Hour 1: HBD Don & End ASGs?

Summary

Don, Hahn & Rosenberg – Hour 1: HBD Don & End ASGs?

Date: February 13, 2026
Hosts: Don La Greca (often referred to as Don/Don Hahn), Peter Rosenberg
Absent: Alan Hahn
Theme: Don’s 58th birthday, the decline of All-Star Games in major sports, and spirited listener calls about the state of basketball and fandom.

---

Main Episode Overview

This lively episode celebrates Don’s birthday and launches into a passionate discussion about the waning significance of All-Star Games (ASGs) in the NBA, NHL, and NFL. The hosts offer spirited (and at times nostalgic) takes on what these exhibitions used to mean, why they've lost their luster, and whether they should be scrapped altogether. Listener calls spark sharp debates about changes in the NBA, the concept of load management, and what it means to be a critical-yet-loving sports fan.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Don’s Birthday & Show Opener (01:00–04:10)

• Alan Hahn is out, so Don and Peter hold down the fort.
• Don reflects on feeling “in the middle” at 58 (“I’m not 60. I’m not 50. 58’s just… you know, 58.” – Don, 02:43).
• He appreciates the well-wishes and shares birthday plans focused on family, not fanfare.

Memorable Moment:
Peter prompts for classic talk radio sound effects to celebrate and jokes about the understated recognition, underscoring their humor and camaraderie.

---

2. All-Star Games Are Broken (06:18–14:01)

• Don launches into a tirade about the decline and irrelevance of All-Star Games in football, basketball, and hockey.
  • The Pro Bowl is described as “an absolute embarrassment” after a poorly-received two-hand-touch event with lackluster stars (“People are out. The NFL’s tapped out.” – Don, 07:36).
  • NBA and NHL ASGs are now more about mocking than celebrating the sport.
  • Baseball’s ASG is the only one still resembling real competition (largely due to its mid-summer scheduling and Home Run Derby’s appeal).

Notable Quote:
“Do you really want to have something, Peter, where most people are mocking it? Mocking your sport, talking about load management, talking about other players? ... Pull the plug already. Man up, Silver. Man up, Bettman. It's time.”
— Don, 10:11

Peter’s View:
Peter reminisces about the NBA All-Star Weekend’s former vibrance, bemoaning that “nobody big cares about participating” anymore (12:35), and calls for “a come to Jesus moment.”

---

3. Why Do ASGs No Longer Matter? (14:01–18:23)

• The hosts cite lost “viral” or “must-see” moments, lack of genuine star participation, and changing fan/media habits.
• Nostalgic references: Magic Johnson’s comeback, the “hardest shot” contests in the NHL, and the once-iconic dunk contest.
• Peter insists: “It is not about that you can't come up with any more dunks. It is about the fact that nobody big cares about participating.” (12:53)
• Don suggests ASG weekends are now primarily for schmoozing sponsors—“Find something else. ... Just say goodnight, Gracie. Let's kill it.” (15:26)

---

4. Listener Calls: Critiquing the Critique (27:30–34:13)

• A caller questions why ESPN personalities (like Peter) are so openly critical of their own events, comparing it to the WWE’s more controlled narrative.
  • Peter defends honest coverage: “We’re just being critical of this product that, you know, a lot of fans have had a lot of questions about.” (28:41)
  • Don doubles down: “If I didn’t care about the sport, I’d ignore it. … we want it to be better, because we do love it.” (33:05)
• The load management debate heats up:
  • One caller suggests the criticism of players sitting out is unfair, arguing that changes in contracts and careers explain it.
  • Don and Peter counter that the frequency of star “rest nights” compared to other sports undermines the regular season, especially for those who pay for tickets and tune in.

---

5. Possible Fixes for All-Star Weekend (34:13–45:21)

• A listener pitches a new format: four five-player teams, pickup-style games to 21, with serious prize money. (34:13)
  • Don points toward the NHL’s divisional 3-on-3 tourney as a model that revived some energy.
  • Both hosts agree: If money/pride is what it takes to get effort and star power, so be it.
• Another listener notes the inherent contradiction: fans hate boring ASGs but complain when stars go too hard and risk injury. It might be a no-win situation for leagues.
  • Don: “But there has to be a happy medium… I don’t think anybody expects these guys to go as far as… what Pete Rose did in that All-Star game in 1974. But at the same time, you don’t want it to be a complete mail-in either.” (43:00)
• Incentives, tweaks in formats, and even letting “regular joes” compete in events like the dunk contest are discussed.

---

6. Knicks & NBA Fandom in New York (21:41–22:28)

• Peter notes that New York fans care little for the ASG when the Knicks are competitive (“This is a town that is fully in on this Knicks team… One of their main characteristics, one of the charms of this team is how hard they play.”)
• Don adds: “That’s what I love about Knick fans… they love their team more [than the league].” (21:41)

---

Notable Quotes & Fun Exchanges

• On sports fandom and criticism:
  “If I’m critical of it, then that must mean I don’t love it. No, it means I love it… because I want to fix it. I want it to be better.” — Don, 33:05

• On the modern dunk contest:
  “If I put a gun to your head and I said, tell me someone in the dunk contest… you would die in front of our very eyes on your birthday, no less, no shot.” — Peter, 16:14

• On positive moments left:
  “The three-point contest has real players in it. There are real stars who are actually willing to shoot and take some sort of a risk to their reputation by losing.” — Peter, 15:40

• On aging:
  Manny (to Don): “You’re two years away from turning the big 60. How does it feel?”
  Don: “I’m two away from 60. I think 60 is going to really be painful, Peter… 50 didn’t bother me.” (48:53)

---

Timestamps for Critical Segments

• Start of Main Content (skip ads): 01:00
• Don’s Birthday Reflections: 02:40
• ASG Disillusionment Launches: 06:18
• Host Critique of ASG Formats: 10:00–14:01
• Listener Call: Being Critical on ESPN: 27:50
• Load Management Debate: 30:13, 44:59
• Caller Proposes ASG Tournament Fixes: 34:13
• Knicks and NYC Fandom: 21:41, 41:35
• Segment on Love Songs/Top Lists (lighter segment): 24:20–27:28

---

Tone & Language

True to form, the episode is fast-paced, sarcastic, and heavy on New York attitude. Both hosts mix sports-pundit gripes with dry humor and self-deprecation, inviting a robust conversation with listeners and never shying from blunt assessments. They’re passionate about the games—but maybe even more passionate about the state of being a fed-up, loyal fan.

