The Kevin Sheehan Show - Abrams On Heater; Amos On PUP

Episode Date: July 28, 2026

Kevin opened with the Nats and the heater CJ Abrams has been on. He talked about the trade they made over the weekend as well. He reacted to a busy news day which included Commanders' Tight Ends Coach Ben Steele being fired. He also discussed the three players including Trey Amos added to the teams' Active/Physically Unable to Perform List. And then Commanders' minority owner Mark Ein joined Kevin to talk about his tennis tournament (The Mubadala Citi Open) and football as well.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match   So if you are looking to make Mother’s Day perfect, or just want to impress your friends and family with an epic meal next time you host, go to www.GOLDBELLY.com and get free shipping and 20% off your first order with promo code sheehan.   Air conditioning stops at your waistband. Stay fresh all day with TUSHY. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order when you use code Sheehan at checkout. 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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. One guest on the show with me today, Mark Eind will jump on shortly. Mark's made an annual visit to the podcast, usually the week before or the week of his tennis tournament.

And the City Open is underway. The main draw got underway today. But we'll talk some football with Mark as well. The show is presenting sponsor. As always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windonation.com if you need new windows. A busy newsday, and not for great reasons, and I'll get to some of that coming up before we get to Mark.

I want to open the show with this from P. Jones 19. He sent me an email over the weekend that I read on the show that I put out yesterday. If you miss that show, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler was a guest on the show. But P. Jones 19 sent an email that I read on yesterday's show and responded to. He took issue with Tom and me talking Nats all of the sudden, he said, after not talking about the Nats all season long. He said that that was laugh out loud. and he said, you made your bed with Brandon Ayuk,

now lie in it. Essentially saying you've talked so much about Brandon Ayuk and you haven't been talking about the Nats. So now that the Nats are doing well, don't talk about him. You don't deserve to talk about him. And I said, I'm not sure if P. Jones 19 is kidding or not, but if he's not kidding, it's a ridiculous take.

He heard my response on the show yesterday, and I got this from him today, from P. Jones 19. Kevin, I'm glad you read my email, and I want you to know that I was serious about criticizing you and Tom for not talking about the Nats. No apologies here. Your reasons were weak sauce, and I can't be alone on this. Your podcast is supposed to be a DMV sports podcast. Maybe you should consider spreading the sports talk around the DMV more than you. do. All right then. Now I know that P. Jones 19 was serious. Um, yeah. Uh, so, you know, look, first of all, to suggest that we just all of the sudden started talking about the Nats like we completely ignored them. Uh, that's not true. Um, we always talk Nats on this podcast. And when I say always, you know, over a six-year period going back to 2020 the year after they won the world series, this has been a horrendous baseball team. They have finished five out of the last

six years in the last place in the National League East. And in the last five years before this season, they averaged 96 plus losses a year. But we've still talked, a key. But we've still talked, Occasionally, not a lot. Trust me, I understand we haven't done over the last five or six years a lot of Nats talk. And the reason for that is for most of you, it's tune out content. You know, now when there's been a big story, like, you know, a big trade or a firing like Mike Rizzo or Davy Martinez and the new hires and the ownership trying to sell the team or some of the buffoonery surrounding. the ownership. I mean, I've got a Hall of Fame baseball voter on the show two days a week. I can tell you, even during these woeful seasons, Tommy has almost always had something,

at least, you know, once a week, if not twice a week, on the Nats, especially during the season. So there was a bit of hyperbole there from you, P. Jones 19, but trust me, I know what I'm doing, and I've been doing this long enough to know that too much talk about a team that bad, if the team isn't the football team in our market, it is just not something that you want to do too much of. Like if you're on radio, it's called tune out radio. It's like you've got to be careful because sometimes you can go down a path of talking about something that if you're not passionate about it in the moment,

and they're not relevant in the moment, you can hear the radio's clicking to somewhere else. And it's not that much different in a podcast environment where you can get a lot of people that just say, no, I'm going to fast forward through this. So the suggestion P. Jones 19 that you have made is not a good one, actually, for me or for the mass majority of the audience. But the good news is, talking about the team this year, is not tune out content. And how about the weekend that they had? Two of three, they won from Arizona. They're a game back of Arizona for the third and final wild card spot.

