The Right Time with Bomani Jones - Jalen Brunson, the Knicks, and the NBA Championship That Took Over New York | 06.14

Episode Date: June 14, 2026

The Knicks finally did it. Bomani Jones reacts to the New York Knicks winning the NBA championship, Jalen Brunson’s legendary 45-point closeout performance, and what this title means for New York City. Bo breaks down how Brunson cemented himself as the king of New York, why the Knicks’ depth, conditioning, and maturity ultimately separated them from the Spurs, and how Mike Brown coached a championship-level series. Bomani also reflects on the unique relationship between the Knicks and New York City — from Madison Square Garden to the streets, bars, parks, and neighborhoods that turned this championship run into a citywide experience. Why does this title feel different from other championships? Why do the Knicks hit New Yorkers so deeply? And what does this moment say about basketball as theater, culture, and community? Plus, Bomani discusses the start of the World Cup, the excitement around the U.S. men’s national team, and the experience of international fans discovering America through sports, road trips, Waffle House, Buc-ee’s, and the South. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Choose Activia. Feel good from the inside out. Visitactivia.ca for more details. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the right time, a wave original. My name is Beaumani Jones. Thanks for listening wherever you get your podcast. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars.

You only give us four stars. I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. Okay, guys, look here. I live in New York City. We are recording this on Sunday morning because we wanted to get you guys as much of this as we possibly could as quickly as possible.

So if some wild shit happens on Sunday night, that's why it's not here. Okay, just letting you know that. I have not been outside yet today. I went outside yesterday in the morning and afternoon, but I did not go outside to watch the game because quite honestly, I took a shower like 7.30 and I was like, I can't see myself like going back outside.

You know what I'm saying? Like, you know how that is. You get clean. You don't necessarily want to go back out there. And plus, man, I knew it was going to be, as they say, in Espanel, Caos, in them New York City streets. And buddy, we heard it. You didn't have to go outside to hear it, dog.

You heard it the second it went. went down and the Knicks were NBA champions. We'll get to like the emotions of all that, but the game itself, hey man, I have said throughout this postseason that Carl Anthony Towns has been the Knicks best player. And I think he has been their best player. And I think that if they did the postseason MVP trophy

like they do in hockey, where they give it to the outstanding performer of the playoffs, not necessarily the performer of that series, that I think that towns would have been the one to win it. However, when you put up, make sure I get the exact number right, yes. When you put up 45 in 41 minutes to close it out, you're going to be the finals MVP, right? This is up there with Magic putting up the 42 in game 6 and 19.

18. Corrine was the best player in the finals, but he ain't do that. Therefore, he ain't get that trophy. That's how they win. That was a performance for the ages. It didn't feel the same as when Janus had that incredible game six in 2021, but the reason it didn't is actually a compliment to Brunson. The reason that the Janus one felt so different is the honest one felt like he was in such a particular zone in large part because he was making free throws, right? Like it felt like a testament to the ability to focus at a moment that really mattered, that it may never be like that ever again for him, but it was like that for him in that particular moment and that gave it its own unique charm and luster in place in the lore.

this right here from Jalen Brunson was just some shit he'd be doing. And he happened to do it on this night when it was the absolute most important night in time. I have sat here also and said with confidence and was correct for the majority of the time that if the spurs are going to do this, you need to trick Jailen Brunson into playing a game, an isolation basketball, and that will slow down the role that they have had on offense, and that is your best chance to win. And I actually think that this series bore that out if you watched it. The thing is, best chance to win, yes.

However, outlier occurrences can take place. And when those outlier occurrences take place, maybe you've got to figure out something else that you're going to wind up doing. Because, Ryan, I have to be honest, I would have thought that Spurs in a game where Janna Brunson took 27 shots and nobody else took more than 11. I kind of think you'd kind of want to try to find a way to like make that make that right there stop. Right.

