The Kevin Sheehan Show - Can't Lose To Indy....Right?

Episode Date: October 27, 2022

Kevin and Thom today on a higher-level expectation game for Washington than they've had since early in the season. Indy is starting a bubble-wrapped QB on Sunday and all of the sudden a .500 record seems more than possible. But what if they don't win? The boys discuss. Plenty on various Snyder stories/angles along with a "Smell Test" pick from Kevin for tonight's Tampa Bay-Baltimore game. Thom had his Commanders-Colts pick and both gave their World Series predictions too.  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 Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. I'm here. Tommy is here. The show today presented by our good friends at My Booky this weekend. Jake Paul and Anderson Silva highlight the main event of what could be the biggest boxing pay-per-view event of the year.

Whether you're a diehard or a casual fan, every punch that lands could be another win at My Booky. Predict individual matchups, bet on the fight-per-view. to go the distance or bet on one of Tommy's personal favorites, he'll tell us in a second in this fight, for a much bigger payout, maybe a fighter to win by knockout. No sport is as fun to bet as combat sports, and no sports book book gives you more ways to win than MyBooky. And for a limited time only, join the My Booky family, and you'll have your deposit matched halfway up to $1,000. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. on sign up to claim your bonus, bet anything, anytime, anywhere with My Bookie. Do you have a preference in this fight?

Well, I mean, I would prefer the guy who has a legitimate background in Anderson Silva. Right. He's the former MMA champion, a great MMA champion, but he's well past it. I mean, he's got to be in his late 40s, maybe even, I don't know, mid-fort being something like that. And he's fighting Jake Paul, who has carved out a profitable niche for himself. in this novelty boxing scheme, and he's literally undefeated in every fight he's fought. I think he's 5-0 or 6-0 or something like that. So it's captured the interest of a lot of people.

You know, I just, it's so funny with these fights. You know how much I used to be into boxing? And by the way, there was no better weekend than the November or late October weekend to be out in vain. I was out there many times during football season for a big fight and a football weekend with a bunch of friends. That was so much fun. Those weekends were epic because you get out there on Friday, late Friday, and everybody would meet down at the bar and then we'd start gambling. And then somebody would say, wait a minute, there's still one more game left on the board. It's the Canucks and the Ducks are going in about three minutes.

And they're dropping the puck and then we'd all fire in on. one side or another. And then it was college football the next day and then the fight, whatever the fight was that night and then the whole NFL Sunday the following day. Those were always, those were great days. Missed those those days. But if you're wondering about the fight odds at my bookie, Jake Paul is a minus 212 favorite to win the fight. Hey, we've gotten some really good reviews. So many of you have really you've been coachable. We've asked you if you

haven't reviewed and rated the show to do it and you're doing it and it's much appreciated, especially on Apple where they keep, you know, a running, you know, sort of billboard chart of the top rated podcasts. And we do pretty well. We do very well in

some countries that you wouldn't even think that we would do well in. But this is from a fan in Glendale, California. first listen to Kevin and Tom on 980 taking my daughter back to school in the summer when Tony took the summer off. Yeah, he always took the summer off. Still a loyal listener,

and thanks to the two of you and Cooley, I know more about D.C. sports than I do about L.A. sports. You're way better than anything out here. My daughter lives in Bethesda now and looking forward to getting back to Balducci's for some more crumb cake and hopefully buying you all around at Shelley's.

Thank you from Glendale, California. Much appreciated. And rate us and review us on Apple and Spotify. And anywhere else you can rate and review the podcast. I have a question for you and we'll get right to some football. If Washington loses on Sunday at Indianapolis, do you think it would be a deflating loss? I don't want to call it a should win

because they're an underdog in this game. You know, I'm sorry, but when you're an underdog in a game, even though some of you don't really subscribe to the whole point spread thing, it's not a should-win game when you are an underdog, but is it a deflating loss if they lose to Indianapolis with a first-ever NFL starter, Sam Ealinger? Okay, well, let me ask you a question to answer that question. is deflating and disappointing the same thing because it's not to me?

I think they're pretty damn close. Yeah, I mean, and maybe that's the way I meant it. To me, there's the last, winning two in a row, there's a building sort of momentum and excitement, and Taylor Heineke has a lot to do with that. And they're playing, you know, it's not your schedule. It's who you're playing. It's much more about when you play them than who you're playing. And they got, you know, a break in playing the Packers who are a mess right now.

And they're playing the Colts who are starting a third string quarterback. He was third string three weeks ago for his first ever NFL start. And so I think there is, even though they're an underdog, this expectation of they're going to be 500. And they're going to be right back in this thing. And so I think deflating is like, oh, it's the, it's the, it's the, air out of the balloon, which is starting to fill right now. And I think it's, I don't know, it's sort of the same as disappointing to me. But whatever, how do you want to describe it?

I would say it would be a disappointing defeat, which I think the expectations are there. I don't think they're high. Okay. I think deflating would mean like you're kind of like pumped up. I think you're interested. I don't think people are pumped up. I think they have a level of expectation that the team will win, and that will mean something.

They're still not sure what. All right. Well, let me go with the deflate here a minute. I think what it is that I have this sense is that people are getting excited about the possibility of being 500 and being legitimately back into a season. and a loss would completely kind of diminish that feeling right now, deflate that feeling right now. You know, it would really be kind of a feeling like,

oh, we got all excited there for two weeks for nothing. They really aren't very good. I mean, you lose to Sam Ellinger and the Colts who aren't very good, and now you're three and five. I mean, this is really headed to like six wins, maybe seven, versus a win, which is like, wow, here we go. We got a chance to win eight, nine games and be in the postseason. I think it's, I think that there are a lot of people that have an expectation of them winning and getting to four and four. And I think it's a surprising feeling because two weeks ago, clearly, you know, two weeks ago tonight, they were getting ready to play Chicago.

And there was the thought that they could easily lose that game to fall to one in five. and then everybody's, you know, potentially going to get fired, and there's going to be a new quarterback next year, and there's going to be a new everything. And instead, you know, when you win two in a row in this league, it turns it turns it around quickly, especially in a conference right now and in a league that's so tight other than a few teams.

I mean, everybody seems to be three and four or four and three. And I think that, I think the expectations are tempered, at least by reasonable people, by the opponents that they played the last two weeks. I think most people expected them to beat Chicago. Okay. And I think they were disappointed by the win in the manner of which they played. Okay. And then they turned around and beat a Packers team that was clearly compromised by Aaron Rogers' situation.

