I mean, Aaron, Glenn, come on, buddy.
Oh, my God. You can't make it up.
Yeah, you just can't make it up. What's happened?
Everybody, By God. I mean, dude, can you at least
pretend that you're awake, that you at least care a little bit
about? It's only like, you know, guys
that you might drafted #2 wow, we'll get to that.
Combines on fire. Sonny Styles is flying up the
board there, which makes it very interesting for everybody
picking in the, I don't know, 2 through 5 or 6 or seven spot.
Anyway, got a lot to do. I want to get to LeBron.
Something I saw yesterday. It's a no rules Friday.
So what we doing a no rules Friday?
Obviously what I'm doing the show.
Yeah, I want to stay on on topic.
I want to stay on point. No rules Friday basically is
your opportunity and J Rod knows this.
He's got the license to do it. When when there's a comment,
just pop it up, even if it's a little bit off topic.
I'm going to bounce around a lot.
We got a lot to do today. But before we do that, so I told
you the other day that two point OBT and Sal live is officially
locked in and it is April 2nd. You guys wanted us to hit Long
Island. We're coming out east here we go
Long Island strong BT and South 2O the live show, the first one
was in New Jersey. Aaron Boone grow through was
phenomenal. Sold out.
This one is a great venue with OK he's, which I know really
well. I spent a lot of time with OK
he's when I was younger and I know Mike's done a bunch of
shows out there in the past with WFAN.
So we have, and I also told you that there was a guest that we
were trying to secure. We have gotten that guest.
And I also told you that when I tell you who it is, it's going
to blow your mind. I'm not going to tell you today
with Sal is on vacation somewhere in the Caribbean.
So he's going to come on my show like I was on his show last
week. He's going to come on the show
either Monday or Tuesday, depends upon when he gets back,
you know, from the beach and from his family vacation.
And we'll announce it together. You are going to love it.
This place is going to be absolutely dripping with energy
and fun. The start of the Yanks of the
Mets season. Speaking of the Mets I put up
it's some other content yesterday dropped yesterday my
old time post 1980s Mets lineup that's up there as well, much
like the Yankees is up there. So if you guys want to dig into
that go get it have a little fun and also and and Jay Ron let me
pop you in for a SEC. I never thought that I would do
this. I really I can't believe I did
it what's up brother? I can't believe that I did this.
I I vehemently protested this. So like they would even say
WFAM. Hey, you guys really got you
guys should really get on TikTok now I'm good like I'm not
getting on Tik. That's not happening.
I'm not doing it. I'm not gonna have it.
I have no interest and in my mind TikTok was always like dumb
videos that I have no interest, you know, watching at this age
and content that is not interesting to me.
I did a little more research that I think it's a great tool
for the show obviously unleashed some great content.
There's some other stuff as well.
So anyway, Long story short, I I opened up a tick tock account.
I forgot though I I don't know Jay, I don't know have you seen
it yet? I don't know if it's under BT
Unleashed or if it's under Brandon Tyranny.
I honestly forgot what I did. I'll try to pull it up now and
then. We cannot let the people know.
But you know, great idea starting the TikTok.
I mean apparently like my brother was showing his friends
the channel the other week and the first thing they said was
got to get on TikTok. I know, I know, you know, I like
to be an independent thinker. I don't like to subscribe to
groupthink, but there are certain things that just make
sense in terms of additional traction for the show and doing
what we are in the process. So doing we'll hit 17,000 Subs
by the end of the weekend and you know that's that's the
number that I'm proud of. That's that's all because you
guys out there supporting the product, supporting me
supporting you know what me and J Rod are doing here.
So that's great. And then obviously, what, when
we get to 20 GS, which we will by the start of the baseball
season, I've got to come up with something fun.
I, I do think at that point something else.
I know I'm hitting you with a lot of, you know, non content
stuff, but I wanted to catch up on a few Hey to no rules Friday.
I'm doing what I want. The I always do what I want
anyway. But the digital store should be
operational, should be up and running by certainly the BT and
South show on April 2nd. Certainly it's, it's our hope,
but it's our, it's our belief that it will be ready for the
start of the baseball season, a Major League season in late
March. So I would think that they'll be
some Unleashed merch over at Mulcahy's.
And then obviously just to finish the thought, once we get
to 20,000 Subs, you know, maybe whomever is actually #20,000,
you know, you get hooked up with a free BT Unleashed hoodie or
mug or maybe a little bit of everything.
So it's going to be a great store.
Different, you know, different colors, different stuff and and
away we go. So all right, let's jump into
the show, man. It is a no rules Friday.
I'll get to the I'll get to the Glen stuff.
I'll get to something on Nolan McClain, something on Giancarlo
Stanton bouncing around a little bit today.
Let's start by bouncing here. All right, now, I, I remember
attacking this, I don't know how long ago it was, but there was
rumblings. And it's not new.
There's been rumblings for a while.
Maybe LeBron James will be interested in joining the
Knicks. And then yesterday, I'm sure you
guys saw this, it got a little bit more traction.
Listen, I always only speak for myself.
So maybe you guys are going to vehemently disagree with what
I'm about to say. And while I'm going to still
speak for myself, I do still feel pretty good loosely
speaking, for the real Knick fans, you know, not those of you
who are oh wow, LeBron at the Garden.
That would be amazing. Oh wow, what a way to captivate
A and and culminate a great career.
I want no part of LeBron James of the Knicks.
Let me be very clear about that. I'm not interested.
Matter of fact, I'll take this step further.
Not only am I not interested, I vehemently oppose it.
Don't want them don't care not interested.
Now I actually think that he's going to wind up with the
Cavaliers. I've always thought that it
would be and and it would be pretty cool from from a just a
basketball storyline point of view.
Go back where you started, go back home, you won the
championship there. You know, that's a team that is
is getting better and better. They got some young bigs,
obviously got Mitchell. They moved on from Garland.
You got Harden. I don't know if LeBron wants to
play with Harden. I don't know that, but it makes
a lot of sense where LeBron and I do think to be fair to LeBron,
it's not that I don't want him with the Knicks because I think
he'd be a ball hog or unable to, you know, acclimate to the
whatever culture the Knicks have or whatever they try to do from
an offensive perspective or defensive perspective.
It's not that it's more personal, quite frankly, just,
you know, just to cut the nut. You know, I am, I am not very
petty in life. Like I don't hold on to grudges.
I really don't. I mean, unless it just crosses a
line that is just irreconcilable, like we can't
fix it. We can't, you know, and, and
thank God, I really haven't had that happen much in my life.
And hopefully that continues. You know, I believe you try to
do right by people that generally people try to do right
by you. Trollers aside, haters aside,
whatever that means nothing in my world.
I really don't care. But like you, it, it takes a lot
for me, either in the sporting sense or just on a more
important human level, day-to-day interaction for me to
write you off, right? That's, that's not how I'm
built. That's not what I'm about.
That's not what I believe. That's not what I espouse to my
kids. You know, keep an open heart,
keep an open mind. I'm not trying to get preachy,
but I want to set this up the right way because I don't want
this to come across as, you know, just blind LeBron hate or
oh, BT can't stand LeBron. You know where I stand on the,
on the GOAT conversation? He's not one.
That's Jordan. He's not even #2 for me, that's
obviously Kareem Abdul Jabbar who gets grossly overlooked and
glossed over for some stupid reason, probably because he
played a long time ago. Whatever, he wasn't a dunker, he
wasn't like fancy and, you know, didn't really jump off the page
like maybe a Kobe who was a killer or even an AI for some of
you guys or Shaq as a you know, as as a big with flair and you
know, and and I don't even think he's as good as magical bird.
That's not really the point. This is not about do I think
that he can make the Knicks better?
I I do, but what I don't want to have happen, right?
And this is going to sound so counterintuitive to what we
think about as sports fans, because if you think about every
conversation that we have, really it's all rooted in
getting to a championship destination.
Like you set the sporting GPS. And, you know, whether it's me
touching on Nolan McLean in a bit or me touching on Jean
Carlos Stantons, you know, flare up with the with the elbow, I
mean, God with the elbows again. And the quote, yes, they can't
open a bag of chips or a bottle of water.
All right, good luck. I mean, let's go in the World
Series with that guy. But every conversation is really
rooted in the ultimate belief or hope or destination of getting
to a championship. So.
And I do think that LeBron would make them a better team because
he's a great passer and I think he'd probably fit in pretty
well. But what I don't want to have to
do, and this is where I admittedly get very petty, I
don't want to have to be beholden to LeBron James for the
rest of my life. Like, if he comes because the
Knicks are not winning a championship this year, you know
how I feel about that. And I think it's going to be a
premature exit. I think that that's going to
lead to massive, colossal offseason changes.
I think there's a good chance Mike Brown's gone.
I think there's a good chance that, you know, a really good
chance they make a serious push for Giannis when they can
recruit more teams and do more things during the summer, blah,
blah, blah. All things we've hit.
But LeBron James, where all of his basketball genius and
greatness had a chance, right? To come to the Garden when we
were at our lowest point and nobody had the balls to do it.
Except the Maurice Stoudemire, who obviously is nowhere near as
good as LeBron. But I've always got respect for
him. A matter of fact, I've got his
jersey hanging in the man cave downstairs, you know, with
Mattingly and with Namath and with Ewing and with some Bobby
Jones, some others golf stuff. And it's not up there because
he's on that same tier in terms of being my favorite player or
being a great, great local player.
For me, it's because he had the gumption to take a swing at
something that basically nobody else wanted, a part of nobody.
The Knicks were toxic, and I understand that.
Dolan was a mess. The roster was a mess.
It was a constant recycling of coaches and GM's and players and
messaging. It was, I mean, the Knicks were
a fucking disaster, as we know, and he didn't want a part of it
and, and I don't begrudge him for that.
But now I don't want you. I don't want you now I don't
want you waltzing in and looking at Madison's with the greatness
of Madison Square Garden, the building itself, the character
and the great ghosts and the great batters that hang in the
rafters there from all the Knicks and all the Rangers to
Billy Joel to Lou Cordaseka. I think Fish is up there for
some. I'm not a fish guy at all.
I remember one time I was dating this girl and she was a big
fish. Fish.
Uh oh, that's not good. No, a female fish fan.
Uh Oh yeah. I just not watch out.
Yeah, no, it didn't last very long by by design there.
But and I remember she actually made a fish tape for us a
million years ago. For you.
Yeah, for me, I never listened to it once.
Like, I don't know, not not not to get off track too much here,
but are you, first of all, you're a big musical guy.
Are you a fish fan at all? I had, listen, I had like my
week. You did like 18.
Yeah. I mean, so my roommate was into
it at the time. He showed it to me.
But then I grew up. All right, well, to me, you
know, fish is is is kind of like Grateful Dead, although 9 layers
below Grateful Dead. I love grateful.
Dead. Well, yeah, Listen, there's a
couple of the songs that I like, the mainstream ones that are
phenomenal, incredible, incredible music.
Legacy, obviously, but you know, it's it's you know, it's the
Stoner, it's the, you know, the lazy, I don't know, the Jesus
sandals, the just sloppy. It's just not me, man.
But and not to disparage you, if that's that, that's your thing.
I got you. So anyway, I checked out a fish
immediately and fish is up there in the rafter somewhere, I
believe. But the point is the garden is
rarefied space. The garden is a even though
there's not many championships there, as we know, the garden is
a is a palace and a collection of everything that is good and
powerful about sport. And I don't need somebody who's
on his last legs going to mid court or right before the game
starts and throw the powder in the air.
Look at me, the self glorification.
I'm not interested. I don't want LeBron.
I'm not I'm not even open. Now you guys can hit me with the
text and I'll start reading some.
Keep that up there, Jake. You can obviously try to
convince me. You can.
You can present your argument or your your rationale.
I'll respect it. I'll just disagree.
There is nothing that anybody in the world could say that will
change my opinion on one thing, LeBron James to come to the
next. I'm not.
