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this is the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast.
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That sounds like heaven to me.
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Listen live weekday afternoon starting at 3 on 8 80, ESPN, the ESPN New York app and your smart speakers, soccer fans.
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Join RJ Santillo and Ray Santiago on D, Pietro and Rothenberg. That'll be Saturday, June 20th for a watch party presented by Radeburger Pilsner. Watch the match between Germany and Ivory coast at Radicast hall and Beer Garden in Brooklyn starting at 4pm Enjoy Pilsner perfection since 1872 with the first German Pilsner. Come out. Grab a cold Rataburger and join the energy with ESPN New York. That's RJ Santillo and Ray Santiago live at Radicast hall and Beer garden on Saturday, June 20, brought to you by Radeburger Pilsner. Waiting on Q tip who's going to be calling us momentarily? Get his thoughts on the Knicks championship while we. Ray. While we wait or rate. Right, Right. Let's go to the calls. And Gilberto is in the truck. You're on ESPN New York. What's up, buddy?
D
Yo, what's up, Big D? Done. What's up? The man that has the heartbeat of New York in his palm. Oh, no harm, man.
E
What's up?
D
I just don't. I gotta give you your flowers. My man. You've been all over and. And you've been preaching the New York gospel of the New York knit.
B
Okay.
D
283 point differential, nine straight road wings, 17 and one in the last 14 games, leading to the championship. Two sweeps before the championship and a gentleman's sweep on top of that. What? I love what you said. That Brunson taught not only one, he taught others as well. By any means necessary. And this goes to judge too. And I love judge. I'm not criticizing him. But you gotta start telling your teammates, okay? When we need a base hit to win, a base hit is fine, man. We don't need a home run because that might lead to a strikeout. Just saying. Okay, but Don Han. And Pete. Pete, constructive criticism. Because I love you, brother.
C
Okay, perfect.
D
I'm not gonna chop you down. Just constructive criticism. Don't call people on the air that you know are on TV morons. You called Kenny and Barkley morons, bro, you got to be more professional.
B
Oh, my God.
D
Dude, you heard me.
B
No, no, you're making things up.
C
You never said that.
D
I.
B
Hold on. I don't. I don't have to. I called them yo yos just like us.
D
Yo yo, yo yo. Morons.
B
No, it's not the same thing. I was saying that's what makes them great is that they're regular yo yos just like us. Arguing.
F
What? What?
B
I was. I was waxing poetic about how great they are.
C
He meant it in a affectionate way.
G
This is.
B
By the way, this is what happens. I hate to say. You know what I want to. What was our caller's name?
C
Gilbert. Gilberto.
B
Oh, Gilberto, I love you. You're a great guy. You're unfortunately the yo yo because people hear a conversation that has all this context wrapped around it, and then they hear a piece of it and go. You make up a phrase that was never said because you guys know this is the kind of thing they didn't. I'm not saying Gilberto, but other people, they'll then go on social media and tell people and create problems. How did you hear that we were glowing about how great inside the NBA is and why can't anyone else figure out how to do it as well?
C
You meant it in the best way possible.
E
Didn't Anthony already tell us that somebody said that we said that Wembanyama tipped the ball that Brunson shot.
B
Yes.
D
Yeah.
H
They since adjusted it saying a caller said it, but still put your guys quotes possibly thinking about it, not including the fact that you said, oh, no, he didn't tip it.
C
Well, no, we took what he said and go. So what we did, like any normal person would, was go to the video, check it out. Peter and I were able to do that right away and we both said, I don't think he touched it.
B
I don't understand. I thought maybe he was confusing me with you. I do believe you called someone a
C
moron yesterday, but I quickly apologize.
D
You did.
C
It was a moronic statement. Not that he was a moron, but in the moment, I got a little caught up. Listen, I'm gonna defend my comments because they thought they were completely ignorant what he said. And it's making the rounds. It aged very well for me. What was. What was his name again? Anthony. I'm gonna leave Alan out of it because he's friends with the Guy.
B
I don't know if that's true, but.
C
Vincent Goodwill, right? Bad Will.
B
Vincent Badwill, as Don puts it. But, yeah, no Gilberto. I didn't say that at all.
C
And we're a fan of Gilberto, but that was.
B
That was a weird take. Constructive criticism. Here's something I didn't hear.
C
Where's Q Tip?
B
I think we're getting him on the line right now. Maybe I gave him the wrong number. He said he was getting voicemail. He's here. We got him. I didn't think I did, but he said he was getting voicemail.
C
I've been working here, like, a decade.
B
Listen, I'm doing the best I can.
C
Q Tip, I want to apologize to you and to your family that you were given the wrong phone number. That's terrible. It's disrespectful, even. How are you, buddy? Great.
B
Now he's there. Don's about to lose it. Tim, how are you?
