More than 7,000 angry New York Knicks fans have to taken to online petition platform Change.org to urge inconsistent Madison Square Garden boss James Dolan to reconsider his apparent decision to usher star point guard – and worldwide media and marketing sensation – Jeremy Lin out of New York.

Thousands are flocking to the petition, started by blogger Jared Dubin, who writes for Hardwood Paroxysm as part of ESPN’s TrueHoop Network. Here’s the petition’s basic language:

Jeremy Lin is the best thing that has happened to New York Knicks basketball in the last 20 years. With Jeremy Lin as the team’s leader, the team won. He averaged 18 points and 7 assists as a starter – All-Star level performance. He has the largest fan base of any player in the NBA, by an order of magnitude. He’s got the personality and character that fans love. He’s the one player the New York Knicks need to keep, not lose. Don’t let Jeremy Lin go – match the Rockets’ offer.

While it may seem odd to petition the wealthy owner of two major franchises to spend millions on a star player when the world faces other petition-worthy challenges, the Keep Lin campaign hits home because of what the young guard’s surge last season meant to New York – the basketball capital of the world, after all – and the long-suffering Knicks fan base. And the comments spurred on by the petition drive, which began after Knicks management indicated it would not match Lin’s offer sheet with the Houston Rockets, are telling indeed:

Without this kid, the Knicks would not have gone to the playoffs this year and that is a cold hard fact. He saved the season. He brought a brand of basketball to the Garden that electrified an entire city.

I’m not here to watch a talented young player and a good person get that kind of treatment. Dolan and Co., if you don’t sign him, consider me and a ton of other people across the Brooklyn Bridge to Barclays.

Jeremy not only saved the Knicks season last year, he made the city magical. The city needs all of the magic it can get. And the Knicks need Lin.

The Garden is dysfunctional. if you let Lin walk, you can sign away half of your fanbase to the Brooklyn Nets or the Houston Rockets. This is one of the worst basketball decisions I’ve ever witnessed…

If the Knicks let Jeremy Lin go, it will alienate the fan base for a generation. My friends and I grew up Knicks fans, but we all gave up on the team after years of mismanagement. Lin made us fans again, for the first time in years. He made New Yorkers fans again. You think it’s expensive to keep Lin? Just wait to see how expensive it is to operate a basketball team with no fan base.

And those are the more mild reactions. One point gets made over and over again by the petition signers – and it was cannily echoed by Forbes sports business writer Tom Van Riper – the new Brooklyn Nets may clearly benefit from the decision to let Lin go. They have a new home, a new arena, a new logo and look, and a new community commitment to the hippest of the outer boroughs. As Dolan lets Lin (and his incredible story) slip away, you can almost see the smile he’s planting on the face of Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

CashMoney wrote:If people stop rooting for the Knicks because Lin goes to the Rockets than good riddance. Most of the people who started cheering for the Knicks recently did so only because of Lin. I've been a Knicks fan for over 20 years and if there is one thing in sports I can't stand it's a bandwagoner.

we should want more people as fans of our team though...

CashMoney wrote:If people stop rooting for the Knicks because Lin goes to the Rockets than good riddance. Most of the people who started cheering for the Knicks recently did so only because of Lin. I've been a Knicks fan for over 20 years and if there is one thing in sports I can't stand it's a bandwagoner.

I've been a Knicks fan for 20yrs, too. And this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen them do. Which is saying something. I'm not going to root for any other team, but I'm going to have a hard time caring. Why bother caring when Dolan's whims take precedence over everything else?

IrishKnickFan wrote:been a knick fan since the 80's. Grew up watching the 90's knicks and was spoiled since thos eteams always made noise in the playoffs and came within a hair of winnign a title. The last 12 years have been painful. Im not saying lin would have made us a contender but it would have been nice to see what he a shumpert could do together

Yeah, the Knicks teams with Lin, Shumpert and Tyson on the floor were my favorite since the 99 team. Maybe even the 92-95 teams. Just felt like they were all completely unselfish and tried hard and defended and had special skills which would only get better with time.

I get none of that from Melo. And every time I talk myself into Melo he does or says something that makes me wish we'd never traded for him.

crzymdups wrote:

CashMoney wrote:If people stop rooting for the Knicks because Lin goes to the Rockets than good riddance. Most of the people who started cheering for the Knicks recently did so only because of Lin. I've been a Knicks fan for over 20 years and if there is one thing in sports I can't stand it's a bandwagoner.

