
Don, Hahn & Rosenberg on ESPN NY
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A
So good, so good, so good. Score.
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This is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
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That sounds like heaven to me.
C
Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app, and your smart speakers, Don.
A
On and Rosenberg take you up until 7 o' clock and then Ty Butler will lead you into spurs and Knicks. It's all on the table to talk about. We did a lot today. The NBA Cup, Mets and Yankees off season, what's going on with the local hockey teams. And of course, football. Always a popular discussion, maybe not necessarily about the New York teams, although you just brought it up during the breaks about, you know, now it's all starting to come out about Wilkes and the players didn't like him. And, you know, several reports about, like.
C
How it's just players had reached a point where they just. They were really frustrated with his system.
A
Right.
C
And how stubborn he was when they came to him about how, look, this isn't working. They wanted to have input. And he just kept saying, trust the system, trust the system. And they were. So you have just like players who don't have their heart in it. And then you watch how they tackle or their lack thereof when they tackle. It kind of shows you.
A
I don't like. I don't really care about any of that. It's just players talking. I thought the jets were trying to button all that up.
C
So, so funny you say that, right. Glenn wanted to stop the leaks. But you have to understand, the jets are one of the leakiest franchises in of all the New York teams. They have to be the leakiest of them all.
A
Yeah. And that's what you want to stop. So listen, are they telling state secrets or whatever? But still, you want to keep all that in house. It was taken care of. You got the reason from. From Glenn and leave it at that. But the players all of a sudden get chatty. Moose in Jamaica has been on hold for a while. You're on ESPN New York. What's up, Moose?
D
Evening, fellas. Season greetings. Happy holidays.
A
You too, man.
D
Thank you. Yes. Alan. Everybody, ESPN New York. If I haven't said it to you personally, quickly on the Mets, quickly put you were the best team in baseball June 12 and then decided to gradually fall so you couldn't get back up. So what do you think? David Stearns, a smart man with a core that's been enacted on the team for five years as a wonder, you think it's going to do so? Like that's the bright side for Mets fans from a Yankee perspective because as a Yankee fan struggling with a team not winning a World Series in 16 years, we are doing the same thing again and the Mets are trying to do something different because they believe doing the same thing again and doing and expecting a different result is somewhat insanity while the Yankees go from having too many right handed hitters to too many left handed and all that stuff. But that being said, what do you think about the rumors about Michael King or Muratami or Imani coming to the Yankees? And you discuss a little bit about the Mets and their trade possibilities. But do you see a way where the Mets maybe include some of their highly touted prospects not in trades, but to play a major role in a winning season with veterans that have been there, done that so they can have a young wave like other teams that have gone from 0 to 100?
A
Well, I mean first, first of all, I don't think the Yankees are going to be in the market for any starting pitching because as much as they're going to need it at the beginning of the year with the injuries, they feel like they're set there as far as the young players are concerned. I mean, I think the Mets look at the three young pitchers that got called up last year as being a part of this rotation, especially McLean. I think he's got a chance.
C
McLean is it to be their ace? Is Jonah Tong ready? Like he had better. Have a great offseason.
A
Listen, great offseason, great. I think they'll be given a chance to win the job if one or two of them are a part of the rotation. That's. I think that's a plus.
C
McLean feels like the guy though that like you can not pencil in like you, you feel like he feels like he's going to be a rotation guy. He's the way he pitched down the stretch. He looks like a guy that's got it. It's the other two that you don't want to rush.
A
Right.
C
You want to see because they both guys were, you know, they looked like they might not be ready, but they could have great off seasons, have a great spring training and suddenly one jobs.
A
Yeah.
C
So we'll see.
A
I think. Well, they got a taste of it last year and we'll see if they can grow into being something a part of the 2026 season.
E
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Go to Janine Bashore. You're on ESPN New York.
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Hello.
D
Hi, gentlemen. Good evening. Yeah, I was just calling. I've had a theory. For a few weeks, I was thinking about this, like, the Madden curse, the COVID of the game and how, you know, players getting hurt or, you know, even hard knocks. I was thinking about the Hallmark Channel movies with. Last year they had a movie with Kansas City, and this year, Bill.
C
Yeah.
A
Wow. I saw the Kansas City one, the.
C
Bills one they just released recently, and that one's out.
A
Yeah.
C
It's usually like, somebody that works for the team has, like, some romance with somebody else, and it just.
A
Yeah, but Kansas City did go to the Super Bowl. So you're saying the curse was they lost the Super Bowl. And what, you think the Bills won't win now because they were in a Hallmark movie?
D
Well, I was thinking about it maybe like a couple of weeks ago, but now, like, the Bills seem to have, like, a spark again.
C
They have turned it around.
A
Yeah, but what would be interesting, though.
C
But what would be interesting, like, this is something to watch. If the Bills lose and then Josh Allen gets hurt next year, then you can start saying you don't want your team being a Hallmark Channel movie.
A
Well, as somebody that saw the Kansas City one, as I. Sure you did, is that, I guess somebody lost the hat again. There was a hat they had at the store that was purchased way back in, like, the beginning of the franchise or whatever. And then when they were good, when they had the hat, they always won. And then the hat, like, disappeared for a few decades. And that was during that time when, you know, the Todd Blackledge era, where they didn't do anything. And then they rediscovered the hat again and they started winning again. And then they had, like, stories about Time like somebody stole it for a year. It was corny. They're all corny. Yeah. But you get. You do get sucked in the thing of the brilliance of those movies. And if you have a wife or girlfriend, I'm sure you've seen a bunch of them. They're just always on the same premise. You know, it's a fish out of water story of going back home. Back home or going to. You know, the big city girl ends up in Alaska and meets the town doctor. They don't like each other, but by the end of the movie their attention is there. It's all. It's. But it's a formula that works.
C
Of course it is. You know how it ends. But what I think is really the allure is the fact that it's like asmr. It's. Everything is perfect. Visually. Everything looks nice. You ever notice that all these towns they have. In Main street, it's a little bit of snow, but not too much to be a problem. Like, it's like everything looks so great. It just feels like a fantasy world that everybody's.
A
Yeah. And.
C
Valerie Bure's wife is in every movie. Yeah.
A
From Full House.
C
Yeah.
A
A gold what's around.
C
No, what's her name? Candace Cameron. Yeah.
A
Yeah.
C
She. She's like in every one of these movies it seems she's a.
A
Well, there. There's the same. Like three or four women.
C
Yep.
A
And all of them like look like another famous actress. Like there's one that looks just like Jennifer, love you. It's not Jennifer, love you it. She looks like Jennifer love you it. And there's another one that looks like an actress I can't think of, like a doppelganger. And they throw in a couple of people that have been in things before. Oh, absolutely. Brian Doyle Murray. They'll throw him in.
C
I know who that is.
A
And there's enough there. But you're so right. The one that Nancy had on the other night, she's going to Alaska. And there's the. I think it's Brian Doylemer, the one that's the older brother, the Bill. The one that's always like chubby. He was in Caddyshack when he was skinny.
C
Okay.
A
And he's chubby now and he's Santa Claus. But he's not saying he's Santa Claus. They're up in Alaska. No, it's Alaska in December. And you're right, everything's perfect. They've got the. They've got the hat and. And the scarf. But it's all like Very loose. Like, believe me, bundled up. You wouldn't see any skin if you were in Alaska in December.
C
I was in Anchorage in December many years ago. Like mid, like 2005, something like that.
A
Okay.
C
You couldn't walk down the block.
A
No.
C
It was freezing and it was dark most of the time. You had light for like eight hours. You didn't have much light. So they, them doing this Christmas December movie in Alaska. It's, it's. First of all, they're definitely not filming it there. Second of all, it can't possibly be true because it's always dark.
A
Always dark and way too cold to.
C
Be outside walking around with your little.
A
Hot cocoa and the thing that sucks you, you know they're going to end up together. But it's, it's again, the formula is they don't like each other and they start to fall and then something happens that separates them. Like the boyfriend comes to visit and. And then they end up together and it's all great. It's. They think they figured out the formula.
C
Yeah.
A
Like Star Trek. There were. Star Trek had six premises and they made it work. This has like four or five of the same script, but they kind of change. They change a little subtleties where it is and all that. Different actors and actresses and stuff. But they make a work format and they start and they run these things like beginning in like September and just run them right.
C
They must get unbelievable ratings because again, think of the budget to put all these together together and pay everybody to do it. And it's all the same stuff, but it must do well. And for every man out there, you're just hoping that there's something for you at the end of the rainbow if you're going to sit through something like this. Right. What am I getting?
A
That's right. I'm getting something.
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C
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
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I didn't listen to anything you just said.
C
Catch the show on demand whenever you want. Just subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
A
So Wemby has spoken, I guess it looks like on NBA TV in preparation for the cup championship. Tonight, 8:30 on prime and coverage right here on ESPN New York will begin at 8:00 clock and here's what Victor had to say, talking about the Knicks. They don't play a brand of basketball as sophisticated as the Miami Heat or the Thunder, but their physicality is top in the league. So it's a very tough team to play against. So is that a backhanded compliment?
C
No.
A
Or is it an accurate assessment?
C
He's French. Everything he says sounds like a backhanded compliment. He can't help him. It's just the accent. He's very thoughtful. I don't quite understand what he's trying to say. When it comes to sophisticated as Miami, Miami's offense is not sophisticated. Miami's offense is go score early in the shot clock.
A
Now what about the Thunder? Let me ask you this. Are the Thunder and the Heat similar in styles?
C
No, not even close.
A
So what is he saying?
C
I don't know because again, it could.
A
Be a language thing like sophisticated. Is he using sophisticated wrong? Because obviously he's saying you're not sophisticated is a criticism but actually talk about their physicality.
C
But the other day he took a little backhanded compliment, not really to the Thunder when he talked about how the spurs play a more ethical brand of basketball.
A
It's all sophisticated and ethical.
C
Saying ethical and people thought it was a shot at the Thunder who do foul hunt. They do try to draw especially SGA tries to draw fouls. We'll get things. We'll draw you into situations where you're stuck and you foul and people thought he was taking a shot at the Thunder in their style of play. But now he's saying they play sophisticated basketball and then he Throws the Heat in there. The Heat, by the way, who are 14 and 15, who like their offense got off to a good start to start the season because they were really surprising teams by playing fast. And then they really are struggling with their offense again because eventually teams figure it out. Oh, this is what they're doing. Okay, so I don't get that. But he's saying the Knicks play physical.
A
And a tough team to play at the end of the day, saying they're a tough teaser.
C
He's trying to give him a compliment, but. But he's also saying their offense isn't like these teams. Maybe it means, you know, they aren't doing something that we have to make a major adjustment to how we defend.
A
I don't know.
C
Maybe he's saying that.
A
Well, Rob from Suffern wants to talk about this. You're on espn, New York. What's up, man?
D
Hey, guys. How's it going?
C
Good.
D
I'm super excited. Cool. I'm super excited to see the Knicks get a chance at a quote unquote championship. But I'm just so mind blown about what Wemby had to say and you guys said it might be some with the language, but the Knicks basketball that I've seen all year has been beautiful. Completely different than what the Heat do. And is he watching film from the 2023 season when the Knicks were actually a physically dominant team with Hardenstein and Julius Randle? I don't really understand what he's trying to say.
C
What?
D
The Knicks played the spurs four times since he's been a spur.
A
I don't really.
C
Yeah, he's played in three of those games too. He didn't. Hasn't played them all.
A
Yeah, but the thing I could take, and I'd love to be able to hear the tone and hear the cut. We're just reading the quote, Robert, as I'm sure you are. I don't know. Or did you hear it on NBA tv? But it sounds when I hear it. And sophisticated. Is he saying, like they're not going to surprise us with anything. You know, we can game plan for them. And then the compliment is, hey, they're tough to play. They're play physical. Like, so I need to know, is he using sophisticated? Right. Because it does come across as being critical. Saying they're not very sophisticated. Like you're going up against a bunch of guys that are just don't know what they're doing.
C
Also heavy, reliable on threes. Like, oh, they just play that drive and spray three game. Yeah, you know, we've seen that before. Whereas Miami, you know, the team that, like, there's teams that are harder to guard because they just go straight at you. Miami's one, like, they just play this. They, they, they go fast, they don't set up an offense. And they look like they drive right into your body.
A
Right.
C
And it's really hard to guard. So maybe that's what he's trying to suggest. So the Knicks do something that's very typical of NBA and they're very good at it. Right. Whereas other teams are a little more sophisticated. And you got to adjust the way you play. Right. The Knicks have the number two offense in the NBA right now. Like their offense is. It's really good.
A
But it's funny how sensitive fans can be because at the end of the day, he's talking about their physicality and how tough they are to play. So he is complimenting them. Right. But when you say anytime, you say you're not very sophisticated.
C
It's very French. We can't say nice things about you without throwing in one little.
A
They're not going to fool us. We know what they're going to do. But they're still tough to stop because they play so physical. So, yeah, it is odd. But, you know, interesting here as we get closer and closer to tip off Chauncey in Westwood. You're on espn, New York.
C
Chauncey.
D
Hey, what's up, guys? So while I was on hold, I actually thought of a couple you mentioned.
B
Full House.
A
Yes.
D
Bob Saget. You'll always say Bob Saget together.
A
It is true. It's funny. I'm just finishing his book. It's kind of crazy, but that's true.
C
That's a good one. You always say both names, right?
D
Yeah. Another one just kind of a layup. Bo Nixon.
A
Yeah. Bonix.
C
You always say Bo Nicks.
A
Now, a lot of those just fall.
C
Into just one syllable.
A
If it's two or three syllables, full name, we feel like we want to give the whole.
C
Right.
