Now We Find Out

Episode 64: Now We Find Out

The noise is over. The brochure is over. Now we find out who these teams really are.

This week on Rice on the Mics, Ian opens with the Jets and Giants after an offseason full of big swings, new identities, and cautious optimism. The Giants look tougher under John Harbaugh, but contender talk needs to slow down. The Jets finally look like they have a plan, but Jets fans know better than to celebrate May football.

Then it’s Knicks time. New York is up 2-0 on the 76ers, Jalen Brunson keeps closing games like the adult in the room, and the bar has officially changed. Finals or disappointment? Ian says yes. But OG Anunoby’s injury adds a real cloud over the series as it shifts to Philadelphia.

In baseball, Ian pays tribute to the late John Sterling, a true voice of New York sports, before giving the Yankees their flowers for looking like a monster in the making. Across town, the Mets are giving fans just enough hope to keep watching, but not enough peace to relax.

Plus: Rangers lottery pain, weird injury news around baseball, and the bigger theme of the week: eventually, the conversation has to become real.

Episode 64 of Rice on the Mics: Now We Find Out.

Transcript

The Week Sports Gets Real

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There are certain weeks in sports where the conversation changes. Not because somebody tweeted something or a schedule came out, not because some anonymous executive said a team loves the direction they're headed. I mean the actual game start answering the questions for us. That's where we're at right now. The theme this week is simple and it applies to everyone. Now we find out. Now we find out if the Knicks are really this good, or we're all just drunk off guarded noise and Jalen Brunson pull up jumpers. Look, I'm trying to be reasonable here, I really am, but it's getting harder. Game one was a beatdown, game two was almost more impressive because it was not pretty. It was tight, it was annoying, Philly hung around, and Bede was in street clothes after doing all that talking. Kat was in foul trouble early, OG leaves late, and the Knicks still found a way to close the door. That's the stuff that makes you start looking around the room and, like, hey, wait a second. We allowed to say this out loud yet, man. We'll get there though. We'll get there, trust me, we're gonna spend some time at the garden. But first, we kick it off with football. Football has a little business to handle. The Giants and Jets both spent the offseason trying to sell us something. The Giants are selling an identity. John Harbaugh walks in, suddenly everything is bigger, tougher, heavier, louder. Arvell Reese, Francis Mauioga, DJ Reeder. The whole thing feels like someone finally wrote down what a Giant team is supposed to look like. And the Jets, the Jets are selling stability, which is a dangerous product to sell the Jets fans. Look, we've been hurt before. But you know, they added veterans, a pass rush, some weapons. Now we find out if better on paper can survive a Sunday afternoon. And then we get to baseball. And before we talk Yankees, we gotta talk John Sterling. I'm a Mets fan, everybody knows that, but if you grew up around here, that voice was part of the wallpaper. Summer nights, car rides, radios in the background, it is high, it is far, it is gone. You didn't have to root for the Yankees to know John Sterling. So we'll give him his well-deserved flowers. But then we'll talk Yankees because they're starting to look scary. Judge is doing Judge things, Schlitzer looks like a real problem, Ben Rice looks real, and Cole and Rodon are still working their way back. But of course, because baseball can never just let anybody relax, Tampa Bay is sitting right there behind them like the annoying bug that you thought you killed three innings ago. And at Crosstown, the Mets gave us about three days of hope, and then immediately reminded everyone to keep both feet on the ground. Look, the kids are interesting, Bench looks like he can really play, AJ Ewing is knocking on the door. There are pieces underneath this mess, but the big league product still has that feeling where you're kind of watching through your fingers. We'll get to the Rangers lottery too, because the hockey crowd deserves a little bit of love. They deserve a minute. Even if the lottery machine apparently does not believe in joy. But yeah, that's this week's show. The noise is over, the brochure is over, the offseason grades, the excuses, the early panic, the fake confidence, all of it. This is the part where teams start showing you what they actually are. Now we find out. Episode 64, let's open the tab. So let's start with football. And I know the Knicks are sitting right there. Trust me, we are getting to the Knicks. We got plenty of time to spend at the garden. But the NFL still runs the room. And both football teams in this town are sitting in that dangerous part of the offseason where everything sounds good. The draft grades are glowing, the coaches are energized, the front office loves the board they worked out. You can hear phrases like our kind of guy, culture fit, building the right way. And before you know it, half the fan base is talking themselves into nine wins by Memorial Day. This is where the theme comes in. Now we find out. Not right this second, obviously. Nobody is winning games in May unless you count quote graphics and practice clips, and Jets fans have definitely won those before. But this this is the point where the brochure is done. The Giants told us who they want to be, and the Jets told us what they're trying to fix. Now, the question becomes did either of them actually get any closer? Let's start with the Giants. I like what the Giants are doing. I really do. I I want to be clear on that before everybody starts running around screaming contender. I like the direction, I like the identity. You know, John Harbaugh walks in the door and immediately the whole operation feels more serious. Since Tom Coughlin left in 2015, the Giants have been searching for stability like they dropped it somewhere in the parking lot. Ben McAdoo, Pat Schirmer, Joe Judge, Brian Dayball, different personalities, different slogans, different versions of hope, but never a real foundation that lasted. Well, Harbaugh is the temperature immediately. That does not mean the Giants are suddenly a finished product. That does not mean I'm picking them to win the division. It means that when you bring in a coach with a Super Bowl ring and almost two decades of credibility and a real track record of building tough football teams, the room changes. The standards changes, the appetite for bullshit goes down. The Giants finally look like they have a plan. That does not mean that the plan is already finished, though. That's kind of where I am with them. The draft, you can see the fingerprints all over it, right? Big, physical, violent, blue-collar football players. This is the type of draft where you don't need to squint to understand what the coach wanted. Arvell Reese at five, Francis Mayo Yoga at 10, Colton Hood, Malachi Fields, big bodies, nasty edges, guys who sound like they were drafted out of a hardware store. You know, Arvell Reese is the tone setter here. 6'4, 241 pounds, and runs a 4'4-6, 20 years old. If I'm a Giants fan, I love hearing that. You want guys who show up in a division and don't look like they're asking permission to hit somebody. The Reese pick already has victory lap energy around it. You know, Mike Renner said the Giants just became the scariest edge rushing group in the football. That's a big boy quote right there. That is the kind of quote that gets Giants fans a little too excited in May. But honestly, I get it. Reese, Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, maybe Kayvon Thibodeau if he gets back on track. That room has some real juice now. It's got speed, power, options, and maybe, maybe most importantly, some pressure on each other. You know, Thibodeau doesn't need to be refreshing Twitter to understand the room got a little more crowded here. The Giants just drafted another monster. Trade rumors are out there. The Saints reportedly offered a fourth rounder and the Giants wanted a second. Hey, good for them. Hold firm. You don't just give away former top five picks because the room gets crowded. No. Let the market come to you, baby. Let the season create