---

Summary

Don’s birthday provides a backdrop for a wide-ranging, often biting look at the pitfalls of today’s All-Star sports culture. Hosts bemoan lackluster effort and missing star power, theorize solutions, and spar with callers over whether criticism equals disloyalty. At heart, the show is a love letter—from tough-love New Yorkers—to what sports could and should still be.

If you missed this hour:
Expect hot takes on why All-Star Games need fixing (or eliminating), plenty of nostalgia for better days, and engaging audience input both defending and critiquing today’s NBA and wider sports world. It’s a sharp, honest, and entertaining hour as Don, Rosenberg, and their audience wrestle with loving sports enough to want them to be better.

Transcript

[Don Hahn]

The French dip from Firehouse Subs is here for a limited time. Piled high with premium roast beef, caramelized onions, and melty cheese on a freshly toasted garlic butter roll. Every French dip is served with warm, savory au jus for dipping. This melty French dip is only at Firehouse Subs for a limited time, so head to your nearest Firehouse Subs or order on the app and try the French dip before it's gone. Limited time at participating Firehouse Subs restaurants while supplies last.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Don.

[Don Hahn]

A lot of virgins working in one room together. A lot can be accomplished.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

Han.

[Don Hahn]

I just got excited.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And Rosenberg. Alan just expressed theoretical arousal about the Dolly Parton puppet.

[Don Hahn]

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

[Peter Rosenberg]

This is Don Hahn and Rosenberg.

[Caller/Listener]

The best threesome I've ever heard on.

[Don Hahn]

ESPN New York and streaming live on YouTube. 3 o' clock in the big city. Don Hahn and Rosenberg. Right till seven.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Ah.

[Don Hahn]

On ESPN New York. We are sans solo. No, Hans, he's got the day off. He's actually got a whole weekend. A whole, as Michael would say, a bacchanal down in D.C. well, so he's gone. He's out.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Do you call it a bacchanal if you're on a trip with your daughter for one of her sports?

[Don Hahn]

You know what? I'm gonna be. I'm gonna be completely honest. I. I'm not even 100% sure what Michael means when he says that. The only thing I think I know, but the fact he's allowed to say it, makes me doubt exactly what goes on. Here we go.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It says, definition wise, it's a wild, drunken, and riotous celebration or party often characterized by uninhibited behavior and excessive drinking. All right, so I don't. Yeah, I don't think it's a bacchanal.

[Don Hahn]

Well, let me ask you this. As somebody that we've accused of being, you know, or has accused us of being, Captain Literal Man, Michael K. That he's. He's misusing that word. Every time he says it on the.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Air, it is almost never actually a bacchanal.

[Don Hahn]

Right, right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That he. I'll tell you, you want to have a bacchanal. The bacchanal should be a birthday bacchanal to celebrate our very own Donald Marco Legreca, as I live and breathe. 58th birthday. Happy birthday, Don. Can I get some sound effects? Can I get some music? Can I get some celebration? Can I get something to make this sound less rapug?

[Don Hahn]

I guess not.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No. We're gonna just live right in here.

[Don Hahn]

58 is kind of. I'm not 60. I'm not 50. You know, it's 58. 50 that no music is exactly what 58 does.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No. 58.

[Don Hahn]

You want to. Oh, well, that's nice. Just a nice birthday apparently caught everybody by surprise. Our program director in the meeting said happy birthday as I disconnected. You heard him, though? No. Anthony told me after the fact that. Oh, yeah, he did. You missed Winthrop wishing you a happy birthday. But now everybody text and I got phone call calls, and it's. It's really nice that everybody remembered. So it's pretty awesome. And I should. I should throw out a happy birthday to Howie Rose, because Howie Rose and I share the same birthday, not the same birth year, but the same birthday, February 13th. So pretty cool. Everybody asks me what I'm doing for my birthday. And it'll be more like a birthday weekend because tonight Jalen's got dance and Marco's got his baseball instructional thing going on at from 7:30 to 8:30. So it's gonna be, you know, so.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Are you kids, Are you sure you're driving the kids around is what you're saying?

[Don Hahn]

Yeah, right. Right after the show. And then we'll, we'll do something tomorrow. We'll have a big. A big birthday celebration tomorrow and kind of combine Valentine's Day.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Who could be involved in such a thing?

[Don Hahn]

The family could.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Dave legreca.

[Don Hahn]

Could be. Could be. I think we're gonna go bowling.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I had a very funny moment related to your brother today. Okay, So I was doing Cheap Heat Live, which I do on Pro Wrestling Nation 24. 7, Sirius XM channel 156 every Friday from noon to 2. And you can listen to the podcast. And on my list of things to do that my wonderful producer Kelly gives me, there was a cut from your brother Dave saying. It just says, Dave Legreca, WrestleMania 42 needs a splash. So I was, I set up the cut and I'm like, you know, here's Dave Legreca talking about why WrestleMania really needs something to a splash to, you know, turn things up a bit. Don, the cut. They played and, you know, you know radio these days. I have some great people over there, but they're all kids. No one's particularly experienced. Don the cut. It might have been an hour. It kept going and going. And I screamed, I went, guys, guys, we don't need to replay his entire show. Stop the cut. And then I said, I said, you people don't understand the irony of this. The irony of Me getting angry at the length of a cut, that's being said by Dave legreca, when being annoyed by the length of the cut is the ultimate feeling of Don legreca. I mean, you would have, you couldn't believe. He makes the point and then it keeps going and he. And I'm like, don't you get. When you cut, all you got to do is give us the essence of what the cut is supposed to be.

[Don Hahn]

Otherwise have him on.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, we could call him. It's his channel, for God's sake.

[Don Hahn]

Anyways, I thought you'd appreciate that. I appreciate.

[Peter Rosenberg]

How happy are you, how delighted are you that your friend Peter Rosenberg had the idea the other day to say, hey, I got a question. Why don't we take off the holiday that is Monday, it's your birthday weekend, for God's sake. Your kids are off school. How good are you feeling about the three day weekend?

[Don Hahn]

I'm very good. This is gonna be on. It's starting to warm up a little bit now. Not to the point where you're gonna go out there and you know, you're.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Not opening the pool.

[Don Hahn]

Opening the pool. But I, but I just, it just feels good. Even today was like 32 and it still felt like nice to go out.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I see melting folks, A little meltage.

