Hands At 10 And 2

Episode 54: Hands at 10 and 2

Theme this week is simple: Take the Wheel. Coaches, GMs, stars — everybody grabbed control.

We start with the Jets, because Aaron Glenn calling the defense and calling it his “superpower” is the loudest “my turn” moment of the offseason. I give the GM his credit too — early moves have direction, the cap space is real, and for the first time in a minute, there’s a pulse of hope. Giants talk is on deck as well: power dynamics, trade lanes, and what it looks like when a franchise is deciding who’s actually driving the vision.

Then it’s Knicks therapy. Cade gets a quick drive-by, but the main story is the whiplash: a comeback that makes you believe, rotations that make you confused, and the ugly mirror game that reminds you how fast this team can live and die by the three. We get into Brunson, the rotation politics, and the full KAT experience.

Baseball keeps New York front and center like always — Cole and Lindor tracking toward Opening Day, Stanton’s elbows, the Yankees roster squeeze, CC getting his flowers, Soto chasing Mets history, the Alonso aftermath, plus a quick WBC check-in and the robot-zone challenge debate.

We close with a USA hockey moment that’s going to live forever: women’s gold, men’s gold, Crosby injury fallout, and why the whole country was awake at 8 a.m. to watch a puck.

Follow along on IG @RiceOnTheRadio — Wednesday Mic Check is back next week.

Transcript

Take The Wheel: Opening Theme

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Sitten on muy fine. Hello there. What's up? Ian Rice. Rice on the mics here. Episode 54. And the theme that I landed on this week is pretty simple. It's take the wheel. Because everybody did. The coaches did, the GMs did, the stars did, hell, even the leagues did. Nobody's riding shotgun anymore. Everybody's grabbing the steering wheel mid-ride, saying, nope, my turn. And we're starting with football because the Jets basically handed us the line of the week on a silver platter. Aaron Glenn comes out and says, play calling is his superpower. Which I respect. That's not coach speak. That's him grabbing the keys and saying, if this thing is gonna work, it's gonna work my way. And somehow, some way, the GM's been making moves that feel competent. Like, I'm not used to this. There's cap space, there's a direction, it seems like. I hate that I have hope, but I've got a little bit of hope for the Jets. Giants are on deck two, and there's a big power dynamic conversation about who's really driving the vision here and what that means when it comes to potential trades. There's a world where you're building something, and then there's a world where you're flipping parts to build it faster. And those are two very different worlds. Look at the league-wide stuff too. Kelsey watch, Dolphins Noise, Cousins Domino, Cowboys trying to manage talent and temperament at the same time. Little NFL culture too, maybe, because the league is a workplace, whether it wants to admit it or not. And then the Knicks. We're running it in order. Cade says what he said, quick drive by. Then we get into that Rockets comeback. The one that makes you believe again. Mike Brown goes small and chooses chaos. The Cavs game shows you the ugly mirror. And then we're gonna go deeper on the team. Brunson, the rotations, the DNPs. I got plenty to say about Cat. Plenty, trust me. And then we got baseball. Because New York, like always, is the main character. Yankees first, Cole is on track, Stanton's saying his elbows are basically on strike. Dominguez and Spencer Jones are feeling the squeeze with Gritchik in the mix. CeC gets his flowers, and maybe we'll sprinkle in one quick only in spring training moment just to keep it moving. As for the Mets, well, Glindor is on track too. Soto making some comments, coming for that MVP like he's trying to put his name in franchise history. Devin Williams and Beatty, got some Alonzo aftermath for some former legends. And a little prospect check-in because the kids are swinging like they got rent due and they want to make this team. We'll touch on some WCBC stuff too. Scoobl's only getting one start. Skeens is gonna be wearing the flag on his sleeve. And then, of course, we gotta get into some Olympic gold medal hockey. Plus the aftermath, Crosby paying the price and the viewership number, even though it was at 8 a.m. The theme tonight is take the wheel. So let's put our hands at 10 and 2 and get after it. Jets fans, it's time. Our NFL block. So Aaron Glenn comes out and says, play calling is his superpower. Love that he didn't dress it up, honestly. That's not a press conference quote. That's a guy telling you, I'm taking the wheel back. And honestly, after last season, I'd rather that than the save version where he's just managing the vibe on the sideline and hoping that the defense figures it out on its own. The Mike Check leans skeptical on it too. I mean, 54% of you said it was too much for