Pageant Ends. Now It's Up To The Judges

Not too much of note in Isiah Thomas' trial today. (Click for Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)

In a few words, both sides delivered their closing arguments on Thursday, saying "pick me! pick me!" Now it's up to the jurors to decide who they like best.

If you need more details, here you go. And here's some more.

I'll be shocked if there is no verdict before 5 p.m. tomorrow. I'll be shocked if Anucha Browne Sanders receives a penny from Madison Square Garden or Zeke.

I was also shocked when I saw the picture of the intern who confessed to having sex with Stephon Marbury in his truck:


Ok, no I wasn't.

Zeke: "I Never Cursed at that B____"

In what appears to be the final day of testimony, Isiah Thomas took the opportunity to clear up every charge of professional indiscretion alleged by Anucha Browne Sanders. He says he never cursed at her, that it's never OK to call a woman a b*tch or a ho, that it's offensive for a man of any color (who are these "purple" people folks talk about?) to call a woman a name like that, and that he never talked about the white New York Knicks season ticketholders because they are the "backbone of how we all make a living." He says that he treated her like a co-worker, and that he only made the comment "What? No love today?" after she recoiled in a way that made him feel uncomfortable when he went to greet her.

That's it. Just Zeke trying to lay on the charm. Nothing too groundbreaking.

Tomorrow are the closing arguments.

Again, I can't be certain what the jury thinks or what it has seen, because tone counts for a lot, but the truth is usually somewhere between their versions of what happened. However, because Browne Sanders has the burden of proof, the testimony I've seen so far comes nowhere close to providing her with a verdict in her favor. Given that the (employed) jurors have an opportunity to start making more than $1 a day, the stipend for fulfilling their public duties, my guess is that we'll have a decision by Friday.

Mr. Congeniality

In Day 7 of the Zeke Trial, Isiah "Zeke" Thomas and James Dolan, the Madison Square Garden chairman (and thus, NY Knicks owner), took the stand. (Click for Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6)

Let's start with Dolan. During his time on the stand, he testified that Browne Sanders performed her job, sometimes incompetently, and that he was patient with her, but that she was ultimately fired for interfering with MSG's own internal investigation into her sexual harassment claims. He contended that she was improperly attempting to influence their employees to support her claims, even asking for $6 million to not file suit - which Dolan, of course, rejected. This testimony ended the defense case presented by Dolan and MSG.

While all this may be true, Dolan should be charged with perjuring himself with his "yes" reply when asked whether Zeke had done "quite a good job" as the Knicks coach and president.

Next up was Zeke to serve as the first witness in his own defense. The defense team brilliantly played up his affable traits, from his humble beginnings to his NBA triumphs to his megawatt smile. He even brought up how mama taught him how to treat women . . . I will leave this one all alone, and just say that I think he was laying it on a little thick. He countered all of the accusations made by Browne Sanders, acknowledging that he may have cursed but denying that he ever harassed her in any way. He said he didn't know what to do with her nor how she "fit" with him and the program. He also countered the bad press he has received, like getting fired as the Indiana Pacers coach. He says that happened because Larry Bird is a Celtic and he's a Piston. Yup, definitely laying it on thick. He finishes up his testimony later today.

As I said from day 1, this looks like it's going to come down to he said-she said, and who wins that is whichever party the jury likes better. A beauty contest, if you will.

My money's still on him.

Yeah, This One May Be A Blow Out

Let me guess. This is your first time hearing anything about this today. See, I told you. The worse that Anucha Browne Sanders' case gets, the less attention it will get. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Yesterday, in Day 6 of the Zeke trial (seems they took a short recess), Browne Sanders's case took a hit harder than Milton Bradley (the baseball player, not the game maker) who tore his ACLafter being restrained from attacking an umpire. 8 individuals testified to Browne Sanders incompetence as a manager and discredited her accusations and memory of the events.

One of those testifying was Stephon Marbury's paramour, the intern whom Browne Sanders was coerced into "getting into the car" with Marbury. Nope, she says she went on her own:

Kathleen Decker, the former intern, denied Browne Sanders’s testimony that she could not refuse Marbury, who was at the club in Mount Vernon, N.Y., with his cousin Hassan Gonsalves, who was a Knicks employee at the time and a former boyfriend of Decker.

