The James Dolan era for the New York Knicks hasn't been all that stellar for Knicks fans. They've seen a once proud franchise with a fairly rich tradition go from something they love to root for into something they have to learn to tolerate. It's been this way for over a decade with poor spending decisions, and a level of dysfunction that is almost so embarrassing that it's impressive. Apparently, one fan had enough and Dolan had enough of the criticism.
According to Deadspin, the father of filmmaker Aaron Bierman emailed the Knicks' owner and had some harsh but fairly accurate things to say. The fan told Dolan he was embarrassed by the way the Knicks have gone under Dolan and said to sell the team.
Subject: I have been a knicks fan since 1952
At one stage I thought that you did a wonderful thing when you acquired EVERYTHING from your dad. However, since then it has been ALL DOWN HILL. Your working with Isaiah Thomas & everything else regarding the Knicks. Bringing on Phil Jackson was a positive beginning, but lowballing Steve Kerr was a DISGRACE to the knicks. The bottom line is that you merely continued to interfere with the franchise.
As a knicks fan for in excess of 60 years, I am utterly embarrassed by your dealings with the Knicks. Sell them so their fans can at least look forward to growing them in a positive direction Obviously, money IS NOT THE ONLY THING. You have done a lot of utterly STUPID business things with the franchise. Please NO MORE.
Respectfully,
[Aaron Bierman's dad]
The part of that email that doesn't make sense is on the Steve Kerr lowballing comment. The Knicks reportedly offered Kerr a five-year, $25 million deal to someone who had never coached before and Kerr ended up being smart and choosing to coach the Warriors instead. It doesn't sound like Dolan lowballed the offer to Kerr. It was set up to be unprecedented.
Deadspin had Dolan's emailed response to the fan, something Ian Begley of ESPN New York confirmed as real and written by Dolan. He told the fan to root for the Nets because the Knicks didn't want him as a fan.
On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 8:15 PM, James Dolan <JDOLAN@cablevision.com> wrote:
Mr Bierman
You are a sad person. Why would anybody write such a hateful letter. I am.just guessing but ill bet your life is a mess and you are a hateful mess. What have you done that anyone would consider positive or nice. I am betting nothing. In fact ill bet you are negative force in everyone who comes in contact with you. You most likely have made your family miserable. Alcoholic maybe. I just celebrated my 21 year anniversary of sobriety. You should try it. Maybe it will help you become a person that folks would like to have around. In the mean while start rooting.for the Nets because the Knicks dont want you.
Respectfully
James Dolan
There are two things to take away from this: 1) James Dolan doesn't believe in question marks for punctuation and 2) it's probably best not to respond to this stuff if you're the owner of a team.