[Don Hahn]

Which is nice because we've been, you know, trying to thaw out for like going on a month now. I mean, that storm was three weeks ago, if it was a day. And you know, this is what we've been having to go through and just trying to get, just trying to get to the spring. Now baseball fans are excited because spring training has started and that means we're getting a little closer to the warmer weather and football is now over. And that's why we had the whole big, you know, top five music and everything, because there's not a lot going on. And we do have the Olympics. But you know, when you were growing up and we were younger, you know, and we would have, you know, the NHL All Star game before the pros went to the Olympics, and of course the NBA All Star game, which is always a pretty big thing for the fans of that, of the, of those sports. And now it's just become an absolute embarrassment. The Pro bowl, the NFL's tapped out. They, they had a two hand touch involving no one that was really any good this season. You know, Joe Flacco, Shador Sanders. Heck, they even invited Justin Fields. He had the class enough to decline. And they did it on a Tuesday. And less than 2 million people watched it. You realize Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen could play Mahjong at the 50 yard line and they put it on Fox. 20 million people would watch it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

That's right.

[Don Hahn]

But the Pro bowl did less than 2 million because people are out. The NFL's tapped out. You know, usually when ESPN has something on it, they try to tell us to promote it. They didn't even bother. John Winthrop, who lives football, would marry football if it had a heart. Didn't know it was on.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, no.

[Don Hahn]

Didn't realize it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

The man is the ultimate company man, the ultimate football.

[Don Hahn]

Football on espn. That's. It's, it's. What is that a TV gasm for him?

[Peter Rosenberg]

If, Let me, let me say this. If John Winthrop on a cliff and his entire family was. He was able to grab his entire family with one hand, but the other hand was football and espn, he might just let go of his family to make sure he could securely grab football on espn. That is how much he loves football on espn. And when John brought this up, he went, there was a Pro bowl, right?

[Don Hahn]

And then what made it worse is he thinks he might have stumbled upon it and didn't realize it was it. So. So the NFL's out. Because I've always said out. What I've always said is all of these sports want out of the All Star Game, maybe with the exception of baseball, because the baseball All Star Game is the closest to the actual game. You don't have to worry about anybody getting hurt. So everybody goes. They still consider it an honor and it still gets a number because it's on a Tuesday in the middle of the summer, and it really going up against nothing. Most, most television shows are on hiatus. There's no other sports going on. You're almost looking for something to watch. And I think of all the skills competitions, we've talked about this a lot. The Home Run Derby seems to really pop. It's everything that the dunk contest used to be that isn't anymore. The Home Run Derby seems to still matter to people. So that Monday and Tuesday it gets a number. But basketball, hockey and football, they got to get rid of it. They got to say goodbye. Because these are supposed to be Peter. A celebration of their sport. When the All Stars get together, it was always growing up a celebration of the game. You had the skills competition the day before. So in the NBA, you had Saturday night, the dunk contest and all that. And then on Sunday afternoon you'd have the All Star Game. And it was crazy because we go, wow, did you see the All Star Game? Final score was 140 to 135. That's an average Tuesday in the NBA now. But back then it was like something. Now it's not a celebration anymore, Peter. It's a chance to mock the sport. Like if I'm doing when I did NHL Live back in the day and it was All Star Weekend, we're kind of mocking like nobody wants to go. They're suspending Alexander Ovechkin because he refuses to go. And they've got to come up with North America versus the world. They got to play three on three tournaments because it doesn't matter to anybody anymore. NBA, the same thing. Do you really want to have something, Peter, where most people are mocking it? Mocking your sport, Talking about load management, talking about other player. Modern players aren't as good as the old time players. Why would you have a showcase of bitching and moaning about your sport? Pull the plug already. Man up, Silver. Man up, Bettman. It's time. It's time to just say, be like Roger Goodell, we're out. Pull the plug on it. Be done. You could still have your teams. So you could still say, I went to the, the All Star Game. I was an All Star. But let's stop playing this because whatever is going to happen in the NBA this weekend's a joke.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So I want to say something.

[Don Hahn]

I hope so. Just me and you for four hours. Yeah.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And without, without Allen, we just, we gained back 75% of the show. I, that's not right. I used to love NBA All Star. Like I'm not even. I won't deal with NHL right now because it doesn't matter. It's NBA time right now. Because I really used to love NHL weekend too. But that, that's more immediate because now.

[Don Hahn]

We got the Olympics and last year we had four nations. So even in the NHL start like I think.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, they're smelling it now, so. But there was a time when I used to love, you know, seeing Al McInnis hit the hardest shot and Ally Afraidy and I used to enjoy all of the big skills guys back in the day when I was a kid. But I got older. Whatever. The NBA thing though, stuck with me. I mean, I used to donate. And I'm not talking about late, I'm not Talking about late 30s, Peter Rosenberg playing in the, in the celebrity game. I'm Talking about early 20s, $200 to my name. I'm going to scrounge up to save to go to All Star weekend just because I Want to go to the parties and be around and see what's going on here. It was such. It was so vibrant. And then go younger than that. When I was a teenager, the excitement I would have Friday night rookie game and eventually they added the celeb game. Loved it. All Star Saturday. Amazing Sunday, Don. I didn't miss a minute of the entire weekend. You'd get the tnt, you get ESPN coverage Friday, you got your TNT on Saturday, you're back to either to your ESPN or NBC on Sunday. Whatever it was at the time and all of it was meaningful. It's not the fact that you cannot come up with a creative dunk anymore. Do not tell me it's because people can't dunk anymore. Because I got to tell you, you're factually wrong. I see dunks every year in that contest, Don, that blow my mind. And I go, that's one of the better dunks I've ever seen. It is not about that you can't come up with any more dunks. It is about the fact that nobody big cares about participating. They have checked out, they have moved on. The game itself has no level of competition. The second Kobe slapped his hands on the floor and LeBron decided to pass rather than take the game winner, the All Star weekend was killed. And it doesn't mean that there's never enjoyable things, guys. I have still had moments I've enjoyed and I will tune in tomorrow to All Star Saturday and I will hope to get a great moment somewhere. But something about it is dead. And to your point, Don, they either need to completely punt on it or some sort of come to Jesus moment has to happen. Where we have heard of all the people who participate in the dunk contest. It's ridiculous, Don. That was the best All Star thing of any of the sports by a country mile and they've killed it.

