The Kevin Sheehan Show - Caps & Jags

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Kevin, Thom, and Scott Linn today to start the show with Scott's thoughts on how the Caps blew a 3-goal lead in Florida last night. Kevin and Thom talked early news on the NFL Schedule including a report from JP Finlay that Washington will open its 2022 season at home against Jacksonville. A report about Terry McLaurin's contract-extension status was also discussed. The boys considered the desire from someone to add a 2nd NFL team in Dallas. The 55-point lead by Memphis last night against Golden State and the National Cathedral were part of the show as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. It doesn't cost your thing. Helps us.

Rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. Five stars, quick one to two sentence review on Apple is a huge help for the podcast. Tommy's here. I am here. And we are joined by our very good friend, the elderly. person on this conversation. That would be Scott Lynn, our good friend from 980 days and other days. And we brought Scott in on today's show to find out how he's doing, of course,

but really to help us with the hockey game last night, several people were very upset with Tommy our review of game four. They said we missed some of the nuance of game four and that we were a little bit too flippant in our analysis of it. So we've got Scott on the show with us today. Scott was, I think this is true, Scott, and you won't take credit for it. But I think other than Koken in our building for all of those years, you were the hockey guy other than Koken. Nobody knew more about hockey than you were Koken.

Was there anybody that was close? I don't think so. I'll just let you keep on talking and I'll nod, even though people can't see me nodding. I mean, Al is, of course, legend in this town and his ties to the organization. organization go back decades, and I do mean decades. And it's amazing because Tommy, you can vouch for this. I think Koken is our very own Dick Clark. He is the DMV's oldest, you know, living teenager because the guy just keeps on going and going. Um, he, no, he, he's legend. Sure. Was I, was I a distant second? Yes, I'll, I'll happily take credit. That's because

nobody else wanted to do it. Are you kidding me? And I love the game too. I can't believe Kevin is, look, with all due respect, I love having to talk to Scott Lynn, but I can't believe Kevin is cowtelling to a few whiners who didn't like our hockey content. So what's he do? He accommodates them. I mean, I don't even know you anymore. Well, I'm here to serve the customer, Tommy. Unlike you.

You tend to turn customers away. I like when they spend money. It keeps the lights on. Oh, my God. We've got somebody to hold our hand. You know that's not true, right? Nobody really complained about our hockey discussion the other day. Because I don't think anybody listening knew much more than we did.

So, Scott. Okay, well, let's get to it. Let's do that hockey. Scott, first of all, we tell everybody what you've been doing. I know you've got multiple things that you're working on, including your own business, which you came on and talked about on the podcast. I don't know a year ago or so, but you're back in broadcasting in a certain sense. So update all of the people that are curious as to what you've been doing with your life,

what you're doing right now. Absolutely, Johnny and Ed. And thank you guys again for having me on this. I love to get an awarding program. Who's Johnny and who's Ed? Tommy's Johnny always. He's way familiar than you'll ever be. And he's got a better golf.

swing with that Hillbilly club. He does. Anyway, of course he does. Anyway, no, what am I doing? I produce a program for the Odyssey Corporation on the BetQL Network called You Better You Bet with two fine gentlemen named

Nick Costos and Ken Barkley. And it's on 3 to 7 Monday through Friday and I'm just behind the scenes, which is awesome and these guys are a blast. She and Tommy, you guys would absolutely adore it because it's a whole lot of gambling and it's done smartly.

and humorously, and while they take the product seriously, they certainly don't take themselves seriously. They take their knowledge seriously, but there's a we have, I laugh, I honestly laugh every single day and several times. And, you know, you didn't think that'd be possible during a gambling program. So I'm doing that. I also have ScotlandPR podcast. Please feel free to check it out, scotlandprpodcast.com,

and I'm doing the modest podcast with Sali. We do it four times a week, depending on your subscription level. It's through Patreon. Just look up Lynn Murray, Sally. Even though Murray comes on like once a month, Zabe stops by weekly when he's not too busy. We go on his and, you know, just being a producer and doing the Scotland PR podcast thing,

doing a little bit of modest voiceovering, and just hanging out and being a dad, Schia. So, you know, they're going in a nutshell, my friend. Is the show that you're producing on every night? It is on, yeah, 3 to 7 Monday through Friday. It is on Odyssey affiliates from coast to coast to BetQO network affiliates. It's also on Twitch. It's also on YouTube.

And this is something that's way cool. We average. I mean, over the winter months and through football season, these guys were pulling 2 million and up, you know, in the neighborhood of 2 million downloads a month as far as segments being downloaded and podcasted. And so it's a killer, killer program. and these dudes are honestly good. And I don't mean they're good with their explanations of CLV, closing line value,

and, you know, educating the list on how you should, how you might want to, but they're also pretty decent about sharing their stuff. Nobody's pimping a 900 line. Those days are over with, you know, knockout information in the Stu Finer type stuff. These guys are open, they share. Nobody's got me, you know, subscribe. Hey, call me, and then I'll give you. you the other one. No, no, no, everything's available.

You know, listen live or listen through the podcast. And by the way, can I curse on this podcast, you know, is that okay? Yes, it's fine. Yeah, all right. They, they, uh, probably, yeah, Tommy works blue all the time, making moms mably proud, baby. Anyway, if they have shitty nights, you know, with the, with the games,

they'll come in and they'll go, yeah, last night sucked. And, and, what a bummer. And you get to live, you know, how much you play and, and, or how little you play, you get to live vicariously through their, through their, you know, gaming and gaming experience. So they're also very good at telling stories. So there you go. That's, well, 2 million downloads a month is a pretty damn good podcast.

It is. It is, and the company's very happy with us. Let's just leave it at that. Well, that's good. And I'm sure it's being produced. Well, thank God. It's on between 3 and 7 and not say 7 and 10. That'd be far too late for you.

All right. Let's seriously talk about the hockey game last. If they had a 3-0 lead, they lost the game 5 to 3. Did they choke it away, or did they just get out played by, you know, a team that was obviously better coming into this series? This team, the Florida Panthers, has been described as the Golden State Warriors when they are at full health. And I mean, the Warriors are full health. The Panthers are pretty healthy team. If you build a 3-0 lead over the Florida Panthers, should you be able to put them away?

Yes. but you also got to make sure you don't make any mistakes. John Carlson with a bad pinch. Puck goes over. They turn into a counter. It's a two-on-one, and then Patrick Hornquist flicks it past Samsonov's glove. T.J. O'Shee, you know, neutral zone. Dump it, dude, dump it.

We scream that in floor hockey every Wednesday night. Keep in mind, TJ O'S he's been probably the best player for the Capitals in this entire series. So he's a lot of brain freeze, but dump it, do the smart thing, do the prudent thing, do the safe thing. get it into their zone. It turns to a turnover, and then back they come. You can't hand them, and I saw this with Lavia Lett in the post game. He's like, yeah, it was a tale of two games. One, I liked a lot of things that saw us build a 3-0 lead.