I'm not even remotely remotely open and I'm a pretty open
minded guy. Not even remotely open minded
enough to entertain or entice myself with the notion of that
happening. To the point, and this goes back
to what I said before about the counterintuitive nature, like
every conversations about trying to get to a championship, even
if you told me that. And and there was a contract in
front of me right now, right on my old Steve Summers type legal
pad, which is to my right with all my notes, right old school
in that regard. And it said LeBron James will
come to the Knicks and the Knicks will win a championship
and all you have to do is sign it.
I would not sign it. I I would rather go down, I
don't want to say with class, because Lebrons a class he got.
It's not personal in that regard because he's been in the the
guys been in the spotlight for 20 something years.
He's never had one misstep really.
You know, he's a great player. He's a great family person, At
least it appears from the outside looking in, it looks
like he's an incredibly present dad.
Look, and I I that stuff matters to me.
I don't want him now. And it just goes back to the
simple thought and and and you know, me not forgetting me not
being so desperate where when I was desperate and LeBron could
have helped and save us and elevate us at the height at the
apex of his superpowers, LeBron snubbed, snubbed his nose at us.
I don't forget that stuff. So not interested.
You might be interested. I am not all right inside the
MLB. What's going?
But I appreciate that. Let's get the text rolling here
on a no rules Friday. BT what's up?
This is just is this just a New York show or will you be talking
more macro specifically when baseball returns?
Great question. I'm actually really happy that
you asked that. It is a it is an
all-encompassing show that's obviously going to be rooted in
local stories. But you know, like, I'm not
going to get on the air and I'm trying to give you a good
example here, like a week into the baseball season and ignore
Otani or ignore some of the good stories that that.
I mean, I, I love baseball, so I'm going to include a lot.
Football's obvious going to be as macro and as national as it
could be. Same with college football.
College hoops will slant a little more towards St.
John's, obviously. But when we get to the big
dance, that'll change. I think, you know, any big
transformative trade in the NBA or any of the other sports, it
will always be front and center. So I mean, you, you can, you can
kind of describe it however you want, But you know, big picture,
as we build this out and get more and more and eventually,
you know, I've had sound on as a guest, but start rolling in the
guest and start talking about some different things and and
expanding the parameters of the content.
I don't think that'll sound solely like a or as much of a
local show as it sounds now. So hopefully that answered the
question there. There you go at slay. under
score, kids, slay. What's going on?
LeBron can't win with Luca. How's it going to be with
Brunson? All right, Was the hashtag, Was
the King no longer? He's got a surrender, That
crown, I would imagine. Right.
So, well, I mean #1 let's see how the season plays out.
And again, I don't think the Lakers going to win anything
this year. But yeah, I'm that Luke is also
a horrid defender. He's a chucker.
They don't have enough around those guys to win a
championship. The Western Conference is very
good. They're they're young, they're
they're good teams are very young and very well coached.
So I think that's a little unfair.
I did win with AD, you know, now that was in the bubble and you
want to say, OK, it's a little bit of a different pursuit of a
championship. Sure, unique circumstances,
sure, but it's still a championship.
But I'm not going to take it away.
Like, I, I think it's probably more fair to say that if he and
Luca play together for, you know, they had a good 3-4 year
runway where it didn't happen, then you can make that
definitive claim that all right, it it didn't work out.
Like, you know, I'll just bring it back to the Knicks for a
second here. Like if they don't win this year
and you know, I don't think that they will and they decide to run
it back next year, which they won't with maybe just an
ancillary 7th man or sniper off the bench, whatever.
But if everybody's back, you got Brunson, you got Cat, you got
OG, you got Bridges, you got Deuce back healthy.
Yeah. You find a way to keep Alvarado.
I don't know. I'm missing one or two guys.
Josh Hart, obviously, and and they run it back, you know, for
a year or two. Well, then you can clearly say
this group's not good enough to win.
I don't think it's good enough to win because I've seen enough
evidence to the to the contrary, you know, whether it's defense
or whether it's coaching and coaching with with Mike Brown,
but also coaching with Tom Thibodeau.
I I need to be fair to all the participants involved.
I'm going to need a little bit more than a year or two to, to
make that that definitive claim there, whether it's LeBron or
somebody else. But I have seen enough of the
Knicks. I'm, I'm, I'm rooting, I'm
hoping, but their holes to me are fatal.
So that's how I feel about that. Let me get James 555K.
Jimmy, what's going on? No rules Friday on a leash.
I, I think the people will say they hate LeBron on the Knicks
now, but if it actually happens and you see him in the Garden,
it would be a different story. It would inject a lot of juice
to the team. I don't need an injection of
juice. I I don't, I'm because there's
plenty juice around the Knicks. The Gardens, always the Garden
was sold out when you had Eddie Curry and Quentin Richardson and
a broken down Stevie Francis and a nutty Mulberry on the team.
And can I just say one thing to this?
I don't have this written down. I didn't plan about this.
Just popped in my head. And I hesitate to say it, but I
think it needs to be said. And it's not even really
pertinent to today. But if you watch the Knicks,
you've seen this more and more. Now, one thing that I think
Steve Cohen's done a great, I think Steve Cohen's done a lot
of good things, But one thing that I think is phenomenal is
that he's found the way to connect to the Mets past, right?
So they had the old Timers Day and they got the retired numbers
up there and they connect to the heart of the fan base of the
franchise, which was a very smart move because there was a
disconnect there. The Will Ponds Dodger fans, we
know the story right now. In recent years, the Knicks have
done that as well. Now you always saw, I shouldn't
say always, but you know, you would see Patrick there here,
you know, once in a while Bernard King once in a while.
BK is my all time favorite Nick. You know, Pat's there as well,
but I love Bernard. He's my first favorite Nick.
So Bernard's there. But now you know, you start to
see during some of these big games like you see like 10/12/15
former Knicks and, and again, I know that this is going to sound
harsh and just me, but I, and I don't mean it that way, but I, I
do mean what I'm about to say. Why are all these guys who did
nothing for the team there front and center?
Like, I don't know, Marbury was a great player and I watched him
at Lincoln. Matter of fact, the kid that I
played with and against CYO basketball back in the day,
obviously back in the when the dinosaurs were roaming the
earth, my former teammate and somebody I played against was
Stephon Marbury's backup at Lincoln.
I mean, that's so I really followed that team.
And plus Marbury was amazing at Georgia Tech, Timberwolves,
Phoenix Suns, even with the Nets.
But I mean, when I think Stephon Marbury and the Knicks, all I
think of is bad stuff. There's not one good moment.
There's not one good continuous sequence where I'm like, yeah,
Steph is a nick. I don't want to see Steph
Mulberry there as a Nick. I don't I don't need to see it.
You know, you see these guys yuck in it up.
I mean, by the way, half the time they look like they're out
of their minds, which is which is fun.
I'm not knocking him for that. But if you're going to include
the Knick family, can we at least up the ante a little bit
and and bring in some royalty, you know, keep it limited to
Patrick? You know, let me see Derek
Harper there once, you know, we got to resolve the situation
with Charles Oakley, which at some point, hopefully, we will.
I got no problem with Amore there because Amore was, you
know, as I said before, he came to try to save the Knicks.
And I respect that. And he played hard and his first
year was great, was a baller and his body betrayed him.
Whatever, but some of these other and I know he does some of
the games and and I know he was a good shooter.
I don't need to see Steve Novak there.
I just don't. I don't know.
It just diminishes. I don't know.
I know that that probably sounds whatever, but yeah, it's like, I
don't know. Imagine like if the if the
Yankees were awful forever, like the Knicks were right.
And I I know it's you're watching the game.
You're not courtside. You know, yeah, you can sit on
the right behind the Yankee dugout, but it's not that is
jovial. It's a totally different
experience. But imagine seeing.
Hey, look, Hensley Mullins is celebrating the three run home
run by Aaron Judge. Wow.
It is Steve Sachs.
Oh, wow. You know what I'm saying?
I don't know, it just it just hits me the wrong way.
It just, it really shouldn't bother me to be fully
transparent. Like I know that that it
shouldn't, but it does because I never stopped watching the
Knicks. Like matter of fact, I was doing
a lot of the broadcast back then.
I was doing the pre and the post game show and the halftime show
for, I don't know, 5-6, seven years, whatever it was and
started with Larry Brown and then obviously after that.
And those teams were just wretched, man.
There were a lot of good dudes on like bring back David Leake.
I see David Lease in courtside. You know, I just I'm not going
to believe her anymore, but it's just it bothers me.
All right, at Avery Summit BT what's cooking salary cap wise?
Who is he replacing? Yeah, they'd have to obviously.
And, and I've, I've got a direct answer for you.
If they would have to, they'd have to basically get him to
take a veteran minimum. That's the short answer.
So I would, I'll address it right there.
There's always getting big money and you're not going to get rid
of important pieces to give him big money.
So the only way it would happen is if LeBron took a vet minimum
and you know, maybe that's the crack in the door, like that's
the ray of sunlight. Like if I saw that and he took
truly the veteran minimum and I maybe at that point I could
maybe, maybe, maybe, probably not.
But maybe I could say to myself, all right, man, he really wants
to come here. He's making 1.92.7, but 3.1,
whatever the hell the veteran minimum is because there's no
other way that they can afford him based on their current
finances. So yeah, if you took a small, a
small money deal, the numbers just don't work.
Forget the conversation. Hashtag be real.
I don't think that you need to forget the conversation because
it was somewhat of a newsworthy item.
Thank you for that. But I disagree with the notion
that it was not it was not a pertinent topic or it's not
somewhat plausible to discuss. Like I'm not sitting here
saying, Hey, maybe the Knicks can get Shay, you know, Shay
Gill, just Alexander next year. Hey, maybe that could happen,
you know, or, you know, maybe the Knicks can get Doncic next
year. No, I mean, talking about a guy
who the reports are, the stories are the speculation is, is that
he's done with the Lakers and more so the Lakers are done with
him. You know, and that the the the
wording that I guess the phrasing was he views the
Knicks, the Cavs, and there was one other team, I'm forgetting
who right now of the Warriors that he views as attractive or
potentially attractive or desirable, you know,
destinations to finish out his career.
So I'm not making it up, man. I mean I got nothings to talk
about than to make stupid stuff up at John Horvath 542.
Having LeBron, although still a good player, will be equivalent
to how fans were with a rod. Respect but tired.
I don't agree with this at all and that's just because I know
Alex and friends with Alex. I don't see that at all.
Respect but tired of the antics and glad when he retired.
Well, I mean are you talking about Alex at the end?
Because that I would have to agree with.
It was, it was, you know, it's time for Alex to to move on.
The Yankees were done with him. He was pretty much done with
baseball. You know, his body was betraying
him. The story and and his history
was very, you know, publicly played out.
Yeah. And it did get a little
overwhelming. And when you can't produce the
way he once was with multiple MVPS, by the way, as a Yankee
and. Oh, yeah, yeah.
He basically turned into Reggie Jackson in 2009 to help.
And, you know, him and Matsui. Matsui won the MVP, But Alex was
a freaking beast where his heartbeat finally slowed down
and he went from basically batting, what, 8th or 9th
against the Tigers when Joe Torre dumped them down there?
My God, you remember that to an all time moment and a legacy
that is now clearly defined as a New York Yankee.
You know, I'm not saying there's no complications when you
evaluate what Alex was with the Yanks and you know, the Jeter
stuff and the Tory stuff. And but listen, I've talked to
Alex about this on my show and off the air, and he's been very
transparent about this with the document and with the
documentary. Pardon me, Alex versus a Rod.
And I remember watching it. I remember texting him saying,
dude, I'm so happy you did this because there's certain people,
right? I get to that as well.
Keep that up. There's certain people out there
that are, I think, inherently good, but just trip over
themselves and get in their own way and complicate their own
world and that's Alex. Like to me, Alex is just an
inherently good dude. Cares about kids, cares about
youth baseball, you know, great teammate.
I mean, the guys he played with Canola, I mean that mean or Jeet
or whatever, but those guys love them, right?
