How the Once-Mighty Knicks Have Fallen

When will all the madness finally end? When does someone – Charles Dolan? David Stern? – finally step in and try to fix the Knicks?

Madison Square Garden is still the best place in the world to watch a basketball game but basketball is no longer played there. It is now a dirty, wretched place with two types of folks; good, hard-working people who are disgusted by what has happened and suck-ups who would rat on their own mothers if it meant keeping their jobs.

It is a place where the powers that be assign goons to follow around certain members of the media to find out who is talking to them. I guess KGB stands for Knicks Gone Bad. You want to know who's talking? Everybody. You want to know why? Because they all want this nonsense to end.

(Memo to James Dolan: Your employees love to talk.)

Since Dolan took over, his first and only obsession is battling the media. I think there is part of him that cares about winning but his first mission is to make life miserable for the press because he believes that is the only game he can win. I wonder if any of his underlings ever had the guts to tell him, "sorry Jim, there is just no way that we can keep the NBA standings out of the newspapers."

It's hard to believe what has happened to the Knicks and the Garden in the 12 years since I've been covering the team. There was no better job in sports. Don't get me wrong, there were problems back then as well. But there was accountability. There was strong leadership. They acted in a professional manner. They were good people. Tradition mattered back then as did treating people with respect and dignity.

And for that, I want to formally apologize to former Garden president Dave Checketts, former president Ernie Grunfeld, former head coach Jeff Van Gundy and mostly to the great Patrick Ewing. I'm sorry for holding you to the standard of making it to the NBA Finals or the season was a failure. Even though you four gentlemen held yourselves to the same standard it was unrealistic to think it could be done every year. But you did come close. I often wonder how you four would have reacted to a 33-win season. Something tells me you wouldn't have thought, "hey, contract extensions for everybody!"

But then, something tells me you wouldn't have promoted an intern who admitted to having an affair with a married player who admitted to calling another female employee bitch.

You would not have allowed certain unqualified employees to think they have the run of the place. You would not have played your point guard 34 minutes the day after he went AWOL. You would not have signed Jerome James. You would not have dismantled the Marty Glickman radio booth for the almighty dollar. Marv Albert would still be calling games. Patrick Ewing would be a coach. Allan Houston would be in the front office along with Larry Johnson.

You would not have lost.

Thanks for the great run, filled with magical moments and great basketball. When you guys were here the Knicks were kings. The building was clean and the employees took pride in the place. You wouldn't believe what is going on now.

Mostly, I'm sorry that it's over.

Posted by sebstar:

Stupid post. Winning is the deodorant that masks all internal and external odors. Thats basically all that separates the Knicks of the '90s from today --- wins. The '90s Knicks were plenty dysfunctional --- the weird part is Isola of all people knows this. People are scrambling to take a swing at the NY punching bag at this point.

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TMS:

i don't think Isola should be including Patrick Ewing's name in this discussion about maintaining a professional decorum while a member of the Knicks... didn't he regularly bang strippers in the back of stripclubs on roadtrips? not exactly the best example to use to defend his point here.

Come on, now we're saying players can't bang strippers?

Strippers are professionals who get paid for what they do by outside employers. That's a lot different than banging an unpaid employee at the Garden who was then promoted for her "services".

We already tried having a team of Mormons, and while they played a lot tougher than our supposed "thugs," I don't think we need to go there again.

BTW, in the future, when we compare Isiah to Layden can we remember that Layden had to operate with essentially one hand behind his back by not being able to take on anyone who wasn't god fearing and/or from Utah, and still his team would kick this one out of the Garden.

Posted by SupremeCommander:

Apparently, I'm in the minority here, but I agree with Isola's article completely. The Garden used to be a proud place. Like, I expected contention every year. The team was professional and the only thing people talked about is "Why did we fall short in another Game 7?" Good times looking back on it because now, it's run worse than any organization in Manhattan.

There is no Knick Pride anymore and its depressing.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TMS:

i don't think Isola should be including Patrick Ewing's name in this discussion about maintaining a professional decorum while a member of the Knicks... didn't he regularly bang strippers in the back of stripclubs on roadtrips? not exactly the best example to use to defend his point here.

Come on, now we're saying players can't bang strippers?

Strippers are professionals who get paid for what they do by outside employers. That's a lot different than banging an unpaid employee at the Garden who was then promoted for her "services".

We already tried having a team of Mormons, and while they played a lot tougher than our supposed "thugs," I don't think we need to go there again.