After that, we're giving them too many things. You don't give them opportunities. You don't, you know, Tommy again, you're of multiple worlds, but including the baseball world. You don't put good-hitting teams on base with walks. If you're up three or four-nothing, get them to hit ground balls. don't walk, no free passes, no errors. So what the Capitals did was they wound up making errors, bad passes, stuff that

turned in Florida's favor and was an instant transition game and it allowed them to just go play as, you know, Joe and Craig and the guys in the 80s used to call it, firewagon hockey, where they go from one end to the other. Oh, you're going to hand me this, bye, and you joked about Carter for Hage, who, you know, coming into this series, there are a lot of really good, fast, talented, world-class players on the Florida Pampers, two of them off the top of your head, Alexander Barkov, Jonathan Uberdow, but they're getting beat by a guy named Carter Verhagee, whose speed was going to be a problem to begin with.

But, you know, he's now got open ice in front of him. You know, five-point night last night. That's ridiculous. I think utterly ridiculous. You saw Nick Baxter trying to catch up with a guy like Carter Verhagee. It ain't going to happen, even if Baxter's totally healthy. from his hip thing, but at this point of the season, boys, you know, everybody's dinged, nobody cares, you just play through it.

So she and I hope I answered your question. Florida is good. They don't need you to hand them anything. But the fact that the cabs did went up three-nothing, that spelled their demise last night. So how do you change that? How do you stop that from happening? Is that it on the ice thing or is that on the bench? It's a play smarter thing, Tommy.

You know, you hope. And again, oh, she's great. and has been the Capp's best player. He, of all people, should be thinking, hey, we're up three nothing. No reason to look for more. No reason for me to, I'll use the basketball, you know, parlance.

No reason for me to try to dribble past one, two, or three people. Throw it in a corner, go get rid of it. People are on you. And, you know, you can't dump it down in basketball, so to speak, but you can get it out of trouble. You can get it out of your hands. And, you know, I saw a lot of, of the game. I saw a lot of it in highlights, rewatch some of the goals. It was just momentary or

secondary lapses of reason. And when stuff like that happens, Florida's too good to put runners on base, to fumble at, you know, at your 35 and then not expect somebody with a quick strike offense to go right back in with at least a field goal. They don't need your help with that stuff, but if you're offering it, they're going to make you pay. I heard a lot of criticism. And this is one of the things, quite honestly, I'm not going to recognize. I'll recognize if a goalie, you know, is at a position and maybe it's his fault. I actually thought Samsonoff was decent last night, really at the end of the first period. But I've heard a lot of criticism of Carlson and Orlov in particular. Carlson really has been such a great player, Scott, right? And he's rarely

had bad games in big moments. But did he have a bad game last night? This is a sore spot for me, because as good as John Carlson is offensively and certainly with the man advantage, I have never been a big fan of his defensive game, let's just say. Either it's too risky or too laissez-faire. There was a goal-mouthed scramble last night with, what, five, six guys, just basically standing around. And I think Dowd and Carlson were off to the goaltenders right. And a Florida Panther, like a little kid who's just kind of dribbling, you know,

like Mugsy Boggs or something like that, or Spud Webb, dribbling through a bunch of tall guys. You need to all be aware. Carlson, to me, pretty harsh criticism for a guy that can't skate, and I'm talking about me, he just has, again, secondary lapses where you're like, that guy over there. Somebody better cover him, and then, you know, the next thing you see is a goal by the opposition and the back of 74's jersey gone probably saying to himself, that was on me. There are too many times that that seems to happen. Again, he's a really good player, Kevin.

You are exactly right. But really good players need to be really consistent when the spotlight shines brightest, and that's in the playoffs. Okay, it's from a neophyte still, even though I've watched hundreds of hours of this game. Come on, Tommy. You know Andy Bathgate stories, I know. wouldn't have wouldn't the factor

of being a good defensive player come into play when you're a defenseman that's a pretty basic question that deserves a pretty basic answer yes sadly what's become of yeah no

it's not it's not it I mean yes we laugh but it is it's kind of become a a a frustrating more frustrating than a joking matter

of late the guys that tend to win the Norris Trophy for the best defensemen are the ones that put up the most points, when in essence, you'd love to see them have amazing advanced stats numbers. Now, I'm not an advanced stats guy. You may get feedback on this podcast, says, Linda doesn't know what the bleep he's talking about, and Carlson's defensive metrics are excellent. I like to go back to the Kevin Shee and I test, and when I watch John Carlson, I see somebody who skates like the wind, has a rocket from the point, and is an offensive threat.

He is not my favorite defenseman. So, Tommy, back to your question, yes. If you play, if it says D next to your name on the roster, you should be a good defenseman and not a liability above all else. Again, harsh word liability, but for lack of a better term at this juncture because we're all a little angry that they were up 3-0 and stupid stuff happens, you just can't do that. You've got to play better defense all.

of the time. It's the playoffs. Goaltending wins. Defense wins. That's the bottom line. So Tom Wilson gets hurt in the first few minutes of game one. They haven't had him back since. Who knows if they'll have them tomorrow night. Do you think his absence has contributed significantly, or it's negligible in terms of why they're down three, two? Oh, no, definitely significantly, because he was such a part of the trio that he was with. And again, it happens all the time. If guys are having off nights, if guys get dinged, if guys miss a shift, if guys get double-shifted.

He and his linemates were doing well. Wilson provided physical crunch. Wilson provides size, and Wilson can skate. So if he's on, I mean, see, anytime you take a good player out of any lineup, the next guys need to move up. But there was a reason that they were lower than your A guy. to begin with. So just by that logic, of course, their roster is going to be tainted, if you will. Yeah, I would say it's way more than negligible. I would say that he's

had, his losses had a big effect. Are they going to, you know, are they going to, would they have won this series with great ease? No, Florida's good. The caps are, in essence, what, an eight-seed, and this is the, you know, this is the top seat in the conference. Like, let's we forget that. I know, I know the NHL playoffs are also looked upon as the great, you know, would-be equalizer because all you need is a hot goalie and you can take out the top seat. And the people of Washington certainly learned that and been on the wrong end through the years where you're like, oh, they're the higher seed, they should roll through. All right, somebody gets hot, somebody stands on their head, somebody misses an open net,

and then all of a sudden things get squirrely. Fine. Wilson's absence does have a lot to do with it. The fact that Florida is really good and skates way better, that's got a lot to do with it. the fact that the Capitals played a perfect and beautiful game on Saturday afternoon in front of their home fans and then followed up with one that they should have won on Monday night. You know, I mean, you want to go back to a couple seconds, and I don't know if you watch Monday night's game in its entirety, but with the net empty, Garnett Hathaway clears it down right. But, again, you know, as the late great Mr. Beatrice used to say, if Fips and Butts or Candy, yada, yada, yada, yeah, you're next. If, you know, if that goes in, sure, things are different.

Shit happens. It's hockey. You know, it's going, it's going. It's the side of the net. Turns into an icing. All right, back they come. They keep it in. The puck hits a guy's what, arm or elbow bounces down and then gets whacked in, just beating the goaltenders left skate.

Okay. You know, it's, that's, it is what happens. I hate that we always go back to that hockey crutch, but that's, you know, was puck luck and it was bad. It was bad for the caps and then it was really good for the Panthers. And then last night, back to the original questions about this game, you know, they're up three nothing and then they stop and they were standing around. I think it was the Reinhardt poke in. I don't even know who got that goal. It doesn't matter. But there's just stupid stuff that takes place and you go, you can't have brain freezes against the team as

excellent as Florida. You know, and one of the things, and Tommy and I really broke this down the other day on the Tuesday podcast was just the penalty kill for the Caps, 16 for 16. I mean, they're down 3-2 and the Panthers, you know, the cardiac cats, as they're referred to, are offer on the power play. That's amazing. That, I mean, if I had told you that a week ago, you would have said Caps, maybe the series is over at this point, right? Yeah, definitely so. And for them to be, to have done, had done as well, have done as well with the, you know, down a man has been absolute insanity.

