Rice on the Mics
Welcome to "Rice on the Mics", where sports talk comes with no script, no filter, and just the right amount of chaos. Hosted by Ian Rice, this is the spot for real fans who love the game but aren’t afraid to call out the bad takes, blown calls, and overpaid benchwarmers. Whether it's a legendary performance, a brutal choke job, or your fantasy team crashing and burning, we’re here to break it down like it’s last call at the bar. No corporate PR spin, no forced debates—just unfiltered sports talk with passion, personality, and maybe a little trash talk along the way. If you’re looking for stats read off a teleprompter, you’re in the wrong place. But if you want bold opinions, real conversations, and the kind of debates that might get a drink thrown at you, pull up a mic and let’s go.
Rice on the Mics
The Sunshine Is Coming: Why Baseball Season Brings Hope Despite Injuries
Sports fans are in for a treat as we dive into all the week's biggest stories, from NBA drama to NFL free agency madness and the approaching baseball season with its sunshine and excitement.
• Deep dive into the New York Knicks' incredible journey from mediocrity to contention, comparing their current star-studded lineup to the disappointing rosters of years past
• Breakdown of NFL free agency chaos, including Joey Bosa to the Bills, Daniel Jones to the Colts, and DeAndre Hopkins reuniting with Derrick Henry
• Analysis of the New York Giants' questionable offseason strategy after letting Saquon Barkley walk while bringing in aging Joe Flacco for a quarterback visit
• Preview of the upcoming baseball season, highlighting significant injuries like Gerrit Cole's Tommy John surgery and examining the Yankees' concerning long-term financial commitments
• Quick hits on NHL action, college basketball tournament developments, and Rory McIlroy's practice round controversy
• Celebration of young talent on the Jets roster including Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, Sauce Gardner and new addition Justin Fields
Make sure you're locked in for Monday's episode where we'll cover everything that happens over the weekend, including Selection Sunday. Hit follow, drop a rating, tell a friend, and message me on Instagram or Twitter @RiceontheRadio!
I guess there's only one way to find out. Let's do it to it right 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. All engines running Liftoff. We have a liftoff, liftoff, liftoff, liftoff, liftoff, liftoff. Oh oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, welcome, welcome, welcome, rice on the mics.
Speaker 1:Episode 3, we're turning up the heat today, boys. Last week a little bit of a runoff, we're coming in full speed today. All the big stories from the week, all the takes you won't hear anywhere else. Latest shakeups in the nba course of mob, nfl free agency draft coming up. I got you covered. Lock in, grab your coffee or whatever keeps you going. Let's talk to sports boys. All right, we're gonna jump just right into.
Speaker 1:Just a couple things of note before I go on this diatribe about the Knicks. I'm about to go on here. Steph Curry 4,000 three-pointers that's actually insane. Over the weekend, I mean still plenty, plenty more time. Do you think he'll hit five? Do you think 5,000? Three? I mean the way the game's going. It's definitely doable. Halle Halliburton Can't stand them Pacers Big game between them and the Bucs over the week Chasing each other.
Speaker 1:I think the Bucs are only going to get a game above them. Four-point play from Halliburton to seal the game and the foul was committed by Giannis. It was a little ticky-tack foul but hey, man foul behind the three-pointer Drains the free throw, game buckets, game blouses. And then the next night the Lakers come to Milwaukee, luka drops 45. Giannis is an assist away from a triple-double and they blow them out by 20. I mean, it's so funny how basketball works.
Speaker 1:Right Now let me get on the next here, okay, first let me paint the picture here for you. Okay, at the bar, watching the late-night game, as one does at the bar, with a couple buddies, my brother and I'm watching cat-th throw passes all over the place. I'm watching them be up, letting them keep Portland in it. Finally, okay, they go to overtime. The terrible turnover, the whole works, tv timeout happens.
Speaker 1:I turn to my brother. I go all right, who gets the ball? No, brunson, who gets the ball? I'm arguing OG. He's saying big cat, we're going back and forth, but the only Nets fan that I know, another buddy of mine. He goes. Go to branches, I go. Nah, man, he's been. You know he's money, but you know I don't know. Sure as shit, right off the screen, wide open. Took a couple extra steps, but wide open, good look, bang. Got the double bang from breen too.
Speaker 1:By the way, any new yorkers who know that we go crazy, bar goes insane. So many nick fans out there. Now I say all that to preface this. Enjoy the ride. Knicks fans. It's tough, man. We think we should be winning the championship every year. But that's because you're a fan. That's what it's supposed to be. I got Miami Dolphin fans out there thinking they can go all the way. That's what it means to be a fan. But do you remember where we were?
