The Kevin Sheehan Show - Alex Smith

Episode Date: July 27, 2020

Kevin is joined by JP Finlay/NBC Sports Washington to discuss the news that Alex Smith was cleared by his medical team to resume football activities. More Washington Football talk too before the boys got to the breaking news this morning regarding the Covid-19 outbreak with the Miami Marlins. Kevin recapped the Jamal Adams trade and the Nats' loss to the Yankees yesterday as well. 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 want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right, I'm back after taking four days off from the podcast last week. Tommy and I came in here on Thursday with all the news of last week, the interim name and Terry Bateman and Julie Donaldson and all the stuff that was going on with our Washington football franchise last week. Tommy and I came in and did a podcast on Thursday. Finley is with me today. I'm going to still take some vacation the rest of the summer. I don't know when I'm taking it. It seems like JP, my vacations have been staycations. I've only had, I get a certain number of days. I never take all of those days, but I've taken eight days, not on the podcast, but from radio over the last month. And I've got some days left. And usually I wouldn't take them because we'd have normal training camp and a normal getting ready for the season. But I don't know what we're going to have.

But I've been, listen, the best vacation I've taken was with you. It was a one day or up to Wingfoot. That was as much fun as I've had over the last couple of weeks. How you doing? I'm doing well. I agree. I've gotten down to the beach a few times, but never actually off. I mean, especially the way the Washington football team knew.

has been breaking in what is, I mean, in the COVID world, there is no normal anymore, but normally late June to late July is the time the NFL calendar completely stops, and you can actually unplug a little. That hasn't happened. But, you know, Wingfoot with you was awesome. I got to play with Sands and Preston and Mani last week at Rojobos. I heard. They sent me, Joe P. and Sands texted me that they were playing with you that day.

And they said, I think it was before you got started. They said, what kind of dude is JP? And I said, he's a much better dude than his golf game would indicate. No, I'm kidding. But you played at a special place, too, because I love Rojobith. I think it's a great place and such a nice day to spend there. And Moni was with you guys, so it must have been a good day. it was awesome and uh coach gary william came and met us for for a minute or two afterwards it was

it was very very cool and i i mean um it was a lot of fun that place is just pristine they really take great care of it it's uh it was a blast i want to play it again i couldn't get off the tea dude so i as you like the point as you like to question my handicap i played to every bit of a of a 18.9 that day well i know when we were up at Wingfoot and you were on the card as Joe Montana, Kansas City Chiefs, as a 19, that I was questioning that after I think you started off par, bogey, par, or something like that. I had a good front. Yeah, you had a very good front nine.

That line caught up to me, though. You know, you just reminded me of something, and, you know, a lot of people listening don't care, but that's all right because you and I care about this stuff. I got a call from a friend of mine late last night. I was asleep. It woke me up. I answered the call. Kevin, if you're listening, you should know better than to call me at midnight,

which is when he called me. And I hear that he is clearly at a place that's crowded, which I probably shouldn't be outing anybody. But he was calling from a certain establishment in Dewey Beach, which people like. And he's like, I'm just calling you, Gary. here, everybody's here? And I'm like, I said, he's like, oh, wait a minute, it's late. You get up really early. I'm like, yeah. Hopefully they were with masks on. It certainly didn't sound like it.

But, you know, you know this. Maybe they were outside. I think they're outside. They weren't definitely outside. Yeah, it's fine. You're fine. I saw somebody tweet something about the president who was playing golf over the weekend. This is, there's no political path here, so don't worry about but this person tweeted out and it got huge Twitter reaction yesterday. Great. Our president's out golfing without a mask on. Well, no one wears a mask while golfing. Have you worn a mask one time when you played golf this spring and summer?

Definitely not. I throw it on if I run into the clubhouse or something. Exactly. No. You're outside. And you're already socially distanced. Right. But anyway, it looked like the responses from a lot of people who have had played golf said golf is not a sport right now where you are wearing a mask while playing. You're already socially distanced and you're outside. Right.

But anyway, so the podcast always starts with, you know, any sort of breaking news that's happened since I, went off radio, which is about an hour and 20 minutes ago. And there is a huge story, sports story that is evolving as we speak. The Miami Marlins home opener against the Orioles today, it's actually this evening's been canceled because the Marlins are having a major coronavirus outbreak right now. Eight players, two coaches have tested positive. That's an outbreak that has now spread through their clubhouse and brought the total cases in that organization to 14 over the last couple of days.

The Marlins are still in Philadelphia undergoing testing after their weekend series against the Phillies. The Yankees are playing in Philadelphia tonight after being in Washington for the weekend. And now there's some question as to whether or not that game will be played. And three games into the Major League Baseball, 60 games sprint. We're all. already now beginning to get a sense of why, you know, there are a lot of people, including

Tommy, who believes this will never happen in its entirety. Because the Marlins postponing games and the, you know, the, the domino of them. It's a giant jigsaw puzzle. Right. Yeah. And you get the Yankees. Phillies could be canceled tonight. It's a 60 game sprint. Now you're going to end up with teams that potentially will play fewer games. And here I was having you on because the NFL and the NFL Players Association came to a big agreement on Friday, which it was an incredible collaborative effort. But this news makes you wonder whether or not we're going to have sports any of it, doesn't it?

