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djsunyc
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ANTI-DOLAN PROTEST HEADED FOR GARDEN
By MARC BERMAN
June 21, 2006 -- James Dolan's lawyers already stopped Selltheknicks.com from peddling dunce-cap T-shirts with his likeness, but the Knicks' eccentric owner can't do anything about a draft-night protest planned for next week by the new Web site.
According to the founder, known as Mr. Orange, the Web site is planning an anti-Dolan protest that will begin next Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the ESPN Zone in Times Square. The group eventually will march to the World's Most Disgraced Arena and vocally attend the NBA Draft at the Garden's Theatre.
The protesters will don Web site T-shirts and carry anti-Dolan signs. Two weeks ago, the Web site was threatened with legal action because it "infringes on their intellectual property rights," peddling a shirt with Dolan's likeness in a dunce cap.
The standard web site T-shirt bears the simple slogan "Sell The Knicks." In replacing the dunce-cap shirt, the founders added a new one, with the transposed inscription "Duck Folan," that the founders say has sold the most rapidly. The founders are concerned Garden security will forbid anti-Dolan T-shirt wearers from entering the Garden.
"Since Dolan won't give us the time of day, the protest is to get the attention of [NBA commissioner] David Stern, who will be there, and the ESPN cameras," Mr. Orange told The Post.
There's hope Stern will mediate this mess once the NBA finals are over. By draft night, there's a good chance Dolan will have finally announced Larry Brown's dismissal and Isiah Thomas' appointment as head coach, but a summer-long court battle could ensue if the Knicks try to give Brown less than his $40 million.
Signals are his removal will be made official before Wednesday's draft, before July 1's free agency and Las Vegas summer league. Recruiting free agents with Brown still twisting is lunacy. Of course, Dolan is so unpredictable the joke around the league is he could wait until the night before training camp.
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As Brown left the facility after running more pre-draft workouts yesterday, he was in no mood to talk to the group of 10 media members waiting for him at a traffic light one block from the Westchester facility.
Brown waved off the group with his arms as he pulled up in his gray Audi and said, "Can't talk. You [the media] got me in trouble. Can't talk."
On Monday, Brown said he was willing to give Thomas his draft input but said he hadn't been asked. He also took a slight dig at Dolan, saying, "I've seen you guys [more than him]."
Brown was most upset of the portrayal he was violating the Knicks' gag order by being a gentleman and talking to beat writers.
It's absurd for the Knicks to think of holding that against him, considering the way they've treated him like a pariah the past five weeks, with Thomas refusing to even acknowledge Brown's existence at the Orlando pre-draft camp.
Notably, when Thomas' silver Road Ranger pulled out of the complex, he had his right blinker on until noticing the media. The Knicks leader then pulled straight into a lot, made a U-turn and went the other way - symbolic of this franchise with no direction
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6/21/2006 10:18 AM