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Evan & Tiki

Olympic Gold vs. Stanley Cup: Tkachuk’s Choice Sparks Controversy

Evan & Tiki

Audacy

Sports

4.2988 Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When a two-time Stanley Cup champion says Olympic gold meant more, fans lose their minds. After Team USA hero Matthew Tkachuk revealed the gold medal experience topped his NHL titles, the crew dives into a question that hits especially hard in New York: what would happen if a superstar like Aaron Judge said the same thing about Olympic gold vs a World Series? Is representing your country the ultimate achievement… or does nothing top a championship for the team you bleed for? From Olympic glory to Stanley Cup obsession, World Series hypotheticals, and the emotional gap between athletes and diehard fans, this conversation exposes a brutal truth: players and fans do not value success the same way. Plus, the guys debate whether Yankees fans could ever forgive Judge for prioritizing Team USA, why Mets fans may soon face the same dilemma with Juan Soto and the WBC, and whether sports loyalty is more about identity than trophies. If you’ve ever lived and died with a playoff run, this one will hit home.

Transcript

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0:00.0

I mean, that's the number one thing.

0:02.0

Who knows?

0:02.8

It's like even yesterday.

0:03.6

I missed yesterday's show.

0:04.6

I didn't want to miss yesterday's show.

0:05.9

I couldn't get out of my bed.

0:07.1

But I understand that Sean took shots of me saying it was a maintenance day. He doesn't understand. No, I actually had you back a lot yesterday. Okay. I said, I do feel bad. No pun intended. Yeah. Maintenance stay. I couldn't move out of my bed

0:19.0

Maintenance stay my ass

0:21.2

Alright

0:21.8

All right

0:22.4

But I heard that

0:23.2

Load management

0:23.8

Load management I couldn't move out of my bed. Maintenance day, my ass.

0:21.4

All right. All right. But I heard that. Load management. So I understand that kind of critique. Like, it is tough to know if somebody's hurt. Right. What I saw when Rick was coaching against the Knicks, that classic loss that they had, there was a lot of things that made no sense. And I went over it a few weeks ago, not a timeout when he had three timeouts, him bounding the ball under his own basket. It just, there was a lot of weird stuff that's going on. But look, the NBA clearly has a tanking problem. But you know who's tanking really well right now? The Brooklyn Nets. Yeah. Great loss against the Mavericks. Big loss last time. Great job. I have never been this person. Back when they lost 70 games, back with the Jets. Obviously we talked a lot about with football. I've never been a tanking person. But the state of the NBA, the state of the Nets, the state of the draft has forced me into this world. I sit there and I feel horrible about myself. I actively root against my own team. I've never done it in my entire life. Now, yeah, the Nets even give the Mavs the option of pulling the plane all the way up to the Barclay Senator won't yesterday. I didn't have to worry about that trap. Exactly. I do want to play a quick clip for you and we'll get back to your calls 888 808-101-19. Yesterday, the team USA gold medal winners were everywhere.

1:30.9

They were on cable news channels.

1:32.1

They were at the state of the union.

1:33.3

Though it felt like they didn't get a seat at the state of the union.

1:35.6

Like they were back backstage.

1:38.4

And then when the president introduced them, they came out.

1:41.8

And what did they observe?

1:43.6

They stood there while Trump talked about them and then they went back. So I guess there was not enough seating for them, which actually makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Well, I mean, that's how I'd prefer it. Hey, thank you for acknowledging us. I'm out. Yeah. I'm not sitting here for an hour and a half. See you. We're 45 minutes of it as people cheering. I want that ban from the state of the union. And that's not a partisan comment. I've been saying that for 20 years. Cut it out. I don't need cheering, right? Let the president speak. Let him give us the state of the union. You shut up and we move on. That would save us 45 minutes. I'm tired last night. Anyhow, I did not watch. No, I understand. How could you? You fall asleep? So, Brett Bear, one of the guys I truly like, a big Brett Bear guy, probably my favorite guy in all of cable news. He was interviewing a bunch of guys from the U.S. Men's Olympic team, and he asked Matthew Kachuk, who was on the Florida Panthers. And I don't know if you know this, Sean.

2:34.4

They've won back-to-back Stanley Cups.

...

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