Another Losing Season for the Jets, and another Giants Coach Fired -The Michael Kay Show – 11/25/25

Another Losing Season for the Jets, and another Giants Coach Fired -The Michael Kay Show – 11/25/25

afraid to say what he’s thinking. It’s the Michael K show on 880 ESPN radio and a good afternoon everybody. This is indeed the Michael K show. We thank you for joining us on a Tuesday, November 25th, 2025. Me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. And it’s the fastest two hours in sports talk radio. I’m telling you, anywhere in the country, in the world, Indonesia, wherever you might be, this is the fastest way to spend your two hours. Entertaining, thoughtprovoking, evocative, sexual, all of those things. It’s all of those things. Well, let’s get you involved. 1 800 9193776. Um, kind of a nice day, but I I I hear it might actually get lousy later. Heavy rains at 5:00. So, I’m just thinking driving home from a luxurious studios on the southern tip of Manhattan. Driving home, which is usually an hour and 45 minute. Let’s throw the rain in. Let’s throw the rain in just for fun. Then, let’s throw in everybody leaving New York City to get to their Thanksgiving destination. I’m gonna guess three and a half hours to get home. Three and a You know what? And it’s worth it because I get to spend time with Carlin. I’ll get to see Don, Han, and Rosenberg. And I get to talk to you. Now, if you want to see me, you know, even Bart talked about it on on on the Barton Carlin show. I’ve got a flamethrowing hoodie on today. It’s just unbelievable. And how how do you see the show? You say, “Well, how how am I watching the show?” Here’s how you watch the show. You go to the ESPN New York app, right? Then you click on the tile that says the YouTube page. Then you subscribe. How much does that cost? Uh, nothing. It costs absolutely nothing. And then you get to see the show and you get to see the hoodie and we get to ring in another great two hours. Now, Hal Steinber spoke yesterday and it’s gotten a lot of traction. The thing that’s gotten the most traction with Hal is that Hal spoke about uh the financial situation with the Yankees. Now, I don’t think that if Hal drew up the perfect Zoom call to talk about things, it would have been to talk about the financial situation with the New York Yankees. But John Haymon of the New York Post asked about the financial standing of the New York Yankees and and how said, I think the the phrasing was where where John said something like, uh, is it safe to assume that you make a profit? He goes, no, it’s not. didn’t say they lost anything, but he didn’t say he said it’s not safe to assume we make a profit. So, people are doing their own level of math now. So, because of Forbes, I think Forbes had it that the Yankees had 700 some odd, let’s say 720 in revenue last year. So, people do the math. Well, 320 uh was the payroll and then you look at the money that they had to pay in taxes. So let’s say there was $50 million in punitive tax. That’s 370. So people are doing their elementary school math. 720 minus 370 would tell you that they probably make $350 million profit. But how saying that’s not necessarily the case. We pay $100 million each year on February 1st, which is I guess the interest on the bond rates to buy the stadium. And they got to do that for 30 years. And then there’s behind the scenes money as well. I’m gonna tell you this. I am not gonna sit here and get inside their pockets. I have no idea what the expenditure is of owning the Yankees. If you ask me, Michael, do you think they make money? I say, yeah, I think they make money. How much? I have no idea. But I’ve always held firm. Let’s say that they made $600 million profit, which which obviously is not the case. if their revenue is 720 and we’re just looking at 370 in terms of what they’re paying for salaries. They didn’t make 600. Well, let’s say they did. So, there’s there’s a segment of people that think, well, you should spend all of that money on the team and you should spend all of that money and put it back into the team. I am not of that opinion because unlike a lot of people that own Major League Baseball teams, this how the Steinbrunners earn their living. And it’s not just Hal Steinbrunner, it’s the two sisters, it’s all the grandchildren of George Steinbrunner. There’s a lot of people that are involved in that. And I believe the Steinbrunner family as an entity owns like 55% of the team. So they’re 45% other people or other entities that are investors in the team. And they’ve got to, you know, look at things and say, “Oh, okay. we deserve this kind of money back from our our expenditure. Again, that’s why I don’t get into this stuff. All I look at is are they being competitive with the top teams when it comes to spending money? And they are. I don’t care what he makes. I don’t care if he loses money. I don’t care if he makes money. Are they competitive with the top teams? Now, when you look at the payrolls from last year, you got the Dodgers on top, you got the Mets, and then you got the Yankees. So, the Mets payroll was 340, and according to the final numbers, the Yankee payroll at the end of the year was 319. And I got to tell you, this is not casting aspersions on any specific entity. If you can’t win with a $320 million payroll, your problem is not spending more money. Your problem is how you spent the money. Because of that 320, right? Of that 320, you’re still paying off Aaron Hicks last year. 15 million of it went to DJ Lameu and 36 million of it was Garrick Cole. So actual on the- field money was probably more like 280. And if you’re a House Stein Burner, you’re saying, “I’m being competitive with everybody that I could possibly be competitive with.” And they look at it and say, “We’re good enough to win.” And every year they are good enough to win. And they they seem to keep falling short since 2009. They had a trip to the World Series in 2024. Disappointment that they didn’t win. Last year was was a huge huge disappointment. You could say it was a failure. You can’t go to the World Series one year and then not get out of the division series the next. But every year they go to spring training and every single year their fans have hope that they could win a World Series. Something goes wrong, whatever the case may be. So that’s one part of what he said. And everybody’s fixating on that. How could be that the Yankees don’t make money. Why even concentrate on that? Well, you should concentrate on are they spending enough money to win? They sure as heck are because the Blue Jays, they don’t spend 319 and they made it to game seven, the 11th inning of the World Series. Sorry. Now, the Dodgers do spend the most money and they’ve won two World Series in a row. The one thing out of yesterday’s discussion by Hal that caught my attention is he talked about the competitive balance in the sport where every fan base wants to have a chance to win and he seems concerned about that. That surprises me because one of the advantages that the Yankees have is that they could spend most than more than most teams. And if I was the owner of the Yankees or the Dodgers or the Mets or the Red Sox or the Toronto Blue Jays or the Philadelphia Phillies, I wouldn’t care at all if the Pirates couldn’t win. I couldn’t care less. That’s not my concern. Now, what House saying, this is my interpretation, each team wants cost certainty. I don’t think he wants to see a runaway train like the the Dodgers who don’t seem like they care about making money. And I do the Dodge make a lot of money cuz you know, Show Otani prints money for them. The money he brings in from the Far East, the fact that he makes $2 million in present money on the roster and then 68 million deferred. I think that’s what this is about because when you when you actually phrase it that I’m really concerned that every team has a chance to win. I don’t think George Steyber was concerned that teams didn’t have a chance to win. That’s their issue. That’s their issue. That’s the thing that jumped out at me. I couldn’t care less if those teams couldn’t survive. Because baseball is at the height of its popularity. The World Series just did unbelievable ratings. It’s it’s a 10 to 11 billion industry. The Yankees were bought by George Steinberger in 1973 for about $10 million. So 52 years later, if the Yankees were put up for sale by the Steinber family, I’m convinced that they get $12 billion. So from a a $10 million investment, and from what I heard, George didn’t put in even near that. the actual outlay of money was not even close. They’ve turned that into a $12 billion team valuation in my opinion, not what Forb says. You put the Yankees for sale and you get two lunatic hedge fund guys that have so much money they don’t know what to do with and they’re going to start bidding against each other. It would be like if you put the Mona Lisa up for bid. There is no price. the LA Lakers who play 82 games and the Staple Center or whatever it’s called now, crypto.com holds what 18,000 people. Yankees play 162 games. They own their own network. Their stadium holds 47 to 48,000. Yeah, I think 12 billion is more like it. So, you’ve got that and the initial $10 million investment has led to the Yes network has led to legends hospitality and a brilliant play by the Steinber family and Randy Lavine that they’ve turned the Yankees and monetized the Yankees without having to sell the Yankees. Yes. Network was formed because of the power of the Yankees. Legends hospitality was formed because of the power of the Yankees and the Cowboys. So nobody, that’s why I don’t think that if Hal had his brothers, he would have brought up the fact that the Yankees might not make money. One thing I would tell Hal, and I have a a really good relationship with him, and I think he’s a tremendous, terrific guy. I’d say nobody cares. Nobody cares. Now, if somebody is rich and they get a dent in their Bentley, nobody cares. People wish that they had those problems. So, that was probably not the message that you wanted to get out there. The fact that you care that other teams can’t compete, also the message that you don’t want out there. You just don’t. People don’t care. George Steinber never cared if small market teams could make it work. And it’s tough for small market teams to work make it work. But somehow Tampa Bay makes it work. Have they won a championship? No. But they’re competitive every single year and their payroll is minuscule. So yeah, there’s a financial aspect of it. The more money you spend, the more chance that you have of putting a good team on the field. But also teams like the Pirates, they don’t know what they’re doing. Rockies don’t know what they’re doing. They just don’t. The Athletics don’t know what they’re doing. Smart teams can be put together for a lot less money than $350 million payroll. And that’s something that I agree with House Steiner about. We shouldn’t have to spend that much money, he says, in order to make it work. but because they have the wherewithal to spend it, he spends it. And that’s another thing that has always wrankled me about the fan base because I I even I even hear people on the air saying this, “Well, he doesn’t care like his dad.” Well, how do you know? Because George was outwardly demonstrative. You think he cared more than Hal? Now, in all likelihood, George was obsessed with it to the detriment of other things in his life. I think Hal has a burning desire to win. And I’ve been told by people in the know that if they’re in the Yankee box or in his office and the Yankees screw up on the field, he’s furious. He wants to win. And when people go, well, they never really won with him in charge. Let let me let you in on a little secret. In 2009, how was in charge? George was not doing well. Howal was in charge. Howal’s the one who signed off on signing Cece to Sherah AJ Bernett. That was Howal. So I I I just I don’t understand where people make these these broad scope proclamations. Well, he doesn’t care if they win or lose. You you you’re full of crap. How do you know that? How do you know that? And my answer to them, not that I’m in the inner circle, if he didn’t care about winning, why wouldn’t he have a payroll of $250 million? Because with the taxes, so he’s paying paying about 370 now. So if he had a $250 million payroll, which is still a high payroll, that would allow him to make $120 million more for him and his investors. Nobody would rip him. He’d still put a really representative team on the field. So when you say he doesn’t care, I’m telling you, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t. And then we play the game. Well, which owners care more than the other owners? I’ve