New York Sports Has Reached The Hard Part

New York sports has reached the hard part.

Episode 65 of Rice on the Mics is all about what happens after belief shows up. The Knicks look like the best team left in the East and maybe the best team left in the whole damn thing, but now they have to prove they can carry that weight. Jalen Brunson, KAT, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, and Mike Brown all have this team feeling different, and for once, Knicks fans are not crazy for believing.

Then we get into the Mets, where the kids have made things interesting again. Nolan McLean, Carson Benge, and A.J. Ewing have brought real energy to a team that was dangerously close to becoming irrelevant. One good week does not erase the math, but it does give fans a reason to keep watching.

The Yankees are still the Yankees, but the warning lights are blinking heading into the Subway Series. Max Fried’s elbow, José Caballero’s injury, Anthony Volpe stepping back into the fire, and some cold bats have made this weekend feel bigger than just another Mets-Yankees matchup.

Then we wrap with Giants and Jets schedule talk. John Harbaugh raises the floor for Big Blue, Aaron Glenn has a chance to change the temperature for the Jets, and both teams land in a familiar but more respectable place: better, tougher, more serious, but still not quite there yet.

Plus, a programming note on where the show is headed next: shorter, sport-specific episodes throughout the week and the slow transition toward Rice on the Radio.

Episode 65: NY Sports Has Reached the Hard Part.

Transcript

Hope Gets Dangerous In New York

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I guess he's only when we define it because it's a bit of a Yeah, so New York sports have officially reached the dangerous part. Not the bad part, not the hopeless part. No no no, we know that part. We've lived in that part. Shit, some of us have paid rent in that part. I'm talking about the dangerous part where hope starts getting a little too comfortable. That part where you start saying things out loud that you would have laughed at somebody for saying two months ago. The part where you open the standings app and then close it and then open it up again, like the numbers are gonna be more emotionally supportive the second time around. The Knicks are the main reason for that. They've got us here. They've got us believing. Not fake believing either. Not, hey, nice run, good for them. We'll see how it goes, believing. I mean, real chest out, maybe this team can actually bring a championship home, believing. And that is a terrifying sentence to say into a microphone as a New York sports fan. But yet here we are. They're the best team left in the East. They can do this damn thing. Now the hard part is surviving the weight of being good enough. Then you got the Mets, who were teetering on that awful line between being disappointing and irrelevant. And somehow, some way, the kids kick the door open just enough to make us look up again. McLean, Benj, Ewing, the whole thing. Now, look, one good week doesn't exactly erase the math here. The standings are still pretty rude. And the injuries are still everywhere. But at least there's a spark, at least there's a reason to keep on watching this team. And the Yankees, well, the Yankees are still the Yankees. No need to fake panic. But Free Double starts barking, Caballero gets hurt, Volpe gets thrown back into the fire, the bats go cold for a minute. Suddenly that little warning light on the dashboard starts blinking again, starts uh making you notice. And as for football, well, you know, because we can't go without it. The schedule's dropped. Which means Giants and Jet fans are already doing fake many, like the responsible adults that we are. Look, Harbaugh the floor, Aaron Glenn might change the temperature, but both teams are about to find out that hope is not the same thing as comfort. And that's the theme for today. Belief is fun when it shows up. The hard part is what happens after. Can it survive pressure? Can it survive injuries? Can it survive cold bats, bad matchups, brutal schedules? And the voice in the back of your head saying, Hey buddy, I've seen this movie before. Well, we're gonna find out. New York Sports has reached the hard part. Let's do it to it.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Tranquility days here. The Eagle has landed.

