Hour 2: Failing as a Father?

Summary

Don, Hahn & Rosenberg – Hour 2: Failing as a Father?

ESPN New York | July 3, 2026 | Summarized by Podcast GPT

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Episode Theme & Purpose

This hour of Don, Hahn & Rosenberg is quintessential sports radio with a deep New York flavor—mixing sharp debate about the Yankees and Mets’ woes, true confessions of fan-parenting failure, listener calls peppered with humor and emotion, and plenty of poignant storytelling. Led predominantly by Ty Butler, the conversation swings naturally between local sports headlines (Yankees & Mets injuries and contracts, clubhouse drama), family and fandom, memorable personal stories, and playful banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Yankees Pitching Troubles & Cashman’s Moves (03:00–06:00)

• Ty breaks down the Carlos Rodón contract—six years, $162M—as one of Brian Cashman’s weaker moves due to injuries and underperformance.
• Despite a good 2025 season, Rodón is hurt again, and Butler questions if Yankees need to aggressively pursue Tarek Skubal at the trade deadline.
• Ty notes every fan called for Rodón, but as GM, Cashman is paid to consider risks and make the right calls.
• Quote (05:39, Ty): “If it doesn’t work out, we gotta criticize you for it.”

2. Mets Dysfunction – Stearns, Cohen, and Soto/Lindor Fallout (07:00–15:00)

• Ty critiques Mets owner Steve Cohen’s recent interview, focusing not on Cohen’s support for GM David Stearns, but his unnecessary admission of rifts between Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor.
• Ty argues airing dirty laundry was “unforced error” and puts more pressure on already-tenuous clubhouse relationships—especially problematic for a team with a “losing DNA.”
• Evaluates Juan Soto’s era: Defends Soto, but points out that since his arrival the Mets have underperformed, suffered managerial casualties, and become the “laughing stock of baseball.”
• Quote (14:22, Ty): “The two faces of the franchise don’t like each other. That’s a fact. But we weren’t talking about that anymore... this was a tamed fire.”
• Ty points out fans’ “salty” obsession over Soto as misplaced bitterness.

3. Family, Lost Loved Ones, and Knicks Fandom (18:00–26:00)

• Listener “Uncle Kenny” brings an emotional moment, sharing how sports memories tie into grief for his late mother, linking Knicks fandom to personal healing.
• Ty and listeners reflect on how big sports moments connect to family legacies, loss, and spiritual healing.
• Quote (18:52, Ty): “There’s no replacement for [your mother]. Right. One of the things I talked about…was how this [Knicks title] moment provided…spiritual healing.”
• Ty discusses the bittersweet joy of being able to someday celebrate future championships with his own children.

4. Parenting ‘Fails’ – Bandwagon Fandom at Home (21:56–26:07)

• Ty laments his son Noah unexpectedly becoming a Knicks fan after a deep playoff run, despite their household’s strong Lakers allegiance.
• Humorous and self-deprecating take on feeling like a “failed” sports parent and the guilt that accompanies it.
• Quote (24:29, Ty): “Because it also makes me feel like I failed as a parent and I don’t like feeling that way.”
• Panel jokes about what age it’s “okay” for kids to pick a team; Don’s rule: decisiveness by age 8.

5. Lighter Moments: Lookalikes, Jamaica Trips, and Spicy Food Fiascos (26:11–36:09)

• Ty shares being mistaken for Knicks player Mikal Bridges—even being asked for selfies.
• Travel stories from Jamaica: nearly missing a group bus due to a spicy food-induced bathroom emergency; humorous airing of “TMI” about sensitive stomachs and local cuisine.
• Panel cracks jokes about the hazards of group travel and Ty’s food choices.

6. Listener Calls: Mets Meltdowns & More (36:21–49:42)

• Multiple callers voice frustration at the Mets’ payroll-infused failures and lack of accountability for executives.
• Debate on whether Soto “embodies” what it means to be a Met; Ty argues leadership comes in many forms—Soto’s production is what matters.
• Ty asserts the Mets' issues (bad rotation, misaligned positions, missed expectations) were visible before injuries and trace back to organizational decisions.

7. LeBron to Knicks? Fan Ego vs. Hoop Logic (40:53–43:28)

• Adam in DC voices torn feelings about LeBron James possibly joining Knicks: pride vs. common sense.
• Ty: LeBron, even at his age, is still a top-20 NBA player; “run it back” isn’t always best—most repeat champions make a major move.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Cohen’s PR Misstep (14:22, Ty): “The two faces of the franchise don’t like each other. That’s a fact. But we weren’t talking about that anymore…”
• Re: Parent Guilt (24:29, Ty): “It also makes me feel like I failed as a parent and I don’t like feeling that way.”
• On Legacy and Loss (18:52, Ty): “…how this moment provided in some ways, like, spiritual healing…The amount of people going to visit grave sites…reflecting on memories…on how you would have loved to experience that moment with them…”
• On Mets’ Woes (46:15, John/Caller): “I can’t think of any other team in any sport that…crashed and burned as badly as this team has…and I can’t believe the general manager still has this role. If I performed anywhere half as bad…I’d be out in the street.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:00–06:00 | Yankees rotation woes; Rodón deal assessment
• 07:00–15:00 | Mets drama: Cohen’s interview, Soto/Lindor rift, Stearns’ job
• 15:15–18:52 | Uncle Kenny’s emotional call about Knicks/memories of lost loved ones
• 21:56–26:07 | Ty’s family ‘fandom fail’: kids jump on Knicks bandwagon
• 26:11–36:09 | Lookalikes, Jamaica travel, and spicy food debacles
• 36:21–49:42 | Mets fan hotline: Stearns, Cohen, and “Mets-iness” dissected
• 40:53–43:28 | LeBron-to-Knicks: Fan feelings vs. basketball logic

