Patrick Ewing circa 1985. (Photo: Getty)

After over a decade playing and coaching in other cities, Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing might have a shot to return to New York, the home where he spent fifteen seasons building his Hall of Fame career with the Knicks. However, the speculation surrounding Mr. Ewing doesn't involve his old team, it is centered on the Knicks' new outerborough rivals, the Brooklyn Nets, who are in the midst of a sudden makeover of their coaching staff and could have newfound room for Mr. Ewing on their bench.

Yesterday afternoon, the Nets abruptly announced the firing of head coach Avery Johnson, mere weeks after he was named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month. Mr. Johnson's surprise departure came after a dismal stretch that saw the Nets essentially obliterate a promising start to their first season in Brooklyn by getting just three wins and ten losses during the first few weeks of December. In the wake of Mr. Johnson's exit, assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo was named interim head coach, but in a press conference about Mr. Johnson's firing Nets general manager Billy King acknowledged the team could pursue other options.

"PJ will be the interim coach at this time. Will we look other places? We may, but at this time, PJ's our interim head coach," Mr. King said. "The remaining staff will stay with him and we'll go forward from there."

Mr. Ewing's name is among those that have surfaced as a top contender to replace Mr. Johnson. After his playing career Mr. Ewing served as an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets and for the Orlando Magic. In Orlando, he worked under coach Stan Van Gundy and was seen as a key part of the team's 2009 trip to the NBA Finals and instrumental in helping groom the team's star big man Dwight Howard. Mr. Ewing has been out of a job since the Magic fired Mr. Van Gundy back in May. He owns a house in New Jersey and has expressed interest in coaching in the city he called home for over a decade.

Not only does Mr. Ewing have a strong fan base in New York, but his skill set as a specialist for coaching big men would seem well-suited to a Nets team where defense has been one of the main weaknesses. According to the Brooklyn Game, which analyzed the possibility the Nets could give Mr. Ewing a coaching job, his background as a former star and his lack of an existing "system" might prevent him from clashing with the team's star point guard, Deron Williams, who has earned a reputation as a "coach-killer" over the years that fueled rumors he may have played a role in Mr. Johnson's demise.

Mr. Ewing could also potentially join the Nets as an assistant coach. Another name that has been floated for the head coaching job is Mr. Ewing's old boss, Mr. Van Gundy. Though he worked with Mr. Van Gundy in the past, the ex-Orlando coach is reportedly not interested in the job and Mr. Ewing has focused his job search efforts on hunting for a head coaching gig after his years as an assistant.

Signing one of the biggest Knicks icons would certainly help the Nets in the budding rivalry between the two teams. It also might be satisfying to Mr. Ewing who reportedly felt snubbed when the Knicks offered him a D-League coaching job earlier this year. However, the reports of bad blood between Mr. Ewing and the Knicks may be exaggerated. He has attended multiple Knicks games this season including at least two this month.

Though he may have repaired his relationship to the Knicks, there are some signs that Mr. Ewing is also cozying up to Nets management. Mr. Ewing was seen in the Nets' locker room after a game against the Celtics. Another interesting sign came on Twitter from Mr. Ewing's son, Patrick Ewing Jr., who has re-tweeted multiple messages saying his father should join the team (including one from this reporter, who, full disclosure, is a fan of both the Nets and Mr. Ewing).

After the Nets' loss to the Golden State Warriors December 7, the Observer asked Mr. Johnson whether he would consider having Mr. Ewing join his coaching staff and the ex-coach revealed Mr. Ewing had recently seen Mr. King.

"Patrick is a great guy, I think he and Billy were at a fundraiser the other night for a lady that works with the NBA," said Mr. Johnson.

Despite Mr. Johnson's praise for Mr. Ewing, he characterized the coaching staff as "pretty set" and said the team hadn't discussed bringing the Knicks legend on board.

"You know, that's something we haven't talked about," Mr. Johnson said. "You know, our coaching staff is pretty set right now, but we definitely respect what Patrick did as a player and, you know, I think he's had a pretty good run as a coach with his work in Houston and in Orlando."

After we asked Mr. Johnson about Mr. Ewing, we were angrily chastised by a Nets executive who accused us of asking a question "that no one gives a shit about." Now, three weeks and seven losses later, the team's coaching staff is anything but "set" and perhaps the Nets backoffice is indeed starting to give a shit about Mr. Ewing.

Deron Williams getting a shot past Carmelo Anthony during the Nets' win over the Knicks Monday night. (Photo: Getty)

Back in high school, one of my favorite clothing staples was a Knicks jersey adorned with Latrell Sprewell’s number eight. I wistfully remembered this as I pulled a black jersey bearing the same digit from the rack in a Midtown Modell’s last month. This time, the number on my back would represent a player on a different team, Deron Williams, the star point guard of the nascent Brooklyn Nets.