Towns Changes The Offense

The Closers And The Stoppers

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Let's uh start with the Knicks, because the last time I talked to you, it was game three. And now, now this is the part of the episode where I'm supposed to be measured, calm, responsible, maybe throw in a little, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, guys. Just so just so everybody, you know, knows I still have a brain in my head and you know, we're not jinxing anything. Nah, not doing it. Nope. The Knicks can win the East, the Knicks can win the whole goddamn thing. I don't think that's crazy. I don't think that's prisoner of the moment nonsense. I don't think that it's orange and blue skies clouding my vision. I think that this is what they have shown us through these first two series. They look like a team that can do it. They feel like a team that can do it. And for once, this isn't Knicks fans trying to talk themselves into something that isn't there. It is literally right in front of us, man. They look like the best team left in the East. They feel like the best team left in the East. The crowd feels it, the players feel it. This whole goddamn city feels it. 88% of you in the poll said they look dangerous. And that feels about right. Dangerous is the word. Not cute, not fun, not frisky, dangerous. This is not one of those Knicks teams where you're talking yourself into a nice little run and deep down you're waiting for the roof to cave in. We've all seen those teams. We've all done the fake confidence thing where you say, no, no, no, no, no. They can make some noise, they'll be alright, but really your stomach is already packing a bag for disappointment. That's not this. This feels different. The only team that can beat the Knicks right now is the Knicks. Not just in the East. I mean everybody. Cleveland, Detroit, San Antonio, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, whoever you want to put on the other side of the bracket. I'm not saying those teams aren't real. They are. OKC is a machine, Wemby is already turning into a playoff nightmare. Whoever comes out of the East is not walking into a layup for the Knicks. But if the Knicks play the way that they're capable of playing, if they stay connected, if the offense keeps the rhythm, if Kat stays on the floor, if Brunson is Brunson when the game gets ugly, they can beat anybody left. That's where we are. Look, it's one thing to be the team chasing. It's a whole other thing to be the team everybody's starting to look at and go, oh, wait a second. These dudes might actually be for real. They might actually do this. And that changes the weight of every possession. Now every miss three feels a little bit louder. The bad fouls a little dumber. Kat picking up the early fouls feels like somebody leaned on the panic button. Bridges getting screened three times in one possession while chasing around a guard feels like the whole season is being decided in real time. But that's playoff basketball. That's why we love it. We hate the regular season. We love playoff basketball for that. The regular season lets you hide a little bit. The playoffs pull your receipts in real time. And right now the Knicks' receipts look pretty damn good. So we'll start with Kat. Carl Anthony Towns. He's changed the shape of this offense. Not just with scoring, not just with spacing. The playmaking is the part that has jumped off the screen. When the offense runs through him, it just feels more cohesive. The ball has a place to go. There's a rhythm to it. It's not just Brunson dribbling around like he's trying to solve an escape room, and he's only got seven seconds left on the shot clock. Kat touches it, sees the floor, sees over everybody, makes the right pass, and he lets Brunson work without asking Brunson to drag the entire possession uphill. That is a huge difference. I mean, he's averaging over six assists in a playoffs alone. That's not some cute little bonus that's the offense telling you how it wants to operate. He gives them a different way to breathe. And he also gives them a different way to punish you. Now the problem is he cannot keep putting himself on the bench. You know, I love what Kat is giving them. I love the passing. I love the offensive flow, setting the screens high, being the anchor point. But my guy, please, you gotta stop collecting the bad fouls. I mean, there were moments in the Philly series where the game was kind of close, I guess, and the Knicks needed him. And he was sitting because of early foul trouble. That cannot be the pattern deeper into the playoffs. You can survive it against some teams. You can patch it together for some stretches, but the deeper you go, the smaller the margin for error gets. When Kat comes back into those games, you can feel the difference right away. The offense suddenly loosens up, the floor opens up, and the Knicks start going on 10-0, 12-0 runs, and the whole building shifts. The whole energy shifts. So the offense, the team, everybody. That tells you how important he is. You know, he doesn't have to score 35 and control the game. Sometimes it's just 16, 11 rebounds, seven assists, and everything just flows right. You know, that's the version they need. And then there is Brunson, though. Don't forget about our boy big body Brunson. Jalen Brunson is still the guy built for the stage when everything starts getting weird. The best version of the Knicks is not Brunson save us. The best version of the Knicks is Kat organizing the offense, Bridges and OG doing killer work defensively, Mitch wrecking possessions, Hart doing all the hard stuff, and then when the game gets muddy, when the ball stops moving for a second, when the arena gets real tight and it's a two-point game when the other team starts making a run, that's when our boy becomes our boy. That's when Brunson becomes Brunson. That's when you hand him the ball and say, go get this done. He's not the whole engine anymore. That's a beautiful part of this. He is the emergency break, the closer, the blanket, whatever you want to call him. Mike Brown called him the blanket. He said blanket. He said he's Linus and Jalen Brunson is his blanket. What a crazy line. But it kind of describes exactly what it is. When the game gets cold, everybody reaches for the blanket, right? I mean, Philly saw it. Brunson starts slow, doesn't matter. The man still finishes with 33, still hits the big shots, settles the game down. He has the thing championship players have. And that's when the moment gets big, his heart slows down, not speeds up. You know, everybody starts blinking, everybody starts feeling the clock. Brunson is focused on the finish line. That is a playoff closer. Now, let's add in Bridges and OG. This is why you paid the price that you paid for both of them. This is why you gave up the picks for Bridges. You know, it's not so people could argue in January about whether he scored enough against Charlotte. Not so everyone could stare at his box score and decide if the trade was worth it based on some random Tuesday in February. You made that trade for this. Playoff possessions, point of attack defense, chasing guards around screens, taking the assignment nobody on the team wants, and making the other team's best creator work for everything. Then still having enough to let him hit a corner three or cut baseline or make a swing pass and give you a bucket when the game starts getting stuck. That's why Bridges is here. I know we got on him. Hell, I got on him in the regular season. But playoff B, you want to talk off playoff B? Playoff Paul George? Yeah, right. How about playoff Mikhail Bridges? He's a dog. That's why he's here. This is where he shined last year in the Boston series. And this is where the Knicks need him again. Whoever comes next, Cade Cunningham or Donovan Mitchell, look, it's a real assignment. It's not exactly an easy task, but that's welcome to conference final. Go guard the guy who can ruin your season work. And that's what he's built for. OG's built for it too, by the way. OG's looking like old school Kawhi, like prime Kawhi. I'm gonna say it. Look, the contract was not just about points per game, it was about playoff answers. It's about having a guy who can erase a matchup, switch across all positions, hit open threes, cut, defend, never look like the moment's too big. Then this is also why Brunson taking less money mattered, man. Not just as a nice culture story, as a nice New York thing, as like a I'm a team player guy, not just people to clap about on podcasts. It mattered because it helped the Knicks build this type of roster. A real playoff roster. One where Brunson does not have to do everything. Cat does not have to do everything, Bridges does not have to do everything. OG doesn't have to do everything. Everybody has a job, everybody fits. That's when you know a team is dangerous. Oh, and by the way, here we are, we're leaving out Mitchell Robinson. If anybody on this team deserves a title, it's Mitchell Robinson. Mitch is not just throw him out there when the game gets sloppy and we need somebody to hack around a little bit. No, he changes the entire check texture of the game. He turns possessions into street fights. I mean, hard playoff basketball. Rebounds that should end possessions suddenly don't. Drives that should be clean layups suddenly turn into floaters, pump fakes, and bad decisions. He gives the Knicks a way to win when the game stops being pretty, which playoff basketball is usually not pretty.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

That's Mitch.

