The Kevin Sheehan Show - Brissett Door Open

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

Kevin and Thom today with thoughts on yesterday's Ron Rivera's training camp press conference. Did Ron leave the starting QB door open for Jacoby Brissett? The boys also talked about the first day of training camp and Thom reacted to the sale for the first time on the podcast. Thom's "Hemingway Look-A-Like" experience, Oppenheimer, and a lot more on the show as well.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. I've got a lot to prove, you know, because again, I really do think we've put ourselves in a really good position. I think we're a good young football team with some key veterans and key positions. And now is the opportunity to go.

And, yeah, I do feel that I do want to prove some stuff. That was Ron Rivera yesterday in his pre-tebrose. training camp press conference, which was, I don't know, 25 minutes or so of him answering a lot of questions about new ownership. And right there, him telling everybody, he's got a lot to prove. He does have a lot to prove. Guess who's with me and guess who's back? Tommy is back from the Hemingway lookalike contest. You were sending me a lot of stuff. I saw, I saw, I, I watched some of it, but I don't know, it just looked like a lot of people down there. And I couldn't tell one Hemingway look alike from another.

You guys all looked like you were 97 years old and as trimmed up as you could be for the occasion. Was it fun? It was fun. It was fun. It was like Africa hot, though. Okay. This is Key West. under normal conditions, but in the middle of this heat wave,

I don't know if you read the story, but the water temperature in Florida just went over 100 degrees. Okay. It's going to be near 100 tomorrow here. Yeah. So it was pretty hot, but it was a lot of fun. Disappointing a little bit, but fun. So tell me, just do me a favor,

because we've got a lot to get to today, and I do want to hear about this. But just cut to the chase on where you finished in this thing and how you did. I mean, I don't even know how it was judged, but just tell everybody, try to do your best as you did with your column last week. Glad you wrote one. Try to just summarize the final standings of the Ernest Hemingway look-a-like contest in Key West. There were about 180 contestants.

Wow. Okay. And they divided it up into two nights of presentations. And from those two nights, they would pick finalists to compete in the third night. Okay. I was in the second night, the second group of contestants. So wait a minute. So it got knocked down from 180 to what?

No. I don't know what the final group was, like 20 or something like. that. I was not in that group. I didn't have any illusions about winning this thing. I know, but what group did you make it into? One 80 to what? Did they cut it in half? Any group. I just made it into the first, like, I was just an entry. Okay. Okay. Okay. So what did you do? Well, you had 30 seconds to speak and give a presentation. You're on a stage, at Swoppy Joe's place is packed. People hanging on the rafters.

And the judges are called Poppa, which was Hemingway's nickname, Papa. And they are all former winners of this contest. And they sit right in the front of the stage with a pen and a piece of paper looking very intently taking notes at your presentation. Okay? So you have 30 seconds.

and I had no illusions of winning this thing because I had determined that they probably take care of people who have been there before. Okay, and that's exactly what happened. The guy who won had been at this contest 11 times, okay, and hadn't won. So they rewarded him, and I have no problem with that. You know, I mean, they've created a nice little event down there. that's generated a lot of publicity. So they kind of take care of her own, and that's cool. But I was like Rocky.

I didn't want to win the fight. I just wanted to go to distance. But you didn't go to distance. I wanted to be a finalist. You didn't go to distance. You got knocked out early. Yes. I got knocked out early, which is, look, this is the sour grapes part, but it was purely legitimate.

Okay? I told my story about meeting and interviewing. First of all I told him I was a writer for the past 46 years. Did you tell them about all your books that are available on Amazon? 30 seconds? 30 seconds? You don't have time for that stuff. So I figured, you know, tell them a writer like Hemingway.

And I told the story about how I met and interviewed Gregorio Flente. days, he was 101 years old, he was the old man. Yeah. And the old man in the sea. Now, let me explain. This is the most important figure in the history of all of Hemingway's work. There's nobody more important in anything he's ever written than the old man. And I'm two degrees of separation now from Ernest Hemingway.

I interviewed the old man who was Erniek Hemingway's Shipmate and close friend Okay I might as well have told him a story about Pewey Herman It meant nothing It just went right over their heads

Oh And you know in the crowd You could hear the crowd Kind of get quiet There were a couple of ooze and Oz My wife heard one guy Say hey wow this guy really has a story, you know? But the judges, nothing, you know? So, uh, so I was disappointed that my story,

which, unless you had somebody in that group that actually met Hemingway, nobody was from top. Right. You were two degrees. You're at two degrees from Hemingway. Um, that's, and it just, that was, was, was the whole 30 seconds just talking about that interview? That was it. Okay. That was it. Yeah. That was it. It goes quick.

You're on stage. You're older the microphone. I mean, I projected well. You didn't. You didn't burp or anything, did you? No. No. But I tell you what, that'd have been better.

I think I might have had a better chance if I burped and danced and told and sung song. I was going to say, I mean, maybe you should have, instead of a 30-second pitch on the old man, maybe you should have sung that pitch instead of spoken. it. There were guys who did that. There were guys who did that.

Nobody would have done it as well as you. It was a great event. You know, on the final day, Saturday, they had the running of the Bulls, which I sent you some stuff about that, where basically you're dressed in all white, and you wear in like the red beret and red bandana around your neck, and they have about four or five. of these wooden plaster bulls on wheels that they push through the streets at Key West. And you follow them and you chant Spanish chance and stuff like that. And it's like 98 degrees.

