The Kevin Sheehan Show - Banned For Life

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Kevin solo today opened with several tweets and emails mostly Commanders-related. He talked about the comparison some have made between Jayden Daniels and Randall Cunningham. And then Kevin got to a huge sports story today, the life ban of an MLB player for betting on baseball. More Caitlin Clark follow up ended the show. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. The presenting sponsor of the show, as always, is Wind Donation. Give them a call at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name, and they will give you a free, no obligation in-home estimate.

I am solo today because Tommy's not feeling well. Hopefully we'll get them back tomorrow, if not Thursday. tweets and emails to start the show today. This one, not so positive from J. Hash 1, 2, 3, although I will admit to you, Jay Hash. I laughed a little bit in reading your note. He titles it, great podcast for team name enthusiasts. If you want to listen to a boomer whine for 30 plus minutes about the team's name literally, and he stars literally, Every day, Kevin is your man, exclamation point. Kevin is obsessed with the team name and wants to spend as much airtime as possible talking about the name change. Hope he's got both hands above the desk while he speaks so passionately and exhaustively about the team name.

But you can almost picture the half-empty bottle of hand lotion next to him as he goes on and on about the team name. It's nauseating. Get over the name, Kevin. Cover the team. Jayhash, I got you covered. I got you covered today. The team announced just a little while ago. It has signed a kicker.

Two days after releasing Brandon McManus, the team signed Ramiz Ahmed today. Ahmed holds the record for the longest field goal. In USFL history, he booted a 61-yarder for the Pittsburgh mallers against the New Jersey generals back in 2022. He went to Nevada, kicked there for one season, and then was signed by the Bears in 2020. But he didn't beat out Eddie Panero in training camp. So he went to the USFL, kicked for Pittsburgh, and then got another shot with the Packers in, in 2022. And that's where there was some activity in the NFL. So they waived him at the end of

training camp in 2022, then signed him to the practice squad. In November, he was elevated to the active roster for a game against the Cowboys, November 22. He handled kickoffs because Mason Crosby had a sore back. And if you recall, sorry, Clay, that was the game in which, I mean, Bay annihilated Dallas. It was like 42 to 14 or something like that. I'd have to look it up. But he kicked off six times in the game for the Packers. And then he was back on the practice squad, then elevated to the active roster again

for the 17th game of the season against Minnesota, but he suffered a groin injury and didn't play during the game despite actually being elevated. to handle kickoff duties once again. Went back to the practice squad. Eventually his contract with Green Bay expired. He was back in the United Football League this spring with the Birmingham stallions until being released last week and then signed today by Washington. There you go.

There's some news, Jay Hash. By the way, there's more news on the team. The team announced that Barney, an 11-week-old black Labrador retriever is the official team dog. It's in partnership with the Warrior Canine Connection, a nonprofit based in Boyd's Maryland. The Warrior Canine Connection, or the WCC, breeds, trains, and places highly skilled service dogs

with veterans who have sustained physical and psychological wounds while in service to our country. Barney's arrival marks the beginning of the commander's partnership with the Warrior K-9 connection. Cute dog, the team tweeted out a picture of the dog, and they called Barney their wide retriever. Love dogs. You know, Benefit of the Doubt, Kev isn't going to make some sort of snarky comment about the press release about the team dog. It's Benefit of the Doubt time. Yeah, I probably would have said, you know, enough about, you know, the team dog.

Let's win some games. Anyway, there's some coverage for you, Jayhash. There it is. Actually, there was some, there was additional news today from the team. They have their preseason schedule with the game times now set. And listen to this. On August 10th, they're playing the Jets in their first preseason game, first of three, in Jersey at 12 noon, Saturday, August 10th at 12 noon.

That feels pretty warm already. It's not a national televised game. It might be one of the NFL network coverage games. The NFL network shows preseason football, you know, start to finish all day long for the three weeks. So it might be the first game on NFL network. It doesn't say that it's on NFL network, but it probably will be. Then the next week, August 17th this Saturday, they're in Miami for 7 p.m. That seems more doable.

It would have been brutal to play in Miami at 12 noon. And then Washington actually will finish up its preseason at home against New England on Sunday night, August 25th, for the actual NFL's final preseason game, and it'll be nationally televised on NBC. You know, I would imagine that that would be a Drake May game for New England, and Jacoby Burset, who is the projected New England starter for 2024, for the beginning of 2024, would probably be sitting, and maybe Jaden Daniels will be sitting for that one as well. Remember, too, Washington has two joint practices. that they've scheduled prior to each of their first two preseason games.

So they have one with the Jets and one with the dolphins, each of those two days before they play each other in the preseason. Oh, wait a minute. Here, my notes, I have one more coverage of the team story, sort of coverage of the team. Logan Thomas signed a deal with the 49ers. You know, I was looking at their roster. he's got a chance to make that team. The backup to Kittle last year was Charlie Werner.

But Warner signed a three-year deal with the Falcons in the offseason, and they really don't have any other proven tight end other than Kittle on the roster. I always kind of liked Logan Thomas. I really did. I understood he was not a good blocker. But when he was healthy in 2020, he was a big, big target for them. And he was a smart player. You know, college quarterback, super smart.

