Hour 1: Great Weekend for Alonso

Summary

Podcast Summary: Don, Hahn & Rosenberg – Hour 1: Great Weekend for Alonso
Release Date: April 7, 2025
Hosts: Don Han, Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg
Guests: Ryan Reynolds

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I. Introduction: A Rainy Start to April

Timestamp: 00:42 – 01:04

The episode kicks off with Don Han introducing the hosts and setting the scene on a particularly rainy Monday in April. Peter Rosenberg humorously reflects on the unpredictable April weather, remarking, “This is April, man, where you enjoy a 70-degree day one Saturday and the next Saturday it feels like it's the dead of winter” (01:04).

II. The Etiquette of Walking and Umbrella Usage

Timestamp: 01:04 – 05:20

Don Han raises an intriguing question about urban etiquette, specifically regarding tall individuals navigating crowded sidewalks with umbrellas. He asks, “Am I supposed to duck or are you supposed to raise your umbrella so I don't get pegged in the eye by those little points at the end of the umbrella?” (01:29).

Ryan Reynolds engages in the discussion, suggesting, “I think I go side” to avoid accidental pokes (02:12). The conversation evolves into a playful debate about "tall privilege," with Peter Rosenberg asserting, “I think there's tall privilege in this world. I think it's time to acknowledge it” (04:44).

III. Mets Baseball Insights: Pete Alonso's Breakthrough

Timestamp: 07:12 – 12:20

The focus shifts to Major League Baseball, with a deep dive into Pete Alonso's exceptional performance for the New York Mets. Don Han highlights Alonso’s remarkable season, stating, “The bigger winner is, I think, Pete Alonso because of how this has worked out” (07:12).

Peter Rosenberg adds, “If he plays the way he's playing right now the rest of the season, then maybe he'll get [a favorable contract]” (08:04).

Discussion centers on Alonso’s growth, the Mets’ strategic decisions, and the potential implications for his future with the team. Don Han emphasizes Alonso’s resilience, “Now it's almost like the Mets, what are their options now at first base? It's probably just, you know what, this seems to be working. Keep this guy” (07:50).

IV. Further MLB Analysis: Team Dynamics and Future Prospects

Timestamp: 12:20 – 25:00

The hosts delve into the broader dynamics of the Mets’ lineup, comparing Alonso’s performance to other team members like Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor. Don Han notes the bullpen's critical role in recent games, “The bullpen saved their bacon yesterday, but they're still not hitting on a consistent enough basis” (15:26).

Ryan Reynolds expresses frustration with strikeouts, likening them to inefficiencies in other sports: “A lot of pop outs, fly outs, foul outs… Strikeouts from when your team's on offense like this, it's brutal” (18:04).

V. Transition to Basketball: Final Four Highlights and Player Performance

Timestamp: 25:00 – 47:00

Shifting gears, the conversation transitions to college basketball’s Final Four. The hosts discuss the dramatic performance of a player named Cooper Flagg, who missed crucial shots. Don Han laments, “He made that face. He was supposed to make that shot. He did everything you want to do in a one-on-one situation and he just short-armed it” (46:45).

Peter Rosenberg reminisces about classic sports figures like Patrick Ewing, drawing parallels between past and present athletic performances: “That shot was like an NBA move. He set up, he got his shot. Everything you wanted to do in a one-on-one situation” (46:23).

VI. Listener Calls: Maintaining Respect and Etiquette in Sports Settings

Timestamp: 32:29 – 37:54

The episode features interactive segments with listeners Rashad, Reggie, and Rich, who share their perspectives on tall privilege and umbrella etiquette.

Rashad emphasizes the need for consideration, saying, “Yeah, they gotta move for us because they can focus in the eye as a safety hazard” (32:29).

Reggie offers practical advice on umbrella sizes based on height, “I think the umbrella size should be dependent on the size of the person” (33:03).

Rich discusses the challenges tall individuals face in crowded areas, “I turn my head, bang, right in the forehead. Now I'm bleeding because you didn't close the overhead” (34:00).

VII. Conclusion: Wrapping Up with Additional Sports Topics

Timestamp: 47:00 – End

As the episode nears its end, the hosts recap the key discussions and tease upcoming topics. Don Han highlights the resilience of the Houston team in the Final Four, “Every single time, you're like, all right, that's it. This game's a wrap. They never gave up” (47:41).

The conversation concludes with light-hearted remarks about sports events and the continuous challenges faced by athletes, leaving listeners engaged and anticipating future episodes.

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Notable Quotes:

• Peter Rosenberg: “I think there's tall privilege in this world. I think it's time to acknowledge it.” (04:44)

• Don Han: “The bigger winner is, I think, Pete Alonso because of how this has worked out.” (07:12)

• Ryan Reynolds: “It’s the most maddening thing in sports.” (18:45)

• Don Han: “Every single time, you're like, all right, that's it. This game's a wrap. They never gave up.” (47:41)

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Key Takeaways:

• Urban Etiquette for Tall Individuals: The hosts engage in a humorous yet insightful discussion about the challenges tall people face with umbrellas in crowded sidewalks.

• Pete Alonso’s Stellar Performance: A significant portion of the episode focuses on Alonso’s contributions to the Mets, his potential contract implications, and how his performance is pivotal for the team’s success.

• Cross-Sport Comparisons: The hosts draw parallels between baseball strikeouts and performance metrics in basketball and other sports, highlighting the unique frustrations inherent in each.

• Final Four Drama: The episode covers dramatic moments from the Final Four basketball games, specifically critiquing key player performances and coaching decisions.

• Listener Engagement: Interactive segments with listeners provide diverse perspectives, enriching the conversation and fostering community engagement.

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For more insights and discussions on New York sports and beyond, subscribe to the Don, Hahn & Rosenberg podcast on your preferred platform or the ESPN New York app.

Transcript

[Ryan Reynolds]

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[Don Han]

A message for everyone paying big wireless way too much.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying, no judgments.

[Don Han]

But that's weird.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay, one judgment anyway.

[Don Han]

Give it a try.

[Ryan Reynolds]

@Mintmobile.Com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month.

[Don Han]

Required intro rate first 3 months only.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] God she fel love with the sex.

[Don Han]

Han sauce was everywhere.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And Rosenberg, if you want to stay up, he's got the energy that matters.

[Peter Rosenberg]

This isn't North Dakota, this is New York.

[Don Han]

This is Don Han and Rosenberg. John Frenchie Fuqua on 8 80, ESPN and the ESPN New York app. All right, here we go. On a rainy Monday. Is it spring? I don't know. You can't tell when you're outside. This is April.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Showers bring May flowers. Remember that old saying?

[Don Han]

Yeah, of course I remember.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And the reason I. The reason it doesn't make it good, the reason I quote it is because of how deadly accurate it is. This is April, man, where you enjoy a 70 degree day one Saturday and the next Saturday it feels like it's the dead of winter. Today is God awful.

[Don Han]

Not a great day to wake in the city.

[Peter Rosenberg]

40 degrees, it's cold, it's raw, it's just awful.

[Don Han]

Etiquette question. And Peter, you live in the city. You might know how this is supposed to work.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Sure.

[Don Han]

So again, someone my height walking in the streets, as I was today, I went down to soho, do some shopping, and there's a lot of people on the sidewalks and there's, you know, umbrellas. Okay, am I supposed to duck or are you supposed to raise your umbrella so I don't get pegged in the eye by those little points at the end of the umbrella?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I gotta tell you, what's the right.

