East Meets West Sports with Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan Podcast Por SCAN Media LLC arte de portada

East Meets West Sports with Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan

East Meets West Sports with Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan

De: SCAN Media LLC
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Coast-to-coast perspectives. One shared passion.
On East Meets West Sports, L.A. legend Rick Garcia and Jersey’s own Corey Nathan tackle the world of sports from opposite sides of the map — and often opposite points of view. Whether it’s baseball, basketball, football, or the culture that surrounds the games we love, Rick and Corey bring stories, laughs, and a little friendly trash talk to keep it all fun.
Because no matter where you’re from, we all speak sports.

Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Episodios
  • Gary Apple Joins the Double Team: Mets, Madness, and War Stories w/ Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan

    Gary Apple Joins the Double Team: Mets, Madness, and War Stories w/ Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan
    Mar 18 2026
    Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan open with a World Baseball Classic check-in and bracket talk before bringing in the big guest: SNY veteran Gary Apple, who joins the Double Team to break down the 2026 Mets, reflect on 20 years at the network, and trade war stories about Bill Parcells, Kareem, and the late-night legends of KMOX Radio. The Pop That Culture segment closes things out with a tour of sports records so outrageous they make Bam Bam's 83-point night look modest. Find Us On Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Follow Rick Garcia: @RickGarciaNews on X (Twitter) Follow Corey Nathan: @coreysnathan on Substack, Threads, Instagram, X & more Key Takeaways 1. WBC: Good for the Game, Nerve-Wracking for Mets Fans The US punched through to the championship game against Venezuela, and Mets pitching phenom Nolan McLean is set to start the title game. Rick and Corey agree on the WBC's appeal for growing baseball internationally, but Corey can barely enjoy it. With McLean already throwing a tick harder than he was at the end of last season, the last thing Mets Nation needs is a dead-arm period hitting him in June. Corey floats an idea that actually makes a lot of sense: move the WBC to an extended mid-season break, replacing the All-Star Game the way the NHL runs the Four Nations tournament. Less ramp-up risk. More stakes. Less Edwin Diaz-style heartbreak. 2. March Madness Preview: Duke, Michigan, and the Bracket Nobody Can Predict Corey is all in on Duke as the overall No. 1 seed, even though they had a rough stretch down the stretch missing two key starters including their star center. Rick thinks Michigan and Duke are the two teams to watch, but notes that a shorthanded UCLA squad lost players in their conference tournament, which opens up a broader debate: do conference tournaments even serve a purpose? The short answer from both hosts is: not really. The Cinderella conversation is alive and well, and everyone's bracket will be busted by Sunday. 3. Double Team: Gary Apple on 20 Years at SNY, the Mets, and Being "Center Me Up" Ready Gary Apple has been part of SNY since the network launched on March 16, 2006, and the Double Team segment marks his 20th anniversary on the air almost to the day. He joins Rick and Corey to share what it was like to be the first voice on a brand new network, what he's learned from working alongside Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling, and Howie Rose, and why information is king no matter how long you've been doing this. On the Mets, Gary is cautiously bullish: The rotation looks deeper than it has in years. Freddie Peralta leads the way, McLean has star potential, and Kodai Senga has had a strong spring. The one concern: Sean Manaea's velocity is down, sitting around 89 mph. They have the depth to cover it, but it's worth watching.The lineup loses Pete Alonso's power, but gains a more aggressive offensive approach with Bo Bichette, Jorge Polanco, and the continued evolution of Juan Soto, who figures to see far fewer steal-friendly situations with this lineup construction.Carson Benge, the two-way Oklahoma State product, has done everything asked of him in camp and Gary sees no reason not to hand him the right field job.The bullpen has the pieces. Devin Williams (the Air Bender) is the key. If he's the Milwaukee version of himself and not the 2025 Yankees version, this pen can hold late leads. Gary also floated "The Dreamweaver" as a nickname for Luke Weaver's changeup, and we're choosing to endorse this.The bottom line: David Stearns runs a long-game operation. The real benchmarks are Memorial Day and the trade deadline. Get to October healthy, and anything can happen. 4. Who's the Team to Beat? (The Dodgers. It's Still the Dodgers.) Rick asks the question. Gary gives the honest answer without flinching: the Dodgers have won back-to-back World Series titles, they're built correctly from top to bottom, and they do everything right. That said, both World Series went deep. Gary thinks the Mets are a legitimate National League contender. Corey agrees, #LFGM. 5. Women's Sports Then and Now Rick and Gary get into how far women's sports has come since their early days scrambling for camera time in local TV newsrooms. Gary's niece is a goalkeeper committed to play soccer at Georgia. His daughter went to UCLA during the rise of Cori Close's program. The WNBA is drawing real audiences. Caitlin Clark is a must-watch. Rick's family watches every US Women's National Team match. The consensus is that the ascent is real, it's long overdue, and the one note of caution is the WNBA not overplaying its hand in the current CBA situation. 6. War Stories: Parcells Yells at the Wrong Guy, Kareem Goes Off in Phoenix Rapid-fire closing segment delivers two gems. Gary Apple got an earful from Bill Parcells in the bowels of Giants Stadium over a prediction he didn't even make (that was Warner Wolf's call, Bill). Rick got confronted by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Phoenix for the crime of showing up with a...
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    1 h y 8 m
  • Are the Knicks for Real? Mets Optimism & NBA Contenders with Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan

    Are the Knicks for Real? Mets Optimism & NBA Contenders with Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan
    Mar 11 2026

    Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan kick off with some NBA back-and-forth before wading into the World Baseball Classic, NFL free agency chaos, and a genuinely fun NHL jersey swap story involving a mascot, a Rolex, and a bread-themed nickname.

    Find Us On

    Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

    Follow Rick Garcia: @RickGarciaNews on X (Twitter)

    Follow Corey Nathan: @coreysnathan on Substack, Threads, Instagram, X & more

    Key Takeaways

    1. Knicks-Lakers: Great Game, or Fool's Gold? The Knicks took the L in LA this time, but neither host is convinced either team is built for a deep playoff run. Mikal Bridges went scoreless. LeBron sat out. The real question hanging over the Lakers isn't whether they can beat the Knicks; it's whether LeBron James can accept a reduced role before the playoffs start. Rick floats the idea of starting him but pulling him early. Corey wonders if the team is actually better without him. Neither man is ready to answer that question out loud.

    2. The East Belongs to Boston (Probably) With Jayson Tatum back and looking sharp after a brief rust-off period, both hosts land on the same conclusion: Boston is the team to beat in the East. The Knicks sit third, Cleveland lurks behind them, and Detroit is the mild surprise nobody fully trusts yet. Rick and Corey agree the NBA Finals most likely comes down to Celtics vs. Oklahoma City, with San Antonio as an underdog to shock everyone.

    3. World Baseball Classic: Patriotic, But at What Cost? Rick pulls out a WBC shirt from his sportscaster days. Corey remains skeptical of the whole enterprise, not because the baseball isn't good, but because the timing is brutal. The Edwin Diaz knee injury in the 2023 WBC cost the Mets a closer for over a year. Now Nolan McLean is out there hitting 97-98 mph for Team USA when Corey wants him saving bullets for a full Mets season. Rick agrees the season is already too long, floats the pitch clock as one of baseball's genuinely smart recent fixes, and both hosts wonder if there's a smarter calendar solution nobody in ownership will ever accept.

    4. NFL Free Agency: Giants, Rams, and the Quarterback Carousel The Giants land Isaiah Likely from Baltimore and linebacker Tremaine Edmonds — two smart, targeted additions that give Jaxson Dart a security blanket and new head coach John Harbaugh a linebacker who fits the defense. Meanwhile, the Rams go all-in on their secondary, trading for Trent McDuffie and signing Jalen Watson, shoring up the exact weakness that cost them a Super Bowl trip. Rick's main concern: they gave up a lot of draft capital. The bigger league-wide conversation centers on quarterbacks — Malik Willis in Miami, Minshew in Arizona, Daniel Jones clinging to a transition tag in Indianapolis, and whether a good system can unlock a quarterback that a bad one buried.

    5. Panarin, Perry, and the Mascot's Rolex Artemi Panarin gets traded to the Kings and tries to reclaim his number 10, only to find it belongs to Corey Perry. His fallback, number 72, belongs to Bailey the mascot. Panarin's solution: gift the mascot a Rolex. The whole arrangement became moot when Perry was dealt to Tampa Bay, freeing up 10 anyway. No word on whether Bailey had to return the watch.