That is focusing on the details. And Tommy, I don't know if you wanted to go after Lobby, you'll let a little bit where you asked the question before he said, look, on ice fingers at a bench thing. Of course he does. But that's, I mean, that's, that's coaching. That's coaching. That's paying attention to detail. That's getting them honed, honed and focused in on, look, this team's great five on five.

You don't want to be down a man to them. You saw what happened again. Dumb goal, puck luck with the extra man on Monday night that, you know, they had the, I don't even know if they call it an empty net. I think it's empty net if you score into an empty net, but like they call it a pulled goalie situation or something like that. Anyway, you don't want to, you know, you don't want to be at a disadvantage against Florida. But yeah, Kevin, kudos to the caps for doing as well as they have done in that statistic.

Speaking of coaches, what do you think about Barry Trots getting fired? Weird, and he'll get a job in no time flat. There are a lot of teams. I mean, I don't know what happened on Long Island, but we know him to be a most excellent coach. And if Ted would have forked over a little bit more, he may still be here, and we may be in a different space. I mean, I feel that's been fine.

Am I in love with him? No, not really. but I don't hate the guy. He's been very successful and has reached numerous heights with numerous different teams. So good for him. He's certainly no slouch. I certainly did like Trots better. But yeah, Tommy, I'm shocked, to say the least.

I don't know where he's going to wind up, obviously, but there are suitors, and there should be suitors. He's very good at his job. Back to the Lavillette situation. You know, this would be four straight first-round exits since. he took over. And, you know, obviously they won the cup in 18. If they lose tomorrow night or in game seven, first of all, do you think he would be in trouble? Secondly, do you think it's time for the Caps? I've heard a lot of Caps fans say the roster's too old. It's time to start over. Do you think that this would be, you know, four straight first round exits, something that would influence

Ted and company to think about starting over? The starting over thing is very interesting, and we've certainly, you know, you can watch the aftermath of the goals, you know, in this postseason series or whatever, whatever series, whatever game. And you go, how old is that guy? Oh, boy. I mean, it's weird to me to look and see that Nicholas Baxter was born in 1987. He's 34, 35 years old now. He's age 36 season. I forget.

He's an elder statesman. Ovi doesn't seem to want to stop, and I'm not saying that Baxter wants to stop either, but he was a guy that had the start of his season delayed by that hip thing, and you know, you watch him and you go, all right, it's still there, but he's certainly not the player he once was. He's 35. Father time is undefeated. I expect even more from Cousie than we're getting,

and that's sort of, you know, unfortunate. I mean, you also take a look at how the roster was constructed. You know, Carl Haglin was here and was a, and was a decent part of a unit. They go out and they make a trade. They pick up Mojo. They pick up Johann Larson and all good and well. And Mojo had a lovely game back to that Saturday afternoon thing.

He and Anthony Manta, but I need to see more on a consistent basis. Johansson's in his low 30. It is, you know, early 30s. Eller's getting up there. Hagelin, who had, you know, the eye thing in the surgery. He's, again, was a key part, was a key part or was a part of a key unit. and offered some speed and offered veteran smarts. But the other guys, you know, at some point,

even though OSHA's been absolutely awesome, just a year younger than what's called it, than Ovi. I mean, they have guys, Kev. They have guys that are key parts of the future and will be here, like Coosie, like Wilson, certainly Connor McMichael, certainly pieces on the defense like Barton Fairbury, who has been a revelation at times, but also, you know, I mean, he's a big fan.

People are a big fan of his for a reason. Even Orlov is now 31 years of age. So to answer your initial question, is it starting to close? Oh, yeah. It's probably more than halfway shut. And at some point, they're going to have to figure things out. But then I ask you, do you keep Lovia let on and you go, I want you to work with these young kids, and we're going to have to go into a new phase and a new place.

I think they should bring, I think they should be. I mean, I don't know anything about anything, but, you know, getting rid of Trotsey over, you know, Nichols was stupid. I mean, he won the first Stanley Cup in the history of the franchise, and you're going to nickel pinch. That seemed ridiculous. I also think, and Tommy, I don't know if you would agree with me, but Ted's not going to end the Ovechkin era until he catches Gretzky. I mean, that's going to happen in a caps uniform. He's whatever he is, Scott, what is it, just over 100 goals away, something like that. that, so maybe two years, two and a half years away from the Gretzky mark in goals?

It's something like that. Something like that, but I agree with your point. He's not going to pull the plug on that. Yeah, correct. I mean, that'll be one of the biggest buildups to Ovechkin becoming the all-time goal score in the history of the NHL, and there's no chance Ted's going to allow that to happen somewhere else. Providing. Providing Ovechkin still in the league.

Okay, well, you know, unless all-out war breaks out, and I'm not suggesting that that's an impossibility, and he is, you know, sent back to Russia. Let's just assume that he does continue to play. And Scott, by the way, right, Ovechkin had a phenomenal year. He's still one of the best players in the game at 36 years old. He's still one of the best goals scores. He is one of the greatest goals scores of all time. God, way to go out on a limb there, Lynn. He had a very, very, very good season, yes. No question about it. Do you want to call him one of the best players in the game? I mean, there are some excellent hockey players, but I always like to look at whether it's PSN or the hockey news or ESPN and sort of their lists. And you do see his name, you know, sliding down, but then you look at all these, you know, young guns. And I mean, go watch the Colorado Avalanche for a couple periods. Watch some of the players on the Florida Panthers. watch, you know, Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal in Edmonton.

Austin Matthews in Toronto. That guy's fun to watch. Yeah, thank you. Watch he and his buddies. Watch Mitch Marner. Watch William Nylander. Yes, thank you for picking that up. I just dropped it, of course, duh. Matthews is a 60-goal season. That's what I'm here.

There are a lot. Thank you because you have a stash like Austin Matthews. Well, not right now. You know, the league is in good hands, but as Crosby and Ovi start to sunset, you know, how much or how little is, you know, you start to offend people. You're like, yeah, I don't know how much longer he's going to do it. I think he'll do it until he can catch Gretzky and then he'll be done. What are hockey fans rooting for?

We've got seven of the first eight round series that are still alive. You could have seven game sevens here in the first round. It probably won't end up being that. But what is being rooted for by the hardcore hockey fan? in general. Is it Toronto winning a series or contending for a cup? Is it for Ovechkin to make another run Crosby and Pittsburgh? What are people rooting for? Again, it depends on who you ask. I'm guessing the people in the business office are always looking with an eye on the future. And you mentioned Austin Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs have

not one of Stanley Cups since 1967, which I think you were 20 in 67. So you remember that. You were my babysitter that year. I remember that. My mother and father absolutely loved you. We took you to the beach one summer. I remember that. It was great. And I bought right.

I bought everybody beer. So no, you're exactly right. Anyway, they're rooting. I mean, the people north of the border are rooting for their stars. The people, you know, the people north of the border. The people of Toronto, of course, would love to see the leaves go far. In Minnesota, you have a guy like Kiril Kaprizov, who is just lighten it up for the wild. You know, what's the easy answer?

