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- [00:00]
Lindsey Berra
This isn't just another ESPN fantasy football season. It's your shot at greatness. With a refreshed design, the ESPN Fantasy app is sharper than ever. So you can draft like a pro and dominate your league. And introducing Gridiron Gauntlet, a new game mode where the best compete to be crowned the number one fantasy football player of 2025. One app, one shot, one champion. Download the ESPN fantasy app and sign up to play ESPN fantasy football today.
- [00:31]
Don Hahn
This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [00:35]
Alan Rosenberg
That sounds like heaven to me.
- [00:36]
Don Hahn
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.
- [00:44]
Alan Rosenberg
Game time is brought to you by Tullamardu Irish Whiskey. Because when it's game time.
- [00:59]
Don Hahn
I like when he holds it.
- [01:00]
Alan Rosenberg
Mets close out or actually open up their series with the Marlins. Coverage will begin immediately following us on 880 at 6 30. And the Yankees will visit the White Sox in Chicago at 7:40. The Liberty hosts the Mystics at 7:00'. Clock. And Rutgers takes on Ohio in Piscataway at 6:00 clock with Carlin on the call. Telemardu, the original triple distilled, triple blended and triple cast matured Iris whiskey. Be sure to grab a Tullamore do or try the new Tullamore Do. Honey. During today's action, glasses up to enjoying Tullamore do responsibly. Traveled around the National Hockey League back in the day. It was always fun to see our next guest. She was somebody that was really into hockey working over at espn. She of course, is the granddaughter of Yogi Berra and they've got a great event that she wants to be able to promote that's going to be coming up on September 21st. And she's Lindsey Bear and she joins us here on Don Hahn and Rosenberg. It's Don and Alan. How are you?
- [01:55]
Lindsey Berra
Hey guys. How's it going?
- [01:56]
Alan Rosenberg
Do you miss hockey at all? We miss seeing you out there on the road.
- [01:58]
Lindsey Berra
Oh my God, I totally miss it. I miss it so much. Absolutely.
- [02:01]
Don Hahn
Don, did you know that Lindsey played club hockey at North Carolina? Yes, I did. Okay. That's all I was throwing out there. The one thing that Stephanie told me to say. Okay, make sure you say that she played on on a club team at uncle.
- [02:17]
Alan Rosenberg
She did. I know her teammate.
- [02:19]
Lindsey Berra
Did you know that I played with Alan's wife at unc?
- [02:22]
Alan Rosenberg
That's the more important that I did find out today.
- [02:24]
Don Hahn
So this is what I need a quick. Because I met Stephanie her senior year and softball was already done. So I never got to see her play. Now, I've seen her hit in a cage and it just scares me. But I've never seen.
- [02:37]
Lindsey Berra
She's very fast.
- [02:39]
Don Hahn
Give me. Yeah, give me a scouting point.
- [02:40]
Lindsey Berra
Little thing. No, she was just fast. She could run, so it didn't matter. You know, she was one of those people, she could, you know, hit it on the ground or hit a line drive and, you know, rely on the wheels, you know. Great.
- [02:51]
Alan Rosenberg
And eventually Alan was able to run her down her senior year.
- [02:54]
Don Hahn
Somehow caught her and has had her.
- [02:58]
Lindsey Berra
Years later, I'm sure.
- [03:00]
Alan Rosenberg
Lindsay, I know how proud you were of your granddad. Of course. Yogi Berra and celebrating his 100th birthday. You've got an event coming up on Sunday, September 21st, rain or shine. Tell us about it.
- [03:13]
Lindsey Berra
So we are very excited about this. We are going to. I've stopped saying attempted or going to make an attempt. We are going to break the Guinness World record for the largest game of catch. So the current record is like 1,900 ish people. We hope to get 2,500 on the field at Yogi Berra Stadium, which is adjacent to the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning center on the campus of Montclair State. And you got to come out. If you don't have a mitt, we've got one for you. You only have to play catch for 5 minutes, 10ft apart. So anybody can do it. It does not matter if you drop the ball. We keep getting people saying, I can't play catch. I'm terrible at bas care. If you stink, we want you anyway. So we need 2,500 people. You can sign up@yogisbigcatch.org it's going to be a great day with food trucks and music and giveaways and the other super exciting news. To the best of my knowledge, since Grandpa was inducted into the Baseball hall of fame in 1972, his plaque has been stuck to the wall in the plaque gallery up in Cooperstown. They are taking it out and bringing it to the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning center for just one September 21st. And it will be in the theater so you can break a Guinness World record and get your picture taken with Grandpa Yogi's hall of Fame plaque that afternoon. It's going to be really fun.
- [04:40]
Don Hahn
That's awesome. Now, how did you come up with this as an idea? The idea of playing catch and then, hey, what's the record for how many people played catch? And breaking the record? Because first of all, the fact that somebody did it Once tells you that someone thought about it. So how did you come up with this?
- [04:56]
Lindsey Berra
So full credit goes to Eve Shannon. She's our museum director at the museum. We were trying to think about things that we could do to honor grandpa's hundredth year. His 100th birthday would have been May 12th. And, you know, one of the things that's so amazing about Grandpa Yogi is the way he touched so many people who he did or didn't meet. Everybody has a Yogi story. There are people I meet that say, I loved your grandpa so much. And they mean it in the same sense of the word as I mean it when I say I love my grandpa. The way he was able to connect with me people was just amazing. And when you think about it, when you used to go out, like, what better way to connect with somebody than to go out and have a catch with them? And this is what we were thinking, you know, we've all gone out and played catch in the backyard with our brothers and sisters and fathers and neighbors and whoever it is. But there's, you know, one of my good friends from espn, Alyssa Ronick, she said to me, you know, the way the world very quickly narrows to the space between the two of you, and. And you are just there with that person you're playing catch with. And we want to kind of inspire that kind of connection between folks again, get people to put down their phones and get out and just do something fun and, you know, break a world record in a game that Grandpa Yogi loved so much. And I think he would just love the whole idea behind the catch.