[Don Hahn]

Yeah, it's dead. And there were. There were moments. The All Star Game. The whole world watched the game like that. Remember that moment when. What was. When Magic and Isaiah, when Magic, you know, came back after being diagnosed with HIV and he. And he gave him a kiss. I remember the All Star Game in Chicago during the Persian Gulf War in the NHL and during the anthem, all the fans screaming and how emotional people got. There's no viral moments anymore. In a viral world. This will come and go without notice. There will be Die Hards that'll watch and it'll pull some sort of a number because the NBA is popular. So it's not like no one is going to watch but it won't do anything that it used to do. And I just think if I'm a commissioner of a sport, do I really want to wheel something out there that's just going to be mocked and trashed? The players don't want to do it and no one cares. And I. And I was told by an executive, I've told this story before when I was working over at the NHL. Don, you don't realize this is where your schmooze sponsors. You bring them out to wherever the All Star game is. You wine and dine them. You take them to the. You take them to the whole weekend. I get it. Find something else. Okay. You're billionaires. I'm sure you can take them someplace. Take them to Disneyland, for God's sakes. Take them to Disney World. Why would they even want to go? Matter of fact, I would think, would I want to buy into this sport if I'm going to an event and none of the big players want to play in? I think that's even outlived its usefulness. Just say. Just say goodnight, Gracie. Let's kill it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So can I let me give you a couple of positives.

[Don Hahn]

Okay, I'll give you a couple positives.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I do enjoy the Kia Shooting Stars contest that they have at All Star. Like essentially the skills contest. I do enjoy it. And this year, if you're curious, they break it up into four teams. And this year in the Kia Shooting Stars, they have a team, Knicks, which is Jalen Brunson, Allen Houston and Carl Anthony Towns all together doing skills. So I do find that fun. It's not that serious, but it is fun. And I will also add to that that the three point contest has real players in it. You have real stars, Don, your favorite. Damian Lillard's in it. Tyrese Maxey's in it. Devin Booker's in it. Donovan Mitchell's in it. There are real players who are actually willing to shoot and take some sort of a risk to their reputation by losing a shooting contest. And I respect that. But to have a dunk contest on, in which if I put a gun to your head and I said, tell me someone in the dunk contest, you, a sports talk host in New York, would die in front of our very eyes on your birthday, no less, no shot, that is truly problem. It's like legit embarrassing. How can you. I went to the graphic. Go to their webpage, Don. They have like the big page for the dunk contest and they have a poster and you look at it and you Just go, who am I? I don't know what I'm looking at.

[Don Hahn]

Just don't know what I'm looking at. Now what? Now the idea is I don't want to participate in the dunk contest because I don't want to get embarrassed. Right. I don't want. But you can get embarrassed in a 3.3. Matter of fact, I think you have more of a chance of being embarrassed shooting threes. You're going to dunk the basketball. You might lose because it lacked a little creativity compared to somebody else, but you're hardly ever going to fail dunking the basketball. But I go there and go 1 for 10 in shots and just, and just basically clang the rim the whole time. Isn't that more embarrassing?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, people, people fail dunking the basketball, right? Like that, you can.

[Don Hahn]

No problem. Yeah, you got a, like D. Brown. Like Baron Davis is another failed dunk. Jeremy Evans when he crashed into like the airplane.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Like there were many people, many people have failed. Jacob. But I would, I would agree with this part of it. For Don though, missing a dunk is kind of silly. Like no one thinks it means you can't play the game. You're not going to miss a dunk. It's not going to then result in you missing dunks in games like your actual shooting. You're a shooter. Damian Lillard made a career of being a shooter. If he gets up there and lays a complete egg in these, in this three point shootout, you could argue that's a way bigger indictment of who he is and what makes him a ball player.

[Don Hahn]

Yeah, but I feel like when we show like all star game, like low lives in terms of like those events, you'll see more from like the dunk contest than you ever will from any three point shooting contest. It's just one moment. Right. But like, who is it? Was it Cedric Ceballos that dunked with the, with the, the blindfold or whatever? Yeah, you missed the dunk because you're trying to be overly creative. Like Darrell Armstrong hit a layup in a dunk contest. He couldn't even dunk, so he laid the ball up. I, I get it's embarrassing, but if I'm known to be a three point, where, where Lillard is hit threes from the logo and go and, and puts up an over and is laying bricks. I mean that now that won't show up in a highlight because I got to show all ten misses. I can just show one condensed three second missed dunk now. It's just odd. It's just an odd situation. It used to be so cool. You look forward to All Star Games and listen, free agency killed it. The fact that we can watch like every game is basically in the palm of our hand now. Killed it. There's so many reasons why the All Star games and all sports don't hit the way they did when we were younger. But now I just feel like it's a nonstop bitch fest. We did it yesterday too. Now there's a lot of things to complain about with the sport. The load management. The Utah Jazz refined $500,000 for resting players in the fourth quarter. The NBA starting to get it. But really what are the owner of the Jazz, he's got that's, that's, that's in his dresser drawer. $500,000. That's not going to stop them from doing it right. They're just going to, they're just going to go ahead and continue to do what they want to do because they want a top pick. The NBA's got a lot of problems. But for everybody to get together and complain about those things, that's what the All Star Game has become. It has now become the convention to complain about your sport instead of it being a celebration of your sport. Now maybe we're old curmudgeons who do that. Maybe, maybe other people don't. Maybe other people do celebrate. But I feel like we're just responding to the audience that we have, Peter. And what people call and tweet and complain about. I think this is how the masses feel. This isn't how a couple of 50 year olds feel. This is, I think how the masses feel about when these All Star games come up. It just becomes a convention of complaining about the state of their sport. And then when we go back to actually playing the real games again, then we go back to work and then once the playoffs start, nobody complains because the basketball and the hockey and the baseball and the football spectacular.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Well, no, listen, it's a good season. And, and when I went on a D.C. radio today, they said in New York the Knicks are a good team because there used to be in Washington where there almost is no basketball team.

[Don Hahn]

No.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And they said what's people's level of interest on All Star Weekend? I said there is no level of interest on All Star Weekend. I said this is a town that is fully in on this Knicks team and this Knicks team. One of their main characteristics, one of the charms of this team is how hard they play. So the idea, I mean granted it may not be the Tibbs version of the team, but it's pretty similar. This is a team that plays legitimately hard. And so the idea of having a weekend off where nobody does anything and I, yeah, I don't, I think most people, the average hardcore Knicks fan is kind of taking the weekend because guess what? Knicks fans watch every single game. They're spending a weekend with their family now, taking time off so they can gear up for the second half of the season.