desperation. Injuries happen. Contenders panic. Somebody is always able to talk themselves into one more pass rusher by October. So if the Giants move on K-Von, fine. But do not sell him at yard sale prices just because New Orleans showed up with the exact change. Then you look at the Maui Yoga pick at 10. And that might be the pick that tells you even more about Harbaugh, about what he wants. Six foot five, three hundred and twenty-nine pounds of muscle, just a pure road grader, starting at right guard, maybe eventually kicks out. Jermaine Ellimore already talking about him, like, yeah, that's my kind of dude. That's a good version of competition. When you get a veteran offensive lineman welcoming in the young guy who might eventually take his job, that's not nothing. Bad teams turn that into a weird tension and clubhouse drama. Good teams, good teams turn that into a better offensive line. And that's the exact kind of culture that Harbaugh is trying to build and instill back in this team. The Giants have needed that forever. How many years have we watched this team and say, yo, if Andrew Thomas is healthy, the line is fine, man. And then Andrew Thomas gets hurt. And the whole offense suddenly looks like everybody forgot the snap count. You cannot build a real football team like that. You need depth. You need grown men. You need a line that can survive when something goes wrong. It's also why the JC Davis pick is useful too. Sixth rounder, but he's an experienced tackle with high grades, and that's a real rookie depth that can learn from Andrew Thomas. Like nobody is buying a JC Davis jersey in May unless it's his cousin. But it's kind of pick that matters in November when somebody turns an ankle and you need a real human to play left tackle for the next three quarters. It's the same thing on defense, too. On the defensive interior, DJ Reader, Shelby Harris, Leque Futu, Zach Pickens. All of that after moving off of Dexter Lawrence. I mean, Reader is 330 pounds, and he led the league in double team rate last year. That fits the exact type of sturdy nose tackle that Harbaugh wants. It's not flashy, but it is necessary. The Giants are getting bullied against the run all year last year. You cannot be a bully ball type of team if opposing teams are running through your front door like he left it unlocked for them. That's the point here. The Giants are not just adding names, they're adding body types, they're adding temperament, they're adding an actual style. Now, I say all that to say this, and I want to slow everybody down. A better plan is not the same as a finish plan. Look, Jackson Dark can play. I don't have any doubt about that. The arm is real, the smarts are there, he can move. And in today's NFL, the quarterback has to be part of the math. He cannot just be the 11th guy standing around besides 10 skill players. He has to stress the defense. He has to move when the play breaks down. Dark gives you that. So I believe the talent is real, but I'm just not ready to pretend the development curve is already over. Second year in the NFL is hard, man. Defenses get taped, expectations change, the hits add up. I mean, he had to go through concussion checks four times as a rookie. You don't just wave that away because the offseason vibes are good. I mean, you don't even have to leave the division to understand the cautionary tale of this. Look at Jaden Daniels. Franchise quarterback, electric talent, everybody's favorite young star, NFC championship in his rookie year. And all of a sudden, year two, it gets complicated. It's got injuries, there's adjustments, there's pressure, all of it, man. Adds up quick. Look, that's not to say that Dart is going to slump. It just means you got to respect the possibility of the slump. Plus, you know, Malik Neighbors might not even be healthy to start the season. Cam Scadabow might not be himself to start the season. The line has to be better. The defense has got to stop the run this year. Harbaugh should clean up the game management, the clock management, the week-to-week professionalism, I guess, but I don't know, man. They're probably still third in their division. They should win more games, but that's where I would book them. And it's not an insult. It's kind of just the reality. Philly is Philly, right? Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown drama, but it's still Philly. They know what they're doing over there. Washington, well, they have their quarterback, but they don't really have much else on defense, on uh offense or defense. And Dallas, look, Dallas has CeeDee Lamb. I don't care what the noise around that team is with pickings. CeeDee is a problem regardless of anything. And Caleb Downs now gives that defense a different type of edge, a different, a different type of weapon. The NFC East is not a charity. Harbaugh knows that, and he's not building just to beat the Eagles. He's building to survive the entire division. So, yes, I am encouraged by the Giants, and the plan makes sense. The toughness is obvious, but contenders, I don't know, guys. Let's slow down a little bit. Let's start with competent, right? Let's start with hard to play against. Get Dart through year two upright. Fix the run defense. Show me Harbaugh's culture in December when the season gets heavy. Now we find out if it's a real foundation or just another off-season where everybody liked the furniture before the house was even finished. Now, now let's go across the hallway to the Jets. The Jets are Jets are a little different for me. Because I am fully aware that I am probably being insane when I say this. That comes with the territory. You know, being a Jets fan is basically signing up for emotional jury duty every fall. You don't really want to be there, but here you are sitting in the room, waiting to see what kind of nonsense gets presented as evidence. But the spring optimism is familiar. Florin Park has sold this product before. New coaches, new phrases, new practice clips, new this feels different energy. Yeah, Jets fans know that routine so well. We could teach a night class on it. All that being said, I still I like what they did. Call me delusional if you want. I don't care. I got faith in the Jets. And look, if I'm wrong, congratulations. Who cares? We get another year of misery and I get content out of it. That's kind of the deal. That's what it is. The Jets had one obvious job this offseason, and it was raise the floor. Not win the press conference, not pretend they're one move away, not sell the fan base another fantasy. Raise the floor of a team that went 3 and 14 and looked broken in ways that went beyond talent. And I think they did that. Minka Fitzpatrick, Demario Davis, David Onimata, real veterans, real stability, and the adults in the room. The defense needed that badly. Last year it felt like everything was leaking. No interceptions, no pass rush, no trust, no answers in sight. You cannot play defense that way. You cannot be a defensive head coach and have your team look like it forgot how to create negative plays. Drafting David Bailey changes that conversation immediately. 14 and a half sacks at Texas Tech, speed, power, first step explosiveness. Now you pair him with Will McDonald, and suddenly the Jets have something that can bother people for real. Last year they were near the bottom of the league in sacks. That cannot happen again. And if Bailey is what they think he is, it won't, it won't. That's the kind of pick that gives the defense oxygen. And look, say what you want about Glenn. I know everybody wants him out of here, especially with this coach and carousel round this year. I still think Glenn gets a bad rap. Year one was ugly. There was no way around it. But I also think it's a lot to throw on top of him for the first year. I mean, bad roster, bad vibes, a controlling owner, a team coming off the Rodgers mess. Everything just snowballed, man. This year he gets to grow a little bit. This year he gets to coach the defense. That's his superpower, right? He's calling it himself. So if you're gonna go if you're going to go hire Aaron Glenn, let him be Aaron Glenn. Let him shape the defense. You know, let him get creative and use Minka and Bailey and move some pieces around. Let him show you why they hired why you hired him in the first place. And look, if the defense is still bad, then we're right back in familiar territory. Another year of staring at the TV, wondering