[Don Han]

Thing to do other than, hey, I'm.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Walking here, I don't know what to do with someone of your height.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, that's the thing.

[Don Han]

You wouldn't know. You were like, if you see me coming and you got the umbrella, your eye shows you that's about to take me out.

[Ryan Reynolds]

What would I do?

[Don Han]

Yeah, would you raise it? Would you turn it to the side?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I think I go side.

[Don Han]

Are you expecting me to duck?

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, no, no, no. I'm not def. I'm not an animal. I'm going side. I'm Going side or lowering it, I think I'd worry you're so tall that I'd end up hitting you the face.

[Don Han]

If I did it even higher.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, I go too high.

[Don Han]

You wouldn't be able to raise it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That, that would be my concern. That, you know, that's a tough. You know, I haven't thought about the affliction of the tall and having to deal with that.

[Don Han]

It's a, it's a difficult affliction.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's a hard thing.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But it feels like because you're in the minority, you have to make the adjustment.

[Don Han]

Oh, really? The needs of the few do not outweigh the needs of the many.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's really.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, first of all, I, I'm not an umbrella guy. I mean, I, I, I, I stand in a shower for 10 minutes every day, a little rain's gonna melt me. I'm okay.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You have Don.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Let's all just grow up, all right?

[Ryan Reynolds]

He's not scared of the rain.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Don't be scared of. The water's not gonna harm you. I'm just saying. How am I running a marathon? Go to my car, into the building? I'm okay. All right. I get a lot. But if you walk.

[Don Han]

What if you walk. What if. What if you're walking six blocks, seven blocks?

[Peter Rosenberg]

I, I might think of an umbrella then. Yes. Or maybe get a poncho, something. Why? Umbrellas are.

[Don Han]

Sound like my mom. Did you put on your poncho?

[Peter Rosenberg]

I don't know.

[Don Han]

Take your poncho.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I gotta be honest with you. Umbrellas are very pretentious. They're very pretentious? Yes. Because again, no, because, like, we're having this conversation. Why? Because there's etiquette with the umbrella. You know what if you wear a poncho, you don't have to bother.

[Don Han]

Really? Now I gotta be fisherman.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I'm trying to.

[Don Han]

Is that what I gotta be?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Dry. I keep it close to my head so it's the same height.

[Don Han]

That's a good look, Peter.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Right.

[Don Han]

If I go full poncho, just straight Gordon's Fisherman.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Don Han]

You know what I mean?

[Peter Rosenberg]

But if I close my head. Peter.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Then he has to make the adjustment. Why am I swerving all over the place? This is my personal space. It's not personal.

[Don Han]

The umbrella is like, out here.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You can fit two under the umbrella.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But my personality's as tall as you, so it becomes an issue. So you know what? You got to adjust.

[Don Han]

Wow. I got.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Besides, you're tall enough to be above the clouds. Your head probably stays dry during rainstorms.

[Ryan Reynolds]

By the way.

[Don Han]

Watch. You watch. All us tall people are going to start uniting together. You'll see what happens.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You already have. You already make us feel small. You already rule the world.

[Don Han]

Oh, well, now, now. So it's whoever said that poor.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That poor tall guy. Well, the guy in the Guinness Book of World Records who's eight feet tall. Yeah, we said poor ham because he died at 35. But all the other people, they go, well, it's a shame he's so tall and handsome and has all these breaks in life. Well, you know, he can reach things.

[Don Han]

Wow. Breaks in life. Peter. Not that he worked hard for things, but I just don't know his way.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But I am trying. I am trying to give this guy.

[Don Han]

A half hour solo. Forget it. You can't deal with him anymore.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I think there's tall privilege in this world. I think it's time to acknowledge it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, there's definitely.

[Don Han]

Oh, yeah, go try to buy a car. Okay.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, there's definitely tall privilege.

[Don Han]

800 now. 3, 7, 7, 6. I want to know. And again, anybody that's out there that's six, four or taller, you're the only ones that can relate to this. What is. What do you think the proper etiquette is for other people when they've got their. Today's a big umbrella day, right? You're walking on the sidewalk. Are we supposed to avoid the umbrella? Is it up to us or is it up to others to have some consideration for people with our affliction? That's affliction. That's what it is.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's what you just lost. I wanted to.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Full affliction.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I'm out.

[Don Han]

Really?

[Peter Rosenberg]

How is anything that you're going through physically in life in affliction? You're a gorgeous man, you're tall, and I got to worry about your day. I'm good. I'm going to speak for Peter.

[Don Han]

He's good. Damn near got my eye poked out. Okay. Just so you know, in case you want.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's what she said.

[Don Han]

Spring and Broadway just trying across the street, and these people are just running by, and it's just. Here it comes. I'm looking at it like, are you going to raise that thing? What are you going to do?

[Ryan Reynolds]

This conversation is something.

[Don Han]

What?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Nothing.

[Don Han]

It's something or it's nothing? I'm just telling you that it's a problem. I was wondering about it. You guys clearly don't care.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, what gave off that idea?

[Don Han]

Yeah, yeah. The fact that you don't care is what gave that off. Vlad Guerrero gets a half a billion dollars.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yes.

[Don Han]

And I don't even know if he's the biggest winner here because he now has to stay in Toronto. Hey, and play baseball. No, and play baseball. Staying in Toronto is not a problem. Yeah, that part's great, the end play baseball part. Which means, you know, you never win in the division. Probably never have a chance at a World Series. Right?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, they back to back ones in 1990.

[Don Han]

Whatever.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, it was 30 plus years ago.

[Don Han]

Okay.

[Peter Rosenberg]

There's still a world back.

[Don Han]

I'm going to go with never. If I told you, Don, yes or no in the next 14 years of the contract.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, no, they don't win.

[Don Han]

There you go.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But you know, I said the same thing about Manny Machado when he went to San Diego. They haven't won yet, but all of a sudden they become a very, very good. That's great. Listen, I wouldn't bet on.

[Don Han]

Let's be good.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I wouldn't bet on it. But it's.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's a long time to make a prediction.

[Don Han]

It's.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Things could come together. Like I said, they've won before. I don't think their issues are because they're in Toronto. I think their issues are they've been poorly run for a while, but not good for him. And it's good for Alonzo because, well.

[Don Han]

That'S where I was going. The bigger winner is, I think Pete Alonso because of how this has worked out. And not only is it because now Guerrero is not an option anymore for the Mets, but how much bigger is it that he also has gotten off to? As good a start as you could ever expect or want to see from Pete Alonso. Right. Like he has really been everything that they need him to be. It feels like the weight is off his shoulders from last year when he was trying to play up to trying to get a big time contract with the Mets and, and now it's almost like the Mets, what are their options now at first base? It's probably just, you know what, this seems to be working. Keep this guy.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, it all depends on him, right? If he plays the way he's playing right now the rest of the season, then maybe he'll get. I don't think he'll get Guerrero money or Judge money or Soto money, but he'll get, he'll get it because of his age, but he'll get a healthy deal.

[Don Han]

Can he get Bregman money? Can he get.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Why not?

[Don Han]

Right?

[Peter Rosenberg]

And also Springer, right.

