The Kevin Sheehan Show - "Bite Deez"

Episode Date: May 27, 2022

Kevin with Nick Ashooh to start on tornado warnings, JDR's tweet storm, and some Carson Wentz sunshine. Emily Giambalvo/Washington Post was also on the show to talk about Maryland's likely march to a College Lacrosse title this weekend.  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. It's Friday, May 27th. We are heading into Memorial Day weekend. And I am appreciative and will remember all of the veterans that fought and died protecting this great country.

On the show today, my good friend Nick Ashu will join me here in a moment. And we will discuss a lot of things here in this opening segment. And then Emily Giambalvo from the Washington Post, Emily is covering the Final Four lacrosse championships for both the women and the men. Maryland is a participant both in the men's and women's final four. And the Maryland men's team is one of the all-time heavy favorites to win the whole thing. They're considered one of the greatest lacrosse teams in history there. 15 and 0.

Emily will join us later on in the show. me to start the show is my friend and the very talented Nick Ashue. Nick does it all. He's a TV guy. He's a radio guy. It's hard to keep track with where Nick is these days. So Nick, I will let you tell everybody where they can find you these days. That's the beauty of the Odyssey umbrella. I can just be a part of like five different things. So yeah, I'm with Odyssey as a whole and then BetQL. So I host shows for BetQL. I'm a writer for them. And then, uh, CBS Sports Radio. So Saturdays, you can catch me 10 to noon on BetQL and CBS Sports Radio.

Then I have a solo show on noon to 2 on CBS Sports Radio. And then, of course, some of the local stuff that I'll do there in the writing. And then I jump on pretty much every betting show on BetQL throughout the week. You better you bet. All those things in the afternoon. I pretty much have become like the extra host on everything. They gave me a role where they said, would you like to do everything for us? And I said, sure, why not?

I'll go ahead and do that because, as you know, Kevin, sports betting. is a huge part of our industry moving forward, and I wanted to get in early, as opposed to to wait five years and then go, I wish I started doing this earlier. You know, I'm going to make an admission right here, and it's not because Nick's on with me right now, but in the past, various conversations that I've had with program directors, I'm talking about more in the recent past last few years. You know, names have been tossed about, about, you know, would you want to do a show with this person or that person? And not that I don't love everybody, but I have a sense and everybody in this business has a certain sense of who you would enjoy working with

and who you might have some chemistry with. And I've always mentioned Nick is a possibility and I don't think I'm the only one. Nick really was and it, well, Nick is talented, but it was obvious early on when Nick joined the station many years ago. So I'm happy to have you here because I don't think you've been on the podcast in a while. I did want to mention real quickly as we are being. beginning to record the podcast for today. It's an exciting day out there. My phone has beeped three times with tornado warnings in the last 10 minutes.

And I'm watching Doug Camer, who I love on Channel 4 with the other guy, Chuck Bell. And, you know, everybody's live right now. So you all now know if you're following the weather today that we are doing this podcast. We're recording it at roughly 12 noon. it doesn't look like there's going to be a serious tornado warning, but this kind of weather is always exciting. You live in Annapolis. You'll be probably getting it a little while after us, I think.

Yeah, we've been under a warning until like 2 o'clock. You know, I was never really into weather until I started working with you back in the day, and then you got me into snowstorms, and I started learning about hurricanes. I'm like, I see why she likes this. It is really interesting, but nobody loves weather more than you in big storms. Like, everybody has their vices. A lot of people, it's like porn or something. This replaces porn for you.

It's actually just like looking at the radar, looking at the Euro and the NAM and all of those things. I don't even know anything about them, but that is absolutely you 100%. So anytime I see a storm now, I'm like, man, somewhere, Kevin Sheehan is just smiling. Well, my favorite genre, if we're talking in these terms, would definitely be snowstorms. Yes, it is. I don't know that tornado warnings would really do it. for me. I mean, it would all depend on who's starring in the tornado warning episodes. But yeah, my favorite genre would be winter storms. So, and listen, you need a little bit of production

value in these storms as well if it's going to be entertaining on top for that. But most importantly, you know, you want some excitement, good lighting. It's well produced. And, you know, you may like some of those tornado versions, but we know what your vice really is. We know what your genre really goes down to. It's the mainstream snowstorm with you. None of that weird. dark, dark web kind of stuff. Yeah, and to be honest with you, if it were like the difference between like high-deaf or classic film, I would probably go with high-depth. I just think, you know, it's, it's an issue with my eyes, I think, these days.

It's just a little bit more clear. By the way, you know, on the gambling thing, because you know one of my vices has always been gambling. Tommy and I have talked a lot about this. I've talked about it with Cooley on the podcast as well. And look, you know, you are doing gambling shows. There are gambling sponsors on every single show that I do. MyBooky has been a wonderful, you know, sports book partner for this podcast, you know,

going on three and a half years now. And by the way, go to mybooky.orgie.orgie.com. If you want to bet the NBA playoffs, you use my bonus code. Kevin S. actually it's Kevin D.C. I just got that mixed up with my other bonus code from radio. You should probably know this by now. Come on. Yeah. No, use my bonus code, Kevin D.C. And they'll match your first deposit, dollar for dollar, all the way up to a thousand bucks.

But I've said this to Tommy before. And I mean this with the utmost of respect to sponsors, because it'll sound hypocritical. And to you, I understand the experience. explosion of sports betting, but for me, someone who's been doing it my entire life, I've actually gotten to the point, and I know I'm very much in the minority here, it's starting to get boring for me. I swear on my... It's another, I'm shocked that you say that, but I also get it in the sense because what it was was you felt like you were a part of something secret before.

Now everybody's involved, and now it's become mainstream. You were kind of like the sports betting hipster where nobody, oh, I'm into this because no one else is talking about it. And now that it's become mainstream, you're like, yeah, I don't like it anymore. It's not as cool because now everybody likes it now. I see what it is. You just have to find something new. I don't know what it is yet, but you're going to have to figure out what the next trend is and then just be on that before everybody else. That's really a big part of it.

You nailed it. And Tommy said the same thing when I mentioned this to him a while ago. Now, let me just be clear. When we get to football season, I'll have the bug and I'll have the itch again. And before the week one college football lines come out, Labor Day weekend, I'll be looking for the trap bets and the contrarian sides and the whole thing. And football season, I think, is different. But I swear to you, I've not placed one wager on any NBA playoff game.

My last wager was Final Four Saturday. And I think you've nailed it. You know, looking for something else. I know that during the pandemic, a lot of people got to the point where they actually tired of pornography. Like, they got to the point where I can't find anything new that works. Because, and of course, I wouldn't know because that's not my vice, of course. Of course not, no. No, no, it's only watching winter storms with you.

That's it. That's all we're focused on. That was a conversation that came up on one golf day with a bunch of friends, I don't know, maybe a year ago. and they're like, is somebody just out of the blue? You know, somebody's getting ready to hit a T-shot and somebody just said, out of the blue, has anybody else just gotten sick of porn? You know, and this was, you know, at the height of the pandemic.