They're actually only three games back of the Phillies for the second wildcard spot. They've now won three straight series coming out of the All-Star break and they lost on Friday night so they needed to win those next two which they did on Saturday afternoon and then yesterday afternoon but two of three from the A's on the road two of three from the Rockies on the road and now two of three in what was an important series for late July especially for this baseball team which has not had important anything for a long period of time and how about the heater that C.J. Abrams has been on three for five. yesterday with two homers and three RBIs, 27 home runs on the season.

A major league best 82 RBIs now on the season. Listen to his last 39 at bats covering the last 10 games. 19 hits in his last 39 ABs, 7 homers, 15 RBIs. He is on an absolute tear right. now. I was looking up the odds on my bookie for National League MVP. Look, Otani is a massive favorite

to be the National League MVP. But James Woods like the fifth best odds and C.J. Abrams has moved up to the eighth best odds in the National League for MVP. Neither one's going to win the MVP because Otani more likely

than not will win the MVP. There are a couple of other players who have had outstanding years in the National League. But C.J. Abrams is on a massive tear. At this point, just in the month of July, his batting average is 397 now, with an OPS of 1.255.

I mean, this guy is just on fire. James Wood up to 30 home runs as the Nats offense continues to be literally at times unstoppable. Another 15 hits yesterday to go with the 10 runs. They had a 10 to 5 lead heading into the 9th and the bullpen got a little shaky. The first three batters were walked and there were a couple of at-bats for Arizona where one swing could have given them the lead in the ninth inning. But the Nats held on for a 10 to 7 win. They've got Toronto for the next three and then starts that stretch of at Atlanta for four and at Philadelphia for four games. And the trade deadline looms.

Meantime, they made a trade yesterday. And this happened after I recorded the podcast yesterday. They dealt offense for starting pitching. Curtis Meade to Boston for left-hander Connolly Early. Now, early comes to Washington, hurt. He's got an elbow problem. It's not structural, according to doctors. He's actually been throwing recently and could be available to the Nats sometime later in the season, meaning in September, hopefully that would be for a stretch run at a wild card berth. And it would be great to add a solid starting pitcher, which, by the way,

they'll have years of control over to a rotation with Cade Cavali and fingers crossed Foster Griffin. Of course, we'll find out what happens with Foster Griffin this week. He's 30 years old. He's had an absolute fantastic season, totally unexpected, and he's an unrestricted free agent next year. So if the Nats can, you know, this would be certainly not something they were expecting going into the year, but if they could get back a haul for Griffin that was great for the long term, I'm sure they'll take it. But it would be a blow to their playoff hopes this year. In losing me, they're losing a guy that is in the midst of by far and away a career year for him.

Who knows if it's a precursor of things to come. But 17 homers and 87 games. But they've got to think right now that they've just got enough offense to overcome the loss of just one of their decent offensive players. I've seen the grades on this trade on a couple of websites. The Nats have graded out really well. ESPN had the Nats grade on this trade as an A minus. The Red Sox grade is a C. I saw another site that had A and a C plus.

So it would appear that the Nats did a pretty good job acquiring a future starter, hopefully a this year starter as well for a guy that was in the midst of by far and away, the best year of his career and maybe, you know, sort of an outlier year in his career. All right, lots of news today, and it hasn't all been pleasant. I will get to that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, an admission, I love Goldbelly. I've been telling you about Goldbelly for three years now. If you're a food guy and you haven't been to Goldbelly.com, you are missing out.

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with an epic meal the next time you host, go to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order using promo code Sheehan. That's goldbelly.com code Sheehan. for 20% off your first order. This segment of the show brought to you by MyBooky. If you want to bet on the NFL, my suggestion is to create an account with MyBooky. You can do that by going to MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com.

Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will give you a cash bonus when you sign up for the first time, or if you're a returning customer, if you make a new deposit. but MyBooky's got everything you need for the upcoming NFL season. They've got all of the preseason lines up, if that's something you're interested in. They've got the first few weeks of the regular season up. They've got all of the season totals up, the division odds, the championship odds. Everything you want to look ahead to, they've got it.

Go to mybooky.orgie.orgie.com and use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. a troubling day news-wise, and a lot of it close to home. I'll start with the tight-ends coach, Ben Steele, being fired earlier today. It was reported that the team has parted ways with Ben Steele. Ben Steele was hired during this last coaching cycle. He was with the Cardinals as their tight-ends coach for a few years. But on June 7th, in Loudon County, Steele was charged with DWI after he was observed changing course after a signal. He was also charged with obstruction and resisting without force. And according to court documents, Steele refused a blood breath test.

