The Kevin Sheehan Show - Caps Eliminated + Uniform Stuff

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Kevin and Thom today opened with the Caps being eliminated from playoff contention last night. Thom was at the Caps-Penguins game on Sunday and the boys discussed the chances that Alex Ovechkin played his final home game that day. The football team will unveil new uniforms tomorrow....there was some discussion about that. The guys got to Dianna Russini and Anthony Davis as well.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Our listeners get the Harry’s Plus Trial Set for only $10 at https://www.Harrys.com/[INSERT CODE]  #Harryspod For all your garden needs: fastgrowingtrees.com/sheehan 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 Cheehan Show. He is Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsors, as always.

Window Nation. 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. If you need to Windows, Tommy, this from Mitch. Mitch writes to Tom and to Kevin. Please have courage to talk about the Diana Rusini situation next time you are on the show. We've been off together. We actually recorded

Thursday show on Wednesday, which I think was before the news on Rusini broke. Because if it had broken, we would have talked about it on Thursday, wouldn't we have? I don't even think so. I think we would have. Yeah, I was off radio all last week and yesterday. I was

back on the podcast yesterday, did a podcast, had Steve Sands on the show. He was great on the masters per usual. And then had Ben Raby talk about the Caps playoff chances and talk about Ovechkin, which you wrote about and you'll talk about here in a moment. The Caps were eliminated last night from the postseason with Philadelphia's overtime win

over Carolina. I actually watched the overtime. I turned to the NHL channel just to see if they, because I, well, I saw the score at two to two because I was kind of paying attention to it. because I was kind of hoping it would come down to, you know, tonight where if they beat Columbus and Philly loses to Montreal, maybe, you know, it happens. But I saw two to two, so I went to the NHL channel and watched the shootout. I got there just in time for the shootout. And nobody scored on the first three shots for either team.

Lame, lame, shame shot attempts during the shootout. And then in the extra, you know, fourth shootout attempt, Philly scored and Carolina got stopped. And with that, the caps were eliminated from the postseason. That's not really what we were talking about. We were talking about Diana Rusini and whether or not we had the courage to talk about it. Of course, we had the courage to talk about it, Mitch. I like Diana. Diana's been kind of a friend for a long time now, and she comes on with me.

You can understand why people would think it would be uncomfortable. for us to talk about because of that very reason. Yeah, but have we, I don't know, have we ever really shied away from anything, even when it's involved people? Look, it's not like I know Diana so well. You know, I know her because she's been coming on the show, you know, two times a year, three times a year for the last, you know, 10 years or whatever it's been. When did she come to Washington? 10 years ago, something like that? Maybe, no, longer than that, right? longer than that, I think.

Yeah. So we will, you know what? Mitch, we're going to talk about Diana Rusini and Mike Vrable, a man that Tommy throughout this season was infatuated with. He couldn't believe. Only because the cameras were. I mean, every game, the Patriots game, the cameras would be like just fixated on Brable on the sideline.

I think at some point I said, do you have a crush on him? Like, what's going on here? And maybe... Apparently, I've got competition. Apparently you've got some competition, for sure. Tommy might have a jealous take today. We will definitely get to Diana Rusini. So Anthony Davis, we're going to have to talk about on the show today.

But let's just start with the caps, because I know you wrote about the caps, because you went to maybe Alex Ovechkin's final home game after 21 seasons. But they are out. They're not going to make the postseason. They played very well at the end of the year. And they actually have a lot more in terms of regulation wins than some of the teams that are in. But it's about point total people. It's about doing well in overtime.

And they didn't do very well in overtime. It would appear during the course of the season. But go ahead and tell me about Sunday because I was in Florida and I was playing golf and watching the Masters on Sunday. And then flying home, actually. So tell me about what you had, what you experienced on Sunday. Well, first, before we get to that, how was your flying? How was your airport experience? Because that's what everybody always wants to talk about now.

You know, did you wait a long line? What was the deal? Zero issues. Really? I mean, Reagan was an absolute no-brainer and flew into Fort Myers when I went down and flew out of Palm Beach, West Palm coming back. Yeah, it was, you know. Now, I do have that clear plus, you know, but I'm going to tell you, I didn't need it in either place. The lines were zero in both situations.

So no issues whatsoever. Yeah. That's good. I'm a TSA pre-check guy. Yeah, I'm sure you are. How do you get away with that? What's your, what's your, you know, story? What do you mean?

I filled out the application. Okay. I wonder when the testing. What do you think I know somebody? No, no, I just, the TSA pre-check, I understand what you're saying. But I, I, you have like, you had like a handicap parking. thing for years. When I was handicapped.