I thought it was funny. So this week, here's this week in a nutshell. The owners were counting the votes on Snyder at the league meetings in Atlanta, according to Jared Bell. The team's hopes of a stadium option in Virginia might be fading with state senators in the Commonwealth bailing on the bill saying things like the team doesn't have enough fans. And then last night, the team's defensive coordinator, Jack Del Rio, probably got into, as Robert California once did, some Australian Reds and Colombian whites. In celebration of the finalization of my divorce, I got into a case of Australian Reds, and,

how should I say this? Colombian whites. And he appeared to have drunk tweeted for about an hour and a half last night. You did follow that, right? I did see some of it, yeah, and it just continues to be like, he's a liability on Twitter, man. It's continued, and it's only going to get worse.

This team does not need any more image issues. It's always going to have a problem until the owner's gone. And clearly, Kevin, nobody's going to get rid of this guy. My theory has always been the reason why Dan Snyder is still there is because all the other owners look around. You know, like when you're dating someone and maybe, you know, she's got a sister or two, and they've all got boyfriends too, and you look around, and it's kind of a comparison of like, who's got the favorite, who's dating the favorite boyfriend right now? Well, as long as one of the other sisters is dating somebody that's viewed as worse than you or a complete idiot or screw up or whatever the case is, you always look better. So the owners are looking around going, you know, as long as Danny boys around here, We all look better, so we need to keep him around so that all the attention is on him and not on us instead.

It's just – this team can't get out of its own way, and it's gotten to the point now where, you know, you're talking about, like, Virginia politicians saying they're going to vote no for a stadium. They may be playing in FedEx Field in 2028, whenever that lease is supposed to be done because they have no other home at the point. It's absolutely embarrassing that this team continues to trip over itself time and time again. I mean, I agree with you, of course. But let's get back to Del Rio because, you know, he appears to be right now the boyfriend that doesn't look that bad compared to the others. For those that missed it, and I'm going to be completely honest with you, last night, CJ, he sends me this tweet that came from some troll on Twitter named G. he tweeted out, I blame Riverboat Ron, Ron Rivera, and Coach Del Rio, and of course the snake, Jason Wright, for all of this pain drama, meaning the Duran Pain drama, which I'm not even sure what that means.

I mean, Ben Standing tweeted out something earlier in the week that Duran and others got upset with, but as it turns out, was probably true. Duran Payne, by the way, happy birthday to he's 25 years old. And then G on Twitter says, we draft a stud back in 2018. and you all have been playing games the last two seasons. Karma going to bite when he goes within the division hashtag HTTR. So this gets tweeted out to Ron Rivera, to Del Rio, to Jason Wright. By the way, Jason Wright has nothing to do with the Duran Pain drama.

He handles the business side of the organization. And Del Rio last night, into the Australian Reds and the Colombian whites, must have been like searching his name on Twitter, and he finds this and he retweets it and he writes bite D's. D.E.Z. Now, let me just tell you, oh, actually, it wasn't CJ who sent this to me. It was Aaron.

Aaron sent this to me. And so I immediately tweeted back to Aaron, bite D's question mark, question mark. I didn't know what it meant. and of course, Aaron explained it to me what it meant. I mean, come on. I mean, am I supposed to know at my age what bite D's is? Now, when he said it, I kind of said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I knew what that was. But for those that don't know, he's basically saying, bite my, you know, nuts, which we can say on a podcast. That's true. You can say whatever the hell you want. Right. So, I mean, Brendan told me I wasn't allowed to say nuts this morning on radio. he's actually wrong about that. What? I think you could be talking about almonds, you could be

talking about peanuts. There's all kinds of different snacks that you could be talking about, Kevin. That's what I thought. But anyway, Aaron quickly explained it to me. So here's the question. Did you think this is funny? Do you think this is beneath him? Do you think this is now the boyfriend that's starting to not look as good as the worst boyfriend of the sister group? Like, what's your reaction to Del Rio retweeting some guy trying to troll him who had, I think at the time, like 10 followers when he tweeted this out. Now he's got like 300. What do you, what's your reaction to it? Well, first thing, once you start retweeting somebody like that, you give them the attention and exactly what they wanted. Second, never search your name on Twitter or on Google because it's just

going to piss you off, because especially with what we do, Kevin, there's always somebody that's mad about something stupid and makes it a bigger deal than what it is. This, to me, is funny because that's hilarious to see a coach say something like that to some random dude. He's had other things that are certainly far more controversial, especially once he starts getting into politics, because as we know, that's a very, uh, you know, that's a touchy subject, no matter what the issue is in politics. But this, this is tame compared to what it is.

I personally, I think it's funny. there's something there's something very human about whether it's businesses or it's you know teams as like organizations or somebody that's at a high level or a, you know, in a spotlight

in some capacity, responding and actually seeing human on social media. Now, I get it, there's limits to that, right? Like, don't start saying something that's like, really, not like, oh, everybody's offended by something, but something legitimately offensive. Something racist, something stupid. Don't ever go down that road. Obviously, that should be

condemned. But something like this, this is just what normal people would do on Twitter, right? This is what a majority of Twitter is. Like, we may not respond to somebody like that on a regular basis, but this is all that's going on on Twitter on a regular basis. Twitter is an angry place. Twitter is basically a test pool for the most part. And occasionally, you just want to clap back at somebody when they're driving you nuts. And this is kind of funny to see a coach do something like this. So it's like on the lower level of the tweets, we've had from him where he's been a little more of a controversial lightning rod in the past, but I'll take this, and honestly, if there's more of it, it's fine.

But, again, it's a lot different when it continues to be like somebody out of this organization in any, you know, high-level defensive coordinator, that's still a very high-level position with this team, a very important position. And they just, they just don't need more of this type of attention on them at all. But I will still take Jack Del Rio, and maybe you at some point, Kevin, just telling someone to bite these, because I think. it's really funny to see it happen. I've already made a note to myself that I might actually do that over the weekend. You know, I actually think it's funny too. By the way, after it was explained to me what it

meant, I thought it was pretty funny. And then I started to think about it. And I'm like, okay, I could be the guy that says, ah, you know what, it's really funny. And maybe he's just trolling us to try to get a reaction. And then I thought, you know what, though? Seriously, I mean, this team, this franchise, I don't know what it is about that building that when you get inside it, you immediately kind of head towards the lowest common denominator. And, you know, he is the defensive coordinator. He's a grown man. And by the way, he led a defense last year that was just god awful. I mean, 31st ranked on third down, 27th DVOA, 209th, whatever it was. I mean, it was one of the worst defenses in the NFL. And he's already kind of, you know, given some

excuses here over the last week. The big excuse being, well, I didn't have some of my veteran secondary members show up for phase two of the off season last year. I mean, he didn't have his number one defensive end show up for anything in the off season. Didn't mention him. I just think at the end of the day, these guys need to shut up and just win. And if he's having fun, if he's a little bit buzzed last night seriously, and it's probably true, I don't know if it's probably true. I'm guessing that, you know, this guy's a grown, I mean, this guy barely even talks during press conferences during the course of the season and seems to be upset every time

Ron Rivera reveals too much in his press conferences. And so if he just got on his phone last night and started reading stuff and was trying to be funny, you know, it's not going to hurt anybody. But these are the kinds of things that have always come back and bitten everybody in the organization in their backsides because they start, you know, kind of lowering themselves and promising things and being sensitive and overly sensitive. And then continuing never to back it up, to just suck. You know, he retweeted somebody a few weeks ago who said, CBS Sports.com has raised Washington's power ranking from, you know, all the way up to number 13 in the league or 12 in the league. And he's like, somebody's smart. Jack, I mean, this is like, you know, this is what people do. Power rankings? You're retweeting power rankings? You know, it's like, stop. But here's the best thing that Del Rio did last night. You did see what he, who he congratulated. on getting a job last night, right? I think I actually missed that. Who did he congratulate?