My purchase of Mr. Williams’s jersey was the culmination of a painful decade-plus process in which I chose to abandon the basketball franchise I fervently rooted for throughout my childhood. Though the Knicks spent that period in an agonizing annual ritual of unsuccessful postseason runs, my defection wasn’t about the dearth of championships. Even when the Knicks of the ’90s lost, they were in contention—they were part of a zeitgeist that included Spike Lee’s trash-talking commercials and garish retro blue-and-orange gear. They weren’t winners, but the effort always made for a fun ride. No, my break with the team didn’t coincide with one of their heartbreaking early postseason exits; it began in 2000, when they unceremoniously traded my basketball idol, Patrick Ewing, the center who had been with the team for as long as I had conscious memories.

Mr. Ewing had stuck with the Knicks throughout his career, despite the organization’s repeated failure to assemble a championship-caliber team around him. His loyalty cost him a ring that other players with a fraction of his talent were able to earn in more healthy institutions, and yet as soon as age began to weaken his formidable frame, he was shipped out rather than being permitted to retire gracefully.

Despite my anger over the mistreatment of Mr. Ewing, I stayed true to the Knicks. For me, the straw that broke the camel’s back came a year later in 2001, when two of the team’s least dependable and most overpaid players, Allan Houston and Charlie Ward, made a series of shockingly anti-Semitic statements in the presence of a reporter at a team Bible-study session. As a Jewish guy from Brooklyn, I was disgusted.

In a fit of high-school rage, I created a “Knicks fan’s hit list,” and taped it to my bedroom wall. It included all of the people I held responsible for the series of indignities I had suffered while rooting for the team—from Mr. Ward and Mr. Houston to the back-office executives I blamed for, among other things, dumping Mr. Ewing, failing to draft hometown hero Ron Artest in 1999 and going years without signing a true starting point guard. I vowed not to support the team again until all the scoundrels on my list were gone from Madison Square Garden. Then I waited, always planning a return to Knicks fandom when the time was right.

Because of my time-out from cheering on the Knicks, I was a detached observer as Cablevision heir James Dolan took on a major management role and made a series of missteps that caused the team to vanish from postseason contention. Eventually, all the miscreants on my hit list moved on. The final holdout was Mr. Houston, who initially retired in 2005 and made an aborted comeback attempt with the team in 2008. Soon after, the Knicks seemed to be salvaging themselves from the hoops scrap heap with the signing of stars Amar’e Stoudemire (a Jew!) and Carmelo Anthony. Though I had long since stopped following basketball religiously, I began to very casually root for my old team again.

In 2010, with the legal battles over the Barclays Center finally finished, it became clear the Nets were definitely headed to my home borough. A major-league sports franchise in Brooklyn was something I had dreamed of as a child, but my enemies had been vanquished, and the idea of shifting my sports loyalties was hard to stomach.

Last year, along with many other New Yorkers, I was fully pulled back into the Knicks’ orbit as point guard Jeremy Lin led the team on an improbable and electrifying run. For the first time in over a decade, I even tried to go to a game. Alas, I found the home court at the Garden was sold out, inaccessible for less than $175.

Just when it seemed the Knicks were beginning to win back the hearts of Big Apple basketball fans, our hopes for the team were crushed when management made a series of baffling offseason moves that included losing the likable Mr. Lin and signing a slew of past-their-prime players, including convicted domestic abuser Jason Kidd.

Like all massive train wrecks, the Knicks’ self-destruction this past summer was utterly riveting. I devoured every bit of the coverage and, in the course of this masochistic sports-page reading, learned that one of the villains from my rogues’ gallery was still lurking around the locker room. Mr. Houston had since become the team’s general manager and was yet again participating in the ruination of the Knicks, this time from the back office rather than the backcourt. I was done.

And conveniently, I had a new team to embrace, just a little over a mile from my house.

I know the Nets aren’t championship-caliber yet, but it is clear they are building a solid foundation and, more important, they represent my motherland.

As I contemplated this monumental decision, I sought the counsel of an old classmate, Isaac. Though we had seen each other only sporadically in our post-college years, he had been seated next to me in the nosebleeds during most of the Knicks games I attended in high school. When I called him, I explained that I was thinking about defecting to the Nets. Though Isaac is a Manhattanite, he admitted he was also wavering, and said he would attend a Nets game this season to “see how it feels.”

A little over a week ago, I went to the Barclays Center for my first Nets game. Though the team has been using the Jumbotron to encourage a variety of chants from the audience, the only cheer that seems to stick is fans simply shouting “Brooklyn.” It felt right. I was home.