Right. Yeah. Okay. When I had arthritis in my knees so bad, I was popping oxy every day. Yeah. Since I've got new knees, I don't have that anymore. That oxy is pretty good. It works, doesn't it? Well, it didn't work so well for me, actually. It didn't work that well for me. Apparently, it's worked for Tiger.

It had a narrow impact on my, you know, I felt, No addiction poll whatever. But anyway, no, I do TSA pre-check, and it works for me. That's good. So, yeah, I was at the Ovechkin game Sunday. It was very, the crowd was really pumped up. They treated it. The crowd did like they were saying goodbye to Ovechkin, reluctantly.

I mean, there were a chance throughout the game of, you know, one more year, one more year, you know. And the whole ceremony, the post game, you know, interview on Monumental Sports, which was broadcast live in the arena, felt, it just felt like an ending. But I got to give Ovechkin credit. I believe him. I don't think he's made up his mind yet. Okay? Because if he has, if he is done, then this is what, as we say in wrestling, the greatest K-Fab of all time. Explain.

K-Fab is when you basically you play a character and you stick to that character no matter what. And he was consistent on Sunday to the point where he blew off

the penguin waiting to shake his hand on the ice. He never wavered. And I don't think he has that in him to carry that pretense if in his mind he intends to retire and knows it already.

Isn't the bigger question whether or not the team wants him back at this point? Well, I think that that's a done deal. What are you going to say no? I don't know. It was not like they tort. I had Ben Rabie on the show yesterday, and it almost occurred to me after I had recorded the interview with him. even though I did allude to something that he said,

but he said it's going to be, you know, essentially a decision that will be made by both parties. Like, you know, implying to a certain degree that the caps have a decision to make, is it over for them when it comes to a veteran? Let's not pretend that if he wants to come back to play, he's not going to play here in Washington. Right. You know, let's not stop that right now. Okay, I think personally, and again, I'm not plugged into the capitals, so I don't really know. But I think his presence overall is a good thing for this team.

I don't think they're managing a guy who is certainly difficult by any stretch of the imagination. Right. I think his presence around the young players is very good. they're all in awe of him, you know, and they all just consider himself lucky for a chance to play with him. And he was still the team's leading score. Yeah. This, leading, you know, a goal score. Leading point total guy, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, so, and I know, you know, the, the scoring

is limited in terms of basically how he scores these days, you know, basically hanging around the net, but he's still somebody, I mean, somebody's putting. the biscuit and the basket, and he's doing it more than anybody. You love that. It'll be, if he plays tonight against Columbus, I'm assuming he will, even though it's a meaningless game for the Caps, it'll be the first time that he's played all 82 games in a season since the 2017-2018 season at 40 years old. I mean, I said to Ben yesterday, clearly he can still play at a fairly high NHB.

level, leading his team in goals, leading his team in overall points, a team that, you know, certainly had a chance and probably if not for a tough stretch there for about 30, 45 days, they're in the playoffs, you know, if not for, you know, the two things on her chest, she would be Uncle, you know, Nancy, instead of Aunt Nancy. But they were a decent team and he was one of the best players on the team. I agree with you. If he says, I feel great, I don't want to go anywhere. I want to play another NHL season and I want to do it in Washington.

I can't imagine even if they believe that some areas of his game, I don't know anything about this sport. I'm just, you know, basically echoing what I've heard here, which is he's just not great on defense, you know, even worse than he's ever been. And he's a bit of a liability on the defensive end. But I still can't imagine that if he wanted to play and wanted to come back, that he's not playing here in Washington. I'm with you. Now, he made more money the final year of his contract.

They have to negotiate a new deal because this is the final year of his contract. Right. He made almost $10 million a year more than anybody else on the team. So I would think at the bare minimum, what kind of deal they might work out, it's going to cost the caps at least another 10 million a year. You know, but I just, you know, the only thing from his side is he may think he may know that if he comes back, then he's got to deal with a farewell tour, and he may not like that. And what about playing in Russia and the KHL, which has always been part of his, you know, post-NHL plan?

or at least that's what's been reported. Yeah, that's been reported consistently. But I went back and looked at the stories. And the only thing I saw, I mean, I think, you know, they would welcome. That's where he played for, what is it, Moscow Dynamo or Dynamo something or another, you know, before he came to the National Hockey League. And, you know, I saw him make a comment saying, you know,

maybe play in a game or two. You know, I don't know if he ever talked about playing a whole season with his old team in the KHL. So I don't know what that really means in terms of next year. But if he comes back to the National Hockey League next year, he's going to have to put up with a farewell tour in every city. I think he didn't want any part of it on Sunday, in part, because there was a chance they were going to end up facing the penguins this weekend in game one of a first round series.

