The Kevin Sheehan Show - 4 Years Ago: Fed Ex Killed The Name

Episode Date: July 2, 2024

Kevin and Thom today opened with James Wood's Nats debut and then got to what happened four years ago to the day. That was the day that Fed Ex took the first step towards killing the Redskins name. Fed Ex issued a statement on July 2, 2020 requesting the Redskins "change its name" and the team responded that they would "undergo a review of the teams' name". The boys went back and talked about what happened, why it happened, and the many ramifications that followed because of Fed Ex's decision that day. The guys talked NBA Free Agency, Thom's recent trip near Kevin's neighborhood, and lots more. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. James Wood, in his first at bat, singles to left field after working the count full. The big boy was one for four in his major league debut, Tommy. Look pretty good. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Wind Donation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. mention my name for a free in-home estimate. The Nats lost the game 9 to 7 and 10. It was a wild 10th inning, top and bottom. What did you think of Big James Wood and is one-for-four-night walked once and reached space another time on an air? Reason to be very excited. Absolutely.

And here's what I thought. I thought, how sick must it be for San Diego Padres fans to watch McKenzie Gore, C.J. Abrams, and now James Wood, on the field at the same time in Major League uniforms. While the guy they traded away for,

they traded for to get to trade those guys away to get, Juan Soto isn't even in San Diego anymore. Well, not only, is he not in San Diego? He's absolutely tearing it up for the Yankees. Yes. With the Yankees. So, I mean, this is just,

I mean, you know, Mike Rizzo has A.J. Preller's number. That's the guy who they stole Tray Turner from years ago when Ian Desmond was going out the door. And now Rizzo has managed to put three major leaguers on the field from that trade with two more prospects still in the minor leagues to possibly come up. So that's what I thought of. I thought of, you know, it's, you can't. replace a generational player like Juan Soto, but this certainly

finally eases the pain a little bit to see those three guys on the field. Yeah, I'm sure it does. But to be very excited, there are a couple of things. First of all, he is really a big dude. I'm not watching a lot of the

AAA Rochester, any of the minor league teams he's played for even prior to the trade. But he's one big dude. Tommy, I thought about this. You know, he played basketball for St. John's when he was at St. John's as well. And I guarantee you I was in that gym with him in there because many times a lot of the, we practiced there for years, the team that I coached, and a lot of times the boys team was in

there practicing right after us. I'm pretty sure I probably ran into him. Look, when you're at St. John's or Paul the 6th or Dematha or Gonzaga and you're hanging around fields or gyms, it's a pretty good bet you're going to bump into a future pro in something. But, man, you know, you probably maybe saw his father, Kenny Wood. Probably. You know what, it's funny. The cutaways to his father in the crowd, he looked very familiar.

Very familiar. I mean, he's in the hall fan. at Richmond for his basketball play. So you probably saw him. Yeah, he comes from a basketball family, but it's baseball's gift that he decided to play baseball because, let's face it, there's not enough young black men choosing baseball over basketball.

And particularly in this town, if James Wood turns out to be the real deal, and you have a young black player as a star for the team, in the district, that's a big draw. That's something that you want if you're to national. Well, it would be great if they actually are on the verge of being a contending team in the next year or two. If C.J. Abrams and James Wood were the star players.

Because C.J. Abrams is killing it here, you know, recently. And I think the all-star selection thing is tomorrow night. I think it is. Do you think C.J. Abrams will be an All-Star? Yeah. I think he will. I think he should be, don't you? Yes. I mean, look, you've got to pick one player from every team. Yeah. So he seems to be the most reasonable choice at this point for the National League.

It's an exciting player. It serves to be. One thing about Wood, can we get a helmet that fits his head? You know, every source. swing every step the helmet was bouncing around and he he had it was like it seemed to be a distraction to him maybe that's what he wants maybe that's part of the look that he wants but man that helmet was flying off basically on every swing whether there was contact or not it's maybe a style thing uh because cj abram's helmet always comes off when he's flying around the

basis, you know? Yeah. All right. Well, the game was interesting. I mean, you know, the Nats had a chance after giving up six runs in the top of the 10th. I mean, Hunter

Harvey got lit up, but they really battled and it's been sort of kind of their, you know, their M.O. all year is that, I mean, they were down 8-0. The other night to San Diego came back with five runs in the bottom of the 9th and lost 8 to 5. I mean, it's, you know, it's

hollow at some level, but it's kind of who they are. They're kind of the fighting overachieving nationals, and they were down 9-3 after giving up six, and they had an unbelievable tent, and Garcia was up with two runners on. He was the go-ahead run at the plate down 9-7, and he struck out on a definite ball. I thought that was out of the strike zone. But rough stretch for the now. Overall, six out of seven, though, losses. They've lost at least maybe four or five games that they should have won in the past two weeks.

