Pressure Is a Privilege

Pressure doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. It storms in during a Denver whiteout, when a quarterback can’t see his receivers, and it races through a Seattle shootout where every possession is a swing play. We celebrate 50 episodes by tracking how pressure shapes decisions—on the field, in the front office, and across New York’s loudest arenas—while laying out why the sharpest betting move this week is restraint before a full Super Bowl blitz.

We revisit a 4-0 Championship Sunday, then zoom into the choices that defined it: Drake May’s clock slide, Vrabel’s blizzard optics, and Sean Payton’s fourth-and-one. From there, we break down a Super Bowl rematch with early lines, but keep the focus on storylines: Sam Darnold’s resilience, Vrabel’s year-one edge, and how small, disciplined calls stack into trophies. The coaching carousel adds intrigue as Dayball and Sala link up in Tennessee, the Giants bask in Harbaugh’s arrival while hunting an OC, and the Jets wrestle with structure, credibility, and why top candidates keep looking elsewhere.

On the Knicks front, wins are coming from defense, pace, and late-game poise, but the fit questions around Karl-Anthony Towns linger as Giannis rumors and second-apron math raise the stakes. We unpack three-team frameworks, asset costs, and the difference between a star swing and a chemistry save. Baseball enters optimism season: the Mets pay tomorrow for Freddie Peralta’s upside and face an extension choice, while the Yankees juggle health, Garrett Cole’s timeline, and the eternal “process vs. October variance” debate. Quick hits round it out with Rangers-Islanders trajectories, Devils’ Jack Hughes watch, and an Australian Open runway toward Djokovic vs. Sinner, plus the spotlight-versus-privacy debate in tennis.

Tap play for sharp angles, clean explanations, and clear takeaways you can argue about in the group chat. If this resonated, subscribe, share it with one friend, and drop your Super Bowl prop lean—we’ll feature a few on the next show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Milestone, Theme, And Game Plan
• 3:33 Bankroll Discipline And Betting Recap
• 7:42 Snowbound Patriots–Broncos: Decisions Under Duress
• 10:29 Seahawks–Rams Shootout And Darnold’s Rise
• 13:40 Super Bowl Setup And Pressure Storylines
• 16:44 Giants Optimism, Jets Turmoil
• 25:25 Belichick Hall Debate And Pro Bowl Notes
• 35:08 Knicks Wins, CAT Fit, Giannis Rumors
• 45:50 Mets, Yankees, And MLB Pressure Moves
• 59:15 Rangers, Islanders, Devils: Pivot Points
• 1:07:41 Outro and Motivation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

I guess it's the only one way to find out was to do it too, man. Episode 50. Man. I'm not gonna do what everybody thinks I'm gonna do and freak out, man. No, but seriously, I'm not gonna do the can you believe we made it thing for 10 minutes. But I I am gonna take a second and say that I appreciate you guys. Because this started with me trying to figure out a microphone and pretending I understood audio levels, you know? And now here we are, 50 episodes deep. That's pretty wild. And honestly, it's a good reminder of something that I learned along the way. The important thing is to do the thing, not worry about it being perfect. You get better as you go. And I feel like that's what I've done with this for you guys. So again, I appreciate you listening, but enough about that for now. We've got a lot to get into. Because the theme tonight is simple. Pressure makes decisions. You don't really find out who people are when it's easy. You find out who they are when the clock is flying, when the game gets weird, the season's on the line, and somebody's gotta pick a lane. We're gonna start the way that we always do, kind of, because usually we hit the NFL and then we roll right into the rolling the dice with rice segment. But this week, well, there's no football slate. So I'm gonna tell you straight up: save your money. Next week, we'll load up with a full Super Bowl card, we'll go over props, the game spread, the Gatorade color, all of it. But we are gonna run back about, you know, how we cashed last week. If you've been riding with me, you've been making some money. Then from there, we're gonna go right into championship Sunday. Pat's Broncos was basically a football game instead of a snow globe. And Seattle Rams turned into a shootout like we knew it was going to. Then we'll set the table for the Super Bowl without doing the full deep dive just yet. Tonight's storylines are about the drama, Darnold, Ravel, coaching carousel that got messy. And then after that, we're keeping it local. Giants fans are already acting like Harbaugh can do no wrong. And then we gotta talk about the Jets. We'll also squeeze in a little bit of Belichick Hall of Fame stuff. After that, we'll hit the Knicks streak, the cat conversation, and slide right into the Giannis chaos that's bubbling up. You all hear it. And since football is wrapping up, you know what that means. Baseball is around the corner, sunshine and hot dogs soon to be had. Mets first, Yankees right after, and then plus we'll close it out with a little uh little hockey and a little tennis. I actually enjoyed going over a little hockey last week. It's alright, grab a drink, settle in. Episode 50. Let's talk about what pressure makes people do.

SPEAKER_01: 3:16

Tranquility base here. The angle has landed.

