If I were a rich man …

I don’t think I’d want to own a ball club. Writing fat checks to fellas who feel it beneath them to run to first or to catch with both hands — no matter how many easy outs they have dropped — and to sportsmen such as Draymond Green and Pacman Jones who would commit any incivility it takes to lose playoff games, doesn’t strike me as money well worn or well spent.

But if I did own a team, I know what I would want — insist upon — from my TV and radio announcers. I would demand what all the other team owners, for some senseless reason, disallow: unvarnished honesty.

There is no better public reflection on a team owner than treating his or her team’s fans, customers and even casual viewers and listeners with respect, especially those in the audience who would know they’re being treated as saps. And if I, the team owner, deserve a shot, fire away!

There is no downside to attaching your team to honest broadcasts. Who wouldn’t want to be known for providing candid TV and radio coverage? Heck, that one owner would stand out like the one light in the dark. How does such a smart approach escape the wisdom of fabulously wealthy team owners?

Since riches-inherited James Dolan first touched down in The Garden — 1995, the year after the Rangers won the Cup and the Knicks made the finals — MSG Network has been converted from a highly credible stop to an often-preposterous and frequently insulting propaganda mill.

Last week, on both MSG Network and MSG’s website, appeared “MSG Countdown,” this one providing a timeline of exciting, memorable — even if forgotten — successful achievements by Knicks in the 21st century.

Included are big scoring nights from Carmelo Anthony, the night the Knicks, still long-range-reliant, hit 20 3-point shots, and the time Kurt Thomas played with a broken foot.

However, the singularly most unexpected, extraordinarily exciting and successful 21st-century Knicks happenstance was omitted: Those three weeks when an undrafted scrub who was about to be cut, Jeremy Lin, took an injury- and star-depleted team and turned the Knicks and New York City and its environs into Holy Mackerel Land, those three weeks when “Linsanity” erupted with an all-in, run-and-pass offense that led to countless uncontested layups and an 8-15 team winning seven straight and eight-of-nine — including wins against the far more talented Lakers, Jazz and Mavericks.

From Feb. 4 through Feb. 29 (2012 was a leap year), New York City went Linsane. And while it’s impossible to forget what by far was the most exciting, successful thing about this century’s Knicks, it didn’t make MSG Network’s cut.

The night when Tim Hardaway scored 29? That was deemed a keeper. Lin’s 38 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals against the Lakers? Nope, not included. And that’s sad, sick and insulting.

It was no coincidence that the Linsanity outbreak was due to Anthony’s absence. The Dolan Knicks had thrown in with Anthony’s style — give him the money, then the ball, let him shoot, everyone else just loiter off to the sides — which was antithetical to what Lin’s style brought for three fantastic weeks.

So not only did Lin and five-man-go basketball have to go, Dolan’s MSG Network has made him disappear in the hope that we’ll forget and continue to regard Anthony as savior-in-still-waiting.

Surely, such blatant, dishonestly twisted revisionist history carries the mark of Dolan, or at least of MSG Network employees avoiding the risk of his wrath. Jeremy Lin? Linsanity? It never happened. Got that, stupid? Never.

Van Gundy forcing himself into a corner

ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy brings to mind the gag about the bum who knocks on the old woman’s back door. “Lady, I haven’t had a bite to eat in two days,” he tells her. “Well, force yourself!” she says.

Too often Van Gundy speaks as if he wants to make a splash, come across as bold, thus he forces himself.

In the first half of Game 5, LeBron James, driving toward the hoop, lowered his shoulder and shoved the Warriors’ Anderson Varejao backwards and eventually to the ground. The ball was deflected out of bounds, no call, although Varejao mimed James’ act as worthy of an offensive foul. As a replay began, Van Gundy:

“I think it was [an offensive foul]. But if I’m the referee, I agree. I can’t, I gotta know that he’s not tricking me. And no, he’s falling backwards. Stand up and play!”

Bold stuff!

So Van Gundy very clearly saw it both ways. It was an offensive foul, but the fact that Varejao, after the contact, fell, made it what? Not an offensive foul?

By the way, for those snoring at home, the fourth quarter of Game 5 began on a Monday night at 11:17. That, and the fact that Mike Francesa authoritatively gave the underdog Cavaliers no chance to win on the road made further watching unnecessary.

Stats not the way to do it

Of the two Ken Singletons, I prefer the one who looks at the games, not at the stats.

Tuesday on YES, when Rockies left fielder Gerardo Parra was injured after colliding with shortstop Trevor Story on a fly ball, Singleton smartly reasoned that Colorado’s infielders aggressively pursue such flies because the outfielders at home run haven Coors Field play so deep.

The next day, Singleton went into a dissertation on Yankees starter Ivan Nova’s great statistical success versus NL teams as opposed to Rockies starter Chad Bettis, who had been blasted by AL teams. Singleton spoke as if they normally pitch in two different worlds.

Yet both teams’ lineups included batters who had played for a long time in the other league. Colorado had Mark Reynolds (Indians, Yankees, Orioles) and Ryan Raburn (Tigers, Indians); the Yankees played Starlin Castro (Cubs) and Chase Headley (Padres). Even the umpires are now homogenized.

Singleton’s AL versus NL emphasis gave importance to team names and logos appearing on uniforms rather than how well one pitches. And on this day, despite their previous “other league” experiences, Bettis, the winning pitcher, pitched better than Nova.

Any stat, any time. During Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, NBC posted this graphic: “PIT: 6-1 record following a loss in 2016 playoffs.”

Not only did such info stand to reason — the Penguins, after all, didn’t make it this far on losing streaks — what NBC chose for a national audience’s illumination wouldn’t be shared by hockey fans with other hockey fans, because the speakers would be looked upon as idiots.