[Don Han]

What George Springer got, that's a nice money.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But he may also decide hey, maybe I can get a little bit more someplace else, but I like it here in New York, the way the fans have treated me. And being a Forever Met is going to be really important. Also depends on, you know, how close do they come to winning a championship, or if they do win, you know, does that help or hinder his chance of staying. But if he continues to play well, he can parlay this into a decent deal. The rub is, though, like, how Stearns and the Mets approach it, because the analytics say, and his age say, don't give this guy a ton of money. So. But you still have to have somebody play first base for you. And Guerrero seemed like the logical fit. If Alonzo didn't come back down, that's now off the table.

[Don Han]

Once again, Soto needs someone like Alonso. Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Big time.

[Don Han]

How much, like, is it hard to find a guy like Soto because, you know, you can just spend all you want. The harder thing is to find somebody that fits perfectly after him. Right. Protecting the lineup, kind of a bat. And also hard to find. Yeah. And especially one at what would be relatively a discount. And you could do that here. I just think, like I said, looking at this, when the. When the Guerrero news was percolating over the weekend, and then last night, I guess, or this morning, it became official.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, like.

[Don Han]

But once you saw that, you had to think to yourself, I think the Mets have to know what's next now. And that's got to be if Alonzo, it doesn't mean tomorrow you do this. But for Pete Alonso, this couldn't have worked out better for somebody that in December felt like his Met career was over that even before the big home run. But there was a sense that his Met career was still over, even after the playoffs. The way the vibe the Mets were giving off was they were done. And now instead, his perseverance, his willingness to stay, the love affair that he generated with the fan base and Steve Cohen seeing that, and then Juan Soto looking at the lineup, and one of his concerns, according to Tom Verduce, was, hang on a second, we need some big bats in this lineup. Are we getting anybody? And the Mets realized, like, okay, we're gonna need to find somebody. This could not have played out better.

[Peter Rosenberg]

As long as he hits. And then I'd have to take a look and see what options the Mets would have to replace him if they decided to let him go. Is there a younger. Is there maybe not a Guerrero? We all knew that his situation. But does somebody else free themselves up? That could be better. But right now, no It's a perfect opportunity. And he had two hits yesterday in what was a real important win for the Mets that looked like it was going to be a game that they were going to blow because they just could not really all weekend, could not get a big hit with runners in scoring position until Winker got that second triple on Saturday. And the bullpen saved their bacon yesterday, but they're still not hitting on a consistent enough basis. But Alonzo is. And eventually Soto's going to come around and Lindor is going to get out of his normal April doldrums that Mark Teixeira always just seemed to go through when he was a Yankee. And. And I still think there's a lot that can happen here. So as much as I want to focus on what I think is a really good topic, there's so much can happen between now and the end of the season. A lot of good stuff, too, of course. And I don't think the Mets would ever give him another contract. I think they'll probably see how things go by the end of the season. But hey, it can motivate him. It's a second chance, man. I think he over. I think he was overcome by the contract last year. I think that was a major player and why he really struggled. But he came through in the end and now he's got a little bit of a respite because he knows he's got another year after this. So it's not like I'm hitting free agency again. Right. So. But now he knows he can do it. He hit the biggest home run, one of the biggest home runs in Mets history with all that pressure on him. So now he's. He had a year to do it. He got a mulligan. He can do it again. And so far it's. It's showing because I'm sure he knew.

[Don Han]

I just love how ready he was for the season. That's what I love.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah. And with.

[Don Han]

With an off season like that where you had no idea what was going to happen. I love how ready he was for the season. You got to acknowledge this stuff.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And how much do you think he knew about the Guerrero situation? These players talk, the agents talk. Boris is very well connected. Do you think he knew going into the season? Don't worry. Blue Jays are going to get something done with Guerrero. You don't have to worry.

[Don Han]

Who's to say that he didn't tell the Mets that?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, maybe.

[Don Han]

Who's to. Who's to say that Boris didn't. Didn't like kind of tip the Mets off.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So this might be a little bit of a surprise to us, but I wouldn't be surprised if Alonzo knew all along.

[Don Han]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And if that's the case, more power, Right? Like, hey, all right, listen. I know, I know this is mine for the taking here. I can rewrite my contract this year. Let's do it. Love it.

[Don Han]

It's the way you gotta play it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm sorry. I just saw across my timeline, Shohei Ohtani at the White House today.

[Don Han]

Well, it's just him. The Dodgers are there celebrating the World Series.

[Ryan Reynolds]

They were all there. Were they all there?

[Peter Rosenberg]

I don't know. I don't know. Why?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, they were. Okay. Well, the video I saw specifically was Donald Trump welcomes Shohei Ohtani to the Oval Office. And it's Shohei by himself in the Oval Office.

[Don Han]

They might have, like, given him a special.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, leave the rest of those jabronis out there. Come on in here. I only talked to winners.

[Don Han]

Right. I heard what they said about the Yankees. Only you're allowed in here, right?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Exactly.

[Don Han]

Yeah. Let's. Let's hear from Pete Alonso on this Met offense. As Don said, is had timely hits, but it hasn't. Hasn't been that lineup that a lot of people expected to eventually be. And it's a really tough league to hit at.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Guys are doing a great job of staying in counts and taking good swings and taking good pitches. So the one thing that I think.

[Don Han]

Gets overlooked a lot is guys working.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Counts, fouling off tough pitches. Even though they may not be walking or getting on base, they're still putting up six, seven, eight pitch at bat. So having that wear and tear on pitching staffs is. Is an important attribute to have.

[Don Han]

And that. That's.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's been a huge key to our success. Having a lot of great team at bats and really proud of everybody. How everyone's fought and really performed. And any time is important to get wins. So nice start for us.

[Don Han]

One thing I want to add here too, is I know he's not considered Keith Hernandez at first base defensively, Right?

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, it's gotten better.

[Don Han]

But I actually think when it comes to, you know, double play, turn, a double play, a stretch, the ability to make those kind of. I think he's fine. I don't look at him as a detriment at first.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's a good way to describe it.

[Don Han]

He's fine. Right?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Right. Keith was special. Of course, Mattingly was special at first.

[Don Han]

He's not gonna win a Gold Glove. But I'm just saying like, he, he does scoop up a lot of throws.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, he's not. He's not John Olarud, who was a vacuum, but he's gotten better. And he's gotten better. I thought he was a butcher there when he first came up, but I think he's gotten a lot better. But quickly, though. Yeah, we could talk all. And he's going to talk about the hitting because that's his expertise. This, this pitching and the bullpen have really bailed this offense because they didn't get anything done Saturday until the eighth inning. They. They had just the two runs, had to make it stand up forever. And this bullpen over the last two games has allowed one run and they've had to go deep because Canning gave you four innings on Saturday and Peterson gave you four and two thirds.

[Don Han]

So Peterson getting that, whatever. What was it? Was it a back. Was it like a. There was something that he was feeling and they had to eventually take him out of the game, but otherwise he was. He was doing fine.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He was.

[Don Han]

So you're right. The pitching that we were worried about isn't really something to worry about. The offense that you thought was going to carry the day has yet to carry the day.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But it's cold. I mean, it was. It was tough. It was tough.

[Don Han]

Although Friday went the way you would hope it would go, right. The sun came out. Friday was opening day, went really well.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Saturday was.

[Don Han]

Oh, my God.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And yesterday.

