Peter Vallone Jr. (Photo: New York City Council)

Thanks to the ongoing contract dispute between Time Warner Cable and the ownership of the New York Knicks, Councilman and social media enthusiast Peter Vallone Jr. wasn't able to watch Jeremy Lin play at his house last night. Despite missing the basketball game, Mr. Vallone didn't lose his sense of humor and he posted a somewhat politically incorrect joke on his Facebook wall this morning.

"so since i cant see jeremy lin on cable because MSG wants a 53% increase, i did the next best thing and took my daughters to applebees last night and had the 'sizzling asian' special," he wrote.

After some of his Facebook friends took umbrage at his remarks, Mr. Vallone refused to back down. He penned a defiant response on the site about an hour ago.

"to the few of you who thought my applebees post was insensitive, i'm sorry...that you have no sense of humor. please de-friend me (i need the space) so you are not traumatized by any future posts. you apparently have me confused with other politically correct electeds,"  Mr. Vallone wrote.

Mr. Vallone's crack about the Applebee's "sizzling Asian" special drew 43 comments, two of them negative.

"That's a culturally insensitive, ignorant comment. Not funny at all, especially from an elected official that's supposed to represent a community with dignity, respect and professionalism," wrote a Facebook friend who calls themselves "Astoria Haiku."

Civil rights lawyer and political pundit Ron Kuby also weighed in with a more balanced take on Mr. Vallone's posting.

"Actually it is quite insensitive, but quite funny," he wrote. "Don't ever change and don't ever get more power then you have now."

In addition to his request that easily offended Facebook users to unfriend him, Mr. Vallone's response to his detractors included a joke about his Italian ancestry and cheers for Mr. Lin.

"i'm going back to applebees now to have the "italian special" to make me feel better. and damn i hope jeremy continues his va-LIN-tine week gift to NYC!!"

Here at The Politicker, we love Mr. Vallone's candid Facebook posts, but he may want to be a bit more careful about angering the Asian community. Mr. Vallone is currently considering a run for borough president in Queens where over 20 percent of the population is Asian.

(Photo: Getty)

After a press conference announcing a dean for the city's new tech campus, Mayor Michael Bloomberg fielded multiple questions about his enthusiasm level for New York Knicks sensation, Jeremy Lin.

Mr. Bloomberg was hardly enthusiastic when asked whether he's in the throes of the famous "Linsanity" gripping fans throughout the five boroughs.

"Do not own a sports team, that's my only advice," he concluded after comparing the Knicks most recent records to the Nets'.

The same reporter persistently asked Mr. Bloomberg about Linsanity later in the press conference. As she threw out the question for the second time, Mr. Bloomberg playfully quipped, "Way to go."

"I listen to Bloomberg radio in the morning and I have a smile on my face when I hear the Knicks won and I think it's great that he's one of the members of the team," he responded. "He's the star at the moment, everybody's attention is at him. But there's a whole team of players and they all have to participate for the team to win."

He also took exception to some of the hysteria surrounding Mr. Lin in the media.

"The thing I found the most strange is some sports column that said 'He came out of nowhere,'" Mr. Bloomberg finally stated. "If Harvard University is 'nowhere' in this country, we have a really big problem."

Watch Mr. Bloomberg reflect on Linsanity below:

Larry Seabrook (Photo: Facebook)

Federal prosecutors are preparing to retry Bronx Councilman Larry Seabrook in June on charges of bribery, money laundering and fraud after a mistrial in December. In the meantime, Mr. Seabrook doesn't want to talk about the case against him.

"Oh, I'm not going to talk about that," he told The Politicker after Comptroller and likely 2013 mayoral candidate John Liu's State of the City address at City College today.

However, our conversation with Mr. Seabrook didn't end there.

We pressed on and asked the councilman if he felt confident about his chances of acquittal.

"I'm not going to talk about that," he said.

Mr. Liu is also dealing with legal troubles, one of his fundraisers was indicted yesterday on fraud charges for allegedly using a system of "straw donors" to funnel $16,000 in illegal contributions to Mr. Liu. Both Mr. Seabrook and Mr. Liu have come under fire in the press for their scandals. We inquired whether Mr. Seabrook felt they have been mistreated by the media.

"John Liu had a fantastic speech, it was a fantastic speech, a good speech of what John Liu has had," Mr. Seabrook said. "I won't make those decisions about that, you're a better judge of that than me, but John Liu had a fantastic speech."

Mr. Seabrook may have enjoyed Mr. Liu's speech, but he's not ready to endorse Mr. Liu or any of the other probable 2013 mayoral candidates.

"I haven't even thought about that," he said.

Though he clearly wasn't in a chatty mood, there was one topic Mr. Seabrook was glad to discuss. We asked what he thought about Jeremy Lin, the Knicks point guard who recently sparked a seven game winning streak, citywide media frenzy and was a major motif in Mr. Liu's speech.

"I think he's a fantastic, phenomenal player and he shows what teamwork is all about," Mr. Seabrook said. "You win when you do teamwork in basketball."

John Liu

Embattled Comptroller and likely 2013 mayoral candidate John Liu started off his State of the City address today with a "shout out" to pioneering Chinese-American New York Knicks phenom Jeremy Lin.

"I'd like to give a shout out to someone who is not here in body, but he's on everybody's minds, a guy who's been carrying the Knicks for the last couple of weeks; Jeremy Lin," Mr. Liu said to a huge round of applause. "A Harvard graduate, he's on the cover of Sports Illustrated and the guy gets great headlines in the New York Post. I've got to get some tips from him."

Mr. Lin sparked a media frenzy after coming off the bench to lead the Knicks on a seven game winning streak. His rise has included a series of memorable front pages in the city tabloids.

Mr. Liu hasn't received such favorable press coverage and has been a near daily target in the tabloids.  His speech came against the backdrop of new developments in the fundraising scandal that has damaged his once-promising mayoral ambitions. Yesterday, one of his supporters, Xing Wu  "Oliver" Pan, was indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly employing a system of "straw donors" to illegally funnel $16,000 to Mr. Liu's campaign committee.

Mr. Liu proposed a series of new initiatives in his speech including a hotline, 2-1-2 NO-WASTE, city employees, contractors and residents can use to report waste. At the end of his remarks, he brought up Mr. Lin once again as evidence the city should be willing to try new approaches.

"You never know what potential can be unlocked when new stuff is given a chance," Mr. Liu said. "Just think about what Jeremy Lin has achieved, which would have been unimaginable just a couple of weeks ago."