SPEAKER_00: 3:20

Well, usually this is where we start with the NFL, and then we roll into the rolling the dice with rice segment. Nice little one-two punch. This week I'm gonna do a little bit different because there's no there's no football slate to bet. So save your money. Seriously. This is the week where people get bored, they start firing off on random nonsense, and suddenly you're stressed out on a Wednesday night over a sport that you don't even watch. Let your wallet breathe this week. Load up. Super Bowl week is where we go crazy. Props, games, over-under, touchdown scores, the whole menu. That's next week. Don't worry about it right now. Don't worry about this week. All the money you were gonna gamble this week, save it. Then you can load up next week. Now, if you've been following me lately, you've been doing just fine. Because Championship Sunday was a heater. We went 4-0 on the games. And if you include the parlay legs, we went seven and one overall. It was one of those weekends where you look up and go, oh, so this is what it feels like to not give money away. So just a quick recap on that. Uh Patriots at Broncos, the line was sitting at four and a half. I wasn't buying any of that, and I bought it down to one and a half. That cashed. And then we had under 42 and a half or over 45.5. I think we took it up from down. That cashed easy. There was only 17 points. I mean, that game turned into a football inside of a snow globe. I know I said that before, but Denver got hit with one of those storms where you stop talking about the scheme and you started talking about survival, right? I mean, visibility was a mess. Footing was a mess. Everything felt sped up and slowed down at the same time. This is where the theme shows up because pressure focuses your decisions. And shout out Mike Vrabel, by the way. One of those little smart details that just shows he is a super great coach. He went with the all-white uniforms. You think that was by accident? No, I think somebody got in his ear and said, hey man, maybe second half, there might be a snowstorm. So let's opt for the all-whites. I mean, people laugh at stuff like that until you're trying to find a defender in the middle of a blizzard. That is seeing the force through the trees. And the parlay, the parlay miss was the Hunter Henry touchdown. I'm not even mad at it because of the storm. The game got so chaotic. You could see the passing game just get weird and unthrowable. Stidum's last pick felt like a guy who just literally couldn't see who where guys were. White on white in the snow, split second decisions. That's how it happens. Now, game two, Rams at Seahawks. We had Seahawks money line, that was a cash. And we had over 42 and a half. That was a cash. I think the over-under was 45, 46 and a half, but we took it down to 42. Either way, it cashed no matter how you took it. That was the total opposite vibe, too. Denver was don't screw it up. Seattle was keep scoring because nobody's stopping anybody. The parlay that we threw out went three for four. The Hunter Henry touchdown miss, like I said. But Broncos first half team total under nine and a half hit. Like I said, the game was going to be too fast for Stidham. Uh JSN, 70 plus yards hit, and Kenneth Walker over two and a half catches hit because Charbonnet not in the game. That's a great weekend. But now comes the discipline part. No football slate this week. So the move is to sit it out and stack your bankroll for next week. If you need action, I guess we can talk about NBA and NHL later, but this week, football-wise, take the win, walk away. You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them, and when to walk away. So from there, that slides us right into the NFL conversation anyway, because even with no games on the schedule, the pressure doesn't disappear. It just now shifts into the storylines and the decisions and the fallout. Championship Sunday gave us two pressure tests that could not have been more different. Patriots Broncos came down to a decision-making contest the second the weather turned. I mean, Denver is already on a backup plan with Bo Nick's out, so stit him. He gets the throne into the game, gets thrown into the storm, no pun intended. That's brutal. But there were a few early moments that you thought maybe maybe Denver can hang around, maybe Denver can do this. Hits that big play to Mims right off the rip, but uh but then the turnovers and the chaos. Everything started stacking up. That backward pass fumble sequence was kind of the thing that just makes you stare at the TV like you're watching a different sport. Like, what is going on here? And New England, credit to them, just like always, they just kept making the adult decisions. No panic, no hero ball, Drake May isn't trying to prove anything in a blizzard. And he used his legs when he has to, punches in that rushing touchdown, and then that late third and five scramble to ice the game. So smart on him, by the way, too. He's he's watching the clock get down to one second and slides, so he's automatically down. If Rabel's right behind him, calls the tight out timeout. That this is a perfect example of what pressure looks like and when you handle it the right way. It's not flashy, it's not decisive, it ends the game, it gets the job done. And unfortunately, Sean Payton's gonna wear this moment forever. Because the the fourth and one from the red zone, the timeout, the change, the points that never come back. Games like that, man, you don't get ten chances to make it right. You get one, and you gotta make the right decision. I know hindsight is 20-20, but you know what? Sean Payton, they hired you because you're the adult in the room. You're the CEO, right? You've been there before. You know what it takes to get to a Super Bowl and to win a Super Bowl. You gotta make the right decision there. You gotta take the points. You're at home. Take the points. That's kind of why the Vrabel story is real. I mean, year one and they're playing in a Super Bowl. Everybody wants to call it culture or easy schedule. Sure. That's part of it. But it's also a bunch of small decisions stacking up until you look up and you're the one holding the trophy. That's how it goes. Make the right choice consistently in small times. Small. What's the word I'm looking for here? Small, small increments, small increments. Make the right decision time after time in small increments, and it adds up being a huge thing. Now, Seattle Rams was the opposite kind of pressure. No weather survival, just a game moving a million miles an hour. There were swing plays everywhere, a muff punt that turns into points right away, a penalty that extends a drive when they're trying to come back, which then immediately turns into points, a late fourth downstop that decides who gets to breathe. Sam Darnold is the headline for me. Not in a corny movie script way, more in like uh this is why the league is hard way. I mean, this guy spent years getting talked about it like a punchline. He's seeing ghosts against the Patriots, which I was at that game, by the way. He's the worst quarterback of the 2018 quarterback class, the whole thing. Well, guess what? Now he's on the biggest stage of his life and he plays clean, he throws three touchdowns, doesn't turn it over, and does it while dealing with an oblique injury. That's pressure. And he responded. And because he stayed calm, now he gets to play on the biggest stage of his career in the Super Bowl. JSN had a remember who I am moment, too. Super Bowl teams need somebody who pops when the air gets thin. You don't beat good teams with everybody was solid today, we did the job. No, you need difference makers to show up. Big time players make big time plays, to quote Santana Moss. The Rams aftermath is uh is kind of where it gets a little tense now that their season's over. Stafford does not want to answer the future question of what he's gonna do. And McVeigh sounds like a guy who doesn't want to do the press conference at all either. Also, for Devontae, Devontae is emotional. I mean, you talk shit about the Jets, but here we are again, another conference uh title loss on his record. Those start stacking up. And as far as the the national rhetoric legacy hit conversation on Matthew Stafford, it goes a little too far for me. Okay, not every loss needs to be a referendum on somebody's entire career. Sometimes you lose a brutal game and the margins eat you. Sometimes the ball just doesn't go your way. Hell, if Puka Nakua takes one more inch of a step and gets out on that throw, you're looking at Matthew Stafford throwing a ball 40 yards to try and get into the end zone. And if anybody could do that, that's Matthew Stafford. In my book, he's a Hall of