Latest / 2 Men In Black and White: An Honest Conversation / Are We Witnessing a Moment or a Movement? New York City Poised to Lead a Cultural Revolution
Transcript
- Mark Hayes (00:01.191) All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting edition of Two Men in Black and White, an honest conversation. And honestly, this is not going away. This feeling that everybody wants to be a part of with the New York Knicks amazing run. It's the city that doesn't sleep. It's the city too busy to hate. And it's the city with eight million, eight and a half million stories in a naked city. And we love it. And today's parade just goes to show how beautiful it really is when we all come together. Today's movement was about unity, about togetherness, about one nation under a groove. Brock, the adulation, the joy, the feeling that people had today. you man, if we You can't you can't shake it. You can't get away from it. people watching it on TV felt the same way as people who were actually there. Brock Ganeles (01:09.55) I just keep wondering whether the whole country is watching this and and wanting to be part of the feeling. I'm exhausted. I I'm I barely slept since Saturday night, right? I was on that long trip to Mississippi, had to drive back. I I'm I'm addicted to my feed of just wa like catching people's one and two minute stories on my Instagram feed and Mark Hayes (01:37.94) Mm-hmm. Brock Ganeles (01:38.979) Family stories, and there's funny, there's funny ones, there's serious ones, there's ones about life lessons, and there's just so many family stories. And I'm just convinced that New York is not celebrating the Knicks. New Yorkers are celebrating themselves, and they're celebrating their loyalty. Mark Hayes (01:51.562) Yeah. Mark Hayes (02:04.349) At each other. Brock Ganeles (02:08.556) to the Knicks. And in essence, they're really celebrating their loyalty to each other. And it's almost like they recognized it. The Knicks have been a conduit for a feeling of community. And they just happen to represent the community that they live in. Because the players live right in the community in New York that they live in and perform for. Mark Hayes (02:10.484) Yep. Mark Hayes (02:21.034) Yeah. Mark Hayes (02:31.55) Right. Right. Brock Ganeles (02:38.114) They just happened to be this melting pot of players that also was had that un underdog chip on the shoulder nature, but became that collective where it wasn't just five guys, it was all fifteen, and the fifteen was a they were better than the sum of the parts. And it's just such a great, great feeling. Mark Hayes (02:49.865) Right. Mark Hayes (02:59.699) Right. Right. Brock Ganeles (03:03.094) We love it we're basketball fans, right? We're digging in on the strategy. We're digging on the Brunson and the high pick and roll and what Alvarado brought to the table and OG and the cat step back and that this you know, like we're digging it. We love it because it's basketball. But Mark, I don't I didn't I mean, I'm fucking sixty years old now. Like I don't root for teams the same way. I root for people. I don't just root for teams. But I I'm watching the Knicks, I'm celebrating the Knicks. Mark Hayes (03:10.527) Yeah. Mark Hayes (03:25.659) Right. Right. Right. Brock Ganeles (03:32.845) And I'm thinking about us playing in high school. Like I'm getting emotional. I have been for five days, right? I'm connecting back and thinking of the stories that we had and the camaraderie that we had and how it helped shape my life. And I just feel like everyone in New York is connecting, like really kind of connecting through the Knicks back to their family. Mark Hayes (03:36.435) Right. Mark Hayes (03:51.541) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (04:01.986) Their upbringing, their community. It's not that they've watched and stuffered with the Knicks. It's the people that they've watched the games with. Mark Hayes (04:10.987) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Brock Ganeles (04:12.8) It's the community that they did it with. It's really, really heartwarming. Mark Hayes (04:18.825) Yep. I'll I'll I'll never forget, you know, and a a fraternity brother of mine mentioned this to me the other day. He was like, Man, you know, both of our fathers are deceased. And he said, you know, man, I when the Knicks won that game, you know, my first thought was how me and my dad used to watch the Knicks in the, you know, early to mid seventies and, you know, what what fun it was to sit on the couch with my dad explaining to me you know, the players and I thought about the same thing. Remember the Nabisco