him, and 46% said you're here for it. I get both sides. Look, head coach is already a 24-7 job. It's meetings, media, roster, player relationships, the whole thing. Adding play calling on top of that is like saying, Yeah, I'll I'll drive, also navigate and DJ, and I'll change the oil at the red light, too. At the same time, if it is truly his best trait, then hiding it is even crazier. Glenn's basically saying, if I'm gonna be judged, judge me on the thing I'm actually elite at. That's a real leader move. I mean, it's risky, but it's honest at least. And I do want to give the GM his flowers for a second here. Muji's early moves have been competent to say. And I know that sounds like I'm describing a rare wine, you know. Oh, yes, notes of competency with a smooth finish of not embarrassing us. But seriously, it's direction. It's not random, it's not panic shopping, it's actually roster building. You can feel a plan forming a little bit. I mean, you came into a mess and traded away some guys that didn't fit the plan. You amass some serious draft capital, and I hate, God, I hate that I'm admitting this, but it's giving me a little hope somehow. Plus, the Jets have a ton of cap space going into free agency. And that matters. I mean, that means that you're not trapped. That means you can actually choose what kind of team you want to be instead of just duct taping holes and calling it a good depth piece. And that's kind of why the Brees Hall conversation matters too. The mic check I put out this week, and if you're new here, the mic check is uh every Wednesday on Instagram, I put out mic check polls for you guys to vote on. And you guys make your way into the show. I want to see how the people are how the people feel about each topic. But anyway, the mic check for Brees Hall leans 60% pay him and 40% tag him. Here's my stance. Look, paying Brees is fine. He's a weapon, he's a tone setter, he's one of the few guys on offense who makes defenses actually feel something, you know? But paying a running back while the quarterback playing is still foggy, to put it nicely. I don't know. Unfortunately, that's kind of how you end up paying for highlights instead of wins. Tagging him for a year isn't disrespectful. It's it's a bridge. It's the Jets saying, look, we're keeping the engine running while we're also finished building the car. I just need this franchise to stop making emotional decisions. Like we're grocery shopping while hungry, you know? Now, the bigger take the wheel move for me is the roster chess that's going on. And this is more flowers for Muji. Trading Jermaine Johnson to for Devondre Sweat, it's a cold move. But it kind of tells you what they're doing. It's trenches, it's cost control, it's replacing a player you traded away with a younger, controllable, similar, similar caliber player. It's building the defense from the inside out. And it's also a giant neon sign that they're thinking about the draft and who they're gonna take and the next two years, not just next Sunday or who's gonna be here. It's the front office saying, we're not doing nostalgia, we're doing structure. And honestly, that's what needs to get done sometimes to change the results. I mean, take a page out of the Mets book, the core is not working. It's it's gonna be painful, but you can't keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. As for the giant side, well, the stuff is there and it's fascinating, but it's a little muddy. So I'm gonna try and frame it the right way here. The conversation going on right now is power and vision. But who's actually driving? I mean, if you got a head coach with a strong personality who's respected throughout the league, and a GM who doesn't really know how long he'll actually be the GM, but trying to run the long-term plan, well, I mean, it's either gonna be a perfect partnership, or or it ends up being two people trying to grab the wheel at the same time going in different directions. And when that happens, that's when you start to get the trade smoke. You start to get the rumors floating around. You get the Dexter Lawrence talk, you get the Kayvon Thibodeau talk, you get the well, if the hall is real talk. That was the poll this week for the mic check, too, on Dex. And it was loud. 75% said move him if the hall is real. Only 25% said never. That's my guy. That's the fan base telling you straight up that they can handle a little bit of a rebuild, but they're not here for a fleece either. If you trade a culture guy like that, it has to feel like a franchise decision, not just a coupon exchange. Quick around the league lap because there's uh there's noise everywhere right now. I mean, it's the offseason, but there's always something going on. Well, uh the Kelsey retirement watch is on full blast, and that's kind of just one of those stories where the whole league is sitting around waiting for a text message. You got Miami, who is in just as much of a disaster as the Jets situation. I