden of Ills.”

But at least fans of the Knicks can have some hope with their new regime of general manager Donnie Walsh and head coach Mike D’Antoni.  Maybe they can help offset some of the bad karma that Dolan has been putting over Madison Square Garden for years.