[Don Hahn]

But that's what's so rare about like that's what I love about Knick fans is that they, they love the sport, but they love their team more. But there's a lot of markets where like, hey, I'm a fan of the Magic, but I love the NBA. And that's why the All Star game used to be fun because that was all about the NBA and the star players coming out like so you were cool to kind of take a break from your favorite team because you love the sport maybe more than you love your favorite team. Not in New York, you know, Nick fans love the NBA, but they love their Knicks more. You know, and these are really, was it 27 games after the All Star break left in this season and they're going to be completely fully engaged in seeing where this team can finish. Unfortunately, around the league it's a tank a thon or it's hey, I know I'm a top seed so I don't care. I'm resting players on load managing and that's not fun either.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

I like things my way, my coffee, my schedule and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo pre filled syringe which contains fgartigamide alpha and hyaluronidase qvfc. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit vivgardmyway.com that's V Y V G-A-R-Tmyway.com and talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hytrulo brought to you by Argenics Rich Eisen here.

[Commercial Announcer 3]

You know that feeling of handing off your taxes and then hearing nothing? Total radio silence. Well, not anymore. Now your taxes are done for you by a TurboTax full service expert who checks for every deduction and keeps you in the loop with real time updates on your phone. Just match with your dedicated expert, upload your docs and go live your life confident you're getting every dollar. You deserve this is how taxes should be. Visit turbotax.com today to learn more. Real time updates only in iOS mobile app only available with TurboTax. Full service experts O'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your check engine, ABS or maintenance light with O'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE certified master technicians. O'Reilly Veriscan can identify the most likely problem with just one scan. If you need help, O'Reilly Auto Parts can recommend a shop for you. Don't ignore a check engine, ABS or maintenance light. Ask for O'Reilly Veriscan Today, a free service exclusively at O'Reilly Auto Parts.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I didn't listen to anything you just said. Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.

[Don Hahn]

The first rejoin of the show. So it's got to have something, some kind of meaning. Peter Cetera's birthday anniversary of this song. Oh, no. Is Jacob in love? What exactly is the inspiration for this rejoin? You know, since we won't have a show on Valentine's Day, I thought, you know, get ahead of it right now. Oh, so this is. We're gonna Steady Diet, Peter. Of love songs.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Which one is this? Is this after all that we've been through?

[Don Hahn]

No, no, no, this is. This is right out of Karate Kid, too.

[Peter Rosenberg]

They all sound the same to me.

[Don Hahn]

Oh, maybe this isn't from Karate Kid 2 now. Because you're right, they all do sound. When Peter Cetera took over. Yeah, like this. This is the same band that did. Does anybody really know what time it is? Think about that. The Chicago's like the Bee Gees, man. Like, they, they matured into something completely different. You know, he was talking about.

[Caller/Listener]

Right?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Which one?

[Don Hahn]

Does anybody really know what time it is?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Oh, yeah, I really care.

[Don Hahn]

Whoa, whoa.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But that's. That's vintage Chicago.

[Don Hahn]

I know, but I'm just saying they morphed into this. Like, Peter Cetera was pretty much always in the band, but then when he kind of took over as a lead singer, they're doing like, once they hit the 80s, they were like, doing every soundtrack. They're kind of like the classic rock version of Aerosmith. They just, they, they got away from it. But not, not that the music's bad, but how about this, Peter? We don't want to do any more top fives, but every once in a while, we'll throw out our favorite rock love song.

[Peter Rosenberg]

What do you Think we just randomly throw it out today?

[Don Hahn]

Yeah. Just during a show. And you're feeling it. Like, every time we come back from break. We'll take turns.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So we should tell Jacobs. What you're saying is give him hours.

[Don Hahn]

Yeah, that's. Yeah, exactly.

[Peter Rosenberg]

What do you think now when you're saying rock love song, why don't we just say love song?

[Don Hahn]

Okay.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Right.

[Don Hahn]

Okay.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I don't. Rock love songs aren't really my bag.

[Don Hahn]

I was going to say I already had a plan. Also, you know what? I don't want to disrupt you.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Jacob worked.

[Don Hahn]

He was up for a while.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He did the work.

[Don Hahn]

He was burning the midnight oil.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Not to mention right now, just this conversation we're having. Anthony's throwing up in his hands.

[Don Hahn]

Oh, yeah, we lost Anthony. That's another thing. I'm not trying to completely lose Anthony.

[Caller/Listener]

If we.

[Don Hahn]

If you. If you hear on Tuesday, we thank Tom Bauer for doing a great job producing, you'll know why.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah. Anthony can't take anymore. And as if it couldn't get even, couldn't get any worse. In our meeting with our program director, the program director goes, hey, Peter, by the way, I've been working on my own top hip hop songs of all time. And then our PD takes over the call with us breaking down his right hip hop song. So Anthony can't even fight back. His boss now is in, wanting to do a top five hip hop songs.

[Don Hahn]

List and then throw out a compliment. You got guys on a slow week. Terrific job with the top five rock songs.

[Peter Rosenberg]

And Anthony threw up in his hands again.

[Don Hahn]

Shots are 14 2. USA Italy in the quarterfinal game. I'm good. You guys got time. This game will be over at like 6. That's about time for you and for me, right? 1, 800, 9. 19 does this. 3, 7, 7, 6. This might be a first D in Queen. John, ESPN New York. What's up, D?

[Caller/Listener]

Hi, Peter. I want to talk to people.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Okay.

[Commercial Announcer 3]

All right.

[Caller/Listener]

Hello. Yeah, I like the new show. I like the new show. And you also work for the wwe, Am I correct?

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yes. All correct. Yes.

[Caller/Listener]

Okay, so if you work for wwe, if you kept bashing the events, how long would you work for the wwe? If I. Espn. And you bash the events a lot. That's crazy to me.

[Peter Rosenberg]

But is it crazy bad or crazy good? Isn't that good? You listen to a show and you listen to a show, and the people who work on the network are given the freedom by their employer to be critical of the events. Why would that be a bad. Isn't That a great thing.

[Caller/Listener]

But. But then you complain about ratings when they go down.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, no, we don't complain. I don't.

[Caller/Listener]

I don't.