Big time. It really does. And it's a shame because I really enjoyed sitting down and watching baseball yesterday afternoon. And the big games, the Thursday night, opening night was cool, but I didn't love. the broadcast, and then the Fox broadcast was cool, but then I was looking forward to being Strathburg, we didn't see Strathburn. JP is at home playing Mr. Mom today, which is totally fine, and I couldn't care less, nor could anybody that's listening.

And if you have a problem with that, you can just, you know, hit the 15-second forward button. Go ahead. Here's the other thing. How many people on the Phillies have it? If they were playing alone, right? I don't know. don't know at some point to play these games, and especially football, which I was very optimistic

about at one point, and my optimism is just slowly waning. But to play football, I don't know. More and more, I don't know how you're going to do it, but there just has to be like a level of acceptance that people are going to get there. You know, on some level, like Juan Soto test positive, somebody's going to test positive. It's going to happen. But if you have an outbreak where half the team has it, I don't know what you do next. I really don't.

John Mara Friday, Friday after the league and the, after the owners and players association, came to, you got some activity going on over there. I nodded, I'm sorry. No, no, no, it's fine. But what are they, do you have, do you have, have some annies products you can throw at them we're trying we're trying jp and i were talking before the podcast started about annies the snack product line and i was going to ask you is that a product line

that is designed for kids or not because i actually like a lot of their products i think they're really good i think it's definitely designed for kids like the mac and cheese and everything But now that you say that, we eat the mac and cheese. I still prefer kind of the old fast, the craft neon orange mac and cheese, but my girls only eat to annies. I think my wife definitely prefers it. It's organic and healthier and all that sort of stuff. I think it's designed for kids, but plenty of parents eat it,

and then it just kind of expands from there. I don't know. Because I think the cookies are pretty good. I've purchased them. they've been in my house purchased before and I've eaten them. They're good. And they also make Pop-Tarts. I guess they do. Yeah. They kind of make everything. They make their own version of almost every household baked goods. Maybe they don't do like potato chips. I don't think they do any of that stuff. But the buddies, both the like sugary kind and the cheesy kind are quite good.

So I was starting to say, this is what we, JP and I when we talk, We get off track quite often, actually, into things that aren't necessarily that important. But I was starting to say that the NFL and the Players Association reached this agreement on Friday, you know, about a return. And there was a lot of collaboration in that. It was much different than what baseball went through. And they held a call afterwards on Friday, and I was reading about it late last night, that Andy Reid was a big part of this overall call. You know, Andy Reid has become one of the trusted voices, if not the most trusted voice in the NFL.

Players love them and trust them. Other coaches love them and trust them. Owners feel the same way. Agents feel the same way. The commissioner likes him. And Andy Reid in so many ways is becoming like this incredible voice for the NFL. And he was asked to speak to everybody on this call on Friday. And he emphasized how different this was from 2011.

when they had the lockout, and he said, this isn't about players versus owners like it was in 2011. This is about all of us, players, coaches, owners, teams versus COVID. And they went on and various people spoke. And one of the big takeaways for me after reading about this call, and there were several quotes, including one from John Mara, who said, we've got to accept that this is not going to to be a perfect season, close quote. This is going to be an imperfect season that's going to be competitively unfair if they ever get to playing it and finishing it. And what we're seeing this morning with the Marlins is proof of that. You're going to have to deal as a fan with football

being interrupted, teams perhaps forfeiting on occasion, teams playing less games than other teams, teams having schedules altered, teams maybe late in the season playing with 20,000 fans while other teams aren't allowed to have any, you're just going to have to deal with the imperfection and the competitive unbalance and unfairness to the season and just strike it up, you know, just chalk it up to hoping that you get a season in, no matter how competitively unfair. Totally agree. A couple thoughts. It's cool to see kind of this ascension of Andy Reid, obviously winning the Super Bowl, changes a lot of things for him.

How perfectly silly is it that they ran him out of town because he couldn't win the big one? And now he's like, you know, because Belichick is so aversive to the media. Pete Carroll is kind of removed in Seattle. I mean, Andy Reid really has become maybe the headliner of NFL coaches and having Mahomes help too. But then I don't know what football is going to do. They're on top of me.

If somebody gets it, I don't know how everybody doesn't get it. And considering the numbers, it's impossible to think somebody won't get. Yeah, you know, one of the things that I've felt for a while now is that for all of these sports, the event that they can't plan for, but will likely be disruptive if not, you know, the reason for canceling, is a young player healthy, no underlying, you know, conditions or, you know, medical conditions that would make them more vulnerable, get sick, is in the hospital, is on a ventilator, is seriously ill, and that would shut the league down.