been told by several people that own franchises, if they wanted to put the money that their franchise is worth into an S&P fund, five S&P 500 fund, they’d make way more money than they would owning a team. So, you own a team because you want to win. Jim Dolan wants to win. Jim Dolan desperately wants the Knicks and the Rangers to win. John Leiddki wants to win. Woody Johnson wants to win. I just don’t think he knows how to, but he wants to. John Maro, we know that he desperately wants to win. It’s in his blood. Part of the family DNA. The people that own the Devils, you don’t think they want to win. So I I Steve Cohen wants to win. He’s losing money. You know, he wants to win. So please, let’s not play that game that they don’t want to win. You don’t know that. You just put your frustration and you put it into a place that you’re guessing and you have no idea. None. Now, it’s also interesting something that Hal said. And that was in regards. He He’s tired of the mental mistakes. He’s tired of the base running mistakes. And it seems like it all falls in the lap of poor Travis Chapman, who was the first base coach and the base running coach for the Yankees. I I never ever am able to sit back and and quantify how much blame goes to what guy. I have no idea. It’s Travis Chapman’s fault that people get thrown out of third base. I don’t know. So, let’s see. They bring in a different person. Let’s see the Yankees are all of a sudden stopping with their mental errors. But the thing that I find fascinating, and this is not taking a shot at this guy because I don’t think it’s his fault, or the main thing is not his fault. So all of these things happen, right? All of these things happen and the guy who remains absolutely unscathed is Aaron Boon. It’s not his fault. Well, the coaches work at the discretion of Aaron Boon. So, if there’s something wrong with mental errors and base running mistakes, Aaron Boon has to nip it in the bud. Also, you could tell in House’s voice he’s very upset with the lengthy slumps that they get in into the middle of the season. He said, “What? That’s not going to happen anymore.” But again, it’s not Aaron Boon’s fault. So, you know my feelings on this. I said it for years. Blame the players. I think that’s that’s the attack that Hal’s taking. I do blame the players. When they screw up players, their fault. They should know better. You get to the big leagues, you should know how to run the bases. You should know what bases to throw to. You should be fundamentally sound. You got to the big leagues. You’re one of the best 700 people doing this job in the whole world. And you’re on the Yankees, so you’re probably even higher up in the echelon. It’s not just 700. You’re probably the top 300 people that do this in the world. And you mean to tell me that when somebody makes a glaring mental mistake or a base running mistake, it’s on Travis Chapman? I’m somewhat dubious on that one. I’m somewhat dubious. I think it’s on the players. Maybe you’re getting the wrong players. Maybe you’re getting players that aren’t smart because one of the hallmarks of of the analytic bent, give me talent and we’ll make everything else work. Like even if a guy’s a bad guy, if he’s talented, we’ll make it work. Give me your tired, you’re poor, whatever the case may be at the base of the stat Statue of Liberty, give me all of that. I’ll make it work because talent overplays everything else. But when you take that tack, you bring in guys like Joey Gallow, where it didn’t work in this setting. You bring in guys like Josh Chisum. There wasn’t a big market for Josh Chisum and they made it work. They made it work. You bring in guys like Sunny Gray. It didn’t work here. Now he got acquired today by the Red Sox. That’ll be interesting. So if New York was too much for him, let’s see how he is with Boston. So my point is the analytics groups feel the talent will always play out but somehow caught in the crosshairs is Travis Chapman. I don’t even have a relationship with Travis Chapman. I’m not trying to protect him or his legacy or whatever the case may be but as I said it’s somewhat curious. So how said a lot of things but the one thing that he did say he he would hope that the payroll would be under 319. And I will tell you this, if they’re going to be considered a favorite to go for in the postseason, it will not be under 319 because the prices are only going up. Prices are not coming down, they’re going up. And I I get a sinking feeling. You might not agree with me. I think that Cody Bellinger is going to get an offer where the Yankees will tap out. I just do. As much as I like Cody Bellinger, if he comes to the Yankees with a six-year like $195 million contract, I mean, would you do it? Now, I know what most f Well, whatever whatever it cost, you got to give him a blank check. You know, you’re the same people that said give DJ Lameu a blank check. Sometimes blank checks really come back to haunt you. I don’t know if they’ll go to 195. I don’t know if they will, but I do believe that Steinber will go over 319 if that’s what it takes to build a team that will be considered one of the favorites to go to the World Series. So, there’s a lot to unpack there, but the thing that’s the big headline, and I don’t think he wanted it to be this, the Yankees possibly maybe might not make money. I don’t know why John Haymon went there, but he got a headline out of it. And I don’t know why Hal didn’t say that’s proprietary information. I’m not going to get into that, John. But instead, he said, don’t assume that we make money. So again, people jump and go, oh, that means the Yankees lose money. How’s that possible? We don’t know. We can’t get in their pocket. We don’t know their full expenditures. Whatever the case may be. Again, if you ask me, Michael, do the Yankees make money? I’d say yeah, they probably do. But the fact that he’s selling that they’re looking for teams to have a chance, every team in the major leagues to have a chance, that does tell me, let’s not bet on there being baseball in 2027. Now, one thing I would say to everybody that’s screaming for a cap and a floor and all that, here’s a little secret. Teams that stink, they’ll still stink because there’s a cap in the NFL. hard cap for the most part. Giants still stink. Jets still stink. Teams that don’t know what they’re doing, doesn’t matter if there’s a cost limitation to what they could spend or they have to spend up to a certain amount of money. Bad management, bad ownership will always make a team bad. But the owners want that safety net. And every every single business wants cost certainty. The thing that scares me the most is if the House Diamonders of the world and the John Henry’s who own Boston and the Ricketts family that owns the Cubs, if they’re all in on this, then they’re in alignment with the smaller market teams. And it’s funny because the smaller market teams might be the ones that say, “I don’t know if I want a floor.” If you’re the Pittsburgh Pirates and you know the cap is 300 million and all of a sudden the floor is 200 million. Pirates don’t want to spend $200 million. There’s no way they want to spend that and they might not be able to. So once again is there going to be an intern battle where it’s not just the players against the owners. It’s going to be the players against the owners and some owners against other owners. That’s where it gets scary and that’s where the whole thing might crumble and break down. So, there’s a lot there on the plate. Let’s talk about it because I know it’s a concern of a lot of Yankee fans. They took that to heart. 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So, his 2026 salary will be $31 million with a mutual option buyout of 10 million. Sunny Gray, Sunny Gray essentially will get $41 million for one year. Uh, it’s unbelievable. So, with the rework, Gray winds up with, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, $1 million more in guaranteed money. That was his endorsement for waving his no trade clause. Unbelievable. It’s It’s amazing to me. And the Cardinals are sending the Red Sox $20 million, which is also unbelievable. So, the Red Sox obligation to Gray will be $21 million. I guess that’s not that awful. So, it’s one year of Gray and 20 million um from St. Louis and St. Louis gets Richard Fitz. Boy, I’m very curious to see how Sunny Gray pitches in Boston. Really, really curious. 1 800 9193776. Uh, let’s start it off today with Billy and Piscatoaway. Billy, hey, how you doing, Mike? So, I not a business major, don’t pretend to be, and I know there’s like a return on investment that everybody wants, but like where does the concession money, what is that a part of? Um, I know ticket sales are probably what they’re $1,200. We got like jerseys all over the stadium. We got hats all over the stadiums. We got $2 beers selling for $15. I think I think I think that comes into Billy when they say that the Yankees had, you know, $720 million in revenue. That’s all revenue. That’s all. Now, in in terms of like selling jerseys and stuff like that, so when you’re at Yankee Stadium, you look out at the stadium and there’s all those 99 jerseys and uh all the you you know the number two jerseys for Derek Jeter, everything that you sell in terms of like hats and uniforms and stuff like that, that’s split 30 ways through all the teams. But that’s how they come up to the the $700 million revenue number. All of that stuff poured into the stew. Let’s go to Frederick in the car. Frederick. Hi, Michael. How are you? Good. How you doing? I’m doing all right. Uh, it seems like to me that the Yankees could possibly pass on Bellinger. And I was curious to know if you thought that they might go after Seager, maybe move Jazz to the outfield to second. I don’t think they’ll go after Seager. I I mean because if you’re going to go out to Seager and you look at the money Seager makes and you could just give you could just give Bellinger what what he’s going to want. That’s that’s more than Bellinger’s going to want. I mean Seager makes an incredibly high salary. So yeah, I I I don’t I don’t see that happening. I I don’t I don’t think that’s their play. I just don’t. It wouldn’t make much sense to me. Now, if you can get Seager and you have the um the Rangers pick up, you know, 15 $17 million of his salary each year, maybe I would consider it and then you could move things around. But a Seager a shortstop that’s going to play 140 games at shortstop and you get a jerk around, you know, Jazz Chisum to the outfield where he wasn’t that great with the Marlins. He was okay, but his position is second base and all of a sudden you can turn Anthony Vulpi into a second base. That’s a lot of moving. That’s a lot of moving parts. Kevin in Rocklin. Kevin. Hi, Michael. How you doing? Good. How are you? In regards to Hal’s comments about the cap floor, I know in the past you’ve stated that Brian Cashman doesn’t like the fact that people attribute his winning to the cash and would almost like to not spend that much. So, do you think that Hal is of the same opinion, maybe influenced by Brian in any way? No. No. I think it comes down to this, Kevin. All of these owners see the Dodgers lurking and the Dodgers don’t seem like there’s any limit to their spending and they don’t want to continue to get into an arms race with with the LA Dodgers that that they can’t win. I think it comes down to that. I really owners want cost certainty. They want to know exactly what their payroll the most it could be each and every year. And every other sport has that. and every Major League Baseball owner is insanely jealous about it. But with that, there’s so many moving parts that have to happen. If you do get a cap, then you’re going to somehow have to pull all of the resources of all the regional sports networks so everybody’s making the same amount of money. So, if everybody was making the same amount of money, having the same revenue, would the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Phillies and the Red Sox be worth what they are as a team? The fact that the Yankees and the Red Sox and the Mets and the Dodgers and the Phillies and the Cubs can make as much money as they do is because there’s an imbalance. Well, when you look at the Giants, they make the same amount of money as the Green Bay Packers. So, the Green Bay Packers of the the major leagues would be the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers don’t have the revenue that the Yankees have or the Mets have or the Dodgers or the or the Red Sox. So, there’d be a lot of things that would have to change. And the reason that they could do it in football is because all the broadcast money comes from national