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Tone & Style

• Conversational and authentic: Fun, self-deprecating, poignant when discussing family and loss.
• Playfully combative: Honest, sometimes cutting banter about sports teams (especially Mets/Yankees) and each other’s fandom.
• Inclusive & community-oriented: Welcomes listener stories and emotional connections to sports.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This hour of Don, Hahn & Rosenberg is as much about New York sports as it is about what it means to be a fan—how victories and failures seep into everyday life, family, memories, and identity. From the Yankees’ rotation woes, to Mets dysfunction and the burden of expectations, to the grief and joy of fandom passed down generations, this episode is packed with humor, honesty, emotional stories, and the colorful agony and ecstasy of being a New York sports supporter. Whether you want analysis, catharsis, or a few laughs about travel and spicy food, this hour delivers.

Transcript

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Don Hahn]

This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Ty]

That sounds like heaven to me.

[Don Hahn]

Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.

[Ty]

I like, went to scratch my nose because it got itchy. And now for the masses, it looked like I was digging in my nose. That's not great. It's not what you want.

[Jacob]

I definitely missed it. But let me rewind to YouTube.

[Ty]

I'll go back and see in my mind as it's happening. I'm thinking, I'm like remembering we're streaming. There are certain things you can get get away with on your Sunday show that's not streaming, but scratching the nose is not one of them. That's a tough look for your boy.

[Jacob]

Quick, I need somebody to freeze frame, make that something. Make it a gift.

[Ty]

That's grimy. That's nasty work. You're supposed to be my guy. Supposed to be my guy.

[Anthony]

You understand something, Ty. Jacob in this. In. In this chair, during these hours, not a good guy.

[Ty]

He's an op.

[Anthony]

Attacks don't any chance he can get.

[Jacob]

Listen, Peter called me out too. I'm just losing friends left and right.

[Anthony]

Oh, yeah.

[Peter]

He doesn't.

[Anthony]

He doesn't cut Peter drops.

[Ty]

Yo. He wants to take their jobs. That's what it is.

[Anthony]

Wow. You know what? It's an accusation. But I can't say you're wrong.

[Ty]

Let's. Let's be honest, Anthony. Every time you do enn.

[Anthony]

Yeah.

[Ty]

It is a. It is an audition for Peter's job.

[Anthony]

Absolutely not. No.

[Ty]

Yes. I don't think you're not going to admit it.

[Anthony]

I don't think anybody thinks of it that way.

[Ty]

You are really good at enn.

[Anthony]

It's very kind of you. I remember somebody else that was very good at enn. I think he's hosting the show right now, if I'm not mistaken.

[Ty]

Oh, and see, you see what that upward mobility looks like when you start to crush ENNs. Every time you do ENN, you are auditioning for Rosenberg's job.

[Lou]

Wow.

[Anthony]

I never thought. You know what, Ty? I never thought of it. That way and now and probably Peter either.

[Ty]

You get excited when you get the Rosenberg text about not being it, you know, not coming to the show Today I'm in Paris. WWE has got me doing something. Let's yo, keep it, keep it a buck, man. Can we be honest?

[John]

We're a family.

[Anthony]

It's a den of honesty in this place.

[Uncle Kenny]

We're a family.

[Stu]

We are.

[Ty]

Let's be honest. That's what happens.

[Anthony]

Listen, I'm just happy. I'm happy to get the opportunity. How's that sound?

[Ty]

Here we go. I'm just trying to take attention away from me scratching my nose and that being caught on video. What I was trying to say is this weekend I'm excited. So my, my younger brother just graduated college and now he is off to Charlotte because he's found the love of his life. Got his little boo thing and he's moving out my parents crib. And so tomorrow we will be celebrating with the fourth of July going away barbecue and that Frankie Bevin May song is what we are going to be listening to tomorrow along with many things. And so I'm excited to celebrate with him. I'm also. It's sad he's moving so far. Very, very sad. But it should be a good time. 800-919-3776 we gotta have before we get to the Mets because I actually don't think that the worst thing Steve Cohen said was, you know, David Stearns is coming back. I, I don't think that's the worst thing. There was something I thought was worse than that before we go to the Mets. In dealing with the news of Radon's injury, in addition to talking about what this means going forward, the trade deadline, does this put more pressure on the Yankees to put together an offer for School Bowl? Kind of gotta have a discussion about this contract. Six years, 162 and through four of them, I guess three and a half hasn't been great. So the first year wasn't unmitigated disaster. He was either hurt or healthy and pitching poorly and then, you know, flipping off fans and I thought that that was going to be a death sentence for him. You don't recover from stuff like that. Ask Javi Baez, Julius Randle. You can start going at the fans in New York. You don't want that type of smoke. And to his credit, two years later, which was last year, started 33 games and, and he was pretty excellent. I didn't realize he finished sixth in Cy Young award voting and was really good in the playoffs. But Then this year hurt again. And now who knows what the season looks like for him the rest of the way. And so evaluating radon 6 years, 162 so far, not one of Brian Cashman's best signings. And I guess the defense will be. Hey, every Yankee fan was calling for him to sign Carlos Radon. That's not my issue. You're the general manager. You're getting paid to make these decisions. And so while I can approve of it in real time, if it doesn't work out, we've got to criticize you for it. So we'll see. Man, Max Freed on the comeback trail. Garrett Cole again. I do think that he will find himself. Does that mean he's going to be Pete Garrett Cole? I don't think so. He's turning 36 in September, but I think he'll be good enough. And when you've got Cam Schlitler at the top of this whole thing doing what he does last two starts notwithstanding, the Yankees will be fine in that regard. But Scuba, that that appetite is only going to grow for all the people who thought this was such a luxury. Don't need them. You might end up needing Tarek School. 800-919-3776. Let's go to Lou in Palm Bay. He says what's up on dhr. What's up, Lou?

