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00:14Welcome back to New York Got Game where this week we are continuing our Knicks History Files
00:18mini-series where we take a look at how the Knicks have been styling and profiling on the
00:23court over the years. Word to Clyde Frazier. Now the Knicks, they've worn a lot of jerseys
00:28over the last eight decades. Some iconic, some controversial, some that probably should have
00:32stayed in the archives. So today on Knicks History Files, we're opening up the uniform closet and
00:38we're attempting to answer one deceptively difficult question. What are the greatest Knicks jerseys of all time?
01:00And because comparing every uniform against each other wouldn't exactly be fair, we're breaking this
01:06investigation into three separate cases. Best home jersey, best road jersey, and best alternate jersey.
01:12Then once we crown a winner in each category, there's one final decision to make. Which one
01:17jersey deserves to be called the greatest Knicks jersey ever? So to help me examine all the evidence,
01:23I'm joined by somebody who knows Knicks basketball, New York culture, and most importantly for today,
01:28how to put a fit together on the court. You hear him and see him on Hot 97's Mirror in
01:32the Morning
01:32every day, also on 7 p.m. in Brooklyn. Great podcast with Knicks legend Carmelo Anthony. It's my guy,
01:39the one and only Kazeem Famuide joins me now. Kaz, what is good, my guy? How you doing?
01:45I'm doing good, brother. I'm a little nervous on these picks because I know I'm going to offend some
01:50people, but I have very strong takes on Knicks jersey, so I'm glad to be able to talk this with
01:55you today. Yo, I hit you up because I really thought you were the perfect person for this. I
02:01was like, there's nobody I want to talk to about this except for Kaz. I'm actually curious now what
02:05you think you might offend some people on. We don't have to get into it yet because I think there's
02:09a
02:09pick I have that people are probably going to be a little shocked about, but we'll see. So let's let
02:13the people know. We'll see. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. Maybe we don't offend anybody. Maybe
02:18everybody is good with it all. We'll see. I'm used to offending people at this point.
02:25You're right. You wipe my camera so you get a good look. Somebody might be offended by that.
02:29Somebody might be offended by that. Here we go. All right. All right. Here's how we're going to
02:33judge things. This is very key for the people. We're going to judge the jersey. Now, how good the
02:39team wearing it happened to be has nothing to do with that. We're going to look at design. That's
02:43going to be 30% of the vote. Does the jersey actually look good? The Knicks identity. Does it
02:48unmistakably feel like the New York Knicks? We'll also look at the error the jersey was
02:52worn in and the cultural significance. Like, right? What players, teams, moments are attached
02:57to it. And then a little bit of wearability. Would you actually rock this jersey today?
03:02That is going to be part of what we're going to look at here. Kaz, you ready to do this?
03:07I'm ready to go, man. Let's do it. All right. This should be interesting. Let's do this.
03:12Let's start with the home jerseys. And for the home jerseys, I picked, I came with five finalists,
03:19right? 1968 to 1970 home jerseys, the 1979 to 83 home jerseys, which look different than any other
03:27Knicks home jerseys, right? Completely, completely different. Right before the Bernard King era,
03:33Michael Ray Richardson, those jerseys you have there. The 89 to 97 home jerseys, which I might be a
03:42those, the 97 to 99 home jerseys. That's the introduction of the stripe on the sideline
03:47and on the side of the jersey. And then the 2012 to 2017 home jerseys. People remember that from the
03:53Carmelo Anthony era. Of those five, I don't know if I've sent these so you can look at them.
03:59What do you like? What do you don't like? Who gets out of here first? Who are we getting out
04:04of here
04:04first out of these jerseys? Who are we getting out of here first? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I understand.
04:11I was going to offend a lot of the OGs and the long-suffering Knicks fans, but those
04:18first maroon-colored Knicks home jerseys with the brown and white, I'm going 69-70 where it kind
04:25of had like the knockoff NY on it, like the Yankees joints. Those got to go.
04:31All right? Like, I'm not rocking with those.
04:32So those are actually the, um, that's the 79-83 joints. That's the-
04:37Oh, 79-83?
04:38Yeah, those are the 79-83. That's the 70-
04:41Oh, yeah. Hate those. Sorry about that. I'm misquoting the time.
04:44Let me ask you this. For you, is it the same as me that they went with the maroon? It's
04:50not Knicks colors, so this just doesn't work at all whatsoever? Because that's the problem
04:54for me with it. They had the Yankee knockoff with the logo. I saw what they were trying
04:59to do there. The maroon just, it's not hitting. And I like maroon. Don't get me wrong.
05:04Yeah.
05:05It's just, it's not Knicks. If we're going by the criteria we just mentioned, right? It's,
05:12like, it's not Knicks colors. We can't, I can't get that.
05:15I could always, I could always appreciate, uh, some fashion from before my time, right? Like,
05:21some things probably didn't hit in this moment, but I could always go back and be like, yo,
05:26that's crazy that they got rid of these because these are super hard. This was not the case with
05:30these Knicks jerseys, right? Like, every single Mitchell and Ness throwback, every single piece
05:35of merch that I see from that era with maroon and the NY Knicks on it, it just never did
05:43it for me,
05:43man. Like, the Knicks are blue and orange, period. That is the colors of my youth. That's the colors
05:51of my team. And so, distinctively in New York, you know, um, the Mets sort of share the colors,
05:57the Giants share the colors. There's something about that, that, that hint of blue that is just
06:04so specifically New York City that when you take that away, it kind of takes away the sort of,
06:09uh, the, I want to say regality of what playing in New York feels like. Maroon is just,
06:16it's maroon. It's like, it's like a rainy day. It's like, it's, it's like a soggy fall afternoon.