- [06:15]
Alan Rosenberg
That's such a great idea because, you know, there's so many different stages in one's life when you kind of feel like you're a dad, and that's definitely one of them. When I'm out there with my son throwing the baseball back and forth, it just. It never gets old. And that connection is amazing. And it's hard to believe, you know, Lindsay, we lost him September 22, 2015. I can't believe it was 10 years ago.
- [06:36]
Lindsey Berra
I know, I know. It's because we're old. It's going fast.
- [06:40]
Alan Rosenberg
That's right. The clock's now. Like a fan, you said it's. The hands are spinning so fast, I'm able to cool myself. And looking Lindsey, at the. The press release, it's got a quote from your grandfather. I knew the record would stand until it was broken. And I might have asked you about this before, like, there's so many great quotes, right? And Is it something that you still find endearing or does it. Does it kind of sometimes distract about, like, how smart and how amazing a ball player he is? Like, so, like, when you, when you hear those quotes and it's the first thing you think of about your grandfather, what do you do? How do you feel about that?
- [07:22]
Lindsey Berra
So this is one of those occasions where both things can be true. I do love the Yogi Isms. I love how they connect with people. I love how they make people smile. I love how people say they don't make sense and then they think about it and they're like, oh, my God, wait a minute, that's perfect. But I do also think that that personality of his overshadowed his playing career. And I think that part of that is really just a recency bias. You know, he played his last games for the mets actually in 1965.
- [07:49]
Alan Rosenberg
Right.
- [07:50]
Lindsey Berra
There are very few people left on planet Earth who saw Grandpa Yogi play baseball. I get in these Twitter arguments all the time about people telling me Donnie Bench was better. And like, if you really look at the numbers, you could really argue that Grandpa is the greatest catcher to ever play this game. And I do think that the fact that folks got to know him as this kind of cartoonish, tiny, you know, he had shrunk a lot, like tiny little guy with the big ears who said the funny things, and you forget about just, you know, how incredible he was behind the plate, what a great hitter he was. Guy led The Yankees in RBI seven years running on teams that included Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, while catching 125 games a year. I mean, good luck with that. Right? And you know, the 10 World Series, 18 All Stars, he still has World Series records that will, will never be broken. I don't think they're going to stand until they're broken. I think they'll never be broken. So I do think some of that gets lost in the big picture. But again, at the same time, the Yogi Isms are super endearing and I use them all the in my everyday life and people are constantly quoting them to me. And that's part of his legacy as well.
- [08:58]
Don Hahn
It's amazing to watch catching these days and how much it has changed, the position has changed. And what. And again, I was just talking about how, you know, Stephanie, and she was a catcher, she also played second, but she was a catcher. So she watches games with me and she can't get over the knee down position that we see now with a lot of these catchers. And everything's about Framing and how it's so different from obviously the game and completely different obviously from when your grandfather played. But isn't it amazing how much the game has changed even from 10 years ago, 15 years ago especially? I think the catching position is, has gone through such a dramatic change for what they're demanding and expecting out of them.
- [09:39]
Lindsey Berra
Like, I mean, I don't understand the knee down thing either. I don't know how you move like that.
- [09:42]
Don Hahn
There you go.
- [09:43]
Lindsey Berra
I totally don't get it. I would feel like I was like plugged into the ground, right? The same way an infield. You feel the infielders jumping now, which I also think is cuckoo, but like, you want to shift your weight back and forth to be able to get a hop. Like, how do you get a hop with a knee down on the ground? I totally don't understand it. But yes, there used to be that quote. Baseball is the only thing since the paperclip that hasn't changed. That has gone right out the window. The paperclip is winning. Baseball is totally different. And I often wonder, just in the 10 years since Grandpa's left us, what he would think now about, you know, the pizza boxes and the, and the, the runner on. On second. And, you know, he used to say all the time that the younger players and a lot of younger fans would come to him and say that, you know, players are bigger, stronger, faster, more skilled than they ever were when Grandpa Yogi played. And Grandpa Yogi and his pals would never be able to play in today's game. And Grandpa just used to say, if they're bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than we all were, why do we keep having to change the rules so they can play the.
- [10:47]
Don Hahn
That is true.
- [10:47]
Lindsey Berra
I mean, there's something to that. I don't know.
- [10:49]
Don Hahn
No, no, that's absolutely true. The thing that I'm thinking about with this, this catch that you want to do the big catch challenge, it's on a Sunday. And thinking about the fact that you're talking, this is for your grandfather. How amazing would it be to have grandfathers and grandmothers with their grandkids participating in this? Like, that's, that's like, like how, how perfect would that be? I mean, I imagine you're probably going to get a lot of little league teams and a lot of teams, kids that can come out and be part of this, because that's what you'd love to see. But yeah, that's, that's the thing about baseball, I think, more than any other sport, that you really do Feel the connection from generation to generation and the simple thing of having a catch, which, you know, I always used to do with my dad. And you'll love this. The other day, Don's softball game on Saturday, I hadn't thrown a ball in years. I hadn't swung a bat in forever. And Callie, our 10 year old, she went and got her glove. We found. We dug my mitt out from wherever it was. And I'd never had a catch with Callie in my life. She's 10.
- [12:00]
Lindsey Berra
Oh, wow.
- [12:00]
Don Hahn
And we on the front lawn had a catch and it was like, that's like, I got emotional because I was like, wow, like this. I have not done this with her. And I remember doing it with my dad. I was telling her stories about having a catch with my dad. Like, that's gotta be for you probably something that's so relatable, right? Like this idea of a catch is, it's nice. And what you're trying to do is draw people's attention to the museum and to Yogi and the hundred years. But there's also something special about just the thought of having a catch.