broadcasting. And the only money that each individual team gets is from their radio deal. So the biggest money, the billions and billions of dollars that pour in from NBC and and Amazon and and ESPN and Fox, that goes into a a pile of money and it’s split 32 ways evenly. So they’re all on equal footing. The Green Bay Packers are the same as the New York Giants. They’re the same as the LA Rams. That’s not It’s going to be awfully tough to pull that off in baseball because although they have a nice national television uh revenue stream, u most of the money is made from regional sports networks. And the Yankee Regional Sports Network is worth far more than Milwaukee or Texas. And the Mets regional sports network, what they make from that is worth much more than um what Cincinnati makes. So, there’d be a lot of issues that would have to be uh would have to be fixed. I I I I just don’t think Hal is is trying to rearrange the way baseball does business to satisfy Brian Kman. Brian Cman actually admitted the other day at the sleepout. He said, “No, I I spent money very well.” I mean, I think that in the past, Brian looked at it as a scarlet letter that he didn’t get the credit he got for building great teams because he spent a lot of money. But now Bryant could sit back and go, they’re teams that spend a lot of money that don’t make the playoffs. So maybe I will be celebrated. All he has to do is look, you know what, 8 miles over the river? The Mets spent $340 million. They they took Juan Sodto from the Yankees and they won 83 games and didn’t make the playoffs. So just because you spend the most money doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to win. 1800 919 3776. Let’s go to Ralph in Brooklyn. Ralph. Hey, Mike. Hey, Ralph. Hey, Mike. So, you and I always have the same conversation, house line runner, and comparing to him his father. I know it’s not fair, but just to say that he wants to win. Of course, he wants to win. He’s an alpha male running a billion dollar corporation, right? But but does he go over and beyond to do anything needed to win? That was Starring Brena. That was his father. Whatever needed to be done. A different world. Different Different world though. I got you. One question before you hang up. You’ll I know I always told you you’re the epitome of a gentleman and you’ll never call for anybody’s job. Mhm. At what point? What’s the line in the sand for you? You have to not make the playoff multiple times. No, no, no. It’s not It’s not the line in the sand for me, Ralph. You know, I’ve been asked this before. What What would it take? You ask about Cashman. No. First, I’m talking about Boon. Well, well, I mean, he hasn’t made the playoffs for eight years, so I mean, there is there there is no line. I guess they they think he’s doing as good a job as he could possibly do. A as as for Brian. I know, but it’s not it’s not it’s not taking them over to the finish line. Yeah, but again, George Steinbrunner uttered the phrase World Series a bust. How’s never said that. So, does he make this team competitive? Does he represent the Yankees in the proper way? You’d have to say yes on both of those. Now, do you think that they didn’t win the World Series in 2024 because Boon did a bad job? I think the Yankee organization had a bad plan in game one to bring in Nester Cortez. Mind-blowingly dumb. Mind-blowingly. And that’s not just saying it now. I said it then. That was Tim Hills Lane and the Yankees might have won the World Series if they hold on to win that game. To bring in a guy who hadn’t pitched in two months and expect him to get that part of the order out. Mind-blowingly dumb. Was it his fault they made all those mistakes in the fifth inning that Aaron Judge dropped the ball that he catch a million other times? I don’t know. I don’t think it’s his fault. So, when you ask me my tipping point, I as you said, I’ve done the show 24 years. I’m not a hot take guy. I’m not going to call for somebody’s job. That’s House Styr’s decision. That’s Brian Cman’s decision. Do I think that Aaron Boon does a good job? Yes, I do. Do I think that he can improve in some areas? Yeah, I I think so. But the the areas that I think that he can improve on, I don’t think the organization wants him to. I think he could be a little bit tougher on on the players and maybe call them out publicly every now and then because I don’t think that works long term, but you can’t be everybody’s best friend. But the Yankees fired Gerardi because he did not relate as well with the players as Boone does. So Boon’s doing his job. If Boom was told, you know what? Light him up. He’d light him up. Guy comes from a baseball family. He would light him up. He would light him up if he had to. Let’s go to Anthony and do Ferry. Anthony. Mike, thanks for taking the call. Um, I’m excited to be your co-host, man. It’s pretty cool. I’m glad that you can do it, babe. Yeah. Um, here’s my thing, Mike. All right. In my opinion, the Dodgers have become what the Yankees used to be. Okay. They’ve cornered the market on the Asian player. I think they won the World Series for the past few years because of those players. Y that’s pretty evident. Um they’re signing all the players that they have like pretty much an allstar in every position. The Yankees used to be in that mode. I’m not saying it still has to be that way, but my thing is this. Nobody wants to hear an owner complain about money, okay? Especially when guys like me, guys like a lot of people who listen to your show pay the money they pay for their to bring a kid, their wife, maybe their family to watch a Yankee game, it’s not cheap. Okay. The Yankees need if Howal Stein Brener feels like he doesn’t want to take that dominance back over. And listen, I’m very happy the Yankees make the playoffs. So, it’s not easy, you know, it’s not easy to do what he’s doing. And I agree with you 100%. Aaron Boone is doing a great job. And even if they replace him, they’re not bringing in Luke Panella. You know, those days are over. Y they’re just going to bring a Aaron Boone clone. You know what I’m trying to say? And I think Brian Cashman, if Brian Cashman were to get fired tonight, he’d be hired by tonight. You know what I’m trying to say? By another team. You just got a lot of Yankee fans angry. They don’t like to hear that. Anthony. Well, then they don’t want to hear the truth. I’m a very I’m a very I’m a Yankee fan, but I’m very, you know, I understand what the the the truth is. That’s the truth. He’ll be hired by tomorrow morning. Here’s the point, Mike. And for all the Yankee fans that are listening, House Stein Brener is not George Stein Brener. In my opinion, he’s more into the finances of the business than his father had more of the heart to where he wanted to win every single year. I think if you gave House Stein Bren a truth serum, he would say that winning to him nowadays is making it into the playoffs and then it’s a crapshoot, which in some ways is true. But my thing is this. If he doesn’t have the hunger to want to be the dominant team in baseball the way the Dodgers owners do, then I think he should take his exorbitant amount of money he would make selling the team, probably north of$10 billion from what I heard. I’m sure you would know more than me. and sell the team to somebody who does because us as Yankee fans deserve better than what we’ve gotten. And that’s how I feel. Mike, thank you for giving me so much time. You got it. But but I will say this. So across town, the guy who owns the Mets, there’s not a money number that he would avoid to win. All right. So he is the guy that you’re talking about. So maybe a modern-day George. So with the wherewithal to spend way more money than Hal because Cohen’s personal fortune, which is what he reaches into to fund his payroll because they’re not making that much money. SNY is not Yes. And he doesn’t own SNY. He only gets a rights fee from SNY. The Wilons own SNY. He had a $340 million payroll. Yankees were at 320. So I I don’t know what you would want Hal to do to prove to you that he he has a desperate desire to win. So he’s got to spend more than the Dodgers. And when you say the Dodgers have an all-star in every position, no, they don’t. No, they don’t. Kik Hernandez is not an all-star. Andy Pahes is not an all-star. There are a lot of positions that are not all star. They won because they had a sick starting pitching staff that actually got hot at the right time and got healthy at the right time. But if if it gets to be too much for Hal, then he would tap out and maybe he would sell the team. But I don’t think he looks at it that way. I think he’s he feels he’s doing everything that he has to do to win and they have a representative team every single year. It it would make more sense to me and and maybe would add more luster what our previous caller said if they never even compete. So the last year of Gerardi, right, they went to the ALCS. Two years later, the second year of Boone, they went to the ALCS. They go to the playoffs. 2024 they go to the World Series. Last year they had more wins than any team in the American League tied with the Blue Jay. If they were if they were floundering and they just couldn’t get out of their own way, I could actually hear what you’re saying. But you’re basing this all because they don’t win the World Series. Just because they would spend more money, you think that they win the World Series? Do you know that he made almost the same offer to Juan Sto as the Mets did? The same offer. The money that he gave um Garrick Cole, more money than any pitcher has ever made when he gave him that contract. The money that he gave Max Freed. I mean, you’re acting like they don’t spend money. They spend an inordinate amount of money. Again, if you want to blame the failure of why the Yankees haven’t won a World Series, blame the people who put the team together, not the guy who’s funding it and they look at it and even the baseball people are doing a good job cuz they every year they start with a chance to win a World Series and they go into the postseason thinking they have a chance. I tell you, when they went to the playoffs this year on and off the record, Aaron Boon thought that this team was going to win the World Series. He thought it was the best team that he had in the eight years as manager. The best. So, the only way that what you would be saying would be validated if they were just awful every single year and had no chance. I don’t see it. I I’m not saying that. I know you’re angry they haven’t won a World Series. You have every right to be. You pay top dollars to to follow the team. You pay money to get the Yes Network. Amazon. I get everything that you’re saying, but every single year they give you a really representative, outstanding year with a chance to win the World Series. So why should he sell the team? The only way he’s going to sell the team is if he has to spend so much money that they’re losing copious amounts of money. That’ll sell the team in for 12 billion. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Hockey fans and holiday shoppers, join Don Han and Rosenberg live from the NHL shop. That’s at Hudson Yards Tuesday, December 2nd from 3:00 to 6:30 p.m. They’ll be talking all things hockey and joined on site by the hockey hall of famer, the legend Mark Messier. All powered by Game Seven Brands, bringing you closer to the action than ever before. Dome is Don Han and Rosenberg live on Tuesday, December 2nd from the NHL shop in Manhattan. We’ll come back more of your phone calls. Paul Finebound in the 2:00 hour as well. It’s the K show rolling till 3 on ESPN New York. The 14th ranked St. John’s Red Storm faces Baylor in the Players Era Festival in Vegas. Coverage begins today at 4:10 on 1050 ESPN and the ESPN New York app. Oxspine at New York Presbyterian is always in pursuit of a better way to heal the spine. 