The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Rivera Poll + Wizards & Dopesick

Episode Date: November 11, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on their new favorite show Dopesick to start. Then it was the Eastern Conference first-place Wizards and their win over Cleveland last night. Then plenty on the current thinking of Ron Rivera halfway through his 2nd season.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Apologize for no podcast yesterday. I will make it up to you this week with a podcast on Saturday morning, hopefully with a very special guest.

Tom is with me today. We have the Wizards to talk about. Yes, we do. We've got a Tampa prediction from Tommy since it's Thursday, and we're back into the game. now. We've got second half predictions on Washington today. And a few more things that Ron Rivera said yesterday. I did real quickly, Tommy, want to thank Bo Blair and Do South for bringing an unbelievable dinner over to me the other night. Bo owns Millies, many of you know, jetties, lots of restaurants

in town, the bullpen right next to Nats Park. Do South is an absolute beauty of a restaurant with an incredible menu, 301 Water Street Southeast. And they have right now a Thanksgiving feast available. And that's what they delivered to me. They delivered an incredible turkey stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy sauce. I'm not a big fan of cranberries. never have been. Plenty of vegetables, plenty of rolls, a pumpkin bread pudding that was spectacular.

You can get all of your Thanksgiving needs and dinner plans taken care of by the folks at Duce South. You can email them catering at Georgetown Events.com, catering at Georgetownvents.com

or just follow at Duesouth, D.C. on Twitter for updates. But it's a great menu. I've been down there already a few times over the last year, and they've delivered food in the past. Bo is such a good guy, and this place is phenomenal. And the Thanksgiving feast that they delivered was perfect timing

because we didn't have anything planned for dinner that night. And it was great. You just told me before we started to record today's podcast that you have taken my advice and started to watch Dope Sick. so well i mean i love it yeah i mean it's it's i am so caught up in my outrage over over what has happened right uh with with the whole story about the oxy cotton abuse and you know i took oxycodone for years i did i took oxy cotton too And it had zero impact on you told me that that's amazing to me yeah and I mean I was only taking 20 milligrams in the morning and 20 milligrams at night I was taking 40 a day was this I forget you told me when we talked about this last week was that for your knee that was for your knee right yeah I had severe arthritis in my knee I mean I could barely walk right you know by the time I got my knees replaced and

I know, I drove you around for a few years. Yes, yeah, you know as well as anybody. You know, drop me off here. I can't walk to the parking lot kind of thing. So, but it's just, it's a compelling story based on a book written by a Roanoke newspaper reporter. She's written several books that are very interesting, apparently. But, yeah, I'm into it. We're both into it.

How many episodes in are you? Well, we're waiting for the final one. Well, the final one's out. Well, it's not the final one. The current one is out. We're out. We're into the current one. The final one is next Wednesday.

Yeah, the current episode seven is out. And I watched it yesterday. I watched. Oh, you did? You watched. So you're caught up. You're completely caught up. Yes, I'm completely caught up.

You seem to be a little bit as if you're introducing it to me. I introduced this one to you. This is one of the few recommendations that I've given to you that you've actually taken. Are you forgetting that I said to you two weeks ago or a week and a half ago, there's this new show and you're going to love it. You've got to watch it. Okay. Let me be honest with you.

What I'm doing here is setting up the audience in my description for people who don't know what I'm talking about. To be perfectly honest, I totally forgot you recommend it. Of course you did. That's my point. That's the point I'm making. As you were sitting here discussing it, it was almost as if you were pitching it to me. And I know you were partly pitching it to the audience, but you were like describing it to me like I didn't know anything about it. I'm the one that said to you, because Cowboy Clay and several others, but Clay was the one that texted me like three weeks ago.

And he goes, I got a new one for you and you were going to love it. And then I heard from several others, Clay, not that I wouldn't have just taken your recognition. recommendation as a standalone. And then I sat down, I guess, a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, and watched, and couldn't stop watching it. And essentially got caught up all in like one day. And I came in on the podcast and introduced it to you and said, I got a new one for you. And you said, okay. Yeah. I don't remember. I don't remember any of that. My sister-law told me about it. Okay. Well, you know what, that's probably more advantageous for you. to give credit to your sister-in-law.

You've got no room to talk here. I've recommended the wire to you numerous times. That's not the point. I know you. And I recommended to you another, an Amazon Prime series that you'll love called Sneaky Pete. Yes. And you haven't watched that.

That's not the point here. I know what you've recommended to me and what you haven't recommended to me. And you've ignored my recommendations. No, I haven't ignored your recommendations, but at least I know that you made the recommendations. The point is, you don't even recall a week and a half ago or whenever it was me telling you about doapsick. And by the way, going on and on about it for about 15 minutes on the podcast. You know, you state so much.

I lose track of it all. You know, you got a lot to say, and I don't remember everything. Yeah, clearly. You know, so you're all caught up. So let's just real quickly provide a spoiler alert for those of you that aren't watching the show or are watching the show and aren't caught up through episode 7, the episode titled Black Box Warning, which came out yesterday. And I watched it yesterday. And it was, okay, so there's the spoiler alert. You can fast forward on the podcast if you don't want to hear about it.

Oh, my God. What an episode. And, you know, one of, like, first of all, I think the cast is incredible. I think Michael Keaton's great, as I talked about with you a week ago or a week and a half ago. I think Rosario Dawson's great. But really, the revelation for me has been Caitlin Devere, who I was not familiar with. Many people have watched the show justified. I did not.

She plays a character, her name's Betsy, in the show. She becomes, she has an injury working in the coal mines. She is prescribed oxy cotton by Dr. Sam Finnex, who is played by Michael Keaton, and she becomes addicted, as does, by the way, Michael Keaton, after a car accident, Sam Phinex as well. And this is, by the way, just to add to what Tommy says. This is what I would call part documentary and part fiction. It's a fictional town.

