The Kevin Sheehan Show - Alex Smith in 2020?

Episode Date: October 17, 2019

Kevin and Thom opened with Nats' World Series talk. They talked Dwayne Haskins and social media before getting to whether or not Alex Smith might be the plan at quarterback for the Redskins in 2020. Kevin finished up with a Thursday Night Chiefs-Broncos "Smell Test" pick. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> 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. You're listening to The Sports Fix. I'm here. Tommy's here. We've got a lot to get to. Tommy was at the Nats game the other night. They are going to the World Series. We've got a lot of Redskins to talk about today. There were some interesting pieces of news, including some Trent Williams news yesterday. That we'll get to also some Alex Smith angles. to pursue here on the show today. And by the way, congratulations to Bradley Beal, who just signed this morning a two-year $72 million contract extension with the Wizards. This is a big deal in the NBA, Tommy, because I think a lot of teams were targeting Beal as a trade target to try to create a championship team here this year or next. And the Wizards, Ted and Tommy Shepard, locked up Bradley Beal.

So, I mean, it's this, I don't know what's amazing. of this. I think it's a big thing for the franchise to have gotten to be able to commit to them for a two-year contract extension. Max Money. Yes. And by the way, it sets up for Wojnerowski was writing this morning. It sets

up for him that in after the 2023 season and the 2022-2020 season is actually a player option season for him. But if he takes that option, that he would then be in position in 23 after the season to sign the most lucrative deal in NBA history.

At that point? Yeah, Bradley Beal would be he could sign a $266 million five-year deal. So his contract right now is basically the clock you can hold the Wizards to for progress. By the time his contract is up, the Wizards should be ready to compete seriously for an NBA championship. Well, I don't think you sign him to this extension if you don't have a lot of confidence that you're heading in the right direction here. So basically that's the clock. I mean, that's the measurement. Bradley Beale's contract.

If you're looking for progress, it has to coincide with Bradley Beale's contract so that when it isn't in the final year, this team is a 50 win team and ready to compete. Boy, I love the way you put it out there so aggressively, 50 wins and ready to compete. But the bottom line is you don't sign Bradley Beal and forego the opportunity to probably get back a huge amount of future possibilities for a player who, to me, is a good player, a very good scorer in the NBA, but not an elite player. He's not your number one on a championship contending team in my view. So to your point, yeah, that's exactly right. Like, you're doing this hopefully not just to say, hey, we're really, we love Bradley Beal. We take care of our own. And Bradley wants to be here too.

You know, hopefully you believe that, you know, with Rui Hachamura and with Troy Brown Jr., who they picked last year and some other young guys and maybe adding a piece here that in the next couple of years, you can contend. Yeah, because if you didn't, you, you know, You should be training them. Of course. So this is it. This is the clock.

It's ticking. That's right. So there you go. That's our wizards talk for the day. How good was it to be there the other night? It was fabulous. It was fabulous. And, you know, I know you have Mark Zuckerman on your show.

Yes. From Masson. And we looked at each other a couple of times last night because we've both been there since 2005. Yeah. I mean, he was the beat writer on the Times. I was the columnist covering the team. when they first moved to D.C. And we both looked at each other a couple of times like,

I can't believe this is happening. Like this is a moment we thought might never happen in our lifetimes, at least our reporting lifetimes. So it was pretty special. Again, I'm not a fan, but I am, look, I wrote about getting baseball in this town for 10 years before it happened. I always said that I covered it. team that didn't exist for 10 years here.

And I wrote it aggressively. And nobody wrote about baseball coming to Washington better than we did at the times. So I am emotionally invested in baseball in Washington, more so than the nationals. I'm just invested in that. So to see this happen, to see basically the highest you can go in baseball, making it to the World Series is very satisfying. It really is. It's one of the few times I'm covered sports in Washington. Well, actually, as a fan, you can say it too. One of the few times as a fan in Washington when you're rooting for sports where you feel good. Yeah. You know, I was thinking about you

actually the other night. And actually, when you texted me to ask me if I was at the game, which I wasn't, we were just talking about you at that moment. Because my wife asked me, she said, is Tom a Nats fan? And I said, no, he's not a Nats fan. He's been in this market since the early 90s covering these teams. And I think when you cover teams as long as you've covered a team, you know, you end up, you know, rooting for that team. You want it to be, it's better for you if they're really good. Yes.

And we've always said that. Yes. It's better. It's better financially all the way around. But I did think of one thing, and that is you've been over the years at times. very critical of the learners and of ownership at various points in time. Yes. Are you

surprised that they got here? No, because I have total faith in Mike Rizzo. Right. Mike Rizzo is the dam. He's the Hoover Dam. Okay? There's a lot of muddy water on the other side of that dam.

With dead fish? Yes. And he keeps it away. He keeps it out of the pool, basically. So, I mean, as long as I had faith in Mike Rizzo and I have ultimate faith in his ability, it doesn't mean he hasn't made mistakes. I mean, look at the bullpen this year in terms of roster construction with mistakes. But I know how dysfunctional the learners can be, and everybody in baseball knows it.

I mean, the word on the nationals is the hardest thing you have to do is general manager is manage up, not down. Okay. Yeah. Well, you know, I think there are a lot of people in town that would tell you that the learners aren't the easiest people to work with in business. Yeah. Now they've invested. They have like the, I think the sixth highest payroll in baseball. They've stepped up and spent money on some players, not on others.

And so, I mean, in terms of measurements in this town, you know, they're going to get a lot of credit. And rightly so. because, I mean, if they accomplish this goal, remember, you know, I'm going to write about this probably for tomorrow. The day that Dave Martinez was hired, we all kind of rolled our eyes. I know. Because he. Well, Bud Black was really the target, right? Yeah.

But, no, that was back with Dusty. I'm sorry, that was with Dusty. But the Dave Martinez. Who were the other options with Dave Martinez? There were no any options, really, at that point. I mean, by the time they fired Dusty, everybody had been hired. Right. You know, they were late to the game.

game because of the learners. And you didn't want him to hire Fire Dusty. No, I didn't. And Mike Grizzell didn't want to get rid of Dusty. But they hired Davy, and he stood up there at the press conference and said what the learners wanted to hear. He said, you know, our goal is to win a World Series. That's how he wants to set it five times.

Like he almost, I mean, and it seemed ridiculous at the time. And this is a manager who had never won anything. And he's standing up there telling you that there, you know, that nothing out, nothing but the World Series matters. Right. And after what this town had been through, it just seemed like whistling past the graveyard. But they accomplished it. They got to the World Series.

They did get to the World Series. And, yeah, I mean, I, by the way, just in, you know, managing up is an interesting way. And I've heard that described in business before, you know, with ownership or with a board of directors, you know, we got some people on that board. We got to manage up. That's taken up far too much of the CEO's time, you know, is handling investors or board of directors. But I just wonder, do you think the Redskins will ever find somebody that can manage up and down simultaneously? Because that's the challenge.

You know, if Bruce Allen was Mike Rizzo, it'd be Bruce Allen. Because Bruce Allen checks the boxes of he has the owner's ear. He has the owner's trust. He has the owner's influence. So in other words, if you get a guy in there that's like Bruce Allen but with brains and talent. Yeah. And he can, and he's got the owner, you know, by his side as his best buddy, that can happen. Yeah, he just hasn't managed up consistently, you know, witnessed the draft last year,

or RG3 with the Shanahan's. I mean, Bruce. Bruce. He hasn't managed up, down, left or right. Well, I understand that, but you're talking in terms of his relationship with the owner as if he's got the managing up piece fixed. Yes, he does. If he just had brains and football acumen, he might be the perfect guy. So it can be done.

He's been inconsistent on the managing up. It could be done. There's only so much you can do with somebody that impulsive. The first guy was the village idiot. The second guy is the village bad guy, you know? So basically, you need to get the village hero in there. Yes, somehow. So who do they match up better with in your view, New York or Houston?

