Devoted fandom at the core of Knicks’ fabled celebrity row

Even 40 years later, the question always struck William Goldman as odd. Goldman first started going to Knicks games at the Old Garden, the one on 50th and Eighth, but it was after the new Garden was built 17 streets downtown that he decided to buy season tickets.

“By then, you had to,” Goldman explained one night in 2010, courtside in his usual seat location. “If you didn’t you had to watch the game on TV. Or, more likely, listen on the radio. Now, Marv Albert was a wonderful option. But I liked being there.”

It was that latter sentiment that made the decision easy for him a few weeks past 56 years ago, the night of April 6, 1970 — so easy that he laughed those 40 years later when asked if he ever gave his decision a second thought.

“Are you married?” he asked.