The Kevin Sheehan Show - Commanders: A Few Moves Away?

Episode Date: February 13, 2026

Kevin and Thom with a menu of excellence featuring plenty of choices today. The guys discussed "how close" Washington is to contention plus....Dan Quinn interview follow-up, Bugonia, Terps beat #25 Iowa, the future of DC All-Met teams, Jordan Smith, Darryn Peterson, stogies, and the Baltimore Banner comes to DC. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match 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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always,

Window Nation, 86690 Nation, or WindowNation.com, if you need new windows. This from Peyton. Peyton writes, Kevin, Tom, why don't you guys argue anymore? I've been listening to you, too,

for a long time, and the best Tommy is angry at Kevin Tommy, and the best Kevin is incredulous about something Tommy said, Kevin. I miss those days. Peyton, I think we still argue a lot. Actually, we just argued the last podcast. We had this argument about why if Dan Quinn didn't like the offense, then he do step in and do something about it.

Right, right. We did argue about that. we argued about the wizards. I was thinking when I read this, didn't we just have a big argument about the wizards and the trade for Anthony Davis? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we've argued. I do think that over the years, I think sometimes, and I've been accused of this by friends that listen religiously, they're like, sometimes you should jump all over Tommy and I can just hear the resignation in your voice.

and you just give up and you're like, okay, and you move on to the next thing. I do know what people are talking about when they say that, but I don't do that all the time. I only do that when I know like, okay, I'm going to say my piece. This isn't something that really you're just taking that position because you want to take the position and whatever. Sometimes I know there's no moving you. Other times, I think there's a chance of moving you. I think we still argue. I don't think the passion in our relationship is gone.

No, I don't think so. So you and your little ladies get together and talk about me? Is that the deal? Sewing Circle conversations about Tommy. Yes, there are several of those. I got this from Delaware Dennis. Delaware Dennis writes. Bologna was a great recommendation, Kevin.

I mean, Tom. L.O.L. That was a good one. Yeah. I love when I say something and then the next show or two shows later or a week later, Tommy acts as if he discovered it. And he's like, I just, and I'll say, really? I had no idea.

Wow. And Tommy came in one day, I don't know, maybe a month ago and said, I got a movie recommendation. Bologna, really good. Emma Stone's phenomenal. Jesse. What's Jesse's last name? Why am I blind? Not Pinkman. No, not Pinkman. He's. Blemons. Pletman. Plymonds. Plimons. Yeah. Married to Kirst and Dunst. I just got to Plemons by Googling Kirsten Dunst. and Tommy came in, was all excited about the movie, and I just said,

oh my God, I'm going to watch that. And I had the week previous had made Bologna a high recommendation to watch. And therein lies some of the issues that I have. I mean, I made a really good recommendation. He never wants to give me credit for any sort of recommendations. So he decided that he'd recommend it, as if he didn't know that I had recommended it. It is a good movie, though, really. good. Emma Stone's great and everything.

She's really good. This from O. Oh, writes, this is funny. Sheehan, I've written three reviews of your podcast and you haven't read any of them. So now I'm going to write something nice and let's see how this goes.

Tché. He said, gave the show five stars, but almost went four and a half because Cooley has gone AWOL. Love the show, L-O-L. and then I got this from Nick. Nick writes, I enjoyed the interview with Dan Quinn. Dan Quinn did come on the podcast with me yesterday. So if you missed that show, just go back to yesterday show, February 11th.

He was on for 20 or so minutes. Nick writes, I enjoyed the interview with Dan Quinn. You always do a really good job, but I was surprised you didn't follow up more on Mike McDaniel. He never really answered your question, and I was waiting. for you to pounce and you didn't. Nick, good critique. You're right. And when I went back and listened to it, because I recorded it and went back and listened

to it before I put the show up, I can't believe I didn't follow up. Tommy, you didn't listen to the interview, but I asked him, did you talk to Mike McDaniel about the job? You're good friends with him, and he just said, you know, I talked to a lot of people, you know about the job. And I talk to Mike and sometimes those conversations, I'm paraphrasing here, are just two friends talking like how are you doing because he had lost his job. And when I listen to that, I cringed, Nick, because I should have immediately said, yes, understood, but did you talk to him specifically about the offensive coordinator availability? Because he didn't answer.

and I didn't do that. Sorry about that. That's my fault, and I totally knew it yesterday when I went back and listened to it. I don't know why I didn't, but you're right. Yeah. It's very good of you to admit that. It's very big of you. You know what?

