Schmeelk: James Dolan Has Confirmed Everything You Thought About Him

By John Schmeelk
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Nobody really knew James Dolan. All people went on was the way he managed the Knicks. There were jokes about his treatment of the media, his need to meddle in team business and his band. A very negative caricature of him grew, but the truth of the matter was that no one really KNEW for sure. There wasn't any true direct evidence.

Now there is. A MSG spokesman has confirmed that Dolan wrote a nasty email in response to an angry email sent by a fan.

The letter came from Irving Bierman, a frustrated Knicks fan who wrote an email directed at the Knicks' owner, criticizing him for some of the moves made during his tenure.

KNICKS FAN ON DOLAN'S EMAIL: 'EVERYTHING HE SAID TO ME WAS A JOKE'

Bierman's letter read:

"At one stage I thought that you did a wonderful thing when you acquired EVERYTHING from you dad. However, since then it has been ALL DOWN HILL. Your working with Isaiah Thomas & everything else regarding the Knicks. Brnging on Phil Jackson was a positive beginning, but lowballing Steve Kerr was a DISGRACE to the knicks. The bottom line is that you merely continued to interfere with the franchise… As a knicks fan for in excess of 60 years, I am utterly embarased by your dealings with the Knicks. Sell them so their fans can at least look forward to growing them in a positive direction Obviously, money IS NOT THE ONLY THING. You have done a lot of utterly STUPID business things with the franchise. Please NO MORE. Respectfully, Irving Bierman."

It's certainly negative, and no doubt a little nasty. But compared to the stuff seen on social media and the Internet, it is pretty tame.

Dolan responded this way. (His quotes in italics, my comments are not.)

"Why would anybody write such a hateful letter." (Because they love the Knicks and they care, and all the losing hurts them a lot. They waste a lot of money on tickets and valuable time watching an awful product. One would think the owner of the team would understand this.)

"I am.just guessing but ill bet your life is a mess and you are a hateful mess." (He's now become more personal than Bierman was in his letter, attacking the man himself and not his performance. Never once did Bierman attack Dolan personally in this way.)

"What have you done that anyone would consider positive or nice. I am betting nothing." (If all Knicks fans embarrassed by this franchise have never done anything positive or nice, this city would be a pretty awful place, considering that is more or less every Knicks fan. We would literally be living in our own version of "The Hunger Games.")

"In fact ill bet you are negative force in everyone who comes in contact with you. You most likely have made your family miserable." (Now he brings his man's family into it. Seriously, because he is embarrassed over the how Dolan runs the Knicks, that means he makes his family miserable? It is much more likely that it is the Knicks that have made his family miserable.)

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"Alcoholic maybe. I just celebrated my 21 year anniversary of sobriety. You should try it. Maybe it will help you become a person that folks would like to have around." (So now someone who understands -- better than anyone -- the problems with substance abuse, and the great challenge of becoming sober, is calling someone else an alcoholic as an insult? Really? What kind of person says something like that? This is 15-year-olds-at -the-playground stuff, as is some of the spelling and grammar in these letters. It really is awful.)

"In the mean while start rooting for the Nets because the Knicks dont want you. Respectfully James Dolan." (Dolan should be on his hands and knees thanking Knicks fans for filling his arena the last 15 years despite the fact that the team was only a true playoff team once. The Knicks' attendance has continued to be near the top of the league despite insane prices and a terrible product. If all the disgusted Knicks became Nets fans, the Garden would be absolutely empty.)

AUDIO: 1010 WINS Interviews Irving Bierman

All this email exchange does is confirm exactly what everyone thinks of Dolan. He is overly sensitive. He overreacts to criticism. He is mean and rather nasty. Could you imagine working for someone like this?

He doesn't give a damn about his fans, nor does he appreciate how loyal they have been through some awful years. He doesn't understand what an awful job he has done over the past decade. He really pays attention to what people say about him. Who reads and responds to negative fan letters by berating the fan? If an employee of any business in America did something like this he would be disciplined -- perhaps even fired -- immediately.

This email tells Knicks fans what they thought they already knew: The team's only hope is for their owner to leave Phil Jackson alone, and then pray that the Hall of Fame coach figures out how to build a successful long-term roster. It only gets better for the Knicks and Knicks fans.

You can follow me on Twitter @Schmeelk for everything Knicks, Giants and the world of sports. 

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