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Knicks Fan Alleges He Was ‘Interrogated’ After Chanting ‘Sell the Team’

In Thursday’s Hot Clicks: The Knicks go hard on a group of frustrated fans, Joel Embiid embraces a ‘Jeopardy!’ player’s embarrassing answer and more.

Dan Gartland

Knicks Fan Alleges He Was ‘Interrogated’ After Chanting ‘Sell the Team’
Knicks Fan Alleges He Was ‘Interrogated’ After Chanting ‘Sell the Team’ /

Seriously, sell the team

There’s never a bad time to chant “sell the team” at Madison Square Garden but after all that’s gone on with the Knicks this week, there’s never been a better time to do it. Just don’t do it within earshot of arena security. 

The Knicks lost again last night (112–104 against the Jazz) and a few fans decided to chant owner James Dolan’s three least favorite words as they exited Madison Square Garden late in the fourth quarter. According to the New York Daily News, they were already on their way to the door when they started the chant, but Garden security followed behind the group to make sure they didn’t stick around. 

One of the fans, who told the Daily News to refer to him by the extremely WFAN-caller-esque name “John from Long Island,” said he and his buddies were “interrogated” by MSG security for 15 minutes and threatened with arrest.

John posted a video on Twitter showing his group on the Garden concourse, surrounded by several security guards and one uniformed police officer. 

The Knicks’ official stance is that no one was “ejected or escorted” for chanting “sell the team.”

“A source said security, under the code of conduct policy, talked to the fans about the chants,” the New York Post’s Marc Berman reported.

This incident is vastly different from when a much louder “sell the team” chant broke out at MSG in late January. On that night, a teenage fan sitting near Dolan joined in on the chant and Dolan responded by pointing the kid out to arena security. He had his student ID taken and was detained for 15 minutes.

Dolan may not have been personally involved in this case and we don’t know what other sort of mischief a group of 20-something bros could have caused earlier in the night, but MSG security must know what to do when they hear those three words. 

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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