[Don Han]

Yeah, yesterday was.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It got. Got a little better later on in the day, but, like, during the game, it was just cold. And I give a lot of those fans credit for hanging out there. It's one thing you kind of know, going to a football game, bundle up. It's football. You're kind of used to that cold weather, baseball. Part of the charm of baseball is going there in your shirt sleeves and hanging out and enjoying the day and having a few beers, not bundling up like it's a football game. Freezing.

[Don Han]

Selling. They were selling the blankets. Everybody had one of those blankets, right? Like, that's nothing like a blanket in.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Baseball to let you know.

[Don Han]

You're sure everybody in the crowd had the blanket around them. No, you love that. They must be selling these. These must be flying off the shelves, these blankets just to keep you warm.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But they really have. The Mets essentially have one great offensive day so far, a couple of decent ones, and then the rest are kind of laying eggs.

[Don Han]

And you're waiting for Soto to be Soto, because Lindor, like you said, Lindor, you know, you know what you're dealing with, with him. But Soto hasn't put on a show yet. Soto hasn't been box office yet, right?

[Ryan Reynolds]

No.

[Don Han]

Right. Like it's not like.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No.

[Don Han]

And that's always the first impression thing. You always want, you know, judge out of the gate was box office because that's what judge can do. But he can also go through lulls and we've seen that too yesterday. Yeah. Oh my God. The strikeout thing drives me crazy. But Soto, it's like hasn't yet been box office. And I do think for fans that might be a thing where you're just waiting for that moment where he goes on a tear and he becomes that must watch at bat. He's not that yet.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I get to, I'm just, I'm just getting to know the baseball side of Allen. I've known the hockey side. We've got to know the basketball side here during this show.

[Don Han]

What did I just reveal?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Just how much you wear your heart and your sleeve during these games. Just like through text, like, because sometimes I'm in and out, like watching the Mets or I had, you know, I had Rangers on set, so pissed off. I just. You. As soon as something bad happens, I'm going to get a text from Alan. This mother blanking the situation.

[Don Han]

I mean, Heaney, you can't like the guy is Sandy Koufax all of a sudden. Like, it's unreal. Double digit strikeouts, swinging, misses. I guess the thing for me is with baseball, I can deal with pop outs, fly outs, foul outs, even the occasional ground ball. Those will drive you crazy for whatever reason. Strikeouts from when your team's on off it like this, it's brutal. I just, it's like you just want to punch a wall. It's the most maddening thing in sports.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, because I think you said it in one of your text messages covering basketball the way that you do.

[Don Han]

Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Even the best player on his worst day will be somewhat productive.

[Don Han]

Make a shot. Steph Curry had an awful game against the Rockets. He still made a couple of shots.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I mean Even, you know, LeBron James on his worst day is going to score. Still score 12 points. Points. He'll have like six assists. They'll block a shot. He will have a effect on the game.

[Don Han]

Thank you.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But you go over four with three strikeouts and a pop up. You, you really didn't even have to show up nothing. Because that's the one thing about baseball. I can do that.

[Don Han]

Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I could strike out on three pitches too. So I can be as productive as Judge was on Sunday. Right. I mean, that's literally the fan.

[Don Han]

I could do that.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But. But I. I literally can, you know, like, Like. But in basketball, no, I can't. I can't score 12. I can't score two. I wouldn't get a shot off. In hockey, I'd break my ankles. Right. In football, I would die. But in baseball, I could stand up there and strike out on three pitches.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You could. With the best of them, the way.

[Peter Rosenberg]

The best of them. You know, I'm sure there's been tons of guys that are sober. That's why it's a thing. I could do that.

[Don Han]

You look like. And you could look like you know what you're doing too. I think I can give you a strikeout. Not looking terrible. No.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You could look like you, like, should be there, but then you just walk.

[Peter Rosenberg]

They're not gonna bat an eye. Like, what's this clown doing?

[Ryan Reynolds]

See, by the way, I don't. But truthfully, I couldn't do that.

[Don Han]

A strikeout?

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, no. Not looking cool. Not if they're throwing heat. I am definitively jumping out of the way. I mean, really. Oh, you'd be afraid of like 90 miles an hour. I am wincing a.

[Don Han]

Hunting the breaking ball that's coming at his elbow and then drops right into the strike.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, why are you saying you, you think you wouldn't. If there's an 80 mile an hour curve ball that looks like it's coming at your head, you're not gonna dive on the ground. You're gonna be, oh, yeah, no problem. It's breaking, it's breaking. Stop. That takes high level baseball.

[Don Han]

You probably would.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You'd fall down.

[Don Han]

Like in college, like, I had some friends on the baseball team, and I actually face pitching, just out of curiosity. And it's like hearing the ball.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's insane.

[Don Han]

Literally hearing the ball is the craziest thing ever. When it comes to facing anything that's 80 miles an hour or higher. Hearing that sound, it's, it's, it's.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's nothing.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You kind of over. If you, if you play for a while, you know, I played in, you know, through high school and a little bit in college, you kind of overcome that fear. But the one thing that would happen to me is I didn't keep going that. That slider or curve ball where I'm moving out of the way, not out of fear, but like, literally thinking the ball is gonna hit me, and it hits the outside corner and you look like a clown.

[Don Han]

Well, that's like, wait a minute.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You just, you moved Your, your butt back, thinking you were going to get hit and the umpire almost called it a ball outside.

[Don Han]

What's more embarrassing, right? Is that more embarrassing? Is that more embarrassing or is the crossover when you fall down.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, that's the word.

[Don Han]

There's nothing crossover when you fall down.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's, that's. You can't get up from. I've never had that.

[Don Han]

It's. You think he's going left and all of a sudden the crossover goes right and your ass is out on the left side down on the ground. You cannot recover the other way.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So that would be the worst in basketball.

[Don Han]

That's the worst thing. Dunked on is not embarrassing. I'm telling you it's not embarrassing because you had the sack to go up and try to block that and it's respect.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, it's, it's, it's an exciting, good looking play for the dude who did it. But you don't have anything to feel bad about. You still jumped up there.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You got victim in it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But, but you weren't, you weren't a fool. You just, you just went for it and, and he.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So what, so what's, what's the hockey. Was it like the same thing getting beat out or hockey fanning, fanning on the shot and falling like on the one timer fan on the one timer and fold.

[Don Han]

No, it's got to be because again it's got to be. You thought was like in the pitch is coming, you're reacting. So it's got to be a reaction thing. I think in hockey it's when a player same thing as a crossover in basketball when you get toe dragged. When literally like you think the puck is about to go or it goes between your feet and you just get twisted up and then the guy just like goes by you.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Like that would be it.

[Don Han]

Like you're in like you look like a turnstile, the old school turnstile. That's got to be more embarrassing than even a goalie getting beat. Like getting deked. It can't be. It's got to be just getting toe dragged.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So football, I guess the easy one is just getting burned as a corner, but you do sometimes have the bailout that you thought you were getting safety help. So is a missed tackle the worst when you got the guy lined up and you dive and he's not there.

[Don Han]

He's a goat. You just catch air, you tackle air. I gotta feel like that's gotta be it. Again, it's you, you miss, you are allowed to get out physical. I think that's okay in sports it's gonna happen.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That's why the getting jammed on is not that big a deal. You got out physical has happened, but.