So I think people, smart people have tempered their enthusiasm that say, okay, let's see how they do against the Viking. Your whole tone on this is a little bit surprising because the reason for those that would feel deflated on Sunday night if they lost to the Colts is Taylor Heineke as much as it is the back-to-back wins. And that's where you've been kind of. You are not that you're a fan of the team, but you have this sense of, oh, they're much of. better off right now. So if he goes to Indianapolis and let's just say part of the loss is that he doesn't play well, then this newfound hope of two wins in a row and by the way, a better suited

quarterback for this team right now, it's the air out of the balloon. That is a bit, when you throw in the caveat that the loss is partly on him, then that is the air out of the balloon. but I don't think it's a big balloon, okay? It's not some big hot air balloon. It's the kind of balloon you buy it, the giant, you know, for your kid's birthday kind of balloon. Is it the kind of balloons that Jim and Dwight half blow up for Kelly's fake birthday party?

Yes. Yes. Those balloons. That was Dwight who did that, but not Jim. Absolutely. Those balloons right there. So, I mean, I just don't think there's as much excitement as, you know, look, you probably know better at me. You talk to more fans than I do on your radio show.

But people who are going to call the radio show are generally going to be excited one way or the other. So, but I just have a sense. My sense would be that smart people would think that they have a chance to win Sunday. And if they win, all that means is they're back to 500, and then they're going to. got to play a couple of teams that will probably beat them. Yeah, I feel differently. I feel like there is really a sense that, come on, I mean, you know, they're better at quarterback right now. And, you know, I'm not saying that those that feel that they're, you know, I think the reasonable approach by most people, not everybody, is, you know, the approach that they may be better off, that he's a

better fit, that he's, you know, got more experience that Scott Turner knows what he has and therefore he might even be better with Taylor in there, that the team clearly believes in him. They love them very much. But at the same time, he's not the long-term answer. But in the short term, you know, they should beat Indianapolis. And by the way, Minnesota's been playing games like the Giants have been. Not exactly, but, you know, they're playing a lot of close games. So who knows?

Maybe you come home and you beat cousins. And now you're five and four. And, you know, nine and eight is probably going to, you know, I was talking about this earlier on my radio show with Denton, my producer. You know, the Giants are six and one right now. And I asked him the question, the Giants are the Jets. Who's the most likely to make the postseason?

And he said the Giants, and I think I would say the Giants too. And the reason is they have like the Seahawks and the Tex, well, the Seahawks are a big game. They have the Texans and the Lions. They have Washington twice. They've already got six wins. They only need three more to more likely than not, have a really good position to snag the seven seed.

Like, nine and eight will likely be the seven seed record. And if it's not nine and eight, it'll be 10 and 7. It's not going to be better than 10 and 7. So from that standpoint, they only need four more wins. And they still have 10 games left. So if they go four and six the rest of the way, they're a lock to make the postseason. A lock. And so, you know, and I think if Washington gets to four and four,

people are going to start doing that exercise with Washington. They're going to be like, whoa, they have Houston coming up, they have Atlanta. You know, they have a game late in the year against the Browns. They have two games against the Giants. They'll actually think the games against the Giants are like equal matchups. And then they got the Cowboys at the end of the year.

That's not reasonable thoughts. Well, I didn't say that they would be reasonable. Okay, okay. Well, there's a lot of morons out there that thought they would win 12 games this year. Is that going to be the template? I think there are a lot of people that are going to be deflated on Sunday night. I don't have a good feeling about this game, and I've had a really good feeling.

I've had a really good feeling, as you know, I thought that they were going to play Philadelphia tough. I thought they were going to play Dallas tough. I thought they were going to beat Tennessee. I thought they were going to beat Chicago, and I thought that the Green Bay game was going to come down to a field goal either way. I have essentially picked them to have a chance to win and to cover. five games in a row. And they haven't. They didn't cover against the Eagles.

They didn't cover against the Cowboys. They didn't cover against the Titans. They did cover against the Bears. They did cover against the Packers. I just can't get over the fact that the Colts are still sitting there as a three-point favorite. That doesn't. Okay. Well, that there's something, you think that there's something going on based on the point spread.

I do. And you have, you have a reason to believe that. I mean, that comes from years of taking beatings. Okay, so can I give you the analysis on why they're a three-point favorite? Yeah. Indianapolis is pretty damn good on defense, too. You know, I spent some time talking about Washington's defense, and is it a good defense or is it just a defense that's played well against bad opponents?

If you actually really look at their last five games, it's been a good defense and an excellent run defense. I mean, they're the only team. is shut down the Eagles and the Cowboys on the ground. And that was before we started talking about two wins in a row over two really bad and limited offensive teams. So I think Washington's a good defensive team. There's certainly a good rush defense.

Indianapolis is a pretty damn good defensive team too. And they're getting Leonard back into the lineup. So I think that the Colts are going to be capable of perhaps slowing Washington. down. By the way, they should probably play Washington the same way Washington will play Ailinger. I see a very kind of low-scoring game, you know, like I've predicted all of these games here recently to be low-scoring, and they have been with the exception of, you know, 23-21 actually went over the total last week. Washington and Indy have the lowest total on the board right now at 39 for all of the games this weekend. They're a couple that are close.

I just think Indy's really good on defense. It'll be, you know, it's not Dallas on defense. It's not Philly on defense, but they're better on defense than the Packers and the Bears. I actually think the Packers have talent on defense, but they just haven't played well. So if they move the football, by the way, Washington does, and they score points, I'm going to be impressed this week on the road against a good defensive team. Now, if Washington keeps, you know, if the course, Colts go 0 for six on third down and they keep turning the ball back over to Washington's

offense for chances, then you can eventually wear the other team down. There was some of that involved last week. But I think that the odds makers are looking at this saying, Matt Ryan was committing all of these turnovers, and if Ailinger just doesn't turn the ball over, then their defense will keep a minute and win the game against Washington. I think that's what they're thinking. So I think this is a tough game Sunday. Well, I think they're all tough games for them.

Yes. Look, at the Bears was an unbelievable tough games. But that was Carson Wentz. And now, yeah. So I just think they're all going to be tough games. Yeah. You know, like a lot of NFL games that we see. But I don't have the same gloom and doom that you do, the same, not gloom and doom,

but the same fearful feeling about the outcome on Sunday. Again, I think they'll get back to the start. They'll be at 500 like the season starting again, and then they'll take a beating for a while, and they'll wind up maybe with eight wins if they're lucky. Okay. You know, and that's who we thought they would be, no matter who is quarterback.

If they're going to get to eight, they've got to win Sunday. If they're going to get to eight, they've got to win Sunday. Yeah, yeah, you're right. You know, because if they don't get to eight, they've got nine left, that means they've got to go five and four over their final nine. Yeah, you're right. They do have to win Sunday. I don't know if that happens.

Okay. So I wanted to play this sound. First of all, there were some NFL things yesterday. The Eagles are something else, man. Howie Roseman. Yes, they are, aren't they? Howie Roseman really is, you know, one of the best wheeler and dealer general managers in the game. I mean, they traded a fourth rounder for Robert Quinn, and the bears are picking up his salary.