Okay. So in the process of being very active on Twitter last night, he retweeted the Washington Wizards official Twitter account from a July 17th, 2021 tweet, which officially named Wes Unseld Jr., the 25th head coach, in franchise history. He retweeted that and wrote, Congrats, Wes,

wishing you the best. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I see it now. I'm now searching his name, by the way, on Twitter, he may not want to do it, but it's great for us. This is, you look,

I think maybe we've all been watching a game on a Sunday, had a couple of beers, and maybe firing off a slightly buzz tweet before you. You think a little, clear sometimes. You have different ideas. But you've got to be careful, and maybe you should at least bear minimum. And I don't know how that even, like, I'm trying to think of what was going through his head or how he found that tweet to then think that it was new.

Like, I don't know. I mean, it's maybe those Colombian Reds that made him kind of lose track of what year it was, and it made it a little bit more. Sorry, the Colombian White. I'm sorry, the Colombian White. The Robert California reference, by the way, it's been a while since I've heard that name. One of the underrated characters on the office about you and I are on the same page. A lot of people hated James Spader in that role. I thought he was brilliant. But go ahead.

I hated Will Ferrell's character was far worse. I hated it and I wanted him to go away so bad. It was terrible. But Robert California is way better. But anyway, yeah, this is, look, it's very clear he was not in the right state of mind. I think that's at least the assumption we can make. And I just don't know what would go through his head to where he could, like, was he searching, was he Googling the wizards or was he looking up Weston-Seld?

like, that's a really old tweet. You don't see old tweets and somehow you're searching them very actively. Like, did he go down some weird, like you know, you got on a YouTube rabbit hole? Did he go down some Twitter rabber hole where he searched his name? And then it was talking about the Washington commanders

and somehow Washington Wizards came up. And then that was retweeted a lot originally, so it popped up as an old tweet in the mentions. I don't know. I'm trying to justify what he would have done, but it's kind of funny because nobody's getting hurt by it. So it just makes the whole thing hilarious. It also kind of makes you want to hang out with him

and just have a few beers and just see what he says. Like, just see what he does. Like, does he start searching himself consistently on the internet? Does he start seeing what people are saying about him? What are his feelings on things in life? Some of him may be like talking to your old grandpa that maybe says things a little offensive. You're like, whoa, okay, times have changed. I don't know, but he is something else on Twitter.

And the fact that he found that old tweet, like, unless it was a joke, like maybe he thought it was a funny sarcastic. That's what I'm thinking. I mean, that would give him a lot of... What would be the joke? I don't know what the joke would really be. Okay, here it is. Here it is.

He's sitting around and going, all right, I got him with the bite d's. Look at the responses. Now let me just find something that makes me look just completely out of touch. And he's like, watch the reaction I get. Now, that may be giving him too much credit for being kind of clever and subtly funny. If that was the case, I mean, props to him. I have a feeling that

the possibility exists and I don't know Jack Del Rio. The possibility exists that you might sit down and have those beers and within 10 minutes be bored and want to move on to the next person. I don't know that for sure. You know, the funny thing about Del Rio is,

let's face it, the fan base, whatever's left of it, is definitely majority get him out. He sucks. Oh, that's all last year was. Oh, yeah. So if he's trying to be funny and he's trying to, or he's being overly sensitive,

or the stuff about the secondary players missing phase two was somehow a way, I don't know, but the bottom line is he's now in a position, and I don't know if it's the same as Ron Rivera. I wonder what Ron thinks of all of this, if he was shown this last night. And I wonder if he wasn't doing it on purpose if somebody, because he's not fixed that tweet or deleted that tweet, which, by the way, I'd

give him credit for. If he totally thought that it had just happened, that Wes Unsell Jr. had just been hired, you don't want to delete that. I mean, make yourself, you know, human as if, you know, you're so dialed in on your job, you have no idea what's going on elsewhere. But funny from him. See, that's the big response right there. That would have been like, oh, guys, sorry, I only pay attention to us.

I'm watching so much film. I had no idea. I don't pay attention to the Wizards at all. That's kind of a big omission considering he's the head coach, and you might know at least something, because we know these teams pay attention to, like, at least a little bit of what's going on, the Wizards and the Nationals and Caps all kind of know at least some semblance

of what's going to people in those organizations. But, yeah, this is just, but, man, he's, if the defense was successful last year with all the hype, and by the way, you talk about searching your name and then really buying into the hype with the power rankings and all that, that's exactly what the biggest problem. for this defense was last year. They got really into their own hype, and then they didn't live up to it at all, and then they got real butt hurt after everybody was complaining about how

poorly they were. I mean, you obviously knew the Jack Del Rio Venom because you hosted your show every day. I was just doing the postgame shows on the fan, and people were calling in wanting him fired by like week two. And it's, I mean, if you're winning, you can get away with this kind of stuff more, but you can't get away with it if your defense is one of the worst in the NFL, and then you're firing off tweets that are year old, and people are wondering what headspace you're in right there. It's just, like, I always compare to this type of situation to, like, back in the day when Johnny Mansell was still the Brown's quarterback

and you had the peak of, like, Gronk party, right? When Rob Gronkowski was always seen on TMVs out partying, but he could get away with it, one, because he wasn't a quarterback. There isn't the same responsibility that a franchise quarterback is supposed to have as a leader and how they present themselves, how they carry themselves. But also, Gronk was a winner. Gromk was a hard worker. He was a great teammate and always brought it every Sunday and every practice.

And he was able to kind of be, hey, fun, gronk that goes out and parties a little bit and spikes roses and makes it a big deal. Oh, Grom's so funny. But, like, Johnny Manzo is doing the same stuff. He's partying in Vegas, and people are like, this loser can't even do anything on the field. And he's going out. He's partying in Vegas. Clearly doesn't take anything seriously, which we know now is obviously the case.

But, you know, you can get away with a lot more. If you're successful at your job, it's really just that simple. Yeah, and I just, like I'm going to read you this tweet because I had this save for either with you or in the next segment. But this dude Victor tweeted me, and I saw it right before the show. Kevin, the local media just keeps punching down on this team so much. They just can't focus on getting better as a football team because they're dealing with the media stuff and crap all the time. Be positive. better they need us. The median negativity is just beyond the pale. And you know, we all get this a lot.