Speaker 1:Let's go back to the way, way, way back machine here, 2010, starting lineup for the New York Knicks. You ready for this? Raymond Felton, landry Fields, denario Gallinari, tim O'Fay Mazgov and Amari Stoudemire. That's 2010. Let's go five years. Let's go five years ahead 2015. We got Mello. We five years ahead, okay. 2015. We got Mello. We got the kid Killing it and then his supporting cast, which everybody knows he had the best supporting cast of all time, considered Jose Calderon, robin Lopez, kp, kristaps Porzingis, the God and Sasha Vujovic. Okay, how about five more years? Let's go five more years. Five more, five more 2020. Rj Barrett, alfred Payton, reggie Bullock, julius Randle and Mitchell Robinson. That's five years ago.
Speaker 1:Okay, we watched these games. We were miserable watching these games, yet we tuned in every week. Now, 2025, this year starting lineup you ready? Og and Inouye Bridges, brunson, hart and Towns Guys, let's enjoy the ride. Okay, look, yeah, realistically, are we probably going to run into a buzzsaw in Boston or Cleveland in the second round? Shit, we might run into a buzzsaw in the first round, buzzsaw in the first round. But think about the lineups that we had and just enjoy the show right now, boys, it's the first year of this team being together. They'll be okay.
Speaker 1:Okay, there's a lot of talk of like Devo coming back too Free agency, or like making a trade for him or something. It's not happening. It's not happening, boys. First of all, he got into it with Bruns' dad. You think that's gonna go? Just let's move it over. Let's go out to dinner. Well, I don't know, maybe, but Highly doubtful. Okay. Then, on top of it too, apparently, he was a big part in the deal. Yeah, they wanted Randall for cat Because that was, you know it's a one for one, but they really wanted Devo. So it's going to cost the Knicks and what You're going to give up more To get it back. I don't know, man, that's no good. Also, pj Tucker Okay, 10 day contract Game coming up In a couple days here with Golden State.
Speaker 1:Again Some Draymond Big Cat beef. Pj Tucker, 10-day contract. Just go out there and be Matt Rampey. You know I'm not saying you got to punch him right in the face, man, this is the palace or anything. But hey, listen, you know, go for a rebound here. Come down with that hard elbow on the top of the nose. You go for a rebound here. Come down with that hard elbow on the top of their nose. You want to not pay for a couple meals in New York here. You want to be a god in New York for a couple weeks. Pull that one off, that'd be great. And lastly, look, let's get into it.
Speaker 1:The minutes Bridges Coming out. It's a tough story to put in the media and then, but hey, tibs was ready. When he was asked about it he came out with the receipts talking about how many minutes jason tatum plays, how many this? So I need my best guys on my best, on their best guys. I don't know boys, you play in the nba. You're paid millions and millions of dollars and it's easy for me to sit on the sideline. It's like I'm not running my ass up and down the court. But your job is you get summers off pretty much Well, not fully, but you know you hope not. You hope you're playing until June. Your practices aren't even really practices anymore either. They're shoot-arounds. I don't think they got Rick Pitino driving them up and down, running suicides guys. So I don't know the minutes. I think the minutes are getting overblown. That's always been Tibbs' thing. I think Bridges, with Brunson out here this next week or so, he's going to really find his own. He's going to start hitting some more shots like that. He's going to really make some noise. So let's go, knicks boys, let's go next time. That's right.
Speaker 1:Nfl free agency is a goddamn mess. People are moving all over the place. This week has been a mess. Joey Bosa's a bill. So that's great. Can't wait for that.
Speaker 1:In my division, danny Dimes Colts trying that's great. Can't wait for that. In my division, danny Dimes Colts trying to push Richardson. Do you know who had the two lowest passer innings last year in the league? If you guessed, danny Dimes and Anthony Richardson. Show them, bob, what he won. That's correct, the Colts. Jesus, jonathan Taylorts. Jesus, jonathan Taylor. God bless, dehop reunited with what the fuck is his name? Derrick Henry, deandre Hopkins, derrick Henry, back together. Little Titans action.
