The New York Knicks are a raging dumpster fire. A calling-all-cars, hide-the-women-hide-the-children dumpster fire. Once a proud NBA franchise, the Knicks are somewhere between Courtney Love and Rush Limbaugh on the competence scale.

Unfortunately, some poor minions have to actually cover this team for a living. Yes, they get paid well, but it is still a soul-crushing experience that should come with free therapy and an open bar. In that vein, the New York Times wrote this advertisement in their Tuesday, Jan. 6 edition under the headline “Wanted: Better Basketball for a Beleaguered Reporter” hoping to find respectable basketball to cover for Knicks beat writer Scott Cacciola.

The Knicks, in an effort to rebuild through the N.B.A. draft and free agency, appear to have officially given up on this season. They’re an unthinkable 5-32, and on Monday night they traded away J. R. Smith and Iman Shumpert, leaving a roster that might struggle against an N.B.A. Development League team.

So the Sports department’s editors feel it is only merciful to give our Knicks beat writer, Scott Cacciola, a break from such woeful basketball. He deserves to see the game played at a higher level. For the next month or so, we would like to point him to some good, quality basketball, wherever it may be. Any suggestions?

Maybe there is another N.B.A. team that warrants his attention, or perhaps a high school or college squad. For that matter, maybe you know of a strong coed team at your local Y that Scott should write about. Tell us where to send him. Submit your ideas in the comments section.

The hope is some local team will step up, whether it is high school college or even some men’s league at the YMCA. People are being encouraged to send in suggestions, and perhaps see Cacciola on the sideline with pen and paper in hand.

Give the New York Times credit here. One of the most respected and revered newspapers in the country is having some fun with a source of angst and embarrassment among its readership. Hell, if the Knicks could show a pulse every once in a while, the paper would not have this opportunity. Instead, New York is the worst team in the NBA with a lovely 5-32 record, also a franchise-worst through 37 games.

The amazing thing is that media outlets are still forced to cover this massacre of the sport on a nightly basis because the fans care so much. Madison Square Garden is sold out every night, despite the Knicks having their proverbial doors blown off by the middle of the second quarter. The last time the organization had any real pulse was in the 1990’s during the Patrick Ewing days, and yet the Mecca of basketball is still packed to capacity every night.

New York deserves much, much better. Kudos to the Times for landing a blow every New Yorker can be proud of.

[New York Times]

About Matt Verderame

Matt Verderame, 26, is a New Yorker who went to school at the frozen tundra of SUNY Oswego. After graduating, Verderame has worked for Gannett and SB Nation among other ventures.