This happens like at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Sounds like a blast. But it was a lot of fun. That was fun. So overall, I had a great time. And the best part, of course, which you know appeals to me the most, the last day we're there on Sunday we're waiting to catch out bus

and this guy walks up to me and says, are you Tom Leverro? And I said yes. I said, it would have been better if he said a you or her Hemingway. But are you Tom Leverro? There were two guys from Northern Virginia who were big fans,

big fans of the podcast, were big fans of the show when we were on the radio and I met these two guys from Northern Virginia who recognized me in Key West. Well, it's too bad they didn't recognize you in the crowd during your 30 seconds. They could have chanted Tommy, Tommy, and maybe let the whole room know there isn't anybody with more Twitter followers than this guy right here.

You may want to give it to them. That's what I should have done too. That's what my wife said. I should have got up there and tell him, look, you put me in the finals. I have 30,000 social media followers. across all platforms. I should have done that. Yeah.

But look, I went, I went full bore with my story. I even brought a picture up, a blow-up picture of me with the old man, so I wasn't lying, given them proof, you know? And it just wasn't enough. A lot of guys keep going to this thing. It sounds like the fix was in. You've got 11 years, you know, as long, you've got 11 years, before you win it. You keep going back.

I'm not going back. Well, let's just hope that the sun doesn't set instead of rise before the 11th year. No, it sounds like fun. Did you meet anybody that was there doing the same thing that you were doing that A, you knew or B, you're like,

all right, this guy's kind of normal because I got to think a lot of these guys are a little bit off their rocker going down there to do this. Well, I met a few guys. It was kind of a close group in a way. Like, they all know each other. Oh. You know, there were a lot of do you, though.

Yeah. There were actually, there were quite a lot of rookies. So I met a couple of them. But did I make any lifelong friendships? No. Did they haze the rookies? I mean, did you get haze at all? No.

Okay. There was no hazing of the rookies. Do you have to carry everybody's equipment up there to the stage? No, nothing like that. And, you know, Key West has got a vibe still. I mean, even to this day, Key West just has a vibe that, you know, it's kind of like a New Orleans vibe. New Orleans at the beach. You know, that kind of place.

And that was very enjoyable. So overall, I'm glad I did it. I'm going to write about it. And, but I'm not going back. So from afar, did you follow what was going on back here in Minneapolis and then back here on Thursday and Friday of last week? That was remarkable to watch. The party, the party down at the bullpen, the reaction to the wicked witch, you know, with the house falling on the wicked witch, it was amazing. It was amazing, and all I could think of was

People who were close to Dan Snyder, what must they think? I mean, the whole city, the city was celebrating his departure, him leaving. You know, again, I mean, they love Josh Harris. He bought them all beers, which is my move when I walk into a dive bar where people don't know me. You buy everybody a beer and everybody loves it. So that was a smart move to do, but again, to bring up pee-wee again, it could have been Pee-Wey Harmon, as long as it wasn't Dan Snyder.

So it was a remarkable thing to watch the celebration that took place. Well, I was at the bullpen. I forget if we texted back and forth or talked last week. It was, and I came in here on Friday and talked about how it felt different for me than I thought it would feel. You know, I had pitched this idea that it was going to be very anticlimactic when we got to it because there were already seemed to have been, you know, multiple days of celebration of the news. But it wasn't. It was really, it was a, now again, the setting of being down at the bullpen and Tommy, look, you and I've done so many of these

events together over the years or individually over the years. And in recent years, you know, And I'm really referring more to just before the pandemic. It really was almost the same group of people. You know, the real last stragglers of this fan base that were hanging on and still believed and didn't want to acknowledge that there, you know, that you had to suspend reality to talk about the team. It was, first of all, you know, and I mentioned this on Friday, you would have loved it. I mean, we had so many of our listeners down there to the podcast, to the radio show.

But I will tell you that I would bet that 70% of the people that came up to me, and many of whom, you know, we've known over the years and a lot of people that we've talked to but have never met. And a lot of people that we've never talked to and had never met, I would say 70% of them were podcast listeners. And I can't tell you how many people said to me, where's Tommy? And I said, you know where he is? And they're like, oh, that's right. He's down in Florida for that what you'm going to call it guys lookalike contest. And so it was really kind of fun to be a part of.

Look, I mentioned that there is this, you know, scar on this fan base. We've been damaged. There's no doubt about it. And I talked about how there's, there is going to be, point in which I'm going to have to remind you for sure. You may even have to remind me, but I'm definitely going to have to remind you that Snyder's actually gone because the default is going to be, there they go again. And by the way, until Harris has an opportunity to get the group of people that he wants in the

organization, running the organization, and because of the time table on the acquisition, know right before the season's starting, et cetera. It's not, he can't go in and just clean house day one. There may be some more fuck-ups, but I hope there aren't. But it's, it's going to take some time, but man, it really, really felt like a new day. What it felt so wrong for so long, all of the sudden felt right again. And I don't know how that will manifest itself in the form of fans at games, television ratings, you know, merchandise.

I mean, are we going to start walking around town and seeing more people, you know, that are fans of the hometown team rather than the Ravens or somebody else? I don't know, but it really felt like it was the beginning of something new. And like we have said, it can't be worse, and it's not going to be worse. The press conference was really impressive, and I actually want your thoughts on it. I don't know if you watched it or read about it. But just because they acquired this team doesn't mean that they're going to start winning Super Bowls or will win Super Bowls, but it does mean that we've got a chance now.

