Set The Tone

Episode 61 is here.

This week’s theme is Set the Tone — and it showed up everywhere.

The Jets and Giants are both staring at franchise-shaping draft decisions, and those picks feel bigger than just names on a card. They’re about identity, leadership, and whether the people in charge actually know what kind of team they’re trying to build.

The Knicks are into the part of the season where regular season talk means nothing. It’s time to act like the better team, impose your will, and leave no doubt.

Then there are the Mets, who right now look lost, timid, and completely disconnected. This week’s biggest rant goes there, with a hard look at leadership, clubhouse tone, and why this feels deeper than just a cold stretch at the plate.

The Yankees gave us a very different kind of baseball story. Mike Trout walked into New York, saw Aaron Judge on the other side, and decided to put on a show. Star power, big swings, and a reminder that some guys still know exactly how to own a moment.

Plus, a final word on the FIFA commuter mess and why setting the wrong tone before a major event even starts can sour the whole thing.

Episode 61 of Rice on the Mics — Set the Tone.

Transcript

Set The Tone Theme Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Eikä siis muuten we fine. So this week, this week can bring me back to one phrase. And it's the phrase for the entire episode. It's the theme for the whole episode. Set the tone. Because that's really what the whole week has been about. Not just who has the most talent, not who looks the best on paper, not who wins the Twitter argument for six hours and then disappears. I mean who actually sets the tone? Who wants the moment? Who isn't afraid of it? Who walks into the room and makes everybody else settle down, lock in, raise their level? I even put the poll up this week, talent or culture. And the answer was loud. The people overwhelmingly went culture. And I think you went culture because deep down everybody knows the same thing. Talent is great. Talent gets you in the conversation. But culture, culture is what shows up when the room gets hot. Culture is what shows up when you lose four in a row or eight in a row. Culture is what shows up in the playoffs. And culture is what shows up when you're on the clock in the war room, and everybody in the building better be aligned. Or at least look like they are. And that's why this week is such a good sports week. Every team I care about right now is staring at some of the some version of that same question right in the face. The Jets are sitting at number two and the Giants are sitting at number five. And those picks are not just about the players. They're about the identity. They're about who's really in charge. They're about whether these teams actually know what kind of tone they want to set going forward. And the Knicks, the Knicks are right there too. No more cute little regular season excuses. No more, we'll figure it out by game six. No more we're playing with our food. Playoffs are here. And that means act like the better team, look like the better team, and make Atlanta feel that from the jump. And then there's the Mets. Oh boy, oh boy, are we gonna get into the Mets today? That's a team that doesn't just look cold. They look lost. They look timid. They look like nobody is really grabbing the wheel. And that's a deeper problem than batting average. Some Yankee talk too because Mike Trout, Mike Trout just walked into New York, saw Aaron Judge on the other side of the field, and decided this was the great time, this was exactly the right time to remind everybody exactly who he still is. And speaking of people showing up in New York and making themselves just feel a little bit too comfortable, we also got to get into this World Cup commuter nonsense. Because if you're gonna go host the biggest event in the world and the first thing the local people feel is getting squeezed, that's a hell of a tone to set before the thing even starts. So yeah, that's the episode. Episode 61, set the tone, lots to cover. Let's do it to it. We start this week's episode with the NFL. This is where the whole set the tone thing starts to show its face. Because both of the local teams are sitting in the spots right now where the decision itself matters, sure. But what matters even more is what the decision says about the people making it. That's really what this is. You know, the Jets are sitting at number two, the Giants are sitting at number five, and neither one of those picks is just about grabbing a player and moving on. Those picks are about identity. Those picks are about what kind of building you're trying to run moving forward. Those picks are about whether the people in charge actually know what they want the next two years of football to look like. Or if they're still feeling around in the dark trying to trying to convince everybody that they have a flashlight and they know the path. Let me start with the Jets because the Jets The Jets are at least are in a position where there's no excuse not to get this right. You know, number two overall, Mendoza's more than likely going one. You have your choice of the litter. Plus, they've got too much capital. Okay. They've got too many premium picks, they've got too many chances over the next two drafts to not come out of this thing looking like a respectable football operation. You know, and that's the word, respectable. That's all we're looking for. Nobody's asking them to become a dynasty overnight. Nobody's asking them to win 14 games next year. The ask is way simpler than that. Draft good players, stack good decisions, stop tripping over your own damn feet, and drag this thing back towards looking like a serious franchise. That's it. I know it's a tall order for the Jets, but that's really all we're looking for. I mean, the whole conversation and two has obviously narrowed itself down to David Bailey and Arvell Reese. The smoke lately has been Bailey. You know, the Jets canceled a visit. Supposedly the Jets already know everything they need to know about him. Then league people start doing that whole, you know, we know everybody knows this is gonna be what it is. Like they've already done and turned the card in halfway already, you know? Okay, fine, fine. Maybe it is Bailey. Maybe that is where they're going. Look, he's a very good player, so I get it. He's more polished right now. He's a cleaner edge rusher, easier to imagine on day one, just plug and play, lining up, getting after the quarterback. That's real. It'll help Glenn, it'll help Glenn build the defense, his superpower. And honestly, I'm fine with the pick if they go that way. That being said, my pick is still Reese. Look, at number two overall, I want the guy with the bigger ceiling, the wider range of impact. And honestly, the better chance to become the kind of defender that offenses actually have to think about before every snap that they have to double, that they have to go into pregame planning