H
Hey, how are you? I can't believe it. I still can't believe it. I mean, I'm just like, in a. Oh, my goodness. You know, I mean, all of the surprises. Everybody's been saying the 53 years, the 26 years since last time in the chain. I mean, it's just crazy now. It's just crazy. And it couldn't have happened if it was going to happen. Of course it would happen in this, like, in this, like, you know, fantasy. Not even fan, but in this just, like, superhero kind of way, right? Like, true to the New York ethos, the little guy, the. The grid, the. The unlikeliest of. Of. Of. Of athletic. Athletic bond. Gets it done. You know, castaways, not necessarily through the draft. It's not a big three, yada, yada, yada. And we're the ones that do it. It feels great. How you guys feeling?
C
Don, it's been a lot of fun to be able to see this. And Alan's been just a hero to Nick fans and everything that he's done.
E
I've been insufferable. Q. Alan.
H
I know. Look, dude, I watch all of the post games and I watch the games for you and Wally. Like, you know, I see it. And for us to finally get it done in such a kind of New York way, though, right? Like the way that we played, like, just, you know, what Mike Brown did. I mean, there's enough. I mean, the praise plate kind of goes around to everybody, right? But, you know, Mike Brown to take a lot of his, you know, understudy shit that he got from Pop and Steve. And to apply that kind of. That kind of in game, you know, decision making here, it was just a masterstroke, man. And Brunson, I mean, you can't say enough about him. Man, I go back to the days of, like, Sugar Ray Richardson, you know, so it's like to see this. It's like you can't say enough about. About.
I
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C
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E
Like, these teams. Like, these teams Q were always like that. You're talking about. You go back to them, right? That. That was a great backcourt, too, by the way. Michael Ray and, And. And. And Sugar Ray.
H
And it was. It wasn't Rory, right? Rory. It wasn't Rory Sparrow.
E
Well, Rory came after, like, but that was all, like, they all blend at this point, right? But they think that, like, the 80s stuff. Then you had Bernard for a minute and the tragic injury. And then, of course, Patrick's early years, the bomb squad. Then you had the Riley years. But there was always something, like, flawed about all of them. And I used to always say, like this, there's something like, excruciating about the experience of once the Knicks go to the playoffs, because you just always feel like when they win, they are hanging on and when they lose, they look overwhelmed. And like, this year, that's why this feels like this is a comic Book. This is like, this is Spider Man. Because this year was the first year where it's like, wait, in New York, it's never this easy. And they smacked so many teams that you almost didn't know. You didn't know how to act, you didn't know how to feel to a point, you know, like, you just weren't used to this bounces going your way. The guy who is breaking hearts on the road is not Reggie Miller coming in your building. No, it's Deuce McBride going into Philly. You know what I mean? Like, that, that just never used to happen.
H
So this has never happened.
E
This has really been like the comic book.
B
When did you, when did you start to think this is like, real? Would you remember which game in the playoffs you were like, oh, man, this could actually happen.
H
I mean, after we got rid of Philly. Yeah, I felt like it was like, okay, this is, this is, this is, this is, this is happening. And you know, you, you, in true New York, New York sports fan fashion, you don't want to get too ahead of yourself. You don't want to start calling your buddies. You start adhering to all of your superstitions. You're bringing out the jersey, you don't know if you're going to call. The last time we won, I was sitting here. So let me make sure that I say, you know what I mean?
E
I did that. I did that. Absolutely. You know, I wouldn't wear for all the shows, all the post game shows, whoever they were playing. And there was, there was about three straight series, I couldn't wear red, nothing, no rest.
H
Because the one time you did is probably the last time we lost.
D
But like you said, finals, no black.
H
And then no black for the finals. It's like we had to all kind of, you know, rabbit foot this thing. But you know what, like you said, it was Superman. None of that mattered because it was destiny. You know, it's like, like you said, the way they were smacking everybody, though, bro. I mean, sweeping dudes. And then of course, you know, all the talking heads is like, oh, they're not really playing anybody. You know, it's a funny thing not to, to go off topic.
B
Here we go.
H
But you know, everybody is like, you know, you get into the whole goat conversation, which is kind of nauseating at this point. You know, LeBron and Jordan or Jordan didn't play anybody. You know, who did they play? Byron and Stockton and they wouldn't play anybody. Braun played against this one and that one. You know, if that's the case. And we're in 20, the 2000s. And this is the best of the best. The most advanced athlete that's 5 inches taller now and, you know, 10% more muscle mass and runs a 40 at this. And yada, yada, just the best athlete. And we have, like, our starting five. You're not, you know, writing up a dissertation about the complex athletics that we put out on the floor, and then we get it done. You know what I mean? And then you hear some people say, oh, they didn't really go through anybody. We'll wait till they get to San Antonio. Oh, no, he's young. And it's like, stop, guys.