Like this fan base has a chance to win because more likely than not, it will be a normal franchise for the first time in a long time. Did you have a chance to watch Harris and Rails and Magic in the press conference on Friday? I watched some of it, bits and pieces of it. I mean, I didn't expect them to fumble it. I mean, I think Josh Harris and Magic. I've never seen Mitchell Rails in public. I've seen Josh Harris and Magic thousands of times in public, and they were as impressive as I thought they would be.

you know, it was really, it was great to watch. And this is one of the things I pointed out in the column that you shamed me to write, okay? Well, hold on. A lot of people notice that. Everybody doesn't know what you're talking about. So be clear on this. Last week, I did lecture you a little bit about, you know, not being around and not writing on one of the real important days in the history of this town.

And you said that you would earn the right to be able to take that kind of a day off. But you changed your mind, didn't you? You were right. You were right. And I wrote a column, and one of the things in a column I pointed out that there's going to be disappointments. Okay? I mean, there's going to be, they're going to make mistakes. They're going to screw things up from time to time, and there's going to be disappointments. disappointments. The biggest will probably be the fact that they're probably going to be at FedEx

field for a long time, I said. But even with the disappointment, and this was kind of the point of the column, and I know a lot of people disagree with this, don't just let the memory of Dan Snyder fade, okay, because his absence is what makes this so attractive. Like when this When these guys screw up, you need to fall back to, well, at least they're not that guy. Okay? Yeah, but I, yes. No, you know, first of all, it's impossible. Dan Snyder is never going to fade away.

This is, you know, this is a period of time in which, you know, the, I mean, you had essentially a country crumble due to a terrible king. And so history is always interesting to see how, you know, governments and countries were toppled, you know, and the people that were behind that. Look, I talked to Dan Steinberg on the podcast yesterday. I had Dan on, and he had actually written for the first time in several years and actually wrote a great column in the post last week.

And I said, well, there's going to be a book about Snyder, right? There's certainly going to be a documentary. And he's like, yeah, but it's just going to be all hate. And I said, it doesn't matter. It's going to be so interesting. Like I think what happened here over the last 24 years, even though we were kind of here documenting it day by day, we still don't know a lot of what happened. We know a lot and we've heard a lot and there have been a lot of stories. Tom Friend was on with me two days ago. You know, he covered the team in the late 80s into the early 90s. And, you know, we started to get into some of the stories.

And he's like, you know, I'm not even comfortable in telling some of the stories we've heard over the years. And I have felt the same way. And from my standpoint, I don't know how you have felt. But when you hear something secondhand that's pretty awful, you got to be careful about talking about something like that on the air. But we've all heard some of these really, you know, horrible stories. And from my standpoint, I can only speak for myself. They were much more bullying stories, you know, Napoleonic complex, you know, insecurity stories on Dan versus what came out three years ago, which was the toxic workplace for women. Those were much more from my standpoint the stuff we heard over the years.

But no, I think, look, I mean, you learn from history so you don't repeat it. But I think it'll be interesting when we do find out a lot of that stuff down the road. In the means, like I've said about the name issue, people, you can do more than one thing at the same time. You can remember Dan. You can be interested in the Dan story when it comes out and also be rooting for the left tackle to protect the quarterback and his blind side. I mean, we can do more than one thing at once. But anyway, I was impressed with. you're right.

Time is not going to make the Dance Night Era look better. It's only going to look worse as more and more stuff gets revealed, whether it's a documentary books, things like that. And that's why, I'm not saying that we don't need to harp on it anymore. But don't just say, I don't want to hear about it, I want to forget about it, because that's part of the pleasure that's going on right now. that you don't have to experience it anymore. Yeah, well, you'll have it.

The same people that were telling you to shut up about Wentz and telling me to shut up about the name will also say, I'm tired of hearing about Snyder, and yet it will be 5% of what we actually talk about, but we'll be passionate when we're talking about it, and there will be a small sliver of people that will get upset about it, but I'm not worried about them. You know, what's really picked up steam is I'm sure you've seen here

since Snyder left and the Harris group came in. You know, Magic did the Today Show hit. Harris said it's really about what the city wants. He said that again with Adam Schefter yesterday. I talked about some of the things he said in an Albert Breer one-on-one. He did a one-on-one with Schefter last week for Schefter's podcast. And he said, as it relates to the name, you know, it's about what the city wants. And Schefter immediately interjected, the city hates the name.

The city doesn't want the name. But, you know, he also emphasized the fact that we're going to focus on the priorities that are priorities right now, things they can do things about. Like, improve the fan experience, help the football people win football games, engage in the community he keeps talking about. But I believe that a year from now, you know, I don't want to put a date on it, but I believe that the name will change. I do too I think it will too I mean there's just

I mean the name it's part of the connection to the dirty, stinking lousy past now it's I mean

one thing it's not that good they did a terrible job in marketing it and promoting it and there's just too much damage to that name right now

you can't go on with it did you see this Snyder's statement on Friday? Did you see that? Yeah. How embarrassing is that? I mean... I got a question for you.

Yeah. How long do you think it'll be before Tanya says, okay, I'll take the half of my $6 billion and go home? I don't know, Tommy. I have no idea. I don't know anything about them personally. I mean, I've heard people discuss. that like how long before she's out?

