By Candace Buckner | The Athletic, 2026-06-09 15:31:01
纽约——这本该是纽约尼克斯球迷一生中最美好的夜晚，结果却像是一个巨大的中指。来自吉米，带着爱。
在NBA总决赛第三场开打前，掌控着这座城市最受喜爱球队的亿万富翁詹姆斯·多兰 (James Dolan) 于周一晚上穿过麦迪逊广场花园的活动层通道。他身穿一件柔和的橙色西装外套，看起来或许价值不菲，但绝对比不上大多数人为坐上顶层看台所支付的票价。随后，多兰走向雷克萨斯包厢层下方特设的防弹包厢。在那里，他与他的朋友、同为纽约人的前总统唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 坐在一起，而后者遭到了这些哥谭市民震耳欲聋的嘘声。
多兰不可能不知道门票价格——接受采访的一对夫妇花了一辆二手豪华轿车的实际价格——对于热爱这支球队的人来说会是多么沉重的经济负担。他本该明白，邀请这样一位不受欢迎的前总统会转移人们对当晚真正焦点的关注，并给联盟的后勤保障带来不必要的麻烦。然而，多兰根本不在乎。他既不在乎球迷，也不在乎球员。多兰看着这个夜晚，这个属于纽约的伟大时刻，却亲手扼杀了其中的乐趣。在球迷们穿过场馆外如临大敌的安保防线陆续进场后，残存的喜悦也在花园球馆目睹尼克斯以111-115不敌圣安东尼奥马刺时，彻底宣告终结。
那种氛围——被锁喉、被拖到后巷、被特朗普用柔道过肩摔，然后被揍得奄奄一息——已经荡然无存。这全拜多兰所赐。
多兰总是本性难移。他曾驱逐过那些不幸支持他旗下球队的球迷；2019年，他因为有人对他说“卖掉球队”而对其下达禁入令。他用各种人脸识别技术将球馆变成了“老大哥”的游乐场。2024年，他允许特朗普在麦迪逊广场花园举办集会，让这里彻底变成了“让美国再次伟大”(MAGA) 的阵地，当时一个针对波多黎各的侮辱性笑话成为了新闻头条。
而这一次，多兰利用了这场在曼哈顿举办的、时隔一代人才盼来的NBA总决赛，来提醒球迷们：为什么爱上这支球队很容易，但爱上这个老板却绝无可能。
赛前，我爬到了花园球馆的顶层，去见见那些花了重金、排了长队进场的球迷。周一下午3点前几分钟，28岁的杰克·博登 (Jake Borden) 和27岁的德斯蒂妮·克劳斯 (Destiny Krause) 从泽西海岸出发，赶往晚上8点半开始的比赛。他们是自己所在看台区最早到场的两个人，每个人花了11,000美元买下了上层看台的座位。
“我们热爱尼克斯，”博登在解释自己的理由时说道。即便如此，他依然觉得这种票价溢价简直荒谬。
“哦，太贵了。我的意思是，外面有那么多球迷，门票应该更亲民一些，”博登说，“走过来时听到一些球迷说，‘我们买不起票’，而他们真的配得上坐在现场。这里可能坐着很多根本不在乎尼克斯的人，你知道的，那些穿西装的达官显贵。这本该是属于球迷的比赛。”
很难将特朗普归为这样的“球迷”。尽管他在上世纪90年代曾现场观看过尼克斯的比赛，但如今，特朗普似乎对在自家后院举办八角笼格斗更感兴趣。
“那个橙色皮肤的家伙不该出现在这里，”一位名叫史蒂夫·C (Steve C.) 的男子说道。他要求只透露自己姓氏的首字母，因为他觉得球馆周围的监控可能会窃听我们的对话。史蒂夫·C半开玩笑地说道。
“不应该是这场比赛！挑另一场该死的比赛去啊！这又不是你的个人秀，”史蒂夫·C对我说，同时他站起身来，让另一位球迷通过，好让对方走到高耸入云的座位上。
“我同意，”那位路过的球迷插话道。
“这就是个拍照作秀的机会。一个糟糕的公关秀。这里的观众是不会支持他的，”史蒂夫准确地预测道，“这没关系。你可以选择自己的立场，那是政治。即便这里的观众支持他，他们也会因为在外面排队而痛苦不堪……但这是在给人们添堵。为什么是这场比赛？为什么是现在？”
史蒂夫必须在外面等待，并向纽约警察局的警员询问该站在哪里——尽管我从许多球迷那里听说，警察在指引方向上提供不了多少帮助。尽管如此，他依然处于狂喜的状态，哪怕他是比赛当天才从休斯敦的家中飞过来的。他计划在纽约（他原本的家乡）停留15个小时，赛后直接返回拉瓜迪亚机场，在不适合睡觉的候机厅座椅上凑合一晚，只为了能赶上早上6点的航班，以便在周二早上及时赶回家，好让临时保姆下班。他为这张门票支付了3,000美元。
来自长岛的迈克·G (Mike G.) 是另一位因工作原因要求只透露姓氏首字母的球迷，他和哥哥一起来到现场，两人各花了4,250美元坐在球馆内的悬空看台（catwalk）上。66岁的帕特里克·贝里 (Patrick Berry) 土生土长于哈莱姆区，现居住在马里兰州，他说家人给他准备了一个惊喜：一张116区19排18座的门票。他的妻子、女儿和侄女共同出资购买了这张价值11,396美元的门票。艾萨克·达普金斯 (Isaac Dapkins) 是一名医生，上一次尼克斯打进总决赛时他还在读初中，他带着13岁的儿子利亚姆 (Liam) 坐在被称为400层上层看台的“蓝色座椅”上。达普金斯是直接从单位赶过来的，所以他把西装和衬衫搭在利亚姆椅子的靠背上。当达普金斯告诉我他为这些座位支付了大约7,000美元时，他捂住了利亚姆的耳朵。在我们谈话前，一名国土安全部的官员刚刚从这对父子身边走过。
这些球迷都有着相似的经历：支付了极其昂贵的票价，并且经历了像机场安检一样的重重关卡才得以进入球馆。然而，在比赛开始前，他们无法想象自己还能去其他任何地方。
“这绝对值了，”迈克·G谈到自己花掉的钱时说，“我不知道会打四场还是五场，但尼克斯一定会夺冠。而且能在花园球馆见证这一切，是无法用金钱来衡量的。”