06:23Nobody likes those. I like orange and blue skies, not maroon and gray skies. All right. So those gotta
06:29go. Damn. That's a, that's a bar right there. All right. So I'm with you. I listen, some people
06:34are going to be like, Dex, why'd you put this in here? I had to put these in here just
06:38because
06:39they're so different and they're, I didn't want to take away the early eighties era. So I had to
06:43throw them in there, but we're getting them. So we both agree they're gone. Um, can we go back a
06:47little bit? Can we go to those 68 to 70, the home whites? Let's see those. Yeah. Right. Like those,
06:55that's the original championship. You got the little orange trim around there. It's not, it's not bad.
07:01Are you, look, you're thinking about Willis Reed in that you're thinking about what a Walt
07:06Clyde Frazier in those jerseys too. What do you think about those? Those are iconic. Those
07:10are championship home jerseys. What do you think about those? Yeah. The, the, the, the,
07:15what you do in those jerseys make all the difference, right? Like those were the jerseys
07:20that Walt Clyde Frazier wore. Those were the jerseys that Earl, the Pearl Monroe wore. Like
07:25that's the jerseys that a lot of the greats, the Bush or Phil Jackson, everybody, you know what I'm
07:30saying? So when you win, when, when you got the championship trophy or the champagne, you
07:36know, stains on a Jersey, it's forever entrenched in, you know, legendary status. Like perfect
07:45example for you guys who are a little bit younger that didn't even realize at the time, one of
07:50the ugliest jerseys of all time, in my opinion, is the sleeved Cleveland jerseys. Then, uh, that
07:57the Cavaliers wore against them, the warriors, but they complete the three, one comeback in those
08:03jerseys. Now it's like, you know, if you think of that shirt Jersey ever, like that's the only
08:09shirt Jersey that people remember because what took place when you wore those same thing with
08:14these jerseys, man. So I gotta, I actually rank them pretty high because you know, those are the
08:19championship threads up until this past year. Okay. So we're not, we're not gonna write until this
08:24past year. We're not going to take this. I'm not going to put this one to the side yet. Let's,
08:27let's hold this. Um, let's go to the 89 to 97 home jerk. Now this, I'm going to be honest
08:34with you
08:36right now. I have, this is at the top of my list and there's nostalgia for me on this, right?
08:42Because
08:42this is, this is the Jersey of my childhood. This is what I saw Ewing and Starks and Oakley and
08:48Mason
08:49playing, right? It's the clean, it's clean white. It's not that much different from the
08:55jerseys of 68 to 70, but little, the orange pops a little bit more, right? The orange pops a little
09:00bit more there, especially around the trim. So I really liked these jerseys. And it was just
09:05something to me, Kaz, about seeing the Knicks indies at the garden in the early nineties and the
09:11playoffs. And you just were like, okay, you know what I mean? You could just see these jerseys.
09:15Yeah. You could hear the organ at MSG. You, you just, yeah, these are, these are the jerseys
09:19that like start my Knicks fan story. You know what I mean? Like the first time I watched the New
09:25York Knicks, they wore these jerseys. The first time I see Madison Square Garden lit up like a
09:30Broadway show, the Knicks were wearing these jerseys, you know? And, uh, again, it's what you do
09:36with them. Nah, they didn't win a championship in them, but those battles with MJ, those battles
09:40with Larry Bird, those battles with the bad boy Pistons, like that's the jerseys that they wore
09:47those in. So those, those rank pretty high on my list, but I'll, I'll be spoiler alert right now
09:53and just say, it's not at the top of my list, but it's, it's up there. It's battling. It's battling.
09:58Okay. All right. So, okay. So I'm going to, so we can move through this quickly. The last two we
10:03have in these finalists, we have, and I have a feeling now I know what might be at the top
10:06of your
10:06list. Now I have a feeling I might know what might be the top of your list here. You got
10:09the 97 and
10:1099 white homes. Now these I know are very near and dear to people's hearts. Why? Cause they put
10:18the blue stripe on the side with the orange slight trim, right? Cause you get a little bit of the
10:23stripe trim, but that blue on the side, this makes me think of something. Now I just talked about this
10:28in the last episode we did of this with Jonathan Macri and Knicks Film School. I love that 97 Knicks
10:33team.
10:34I feel like the 97 Knicks team would have won the title cast. Um, I think they got robbed
10:39with everything that went on with the suspensions, but you think of that era, the Knicks, right? They
10:43were shaving the head. They were wearing a black. We'll get to this in the road uniforms. They're
10:46wearing a, they're wearing a black kicks, the all black kicks. Um, then people love these jerseys
10:52here. I know this, but I'm also going to throw in the 2012 to 2017 white home jerseys. Now
10:58these are a little interesting cause they're closer to the 68, 70 jerseys. I know you started
11:03rounding out the New York, not rounding it out, but straightening it a little bit more
11:07across the chest. And there's nothing on the side, which some fans didn't like, like there
11:11was no, no, no stripe or anything on the side. Uh, between these two, 97, 99 and the 2012 to
11:172017, which, which one, I think I know which one you're going with. What are you going with?