[Lou]

Hey, what's up, Ty?

[Ty]

What's going on?

[Uncle Kenny]

Not much.

[Lou]

A lot going on. We got what deandre a getting traded to the Wizards Liberty Links today.

[Ty]

Yeah.

[Uncle Kenny]

But what I want to know is why Rob no play.

[Ty]

Yo, shout out to Lou. Shout out to Lou for making that Rick. So RJ's made that into a promo

[Uncle Kenny]

and Rick got hit in the head

[Lou]

yesterday with a soccer ball. I don't know if anyone saw that.

[Ty]

Did Rick really get head hit in the head with a soccer ball?

[Lou]

Oh, man, they cut the street. They cut the soccer stream.

[Uncle Kenny]

Right.

[Lou]

As soon as he got hit, I was cracking up.

[Ty]

We don't want to see that on the stream. I appreciate the call, Lou. Rick's actually listening. So the why we're done no play is really funny and an ode to him. As far as before we get back to Your phone calls, 800-919-3776. As far as the Steve Cohen interview, I said this the other day. I did not go into that with high expectations. So as I'm doing the show Sunday morning live from Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica news came out not and from the direct source Steve Cohen tweets out I will be talking soon. Once he says that there were a lot of Met fans, I guess, excited to see what he had to say. I. And I'm not a Met fan, so this is like secondhand experiencing this. I didn't have high expectations because in my eyes, like, there was no way he was going to come out. And you say, you know what? Yeah, David Stearns, he's being evaluated the rest of the year to see if he's still going to be employed. Like, that was never going to happen. And so the worst part of this interview to me wasn't, and I'm sure that this angered Met fans. It wasn't the vote of confidence he gave to David Stearns. It was actually his admission that there were issues between Soto and Lindor. And look, I often get so upset at my colleagues in the media who will act hypocritical in a way that I'm about to be now. So I'm giving that to you prefacing my comments. We blast athletes, coaches, managers, personnel for not telling us anything, not being honest when asked questions. And then the moment that they do, we rip them for what they said. But to me, this was so unnecessary in allowing it to become a story again, especially now that they're back to playing games together. So tonight we know majority of the content in these interviews will be about Soto and Lindor and their relationship, but I just thought it was unnecessary. Now, maybe it doesn't end up mattering because the Mets were going nowhere anyway, but this being a bigger story, like you could have avoided that. And now everyone has to relive it. And for Cohen, who is obviously really smart, and while I think it annoyed us greatly, he operated with such intentionality when it came to him not addressing the media. So we had all these weeks and months to prepare for this moment and despite that gave us this unforced error, there was a way to address it without confirming it. You could have just said, hey, there were some clubhouse issues we dealt with in a lot of places, but the goal last offseason was to clean it up. And while hasn't exactly shown up in the win loss column, we do feel like this group is much better suited in that department to go out there and perform absent distractions. Hasn't happened yet. But we don't have the clubhouse issues we once did. And that, you know, stymied us all. He had to say so from my perspective, I don't believe those guys like each other very much. And maybe that's irresponsible of me to say because I'm not in that clubhouse. But I've heard enough to arrive at that conclusion. And in repairing this relationship, I guess it actually doesn't hurt that they haven't played together much this year. What I think it's 14 full games they played together. Making this a story again, I thought was counterproductive. And you better hope that these guys are savvy enough to answer questions the right way. Because if this relationship was or is tenuous, all it takes is one quote, whether interpreted correctly or not, to flip this whole thing sideways. And now you're back to square one. Now you could credibly argue it doesn't matter. Guys don't need to like each other on the team in order for them to win. But for an organization that has losing and disappointment in its DNA, ideally you create an environment of winning and a culture that breeds it. And so that's where I think the criticism of Steve Cohen is fair. It wasn't all that necessary to add fuel to what was already a tamed fire. And now it's back to this again. The two faces of the franchise don't like each other. That's a fact. But we weren't talking about that anymore. And another thing I want to say is this. I think it would be unfair to say Soto is the reason the Mets have become objectively a disaster the last two years. That would be completely unfair. But am I wrong to just point out the line of demarcation with them going to the NLCS and now being horrendous is the signing of Juan Soto. It's not his fault because he's been great since he's come here. What, did he finish third in MVP voting last year? But since he signed that contract, they went from two wins away from the World Series to back to back seasons of missing the playoffs. A manager casualty, one of the best players in franchise history. He's gone to Pete Alonso. They're a dumpster fire and the entire fan base would like to see the general manager gone. All of that has happened since the Soto contract has been signed. And also Lindor was slated to become the captain and all of a sudden that got holes. So again, I'm not blaming Juan Soto. I'm just saying here are the list of things that have happened since then. Do what you want with that information. And this is not coming from some sour Yankee fan because I went at my fellow, you know, fan fans in this base, the way that they acted so immaturely once Soto bolted for the bag and now they were demeaning him, throwing dirt on his name as if he didn't help carry the team to a World Series. And I understand that it was an experience, like an out of body experience. You're not used to losing free agents to the Mets and especially with it coming down to money. And now you live in a world where that existed for the first time. And so you were hurt. But the way that they sounded so salty just annoyed me to no end and kept talking about Soto. It was like, all right, get over it. He broke up with y'. All. It's clip, move on. He's on another team. You want to boo him when he comes to Yankee Stadium, that's fine. But this, like obsessive nature, you know, diagramming every single Juan Soto at bat was just corny to me. So that, that is just to illustrate this isn't really a Yankee bias in outlining what's happened since he signed that contract. It's just those are the facts. They have become the laughing stock of baseball, considering what the expectations were, how they failed to be met, the amount of money being spent, jobs have been lost. Now the questions being posed to this owner who told us when he bought the team, if they don't win a championship in the first five years, it's a failure. And now they're about to miss the playoffs for the second straight season. Oh, you thought you were the Dodgers of the East. The Dodgers have lapped you multiple times. 800-919-3776. We go back to the phone calls. Uncle Kenny's calling us from Oakland. What's up, Uncle Kenny?