[Don Han]

To miss to completely like you guess wrong, you move whatever it is that's got to be.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, you know what? I. I've told this several times, but when I played in the NBA celebrity game, I told, I told. Here, get that not name drop ready. I told Hudson Minaj, I said, you know, if you don't play defense in this game.

[Don Han]

He was like, what do you mean?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I was like, there's no point in us playing. And it was both of our first times. But I'm like, there's no point in us playing defense. All it can do is make us look bad. Yep, let's worry about hitting a shot. Let them run up and down the court. I don't care. He was like, oh, interesting. 10 Fast forward three hours we're at the game. Here comes what's the black kid from Stranger Things. I forgetting his name. The famous. He's a famous actor.

[Don Han]

He's from New York too. He is from New York and you're making me forget his name.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I know, I'm sorry.

[Don Han]

Knicks fan.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm sorry to identify him only by race, but they're all white nerds. Caleb McLaughlin.

[Don Han]

That's it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So Caleb McLaughlin. Sorry. Caleb McLaughlin is out there at the time, he's like 11 Caleb. And Huston goes up to try to guard Caleb.

[Don Han]

Yikes.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Caleb crosses him and he falls over. Stumbled backwards like he was punched. Like Tyson. Like when you hit King Hippo and Mike Tyson's punch out. He stumbled back and forth. I'm going, what are you doing, buddy? I told you. You got up on a 10 year old. What could. What good can happen when you do it quiet?

[Don Han]

Nothing good.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But the one thing I'll disagree about out physical. And I guess it's not that bad because I don't remember his name. But whoever Earl Campbell ran over from the Rams in that highlight where he just put his head down and just ran over him. Or when Bosworth got steamrolled by Bo.

[Don Han]

Jackson like or Derrick Henry against anybody.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Every game you got out physical, but still. Hold on. When you laid out on my flight back from Orlando on Saturday, which was annoyingly delayed, I got one of the you're on the plane. Hey, get off and d plane, then come back later. I got one of those, which is great. NFL Network's playing a random game, right? Vikings, Bears, 2007, the rookie season of Adrian Peterson.

[Don Han]

Wow.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He ran for three touchdowns over 60 yards against the Bears that day.

[Don Han]

He was stuck.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He was doing things where people were literally just jumping the wrong direction.

[Don Han]

Yo, he made tackling air.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You're watching and you're going. And it made me think. Fun conversation later. Is he the most complete running back we've ever seen? I was like this. He is on a because he can move like Saquon and stiff arm. You like Derrick Henry? Yeah, like he was an absolute freak.

[Don Han]

Lot of power.

[Peter Rosenberg]

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[Don Han]

Use Code espnpod TaxAct knows you probably don't need help filing taxes, but if.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You get stuck, we have live experts.

[Don Han]

You can talk to. And who knows, you could hit it off and become long term tax staying up late at night talking about deductions, refunds, personal exemptions. Heck, you could even fall in love and create a little dependent of your own one day. Or they could just answer your filing questions. Tax Act Let's Get Them over with.

[Peter Rosenberg]

As the number and severity of third party breaches continue to rise, companies are increasingly vigilant not just about how they handle their own data, but how their vendors do as well. For security and compliance leaders, this means more security reviews are coming across their desk every day, and valuable time is being wasted on manual security reviews. With Vanta Questionnaire automation, security and compliance teams can complete security reviews up to five times faster, giving you time back to focus on running your security and compliance programs. Over 8,000 global companies like ZoomInfo, Smart Recruiters, and Noibu use Vanta to save time on security reviews. Visit Vanta.com podcast to learn more about questionnaire automation. That's V-A-N-T A.com podcast thanks for listening.

[Don Han]

To the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I didn't listen to anything you just said.

[Don Han]

Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts. In New York though, it's Florida, Houston. That's the championship tonight. 8:50. Did you see that Akeem Olajuwon was at the game. The Final Four. They got the big win, right? The big ridiculous comeback Win. That we'll talk about. And so everybody's coming onto the court. Hakeem oh, Adjuon, who, I mean, arguably the greatest alum as far as basketball goes in the program's history. They wouldn't let him on the court. Security stopped the seven foot hall of Famer from coming on around. Him is like, you know, some woman, this other, like, people are just walking on and the guy's like, yeah, no, no, you can't go. And he's like, he's dumbfounded. And he's not even like pleading his case. He's just staring like, what do you mean I can't come on the court?

[Peter Rosenberg]

He didn't have a credential.

[Don Han]

Probably not, but that's, you know what his credential is?

[Ryan Reynolds]

A bad job on them.

[Don Han]

His face.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's a bad job, not giving the credential. Because, you know, a lot of these security people.

[Don Han]

Oh, come on.

[Peter Rosenberg]

There's no.

[Don Han]

These people are going on the court. There's not somebody from the organization, from the program, from the athletic department going, no, no, no, he's good. He's with us. By the way, that's Akim Olajuwon. And if you're working in San Antonio as and you don't know who Akeem Olajuwon is, you shouldn't have that job.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But there have been crazy.

[Don Han]

They're court security. It's not like some guy up in section 300, this guy's on the court.

[Peter Rosenberg]

There was a story Michael told, right, Peter, about George Steinbrenner got like mad at a security guard for not asking George for his credential because he wanted everybody to be checked. So I think a lot of these security people are paranoid. Like, why did you let him on Crazy.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'll say this.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Why not just get. If you know he's an alum, you gotta win the game. Just make sure he's got a credential.

[Don Han]

Man, you're blaming the program, like, let's take it. Let's make sure he's got some so he can go wherever he wants.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That security guy that might be making minimum wage or is living paycheck to paycheck. I'm being honest.

[Don Han]

I'm just saying scoop this guy off the street.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, I'm just saying he might be living paycheck to paycheck and had been told the beginning of the year. I don't care who it is. You don't allow anybody on the court without a credential. He is going to err on the side of. I'M going to keep my job, man.

[Don Han]

Are you putting a paycheck to paycheck security guard on the court for the Final Four? Are you getting experienced? Probably like, you know, retired cop or something like that. Somebody who has some experience. This is the court we're talking about. This ain't a paycheck to paycheck.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Maybe it's not a paycheck to paycheck at. Maybe it's a guy that wants to keep his job and he was told, if anybody gets on the court without a credential, you're fired.

[Don Han]

I'll tell you what. If I get fired because I let Akeem Olajuwon on the court, I get it. It's a pretty good story.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Listen, you're not wrong, Alan, but I do hear what Don saying, like, it's a terrible spot to put them in. This would all be unforgivable if the game was in Houston.

[Don Han]

Oh, yeah, but it's not in Houston. It's still in Texas.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I know, but it's in San Antonio. 30 guard in San Antonio.

[Don Han]

It's weird.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Listen, it's not good. And the fact that you over 7ft.

[Don Han]

Tall, you think you kind of know. Yeah, I think we can let this one pass. That's all I'm saying. All right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's the dream, for God's sake.

[Don Han]

Right? Well, the dream was.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Do you think there, kids, do you think youngsters out there know.

[Don Han]

It was a nightmare.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It was a nightmare for the dream. Do you think that there are people, youngsters out there out, who don't know that for, like, a long time? His name was Akeem.

[Don Han]

Akeem, right. No, there was no H there.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Do you know that Jacob.

[Don Han]

Until he corrected everybody.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I knew you knew that he was Akeem.

[Don Han]

So I had a poster, you know, back in the day, they had the posters for players and they would put the name on the top.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah. The border would be the color. One color like the one I know you're describing. Red border, yellow letters.