11:22So, so here's the thing. Yeah. I have both of these jerseys and you could kind of tell
11:29when they started to making jerseys for performance and when they started making jerseys for fashion
11:35to make them look good. 97, 99 jerseys. They were making those to look good. The black stripe,
11:41the heavy stitching on the jerseys, like the heavy lettering, like the, the hand woven stitching
11:49on the back of the jerseys really started with that era. You know what I mean? Like that is
11:55chef's kiss to me, but you know, the mellow era jerseys, like those were like performance-based
12:00jerseys. Like the jerseys were a little bit lighter, had a little bit more stretchy material,
12:04you know what I'm saying? So that's why they didn't really have the, the polyester sides to it.
12:08So it didn't really feel, you know, uh, restricting, you know what I mean? When you played in it,
12:13I'm not no NBA player. Didn't matter to me, but I could imagine that, you know,
12:17it made a world of difference to a lot of NBA guys, you know, where I remember that Mitchell
12:22and that's, you're talking about 1999. Like that's the peak of my, like, you know,
12:27Jersey wearing life, you know, from 99 to 2001. I'm talking about fabulous videos,
12:32Maze videos, like fricking just all types of throwbacks and authentics were the only things
12:38you could wear. And any jerseys from the mid to the late nineties, I just think the NBA,
12:46whoever was the creative director there or whatever mandate was put out there for like
12:52logos or franchises. I think that's when they were at their creative peak. Like you think of
12:57the purple dinosaur on the Raptors, think of the big Charlotte on the Hornets. Like they weren't
13:02scared to take chances on their designs back then. So even the big black stripe on the side of the
13:07Knicks was seen as a sort of like a fashion leap for, for that sort of thing. So I always,
13:14that's my top Knicks home Jersey right there, man. The black stripe with the 97 to 99 with
13:19the blue stripe on the home Jersey 97. Okay. So that's your top one. All right. So Kaz's top
13:24is 97 to 99, the white home Jersey. I'm going to go with the 89 to 97. I'm going to
13:30go with
13:30that. I don't think you go wrong. Those are our picks there. Okay. We got our home Jersey
13:36picks. Let's move on to the road Jersey now for the road jerseys. We got the 69 to 78 away
13:46Jersey
13:46to 83 to 89 away Jersey, the 89 to 97 away Jersey, which I wonder how you feel about that
13:53because
13:54that also is interesting to the 97 to 99 and away Jersey, which also then has the black stripe for
14:00the road Jersey and the 2010 to 2012 away Jersey. So like right at the beginning of the mellow
14:07era there as well too. Of those jerseys, do you have, is there a clear winner for you or you
14:13don't have a clear winner from, from, from these jerseys? You know, I, I was looking at these
14:18when you sent them to me and I got to say like the era of 2010 to 2012 was like
14:30both of these
14:31jerseys are separated by two distinct errors, right? 90, 98, 99 to 97 a ways takes up a lot
14:38of time. Like they, that was, that was be a way Jersey for the New York Knicks. You feel
14:48a way Jersey that blew that I'm just so drawn to just like, I have like, you know, that's
14:55a humble brother or anything, but like, I feel like I have more actual memories with members
15:00of that Knicks team and who wore that specific Knicks Jersey with Mello. What's that? With
15:05J.R. Smith, with Jeremy Lynn, Steve Novak, like, you know, guys that I've got to know over
15:10the years, you know what I'm saying? So there's something about seeing that Jersey, you know,
15:14I still love that. They still got the stripe on the side with the orange trim, you know, it
15:18it reminds me of the, the, you know, the city is not the city's entity management, but
15:24you know, the Knicks are back era, like when Amari signed to the Knicks and, you know, it
15:30was the first glimmer of hope in my adult life as a Knicks fan when Amari signed to the
15:35Knicks and then Mello and the Jeremy Lynn and all that type of stuff. So that's, that's
15:40at the top of my list right now. I'm still looking at them, but you know, sentimentally that's
15:45what gives it the top of me. Okay. So I want to talk about what you just said with
15:50the 2010, 2012 jerseys. Cause Kaz, for me, there's something I feel you on that with,
15:56which is the blue, the blue on that Jersey just feels a little bit more vibrant that I
16:00just like, right? It's not too much. It's just, it's just a little bit more. It's almost
16:04like your LOX hat that you got on right now. Right? Like it kind of matches that,
16:09that vibe of that there. This is tough. Cause I do, I do think those two are the top two
16:16for me. Right? Yeah. Yeah. But we talk about what represents the city and the feeling, the
16:2597 and 99 though, in that era, when the Knicks were, especially when they were on the road in
16:32the playoffs, right? Yeah. The black stripe, they were wearing the black kicks. They, I think it was
16:3897 or 90, I can't remember. They did the shaved heads in the playoffs. Oakley shaved his head.