[Uncle Kenny]

Thank you for taking my call, Ty. First of all, I want to say my job as a listener is to make sure you feel as comfortable as Rick could ever feel whenever you say whatever you got to say. So that's one thing. As a listener, I want to make sure you are always going to be comfortable and your skin, because you are very intelligent and a very good speaker about sports and analyzing things. Now, there's one thing, there's one thing I want. And I'm the one that called you before about the nappy here. And I said, ty, think about what you saying about the nappy hair. And you thought about it and, and you, you, you, you corrected a little bit.

[Lou]

And so

[Ty]

Uncle Kenny, do me a favor, just remind me and the audience of what you're talking about. Some people are listening. They have no idea what's going on.

[Uncle Kenny]

But I might not remember it all, Ty. So feel free to describe because you're truthful in your description quicker. I don't remember you were saying about the Ruckers, the guy talking about the nappy here. And. And I said, you know, some people misinterpreted that. They take it as a negative thing.

[Ty]

I think what you're talking about is Bart and I, as we tend to do for three hours when we. When we were hanging out doing these shows, we go after each other, and so we crack jokes. And I. I might have said something about his hair being nappy. And then you called up and you were offended by that for some reason.

[Uncle Kenny]

I wasn't offended. I was just. Some people might interpret it the wrong way. That's all I was saying.

[Ty]

I mean.

[Uncle Kenny]

But I want to bring up one other thing to you, and it's. It's regarding Bart. And I hate to call up about Bart on your show because I love you so much, Ty.

[Ty]

Okay.

[Uncle Kenny]

But during the Knicks finals.

[Ty]

Yeah.

[Uncle Kenny]

On Bart's show one day. And it brought tears to me. I got to be honest, and I got to get this out at some point. Bart talked about how one night he had to put his mother to bed because she was. They were watching the game and she was tired, and he saw. He had to let her get some rest, even though she wanted to watch the game. And it brought back memories of my mom, my mom who died in 99, right after the Knicks lost against San Antonio. And I always felt that had the Knicks won that championship, maybe my mom would have made it. I know it doesn't make any sense, but that day when Bart talked about his mom, it brought back. I mean, everything hit me about my own and how my mother was the biggest Knick fan. She used to always call me at home and say, why is Charles Oakley always on the floor? And I said, boy, that man is fighting. And so it just brought back memories with Bar. So Todd let Bart know that that night or that day, he talked about putting his mother to deadbed during the Knicks finals. Man, I cried that day. Cause it just. It was a flood of memories. And thank you for giving me this chance to let that off on myself.

[Ty]

Listen, I appreciate you making the call. I don't know the context of that conversation. I will be working with Bart in a couple of weeks, so maybe we can get into that. What I will say is, and I'm sorry about your mom. Even all these years later, I'm sure it still hurts. And there's a significant absence that's felt in your life losing your mama, man. Like, that's just. There's no replacement for her. Right. One of the things I talked about because I was on the morning after the Knicks won the title. It wasn't just about, you know, Brunson's 45 point masterpiece. We could talk about OG's Tipping the Great, like we can break down the series. A discussion point for me was how this moment provided in some ways like spiritual. And this sounds ridiculous, but we're sports fans and we take this thing seriously. That can provide its spiritual healing. And the amount of people who were going to visit grave sites or just reflecting on memories that they had with close relatives, whether it be your grandfather, your dad, whoever it may be, on how you would have loved or done anything or given anything to experience that moment with them. And I talked about my grandfather, who I lost was it now four years ago, and how die hard of a Knick fan he was and on his way out when he was still like, you know, had his bearings about him when he still had his facilities like they were awful. I remember him screaming at the television with just utter disgust and what it would have meant for him to see what this team accomplished. Because even if you, even if you thought they could win the title, no part of your brain ever registered them going 16 and three and beating the 62 win spurs team and five in the finals. And so yeah, man, it's, it's an emotional experience for a lot of people. Getting an opportunity to be reflective of moments they had with their dad, with their grandfather, whoever. It was very, very, very touching and, you know, poignant. And I also allow people to call up and share those experiences. And I look forward to being able to bask in the joy and the excitement of that with my kids. Which, by the way, a little bit of a problem, Jacob, little bit of an issue we're developing here in the Butler household.