Great player. Everybody knows that.
But Alex just made life tougher on himself.
I'll tell you the truth, this is true.
So I don't know how it started. I do actually.
So Sal was out. This was it was during the
summer because I remember when I actually met him for the first
time, it was the the, the day of the MLB trade deadline.
So anyway, so I get a text message during the show.
I'm on the fan and it's somebody who know, I know very well in
the business, friends with known him for a while, very good
friends with Tiki. That's how I know him.
Ron Berkowitz, great PRPR magician, and he really helped
rehabilitate Alex, You know, in terms of the image and the
repackaging and being transparent and being honest and
owning stuff and understanding. Yeah.
I mean, people think some people think what they do because you
kind of made them think that way.
Anyway, the text message, I go to a commercial break and it's
from Burke and he's like, hey, he's like, hit me up after the
show. I got to run something by.
It's pretty important. Anyway, I'm like, yeah, no
problem. And talked to him a little bit.
So I was like, huh, that's pretty interesting.
So I I called him on the way home and he's like, hey, just so
you know, Alex was listening to the show today.
He's a huge fan. He loves you.
He loves BT and Sal. He's listened to you for a long
time. And I'm like, I'm saying to
myself, how much is he really listened?
But that is you get to know how looks like.
There's no detail. He he like, he just immerses
himself in every little tiny granular thing.
So Burke wasn't talking smack anyway.
He said he really appreciated what you said about him on the
show today. He happened to be listening.
And I'll tell you what the topic was in a moment.
He loved to meet up for lunch, take you to lunch.
And I'm like 100% man. No, don't.
No doubt. Now, I'm not thinking that it's
going to really happen. I mean, he owns the T Wolves.
I mean, he's Alex Rodriguez. Why is he going to take me to
lunch? There's a little nobody.
So I was obviously amenable to it, but I just didn't think that
would happen. Anyway, Burke and I go back and
forth and then I think there will yeah, I said, hey, if Alex
is comfortable with it, put him on a text thread with me and you
and we'll get the ball rolling. And then Alex and I can set
things up so you don't have to be involved with 1,000,000 text
messages, right? He's like, alright, So we asked
Alex and then he, he puts us, us, the three of us on a text
message. And then Alex and I kind of step
into our own text and start to develop our own relationship.
So I go into the restaurant he meet he beat me there and he's
with his cousin who's great dude, and he stands up and and
and I've been around him in the in the locker room, not much
because I wasn't really in the Yankee locker room much, but
enough like I knew he was a big dude, even bigger than I
remember, and I'm like 6 two and a half 220.
This guy's a freaking beast, man, still jacked.
Anyway, he stands up to greet and he gives me, you know, like
a a good squeeze, like a little bro hug.
I'm like, I was going to be blast right.
So we're talking about a lot of stuff.
And then he says he had already done his homework and we were
talking about, he tells me voluntarily that he's like, you
know, and I don't, it was very interesting how we went right
there kind of early in the lunch.
I don't even think we'd ordered yet.
And he's, you know, it took me a while to get to a good place,
you know, a lot of, a lot of therapy.
And it really taught me to open up and look in the mirror and
I've got to own some shit and, and change some things.
I'm like, wow, that's awesome, dude.
And he, he actually told the story and he word for word, he's
like, I, I remember back in the day, you called me corny.
He's like, you act and I guess was in the newspaper, something
I, I don't know. And I did because that was when
he was sunbathing in Central Park.
I'm like, this guy's a cornball. He just gets in his own way.
What are you doing, dude? And he remembered that.
That's the kind of research that Alex does.
So anyway, once we got there and, and I and I got to see, you
know, what kind of person he was, we really became friends.
We went to his Christmas party, my wife and me and Sal and
awesome was just texting the other day about something.
And and I say that because I know that was a long winded way
to get there. But the one of the previous text
said, you know, you, you kind of like it to LeBron.
I I don't see it that way at all because look, Alex came here and
willingly move to third base when he was twice as good as I
mean, come on, who's the better shortstop, Alex Rodriguez or
Derek Jeter? And that's what I was talking
about on the air. It Oh, it came up where Jeter
wasn't going to old timers day and I got on him a little bit.
I thought it was weak. You know, I just I know you
don't want to go out there, wear a uniform and and play baseball
to look bad like Joe DiMaggio. All right, fine.
Show up, man. Show up.
You the captain. And it bothered me, right.
So he heard that and I and then I, you know, like I said that
about Derek and then I guess somebody called up and they
said, oh, Jeter couldn't, you know, Alex couldn't shine
Derek's shoes. And that started this snowball.
The phone calls like, and not everybody was, was, was in
agreement with that previous call, but it was about that.
And that's that's the segment that Alex heard.
And and I just I don't think it's any anything close to to
LeBron at all because LeBron will be coming here at the end,
you know, kind of cherry picking a good team.
Alex went there knowing that the Yankees had won in 96 in 98 in
99 in 2000, got to the World Series in O3 should have beat
the Morelands young pitching staff beat him.
Whatever. He wasn't afraid of that
challenge. Like it's almost like Lebron's
trying to beat the savior. And LeBron at this point is on
the 17th hole. Alex wasn't even making the turn
yet in terms of where he was as a professional athlete.
So no long answer. Disagree.
Add Anthony Bolton or Botton 1364.
You know, if LeBron came here even on a vet minimum and they
won, the narrative would be all about him and that he saved the
Knicks. I'll pass on that.
Amen. And that's what I said a month
or so ago when this came up. Yes, I completely agree with
that. And that's what I don't want.
And that's why I use the word beholden.
I don't want to be beholden to that dude coming to save the
Knicks. Oh, look, The king rolled in,
brought the Knicks their first championship since 1973.
Not interested. I'd rather lose with, and I mean
this. I'm not just saying this.
I would rather lose with grace and pride and dignity and not
begging this guy to come save us.
That's how I feel. You might disagree.
That's OK. All right.
So I did the video of Aaron Glenn yesterday is just it's
really one of the most it it it's just I mean, I I don't even
know how to describe it. Dude, you fell asleep at the
fucking combine. You fell asleep.
What and it would be bad enough if the punters were working out
or the kickers or, you know, the action hadn't started yet.
The Jets have the second overall pick.
They just got a horse in the middle, which it at which And I
really like that. I like it.
I like it for Tennessee as well. Go back to Sala, a year
healthier. But The Jets weren't going to
pay Jermaine Johnson, neither would I.
The player they got back has multiple more years of
controllability, was a second round pick, is a whole hell of a
lot cheaper, and addresses a pressing need.
And if you're gonna play a lot more 3/4, which they obviously
are based on the hires they've made, well now that makes a
world the sense. I I love what The Jets did, but
but also if I'm a Titans fan, I'm like, God, I can get behind
this. Either way, the guys that were
working out when Aaron decided to take a little snooze, take a
little nap were guys that I promise you that's the position
The Jets are going to draft. They're not taking a wide
receiver or two. They're not taking an offensive
line. But at 2, you know, as much as I
would be cool with taking Caleb Downs at AT2II, I don't think
that they will so that they're not taking a safety at 2.
They're not taking a tight end to two.
You taking an edge or a linebacker and Sonny Styles,
Joe, you know, very quick aside here.
Very interesting with, you know, I I would be more than OK with
Caleb Downs going to and I've said that for a while.
But you know, and I'm not just falling in love with the
numbers. There was a thought like the
measurables. There was a thought by a lot of
people who follow this and that's all they do for a living
that excuse me, meaning that they watched every snap of Sonny
Styles's career and every snap of the Buckeyes this year where
they really thought, I won't say the majority, but a but a good
amount. He was the best player on the
field on defense, him not downs, nobody else.
It was Sonny Styles. So that's very interesting.
Now you know, Ruben Bain, I think he's dropping a little bit
Short arms. I whatever third shortest arms I
think in the history of any defensive end, whatever the stat
was, you know, and it's bad enough to have short arms if you
got to reach for the check and get the money clip.
You can't be having short arms when you try to disengage with
some 330 LB monster who's trying to push you into the second
level and you try to get around in that that hand manipulation.
I I know, again, I know it sounds like stupid and I
remember who the hell was it? I think it may have been Marcus
Mariota. Yeah, so for about 7 years I did
ATV show on on CBS Sports Network called tops that are the
pregame show. Had a lot of fun doing a good
crew and I worked with with Adam Shine, Amy Trask.
I worked with Bart for two years on TVI think Bart was maybe 3.
My guy Fletch and I love Bart too.
Big Dog London Fletcher, Chris Sims was there a couple of
years, a bit of a rotating a panel of of fantasy people, all
talented. Anyway, one of the really cool
things was because the the Heisman Trophy would be awarded
on Saturday night, New York City.
The studio was in Manhattan and obviously the Heisman Trophy
winners in Manhattan spending the night and then making the
tour, making the rounds the next day.
We would every year that I did the show have the Heisman Trophy
winner come in with the Heisman Trophy, do a segment.
I mean, it was great. I've got to pick.
I'm going to actually find some of these pictures and I'm I'm
going to get them up at some point.
Not today. I'll get him to J Rod.
He'll put him up. I remember meeting Jameis
Winston Baker, Kyler Murray. Who else?
I don't know if this conversation was about Mariota
because then when I come back and I'm I'm doing the show with
Tiki at this point. National, national Radio and I
went up and I put my cause Boomer, we talk about hand size
and ass size and all that stuff. And you want a quarterback with
a thick and Phil Simms loves that.
And if it's good enough for Phil, his quarterback is good
enough for me. Like if you're light in the ass,
that's not good. Zach Wilson Anyway, hand size
matters, right? 10 inches, 10 1/2, whatever it
might be. And I remember going up to
actually, it may have been Baker, now that I think about
it, whomever it was, and actually said, hey, put your
hand up right now. I don't have small hands.
I don't have gigantic hands. They got good enough hands,
right? So I come back and I guess
somebody told Tiki that I did that.
Tiki's like, dude, you, you measuring hands?
What are you doing? Yeah, I'm desperate for a
fucking quarterback. I mean, I'll measure everything
except except one thing. I'll measure.
Take your shoes off. Do what?
Let's go. How big are you?
I'm desperate. I'll measure anything and and
and and it was funny with that, but the the you know, the the
measurables at the combine and I'm into the combine.
I've been watching, I've been reading those guys worked out.
Those were some eye popping off the charts number yesterday,
specifically with styles. But the point is with Aaron it,
you know, again, even if it was a punter or kicker or running
back who The Jets aren't taking in the first round, but somebody
will take love in the first round.
Jets won't. I don't know, I always get on
Woody Johnson, but like like if I'm Woody, I I call him up and
if I'm Mooji, who's been doing some really good things like do
what I mean, come on, man, you can't have the jokes right
themselves like you now the light and I don't even watch
late night shows anymore. I think it's all boring and I
think they all stink right. I used to watch Conan.
I used to love Letterman. I used to watch Leno big Conan
fan by the way. I thought he was the wittiest.
Actually, I know Letterman's perceived to be the best
Carson's before my time. I don't want number one.
I'm just too busy and why am I going to watch it if I could
just see a clip if I want to on social media.
But back in the day, when those shows really mattered, the, you
know, The Jets would just help write the jokes.
And here's another one. I mean, we're trying to escape
being a prisoner of being the punchline.
And when you have the head coach and he's fell asleep, man, this
is not getting hijacked for a second.
You watch it. That's why I started the show
the way that I did. He's like this.
And his eyes are visibly shut while he's looking at the field,
visibly shut. And then they open.
And then he looks around and then he knows, oh, boy, that's,
that's not good. And now he's like, you could
tell what's going through his mind, what's racing through his
mind. All right, you know it.
And it's just, I mean, I, I can't even yell about it.
I'd like to. It's disgraceful.
It's embarrassing. It's on brand, you know, for The
Jets. But we're unkillable here, man.
We're trying to bust out of this.
