Hour 1: Brunson Rank

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On June 26th, Super Grilla arrives in theaters.

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Let's go.

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Your powers are gonna take in now.

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This is very impressive.

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Get ready for a movie event unlike any other.

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Superman sees the good in everyone, and I see the truth.

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Get your tickets now for the most fun.

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Crypto!

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And fresh movie of the summer.

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What are you going to do?

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Something stupid. No, it's a party.

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DC's Supergirl, only in theaters June 26th.

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Get tickets now.

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Rated PG-13, may be inappropriate for children under 13

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This is The Michael Kay Show podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:34)
I gotta get more Kay.

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Listen live weekdays at 1 on the Espn New York app and your smart speaker.

**Michael Kay** (0:41)
And a good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Tuesday. It's June 16th, 2026 Me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagements, the fastest two hours in Sports Talk Radio and the membership number 1-800-919-3776.
That's how you become a co-host on this fine program. And we'll be talking to you a lot at 2 o'clock. I thought, I said, we've got to really get to the bottom of what Tom Thibodeau is feeling. And the only person that I think that can approximate what Tom Thibodeau is feeling, and there are some that can, but the one that will resonate in New York would in fact be Buck Showalter. Now, the difference is Buck was not fired per se. Buck was told, you've got to get rid of your coaches if you're going to come back in 1996 And he said, I'm not going to get rid of my coaches. And he ended up losing the job. They hired Joe Torre. The fan base reacted angrily. George Steinbrenner went to Pensacola to rehire Buck Showalter and give him everything that he wanted. But Buck had already come to an agreement with the Arizona Diamondbacks. But he was not the manager of the Yankees in 96 He changed the culture of the Yankees when he took over. He simply did. That's all there is to it. Brian Gene Michael made the team a proud place to play again, restored dignity to the pinstripes and built it up to where it was a playoff team and in 96 a World Series winner. But Buck did not get the ring. Buck did not celebrate on the field. Buck did not get sprayed with champagne. Same thing as Thibodeau. Thibodeau, he built the culture. The Knicks were laughing stock. Thibodeau is to Buck what Leon Rose is to Gene Michael.
Now, there are differences because Mike Brown essentially took over the same team that Thibodeau had. A little better bench, but the same starting five.
Joe Torre took over a team with Tino Martinez at first base, not Don Mattingly, with Mariano Rivera as a full-fledged contributor in the bullpen. As Derrick Jeter is a shortstop. So it was a different team, but the underpinings were certainly built by Showalter and Stick. So what is Thibodeau feeling? Maybe Buck knows. What did Buck feel when they won in 96 after he was there in 95? He was already hired by the Diamondbacks. He was rebuilding or building that franchise. But what did Buck feel? Now, Thibodeau has pretty much kept a very, very low profile. I know a guy, a good friend, who works out in the same gym as Tom Thibodeau. Thibodeau is there every single day, and supposedly he looks terrific. But he's not going on any media tour talking about his feelings. Now, Taj Gibson, who has been with Thibodeau a lot, in Chicago with the Knicks, the whole deal, he came out yesterday and he said that he is so happy that everything is going right for them.
That's going to Taj Gibson. That, you know, it shows you what a good person he is. Maybe it shows me what a bad person I am. There is no way on God's green earth that if I was fired from a job, that I'd be happy that the job that I had did better without me. Again, maybe I'm a jerk. Maybe I'm the worst human being on the planet. All of that is in play. It's all in play. All in play. But he can't be happy. I'm sorry, he can't be. You can maybe be happy for individual players. But he has to know that somewhere on that roster, a couple of those players made it very clear they didn't want to play for Tom Thibodeau anymore. So, Thibodeau is 68 years old. Who knows if he's going to get another coaching job.