You know, the season wasn't over. So I just don't think he knows what he wants to do. But I think most, my experience with athletes, the thing they miss the most is the locker room. Yeah. Yep. You know, you can't recreate that in your post-playing career, no matter how hard you try. I mean, so, and that's what everyone talks about missing. And I think he is kind of energized by the young players,

even though, like, most of his old teammates are gone. You know, they traded John Carlson here. You know? He's out in Anaheim. I mean, they're in the playoffs. But he seems to, like, be energized by the young players. Right. Now, but, you know, the other thing is he's not like,

he's not going to win a Stanley Cup next year. The caps are not that good. They have a good young team. They seem to have good young players. Well, you don't know that. It's hockey. Well, I know that. You do know that.

I'll say that. All right. They took a step back this year. I mean, from last year. They weren't as good this year. At least the results weren't as good this year. So they're not like they're close to winning a Stanley Cup for him to come back.

It's really interesting. And here's the thing I wrote my column at the end, uh, and today in the Washington Times, that maybe this summer, when he's got a belly full of barbecue and beer, it might be easier just to say goodbye. Yeah.

Right. Rather than, okay, I've got to get back into the routine of working out, losing this weight and getting ready to play a season. That, that's not the part that they miss the most, typically.

No. No. Yeah. No. No. No. No. these last couple years.

I mean, the older he's gotten, the harder he's worked, to stay in shape. Weren't they saying about... Remembered a broken leg last year. Yeah, I know. A broken leg. Yeah. It's been remarkable in remarkable fashion.

I think, you know... That's been the most amazing thing about last year. We've done a lot of hockey here in the opening segment. Not that I want to end it abruptly, so I won't. But I will just remind you and everybody listening. that man is hockey fleeting because a year ago people were just singing the praises of one Spencer Carberry. And I have no idea if he's a good coach or not a good coach. But there were like labels attached to him like this guy is elite.

And, you know, the Capitol's organization is elite. And they are going to, they're right back to where they want to be, which is having a chance every spring to compete. for a cup. One year later, they're not in the tournament in a league in which half the teams make the playoffs. Yeah. Yeah. Even if the system of making the playoffs is flawed, they didn't get in. What's flawed about the system for making the playoffs? Well, in other words, you know, going by points rather than wins. A lot of people think that, you know, that a team with as many wins as the cap should be in the playoffs. But they

Well, they have a lot of regulation wins. That's, yeah. The league gets in, you know? Yeah. So, you know, but I mean, I don't think you saw anything. I think people are still patient enough to see, look, this is a town where the fans, you know, are the most patient in America. As we've seen from the basketball team. Well, that's because there aren't real masses of hardcore fans for a lot of teams.

There's one team that has a true mass audience of a hardcore fan base. Everybody else have said this many times now over the last two to three years. This is a bandwagon sports town. You have to win and you've got to win big to attract a real sizable audience consistently. And we are at, we're at the bottom here, man. I mean, football team 5 and 12. Worst team in the NBA record-wise. A baseball team that had, you know, that's played well, actually, here through the first

16 games they lost last night. But, you know, one of the better offensive teams through the first 16 games of the season, amazingly, but was predicted to have the second worst record in baseball. And now the hockey team, which has been the thing you could always rely on, or more often than not rely on to be playing meaningful games in the postseason in April and May, they're not in. Man, and then we had the two biggest college programs, basketball programs. Maryland and Georgetown missed the tournament, and both were bad teams.

This was a rough year. Let's get those new uniforms tomorrow. Can't wait for those. I mean, God. Uniforms, here's what we've got coming up, since there's. no team participating in the postseason in the NBA or in the NHL from this town. We have uniforms tomorrow, the draft next week, and then about two weeks after that, and you know what time of year that is, schedule time of year.

Oh, boy. Can't wait for that. I will just, in speaking about our area, I will just congratulate AZ Fudd, who was the number one pick in the WNBA draft last night, picked by Dallas. Azy Fudd, you know, grew up in the DMV, played at St. John's. I saw her play as a high school player. I saw her practice as a high school player,

had no idea who she was other than, you know, the coach saying, you got to watch this ninth grader. This, you know, girl's going to be really, really good. And she was already, Tommy as a ninth grader, considered the best high school player in the country. country or one of them. And she had a great career at Yukon. And here's the difference between this draft and previous drafts in the WNBA.