[Jacob]

What's that?

[Ty]

So I asked Noah, my oldest, who his favorite basketball team is. What should the answer to that question be?

[Jacob]

The Knicks?

[Ty]

No, just, just knowing you.

[Jacob]

But the Lakers.

[Ty]

It should be the Lakers. It's. And you want to talk about bandwagon that that boy has not uttered the word Knicks ever before. All of a sudden, throughout this playoff run, he a Knick fan.

[Jacob]

You know, Noah, you might be my new best friend.

[Ty]

Yo, I was so disappointed. And then Cassie one day had like a nick shirt she put on Maverick to go to school. I come home from the gym, I'm in a great mood. All the positive endorphins have been released from my brain. I feel excellent about the day. I pull up Maverick's wearing a Knicks T shirt and I'M thinking to myself, where did this all go wrong? So all it takes is one dominant Nick playoff run and now my my kids are converts.

[Jacob]

So the Ty Butler house, minus you is a Nick household.

[Ty]

Yo, it's crazy too, because cat like you could explain a five year old and a three year old. Got it. Cassie's turning 33 in a couple weeks. She is old enough to be fully entrenched in her fandom. She is a die hard Laker fan and now she oh, I'm a Knick fan. And her excuses. Well, it really was Kobe and now that he's not here anymore, I don't want to hear that. So now I'm in an entire household of. We can call them converts to be respectful, but the accurate way to describe them is frauds. Which, by the way, we're supposed to do fraud alert Friday. They did it yesterday. But if I did a whole segment of fraud alert and it would be my wife and my two kids.

[Jacob]

You know, Don will call your wife a zipper key. You know, she might have been an undercover Knicks fan at first, but she converted over to be a Laker fan. Because you were a Laker fan now.

[Anthony]

And your son is how old, Ty?

[Ty]

So my oldest just turned five.

[Uncle Kenny]

Right.

[Ty]

So three.

[Anthony]

So Don will not call him a fraud because I believe the cutoff is eight. Jacob.

[Jacob]

Eight is the cutoff.

[Anthony]

So he needs to make a decision by 8. He can waffle until then. You may not like him at the moment in terms of his fandom, like his fraudulence in his fandom, but he's got some time. Your wife is a different story that I don't. I don't. I think we know how Dom would

[Ty]

rule on that one because it also makes me feel like I failed as a parent and I don't like feeling that way.

[Jacob]

Now.

[Ty]

I know I'm not wrong, but when it comes to behaviors in, in certain aspects of your kid's life, it. There is just like an inherent like, guilt feeling that you've done something wrong. I know I'm not wrong, but it makes me feel like bad parenting is the reason that this has happened.

[Jacob]

Now, I don't think you could blame yourself just because the Lakers have also haven't given you much to like, cheer about the last, like, couple years.

[Ty]

They were in the conference finals a couple years ago.

[Jacob]

But did they really, did they really have a chance like the, the Hawks?

[Ty]

Murray doesn't turn into Prime D Wade. He's hitting game winners left and right. Yeah, they had a chance.

[Jacob]

The Hawks were at the conference final

[Athletic Brewing Announcer]

a couple years ago, too.

[Ty]

You do have to admit, Ty, that

[Anthony]

you are facing an uphill battle. They're on the other coast. Your sons can't watch them yet. They ain't staying up for 11pm Laker games. And all the people, all the kids they're going to school with. Not all, but a lot of them, they're not at the age yet where they're like, I like Steph Curry, so I'm a Warrior fan type. You're gonna have to deal with that at some point, too.

[Stu]

Yeah.

[Anthony]

So get ready for that. But now that there's a team in the area that people could be proud of, the reason that we had so many of those. I'm a LeBron fan, and I'm a Steph Curry guy. Is because there was nothing to cheer, for all due respect, when we were growing up here as Nick fans, now there's a team that.

[John]

That.

[Anthony]

That. That kids in this city could be proud to represent, which I love.

[Ty]

Yes, it's like.

[Anthony]

But not your case.

[John]

Yeah.

[Ty]

Now it's. In fact, how about. I know we got to hit a break. We're badly up against.

[Anthony]

Oh, what does it matter?

[Ty]

But you know what's so funny? So a couple weeks ago, we had a pizza party for Noah for his fifth birthday. And, yeah, you got to go through the entire protocol, main office, the whole thing, right? And so as I'm entering the school with two pizza. Pizza boxes, the assistant principal says, did anyone stop you on the. She asked me, did anyone stop you on the street? I was like, huh? Wait, over the pizza? No, I was fine. She said, no, you look like Mikel Bridges.

[Anthony]

Here we go.

[Ty]

So now I'm getting it everywhere. The. And she. She asked me. She's like, hey, can we take this selfie? I want to send it to my friends and let them know I ran into Mikel Bridges today. So I, like, got up on my tippy toes every. I've gone to stores. I was in Jamaica.

[Peter]

Really?

[Anthony]

This could work very well for you.

[Jacob]

Listen, we need the Mikhail Bridges lookalike contest. Ty, you're winning first place. Absolutely.

[Anthony]

Wow.

[Ty]

This is great for you. I thought about this in a different way. Like, should we, as a station, set up the Mikhail Bridges Ty Butler interview? Like, should we do that?