He was released on his own recognizance. And the team said that this was a violation of the team policy and therefore, he was fired. Now, he was not coaching during OTAs and mini-camp. This happened all the way back on June 7th. Wes Welker had been handling the tight ends, but because he was new and a lot of people covering those practices were not necessarily familiar with him,

it wasn't noticeable. I think Ben Standing told me that at some point, they asked to interview Ben Steele, and they said he was unavailable. That could have been for any reason. But Wes Welker, who's an offensive assistant, could, could make his way up to tight ends coach. So that was one piece of news today.

The other was really very, very, you know, borderline tragic. Fortunately, Eric B. Enamey's wife, Mia, is alive and in stable condition. But Eric B. Enamey's wife was shot by the couple's son at their home in Northern Virginia in Ashburn. So they have kept their home there in Ashburn. And Mia Bienamey, Eric Bienamee's wife, remember Eric Bianami back in Kansas City, working for Andy Reed and with Patrick Mahomes as the chief's offensive coordinator. His wife, Mia, was hospitalized in stable condition,

and she was being treated for serious injuries, but they say that she is in stable condition and their son, 27-year-old Elijah Bianami, was arrested and charged with malicious wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, and discharge of a firearm inside of a dwelling.

Andy Reid said after the chief's training camp practice today, quote, Our hearts go out to Eric Bienemy. Mia is stable, which is a plus, We all love E.B. And you hate seeing those things happen. Closed, quote. Bianami, not at the Chief's training camp today, obviously, out in St. Joseph's, Missouri.

So those were two big stories that sort of I woke up to today. And upsetting, for sure. Certainly wish the best for the Bienemies. There's a lot of NFL news out there today and from over the weekend that I didn't necessarily get to. I'll begin with our team's active, physically unable to perform list, the Pupp list, and the three players who were placed on that list over the weekend. Veterans report tomorrow, the first full-fledged training camp day is Wednesday, and these three players will not be participating.

The three players are Dietrich Wise. Remember, Dietrich Wise was a starter early in the season, got hurt very early in the season, a season-ending torn quad injury, he's on the list. Dorrance Armstrong is on the list. He tore his ACL in week seven against the Cowboys after having a great run-up to that game.

In fact, I think he was their best defensive player Before the injury, Dorrance Armstrong is on that list. And then lastly, cornerback, Trey Amos, is on that list. Amos is recovering from a fractured fibula on November 9th, and there are some concerns about whether or not he's had a setback or suffered another injury because it was a bit surprising to see him on that list. that injury should not be anywhere near the recovery time that a torn quad or a torn ACL is. The ACL, we're getting to that nine-month area where it'll be soon for Armstrong and I think wise as well.

But there are some concerns about Amos and I don't know that we'll know for sure why he's on that list until Dan Quinn tells us on Wednesday. I think Wednesday will be the day that he and Adam Peters will address the media. But maybe that's why they went out and acquired Russell Douglas, because they're not sure about Amos's ability, especially over the summer, maybe even early into the season. We'll see. It's a long time for that injury to still be holding a player out. So something to hone in on come Wednesday when Dan Quinn meets with the media.

Someone will, of course, ask him about Trey Amos. He may lead off that press conference with some key injuries to let you know about. Maybe he'll go into depth on the issues with Trey Amos. But they are not deep at corner as we know. And, you know, I was thinking Rasul Douglas because they needed another veteran with, you know, Sanra still in year three and Amos in year two coming off an injury. But maybe Douglas was signed because they feel like they might need him. We'll see.

It could be nothing. It could be, hey, he had a little bit of an occurrence and just have to wait it out. We're playing it, you know, safe rather than being sorry. More NFL news. this from Tampa. Vita Vaya wants to be traded. As the bucks have opened up their training camp, his contract extension talks have stalled. And he said today through his agent, trade me. I was thinking right when I saw that. Vita Vaya, remember, in the 2018 draft was selected one spot ahead of Duran Payne. They've had very similar careers. I think Vaya's been making

the more consistent player as an interior defensive tackle. Duran's best is every bit as good as Vita Vaya's best and maybe even better, but Vaya, I think, has been a little bit more consistent. You know, if you look at things like Pro Bowls and all pros, Veyas has been a two-time, he's been a two-time pro bowler. Duran's only made the Pro Bowl one time. Neither one of them has made an associated press. first team.