how a third and nine turned into a crisis. Another year of leaning into this microphone on a Thursday night ask you why I care so much about a team that has never once cared about my blood pressure. You know? Right now, though, I understand the plan. And that is the biggest compliment that I can give the Jets. I'm not saying they're fixed. I'm just saying for the first time in a while, I understand the plan. Offensively, they give Gino some help. Kenyon Sadiq and Omar Cobra Jr. are important names there. Garrett Wilson is a star, obviously. But they needed more around him. Cooper gives them another receiver at the first round talent. And Sadiq is one of the players that really interests me in this whole thing. Because let's face it, Gino at this stage of his career is going to want some answers over the middle of the field. You know, he's going to want a big body, a security blanket, a young, mismatched tight end who can move. People look at the receiver depth and say it's thin. Okay, I get it, that's fair. I'm not saying it's perfect. But if Sadiq is who Quincy Anunwa was supposed to turn into, we could really have something there. The backup quarterback situation, though, is a different story. Apparently, Russell Wilson has an offer from the Jets and he's weighing that against television. That's kind of where we are right now. The Jets are standing there like, hey, Russ, uh, do you want to come play and back up Gino Smith? Meanwhile, CBS is like, yeah, I got money and a parking spot for you. I get both sides. Like, you don't want to end your career, you don't want to retire, you might still have something in the tank, you might still have a chance to play, but also, do you want to go through all of camp and whatever and all this just to be on the Jets to back up Gino? Either way, Russ is not the answer. Let's let's not pretend we're talking about 2014 Russell Wilson here. But the Jets do need a real backup. Gino is the starter, Frank Reich says he fits perfectly, and I actually like Gino in this setup. Still, if Gino goes down for a few weeks, you need somebody who can run the operation. That's kind of why Russ makes sense, unfortunately, even if it is weird. Like it's not glamorous, and it's again, it's not the future, but it's a decent insurance policy. And then the fingers will come out and they'll point at Clay Cade Klubnick. That's a little different. That's the lottery ticket. You know, they want to throw around Brock Purdy comparisons because that's what happens every time a quarterback gets drafted later than expected. Everybody wants the next miracle story. The reality is day three quarterbacks almost never become that. You can take the swing, but you don't build the house around the swing. Club that can sit, learn, develop, maybe, maybe there's something there. Maybe the Jets get lucky for once in their franchise history. The Jets' real quarterback plan is going to be something in 2027. Let's be honest here. If they end up drafting a quarterback or trading those assets for an established veteran, the kids should not be walking into an empty apartment with no furniture. Okay? And that has been the Jets problem forever. They draft a quarterback and then they ask him to fix the house while it's actively on fire. This version of the Jets at least looks like they're trying to build the house. Defense with veterans, solid pass rush, Garrett Wilson, Kenyon Sadiq, Omar Cooper, Brees Hall, Frank Reich running the offense. It might not be a playoff team yet, but it could be an actual landing spot for a young quarterback. That's progress. Not parade progress, not raise a banner progress, just grown-up organizational progress. And shit, Jeff fans will take it. We are not picky. We have eaten way worse. The schedule's going to tell us a lot about this season, too. Maybe Kansas City early, maybe Buffalo early, maybe even a Raiders primetime game with Fernando Mendoza going against Gino. I don't know. The Jets don't need to be great right away, man. Just lay the bricks. They need to just stop being embarrassing. They need to look coached. They need to create turnovers and rush the passer and be in games in the fourth quarter where the conversation isn't how are they going to ruin this? That's the bar. That's the bar that we're looking for. I have faith. Scared faith, scarred faith. Faith with one eye open, but faith nonetheless. Now we get to find out if Glenn can coach this thing up. Now we get to find out if Muji's moves were real. Say that three times fast. Now we get to find out if the Jets finally are on the right path. That's football in New York right now. The Giants have the clearer identity. The Jets have the cleanest reset. Neither one has earned a victory lap, but both of them have earned a little curiosity. That is more than we could say about a year ago. But nobody gets credit for the blueprint forever. At some point, you gotta live in the house that you built. Now we get to find out. And now, with all due respect to May Football Optimism, let's get to the team in New York that is actually playing like the moment belongs to them. It's time to get on to those New York knickerboxes. Basketball up next, be a ready Now, now, now, now Let's get to the Knicks, the New York Knickerbockers. This is the part of the show where I'm going to try very hard to remain calm and reasonable. I cannot promise I'll be successful, but I'm going to try. The Knicks are up 2-0 on the semi-Sixers. Yes, the semi-Sixers. I'm sorry, but that's what they are until further notice. You know, Philadelphia has been banging its head against the second round ceiling for years now. And here they are, yet again, staring up at it, wondering why the room feels so familiar. They come into this series with momentum, too. That's the worst part. They had just finished off Boston to coming back down from 3-1. 14th team in NBA history to do that. First team to ever do it to the Celtics. Jalen Brown was mad. Celtics fans were stunned. Philly was feeling itself. Joel MB was talking that talk. Nick Nurse was cooking. Their fans were probably convincing themselves this was a this was the year they were finally lined up. Everything was good to go. And then they walked right into Madison Square Garden, and game one was not a basketball game. Game one was a public service announcement. 137-98, a 39-point playoff beatdown. The Knicks hit Philly so hard that Nick Nurse pulled the starters in the third quarter and basically said, Yeah, I've seen enough of this movie. Jalen Brunson, 35 points in 31 minutes. 27 in the first half. He was not even emptied out. That was not Brunson digging into the bottom of the tank trying to get everything he could. That was Brunson checking the stove and realizing that everything had already been cooked. Kat gives you 17, 6, and 6 in 20 minutes. OG goes 18 on seven of eight shooting. Bridges give you 17. The Knicks had an effective field goal percentage of 75%. That's not hot shooting. That's the building catching on fire, and nobody in Philly knowing where the exits are. The Sixers had one day of rest after Boston, and it looked like it, to be honest. Maxie didn't make his first basket until five minutes into the second quarter. Embiid goes three for eleven, finishes with 14, then he gets benched in the third, and then starts talking after the game, like he didn't just get run off the floor. This is where I have the issue with Embiid. This is the guy that he is. He calls Bridges dirty. Mikhail Bridges. That's the guy that you're pointing at. This is the same Joel Embiid who pulled Mitchell Robinson down by his feet in the playoffs in 2024. Robinson goes down, ends up dealing with a stress fracture situation. And now Embiid is standing there like he's the league's hall monitor on sportsmanship. Come on, man. We've all watched the same games. We all have the internet. You don't get to be the pot and the kettle and then complain about the kitchen. Then when someone asks him about his own foul drawing, he cuts the reporter off and says, ask Jalen Brunson. The audacity. It's almost impressive. It's not admirable. It's impressive. There's a difference. Mike Brown, God bless him, fired back too. Basically saying Max Eat Embiid are really good at drawing fouls. Translation, please do not act like your whole offense doesn't come with a whistle starter kit. The Wednesday mic check results were perfect here, too. I asked if Embiid had a point calling the Knicks dirty. 