And I, you know, we've talked about this before, Tommy and I have, that that would be the Rudy Gobert moment of, you know, sports returning, you know, not a positive test, but an actual sickness. but I think what we're seeing with this. Yeah, I agree. But I think what we're seeing with this Marlins. Pretty unlikely, though, right? Pretty unlikely, but what we're seeing with the Marlins situation adds another layer to this,

which is a major outbreak, you know, where maybe people aren't getting sick, but you can't play these players, and games have to be canceled. And the integrity of the games, when they are played, are compromised, you know, I don't know. I mean, a large outbreak is in football, Andy Reid pointed out in this speech that he gave the other night in this talk that he gave that football is unlike these other sports. There are 80 players, eventually 53, but 100 necessary employees, which include coaches, trainers, you know, employees that are a part of the daily operation. So, you know, he did the math. He's like 180 times 32 teams. That's 5,760 people that have to be tested on the regular.

This isn't the NBA in a bubble. This isn't even baseball or hockey. We're going to have a lot of people test positive. For sure. I mean, I'm supposed to be out there next week or whenever the media gets allowed and I'll be one of 10, probably 30 media members to try to get it. I don't know. I mean, there's going to be, it's really hard.

The NFL is a freight train, and they're going to continue to push the gas and try to figure this out. And credit to smart people that are trying to consider every angle and protect players' health and protect coaches' health and scouts and janitors and everybody else. But this thing, just, you don't want to say something unbeatable, but it's hard to, see a path where there wouldn't be, I mean, if this happened in baseball, three days into the season, yeah, exactly. The task for football is exponentially harder. Right. Well, look, I called you to come on today because I wanted to talk football. And, you know, right now, we roll with the assumption that the NFL players and the owners are, you know, they've come to this agreement and training camps for whatever

you want to describe it. It's an actual training camp designation, even though they won't be in pads for another 20 days against each other. Preseason's been officially completely canceled. It was on Friday. But I really wanted to talk about this Alex Smith story

with you. J.P. Finley obviously covers the team, as all of you know, for NBC Sports Washington, and he's got the Redskins Talk podcast, which has done very well. We've got to rename that, Kev. Oh, that's right. You do. What's it? Do you got a new name?

Trying to figure that out right now. I don't know. Frankly. Yeah, I mean, this is going to be an issue with all of us. I actually have some things that I want to say a little bit later on. It can be with you or without you. It doesn't matter. But just about some of the reaction to the interim name thing from the other day was just from Florio and Kellerman and these old name police, you know, they're not going to let it.

Kellerman is just a dog whistle at this point. He just loves blasting Snyder. Like that almost seemed personal. I found turning the interim name thing into another, listen, you could blast the organization for a million things. Most of them fairly. But they handled that as well as possible. I agree.

I totally agree. I don't. And they don't do a lot of cool marketing PR rollouts, but they nailed it. With each player putting pictures of themselves in the new uniforms on Twitter and Instagram, it was cool. They did something cool. So, wow. There's plenty to scream about.

That's not one of them. No, I mean, the reaction was either just complete ignorance over what was going on here, or in the case, I think, of Kellerman and Florio and Peter King and others, they're not going to let this go. They're going to continue to remind people on as much of a, you know, daily, weekly, whatever, that they are the old name police and the name being gone is not going to be enough for them. They're going to pile on

and piling on is going to become almost a new sport for them. I mean, you'll hear it from them. The old name, it'll be accidentally used on a broadcast or unintentionally with no ill intent used by somebody in the organization and they're going to be all over them, like White on Rice.

I mean, Floreo's there with a ruler in his hand slapping down people. I mean, he was lecturing teams on their websites last week that hadn't gotten the Redskins name and logo off their website fast enough. He's the name police commissioner. This guy's a hack. He's insufferable. And he's going to continue with all of them to bring up just how racist the owner's been, just how racist this fan base has been. You know, as long as his like is around, it's not going to stop haunting us. You know, people are not going to, you know, these kinds of people are not going to forget how good it makes them feel

to let you know how shameful you were for 87 years or however long you've been rooting for this team. Like, I just, it's hard to take, man. It is hard to take because I, you know, JP, I said this with Tommy two weeks or whenever the name was lost and I'm reading the columns and still today the columns, the recording of this for historical purposes. When people look back, to July 2020 when the Redskins lost their name and they read the columns and they watch the video of the Kellermans and they watch this. I've mentioned this before, but not to you. I'll have grandkids 20 years from now, 25 years from now, hopefully, and they're going to come to me and they're going to read about when the Redskins name got, you know, was taken away and they're going to

read all these columns and they're going to watch all these videos and they're going to wonder how grandpa was such a racist. Like, Grandpa, you seem like a pretty reasonable guy and pretty tolerant and open-minded. How did you ever root for a team with such a racist name? And that's the problem I have with this, JP, is it's being recorded for history by these guys that will not admit, even though I think it's incredibly disingenuous on their part, but they will not admit even though I believe they know this has been a very complex issue. One worthy of thoughtful, open-minded discussion and debate. I mean,

Max Kellerman knows what the Washington Post poll revealed in 2016, but you would think he'd never heard of it. Same thing with Florio. I mean, there's no data out there other than a dictionary definition that supports their view, but yet they're recording it here in the moment, and they're taking advantage of the moment so that 20 years from now, when people look back on the Redskins' name that got taken away, they'll believe that it was the equivalent of the N-word and that anybody that rooted for this team

before they changed their name was incredibly insensitive. It makes me angry because I'm fine and I'm not nearly as passionate about the name sticking anymore. It's part and parcel to how I feel about the team these days, which is a lot less passionate than I used to. But it makes me fired up and it makes me want Duran Payne and Chase Young and John Allen and Matt Ionitis and Montez Sweat and Ryan Carrigan to go out and kick people's asses this year with Washington on the front of their jersey.