They want big markets. They want stars. So you got Toronto. I don't know if Edmonton gets out of the series with the L.A. Kings. Talk about a team that's built for the postseason with veteran goaltending like Jonathan Quick who pitched a shut out a couple nights back, and they've been quite good. They're up three, too. Everybody loves game seven.

Everybody. And I hope to God that the caps come back and win this on Friday night. But, you know, if you're asking for, like, a dream final, there's a, there's a, there's a lot of right answers. The NHL wants big markets, and they want to market their stars. Do you like this back on ESPN, or did you prefer the NBC broadcasts? Oh, I love it back on the ESPN, and I love it more than I think. I'm loving it more than I think I actually did, Kev, just because the guys like

Messier and Chellio, who I didn't think I was going to get a lot out of. And TNT's done a fine job, too, with, you know, the talkets of the world and and Anson Carter and is nasty and Gretzky. But Gretzky doesn't bring a ton to the broadcast. I like when Charles walks over from the basketball studio and does, you know, drive-bys and hangs out and talks puck. That's fun. But back to ESPN, sure, it's increased.

It's bigger stage. It's Levy doing something that makes Levy comfortable. And like I said, Messia and Chelios have been great. Their different voices have been pretty solid. I'm enjoying the intermission shows. enjoying the hype up. So yes, I'm a fan. And the music is good, too. Yeah, I thought NBC's high-deaf quality was just so spectacular. And I actually liked the broadcast. And I know that I think you and I've had the conversation about Doc Emrick before. I love him.

I know a lot of hockey people think he's just, you know, okay. But is Levy... No, he's missed. I mean, you know, his retirement is, you know, there are other great voices, but I miss Doc Emmerc. Is Levy the number one play-by-play, so when we get to the Stanley Cup finals, he's the number one, and it airs on ESPN or ABC or wherever? Is he the number one guy or not? You know, I don't know the answer to that. I could probably Google search it, but I honestly don't know who's listed. He's good.

I think he does that really well. Yeah. Yeah, and people like Bucci Grosci tends to be a bit of an acquired case, but they got voices. I just like the fact that it's there. I will say, as a criticism, there are mornings when I will watch, like, the 7A Sports Center, not Van Pelt because that's hollowed ground, and no one slams Van Pelt around these parts, right, Tommy? Anyway, like on a 7-A weekend, they won't get to a hockey highlight until the nth block. I think, you know, they don't put a hockey highlight on our hockey mention until like 47 past the hour.

It's like being on this podcast and having your guest slot, not until like hour eight or something like that. that. Scott really is doing terrific work with his business. And as he mentioned, check out Scott Lynn PRPodcast.com. If you or your business are looking to do things with, you know, podcasting and communication stuff, Scott's great at that. And good luck with the show. You are producing talking gambling all the time. I'm not really familiar with the topic, but I hear it's interesting these days. Appreciate it, as always. Thank you, Scott. I'm really glad you came on today. Thank you, Tommy. We need to do this live in a bar with like a picture of lemonade or something like that. I would absolutely adore it.

And you guys stay well and keep knocking it out because I hear this podcast has a lot of fans. Let's see you. Actually, I will see you this weekend. I will see you tomorrow night. And we will enjoy each other's company for at least a few minutes. I'll talk to you soon. Scott Lynn, at Scott Lynn underscore on Twitter. and you can listen to his podcast with Lynn, Tim Murray, and Sally as well. Be safe, boys. I'll see you soon. Take it easy. Take it easy. All right, bye.

Bye. See you. It's schedule day in the NFL. We will get to that in our final segment of this recorded podcast because we want to give it time for more of the information to come out. But what we do know at this point is that Washington is going to play Jacksonville at home, Tommy, in the opener at FedEx Field, they could be the biggest favorite or one of the bigger favorites in week one. I think it's a big-time pressure opener because they will be expected to win it. And for Carson Wentz, the last time he played a game was against Jacksonville to get into the postseason, and he laid a big fat egg. As, by the way, a 15-point favorite.

17 of 29 passes for 185 yards, one touchdown, one interception, one fumble, and six sacks. I think he, look, I remember watching the game from a bar. I think he had six sacks in part because I don't think the offensive line was interested in protecting them anymore. Well, I can tell you this because I did watch that game, you know, kind of on Red Zone because it was one of the important games in the final week of the season. And the whole team sucked. I mean, they could not make a third and one or a fourth and one running the football with the best running back in the NFL last year, Jonathan Taylor. But man, was he tight as a drum?

And as they got behind, he got tighter and tighter. And, you know, I think the whole team choked to put it just on him wouldn't be fair because they didn't play well. They allowed Trevor Lawrence to have one of the best days of the year. Their defense did. But that's an interesting opener. Now, my opener in my mock schedule was at Indianapolis. Let me just tell you, though, according to some information out there, Washington's going to play on Thursday night October 13th in Chicago on Thursday night football. I had Washington at Chicago on Thursday night football.

Not on that date. I had it in December. But I think I get some credit for having Washington at Chicago. on Thursday night football. I think you do. I think you should. Absolutely. I think that's worth a half a point.

Anything that you stumble on in this thing that is accurate, I think you should get credit for it. Actually, that's been, considering that I rarely even stumble onto anything, getting the opponent on the one Thursday night game that they'll play, because everybody plays one Thursday night game. Now, it's possible you can have a Thursday night game and a Thanksgiving Day game. I did learn from a source earlier this morning that Washington will not be one of the six teams playing on Christmas Day. So for you planners, you're going to know most of the schedule by the time you listen to this podcast anyway. But they're not playing on Christmas Day.

And for Washington, I would guess, Tommy, because they've got now a Thursday night game. if it's true, if the reporting's true at Chicago, my guess is that's their Thursday game. Every team plays at least once on Thursday for competitive reasons so that everybody has that short turnaround and then the longer layoff in between games. But usually a team like Washington that's not expected to be that good probably won't get two Thursday games. So the, you know, the Thursday Thanksgiving Day game counts as a, a Thursday game, whether it's at night or not, in primetime or not. So I'm guessing right now,

and this is not, you know, something that I know one way or the other. My guess is they probably won't be on Thanksgiving either since they have a Thursday night game against the Bears, but I'll probably be wrong about that. I am very happy, though, very happy that I got at Chicago on Thursday night, correct, just off by about two months in terms of the date. So there you go. I think you should be. How about Jackson hold to open? Code red. Code red.

I mean, yeah, that's it. Look, you got to figure that that's a team in Carson Wentz's head already. Code red. This is a code red game from the jump. Like, you look at the teams that they could have faced, you know, teams that are better than them, that they could have. First of all, they're opening at home now for the third straight year. Now, they've got nine home games and eight road games. The NFC teams do.

I thought they'd open up on the road. I didn't think they'd give them three straight years of opening at home. But this will be the easiest of the home openers. You know, they faced the Chargers last year, and the year before that they faced the Eagles at home with Carson Wentz in that game. Carson Wentz, if you recall in that opener back in 2020, got sacked by Washington's vaunted defense seven times in that game. And Washington won that game, remember in the 2020 opener coming from behind with Dwayne Haskins leading the way in that game and the defense playing lights out in the second half.

