Latest / The Right Time with Bomani Jones / Jalen Brunson, the Knicks, and the NBA Championship That Took Over New York | 06.14

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Jalen Brunson, the Knicks, and the NBA Championship That Took Over New York | 06.14 · The Right Time with Bomani Jones

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time. A wave original.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name is Beaumont Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: rate us, review us, give us five stars. You only
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a hater. Okay, guys, look here. I live in New
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: York City. We are recording this on Sunday morning because
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: we wanted to get you guys as much of this
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: as we possibly could. as quickly as possible. So if
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: some wild shit happens on Sunday night, that's why it's
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: not here. Okay, just letting you know that. I have
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: not been outside yet today. I went outside yesterday in
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the morning and afternoon, but I did not go outside
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: to watch the game because quite honestly, I took a
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: shower at like 7.30 and I was like, I can't
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: see myself going back outside You know what I'm saying? Like,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: you know how that is. You get clean, you don't
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: necessarily want to go back out there. And plus, man,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: I knew it was going to be, as they say
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: in Espanol, caos in them New York City streets. And, buddy,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: we heard it. You didn't have to go outside to
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: hear it, dog. You heard it the second it went
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: down and the Knicks were NBA champions. We'll get to, like,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: the emotions of all that, but the game itself. Hey, man, um...
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: I have said throughout this postseason that Carl Anthony Towns
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: has been the Knicks' best player. And I think he
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: has been their best player. And I think that if
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: they did the postseason MVP trophy like they do in hockey,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: where they give it to the outstanding performer of the playoffs,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: not necessarily the performer of that series, that I think
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: that Towns would have been the one to win it. However...
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: When you put up, make sure I get the exact
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: number right.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: When you put up 45 in 41 minutes to close
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: it out, you're going to be the finals MVP, right?
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: This is up there with Magic putting up the 42
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: in game six in 1980. Kareem was the best player
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: in the finals, but he ain't do that. Therefore, he
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: ain't get that trophy. That's how they win. That was
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a performance for the ages. It didn't feel the same
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: as when Giannis had that incredible game six in 2021,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: but the reason it didn't is actually a compliment to Brunson.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: The reason that the Giannis one felt so different is
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the Giannis one felt like he was in such a
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: particular zone in large part because he was making free throws.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Like it felt like a testament to the ability to
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: focus at a moment that really mattered, that it may
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: never be like that ever again for him. But it
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: was like that for him in that particular moment. And
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: that gave it its own unique charm and luster in
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: place in the Lord. This right here from Jalen Brunson
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: was just some shit he'd be doing. And he happened
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: to do it on this night when it was the
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: absolute most important night in time. I have sat here
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: also and said with confidence and was correct for the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: majority of the time that if the Spurs are going
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: to do this, you need to trick Jalen Brunson into
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: playing a game of isolation basketball. And that will slow
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: down the role that they have had on offense. And
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: that is your best chance to win. And I actually
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: think that this series bore that out. If you watched it,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: the thing is best chance to win. Yes. However, outlier
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: occurrences can take place. And when those outlier occurrences take place,
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: maybe you got to figure out something else that you're
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: going to wind up doing. Ryan, I have to be honest.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: I would have thought that Spurs in a game where
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson took 27 shots and nobody else took more
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: than 11. I kind of think you'd kind of want
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: to try to find a way to make that right
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: there stop. Right.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, we talked a lot about how Jalen Brunson, again,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: playing a bit of an ISO basketball, but whenever a
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: shot's going to go in, what are you going to do, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: And really just submitted him as, you know, he was
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: already the king of New York, but now just really
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: crowned him after that winning the finals.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: All right, now, to be fair, he is the king
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: of New York, but he doesn't get to fully assume
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: the crowd until Monday, because on Sunday, it's the Puerto
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Rican Day Parade. El rey de Nueva York es Jose Alvarado. Buddy,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: like I saw that they were getting on the plane
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: after that to come celebrate in New York. See, that's
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: where you know New York is cracking because normally they
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: try to go to Miami or they try to go
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: to Vegas. They're like, no, we need to take this
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: back to the crib. And I guarantee you, Alvarado, how
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: many hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans are going to
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: be down there on Fifth Avenue? They're going to be
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: passing his ass around like he's going to get a
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Gatorade shower out there. he's going to get everything. It's
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: going to be like somebody, I said that on Twitter,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: somebody put up the video, it's going to be like
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: when Bad Bunny came out there at the wrestling match
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: that time.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Like, what incredible timing for you. In fact, Alvarado didn't
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: play well, but if Alvarado would have gone out there
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and scored 35, the only thing I would have assumed
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: is he's like, I got to get back for the parade. Right? Like,
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: this is where we need to be. They won that,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: and they won that for one very significant reason. They
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: had the gas to keep going, right? San Antonio, you
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: can say whatever you want about how they played all
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: this whole series. It was while seeing that statistic that
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: their shooting percentage went down every quarter in total for
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the series. The longer it went, they just could not
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: make shots. And I do not think it was because
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: they were scared, right? I mean, now at the end
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: of game five, They were scared. A lot of guys
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: were scared. Unfortunately, De'Aaron Fox was not scared enough. But
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: all those finger rolls they were missing, all those jumpers
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: that were coming up short, we talked about it a lot,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: particularly with Victor. They didn't have the gas. The Knicks
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: were a tougher team in part because the Knicks were
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: a better conditioned team. That's the only explanation I have
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: for watching them fall off a cliff offensively in every