Famer. He's probably gonna win the MVP. All those years he put in with Detroit, he he deserves it. He's fine. I don't think this is a big legacy hits him. In fact, I think it's a testament to how strong and how good of a player he is. But anyway, the Super Bowl is now set. You got a rematch, you got Seahawks versus the Patriots. Seattle is favored early. The total's in the mid-40-ish range. And we'll we'll do a full deep dive next week with props and everything for the Super Bowl. We'll break it down, break down defenses, all that. But this week was more about the storylines. Vrabel building this in one year is a pressure story. Darnold arriving here after everything he's been through is a pressure story. Even the little injury note with Drake May being limited with a shoulder is a pressure story. Because with the Super Bowl, with Super Bowl week, every detail turns into a headline. Now, just because those are the only two teams left doesn't exactly mean that the league stops and everybody watches. The coaching carousel belongs here too because pressure makes owners and GMs do desperate things. So just a quick rapid fire around the league. Phillip Rivers pulls out of the Bills search after that whole rumor wave. I mean, that's crazy, but okay, fine. Uh Cleveland interviews a bunch of names and then lands on Todd Monkinen as head coach. Chargers bring in Mike McDaniel as the OC to help build some structure around Herbert. I'm excited to see that for next year. And the Steelers, the Steelers shift Eris. They hire McCarthy. He's already talking about wanting Rodgers back, so you get that whole combination again. But there are two hires that I want to spend a little bit more time on just because it's a it's a Frankenstein of New York football, right? So Brian Dayball is going to Tennessee with Robert Sala, and it turns into a put-up or shut-up moment for both of them. Both their second chances, both trying to show that the they got a bad shake in New York, I guess. I don't know. I don't know. It turns into every Giants and Jets fan sneakily side-eyeing the Tennessee Titans next season. Because if you remember last year in the draft, Giants fans heard nonstop that the team tried to move heaven and earth to go get Cam Ward. They tried to move up to that number one pick. And that was the guy that Dayball wanted. Bad. Only for the Titans to say, nah, we're good. No thanks. We're going to take him. Then it turns into Dayball pivoting into, oh, we gotta go get Jackson Dart. I love Jackson Dart. Well, surprise, surprise, now Dayball is Cam Ward's OC. So that's either the most honest football timeline ever, or it's the ultimate test of whether that was a real belief or draft season smoke. Right? And for the Jets fans, the back channel rumors were that Woody put his hands in the cookie jar yet again with Joe Douglas and forced him to move on from Sam Darnold and draft Zach Wilson. When apparently Robert Sala wanted to keep Sam. Pressure forces decisions. Woody made his and it didn't pan out. Now, Dayball and Salah have made theirs. And I've been a supporter of Cam Ward. Even took them pre- I even took the Titans preseason to maybe win that division as a long shot. I'm I hate to say it. I'm really interested to see if these two former New York coaches can turn it around in Tennessee. Now, speaking of the locals, we we call that a nice transition in this business. Even though it wasn't the best transition. Speaking of the locals, uh we're gonna start with the Giants this week. Giant fans are in full honeymoon phase with Harbaugh and the mic check poll on the Instagram this week. If you're hearing this, make sure you go vote every Wednesday. I put them up on the Instagram. It had 84% saying finally stability. I get it. I get it. After the coaching carousel the Giants have had the last 10 years, you want to believe that you finally have the adult in the room. And I believe you do. The wrinkle in this is the OC situation. The word was that Monkin was trending towards being the surefire lock and the answer at OC. But then he ends up as the Browns head coach. And I can't knock him. I mean, you take a head coaching job over an OC job, even if it is with your boy, John Harbaugh. But maybe something, maybe nothing. Either way, a minor early blip on Harbaugh's record, because now you're back hunting. And that matters because you can't finish building the house until you decide what the offense is and who is going to be the guy to bring Dart to the next level. That's really the only gripes right now with uh with Giants fans. I mean, they're walking on clouds. They got their guy, they got their CEO, right? So that now brings me to the Jets.

unknown: 18:16

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00: 18:17

Well, all right. We'll start with the poll. The Jets mic check poll was loud and clear. It was uh what's the biggest priority in the offseason? 74% said the top priority is getting the right staff in, while only 26% said free agency when they're gonna have$80 million to spend in free agency. Fans aren't even asking for shiny toys anymore. They're asking for competence. Look, I know, I know. Right now it is easy to pile on the Jets, but one, they don't help themselves at all. And two, they deserve every word of it. This organization stays addicted to chaos. All accounts were Tanner Angstron wasn't gonna be the OC anymore, but he would still remain on the staff in some capacity and have a role with the team, and he gelled well with the guys. First of all, sure, when has that ever worked out? The OC gets a demotion. Yeah, that's not gonna play. But here he is. After they fire seven other coaches, he gets fired. After one season, a black mark on his record. The team is on track for another play caller change, and I guess the only saving grace, I suppose, is that they don't have a franchise quarterback to mess up by changing OCs. At some point, it stops being bad luck and starts being this is who you are. Then and then the DC hire comes in. And no disrespect to Brian Duker. I don't know the kid. I, you know, he was uh defensive backs coach on Miami, but also kind of an all a wide receivers coach on Miami. I uh whatever the kid looked. Like he was running to Starbucks for the team meetings, not running them. All the reporting throughout the whole week was that the deal was basically done for Wink Martendale. And then in the 11th hour, they flew him into Jersey in a blizzard on a Saturday night just to drop it on him that Aaron Glenn is going to be calling the defensive place. What are we doing at this point? The ineptitude is getting to a level of which that I have never seen before with the Jets. Okay, I've been a fan of this team since I was six years old. I am 34 years old. I've seen a lot of good times, not really. I've seen a lot of bad times, for sure. It explains why the Jets can't attract the best candidates. Hell, even any candidates. You don't sell people on a job and then tell them last minute, well, actually, the job description is a little bit different than what you signed up for. No serious coach wants to sign up to be a babysitter. No serious coach wants to be involved in something that feels like it can change from hour to hour. Never mind day to day. When the Jets find themselves under pressure, the Jets keep choosing the move that makes their own lives harder. This is how you end up watching people you respect walk out of your building. How you end up watching former Jets legends like Jim Leonard walk into an indivision job with the Bills while you're still trying to figure out who's actually calling the shots. That's the part that drives me crazy, drives fans crazy. And say what you want. Say what you want about the Falcons, but they did exactly what the Jets need to do, but it will never happen. They hired Matt Ryan as a president. And Matt Ryan hires a GM. And it gives the GM and head coach a buffer between them and Arthur Blank. The Jets could desperately use someone to sit in as a president role. And when Woody comes knocking on the door and he feeds him some line of everything is alright and the plan is going exactly as drawn up and get him away from the football operations. Let the GM and the coach do what they have to do. The problem with all that is no one wants to put up with Woody's shit. So you'll never find a guy to take that job. Then, on top of it all, there's the talk of, well, you know, when the Jets are terrible next year and they fire Aaron Glenn, they'll just bring in Mike Tomlin and he'll write the ship. He's the adult in the room, he's the CEO. If you think for one second that Mike Tomlin is going to come to an organization where every day he's going to get a phone call from the owner asking, oh, what are you doing? How are things going? What's the next move? Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and on and on and on. You're even more delusional of a Jeff fan than me. Woody's whole stupid philosophy is that the coach and GM report to him separately instead of the coach reports to the GM and the GM reports to the owner. And it's been like that since he took over as the owner. You wonder why they haven't been to the playoffs in 15 years. It's a disgrace. Something needs to be done. Honestly, honestly, you ready for this? You want the big screaming, scorching hot take. I wouldn't be surprised if, in, I don't know, let's say five years. Yeah, five years. Things just continue to go horrendous for the Jets. Let's say they lose out next year and have a number one pick, and Arch Manning turns out to be the truth, and the Manning family pulls an E-li and says, My grandson's not going to ruin his career with the Jets. So then they have to draft a different quarterback, and he stinks, and then they change regime again. And now you can't even get candidates to be the head coaching job because it'll be a black mark on your resume of a one and done. I would not be surprised at all if Goodell and the league steps in and says, all right, it's time to move the franchise elsewhere. Time for a full, clean, fresh start. And I mean, honestly, what's stopping them? The owner is a disaster. The team is a disaster. And it's not like NFL would lose a team in the mar in the New York media market because they have the Giants, which with Harbaugh, they'll probably have it at least semi-figured out by then. I mean, the Rams left St. Louis and they won a Super Bowl. Every city in the United States would love to get an NFL team, even if it is the Jets. You're telling me Alabama wouldn't love a pipeline from the SEC to the NFL. How about Utah? They just got a hockey team. I mean, is it possible? I don't know. Maybe. But I don't know. All I'm saying is if it happens, which it could happen, remember where you heard it first. Rice on the mics. Alright. Now, enough. Enough of that dragging my mood down. I God, I can't wait for the NFL season to be over. I do want to get into the Hall of Fame voting. It is a story that we need to touch on, touch on. And the Belichick conversation fits perfectly here because it's another pressure decision that turns into a forever argument, right? Belichick not being a first ballot Hall of Famer is wild. The whispers are that politics and Bill Polling trying to sway the room, spy gate, deflate gate, fine, whatever. Have the debate about that. But here's the question for you. If you're gonna leave Belichick off first ballot Hall of Fame because you're doing what, morality court, are you gonna keep that same energy for Brady when it's his turn? Because you can't treat one guy like he's on trial and then the other guy like he's immune because he's polished and you know, igmatic and engaging. I mean, if you're gonna punish Bill Belichick for Spygate, Brady gets punished for Spygate too, man. It helped the offense. So it's either the resume hall or it's the courtroom. Pick one. And look, as a Jet fan, I I for sure have no love lost for Belichick. Excuse me, Belichick. But when it comes down to it, what's due is due. The man is going to go down as one of the top three NFL coaches of all time, and you leave him off your voting ballot because why? Because he owned you, Bill Poleon? Because he owned your teams, because you didn't like how he dealt with the media, because he was hard-nosed and got the best out of his players? Makes no sense. I mean, Brady came out and called it ridiculous, which of course he would, and Kraft backed Belichick too, which puts to bed all the rumors of that Kraft didn't really like Belichick and he forced him out. The Mike Czech poll matched it. 84% of people said it's a joke that he missed it. It makes no sense to me, and it's honestly a disgrace to the NFL Hall of Fame. The NFL, actually, all of the Hall of Fames lately have been turning into the Hall of Very Good, not so much the Hall of Fame. It should be real easy. Hey, man, what do you think about this player? Hall of Famer or not? If you have to hesitate, not a Hall of Famer. Simple as that. Lastly, one quick tag before we move on. Shador Sanders, everybody's favorite fifth round pick. He made the Pro Bowl. And I know it's as a replacement for Drake May, but it's still the Pro Bowl. People might clown the Pro Bowl, and as they should, because it's two-hand touch and it's nothing. But on your resume, in life, you get to say I was a Pro Bowl quarterback in the NFL. So good for him. He makes a lot of people look stupid. Now he did have a bad statistical year. We'll see how he does next year. In fact, Justin Fields had better numbers, but that's neither here nor there. Shador Sanders is a Pro Bowl quarterback in the NFL. Who had that on their bingo card, right? Anyway, that's the uh that's the NFL block. We got two championship games at screen pressure, a Super Bowl set, the carousel is spinning, and the locals are giving us plenty to talk about, and the Jets are making my hair, rip my hair out of my head, right? Anyway, next up, Nyx. Because the pressure conversation in New York doesn't stop when the sport changes. Hardcourt up next, keep it right here. To quote the New York legend and stat boy extraordinaire ball night, it's hard court time. And don't look now. The Knicks are quietly stacking wins yet again. And it's funny because the headlines will try to make it simple. Oh, look, they're rolling. It must be because the stars are cooking. Yeah, no, the truth is the last couple games have been very specific vibe-wise. This team has been better of late, and it hasn't been because Carl Anthony Towns is carrying them. Take the recent stretch, for example. You beat Philly. He has a terrible game with Embiid, but you beat Philly. The whole game just kind of felt, I don't know, different. The second that Mitchell Robinson is out there flying around, the crowd gets behind it, the whole thing changes. That's not a points thing, that's an energy thing. It's the kind of thing you can't coach into the room, you know? You either have it or you don't. So Mitch comes in, the building wakes up, the defense gets louder. Suddenly everybody's playing like every possession matters because it does. That's pressure showing up in a good way. Then you get Sacramento. You went out west before a couple weeks ago and you got embarrassed. You beat him at home, 103.87. And it's because you win the fourth quarter, 3115. You slam the door shut, sure. You're watching it the whole time thinking, oh yeah, you know, they're not even playing clean. I mean, they didn't take the lead in that game until the fourth quarter. They had 21 turnovers, for God's sake. But even with all that, it still ends up feeling like, you know, they're the grown-ups in the situation. They're the team that's supposed to beat up on the bad teams, which they are. Brunson had 28, bridges chips in, Towns gets his points and his boards, but the story is how the game ends. The game ends with structure, the game ends with stops and smart possessions. And that's been the theme lately. The Knicks, the Knicks are winning the parts of the game that used to make them spiral and sent them on that nine-game losing streak. Same thing with the Toronto game, too. 119-92. Bridges goes for 30, has a great moment. Postgame says, you know, I had to do some self-reflection. OG has 26 with six steals. Hart just doing Hart things because, of course, it's Josh Hart. And Carl Anthony Towns cleans up on the glass. He finished with 22 rebounds, even though 14 of his 22 were in the second quarter, which is insane. But the Knicks flipped the game in the third. It's dominant, but dominant because they're connected. It's not one guy. It's multiple guys making the right play and taking the air out of the other team and doing what they had to, making the put your body on the line plays. So that's the good news that the team is starting to come around to do that. But the bad news, or I guess the uncomfortable news, the uncomfortable part is cat. You can see it. If you're watching the games, you can see it. Late in the games, first of all, he's not even in the game late, but the offense just looks smoother when he's not even on the floor. Or it looks smoother when he's on the floor with the right mix of guys who will just defer to him. The right mix with him isn't Brunson or OG, which is a problem because Brunson and OG are one. You're supposed to be 1A, big cat, and OG is two. I guess sometimes the spacing and the rhythm just gets clunky. I I don't know. But you can feel it. You can feel the teammates getting frustrated with him because