Speaker 1:It's crazy to think that DeAndre hopkins, aj brown and derrick henry were all on the titans at one point. That's what not having a quarterback will do for you all those guys together. And he still couldn't figure it out. That's probably why mike vrabel won those games. To be honest with you. Oh boy, boy, that actually looks. Now that I think about it. That's pretty good. He had all that goddamn talent and won a bunch of games, then got himself a job at the Patriots. Is he even that good of a coach? Oh man, I just thought of that on the spot, is he? I mean, I guess he's a good coach, right, but fucking, maybe not, though. Maybe not. Oy yi, yi. Well, we'll see. You know who definitely doesn't have a quarterback?
Speaker 1:The New York Giants Giants brought in Joe Flacco for an interview, I guess. Whatever they're calling it nowadays Joe Flacco for an interview, I guess whatever they're calling it nowadays Joe Flacco. The last I thought I saw Joe Flacco in New York was with the Jets. That was three years ago. Three years ago, joe Flacco, what a joke man. Oh, and, by the way, you paid Darius Slayton three years, $36 million, but you wouldn't pay Saquon three years, $38 million, so not great. Which directly led to your division rival hated division rival and they hate you just as much as you hate them winning a Super Bowl and not winning a Super Bowl, dismantling the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Anyway, I digress.
Speaker 1:What's the Giants plan? Does anybody know what they're doing? Cam Ward is going to go, probably number one, I mean Titans. They're fucked, but at least they'd rather be fucked with Cam Ward than fucked with Will Levis. So if he goes, one Browns quarterback I mean unless listen, the defense is good over there. They have a couple weapons. So is it silly to go rock on Aaron Rodgers' door? He looked good enough, but I don't know. Would he ever go to Cleveland? No, it's where you go to die With the Jets. It's where you go to die, but Cleveland is doubly is where you go to die With the Jets. It's where you go to die. But Cleveland is doubly is where you go to die. But otherwise, giants, I mean they're going to get stuck holding the bag. Because if Cam goes one, shador goes two, you go with Dart. I'm good with Dart, but I was good with Dart at seven. I'm great with Justin Fields now, but I was good with Dart at seven, not at three.
Speaker 1:Your best bet I mean you missed out on Matthew Stafford Rodgers is going to go to the Steelers for sure. It just makes so much sense which, by the way, side note on the Steelers Mike Tomlin deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping those locker rooms in shape all those years. With DK and George Pickens. He's, and potentially Aaron Rodgers. You better line him up for one right now. I mean DK and Pickens might go fist fight in the parking lot for number 14 because they both wear, and who's gonna concede? I don't see either one of them conceding. So there's God. There's so much going on. This is why NFL is king, because it is March and there's so much to talk about still. Anyway, giants, you missed on Stafford, which he used, you guys, for money.
Speaker 1:Let's be honest here. You're going to miss on Rodgers more than likely russell wilson, but russell wilson looks cooked man, he, he just doesn't look good. Gardner minshu, I would say, but he's the backup to mahomes. He might even get a ring, you never know. Jacoby briss's still in the league. Adrian McCarron's still in the league.
Speaker 1:Can you pry Andy Dalton away from the Panthers? Is that a thing? I don't know. I say all this because I don't. Honestly, I don't think there's a plan for the Giants. I don't know if they have a plan and I hate you know. I feel bad for my Giant friends. I got a lot of Giant friends. I feel bad for my giant, I got a lot of giant friends. I feel bad for you guys. Look, look, look, maybe, maybe, maybe in some world, tommy devito steps up and he becomes tony soprano. But I don't know, man, I, I think he's more like chrissy than he is like tony. So we'll have to see what's going on with that.
Speaker 1:Now. Look, this is a pocket on the kind of black jets, god the jets. But you know, this is, this is the. This is the first time I feel pretty decent about the jets in a long time. I mean, look, I, I, I fully admit, when we trade for rogers, we sold our soul to the devil man. I knew what it was gonna be. We own 49 million dollars in cap space this year.
Speaker 1:One guy that's not even on the team. 49 million dollars. God, I hope he retires, please do me the favor. But the team is like somehow trending in the right area. It it field stinks, then fuck it. So be it, man, it is what it is.
Speaker 1:But if he's good, he's a first round pick. He's 26. This is a perfect last chance for him, maybe, maybe the chance finally get a quarterback to blossom for their team instead of for another team. I mean, god, what you imagine? I could see a jets quarterback for once in my life. That's crazy. Also, this team is so young that if, if aaron glenn can whip these kids into shape and really like get everybody to buy in and they can become something you ready, you ready for this, sam blocked would have decided I can't take credit for this. This is not my research, but, man, it's a great research. Ready.