[Anthony]

That would be ideal.

[Ty]

We're partners with the Knicks. Like, what. How do we. How do we figure this out?

[Anthony]

I think we should be able to make it happen. We'll talk to John. We'll get this. We'll get this rolling.

[Ty]

Is John on on a Disney cruise somewhere or is he actually working next week?

[Anthony]

He's not a Disney cruise. I believe he. I believe he's here next week. Yes. Yeah, he's here.

[Ty]

So this is an idea that has been spawned, and I think we should make. Make this happen.

[Anthony]

All right, I'll let him know.

[Ty]

800-919-3776. We are badly up against the clock. I see your phone call if you guys want to talk Mets and Nick. So we'll get to it. We take a timeout. Return to that right here on ESPN

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[Anthony]

Got a Sam's Cafe pizza.

[Sam's Cafe Announcer]

Order up.

[Ty]

Mm, mm, mm.

[Athletic Brewing Announcer]

You know the best part about this spicy Italian sausage? I voted for this topping. Yeah, just another perk of being a member. Come join us, Sam's Club.

[Don Hahn]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Ty]

I didn't listen to anything you just said.

[Don Hahn]

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

[Ty]

So what's he Talking about tastes. Tastes like candy. Jacob, what is it that tastes like candy?

[Jacob]

I have no clue.

[Ty]

You know what tastes like candy?

[Anthony]

Candy.

[Ty]

In addition to candy. The. Whatever it was that Jacob was sending to me on his close friends.

[Anthony]

Wait. Oh.

[Ty]

Oh, yeah. I would wake up early Sunday morning as I'm getting ready for church and

[Anthony]

on the Lord's Day.

[Ty]

On the Lord's day. Scrolling through Instagram, I see the little green little icon Jacob's got me on his close friends. I'm like, what was Jacob doing last night? And bam. It just literally, bam, hit you right in the face.

[Anthony]

Hey, that's how close you are. That's how close you two are.

[Ty]

Yeah, that's the problem. I think I've. I've said this on the radio too much.

[Don Hahn]

Yeah.

[Ty]

Since then. No longer on the Close Friends. And he'll tell us. I don't have close friends anymore. No one gets rid of their close friends. You just took me off, though.

[Jacob]

Listen, I have to start posting again. Once I get my cameraman going and we start going places, I'll start posting content again.

[Ty]

We need that. And not on the Lord's day.

[Jacob]

No, I'll make sure it's set. Friday going into Saturday. Not Saturday going into Sunday.

[Ty]

Not. Not in front of God. And all of them.

[Anthony]

And them boys got in.

[Ty]

Them boys. Can I tell y' all real quick, we're gonna get back to the phone calls. 800-919-3776. So I. Maybe it's my ins. My sensitivity to spicy food, but the stuff we had in Jamaica was a little bit too much. I mean, everything was spicy, bro. Not just jerk chicken, jerk pork, you know, jerk, whatever. Everything was spice. My omelette was spicy. Why is my omelette spicy?

[Anthony]

See, now I like spicy, but if it's everything, I don't know if I could do everything, bro.

[Ty]

It was everything. So that's Friday night we arrived, and I loved it. 10 out of 10. Trip would love to. I would love it if I was still there. I proved to y' all on Sunday morning we could do the radio show from the balcony in Jamaica. So Friday night we arrived and had. What do they call it? The. What was it called? Welcome Dinner. That's what they call it. It was a welcome dinner and, like a surprise party for someone. Right?

[Anthony]

You got some nice friends.

[Ty]

It was. Yo. It was fantastic. By the way, before we even get to that. The wedding would. Would you believe the. The wedding party was. Was 92. 92 people.

[Anthony]

That's a lot of people for.

[Ty]

For a destination Wedding.

[Jacob]

Yeah, that is a ton of people, bro.

[Ty]

Some people can't even get that amount of folks to show up to their in state wedding for a destination wedding to get 92 people. And it was a very expensive trip by the way. That's love and dedication. So shout out to them. But anyway, we had this, the welcome dinner. Asian cuisine. I'm like alright, cool when I tell y', all this food had me sweating how spicy it was. Sweating bullets. I don't know Asian cuisine to be spicy. Am I missing something? I've had Chinese food, Japanese food, it's not usually spicy.

[Anthony]

If you go Szechuan it is.

[Ty]

It was wild. And then how about this? So all trip long again, I tell you, I have a very sensitive stomach so I have to be cognizant of these things, right? Be near a bathroom whenever the situation might call for it. I actually had to pull up on the bathroom during the wedding, which was crazy. Anyway, so for the most part my stomach held up. Morning of our return, We've got a 7am bus. It's a two hour bus ride from the resort back to the airport and then it's a four hour flight. Yo. When I woke up, stomach going nuts,

[Jacob]

experiencing some turbulence, bro.

[Ty]

Knots crazy. Almost missed the bus ride. And I said to myself, like this would happen today. I've been fine the entirety of the trip but today is going to be the day. I didn't think we were going to make it. So I handled my business right before we left the room. But on the bus I looked to Cassie and I said I might have to take it. Now I don't do public restrooms. Like I find that to be very, very, very nasty. Like there's no amount of cleaning the seat or you know, putting the toilet paper on the seat down that is going to make it less nasty. Just can't do it. But I felt like there was no way. So it was 7:30 at the time. 7:30am I'm not getting home till 6pm there's no way I'm making it. Another was that nine and a half, ten and a half. No, seven and a half hours.