C
No, don't even listen to that. Those are the haters. And besides, if you're the best team in basketball, theoretically, you should be better than everybody you're playing. So I don't know what these.
H
There you go. Now, these guys are professionals. It's only about 4,000 of them that play this game. You know, out of millions of kids around the world that are trying. So it's like, let's stop that. But I, you know, I just. It's just.
C
Listen, I can hear it. Well, let me ask you. I know you as a Jet fan. So if the jets were ever to do this, would it hit the same. Better, a little off. Let's go to fantasy land and let's go there. Why not? The Knicks just want to go there.
H
You know, I. You know what. What's eerie about this in terms of the jets is I kind of feel like they're on the right trajectory in terms of what Muji and Glenn are doing in terms of their personnel. You know, they had a hell of a draft, a plus draft. You know, their free agent signing was. I mean, they did really well there. And of course, you know, you come in, first time head coach, first time gm. You know, it was. It was a. It was a. This is a family show, but this was an explicative show. The jets were. They were explicative shows. You know, it was just. It was just a mess. That what they inherited was just a mess. So they're trying to right the ship. So I feel like that they could be on the path, but if they were to win, it would be seismic. It depends on how they do it. You know what I mean? But I don't think. Because you're talking about an aggregate of Rangers fans, Islanders fans, doubles fans, Mets fans, Yankees fans. Like, you know, baseball is split, hockey split, you know, the Nets, you know, football split. Like, the Knicks are on New York's team, you know what I mean? It's not the Nets, you know. And I, you know, I think back to. I remember my, when I was a kid, my cousin was like one day he was cursing because he was a life die hard Nick fan.
D
We could have had Dr. J. They didn't take them. They didn't take them. They was giving them Dr. J for free. I can't believe it. I can't believe it.
H
You know, and it was like that was the start start for me, for my young mind. But thankfully like that year, you know, Chris Chambliss had a great, you know, ALCs. Even though we didn't win that year, we won the next two years. But you know, for New York, this is something that is, this is once in a lifetime thing. It's not going to probably be this again unless we repeat in the fashion that we repeat in. It could come close, but nothing is going to beat that like game four. I mean game four was like, I mean game four was just, I mean never forget it.
B
You multiply 53 years times the comeback. It's like being on that floor was.
E
That was the only place in the world to be that court after that game.
B
It's sad.
E
Nothing like that.
H
I know I was supposed to be there, but thanks Chris Rock. He stood me up.
G
Damn.
E
Well, you know his plus one was Adam Sandler.
H
Yeah, I'm gonna give it to him for the rest of his life for that one.
B
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D
But, Don, what do you think? I mean,
H
I mean, I mean, Don, you've seen it. You've seen a lot of this, bro. Is this, like the biggest. Is this the biggest championship that New York has experienced in modern times?
C
Yeah. For all the reasons you said you is that there's no rival, no offense to the Brooklyn Nets, but when the Giants win their first super bowl, there's a bunch of jet fans that yawned and said, all right, whatever. And the same thing when the Rangers won in 94. Islander fans, devil fans are like, all right, whatever. But they're just not enough net fans, I think, to move the needle. And it's a city game, and the way they won and how long it took to win it, it's number one for me in my lifetime. I have never seen the city gravitate to a team like this. It is pretty amazing, unifying, you know, we're in social media now. There's the watch parties. We didn't have that back 30, 40 years ago. So there's a lot that I think have helped the Knicks. But right now, plus, this is hitting way different than anything I've ever seen.
B
And all the other things you let out at the beginning, too, I think tip about, like, how Brunt's the kind of player that he is. And let me just ask you before we. Before we let you go, I think I hit you up like last season sometime, maybe even the season before. But I feel like last season, and I was like, hey, how much would fife have loved this Knicks team?
H
Oh, my goodness. I cried, bro, because that's the first race that. It's funny because I spoke to Shaq the day after, and he was like, Yo. Hey, man. The first person I thought about. Yeah, that was the first person I thought about. I was like, word. He was like. Because, you know, he was. We was working on his album, and they were in the studio, and he said I had this rhyme, and I was talking about dunking on Patrick Ewan if I stopped. Stopped the music. And he was like, hey, wait, wait, wait. You can't. You can't do that. You can't do that. He said, all right, pipe. All right, I'll change it. I'll change it. He said he was the first person he thought about. And obviously, you know, for me, like, he's just always with me, and. And just. I know he would just be Jerome. You said we would probably have to go scrape him off of a ceiling right now. You know what I mean? Like, it's just. It's just. It's just amazing. I mean, now I have a question for the brain trust that. Are you three here?
C
Okay.
H
And, you know, we're New Yorkers, so we could be a little greedy. Can we do it again? What are we looking like at summer league? How many picks do you have? We heard this is a deep draft.