mean, Miami's got Tua hovering over them like a storm cloud, and it'd be a$99 million cap hit if they cut him. But I don't know if you can just keep him around and justify paying a backup quarterback$53 million for the year and just hope you figure it out. Then you sprinkle in the Tyreek drama, and there's other players being whispered on about the trade block, and to help the cap, they have to cut some guys or restructure. And there's also some reports that they could be in on Malik Willis, but there's also reports that Malik Willis is going to get paid. And look, I'm no CABologist, but spending$150 million on two quarterbacks doesn't exactly seem like smart football, especially when only one of them can play at a time. There's also the report that Atlanta is cutting uh Kirk Cousins. And yes, unfortunately, I'm I'm looking at it through the Jets glasses like everyone else is kind of trying to find out who's gonna be in the green and white, what retread we're gonna have again. I mean, you know, is that a real option or is it just us doing the annual connect every quarterback to the Jets ritual like every year? Is what it is, I guess. And Dallas, Dallas, once again, doing the tag talk, this time with Pickens. But that could turn into a real problem real quick. The talent is obvious with him. Both him and CD Lamb might be the best one-two duo in football right now. But with Pickens, man, with some guys, you're not just managing a player, you're managing temperament. Yeah, that's the phrase. Talent and temperament. I mean, the Cowboys are not shy to a quote unquote wild player, but Pickens isn't just a couple outbursts here and there and some sideline drama. I mean, he's a guy that if it's not getting, if he's not getting what he wants or it's not going his way, he will just completely shut down. Hell hell of a wide receiver, but not much of a team first kind of guy. You know, and he was a mess in Pittsburgh towards the end there. Everything was going great in Dallas. And don't forget, you know, him and CD got caught out at the casino at 5 a.m. well past curfew this year. Now you're gonna not pay him and just tag him. Something tells me that's not gonna end well. And last thing before we get out of football here, little NFL culture. Uh, I actually I kind of like this lane because it's it's touches real life, you know. Sports are the escape, the yell at the TV, yell root for the laundry kind of thing, but it's hard to remember sometimes that there is actual real life going on with these guys. And the NFL PA report cards came out, even though they kind of weren't supposed to. Dolphins were at the top, and the Steelers at the bottom, which is surprising to me. That that kind of tells you everything you need to know, though. I mean, fans, we talk about schemes, we talk about matchups and players and fantasy. While the players just talk about is the cafeteria food good? Is the faculty elite? Uh, do we feel taken care of? What is ownership like? Yeah, owner shit. At the end of the day, it's a workplace. And that's not soft, that's just a reality. And if your franchise can't win in the margins of being a professional operation, you're gonna lose talent before the ball is even snapped. The theme is take the wheel, right? Well, Glenn took it back on defense. The Jets' front office seems to be steering with some intention, and the Giants are trying to figure out who's got their hands at 10 and 2. Meanwhile, around the league, everybody's one decision away from changing the entire trip. Nick's time next, because the NBA side of this episode is basically New York emotional whiplash. Hardcourt next. Keep it right here. And I swear, man, this team has me feeling like I am watching the same movie on shuffle. Same characters, different order, same exact ending. Where I'm sitting there like, how how did we how did we get here again? And we'll do this in order because it's kind of the only way my brain can process it. First, we'll do a quick drive-by on Detroit. I I already hit on the actual game last week, it was going on as I was recording, but the Cade Cunningham thing, Cade walking into the garden, lighting us up, and then just casually dropping the Yeah, uh, yeah, I think I'm MVP line. It's not even trash talk. That man is using Madison Square Garden like a campaign stop. Like, hello, New York. I can do better than Mondami. I would like your vote. And you know what annoyed me? It worked, man. It's one of those moments where you're mad about it that we just got dominated and the garden lights shine for somebody else, but you're also like, uh, all right, man, I get it. I can respect it. You know, you're a young rookie player, this was your big moment. Good for him, but I don't I can't stand him. Anyway, the Rockets game, this is the one that makes you believe again, right? You're down big late, you're looking dead in the water, and then the Knicks do the thing where they remember they're allowed to defend. They're