[Peter Rosenberg]

We don't. Real quick, I'll let you finish. We don't complain about the ratings. We only report on ratings. I don't care if ratings are good or bad for television. Everyone's doing fine. The ESPN makes their money on the deal, regardless of the ratings. The money. The money's been paid. Everyone's making money. But we're just being critical of this product that, you know, a lot of fans have had a lot of questions about it. It's not ESPN covering it. They can.

[Don Hahn]

They can't.

[Caller/Listener]

But this is two years in a row where you had like a. A, A hockey player trying to come for me, LeBron last year. I'm like, yo, what's going on over there?

[Don Hahn]

I'm not sure where you're talking about coming after LeBron. We just take it.

[Caller/Listener]

He's talking greasy about LeBron last year. And I'm like, now this thing y' all doing, y' all running it back. We are talking crazy about the players.

[Don Hahn]

And.

[Caller/Listener]

And the reason is load management. And this has been proven. And a lot of you guys know this is that the guys run more. So because they run and cover more, they cover more ground. There are more injuries. And because there's more injuries, you have to have load management. And guys are playing longer careers, thus load management.

[Don Hahn]

Then why don't they load management in hockey?

[Caller/Listener]

They don't run as much in hockey. Basketball is up and down, up and down, up and down.

[Peter Rosenberg]

I mean, they skate miles.

[Don Hahn]

Do you really think that players are running up and down the court? They're jogging most of the time or standing there. It's not like. They're not like soccer. You're running up and down the field for 40 consecutive minutes or whatever.

[Caller/Listener]

All this implication and all this hinting of laziness, and it's a little. I don't like it because I don't.

[Don Hahn]

Care what you like or don't like. It is lazy.

[Caller/Listener]

I know. And that's the.

[Don Hahn]

You did. I'm sorry, did you not hear hardly where he's saying he's making business decisions and loyalty is overrated. I mean, lazy, strong. Because these players work their tail off to get to the NBA. But it's a case of want to D. They don't want to have to play. They don't want to play 82 games. They don't want to play in the All Star Game. They want to play 43 minutes until all of a sudden they want to. And then they're going crazy, taking every shot, playing all, every single minute, trying to win. And then the next game it's like, ah, you know what? We're playing Sacramento on a Tuesday. I'm good, so maybe lazy, strong, but dude, I can't imagine. They're probably running more than they did 30 years ago. But the game was also a lot tougher because, you know, you used to have to worry about Karl Malone's razor sharp elbow in your forehead or somebody knocking you into the third row on a hard foul. So the game was a lot more physical back, which I would think would tire you out. Peter. Right? Hey guys, they're making business decisions. So I usually get complimented when we go after the product. Usually when we compliment the product, they tell, oh, we have an agenda. ESPN has it. We're given the ability to call it as we see it. And the NBA has a problem because if the NBA didn't have a problem, there wouldn't be an NBA cup. But they have an NBA cup because their regular season is broken. They're trying to get people interested in their sport. Once they get to the playoffs, nobody's load managing anymore. The games are fantastic, sports, terrific, but 82 games just ain't working in the NBA, man. And I'm gonna say it. Peter's gonna say it. You know what? Peter's not gonna bash the WWE on a WNB W W E show. Correct. He's been critical on his podcast. He's gone to my brother's show. I'm been critical. He's been critical of wrestling on this show. I work for an NHL team, But you know what? I'll be critical if I think something deserves to be critical. I won't be critical on the broadcast of the Devils, but I can come on this show and I'm expected to give an honest opinion.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Listen, I want, I like that there's someone who feels strong enough to defend the league that they love the most. I love that. That's great. But come on, dude, you don't want to. You don't want to have players you've heard of in the dunk contest. I love this league I've been in. I have. Listen, we all have ebbs and flows. I'm 46. Am I the NBA fan at 46 that I was at 26? No, not at this moment. Does that mean that I won't be at 56? Absolutely not. We all go through ebbs and flows of the way we Love different leagues. But at this moment, we're kind of in a time where things really pick up when you get to the playoffs. But there are some issues during the regular season, and the All Star weekend is a glaring flaw.

[Don Hahn]

Yeah, and if we hated it that much, we wouldn't even talk about it. We talk about something else. It's. The fact is we want to fix it. We don't want it to be broken. You know, it's kind of like politics in this country. Right. It's like, if I'm critical of it, then that must mean I don't love it. No, it's mean I love. Maybe I love it more than you do because I want to fix it. I want it to be better. You know, if I didn't care about the sport, I'd ignore it. But we bring it up because we want it to be better, because we do love it. We do care about it. So that. That's the difference. I mean, you just want to be an apologist for the sport and everything's great and make excuses for everything. Then you don't allow it to get better. Right now the NBA is in a really tough spot and they're going to have to try to fix their regular season. It'll all be forgotten once we get to April because the basketball in the postseason is going to be spectacular. It is every year. That's not the problem. NHL doesn't have a problem in the postseason. Baseball doesn't have a problem in the postseason. But in the regular season there's issues because there is a lack of interest and it's not getting the ratings it used to get. It's not getting talked about the way it used to get talked about. Because there are some things that need to get fixed. Let's go to Mike and Armonk. You're on espn, New York. What's up, Mike?

[Caller/Listener]

What's going on, guys? I got a solution. Proposed solution for the All Star Game. I think they should do four teams, five players a team, pick up game rules, games to 21. The finals could be by two. However, they want to do a round robin or just straight knockout. Winning team gets $2 million a player. I think that is the only way that these guys actually will bring some level, level of competitiveness to playing.

[Don Hahn]

I don't know how big a hockey fan you are, but that's kind of what the NHL did with their All Star Game, right? They had each division be a team of and then play tournament of three on three. So it's all skill. It's all kind of like a pickup game out in the pond. And it has created interest and there's a. There's a. I forget exactly how much, but there's a boatload of money for the winner, which motivates the players to want to play. I. Mike, if it gets players to want to play, then I'm all for it. Because I think that's what it really comes down to, right, Peter, is that if all the stars actually play and care about the outcome, then you could just play a straight basketball game. Right. If you. But if you've got a doctor it up to get them to go and get them the care, then I'm all for it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, whatever, Whatever. If something can reasonably be done to make this thing work, let's get it.

[Don Hahn]

All right. All right. Let's go to Tim in East Hampton. You're on ESPN New York. Hi, Tim.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, guys. Someone who was. Was born on this glorious day of February 13th.

[Don Hahn]

I would like to also wish you.