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter and where it really got me on the
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Spurs was when they couldn't get a defensive.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Rebound yeah we fumbled the ball and went out of.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Bounds yeah fumbling it or you just like nobody could
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: get to the rim to come challenge at that point
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: like I've talked about this on this show before focus
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: is a skill Focus is a resource. And the Knicks,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: part of this, I think, is just being more mature.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: But the Knicks demonstrated an ability to focus that the
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Spurs didn't have. When it was just about coming out
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: and fucking around a little bit, shooting some shots and
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: seeing what happened, the Spurs were excellent. When it came
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: time to literally stop fucking around and get in there
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: and make it happen, at every turn, they could not
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: do that. At every turn... The Knicks could. And I
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: don't think we think about the Knicks in these terms.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: And this is an interesting byproduct of this era now
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: where we're getting a new champion every year. But since
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: we are, and it's like nobody holds the belt and
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: you don't really have to necessarily take those guys down.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: We saw that with the Thunder. Like when the Thunder
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: got to the conference finals, I forget they're the first
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: team that had gone to the finals or won the
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: championship to go to the conference finals in like blank
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: amount of time.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: Like like nobody. Since that doesn't happen, I think it
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: can be easy for us to ignore when a team
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: like the Knicks has taken a traditional stair step path
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: to get to where they're going. Even the Nuggets, to
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: a degree, when they did, they had that weird thing
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: where the guys got hurt. But in 2020, they went
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: to the conference finals at 21 and 22. Murray being hurt,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: Porter being hurt. But then 2023 was about like a
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: reasonable place that a team like that would wind up
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: getting there. The Knicks went to the conference finals in 2024.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: I mean, 2025. They went to the semis in 2024.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Did they go to the conference finals both of those years?
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: No, it was just 2025 against the Pacers, right?
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 1: And then the year before, they lost to the Pacers
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  Speaker 1: in the sixth.
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  Speaker 2: Right?
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 1: They took the stair step, right? They did this in
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  Speaker 1: the way that we frequently discuss or what it takes
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  Speaker 1: for you to get there. And then once they were there,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: they were a bunch of guys in their late 20s
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  Speaker 1: and early 30s who'd been through the things you typically
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: need to be through, especially for a team that doesn't
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: really have, oh boy, how do I put this? A
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: traditional superstar. How's that? Does that make everybody feel okay?
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. You're safe from the aggregators with that one.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: Is that phrasing that we can all agree on? The
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Knicks don't have a traditional superstar. And I want to
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: explain why I'm making this distinction. Ryan, I'm going to
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: need you to make sure that I'm making sense when
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I say this, right? What I mean by that is...
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: is when you have what one might term a traditional superstar,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: you can skip some steps in some ways, or you
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: can mess around and be like the Spurs were this year,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: and you get there a bit ahead of schedule because
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: you have somebody that is capable of doing some outlier things, right?
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: LeBron James making the finals at 22, for example. Larry
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Bird made the finals his second year in the league.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Magic Johnson made the finals his first year in the league. Jordan,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: it took a while, but he was also in the
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: face of an era of incredible all-time great traditional superstars, right?
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Like it's a lot of those things. Brunson is not
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: a traditional superstar. Brunson was not going to walk into
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: the league and set it on fire. That just wasn't
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: what it was going to be. With that type of star,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: you build a complete team around is what we're saying.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: That type of team is going to win with guys.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Take the 2004 Pistons, for example. That wasn't young guys
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: that was out there getting it done. It wasn't going
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: to be that. It was a bunch of guys Right
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: around that same age range. You could say, well, Tayshaun
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Prince was the young guy. But we weren't looking at
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: him to carry like a superstar.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: 2011 Mavericks would be a similar, like, right?
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: But they did, yeah. But they had something closer to
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: a traditional superstar. Like, Dirk Nowitzki may have had a
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: time where he was the best player in the NBA.
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: None of us think that Jalen Brunson is the best
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: player in the NBA.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Of course.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: But that doesn't matter.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Right. They built, they got there, and they made it happen.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: And by the way, with guys that weren't always the
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: tallest standers of all time, right? We have seen postseason,
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: we're calling it any time, they did not stand tall.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: We watched Mikael Bridges not stand tall in this postseason.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: The guy they got that as a champion didn't play well.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: when they won the championship or that postseason because he
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: had an emergency appendectomy. But you get all those grown
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: men together at that point with a coach that, I've
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: said this on this show and I say it all
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: these times, ain't once Mike Brown been fired for a
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: good reason. Not a single time, right? With the exception
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: of that one year stint the second time in Cleveland.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Won everywhere he's been and where he's been an assistant,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: it's been places where people won. And he coached his
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: ass off in this series. He put a clown suit
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: on Miss Johnson, if we're being honest. Not everything that
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: went on with the Spurs was about Johnson, but Mike
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: did that. Mike made some bold moves, too, on decisions
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: when to play people, right? Playing Alvarado down the stretch
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: of the last game, played Alvarado early this game, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: gave five, and then was like, eh, no, no, no,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: not today.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Getting too excited about tomorrow.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: He had that feel in that hold about what his
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: team was and the vibes of what it was. And
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: he held out, held out, finally got them to buy
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: it offensively to what he wanted them to do. And
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: that's when that postseason run came. But also now this
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't entirely within his control. But even if they had
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: wanted to run, you know, run the offense through Carl
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: in game five, it wasn't an option because.
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: Of the fouls.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: And I have, and I believe, even if he was
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: out there, this was going to be, Jalen Brunson was
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: going to do this. Like, this was going to be
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: that game. This was going to be that time. And
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: they did it. They lost three games this whole postseason, right?
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: That's 2011 Mavericks type stuff, right? This is one of
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the great postseason runs of all time. And it wasn't
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: because of no gimmicks. Now, we can make the argument
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: that in the East, things broke well for them because
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: of Boston losing, for example. Well, shit, if Boston blew
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: a 3-1 lead to Philadelphia, why don't you think the
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Knicks were going to beat the dog shit out of them?
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I feel pretty confident they were going to do that.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: What did you see from Detroit that made you believe
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: that Detroit was going to come in there? and beat them.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: That wasn't going to happen, right? Did the West bracket
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: look so titanic that you looked at the Spurs? Like,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: the Spurs beat Oklahoma City, yes, but in beating Minnesota
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: and in beating Portland, what the hell? Like, good job,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: but I don't feel like I don't feel like they
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: did anything over there that was that much grander than
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: what the Knicks did in the East. In fact, if
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: you wanted to make the argument, Oklahoma City without Jalen
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: Williams and without Mitchell, like this was not a team
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: built all the way up. And what happened with Chet
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Holmgren wasn't entirely about the greatness of the Spurs. No,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: this is one of the great runs that any team
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: has ever had. The Brunson thing becomes fun because again,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: I think that if you, whatever you want to say
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: on the Becky Hammond side of the argument, you could
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: be right on either side, but it doesn't matter. Because
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: he scored 45 points in game five. No matter what
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: you think it is about Brunson or what you think
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: is possible for a guy his size or what is
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: necessary to build a team around a guy his size,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: the thing that makes people excited about him, no matter
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: where you put him on the hierarchy of that roster,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: is that 45 was always on the board. You know
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: what I mean? Like he's small, but he's not like Isaiah,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: like the new school Isaiah Thomas. It's not like him
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: where he's 5'9. You saw those games like conference finals
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: where he's going up and surrounded by dudes and he
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: basically got to catch that bitch and land on the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: ground and take a travel. Like he's not that guy.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: But when it comes down to it, if the Knicks
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: needed a 45, it was possible that he could give
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you a 45. And at that size, at those stakes,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: that does put him in the conversation with Isaiah Thomas,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: the OG. That does put him in the conversation with
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Steph Curry. Is he as good as either of those guys?
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if he's as good as them. What
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: matters is that you can say it was a game five. No,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: there's crazy pressure on that game five because if they
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: had had to come back into nervous as Madison Square
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: Garden for game six, Anything was possible there. If they
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: wanted to win this, that was the time to lock
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: in and decide that they were going to do it.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: And keep in mind, this was a team that had
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: been winning elimination games by 70 points. They were up
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: on the Hawks by 60.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Like, they come in in those games and they get
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: this done, but this one required something a little bit different.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: And Jalen Brunson... It's not even simply that he's capable
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: of doing this. Is there any other player for whom
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: this is more unlikely?
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Because look, he was a national player of the year
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: at Villanova. They won those championships. I watched him play
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: in college. I watched Stephen Curry play in college. You
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: saw what was possible with Steph. The question with Steph
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: is just whether he, like, he was physically big enough. Like,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: like he was just, he was too small where that
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: was not the issue with Jalen Brown. Jalen Brunson was
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the question of whether or not he was too short,
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: but Jalen Brunson, Jalen Brunson felt like a different kind
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: of great college player.
• 17:35
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, Steph Curry was not a second round pick.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Like, like that's, that's what
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: it seemed like. And so I feel like we had
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: seen a bunch of guys like that. Like I use
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Frank Mason from Kansas as an example, but just, a
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: certain type of guard that could be really good in college.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: And it doesn't work that way for you in the NBA.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: At all time. Great teammates. Yes.
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Which by the way, we did not know.
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: None of us thought that all them dudes would still
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: be at this point, you know, but as much as
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: it is, none of us thought that Steph Curry was
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: going to get to the place that he did. The
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: place that we thought it was possible for Steph Curry
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: to get was higher than the place that we thought
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: it was possible for Jalen Brunson to get. And Jalen Brunson,
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: in his way, got himself to a similar place as
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: where Steph Curry is. Again, not to say he's as
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: good as him, but to make it to where that
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: doesn't even matter truly in the discussion. You see what
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I'm saying? They got there. They did that. They did
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: it in front of the world and the particulars of
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: the game almost become secondary because there's something about that
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: that feels like it doesn't matter who it was that
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: they were going to play against. Like, can you really think,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: how much different would it have been against Oklahoma City?
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: That would have been a very interesting question because I
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: think Oklahoma City probably matched up with them a little
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: bit better. But I watched them not get enough when
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: they needed it. Right now, this is. Can I believe
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I live long enough to say this? The NBA champion,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: New York Knicks.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give it the whole thing because I'm
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: not afraid of slipping up. The New York Knickerbockers. Hey,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: white broadcasters, y'all should just say Knicks. You know, Ryan,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: now that I think about it, it's very interesting that
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: they made them the Knicks. No one ever tried to
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: go with the Knickers.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: For some reason, that never stuck.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: They knew immediately.
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: Nah.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: You know what I think it was, though? You got
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: to remember, when the Knicks first came around, it wasn't
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: black people playing basketball. So they were afraid of saying
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the wrong thing, not because the wrong thing was offensive,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: but because the wrong thing would have been inaccurate. You know,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: like in the 80s, when they got to a cast,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: they started calling them pejoratively. They would do the tongue
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: twister with Knickerbockers, except it wasn't a tongue twister. It
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: was just a turn of phrase. they would have had
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to pick a whole other name for the team that
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: black people had played when they first started the Knicks.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Because it just would have been too much more. The
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: rule for error would have just been too great. Anyway,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this. I have been around places
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: for championships. I was in North Carolina for four championships
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: of sorts. Two for UNC, one for Duke, but I
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: just kind of act like that. Didn't happen. And then
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: another 20 years ago for the Carolina Hurricanes. Now, the
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: thing about living in North Carolina when I did as
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: I did is I just listed for you championships in
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: three different places. It sounds like it was all in
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: the same place because they're right by each other. But
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the Hurricanes was a very Raleigh-centered sort of thing. I
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: don't know where they centered at, Duke Championships, some shit
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I don't be doing, places I don't be going. And
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: then Carolina is very much centered in Chapel Hill, but
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: it's like, It's like this. There's really not that much
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: spill out when it comes to time to celebrate on
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: those sorts of things. I have not been, well, no,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: I was in Miami also for the 2013 championship. Nothing
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: has been like this, right? Just the idea, the notion
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: of what it is to win this championship in New York.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I was in Central Park on Saturday morning and every
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: conversation I heard of somebody walking past on the trail
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: involved the Knicks. Like every single bit of it. It
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: involved the Knicks. I called a very good friend of
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: mine and I asked her where she was watching the game.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: She was like, I am at a bar by my
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: house with my family. Like, people were treating this like
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Christmas Eve. You know what I mean? Like it's like
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: all the setups and the people on the streets and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: all these places and everything else. And it made me think,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I think, on like more fundamental levels about why this
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: lands so much differently. Again, I have talked about the
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: fact that I think New York is a little bit
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: more of a like sports cursed town. then people give
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: it credit for. Um, but they, but at the end,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: I was like, if you take out the Yankees and
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: the giants, but the truth is the Yankees, the Yankees
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and the giants are there, you know, like people have
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: seen and experienced championships before, but I was talking to
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: somebody I know, and she would always tell me about how, um,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: she ain't really paying no attention to the NBA now,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: but you know, it's the nineties.
• 23:21
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: When she was paid attention, but Oakley and Starks and
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: all those dudes and everything else, like that was what
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: she knew, man. I talked to her on Thursday and, um,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: The investment level that she had in this team was crazy.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: And it wasn't like the investment that you see anytime
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: you somewhere and a team started running for a championship.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: And now all of a sudden, everybody got to act
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: like they on board. That wasn't what this was.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: Especially for people of certain ages. That wasn't what this
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: was like. This would hit people in their bones. I
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: hit up my man compliment this morning just to see
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: how he was doing. Like, I still got to hit
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: up Shannon again. I still got a couple other people
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: because like for people who love this team, it's really
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: that important. You know what I mean? Let me find
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: exactly what he said. Cause I was just, you know,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: ask him how he was feeling. Cause that's all I
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: want to know. And he said relieved and thinking of
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: dead friends and family, honestly. Like that's what this was
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: for people. The relationship that this city has with this
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: team is, is probably more intimate than anywhere, at least
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: anywhere close to this size. Like Green Bay and the
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Packers is going to always be a little bit of
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: an outlier.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it almost felt like a 10 million person college
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: town during this Knicks run.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. Dude, that is what it's like. It feels
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: like that where everywhere you go, everybody seems to care. Now,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: there's somewhat of an irony to it. And Ryan, you're
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: like me. We've been living here just about the same
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: amount of time. We are not from here. But, I
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: think something that people, we don't talk enough about basketball is,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: I think that basketball is the sport where more of
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: us have played in a game where two teams play
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: against each other and somebody keeps score. Like I think
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: there are, I would hypothesize more people have played in
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: a full court basketball game than have played in a
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: padded football game. Or have played in a baseball game
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: where two teams and everybody had bats and gloves.
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Like I think basketball is just a bit more relatable
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: in that way. And in this city, I say basketball
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: is relatable in a different way for a couple of reasons.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Number one, basketball in this country was traditionally the sport
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of black people and what they called back in the day, ethnics, right?
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Non-wasps is the way that I will say, we probably
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: would say that now. It is the sport of those people.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: The other thing about New York, I remember when I
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: got to college and it was all these New Yorkers,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and we just couldn't understand why they was outside all
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: the time. Rain, sleet, snow, or hail. Just sitting on
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: a stoop. Like, why are we doing this? Because 15
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: people live in the apartment. Like, that's what you become
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: accustomed to doing. And so New York involves a lot
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: of people finding things to do outside. And the thing
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: to do outside always for a lot of people was basketball.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Right? So.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: The relationship with the game is so much more intimate
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: than I think the relationship is with any game, any
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: other place. Like we talk about places being basketball cities
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: or football cities or baseball towns or whatever it is.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: But it's only but so often when we're talking about
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: places being like that, we mean that also in the
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: context of participations. And not just participation like when you
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: were a kid, like Texas at high school football, for example.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: But basketball lets you play for a lot longer. You know?
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: And so when people here watch the Knicks, they're watching
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the Knicks. Also what I think often, people talk about this,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: and I know it seems cliche, but it's true, but
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: like with a different kind of level of knowledge and
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: understanding of what it is, because basketball is easy to understand.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: You know, basketball in this city also involves people playing
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: in front of crowds, not just professionals, you know, but
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: like the idea of Rucker Park and all these places
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: are going down to West Fortitude or whatever. And it's
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: just a bunch of people watching you play basketball. Like, yeah,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: you can get that in like Venice Beach or whatever
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: in LA and there may be a court, but here
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: basketball is a spectator sport on like every single level.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: That's part of why Madison Square Garden to me more
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: so in the past than now but it felt like
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: you were watching the game at a playground or something
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: like that because it is like oh it's just like
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: going to the basketball game except it's in the arena
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: or whatever it is but I had a guy hit
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: me up a guy used to work with he was
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: like I feel complete and they're not he said I'm
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: officially complete that's what he said That's ridiculous. I want
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: to be clear.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: But I get why it feels that way. Like the
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: way people are here about the Knicks, there's nothing quite
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: like it. And so I think there's something interesting and
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: charming about the idea that this is where, yeah, I
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: think you said it best. Like it turned New York
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: into like a small town.
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: Yes. Right.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: Into a college.
• 28:42
  Speaker 3: Or anywhere there's, Anywhere where people are gathering that doesn't
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: traditionally show sports, there's a TV and it's on the Knicks.
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: My brother's talking about there's a bar a block away
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: from him. And from his bedroom, he wouldn't need to
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: watch the game to know what was going on. You
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: could just hear them. Yeah. And I saw somebody else
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: make this point that was interesting is that they're like, oh,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: this is a thing in New York that is for
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: New Yorkers. Truth be told, everything in New York is
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: for New Yorkers if it's not Times Square, Statue of Liberty,
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: whatever it is. You guys don't share nearly as much
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: as I think that you believe about what is going
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: on here. And by the way, the newcomers were not
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: letting you guys do it all by yourselves. Everybody was
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: pulling up. Honestly, part of why I didn't go outside
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: is I was like, it kind of doesn't feel right.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Like it kind of, it kind of feels like it
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: would be voyeuristic. Like I'm not, I don't, I don't,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I'm not that invested. That being said, Ryan, let us
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: make sure that we get all of our, all our
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: recording done this week properly so that Thursday.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: We can go to the.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Yep. That is going to be.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: I know my brother wants to go. Oh yeah, we're going. Like,
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: we got to go. I guess we could take some
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: video and stuff while we out there because I don't
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: go to sports stuff, right? That's just, I love y'all.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, everybody understands. Ain't nobody going
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: to be giving a damn about me. We're going to
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: be down there. We got to kick it. I ain't
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: never done no parade like that. I don't really know
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: how it works. I don't know where you're supposed to pee.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: I don't really have any of those questions, right? I
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: tell you what else is going to be down there, boy.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: Smelling like a ton. Forget about a pound. I imagine
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: it was the same way doing Warriors parades. Like, damn,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: this smell like Cypress Hill won the championship. Man, it's
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: going to be a lot. But no, this is.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about... This is kind of a broader thing.
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: But I was thinking about how... We always talk about
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: how things are or are not theater. Can't remember if
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I talked about this on here, but I talked about
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: it somewhere. But I think that, I think that we don't,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: I think we use that term, but there's a level
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: of thought that I hadn't given like to the idea
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: of things being like theater until recently. And the truth
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: is theater, when it was kind of sort of the
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: dominant art form at the time, so much that was
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: done replicated what was happening in theater. And sports is
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: an example of that. So, like, I think about all
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: the everything around, like, think about baseball, the umpires, loud
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: strike and all this stuff. And then the managers, when
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: they come out and argue and these guys are all
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: going back and forth in each other's faces or whatever
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: it is. Like that feels like a theatrical performance, literally,
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: not as a metaphor. Like it feels like something that
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: would happen in theater and all the exaggerated movements and
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: everything else. The show was done for the people who
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: were in the stadium, which thereby makes it like theater.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying? As the years have gone on, televisions,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: becomes the dominant medium and the way that sports is
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: done and the way the sports is produced then actually
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: becomes more like television. Like Bob Ryan, good buddy Bob
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Ryan used to make the point that every time somebody
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: says nobody came to see the officials and they don't
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: want the officials doing all this stuff, what you're saying
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: is the officials are extras, right? But Ryan, you know
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: it is. In a play, even the extras got to
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: do the stuff. Right.
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: They have lines. Yes.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: And even if they don't, if somebody says something, when.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: They do it, it's big and it's dramatic.
• 32:44
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: The extras in television are extras. They're all supposed to
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: be in the background. And television is produced very slickly
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: and television is done, it works well for mass production,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: but television is not an especially intimate medium, right? Television
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: does not draw you in quite the same way as
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: a theatrical performance does, right? With the Knicks, and I'm
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: thinking about going to the parade and all those things,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: the relationship that people are going to have, or what
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: it's like being a Madison Square Garden or everything else,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: that's what we talk about when you talk about theater.
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: It's not just the idea of a plot arc and
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: everything else. It's about the intimacy and everybody feeling like
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: they are there, right? That it is not simply something
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: for you to watch, but it is something for you
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: to experience. And when teams get into championship runs, It
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: becomes theatrical because it becomes something that you experience. When
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: we evaluate everything by how good the television ratings are
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: and da-da-da and everything else, here's the thing about television.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Make a break on your numbers on television is about
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: the people who don't really care that much. Hey, man,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: just something to do, right? Those are the people that
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: are going to get you big numbers and everything else.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: But when a championship comes around and you're in the city,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: everybody cares. I don't know if I even landed on
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: the point that I originally started within this. But the
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: truth is, for this in a lot of ways, and
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: because of the cast of characters that the Knicks had,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: it has felt theatrical to be here. This feels like
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: a Broadway play that everybody is watching. Even the mix
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: of personalities, right? To have Alvarado, cats all weird acting ass. Brunson.
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: All the, like, you just think about the way those guys-
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: The moment with the OG Ananobi, the tip-in, is the
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: signature moment.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: Yes. Like, these guys, like, I can't explain to you
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: what they gonna be forever. Think about how happy they
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: be about these cats that's coming to the games. The
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: ones they showing all the time. Not one of them,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: not nothing. Not nothing. Now they got these guys. Nah, man,
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: this was a great show, and I am honestly, truly
• 35:12
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  Speaker 1: It's like therapy for your career. We know you can't
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  Speaker 1: the day.
• 38:00
  Speaker 3: No need for the social media feeds. We got you. Now,
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: if you haven't heard. All right, Bo. Speaking of things
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: going on in New York and around North America, the
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: World Cup. has started New York having some games. Obviously,
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: Brazil was here on Saturday. The U.S. won Friday night. Bo,
• 38:18
  Speaker 3: what has been your biggest takeaway from the World Cup
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: starting so far?
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I watched the soccer bowl over the weekend.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: That's what we're going to call it over here, the
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: soccer bowl. I watched some of the soccer bowl. I
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: watched Brazil play Morocco, and I ain't going to lie.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: My question was, hey, is Brazil still good? That feels
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: like the most constant thing that I can assume at
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: any point. Well, Brazil is going to be good. I
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: did watch when they got their asses whooped at the
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: crib that time by Germany. That was some of the
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: wildest shit I've ever seen in my life. But, Ryan,
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: you watched the U.S. play in the soccer ball, and
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: my friends who watch footy seem very excited about what
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: they have seen from this United States team.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: The U.S. has always played soccer almost in a way
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: of like more hustle than skill, right? Like, it's a
• 39:11
  Speaker 3: lot of collective effort, a lot of want to, a
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: lot of American grit, and this U.S. team, you know,
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: playing their opener against Paraguay, looked like a more traditional
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: power in the way that they played, and the way
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: they played, like a more European or South American squad,
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: and they that might be the best they've looked since
• 39:33
  Speaker 3: I've been watching.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: What I find interesting is that even people who watch
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: consistently seem to be surprised by this.
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: It came out of nowhere too.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: So I'm curious what happened since the last time they
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: played somebody.
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: That was also factors like they've had this golden generation
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: of players. for the last five years, but they have
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: not put together the results that one would expect. So
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: everyone was kind of nervous, especially if it being on
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: the home soil. And yes, it did shock some people.
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: And I was one of the people who was shocked.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Let me tell you something else about soccer ball. I
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: saw a lot of people wearing Brazilian shirts, the kits, whatever.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Saw them wearing them joints at Central Park. And it
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: always reminded me of something my good buddy Corey Urban
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: would tell me when it was the soccer bowl and
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: I worked with him, that he was just like, it's amazing.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: All these Brazilians in Toronto who weren't Brazilians last week. Therefore,
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: I could not tell how many of these people were
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: Brazilians or finger quote Brazilians. You understand what I'm saying?
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you this, though. I once went to a
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: friendly at Hard Rock in Miami. We're Brazil versus Columbia.
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: And buddy, I ain't never seen no crowd like that before.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: I didn't know they made jerseys that small. I, it,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I was wild boy.
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: Speaking of the world cup, a Twitter user by name
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: of Freddie LA seven has captivated the nation with his
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: road trip from Atlanta to Houston. Um, He is a
• 41:19
  Speaker 3: German fan going to watch Germany play in Houston, and
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: he has made several stops discovering the wonders of the
• 41:26
  Speaker 3: South at places like Waffle House, Chattanooga. He watched a
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: friendly at Auburn, and he also made a big stop
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: at LSU. Bo, you have always said you've been fascinated
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: by people who are interested in coming to this country
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: and learning about this country through sports. What do you
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: think about Europeans finding out America through experiencing the South
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: in all its glory.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Isn't this dude also black?
• 41:55
  Speaker 3: I'm going to have to confirm that.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I can't... Because that greatly affects what I'm about
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to say about his... First of all, if he went
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: from Atlanta to Houston and he went through Chattanooga, that
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: is a terrible route.
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: That is where the German team was like their headquarters was.
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: So this was an... Okay, that was an intentional... He
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: was not misled by the lack of rubbing.
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: Well, I didn't think he was misled. I think that
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: somebody was telling him that there was some places that
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: maybe he didn't want to drive to. If he was black.
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: I am not going to make this call via the internet.
• 42:36
  Speaker 3: So we're going to have to.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: Okay, no problem. No problem.
• 42:40
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: All I was going to say is if you was
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: black from Germany and you was driving through this territory
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: between Atlanta and Houston, I can't imagine the look they
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: would have gave you when you pulled up in Buc-ee's
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: because apparently Buc-ee's is one of the things that blew
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: his mind. And Buc-ee's to me, I've been inside like
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: maybe one Buc-ee's. This is a thing that came up
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: after I left this part of the country, right?
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: Apparently, the foreigners can't believe that Buc-ee's exists. Like, there
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: is no such thing as a gas station that's bigger
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: than two grocery stores. Like, this is not something that
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: they could understand. Getting to know America through sport is
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: one thing. Getting to know America by driving from Atlanta
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: to Houston, you're going to think every movie you ever
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: watch lied to you. Like, every single thing, you're just like, no, no, no,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: this doesn't make any sense. Like, I thought about this. Like,
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: if you really watch America through movies, you think America
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: is like New York, and you think America.
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: Is like LA. Santa Monica in particular.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: And nothing is like New York. Yes, nothing is like
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: New York, and nothing is like LA. Like, when that
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: punter from Scotland that went to Arkansas Pine Bluff, I
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: can't imagine what the hell he thought the world was,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: and then he got there.
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: All right, Bo, this is kind of our traditional Monday show,
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: so we're still going to do some voicemails. Here's our first.
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: Hey, yo, Bo Mani. Ryan, what's up? This is Al
• 44:17
  Speaker 5: out of Austin, Texas. Just wanted to let you guys know,
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: love what you do. Been following you all for years now.
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: There are days when I have to listen to you
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: guys to move forward. in my day. It's just part
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: of my day. So I think I speak for a
• 44:39
  Speaker 5: lot of people who listen to you as well, that
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: without your podcast, man, it just would, my day would
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: be off. So keep doing what you're doing. I so
• 44:53
  Speaker 5: appreciate it, and I'm sure others do too. But my
• 44:56
  Speaker 5: question for you is, I enjoy the college upsets, the scandals,
• 45:04
  Speaker 5: I believe you had Spencer Hall on a couple of
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: weeks ago, and you were talking about where the money
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: comes from. Can you recommend books? Y'all definitely need to
• 45:15
  Speaker 5: write that book. But can you recommend any of the
• 45:18
  Speaker 5: books that talk about the scandals and things like that
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: for schools and college football and college basketball?
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it.
• 45:29
  Speaker 5: Love what y'all are doing. Keep it up. Wish y'all
• 45:32
  Speaker 5: much success.
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: Bye.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Ryan, what is very interesting, as you know, is I
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: love a good book about a scam, but I don't
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: have a college scam book that I can think of
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: off the top of my head. I do think, though,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, that that 30 for 30 on
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: SMU was based on a book called A Payroll to Meet,
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: in which case you should read that.
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: I feel like if it's.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: Anything like Pony excess was, you should read that.
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: I think everyone college football fan should read bootleggers boy.
• 46:10
  Speaker 3: Just so you, I mean, that's not, well, that is
• 46:12
  Speaker 3: not a scam, but he is accused of a scam.
• 46:15
  Speaker 3: And then you find out all the inner workings of
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: college football through there.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, he's not telling... Switzer is gilding
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: the lily quite a bit. Like, that one is a
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: good book to read. But yeah, it is. It'll get
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: you scamming Jason, I'll tell you that. And then you
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: can go read about Switzer on your own.
• 46:33
  Speaker 3: All right, here's our next one.
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: Hey, bro, this is David from Cincinnati. Long-time listener, first-time caller.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: I just watched the episode about Brendan Sorsby, and I
• 46:45
  Speaker 2: was wondering what the.
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: Push to get Black.
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: men to go to HBCUs, what would it really take
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: for HBCUs to come back in style for teenagers, 20-year-olds
• 47:02
  Speaker 2: to be able to really be successful at HBCUs? I
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: think the last good HBCU black football player was Steve McNair.
• 47:11
  Speaker 2: Maybe the last good HBCU basketball player was maybe Ben Wallace.
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: But I really want to know what is it actually
• 47:18
  Speaker 2: going to take to actually be good in the new
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: NIL landscape in college sports. Thanks.
• 47:26
  Speaker 5: I'll listen later. Bye.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: All right. Steve McNair, no, you're going too far back.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: You can go to Darius Leonard in the rather short
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: run if you want to talk about the guys that
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: were really good and came for HBCUs. But to answer
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: your question, my brother, no disrespect to you, But I
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: feel like if you listen to this show, you can
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: do two things. You can read and you can count.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: And in the face of those two things, you know
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: exactly what it's going to take for it to get
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: to going. Man, they paying people now. This isn't just
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: simply about, hey, we're going to do it for the folks.
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: They paying people now. What will it take to make
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: me go to a $ 20 million?
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: Like, it's going to take money that we simply do
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: not have in order to make that happen no like
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: that that's the answer to your question have you seen
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: the money that these cats is getting because i have
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: and hb ain't nobody donating that kind of money for that.
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: All right here's our last one hey bo hey ryan
• 48:35
  Speaker 4: i want to tell you about the time that i
• 48:37
  Speaker 4: got dunked over by my old football coach you're kind
• 48:41
  Speaker 4: of in the vein of the most athletic person you've
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: ever seen or ever been on a full field or
• 48:46
  Speaker 4: court with. So his name is Marcus Clark. He got
• 48:50
  Speaker 4: a little bit of a run in training camp with
• 48:52
  Speaker 4: the Saints back in 2013, 2014. He used to catch
• 48:56
  Speaker 4: passes for Drew Brees. Drew Brees was like, man, this
• 48:59
  Speaker 4: guy's kind of athletic, and got him an invite to
• 49:02
  Speaker 4: training camp. And so truly the most freak athlete I've
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: ever been around, could turn on a dime, was lightning
• 49:10
  Speaker 4: quick in terms of speed. could jump out the gym
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: and we used to go to the rec center on
• 49:15
  Speaker 4: Wednesday nights and we played basketball just pick up basketball
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: and him and his team would always run the court
• 49:23
  Speaker 4: I think I don't know that I ever saw them
• 49:25
  Speaker 4: lose and so me and my boys we were playing
• 49:27
  Speaker 4: against them and I was alright I was athletic I
• 49:31
  Speaker 4: was fine nothing special but I blocked a jump shot
• 49:34
  Speaker 4: of his one time and I was feeling myself again
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: you know blocking this athletic guy's shot. And plus he
• 49:41
  Speaker 4: was my, you know, he was my receivers coach. I
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: don't remember if it was that game. I don't remember
• 49:47
  Speaker 4: if it was the next game, but it was later
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: in the evening. I went up to grab a rebound.
• 49:53
  Speaker 4: It was, you know, probably mid range shot came off,
• 49:56
  Speaker 4: came off the rim. I went up to get it
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: and I could jump a little bit. So I was like, Oh,
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: I have this next thing. I know this man is
• 50:05
  Speaker 4: jumping over me. And I'm six foot five. I've already
• 50:08
  Speaker 4: jumped probably, I don't know, a foot, foot and a
• 50:11
  Speaker 4: half off the ground. And I swear to God, he
• 50:16
  Speaker 4: cleared me and went over the top of me like
• 50:19
  Speaker 4: Vince Carter on that Greek dude or Russian dude, wherever
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: he was, wherever that guy was from. Some would say
• 50:26
  Speaker 4: it was an over-the-back foul, but it was pickup basketball,
• 50:28
  Speaker 4: so I'm not going to call fouls like that. But
• 50:31
  Speaker 4: I learned to never talk shit about a blocked jump
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: shot ever again. Because just the mere fact that he
• 50:37
  Speaker 4: had a putback dunk over my body, I will never
• 50:41
  Speaker 4: forget that. And that was the time I came up
• 50:44
  Speaker 4: against somebody that was way more athletic. Appreciate what you do, Bo.
• 50:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Ryan.
• 50:49
  Speaker 4: Love what y'all do.
• 50:50
  Speaker 6: You know, Ryan, the thing that I take from that
• 50:56
  Speaker 6: is anytime somebody gets to the part of, I don't
• 51:00
  Speaker 6: remember if it was.
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: Da-da-da or da-da-da.
• 51:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Now this is about to make the turn. The other
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: part is thank you, my man, for not calling the
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: over-the-back foul, boy, because I'm going to be honest with you.
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: That would have been really Caucasian.
• 51:17
  Speaker 3: It's more embarrassing than getting dumped on.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And over-the-back foul in pickup... First of all,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: I actually think that pickup games involve a lot of
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: people really strongly like adhering to code and not committing
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: a lot of those. You know what I mean? But brother,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: if you had called the over the back file, that
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: man would have beat you up right there. And your
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: parents honestly would have come and beat you up for it.
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: It all come together. But ladies and gentlemen, thanks so
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: much for joining us here on the right time. We
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: do this four days a week. Ryan Brumley handles everything
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail line 323-596-7767. Remember,
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: follow the right time. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us,
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: give us five stars. You only give us four stars.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.