allowed to rebound, they're allowed to play with some pride. They steal the game, and it was a heist. It was the kind of win where you start texting your group chat insane things about how much heart this team has and how they can't be stopped, and they could beat anybody. And Mike Brown goes full mad scientist at the end of that one, too. I mean, benches the names, closes with a little chaos lineup. Mr. GTA 5 himself, Jose Alvarado, comes in like a mosquito you just can't kill. Pressure, hands, annoying energy. I think he had three steals in five minutes. The whole building wakes up and feeds the team the energy that it needed. And then Brunson hits that dagger over KD. I mean, that that plays into the uh one-on-one talk we were talking about last week, how to fix the all-star break. Brunson versus KD in a one-on-one. Yeah, he gave it to him. But that that's the coach take the wheel moment right there. Mike Brown didn't care what the back of the jersey said. He cared who was actually affecting the game. And the Mike Check called it a panic. Two-thirds of you said that it was a panic button. And I don't I don't actually think it was panic. Panic is guessing. That felt like choosing an identity. It was Mike Brown saying, I'm not dying on the hill of politics. I'm dying on the hill of winning possessions. So you steal that win. Now, the Cavs game. And this is where the confusion just sets right back in. It was the ugly mirror. This was a who are you really game. I mean, you go on the road, you're tied in the standings, knowing that you're trying to stay out of the 4th seed to avoid Detroit till probably the Eastern Conference Finals. And this was a bit of a measuring stick against a Cleveland team that has never really met up to standards, made some move, and now made some moves and now added James Harden. So it was back and forth for a bit, and then all of a sudden, we walk right into that third quarter and turn the building into a brick factory. You made three field goals the whole quarter. Three. That's not bad luck. That's a team getting solved in real time. And it's a shame too, because they must have rubbed off on St. John's Wednesday night against UConn. Anyway. This is where I'm gonna lean into the rant a little bit, okay? I'm not even angry in the normal way. I'm more just baffled. Like I'm watching somebody play blackjack and hit on 19. What are we doing? We live and die by the three, and it's not even the cute, oh, this is modern basketball version. This is the this is how we do it, this is how the game is played now. It's the sloppy version. It's the version where you can you can feel the team getting impatient. You know, first miss, second miss, and then suddenly everybody's trying to hit a home run shot to make up for the last two. Then all of a sudden you look up and you're 10 for 37. You're down big and you're praying for a whistle and arguing calls. The Knicks on a cold three-point night are just a different species. I mean, it's like they they forget there's a there's a paint. It's like the rim just becomes a rumor. We we start playing offense, like the goal is to prove that we can do it the hard way. And the worst part is you can see it coming from a mile away. You can feel it in your stomach. One of those nights where the ball's moving early and then it sticks. And then the possessions turn into your turn. No, it's my turn. Now it's this, and now you're in the mud. And let's get on big cat for a second here, too, because I know, I know the box score people are gonna get a little bit mad at me. You know, he leads the league in double doubles, this, that, and the other. I'm not doing the box score thing. I'm talking about the experience of watching the game and watching him play. Cat has this way of just going invisible when it matters. And then you know, yeah, then you check the line after and you're like, oh, he had 23 and 10. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, did he? Did he really? How did he get that? Did he do that or did he just collect those like loose change while the real parts of the game were happening around him? Because there are stretches where you need your supposed second pillar to demand the ball, bend the defense, stretch to floor, make it ugly for the other guys. And instead, instead it feels like he's just floating around sometimes. Yeah, he'll hit a couple jumpers, he'll clean up a rebound here and there, and it looks fine on paper. But in the moment when the game is leaning one way and you need somebody to grab it by the throat, that's where he just completely disappears. And you can't tell me you don't see it too. This isn't a I don't like him rant. This is I don't trust him. That's the difference. If you're gonna be a core guy in New York, you don't get to be optional. You don't get to be nice to have. You have to be inevitable. Brunson is inevitable. When it gets tight, Brunson turns into the tax bill. It's due and it's coming. Kat? Kat feels