When I read this, I'm like, oh, my God, I felt the exact same way when I went back and listen to it. I'm like, how did I not press him on the McDaniel thing? because I think the McDaniel thing was a big deal. That's why I brought it up in the first place. Yeah. That's why I brought it up in the first place. I'm writing about it. I'm writing about it for tomorrow about their press conference Tuesday

and how if you let your imagination run away with you, they could have been introducing Mike McDaniel and Brian Flores. Well, let me just say this to you, Tom, and to you, Nick. There's no doubt, and I, you know, Quinn essentially, said this. Blow was the guy all along. Blow was the guy that they wanted to give the job to. And he actually said, and I thought it was the most interesting part of the conversation with him, or the interview with him, is he said, I actually made two bold decisions in going with two inexperienced coordinators. And I said to him, I said, yeah, it's interesting that you described it

as bold because I think a lot of people would describe both moves as bold, especially coming off five and 12 and knowing that next season, you know, in this day and age, one bad season, regardless of how you got there, it's a big year for you. And I think most people thought you would go with experienced resume coordinators. And he said, you know, I understand that narrative. And you know, Dan is not, he, I mean, that press conference the other day was 28 minutes. I was looking for just at least one cut to use from it. I know. You know? I looked at the, I read the transcripts over and over again and, uh, was waiting for a sentence to end at various points and, and you know, it's, but you know what? He fills up your notebook until you go back and read what you wrote from what he said,

and then you're saying to yourself, I can't use this. You know what? This doesn't tell me anything. You're right about that. But you know what? You feel like he tried. Yes. You feel like he read.

And I think there's some savviness there on his part. He's been doing this for a long time, you know. Look, this is a media trained guy. Yeah. There's a media consultant on the commander's payroll. Yeah, well. He also, you know, took, you know, it was a client of the woman from Fox who was the one who's on the commander's payroll. She's on the commander's payroll?

I thought she was just a consultant to Quinn. No. He talked about her or that article got written about a year ago and then it came back up recently. Yes. What's her name again? I don't remember her name. She still works for Westwood One, I might want to point out. She doesn't work for Fox anymore, but she works for Westwood One doing NFL games and is a consultant to NFL coaches.

In the old days, that would be known as a conflict of interest. Yeah. I get that. Laura Oakman. Laura Oakman. That's her, right? So, no, I think that he's right. I think he knows what he's doing.

Laura Oakman's a veteran NFL sideline reporter media trainer and founder of the women's mentorship platform. But yes, she has been, she did it, I think when he left Atlanta, when he got fired in Atlanta, was when he first started working with her. But yes. Yeah, there's no doubt that he's media savvy, but he's also got the gift of being very likable. and so we can talk about the fact that he doesn't give you a lot, but at the same time, I'm not sure if we didn't say it that everybody would recognize it. I don't know if that made sense.

I think if you're just tuning in for like, you know, most fans don't watch these press conferences, right? They really don't, unless it's like the post game. And they'll see just some clips of, what he said. And he's always incredibly polite, very kind of likable, and, you know, great question, you know, Ben, great question, Tom, great, you know, and then, you know, doesn't always necessarily give you exactly what you're looking for. But I don't know, you can go listen to it if you haven't listened to it yesterday. I think we got a couple of

things out of them. But Nick, you're 100% right about the Mike McDonald thing. That was not good. Then this one, this is a beauty because it's not the first time it's come up. And apparently Scott did something on this. Addie writes, Kevin, I have a great idea for you. With the Washington Post gone, why don't you start your own All Met team? Somebody else brought this up to me. And I'm not going to mention who it was.

Scott did something on this on Sports Center apparently. I got to call him and ask him what he did. But let me just tell you that I appreciate the fact that, yes, I love high school sports. I know the importance of the All-Met team, the Washington Post All-Met team, Tommy. You know the significance of it. Been around for decades upon decades. I mean, making All-Met in D.C., you know, football, basketball, women's basketball, baseball, baseball, whatever, has always been an incredible honor, you know, player of the year, honor, and it's

been a real tradition. And I guess that's going to go away. You know, I would assume it is. But I can tell you right now that if somebody does take this on, get ready for dealing with a lot of parent calls after it comes out. Yeah. No, I'm serious. There is a D.C. Basketball Hall fame. This is something they could do. Sure. Well, Capitol Hoops, I think, can do it, too. They cover high school sports, and they do a great job. But Tommy, I promise you that the Post and the people that have put these teams together, they've been dealing with parents for years. My son didn't make first team. My daughter was honorable mention, are you out of your mind? and they get sent all the stats

and why the daughter or the son should have been on the second team or third team rather than honorable mention yeah I can't imagine there's a lot of revenue in doing this it'd be a lot of work and then you'd be literally fielding calls and emails for a year

it would be a community responsibility yes somebody and somebody who's like capital hoops would be great for that. But thank you, Addy, for recommend me that. But it just reminds me, so I won't mention this person by name, and I doubt this person listens to this podcast. But I don't know, 10 years ago, maybe, I get a call from somebody I know. Hey, do you know anybody at the post? Yeah, I know a lot of people

at the post. And he mentioned, you know, his son's name and said, Can you get in touch with somebody? I can't believe that he did not make all met. He's not even on the honorable mention, and he's going through the whole thing. And his son at that time was a freshman. I wouldn't even mention the sport. And I said, well, you know, first of all, no, I would never call anybody about that. Secondly, you know, do you care about this or does he care about this?