Probably New York. Why, because of the Houston starting pitching situation? Yeah. I mean, they can go head to head with them, you know, the Astros can with Granky and Cole and Verlander. So, I mean, I just think the Yankees have had a more difficult time getting to where they are than the Astros. And that, you know, sometimes people would look, nobody had a harder time than the Nats up until they swept the Cardinals. And it served them well, you know, being tested like that. So that may not necessarily be the case.

But listen, I'm rooting for the Astros to play them because, like I said before, I don't want to go to New York. I want to go to Houston. Yeah, well, I'd rather go to New York if it were me. But I know you want Houston. The, what do you make of the layoff and this statistic? that you've probably seen that the last eight teams to sweep a championship series are one and seven in the World Series. And I was listening to Curtis Granderson the other night on TBS on the postgame show with Pedro and that whole group.

And he said, look, this is a real challenge, especially for the offensive players, which by the way Ray Knight mentioned to me yesterday, Dan O'Dowdowd, a few other people that I had on the show said, the real challenge is not the pitching. The pitchers need the rest. They'll be fine. it is tough after six days to get it going and get that momentum back. Not that they were killing it offensively anyway, although really in the last two games they did. Yes, they did. Eight and seven. Yeah.

So the last eight teams, just one and seven in the World Series when they've had a significant layoff after a sweep. Yeah, but it outweighs the rest that this team needs. Like he said, for pitching, it's a good thing. And for pitching on this team, it's a great thing. and it's the oldest team in baseball. I know, I saw that. Right. In fact, the oldest teams in baseball, all of them were in the postseason

and advanced in the postseason. Yeah. So I think that the benefits outweigh the things that go against you in this case. He's right. Offensively, it will be a challenge to get back started again. But in a way, it's like a guy coming off the DL and starting to hit. Some guys do that. You never know for sure.

how they're going to react. But the bullpen, you know, the limited bullpen that they've used needs the rest. The starters could use the rest. So I think overall it benefits the Nats to have the long way off. Do you have any problem with Kendrick winning the MVP? No, no, absolutely. I mean, I think that. Who votes on that?

That's interesting because we didn't vote. I don't know who votes on it. Yeah, I was wondering if we didn't vote on it in the press box. Maybe selected writers do. They might pick out selected writers to vote. The Baseball Writers Association might pick. So I don't think it's just like everyone in the press box. There might be a handful of selected writers, but I don't really know.

Would you have voted for Kendrick? Yeah, I would have. I would have. Yeah, I mean, it's tough to come up with anybody else. I mean, Rendon was five for 12. Yeah. He was five for 15. You had two, three unbelievable starting, you know, performances by starting pitchers.

And even Corbyn striking out 12 and five innings. was pretty damn impressive as well. How do you think Dave Martinez will set his pitching rotation for the series? Scher, Strasbourg, Corbyn, Sanchez. Scherzor, Strasbourg. Corbyn. Yeah, if it goes like that. You don't think he'll do.

How much consideration will he give to starting Strasbourg in game one? It'll be up for discussion, but look, I mean, if people haven't realized it by now, Scherzer has to be the starter. This is what you've been saying, yes. Even though it turned, it really was a mistake in game one. Ultimately, he got lucky that he, if not for a broken bat, bloops single, a hit batter and an error by the right fielder. We would have been talking about Strasbourg should have started the wild card game for all offseason.

But you don't know how Strausberg would have started in game one. Well, we know how he came in a relief and we know how he started since. But you don't know how he would start in a game one, so you can't call it a mistake. We don't know, but we can project. And it was a reasonable debate going in. Well, you need to put your projector away. No, you don't. That's what we do here.

Okay. That's what we do here. That's what you do here. On podcasts and on sports talk radio. And in columns, in newspapers you can barely read online. That's what you do here. You do a lot of speculating. I was just speculating a hypothesis.

Can I just mention one thing that Ray Knight, I think, mentioned to me yesterday. And I told Aaron this. I think it was Ray Knight. I'm still not sure. It may have been this guy, Dan O'Dowdette. You know who Dan O'Dowd. Yeah, former GM with Colorado. He said he wouldn't be surprised if Martinez started Sanchez in game three, Corbin in game four,

so he could use Corbin out of the bullpen if needed in game one or game two. Now, you don't have to name your game three starter. If he doesn't need Corbyn in the first two games, then Corbyn starts game three. But that he will go in with the intention of if he needs to use Corbyn, as a reliever in game one or game two, he will, which would mean Sanchez would get game three. That's an interesting hypothesis. It's not that far-fetched.

Because, I mean, you have to have... Because he's already done it. You have to have ultimate confidence in Sanchez now based on what you've seen. Definitely. You know, so it's not, you know, you're not worried about putting Sanchez in there as a game three starter. And right now they don't have a lefty other that they can go to other than, other than Doolittle in a bullpen. Although Elias was back and activated for the...

I haven't seen him yet. No, we haven't seen him yet. And do you want to put... Do you really want to put him out there? Right. So, I mean, as another lefty out of the bullpen, that on some levels, that makes sense. Absolutely.

Are you being considered, given your 10 years being the leader in the market of getting baseball back here in the 10 years you spent, 14 years covering the team, are you being considered it all for the first pitch in game three and the first World Series game back here? Why does everyone think this is a big deal? This is some kind of big deal. By the way, I didn't know.

Who's considering it to be a big deal? Oh, I see it on social media. Oh, I haven't. I was just thinking about it this morning because I had Mori Popovich on the radio show. Oh, okay. He was great, by the way. Yeah. And I didn't say it to him, but when I hung up with him, I said to Greg, you know what?

Mori Popovich would be a guy that you might want to consider throwing out the first pitch because of his father. Yes. Yes, absolutely. I didn't know that this was a big deal. I just was sitting here as you were saying that. I was thinking, Laverro, here he comes. Yeah, Laverro. Maybe Boz. I was going to say, Boss has been thrown around.

I marked that down when I put this down to ask you. The Post isn't going to let him do that. They can't let him do that. And he covers it. He was on the field the other. day after the game. And by the way, Tommy, a lot of writers are out of field. I have enjoyed reading Boz over the last three weeks. Yeah. I really have. I can feel the real devotion and the passion in what's going on right now for somebody like him. Oh yeah. Who has wanted this as a native

Washingtonian for his entire life. Well, I sit right next to him in the press box. Yeah. So I get, I get it full board. I'm happy for him as well. He's coming at it from a different perspective than I am. Like you said, he grew up with this. And he's, I mean, as much as I say, he's covered the effort to bring baseball to watch him for 10 years. I did. He wrote about it for 30 years before it got here. So, but you can't, you can't have a baseball writer who covers the team throughout the first pitch. I didn't think you could.

I don't, I don't even know who else to think about. LeVon Hernandez has been thrown around a lot. Jason Worth would be. Oh, I'll bet you. You know what? I'll bet you, they consider that. but I think they're trying, they've tried to hide worth.

Why? Two DUIs. Oh, right. Yeah. That's why. It wouldn't bother me. I mean, I'm not saying that his DUIs aren't a problem. I'm just saying if he walked out,

I mean, there was some pitch with the two DUIs, it's not going to be like, oh, my God, that's terrible that they allowed him to do that. But there were some bad feelings that they put him in the ring of honor, or whatever they call it, the ring of fame or the circle of trust. or whatever it's called, and he didn't tell them he had a second DUI while they were doing it. But I still wouldn't be surprised if it wouldn't be Jason Worth at some point. After all, he is. He is in that circle that God only knows why.

They felt the need to install him five minutes after he retired in that thing. But Jason Worth is a possibility. Some people, look, the best choice would be. Frank Howard, but I don't know how healthy Frank Howard is. Right. Yeah. I don't know if he's up to it. And then it would force me to bring up the fact that the learners had a chance to hire Frank Howard as a community ambassador when they took over the team.