These are fictional characters. But it's a documentary about a real, you know, life thing that happened with the pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. And then various FDA and DEA people who were involved as well. But this Caitlin Devere, I think, has been, she's so good and she's played this role so amazing. and yesterday's episode was just heartbreaking

heartbreaking yeah yeah but I mean you kind of I mean I kind of I did too a little bit but I really wanted

I wanted you know Dr. Finnex and Betsy to I wanted him to get her to the methadone or the subluxone

or whatever the new drug was that he was taking clinic and when she said to him when he called her because obviously the psychologist that he's seeing you know um and you know what he can start to to reach out to those and and obviously she was the first one that he prescribed it to or one of the first patients that he prescribed it to and she was addicted and by the way you know it went from oxy cotton addiction to heroin addiction and then um when he called her to

apologize and she said to him she said I love you and he said the same thing back that was quite the scene and then it really was she's great I mean and now of course the thing about it so here's the one criticism of the show and I'm curious as to whether or not you have an issue with it as I've been recommending this show now for two weeks including to you and others at listen to the podcast Some of the feedback that I've gotten, the criticism that people have for this is that it jumps around too much in terms of years. That hasn't bothered me at all, you know, going from 2002 and then all of a sudden back to a scene from 1995 and then to a scene from 2001. That actually hasn't thrown me at all, but it has several people. That's been the common criticism of the show.

It's a legitimate criticism because you don't usually do that. You know, they keep flashing the date the year on TV. But I don't think it hasn't made me, like, confused about the flow of the story at all. I feel the same way. I feel the same way. You know who I mean, look, the acting is all great. And Michael Keaton is clearly at a stage in his life now where he does. does pretty much whatever he wants to do.

He's only doing quality work, and this is quality work. There was a movie I saw with him recently called Worth, where he plays the lawyer who was in charge of the 9-11 victim's

fund in trying to get people to agree to the fund to be distributed to families of victims of 9-11. It's a great movie called Worth. Worth.

And Michael Keaton is in that as well. And he is at the stage where he's only doing, you know, not necessarily high-profile stuff, but really good stuff, and he's really good in this. But my favorite is the Richard Sackler actor, Michael Stolbar. Oh, he's so good. You know, he was in Boardwalk Empire. He played Arnold Rothstein. Yeah.

In Boardwalk Empire. I didn't watch Boardwark Empire. I know. Oh, there's another one that you love. I know. I know. By the way, you do the same thing, okay? I've given you shows like Game of Thrones that I've told you is not dress.

It's not dress up, you know, fantasy, but it's character-driven and that you would absolutely love. And you would, because I know you well enough to know that if you ever gave it a shot, you would be like, I apologize to you. You were right. There's no other ending other than that one. actually watch the show. What's the name of the actor who plays the dragon in that show? Okay.

Really funny. And I agree that the wire is my biggest, you know, my biggest with and miss. But it's only the best show in the history of television. Other than that. I think breaking for me, it's Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones in some order. Put it in whatever order you want. Those would be the two greatest dramas, if you will. We both, I think, agree on the greatest comedy, or certainly we have similar favorites when it comes to that.

But I have to watch the wire. There's no doubt I have to. I understand that. One of these days, I will get to it. One of these days you will not get to Game of Thrones. What? I'm in the wire. I know you're in the wire.

I know you're kidding now. Jesus God. I mean, first of all, you know, what was, so one of my son. sons recently, actually both of them, have now watched the wire. I think it was that, you know, during the pandemic at some point, they just, they got through the whole thing. And, you know, they put it up there with Breaking Bad and the whole thing. They love it.

And they, you know, I remember when one of them was watching it. Hey, dad, did you know that Tom was in the wire? I'm like, yes, I told you he was a long time ago. Oh, I don't remember. Anyway, dope sick, highly recommended. This is a podcast five-star agreement recommendation. Yes, 100%. Really, really good on Hulu, by the way.

And then if you really want to get angry after you watch the series, read the stories about the recent settlement that lets the sacklers off the hook for liability for lawsuits. It just happened. It literally just happened in the last few months. Oh, the other actor, and I think he's good in this. Brendan, my producer who just started to watch it, he really likes Peter Sarsgaard in this show. And I could not remember where I knew him from.

And then when I was looking through his filmography, I remembered an incredible movie. I think you probably saw it. And if you didn't, you should see it. Because it deals with your industry is Shattered Glass. Did you ever see Shattered Glass? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah.

He's the editor of the New Republic. Of the New Republic. Exactly. It's Shattered Glass. No, absolutely. Terrific movie. Terrific movie. Yeah.

Okay. You know, by the way, just one last thing. So about four years ago, I was on, it was for my father's 80th. No, it wasn't for his 80th. So it was more than that. It was seven or eight years ago, whatever it was, for his 75th, we went to, we went to this lovely resort in the state of Virginia. Okay? Lovely resort, golf, you know, spa, the whole thing.

The family did to celebrate his. 75th birthday. And it was right next to a town in rural Virginia that had a Kroger in it, and I went to pick up, I think I went to pick up some booze. I think I went to pick up beer and wine or something from the Kroger. And I, Tommy, I've been in, you know, I've driven through a lot of bad inner city areas. I mean, at coaching basketball over the years, we played games in some rough areas of town here and in Baltimore. I don't think I've ever been in an area that was more depressed, perhaps more dangerous, than that particular small town.

I saw the, look, I didn't really know at that point and wasn't up to speed on necessarily the opioid crisis that was just absolutely devastating. I think most of us weren't. But it was everywhere. I mean, total zombie-esque, you know, poverty and poor, like you just, it was amazing. I remember just going in there, grabbing the beer and wine and probably, you know, and looking at some of the more depressing scenes I think I've ever seen. And, you know, the town was like 10 miles away from the resort. You know, it was just the closest big supermarket.

But, you know, I think. Go ahead. Yeah. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Well, I used to, one thing, I used to cover Western Maryland when I worked at the Baltimore Sun, and part of Allegheny and Garrick County are definitely Appalachia. They are.

I've seen things. I've seen deliverance type things, okay? So it definitely, Appalachia. But I've been from some towns, and I think this is the best way to describe it, where the economy consists of the dollar store. Yeah, well, that's what this town was. It was a Kroger and probably a dollar store, and it was as depressed and impoverished as anything I've ever seen.

And, you know, Western Maryland's very interesting because you're right. Like when you're driving out, you know, 68 through Western Maryland, Allegheny, you know, and you go through Cumberland, which obviously was a big, you know, blue collar coal slash steel town at some point that's that's you know not thriving right now or it certainly hasn't been but then you get out to garret county and you are in some of the most beautiful spots obviously deep creek lake and all of the affluence that's also there um around deep creek lake and wisp and you know a lot of those places but yeah in driving there and getting there it's um i don't if it's as bad as some of the areas in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, though. That seems to be

the absolute epicenter of Appalachia opioid crisis, right? Yes. Yeah, I would say so. I would say that that's true. But I really was not aware. I was aware of the stories. And this is sometimes with television, you know, like the docu-drama, and I don't know what truth they take liberties with and what they don't. I mean, the woman who wrote the book, Beth Macy, is one of the co-writers on the script. So I've got to think that the story is relatively true in its essence to what really happens, because she was the author of the book, and she's a newspaper, former newspaper reporter. But this is a situation where I think I certainly knew about all the stories

about the impact of the opioid crisis in rural American towns. But I didn't understand the impact until I've seen this. Yeah, I think that's true for me too. I think that is true for me as well. You know, I didn't understand, like, the mind, people working in the mine and the injuries from the hard work. that they would have to deal with and trying to get well enough to go back to the mine the next morning and work through the injuries.