- [12:29]
Lindsey Berra
Absolutely. And I'm already getting messages from folks. A guy messaged me the other day, I'm going to come and I'm going to bring my 89 year old dad. I think it's okay that he's a Red Sox fan. And actually my dad, my dad is a closet Red Sox fan. So I was like, bring him out. They can take you, cat. But yes, like we, you know, dads, moms, sons, daughters, grandparents, you know, and that's the thing. Look, I'm joking about baseball being a totally different game, but like, we all, you know, feel that tug of the game and that's something that's relatable for every generation. And you know, you talk about pulling the gloves out of the garage and like, you know, the way they smell and the way it sounds when the glove hits the ball. And we won't have bats, but cracks of bats and stuff like that. Like it just, it brings you just to this, like, for me anyway, this like simpler time of being a kid, it just calms my brain down, you know, I still do that even if I'm not watching a baseball game. You know, I don't need to sit there and watch the whole game, but I put the ball game on the TV in the background because the, the baseball noises just kind of make me feel good about the world. Right. And that's another thing that we're just trying to do, get people to just, you know, settle down and connect and enjoy this game that we've all loved for, you know, hundreds of years, literally.
- [13:49]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah, it's a pretty amazing stuff. You want to get involved again? It's www.yogi. yogisbigcatch.org. Also, you can reach out to yogiberra100mail.com or call 973-65523 78. Lindsay Baer, it's always good to talk to you, and hopefully this goes out well. I hope you'll be able to break the record and then some. And anytime you need anything, let us know.
- [14:12]
Lindsey Berra
Thank you so much. And give Steph a big hug for me.
- [14:14]
Don Hahn
I will. Good to talk to you.
- [14:16]
Alan Rosenberg
And my wife's uncle, Griff Hughes, said he used to coach you in Livingston, so hopefully you remember him.
- [14:21]
Lindsey Berra
Oh, Mr. Hughes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
- [14:24]
Don Hahn
That's so cool.
- [14:25]
Alan Rosenberg
See, we're all connected in some way. One guy from Jersey, one guy from Long island, and we're. You've got family that knows you. And hopefully I'll be able to see on the hockey sometimes.
- [14:35]
Lindsey Berra
Bring your kids, Alan, if you can.
- [14:36]
Don Hahn
Yeah, I was just checking the schedule while we were talking. Callie has a game. She plays hockey. So she has a game that day, that afternoon. And I don't know if it's in New Jersey, Connecticut, but if it's in New Jersey, we're there.
- [14:48]
Lindsey Berra
And we'll take the whole hockey team. We got room for that.
- [14:51]
Don Hahn
I will tell them all.
- [14:51]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah. And, Lindsey, I'd like to go, but I don't know if you heard. I do the Devils on TV now. We got a preseason game. I gotta do my first game.
- [14:58]
Don Hahn
Is that.
- [14:58]
Lindsey Berra
I did hear that. But, you know, preseason, it doesn't really count.
- [15:02]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah, but I. I know, but when it's the first game of the first year of the first job, he's got.
- [15:09]
Don Hahn
To be a good student. He's even gonna wear a tie.
- [15:11]
Alan Rosenberg
So you want me to take off the first day?
- [15:12]
Don Hahn
First day. Can't make it.
- [15:14]
Lindsey Berra
So what you could do, you could be with us in spirit. Donnie, you could just bring your glove. You could play catch in the tunnel with some random person you find.
- [15:20]
Alan Rosenberg
Or listen, I could just bring it up during the game and say, hey, listen, shut it off and go check this out. Your dad was very close with the Devils. He was, wasn't he? The celebrity for them in the 75th anniversary. And I know because of his connection with the Astros, he was very close to Dr. McMullen. So I know he. And people said that he Used to see him over at South Mountain a lot, too.
- [15:42]
Lindsey Berra
So it was because of Grandpa Yogi, his connection to the Devils, that I actually started playing hockey. Grandpa started taking me to the games when they got here in 1983. And, yeah, my high school team used to practice at South Mountain arena, and the Devils used to practice there. So grandpa and Lou Amarillo and, like, Ken Danico would all stick their heads out and watch my. My high school games. It was very intimidating.
- [16:04]
Don Hahn
That's awesome.
- [16:05]
Alan Rosenberg
All right, Lindsay, thanks a lot, man. We really appreciate it.
- [16:08]
Lindsey Berra
All right, thank you guys so much. Have a great weekend.
- [16:10]
Alan Rosenberg
All right. That's Lindsey bearer. Always good to talk to her. You know, Danica would tell stories about, like, they would practice, and they would, like, take showers, come out, and, like. And Yogi would have, like, a towel wrapped around him. Hey, boys. And he'd go into the lot room. He would just hang around all the time there. So it was, like, pretty cool. So, listen, whether you're a Yankee fan or not, I mean, everybody's. Everybody's got. Yo.
- [16:29]
Don Hahn
Both franchises have a connection.
- [16:31]
Alan Rosenberg
Well, yeah, because he was a, you know, original man, and he was the manager in 73 when they went to the World Series. So, yeah, both teams have a connection. He's a forever Yankee, but met fans could connect with him, too. And he lived in New Jersey for the latter stages of his life, and. And it just. It's really cool. Looks like it's a great event. So again, September 21, 2025, Yogi Berra Stadium on the campus of Montclair State University. So they're gonna try to get 2,500 participants. The record is 1,946. So that's 973 pairs. So they're gonna try to get over a thousand pairs to be able to break this record. And if you want to get involved. Www.yogisbigcatch.org if you want to get tickets, that's the way they get the tickets. But if you want to get involved and want more information. Yogi Berra100mail.com or you can call 973-655-2378. Sounds like it's a really good cause and a lot of fun. Getting back to the Mets, Alvarez got hit in the hand in Syracuse. Coming back from that hand injury that he had. He broke his pinky. So that's the latest on him. I think he'd still be able to, like, fight through it, but here is Carlos Mendoza just before the game against the Marlins tonight, giving us an update On Alvarez.
- [17:43]
Don Hahn
Yeah. So he's got a small fracture on that pinky finger. But again, he's going to see the doctors at some point this afternoon. The early reports are, you know, we're just going to wait for the inflammation to come down, probably two, three days, and then we'll get him going again, you know, so this should be relatively short, but again, obviously it's a little bit of setback compared to what the original plan was. But, you know, when you talk about, you know, you're saying you get the news, oh, he's got a fracture. You're like, you thinking about the worst case scenario, but apparently that's not the case here. So we just got to wait and see.