You know, look what I'm wearing today, my Joe, my, my Joe Kleco
Hall of Fame sweatshirt, you know, from The Jets trip that I,
that I LED, that I, that I had when we went to Canton and Revis
as well. But he left, you know, he left.
So I don't, I don't love the way Revis.
I don't love Revis the way some Jet fans.
So I just don't. I'm sorry.
When you win a Super Bowl with the Pats and you're Darrelle
Revis and then you come back and you're out of shape and you're
slow and you're disinterested. I mean, I could certainly
delineate the two and say Darrelle Revis was the best
quarter that I've ever seen. I know Dionne, I know a few
others. I get it.
That's how good Darrelle Revis was.
But I don't view Revis the same with the same affinity with the
and, and I really didn't even like, I watched a couple of
years of Coleco, but I was young, so I didn't process it
really the way I did with Revis. Obviously, I don't feel the same
way toward Revis that I do with Joe Kleco.
Joe Kleco is a Jet. I don't care that he finished up
one year with the Colts, whatever it was.
Kleco, Jet. I know some of you will disagree
with this, you know. But to me, Revis, Jet, but also
a world champion with the team that I hate and then I'm very
jealous of, to be very honest with you, J Rod is J Rod.
What's up. J Rod, what's up, brother?
By the way, how was dinner with your parents last night?
It was good, very nice, great to see the fam and CT.
Then I had to just like, skirt right back, back down to New
York. But you did.
You did. You did.
Now do you have a car? What'd you do?
You did an Uber train. What'd you do?
Train Metro North. I'm like, honestly, I'm like a
40 minute ride back to my childhood home from Grand
Central. So it's really quick, it's
really easy. Yeah, no, I get it.
I'm just a car guy. Even when I lived in Manhattan,
excuse me, for 9 years, I had a car.
Now I needed, yeah, well, I need to get to St.
John's and I but even and I of course wasted money even back
then paying for the stupid garage.
But I what I would do because I wanted to have a car.
I would play golf a lot on Saturday and was back in the day
every Saturday morning, every Sunday before I'm coaching,
before kids, before I'm married, every Saturday and Sunday I'm
going to play. I'm playing golf.
And even like what I was doing the show with Stephen A or Jody
Mack or myself, I would go, I get off the air, you know, I
take the train up to the Upper West Side, jump on the one or
the 9:00 and then jump in my car and then go over the GW Bridge.
I used to play, I used to play at this course called New York
Country Club quite a bit. Really nice track by the way.
Before. Yeah, nice, very nice course off
the Palisades. Beautiful highway.
No traffic usually. Anyway, I'm a car guy.
Like I just, I'd rather sit and I really mean this.
I would rather sit in traffic for an hour and a half to two
hours with my music or or the ability to make work calls,
business calls and call my parents, whatever and and sit in
my car, sip some coffee, sip some water.
You know my nice, I love my SUV Cadillac guy for years, then sit
on a train and get there an hour and a half faster.
I really isn't that crazy. I'd rather.
I'd rather be. I would.
Yeah, I think it's a fair thing. I think since I've been here
though, I I guess I really have enjoyed the public transport.
I mean, you just see some wacky stuff, so.
Enjoy is enjoy is one way to describe it, yeah.
Troy, I guess I'm it's kind of like because I guess I'm kind of
like a dude. It's like when I go on the
subway sometimes it's like Disney World, like you're going
Oh my God, there's Mickey Mouse. Oh my gosh, there's Elmo.
Like so. Oh my God, there's a splasher
with a with an axe. Exactly on meth, how fun.
But no. The boss.
That's what I've realized. The boss no.
Buff fact the boss. No, go the boss.
That's where the creatures have. Not even about that just I I
like I don't get car sick, but like the smog and just all the
bus God Almighty, the bus. Now I will tell you this.
There's a reason why I have, I'm not going to say an aversion to
public transportation at but that's how I had to get to high
school. So when I when my mind and I
don't know, I did take the train all the time when I lived in
Manhattan. I mean, that's the but you're
drinking, you go, you know, get into the Garden to work, get
into because the Garden, you know, doing the Knicks and St.
John's, but also my old radio station 1050 was at 2 Penn,
which is the Garden. So I would take 5 or 6 stops
coming from the Upper West Side and it was perfect.
Man comes every 5 minutes, Boom, boom money.
But I did it all the time. But when I was going to high
school, I may have said this once or twice.
I don't know if I said it here, you know how I got to high
school everyday. So I'm going to tell you real
fast. I would have to take and have to
walk across the street, take one bus to another bus to a train at
Kings Highway. All right, the Q train, which is
the express, the D was the local whatever coming from, you know,
Coney Island. I get it at Kings Highway, and I
would be on for at least Avenue H Church, Parkside, Beverly Rd.
Cortelu Rd. you know, a bunch of others.
At least 10 stops and at least 40 minutes, at least 45 minutes
straight shot. Yeah, but then I'd have to get
off at W 4th St. because. And then I had to connect to an
F train, take it one stop and then get to Union Square and
then walk in the freezing cold. That wasn't a long walk, but it
was an annoying walk at the end of this freaking journey just to
get to school, which I didn't even want to get to.
All right, there's one thing if you if you, if you're going
through that, to go and do something fun like go to the
Yankee game or something. I'm going here to go.
I got, I'm going there to study Latin, which by the way, I
failed. I'm going there.
I'm going to a school with priests.
I'm terrified of, you know, I'm going to a school with no girls.
Oh no. Yeah, old boys, old boys,
private man. Speaking of, I think we've got
some Xavier High School representation in the chat here.
What? Do we got here?
What do we got here? Oh Rob Ryan what up there Robbie
77 O 6 here was scarred by trading it to Xavier every day
in the late 80s Class of 92. That is the year after me that a
boy love it. Hey, keep marching, keep
marching men for others. We had a bunch of expressions.
So check this out. So you you had to they call the
jug like instead of detention. Catholics, Jesuits, a lot of
Jesuits will remember this and not just Xavier.
Justice under God was the acronym, right?
Juj. But our Dean of discipline, who
I mean when I tell you I love this man outside of my dad, the
most influential man in my life. And I really mean that.
Like he willed me to graduate from there.
Like I really there, there were multiple times I should have
been kicked out. I'm just going to keep it real,
right? So his last name was Gregory.
Mr. Gregory, rest in peace. God, I I love that man.
I love him. Just what phenomenal human.
And so it was justice under Gregory at our school, but just
under God. Anyway, if you did something,
whatever it was, if, if you wore an earring to school, which I
tried and then obviously had to stop, or if you didn't shave,
which I never had to worry about because I didn't have to shave
until basically slightly after high school.
If you could believe it, if you didn't have a tie, because we
had to wear a blazer and a Letterman sweater like it, it,
it was, it was a lot. You had to write down these five
things, right? So you go to detention and I
forget what they were. One was hair must be neat and
properly cut. 1 was like I, I really forgot.
I forget them. And you you could not leave
until you finished writing them. And I mean double sided and it
wouldn't take 6 minutes. It would take like 52 minutes,
48 minutes. And that's why Bart Simpson.
Yes, yes, yes. That meme resonates differently
with me. That's why full transparency,
that's why I was kicked off the basketball team, which to this
day kills me. I mean, obviously you guys know
I played baseball, but I love basketball and I and I made the
team. It wasn't great, but certainly
good enough to be on the team for sure.
And because I was always in, in junk, always in detention, I
would for my entire first year, I went to practice late every
single day. And then finally the coaches
were like when I went out for JV, they're like, no, you got to
get your stuff together. We're not taking you this year.
And I was, I was broken. It killed me because then
shortly after that, you know, I, I wound up growing to almost 63
and I could shoot and I wouldn't have been the star on the team
at all, but I would have played and I would have been, I may
have been the best 3 point shooter on the team.
I may have been like Timmy was a really good shooter as well.
The point is, is that I associate transportation like
that with bad stuff. Even though without Xavier, I I
wouldn't be here. I, I mean that I would not, I
would not be here. But God almighty dude, I just, I
resent, I resent looking at buses that and trains it.
It scarred me. Dude, stop.
That's too. So Rob Ryan was right.
Some true, some true scarring from the trains here.
We got one from Enzo the picker. I don't know if you know what
this would mean BT my father worked in the 63. 63 I guess.
63rd precinct I'm guessing. There you go.
Respect. Shout out NYPD.
Love it. Absolutely.
He's got to mean that he's got to be the 6th 3.
Yeah. I mean, it's funny too, because
when, when I think about how my children will go to school, I
mean, I live if if they go to the public school, they very
well might go to private for sports, whatever that's down the
road. But that is if they stay here.
It's a great school. What's the reason we built the
home here? It's it's a mile, 1.8 miles
away. You know, they're there in 6
minutes. It's it's, it's like, it's a
world. I can't relate to what I think
about, you know, when you see, I don't know why this movie popped
#1 because I was in love with the with, with the actress who
who passed away. She had a heroin overdose.
She really fell apart. Got a good 80s movie for you?
One of those romantic comedies can't buy me love.
Haven't seen it. OK, when you get a chance, look
at the, you know, do a little Sir.
You can even do it now. You can even pop it up if you
want. The blonde, the lead blonde,
Patrick Dempsey, who's obviously very famous.
Patrick Dempsey is a is a great actor, very famous.
He was in it and I'm forgetting the the actresses name.
Blonde hair. My God, I was I was madly in
love with her and I love the movie.
Right. And I think they were in
Arizona. Amanda Peterson.
Yes, there. Rest in peace.
Heroin fell apart. Yeah, and horrendous.
And to me, I remember what part of the reason I love the movies
because number 1. I loved her and it was funny.
The music was good. But also I'm like, what kind of
campus is this? It was like a public school in
Arizona and they're all sitting outside with cactuses or cacti,
whatever, and like this beautiful dirt bait, like
beautiful baseball field and sick looking football stadium.
And not only did I have to take trains and buses to go to
school, I had to take trains and buses to go to baseball
practice. Because you got to understand,
dude, Xavier is in the middle of Lower Manhattan on the West.
W 16th, W 16th, 30, W 16th, right off 6th Ave. not far from
Union Square. There's no fields there.
So we'd have to take. Yeah, they had these, like,
white vans, which sometimes we had because sometimes rugby had,
or sometimes whatever. But if you didn't get the van,
which we didn't get, we got them for games all the time.
But for practice, we're jumping on a bus to go to practice, you
know, on the on the on the east on on the East River Drive.
So we're going from the West side to the east side.
And that's something that, you know, Tupac would sing about.
Oh, man. Anyway, that's a long tangent
about about public transportation.
I didn't even know how it started.
That's an old rules. Right, Yeah, who?
Who knows? Buds No rules.
Screw them. Screw them, TA.
That's right. That's right.
Well, I no, no, don't say that, dude.
I've got respect. To all the workers, yes, told
the employees. Yes, the Union.
Yeah, the concept, the public transport concept.
How about a monorail like in Disney?
Can we get that thing going at some?
Point over near Yeah, we need. That that was awesome.
All right. Still is at Jason DL-V9.
And what do you think of Stanton baseball rating Yankees 4th in
the division. Well, I mean, what do I think of
Stanton? I I think it's a problem, which
I thought it's a problem for years and it's not.
If he's healthy, will he perform?
He does, but he can't run, they can't feel, he can't throw.
He's a righty bat that they sorely need.
So I wanted the Yankees to get Bichette.
And then I think that it's I appreciate his honesty.
And I'm also not here to just disrespect Giancarlo Stanton.
I'm not going to bag on him. Like it's easy to make make
jokes, you know? But honestly, with what he's
dealt with, Fizz, it's not his fault that his body's falling
apart now. And I, I, I myself, I'm not
trying to start trouble here. I'm really, I'm not looking to
go viral. So I'm prefacing this with my
honest opinion. I don't believe that he's a
product of any sort of chemical enhancement.
I don't, I don't think he's, I know he looks like Zeus, you
know, and some people have said, well, no, I, I never thought
that. All right, I just think that he
was and Tiki used to say soft tissue because I used to pull my
I used to have some hamstring issues even in college, right.