Coaching, Bench, And Staying Connected

NBA Picture And What Comes Next

Mets Kids Make It Watchable

Deadline Reality And The Injury Tax

Yankees Alarm Bells Start Buzzing

Subway Series With Two Moods

Giants Schedule Predictions

Jets Schedule Predictions

Belief Under Pressure In Sports

Shorter Shows And How To Connect

SPEAKER_01 13:05

And again, there's an emotional part to this, too. He's the longest tenured Knicks on this team. He's been there through the nonsense. He's been there through the fake hope, the bad rosters, the injuries, the rumors, the versions of this franchise where you were just hoping to get through the year without becoming a meme. Now, now he's a real piece on a team that can win the East and possibly win the whole damn thing. If anybody on this roster deserves to see the top of the mountain with this team, it's Mitchell Robinson. He's the bridge from the old Knicks pain to the new Knicks belief. And I know that might sound dramatic, but I promise you it's true. Every great run has guys like that. Guys who were there before it got fun, who had to eat the bad years, who had to sticker stick around long enough to see the building finally stop leaking. That's Mitch. And it's funny too. Mitch was in the trade. Well, kind of. When they traded Carmelo, the pick that they got back, they ended up picking Mitchell Robinson with that pick. So from one GOAT to another. Carmelo still helped his team hopefully win a championship. Gotta get a little uh little love to Mike Brown here, too. Look, we can say great coaching and move on, but no, no, no. Let's give a little bit of, let's dive in a little bit. He deserves credit for not turning this into a dictatorship, right? The whole thing with Thibs, he doesn't play the bench, it's my way or the highway. Mike Brown kept an open ear. The players have some input, the assistant coaches have some input. It doesn't just feel like a my way or the highway situation where everybody's waiting for the coach to prove a point. That's an important angle when you have a veteran team and players who have been through real playoff basketball. It matters when multiple guys who can see the game and feel the game and want to give a little input of how we can change things up. He also kept the bench alive. It's a lot bigger than people realize, man. When a coach buries the bench all year, not to throw a shade at Thibodeau, but it is what it is. All of a sudden you need him in May. Those guys look like they got called out of witness protection. They look bad, they look soft, they look rusty. They're not ready, they're not in rhythm. Mike Brown has actually used his bench enough that when their number gets called, it doesn't feel like a panic move. You know, Landry Shaman getting ready in Philly is a perfect example. OG's out, game gets tight, and then Shaman's just banging threes. They were calling him land sanity. That doesn't happen by accident. That happens because a player has been kept involved enough to believe he belongs on that team. That's coaching, not overcoaching, not trying to be the star of the movie, just keeping the whole roster connected, keeping the boys happy and playing loose. That is what this Knicks team has right now. Connection. It's kind of the word that I keep coming back to. When the Knicks look right, they look connected. The ball moves, the defense rotates, the bench knows its job. Brunson knows when to take over, and Kat knows when to take over. Bridges and OG know when to hunt defensively and when to fall back a little bit. Mitch knows when to turn the game into a wrestling match. And Hart knows when to do whatever chaotic thing Hart is about to do. You know, the danger is when that connection slips. That is how the Knicks beat themselves. Sure, the three-point shooting can get a little cold. That's kind of been the Achilles heel all year. Or nights where the ball is just not falling and the whole room starts getting a little tense. It happens. But missed shots are not the real problem. The real problem is what happens after the missed shots. Does the ball stop moving? Does the offense start getting tight? Does Brunson have to go superhero too early? Does Kat disappear because of some stupid fouls? Do the Knicks start committing bad fouls because they're a step too late? Do they turn a cold shooting stretch into a full-on identity crisis? That's the thing. They can miss shots and survive. They cannot lose their structure. If the Knicks keep their structure, if they keep their rhythm, if they keep trusting what got them here, I think they win the whole goddamn thing, man. Not, wouldn't it that be cute? Not imagine if everything breaks right, which things kind of have. Not, hey, you know, at least they made a run, they got to the finals. Nah, man. This Knicks team can win the championship. We can have a parade in this city. And look, it's easy to pick against the Knicks when you haven't won in th 53 years. That's that's the safe take. That's the comfortable, oh, the Knicks stink, who cares? Yeah, they're not gonna do it. Yeah, fine. At some point though, you gotta stop leaning on history and watch the team in front of you. This team is not carrying every Knicks failure since 1973 on its back. Brunson, Kat, Bridges, OG, Mitch, Hart, all of them. They didn't lose those series. So if your argument is I don't believe in the Knicks because they're the Knicks, that's not analysis. That's muscle memory. And it's lazy. At some point, I mean, you gotta watch what's actually happening in front of you. And what is happening is the Knicks look like the best team. They have a closer, they have a playmaking big, they have defensive killers, they have a real bench, they have a coach who is listening, and they have a fan base that is ready to explode through the ceiling. The hard part is not saying they can win. The hard part is playing like the team that can win when every possession starts getting a little heavier. That's where we are now. The Knicks can win the thing. They can win the Larry O'Brien. Now they just have to keep playing like the team knows it. Okay, quick reset around the league. Uh the Knicks handled their business, obviously, swept Philly. OKC handled their business. They swept the Lakers. LeBron's first time he got swept in the playoffs. Those are two teams sitting at home right now. Resting, healing, watching, probably doing the same thing we're doing, talking themselves into every possible matchup, what's going to happen, how to do it, how to handle this guy, that guy. You know, the usual. In the East, it's Cleveland and Detroit sitting in the Knicks waiting room. That series has been a little bit of a ride. Detroit jumps out early. Cade Cunningham looks like he's announcing himself to the basketball world. Cleveland gets a little wobbly. James Harden has some playoff hardened moments where everybody is like, damn, they really, they really traded for him. And then here we go. Here comes Donovan Mitchell, and Donovan does Donovan things. Second half, he had a 39-point performance. It's the kind of performance that reminds everybody in New York why he ended up in every fake trade machine for the last five years. I mean, that man, that man can ball. So look, if it's Cleveland, you get the Donovan Mitchell layer, you get the what could have been layer. If it's Detroit, you get Caden. You get the youth, the fearlessness, you get the team that already came back from being down 3-1 and owned the Knicks in the regular season. Although they don't look like any form of the team they were in the regular season. Either way, though, the Knicks should be ready. Out West, well, you got Wemby doing the thing where the future might stop being the future and just now becomes the present. I mean, he gets ejected, avoids suspension, comes back, and looks like a 7'4 cheat code. 27, 17-5 with three blocks. Spurs go up 3-2. That man is not normal. That man is an alien playing basketball. He is an extraterrestrial. Spurs are one win away from the Western Conference final, and we get that matchup that we want of Spurs Thunder. Wemby's already turning playoff games into museum exhibits. Minnesota's not dead, though, man. Anthony Edwards is still Anthony Edwards, and that team is not going to quietly just pack a suitcase. They are rough and they beat up on people. So, you know. Can San Antonio stay tough and push through, get it done, knowing they got a tough game ahead of them, tough series ahead of them? We'll see. As for LeBron, well, the the entire basketball internet gets to spend another week pretending it knows what LeBron is going to do next. That's the yearly tradition at this point. You know, some people decorate for Christmas. NBA fans speculate about LeBron's future. And the only Giannis thing I have to say here is because I know the conversation is floating around, from a Knicks perspective, I'm not breaking this thing up. Mid season, I understood the fantasy. I was all for it. I was advocating for it. It made sense as a league wide thought exercise. Giannis is Giannis. Brunson, the pick and roll, the