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Friday, December 12th, brought to you by Spite Dade, Security Dodge, Amazon Pickup, and ESPN New York. Well, game time brought to you by Telod Irish Whiskey because hey, when it’s game time, it’s telly time. 4:30 p.m. The Red Sox or Red Sox, the St. John’s Red Storm play the Balor Bears. Tough loss for the uh Red Storm yesterday against Iowa State. coverage on the 1050 ESPN and the ESPN New York app begins at 4:10 p.m. Got that? ESPN New York app. 10:50 ESPN begins at 410 St. John’s Red Storm against the Balor Bears. Telm do the original triple distill triple blended triple cast matured Irish whiskey. Be sure to grab a Telmard dew. Try the new Telmod honey during today’s action. Glass up to enjoying Telmodo responsibly. So, uh, something happened this weekend that I could not believe. So, my son’s birthday was November 12th. He turns he turns 11. And so, he wanted for his birthday, didn’t want a big party, wanted to take six of his friends to this indoor water park um, in the Catskills called the Cartwright. Right. So, we uh borrowed a a Sprinter vehicle from our neighbor, which is like a MercedesBenz that seats nine people. It’s like a bus. Piled the the seven kids, six kids and and Charlie and then Jody was in the passenger seat. And we drove about an hour and 40 minutes to the cartrite and we go there and they had a blast. Indoor water park was great. They have an arcade there. I’ll tell you what, you can you can run through money in an arcade like like you can’t believe. So, my daughter brought a friend, too. So, that was nine kids. And we gave each of the kids a $50 gift card to play in the arcade. So, right there, that’s 450 bucks. And one of the kids just peeled through a $50 gift card in 10 minutes. Said, “Mr. K, I want more.” I said, “No, no, you’re not getting more. Just got 50 bucks. Gotta make it last.” Anyway, we go up to the room. We have like two rooms for the boys and and one room for the girls. And I’m the one overseeing the the boys and Jod’s with the girls. And couple of the boys get thirsty. So, there’s cups in in in the hotel room. And I said, “Well, get some water from the sink.” Two kids looked at me. That’s disgusting. I said, “What’s disgusting? I would never drink unfiltered water from a bathroom sink.” I said, “Really? That’s all I’ve ever done. I mean, every road trip I’ve ever taken, when I take pills in the morning, I I take a glass of water from the bathroom sink.” They would not drink water from a bathroom sink. This is what we’re dealing with in 2025 with 10, 11, and 12 year old kids. They don’t drink. Now, Charlie even looked at this that he he took a big gulp. He said, “I’m fine.” People were like testing it like they were drinking arsenic. And these two young kids would not drink unfiltered water. Well, what are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing? Does that seem odd to you? Yeah, it is unbelievable, Aaron. It’s absolutely unbelievable. They wouldn’t drink unfiltered bathroom sink water. I said, ‘I’m not asking you to take the cup and dip it into the toilet. And by the way, it’s the same water. It’s the same water is coming out of the sink. So then we went to the restaurant downstairs and they’re all drinking water and I leaned into one of the kids and I said, “Um, same place as the bathroom sink. There’s no filter on this.” And he looked he looked at me a gasast. Couldn’t believe it. Filtered water. Goodness gracious. Let’s go to Steve in Rochester. Steve. Hey, Mike. I appreciate you taking my call. I appreciate you making um I got to say just before I make my point, I’ll be real quick. Um I used to drink right out of the hose when I was a kid and I turned out just fine. I would drink out of the Johnny Pump, the the fire pump in the streets of the Bronx. I’m 64. I’m still alive. Kids are different, Steve. Absolutely. Hey, so uh getting to the Yankees, um you know, I I I grew up when the Yankees were going through the championship run. Mh. And um you know I think as a fan especially at that age or or you know around that age when you’re kind of expecting the Yankees to win every year um you know you can say what you want about Hail and Cashman and you know spend this spend that but to me the bottom line is the players have to play. I mean like you said judge dropping fly balls you know base running mistakes. uh the players have to perform and um you know I think you know once that happens you’ll see good things happen but you you know we can sit here all day and make and make excuses for for why we aren’t winning but I think um I think that’s just how I how I feel about it. Well, you know what? Everybody, Steve, I mean, the knee-jerk reaction, I mean, the the chorus that we’ll always hear for the rest of time, what would George do? The the rules of engagement were different. The they were just different. There wasn’t penalties. There wasn’t a salary tax. Um there weren’t people that could compete with George and the revenue that the Yankees could generate. There just wasn’t. Now, the two teams ahead of Hal, if they lose a hundred million dollars a year, Steve Cohen and Mark Walter, right, both hedge fund insurance guys, they wipe their backside with $100 million. It means nothing to it means nothing to them. Nothing. And if you do, if you want to believe how’s word that they’re not printing money like the way people think they are, if they lost $100 million, that would mean something to the Steinbrer family. So they’re running it like a business with the extreme desire to win. And my producer Ray Dean came in. He made a point too. So you got two guys ahead of you. Two guys ahead of you that don’t care one whit about losing money whether it’s 150 200 because there was a word that a couple of years ago Cohen lost $300 million. And it doesn’t make him blink. He’s got that money in his ashtray in his car. And somehow someway, Hal Steiner, the Steinber family, and the other 45% investors, they’re still making it work. They’re still keeping pace with those teams. And in fact, Steve Cohen didn’t make the playoffs last year. So, it’s not cause and effect or affecting cause. They are keeping pace with people where money doesn’t matter because they’re so filthy rich now. Compared to us, the Steinber family is filthy rich. They are. Compared to Cohen and Mark Walter, they are not. And still they’re right there almost spending dollar for dollar with them. You make the decision if that’s not good enough for you. Coming up, Paul Finebound. I got to ask him about Lane Keifin. It’s just it’s amazing to me. That story is amazing. That’s coming up in just a moment. Hey, the ESPN New York holiday party is back. This show, the Michael K show and Don Han and Rosenberg, they are bringing the holiday cheer at your mother’s house in Garden City Park, Long Island on Friday, December 12th. We’re once again collecting unwrapped toy donations this year to benefit the Garden of Dreams Foundation. All kicks off at 1 p.m. on Friday, December 12th at your mother’s house. It’s brought to you by Amazon Pickup, Security Dodge, and Spike Dade. Paul Finebomb is next. Coming up next on the Michael K show, ESPN New York. This Thanksgiving, FanDuel is introducing a brand new way to build a parlay together. It’s called pass the leg. Here’s how it works. Start a group build. Add your pick and then pass it to your friends so they can add theirs. When everyone’s done, you each lock in the group parlay with your own funds because football is better when it’s played and bet together. 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What the Hey girl, I’m you with more gusto. Nice. Who’s that? New social media manager, hired and onboarded with Gusto. And spoiler, we’re kind of famous now. Wait, we’re famous? Oh, well, I’m famous. Payroll, benefits, and HR. Designed and built for small businesses. Choose a future with Gusto. Just spending some time talking with Don during the break. Good to see him. He looks terrific. All right, it’s time for some Paul Finebound. We need that. Time now for the Paul Finebound Report brought to you by Bet 365 and the great Paul joins us now. Hi Paul. How you doing? Good day. How are you, Michael? I’m doing great. If I I don’t tell you later. Hope you and your family have a happy Thanksgiving. Thank you very much. Same. All right. Please explain the Lane Keifin situation to me. And And how is this allowed to go on in college sports? Don’t they have to move the date somehow? Like recruiting and NIL even in basketball? I mean, it’s just it you you’re you’re setting things up for embarrassing embarrassing happen stance. Yeah. I mean, I I agree and and they have actually moved some of the dates back until January where they normally started the first week in December, which made it even more chaotic, but ultimately this is on Lane Kein. Uh, I have never seen a coach who is a playoffbound team uh have a situation as utterly chaotic uh and as bewildering as this one. Michael, and just for those who don’t follow this like dayto day, Lane Pin is a coach at all miss. He’s he’s got one of the top teams in the country. They they have a game on Friday. Uh win or lose, they’re going to the playoffs, but if they win, they’ll probably be one of the top six or seven seeds in the playoffs. and and Kemp has essentially indicated that he will make a decision on Saturday, the game after the Friday Egg Bowl between between Mississippi and Mississippi State of whether he stays on this where he’s will he’s been offered about 12 to 14 million a year or go to one of their two biggest rivals LSU or Florida. And nobody seems to know what is going on. And and the biggest part of this, if he if he makes the announcement, there’s very little chance he’s going to be that they’re going to want him to stick around for another four weeks and coach in the playoffs. And what an awful look that would be for the playoffs for Old Miss. And I mean, it would it would not paint Lane Kein in a great light either. You recruit kids to put their all out for you every single game and then you’re going to leave when they have a they haven’t actually have a chance to win a national championship. Yeah, they’re very good. And and just to give the audience a further cliffnotes on on who Lane Gippen really is. Uh this is a guy uh that about 18 years ago was I think at 32 was the one of the youngest coaches ever in the NFL. He worked for Al Davis, coached the Oakland Raiders. He got fired after about a year and a half. Davis said he’s the worst guy he’s ever dealt with. He he bounces around, goes to work for Pete Carroll at Southern Cal, ultimately replaces Pete Carroll, uh, and then gets fired on a tarmac in 2013. Um, he gets hired by Lane by by Nick Staven as as an offensive coordinator, resurrects his career, he gets a job, listen to this, in 2016 at Florida Atlantic, but he stays at Alabama, coaches in the national semifinals. The team wins, but is lethargic. And even though he’s already accepted another job, Fabin fired him a week before the national championship. Now, I’ve also skipped the fact that he spent a year at Tennessee and left in the middle of the night taking his staff and and and and players with him. I mean, he’s got a checker career. He also uh came out about three years ago and said he sobered up. He’s rededicated his life to his family. Uh and here we are again with more drama with Lane Keven. Now, he he’s certainly come out and and made the statement, you know, whatever decision is not going to be about money. And with all due respect, I think that’s garbage. It’s like George Young said, whenever they say it’s not about the money, it’s about the money. So, who’s going to offer him the most money? Florida. Is it going to be LSU? Can be Old Miss. They’ll probably get the highest contract right now. Kirby Smart makes 12 million. Kim’s contract will probably push close to 14. The key here is not so much what he’ll get is that what the school can put into the NIL coffers. I realize if you just dropped into uh to to the show from outer space, college football players are now not only making money, they’re making a lot of money. They have a they have a they have a budget. They have a cap. Uh it is utterly bewildering, Michael. And and that’s what’s going to drive Kein. I thought he would go to Florida probably the last time I talked to you. It just seemed natural. He’s got roots in the state. His father, Monty Keifin, was a legendary defensive coordinator. Uh he he he came up with he he created the Tampa uh defense down there that that that’s so very good. Uh the Tampa 2, but ultimately uh the mo at the moment he seems to be gravitating toward LSU. I can’t tell you I have independent knowledge. I’m just telling you what the wind seems to be blowing. It is amazing to me though, Paul, that let let’s say LSU just blows him out of the water and they have a big NIL account for him and they pay him 124 million a year on top of the money they paid a coach to go away. How do you justify that? Uh there is no justification. Uh I mean LSU is is now in court fighting with Brian Kelly over a $54 million buyout. And that originally a lot of people thought Keifin wouldn’t go there. Remember the governor got involved. the governor took shots at everybody. Uh, but LSU is is the most attractive school and and there’s a reason for that and there’s a lot of talent down there. You don’t have any competition like Florida with Florida State and Miami and Georgia on the border. And it’s also u a place that has great