Dark Sky
Player and mom rip former school, but doubts linger

VALHALLA, N.Y. - Sky Lindsay and her mother Amelia finally cleared the air. Moreover, they minced no words.
The former Christ the King star, who mysteriously missed the team's entire postseason, spoke out for the first time this weekend at the Empire State Games, where she helped the women's open team earn a bronze medal.
So did her outspoken mom, Amelia Lindsay.
Sky Lindsay, who is on campus at St. John's taking classes and participating in open gym workouts, claimed she missed the end of the Royals' season due to a back injury - the result of a hard fall on a flyer in front of her Brooklyn home - and accused CK Coach Bob Mackey of asking her to play hurt.
&#8220I don't know what to say,” Sky Lindsay said. &#8220I was at the games. … I was there to support them, I wish I could've played, but I wasn't able to.”
Well, she was at one of them, the CHSAA Class AA State semifinals against St. Michael Academy, one of many playoff games her mother was openly cheering on the Royals' opposition. When CK's string of 17 straight state titles ended, against St. John the Baptist, Sky Lindsay was not there, but Amelia Lindsay was again rooting against the Middle Village school.
Her mother said Mackey &#8220begged” her to allow Sky Lindsay to play with back spasms, and took further aim at the proud program and dignified coach. She accused Mackey of favoring the team's point guard, Connecticut-bound Lorin Dixon, and cited that as the reason Dixon was named to the McDonald's All-American game and voted Miss New York Basketball while Lindsay was bypassed.
She also said Mackey opposed his player committing to St. John's, going as far as to not give her recruiting letters he had received on her behalf. Mackey and his top assistant, Jill Cook, were passed up for assistant jobs when Coach Kim Barnes Arico took over the Red Storm program five years ago, which is where the resentment comes from, Amelia Lindsay claimed.
&#8220They did not want her to go to St. John's,” Amelia Lindsay said. &#8220They do not want anybody from Christ the King to go to St. John’s.
&#8220I will advise nobody to go to Christ the King,” she spewed. &#8220Save your $6,000. If you go there, you better have your eyes and your ears open.”
&#8220The relationship is over,” Sky Lindsay said of Mackey.
Of course, there is another side to this story. Amelia Lindsay refused to disclose the name her daughter's doctor to The Queens Courier, calling it &#8220family business.” Additionally, Mackey, a dean at CK who works in the attendance office, denied receiving any of her phone messages regarding any injury after it supposedly occurred, never mind asking her to play hurt.
&#8220That's an absolute lie,” he said. &#8220The school did no such thing.”
&#8220Mr. Mackey would never ask any of us to play hurt,” Dixon said. &#8220He would have us sit out. He looks out for our best interests.”
Furthermore, one parent of a female basketball player at Christ the King who spoke on condition of anonymity cited several stories involving Amelia Lindsay that puts her credibility into question. The parent was present for the last practice Sky Lindsay attended, coincidentally on the eve of her ill-fated injury.
The session came on the heels of the awards nominations, and ended with Sky Lindsay walking out of the gym saying, &#8220Let me see your All-American win it without me.”
&#8220I think it had a lot to do with that,” Dixon said. &#8220Everything was fine until the All-American thing came out.”
The parent painted Amelia Lindsay as an out-of-control, ego-driven &#8220soccer mom,” who was prone to confrontation and using expletives in public. The parent recalled one such example during a Mary Louis-Christ the King game when Amelia Lindsay threatened to take a swing at a rival fan after being asked to lower her pom-poms, telling the spectator, &#8220I'll hurt you.”
&#8220She has a few screws loose,” the parent said. &#8220There is seriously something wrong with this lady. She is just nuts. This is not normal behavior for a parent. Everybody in the basketball world knows she is crazy. When she says something, you go ‘okay, it's coming from Ms. Lindsay. It doesn't hold any water.' ”
It all adds intrigue to the upcoming Big East season and others in the near future, when Sky Lindsay and St. John's will meet UConn and Dixon. Amelia Lindsay ripped the program and Dixon for being unable to repeat as state champs without her daughter. Now comes the ultimate litmus test - who will become the better college player? &#8220The real test,” Mackey said, &#8220is now.”