Knicks to pay

A jury ordered the owners of the New York Knicks to pay US$11.6 million to a former team executive who endured crude insults and unwanted advances from coach Isiah Thomas. The jury of four women and three men found Thomas and Madison Square Garden sexually harassed Anucha Browne Sanders, but it decided only MSG and chairman James Dolan should pay for harassing and firing Browne Sanders from her $260,000-a-year job out of spite. The Garden owes $6 million for condoning a hostile work environment and $2.6 million for retaliation. Dolan owes $3 million. Though Thomas is off the hook for any damages, he leaves the case with a tarnished image.

"What I did here, I did for every working woman in America," Browne Sanders said. "And that includes everyone who gets up and goes to work in the morning, everyone working in a corporate environment."

MSG said it will appeal, also denying wrongdoing in a case widely viewed as a public relations disaster for a franchise struggling to regain credibility. The team hasn't won a playoff game since Thomas was signed as president in December 2003 and has wasted millions this decade on a series of free-agent busts and hiring Larry Brown.

Thomas is turning out to be more expensive to the Knicks than an ex-wife. I am not saying Isiah is the worst executive ever, but if I had a choice of working for his organization or letting Anthony Mason date my teenage cousin, I'd tie a bow around her and wish her good luck.