The number one pick in the WNBA draft, that comes with a $500,000-based salary, where it used to be around $80,000. I hope she sends, and I hope all these girls understand why. the, you know, the business model has changed for the WNBA. There's one reason and one name, and her name's Caitlin Clark. None of this happens without her. None of it. But AZFud apparently is an incredible young woman, and she will end up, I'm sure,

being a WNBA star. And you know, Tommy, as long as we're going to focus on a couple of positive things with ties to the DMV. How about this? Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs' grandson, just won his first ever NASCAR race this past weekend, winning at Bristol. Ty is Coy's son,

and Jackson, J.D.'s' son, is on Ty's pit crew. That from my guy, Scott Chadwick. Scott was Drake May's coach in high school. And we've had Scott on the show before. We had them on before that draft in 2024. And Scott's a listener. And coach, thanks for that. Appreciate that.

But good news. Congrats to the Gibbs family. They have a NASCAR winner. This is grandson. Man, they really took to that NASCAR, didn't they? All the boys and the grandsons. Yeah. But you know what?

I think anything Joe Gibbs would have got into related to sports. he would have been successful and his family would have followed. Pretty much an all-time winner. I mean, everything he touched gold. All right, we got other things to get to. We will start that process

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will there be lots of uniform talk this week? Please let us know, I will tune out, exclamation point. Yeah, tomorrow's the big uniform day, Tommy. It's the big, you know, reveal on what the new uniforms are going to look like. The team, you know, promoted this,

announcement two weeks ago, and it got nearly three million page views on their website, basically burying anything else they've put out in the last five months. I'm not a big uniform guy. Let me make this really clear. Like, I know big uniform people. You know who's a big uniform guy? Zabe. Zab's a big uniform guy.

Like, he is going to be able to tell you, you know, where the strong. stripes were on the shoulder pads or where they were down the pant. I don't know. I don't. That's not a thing that's important to me. It just isn't. I know what I want them to look like. And what they wore last year is their alt jerseys, minus the logo not being on the

helmet, the old logo not being on the helmet, was a much, much better look than anything. they've worn since 2022. And it made me feel like I was watching my old team. So I liked that. And that's what we're going to get. We're going to get something that resembles, you know, the championship era uniforms. We'll actually, I think, tomorrow get to see the dark jersey because they only wore the whites last year in their games against Seattle, Denver, and Dallas.

But, yeah, I'm not a big uniform guy. I mean, I guess I'm not really excited about tomorrow. I'm going to talk about it because it's a big topic among the majority. You know, Greg, hate to break this to you, but you're very much in the minority. Most people do, most fans do care about this. They care about it deeply. But it's not a thing that I am personally super passionate about, other than what they've been wearing for the last four seasons is, been an abomination. It has looked, and I have felt this way since 2-22, that there was an expansion

team that replaced my Redskins in my hometown. That's what it's felt like. I don't know that the changing back to a uniform that's similar to the championship era uniforms is going to make me feel a lot different, but it will be easier to watch. I'd love the old logo to come back on the helmets replacing the W, but I don't think that's how. happening. But Josh Harris talked about some big surprise. He didn't want to reveal everything when he talked a couple of weeks ago. So we'll see what that big surprise is. I think there's going to be a spear involved. I was told that and I shared that with you guys a few weeks ago. But where the spear is and what the helmet looks like and where the stripes are, that's not

my thing. So, but I'm looking forward to seeing what they reveal tomorrow. I think it's going to happen sometime tomorrow morning between like 10 and 11 a.m. I think they're going to unveil whatever it is. And I would assume they'll do it. They'll do it probably via some video, right? I don't think they're holding a press conference tomorrow. I think it's a video. They have not announced anything like that.

Yeah, so it'll be done. You know, I'm kind of curious because I think like for a segment of the fan base, unless they come out wearing an Indian headdress, I don't think anything's going to be good enough for them. Right. So do you think that what happens, what is announced tomorrow will be greeted with excitement or disappointment? I don't even want to predict because all I know is what you just said is true.

That the people who deeply care about this, and that is a large, large group of not only the current fan base, but the fan base that used to be super passionate about the team. There's only one answer that will completely satisfy, and that is Redskins and the old uniforms and the old logo. And that's been their problem all along, is that's what they've been dealing with, is that no matter what they do,

it's not going to please everybody unless it's what it used to be. And by the way, then they're going to have to, you know, if they did that, you know, against the league's wishes, I don't think they are allowed to do it. But then they'd have to deal with all the crazies that, you know, made this go away in the first place. That, you know, allowed Fred Smith to do what he did during the summer of 2020. You know, the people that literally invested no time into how Native Americans actually felt about this. But were, you know, for some reason personally offended. And there was some good business around being.

