Bah, humbug!
Ending the second-longest lockout in NBA history may have seemed like an early Christmas present to some Knicks fans, but for others it felt more like coal in the stocking.
Fred Klein, 77, has cheered through every Knicks season opener since 1959, back when Richie Guerin was the team’s leading scorer.
But this year, Klein, a season-ticket holder and former co-owner of the Carnegie Deli, won’t be making it to the Garden on Christmas to cheer on Amar’e, Carmelo and Co. when the Knickerbockers take on the hated Celtics.
Klein and his wife, Terry, assumed the season was lost, so they went ahead and planned a cruise to the Bahamas — and they’re still going.
“Am I pissed off?” he said. “I’m upset. I would love to see it.”
In his more than five decades as a Knicks fan, Klein said the lockout ranks up there with some of the worst moments in NBA history.
“It’s the most ridiculous thing I saw in my life,” said the septuagenarian. “They make so much money. It’s childish.”
The Upper East Side couple said they haven’t received a full refund yet from the Knicks.
Season-ticket holders can expect refunds for all the games they’ve missed so far. On Nov. 1, teams began sending out refunds, plus 1 percent interest, for missed preseason games. And come Thursday, the Knicks and Nets will begin sending out refunds, plus 1 percent interest on the tickets’ face value, for the eight regular-season games cancelled as a result of the lockout, which is a league-wide policy.
Single-game tickets had not gone on sale due to the lockout.
At the Irish Times bar on West 31st Street, fans expressed a mixture of relief and anger over the lockout’s conclusion.
Joe Garnet, 21, of Manhattan, plans to attend Knicks games this year but blasted the players for their lack of consideration.
“It’s about time,” he said. “They have to start thinking about the fans. They’re all millionaires.”
Mike Elovitz, 29, of Manhattan, said “things are looking brighter than they have been for a while,” but he’s still peeved.
“All of this negotiating between millionaires and billionaires is crazy,” he said.
Jack Stripple, a Knicks fan and London native who lives on the Upper East Side, visited Madison Square Garden yesterday as a preview of things to come.
“I’m glad they finally got their ass in gear,” he said.
But not everyone is holding a grudge.
The manager of the Irish Times — who would reveal only his first name, Martin — was happy cooler heads prevailed.
“We’re expecting a huge increase in business,” he said.
Knicks super-fan and director Spike Lee tweeted: “WAKE UP ORANGE AND BLUE. NEW YAWK KNICKERBOCKERS ARE BACK. GONNA PRACTICE SOME SCREAMING. MY VOCAL CORDS ARE OUT OF SHAPE. I WILL BE READY XMAS.”
Additional reporting by Marc Berman