like a suggestion. Like he might do it. I don't know. Maybe. We'll see how he's shooting tonight. We'll see how he's running up and down the court. Bothers the hell out of me, and it bothers the hell out of every hard lunch pail Nick fan. And as for the rotation stuff, this is where this is where Mike Brown kind of has my attention a little bit. Because it's starting to be, it's starting to get messy, but it might be necessary. It might be necessary to start bringing some dogs out and see who who really wants to be there. I mean, guys are getting DNP'd, guys popping in for a random burst. There's some nights you don't know who the eighth guy is, and then the game's over, and you're like, wait, Shamit played how many minutes? I mean, Alvarado closing games, Clarkson's getting phased out completely. It's chaotic. But there's also a little bit of logic to it. I mean, he's trying to find the lineups that actually win possessions, not just the lineups that look good on paper. And honestly, I prefer that. I'd rather have a coach who's willing to make people uncomfortable than a coach who just lets the comfort kill the team. I mean, Tibbs kind of had that in him, but he figured it out too late, and by the time he did, the guys were either worn down or they lost faith in him. This roster has talent. It does. The problem is finding the right combination of guys. The problem is the identity swings. I mean, one night it's dogs. The next night it's jump shots and garden vibes. One night it's defense and rebounding. The next night it's 37 threes, and we're the Warriors with none of the warrior joy. And then another night they don't know what the paint looks like. They get bullied. They let somebody else do the talking. They get pushed around. They don't get back on defense. Which which team are you guys? Which team do you want to be? Because I'll tell you what, you don't look like a championship team right now. I don't know. That's where I'm at with the Knicks right now. I'm not out on them. I told everybody to, you know, be proud of the team and be proud that we're good. And it's they're making it a little hard for me to stand by my words here, but I'm definitely not out on them. Unfortunately, I'm not fully in either. I mean, I can see it coming from a mile away, getting bounced in the second round by a Celtics upset, and then in the offseason, they trade the farm for Giannis. I don't know. It just feels like I'm staring at them like they're doing a magic trick badly. You know, like I can see the rabbit, I can see the hat, I can see the trapdoor, I see all the tricks, and yet I'm still watching, I'm watching them act surprised every time the trick doesn't work. Take the wheel is the theme, right? Mike Brown tries to take it at the end of that Rockets game. Now, now we're gonna have to find out if this team actually wants to drive or they just want to stand around and argue about the directions. That's all I got for the NBA this week. Uh baseball up next. And even with the Dodgers, the New York teams always seem to stay the main character when it comes to the MOB. And I got some thoughts on some prospects, some handmade bones, and apparently how to properly open a bag of chips. Diamond talk up next. Well, uh, besides the fact that the whole East Coast just got hit with close to three feet of snow, it is still baseball time. The weather in Florida is still 60, 70 degrees. And I'm gonna say it the way that it needs to be said. New York is still the main character, like always. Every time you think the city's gonna chill out for about five minutes, somebody hits a bomb. Somebody talks MVP, somebody's elbow falls off. And now here we are, all emotionally invested yet again. We'll start with the Yankees because that's the cleanest way to just set the table. And first on the list is Garrett Cole. I mean, the fact that we're even talking about VLO checkpoints and on track with Cole coming off Tommy John is insane. But here we are. I mean, the good news is he's touching the numbers that you want to see, right? The bad news is, well, it's still baseball. Guys can get hurt sneezing. And the timeline is still foggy. It's like a foggy windshield, right? It's the wipers are kind of working, but you see where you're going, you're not really sure how you're getting there. Unfortunately, you don't get to pencil him in like the normal ace. You you get to circle his name and just pray that you don't smudge the fresh ink. That's where the Yankees are at right now. They're hopeful, they're cautious, but they're hopeful, and they're still kind of white knuckling the whole thing. As for Giancarlo Stanton, look, I'm sorry. But this quote, this quote is exactly what spring training is all about. The man basically said that his elbows are so cooked that he can't open a bottle of water or a bag of chips. A bag of chips. He can't enjoy his nice favorite sour cream and onion lay's potato chips. That's not a baseball injury. That's a