for. Look, Bailey feels like a fit. Reese feels like a problem. There's a difference. Reese feels like the kind of guy that if you hit on him, he changes how you play defense completely. He changes how other teams talk about you during the week. You know, he changes what the rest of your defense can do and can instill leadership on them. That's what number two is supposed to buy you. Bailey, to me, look, it's easier to see. But Reese is way easier to dream on. And at number two, I still want the dream with substance behind it. You know, I want the guy who can grow with the franchise and help drag it back to being good, dare I say, respectable and maybe even feared defensively over the next couple years. That's the phrase that keeps sticking with me on the Jets. Give me players that can grow with this thing. Give me players that fit the next window. Not just camp hype in September. Now, that being said, one thing I don't want to do is pretend that drafting for floor is automatically weak or cowardly or chalk, you know. It's not. If the floor is legitimately high, that helps your team too. You know, a high floor player can absolutely raise your team to the next level. And there's value in that. This is where the bigger Jets point comes in. They have so much premium capital over the next two years that this whole one pick changes everything pressure doesn't really apply to them the same way. This isn't their only shot. This isn't some desperate final swing, this rookie is gonna get us to the next level. No, no, no, no. This is part of a bigger board. This is part of a bigger hand, a bigger swing. You know, you get seven early picks over the next two years, premium spots all over the place. And if you whiff on that amount of early draft capital, then yeah, you don't just stay average, you bury yourself. You set this franchise back another eight years, and then you're right back in that same old cursed carousel talking about, oh, the next regime, this next reset, this next opportunity. We gotta trade these guys. We'll get picks for the no, enough of that. Use this capital, hit on this capital, start acting like a team that knows what it's trying to become. And then you get to 16. And this is actually where I think the Jets have a chance to make the cleanest statement of the whole first round. That pick needs to be an offensive weapon, not a quarterback, an offensive weapon. End of discussion. Wide receiver, tight end, whatever flavor you want to call it. Give me somebody that helps Geno Smith now, helps the next quarterback later, and helps Garrett Wilson immediately. You know, this offense needs another answer, not another body, not another project you're talking yourself into by July, and that had a couple good rookie minicamp catches. You know, a real answer. Omar Cooper Jr. makes sense. Makai Lemon makes sense. Hell, even Kenyon Sadiq's makes sense. If they really think that he's that kind of dude, I can listen to that too. The name matters less than the purpose. The purpose is this you went defense at two, great. Now, now, give the offense another real weapon and stop overthinking it. That's why I keep coming back to Cooper. I mean, the the noise has been there, the fit makes sense, big physical player, productive player, good blocker. Sounds like the kind of guy Frank Reich would love. And if you're trying to support Gino while also not leaving the next quarterback with an empty toolbox, that pick does real work for you. You know, I I don't need the Jets to get cued at 16. I need them to be useful. And one thing I do not want to hear from Jets fans after this draft is over is the panicked, well, they didn't solve everything. They didn't do everything. That's not the point. Nobody solves everything in one draft. The point is set the tone. Draft players who fit your direction, draft players who can be here when the thing actually gets good and they want to be here. They want to be a jet. They want to wear the green and white. Draft players that make the next move easier, not harder. That's what this draft should be for them. Not a miracle, a foundation. Brick by brick, big show, big ships turn slow, right? This is your chance. Now, across town, the Giants, uh well, the Giants are giving you a different different kind of stress, right? So the Jets, to me, they feel like they've options, they have enough resources to fix this, you know, somewhat, hopefully, as long as they don't screw it up. The Giants, on the other hand, the Giants feel feel like a franchise where I'm still asking a much simpler and much more annoying question. Who is actually in charge here? Who is really setting the tone in this building? The Giants story right now, front office confusion, mixed messaging, mixed signals, mixed priorities. You know, one minute it sounds like they want Dexter Lawrence for life, the next minute it sounds like they're listening, next minute it sounds like the relationship is broken, then it sounds like it's fixable if the offer is big enough, or the contract talk shift, or the market changes. Guys, just pick a lane. That's the issue right now. Pick a lane. Look, my outsider looking in stance on Dexter is simple. If the right haul is there, fine, pull the trigger. I am not anti-trade there. I just traded Quentin Williams away, got a great haul, and hopefully it's gonna rebuild the Jets. And at least the Giants have their quarterback. He is a great player. He is a valuable player, he is a real tone setter on the field when he is healthy and playing well. But if someone is gonna lose their mind and pay you properly, yeah, okay, go for it. The problem with this whole thing is the timing. The timing, the timing stinks. The leverage isn't as clean as people want it to be. The Giants don't actually have to do anything right now. And that's where the noise gets weird. You know, he is under contract. They they can wait him out, plain and simple. He can hate it, he can be frustrated, he can want more. All of that can be true. True. It still doesn't mean that they have to panic and move him at the exact moment the internet says that it says so. Honestly, Dexter Lawrence's cleanest move is to go ball out. Just suck it up, hate, hate the Giants, stick it in their face, and have a kick-ass season. Ball out, be a menace, wreck games, and then come mid-November, force the issue. That's when you say, okay, listen, man, I'm here and I want out. Maybe the Giants are, I don't know, two and six, or maybe even four and four, or whatever at that point. But that's where the pressure gets real. That mid-season deadline, team needs a pop-up, desperation changes, you know. That's where teams are willing to spend picks. Hell, look at what I just got for Sauce Gardner. Thank you, Colts, by the way. Right now, the Giants rushing to do something just to prove that they're doing something would be the first big mistake under the Harbaugh regime. Still, you know, this is where tone part matters. You cannot keep calling somebody foundational