And 35 sacks for Vaya, 37 for pain. They've had similar careers. I just consider Vaya to have been the more consistent player. I'll tell you this. No way is Todd Bulls going to lose Vita Vaya in a year that's huge for him. This is a big, big year for Tampa's head coach, Todd Bowles. Remember, they drafted the player that I really wanted Washington to draft, but apparently his arms are too short, and that is Rubin Bain Jr. So they've added him to their defense, and I have a feeling he's going to have a big time year.

But yeah, you don't, if you're Tampa, and this is a big year, they had some injuries last year, and that kind of derailed their season late, but you don't want to lose Vita Vaya. but how about maybe a Duran Payne for Vita Vaya straight up? We've got the money to pay them, certainly, if they were interested in that. I would make that deal. Now, Vea, I looked this up, is actually, believe it or not, even though they were in the same draft class, is two and a half years older than Payne.

I don't think people realize Duran Payne is still just 28 years old. Now, I think he turns 29 soon. I'm sorry, he just turned 29 years old at the end of May. All right. What else? Nikki Javala got a response from Brandon Ayuk via text. She and Matt Barrow wrote a story about Ayuk for the athletic. Matt Barrows is the 49ers beat reporter for the athletic.

Nikki is Washington's beat reporter for the athletic. And as part of this story, Brandon Ayuk was reached by text message on Friday about, you know, his current status. And he sent a text back saying, quote, AP and DQ quietly put together a squad. AP Adam Peters, DQ, Dan Quinn. He spelled squad incorrectly. spelled it S-Q-A-U-D. Yeah, you almost always follows A-Q, Brandon. But he put that in all capitals to make sure that we didn't miss the spelling mistake.

And then he continued, I'm the final piece. By the way, he spelled peace incorrectly, P-E-I-C-E, that will swing all the odds in our favor. And then he put a championship trophy as an emotional. and hashtagged it, Go Commanders, Raise Hail. So he responded to a reporter. But at the same time, as I mentioned on yesterday's show, John Lynch speaking for the 49ers at the podium in a training camp press conference over the weekend,

said, hey, man, you can ask me all about him, but he's not on our roster. He's on the left squad list. He's not one of our 90 active players. And until he becomes that, there's nothing to say. We're focused on the players that are here. Again, I don't know how many times I can say this, but this guy keeps talking about being a Washington commander,

about that's what's going to happen, and he hasn't taken one step towards making that even a possibility. Now, I don't think it's much of a possibility at all. But for him to actually be sign-on, by anybody. He's got to apply for reinstatement. He's got to show up at 49ers camp, something that he's already said he's not willing to do. So there you go. All right, Mark Eind next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, I want to welcome a new sponsor to the podcast. The name of the product is Tushy, as in yes, that Tushy, your backside. And many of you should listen closely because

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in a day or less and leave your home cleaner than when they arrived. Schedule a fast-free in-home estimate today by calling Window Nation at 86690 Nation or Windonation.com. All right. Joining me right now, Mark Ine. Mark, of course, is one of the owners of our football team. He is also the chairman and CEO of the Mubidala City, D.C. Tennis Open, which is underway today main draw both women and men down in Rock Creek Park. Mark's made sort of an annual visit

here on the podcast to talk tennis, but we'll get some football questions in as well. But I was looking at the draws for both the men and women. This has to be one of the best fields, both men and women that you've ever had. It's definitely top to bottom, the best we've ever had. And when I was looking at on social media and tennis channel, the whole tennis world is talking about the quality of this draw from top to bottom, from the matches from the first day. For an event like this, it's really about as good as it can get. It's extraordinary. So let's talk about who's here on both sides of the draw.

Let's start with actually one of my favorite players, because you know I'm a tennis person, not as much as I used to be, but I'm a big Jessica Pagool. of fans. She's the number one seed on the women's side. Do you think she's going to win a major at some point? She certainly gets herself in position as much as anyone.

