Don, Hahn & Rosenberg: “Hour 2: MLB Cold Stove & Talk About It”

Date: December 16, 2025
Hosts: Don La Greca, Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg (Peter is away this episode)

Overview

This lively episode of Don, Hahn & Rosenberg covers two major threads:

1. The culture and meaning behind championship banners in Madison Square Garden (MSG) and comparable sports accolades, particularly in light of the new NBA Cup.
2. Frustrations with the “cold stove” – the sluggish MLB free agency period – and its impact on fans and sports media.
   The hosts also dive into New York winter woes for “Talk About It Tuesday,” bringing in gripes and listener calls about snow clearing etiquette.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. MSG Banners, the New NBA Cup & Fan Perceptions

Starts ~00:44

Examining MSG’s Eclectic Banner Collection

• Don details the various banners hanging in MSG, noting how they range from championship wins (1969-70, 1972-73) to regular season and division titles, conference finalists, and even banners for entertainers like Billy Joel and Elton John.
  • Don: “You’ve got all kinds of banners... is it going to... because John’s argument was, I haven’t seen a champion. Nobody is saying this is a quote unquote championship. You won the NBA Cup. You compete for a cup. It’s a mid-season tournament, you won it. Nobody’s going to call you the champions of the cup.” (04:12)
• Rosenberg points out how redundancy creeps in, like Rangers banners for both President’s Trophy (best record) and division wins in the same season.
  • Don: “Which is redundant because if you win the President’s Trophy, of course you won your division.” (02:59)

NBA Cup: Meaningful or Meaningless?

• The hosts debate how (and if) to value the new NBA Cup – is winning it worthy of celebration, a banner, or even considered a “championship” by fans?
  • Rosenberg: “The NBA will [call you champions], but that’s it.” (04:33)
  • Don: “When you’re having a conversation about your team winning a championship...he’s not going to throw it out there because it’s not a championship, but it’s a cool thing to have.” (05:11)
• They relate to past non-championship banners, like wild card births and division titles in MLB and NHL.
  • Rosenberg: “To make a wild card is not something to celebrate. You don’t put a banner up saying you made the wild card that year. That doesn’t count.” (07:17)
• Fan engagement: They note that despite some dismissiveness from fans, for players, the Cup offers a sense of “vibe that we are winners,” quoting Karl Anthony-Towns.
  • Rosenberg, quoting KAT: “[It’s] poignant...as a team, you want that vibe that we are winners.” (05:22)

The “Who Cares?” Dilemma

• Don challenges the energy some fans spend actively rooting against their own team in a lesser tournament.
  • Don: “To root against them...I think you’re miserable.” (19:04)
• Listener Alex calls in, arguing fans should just “enjoy the Cup” if the players care. Don agrees.
  • Alex: “If the players are into it, the fans should be into it. That’s all I had to say.” (18:00)
  • Don: “Why do you worry about what other people think? You’re a sports fan. You shouldn’t expect other people to get it.” (19:01)
• They highlight the hypocrisy of sports fandom – fans dismissing mid-season cups or wild cards often crave anything worth celebrating after years of disappointment.

Dangers of the NBA Cup: Injuries in “Meaningless” Games

• Both highlight a doomsday scenario: if a star gets hurt in the NBA Cup final, public and media backlash against the tournament could be severe and lasting.
  • Don: “If somebody gets hurt...tomorrow is going to be morbid and people will curse this cup till kingdom come.” (41:24)
  • Rosenberg: “That’d be hard to explain...the NBA might have to revisit it.” (43:34)
• They also touch on the oddity that stats from the Cup final don’t count toward season totals, creating statistical limbo.
  • Rosenberg: “If Jalen Brunson goes for 65 points...that wouldn’t count.” (42:22)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Don: “I’d rather you criticize me for winning than losing.” (19:01)
• Don: “But if somebody gets hurt, people will curse this cup till kingdom come.” (41:27)
• Rosenberg: “It’s a game. What else is going on? They’re keeping score. The winner gets a trophy.” (40:54)

2. MLB Free Agency: The Cold Stove Problem

Starts ~09:07

The Drag of Baseball’s Offseason

• Don rants about how slow MLB free agency has become compared to the rapid “frenzy” of signing periods in the NFL, NBA, or NHL.
  • Don: “Other sports say free agency starts at 3 o’clock...everybody is already signed, at least the big names anyway...isn’t that better than waiting all winter long just waiting for something to happen?” (10:26)
  • Rosenberg: “The NBA, July 1st (now actually June 30th)...the NHL, shotgun wedding, 12:01am let’s go. Putting a ring on it or not. And it gets crazy. And it’s a lot of fun...Baseball? Nothing. It’s nothing like it.” (11:17)
• The lack of urgency lets MLB fade into background noise as football and holidays dominate the landscape.
  • Don: “The worst thing for baseball is that when the holidays come...people are distracted...football takes over...and a lot of people in sports media take time off.” (13:24)

The Media and Fan Impact

• The hosts bemoan how a big signing could easily go unnoticed because media and fans are checked out in December.
  • Don: “Don’t you want to know that all the hosts on the sports stations are around...all the ducks are in a row so you can get the most attention possible?” (14:18)
  • Rosenberg: “You want a beginning and an end. You want bookends...the prime signing time is in this window. Everybody now knows...with baseball, I’m sitting down and I’m watching, and then you wait and you wait, then finally get up and leave because, well, I guess nothing’s happening.” (14:27)

Players, Agents & Systemic Stagnation

• They acknowledge the strategic reasons for slow deals (agent leverage, injuries, “twist in the wind”) but see it as fundamentally damaging for fan interest.
  • Rosenberg: “If you don’t get offers that you like, you wait it out and see if a team gets desperate. That used to be the wrong way to do it because the money dries up. If we get a cap sport with baseball, that'll change.” (16:42)

Notable Quotes

• Rosenberg: “Nobody cares, Donnie.” (11:17)
• Don: “You can’t be arrogant enough for that. You got the holidays, you’ve got football, playoff football. There’s a lot of things going on, and you don’t want to have to be secondary.” (15:15)

3. Talk About It Tuesday: Snow Removal Etiquette & Winter Woes

Starts ~21:35

Don’s Rant: Clean Off Your Car!