After Monday night’s win over the Knicks, I received two text messages from Isaac, who, for now, is sticking with our old team.

“Oh man,” he wrote. “Oy. Congrats.”

My reply consisted of just two words: “Join us!”

He has yet to answer.

Last season's New York Knicks sensation is this season's New York Knicks departure: Jeremy Lin is gone, off to the Houston Rockets. Jeremy Lin says he would have preferred New York, why New York Knicks owner and president James Dolan says he's feeling hurt and betrayed by the move. Whose side should Knicks fans take? 

The dispute came down to a matter of money: The Knicks didn't want to pay Jeremy Lin the offer handed to him by the Houston Rockets; they felt that he was untested, and not worth his asking price. But is this true? After all, Jeremy Lin brought a whole bunch of fans to basketball and the Knicks who weren't there before, which is besides the fact that his emergence as a global sensation basically solved one of the most bitter cable carrier fee disputes in recent history. Shareholders in Madison Square Garden Entertainment stock certainly don't buy the Knicks' line; the stock has taken a hit since Lin's departure became imminent (and continues to go down through today).

Now, we're hearing from Jeremy Lin and James Dolan, as each air out their own side of the story.

[READ MORE: The Jeremy Lin Effect on $MSG Stock: Jimmy, We're Going Down]

Sports Illustrated's Pablo Torre got an exclusive interview with Lin. Highlights:

Why Lin Left:

"...My main goal in free agency was to go to a team that had plans for me and wanted me. I wanted to have fun playing basketball. ... Now I'm definitely relieved."

The Moment Lin Knew He Might Leave:

"[Former Knicks point guard Raymond] Felton's signing was the first time when I thought, 'Oh, wow, I might not be a Knick,'" Lin said.

Why Houston?

"The Rockets kept saying how sorry they were that that they'd cut him, and how much of a mistake it was," [Jeremy Lin's agent Jim Tanner] said. "They almost said it too many times. They kept acknowledging it."

Why It's Not About The Money:

The notion that Lin has always cared about money above all else, in particular, eats away at him, especially as he sleeps in his childhood home. "If I really wanted to, I could have triple-digit endorsements," Lin pointed out, but he does not. Instead, and in large part because Lin wanted to concentrate on basketball, he declined to cash in on the Linsanity gold-rush -- namely, the mountain of business opportunities in Asia -- and picked only three companies: Volvo, Steiner Sports and Nike.

What James Dolan Told Lin:

"I have plans for you in the future," Lin recalled the owner saying. "This is a long-term investment. Don't rush back."

Lin on Playing in New York City:

"I love the New York fans to death," Lin said. "That's the biggest reason why I wanted to return to New York. The way they embraced me, the way they supported us this past season, was better than anything I've ever seen or experienced. I'll go to my grave saying that. What New York did for me was unbelievable. I wanted to play in front of those fans for the rest of my career."

Meanwhile, Knicks owner James L. Dolan unofficially aired out his side of things via sourcing to the New York Daily News:

The decision was both financial and emotional since Garden chairman James Dolan was upset over Lin restructuring his deal with Houston last week to include a third year salary of $14.9 million. Dolan, according to sources, felt he was deceived by the 23-year-old Lin.

That's it. No interviews, no media statements, nothing else from James Dolan other than the fact that he felt "deceived." James Dolan's relationship with Knicks fans is already tense: There was that nasty streak of letting Isaiah Thomas run the team that didn't work out, which is to say nothing of contracts like those handed to Stephon Marbury, Eddy Curry, Zach Randolph, and so on. He's had an embattled relationship with the sports press, at one point all but completely denying them access to the team. And ticket prices—which have only steadily risen over the years despite the team's lack of serious playoff appearances over the last decade—recently took another hike as box seating was placed lower in The Garden, effectively alienating the socioeconomic majority of fans who even could see the team play even further.

Even as the press files away columns on the matter—like the usually even-handed New York Times ("Dolan Breaks Faith With Knicks Fans Again")—the true test of public opinion will be how Knicks fans react to Lin when he comes back to the Garden to play against the team in Houston next year. He could be booed, or—as was the case with Hideki Matsui, who the Yankees declined to resign after the championship season for which he was awarded 2009 World Series MVP—be embraced.

Either way: Besides the fact that the public financial interest (and thus, faith in him) isn't exactly surging these days, it's pretty clear James Dolan's name will not be worn by fans any time soon.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Let's flash back quickly to February, when Jeremy Lin started making notable appearances on the court for the Knicks:

For a few days, the stock experienced slow, steady gains. And then, as Lin started performing, the rest of the world —(and the markets) took notice:

$MSG stock began to experience spikes and swells, and continued to rally. Despite Lin's injury in March that took him off the court for the rest of the season, there was little speculation that he'd be traded. In May, after the Knicks were ousted from the playoffs, talk of Lin's contract began with a dispute over the nature of his free agency, and whether or not the Knicks could exceed the salary cap in attempting to resign him. In recent weeks, it was made clear that Lin would be talking to other teams. And in recent days, it was made clear that Lin was taking some of these talks seriously.