Adam Schaefter tweeted out, even after trading for Robert Quinn today, C.J. Gardner Johnson last summer, and A.J. Brown and Jordan Davis on draft day, that was the selection. They moved up to take Jordan Davis. The Eagles are still scheduled to have six picks in the 2023 drafting. two in the first round. Theirs and the Saints pick. Yeah, he is, I saw Andrew Brandt tweet something out. I want to read it real quickly about Howie Roseman and the Eagles. It's kind of interesting. Andrew Brandt, the former president of the Green Bay Packers for years.

He said, Howie Roseman's roasting of young general managers should draw some sort of legislation. He also had, there was something else in here, he tweeted. Whatever. It's essentially, you know, Roseman's playing chess versus everybody else playing checkers. The Eagles just added Robert Quinn. You know, they lost Eric Barnett earlier in the year. They certainly have an excellent defense.

They just added a guy that's really capable. Now, he's been a little bit inconsistent recently, but he's also not been on great teams. And the Eagles are set up. And he won't be asked to do as much. as he was where in Chicago? That's right. He was in Chicago. He won't play as much.

You know, he'll be more rested. He'll be healthier. It's a better fit for him. Right. So that happened in the NFL yesterday. And I think we're going to have a very active trade line. We've kind of already trade deadline. We've already kind of had it.

You know, the NFL in recent years has become not baseball, but so much different than it used to be. The NFL trade deadline, I bet we only have to go back five, six, seven years. Most people didn't even know when it was. You really weren't paying that much attention. Big deadline deals just didn't happen that often. Now they do. I mean, teams are moving players when they feel like they've got nothing left in the season at hand.

This is why a win, perhaps, on Sunday. day help set this franchise back. Yes. In some ways you could say that. Now, they're going to still try to get something for William Jackson. Yeah, but, you know, Duran Payne is sitting out there as a very tradable commodity. You know, if they know that the season is probably lost, and if they're back to 500, they're not going to trade Duran Payne. Yeah, I'll tell you what, man.

I just would not want Payne traded. And I think even if they lose on Sunday, they just understand his importance to their defense right now. I don't think he's going to get traded. But there has been interest. I mean, Ben Standings reported that teams and others, I think, now have reported that teams have expressed interest in Washington for Duran Payne. So, you know, yesterday there was this video circulating of an interview with Russell Wilson. Denver's playing an international game this weekend against Jacksonville and London. And then I think there's maybe one or two more.

I know there's one in Germany this year with, I think Brady is playing the game in Germany, the Buccaneers. And there's a Mexico City game, too, I think. Yeah, there's a Mexico City game, exactly. So this is the third and there are two more after this. But Russell Wilson, you know, who was injured and didn't play last week, but is going to play this week, he was interviewed about how the flight was over to London and what he was doing on the flight and here's what he said.

I don't really get jet lag too often. You know, I don't really, you know, I've traveled enough to get, you know, kind of get my system down. But yeah, for me, I was on the plane, the first two hours, I was, first two hours, about eight, what was the eight-hour flight here? So the first two hours, I was watching the film,

watching all the cut-ups and everything else. And then for the next four hours, I was doing treatment on the plane. I was walking up and down the aisles. Everybody was knocked out. I was doing high knees and working on my legs and everything else, you know, make sure I'm ready to rock. So that was good.

And then the last two hours of the last hour of that, I watched, I fell asleep for one hour, and I watched the film the rest. So I felt good to go once we got back. And then we had, you know, coaches did a great job. Coach Landau on the whole coaching staff, they had us do a little movement. So we got here, did a little movement. I did my pool workout, did all that. And then, I don't know, maybe rested for about two,

three hours once I get home and I feel great. So the first time you've done treatment on a plane or do it? Is that happening before in your career? No, I mean, I do it, you know, when I need to, you know, especially when it's a longer flight. The more, the more you move, the better you feel when you get off of it. So I've got my secrets. I got my movements and then tons of water. It always helps.

I appreciate you guys. Let's go Broncos. Let's ride. I'll see you guys. We've now heard it, you know, too many times since the trade that this guy really was kind of insufferable in Seattle. I mean, you know, there was the big story, Tommy, right before the season started about the trade and the saga of the trade to Denver and how John Schneider, their GM, actually tried to deal Russell Wilson back in 2017 to Cleveland for the first overall pick. You know, I hadn't heard that before, that he wanted to draft.

He would have drafted Mahomes had he fallen to them, that he really liked Josh Allen. Like, they've been constantly looking for quarterbacks. he obviously was not a super popular player on the team. There was this recent podcast or Zoom podcast with Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch. And they were laughing about Russ because they said, yeah, just call. I think Sherman said, just call Russ up. And Marchand just started to laugh. And Sherman said, you want to tell him or should I?

Apparently you had to go through Russ's manager to reach him. He didn't give his cell phone out to any of his teammates. If you needed to reach him after hours, you had to go through his manager to reach him. We heard clearly that there was a lot of tension between Russ and the coaching staff and the locker room over the years in that story that was written. And they wanted to get rid of him. And he wanted to go. And I don't know. I mean, he's up doing high knees on the plane.

Everybody else is sleeping. I'm doing all the work here to get ready. He's just, can you imagine? if he had been traded here, and they were two and five and had scored 100 points. That's all Denver has scored 100 points in their games. They're averaging less than 15 a game. All of their games, by the way, have been close. They have a lot of talent on that team too.

Can you imagine if Washington was 2 and 5, 100 points, and they were going to Europe, and he was talking about doing knee bends and high knees walking up and down the plane as everybody else was sleeping. I mean, we'd be torching him right now, torching him. Yeah, we would. Yeah, we would. But let's not forget. Let's, you know, that's the bad Russell Wilford.

I wanted him. Exactly. Yes, go ahead, go ahead. And let's really go back in the past that Mike Shanahan, if the whole RG3 thing didn't happen, Mike Shanahan said that he would have drafted, He would have drafted, well, he would have drafted. In the fourth round. In the fourth round.

Yes, that's right. If he had still been available. It was Russell Wilson before and then Cousins. He was going to take another quarterback. If Wilson and Cousins, they didn't want to take one in the third round in 2012. But in the fourth round, they were going to take a quarterback. And if it had been Wilson, he would have taken Wilson. But Wilson was gone in the third.

And so they took cousins. Yeah. Yeah. So. I know people who covered him in Seattle who said he was an insufferable phony. But it was a pretty good run with Russell Wilson in Seattle. It was a great run. It was an incredible run.

I mean, I want to just remind you real quickly because I just pulled up the draft because you and I, we were laughing his story. hysterically, and then we ended up having him on the draft show. In the third round... I remember. I know what you're going to say. Who? Who? John Belushi. No, no. It wasn't John Belushi. It was Josh La Rebus. Same thing.

I know. They drafted Josh La Rebus, and they picked Josh Laribis four picks before Russell Wilson went to Seattle. And they weren't going to use their third rounder. They were going to use a fourth rounder, Mike told us, on a quarterback. And it was going to be Wilson if he was there. And if it wasn't Wilson, it was going to be cousins if he was there. And I think he liked Nick Foles, too, if I recall, but liked Wilson and cousins next. And they took Josh Leribis, and he wasn't anywhere on any sort of, remember we were looking for, you know, all of the draft previews. And, you know, our fearless producer and program director, Chuck Sapienza, would provide us with like this booklet of draft information.

when we were doing drafts, and we were looking through every single guard that was listed in the draft preview, and Laribis wasn't anywhere. I mean, he was not even supposed to be drafted, and they drafted him in the third round. But anyway. I'm looking at Josh Laribus's Wikipedia page. He played 50 NFL games. He played for the Eagles, the Saints, and the Bucks. So he played seven seasons.

He started 15 games. he played in 50, so he had an NFL career. Right. You know, he's going to get a pension. So he'll have something to show for it. But there's one sentence in here. During a 2013 off-season training camp, Rivas came in 30 pounds overweight and out of shape.

He was listed as inactive for the entire 2013 season. But they stuck with him. They kept them after that. Well, and Mike liked him because he fit the Shanahan kind of off. offensive lineman. He was nimble and he was athletic and he could move. It wasn't, you know, that he was overpowering or big. But back to Russell Wilson, you know, no matter what is said about Russell Wilson, and I think we're going to be here for a couple of years for the end of his career and then perhaps after his career, you're going to hear a lot of people talk about, I think, you know,

what Russell Wilson was like personally to deal with. But you can't, you can't deny his greatness. He carried the Seattle. He carried the Seattle Seahawks to prominence. I know that they went to a Super Bowl with Matt Hasselbeck and lost to the Steelers back in 2005. Fine. And Jim Zorn at one point when they were in the AFC was a big deal. But they weren't very good. Russell Wilson is going to go down, along with Steve Largent and maybe Kenny Easley,

as the greatest players in the history of that franchise. In fact, Russ is going to be won. What are we talking about? Russell Wilson's going to be one. They won a Super Bowl with Russell Wilson. He was a pro bowler every single year in Seattle, with the exception of 2016. They still went 10-5-and-1. He did not miss a game as a starter until last year when he missed two games.

And then he came back and he wasn't right physically when he came back, including that game against Washington. He was maybe limited as a pocket passer to a certain degree, but it didn't matter because he was elite at everything else. And I mean, this guy, no, no, you're 100% right. He's first ballot Hall of Famer. There's no wait for him after five years. He's in the Hall of Fame.

And yet Pete Carroll and John Schneider were trying, or Schneider was trying to move on from him. They agreed to, they offered him in 27. In 2017, they offered him to Cleveland for the first overall pick in the draft. I mean, he still had four years left after that, and they ended up signing him to a big deal. His record as a starting quarterback in Seattle was 104, 53, and one. 292 touchdown passes, 87 interceptions. not just a pro bowler in every year but one,

but an all pro four times. Yeah. And here's the thing, though, and I've said this before about a lot of people. If you're going to be strange, if you're going to be a jerk, if you're going to be difficult, there's no room for error. I mean, you've got to be so good that you can make your own.

rules. And he did for a long time. But he's not that now. And people are going to pounce on everything, every little idiosyncrasy. And there's a lot of them, apparently, when it comes to this time. Yeah. Look, I don't know if it's jerk as much as massive diva. You know, like a diva of the highest level, you know, really caught up, you know, beautiful, gorgeous wife, really caught up in the, you know, Hollywood celebrity in being a celebrity. And I think that's probably what it was more than anything else. And when you're a high-level celebrity, you just don't give your phone number out to anybody, even people you work with.

Is that what you do? I get my phone number out to everybody. In fact, there are people that have my phone number that I really wish I had never given my phone number out to. Somebody, I'll just tell you real quickly, ask my producer the other day. He's, I won't mention, he's been a long time caller and listener. And he said, do you mind giving me Kevin's email? And so my producer said, you know, hey, do you mind if I give him your email? And I said, nope, but I'll tell you what, if he had asked for my cell phone, I don't think I would have given him my cell phone. Getting emails, you know, is one thing.

Because, you know, a lot of it, you know, you just get a lot of email. But there's nothing worse than, you know, having your phone with you all the time and just seeing one text message or something pop up after another. Let me give you some advice on that front. Yeah. Get a second email. I do. Give that one out. I do.

I have multiple emails. I have two email addresses. Okay. because I have an email address that I give out generally to anybody, and then I have my email address that I just give out to my thousands of friends. There are several things I want to get to, including Tommy's prediction on Sunday's game, which we'll get to, Tommy's prediction on the World Series as well.

I do have an early smell test pick for the Thursday night game, which is a really good game tonight, or I should say, It's a very interesting game, Tampa Bay hosting the Ravens. The Ravens. But I want to get to a report from Albert Breer that we missed on Tuesday. It may have come out later on Tuesday about Washington's owner and the Mary Joe White investigation. And also, we promised you guys that we would talk more about some of the other stuff that happened from the weekend. And we did not get to that on Tuesday.

We'll get to that next. Right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's backroom, one of our favorite sponsors. Well, if you're out there and you've got nothing to do tonight and you want to watch the game with me, come down to Shelley's back room at 1331 F Street. After I get done teaching my business is sports media class at Georgetown on Thursday nights. I always head over to Shelly's to have a smoke, you know, something to eat from their great menu, an unbelievably good menu.

And they got a pretty good crowd on Thursday nights to watch football. Yeah, that they've got multiple TVs there. And here's the thing. They have not just one room, but they have two rooms. When you walk in the shelley's, there's the bar in the left with the room, and then there's a room on the right with tables and chairs, comfortable tables and chairs. Right. You know, soft lighting, overstuffed chairs.

So there's lots of room for people to, come in the Shelly's and watch Thursday night football. It's really the only place like it in town. The only place where you can go have a smoke and enjoy being with your friends and have a great drink. They have a remarkable list of whiskeys that are available as well. A lot of great draft beer selection. And it's just as Frank Costanza and signed and, And Kramer once said on Seinfeld, it's the place to be.

It's the place to be. Yes, it is. Yes. As Morty Seinfeld once said, the executive is one hell of a raincoat. And you can wear that raincoat into Shelly's. That episode was on last night. I think that episode, which is a two-parter, is one of the best ever. Because you got the raincoat thing going on.

You got the Costanzas. and you've got the Seinfelds. The Seinfelds don't want anything to do with the Costanzas who have made all this paella and have invited them over. That is a brilliant episode. Shelley's backroom's awesome. And, you know, as you've mentioned many times,

it's such a good crowd down there. Great spot to go. Have a cigar. Have dinner. Watch sports with some great conversation. 13th and F Streets, Northwest. So I have this for you. I don't know if you saw this,

but you know how I feel about last week with Jim Ursay saying what he said. And then to me, what was what stood out from that day after the Ursa thing, which I agree with you and Sally and everybody else, this was significant, understood. But what bothered me about the day and what I told you last week bothered me the most about the day was the emphasis from the commissioner on, you know, let's not speculate about this thing. We have to wait for the facts to come out. And the facts that he was referring to, the facts he were referring to, were the Mary Joe White investigation facts,

to which I said, well, that's stupid. I mean, there's so much more here. And it can't be about just this investigation that's missing the forest for the trees. Well, Albert Breer wrote the following the other day on SI.com. Quote, there's a fear among a certain corner of NFL owner that things are setting up for commander's owner Daniel Snyder to come out of this mess in possession of his team.