wafers? Me and my dad would eat those when we watched, you know, the Knicks play with Dave DeBusher and Earl De Pearl Monroe and, you know, Marv Albert on the call and you know, it was it was Bill Bradley, you know, and those amazing, you know, Knicks teams of the early seventies. And I just remember You know, sitting on the couch with my dad, asking him question after question about the games, you know, and and when he could put a basketball hoop up for me. And, you know, it's those relationships, the positive relationship memories that come with this victory, right? Because what the Knicks are doing is making us remember all the good stuff that surrounds us and our community. And our neighbors and our friends and families. And that's what we've need we've needed that like this this country needed. Brock, we got a party here in Atlanta to celebrate the New York Knicks. New York Knicks victory in Atlanta. There's a party here. And you know, New Yorkers everywhere are wearing their jerseys, wearing their hats, proudly displaying, you know, their their allegiance to the team like you talked about. And that's the blessing. Brock Ganeles (06:12.052) And as each each of those buses came down, double decker buses came down on the parade. And once again, here I am. Fucking I watched five and a half hours of parade covers today. I watched the entire thing from before it had started at 8 30. And you had ca Carol Anthony Thompson with the Dominican flag on it. And you had Alvarado's with the Puerto Rican flag on it. Right? And now everyone's talking about I guess Brunson's, you know, got Jamaican Jamaican roots. Mark Hayes (06:41.171) Mm-hmm. Heritage, yeah. Brock Ganeles (06:42.378) Alvar OG was born in London. He's African was born in London. They have another player who's actually from Africa. And it's just like it's such a melting pot. And New York is so proud. They're so proud that that is the group that's representing them because it's representing them in the way they want to be seen. And they see themselves through the players. Like the neighborhoods see each other through the players. It's Mark Hayes (06:45.866) Yeah. Mark Hayes (06:52.083) Yeah, Jordan Care. Mark Hayes (07:06.442) Yeah. Mark Hayes (07:10.282) Yeah, man. Brock Ganeles (07:11.786) It's truly remarkable and for like ten year like we've allowed the MAGA movement. We really allowed the the outrage of the MAGA movement of complaining about black mermaids and you know, we were talking about whether there could be a black James Bond and all the horseshit that we get from the right in with their false ne notion of who's American. Mark Hayes (07:40.471) Right. Right. Brock Ganeles (07:41.527) And what it means to be American and whose culture it is. And the Knicks represented a multicultural society. And it reflected New York City, which is America's most multicultural society. In fact, it's probably the world's most multi-recial, multicultural municipality in the world. And it reminded New Yorkers how proud they are of that fact. Mark Hayes (07:52.447) Right. Mark Hayes (08:00.841) The world. Yeah. Mark Hayes (08:10.376) Of hands. Yep. Brock Ganeles (08:11.01) But that's who they are. And that's why I just feel like it's the Knicks are just an outlet for a feeling that people had kind of lost or were quiet about. I I always we've been talking about I I think when Ice after ice went to Minneapolis a couple times in the show we even said it's like, I wonder what would happen if they really sent ice into New York. Like, what would happen? That you know, is Ice gonna win that fight? Mark Hayes (08:18.889) Yep. Mark Hayes (08:22.697) La Brock Ganeles (08:39.234) Would the police remember we talked about like would the police turn on ice? Right? And and and they haven't really tried it yet because I think MAGA knows they would lose a street fight in New York. And Mark Hayes (08:41.803) Yeah. Mark Hayes (08:52.809) absolutely. Well, remember they lost remember they lost that that battle with the Haitian community in Brooklyn. They said no no no no nope, you can't come in here, you know, snatching people, unaliving people. We're not going for they fought remember they fought back. We had great video of the Haitian community saying, Nah, not here. Not here. So go ahead, I'm sorry to interrupt. Brock Ganeles (09:19.542) No, you didn't interrupt. I mean that that's true. I mean, you know, it just gets back to the MAGA I MAGA and Trump just is like a dark cloud hanging over America. And you know, and the Knicks were like that ray of sunshine coming through. I mean, they literally burnt siege