But yeah, having Jacksonville, the worst team in the league for the last two years, they will be projected to be one of the worst teams in the league this year. New coach, Doug Peterson, very familiar with Washington, obviously. Very familiar with the quarterback. Very familiar with the quarterback, very familiar with the quarterback. A lot of pressure to open up in a game on Sunday, September 11th against a team that I'm guessing right now, they'll be a six or seven point favorite against. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, I guess you're right. I would have a little bit more because you get, well, most teams get three points for a home field advantage. I don't think. No, Washington does not anymore. That's, by the way, true. I had my guy from, you know, up in Charlestown tell me that Washington and Jacksonville, actually, are the two teams in recent years that haven't gotten the full credit for being the home team. And I'm talking about non-pandemic, you know, fan attended games. I know. Right. Absolutely. I get that. So I guess, yeah, six or seven point favorite, that would be

accurate. That would be fair. Jacksonville's win total next year right now, five and a half at my bookie. Washington is at seven and a half. Seven and a half? Not that big of a difference. No, that is a big difference in over-under totals.

I mean, that would be like, you know, a two-game difference for a total is a big difference. Five and a half means you're bad. Seven and a half means, you know, you're right in the middle. I mean, put it this way. Like the highest over under wind total is 11.5. That's Buffalo and Tampa. Even the chiefs are 10 and a half. And the Cowboys, the Eagles are eight and a half. And I think you could, you know, the Eagles are better than Washington going into this year. I think most people would say that. And they're

only a game higher on the over under wind total. So, but a game is significant. But anyway, yeah, they could be a solid six, seven point favorite in week one. They will be one of the bigger favorites, is my guess, in the opener, week one. So as we go through this podcast, we'll probably have more information on the schedule that we can share with you. And by the time you listen to this, you'll have the whole thing anyway. I did want to mention one thing related to Washington. Albert Breer in his Monday morning quarterback column slash mailbag. He was answering a question about Terry McClurean's contract negotiations.

And he said, quote, nowhere near happening right now, negotiations haven't even begun. Now, he said it in such a definitive way, at least in print, that, you know, I wonder if he was trying to lead everybody to believe that this is far from a guarantee that it'll get done. I'm not that concerned because it's May 12th. I mean, John Allen didn't sign his deal until right before training camp started. So that's two plus months away. I do think, though, I think Terry McCorn will sign a long-term deal, but I do think that Washington better not go low to start.

and I don't think they will. Hopefully they won't. That's more of a Bruce Allen move from the past. But Terry McLaurin and his agent are going to be expecting top five-ish wide receiver money. The explosion of the wide receiver salaries here over the last couple of months, you know, he's not looking for a DJ Moore deal, which DJ Moore is just over 20 million. And that may be his comp more as a player. The top five right now are to re-kill at 30 million a year.

Devante Adams at 28 million a year. DeAndre Hopkins, who's suspended for the first six games in next year, at 27.25 million. A.J. Brown, 25 million. Many of you had issue with me suggesting that A.J. Brown was the best receiver in the division. Many of you clearly agreed he is the best receiver in the division. I mean, I don't think Terry McCorn, you know, deserves A.J. Brown money or Hopkins or Adams or Hill money. Diggs is at $24 million. Then there's a drop-off to DJ Moore at 20.6. His agent's going to be looking for something close to Stefan Diggs and top five money. So you better not come in at 18 or 19 if you're Washington and piss them off because they're less than a year away from unrestricted free agency unless you're going to use the tag on them, which I don't. I don't think that's any way to deal with Terry McLaren. You want him.

He's really good, and he's phenomenal for your locker room and culture. So when they do... I can't fathom. Yeah. I can't fathom Washington not doing everything they could to keep this guy. Even these guys, even as hapless and helpless as these guys are, I can't fathom them not doing all they can to keep a guy. who's, you know, to pay a guy for what he's going to do in his best years to come,

you get the opportunity to do that, and you know he's a stand-up guy, the kind of guy that you wish he had 30 of in your locker room. Okay, so it's, I just can't possibly believe they'll low-ball him or punt this or anything like that. If he leaves, it's because he wants to leave. no matter what? I think you're right. I think they absolutely should and will. I think for them, though,

one of the reasons they wanted a receiver so desperately. When, you know, in many ways you could have made the case before the draft and when last year ended, Terry McClarn and Curtis Samuel and Diami Brown, who they picked in the third round last year, you know, and they resigned Cam Sims and getting Logan Thomas back. It's a pretty good supporting cast. I mean, I made the case yesterday that Washington's skilled position players, if you take the quarterback out of the equation, is almost equal with Philadelphia's in the division

and is probably better than Dallas is in New York's right now in the division. So they wanted a receiver in this draft desperately. And Cooley said in his film breakdown of Jahan Dotson, Dotson will be the first receiver Washington's had, since Deshawn Jackson that will dictate coverage, that will make a defensive coordinator truly react and bracket coverage and double coverage. And I said, really, you don't think that about Terry McCorn. And he said, no.

He said, most defensive coordinators understand you can cover Terry with one guy. And he didn't want to diminish Terry as a really good all-around receiver. But I think what Cooley is saying and what others have said, and I've said this before, I don't think he's a top 10 receiver in the NFL. I think he's somewhere between 12 and 15. He's really good. But maybe they don't think he's 25 million, 24 million a year good. And that could create, you know, some negotiation stall when you get to that point. They went after Dotson and they were going after Drake London because they wanted another guy. You know, the idea of McLorn as your true number one X and then having, you know, Diammy Brown as your number two, it wasn't good enough.

And so I think it'll get done. I would bet on it getting done. I would bet on both sides being really happy when it gets done. But I think that, you know, their feeling about Terry. might be different than Terry's agent feels about Terry, and we'll see how that manifests itself in the negotiations. That's all. They may have to overpay in their own mind a little bit to keep a guy that they should keep.

But that's the price you pay for being the commanders. You have to overpay. You're... I mean, at least you're overpaying for a guy that you, you, you, you know is a known quantity. Your player, as opposed to bringing in a guy who's just coming to Washington to get paid, like in the old days. Yeah, you're doing a lot of that, and I'm not saying you're 100% wrong,

because in the past, you'd be 100% right, and right now you're probably at least 80% right. But John Allen signed a long-term contract a year ago because he likes it here, and he likes Ron Rivera, and he likes the football operation, and he's also from here. I understand. He grew up here. J.D. McKissick, you know, had a chance to go play for a Super Bowl favorite. I mean, they are, in some places, the Super Bowl favorite this year.

And he chose, even though it ultimately made him and his agent, maybe the team look a little bit sketchy. I don't believe that to be true, but whatever, he decided to stay. And if Terry decides to stay. We don't know what happened with Jay. We don't know what happened with J.D. McKiss. I don't think you can definitively say what his decision-making process was. Well, we know what the final decision was. Right, but we don't know how – I'm talking about how these people arrive at their decisions,

and that's a big question, Mark, that isn't going to get answered until Buffalo gives their side of the story. Well, I mean, the Buffalo GM kind of did give his side of the story and blamed it all on Washington's ethics, basically. But let me just say this. What we do know is that McKissick had an offer to play in Buffalo, and he ended up signing to play in Washington. And I'm just saying with respect to your current position that nobody wants to be here, do we think they overpaid? I don't think so.