whole works. But now, man, nah, I'm good. This Knicks group has earned the right to finish the story. If Milwaukee wants clarity before the draft, That's league business. That's not my business. The Knicks should not be sitting here during the best run in decades thinking about how to take apart the very thing that finally looks right. That's a summer conversation at most, and even then I don't want to have it. So I'm good. But yeah, that's the NBA board. Knicks waiting, Thunder waiting, Wemby kicking in the door, Cavs and Pissing still fighting to the right to walk into the garden. But now we got some baseball. And more specifically, let's get to the Mets because somehow, against my better judgment, the kids, the kids are making me want to start believe again. Diamond Talk up next. Keep it right here. More specifically, let's get to the Mets. Because somehow, against my better judgment, the kids are making me believe again. That is a dangerous sentence. Mets belief should come with one of those warning labels on the side of the medicine bottle. May cause headaches, nausea, late night standing checks, and irrational confidence after three good games in May. Yet here we are, yet again. You know, a week ago, this team was flirting with the worst place a baseball team can go. Not just bad. Bad is one thing. Bad can still be interesting, I guess. Bad can still make you angry, bad can still make you yell at the TV. It can make you complain about the bullpen and text your friends something dramatic with no punctuation and punctuation. The worst place is irrelevant. And that's where the Mets were starting to drift into. They're not fully there yet, but teetering for sure. You start stacking losses, injuries, underperformance, weird energy in the clubhouse, last place in the division. Suddenly people stop being mad and voicing their opinion and start getting quiet. Quiet is way worse. Anger, anger means people still care. Quiet means they're just making other plans. They don't really care anymore. We're gonna watch something else. We're not gonna tune in, we're not gonna go to the games. The Mets were getting dangerously close to that. And they weren't just losing games. They were losing oxygen. But then here we are. The kids showed up and cracked a little bit of a window, huh? Not fixed the whole house. Let's not get carried away. The roof is still leaking, the foundation still has some cracks in it. Somebody definitely left a bucket under a pipe and said, Yeah, we'll deal with this later. But the room has a little air again, man. I mean, Nolan McLean, Carson Benj, AJ Ewing. That group has changed the temperature a little bit. Not enough to erase the record, not enough to erase the injuries, not enough to erase the fact that this team is still way under 500. But, you know, hey, enough to make you look up again, to tune in. The Jets. What channel are the Mets on? That's the start. And it all started with McLean. We got a little bit of a taste of him last year, but he's the first piece of this kid's puzzle. You know, before Ewing came up and gave the room a little spark, before Bench started turning rough early at bats into real progress, McLean was the first one who made you say, wait, there might actually be something here. We saw flashes of how good he could be last year. Now he's getting a full season under his belt, and so far he's lived up to the billing. He looks like a real piece, not a fun little prospect story. Guy's got a curveball and a slider and a this and a that, making hitters not know where the ball's coming from. The frustrating part is that the Mets have been giving him the deGrom treatment lately. Not de Grom treatment like I'm comparing the talent. I mean, listen, hopefully, but we'll get there. I'm saying de Grom treatment emotionally. Pitch well, give your team every chance to win, look like a real top-end arm, and then watch the offense treat run support like it's against the law. Going into the seventh inning with uh an 0-1 deficit. You know, aside from the Tigers game where they actually let the kid breathe a little bit, they're hit. There have been way too many nights where McLean is doing his job and the lineup looks like it's trying to solve a riddle. That cannot be the story forever. If McLean is going to be one of the young arms you're building around, eventually the team has to reward him. Let him pitch with the lead. Let him make one mistake without feeling like the whole game just fell into a sinkhole. Let the kid look up at the scoreboard and feel like he's not pitching against a backpack full of bricks, you know? The Tiger start felt like a little exhale. Not just for him, for everybody, honestly. Then AJ Ewing comes up. And first of all, the timing is hilarious, right? The Knicks are making a run, then New York is going crazy, and the Mets call up a kid named Ewing. You can't script it any better than that without making it sound fake. But Ewing is more than a funny name at the right time. He might matter in a way that goes way past the stat line. Yes, the debut was loud, a triple, three walks, two ribbies, two runs, a stolen bass, you know. That's a grown-up debut. That's not just a, oh, he looked comfortable before a young player. He took some good cuts. No, that's he showed up and immediately started touching everything in the room. Then he adds a homer, gets on base, he brings speed, he brings a little bit of electricity, he gives them a different, you know, different kind of player. Something this clubhouse has been looking for. Sometimes in a weird place, a dejected locker room, you need a new voice. Not always a veteran giving the big serious speech either. Not always someone standing up and saying, we need to be better, we need to lock in, you know, we need to hold it together. You know, what do you guys hate losing? There is a time for that, no doubt. And good teams need that too. But sometimes, honestly, you just need the weird young kid who just got there and does not know enough about being a major leaguer to be tense yet. Sometimes you need the guy who walks in in the room and feels heavy and accidentally makes it a little bit lighter. Baseball is probably the worst sport in the world to play when you're tense. You know, it's a mental sport, the alone team sport. It's kind of the best way I can put it. Anybody that's played baseball knows exactly what I'm talking about. You're part of a team, but when you're in the box, you're alone. When you're on the mound, you're alone. When the ball is hit to you with the game on the line, you're alone. There's way too much time to think in baseball. And the second you start thinking too much, the game eats you up. You know, you can play football angry and beat somebody up. You can play basketball with some adrenaline and slam the ball home. You know, you can play hockey and some chaos and be mean and fight somebody if you wanted to. Baseball is not like that. Baseball punishes type players. AJ Ewing might have helped loosen up the room, not by being some savior, not by giving a TED talk in front of the room. Just by being young, fast, confident, and a little spunky. Maybe even a little weird. He comes up and he starts playing like he hasn't been carrying the weight of the med season for the last two months, which it seems like most of this team has been doing. Now you pair that with Carson Bench, another young guy with energy, somebody who he played with and played next to in the outfield in AAA. You know, one hand washes the other here. Sometimes the serious guys need those loose guys. Sometimes the loose guys need the serious guys. Sometimes a team that has been squeezing the bat just a little too tight needs somebody to come in and remind them that it's, hey, it's still just a game, man. We're getting paid to play baseball. That's why Ewing's debut fell bigger than the box score. And now we get to Benge. Carson Benge is the patience paying off story, right? Development wasn't exactly clean, clean, but he made a bunch of noise in spring training. You kind of had to bring him up. Didn't really want to, but he kind of earned the job. Hey man, look, fans hate hearing that, especially in New York. But it's true. Everybody wants the prospect to show up looking finished, nice swing, confident at bats, clean defense, immediate production, no ugly weeks, no maybe he just needs a little more time. That's but that's not not how it usually works, right? And early on, Benj, it was a little rough, man. Uh totally honest, full disclosure. You could see that the talent was there, but you could also see that the kid was just trying to survive the speed of the league. That jump is real, man. Like Brett Beatty, I love him, but I always call him the quadruple A player. Sometimes he's hot, sometimes he's cold. It looks like he's in between. Can't quite catch up to it all the time. Major League Baseball has a way of making talented young players look like they're late for everything. But the Mets stuck with him. And now the dividends are starting to show. The walk-off against Detroit was a great