And by the way, JP, it would not surprise me, given how much it costs to change the brand that if they were to have a good season, let's say this year, just throw it out there and say, hypothetically, they had a good season, if they keep what they just created as the interim, wouldn't shock me at all. I wouldn't wager on it. I'd wager on a new nickname in 2021 before 2021. But I think there are people in the organization that like it just as it is right now. That was an all-timer, Kev. As far as the nickname, I asked Bateman that directly. I had Bateman on my podcast last week, and he said he wouldn't rule it out.

There's no, there's no formal we have to come up with a new nickname or any of that. I think they should just keep it. I think it'd be cooler if it was Washington Football Club instead of Football Team. Me too. That's fine. I think the only thing missing, and I don't know how you come up with this,

is you still need, like, everybody says the NACs and not the Nationals, or the Caps and not the Capitals. You still need something quicker for vernacular. And honestly, as a writer for like headlines and tweets, like, Washington football team is pretty long. To me, the only thing missing is something like that. And maybe people can just still say skins. I highly not you can still say that.

But that's the only trouble spot, I think. I like Washington Football Club, too. I would have preferred FC Washington or Washington FC. and then continue to be able to, for most people, not the Kellermans and the Florios and the Peter Kings and the Mike Wisees of the world, continue to use skins. And maybe that's the way it will ultimately play out.

But I kind of like, I do like the look. I think the uniforms are awesome. I like the helmets. They nailed it. It looks like University of Minnesota. Okay, like the color scheme? Yeah, and they, a little bit. But I'm glad they kept the colors, and I don't mind the numbers on the helmet.

I love that Washington's across the front of the jersey. Yeah. So do you know, I don't know this Tuesday morning, Ron Rivera, I have a presser, a Zoom press conference, but a press conference nonetheless. What is your first question for him? It's funny because I have to think about that because there's a chance. I've been told that we're going to have them on radio this week. Oh, yeah.

My first question for Ron Rivera. Well, I mean, part of it might be contingent on what happens today with the team physical with Alex Smith. But I don't know. I got to think about it. Like I had them on a month and a half ago or whatever for like 35 minutes, which he was so kind to do it for that long. but I don't know I mean like part of me wants to just focus on the stuff that we've just gone through you know whether it's the name issue

whether it's the sexual harassment case whether you know part of me would just ask him a personal question like in all seriousness if I injected you with truth serum would you and your wife say you wish she had held out for the giant job I don't I think you more from if you want the person side of this? I just want to be like, how are you holding up with all this stuff?

I know. He's going to be the coach. I mean, he's going to say no, that he's happy. He has job. But I could just, I could just ask him for the play-by-play job. I could just do that. That could be the, yeah. No, I'm kidding. I didn't, I didn't realize. If you did that would be awesome. Hey, Ron, there's a lot to get to. I mean, there's this Washington Post story that was really damaging, although they don't think it's damaging. The names change. Your training camp started. Hey, can I get a quick address because I want to FedEx you some of my work from calling Maryland games in recent years when Johnny Holiday wasn't available to do the games? All right. Let's get to this Alex Smith stuff.

First of all, did this come out of the blue for you, the report on Friday from Stefania Bell and others who, you know, the surgical team, for those that don't know, his medical. team cleared him to return to full football activity. When you hear this podcast, it's very likely that the team has already given him his physical and weighed in on him from a team perspective. But did this catch you off guard? Yeah. And there's some, some of them are just weird because his medical team cleared him for football.

One of the people on his medical team is Dr. Robin West, who was the Washington. he's a football team doctor. Yeah. So, and the people I talk to, so this thing hit Friday night, and everybody was kind of going nuts, and then I talked to some people Friday night that don't expect him to pass the physical.

So, what? I mean, who's the doctor? And because I don't think, I mean, Castellero's not the physical doctor. I don't think.

This isn't about your blood pressure and stuff. It's about being able to, like, I think fans need to be aware that when, pro athletes get a physical. It's not the same physical you and I get when we go in and they draw blood and pee in a cup or whatever. It's quite different. So it just seems odd.

