Huntress

New York Daily News:

Fired Knicks VP puts Rangers' sex book in play

She's going one on one with the Knicks, but Anucha Browne Sanders may know something about a little black book that could have New York Rangers executives skating on thin ice.

The fired Knicks honcho claims she told her Madison Square Garden bosses in 2005 that members of the Rangers' front office were keeping a Kama Sutra wish list they would like to try out on members of the team's on-ice cheerleading troupe, her lawyer says.

"Ms. Browne Sanders received information from her staff . . . that there had been some book being maintained by some Rangers executives," lawyer Kevin Mintzer told Judge Gerald Lynch.

Mintzer said the book "reflected sexual positions and things like that that they were interested in keeping track of versus what they wanted from what skater."

He added that Browne Sanders "was aware from one of her staff members that supposedly the book existed."

That kind of recordkeeping could boost the chances of a second sex harassment case in which a former Ranger cheerleader is facing off against Madison Square Garden brass.

In that suit, Courtney Prince, former captain of the Rangers City Skaters, claims she was fired after complaining to her bosses about X-rated come-ons by members of the team's public relations staff.

The Garden has denied her allegations; a spokesman declined to comment yesterday.

The revelation came during a break Wednesday in Browne Sanders' testimony in the bruising $10 million sex harassment trial pitting the team's former marketing director against coach Isiah Thomas and Garden Chairman James Dolan.

Garden lawyers immediately objected to airing the Rangers' dirty laundry at the Knicks trial.

"The Rangers situation has nothing to do with Ms. Browne Sanders," Garden lawyer Ronald Green said. "It's a different team."

Lynch barred Browne Sanders from detailing the salacious allegation.

She was allowed to tell jurors about the indifferent reaction she got when she brought the information to Garden President and Chief Operating Officer Steve Mills.

"One of my employees, Petra Pope, brought something to my attention with regard to the sexual harassment claims by Courtney Prince at the Rangers, so I wanted to make Steve aware of it," Browne Sanders testified Wednesday in Manhattan Federal Court. "He [Mills] just shook his head."

Browne Sanders claims she got similar reactions when she came to Mills with complaints that Thomas referred to her as a "bitch" and a "ho" and that star guard Stephon Marbury lobbed similar profanities about her behind her back.

Mills' duties included oversight of the Rangers.

Prince's claims are slated to be aired before jurors in the same courthouse early next year.

Last year, she told the Daily News she had to arrange for skaters to "have drinks with the bosses and guests" at bars near the Garden as part of their job.

The bosses repeatedly asked, "Who's loose?" and "Which is the wild one?" Prince said, adding that one even told her "whom he wanted to perform oral sex on" and "who to have sex with from behind."

Garden lawyers have attacked Prince's allegations by saying she tried to impose her sexually obsessed behavior on members of the Rangers skate team.

They say she coached fellow skaters to pad their bras and use explicit terms to describe their anatomy and encouraged them to appear more "f---able."

Pope is central to another of Browne Sanders' damaging claims against Thomas, the Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champ. Browne Sanders told lawyers in a pretrial deposition that Thomas asked Pope to flirt with referees before a 2004 Nets game.

"What she told me was that Isiah asked her to go into the referees' locker room and make them happy," Browne Sanders said. "I asked her to tell me what that meant, and she said, 'Well, he wanted me to flirt with the referees.' "

Thomas claimed he asked Pope, a longtime friend from his days playing with the Detroit Pistons, to check in on the referees after he took over the team in 2003 because Garden management had treated them poorly in the past.

Browne Sanders takes the witness stand again Monday, when Thomas' lawyers will cross-examine her. Both sides say there will not be a settlement.

You go, girl.

Back when Whoopi Golberg used to be funny, I remember a monologue she did about Loretta Bobbett:

"O.K., I want y'all to know that I don't condone what she did to her husband, no matter how much the asshole deserved it," she said. After a few seconds, a demonic smile slowly grew on Whoopi's face before she laughed out loud and added, "But I understand. Most women do. Even better, although I know it's wrong, it feels damned good to see guys going around being uncomfortable, being nervous, being scared. Why? Because that's how women feel all the time. It's fear, and that fear is a big part of our lives all the time."

Whoopi was silent for a moment. Then she said quietly, "How does it feel, guys?"

I wouldn't be surprised if Ms.Saunders saw that scene in Chinatown where Faye Dunaway coldly says to Jack Nicholson, "I don't get even, Mr. Gittes. My lawyer does."

No, Ms. Saunders isn't using a knife, but by the time this trial is over, the corporate rapists at Madison Square Garden will probably wish she did. Good. What's tying everybody's jockstraps in a knot is the fact that the former vice president of the New York Knicks is refusing to play the Blame The Victim game.

First of all, Anucha Browne Sanders understood from the beginning that it was a lose-lose situation. Offices, factories, and retail stores shouldn't be hostile snake pits of inequitable gender politics. But they are. By the sadistic rules of the armed penises who are either wearing Timberland boots or hiding behind their Armani suits, women are sluts if they say "yes", and whores if they say "no". (Not that the word "No" is in their dictionary, of course) A woman's status is dictated not by her intelligence but by her looks. Women are expected to ignore the inappropriate touching, pretend not to hear the misogynist insults, and not do anything when the raises and promotions they deserve are consistently given to somebody else [men].

So now we're supposed to feel sorry for the MSG honchos crying "Foul!" because Ms. Saunders is fighting back, and she's not playing fair?

How does it feel, guys?