But at the end of June, the question of how much the Knicks could pay Lin was resolved in their favor. For a moment, things looked up.

And then...

"Lin Withdraws From U.S. Select Team, Citing Free-Agent Status" - New York Times, July 3, 2012

"Knicks Get Kidd and Make Plans to Keep Lin" - New York Times, July 5, 2012

Lin stayed out of the Olympics to deal with his contract negotiation (and not run the risk of injuring himself further, so he could still court offers). Lin also signed a term sheet with Houston that the Knicks would have to begrudgingly match.

Which is when this happened:

Retuers reports:

"I think the gain in MSG shares earlier in the year as well as the Jason Kidd incident/potential Lin loss that hit the shares yesterday and today has already efficiently been reflected in the stock movement," said Miller Tabak analyst David Joyce.

What's perceived by many to be the legendary mismanagement of the New York Knicks by ownership (and is generally reflected in their winning percentage from the last few seasons) proved a decent map to see where this was headed: Regardless of Lin's ability as a player, he is a global fan phenomenon—for nerds, for Christians, for Asian-Americans—especially in New York City. Lin piqued the interest of those who had no interest in basketball prior to his rise. Lin was essentially responsible for ending one of the most bitter cable carrier disputes in recent history.

And yet: An investment in a consistent, larger fanbase, let alone the potential for Lin's play on the court to elevate the team notwithstanding (which, to an extent, was arguably proven) didn't prove enough for the brass at The Garden to resign Lin. Whether or not it was a good play or not has yet to be seen; given the track record at hand for the team, however, the very least that could be said about the move was that it's not unexpected. Not necessarily because Jeremy Lin wants to make as much money as he possibly can so much as that the Knicks seem to do whatever will further alienate fans and spectators as a matter of course.

Or as New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro:

If the Knicks themselves asked you to look at [Jeremy Lin's numbers, comparable to his inflated asking price], you might wonder where the catch was. The Tappan Zee Bridge couldn’t span that credibility gap. And somewhere in the murky waters below rests the Knicks’ benefit of the doubt. Even if they happen to be right.

It looks like that credibility gap might extend to the fleeting glory of a high-tide share price as well.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

The internet is amazing because on it you can very easily find opinions you might not think would existed, like those objecting to the statue's removal.

Here are a sampling of them (though it's worth noting that the Re-Tweets of other people's Tweets may not be endorsements of those opinions so much as efforts to show people that they exist):

Of note: Nobody seems to have objected to the removal of Joe Paterno's name from a child care center on the Nike campus. Maybe we're just not looking in the right places, though.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Phil Mushnick, big racist (Getty Images)

Phil Mushnick is a man that once garnered the nickname "Mr. Grumpy" from his boss at Fox Sports. That was in 1998, when it was known even then that Mr. Mushnick was a relic. "He’s a throwback," David Hill, president of Fox Sports told The New York Observer at the time. "He sees himself as a knight in shining armor protecting sports fans from the slings and arrows hurled at them by cretinous, unfeeling network sports chiefs.”

But cretinous is a term that applies more to Mr. Mushnick more than sports chiefs, especially after today's rant about Brooklyn Nets, during which he refers to the players as N------, which is certainly a novel way to say the N-word without saying the N-word, but otherwise is a pretty indefensible position all around. Even better is that Mr. Mushnick then tried to defend his statements by blaming the Nets' part-owner, Jay-Z.

From this morning's column:
As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?

Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N------s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B----hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!

When called out by New York Magazine, The Huffington Post, and hilariously on Buzzfeed, Mr. Mushnick became super defensive, whining to Bob's Blitz:

Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don't call black men the N-word; I don't regard young women as bitches and whores; I don't glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand.....Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men N---ers?"

Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I'M the racist? Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about.

(Same column I provide support for Amar'e Stoudemire at a time when everyone in town is ripping him to shreds. That was my LEAD, too, but what does that matter?)

He then copy-and-pasted a similar response to The Village Voice, saying:

James - did you actually read what I wrote and what I've been writing for 30 years? I don't call black men niggas; my kids never heard the word until folks such as Jay-Z came along. I'd suggest you talk to him about it. What I wrote today was on Jay Z's artistry, and only the wishful and foolish would so badly misinterpret and mischaracterize it as you plan to do. Thanks - mushnick

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman watching spring training last year in Tampa. (Photo: Getty)

On Sunday afternoon, Brian Cashman, general manager of the New York Yankees, stood by the dugout at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa watching the team take batting practice prior to a spring training matchup against the Detroit Tigers. A pair of dark glasses shielded Mr. Cashman’s eyes from the bright Florida rays, but his mostly bald crown was exposed. A man walked up to Mr. Cashman and gave him a warm greeting.