Like he, I mean, we talked a lot about how Jalen Brunce, again, playing a bit of an ISO basketball, but whenever shot's going to go in, what are you going to do, right? Like, and that is, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And really just submitted him as, you know, he was already the king of New York, but now just really crowned him after that winning the finals. All right. Now, to be fair, he is the king of New York. but he doesn't get to fully assume the crowd until Monday

because on Sunday, it's the Puerto Rican Day parade, El re de Nueva York, is Jose Alvarado, buddy, where they said, like I saw that they were getting on the plane after that to come celebrate in New York. See, that's where you know New York is cracking, because normally they try to go to Miami

or they try to go to Vegas. They're like, no, we need to take this back to. the crib and I guarantee you Alvarado they however many hundred of thousands of Puerto Ricans are going to be down there on Fifth Avenue and they're going to be passing his ass around like he's going to get a gatorade shower out there

he's going to get everything it's going to be like somebody I said that on Twitter somebody put up the video it's going to be like with Baddy came out there at the Rassling match that time oh yeah like what incredible timing for you in fact Alvarado didn't play well but if Alvarado would have gone out there and scored 35 the only thing

I would have assumed is he's like, I got to get back for the parade. Right. Like, this is where we need to be. They won that, and they won that for one very significant reason. They had the gas to keep going, right? San Antonio, you can say whatever you want about how they played, this whole series. It was while seeing that statistic that their shooting percentage

went down every quarter in total for the series. The longer it went, they just could not make shots. And I do not think it was because they were scared. Right. I mean, now, at the end of Game 5, they were scared. A lot of guys were scared. Unfortunately, Deerrin Fox was not scared enough. But all those finger rolls they were missing, all those jumpers that were coming up short, we talked about it a lot particularly with Victor, they didn't have the gas. Like, the Knicks were a tougher team in part because the Knicks were a better condition team.

That's the only explanation I have for watching them fall off a cliff offensively in every fourth quarter. And where it really got me on the Spurs was when they couldn't get a defensive rebound. Yeah, we fumbled the ball and went out of bounds. Yeah, fumbling it or you just, like nobody could get to the wrist. to come challenge at that point. Like, I've talked about this on this show before.

Focus is a skill. Focus is a resource. And the Knicks, part of this I think is just being more mature. But the Knicks demonstrated an ability to focus that the Spurs didn't have. When it was just about coming out and fucking around a little bit, shooting some shots and seeing what happened, the Spurs were excellent.

When it came time to literally stop fucking around, and get in there and make it happen, at every turn, they could not do that. At every turn, the Knicks could. And I don't think we think about the Knicks in these terms, and this is an interesting byproduct of this era now where we're getting a new champion every year. But since we are, and it's like nobody holds the belt

and you don't really have to necessarily take those guys down, we saw that with the Thunder. like when the Thunder got to the conference finals, I forget they're the first team that had gone to the finals or won the championship to go to the conference finals and like blank amount of time. Right. Like nobody, since that doesn't happen,

I think it can be easy for us to ignore when a team like the Knicks has taken a traditional stair step path to get to where they're going. Even the nuggets to a degree when they did, they had that weird thing where the guys got hurt. But in 2020, they went to the conference finals. They had 21 and 22, Murray being hurt. Hurt Porter being hurt. But then,

2023 was about like a reasonable place that a team like that would wind up getting there. The Knicks went to the conference finals in 2024. They went to, I mean, 2025. There was the semis in 2024. Did they go to the conference finals both of those years? No, there was just 2025 against the Pacers, right? Yeah.

Right. And then the year before they lost the Pacers in the six. Yes. Right. They took the stair step, right? They did this in the way that we frequently discussed or what it takes for you to get there. And then once they were there, they were a bunch of guys in their late 20s and early 30s who'd been through the things you typically need to be through, especially for a team that doesn't really have, oh boy, how do I put this? A traditional superstar. How's that that that make everybody feel okay?

Yeah, yeah. You're safe from the aggregators at that one. is that phrasing that we can all agree on, the NICs don't have a traditional superstar. And I want to explain why I'm making this distinction. I'm going to need you to make sure that I'm like making sense when I say this, right? What I mean by that is when you have what one might term a traditional superstar, are, you can skip some steps in some ways.

Or you can mess around and be like the Spurs were this year. And you get there a bit ahead of schedule because you have somebody that is capable of doing some outlier things, right? LeBron James making the finals at 22, for example. Larry Bird made the finals his second year in the league. Magic Johnson made the finals his first year in the league. Jordan, it took a while, but he was also. in the face of an era of incredible all-time great traditional superstars, right?

Like, it's a lot of those things. Brunson is not a traditional superstar. Brunson was not going to walk into the league and set it on fire. Right? Like, that just wasn't what it was going to be. With that type of star, you build a complete team around is what we're saying. that type of team is going to win with guys. Like, take the 2004 Pacer, I mean, excuse me, Pistons, for example.