He couldn't care less about it. And I said, well, then what are you doing? Why would you do this? Well, that's the problem that he doesn't care enough about this. And I'm like, well, he's in ninth grade. Like, you know, and the team he played on was a pretty good team, and they had other players that were really, really good on the team. And he was good and probably could have been a candidate for, you know,

an honorable mention All Met. But that's exactly what whoever does this will have to deal with. trust me yeah yeah um I could see that I'll never forget that

no he doesn't care at all and I said well there you got your answer and no and no I won't call anybody that's it's ridiculous um

alright there's not going to be any Kevin Shee and show all met selections I mean it would be fun to do but I mean I don't

Not that everything, you know, there are things that I would absolutely do for community and the whole thing, but there are people that are better equipped, much better equipped to do it. Secondly, I don't, I'm not involved in high school sports as much as I used to be when I was coaching a lot of basketball. And I was very familiar with the basketball scene, but that's like three, four, five years now in the rear view. And, you know, is there, is there any compensation? in it? The answer would be probably not. I mean, yeah, I guess you could get some advertisers to do it, and I wouldn't even do that. If I did it, it would be for the love of it, you know. But the Post always did a phenomenal job covering high school sports over the years. They really did. You know,

and they would have the, you know, the Post top 20 each week football, basketball, women's basketball, you know, girls basketball. Somebody will do that. Capital Hoops is is a really good site to follow high school sports, high school basketball anyway, in town. They do a really good job. And you're right, the D.C. Sports High school Hall of Fame. But, man, think about the players that have been on these All Met teams over the years. I mean, the legends that have been on these teams and the debates that it's created

among, you know, Washingtonians that follow all of this stuff over the years. It's always been fun. Those conversations have always been. fun. All right. What do you want to talk about today? Let me ask you a question along this line. Yeah.

In your high school, did you pick a most valuable player for each sport every year? I'm sure we did. And did they, did their name go up on a board? Probably. You know, was that a big deal? I kind of feel like there was a big deal in East Trousburg. I kind of feel like we've had this conversation before. Like, not necessarily this specifically, but, you know, was there an obvious best athlete in your high school class?

No, what I mean is, like, was there an MVP for football, MVP for basketball? Yes, there had to be. And I, in fact, on my high school basketball team, I'm almost positive that our, although it would have been close, our MVP would have either been Doug or Mike. Mike Votard, Doug Care, one of the two of them would have been. the MVP. I'm not sure who it was. It's a long time ago now. But yes, of course. Not that long ago. You know, you're not as old as me. And these were your teammates. I know. And I'm on a group text with a lot of those guys. And we still communicate. We still get together. But the answer would be yes. Why are you asking?

Well, because in East Trousburg, there was no All Met or All Counties back then. or I don't believe there was. I mean, the poker record was the daily newspaper. Maybe they did, but it was the bigger deal was to be like the most valuable player of your sport that year. And to have your name go up on a hallowed wall right outside the gym. And it was like a feeling of immortality. You know? I mean, you'd be up there forever.

Yeah, but I think that you didn't have, I mean, there wasn't like conference all, you know, selections? Like even the Post as part of the All-Met team, they have the All-Conference selections, too. Are they used to? I'm sure there probably was, but that was probably the Allentown Morning Call would pick that. I don't think the local paper to Pokerall Record would.

Because our conference, we were in the Lehigh Valley Conference. We played, we had, I mean, now it's all different. But back then, East Trousburg played high schools, Parkland, which were three times the size of East Trousburg and Nazareth. These were all Lehigh Valley schools. Right. But there weren't enough schools in the Poconos, really, to have a conference.

So we go down to the Lehigh Valley and get our ass kicked a lot of times. Right. By the bigger schools. But, I mean, still, tell my closest friends, Harry, Harry Fisher, who does the, the bumpers. stock every year. Yeah. You know, he was the most valuable player in basketball. You know, and my friend Dwayne Kramer, who comes to Bumstock every year, who I see

when I go to Rudy's to drink, he was the MVP of the baseball team. That's cool. And we still, I still, I can tell you who the football guy was, who the best all-round athlete was, I can tell you all that. Well, because we're still also connected. Well, I could definitely guess. I mean, we had in my high school class, we had an obvious best all-around athlete. Like, it wasn't debatable.

You know, even the best players on the best teams, we would all agree on the same thing. Jeff Gaffney was the best athlete. He was the national player of the year in soccer, national player of the year. Because Whitman, my senior year, Whitman, I think, was the number. one high school soccer team in the country. All right, they were that good. He went to UVA. He's still the all-time ACC soccer leading score.