35% said he's the dirtiest player. 65% said that's playoff basketball. 0% said the Knicks were too rough. Zero. Not one person, not a single vote. That's not a poll. That's a verdict, babe. The Knicks were not too rough. Philadelphia just got punched first and they didn't like the way that it felt. Now, here's where game two becomes even more important. You know, game one told us how good the Knicks can look when everything is humming. Game two, game two told us what they were when the fireworks stopped. That's the real theme this week. Now we find out. You know, anyone can feel great after a 39-point win. The garden is shaking, the threes are falling, the crowd is losing its mind. Hell, the other team looks like it missed the bus and wandered onto the court. That's fun. That's beautiful. That's the kind of game you re-watch clips of at work while you're pretending to answer calls. Game two was different. And Bede gets ruled out with the hip and ankle after all the noise, after all the quotes, after all the ask Jalen Brunson stuff. He's in street close. Philly should have folded right there. That's it. That's it. Should have been over. The Knicks should have just walked into the building and put them away early. Instead, the Sixers fought. 25 lead changes, 14 ties. Most lead changes in a playoff game in 11 years. Nobody led by more than seven the whole game. Game was annoying from the jump, too, man. The refs, the uh just on both sides, just the ticky-tack fouls, all of it. I mean, Maxie looked alive again. Paul George and Kelly Uber are hitting shots. VJ Edgecombe gives you 17. Kat picks up three fouls in the first quarter and basically disappears for the entire second. And Josh Hart is dealing with foul trouble, gets a tech, hurt his hand or his wrist, still ends up playing 44 minutes because Josh Hart's whole game is duct tape, cardio, and bad intentions. The Knicks, on top of it, too, didn't have Mitchell Robinson. They called it an illness. Like I'm not saying anything. I'm just saying there's air quotes available if you needed them for that illness. Fine. Whatever. Embiid is obviously the bigger name and the bigger absence, but Robinson being out changed the Knicks night more than people want to admit. Especially with Cat getting in foul trouble early. You know, Robinson gives you rebounding physicality, the rim protection, just another body to absorb the ugly stuff. So without him, the rotation got weird quick. So, no, this was not clean. This was not easy. This was not game one. This was an actual playoff game. And yet, the Knicks won 108-102. That's why I came away more impressed. Brunson made the tie-breaking basket with five minutes left, and then another jumper to make it 103.99. Then Bridges hits one to push it to six, and that's the part where the arena gets tight. The possession gets heavy, everybody starts looking around for the adult in the room. Yeah, the adult is Jalen Brunson. There is no panic in his game. No rush, no fake tough guy stuff. He just gets to his spot, rises up, and suddenly the whole building exhales. You can tell Philly knows it too. They are not shocked when it happens. They're annoyed, but they're not shocked. They know the thing is coming and they still can't do much about it. Brunson against Philly in the playoffs is becoming one of those personal relationships that needs to be mediated by a third party at this point. I mean, he closed that 2024 series with three straight 40-point games, including a 47 night, which is a Knicks playoff franchise record. Now he's controlling this series too. Game one, blowout. He cooks. Game two, tight game, he settles it. That's captain stuff. Mike Brown said it after the game. Philly started switching a little bit. Brunson got to his spot, scored the bucket, and that's what he's expected to do. That sentence is the difference between good players and playoff killers. That's what he's expected to do. Not hoped, expected. This is why the Knicks feel different to me. They're not begging for someone to save them. They know who gets the ball. They know what that shot is supposed to look like. They know who they are. Bridges deserves a lot of credit here, too. Maxie had 19 in the first half and he was flying around, getting downhill, looking like the guy that helped bury Boston. Then the Knicks did a better job on him in the second half. And Bridges was a big, big part of that. You know, this is the Mikhail Bridges conversation now. For most of the season, myself included, people were ready to put the trade on trial. Too expensive, too inconsistent, not enough scoring, not enough star impact. Where is he? All fair conversations. You pay that much, the conversation is allowed to get loud around you. But let me tell you something right now. Playoff bridges from last year and this year, playoff bridges is starting to remind people why the Knicks wanted him in the first place. He was good in the Hawks closeout. He was good in most of the Hawks series. He was good in game one against Philly, and he gives you 18 in game two and takes on Maxie Simon late. That's valuable. It's invaluable. Look, he may not be a star in the way that Brunson is a star or Kat is a star, but he can be the kind of playoff wing who changes the series with defense, shot making, and just calm, cool collectedness. Now we find out if that version is sustainable. And this is where the black cloud of game two lays. OG Ananobi leaves late with what looked like to be a leg issue, like a hamstring, is what they're calling it now. No, no definition on the grade yet, grade one, grade two. Look, we're all sitting here having flashbacks to last year. It's impossible not to. Same basic nightmare. Round two, OG gets hurt. And he tried to give it a go later, and he was a shell of himself. You could see it immediately. He wanted to be out there, but wanting to be out there and actually being OG out there are two completely different things. The Knicks cannot afford the shell version of OG if they're trying to win the East. Brunson is Brunson. Kat is Kat. But OG, OG is the biggest difference maker on this team right now. He has been underrated, properly rated, however you want to say it, I don't care. The people who watch every night know he is the guy who turns the Knicks from dangerous into a complete team. He gives them full lineup flexibility. He guards stars, he hits his open shots, he cuts, he makes good decisions, and he doesn't need the offense to run through him. But he punishes you when you do forget about him. If he is out for an extended period of time, it is a real issue. My panic level six, seven. I'm not running around with my shirt over my head just yet, but I am definitely checking Twitter every half hour waiting for an update. The important part is that the Knicks are up 2-0. That gives you cushion. You do not have to be reckless here. You going to Philly, all you need is a split. Go 1-1, come back to the garden up 3-1, and try to close it at home in game five. Buy everybody a little more rest. Hell, I'd even be okay with OG sitting in game three if he's not right. You know, don't chase game three so hard that you risk the rest of the run. This is bigger than one night in Philly. The Knicks are trying to win the East. If OG says he's close and the doctors say there's a risk, be smart. You have earned the right to be smart by taking care of business at home. The series now goes to Philly, or Embiid's words, MSG East, which for anybody with a geography lesson knows that's not right. And this is where the crowd kind of sways in your favor anyway. You know, Embiid is out here begging Sixers fans to not sell their tickets. Quote, don't sell your tickets. This is bigger than you. We need you guys. End quote. It's one of the funniest accidental scouting reports on a fan base I've ever heard. When your franchise player has to go public and beg the fans not to sell playoff tickets to Knicks fans, that is not a home court advantage. That's an Airbnb listing. And Philly tried the whole geofencing thing, uh, you know, only local buyers, restrict sales, keep Knicks fans out. Sure. Good luck, man. You can lock the front door, but there are 700 resale apps climbing through the window with a Venmo request. Knicks fans don't just travel, they take over places. Knicks fans spend money they absolutely should not spend. Knicks fans will sit on a train for two