outside of Madison Square Garden after game three to like try to exercise the demon that was Trump who would come and and you know in in New Yorker's mind cause the team to lose because he ruined the vibe. And he did ruin ruin the vibe. Mark Hayes (09:28.863) Yes. Yes. Mark Hayes (09:46.227) Right. Right. Brock Ganeles (09:48.879) 'Cause he shut down the the street parties, the watch parties around the garden, which was the energy. The the energy that everyone had coming into the building, fans and players alike, was all just the regular New Yorkers who didn't have the money to be in the building, who just had to be there. And it's it's just been such a you know, New Yorkers are now just openly talking about just how wrong Trump America Trump's America is. Mark Hayes (09:51.775) Yep. Shut down the vendors. Shut down the vendors. Brock Ganeles (10:18.582) And that New York is the real America. And I just hope that that message is working its way out through the country. the players are on so many sh talk shows and the like. I think it is. And they're all in their own way, because they all have these great individual stories. You know, they're like teaching they're they're teaching a lesson to America, a lesson in perseverance and a lesson in togetherness and friendship. So it's it's just Mark Hayes (10:22.324) Right. Mark Hayes (10:36.871) Mm-hmm. Mark Hayes (10:43.62) Absolutely. Brock Ganeles (10:47.98) I mean what I mean the parade was incredible how many people were out there, but the message of the parade was amazing. I'm not in living in New York City anymore. I don't get the vote for mayor, but I certainly hell wouldn't have voted for Cuomo, right? So I'm not necessarily a Mandani fanatic. But he gave one of the great speeches. The great the best speech certainly for a sporting event. But he gave a phenomenal speech. Mark Hayes (10:57.993) Right. Mark Hayes (11:08.36) Right. But now Mark Hayes (11:14.988) no doubt. Brock Ganeles (11:17.268) about New York City but that was his job because he's the mayor of New York. But I just felt like he was talking to all of America in that speech. Mark Hayes (11:29.235) No doubt. Especially the point, you know, four seconds where you know he included so many people's contributions. Yeah, OG made the tip, he said, but leading up to that, you had contributions from Alvarado, you know, from every single player on that Knicks. He included so many people from Mike Brown, the way he wove in. The contributions of New Yorkers, the New York Knicks, their coaching staff, and the community as a whole was just a masterful speech. And you're right, he wasn't just talking to New Yorkers, he was talking to the country because he said that point four seconds showed what you can do if you just don't quit. Right? If you just don't quit. And that's exactly. Brock Ganeles (12:26.478) Yeah, it was actually it was actually point four percent because there was a point in the fourth quarter where it was a ninety nine percent the the statisticians and the the quant guys had determined and the betters of course had determined that the Spurs had a ninety nine point six percent chance of winning with ten minutes left in the game. And the Knicks had that point four the odds were point four chance and he the you know, he wove in a story about how New Yorkers Mark Hayes (12:29.995) Yes. Okay. Yes. Mark Hayes (12:37.385) Yeah. Mark Hayes (12:46.015) Right. Brock Ganeles (12:54.58) live in that point four percent and that that was enough. That was enough opportunity for them, you know, to kind of to kick the door down. So it's been really it's been really good. of course there was some political you know, Kathy Hokel was there, the governor of New York, Mandani was there, all the you know the you know, obviously that, you know, they they had the Mark Hayes (12:56.137) Thank you. Yeah. Brock Ganeles (13:20.632) Pounce on the moment. I was surprised Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries were not there. So it was less political showing than I would have expected. But I'm still hoping for like some bandwagon jumping on from politicians. And I really want them to stop talking necessarily about just the Knicks as a basketball team. Mark Hayes (13:25.183) Yeah. Mark Hayes (13:29.801) Yeah. Yeah, me too. Brock Ganeles (13:45.633) And I want to just talk about the Knicks as a successful blueprint for a community. Yeah, 'cause that's how I look at it. Like, yeah, they're a good basketball team, you know, arguably a great basketball team and a championship basketball team, but how how they're constructed and who they are and how