Hour 1: Paul Finebaum

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required, compatibility and availability varies. 18 plus.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:27)
This is The Michael Kay Show podcast.

**Michael Kay** (0:30)
I got to get more Kay.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:31)
Listen live weekdays at one on the ESPN New York app and your smart speaker.

**Michael Kay** (0:37)
Good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Wednesday, June 17th, 2026

**SPEAKER_2** (0:45)
Me and you for two.

**Michael Kay** (0:46)
Those are the rules of engagements, the fastest two hours in sports talk radio. And you know the membership number, right?
1-800-919-3776, because this is an exclusive two hour club. And you get to be a co-host. We get to talk about everything that is on your mind. This is the day before the parade. Did you know that the Knicks, when they won in 70 and 73, did not have a parade?
One was a mayoral celebration. The other one was at City Hall, but no parade down the Canyon of Heroes. This is the first time that they will do that. The mayor of New York is saying that it's going to be the biggest parade ever. It's going to have to get significant numbers to beat the Giants parade and the Yankees parade in 96 and the Met parade. Little known story about parades, everybody. If the Yankees had won in 2001, they blew the lead in the bottom of the ninth inning in game seven in Arizona, if they had won, there was not going to be a typical parade because of the aftermath of 9-11. They could not secure the Canyon of Heroes. They would not have been able to handle that sort of people with the security that was still down at ground zero. So it was going to be something much smaller and it was going to be in Times Square. And that was all being planned and it was ready to go if the Yankees had held on in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks. Little known fact, but there was not going to be a parade. And for a long time, sports teams didn't have parades down the Canyon of Hero. It became a thing only recently, recently meaning the last 40, 50 years. But for the most part, it's going to be a joyous occasion tomorrow. If you're going, there's a load of rules that are out there on social media. Just make sure that you follow the rules. No bags, anything like that. No bottles, no cans, because you don't want to get down there early in the morning and then be turned away by our great police force. So just follow the rules. And as you did when the president was at game three at the garden, and then with all the security in game four, everybody did what they were supposed to do and things ran smoothly. So I hope that you enjoy the parade tomorrow and on tomorrow's show, it'll be post parade. We'll be able to talk about what went on and how the players were received. It's going to be a great, great situation. I hope you have a great time.
I've been lucky enough that I took part in five parades. John and I hosted them on the steps of City Hall and they were nice enough to put us in cars. And just to see people, it will be shocking to you if you've never been to a parade. Just wall to wall people, you look down side streets when you're on the Canyon of Heroes and there are people pressed up against people as far as the eye can see. It's just amazing. So if you go, please be careful, please be responsible and just have fun and please read the rules that are out there all over on social media. What you could do, where you could go, what you could bring and things like that. So have a great time. Have a great time. Now, there was one thing I want to touch on yesterday.
When we were talking about the Knicks in the aftermath, and I'm almost a little bit surprised at how guys like Patrick Ewing and John Starks are so overjoyed as if they're part of the championship team. Now, what Leon Rose and William Wesley did, I think really smart, they really did bring in the alums. You know, once a Nick, always a Nick, that whole deal. And I believe that Ewing must be working in some way for the Garden. And I know that Starks works for the Garden. But Ewing was celebrating as if you won a championship. And it goes to show you how inclusive the front office of the Knicks have been to their former stars. But I'm just wondering, does Patrick really feel that happy where, you know, he didn't get it done as a player? In 94, they came very close. In 99, he was hurt. So he didn't even play in the finals against the Spurs. Because the only thing that I can equate it to is that the Yankees won in 96 after Mattingly had retired. So you could say that Mattingly was a part of what they built. You know, the mindset, the culture, that was all Mattingly and Showalter led. And I don't think that Mattingly wasn't around the team and wasn't at the events the way that Ewing and Starks was or were.