can I live a normal life kind of injury. And the reason it matters isn't because I'm making fun of him here. It's because the Yankees need him to be one of those October monsters if they want this whole thing to work out. That's the stress with the Yankees. They're built for the big moment. But you can't just fast forward to the big moment if the body parts are falling off in March. And then you got the roster squeeze getting even tighter. They bring in Randall Gritchuk on the cheap, and all of a sudden you look around and it's like, okay, so where exactly is everybody gonna play? Because it sure feels like Jason Dominguez and Spencer Jones are on the uh, we might have to make a call list more than ever. It's not personal, it's math. I mean, this is the baseball version of musical chairs. Front offices don't get emotional, they get aggressive, hopefully. If they think that they can turn an outfield log jam and a young prospect into pitching depth or a controllable piece somewhere else, they're gonna do it and not blink about it. Also, a quick little shout out to CeCe Sebathia. It's actually one of the best parts of baseball. CC getting his jersey retirement, number 52. That's a real New York moment, man. That's that's a you were there for us when it mattered most moment. It's not just the stats, it's the edge, the leadership that he brought, the tone that he set. CC for the Yankees was one of the last guys where you felt like you were already up 1-0 just because he was on the mound to start the game. Respect and uh happy for CC there. Alright, Mets. And the Mets are Mets are kind of in a similar lane with Lindor, the way that the Yankees are in with Cole. I mean, different injuries, but same vibe. I mean, it's kind of like a please be on track, please be ready feeling. Everything sounds like he's on pace. I mean, the stitches he had surgery, the stitches are out, he's ramping up, he's pushing towards opening day. That's the plan, right? And that matters because the Mets don't need Lindor to be just fine. The Mets need Lindor to be the guy who makes everything around him make sense. You know, he's the connector, he's the drums, the rhythm section of the team. As for the MVP conversation, well, this is where Soto comes in. There's been a lot of Soto versus Otani talk floating around already, and Soto's not shying from it. He's leaning into it, actually. He basically looked at the league and said, Yeah, I'm coming for that. And the mic check that I put out told you how the public feels. 82% of you went Otani. And that's not disrespect to Soto. That's just the reality, unfortunately. I mean, Otani is the default setting until you prove otherwise. So if Soto wants to be the first Mets MVP, he's got to do the New York thing. He's got to be great and make the games matter. Mets can't be just a cute story and have a great player on their team, but they're not going anywhere. They're fighting for a wildcard spot. No, the Mets have to be a real contender, and Soto has to be the face of it. Couple other names worth mentioning, Devin Williams and Brett Beatty. And I actually like grouping these two together because they both scream the same word, uh, identity. Devin Williams is the mental toughness short memory guy, right? And that's closer life. And that's New York life, honestly. If he's right, you shorten games and it changes the whole feel of a season. Beatty is the other side of that. Young player trying to force his way into at-bats, trying to be useful everywhere he can be, trying to just prove that he belongs in the lineup. That's the Mets. Huge ceiling, but it you still need some guys to claim roles instead of just renting them. And I got a little Alonzo aftermath here, too. This is where the conversation gets loud. It's been getting loud ever since Alonzo hit his first home run in spring training for the Orioles. Trust me, we all saw it. It all hurt. But when the franchise guy leaves, the whole town turns into philosophers. Daryl Strawberry himself comes out and basically says Pete will regret it. And he framed it as a mentality thing. Like, if you want to be remembered the right way, you stick it out and you win. And I get it. That's a Mets legend talking like a Mets legend. That's somebody who did it with New York and then went to the Yankees. At the same time, though, baseball is business. The Mets are trying to build something that's bigger than one guy. And the only way that debate ever gets settled is wins. If they win, it's a smart move. And if they don't, it's how could you let him walk? You know, that's always how it goes. Prospect talk, real quick, because it's spring and people want some names. Nolan McLean, uh late stud last year. He's the one that keeps popping. And that's good. That's what you want. The other one I want to talk about, though, is uh Carson Bench. You know, he was rumored to be the starting right fielder. Then it came out that he's gonna have to fight to get the job. Well, three