That wasn't no team. That wasn't young guys that was out there getting it done. It wasn't going to be that. It was a bunch of guys right around that same age range. You could say, well, Tachal Prince was the young guy. But we weren't looking at him to carry like a super. 2011 Mavericks would be a similar, like, right? Yes.

But they did. Yeah. But they had something closer to a. traditional superstar. Like, Dirk Novitsky may have had a time where he was the best player in the NBA. Right. None of us think that Jalen Brunson is the best player in the NBA. Of course. But that doesn't matter. Right. Right. They built, they got there and

they made it happen. And by the way, with guys that weren't always the tallest standards of all time, right? We have seen postseason, we've called on any times, did not stand tall. We watched Mikhail Bridges not stand tall in this postseason.

The guy they got that as a champion didn't play when they won the championship or that postseason because he had an emergency appendectomy. But you get all those grown men together at that point with a coach that I've said this on this show and I say it all these times. Ain't once Mike Brown been fired for a good reason. Not a single time, right?

With the exception of that one year stint the second time in Cleveland, one everywhere he's been and where he's been an assistant, it's been places where people want. and he coached his ass off in this series. He put a clown suit on Miss Johnson, if we're being honest. Not everything that went on with the Spurs was about Johnson,

but Mike did that. Mike made some bold moves too when decisions when to play people, right? Playing Alvarado down the stretch to the last game played Alvarado early this game and gave five and it was like, yeah, no, no, no, not today. Getting too excited about tomorrow. He had that feel and that hold

about what his team was. was and the vibes of what it was. And he held out and held out finally got them to buy it offensively to what he wanted them to do. And that's when that postseason run came. But also, now, this wasn't entirely within his control. But even if they had wanted to run the offense through Carl in game five, it wasn't an option because of the fouls.

And I have, and I believe even if he was out there, this was going to be, Jane Brunson was going to do this. Like this was going to be that game. This was going to be that time. and they did it. They lost three games this whole postseason, right? That's 2011 Mavericks type stuff, right? This is one of the great postseason runs of all time.

And it wasn't because of no gimmicks. Now, we can make the argument that in the East things, you know, broke well for them because of like Boston losing, for example. Well, shit, if Boston blew a 3-1 lead to Philadelphia, why don't you think the Knicks were going to beat the dog shit out of them? Right? I feel pretty confident they were going to do that. What did you see from Detroit that made you believe that Detroit was going to come in there and beat them? That wasn't going to happen, right? Did the West bracket look so titanic that you looked at the Spurs? Like, the Spurs beat

Oklahoma City, yes. But what, in beating Minnesota and in beating Portland, what the hell, like, good job. But I don't feel like, I don't feel like they did anything over there that was that much grander than what the Knicks did in the East. In fact, if you wanted to make the argument, Oklahoma City without Jalen Williams and without Mitchell, like this was not a team built all the way up. And what happened with Chad Holgren wasn't entirely about the greatness of the spurs. No, this is one of the great runs that any team has ever had. The Brunson thing becomes fun because, again, I think that if you, whatever you want to say on the Becky Hammond side of the argument, you could be right on either side, but it doesn't matter because he scored 45 points

in game five, right? No matter what you think it is about Brunson or what you think is possible for a guy his size or what is necessary to build a team around a guy his size, the thing that makes people excited about him, no matter where you put him on the hierarchy of that roster is that 45 was always on the board. You know what I mean? Like, he's small, but he's not like Isaiah, like the new school Isaiah Thomas.

It's not like him where he's 5-90. You saw those games like conference finals where he's going up and surrounded by dudes and he basically got to catch that bitch and land on the ground and take a travel. Like he's not that guy. But when it comes down to it, if the Knicks needed a 45,

it was possible that he could give you a 45. And at that size, at those states, That does put him in the conversation with Isaiah Thomas, the OG. That does put him in the conversation with Steph Curry. Is he as good as either of those guys? It doesn't matter if he's as good as them. What matters is that, and you can say it was a game five.

No, there's crazy pressure on that game five. Because if they had had to come back into nervous-ass Madison Square Garden for game six, anything was possible there. If they wanted to win this, that was the time. to lock in and decide that they were going to do it. And keep in mind, this is a team that had been winning elimination games by 70 points. They were up on the Hawks by 60, right?

Like, they come in in those games and they get this done, but this would require something a little bit different. And Jalen Brunson, it's not even simply that he's capable of doing this. is there any other player for whom this is more unlikely? Right? Because look, he was a national player of the year at Villanova. They won those championships. I watched him play in college.