16:41You and everybody shaved their heads. There's something about that New York grit and toughness
16:46with that Jersey that speaks to me. And then I will add the other great point you made in the
16:50last
16:50part we're talking about with the home jerseys that mid to late nineties run of jerseys. When
16:55you had a throw, if you have a throwback and I have a Stark's throwback from that era, you have
16:59a
17:00Stark's throwback from that era. If you have that, that Jersey had weight to it. It feels like
17:04it feels like quality. If you still have it now, if you still have one of those jerseys now,
17:12maybe some of the threading is coming out a little bit and that kind of the aging of it,
17:16the vintage of it, like it makes it look better. It ages better. You know what I'm saying? Like
17:22if you have an authentic Jersey with the heavy stitching and lettering from the mid to late
17:27nineties, and you still have it to this day, it looks better now than it did then.
17:33I agree. I agree. I still like, yeah. Even I had John Stark sign it. It was like, oh, this,
17:38this was, he was like, oh man, you got that. He remembered that feel, that feeling. So if he felt
17:42that, but to me, the black stripe, it's funny. Somebody might say, why didn't you like the
17:47night? I, the black stripe to me is even better than the blue stripe on the home jerseys, like
17:51the side stripe. It just, the black was bold. That, that was just bold. And we can't, you
17:58can't, uh, we mentioned this earlier, but again, it's what you do in those jerseys. When
18:03I think of those blue jerseys, I think of the Allen Houston floater, you know what I mean?
18:07In Miami and, and running around and doing the big fist pump to win in, in, in five
18:12games. So, uh, that's a tough one. That's, that's the one that I had the most trouble
18:17with between 2012 and 99.
18:19It's, and it's, listen, you can look, we can talk about 69 to 78. The Knicks won two titles
18:25in those road blues. It's clean. The trim is clean on that. Willis Reed, you got all the
18:30legends who played in that. Even in the eighties, you think about Patrick Ewing first is putting
18:34that jersey on the road. There's not that much difference between the 83 to 89 and
18:3789 to 97. There's not that much difference in the jersey, but I'm, I gotta, I gotta go
18:4597 to 99. That's it for me. I'm going, I think it's 97 to 99 on this one. I just,
18:49the
18:50black, the introduction of the black to the Knicks colors is so, it's just so iconic to
18:55me, man. I gotta go, I gotta go with that. What's, what, are you going, you, what's
18:59Especially when they had the black shoes and the black socks on top of it. It was just
19:03like, it's like, yeah, we're in New York, but we're here to handle business. Like that
19:06all black is sort of like, just like, it's road black. It's road dark, but not this crazy
19:12shit that crazy stuff that you guys do in NBA jerseys. Now when you wear road jerseys
19:17at home, it's like, no, when you're on the road, you're the dark night. You just wear
19:21the black hat. You're the bad guys. You know what I'm saying? Like you're not coming in
19:25wearing bright colors on the road. You know, that's, that's my boomer take. I'm tired
19:29of seeing road teams not wear road colors. All right. Dark, they white.
19:35I'm, I've said this before in the show and yes, it makes me feel old and whatever. I
19:40don't care. I, I'm not with it. White jerseys at home, colored jerseys on the road, preferably
19:47darker jerseys. You can wear a light. Even, even your alternates. If your alternate jerseys
19:53is dark, those are road jerseys. I don't want to see you, I like seeing the Celtics
19:57wear black and green at home. I'm like, what is this? I'm with you. I'm 100% with
20:03you on this. I wish we'd go back to that. I'm fine. We're going to get to alternate
20:08jerseys in a second. I'm fine with alternate jerseys. I'm just, we don't need to do all
20:12this nonsense. So, so what's your, what, what's the pick? What, what do you have for
20:15your road jersey? What's Kaz's road jersey pick? You know, for all the reasons I picked
20:2399, 97, 99 for the home jerseys, I probably should pick the away jerseys, but something's
20:27got to get some sentimental value. And that 2012 road blue Knicks tape, uh, the, uh, the,
20:38the, we hear Knicks a little bit, like the tail end of that, like, you know, there's, yeah,
20:44yeah. I mean, not even the, we hear Knicks, but I'm thinking Amari, Melo, Jalen, Novak,
20:50we back J.R. Smith, Amaz Shumpert, like that era of Knicks, like that's, I'm picking that
20:56one. That's the one that I like. All right. I like this. We have different stuff for each
20:59of these. Okay. And I got the, that, that road blue on right now. So I figured I got to
21:03like that. That was a hard part for me because I do prefer the blue, the pop of that blue
21:08on
21:08the 2010 to 2012 Jersey. Like the thing that made this one hard, the road one's hard to me,
21:13Kaz is we talk about the wearability. I still think you could rock both of those today and
21:18they still look, they still look dope for different reasons, right? Like you still rock both of
21:22those today. And it's like, okay, this, this is fine. All right. Alternate jerseys. This
21:27is, this was interesting. And one of my producers, at first I was just going to talk alternate
21:32jerseys, but then we opened this up and I thought it was interesting. Now with the alternate
21:36jerseys, Kaz, what people have to remember is the Jersey I just talked about is the road
21:41jersey from 97 to 99. That first started as an alternate from 95 to 97 with the black stripe
21:48on the side that started as an alternate jersey. Knicks would only wear it sometimes. And then
21:52it became their official road jersey that they wore in the late nineties. So you got that
21:56jersey technically as an alternate. The St. Patrick's Day jersey with the green with the black and
22:02orange stripe. Some people love that. The 2013 to 2014 orange alternate, which was only worn
22:09for six games. The Knicks never won a single game in that jersey. And then they said, we're
22:14getting this up out of here. You got the 2021, 2022 city edition that had the, it was all black
22:21with the orange on it. And remember they had the city edition black and orange court. And
22:25then I took the city edition from last year, 2025, 2026, where you had the little Madison Square
22:31garden, blue and orange lights that you see around the garden when the gardens lit up at night.