[Caller/Listener]

A happy birthday, Donna Grecker.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Wow. Happy birthday, buddy.

[Don Hahn]

And then what year were you born?

[Caller/Listener]

Thank you.

[Don Hahn]

How much older am I?

[Caller/Listener]

I'm more of a Peter contemporary. I was born 1979.

[Don Hahn]

Oh, okay. You certainly are nice. Cool, man. Yeah.

[Caller/Listener]

So I've been a big fan of you guys for a long, long time. Back in the 70s when you guys started up. And I've always wanted to say hi.

And it's the perfect day to do it.

I hope you have a great birthday, Don.

[Don Hahn]

Thank you.

[Caller/Listener]

And actually, I wanted to thank you.

Guys for the list, the music list. It's created a lot of great conversation in my house, and I have three.

Young daughters, and I replayed it for.

Them so they could hear the music.

And create the conversation.

[Don Hahn]

That's been pretty awesome. Oh, Tim, thank you for the kind words. We'll let you go because your line was kind of bad. But yeah, it did listen. It did create conversation. I mean, a lot of disagreement, which we knew. But I don't know how your social media has been, Peter, but mine is blown up with people giving their own list. Critical of mine. Complimentary, but I've gotten a lot of, hey, I asked my kid if they know this song. It was nice. It was kind of an out of the blue thing that we did that seemed to really gain some traction and kind of a dead sports week.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Yeah, I loved it. It was. To me, it was the joy of the week. And I. I hope we can stumble into another thing one day on that. On that level of terms of the passion that people had for their agreement or disagreement for it. I mean, honestly, if we were to do a hip hop one at some point, it probably would garner a good amount of conversation as well.

[Don Hahn]

Now I attempted my top five. Now I have very limited hip hop knowledge so my pool is very shallow, but I came up with songs that Peter respected. Wouldn't be in his top five, but no it wasn't.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No, listen, John Winthrop's list was better than yours. John did 10.

[Don Hahn]

Well, his knowledge of hip hop is way better than mine.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Way deeper than mine. Yeah, he was into it as a kid growing up for sure.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by if you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple Shop pay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it. Because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business. Shopify is the commerce platform behind 10% of all e commerce in the US from household names like Mattel and Gymshark to brands just getting started. Shopify gives you a leg up with hundreds of beautiful, ready to go templates to express your brand style and forget about the code. Tackle all those important tasks in one place. From inventory to payments to analytics and more. Spread your brand's word with built in marketing and email tools to find and keep new customers. And did I mention that iconic Purple Shop pay button that's used by millions of businesses around the world? It's why Shopify is the best converting checkout on the planet. Your customers already love it. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.comnetwork. go to shopify.comnetwork shopify.comnetwork.

[Commercial Announcer 1]

All right, here's some breaking breakfast news as we start the new year. Everybody's talking resolutions, eating better, stay track and this one's actually easy. Kodiak Frozen Power Waffles and Flapjacks are a quick win. Heat neat, no prep, no excuses. They're packed with 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber and crafted with 100% whole grains, not refined white flour. You have plenty of options too. Classic buttermilk and vanilla blueberry chocolate chip, even gluten free. And it doesn't stop there. They've expanded their roster to include French toast sticks, flapjack puffs and brand new breakfast sandwiches. So whatever your game plan is, there's something that fits. Breakfast that works. Snacks that work. Resolution friendly. Find Kodiak Frozen Waffles and Flapjacks in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store. They're the ones with the bear on the box and a proud partner of U.S. ski and Snowboard.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I didn't listen to anything you just said. Catch this show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.

[Don Hahn]

It doesn't get more New York than this Wild Turkey Bourbon is giving you the chance to score the ultimate New York Game day. One lucky winner scores a pair of tickets to opening day in the Bronx and New York Knicks tickets, Both on Friday, April 3rd. Two games. One epic day. No compromises. To enter, find the contest tile on the ESPN New York app and submit your entry or sign up in person at select Wild Turkey events happening around the city. Brought to you by Wild Turkey Bourbon. When you know it's right, don't change a damn thing. Must be 21 or over. Enjoy Wild Turkey responsibly. Pitcher Ace that's right. 1-800-919-3776. Let's get back to the busy phones and let's talk to Nick in Philly. You're on ESPN New York. What's up, Nick?

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, how we doing? Happy birthday, Don, by the way.

[Don Hahn]

Thank you.

[Caller/Listener]

I want to contradict the whole I'm over All Star Games. I think it kind of just comes down to how we can make this fun to watch again. Not that we don't want to be engaged. I really also can't stand pro teams fans across all sports here.

[Don Hahn]

Right?

[Caller/Listener]

Like, we hate the All Star Game, we think the Olympics are lame, we cry about our team's players playing in anything competitive that isn't for our sports teams.

[Don Hahn]

I think we need to have a.

[Caller/Listener]

Little more fan versatility across the board here. Not not to say the the NBA All Star weekend hasn't lost its fizzle, but you know, the NBA, I Think it saw what the four nations did in the NHL, right? And let's say the players get engaged in this and it's actually something we like to watch. Why can I see if this gets competitive again that fans all of a sudden pivot to. Oh, like they're, they're going too hard now. I don't want my guy to get hurt in this. It could be a lose. Lose for the league.

[Don Hahn]

That is a really good point, Nick, because. Yeah, that's the first thing people complain about, that you go to the All Star Game. It's a meaningless game. And I remember Mike Richter blew out his knee in an All Star game and Ranger fans went crazy. It's a meaningless game.

[Caller/Listener]

Trucking a catcher in the All Star.

[Don Hahn]

Yeah, but there has to be. But there has to be a happy medium of. I don't think anybody expects these guys to go as far as as what Pete Rose did in that all star game in 1974. But at the same time, you don't want it to be a complete mail in either. The reason the four nations work, Nick, is because the players cared about the outcome. They wanted to win that championship for their country. So what it really comes down to, Peter, is how do I get the players to care? How do I get these All Stars to want to go to whatever city it is? You know, it's a. Never mind the load managers. It's a busy season, it's a hectic season. And rather than getting four or five days off, I now got to fly out to LA or Milwaukee or wherever the All Star Game might be in a given year and go participate on Saturday, participate on Sunday, then fly back on Monday to get ready for a game on Wednesday or Thursday. How do I get those guys from I don't want to go to I want to go and I want to win. How do you do it? I don't know.