I watched Stephen Curry play in college. You saw what was possible with Steph. The question was step is just whether he was physically big enough. Like, he was just, he was too small. where that was not the issue with Jalen Brown, Jalen Brunson was the question of whether or not he was too short. But Jalen Brunson felt like a different kind of great college player. Right.

Yeah, I mean, Steph Curry was not a second round pick. You know what I mean? Like, that's what it seemed like. And so I feel like we had seen a bunch of guys like that. Like, I used Frank Mason from Kansas as an example. But just a certain type of guard that could be really good in college. and it doesn't work that way for you in the NBA. They had all-time great teammates in going over too.

Yes, which by the way, we did not know. Right. None of us thought that all them dudes would still be at the NBA at this point. You know, but as much as it is, none of us thought that Steph Curry was going to get to the place that he did. The place that we thought it was possible for Steph Curry to get was higher than the place that we thought it was possible for Jalen Brunson to get. And Jalen Brunson, in his way, got himself to a similar place as where Steph Curry is.

Again, not to say he's as good as him, but to make it to where that doesn't even matter truly in the discussion. You see what I'm saying? Like, they got there. They did that. They did it in front of the world. And the particulars of the game almost becomes. secondary because there's something about that that feels like it doesn't matter who it was

that they were going to play against. Like, can you really think, how much different would it have been against Oklahoma City? That would have been a very interesting question because I think Oklahoma City probably matched up with them a little bit better. But I watched them not get enough when they needed it. Right? Now, this is, can I believe I live long enough to say this? The NBA champion, New York Knicks.

You know what? I'm going to give it the whole thing because I'm not afraid of slipping up. The New York Knickerbockers. Hey, white broadcasters, y'all should just say Nix. You know, Ryan, now that I think about it, it's very interesting that they made them the Nix. No one ever tried to go with the NICs.

Knickers. For some reason, that never stuck. They knew immediately. Nah. You know what I think? You know what I think it was, though? You got to remember when the Knicks first came around, it wasn't black people playing basketball. So they were afraid to say it the wrong thing, not because the wrong thing was offensive, but because the wrong thing would have been inaccurate. You know, like in the 80s, when they got to a cast, they started calling them pejoratively, they would

do the tongue twister with Knicker Bokas except it wasn't a tongue twister it was just a turn of phrase they would have had to pick a whole other name for the team of black people had played when they first started the Knicks

because it just would have been too much more, the rule for error would have just been too great. Anyway, I was thinking about this. I have been around places for championships. I was in North Carolina for

four championships of sorts. Two for UNC, one for Duke, but I just kind of act like that. Didn't happen. And then another 20 years ago for the Carolina hurricanes.

Now, the thing about living in North Carolina when I did, as I did, is I just listed for you championships in three different places. It sounds like it was all in the same place because they were right by each other. But the hurricanes was a very Raleigh-centered sort of thing.

I don't know where they centered at, Duke championships, and some shit I don't be doing, place I don't be going. And then Carolina is very much centered in Chapel Hill, but it's like, it's like this. Like, there's really not that much spillout

when it comes to time to celebrate on those sorts of things. I have not been, well, no, I was in Miami also for the 2013 championship. Nothing has been like this. Right?

Just the idea, the notion of what it is to win this championship in New York. I was in Central Park on Saturday morning, and every conversation I heard somebody walking past on the trail involved the Knicks. Like every single bit of it. It involved the Knicks. I called a very good friend of mine, and I asked her where she was watching the game. She was like, I am at a bar by my house with my family. like people were treating this like Christmas Eve.

You know what I mean? Like it's like all the setups and the people on the streets and all these places and everything else. And it made me think, I think on like more fundamental levels about why this lands so much differently. Again, I have talked about the fact

that I think New York is a little bit more of a like sports-cursed town than people give it credit for. But at the end, I was like, if you take out the Yankees and the Giants, but the truth is, the Yankees and the Giants are there. You know, like people have seen and experienced championships before. But I was talking to somebody I know, and she would always tell me about how she didn't really pay no attention to the NBA now,

but, you know, it's the 90s. Yes, when she was paid attention with Oakland Starks and all those dudes and everything else. Like, that was what she knew. man i talked to her on thursday and um the investment level that she had in this team was crazy and it wasn't like the investment that you see anytime you somewhere and a team started running for a championship and now all of a sudden everybody got to act like they on board that wasn't what this was right especially for people of certain ages that wasn't what this was like this wouldn't hit people in their bones um i hit up my man compliment this morning just to see

how he was doing. Like I still got to hit up Shannon. I still got a couple other people because like for people who love this team, it's really that important. You know what I mean? Let me find exactly what he said. Because I was just, you know, ask him how he was feeling because that's all I want to know. And he said, relieved and thinking of dead friends and family honestly. Like that's what this was for people. The relationship that this city has with this team, is probably more intimate than anywhere, at least anywhere close to this size. Like Green Bay and the Packers is going to always be a little bit of an hour.

