What’s Real, What’s Noise

Episode 60 is here, and this week felt like one giant test of what’s real and what’s just loud.

The Giants are already dealing with real drama after Dexter Lawrence’s trade request. The Jets are stuck in the middle of draft-season smoke and have to decide whether to stay put, move back a few spots, or just make the adult decision and stop overthinking it. The Knicks gave themselves a real measuring-stick game against Boston and answered the bell. The Yankees got splashed with some cold water after a hot start. The Mets gave us a brutal old-school no-run-support nightmare with Nolan McLean dealing and getting nothing to show for it. Then there’s hockey, where the Islanders hit the panic button, the Devils underdelivered again, and the Rangers look more and more like a warning sign for teams that think they’re closer than they really are.

This episode is about pressure, proof, and the point where the talking stage ends. Show your work. Let’s get into it.

Transcript

What’s Real Vs What’s Noise

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Eikä siinä mun hirveinen, että se firm. Hello, hello, and welcome back. Another episode of Race on the Mics, another episode with your boy. And I've been trying to figure out where where I want to go with this week's episode, where the feel of these this week's episode's stories brought me to. Trying to pin down what do they all have in common. And where I landed was what's real and what's noise. So that's the episode for this week. You know, not every start means something. Not every ugly loss means everything is broken. And not every rumor deserves oxygen, but not every good vibe is fake either. You know, some things are real and some things are just loud. Hell, even the NFL media got a little bit weird this week, too, you know? Let's just say some source building looks a little more hands-on than usual. You know, the hard part this time of the year is figuring out what actually matters without getting swept up in every little wave that comes across your phone. You know, the Giants are dealing with something real. They got a new coach, they got fresh energy. Everybody wants to talk about culture and a new era. And now, one of your best players wants out. The Jets, the Jets are living in the exact opposite kind of chaos, where the noise is almost deafening. You know, every mock draft, every smoke screen, every they love this guy. They're trading back, they they want this quarterback, this, that, and the other. You know, at some point, enough is enough. You gotta stop dating the whole board and just make a decision. The Knicks, the Knicks had themselves a real measuring stick kind of night. And these are the games that tell you something. Look, Boston is still Boston, whether people got bored of them for five minutes or not. But if the Knicks want to be taken seriously at that level, games like that matter. The Yankees got a nice little reminder that baseball humbles people real fast. Six and one had some folks acting like the parade route was already being mapped out, and then Oakland of all teams walks in and says, Yeah, not so fast. And the Mets, on the other hand, God. Yeah, I got plenty to get into with them. Young arms, shoving, no support, bad timing, bad decisions. Just a full on mess. Don't worry, you're gonna hear that if you want to hear it. And last but not least, I got some hockey talk for you, too, because the Islanders have hit the panic button, the Devils have underachieved again, and the Rangers might be staring at the kind of reality check that teams spend years trying to pretend that they're above. But yeah, that's where I landed after all of it. What's real, what's noise? That's what this week feels like to me, and I cannot wait to tell you about it. Episode 60, which in all honesty is pretty wild in itself, but got a lot to get into, a lot to sort through, and a whole lot of teams right now getting pushed towards the same question whether they like it or not. What is real and what's noise? Let's do it to it. We kicked this week's episode off with the NFL, and the Giants really did not waste any time reminding everybody that the new coach smell wears off fast. That's the first thing that hit me this week. You hire John Harbaugh, everybody starts doing the whole new voice, new energy, new culture, new era speech, and before anybody can even get comfortable, get settled into the lazy boy, one of your best players wants out. So there it is. Welcome to the job. No soft launch, no little grace period, no let's just get through rookie minicamp and shake some hands. Nope. Dexter Lawrence wants a new deal, wants to be paid like what he is, and now the Giants have a real problem on the table. It's not fake offseason holdout drama either. I mean, that's not one of those stories where people they just need a little headline and some satiation, and then everybody moves on in a couple days. No, no, no. It's a real thing. That's one, if not your best defensive player. One of the few guys on the roster where there is no debate about whether he matters or not. Making it public that he is not happy being on this team. So, right out of the gate, the honeymoon is over. My thing with Dexter, I don't know, it's it's simple and it's not. Look, I understand why he wants more money. I also understand why the Giants might look at it and go, hold on now, you're under contract. You had a down year by your standards, let's not act like this is some open and shut thing here. You know, it reminds me of the line from Mr. Deeds. If you played worse, would it be alright if we paid you less money? I get both sides. Still, this is where organizations tell you what they really are. You know, you can talk culture all you want, you can talk accountability, standards, toughness, all of it. The words are easy. This is where you show me what that stuff means when one of your cornerstone guys is staring you in the face, asking if you really value him like you say you do. And the fan base being split on it tells you everything you need to know. The poll that I ran this week, and if you're new here, every