- [18:11]
Alan Rosenberg
So there's the buzz about McClain, but there's now a buzz about Tong. He's going to pitch tomorrow against the Marlins. So Mendoza talked about his first impressions of his newest pitcher.
- [18:21]
Don Hahn
Talking to him, he's. He's a kid, you know, but excited, you know, he's just basically the same conversation that I had with Nolan. You know, just be yourself, man. You know, just. It's the same game. Go out there, be yourself, compete, have fun. You know, you earn it. You're a big leaguer. Enjoy it. That was kind of like pretty much the whole conversation, but proud of him. Proud of a lot of people that help him along the way from player development and. And it's exciting. He's excited and he's ready to go. You feel like there's a challenge, right? Like. Cause McClain's been so good, that is there. That added pressure for Tong to come in and.
- [18:56]
Alan Rosenberg
Well, yeah, how can it not be?
- [18:57]
Don Hahn
You know what I mean? Like, McClain kind of set a really high standard, especially when you.
- [19:03]
Alan Rosenberg
You hear. And again, I don't know whether it's just hyperbole or whatever, but you do hear that he has better stuff than McClain. So you start hearing that he kind of set the precedent. So it'll be interesting if he feels any kind of pressure. There's pressure to begin with. You're joining a pennant race, you know, on the eve of September, you know, getting a chance to be a part in New York. Should be a sold out building a lot of stuff to be pressured. But yeah, now he set the precedent, right. McClain came up here, he's been cruising 3, 0. But let's hear from Jonah. His reaction to being called up.
- [19:35]
Don Hahn
Just finished throwing a bullpen and I was silly and I was looking at a slider. I was making a joke with our manager, Dick And I was like, yeah, look at this thing. I made AJ buckle. And then he goes, oh, yeah. How's your body feeling? Great. He's like, all right, you ready to start Friday? I'm like, ready as I'll ever be. And then he said, cool, because you're going to be pitching us to Marlins in Seafield on Friday. And I was like, pardon. So I. Crazy day, but it was. It was awesome.
- [20:01]
Alan Rosenberg
Did you have any sort of inkling.
- [20:03]
Lindsey Berra
That it could be coming maybe if.
- [20:04]
Alan Rosenberg
Not Friday, like, within the next couple weeks?
- [20:07]
Don Hahn
No, that's pretty much. No, not at all.
- [20:10]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah, very Canadian.
- [20:12]
Don Hahn
Right?
- [20:12]
Alan Rosenberg
Pardon. But also, to get to your point, how much does McLean's early success give you confidence?
- [20:18]
Don Hahn
I mean, he's done a heck of a job. I mean, even. I was watching it last night, I was trying to find somewhere to eat, and I was just like, yep, that's Nolan. But no, he's. He's incredible. And I think that I'm just going to go up there and be myself, and I have confidence that's going to be enough.
- [20:33]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah, that's all you can do. But still, I mean, I think there's always that one upsmanship, right. I want to be able to match what he did. I want to be as good as he is. But, yeah, just be yourself, man. Just do what you got to do. But it's. It's. It's really hard, man. It's New York. God, He's. He's only 22 years old, too. He just turned 22.
- [20:56]
Don Hahn
McLean has spoke highly of him since he came up, and he talks about his fastball, and, like, he. It's. All he really, like, can talk about is he saw him when he first was drafted, and he did a bullpen session, and he said, I've never seen a fastball like that. Now, he's got all the pitches, obviously, but raved about him to.
- [21:19]
Alan Rosenberg
Your point. Nolan McClain on what met fans can expect from Tong.
- [21:22]
Don Hahn
Yeah, that kid's special.
- [21:23]
Alan Rosenberg
I remember when I first got drafted, I stood in as a hitter on one of his bullpens just to watch, and it was. I mean, I haven't seen a fastball like that before, and I know he's developed three more pitches since then, and they're all. All plus, so it's gonna be fun.
- [21:36]
Don Hahn
To watch him Friday.
- [21:37]
Alan Rosenberg
I can't wait to see him. Now. We all had some level of competition in our life, right? Whether it's sports or in our job. And if you're next up and you're watching somebody on the court, tear it up. Or you're an actor and the person that's auditioning before you kills it. Yeah. You're gonna feel like it's scary. Like he set the bar.
- [22:00]
Don Hahn
Yep.
- [22:01]
Alan Rosenberg
And I think it.
- [22:02]
Don Hahn
I think it. To me, it's better because now you know. Now you know the standard. Okay. All right. So that's. That's what. That's what we're looking for. That's where I got to be. Isn't that better than if. What if somebody bombs? Bombs completely. Do you feel like there's no pressure on you? No, I think there's even more pressure on you because now you're like, whoa, all right, that's bad. I gotta be better than that.
- [22:22]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah. But if you think about it, I guess it depends on how you think about it.
- [22:25]
Don Hahn
Like, I like, to me, give me the standard.
- [22:27]
Alan Rosenberg
We know how hard it is to do this. Okay. This isn't hitting free throws in a pickup game. This is pitching in New York.
- [22:34]
Don Hahn
Oh, yeah.
- [22:35]
Alan Rosenberg
During a pennant race, it's hard. You're not supposed to succeed like this. So if a guy bombs, you're like, all right, he bombed. If I bomb, it's hard. It's supposed to be that way, you know? But when a guy goes out there, makes it look as easy as McClain did first met ever, to go three and. Oh, you can look at it and say, well, the pressure is nobody's expecting me to do that. That's, like, unprecedented. Or, hey, they're gonna expect even more. Like, I wanna be as good as him, and if I'm not, I'm gonna be disappointed. So I guess it's all in your mindset. I think when he said, I gotta be me, it's like, listen, different team, different set of circumstances. I just want him to go out there and pitch well, and if it's as good, better, same as McClain, whatever, just go out there and give the Mets a chance to win. That's all I'm asking.
- [23:19]
Don Hahn
Yeah, show me special, because that's what they say you are. Yeah, show me that.