And, you know, it's like I want to say to Victor, bless your heart, Victor. I mean, it's, that's, oh, he's cute. He's cute, Victor. It's so cute. Thank God the team has you and, you know, some of your bootlicking friends around because it's really pathetic, you know. Like somehow we made Del Rio start to tweet this last night or somehow. You know, we made Dan Snyder into what he is. You know, obviously he's a victim. And Carson Wentz, I mean, don't question Nick. Don't question why Philadelphia or Indianapolis got rid of him because they just completely screwed up.

He's going to be great. Hashtag HTTC take command. But anyway, you know, it is funny because the discussion of the local media being an influence on anything related to kind of the negative parts of this. organization. This past week, earlier this week, the team was feeding the media, the information about the Virginia stuff. Let me just make, I want to make everybody like Vic clear on something. Do you know how many times people in local media are try to help the team out? Like, you know, very often it's sort of a quid pro quo. It's like, I'll help you get some information out that you want to get out, but, you know, I want to get something, you know, before it breaks anywhere else at some

point down the road. And I'm talking mostly about the beat reporters. But earlier this week, the team fed information to various beat reporters to put out that was wrong. They gave them information that the team had purchased land in dump freeze when in fact they had to call back like 20 minutes later and tell everybody, oh shit, we fucked up. It's actually that we have an option to purchase land in Woodbridge. And I mean, I don't think that any, well, I think most people understand this. I think people like Vic are so in the tiny fraction of the people that pay attention to this team and the way they feel about it. But it's just they have never been able to kind of get out of their own way.

And it's hard to not, you know, talk about this stuff. and it would be much easier not to have to talk about this stuff that they actually won, but of course they haven't won. Do you think they're going to win anytime soon, now moving the conversation to football? I mean, I honestly do feel relatively positive about the direction of this team overall. But again, you know this. The standards have been so low and the ceiling has been so low that having just a coach that at least tries to take control of the situation.

making for me is that you look at this team when they went seven and nine. I think most reasonable people said, uh, winning the division at seven and nine is really not going to help you other than it's going to be a feel good story and maybe a little playoff experience for your young guys. And we saw what happened with a first place schedule and the high expectations they didn't live up to. We know all that last year. But in reality,

they had a first place schedule, Kevin, and still won seven games again. I know that sounds pathetic and it sounds like loser talked to see that as a positive, but I mean, given the circumstances and given the resume of this organization the last couple of decades. That is a positive. They at least turned it around after the buy week. They, you know, at one point

they were a 500 team last year, which is again, astonishing, and it makes you feel good about that. But you go into this year, I mean, you know the NFC East. Every year it could be different. The Cowboys are always the favorites, and as the great Doc Walker has said, they throw up all over themselves on a regular basis, so we know that that's going to be something that always is

a possibility there. I know the Eagles have a lot of hype around them, but okay, what is Jaylen Hertz? Like, we don't know what they're i can tell you this doing mostly national stuff now they're not they don't really feel that confident in philadelphia at least the fans perspective about him being somebody that's a a franchise quarterback for them so there's certainly questions there but know the eagles were aggressive this off season a j brown is a that's a big big addition but receivers are great to have when you have the assembly line of success working for you right

offensive line gives quarterback time to throw the ball that quarterback is a good passing quarterback that can get the ball accurately to his receivers. So, like, there's all these things that still have to work out for that team. The Giants, I mean, they've got a new head coach, does a whole new system. You kind of just look at them as this is an evaluation year for them. Maybe Daniel Jones is motivated. We know he is whatever he plays Washington. He looks like a Pro Bowl quarterback.

It's just them. I don't know why, but I, I just look at this division and say, yeah, they could win. Like, why not? They won it with seven wins a couple of years ago. The Cowboys could easily fall back. Jack Prescott may not look like the same Dak. Prescott that we've seen at its peak because now you don't have a Mark Cooper and he obviously was a big benefit to Dak Prescott.

Zee Kelly continues to regress. They're clearly regretting that contract they gave him, so are they going to go to run the football the same way? Does that put more pressure on Dak Prescott? Does he throw more interceptions? All of these things are factors that at least tell you it's the NFC East. They've got a chance to be not only competitive in this division, but yeah, they've got a chance to win it.

It may be 9 and 8 or 10 and 7, but their schedule is a lot. better than what it was last year. And you know, you and I talked when the schedule came out, you came on, you know, the show that I was doing. And like the first, first few, a couple of games, I mean, the Jags and Lions are certainly winnable games. I like the Jags to have a much better season this year. I think they're actually going to be one of the sleepers in the NFL, because they don't have Urban Meyer. They're ruining everything. But the schedule is a lot less daunting for this team, and they don't play a lot of pro-bowl caliber quarterbacks this year. Strength of schedule is based more on last season. We know that, but you can get an idea with the teams

you're seeing in the competition you're going to have, when you look at the quarterbacks that you're matched up against this year. And it's not that quarterback gauntlet like they had to start off last season. So a strong start for this team as opposed to playing from behind and making up for all the losses they had at the beginning of a season that they've really done through the majority of the last couple of decades, if they can have a decent start to this year and at least just let's say, Kevin, keep themselves around 500, they've got an opportunity to win this division.

It's not out of the realm of possibility at all. Yeah, I think maybe some that have listened to me here in recent weeks have probably picked up on the fact that I actually am somewhat optimistic. Look, my excitement level versus just being optimistic is it's different. I used to be very excited when I was optimistic. It's different now because I don't have the same passion level for the team. but I would say as a football fan and as someone who would benefit by this team being good, like really good, I am definitely intrigued by what they could be offensively next year. Like, Wence is an upgrade.

And no matter what I think of Carson Wence, you know, and the red flags all over this trade, and you're an idiot if you don't think there are red flags on this trade. But if he is, the Carson Wence of just last. last year with everybody being healthy around them, they could really be a very good offense. Now, not elite. Like I think they believe they, you know, inside that building they're going to be. You know, I was told that they think they're going to be a 12 to 13 win offense.

I don't know about that. Of course. But I do, I am intrigued by what they could be offensively. And look, the defense, you know, is it can't be worse. And it's got talent, you know, certainly up front. But, you know, no sweat this week, no Chase Young this week. And I'm not getting wrapped up this year into the OTAs. But, you know, if they suck again on defense next year,

there's going to be a whole hell of a lot of rain that comes down on Chase Young. If he doesn't have a big year next year. Because he skipped, you know, all three of these first OTA days. So did Montes sweat. And the expectation level set by the coaches, you know, two months ago was that they both, you know, everybody was going to be there and Chase Young was going to be there. But anyway, I. I feel like there's a chance that offensively they're good enough to be in a lot of games and to win,

you know, maybe more games than they are being projected to win. The over-under is seven and a half, eight, whatever it is. Last year I was definitively on the side of playing the under, which I was right on. This year, I won't play the under on them, I don't think. But, you know, things like this week and, you know, Jack, you know, creating some distractions and people not showing up that the coaching staff thought would show up. And, you know, Rivera setting some of these expectation levels and the sensitivity to, you know, all kinds of criticism, including from Twitter trolls, that's the stuff that keeps me from,

from jumping on board and saying, you know what, I'm going to pick them to win 10 games this year and be a playoff team. Because I think all that stuff matters. But I do think they've got some talent. I do. Now, see, we said some positive things here. People like Victor should be very happy. I think look at that. This was positive over the last couple of minutes, a lot of nice things.