I just, that just, foolishly, it just never really occurred to me. Well, you did know, right, that working, that kind of work in minds is like among the most dangerous, you know, jobs you can have. You know, the guy that wrote this is, and this is what made me watch it, this in addition to Clay, because Clay listens to the podcast every day. Clay, it was your recommendation, for sure, that got me on it. But I watched this interview with Danny Strong, who wrote it. And he was really impressive, and he was talking about, you know, the opioid crisis,

which, by the way, rages on in this country. And he was the guy that wrote Game Change. I read the book Game Change, written by, you know, John Heilman and, Mark Halperin. Mark was my high school basketball teammate way back in the day and obviously he's had some issues in recent years. But anyway, he wrote Game Change, which was the story of the 2008 election, you know, and especially some of the, from the McCain side, that was really well acted by, you know, people like Julianne Moore and Ed Harris

and Woody Harrelson. And it was actually well done, really well done. I thought it was. I thought Woody Halifton was very good in that. Yeah, excellent. And... Absolutely. And I'm trying to... Here's a mark of excellence on this series.

One of the co-producers and one of the directors for some of the episodes is Barry Levinson. Right. That's... That's the stamp of excellence. What do you make of that, by the way? Just the, you know, some of the great directors, they seem to, like, did he, I'm just curious, did he direct the first couple of episodes or not?

Have you noticed this thing where great directors just sort of fly in to great shows and then start directing those shows in the middle of their run? Is that a normal thing? I don't know. you're asking a business question. You know, maybe when the series about the queen of baseball comes out, based on the script written by yours truly, maybe I'll have a better idea how the business works.

It wasn't really a business question. It was more of you, this is an area, I think, you understand, all of these great directors, which you just mentioned Barry Levinson, and I certainly know the name. and it just seems that there are great directors that tend to on series kind of, you know, kind of parachute in midway through the series and start directing episodes. Well, by the way, I'm sure that's because they're not available sometimes to do them early on as a series is still trying to prove itself.

Anyway, whatever. I'm getting sidetracked here. Great show, dobs sick. Yes, dope sick. That's all you need to know. Dope sick. Watch it. All right.

What else is going on? How about the wizards? Oh, right before we get started. So we don't forget. Before we get started, 20 minutes in. Let's acknowledge the service to our country, all service men and women on this Veterans Day. And thankful for their commitment to the military. in protecting this country?

Very, very good idea to do that. Thank you for reminding me. I also had written down yesterday, and I never, I didn't do a podcast, and I never got to it on the radio. But yesterday, November 10th, was actually also the birthday of the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps was 246 years old yesterday. It started, believe it or not, in some sort of pub house in Philadelphia. in 1775 on November 10th, 1775.

So, happy birthday to the Marine Corps yesterday as well. Okay. What else? Do you want to talk some sports today? Yeah, let's talk about your favorite book. No, no, no, no, no. Let's talk about the team that it's the only team in town that is giving, well, I shouldn't say that, because the cats have been playing,

although they struggled early in this month. The Wizards have been bringing joy to a lot of sports fans in this town from what I can gather from my base of operations. And certainly last night's win, even though I didn't watch it, I've caught up on it, there's reason for that joy. I have some joy in my heart for the Washington Wizards. We will get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. In-bounds, looking for Beal. Beal getting free to the corner. Kuzma for the lead. Wizards take the...

Big shot, Coos. That was the three-pointer by Kyle Kuzma that gave the Wizards a 95-94 lead. They rallied from a big deficit in the fourth quarter. They beat the Cavaliers, 97-94. And the Washington Wizards are now eight and three and tied for first place. in the Eastern Conference. They actually got to 8 and 3 before the Bulls did. So for a brief moment, they were actually in first place all by themselves last night. Now, back in 2007, they were in first place after 42 games. I'm sorry, after 46 games at 27 and 19. And then they had all those injuries that year with Karan Butler and Gil and everybody else. But anyway, I asked the question,

and I think I actually did a poll on it this morning, a Twitter poll. You know, are you buying in to, I didn't actually do it as a poll. I did something else as a poll. But I took calls this morning on the radio show about whether or not people are bought in. And I mean, Tommy, you know this, right? Like, unless it's a playoff game, you know, hard to take calls sometimes on wizards-related topics on local sports talk radio. It doesn't matter what show it is. the phone lines were packed for, I mean, we could have taken calls for an hour,

but I did it at the very end of the show. So let me just real quickly go through a little thing, a couple of things from the game last night, because I watched the game start to finish. They won on a night where they did not have their A game. It was probably more like their C game. And, you know, we have this thing in sports where we say, if you can win on a night where you don't play well,

that's a sign of being a good team. And they didn't play well last night. Their star players didn't play well, or their star player didn't shoot it well. I'll get to his performance in a moment. And they won a game against a team who's very young, I understand Cleveland is, but Cleveland had won four games in a row coming in.

They had destroyed the Knicks over the weekend and had plenty of rest coming into this game. It was really impressive. Like Bradley Beal at one point, Tom, was 0 for 10 from the field. Now, we found out after the game that his grandmother passed away yesterday. So our sympathies to Brad and to that family because he mentioned that he just wasn't right last night. And he wasn't necessarily. He couldn't hit a shot.

He's actually shot the ball very poorly this year, especially from behind the three point line, which makes their results even more impressive. but he struggled at times, but I thought it was, and I think I said this the other day about their last win, that he had 30, but he had all these turnovers, but I actually thought he played really well. I actually thought he did a lot of things that really contributed to the win. He made a lot of really good passes. It's very clear that he's trusting his teammates maybe more than he has the last two years. That's a big deal.