And I don't think this is a money play on either side. The money's guaranteed this season. I think it's an insurance thing. Yeah, maybe it's that. And maybe there's some contractual stuff to it that I am not aware of yet. but I wrote a column Saturday morning that I think, and I don't expect it to happen, but if Alex Smith can play and can actually get back on the field, I think that Washington owes it to him to trade them,

get him in a place that Rod Rivera very clearly, it is a tear-down, rebuild youth movement. It doesn't make sense for them to play Alex or have him on the bench. And I know people will say that he could be a great coach and mentor in the meeting room, if that guy has worked this hard to come all the way back and he can actually play, send him to Tampa for a conditional fifth and let him back up Tom Brady or let him go back up Joe Burrow or Sean Watson. I mean, I don't know. This is not the right place for a 36-year-old quarterback coming back from a nearly from a life-threatening injury. I don't think. You know,

for a lot of reasons, JP, and it's funny as you're talking, I'm thinking about, and I didn't come up this on the radio show, but, you know, this organization more than any other, I mean, it could certainly use an inspiring story, but at the same time, it cannot, it cannot, you know, withstand some sort of catastrophic injury that they approved with a physical that put him back on the field and then they put him back on the field. I mean, it just, it just can't. You know, I read the Stefania Bell piece, and she said that he had received clearance from, or the report court from her that he had received clearance from his surgical team to return

to full football activity. I don't know what that means if activity versus you know, padded practices and games and contact. I think the team's going to fail him in his physical today because if he does fail

that physical, his salary is fully guaranteed for injury, but the Redskins can recoup that, and I don't know what the numbers. I've seen multiple numbers. I think it's, I've seen $10 to $12 million in the insurance policy that they took out on his contract if he had a catastrophic career-ending injury. Look, personally, I don't want to see him.

After seeing that leg on that Project 11 documentary, there's no way I ever want to see him on a football field. Can you imagine the cringe-worthy watch that would be Alex Smith being press. shirt in the pocket? Are you kidding me? That can't happen. I agree. And reading the quotes, like the actual quotes from Alex in the story made it seem like this is more of a life thing. Because he said, he's like, yeah, I can go skiing or snowboarding again. His quotes versus the headline of Alex Smith cleared for football activity struck me differently. But you know what I'm most curious about? Because I just, I still don't think the Alex Smith thing is happening. Maybe I'll be proved wrong.

The people I talk to, I don't expect me in the past physical either. I want to know what's going on with Kyle Allen. I circle back to some comments Ron made way back in April, but about, hey, if we have a shortened training camp and no preseason, we'd be very comfortable going with Kyle because he already knows the system. And now here we are where training camp is not going to be normal. There's no preseason. I'm trying,

and maybe I'm dumb for trying, but I'm trying to get back into football mode, like what's actually going to happen on the field. And that, to me, is the biggest question in Washington. Well, and let me add to that because I don't want this to come off as crass or heartless. But I'm... Any human beings totally inspired by Alex Smith

being cleared for football activity, whatever that means. And everybody, you know, is super happy for him. I thought the best part of that Project 11 was to see him at the end of that thing running around with his kids and sort of juicing a little bit, you know, on the leg. I mean, he was near death and certainly was very near, you know, Robin West basically advocating, recommending that they amputate that leg. But, you know, this franchise, it's time. And look, it may not happen.

Who knows if there's going to be a season. But let's just assume for the purposes of this conversation that there's going to be. I'm ready to talk some football. I'm ready to see how good this defense is. I'm ready to see Dwayne on the field. That's all I want to see. I don't want to see Kyle Allen out there. And, you know, I don't also want the Redskins organization,

which they are prone to do to get wrapped up in things that really have nothing to do with the football operation, and like a ceremonial snap or any of that. To your point, if he really wants to play, then trade him. I just, this is inspiring at the same time. He's not going to be a significant play. He's never going to play again, in my view. And I certainly don't want him playing for this team. And I want the focus to be on whether or not they can become a professional football operation,

which they haven't been for a long period of time. but I feel good that Ron Rivera can turn him into one. But I don't want all these, I don't want to, again, this is not an uncaring response. It's just practical. I'm happy for him on one hand, and I want just football on the other. I don't want an effort to fit a square peg into a round hole. I'm with you. I'm with you.

I'll come on again later in the week after we talk to Ron tomorrow and have a little more clarity maybe on what's going to happen. Yeah, let's do that. I know you've got to run and you've been kind of. enough to give me this time with the girls and all of your responsibilities at home. I'll talk to you soon. We'll get out and play golf in the next couple of weeks. Sounds like a plan on, man. Always happy to come on

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I would also wager that the Redskins fail him on his physical today. I don't know that for sure. But, you know, there is this insurance policy. And I don't know. I mean, I really would be surprised if Alex really wants to get out onto an NFL field, given that he's got generational wealth and take a snap and put himself at risk again after what he went through. I mean, you can't put yourself in anybody else's position, but I think all of us, had we survived what he survived and never forget the images of that leg,

of that flesh-eating sepsis, you know, taking away his leg bit by bit as he was in that hospital nearly dying and then certainly in danger of losing the leg to save his life. I just can't imagine. Can you that he's going to go out and play professional football? Can you imagine the first time he's under center and he drops back on third and seven and here comes the pressure? How about if your other players just the thought of tackling him or hitting him? It would be a bit much. I don't think it'll ever happen.