22:35Mm-hmm. Which of these do you like, which has to absolutely go? I have a feeling we might,
22:42well, we've disagreed on the first two. We might disagree on some stuff here. I'm really
22:45intrigued to see what you say.
22:48If you ever see anybody with the St. Patrick's Day green Knicks jersey or an orange alternate
22:57Knicks jersey, you talk to that person calmly, you find the nearest bottle of lighter fluid,
23:05and a trash can. You take it off that man's back or woman's back kindly, throw it in a trash
23:12can,
23:13and you light it on fire. These are the two of the ugliest jerseys, not just in Knicks history,
23:18but in NBA history. Like one, I'm seeing the Knicks in green just made my, it makes my blood boil.
23:28That's how much I do not like the Celtics. I do not like Boston. I don't like Boston cream doughnuts.
23:34I don't like nothing. Let them have green, all right? We can celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Give me a
23:39little green trim, you know what I'm saying? Like maybe a little green outline, but the Knicks in all
23:44green with orange trim, ugly. I don't know, no real Knicks. I know some real Knicks fans that have it,
23:51but
23:52it's just not something that I would like to see flipped at all. The orange jerseys, so I understand
24:00what they were trying to do. Wait, can I tell you something real quick? Can I say something real quick?
24:02Whoa, whoa, whoa. I like the orange jerseys, man. I like them. So let me tell you. Yeah.
24:08It's because of Melo. Melo made them orange jerseys work because he is Mr. Orange. He's the Syracuse
24:15Orangeman. Seeing him back in orange in Madison Square Garden was pretty cool. But I remember
24:24vividly them never winning a single game in those jerseys. Like every time it became a
24:29thing. It was one of the first like things that I remember just following on NBA Twitter
24:33where they were like the Knicks are wearing the orange jerseys today and just everybody
24:37knew they were going to lose. And lo and behold, they always did. So the orange jerseys kaput.
24:43Those two off rip. Gotta go. But shout out to my guys at Kith. You know what I mean? They
24:49got the bag with the Knicks and started doing the City Edition joints. And the last two I
24:54think definitely are worthy of consideration for the top alternate jersey. Personally, I've
25:01always loved the 2021 City Edition. All black with the skyline in the circle and the number
25:08in the middle. You know what I mean? It was the pandemic era Knicks. It was the time the
25:13I was there in Madison Square Garden with, you know, hosting for MSG Network. So like,
25:18again, sentimental value. You know what I'm saying? The We Here Knicks and Julius and RJ
25:23and Quickly and those dudes. And they just look fly. You can pull off a lot in black. You
25:28know what I'm saying? Like you pull off a lot with, you know, the trim and the circle
25:33and all that. And it took a little bit of a fashion risk. Like you never see circular jerseys
25:38with the Knicks. We've seen some of them with like the FDNY tributes and the, you know,
25:44the old school sort of joints. But like, you know, you never see the Knicks with just like
25:47a circular logo on their jersey. But I thought they pulled that off. Shout out my guys at
25:51Kith. Shout out Ronnie Feige and everybody for that. That's my favorite alternate.
25:55All right. So you're going with the 2021-2022 City Edition. So let me say this. And we said
26:05we might offend some people, so we're not going to try to offend anybody. No offense to our
26:09Irish brothers and sisters out there. I'm with you on the green. I don't want to see the
26:13Knicks in green. I don't want to see that at all. It's too much. If they've done green
26:17in the trim, it's cool. I've actually seen people still rocking this jersey at MSG. I've seen
26:22it. And, okay. Okay. I'll give you a pass. Listen, if it's Irish heritage, we'll give you
26:32a pass. We'll let you rock with it. I'm not as harsh as you, Kaz, and this is going to
26:38probably
26:38shock you on these orange jerseys. Burn them. No. No. I like them. I actually like the orange
26:44jerseys. I kind of wish they'd bring them back. I think that they were really good. I like the pop
26:50of the orange. Now, I would only wear them at home because if people remember correctly,
26:56part of the reason they got rid of them, it wasn't just losing. The Knicks played the
27:00Hawks in a game. I think it was, I don't remember if it was in Atlanta or at MSG where
27:05the Hawks
27:05were wearing red. The Knicks were wearing orange. It was hard to tell them apart. It looked terrible,
27:09which to your point, Kaz, stop doing this on the road, right? Stop wearing your alternates.
27:15Two teams should never be wearing their alternates at the same time. That's ridiculous. It should not
27:19happen whatsoever. I'll say one thing. Go ahead. All right.
27:25If the Knicks ever do bring back the orange jerseys, which I wouldn't be mad at,
27:30do you think Madison Square Garden could pull off a color out like a lot of other teams do? Like
27:38when they wear one color, everybody in the crowd wears the same color. So if the Knicks are going to
27:44wear those orange jerseys, that has to be a day where everybody, like you got to turn the garden
27:50orange and make everybody wear, have orange shirts in the seats, have that type of motion going on.