personally offended during all of those years. But yeah, I think I don't know what the reaction is going to be. I really don't. But for me, I can only speak to if it is much more representative as the alts were last year of what they used to wear, the actual burgundy color, the actual gold, which was, you know, not necessarily pure gold. If there's some sort of spear injected into the W or whatever, I'm going to have easier time watching the team on the field, and I think it will be what it was for me watching

those three games last year. It was, okay, well, at least it looks like the team. I hate just when they put the full-screen Kiron up that says commanders first downs versus, you know, commanders, you know, second and seven or commander seven, Dallas three, Cowboys three. I'd just rather call them Washington, but that's kind of what I do anyway. So tomorrow's a big day. For a lot of people. Will there be down the road, more continued changes, or is this it? Oh, I think that the old logo is going to make its way back into circulation somehow. But I don't know how.

See, that's the thing where that was never, ever a source of controversy. no one ever said that logo is racist, you know, as they did about the Cleveland Indians logo. But that only be, that's true, that's true, but that only may be because they were so concentrating so much on the name. Yeah, but the logo was, there was never any offensiveness to it. There was, you know, even the Redskins name. It's arguable as to whether or not it means what the people who think it's offensive actually means or the way it was intended. But beyond that, yes, I would bet that the old logo at some point works its way back into circulation. How?

I have no idea. I would love for Josh Harrison Company to be able to get it back onto the helmet at some point down the road. I don't know why they can't do it now. Now, keep in mind, is it really tied to the name commanders? like it's Native American, you know, imagery. The name commanders doesn't really have Native American ties. I guess they could come up with a way that the commander's name is, you know, some sort of head of tribe.

I don't know. But to answer your question, I don't think it's going to be a big part of anything now, but I don't think it's dead. Okay. It seems like feeding the angry mob crumbs is just going to keep the debate going. And, you know, I think they need to just cut it off at some point. Let's say, this is it, and we're going to wait until the rest of you die, and then the new fan base will just, this will all be all they know. I don't think it hurts them to feed crumbs this way.

I think that it hurts if they were to feed crumbs that don't have anything to do with the past, but somehow is a replacement to the present but isn't tied to the past. That would be dragging it out and continuing to make it a story unnecessarily. I think giving the fan base past and present a few, you know, crumbs from the championship era is not hurtful to them. Okay. Look, I have no horse in this race. But even when I was a fan, I never really cared that much.

But when I was a fan, uniforms really weren't that important. You know? I mean, you couldn't even, you couldn't buy jerseys when I was a fan. It's the pinstripes. That was certainly important. to Yankee fans. Yes, but not being a Yankee fan. I know.

It meant nothing to me. All right. Is that enough uniform talk for today? I don't know. I'm more coming on Thursday. Let me mention real quickly, I'm not going to have a show tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow evening. Long before this April 15th uniform reveal,

I made a commitment on for April 15th right after the radio show. So the next podcast after today will be on Thursday with Tommy where we will then react to what happened the day before related to the uniforms. So sorry, Greg. We've talked about it today and we'll probably talk about it on Thursday as well. All right. Let's please some of those that wanted us to talk about Diana Rusini. We will do that next. Show some courage.

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You can watch the world go by, watch everyone, you know, working hard, working 10, 12 hours a day, moving on to their next appointment, and you're sitting outside at Shelly's smoking a big cigar, drinking a nice draft, which is my plan tonight. tonight I'm going to Shelley's back room with my family it's a birthday celebration of sorts of delayed birthday celebration my family is taking me the Shelley's for dinner nice I need to decide what I want to eat off of their menu of excellence their food menu of excellence uh so um I'm I'm you know I could go with their custom blend beef uh and get like a meatball sub.

That's kind of where I'm going. Right. You know? A meatball sub. I could get a sausage sub. I could get one of the Shelley's burgers. And maybe I'll get an... What about a steak?

What about a big steak? You know, I'm not a steak guy. I know that. It's odd to me. You're not a steak guy. And you don't eat sweets, which is crazy. No, there's a lot odd to me.

Although this weekend, I was up in a Poconos this weekend, I went to a store that had buttons. So I bought some buttons, candy buttons. Remember the ones on the paper? Yeah, sure. Those things were terrible. I hated those things. My sister loved them. I wanted a few candies that I would eat buttons.