It's incredible that he's gotten himself close to it happening again, but I just don't see it happening. And again, I want this team now to focus on becoming a. an NFL franchise again. They have a coach that is totally capable of at least for a while, if he's given the ability by the owner, to implement winning philosophies, winning structure, at least into the football operation. It's time for them to start being competitive again, start looking like a professional outfit. And if they do that, they're going to have a chance to take, you know, to at least get the people that have looked away in recent years to give it another look. That's what I'm hoping for.

And more so because of what I was talking about with JP earlier, God, has the last two, three weeks been just difficult to deal with. I am not, you know, I'm not happy about the name of the team that plays in the city that I was born in. raised in being taken away in this fashion. It's not that the financial economic, you know, lost revenue potential without the name change because big companies like FedEx and Bank of America and others really decided once and for all to put a foot down. I'm not, I'm not upset with that. I'm upset with the way it's being described because it lumps all of us that are lifelong Redskin fans into a recorded a recorded history of this group of people in Washington, D.C. with this terribly racist owner that allowed this to go on and just how unconscionable it was for

that to happen. And we just know that that is not illustrative of the facts of this discussion over the years. It just isn't. but it's going to be hard to get people to understand that 25, 20 years from now, 10 years from now, because the Kellermans and the Florios and the Peter Kings don't want you to think that this was ever an issue that was debatable, that it was an issue that was clear cut, and those that were against the name change really were insensitive, if not racist people. And that's the way they want you to feel. That's the way they want people who view this down the road to think of us as a fan base. And I'm not down with that at all.

I know what the facts are. I know what the facts have been. I know what the available information has been. I've always been open-minded to the information conflicting with or completely overwhelming the information that we had from the other side, that Native Americans were overwhelmingly offended by this name, but that information just has never been there. Never. Not once.

Not one survey, not one poll. Not, you know, over 100 visits that the team and people associated with the team and people who I trust were on, it just never was this terrible injustice that they're making it out to be. It just wasn't. You know, we weren't enablers as fans. We should not be ashamed. There is too much information, too much factual information that's in conflict with the narrative

that they've been making for several years, but now are really making it now that the name has been changed. Like, why did it take you so long? Well, the reason is you people were terribly insensitive people. You really were shameful, awful people. I can't do that. I can't be down with that. And I think there's a lot of disingenuous, you know, discussion there. I think they know that. You know, Max Kellerman's not an idiot, you know, Florio borderline, but still smart enough, still intelligent enough to know what the information's been. You know, I know Mike Wise, and I've known him for a long time, he is intelligent.

He knows the other information that's been out there. He's been very adamant that one person or 5% or 10% is enough. And to me, that's a better position. That's a more honest position, the position of, look, I understand there's a lot of conflicting data out there. I understand that it's not the easiest thing to move on from based on the data that is out there. However, for me, I think it's a no-brainer because to me one person offended is enough. And if that's someone's position and they've been adamant about that position and they've done a lot of their own research and been passionate about the issue,

I am much, much better with that than the person that claims that this is the N-word. It was always the N-word. and the people had absolutely no basis for continuing to use the word. And they were being insensitive and they were being racist by using it. I just, I can't do that. And I'm not going to let them convince me that somehow I was a hateful human being for rooting for this football team with this name. And I'm also not going to put up with being lectured for the next few years

as we deal with this change and we make mistakes, you know, in referring to the redskins. and by the way, some of them won't be mistakes. Some of them are just, they're not mistakes, it's habit. You know, it's going to be no ill intent. There's not going to be an intentional, you know, effort to be insensitive because there wasn't before. But I'm not going to be lectured by Mike Floreo, the name police commissioner, about using skins or rooting for a team. that's still, or rooting for a league that still has a few teams with the logo on their site.

You know, this is not going to, this is not going to haunt me ever. It just won't. I would have loved to have seen updated information that was never provided. 2016, remember before that poll, it was the poll you're using from 2004 is outdated. Then the 2016 poll was flawed methodology. But they never answered with a poll of their own showing a huge number of Native Americans, a majority of Native Americans saying that they felt that it was insensitive. But they didn't want to refer to polls. They referred to their own thoughts.

And again, I don't have a problem with those that stuck with, look, one person offended is enough for me. If that's the way you feel, I don't agree with that position, but that is better than this is not a legitimate issue for debate. It needs to be dropped, period. There's no complexity to this issue. There's no single reason or, you know, iota of data that would make Mike Florio or Max Kellerman believe that it's worthy of a discussion. Anyway, enough of that. I am ready for a football season.