Wednesday on Instagram I run polls for you, the listeners, to vote on and get the polls to the people for the show. You know, see where you guys are standing. Well, being as it was basically dead even between three options of pay him, trade him, or let him wait it out, that means nobody really knows the clean answer. That's when you know it's a real problem. Look, if everybody agreed, this would be easy. It's not easy. If you pay him, you're making a statement. If you don't, and he digs in, now this is things this means things can get ugly. Harbaugh saying all the right stuff publicly is fine. You know, he he kind of has to, and that's what you knew you would get from him when you got him in the first place. But the part that lingers with me a little bit is when he says that everybody is tradable. Yes, that may be true, but it also sounds very different when one of your best players is actively in a contract standoff. Then the draft part of it gets even more interesting because of it. You know, all of this noise going on, and I still keep coming back to the same place that I was at last week. I am not some prisoner to one exact path for the Giants. If Jeremiah Love is there and you think he's that kind of player, take him. And don't look back, honestly. But if Sonny Stiles is there and you think that's your leader in the middle of your defense for the next eight years, and possibly need a replacement for Dexter, well, I get that too. But also, if you truly are terrified about keeping Jackson Dart upright and you want to go offensive line, I can see the logic to take the tackle. My thing is just don't draft scared. Don't talk yourself out of premium talent trying to be the smartest guy in the room. Guard is one of those spots where it sounds like there are going to be some decent players later in the draft, none that are really worth. There's only maybe one that's worth the first round pick. So you can revisit that. You can move around if you love somebody. You can go move back up into the draft if you want. You do not get a top five pick every year. Or at least you hope going forward you don't have a top five pick every year. But when there are multiple difference makers staring you in the face and then you go, Ah, you know what, let's just play it safe and grab the least sexy answer, just so Twitter says that we're responsible and we're we're on the right path. Yeah, that's not the right move, Frankie. Best player on the board. If that's love, cool. If that's styles, cool. If it's the tackle, fine. I'm open to multiple paths. The only thing I'm not open to is outthinking yourself for no reason at all. Now the Jets, to me, the Jets are Jets are in a different kind of chaos right now. Okay, so the Giants have one huge, loud, real problem going on. The Jets, the Jets have draft season problems. Poral. Draft season is one of those giant smoke machines. You know, everybody loves somebody, everybody hearing something, everybody has a mock or a twist or an insider suddenly has a new angle. This guy's surging, that guy's falling, somebody wants to move up. Half of it is probably true, and the other half is probably complete nonsense. Most of it is honestly designed to make sure nobody knows what's going on, and you tune into ESPN on Thursday night to make sure you watch the draft. So where I'm at with the Jets right now is simply enough. Enough for Eddie. Just make the adult decision and don't listen to any of the outside noise. Personally, my lean is Arvell Reese. If the package is so good that you can't say no and you move back a couple of spots, I'm fine with that too. But a couple. Okay, I'm not trying to turn pick two into some big road trip down the board. That's not what I'm talking about. If you move back just a coup just enough, still get one of your guys and stack some extra value, alright, fine. I can live with that. You know, there's a big difference between being flexible and getting cute. The reason that I stay on Reese is the upside. Look, there's no way else to cut it. The Jets need impact. They need juice, they need somebody that can change the entire speed of the defense. Bailey is good. I get why people like Bailey. And if even if they drafted him, I wouldn't be mad at it either. He is the more polished pass rusher right now. Say that three times fast. But Reese, I don't know, man, Reese just feels like the bigger swing. And you know what? I'd rather take the bigger swing at two if I really believe the guy can become a special player. And besides, at this point, I mean, what do the Jets have to lose? You know, how much lower can the floor get? How much do the football gods really hate the Jets? If Reese might turn into the next Watt or Garrett or Parsons, take the swing. Who cares? Later in the draft, that's where that's where I want the Jets to let the board come to them. But the sweet spot is obvious to me. It's get Garrett Wilson some real help. Give me another legit pass catcher. Give me somebody who actually makes life easier on the quarterback, whoever their quarterback may be long term. Hell, if the tight end from Oregon is truly that kind of freak that he's grading out to be and can turn into the next Brock Bowers or Trey McBride or Sam Laporta, middle of the field type problem, I can hear that argument too. One of those guys changes a passing game, but if I had it my way, I still kind of go receiver first. A real one. An Ohio State stud. Somebody that defenses have to care about that doesn't end up with Garrett Wilson being triple teamed. As for quarterback, no thanks. Not for me. Not till round three, round four. You know, people keep trying to force Ty Simpson. The stuff is everywhere. And I feel like every other mock I see is just trying to marry him to the Jets. Look, I get the logic in theory, I guess. Gino gives you the bridge here, the kid sits, develops, learns, all that jazz. Whatever. It's nice on paper. Life ain't played on paper, and especially the Jets ain't played on paper. You know, the Jets are not some comfortable, patient, insulated operation right now. They aren't the Rams with Matthew Stafford coming back on maybe his