27:57That's the only way I see it happening. I don't think it can happen. And I think you would probably
28:01agree on this as a New Yorker. Listen, some people come to the game, whatever game,
28:08because you playoff game, rugby season game, you're coming to look good. Some people ain't putting
28:11them shirts on. Some people are just not putting those shirts on. You will see the shirt. They'll
28:14have it on their shoulder. It'll be in their lap. We've seen this, right? We've been at games. We've
28:19seen this. They're like, look, I came here to look good in what my fit that I'm wearing. If they're
28:23not wearing, this is assuming that they're not wearing a jersey, right? They're not putting on
28:28the orange t-shirt. What happened? San Antonio, we saw what you did. You had the different Fiesta
28:32colors. It was nice. It's not happening. It's not happening here. They're not. That's why I give
28:37the finance bros a little bit of credit, because they'll throw the shirt on over their suit.
28:42They'll throw the jersey on over their shirt and tie. But you know what? They locked in,
28:48all right? They're trying to be a part of the team. I could respect it. There's nothing
28:54that I would do personally, but I'd rather do that. We give you the shirt. The whole thing
29:01is, hey, we're going to orange out the arena. We're going to white out the arena. And you
29:05got, you know what I mean, some of the most fashionable people in the world over there.
29:09Like, I'm not putting this over this Dior, son. You're bugging.
29:11Yeah. It's New York. Like, New York is just not getting down like that, right? That's
29:16not happening at all whatsoever. I just don't see it happening at all whatsoever. I think
29:21if they bring back the orange jersey, look, I'm going to say this right here. The orange
29:25alternate is actually my favorite alternate out of all this.
29:27Wow.
29:28Yeah. I knew it would shock you. It's probably going to offend some people. I like the orange
29:32alternate. I think it was a bold choice, obviously, but to make the orange pop, and I think the
29:38way the blue works against it, against the trim, I really actually like it. Now, here's
29:42where I will give it a little bit of a demerit, even though I'm saying it's my favorite of
29:46all this. Would I rock it outside today? No, because I don't want Kaz to roll up on me
29:54on the street and be like that. You got to take that off. I'll take it off your back
30:00and I'll burn it, bro. Damn. I'll burn it. I'm like, this is definitely a gift. Like,
30:04somebody gift carded you this jersey. You didn't really wear this. And that's got to play into
30:09it, too. Like, it's got to be something that I want to wear, like, outside of the arena
30:13or, like, outside of the court. Like, can I pull off a fit in this? I like it on the
30:17court. I like seeing it visually on Madison Square Garden's court because, you know, Garden's
30:22got great lighting. We all know this and how dope it looks, but I like seeing it. Would
30:27I wear it outside? Probably not. But you know what? I'm still picking it as my favorite out
30:35of all of these. I'm still going with it. I have it up. You know what? I would love an
30:39orange jersey. If I could get one, ever get, like, Melo to sign it, I'll put it up in my
30:43little home studio. I might do that. I might have it there. Oh, yuck, you're yum, yo. If
30:48you like the orange, I love it. All right. There we go. You got it. Next time you're on
30:547 p.m. on Brooklyn, you got to ask Melo if he really liked those jerseys, if he really
30:58liked the orange. I will. I will. He's definitely very opinionated about the looks that he pulled
31:03off during his career, so we'll definitely get into that. It's definitely not in the Nasty
31:06Jersey Hall of Fame, though, which is great. Nah. He's got to have some love for it. Nah, it's
31:11not in the Nasty Jersey Hall of Fame. It's not there, but it's a good one. Okay, so I'm
31:15going with the orange alternate. You're going with the 2021-22 City Edition. Before we pick
31:21a final thing, I got a couple quick rapid-fire questions for you, Kaz. For you, because you
31:26own a couple of jerseys and you'll still rock some jerseys, what's the best Knicks jersey
31:30to wear casually? I would say, like I said, anything with heavy stitching and lettering.
31:41So I'd probably go with, like, a 93 to 97-era, you know, Ewing. I would say the first-generation
31:51Melo jerseys before, like, they went all performance with the Nike. But, and lowest of
31:58keys, like, if you still got, like, a, if you still got a champion Knicks jersey from way
32:05back when, when, like, they were making the joints, those are always valid to wear. You know
32:10what I'm saying? Like, any jersey that you copped when, like, it was retail value and
32:16you didn't have to go to Mitchell and Ness, you didn't have to go to a throwback place,
32:19like, those are always valid to wear because that trumps any Mitchell and Ness you could
32:23buy, any jersey you could buy at an NBA store. It's like, yo, I got this at Modell's in 92
32:29or something. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, you're always valid.
32:33Well, what, if you were, if you were courtside for a game right now, big game, what's the jersey
32:38you're throwing on? Is it one of those same ones or something different?
32:41You know, I'm at the time where I have a strict rule, right? Like, when I'm wearing my Knicks
32:49gear out to, you know, show people that I'm a Knicks fan, you gotta show people you know
32:56ball a little bit. So I'll go and I'll opt for, like, a throwback Clyde or throwback Ewing
33:01or something like that. But if I'm in the building, I'm supporting the people that are in the building.
33:06So I either got a Brunson on, I got a Josh Hart on, I got a Karl-Anthony Towns on.