- [23:22]
Alan Rosenberg
Just. Yeah. Just be yourself. It is all. Should be able to.
- [23:25]
Don Hahn
Well, you have turned me into the biggest. Like, I love the Mets somehow. Well, that's like, my family right now, I gotta tell you, is so happy with how. How positive. I've been talking about the Mets lately.
- [23:36]
Alan Rosenberg
What do you. Is this sarcasm?
- [23:38]
Don Hahn
Yeah.
- [23:38]
Alan Rosenberg
Okay. I was just. Just checking.
- [23:40]
Don Hahn
I was just checking.
- [23:43]
Alan Rosenberg
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- [24:54]
Don Hahn
And there's nothing more satisfying than admiring.
- [24:56]
Alan Rosenberg
Your freshly painted wall. Except maybe peeling off the painter's tape.
- [25:00]
Don Hahn
To see those crisp edges.
- [25:02]
Alan Rosenberg
But the most satisfying part of all, Valspar Ultra's price tag, starting at 29.98 a gallon, affordable, durable, available at Lowe's. Price varies by sheen.
- [25:14]
Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [25:17]
Alan Rosenberg
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
- [25:19]
Don Hahn
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
- [25:27]
Alan Rosenberg
The time continuum has been disrupted, creating an alternate 1985.
- [25:32]
Don Hahn
This is. Hey, doc, are you telling me you.
- [25:34]
Lindsey Berra
Built a time machine?
- [25:36]
Don Hahn
The Thursday rewrite.
- [25:39]
Alan Rosenberg
And the Thursday rewrite is driven by Ramsey, Mazda. Alan Hahn, the floor is yours.
- [25:44]
Don Hahn
Don, I'm going to take you back on this date in 1994. 19 TPC Sawgrass. Now I see already you're getting angry.
- [25:55]
Alan Rosenberg
No, because you know where I'm going. No, I'm gonna. I'm gonna tell you.
- [25:58]
Don Hahn
All right. August of 94. What were you doing?
- [26:00]
Alan Rosenberg
So probably it's sportsphone. Watching. Probably watching golf. Or playing the PGA on Sega.
- [26:10]
Don Hahn
Yeah, I remember.
- [26:11]
Alan Rosenberg
Tall grass is a par three and we'd always try to get the hole in ones because again, I love golf movies. I love golf video games.
- [26:18]
Don Hahn
You just hate golf.
- [26:19]
Alan Rosenberg
I hate golf.
- [26:20]
Don Hahn
It's amazing.
- [26:21]
Alan Rosenberg
Was that the Norman meltdown?
- [26:22]
Don Hahn
No, no. This is the. This is actually the US Amateur. This is the US Open. But the Amateur. Amateur. And an 18 year old young man with a gigantic straw hat, shorts and a golf shirt made of cotton way too big for his skinny little 18 year old body came back from down, I believe six strokes to win his first US Amateur.
- [26:49]
Alan Rosenberg
And that would be.
- [26:50]
Don Hahn
He was heading to Stanford in a couple of weeks to start a college career that would end with a individual national championship and all kinds of accolades.
- [26:59]
Alan Rosenberg
El Tigre.
- [27:00]
Don Hahn
El Tigre. Tiger Woods. He almost didn't make it there. He and his father were in Chicago.
- [27:11]
Lindsey Berra
For.
- [27:14]
Don Hahn
The Western Amateur, okay. And they missed their flight. And so he might not have made it to play in this, but he did. Now he's come back. He came back to win it, I think three times and would then go pro in 1996. And as the legend begins, won the Masters that year and started a run where he was number one. I'm sorry, turned pro 96. But. But he won his Masters in 97 and was number one from June of 97. From August of 90. Damn it. See, these are my notes. August, he was number one in June 97 for the first time. Then he went on a run of like 264 weeks at number one a little bit later on that summer. And that's where the legend grew, began. Nike found him and he was no longer wearing oversized cotton shirts. He changed everything in golf, right? Changed, changed the sport, changed the way it was covered, changed the way people wore clothes. All of it changed. So let's just go back and say that doesn't happen, he doesn't win. He doesn't come back from six strokes down to win. That thing doesn't work out for whatever reason, it just doesn't happen. And so if that magical late night, caught the last flight out of Chicago to get down to Florida to play in this thing and looks like you're going to lose and lose by a lot of. But does what Tiger does on the last day, which is storm back, make incredible shots and win. The legend grew that day when he was 18 years old. If all that doesn't happen, he just fails. Where's golf today? The sport itself, where is it today?
- [29:16]
Alan Rosenberg
It's such a great question because where is it today? As somebody that was around working in the business pre Tiger, it feels like to me and put all my hatred of golf aside, I cover it when I have.
- [29:30]
Don Hahn
You're a sportsman. Yeah.
- [29:32]
Alan Rosenberg
For the job that I do is it feels like where golf is now is where it was before Tiger. I don't. Is it any more popular now because Tiger was in it. Now when Tiger plays Everybody comes out of the woodwork. Because I look at Peter, I've been working with Peter for the last 10 years. And Peter, you know, God love him, is a guy that he's going to follow the story. And Tiger's a story. He was no golf fan before Tiger, but he, like a lot of other people, Tiger made him interested. And if Tiger was playing right now, it's a Thursday and something, oh, he would be following what Tiger's doing. I haven't seen Peter care since Tiger hasn't played. So I can't speak for everybody. I'm sure there are people that fell in love with it and have stuck with it, but is it enough to move the needle? It feels like to me, it's where it was before Tiger. So I guess golf would have just marched on and forever never changed. And there'd be big moments and here and there, because there are some guys that you get excited about, but it feels like to me, the people that jumped on the bandwagon, jumped off. How do you feel about it? Am I wrong?