and then handle him like he's optional. You know, you cannot let one of, if not your best defensive linemen, become kind of a public clown show and then expect the locker room not to notice it. You know, that's kind of his whole thing, too. He he saw how Barkley was treated, he saw how um Leonard Williams was treated. Guys see everything. Players always know. You know, every little mixed message from the front office trickles down. Good leadership, bad leadership, it all trickles down. That's why the Giants part of this week feels pretty messy, honestly. Whatever's going on behind closed doors, it's not setting a serious tone publicly. And then on top of it, now you get into the fifth pick, and now you're really into the identity territory. You know, Jeremiah Love is sitting there if he doesn't go four to the Titans, and you know, he is the electric option, the fun option, the best player on the board. And if that's your top player on your board, stop apologizing and take him. And that's kind of where I land on it. That's where I've been the last couple episodes. If he's your guy, go get him. He look, he'd be electric, it'd be free content every week for me. Easy player to talk about, easy player to market, easy player to build excitement around. Fans would love him. I get it. The long-term catch is obvious or maybe not so obvious, though. Look, you take love at five, you're not just drafting a running back. With the way that the rookie slotting and rookie scaling and how the money works, you are making a philosophical and financial decision right away. It would make him the fourth highest paid running back in the league by taking him at number five. So you're basically saying we are comfortable putting that kind of value into this position, and when the next contract conversation comes around, we are not going to act suddenly shocked that the bill showed up. You know, that's the Barkley ghost hanging over all of this whole thing. Not that love is Barkley, not that the player comp is the point. The point is the organization needs to know what it's saying if it makes that kind of pick. If he's the best player, take him. Just don't get six steps down the road and start pretending you had no idea what the position was going to cost you emotionally and financially. You know, the Giant side of this draft to me is less who do I love most at five and more what does five tell me about the operation? Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Jeremiah Love, offensive line, whatever. Fine. The player matters, sure, but the bigger story is whether this front office and coaching staff look aligned. Whether it feels like one plan, whether the room feels settled. Whether anybody walks out of draft night saying, Yeah, I see what they're building. That's the tone question there. All right, lastly, before I get out of the NFL, I do want to hit on a couple stories around the league real quick. There, uh, I got two of them here. The Rossini and Vrabel thing, I talked about it a little bit last week, absolutely belongs on the board and not as like tabloid garbage, not as just cheap gossip. The reason it matters is media ethics and optics, right? If you're in that business, if you're a reporter, an insider, somebody whose whole currency is access and credibility, then yeah, sorry to say, optics matter too. How you get stories matters. You know, how close is too close. The coverage becoming the story matters. That story went from photos to defensive to investigations to resignation in a real hurry. That's not nothing. That's not people are just being nosy and uh, you know, there are a couple of pictures were snapped. No, that's a legitimate conversation about ethics, access, and how ugly it can look when the perception gets away from the explanation. It doesn't look good. Not a good way to get stories, not a good way to get ahead in life. And if I'm being totally honest here, it's not fair to your fellow female reporters. Because like it or not, unfortunately, there will always be a lingering thought in the background or a crash joke about, oh, I wonder how she got that story. You know? It sucks, but it is a thing. And as far as Mike Vrabel, well, you know, seems like he's just gonna get skated under and no problem, and everything will be alright. That's how it looks for now, at least. Maybe the NFL will investigate, maybe they won't. When your owner is Robert Kraft getting caught at massage bars, and your former coach that you played under is dating a 22-year-old and you're almost 70. You know, I think they let things slide over there. Not saying it's right, just saying how things go. Uh lastly, the uh the replacement refs. Uh quick little simple nod. Remember last time deal here. The league is moving further down the road with it. You know, they're they're sending out background checks, they're sending out physicals, memo language, timeline, the whole thing. So it is definitely getting more real. And that doesn't mean it's definitely happening. Honestly, it could just be the NFL posturing themselves, calling the referee unions bluff. But this also means it's not just an empty threat, and they will move on if they think that they can. You know, everybody remembers how ugly it looked last time. Keep an eye on it and just pray we don't get there again. But yeah, that's uh that's the NFL this week. You know, the Jets and Giants are they're not just picking players, they're they're showing you who they are. One team has a chance to use real draft capital and finally drag itself towards looking respectable again. And the other one, the other one still feels like it's figuring out who exactly is holding the clipboard and who's steering the ship. Either way, same question, same theme, same pressure. Who sets the tone? Now, from the draft room to the playoff floor, that same question shows up again. Maybe even louder. The Knicks are not in the cute regular season part of the year anymore. You know, nobody cares what looked good in January, nobody cares what the matchup spreadsheet says in theory. This is the time of the year where the better team is supposed to walk into that series, grab it by the throat, and make that clear early. NBA up next, keep it right here. Go New York, go New York, go. This is where the theme of the episode really starts to at home in a different way because once the playoffs show up, all the cute stuff dies. All the little regular season excuses, all the will be fine, all the let's see how it develops, all the noise, the projections, none of that matters now. This is the part of the year where tone matters first and fast. And you either walk into a series and establish who you are, or you let somebody hang around long enough to start getting ideas that they can actually hang with you. That's where the Knicks are for me. This series with Atlanta needs to be over in five. Gentleman sweep, put a bow on it, wrap it up, move along, and get ready for what's probably waiting in round two. That's the