Their record should be better. I mean, I don't want to see them. I really don't want to see them slip out of the wild card. You know, I don't want to see that happen. I don't want by the middle of July with the trading deadline, you know, to be eight games out of the wild card. want them to stay close. I'm totally with you, but there have been games here recently that have gotten out of hand. I mean, the game last night was a great game.

It went to extra innings, but they got pounded by the raise the other day. They just, in the worst moments for them, they cannot generate enough offense, and that's why James Wood is up in part. It's the reason he's up, you know, now. I'm with you, though. I would like to see them hang in there, but they're like now five, four and a half or five games out. And this time last week, they were basically the second wildcard team. And so there's now some separation being created.

And the team that's played great baseball after a terrible start is the team they lost to last night. The Mets. Yes, the Mets. Who are now at 500. Yeah. All right. That's why this series is important. The series is important, for sure.

James Wood, it would be fun to watch him. Do you think Cruz will be called up and if so, when? I mean, he does not have, I mean, he must face it, he just started playing in the minor league. He doesn't have the experience that Wood did, you know, I don't know if he'll get called up until September, when they do to September thing. I don't know if he will.

It depends. It really depends. I mean, if he's hitting $3.50 for the next month, you know, and they are close in a wild card race, then I think they would call him up. Yeah, I'd like to see him, too. Yeah. All right. So I had a friend of mine send me a link to a story this morning, which was a story about four years ago today. Do you know what happened four years ago today, July 2nd, 2020? No, I don't.

July 2nd, 2020, four years ago to the day, FedEx put out a statement that read, quote, We have communicated to the team in Washington our request that they change the team name, closed quote. It was, as FedEx said, in response to growing pressure from investors who opposed the name's racist connotations. The team responded with, quote, we will undergo a thorough review of the team's name, closed, quote. Four years ago today, Fred Smith and FedEx went scorched earth on Dan Snyder and the Washington Redskins franchise. It was not because of growing pressure from investors who oppose the name's racist connotations. We know that now. We didn't know that then.

There were always investors who pressured corporate sponsors of the NFL and of the team in Washington about the team's name. No, it was much more than that. It was that Dan was screwing Fred Smith, Bob Rothman, and Dwight Schar, his minority shareholders who owned 40% of the franchise. He was withholding dividend checks. He wasn't giving them access to the books. We found out, you know, several years later, when Don Van Nata from ESPN wrote one of many of those stories that kind of revealed the relationship between Snyder and his minority shareholders, that Dan had taken out a $55 million credit line, something that required approval of the minority partners. He never got that approval. and there was just a lot of financial misconduct going on with Dan towards his minority shareholders,

and they had had enough. Now, they had been growing weary of Snyder anyway, but it was at that moment in the summer of 2020. You know, the environment was there, too, in the wake of George Floyd's death, murder, you know, and cancel culture, you know, being at its height. The environment existed for Fred Smith to go after the name, and he did it. What's interesting to me, Tommy, is whether or not the name would still exist today if Dan had treated his partners professionally. If he had given them access to the books, if he had paid them their dividend checks, if he had sought approval for the $55 million credit line, etc.

Would they have gone after the name? Probably not. Doesn't mean that the name wouldn't have gotten swept up in the environment of the summer of 2020 anyway. But just interesting to kind of consider and wonder whether or not that process would have begun then had Dan treated his financial partner. his minority shareholders professionally and appropriately?

It may not, but what the team have been sold then. Okay, if the team is sold still, I think there'd be a lot of pressure to change the name as part of the sale deal from the NFL. I think the NFL would see it as an opportunity to finally get this behind them. that's a possibility. Yeah, interesting. I don't know if the league would have taken the opportunity with new ownership to pressure them into changing the name. But I think that's separate from whether or not Snyder would have sold the team if Fred Smith didn't start the process four years ago of

the name change. Because I think Dan ultimately was undone by the way he ran the organization. the toxic workplace, the sexual harassment claims, you know, that led to investigation after investigation. That's what really did him in. The way he ran the organization for 20 plus years took him down to put him in the position that he ultimately got into. No matter what, if the name was changed or not. Yeah, I do. I really think ultimately it was the many women, the many people that came forward to say that they had worked for an organization. that was out of order, you know, toxic, harassing, bullying, etc.