    Spring training has begun. Hope is undefeated. For now.
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    46 m
  • Spring Training Optimism, Knicks vs. Spurs, and Marty McSorley's Bar Fight

    Spring Training Optimism, Knicks vs. Spurs, and Marty McSorley's Bar Fight
    Mar 4 2026
    Rick Garcia and Corey Nathan kick off spring training season with a deep dive into the New York Mets' offseason makeover, debate whether the Knicks have championship DNA, and close out with a genuinely wild story involving an NHL enforcer, a Manhattan Beach bar, and a fight that had nothing to do with him — but almost did. Find Us On Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube Follow Rick Garcia: @RickGarciaNews on X (Twitter) Follow Corey Nathan: @coreysnathan on Substack, Threads, Instagram, X & more Key Takeaways 1. Marty McSorley and the Art of the Enforcer Before the show even gets going, Rick's Kings trade sparks a memory: Rick spent time with Marty McSorley during the Gretzky-era LA Kings — including an interview conducted entirely from the penalty box, where McSorley had essentially spent close to a year of his life. The enforcer role is a lost art, and Rick makes a compelling case that hockey's most physical players were often its most gracious personalities off the ice. Bonus story: McSorley nearly got into a bar brawl in Manhattan Beach during the playoffs before Rick talked him out of it. 2. Are the 2026 Mets for Real? A Position-by-Position Breakdown Corey comes in with full Mets optimism and, for once, has receipts. The two go position by position against the standard-bearing Dodgers — and while the Dodgers hold clear advantages at catcher (Will Smith), right field (Kyle Tucker), and the top of the rotation (four aces vs. "a guy who pitched for a month and a half"), Corey makes credible cases at shortstop (Lindor), third base (Bichette's clutch hitting and arm strength), and a bullpen depth that may actually beat what LA trots out. Nolan McLean's rookie status, Luis Robert's upside in center, and the underrated Tobias Myers all factor in. Rick remains affectionately skeptical; Corey remains constitutionally incapable of pessimism in March. 3. Knicks vs. Spurs: Previewing a Possible Finals Matchup? The conversation turns to the NBA after the Knicks became the first team to beat San Antonio in 12 games. Corey raises the possibility of a Knicks-Spurs Finals matchup — not as a stretch, but because both teams are real. The Spurs went 11-0 in February and are clearly the class of the West. The Knicks sit third in the East with a streaky-but-improving résumé, a dynamic bench (Mitchell Robinson, Jose Alvarado, Landry Shamet), and a Karl-Anthony Towns who's been playing his best ball since digging out of a January slump. Detroit remains the elephant in the room, having beaten New York all three meetings this season. 4. The West Is Wide Open Too OKC is legitimate. Denver with Jokic is never to be ignored. Minnesota — with Ant Edwards, Gobert, Julius Randle, and Donte DiVincenzo — is sneaking up on people. Rick and Corey both agree: whoever comes out of the West will have been tested. 5. Perks of the Trade: Jack Hughes, Joe DiMaggio, and the Age-Old Equation Jack Hughes on SNL, Jack Hughes linked to pop stars and billionaire heiresses, Jack Hughes with a great smile and missing teeth. Rick uses this as a launching pad to discuss the timeless appeal of the professional athlete, from Namath's mink coat to Brady's modeling career. Both hosts answer the hypothetical: if you could play any sport at the professional level, what would it be? Rick goes quarterback. Corey, perhaps surprisingly, goes second base for the Mets. (And yes, he considered curling.) 6. Aerosmith Out, Muppets In Disney's Hollywood Studios is retiring its 27-year-old Aerosmith-themed roller coaster and replacing it with a Muppets attraction. Corey is fully on board. Rick takes the opportunity to recall his Disneyland loyalty as a lifelong West Coaster, while Corey reminisces about growing up near Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey — where he spent a summer refurbishing antique Coca-Cola machines, which is exactly as specific and random as it sounds. Spring training is underway. The arguments are just getting warmed up.
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    42 m
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