Love and Basketball

Noted New York Knicks fan Spike Lee produced the 2000 romantic drama “Love and Basketball,” a story about next door neighbors who love basketball and then fall in love with each other. The tagline read, “All’s Fair in Love and Basketball”.  If Spike Lee produced a 2007 version of the movie, we imagine the plotline would be significantly different.  Perhaps, a tagline that reads, “Plaintiff Fares Well in Love and Basketball”.  

The recent $11.6 million (and counting) verdict against Madison Square Garden (“MSG”) and New York Knicks coach Isiah Thomas for sexual harassment and retaliation grabbed the headlines a few days ago.  After the headlines disappear, and the news and magazine pundits stop pontificating about the scandalous facts, what remains?  Are there any lessons from this well-publicized case that can’t be found in any of the scores of other sexual harassment lawsuits that pass by, albeit much quieter, on a nearly daily basis?