You know, Taylor Heineke, I think, really got along with Logan Thomas. I think Logan was very beneficial for Taylor. I don't know about, you know, Sam Howell last year. Yeah, he dropped some balls. He fumbled a few times last year. He was also, and I didn't realize this, I just looked it up. He was the team's third leading pass catcher last year with 55 receptions, had more than John Dodson did.

And let's face it, that. knee injury he had in 2021 was a bad one. You know, 2022 was never really a reflection of his ability because he just wasn't right physically coming off that injury. And then last year wasn't great, but, you know, let's be honest, who was that great on offense last year? Nobody really. Remember the catch, though, in week two against Denver when the team started out two and O? And Sam had a couple of dimes in that game. That touchdown pass to Terry McCorn was incredible. But the catch where he took the hit from Kareem Jackson in the end zone right before the half, I think, got concussed. Jackson, did Jackson get tossed on that play? I forget. I think he'll have a chance in San Francisco.

I do. So anyway, there you go. Jay Hash. Coverage of the team. Cover the team, damn it. I mean, seriously, though, you have the ability to fast forward in the podcast world through the parts you don't want to listen to. If we're talking about the name, and of course, we don't literally, as you said, talk or whine about the team every day for 30 minutes. I think we went literally, literally months without talking about the team name. But last week, you know, it was what we refer to in the trade. It was an atopic, you know. And I mean, it's a pretty high-level topic for the majority of the fans anyway. But we don't really obsess over the team name if you really add up the time.

And no, there's no hand lotion here in the studio with me. Although I do have some very dry skin on my elbow. I've been scratching my elbow to the point of it's actually bled. Does anybody else get that elbow skin dryness? Is that age? I've got that going on right now. I'll live. This from Jason,

I admit that you really infuriated me last year when you insisted that Eric B. Enemy wasn't a good hire when everyone else was insisting that he was. I also wasn't that happy with you harping on and on about Sam Howell's draft status. Yes, I did that. And trying to drill into our heads that he was a fifth round draft pick for a reason. But you know what's interesting? This year, you seem to be all in on Daniels and Kingsbury.

Why not the same hesitation on a quarterback that has proven nothing at the pro level yet? and an OC who was a one-time NFL failure. So the answer to that, Jason, is really easy. I mean, I really like Jaden Daniels as a prospect. I didn't really love Sam Hal as a prospect. I admit to you, and I've done this already on the show many times since they drafted him, you know, the odds of me being wrong about Jaden Daniels are better than

the odds of me being right, given the hit rate on quarterbacks early, just in the draft overall. But I love the player. I love Jaden Daniels. He's about pretty much my favorite draft pick of theirs in a long, long time, although I was 100% enamored and thrilled with Chase Young. I hope this one doesn't turn out the same way. I love Jaden Daniels. That's the easy answer. And on Kingsbury, I love Kingsbury's brain. I love his creativity.

He wasn't a one-time NFL failure. He wasn't a success as a head coach, but he wasn't, you know, a brutal failure. They went 11 and 6 in one of his seasons. They were horrible in that playoff game. And I just think that, you know, he's not coming here to be the head coach. He's coming here to be an offensive coordinator. And, you know, in talking to a lot of guys, especially the guys at the college level and guys that are friends of mine, like Scott and Stanford, Steve, who know a lot of the college people, even more so than they know the NFL people.

I mean, just everything they've said based on the people they've talked to is that Kingsbury is brilliant and that he's an excellent coach and an excellent. and an excellent quarterback guy. And that's what he's going to be asked to do here. He's not going to be asked to be the head coach. So the answer is easy. I really like Jaden Daniels as a prospect a lot. And, you know, real quickly, I didn't love Sam Hal,

but I didn't dislike Sam Hal. I mean, if we're being accurate here, I didn't predict that he would fail. I was just adamant that those who were convinced and tried to lecture me on being so stupid for not seeing how Grady was in a meaningless season ender against Dallas. You know, I just thought some of those people were nuts. You know, I just wasn't going to sit here all last off season and listen to people tell me. that I was blind if I couldn't see how great Sam Howell was going to be. But there were things about him that I liked.

There were some things that I thought were probably the reasons he got picked in the fifth round. But there were things about Sam Howell that I liked. And look, you know, Sam Howe's not done yet. He proved he can play in the league as a backup at the very least. That's pretty good for a guy that nobody wanted in a draft that. had no quarterbacks. I mean, let's not forget that about the 2022 draft, right?

Lots of teams had a need for a quarterback, but there were like none in the draft. Pickett was the only first rounder and how lasted until the fifth round? I think of those things typically in the kind of prism, I guess, of what's likely. You know, is he the diamond in the rough, you know, the Tom Brady, the, Dak, the Kirk, the Purdy. Probably not because for each of those, there are like 10 that don't amount to much. That's the probability. That's what I annoyed you with all last year. But look, he's got a chance to achieve what most fifth round quarterbacks never achieve, and that is a place on an NFL roster for years to come. You know, most fifth rounders are gone pretty quickly in the league. I think he's

got a chance to be a nice career backup and maybe even a low-end starter or an occasional, you know, starter in the NFL. Now, as far as BNAMI goes, that was frustrating for me last year. I'm not going to lie about that. And I'm not really talking about, you know, some of the social media reaction to me not being completely on board with Bienemy. You know, the people who would say, hello, Eric Bienemy, Super Bowl champion and we got him? You know, and then the typical refrain of get on board or get out. I just, I couldn't believe how many people in town describe the hiring of BNami as some sort of coup, like some huge get.