But they were too cheap to pay him $75,000 to do it. So that's that's the learners without Mike Grizzell. Yeah. Those are the learners. All right. One more thing on the NASDA. You know, I'm into this stuff, but I don't know if you saw it, Tommy. So the game four, the other night, the game that they clinched the National League Championship series,

the TV rating for it locally was a 14.8, which was really good. The numbers have been climbing. Yeah. Like the Saturday game was an 8.6, I think, or an 8.7. Game two, game three climbed to 11 something, and then game four was a 14.8. and, you know, for those of you, by the way, that, you know, don't understand all this and it's hard to follow and even don't care, the only reason I like talking about it, and I know Tommy has a bit of an issue because not everybody consumes a sporting event now via their television. There's so many other ways to consume it, and I understand all of that. But forever, I believe that this is much more instructive and much more reflective, if you will, of what, you know, what the audiences and where it is, you know, to compare different teams in a market or to compare a market to another market, you know, in terms of a baseball team or a football team, because the people that

attend a game are a tiny fraction of the people that watch the game. Yes. On television, that's a much more important number, the television number, to sort of, you know, figure out if it's popular, if it's something that people are interested in. And we talked about the other day, I think we did. I know I did on radio. I think I did with you. That the Redskins game against the Dolphins on Sunday, which you could argue going into it, was probably among the least anticipated Redskin regular season games of all time. Two winless teams, fan base eroding in a major way as we've described. It did a 14.2 local rating on Sunday, which by the way was not twice as much,

but nearly twice as much as the second game the Nats played in St. Louis, which did the 8-something rating. Anyway, the fact that it did, it was up to a 14.8, and now they're headed to the World Series. I believe we are on the verge of seeing something really big. I didn't, you know, I knew the hockey thing would spike, because there's definitely a bandwagon element to this town, no doubt. There's a front runner element, you know, all of that stuff applies to Washington, big event town, the whole thing. But, you know, the regular season ratings for the Nats were 2.2. down. And they were down. They were down from last year, while the Orioles, a team that barely

won 50 games, didn't win 50 games, I don't think. I don't think so. We're up. Yeah. So, and not only that, like, if you were to compare Washington's regular season television numbers for the Nats on Masson, which generated a 2.2 rating this year, I'm sorry, 2.5 rating, my fault, to like a baseball town, like St. Louis. St. Louis average like a 6.9. Yeah. You know, so basically, like three times, almost three times as much of an audience in a real baseball town. But anyway, they did this 14.8, and I'll get into comparing it to the other teams in town and other markets in a second, because what I wanted to say was, it's going to get really big. They're going to do huge television numbers locally now that they're in the world series. This is something that you will get from

the bandwagon jumpers. You will also get from sports fans in general, that that are into baseball that may have missed game two or game three or followed it on their phone or whatever. This is going to be appointment viewing Tuesday night, Wednesday night. I bet you, Tommy, this is a prediction that the World Series on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. And by the way, if it's Houston, the number's going to be lower. If it's New York, it's going to be much higher because we have a lot of New Yorkers that live in this market that will be watching the World Series and rooting for the Yankees, by the way. but we're going to see numbers in the mid to high 20s for the World Series game,

the early series games, and if this series goes to a sixth or seventh game, we're going to see Redskin-type playoff numbers. We're going to see mid-30s to 40 locally. It's a much bigger opportunity than the Stanley Cup was. The Stanley Cup two years ago, in the clinching game, the Game 5 in Vegas, It did a 25.2 locally. That was so far in a way the biggest number that the caps had ever done in this market. The game seven against Tampa in the previous series did a 12.6, which was a monster rating for the capitals.

And by the way, still was more comparable with what Redskin preseason games were doing even five years ago. But the 25.2, which sort of gave you the real upside of the caps, I don't know if it had gone to a seventh and deciding game, maybe it would have done a 28 or 29. The baseball is going to do, it's going to do one and a half times this. It's going to be a minimum of a 50% increase if we get deep into the series. You're going to see numbers that equate to the Redskins playoff numbers the last time they were there. They did a 39 rating locally against Green Bay, a 50 rating when they played the Seahawks with RG3. I just think that there is a

there are a lot of baseball fans. Well, there are. You see, I mean, look, the pecking order, I think, still in this country, is football, baseball, is NFL, arguably college football. Oh, college football is easily. MLB, NBA, NHL, okay? Maybe NASCAR mixed in. That's the order.

You just got it. NFL, college football, NBA, Major League Baseball. No, no, no, MLB ahead of NHLB. NBA? MLB ahead of NBA. Absolutely. It's close. It's a year-by-year thing. Yeah, it's close.

If you just compare World Series to NBA finals, it kind of goes year by year. Yeah. Okay, go ahead. But the local, again, like I've always said, the local ratings in almost every market in baseball are usually the top five local shows all the time. Not here. Not here, but in most markets. I mean, that's why regional sports networks are a real good measure of how, baseball does on TV.

But, you know, we were talking about this. You know, I was on with Chad Dukes yesterday on 106-7 fan, and we talked about this. And you can hear me Saturday mornings with Nick Aschew on the fan. The Redskins number, the Redskins have a built-in safety net of the NFL. It's the product itself that is always going to put, bring eyes to the screen. that are not necessarily indicative of the support for the team. I just think it's because- I think the NFL is always going to draw well and draw better than the other sports.

But remember, the Redskins are on opposite many times a better NFL game in the market. Like there's a better choice for NFL fans than the Redskins game on Sunday at 1 o'clock or this coming Sunday at 1 o'clock. But still, I mean, like they said in the, concussion movie. You know, the Catholic Church used to own Sundays. Now the NFL does. Of course. It's been, yeah. So basically people people gear up to

watch NFL football on Sunday. You're such a bad Catholic. I just think that they're always going to be protected by the product and baseball doesn't have that power that the NFL has. So they're not going to have it. But this is an opportunity

for this organization. What will, you know, the question would be if they do what you think they'll do, and I think they will, what will the nationals do with this moving forward? That's a really good question, because again, a lot of it will be, you know, the incremental bandwagon effect. And then when the regular season starts next year, they're not as interested. Right. You know, they want to see the big games. They want to watch the big games. They want to turn the big games into an event, just like the Stanley Cup thing. You know, you had people down there in Chinatown celebrating probably one out of every three that they want to

three weeks earlier could barely name more than two players on the team. Probably. You know, and you're going to have a lot of that in the World Series, but I think it's less of that for baseball. I think there are sports fans in this market that don't know anything about hockey, you know, don't know anything about hockey, but they do know something about baseball. And they're following the nationals during the course of the year, even if they're not sitting down and watching every game. You know, they may be reading the game recap or looking at it. at a box score, looking at the standings, and in hoping that, you know, they make a move to get into contention. I just think that baseball, well, you know what I think in terms of the hierarchy

here. If all four teams were hitting on championship level year and year out, it would be the Redskins, the Wizards, the Nats, and then and then the caps. You need to switch to baseball. I think baseball is really close. I think it would be very close. I think it would be very close. I think it'd be very close, but I just, I think that there are areas in our DMV where if the wizards were in an NBA championship series against the Warriors, it would be through the roof in terms of the attention paid to it. And it would be a difficult ticket to get. By the way, so is the world seriously. Yeah, yeah, it is. But anyway, I just, I think it's going to be really interesting to watch the response to this.

We're, you know, 14.8's not great for a fourth game where you clinched the National League Championship series. It's cable. It's not network. Understood, but the World Series is going to be on Fox. Yes, I know. But this rating, we compared it to the Redskins. The Redskins were on network. The nationals are on cable.

I know. And the caps for those Stanley Cup finals games, Aaron, right? They were on NBC. Those games were in the finals, yes. Yes. So, yeah, like, so, you know, you're going to have a situation next week. I just thought of this. You're going to have a World Series game Tuesday and Wednesday night on Fox. And then on Thursday night, the Redskins are going to play the Vikings on Fox and NFL

Network. There'll be a combined number for the market that'll be put out. And then Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you're going to have the baseball team on Fox. Here at home. And good for them that this is the perfect, I mean, I'm actually glad that there's no conflict on Sunday. Yeah. But it's a Sunday night game. The World Series are all in prime time. So the Redskins would have had to be a scheduled Sunday night game. Do you remember when the Mets had the game seven against the Red Sox? I think I do. In 86.