- [30:42]
Don Hahn
No, I think the difference now and because numbers and everything else, I think, you know, well, it's so popular and there's way more people watching and all that stuff. I. I think that is all residual effect of the interest in it that I believe that he brought. I don't think you have Bryson DeChambeau. I don't think you have like the players that have put so much into their instance themselves physically for the sport, because that's what Tiger did. I don't think you have what we have now. It's an incredible culture. Golf is not an old man's game anymore. Golf was an old man's game then. I covered two US opens in the 90s. That's an old man's game. Yeah, like those are that in that era, it was still about the older guys and it was still a game played by older guys. Tiger comes along and the game started being played by younger guys. And I'm not talking about on the tour, I'm talking about in every golf club in your neighborhood. And I do think as well, pro athletes play golf now, like every sport that's their off season is golf. Like NBA players play golf. You never heard about that. It was very rare. Hockey players, it's all they do is play golf.
- [31:57]
Alan Rosenberg
Yeah.
- [31:58]
Don Hahn
It has become something that pro athletes have gone to as an off season thing. It's a younger band's game. It's a more physical game. And I do think that Tiger and I look, I'm not breaking new ground here. Tiger changed golf. Like, that's, that's not that. That's not an. That's a. That's a statement. It's not an understatement, overstate. It's not a take. It's. It's. We all acknowledge.
- [32:19]
Alan Rosenberg
Oh, when he was in it, he made it more than relevant. It became the biggest. Tiger was huge.
- [32:24]
Don Hahn
It was front page, back page. Right. It was all that stuff like the US Open's going on right now in Flushing. And we all know that when it's in New York and it's happening, it's interesting and it's important, it's being covered. But we can also agree that there was also in that same time what Andre Agassi did for tennis in the US that that's not happening anymore. Right, Right. Like, even, even with McEnroe and Connors and those guys from that era. And like you were watching and it was interesting, but it really hasn't been the same since the Agassiz Sampras era where you were. And maybe erotic at the very end, like you just aren't as compelled. It's not back page, man.
- [33:05]
Alan Rosenberg
Here's why I think it went back to the way it did before, is that the majors are the majors, but when Tiger was in a major, it became a huge story and it dominated.
- [33:14]
Don Hahn
He's either winning or he's chasing you. Right.
- [33:17]
Alan Rosenberg
Or he had a meltdown. It became a story because he didn't make the game. Towards the end, when he wasn't making cuts, it became a story. But we're talking about two different things here. The popularity of the sport on television and its relevancy in the sports landscape. I think it's reverted back to where it was before. What I can't speak to and only guess is, are there people playing golf now that would not have played golf if it wasn't for Tiger Woods? They picked it up because they like Tiger. And now that they fell in love with the sport, they're addicted to the sport. Are there more African Americans playing it? Are there more people of color playing in it before Attack? I would have to think there are.
- [33:52]
Don Hahn
But that's like the first time now. He had been already considered like one of the top, you know, junior amateurs, you know, when he's 14, 15 years old, like he was already within the sport, being recognized for his talent. So this is not like the 18 year old winning the amateur was. Was not like this out of nowhere, you know, one hit wonder kind of thing. Like, this wasn't a guy who came out of nowhere, they all saw it coming. So I'm not trying to suggest that. All I'm saying is that's like the first true moment of something on a national level where it's like, this kid's the goods.
- [34:25]
Alan Rosenberg
Oh, yeah. Well, he was.
- [34:26]
Don Hahn
And that's why I'm saying if something goes wrong there, for whatever it is and it doesn't hit, the golf is clearly not the same today. But what would it look like?
- [34:38]
Alan Rosenberg
I think you nailed it. Like, it's an old man sport. Like, they became more athletes. They wanted to hit the ball farther. They conditioned themselves because you would see guys that would play on the Senior tour, and maybe they would still play a little bit and maybe make a run. That the whole. The jack run in 86, when he surprised everybody, won the Masters. What was he, 46 years old at the time, which doesn't seem very old, right? But at the time, it was like, oh, my God, this old man comes out of nowhere and wins it at the age of 46. It definitely seems like it's more athletic, younger. But what I also find interesting about your question is that part of the problem with Tiger, when he was so dominant, he didn't have a rival, there were guys that kind of challenged him a little bit, but nobody could stick with him. And now the Tiger's gone. There are dominant golfers, but they're being measured up to what Tiger was, and they can't come close. So in some ways, did it make it less fun because he set such a standard nobody else can live to? So it makes it almost less exciting. It's like imagine after Ruth left baseball. Nobody's hitting 60 home runs, so you kind of made that unfun. Now nobody else is challenging that. It would take forever for finally somebody to challenge that. Rivalries or Gretzky, you know, Gretzky scores 92. Lemieux came close, but like you said, a standard. And now the best goal scorers are guys that score, like, maybe. Maybe mid-50s, 60. So to a certain generation, like, I remember guys scoring 30 goals more than that. Like, so in. In a way, did it hurt? It did. He set such a precedent that now true greatness doesn't seem as great because it's nowhere close to what we saw Tiger do.
- [36:16]
Don Hahn
Mickelson was probably the closest. Not rival, but, like, Mickelson really captured a lot of people's attention. And because he was so crafty and so good. And, you know, I. I think that.
- [36:27]
Alan Rosenberg
Garcia for a little bit, but it was very Quick. Nobody could chant. Nobody was able to really challenge him any significance.
- [36:34]
Don Hahn
Yeah. But it just shows you, though, one moment in time. And you go back 30 years, 31 years ago, and from that point forward, the sport just would not be the same. And it's funny that there he was. I was watching the video. There he is in a straw hat with a shirt that just way too big for him and cotton, of all things. But now everything is obviously the sports performance material. And then shorts. Like just the whole look. Didn't tell you. This guy is about to turn the sport around and drag it into mainstream and become the biggest thing on the planet. You didn't see that, but it did.
- [37:13]
Alan Rosenberg
Oh, without question it did.
- [37:15]
Don Hahn
And all it took was one bad swing.
- [37:17]
Alan Rosenberg
Golf before Tiger is kind of like you would. If there was a. If it was a sports talk show host, there was a big golf guy would probably mention, hey, it's the Masters this weekend, maybe talk about it on Monday. If something special happened, like Mad Dog.
- [37:32]
Don Hahn
Used to a tennis.
