The Knicks just announced that Isiah Thomas -- whom you might remember -- has been named a "part-time consultant" for the team. We don't have the foggiest idea what this means. First off, Isiah is still being paid by the Knicks, just like he was last year. (Though the last two years he has been paid to stay away.) Also, he's staying on as coach as Florida International, which must mean Thomas is a skilled multitasker and telecommuter. He's apparently just being a "talent evaluator," with no "official" duties. Apparently, helping get Amar'e Stoudemire here got him this new "gig;" it seems players like and admire Isiah more than everyone else does, which makes sense, considering how much money he's given players over there years for doing little to nothing. On the surface, this seems relatively harmless ... but this is Isiah we're talking about here. If Eddy Curry suddenly gets a 10-year extension, you know why.

The MSNBC host will no longer appear on NBC's lead-in show to Sunday Night Football. According to SportsbyBrooks, the decision to finally pull up this one of the cable host's last sports roots was not related to his political views. [SportsbyBrooks]

Said the Giants' defensive end to the News' Gary Myers, on the subject of which New Jersey–based football team owns New York City: "If I was in the Jets' position and kind of playing second fiddle to us as many years as they have, I think I would try to do something different, too. You can't fault them for that." By "something different," he means a quotable coach, a training camp full of HBO cameras, and of course, a 2009 season worth remembering — something the Giants certainly can't claim. "Listen, when they win the Super Bowl, I'll relinquish our hold on New York City," said Tuck. (Actually, Tuck concedes that this is a Yankees town right now, and also Mike Bloomberg's town, but that's comparing apples to oranges to billionaires.) Tuck's probably right: The Giants did just win a Super Bowl three years ago, and it'll take more than one Jets playoff run — or more than one hugely disappointing Giants season — before they regularly overshadow the Giants, in whatever subjective way these things are measured. (It can't hurt, though, that the Jets no longer play in a building with the Giants' name on it.) In any case, it's kind of nice to see a player take so much pride in his team that he'd join the fray on the kind of debate usually confined to sports talk radio and, you know, blog comment sections. [NYDN]

Last night, we had another Umpire Controversy. These used to be referred to as "bad calls," but now they're controversies: They're the newest reason Baseball Is Falling Apart. (People always need a reason baseball is falling apart; people's persistence at grousing why the game isn't as great as it used to be is part of the game's charm.) In this one, the Florida Marlins lost to the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 in ten innings, but they could have won in the bottom of the ninth; Gaby Sanchez lined a seemingly fair ball down the third-base line, but umpire Bob Davidson called it foul. (We think Davidson's call was wrong, but the play was a lot closer than the screaming Marlins announcers would have you believe.) This has led the strange umpire crucifixion ritual that is new to this season, the treating of every blown call as if it were Don Denkinger, as if every regular-season game was the World Series. Bob Davidson, Jim Joyce, Phil Cuzzi ... have you ever known so many umpire names before? Have you ever seen so many umpires forced to publicly defend their calls after games? Umpires — lonely, underpaid men who spend their whole adult lives on the road, being called horrible names by strangers — are our sacrifice, roasted on a spit as we pray to the instant-replay gods. We understand that outrage is building so that its momentum will bring us the robot umps we all want and deserve. But you still feel bad for the men in blue who find a new reason to be screamed at every night.

Any minute now — if he hasn't, already, on some sort of social-networking device — shooting guard Shannon Brown will announce he's returning to the Lakers rather than signing with the Knicks. It's difficult to blame him: The Knicks offered him a one-year deal for $2.7 million — so they wouldn't mess with the next round of free-agency begging — and the Lakers just won two titles and have a rather solid shot at a third. We're a little surprised Brown was even considering leaving. Anyway, HoopsWorld said yesterday that Carmelo Anthony won't be signing an extension with the Nuggets this summer, so hey, guys, this season, the Knicks get to be a little better and still have likely unrealistic hopes for the future. Win-win? Yes? Who's with us? Roger Mason Jr., that's who.