I think I remember it. I know, but do you remember what else happened that night? No. The Giants and Redskins were playing on a Monday night game with the Giants undefeated on their way that year to the Super Bowl and the Redskins as the defending champions. Okay. And the baseball in New York dwarfed the football.

Not in Washington, no. where you didn't have a baseball team involved, it dwarfed Game 7 of the World Series. I think that was Game 7, or was that the famous Game 6? I think the Game 6, I think the Buckner game was the Sunday game, and then Game 7 was Monday night. I'd have to look that up. Whatever.

There was a conflict between World Series Mets Red Sox and then Giants Redskins on a Monday night. Anyway, I don't even know where I'm going with this. I guess you answered it. You think that the Nats are the clear-cut number two. Yeah, and I hope that when this is all said and done, this is where the learner's ownership is a problem. They don't have vision. They're not bold.

They don't trust marketing or understand marketing. And they're going to be given a gift here to build on, to build something with. And I just don't think they're capable of it. I mean, I think that as long as they keep winning and as long as Mike Rizzo's the GM, they'll keep competing and winning because that's since 2012, they're like the second or third winning his team in all baseball.

They'll do that, but they're being given a real opportunity to build up a fan base that that took a hit this year. I know. I mean, attendance down from, they just barely made it over two million fans. I know, and like you mentioned, the TV ratings were down 10% during the regular season. Yeah, now there were, yeah, there was a lot of. of extenuating circumstances, and people have brought this up, and it's fair. The metro coming from Northern Virginia in particular was a disaster this summer because

they literally shut down, you know, part of the line and all that. And parking is now more of an issue than ever down there because there's literally no place to park. So there's small extenuating circumstances that have an impact. But this is a golden opportunity for the learners. Yeah, it is. I mean, I don't even know, as you're saying that, I'm like, well, what do they do to take advantage of the opportunity? Obviously, what they hope for is a huge jump in season ticket sales the following year, for starters.

But even season tickets. But then huge corporate, you know, deals that didn't exist for them before. And I'm talking about, when I mean out of the box, and I'm talking about keeping the momentum going. In other words, don't crawl into a hole after the World Series is over. And don't go? And not just not and don't, but I mean, don't crawl into a hole and just give up the off season. And just keep it going. Have events.

Be creative. Keep people interested. Have something that draws media to your events in December, in January. You can do it. You just got to think out of the box to do it. I'm excited for this. This is going to be really, really spectacular. Like Tuesday night, Max Scherger's.

more likely than not. On the hill, Trey Turner is going to come up and bat first against Justin Verlander in a World Series Game 1, which would really be spectacular. The pitching matchups, I know you've gone through them, but if it's Verlander, Scherzer, Cole, and then Strasbourg, that's unbelievable. Yes, it is. But my preference, really, I'd love it to be the Yankees. The only thing I don't want is I don't want Yankees fans really infiltrating the park, which will probably happen to a certain degree. I don't know to what degree.

I hope it doesn't happen at all. I think we'd be naive to think that there wouldn't be a lot of Yankee fans in the stadium in a World Series game three, four, and five. But where are they going to get their tickets? Paying big money on the aftermarket. They are expensive. I get that. But at this point, you would think maybe by the time the opponent is decided,

most of that, I mean, Nats fans have already stepped up and gobbled up the tickets. Well, I mean, I'll check right now and stuff. Hub. There were thousands available on Stubhubhub for game three. Well, there are thousands available, but no tickets have been sold yet. So a lot of this is speculative, you know, you can't really look at the secondary market right now. But you're not going to get, you're not going to get a lot of people to buy them yet, especially from outside the market until they know their teams in it. The Nationals are doing this smart with how they were released, and they just announced how they're doing it.

If you bought tickets through, not secondary market, but like through the team, you get your tickets on Friday, your chance to buy tickets, and then like the fan club gets it Saturday. So they're doing out in waves to try to minimize the secondary market, it seems like. Okay. Well, that would be great. I mean, right now, it looks like, Aaron, where do you get the total number available in Stubhub? I mean, you can go section by section to see. And, you know, I got 100 tickets here, 75 here, 95 tickets in this section. Like, it's going to add up to well over, you know, well into the four digits, digits of available tickets, even though they're super expensive. I'm not sure how to. I don't either. I don't either. I don't know. I don't know.

that they maybe they don't let's say. Why don't you put your staff on it? I put my staff on it. Okay. But we do know that for the games against the Cubs and the Dodgers. Yes. In the playoffs, there were a lot of opponents fans in the park. Particularly the Cubs.

Particularly the Cubs. Definitely the Cubs, especially in that fifth and deciding game. Yeah. All right. We'll talk Tuesday before game one. So I'll have a chance to make predictions then, right? Absolutely. You'll be calling me from either Houston or from New York.

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Involving your team, the Redskins? Yeah. Dwayne Haskins, about 17 hours ago, I know if you saw this. Nothing wrong with this tweet. Oh, boy. Okay, there's nothing wrong with it, I'm saying. Okay. He tweeted that this chip is on my shoulder and it's staying there.

Look, every player in the NFL has a chip on their shoulder. It's the secret It's like the secret performance enhancing substance A chip. They all have them. So there's nothing wrong with that. Kurt Warner replies, your favorite quarterback.

I love Kurt Warner. Let me know if I can help with the process. DM me if I can. Keep plugging. It's all a process. I didn't start my first game until 28. You're way ahead of that. That's very nice for Kurt Warner.

What did Dwayne has to say in response? And Dwayne Haskins responded, appreciate you with a goat there for greatest of all time. It's what the kids say, I guess. Yes, they do. They do. And Kurt Warner, to me, is an underrated goat. Very underrated. So that's an interesting back and forth.

Again, I'm not criticizing Dwayne Haskins. Nothing wrong with saying that. All NFL players have a chip on their shoulders. That's what you want. You want a chip on their shoulder. If there's not one there, they create one. Right. I'll tell you what, though, I swear to God, if this were a client of mine, if I were an agent,

I'm not talking about Dwayne Haskins. If it were my son who was a professional athlete, I would tell them to stay the F off social media. And if you are on social media, use it just as a tool to read, not to actually tweet. and if you want to retweet something, just check with me before you do it. Because it just, it really is, I mean, look at who got in trial. We were going to talk about this today, maybe a little bit later on, but I've never seen anybody that has some savvy, which I think LeBron James has some saviness to him. I've never seen somebody make a big mistake and then not understand that the more you tweet about it,

talk about it, explain it, re-explain it over and over again, you're going to look at. lose even more credibility in the process. Yes. Like, dude, shut up. Yeah. Like, you made a mistake. These things are 24 to, you know, maybe in this case, a 48 hour news cycle. You keep extending it.

Stop doing it. Now, look, I think, I don't know if this is the case. But, you know, with Dwayne Haskins and young people like him. We're not even talking about Haskins. I know that. But I'm just pointing out, just pointing out that, I mean, it's, it's like, asking one it's like it would have been like asking us well don't watch TV anymore. In other words, it's like it's part of their, I mean, the social media is what they grew up with.

I mean, it's, it's part of who they are. It's part of being a young adult in America. So I understand why it's hard for them to stay off of it. I want to play something for you off of that comment. All right. I want you to listen to Pat Fitzgerald, the Northwestern football coach, before the season, and started talking a lot about what you were just referring to. These things.