直到比赛结束，那种轻松愉快、无忧无虑的氛围发生了转变。我目睹了迈克·G的痛苦挣扎。没有哪种焦虑能比得上悬空看台上的焦虑了。迈克·G没有坐在为顾客提供的旋转椅上，而是站着，大口嚼着杯子里的冰块。当斯蒂芬·卡斯尔 (Stephon Castle) 在两分分差的最后几秒走上罚球线时，迈克·G来回挥舞着双臂，大喊着“啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊啊！”然而，卡斯尔依然稳稳罚中。终场哨响后，迈克·G将他的塑料水杯狠狠地砸在垃圾桶上。
我为他感到难过，也想知道那对来自泽西海岸的夫妇现在是否会后悔为了两张山顶票而背负22,000美元的信用卡债务。我希望史蒂夫·C能准时赶回保姆身边，也想象着13岁的利亚姆有一天会如何向他未来的孩子们讲述这个夜晚。
甚至在比赛结束一小时后，在摄像机镜头前，聚集在莫伊尼汉火车大厅（Moynihan Train Hall）外迟迟不愿离去的人群中，依然在夜空中回荡着“去TM的唐纳德·特朗普！”的口号。这很粗俗，出自一群想要在网上走红的人之口。然而，没有什么比多兰在周一晚上的决定更愚蠢无礼的了。他的所作所为，才是对纽约人民最响亮的一记“滚粗”。
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Donald Trump, James Dolan tried to ruin NBA Finals vibe. The Knicks’ loss killed it
Donald Trump, James Dolan tried to ruin NBA Finals vibe. The Knicks’ loss killed it
NEW YORK — What could have been the best night in a New York Knicks fan’s life instead felt like a massive middle finger. From Jimmy, with love.
Ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals, James Dolan, the billionaire ruling over the city’s favorite team, walked through the event level floor Monday night inside Madison Square Garden. He wore a pastel orange suit jacket that might’ve looked expensive, but couldn’t have cost as much as what most people paid for the opportunity to sit near the rafters. Then, Dolan made his way to the bulletproof box set up beneath the Lexus Suite Level. There, he sat next to his friend and fellow New Yorker, President Donald Trump, who was booed lustily by these constituents of Gotham.
Dolan had to have known how the price of admission — one couple interviewed spent the actual cost of a used luxury car — would be a financial burden for the people who love this team. He should’ve understood that inviting such an unpopular president would hijack attention away from the real focus of the night, and unnecessarily complicate logistics for the league. Still, Dolan didn’t care. Not about his fans, nor his players. Dolan saw this night, this big New York moment, and strangled the fun out of it. Whatever joy was left after fans trickled in through the police-state setup outside the building reached its expiration date when the Garden witnessed the Knicks lose 115-111 to the San Antonio Spurs.
The vibe — placed in a headlock, dragged out back, judo-hip tossed by Trump and beaten to an inch of its life — is gone. All thanks to Dolan.