And I'm like, you know, really? Literally, literally, the word of the day, literally nobody wanted them. dozens of interviews and nobody offered him a job. And even when the head coaching possibilities dried up and he was willing to take a lateral move to be an OC, only one team was interested in interviewing him, actually too. But the Ravens canceled the interview and hired Todd Munkin. But one team interviewed him this one. Now, did I know for sure that he wouldn't prove everybody wrong?

And when I say everybody, I'm talking about the teams that didn't hire him, not the people who were talking about him in public when Washington hired him. They all thought he was going to be brilliant. But the league clearly spoke on Eric Bienemy. Nobody wanted the guy. Now, there was always a chance he could prove everybody wrong and become, you know, the team's next head coach. Remember that a year ago?

People talking about Bienemy would be, you know, he's going to be the O.C in 2024. They're going to kick ass with Sam House. and then he'll take over as a head coach, or 2023, and then he'll take over as a head coach in 2024. I mean, I didn't know for sure that it wouldn't work, but I mean, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this guy had no market other than here,

or maybe back to KC, but he would have been demoted had he gone back because Mahomes was a Matt Nagy guy. The B enemy thing, the B enemy thing we had back to back years, right? Back-to-back years? I don't know, maybe two of back-to-back years of Bianamy and Carson Wentz, which were very comparable in that, well, the one way it wasn't comparable is that the team stupidly gave up picks and cap space for Wentz when they really didn't have to. I mean, maybe a pick, but not as many picks and certainly not as much cap space. But nobody really wanted either guy. There were red flags all over, both of them, and

And yet people in town were convinced that somehow this organization, who had never gotten anything right, somehow duped the rest of the league and hit homers with both. The B-enemy thing, by the way, I know I've talked about this. It went badly and it went badly fast. Ron outed him in training camp. The grumblings behind the scenes were getting louder and louder as the season went on. And now, you know, he is out of the league. He's coaching in college.

You know, one other thing real quickly about Bienemy. I don't think it was ever about football X's and O's. I think it was his handling of players. And, you know, there was that thought, well, this team's never had true discipline and they need somebody like Eric Bianamy. But this was his issue in Kansas City as well. Just kind of wore out the welcome after a while with the way he handled players.

I know that he threw the ball way too much, you know, with a team that had a young quarterback who didn't process very quickly and an old line that was certainly questionable at times. But I did hear from people out there that the problem wasn't his football acumen. It was a lot of the other stuff. This from Rocky Top. Rocky Top writes, Kevin, if Jaden Daniels'

really is Randall Cunningham number two. Why are we excited about that? Randall never won a damn thing. So I'm pretty sure, but I can't remember exactly when, but it must have been recently because there was another tweet that I got that was similar to Rocky Tops maybe a week ago. I think we either had Sam Monson on radio or Eric Eager on the podcast. Eric, by the way, now is with the Carolina Panthers.

Eric was with PFF and then with Sumer Sports. Now he's working in the NFL for a team, the Carolina Panthers. But I think that somebody, I don't think it was me, somebody compared Jaden Daniels to Randall Cunningham. And I may have agreed to a certain, you know, degree. But I know that there's one thing about the two players that is not similar. and I'm pretty sure I mentioned this. Randall Cunningham had a long windup.

He had a wind-up throw. Jaden Daniels has a compact, quick-release throw. I do not think they are similar at all as passers. Now, are they similar as runners and playmakers? Sure. Although Randall was more of a long strider and probably not as fast as Jaden Daniels. but he was definitely a guy that could make you miss. I don't know.

I don't see many similarities between the two. They're the same size, actually. I actually think that I said when this came up that Randall Cunningham was bigger and thicker, but actually I looked this up. Randall Cunningham, 6-4-212.12. That was his height and weight in the NFL. Jaden Daniels, 6-3-5-8s, and 2-10.

So they are kind of the same size. I don't know if it's exactly the same build. But I consider Jaden Daniels to be a different thrower. But, you know, Rocky Top, Randall Cunningham had a pretty damn good career. I mean, if Jaden Daniels ends up having a Randall Cunningham career, I mean, there are careers that are much worse. Randall Cunningham, four-time pro bowler. He was a one-time all-pro. he was actually the 1990 Pro Football Writers Association MVP.