I think phones, I think technology has been the decline in attendance, number one. I think, you know, watching young people today live like this instead of like that. You know, Stacey and I were out on a date last night and there was two couples, two groups of couples sitting next to us and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm old. like not one of the four couples were talking to each other. They were all on their phones. And it just drove me up to, I literally wanted to be like a dad and go like,

give me your phone, talk to each other. I mean, this is pathetic. So it was really, really pathetic. And I think that's just, it's just changed. The way a lot of younger people and younger fans intake is all through technology. And, I mean, you watch a concert and everybody's holding their phone up. Like, listen, watch.

take it in, create a memory. Because they don't go back and watch the videos. They just want to post it on their social media, which is pathetic because it creates a society of, look at me, isn't my life great? Even though when they go home, they're like, I hate myself, I hate my life, everything's wrong. So I think it's a big cause.

I think it's the root cause, number one. You know, I think the fans that grew up going and tailgating and the fans that grew up going to the stadiums four hours before the games, are getting a little older. And I think the next and younger generation of fans are more relying on technology. They'd rather have 12 TVs set up in their TV watching cave than go to a game and experience the pageantry and the tailgating.

So I think it's definitely things that we need to look at as a brand college football. All right. You can get ready to. I got to the part that I wanted Tommy to hear, which was, yeah, I mean, they are taking in, first of all, there's nothing that made me laugh harder. The context of that, by the way, was Northwestern football attendance, which, by the way, no one goes to Northwestern football games because they're not very good typically. It has nothing to do with the phones. Yeah, that has nothing to do with the phones. But my favorite part is when he says, you go to a concert

and it's so true, because I've been to a couple concerts. I saw the Smashing Pumpkins like a month ago at Meriwether. They were so good. And I'm looking around and I can't believe how many people aren't sitting there and watching the show and taking it in and they've got their phones up and they're videotaping it. I'm like, that's a shitty way to see the show through your phone. And then his point is it's also they can post it on social media, which is a look at me thing. And then they go home and they say I hate myself so much, which is really, I think a lot of you understand there's a lot of that with young people.

There's so much pressure that they face, you know, from this stuff. Do you know that the number one cause right now of suicide in teenage girls is being socially, is being shamed on social media? I can believe that. It's unbelievable. Anyway. But you know what's interesting?

I mean, our parents could say the same thing about us. With TV? about TV. I mean, I mean, when you think about the power of television, right. And,

and, you know, the suggestiveness of advertising, and the impact it had on us, and then you quadruple it, or ten times that, for this generation, because there's advertising everywhere,

on everything. It's the same reaction. I mean, TV dramatically changed the way, the way we consume. the way we lived our lives compared to our parents. That's true, but it's not the right comparison, because what you were talking about

and what Pat Fitzgerald, the Northwestern coach, was talking about, is that they can't stop this process of being involved in social media. It's really hard for them to stop, but what's driving a lot of it is like this incredible insecurity, this incredible need to be relevant, This incredible, by the way, inability to deal with adversity on social media. When someone's critical of you, which as we know, unlike television, no one's shouting back at you while you're sitting there watching television.

But the image is the same. In other words, like we grew up watching TV and seeing families and shows leading perfect lives. And we knew our families weren't like that. Right. And we watched these commercials. with good-looking people, you know, chewing gum and drinking soda and all this. And we looked at ourselves in a mirror and said, well, we don't look like that. You know, what's wrong with that?

Well, this is the same thing. It's the same thing accentuated, but the same angst, the same insecurities. We had when we were kids. I don't think you watched television and it created insecurities. I think you didn't even. Television was a diversion and it was more likely than not a happy diversion. I think you didn't even know it was going on. Well, I think you know what's going on now.

Yes, you do. I think the subliminal and not the planted subliminal things where somebody would flash something in a middle of a commercial you didn't see it. But I just think the sub, look, I mean, again, a lot of people spent a lot of money on advertising on TV in the 60s and the 70s. And either they flushed it down the toilet or it convinced you to do something that you didn't even realize it was convincing you to do. too. Yeah, I know. And, you know, it's really interesting about television because, you know, you were told for so long that it was really unhealthy to sit there and watch it. Yes. You know, and yet what's unhealthier than today getting onto your phone to say something about yourself and then be, you know, just absolutely, you know, heartbroken by whatever the response.

Yes, you're right. It's worse now, but it's the same, it's the same thing. Multiply. Yeah. It's the same thing. The insecurities are there now. The insecurities were there when we were growing up. God only knows.

You know what? My parents were insecure about eating because they grew up there in a depression. Right. So they were insecure about where their next meal was coming from. By the way, this is going to be a complete right-hand turn off of what you just said, like nowhere near where we are. But I just, I didn't want to lose this thought. But what was, like, I had Mori Povich on the radio show this morning, and his father, Shirley Povich, you of course know who he is,

and most of you out there know who he is. He's a legendary columnist for the Washington Post and covered the senators in baseball for years. And he, the 1933 World Series, the last time a Washington professional baseball team was in the world series, Shirley Povich covered it and wrote about it in the Post. And I was thinking, man, what was 1933 Washington like? First of all, you are in the deep, deep, darkest times of the Depression. Yes. You know, we are four years removed from the market crash.

We are in year two of FDR, just beginning New Deal kind of stuff. Meanwhile, over in Europe, you're starting the rublings. The seeds of World War II were being laid. Yes. And you are in, and yet your baseball teams in the World Series. I just wonder what it would have been like to be in one. Washington in 1933 on your way to Griffith Stadium for a World Series game. Yeah.

And what it cost. And, you know, whether or not you were coming home to, you know, the third straight night of leftovers from the stew that your mother made on Sunday that needed to last the whole week or whatever. And you were maybe, I mean, I've seen images of people like gathering around radios out on the street. Right. You know, listening to games, you know, stopping and listening to games.

You know, I always think of if I could go back in time for one year, what year would I go back in time and be a sports writer? And I always say 1947 because that was Jackie Robinson. You had three baseball teams in New York then. It wouldn't have been 1933, I can tell you that. Right. It wouldn't have been, no. This is the post-war era of 47. The country was about to embark on a remarkable era of prosperity.

prosperity, yes. Well, I mean, we had Korea. You know, we did have a war. That was a police action, Kevin. Well, I heard somebody describe it the other day. He was trying to talk about it and said the 89th parallel. I said, no, I don't think it was the 89th. But anyway, you know what?

It's actually a really good sports radio topic that I don't know if we ever did this. I don't think I've done this in years, is if you could go back and attend one sporting event, either one that you went to or didn't, what would it be? That's easy for me. Ali Frazier? No, Ali Foreman. In the middle of the jungle.

In Zaire. To be on the press corps with Norman Mailer and George Plimpton and Hunter Thompson in the middle of Africa, sign me up. There are two. I've always thought about Ali Frazier one at the garden, which was probably the biggest sporting event of the 20th century. I think that along with you got to go back to 1938 and Joe Lewis and Max Schmelling. Okay. But I think you're right. I think it is the biggest one.

That I would have loved to have been in Madison Square Garden that night. And all of the documentaries that have been done on it are so well done. I also would just once love to go back and experience again what RFK Stadium was like the day they played the Cowboys in the 83 championship game. Something that you've already been at. Tom, it was, it's my number one that I've ever attended. I've never, ever. And I've been to a lot of sporting events, as you know, that aren't Washington related. I don't, still to this day, I don't think I've ever been in an arena or a stadium,

as electric as that was pre-kickoff. Never. Now, you know, I was an objective. I had a rooting interest and it was into it. But, man, that is the loudest venue I think I have ever been in. for a sporting event. But you need to be this Kevin Sheehan, not that Kevin Sheehan, right? Yeah, well, that would be fine.

You know what? I would still get really excited. Yeah, I know that, but it would be the same feeling all over again. I mean, I would rather experience something that I didn't experience. But I'm just saying that that would be on the list if included were sporting events you also have already been to. I think Frazier Ali would be one for me. Definitely one. You know what?

One wouldn't be? What? 49ers Redskins this Sunday. No. That wouldn't be one of them. No, probably wouldn't. Although you don't know what's going to happen. It may end up being one of the greatest NFL games of all time.