He's not passing it to kids who don't have a clue what they're doing in the NBA. He's passing it to veterans. Yeah, I mean, certainly Harold and Coosma and Dinwiddie. And he made some really good decisions late in the game on his two passes to Coosma for the three that cut it from five to two. And then on the three that you just heard that gave the Wizards the lead. Now, he also does things that drive me nuts. I mean, he had a terrible turnover again with the game on the line late.

They were able to overcome that in part because of the good plays he did make. make. They had a possession when they were down two that the ball never touched anybody's hands except him. He went total ISO and fired up a three. It was a terrible possession. But I like all of the other things he's doing. And last night, he and Dinwiddie combined to go eight for 30 from the floor, but they had 13 combined rebounds and 17 combined assists between the two of them. You know, that's really, really, I'm sorry, 13 assists and 17 combined rebounds. Did I say it that way? Whatever. 17 rebounds, 13 assists on a night where they combined to go 8 for 30 and 2 for 10 from behind the arc. So they're doing things that are really helping the team. And Beal made some

really good decisions towards the end of that game. But Kyle Kuzma's been, to me, the revelation. I said when they made this trade, I'm a big Montres Herald fan, always have been, and I'm a big Dinwiddie fan. But I didn't know much about KCP or Kuzma. Kuzma's been the shocker. I had Tommy Shepard on the radio show the other day, and I said, what did you? He said, well, we didn't know, but we thought we were getting a player that just hadn't gotten the time and was, you know, had LeBron and AD and other players on the team recently in L.A. And I said, well, you couldn't have expected the guy to lead you, you know, from a rebounding standpoint.

He goes, no, we weren't expecting that. I think a lot of what Kuzma's provided has been a surprise to everybody out there. I really do. He was six of nine from behind the arc last night, including the last two threes that won the game for them. And then Harold was just incredible again, 24 and 11 with three assists and two steals. He's my new, he's my favorite player right now of any player in town. And understand that because he's fun in the post-game press conferences. He's very quotable.

He has seemingly a good teammate ethic when he's out on the floor. I mean, that's what they got. They've got a team full good teammates right now, it seems. Yeah, I think Shepard talked about, you know, they needed more mature guys. Look, this is the opposite of Ernie. Tommy Shepard learned one thing from Ernie if he learned anything else. and that was, you know, I'm not, he essentially said this to me before. I can't go the knucklehead route.

That doesn't work. No. No. And I suspect, this is Tommy Shepard's third year. I suspect this is the final year of his contract. You know, and so I think there would, he was probably under a lot of pressure to deliver something that was, that was reasonable and credible. for Ted on the court this year. And, you know, he didn't do it haphazardly.

I mean, eventually, whether through accident or on purpose or good luck, he's transferred John Walsh cumbersome contract into a deal that has helped build a team you see on the court now. Yeah, I mean, Wald and Westbrook's contract, and now they've got a, you know, they may not have more than one really, really, really, really good player, like, you know, in terms of perceived star, other than Beal, but they have a lot of good players and they have a lot of depth. You know, somebody said something to me. And think about this. Think about, think about this. They're doing this without Rui Hachamura and Thomas Bryant. Well, and Davos Burtans, the last several games, and he started off playing really well. Yeah.

Hachamura is the one. I mean, Hachamur is the one that I think a lot of people saw last year the potential that this guy could become, you know, a potential star in the league. And, and, you know, I still don't know what the issue with Hachamara is. I don't know if it's a family issue or a personal issue or whatever, whatever it's been. Maybe, you know, they keep talking about him getting back into physical shape. I wonder if there was something there. I don't, I don't know what it is. I've tried to find out, I don't know why Hachamura, you know, took that time away from the team and now is back. I just I hope he's well, and I hope he takes that next step, which would provide them, which essentially what you're saying, and it's true, they potentially are doing this

without their second best player. Yes. That's a distinct possibility. And Thomas Bryant as well, a very good contributor when he's healthy. I just don't know where Bryant fits in because they don't know where he fits in either. The Gafford-Harrell combination at Center is working, you know, right now. Yes. Harold's my favorite player, Tommy.

I guess for, you know, slightly because of what you said, because I do like his attitude and I do like the team person that he is. But the reason that I loved him when he was a clipper and playing well is like Westbrook, he's among two or three or four guys that I don't think has peers in terms of his energy level. Westbrook, as we've talked about for years, tries harder than any. I think in professional sports. You know, he has a motor that never stops. And Harold is the exact same player.

And that's why I always loved him. Not to mention he's got really good hands and good feet, you know, for a big guy. And by the way, you know, a big guy that's only 6'7. I mean, I know he plays much bigger than 6'7, but he's only 6'7. And I loved him at Louisville, too. So, but anyway, the only other thing that I was going to say about the game was a lot of people what they're saying in watching this team or in, you know, kind of watching them and reading box scores and looking at statistics is they think this team is like an exceptional defensive team. And by the way,

I have no idea where they are statistically in any of the defensive categories. I don't need to know. I've watched the games. So what I will tell you is they definitely emphasize defense more. They definitely try hard. They have players that care more about defensively, about defense. I am not ready to say this is a great defensive team, not by a long shot. Look, it wasn't hard to improve on their defense from before. Right. I mean, you know, I mean, that's just basically wanting to play defense, even if you're not good at it, would be an improvement.

Yeah, I mean, look, there are games in which I've watched where they haven't been very good defensively for big stretches. They've overcome it in part because the other teams just haven't made open shots. Last night's end of the game is proof of this. I mean, they left Garland, who was a 44% three-point shooter, wide open, wide open for the game winner at the end of the game. Now, you know, there was clearly a mix-up between Beale and called Well Pope at the end. It wasn't a switch, really.

It shouldn't have been a switch because there wasn't. really a screen, but Garland, who is the one guy out there that you cannot let get an open look to beat you, had not only an open look, but basically could have taken, you know, two or three seconds his time and lined it up like it was a horse competition. So that was a mistake defensively. But when things are going your way like they have through the first 11, teams aren't making those shots, you know. I go back to the opener against the Raptors when The Raptor scored 81 points or 82 points or whatever it wasn't shot poorly. But my God, they had wide open looks the entire night.

So my point is they try harder. It's emphasized. They have players who are better defensive players than they've had in the past. But I'm not ready to say that this Wizards team is a locked down defensive team. You know, I don't see that quite yet. What they do have is they have a stopper in Gafford, a real. shot blocking presence at the rim. And I do think they've got more length and more perimeter defense than they've had in the past.