Yeah, look, I mean, some of this has to do with, first thing, people, anybody that still doesn't think that Carson Wentz is an upgraded quarterback, you're lying to yourself. Taylor Heineke is an awesome story, but the fact that that continued to go on of like, well, this guy may be the future. Stop, stop, he's not the future of this team. They've upgraded its starting quarterback, and they've opened. a backup because, and really third string on top of that with Howl, and then you're adding,

you know, Heineke as a backup quarterback. Now, this is, they're in a much better position there by adding Carson Wentz. And if you didn't have the clear red flags of, this is his third team in three years, and the conversation and the rumors about how he was as a leader or being able to be coached or clearly Jim Ursay hating the guy. I mean, the other day, Jim Mersey said something about we're so excited to have Matt Ryan's leadership in the building. And I tweeted like, he's still throwing shade of Carson Wenton, people are like, oh, there's the D.C. media again, trying to. I'm not even like D.C. media as much as I am, man. I don't even talk about the team as much as I used to, but you need to understand Jim Mersey hates

Carson Wentz, and this was a shot at Carson Wentz. But the leadership stuff and all that aside, because we need to see how that comes together with this team. He threw 27 touchdowns seven interceptions last year, Kevin. And on top of that, he tied the Colts franchise record for the most consecutive games without a turnover. Peyton Manning's record, you would kill for a quarterback with that resume in Washington. So we need to take into account that it is an absolute upgrade there. The problem is, is that good Carson Wentz is good. Bad Carson Wentz, it's ugly. It's falling down, throwing the ball with his left hand out of the end zone interception type Carson Wentz

that you don't want. And they're probably going to have that at certain points this year. Again, he's in another offense now. It's new teammates again. So there's just natural growing pains for anybody that's in Carson Went's position. Talent on offense. They need they need Kurt Samuel to be healthy. I mean, that's really a

big thing. I know it's only one name, but he was brought in to be sort of a poor man's Debo Samuel in some way, right? Being able to run the football a little bit, run a bunch of end-arounds, play, you know, it plays out of the slot. Go deep of it. all those types of things, they need that from him this year because he ends up becoming essentially another waste of a roster spot this season if he can't stay healthy.

Yeah, I mean, I think two things are true in the conversation about Carson Wentz. I think it's this simple. It's like he's an upgrade, obviously. He's got upside, obviously, because we know what he was in 2017. And at the same time, there are red flags all over this trade because two teams and by the way, two solid organizations couldn't wait for him to leave the building. This was from Albert Breer's Monday morning quarterback mailbag the other day, and I read this to Tommy yesterday, because you just mentioned that Erse took another shot

at Carson Wentz the other day during the league meetings. Breer wrote about the Colts. The difference Matt Ryan is made from a cultural standpoint for the Colts, even to this point has been palpable. And the pace in detail at which he was, work should be good for everyone on the roster. Remember the year Philip Rivers was an indie was the COVID year, so most of the players on the team don't have much experience working with a quarterback at the level of Rivers

and Ryan. He's getting this directly from, you know, Frank Wright, Chris Ballard, Colts players, probably Ursa as well. So, you know, you can't ignore all that, but at the same time, you can still say, look, he's a lot better than Taylor Heineke and his upsides much higher. So let's see what happens. Maybe he'll resurrect his career here. I wanted to switch the conversation with you before we wrap it up to the NBA because

you and I are both big NBA fans. I'm going to tell you right now, these playoffs have been horrendous. I really enjoyed watching Golden State last night. I love just how, you know, last night was the perfect example of for some of us the way we like to watch basketball. played, the spacing, the passing, the 36 assists for Golden State last night versus a team like Dallas where Luca, who I do love, don't get me wrong, and I think he's an extraordinary talent, will dribble the air out of the basketball and then try to go through three people, you know, with a pace that's much slower. I'm rooting for Golden State, and I want Golden State

to play Boston, but I want to start with this. You love the NBA. You follow and comment on the NBA a lot. I don't have an answer for why all of these blowouts, do you? Yes, I have actually a theory about this, but first off, I do want to put a little caveat here. The playoffs were great until the conference finals, for the most part. Obviously, had some blowouts where the sun got blown out in their game seven, and that was a disappointment. The game sevens weren't all what we expected them to be, but we had a lot of really good games earlier in the playoffs. The reason why, to me, that I see these, really all these teams, except really the Warriors, looking slow, worn out, tired, and just not like themselves anymore.

Kevin, this is the first time in two years that any team has played 82 games in the regular season. You had the COVID year where everything shut down for three months. They go back to the bubble. Plenty of time for everybody to recover. And I still maintain that benefit of the Lakers a lot because Anthony Davis and LeBron James were healthy. Oh, the lights is flickered in my house. Here we go, by the way. The storm is crawling into my area, Kevin. But, you know, this is the first year,

and the last year was only 72 games. So you've got all these teams now, like the Heat and the Celtics that at times just look, like they play opposite. I've had to use the zigzag method when, you know, if you're betting on games in that series, because the Celtics are a great team in game two after horrible in game one and then game three. It's just weird.

The Warriors are the only team that kind of looks. relatively prepared for this situation because, well, one, they got fresh legs because the last two years, Steph barely played, and then Clay hasn't played at all, and they only played 11 minutes total with Raymond Green as well during the regular season. So, but they've been there. They did it since 2015. They've had these long playoff runs. They understand what it's like, and they're still prepared mentally, physically. The rest of these organizations just aren't, and you're seeing teams that are tired. They don't have legs. We're talking about all these injuries between the kids. heat in the Celtics game after game after game because guys are just getting beat up.

This is the first time in two years. They played this much basketball. But that doesn't explain the points. But that doesn't explain the one-sided record level of non-competitive games because it would apply to both teams. And the tiredness would have just meant you had a lot of, you know, 87, 85 games. We've had, you know, 30-point leads on the regular every night. I mean, people are tuning out of most of these games.

You said that you think it's been the conference finals. I'll be honest with you. The first two games of the Brooklyn-Boston series, the very first two games, and maybe game three back in Brooklyn, and it ended up being a four-game sweep, I think those were the two of the three most entertaining games of the postseason so far, because they were competitive, they were high-level, and maybe they were fresher to start. But I don't know if that explains the number of, you know,

double-digit wins in games which aren't really even competitive by the time you get to the fourth quarter. We've just seen those night in and night out. Well, I wouldn't say this. You know, you obviously have, yeah, fatigue setting in where you're watching these 30-point games, but at the same time, you also have, it just, it feels like teams are taking a night off and then they're refreshed the next day. And maybe that's what it is where like the Celtics look like an utter disaster. And then all of a sudden they come back and it's like they learned from that game last time, and it's totally changed. But yeah, that's only one theory.

