Every city needs them, whether it is through sports, entertainment, etc., an icon that represents your respective city is important. A public figure who you see and instantly attach them to whatever city they are about. Whether it’s Jack Nicholson courtside at a Lakers game or Spike Lee heckling Reggie Miller at a Knicks game, every city has icons. As a New Yorker myself, I was asked to list my Top 5 NYC icons for our “Ask Bob” portion of The Brilliantly Dumb Show. While we all know it’s tough to please a New Yorker, here’s my best shot at our Top 5 icons.

5. Spike Lee

Anybody with courtside season tickets at Madison Square Garden is a legend in some regard, but Spike Lee has broke barriers in his love for New York and the Knicks. For a team that has barely given us anything to cheer about, New York can’t help but tip its cap to Spike for his constant devotion to the team and city.

4. Billy Joel

Billy is far and away my favorite artist of all time. Born and raised in Long Island, Billy has been selling out Madison Square Garden for what seems to be a half a century. He is the gift that keeps on giving and a guy the city adores.

3. Jay-Z

It’s hard to say that anyone “put New York City on the map” but Jay-Z has come pretty damn close to it. You just can’t mess with Hov and I love that about the guy. Nobody wears the Yankees cap better than Jay-Z himself. An undisputed legend in the streets of New York.

2. Jerry Seinfeld

Seinfeld is arguably the best to ever do it and changed the comedy game as we know it forever. A New York guy that’s been making us laugh for years. I think it’s hard for anybody to argue this one.

1.Derek Jeter

I figure there will be some disagreement on this but I did what I did. All Jeter did in New York was win, and he did it all the right way, class, dignity, and respect, everything the city was built off of…kind of. Jeter will go down as a first-ballot Hall of Famer not just in baseball history, but in New York’s history as well.

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