Decker testified that she accepted a ride home from Gonsalves rather than from one of two girlfriends who joined her for her birthday celebration. But, she told the court, Marbury was standing outside the club and asked her, “Are you going to get in the truck?” She said, “So I got in the truck.”

She said that she never felt a loss of control with Marbury.

Decker’s late-night sexual encounter with Marbury came to light when Browne Sanders was gathering information from subordinates that would lead to Gonsalves’s firing in November 2005 for sexual harassment.

A day after Decker told Browne Sanders about an abusive comment that Gonsalves made to her, she said Browne Sanders called her into her office.

“She sat me on the couch,” Decker testified, “and she said: ‘I know there’s more. You can tell me. I’m a mother.’ I was nervous.”

Decker added, “She asked me if I felt forced,” but she told Browne Sanders, then the Knicks’ senior vice president for marketing, that she had not. Browne Sanders testified that Decker had told her she was “stunned” and “very drunk.”

A few days after the meeting, Decker sent Browne Sanders a card thanking her for being “incredibly supportive,” and said she “cannot change the poor decision(s) I’ve made in the past.” Decker testified that she sent the card fearing that “what I did outside the job could affect my work.” She now works for the Garden of Dreams Foundation, a charity run by the Garden.

That hurts. She not only confirmed that her encounter with Marbury was just a run of the mill groupie liaison, but she still works for the organization. Then, the Vice President of Community Relations for the Knicks, Karin Buchholz testified that Browne Sanders basically forced her to participate in this investigation and write memos against her co-workers, which she says interfered with her ability to do her own job. This interference included making Buchholz cancel an NBA player event at a school (if you know this particular player, I'll give you one guess as to how I think he should have spent his time since the event was canceled). According to the SportsBusiness Journal, NBA players have the worst reputations of athletes in any of the major sports. Come on, Anucha, you can't be the VP of marketing getting in the way of NBA players doing charity work!

James Dolan, the outspoken Madison Square Garden Chairman, is scheduled to testify today.

I can't tell you for sure what the jury will do, but I have a pretty good feeling that this case is just about over - in more ways than one.

Zeke's Got Next

(If you need to get caught up here are links to my coverage of Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3)

So I missed Day 4 in the Zeke Trial, but from all indications, the parties did not heed the judge's warning to pick up the pace because nothing too exciting happened. The videotaped testimony of James Dolan, chairman of the board of Madison Square Garden, was played for the court, in which he says he alone made the decision to fire Browne Sanders for what he said was a "failure to fulfill her professional responsibilities." I wonder what that means.

Anucha Browne Sanders did wrap up her case, so now it's Zeke's turn to present his cavalcade of character witnesses for at least a week. What, you mean the Knicks don't mind wasting money in court and on it? But that's not why I didn't post. Work called. I tried to hit ignore, but then it bust through my door and slapped me in the face, so I had to give it some attention. I digress.

News about the trial is becoming increasingly hard to find. If you click on the links you'll note that coverage of Day 5 actually comes from a Canadian website. It seems that once the salacious details were revealed, nobody really cares about the rest of the procedure other than who agrees with the plaintiff and who doesn't. Yes folks, I hate to break it to you but real trials are not like Law & Order. Especially if they aren't televised. I did find this article on SI.com discussing 5 things we've learned from this trial. I don't have time to discuss it here, but do check it out if you're interested.

In Day 5 of the trial, MSG Sports president and CEO Steve Mills took the stand. (Check that link for Zeke's complete, unedited deposition testimony). He says that in 2005 (the one year there is no documentation about Browne Sanders' job performance, and the one year she did not get glowing reviews), Browne Sanders was almost fired for her poor job performance. Here are some excerpts from his testimony:

• Mills says he never heard a single complaint from Browne Sanders about Zeke using profanity or making inappropriate sexual contact until a Dec. 15, 2005, e-mail. By that time, according to Mills, "Browne Sanders had already approached him in tears to say she was overwhelmed by work" and wanted to quit her job. Mills testified to earlier meetings with Browne Sanders in which she came to him in tears about her unwillingness to continue working in her position. He says that he agreed to let her keep her job while she looked for employment elsewhere.

• Mills noted that their conversation followed a "disastrous financial forecast meeting" in which Browne Sanders was unable to answer questions posed by Dolan, which was followed by statements from MSG vice-chairman Hank Ratner that MSG "should fire her right now." Mills testified that Dolan was the one who stepped in to save her job. He also testified to a number of other problems that occurred while she was in her position.