moment, especially with how the game started for him. He had a misplay early, the kind of play that, you know, can sit with a young player all night if he lets it, you know, take your defense to your offense and your offense to your defense. And then later he gets his redemption shot and he gets a chance to win it, and he does. That's development in real time. Not clean, not perfect, but real development. And now, honestly, Ben just started putting multiple better at bats together. Multi-hit games, better rhythm, more confidence. I mean, over that stretch, he starts looking less like a kid, not trying to mess things up, and more like a player who believes that he belongs on this roster. That's the big difference. That's a big confident boost. A young player surviving is one thing. A young player starting to breathe is completely different. Now you start looking at this thing and saying, okay, McLean is the real first foundation arm. Ben just showing signs after an early battle, and Ewing's coming in, changing the energy. Soto's back. The Mets sweep Detroit. For the first time in a little while, this doesn't feel like a team you watch out of obligation. It feels like a team you watch because something kind of maybe might be happening in front of you. I mean, look, careful, careful with that. Obviously. I mean, this is still the mess we're talking about. The second you start getting a little too comfortable, they usually remind you how to sit back down. And the math is still very ugly. That's the part that we kind of can't skip over here. As much as I want to, we can't. The kids can make you feel better, but the standings do not care about your feelings. One good week does not erase the hole. One sweep does not undo the bad baseball that came way before it. One spark does not magically fix two months of injuries, inconsistencies, and missed expectations. This team was getting picked to maybe win the division. That is basically completely out the window unless the Braves collapse and the Mets go on a run that nobody's ever seen before. The goal has now changed, in my opinion. Right now the goal is not go win the division. The goal is to get back to 500. Then get above 500. Then get to the deadline and give the front office a real reason to fix the mistakes instead of waving the white flag. That's where this that's where this season is. The Mets have to earn the deadline. They cannot just show up at the trade deadline with a big payroll and a famous owner and say, Yeah, we're the Mets, so go buy. No. You have to earn that. You have to give Steve Cohen and David Stearns a reason to say, okay, this thing is worth helping. If they get back to 500, maybe maybe even a little bit above by the deadline, then fine. Go buy. Go patch the holes, go fix the bullpen, go get the bat that you need, go fix the mistakes that you made in the winter. That's what serious teams do when the season is still alive. But if they're still buried, you cannot throw good money after bad. There's no reason to keep digging down just because you're embarrassed by how deep the hole already is. You know, at some point to get out of the hole, you need to stop digging. You gotta look up and figure out how you got there in the first place. That's the real front office conversation. You know, selling would be an absolute disaster. I don't want to sell. Mets fans should not want to sell. Nobody signed up for that. Fans were promised a competitor. This team was built and sold like a team that should matter deep into the summer. Trading off real pieces like Freddie Peralta or Clay Holmes would be brutal. It would feel like a betrayal of what the season was supposed to be. There's really no way to sugarcoat that. It just that's what it is. The only thing worse than selling is pretending that you're one move away when the standings are screaming that you're not. That's the line the Mets are walking right now. The kids have bought them time emotionally, but the team still has to buy it time, buy itself time mathematically. And those are two completely different things. Emotionally, yeah, they're watchable again. I love it. Mathematically, they got a lot of work to do still. The injuries are still everywhere, too, man. I mean, Francisco Avere is going down with a meniscus issue is a punch in the stomach. This kid is never healthy. He could be he was the number one prospect in baseball at one point, and he just cannot stay healthy. Lindor is still not being right after hanging over everything. Soto had a little bit of foot scare, and thank God that it turned to another disaster. Luis Roberts a mess. Polanco has missed more games at first in one season than Pete Alonzo ever did in his career with the Mets. All these injury-risk conversations, they are not just a little side notes. They are part of this massive story, this upsetting disappointment star story. And Stearns can say whatever he wants publicly, but this roster was built with risk. And right now, they are feeling every ounce of that risk. Good teams deal with injuries. Every team has injuries. The Mets are not the first team in baseball history to say, man, we we'd look better if everybody was healthy. That's not a plan. That's a wish. Stuff happens. Shit happens. The problem is when the team is injured and underperforming, that's when things get ugly. You know, Bachet has not been what they've paid for. Simeon has been rough. Luis Robert was good to start, but not lighting the world on fire before even getting hurt. And Polanco, I don't even know if he has 10 at bats on the season. The lineup had nights where Soto feels like he's standing on an island by himself, and even even he had that ugly stretch where nothing felt real or good. So again, yes, the kids are exciting. Yes, the sweep was needed. Yes, I am letting myself believe a little bit. They've won 12 of their last 18 or 17, I forget what the number is, something like that. But belief cannot turn into denial. The Mets are seven games under 500, 7 out of the wild card, injuries littered all over the lineup and still trying to convince everybody the season is not slipping away. That's why this next stretch matters. Not in a dramatic the season ends this week way. I mean, baseball is long. We get it. Weird things happen. Teams get hot, teams collapse. The season still has room to breathe. But the Mets already used a lot of that breathing room up early in the season. Now they need to start stacking. You know, one good week becomes two, two becomes three. Suddenly, you're not talking about a cute little youth spark anymore. You're talking about the team that actually stopped the bleeding. That's the path to being better. Yeah, there are going to be bad games from time to time. There's going to be bad time, bad games for the kids from time to time. Let's say that now before everybody else, X shocked. Ewing is going to have that night where he looks 21. Benji's going to have that rough at bat. McLean is going to have a bad start here and there. But that is part of the deal. Young players are not vending machines where you put hope in and get production out every night. The bigger question is whether the group has changed the energy enough to keep the season alive while the veterans try to figure it out. That's kind of where the Mets are. The kids have given them a spark. Now it's time for the adultery in the room to make it count. Is this team back yet? Not even close. But they are watchable again. And for where they were a week ago, this is not nothing. Now, speaking of teams walking into a subway series from a totally different emotional direction, let's get into the Yankees here a little bit, huh? Look, the Yankees are still the Yankees, right? No reason to fake panic just to have something to yell about. They are still one of the best records in the American League. The lineup is still strong. The pitching has mostly been dominant. Judge is judge. Ben Rice has been a legitimate force. This team has looked like one of the better teams in baseball for a reason, right? So no. I'm not going to do the whole this is uh the Yankees are in trouble in big flashing neon letters. But but there is a buzzing alarm a little bit in the background. The poll that I put out basically told the story, too. You know, 52% of you said injuries piling up versus 48% that the bats were going cold. That's what you were worried about with the Yankees. The answer is both. That's usually how it goes with a good team hitting a weird stretch, you know? It it is rarely one clean problem. It's it's a few little problems that start sitting next to each other, and suddenly the couch starts getting a little crowded, right? Yeah, the Max Fried thing is a real one. Max Fried can say he feels okay, and I hope he does. I hope it is nothing. I hope this ends up being just you know one of those stories where everybody got nervous for a couple days and he's back throwing the ball like nothing happened. But an elbow is an elbow. And he had Tommy John surgery back in 2014. So correct me if I'm wrong. That's almost 12 years ago. That word elbow, that