And then fifth year at UVA, he kicked field goals for the football team. And then during the 87 scab year, he kicked field goals for the San Diego Chargers. And he was such a good athlete. They ran a fake field goal. and he scored a touchdown in a game. They pitched it to him. Like the ball came back to the holder and he pitched it to Jeff and he ran like 15 yards for a touchdown in one of the scab games.

And then he got opportunities in the Cowboys Camp, the Chargers camp again. Rolf Bernerska was the kicker. And he came back and he was a legend, you know, in San Diego. And that was it. But he was clearly in my high school graduating class, was the best all-around athlete. So he was the MVP on the soccer team.

By the way, all he played his senior year was soccer. He would have been one of the best basketball players in the area as well had he played basketball. He was an excellent basketball player. But can I just mention something real quickly since we're talking about Allmet? Because I've actually been meaning to mention this. And that is that right now in the DMV, there's a player that a lot of people who have followed this for a long time, think is the best think. They all think that this guy is the best boys high school basketball player that's ever

played in D.C. Jordan Smith is now a senior at PVI, at Paul the 6th. I don't think he's committed anywhere yet. I mean, he is, and I'd have to look, I think he's top five in the recruiting class for this year. Maybe he's number three. I know it's Duke in Syracuse and some of the. I should have pulled this up the ESPN top class.

But they played Gonzaga like two weeks ago, and a buddy of mine said, it's over, man. He's the best player that's ever played in this area. And this is a friend of mine that really knows high school hoops. And I've heard several other people say that. Now, if Coach Thompson were still alive, he would not say that anybody was ever better than Elgin Baylor. never, never. Because I think a lot of people of a certain age will say it's Elgin Baylor and his coach would say count five spaces before you get to number two. And number two is probably Kevin Durant or Danny Ferry. There's a lot of others. But Jordan Smith, and I've seen Jordan Smith play probably five or six times, and I'll see him play at AU coming up in the WCAC tournament. But he's been just one of the most outrageous

athletic 6-1, 6-foot-2-inch players I've ever seen. Yeah, here he is. On the ESPN Top 100 for the upcoming 2026 class, Jordan Smith's number three in the country. And the, yeah, it's everybody he's gotten offered, you know,

from everybody. Look, I remembered this, so I just looked it up because I didn't remember it a full name. Are we back to East Trelseberg? No, no, no. But if coach was alive, Coach Thompson, I'm not sure he would have picked Elgin. Well, he would have. Because he used to talk about George Lefich all the time.

He always talked about George Leftwich, always. And I think if Elgin was number one, George Leftwich was number two. Well, my father, my father went to Carol. My father is just a little bit older than those guys. He was on the teams, like three, four years before George Leftwich, John Thompson, Tom, Tom, the famous Carroll teams of, I think it was 59, 60, 61. I think that's, some people say the greatest high school basketball team ever. And George Leftwich, my father always said growing up, my father, my uncle, my father's friends,

George Leftwich is the greatest player that's ever played in this area. And I remember talking to coach about that. And I'd say, my father always says, and he said, George was the real deal, but he wasn't He, you know, and he had a couple of other names that George was in the class with. He ended up getting in a car accident, and he was at Villanova, got in a car accident, and never played, never made it to the NBA. Most people thought he would have been a legend in the NBA had he not been injured. He just passed away. Not that long ago, yes.

Yeah. Last year. His son, George Leftwich, Jr., who I used to play pickup basketball with all. the time, like in the 90s, 2000s. He was the starting point guard on the Princeton team that nearly beat Georgetown in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which was 89, I think. And that would have been one of the stunners of all time, because I think it was a 60, it was probably a 16-1 matchup.

I think it was. let me see I think it was the 89 tournament 1989 tournament Georgetown was this one seed Princeton was the 16 seat

and they played let me see what the final score was in the first round because that was almost the first 16 to beat a 1 um hold on the final score was

50 to 49 Georgetown in the first round one over 16 and George left with left which son George Jr. who was really one of the, he was a great dude younger than I was. But he, um, he, uh, was the starting point guard on that team. Georgetown made it, Georgetown made it to the elite eight that year and lost to Duke in the elite eight. 89.

Who was on the Georgetown team? Would that have been old? That's Alonzo, right? I think that's Alonzo, 89. I don't know. All right. Yep, Alonzo Morning was on that team. 50 to 49. Pete Carill with, you know, the Princeton-style basketball, almost pulled off the first 16-1 stunner.

And now we've seen it twice over the last few years, of course, starting with UMBC over Virginia. But Jordan Smith, yes, for those that know, I know that he is that good, and people are saying he might be the best ever. Right now, by the way, Tommy, in the top 10 ESPN for the class of 26, Jordan Smith from PVI is three, and Baba, you know, Ola Doughton,

the kid that's going to Maryland from Silver Spring, from Blake High School, he plays public school basketball, is the seventh, is the number seven player in the class, and he signed with Maryland for next year. Speaking of Maryland? Yes. They beat Iowa last night. I do want to talk a little bit about that.