33:13If I'm, the only jersey I don't got from somebody currently on the team that I really want is
33:19the OG Ananobis. So I'm gonna get my OG jersey and wear it the next time I'm in the garden.
33:24That's gonna be a tough one.
33:27Oh, yeah. OG and Jose. I need an Alvarado jersey too.
33:31You need an Alvarado jersey on too. Yeah, I've seen a couple of those around too.
33:35What's the, what's your favorite Knicks jersey that you own?
33:39Sounds like you own a lot too, from what I'm hearing. You own quite a few.
33:43I do. The great thing about this gig is, you know, people know I like the Knicks and they
33:48always send me Knicks stuff.
33:51I've had that too, yep.
33:54Man, I would say my favorite Knicks jersey is my first Knicks jersey. And it's not even
34:00anything I can wear anymore. But it's, I was in grade four, I want to say, when I got a
34:08blue Stark, John Starks champion jersey.
34:10That's my first two. That's crazy.
34:12Yeah, yeah, New York three.
34:15You know what I'm saying? So I probably go Starks. And then the first jersey that I was
34:21like really wearing, like out, out, that was the Knicks jersey in high school was, I'd
34:26say Marbury. I had a Marbury jersey, college. And then, yeah, I'd go with the Starks and
34:34the Marbury. Something about the three. That's crazy. I have a Starks, Marbury, and
34:37the Josh Hart jersey. And they all wear the same number. And that's like, and if you're
34:42a real Knicks fan, you only got to see the back of the jersey to know which number three
34:45it is. It's just like, okay, that's a New York three, but that's a Marbury jersey. That's
34:48a New York three, but that's a Josh Hart. That's a New York three, but that's a John
34:51Starks. It's like the era of the joints. So I just realized that.
34:55One more for you. Is there a Knicks jersey that, well, you kind of said OG, but is that
35:00the one you want the most right now that you don't own? Or is there something else
35:05that you don't own? That you're like, oh, I really want that Knicks jersey. It's dope.
35:08It'll be good to add to my collection.
35:11Man, I would love to have a Nate Robinson jersey. Shout out my guy, Nate. I'd love to
35:16have a, you know what's going to happen? I would love to have a, somebody's going to
35:20get you a Nate Robinson St. Patrick's Day jersey. Somebody's going to hit you off with
35:24that. And you know what's going to happen? Lighter fluid. Light, lightning. That's
35:31what's going to happen. Yo, J.R. Smith and Nate Robb. Those are the ones I want right
35:38now. I like those. J.R. Smith and Nate Robb. Okay. We got to come to a decision because
35:43Kaz gave us the, we all have three different, I thought we might overlap on one, but we didn't.
35:47We're trying to come to a decision. Here's where I'm going to put it to like, let me put it
35:51to you like this, Kaz. If MSG, the Knicks, they called you tomorrow and said, one of
35:57the three uniforms that you chose could survive forever. The rest, the other two, they got
36:03to go. Which one? Of those three, which one are you keeping? So you had, just to recap,
36:11you had the 97 to 99 white with the blue stripe on the side. You had the road 2010 to
36:172012,
36:18started a mellow era, a road jersey, and your alternate was a city edition 2021, 2022, all
36:23black with the orange trim there too. Which one of those are you absolutely keeping?
36:30The one I'm absolutely keeping is the 97, 99 white home jersey. That's one I'm absolutely
36:36keeping. It's the only one with a blue stripe. Feels like just looking at them, just having them
36:42all in front of me. Everything else is pretty consistent except that one. And that blue stripe
36:49jersey is tied into one of the most improbable finals runs in NBA history. And it's baggy and
36:57it's, it's got a good material on it and you can still wear it now. And it, it, it crosses
37:03a lot of
37:04era of favorite Knicks. So you can get one with Ewing on it. You can get one with Canby on
37:07it. You can get
37:08one with Sprewell on it. You get one with Starks on it. You know what I mean? So like it
37:12covers a lot
37:13of ground. That's the one I'm keeping. That's the one that's got to stay.
37:16Okay. So I like this because of what I would keep is in the same era of time. I'm going
37:21with the 97 to
37:2299 road jersey since that's one I picked for a lot of the same reasons. One is the quality.
37:27It's the look. You, you got a lot of great players you can get there. You got viewing,
37:31you have a Starks from his great six-man season in 97. You got Allen Houston, iconic shot. You can
37:36get a Sprewell. You can get an LJ, Canby. There's just, listen, I just, let me ask you this before
37:43I finish my point, because there's some question I should have asked you. When you're out rocking
37:48something, do you rather rock a road jersey or a home jersey? What's, what's the name?
37:52A road jersey.
37:53The road jersey.
37:53Definitely a road jersey. You know, white, white gets, white gets dirty quick. Yeah.
37:57It's hard to get that stains out. You know what I mean? Or some road whites, you know,
38:02so I definitely like to go with a home jersey. You get a few more wears out of it when
38:05you can
38:05hide like a stain or two, but a white joint cooked immediately. Immediately.
38:10I like it. When you first put it on, it's, it's so clean. It's so fresh, right? It's like,
38:15you get your fresh new pair of white kicks. You can't beat it, but I'm going with the road jersey.
38:19So I would take the 97 to 99 road jersey. I just think the look is too good. The black
38:24stripe,
38:25you can pair that with whatever variations of black, orange, and blue next color kicks you have
38:29that can work with it. You can mix in a little bit more with that that I like to play
38:34with too,
38:34fashion wise, if you're going to rock it out. I think that's really good too. So that's it.