Caldwell Pope certainly would fit that, you know, Beal when he's engaged. You know, Abdea is a good defender and he's long at sort of that three spot. But, you know, Netto ends up with a bunch of steals, but Netto is targeted by a other teams a lot. Anyway, I'm not going to go on any further. Bottom line is, I think this is a good team. This is a team that's not a championship contending team. Not saying that.

Not saying they're going to get to the NBA finals. But Atlanta last year with Trey Young and a lot of players who are good, but more role players, they got to the Eastern Conference finals. Yeah. You know, can the Wizards? Absolutely. And they've had good teams before. They haven't had good teams.

I mean, they haven't had good teams with depth, not with this kind of death. Yeah, they appear to have some. I mean, they're playing 10 guys every night, 10 players. And this is, as you mentioned, without Hachamura, without Bertons recently, who was really shooting it well when he got hurt and without Thomas Bryant. I don't know where that fit is when he comes back. Yeah, I know. But they're 8 and 3.

Now, here's one last thing. between now and Christmas, they play 22 games, 16 of them on the road. And they're not easy trips either. By the way, they play Miami three times twice on the road between now and Christmas. They have one of those West Coast deals where they've got Denver and Utah twice, including a Utah home game before they hit the road. So we're going to know a lot more six weeks from now than we know now. But, you know, the start they've gotten off to sort of affords them, you know, the opportunity to go, you know, 11 and 11 during this stretch or 10 and 12 during this stretch and still be in pretty good shape.

I think they're a team that if they stay healthy and they keep improving and it's a new group, they're still learning to play together, can win, you know, 42. 43, 44 games and be in that hunt for a top five, top six seed in the East. I do think that right now based on what I've seen through the first 11. So there you go. Let's get to the dark side of the spectrum in this town. Okay, we'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment presented by MyBooky, go to MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com. use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and they will double your first deposit.

By the way, Tommy, the Thursday night game tonight, Baltimore is a seven and a half point favorite at Miami. You know, Lamar Jackson and Hollywood Brown, this is their home turf, you know, South Florida. The last time they were in Miami, they destroyed the dolphins 59 to nothing. That was at the beginning of the 2019 season when it looked like the dolphins were going to tank the season. I know that underdogs have been rolling here and bigger underdogs more than touchdown underdogs have been rolling. I'm not giving this out as a smell test pick. I kind of like Baltimore tonight.

They have not covered in their last two. They were lucky to win on Sunday and they got beat when they played Cincinnati two weeks ago or three weeks ago now because of the buy. I just kind of like the Ravens a little bit in this one. but there's a college game tonight too, which features, and I'm giving everybody some homework tonight, Tommy, listen carefully. And then when you come in on Tuesday and you tell me about how you watch this game and you didn't know that it was on,

I just remember that I'm telling you and I'm giving you the homework assignment to watch Pitt North Carolina tonight because you'll get to see Kenny Pickett, the quarterback of Pitt, a guy that very well could be Washington's next quarterback. Kenny Pickett tonight in the Pitt Panthers laying six and a half at My Bookie at home against a North Carolina team with a total of 72 and a half. That thing opened at 75 and a half. Go to mybooky.orgie.orgie.com. They'll double your funds if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. plenty to bet on all the time at MyBooky. Did you follow? Did you take notes on your homework assignment for tonight?

No. Did you put it into your day timer? Did you put it into your day timer that you probably still carry around? Was it another series I should watch? No. What was it about? Kenny Pickett tonight. Seriously, I'm being totally serious.

I know that. For you Washington football fans, this is the number one guy for Kuiper, and Kuiper doesn't even think that he's a top 15 player. Now, he's a quarterback, so he's going to get picked in the top 10. And there will be a, you know, a lot of changing of the draft board. on quarterbacks between now and April. That was a big breath that you just let out there. But Kenny Pickett is actually, he's something.

I think he can play. I mean, 6-3-220 can really move, can make all the throws. They're playing a terrible defensive team tonight in North Carolina. All right, I have a question for you. You ready? It was my poll question today on Twitter at Kevin Shan, D.C. How many wins are left in this Washington football team season? Three.

Three? Yes. Okay. My answer is two. I've got them at four and 13. You've got them at five and 12. I think they can win two more games. What's your prediction on Sunday's game?

Oh, I'd say it's a relative beat down. I'd say 35 to 20 Tampa. 35 to 20 Tampa. Three wins. The Washington offense is going to explode for 20 points. That would be a big explosion. That would be double. That'd be double what they've gotten in the last two games,

where they scored 10 each against the Packers and the Broncos. I have another question. It was another Twitter poll that I did the other day. Where are you on Ron Rivera right now through a year and a half as the coach of this team? And I gave three options. He's not the right guy. You've already decided it. You're not sure you've got to give him more time.

Or you are sure he is the right guy. Which of those three answers? Which of those three answers would you give? Well, you needed to add a fourth one that says there is no right guy. Okay, I know. But I didn't. Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Surgeon General. Right. There is no right guy. I mean, I think it's got to be probably number two. You know, you're not sure if he's the right guy at this point. Again, you know, for as much as he was beloved in Carolina, He had a spotty record.

Oh, God. I mean, he was, you know, it was not like, it was not Joe Gibbs like. It was not Shula like. Who said it was? I mean, he, but, I mean, he's, he had success and he had failures and more failures than success at Carolina. Really? But when he had success, he had big success. Right.

You know, he was 13 games over 500 and won three division titles. and went to the playoffs four times. But he had more losing, he had more losing seasons than he did winning seasons. Well documented. Discussed many times on this show. It doesn't seem to be. It doesn't seem to be since you choose to ignore it. No, I don't choose to ignore it. I just choose.

I just, I'm getting sick of the people that say I knew Ron Rivera was the wrong hire. He only had three winning seasons in nine years. okay, that's true. That is technically true, factually true. Okay, he inherited a 2 and 14 team and went 6 in 10 in year one with the number one pick in the draft being Cam Newton, who by the way is being rumored right now to going back to Carolina. So Washington may get Cam Newton next week in Carolina.

Six and 10 that year, year one. Second year, big improvement to, well, an improving team at 7 and 9 with a second year quarterback. And then he went 12 and 4 won the division, 7, 8, and 1. Yes, losing record won the division. 15 and 1 won the division went to the Super Bowl. By the way, the 7, 8 and 1 season, just so you know they did win a playoff game too that year. And then he had a post-super Bowl year in which his quarterback wasn't completely healthy. They went 6 and 10. Came back, went 11 and 5 and lost in the first round of a very close playoff game. in the Superdome, finished up 7 and 9 and then was 5 and 7 when he got fired.