Yeah. So I'm walking down Main Street eating off this piece of paper and Strasbourg buttons, you know. But they don't have buttons at Shelleys, but they got some pretty good. food. I'm thinking for an appetizer, I might go with maybe the fried mozzarella sticks. That's a good call. Yeah. Who doesn't like fried mozzarella sticks? Yeah. Absolutely. And my draft of choice is Sierra Nevada. They all ale. But they have a tremendous selection of draft beer available at Shelly's. So I'll be enjoying the glory of Shelly's backroom tonight. If you want to, too, you can find out more

at shelley's backroom.com. Well, have a happy birthday celebration. This is what, about two weeks, three weeks nearly after your birthday. Will you, now do you, when you go to a restaurant to celebrate your birthday, do you open gifts at the restaurant if people bring you gifts, or do you take them home and open them up? Well, I've never had that experience. So, I mean, I would think that the last thing I would do is open up gifts at a restaurant.

A lot of people do that. I think it's annoying to do that. And I never, I don't like doing that unless somebody insists that I do it. But when you say that you've never had that experience, meaning nobody's ever brought you a birthday gift? Never. Never. Not a one. I never get presents.

Yeah. All right. Diana Rusini and Mike Vrable, the head coach of the New England Patriots, who Tommy's had a crush on all season long. and led his team in his first year to the Super Bowl, where they lost to Seattle. So prior to the league meetings out in Arizona a few weeks ago, there were these photos. I'm sure most of you know this story now. Photos that were published by page six on page six of Mike Vrable and Diana Rusini, who writes for the athletic.

Diana was with ESPN before that. And before that, she was here in our market at Channel 4 as a news, as a sports anchor and reporter. But the photos showed the two of them together in bathing suits, poolside, hugging, holding hands. You know, both said that these were innocent photos. Mike Vrable said these photos show a completely innocent interaction and any suggestion otherwise is laughable. Diana Rusini said it lacked context that there were a lot. friends around at this very private resort. By the way, how do you think those pictures were gotten?

This was not a public place. This was a high-end, very exclusive resort in Arizona and Sedona. I think it's a private detective situation. That's what people seem to be suggesting, yes. So who hired the PI? Vrabel's wife or Rusini's husband? I don't know. I don't know.

Or, you know, or maybe some kind of paparazzi who basically, you know, showed his own initiative. Well, that's different than a PI. I don't know how those happen. That's true. Yeah. That's true. But, I mean, I don't think it was somebody there on vacation with their iPhone who just happened to see them. I don't think that's what happened.

Right. So, real quickly, I like Diane. I've had Diane on the show many times. over a long period of time now. I think she's really good as a radio guest, which is always my top priority, because there are excellent reporters, excellent columnists who don't make good radio guests. And when you put somebody like that on, even though their name is recognizable, if they're not great, it usually is a net negative.

You know, you've got to be good and you've got to have personality or you've got to be incredibly efficient and a great communicator of information. Diana was both, you know, and Diana was fun. She had a lot of personality. She does. It's not that she was that. So I've always enjoyed having her on the show. Diana, by the way, one of the reasons I've always liked her, you could tell that she

was a tough competitor. She was, you know, and people, are probably saying, yeah, there were lots of ways she probably got access to information. Diana was a four-sport all-state athlete in high school. So one of the things that I've talked to her about before, usually there are only three sports seasons, Tommy, fall, winter, spring. She was a four-sport, all-state player because in the spring, I think she did field hockey and track.

Like she made all state in two sports during one of those seasons. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. And I'm certainly hoping that this does not ruin personally relationships, marriages, and then after that, you know, careers. I did read this morning that her contracts up this August, which is obviously very interesting. The athletic owned by the New York Times. I'll let you, as the journalist of the two,

take a shot at it and then I will talk about it after you do go ahead well like I always saying journalism these days there are aren't many rules left but having a relationship like this with the people you cover that's still a rule I think I think I think that's still at a balance if it's true yeah okay so I mean if it's true if this is true her career at the athletic is over. I mean, she's already, she's already been sideline. I guess I don't know if she's been suspended, but she's been put by the side as they conduct their own internal investigation. This is the New York Times. People forget the athletic is owned by the New York Times. Okay, so this is not how they like to do business at the Grey Lady up there. And they don't like their name

you know, bandied around like this. So, you know, I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, the photos, again, the photos, you know, don't look good. All these friends that were around, none of them seem to have surfaced to publicly, you know, absolve Rassini and Vrabble of any wrongdoing here. So I'm very suspicious of that.