expectation. That's the standard, honestly. That's the tone that needs to be set right from game one of the garden. You know, no playing with your food, no weird flat first half where you're down seven and everybody's doing the fake surprise face. No. No, no, no, no, no. You're the better team. Act like it, look like it. Make them feel it. The set the tone team fits the Knicks almost perfectly this week because this is no longer a team that gets to play free and loose, telling the media, oh, we're figuring it out. No, those days are over, man. You are the three seed. You are expected to win this series. People are talking about you like a team with real conference finals or even bigger aspirations. You know, that means the tone has to match the expectations. The poll this week was great on this too. If you're new here, every week on Wednesday on the Instagram at Rice on the Radio, I put out polls for you, the listener, to vote and get a feel where everyone is uh where everyone's leaning, where everybody's at. Help shape the show a little bit. But anyway, the poll this week was very simple. Brunson or cat? Who matters more in the playoff run? And a majority of you went cat. And that says a lot. That says people trust Brunson to be Brunson. Nobody's confused there. You know, nobody's asking if is he gonna show up. He always is going to show up. He averages 30 points per game in the playoffs. He's the heartbeat. He's the floor general. He's the guy the room follows. You know, he gives you the command. He gives you the everybody settle down. I got this. No need to worry. Captain Clutch is here. Big body, Brunson. That part is baked in already. Kat is the swing piece here. Kat is the one where I'm looking at this matchup and I'm saying to myself, there is no excuse not to own this and win some fans back here. Atlanta's tallest real option at center or power forward is 6'10. Maybe. Kat and Mitch are true blue seven-footers. There should be stretches of this series where it just feels unfair. And that's not me being dramatic. That's just that's just how the math of the matchup of how basketball works. You know, Carl Anthony Towns needs a big series here. Not a pretty good series. Not one of those stat lines where you look up and it's 19 and 8 and three of the buckets came lay and everybody's acting like it was it was enough, you know. No, no, no, no, no, man. I need 25 and 12 every game. I need him making the size advantage obvious. I need him making Atlanta feel small. I need the game to tilt when he's out there. You know, that's why this poll result made sense to me. You guys get it. You guys are smart fans. Brunson is the engine, sure. Kat, Kat is the tone changer. Kat is the guy who can make this series feel short. You know, that being said, Brunson still does have to be Brunson, and I do think that there is a real note in this matchup with Jalen Johnson probably guarding him. Bigger guards have bothered Brunson before. I've watched just about every game since he's been here, and that unfortunately is a real thing. Taller defenders, they sit in his airspace, man. They challenge his angles, they make him work a little more than usual, which can be annoying and hinder him a little bit. Fine. Great players get annoyed too. That's part of it. I still expect Brunson to give me 20 and command the four. Look, maybe it's not a 38-point firework night every time he's out. That's fine, though. I don't care. That's okay. Run the show, set the temperature, make the right reads, get everybody their spots, and get everybody involved. That's what I need from him. Like I said, the real pressure point in this series is Kat. Not to mention you got Mitch. You know, Mitch needs to be a problem on the offensive glass, like he normally is. This is one of those series where his presence should feel massive. You know, there's no more nights off, there's no more back to backs where he's resting. Every game, every game there will be a steady diet of Mitchell Robinson thrown at the other team. And that means second chances, that means tip-outs, that means ugly possessions that should have ended, but suddenly don't because he's still hanging around the rim like a bad thought. You know, that matters in a playoff series, and that matters in tone set. Physicality matters, rebounding matters, making the other team feel like every single time they leave their feet, it's going to be a battle. That's the stuff that matters. That wins your playoff series, that tough grittiness NBA action that everybody's looking for from yesteryear. And as for Mike Brown, dude, do yourself a favor here and lean into it for this series. Don't get cute. Stop trying to outsmart the obvious thing. You have size, use it. You have strength, use it. You know, you have a chance to make this series feel like Atlanta is playing uphill from the opening tip. Playoff basketball is not always about who can make it the prettiest. You know, sometimes it's honestly just about who can make the other team feel miserable first. That's the tone that I want from the Knicks in game one. Not just shot making, not just vibes. I want control. I want physical control. I want Brunson walking around like he owns the place, because he does, by the way. I want Kat cashing in on the mismatches, Mitch wrecking the glass, OG giving you those grown-up, grown man possessions where you know the game gets a little quieter, and then you remember how useful he is, and he drills at three. And I got Bridges doing Bridges things. He loves to defend and actually enjoys making people uncomfortable. That's the formula that I'm looking for. There's a line that I keep circling back to with this series. Your stars should be better than their stars. That's it. So if you strip all the noise away, that's really what it is. You know, Knicks fans have spent a lot of time this year debating fit and chemistry and usage and lineups, this, that, the other, all of it. Playoff round one at home against this team, your stars should be better than their stars. If that's true, which it is, then get this thing done in five and stop dragging it around the block. The reason I'm so locked into this opener, if by some chance they come out flat and they lose game one at home in the garden, the whole city's mood changes in five seconds. Every show, every radio hit, every timeline, every fan call, all of it flips right away. That's not even me being dramatic. That is just the plain simple facts of New York. That's what this city is. You know, smart fans that hold their teams accountable. Hell, they booed Mariana Rivera once. They sure as hell will boo you. That's why I want the first punch from them. Don't let the conversation get weird. Don't let the series get a pulse. Don't give people room to do the uh-oh, same old Knicks routine. Yeah, kill that narrative right away. Come out, punch him in the face. And unfortunately, there's another layer hanging over this whole playoff run. And it's not the main story, but it is there. Do