they think and how they work together is just such a bigger message that is so transferable. Mark Hayes (13:52.959) Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. Mark Hayes (14:09.024) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (14:15.266) to so many other aspects of life, s society and and political life, because political life is society and and it also shows how we can we can rally and motivate in massive numbers. We haven't done it yet for democracy. But you know, as people are out people are outside. Mark Hayes (14:15.648) Right. Mark Hayes (14:24.233) Right. Mark Hayes (14:36.778) Yeah. But we've done it for sure. And and There's a way to get people outside, in the words of Jadakiss. and Brock, maybe our our politicians can start to lead from a place of joy. Hey, America, do you want to get back to a joyful community, a joyful state, a joyful nation? Here's how we do it. Let's lead with happiness, let's lead with togetherness, let's lead with. What have we been talking about for a year and a half, Brock? A multicultural, multi-ethnic coalition that decides where the sum of the parts is greater than the individuals. Right? And and and we start leading from a place of love and and instead of a place of division. We have so many stark contrasts, right? We have the Knicks victory and parade and celebration versus The UFC debacle on the fucking White House lawn when it was defiled. We have the opening of the Obama presidential library with Michelle Obama giving an absolutely blazing, burning, scorching hot rebuke of the world with Trump in it without ever mentioning his name. And then she propped up the man who lives rent-free in the Mark Hayes (16:10.739) Cheeto Mussolini's head, Barack Obama. And did you see everything, Barack, that's inclusive in the presidential library? Basketball. Recording studios, right? Basketball hoops. A library where you can actually check out a book. Michelle Obama's dress, Barack Obama's suits. I mean, Barack, there is something there for everyone, and it's all aspirational. Right? It's what you can aspire to you can aspire not just to make a living, you can aspire to make a difference. Like Barack Obama has made a difference. I don't care what anybody the right can say, Barack Obama created racism. No, your hate for Barack Obama. Created racism. That's what scared you he operated in that office for eight years and never needed a criminal defense attorney. How about that? And then you had the star-studded events. Look at the people who showed George W. Bush, Bush 44, was in the crowd at the Obama library opening. Bill and Hillary Clinton, right? And Bush was there with Laura, right? common was performing. But A-listers showed up for the Obama event. We had D-listers defiling, you know, the White House lawn. The stark contrast is there, Brock. Now we need our political leaders to message properly with it. Brock Ganeles (17:52.043) Go ahead. Brock Ganeles (18:01.186) Yeah. I gotta admit I'm behind the curve on the Obama thing. I saw parts of Michelle's speech, but I've I guess I'm so deep in the in the New York rabbit hole that I've barely b barely been able to come out of it. Mark Hayes (18:08.427) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (18:17.514) It's just amazing that we let MAGA dictate the conversation in America. And we let the Fox News messaging. And there's always a concern and like an overconcern and an overplaying of what the reaction of the right is to everything. Whether it be a trans athlete, right? Or I I mean you Mark Hayes (18:25.163) Right. Mark Hayes (18:37.395) Right. Brock Ganeles (18:43.924) You name the topic and the right is outraged by it if it doesn't fly into their little box. And what I hope changed this week was just a a sense of what if we just stopped giving a shit what the right and the racist and the magas have to say about everything. And we just don't care what their reaction is. Mark Hayes (18:47.219) And they're raised. Yep. Mark Hayes (18:51.626) Yep. Brock Ganeles (19:13.078) Because they're the minority and because they have the wrong vision for America, because they're just wrong. They're pretending like there is only one slice of America and one narrow culture that is theirs. And they're just missing the point on what the country really is. So what if we just started ignoring them? Like we've started to ignore Trump. Mark Hayes (19:13.567) Yep. Yeah. Mark Hayes (19:31.946) Right. Brock Ganeles (19:42.348) We've started to ignore him. His rage tweets all night, every night, like no one gives a shit anymore. It's not news anymore. Mark Hayes (19:42.42) Yeah. Mark Hayes (19:48.437) Who gives a shit? Nope. Nope. Brock Ganeles (19:52.877) And you just starve the beast by taking your attention away from it. Mark Hayes (19:59.548) Right. Right. And that's and that's what we need to do now. Hey, kick him right back in the mouth. Ignore his invitations. Exclude him from polite society like you said the other day. That's my favorite, you know, kind of summary of how to fight the bully. Exclude him from polite society. Eliminate him from the conversation. Right? Look. The Knicks get the Nick's Fifth game and and five game you know journey signals how how how devastating Trump is to our society. One game you fucking showed up. One game and you were such a fucking distraction, such a disturbance to the way of life in New York, it really kind of encompasses the same kind of destruction that he's wrought on this country. Right? If you think about his five and a half years, Brock, it's been division, death, brutality, greed, corruption. Where's the positive what has he done positive for anyone? Now he's trying to take away the 14th Amendment. He's trying he's gonna make it he's he's threatening, you know, secretaries of state, give me your voter rolls or else, you know. Secretaries of state are now meeting, you know, r ridiculously amount wasting ridiculous amounts of times planning how to protect their their votes and their ballots once they're cast. I mean, come on why do why do we want to live like that? We wanna live like we wanna live every day like it's the celebration of a New York Knicks championship. That's what we want. And that's what New York City proved. Brock Ganeles (21:55.523) You know, the Knicks now now the Knicks face a a controversial decision that we've allowed to be deferred because it's been, you know, five, six days of joy now, which is the invitation to the White House. Earlier reports were that the team had turned down the invitation. But apparently James Dolan, the owner, who counts himself as a friend of Donald Trump of thirty years, which tells you, you know, Mark Hayes (22:06.494) Right. Mark Hayes (22:15.198) Right. Mark Hayes (22:23.593) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (22:25.132) Show me your friends and you'll tell me who you are. So like, you know, we know he's an asshole who's, you know, stumbled into a championship team finally, has accepted the invitation. And I think it's gonna be a very you know, I think it should be an easy decision, but will probably be a difficult decision for the players on whether or not they go. What what are your thoughts on the Knicks? Mark Hayes (22:48.405) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (22:55.756) being invited and w what the response should be when the owner's already stepped up and said we accept. Mark Hayes (22:55.967) Brock the president. Mark Hayes (23:02.287) Too bad. The precedent has been set. Since Donald Trump has been president, no NBA team champion has been to the White House. That trend should continue. We have an eighteen man roster, seventeen of whom you are trying to remove their right to be an American citizen. And the best player in the universe right now. Based on what we just saw, is in an interracial relationship. So you are going to try to break up homes, families. You are trying to eliminate the status and and and the citizenship of ninety what? What is that, ninety-seven percent of our team? One out of eighteen is good. The one white guy on the team is okay with Trump. But everybody else should no longer be citizens, according to Trump and his ilk. The precedent has been set. If I'm the players, I stand by that precedent. And I also stand by the look on the faces of Draymond Green, Charles Barkley, and Shaq. And Ernie Johnson, when Adam Silver tried to talk about how wonderful it was to have Donald Trump at a basketball game and how long he's been a fan. I don't give a fuck. I have a friend who saw Donald Trump in a fucking bathroom in Madison Square Garden and refused to shake his hand. he happened to be a black guy, by the way. Brock Ganeles (24:53.166) I think it's important that they don't go. And I'm looking forward to that statement. And I don't care if fucking James Dolan wants him to go. He's fucking he just cuts checks. He's not like in fucking charge of these fucking men, right? They have a fucking decision to make themselves. I think each player gets to make their own decision and I hope they all to a man say no fucking way. I think it's an important statement for them to make. I think it would be a huge mistake if really any of them attended. It would be a step