First, the loyal fans who supported the Knicks for decades when the team sucked (emptying thier wallets for tickets, shirts, jerseys) get priced out of the building when New York finally reaches the Finals (by insanely wealthy patrons willing/capable of casually blowing $20k on a pair of tickets to a basketball game, many of them having just hopped on the bandwagon or purchased tix to Game 3 solely b/c MSG is “the place to be” this week).
Then those same loyal, working-class fans get a second middle finger from ownership. Due to Dolan's desire to host Trump, thousands of diehard Knicks fans are denied the chance to gather outside the Garden, watch the game on a big screen, and share a once-in-a-lifetime moment with the community that helped keep this franchise alive when nobody else cared.
Access is reserved for the powerful, rich and/or connected, not the fans who stuck with this team through 20+ years of misery.
Fat Joe on the Knicks’ finals run: “I seen Hasidic Jews break dancing with Black kids. This is the greatest unification of the city since 9/11” (@krispursiainen)
Mikal Bridges to Jeremiah Fears, who asked how and why he’s played all 82 games every year of his career:
“Never ever leave a window open for somebody to take your spot. I always played no matter what but that’s another aspect that got to me: You never know how you might go out for a week or two and the next guy steps up and they play better and now the coaches and the organization and the franchise looks at you different.”
KAT: "I don't know what it was but I just felt a calm and a peace that I don't know, had to be coming from the woman above
"I felt really confident…I felt like a kid. It was just fun out here. This is something as a kid you always dream about…to be in the NBA Finals
"All day…weird feeling. I felt like a kid getting ready to play in my Saturday and Sunday AAU games
"In a way I felt like I was seeing her in the stands
"It was really fun. It was really comforting
"Game 1 of the NBA Finals you're told how the pressure's gonna be…
"I don't know, it felt like a certain presence was here that was very comforting and very loving and I felt like I could have fun out here––in Game 1 of the NBA Finals…"
Shaq: Yes. Rest in peace to your beautiful mother"