I love Jess, too. She won her first tournament she ever won was here in 2019. And obviously her family owns the bill. So I love Jeff too. I'd love to see it. It's not going to be easy, but I do think one of these days she could do

She could do it. So the women's draw also includes Osaka, Svitalina is the two-seed. Venus is in the main draw. You know, just thinking, Mark, about Venus and Serena, and they were going to play doubles at Wimbledon, but Serena got injured in that first round match in her return. On Serena, do you think this is going to be a comeback

that continues next month at the U.S. Open? I don't know for sure I certainly think when she came back that was the plan and if she's healthy I'm sure she will I think it just comes down to her recovery after the tweak of her leg at Wimbledon incredible women's draw

tell everybody who you have on the men's side yeah yeah the women's is unbelievable in some of the first round matchups we have Emma Navarro and Sophia Kennan today and Madison Keyes and Champsone of who won the tournament.

So that's great. And then on the men side, we have the top 10 American men. So we have Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Francis Tiafo, learner team, Tommy Paul.

Amazing. And then we've got Alex de Minar coming back. We have Stefano Tizzy Pass who's playing Alex DeMannar in the first round. Wow.

Which is unbelievable. Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. So one thing, Kevin, that, you know,

Unless you really follow tennis, people may not know. But this year we went from a 48 men's draw to a 32, which is the same as the women's, and also more consistent with the ATP 500 that we are. But what that means is that the cutoff to get in the tournament, you have to be top 47 in the world, which means from the first day, you have to be, you know, top 50 in the world. That's kind of like starting the tournament in the third round of a grand tournament. and plan. That is a hundred and twenty-eight draw, right?

So some of these first-round matchups are crazy, good, and it's just going to be a week with unbelievable matches because the draw got smaller and you really have to be one of the best players in the world just to get into the tournament. I mean, is this considered to be, Mark, like the beginning of the run-up to the U.S. Open? I mean, I know Cincinnati's a big deal when it comes to that. Canada is a big deal when it comes to that. But are players, like they did way back in the day, do they use this as a tune-up,

as a way to get ready for the U.S. Open at the end of the month, end of next month? Absolutely. D.C. marks the beginning of the North American hardcore swing in tennis. So it starts here, then it goes to Canada, then since then a week off in the open. So that's why we have a crossbow draw of seven. top 10 players, 17 top 20.

What's also in Chessing Kevin is a lot of the players have just fallen in love with D.C., and I do think we make a real effort to treat them well and give them great facilities. A lot of them were already in town last week. Andy Murray was here with Jack Draper, Alex came early. A lot of players were here already training last week, so they really do start this time of year in Washington, D.C. I mean, we've talked about this for several years running now, but you draw really well to this event. And I don't think that, you know, everybody that's listening knows that D.C. is an outstanding tennis city with a huge tennis community. Forget the facility in College Park where Francis Tiafo came out of and he is playing in this event this week.

but it's always been that way. So the demand is high to get to this thing, isn't it? Yeah, it's incredible. And if you said, we have an unbelievable tennis community here. I grew up with a little boy playing tennis. I was a ball kid at the event, so I've seen it. Since we took over in 2019, we've sold every ticket since 2019. The entire event sells out weeks before it starts.

and I had so many players this weekend which was qualifying weekend and the grounds were packed from the very beginning of the day till the end I had so many players ask me how does this, it's just, we never see this during qualifying weekend this many people

staying so long, so enthusiastic about the game and it honestly makes all the hard work really worthwhile just to see how much people in Washington love this tournament. Yeah, it's such a good tennis market. I'm convinced that a lot of people don't know how rich the history of tennis is in this city and with this particular tournament.

You know, it makes me think because golf is, you know, so wildly popular and has been now for, you know, obviously decades. Why do you think that we here in the DMM? aren't a regular tour stop for the PGA? That's a great question. I haven't thought about it because I've had a lot of fun at the golf events here. I'm not sure I fully know why we can't. You would think we should.

A little bit, look, a little bit in tennis is a lot has to come together. You need the right level tournament. You need the right level tournament. You need the right week in the calendar. and then you really need to put it on in the right way. The big change here, Kevin, when we took over, is we made massive investments in the fan experience, as you know.

So we have world-class food and beverage great venues. And so the event doesn't just attract hardcore tennis fans. Right. There are so many people at this tournament who are here just because they're going to have a fun summer day. And whether you love to, and I think that's a big key to everything in sports. You know, you have to make it fun for everyone, not just for people who love the sport, but the more casual fan. That's what we've done here.

And maybe if someone did the golf tournament the next time and focus on that, maybe that would be helpful. It is well done. You've done a phenomenal job with it. It's a great night out. And to your point, you don't have to be a hardcore tennis fan to enjoy it, especially if the weather's nice. By the way, it's supposed to be okay this week, right? Not overwhelmingly hot. I know you look at that every year.