We have a lot of football to talk about on the show, and who knows where the show will go from here. Stay tuned. Back after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I want to introduce you to Thrive Market, a new sponsor on the podcast this week, and I love this one. It's perfect for those of you with younger kids.

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Beautify and protect your home with Window Nation and their buy-for, get-for-free deal. It's available until the end of the month. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Window Nation.com. Maryland beat Iowa last night. Maryland just won their second straight game, Tommy, after literally getting pummeled game in and game out by like 20 to 30 points every night. Iowa had won six in a row coming into this game. They were ranked 25th. And when they beat Minnesota on Super Bowl Sunday, Minnesota had just beaten Michigan State. Be careful. Don't let the Terps get hot at the right time. Here they come.

Oh, God. I mean, I got to tell you, I didn't watch the, I mean, this is pathetic. This is where I this year. I didn't even watch the game live. My wife said, we're going out to dinner Wednesday night. You don't have anything to do. And I said, no, Maryland plays at 6. It's fine. I don't mind missing the game. And so, I'm getting texts throughout dinner.

You know, from people, I'm like, seriously, we're going to beat Iowa, and they beat Iowa. They went and beat a team that was on a major role, was ranked in the coaches poll. First quad one win. In college park. I saw a video of empty stands.

You could have had your own row easily, if not, you know, a half a section to yourself. Wow. Now, part of that is the game started at 6 o'clock. We've talked about this for years. You can't start games at 6 o'clock in a big metropolitan area like D.C. You know, when you've got to get to the beltway to get to a game. This is not something... The kids don't have to do that.

The kids don't have to do that, and they weren't there last night either, I don't think. So I ended up watching the game early this morning because I wanted to see what it looked like. And here's, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this. But I've said this before. For whatever reason, and give him credit for it, these players for Buzz Williams in his first year at Maryland, there are limitations to many of them. And they're missing their best player. He's hurt for El Payne.

And he would have been a major difference maker. But even in their blowout losses, at the end of the game, you see these dudes diving on the floor for loose balls. You see buzz walking up and down the sideline, screaming, yelling. They have really hung in there for him. And he's talked about that, even in the controversial press conference he gave the other day, controversial, I say, because he basically answered the question as to why he's not been doing a lot of media. I'm not keeping track of what he's done and what he hasn't done, but apparently he hasn't done his coach's show.

He puts assistance out to do it with Johnny. I don't have all the details of that. But it's been a rough year for him, and he said the other day, I recognized the enormity of the job that I have and the responsibility and that people aren't happy with the results, and I understand that. But anyway, the results are the last two games,

two wins over two teams, that they were 10 and a half point underdogs against. That's two major upsets, point spread-wise, in back-to-back games. They play exceptionally hard. They rebound well. They aren't turning the ball over as much. And when they do, it's not as much kind of these live ball, you know, front court turnovers that turn into, you know, layup drills.

They've got a player in Diggy Coit who can really score, but they've also got a couple of other players that have really started, to kind of come into their own as scores. Andre Mills, a freshman last night, had a career high 24. He was 9 of 14 from the floor, three of six from behind the arc. Darius Adams was their five-star freshman.

I think, you know, there was a time during this season where a lot of Maryland fans would have said, yeah, we don't need him back. I think they're going to need him back. I think he and Mills next year, hopefully along with Farrell Payne and their top five recruiting class

are like the foundation for you know, a big bounce back year. But here's the thing about where they are right now. Their schedule was brutal when they were losing by 20 and 30 a night. And they lost, they lost to Michigan State Tommy by 43 points, you know, two weeks ago. They now play Rutgers twice. They play Northwestern. They might win some games down the stretch. They're not going to make a run for the tournament or anything like that. But they're going to win some games down this stretch and they're going to be more interesting to watch. And I give Buzz Williams and that staff credit because a lot of teams, when you're losing by 30,

you know, here's the stretch, Tommy, okay? Early in the season, they lost by 39 points to Gonzaga, the next night by 33 to Alabama. They lost to Iowa by 19, Michigan to 18, by 18, Indiana by 18 at home, USC by 17. They were actually competitive in that game. Illinois by 19. Michigan State by 43, Purdue by 30, Ohio State by 20. Their last four games heading into the two they just won, they lost at Illinois 89 to 70 by 19, at Michigan State by 43 points, at home against Purdue by 30, and at home against Ohio State by 20.

Now, three of those teams are top 10 teams, but, you know, they were getting beat by 30 to 40 a night. And they came back and they beat Minnesota who had just beaten Michigan State. The team Maryland had lost two by 43. And they beat Iowa who would won six in a row. So, I mean, everybody's barking about buzz. And I'm like, I'm going to be patient. He's got a big recruiting year. This was a tough year.