Yeah, it almost all like a 10 million person college town during this next run. Yeah, yeah. Dude, that is what it's like, it feels like that where everywhere you go, everybody seems to care. Yes. Now, there's a, there's somewhat of an irony to it. And Ryan, you're like me. We've been living here just about the same amount of time.

We are not from here. But I think something that people, we don't talk enough about basketball is, I think that basketball is the sport where more of us have played in a game where two teams play against each other and somebody keeps score. Like, I think there are, I would hypothesize more people have played in a full court basketball game than have played in a padded football game or have played in a baseball game where two teams and everybody had bats and gloves right like i think basketball is just a bit more relatable in that way and in this city i say basketball is relatable in a different way for a

couple of reasons number one basketball in this country was traditionally the sport of black people and what they called back in the day, ethnics, right? Non-wasp is the way that I will say. We probably would say that now. It is the sport of those people. The other thing about New York, I remember when I got to college, and it was all these New Yorkers,

and we just couldn't understand why they was outside all the time. Rain, sleeves, snow or hail, just sitting on a stoop. Like, why are we doing this? Because 15 people live in the apartment. Like, that's what you become accustomed to doing. And so New York involves a lot of people,

finding things to do outside. And the thing to do outside always for a lot of people was basketball, right? So the relationship with the game is so much more intimate than I think the relationship is with any game, any other place. Like we talk about places being basketball cities or football cities or baseball towns or whatever it is. but it's only but so often when we're talking about places being like that, we mean that also in the context of participation. And not just participation like when you were a kid, like Texas at high school football, for example.

But basketball lets you play for a lot longer, you know? And so when people here watch the Knicks, they're watching the Knicks. Also, when I think often people talk about this, and I know it seems cliche, but it's true, but like with a different kind of level of knowledge and understanding, of what it is because basketball is easy to understand. You know, basketball in this city also involves people playing in front of crowds,

not just professionals, you know, but like the idea of Rucker Park and all these places are going down to West Fortuit or whatever, and it's just a bunch of people watching you play basketball. Like, yeah, you can get that in like Venice Beach or whatever in L.A., and there may be a court, but here, basketball is a spectator sport on like every single level. That's part of why Madison Square Garden to me more so in the past than now. But it felt like you were watching the game at a playground or something like that because it's like, oh, it's just like going to the basketball game,

except it's in the arena or whatever it is. But I had a guy hit me up. A guy used to work with. He was like, I feel complete. And they're not, he said, I'm officially complete. That's what he said. That's ridiculous. I want to be clear, right?

But I get why he feels that way. Like the way people are here about the Knicks, there's nothing quite like it. And so I think there's something interesting and charming about the idea that this is where, yeah, I don't think you said it best. Like it turned New York into like a small town. Yes. Right? Into a college town. Or anywhere there's anywhere where people are gathering that don't, doesn't traditionally show sports, there's a TV and it's on the Knicks.

Yes, my brother's talking about there's a bar, a block away from him and from his bedroom he wouldn't need to watch the game to know what was going on. You could just hear them. Yeah, and this is, and I saw somebody else make this point that was interesting is that they're like, oh, this is a thing in New York that is for New Yorkers. Truth be told, everything in New York is for New Yorkers if it's not like Times Square, Statue of Liberty, whatever it is. Like this is, you guys, you guys don't share nearly as much as I think that you believe about what is going on here.

And by the way, the newcomers were not letting you guys do it all by yourselves. Everybody was pulling up. I honestly, part of why I didn't go outside is I was like, it kind of doesn't feel right. Like, it kind of feels like it would be voyeuristic. Yeah. Like, I'm not, I don't, I don't, I'm not that invested. That being said, Ryan, let us make sure that we get all of our recording done this week properly. so that Thursday we can go to the parade.

That is going to be a scene. I know my brother wants to go. Oh yeah, we're going. Like, like, we got to go. I guess we can take some video and stuff while we're out there because I don't go to sports stuff, right? That's just, I love y'all. I do.