There could be a fist fight at the 50-year line between Kyle Shanahan and Bruce Allen. Could be. All right. So let's get to some Redskins. Two things on the Redskins. Number one is the report that came out from a Canton, Ohio newspaper on Monday, on Tuesday evening, excuse me, that like a deal for Trent Williams and the Browns was imminent. Well, it wasn't. It hasn't happened.

And then John Dorsey, the general manager of the Browns yesterday, did say and admit that they had inquired, but it takes, quote, two to tango, closed quote. The implication being the Redskins aren't dealing Trent Williams. And in fact, there was a further report that suggested that Bruce Allen really isn't even having conversations, like not even listening to offers, which to me can't possibly. be true. Like, you can be dumb. You can't be that stupid where you wouldn't listen to an offer. If I were a general manager, I would listen to an offer for any of my players. And most general managers, too. If I never had any intention of trading anybody, I would say, what are you offering? It's not that hard of a question. And by the way, it's a good learning tool for you to go out potentially before a trade deadline this year or next,

and you can use this as sort of a basis, like a starting point. I don't believe those stories to be true. I don't think the Redskins are very bright. I've made myself very clear on that. I don't think they're so dumb or so stubborn that they wouldn't say to John Dorsey when he calls, what are you offering?

It's a real simple question. Yeah, we're not interested. And that's the simple answer if you're really not. Would you want to hear what they're offering? Don't forget, though, when things look bad from the outside, they're worse inside. They're usually much, much worse. That's one of your things.

Yeah. It's so stupid at this point. And I know, I'll make this short. I don't have any problem understanding why they would want to dig their heels in. He's got two years left on his deal. He's accused them of something, or certainly through his surrogates, and maybe not directly, of something that they don't believe and they believe has actually, in many ways, defamed.

Yes. You know, they're medical people and or training people. It has. And I could see and totally understand why they are pissed off. And they'd like to bleed him, as Les Carpenter wrote. Or they do not want to set a precedent that you can say these kinds of things and get traded. I do understand that part from just a pure business standpoint. And by the way, professional relationship standpoint.

With that said, and I used your, I think it's your favorite saying, one of these days I'm going to put together a book of Leverro's five key, top five sayings that I've written down and used because they're so smart. But sometimes the juice ain't worth squeezing. And this is the perfect example of it. There's fights that are worth fighting and there's ones that aren't. This may have been a fight worth fighting for a while, but he has made it very clear he has no intention of ever playing for you again,

or he certainly doesn't want to. He may be forced in by week 10 to get the accrued season. He's so adamant that he can't stand you and doesn't want to play for you, which, by the way, is not a reflection of a damn good culture when your best player is essentially paying you not to play, which is what he's doing if you consider the fines to be him paying them. you got to move on. And look, if the situation were different from a team standpoint, like, hey, we're a good team and we could really use them because we've got a chance to go deep into the playoffs.

But you should be in reboot mode. You shouldn't, you're not going to have Trent Williams as a really good player and an elite player when you're ready to contend at some point if you ever do. It's so stupid. I can't even explain how stupid it is. It's really frustrating. Do you think they're capable of it, of literally not taking phone calls? No. Look, Bruce has been, has, you know, he's been, he's wheeled and dealed before in the past.

He knows what the game is. I can't believe that when John Dorsey or the Patriots or the Texans or anybody else that called him. Except the 49ers. Well, I don't think he's talking to the 49ers. No. Yeah. Which is stupid, of course, because he could have gotten a first round pick for her cousins, had he been not so petty with the 49ers.

But I don't, you know, it also speaks to, by the way, this is the last thing on this. And then you can weigh in. The other part of this is just they're delusional. They're detached from reality, which we know there's an element of that. And they really are buying into the fact that if they beat the 49ers this week, they're back in play for 2019. and it would be great to get Trent back in week 10 to make that late push for the playoffs. I'm serious.

I think some of the, I think they think that if they win this weekend, they're going to be back in a playoff race. I'm sure they probably do. And that means they think this is a winnable game for them. They do. No doubt. What?

It's just unbelievable. I mean, Kyle Shanahan against Greg Minnusky. I mean, that's not even fair. I mean, that's, that's, I mean, what would you compare it to? I don't know. Did you hear what Kyle Shanhan said yesterday? For those that missed it, he was asked about what, what is, what his favorite memories were about Washington? He said, working with my dad and some of the other coaches, what were your worst memories of Washington?

He said, everything else, you know, and by the way, just so everybody knows this, this is not Kyle Shanahan's first trip back to Washington as a head coach. They were here two years ago with the 49ers. And they lost. They lost, but they Pierre Garsohn got called for an offensive pass interference late in the game that was a terrible call. I remember that game. He was playing for the 49ers that day. And if not for that

call, they would have had a chance for a game-winning field goal at the end of the game. I also think back on Kyle, Tommy, you and I were doing a show at the time. You didn't feel this way. But I was very adamant that they had a good coaching staff, as you know. I was a big fan of Mike. I was a big fan of Kyle. I was a big fan of the staff. I thought they needed

to suck it up and get through the salary cap penalty stuff, and eventually this was the group that would turn it around. And whenever I say that, go ahead, you're going to tweet me in with Mike's record, 24 and 40, or whatever it is, as the Redskins coach. By the way, no one leaves here with a winning record, just if you were wondering, including Coach Joe. But do you remember some of the feelings about Kyle Shanahan in this town? From people on our own station, you know, people around town, writers that the only reason he had a job was because his father was the head coach. Well, but my position has been when you do that, when you go to work for your father in a position like that, you've got to be willing to take those hits. I understand that.

Those hits are not out of bounds. Oh, they were out of bounds based on his track record. He had already led a top flight offense with Matt Shaw and quarterback as the O.C. in Houston. I get that. Like he was a sought-after offensive coordinator. But you're going to be the first, if things go south, you're going to be. the first target. But he wasn't the first son to be hired. Marty Schottenheimer had his brother and his son on the staff. I get that. I get that. And I just don't think it's a good practice,

but it happens in the NFL everywhere all the time. You know what else Kyle Shanahan grabbed onto the homecoming weekend? What do you mean? This is homecoming weekend. I knew it was. I missed what he said about homecoming. Yeah, basically at the end of his comments in a conference call with reporters. And he was told that this is called alumni homecoming weekend. And he said, homecoming weekend, don't they have that in college? So he brought that up as well. And you remember DeAngelo Williams. DeLangelo Williams. Aaron, find that sound right now because it's one of my favorite all-time sound bites. Yeah. So, so Kyle has already latched onto the fact that they've picked out the 49ers for their opponent for homecoming weekend. Oh my God. I didn't hear that part. I played all

the other Kyle stuff on the radio show this morning. I read it right at the end of a story in the Washington Times. And so his response was... Well, it's kind of like incredulous. That... Well, he was here for some of them. We had them when they were here, I think. No, no, no, this was a Bruce Allen thing.

Yeah, yeah. After Mike left. Yeah. Right? Yeah, Mike wouldn't have done that. I don't think so. Well, no... Actually, I think the DiAngelo Williams thing was with Mike here.

Yeah, that was with Mike. Oh, okay. I can't find the sound right now. Oh, come on. Seriously? I mean, I see all the quotes. I can't buy the video right now. I'm looking, though.

And it was in a conference call. Homecoming, you put it on the program. Like, you didn't even try to hide it. Like, that was the best. Yeah. And he said, it pissed us off. So he, it's fair to say, you know, I know that Dwayne Haskins has a chip on his shoulder. The chip on Kyle Shanahan's shoulder is going to be about 50 pounds when he walks into

Coast Townfield on Sunday. Right? Am I right? Yeah. Yeah. I've already mentioned this week that based on. some of the people I know that would be familiar with this situation. He doesn't want to win this game by the favored 10.