I do. Kevin, I got to say I really believe at this point that that reputation for this tournament is past. The tournament used to be much later in August when the weather's a lot worse. We've never had a session rained out for seven years we've been involved. And the temperatures are consistently lower than Cincinnati, even the U.S. Open. It'll never hit 90 this week. it's a great week. It's going to be great weather, and it definitely helped. So, you know, the majors this year, Wimbledon, which just concluded with Center beatings

Varev and, you know, an odd women's final for sure without Sabalanka in it, and the French was a bit, you know, off the rails a little bit in terms of the best players. I mean, Zverev got his first overall grand slam. Where is the state of the sport currently in our country? You know how popular it is around the rest of the world. What about here in the U.S.? You know, it's a great question, Kevin. The events here are all thriving.

The U.S. Open is the biggest tennis event in the world. It thrives. Our event is thriving. You know, I wish we had more tickets to sell. we could sell a ton more, really just to give more people a chance to come. The tournament Indian well is thriving. Every event in America is thriving. I do think in some way that doesn't get the attention of other sports.

But you know, the other thing, Kevin, I was looking after the French Open. Zarebev was on the front page, not of the sports, the front page of the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post winning the French Open. So it's an interesting thing. The biggest stars, the biggest events, the biggest moments, do get a lot of attention. But then you go through periods of the year where people may follow tennis less. But in general, things are great. And the American players are really popular.

They're doing great. So I actually think sports in a good place here. I mean, I follow it enough. And I think about this question a lot, especially this time of year. when we've had the French Wimbledon and looking ahead to the U.S. Open with obviously your tournament as part of the lead up to that. And I still think that an American male championship star, which we haven't really had in terms of winning a grand slam since Roddock in the early 2000s, would really lift the men's sport in this country. I think it's been a big miss. I mean, we've just, I mean, I was an unbelievably devout.

passionate tennis fan up until 10, 15 years ago. And in many ways, I didn't miss it necessarily, but the greatest era ever, Federer, Nidal, Djokov, etc. I kind of missed to a certain degree compared to what came before it. And I never thought of it in terms of an American star being absent from it, but I think that would help, don't you? For sure. Having a, one from his country on the men's side when being one of the best in the world would help. That said, I do think Kevin a little bit

generations other than ours embrace international stars a lot. And you just look at the World Cup and how popular that was there really are no American male soccer stars. And I just think it's a bit of a different world. I mean, if you look at the social

followings and the sponsorship revenues of the biggest tennis players in America. I mean, they're not American, but with the money they generate in America, the popularity. I think people are used to embracing stars from around the world. And then the other beautiful thing about tennis is you really have both genders competing at the highest level and getting paid at the highest level. So obviously we have a bunch of, you mentioned Jessica Gulliver, we have Cocoa Golf, who's the highest paid female athlete in the world and earning money like the top male

state athletes in the world. And we have had, obviously, Green and Venus and others, a lot of American stars on the women's side. And again, I just think for a lot of people that drives a lot of the popularity of the sport as well. It'd be nice to see Francis Tiafo be that first American male to win a grand slam since Rodic.

But he, boy, he had two gut-wrenching, losses in the last two majors, both at the French where the draw kind of opened up for him and everybody, and then at Wimbledon as well. You know, he's had a couple of runs at the U.S. Open, a couple of deep runs, but he's come up short. Is the window closing on Tiafo, or do you think there's still a chance he could compete for and win a major? He absolutely can.

I mean, he's semifinaled twice. in the U.S. Open in the last five years. And the match against Taylor Fritz, he was up. That's the one on-serve, 4-5, up 4015, you know, and it just had a bad game, and the thing slipped away. So we know he can do it. When Francis is at his best, me, he almost beat Alcoraz two years ago,

Wimbledon, he was up on him. When he's at his best, he can beat anyone in the world, and he can bring a lot of energy. The issue is to win a grand slam, you have to do that seven times in a row. So it's not easy, for sure he has it. And he also, as you know, I've known Francis since he was a young boy and were really close. And I love the guy. He's never been more serious about his profession and doing everything to put himself in those positions.

And since really the end of last, after the open, which was a big disappointment, he has committed himself in a way he never has, and he's now committed the way the best players in the world do. And so I know he is really looking forward to hopefully a good run this summer. The player that a couple years ago I thought had a chance, and he still does because he's extremely young, but he's at a tough 26 in the Grand Slam's is Shelton. He's here this week.