And he would say about guys that he played with in the NFL, soft
tissue, bad cell guys, meaning you could look like a powerhouse
and you could be sculpted like Zeus and you can look the part
in the weight room. But when it's time to run those
soft things, the ligaments, the tendons, all that stuff, right?
You know, it's a little tight and it's it's a product of a bad
cell. You're a bad cells guy or just
being, you know, wired tightly with those things.
I just mentioned the ligaments of the tendons and with the
elbow. That's that's what I believe it
is. I, I just think that while he
got some incredible gifts from God, he's 65.
You know, he's got incredible vision.
He's got credible bat speed. Nobody hits the baseball
consistently. I mean, he would just look at,
you know, exit velocity. He's always there.
Judge is always there. Alonzo's up there, quite a bit
of few others, but I mean, it's always Giancarlo Stanton.
I mean, hits lasers, man, when they go out.
They did never like that, that, you know, touching the skies,
just scraping clouds. It's always fume.
It's a freaking missile at 118, whatever it might be.
So I respect Giancarlo Stanton. It's never a hit piece or oh,
here's an easy joke, because I know how hard baseball is and
I'm not going to turn into that. I've never been that guy to just
shit on somebody because their body betrays them.
Maybe because my body betrayed me on a much lower level in
terms of talent. And I understand how much it
sucks to go through injuries. I mean, it absolutely sucks.
I want to write this something down so I don't forget.
So, you know, he very easily could have tapped out and, you
know, missed multiple seasons or this guy just fights to get back
because he's a pro. So I respect them and I'm
rooting for him, but in the same breath, he's been a source of my
consternation specific to baseball because he's gotten in
the way of other things that I think would have made the
Yankees champions, whether it's Bryce Harper, Seeger, you know,
Machado, lesser extent, things like that.
You know, that's a problem. Maybe even Beau Bouchette this
year, you know, I don't know. I, I, you know, what do I think
in terms of the Yankees being 4th in the division?
First of all, the Yankees have the second shortest World Series
odds and they I think they've got the second highest win
total. Now, that doesn't mean that's
going to happen. Yanks will be a playoff team.
Yanks will be really good and they'll be really, really
dangerous once that pitching staff.
If it does come together, it's going to be the best in baseball
if things go the way we hope that they go.
I don't give a shit who picks him forth.
Whatever. Oh wow, some some website has
him forth or you know some I don't.
I don't care. I don't care if they're first.
It doesn't matter to me. All right, Anthony OU 812.
Thank you for that. And what's going on, buddy?
I think that's a new one. And are you new pop into the I
don't think I've really read that that handle too often.
And by the way, when you when you hit me up, whether it's a
super or or not, let me know where you guys are.
I do want to get a sense. I said that a while ago.
I haven't said it in a while. I want to know where you guys
are coming in from. Anthony at OU 812.
As I said, if you're Leon, are you fearing for your job now?
No, no, I mean, it's a good question.
Like in terms of is he going to be around much longer if this
doesn't work out? I mean, you can make the case
that he shouldn't be because the big bullet was the Bridges move
and Bridges is not what we thought he'd be.
And, you know, big money to Ogi, like Ogi.
Do I like OG that he'd be a little bit more the catish.
You know, you just, you know, I'm just not a cat guy.
You know that. He's made some shrewd moves,
very shrewd, but he's also made some moves that, you know, will
probably prevent the Knicks from winning a championship.
Hey, by the way, I'm all right. So let me get one more here.
By the way, at B Kleiner. You think I'm overly critical of
cat? All right, who has arena said
has been top two in his position the last eleven seasons?
I'm not. I don't judge him on what he did
in Minnesota. I don't care.
All right, I like Gilbert arenas.
He's got some he's got some strong opinions.
Man, that is a guy that you don't mess with.
Man, that story with the gun in the locker room with and then
was that Critterton? Oh, well, that was crazy.
All right, check your I'll check your check your DM for an invite
to a game. I got you.
Appreciate that. No, I mean, listen, it's my job
to give opinions and my opinion is, is that Karl Anthony Towns
is not good enough to be the second best player on the team
that's going to win a championship.
I stand by it. I'll take this to the end of the
earth. But what I'll also do if I'm
wrong, I'll man up like a lot of people don't.
I will willing and happily and willingly raise my hand and say,
wow, I was wrong. I'm surprised, you know, for two
months Cat played inspired, buttoned up offense and defense,
avoided the stupid fouls, particularly on the offensive
end, which is still an issue. You know, got back on on
defense, got back in the play on offense rather.
And that's that's been less of an issue late.
There was a sequence early this year.
They were like 3. I know you guys saw this on
video on social media three times Cat and I don't mean like
it was a fast break. I mean, Nick's got the rebound.
Nick's are initiating the offense at the other end.
And you know, Cat is just then he's 10/12.
I remember I counted one out 12 seconds later, slowly crosses
midcourt. And wow, thank you for gracing
us with your presence and entering the frame.
You know, I know cats good. That's not that's not that's not
the conversation. I understand that he's good.
And I know that the the game has changed in terms of bigs.
Like, yeah, I wish that he would park his massive ass in the
paint once in a while, then post up and say, give me the ball.
Let's go. Let's go, Jalen, let's go and
just pin somebody and one drop step yoke it in somebody's face,
you know, particularly somebody like Russell Westbrook a month
or so ago, maybe a little bit more, who pushed Cat out of the
block or off the block, you know?
Hey, Jay, Rod, Speaking of injuries, Speaking of injuries,
you can keep that up there because that's the Spencer Jones
thing. I got a little baseball stuff
for you as well. If I take a guess how many
surgeries I've had, it's going to blow your mind.
Oh Jesus, come on dude. I mean, I don't know you, you go
and guess the. Numbers, but that's that's a bad
job by you have to apologize that's a bad job that's bad
that's one of the rare times J Rod has shown bad instincts So
what and he's learning we'll fix it he's already on his way to be
the superstar but what you got to do there is kind of go low so
that when I hit you with the number.
You're. Like wow dude, that's crazy.
Oh man, holy shit you had that many?
I mean, if you say 15 and my answer is five and what do I go?
It's still a lot. I mean, you'd still go, man.
But it's not as but you. You get the point.
Come on. I get the point.
Come on. I think you've had like 0
surgeries. You've got a clean bill of
health, man. Yeah, no, I wish.
All right, you're ready. I'm going to run through real
quick because I this goes back to the stamp and stuff.
So I had Tommy first of all. I had a double hernia when I
was, and I don't remember this. Mom tells the story.
I guess I was about two and they used to mess around.
They called me Bam Bam for a minute because if you remember
the Flintstones, when Bam Bam was hungry, Bam Bam like he
would bang his little bat, whatever his little club, Bam
Bam like he was trying to alert. He couldn't speak, I guess, and
alert, alert his mom that he wanted some Wilma.
And I guess I was trying to do that with my high chair.
That was my way of saying I'm hungry.
And I would try to like, not only lift it up over my head,
but I would, I would get it off the ground.
That. And in doing that, I actually
had a double hernia. Yeah.
That had no impact on my life, thank God, athletically or
otherwise. But that was the first.
That was the first should have known.
All right, Double hernia, about two, Thank God.
There's a long run with nothing. But then with now it gets now it
gets rough. So my senior in college, Tommy
John surgery, you probably know that you, I actually, I don't
know if you know that had Tommy John surgery, right?
My and then years later, I'll tell you how many years.
So that was my senior year and then when I was in Detroit.
So probably about five years after that, maybe a little less.
No, definitely less. About 3 or 4 years after that, I
had a second procedure on my elbow.
Same surgery, you know, same. Not not as invasive as Tommy
John, obviously, but they had to clean out some bone, you know,
some loose, loose bone bodies, whatever they call the medical
term I'm forgetting right now, but not a big deal.
But boom, second surgery on the elbow.
Then when I was in my early 30s I ruptured my Achilles playing
basketball. That was the fucking worst bro.
Yeah, I can imagine. I mean, so just like playing.
I mean what pick up or some sort of.
Deal, I was in the league, I was in the league and I was in the
league, bro. Yeah, I'll tell you the story
real quick. This is wild.
So there's I I'm sure it's still out there for a long time it's
league that was based in Manhattan called the the, the
urban professional League, right.
And there was like the, the top level, which was like a lot of I
remember at one point there was a lot of guys who played in the
Big East. I I don't mean like, you know,
Alan Iverson guys, but guys who wound up going to Wall Street,
maybe played a year or two overseas.
I mean, Ballers, bro. I mean, I couldn't even, I
couldn't even, I couldn't even run a layup drill with these
dudes. Like they were, they were real
players, right? That's not the league I was in.
I think that was like the A or the one division.
We were in the next one, right, Which was really, really good.
And I remember we were really one of the only white teams in
the league, right? We had a kid, Maddox.
What a baller bro. And he, he played, he played
Scranton. Where did where did where did he
play Hamilton? He played at a small D3 school.
Not, not in great shape, you know, I mean a great guy, but
not like he was yoked or like 656 feet, you know, didn't look
incredibly intimidating, would range the moment you walk in the
gym would, would routinely bang in, I mean, against defenders
who knew they had to stop him. 25 footers, just an absolute
beast, right? So we had a really good team.
Another kid who played at Lehigh, another kid who played
at Scranton, you know, we were good.
Anyway, so I remember we're playing at this gym in Manhattan
and I remember there was 2 refs and one was on the far side, so
on the weak side because I had the basketball and the other one
was right underneath the basket working the baseline.
And I, I take a three and they say when you rupture your
Achilles, you feel like somebody kicked you in the back of the,
of the heel. You see a lot of people kind of
look back like what was that? Because it's such a foreign
pain, you don't know what it is. So anyway, so I rise up, shoot
the three and I, I don't know if it was on the way up or on the
way, I really don't know. But I remember this is very hard
to describe, but it's, it's sounds like, Oh no, there's no
way this happened. Trust me.
This is what I recollect. Time basically stopped and I
remember in my mind for I missed the shot.
Of course, like, you know, the indignity of it, you're on the
floor in a minute, you missed the shot.
Although I could chew, but I missed it.
And I'm saying I'm like, oh shit, I just got foul.
Nice. I got 3 foul shots coming OK in
a nanosecond or whatever duration of time equates to
immediately. And as I'm coming down, I
remember looking at the referee on the baseline like this not
moving. And I'm like, oh, that what that
I don't think I was fouled. Bang hit the floor right.
And I'm like, what the fuck was what was that?
And I'm, I remember trying to get up now I'm on the, I'm on
the three-point line right at on the left side, on the left wing
right. And I try to stand up.
I fall right down and and then but I'm determined.
I'm like I'm getting up. I am, I'm getting up no matter
what. I know I'm done and I think it's
my Achilles, but I'm I'm like, I'm getting up.
I'm walking off the court. Got a nice little, little Kobe.
You know, it's a foul shots. I didn't even get the foul
shots. Kobe got to the strike.
So anyway, I as I'm trying to get up, I can't get up and I'm
like scraping and scratching and clawing on the court.
I still couldn't stand. I wound up at the other foul
line. I basically.
Crawled. The entire length of the court.
And then I just surrendered. I'm like fuck it, I'm done.
And the ambulance and they came and they put me in a in a
wheelchair and they wheeled me out and then and then yeah,
yeah. So anyway, Toby, John, a second
procedure on the elbow Achilles. Then I had back surgery.
They had back surgery about 7 or 8 years ago.
So, you know, I, I tried to really look at injuries on the
professional level, not a scrub level like me on the
professional level #1 with intelligence.
And I also studied a little kinesiology in, in college.
So I know the body fairly well and I've had a lot of
procedures. And when I have a procedure, I
do my homework, I do my research.
And you know, anyway, I think it gives me depth on the air and I
can kind of communicate things maybe a little bit more
effectively than some schmo who's sitting in front of a
microphone and never played a dead thing in his life.
Anyway, that's the quickest side.