And I think that that was, you know, really ultimately what wore him out, wore the league out and did him in, although I will say this. And I've thought about this before as it relates to the name. I think like many fans, I think Dan's passion for owning the team changed when the name was lost. So I do wonder whether or not he would have fought harder had the name stayed in place to keep the team. I don't know. Just a thought that I have as it relates to any of us that had so much passion and so much emotional connection to the team over a long period of time. The name was a big part of it.

And I think when the name was lost, remember he had said, you know, years. earlier, never, never, never, never in all caps. And losing that name may have, you know, may have lessened his emotional attachment like it did with everybody else. So I wonder if he would have fought harder had the name stayed in place, maybe. I don't know. I don't know how much passion he had in the team. I think that was overblown.

I don't know. I think he had passion about being owner. of the team. I don't know he had passion in the team. I don't know. I think that I think he felt, you know, I'm not trying to put him in the same seat as the fans that, uh, don't love the team as much anymore because of the loss of the team name, which, you know, as we all know, is a huge issue. But I think that when that went, you know, it was probably, you know, well, it was. It was at a time where you knew the post story was coming out as well.

You know, he's going after the Indian, you know, a marketing company that, that, that, you know, created this stir over, um, over what the post was going to report, you know, Jeffrey Epstein stuff and drug parties and sex parties, you know, all the stuff that actually wasn't true. Uh, I don't know. I mean, at the same time, you know, Aunt Jemima, Uncle Ben's, you know, all the things that got caught up in the summer of 2020, it may have just, you know, died that way too. Although we were still in the basking those of us that wanted the name to remain

in the 2016 poll which was kind of the mic drop for those that said please stop telling Native Americans how they should feel if you're not one. The 9 out of 10, 2016 poll really quieted the conversation down.

Yes, it's it. Until the summer of 2020. Yeah. It really did. I don't know what would have happened, Tommy. If he had treated them the right way. I hear what we can say. They haven't recovered from it yet.

They haven't recovered from the loss of the name yet. No. No. They have not. I wonder if Fred Smith knew at the time how impactful the name change would be. Because remember, you know, back then, there were people, you know, out there that were advocates of the name change that, you know, tried to make the case and they knew nothing about business. They knew nothing about branding. They tried to make the case that a name change would be a financial windfall, you know, for the team.

I wonder if he really understood at the time how, you know, how impactful that decision. would be. I mean, I think in the moment he was just, you know, really pissed off and was seeking something, you know, equating to revenge. He, he, this was, I want to make sure that I'm clear on this. I don't know if the name would have eventually gotten caught up in the summer of 2020, like a lot of other brands, you know, perceived racist brands did, ridiculously. And in some ways, we'll look back on that time and think of it as very silly. But I don't blame Fred Smith for the loss of the name. I blame Dan Snyder.

You know, nobody was more self-sabotaging than he was as the owner of this franchise. This is a guy that literally took a two-by-four and smacked himself in the face over and over again during his 20-plus years of owning the franchise. Anyway. Well, ultimately, the fans got most of what they wanted. Dan Snyder doesn't own the team anymore. Yeah, we need a little bit more, though. We need this name and these uniforms gone.

I mean, just give me the damn uniforms back at the very least. I know the Native American imagery is going to be difficult. I understand that, but I don't know. It's crazy, the whole thing. Four years ago, what? a summer that was. I mean, Tommy, I mean, and we go back a few months. Well, a few months before that, where COVID started. God. Yeah. What a crazy two years, really. But that summer was nuts. All right. We got other things to get to, and we will do that right after

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It's too dry. You know, I learn that occasionally because I don't have a humidor. Okay. But if you go to Shelly's, you can rent a humidor. You can keep your cigars at Shelly's, even the ones you buy, and from someplace other than Shelly's, you bring them in. You can keep them in your private Umyth. They have over 200 humidor's available for annual lease.

They line the walls on both sides, both rooms of the two rooms that they have at Shelley's. And they're all walnut, you know, beautifully decorated with your number on it and you have a key. You have to have, you know, an annual lease. You can find out more information at shelley's backroom.com. There have been some very prominent people, legislators, corporate executives. I remember the president of NASCAR had a humidor at Shelley's. I think DeMorris Smith, the NFL, former NFL union president, I think he had a humidor at Shellies as well.