He was not the AP, the official MVP that year, Joe Montana was. But he finished second to Montana in the AP MVP voting that year. He also finished second in the AP MVP voting in 88. And again, in 1998 with the Minnesota Vice. Vikings. Who won the MVP that year? Torell Davis won the MVP that year, beating out Randall. Randall was a three-time most valuable player runner-up. He was the offensive player of the year runner-up on three different occasions as well. Randall had a 16-year career, but really as a starter, the better part of like 12, 13, 14 years, through for nearly 30,000 yards, 207 touchdowns, 134 interceptions,

and then obviously rushed for a lot of yards as a quarterback in the NFL. He was certainly one of the most mobile and lethal runners as an NFL quarterback during his era. You know, he didn't make a Super Bowl. He did quarterback the Vikings to that 98 NFC title game. They went 13 and one with him as a starter that year. And then they lost to the Falcons after their kicker. You know, was it Mort Anderson? I think it was Mort Anderson. Was that the kicker for Minnesota that missed the short kick that would have given them a 10-point lead in the NFC championship game? And instead he missed it. Gary Anderson, sorry, Gary Anderson was the kicker. And then Atlanta went down the field, forced overtime, and then Morton Anderson was actually the kicker for the

Falcons. I'm looking at the box score right now, and they lost that game. I mean, that was a devastating loss for Minnesota Vikings fans, because the game seemingly was won with a kicker that just hadn't missed pretty much all year long, and then he, you know, choked one when the game could have been put away. But overall, in the playoffs, Randall started 357, nine games and was three and six as a playoff starter. So Randall was, you know, one of those high profile quarterbacks of the day, you know, and he really had that, it was like kind of a great city for him to his, I think, you know, you hear Eagles fans. I think when they reminisce about Randall, I think most of it,

fond. But man, you know, one of my favorite playoff games of all time is a playoff game that he started in for the Eagles against the Redskins in January following the 1990 season. It was the body bag game in November of 1990. Washington goes to Philadelphia, loses 28 to 14. One player gets carted off after another. Brian Mitchell finishes up the game as the starting quarterback. And Coach Joe took that team back to the vet for the postseason. Wild card round first game of the weekend, and they roll Philly 20 to 6. There was a bit of controversy early in that game. Ernest Biner fumbled.

The ball was returned for a touchdown, but they were using replay and it got overturned because his knee was down. But, I mean, it was an ass kicking. Buddy Ryan ran off the field without shaking, without shaking Coach Joe's hand. There were still time left on the. the clock when he ran off the field. And he was done. That was it.

Anyway, I don't see that comp to Randall like maybe my guest did, whomever that was. But I think Rocky Top, it wouldn't be the worst comp in the world. And then this from Dave, Dave sent me an email. On your recommendation, I checked out your interview with the LSU guy who worked with Jaden Daniels on his use of virtual reality and AI last season. That was the most fascinated I've been listening to an interview in a long time. I'd never heard about them using eye tracking to assess the speed of him progressing through his reads.

Yeah, that was interesting. Or how they speed up the player animations by 70 percent so it would seem slower to him when he got to the game. I was 50-50 on Daniels versus May before the draft, mostly so I wouldn't end up being disappointed. But hearing about his work ethic and the extra effort he puts in on this, I'm very excited for his future and his team. Thanks. That's Dave writing from Sacramento. Yeah, I mentioned this, I think on Friday's podcast, that Jack Marucci, the LSU Director of Performance Innovation, was a guest on my show Friday on my radio show. And he was the guy that was super close with Jaden and

brought VR in for Jaden Daniels to use, and he saw great improvement in his game. He did say specifically about processing that Jaden was a high-end processor to begin with, but yeah, I really enjoyed that conversation. I actually was really surprised. My producer Denton booked him as a guest and said, I think this might be interesting. And I said, all right, let's do it. And I could have talked to this guy for another 30 minutes. So if you missed it, it is worth listening to.

Jack Marucci was from Friday's radio show, May 31st. You can find it at the Team 980. I actually tweeted it out on Friday as well. So if you want to just go to at Kevin Sheen, D.C., go back to May 31st. You'll see that I tweeted out the actual interview. He was great. He really was. And, you know, the interesting thing, too, is that he mentioned that Washington is going to use this technology.

Now, remember, for those of you that listen to it, it's not just the virtual reality and the technology on its own. It's the input, the AI input on the back end. It's putting in the stadium that he's going to be playing in, where the play clocks are going to be, how the fans are situated, you know, where the scoreboard is. and then obviously what the opponent likes to play in certain situations defensively. All of it was pretty interesting for sure. If you get a chance to rate us and review us on Apple, it is really helpful for us, especially now as we go through the summer towards football season, trying to lock down advertising for the upcoming football season,

and a five-star rating and a quick one-to-two-sentence review saying how much you like the podcast. podcast really helps us a lot. Subscribe to the podcast and follow us on Apple and Spotify as well. But those ratings and reviews on Apple and Spotify are huge for us. Thank you to those of you that have done it. And if we can get those of you who haven't done it to do it, it takes honestly 30 to 60 seconds. It would be much appreciated. All right, there was a major sports gambling story today. I'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Down to the final four in the NBA playoffs, guys. It's Minnesota and Dallas out west, Indiana, and Boston in the east. I've got a way that will make watching these games more exciting.

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I'm going to read from the ESPN.com story. It's a story that we haven't heard in nearly 100 years in Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball today permanently banned Tukupta Marcono after determining that the infielder placed hundreds of bets on baseball, including wagers on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was with the team last season. MLB said today that Marcono placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 in October 2022 and then from last July through November with a legal sports book. He became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling.