they're trying to run something clean, and then all of a sudden it turns into a weird possession where nobody's really sure who's supposed to be doing what, who's supposed to be getting the ball, who wants to take a shot, what offense are we running? It turns into hero ball with nobody being the hero. And it's fucked too because you can also see the body language stuff. You see guys react, you see a look, you see the hands go up, you see the come on face, like what are we doing? But then you see it stop. And that's the bigger problem. That's what worries me. When teammates start barking, sometimes it is because the message got through and okay, I don't have to say anything, the guy gets it. But other times it's because that they decided that the barking just isn't working anymore, that there's no point in yelling at this guy. And that's where this becomes a pressure conversation. Pressure doesn't just show up in the standings, right? Pressure shows up when you miss a rotation and your teammate is staring at you like you hung him out to dry because you did. Pressure shows up when you don't get a call and the crowd is tight, but the next play matters, but you sulk about the call. Pressure shows up when you're a star in New York, and the microscope might as well be a floodlight. And this is where my brain dials back to the Jimmy Butler history with Big Cat. Famously, if you don't know, Jimmy Butler was on the Timberwolves team with Big Cat, and Jimmy walked into practice after a little bit of a losing streak and looked at every player on the team and said, You're soft. Then went on to scrimmage the ones with the third string practice squad and destroy them. He challenged the whole room. And when that room didn't harden, Jimmy realized that this isn't a winning team and forced his way out. That's not a debate. That's actually what happened. Jimmy put the pressure on a culture and put the pressure on teammates of his, who was Big Cat at the time, and the culture didn't respond. The pressure forced a decision. He was out. Also, by the way, don't forget who was the coach of that team, Tom Thibodeau. So when he got fired in this offseason, and it came out that some of the players maybe had some meetings about, you know, this, that, and the other. Yeah, you can pretty much book Big Cat for saying he didn't like playing under tips. So now, fast forward, you're watching the Knicks, and Kat is still a hell of a player. Look, I didn't want him in the trade, but we got him, and it is what it is. He leads the league in double doubles and he leads the league in rebounds. And this is on a bad year for him, right? He is a hell of a player. Nobody is denying that. The question is, what happens when things go wrong? Some guys get louder with their efforts, some guys get sharper, some guys get petty in a good way and lock in. Like Kobe, he was like, Oh, you're gonna disrespect me? Watch this. That's not Kat. Kat has this like salt thing, that mope thing, that swing his arms that doesn't get back on defense. That I can't believe this didn't happen, or I can't believe such and such. Like, I'm not involved, so I'm just gonna drift away kind of thing. New York cannot stand that. They eat that alive. Now, put on the table and look at the other hovering story over on the whole league, which is Giannis. He has said time and time again that the worst kept secret is that Giannis wants to come to the Knicks. God forbid the Knicks become a destination for once in their franchise life. Anyway, the Giannis situation, it's getting louder and louder by the day, especially with the trade deadline coming up. And he's forcing hands without forcing hands, and teams are in. The Bucs have finally acknowledged that, yeah, we're gonna have to move them. They're willing to wait, I guess, if they don't get the price that they want, because the price is high. The price right now is not a nice offer, and we can make that work. They want to rebuild. If we're gonna get rid of our star, we want to rebuild. They want a blue chip, young talent, plus multiple, multiple draft picks. And that's the kind of offer where the fan base goes quiet for a second because they realize how much it's gonna cost to get a guy like that at their franchise. Now, Giannis could easily force his way to the Knicks and say, I'm not going anywhere but the Knicks, and then the Bucs are forced to make a move, and it would help, but he's playing this nice guy role of I would never, I would never say I want to trade. Stop. If you want to be here, say you'll be here. It'll help you, it'll help us. Whatever. The Knicks, the Knicks are gonna be in every rumor because it's New York and he fits, and Ante Takumbo jerseys in blue and orange are look great. Look, that's the fantasy, right? The reality with all of this is the money. The money rules are a whole different sport now. The second apron stuff is real, the hard cap stuff is real, the you can just pile contracts together and figure it out later, era is gone, right? If the Knicks are gonna do something massive, it's not about just wanting it. It's about the timing, it's about the flexibility, and honestly, it's whether you can build the trade in a way that doesn't leave your roster filled with just duct tape, pulling guys out of the stands to be the ninth man. So if you want to make the trade, that's where the third team part comes in. That's where the part matters. So if the Bucs want one kind of package and the Knicks can only really offer another kind of package, you gotta try and find that third team that can bridge the gap, so to speak, and make everybody feel like they got what they wanted, like they came out alright. One team takes the salary relief, one team gets the picks, one team gets the player. Sounds simple, right? It's more or less two teams shake hands, it's more now three teams try to get together to solve a puzzle. So the rumor floating around right now is Portland. And Portland getting involved, being that third team involved for the picks. They would end up giving all of the Bucs picks back that they took from them when they traded Lillard, and they would get Big Cat. And then a Knicks would send over Bridges and Deuce to the Bucks, which you know, you traded all those picks away for Bridges, and he's been great as of late, and Deuce is a really great, like sharpshooter, but you know what you gotta give to get. It is what it is. And then a Knicks in the long run would receive Giannis from the Bucks and Drew Holiday from Portland to make the money work. It's very convoluted, it's very messy. There's a whole bunch of other cap stuff behind it. But if you're telling me I get Giannis and Drew Holiday, I make that trade 10 times out of 10. You give me Brunson, you give me Hart, you give me OG, Drew Holiday, Giannis, Mitchell Robinson, Tyler Cullock. I can win a ship with that. I can win a championship. But the problem there is your window now goes from being good for the next three to five years with a semi-young group of players to having to win a title in the next two years. Drew Holiday's 35. Giannis is 30. Brunson's not getting any younger, neither is OG. These guys are kind of all either at the tail end of their prime or entering their prime or middle of their prime. Mikhail Bridges is only 29. Deuce McBride, I think, is 26, maybe. I don't know. Milwaukee's pressure is not New York pressure either. This is the other problem that I have with Giannis coming here. In Milwaukee, Giannis is beloved, right? He's earned it. He brought them a title. He's God. He can do kind of whatever he wants. Like even him saying he wants out without saying he wants out, you don't really hear the fans bitching and moaning. In New York, if you come here, and let's say you have a bad game, you're gonna hear it. If you make a bad decision late, you're gonna hear it. If you do the whole thumbs down after a foul because the crowd is booing you thing, you're playing with fire. Especially if the Knicks had to empty the house to get you. The fan base does not do uh, you know, please respect my process or oh, uh, you know, pub ba-buh ba-pa. No, New York, New York is tough, man. When the trade package is sitting right in front of their face and they see how much they give it, they give Mikhail Bridges an incredibly hard time for the five picks that they gave up for him, knowing they were gonna have to give up that much money or that many picks for him. And he's been nothing but borderline great. I mean, hell, he won that Celtic series, and they still can't wait to get him out of here. So you're telling me if Giannis comes here and has a bad game and the fans boom and he thumbs down them, oh my god, the garden might burn down. And look, again, that's not it's not me