“What’s cooking?” the man asked.

“My head,” Mr. Cashman replied tersely.

The 44-year-old GM has plenty of reasons to feel the heat aside from the temperatures in Tampa, which topped 80 degrees nearly every day this month. Mr. Cashman spent much of the offseason dealing with a sex scandal that saw photos of his alleged pajama pants make the blog headlines and found him in court facing an alleged mistress he claims stalked and harassed him.

In addition to his personal problems, his team’s future is far from set. As of this writing, the Yankees are in sixth place in the American League spring training standings and the team’s time in Florida hasn’t yielded a definitive rotation of starting pitchers.

For the past few seasons, the Yankees have earned a reputation as a high-scoring haven for power hitters. Big bats like Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson have helped the team live up to its Bronx Bombers nickname and for the past three years have kept it among the top three run-scoring teams in baseball. Offense looks to be a nonissue for the Yankees again in 2012, but pitching is primed to be problematic.

If Opening Day were tomorrow, the Yankees’ rotation would probably start with ace CC Sabathia, Freddy Garcia and two new acquisitions who compiled losing records last year, Michael Pineda and Hiroki Kuroda. The final spot will be filled by some combination of Ivan Nova, who enjoyed a strong rookie season last year, Phil Hughes, a widely touted prospect who has yet to live up to his promise, and Andy Pettitte, a Yankee legend who was coaxed back from retirement.

Suzyn Waldman, one half of the Yankees radio play-by-play team with John Sterling, dismissed worries about the team’s rotation at a breakfast event with fans Sunday.

“You’ve got seven guys going for five spots. That sounds pretty good to me,” said Ms. Waldman, who along with Mr. Sterling is often accused of rooting a little too hard for the home team.

In Steinbrennerland, however, nothing short of a World Series championship is seen as satisfactory. Having a press corps and fan base accustomed to dynasties doesn’t help. Ms. Waldman described this all-or-nothing ethos on Sunday.

“If you don’t win, the season was a failure. That’s how the mindset is here,” she said.

Spring training, which ends next week, is a brief respite from the media frenzy and rowdy fans that put an unusual amount of pressure on the Yankees once the regular season gets under way. Jon Tillis, a deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department who has worked every Yankees spring training game since the team came to Tampa in 1996, said he could “count the number of people I’ve had to throw out of here on one hand.” When a fan asked him if he would want to try working in the Bronx, Mr. Tillis shook his head and laughed.

“Nope,” he said without hesitation.

Off the field, the players stay at the nearby Westin Hotel, where “No Autographs” and “No Pictures” signs in the lobby keep prying fans at bay. A staffer told us Mr. Sabathia and Mr. Nova have taken to unwinding by renting jet skis on the hotel beach. We asked her if Mr. Nova was any good.

“Not the first time, but he warmed up to it,” she said.

hwalker@observer.com

At the women's interest vertical, Shift, editor Amy Odell (hired from New York magazine's The Cut last month) is joined by Jezebel's Anna North and The Jane Dough's Hillary Reinsberg. But don't call them lady-bloggers. According to the introductory post by Ms. Odell, the site aspires to answer questions like, "How can women bridge the gap between our income and our male counterparts'? How can we attain the power we need to make decisions about our own bodies? How can we be taken seriously as we work toward those things while indulging in a little mindless feminine fun, like shopping, reading Us Weekly, or tweeting about how Nicole Kidman looked like a big Vajazzle at the Golden Globes?"

So far, that includes everything from daily deal round-ups to Q&As with powerful women like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

And here's where the whole "sharing on the social web" thing fits in:

"Sharing posts like this one (ahem!) is a good place to start. Through this shared content — and cat videos — in our Facebook and Twitter feeds we come together around cute stuff and big ideas that are not just about dissatisfaction with the status quo, but more important, shifting it in a new direction. One that allows us to be upset without being "crazy," sexy without being "slutty," assertive without being "bitchy," and eventually, equal in the world."

The sports vertical (called, simply, Sports) is run by Jack Moore and WSJ writer Kevin Lincoln. It appears to have a very specific (to us, utterly indecipherable) mission, which involves blood oaths. According to its launch manifesto, Sports will use social media to make characters out of players and live-blog games.

