Adam Silver’s Shande Against All Knicks Fans
Image by getty images
Dave Goldiner February 10, 2015
What ever happened to sticking up for a fellow member of the Tribe?
National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver committed a major shande by backing boorish New York Knicks owner James Dolan as ‘the consummate New Yorker’ after the team boss lambasted a Jewish lifelong fan as a “sad mess” and an “alcoholic” for daring to criticize his stewardship of the sad-sack hoops franchise.
Silver declined to discipline Dolan for his shameless rant against Irving Bierman, a 70-year-old Knicks fan who emailed the team owner to express displeasure at the direction of the once-proud team.
“Jim got an unkind email, and responded with an unkind email,” Silver said.
Image by facebook
Silver somehow neglected to mention that Bierman didn’t accuse Dolan of having a substance-abuse problem or tormenting his family the way the Knicks owner did to the Jewish retiree. Bierman rightly pointed out that Dolan’s email rant was like comparing “tangerines to matzo balls.”
David Stern, Silver’s predecessor, also pooh-poohed Dolan’s lashing out at Bierman and even issuing the ultimate insult of advising him to root for the crosstown rival Brooklyn Nets.
“This is just New York at its best, which is: ‘Let’s make something out of nothing,” said Stern, according to Deadspin.com, which broke the Dolan-gate story.
Lost in the drama is the undeniable fact that Bierman only said what virtually every Knicks fan knows: Dolan has ruined the team during his 15 years in charge. Despite having among the league’s highest payrolls, the team has lurched from one pathetic experiment to another.
The team is now mired in the disgrace of a 10-41 season, with no light at the end of the tunnel. What fan wouldn’t agree with Bierman’s charge that Dolan has no business running the team?
Bierman is the one who is living up to the Jewish tradition of questioning authority and demanding accountability. Hopefully, Silver and Stern will be forced to explain their stances next time they go to shul in New York.
Instead of putting their stamp of approval on a shameful rants against a dedicated customer, the Jewish bosses of the NBA league should build a statue of Bierman outside Madison Square Garden, once the proud Mecca of the sport.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