retirement year, and then Sean McVay licking his chops, trying to teach this kid, and you know, Hall of Fame quarterback teaching him. They are not one of those spots where you just can casually take a developmental piece at 16 and let it marinate in peace while everybody sits and waits politely and gently. And oh, he'll come around when he comes around. That is not this. They need real players, they need immediate help, they need answers, not a project. So, no, I would not be thrilled if they use one of those better spots on quarterback. And I also, by the way, don't want them taking a cornerback at 16 to replace Sauce. You know, draft top end talent, fill in the gaps in free agency if you need to. Zooming out a little bit. The uh the NFL. Well, the NFL got a little weird, got a little spicy in a little bit of a different way this kind of week. Nice little story broke. I don't know if you saw it. Mike Vrabel and Diana Rossini. Listen, uh look, I'm not gonna do the fake detective thing, right? I'm not gonna sit here and tell you, I know what happened. Uh, you know, I don't. None of us do. None of us do. And they both denied anything improper. They said that there was more context, they said that there were other people around, you know, all that. Fine. Publicly, you take people for their word. You know, innocent till proven guilty. That's the that's the fair way to do it. But still, come on, man. Even if you think they're saying what what they're saying is true, this is still the kind of thing that just makes people side-eye the whole situation. I mean, you are a head coach. You are one of the biggest national NFL insiders in the country. Those jobs already live in a weird access-heavy world where you know people question the boundaries all the time. Oh, how did they get this source? What did that what who did they talk to here? Then the photos come out from that kind of setting, that kind of location, looking like that with the weird hug holding hands, and sitting by the pool in the hot tub. You can't be surprised that people go, Yeah, that feels a little yucky. That's the real word for it, yucky. Look, I'm not again, I'm not trying to turn this into, oh, look, affair, a scandal, everybody, everybody freak out and judge them. That's cheap. That's boring. The thick of it is, my bigger point here is it's the journalistic integrity part of it. It's the optics of it, the source relationship part of it, the career part of it, honestly. I mean, the whole thing just feels messy. You know, if those photos were taken of me with another woman, there would absolutely be a conversation waiting for me at home. There is no universe where that gets waved off like, nah, nah, babe. It was just, it was source building. I was just, you know, trying to schmooze him. No, no shot. I even showed my wife the photos and asked her to describe what she saw. She has no idea who either one of them are. And she said, Oh, it looks like a happy couple enjoying some warm weather. I wish I had a Mai Thai in a hot tub right now. That's why this hit the way it did. Not to mention people pulling clips of Racini talking down on her husband and bashing her marriage. You know, it doesn't feel like some random paparazzi got lucky. It feels like somebody wanted those photos. And again, look, that's me saying it, what it feels like. Not what I know. I'm just I'm just saying the whole thing has a very private eye, go check in on my wife or check in on my husband kind of thing. You know, and look again, it takes two to tango. This is not all on Rossini. I mean, Vrabel is right there too. He's a family man, he's got kids. It just doesn't look clean, man. And in those positions, looking unclean matters. Do you think Diana Rossini is ever gonna get a story with another coach again without the coach worrying about if people are were thinking that they're sleeping together, or any other female reporter for that instance, you know, has to now tackle those hills also. It's fucked all over. It's not great. Last but not least, to close this thing out, just a couple quick league notes, league thoughts, I guess. The 18 game schedule talk is not going away. You know, every time it comes up, you still hear the pushback, you still hear the concern, but there it is, it just keeps hovering around. And usually, you that usually means it's not dead. It usually means that it's being normalized little by little. You know, you throw a crab into a boiling pot, it screams, you throw the crabs into a cold water and boil the pot, they don't feel it. It feels like one of those where they just keep talking about it, talking about it, and eventually, well, all of a sudden we have 18 games, and everybody just kind of, okay, I guess it was what it was, and it was inevitable. And otherwise, uh Lamar, Lamar Jackson has made some noise lately too. So new staff in Baltimore, new energy. Lamar is reportedly energized, he's all bought in, all smiles, all momentum. Cool. We'll see. And look, that's not me hating. That's just that's just me saying post-harball. Now the real test begins. You know, this has a little bit of a Brady post-Belichek energy to it, except flipped. You know. That time the star quarterback left and the coach stayed. This time the coach is gone and the star quarterback is still there. So now we get to find out what the relationship really was, what the tension really was, you know, what the ceiling really is for Lamar, and whether all this is actually sunshine and rainbows once the games start counting. But yeah, that's that's kind of all I got on the NFL right now. The Giants have a have a real issue. The Jets have to stop flirting with every draft scenario and just pick a lane. League News got a little too cozy for comfort, and we got a star quarterback talking about being all bought in after his star coach left. Plenty of noise. Plenty that's real too, though. You know? But now, now let's get into a team that actually answered a big question on the floor tonight. The Knicks. The Knicks took care of some business at home against the Celtics with a 16-game in from an Achilles tear, Jason Tatum. Hardcore talk next.