hits, and more importantly, three hits on two strikes. Okay, foul pitches off, staying in the fight, refusing to give away an app at. That plays here. That plays in New York. That's the kind of detail that tells you a guy might actually handle the New York pressure because he's not folding when it gets uncomfortable. Two last things I want to touch on here. Uh the WBC. Scoobyl, uh, it's reported that he's only gonna get one start. Kind of a bummer. I mean, you want that ace later. You want that ace in a big matchup in Japan or DR, like deeper end of the tournament, but it is what it is. Skeens, though, Skeens did a whole interview about the WBC, and that's the flag on the shoulder energy. That's uh I want USA to win this thing, not I'm just happy to be here and this is a fun tournament. The WBC works when stars treat it like it matters, so I really, really love that tone. And last but not least, because I can't resist the robot zone challenge-only system. I ran a mic check on it, and it was basically unanimous. 87% said that they love it, while only 13% said that they want to keep the human element of the game. I am 100% with the 87%. Nobody's asking for full robot baseball, right? People just want the worst calls to stop deciding the games. And it's challenge only. Challenge only is a safety net. It's not a complete takeover. I mean, the theme is take the wheel, right? This is what we've been talking about all night. Baseball's version is simple. The stars calling their shot, teams making tough roster decisions, and the league trying to clean up their margins because the margins decide everything. So from here, we pivot into a little hockey. And I promise you, we'll keep it short. I know you want it longer, but they just got off a two-week Olympic break. I don't know if you noticed. When you win gold, you get your moment on this podcast. Keep it right here. You uh say, you uh say. Quick hockey lab. And I know, I know what some of you are thinking, Ian, hockey? NHL at the end of the show? People start reaching for the skip button. Don't. Not this week. Because the Olympics gave us one of those rare moments where hockey stops being a niche sport that you have to explain, and it turns into the main event. This was a USA moment. Let's give the women their shine first because they earned every second of it. USA Canada for gold is the purest rivalry we've got. No gimmicks, no manufactured drama. Just two countries that basically know each other's playbook by heart. Canada gets the first punch, short-handed goal, and then it's that feeling like, ah boy, here we go again. Then the US does what champions do. They don't panic, they don't start chasing, they stay in it. Late in the third with the clock screaming at you, Hillary Knight ties it up with just over two minutes left. That wasn't just a nice goal. That's leadership. That's a captain saying, no, no, no, not today. And if you know anything about Knight, she's been the face of this thing for a long time. She's got records, big moments, she's got all of it. And that was another one. Then they get into overtime and Megan Keller ends it. Backhand winner, the dangle of all dangles, goes five hole on the goalie, and that's the gold. Third Olympic gold for the program, first since 2018, undefeated tournament, and they basically smothered everyone on the way there. Now, for the men's gold medal game, this is the one that felt like it rewired the sports standing in this country. USA Canada, uh, again, you're staring at the jerseys, and it's like, this is the nation that invented the sport. This is their pride, this is their thing. If you watched the All-Star game last year with the Four Nations tournament, you were waiting for them to drop the gloves again. But USA comes out and they score first. Canada answers, bad power play, and the whole game just turns into survival. Canada's throwing everything they have at the net, and Connor Hallebuck, Secretary of Defense, is out there putting on a goalie performance that people are going to talk about like folklore. 41 saves, highlight stuff, the meanest, nastiest uh stick save. The kind of night where you just start feeling like the puck is magnetized to his pads, right? Then we get into overtime. Same thing as the women. Three on three, hearts and throats, everybody's panicking, watching. And Jack Hughes, New Jersey Devil's own, ends it in one minute and 41 seconds. Golden goal, pandemonium, USA chance, guys blacking out from adrenaline. That's not just a goal, that's a stamp. And here's the part that hits me the most. A lot of these guys were already stars in the hockey circles at home. They're known in their cities, they're loved, in their locker rooms, they're legends. But this is different. This is national. Hockey is still the fourth sport over here. Most of these guys are basically kids in the grand scheme of thing. And they just beat Canada for gold. Their lives are forever split into before and