Hour 1: Mike Breen

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
So you're saying with Hilton Honors, I can use points for a free night stay anywhere? Anywhere.
What about fancy places like the Canopy in Paris? Yeah, Hilton Honors, baby. Or relaxing sanctuaries like the Conrad and Tulum?

**SPEAKER_2** (0:13)
Hilton Honors, baby.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:15)
What about the five-star Waldorf Astoria in the Maldives? Are you gonna do this for all 9,000 properties?

**SPEAKER_3** (0:22)
When you want points that can take you anywhere, anytime, it matters where you stay. Hilton for the stay.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:29)
This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:32)
I gotta get more Kay.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:33)
Listen live weekdays at 1 on the Espn New York app and your smart speaker.

**Michael Kay** (0:40)
And a good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Monday. It's June 15th. It is 2026 Me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. It's the fastest two hours in Sports Talk Radio. The boys are going to go by quickly today. You know, the password is I want to talk with you today. 1-800-919-3776. That's to be a co-host. It's unbelievable. I can't believe it. I've been following sports my whole life. I sat in a hotel room in Toronto. Thankfully, they carried the ABC feed in another country. And I listened and I watched intently every single second. It was like the sporting gods gave me a break. For some reason, I think it was because of the World Cup. They scheduled that game in Toronto at 3 o'clock.
And the Yankees won the game. I was able to get back to the hotel room, watched the game, and I could not believe that before my eyes, 53 years of frustration, 53 years of failure after failure, a quarter of a century, more than a quarter of a century, of not getting back to the finals, a 17-win season. And just like that, this incredible band of New York Knicks put together by Leon Rose and World Wide West, they became part of forever. Amazing. This team, the 2025-2026 Knick team, will be talked about as long as we talk about sports and as long as this planet is spinning in space. That's how impressive what we viewed was. They were amazing. They were a team that never quit. They were a team that kept grinding. They were a team that wore down the spurs, wore down the calves, wore down the sixers, wore down the hawks. Everyone they played in their own special, nondistinguished way quit. Every single one of them could not handle the pressure of what the Knicks bring to you. A never say die attitude and a leader in Jalen Brunson that just finds a way, finds a way. Do you realize that 95 percent of the National Basketball Association is taller than Jalen Brunson? But today, he stands taller than every single one of them, including the 7 foot 5 inch Victor Wembenyama, who couldn't get it done, who couldn't make the big plays, who wilted under the pressure. Not Jalen Brunson. He scored 45 points in a championship clinching game, turning the Knicks from laughing stocks into the kings of the world. And every single one of us listening to my voice right now can appreciate and luxuriate in the fact that this Knick team did what no Knick team could do since 1973
They had their opportunities. 94 didn't get done. 99 didn't get done. Do you realize that in the 21 seasons before Jalen Brunson signed a free agent contract to go to the Knicks, that the Knicks won one playoff series in 21 years, you look at the names and the people that came through, the people that coached this team, that general managed this team, they couldn't get out of their own way. Every single year brought another comedic event. Derek Fisher had to leave the team, go to be with his girlfriend in California, got punched in the face by a rival, and that was the Knick head coach. Jeff Hornacek was the Knick head coach. Isaiah Thomas ran this team. Larry Brown lasted one year. And maybe just maybe all that suffering made that what happened on Saturday night all the more special, all the more cherished, all the more part of forever, something we will never ever forget.
I've gotten more emotional as I've gotten older. I joke on here that I cry at the opening of a Grand Union. But usually sports do not make me cry.
Because I realize we're in the toy store. It should make us happy. It shouldn't make us sad. Even devastating crushing losses for teams that I like. I don't get emotional like that. But I sat in that hotel room in Toronto, choked up with tears in my eyes.