I don't know if they have a good marriage or bad marriage. It's none of my business. I do know this, and I've said this many times over the years. Every single person that I know, and it would be at least a half dozen to 10 people, who have had dealings with as teachers, coaches, or family, you know, friends, if you won't even call them that, with the kids, say the kids are great, that. So something went right in that family dynamic. If everybody speaks so highly of the kids, I don't want to get into that.

But are you asking me what I wait for on it? Or what are the odds on it? I have no idea. I have no idea. They might have a great marriage. That was my first thought. I don't think there's many marriages that could withstand the notion that you are the most hated people in the most important city in the world.

It's amazing. It is really, I mean, I don't think that they can ever come back here and live. And that is a terrible thing to consider because I do, as much as we are all happy about this and wanted this so badly and deserve this because they earned where they are. with respect. I'm talking about professionally. They earned where they are professionally. You know, this was not anything other than what they did and primarily what he did for a quarter of a century. But they are, you know, they are parents. They are sons and daughters. And I can't imagine being a pariah in my own hometown. Look, I have made, I have made this comparison and drawn this analogy to over the years saying,

Dan Snyder is probably the most despised Washingtonian that isn't a politician since John Wilkes Booth. And I felt, you know, it was always in the fit of some sort of rant or rage or passionate, you know, take because I would get myself, you know, as one of my emailers said recently, bent so sideways. and I and that even was I think maybe a little bit over the line because I do think over the years we focused

and I can only speak for us it was much more of a it was much more about him professionally than personally because I've never met him before I shouldn't say that I've met him once or twice I have no idea what he's like personally I've heard stories and they're not good ones I've not heard many good stories.

I haven't heard one good story. Not one. That's not true. The way he treated some of his high-level players and took care of them, you know, and handled the Sean Taylor thing. We were talking about this last week. That's because he's a jocksniff. Of course.

Yeah, that was apparent from pretty much early on. Yeah. Yeah. It was back to Friday, though, I was really impressed. with Josh Harris, and Mitchell Rails's three minutes may have been the best three minutes of the whole press conference. Just to see Magic up there representing my hometown team, because I'm like you, such a massive Magic fan. I hope he's really involved. I mean, I can imagine a scenario where Magic is very influential in the stadium, in D.C., with politicians.

and, by the way, with tax-paying citizens. You know, right now, D.C., Virginia, or Maryland, are you still stuck on Maryland, or do you feel differently over the last couple of days? I still think it's going to be Maryland. Look, I don't think it's going to be anybody for a long time. Yeah. But I think it's going to be Maryland.

It's still the path of least resistance. So you're right about magic. They're going to need him to be influential in the district because right now there's no taste for this financially. And I just don't see it. I see it being very difficult. I never took Virginia seriously. I still don't take Virginia seriously. I think it's going to wind up in Maryland still.

It won't be because of Dan Snyder anymore, at least. That's one big roadblock out of the way. You know, about Magic? You know what I was thinking? This town now will have had Michael Jordan as an owner, and now Magic Johnson as an owner. Yeah, I didn't think about that. That's pretty cool.

But we better have something to show for it. Between two of the biggest stars of the history of the NBA, one of them was not a very good. in the front office when he was here. And we hope we get better results out of magic. The only thing magic's failed at was a late-night TV show since his career ended. Everything else has pretty much turned to gold. And I don't know, it's funny.

Like, I remember being very excited about Michael Jordan coming here. I remember being really excited when Michael Jordan decided to come back and play for the team. Yeah. But Magic has a chance to really make an impact as, you know, a minority owner. I'm talking more about his stake in the team. He's also a minority as well. But I think that I hope that I'm not underselling Magic's potential influence. If I am, it's because Magic doesn't have the time to be the influencer that he said that he wants to be. You know, Tom, friend, who has written and covered the NBA a lot over the years, knows Magic pretty well. And he told me the other day, what a huge NFL fan. Magic has always been.

Magic apparently back in the day would say, look, you've got to clear my schedule on Sundays. I'm watching the NFL. Like, he is a big, big NFL fan. And this is his first venture into the NFL. So, you know, the other thing Tommy, too, and I don't know if I emphasize this enough the last couple of days. And in listening to Josh Harris's podcast interview with Adam Schefter, it was even more obvious. If you're a Sixers fan or a Devils fan, understand that the Washington football franchise is Josh Harris's top priority.

That's his personal preference of anything he owns. Now, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing because, you know, Snyder claimed to be this big fan too. And I don't really care if Josh Harris is a fan or not. I care that the people that are in the organization know the organization, know the history of the organization, have a feel for the fan base. And I can already tell that they understand the issues that are important to the majority of us. I But you know

A lot of people have made the The comp to Well Snyder talked about what a big fan he was And he was mentioning Sunny and Sam And every you know all of the great plays Et cetera when when he took control the team But Dan was 34 years old And Josh is 58 in his own sports teams

And does not appear at least This is first gut To have the ego That Snyder had I mean he is he is not By the way Tommy they never mentioned the Snyders once. Still haven't mentioned them by name. There have been a couple of slights, you know, towards the past, but they haven't gone to that, you know, point of taking the low road

on the Snyders either. They haven't done that. I actually think they've handled that part beautifully. But I think this organization, look, just in the last three years, with big decisions that have been made as it relates to this franchise. we didn't have anybody in the franchise that had any understanding of the franchise. The Jason Wrights and the Will Missile Brooks of the world. I mean, like I've said, this was a hit-and-run job, and they need people in the organization. We've talked about this forever that understand the past.