after. You can win a Stanley Cup and have your name etched forever on the most sacred trophy in the sport. And that's incredible. That's a thing that people dr hockey guys dream and die about. But this is another kind of legacy. This is being This is being remembered across an entire country forever. This is USA lore. The kind of thing where 20 years from now, 30 years from now, somebody's dad, somebody's grandpa is still telling the story like it happened yesterday. They remember waking up and going and watching and listening to Freebird all day because of it. Now there is a cost too. Crosby, Sid, Sid the kid, not so much a kid anymore. Crosby ends up getting hurt in the semifinal game, and you know he would do anything he could to uh play in that finals game. But now that he's back in the US and playing for the Penguins, he's uh he ends up on the IR. That's the tax, man. Look, everybody loves best on best until your franchise guy comes home broken. And again, the other the other are you kidding me detail of this is people actually watched this like it was an appointment TV. The men's gold game averaged 26 million viewers and at one point peaked around 35 million at 8 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. That means if you wanted to watch it start to finish, you had to wake up at 5 a.m. in Canada or California. That's not a niche audience. That's the whole country waking up for a puck drop. So yeah. USA women win gold. USA men win gold. Both teams beat Canada at the sport that Canada treats like a birthright. Lives are forever changed, legacies are forever cemented, and the sport got its moment in the sun. The theme is take the wheel, right? Well, that was USA hockey grabbing it with both hands and driving straight into history. Thanks for sticking around. Let's bring this thing home. And if you listened all the way through, you already know what the theme was this week. Take the wheel. Because that's what this whole episode was. Not wait your turn, not hope it works out, not we'll see. It was people grabbing control. Aaron Glenn straight up told you play calling is his superpower. That's him saying, I'm done watching this thing happen to me. And the Jets front office is finally making moves that look like direction, which is a sentence I never thought I would say out loud without laughing. Giants are sitting in the same conversation too. Who's driving the vision? What's the power dynamic? And whether you're building patiently or you're making a big swing and changing the whole timeline. And as for the Knicks, well, that team is the definition of hands on the wheel, eyes on the road. One night you look like a team that can punch with anybody, and then the next night you're bricking threes and staring at the rim like it owes you money. Mike Brown closes small, tries to force an identity, and it's a reminder that coaches don't get to fix everything, but they can at least decide what they're willing to live with. Baseball gave us the New York main character energy like it always does. Cole and Lindor both trying to stay on track to get back. Soto looking at the league like he wants to snatch a legacy. And the Yankees doing that annual thing where the roster is a math problem and half the lineup is held together with athletic tape and optimism. And then USA hockey. Both teams, men and women, went into Canada's backyard, said, Nope, this is ours tonight. Those are the kind of wins that don't just change a season, they change a life. Names get remembered differently after that. So here's the point. And this is where I want to leave you with something real. Taking the wheel doesn't mean you know exactly where you're going. It just means you stop pretending you're not in control. It's making the call. It's having the tough conversation. It's setting the boundary. It's showing up when you don't feel like it. It's saying, I'm not letting the weak drag me around anymore. I'm driving. Even if it's messy at first, even if you stall out once or twice, that's still a lot better than sitting in the passenger seat of your own life acting surprised at where you end up. Alright. If you rocked with this episode, I appreciate you for real. Make sure you go follow me on Instagram. It's at RiceOnTheRadio. The Wednesday mic check is every week. And I'm reading your answers and weaving them into the show. So make sure you tap in, you vote, talk your talk. If you got a hot take, a question, a mailbag heater, send it. I always answer. Even a good meme. I love a good meme. That's how we keep this thing building together. And as always, spread good energy in this world. Be the reason that somebody's day gets just a little bit brighter. And make sure you tell someone you love them.

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This is

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Episode fifty-four of Rice on the Bikes. I am Ian Rice, and I'll catch you guys same time, same place next week. Cheers.