I've been a Knicks fan for 20yrs, too. And this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen them do. Which is saying something. I'm not going to root for any other team, but I'm going to have a hard time caring. Why bother caring when Dolan's whims take precedence over everything else?

I'd prefer to have Lin back as well but am preparing myself to move on. I the Knicks would be better with Lin but how much better is yet to be seen. Even without Lin I truly believe this is a 50+ win team that will make noise in the playoffs next year.

I 100% understand the emotional side of it. Linsanity was amazing and was a good time.

The gist: the Knicks probably shouldn't match, Lin and Houston makes sense, Felton's not going to set the world on fire anytime soon, and our beloved Knicks will once again be also-rans with our without him. Interesting read.

IrishKnickFan wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:been a knick fan since the 80's. Grew up watching the 90's knicks and was spoiled since thos eteams always made noise in the playoffs and came within a hair of winnign a title. The last 12 years have been painful. Im not saying lin would have made us a contender but it would have been nice to see what he a shumpert could do together

Yeah, the Knicks teams with Lin, Shumpert and Tyson on the floor were my favorite since the 99 team. Maybe even the 92-95 teams. Just felt like they were all completely unselfish and tried hard and defended and had special skills which would only get better with time.

I get none of that from Melo. And every time I talk myself into Melo he does or says something that makes me wish we'd never traded for him.

I am a knicks fan so will root for melo but i just dont understand him soemtimes. the guy has so much takkent but he seems insecure and if things dont go his way he stops trying to tunes out.

Melo is the new Eli/A-Rod. When he wins it will all be forgotten.

The problem is that there is a better shot of jimmy hoffa showing up

The same thing that was said about Eli. I believe Melo will deliver the same way I believed that Ewing would. Ewing couldn't do it alone and Melo can't do it without Stat.

CashMoney wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:been a knick fan since the 80's. Grew up watching the 90's knicks and was spoiled since thos eteams always made noise in the playoffs and came within a hair of winnign a title. The last 12 years have been painful. Im not saying lin would have made us a contender but it would have been nice to see what he a shumpert could do together

Yeah, the Knicks teams with Lin, Shumpert and Tyson on the floor were my favorite since the 99 team. Maybe even the 92-95 teams. Just felt like they were all completely unselfish and tried hard and defended and had special skills which would only get better with time.

I get none of that from Melo. And every time I talk myself into Melo he does or says something that makes me wish we'd never traded for him.

I am a knicks fan so will root for melo but i just dont understand him soemtimes. the guy has so much takkent but he seems insecure and if things dont go his way he stops trying to tunes out.

Melo is the new Eli/A-Rod. When he wins it will all be forgotten.

The problem is that there is a better shot of jimmy hoffa showing up

The same thing that was said about Eli. I believe Melo will deliver the same way I believed that Ewing would. Ewing couldn't do it alone and Melo can't do it without Stat.

crzymdups wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:

CashMoney wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

IrishKnickFan wrote:been a knick fan since the 80's. Grew up watching the 90's knicks and was spoiled since thos eteams always made noise in the playoffs and came within a hair of winnign a title. The last 12 years have been painful. Im not saying lin would have made us a contender but it would have been nice to see what he a shumpert could do together

Yeah, the Knicks teams with Lin, Shumpert and Tyson on the floor were my favorite since the 99 team. Maybe even the 92-95 teams. Just felt like they were all completely unselfish and tried hard and defended and had special skills which would only get better with time.

I get none of that from Melo. And every time I talk myself into Melo he does or says something that makes me wish we'd never traded for him.

I am a knicks fan so will root for melo but i just dont understand him soemtimes. the guy has so much takkent but he seems insecure and if things dont go his way he stops trying to tunes out.

Melo is the new Eli/A-Rod. When he wins it will all be forgotten.

The problem is that there is a better shot of jimmy hoffa showing up

The same thing that was said about Eli. I believe Melo will deliver the same way I believed that Ewing would. Ewing couldn't do it alone and Melo can't do it without Stat.

Ewing gave 110% every single night. He left the court having defended every possession and done his best to win.

You can rarely say that about Melo. He's just not consistent, but he seems to feel entitled like he should be treated the same as Durant or Lebron.

after lins game against the lakers, she watched every knick game for the remainder of the season, was calling me up talking about the game with such joy..

The kid brought fans back to the game, these are not bandwaggoners, there fans that have wanted to come back but never had a good reason to do so..WAKE THE F UP DOLAN