I mean, just can too. Famous people with humidorers at Shelly's. You walk in there, you're bound to see. one of Tommy's very famous friends. Yes, and it's a status symbol, and it's not that much money. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. And like I said, Shelley sells the best cigars you'll find in D.C., but if you've got some at home and you want to bring them in, keep them in the eumadour,

you certainly are allowed to do that. It's your humidor for the time you lease it. And, you know, Shelley's backroom is located at 1331 F Street Northwest in the district. And just like the humidor keeps the cigars cool, Shelly's on hot days, which are coming back now here this summer, we'll keep you cool as well. Yesterday was a lovely day.

God, yesterday was an absolute gift. We'll take those. All right, you wanted to tell me that you were somewhere near my neighborhood over the weekend. Glad you told me you were coming down. I wasn't home anyway. But what is it that you wanted to share with me? Well, I thought of you when I was at the Palisades Hub.

It's like a neighborhood center on Cathedral Avenue. I don't think that. And, you know, I have an idea that's somewhat near where you live. I'm not sure because I've never been to your house. But, you know, I was there Saturday night to see my favorite band. King's soul, you know, the band that will change your life. Oh, King's Soul was there. Saturday night.

Oh. Huh? King Soul was there? That's, that, you certainly, how long have you known that King's Soul was going to be there? And how long were you planning on being somewhere near my, my neighborhood? Because you were, you were pretty close to my neighborhood. I knew King's soul was going to be there for a while, but I didn't know if we were going to go or not until the day before. Okay.

All right. So we decided we needed a night out dance, and we hadn't been dancing in a while. And we went dancing, and something came up that I wanted to bounce off you. Have you ever had ballroom dancing lessons? Yes, many, many years ago. Oh, God! I know. And let me just tell you.

You gave it. It was your wife's idea, right? It was my wife's idea. In fact, I don't even think we were married yet. I think it was in preparation for maybe the wedding. I don't know. I can just tell you that it was not something that I was fond of, and I think we bailed pretty quickly after one or two of those nights.

Well, I'm sure you're not alone. I'm sure there's a lot of listeners out there whose wives or girlfriends suck them into some ballroom dancing lessons. I mean, and people went, you know, you probably went reluctantly. I had been pressured. I've been asked, okay, in the past, and I declined. Because it's just, it's not my gig. Right.

But here's what happens. There's so many pathetic victims out there who have given into it. I was a victim. I definitely was a victim. But I also was in love. I also was in love. There you go. There you go.

And you find their way on a dance floor. You know, when you're out dancing, like on Saturday night with King Saul, and I can't stand them. Okay, I mean, they drive me nuts because in order to ballroom dance, it requires some room. Yeah, it does. You know? And a dance floor can be crowded, you know, but these bozos, you know, they want to show off their moves. They didn't take these lessons for nothing. They want to show their stuff.

So they, and this is not the kind of music for that. This is music, soul music. This is music that where you dance, you dance from the heart, you know, from your gut, not from your brain. You don't run the dance steps through your brain when you're out there dancing to knock on wood or something like that. You know, so they drive me nuts. So you know what I do? I bump them off the floor. You don't look at them when you bump them, though, do you?

You don't stare them down. It's more like, you know, I'm doing my thing. and, oh, I didn't see you. I'm sorry. I bump them off the floor. Just like I used to bump guys out of the lane, I can bump pretty good. And, you know, if I sense that they've decided that, you know, a quarter of the dance floor is theirs, I bump them off the floor. And then I shrink their space where they're going to do their little ballroom dancing bit. Their little cute ballroom dancing bit. So I'll be honest with you.

I did not and was not familiar. I am now, after looking it up, where Palisades Hub is. It is near my house. It's about a mile away from my house. But it's right behind a fairly new restaurant called Claudio's Table, which is part of that MacArthur Boulevard. There are a bunch of really good restaurants on MacArthur Boulevard for a stretch sort of, you know, prior to, you know, right around

Chainbridge Road, you know, right around there. Anyway, yeah, you were near me. Now, I don't think, I mean, you didn't call me to say, hey, we're going to be down in your hood. If you had called, I was out of town for the weekend for a family reunion, Tommy. Wow. Which was actually a blast.

Saw so many cousins and family members. I haven't seen in a long time and we had a great time and, you know, all of their kids. It was actually a really good time. But anyway, you didn't call me like you were, you knew you were somewhere near where I lived, and you didn't know that I was out of town. You know, these are the things you do, you know, for whatever reason, you don't want to spend any of your free time with me. That's not true.

