New York Knicks Fan Suffers Heartache by Attending Every Game This Season
Dennis Doyle is foregoing law to watch and write about the New York Knicks.
— -- A former New York lawyer has decided to attend all Knicks games, home and away, this season -- all 82 of them.
So far, the team has lost 39 games and won just 10. He has more than two months to go before the end of the regular season.
"I never expected the team to be as bad as they’ve been this year," Dennis Doyle, 32, told ABC News today. "I thought there was a chance. I’m not completely surprised but it’s been difficult to watch the team this year."
But apart from the basketball, things have been "great," he said.
"It’s tiring. Maybe that’s not something I expected –- the physical exhaustion from doing this. On the whole, I don’t have too many regrets," he said.
The title of his blog is "The Oakman Cometh," in honor of his favorite former player, former Knicks star Charles Oakley.
Doyle was let go from his job as a lawyer after studying architectural engineering at Tufts University and getting a J.D. from Georgetown University. Then he finally decided to pursue his passion for writing, the Knicks and travel all in one. He became a season-ticket holder for the first time and now sits faithfully in section 220, row 3, seat 23.
He projects he'll spend below his $25,000 budget for food, accommodations and travel costs, drawing from his savings and an investment account from 1990 that his dad opened after Doyle's grandmother died.
His best travel experience was the Knick's exhibition game in London, where he spent a week as a tourist.
"Seeing a basketball game over there is a pretty unique experience, even though it was an awful game," he said.
Doyle, who grew up in Katonah, New York, said he's been a fan of the Knicks since he was 11-years old when he was swept up in the 1993-1994 season.
"That was the year that did it for me," he said.
But this is the first season that he's been a season ticket holder.
His favorite basketball game so far? LeBron James' homecoming game in October, in which the Knicks won 95-90 in Cleveland.
"Back then I was thinking, the Knicks could be a good team. At that point, I was blissfully ignorant," he joked.
Doyle's friends and family have been enthusiastically supportive of his journey.
Another highlight has been hearing from other Knicks fans from around the world, who invite him to stay at their place, want to meet up for a drink, or just commiserate.
"A lot of people have come out of the woodwork to show moral support, which has been really appreciated," he said.
After the season ends in April, Doyle said he hopes to pursue a book about the experience.
"I would like to keep writing and see where it takes me," he said. "That’s been the central theme of doing this -– not necessarily plotting out what’s going to happen in the future but following what really interests me, what I feel passionate about and seeing where it leads."
