TOGETHER WE CAN FIGHT THE POWER

by Jordi Scrubbings, The Serious Tip

Yesterday on my site I wrote about my life as a Knicks Nation refugee. I've have not been a citizen of Knicks Nation for nearly 1,000 days thanks to the incompetent leadership of Isiah Thomas and James Dolan. For the sake of my own sanity, I packed my belongings and left.

Since I admitted my own refugee status, other Knicks fans from around the world have admitted they too are in exile. Although I knew I was not the only one, I never knew the sheer numbers of the Knicks diaspora. With the love of our team in mind, we have initiated communications with all Knicks Nation refugee camps in hopes of stimulating change in our beloved homeland. Taking a page from Che Guevara, we have devised five strategies fans can use to express themselves and hopefully liberate their organizations from tyrannical incompetent regimes. These techniques are not to be used irresponsibly, as they are a last line of expression and could result in serious consequences.

1) Boycott - This is the most simple revolutionary fan tactic and in single numbers, possibly the least effective. While easy to do, a boycotter must live with the knowledge that the Nation goes on without him or her. Fans who boycott their team are unfortunately only hurting themselves and denying themselves of the pleasure of fandom.

2) Sanctions - Sanctions is relatively new untested technique that draws on the social networking ability of fans. In order for a sanction to be effective, fans must convince fans of other cities not to attend games in which the targeted team is the visitor. This would cause the visiting team to have the worst road attendance in the league. Combined with a mass boycott, sanctions would mean no one would watch the product of an incompetent regime.

3) Blockade - Another rare, but hopefully effective technique, blockading requires numerous fans joining hands, arms, legs, etc, and forming a human wall in front of the parking areas of the organization's culpable front office personnel. Unfortunately, although those responsible for mismanagement are temporary prohibited from causing more damage, blockades often result in conflicts with regime-siding police-like authorities.

4) Silence - Another frequently discussed yet never implemented strategy, silence is perhaps the most awe-inspiring technique in the revolutionary repertoire. If a packed house in Madison Square Garden, for example, were to be completely silent for an entire game, it would send shockwaves through both the Knicks franchise and the NBA as a whole. No booing, no cheering, just silence.

5) Buyout - When all else fails, the buyout is the ultimate solution. Like the name implies, a buyout is an offer the organization cannot refuse. Although many fans cannot afford to contribute to the purchase their team, every fan plays an essential role in recruiting enough dollars and cents from those who can give to the cause. In the case of the nearly-billion dollar Knicks franchise, for example, perhaps help can come from the charitable hand of local billionaires.

Once again, I must preach caution in exercising these techniques. These techniques are powerful methods of fan revolt and are not for the untrained revolutionary. But for those willing to take the risk: Viva La Revolucion!