But at the same time, everybody understands. Ain't nobody going to be giving a damn about me. We're going to be down there. We got to kick it. I ain't never done no parade like that. I don't really know how it works. I don't know where you're supposed to pee. I don't really have any of those questions, right?

I tell you what else is going to be down there, boy. Smelling like a ton. Forget about a pound. They're going to be. I imagine it was the same way doing warriors parades. Like, damn, this smell like Cyprus. He won the championship. Man, it's going to be a lot.

But no, this is, I was thinking about, this is kind of a broader thing. but I was thinking about how, we always talk about how things are or are not theater. I can't remember if I talked about this on here, but I talked about it somewhere. But I think that we don't, I think we use that term, but there's a level of thought that I hadn't given

like to the idea of things being like theater until recently. And the truth is, theater, when it was kind of sort of the dominant art form of the time, so much that was done replicated what was happening in theater and sports is an example of that. So, like, I think about all the, everything around, like, think about baseball. The umpires, loud, strike and all this stuff. And then the managers, when they come out and argue and these guys are all going back

and forth in each other spaces or whatever it is, like that feels like a theatrical performance, literally, not as a metaphor. Like, it feels like something that would happen in theater and all the exaggerated movements and everything else. the show was done for the people who were in the stadium, which thereby makes it like theater. You see what I'm saying? As the years have gone on,

television becomes the dominant medium and the way that sports is done and the way the sports is produced, then actually becomes more like television. Like Bob Ryan, good buddy Bob Ryan used to make the point that every time somebody says nobody came to see the officials

and they don't want the officials doing all this stuff what you're saying is the officials are extras right but Ryan you know it is in a play even the extras got to do the stuff right they have wines yes even if they don't if somebody says something

when they do it's big and it's dramatic right the extras in television are extras they're all supposed to be in the background And television is produced very slickly and television is done, it works well for mass production, but television is not an especially intimate medium, right? Television does not draw you in quite the same way as a theatrical performance does, right? With the Knicks, and I'm thinking about like going to the parade and all those things,

the relationship to people are going to have, but what it's like being a Madison score, Gardner, everything else. That's what we talk about when you talk about theater. It's not just the idea of a plot art and everything else. It's about the intimacy in everybody feeling like they are there, right? That it is not simply something for you to watch, but it is something for you to experience. And when teams get into championship runs, it becomes theatrical because it becomes something that you experience. When we evaluate everything by how good the television ratings are and da-da-da-da and everything else, here's the thing about television. Make a break on your numbers on television is about the people who don't really care that much. Hey, man, it's something to do,

right? Like, those are the people that are going to get you big numbers and everything else. But when a championship comes around and you're in the city, everybody cares, right? I don't know if I even landed on the point that I originally started within this. But the truth is for this in a lot of ways and because of like kind of the cast of characters that the Knicks had, it has felt theatrical

to be here. Like this feels like a Broadway play that everybody is watching. Even the mix of personalities, right? To have an Alvarado, Cats all weird acting ass, Brunson. All but like

you just think about the way those guys. The OGM. Anobie the tip in is the signature moment. Yes. Like these guys, like, I can't explain to you what they're going to be forever. Think about how happy they be about these cats that's coming to the games. The ones they show it all the time? Not one of them, one, not nothing.

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We got you. Now, if you haven't heard. All right, Bo. Speaking of things going on in New York and around North America, the World Cup has started. New York having some games, obviously. Brazil was here on Saturday. The U.S. won Friday night.

Bo, what has been your biggest takeaway from the World Cup starting so far? Yeah, so I watched the soccer bowl over the weekend. That's what we're going to call it over here, a soccer ball. I watched some of the soccer bowl. I watched Brazil play Morocco and I ain't going to lie. My question was hey, is Brazil still good? Because I, that

feels like the most constant thing that I can assume at any point. Well, Brazil is going to be good. I did watch when they got their asses whooped at the crib that time by Germany. That was some of the wildest shit I've ever seen in my life. But, Ryan, you watch

the U.S. playing the soccer ball and my friends who watch, watch footy seem very excited about what they have seen from this United States team. The U.S. has always played soccer almost in a way of like more hustle than skill, right? Like it's a lot of collective effort, a lot of, around a want to, a lot of American grit. And this U.S. team, you know, playing their opener against Paraguay, looked like a more traditional power in the way that they played and the way they played, like more European or South American squad.