not second guess it. Giannis. Giannis is in the shadow in the background. He's not screaming, he's not making any noise, he's not front and center, but he is looming. He is watching. That giant silhouette over the whole postseason. And there is absolutely a world where this team makes a real run and the Giannis talk still doesn't die. You know, that's the reality here. That's how big that kind of name is. That's how ruthless front offices and this city can be. So even while I think the Knicks should handle business here and take care of things in the second round and get to the Eastern Conference Finals, I am not blind to the larger pressure over the core. Every round, every performance, every weak spot that gets exposed, every disappointing night, it all gets judged against the idea of what else could be out there. You know, and that's why I keep coming back to the theme of setting the tone. If this group wants to silence that kind of noise, the best way to do it is not by talking. It's by carrying itself like a team worth fully investing in. You know, I got a mailbag question about the potential parade that made me laugh a little bit too. Justin wrote in and said the Knicks parade in June is going to shut down all of Manhattan, not just the Canyon of Heroes. Manhattan? Sir, if they win the whole thing, you might have to shut down the entire tri-state area. I mean, Jersey's showing up, I'll be there. Long Island, Westchester. I know a good amount of Knicks fans that live in Connecticut. People are going to be climbing on buses, trains, light posts, roof decks, hell, whatever they can find. The city would completely lose its mind. And frankly, it should. A Knicks title would be one of those sports events where even people that don't watch every game suddenly know exactly where they were when it happened. That's what we're pulling for. That's what we're looking for. Go Knicks. Anyway, zooming out, zooming out a little bit here. I do want to give the play-in games a little bit of love this week because for once it actually felt like a decent product. You know, look, still it's not the real playoffs. Let's not do that. It's not the real thing. The stakes are different, the vibe is different. But I gotta say, that being said, it did feel like the teams involved actually cared. You know, it didn't feel like filler, it didn't feel like teams showing up because the calendar told them to or they couldn't be bad enough to get out of the tenth seed. You know, it felt like they were trying not to let the season die. And in a league where it seems like every team is trying to tank, that was uh that was refreshing, to be honest with you. You know, the Warriors Clippers game was the best actual show. You had some big star power in there, but that was the one where you sat there and went, all right, you know, there's some juice, man. I'm interested. Steph and Draymond reaching back into the championship bag had some comeback energy, a little bit of veteran urgency. They had that whole, you know, you've seen this movie before, feeling. And Golden State just knows how to live in chaos better than a lot of teams do. They've been through a lot together. Steph, especially. I mean, he had that exact look, that little bit of blood in the water, the little bit of swagger, shoulder shimmy, that little bit of uh, yeah, I've done this on way bigger stages than this. I'm not even blinking. Chewing on the mouthpiece, great theater. That was a real good game. Hornets Heat, well, that one had the most drama. You know, it was a little messy in a good way, I guess. Lamello ends up with the winner in overtime, but he had a nasty foul on Bam, and Bam ends up not playing the rest of the game because of it. Then the situation gets a little weird. Spo's talking after the game, the league gets involved. Lamello ends up getting a fine, the max fine, but not a suspension, which I'm sure a lot of people thought would be fair. You know, look, everybody's got an opinion. He caused Bam, which is the heat's probably best player, to miss the rest of the game. So it would be fair for him to miss the rest of the game, but then there's no point in Charlotte even playing the game, in my opinion. Look, I don't know. Oh, and not to mention, just to really complete the modern sports experience that is TV watching nowadays, the stream on Amazon went out. It started bogging around at like the worst possible time, like two minutes left in overtime. This game had everything except peace and quiet. Philly, Philly getting through with Maxie carrying, and B did show up after the appendix surgery. I I give him a little credit there, you know. I give him a lot of credit there. He did just get cut open and he still played. But you know, Maxie's just one of those guys where even if you don't trust the whole team, you kind of trust the force of the player. There is something real about him. You know, the Sixers aren't fooling anybody at some great as some great threat here, you know. But at least it gives them a pulse. He gives them some fight. And as for Portland and Phoenix, Portland had a nice comeback. Shout out Ethan. He's a listener of the podcast, big Portland guy. Danny Evita goes for 41. Blazers calling back from 11 down in the fourth. Suns thinking they had a grip on it, they they could wrap it up and no problem, just to let it slip right through their hands. Story of the Suns franchise, it feels like the last couple years. That's another one where the playing at its best does work. You know, pressure gets weird, young guys start believing, one team tightens up, the other one loosens up at the right time, and suddenly the building feels totally different. That's good basketball theater. Not legacy stuff, not banner stuff, but good theater. Good teams showing that they actually want to play and not tank and lose. I'm looking at you, New York, uh yeah, Brooklyn Nets, not New York Nets. But anyway, yeah, that's really my takeaway on the play-ins this year. It was worth watching, not life-changing, but I had them on in the background and picked my head up every now and then to check them out. Which is why coming back to the Knicks, that's why I want no drama in round one. You know, I've seen enough of everybody else fighting for oxygen. The Knicks do not need to become part of that circus. They need to look like the grown-up team in the room. Walk in, set the tone, use the size, use the stars, use the garden, and make Atlanta spend the whole series feeling like they are a step behind, like they don't belong on the same floor with you. That's the standard. That's the ask. Nixon five, no less. And if Big Cat shows up like he's supposed to, this thing should not be complicated, to be honest with you. Now, now let's get to baseball. I got one team in this town that looks like it kind of knows what's going on. And I got another team that looks like it doesn't even know what a bat is, or a ball is or a glove is or what the basic fundamental rules of baseball is.