• Mills denied that the emotional meeting with Browne Sanders was sparked by allegations that Stephon Marbury had referred to her as a "black b*tch," although he did acknowledge that some possibly "explosive" event had prompted the meeting.

• Responding to Browne Sanders allegations that Zeke asked her to go off site, Mills stated that the only mention he had heard of going off site was from her, when she mentioned going on an overnight trip to Connecticut during the off-season. He acknowledged that Zeke was told not to hug Browne Sanders, to which he says Zeke replied, "Ok, cool."
  

Ok, all of this is sort of interesting because it refutes her testimony that she was doing a great job until she started complaining about sexual harassment by Zeke. But here is where it gets even more interesting:

Prior to Mills' appearance, presiding U.S. District Court Judge Gerard Lynch said Browne Sanders' lawyers had presented a "weak case" that the Knicks coach was involved in the woman's firing - one of the allegations made in her suit.

"Of all the claims in this case, this is the one that looks to be a stretch," Lynch said before he nonetheless denied a defence motion to dismiss that claim. He said it was an issue better left to the jury at this point.

First, let me point out that this had to be said outside of the presence of the jury. There is no way that the judge is going to comment on the facts in front of the fact finders. Although this is just the judge's opinion, which is no indicator of what the jury may think (and they have been known to surprise a judge or ten), this can't be a good sign for Browne Sanders' case.

I can't speak for Madison Square Garden, but I think Zeke is gonna skate on this one.

Almost Forgot About This One

Isiah Thomas should thank God for O.J. Simpson, who has managed to take the spotlight away from Isiah's abysmal sexual harassment trial with his own brand of crazy.

In The Zeke Trial, Day 3 (click here for Day 1 and here for Day 2), videotaped testimony from several depositions was played in court, including testimony from Isiah, one witness and the plaintiff, Anucha Browne Sanders. Browne Sanders also withstood some apparently intensive cross-examination. Choice morsels from today include:

• Isiah said during his deposition that it's more offensive for a white man to call a black woman a b*tch than for a black man to do it. While he claims he may have sworn around her, he says he never swore or cursed at Anucha Browne Sanders (the plaintiff)

• Testimony from Robert Levy, "an employment lawyer and a Knicks' season-ticket holder," who testified that he saw Isiah put his arm around him and remark that "it was distracting working with someone easy on the eyes." Umm. First off, why is a season-ticket holder who saw an open practice one of your main witnesses on the conduct of your employer? Second, this guy is probably a disgruntled fan. Third, I don't believe Isiah said this. That's all I'm saying.
  

• Browne Sanders testified that Isiah called her names during business meetings, and defended herself against claims that she was fired for poor performance. The defense has alleged that she started making claims of sexual harassment when she felt that her job was slipping away from her. She admitted that she didn't report any issues about Isiah's cursing.
  

• The judge in the case has asked the lawyers to speed it up, and jurors have been spotted nodding off. Not a good sign for the plaintiff.
  

Well, this is looking more and more like a tough case for Browne Sanders to win. But according to this Sports Illustrated writer, Isiah and the Knicks are on the ropes. I don't know. I still cannot tell why she was fired, so I need to see a few more days of testimony, but so far, Zeke's job is probably safe - for now. Sorry, Knicks fans.

The Greatest Point Guard Ever Makes the Best Witness . . . Ever

Zeke's trial, Day 2. (See here for Day 1).

Today, the humble Stephon Marbury testified. Um. Before I share his testimony, let me point out that Marbury is generally a good, generous guy. He gave a million to help Katrina victims. He gives away haircuts to kids in NY (his hometown). And with his Starbury line, he sells basketball sneakers for $14 sneakers (which can also buy you 3 pieces of lettuce at the U.S. Open). He claims he wore the shoes himself last season (check this review of them), and he apparently only gets paid on sales of the shoe, not to endorse it. This year, he's giving every high school varsity (no JV?) basketball player in NYC their own pair of Starbury sneakers. He even came out in support of Michael Vick (and backpedaled a bit). Perhaps a little conceited, or as this commenter states:

Stephon Marbury is a "five letter" word who is affectionately known in my "hood" as STEPHANY!!! (No disrespect intended to anyone named Stephany.) His act has never changed from Minnesota ("I deserve Garnett Money") to Jersey ("I'm all alone") to Phoenix (send him back) to New York ("I'm the greatest pg eva"). He's a "me" first point guard whose role should be reduced to Ball Boy! (No disrespect to any ball boys out there.) He'd be overpaid at that position as well, but at least he'd get his touches in every night and we wouldn't have to see him pouting on the the bench like the "five letter" word he's shown himself to be. His speed & agility would be better suited for getting Gatorade & towels for the real stars of this TEAM. The season is young but i think I.T.'s got something here. It's called a TEAM. Don't let Stephany ruin the start of something pretty good.

So he's not the most humble guy, nor maybe the most sane, but he is one of the most generous. In everything. Including giving TMI ("too much information"):

Nervous Knicks star Stephon Marbury took the stand today in the explosive $10 million sex-harassment suit that's rocking the Garden and admitted he lured one of the female accuser's subordinates into his car.

Marbury did not say explicitly they had sex as they sat parked outside a Manhattan strip joint, as fired Knick exec Anucha Browne Sanders has claimed.

"We got together right across the street," Marbury testified in Manhattan Federal court.

So he played a little chess in the car with interns. What's the big deal? Browne Sanders (I keep wanting to write "Brown Simpson") says that the subordinate, a college intern, told her that she had sex with Marbury because she felt like she had to. I don't really see what this has to do with whether Brown Sanders was sexually harassed by Isiah, and apparently neither did the judge, because he ceased all questioning with respect to his encounter(s). Then, in a stunning display of honesty:

Marbury admitted calling Browne Sanders a "b*tch" after she refused to give him more game tickets for his friends and family.

I have no words for this. I'm all for being honest, but gee whiz. After his testimony, he apparently went off laughing and singing to no one in particular, making fun of reporters . . . and still took the time to make a pitch for his new shoes. Hey, at least they're cheap.

Now I will say that I'm a little bit worried about Browne Sanders' case if the first person she put on the stand is Stephon Marbury. After all, he admitted that he thought this lawsuit was a joke when he heard about it. I am guessing that not even her attorney knew exactly what this guy was going to say. Maybe the point was to show that the Knicks organization is full of boorish men. But, unfortunately, just because your employers call you a b*tch doesn't mean you were sexually harassed, and being a general a**hole isn't illegal. But they do need to explain why they fired her if she kept receiving bonuses and raises.

Can't wait to see who's up for Day 3!

Isiah: Trouble of Biblical Proportions

Zeke is in a little bit of trouble. Well, he's being sued, and maybe he won't be found liable so then he wouldn't be in trouble. But the fact that he's being sued in the first place is trouble in my book, and the fact that this case made it past all the legal mumbo jumbo to trial means there's some evidence that he's been a "badboy." HA. Ok, I won't crack anymore jokes because he's being sued for $10 million and there's nothing funny about that.

Perhaps I should explain the lawsuit. First, let me remind you that the trial is taking place in New York. That means that all the gossip rags will have outrageous headlines like this one:

Plaintiff: Isiah Thomas cursed white fans

followed by even more wild stories about the proceedings, but providing us with plenty of fodder to sling around the blog. Anyway, here's what's going on:

Zeke, aka Isiah Lord Thomas, III, Indiana University standout, one of the Top 50 NBA players of all time, winner of two back-t0-back NBA Championships, and Hall of Famer, cheeky friend of Magic Johnson, is the head coach (former President) of the long-suffering, talent-bloated New York Knicks.

Anucha Browne Sanders, a married mother of three, was a basketball star in her own right, having played for Northwestern University and earned the distinction of the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Big Ten Conference history. After working as a marketing executive for the Knicks, she was promoted to the position of senior vice president of marketing and business operations by the franchise. According to reports, she was apparently fired by the team in January of 2006, four years into her stint as SVP.

Just a few days after she was terminated, Ms. Browne Sanders filed a lawsuit against Zeke and Madison Square Garden (which owns the Knicks, among other franchises). In her suit she claims that Zeke sexually harassed from the moment she started until the day she was fired, and she claims that she was fired because she complained about the harassment. Since the suit was filed, Browne Sanders has added Knicks owner James Dolan as a defendant. The NY press has a penchant for tearing into Dolan, who famously made the decision to give Allan Houston $100 million ($25 million more than the next closest offer), making him the highest paid player in the league even though he was retired. Yeah, he probably still wakes up sweating about that one. Expect to see some Arthur Blank-like reporting on him here.