And here's how they'll fear it'll go down. The NFL's investigator, Mary Joe White, will have inconclusive findings on the charge that Snyder was hiding ticket revenue, which will then allow the league to tie that to the fact that the workplace culture in Washington has improved and effectively moved the goalposts, letting the commander's owner off the hook.

Breer says that the fear of the fix being in for Snyder flows from an old school, new school split that seems to be emerging inside ownership ranks. In one corner are the families that have owned franchises for decades, and the other are the go-go billionaires who made money in other lines of work and bought football franchises in an effort to add fame or notoriety to their immense wealth.

The league brushed the business. Beth Wilkinson investigation under the rug, yada, yada, yada. The fear is that this is the setup that's coming. That's Albert Breer reporting this. And that's exactly the way I felt when I listened to the commissioner. I was concerned. I hope I'm wrong. And maybe it'll be something else. But I don't like the insistence on or the emphasis on this Mary Joe White investigation. It is a tiny part of the overall picture, which is really a picture of it doesn't. matter at this point what these investigations, you know, can conclusively prove or not. This market is a dead market until he leaves.

Okay. Look, Albert Breer knows the NFL insider much better than I do. But let me give an alternative viewpoint here. Things have changed since the results of the Beth Wilkinson investigation were announced, never revealed, but announced by, the league. That was over a year ago. Okay? Things have changed, I think, pretty dramatically in our culture right now. And I'm writing about this tomorrow. I think right now the new third rail is workplace culture. I mean, Jim Ursay used the word workplace specifically in his comments about Dan Snyder.

I think things have moved rapidly to the point. The Surgeon General, just like Gladys, week issued a report about the damage of toxic workplaces on people to help create a national conversation about this issue. I think right now what was a $10 million donation to its charity and a slap on the wrist, I think the consequences of a toxic workplace have changed dramatically. I think that's going to come into play. I think they're going to revisit the whole thing. Whether there's enough owners to do that, maybe there is a split like Albert Breer talked about,

but I don't know if I don't think you need the smoking gun that we've all waiting for. I think the toxic workplace may just indeed be the smoking gun, and it doesn't matter if you've fixed it. We're talking about consequences. That's like saying, you fix the sexual misconduct, you know, but there's got to be consequences involved. So I think that the whole discussion about toxic workplace is going to come into play

when it comes to deciding what Dan Snyder's future is. My pushback on that would be that the league believes that that matter is resolved, that the findings of the Beth Wilkinson investigation, the $10 million fine and the quasi-sus suspension of him, which really wasn't, that that is a resolved matter. And the team, all of what they told the team to implement after that with respect to, you know, improving their HR department and the culture and the organization and having an independent auditor that would come in to review that on a quarterly basis,

they've done all that. And so now what they're looking for is, did he rip the league off or was there this new allegation from Tiffany Johnston that's got, you know, some, some legs to it? No pun intended. And I think the toxic workplace has risen to that same level. Yeah, but they consider it to be a resolved matter. If there's nothing new... Well, part of the resolved matter is the sexual misconduct.

Yes. Unless you think he's Dan still going around doing stuff. But what I'm saying to you is the toxic work. workplace, which by the way, Roger Goodell had some harsh words in June of 2021 when they find him $10 million. There was the discussion of how toxic a workplace it was. By the way, there was a lot of emphasis in that particular statement from the commissioner, I don't have it in front of me, about intimidation and bullying, which I'm telling you, Tommy, has always been for like Goodell and the other owners the thing that they really do and have some teeth to

when it comes to Dan specifically, directly. The way he treated people was in an intimidating and bullying manner. You know, we've heard all the stories. Don't look at him, call him Mr. Snyder. If he's walking by you, you're not even allowed to look at him, et cetera, et cetera. And the, you know, the minimizing of lower underlings and meetings, you know, just the Napoleonic complex thing with him. But none of the actual sexual misconduct or sexual harassment things have

actually been other than he said she said with respect to directly related to him. But that part of the toxic workplace, the sexual harassment, et cetera, that is a matter that they deemed to be with respect to the Wilkinson investigation resolved. So if you don't get anything... What's the point of the Mary Joe White proof? There was another allegation that came out after the Wilkinson investigation from Tiffany Johnston. And then they added to that that Jason Friedman stuff.

So let's say Mary Jo White finds that she is credible and it did happen. Well, that's different. No, that's different. No, your premise still, because that's in the past. They put that behind that. No, no, no, no, no. You're talking about consequences. No, no, no, no, no, no. Because that would be directly something involving Dan. If she finds that he was guilty of her charges, well, that's the first time that somebody in an investigation, said Dan sexually harassed an employee, a cheerleader. So that'll do them in.

What Albert Brewer is saying is that the fix might be in that Mary Joe White is going to find inconclusive results. And by the way, I think we've always talked about as it relates to Tiffany Johnston. Those are pretty hard allegations to prove. His hand was on my leg underneath a table at a meeting. he tried to shove me into, you know, a vehicle to give me, you know, and that was corroborated by Jason Friedman, who has a big credibility issue himself. And those are the other allegations that came up during the Mary Joe White investigation of the Tiffany Johnston allegations,

that they then added the Jason Friedman stuff to her plate. So she... But they certainly can connect Dan Snyder to multiple instances of talk. workplace behavior. Which is what he was fined $10 million for. Yeah, I know. And I'm saying, what was the $10 million fine a year ago doesn't seem like enough anymore to somebody's owners. I don't think it's a mistake that Erse used the word workplace. I think right now in this society, in this culture we're in, and things move fast, I think they're looking at the whole Snyder thing in a different light.

Look, I hope you're right, but I think relying on the Mary Joe White investigation is really dicey. Now, if Mary Joe White find something... Well, I think it's going to come down to more than that. Well, I hope you're right, except for Albert Breer is reporting that this is the fix is in, that they are relying on somebody who may provide inconclusive results, which, by the way... Well, they fear the fix is in. Okay, fine. Again, that's my fear, too. I have no idea whether or not it'll happen. I hope it doesn't. I hope she has something conclusive. And if she doesn't have something conclusive, I hope they say, well, she didn't find anything conclusive, but we still have six other investigations. And we have the major problem. And again, this is the real crux of this issue. Whether these things produce conclusive results related to him specifically or not, the market is dead. And the only chance it has to come back is for him to go.