E
Three picks.
H
What exactly do we need? Like, can we.
E
Yeah.
C
Gap space.
E
Yeah, I'll give you each. So the first one is. Can you repeat? Yes. Yeah. Like, it's.
G
Is it possible?
E
It absolutely is, because you're going to run it back with pretty much the same team. Uh, the draft is a. Is a, like, 20 pick. 26, and then 31. So you got two seconds. But they're valuable.
H
24, right.
E
24, right. 24, 31. And then another 31 is a really valuable pick because it's, like, barely the first pick out of the second round. So there's going to be value in that. So I. I like, we'll see what they end up doing there. And then what the. The needs. The needs are that the NBA says we're going to get rid of the second apron because it sucks, and nobody likes it because that's really going to be the thing that inhibits the ability to run it back fully with everybody. Because to go. You can't. You can't put yourself over the second apron. It. It. It really puts you in hell. And so that's the thing to watch is how do they move the money around enough to make it affordable, to keep or not affordable, but just to fit under that second apron. Mitchell Robinson and other pieces that were so valuable on that bench.
H
Yeah, we have to get Mish back. And then I Think Cat is up, right?
D
Cat is up.
H
And they're looking at 272 next year.
E
Extension.
H
Eligible for the extension. Yeah, but does he take. But does he say, you know what, keep 40? I mean, that, you know, that's on him, obviously.
C
Yeah, you got, you know, Halliburton back. What's Detroit going to do? What's Boston going to do? What's Boston going to do, I think is a fabulous question. But, man, enjoy it. Don't worry about that. And for at least a few months, all right? Enjoy this championship.
B
Hey, enjoy the parade tomorrow. Yeah, we heard Fat Joe talking about you. You coming out on the float tomorrow?
H
Yeah, it's crazy. He's gonna have a little float out there. It's gonna be insane. They saying 3 million, bro or more.
B
Yeah, it's gonna be absolutely nuts, man. So, so happy for you, dude. I know this means the world. So thanks for making time for us.
E
Hope I see you out that way. Q, say hello.
D
Yeah.
H
Hope to see you, man. Thank you, guys. Go, Nick. Congratulations.
B
Later, man.
C
Oh, he's so great. I'm so happy for him.
B
And may you talk about knowledgeable as a sports fan.
C
Oh, listen,
B
the irony, the funny part is, is for bigotry called Quest. Fans growing up because of what he included in the actual lyrics, everyone thought Fife was the sports guy. No one thought of Q Tip. Q Tip was the ladies man. Fife was the sports guy.
C
Right?
B
And then in getting to know him in later years, he's an obs, as you as, you know, an obsessive lunatic, like driven, statistical sports fan. So fun treat, man.
C
Well, good for him. Good for all the Knick fans. We will be at Stout tomorrow. That's right, three o', clock, celebrating the parade. Dan Gross is up next. He'll take your calls up until 9. 1-800-919-3776. Don Hanlon Rosenberg, ESPN New York.
B
Thanks for listening to the Don Hahn and Rosenberg podcast. I don't want to know how the
E
sausage is made, man. I just want to know. It's good.
B
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.
K
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Date: June 17, 2026
Guests: Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest)
Hosts: Don La Greca, Alan Hahn, Peter Rosenberg
Main Theme: Celebrating the New York Knicks’ recent NBA championship, reflecting on the significance for New York sports fans, and discussing the future of the Knicks—with a special guest, Q-Tip.
In this special hour, Don, Hahn, and Rosenberg welcome hip hop legend and die-hard Knicks fan Q-Tip to revel in the New York Knicks’ first NBA championship in 53 years. The conversation blends exuberant fan celebration, generational sports nostalgia, and analysis of what made this Knicks run unique. The show examines the team’s journey, the cultural impact across New York, and indulges in fan superstitions and deep sports talk—punctuated by Q-Tip’s personal reflections, especially on what the title means for him and late friend Phife Dawg.
[05:53 – 08:15]
[07:05 – 08:15, 09:30 – 12:08]
[11:08 – 12:08]
[12:08 – 13:54]
[14:13 – 19:30]
[20:12 – 21:42]
[21:43 – 23:40]
[23:40 – 24:09]
The podcast captures the exuberance and deep meaning of a Knicks championship for lifelong fans—mixing basketball analysis, urban nostalgia, and the personal. Q-Tip brings both poetic reverence and down-to-earth fandom, connecting the victory to New York’s spirit and hip hop culture. The hosts and Q-Tip agree: this title transcends sports rivalry, uniting a famously divided city—and, for at least one perfect moment, letting New Yorkers believe in miracles.
For New York fans or anyone who missed it, this episode is a lively, emotional, and deeply satisfying celebration of basketball, city loyalty, and finding joy in long-awaited victory.