"The social web has pulled back the curtain on our protagonists and turned sports into a running communal conversation, argument, and comedy routine. We didn't know who Mickey Mantle really was off the field until a memoir came out years later. Now Logan Morrison takes to Twitter to tell us that he occasionally likes to pee in his cat's litter box because "red wine makes [him] loose." [...] Everyone — players and coaches, owners and fans — is involved in this constantly moving and evolving conversation.

Starting today, that includes BuzzFeed. We want to tell you these stories in a way that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you want to share them with your friends. And whenever possible, we'll be telling you them as they happen with live game coverage — because that's when you're talking about them."

The duo handled today's big Tebow trade news with classic BuzzFeed efficiency.

Yes, quietly.

“By nature, I am quiet off the air,” he said. “My mom was real loud and that made me speak only when spoken to. But even as a child, if you challenged me, you would get both barrels.”

Mr. Bayless, 60, wore a navy-blue sweatshirt, matching cargo sweatpants and white-and-navy Fila sneakers. “You haven’t challenged me,” he pointed out. “I’ve agreed with your opinions.”

Mr. Bayless and The Observer found a surprising amount of common ground during our interview: The Atlanta Hawks are perennially overrated; the 2002-03 San Antonio Spurs were the best team in the history of that franchise; and LeBron James doesn’t deserve the MVP award because his team is too good.

Agreeing with Mr. Bayless is a disorienting experience. He argues about sports for a living. For two hours every weekday on ESPN’s First Take, the man nicknamed “The Diabolical Hater” debates a rotating cast of journalists, athletes and even rappers. He is the most polarizing figure in sports journalism, a real shit-stirrer—lobbing grenades and hurling insults without a second thought, kind of like how Kobe Bryant keeps on shooting.

Despite the show’s popularity and, yesterday, his getting an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Sports Personality, not everyone is a fan. Charles Barkley has said he wants to kill Mr. Bayless. Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs called him a douche bag. The sports website Deadspin labeled him “a hockey goon,” whose “sole job is to go out and start a fight with someone.” Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock compared him to Glenn Beck.

“Do I think he intends to be polarizing? Of course I do,” Sports Illustrated writer Richard Deitsch told The Observer, labeling Mr. Bayless a “self-proclaimed television truth-teller simply pushing his own brand of dime-store demagoguery.

“People tell me he’s a nice guy off the air,” he added. “If so, that’s even more disappointing, because few in sports television come off more loathsome on the screen.”

Even his good friends tend to hedge their praise. “Skip Bayless has been a journalist for over 30 years—that doesn’t mean he is well-liked,” First Take commentator Stephen A. Smith noted. “I’m one of his critics, and I’m one of his best friends. But even in the process of disagreeing with him, I will vouch for him as a man. His character is impeccable. He’s just crazy in terms of some of the things he thinks.”

SKIP BAYLESS OWES MUCH of his current success to three things that happened in 2011. First, in June, LeBron James, who had been his favorite punching bag for years, flopped in the NBA Finals. Gleaming with Schadenfreude, Bayless amped up the anti-LeBron rhetoric, dubbing him “LeBrick” and “The Frozen One.”

Then in August, producer Jamie Horowitz took the helm of First Take and changed the format—once a confusing mishmash of debate, SportsCenter highlights and Good Morning America-like vignettes—to two hours of live debate centered around Mr. Bayless: Crossfire for jocks. “I looked at research, and the brand that resonated most for our fans was debate,” Mr. Horowitz said.

And then there was Tim Tebow. As the ultrareligious quarterback miraculously led the Denver Broncos to the playoffs following a string of improbable comeback victories, Mr. Bayless, also a devout Christian, developed a pronounced man crush.

First Take’s numbers are up 33 percent from last year and the show’s top 10-best-rated telecasts have all aired since August.

Although the program’s debates can sometimes come off as ginned-up, Mr. Horowitz maintained that the opinions are all genuine. “If everyone agrees on a story, we don’t talk about it,” he said.

“It’s not an act,” Mr. Bayless insisted. “It’s not a character. It’s the real me. I’m not a shock jock. I never ambush anybody. I just speak my mind and my heart and my soul.”

Mr. Bayless and his First Take colleagues owe some of their success to social media. With over 525,000 Twitter followers, Mr. Bayless is a prolific tweeter, and clever videos such as the Tebow anthem “All He Does Is Win” have gone viral. More important, however, has been the program’s effort to turn sports into a never-ending drama, in which every missed free throw or clutch touchdown catch adds a new wrinkle to the narrative.

On the morning after our interview, Mr. Bayless flew to Orlando to tape an NBA All-Star Weekend edition of First Take. Feelers went out to LeBron James as a possible guest, but he declined.