He's got the game. and I mean the dude 6-3-6-4, right? I mean, and he's got this serve. Like, he looks like he's got the game to win a grand slam or grand slams, you know, plural. What do you think? Oh, for sure. He also's semifinaled the U.S. Open. He took Francis on the way that year.

Look, once you're in the last four, anything can happen. And obviously, you know, Carlos is out. Yonick is insanely tough. but, you know, I was at the match. He lost at the French where he just lost, he just couldn't compete anymore. So all you can ask, and by the way, this is the strategy for American tennis.

You just want to get people in the position. You want to get him there for the final weekend, and then anything can happen. And Ben Shelton, with his serve, his competitiveness, for sure, if he finds himself in the semis of a grand slam, he could win two more matches. And he's really excited to hear, obviously, His girlfriend is Trinity Rodman.

He was at the air game the other day, and he has a real connection. He spends a lot of time here, and I know he's really excited to be here in D.C. as well this week. All right. Let's take a quick break. We'll bring Mark back and talk some football after these words from a few of our sponsors. Ratings and reviews are huge for podcasts, this one as well. If you haven't rated or reviewed this podcast, and you don't mind spending. a minute or so to do it.

It would be much appreciated. It's really helpful for us. Following the podcast is a big deal as well. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. We continue with Mark Eyn, a minority owner of our football team and the chairman and CEO of the tennis, the city open that's going on down at Rock Creek Park. I'll get to some football here in a moment, but I was curious, were you, win to the World Cup over the last month?

Probably the other thing you did is a kid was play MSI soccer. Of course. You were growing up, right? Like I did too. So those were my two sports tennis and soccer. And that's great. I was out of the country a lot, unfortunately, but I did go to the finals and semis. And, yeah, I mean, gosh, the games were unbelievable.

And I remember in 94. I remember going to games at R-FSA in 94 and the finals. and it's just great. I mean, the sport is obviously the most popular sport in the world. And when it comes to America for the World Cup, it captures our country's attention. And the games were so compelling. It was a great summer of soccer.

I was actually at the final in the Meadowlands. And I thought, you know, the, what I love about it is the pageantry and the importance of it to the rest of the world. And it sounds like, so you were there as well for the final? Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it felt, and I've been to Super Bowls and you've been to Super Bowls and big events.

It felt like a major big event. I loved it. I loved all of it until the actual game itself, which was not the most exciting game. And I guess for me, and this will be the last World Cup question I ask, is, you know, For our entire lives, because you and I are essentially the same age, we've heard about, you know, the spark that's going to, you know, make America fall in love with soccer, where it's going to become truly important to Americans like it is the rest of the world.

And some people thought, going through this summer, that this was going to be it. My personal view is I like the World Cup a lot. I don't love soccer. So I think I'll be back at it in four years from now. How do you think this summer will sort of manifest, you know, moving forward on itself? Yeah, I mean, it's a little like the tennis question. Look, do you only have so many hours in the day and so many days you can go do stuff? And in America, we love our football and we love our basketball and baseball and hockey.

You've got four really established sports that take up a lot of days, a lot of nights, a lot of money if you're a fan. And so, you know, it's probably not realistic for some other sport, like tennis or soccer. I'm going to bump one of those. But there's a lot of room for both of them to be super healthy and strong and grow. I think that's where tennis is. And I think that's where soccer is. I mean, you know, Kevin, it's kind of amazing the coverage of the Premier League gets in the United States. And you're talking about a whole league with no teams in the United States.

and it's shown on broadcast TV. It's covered in the papers. There's a lot of fans, a lot of kids wearing jerseys, not just Premier League, but, you know, Barcelona and Paris, San Jermann. So I think, you know, you can't compare it to the four sports we love to measure their health,

but you can compare it to the growth and just general success they're having. And I do think soccer is going to continue to grow. I think there's no way it can't, given how many games there were in so many cities and how many people went. And so I think it's going to be a catalyst. 94 was a huge catalyst for soccer in this country.

It's what made MLF something and led to that growth. That league's doing well. And so, yeah, I think it's going to, I think it's going to be a catalyst. It's going to continue to grow. But I don't think it's going to knock off one of the four major sports we have here. All right. Let's talk some football before I let you run. You get asked, I'm sure,

every single day. What's our team going to do in 2026? So what's your answer? I love the organization we're putting in place. The thing that gives me the most on feeling the best is just the tent pole of the personnel that we have. Well, you know, we've got Adam, who I think is in GM and Dan. And now we have Mark Klaus running the business side. you really have three amazing leaders running the three parts of the business.