His career in Carolina was 76, 63 and 1, three division titles, four years out of the nine in the postseason, a three and four playoff career with a Super Bowl appearance. It's not Joe Gibbs. It's not Don Chula. You're right about that. It's not even record-wise, like you've made the case before, Mike McCarthy. but it also isn't anything we've had around here for 20-something years. Well, I mean, Mike Shanahan.

Well, yeah, I'm talking about in terms of the record. Yeah, of course. Mike Shanahan and Joe Gibbs and Marty Schottenheimer, I would put all above Rivera in terms of hires, of course. And in terms of coaches. But look, I'm not saying he's not the guy. I'm just saying that he has, it's a confusing record to determine your position on Ron Rivera.

I mean, there's some reason to be optimistic about him, and there's some reasons to be pessimistic about him. So, I was pleasantly surprised that they could attract somebody like Ron Rivera. I was a Ron

Rivera fan, not because I thought he was elite, thought he was a really good coach, and just watching those teams without ever knowing his record. I always felt like Carolina was a well-coached, disciplined, tough team. He better players on defense, certainly a superstar in Luke Keekly for all of that time there. And he had, by the way, he had a quarterback who was an MVP of the league one year.

But the quarterback, Cam Newton, was a good quarterback, you know, who had his moments where you thought he was elite, and he had his moments where you thought he was very average. And the problem, of course, with any coach in this league is if you don't have an elite quarterback, you're not going to have 15 and 1 and 12 and 4 seasons every year, especially if that quarterback isn't completely healthy. And Cam, even though we played in a lot of games, played in a lot of games compromised over those last few years. But whatever. Here's the thing with Ron. I'm with you. I think it's way, I think, first of all, just so everybody understands this, he ain't getting fired at the end of the year. And you're going to, no, no, no, no. And you're going to be

surprised as to the number one reason. The number one reason is they can't afford it. Literally, they can't afford to pay him for the final three years and then try to attract a new coach. They're hurting other than the TV revenues, which makes every NFL franchise wildly profitable. But in terms of their profit margins and their top line revenue, I mean, it is ugly compared to what it was five, six, seven years ago. They are not going to pay this guy three years for doing nothing. I think it's more likely that he would, because of maybe health reasons or whatever, or just because he's like, oh, my God, this place is just so much worse, and I don't need it in my life right now, that he might say, that's it for me.

I don't think that's going to happen either. But I'm with you. I'm not sure on Rivera right now, and I'm definitely willing to continue to give it more time. There are two things, though, that I wanted to focus in on. Number one is that in his first year with all the shit that was going on, I give him a lot of credit. Because to get that team with literally one of the worst offenses we've seen in a long time with no quarterback, to go from 1 in 5 to 7 and 9,

forget the fact that they also won the division and got in the playoffs, I'm not even talking about that. To get to 7 wins from where they were, I think was quite an accomplishment for him. him and his staff. And I think it's also reflective of what he's been as a coach. He doesn't have teams that bail on him. He has teams and players that genuinely like him and believe in him. Yeah. And you saw some of that last year. I agree with all that. Now, the thing that I think, you know, if this is true, he deserves a lot of criticism for. By the way, in the same way,

we would have criticized Mike for not standing up to Dan or anybody else. But when he accepted Dwayne Haskins, and he gave Dwayne Haskins the opportunity to prove himself on the field, if he didn't believe in Dwayne Haskins, I don't think Scott Turner ever believed in Dwayne Haskins. If he honestly in his own gut thought this ain't going to work, and he didn't do anything about it, that was damaging to the organization. As much as it was damaging when Dan went into the draft room and ignored all his football people

and drafted Dwayne Haskins. If Ron was doing some sort of, you know, Dan was like, you like Dwayne, right? You like him, you like him, right? He's a smart kid and he's got a big arm and, you know, he played football at Bullis where my son went to high school. He was really good at Ohio State. You kind of like him, don't you? you're going to give him a chance, right?

And Ron just said, no, I like him. We're going to give him a chance. And he knew deep down that Dwayne Haskins wasn't the kind of person he'd want to be a starting quarterback. That was damaging and really hurtful to the organization. Not because they could have taken Tua or Herbert, because I don't think they were going to take Tua because of the injury. He may have still taken Chase Young, but he would have immediately moved on from Haskins and pursued a different answer. and what they could have done with the number two pick in the draft, which who knows, maybe they'll end up with that pick this year as well. He could have turned it into a hall that could have also brought him a quarterback or a couple of quarterbacks that they may have had a chance with.

So I, you know, this organization has been damaged so much over the years by so much of what the owner has done and, you know, the team president, you know, in recent years. and it's very possible that Ron's first act as head coach was long-term damaging because I do think there's a chance that he knew deep down that Dwayne Haskins was not going to be his quarterback. And, you know, you would think that there was never more, a better time for him to have leverage to dictate, to call his shots, than right when he started. You know, look, like you said,

part of the excitement about Ron Rivera coming here was there was this belief that no coach worth or salt would work for this team. Right. And you had a guy like Ron Rivera who had credentials and people swearing by him

who was willing to come coach here. Now, he had to recognize that he had the upper hand over Snyder. And he could have picked Mickey mouse to coach to quarterback this team. And Snyder isn't going to balk. How do you know that, though? How do you know that it wasn't sort of this understanding, if not, you know, true something for something, quid pro quo? How do you know for sure? That may have been. Then Rivera underestimated his

position, if that's the case. Underestimated his leverage. What I'm saying is, How do you know if Rivera didn't, you know, give him a head nod and a wink and say Dwayne's going to get his chance? What if he didn't say that would he've gotten a job? Dan was all in on Dwayne. Dan looked bad enough for so many other things, and he didn't even know how bad he was going to look several months later with all the stuff that came out. But wasn't there, wasn't part of the reports that Joe Gibbs talked. old Dan to go get this guy? Yes. Gibbs was a big Ron Rivera believer from a culture,

from a reestablishing a winning culture standpoint, which is why Rivera's talked from day one about culture. But, you know, that's fine. But would Dan have gone with him if Ron Rivera, if the first thing Ron Rivera said to him was, if I take this job, I want you to know I am not keeping Dwayne Haskins. We are going to try to trade Askins while we can still get something for him. And we've got a position in this upcoming draft that we may never have again with several quarterbacks that are deemed to be top five, top six, seven worthy. Do you think if he felt that he was going to say it?