And one other thing, Steve Gindon, Pittsburgh looked like an idiot when he first came out and said in the statement that the photos were misleading and lack essential contact. These were public interactions in front of many people. He said, and within a day or two later, she's sidelined and they're investigating it now. Yeah. So obviously there is something to it. That's the part that I was going to focus in on, because obviously, you know, none of us know the story. story completely. And we're all just going based on these photos. And, you know, there have been,

you know, several sort of videos put together of things that Diana has said as a guest. She's always been very kind of playful and fun in a way in which, you know, she's not afraid for, you know, for people to take shots at her. I mean, there's been a lot of self-deprecation as part of her overall approach. But to me, when Stephen Ginsberg, who's the athletics executive editor, used to be the executive editor at the Washington Post for the sports section, when he said in his initial statement, and this was obviously after he talked to Diana, he said the photos are misleading and lack essential context.

These were public interactions in front of many people. Diana is a premier journalist covering the NFL and we're proud to have her at the athletic closed quote. And then clearly, uh, he bought from her in his initial communication with her, I say clearly that's what makes sense to me, was somehow trumped by further information that then led him to suspending her, putting her on the sidelines. And so that if any, like if anything, that's where you focus in on to say,

well, they must have uncovered something that was inappropriate. And as far as what you said, yes, I mean, there are lines you can't cross, but it doesn't seem like there are many left in journalism. And that doesn't just go for sports. But yeah, it makes everything she writes about the Patriots, about the AFC East, about the Titans from back in the day. It makes you question all of that. And that's not what you want from, you know, top flight lead reporters at real outlets, like the athletic. I'm an athletic fan. I'm a subscriber and I like it.

I read the athletic every day. But we'd be remiss if we didn't remember the whole Scott McLuhan incident. With the wife. Yeah. With Jessica McLuhan, his wife accused Rusini on Twitter of exchange. sexual favors information and being her husband's mistress. Right. Now, you know, that...

She pulled those and apologized, but yes, that was the initial... Right. Yeah. Yeah. All of us remember that. You can't ignore that smoke. No, you can't. There's smoke.

There has been smoke around Diana from back, you know, in those days because of Jessica McLuhan going public with which she believed to have been. you know, a relationship between Diana and her husband, Scott. So, you know, I feel courageous already, don't you? I thought that was funny. Let me just say this. She may not be back. There's certainly a chance that she's not back in her role at the athletic,

but Diana Rusini is going to have many opportunities to be, you know. In this media? In this media? You'll get a podcast. You'll get a radio show. Yeah, the whole thing. Barstool will hire tomorrow. Tomorrow.

Yes. All right. Well, these things really are rough on families in particular. But if you're right, somebody had an inkling something was going on to begin with, if it was a private investigator who was taking those photos. Yeah. We got more show after these words. from a few of our sponsors.

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whatever you want to write. But that helps us a lot, as does following the podcast. If you get a chance to do that, it would be much appreciated. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. So I talked a little bit about this on the show yesterday, Tommy. But Anthony Davis held a press conference, a season-ending press conference. I'm not sure why he did. He didn't play.

but they put Anthony Davis out in front of the DC media or what's left of it yesterday. And the 33-year-old, soon to be a player who will play games, hopefully for the Wizards next year, answered questions. And, you know, I played the question that David Aldridge asked. And he talked about, you know, I'm under contract next year, you know, in whether or not he would be. here next year. He is under contract next year for over $58 million for one season. And then he's got a $62 million player option in 2027, 2028. These NBA players, my God, the money they make. But he said, you know, we got to figure things out. And people took that and ran with it and said,

he wants out now. I watched after the podcast yesterday. I went back and watched, start to finish this press conference. And let me just mention one thing real quickly. There was a moment in which his phone rings and he picks up his phone. The team's website, which put out the press conference, cut that part out. Because I didn't see that, but I read about how the phone rang during the press conference and he picked it up. You saw it, right?

I saw it initially, yeah, and then I haven't able to find it since. Yeah, it was not on, I read that that's what he did. I couldn't find it on their website, and I watched the entire press conference. Let me just say this. If you watch the entire press conference, there's a lot that's very positive. I mean, he was not saying to, you know, the DC media, hey, man, I hate it here and I want to get traded. I don't want to even play here next year. It's not what he was doing. And he wasn't even trying to work his way into something the year after.

He'll have that option in 2027, 2028. He's been very positive about ownership, about the front office, about their young players. But when he says, we're going to figure some things out, we need to get some things figured out. He's talking about, I think, a number of things or it could be, you know, all of these things or maybe just one of them. Number one is contract. You know, if they go to him and say, we want to extend you for six years for, you know, call it $500 million or whatever it would be, maybe he ends up, you know, signing it or, you know, if they give him some sort of Supermax extension. I don't even know if they're allowed to do that. But I think it has to do with more, more about does he want,

a player or two to come along for the ride next year. And will he have a say in who the coach is? I think there may be some of that in there. Like, who's going to end up coaching this team? I don't think it's going to be Brian Keefe. I don't. And I think they might. I think they'll swap him out this offseason.