[Jacob]

You might have been the bravest warrior if you did.

[Ty]

No way that was gonna happen. And so the stomach is bumping. You know how they tell you don't think about it, don't think about it. Too much thinking about it. But much to my delight, it went away and I was fine. Did not have to use the bathroom on the, on the flight or on the bus. So we made it.

[Jacob]

Good for you, I think I will count that as a win. The fact that you didn't take a day break or like a day and a half break in between, I guess your flight and your last day of your trip. Just to make sure that, you know, all that stuff was cleared out.

[Ty]

Yo, I wanted to. Funny you mentioned that. But then they hit us with the. Yo, we got to go to town and try the beef patties. I'm not passing up the beef patties with cheese. Can't do it. You can't pass that up?

[Jacob]

No.

[Ty]

While you in Jamaica. Nah, man. Couldn't pass that up. And I knew it. As I was eating these beef patties, I said, this is going to show itself. Show itself tomorrow morning. Like it's absolutely gonna happen. And for me, I'm not trying to be nasty, tmi, but it usually comes out the way that it goes in no Diddy.

[Jacob]

Well, that'd be a drop later.

[Ty]

800-919-3776. Let's get these the train back on the tracks and we go to Bayonne to talk to Sam. What's up, Sam? Hi.

[Lou]

How are you going to do that to me? How am I going to follow that, brother? I'm glad you made it to Boo, man, but God bless you. I have bad stomach too, man. So I know exactly the problem pain

[John]

you were going through.

[Lou]

So God bless you, man.

[Ty]

It's worse.

[Stu]

We spoke a couple of days ago.

[Lou]

I just want to make sure because you know, I work for the post office. I've been out in this under 10 degree weather all day. So I just want to make sure that I'm not losing my mind. Going back to Uncle Cohen, what he said, I could have swore. He said that Soto and Lindor are getting along fine this year. He said this year. Didn't they not gap each other on opening day this year? Was that last year?

[Uncle Kenny]

Am I losing my mind?

[Ty]

That was this.

[Lou]

So that just goes right back to more with him gaslighting us now. I don't have a problem at all with him as an owner. I think he's been a great owner with the exception of just not cutting the cord with. With Stearns at this point. That's all I got for you today because I'm surprised that nobody brought up that point. Maybe you did. I missed kind of your open, but just want to say happy fourth.

[Ty]

Sam, before you hang up, can I ask you something? After all of the the power he gave Stearns this past off season to quite literally remake the roster, did you ever believe that three And a half months into the baseball season, he was gonna fire that dude. Did you ever believe that was gonna happen?

[Lou]

No, I didn't.

[John]

I don't.

[Lou]

It doesn't matter. I just think that he has that high school brush on the. The lead cheerleader. And then you finally get together with her 20 years later, and you realize that she's not what. What you thought she was. He just hasn't realized it yet. He still has that crush. So it. To me, unless everything just, like, literally went to, like, napalm, I. I didn't think that he was gonna let him go. Yeah, it's almost close to napalm.

[Ty]

I mean, you're not that far. I appreciate the call. You've got, what, the fifth worst record in baseball, and it might as well be the worst because you're spending the most money. And to me, what I didn't like about the interview was when you want to talk about Gaslighting, when he posed to Met fans, like, hey, y' all don't remember 2024? And it's like, yeah, man. Like, part of the reason why we're so agitated is because we saw what it could look like in 2024. And then when this guy that you hired starts to have his imprint on the organization, we go from two wins away from the World Series to being a disaster, to being a couple of losses shy of being the worst team in baseball. We're in last place. And that's why it's like, I can't buy into this. Hey, maybe they can make a run. Because it's so funny, I was asked a couple weeks ago on sny, why is it that the Mets, every time they take two steps forward, it's three steps back? Well, because they're a bad team. You know what bad teams do? They win sometimes, but they lose more often than not. And what you're asking the Mets to do and what looks like right now, and this is kind of shocking to me because we didn't anticipate this would be the case. That looks like the best division in baseball, the NLEs. And so are they going to leapfrog all those teams to get back into the dance? No, they're not. You know why? Because they're not a good team. And so you'll get to the off season. And it sounds like. And I heard John Heyman on DPH on Rothenberg this morning with Jake Asmond filling in. It sounds like Cohen is going to have more influence over the decisions, which, look, he's the owner. He's got Every right to do that. I. It's not ideal, though. Like you. You'd much prefer your owner hire guys and then let them make all the decisions. You obviously have to run it by, like, if we're giving someone a big time contract, run it by the owner. But you don't want him having tremendous influence when he's paying someone to do it. But when it's David Stearns making those decisions, of course you'd rather have Steve come and do it. 800-919-3776. Let's hit Adam and DC. What's up, Adam?