He should have. I agree. I mean, because there's a, I mean, because there were reports that he was going to be a candidate for the Giants. job. He had leverage. I think he did too. Not everybody agrees with that, interestingly. Not everybody agrees that he was going to have another option. But I think the giant job was an absolute possibility with Gettleman there. Yeah. Okay. So do I. So that was a misstep on his part. Look, I don't know, I don't know that it happened. It's not a rocket science. I know. I don't know that it happened that way. For all I know, look, he did say Carolina had a first round grade on Dwayne,

remember? Yes, he did. He also talked immediately about leadership being proven, that he's got to prove that he can be a leader. I've said this before, but I had Gibbs on the show shortly after Rivera was hired, and I asked Gibbs about Haskins, and he said, Dwayne needs to prove for Ron and for anybody that's a head coach that he has leadership ability.

There was already a fear that they did not have a natural leader, a quarterback. And this is very important to Rivera. We heard him refer to Taylor Heineke recently as a leader. So if he had a sense that he wasn't a leader, then he had a sense that he wasn't his guy. And by the way, what's become very clear about Dwayne Haskins, more than anything else, he was not a leader. People did, I mean, Rivera had to literally resort to when he benched him to say,

I couldn't look the other 52 guys in the eye anymore. and put Dwayne out there. Something he's not had an issue with with Taylor Heineke. No. They seem to, Taylor Heine, these teammates seem to love playing for him. Yeah.

So Rivera spoke yesterday, and I wanted to just, I wanted to read one quote more than any other. By the way, there were several things that came out of it. Ryan Fitzpatrick, you know,

he said, He had his MRI the other day. There's some progress. Unfortunately, not way up there, but it's progress. Look, Ryan Fitzpatrick is not going to play for this team this year. I would bet big money on it. And I had this gut feel a month ago with something that he had said. I can't remember specifically what he said.

But this is the Taylor Heineke show right now. And maybe it'll become, as you've predicted, the Kyle Allen show at some point as well. But he said the following. He was asked about Taylor Heineke as the starting quarterback. coming out of the by week and what conversation he had with Heineke coming out of the by week. And he said, quote, probably the biggest thing we want Taylor to do is go out and play with his personality. And again, we'll see how things go as we go forward and we'll continue to work as a football team and try and get better. I think that the one thing that you can say about Ron Rivera over the first year and a half,

He hasn't been super consistent with what he has said. He's been available, as you pointed out, and he asks himself a lot of great questions. Yes, he does. But he hasn't been super consistent, you know, going back to last year with, you know, in-game quizzes and, you know, culture. And then all of a sudden we're going to try to win the division. You know, we're trying to grow and develop and now we're trying to win the division. but man, what are you doing on that other end with that heavy breathing? Are you okay?

Yeah, I'm fine. Okay. He said earlier in the year, remember, he used the term game manager, you know, which I think is kind of overrated a little bit in terms of what he meant. You know, he wanted Taylor to play more within the structure of the offense. And now, you know, he's talking about, go out and play with his personality. His personality isn't playing within the structure of the offense. You know, it's not what you think of when you think of game manager. I, by the way, I agree.

I think the only way, if they're going to go, if they're going to play this dude, let him play with his personality, let him make plays with his legs. Let him do what he did in that Green Bay game, except this time, you know, actually cross the goal line before you give yourself up. But I think that's got to be the way he plays. But I think it's interesting with Ron where it is a little bit contradictory to some of the things he said earlier in the year. In many ways, you know, there was this discussion. Remember that we had that they were almost putting a governor on Taylor Heineke there for a while, or at least that's what we thought. You know, he's a lot like you. He says a lot of things, and he can't keep track of all of them. That's true. So there's going to be

mixed messages from time. the time. You know, this was the whole basis for my book, the quotable coach, which you can still buy on Amazon.com, which is a, okay, well, it's an excellent, it's a book

that Manny actor already had on his bookshelf when he, before he even knew who I was. This is your book? But, yeah, the quotable coach. The quotable coach. Because there are, Coach Thompson. Yeah, here it is. I got.

The Thompson wrote the Forward for it. Uh-huh. And, but the point is there's few people that speak to reporters more every day than coaches or baseball managers. I mean, every day, you know, like an NBA coach talks to a team of reporters before every game and after every game for 82 games plus the exhibition. and practices and baseball before the game, after the game. Football talks a couple of weeks during practice, and then after the game. They get quoted probably as much as anybody in this country.

So, yeah, they're going to lose track of what they say from time to time. There's a lot of different prices on your book right now. Where do you think the price range is on that book? By the way, as I saw the picture of the book, I have the book right here. I have it right here in my studio. The quotable coach, leadership and motivation from history's greatest quotes, Tom Levera, the forward written by Coach John Thompson. You know, you're...

I'd say the prices are going from two cents to five cents. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You got to pay $3.99 to as much as $12.99, depending on where you're buying it. There you go. It's a good book because it's an easy read. It's the kind you can take it. into the Christian Science Reading Room with you while you're taking care of business and put it down and pick it up later.

Do you know, wash your hands when you do that, do you know that right now on Amazon, paperback, $17.98, Kindle, $9.99. I don't even, I mean, I wonder how many Kindle I've sold. Is that a supply chain issue? Because you'll run some over to an Amazon warehouse right now. They don't have to wait for it to come off a ship in California. You know, I never got paid a dime. Just give people insight to the book business real quick.

I never got one cent in royalty from any of the books I ever wrote. Oh, my God. Not a penny. The royalties are a myth. Royalties are for the guys like John Feinstein who sell a lot of books, you know. So I've learned early on the money you get paid as an advance, and you get paid. They give you money before you write the book as an advance, and then your royalties come off that advance.

Okay? That's not in addition to the advance. Sure. Right. It's a draw. So, I mean, I understood early on that whatever money I got from the start, that was all the money I was going to get. No.

Just a little education. The most expensive of your books right now? Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball. I don't see that one. What I see is Home of the Game. Yes. Which, by the way, the forward is written by George Will. I told you that story, haven't I?

I don't think you have. That's a $27.19. price right now on Amazon. That's pretty good. George Will wrote, it might be the only forward in history that doesn't agree with the book. Oh, really? Yes. Tell me why.

Well, he wrote a line in there. It's the only line I remember. He said, you might not agree with a lot of the things Laverill has written. Dash, I do not. Dash. Whoa. This is what he wrote. Really?