hours wearing a Brunson jersey just to scream in another city's building. That is who they are. The poll result on the series says the fan base is feeling it too. 62% said Knicks fans in five or less. 33% said Knicks fans in six or seven. Five perked Philly. Five percent. I'm with the majority. Knicks in five, maybe six if Embiid comes back and has one of those monster games where he just foul baits and puts up 40. Or maybe even an OG's injury changes the math a little bit. But right now, I think the Knicks are the better team. I think they are deeper, I think they are tougher, I think they are more connected. They have the best player in the series in Brunson or Kat. And most importantly, I think they know it. You know, the bar has changed here. I'm comfortable saying it out loud now. If the Knicks do not make the NBA Finals, it's a disappointment. It's not me being greedy. This is me acknowledging what is in front of us. The East is weak. Boston is gone, Philly is wounded, Cleveland is fine, I guess. I mean, Donovan Mitchell is always a problem. I'm not gonna pretend otherwise, but James Harden is still James Harden, but playoff Harden kind of comes with some terms and conditions there. And Detroit, look, Detroit owned the Knicks in the regular season. Fine. Cool. I'm not ignoring it. But regular season ownership and Eastern Conference final pressure, not exactly the same thing. Detroit has not been in that room before. Cade Cunningham is a monster, but who else is consistently creating offense when the game slows down and those lights get hot and the garden is yelling? The Knicks have been there. They lost in the Eastern Conference Finals. They know what it feels like to be close and not have enough. They know what that next level asks from you. This team looks like it sees the forest through the trees. Job's not done. I know. I know it's a Kobe line and it gets used a lot, but it applies. The Knicks are not celebrating like they won the title. Brunson says take it with a grain of salt. Kat gets asked about the point differential and basically says keyword is last. Doesn't have anything to do with next. That is exactly the mindset you want. The fans can celebrate. We are allowed to enjoy this. We have eaten enough garbage basketball to enjoy a team that looks like a real problem. Go nuts outside the garden. Hug a stranger. High five somebody wearing a Latrell Spreewell jersey. You know, do what you gotta do. The players can't live there. That's kind of where Draymond Greed was annoying, but not completely wrong here. If you missed it, he told Knicks fans to stop celebrating like they already had the parade. Draymond, please shut up. No one wants to hear from you. Nobody asked you. But also, I kind of get what you're saying. I kind of understand it. Look, the fans can act like fans. The players have to act like there's work left. And so far they are. That's why I believe in this team, man. Not just because they're winning. It's how they're winning. And how they're talking after they win. Leon Rose, William Wesley, they deserve credit here too, man. They don't always get it, but look at the roster. RJ Barrett and quickly became OG. And then Bridges and Kat come in. This team did not tank its way here. They built it. They made trades. They took swings. They chose fit and seriousness over collecting names. Not every move looked perfect in the moment. Some of them still have to be proven all the way, to be honest with you. But the result is a Knicks team that can defend, score, switch, survive foul trouble, win ugly, win loud, and walk into a playoff series expecting to win. That is new. And the Knicks are not theoretical anymore. They are the best team left in the East until someone proves otherwise. As for the rest of the league, well, Minnesota and San Antonio are tied 1-1. That series already has a little personality. Anthony Edwards steals game one coming back early from his knee injury, only for Wem and Yama to have 12 blocks in a playoff record. And the Spurs around beat the Wolves by 38 in game two. Edwards warned them too. He said, Do not come out cold, do not come out cool. And they came out cool. And he gave us the quote of the week. Said, quote, my mama used to tell me, hard head, make a soft ass. End quote. No notes. Perfect basketball. Well done, Anthony Edwards. Cleveland and Detroit is getting a little more serious now because Detroit is up 2-0. Cade Cunningham going 25-10. Tobias Harris gives him 21. Pistons have won five straight since Orlando had them on the brink of destruction in round one. Cleveland still has Donovan Mitchell and he dropped 31, but Harding goes 3 for 13 and had four turnovers. Cleveland went 7 for 32 from 3. Look, Detroit is young, physical, annoying. And now they got the series by the throat. I'm watching it, but I'm still not changing the Knicks standard because of either team just yet. Out west, OKC is up 2-0 on the Lakers after a 125-107 game two win. Austin Reeves gave LA 31. LeBron had 23. But the Thunder, man, they're just too complete right now. Chet had 22, Shy had 22, AJ Mitchell had 20. Jared McCaney comes off the bench with 18 and 18 minutes. And unfortunately, there's still no real timetable for Luca yet. Against the defending champs, that is a brutal place to be. Missing the guy who gives you 34, 8, and 9 is kind of a big deal. Then there's Giannis. This is a little bit of late breaking news here. Milwaukee wants clarity before the draft, which is a massive sentence to say out loud for the best player in franchise history. For the Knicks, look, it's something to track, not something to obsess over with this playoff run happening. I'm not going to break up the band in the middle of the best set of their life. But it definitely does put the pressure on other teams that might want to blow things up and go after him. You know. The Celtics, would they want to move Brown or Tatum? Miami has always been in play. Orlando has a lot of picks. You know. They want this thing settled before the draft. It's gonna get ugly fast. But yeah, that's where the Knicks are right now. No more cute little underdog talk, no more happy to be here, no more acting like the second round is the prize. They are good enough to dream bigger, which means they are good enough to be judged harder. That's kind of the trade-off. The bars changed, but they changed. That's a good thing. So as always, go New York, go New York, go. And from the garden, we go to the ballpark. Let's get into some baseball. And before we talk about what the Yankees are becoming or what the Myths are trying not to become, we gotta start with uh the man, the myth, the legend, John Sterling. Baseball up. Not just because he was the Yankees voice, but because he was one of the voices in sports in this area. I know I'm a Mets fan. Everybody knows I'm a Mets fan, but this is not a Mets Yankees thing. Not even close. If you grew up around here, John Sterling was just part of the sound of your whole region. Your whole origin story. Summer nights, car rides, WFAN on the background, somebody's dead yelling in traffic while Sterling is in the middle of a home run call that sounds like he's announcing the moon landing. It is high, it is far, it is gone. You didn't have to be a Yankee fan to know that voice. You just had to live here. Sterling was one of those guys where the voice itself felt bigger than the broadcast sometimes. There are broadcasters who call the game, and then there are broadcasters who become part of the game. Sterling became part of the Yankees' experience. I mean, 36 years in that booth, over 5,400 regular season games, more than 200 postseason games, over 5,000 straight games at one point. That is insane. That is commitment. One of the lines that is like the funniest things in the world, he had triplets, I think. And his wife went into labor and then he went to the game, and somebody said, John, you your wife just had triplets. What are you doing here? And his line was, Well, I've done all I can do. That's not just showing up to work. That's becoming the furniture in people's lives. I mean, I still quote him. My friends still quote him. We quote the calls that made sense, the calls that didn't make sense, the ones that Were perfect. And the ones that were so ridiculous, they became perfect by accident. You know, his little idioms of like uh that's baseball, Susan. That's not just a phrase. That's something you say at