D
But I think, I think part of the criteria that you guys were losing a little bit is it's also got to be what you would call them, like addressing them in real life. Like, for example, you guys see Joe Leo in the studio, you probably say Joliot, right? Like, it feels like one of the ones you mentioned was Josh Hart. Like, I feel like if I saw Josh Hart walking down the street, hey, that's Josh Hart.
F
Josh.
A
Like Josh Hart might have been a little bit of a reach by me. Which is interesting because Josh Hart, it's two Syllables. But, yeah, I.
C
If you saw him across the street and you pointed to your friend, now both of them together, if you saw Jalen Brunson, you would say, hey, that's Brunson. But if you. Josh Hart, you go, right. Oh, it's Josh Hart.
A
Yeah. Because there are other Harts. Is that Kevin Hart you're talking about? Is that, you know, talking to him.
D
You wouldn't really say, yo, what's up, Josh Hart?
A
Well, I don't think.
C
If I saw Joe Leo, I wouldn't say, hi, Joe Leo.
A
Yeah. And I don't know if I'm interviewing Bo Nix when I always say, hey, Bo Nicks.
C
Hey, Bo Nix.
A
If I saw Boone Jenner, I don't think I'd be, hey, Boone Jenner. I'd say, hey, Boone.
C
This really is a. Like a bizarre conversation.
A
There's got to be something that they.
C
Call it Seth Jones.
A
There's another. Very good.
C
Right?
A
Yeah, Seth Jones.
C
Not call him Jones. No Jones. With the fuck. No Seth Jones.
A
Richard in Manhattan, you're on ESPN New York. What's up, Richard?
G
Fellas, don't forget Babe Ruth and Bart Starr. Philip Rivers. What do we infer from what went on? This was not a publicity stunt. This was not something that was planned or anything. What it shows me is the NFL is proving games are lost, not won. So the old phrase, quarterback, manager, that's what you want. A guy that doesn't lose the game. They knew that this guy would not lose the game. So Jackson Dart, instead of running into linebackers, learned from Philip Rivers. 44 years old, grandfather, 10 kids, gets off the couch, and because he knows the game, it's from the neck up. Now you're talking about the NBA game tonight. Last night was the game of the year, and you're not talking about it. Denver, Houston, Durant, Sanguine. Jamal Murray against Jokic. Jamal Murray and jokic. It went nine players out of the 18 played. 18 players played. Nine out of the 18 players played. 40 minutes or more, Phyllis, in a game seven. You won't see that last night game was unbelievable.
A
We're going to let you know, Richard, because we're really up against it. Sorry. So we wanted to say goodbye and if I gave you one more breath, I think we would miss the game. We don't want to see that happen. I said it to you on the text thread when Peter was like, well, listen, Rivers isn't doing anything. I was like, some. Not screwing up is a skill is what I text you guys. And I think that's part of it is just like, don't mess it up. It's going to be hard enough to win. Manage the game, take what the defense.
C
Gives you, put your team in a chair and all that, put your team in a position to win.
A
And he did that. And unfortunately they just came up a little short. He'll have a chance to do it again on Sunday. Ty Butler's up next. We'll talk to you again tomorrow at three.
C
Thanks 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. 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.
E
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Date: December 17, 2025
Hosts: Don La Greca, Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg
Podcast Description: The trio tackles New York sports (and more) with energy, opinion, and humor.
This hour weaves together New York sports discussion—especially Mets and Yankees offseason moves and intriguing Victor Wembanyama (“Wemby”) comments about the Knicks—with a humorous sidebar on Hallmark Channel holiday movies. The hosts dissect New York Jets leaks, debate baseball prospects, and analyze Wemby's nuanced (and possibly backhanded) compliment of the Knicks. In between, there are memorable listener calls and classic banter, all in the sharp, playful NYC sports radio tone.
[00:43–01:58]
[02:17–04:56]
[07:47–13:10]
[14:59–19:55]
[19:55–21:43]
[23:03–23:32]
Alan Hahn on Hallmark movies:
“They're all corny. Yeah. But you do get sucked in... it's a formula that works.” [09:23]
Peter Rosenberg on Hallmark’s visual coziness:
“The allure is... everything is perfect. Visually. Everything looks nice... it just feels like a fantasy world that everybody's...” [09:57]
On Wemby’s comments:
Alan Hahn (on managing expectations in football):
This hour highlights what fans love about Don, Hahn & Rosenberg: sharp sports insight, playful cultural tangents, and a unique New York sensibility. Whether they’re poking fun at Hallmark movies, dissecting subtle sports shade from an international NBA star, or musing about the value of “not screwing up,” the hosts keep it relatable, energetic, and funny. Great for listeners who want deep sports context with personality—and some laughs along the way.