Still, the gambit of luring athletes to take on Mr. Bayless in person has worked in the past. New England Patriots wide receiver Chad Ochocinco made an appearance in 2009, and in September, Miami Heat power forward Chris Bosh, the recipient of relentless fouls from Mr. Bayless, showed up to defend himself. “Everybody is aware of their critics, and he is on ESPN, so if he says a certain thing, guys know about it,” Mr. Bosh told The Observer.

Mr. Bayless said Mr. Bosh’s willingness to appear on the show earned his respect, and he even suggested the war of words was good for the seven-time NBA All-Star. “I think it helped his on-court aura a bit,” Mr. Bayless said. “It made him more confident.”

Surprisingly,  Mr. Bosh agreed with his one-time tormentor. “I think it boosted my confidence to know I went in there and didn’t lose my temper,” he said. “I tried to have fun with it. At the end of the day, that show is entertainment.”

SKIP BAYLESS WAS RAISED in Oklahoma City, primarily by Katie Bell Henderson, an African-American woman employed by his grandmother. “My parents were both pretty much disasters—alcoholics both,” he said. Although Oklahoma City was still segregated, he spent summers with Ms. Henderson’s granddaughter Audrey, who would periodically visit from Chicago. Mr. Bayless, whose brother is celebrity chef Rick Bayless, said that growing up around African-Americans was crucial in shaping him. “Everything I learned about life, I learned from Katie Bell—rights and wrongs, principles,” he said, adding, “I had a great connection [with African-Americans]. When we played the black teams, they always liked me. They called me Skippy. They would kid with me after the games.” Nonetheless, he hastens to add, “I don’t try to be black. I don’t want to be the white black guy. I don’t do that.”

Mr. Bayless has told his First Take debate partners—the majority of whom are African-American—about Katie Bell and her influence on him, though he admitted, “I don’t know if this offends them or if they take it the wrong way.”

Mr. Bayless was a talented athlete growing up. He played basketball and baseball and was a rival of a future World Series MVP, the late Darrell Porter. A high school English teacher pushed him into journalism, and Mr. Bayless took to it, casting himself as a provocateur from the outset. In one of his first columns for the school paper, he trashed the baseball team’s manager (never mind the fact that Mr. Bayless was the team’s starting catcher).

After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Mr. Bayless worked for the Miami Herald and then the Los Angeles Times, where he broke the news of Joe Namath’s retirement. A committed teetotaler—“I got fed hard liquor when I was 3, 4, 5 at some of my parents’ parties, which they thought was funny”—Mr. Bayless made an exception after the flamboyant quarterback invited him to a bar in Long Beach to get the scoop of a lifetime. Two glasses of red wine later, Mr. Bayless wound up flat on his back, and the story had to wait a day. (These days, he said, Diet Mountain Dew is his only vice.)

He became the star columnist for the Dallas Morning News at 25, and was quickly poached by Dallas Times Herald. Mr. Bayless made his name covering the Cowboys. He was tough on legendary coach Tom Landry, and was early to report the dysfunctional relationship between Mr. Landry’s replacement, Jimmy Johnson, and team owner Jerry Jones. Eventually, he wrote three books on the franchise, the last of which, Hell-Bent: The Crazy Truth About the ‘Win or Else’ Dallas Cowboys, touched on the feud between Mr. Johnson’s successor, Barry Switzer, and star quarterback Troy Aikman. The book is somewhat notorious for Mr. Bayless’s investigation into Mr. Aikman’s sexuality.

“Switzer began to hear that Troy was bisexual—it was everywhere in Dallas,” he told The Observer. “Barry started asking media people if we were aware of this. He challenged me and others, ‘Why don’t you tell the truth about Troy?’” Mr. Bayless was accused of trying to out Mr. Aikman (who denied the rumors) and slammed by his peers. “His gay take on Aikman was the most unfair thing in my 45 years in journalism,” former Morning News sports editor Dave Smith told author Jeff Pearlman.

“He said that because he didn’t get the story,” Mr. Bayless said. “I obliterated the Dallas Morning News reporters from start to finish on that story. If you read the book, you will conclude that Switzer is a maniac and Troy is the hero. I’m very proud of that book.” Nobody who actually read it, he insisted, “would conclude Troy was bisexual or gay.”

Some of the details were pretty sleazy—especially an anecdote about Mr. Aikman turning down “one potential Miss Texas after another” at a country and western bar. Then again, a head coach and his supporters trying to smear their quarterback is a legitimate story, however tawdry it might be to report.

DURING OUR INTERVIEW, Mr. Bayless looked relaxed and fit—much more Felix Unger than Oscar Madison. Still, he said that First Take had taken a toll on him. “The energy drain of the show is incomprehensible,” he said.