the bar when something makes no sense and somehow makes perfect sense at the same time. We make fun of it, but in a loving way. The way you make fun of someone who gave you memories. That's the thing with Sterling. He was quirky, he was strange, he was theatrical, he was out of left field sometimes, literally. I mean, he would call a ball gone, and then the outfielder would be standing under it, and somehow even the mist became part of the legend. The Yankees, as an organization, are usually seen as the buttoned up, corporate, clean shaven, no names on the back, do everything the right way, tradition on top of tradition franchise. So it is kind of perfect that the voice of the whole thing was this wacky, unpredictable, lovable maniac with a microphone. And I mean that with all respect in the world. The Yankees needed that. They needed a little weird, they needed a little theater. John Sterling gave them New York theater every night. You know, Michael Kay and all the other announcers on uh his death day giving the little nod to Sterling was a nice touch all around. Michael Kay, instead of doing his typical see ya, he does the whole it's fi it's high, it's far, it's gone. Um the Knicks announcer when they won Game One said ball game. Knicks win. You know, you don't really call an NBA game the ball game. So that was definitely a nod to John. You know, you could just tell it was more than a bit. It was a broadcaster tipping his cap to another. That's the detail that makes it feel real. The Yankees handled it right too, you know. The JS initials on the cap, the jersey patch that's coming, playing the Yankees win after the final out. That should stay, man, by the way. I know the Yankees' tradition is sacred, but sometimes tradition gets better when you add the right piece to it. If you win at Yankee Stadium and after the final out, you hear John Sterling's voice over the boom, the Yankees win, and then Frank Sinatra starts spreading the news, comes in. Come on, man. Say what you want. And I've said plenty about the Yankees. That's beautiful. That's the kind of thing that connects generations without trying too hard. So rest in peace to John Sterling, a true original, a true voice of New York baseball, a voice of my childhood, and even on the other side of the rivalry. And a broadcaster that I hope they get at least one tiny iota of the career that he's had. Now, speaking of the Yankees win, they've been doing a whole lot of that lately. And the Yankees deserve their flowers because of it. They're 25-12. They've had a five-game win streak snap by Texas, but the larger picture is still pretty obvious. This team looks like the best version of the Yankees in a long time. Maybe even since 2009. I know that is a big thing to say in May, but if you're asking what the early shape of the season looks like, that's the conversation. Judge just continues to do judge things. He's hitting 270, which in baseball nowadays is damn good, but he usually sits around 320. Oh, and by the way, he's got his league-leading 15th home run. He already has six first inning home runs this season. That's not even letting people settle into the game. You could get a beer in the stands and be up 1-0 or down 1-0 by the time you sit down. He's got 91 career first inning home runs as a Yankee, trailing only Babe Ruth and Mickey Manu in franchise history. When your name starts showing up next to Ruth and Mantle and guys in black and white photos, it's not really a whole lot of cute analysis needed. You're catching ghosts in real time. I used to say this about Clayton Kershow all the time. They would throw his picture up and he'd be sandwiched between two guys on the left in black and white and two guys on the right in black and white. Speaking of pitching, Cam Schlittler looks like a problem. 5-1, 1.52 ERA. He threw 21 pitches at 100 miles per hour or harder in one start. After throwing six total in his previous 21 big league starts combined. Yeah, run that back. Read that again. Six total in 21 starts, and then 21 in one game. That's not just a tweak to the mechanics. That's unlocking a new character. The Cy Young odds are starting to notice, and the poll notice too. 58% said he's a stud. 28% said he's going to be top three, maybe, and only 16% said that he fades by August. So that tells you the audience is buying in. There is real star power here. Scary part though is that it's not just Judge. Ben Rice, when he's healthy, looks for real. Max Freed is up there and he is dominating like he's supposed to. Bellinger has given them real production and looks like the best signing they've had in a long time. They've had five guys sitting in the top ten of AL War. Judge, Slitler, Rice, Freed, Bellinger. Half of the top ten are Yankees. The offense is hitting the ball harder than anybody. Highest average exit velocity in baseball. Most home runs in baseball. The run differential sitting near the top of the league. This is not fake hot team living off bloopers and vibes. The Yankees are doing damage. And the funny part is the leadoff spot has been a mess. Dead last in baseball and batting average from the spot, and they're still scoring over five and a half runs a game. That's what makes it scary, to be honest with you. They're already pounding people, and there is still a very obvious place where they could get better. The Volpe situation is worth watching too. I mean, Anthony Volpe gets optioned. This guy was supposed to be the next star, stud, shortstop. And Jose Caballero is playing too well to ignore. So they make the cold baseball decision and they send them down. They say, hey man, the team's doing good without you. Go figure it out. You've officially been put on notice. Judge did say Volpe is his guy, called him a student of the game, made it clear the clubhouse still believes in him, yada, yada, yada. But the Yankees brass are trying to win, and Caballero is producing. So they're going to stick with the hand that's feeding them. Again, that's kind of one of the reasons this Yankee team feels different. They're not waiting around for somebody's feelings. They're making winning decisions. Now, that being said, it's not all perfect. I mean, baseball isn't. That's baseball season, right? Nathan Ivaldi has made them look human twice in eight days here. That can show up in October. You can mash bad pitching all summer, but the postseason is about a handful of guys who can take your whole offense and put it in a drawer for seven innings. And Ivaldi did that twice. Throws eight innings, gives up three hits, one run, strikes out eight, no walks, judge homers, sure, that's to be expected. But that's really the only basic damage. Yankees had won 15 to 17, scored 46 runs in five games between the Ivaldi starts, and then he shows up and turns the volume down. So yes, the Yankees look scary, full respect. But now we find out if scary in May can become scary in October. Let's not forget about Tampa Bay here either. You know, the usual thorn in the Yankee side. No, it's not the Orioles, no, it's not Toronto. It's Tampa Bay, like it always is. Tampa Bay is right there, right behind them. They're like the annoying bug you thought you killed three innings ago. The Yankees are playing great, and the Rays are still basically sitting on the porch looking through the window. I think the Yankees have won seven of their last ten, and the Rays have won nine of their last ten. They're sitting even in the loss column and only a half game behind for the division. Also, the Yankees and Tampa are the only two teams over 500 in the entire AL. So make it make sense. The Yankees deserve shine. They deserve credit. I'm not taking anything away from them. Winning the division matters, though. Avoiding the weird short series chaos matters. The question is how deep they can go and whether this is the group that can actually bring a title back to New York, even if it is the Yankees. So now we must we must take the seven train. Let's go across town. The Mets, Met, the Mets, man, they uh they gave us three days of hope and then immediately run to everybody to keep their shoes on. And the next train is leaving soon. That's kind of the Mets experience right now, man. You start to relax. Somebody hits a home run, they they close a game, you feel good, and then the baseball gods tap you on the shoulder and like, hey, hey, hey, don't get comfortable. You you know what you're you know what you are this