Unless you’re new around here, you’re probably aware there’s been no greater subject of ridicule at CSTB (other than say, the Spicy Crunchwrap Supreme Eating Motherfucker or, uh, Scott Weiland) than the New York Post’s Phil Mushnick. So in all fairness, on the rare occasions in which Phil is not 101% full of shit, the moment needs to be marked. Kind of like the Apollo moon landing, or Fear on “Saturday Night Live.”
MSG/Cablevision despot James Dolan was interviewed by WFAN’s Mike Francesca and Chris Russo this past Tuesday (mp3), an interrogation that Muschnick calls “a lemon, the kind, had it been the work of others, they’d have ridiculed for months.”
When the inevitable issue arose about Dolan’s perceived intolerance for MSG Network voices giving too much bad news and thumbs-down opinion about Garden teams – Marv Albert, Voice of The Garden for 30 years, had been sacked for his inability to see the bright side of darkness – Dolan said he knows New York fans are too sharp to be treated like dolts.
On the other hand, Dolan added, Garden announcers are Garden employees and he won’t allow anyone telling MSG Network audiences to “Don’t watch the team anymore” or “Don’t be Knicks fans anymore.”
At that point, it was incumbent upon Francesa and/or Russo – or any member of any high school Audio-Visual Squad – to ask who, among Dolan’s employees, ever said “Don’t watch the team anymore,” “Don’t be a Knicks fan anymore,” or anything even close.
But Francesa and Russo passed.
Perhaps Francesa and Russo, who have demonstrated an animus toward Albert, weren’t about to pursue any truths on Albert’s behalf, thus were disinclined to pursue the truth on behalf of the truth. After all, personal agendas are a priority with those two.
Meanwhile, seeing how Cablevision owns MSG Network, Dolan should have no problem producing the tape or tapes on which an MSG announcer is heard to encourage an audience to no longer watch a Garden team or cease rooting for one.
Of course, it never happened. Had it, we’d all have known about it by now.