Wednesday, October 03, 2007 Sayson: Knicks to pay dearly for being a ‘miser’ By Homer Sayson Second Overtime
CHICAGO -In January 2006, former Knicks vice president Anucha Brown Sanders filed a federal sexual harassment lawsuit against coach Isaiah Thomas and his employer, Madison Square Garden.
Alleging “demeaning and repulsive behavior,” Sanders was asking for $10 million.
Even before this lawsuit reached federal court, the Knicks should have settled it immediately. Paying Sanders and buying her silence would have saved the Knicks a lot of embarrassment.
But James Dolan, the rich heir who owns the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, declined to settle out of court.
Bad decision.
The case went to trial last September, and yesterday, the jury indicated that it will rule in favor of Sanders.
The Knicks had obviously lost. They will eventually be ordered to pay punitive and compensatory damages to Sanders, who also alleged that she was fired from her $260,000 a year job for hiring a lawyer to sue Thomas.
Ten million dollars is nothing for the Knicks, just pocket change for Dolan, who is worth over $4 billion.
But the bigger damage is the backlash from the can of worms which the trial opened.
Among the juicy, salacious details that emerged in court were the following:
1)Isaiah Thomas, who projects himself as a wholesome, likeable guy, kept calling Sanders as “ho” and a “black b**ch”
2)That Stephon Marbury had sex in his truck outside a strip club with a Knicks intern named Kathleen Decker. She later testified that the sex was consensual and that she wasn’t pressured to do it as suggested by Sanders in her lawsuit. Decker also admitted on oath that she recently received a promotion and a pay raise with the Knicks.
3)That Isaiah once yelled at Sanders saying he didn’t care about those “white” season ticket holders.
Those are just a few of the stack of dirty laundry that was exposed and gobbled up by the New York tabloids in recent weeks.
In recent years, the Knicks have been buried in a heap of bad contracts.
They invested over $100 million to Allan Houston, overpaid Stephon Marbury (over $70 million) and traded for underachievers such as Penny Hardway ($37 million) and Steve Francis ($40 million).
The irony here is that the Knicks latest blackeye is caused by money they should have just paid but were unwilling to do so.
NO GREECE. Chris Webber, a multiple All-Star, got a two-year offer worth $12 million. That’s a lot of cash for a 14-year veteran who has been reduced to a shell of his old self by knee injuries.
But there’s a catch. Webber will have to play for Olympicos Patanaikos in Greece.
Thanks but no thanks, C-Webb said. He’d rather stay with the Pistons and chase a ring, rather than take “stupid money” and play overseas.
“I’m an NBA guy,” he added.
I know a part of you must be screaming “take the money!!!!”
I almost hollered the same, too. But hey, C-Webb is doing alright. He got over $120 million while playing for the Sacramento Kings. I hope he gets that cherished championship ring.