Since the change to two hours of live debate, Mr. Bayless claims he has the hardest job at ESPN. His days really start at 6 p.m., he explained, when he watches SportsCenter. He’ll then devour games until about 1 a.m., all the while scouring the Internet for bits of data that he can employ in the next day’s debates. Upon waking at 5 a.m., he logs onto Twitter. He then runs on a treadmill for an hour before getting into ESPN’s Bristol, Connecticut, office at around 7. After the show, he often lifts weights. “I’m pretty ripped,” he said confidently. “The pressure of the show drains me. It’s why I work out so hard. It’s why I’m jacked. I have to be to stand up to the beating of it.”

Mr. Bayless is currently engaged to Ernestine Sclafani, a publicist. They met seven years ago at ESPN and on their first date, he informed her that he is married to his job. (His first marriage, to his junior high sweetheart, ended in 1980.)

After leaving Dallas, Mr. Bayless bounced around between several papers, landing full-time in 2004 at ESPN.com, where he’d been a contributor since 1989. He discontinued his ESPN column in 2007, and while he said he misses writing and professed to have another book planned, he said his First Take gig—and the notoriety that has come with it—was plenty fulfilling for the time being.

“I find that people love to hate me, and a lot of people love to love me,” he said. “And fortunately, they all love to watch the show.”

editorial@observer.com

A few weeks ago we took note of Steinbrenner Syndrome, wherein a New York City sports player or team is only as loved as their last great performance. It's the disease embedded in the genetic code of New York City's sports media and fans. Now, as far as Linsanity's concerned, we can consider ourselves relapsed.

In today's New York Times, Howard Beck lays it bare in his headline: "Linsanity Has Left The Building," and who notes in his second paragraph that it's "the end of Linsanity as we know it." The primary case concerns the resignation of coach Mike D’Antoni, and his replacement, Mike Woodson, whose style of coaching (veterans over rookies, isolation play) doesn't favor Jeremy Lin (a rookie who thrives on the pick-and-roll offense). All this, even as Beck admits:

Despite his recent struggles, Lin remains wildly popular at the Garden, and with fans around the world, who were captivated by his incredible, come-from-nowhere rise. Lin is beloved by most of his teammates, who appreciate him for reviving their season with a seven-game winning streak and what seemed like a million uncanny clutch plays. But circumstances have changed, and Woodson cannot afford to be sentimental.

Beck, a revered sportswriter, is probably correct in his predictions. That doesn't make the headline any less sensational, nor the case of Steinbrenner Syndrome any less prevalent.

Mind you, a brief timeline of Linsanity:

Feb. 7th: The Times' first mention of "Linsanity," as written by Howard Beck.

Feb. 15th: The Times declares in a photo essay that Linsanity has "returned" to the Garden. Where did it go? Away games, obviously.

Feb. 16th: The Times goes to Harlem to ask people in Harlem about Linsanity. Elsewhere in the Times, "Knicks Win Again, Yawn" goes one blog headline. By our count, there are twelve separate articles published by the Times on the 16th with a mention of "Linsanity."

Feb. 18th: The Times notes Linsanity as "in full force" at the Garden.

Feb. 23rd: Linsanity, according to the Times, may be "peaking."

March 1st to March 7th: 0.71 seperate mentions of Linsanity over a one-week period. Compare this to February 10th - February 16th, when the Times averaged 5.571 separate articles per day with mentions of Linsanity. In New York City, Linsanity literally disappeared from the Google Trends chart at the end of February.

Compare that to Taiwan, where it hung on at a higher rate for a longer period:

And there might be a case to be made. But the fact is, Jeremy Lin is still filling seats at the Garden, because of Jeremy Lin fans (Knicks fans, less so). Linsanity is a wider phenomenon than New York and New York Knicks fans. The New York Times, while not normally prone to such pronouncements—unlike, say, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and occasionally, ourselves—is as criminal in perpetrating a nuance-lacking hype-cycle as anyone else, and like anyone else in the hype-cycle perpetrating game, is bent on controlling it by making grand pronouncements concerning it. After all, if their most revered sportswriters aren't immune to taking part in it, who in New York's media isn't?

Howard Beck's concern is to be taken seriously in one regard: If Knicks owner James Dolan's replacement for D'Antoni does, in fact, decide to diminish the spotlight of Jeremy Lin—the most exciting thing to happen to the Knicks in ages—paired with the bi-polar nature of Knicks media and fans (who have apparently all but abandoned him), the fact is that Lin's fanbase will exist wherever he goes. And he might already be scouting new places to take it. Or as we explained a few weeks ago:

The fact is, New York City is a fair-weather town. Lin has a one-year contract with the New York Knicks. If he continues to be a sensation, he’ll soon have plenty of options deciding where to play. But will Lin flee the hot zone, and find a home free of that malady of the spoiled sports fan?

[Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek