Jersey-tossing Knicks fan is driven nuts by his team's futility
BY MELISSA GRACE and RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Sunday, December 2nd 2007, 2:15 PM
He's got eight tattoos - all of them orange to show his love for the Knicks.
He wears orange sunglasses, drives a burnt orange Hummer and sleeps in orange-striped sheets, all for the team.
But when the Knicks went down by 50 points against the Celtics on Thursday night, superfan Edward Barnes had had enough.
In a move captured on national television, he ripped off his $220 Knicks jersey and chucked it onto the court in disgust - sending the Boston crowd into a frenzy and highlighting the futility of his beloved team.
"They were just giving up on every play," Barnes, 36, told the Daily News Saturday. "You pay great money to see their games. You pay great money to drink at their games. I watched them give up."
In the days after his headline-grabbing act of contempt, the identity of the jersey-throwing fan remained unknown. But The News tracked down Barnes yesterday at his family's pizza restaurant in East Islip, L.I., where he was decked out in an orange shirt and orange-trimmed sneakers.
The Knicks-obsessed mechanic said he tore off his jersey to make a statement to the players. "I wanted to get their attention," Barnes said, his eyebrow ring, in blue for the other Knicks color, glinting in the light. "You don't lose by 50 points in the NBA."
Becoming a symbol of the Knicks' failures was never his plan.
Barnes drove up to Boston on Wednesday night with his nephew Larry Betro to celebrate Betro's 24th birthday. The pair had $300 seats - four rows behind the basket and not far from Craig Sager, a TNT sideline reporter.
With the Knicks trailing big in the first quarter, Barnes made a bet with Sager that if his team went down by 50 points he would give up his coveted jersey.
Word of the bet spread through the crowd with lightning speed. By the time the fourth quarter came around and the Knicks were losing by 40, the fans were in a frenzy.
"Throw it! Throw it!" they yelled.
And when Boston's lead reached 50 points with three minutes left in the game, Barnes did just that. The game stopped. The fans erupted.
"The whole crowd was behind it," he said. "I had to protect my honor."
After the game, Barnes went into a bar across the street from the stadium. The dejected New Yorker was received by the dozens of Celtic fans inside like a conquering hero. "They all stopped and started clapping," he said. "They bought me a jillion drinks and shots."
In between sips of soda yesterday, Barnes gleefully recounted how his love for his team has permeated his life. "Everything is blue and orange for the Knicks - my office, my car," he said with a smile. "I've got problems, I tell you."
In order for his team to reclaim its former glory, Barnes said management needs to make two bold moves.
"Isiah should be out," he said, referring to embattled coach Isiah Thomas.
And star point guard Stephon Marbury should be traded, he said. "He was a bum in New Jersey. He was a bum in Minnesota. And he's a bum in New York."
Despite his disappointment, Barnes refuses to abandon his team. He plans to go to Wednesday's game against the Nets. If the Knicks are winning, he'll put a team jersey back on to show his support, he said.
For her part, Barnes' wife, Tiffany, 32, said her husband's obsession has dominated her life. Among other things, she's forced to live in a home that resembles a Creamsicle.
"We have to get orange sunglasses, orange watches, orange cars," she said, noting that they also have a Knicks garbage can in the bathroom. "I have white sheets with orange stripes on them. It is sickening."