And they, that might be the best. They've looked since I've been watching. What I find interesting is that even people who watch consistently seem to be surprised by this. It came out of nowhere too. So I'm curious what happens since the last time they played somebody. That was also factors like they've had this golden generation of players for the last

five years, but they have not put together the results that one would expect. So everyone was kind of nervous, especially if it being on, on the home soil. and yes, it did shock some people, and I was one of the people who was shocked. Let me tell you something else about soccer bowl. I saw a lot of people wearing Brazilian shirts, the kits, whatever. Saw I'm wearing them joints at Central Park. And I always reminded me of something my good buddy,

Corey Urban would tell me, like, when it was the soccer bowl and I worked with him, and he was just like, it's amazing. All these Brazilians in Toronto, who weren't Brazilians last week. Therefore, I could not tell how many of these people were Brazilians or finger-quote Brazilians. You understand what I'm saying? I'll tell you this, though. I once went to a friendly at Hard Rock in Miami with Brazil versus Columbia.

And buddy, I ain't never seen no crowd like that before. I didn't know they made jerseys that. small. I was wild boy. Speaking of the World Cup, a Twitter user by name of Freddie LA7 has captivated the nation with his road trip from Atlanta to Houston.

He is a German fan going watch Germany play in Houston, and he has made several stops discovering the wonders of the south of places like Waffle House, Chattanooga. He watched a friendly at Auburn and You also made a big stop at LSU. Bo, you have always said you've been fascinated if people were interested.

Coming to this country and learn about this country through sports, what do you think about Europeans finding about America through experiencing the South and all its glory? Isn't this dude also black? I'm going to have to confirm that. Yeah, I can't, because that greatly affects what I'm about to say about his route. First of all, if he went from Atlanta to Houston and he went through Chattanooga,

that is a terrible route. There was, that is where the German team was like their headquarters was. So this was an, okay, that was an intentional. He was not misled. Got it. By the lack of running. Well, I didn't, I didn't think, I didn't think he was misled. I think that somebody was telling him that there was some places that maybe he didn't want to drive to. I am not going to make this call via the internet. So we're going to have to, we're going to have to. Okay, no problem. No problem. Okay.

All I was going to say is if you was black from Germany and you was driving through this territory between Atlanta and Houston, I can't imagine the look they would have gave you when you pulled up in Bucky's because apparently Buckees is one of the things that blew his mind. And Buckees to me, I've, I've, I've, I've been inside like maybe one Buckees. This is the thing that came up after I left this part of the country, right? Apparently the furriners can't believe that Buckees exist.

Like there is no such thing as a gas station that's bigger than two grocery stores. Like this is not something that they could understand. Getting to know America through sport is one thing. Getting to know America by driving from Atlanta to Houston, you're going to think every movie you ever watch lie to you. like every single thing. You just like, no, no, no, this doesn't. This doesn't make any sense.

Like, I thought about this. Like, if you really watch America through movies, you think America is like New York and you think America is like L. Santa Monica in particular. And nothing is like New York. Yes, nothing is like New York. And nothing is like L.A.

Like when that punter from Scotland that went to Arkansas Pine Bluff, I can't imagine what the hell he thought the world was. And then he got there. All right, Bo. This is kind of our traditional Monday show, so we're still going to do some voicemails. Here's our first.

Hey, yo, Bo Mani. Ryan, what's up? This is Al, out of Austin, Texas. Just wanted to let you guys know, love what you do, and following you all for years now. There are days when I have to listen to you guys to move forward in my day. It's just part of my day.

So I think I speak for a lot of people who listen to you as well that without your podcast, man, it just would, my day would be off. So keep doing what you're doing. I so appreciate it. I'm sure others do too. But my question for you is, I enjoy the college upsets, the scandals. I believe you had Spencer Hall on a couple of weeks ago, and you were talking about where the money comes from. Can you recommend books? Y'all definitely need to write that books, but can you recommend any of the books that talk about the scandals and things like that for schools and college football or college basketball?

Appreciate it. Love what y'all doing. Keep it up. Wish y'all much success. Bye. Ryan, what is very interesting, and as you know, is I love a good book about a scam, but I don't have a college scam book

that I can think of off the top of my head. I do think, though, if I'm not mistaken, that 30 for 30 on SMU was based on a book called A Payroll to Meet, in which case, you should read that. I feel like... If it's anything like Podia excess was, you should read that.

