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Two court-level parabola microphones tracking Carmelo Anthony — even after Kevin Garnett has left town? Knicks beat writers dogged as they conduct business? Say, have you checked under your seat? Inside your cable box? Yeah, you.
Under the stewardship of James Dolan, Madison Square Garden has, from “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” become the creepiest.
A mostly untold story about The Garden, 18 years under Dolan, is the changing relationship between employees and media.
There was a time — the longest time, decades, generations — when media, print and electronic, established wonderful, lasting relationships with Garden personnel — from security guards, to team and building publicists, to head coaches and the top executives. At the very least, cordial came easily, naturally.
No more. Now Garden staffers spend more time looking behind their backs than straight ahead. Some regular media look around to see who is watching them, following them — and making sure they don’t appear too friendly with Garden management so as not to cultivate danger for either party. Even if there’s nothing to spill, seal the leaks!
The Garden’s air is steamed with suspicion and fear. Interviews with players and coaches are conducted with publicists lurking, listening in, managing the moments, monitoring the call on a third line, just making sure.
One now needs clearance to speak with those they’ve known, respected and shared mutual trust and regard for years — no exceptions! Still, some no longer wish to be quoted or even praised lest Dolan read it and exclaim, “A-ha!”
Madison Scare Garden, the Kremlin on 32nd and Seventh. Your papers, please.
To make public issue of it is to be further disenfranchised, labeled. Perhaps younger media consider such treatment standard. Boo!
People — many of whom have left or were fired from positions they loved and ably worked — eventually were reduced to “Let me call you back later [on my cell phone]” — underground resistance code for “I’m not comfortable talking to you on this phone.”
Go-away money, paid over time, is attached to gag orders — as if it’s a presumption that all are likely to leave Dolan Castle unhappy, angry, vengeful.
But Dolan’s Cablevision operated that way before Dolan bought The Garden and all its pieces, thus one could predict what The Garden — in addition to expensive — would become. For all Cablevision’s programming and pricing wars with competing systems and subscribers over 30 years, I still haven’t caught Cablevision in a total truth.
The Garden, under Dolan, has become a creepy place, where bad faith is both presumed and rewarded, where cloakrooms are inspected for daggers and only the most cautious survive. Working days dawn to unwelcomed and renewed intrigue, trembling calms the nerves and the welcome mat reads, “Leave.”
Mayock says everything except ‘I don’t know’
It Even takes a long time for Mike Mayock to say, “I don’t know.” Asked Thursday on the NFL Network for his take of the Manti Te’o story, the NFL Network and Notre Dame-on-NBC analyst answered:
“Like most of the people that surround the Notre Dame program and all over the country, people that watched those games, I’m a little bit confused, right now.
“I have a lot of respect for Manti Te’o. I’ve gotten to know him over the last few years and at this point all I can do is what I think NFL teams are doing, which is taking a step back, waiting for the facts to come out. And ultimately these facts will come out.
“In addition to the public’s understanding, I also think that all 32 teams will get ample opportunity to interview this kid. How he handles this going forward is going to be critical to his future as an NFL player.”
Nurse!
* The Patriots have a tremendous offense, but when CBS tries to tell us today — and likely in large graphic form — that “Tom Brady and his offense averaged an NFL-leading 35 points per game,” well, that’s simply TV-typical cheese. That 35-point average includes eight TDs scored by the defense or on kick returns, plus one safety.
But TV — and the NFL — applies all-points scored to the offense, all points allowed to the defense. Duh. Sure, it’s football stupid. But it is never going to change to reflect reality because that’s the way it always has been done, thus that’s the way it’ll remain.
* Every real baseball fan realizes that saves far too often are rewarded for ineffective-to-poor pitching. Yet, a closer lands on the market and all everyone can note are … his save totals!
If one studied Giants’ closer Brian Wilson’s pitching as closely as his Bayou beard and TV presence, one would have seen he is another save-accumulator in the silly save stats tradition of Danny Graves, Jose Mesa, Keith Foulke and Doug Jones.
In totaling 163 saves over four consecutive seasons, Wilson specialized in extinguishing fires of his own making. In 320 career innings — all in relief — Wilson has allowed (yikes!) 286 hits and 142 walks.
Mesa, 14th on the all-time saves list with 321, annually allowed more hits — and a pile of walks — than innings pitched. That’s why despite his historic, stat-swollen career, he was expendable, pitching for 10 teams.
Red Sox caught overpaying
Tools of ignorance? Last season, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit .222 for the 69-93 Red Sox. Texas catcher Mike Napoli hit .227. This season, as Red Sox catchers, they will combine to be paid nearly $10 million.
* Ya think Florida’s football recruiting program might have a systemic flaw? Under Urban Meyer (2005-10), the Gators had at least 31 player arrests. Last week, under second-year coach Will Muschamp, a 12th Florida player was arrested — a freshman, for on-campus theft. That’s at least 43 arrests since 2005.
* Subway $5 Foot-Longs are only 11 inches? Big deal. At Citi Field, near the “Subway $5 Foot-Long” outfield sign, they sold for $14.
* As seen Thursday on ESPN2, the nation’s most visibly tattooed college basketball team must be Texas A&M’s. At least two of those silly kids were absolutely covered — arms, necks, legs. They looked more like a prison team than a college team. Wonder what Bobby Knight, working the game, thought of it.
* Fascinating, how pro-gambling lobbyists and politicians never call it gambling, they call it “gaming” — as if they’re advocates for more legal forms of Parcheesi.
* Lookalikes, from Rick de Padua, Paterson, N.J.: 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick and Squidward of “Spongebob Squarepants.”