I don't think there was much difference at all in the two offers. Really? Yeah, really. What were they? I'm going to look it up, but I remember we had this conversation and there wasn't that much of a difference. Hold on. Okay.

I mean, I'm not saying it's an absolute, but it is the general rule. Okay, there's no absolutes in a situation like this. You're going to find some guys who want to stay, but generally, most guys wouldn't choose to come to Washington. That's a general rule. I'm just, I want to look, I want to make sure I'm right about this. two years seven, yeah, the exact same terms that were reported.

The deal with the bills was two years seven million. The deal that he signed with Washington, two years seven million dollars. So the exact same deal. All I'm saying to you is that you can't say that anybody that has a choice and a much better choice, which, by the way, McKissick had a really good option to play in Buffalo for a Super Bowl contending team and that they're just going to they're going to take the other option all the time. I didn't say it was an absolute.

I know, but you kind of suggested and applied that at the beginning. I think this group is different. I think this group is different. I think. Yeah, but the team isn't different. The group you think. The organization is different.

The organization isn't different. Right. The team is still a train wreck every single fucking day. You know what? it hasn't been a train wreck in the last few weeks. It's had like a month, a three to four week run of no horrendous news related to the team, which is interesting because there was a stretch there where it was every week, once a week, because we laughed when Ron Rivera was asking for everybody to focus on the future,

and it was just one story after another about the past. But I think, Tommy, my overarching point here is that, football people right now, including players, first of all, more times than not, they really, their agents have an understanding of what a train wreck of an organization is, but the players are looking for the opportunity to play, for a staff that they like and on a team with players that they like, but really they're looking for the opportunity to play. And so I think... You dismiss the influence of agents.

Right now, you've got two agents that have public... Well, you've got one GM that has publicly ripped the organization for the way they do business, and another agent, Matt Ionitis is an agent, who was publicly ripped them. This is what used to happen in Bruce Allen era. Agents understand, you know, how teams do business. And right now, you have at least one agent that's publicly just destroyed Washington who the way they do business. And then you have a front office executive to do the same.

So I don't know why you think their reputation would be any better among football people than it was before. Where's the proof? Well, here's, I don't have proof, but I promise you, if USA Today did the thing they did five years ago where they had the agents anonymously polled on who the worst front office executive was, and it was Bruce Allen, it wouldn't be Marty Herney or Martin or Martin Mayhew this year. But they'd be in the bottom five. I bet it wouldn't be in the bottom five. I'm not saying it would be in the top five,

but I bet it wouldn't be in the bottom five. I think that Rivera and Herney and Mayhew in Washington's football people are pretty well-respected, certainly compared to what it used to be here. So I do think it's different. And the ionitis thing, hold on for a second, the ionitis thing, I don't know this, but remember, if they told him we wanted you to stay

and we're keeping you and we're not going to release you. And then all of a sudden, they whiffed on Wilson and they were in that spot of trading for Wentz and taking on $28.3 million. Things change, and they had to release him. Now, I don't know, maybe they were planning on releasing them all along and they were lying. I don't think that's what happened.

I can tell you this, Matt Ionitis hasn't wanted to be here for a couple of years now. You know, there was discussion in the 2020 training camp that Ionitis wanted to be traded early on. And that was more of the position coach issues with the D-line than it was with the head coach or the GM or anybody like that. I don't, in most cases, would high-profile players pick another place other than Washington? Yes. Yes, that's true.

You know, if Carson Wentz had a choice, had he been released, and let's just say four or five teams were, bidding on his services as a waived player, I'm sure there would have been two, at least of the group of five, that he would have preferred over Washington. I agree with you on that. But for J.D. McKissick and Bobby McCain and John Allen last year and maybe Terry McClureen this year, it's not the I got to get the hell out of here situation that it's been in the past, at least as it relates to the people in the football operation. that's as much defending of them as I'm going to do to that. McClaherd will be certainly a canary in a coal mine situation.

It will be a bellwether for this. It'll be a litmus test for this, yes, because he'll have big time options if he makes it to free agency. Although, remember, Washington can always use the franchise tag. That's always worked out well for them. Okay. You wanted to talk about this story that came out the other day relating to Dallas, which did you know that they are creeping up on Chicago as the third most populous metropolitan area in the country? Because, you know, it's New York, L.A. and Chicago have always been the top three. Chicago's been number three. Dallas is fourth, but apparently within a year or two, they're going to be third.

I didn't realize that, did you? No, I didn't particularly realize that. It doesn't surprise me. I mean, you know, you've got people with no conscience and no brains walking to a state like Texas. Yeah. Just because the taxes, you know, the tax situation is so lucrative there, including on my point, Eli Musk, who just moved, I think, is headquarters from California. There are huge tax benefits to living in places like Texas and Texas.

Florida, yes. No, I didn't think that, but, you know, this idea of two cities, two teams in a city, is interesting because now you have a situation where you've got that in two places. You've got it in New York, and you've got it in L.A. Yeah, let me just make sure that we're clear on what we're talking about here, because I started with the size of the market. The mayor of Dallas, Texas, Eric Johnson, recently in an interview said he thinks that the Dallas market is big enough to get another NFL franchise in addition to the Cowboys. New York's got two with the Giants and the Jets, L.A., which didn't have any a few years ago, has two with the Rams and the Chargers.

No other – well, the Bay Area had two for a while, but now the Bay Area only has one. No other market has two. And I guess the question is, do you think the NFL would consider this and how would it impact the Cowboys? Oh, the NFL would never consider it. I mean, Jerry's too powerful to let this happen. You know, Chicago used to have two teams. The Cardinals had originally played in Chicago. Okay, old man.

When the Bears were there, when the Bears, you know, all the Bears were there. but this isn't going to happen. But I thought it was hilarious as opening the door for Dan Snyder to relocate the team to Dallas. Oh, that's what you were thinking. I didn't even think about that. That's it. Yeah, that's what I thought. I thought, okay, Dan, I'll say to all these politicians, okay, you build your stadium or I'm moving a team to Dallas.

I think that. And he says, that's not going to happen. And obviously I'm joking here. I mean, and I don't think it's ever going to happen because of the power of a guy like Jerry Jones. Yeah, but why are you, you may be dismissing something. And that is, it could be incredibly lucrative to Jerry Jones to have a second NFL team in his market. They would become a tenant of his stadium. They would become a tenant of maybe some of their facilities as well.

And do you think the Cowboys would ever be at risk of losing one fan to the, I mean, obviously one is an exaggeration. Do you think that somehow their fan base would be diminished by a second team in Dallas? Well, I think the mayor is not thinking of them sharing the stadium with Dallas. I think he's thinking of a team in, if I think I read this correctly, in a different part of town, South Dallas, you know, probably with their own stadium situation. Well, Jerry's not going to do that. If a second team came in, Jerry's going to make them pay as a tenant.

to play in AT&T Stadium and to play in Jerry. Here it is. The mayor suggested that the hypothetical team would play in southern Dallas and be in the AFC, not an FAC team. Yeah. Okay. So Jerry's not going to let that happen. Sharing a stadium is very, very lucrative for the owner of that stadium.

I mean, we've seen that in L.A. With the Chargers. Yeah, this is why the Ravens should offer their stadium to come. Manders to play in. God. I love the story about FIFA walking through FedEx.