It is true. This is not true. I know your social calendar filled up with you didn't know anything about my social calendar. So I figured that you were booked. No. Okay. And let me just tell you something. And I swear to you, if you had called me and said, we're going to be in your neighborhood, King's Soul, and we were home, I would have said, come early, come to the house, and we're going to come with you guys.

I would have loved that. I would love for you and Liz to come over. I'm going to remember this now. You're going to remember this now because I'm going to take you up on it next time. You better take me up on it next time. And no ballroom dancing from you, okay? No, no ballroom dancing from me. I'm not a big, you know, get out on the dance floor guy.

I was when I was younger, much younger, but I'm not really anymore. You love going out and going dancing. I give you. Absolutely. And I'll tell you what, this band is the band that really gets you fired up. Yes. Yeah. All right.

There's a number of bands that I like to follow. King's Soul is my favorite. Absolutely. And, you know, actually, one of the jobs I had when I was in college in Miami was I sold dance lessons over the phone. What? A telemarketing job. I was selling dance lessons for Arthur Murray's Dance School. my God, Arthur Murray. Does that still exist?

I don't know. Isn't Arthur Murray ballroom dancing? That's what they had. I would call people up and tell my name was Bob Lane and that they want two free dance lessons to Arthur Murray's dance studio. The whole idea was to get them down there to take the dance lessons and to sell them more. But I used to do that for a couple hours every night on the phone, sell dance lessons. Why was your name Bob Lane? Why was your name Bob Lane? That was the script I was given. We've got Tommy Purify, and now we have Bob Lane, the cold caller. That's pretty funny. I, you know, was that your only cold calling job that you ever had? Yes. That's the only telemarketing job I ever had, and it was painful. Yeah. I, I,

I had several, not several, I had a couple of telemarketing, outbound telemarketing jobs. And man, when you are dialing like that and you're just hoping to hit on one out of 20, it is a grind. You know, in some of those sweatshops. Yeah, that's, Arthur Murray was an American, I'm reading it right now, American ballroom dancer and then was a very good businessman who, you know, opened up a dance. studio chain that bears his name. By the way, he lived until he was 95 years old.

Died March 3rd, 1991. That's what ballroom dancing will do for you. I guess. So I did want to talk about a couple of sports things today. And I know you're not following NBA free agency. You barely followed the NBA playoffs and NBA finals. But there was a signing yesterday that made me think of you. And it was Clay Thompson leaving the Golden State Warriors for Dallas.

And the reason it made me think about you is that Clay Thompson was heavily recruited in free agency by the Los Angeles Lakers, which you said last week, and I am paraphrasing, it's a shell of the organization that it used to be. And I forget exactly how you described the Lakers, but you know, you couldn't stand the hiring of J.J. Reddick, et cetera, et cetera, and that the Lakers are, you know, more of a clown show organization than they've ever been. Well, Clay Thompson basically was offered the exact same money by the Lakers based on reports. He signed a three-year, $50 million contract to leave Golden State to go play with Dallas. And the bottom line is, is that Clay Thompson, whose father, Michael Thompson, was a championship player on some of those 80s Lakers teams.

He grew up a Lakers guy in L.A. He passed on LeBron and JJ's Lakers for the Mavericks. Now, a couple of things. The Mavericks are closer to a championship than the Lakers are, much closer to a championship. The fit in Dallas is probably a better one you could make the case than the fit in Los Angeles because off of the way Dallas plays, which is a lot of just, you know, Luca and Kyrie, ISO, two man, they're the better, you know, Clay Thompson's just going to catch and shoot threes. That's going to be his job. But the bottom, and look, there's no state tax in Texas, you know, versus, you know, California, et cetera. But the Lakers are not what the Lakers used to be. And this is a good indication of it, because if, if you're

If they were anywhere near what they used to be, Clay Thompson would have gone home and played for the Lakers. But instead, you know, he chose the Mavericks over LeBron's Lakers, not the Los Angeles Lakers, the LeBron James Lakers, where LeBron picks the coach. He puts his son on the team and Clay Thompson didn't want to have anything to do with it. He, I mean, everybody thought that it was probably going to be the Lakers if he left the Warriors, and it wasn't. Well, I mean, you have to ask yourself, if you're a free agent, are the Lakers committed to win an NBA championship? I don't think hiring JJ Redick for drafting LeBron's son with the second round pick in the draft indicates a priority, that their top priority, is to win an NBA title. Their top priority is to please LeBron.

Now, you know, you may think he earned that. You may think you want to please your star player. But that's their priority. It's not to win an NBA champion. If they win an NBA title, that's great. But their priority is to make LeBron happy. It's LeBron's franchise right now. There is no doubt about it.