Don't ignore it at all. I mean, you can be focused on the future and not ignore the importance of the past to your customer. base. And I just, I feel much better about the group that's there now. Okay. Subject to change. Let me, let me offer my, uh, my, uh, advice here on this. Okay. For the organization. And if you know somebody in the ownership group, please pass this on to him. I think it's a pretty good idea. Because the organization, other than, I mean, you know, Mitchell Rails knows about the history of the team. Josh Harris does. But inside the building, there's no institutional knowledge.

Okay. I would suggest creating a historical advisory board. Okay. It's not a paid operation. The volunteer board appointed of people in the media, such as yourself, Glenn Shapiro, you know, Mike Richmond, Andy Pollan, maybe more, and a couple of ex-players. Doc. You know, Brian Mitchell, a few ex-players, to basically run some of these decisions by, not the day-by-day decisions, but the important decisions out there that are, you know, in terms of presenting the history of this team. I would suggest creating a historical advisory board that they have no institutional knowledge and ability. Well, you know this. I, you know, not in a presumptuous way, not in a pushy way at all. But in conversations, certainly over the last three years, I have offered

the people out there any help they need when it comes to some of these things where they don't have that institutional or historical knowledge. And if they don't want me, I can recommend two or three or four other people. And what we typically got over the last three years after the mistakes were made, damn, I should have probably reached out to you before we did this thing. But anyway, yeah, that would be great. Now, again, I think with most of the limited partners, I think a majority of them are from here and live here. That may not be true, but there's a significant percentage of the ownership group

that is either from here or lives here. And so there is going to be a sense, I bet, that they have, that they know and have the answers. I hope they do. I do think it goes beyond just living here and being a fan of the team. I think there's, you know, I mean, you've written books about the team. I don't know that there are many people, you know, I can name a couple of them that can, you know, rip off the moments and the games and the players and the names like I can from the past and and have a sense and a connection, by the way, to the fan base like we have through the various shows that we've done.

That's why I think this would be a good suggestion for them to consider. Now, you talked about their knowledge. I mean, let's remember, Mitchell Rails started a sports talk radio station in this town. I know. I know. So obviously, he must have a strong working knowledge of the impact of this team in this community, over the year. Here's one thing, though, I would suggest to you in thinking that. I think it's very possible that, like, a lot of fans, some of those people have checked out. Like, it would not surprise me if, you know, Mitchell Rails, even though he was great the other day and emotional

and humbled by the whole thing, if Snyder turned him off. Turn me off, all right? You know, But I have a gig here where I have stayed immersed in everything that's gone on with this team because of the job. Look, I have friends, Tommy, that have been checked out for several years now. And when I say checked out, they can't really even identify, you know, the games, the players of the last four or five years. You know, they know Rivera's the coach and they know about Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissette and Terry McClure. and John Allen, but, you know, they're not, they have other things to do on Sundays. You know, this team, what they do doesn't, you know, get scheduled based on a one o'clock or a four o'clock kick on Sundays during the fall anymore.

And it hasn't for a while. Anyway, I want to talk about some of the things that Ron Rivera said yesterday about quarterback. We will get to that right after these words from a few of them. our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by the Circa Million and the Circa Survivor Pools in Vegas. I am heading out to Vegas.

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You pick one team straight up, no point spread every week. You can only pick the same team once per season. Once they lose, you're out. If they tie, you're out as well. But the person standing at the end will win or share in an $8 million first prize. Last year, two winners split a $6 million first prize. 14 million in guaranteed prizes, no rakes. So if the entries go above the guarantee, all the extra money will go into the prize pool.

Entries are available and open until September 9th at 2 p.m. you must register at a circus sports book in Nevada. Weekly picks can be made from anywhere through a proxy. So Ron Rivera held this press conference yesterday. We played one of the sound bites for you coming into the show. I want to play now for you, the part of the press conference, where he was asked questions that led to answers regarding the quarterback. This was the first one on what the biggest question mark

this season is. Well, I think more so anything else is, is it's going to obviously start with the quarterback position. I mean, that's about as big a question, broader question as it gets. Has Sam grown and developed enough to help us take the next step? Is Jacoby ready to go and compete? And if he gets that chance, will he take us up to the next level? So again, it is a big, broad question, but it does start with that position. And that really probably is the biggest thing. Did he just leave the door open a little bit for Jacoby Brissette to be the starter, Tommy? Look, it depends. Any day that ends in a Y, this guy says a different thing about the quarterback position.

Okay. So, look, I'm a big, I like you, pay attention to what these guys say, you know, and look for little clues in there. but he's so hard to decipher. I mean, you know, I mean, I've got quotes talking about, you know, somebody asked him about the quarterback position. He said, I think it's pretty stable, you know. Now he's saying it's, you know, their biggest question, you know,

going in the camp. So I don't know what to think. I still think, I have my long-shot prediction that Jacoby percent will outperform, Sam Howe, in training camp and in preseason games to the point where they are not going to be able to ignore him as the starter for game one. A very important game. A huge game.