• Don recounts navigating hazardous roads after a Jersey snowstorm because so many drivers failed to clean snow off their car roofs – a danger and a pet peeve.
  • Don: “I’m in a blizzard for like six miles because I can’t get around these cars. Now if you know one of your cubes is about to explode, maybe you didn’t have time to do it. But why do I have a feeling it was just you’re too lazy.” (23:05)
  • “It’s dangerous and it is illegal. You can get a ticket for that.” (24:39)

Creative (and Dangerous) Solutions

• Rosenberg suggests using a backpack leaf blower for cleaning snow; Don jokes about seeing videos of flamethrowers in use.
  • Rosenberg: “If you try it on the roof of your car, I wonder if it’ll work as well.” (26:51)
  • Don: “Some people are dangerous...setting fire to themselves or their house.” (28:29)

Neighbor Etiquette: Snowblowers

• Don laments neighbors blowing snow from their sidewalks into the street instead of over their lawns, adding to communal mess (27:00).

Listener Callers: Enforcement & Empathy

• Danny, a former police officer, calls in to decry “porthole drivers” (those who only scrape a small circle in their windshield), vowing he’d issue tickets if he could (32:28).
  • “You have to clean off your car and there’s no excuse for it.” (32:28)

DIY Headaches: Snowblower Meltdowns

• Both hosts hilariously bemoan the high-anxiety experience of trying to start temperamental snowblowers in the cold, likening it to scenes from A Christmas Story.
  • Rosenberg: “The amount of cursing that came out...I was the father in A Christmas Story when he’s battling with the burner.” (31:07)
  • Don: “Trying to start the damn thing is going to give me a heart attack faster than shoveling the snow.” (31:25)

4. What Makes a “Big Game”: Fan Perspective & Regular Season Meaning

Starts ~33:15, 38:23

Knicks, Islanders, and Defining Stakes

• Don and Rosenberg discuss how a “big game” is entirely in the eye of the beholder. For fanbases hungry for meaningful moments, a random December game or even the NBA Cup might be a legitimately big deal.
  • Don: “Maybe to the rest of the world, it’s not...because for Ranger fans, tonight’s a big game. For Islander fans, tonight’s a big game. And for Karl Anthony Towns, he thinks this is going to be a stepping stone to possibly winning the title. So it’s all in the eye of the beholder.” (39:54)
  • Rosenberg: “If it moves me, I don’t care if it doesn’t move you. What the NBA wants is just more people that it moves than not moves.” (39:56)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |------------|--------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:12 | Don Hahn | "You’ve got all kinds of banners... John’s argument was, I haven’t seen a champion... You win the NBA Cup... Nobody’s going to call you the champions of the cup." | | 05:22 | Rosenberg | "It is...what does it mean in the grand scheme? Nothing other than what Karl Anthony Towns said... as a team, you want that vibe that we are winners." | | 11:17 | Rosenberg | “Baseball? Nothing. It’s nothing like it. It just...you wait, and then you finally get up and leave because, well, I guess nothing’s happening.” | | 19:04 | Don Hahn | "Why do you worry about what other people think? You’re a sports fan... you shouldn't expect other people to get it." | | 23:05 | Don Hahn | "I’m in a blizzard for like six miles because I can’t get around these cars... it was just you’re too lazy." | | 31:07 | Rosenberg | “The amount of cursing that came out... I was the father in A Christmas Story when he’s battling with the burner. That was me.” | | 39:54 | Don Hahn | “Maybe to the rest of the world, it’s not... because for Ranger fans, tonight’s a big game. For Islander fans, tonight’s a big game... It's all in the eye of the beholder.” | | 41:24 | Don Hahn | "If somebody gets hurt... people will curse this cup till kingdom come." | | 42:22 | Rosenberg | "If Jalen Brunson goes for 65 points... that wouldn’t count [in the record books]." |

Timestamps for Major Segments

• MSG Banners & NBA Cup Meaning: 00:44 – 08:46
• MLB Free Agency & Winter Meetings Rant: 09:07 – 16:42
• Talk About It Tuesday (Snow removal, etiquette): 21:35 – 32:28
• Caller Segment: “Big Game” for Knicks or Islanders: 32:28 – 36:10
• Fan Perspective on Big Games: 38:23 – 40:12
• NBA Cup Injury Risks & Stat Oddities: 41:24 – 46:14

Tone & Style

• Conversational, New York-centric, exasperated-yet-humorous.
• Hosts riff with each other and callers, sharing anecdotes, rants, and plenty of sarcasm—an “insider” tone for local sports fans.

Summary Takeaway

• The NBA Cup is both a gimmick and, for many fans and players, a legitimate “something” to root for—especially for teams with little recent success.
• MLB’s slow free agency hurts fan engagement and media attention, especially in New York.
• Sports fandom’s meaning is deeply personal: if it moves you, it matters, whether it’s a December Islanders game, a mid-season tournament, or just finally getting your car cleared after a snowstorm.
• And yes, clean the snow off your car. Everyone hates you if you don’t.