It's also just been bad basketball at times, too. And it's interesting because, like, the ratings were really good for a long time. People were watching these games. The NBA was doing, I mean, they were doing fantastic when it came to viewership. I haven't seen what they've been recently for the conference finals. I can't imagine they're that great because people have been tuning out. But it's just been a roller coaster of a playoffs, and especially the conference finals for these teams. Who do you like?

I mean, you think Boston's going to close out Miami tonight? Yeah, I had Celtics Warriors in the finals before the playoffs started, and I'm sitting on two bet slips right now for both of them to win the title, so I'll be good if either one of them, if they both make the finals, I'll feel pretty good about that. But yeah, look, the Warriors, the fact, first off, the Warriors were 10 to 1 to win the title coming to the playoffs, which is insane. Everybody was on the sun's train, and I just sat back and said, okay, watch Golden State, and this is the team that's done this a million times.

You people are crazy for not remembering what they do. This is the same team, Kevin, that in terms of their core, went to the finals for, what, five straight years? Now they've added young talent on top of that. Jordan Poole has become a third Splash Brother for them. Draymond Green is kind of evolved his game and even less of an offensive guy, but focuses on defense and playmaking.

And then you've been thrown at times Moses Moody and Jonathan Cominga. And it's like they're built for the future, but they're also built for now. They're the best organization in the NBA. I mean, they are so well-run. There's so many smart people running that organization. It's unbelievable. I like Boston.

I think Boston's the toughest match-up for them because they do have, you know, multiple guys that can go out and get you buckets. And they also have random games where Marcus Smart goes off for 24 points. Orford hits a bunch of threes and has a double-double. And, you know, Boston can beat you with their big two, and then a couple of other guys, depending on the night kind of rotating through.

but they don't, they're not going to beat the Warriors. The Warriors are great defensively too, like the Celtics, and you know the Warriors can be down by 15 in the second half, and they'll just start running up the court and 30-foot pull-up three, and they're going to start knocking them down and doing the same thing that the 73-win Warriors did or whatever team did over that little era. They're right back to where they were, and now people are starting to go, oh, yeah, that's right.

I forgot how good this team was. It's just, they just took two years off, and they're back. Yeah, well, and they're in the finals for the sixth time, in eight years. And this will be the third time with just the original core of Green, Curry, and Clay Thompson. And by the way, I was so happy that Clay Thompson got off last night because he really looked not confident as a three-point shooter in this series. And I think seeing one of them go down last night was huge for him. And he made eight of them last night. But, you know, this will be a Durantless Golden State team, like their first two.

you know, Western Conference Championship teams, which says a lot about the core, you know, of Steph, Draymond, and Clay. How are the storms? Because it seems like it's getting exciting there. Let me put it this way. This is right up your alley of, this is your genre right now, Kevin. So you would be excited. That's Goldies.

That's Goldies genre. You could find. You could curl up in a corner somewhere and just kind of like, breathe in the air and get excited. You'd have to watch the whole four-hour rule, though, because it'd be getting a little exciting for you here. But, you know, it's right up your alley, man. It's starting to get there thunder and the lights are flicker. And so it's, yeah, it's probably what just passed through your area a little while ago. Yeah, it got really dark here. And it's probably really dark there. I don't know if dark is necessarily my favorite,

but our good friend Al Galdi thrives with darkness and sellers. So lastly, I wanted to just mention this to you. So Michael Phillips wrote this story in the Richmond Times Dispatch. You know, it's another stadium story about the latest. And I'm reading through it, Michael's done a really good job of reporting on this. A lot of people have. I had Eric Flack, the guy from Channel 9, who's been doing a great job on the radio show this morning. So if you want to go listen to that, Eric was really good.

You can do that on the Odyssey app. And Neil and Rockville was on. on very early in the show this morning, and he had some thoughts. But Michael wrote that if, you know, the Washington commanders were to move to Virginia, it would be the first pro sports franchise to reside in Virginia since the Virginia Squires. Are you familiar with the Virginia Squires? Do you know who they are?

I remember the team. It's an old NBA team, but I don't remember anything else about them. That's going back to what, like the 50s, right? Yeah, well, let's do, you know, Tommy Storytime here for just a bit. Okay, let's do Tommy Storytime. Because this is actually really interesting. And some of you who are old enough will remember this if you're basketball fans. But those of you who aren't going to remember this and don't care, I want you to listen anyway

because there is a conclusion to this story that most people don't know, and I think is really, really interesting. So the Virginia Squires were not. an ABA team back in the early 70s. They played in the Tidewater. They played in Norfolk, Virginia, which is exactly the way it's pronounced by people who are from down there. It's not Norfolk. It's not Norfolk. It's Norfolk.

And they played in an arena called the Scope, which was, and it still may be there, I don't know, in downtown Norfolk. But originally, the Squires were the Oakland Oaks of the ABA. Then they became the Washington Cascar. of the ABA. They played in the old Washington Coliseum, Uline Arena, which was, by the way, the first venue in which the Beatles played in 1964 when they came over from Liverpool to the U.S. before they went on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Anyway, the Washington Caps were an ABA team that Rick Barry played on.

The great Rick Barry played on the Washington Caps. Well, the owner of the caps, Earl Foreman, was told to move the team because Abe Poland, an NBA owner, wanted to move his Baltimore team to Washington. So he moved the team to the Tidewater area, and they played in the scope. They also played at Old Dominion. They played some games at the Hampton Coliseum. They played some games at the Richmond Coliseum. Rick Barry, after being on the Washington team and then told they were moving to Virginia, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1970 in a Virginia Squire's uniform about the Virginia Squire's move in the ABA season.

And he hated the state of Virginia saying, get me out of here. I don't want my children growing up saying, hi, y'all. And so the owner of the team, Earl Foreman, sold Barry to another team. And then came the draft, and the Virginia Squires were the team that drafted Dr. J.

Out of the University of Massachusetts. That's right. There you go. It's funny. I was wrong about the era. I was only slightly right about the sport, but not the right league. But I remember the name. I think the scope is still there, but I think like a hockey,

there's like a minor league hockey team or something that plays there. But they do still, I think it does still exist. But yeah, that's right. Dr. Jay was a squire. I forgot about that. He was drafted by the Virginia Squires in 1971 at a UMass. But here is, for me, the best part of the story. And some of you will find interesting.

After Dr. Jay, during his rookie season in Virginia, playing for the Squires, the Squires signed a young George Iceman, Gervin. And George Gervin and Dr. J were teammates on a team, the last professional team that ever played in Virginia, the Virginia Squires. two of the greatest players in the history of the game who are not remembered as Virginia Squires. Gervin is remembered as being the Ice Man in San Antonio, one of the greatest scores that's ever lived. And Nick, one of my favorite all-time athletes, okay? The Ice Man was everything for me when I was, you know, a kid. And I was out there trying all of the Ice Man moves. And I had the finger rolls, right?