[Don Han]

No, no, no. It's white border. Oh, white, black letters.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, what you got there was the Sports Illustrated poster. That's what I love.

[Don Han]

I don't remember, but that's all my illustrator.

[Ryan Reynolds]

The white border photo in the middle card almost.

[Don Han]

Yes. Those are the black lettering. And actually lowercase, it was the uppercase. You know, upper, lower. And it was Akeem Elijah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That was like half his career. He was Akeem.

[Don Han]

Yeah. What happened?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, no.

[Don Han]

Yeah, I'm thinking that, too. Once I finish this. That was the tournament update presented by Schweppes I know, I know. I thought it was over. Schweppes offers above the rim refreshment. Proud to sponsor the Big East Conference. Enjoy the madness. Take a break from the hoops action with the Schweppes Seltzer or Schweppes Ginger Ale. Speaking of seven footers, tall people. See, once again, guys, us tall people being discriminated against, they don't let them on the court. Don't like this. So the umbrella thing that I asked earlier on, people have a take on it. Rashad in the Bronx. Rashad, what do you think about all this?

[D]

Hey, Alan.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey, Don.

[D]

Hey, Peter. Yeah, I'm six two, so I'm part of the taller population. Yeah, they gotta move for us because they can focus in the eye as a safety hazard. So they gotta move for us.

[Don Han]

Almost have to wear safety glasses on a rainy day. Rashad, thanks for the call. You have to wear safety, safety goggles now, Right? This is where. This is where we are. Reggie and Yonkers. Reggie, how about you?

[D]

Hey, guys, how are you?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Hey, Reg.

[D]

My personal opinion. And Alan, you can relate to this. I think the umbrella size should be dependent on the size of the person. If you're tall, obviously you get a bigger umbrella. If you're smaller, you obviously get the smaller umbrella. Umbrella. But Alan, I think you can kind of relate to this in this aspect. It's even worse when somebody has a big umbrella and they are slow walker as well because now you're just trying.

[Don Han]

To get around them. It's painful.

[D]

And it's like, come on, what are we doing?

[Don Han]

And it's a sidewalk, like, you know, getting downtown. Downtown sidewalks are narrow. There's not a lot of space to work with. I mean, if you're. If you're midtown, these gigantic sidewalks you got on like Fifth Avenue, different story. You go around. But when you're on it, like, it's a narrow sidewalk and you got the nerve to have this gigantic umbrella. Thank you, Reggie. And it's just. It's got all those little points on it. I don't know, like. See, guys, understand what I'm talking about. Rich in Rockville Center. Rich, how about you?

[D]

First of all, you came to walk. I'm checking at 6, 4, 65 if you want to ask my hockey card.

[Don Han]

There you go.

[D]

I won't even walk in the city without wearing my class, like, you know, sunglasses. But it doesn't always start to stop there. Airplanes stink. Like, forget about trying to get in.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And out of Ubers.

[D]

You feel like you're getting out of a clown car, like, trying to get, like, button up shirts. You get this weird Bermuda Triangle at the bottom. That's a problem. Don't go far enough.

[Don Han]

So you guys don't understand this. You see what we go through?

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's all. It must be really hard, right?

[Don Han]

You see what we go through here, Rich. Thank you. See, Rich gets it. You know, you don't close the overhead compartment. I turn my head, bang, right in the forehead. Now I'm bleeding because you didn't close the overhead.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm very mindful of the toll.

[Don Han]

Are you?

[Ryan Reynolds]

I'm very mindful of the tall. I understand the situation. I don't relate, so I do my best, but I'm stuck in a lot of situations with the tall because of WWE and espn.

[Don Han]

Great point.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Every time. The two times I've been on set recently, there's always going to be someone who's ungodly tall that I have to avoid standing next to. You know, I have to get, like, at least six. And Natalie always tries to tell me, babe, get like four feet in front of them. Never stand behind them. Just make sure you get way out in front.

[Don Han]

Yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

When I was on get up several years ago, and unfortunately this clip's on YouTube, when I was on get up, they stood me next to Jalen Rose. It's horrifying.

[Don Han]

Six, eight.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It's.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's gotta be the forefront, like how.

[Don Han]

They set you up. You almost gotta be in front of the front.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, you gotta. You gotta cheat. No matter what they say, you cheat for the picture. I have. Every once in a while, I like to post the picture I have with Judge. I have one with Judge and one with Stanton. It's so embarrassing. All I do is I don't care about height, really. But when every comment. I do care. If I post a picture and there are 150 comments and 146 are, oh, my God, then it does start to add up and take a toll.

[Don Han]

You look like a little child.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's not right.

[Don Han]

Who's that toddler with Jalen Rose? Dave. And Queens Dave.

[D]

Hello.

[Don Han]

What's up, Dave?

[D]

Hey, Dave. Hey, guys.

[Don Han]

Oh, sorry.

[D]

Yeah, real quick.

[Don Han]

I got.

[D]

I got through real quick. Thanks. Yeah. Um. Yeah. It was just so ironic, Peter. I'll be right back. It was. It was. It was ironic right now, Peter, you just said. And I'm not knocking you. I love you, Pete. We really grew together here, you and me. The thing is, you said, hakeem, let him on the court. He's seven foot well, you, you guys just haven't had a discussion about tall privilege, you know, a few minutes or a few seconds earlier.

[Ryan Reynolds]

True, but seven feet at a major basketball event, you can usually assume they're connected to basketball. I'm not saying at the shopping mall, if they're seven feet tall, you let them walk in the back of the Nordstrom's. But I'm saying if we're at a basketball event and a seven footers, it looks like they're in good shape, comes walking up, they might be involved.

[D]

I'm with the security guards. I've done security and I'm not gonna call security people. They're security guards and it doesn't matter, like if you're a good security guard. And I love the George thing that I think whoever brought it up, George, George, George is like that. It's a stickler for the rules. It goes back. We love rules. I love rules. It has to be done. We know. It's not like the guard doesn't know it's a team. It's just that he. You have. Has to have the credential and.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, no, that's even worse to me.

[D]

Courts.

[Ryan Reynolds]

If you know it's. If you know it's Hakeem. If you know it's Hakeem, you can probably get. Your manager could probably let you off the hook.

[D]

Maybe if you're running like some, if you're running a thing without, without any rules, of course, Akeem gets in. But the thing is, there are rules. It's not like they said, akeem, you gotta leave the building.

[Don Han]

Whatever.

[D]

Akeem. Akeem is. I love Akeem. I love all the pros, although all the, the alumni of these schools. But like, you gotta have credentials. There's rules. Okay, Peter, you go to so many events, right? You gott.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And I don't get mad, and I don't get mad.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I don't get mad when they stop me. And I know how a lot of these companies operate. They'll have a meeting before the season or before the final four, and they'll go, I don't care if it's Donald Trump. If he doesn't have a credential, he doesn't get on the court. And that's ringing in your ear when you go, that's Akeem Olajuwon. Houston just won. But this might be a test because they gave us examples of people not to let on the court. And he's not as big as that example they gave. You know what? I.

[Don Han]

I get that, and I totally am about the rules.

[Peter Rosenberg]

How about this?

[Don Han]

This is weird. How about this?

[Peter Rosenberg]

When the Carolina Hurricanes won The Stanley cup in 06, I was there. And they let everybody out on the ice. Security screwed up to the point where they couldn't skate the cup around because they let everybody's family on there. And I'm sure people got fired because they just let everybody on. You don't think there's a possibility that too many people were on the court, somebody complained, and then afterward they're going, like, we got to let people go. There were people on the court that weren't supposed to be there. I'm letting everybody go. Like, I'm sorry. You know, I agree with you. I just.

[Don Han]

You've convinced me that this is definitely a program issue and that someone in the athletic department should have recognized this immediately. Somebody should have just had either a credential or come over, vouch for whatever it is. Like, that is definitely.

[Ryan Reynolds]

This isn't as bad. This isn't as bad as the Ewing stuff at msg.

[Don Han]

Ewing, yeah.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Remember when Ewing got given a hard time at msg? Oh, yeah, but that was worse.

[Don Han]

He wasn't given a hard time. He was being a little facetious. He was. This is when he was coaching at Georgetown.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right. And I don't think he seemed facetious. He seemed very angry, didn't he, John? Don't you remember being hot?

[Don Han]

He was. Because it was, this is my building. I shouldn't have to show you. You know what I mean? Like, it's. I shouldn't have to show you credentials.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But he's. I think he's kind of right at MSU. 20 years of being his building. Yeah, but again, you run to the wrong person.

[Don Han]

Right.

[Ryan Reynolds]

They're young and they have no idea.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Can you imagine if there was a meeting before the game? And the bosses of security that knows that Florida is playing Houston.

[Don Han]

Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And the examples he gave. I don't care if Tim Tebow and Hakeem Olajuwon want to go on the court. They're not getting on without a credential. And there's Hakeem walking without a credential. Like, what do I do?

[Don Han]

That would be an example.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Wouldn't that be your example? If you like new sports, like Houston's playing Florida. Those are the two biggest things.

[Don Han]

Tim Tebow would just part the seas, though, right? And walk over the puddle of water.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Well, that.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's the thing, is. Wouldn't be so much. He didn't have a credential. You'd let him on because he was actually two feet off the ground and walk.

[Don Han]

He levitated anyway. 800 hour 93776. More your calls coming up. Stay with us. Don Han, Rosenberg 880 ESPN Peter all.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right, guys, there are two teams left, but you can still get in on the biggest game of the season with FanDuel because right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets. When your first $5 bet wins, that's 200 extra bucks to bet on everything from team totals to point spreads and so much more. Come on, they took down Duke. You know I got to go with Houston. The tournament action is at its peak, and FanDuel gives you all the ways to bet all the excitement you can handle tonight. All right, so visit FanDuel.com and get in on the biggest college hoops game of the year with America's number one. Sportsbook 21 are over in physically present New York versus online real money wager only $5 first deposit required. Bonus issues now Withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after seat restrictions apply. See [e-mail] for help with the gambling problem. Call 8778- Open Wire Text Open Wyatt 467369 I think you're on mute Workday.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Starting to sound the same.

[Don Han]

I think you're on mute. Find something that sounds better for your career on LinkedIn.

[Peter Rosenberg]

With LinkedIn job collections, you can browse curated collections by relevant industries and benefits.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Like Flexpto or hybrid workplaces so you can find the right job for you.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Get [e-mail] jobs finding where you fit LinkedIn knows how. This episode is brought to you by the Toyota Grand Highlander. From daily routines to life changing adventures, the Toyota Grand Highlander is spacious, powerful, and ready to take on life's grand challenges. Advanced safety features and innovative technology give you confidence for whatever life throws at you. And it's available in a hybrid Nightshade Special Edition, which includes sophisticated gloss black exterior accents and 20 inch black alloy wheels. Learn [e-mail] Grand Highlander Toyota let's go places. This episode is brought to you by LifeLock.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's tax season and we're all a.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Bit tired of numbers, but here's one you need to hear. $16.5 billion. That's how much the IRS flagged for possible identity fraud last year. Now here's a good number. 100 million. That's how many data points LifeLock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it. Guaranteed. Save up to 40% your first [e-mail]. podcast terms apply.

[Don Han]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I didn't listen to anything you just said.

[Don Han]

Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Wait, are you. This is unbelievable.

[Don Han]

What happened?

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's 3:49 right now.

[Don Han]

Now.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And I haven't gotten to do this yet. Turn the music down.

[Don Han]

Oh, no, here it comes. Yep.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Not Cooper Flag.

[Don Han]

Oh, see? Not. Hold on too soon.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Not missing the. Hold on.

[Don Han]

I was gonna do this at 4.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Not missing the free throw. Not committing the foul. Not. Not everything. Not missing the jumper short at the end. Oh, Don, you hate this.

[Don Han]

Scheduled for four.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You didn't tell me.

[Don Han]

Scheduled for four.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And I'd been holding it so long, patiently.

[Don Han]

I know, because I figured you were going to need some time on this, because I'll tell you what, that's one of the biggest meltdowns in the history of March Madness.

[Ryan Reynolds]

They were only up 14, I think, in the NBA, that's nothing.

[Don Han]

That's a quarter score dripping with sarcasm. You are.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Yeah, that's right.

[Don Han]

You're the game in hand at the free throw line. Oh, there's a lot going on.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Sure, sure, sure.

[Don Han]

How about just finish it off right there? 4:00. Awful possessions.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Like just.

[Don Han]

Just a good possession. Like, just all kinds. There's so much that went on there that if you're Jon Scheyer. How are you sleeping? There's no chance that. There's no chance. The head coach of Duke men's basketball is sleeping for two reasons. One, he'll have nightmares about those last 90 seconds. Two, Coach K is not letting him sleep. Banging a drum outside his door every day.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Oh, Coach K was right there watching, baby.

[Don Han]

Are you kidding me?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right there.

[Don Han]

It was in your hands. It was over.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So anyway, and sorry, I wasn't flagging Mr. Free Throw. Sorry. It was just flag, Mr.

[Don Han]

He had a good.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He was afraid from the line.

[Don Han]

He was short.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He had a very good look. It was Tyrese Proctor missed the free throw. It was Flag who missed the J at the end. Now again, even after that. And. And by the way, Allen, they had a lot of clock there. They had like 19 seconds to go out there and win the game.

[Don Han]

And what was the. What's the kid, Kerfluffle. What's his name? That dude. He's good town it. But why are you going in for a layup on a 68 guy? What are you doing? Why are you doing that? You don't need to do that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's unfortunate.

[Don Han]

Like it's just a lot of big mistakes that just were maddening to watch. But yeah, I mean, and if you're.

[Ryan Reynolds]

A Duke fan to know that this thing was like, listen, obviously it's a great final four. It's all chalk number ones. But to know that this shot, you know, even if you're Duke, championship opportunities are nothing to sniff at. Right. Like, and, and this was set up for you to go in and win the championship.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Right. It's not like Flag's coming. That's himself.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Exactly. The bet that may be that might.

[Don Han]

Have sent Flag right to the NBA. Hell with this.

[Ryan Reynolds]

You could argue it's the. He's the best player since Kyrie. You could argue best Duke player since Grant Hill. Whoever you want to argue.

[Don Han]

Grant Hill.

[Ryan Reynolds]

It's a special. That's a special player. You think Cooper, but you think Cooper Flight is a better college player than Kyrie Irving.

[Don Han]

That's what I mean.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But you don't think he's necessarily going to be a better.

[Don Han]

Played five games.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He barely played for the team.

[Don Han]

You can't really call it a career.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No, I just mean the talent. I just mean the talent.

[Don Han]

Yeah, but talent's talent. Like I think you just look at it from impact player in a program.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right? Then it's Grantham.

[Don Han]

As great as Zion was too quick. Cooper Flagg had a much bigger impact than Zion did.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I mean, 35 wins.

[Don Han]

Seriously. And he had a bid to the championship game on his hand. I thought he was making that shot. He set up, he got his shot. Everything you wanted. That was an NBA move. That was a pro move. Get to my spot.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He's a stud.

[Don Han]

Get my kind of shot off. And he just short armed it. He did everything you want to do in a one on one situation and.

[Ryan Reynolds]

He loved to see it.

[Don Han]

And he. And he. And he fell short on it.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And CBS can't be thrilled.

[Don Han]

That's. Oh, no, no. Hell no.

[Ryan Reynolds]

No. Duke tonight.

[Don Han]

It's not Duke.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Florida Tonight's dead sexy. I mean, that's dead sexy.

[Don Han]

Yes. Because Florida is a fun team.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And the fun and probably the best.

[Don Han]

Team is not a fun team.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Right. They're gonna grind it. Yes, they're gonna grind it down.

[Don Han]

Absolute grinder.

[Ryan Reynolds]

But by the way, listen, I'm not just. Cooper Flagg is going to be an absolute stud, in my opinion. I think he's a guaranteed win. I mean, this dude. You guys realize he turned 18 in December.

[Don Han]

Like he's supposed to be a high school.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I think that was part of the problem. That was a young Duke team, they had older players on Houston, and Houston played in these types of games all year. You know, Duke's blowing everybody out. And you just saw Houston was just a lot more comfortable in that situation.

[Don Han]

They never let go of the rope, man. And that is something. Kelvin Sampson, the way he coaches, the toughness aspect that is part of that program. It's always been everywhere he's gone, but especially there in Houston, they have developed this kind of rep as that team. And so what, four minutes to go, three minutes to go, two minutes to go, minute and a half to go. Every single time, you're like, all right, that's it. This game's a wrap. This game's a wrap. They never gave up. And that kid with the ability to not only ball fake the three, but then relocate and then take the three and knock it down. What? And I kid. I mean, obviously, they are. They are experienced, but the epic. The ending was epic, but it's more about, like, you less want as much as you want to credit the resiliency of Houston and that team. It really was a meltdown that was. I mean, a meltdown of epic proportions.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, it was.

[Don Han]

Was it not?

[Peter Rosenberg]

And then what? You know, like I said, that's something that Flag's got to live with for the rest of his life. He's not going back.

[Don Han]

No. He'll hate it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And it's going to just kind of like Larry Bird.

[Don Han]

Larry Bird lost the championship game, went into the league, but it's lost to.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Villanova was his last game.

[Don Han]

His last game.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I remember him waving off the cameras. Remember when they were showing him on the bench?

[Don Han]

Yep. Well, you guys love pointing out how much of a, you know, piece of crap Patrick Ewing is. He's one of the best people in the world. All you guys want to bring up is how negative. Bad guy. Oh, his attitude.

[Ryan Reynolds]

That wasn't my story.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I said the Knicks.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I. I said that MSG did a bad job.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And I introduced the kids to Space Jam this weekend. Oh, the original. Not that. LeBron.

[Don Han]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And it's one of Ewing's bright moments. Can you name the five NBA players that lost their talent in that movie?

[Don Han]

Mugsy Bogues. Yes. Patrick Ewing, Sean Bradley. Larry Johnson. Michael.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No.

[Don Han]

Well, he's in. He's. He's in it, but he didn't lose five guys. Barkley.

[Peter Rosenberg]

There you go.

[Don Han]

There's one more.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, it's fine.

[Don Han]

That's it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's the Ewing.

[Don Han]

I thought.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, I thought Ewing was tremendous in it. They're all.

[Don Han]

Were Good.

[Peter Rosenberg]

John Bradley just did that. Didn't age well.

[Don Han]

Yeah, well, I mean, you know, but he looked.

[Peter Rosenberg]

You looked fine. He handled himself. But yeah, I think they expected bigger things from him when they put him in the movie.

[Don Han]

I thought eventually he was going to be a big star.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And you know what? I was thinking about it too. Not to change the subject, but like, I was like, if they, obviously they did the modern day version with LeBron, like, I don't know, would the players resonate as much as those five? No.

[Don Han]

No.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Muggsy. They took a bit of a stretch. It was his size, I think was really what captured the moment and something I didn't remember in that one.

[Don Han]

What's that?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Because you know the movie well, right?

[Don Han]

Pretty much, yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So they, they, they go to see the psychiatrist on like, why they lost. And the psychiatrist asked Patrick, so have you lost any ability to perform outside of basketball? He's like, no, I'm like, I didn't remember that. And the other line was like, what professional sports franchise would name their team the Ducks?

[Don Han]

And that's the shot at Disney.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That movie is tremendous. Listen, you know, I always joke about like not liking LeBron. That was the counter Michaels absolute like almost obsession with the man on the last show. But that was not something that needed to be remade. That. That movie's awesome.

[Don Han]

Yeah, but that's the problem is how many times has there been a movie remade that was a classic and it's as good, if not better. It's very rare that that happened.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Think about that.

[Don Han]

I'm talking about a classic.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But I just need. I only brought it up to defend myself and Peter. We did not go after Patrick.

[Don Han]

I know. And I was also just, you know, messing around because it's the second Patrick Ewing reference that has.

[Ryan Reynolds]

So he just wants to make us look bad again. He's more like Michael than you realize.

[Don Han]

You all understand that Patrick Ewing, of all the players as a kid that I idolized, Patrick Ewing is at the very top of the list. That's right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I mean, that's three run home run.

[Don Han]

That's what he does early on. There's always that one pitch.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, you got it on.

[Don Han]

He makes that face. Yes. See the Metamucil commercial? That's because that's right now what Yankee fans do.

[Peter Rosenberg]

My back instead of tv. Peter, we're gonna have to trade.

[Don Han]

You ever notice I look over your head a lot?

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, I. Yeah.

[Don Han]

And it was snowing, by the way, in Detroit, because of course. Beautiful, right? Like, great ballpark. It really is.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It's a great ballpark, that whole area, too, because you got.

[Don Han]

They've rent. Yeah. They've Fort Fields over there. Right. If I'm not mistaken, the big Fort Field is there.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Little Caesars. They're all right in that complex.

[Ryan Reynolds]

And the theater I went, isn't it Ford Theater?

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, no, it's not the fourth theater. It's a rock theater.

[Don Han]

Fox.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Fox.

[Don Han]

Fox Theater.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I went there. Remember I went there last year and got beautiful seats for about 60 bucks. Behind America for Orioles game. Yeah.

[Don Han]

So we were the whole crew. We were go to the Yankees Tigers game on Wednesday until they moved it to 1:00 and then nobody can go. Oh, that would have been great.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah.

[Don Han]

Because we're in Detroit on Thursday. Play the Pistons.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Detroit, as they say in Canada.

[Don Han]

Detroit. Yeah. Thanks for listening to the Don Han and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made, but I just want to know. It's good. Hear more of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app, and your smart speakers.