Knicks Owner James Dolan yesterday acknowledged that he "got into a verbal altercation with a fan" outside MSG on Tuesday night, according to Jay Schreiber of the N.Y. TIMES. Dolan said that he "confronted the fan, Mike Hamersky, a season-ticket holder and a lawyer who lives in Queens, when Hamersky yelled at him" before the Bulls-Knicks game. Dolan said that he had "told Hamersky he would not be permitted into the arena for the game." But Hamersky said that he "did get into the game." Dolan in a statement last night said, "No one should come to an event at the Garden feeling as though it is O.K. to be verbally abusive or disrespectful to anyone -- including the owner of the arena.” Hamersky said that he "never cursed once at Dolan during the altercation." He also said that he would "probably renew his season tickets" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/6). Dolan said of the confrontation, "I did call him an asshole, because he is an asshole.” Hamersky reportedly shouted, "Sell the team, Jim!" Dolan: "He had an open bottle of beer and smelled of alcohol, and I told him he wasn’t going in." Dolan added that Azoff MSG Entertainment CEO Irving Azoff, who was "accompanying the owner during the fracas, agreed that the heckler reeked of booze." But Hamersky said, "I didn't smell of alcohol." Dolan: "They call me names every day in the paper. Fine. I get it. But you’re walking up to the place where I work? It’s like they’re laying in wait for you. It’s like stalking me outside my home" (DEADSPIN.com, 4/5). Hamersky said that one of Dolan's security guards "followed him as he walked away from the Garden," and after eluding the guard, he was later "able to enter the building through another entrance" (ESPN.com, 4/5). In N.Y., Nicholas Parco writes, "When it comes to James Dolan, apparently it takes an 'a-hole' to know an 'a-hole'" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/6).