saying that Giannis can't handle it, right? It's just me saying that the environment forces decisions, that pressure makes decisions. And New York pressure makes everyone decide who they really are really fast. The other layer is that the market is getting even crazier because teams are getting desperate at this point. Golden State lost Jimmy Butler for the year with an ACL, and now suddenly it's like, what's the big swing? Can we do this? Can we try and bring Giannis in to maybe get Steph another ring? The Warriors are going to be connected to every star and Pat Riley and the Heat, which I mentioned months ago on podcast that Pat Riley's always looking to make a splash. Giannis becomes the dream headline, and it's it's the only headline that feels big enough. I mean, John Morant getting traded, Trey Young getting traded, like none of those guys matter. Giannis is the guy. He's top four in the league right now, top three. I mean, Luca, Jokic, Giannis, I guess. SGA? You know? I don't know. Meanwhile, Knicks fans, Knicks fans are split. The mic check poll that I put out this week, 65% of you said swing big, 25% said add depth and defense, and 15% said fine as is. That's a fan base feeling the pressure of a possibility of having another great star come to them. People don't vote swing big unless they think that the window is real and then he can strike while the iron's hot. I think they should. I hate to say it, they have more to give up in the offseason and would be a better deal for them in the offseason, but you cannot let him go to Miami. You cannot let him go somewhere and miss out on him. But on the other side of that coin, you don't want to Carmelo this either. It's tough. Anyway, that's where I'm at with the Knicks right now. They're winning, they're connected, they got a real little foundation when they decide to play like grown-ups. That's great. The next pressure decision is whether Towns adapts when the spotlight gets on them tight. And whether the front office decides the move is a star swing or maybe some chemistry protecting small tweak. Either way, this is the fun part and the terrifying part of being good in New York. Once you're good, you stop getting patience. You stop getting a leash. You start getting expectations, you start getting demands on being good and being that team that brings the title home, gets the parade down the canyon of heroes. It's not an easy task. But boy oh boy, if you do it, you're a god forever. Alright, next up, baseball. Football is wrapping up, and the hot stove is still kind of bubbling a little bit, man. Pretty teams are pretty much done, but not quite there. We're gonna kick it off with the minutes first. Keep it right here. I remember screaming that last year when it was uh pitchers and catchers reporting. But yeah, it's baseball time. And this is kind of the part of the year where some football fans start acting like, oh, they don't really care about football, but then all of a sudden March hits and uh you blink, and everybody's arguing about spring training photos and who's on the team and what's going on, and this guy's playing out of position, whatever. Anyway, we're gonna start with the Mets because the question is very simple, and it's the same question every year, unfortunately. Are the 2026 Mets actually better than the 2025 Mets? Or is it the same story with a fresh coat of paint? That was the poll that I put out on the mic check this week. And same story, new paint got 57%. That's kind of about right. I don't know. I think it's personally, I think the Mets are in good shape here. I think they're in better shape. I think they're getting undervalued a little bit. But that's that's the voting of a fan base that that wants to believe, but it's been scarred enough times to keep one eyebrow raised, right? I mean, every year in April they go 15 and 5, and then May they go 12 and 6, and then the June swoon hits, and uh here we are, they're all of a sudden six games under somehow. Look, the way I see it, the Mets are not in some hopeless spot. They're doing alright. They got a great one, two, three. The thing that keeps tripping them up is the margin for error in New York is slim. You can have a solid team and still get shredded in the division, and then all hell breaks loose, right? Because you're thin at a spot or two spots. Pitching is still the headline in New York, no matter what team you're on, Bronx or Queens. Which is why the Freddie Peralta stuff matters. If you're living under a rock or you don't really care about baseball yet, the Mets made a big deal with the Brewers for Freddie Peralta. Uh Peralta also said he's open to an extension, which is interesting, but unfortunately, Stearns has yet to give an extension to a player over the age, a pitcher, excuse me, over the age of 30. I guess a player or two, but I don't know. Like he's playing it the only way that he can, right? He he keeps saying he wants him to settle in first, fill out the building, get comfortable. That makes sense. I get it. New York is built different, especially in baseball. Some guys arrive and it clicks immediately, and then some guys turn into, oh, he just couldn't pitch in New York, or oh, he couldn't handle the media or the whatever in New York. It turns him into a different person. But the cost matters here. The cost that you gave up for Peralta, it wasn't small. It wasn't a random trade. I mean, you pay Jet Williams and Brandon Spro. We saw some of Brandon Spro last year, and he looked pretty good. And Jet Williams, we've been promised his, I don't know, defensive capabilities, his a hitting ability. He's playing in center, he plays in short, he plays this, but for like three, four years now. So to give him up, you know, that's though, that's a real name. The Brewers immediately started introducing them, like welcome to the future, which tells you how they viewed the prospects that they got. That's the tax, though. If you want a reliable arm with Cy Young stuff and ace capability stuff, you gotta pay with tomorrow. But good, man. The Mets farm system has been stacked for so long now, and they got nine second baseman that they're trying to rotate into any outfield position that they can. These guys gotta get moved. Even like moving Akuna for Luis Robert, that's fine, man. I like Akuna, but he's not his brother. And there's no place for him on his team, especially with the addition of Marcus Simeon. Anyway. The Mets decision now is a pressure decision, right? That's the theme of the episode, sticking with pressure. So do you lock this guy in long term now? Because that's what the fan base wants. They don't want to see you give up prospects for a rental. Or do you try and keep the flexibility and live with the risk that you gave up some guys for a shorter window? That's kind of how the sport works now. Your best moves always come with a big bill. There's also the funny part of the med season, which is the projected lineup I saw floating around. Bobichette's playing third. He played shortstop, okay? Shortstops either get fat and move to third, or they stay spry and move to second. He'll be fine over there. It's also a reminder that this team is still a team with a few questions and a few possible answers to be had. And it's all gonna shake out in spring training. Now, whether those answers maybe show up in a trade at the deadline or midseason or a kid taking the big jump like Benge, whatever. That's what we're waiting on. That's fine. But this one, two, three, four in this lineup seems great. I mean, they signed Bichette, they got rid of Pete, they got rid of McNeil, they got rid of Nimmo, and they signed guys like Bachet and Polanco because they hit with runners in scoring position. They make contact. Lindore would get on, Soto would walk, and then it was Pete, either home run or strikeout, and then McNeil swinging for the fences, or Nimmo not doing what he's supposed to do, looking for a walk. Like three, four, five. I need guys that hit consistently. And I Pete, I love you. I love you more than anything. Again, I got all your jerseys. But I need some contact, man. The Blue Jays didn't take the Dodgers to game seven of the World Series by mashing the ball and hitting home runs. No, they got it because one through nine sprays the ball all over the field. That's what I'm looking for in my team. I'm looking for nine Luis Arrias's. Okay. Bases loaded, gets a poke. Guys on poke to left, to right, wherever. Lays the bunt down if you got to. And then you get the occasional mash. I mean, these guys are pros. They're gonna run into the ball, right? Whatever. I can go on for the mets for hours, and once football ends, trust me, we're going to. So sorry. Anyway, across town. Yankee fans, Yankee fans like