It is a big game. They can't lose the opener. No, you can't lose to a team that you're expected to beat. In front of these fans that are going to be so. pumped up, so ready for their team to win, and it will be like a giant needle

stuck in a big balloon if you can't win the over. So you've got to play the quarterback that gives you the best chance to do that. Not the quarterback who you think is going to be better in December. You've got to win the first game.

Here's the other Sam Howell specific quote. from Ron Rivera. On what he needs to see from Sam, Hal, this is what he said. You know, there are some positions that guys have to grow and mature in, most notably the quarterback position,

you know, with how Sam has worked and how Jacoby has worked. I think we feel very comfortable with those guys. We like who they are. We like the development and growth. We'll be watching that one, obviously, very closely. And, you know, just as positions mature. He also said about Sam at one point during the presser yesterday that, you know, referenced once again his ability, Tommy, to kind of self-correct. You know, that was a headline a few weeks ago or during training, you know, during mini camp and OTA days.

Him and Eric B. Enemy. Same thing. Whenever they're asked about the quarterback, the one thing they keep saying is he corrects his mistakes. Well, he must have a lot of mistakes, but that's all they can talk about. Okay. So I agree with you that if you're curious about what Ron said today and you're trying to figure it out just wait a day because it might be completely different tomorrow. But here's what I think the situation is. Sam Howe right now is the starting quarterback. However, you can't tell me that as we go through training camp, and at least two preseason games where the quarterbacks will play, that if there is a massive difference between Jacoby Brissette and Sam Howell, to the point where coaches and players alike are like, if we do this, it's going to be rough for a while.

And there's no guarantee that it'll pay off in the end. if there is a massive difference and you, you know, you added something to the equation here, which is new ownership, he's got a lot to prove, an opener where if you lose that, you're staring 0 and 4 in the face and probably your job at that point. Or certainly that would be the conversation in town. I think anybody that believes that the chances are 0% that Jacoby Brissette starts, the opener. I think you're way, way off on that and very, very naive. Again, I think as long as Sam goes out and remains in the mix with Jacoby Berset, maybe Berset, you know, has more of an authoritative feel

to him because he's been in an NFL huddle and he's more talkative and more demonstrative and, you know, and maybe even picks up the offense a little bit faster, but man, Sam, there are just flashes, like big-time gun, look at him, get away from that pressure. As long as he's in the race, you know, and he doesn't fall far behind, I think he's going to start the opener and he's going to be given a chance. But I don't think that the chances are zero that Jacoby Brissette outshines him by a lot and forces Rivera and Bianami's hand. So to me, this is a thing that's going to unfold over the next month.

I favor Sam Hal starting the opener by a lot. Trust me, I think it's 90%, maybe 80%. I'll say 80%, because that's a pretty, you know, it's pretty confident. But I think there's a one in five chance that Sam Hal, by the way, Brissette's not going to start because Brissette's great and Sam Hal isn't. Brissette's going to start because Sam Howell isn't anywhere near ready enough and everybody realizes it. And I think that that's in play. I don't know why anybody would suggest that that's not a possibility. Although Tommy, I did this thing on the show yesterday and I put out a Twitter question as well,

kind of on a scale of one to ten, one being there's no. chance at Sam Hal is the quarterback of the future. Ten, you're absolutely kind of convinced that he's going to prove that he's the quarterback and he's the long-term answer. You know, many more people are positive about Sam Hal than negative. I mean, it's amazing to me how, I mean, it seems to me in the calls I took and even in the Twitter response, and I didn't do an actual poll, but it's like 75% of the people are really sure that Sam Hal is the future at quarterback. I don't know why. I don't know why people are so convinced to that. They might be right. They might be right. But I gave it a three, by the way, just so you know. I gave my confidence level that he's the quarterback of the

future is a three. It's not a one. It's not a two because he's got talent. He's got a skill set that fits today's game. He actually has a skill set that fits the Kansas City offensive approach, if that's what Eric B. Enemy's bringing here. And he's got some weapons that can help make them look good here. But it's a three. That's as high as I could go. You know, I agree with that. I'd say a three would be accurate.

What, again, it would be frustrating for me as a fan is, I mean, this coach has mishandled the quarterback position from the days arrived. And if they thought that Sam Howe really was the guy, they could have eased him in during the season. Of course. They didn't have to declare that he was going to be the quarterback number one, I guess, you know, as a distraction, you know, from the Carson Wentz debacle. I guess, you know, you could argue they did it. That's why they did it.

But they could have started Jacoby with the idea that at some point, Sam Howe's going to step in, which would have been better for him, better for everybody concerned. Yeah, I completely agree with that. There is a lot of hoping. And even in Ron's first answer, you know, when he says that this is the biggest question mark of the season, the quarterback, and has Sam Hal grown? I mean, he didn't make a statement in his answer. Everything was a question after saying, I think, more than anything else, it starts with the quarterback position. Has Sam grown and developed enough to help us take the next step? But they don't know.

They're hoping. They don't know for sure. And they shouldn't know for sure. If they knew for sure, he would have played before Wentz played. He would have played at the end of the season. Or he certainly, and even if that's not the case, and maybe that's unfair because, you know, they were in a playoff hunt and he's a rookie and they may, they just wanted to put the veteran back in there. but they certainly wouldn't have hesitated, which they did, before a meaningless season finale

against the Cowboys. If they were sure that this guy's got it and that there's a really good chance, then once they were eliminated, it would have been like, no, Sam's getting the start. We've seen him grow during the year. We've watched him in practice. He's got a big gun. He can really make the throws. He's mobile.

We want to see him in a real game, and he's going to start and play against him. the Cowboys so we can start to evaluate Sam. But that's not what happened. They were unsure before that game. And there's no reason why that game should make them more sure. He was fine during the game. We've talked about this a million times. But there's nothing about that game that should have had them coming out of it saying,

whoa, we got it. We found it. He's the guy. No. 11 completions does not make in one game against, a disinterested opponent, even though they had something to play for technically, does not make somebody change their mind on a guy in one game. They don't know, I think, what we heard from Ron yesterday,

and maybe we'll hear something different today and tomorrow, but I think the truth is they don't know they're just hoping. And the unknown right now is probably better than anything else because Jacoby Berset, over a period of time, is proven to be a really good, high-quality backup quarterback. And he's not the answer long-term either. So let's hope that Sam is. But if Sam doesn't keep pace with Brissette or exceed Brissette,

and he falls way behind Brissette, don't think that they're going to throw him in there against the Cardinals if he's just not ready. and the other guy is much more ready. I don't believe that at all. I think if they get to that point over the next month, Brissette will be in the starting lineup. So I've got Sam Hal being the long-term answer at a three

on a scale of 1 to 10, and I've got an 80% chance Sam Hal starts the opener, a 20% chance that Brissette starts the opener. You've got a 3 on Hal being the long-term, and what's your percent breakdown on the starter for the opener? Well, when I've discussed percent being the starter, I've called it a long-shot prediction. Yeah. That would be to quantify that.

80-20. Okay. I mean, I would say maybe 75-25. Okay. Woo. Would be the starter. Okay. I mean, I've called it a long-shot prediction all along.

I know. I mean, you've couched it perfectly. You know, if he's not the starter, it was a long-shot prediction. And if he is the starter, you can dance around. and sing about how right you were. You're brilliant that way. All right, let's finish up the show with a few things, including the movie

that I went to the other night. It was a long one. Oppenheimer. Talk about that with Tommy when we return, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. You know, Key West, where I was for the Hemingway contest, used to be one of the richest cities in all Florida.

Yeah. In the early days of the history of the state. And we went to the Key West Museum while we were down there, and they had an exhibit about cigars, because the manufacturing of cigars was the number one business in Key West in those days. And they had some interesting stuff. You know, look, it was a museum, and in a way, I've always said Shelley's backroom, it's kind of like a museum, quote a like a different, a different Smithsonian in the sense that it's the only place in town

where you can enjoy a quality drink and smoke a quality cigar at the same time. There's no other place in Washington where you can do that, okay? And when you walk into Shelley's, when you walk in the door, you'll see they have cigar boxes on display, empty cigar boxes as a decorative thing. And cigar boxes are very decorative. Right. They're usually very colorful, you know, nice artwork and stuff. Well, I learned at the museum, before the Civil War, cigars came in bundles. Okay?

They didn't come in boxes. but they were so hard to keep track of and put taxes on, the government passed a law that required them to be packed in boxes. That's how cigar boxes came along. Why was it important that they be packed in boxes? Well, so they could keep count of them. Oh, got it. See, okay.

Yeah, so they could count them for tax. So it was like cases and, yeah, okay. Yes, and then cigar boxes became this huge deal. and became like an artistic expression in a way of the cigar manufacturing business. That's a nugget that you're not going to get anyplace else. So when you walk in the Shelley's and you see those cigar boxes, you can share with your friend, hey, this wasn't always the way they sold cigars. This is why they did it.

This is the kind of information you get when you're talking to one of Shelley's favorite customers, Tom Leverro. Shelly's Backroom, 1331 F Street Northwest in the district, and shelley's backroom.com for more information. The best place to hang out, and Tommy didn't even touch on the menu today, but the menu, really good food. So today is the first day of practice at training camp. Tomorrow, first day for the fans to be out there.

They put those bleachers out there, Tommy. Did you see those? Yeah, they look great. Yeah. That's cool. I was told that the plan was for bleachers long before the sale was finalized, in part because there was a chance they might get hard knocks. So, you know, for those of you, including me, who tried to credit new ownership for taking care of the fans at training camp, apparently that plan was already in planning. But practice, by the time you listen to this podcast, the first practice will be over.

Josh Harris is out at training camp as they are practicing here this morning as we're recording the podcast. They go in relatively healthy across the board for the most part. Duran Payne, a little bit banged up, but nothing serious. They added wide receiver Byron Pringle yesterday. That reunites Pringle with Eric Biener. Pringle spent his first three years with Kansas City with Bienemy as the O.C. There, he had 67 catches for 898 yards and seven touchdowns in 46 games with the Chiefs. He was in Chicago last year, caught 10 balls for 135 yards.

Let me just make sure that you guys understand, this is my opinion. This is not just the adding of a training camp wide receiver. Byron Pringle has, you know, kind of like with Marcus Kemp, he's got a history with Eric B. Enemy, and he has produced in this league enough to take him seriously heading into training camp as a potential final receiver on the roster. We know it's McLaren, Dotson, and Samuel. I would think Diami Brown, you know, is somewhat safe. And I think personally, Marcus Kemp, because of the size, is the, you know, is the, Cam Sims replacement.

But guys like Dax Milne and some others that are in there, Kaz Allen, who we've liked as a potential return guy, Pringle doesn't get added just as another body. Doesn't mean he's going to stick, but it means that they think that he's got a chance to make this roster. And more importantly, he thinks and has been told he's got a chance to make this roster or he would have signed a one-year deal with someone else, more likely. than not. But anyway, we are off and running. I can't wait for this upcoming season when we can

start talking about games again. But for the next few weeks, obviously we will be talking about some of these training camp practices and following the day-to-day for sure. So Tommy, I did want to tell you, we did not, I think you had left before I talked about quarterback the Netflix series. Did I talk to you about that or not? I forget. Yeah. Okay, I think you'd enjoy it. Everybody that listens to this podcast has thanked me over the last week for recommending it.

It's great. Kirk Cousins is the star of the show, believe it or not. But that's good. But I did go see Oppenheimer on Monday night. And I was looking forward to going to see Oppenheimer. The tickets had been impossible. The first couple of nights couldn't get any tickets unless you wanted to see. sit like in the first three rows. I can't sit in the first three rows of a movie theater.

But I went the other night to see Oppenheimer, which for those of you that don't know, I mean, I don't know. I think the debut of the opening weekend of Oppenheimer and Barbie, I think, was one of the biggest opening weekends for the movies ever. I think Oppenheimer may have broken records for the opening weekend for a movie. But this is the, you know, this is the biographical movie about the Manhattan Project, which was the development and building of the atomic bomb out at Los Alamos in New Mexico with Robert Oppenheimer, a physicist, a scientist, as the leader of that project. So I talked about this a little bit on radio and some people reached out and said, man, I liked it more than you did she in. I'd give it for,

stars on the five star scale, maybe a four and a half. I've heard people say it's the best biographical thriller ever. I don't see that at all. I mean, it's very long, Tommy. It's a three-hour movie. Now, it didn't feel that long, but it's still three hours. That's a long movie. It was very well done. The acting was sensational for me, and I have watched many a documentary on the Manhattan Project. I thought at

times it was difficult to follow. And that could have been me, but I know some of the names in this story. And I just didn't think that they did a great job necessarily sort of connecting and weaving the story together.

Just my opinion, it may be one of those movies. I'll see for a second time, and I'll think completely differently about it. But it was good. It was really good. It's not that I'm not recommending it, but I was not blown away like many other people have been. And I'm a Christopher Nolan fan. I loved Dunkirk. I loved insomnia, you know, thinking about some of the movies. The Dark Night is, it was a Christopher Nolan movie. Inception was to, I'm not the biggest Inception guy of all time. But it's worth seeing.

Is this on your list? I would think that this would be a movie that would be on your list. Yeah, it would be. I probably won't get a chance to see it until it comes on television. Have you ever seen Fat Man and Little Boy? No. What is that? It was a movie made back in the 80s or 90s with Paul Newman.

and it's about the Manhattan Project. Did not see that. It got lukewarm reviews. I liked it a lot. John Cusack is in it. I forget the other people. Laura Dern is in it. And I thought it was pretty well done, but it got...

Is it the story of Oppenheimer or not? Yeah, it's a big part of it. It's him and Graves. Yeah. Him and General Graves. It's a story of those, too. And John Cusack plays one of the scientists there. So I've learned a lot about it from watching that movie.

And I'd still recommend it to anyone who's seen Oppenheimer. It's called Fat Man and Little Boy. And Paul Newman plays General Graves. I guess Matt Damon does in Oppenheimer, right? Groves, yeah. Matt Damon, it's General Groves, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to check that out.

I'm, I just, hold on. You, you did mention it. Okay. John Cusack, Laura Dern. Fred Thompson. Is Fred Thompson still alive or not? No. He died, right?

He died, unfortunately. Um, I mean, Fred Thompson was in, God, it's, he was in, he was in the, uh, in the, in the Mel Gibson, um, Glover movies. Right? Wasn't he? Or am I thinking of Die Hard? What was Fred Thompson in? Was he in Die Hard?

He was in a lot of different movies. He was in a lot of movies. Yeah. He was a Watergate lawyer. I know. Fred Thompson was a Watergate lawyer. Right, in the 70s. He was an actor.

Right. And a movie called Marie. And it was a true story based about the governor of Tennessee, who was a woman who under, of Marie something, who uncovered all kinds of corruption. And he had been, I guess, the lawyer in Tennessee helping her with this. And then he wound up acting in the movie. And that launched his whole career.

Then he became a senator and ran for president. A hell of a life. Yeah. So I just pulled up his filmography. It was Die Hard, too, that he was in. And that was one of the first movies. but he was also in that movie the Clint Eastwood in the line of fire,

the Malkovich movie. He was in that. He played, remember, the White House Chief of Staff in that movie. He had a lot of those kinds of roles in movies. He died in 2015.

And, yeah. All right. He was in Law & Order. He played a district attorney for a couple of seasons in Law and Order. Wow. All right, anything else? We'll be together again on Friday,

and then you begin your half summer in Spain, which maybe, you know, we can arrange a couple of calls while you're away, maybe. You know, actually, I'm calling it my Danny decompression retreat. Uh-huh. Yeah. I mean, you're so stressed with all the people you have to report to. All right. Good job. Great to have you back. We'll be back on Friday. I'll have somebody on the show tomorrow and we'll certainly recap the first full day of training camp.