He wants to win it by 110 if he can. And he wouldn't have any problem motivating his team to buy into that. You know, Tommy, the funny thing about it, maybe I mentioned this to you on Tuesday, but this is like the perfect spot typically and historically in the NFL for the East Coast team. You know, the 1 o'clock start, 10 a.m. West Coast, especially in this spot where San Francisco just had a very emotional win over a rival, division rival, you know, and they're 5 and O, and they would be overlooking a bad opponent. Like, this is the perfect spot. I started looking for all the data on this early this morning before the radio show. And what's funny, Aaron, is that the only

data that's out there is, of course, you know, ATS data. It's only, you know, what West Coast teams are against East Coast teams against the number. I just wanted to know what they were straight up. You know, the only thing I found was there was data that from 2001 to 2015, when West Coast teams played a one o'clock start on the East Coast or a 12 noon start central time zone, they lost 35 points, they lost 64.4% of the time. So almost two-thirds. Two-thirds favored the East Coast team. However, this year, and I went back and did this research on my own, be proud of me. It didn't take very long. They're on a lot of West Coast teams. West Coast teams traveling east this year for a one o'clock Sunday kick, East Coast time, forget the central thing,

are eight and one. O'A team's in general are ridiculous this year. Yeah. God, you're right about that. Once you just said that, I'm like, away teams have won games this year. Not just one game, especially if you're talking gambling, there's something like 65% against the spread. Really? I was thinking that it could be the perfect spot for the Redskins to pull an upset. But then I saw the line, Vegas doesn't believe so. Like, they're a 10-point favorite. To give you the West Coast team traveling east this week that should be on upset alert, the Rams are only a three-point favorite at 1 in 5 Atlanta.

That would give you an indication. If that's the West Coast team they think is in danger this week, not the 49ers line 10. And now Atlanta's a better team, even though they've got a comparable record. They're a much better team than the Redskins are and much more capable than the Redskins are. But anyway. Now, I pointed out the Ramp, the 49ers motivation for playing an emotional game against the Redskins. Obviously, the Kyle Shanahan revenge factor and the homecoming designation for this weekend.

Now, the Redskins have their own emotional burst to basically, take the field and go after the 49ers. And that's win-one for Ruben Foster. This is his old team, the 49ers, that cut him loose, that basically dumped him. And now he's a Redskin. He's part of the Redskins family. And he's hurt. So you got to go out there and win one for Rubin.

Okay. So I love when you do this, because sometimes you hit the mark with your column ideas, because I sense a column from here. No, this is not, no. There's no. And sometimes it's really a real. No, there's not many columns that you're going to see in the next couple weeks. Nothing to do with the Redskins.

With the Redskins. Although I will be there Sunday for the Redskins-Fortening I's, and we'll probably be writing a column about that. You know, the Forty and I are really miss Rubin Foster, don't they? Yeah, their defense is legit. Yeah. So I wanted to get to what Cooley said on his podcast this week because I think it's really an interesting conversation.

First of all, the part of what he said that is definitely I think some insight as to what the organization is thinking. And then the part that's purely speculative, hypothetical on his part, that has nothing to do with what the organization would think. And by the way, he didn't tell me the organization said this. He said this on his podcast. He said, basically, I think they expect Alex to come back and have a chance to play next year. Alex Smith.

Alex Smith, that would be. The one that had the, you know, the external fixator or whatever on his leg. and just got it off recently and is moving around with a limp, I've been told, but it's throwing out at Redskin Park behind the scenes and is there all the time. And we see him Sundays with. Well, not only he's there all the time. Apparently he's with Dan Snyder whenever Dan Snyder goes to away games. Dan wants him with him at away games.

I mean, I got to be honest with you. If I'm Alex Smith, you're paying me all this money. You're not also going to make me hang out with you. Well, I think that's pretty much the case. I mean, that's what I've heard. Look, I don't want to. I hope Alex Smith is healthy. It would be an incredible comeback story if he were to if he played football again.

Just a little bit. Tommy reported recently and I mentioned it, you know, I mentioned it yesterday on the podcast and on the radio show. Tommy had a column that revealed that Alex Smith has had 17 surgeries on his leg. Not seven, not two or four. 17. You know, he made this announcement at the opening of a medical facility, and it was, you know, invited medical staff at this thing. And I was told, like, there was a collective gas from people who are in this business when he told

them they had 17 surgeries. I can imagine. I would have been like, I would have stood up. Hold on first again. I think you misspoke. You know I would have. I would have said 17? Did you say 17 or seven?

And I said 17. Are you sure your information's right? Yes. You are? Yes, I am. I'm sure my information is right. It's not possible you got that one wrong? Well, unless Alex got it wrong.

Okay. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he miscounted them. What if he was just joking and said, in jest, I've had like 17 surgeries on this leg? Well, there's nothing I can do about that. Well, who, I mean, the person that was there, you were not there. Right. Your source that was there maybe doesn't have a sense of humor and didn't understand that there was

some sarcasm. My source is pretty savvy. Okay. All right. 17's a lot of damn surgeries on a leg. Like at some point, I think I'd get to like number seven or eight and say, just cut it off. And by the way, I called the Redskins yesterday. I called the Nova.

Neither one of them, all the Redskins, they both contacted me back. Neither one of them said Alex was joking. Okay. Okay. You know, I'm messing with you. But 17 is a lot of surgeries to have. But anyway, here was the next part of Coolie's podcast. He was doing it with Clinton the other day, Clinton Portis.

Cooley just said, you know, off the cuff, he said, you know, if they believe that Alex Smith can be the starting quarterback in 2020. And there are a lot of indications, as you mentioned, he's with Dan everywhere he goes, he's hanging around at the park, he's in the quarterback meeting rooms, the whole thing. Cooley said, why would you play Dwayne Haskins this year only to tell him he doesn't have the starting job in 2020? They were bringing back Alex Smith. That's a very good point. I told him that I didn't think it was a very good point. I don't know why you would care what Haskins. You want Haskins.

You want to find out about Haskins. If Haskins plays eight games and plays really great, wouldn't that be awesome to have the option of Smith or Haskins and to actually be able to consider? Actually, Alex is ready, but Dwayne was great. Or Dwayne wasn't very good. We don't have a good feeling about Dwayne moving forward, and we're going to have the number one pick in the draft.

And Justin Herbert or Tua or anybody else is a possibility for us now because Alex Smith is going to be 36 next year off of an injury that he had 17 surgeries to try to a repair and get him into a position where he can play. By the way, let's make this really clear. I hope he gets healthy. I hope he can play football again. As a Redskin fan, I do not want him to be my starting quarterback in 2020. Do not.

That's a path to nowhere. I agree. But think the way they're thinking. That's the next part of this. Yes. Go ahead. As opposed to, you know, the logical, the NFL franchise way of thinking. Right.

Think the way the Redskins are thinking at this point in terms of. I mean, Bruce Allen has put his reputation, again, his tattered, pathetic reputation is in part on the line on the Alex Smith trade. I mean, it's basically another salary. It turned out to be through no fault of their own. Well, it is because they gave him the contract extension. some of their fault another salary cap penalty. They need to see a payoff for that. Bruce Allen needs to see a payoff for that, right?

No, you don't need to say. No, he does. I'm thinking he does. Oh, I agree with that. Yes, I don't. I'm not saying rational people would, but he does. He needs to see that. And as far as, as far as Haskins and you dismissing the notion that if you put them out

there and then pull him off and Alex Smith is, look, he's already being made out to be a victim and he's barely played. I mean, the Dwayne Haskins, the woe, Dwayne Haskins, the Redskins treating him is already a storyline out there.

It's just that okay, I'll come back to that in a second. The whole notion that they, by the way, this all ties into, we're close. Alex Smith, starting next year. We were close last year.

Ruben Foster coming back next year. Okay, but stop with the Ruben Foster. Why? Because it's not relevant to this specific conversation. But they're playing a 49 or something. I know, I understand that. We were close last year. The Ruben Foster game.

You guys don't understand how close we were. We were six and three. We had Alex. He wasn't turning the ball over like Kirk used to do. And we were headed to the playoffs as a division winner with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. And when David Aldridge asked Bruce Allen, that question last week in the press conference. and Bruce said, I disagree with your premise. We were less than a year ago, we were in first place.