38:38Um, is that you're going to be your goat jersey? Would you go with,
38:43it's interesting because we now have the same error. We took our pick out of it. Your pick is of
38:4897,
38:4899. You're going with the white, the home white. I'm going with the road.
38:53Is that the best error of Nick's jerseys when we think about it?
38:57Like, yeah, I would say that's, I think that's the best error of jerseys period. Like if you,
39:01I know I mentioned that early in the show, but like the Jordan, like 95, 96 to like 2000s
39:11is when NBA jerseys were at their peak. Like I'm talking big cartoony logos. I'm talking pinstripe
39:19black Jordan jerseys, the stripe with the Knicks with the heavy lettering, um, you know, anything
39:26that could, anything that was in the back of the East Bay catalog is like, just, yeah, exactly.
39:35Like you already see it. As soon as you say back of the East Bay catalog, you immediately start seeing
39:39like the iconic Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors. I mean, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, uh,
39:45uh, Lakers, you know, rockets, the big blue rocket with the, with the stripes and the,
39:52all that stuff. Like just really just taking creative risks back then. You know what I'm saying?
39:58Like, I guess some people got hit, but we were like, you know, we can have like these really
40:02pretty heavy ass lettering on our jerseys, or we could probably shave like a pound or two off of it
40:07and use this for performance. So once it, once it merged into that, you can kind of see like the,
40:13the creativity in, in, in NBA jerseys sort of take a tailspin. So I'd say 97, 99 is like the
40:19best
40:20era for NBA jerseys for sure. I'm with you. So Kaz has the home white. I've got the, the road
40:25blue.
40:26We both like that era of jerseys. I think that's the great, I think the Knicks had it perfect. You
40:29know what I think should happen? We saw it happen last year as a, what was that? The, uh,
40:35the statement edition, the alternate they had with the blue stripe at home that they had.
40:39I'm hoping that this year, the next alternate maybe is the road blue with the black stripe.
40:44I feel like this is a great year to bring that back and, and lean into that. I wish the
40:48Knicks
40:48would just bring the stripe back permanently. I kind of.
40:51Yeah. I just, I just want the Knicks to take creative risks with their jerseys, man. Like,
40:55that's all I care about. Like, don't, don't mess with the whites and blues. The whites and blues
40:59are going to be the white and blues, but when you got a chance to do something,
41:02something dope on an alternate or a statement, like, just go for it, man. Like, just,
41:06this is forever going to be the year that's remembered as the year after the first championship
41:12after 53 years. Put them on the table, man. Like, put, put them both on the table. Just
41:17do something creative. Just do something a little nuts. Do something so people can always remember,
41:20like, okay, this was the first team after the championship. Like, if they just said after orange
41:26and blue and just had like white and gold jerseys or something like with a gold trim or just
41:30something to remind you, like, they're the reigning defending champions, like,
41:35I'm copping. So, like, just go crazy with it.
41:38That would be interesting if they do that. But to your point, you don't see a lot of these teams
41:44take creative risks anymore. I wouldn't be, I wouldn't be mad at that. We'll see what the
41:49Knicks do next. All right. So Kaz and I, we both think the gold Knicks jerseys are from that 97
41:55and 99 era where you've got the stripes on the sides. Really good jerseys. You can't be,
41:59you can't do better than that. Let us know what you think. Let us know in the comments. What do
42:03you
42:03think? What's the greatest of all time? Knicks jersey. Do you agree with us? Are you burning the
42:09St. Patrick's Day jersey and the orange jersey like Kaz would do? I would not burn the orange jersey,
42:13but Kaz would do it. Are you doing that? Is there another jersey we forgot? Do you like the jersey
42:17from the early 80s? I'm with Kaz. We could let that one go for sure. Let us know what you
42:22think
42:22in the comments. Kaz, my brother, I appreciate you. I thought you were perfect for this.
42:28And what I'm going to have to do is this season, when they announced whatever the alternate jersey
42:32is going to be, I'm going to have to hit you up and see what you think about it. If
42:35you don't like it,
42:37you don't have to come on and, oh, you like it. Come on and let the people know for sure.
42:40We'll talk about it. But if the Knicks want to send me some jerseys too, I'll say whatever they
42:44want me to say. Shout out to the Knicks. You want to send some jerseys? And I got a couple
42:49this
42:50year, which were nice. Send them to Kaz. Send them to me. We will gladly talk about it.
42:55Fanatics too. Send them this way. Send them. Send them. We'll talk about it. We'll wear it.
42:58We will analyze it. We will do all of that. That is the great Kazeem family. Check him out,
43:037 p.m. in Brooklyn with Carmelo Anthony. Also check him out on Hot 97 Miro in the morning.
43:09Do a fantastic job there. Kaz, always appreciate you pulling up on New York Got Game. Thank you so much,
43:14my guy. Appreciate you, bro. Yep. Anytime. And we will see everybody next time on another edition of
43:20New York Got Game. Hopefully you enjoyed this edition of Knicks History Files. We'll have more
43:25coming your way soon. Be well. See you next time in another edition of New York Got Game.
43:32And thanks for watching New York Got Game. Boobshakalaka!
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