Yes. But the only, I just wanted his name on the book. cover. Okay, well, so then what was the rest of it? What was the butt? Oh, I don't remember. Oh, my God. I don't remember. Would you ever? He said he basically assisted. Look, you know, it's the second part of that. You may not agree with everything in this book. He could have left it at that. But to add, and he said, I do not. But to add, I do not, almost seems, I mean, it almost seems, why the hell would you read this book if I don't agree with it? But I got to put his name on the cover, Forward by George Will.

I'm sure that sold a few copies. And most people don't read the forward anyway. I called in a favor from somebody to get George Will the right to follow. Did you know him? No, didn't know who he was. I'd seen him around the park many times. Well, you knew who George Will was. Hand in yards.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. That's really, that is not, you know, for your next book, I'd be glad to write the forward. Thank you. There won't be any more books. There won't be.

That's too hard work. That's hard work for the amount of money you get paid. Yeah. I don't work that hard anymore. I wanted to mention just a couple of other things before the end of the show. Number one, Tampa's got a lot of players that are injured. for this upcoming game. I had Greg Oman from the Athletic on the radio show this morning. You know, they basically have almost all of their receivers, except for Mike Evans. I'm talking

about their wide receivers more likely than not out for this game. So, you know, Chris Godwin, who's having a hell of a season, likely out for this game. Antonio Brown out. Scotty Miller, out. Now, they still have Mike Evans, and they've got Tyler Johnson, who I loved when they drafted a out of Minnesota last year. Tyler Johnson had that huge catch in the championship game against the Packers. They still have, oh, by the way, Gronk out too. They still have Cameron Brate. They still have O.J. Howard.

So they still have, like, they are really deep, you know, at skill position players on offense, including, obviously, at quarterback. And they still have Leonard Fournett, who's having a good season. And they're getting healthier on defense. But, you know, they won't be what they've been offensively. Sunday against Washington. So Washington's defense, you know, other than not having to face Tom Brady, which would have been obviously the most advantageous situation for them, they're not facing all of their

star players, probably enough of them that it won't matter. But they're not playing all of their star players. Number two, Bruce Ariens said about the playoff game that the biggest thing for them is it was a complete surprise that Taylor Heineke was the quarter of. And, you know, it was a complete surprise. We didn't, none of us knew this until Saturday afternoon that he was going to be starting. They knew all along, but they did a really good job, you know, that week of not letting, you know, it out that Alex Smith wasn't healthy enough to play.

Remember, he had played in the Sunday night game against the Eagles in the game they won. And he said, you know, they had essentially prepared for a stationary quarterback. and they got a quarterback who he complimented as being really quick. And he is. That's his number one attribute, is his quickness, his speed, his playmaking ability,

especially as a runner. So I wanted to mention that. The next thing I wanted to mention is we've talked a lot about, you know, COVID over the last, you know, year coming up on two years in March. And I've said many times that, you know, Until an actual athlete in one of these sports gets really sick, you know, and is on a ventilator when we were talking about ventilators.

And the truth is it's really not happened. There have been some long-haul symptoms, you know, Von Miller and, you know, there have been a couple of football players. I think a couple of basketball players, too, have had some of the long-haul symptoms of whether, you know, whether, you know, it's like loss of taste and smell or, you know, fatigue. lack of energy, some of that stuff. But Dakota Dozier, who plays for the Minnesota Vikings, had to be hospitalized on Wednesday with severe COVID symptoms. He was struggling with breathing. Mike Zimmer, the head coach yesterday, said that it was a very scary situation.

They had to rush him to the emergency room, and that he's doing better now, at least as of this morning. he's in stable condition. But I think, correct me if I'm wrong, because I might be wrong on this. I think this is the first one where we've heard that there was an emergency room situation where the head coach described it as a very frightening and scary situation. He was having a very difficult time breathing with COVID pneumonia symptoms. And by the way, he was a vaccinated player, just so everybody understands that.

Well, Buffalo Bill's tackle Dion Dawkins this summer had to be hospitalized for four days with COVID, wound up losing 15 pounds in the process. He was very scared. He said they had him on fluids. And I don't know if he's bounced back or not. I don't know how he's doing this season. But he was hospitalized this summer for four days on COVID and underwent some circumstances. severe reactions to it.

Okay. It really, I'm sure somebody's after this show, and that's fine, is going to send me a list of the players who are really sick. I know that Von Miller, Miles Garrett was another one now that I'm thinking about it. Miles Garrett and Von Miller both had, you know, some real fatigue issues following up from COVID. but I don't know football-wise anyway of any players that were, you know, ventilator, emergency room in serious condition, which Dakota Dozier was the other night, a starting player for the Vikings.

Anyway. Okay. Cam, Newton, and the Carolina Panthers meeting right now to talk about, a comeback with and the reason for that for those of you who are wondering is sam darnald has actually been played last week and is out now with a fractured shoulder i think it is um he's out for a while i don't think that really upsets a lot of panther fans um he has no i don't think so for sure yeah okay anything else maryland plays uh george washington tonight in college basketball so i'll be watching that'll be watching the football be

watching Kenny Pickett. I will be watching the NFL game. I kind of like the Ravens. I hate land points, especially over the last couple of weeks. I kind of like the Ravens, though, a little bit, but I'm not giving it out. I might play it myself personally. But Maryland and GW. Maryland's actually, you know, I give Terge credit. He's playing some of the locals. He's got Mason on the schedule. He's got GW on the schedule. They're going to play Richmond in the Bahamas on Thanksgiving Day before a potential game against Louisville. Here's something that I didn't mention because I didn't do a podcast yesterday. Maryland's opener, this is going to be a work in progress, but I really, really like their freshman

Julian Reese. Really like Julian Reese. I think that he, it's going to be an up and down freshman year. He hasn't filled out physically, body-wise. This time next year, look out. 6-10, long arms, 230 pounds now. Who knows next year might be 240 with mostly muscle, but from Baltimore, lefty, I mean, shot blocker, natural, has good touch. I think that that was out of their opener.

That was the most, because you never know until you see these guys in games, I don't think. But I was really impressed with Julian Reese, the freshman out of Baltimore. I thought Fats Russell looked great. Tommy, this guy is lightning, lightning quick. and yeah, so that was basically it. So anyway, you got anything else? I know you got to run. Nothing else for you, boss. All right, we're done back tomorrow.