tradition. Uh, Kelly Kelly got fired primarily because he didn’t win a national championship in four years. Sabin started all this in 2003. Les Miles won one title, should have won three or four. And even Ed Oeron, who was kind of a bumbling fool, uh, still won a national championship. Now, Michael, you would have won a national championship with Joe Burrow as your quarterback, too. So, the question then, Paul, is if Kein decides after the Egg Bowl, okay, I’m I’m announcing I’m going to LSU. Who’s coaching them in the college football playoffs? They’ll probably elevate the defensive coordinator who might be a good defensive coordinator, but he’s not Lane Keifin. I mean, Lane Keifin is a standalone offensive coach, right? Uh but he can’t be replicated. They have a very good quarterback who came from a small school and nobody had ever ever heard of. Uh he replaced a guy who everybody thought was very uh successful. So, it’s a little hard to to calculate. Uh I’m sure Keifin would like to stick around, but here’s the problem. If you stick around, what are you going to be in addition to preparing for your playoff game, you’re also going to be recruiting your roster to leave with you, and you and that’s not going to be permissible. So, who do you think, let let’s say this all plays out and he does leave, who would be in line to get the Old Miss job, the permanent job, not just the coach in the football playoffs? Uh, a bunch of names you’ve probably never heard of. Okay, I mean, we’re talking about the coach at Twain, John Summerall, maybe the coach in North Texas, uh, Brent Key perhaps at Georgia Tech. I mean, the Eli Drinks, who is a Missouri coach, is is probably going to get one of these jobs that Kein doesn’t get. Part of the problem is there’s so many jobs open right now and there just aren’t that there’s not a great pool. Kein that’s why Keifin has become such a cost celeb here. Here’s here’s the question and maybe this doesn’t you know ring true to you. I mean Lynn Keifin obviously a very good coach but he’s never won anything. So I mean just because he’s a he’s never won anywhere, right? Yeah. Uh as a head coach he has never won a title, right? Uh now he he was he was Nick Dick Sab’s offensive coordinator uh and he was under Pete Carol, but you know you don’t you don’t get jobs based on your championships as an assistant. Um he’s never played an SEC championship game. He’s been there since 2020. Uh in fact he really hasn’t come all that close. Uh last year he was about to get into the playoffs and he had he had an inexplicable loss at the end of the season. So uh there’s always something that has haunted Lane Kein. This year it’s all gone well. He’s been fortunate. He he has not had a very difficult schedule. Unlike Texas, he didn’t start the season at Ohio State. I think his toughest non-conference game was two lane. Not exactly frightening stuff there. So, uh he’s had a charm season this year. He he lost a close game to Georgia. Uh and and his biggest win is at Oklahoma, which is good, but but it’s not great. Ohio State Michigan. Does Ohio State get off the schneide against Michigan this weekend? I think so. Um, the real question is what happens if they don’t, right? I mean, that would that would be five straight losses uh to your biggest rival. Uh, last year when when Ryan Day lost to Michigan, a lot of people thought he was going to get fired. Uh, you don’t fire a coach who was the defending national champion. But it is still, it’s also weird though, it’s hard to explain that that is arguably the number one college football rivalry in the country. And this guy possibly could be walking around with a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a scarlet letter around his neck that he’s 0 and five in the last 5 years to his biggest rival. All right. I if it comes down to the college football players, ND and Miami, Miami beat ND. ND’s played much better than Miami of late. What wins out? The tough loss at the the beginning of the year or the way you’re playing now? I think what happens is how you’re playing now. Uh Miami has just somewhat been forgotten about. They’ve lost to Louisville, which has been terrible lately, and to SMU, which is okay. Uh Notre Dame’s losses are at Miami on the first weekend and to Texas A&M, who is still undefeated. I think rightly or wrongly, I I think head-to-head should matter, but Notre Dame will get it over Miami. All right. USC loses a big game last weekend. Uh I I think it was you that reported, Paul, that they they they’re sorry they’re in the Big 10. Was that is that was that you that reported that? Yeah, I mean I said there’s some regrets because uh it just hasn’t gone well for them. Uh I mean they own the the Pack 12 as you know as you know. They’re now playing this random games at Ruters and Maryland and and things like that that just don’t equate. Now the game at Oregon was really good. I mean those are two Big 10 Pack 12 rivals, but uh the Big 10 is bloated. It it’s it’s it’s topheavy. Uh and and frankly Lincoln Riley just can’t seem to get out of his own shadow there. He’s a good coach. He could probably go to a lot of the places I’ve mentioned and be successful. He he had he had I think two or three Heisman Trophy winners at uh at Oklahoma. Uh Kyler Murray and and Baker Mayfield nearly had another one in Jaylen Herds, but he just can’t seem to get get out of his own way. And he had Caleb Williams three years ago. Don’t forget that. So when USC is playing in the Big 10, right? I mean, does it have the same allure as it used to when Pete Carol was there and you know the great quarterbacks are rolling through and the great running backs? Is it that same program or are we stuck in the past thinking that way? It’s a little diminished. Um, and it’s, you know, they they they stuck with Klay Hson for a long time. Uh, and and and you know, the bottom line is Lincoln Rally an elite coach. Most people felt like he left Oklahoma because he was afraid of the SEC and the next the next day he finds out he’s in the Big 10. Uh, he did I mean there I mean three years ago he was like everybody was covering him for the Cowboys job. Now, who hasn’t been mentioned for the Cowboys job in the last 10 years? But, uh, I just think he’s a good coach. He’s just not he’s not elite. And that that’s that’s the problem. He’s being paid to be elite. Is there an avenue, Paul, for Texas to get into the college football playoff? I think it is extremely thin. Now, I would argue if they beat Texas A&M on Friday night, I mean, that’s the number three team in the country. Uh, should they get in? I I would argue yes. And why? Because they have a loss at Ohio State. Uh, you see schools like Oregon that that played Oklahoma State, which is like two and 10. Uh Indiana’s played a bunch of nobodyies. Uh Indiana’s non-conference schedule I think includes Kennaw State. Kennesaw State, excuse me. Uh they So Texas schedule that probably will probably cost itself getting in because of scheduling and that’s that’s to to me is criminal. All right. Before I let you go, this is kind of an abstract question, but I I certainly respect your view on it that you give me, but in order for you to do what you do, you must love the sport. And it’s like me with baseball. But sometimes when you’re in the inside as as much inside as we are, you kind of see how the sausage is made and sometimes you have to hold your nose. Is it tough to love what you love with the stuff that college football and college sports put you through with the NIL, with the coaches jumping, with players transferring every single year? Does it test your love, I guess, is what I’m asking. Absolutely, Michael. I mean, I love Saturday. If you are, if you’re a college football fan, Saturday from noon until midnight, it there’s so much drama with so many games on, but Sunday uh until Saturday morning is disgusting. Uh and you know, I don’t blame the players. I mean, it’s it’s legal and nobody has been able to do anything about it. Here’s the here’s the the most amazing thing. 10 years ago, the NCAA had it agreed to pay the players $1,000, what I mean, any amount of money, they would have been happy with, but the NCAA wouldn’t do that. So, they they created this mess uh and and and we’re getting what we deserve and and you know, coaches have no loyalty. No, nobody Why should a coach Why should a player have loyalty when a coach doesn’t have any loyalty? So, I’m wondering, is there a fix? Is there a way to get the milk back in the udder? I is there a way to clean this up that it it players do get paid, but it resembles more of a college experience? Every commissioner that you talk to said we have to go to Congress uh for help. No, Michael that really that seems to work. Yeah, it doesn’t work that way. Uh ultimately, I think 101 15 years from now, I think there’ll be a a centralization uh of the game where the schedules are done similarly. Will you ever you don’t have weekends like last week where there literally there was one go there was maybe two good college football games. There should be 10 on every week. Uh but but the but as far as the players, it’s not even the players making money. It’s the fact that a player can leave at the end of the season. Uh, and by the way, what player is not going to be looking around in the middle of the playoffs if Lane Keifin is a playoffbound team? And it’s hard to it’s hard to blame them because again, loyalty goes both ways. It’s November 25th at this point on this day. Who do you think the national champion’s going to be? I would say Ohio State. I don’t think it’s overly difficult. Uh they the only thing that concerns me is they haven’t really been tested. Now, they’ll play Michigan this week, which is a good team. They will see Indiana next week. So, by the time they get to the playoffs, uh, they will have seen three good teams all year, and that’s that’s obviously Texas the first week and then the last two weeks. Uh, the Penn State game, which should have been the biggest game of the year in the Big 10, turned out to be a dud. Great stuff, Paul. Love talking with you. Hope you have a great great Thanksgiving. Thanks, Michael. Same here. You got it. That is uh that’s Paul Finebound. Good stuff from him. The Paul Finebound Report brought to you by Bet365. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at Bet 365. I I’m just fascinated by the Lane Keifin story. I I know that college football is not a major needle mover um here in the Northeast. I mean, because we don’t have great teams here in the Northeast. We just don’t. But that that that to me is almost a a human interest story. How do you recruit players? Put them in a position where they can win a national championship, right? And then after the Egg Bowl against Mississippi State on Friday, you’re going to announce that you’re probably leaving to go to LSU. Hopefully, he’ll stay at Old Miss and this becomes a moot point. But if he does go to LSU or Florida, h how is that possible? How how is that possible? Don’t you have to change the calendar where like like in the NFL, I mean, the NFL is not perfect, but you can’t talk to a coach on a team that’s in the playoffs. You can’t you can’t hire a coach that’s under contract. But the contracts in college sports mean nothing. It’s it it means it’s worth the paper that it’s written on means nothing. So, are you going to be able to hire Lane Keifin and ruin a dream season for Old Miss? And as those kids on that team now, players jump around all the time because of the NIL money. And I’m I’m almost certain that 95% of the players that are playing at big-time programs don’t even go to class. They don’t have to. They don’t have to retain eligibility because they’ll go somewhere else the next year. So, it’s not college athletics anymore. They’re not student athletes. They’re athletes. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. But don’t try to paint it as something that it’s not. Let’s not make raw rah for old, you know, old miss. It’s a business. It’s a dirty, filthy business, but it’s kind of shrouded in the colors of a school and the cheerleaders and the kids with their faces painted sitting in the stands. You’re putting a frame around the picture that really does not represent the picture. Weird. Really, really weird. Let’s go back to the phone calls. Let’s go to Pete in Staten Island. Pete, hey, Michael. How are you? I’m good. How you doing, Pete? Good. I I met you at the uh City Field. That was one of your big Yankee advocates. Oh, cool. So, me and me and Big Rick. Love. Um, so you you brought up the uh Gryom them giving him a one year and I know that you know we we touched on it shortly, but I really believe and I’m a huge advocate of Boon and Cashman, but I really think this might come back to be a a disaster because if you don’t start to get certain guys, may it be guys that hit the ball the other way, choke up 02, I I understand all the analytics and the home runs and that, but you need certain guys on the team. And if you lose a Bellinger, I mean, that’s one of the guys, you know, I think I I I think I think Pete, they they want Bellinger, but I don’t think that they would want Bellinger at any cost. I mean, you you’re telling me and I agree with you how important Bellinger is. Let’s say he comes to the Yankees and said, “I’m getting $35 million a year for seven years. Are you doing that because you need him so bad? Well, let’s let’s go back. If we didn’t give Gryom I You have the young kids, right? Right. I understand who’s not good, who’s you give them an opportunity, right? And then you always have the trade deadline if you really need to make a move. I always feel like we’re we’re going backwards. You know, I was on the radio and I went over this with Aaron Glenn, like letting Aaron Rogers go. Imagine Aaron Rogers quarterbacking now with with all the pieces that he had. He would have redid his contract. You know, the guy wanted to stay. He would have redid his contract. You keep that money. If he didn’t listen, trade him to the Beatles and you get a pick for him. So, wouldn’t you want to try to go that route, you know, where you let the kids play if it’s left and and Bellinger in center and then if you if it’s not working out, you could always make that trade after. Well, I mean, no, no, you’re not missing something because I think if if you listen to the show, Pete, and I’m glad that you do, I I I’m sorry I clicked the wrong button, but I will tell you this. I’m not an advocate for giving Gisham $22 million. And I’m I’m of the opinion I don’t buy the nonsense, well, there’s no such thing as a bad one-year deal. This is a bad one-year deal cuz it’s a gross overpay for a guy who had a great year. A great year. 235, but he had 34 home runs. It’s hard to deny he had a really outstanding season, but he would not get $22 million on the open market. So, this is a one-year deal that will impact what you can spend on other things. 22 million will not go away. It will not go away. So, if you get to a stratosphere that you feel this is uncomfortable to pay Cody Bellinger this, one of the reasons is that you’re going to be soaring past what you paid last year. You’re going to be soaring past 319. You wouldn’t be doing that if you didn’t have Gisham. Now, I understand that there’s a der of center fielders out there. I get it. I get it. And they probably don’t feel as comfortable with Bellinger playing center as they do with him playing left. But if you don’t bring Bellinger back, you’re going to be okay with Gisham in center and Dominguez in left. You’re going to be okay with that. Now, I would be okay with Bellinger in center and Dominguez in left. that I would be okay with and you’d be saving money because Dominguez is not even arbitration eligible. So whatever you pay Bellinger, let’s say that the 22 million wasn’t there. So 22, let’s say that Bellinger gets 30, that’s 9 million more. So you’re essentially paying $9 million for Bellinger and whatever you pay like a million dollars a year for Dominguez. To me, that’s preferable than having Dominguez and left in Gisham in center. I I I’m sorry. $22 million is ownorous for that player. And if the Yankees gambled like the Cubs gambled on Soda Imanaga, if you didn’t want him to accept the 22, you should not have offered it. But the Yankees claim that they’re elated that he took the 22. How could they be elated that that player is chewing up $22 million of your payroll? I nobody has explained it to me satisfactorily. None. And that’s why I’m not coming down that hard yet cuz it’s a puzzle that’s not even close to being finished. Let’s see who they bring in. Let’s see how it plays out. Let’s see what reports to spring training in Tampa in February. That’s the final piece for the regular season until the trade deadline. So, what the previous caller said, you know, you could change things at the trade deadline if it didn’t work out with with the with the kids and left, you could still change things at the trade deadline. I think that Brian Kman does some of his best work at the trade deadline. I thought he had a great trade trade deadline this year. The Mets, David Sterns, had a terrible trade deadline, and that’s why they didn’t make the playoffs. The Yankees ended up going off on a run after the trade deadline and tying the Blue Jays for the most wins in the American League. Their pickups were outstanding. The year before picking up Jazz Chisum, that was a great move. So, they do good work at the trade deadline. And that’s what a lot of good teams do. They build a roster, they see how it plays out for the first twothirds of the season, and then they make that last move on J on July 31st. But starting off their first move essentially, other than bringing back Hill, which is smart, and Yarborough, 22 million for Gisham, to me, that’s a load. That’s a lot of money, and it’s going to impact how you spend money on the rest of the roster, and that’s what concerns me. We’ll be back. The 14th ranked St. John’s Red Storm faces Baylor in the Players Era Festival in Vegas. Coverage begins today at 4:10 on 1050 ESPN in the ESPN New York app. Listen up, football fans. See why it’s never ordinary at Bet 365. Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler 21 plus only. Must be physically located in New Jersey. TNC’s apply in app only. 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I want a river of gravy cuz I’ll take that one boat and I’ll start pouring. I’ll pour and I’ll pour. Oh my gosh, it’s almost gone. I’m a gravy freak, guys. Without gravy, it’s not worth having any of that stuff. This is DPro and Rothenberg. Have a really happy Thanksgiving meal. Whipped cream and gravy. What would life be without it? Mornings start with DPRO and Rothenberg weekdays from 6:00 to 10 on ESPN New York and streaming live on YouTube. Why do you go to Princeton Longevity Center? We go to Princeton Longevity Center because my husband’s cardiologist told him having this exam saved his life because somehow 20 turned into 40 and now I need to take my health more seriously. The Princeton Longevity Center designed a program to keep me healthy and active. So 50 and 60 will be no sweat because even though my cholesterol is high, it turned out my arteries are clear. That’s a big relief. 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You could tell because there’s some nice schemes that they run and you can see what he’s trying to get them to do. They don’t have the talent to do it. The Knicks have now beaten the Nets 12 straight games, 12 straight times, and it’s going to be longer. They’re awful. And the Knicks right now are not a great team, but they shellacked the Nets. Carl Anthony Towns had a really good game, but there was one there was one play, I think it was in maybe the late third quarter. I can’t exactly remember the specific time. The Knicks are getting out quickly and Jaylen Brunson drives the lane wide open layup. He splits the defense wide open layout layup and kicks it out for a three to somebody else and it was a missed three. But and that’s not on Jaylen. That’s that’s on the sport which leads me to my other point. So, I’ve been doing copious readings about the Knicks problems defensively this year, and the Knicks don’t cover the three well. They don’t close out on the three very well. They their three defense is is is dreadful. And I was reading a story in The Athletic by James Edwards, who covers the Knicks, and Fred Katz, who covers the NBA. And the Knicks are concentrating right on interior defense. They want to stop people from getting into the lane to score. So, they’re giving up the three. They’re sacrificing three defense to cover the lane. Well, listen, I’m not that bright, but don’t the Knicks as chew anything in the lane and kick it back out for three? Isn’t that what the NBA is? So, you’re guarding against something that the teams don’t want. So, if you asked me, Michael K, what would you rather be better defensively at? I’d rather be better at defending the three than defending the paint, cuz the paint is not where the game is played anymore. So, it’s all well and good that the Knicks have this unbelievable impediment to the other team in the paint and Mitchell Robinson, but how many people are playing the game in the paint? So that’s what really struck me in in the story in the Athletic that that’s the Knicks game plan defensively. They want to just shut down the paint and they’ll give up threes. But does that make sense when a team like the Celtics take 50 threes a game? So you’re shutting off an artery that doesn’t really pump blood. How much is done in the paint offensively? Not that much. And I told you this yesterday and the Knicks are playing Charlotte tomorrow. These are teams are going to get beat up. They’re they they’ll beat up on because they’re better than them. They have far more talent than them. But can they beat good teams with this wi with this defensive philosophy? Think about it. Orlando actually is not a team that lives and dies with threes, but they were banging him home against the Knicks because the Knicks can’t defend it. So, make that make sense to me that in a sport where the world will shoot three after three. That’s what the Nick offense is. Three after three after three after three. Your point of emphasis defensively is the paint. I I don’t know. Maybe Allan could come in and explain to me. It makes no sense to me. 1 800 919-3776. Uh let’s go to Frank in Newell. Frank, talk to me. What’s up, Mike? Uh you know, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Like this the I read too they’re the third worst team defending the three. They’re I think 13th or 14th in def in defense overall. But I didn’t know what what you just said about what you read. I didn’t wasn’t aware of that. And that’s utterly ridiculous. Shot is the most damaging shot. And as you said, people are taking in 30 40 50. If you take 30 in a game, it’s like the low ball number. So if you’re not going to defend it, uh I I just this guy I’m trying to be patient that you know 20% of the season’s in 16 games. Uh you have to give him a little more time, but eventually your personality as a coach comes forward. We’ve given up this grit with Tibs. I don’t mean to keep going back to him because I love Tibs and Brown wants to go pace a play, play the modern day game, but right now what’s suffering is that three-point defending the post. I could see not letting the guards get in the paint and wanted to defend that. But if they get in the paint, nine out of 10 times they just kick it to the wide open three and if they’re open, well, in the NBA, if you’re open, the percent goes really high. So, well, here’s the thing that doesn’t make sense to me. I wonder if it makes sense to you. His offensive philosophy, Mike Brown, is to shoot the three whenever you get a chance, but his defensive philosophy is not to stop the three. H how does that make sense, Frank? Yeah. Which makes no sense, right? That makes no sense at all. You should concentrate on You can concentrate on B, you know, Tibs, the Knicks, didn’t they don’t they have some three-point shooters, you know, Brunson and Towns, and then after that it gets a little shaky to me. I mean, I’ll give you Deuce a little. We don’t have all the but now everybody’s allowed to shoot threes all the time. It’s no such thing as a bad shot anymore. High school basketball, college, it used to be, why’d you take that shot and now it’s like, well, why didn’t you take that shot? You were open. Shoot it. You had a guy and you shoot the three. So, there is no bad shots anymore in basketball. You said it when Brunson went to the rim. I know I don’t blame Brunson, but take the two unless the situation dictates it. If it doesn’t dictate it and it’s the first quarter or second quarter, take the two points. Um, but that’s what that’s the basketball we live in today. But you know what’s really you know you know what’s funny Frank the the bad shot now in 2025 NBA is a foot inside the three-point line. A two-point shot is a bad shot. And you can’t tell me in the third quarter taking a sure thing layup by Brunson is not a better option than kicking it out for a three where there’s a 62% chance 60% if you’re a really great shooting team of missing that shot. Brunson’s not going to miss a layup. And I’m not blaming Brunson. The the Knicks offensive philosophy is to shoot threes. Shoot as many threes as you can. But strangely, their defensive philosophy is not to cover that shot. I I I I I don’t I don’t get it. Let’s go to Drock in Brooklyn. Drock, hey, Michael, I’m doing very well. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, you and your family. You, too. You, too. I’m a suffer Thank you. I’m a suffering Nets fan. Um, I decided I wanted to call you up today because, uh, speaking of things that don’t make sense, how many times do we have to see a Nets team with very lackluster front court play? I mean, Nicholas Claxton, he he’s he’s done well uh, over some of these past few games. You know, he’s upped his assists, he uped his rebounds, but Carl Anthony Towns ate his breakfast, lunch, and dinner last night. And the man can’t shoot threes, but can we get a big guy in there that can actually defend somebody? I know we got these rookies in here. We have five first round picks and if I’m honest, only two of them look like decent role players. The other three are in the G- League. That’s how bad they are. Shawn Marks has been here for quite some time. He took over a team that had no future. Got D’Angelo Russell, Kenny Aerson, and them boys only to sell his soul to Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant who made a mess with James Harden. Now we’re back at it again. But this small ball philosophy that he wants to keep employing with this team, how many more seasons do I have to suffer? And you know, maybe the seven or eight Nets fans out there. Well, let me ask you, let me ask you a question because I’m curious cuz you are a Net fan and there aren’t that many out there. You’re a legitimate Net fan. I can hear it in your voice. What do you think about a team that’s not trying to win for two straight years? They’re not trying to win, Drock. They’re not even trying. What does that make you think as a fan? I would disagree with that. It It’s not that they’re not trying to win. They’re prioritizing the draft pick. Now, they got eighth and hopefully this year we can get at least a top three. But that’s the that’s the plan. You know, the team was too good last season. They traded some of those guys like Dennis Schroeder and um Dorian Finny Smith. Yeah, but but they had five first round draft picks last year and they got stiffed in the lottery and as you said, where’s the star in those five first round draft picks? And also, if you lose on purpose this year, Drock, the chance of you getting a first, second, or third pick in the draft is only 40%. So, there’s a 60% chance you’re going to fall out of that. Is it worth it? Yes, I I would I would take that risk as a Nets fan. I’m actually watch Yes, I’m actually watching these games that most of the games they’re they’re at least somewhat competitive. It it’s it’s rough now, but we have to find that guy to build around. Clax is not the guy. Michael Porter Jr. is not the guy. Cam Thomas is not the guy. I wish he’d come off the bench as a sixman, but he wants to try and earn his money and he’s not going to get it starting because all he wants to do is score. But all all I can hope for is that we get a good draft pick. Uh Darren Peterson looks like the guy, but Camboozer and AJ Deonta, those are the three guys that I’m looking at as a Nets fan. And I would agree with you, those are the guys, Drock, but my my concern is you are not going to be a competitive team this year. there’s a chance you might win 12 games, right? For the the 40% chance of getting one of those three guys. Now, I know it’s a deep draft, but I mean, Dallas barely didn’t make the playoffs last year and had what, a point 2% chance of getting the first pick, and they did. So, they have Cooper flag. So, so my point is to eliminate seasons from your team’s history, to not even be a team that even dreams about making the playoffs for a 40% chance at a lottery ticket. I I don’t know if it’s worth it. I I I simply don’t know if it’s worth it. I I And you’re charging full price to go see the team in Barkley Center. The Yes Network is paying a lot of money in right fees to put your games on and they do it in a top flight way. Topflight production. Some of the greatest announcers in the game. Um you got Ian, you got Ryan, you got Noah. I mean, you’ve got big time playby-play guys and great analysts, too. So, they’re not scrimping at all. They’re putting on a topflight production. Top flight production every single game. Nobody’s watching. The ratings tell the story. Nobody’s watching. So there’s a D-Rock out there that loves his his Nets. No one is watching this team. So you’re taking the 2025 2026 season and you’re eliminating it from the team’s history. That’s the same thing you did last year. You did not try to make the playoffs. You had a hope and a prayer on getting a draft pick that you wanted. You want a Cooper flag. Everybody wanted a Cooper flag. Didn’t work out. You got five at this point nondescript players. Five first round draft picks. That was the mother lode. That was going to change everything. I said this. I said it back to the shows I did with Don and Peter. Draft picks are air until you make the selection and it clicks. Again, the math doesn’t work. 60% chance that you do not have one of the top three picks, even if you have the worst record in the NBA. And as bad as the Nets are, they only have the fourth worst record in the NBA. So they’re not going to have the most pingpong balls. 40% chance of getting the top three pick. 60% of not that’s worth of killing a season. I’m somewhat dubious. Hey, this Thanksgiving, FanDuel is introducing a brand new way to build a parlay together. It’s called pass the leg. Here’s how it works. Start a group build, add your pick, then pass it to your friends so they can add theirs. When everyone’s done, you each lock in the group parlay with your own funds because football is better when it’s played and bet together. And to make it even better, everyone gets a 50% profit boost to use on their build. Hey, the Chiefs are in Dallas, right? That should be a good game. Maybe you like Mahomes in the over on passing yards. The Ravens, they’re hosting the Bengals. Hey, Joe Burrow is going to start. How exciting is that? Coming back way sooner than people thought. Is he going to have a certain amount of passing yards? Maybe the over. Will Derrick Henry find the end zone? 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I think I came up with a killer slogan for our law firm. Dagustinino and Associates. Bite back. Bite back. Yeah. When someone hurts you, you bite back. We’ll be the law firm that bites back. Dad, that’s brilliant. Accident victims? Call Dagustinino and Associates and bite back. Hey, we could even put a big vicious dog on billboards everywhere. Yeah. And Rottweilers on buses. Hey, how about a toll-free number? What are you thinking? You know, like 1800 biteback. 1 800 biteback. That’s brilliant. But what if people hear fightback? Easy. I’ll spell it out for them. Like 1 800B I t back. 1 800 bite back. That’s 18002483222. [Music] Love it. Hey, Dad. Yeah. All this talk about biting back got me hungry. Me, too. Want to grab lunch? Sure. Hey, how about a jingle? You mean like Dagustinino Law? Bite back. Your ambition just met its match with Robin Hood. Trade stocks and ETFs, options, futures, and crypto all on one platform. Get started today at robinhood.com/yyouoney. 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Terms and conditions apply. See app for details. Hockey fans and holiday shoppers, check out Don Haunted Rosenberg live from the NHL shop. Tuesday, December 2nd at Hudson Yards Manhattan West Plaza. They’ll be talking all things hockey. It’s hockey, man. The excitement of the season and joined on site by Rangers legend Mark Messier. It’s all powered by Game7 Brands, bringing you closer to the action than ever before. Don’t miss Don Han and Rosenberg live from the NHL shop Tuesday, December 2nd. [Music] Well, Mley Crew celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Carnival of Sins. It’s the title of my ninth book at PNC Bank Art Center on Friday, July 31st of 2026. ESPN New York has your chance to score tickets on the ESPN New York app. Find the contest tile and submit your entry. brought to you by Live Nation. Take a sale now at livenation.com. I I I feel very guilty because Alan Han was scarfing down some food and I said, “Come on.” I mean, you didn’t have to share all that. Well, I mean, but it’s it’s it’s reality radio. Yeah, I guess so. All right. So, but it’s fine. It’s anything for you. I wanted to know this and I brought this up. I was reading a story in the Athletic by Edwards and Catz about the Knick defense and the Knicks don’t cover the three that well. No. And their intent though is they want to lock down the paint and they’ll give up the three, but their intent offensively is to shoot the three and not shoot balls in the paint, right? So why are you not guarding against what you want your team to do? That’s what the whole league does. They guard the paint. It’s Well, what you’re seeing is the corner threes, right? They’re very hard to get to. That’s why you want to take them. So the Knicks are one of the top corner three shooting teams in the league. They’re also one of the top at giving up the corner three. Isn’t that a killer though? Yeah. No. Yeah. How are they going to be good teams defense? Here’s the reason why I get into into the weeds. When you don’t have the ability to stop the ball like point of attack, like teams, they’ve lately played a lot of driving teams. Teams like to drive the drive into the paint and spray it out. They don’t have guys that like Jaylen Brunson’s not stopping people one-on-one, right? They don’t have a lot of players like that. And without Anobi, it gets worse. So what you’re happening what you’re having is is drivers go towards the paint. The initial point of point of attack gets beat. Somebody’s got to help. Where do they help? From the corner and it’s kick it out. And sometimes Okay. So that guy rotates now. You kick it back up. And then they So bad three-point shooting teams get into rhythm against the Knicks. It just it’s been bad. They got Oh yeah. Well, it’s worse. It goes back even beyond Orlando. There’s been some bad teams that they’ve played recently. They’ve won the games, but they shoot well. So, it’s a problem they’ve got to fix, but it’s not new. This was an issue last year, right? It just got masked by, you know, a good offense. And in in the playoffs, we saw it. They got murdered on the three ball cuz they just couldn’t defend it. They couldn’t get out and close it. So, I look and say, “Okay, the the the the lane is open for them to get to the NBA finals, but there are some impediments that maybe we didn’t think were impediments, and I’m not going to like really do the deep dive on the Knicks. still so early and is a new coach. Yeah. But the defense is an issue to me and I think it’s going to be because your one great defender is OG. Yep. All right. So, he’s he’s Bridges is good. Bridges is good. Bridges is okay. But, I mean, the other guys are lacking. You’re not going to get that from Cat. You’re not going to get that from Brunson. Mitchell Robinson only plays 22 minutes a game. So, this is something that could rear its ugly head, Allan. Yeah. And and I thought it did in the playoffs. I thought it’s the reason why the Detroit series went six. It’s the reason why the Pacers series went the way it went. They they couldn’t guard, especially again that game one, we’ll always go back to that game one last year in the Eastern Conference Finals. They had two minutes to guard somebody. Couldn’t do it, you know. So, that that’s the issue. And you’re saying it’s early. We’re, you know, 20 game mark to me is when you really get to know a team. We’re at 16. So, we’re getting close. Um, but it’s the same problem as last year. I don’t think it’s a new one. They just haven’t fixed it. But the problem is why it’s a problem. It’s the same personnel. So, you know, we’ll see. We’ll see where it goes. But, you know, you say impediments and you’re saying things like there’s speed bumps. Like I I’m I’m really worried about it, right? Because what you’re seeing in the East is what you didn’t expect. There’s a couple of teams that have gotten off to a good start that are sending a message to New York that you’re not the only dog in this race. And one of those teams, Miami. Yeah, Miami is pretty good. And they just got Tyler Herro back. And that’s that’s something to watch. And Detroit’s dangerous, right, Alan? I’m wondering Don’s sitting here as well and Don Han and Rosenberg follow the show. You’re dealing with Don. He’s a star now. Is there a different Don? Because you know the It’s overwhelming. It is overwhelming. Oh