unknown 19:26

Let's get into it.

Knicks Pass The Celtics Test

Yankees Reality Check And Mets Rage

Islanders Shock Move And NY Hockey

Show Your Work Final Takeaway

SPEAKER_00 19:42

So let's get into a team that actually answered a big question on the floor tonight. And that would be the New York Knickerbockers. The Knicks had themselves a game that people are gonna have to take seriously and a game that turned my mood around from the Mets disaster. We'll get into that later. I wanted to dive into the Knicks for how they played all week and picked them apart here and there, but I I've changed my mind. We're starting and ending with that Boston game. Because no matter how much people try to dress it up one way or the other, that was a yardstick game. I don't care that it's April and there's only three games left. I don't care that it's not a playoff game because it sure felt like one. I don't care that Jalen Brown didn't play. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Boston is still Boston. Tatum was back in the building he tore his Achilles in last year. And he had a great game. God bless. But the Knicks, the Knicks still put out an A-level effort against a team that whether people want to say it out loud or not, and if you're serious about doing anything in the East, the road still goes through them. So when the Knicks go out there and win 112-106, that matters. That means something. Josh Hart giving you 26 and turning into a complete maniac in the fourth quarter with 15, that matters. Brunson giving you 25 and 10, that matters. Kat giving you 16-12, and the pick and pop between him and Brunson has become a serious attack, that matters. Bridges being big in the first quarter and getting the Knicks their first seven points, that matters. That's not some fake little regular season sugar high. That's a game where you can look at the team after and say, all right, that version is serious. That version can talk to anybody. That's why I keep coming back to the same thing with the Knicks. The starting five is fine. The whole obsession with do they need to shake it up? Should Mitch start? Should they move this guy? Should they do this? Should they do that? I I get it. I get where it comes from. I do. And the numbers haven't always looked. Clean. The first quarters have been weird at times to say the least. I mean, they have come out flat so many times this year, and Mike Brown himself has admitted there was chatter about it and that they've talked through the different looks. Fine. Every good team does that. Every serious coaching staff does that. Still, where I land is very simple. The group is good enough. Play at your level. Play to your level. That's the real thing with this team. Stop trying to reinvent yourself every other night. Just be as good as you are capable of being. You know, the Boston game is the perfect example. Nobody walked away from that game saying, yeah, blow up the starting lineup. In fact, if anything, that game told me the opposite. It told me that when the main guys actually lock in and play like grown men, the Knicks are more than capable of winning big games and going toe-to-toe with anybody. You know, the issue has never been whether there is enough there. The issue has been whether they consistently can act like it. That's why I'm not in the camp of panicking over every little line of wrinkle. Look, Mitch is valuable, very valuable. He changes the entire geometry of the game defensively. He gives you something different in the rebounding presence. He gives Katz some cover and space for offensive rebounds to set him up for those threes. He absolutely has to be part of what they do. He may even be part of their best closing groups depending on the matchup and how the game's flowing. But I'm not racing to the microphone to scream that he has to start or else the whole thing is fake. Nah. The bigger answer is way simpler than that. And you saw it in that Celtic game. You know, Brunson has to be Captain Clutch Brunson. Kat has to be aggressive. Hart has to be that chaos engine that teams just don't know what to do with. And Bridges, oh God, Bridges. Bridges has to just keep giving you efficient adult, grind it out, wear you down, fundamental basketball. Be Tim Duncan. That's the answer. And I gotta say, look, I gotta say here, Mike Brown, Mike Brown deserves a little bit of love here, too. You know, whether it be the true talent of this roster or that the guy can actually coach, but he just passed Pat Riley for the most wins by a first-year Knicks head coach. And while that is not some giant parade-worthy accomplishment by itself, it does matter in the sense that this season has not exactly been some smooth joy ride. You know, Pat Riley, guys, and yes, we aren't exactly friends with him or the heat nowadays, but did you have it on your bingo card that this season Mike Brown would pass Pat Riley for anything Knicks related? You know, all season he's dealt with noise, criticism, lineup talk, fit talk, uh, expectations, all of it, whatever you want to throw at him. He he had it. Still, sitting there with 52 wins after knocking down Boston tonight, yeah, that's a pretty that's a pretty real deal. That's something you at least acknowledge before sprinting into the next complaint about him. Now, the next part of this Knicks conversation is uh is the one sitting in the corner waiting for everybody if this season goes sideways. And it's Giannis. This is where things get really interesting, I guess, maybe a little uncomfortable, depending on how these playoffs go. Look, if the Knicks make a deep run and look like they're really belong, and you know, maybe they go to the NBA finals and they lose game seven on whatever, something. That's great. That's beautiful. The whole conversation changes. Maybe, you know. But but if they come up short, if they lose early, if they look clearly a piece short, or if they get punked by Boston or Detroit, or God forbid Toronto, or you know, something, if they get outclassed by somebody, whatever version of failure you want to put on it, that Giannis talk is going to sit over the whole franchise all summer like a dark cloud. And that's just the truth. The the relationship there doesn't exactly look healthy. You got all this smoke around Giannis, what's his future, what's Milwaukee doing, what he wants, what the league thinks he wants, all of it. And normally, normally Nick fans hear that and they go, great, bring him here. Let's go get let's get the superstar. Yeah, life is not that neat, you know. You're gonna have to give up a lot. You're gonna have to blow up this roster. And it can't just be Jalen Brunson and Giannis out there rolling a 2v5 game. Not to mention, other teams are gonna be in on him. You know, Boston getting floated around being one of those teams is kind of nightmare fuel. And that's where it gets ugly for New York. It's not just can the Knicks get him? It's what happens if the Knicks flame out, Giannis becomes the story, and then he ends up somewhere like Boston or Miami or Cleveland. That's the kind of thing that can make a whole summer feel miserable real fast. So that's where I'm at with the Knicks. I mean, the the win over Boston was real. The starting five is fine. The pressure now is not to invent new answers. The pressure is to keep showing that this version of this team is good enough when the levels rise. Zooming out on the league, just a couple stories I want to touch around the NBA. Uh tanking. The tanking thing has become ridiculous, to be honest with