Marcano is the first player banned under the sports gambling provision since 1920. when New York Giants outfielder Jimmy O'Connell was banned for life. Pete Rose was banned for life, but he was a manager at the time. He was not a player. This was a statement from the Commissioner Rob Manfred today, quote, the strict enforcement of Major League Baseball's rules and policies governing gambling conduct is a critical component of upholding our most important priority,

protecting the integrity of our games for the fans. The longstanding prohibition against betting on Major League Baseball games by those in the sport has been a bedrock principle for over a century. We have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with the responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people. Now, before I get to some thoughts on this, I just want to read more for. this story because some of this from Marcano is pretty interesting and actually entertaining. Marcano currently a member, although no longer, of the San Diego Padres, was found to have placed

231 Major League Baseball-related bets, including 25 that Major League Baseball says included wagers on the Pirates games while he was on the team's major league roster. However, he did not appear in any of those games because he was on the injured list following a season ending the injury. He was receiving medical treatment at PNC Park during that time. And so Marquano bet almost exclusively on the outcomes of games and lost all of his parley bets involving the Pirates, winning just 4.3% of all of his Major League Baseball-related bets, according to the league. You know when we've talked about sports betting a few times over the years, and I've said, sometimes the best information comes from those that are considered by people to be the most expert.

You know, there was a long-running joke with Ron Jaworski, like Ron Jaworski was just, just total go against. You know, he'd be on ESPN or he'd come on Tony's radio show all the time and people would just, you know, they'd be tuned in like it was E.F. Hutton because they knew that whoever he had, they'd be on the other side. Well, players that think they've got inside access, inside information, this dude won four, first of all, it's not even possible to win 4.3% of your major league baseball related bets. Unless, of course, all these. bets were prop bets, they were parlays, they were teasers, they were, you know, if he had just

bet straight money line bets on games, it would have been impossible because it's just as impossible to lose 96% of your bets as it is to win 96% of your straight bets. But, you know, a lot of the newer betters have really been attracted to what some of us call the exotics. You know, like a lot of longtime betters that have kind of come up through the school of betting hard knocks kind of understand that parles and teasers and a lot of the prop bets and these things are essentially just major profit margin areas for the house. Straight bets is where you have your best chance, you know, where you're betting with a point spread or you're betting a money line side one or the other, and there's just a very slight edge, and the edge is the

Vig. But in terms of how many games you'll win and lose, you should go somewhere around 50-50. This guy, 4.3% of his Major League-related bets. Obviously, it was all prop bets, all parlay bets. It says here he lost all of his parlay bets. MLB Rule 21 posted in every clubhouse states that betting on any baseball game in which a player umpire league official or team employee has no duty to perform results is a one-year suspension. Betting on a game in which the person has a duty to perform results is a lifetime ban. So obviously he played in some of the games that he bet on.

So a couple of thoughts. The first one is this, you know, just what we've seen the last few years, you know, the sports leagues, the NFL, major league baseball, the NBA, NHL, everybody. They're all chasing that sports book money, you know, and it's big money. You know, these guys have spent a lot of money on marketing, advertising, customer acquisition, you know. And I guess on some level you could say, how the hell does a league, you know, that is making millions and millions of dollars a year to promote the hell out of sports betting, then ban a player for betting on sports for life?

Well, because they're not promoting betting to their players, they're promoting betting to their fans and customers. You know, like the commissioner said, where's the line? From his quote, we have been clear that the privilege of playing in baseball comes with the responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior that are legal for other people. Yeah, the leagues are basically pushers of a product where they tell their own people, you know, hey, we're selling this stuff. We're not using this stuff. There is some hypocrisy, I guess, in that.

but there's also an understanding that these are the rules, these people that pay to come see you play can do it now legally, but you can't because we have to protect the integrity of the competition of our games. Because once that is compromised, the party be over. It's over. You become professional wrestling. You know, the leagues can do both. have a problem. Honestly, there's been a bad taste in my mouth in recent years, just more or less

because I think there's been a disingenuous approach to promoting it. You don't win betting, you don't win gambling people, okay? They didn't build all those places, those beautiful hotels and casinos and sports books because people won money. You know, can you win occasionally? Yes, but if you do this on the regular, you are going to come out a loser. And I think the promotion of it has made it seem like, oh, my God, it's not only so much fun, but it's so profitable. No, it isn't. But look, you know, they can do both.

They can promote this and they can stop their players from, you know, betting on their games. They have to because they've got to protect the integrity. And let's keep in mind. other countries have been doing this for decades upon decades. You know, this absolutely has to be the punishment. Like, you know, banning a player for life seems awfully severe. But if you're betting on your own sport, whether it's on your team or against your team, you're done. The integrity of the game is the utmost here.

The players need to know this. Some of these players are young. Some of them are probably dumb and they may not completely understand it. I mean, maybe in some cases it's actually a language issue. I would hope that Major League Baseball can overcome that to get the message through. I would hope if it's not getting through, they're either young and dumb or they actually have a problem. I actually think that just sports betting in general on any sport is really, really risky. professional athletes, college athletes, to be involved in,

because the bottom line is the integrity of the competition certainly can be impacted by your specific wager, you know, against your team or for your team. But where many of the problems in the past before the legalization of sports betting took place, you would actually get someone who lost a lot of money just on sports betting in general. And then because that person was a player on a team

where consumers could bet on the game, that person was compromised. And that person was easily influenced to, you know, dribble a few off the leg, you know, drop a pass in the end zone, throw a few picks, you know, let your guy beat you deep. You know, so it doesn't, you know, you may get, now, sports betting legally, because you're using a credit card, you're not on credit.