And so they have to convince him to sell the team. Even if they don't have the 24 votes, they've got to get, you know, Sally suggested it'll be a Jerry sit down with Dan saying, look, you know, they tried to smear you. None of this stuff really stuck, but that doesn't even matter anymore. What matters is nobody in your city wants you to own the team anymore. And because of that, you can't get a stadium built. You can't get season ticket holders. You can't get corporate sponsors. It is a disaster.

And the only chance that that market has to succeed is for you to go. And we're going to get you $7 billion for your franchise or whatever it is. You said the number was the other day. You know, there was also something else that came out the other day. Neil and Rockville had sent this to me a while ago, and so I felt badly because somebody wrote about this the other day. And I don't have it in front of me. but it's basically one of the bylaws and the NFL owner's bylaws that essentially says,

I'm paraphrasing here because I don't have it in front of me, that a hearing has to be called. Like the owner that is being outed, that is being ousted gets a hearing. And the typical courtroom procedures of evidence don't apply, meaning that Dan can bring anything into the room and bring it up. So if they've got 24 votes and he holds a hearing, he can come in and say, oh, really? Oh, really, Bobcraft? What about this thing?

What about this thing? Tepper. What about this thing? Are these things, Jerry, plural, with Jerry? Come on. Who do you think controls that hearing? What do you mean? Just like a judge in a courtroom.

Who do you think controls that hearing? What do you mean? Goodell? The owners? Well, I'm just saying the owners and the NFL are going to run that hearing. Right.

But they, but they But according to the bylaws, it doesn't matter. Oh, come on. What does that mean? That doesn't mean you're shit. Dan's the defendant. I know, but it's not a court of law.

Exactly. You know, this is like a, this is going to be like a judge Roy being case. Yeah, but Tommy, that's not. You open your mouth. You spoke for two minutes, Sam. you're done guilty right and then all of what he brought to the table which he was he's allowed to bring per the bylaws the constitutional bylaws among the owners all of that gets transcribed and is

made public that's why that's the fear why do you think that would get that the bylaws the bylaws I mean what are you talking about what do you mean what am I talking about you're buying into this The bylaws, it's not the Constitution. It's the NFL in charge of their own organization. Obviously, they decide what gets made public and what's done. What are you missing? The defendants, Dan Snyder. He's not a normal defendant.

He's not going to play by the rules. I know that. He'll release what he'll release. Of course. What I'm saying is, in the NFL, in that hearing, nothing's going to happen for Dan Snyder. Nothing. Okay. So it's absurd. Well, I don't know if it's absurd or not. They have rules among the owners if an owner is, if they try to oust an owner, the owner has rights per their bylaws. If you think they're just going to tear them up and ignore them, I don't know why you would think that. Now, in terms of not, in terms of giving them a bullshit hearing and saying, hey, say what you want to say, but we're voting you out anyway, I'm not going to dispute that. My point is, if he gets into that situation, and he starts bringing up all the shit on all the other owners,

which we've all thought all along, and it's been part of the conversation even since Ursae, is the whole fear of he'll go scorched earth. Well, he's going to go squirtched earth right there in that hearing. But he's going to do that anyway. And then you also have... He's going to do that anyway. You also have the whole ability in that situation per those bylaws,

which, by the way, those are agreements, Tommy, among the owners. They're contracts. and their bylaws written. You then open it up for much easier, you know, a lawsuit ability on Snyder's part. If they don't give them a fair hearing. There's going to be lawsuits. There's going to be lawyers.

I think to actually consider that Dan Snyder's salvation may be a hearing before the NFL owners is just an absurdity. I don't know if it's his salvation. I'm just telling you these are some of the issues that a lot of people that are studying this situation legally are saying are going to be roadblocks for the league and are going to be problematic for the league. You know, I haven't heard that many people who have said that. I've only heard one, the one that you brought up. No, there's a whole threat. I'm going to pull it up right now because Don Van Nata and Seth Wickersham were all over this last week earlier this week.

week. Because maybe I'm not explaining it well enough to you because you seem, you're off on this. So Seth Wicker, so this guy, Daniel Wallach, who is an attorney, a sports attorney, and he's the legal analyst for the athletic. He pulled up 8.13 from the NFL owners and bylaws. At the hearing, the member or person so charged shall have the right to appear in person and by counsel. strict rules of evidence shall not apply and any testimony and documentary evidence submitted to the hearing shall be received and considered to which like Seth Wickersham and Don Vanatta and others said this thread highlights why asking whether there are 24 owners willing to remove Dan Snyder is the wrong question the question is what happens after the 24 vote to remove him that's what, you know, this is a concern to some that are, you know, would like the same result, but they're saying here are some of the issues that will then pop up. But what I'm saying is those issues will pop up no matter what. Dan Snyder's going to put that information out there whether he's a while to in a hearing or not.

And I just highly doubt that the NFL is just going to let him have carte blanche to open up his little black book about all the NFL owners. And a hearing that they will control. Hey, it's my turn. It's my turn. Okay, I've heard the charges. Now, my attorney and I, we have a little black book that we'd like to open up and we'd like to start giving you our personal view, which again, according to the bylaws, the rules of evidence, shall not apply. It's not a courtroom hearing. It's not courtroom rules. So he can bring anything that he wants to bring. You know, this guy, Wallach said the use of mandatory shall strongly suggest that

the presiding officer has no discretion to disallow any testimony or documentary evidence submitted, regardless of whether or not it satisfies the judicial standard for admissibility. And this is what he... Did he say that's an absolute or did he suggest it? strongly suggests, actually, more than just suggesting it. He strongly suggests it. How many hearings have we had like this in the history of the NFL? I don't think any, right? No, I don't think any.

Yeah. So nobody has a clue what's going to happen in this hearing. I didn't say anybody has a clue. I'm just telling you people who, by the way, have much more expertise than you do in this, are suggesting some of the things that could unfold. Yes, they could. And what started this conversation is, once again, the Mary Joe White investigation and the emphasis on the results of that investigation, which for someone who doesn't want Dan here anymore, I would recommend that the results of that investigation, unless they are conclusive, that he's sexually harassed or he stole from the league, shouldn't matter at all. because it's a much bigger issue than what she's investigating.

Ultimately, I think they think they already have their smoking gun. At least some owners think they do. What is the smoking gun? The workplace culture. Well, they had that. They brought it up. They had that a year and a half ago. I know that, but that was the commissioner's punishment.

I'm saying that things have changed in the past year. You think things have changed with, respect to toxic workplace that much in the last year? You don't think it was a big deal a year and a half ago or two years ago? I think it's a far bigger deal on the surge in general issues a warning about the effects of toxic workplace. Yeah, I think that's a statement. Okay. There was something else I wanted to get to that is not football related as far as the team goes. So our friend John Orand, who writes for Sports Business Journal, I saw he tweeted this story out, written by Sports Business Journal's Terry Lefton. He wrote about the commander's name change. I don't know if you saw this.