There's a lot of those people in the industry and, and I think
that it gives me, it's kind of a weapon that others don't have.
But I really do try to like approach somebody like Stanton
with, with sensitivity because nobody wants to get hurt.
Nobody, you know, and it's easy. Oh, a bag of chips and all the
stuff and they can't get over the bottle of soda.
Do you think the guy wants to go through life like this?
If Stanton was healthy, he would have forget about trying to get
to 500, which he will. He would, he would have flown by
6. He would have flown by 600 home
runs. So, you know, get that up there
for me, Jay, will ya? All right, I go.
We're doing that at the same. Time.
Come on. Jay's a mess today, man.
There we go. I'm just kidding.
At Michael. Michael Mara.
What up, Mike? Oh, I would take Reggie.
Thank you for that, by the way. I'd take Reggie over Winfield in
your post 1980 Yankee lineup. Is Dirk evicted Dirk's 2011 NBA
Finals run the best Finals run in the last 20 years?
I mean, that's those are two very different questions.
I don't know. I love Dirk Nowitzki's
phenomenal God, he's you know, it's funny, I think in my mind,
right, I think that Kevin Durant is the best pure scorer in the
history of the NBAI believe that.
I believe Dirk is second. Now I know you're going to get a
lot of Jordans because you think scoring you get Iverson, you
going to get Kobe, Bernard King, if you're old enough to have
watched him. When I, when I, when I talk
about like old encompassing, I'm talking about 3 level score.
Now, it's not Michael's fault. You know, when he was coming up,
you know, Dean Smith wasn't going to let you shoot those 20
number one. There's No 3 point line that
didn't come until 87 when Michael was already a couple of
years in the NBA. So he wasn't raised there.
I guarantee if Michael was coming up playing AAU now, he'd
be the best player but be the best shooter as well because he
put the work in. But three level scores, you're
open, crush it, get to the foul line at will, pull up mid range,
deadly like Duran, and then obviously, you know, get into
the rim, flush and finish him. And I've got to give Carmelo
some love here as well. You know, I'm not the biggest
Carmelo Anthony fan in the world for a lot of reasons that, you
know, basketball reasons. That's it.
I'm not going to reset them now, but Carmelo's on that list too.
And so is Dirk. I mean, Dirk was such a great
scorer and and really one of The Pioneers.
Like, you know, if you think about the way Steph Curry helped
transform the game from a pure shooting prowess, like the first
thing all these kids do nowadays, even even my son, you
know, 7-6 years old, seven years old, you walk into a gym and you
fling one from behind. You know, you're probably
shooting from your your belt and you try to hit a 23 footer.
You know, most kids are air balls, but they do that because
they watch the NBA and they see guys shooting from down 50
threes a night a lot more, oftentimes more in terms of
combining that with both teams. So that's what they're used to.
That's why, you know, a lot of kids are chasing power because
they see they're heroes hitting home runs.
And guys who strike out aren't penalized.
They aren't scorned by the media.
It's accepted. Oh, you hit 2:30, but you're on
pace or your, your OPS is 920 or 870.
That's fine. No matter you struck out 182
times. We're fine.
Gave up basically 200 empty at bats.
We didn't advance a runner or do anything, but we're OK with
that. And a lot of the young baseball
players kind of think that way as well.
So you're basically a product of what you grew up with.
And Steph changed the game shooting it in terms of depth
and, and just, I mean, in the in the gym range, that's where the
where it comes from. And Dirk and Durant to me
evolved that all the round, you know, all-encompassing get to my
spot, whether it's a quick pull up like KD or fall away off one
leg with Dirk 611 seven. No, Dirk was 7 feet.
It was 7 feet. You're not blocking it.
That changed a lot of the game. Now I think if you look at maybe
from a handle point of view, you know, maybe an AI, some other
guys that had sick handles. But yeah, I mean, just to answer
that part. All right, what do we got here?
T Mac was every bit as good as KDT.
Mac was different than Kevin Durant.
You should know that. Tracy McGrady.
I'll give you 2 guys that I think or, you know, kind of, I
don't want to say forgotten, but certainly overlooked in the
pecking order, the pantheon of greatness.
T Mac is one of them and the other is Penny Hardaway.
You know, and it's funny, I talk about prototypes here, like Dirk
and and and Steph as a shooter, you think about and and magic
was the true first prototype, but Penny could shoot a little
bit as well. Shoot better magic for sure.
And Penny comes in, was Penny 68?
Whatever he was maybe 6-8, I think.
Can you imagine if Penny and Shaq would have figured things
out and Shaq wasn't, you know, chasing the money and chasing
the glitz? And I love Shaq.
I but you know, I get it. You want to you want to leave
Orlando. I love Orlando.
I've got relatives in Orlando. I love Florida.
He wanted something bigger. I got it.
You know, Jerry West did his thing.
I got it. He convinced him to go there.
But imagine if they both bought it.
Same with Kobe and Shaq. They would have won more.
But imagine Penny and Shaq growing together with a trust
and a bond and a maturity and a basketball IQ and synergy and
sensibility. My goodness, yeah, Penny's a
guy. We, we were really deprived of,
of some amazing basketball with Penny.
I'll throw Grant Hill out there as well.
You know, Grant was able to recreate kind of somewhat what
he was all the round killer, just a great player.
That's those who think like you didn't see those kind of players
when I was growing up, like you had some guys that could do a
little bit of everything like Bird could shoot, Bird could
rebound, Bird could pass. You know, Bird was an underrated
defender in terms of the passing lanes, maybe not so much on the
ball, but he actually made a couple of all defensive teams
and and you don't really associate that.
But Bird wasn't a great athlete that he was.
He was a subpar athlete for sure.
Those couple of guys like a Penny AT Mac Grant Hill 676869
handle, pass, finish, shoot, unbelievable.
And that's really where, you know, the globalization of the
NBA and the the branding and the expansion going back to the 92
Olympic team. That's why guys like Dodge and
all these other foreigners come in.
They're just, you know, they're they're 68.
They would have been playing power forward back in the day.
Now they're basically playing point guard.
Some of these guys at Steven Smith 4724 Philly staff's going
to be the best in baseball. Harrisburg, PA.
All right, I got you. It's going to be really, really
good. And listen, ultimately, and
that's all the short list of, you know, contenders as I as I
say confidently and and but hopeful, but confidently as well
that I think the Yankees what it's all not not to start the
year. Yanks will have the best
rotation of baseball because the Yankees will trot out Max Freed
to start and and again, it doesn't matter June July I'm
talking about when you get to Pennant race stretch time,
October baseball eventually. How about a rotation with I
mean, I could I could symbolically put Derrick Cole
one, but I'm not let's go with freed one.
Let's go with Garrett Cole 2 let's go let's go with
Schlittler 3 All right, and then let's go with a Roldan 4.
You know, I mean there's there's I know the Phillies are really
good. I do like their rotation.
I agree with that as well. By the way, Speaking of
pitching, this is a may. I can't wait to watch Nolan
McLean pitch this year. So he's on the bump yesterday.
56 pitches, 36 strikes, right. If one walk.
I think that's his last start before the WBC.
I'm pretty sure it is. Yeah.
It's got to because it's starting what, March 3rd.
And I'm, I'm excited for the WBC judge, the captain, Corbin
Carroll McClain, Bryce Harper. Let's go, let's go, Team USA.
Let's win it. That's great.
It's great. I do enjoy it.
His sinker. This is interesting to me.
So again, the numbers in the spring, whatever. 6 strikeouts,
one walk. OK, we know Noel Mcclain's
really good, but his sinker hit 97.9 mph yesterday.
That is that's frightening to think about.
You know, if Nolan McClain stays healthy.
And I was watching Sports Night last night and he was talking
and I remember seeing him earlier in the spring where the
Mets just got down to Port Saint Lucie.
And he was talking about like, you know, hey, what, what, what
are you had some experience last year?
Where do you go from here? What's the next step?
And you know, it's amazing because we talked about hitters
going to school or somebody like Nolan McClain, the amount of
school work that he did and homework in terms of spin rate
and arm slot and consistency stride.
I mean, that thing is measured to the inch man.
Like when you see, I saw something, I wish it was on my
phone. I would just pop it up and show
you there. What you know, when you say like
a hit chart, the spray chart, so and so 180 three hits and they
have every little dot, you know, home run, red, blue, single,
double, whatever it might be. And you get to see art.
Are they predominantly pull? Do they go the other way?
Are they balanced there? And, and you know, I, I love
that stuff, but I don't really look at this as much.
I just kind of stumbled upon it. They had every of the 50
something pitches that Nolan McClain threw yesterday for the
Mets. They had like dots, not his arm,
just like a, a almost like a graph.
And they had all the let me just do this draw it.
I'm going to draw it out for you for a second.
So it kind of looked like this, right?
Take a second there. Now that's even bigger than than
it is, right? That's that's not even being
fair to it, but I'll just keep it moving.
They had something you guys see that see all those dots that is
representing the arm angle, the absolute spot where he released
the baseball, right. Sorry for that, right.
Got to get OK right there. And by the way, it was a lot
tighter. It almost looked like a golf
ball like they were that actually I did a horrible job.
Now that I look at it, there was almost no variance.
It was repetition and precise exact release point, literally
to the 8th of an inch. And you think about it.
And I tell the kids this when we had practice the other day and
and this is, you know, this is good if you if you coach kids,
if you coach your son, your daughter, whatever what AI don't
have a baseball. So I'll take my my baseball like
globe. I have baseballs over there
anyway, So I got this. We'll we'll wait for the for the
office, right. So the move over here for you so
when you I was telling this to one of my players on my team
really, really good player plays third place second place a
little short, really good hitter you know one of the stars on the
team excellent player excellent kid and he's got a tendency.
You know, obviously you want to get it more up here bang right
every once in a while he throws the ball here and what's going
to happen when you release the ball here just based on physics,
the ball is going to kind of go up the line.
So if you're playing third base, let's take Michette who's
getting, who's getting used to a new position, right?
If he throws and his, his arm angle is almost, I don't want to
say going toward third base because he's not not an idiot.
I mean, he's a professional baseball player.
So it's going to be subtle, but the subtle, the subtleties
matter. And if you've been #1 you want
to have a four seam grip. So it's going to go straight
another two seamer. But if, if it's a little out of
slot, it's going to go up the first baseline.
And conversely, if it's a little bit the wrong way, you going to
pull it going to almost like yank it down like you would a
slider or a curveball, and that's going to go toward right
field. So when it when it gets away
from you from a righty throne is going to go that way versus that
way. All right.
And I mean, obviously Nolan McClain knows that.
But I mean, it was, I mean, I'm geeking out here.
But it was fascinating to me to see that little speck of dot,
like it was barely decipherable that there were 54 little dots
there. It literally looked like a
little ball. I'm like, Oh my God.
And the amount of attention to detail frame by frame and the
physics and the analytics department, that's how these
young players operate, man, it's crazy.
So when people protest some of the Ogs, and I guess I'm an OG
by at this point, I guess you know, the, the older baseball
fans, not all of them, because I don't protest the, the, you
know, the invasion of, of analytics and the analytics
overtaking the game. And I do push back with certain
things. Launch angle I can't stand, but
the the the like this, this is the only thing that they know
Like, and in five years there'll be less pushback.
In 10 years there'll be less pushback.
In 20 years there'll be no pushback.
I think inside of 20 years, 0 pushback at Charlie F6675 Yep,
Jays rotation. I know, I know, I know.
That's a good rotation as well. I mean, I'm not really worried
about Max Scherzer. I'm not really worried about
Barrios either. Barrios pardon me then.
No, it's not right there with the Yanks are better.
What? It's not because what happened
last year was that two games that the Yankees, well, first of
all, Max Free got lit up #2 Toronto was better.
So I'm not going to, you know, mess around there.
Toronto was better. They were a better lineup and
made more contact and they just played better and they kicked
the shit out of the Yankees all year, regular season,
postseason. But last year the Yankees gave
the baseball to and I like Rhodon and I believe in Rhodon.