[Peter Rosenberg]

It's not easy. And the caller makes a really fair point. You don't know. I mean, I've never been that sort of fan who freaks out about my players are involved in something. I think Jaden Daniels is going to be involved in the Saudi flag football game with Tom Brady and those people. Dude, if you can't. If your athletes can't like walk down the street and have a normal off season, then they're probably not meant to be athletes. Like, people are going to live their life and do things. I think that part's okay, but some people will freak out about it. So I don't, I don't think there Is one one solution but like the dunk contest is kind of a separate conversation or. No one has ever talked about risking injury in the dunk contest as being the reason people don't do it. So why is the league unable to garner an interest from anyone who might be interested or. Don, we've talked about this before too. I know Mack McClung was like, you know, a G league player. You want to. If you're going to have no names then I'd rather Don go all the way and make it interesting and have a contrast a contest for regular Joes to get to compete and beat these not very famous NBA players.

[Don Hahn]

Right.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Give me some sort of stakes, some of sort something that makes this matter besides just bench players having fun.

[Don Hahn]

Let's go to Al in the Bronx. You're on ESPN Archaeological.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey gentlemen. Don, Happy birthday. I've been riding with you for a long time, man. Almost about 30 years.

[Don Hahn]

I appreciate that and that's cool.

[Caller/Listener]

Yeah, yeah. You're the, you're my. I said this before my sports uncle. When you speak. Yeah, you're usually on the money. The one thing though that I want to criticize you on is the load management thing. I think it's a little bit overblown. If you watch NBA basketball on a regular basis and I'm a baseball fan first, so I'm defending the NBA now. The stars always play unless they're legitimate injuries. You know, they'll sit guys out if you, if something is barking because you know these contracts after the 2011 CBA they're short now they're four year contracts. These guys are looking over to the next, the next contract. The teams are trying to preserve these 60 million dollar contracts for these guys. So I think that it's a mixture of the CBA changing when there was seven, seven eight year contracts. Those guys played the entire. They played every night. And you got guys like Larry Bird and Isaiah Thomas who only had 13 year careers for playing every night.

[Don Hahn]

No, I get that. But sometimes I think Al, they pull the wool over your eyes where oh, he's suffering from something. He can't play well, he probably could play like. I got really aggravated. I think a lot of people did with the Knicks Pistons game. Now was that load management was. I don't want to show them too much because we're going to face each other in the postseason. That was a big game that ended up being a dud. Does the NBA really want to have a hyped up game on national television? That game was on Amazon and nobody's playing and nobody's caring that you can't have. Now, is it overblown? Sometimes guys might be legitimately hurt. They might only miss a handful of games. But you do see it more than you see it in other sports. The NFL doesn't have to worry about that. Chiefs, Bills, you know, it's going to be Allen versus Mahomes. Unless one of them is actually hurt and they put that game on Sunday Night Football, you don't have to worry about it. They're going to play. You don't necessarily know. I'm not just talking about what happened in Utah. They're trying to tank and they got fined for it. But, Peter, what was that a couple of years ago where, you know, Durant didn't play against the Sixers and he ended up playing against the Bucks the night before, the T Wolves the night before. Something like, yeah, that. It's a thing. We know.

[Peter Rosenberg]

We've seen our share of those moments, for sure.

[Don Hahn]

And they'll say, well, listen, he didn't. They'll never tell you he didn't play because he didn't want to. They'll say he's got a bit of a.

[Peter Rosenberg]

He's got something.

[Don Hahn]

And then a fan like Al who's going to say, well, he might be legitimately hurt. He might be. But they're never going to come right out and say. And listen, I don't include the Mitchell Robinson situation. He's legitimately working through something and not playing him in the second to back to backs or the first of back to backs. That's smart. That makes sense. But not all of it makes sense to me. And some of it's strategic and some of it's just, hey, I don't want to do it. There's too many games. But these owners aren't gonna give up these games. These networks don't want to lose out on these games. It's programming. They need it. But is it also fair that Amazon paid for a game that less people watched because they turned it on and some of their star players aren't playing in it? That's not good for the league either.

[Peter Rosenberg]

No.

[Don Hahn]

Let's go to Manny. He's in Flushing. You're on espn, New York. Hi, Manny.

[Caller/Listener]

Hey, man. Hey, John. Happy birthday, sir.

[Don Hahn]

Thank you.

[Caller/Listener]

You're two years away from turning the big 60. How does it feel?

[Don Hahn]

I'm two away from 60. I think 60 is going to really be painful, Peter.

[Commercial Announcer 3]

Yeah.

[Don Hahn]

So I've got two years to savor the flavor because I think by the time I Get to see that one's going to stink. 50 didn't bother me. How old are you, Manny?

[Caller/Listener]

I'll be 32 in August.

[Don Hahn]

Oh, my God. You're an infant. You're a child. Relish it, man. Enjoy it.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Early 30s, man. You have no idea how young early 30s is, man. It's young all right. What do you got, man?

[Caller/Listener]

Sorry, Peter. Peter, I want to say this before I get to this first part. I want to commend you about the treatment post on involving a few more sires in the file. Players just shut up and. And stick to support when it comes to the Olympics. I can read for that because I'm just thinking tired that you're telling grown individuals what to do and what not to do. I mean, I think it's annoying. I think you get tired when you have players. I mean, you got people like telling these athletes to shut up and do nothing and just. I think it's. I think it's ridiculous. But for me, if I were. I mean, for me, as, as someone who's a paddy All Star Game, I just love to have the east versus West. And the winner of the All Star Game should have a prize money, like, I don't know, like $1 million. And the MVP will have a. And the all strategy will have a car.

[Don Hahn]

It is, it is odd when you start talking about incentivizing to get them to go and play, but like, are fans going to be caring how much money they make at the end of the day of this thing? But if it gets them, if it gets in the play, I guess go for it, man. I guess that would make sense. Anything to get these guys to want to be active and want to play.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made, but I just want to know what'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. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster, Zero Ultra, that's the og it kicked off this whole.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Zero sugar energy drink thing, but Ultra.

[Peter Rosenberg]

Is a whole lineup now.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

You've got Strawberry Dreams, Blue Hawaiian Sunrise and Vice Guava. And they all bring the Monster Energy punch.

[Peter Rosenberg]

So if you've been living in the White can branch out. Ultra's got a flavor for every vibe, and every single one is Zero Sugar Tap the banner to learn more.