Designated sitters

Elaine Goldhill

Knicks season ticket holder since 1970

Can you remember your first game?
Oh, God. It was in the old Garden on Eighth Avenue. My husband and I were newly married. We loved basketball and started going more and more—that’s when we became season ticket holders. It was much less expensive back then, about $20 a game. Then they went up to 40 some-odd dollars…and now!?! I’m not even going to discuss it.

So having season tickets doesn’t get you a discount?
Absolutely not. It gives you the honor of buying very expensive tickets to see the game.

Where are your seats?
First level off the floor. When seats are available, they’ll offer them to people who’ve requested better ones, so we’ve gotten better seats twice in a hundred years. Er, it seems like a hundred years. We’re in the club section, which is nice. I can see every foul!

What’s your take on the Knicks’ recent bad press?
I’d have to hear a little more than what I read in the paper to make a judgment call. I’ve never seen anything indicating that Isiah Thomas is a rough person. He seems to be a class guy.

What’s the most exciting moment you’ve seen?
It was the playoffs of 1970. Willis Reed was captain and had been injured, and the whole city just thought it was over for the Knicks because he was the best player in the league. The night of the game, they’re announcing the lineup—and he comes hobbling out of the locker room! I couldn’t even breathe I was so excited. I knew they’d win! I knew it. The Garden went wild. We were all screaming. I’m married to a fairly conservative doctor. You ought to have heard him yell! I’ve never heard him yell like that in all my years of marriage. It was wonderful. Wonderful.

What was the biggest downer?
When Ernie Grunfeld [general manager] was replaced [in 1999], they made some unfortunate trades and the team didn’t work as a team. There have been years of expectation and disappointment. I’m always waiting for Willis Reed to come out. I guess I’m waiting for that every playoff season.