I think everyone, college football fan, should read Bootwager's boy just so, I mean, that's not a scam, but he is accused of a scam. And then you find out all the inner workings of college football

through there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, he's not telling, Switzerland is Gilding the Lilly quite a bit. Like, that one is a good book to read. But yeah, it is, it'll get you scam adjacent. I'll tell you that.

And then you can go read about Spencer on your own. All right. Here's our next one. Hey, this is David from Cincinnati, long-time listener, first-time caller. I just watched the episode about Brandon Sorsby, and I was wondering what the push to get black men to go to HBCUs. What would it really take for HVCUs to come back in style for teenagers, 20-year-olds, to be able to really be successful? play HBCUs. I think the last

good HBCU black football player was Steve McNair. Maybe the last good HBCU basketball player was maybe Ben Wallace. But I really want to know what's actually, what is it actually going to take to actually be good in the new NIL landscape

in college sports. Thanks. I'll listen later. Bye. All right. Steve McNair, no, you're going too far back. Like, you can go to Darius Leonard. in the rather short run, if you want to talk about the guys that were really good and came for HBCUs.

But to answer your question, my brother, no disrespect to you, but I feel like if you're listening to this show, you can do two things. You can read and you can count. And in the face of those two things, you know exactly what is going to take for it

to get to going. Man, they're paying people now. This isn't just simply about, hey, we're going to do it for the folks. They pay and pay. people now. What it'll take to make me go to a $20 million. Right? Like,

it's going to take money that we simply do not have in order to make that happen. No, like that's, that's the answer to your question. Have you seen the money that these cats is getting? Because I have, and

HB, ain't nobody donating that kind of money for that. All right. Here's our last one. Hey, Beau. Hey, Ryan. I want to tell you about the time that I got dunked over by my old football coach. He kind of in the vein of the most athletic person you've ever seen or ever been on a full field or court with. So his name is Marcus Clark. We got a little bit of run in training camp with the Saints back in 2013, 2014.

He used to catch passes for Drew Brees. He was like, man, this guy's kind of athletic. and got him an invite to training camp. And so truly the most freak athlete I've ever been around could turn on a dime was lightning clicked in terms of speed. Could jump out the gym. And we used to go to the rec center on Wednesday nights, and we played basketball, just pick up basketball. And him and his team would always run the court. I think I don't know that I ever saw them lose.

And so me and my boys, we were playing against them. and I was all right. I was athletic. I was fine. Nothing special, but I blocked a jump shot of his one time, and I was feeling myself again, you know, blocking this athletic guy's shot. Plus, he was my, you know, he was my receivers coach.

I don't remember if it was that game. I don't remember if it was the next game, but it was later in the evening. I went up to grab a rebound. It was, you know, probably mid-range shot, came off the rim. I went up to get it, and I could jump a little bit, So I was like, oh, I have this.

Next thing I know, this man is jumping over me. And I'm six foot five. I've already jumped probably, I don't know, a foot and a half off the ground. And I swear to God, he cleared me and went over the top of me like Vince Carter on that Greek dude or Russian dude, wherever that guy was from. Some would say it was an over-the-back towel, but it was pick up basketball, so I'm not going to call. call fouls like that. But I learned to never talk shit about a block jump shot ever again because just the mere fact that he had a putback dunk over my body, I will never forget that.

And now is the time I came up against somebody that was way more athletic. Appreciate what you do, Bill. Thank you, Ryan. Love what y'all do. You know, Ryan, the thing that I take from that is anytime somebody gets to the part of I don't remember if it was da-da-da-da-da-da. Yeah, yeah. Now this is about to make the turn.

The other part is, thank you, my man, for not calling the over-the-back file, boy, because I'm going to be honest with you. That had been really Caucasian. It's more embarrassing being dumped on. Yeah, yeah. And over-the-backfow in pickup.

First of all, I actually think that pickup games involve a lot of people really strongly, like adhering to. code and not committing a lot of those. You know what I mean? But brother, if you had called the over the back file, that man would have beat you up right there and your parents honestly would have come and beat you up for it. It all come together. But ladies and gentlemen, thanks so much for joining us here on the right time. We do this four days a week. Ryan Brumley handles everything behind the scenes. Thank you, sir. Hit the voicemail line 3-2-3-9-6-7-67. Remember,

follow the right time, subscribe, like, rate us, review us, give us five stars, you only give us four I'm inclined to believe you are a hater. We'll talk to you guys in a couple of days. Take it easy.