Brian Windhorst is sharing some new details this week on his harrowing recent experience with fans in New York.
The ESPN personality Windhorst appeared Tuesday on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast. During the episode, Windhorst spoke about being confronted on the streets of New York following the New York Knicks’ second-round playoff victory over the Boston Celtics.
Windhorst said that the incident was actually worse than what was seen in viral videos that circulated online. In particular, Windhorst said that fans got physical and put their hands on him. Windhorst described those fans as “hooligans” who were not actually true Knicks fans.
“The truth is, that there is other footage that apparently is not going to become unearthed where hands were put on me,” said Windhorst, per Awful Announcing. “Nothing serious happened. People put their hands on me and I had to shove their hands off and I basically jaywalked across 35th Street to get away.
“I was never in serious danger,” Windhorst added. “But it was not a pleasant experience at 12:35 in the morning. Those were not Knicks fans. Those were not the same people that I saw two hours earlier, enjoying one of the great moments in the Garden of most of their lives. So I don’t equate the two things.”
The veteran journalist Windhorst was slow to give credit to the Knicks during their series against the Celtics, drawing the ire of many New York fans. As a result, he was accosted with loud profanities by a fan while walking back to his hotel from Madison Square Garden after the Knicks’ series-clinching Game 6 win (video here).
Days later, another video emerged from the same incident showing that other fans in the area were also pelting Windhorst with cans and other objects as he was walking past. But it turns that wasn’t even the full extent of the rough-housing that Windhorst received that night. Now with the Knicks down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Indiana Pacers going into Thursday’s Game 5 at Madison Square Garden, Windhorst will probably be hoping that is the last time this season that New York gets to host a playoff game.