back. You know, they have they have the ear of America right now and they can, you know, they can make a positive statement about, you know, rights and freedoms and and the proper way to even just the proper way to treat other people. So they have a they have a mix, you know Mark Hayes (25:30.249) Right. Absolutely. Mark Hayes (25:48.222) Other people. Brock Ganeles (25:51.127) You know, they have a big challenge ahead of them. I'm just w I wonder when when that starts bubbling up as a story. You know, now we're all in the euphoric stage, right? No one wants to talk about it right now. It's like talking about like players' contracts for next year, you know, like or whether they're gonna repeat. Like no one wants to go there yet. We wanna just stay in the joy, but it's d it's just deferred timing. It's the it's gonna be a big, big topic. Mark Hayes (25:58.666) Yep. Yep. because Mark Hayes (26:08.106) Right. Mark Hayes (26:16.99) Right. It's gonna be a big deal. Brock Ganeles (26:20.328) And whichever decision they make they're gonna lose some of their shine. But they you know I think as New Yorkers it's as New Yorkers to me it's a really kind of a no brainer. It's kinda like a no fucking way. Mark Hayes (26:30.153) Yep. Yeah. Absolutely. Like I remember, Brock, the people who know him best didn't fucking like him enough to vote for him. He got ten percent of the vote in his precinct in twenty sixteen. Nob nobody fucking liked him. The people that knew him best didn't like his fucking ad 2015 when he ran. Ten percent of hit in his precinct. You know, that look, it is what it is. You know, and people are finally discovering that when you associate yourself with such a disgusting brand, right, you lose your shine. And the worst thing that this yeah, the worst thing this New York Knicks team could do is stand for a photo with this fucking lunatic. Brock Ganeles (27:07.308) Yeah, you get tarnished. Mark Hayes (27:18.525) I mean it would it would kill the vibe, in my estimation. Brock Ganeles (27:22.636) Yeah, yeah. It would be an affront to the people of New York City. So, yeah, well let's just hope they go that way. Mark Hayes (27:25.893) Absolutely. Absolutely. And fuck Jim Dolan for accepting the invitation. And for inviting him to game four day three. Brock Ganeles (27:32.355) Yeah. He shouldn't put his players in his he should know. But you know, a guy like that, one percenter, he's like living in his own world. He's a selfish asshole. He's not even thinking about what might be going through the heads of his players, right? The classic selfishness, the toxic selfishness of the wealthiest Americans that he wouldn't think, Wow, I have this workforce of of all these diverse players. Mark Hayes (27:39.027) Yeah, it's Mark Hayes (27:43.883) Right. Mark Hayes (27:50.698) Yep. Brock Ganeles (27:59.367) of whom Donald Trump's policies are attacking and yet I'm gonna put them in the position of asking them, wanting them, quote demanding that they go and you know, present themselves in front of him and and be an audience for his you know, egomania. It's typical Dolphin, right? It's a typical selfishness of the one percenters. So that's why this whole scenario is such a microcosm of American life. Mark Hayes (28:02.984) Or yeah. Mark Hayes (28:11.517) On over this motherfucker. Yeah. Mark Hayes (28:19.423) Yeah. Mark Hayes (28:24.018) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (28:28.128) It's there's so many so many lessons in here everywhere we go. Mark Hayes (28:32.497) Right. Right. You got a quick hit for me or are we out of here? Brock Ganeles (28:36.032) I got a couple. I mean, I'm getting a absolute master class in the culture, Jada Kiss, who I I mean I'd heard the name before, I couldn't have named a song out of left field. Turns out he has the song of the summer and is on the lips of every single person in New York with this I guess now famous line like, I'm outside or we outside, or you know where to find me, I'm outside. Mark Hayes (28:43.743) Yeah. Mark Hayes (28:58.697) Mm-hmm. Come see me. Brock Ganeles (29:07.756) Come come see me, I'm outside, which is a great message for the this this youth that supposedly has problems with interpersonal relationships and is all inside and playing video games and is not outside and is not as social and engaged and Jadakiss is telling to get outside and Mark Hayes (29:26.996) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (29:30.37) That's been another great outcome of these New York celebrations and all these games is people connecting with friends and family and strangers because they're outside watching the games with them. So Jadicus has I guess is Mark Hayes (29:41.823) Yeah. Yeah. Brock Ganeles (29:49.045) Is gonna be a big name this summer. Mark Hayes (29:49.302) Jada Kiss is legend. Yeah. Him, Ja Rule, streams are up. And now Jada Kiss's song is from that versus battle with Dipset with Cameron and Joel Santana, Jim Jones, etc. But, you know, when when Jada Kiss hit that remix of Who Shot Ya from Biggie Smalls, Who Is Brooklyn? Who is New York? that said it all. And You know, I was watching everything on YouTube and going back and forth from the you know, the CBS network, from NBC, and I saw a comment on YouTube, which I immediately screen shared and wanted to share it with you. And it said it's from at Pink Pam eighty six sixty six. I gotta be honest, I thought that as a nation we're so divided that we are not able to just go out there and celebrate the game together. anymore and here you go smiley face smiley face smiley face it's exactly what you talked about on Monday right it is a it is not a moment what'd you say it's not a moment Brock Ganeles (31:05.538) think it's a movement. I I think it's a movement. I used to you know I criticized on the podcast and and in some posts that like I didn't agree with the Kamala Harris. We have more that that in common than what separates us. And she tried to sell us that line in the campaign. And you know I'm kind of disappointed in myself as I didn't buy that line. I liked Kamala Mark Hayes (31:22.548) Mm-hmm. Brock Ganeles (31:33.337) But didn't buy that line. I'm like, I'm not so sure that's true. You may wish that, but that's not the America I see in front of me. That we have more in common that separates us. I think we appear to have a hell of a lot more that separates us than than we do have in common. And that's been flipped on its head. I mean, in essence, Kamala's proven right. You know? Mark Hayes (31:50.347) Mm-hmm. Mark Hayes (31:58.346) Yep. Yeah. Brock Ganeles (31:59.661) Year and a half too late, right? Just like Hillary proven right, year and a half too late. Like she's right, like it just showed how easy it was to bring us all together. She just couldn't do it with her words, but the Knicks actions and maybe sports just gave us such this neutral like playing field, no pun intended, for us to come together. And maybe we do have more in common that what separates us. Mark Hayes (32:10.601) Yeah. Yeah. Mark Hayes (32:18.538) Mm-hmm. Mark Hayes (32:24.842) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (32:29.634) My second you got a quick hit for me, I got one more. Mark Hayes (32:29.674) Yeah. Mark Hayes (32:33.033) No, that was it. Go ahead. Brock Ganeles (32:35.822) I think maybe one of the funniest clips of the whole thing, and if you want to just talk about a world that's been flipped on its head, was the one Knicks player that got hassled today by the police. Was the Knicks one white player, Tyler Kolick, got off the bus and was running up and down the barricades, high-fiving fans. Mark Hayes (32:49.801) Ha ha ha. Mark Hayes (33:03.443) What? Brock Ganeles (33:04.674) And a couple of cops, I think they're even white cops, come running over and grab him and pull him away from the barricades. Cause they thought he was just a fan who had snuck out. Cause they didn't recognize him as a player, the one white guy on the team in a classic reverse scenario, that it was the one the white guy who got hassled and one of the coaches, I think it might have even been Rick Brunson, who came running over. Mark Hayes (33:17.055) Yeah. Mark Hayes (33:21.194) Yeah. Mark Hayes (33:25.179) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (33:31.671) And was like, no, no, he's with the team, he's with the team, and you could even hear a lot of people behind the barricades yelling at the cops, like, No, that's Tyler Koch, that's Tyler Coleck, he's a player, he's a player. And then the cops let go of him and the you know, the policeman who did it was even laughing and smiling and shaking his head and himself going, fuck, like that guy didn't look like a player Mark Hayes (33:40.606) Right. Mark Hayes (33:46.059) Yeah. Mark Hayes (33:54.411) That w is that what it feels like? We crop out. Brock Ganeles (33:54.649) But it was it's just a funny clip, it's worth wat it's it's a funny clip worth watching, and then Tarek Log tweeted out later in the day, basically, I'm on the team, bro, you know, one of those lines. Mark Hayes (34:01.279) Mark Hayes (34:08.907) You gotta love it. You gotta love it. I mean, you know, and and the fact that, you know, we can smile about it. but you know, that's part of the storyline here, right? Is like, you know, here you are with this multicultural, multi-ethnic coalition, all rowing in the same direction. Right? We can all come together, you know, to make this place. Yeah, I mean we can be the shining star on the hill. It's gonna take a lot of fixing. We got a lot of shit to fix. But We we still have the ability. It may not happen in our lifetime, Brock. You know that Justice Department has so much wrong and has been so fucked over. It may not happen in our lifetime, but at least we have our young people Did you see the amount of young faces that were out? When you've got that kind of energy, let's hope our young people get energy restored, right? And they start to enjoy life again. Right? I I mean so many young people are are so consumed in their phones. Let's hope they get back the energy to interact with people. They say the birth rate is down because people are spending so much time on their screens, you know? Let's let's hope we have a huge, huge run on the maternity wards in nine months, nine and a half months in New York and and the metro area and all across the country because people are unified again. and and that's the best thing we can hope for, right? Because good relationships lead to good communities that lead to good cities that lead to good states that lead to a beautiful nation. Right? Like we don't need people pulling baseball bats out on people who just happen to be driving through their neighborhood. We just don't need it. So yeah, man. It's it's you know, today was an amazing day and you know, one that we're gonna be replaying. I'm gonna be going down that rabbit hole again, I'm sure, just like 'cause I've been doing it just like you, you know, all week. I I mean, I literally watched Mark Hayes (36:31.347) A live feed today with nobody talking, just people watching. From feed to feed to feed. Brock Ganeles (36:37.078) Mark, I'm I'm optimistic. I don't think I've been optimistic since the day we started this podcast eighteen months ago when Trump got re-elected. I'm actually optimistic. I think that the Knicks and the vibe and the awakening of the sleeping giant that is New York City, the multicultural, multiracial. Mark Hayes (36:49.417) Right. Right. Mark Hayes (37:02.825) Yep. Brock Ganeles (37:05.142) capital of the world. Mark Hayes (37:07.019) Yeah. Brock Ganeles (37:09.932) has killed MAGA. I think MAGA is dead. And I'm sure it's alive and well in North Dakota and still in and Mississippi. But I think in the in the aggregate, in the you know they'll win some battles. But in the aggregate, I feel like that now it's just the follow through. Mark Hayes (37:12.256) Yeah. Mark Hayes (37:20.511) Yeah. Mark Hayes (37:29.663) Right. Brock Ganeles (37:37.57) that them there's been a mentality shift and I hope it's not just wishful thinking. I don't I mean I just don't think it is. I I think the vi there's been a massive vibe shift in the American psyche and we're not going back. And I think that well I just Mark Hayes (37:37.875) Right. Right. Brock Ganeles (38:03.212) gave another Kamala Harris tagline that didn't work 18 month twenty you know whatever eighteen months ago. She was right on that too. We're not going back to a hateful, spiteful, angry, racist America. I'm not saying racism is gonna go away, but it's gonna be looked at differently. So I'm very, very optimistic. A lot of work to be done. Mark Hayes (38:11.007) Direct. Right. Mark Hayes (38:21.14) Right. Mark Hayes (38:28.659) No doubt. Brock Ganeles (38:32.034) A lot of work to be done on the political front, on the ground. We gotta get outside like Jadakiss is telling us to. Get to ten toes deep. I'm getting all the lingo. I'm watching enough of these feeds. I'm getting all the lingo. We gotta get ten toes deep. We gotta get boots on the ground. And But I think people are gonna be willing to make the effort now. Because there's a joyfulness in being out. And being out with other people. So Mark Hayes (38:42.965) Okay. Mark Hayes (38:48.661) Yeah. Mark Hayes (38:58.558) In outside. Yep. Brock Ganeles (39:00.81) I hope this isn't just something that's gonna wear off as the, you know, the next season fades. I I I I think I think and hope we carry it with us. Mark Hayes (39:07.711) Yeah. Mark Hayes (39:13.353) No, the energy stays. The energy stays. All right, buddy. Great place to wrap it up. Always a pleasure. Brock Ganeles (39:18.082) Hi Mark. Always a pleasure. All right, great to speak to you, Mark. Mark Hayes (39:22.355) Revolution. All right, my friend. See you tomorrow. Brock Ganeles (39:26.126) All right.