Tossup

I really don't know what is the most embarrassing right now.

1) I am a Met fan and watched the entire game last night where we blow the game in the 9th after getting the first two outs.

2) An American fan after watching the World Cup soccer team lose to Ghana. Ghana! Anyone know how to find that country on the map?

3) A Knicks fan after they fired coach Larry Brown today and replaced him with general manager Isiah Thomas.

I'm going to focus on the Knicks. After so many good, very good years where we made the Finals twice and the playoffs 15 years in a row, I never thought I'd see the day when this storied franchise would become the joke of sports.

Before last season, MSG president Jim Dolan signed Brown to a five year, 50 million dollar contract. They went 23-59, tied for the most losses this franchise has had in its 59-year history. Now the franchise claims they owe Brown none of the remaining $40 million on his contract because he violated some club policy. They believe he acted beyond the parameters of his coaching position in attempting to make trades and also violated media policy by talking to reporters outside the presence of a team public relations person. Now the Knicks are calling commissioner David Stern to settle the dispute. Chances are they will still owe him a pretty nice amount of green.

The roster is a mess with 5 or 6 shoot-first guards (Marbury, Richardson, Francis, Robinson, Crawford, and maybe Jalen Rose), next to no defensive ability, no true point guard, no first round pick next season (which of course goes to Chicago of all teams), and a 125 million dollar payroll.

Now Brown did a bad job, no doubt. He had over 40 different starting lineups this season. He initially endorsed the trades for Jalen Rose and Steve Francis only to sour on both players soon after they arrived in New York, which I'm sure didn't sit well with Thomas and Dolan. Brown was also critical of many players on the roster, namely Nate Robinson, Trevor Ariza, and Stephon Marbury.

By the way, the future of two assistant coaches Brown hired from Detroit is also unclear. Phil Ford and Dave Hanners are both under contract for three more years, which is unprecedented for assistant coaches. We may have to fire them, and pay them the rest of the money on their contracts!

I have never been embarrassed to be a Knicks fan until this season. And it's going to last a long time.