you. Not subtle, not you know, wink wink. We all know what's going on here. Like, like, not even borderline, like really ridiculous. Everybody sees it. Adam Silver sees it, coaches see it, players see it, fans definitely see it. You got teams throwing out lineups that look like somebody lost a fantasy football punishment at this point. I mean, you got guys getting weird fourth quarter rests, you got fake development minutes, you got an entire game that feels compromised right from the jump. I mean, the Nets are playing the Wizards. Who do you think wants to lose that game more? At a certain point, you just say, what are we doing here? That's why I'm, you know, I I it needs to change, and I'm glad Adam Silver finally said something with some teeth to it. Because this thing is crossover from a normal rebuild, trust the process nonsense into something way uglier. You know, there is a big difference between rebuilding and not being good and just openly turning the product into garbage for draft odds. And people can say, well, you know, that's the best way to build, you know, you gotta get young talent, you gotta get the best young talent. Fine, maybe. I don't know. It still looks awful. It's bad for the sport, it's bad for competitive integrity, it's bad for the fans that pay good money to go see you. And honestly, it's it's bad for the gambling side of the league, too. You know, say what you want about it, but these gambling companies pay a ridiculous amount of money to be the face of said franchise or said league. You know, this pitch brought to you by Fanatics, this halftime presentation brought to you by DraftKings. You know, there's no way to keep leaning into all these betting partnerships and then act like nobody is noticing when teams start getting creative with losing. That can be a really bad look really fast for a league that has had gambling scandals and black spots, especially as of late. Anyway, moving on. Uh, Cade Cunningham, who came back from a collapsed lung, and I can't lie, it's a little bit different for me. I I had two collapsed lungs. I talked about this last week, if you listen. So I definitely thought he would be out a little bit longer, but again, I am not a professional athlete. I just play slow-pitched softball on Sundays with my varsity friends and drink a bunch of beers by 8 a.m. Anyway, so when I hear that Cade Cunningham came back, I don't hear it the same way as just any other injury update scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Uh I know how weird it is mentally. I know how much it can mess with your breathing, your confidence, your body, all that. So, you know, seeing him back, seeing him come back and play and look comfortable and keep Detroit rolling, you know, as much as I hate it for the Knicks, that's a real story to me, and it's a good one to see. That's a dude coming back from something serious and stepping right back into meaningful basketball. Now, on the other side of that coin, Joel Embiid, heard again. Look, different player, different stage, different story, but still, man, the same exhausting feeling around the league where some of these stars just cannot stay out of their injury conversation long enough for things to settle around them. You know, every year, same thing. The talent is there, the ceiling is there, and then the body starts writing the story again. It's brutal. Trust the process. Yeah, well, believe it or not, the Embiid process has been going on for 12 years already. Joel Embiid's been in the league for 12 years. And what does that franchise have to show for it? Don't worry, I'll wait. Anyway. That's the NBA this week. You know, the Knicks, uh, the Knicks gave you something real, man. And the tanking problem keeps making the league look cheap, in my opinion. Cade's return is impressive as hell. And Giannis is sitting in the background. Like the offseason final boss of New York doesn't get where it wants to go. You know, there's some real answers, there's some ugly side effects, and a New York team that, at least for one night, stepped up and looked like it belonged in the conversation. Now, let's get into baseball because the Yankees got a little uh splash of some ice cold water on their face after a nice six and one start. And the Mets, yeah, the Mets have been very irritating as of late. Diamond talk of the next keeper right here. We're supposed to be at 80 degrees over this weekend. And that sounds like the perfect time to get into some baseball. And we're starting with the Yankees today, which I know might annoy some Mets fans that are listening after the night that they just had, but stick with me here. The Yankees are the cleaner places to begin this week. They fit the theme. And it's mostly due to the fact that they just got a nice little splash of cold water right in their face. And honestly, some people needed that. Six and one to start the season had a whole section of the fan base acting like the candy and a heroes route was already getting measured out. I mean, you would you would have thought we were one more Ben Rice, shout out Rice on the mics, double away from the confetti candy, and it's getting dusted off. Then Oakland walked right into the Bronx and reminded everybody, real quick, that this sport has a way of humbling you before your feet are even all the way on the dirt. That's why I'm kind of in the middle on the Yankees right now. You know, a little bit of both. I kind of want to turn the knife just a little bit on the people who were planning the parade after the 6-1 start. And I kind of also want to give a little acknowledgement to the fans who have been screaming this is exactly why running it back was dangerous. You know, both sides have a point here. Neither side needs to be completely insane about it. The overreaction crowd needs to relax a little bit. I mean, it is still April. These are still good players. This is still a good roster. You know, a bad series against Oakland does not automatically mean that the whole thing is fake and doomed and stale and broken and cursed and cashman can't do it or whatever else. People yell into the steering wheel after midnight. That part's kind of stupid to me. The other part, though, the part where fans say, yeah, but this is the exact type of series that comes back to haunt you. Well, you know what? That part is fair. I mean, last year you lost a division on a tiebreak. One game. That's it. One more win somewhere, one random Tuesday or Wednesday or getaway day where you grind out a dirty little 3-2 win. Instead of playing dead for six innings, your whole October path changes because of it. So, no, I you know, I'm not gonna sit here and act like April losses don't matter. They do. They all count the same in the standings. That part never changes. A check in the win column is always a check, doesn't matter how you got it done. But that's what made the Oakland series so annoying for Yankee fans. You know, it wasn't just losing, it was the way that they lost. It was the way that they looked. The offense goes quiet, contact dried up, and then here we go. People start doing the same old, they're two relying on the home run speech. I mean, you almost get no hit. You do get one hit. You got 17 strikeouts in what was it? It was no hits for 17 innings of baseball and nine strikeouts in the closing game. That's what it was. So look, I get I mean, look, I get it. The old all the old complaints come running back out of the closet like they were just waiting for permission to speak again. There's no edge, there's