All the finger rolls. I had the Finger rolls. And I had the Ice Man poster with. with him in that silver San Antonio Spurs warm-up suit sitting on a block ice. Gervin and Dr. J played together in Virginia. If you want to know how they did, they got to the playoffs in their only season together and lost in the first round. But anyway, Gervin and Dr. J on the same team.

And then, of course, Dr. J went on to play for the New York Nets of the ABA. And then eventually the 76ers in the NBA. and Gervin was a San Antonio Spurr for, I think the entirety of his career, he may have ended his career in Chicago. I want to say that he played for the Bulls briefly at the end of his NBA career. But anyway, story time with Tom Leverro is over for the day. That was a great story, Kevin. Thanks for the story. At Nick Asshu on Twitter, N-I-C-K-A-S-H-O-O-H. I enjoyed this.

I hope you're well. Let's do it again soon. Anytime, my friend, anytime. Always fun to catch up with Nick. Nick's a great guy. I appreciated that. Up next, Emily Giambalvo from the Washington Post, is covering the lacrosse final fours.

We'll have her on when we return, right after these words from a few. of our sponsors. Memorial Day weekend means the official beginning of the summer. Sports-wise, it always means and has meant for years, the Indianapolis 500. And if you're from around here, you also know that it is the weekend in which the lacrosse final four is played. This is an area that is a hotbed for lacrosse, certainly in certain areas of the DMB.

the high school across in this area is equivalent to what the high school basketball is. It produces, you know, so many Division I college players. And Maryland's been a powerhouse in the sport, both on the women's side and the men's side forever. And both are back into the final four. And covering it for the Washington Post will be Emily G.M. Balvo. Emily does a great job covering Maryland sports in general, and we may even ask Emily a few men's hoops questions before we are done. But I want to start with this, Emily.

The Maryland men are being talked about as maybe the greatest team in the history of the sport. They're a massive favorite going into their semi-final game against Princeton tomorrow, and then they would play the Rutgers-Cornell winner in the championship. championship game on Memorial Day. Just talk about, you know, I know I've read your story from this morning. Talk about what people in the sport are saying about this team and what a massive surprise it would be if they actually were to lose this weekend. Yeah, it's really interesting.

When you hear people talk about this men's team and I was on a conference call yesterday with the ESPN analyst who are going to call the game on TV. And it seems like, you know, it's like, it's like it's. Maryland were to lose, it's like, that's not really feeling like something that's in the realm of possibility right now, which like how often in sports do we really feel that? Like, it's hard to imagine a time where there's been a team that's this much of a favorite and would be this much of a disappointment if they lose. And I know some of the U.S.ian guys are saying like they were kind of looking outside sports to try to find a comparison because there really isn't one in lacrosse. and what Maryland is chasing is not kind of the other teams in this field. They've been beating everybody by over nine goals a game this year.

And it's more of like where are they going to stand in terms of all-time great NCAA lacrosse teams. And kind of to be in that conversation, they have to finish it this weekend. And they've lost in the title game quite a few times before and they lost last year. But it seems like this year, if there's a year where it should feel sure this one. Yeah. And the story you wrote, you referenced. the fact that the ESPN guys are trying to come up with other, you know, sport comps for how dominant and how big of a favorite and how massive and upset it would be, you know, if they actually

lost this weekend. They won the national championship in 2017 and they had this heartbreaking, you know, final seconds lost last year to Virginia. They beat Virginia in the quarterfinals, doubling them up 18 to 9. You're going to be following this and writing about this all weekend long. Is there any sense that beating Virginia in kind of that revenge game last weekend was that anything after that is anticlimactic or not? Maybe a little bit because like we were saying before, Maryland is so far ahead of the field lacrosse-wise that maybe you start

thinking the only thing that could catch them off guard would be kind of that mental piece of it. And Virginia has kind of had their number in the past in the tournament, and particularly last year in the final. So I do think maybe that was a little bit of a mental game. And there was conversation where, you know, people thought Vermont was going to give, could give Maryland a bit of a fight that they had come into the tournament as one of the hottest teams. You know, they weren't seated, but were, you know, on a role lately.

and then Maryland just totally crushed them. And it was basically the same thing with Virginia. So it was kind of these two teams that if Marilyn could have drawn a bracket that was kind of tough, even if you're one of the greatest teams ever, this was it. And then the way Marilyn played in those games, it was like, oh, okay, never mind. And then the other, you know, the number two, three, and four seats are out of it. So the best seed left is a five seed.

And I do think there is a feeling like maybe the toughest challenges behind Maryland. What makes them such a great team? I mean, is it the talent? Is it the coaching? Is it experience? You know, in your following this and writing about this, why are they so great this year compared to, you know, almost any team that's played the sport in recent years? Yeah, I think it's, you know, all these pieces you mentioned, it seems like they have everything, right? So they have John Tillman, who's been around forever, and players know exactly what they're getting into. With him, they totally believe in the culture. They know what they're being recruited for.

So it's just like when you have coaches who have been around so long, and this same is true on the Maryland women's side, I think you know how to get the type of player you want in your program. So it starts there. It starts with players who are coming to Maryland because they want to win championships. And then you start recruiting some of these great transfers to decide, oh, I've got one year of eligibility left. Where do I want to go? well, I want to win a national title, so it's like you're doing what you want in recruiting.

And then, you know, I'm not a lacrosse expert by any means, but just in listening to people talk about this Maryland team, it seems like just about everywhere on the field, they've got some of the best players in the country, and they're performing well and have had no mental lapses. Like there hasn't really been a game where you look at them and think, oh, wow, that was just not a great game for them. They've been playing at a high level all year. They've got a great base-off guy who approved tons from last year. And then offensively, I mean, they've had so many different players score. One of the conversations yesterday in the ESPN call is like Logan Wisnowskis is their star

and, you know, one of the best players in the country. But he could score once or he couldn't score at all. And you still think Maryland's going to be okay just because they have so many options. So it's not really a team that has just like one or two standouts. It's really every piece of the feel of every, piece off the field. It's just kind of like this well-oiled machine that's now clicking into its best gear this year because of the talent. They're 15 and O trying to become the third team in recent vintage to go through a lacrosse season undefeated and win a national championship. They've only

trailed in four games this year and only been down once in the second half in a game this year. And that was against Ohio State. They won that game. They've won seven times by double-digit. you mentioned the Vermont game, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but the 21 to 5 win the 16 goal deficit is the largest margin of victory in the history of the NCAA lacrosse tournament, right? So I was actually covering the women that day and not that game. I remember seeing something like that on Twitter, so I think you might be right, but I'm not 100%. Here we are two non-experts talking about this,

but we both realize that there are people in this market that are so interested and will be watching And look, I'm a Maryland alum, so I've paid attention typically this weekend because they're in it almost every year. Last one on the men, and then I'll ask you briefly about the women. They beat Princeton earlier in the year 15 to 10. Does anybody give Princeton any chance of keeping this game that competitive because that's a competitive game for Maryland this year? You know, maybe a little bit. And teams are so quick to say, you know, he's change and, you know,

Princeton isn't the same as they were before, and neither is Maryland and things like that. But, again, you kind of look at what Maryland is doing, and it's just, it's just not comparable. So, I mean, I don't think so, but, you know, we'll see. I really think for Maryland to slip, it wouldn't be a matter of, like, you know, Princeton having some incredible day. It would have to be a severe mental lapse on Maryland side of, like, the pressure of the final four or something.