unknown 36:02

Oh boy.

Mets Leadership Crisis Without Soto

Yankees Spotlight Trout And Ben Rice

FIFA Commuters Get Squeezed

Culture Beats Talent When It’s Hot

Next Week Draft Special And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 36:03

Mets have really given me some heartburn over the week. Anyway, baseball up next, keep it right here. It's almost feeling uh a little too hot. Nah, I'm just kidding. Once you come from 10 degrees to now 80, 85, 90 sometimes, yeah, I'm good. Sign me up. And when the sun is shining like that, it means it's uh time to talk some baseball. And I got one team in this town that looked like it knew exactly what stage it was standing on, and the other one, the other one looks like it forgot who it was in about 19 games. I I gotta start with the Mets, and I am not tiptoeing into this rant into anything. This team right now is a brutal watch. They are lost, broken, directionless, timid, they got no edge, no grit, no real sense of urgency. That's the part that's driving me crazy. Losing happens, okay? Slumps happen, cold bats happen. Baseball is a long and weird and cruel, unforgiving hell. Shit, two weeks ago, I was on here talking about how both baseball teams are primed to meet each other in the World Series. What jumps off the screen right now is how soft this whole thing feels. You know, soft in the at-bat, soft in the body language, in the leadership. That's where the theme of this episode lands, right on top of them. Set the tone, great. Who's doing it? Who in that room are people actually following when things start to go sideways? Who calms the noise down? Who tightens the group up? Gives the team some backbone. I mean, I'm looking around right now, I'm looking up and down this roster, and I don't see that guy. I don't hear that guy, and I definitely don't feel that guy. Francisco Lindor is where the conversation starts and ends. And yeah, I know that's going to make some people uncomfortable. Fine, that's too bad. It needs to happen. You know, at some point you have to ask the question are you a leader because you earned that role? Or are you a leader because you think you are supposed to have that title? You know, those are two very different things. One is real and one is costume jewelry. That's my issue with Lindor right now. This is not about pretending that he can't play. He can. This is not about pretending that he hasn't had a very good career. He has. Shit, he could be a Hall of Famer. And this is not me saying that he has lost a step. He hasn't. This is me asking the more important question. When the team gets shaky, do people actually take their cue from him? I mean, is he the guy the room naturally looks towards, or is he somebody trying to wear leadership without ever fully owning it, wanting his cake and eating it too? You know, I heard a great point on the radio today that struck a core with me, and it opened my eyes to maybe what I was looking away from. Maybe I was turning some red flags into orange flags. I I can't lie to you. I was leading the charge to announce him as captain after they retired David Wright's number. And when they didn't, I was also part of that group that was confused as to why not. What are they doing? They missed a great opportunity. But then, like I said, I heard a great point from Alan Hahn about Lindor and Javi Baez, and it's like a light bulb went off above my head. Oh, you're not a real, this is how we do things around here kind of leader. You're a whatever is happening in the moment leader. So if you don't remember what I'm talking about, early in Lindor's career, he basically pleaded for the Mets to trade for his good friend Javi Baez from the Cubs, which Pete Crow Armstrong was in that deal, by the way, so thanks for that. And for about half a season, it was fun for sure. El Mago, stealing bases, the he was playing second, Lindor was playing short, they were a dynamic double um double play team. But then things went south. And the fans booed and they booed loud. Well, Javi, being the outspoken kind of player that he is, gave the crowd a thumbs down. Sir, you just got here. This ain't Chicago, where it's sunshine and rainbows, and if you don't perform, there might be some murmurs in the crowd. We are going to let you know about it. So instead of Lindor being the leader that he believes he is, trying to be the main man in town and have control of his team, so to speak, you know, instead of him pulling him aside after the game and saying, Hey man, look, that that's not really how we do things around here. That's not how we operate. You know, you don't fuel the fire with the crowd, you gotta play better, and if we do, they'll shower us with love. No. He saw his friend do something and didn't want to step on toes or cause a rift with him and jumped in and also gave the thumbs down to the crowd. We just traded for you. We just gave you an extension for$300 million. That's not how leaders act, that's not how leaders operate, that's not how leaders have a sense or a feel for the room. You know, Baez came in hot with that, and Lindor followed it while acting like he was speaking for the whole room. That told me plenty. That's not a tone setter. That's a guy chasing someone else's emotion and trying to pass it off as his own. That's why this stretch feels uglier than just a couple bad weeks at the plate. You know, fan favorites got moved. Different personalities got blamed, all the weird chemistry stuff over the years supposedly got cleaned out. And now, here we are again. Same weird feeling, same lack of direction. You know, same room that doesn't feel fully connected. If all the old problems are gone and the tone still feels off, at what point do you have to stop asking who used to be the problem and start asking who still is? You know, the poll this week kind of told that story too. It was Lindor Slump or no Soto. What's the bigger issue? And he was basically split down the middle, which makes sense, I guess. This is not one problem. Soto being out absolutely matters. Let's not do the fake toughness and act like removing one of the best hitters on the on earth from the lineup shouldn't crack things open a little bit. Of course it matters. Take Judge out of the Yankees lineup and how does that one through nine look? But the second he left, the second he left, the offense started falling apart, that alone tells you that this lineup is not nearly as sturdy as people wanted to believe it was. Still, the Lindor side of that conversation is just as real. You know, slumping is one thing. The tone around it is a completely different. Bad at bats, weird mistakes, no visible edge, too much shrugging, too much, well, we'll be