[Adam]

Hey, what's going on, guys? Just about this whole LeBron the Knick situation, just a couple ways I'm kind of looking at it. The first situation, just being that fan that's been struggling all these years, you know, it's kind of tough when, you know, all those years LeBron kind of stood us up, you know, left us high and dry. 2010 decision, later on, playing the water bottle game in the Garden, calling himself King in New York, all that kind of stuff. And then now, after finally we climbed the mountain, won the title, it's like, hey, you know what? I think I'll come join the gods. I'm like, you know what, we're good. But on the flip side, from a pure basketball standpoint, putting my ego as a Knicks fan aside, I can't lie and say that we can't use them. Because if you look at, you know, the past couple years, you know, the Indiana series and also the series with the spurs, you know, teams are full court, pressing, blitzing, Jalen Brunson up the court, bringing three or four fresh bodies, you know, riding them up and down the court, you know, bumping and grinding up and down the court, you know, running them out. And, you know, you look at Mikel Bridges and OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, you know, as good as they are in their roles, they're not really that comfortable handling the ball at the top of the key, making plays, crossing the defense, getting to the paint, making plays for themselves, for the teammates. And even LeBron at this age, you can't deny that he could still do that as a secondary ball handler, facilitator to Jalen Brunson. So I'm kind of torn, man, between, you know, the fact, you know, the ego and the joking and all that kind of stuff in the past and just the pure basketball standpoint from. He actually can help if I just put my basketball lens on, I think basketball standpoint. Not sure what you guys think.

[Ty]

He's still that he's and I appreciate the call. He's still one of the 20 best players in the league. And so if the question is should a team trying to repeat his champions with one of the 20 best players in the league as a free agent look to sign him, the answer is yes. Now, Rich Paul shot it down and it doesn't sound like the Knicks are that much interested in but this was just something I was kicking around last week because it made perfect sense to me. Let Mitchell Robinson go. You'll get a backup center somewhere and sign LeBron, have Josh Hart come off the bench. Like that's easy. But people took offense to it because we are so conditioned to let's just run it back. We just won. Which I hear you. That's conventional wisdom. My my thought was my thought was this like Golden State felt that way. The Bucs felt that all the the Nuggets. Now the Nuggets ended up losing some pieces but all the teams that repeated most of them, the Celtics, the Thunder were like, all right, let's just run it back and how did it work out for them?

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[Don Hahn]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg Podcast.

[Ty]

I didn't listen to anything you just said.

[Don Hahn]

Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us where every you get your podcast.

[Ty]

800-919-3776. It's going to be a lovely day. John in Morristown. What's up, baby?

[John]

Hey, Ty. Hey, Ty. How's it going, buddy?

[Ty]

Oh, it's going fantastic. Yeah, man. Stay. Stay safe out there, baby. Stay hydrated.

[John]

Yeah, I hear you. I. I was. I was listening to before talking about Jamaica and you know how it went. No, that you didn't, you know, the crap and you had no runs and I figured it was a great time

[Uncle Kenny]

to talk about the Mets.

[Ty]

I love it.

[Uncle Kenny]

I love it because I'm telling you, man, this team.

[John]

Listen, I can't think of any other team in any sport that, you know, just crashed and burned as badly as this team has. And I can't believe that the general manager still has this role. But I was trying to think about it. Can you think of any team ever that. That is really this bad and has spent so much money now?

[Ty]

That's why I call it the worst. Like, this is the worst I've ever seen the Mets, like, expectations. I mean, it's the infrastructure, the star power, the amount of money being spent like this is the worst they've ever been in my eyes.

[John]

I mean, there's. There is really no adjective that's fits them because it's so embarrassing, bad, mortifying, you name it, it's just terrible. And Ben, this guy still has a job. If I performed anywhere half as bad as this guy has, my God, I'd be out in the street. I don't know what they're thinking, man. I'm just shocked.

[Ty]

Well, I mean, you shouldn't be shocked. I appreciate the call, John. I'm not trying to take shots, but it's the Mets, right? And so I guess David Stearns, based on the evidence, was able to convince Cohen, like, hey, we had a managerial issue. The problem is, since firing Mendoza, they've still been bad. And so, like, this offseason, get a new manager, injuries will be used as an excuse because they have had a ton of injuries. The other problem is, before the injuries, they were bad.

[John]

And.

[Ty]

And the game plan coming into the season just didn't make sense. You knew your rotation was bad, and on top of that you knew your defense needed some work and yet you had all these players playing out of position. That was a formula for. For disaster. Now, we didn't think it would be this bad, but we all knew it was leaky. Stu's in Queens. What's up, Stu?

[Stu]

Hey, how you doing, Ty?

[Ty]

Doing great, man.

[Stu]

All right, real quick. So two things. So I remember at the press conference that Stearns had when he announced, you know, the whole thing with Mendoza, and he kept saying, he reiterated on a couple occasions that he, David Stearns, that he was taking responsibility for everything, but then he fired the manager and took no responsibility for that. So that seemed kind of, you know, wrong. And then the other thing was that I think that I don't know whether it was cone or whomever. They wanted to make Soto a Met, but he's not a Met. You know, Lindor was more of a Met.

[Ty]

Okay, what does that mean? What does that mean?

[Stu]

Okay, okay, okay, so what. What it means is to be, in his case, to embody being the franchise. What that would look like is leadership. But I get this feeling that also not saying I'm right, that all he cares about is his numbers and his perception as being the great Juan Soto. And I appreciate that in a way that makes sense.

[Ty]

Listen, still, maybe you're right. I appreciate the call that he. I'm not gonna throw that allegation on him. What I will say is, even if you believe that to be true, didn't stop him from getting to helping the Yankees get to a World Series the year before. Didn't stop him from winning a World Series earlier in his career back in 19. And so I don't know what the whole embodiment of being a Met is like if he's not a leader. Fine. Like you've got that. You've got plenty of leaders on the team. You. It doesn't have to be that. You brought him in there to be an excellent player. And so far he has been. That just hasn't been enough.

[Don Hahn]

Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.

[Peter]

I don't want to know how the

[Don Hahn]

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.

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