We didn't talk about it. The commanders began the NFL teams rebrand with around 1,200 suggestions for new names. Still, Commander's chief creative and digital officer, Will Missilebrook, said during a Wharton conference session, on branding, that the team's biggest concern was one endemic to DC, secrecy. At the same time, we wanted to keep our fans involved in the process and take them behind closed doors as much as we could, but secrecy was a big deal. And then as far as the rationale behind the commanders being the name that was chosen, quote, it was a word we could brand with and be more than just a football team.

If your team name is an animal, you're kind of restricted. This allowed us to go into a much bigger space into media, food, fashion, pop culture, and music, closed quote. When I read this last night when John Oran sent it out, it reminded me of something, which Ben was reminded of too, Ben Standing, because he tweeted out something that I was trying to remember and couldn't. And that was something that Jason Wright had said with respect to the name. had said back in 2021, we're also creating a name, brand, and identity that can transcend sport and help with the broader business strategy, closed quote. Okay, why am I bringing all this up? Because I've said many times over the last couple of years that, you know, Jason told me,

for all intents and purposes, that his job wasn't to win football games. His job was to build a business that was, quote, losing resilient, close quote. And I remember saying to him, how do you do that in sports? How can you lose on the field but still have a really good business, minus the media, you know, dollars that will always be there for the NFL. And he pointed to Miami. They said they've got an incredible stadium. It's an incredible stadium experience.

They own a Formula One team. They're invested in that. And this, you know, a team president who came from the McKinsey world, who, by the way, is also a huge soccer, international sports soccer fan, was essentially tasked with, doesn't matter what Rivera does. I can't have as an excuse for not building a business, a losing football team. And so that's where all of this is coming from. And that's apparently where the name came from.

It was a name that they thought they could build into a much broader strategy as Will Misselbrook said to tap into, where was I reading this? I just had this up a second ago. To tap into the world of food, fashion, pop culture, and music. I'll just tell you what I think about this, and then I want your response. I think when you are the Washington football franchise and you're looking for a new name,

you better pick something that people like more than anything else and you better be less concerned about building some big-time broad brand because you don't have the fans that you used to have, and winning is the way that it'll be brought back. You know, this focusing on everything else except winning on the field is it's peanuts compared to what really will carry the load, what will pay the freight, and that is a winning football team. The name stinks.

I don't even understand how the name commanders and take command in all of these different ways that they say command ends up lending itself to brand build in the world of food, fashion, media, pop culture, and music. But of course, these people are lifetime consultants, big-time consultants with big, you know, Harvard Business School degrees and Wharton degrees. And Chicago Business School degrees, I think is Jason's.

So good for them. I'm sure they've got it all figured out. How's it going? Look, you pointed out, and rightfully so, that I think it's a good idea to think on those terms, but that's like talking about decorating the house before you even put up the foundation and the framework. You know, you need to rebuild the home. You need to make it strong. You need to make it stand up a place to live before you start talking about the interior decoration that's going to wow the neighbors and things like that, and the yard,

and the yard work and all that stuff. That's what the other marketing really is. And I think the Dallas Cowboys, in part, do just that. you know, I think there are teams like they're talking out like the dolphins that do just that. But before you can do that, you have to rebuild the foundation here. You can't start at 100 miles an hour. And here's the other problem, too. You know, until you rebuild that foundation, you're not going to get competent people to work for you to carry out this impressive but massive job.

of creating a brand that's losing resilient. You also, yeah, you also need a stadium to do that, a brand new stadium, and you're not going to get that until the owner leaves. But you are right, and that's the analogy. I mean, you know, let's get the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy on the plate before we go for the creamed onions and green bean cassero. I mean, those things are, first of all, they don't even taste that great, and they don't generate enough activity.

but, look, it's an impossible job. Being the lead business person for this organization is an impossible job in this market right now with the owner being there. I guarantee you if you injected Truth Serum into all of the business people in that building, they would tell you we can build a business as long as he's not here. If he goes, we can build a business. As long as he's here, we can't. I think that that is a realization that they didn't have when they got here. Because nobody really understands what we've all gone through here.

When you bring in guys from Wharton and from HBS and from McKinsey, and he's from California, and you've got your digital guys from some other place and your head of alumni was here for a cup of coffee and doesn't even live in the market, it's going to be hard. It wouldn't be nearly as hard if you had a normal ownership situation, but you don't. And nobody wants to participate no matter how smart and how well-dressed and how well-spoken all of your business people are as long as Dan's here. They just don't.

You know, it's just unbelievable that here we are. I mean, it's been two years since the Wilkinson. investigation started. And here we are plowing the same ground. Well, the Wilkinson investigation's been over for a while. It's been over for over a year. Yeah. Yeah.

And here we are plow on the same ground over and over again. A business cannot sustain this kind of damage and come back. What did you want to... Without drastic change. What did you want to say about last weekend? You wrote about it. We didn't get to it on Tuesday. What did you want to say about the alumni homecoming weekend?

Well, I mean, again, you know, maybe I'll change my mind once this team gets hot and starts winning and beating good teams. But it seems foolish to me to write about just the game in these columns when so much is going on involving the franchise and the organization. So every column I've written off the game for the past three or four weeks has had more to do with Dan Snyder and his issues than with the actual football. You could have written about television. And that came home to roost on Sunday in the anger and the atmosphere in Ghost Townfield.

I pointed out that football, I mean, Monday through Saturday, it may be a nightmare out there if you're a commanders fan, but you're saving grace, your place where you should be able to go to get away from it should be the actual football game. You know, the real football, the reason you root for the team, I mean, that should be like, you know, shelter from the storm, but it's not anymore. I mean, the Packers fans that showed up,

nothing unusual except it seemed more overwhelming than ever before. I mean, like, it was at minimum 70-30, and I pointed out that the video crew that takes shots of commanders fans cheering had a hard time taking a shot that did not include a Packers fan in it somewhere. Oh, my God. The picture of Brad Edwards, Gary Clark, and Mark Rippin in front of the Super Bowl 26 banner with the replica of the Lombardi Trophy, it was like the picture was taken at Lambeau Field. Yeah, and that's debilitating enough. But then I think you have, you know, you had people showing up with signs that said sell the team that got taken away by stadium security. You had chance of sell the team throughout the stadium. Now, that obviously went away when the team had a chance to win the game because, you know, people are human beings, and they want to enjoy the moment.

however fleeting those moments are. And then the real thing that spoke to me was when Tanya Snyder came on the video screen for a public service announcement about the team's cancer initiative, and she got booed. And this is a breast cancer survivor. You know, and it's tasteless as it is, and it is tasteless. It's a measure of the anger. where the place where you want to get away from it. So I don't think there's any place anymore where you can get away from it.

That may change if this team goes on a roll, but right now the actual football is not a safe haven for fans anymore. Yeah, I heard that, I mean, we saw a lot of this stuff coming out over the weekend, the Mark Mosley misspelling. You know, that stuff, I don't know. I mean, I don't know why it surprises anybody. anymore and why such a big deal's made out of it. It just, it happens all the time. It's the, you know, let's erase the chalkboard. It's got three, it's got the number three on it, and now we've got

put it back to zero, because three is about as much as you get up to. Of everything that, by the way, Mosley's name is a hard spell, and it wouldn't matter if it were another organization, but when you've spelled, you know, London, you know, Fletcher, London Flector, and when you had that, you know, command legacy website with multiple spelling errors and factual inaccuracies. It's just, it's one thing after another. It's really quite remarkable that they can't get any of these things right. I would recommend to them, and I talked about this the other day in radio, you can't have, I don't even know if they have this, they might have this.

You have to have a professional event planner involved in these things. Somebody who is highly experienced with a team to dot, Every eye, cross every T. I heard halftime was the biggest embarrassment of anything that they've done. And that's saying a lot that it was, you know, the, the, the players put in front of Green Bay sections. The players not really introduced. A couple of cheerleaders introduced with long bios on them. Another sort of disorganized mess.

Everything was off from a timing standpoint. Like, do you remember? Remember, were you there for the final game at RFK at halftime when they brought all the old players back? I mean, it was. Yeah, I was there. I don't have a big memory of it, but I covered that game. It was truly one of the more electric environments for non, you know, playing of the game. It was just such an incredible day and it was such a nostalgic day.

But all of the greats coming back and, you know, they had that thing timed out to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the, to the. You know, they were lined up and somebody planned that thing and it's like, all right, all the players have to be down into the area, you know, five minutes before halftime. We're going to line them up this way alphabetically or by jersey number. We're going to say however we're going to line them up. And here's what the PA announcer is going to be no more than 10 seconds per player. And then you're going to leave like five seconds for the follow up of the cheers before you. Like you plan it out to the second. They don't haven't, they haven't had somebody.

I don't think, I mean, I would hope that they haven't had somebody because if they have had somebody in charge of all of that that's been like a professional event planner, then I don't know what to recommend. But you, if you're going to try to do these things, you've got to have somebody that knows how to pull it off logistically. And it's got, I mean, remember the 2222. I don't think anything as important to a business as that was to them

has ever lacked as much energy and planning an organization than that did. And, you know, that followed, you know, the Sean Taylor disaster from last year. I mean, that was embarrassing. And it's just been one after another. I just think, and look, you know, sometimes in an organization like this, even though maybe they've gotten a few good people, it's hard to keep attracting good people. You know, you're not going to get really. really high level people.

You might get a few here and there, but it's going to be hard to continue to attract them to an organization like this. It's not, you know, it's not a destination job for anybody. Like, you know, there's a time you could go back when you grew up a fan and you're like, oh my God, I have a chance to work for the Redskins. Even if it's in ticket sales, oh my God, my first job out of college, nobody thinks that way anymore. First of all, why would you take a job selling tickets when you can't sell them?

You can't make any money and it's mostly a commissioned job. But I don't know. I heard the halftime thing. I wasn't there. I heard it was a disaster. I also heard that this was as much a one-sided, as much as the Eagles game, that it was 70-30 Packers to commanders fans. It was overwhelming.

And if you're a commander's fan, it just must be so depressing. To be sitting there surrounded by the opposing fans. everywhere you look. And I think, you know, look, I've said this before. This is a team that can't afford to make mistakes, and that's all they do is make mistakes. Yeah. All right.

God, we've talked a lot of non-football here. I want to get your prediction on the game. I've got a smell test pick, and I want to get your prediction on the World Series. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation. Call Wind Donation at 86690 Nation or go to Wind Donation.com. They've got their winter window sale going on right now. Buy two, get too free with no limit.

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And I promise you, they're so easy to work with. There's no risk. They'll give you a free estimate, and then you can do with it what you choose. But 86690 Nation, windownation.com, mention my name. Tampa Bay tonight is laying a point in a half with players out all over the place, with Brady looking as bad as he looked throughout his career. It looks like this team is sinking as quickly as Green Bay is sinking, and yet they're favored over the Ravens.

publics all over Baltimore tonight in the Thursday night game. I hate doing these Thursday night games in the NFL. The Friday night college games are decent. Last week I gave out New Orleans, it didn't work. I'm going to give you Tampa Bay laying the point and a half.

My bookie and yours will need Tom Brady to get the win tonight by at least two points or more. I'll take the bucks in an early smell test pick minus the one and a half. Who do you like in the game on Sunday?

I like the commanders. Okay. Final score? 20 to 12. 20 to 12. Okay. It won't be pretty, but they'll get back to 500. And it won't be deflating on Sunday for many people. World Series. I'm excited for this World Series. I'm excited for it. Can't wait for tomorrow night. They're going to pitch Nola, I guess. Philadelphia is. and it'll be Verlander for Houston.

By the way, I think Houston right now is minus, let me look it up real quickly, minus 190 in the series. So, you know, a sizable favorite to win the World Series. Who do you like and in how many games? I like Houston. I mean, a real powerhouse team, particularly compared to the Phillies, who only won 87 regular season games.

Now, they're the hot team in this right now, but the Astros just have tremendous pitching, and a tremendous bullpen, and those generally triumphs in a series like this. Like the Astros in Six. What's interesting, and the Euston Chronicle wrote about this, and I should have remembered it, is in 2018, Bryce Harper nearly became an Astra at the trade deadline. The Nationals had a deal in place. Right, but who next? The Trade Harper.

The learners did, right? It was the learner. Yeah. Yeah, the learners. I mean, Mike was ready to dial the phone. Yeah, you told me this then. You told me this since. Yeah.

That, you know, and nationals would have got some prospects, and he would have been a rental. I don't think Bryce Harper would have signed with the Astros after that. I still think he would have went to free agency. but he nearly became an astro in 2002. It would have been wild if the following year, Bryce Harper with Houston was playing Washington in the World Series. Yes, it would have been. I guess I like Houston, too. I know that they're just a much better team overall.

Philadelphia definitely has some mojo going. I'm going to root for Philadelphia and Bryce Harper. I'm certainly going to root for Bryce Harper to continue to do what he's been doing in the postseason. I think it's been exciting. It won't be disappointing if Houston wins because of Dusty. And just to see what that scene would be with Dusty Baker as a World Series champion. And I can imagine so many people in the sport being so thrilled for him. I mean, it's not Ovechkin winning the Stanley Cup, but in baseball managerial talk,

that would be, he's the guy. Everybody wants to get one. So that would be cool, too. I'll say Houston in a long, entertaining seven-game series. And we'll see what happens. All right. What else you got? I got nothing else for you, boss.

Okay. I'll be back tomorrow. I'm not sure with whom. If you missed Jay Gruden yesterday on the podcast, he was great. Go back and listen to yesterday's show as well. We'll definitely have a full-fledged Friday football show, whether Cooley will be on it, you'll have to tune in to find out. Have a great day.