year. You know what they are this year? They were 10 and 22 after April. Worst record in baseball. The 12-game losing streak, a team that just came into the season with super high expectations, and my May already. Everybody's staring at the schedule, like, how early is too early to just emotionally protect myself from the rest of the season. But no, hey man, let's get on the road trip. Let's see how it goes. They show a little pulse, they beat the Angels, they beat the Rockies twice. Soto leads off, starting to look alive. Benji is making plays, diving out. Vientos gives them something. Marcus Simeon showing some life. Peralta gets his first win since opening day. Road trip ends up 4-2, which by any normal team would take and just move on from. But these Mets, no, the context makes everything heavier. They had a chance to sweep Colorado after getting swept at home, get their first sweep of the year, actually make the road trip feel like something real. Instead, 2-2 game in the eighth, Craig Kimbrell comes in and Jake McCarthy hits a grand slam. 448 feet, and the Rockies win 6'2. Now, to be fair, if you saw that grand slam, it went over the foul pole and it looked about 50 yards foul, but somehow cleared the foul pole. I still don't understand why we don't have technology in the foul poles to mark it off on the sensor that it went over the foul pole, not around it. That's a story for a different day. But classic Mets, man, they give you a little oxygen and then they unplug the machine. The Wednesday Mike check poll basically saw it coming, too. 65% said it's the Rockies, relax, while only 35% said the Mets were turning the corner. I wanted to believe a little bit. I did. The audience said relax. I didn't believe him. And then Kimbrell gave up that grand slam, and the audience was sitting there like, yep, tried to tell you. Tried to tell you. But that game doesn't erase the whole road trip. I'm not going to be totally unfair. Four-and-two was four and two. They needed wins. They got some wins. Carson Benge looked better. Soto in the leadoff spot is interesting to say the least. Peralta going five scoreless was needed. There were some good things. Five inning Freddy, as my brother likes to call him. But the Mets did not lose all the progress from the road trip. They lost the chance to make it feel real. There's a difference between showing signs of life and actually being alive. That's where I'm at with this team right now. Again, I'm not angry. I'm not even angry in a loud way anymore. Like you can hear it in my voice. I'm just exhausted. I am exhausted Met fan trying to find reasons not to quit on this season in May, which is a terrible place to be. I know the season is long. I know it is technically still early. I am not here to give you the it's early speech. The standings do not care how early it feels. And neither does the rest of the NL, by the way. The Braves are not waiting around. The NL is strong. You're lucky Philly got off to the bad start they had because otherwise this thing would have felt even worse. I mean, the Mets are 11 or 10 out from the division. They got a lot to fix, and the problem is I don't even know where you start. The players back Mendoza, Stearns backs Mendoza, Stearns says this is not a management issue. Okay. Then what is it? Because if it's not a manager issue and the team looks this broken, then the conversation moves upstairs. Then it becomes a front office issue, a roster issue, a construction issue, a David Stearns issue. And you know what David Stearns isn't going to do? He's obviously not going to stand at the podium and say, you know what, actually, this one might be on me. No executive does that. But when you say it's not the manager, you're pointing somewhere, whether you want to or not. You know, this roster just doesn't make sense right now, man. The Tucker thing still hangs over, too. Tucker goes to LA and then Cohen panics. Stearns goes and gets the next best available piece no matter what. And they end up overpaying for Bo Bichette with the opt-out on his side. I think he actually gets money if he opts out. I've never heard of that before in my life. You stole him from the Phillies, which is something, I guess. But I don't know, man. And with Ledore being hurt and probably not coming back for a while, Bichette is playing shortstop now because Ronnie Mauricio slid into first and broke his thumb, which is the most Mets thing ever. We're back to watching a defensive fit that did not look good in Toronto suddenly becomes the Mets problem in Queens. Four words. Whatever the team needs, right? Sure. Great. What the team needs is to stop creating weird problems for itself. Top 12 payroll, last place in the analysis. That's hard to stomach. Money without a plan is just money. Spending big does not automatically make you serious. It can make you expensive and confused at the same time. I mean, look at the Padres. They threw all that money at Soto, at Bogart, at Machado, at Tatis. And where did it get him? Nowhere. And not for nothing, Freddie Peralta is a perfect example of how weird this can get. You know, you trade Brandon Spro and Jet Williams to get him, and the expectation is okay, maybe the extension follows. We got ourselves an ace. This guy can follow from last year. We can bolster the rotation. Maybe this is part of the Mets' future plan. And then the team starts this badly. Stearns won't discuss extension stuff. And now suddenly Peralta becomes one of the biggest potential trade chips at the deadline if this continues. I'm not ready to be in a world in 2026 where the Mets are selling at the deadline. I mean, he finally gets his first win since opening day this week. I was at opening day. His ERA is a 3.12. He's doing his job, but if the Mets are out of it in July, what are we doing? I mean, are you flipping him? Can you look your fan base in the face and say, yep, I know we just traded away two of our biggest prospects, but nah, you know what? Let's see what we can get back for him. And can you even get anything good back for him? That is the kind of question that makes this start to this season just so unbelievably frustrating. Not to mention Kimbrell is probably not long for this roster either. Nine-time All-Star, great career, no disrespect on the resume, but those days are long gone. His ERA jumps to a 7-5 after the grand slam. Regardless of whether the Mets are buyers or sellers, it's hard to see how he's part of this in the thing in the long term. The bullpen as a whole is just a big problem. The injuries are a big problem. Lindore, Luis Robert Jr., Mauricio, Polanco, Young. That's a lot of real baseball players missing from this lineup. I'm not pretending injuries don't matter, but injuries also cannot be the entire excuse when the team looked this flat, this poorly fitted this early. Whatever. Now, alright. Let me okay, let me take a breath. This is where I'm not gonna be completely miserable. There are some bright spots. Carson Benge being one of them. The bat is starting to come around, and the glove looks real. I mean, he could win a gold glove this year. He really could. Multiple five-star catches, 87 percentile and sprint speed, positive outs above average. Gary Cohen called his defense polchutraduce. No, that's not right. I can't even say this goddamn word. I'm not even gonna try it again. It's only the word that Gary Cohen could drop into a baseball broadcast and make it make sense, though. Pultchutrunis? Tudonis? Whatever. Either way, I meant it. It was a sexy catch. That's what the word means. But Bench looks like he can really play, man. He has he has an extra base hit in three straight games, four multi-hit games in his last dozen. And over that stretch, he's hitting over 300 with a slug. This is the exact kind of thing that the Mets fans need right now to get behind. Not a savior, but just proof that the system can give you something useful. Nolan McLean is another young piece showing stuff. Uh Jack Weninger down at AAA is a name that the Mets fans should start to get to know. He's their number six prospect, 1.27 ERA, best among qualified AAA pitchers, somebody that's definitely probably going to get called up at some point. He doesn't exactly light up the radar gun, but he does get people out. And sometimes that's all you need. And then there's also AJ Ewing. And this is the one that's really interesting to me because they could use an outfielder. They could use a first baseman. 