The vibes were impeccable at Thursday’s New York Knicks championship parade.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s speech was near-universally praised, James Dolan aside.
And many other city politicians got the chance to speak about how the Knicks overcame adversity and the odds to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals and bring home the franchise’s first NBA title since 1973.
However, WFAN’s Gregg Giannotti didn’t appreciate one aspect of at least one of those speeches.
One half of the Boomer & Gio show was fired up on Friday’s show over a reference to the events of the September 11 attacks, saying that he’s sick and tired of 9/11 being used as a comparison to anything a sports team accomplishes.
Gio is fed up with politicians comparing a New York sports team’s fighting spirit to overcoming 9/11: pic.twitter.com/dUuEhp2gMt
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) June 19, 2026
“For the respect of the people that lost their lives in 9/11 and the families, can we stop comparing a sports team coming back from 29 points to the city recovering from 9/11?” Gio asked. “Like, I love sports. If I didn’t have sports, I wouldn’t have this job, I wouldn’t have my life. But I can separate those two things.
“‘Just like we came back from 9/11, the Knicks came back in this game.’ Please. Can we stop short of that? I mean, it’s— we got the 25th remembrance this year of 9/11. And it just made my skin crawl.”
“Can’t wait for that mayoral speech,” added the very partisan Boomer Esiason.
Specifically, Gio was reacting to a speech by City Comptroller Mark Levine.
“We do not back down, no matter how far behind we are,” Levine said. “We were down on 9/11, and we came back. We were down in (Hurricane) Sandy, and we came back. We were down during COVID, and we came back. We were down against the Cavs, against the Spurs … and we came back. We are New York. We don’t stop fighting. You should be afraid of us. We are the champs because of the New York Knicks.”
Tracy Morgan, one of the many celebrity Knicks fans who attended games and supported the team during their playoff run, also made a similar reference.
It’s a fair point by Giannotti, as the events of Sept. 11 are hardly comparable to the events that take place on a basketball court. And while Levine sounds well-intentioned, it’s not a quote that looks great on paper or even really speaks to how New Yorkers feel about that tragedy. The crowd’s lack of enthusiasm after he said it spoke volumes.
Just because we can imagine some people are jumping to the conclusion that Gio is responding to Mamdani (especially since the WFAN clip of his comments includes a photo of Mamdani), the mayor did not reference September 11 in his speech on Thursday. The only thing he said that could be construed as a passing mention was that the city has often had to come together in the face of tragedy, which made it all the more joyful to do so in celebration.
this is honestly an excellent celebratory and motivational speech from Mamdani at the Knicks parade. i’m ready to run through a wall, and i’m not even a Knicks fan
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) June 18, 2026 at 9:54 AM
“So often when this city comes together, it is because we are forced to by a moment of tragedy or adversity,” said Mamdani. “What a gift it is to be brought together by pure, unfiltered joy.”
That’s how you do it, regardless of how Esiason might feel.