changes the room. That gets people a little nervous. Pitching shoulder, elbow, forearm, anything in that family, nobody hears it and says, ah, yeah, nah, no big deal. This is not a rolled ankle. This is not a guy needing a day because he fouled a ball off his foot or he's got a blister. Elbow soreness for a pitcher is one of those phrases that makes the whole fan base sit up a little bit straighter. Look, the the Yankees' rotation can be a monster if Freed, Cole, Rodon, and the rest of that group are fine. But if Freed is not right, the whole conversation changes a little bit. Not panic, but a little bit of concern, you know? Panic is running around screaming. Concern is staring at the update and refreshing your phone, even though you know nothing new has gotten posted. It's kind of where Yankee fans are sitting with Freed right now. Then you throw Caballero on top of it, Caballero gets hurt. That one matters a little more than people probably want to admit, you know. Jose Caballero has been a real piece for them, kind of out of nowhere. I mean, he was giving them defense, speed, energy, versatility, real value. Boone even called him a key part of the team. And that's totally fair. That's what he's been. He's not just some random fill-in. He's he's earned the role of starting shorts out for this team. But now he slides into second and he jams his finger, fractures his finger, actually. And while everybody's counting the days and hoping it's short term, Volpe gets pushed right back into the fire. And this is where it gets interesting, because Volpe wants it. You can tell he wants it. He wants to embrace the chance. He wants to prove that he belongs. He wants to control what he can control. The noise is already there again, though. New York noise does not wait politely outside the door. It walks in, sits down, and starts asking questions before you even taking your jacket off. You know, Volpe knows that. His family knows that. Judge knows that. Jazz knows that. Everybody in that clubhouse knows what comes with the position of playing shortstop for the Yankees. If Volpe handles it, this becomes a great story. Young player gets another chance, responds to the noise, helps steady the team through an injury stretch, great. But if he struggles, that volume gets turned up loud immediately. That's where the Yankees are right now. Still good, still dangerous, still built to play uh meaningful meaningful baseball in October. But there are warning lights. Freed's elbow, Caballero's finger, Volpe's role, Stanton still not working back. The bats going cold at the wrong time, the bottom of the lineup not always giving you enough. None of that makes the Yankees bad, but it does make them interesting and something to keep an eye on. You know, there's nothing more annoying than a good team with real flaws because you can't dismiss them and you can't fully relax with them either. Which is why it makes the Subway series fascinating. The Yankees come in as the better team on paper, no argument. Better record, more stable season, yada yada yada. And the Mets come in with a way worse record, the worse injury sheet, worse math, and somehow maybe the better emotional vibe at the exact second. That's what's going to make this weekend fun. The Yankees need it to stop the skid and quiet the little alarm bells going off in the background. And the Mets need it to prove that this youth spark is not just a cute week against a meddling Detroit team. The Yankees are trying to settle themselves, steady themselves, and the Mets are trying to convince themselves that they are still alive. Same series, two completely different needs. So throw the record out when it comes to the Subway series. And I know, I know that sounds like something people say when their team has the worst record, but it's true, man. It is. These games get weird. The crowd is weird, the energy is weird. Every hit feels a little bit louder. Every mistake feels like it has a headline on the post already attached to it. The Yankees do not want to be the team that lets the Mets fully wake up, and the Mets do not want to be the team that shows up with all this young energy and immediately gets reminded that the Yankees are still the bigger, cleaner, big bad brother in this town. So yeah, this should be good baseball. Maybe not always clean baseball, but good baseball. This is gonna be a good weekend. This is gonna be a real subway series with two interesting sides going at each other. But now, from uh from one kind of fake mat to another, let's get into some football schedules because the schedule's released and nothing says responsible adult like predicting wins and losses in May. Football coming up right now, keep it. So now, from fake math for the Mets to fake math for the Jets and Giants, let's get to the football schedules. This is the time of the year where we all pretend we're being serious and responsible, sitting here in May, picking wins and losses for games happening around Christmas. It's completely ridiculous. Also, I absolutely love it. And I gotta do it because I gotta pay homage to uh the GOAT himself, Big Mike. That's a win. That's a loss, that's a win. What do you think, Mike? What do you think, mad dog? What do you think? You know. Anyway, it's a bad impression of both of them. Let's start with the Giants. Big picture, hardball raises the four. I believe that. I believe that this team should be more prepared, more physical, more organized. But the schedule is not exactly a welcome basket either. The Giants got the schedule of a team that the league wants to believe in. And the league is basically saying, okay, new coach, young quarterback, big market. Let's see it. Go prove it. And here we are, week one, Cowboys at Giants, Sunday night. The Cowboys have opened up with the Giants for the last, I don't know, four, five, six years, it feels like. And it feels like all those years they've gotten smacked around. I'm gonna go win here. I'm gonna go win for the Giants. I know, I know, I know. Giant fans are used to being a yearly nightmare. Cowboys under the lights, week one, everybody talks themselves into hope, and then by halftime, you're staring into space, wondering why you even trusted football in the first place. This time, though, I think I think they sneak it out. Both teams might be a little banged up at the skill positions. Nobody plays in preseason anymore, so I think there's some rust, a little ugly. That might actually help the Giants. Hardball's first game, bitter rival, home crowd going nuts. Giants win a close one and give the fan base a little bit of oxygen right away. 1-0. Week two at the Rams on Monday night. I gotta say loss. Back-to-back primetime games tells you the NFL is selling the Harbaugh story immediately. Giant fans are feeling good after the Dallas win, talking themselves into, hey man, if we can stop them, why not stop the Rams? And then the Rams remind everybody that they are still the Rams. Good team on the road Monday night, reality check, Giants lose. One and one. Week three, home against Tennessee. I'll give you the win. This should be a win, which means it kind of has trap game energy. Still, you're at midlife, you've you're better coached. And if this team is actually raising the floor and wants to be a good team, these are the games you cannot cough up. Giants win. So now we're at two and one. Week four, home against Arizona. That's another win. Cardinals are a mess. Jacoby Brissett is one of those quarterbacks that I kind of respect, but I'm not losing sleep over him. He can keep you in a game. He can also run an offense, but he's not the guy I'm picking to walk into MetLife and ruin the good vibes. Back-to-back home wins. Giants are three-and-one. And now the fans are getting a little dangerous online. Week five at Washington. Loss. Giants and Commanders have always played weird games. It never feels clean. A lot of ties. Somebody misses a kick. Somebody blows a coverage. On the road, I'll give Washington the edge. Giants lose a close division game. 3-2. Week six, home against the Saints. Loss. The Saints are not the automatic pushover they have been the last couple years. They like Shuck. Kamara is older, but he still has enough juice. And they just drafted Jordan Tyson. Gives him another solid young piece at the receiver position. This feels like one of those games where the Giants should win, and then suddenly you're in the fourth quarter asking why the game is tied, and they cough one up, and here we go. 3-3. Week seven at Houston. That's a loss. I'm sorry. If this game were at home, maybe I talk myself into it. But at Houston in the dome, against that defense with David Montgomery giving them real running back spot now. That's a tough spot for the Giants. Giants lose, and that 3-1 star field's gone real fast. 3-4 going into the bye. That's week eight coming into week nine at Philly. I'm going to give you another loss, but a close loss. A close loss. This is the hardball test coming out of the bye. You have a week to reset, self-scout, fix the stuff that went sideways during