Speaker 1:Braylon Allen, 21. Fashenu, 22. Brees Hall, 23. Garrett Wilson, 24. Sauce Gardner, 24. Will McDonald, 25. Justin Fields, 26. Jermaine Johnson, 26. Quentin Williams, 27. Quincy Williams, 28. All under under 30, all those monster players. They're right there, man. They just need a little coaching and Aaron Glenn's badass, he'll do it. We hope. Or Justin feels the shit.
Speaker 1:We're picking top 10 again, like always, and we're always looking for another quarterback right. Same old Jets, s-o-j, j-e-t-s. Just enjoy tailgating season. Ay, ay, ay, ay, oh. The sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine. Baseball, baseball, boys and girls. Baseball's around the corner. That serotonin is coming Of, that nice vitamin d shining on your skin, nice ice, cold beer when sweat is pouring off you, hot dogs, sausage sandwiches, baseball boys, baseball.
Speaker 1:Baseball is around the corner and I can't wait for spring training to be over because, god damn it, if another player gets hurt, the league might be fucked. There's so many people getting hurt. It's crazy. Tommy John for Mr Garrett Cole is officially announced this week. It's unfortunate. Look it's. You know I'm a Yankee hater, fully admitted. Okay, but man, baseball is better with good pitchers, baseball is better with superstars. Mike Trout could walk down fucking Broadway on Manhattan and not get recognized. So baseball needs superstars. Gary Cole is a superstar, say what you want. He might be a nerd, he might sound like a little bit of a Kermit the Frog, but he is a superstar. And for him not to play this year it's upsetting.
Speaker 1:Mcneil is now hurt too. For the Mets he's out three to four weeks. It's kind of a blessing in disguise, if you ask me. Brad Beatty gets to dust off one of the six gloves he was carrying in his fucking bag. He had a third base glove, a first base glove, infielders man, outfielders, maners man, I mean. At least he gets to use one of them. It works for the mets though, too, because it's either brett beatty or takuna. So I have a power lefty that is a quadruple player that is looking to make a stride, or I have the younger brother of an all-time monster that has righty-pop, a little bit of power, and steals bases left and right. So it's good for the Mets. I'll take it Not good, but you never want to see anybody get hurt. Really, I think it's kind of just a play too. Eventually, mcneil is going to start hitting good again, and he's going to get put into a deal for a Dylan Cease at the deadline or something along those lines. Shepard Beatty might be in that deal too, but I got cleared. This guy had a oblique strain also, and I guess whatever he did mcneil has to do because minaya is now cleared to throw, and whenever he feels okay.
Speaker 1:Clay holmes, everybody's favorite yankee, now met. That's really took both best players off. The yankees took soto and clay holmes got named opening day starter. Who, who had that on their bingo card? Not me. I'll tell you that I thought it was gonna be okay, not great, and then eventually go to the bullpen. This guy's gonna be a stud. He's a monster. I mean, like it's spring training, guys are trying to figure shit out, but if that's Clay Holmes trying to figure things out, oh boy, everybody better watch out.
Speaker 1:I'm really looking forward to opening day, just in general too. But man, it's opening day. There's no other day like it. There really isn't. Now. I was doing some little bit of homework here. There's no other day like it. There really isn't Now. I was doing a little bit of homework here.
Speaker 1:Yankee fans aren't going to like this. I think a lot of fans nowadays are getting twisted on payroll and whatever, whatever, because they see the Dodgers, but everything's backloaded and whatever, and the Yankees and the Mets are spending a bunch of money. Yankees have spent money. They are third in payroll, probably behind the Mets and the Dodgers. The problem is their money that they spent isn't on the field. They have three more years with stan 32 this year, 19 and 26 and 15 and 27 and, by the way, there's a club option too.
Speaker 1:But god, if he's still playing baseball at 38, he must be baseball, jesus, I don't. All right, that's fried. You still got two more years with LeMahieu at 15 per. He can't, even he couldn't, he can't walk his way to the cold tub to get better, never mind get on the field and run. Great signing Max Freed. Thanks again, thank you Really, really appreciate you taking him out of my division For eight more years. And, for those who don't know, it's 14-5 the first two years, right, but then it's 32 million dollars per year for the remaining six. And there's no club option, there's no player option, there's no nothing. If he sucks at 38, which is the last year, how old he'll be in the last year of his contract, you're still paying him.
