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New York Knicks owner James Dolan received a critical email from a lifelong fan, and instead of ignoring it like a normal extremely wealthy and powerful person might do, he responded by calling the fan "a sad person" and telling him to root for the Nets.
Here is the fan's email, which was first published on Deadspin and confirmed by @HowardBeck and @IanBegley:
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.
And here is Dolan's response:
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.
SB Nation's Knicks blog Posting and Toasting pretty much summed up the exchange: "It's a dick email and even dicker response from Dolan."
The Knicks fan, of course, would rather root for a terrible basketball team with an owner who hates him than root for the friggin' Nets.
FWIW, the #Knicks fan who started the email exchange with Dolan, Irving Bierman, says he has no plans to start rooting for the Nets.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) February 8, 2015
And the NBA even kinda celebrated it!
Adam Silver on Dolan's email: "Jim is a consummate New Yorker. Jim got an unkind email, and responded with an unkind email."
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) February 9, 2015