myself, Craig Carton, welcome back to WFAN. Anyway, Yankee fans, well, they're in their own classic January argument. And it's uh, are we actually doing enough? Mixed with a little bit of stop panicking, mixed with a little bit of uh why does Cashman talk like that to us? So Cashman had his press conference after Belly did, and Bellinger said, Yeah, I'm happy to be running it back with the same team. And then Cashman, his press conference afterwards, immediately pushing back, says running it back narrative is hilarious because that's not what we're doing. Well, I don't know. I kind of get both sides. It's not not what you're doing. I mean, the only guy you signed was Belly. That was really the only big thing, and I guess a$20 million to Trent Grisham. I don't know. Look, on one hand, the fans are, you know, you're bringing back a lot of the same core. Don't tell me it's a brand new movie. But on the other hand, man, he he's not wrong that the roster can look very different if you're gonna be getting key guys back and you're not missing them for months like you did last season or even the whole year with Cole. I mean, getting top-tier players back changes everything. You don't have to love the message to understand the math that he's trying to explain. Cody Ballinger returning is a big piece of it. And you don't sign for five years coming back to a place that you think is a mess, right? You come, especially in his stage of his career. He's coming back here to try and win a championship. That's a player that says he believes there's a real path. And then you mix in Garrett Cole factor. Cole comes back and he's healthy and he's Cole again. Well, the entire year feels a lot different with Cole and Rodan and Schlitler and Max Fried and I don't know, any other guy you want to throw out there. Now, if he's not Cole, then the whole thing changes, and that's when you might have a problem. But that's the truth for every team with an ace. It's not optional, right? It's either they're an ace or they're not. I mean, Shaw Mania was an ace for the Mets one year, and then the next year they got to do a piggyback with him and Clay Holmes or him and Kodai Sangha, you know? And catchman, catchman also uses the classic line that the postseason is a crapshoot. And it drives fans nuts because it does sound like a cop-out. But it's not wrong, man. If you get in, you got a chance. Baseball's funky like that. The problem is, you still need to give yourself enough chances to be in the mix every year. And that's where the fans want to see a sharper plan, not just a shrug and oh, well, we win 85, 90 games every year, so of course we're gonna be in the playoffs. They want to see, you know, we're trying to win a hundred games, you know. A couple other quick league notes, just so we're not acting like baseball only exists in the Bronx and Queens. The Guardians, formerly the Indians, extended Jose Ramirez, and it's kind of it's one of my favorite kind of stories because he is the most underrated player, I think, in the MLB. And his contract was literally pennies comparative to everybody else's. So he finally gets a nice, nice big play payday, and it feels like you know, old school baseball. It feels like an old school move in a modern sport, a player saying, I'm committing to this team, everybody's staying, let's do this together. Those are the deals that you don't really see too much anymore. Uh Harrison Bader goes to the Giants. Everybody was kind of trying to figure out where he was going to sign. He showed he had some life last year, especially in the playoffs. Makes sense for them. He's defensive, got versatility. He's they're a team that uh values run prevention. And honestly, it's a guy who can just fit different roles depending on what the roster needs. He can plug anything you want. You want a utility guy like that. And lastly, the one thing I want to keep on the radar for everybody here with spring training coming around very soon, pitchers and catchers reporting and whatnot, it's the world baseball classic. Uh, Japan's roster talk is getting people pretty excited. I mean, there's been a hefty amount of Japanese players that have come over to play in uh the MLB as of late that are pretty damn good. And they're the defending champions from last year. But the Puerto Rican team and the Dominican team are literally nothing to sneeze at. Go look up the Dominican roster right now. There's not one non-all-star on that team. Except Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa. They will be sitting it out because there's no insurance coverage. That's the business side, man. That's what it is. They didn't get that in their contract, they don't have the insurance coverage for them to play overseas. So Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve will not be playing for their respective countries when it comes to the WBC. Look, man, fans want the best players. Players want to protect their contracts, though. Sports still trying to figure that out and how to make that work cleanly, but it is what it is, right? I mean, I watched Edwin Diaz go pitch for Venezuela and uh tear his ACL celebrating a win. So that was great. I get it from the owner side. I also get it from the player side. But yeah, that's where that's where baseball's at right now. Not too, too much going on, but it is optimism season. It's projection season, and it's also kind of decision season, too. I mean, extensions, roster moves, kids taking leaps, fan bases trying to decide if they should believe in their team again, you know. I don't know. Anyway, next up, we're gonna touch on some hockey and we're gonna touch on some tennis quick. We're gonna mix the two together. The Rangers and Iolders gave it some real rivalry heat. Gotta mix in some Devil's Talk and some tennis stuff going on, man. As I'm recording this, I'm currently watching Anacrez versus Zeverev. And Zeverev just won third set. So I don't know if you're never really into tennis, but I'm telling you, it's a great sport to watch. Anyway, keep it right here, got some more storylines to come. Let's get into some uh quick puck talk here, and then we'll jump into some tennis afterwards. Uh hockey makes sense first because New York stuff is actually happening and has a storyline right now, whereas the tennis is playing down under. That's not a knife. This is a knife. Yeah, okay, a bad Australian accent. Anyway, uh Rangers and Islanders. Well, they just played a little home and home series, and it felt more like two random games in January, and the Islanders took both of them. The whole thing kind of screamed two teams going in opposite directions. Sucks for the Rangers, good for the Islanders. Game one, Islanders win big 5 2. You get Andre Pilates showing up. With a goal and an assist in his debut. Holstrom is making plays all over the place. Meanwhile, the Rangers are sitting there like, why does every game just feel like it's uphill? Well, because it is. They've been sliding for a while now, and the record since the Winter Classic is rough, to say the least. It's not a one-week slump anymore. It's something way deeper. So, okay, game two, sure. Let's see if we can get him back, split. No. Islanders win 2-1, and Carson Saucy scores against his whole team 72 hours after the trade, which is always hilarious. It's always how it works out. It's the most hockey thing ever. You trade a guy, he's gone, try and get some picks back, try and get some players back. He puts on a new jersey and then he scores on you immediately. Like he's been waiting to do it his whole life. Right? The bigger Ranger storyline is the stuff behind the scenes. I mean, Igor is out, Adam Fox is out, the team is banged up, and it's it's starting to just feel like management is looking at the calendar more than the standings, waiting for the season to be over. I mean, our ter Artemy Panarin gets held out for roster management, quote unquote. And the reporting, it just makes it sound like it's this is a pure business decision. They're keeping him healthy, keeping the asset safe for the March 6th deadline. He's an unrestricted free agent after the season. They want to move him. He's that's the pressure part, right? Teams are starting to protect players like that. So it usually means they're choosing a direction, and whether the fans want to hear it or not, when that kind of stuff happens, it's not the direction that they want their franchise going in. And again, Panarin might have played his last game as a Ranger. It's it sucks, but it's not a random rumor. There's a lot of smoke. They're holding him out for a reason. The actions line up with it. That's the kind of thing that you hate as a fan, but it's also the kind of thing that happens when the season stops