Okay, we're done here. Do you have another stadium for us to look at? Yeah, there's one right up the road in Baltimore. I mean, this is never going to happen. And I'm surprised. I don't know what the mayor is thinking, even putting it out there, except

just to be cannon fodder for some owner who thinks people would be stupid enough to believe it. a guy who's looking to build a stadium. Look, Tommy, the league is going to keep growing. The league's going to add an 18th game at some point. The league's going to add more markets because the more markets and the more games

means more television dollars. It means more content. But everyone believes the more markets are going to be international, not here in the United States. They have thought that at various times. And I've read things more recently over the last. year that's pushed back on some of that, especially anything other than London. They're going to play their first game in Germany this year. The Bucks are going to play

Seattle, I think, in the first ever game in Germany in Munich. But there could be some international expansion, but there are still cities like St. Louis that don't have an NFL team that could use an NFL team. And the truth is, you know, in a market like Dallas to have a second team, it may ultimately prove out numbers-wise to be much more lucrative to the league, being in a much bigger market than expanding to, like, say, St. Louis. But I think it's a long shot, too. Trust me, I'm not sitting here saying that I, you know, after reading that, I thought it's a possibility.

But in thinking about it, I'm not so sure that it wouldn't be, you know, pencil out in a major way for both the league and Jerry. if that happened. Now, for Jerry, it would be an issue of, do I really want somebody else in my market, even if I'm making a fortune off them, which he would probably do. Unless, Jerry would probably think,

I'll take Dan in. He's a bozo. I can control them, make them do what I want, you know? I'll bring Dan. I'll bring Dan in. I mean, Jerry is already in, in charge of selling luxury boxes and suites and luxury

seats whenever the new Washington Stadium's built. Jerry's company, legends. Really? It's in charge of that. Yeah, they've already made a deal with Washington to sell their suites and luxury

seats. You know, I didn't know that. Back to just NFL expansion. It's 2022. By 2030, there are going to be 34 teams, I bet you, minimum, an extra two teams, and there will be an 18th game. Let's just say that London is one of the markets for expansion. Does that mean you've got to have a second European market? I don't think it does. Like St. Louis definitely has shown the ability to support an NFL team. Oakland would need a new stadium.

You know, the Bay Area would need a new stadium clearly, although are they going to play both teams in Santa Clara? But Oakland can certainly, the Bay Area can certainly support two teams. We've seen that before. What are the other markets in the NFL? Like, who recently lost a team? Why am I blanking? St. Louis?

I don't know. To L.A. Oakland to Vegas. San Diego. San Diego. Right. So San Diego, St. Louis, Oakland would be the first three U.S. markets that would be considered unless they considered, you know, Dallas or south of Dallas. I mean, when you said south of Dallas, you're not talking about Austin, are you? I mean, that's a massive market now.

But I don't even think that's- I don't know. Austin's not considered part of the Dallas-D-M metro area. Fort Worth obviously is. But, yeah, I mean, if I said to you right now, in 10 years or by 2030, eight years from now, there will be 34 NFL teams. What are the two cities that aren't in the league now that will be? London, I think. And remember, when the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to L.A.,

they convinced the Giants to move with them because they felt they needed. another team out on the West Coast because there was no team west of St. Louis back then. I don't know if the NFL, like you said, would feel the same way about having two teams internationally. And, you know, all those other...

I don't think any of those cities are particularly attractive. I don't think any of those options you mentioned are particularly attractive. And let's remember, we're talking about an industry that's going away from spectator business, where their money is not in the spectator business. It's all the TV money. Right. So why do you need more teams?

Because the more teams you have, the more games you have, the more content you have. And so that's why I think more teams in an 18th game eventually will be there. I mean, eight years... I think it's London and the next between. now in 2030 and that's it. Yeah. I mean, have they ever had an odd number of teams? Maybe they have. I can't remember.

You know, the last true expansion, right, was Jacksonville, Carolina. Well, no, because Houston got the team after they lost the Oilers to Tennessee. Right. Right. I think Cleveland got the team after they lost the Browns to the Ravens.

Right. So, I mean, in terms of market size, the Bay Area obviously would be the biggest. And, you know, if Dallas, if the Dallas market is truly a market that would be considered, those would be the two areas. You know, and here locally, the international expansion thing, London and then another team, where is it going to be? Two teams in the UK? Probably not. So they need another country that loves the NFL in Western Europe. And I know that Germans really do love the NFL.

We'll see if it's anywhere near the same level as, you know, the UK. I mean, it's taken a while. They're going to play their first game there this year. You know it'll be sold out. It'll be a big deal. Of course. Yeah. All right.

We got a couple of other things to finish up the show with. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the podcast is brought to you by my good friends at Window Nation. They've got their graduation sale going on right now. If your old windows are failing, not making the grade. Call Wind Donation. All right. Zero percent financing for five full years is the offer right now, along with Buy Two Get Too Free.

So you're going to be paying half price for your windows. they're not going to charge you any interest for 60 months. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com. Mention my name. They will give you a free estimate. And that free estimate, that price quote, is good for six months. No reason not to call Windonation at 86690 Nation or Windonation.com if you've been thinking about new windows.

Mention my name. You'll get a free price quote. It's valid for six months. And if you decide to act on that quote and buy windows from window nation, you'll get 0% financing for five years and you'll pay half price. Two free windows with every two that you buy. So something just happened on Twitter that I think is hysterical. So there was this site that popped up the other day called NFL Game Leaks. Now, the title of the page was NFL schedule.

leaks. And they started, you know, two or three days ago just popping out all these games. And I said, I think I said it on the podcast. I know I discussed it with Brendan on the radio show. This is a fake site. Don't buy anything that these people are spewing out. They don't know anything. They just joined Twitter on May 9th. And somebody did this last year and the year before. Well, they just tweeted out the following, this NFL game leaks Twitter page. Guess who just got 10,000 followers by literally making up a bunch of NFL games because I was bored and faking out almost the entire football Twitter landscape. This guy right here.

That's awesome. Oh, my God. That is fantastic. He then tweeted out, no wonder half this country is. thinks the election was rigged. Good effing lord. Y'all idiots will really believe anything you see on the internet without fact-checking your sources. Anyone who has a blue check, check my likes, who retweeted me should lose their check.

I warned everybody. I said, this is a fake site. This guy, because they had Washington playing Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. And I said, I don't know if that's true or not, but if it is true, it's not true, it's not true because, this particular Twitter account said it. They just created their Twitter site. That's funny. And he admitted it.

That's funny. Yeah. And telling. And telling. Okay. I know you have something that you wanted to close with. I just wanted to mention this real quickly. I was really,

I was actually very dialed into the Caps game last night. And it was an exciting game. I really genuinely, while I don't know anything about hockey, I enjoy watching playoff hockey, and I think you feel the same way. But I love the NBA playoffs, as many of you know. And because the hockey game was going on simultaneously with Boston, Milwaukee, I actually didn't really get a good feel of that game. I was switching back and forth, you know, in between periods and commercials.