no grit. It's the same old team, same old lineup construction, same old sins. Do I think it's too early to bury them? Absolutely. This pitching rotation is disgusting. Do I also think those concerns are made up out of thin air? No. No, they're not. That's the dance. That's the 162 game season. One of the weird things about baseball is that a team can look so sharp for a week, and then one ugly series pulls out every old insecurity right back to the surface. The Yankees had a fun start. They had the Ahmed Rosario big night. They had some judge action. Ben Rice has been lighting it up. They had some signs of urgency, they had cleaner play. Little things that make you go, alright, all right, maybe they learned something. Maybe, you know, we're on to something here. And then again, the A's show up and it's back to here we go again. You know, Ryan McMahon's slump is the part that's the loudest right now, which is kind of what I talked about early in the season. Got a lot louder over this series. Got even louder with Boone not pinch hitting for him in the bottom of the eighth in game two. The team basically committing to him saying he needs to hit his way out of it. He's hitting 93.093. You know, and believe it or not, Volpe not being back matters. The shortstop situation is kind of messy. You had McBann playing shortstop. You got Kaiba Arrow, who's not hitting great, but he's stealing bases. Is that enough to keep him in the lineup? Keep him at shortstop. The lineup balance is a little weird still, too. These are all real things. They just do not need to be framed like the building is on fire after 12 games. That's where the fan base loses me. Look, you can acknowledge flaws without turning every bad stretch into a funeral. I listen to so many Yankee fans call the radio today, talking in doom and gloom and freaking out, and this team's not going anywhere. Who cares? It's gonna be the same old result. Guys, you guys won 94 games last year. You know, I hate to say it like this, but stop being spoiled. The team's gonna be alright, barring a catastrophic injury. So for me, the Yankee conversation this week is simple, you know? The cold water was good. Some people needed to come back down to earth, and the critics also got a little bit of ammo. But the Doomers, the Doomers still need to take a breath, too. Now for the Mets, oh God, the Mets. Well, some good, some bad. Plenty of ups and downs throughout the week, but I want to dive into Thursday night's game. Because I'm gritting my teeth. That one just pissed me off, man. Not in the like clickbait, clickbait aura farming sports radio scream into the mic way, piss me off. Just straight up annoyance, irritation. I mean, I was sitting there in the seventh inning yelling, no, no, no, no, no, no, at my TV. Because I know this feeling. I do not want to do this again. Nolan McLean goes out there and shoves. The kid gives you six and a third, eight strikeouts, three hits. The game is right there for you. He is dealing. He is giving you exactly the kind of start you beg for for this time of year. It's a cold night, there's not much margin, and you got a young arm looking like the real deal. What are you giving back? One first inning homer from Luis Robert Jr. That's it. That's the offense for the night. That's the thank you card. Where did the bats go? That's what makes this so maddening. Look, no Soto, yes, we know. Obviously, not having Soto in the lineup hurts. I'm not stupid. Nobody is. Sucks. Still, everybody else gets paid too. Everybody else has a bat, too. Everybody else has to show up. And guys were showing up, except for Nolan. You cannot watch a young pitcher throw like that and then leave him hanging with one swing and a whole lot of silence. Come on, man. I mean, that's where the Jacob deGrom flashbacks start kicking in. The second McClean was out there throwing darts with no real support, every Met fan started feeling that same old familiar pit in their stomach. We've seen this movie before. Great starter, no runs. Dugout gets quieter by the inning, and then all of a sudden, one turn of the screw and the whole thing gets away with you. You know, I saw I saw a meme going around talking about DeGrom having 20 starts in his career with zero or one runs of support. And then the next closest pitcher to him was nine starts. That hit a nerve. It felt familiar in the worst way. You do not want a 24-year-old kid dealing, and Mets fans immediately thinking, oh no. Are we gonna are we gonna do the de Gram thing all over again? You know, and then when he gets pulled and Luke Weaver gives up the the runs and he gets left on the no decision and then loses the game, they cut right to McLean. You can just see it in his face, like, son of a bitch, man. That's that's when Mendoza steps in. And this is where the rant really gets going here. I mean, I a hundred pitches. McLean gets pulled at. Fine, great. Wonderful round number. You know, I know managers and pitching departments, and every asshole with a spreadsheet loves those nice, clean little checkpoints. Third time to the lineup, 80 pitches, yada yada yada. Here's my problem. What exactly are we saving him for in that moment? He is 24 years old. He is throwing gas. He is in control. He has earned the chance to finish what he started. Or at the very least, to pitch himself into the trouble if trouble is coming. Let the kid go. You know, that's my thing. Let the young stud be the young stud. If McLean gives up the tying run himself, all right, fine. If he gives up a loud double or a two-run shot, something ugly, fine. Then it's on his arm. It's on his pitches. He wore it, he learned from it, he owns it. Well, what drives me crazy is pulling him there in that spot, then handing the inning off messy. You bring in Luke Weaver with men on, hanging by a thread, and then the whole thing just snowballs from there. Before you know it, before before you even blinked, what should have been like a tight, tense one one kind of game. It turns into a 7-1 game, and everybody walks off feeling sick to their stomachs. That's the part that gets me the most. It's not just it's not just that they lost, it's how avoidable it felt. You know, most of this is still on the lineup to me. I want to be clear about that. McLean should have had more than one run behind him, of course. That's the first failure. Mendoza's hook, though, that is the second failure. You know, the offense sets the stage for the frustration, but the pitching change and pull and decision. It lit the match with the gasoline. And I and I constantly keep going back to like old school horse logic, which I, you know, it's not going to happen anymore. They just don't do that with pitchers anymore, which is garbage. But like a guy like Cece in Cleveland, you know, before his Yankee days, even with his Yankee days, but especially in Cleveland, you know, guys like that, they wanted the inning. They wanted to get the out. They weren't staring at the pitch count, wondering if that the training staff felt comfortable or there was going to be a conversation when he came out of the dugout. They were trying to win the damn game. That's the energy that I wanted there. Let him try and get out of it. Trust the kid. If he fails, he fails on the mound with a with the ball in his hand. And maybe honestly, it's a learning experience. It's not going to destroy his confidence. What, do you think in the 18 years this kid has been playing baseball, he's never given up a winning run on the mound? It happens. It's baseball. That's kind of