He's good, but he did not pitch ball against it and Louis Hill
got lit up and Max Freed was awful.
I mean, so you'd have to think even though Freed had a
horrendous playoff performance with the Braves as well, but so
did Gerrit Cole against the Red Sox and the wild card back in
the day. It it's going to happen just
like a star, like Judge is going to go one for 17.
It's baseball. There's a there's a high rate of
failure. But this year, and that's why
I'm excited about the Yankees rotation at the end of the year
when Cole gets reps and he come, he's already hit 97 on the gun,
by the way, so. They're going to have to hit
more, more benchmarks than they will.
I think Eric Cole's going to be, I think Eric Cole's going to be
Eric Cole. I just do.
And instead of giving the baseball to Louise Hill, whether
it's up in Toronto or in Detroit or in Fenway or, you know, up in
Boston or down in Baltimore, you know, Pete's there and they they
made some moves as well. They should be better than they
were last year. The Dodgers in the World Series,
the Phillies in the World Series, the Mets in the World
Series, the Padres in the World Series, whatever.
I don't know if I said the Braves, the Braves in the World
Series, you're not giving the baseball to Louis Hill.
You just not he might be coming out of the pet.
And if Louis Hill is getting the baseball, then something
seriously went wrong with the Yankees ability to get healthy
and to have that that rotation that I think will be the best in
baseball. That's what I think.
All right, let me see. What do we got here?
Got to put on the the OG glasses.
BT any faith in the Knicks tonight?
I see Brunson going off for 30. Yeah, I mean, whatever.
I I've always got hope for the Knicks Like, but like the way
that they've looked. Let me see if I could pop this
up here. Hold on.
Let me just look at this for a SEC.
I'm gonna start wrapping things up.
Let me see. Got to AG, got to LeBron.
Nicks hit a little Stanton hit a little Noah McClain hit a little
Sunny Styles. No rules Friday.
Got a bunch of texts. Yeah, I think we're humming
pretty good. Let me just I want to I want to
have this as an exact. I know the Rockets game and then
the Bulls game. I just want to look at one more
thing here. Hold on.
All right, All right, hold on. Yeah, All right, I I know
they're playing the Bucks. I don't need that and I need the
next schedule. All right, so here we go.
All right, all right. So obviously, I mean, the
Pistons game was a disaster. You know that.
Then great comeback down 18 or 19 against the Rockets.
That was fun. Alvarado at the end and Brunson
hitting clutch shots, really fun.
Just a great game. And then I know the Bulls stink,
but they showed character next day, you know, getting on a
plane, going out to Chicago. You know, it was a pro.
It was a professional win. Like, they they found a way to
get the job done. I'm not going to criticize them.
And Oh, that's right. And then the Cavaliers
absolutely stomped them out. I mean, yeah.
I mean, I think it'll be. I don't think they're going to
destroy the Bucks. I I don't even think Giannis is
playing tonight. I don't think.
I mean, you should win. I mean, jeez, I mean, what the
hell, man. Come on.
By the by the way, J Rod, I want to know what the plans are for
the weekend here. Stanton's going to get to 500
home runs and then the Hall of Fame.
There is not a chance in hell the Yanks retirement is number
stop. I mean, I'm going to get you
know, well, you know what I was going to say I'm not reading
anymore, but it looks like your next point is kind of an
agreement with me. It's getting out of hand.
A rod deserves to have his number retired way more than CCI
agree with that. If not, just take down the O 9
banner. Yeah, I mean, obviously what's
going on with the Yankees and a rod is petty or really the
Yankees toward a rod, not Alex toward them.
That's on the Yankees more than it's on Alex.
So I don't have an issue with C like I didn't see that when I
saw the news. I didn't say like, wow, they're
they're they were tyrant C CS number.
I didn't have that reaction because CC was a beast.
He also did a lot of great things for other teams and he
should be a Hall of Famer and Yankees wouldn't have won the
old nine World Series without him.
We all know that, right. But I do think that we've
lowered the bar a little bit. I I do.
I mean, you know, Paul O'Neill is one of my favorite all time
players. I don't know, I didn't really
feel that as much. I just feel like when somebody
retires a number, you, you just, you watch.
You know, I remember when the Yank, when the pardon me with
the Knicks, raised Ewing's number to the rafters.
I was working in Las Vegas when he came back to the Garden as a
Sonic in that hideous Saskatchewan.
I don't know, snow creature thing, Chewbacca, you know what
that they like what that mascot was the green uniform got Pat.
I mean, Gary Payton looked good in green.
You know, Sean Kim, deadlift shrimp, you know, guys like
that. Dale Ellis, you know, Patrick
did not look good in that uniform.
That was not a good look for Pat.
Neither was the Magic one. But anyway, I'm living in Vegas
and I remember my my boys were going out.
Nope, I'll meet you out. Patrick's coming back to the
garden then. That was, that meant a lot.
And then when he came back to the garden, had the number
retired. I think that was O3, I think.
And I was working in Detroit and it was a national game.
And I remember sitting on my couch and I had tears in my
eyes. I'm like, man, I wish we could
have won one for you. Pat, my guy, love #33 jeez.
Like that's what you're supposed to feel when a number goes up
there. It's it's got to be the highest
level of sacred achievement. And I feel, and not just the
Yankees, but I feel like we've diluted it over time.
First of all, the grand standard, the standard bearer
for greatness, literally the Baseball Hall of Fame, the
museum, they they started this Harold Baines, even a guy like
Bijio, I know he's got the 3000 hits, but Don Sutton, Burr
Blilevin, like, I come on, man, I got to look out there.
I got to see Mike Schmidt. I got to see Pete Rose, I got to
see Steve Carlin. I'm talking about from my youth,
you know, I've got to see, you know, obviously like a Ripken
and a Robin Yount and just no doubters, but guys like that and
Aaron Judge when he retires and Otani when he retires and George
Brett back in the day when you got to think about it.
And I'm not trying to disparage those those players because man,
they were, I mean, they were, I believe they were a tick below
legendary, but they were still amazing.
I mean, to get 3000 hits in the majors, to get one hit in the
majors, you're amazing. What?
But yeah, I I hear you on CC. I'm happy for him.
He's really turned his life around.
He's really owned his demons, which he's spoken out about.
I I respect that the drinking. He's a great family man.
He's got sons of big time ball players.
He's he's he's a real 1C CS a dude, man.
I really, I love CC and I but when I saw that I, I didn't, it
didn't resonate with me the way it did for some others.
I just remember being a kid. All right, cracking the day
again here. I remember being a kid and like
watching Yankee Old Timer's Day and seeing the Mick come out and
Yogi and Whitey and even Don Larson.
Now, Don Larson wasn't that kind of player, but you know, the
perfect game in the World Series.
Like, wow, Oh my, that's the guy that I read about.
Look at him. Wow.
He's how old he is. He's still wow.
All right, That's what he looks like.
You know, you know, obvious guys like Reggie coming out, you
know, it just it hits different and you know, I'm not here to
fight the world on it because it's not gonna change.
Like, you know, if I own the Yankees, would I retire C CS
number? More No than yes.
Like O'Neill. Like one or two others, maybe 3.
It's getting a lot of hand. Hey, J Rod, by the way, before I
ask you what you doing tonight or for?
The weekend What's up? Yeah, I wanna and we'll, we'll
start wrapping things up. I need J Rod's weekend
itinerary. Hopefully I can live vicariously
through him, he's got something fun, although less some.
Good stuff going. There.
I hope so. And we'll get that in a minute.
Have you been to the Hall of Fame yet?
Have you been to? Baseball in Cooperstown, right?
Yes. Have you been there?
Yeah. Yeah.
I have not been to baseball. I've been to basketball.
Hall of Fame and I. Have not been to the basketball
it's in. It's in Ohio.
Is it great? Wait, Yeah, yeah.
That's my fault. It's all right.
It's all. Right.
It's nothing crazy. It's kind of just like, oh, how
tall are you compared to Yannis? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What's your hand size? All right, all right.
Not been out to Coopers Town? Or Mugsy Bogues or Spud Webb on
the other side of the scale. Is it interactive?
Like is it immersive? Can you, can you shoot threes?
You could do some stuff. Exactly.
And then you get to play on the courts they have there, like the
basketball Hall of Fame courts. Sometimes they have like AAU or
like high school games going on there.
So cool spot. I mean, you get to see all the
jerseys, nothing, you know, insane, but it's like an
interactive thing. Definitely good for like kids
for sure. If I ask you what's your
favorite all time throwback jersey?
Any team? What is it?
Anything jump out? I'm thinking Vancouver
Grizzlies. You like those?
Oh, I thought. They were so clean.
Go ahead, go ahead, go. Ahead.
I like that one. Old.
The did like the Timberwolves, have a good Yeah, like the KG
Timberwolves. Those were pretty tight.
I love the Grant Hill Pistons. I hated those.
OK, wait, wait, wait.
The teal ones. The.
Teal ones and the white ones, and then I'm gonna throw, I'm
gonna throw a crazy, crazy one for maybe my old time favorite.
They're pretty hideous. Yeah, good answers.
By the way, look at J Rod stepping up.
Nice. What?
This is where you're going to get me hyped up.
Again, I love it. Talking old time jerseys.
Let's go man. The Gilbert Arenas O 7.
This one's ugly gold Wizards jersey.
I remember those. I remember those.
They're like, they're just different.
Yeah, Yeah. I didn't think you were going to
say that. Listen, it's your opinion.
I respect it. Some of those are really good
ones. I like the now the Bullets, the
when they were still the Bullets back of the day, the Washington
Bullets and the first the Baltimore Bullets and then
Washington Bullets and then the Washington Wizards.
Like the Wizards jerseys are wack, but when they bust out the
the red, white and blue ones that were emblematic of the old
Bullets ones, I love those. I'll tell you what, there was a
version the other night when the Knicks play the Cavs.
They were a little more orange than usual, so they weren't the
exact replication, but I'm going to throw some like Mark Price,
Craig ELO, Ronnie, Ron Harper, and the orange ones, the orange
ones. Yeah, those are classic.
Those were tight. I'll give you a couple of
baseball ones. I like the old Seattle Mariners
with the pitchfork. Like the early, early days, like
the late, well, late 70s, early 80s.
Those were pretty sweet. I mean, the Yankees have the
best uniform in sports. They just deal with the pitch
stripes. What else?
I just don't we could we could
do a show on this. I just I just didn't like the
now you're talking the Grizzlies.
Well, Sharif Abdur Rahim, that kind of like that era.
Definitely I can see it. I just didn't love it.
I didn't know. What about the Raptors, did you?
Did you like the Raptor? The purple like the Vince Carter
Raptors, definitely. With the dinosaur.
Yeah, yeah, dude, I see. That's The thing is just like I
think I'm a fan of those like 90s jerseys with like the kind
of corny emblems on them. Like I think they're they're
just very emblematic of the time period.
Yeah, very childish. I agree.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Oh. Man, that's good stuff.
You love the VC? Yeah, yeah, I got one more you
want to throw out before we get the the weekend plans here.
Let's. Go OK, like 60s, not like
Minneapolis Lakers or anything like that, but like when the
Lakers maybe that early 2000s O 4 Lakers Pistons finals type
yellow and purple where they were just.
Like. They were very strong.
Yeah, they were, they were more, they were brighter.
They they popped more time. I, I those were sweet.
And yeah, when you say the Pistons, I, I that just remember
I worked in Detroit and we were begging them to go back to the
old logo, which they used now and then.
They they, yes. And they eventually did.
I just never liked like the carburetor.
I understood what they were going for symbolic.
I didn't like, did not like that at all.
Definitely. Cleaner now, I'll say like, NBA
jerseys certainly have a greater, like minimal approach,
I feel like. Today, you know what?
That's that's, that's a pretty good observation.
I agree. They were very cluttered for a
while and I think you have to make a case that the Seattle
SuperSonics jerseys are about as clean as it gets, man.
Yeah, they were gorgeous. And like they probably had the
coolest, you know, like that, the Space Needle.
Such a cool logo so. Yeah, well, no, no, I'm even
talking about I, I don't, I don't love the needle.
I'm talking about even like the like the white with like Xavier
McDaniel. Oh yeah, yeah, with like the
white and the green stack on it, yes.
Yeah, Gary Payton rocked the camp, you know, for a little bit
and and I'll blow your mind here.
So I mentioned earlier we talked about, you know, the NBA,
whatever, some some basketball stuff.
And when I was doing the Knicks pre and post game stuff for a
bunch of years and the halftime show, Gus was calling the games
with John Andres Love John, his wife actually texted me the
other day. She's beautiful, beautiful
family. John was loved that guy.
And like John really showed me the ropes.
I remember getting on the team playing for the first time and
John saying in a very stately voice, OK, Brandon, and not like
talking down to me, really trying to help me.
OK, Brandon, this is this is where we sit.
And you know, we don't go back toward the players and the code.
Like give me the lay of the land a little bit like, yeah, get on
the first bus, not the second bus.
So anyway, I'm in, I'm in Seattle.
This this will blow your mind and I want you to look it up.
Yeah, I want you to look it up before we get out of here.
I'm going to say that the year was O 5:00.
I could be off on the year, all right.
Kevin Durant's rookie year was with the Sonics before they
moved to. In O 7.
Was it that late? Yeah, he got drafted in O7.
There you go. All right, OK, there you go.
Good correction. Thank you.
And so I guess it was O 7 and like the way the Knicks
broadcast team, even though I was doing the pre the post in
the half and they had all their their real play by play guys.
I think Crispino was doing boxing, Kenny Albert was Marv
was gone. Kenny had Rangers just had some
national thing. So they knew I did St.
John's. They're like, hey, you know, we
think you can do the job. You can.
We think you could fill in. So I wound up doing like 11 Nick
play by play games. Wow.
Yeah, yeah. Like I went to Atlanta.
I went to Seattle. I'll finish that story in a
second. Philly, Houston against the
Rockets. It was it was amazing.
I don't I don't think it was particularly good, but it was
humbling and awesome and just Milwaukee.
I did a game against the Bucks in Milwaukee.
So we're I'm doing the Sonics game against the Knicks and
Kevin Durant hit a game winner. I don't think it was a three.
I'm almost positive it was a longest jump shot and it may
have even been overtime to beat the Knicks.
So they only play twice a year. This should be a pretty easy box
score to find. So go to O 7 Knicks Sonics, find
the game in Seattle that was like Marbury and those guys were
on that team. Kevin Durant iced it and won it.
I I think it was at the buzzer and if it was like a tick or two
before. What's coming up TDIH Kevin?
Ugly arena, by the way. Ugly arena.
Ugly arena, bro. Key arena.
He was on. He was on Seattle.
On Seattle and it went over the Knicks.
Yep so 2000 and it had to be 7 because the next year I believe
they moved to OKCI. Only did one game in Seattle.
It was his rookie year. This must be a deep cut because
I am not. I mean, I'm seeing one against.
Based on historical records from Kevin Durant's, he led the
Seattle SuperSonics to a victory over the Knicks with a crucial
performance on February 2nd, 2008.
The Seattle SuperSonics won 86 to 85 there.
That has to be That's the game. Yeah, yeah, that's the game.
No, but no over overtime, right? No overtime.
That's the game. That 8685.
God, I'd love to hear my call. That must have been horrible.
I was just figuring things out. Pull it up somehow.
I don't know that you can. I wish that you could.
Well, maybe I wish you can. It's probably pretty bad.
All right, hit me with the plans real quick.
I got to run. I got to do some stuff here
today. What do you got going on this
weekend, J Rod. Let's see tonight's concert into
a bar hopping in the East Village.
We'll see what's going on. Shoot some pool, have some fun
going starting the night off in Williamsburg.
Well, starting the night off I'm getting a haircut so getting
clean for the weekend. Then I missed that.
Yeah. Yeah, I missed that.
That was, yeah. Go out to the go to a concert,
Williamsburg show face, and then it's off to East Village.
Let's have a night. Let's shoot some pool.
Let's meet some faces. Are we talking like 2-3 AM?
Kind of. Niceful.
I mean, yeah, I'd imagine. I'd imagine tonight's one of
those nights. Now when you get the haircut you
don't like, I used to, I mean, obviously I'd do nothing now
except shave my face when I feel like it, but I I was the guy I
always had like I have like kind of curly hair, so I'd always
kind of keep the I mean, I had a couple of flat tops, but kind of
long, right, Always like one faded up, always short, like
like, you know, like an athletic whatever.
Do you you're not getting like one or two clips on the sides,
right. What kind of haircuts you
getting? I usually get like the fade on
the side kind of shorter. Yeah, yeah, shorter up top.
I mean, I I've had every single hairstyle known to man.
So it's like, you know, I've kind of looked every sort of
way. But yeah, usually it's like the
the three on the side little fade there. 03 OK, got.
It on top and then. There you go.
All right, All right. So that sounds like a great
weekend. My weekend's different.
I had to start the show late today because I had to take my
my wife and my son to the airport.
He's actually travel, he's flying to basically flying
halfway across the country. He's in a big baseball
tournament. So.
And yeah, and I and I always go to these, you know, he's done
this a few times. My my wife's like, hey, do you
mind if I, you know, can I take him once?
I'm like, you know what? Yeah, go get a good weekend with
mommy. You know, Daddy's going to make
sure everything's packed and everything's good and
everything's taken care of. Absolutely goes how to take them
that the flights, you know, about 30 minutes ago, whatever
it was, I had to get them to the airport early, which is why I
had to start the show late. But my night tonight is going to
be different. Awesome kind of special.
So it's just me and my daughter for a couple days, right?
She's got softball practice. I, I don't coach her on that
team. I coach her rec team.
This is her travel team, little, little crazy 9 year olds and our
friend's going to pick her up to take her.
I'm going to pick her up at 7:00, take her to a nice daddy
daughter, nice fancy sushi dinner.
There we go. He loves soup.
I have multiple of my kids love sushi.
Really. And they're younger too, so
that's kind of surprising. Like that's good that they're
not like picky about it or anything like.
No, no, they eat it. They, they started with sushi,
like because they wanted the rice.
And now it's certainly my son is more into the sashimi, which is
as you know, without the rice. You know, he like I'll get, I
mean, obviously salmon and whitetail and some of the
basics, but I'll get fluke. I'll get some other stuff too.
He doesn't really like the fluke, you know, and she's kind
of more like California rolls and salmon and and salmon.
But she in her mind, she's because we'll also get sometimes
like if we order in sushi, which we do once a week, she'll she
still thinks that because it comes from the sushi restaurant
that like chicken and broccoli or, or fried rice is sushi.
I'm like, no, that, that that's chicken and that's rice and the
fish not cooked is sushi. So I got that going on tonight.
I can't wait. And then my parents are coming
in. Spend some time tomorrow so
nice. And then I think I'll take care
and a friend for some ice cream on Sunday.
And those of you who know, know I will be look at, by the way,
look at that. How about that?
That and sticker that's coming that's.
Coming on the website as well at the digital store, I will be
glued to this following Game changer.
That's how you can follow the games.
Now it's it's video too. It's crazy.
So he's halfway across the country.
I won't miss a pitch. I won't miss it at bat SO anyway
so. Well, with my brother.
Say that again. Oh no, when my brother was doing
baseball they always had someone on the game changer at the game.
Just like clocking everything. Oh, so you, you know that?
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's crazy, though. Like, so the game changer you
could use for like REC. I don't use it for REC, but you
could use it for anything, right.
But in in this perfect game tournament where there's like
100, No, there's 80 teams from across the country.
Wow. Yeah.
Good luck, buddy. Yeah, You know, good luck
getting in the batter's box facing the kid just throwing 70
who's been playing for two months and even in the gym.
And it's a good way to start the season, you know.
But some of these like they have radars, which I don't, I don't
love. That's actually a different
conversation for youth sports. But you date literally you're
watching on the perfect game and perfect game's the best.
But you're looking on the website or on on the on the app,
obviously on the phone and it'll say like, you know, Joe, Joe,
Joe Smith. I was going to say Joe Schmo,
Joe Smith, 63 mile per hour fastball and then you know, 49
mile per hour change up like it literally immediately every
single 1 immediately it deciphers immediately.
It's it's crazy. So that's that's that's what I
got going. I got to do a couple things
around the house. I want to squeeze in a workout
today because I'll be busy tonight and tomorrow with my
daughter J Rod. Have fun tonight, buddy.
Thank you. Have a good time man.
Have a great weekend to you as well.
Thank you and unleash fam. Have a great weekend and I'm
hearing you. That's right.
Yeah, I was going to say, to get to that third date that your
boy's going to pay for, you got to get to the first date and
then ultimately the second date. So don't just keep your nose
planted in the pool table tonight.
Make sure you look up and take stock of what's around you
buddy. Got to.
Trust me, from somebody who who's been there, you got to
Pool's not going away, bud. The pool's there forever, but
that's right. Are you good or the fish?
May I am? Awful.
I'm awful. I feel so bad.
You're doing funny again. So I start.
I mean, I started two months ago maybe.
So I'm. I'm fresh, I'm fresh, but I've
got a buddy, the guy you know my friend who donated the other day
who sent the Super chat and he started same time and he is
disgusting. Like he last week.
I mean him and I, we went on like a six.
We ran a table for like 3 hours. We did like a six game win
streak. But.
I had a couple closers in there, but it was a, you know, he was
hitting some nasty shots, but yeah.
Carried the male. Yeah, definitely, I was.
I describe it, he was like LeBron in that game seven.
I was Kyrie Irving. Like, well, that was kind of the
way. Well, I mean, I mean, it sounds
like you were more like the 8th man.
Kyrie Irving's a little bit ambitious.
There maybe like Iman Shumpert. That's, that's what I'm looking
for. I'm not, I'm not very good
either. You know, I'm OK.
I'm not going to overstate it. I'm really I'm much better in
darts and I'm and I play a lot of ping pong like I'd rather
play ping pong for an hour and and throw darts then not that I
don't enjoy pool, but I'm not I'm not great.
I'm not great in Pool. I admit it.
So have fun, get better, do your thing, let it loose, get those
shorts up. Take care of everything.
Let me say goodbye. We'll see you later.
J Rod. Thanks dude.
Have a good weekend everyone. There you go.
Look at them. Look at, look.
Look at how J Rod's coming along.
Look at them. I'm like a proud Papa here.
That doesn't mean when he messes up, I'm not going to let him
know I got to coach him up a little bit.
But J Rod's doing a fantastic job, absolutely fantastic.
So I want you guys to have a great weekend.
Appreciate you guys hanging out obviously and supporting the
show. Like it.
Subscribe it. If you're a big baseball fan and
you're looking for some new content, My old time Yankees and
Mets post 80 lineup is up. It's on this channel.
Go check it out. There's a lot of other stuff up
there. You want to catch my reaction to
the whether it was Saint John's, UConn the other day, that's
obviously up there. All the things that we hit
today, some baseball stuff, Stanton, McClain, Aaron Glenn,
the LeBron stuff. So if you hopped in late on the
chat, if you hopped in late on the show, just rewind, go check
it out and enjoy the rest of the week.
Weather's nice. It's going to be pretty warm
snow, snow starting to melt, so it's all good.
Let me bounce. I'll catch you guys on Monday
unless something breaks big. In the meantime, go Knicks
tonight. Go Johnny's tomorrow.
I'll be doing the game at the Garden against Villanova.
It is a whiteout, so I'm looking forward to that.
Looking forward to seeing how St.
John's responds after that ass whipping at the hand of U, at
the hands of UConn. That was a dismantling of the
highest order. I expect St.
John's to play very well tomorrow.
So enjoy the weekend. I'll catch you guys Monday.
Peace.