He lost his best player to injury. Take some time. I know in the portal era, sometimes it doesn't take any time at all. But next year is a big year for him. But good for him and good for him. and good for the players. Naki said to me today on radio, he said, there's something that everybody says about Buzz,

and I have seen up close because I travel with the team. Naki said, these players love him. Love him. Really? Well, this was the, this was what the calling card was when he came from A&M. And he had his best players from A&M for, you know, Payne and Solomon Washington follow him from A&M. And they said at A&M, the players loved him.

The fans got a little tired, but the players loved him. And Naki said this morning, he goes, they absolutely love him. So we'll see. Was that enough about Maryland basketball? Yeah, but it'd be nice if Maryland basketball was relevant. it'd be nice if basketball and the DMV was relevant again. Yeah. Actually, that reminds me.

I'm going to read this. Sidney writes, Sheehan, I don't want Darren Peterson. Load managing in college is sorry. Boozer's the toughest of the top three. The Wizards need him. So I was talking to you about this, and you're not familiar with it, and that's fine.

And I think a lot of people listening may not be familiar with it. So the NBA draft in June has three players at the 10th. top that NBA people believe could be transcendent players, three of them at the top of the draft. Darren Peterson, who plays at Kansas, A.J. DeBonsa, who plays at BYU, and Cameron Boozer, Carlos Boozer's son, who plays at Duke. His other son plays at Duke, too, but those players are supposed to go in that order, by the way, one, two, three. Peterson, DeBonsa, Boozer. Peterson is spectacular to watch. I mean, you would love watching Darren Peterson play.

He is the most effortless score in college I've seen in a long time. With that said, what Sidney wrote is true. He has missed a lot of games for an ankle injury, for cramps, and then Tommy on Saturday, Kansas hosted number one, undefeated, Arizona at Fogg Allen. A hell of a basketball game. And guess who decided he wasn't going to play 30 minutes before the game tipped? Darren Peterson with what they called flu-like symptoms.

So this now, you know, this didn't come out of nowhere. People are now going into every game. Will he or won't he play? Are we going to be able to see Darren Peterson tonight or not? and the biggest number one coming into your building undefeated. You got a chance to play in that kind of a game. And he had flu-like symptoms. He was on the bench during the game.

Like I said in a conversation about this, I think on radio today, that's one of those where if you're Will Dawkins and you have number one, you got to find out that this kid was either sitting on a toilet, it incapacitated or kneeling down next to one incapacitated. Or that's a red flag. You know, symptoms of the flu. Are you kidding me? That's a major red flag.

Sydney, you're 100% right. I don't know. It sounds NBA ready to me. Yeah, he does, I guess. But you can't draft a kid number one overall when you're, you have choices for the number one overall pick, if you find out that this kid's been load managing in college and may not love basketball.

Because if you can't, you know, sluff off some sniffles to play against Arizona, the number one team, and by the way, what an atmosphere at Kansas Saturday. That's on my bucket list. Love to go to Fogg Allen to see a game. But that's, Yeah. Tad wrote, Can't believe you like Darren Peterson

above the BYU or Duke Kids. He's softer than Anthony Davis. Something's not right there. See what happens. They have big games the rest of the season and they're going to be in the tournament in a pretty high seed. Can you imagine if he begs off

of tournament games? I don't think he'll do that. Why? He just bailed playing the number one team in the country. Massive game in the Big 12 in front of, you know, a national TV audience.

You can't do that. Well, maybe he won't have flu-like symptoms by then. Yeah. You know what? Flu-like symptoms have never stopped us from doing a podcast. All right, we got some football to talk about next after these words from a few

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All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Shelly's back room at 1331 F-3 Northwest in the district is the place to go. It's the place to go when you need a great meal. It's the place to go where you want to enjoy a cigar and a place to go where you want to have a great drink. You combine all those three. Those are three senses that you're combining. And what Shelly does, it creates choices of excellence. Those choices of excellence are on their menu of excellence.

Their menu for cigars. Hence menu of excellence. Yes. But the menu of excellence has choices of excellence. It's a lot of excellence. It's a lot of excellence. Even further. Right.

You know, and it's the trifecta of excellence. Cigars, food, drink. Okay. And as far as, you know, the cigars, they have the top 25 cigars named by Cigar Fissionado. They have top shelf liquor, and they have their own shelly's custom blend beef. for their burgers.

So if it's Thursday, it's time for Shelley's custom blend cigar fact. Okay? This is what we do. We mix up some information, and we come up with a cigar fact for you, sponsored by Shelly's. You know, cigars are called Stogies.

Yes. Yes. So you know where they got that name from. I think you've told me this before. Where did they get the name from? They got them. There's a small town in Pennsylvania called Conestoga. Yeah.

