(L) The New York Knicks celebrated their championship with cool cat Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Will they make the same mistake Indiana University’s football team made (R) by visiting Mr. Uncool Trump? (Photos credit: Yahoo Sports)

To go or not to go?

In sports, it doesn’t get any cooler for athletes than being champions of the NBA. Say what you will about the confounding evolution of professional basketball (overreliance on 3-pointers, poor officiating, the now slowing trend of big men treated like dinosaurs), NBA players still carry a level of “cool” unlike any other sport. And given New York City’s global influence, e.g. music, fashion, art and food, the players who play for the champion New York Knicks team are a collection of what might be the new cool in sports.

For many observers, too many athletes have devolved into shit-talking, boastful braggarts with enough ego to fill an ocean. Other athletes resort to proselytizing when most fans just want to hear about the game-winning shot, walk-off homerun, or Hail Mary touchdown pass. Whether you rooted for them or not, or even if you don’t care about ball, the New York Knicks may have ushered in a new era of athlete persona; superb inner confidence rooted in down-to-earth modesty. Team first, ego second.

NBA Finals MVP Jalen Brunson is the prototype. Brunson does not waste a lot of energy with trash talk. Brunson scored 45 points in Game 5, carrying the Knicks to the title over the San Antonio Spurs, a youthful team prone to too much big talk. The hero of the Knicks improbable Game 4 comeback-for-the-ages, Canadian-born O.G. Anunoby, like Brunson, is a humble man. Both are mild-mannered, respectful players who let their “game” do most of the talking.

(L) Me, Jalen Brunson and WGN-TV’s Pat Tomasulo on set at WGN Studios. (R) Jalen Brunson with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Photos credit: YouTube screenshot, am New York)

Dignified

I had the pleasure of meeting Jalen Brunson when he was a high school senior selected to play in the 2015 McDonald’s All American Games. He was my favorite McDonald’s All American during my 6-year run as games director, from 2011-2016 (a timeframe that included Anthony Davis, Jason Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jewel Lloyd and Breanna Stewart).

Brunson was low-key, well-spoken and a winner. During an interview alongside Brunson on WGN-TV, I opined that Brunson was arguably the best guard produced by the state of Illinois since Isiah Thomas. Hoops experts smirked, “What about Derrick Rose?” Brunson has proven me correct.

Now Brunson and his Knicks teammates face a dilemma. Knicks owner James Dolan is a 30-year friend of Trump. (If you’ve known Trump for 30 years it’s possible you knew Trump’s former best pal, Jeffrey Epstein.) Trump sat in Dolan’s luxury suite during Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Recently, Trump invited the Knicks to the White House and Dolan accepted. But there is a twist.

Jalen Brunson says hold up, Knicks players have not discussed going to the White House. Here’s hoping Brunson models another Jalen, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, who declined to appear at the White House after the Eagles won the Super Bowl in February 2025. The Knicks team consists of mostly Black players. It would be undignified for Knicks players to visit Trump, a proudly unrepentant, overt racist. Please, Knicks, just say no.

Indiana University administrators should have declined Trump’s invitation to host the football team. (Photos credit: AP News, Bluesky)

Perfect season spoiled

Not much went wrong for Indiana University’s football team the last two seasons. In 2024, the Hoosiers stunned the football world, winning 11 games with just 2 losses, including playing in the College Football Playoff. The 2025 season was even better. Coach Curt Cignett’s team ran the table. A 16-0 record culminated with being crowned national champion, after defeating Miami in the title game. It was a storybook season that vanquished all doubters, many of whom reside either in the Southeastern Conference or work for ESPN.

Then came the invitation to visit Trump at the White House. IU leapt at the chance to give away a large measure of dignity and its burgeoning cool factor. (Did anyone ever think cool factor would apply to IU football?) As an alumnus, I was embarrassed seeing Athletic Director Scott Dolson, Head Coach Curt Cignetti and the team glad-handing with a 34x felon, convicted rapist, almost certain pedophile creep. What were they thinking?

After a nearly mistake-free coaching performance during the season Cignetti, the top coach in college football, made a career-defining mistake. Showing poor judgment, the coach indulged Trump. Photos of Cignetti hamming it up with Trump are now irretrievably part of his legacy. The coach ignored one of the lynchpin fundamentals of coaching: mold young people while demonstrating you know right from wrong. There is no person on earth more wrong than Trump, a man who wakes up wrong in the morning and goes to bed wrong at night.

IU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza was unable to attend the White House confab. The ever-proselytizing Mendoza regularly answers questions after games with testimony about his religious faith. A marvelous player with a knack for making clutch plays, Mendoza seems like a good guy. However, his religious fervor epitomizes fake-Christians who fawn over Trump. Mendoza exchanged pleasantries with Trump while speaking on the phone after calling Trump to apologize for missing the gathering. Normalizing the corrupt, felon Trump is baffling, especially coming from someone who is supposed to be a Christian.

No amount of NIL money, no number of alumni contributions, and no multi-million-dollar gifts from IU alum Mark Cuban will erase the stain of IU’s senseless decision. Indiana University’s president, athletic director, coach and football team chose to hang out with the worst person America has ever produced. Trump is an immoral, evil man responsible for the deaths and starvation of millions of humans worldwide. Consequently, the glory of old IU has been indelibly tarnished, in perpetuity, after sucking up to Trump.

Please, Jalen Brunson and your Knicks teammates, remember, they will take photos. When you are 50 years old, you do not want to look back at photos of you standing alongside Trump. As comedian W. Kamau Bell recently said, “the easiest way to not be photographed with fascists is to not go to places where fascists coagulate.”

The same can be said for avoiding taking photos with a pedophile.

CHAMPIONS’ CHOICE