He is making the calls on that franchise. It makes me just wonder about the whole Danny Hurley thing. I just don't know what that was about because it was going to be his podcast partner, J.J. Reddick, it seems like all along. But during the Danny Hurley, you know, flirtation and offer, it seemed like they were serious. And maybe they were. Maybe LeBron felt, you know, like Danny Hurley would be a great addition to the franchise. but Clay Thompson not picking LeBron and JJ going instead to Dallas. And, you know, the other part of this story is essentially the end of the Golden State Warriors.

You know, this is a franchise that won four titles and went to six NBA finals in nine years. I mean, it was a dynasty. And Clay Thompson and Steph Curry and Draymond Green are probably, well, they'll all be linked together forever. and they're probably all three of them. Well, Thompson and Steph are locks, and Draymond's probably going to be a Hall of Fame or two. I know you don't think so, but he's certainly going to be in consideration for the Hall of Fame

when his career is over. Let's face it. The NBA, I mean, the basketball Hall of Fame is the easiest one to get into. Is it? It just open her doors to, I think so. They open the doors for pretty much anyone. So I think Draymond will get in.

I think for a lot of voters of this generation, I think they've inflated his value. But that's just my opinion. But I think all three will get in. But the leaving of Golden State also leaves Steph Curry in like a bit of a dead zone here. He's 36 years old. Why is he going to stay in Golden State? Wouldn't Steph try to at the end of his career here over the last couple of years of his career try to catch on with a contender?

Golden State's not a contender. They're not going to be a playoff team more likely than not in a very loaded and deep Western conference. It's interesting. You're right. Yeah. What he does, he can play as a contributor for a few years for a lot of good teams. Oh, I mean, Steph Curry is still playing at a high level. Yes.

I mean, it's just that the team is, I mean, Clay is the one whose play has dipped recently. You know, he essentially got demoted at times. It ends of games, you know, with Golden State and recent, you know, especially this past year, even though he had a decent season statistically. I think it's interesting because Curry is the. star that will always remember from the Warrior dynasty. He was the guy. He changed the game.

Clay Thompson and Draymond Green were a big part of it, as was Kevin Durant for those two seasons as well. But is Steph Curry just going to play out his final few years of his career on a team that doesn't contend? It's not even that it won't contend. It won't even contend perhaps for the playoffs. You know what's interesting? What?

We don't even consider that maybe it's a loyalty thing. No. We don't even think of that anymore. No. We don't. We don't because that's not what that league is. If you think it's the easiest league to get into the Hall of Fame, and it's the most lacking in loyalty among players.

And by the way, probably back at players from ownership, league as well. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting to see what Steph does. The Warriors were 46 and 36 this year. They got into the play-in round and they lost to the Lakers

in the play-in game. Or they lost to the Kings. I'm sorry, they lost to the Kings in the playing game. They got blown out by the Kings in the playing game. They're going to stink next year. I mean, they'll be lucky to finish in the top 10 in the West. Steph Curry

is 36 years old. Man, he doesn't look it. Steph Curry, 36 years old, and he averaged 26.4 points per game this year. Yeah, pretty good. Anyway, yeah, the Lakers needed and wanted Clay Thompson, and he, you know, he said thanks, but no thanks, and went to Dallas.

Tommy, the other thing about the NBA and the free agency is just the money is outrageous. I mean, it's just every time you look and you're like, wait a minute, that guy's not even that good. And he just signed a $115 million deal. Isaiah Hartenstein, who actually was a pretty big factor for the Knicks during their playoff. He was a big factor for the Knicks. I mean, he jumped ship for a three-year, $87 million deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the third. Thunder is clearly setting themselves up to be, you know, a big-time championship contender for years to come. But this is a dude that, you know, I mean, he averaged 23 minutes a game.

And he's, it's crazy. The money is just outrageous in the NBA. It doesn't make any sense to people who don't pay attention. And I understand that. Well, you know, the TV revenue, it's got be through the roof. Yeah. The ticket prices are outrageous. I think Oklahoma City is looking like a formidable contender next year. Oh, they are, you know, and with all of the, you know, Paul George draft compensation that just keeps ongoing, this is going to be a team.