It's the first place of the Conestoga wagon that was popular with Westwood pioneers in the 1800s. There was a lot of tobacco growing there, and the Conestoga wagon drivers like to enjoy their crudely made cigars along the journey. As wagons approach the strong smoke from the rustic cigars gave off a unique aroma. The cigar smoke was easily recognized, and as the wagons near the town, residents would say, here come the Stogies. Yep. You've told me that story before. That nickname stuck. And now it's with basically, you know, cigars, Stoie, it's a very common nickname now.

Are the team names in Conestoga? Are they the Stogies? I don't think so. They should be. These are just cigar facts, buddy. Okay, champ. You know the best thing about Shelly's, Tommy, is that even if you're not a Stogie smoker, it doesn't matter.

You can still go to Shelly's. they've got a great ventilation system, and you hardly know that these Stoge smoking's going on. Absolutely. State of the art filtration system there. I brought my wife in there who does not like cigar smoke, and she's had a very good time there and enjoy the meal. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. All right. Jeremy Fowler, Tommy from ESPN.com, did a story about the 18 teams that did not.

not make the playoffs. And he described them in different tiers in terms of where they were relative to contention. Contention really being for kind of playoff contention because they weren't in the playoffs this year. And so the first tier of teams was a tier titled, no need to panic. You're okay, Baltimore. You're okay Detroit. You're okay, Kansas City.

those are the three teams that he wrote, even though they didn't make the playoffs, no need to panic. You're going to be in contention in 2026 for a playoff berth. I think those three teams are pretty reasonable for teams that people still think are pretty good and probably will be good next year. The next category is a category or tier called A Few Moves Away. So these teams are just a few moves away from Playoff. contention. Those teams listed are Cincinnati, Dallas, Indianapolis, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay.

Washington not listed. Then there's a category slash tier called sneaky good trajectory, meaning, you know, these aren't teams you might think of when you're talking about contention next year, but they're pretty good. Atlanta, New Orleans, and the giants. And then there's a category that sits by itself just barely above the bottom two categories, which are full-blown overhaul and in the middle of a rebuild.

This one is titled Somewhere Between Contention and Reset. That's where Washington is. And Jeremy Fowler writes, The Hope for a Quick Turnaround, or contention is that they're a year removed from competing in the NFC championship game when healthy. Jaden Daniels is a top 10 quarterback who will move the offense and do a more respectable range in 2026. GM Adam Peters has the cap space to replenish the roster.

Injuries plagued Washington more than most teams last season. So he makes the case that's, you know, if you're glass-half full contention, that's why. you should have your glass half full, but in terms of a reset, he writes, might take longer than hoped. Washington was the hardest team of the bunch to evaluate. It gets its own category. The commanders were close in 2024. The roster is problematic in spots. Defense impact, defensive impact players are older. Pass rush is a major need, and some recent high draft picks have been slow to develop. Peters is just two draft picks, and the the first four rounds because of previous trades, adding a skill player at tight end or running

back would be useful. So my question to you is, take the first basic two categories. No need to panic and a few moves away. And let's just say that the next category, even though he didn't title it this way, but to make it easier would be many moves away. So no need to panic, a few moves away, many moves away. Which of those three categories, tiers, would Washington fit in for you? A few moves away.

And here's why. Because look, let's go back to 2024. I know the schedule has a lot to do with it. But they turn around and beat Tampa and Detroit in the playoffs, two playoff teams. to get to the NFC title game. My point about this is that I still believe that Jayden Daniels is the Great Eraser, the Sun by which all planets

and the Commander Solar System revolve around. And they did not have a good defense, and they had average healthy skill positions at 2024, and they won 12 games with Jane Daniels as a quarterback. They have the most important part. How can you put Minnesota in that category? They don't have a quarterback.

Jay-J. McCarthy is not the quarterback. The commanders have the quarterback. It's the most important part, and it will cover for the many holes in the roster. They have many holes. But in order to compete, they don't need to fill them all. Yeah, I'm totally with you. And let me just start by saying the teams in the few moves away, you know, tiers, Cincinnati, Dallas, Indie, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay, really, there's only one team.

I guess you could make the case for two. Cincinnati would be the team that I would definitely say there are a few moves away. Because they are... Because of the quarterback. And because they've got maybe the best pair of wide receivers in tandem. in the league. I mean, the Rams probably do, but Cincinnati's close with Chase and Higgins, along with Burrow.

But, you know, Cincinnati's similar to Washington in that they've got a lot of cap space, but they've got a lot of needs, and most of them are on defense, and their top defensive player is an unrestricted free agent, Trey Hendrickson. Dallas, I guess you could make a case for, I guess you could make a

case for Tampa, too, with Baker Mayfield. But Washington should be in this category, in this tier. And in fact, I actually think they're close to the no need to panic rather than the other way many moves away because of what you said. Now, there are a few moves away from contention. There are a few moves away from winning 10 games and being in the postseason. Yes.