You can still get into some trouble. There's still some ways to get into trouble here and to get in, you know, deeper than you wanted to get in. But whether you bet on football and you're a baseball player or you bet on baseball and you're a football player, you know, when you're down, you're vulnerable. But this absolutely has to be the punishment. It seems severe. But they got to know.

You cannot bet on your sport. Now, the rule in baseball is you can't bet on your sport. If you're playing in the game, you're banned for life. If you're not playing in the game, you know, think Calvin Ridley, remember in Atlanta? He bet on some games when he was on injured reserve and he got a year. If he were betting on games that he was actually playing in, I think he would be banned. I'll tell you what, man, they got to get through to these players, you know, that the amount of benefit garnered by betting.

and winning, if you do win, is not worth the downside of getting caught. This is not a juice worth the squeeze, considering how much money they make. Because more likely than not, first of all, you'll lose. But let's just say there is a player who is betting and he's disciplined. And he's only betting on games where he's got real significant, impactful, advantageous information. Okay, he knows a certain key player is going to be scratched at the last minute. No one else knows that. And he puts the bet down while the odds are what they are with that player in the game.

And then he's got a huge advantage. You've got to be disciplined to bet with that kind of information. And I think most people, that's the problem, is that they're not disciplined. But let's just say that somebody is able to, you know, know, take really good information, be disciplined, and win. It still isn't worth it because those betting patterns will get recognized. Winnings, significant winnings will get recognized, and they'll get caught long before they've made anywhere near the millions that they are scheduled to get via their contract

and base salary. It's just not worth it. I mean, I would think that that's part of the education process. Lastly, just one other quick thought. This is going to continue to happen, you know. This is the first ban for life situation, but this is going to continue to happen. I mean, there was a reliever with the Oakland A's today. Mike Kelly was his name that got banned for a year.

Obviously, he bet on baseball but didn't bet on baseball when he was in the game. there were a couple of minor leaguers. We're going to continue to get this, and we're going to probably at some point get, you know, a big, big dozy of a story where somebody bet on the opposition and played in the game. And, you know, the good news is, even though, you know, it's like, you know, everywhere you turn, you know,

the fifth inning is brought to you by Draft Kings. You know, this pitching change is brought to you by BetMGM. The third period power play brought to you by. by Fandul. This podcast, by brought to you by MyBooky, go to mybooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. for a cash bonus

on your initial deposit. But this is going to continue to be an issue. But the good news is that everybody has the same interest. The sports books do. The leagues do.

And most of the players and most of the fans do. that is we all want these games to be legitimate competitions that are not compromised by a player throwing a game or having his performance impacted because he has a wager on the game. Everybody is an alignment on not wanting that and these situations will continue to get sniffed out and they will get caught. But it's going to continue to happen. It is. All right. One One last segment coming up, just a little bit of follow-up on the Caitlin Clark conversation, he tried to say, from yesterday. We'll do that next right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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No material or testimonies on the Unified Healing website are intended to be viewed as medical advice or a substitute for professional medical advice diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment. undertaking a new health care regimen, including EE system. All right, just a few things to finish up the show with. First of all, tough news for the Nats today. Trevor Williams to the 15-day injured list with a right flexor muscle strain.

He was scheduled to start the game tonight against the Mets. And instead, the Nats called up left-hander DJ Hers from AAA Rochester to start. hers is 3 and 2 with 3.75 ERA in 9 starts in Rochester. But Trevor Williams, my God, 5 and 0, a 2.22 ERA this year. I was looking this up the other day on My Bookie. They had the Cy Young odds up there for the National League. Trevor Williams had the eighth best odds in the National League to win the Cy Young. That's how good he's been so far.

Rough outing last night for McKenzie Gore's. The Nats lost 8 to 7. They get the Mets again tonight, again, with hers on the bump. By the way, some NFL news. Christian McCaffrey, once again, according to reports, has reset the running back contract market. He signs a two-year contract extension with the 49ers. According to Schefter, the final two years will average $19 million per year. He was at $16 million per year, so it'll go to $19 million per year.

is second at 15 million a year, followed by Jonathan Taylor at 14 million, Saquan Barkley at 12.5 million. Then Josh Jacobs is at 12 million. Remember, he's signed with the Packers and free agency. And then there's a big drop to Joe Mixen and Derek Henry. Derek Henry got $8 million a year in Baltimore. You know, the running back position. We talked yesterday, I think, briefly about Justin Jefferson's contract extension, $35 million a year, and how the wide receiver position has become really the most paid position in the league that isn't quarterback. Man, there was a time, you know, 30 years ago where running back was probably the second most important

position based on contract value behind quarterback. Maybe it was more than 30 years ago. Because 30 years ago probably it was still pass rusher. offensive tackle. You know, corners obviously gotten paid big time in recent years. But, you know, you go back 50 years. You go back to, you know, people like me, children of the 70s growing up on the NFL with Summerall and Brookshire and Kurt Gowdy and Monday night football with Frank, Dandy Donne, and Howard. I bet you that the perception was after quarterback, running back and middle linebacker were the most important positions on the field.