I had somebody on radio yesterday who said, look, they're setting up to be the next dynasty potentially. We'll see. but I wonder, I think it's better for the NBA to have a dominant team, to have a mini dynasty team or a dynasty team. I think it's just better in sports in general when you have a massive Goliath type of team versus what the NBA's had here for five years, which is actual parity in many ways. You've had a different champion five consecutive years and you haven't had one team get back to the NBA finals if they were in it the year before. But I wonder what the league, you know, how the league would feel about Oklahoma City having a big run. Like the NBA is not the NFL, where small, you know, Jacksonville could play Carolina in the Super Bowl.

And you'd, you know, you'd have 60 million people or whatever watching it. No one would care. I mean, we've never seen a small market. I guess San Antonio you could consider to be a small market, but they had some history. but Oklahoma City, what if they got on a run of winning three championships in five years or something like that? Would that be good for the league? I don't know.

I think you're overblowing it. I think the NBA is closer to the NFL these days. LeBron was a star in Cleveland. You mentioned San Diego. Oklahoma City's been a star franchise before when they had Durand Hardin and Westrook. True. but they got to one finals. I know.

I don't think that's that debilitating in the NBA to have a small market team as the dominant team. I think it's a league as opposed to, whereas baseball and hockey has become more regional, I think the NBA is more national like the NFL. Yeah, I don't know. I will see. I mean, I think the NBA is so much different than the NFL, although, you know, they have clearly climbed to number two in terms of overall, you know, TV revenue anyway. And I know that you'll tip me with the baseball local TV deals understood. But I'm talking about the man. No, no, no. What the NBA, the money the NBA is getting for TV deals is just unbelievable. And it's in part, it's in big part, because it's live TV. which is about the, you know, it's live sports, which is about the only thing people are watching

on network and cable TV anymore. Yeah, that is true. All right. I want to finish up by asking you a question. I had Zabe on the show yesterday, and I asked him this question, but I really want to ask it to you, and we'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, most of us are interested in our mental and physical well-being to a certain degree, And with that in mind, I'd like to welcome and introduce a new sponsor to the podcast.

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windonation.com or 866 90 Nation. So Tommy, I had Zabe on the show yesterday and I asked him this, but I have a feeling your list will be longer. I got this tweet from Sam the other day. Sam tweeted me, Kevin, I know you used to love tennis. Why not more tennis talk with Wimbledon starting? These are the dog days of summer and there's only so much Chaden Daniels we can take. And so I asked Zabe, and I actually did this as a call set,

segment on the show on yesterday, on Monday. And I'm going to ask you the question. What sport or sporting event did you used to love, you couldn't wait for it, that you just don't care for anymore? Because I don't watch tennis anymore. And it used to be a passion of mine watching tennis, watching the majors in particular. I didn't even know. Wimbledon was starting Monday until I read Sam's tweet. And I'll watch, you know, certain players if they're in the finals. Like I was a big Serena Williams fan, so I would watch her. But what is, and I think the list is going to be pretty long with you,

give me the list of events or just sports in general that you just don't have time for anymore. Well, I don't think it's a long list, but a big one is the NBA. You know, people are always surprised when I tell them that my first love after I learned about basketball, I mean, my first love growing up was baseball when I was a kid. But then when I was introduced to basketball, my first love was the NBA for years. I love the NBA more than baseball, more than boxing, more than football. I mean, it was the biggest passion for me. and what's happened to the league, what's happened to the overall game, college and pro,

I'm not particularly happy with the impact of the three-point shot. But I didn't care that much about college. I cared a lot about the NBA. You love the Knicks. Yes. I mean, it's my most important athlete in history. The Knicks, those next teams were my favorite teams in history. And even when they weren't good, I still love the NBA up until the Spurs run.

And I include the Spurs run in my love of the NBA. After that, it just really diminished. And look, boxing, like for a lot of people, boxing is obviously, it's not what it used to be. I was very passionate about boxing and loved covering it. Now, you know, I barely know who's a champion. are at different weight classes. So those are the two biggest ones. Horse racing, I didn't grow up to be a horse racing fan.

No, it's not like I was 10 years old going over to racing form. I was a late cover to horse racing. So I'd say NBA at basketball and boxing. Yeah, I know you love the NBA, and we used to do this bit where somebody had, who was that, who recorded that guy Nat, I forget Nat's last name, calling Leverro playing for the Knicks. Yes. What was that guy's name?

He did a lot of audio. He did a lot of stuff, I know. Yeah. I can't remember his last name. I'm blanking on it. Yeah, Andy would know. Yeah. Because he produced something for you where it was Tom Leverro knocking down shots

off of a pass from Walt Clyde Fraser. You know? You know, Leverro looks for DeBusher. He's not open. Leverro shoots and scores. Who was that guy? It was proud noise and everything. It was great.