Yesterday, jury selection began in this suit that promises to be a doozy. This article says that they had no trouble finding unbiased jurors because nobody in the jury pool is a Knicks fan. So Zeke can get a "fair" trial because his team sucks. See, I told you every story has a positive side. But then people like this make the jury, despite Zeke's attorneys' (all females, I might add) objections:

“I can speak freely?” Tommy Vasquez, 37, a Bronx maintenance man, said when asked about Thomas. “He’s a pretty good talent evaluator, but he’s not so good a G.M.”

And people like this are in the jury pool:

Other[ jurors] said they might have a hard time complying with [Judge Gerard] Lynch's request that they ignore the sports pages, at least until the trial is over.

"I'm a Yankee fan," said Dr. Philip Lief, 67, a vice chairman of the department of medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. "I would do what I had to do."

It is nice to know that people are taking their civic duties seriously, but not more seriously than they take their Yankees.

All I can say is that he's in for an interesting few weeks. Luckily, this is a civil suit so he (and/or MSG) only stands to lose dollars, not freedom.

Today, Browne Sanders testified first on her own behalf. She stated that Zeke sweet talked her by frequently starting conversations by calling her "B*tch" and/or "Ho." She alleged that after a rousing game of HORSE during the Christmas party, Zeke professed his love for her and requested to go "off-site" with her, and that he continued to do so despite her requests for him to work with her in a professional manner. She claimed that she reported his behavior to a MSG executive, who told her that she didn't have to go off-site with him. I find this testimony the most interesting though:

Thomas said it was just like ``Love & Basketball,'' a movie in which two players argue before realizing they're in love with each other, Browne Sanders testified.

Hmm. Doesn't sound like the Zeke I know, but perhaps a man in love is prone to corniness every now and then.

On the other side, the defense had this to say in their opening statements, prior to Browne Sanders' testimony:

Ronald Green, who is a lawyer for Dolan and the Garden, described [Browne Sanders] as an incompetent executive who resented Thomas for limiting her access to the Knicks’ basketball side. He said she concocted her harassment allegations because she feared for her job starting early in Thomas’s regime.

He said she compromised her job by not adapting to Thomas’s management style, and by alienating Stephon Marbury, the Knicks’ star guard, shortly after he joined the team.

Most importantly, Green said, she never complained to Mills about abusive treatment by Thomas and also angered Dolan during budget meetings.

“ ‘You don’t know the difference between an expense and a capital expenditure,’ ” Green said Dolan told Browne Sanders at a July 2005 meeting. He said that Dolan was advised to fire her but instead “saved her,” albeit temporarily, by suggesting that she receive extra training .

Green also said that Browne Sanders had a financial motivation to lie; that if she quit, she would not get severance, that she had a $650,000 mortgage on her New Jersey house and a husband with a modest income.

One of Zeke's female attorney team members also added her two cents during opening arguments:

Kathleen Bogas, Thomas’s lawyer, referred frequently to Browne Sanders as a powerful woman, a former ball player and executive; a tall and imposing figure who “with heels on, is taller than Isiah Thomas.”

She said that Browne Sanders resented Thomas, calling him a “thug.” Bogas denied that Thomas had ever been abusive to Browne Sanders and that witnesses will testify “ad nauseum” about Thomas hugging and kissing people — “men, women, black, white, adults, children, in front of his wife and children.”

I knew I was on to something.

I will offer the disclaimer that sexual harassment lawsuits have some of the craziest facts you've ever heard. You won't meet a man who stick bananas in his pants and wave it through his fly at his co-workers until you've been a part of a sexual harassment case. And this one is no different. He said-she said is hard to prove. She better have more than just her words, because if the defense finds any reason whatsoever why this woman has a reason to lie, it's coming out. I hope she never did anything she's ashamed of ever in life . . . because that's coming out, too. Either in court or in the court of public opinion. That's a guarantee.

I'm sure David Stern is wishing that the NBA could rest in peace following the referee nightmare, but unfortunately he's going to have to sweat a little bit more before the season starts. I'm just glad this trial won't interfere with the NBA season, because the Knicks need all the help they can get.