Knicks owner James Dolan has turned his rage from Charles Oakley to a Knicks season-ticket holder from Astoria, Queens, engaging in a profane shouting match with him before Tuesday’s victory over the Bulls.
Deadspin reported the eccentric owner owned up to cursing out a fan after he got heckled.
Dolan told the website: “I did call him an a–hole because he is an a–hole.”
Mike Hamersky, a 35-year-old attorney, was drinking a beer near the lobby of the Garden while waiting for a friend before the Knicks-Bulls game when Dolan walked past.
Hamersky said he shouted, “Sell the team, Jim!” before Dolan angrily approached him.
“That’s all I yelled,” Hamersky told The Post in a phone interview. “He continued to walk past me, opened the limo door, then closed the door, turned around and walked all the way back and said, ‘Who said that?’
Hamersky said he took credit, “Then [Dolan] got 2 inches from my face and started screaming. That’s all I said, and he started cursing at me. He said multiple times I’m not getting in the game. I never thought I’d be mentioned in the same breath as Oakley.”
Dolan charged him with being drunk and stated, “What if I told you, ‘You suck at your job?’”
Hamersky said Dolan demanded to see his tickets and he refused. The Astoria native said he was followed by a security man for at least a block afterward. He shook the security man and got into the game. Dolan told his security detail not to let him into the arena. A statement released by a Dolan spokesperson Wednesday night did not deny Dolan’s reaction.
“As Jim clearly stated, no one should come to an event at The Garden feeling as though it’s OK to be verbally abusive or disrespectful to anyone — including the owner of the arena — and not expect to be told that their behavior is unacceptable. This fan was completely out of line last night and does not like the fact that he was told he was out of line, and so has chosen to spend the day Tweeting away looking for his 15 minutes of fame.”
The season-ticket holder said on Twitter he “was sober.’’
“I don’t think he cares about the losing,” Hamersky said of Dolan. “He’s making the money. I don’t think the temper is result of losing — more of the cause.
“I think he’s bothered by fan reaction to his ownership and the culture he’s set. I’m sure I’m not the first person to suggest he sells the team.” H/T New York Post
Jesus Christ, James. Someone sounds like they got some sand in their vagina. Or FUPA. Dolan has never been more unpopular than he is right now. He’s kind of taken the heat off himself by giving up full basketball autonomy to Phil Jackson 3 plus years ago. But when the whole Oakley thing happened, Knicks fans were ignited again with their pure and unadulterated hatred for this man.
Dolan has been getting it from all angles, I’m sure. As he should, because he deserves it. But now all of a sudden you can’t handle the criticism? You can’t handle it cause this guy’s fucking right and it kills you. You know it, deep down in that beachball-shaped gut of yours.
This guy is a Knicks season ticket holder, from Astoria. You KNOW this man worked his ass off his entire life to get these tickets. A New Yorker through and through. To sit and watch a shitty product put on the floor by a fat worthless owner who cares only about the bottom line and not about the quality of his product and most definitely not about the fans. Does he have the right to tell you to sell the team? Yeah, he absolutely does and as a Knicks fan, I couldn’t wish more to have been in this man’s position, because honestly James, he let you off the hook.
This guy and really all season ticket holders should be able to punch Dolan in the face whenever he feels like it. Knicks have a bad possession, Dolan gets a punch. Joakim Noah fails a drug test, Dolan gets punched. Spit some straight truth at James Dolan himself as he walks by and then comes and curses you out for it, Dolan gets a punch.
By now you should know James that when you show disrespect to New Yorkers, we throw it back ten fold. We don’t stop until a line is crossed. Oh, you thought the fans yelling shit was the line being crossed?! (Laughing Emjoi’s x1,000,000). James, strap up guy because it’s only going to get worse. It’s going to get worse every day until the day you’re buried in whatever box they can find that will fit you.
And after your no longer with us, they’re going to have a moment of silence at MSG and the only tears that will be shed in the Garden that night will be the ones of fans crying because your miserable ass wasn’t there to hear all the BOO’s and see all the hate. I’ll be the guy wearing the #FUCKDOLAN shirt holding up the sign “#Freedom.”
Fuck This Franchise.
#FreeOakley #FuckDolan
P.S. Me at the Knicks game when James Dolan dies:
