Remembering the Circus

I wish I had something profound to say about last night's election, but that isn't my thing. I deal mostly in anger and sarcasm. I'm just glad America got it right.

But in the midst of the election I almost didn't notice an intriguing NBA matchup tonight: Charlotte at New York. It marks Larry Brown's return to MSG for the first time since being dumped less than a year after signing a $40 million deal to coach the Knicks. In that one year the team tanked, and he feuded publicly with Stephon Marbury and Isiah Thomas.

The 2005-06 Knicks might have been my favorite NBA team in recent memory. Every day I'd come into work and check the New York Post's web site for that day's Knicks-trionics, and I was never disappointed. Brown bitching about Marbury. Marbury bitching about Brown. Brown bitching about Isiah. Isiah bitching about Brown. Marbury and Isiah standing strong to the bitter end.

Brown eventually got the boot, but the reality is he came out on top. Yeah, his reputation took a hit, but he got a nice buyout, a couple years off, and is back as a head coach again, even if it is with the Bobcats.

As shocking as the public hatred between all of them was, even after Brown left things somehow got even more bizarre.

James Dolan made Isiah the coach and announced during a live television interview that he was already on the hot seat, which judging by Isiah's facial expression was the first he'd heard of it.

Then Marbury went on live television, and gave a bizarre interview where it was thought he was drunk or high, took a phone call, and may have referred to his wife as a ho.

Amazingly, that wasn't even the worst part of their summer. Isiah and Marbury were sued for sexual harrassment by a former team executive, with the best part being her claim that Marbury pressured a team intern to sleep with him. The intern took the stand and said the sex took place in was consensual, and came after he asked her if she was getting in his truck (Not known is if Marbury called Kobe Bryant to get the name of his jeweler).

Things bombed on the court, and now both men are in shambles. Marbury is a healthy scratch every night, while Thomas got kicked to an invisible position in the front office, and may have attempted suicide and pinned it on his daughter (stay classy, Isiah).

It's hard to believe that Larry Brown, who is being asked to win NBA games with Adam Morrison and Sean May on his roster, is in the best shape of the three.

The sad thing is, we'll never see a team like that again.