And I caught the end. And Drew Holliday made, you know, an incredible defensive play on Marcus Smart to, you know, cap what was a 14-point comeback for a win. in game five at Boston. But that's not the game I wanted to talk about real quickly. Tommy, last night in the nightcap, and I did not stay up to watch this, Memphis beat Golden State. They were down 3-1 in the series. John Morant is done for the playoffs. He's out. Their best player. One of the, you know, right now, one of the five to seven best players in the league John Morant has already become. And Memphis had a lead at Golden State in game four, and they lost the game to fall

three-one down in the series. Game five, was last night. They were trying to avoid elimination. They won the game 134 to 95. They won by 39 points, but at one point late in the third quarter, they led Golden State by 55 points. It was 119 to 64. I've never heard of a 55-point lead in a basketball game at any level. I was in a gym once. I will tell you this, in a gym for what was a big event in town, the Catholic League, the Catholic CYO had a huge tournament every year during Martin Luther King weekend, and a lot of the really good CYO teams in town

played in it, and Washington Jesuit Academy, which has produced so many really good students and athletes. It's a terrific place. WJA was participating in it, and at one point I was watching their game, and they were up 61 to 5, and they were doing their best that they could to keep the score from getting out of hand. But 61 to 5 is a 56-point lead in a game. That was 8th graders, 7th and 8th. graders. NBA last night, Memphis led Golden State by 55. This is Golden State. I think they're going to win the title this year. They are the favorite to win the title right now. The 52-point lead that Memphis had at the end of the third quarter is the largest lead in an NBA playoff game after three quarters in 70 years. So 70 years. So 70 years.

Tommy would put us back at 1948 or I'm sorry 1952 would put us at 70 years 1952 I have no idea was what's his face playing center for the Minneapolis Lakers

Mikein in 1952 George Miken I don't know did they have a shot clock in 1952 52 point lead that's before I was born buddy 52 point lead last night stunning I mean the fact that they one game five.

Yeah, meaningless. I think it's meaningless. I think it is. I don't know. They had a lead into the second half at Golden State in Game 4 without John Morant. And last night they led the best team so far in the postseason by 55 points in the third quarter. It should be meaningless. These games change so dramatically, especially from venue to venue.

and it's going back to San Francisco for game six tomorrow night. But I don't know. When you're trailing by 55, you can chalk it up and say, hey, losing by one, losing by 55, a loss is a loss. Next game. Okay, we'll see. I think Golden State's going to still win the series, and I still like them to win the title. But that's shocking last night in a professional basketball game to be down by 55 points in a playoff game. to a team without their best player.

What did you want to end the show with? Have you ever been to the National Cathedral? Many times, yeah. Really? Yeah. I had never been there before. I've lived in this town in this area for 39 years. I've never lived, been there before.

So we went yesterday. Yeah. Just a seat of place. Yep. And at one point, the organist started playing some, you know, that solemn, hallowed type of church organ music. Right. You know? And it struck me that the first thing I didn't think of wasn't my six years of Catholic education

and going to go into church at St. Teresa. it didn't bring me back to that. The first thing I thought of was the baptism scene in the godfather. That was my go-to. In church, in this hallow church, my first thought was Michael Corleone standing in and, you know, for the baptism, the godfather of Connie's son and the music that played in that scene. Right.

And while he has all five of his opponents killed, that to me, let me know that whatever sliver of Catholic education I had in my body is long gone. Were there multiple families in church with you yesterday at the cathedral? No, it was just us. Yeah, there were people in there. I'm talking about families, families. I'm talking about heads of families. Oh, no, no.

Okay. Not those kind of families. So, not those kind of families. I, um, first of all, I, I kind of live near there now. Um, and I love that area of town. Uh, and the National Cathedral is beautiful. You know, it was damaged significantly by the earthquake. I know.

In 2011. And part of the, part of the exhibit now is they display the stuff that was damaged. Right. Um, my wife. Life's company has had their holiday party there a couple of times. And I am telling you that it was spectacular. At holiday time with the lighting inside the cathedral and that, you know, in that ground level floor, it was just beautiful.

Oh, it's an awesome building. Yeah. Absolutely. And it's also, you know, the top of that building, there are various, points even in Montgomery County if you're at a high point like if you let me give you a couple of spots if you're a Montgomery County person if you are over in the Mass Ave corridor you know the top of Mass Ave near Glenico Firehouse is one of the tallest points in Bethesda anyway I think it's like a 250 foot elevation point and when you drive over that point if you look in your driving

south towards the city, you can see the cathedral. Like you can see the top of the cathedral pop up, and it's very pretty to see it from that angle. There are other areas, too, where you can see the cathedral. I think there's an area over on Connecticut Avenue to... Well, they had the... They had the floor, like the seventh floor, where you can go up and look out. And look out. Oh, that's gorgeous.

And you can see the whole city from there. Yes. Yeah, we did that as well. One of our reasons we went there was because Helen Keller is buried there. I didn't know that. Oh, I didn't know that until we visited Helen Keller's birthplace. Is Helen Keller from D.C.? No, she's from Alabama.

That's what I didn't think she was from D.C., yeah. And she's from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Oh, where you just were. And we, yeah, so we visited her birthplace there. And that's where we found out. So we were determined to see where she's buried. And, you know, the place where she's buried, it was in a chapel that was closed off for filming.

So we couldn't even see Helen Keller, which was kind of like the whole point that I wanted to go. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, it's a beautiful building. God, there are a lot of places. I mean, Tommy, you don't have to go to Muscle Shoals to see new things. Not that you wouldn't want to go to Muscle Shoals to see new things.

But I'm always amazed at how many places in this city that I am from, born and raised from, that I haven't been to, that people who aren't from here will say, have you ever been to this place? Nope. Haven't. I mean, when I was younger, obviously growing up here, there would be field trips to, you know, almost every museum. You know, and I love the museums and the big ones, you know, whether it's the air and space or the museum of natural history or the Museum of American History or the National Gallery of Art, the East Wing in particular, where you've got more sort of impressionism and some of that stuff. And by the way, I think is one of the more beautiful museums in town. But there's so many others. And you typically, and I don't know if this is the case with most cities that,

have a lot of tourist attractions. I kind of feel like the people that come here to visit end up seeing a lot more than I've seen as an actual born and raised Washingtonian. Yeah, I know. I've met people who have lived in Maryland for 30, 40 years and have never seen any of the Macillian, period. Well, that's ridiculous. You have a lot of people who are like that.

I know it is. we also went to the Hirshore Museum and saw the Lori Anderson exhibit and I mean we're determined to go into D.C. more and see more stuff.

Well, I mean, you were right around the corner from my house. You could have called and I would have come, Karen, I would have come and met you for lunch. Why don't you do that next time you come into town and we'll meet you for lunch? Or dinner. So the ban is, so you're lifting the ban?

I don't have a ban on you. You've had a ban on me before. I've never had a ban on you. And, you know, we can drive and we can check out the Knickerbocker Theater. Where a hundred years ago, it collapsed under the weight of a two-foot-plus snowstorm, which we talked about, remember a few months ago. You're fascinated with that. I am fascinated with that.

All right, we're done for the day. You don't have anything else, do you? No. Okay, I'm glad you enjoyed the National Cathedral. It is a beautiful building. And for those that haven't been, for you Maryland people, for you Merlin people, that don't get into the city, that's a good place to start. I think you'll enjoy it.

And I'm not a big, like when we travel, it's like, okay, sweetheart, enough of the cathedrals. We've seen four of them today. I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go find a place where we can sit down and have a cocktail. But the National Cathedral is spectacular. All right, we're done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow. Okay, boss.