And I do think a lot of what's happened here, not the post story, not the post story at all, but with the name issue makes me really. want to see this team go out and smash some people, you know, with Washington across the front of their jersey. That's my city. That's my hometown. You know, I'm going to still hope for the best. I'm going to expect the worst as long as Dan Snyder is the owner of this team. I mean, you can't convince me otherwise. I've got 21 years of information that would back me in a very, you know, easy wager that this will not work out because it's never worked out. But I am hopeful. I like Ron Rivera. I don't like what the organization's been about, the arrogance, et cetera. And I think that Dan Snyder's

antagonistic approach to all things, especially the name thing, is really backfired over the years. It was predictable that it would backfire as well. But I hope that, you know, Terry Bateman's the right guy. and I hope that Ron Rivera is the right guy, and I hope Dan stays the hell out of this, and they make some progress here. And I'm a little bit more enthused, and I have a little bit more juice off of the Florios and the Kellermans of the world

about getting a football team to kick some ass this year, or next year, if there's no season this year. I would love to see that. quick word about my bookie.ag. Because you can gamble now, people. It is now available for you to be out there wagering on sports. It's amazing that we have finally gotten to this spot. But my bookie.orgie.g is a place where right now you can bet on baseball every night.

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Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. at my bookie.orgie. Two things to end the show with today. First of all, I did want to mention the NFL trade from over the weekend, a blockbuster trade that saw Jamal Adams go from New York, the Jets to the Seahawks for two first rounders, a third rounder, and a starting safety in Bradley McDougald. It's an incredible trade when you think about it from the Jets perspective. First of all, they had a disgruntled player.

part of me really hates when the disgruntled player begs for a trade and gets his way. Now, he didn't get traded to the Cowboys, but he got traded to the Seahawks. And man, the Seahawks gave up a lot for a safety. That's the first thing you think about. Like really two firsts and a third and a starter at safety for another safety? Jamal Adams is really good. I mean, we talked about him last year when the Redskins played the Jets. and it was quite a performance by Adams in that game.

If you recall, that was really the one start more than any other, that Dwayne Haskins really was at a sink and did not look very good at all. That was last year the second start for him. He started the Buffalo game. Then they had the buy week, and then they came back and they faced the Jets. And it was a beat down. They were down 34 to nothing or 343, it was. one point. And then, you know, Dwayne put up some numbers late, but Jamal Adams in the box as a

blitzing safety in that game was all over the field in that game. Three sacks, four quarterback hits. He was all over the place. There are some really good young safeties in the NFL right now. And Jamal Adams is clearly one of the two or three young safeties in the game right now that have a chance to be all-time great. I think Darwin James has the same opportunity in Los Angeles playing for the Chargers. I think it's too much to give up for a safety, especially one that's proven to be a bit of a headcase, a bit of a diva, maybe not headcase, a bit of a diva. They're also going to have to tear up his deal and pay him.

That's going to be a part of this as well. I think the Jets and Joe Douglas couldn't have done any better. It's really interesting about the Jets because I think I mentioned them a few weeks back. I actually like their roster. And I love Greg Williams as a defensive coordinator. I don't know if I'm sold on Adam Gase, but I like their roster. And primarily I would, the primary reason for me being optimistic about the Jets future is Sam Darnold. Like, he can play.

And Levyon Bell, they still have. They drafted Denzel Mims, the receiver from Baylor, to go with James and Crowder and whomever and whomever else they have. believe it or not, I think they were the team that signed Josh Doxon. They've got Quinn and Williams defensively. He looks like a star potentially. They've got C.J. Mosley back. Now you add a starting safety in McDougald. And you added, you know, these first round picks.

I don't know where they're going to be. Seattle's got a good team. Seattle, these could be late first round picks in 2021 and 2022. But still, I mean, very few teams with a player that wants out that you don't want to pay. And even if you do want to pay them, he's still. once out, very few teams are going to extract two firsts, a third, and a starting safety to replace that star starting safety. Now Seattle obviously is an interesting group. I mean, offensively, D.K. Metcalf's emergence last year to go with Tyler Lockett. And then you've got

Chris Carson, who, by the way, is in that top 100 NFL network players of 2020 list. I was surprised to see Chris Carson on that list. He's a lot. a hard runner. Don't get me wrong, but I didn't expect to see him as a top 100 player. But obviously you've got Russell Wilson as a star defensively. You know, Irvin and K.J. Wright is still there. And Bobby Wagner's still there. And Shaq Griffin. And now you've got Jamal Adams to go with, I think they've got Tray Diggs as one of the corners. And I forget who the other corners are. I think one of them was going to be Quentin Dunbar. We'll see how that plays out. But,

But that division, man, with San Francisco and Seattle and Arizona and the Rams, I mean, who would have thunk just, you know, two years after appearing in the Super Bowl that you could legitimately, in evaluating the NFC West for the 2020 season, pick the Rams to come in forth? I mean, that is a legitimate conversation with the 49er Seahawks, Cardinals, and Rams all in one division. It's not going to be nuts for somebody to say, you know what? I think the Rams are the worst team in that division. The Rams, remember, traded two first rounders for Jalen Ramsey. That, to me, for a corner, like Ramsey, with his talent, I think it's still a steep price. I think it's too much for safety. The Jets did pretty well there. They are going to miss a player that is a massive impact

player defensively. There's no doubt about it. Adams is that good. He really is. The last thing that I wanted to talk about was the Nats game yesterday. I had Mark Zuckerman on the show this morning. There was a lot to that Nats game yesterday that was very strategically interesting. First of all, Patrick Corbyn starts the game. And let's not forget the last time Patrick Corbyn pitched was in game seven of the World Series, which turned out pretty damn well for him and the team. Corbyn went six and a third. He took it into the seventh with a one-hit shutout and then surrendered a solo home run from Glyber Torres, and it's two to one, and Davy pulls him.