Like, they are so delusional as to what last year was. But beyond that, so it goes into the work close because we're not going to have Alex this year, Dan, and this is why we're not doing well this year. And Jay, by the way, really fucked up the quarterback situation here because he didn't want to coach Dwayne and he wanted cold out there. And, you know, Case is probably, it was our best chance. chance and he's starting cold against New England and pushing the whole cold thing. Well, we got rid of him fortunately.

And remember, Jay didn't coach Alex very well in 2018. Look it. He wasn't his quarterback. He wasn't his guy. So what we're going to have is we're going to have an even better version of Alex on a better team with our future quarterback. He's going to be Aaron Rogers. He's going to sit behind Brett Farr, of Alex Smith, for a few years.

And next year, if we don't contend this year with Case the rest of the way, we got to chance to get Alex back and be back in a position to win this division with good run defense, with a running game, and a quarterback that won't turn the ball over at 36 years old, limping around the field. It's so dysfunctional and it's so lacking in vision, and it's so it's the lack of self-awareness. They never can see what reality is, even though it's right in front of them. And Dan's getting sold a bill of goods. The easiest person to sell is the salesman. That's the adage. And Bruce is is selling the hell out of Snyder.

That's a really good point. You're right about that. Plus, again, like I said, like we both know, I mean, Snyder obviously likes Alex Smith because he wants him around all the time. Is he cover for him when Bruce isn't around? I don't know. I don't know if he's... Alex, you've already lost one leg.

If somebody shoots at me and takes out your second leg, who cares? Yeah, I don't know. But so already there's a close relationship, probably. between Alex Smith and Dan Snyder, which we know is really the key to playing quarterback for this team. That's the key is to be the owner's friend. But the owner drafted Dwayne Haskins. Yes, that's a little bit conflict.

And gave him number seven. Yes. And, you know, did you hear Doc the other day? He's got two friends then. Doc said, I would have given him zero until he proved he could play. But I just don't, the whole worrying about Haskins' feelings and psyche is not. really something that I think should be a big concern. Not because I'm convinced for sure that you couldn't break his psyche, but I do have, like, my, my intuitive thought watching him and

hearing him is he played at Ohio State. Like, he played in bigger arenas, in bigger games than this franchise is playing in right now. And I just don't think that playing him against the Giants ruined him. I don't. I don't think playing, if they had played at, him against the Patriots or the Dolphins would have ruined him had he not played well. I do think that it's a good news that Callahan's getting him first team reps. You know, they're working him, and by the way, just as an aside, the fact that Colt McCoy has basically been without Jay Gruden pushed to the side, he didn't get any first team reps yesterday.

He was deactivative last week. You know, he was inactive last week. We've seen, I think we've seen with the passing on of Jay Gruden, not, you know, in terms of life or death, but as no longer the Redskins coach, I think we have seen the end of the Colt McCoy era in Washington. Well, let me just point out, you'll see Colt McCoy again this year because my prediction is going to come true. Yeah, I know. And at some point, Colt McCoy is going to be the only healthy quarterback to put out there. Maybe. Alex Smith as a starter in 2020 is a path to nowhere, Bruce, Dan. It was a

Path, by the way, last year to nowhere. Please understand you were six and three and you were doing a lot of good things. You're running the football. You were stopping the run. You're winning the turnover battle, winning the field position battle, playing old school football against some teams that weren't very good that you beat. And the teams that you played that were pretty good, pretty much ravaged you. And you were headed to like 8 and 8.

And maybe you could have gotten to 9 and 7 had Alex stayed healthy. Maybe. But it wasn't going to be a contending season. they were dreadful on offense at times last year throwing the football. Now, he might say it's because Jay, you know, it was all Jay. Well, you gave Jay the contract extension. You gave Jay Alex Smith. Yeah.

You know, you're the one that brought Alex Smith, who was not a good fit. Alex Smith, do you remember the day he got traded? I said, got to have a running game for him. He's going to be checked down Charlie. And with Andy Reed as his coach and a shitload of talent, they couldn't win in the postseason. They got to the postseason. But that's what Alex Smith is.

He is just an average starting quarterback in the NFL. You're not going anywhere with Alex Smith at 36 off of 17 surgeries. Give me an effing break. But the Redskins, that's the only road they know is the road to nowhere. I mean, it's like an oval track. They just keep going round and around. It's so true. All right.

You're not going to be here on Sunday. Make a prediction for the game. You're not going to be back before the game is played. So give me a Sunday prediction for the game. Well, I'm going to say, I'm going to say 49ers, 34, the Redskins, nothing. Zero. Zero, 34, nothing shut out. All right.

Don't forget, we've got an app now. You can get that app at the app store. You can get it, you know, if you've got Android off the Google store. You can get it from the Apple store, app store on iPhone. Please let me know what you think of the app. I've gotten some pretty good feedback so far. If you're having any issues with it, let us know. We try to really keep it simple, Aaron, right?

With the podcast. With the app, I'm sorry, of the podcast. I know that other apps that have been done, you know, to me, they were too cumbersome. We try to keep this really simple. There's today's show. You can go back and find old shows. It's not a bad way to listen to it, to have it on the app, and it gets delivered right to the app every day. Let us know how you feel.

You can tweet me at Kevin Sheen, DC. If you're listening to the podcast on iTunes or on any other platform that allows you to rate it and review it, please do that as well. And by the way, the app definitely rate it. Give us five stars, please, if you don't mind. That'll help us on the revenue side. All right, I do have a smell test, early smell test pick. By the way, I'm saving you from the NFL power pole today. You know, you don't even have to say that.

I know, but I was looking at you and you were looking at me like, are we going to do the power pole? No, I wasn't. Were you prepared for it today? No, I wasn't. But I heard you do it on your radio show. Yeah. On the way it. It's really good, isn't it?

It's okay. It's actually better without you. All right. So tonight, Aaron, I mean, this is, this fits into the smell test perfectly. Nobody thinks that Kansas City can go to Denver. night and lose a third straight game. Like everybody's pretty convinced that the Chiefs are really, really good, and there's no possibility of them losing three games in a row, and they are only a three-point favorite

at Mile High tonight in Denver. Denver, as Aaron knows, was my surprise AFC team before the season. They're two and four. They've won two games in a row. They shut out the Titans last week after beating the Chargers on the road the week before as a smell test pick. They should be four and two. They were absolutely hosed against Chicago and Jacksonville with just horrendous league admitted bad roughing the passer calls. And they're good. They're a much better team than you think they are at two and four. They're capable defensively.

They're actually a little bit banged up too. The chiefs are banged up coming into this one. Mahomes is limping around on that ankle. But here's the biggest thing, Tommy. The chiefs are giving up and their last two losses, 190 yards on the ground. And Denver can run it with Freeman and with Philip Lindsay. I like Denver outright tonight in a short week Thursday night game. I definitely love them plus three as a smell test pick. The smell test last week, eight and nine, first losing week since week one, I think. I think that's right, since week one.

49, 29, and one overall. Denver tonight as a smell test pick plus the three. I would also, by the way, Aaron, I'd lean UCLA tonight catching the short number against Stanford, but Stanford's got quarterback issues. That's why I'm staying off that. Nobody knows who the quarterback is going to be for Stanford tonight. They're laying four right now, four and a half. That number, if their starting quarterback is back or the quarterback to quarterback the last week in their upset over Washington, if he's back, that line might shoot up to seven. So I'm staying off that game completely. One game is a good enough start to the weekend.

Take the Broncos plus the three. All right. That's it for the day. Back tomorrow with a football Friday, some baseball as well. Kevin Sheehan's show podcast on a Thursday with Tom Levero, who's headed to the World Series, and we'll call in from either New York or Houston on Tuesday to be with us, and then from one of those two cities before you come back on Thursday morning.

So it'll be two phone Levero appearances next week. Hopefully. Anything else from you? I got nothing else. All right, have a good day.