I think there's a chance that that happens sooner rather than later. And that's not an indictment on him because I don't know if Brian Keefe can coach. They haven't had any meaningful games during his tenure here. And that's the only way to really judge whether or not he can do this. It's a different skill set to be a developmental coach than it is to be a game coach, where the goal is to win games. They haven't had that goal for three years. I wasn't off put by anything during Anthony Davis's press conference.

Now, if he picked up a phone in the middle of it, I would consider that to be. unprofessional. And almost like, you know, it's just not, it's not a good look to do that. You're there, you're working, and you're not supposed to be picking up personal calls or maybe even professional calls as you're holding a press conference. But beyond that, it's today's NBA player, man. They have a lot of say in what happens in organizations when they're at the level of Anthony Davis.

And he's one of those, you know, when he plays. top 10-ish kind of players. Yes. Yes, he is. My favorite quote at a press conference was, you get here and it's different than, you know, than what people believe. This is a great organization.

This is my favorite one here. They do things, and I don't want to give away secrets, but haven't seen it anywhere else. I knew you'd find that quote. I heard it, and I'm like, this is for Tommy. So they have secrets that they've been keeping from us. Yeah. So there's a secret sauce, baby.

There's a secret sauce. Maybe it's Dan Quinn's secret sauce that they've come on. They've got a secret formula for how to win 17 games. Who knew? Oh, my God. Oh, God. You know, I mean, like I said, these guys are here because they opened up. that high, that high price special section of tickets, and you can't sell those tickets with kids.

You need names to sell tickets. That's why he's here. That's why Tray Young is here. That's the primary reason to sell tickets in this, what it's what it called, it's not the sphere. I forget what it's called. It's got a name. Yeah.

Yeah. So, I mean, so when they're selling tickets next year, Anthony Davis and Trey Young are going to be on on on their on their promotions for that uh but i'm not a cop it's the wizard i'm not real hopeful this guy it only keeps getting older i don't think he's going to get healthier the older he gets and he is he he barely plays i mean he just doesn't play yeah so uh but though is it is it is it called the globe is it called the globe seats are they the globe seats. Yeah.

I'm looking for, because there is a name for those seats. Tommy, if he ends up, I mean, this has potential disaster written all over it because of his, you know, lack of availability during the course of his career. So, you know, it also has major upside,

which they haven't had going into a season, since 2016, 2017. And even that upside wasn't what this upside would be, because he healthy is better than John Wall was healthy. Like, John Wall was definitely a top 10-ish kind of a player. I mean, John was a legit superstar, and he was at a different level than Beal was ever at, in my opinion. But Anthony Davis's best exceeds John Wall's best and his ceiling. So they're swinging for it a little bit. But again, I go back to what Dawkins said, and he said this to me when he was on with me on radio three weeks ago or a month ago.

You know, we can't continue to develop young talent in an environment where you're not playing real games or meaningful games. The games have to be meaningful. You've got to go in with the intention of winning. You've got to have, you know, those situations in which you're looking at the standings and you're trying to gain in the standings, and that's a much better evaluation of their young talent than what they've been doing for three years. They've been trying to identify players that they think they can win with. The players themselves have been getting time and have been developing as players,

but not in the purest of developmental environments. And they needed to start that process. That's why Tray Young and Anthony Davis are here, along with, you know, the Mikkelob Ultra Club in the globe seats or whatever they're called. I didn't have a major problem with Anthony Davis's press conference yesterday. I just did. I mean, if he wants out and, you know, here's the problem I would see from his standpoint. He's 33.

He wants to play on a contender, like now. And they're not going to be a championship contender next year. You don't go from 17 and 65. What? Or the year after that. You don't go from 17 and 65 to the NBA finals. You go from 17 and 65 to maybe 45 wins and maybe winning a playoff series, and then the next year, maybe you're a contender.

Maybe you can go deep into the playoffs. But you're right, it's probably more like the 2028, 2029 season. And if he's here during that run, you know, what is he as a player at 35 years old versus 33 years old? And for him, does he feel like he's wasting an opportunity to win another ring? Because this isn't the place to do it next year and probably not the year after. But we'll see. He is under contract. And, you know, he said a lot of nice things about a lot of players on the team.

And who knew about the secret formula for, what they've been doing. All right. Anything else? I got nothing for you, boss. All right. Back either late tomorrow or the next time you'll hear a show will be Thursday. But we will certainly come. Sorry, Greg C. with some uniform talk.