Dolan can’t help himself. He’s thrown out fans who had the misfortune of rooting for a franchise owned by him; in 2019, he banned someone for telling him to “sell the team.” He turned the arena into Big Brother’s playground with all the facial recognition technology. In 2024, he made MSG go full MAGA when he allowed Trump to host a rally, where an insulting joke aimed at Puerto Rico became the headline.
This time, Dolan used an NBA Finals game hosted in Manhattan, the first one in a generation, to remind fans why it’s easy to love the team but not the boss.
Before the game, I climbed to the top of the Garden to meet the people who spent the money and braved the long lines. Jake Borden, 28, and Destiny Krause, 27, started their journey from the Jersey Shore a few minutes before 3 p.m. on Monday for the 8:30 tipoff. They were the first two people in their section, having dropped $11,000 each on upper balcony seats.
“We love the Knicks,” Borden said, explaining his rationale. Even so, he felt the inflation was absurd.
“Oh, way too expensive. I mean, there’s a lot of fans out there, and it should be more accessible,” Borden said. “Walking by some fans (saying), ‘We couldn’t get tickets,’ and they really deserve to be here. There’s a lot of people who don’t even care about the Knicks who might be here, you know, big suits. It should be for the fans.”
It would be hard to describe Trump as such a “fan.” Though he attended Knicks games in the ’90s, these days, Trump seems more into hosting caged fights in his backyard.
“The orange man should not be here,” said a man named Steve C., who asked if he could only give the first initial of his last name because he thought surveillance around the arena might eavesdrop on our conversation. Steve C. was half joking.
“It shouldn’t be this game! Pick another f—ing game! It ain’t about you,” Steve C. told me, as he stood up to allow another fan to pass through and get to his seat up in the heavens.
“I agree,” the man chimed in.
“It’s a photo op. It’s a bad PR spot. This is not a crowd that’s going to support him,” Steve predicted accurately. “That’s fine. You can pick your sides, that’s politics. Even if it was a crowd that supports him, they’d be so miserable for being outside … But to inconvenience people. Why this game? Why now?”
Steve had to wait outside and ask NYPD officers where to stand — though I heard from many fans that the police couldn’t offer up much assistance with directions. Still, he was in a rapturous mood, even after flying in the day of the game from his home in Houston. He planned to spend 15 hours on the ground in New York, his original hometown, and after the game, head back to LaGuardia Airport, where he’d sleep uncomfortably on a concourse seat not made for sleeping, just so he could catch a 6 a.m. flight to get back in time to let the babysitter leave Tuesday morning. He paid $3,000 for his game ticket.
Mike G. of Long Island, another fan who asked to only share the initial of his last name due to his job, came with his brother, and together they paid $4,250 a pop to sit on the catwalk inside the arena. Patrick Berry, a 66-year-old native from Harlem who now lives in Maryland, said his family surprised him with a ticket for Section 116, row 19, seat 18. His wife, daughter and niece pitched in for the $11,396 ticket. Isaac Dapkins, a doctor who was in middle school the last time the Knicks made the Finals, sat with his 13-year-old son Liam in what’s called the 400-level upper balcony “blue seats.” Dapkins came straight from work, so he draped his suit and business shirt over the back of Liam’s chair. Dapkins covered Liam’s ears when he told me how he paid roughly $7,000 for the seats. A Homeland Security officer walked past the father and son before he shared this.
These fans all shared similar experiences of paying way too much money and going through TSA checkpoints just to get inside the arena. Before the game, however, they couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
“It’s absolutely worth it,” Mike G. said of the money he spent. “I don’t know if it’s going to be four or five, but the Knicks are gonna do it. And being at the Garden, can’t put a price tag on it.”
By the end of the game, that’s when the feel-good, no worries vibes shifted. I watched Mike G. and his suffering. There’s no angst like the angst on the catwalk. Mike G. didn’t sit in that swivel chair provided to patrons; instead, he stood and slurped on cups of ice. When Stephon Castle went to the free-throw line in the final seconds of a two-point game, Mike G. waved his arms back and forth and yelled “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Castle made the free throws anyway. After the buzzer, Mike G. slammed his plastic cup of water on a trash bin.
I felt bad for him, and wondered if the couple from Jersey Shore now regretted the $22,000 credit card debt for two tickets in the nosebleeds. I hoped Steve C. made it back to the babysitter on time, and thought about what 13-year-old Liam might tell his young children one day about this night.
Even an hour after the game, chants of “F— Donald Trump!” filled the night air from a crowd lingering outside the Moynihan Train Hall with the cameras rolling. It was vulgar, coming from a group of folks who wanted to go viral. However, nothing was as crass as Dolan’s decision Monday night. His was the biggest ‘Eff You’ to the people of New York.
By Candace Buckner, via The Athletic