fine, too much floating through the night like somebody else is supposed to fix it. I'm tired of hearing that they'll get through it. Great. Show me. And if it's true that you and Soto can. Not get along at all. Well, hey, kid, he's not with the team right now. He's on the I. L. He's hurt. This would have been your perfect chance to prove to everybody that you can handle the hardship when he's not here. Carlos Mendoza doesn't get a pass here either. Leadership trickles down. That's one of the oldest truths in sports and life. You know, the room reflects the guy at the top, whether people want to hear it or not. So when the team looks passive or uncertain or way too comfortable sounding, sounding calm while the whole thing is on fire. Yeah, I'm looking right at the manager. I mean, do you control this room? Do these guys even believe in you or even respect you? Do you have any feel for the game? Are you just working through the binder? Which is also a fair question. You know, people forget he came out of that Yankees coaching tree where fans over there spent years yelling that Aaron Boone just follows the script, just follows the binder for whatever was given to him by Cashman. You know, whether that's fully fair or not, that reputation does exist. So when Met fans look at Mendoza and feel like they're getting more process than pulse, I get it. And I'm on board with it. There is a difference between being composed and being lifeless. And right now, this thing is lifeless. That's why I cannot reduce this to one neat little issue. Leadership is a part of it. Roster construction is a part of it. Accountability is a part of it. The edge is missing, man. Soto goes out and everything caves in. Bret Beatty is suddenly hitting third. You know, think about how insane that is. Before the season, the conversation was whether he'd even have a real role on this team and he had to become a super utility guy just to make the squad. Now he's in the middle of the order on a team that's supposed to matter, supposed to do things, supposed to win the division. That's not a small adjustment. That's a flare gun in the sky, telling you that the plan is already wobbling. Luis Robert Jr. is another example of this. The whole idea with bringing him in was supposed to be that he didn't have to be the guy anymore. No more carrying the White Sox around by himself. You know, come here, fit in, eat some good Spanish food, hit, contribute a little bit, we'll sit you when we have to, breathe. Then the second the lineup gets sick, here he is again, getting asked to help carry the whole thing, batting to second in the order. That's the exact burden you claimed you were taking off of him. And when he was hitting fifth in the order and he had no pressure, he was hating. He was mashing. Now you look at the numbers during this whole losing streak, and it's so disgusting. They're hitting as a team 175. 175. The OPS is in the basement. They got five homers, 12 ribies, strikeouts all over the place, barely any walks. They got 12 walks over the eight-game skid. 12. Over eight games. With ABS, walks are through the roof right now. And on top of it, you're swinging at everything. You know, chasing pitches out of the zone like the count doesn't matter. That's not just being cold. That's losing your entire approach. That's a lineup with no internal calm, no internal mental fortitude, no sense of feeling for the at-bat. That's a room that looks like it panics one swing at a time. You know, one of the few true plate disciplined monsters in this sport leaves the lineup and suddenly everybody starts hacking like the game is ending in ten minutes. That tells you the habits in this room are not nearly as strong as they need to be. Vientos disappears, Beatty disappears, Benge disappears, Lindor is gone. Guys are guessing. Nobody is controlling counts, nobody is dictating anything. The whole thing starts looking frantic. So, yeah, no, no, I'm not really interested in hearing, well, baseball math says it can't stay this bad. Fine, maybe it won't. But that doesn't erase how ugly it has looked right off the bat. You know, the bigger concern is how fast the approach, the confidence, the whole identity of the lineup just evaporated. And the Dodgers angle here, you know, it needs a quick mention. I'm Cohen loves talking about becoming the Dodgers of the East, the powerhouse of the East. Relax, bud. You're you're not there. They're not even close. They're not even close to it. You know, half the time they feel more impressed by the Dodgers than angry at them. That Dodgers series, oh God. Look, I'm not asking for fake wrestling promo nonsense. Okay, I'm not asking for, you know, beanball or going out there and hitting this, that, and the other. I'm just asking for a little bit of edge. You know, that's the team standing directly between you and where you say you want to go. Stop looking so friendly with them. Stop acting like you're just happy to share the field and chopping it up. I'm all for sportsmanship, but Jesus Christ, guys. Understand the situation. You know, I don't see any Knicks players chopping it up with Jason Tatum or Jalen Brown after each game. The one bright spot in the middle of all this is Nolan McLean. There. I I said one nice thing, okay? He looks like the real deal. You know, the silver lining today, maybe future ace tomorrow. He's one of the few reasons that you actually tune into the game as of late and not completely launch your remote through the TV. He kind of gives you some hope and something real to hold on to. He also, quietly, makes you give a little bit of pause on the long-term Freddie Peralta picture, which is uh worth keeping in your back pocket. But yeah, that's where I land on the mats right now. No edge, no clear emotional center, no real sense that anyone is grabbing the room and demanding more out of the players, out of their teammates. They don't need another post-game quote or tweet from the owner. They don't need another reminder that it's a long season. They need somebody to establish a standard and pull the rest of the team up to it. God sakes. Anyway, let me move across town where uh the Yankees, well, they gave you a very different kind of baseball week. Power, stars, some theater, a little bit of instability under the hood. Sure. But the headline, the headline belonged to Mike Trout this week. That was the story. Trout saw the stage, saw the city, saw Aaron Judge on the other side, and decided it was a great time to remind everybody exactly who he still is. He went shot for shot, homer for homer, big swing for big swing. You know, great players recognize the moment. They don't hide from it. He looked like he understood