why we love this sport. There's always a winner and a loser. Someone has to make the last out. Someone has to make the last play. You know, I can live with it a lot easier than watching him walk off at a hundred pitches while the bullpen gets dropped into traffic and the whole thing goes sideways. God damn it. What a frustrating loss. Whatever. I don't want the whole Met segment to just be me throwing things at the wall. So let me take a breath, cool off for a second. Let's get into something that I actually do like in baseball right now. And that's the ABS. Actually, I don't just like it. I love it. I love the rule change. I love the accountability. I love the umpires getting humbled a little bit. I love that there's finally some visible check on the zone. There have been way too many years of hitters and pitchers both standing there looking at the umpire like you can't be serious. You miss that? And then everybody just having to move on like it didn't happen, and guys getting tossed because it's like you miss that. Fuck you. And I drew a line and now I'm tossed. No. Give me the challenge system, give me the correction, give me the little moment where the graphic comes up and the crowd ooos and ahs, and somebody has to sit in the fact that they just missed it. That part is good for the sport. The other thing I think coming with ABS, and this is just where my brain goes a little bit, to the betting side of it. You know, once hitters and teams really start getting more comfortable and start getting the hang of it with the zone, I think the overs are gonna start creeping up in some value here. You know, there's gonna be more walks, there's gonna be more confidence from hitters knowing what is and isn't getting stolen by some bad umpire, more deep counts, more pitches, more stress on starters, and more trips to the bullpen. Yeah. That's the chain reaction that I can see coming. It's not gonna happen all at once, but I definitely think there is an avenue there for more action in the game. And I think that's kind of what Manford was thinking with this. So, no, I am definitely not one of the people screaming that ABS is ruining baseball. I don't think there's many people that are. But I think it's helping drag the game into a more accountable place. I am totally good with that. And last but not least, to wrap up the baseball here, uh, a couple quick injury notes from around the league. Zach Efflin getting Tommy John as a real hit for Baltimore. They just can't catch a break with pitching, man. Got all these young hitters, they signed Alonzo, the, you know, the lineup looks good, and they they can pitch their way out of a paper bag. Hunter Brown, uh, for the Astros, young kid. I always like to bet on him when he plays, actually. Got a shoulder strain. That's a big loss for them, too, man. He was supposed to take the next best step, big step, after they lost for Amber Valdez, who also just got lit up in Detroit. And Cade Horton needing season ending surgery. Tommy John. Kind of the same thing that happened to Justin Steele last year. Not great for Chicago. And then just to bring it full circle here, there's Jacob deGrom. Got scratch for stiff neck, then he's got the quad issue. You know, every little health note still makes everybody kind of hold their breath for a second with him, and it's it's just kind of the sad reality of where that story has gone for him. Like DeGrom will always have a place in my heart as a Met. He is one of the all-time greats, but you know, it's tough, it's tough to see, but it's crocodile tears for me, you know. But anyway, yeah, that's baseball this week. The uh the Yankees got a reminder. The Mets got me irritated beyond belief. ABS still rocks, and there's a couple big arms around the league that are dealing with some big injuries. Now, for my niche fans out there, a little bit of hockey. Let's get into a little hockey. We got three local teams that all managed to give us three completely different flavors of stress, and the Sabres made the playoffs. Hockey time coming up right now. Completely kidding when I called the uh hockey fans niche. I know there are a lot of you, and I know you guys bitch and moan at me about not covering enough hockey. It's not my favorite sport. I do enjoy it and I root for the Rangers, but I don't know. Not to say it doesn't do for me, but I fully admit it, I'm a fair weather fan. But to appease the masses, to get into it, I got some hockey talk for you. All three local teams all manage to give you three completely different levels of stress. We'll kick it off with the Islanders, just just off the sheer insanity of the timing, I guess. I mean you do you don't fire a coach with four games left unless unless you think something is broken, right? You know, not next month, not in the offseason, not we'll evaluate everything when the year ends. Right now. Four games left. Playoff push. You gotta win out. That's what made the move jump off the page for me. You know, Patrick Waugh out, Pete DeBoer in, season hanging there, and the organization basically looking at the room saying, Nope, no, no, no. This needs a jolt immediately. It's not an uncommon move, but it's not a normal move. This is not a calm, patient move. This is a we do not like the way this thing feels, and we are not trying to sit around and watch it go down the drain. We are gonna try and shock it back to life right now. Now, maybe it works. I don't know, maybe it doesn't. I'm I'm not even really talking about whether the switch itself is genius or desperate. It's probably a little bit of both, to be honest with you. My bigger takeaway is what it says about where the Islanders thought they were mentally. You know, you don't make that kind of a move unless you think the team is either flat or stuck or tuning something out or someone out or just not even responding the way it should this late in the year. And, you know, and then the comments start coming out, the players talking, the fans talking, the usual was the room tired of him? Was it his voice? Was it his message? That's all part of it now, too. You know, Barzall shooting down the idea that the guys were tired of Waz's stories, that's nice, that's fine. That's also exactly what a player is gonna say in that spot. Nobody is gonna stand there and go, yeah, yeah, we were done hearing from him. So you take all that for what it is. I mean, Patrick Wah is a god amongst men, but can he lead a locker room? That's a different story. What I care about more is this. The Islanders still have a little bit of their fate in their own hands here. Now, they have created one of those last chance late season moments where everybody in the building knows the message without even having to be said. You gotta wake up right now, no excuses, no drifting through the finish line. If you want this thing, you go take it. You grab it by the balls, and that's when you really feel if the message was one way or the other. Let's see how they respond. We'll slide over to Jersey and the Devils. Devils are a little bit a different kind of frustrating, right? The Devils aren't panic button team. The Devils right now are kind of how are we here again kind of team. That's that's the feeling that I've been gathering from some of my devil fan friends. You know, this is not a roster where you look at it and you go, well, you know, there just there wasn't a lot of talent there. This is, you know, we gotta get better. Jack Hughes is Jack Hughes. There are still pieces on this team that you like. There's still enough ability