The True Knicks Consultants Have Great Seats
"...the view from Section R, Row A, where Stanley Asofsky and Fred Klein sit, is far better.
Asofsky and Klein occupy seats 1 and 2 in the front row behind the basket at the Eighth Avenue end of the Garden floor. From there, they are close enough to hear the squeak of players's sneakers, not to mention their grunts from the battle beneath the backboards. Ribbing the Referees
They are also close enough to engage in their custom of mostly amiable referee-baiting. The night of the Charlotte game, it was with two of the officials, Mike Mathis and Mike Lauerman.
When Lauerman, for instance, ordered a Knick ball boy to mop up a wet patch on the floor, the 52-year-old Asofsky cupped his hands around his mouth, leaned forward in his $25 seat and shouted: ''Wet spots, that's your best call of the night, Mike.''
Without looking away from the action, Lauerman cracked a tiny smile at the corners of his mouth.
Getting a reaction like that is part of a good night's work for fans like Asofsky and Klein, who have held season tickets uninterrupted from the halcyon days of the old Garden on Eighth Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets, the era of the two-handed set shot and the Nedick's orange drink.
On this night, Asofsky, a former delicatessen owner from Great Neck, L.I., and the 54-year-old Klein, a Manhattan restaurant broker, did even better as they worked the referees. They kidded Lauerman about his bald spot, and, after a call of Mathis's deemed questionable, cracked gags about Seeing Eye dogs, a tack that eventually drew a response from the official. During a break, Mathis needled them back: ''When I grow up,'' he said, ''I want to be just like you."
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/16/sports/baseball-from-rafters-to-courtside-enthusiasm-fills-garden.html
8/10/2010 3:48 PM