- [37:33]
Alan Rosenberg
Right, exactly. You would have to. You would have to have a host that was into golf or have a moment like Norman's meltdown or just. Or when Jack won the Masters. There'd be certain moments. But when Tiger was in every major became the story, of course, of that weekend. How he did, how much did he win by, or the fact that he didn't win for some reason. And then he became just his life after or when he went off of the. With all the different things, he just became the biggest athlete on the planet. And everybody following every move that he.
- [38:08]
Don Hahn
Made, they become Michael Jordan.
- [38:09]
Alan Rosenberg
And it just. Yeah, he was Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, like, he was up there at that length. But it's an interesting question from. I think from a popularity standpoint, it's reverted back. But what would be interesting to see the demographics of the people that play.
- [38:23]
Don Hahn
Oh, there's no question. Changed everything. Right.
- [38:27]
Alan Rosenberg
There are people that never paid attention to the sport of golf that all of a sudden had a reason to watch.
- [38:31]
Don Hahn
Yeah.
- [38:31]
Alan Rosenberg
And all you need is to drag them in or get them a chance to play, and then they become addicted and then they want to play. That's all any sport wants to do is get that moment where all of a sudden you become relevant and now people want to do it. There are people that believe that there's people probably. If the 1980 Olympics didn't happen for Team USA, would there be a Mike Madonna? Would there be a Brian Leach? Like, how many kids pick. Well, Leach already was playing, but, you know, like Madonna was. That was eight years later he was drafted first overall. How many Americans don't bother to pick up a hockey stick or bother to follow the sport? If they didn't have that moment where they had to watch the rushing game, then they, then they had to watch the Finland game. Now they're in their hook. Right. You need something to get them in. That's why Four nations was so big.
- [39:17]
Don Hahn
Yep.
- [39:17]
Alan Rosenberg
That's why when you get like a great World Series, like the Yankees and the Dodgers, I mean, even though it wasn't a great World Series, but when you get two big markets get people interested, why, hey, I like this sport. Everybody's looking that hook. And boy, Tiger was the hook. How many people were actually hooked? I don't know.
- [39:32]
Don Hahn
But what other sport has seen something like that? And I think again, you think of Michael Jordan and the attraction that Jordan had brought. But I think that bird and magic, like, it's hard to really, because the, the sport of golf wasn't attracting young fans and young athletes.
- [39:57]
Alan Rosenberg
And also until different ethnicities, not only was it an old man sport, it was a white old man sport.
- [40:03]
Don Hahn
Yeah, you only you didn't have, like. But, but it's just, it, it does change so much. If you think because every other sport has an, has an appeal to young people. Now, again, Tiger got into golf because his father loved it so much. And it's from a very young age he had him playing like, that's just. He was, he was drawn to it.
- [40:20]
Alan Rosenberg
What, what show was he on when he was like three years old? Putts.
- [40:23]
Don Hahn
Yeah. One of the talk shows. Yeah, but it's, it's his. Michael Douglas, his presence.
- [40:31]
Alan Rosenberg
Not Michael Douglas. Was it Mike Douglas? Mike Douglas, yeah.
- [40:36]
Don Hahn
Was it?
- [40:36]
Alan Rosenberg
I think it was.
- [40:37]
Don Hahn
I can't remember the. I did. I don't know. I did some research. I didn't do all that.
- [40:42]
Alan Rosenberg
No, you did great. I see they got the notebook.
- [40:44]
Don Hahn
I do. But I just don't know if you can really compare it to any other figure in sports. You take a sport that was very, very much in a very small demographic when it comes to attraction, playing wise, and it opened up to a whole other generation. Like, think about it. We're at least what, two generations now, and it's totally different. You go to any golf course around this area and we've got tons of them, you're going to see a widespread of age and ethnicity out there.
- [41:22]
Alan Rosenberg
The quote that I always. When you talk about like, like race and sports, I remember reading a book and Hank Aaron said one time Said I watch hockey. I don't get into it. I don't see myself in it. That's what he said. No offense to because he was an African American. Didn't see any African Americans. Didn't relate to it. So I'm sure there are a lot of people like I see golf is on. I walk into different places, I see it's on but I don't see myself not relatable. I see a bunch of 40 year old men playing golf. I'm a 25 year old black man or 24 year old.
- [41:55]
Don Hahn
Yeah, I don't fit in there.
- [41:56]
Alan Rosenberg
Hispanic. This is not for me. That's you know. And he was able to bring all different type of ethnicities and younger audiences and. Yeah, but how much does it ultimately change it now as we've. As it ends? It's a great question.
- [42:12]
Don Hahn
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
- [42:15]
Alan Rosenberg
I didn't listen to anything you just said.
- [42:17]
Don Hahn
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
- [42:25]
Alan Rosenberg
Just before we had the Thursday rewrite which was driven by Ramsey Mazda. It's the experience of driving a new Mazda and buying a new Mazda from Ramsey Mazda. Choose wisely. Ramsey Mazda. Now football season's close, so not this Sunday. Next Sunday the Jets Giants both will start their 2025 seasons and there's been this groundswell of people led by Mike Tannenbaum and other people here at our own network who think that Jackson Dart, because of his camp, because of his preseason should be the Game 1 starter for the Giants. Well, Alan and I are going to tell you another example of the million why that should not be the case. Andrew Thomas spoke today, left tackle for the New York Giants. He's been out but the Liz Frank, which is listen, Michael Strahan went through it. A lot of professional athletes it's not easy to come back from the talk from Shane's been he should be ready for the start of the season. But Andrew spoke today on making sure he doesn't rush back.
- [43:27]
Don Hahn
Yeah, I'm just trying not to, I.
- [43:28]
Alan Rosenberg
Guess give myself a deadline and obviously I want to be back but I don't feel comfortable to be able to perform at the level I think I can. I don't think it makes sense for me to be out there now. Andrew Thomas, when do you think you'll know when you're ready to return? I think it just takes time because it's the most I've done, you know, to this point. So we'll see what the Plan is for next week and then go from there. Now that's smart, right? You don't want to rush back. You're really important. You protect the blind side of your quarterback. But isn't that just another example where it's possible that my Pro bowl left tackle is not going to be available on why not to start Jackson Dart week one against Washington?