feeling like a run, man, and starts feeling like a full reset. They it's over. The the Rangers run, they were good. They thought they were better than they were. And they fell into the trap of, oh, we're only a piece away when really they were more than that away. And on the Islander side, I mean, the vibes are just way better. They look like a team that knows what they want to be right now. And in hockey, that alone can really that can carry you for a stretch. That can carry you deep into the playoffs. Vibes and a goaltender that stands on their head. And lastly, quick devil's note before we switch over sports. Devils beat the Preds 3-2 in overtime. Herschiser with the OT winner, Bratt ties it late. The only thing that matters right now for Devils fans, though, is that Jack Hughes leaving early with a lower body injury. That's one of those everybody hold their breath moments because with him, they are dangerous. But without him, it gets dicey real fast. Alright, that's all I got for hockey. Uh the Islanders are taking wins, the Rangers are staring down a deadline at a decision, and the Devils are hoping that their best player is okay. We will cover more hockey once football is done. I promise you guys we'll be getting into it a little bit more once I have more time to devote to it. But for now, tennis. Tennis. You played good tennis. The Australian Open has been good. Uh I know it's on at 3 o'clock in the morning, but I'm usually up at 3 o'clock in the morning. It's funny because tennis is tennis is another sport where pressure is king, right? Uh Billy Jean King, pressure is a privilege. Pressure is basically the whole point of the sport. You're out there alone. No huddle, no timeout. You either handle it or you spiral and you lose. So a couple quick updates. Novak advances after Mussetti retires, which was a match that we were looking forward to. And now you're on a crash course for Djokovic and Sinner. Uh Sinner handed Shelton easily, but handled him. He looked like a guy who knows exactly who he is and where he wants to be right now. That's dangerous for him. But Djokovic is still Djokovic, man. I mean, he's he's the guy for a reason. He's that goat for a reason. He's the oldest man doing it, and still nobody can take him down. So until somebody beats him, it's it's hard to pretend that the crown isn't still on his head. You know? I know Alcaraz and Cinner are the young Bucks right now, but a lot of Novak Djokovic fans still out there. And as far as the women's side, well, Pagula makes a run, like she always does, and then Rabikina gets her. And Sabolinka gets through Svitolina. So you're setting up for a final that's basically who can serve it harder and who's gonna blink first. You got two strong women, two strong serves. And then that's kind of what tennis always comes down late in majors, right? Who can serve the hardest and who can get across court the fastest. But there is another part of the tennis conversation that's been floating around, and it's the uh the privacy and broadcast access stuff. Probably missed it. I know a lot of people don't pay attention to tennis. That's why I'm here to inform you. Coco last week broke her racket and got all upset in the press conference that the cameras captured it, and there's been other players in the back that are, you know, have had emotional moments and don't want that, you know, out to the fans or out to the people, I guess. Players have been pushing back on cameras and constant behind the scenes access for a while now. And I kind of get both sides because you know, fans, it's a solo sport, right? They root for an individual person, they want to see their individual person in all their moments, they want more access. And networks want more content, they want to be able to give them the viewers the access that they want and crave. But, you know, it's it's not a reality TV show. I mean, the players want to feel more human, and I get that too. You don't, you know, I just lost a one-on-one match deep in my uh deep in my career, or you know, this is the farthest I've gone, or I struggled real hard. When you lose a tennis match one-on-one, it is definitely ego taxing and mind taxing and you know, emotional distressing. So for you to just shove a camera in my face in the back room while I'm trying to process those whole things, I can understand why they you know don't want to deal with that. But that's what pressure is, man. Again, Billy Jean King, pressure is a privilege. It's just in a different lane. Tennis is a completely different sport. That's why we like to watch it. That's why I like to watch it at least. If you haven't given tennis a chance, do yourself a favor. Trust me, you'll enjoy it. But anyway, that's that's it for the quick hits. Hockey gave us some New York drama this week. Tennis gave us some big name collision courses, and now we're set up for a nice close. Episode 50, Pressure Makes Decisions, and now it is time to land this thing with the outro. Thanks for sticking with me. Keep it right here. Still kind of crazy to say out loud. You know, when I when I started this, I was just trying to make the mic work. I was trying to figure out how not to sound like I was in a washing machine. And now we're 50 deep. That's a real number. So if you've been here for all of it or you just jumped in somewhere along the way, I appreciate you either way, for real. One thing that this whole run has taught me is pretty simple, actually. The important thing is to do the thing. Don't wait for perfect, don't wait for the right time, don't put it off because you're not ready yet. Do it messy, do it nervous, do it while you're still learning. And then all of a sudden, you one day you look up and you got momentum. That's what this has been for me. And it's because you guys kept showing up. The theme tonight was pressure makes decisions. And sports is the best teacher for that because it doesn't let you hide. The weather flips in Denver, the whole game turns into survival mode, and now every decision is louder. Darnold ends up in the biggest stage of his career, and you can either play tight or play free. Front offices hit that time of the year where they can be either be patient or they can panic. Even fans feel it because the second your team is good, patience turns into expectations overnight. That's the part that I want to leave you with. Pressure isn't going anywhere. It shows up in sports, it shows up in work, it shows up in relationships, it shows up in the quiet moments when you're staring at something you know you should do, and you keep talking yourself out of it. The goal isn't to avoid pressure. The goal is to become someone who is able to perform underneath it. Not by turning into a robot, not by pretending you don't feel it. You feel it. And you make the right decision anyway. You take the next rep anyway, you stay disciplined anyway. Even something as dumb as betting is a good example. This week, the right decision is saving your money. Next week is when you load up. That's not boring, that's grown up. Same thing in life. Most people don't lose because they're not talented. They lose because they make one bad decision, then they make another to cover it up, and then they look up and you're in a hole. And winning is the opposite. One good decision, stack it. Another good decision, stack it again. You don't even feel it at first. And then one day you realize you're living in a different place than you were a month ago. So, whatever your pressure moment is right now, don't try to outrun it. Don't try to mute it. Just meet it, head on, grab it by the horns, make the decision you'll respect later. The version of you that's a year older from now is gonna thank you for it tenfold. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, share it with one person, text it to a friend who argues sports with you, send it to the group chat, throw it on your story, whatever. That stuff helps, man, more than you think. Same with the mic check polls every Wednesday. If you're hearing this, pull up the Instagram and vote. I'm trying to make this a real community thing, not just me yelling into the void. Follow me everywhere at Rice on the Radio on all platforms. Got clips, polls, updates, the whole deal, good DMs, good memes, whatever you need, I got it. Episode 50. Seriously, thank you. As always, spread good energy this week. Tell someone you love them, even if it's a little bit awkward, check in on your peoples, and you know, be a little kinder than you have to be this week. Hold the door a little bit longer, maybe tip a little bit extra, you know. Take care of somebody. Anyway, I am Ian Rice. This has been episode 50 of Rice on the Mics, and I'll catch you next week. Same time, same place.