BTW, in the future, when we compare Isiah to Layden can we remember that Layden had to operate with essentially one hand behind his back by not being able to take on anyone who wasn't god fearing and/or from Utah, and still his team would kick this one out of the Garden.

i'm not saying he's not allowed to bang strippers... but to use him as some upstanding example of how professional & prideful the Knicks used to be isn't exactly the right choice... Ewing was also regularly seen at the casinos & was a well known womanizer & very surly to both fans & the media alike... unless Isola thinks these are the traits we want to see promoted in the figurehead for our franchise, he should picked a different example.

Posted by bitty41:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TMS:

i don't think Isola should be including Patrick Ewing's name in this discussion about maintaining a professional decorum while a member of the Knicks... didn't he regularly bang strippers in the back of stripclubs on roadtrips? not exactly the best example to use to defend his point here.

Come on, now we're saying players can't bang strippers?

Strippers are professionals who get paid for what they do by outside employers. That's a lot different than banging an unpaid employee at the Garden who was then promoted for her "services".

We already tried having a team of Mormons, and while they played a lot tougher than our supposed "thugs," I don't think we need to go there again.

BTW, in the future, when we compare Isiah to Layden can we remember that Layden had to operate with essentially one hand behind his back by not being able to take on anyone who wasn't god fearing and/or from Utah, and still his team would kick this one out of the Garden.

i'm not saying he's not allowed to bang strippers... but to use him as some upstanding example of how professional & prideful the Knicks used to be isn't exactly the right choice... Ewing was also regularly seen at the casinos & was a well known womanizer & very surly to both fans & the media alike... unless Isola thinks these are the traits we want to see promoted in the figurehead for our franchise, he should picked a different example.

Geez talk about being uptight. Strippers, casinos, and being a big meanie to fans okay so what that still doesn't change the fact that Ewing and the Knicks represented a standard of excellence in the NBA for nearly a decade. I think thats the whole point of the article and not a "how to guide about living your life".

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by TMS:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TMS:

i don't think Isola should be including Patrick Ewing's name in this discussion about maintaining a professional decorum while a member of the Knicks... didn't he regularly bang strippers in the back of stripclubs on roadtrips? not exactly the best example to use to defend his point here.

Come on, now we're saying players can't bang strippers?

Strippers are professionals who get paid for what they do by outside employers. That's a lot different than banging an unpaid employee at the Garden who was then promoted for her "services".

We already tried having a team of Mormons, and while they played a lot tougher than our supposed "thugs," I don't think we need to go there again.

BTW, in the future, when we compare Isiah to Layden can we remember that Layden had to operate with essentially one hand behind his back by not being able to take on anyone who wasn't god fearing and/or from Utah, and still his team would kick this one out of the Garden.

Seriously, what's wrong with banging strippers?

Spoken like someone who never has.

dude, i freakin' married one (something i'm not exactly proud of btw)... don't tell me about banging strippers unless u know what the F you're talking about... i'm not taking some moral stance on banging strippers here... just saying if you're going to promote this guy for being the symbol of how proud & proper this franchise used to be, then he picked a bad example.

One, I do. Two, I was just kidding. Chill.

Although I don't think that that's a good reason why he shouldn't be shown as an example of the pride that this franchise used to have. When it came to the game, Patrick was a warrior and never embarrassed himself or the game.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TMS:

i don't think Isola should be including Patrick Ewing's name in this discussion about maintaining a professional decorum while a member of the Knicks... didn't he regularly bang strippers in the back of stripclubs on roadtrips? not exactly the best example to use to defend his point here.

Come on, now we're saying players can't bang strippers?

Strippers are professionals who get paid for what they do by outside employers. That's a lot different than banging an unpaid employee at the Garden who was then promoted for her "services".

We already tried having a team of Mormons, and while they played a lot tougher than our supposed "thugs," I don't think we need to go there again.

BTW, in the future, when we compare Isiah to Layden can we remember that Layden had to operate with essentially one hand behind his back by not being able to take on anyone who wasn't god fearing and/or from Utah, and still his team would kick this one out of the Garden.

Seriously, what's wrong with banging strippers?

Spoken like someone who never has.

dude, i freakin' married one (something i'm not exactly proud of btw)... don't tell me about banging strippers unless u know what the F you're talking about...

Posted by playa2:

Posted by sebstar:

Stupid post. Winning is the deodorant that masks all internal and external odors. Thats basically all that separates the Knicks of the '90s from today --- wins. The '90s Knicks were plenty dysfunctional --- the weird part is Isola of all people knows this. People are scrambling to take a swing at the NY punching bag at this point.

Sebstar , you should post more often bro

Thanks B, as a San Diego State, NY Knicks delegate I've been taking it on the chin from Laker fans. Any love at this point is greatly appreciated.

Still a proud fan despite all of this!