And I just don't see that happening either. And nobody's really giving the winner of the Rutgers Cornell game much of a shot either, right? I mean, but neither one. No. Go ahead. Yeah, no. I mean, it's like the weirdest, it's a weird final four for the men, because like, with the women, I feel like, you know, you're thinking about each team having an edge in some way, and you're like, you're actually thinking about the teams and really heading into the men's final four. It feels like it's, you know, can Marilyn finish the season?

It's the best, one of the best teams ever. It's like you kind of feel bad. And I think most of the other teams that are in it have not been to a final four in. you know, 15, 20 years. Right. Where Maryland's there most years, and you have to think maybe that that helps them too.

George, for those of you that don't know, Georgetown was actually the number two overall seed in this lacrosse tournament. They lost their first game, a 10-9 loss to Delaware. They were eliminated early on.

Give me, you know, give me a minute or so on the women who are also a power house and who they're playing and what the you know where they are kind of in the expectations for this weekend yeah maryland the women have been really interesting because they you know they've been so historically dominant and they went to 11 straight final fours and then COVID happened and they were struggling a lot that year before everything shut down just because they graduated so many great seniors and then last year it was kind of same deal they were just really an

experienced and they lost in the second round of the tournament and it's kind of this, you know, total outlier. And it wasn't that unexpected either. It was just they weren't, they hadn't been playing at the same level they usually do. And then they kind of came into this year and I think maybe there was a little question of like, okay, is this going to be back to normal Maryland or are they still kind of trying to figure this out with a new team and this weird rebuilding process that's happened during the pandemic? And then they lost to James Madison, early in the year. And I think that kind of had them like drop off the radar a tiny bit

in terms of like titles. But then they just like rolled through the rest. You know, they've won the big 10 regular season in the conference tournament. And then they have been playing great during the into a league tournament. So I think you know, they hadn't been getting a ton of that national title talk because North Carolina had been

really good. They're undefeated. But then North Carolina only won by three goals against Stony Brock in the last of the tournament. So I think kind of this week, it started to feel like, oh, wow, maybe the Maryland women are in contention here. So they play in five hours against Boston College and then would play either North Carolina or Northwestern in the final on Sunday, they make it there. All right. Last one. Where is Maryland basketball in putting together its roster for Kevin Willard's first season next year? Yeah, I mean, it's been moving.

a little slow, but I think they're down to two scholarship spots left and really need a big guy, but they're recruiting one from Washington State who would be a huge addition. It's hard to know. I mean, it reminds you a little bit of last year where, you know, there are a bunch of transfers coming in and you know you're going to have them in your starting lineup and New Maryland, you know, could have three transfers in the start line. It's just hard to tell how much they're going to master. how good they are.

But I think he's done a pretty good job, and he, you know, got a point guard, got another guard from Georgetown. And I think it's going well. It's just like, as everyone knows, like the really big name high schoolers and transfers are still kind of in that NIL game. And Maryland isn't on that top tier of offering kids all the money and stuff like that. So we'll be really interesting to see how it goes moving forward. Yeah, they got to figure out the NIL thing.

I mean, after Wahab transferred, and for those of you that don't know, Kudis Wahab's actually headed back to Georgetown, which, you know, there was a moment there at least a couple of weeks ago where I thought he might stay, but he's going back to Georgetown. So you mentioned the Biggs. I mean, right now, the starting five is Jemir Young, the transfer from Charlotte, you know, Hakeem Hart, Dante Scott, probably really, probably Julian Juju Reese.

And I don't know who the fifth starter would be if they don't add somebody here soon. I mean, you know, they've got the kid know a bachelor that they recruited. But I can't figure out, you know, I was expecting Wahab to be probably the fifth starter. But who do you have as the fifth starter right now for them? Yeah, well, I mean, then the question is like, you know, is Reese playing as a four or five? Because he kind of learned the five spot primarily next year feels like he would, you know, be a good four. Because you could, with the roster you have now, you know, it seems like they would have Reese of the five and then use the other guard that they've recruited. But like you're saying, I mean, the play in the Big Ten, and maybe Julian Reese's, you know, turns into like Jalen Smith has softened.

more year. And it's like totally capable. But in the big ten, it just feels like you want one of those rim protector really good spots. So, so yeah, to answer your question, like, I do think they should feel pretty good about four starters, like four of those spots, and then absolutely need to get a big guy. And that, I mean, they're trying to do it. They probably will. I mean, because if you're a transfer, you're like, okay, I pretty much got a lot of playing time waiting for me at Maryland. So, yeah, yeah. And it's like the bench option. It's like there isn't even a solid backup right now. So it's so very urgent. It is. I don't, you know, I know that Mark kind of liked I cornish, but thought he was a ways away. I think we saw what Ian Martinez is he's an athletic

defender, but he's not much of an offensive, you know, skill position guy. And yeah, you know, They added the kid from IMG, and they've got a couple of kids, as you mentioned, a big out of the state of Washington that they're looking at. He's going to have to bring in probably a couple of more players that can contribute right away if they're going to be competitive next year in the Big Ten. Emily, thanks so much for doing this. Follow Emily on Twitter at Emily G-I-A-M, at Emily G-G-I-A-M on Twitter. Thanks for doing this.

Enjoy the weekend. appreciate it. Yep, no problem. Thank you. All right, that's it for the show today. I am back on Tuesday. I'm not planning on doing a show on Memorial Day. Of course, any sort of big event could change that.

But back on Tuesday with Tommy, enjoy the weekend. But you know what I wanted to know? That I didn't know. Who gave you the name, Iceman? Fatty Taylor. Went to Virginia and played with the Virginia Squires. And Fattie Taylor, you know, was like the captain and Dr. Jay was on that team also.

And I used to go to work, man. And, you know, after we finished, I didn't sweat. And he just couldn't believe it, man. I mean, he always just said, man, you, you ice cold, man. I mean, you know, they was just getting to know me. I'm probably one of the only guys, man, in history of basketball, man, that shot for his contract, you know, because I was played with the Pontiac Chaparrels.

and I was driving 38, and Johnny Red Curr saw me, and Johnny Red Curr knew Earl Foreman, and he called Earl Foreman, who was the owner of the Virginia Squires, and they said, you need to take a look at this kid, and they flew me in, and they say, shoot. And then I made 25 out of 33s, and they said, you hired.