And that means what really people, obviously, every year people want to go and win the Super Bowl, we all do. But really what you really want is a team that every year is going to be competitive and give you a shot. And I think the way to do that is to have great leadership, we've got it, and I think they're putting ours in a position to be a competitive team this year and every year. Okay. Well, what's going to happen this year?

What's your answer to? What kind of team do you think we're going to have this year? I don't know. I think we have a solid base. I think it's hard to predict. I'm not trying to avoid the question, but if people ask me, I think, you know, I really like the moves we've made.

We've got a lot of great players. You know, sometimes a lot goes your way like it did two years ago, and sometimes a lot goes against you like it did last year. And a lot of things in any sport, especially for like football, just it's hard to know. And I think we can have a great year if we get things along our way. Does the conversation about the team, especially when it's sort of centered or it's based on recency bias,

does that bother you? And I'll just give you sort of what I've talked a lot about since the end of the season. And that is, you know, our team was the most injured team in the league. And injuries, you know, aren't excuses. for the people in the game, but they are a reality and they are reasons for people that observe the game. I mean, anybody that's watched football knows that if you lose your starting quarterback and he only plays in four games start to finish and he's your best player, your season is doomed 99% of the time. But yet, you know, there's a lot of conversation about, oh, they took a step

back, he took a step back, and they just sort of focus in on the record. Does it buy? bother you when you hear sort of the analysis go that way, and it's much more based on the thing that happened or that they saw most recently? No. I mean, I agree with your analysis situation. Two years ago, everything went our way. We didn't have any big injuries. One, seven of the eight, seven of the eight games that came down to the wire, and we

a great season. Last year, it was the opposite. And that's sports. You know, what we're really trying to do truly is build a franchise that every year, year in and year out is competitive and has a shot to win the Super Bowl. And to build a stadium and a fan experience that's going to make people want to come to the game when you're great and when you're not winning as much, but that is going to be a place you're going to want to come all the time. And if I look at where we started and where we are, we're making great progress.

And we're really close to getting that point, as we all know. Jaden's always a big part of the conversation when it comes to the team. Has there been any loss of confidence in Jaden Daniels as he enters into year three? No. not for me I mean I'm only now speaking personally but no no I mean he's

exceptional he does all the right thing you've seen what he can do he does all the right things in the off season and the during the season no not at all where are we

heading into this year with overall interest level in the team are tickets sold out for the season or are tickets still available on a game-by-game basis? What can you tell me about that? I mean, look, I think the pride is being restored in this franchise. We've done, you know, a lot to make the experience at Northwest Stadium,

one that people liked as much as possible. Given some of the constraints, I think there's massive excitement about the new stadium. you know, I think they love the brand. I love a lot of the players. It just, from the very beginning, this was all turning around an organization in every way so that fans would be proud to be commanders fans

and want to be part of it, and it's come a long, long, long way. Obviously, there's still more to do, but there's a ton of interest. I mean, all you have to do is, when you come to my tennis tournament, and you'll see a ton of people wearing commanders gear three or four years ago, you never saw that. So I really feel like the fan base is revitalized

and excited about the future of the team. Were you happy? And I think it was a phenomenal decision. Obviously, there are people like me that would want more, but to go back to a look that is familiar in terms of the uniforms. Did you, you're a lifelong fan? Were you happy about that? Did you have any emotion tied to that? Yeah, I mean, like you, you know, I grew up a huge fan of the team, and I think anytime you can rebuild that connection with things like logos and colors and all kinds of different things, you know, honoring the legends. I'm so thrilled with John that we retired Daryl's, and then Art and now John.

I think all those things are really important. I mean, all football teams, but this football team in this community. and it includes you and I mean so much. It's a threadline through people's lives. And when you can rebuild that connection through those things, it really makes a difference.

We see it. And I was really happy. And we have a world-class brand guy and Mark Klaus, who I became from the food business. And he's just extraordinary at that and has done a great job helping us find ways

to rebuild those connections to the team for people who've loved it for decades. Good luck this week. I know you don't need it. It's always a terrific event, but wish you the best this week, and thanks for doing this, is always Mark.