my. It really is overwhelming. When we work together, he you know he was he was a grinder. Yep. But now he’s a superstar. But he’s he’s a superstar that grinds. I will say that. Okay. He he continues to grind the grind. He’s not lazy. But I mean the ego that’s the part that we’re really starting to see it come out. I don’t like to hear this, Don. It’s It’s really like honestly we’re thrilled for him, right? We encourage him to believe this. But now what you have to do is just start to understand that wow it once you really start to believe it, you know, like it’s like, “Okay, all right.” Like, “All right.” Like, “We’ll praise you. Don’t worry about it. We’ll praise you.” Now, here’s the interesting part, Don. So, I I I wouldn’t been caught dead watching a Devil’s game. Now, when I know you’re on, I’m I’ll tune in for like 5 10 minutes just to hear you and whatever. I appreciate that. And it makes me realize I don’t know how I do it. I’m wondering, you’re older starting this than I was starting it. How difficult is the grind to do the game from the arena and then have to do the game and do you get fatigued? Yes, I do. The road more so, right? you know, going to the rock yesterday is kind of like coming here and you know, hooking up the equipment and all that can be a bit of a pain, but like the road because you’re already on the road and 4 hours in a hotel. And listen, these are great hotels, but you’re stuck in a room, you know, you’re not you’re not there’s nobody in the room with you. You’re not you’re not talking to your colleagues and you know, you’re preparing and what you’re trying not to do and and you know the dynamic of not have your prep for the show interfere with your prep for the game. Yep. You know, and it it’s going to the morning skate, which is I guess something you don’t have to do. I don’t I would not I can’t even fathom that. You know, go to the morning skate, then go back to the hotel, scarf down some lunch, do the show, and then, you know, hustle to the arena or Let me ask you about the morning. Is that Tonka truck? I mean, is I mean, did you get anything from the morning skate? Yeah, I I can find out the line combinations. But you would get that from if you want it from somebody that was there. We had to get up early for I mean listen we do live in the era where the technolog is there for you. Yeah. But I the one thing you’re right probably not as necessary but even though I have two analysts I don’t have to describe as much. So I’ve got room to say hey this morning I was talking to Jper Brad and he said this like to just kind of color up the uh the broadcast a little bit. And the only way you do that is to show face and have these players see you. And the only way they’re going to respect you is if they know that you’re there and you’re grinding it out with them, right? I don’t want to be the guy that the diva that parachutes in for the game and then leaves. Do you do the shoot around when you do the games, Alan? No, you don’t. Because there’s no access, right? It doesn’t make sense. I mean, minimal controlled access. So, pregame for NBA is the much better play. That’s the That’s the show face kind of thing cuz unlike hockey, h you can’t go on the ice while guys are warming up, but in basketball, you’re right there on the court. You’re around the court. So you spend as much time as you can on the court, you know, having those same conversations and a lot of the stuff that happens in the in the shoot around is, you know, like for the writers. It’s not really for us, right? So, you know, like I don’t make it a habit to go to those. I don’t have to. What Don’s doing though, because it’s first year doing it. It’s credibility. That’s what you’re supposed to do. I don’t know if you’re trying to like chip away at his credibility and make him lazy, but he can do maybe 20 years he can then rely on Twitter to tell him what the lines are. when he’s 75. Yeah. But uh but but thanks. But I you know I I I was having fun with Don before, but I feel like you’re kind of chipping away at him right now. No, no, no. I I You really have to go. I’ve always wondered about the morning what you really get out of it. It’s his first year. He should go to everything. Like if they had a morning BP for a night game, I don’t think you get out of um batting practice like but you don’t get to little stories. No, I do now. I do now because it’s not listen I’m not going to pretend that I’m you know Joe hockey where I completely understand all the things they’re working on in practice right it’s after you know going to the dressing room talking to the players it’s it’s look the out of town announcers making sure you know how do they pronounce this name what’s going on who’s hot who’s not what are some of the story lines for your team this is where you get a chance to do it all and I don’t have the ability to do that pregame you know sitting around the uh the uh the media dining area at 5:00 and BSing with these guys 2 hours before the game. I’m doing a show. Are you a napper? No, you’re not. Because Breen naps after Yeah, that’s that’s something you’re going to have to work in somewhere. Yeah. Can’t do it. It’s just it it’s disgusting. Napping is disgusting. There’s no way you feel better after a nap. Oh, absolutely. Really? That’s tremendous. Well, because you’re if you’re not a napper, you’re not going to feel good if you’re a napper. I wish I was a napper. Well, you’re a sleep inner then. Oh, I love to sleep. Right. Yeah. I I could give you 12, 15 hours. So you you’ll go right to like 10:00 a.m. 11 a.m. When the kids I get up, but like I’m talking about when you’re on the road. Oh, yeah. You can do that. Well, yeah. Well, now I wake up a little earlier to prepare for the show, right? But if if there’s no show, can’t do it. Oh, no. I mean, 7 doesn’t matter where I am. 7 a.m. It’s as close to a dirt nap as you’ll ever take. Yeah. So, what do we got planned on the show tonight? Because Peter didn’t deem it important to come in. Dean, well, we do a lot of this without him. So, uh, we’re kind of used to that. There there’s two big stories. I I was fascinated with the HAL stuff because I I really 100% agree with what you were saying. You know, it the audacity of the fans to say you should lose money for us, right? And I don’t know whether I don’t know if they’re losing money, but the fact the fact is and listen, I’m a Met fan. I don’t think it’s fair that Steve Cohen gets to dip into his 16 billion dollars of wealth that has nothing to do with the Mets. that he could the rumors are he’s lost like $200 million since he’s owned the Mets and yet still can sink even more money. It’s because it’s a toy for him. Meanwhile, people don’t want to hear it, but it’s a mom and pop operation with the Steinbrunners. It’s a family-owned business. They’ve got 45% of of shareholders, right, that that own that that percent. It’s a very valuable mom and pop like I I enjoy the ring, but I’d also like some some money return on my investment. Sure. So that’s where I really think I believe baseball should get with the Joneses and have a cap. If they have a cap, Michael, what what would the number be? What do you think? It’d have to be about 300. 300? Not even 350? I’m not sure. I mean, first of all, I think the players will fight against it because they’ll say, “Hey, there is a cap. It’s a tax.” Yeah. Pal doesn’t want to go over the tax, so it’s serving as a as a cap. A soft cap, right? But the thing that’s going to be a problem is that there’s going to be a floor. Yeah. You think the pirates want you you pirates want to spend $200 million on payroll? I don’t think they do. I don’t think they can. The floor is the bigger I think that’s the bigger controversy in the sport because if you’re the players, that’s exactly what you want. Okay, you’re going to put a cap. Make sure there’s a floor so that some of these cheap teams have to spend to a certain number which means contracts are going to have to be given out. But what that can do is that can put some bad contracts in the league. Now, of course, there’s ways to get around it. The Islanders did that where they were playing Alexa Yashin years after he was gone to be able to get to their floor. Nothing’s perfect, Michael, but it just it’s weird that the other three major sports have it have have had work to their advantage. And also guys like Mahomes and LeBron James are still making north of $50 million a year. So, it’s not really coming out of their pocket. There’s no middle class. All right. There’s no middle class. I get that. But the superstars are the ones that really move the needle in these union meetings. They’re still going to be able to make their money. Well, here’s the thing that’s going to be very interesting with this. I don’t think the the the leaders of the players association would accept the cap. But last collective bargaining agreement, the leaders, the big stars, there like seven of them, they went back to the rank and file and said, “Do not vote yes on this.” Overwhelmingly vote yes. They they went against their leadership. And that’s what I think baseball ownership is looking at. I don’t think these guys want to miss games. There’s a lot of people that don’t want to miss pay. The question is next year. Do they get locked out or does this wait until the end of 20? Wait till the end. Okay. Yeah. They’ll definitely be at 26. After that, it’ll be sometime in December. So, this is the time to get the contracts because you never know. Yeah. So, there could be some money thrown around because you never know, right? And I think that’s why Gisham took what he took. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. That was miscalculation by Cashman, right? I they even internally they’re saying they really wanted them. Or are they using these young outfielders to get Tatis? We’re melting right into Matis is out of my brain. I have not heard that. Or or whoever, right? But I mean, you sit there, we’re melting right into 3:00. Michael can just Well, you know, he can hang out with us. But but twothirds of the show is melting into our show. The only one he would have a problem with is Peter and he doesn’t like to work, right? And he’s not even here right now. So, the show’s supposed to start, nor does he like to hit the music if we can just do that. We’ll just we’ll just keep it rolling. Well, I will not see you guys. So, have a happy Thanksgiving. to you as well and your family. Your favorite holidays, if not the most. I love this holiday. So, enjoy it. I don’t even like the food that much. Right. Turkey stinks. Well, he did this whole thing on the pie and the cake thing. I don’t know if you saw it. Yeah. Peter’s out of his mind. What did he like? Cake. I like cake, too. I’ve never had apple pie, though. Well, the only pie I like is chocolate pie. Like chocolate pudding pie. Yeah. Was there any cake that have over chocolate pudding pie? Yeah. Chocolate layer. Seven layer. Isn’t that a lot though after turkey and all? I don’t think I would have it on Thanksgiving, but if if you’re asking, what if what if somebody showed up with an intimates cake like like you invited him to the house, they brought face first, right? Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I’m not a face first guy, Don. We always spoke about that. Not a big pie guy. Don Hunter Ros coming up in a minute. In the words of Billy Joe, life is a series of lows and goodbyes. I’m afraid it’s time for goodbye again. See everybody. Talk to you tomorrow at one. Hey, this is Jaylen Brunson. Brunson for three. And this is your home for New York Knicks basketball. This is 880 ESPN, WHSQ, and WCBS FM HD2 New York. The headstrong back

The Jets stumble to yet another disappointing finish, leaving fans questioning what, if anything, has truly changed. Meanwhile, the Giants make headlines of their own after firing yet another member of the coaching staff, raising fresh concerns about stability, direction, and the bigger plan moving forward. What a disaster for New York Football.

Chapters
0:00:00 – Hal Steinbrenner: Winning & Baseball Salary Cap
0:29:00 – Callers on Yankees Trades & Hal’s Commitment
0:49:00 – Michael on Son’s Friends + Callers on Hal and Yankees
1:00:00 – Paul Finebaum on Lane Kiffin + Grisham Contract Discussion
1:29:00 – Nets & Knicks: Defensive Struggles
1:45:00 – Alan Hahn & Don LaGreca on Knicks Defense + Morning Skates

Your home for all things New York sports — bringing you the energy, opinions, and insights that define the city’s sports scene.

Weekday Lineup:
DiPietro & Rothenberg — 6a-10a
Bart & Carlin — 10a-1p
The Michael Kay Show — 1p-3p
Don, Hahn, & Rosenberg — 3p-7p

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