Seems that way to me, based on my memory. And now linebacker and running back so devalued in today's NFL. But Christian McCaffrey, he's more than a running back man, and he is getting paid again. All right, I want to finish up the show with this. I got this from Paul. Paul wrote, Kevin, you downplayed the targeting of Caitlin Clark far too much. You said that it's mostly just competition. Are you serious?

The Chicago Tribune likened the Kennedy Carter hit on Clark to an assault. I did see that. From our good friend Sabah, she wrote, I will definitely stop watching if they keep this bullying of Caitlin Clark up. I don't care how good the other players are. If I did care, I would have been watching before now. Lots of reaction to the Caitlin. Clark conversation. This has been one of those, you know, stories that's been an a topic. This is

an a topic the last couple of days, especially in June when we are still a couple of days away from the NBA finals and a long way away from football season. By the way, Kennedy Carter finally spoke yesterday. So did the Chicago coach. The coach was somewhat apologetic. Carter, not really, but she just kind of emphasized that people should take in the whole thing rather than just one clip. She sort of suggested, you know, she's a competitor, people who know her know that she plays this way. She's got great relationships with players.

And, you know, there was a lot of going back and forth between her and Caitlin Clark. Angel Reese, remember Angel Reese, played for LSU, played for Maryland initially, and was a big part of the Caitlin Clark, rivalry, the two games, the one that they played in 2023, the National Championship game, and then they played, I think it was the Elite Eight game this year. I'm pretty sure it was the Elite Eight game this year. Angel Reese, who plays with Kennedy Carter on the Chicago team,

she said that the reason why people are watching women's basketball is not just because of one person, meaning Caitlin Clark, but because of her too, and she wants everybody to realize that. I also got a bunch of tweets from people like Ricky who said, please let me know if you're going to talk about the WNBA again today so I can go watch grass grow. So look, this has been a huge conversation, not just for sports fans or basketball fans. This is a conversation that, you know,

is appearing on the nightly news, is appearing in, you know, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, not in sports sections, but everywhere else. It's on all the political shows, you know, at night. This is a conversation that people are having, you know, and it's one of those conversations that is sports related, but it works in some of the, you know, some of those things that are edgy, you know, that people are afraid to talk about, you know, race, sexism, gender,

you know. Look, the truth is Caitlin Clark is just one of those. very rare people that come around that become cultural phenomenons. You know, it's lightning in a bottle. There are plenty of reasons for why Caitlin Clark is that person right now. But sometimes just somebody comes along and people just can't take their eyes off of that person. In her case, it's about her being all-time great from a college. basketball perspective, you know, the all-time leading score, men and women, you know,

beating out Marevich's all-time scoring record. She bombs threes from all over the court like Steph Curry. And let's face it, she's white, which of course has something to do with it. You know, from the middle of the country in Iowa playing in a sport that's predominantly black, and there she has been, she's stuck out like a sore thumb, dominating the game. You know, it's the same thing that Larry Bird was. You know, the many, many years ago, Bird came into the league and it was like the Great White Hope

and he was viewed in a very similar way. You know, I'll add to it, she's very likable. There's just so much there with her. And, you know, utmost of respect to Angel Reese, like, seriously, the new interest in the WNBA has nothing to do with Angel Reese. I know people know who Angel Reese is, all right? But this is not an Angel Reese phenomenon.

This is Caitlin Clark. This has everything to do with Caitlin Clark. The numbers are off the charts, charts for Clark's games. Attendance, TV viewers, streaming numbers. They're moving these games to 18,000-seat arenas to accommodate the demand. You know, this has been something that, look, the WNBA, over the years, you know, right or wrong, it's been a punchline more than anything else.

It has not attracted an audience. It hasn't made money. It's been funded by the NBA primarily. Players in that league, by the way, have to go play overseas as well to earn a substantial livable wage. but, you know, the arrival of Caitlin Clark has given this league a major, major shot in the arm and a chance to thrive. Now, my personal belief is that this moment will only last if she ends up being really good. I think that's what it's all about.

You know, the reasons for liking her and the reasons for her becoming such a massive star, are numerous, and we've talked about them. But the staying power of this moment, if it becomes more than a moment, it will be because she ends up being really good. If she's just another player, I don't think it lasts more than another year or two. It's about her, and it's about her being great.

The other players in the league I've heard, you know, are really good. They're tremendous teams, tremendous storylines, tremendous coaches. But this is not hard. The difference in interest level is Tiger-esque. When Tiger Woods was in contention on the weekend versus when he wasn't, it was night and day when you talk about the number of people interested. It didn't matter that you had great players like Ernie Ells and Vijay Singh and Colin Montgomery. And Phil Mickelson, even Phil Mickelson, didn't come anywhere near drawing the numbers that Tiger Woods did.

Tiger Woods was an all-time needle mover, just like Caitlin Clark is. You know, there are other great players in that league, just like there were other great golfers. But the ratings with Tiger versus without Tiger were worlds apart. She is Tiger Woods for women's basketball. She's having that effect. You know, the reasons are she's great, the reasons are race, the reasons are looks, you know, whatever the reason for her unbelievable cue rating right now, nobody in that league is remotely close. Nobody ever in that league has been remotely close. This league has never had this attention.

