3/29/05: Dealin' with Dolan

I am not sure how aware the larger verbungle-reading public is about the current situation with MSG Network, Time Warner, The Knicks, The Mets, YES Network, Cablevision, and Mr. James Dolan.  And I'm definitely not sure how qualified I am to break it down for you.  I haven't even really been following it closely, so forgive me if I botch it completely. But let's try.

Dolan, who spends his weekday afternoons screwing up everything he touches as the Jefe de Todos Jefes of Cablevision, the Knicks, the Rangers, and MSG Network, is on his way to becoming the most universally loathed man in New York City sports history. As of right now, MSG is in a dispute with Time Warner over subscription fees, which the cable companies pay to networks in order to carry their programming. MSG wants X, Time Warner is willing to pay X-Y. While this dispute is being settled, Time Warner is not allowed to carry MSG Network, which broadcasts Knicks and Mets games.

So if you live in New York City, you cannot watch the Knicks or the Mets, two of the local teams.

Dolan is hoping that Time Warner will cave to public pressure, and ante up on the subscription fees. After all, sports fans are passionate.  When a fan is denied access to the team he or she loves, the fan will lash out at the entity they think is responsible, which, Dolan assumes, will be Time Warner.

Of course, Dolan is also assuming fans still want to see the Knicks. The Knicks are as close to unwatchable as a sports franchise can be. And Dolan is largely responsible for that.  He has signed off on some of the worst personnel decisions in recent memory, and the team that has emerged is doomed on every level. They are loaded with overpaid stiffs whose contracts won't expire for years. They play selfishly and poorly, and the Garden is a dead arena as a result. It is a hopeless situation, and all that's really left for them to do is wait it out. 

Denying the fans access to Knicks games is a stroke of business genius very similar to the principles of the NHL lockout. Let's take away the public's right to see a lousy product that they didn't really want to see that much in the first place.  This, presumably, will inspire interest?

The Knicks should be paying fans to watch their games. Taking them off the air was something of a mercy killing. And if fans are looking for someone to root for between the two evil corporations, it's unlikely that they will side with Dolan, who has already created a beefy resume of destroying sports in this city.

-he's killed the Knicks
-he's killed the Rangers
-as Cablevision president, he denied roughly 3 million fans the opportunity to watch the Yankees for part of 2002 because he was locked in a dispute very similar to the one he's in now, but FROM THE OTHER SIDE. He didn't want to pay YES Network the subscriber fees they were asking, and so Cablevision subscribers went without Yankees games while the dispute was settled.
-he FIRED MARV ALBERT. Marv Albert is the best NBA play by play man there is, and he was the voice of the Knicks for 35 years. He is such a good announcer that it took him only one year to resume his broadcasting duties after news of his back-biting, panty-wearing, threesome-requesting secret sex life broke. The man knows how to call a game, and he was forgiven for what was really a very, very ugly situation. Marv just brings a certain level of prestige to every game he calls.  If he's announcing, that game seems like the game to watch. But now Dolan has fired him for being too honest. For calling it like he sees it. For criticizing the Knicks when they deserve it.  For doing what he did for 35 years. This was a huge mistake.

And now he's bargaining against the fans with the Knicks and Mets. If ever there was a man capable of making the average fan root for a behemoth like Time Warner, Dolan is him.

The only real card in his hand is the Mets. Since they aren't owned by Dolan, he hasn't had a chance to destroy them. And in fact, they go into 2005 with an exciting new team, a nice mix of youth and experience, of superstars and scrappers, and they'll be led on the field by a New York institution, Willie Randolph. Randolph grew up in Brooklyn. He managed to stay above the fray while winning two championships with the insane Yankees in the 70's. He's been a rock solid coach for the ten years of the Torre Era, which included four more championships. 

And now he's finally got the chance to manage. In his hometown. With a team that has a very real chance of contending.

But we won't be able to see the Randolph Era get underway, because of douchebags like Dolan, sons of the rich, men who treat their vast holdings like playthings.

Does it seem fair that one entity should own cable companies and cable stations and sports franchises, all of which are then intricately linked? It doesn't seem fair when the man running the show is James Dolan.

I predict there is a solution in place by Opening Day or shortly thereafter, but this is going to happen every time the contracts expire for the major teams.  The Mets' deal with MSG expires after this season. Then they will sign a deal with another network or create the MES network, and they will get on the air in Manhattan.  But Cablevision will be resentful and there will be a huge struggle to get MES on the air in those 3 million homes.  This is never going to end.

I miss the days of the Scooter on Channel 11.

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I'm not much of a C-SPAN man, but the other day I was flipping through the channels and came across a session from the British House of Commons. That was some funny shit. It was almost like an MC battle.  One guy would go up and make his point, and people would start hollering out from the crowd when they agreed or disagreed strongly.  Then his opponent would step up and mockingly refute everything the first guy said. Everybody was laughing and ripping on each other. You should check it out.

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Still nobody has gotten yesterday's wheredat, so here's a hint. I've played ball with several verbungle.com readers on that court that's visible in the picture.