That guy. Nate Albright. Nate Albright. Good, good pull. Good pull. How did that come about? How did he do that for you? Back in the days of print, I saw an advertisement in Washingtonian for him doing this.

if you wanted to be in a sports situation, he would put you in there. So I did that. Me and my best friend Pete, I set up the seventh game of the Eastern Conference Finals in 73 against the Celtics. And I've got Pete and I coming in off the bench and winning the NBA the Eastern Conference Finals for the Knicks. Yeah. I mean, that was, we had that going for a few years where there were a few people

that actually thought, my God. he actually played for the Knicks. Leverro? You know what's funny? We had Dave Kallens on one time. Yeah. I think from the Super Bowl or something like that. And I was back in the studio.

I think this is how it worked. And I told him that story, and he wasn't amused because he says that he thinks the refs screwed in Celtics over in that series. And he still carries the wounds of that. 73 Eastern Conference final. So he was not amused, but he was not a fun guy, period. Dave Cowens was all business.

I didn't know that until then. I do, I recollected that we had Cowens on the show, and I think for whatever reason I was sitting right next to him, I'm pretty sure. It may have been at a Super Bowl, or it may have been at something. I forget what it was. I forget what it was. Yeah, I do remember that.

You know, I loved boxing, too. You know that about me. My father was such a big fight fan. So when I was a kid, I mean, I remember, you know, the Ali fights when I was a kid. And my father, you know, going down to, you know, the Hilton, the Washington Hilton to watch Ali and Foreman on closed circuit. You know, and then I would start going with him to see some of the big fights in the late 70s. And then, you know, I can remember the 80s boxing, you know, vividly. I mean, you know, 70s, too.

I mean, I remember a lot of those Ali fights, and he was such a big Ali guy. But, God, I loved boxing in the 80s, man. Sugar Ray Leonard, Hearns, Duran, Hagler, you know, that whole era was incredible. All the while, Tyson's Rising. I couldn't, and we did this yesterday, I think, on radio. I couldn't name the heavyweight champion yesterday when Denton, my producer asked me, I'm like, I don't know anything about boxing anymore. The last big fight I remember was Mayweather Pachial.

That was 2015. I guess, you know, Mayweather fought McGregor, right? And I think I... Yeah, but that was a joke. That was a clown. But I think I paid for it. Yeah. All right, one last thing before we take off,

and it is about the sport that Tommy always says, is the sport for people who don't like sports. and that is the U.S. men's soccer team last night losing to Uruguay and being eliminated before the knockout stage, before the quarterfinals in the Copa America. It is a disaster from what all the soccer people say, and I watched the game last night. Yes, I did, Tommy. I watched the game last night. They needed Panama to lose to Bolivia, which apparently was never going to happen. And it was the loss to Panama that cost the U.S. in this tournament. But U.S. men's soccer apparently has more talent than it's ever had.

All of these players play in Europe. They don't play in the MLS, but they are done. But your opportunity to bet on Copa America is not over. Football season is still months away. But you can bet baseball and Copa America. through MyBooky at mybooky.ag. The Copa America, other than the U.S., has been pretty damn exciting. So far, it's provided a lot of great betting opportunities.

So here's one of them. Argentina has reached the final in five of the last seven tournaments, and Brazil has played in the last two finals. We're probably looking at Brazil versus Argentina in the final, but right now a bet on to win the tournament on either one of those two teams is at plus money despite their favorite status. Look, whether I'm betting football, basketball, or anything else, I am putting my money down at my bookie. It's my preferred platform, and there is an opportunity in betting soccer right now. For those of you that haven't signed up yet, this is your chance.

sign up, make a deposit using my promo code, Kevin D.C., and start playing with house money today. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with my bookie. You have to use my promo code, Kevin D.C. All right, we are done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow. You'll hear the rest of my conversation with Zabe, where he weighs in on Jaden Daniels and new ownership. et cetera. And we'll have more on this show tomorrow. And then Tommy's going to be back with me on July 4th. We will share some July 4th stories with you on the holiday. So Tommy, I look forward to that.

Thanks. Great job today. All right, Paul. All right. Done for the day. Back tomorrow. Brian, as you mentioned, the news broke last night. So it's really just a matter of surveying the reaction around the league at this point. And there has been a lot. People were startled by this news. called it massive because you have a sponsor of this magnitude calling on the team to change the name. There is a sense around the league that this might actually be the thing that gets it done.