Now, as far as Paul saying that I downplayed the targeting of Caitlin Clark far too much, saying that it's mostly just competition. Are You serious, you know, he said. And then he wrote that the Chicago Tribune likened the Kennedy Carter hit on Clark to an assault. I read that. For those that missed it, from the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, the foul committed by Chicago Sky Guard Kennedy Carter and Caitlin Clark was egregious. Outside of a sporting contest, it would have been seen as an assault. That is a joke, people.

That is irresponsible. Paul, if you really believe that and you were attaching that as like proof that I wasn't playing it up big enough, you got to check yourself. She got hip-checked in a competitive basketball game. It was a cheap shot, but if that's an assault, what is the NFL, NHL, and NBA every day and night? What's egregious is that level of commentary that is so far off. You know, I've said this before, but I think when I hear reactions like this from people, I just assume that a lot of these people that react that way have not competed much in their lives,

especially in sports where there is physical contact. I'm not knocking that, by the way. That's not criticism. A lot of people haven't competed in sports. More people haven't than have. You know, they were doing something else. that's fine. But anybody that's competed in sports at almost any level understands that there is emotion involved and there's a physicality in some of these sports involved and there is a real

competitive spirit. And look, I said yesterday and I still believe this to be true, there's a competitive spirit. There's also some competitive jealousy involved in this too. No doubt. We've been here toiling in this thing for 10 years. And here she comes. She's not even that good right now because physically she's completely worn down. She just played a college season. She went right from that to this WNBA. I think it was Scott who told me we were talking last night.

Her first 11 games at Iowa this year were played in 48 days. And her first 11 games in the WNBA have been played in 24 days. Like the schedule has been so. condensed in part because of the TV demand for her. And they want to strike while the iron's hot, you know, coming off the NCAA tournament and the NCAA season that she had. You know, that hip check was not that physical. It was cheap. It was a cheap shot. You know, and I did say that yesterday. I said it was a cheap shot. You know, when you, when you 90 feet away from the basket with back turn, go up and hip check her the way she did.

She was, you know, pissed off. She was emotional. Kennedy Carter was. That's a cheap shot. Cannot have those. Got to get those out. Have to. And for everybody.

But it wasn't like overly hard. I did look at that Angel Reese where she was knocked around a little bit. Now that was more while the game was going on on a rebound. but man, she got an arm around her neck and got taken down in a way. You know, they go after these rookies have to kind of earn their stripes to a certain degree. But that was a sports cheap shot. There's no doubt. But an assault?

Come on, man. Seriously. We got to stop with the exaggeration and the hyperbole. Again, I don't think that was the intention. It was probably just somebody who's not familiar with kind of the physicality in sports and in competition. I mean, I've gotten knocked harder on my way into the kitchen here at my studio office. Sabah's DM, where she wrote, I will definitely stop watching if they keep this bullying of Caitlin Clark up. I don't care how good the other players are.

If I did care, I would have been watching before now. That was from Sabah. All right. I actually don't really. I've watched probably three or four of her games. which are three or four more games of the WNBA than I've ever watched before. But I don't know, and I can't tell if they actually really are bullying her or not. There is no doubt that they are being physical with her.

She is not huge at this point. She needs to get stronger. There's no doubt. But, man, she seems pretty tough and resilient to me. I think she's handling. If she is being targeted and being bullied and being – now, that was a cheap shot. You have to protect the golden goose from cheap shots. You've got to protect everybody from cheap shots, but you've got to protect her from that.

She's brought too much for you to let her get cheap shoted. The league should make sure that doesn't happen anymore. But I think she's handled it pretty well. You know, I mean, young players highly touted, you know, superstars coming in, they get tested. And that's happening to her right now. It's part of sports. Again, cheap shots, no place. Here's the thing that I would repeat from yesterday.

I think the one thing that is far different in this situation than in other sports, not women versus men, but that it's a league that has had no traction and needs traction. When Bryce Harper was getting tested as a young player, not only by the opposing team, but by his own teammates, that's Major League Baseball. They're going to survive Bryce Harper getting knocked around a little bit. The NBA's going to survive Michael Jordan getting frozen out at the All-Star game. But the WNBA does have to be careful because Sabah has a daughter who was a big-time division three player, basketball player at W&L in Lexington, Virginia.

You know, and if she is saying, and if others are saying if they keep bullying her and targeting her and cheap-shotting her, I'm out, you don't want that to be the result. And that's the risk that the WNBA would have versus other established leagues. They are fledgling and have been for years. But I also said yesterday, controversy like this and the discussion of this can also work to the league's advantage. You know, it's that no matter what they're saying about us, at least they're talking about us thing. personally, I can't see watching any less because of what Kennedy Carter did or because she's being roughed up and screened hard and guarded hard.

I actually look forward to her response. But the bottom line is, I really think for this league, she's got to earn it and she's got to become really good. Like she's got to become what people were watching at Iowa or something approximately. estimating that. Because if she's just another 12 and 6 a night, it's going to kind of, I think it'll run out a little bit. All right. That's it for the day. Back tomorrow, hopefully with a Tommy who is feeling better. We'll see.