there where this should not feel as underwhelming as it does. And yet, here they are again. Another year where the conversation turns into injuries, underperformance, big stretches at home, scoring droughts, missed opportunity, you know, who's responsible, all of it. That again, to be fair, injuries do matter. Jack missing time matters, which kind of seems to be his MO. The kid is good, but he does seem to miss time more often than not. Nobody is pretending otherwise either. Devil's fans do know this. But still, man, every team deals with something. Every team deals with issues or something. I mean, that's the whole point of the season. But the devil's bigger issue to me is that every time you want to fully buy in, they are right there to remind you that they are still more theory than reality. And that's that's the disappointing part. You can talk yourself into the future with them pretty easily, which is kind of what makes the conversation dangerous. You know, you look at the young pieces, you look at the talent, you talk yourself into bounce back year, and maybe maybe they are right, maybe maybe they do pop next year. That doesn't erase what this year was. This year was another reminder that talent and payoff are not the same thing. The Devils have had enough talent to make people nervous for plenty of years now. They have not had enough consistency to make people respect them for plenty of years now, also. And then there's the Rangers. And to me, they're the cleanest cautionary tale of the three. The Rangers are the one where you look at their season and go, Yep, there's a lesson in there if anybody wants to hear it. This is what it looks like when the team thinks it's closer than it actually is. And that's the line. They went all in on the idea that they were right there, that they were one or two right moves away, that the window was wide open, that they were going to be competing with this core, and they were ready to go, and this coach. And then year after year after year, the season seems to happen to them. And instead of getting the confirmation that they've been looking for, you get a reality check, a harsh one. You know, suddenly it doesn't look like the group that's one move away. It looks like the group with, you know, real structural issues, real identity questions. And some of the stuff that maybe got papered over while people, while everybody was like trying to convince themselves that this was the year. That is why I call them a warning sign more than anything else. You know, every fan base does this, every front office does this. You fall in love with your own timeline and you convince yourself your team is on the doorstep. You you start you start making win-now decisions off that belief, and then the game show you something uglier. And now, now you're stuck cleaning up the gap between what you thought you had and what you actually do have. You trade guys away, you hope that the young kids are good, you hope you got a coach, and you hope your GM can put you in the right place. How many coaches have they been through now? Three, four in the last five years? You know. The one thing I don't want to do with the Rangers is act like there is zero hope at all. I mean, that's not really fair either. There have been some signs of life with the younger guys as of late. There have been some little bright spots. So there are at least a few things that you can point to and say, uh, alright, maybe not everything is dead. That's useful, I guess. That matters, I guess, but it's still for all the diehard Ranger fans out there, they're miserable and they cannot stand this team as of late. But yeah, that's the New York hockey. Oh, by the way, the Bru the Sabres made the playoffs. So every Jet fan loves to hear that because they now own the record for the longest playoff drought. Although they already did own the record. They beat him out. Congratulations, Buffalo Sabres. Go do it, go do it, man. Bring it home. But yeah, the uh the Islanders are urgency. The Devils are frustration, and the Rangers, the Rangers are the warning label. That's the that's the quickest way to say it all about. That's that's the hockey I got for you this week, guys. You know, take it or leave it. Got a tight race, you got a coaching shock, you got a devil's letdown. And you got the Rangers. God bless them. Alright, let's bring this thing home, huh? That is gonna be where I leave you this week. I kept coming back to the same question all episode long. What's real and what's noise? That was the title, but really the thing sitting underneath all of it is even simpler than that. And it's show your work. You know, don't just tell me what you are, don't sell me the cleaned up version. Don't give me the polished speech. When the game gets tight, when the pressure shows up, when the noise gets loud, what still holds up? And you saw that all over the place this week. The Giants got hit with a real problem right out of the gate. So now they gotta find out what the new era actually feels and looks like post-introductory press conference smiles. The Jets are sitting in the middle of all the draft smoke in the world, and sooner or later they have to stop entertaining every possibility and make a real decision. The Knicks, then well, the Knicks got one of those games where you either show people something or you don't, and they did. The Yankees got cooled off just a little bit. And the Mets, on the other hand, well, they gave us those one of those sick-to-year stomach losses where the frustration feels familiar in all the worst ways. Even hockey had a little bit of its own version of this week. And that's life too. Really. There are a lot of moments where people can talk a great game. A lot of moments where things sound good, look good, feel good, they get dressed up nice, get packaged the right way, and then all of a sudden, life shows up. Pressure shows up, adversity shows up, things get uncomfortable. That's where you learn what's solid. That's where you learn what was built right, and whether you were leaning on something real or just something loud. That's also why I like the idea of showing your work. Not in some preachy school teacher kind of way. More in the sense of, you know, when your moment comes, man, be able to stand on what you've built. Don't just say it, prove it. Let your habits prove it, let your effort prove it, let your consistency prove it. Let the way you carry yourself be undeniable. The truth usually shows itself eventually, anyway, so you might as well make sure what it finds is something that you're actually being proud of. So, anyway, with all that being said, thank you for hanging out with me for episode 60. 60 of these man.

unknown 1:00:56

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:57

It's crazy to say out loud. But here we are. You know, I appreciate everybody listening, everybody voting on the mic check polls, everybody sending thoughts and takes, messages, memes, all of it. You know, you you guys all help shape the show every single week, and I do not take that lightly. So make sure you keep up with me on Instagram at Rice on the Radio. Keep tapping in, keep sharing the show, keep spreading the word, and spread good energy. You know, tell someone you love them. Check in on your people. Keep your side of the street clean. Do your best to move through the week with a little bit of intention. As always, I am Ian Rice, and this has been episode 60 of Rice on the Mics. And I'll catch you guys same time, same place next week. Cheers.