the losing streak. And I think they show up. I think they play hard, they play tough. Still, it's Philly. And it's Philly at Philly. I call it a measuring stick loss, I guess. Annoying, but not embarrassing. Now you're looking at three and five going into week 10. And you're home against Washington on a Thursday night. And I'm going to give you the win. Short week, division game, probably ugly again. They lost the first one in Washington. They get the split at home. Not pretty, but who cares? You break the skid. Now you're four and five. Week 11, home against Jacksonville. Loss. Sorry, boys. Loss. The Jaguars, they kind of always feel like one of those teams that you'd rather catch early before they figure it out instead of later when they've already now made some moves and Trevor Lawrence has hit his stride. You know, by week 11, there's a chance that the passing game has settled in big. And I don't exactly love the matchup for the Giants secondary. Again, close game, but Jacksonville gets him late. Now you're 4-6, week 12 at Indianapolis. And I'm giving the Giants the win. Look, the Colts are not going anywhere, man. If Daniel Jones is still healthy and playing, there's comedy built into this game no matter what. Giants get the win. And as a little bonus, they help the Jets draft pick cause. Crosstown teamwork, you know? Disgusting, but practical. Five and six. Week 13, home against San Francisco. And this is the gritty upset win for the Giants. This is the gritty game. This is where Arvell Reese gets to shine a little bit. The hammer up the middle, flying around, helping keep Christian McCaffrey in check, giving the Giants one of those games where you feel the defense setting the tone. Giants steal it, get back to 500, and now the season has a little juice again, man. Week 14, you're at 500. Also, week 14, you're at Seattle. And that's a loss. Cross-country trip, tough building, serious wide receiver talent against a secondary that again, I don't fully trust. It's not really one or where I want to live, man. Giants lose on the road 6-7. Week 15. Coming back home against Cleveland. That's a win. Look, by now, playoff seating and the wildcard stuff is starting to take shape. And if the Giants are hanging around, this is the one that they need. Plus, Harbaugh against Cleveland. He's coached against them for 18 years in Baltimore. He has the history there. I think he's 28-8 against them lifetime. This is one of those grown-up football games that you hired him to win. Giants win. 7-7. Week 16 at Detroit on Monday night. Big game for both teams, probably. I gotta give the Giants the loss on the road. Assuming everybody is healthy, I don't know. Detroit has better skill players, man. They're at home, they're in the dome, and that offense is a lot to deal with indoors. Giants fight, they fight hard, but they lose. 7-8. Week 17 at Dallas. This could decide everything. It feels exactly how the NFL would draw it up. Giants, Cowboys, started the year. Now it's late in the year. Playoff race hanging around, everybody emotionally unstable. At Dallas, I think the Giants lose a heartbreaker. It's one of those games where you stare at one third down, one flag, one mischance, and you go, yep, that was the season right there. That was it. Damn. So, seven and nine. Going into week 18 home against Philly. And I give the Giants the win. You get your revenge. I mean, who knows what a division is by then, too. Maybe Philly is just resting, guys. Maybe the seating is all locked up. Maybe the whole NFC East is still a blender. Who knows? But I give the Giants the win at home. They finish with something positive. They give the fans a good Sunday, but maybe even still miss the playoffs. I don't know. We'll see how it shakes out. Eight and nine might not be enough to get you in. But to me, that's not a failure. Not with this schedule. Not in Harbaugh's first year. Not with a roster that still clearly needs some work. You know, Harbaugh respectable immediately. He raises the floor. The operation looks way more serious. And they play grown-up football all year. They still, they're still probably a year away. That middle stretch is a gauntlet. Commanders, Saints, Texans, Eagles, Commanders, Jaguars, Colts, Niners. Then Seahawks, Lions, Cowboys, that's not a cute little development runaway. That's a league asking, are you really actually ready to matter? So for the Giants, I think the answer is close, but not yet. Eight and nine, man, better. They're better, they're tougher, they're more respectable, but they're still on the outside looking in. But for any Giants, man, they would take eight and nine. They would take respectable football. They would take meaningful games in November. Now. Now, now the Jets. A little bit of different feelings here. And look, I'm gonna try not to I'm gonna try not to be a homer, I promise. The Jets have no primetime games this year. Mostly all 1 p.ms. And good. I am completely fine with that. I do not need every national camera pointed at this team right now. They have not earned that. They do not deserve the benefit of the doubt. Just go play normal football at 1 p.m. Build something quietly. Let Aaron Glenn set the tone. Let Gino try to stabilize the room. Let Brees Hall be part of the identity and let the rookies grow. And the league is saying, you know what, fine. Good draft. Show us first. So what do we get? We get week one at Tennessee. God, I wish this game was at MetLife. But it's not. But there's still some serious juice here. Aaron Glenn versus Rob Rosala. Weird revenge factor both ways. Sala gets to say, yeah, you see who you fired, and Glenn gets to say, Yeah, they fired you for me. I'm giving the Jets the win. Both defensive-minded coaches feels like a rock fight. Just being a fan here, just give me, give me the Jets. Hard fought, ugly opener. Jets win. Give me the one and oh start, please. Okay? Now we get into the real thing. Week two, home against Green Bay. That's a loss, man. I'm sorry. The Jets are finally, the Jets finally start a season over 500, which means we should immediately hang a banner. But it's short-lived. Packers come to town. The defense keeps the Jets in it, but Green Bay hits like a late field goal or something or makes a one drive that they need. Jets lose. Jets lose a close one. Okay, fine. One and one. Week three at Detroit. That's another loss. At Detroit in the dome with shaky corners against that secondary and that tight end. Look, maybe hopefully this is a David Bailey flash game. Get around the edge, sack Jared Goff a couple times, show a little bit of spunk, give the fans something to point at. But the Lions win. The Jets show some hope. Now you're one and two. Week four at Chicago. That's another loss. God, what a brutal start, man. Packers, Lions, Bears, and the whole NFC North. Back to back to back. Look, at least Chicago, it's still warm, so there's that, I guess. But Caleb Williams probably gets him. Maybe he slices them up. Maybe it's that late fourth quarter magic that he's been showing the past couple years. Either way, taking the Bears win. So now the Jets are at one and three. Week five, home against Cleveland. You finally come back to the East Coast. I'm going to give him the win. The Browns are still the Browns, man. Jets need this. No speeches, no moral victories, no, oh, we're close. Just go out and win the goddamn game. Jets win. Now you're two and three. Week six at New England. It might be a little bit of a homer here. I'm giving the Jets the win. It's the first division game of the year. I'll say by this point the Jets are clicking enough that the defense has ramped up enough to keep this thing ugly and close. And it's a trap game for the Pats. You know, the Pats always own the Jets. Jets still win a New England. They show they got a little spunk. Back to 3-3, back to 500 in week seven. That's meaningful football by October. Home against Miami. That's another win, man. Dolphins feel like they're racing the Jets to the top of next year's draft board, which is a sentence the Jets fans know very well, just usually from the other side. I mean, they gave Malik Willis a big contract, then traded away his receivers. That offense feels like it's trying to win a race with one shoe on. Jets win. They get above 500. And again, they're playing some meaningful football in October. Four and three. Week eight, home against the Raiders. I'm giving them another win. Holy shit, don't look now. The Jets are a competent football team. Fernando Mendoza comes to down. The Jets fans get some quote unquote revenge on him, even though he did absolutely nothing to this franchise personally. That's how this works. That's the sickness. Jets win. They get to five and three, and life is looking a little too good for Jets fans. Week nine at Kansas City. That's a loss. Here comes the tailspin. At Chiefs, Mahomes is probably back and healthy and in full form. Kansas City is probably starting to click. This is not where I'm picking the Jets to keep the cute story going. Never know what can happen, but speaking not as a fan, just