There’s no shortage of Knicks fans unhappy with the consolation prizes of Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton at PG after The World’s Worst Blues Guitarist refused to match Houston’s offer sheet for Jeremy Lin. Putting aside for a moment whether or not any franchise should take a huge luxury tax hit for a player with as modest a top flight resume as Lin, it would not be an exaggeration to say MSG has lavished riches about players with far less popularity, local or otherwise.
With the current furor in mind, Sirius/XM’s Chris Russo (above) took to the airwaves this afternoon to pronounce Dolan’s dectrators, “stupid” for paying “$700-800 for a regular season game.”
“An NBA regular season game is terribly expensive,” howled Russo, who suggested that if Knicks fans are tired of handing over their hard-earned money to James Dolan, “you should just watch the games on TV. They’re just as exciting.”
Putting aside for a moment the average price for a face value Knicks ticket last season was $117.47 (and those sold in what used to be called the blue seats aren’t nearly so expensive), let’s say for a minute I’m enraged at James Dolan picking this of all moments to become a tightwad, and I’ve decided in my infinite wisdom to really stick it to him by only watching Knicks games on television.
It’s a wonderful plan — especially if you’re a complete moron with zero knowledge of the most obvious facts. For instance, Dolan owns the TV network. Every single person reading this already knows this. In Russo’s universe, where the most simple research is beyond the means of the host or his staff, peasant protests against the likes of Dolan are simply a waste of time, much the way Sirius/XM subscribers who have the temerity to criticize Russo’s colleagues are routinely blocked on Twitter. Why should the Dog be so eager to roll over and play dead for a guy who is notoriously inaccessible to the media and in one instance, gift-wrapped Marv Albert for the Nets after the NYC broadcasting icon failed to follow the MSG company line.
I guess where I’m going with this is also, pretty obvious. When Russo’s Sirius/XM deal finally runs out in 2013, is there any doubt he’s the right guy to do the Chris Douridas-thing when J.D. & The Straight Shot’s next EPK is ready for late-night screening on Fuse?