He's got a two-hit, one-run game where he's only pitched 75 balls at that point, and he gets yanked for Will Harris. Harris comes in, Doolittle comes in, they end up giving up the 2-1 lead, and they lose the game 3-2 to 2 the Nats did yesterday. Mark really explained it that Corbyn was just not ready to pitch much further than then. They had a healthy, obviously, rested bullpen, and Davy was looking at 7-8-9 with, you know, Harris Doolittle Hudson, you know, in some, you know, that was going to be

the combination there. Still, Corvin pitched great yesterday. And then we get to the bottom of the night. The Nats have a chance. And they just, they screwed it up royally with a terrible base running error by Emilio Bonifacio, which I'll get to him. in a moment because I did want to mention that as Drubel Cabrera leads off the ninth with an infield single, beats out the throw, it was reviewed, it was the right call for the call in the field to be upheld. He was safe there, and then Bonifacio came into pinch run for Cabrera. Cabrera is obviously not Anthony Rendon, but a really good start to the season playing third base. He's a professional hitter. Love watching him hit, and he gets on, Bonifacio comes into

run for him. Now Bonifacio, on a pass ball goes to second with Robles up. And Robles eventually walks. But when he walks, Bonifacio tries to steal third on the pitch that walked Victor Robles. And he gets caught stealing third. Now, the truth is, it was so surprising that he actually beat the throw. But his leg came off the bag. He got tagged out. But what the hell is he doing running in that spot? You got runners on first and second with nobody out in a game in which you're trailing by a run. You have started it off the inning beautifully. You've got Goams and Taylor and then the top of the order

coming up. You've got a legitimate opportunity. I mean, you could do anything in that next spot. You could pinch it for Goams with Suzuki. You could pinch it with somebody who you're going to bunt Robles and Bonafacio over with and then they're going to have to face Taylor

with first base open. Maybe they've got to walk him. Then you're at the top of the order with Trey Turner with one out. There are a lot of possibilities there, but Bonafacio is stealing third was so stupid. It really crushed their comeback opportunity in that particular moment. And it was a shame because they had the inning started off exactly the way they needed to. They had a runner on second with nobody out. They had a runner on first and second if Bonifacio

stays with nobody out down a run in the bottom of the ninth. Real bad error there. By the way, one last thought about the nationals. So Annabelle Sanchez makes his debut this year pitching. And I was talking to Mark about this. I brought it up with him, and he said that he had written something about it recently. All of the incredible memories of October of

2019, which seems like, you know, five years ago now. You know, the Howie Kendrick Walk Off Grand Slam, not Walk Off Grand Slam, top of the 10th Grand Slam at Dodger Stadium to win game five. Strasbourg in Game 6 of the World Series. You know, the back-to-back home runs in that Dodger

game with Rendon and Soto off Clayton Kirschild. That was a shocking moment. There were so many incredible moments. Obviously, Soto's two-run, you know, RBI single off of Josh Hater in the wild card game. Kendrick's home running game seven off of Will Harris, by the way, Rendon's home running game seven off Granky. I mean, there were just so many moments. I think one of the moments that doesn't get its just due was Annabelle Sanchez's performance in game one of the NLCS. And Mark said this when we were talking, Mark Zuckerman did this morning on the radio show. He said, you know, that National League Championship series was really an afterthought when you consider all the drama of the wildcard game, of the Dodgers series, of the seven-game world series. I mean, they swept the Cardinals in four.

But they went into that series, if you recall, after using all their best pitchers thinking, oh, my God, we're going to be in the National League Championship series. And in game one, we got to start Annabelle Sanchez. And he pitched a brilliant game. It was such artistry by a pitcher. You know, nothing overpowering. It was a mind over physical thing. And to watch him, you know, full big league hitters on 60 mile an hour changeups.

to watch him take a no-hitter in the National League Championship Series game one on the road in St. Louis against the St. Louis Cardinals, and to see him have a no-hitter going into the eighth was just incredible. And then I think it was Martinez who broke it up in the eighth, and what was still a very tight game, two-nothing in the eighth. But he was so great in that first game of the National League Championship Series. He didn't pitch as well in the World Series, but what a memorable, sometimes I think, overlooked, underrated performance and moment in the Nats' postseason run.

It was so spectacular. He pitches tonight against Toronto. And the first of four against the Blue Jays, all here in D.C. The first two will be Nats home games, and then the second two will be treated, even though they'll be played here as Toronto home game. All right, that's it for the day.

Have a good rest of the day. It's going to be a hot one here in D.C. Stay cool if you're here.