straight up assessor of talent, Jets lose. Five and four. Week 10, home against Buffalo. That's a loss. Big division game. Josh Allen has owned the Jets since he's gotten to Buffalo, and unfortunately, I think that continues. Jets lose at home, and this is where the fan base starts splitting. You know, half the people are saying, keep winning, we're in the hunt. The other half is uh already looking at the draft slots and rooting hard for the boys in a completely different way. Five and five. Week 11 at Chargers. This is a loss. This is one of those typical Jets loss. You're flying across country, good opponent, it's a hard-fought game. And the Jets jet. They keep it close, make you believe for three hours, and then something breaks the wrong way, one corner misses something, and Justin Herbert's throwing a bomb down the field. Five and six. Week 12 at Miami. Give me the win. I think this might be the year the Jets sweep the div uh sweep a divisional opponent. Sounds insane to say out loud, but Miami feels gettable. You know, after three straight losses, the Jets need a season rescue game here, and this is it. Jets win in Miami 6-6. Back to 500 football. Week 13 is the bye. Coming out of the bye, week 14, you're home against Denver. Loss. Nothing better than coming off the bye and staying home for your next game. The boys are recharged. They're feeling good. They're playing better. And then Sean Payton gets Aaron Glenn. Tight game, but the coaching edge shows up. Broncos steal it. 6-7. Week 15 at Arizona. I'm taking the win there, man. By week 15, the Cardinals are probably in shambles and jockeying for draft position. It would not shock me if the front office starts just making some very convenient long-term health decisions for some players. Jets have to win this one. They do. 7-7. Week 17. 500 sitting in the hunt for the playoffs. Home against New England. You got one in their building. Loss. Huge game. Big emotions. MetLife is buzzing. The fans show up. Everybody doing math. They should not be doing. And then the letdown happens. The Jets got him in New England. The Pats were not letting that slide. They come in our building and they beat us. 7-8. Week 17. Home against Minnesota. Back-to-back home games. Again. I'm giving the win. I mean, who knows where the Vikings are going to be at quarterback by then? Is Kyler Murray? Is JJ McCarthy? I don't know. Whatever the situation looks like. This is more about the Jets than Minnesota. After that crushing Pats loss. This is the big Aaron Glenn. What's done is done. Move on to the next one. Get the boys up. Get them ready to win. If the boys can get up, they can win that game. And I say they do. 8-8. Week 18 at Buffalo. Here we are. Flashbacks of 2015. Beat the Bills, and maybe you make the playoffs. Lose, and you're out. It's a loss. At Buffalo to finish the season. I hate saying it. I don't want to say it, but I'm going to say it. The streak continues. Jets lose, miss the playoffs for the 16th consecutive year. And the fan base is pissed because half the people are screaming that they screwed up their draft pick for nothing. And I don't agree with that. I hate that way of thinking. Eight and nine would hurt, especially ending like that, no doubt. Another brutal Jets let down, another scar, another why do we keep doing this every Sunday? But eight and nine under Aaron Glenn would be an immensely huge step forward. It's not parade progress. It's not hang the banner progress, but it's real moving forward progress. The Jets would be playing meaningful football late in the year, and I'm not talking about October or November. I'm talking about December. The defense would have a shape. Brees would be part of the identity. Garrett and the rookies would they would all get to grow together. The season would not be dead by Halloween for this franchise. That is not nothing. So final record, eight and nine, painful ending, but a real step forward. So both teams land in the same place, funny enough. Giants eight and nine, Jets eight and nine. Different paths, same record, same basic feeling. Better, more serious, more watchable, but still not there. Alright, thanks for sticking around with me. Let's land this plane, huh? New York Sports has reached the hard part. The Knicks have us believing in something real, and now they have to carry the weight that comes with that. You know, it's one thing to be the fun team, dangerous team, the team everybody is starting to notice a little bit. It's another thing to be the team that knows they can win the whole damn thing. And so let's go prove it. Possession by possession. The Mets kids kick the door open just enough to make you look up again. But now, now the math has to follow the spark. Again, one good week does not erase the hole that you have dug for yourself. But it does give you a little reason to keep watching. And for where that team was drifting, that means something. The Yankees are still good. The subway series is sitting there with two teams walking in from completely different directions. One trying to steady the noise, one trying to prove the pulse is real. And then the football schedules drop. Suddenly we're all doing fake math, like responsible adults trying to pick our teams, like we don't know who's getting injured, and we have the script in our hands. I got the Giants going 8-9, Jets going 8-9. Both more serious, both still probably not all the way there yet. That's sports, man. Progress does not always show up dressed like a parade. Sometimes progress shows up like as a brutal loss in Buffalo, and you're trying to convince yourself not to throw the remote against the screen. Belief is easy when the Knicks are rolling, when the Mets kids are flying around, when the schedule first drops and every game still feels winnable. The hard part is believing when the full Show up when the bats go cold, when Kat gets two early fouls, when the bullpen makes you pace around the room, when your team starts 5-3 and still finds a way to drag your heart through the wood chipper by week 18. That's where you find out if the belief is real or not. It's the same thing in life too. You know, it's easy to be positive when everything is going right. It's easy to feel good when the room is light, when the week is smooth, when the plan is working, you know. The real test is trying to keep your head right when the hard part shows up, when things get messy, when the schedule gets heavier, when you're tired, when you're behind, when you start wondering if all the work is actually going anywhere. That's usually the part where people start checking out. Don't take the punch, catch your breath, find the next right thing, keep showing up. Good things happen to good people. I really, really do believe that. Not always on your timeline, not always in the way that you pictured it. The hell, not even always without making you sweat for at first. But if you keep putting good energy out there, if you keep working, if you keep treating people right, if you keep giving yourself a chance to believe in something, eventually something breaks your way. It always does. The universe rewards you. Now, quickly, before I get out of here, I got a little programming note. The show is gonna start changing a little bit. Not overnight, not some dramatic goodbye speech. Nobody panic. You still got you still got your boy here. But moving forward, I'm gonna start leaning into shorter episodes throughout the week. More sport specific, so to speak. So, you know, instead of one giant episode where we're bouncing from Knicks to Mets to Yankees to football to this, that, and the other, and everybody's skipping around trying to find their team. I want to give each sport a little bit of its own room to breathe. NBA will get a day, MLB will get a day, football gets a day, and maybe, you know, maybe we still do an everything episode when it makes sense. We'll figure it out, we'll figure out the rhythm as we go. But the goal is simple. Cleaner listens, sharper takes, more consistent conversations, and episodes that live around that, you know, 20-minute range. Something you can throw on in the car at work, walk in the dog, pretending to answer emails, whatever, whatever the routine is. But same voice, same brain, same sports bar nonsense, just some cleaner lanes. As always, thank you for listening. Seriously, whether you whether you've been here from the beginning or you just found the show, I uh I appreciate you spending any part of your week with me. Make sure you follow along on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, all of it. It's at Rice on the Radio. Send the episode to a friend, argue with me in the comments, vote on the polls, tell me I'm crazy, tell me I'm right. You know, preferably tell me I'm right. But either way, get involved, man. I'm here, I'm here to answer you. Spread good energy, tell someone you love them, check in on your people, let yourself believe in something good this week. I am Ian Rice. This has been episode sixty-five of Rice on the Mics, and I'll catch you same time, same place next week. Cheers.