Speaker 1:They're just not making Aaron Knowles anymore. I don't know why these guys they're signing every pitcher to 38. You know 39 years old Nolan Ryan, doesn't he? That guy doesn't exist anymore. Okay, no one will ever touch 300 strikeouts. No one will ever. You know it's. Those days are gone. So, given a player like Max Fried, eight years for fucking 200 and whatever 300 and whatever who. Oh, by the way, you got Rodon for four more years at 27 per and you still got Cole for another four at 36 per. To be fair, though. To be fair, I will give the Yankees a little. I'll give the Yankees their flowers a little bit, I really.
Speaker 1:I believe last year cole was more hurt than he let on and I think he had an opportunity and a chance to pitch in a world series, which you don't get often. And I think he told the yankees look, my arm's pretty banged up, but I will do whatever I need to do for this team. Just, I'm also in an opt-out year. So when I think he opted out, I think the yankees did the right thing. But I said go pitch, go be the dominant pitcher you are, we'll do the right thing by and they did, they did the right thing by him. They. You know he opted out, but really didn't. So you know they took care of him. So I I'll give credit where credit is due.
Speaker 1:But man, all that yankee money tied up in pitching, you guys don't lose the World Series because of pitching. You lose because of bad defense. You lose because you can't hit, because Aaron Judge doesn't know how to swing a bat in the playoffs for some reason. Last year excluded. But up until then you can't look me in the face and lie to me he's been bad in the playoffs. Hey man, we'll see. Right, I'm a big proponent of Boston division this year but I think the Yankees are in for a rude awakening this year. But hey man, that's why we play 162 of them. I mean, baseball is a long, long season and you can get swept up in the dog days of summer or you can ride it out and we'll see how everything goes. But I don't know, man, go Mets. That's what I know.
Speaker 1:Just a couple more little closing remarks before I get you out of here. I know you've been listening for a while, listening to me talk some shit and I appreciate it. Did anybody catch the Ranger game over the weekend? They won in overtime, which was garbage, but whatever. But did anybody see the guy skate into Rempe? Rempe didn't hit him, rempe didn't even see him, he skated into him. But because this guy's six foot on skates and Rempe's six foot seven on skates, I mean, look, you flop in the NBA, okay, whatever, it's kind of part of the deal. You flop in hockey. You get your fucking ass kicked. Okay, this guy skated into him, fell down and acted like he beat him over the head with his stick. I don't know Wild St John's pulled it out against Marquette tonight in overtime. We love the Johnnies around here. You know, red Storm, go get them boys. We'll touch on some college basketball. Coming up here Waiting on Selection Sunday to see where the chips fall. Oh, last two.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you guys caught the story here with Rory on a practice round on Tuesday. Rory, I don't know if you know this or not, you haven't won a major in 10 years. Roar, okay, you're the golden boy because you spoke out against live golf and everybody took the salty money. And I get it, I agree with you, but you haven't won in so long. Who are you to sit on a practice round? People aren't going to pay to see you during the regular.
Speaker 1:This guy, a college student, on a practice round and he chirped you a little bit, chirped you, god forbid right Made funny a little bit. What it's a matter of? You can't handle the banter. You can't handle the banter, mate. I mean, get over yourself, bro. You took his phone and a score. It got him escorted out over a chirp about 2011 Augusta and, by the way, for anybody that doesn't know about 2011 Augusta, he was in the lead until Sunday and then triple bogeyed and double bogeyed to fucking blow the lead. So, yeah, you deserve to be chirped on it. Can't take a joke, mate. Jesus, get over yourself. Well, that's a wrap on episode three of Rice and the Mikes Rory aside. We brought some good energy today. We broke it all down and you already know we're coming back even stronger next time.
Speaker 1:Big shout out to everybody tuning in whether you're rocking with your morning grind, little late night sesh, you know, somewhere in between doesn't matter. I appreciate you. I love you. Make sure you're locked in for monday's episode. More takes of everything that happened over the weekend. A little selection sunday too. We'll see what we can do. Maybe Duke will end up doing all right. How the Johnny's going to do when are they going to land? Anyone else going to get hurt during the baseball season? I don't know. We'll see. I'll cover it all, don't you worry about it. If you enjoyed the show which, please, I know you did, I know you love it Hit the follow, drop a rating, tell a friend, message me on Instagram. Message me on Twitter At Rice on the Radio, by the way, any of them. Let's grow this thing, man. I know you're tuned in. I know you're locked in, so let's go. Most importantly, tell someone you love them. Spread good energy in this world. Everything else is pretty simple after that. I'll catch you on the next one.