exactly what kind of series that could become, and he took it by the horns. There is another layer to that whole thing, too, and it's kind of hard to ignore. You know, Trout's a Jersey kid. He's back in this area, putting on a show in New York. And every one of those games just throws a little another log onto the fire of that old fantasy. What if he actually ever left Anaheim and came back east? Like, you don't even have to push it, to be honest with you. That thought shows up on its own when he does what he did in the Bronx. Judge is judge. That's that's baseline now. My bigger Yankee note is the pitching, honestly. The uh the staff that looked really sharp early, well, they hit a little bit of a rougher patch lately. And that's worth watching. Yeah. If that part cools off while the lineup still has a few too many cold pockets, the whole thing starts to feel a little shakier than people actually want to admit. One thing I am not shaky on at all, though, is Ben Rice. Shout out Rice on the mics. You gotta play him every day. Every single day. Unless he directly walks into Boone's office and says, hey man, I think I need a breather. He's gotta be in the lineup every day. That's it. No more overthinking, no more matchup gymnastics, no more treating your second best hitter like he's optional. Play the guy. I don't care if it's DH, first base, or catcher. You gotta get him in the lineup. Cold news, you got a little uh Garrett Cole moving along in rehab. So that's a great sign. That's what you want to hear, especially if the pitching is a little shaky. Yankees still feel like a team that can steady itself faster than the Mets do, and that's the real difference between the two clubs right now. You know, one team looks like it's wobbling, the other team looks like it just completely forgot how to stand. And they also had a little mailbag question about my they wanted my take on the whole league looking average outside of the Dodgers and the Padres. Well, you know, I I kind of agree and kind of don't. The Dodgers, unfortunately, make everybody else look more average, you know? They're basically rolling out an all-star team every night. Still, contrary to what I just said, I'm gonna tell you it's early. You know, the cream will rise, the uh the tears will sort themselves out. Some of these teams that look muddy right now are they're gonna sharpen up. And some of them are starting off hot and they're gonna shoot themselves in the foot like they usually do. But yeah, that's that's the baseball this week. The Yankees, the Yankees got a superstar show, man. If you went to any of those games, congratulations. Hope you caught a home run ball. And the Mets the Mets are getting dragged in front of a mirror that they probably don't even want to look at right now. One team had a Jersey kid come home and light the city up, and the other is still trying to figure out who's supposed to settle the room when it gets lit up. Let's close this thing out. The FIFA commuter stuff and FIFA in general. I mean, it it's getting ridiculous. It really is. You're talking about one of the biggest events in the world coming to this area, a machine that is going to make an absurd amount of money, and somehow the regular people, the taxpayers, the commuters, the ones just trying to get to work and back or move around in their own backyard are the ones getting squeezed? That's a joke. Look, you want to host a global event, that's great. Go do it right. Don't make the first impression feel like a shakedown. That's a terrible tone to set before the thing even starts. Not to mention, I don't even know who's going to these games. I was looking at some ticket prices. To sit on the roof of the stadium and watch the game on a TV, it's like$4,000. Whatever. Set the tone. That was the theme for this week for a reason. You know, every team, every story, every mess, every big moment, it kept coming back to the same question. Who sets the tone? Who does the room follow? Who wants the moment? Talent is great. Talent will always matter. But culture, leadership, presence, edge, that's the stuff that shows up when things get uncomfortable. That's true in sports, and it's true in life too. You don't have to be the loudest person in the room. You don't have to have the longest motivational speech to get guys fired up. You don't have to force it. You know, the quiet, cool. Sometimes setting the tone is just showing up the right way, carrying yourself the right way, doing your job the right way, and giving other people something solid to follow. Lead by example. That's really the challenge, right? When things get weird, when things get stressful, when stuff doesn't go your way and shit hits the fan, what kind of energy are you bringing into the room? Are you adding to the chaos or are you the one calming it down, getting everybody in line, getting people together? You know, are you floating or are you taking ownership of the situation? Are you waiting for somebody else to lease, or are you quietly becoming that person yourself? That part matters. That's a question you want to ask yourself daily. Be the leader. And it's okay if you're not, too, by the way. There's a lot of people in this world that are just good soldiers. But maybe more people are than they want to admit. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone every now and then, you know? Anyway, I appreciate you guys always for listening, for keeping up with the show, for voting on the polls on Instagram, sending in the mailbags, sending the show out to your friends, you know, riding along with me every single week. You can follow along on uh all the socials, whatever you're on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, you know, all of it. And keep an eye out next week, too. You got uh we got a little double dip episode, a little two-episode setup coming for you. Uh on Wednesday, pre-draft, we're gonna do a fully locked-in NFL draft, nothing else. So if you care about the NFL draft and the prospects coming up and who your team might draft, come listen to the episode. If you don't, well, I don't know what to tell you. But then Friday, Friday we're back with a regular weekly roundup. Normal style, normal chaos, normal bullshit. Everything that happened, everything that mattered, all of it. Until then, keep spreading good energy. Tell someone you love them, reach out to your people, you know, keep your side of the street clean, hold the door a little bit longer, give an extra dollar. Try to be the person that sets a good tone when it's your turn to do better. I am Ian Rice. This has been episode 61 of Rice on the Mics, and I'll catch you next week. Same time, same place. Cheers.