21 years old, jumps from 83 to 37 on baseball's America's top 100, one of the fastest risers on the whole list. He's tearing up double A, then gets promoted to AAA, and then he's tearing up AAA, slashing over 400 in his first handful at bats, only three strikeouts. He runs too, by the way, 70 stolen bases last season. Already 16 to 24 games this year. Plays center, left, right, can mix in second base, can mix in at first. He was a fourth round compensatory pick from the Jacob deGrom departure, which is a wild little baseball footnote. But that's kind of the story that keeps you from fully checking out of this Mets team right now. The big league roster is a mess. But it looks like the pipeline underneath it is getting a little interesting. Bench is already up, McLean is up, Leninger is shoving in AAA, Ewing is forcing the conversation. Don't forget about Jonathan. The Mets keep wobbling. At some point you gotta ask, what are we protecting? Let's just get him up. If the season keeps drifting, let the kids tell you something, let Benj play, let Ewing force his way up. Let him go. Find out who is part of the next version of this thing. That fits the theme. You know? Now we find out. Yeah, we find out if this road trip was the start of a climb or just a few nice days in the middle of a bad story. We find out if Stearns built something with a foundation or just expensive pieces that don't fit. And we find out if Mendoza can actually steer this thing through the skit. Right, look, I am not here to bury the Mets, even though it sounds like I am, but I am also not here to lie for them. It's May, and I'm already searching for reasons not to emotionally check out. That is not where this team was supposed to be. And that's where I'll leave the Mets for now. The Yankees look like they might be building a monster. The Mets might be trying to prove that they're not already buried. One team is asking title questions, the other is asking survival questions. Same city, completely different sport emotionally. So now before we get out of here, just a quick moment for the hockey crowd and a few leftover pieces from the sports weirdness pile. We're gonna land this play and keep it right here. I know, I know. Not exactly the happiest little detour of the episode, but the hockey people deserve their minute too. The Rangers had the third best odds, and they walk out with the fifth pick. Toronto jumps up with 8.5% odds. Vancouver had the best odds and doesn't even get in the top two. And the Rangers are sitting there like, yeah, cool, cool, man. Love that, love that for everybody else. The poll results felt right. 46% said brutal, 31% said expected honestly, and 23% said it's a deep draft, no biggie. That's basically the full emotional range of being a Ranger fan in one poll right now. Pain, resignation, and one guy in the corner trying to stay reasonable. Gavin McKenna is expected to go number one. The draft is June 26th and 27th in Buffalo. Shout out Buffalo Sabres, by the way. And the Rangers are still gonna they're gonna get a really good player at five. That part is true. Just hopefully they did their due diligence and they find the right guy. It's not a disaster. It's not franchise ending. But, you know, when you sit there with the third best odds and you fall To five, nobody really wants to hear the deep draft speech ten minutes later. Yeah. Let people be annoyed for a second. They earned it, especially after this past rage for season. So from there we have the weird injury pile. I've been stacking these all week and I didn't really know where to fit them in. They're all baseball related, but they didn't really fit with the Yankees Mitch John Sterling here. So sports injuries, especially baseball injuries, are some of the weirdest things that happened. You know, Sosa threw his back out sneezing one time. Tariq Scuble, loose bodies in the elbow. Who saw that coming? He's out two to three months after surgery. He was either the prime Cy Young Award candidate or the prime trade bait candidate. Just brutal, man. I mean, you start seeing the race take shape, you start imagining what the season could look like, and then boom, the elbow taps everyone on the shoulder and changes the whole conversation. I think Cam Schlittler and Max Fried are the favorites now. Carlos Correa, yeah, he's done for the season too. Tore his ankle, taking a swing in the batting cage. Not sliding into second, not crashing into the wall, not some dramatic play at the plate. Batting cage. Taking BP. Felt it pop. And it's not even the ankle that was the concern for the Mets. It's the other ankle. Six to eight month recovery time. That's the kind of injury where you just stare at the sentence and go, what? Wait, what? And then last but not least, Matthew Boyd. Tears his meniscus playing with his kids. Just getting up off the ground. The Cubs, this is a pro this is a professional athlete. Getting up off the ground, he tears his meniscus. So I guess maybe, you know, maybe it was already ready to go, was ready to tear. The Cubs have already had pitching injuries, already dealing with enough stuff. And now a guy gets hurt being a dad? You can't even write that into a sports movie because people would say it was it was too stupid. That's sports though, man. Ridiculous, unforgiving. Somehow always finding a new way to remind you that nothing is guaranteed. Which brings us back to the theme. Now we find out. The Giants have a plan. The Jets have a reset. The Knicks have a real chance. The Yankees have a monster starting to take shape, and the Mets have a mess with a few reasons to keep watching. None of that gets decided by how good it sounds in May. At some point, the idea has to survive contact with reality. That's really what this whole episode was about. It's easy to talk yourself into something before the test shows up. The roster looks good, the vibes feel better, the team is hot, man, the kids are coming, the plans make sense. But then the game gets tight. Somebody gets hurt, the bullpen blows it, the lottery ball doesn't bounce your way. The second year quarterback has to prove the tape didn't catch up to him. The team that looks like a finals team has to keep acting like one. That's the part that I like, no, I love about sports. Even when it makes me crazy, eventually the conversation has to become real. One way or the other. Not all at once, not always dramatically. Sometimes it's just one game. One injury, one ugly win, one road trip. One week where the thing you claimed you were starts getting tested. It's the same thing in regular life, man. You don't always find out who you are during the giant movie moment. Sometimes it's just a regular Tuesday. The annoying, tired week. The week where you still have to show up, you still have to be decent, you gotta keep your word, you still have to handle your business even if nobody is giving you credit for it. That's the stuff that counts. So if there's anything to take from the theme this week, it's that finding out doesn't have to scare you. Sometimes it's the best thing. It gives you the truth. Maybe you're stronger than you thought. Maybe the plan needs some work. Maybe the thing you were avoiding finally needs your attention. Either way, now you know. As always, thank you for listening. Thank you for rocking with me. Thank you for letting me rant about the Jets, get too excited about the Knicks, and be emotionally confused about the Mets. Even squeeze in a little hockey for you guys. Follow along on the Instagram, it's at Rice on the Radio, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, all that good jazz wherever you decide to consume your uh media that I post out. Send in the polls, man. Send in the questions, argue with me, agree with me, tell me I'm delusional about the Jets or any other team. I already know. Doesn't matter. Still helps engagement, and I'm always gonna answer you. So if you want to talk some smack with somebody, I'm your guy. As always, spread good energy this week. You know, tip a little more if you can, hold the door a little bit longer, be nice to somebody for no reason whatsoever. Text the person you've been meaning to text. Tell someone you love them. People might not ask to hear it, but a lot of the time they need to. I am Ian Rice. This has been episode 64 of Rice on the Mics, and I'll catch you next week. Same time, same place.

unknown 1:11:50

Cheers.