- [44:06]
Don Hahn
Absolutely. They have James Hudson they signed as a free agent and he'll probably be the one that starts a left tackle to start the year. Their offensive line is better, but it's not, it's still not really good. It's still, there are still question marks with it, especially depth wise. And that's just another reason why it makes sense. Go at a veteran who's very elusive, who knows how to run around and avoid being tackled. Like we know Russ, this is what he does sometimes to a fault. So that's literally why if you're not really going to have Andrew Thomas until week six, even if it's after week four. But he's still got to work his way into game shape. Remember he, he was on the PUP list throughout the whole off season. He only played six games last year. You don't think he's just going to step into games and just, you know, play the whole game, right? A left tackle, it's going to take some time to build them up. So it does play into the game plan of taking their time with Jackson Dart until they think a he's ready, the team's ready for him. And I would think that Andrew Thomas being back at left tackle and playing the majority of snaps there would probably be the most optimal situation to put your rookie quarterback in.
- [45:22]
Alan Rosenberg
And you know, and I can already in my mind hear like Mike Tannenbaum saying, well, you know what, if you're, if you're ready to start, you're ready to start. You're not guaranteed to always have a healthy offensive line. What are you going to pull them out of game two if one of your offensive linemen gets hurt? Like, I can almost hear the retort. And my retort to that is, well, when you can control it, you can control it.
- [45:43]
Don Hahn
Yep.
- [45:44]
Alan Rosenberg
You know, and if I don't have Andrew Thomas protecting his blind side, then I don't think it makes perfect sense for him to go out there and play if he doesn't have to play. If Russell Wilson gets killed, I feel bad for him. But as far as the future of the organization, it's not being damaged. All right, I've got a veteran backup to jump in But I'm not going to have my guy killed. I saw what happened to Carr in Houston when he was the first overall pick and got sacked by more than anybody in history of football. It's possible he might have been a really good quarterback that didn't turn out to be anything. So there's the Giants of it. Darren Mugi spoke today for the jets, their general manager. He says he likes the wide receiver room.
- [46:18]
Don Hahn
I like the room as a whole. Obviously it starts with Garrett, as you mentioned, and look forward to seeing him this year. We'll move him around, he can do it all. And then the pieces that go around him, I think we've got pieces that complement each other there. We've got three guys in, Josh Reynolds, Lazard, Tyler Johnson. They've all played in the lead and had success. Bigger bodies, you can move them around, they can block in the run game. Then you got the speed piece with Arian and Gip. Gip's got speed, he can play inside. We'll find ways to get him some touches as well. So I feel really good about the room as a whole.
- [46:52]
Alan Rosenberg
Now your starters are Wilson, Lazard and Reynolds.
- [46:55]
Don Hahn
That doesn't inspire much. You know, Garrett's a star, but the rest of it, he's a star. They need to upgrade it.
- [47:03]
Alan Rosenberg
Gibson's a fun story.
- [47:04]
Don Hahn
He's more of a special teams guy. He's a fun story. But that's.
- [47:08]
Alan Rosenberg
But, but you know, Smith is. You're going pretty deep. I don't expect him to be bashing the wide receiver role, but clearly Malachi.
- [47:16]
Don Hahn
Corley was a third round pick that they thought at least Joe Douglas thought right. You know, could have a big impact at that position in multiple ways and he, they caught him.
- [47:27]
Alan Rosenberg
So. And I know it's not a wide receiver, but what are you doing to tight end?
- [47:32]
Don Hahn
Well, then they just, they not just bring it in.
- [47:37]
Alan Rosenberg
You've got. They have some Rucker Taylor and Smart as your tight ends right now. Rucker's a great story.
- [47:43]
Don Hahn
They brought in Jelani woods from the Colts as well.
- [47:47]
Alan Rosenberg
Who has, who's had injury issues.
- [47:50]
Don Hahn
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, but you know, like you just try to hope you can turn something there, but they definitely were looking for depth of that position because they aren't in love with it. No.
- [47:59]
Alan Rosenberg
And so what we're talking about from the. Not in love with the tight ends, not really in love with the wide receivers is why they're going to be a running team. Right. I mean, that's primarily why they're going to do. I'D like to see Justin Fields throw downfield to see if he can do it in the future, but clearly it's an issue because they just don't have big time wide receivers but. Well, they do have a big time wide receiver in Wilson, but they don't have a lot of depth there. No, you can't be in love with the wide receiver room no matter what.
- [48:23]
Don Hahn
Your general neighbors like last year, he's so good, but it was hard to really utilize what he is because there was nobody else.
- [48:30]
Alan Rosenberg
One wide receiver, unless he's like 7ft tall is going to climb over defensive backs. They're going to double team. It's really going to be a challenge, you know, now the great ones find a way. I get that and I think Wilson's really special. But you'd like to have a little bit of depth there.
- [48:43]
Don Hahn
Yes.
- [48:44]
Alan Rosenberg
And they don't. So they could be a primarily running. They're going to run, they're going to.
- [48:47]
Don Hahn
Use the offensive line, they're going to have Fields do a lot of running and they're just hoping to find something in Fields this year that gives them reason to believe he's the guy. But I don't know. I honestly don't know what he can do this year that would tell you that. Oh wow, he's better than we thought he was.
- [49:02]
Alan Rosenberg
Calling all football Fans, enter the ESPN New York Survivor sweepstakes for a chance to win $5,000. Make your pick each week of the the football season and find out how you stack up against your friends and favorite ESPN hosts. But be careful. One wrong pick and you'll be eliminated. The last one standing will take home the title of the second annual ESPN New York Survivor sweepstakes champion and $5,000. Please enter now at ESPN New York app. It's all powered by Splash Sports.com thanks.
- [49:34]
Don Hahn
For listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the sausage is made, man. I just want to know. It's good here, man. More of Don Allen and Peter weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers.