Incredible. There are people, even several people, not only defending Dolan and co. for their attempted "leashing" of the media coverage. Are they sock puppets, I wonder?
Sure, it's "only" the Knicks, and not a matter of national security or anything. Then again this the SPORTS column and not the front page either.
Let's start with the basics. The team simply sucks. If they fielded a winning ballclub, that would be at least 60-70% of the problem gone right there, no matter what else was going on or how it went down. But in plain black and white, in stark numbers-on-the-ledger reality, the team (a) hasn't had a winning season in six years, (b) has had the highest payroll of any team in the NBA in that time, and (c) has managed to LOSE high draft picks in that time in trades.
Meanwhile, the team that used to be known for "heart and hustle" plays (hard-nosed help defense and rebounding) in its recent glory days (the 1990s), now is among the league's worst in turnovers per game, FG% allowed and points per game allowed.
So to the fan who follows the team, never mind the beat writers, it goes without saying that this team is a bunch of overpaid, underachieving, no-defense bunch of guys. We really don't need Isola or Vaccaro or whoever else to point this out, as long as we have watched at least half of 5 Knicks games in a row at any point of the season in the last 4 years or so.
"Media conspiracy" against Dolan and Thomas? Riiiight. They're running the ship into the ground, so anyone pointing that out must be out to get them. And if all of them are pointing it out, it doesn't mean it's simply blazingly obvious, it must be that they're in cahoots.
The job of the beat writer is not to steer the public image of the team, that is job of the Knicks' PR staff. The beat writers are NOT in the employ of the team and are NOT there to make the team look good. They are there to EXPLAIN what's going on. Only part of their day-to-day coverage is of the facts of the latest game, for the casual fan who's keeping abreast of the team's doings by print. The real appeal of being a beat writer is to be able to be the proxy reporter for the serious fan to give a "behind-the-scenes" look, or "view from the front", of what's going on with their favorite team, win or lose.
For fans who are already disgusted with the team on the court, seeing the team management in full Cover Your Ass mode, of trying to CONTROL image damage rather than addressing it, is the unkindest cut of all. Instead of focusing on fixing the team and its workings, Dolan and co. are desperately trying to spin the problems away, which is another way of saying they prefer to kill the messenger than change the message. "If you keep saying my team sucks, I will cut off your access to them!" Like that does anything to either improve the team, or to raise the morale of the fan in the streets?
To reiterate, if the team were winning, this sort of Behind The Iron Curtain media policy would garner very little interest from the fan: it would just mean Dolan is a control freak and something of an egomaniacal jerk, just like another famous owner of a storied New York franchise. But to see Dolan take a page from Soviet Russia (where they would print "Bumper Harvest of Wheat" in the state controlled newspaper while millions starved) is doubly insulting to the fan base.
Incredible. There are people, even several people, not only defending Dolan and co. for their attempted "leashing" of the media coverage. Are they sock puppets, I wonder?
Sure, it's "only" the Knicks, and not a matter of national security or anything. Then again this the SPORTS column and not the front page either.
Let's start with the basics. The team simply sucks. If they fielded a winning ballclub, that would be at least 60-70% of the problem gone right there, no matter what else was going on or how it went down. But in plain black and white, in stark numbers-on-the-ledger reality, the team (a) hasn't had a winning season in six years, (b) has had the highest payroll of any team in the NBA in that time, and (c) has managed to LOSE high draft picks in that time in trades.
Meanwhile, the team that used to be known for "heart and hustle" plays (hard-nosed help defense and rebounding) in its recent glory days (the 1990s), now is among the league's worst in turnovers per game, FG% allowed and points per game allowed.
So to the fan who follows the team, never mind the beat writers, it goes without saying that this team is a bunch of overpaid, underachieving, no-defense bunch of guys. We really don't need Isola or Vaccaro or whoever else to point this out, as long as we have watched at least half of 5 Knicks games in a row at any point of the season in the last 4 years or so.
"Media conspiracy" against Dolan and Thomas? Riiiight. They're running the ship into the ground, so anyone pointing that out must be out to get them. And if all of them are pointing it out, it doesn't mean it's simply blazingly obvious, it must be that they're in cahoots.
The job of the beat writer is not to steer the public image of the team, that is job of the Knicks' PR staff. The beat writers are NOT in the employ of the team and are NOT there to make the team look good. They are there to EXPLAIN what's going on. Only part of their day-to-day coverage is of the facts of the latest game, for the casual fan who's keeping abreast of the team's doings by print. The real appeal of being a beat writer is to be able to be the proxy reporter for the serious fan to give a "behind-the-scenes" look, or "view from the front", of what's going on with their favorite team, win or lose.
For fans who are already disgusted with the team on the court, seeing the team management in full Cover Your Ass mode, of trying to CONTROL image damage rather than addressing it, is the unkindest cut of all. Instead of focusing on fixing the team and its workings, Dolan and co. are desperately trying to spin the problems away, which is another way of saying they prefer to kill the messenger than change the message. "If you keep saying my team sucks, I will cut off your access to them!" Like that does anything to either improve the team, or to raise the morale of the fan in the streets?
To reiterate, if the team were winning, this sort of Behind The Iron Curtain media policy would garner very little interest from the fan: it would just mean Dolan is a control freak and something of an egomaniacal jerk, just like another famous owner of a storied New York franchise. But to see Dolan take a page from Soviet Russia (where they would print "Bumper Harvest of Wheat" in the state controlled newspaper while millions starved) is doubly insulting to the fan base.