I think they are. I'm not saying they are championship bound. Right. Even though we were saying last year this time, we felt really good if they could upgrade the defense, that they could. be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. And by the way, we weren't the only ones. You know, they were the fourth pick in the NFC to win the NFC championship before the season started. But yes, I think, you know, this year, you know, there's a reason why they were five and 12.

I'm not going to belabor that point. Obviously, they were the most injured team in the league when it came to their week one starters, major players and contributors. So if you just go with they're healthy in 2026. Jaden plays 17. the offensive line stays intact like it did. Terry has a full off season. He's healthy. You know, the two backs, Kroski Merritt and Rodriguez are back. Rodriguez isn't back yet.

But maybe they add a tight end or they add a receiver. That would be one of the few moves or two of the few moves. But really, I'm looking at defensively, I don't know that they're in contention coming back with the same defense. And I know what they did in 2024. I understand that. But I also think that it'd be really hard to win 10 or more games, which would guarantee you pretty much. Ten wouldn't guarantee you, but it'd be a pretty good bet you'd make them with the defense that they had last year.

Because that was truly horrendous, and it's really hard to win 10 plus games. And even if they won 9 and made it, you know, into the backdoor, you know, through the backdoor into the postseason, it still would be kind of, you know, lucky. if they made it. But the few moves, if they make them on defense, and the coordinator is right, and the defense goes from the worst in the league to, let's just say, close to the middle of the pack, they're definitely in contention for a playoff spot. Definitely. A hundred percent ahead of Minnesota and India, where Daniel Jones is a free agent. And I personally think, you know, Tampa, Dallas, Cincinnati would all be kind of in the same group. But give me Jaden among the NFC teams that I just mentioned, Dallas and Tampa, and I got a shot.

So the answer... So we agree on this. God damn it, we agree on this. Why aren't we arguing on this? And this would be a long shot to agree on in the sense that it's very different from what Jerry Fowler is saying. And it's also, there are lots of options available for... us to have chosen, and we both chose the same one, which is against the grain of what he picked. Yeah, I mean, he had this category called somewhere between contention and reset.

You know, that's, he's straddling the fence with this category. Right. You know, he understands that with Jaden Daniels and with all the cap space, that there could be a quick turnaround from this year. He also understands that they're terrible on defense. they still need, you know, a tight end and a couple of other players, and they're older and, you know, problematic in spots. And, you know, if they put out the same defense they put out this year,

it's going to be hard to get to 10, even with Jaden playing lights out. I don't know. That's how I would see it. I would, this year, if Washington had stayed healthy all season long and it had been one of the healthier teams in the league, it would not have been five and 12. It would have been closer to eight or nine wins. And the only reason I say not more than that

is because I don't think the defense was going to be very good even if they had stayed healthy. And I think it was going to be a problem all year with the schedule they faced and the teams they faced, you know, the offensive teams they faced, especially during that stretch, you know, when they played Dallas, Kansas City, Seattle, Detroit. Here's a wild card.

Mr. Bold, Dan Quinn, his choices for offensive and defensive coordinator. Yeah. We have no idea if Jones is Joe Whit Jr. again, and we really don't know, even though everyone thinks David Blow is the next great thing, we don't know. We don't know.

this is probably I mean they can find talent to fill holes there's a lot of uncertainty about the coaching here's what it won't be it won't be worse than it was last year on defense

specifically defense no it won't be it can't be it really can't be we've seen in years you'd be really really hard pressed to to envision a defense that was worse than Washington's defense at the end of the year over the back half of the schedule. It was abysmal.

All right, you want to talk about the sports section option that's coming to town. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I've talked a lot about chime over the last year. It's just a much smarter way to bank. I mean, it's a situation where you're finally going to feel. feel like the bank is on your side. You'll be able to dodge all of those ridiculous fees. You'll get your paycheck early all the time. You'll get some help in trying to figure out what you're saving up for. It's fee-free and just smarter banking built for you. It's not for the 1%. It's built for

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deserves it, give us five stars. You can write a quick review as I have read. I read somebody's review today on Apple, and it would be much appreciated. Follow the podcast as well. Hit the plus button and hit the follow button. You know, I like this. reading emails much more than taking calls. I like that. I don't mind taking calls, but you're right. I can't listen to the call. When I listen to your show from time to time, if I'm traveling,

I can't listen to the callers anymore. I can't do it. You know what? I like the emails. That's because we can pick the ones that are good, you know? Or that should be. Yes. It's your show.

You should be able to pick the good ones. I know, but with. Look, I'm not going to, I have a producer and he's very busy. A lot of shows, radio shows, have three and four producers working on them. And one job is the job called call screener, where the person's job is to screen the calls, to make sure that the best calls, those that make the show better, or at least make the show listenable, are actually. put through on the air.

I have one producer. And so he's doing a lot of different things. And screening calls, he does a pretty good job most of the time. But sometimes you're right. You get a call where it's like, I wish we hadn't done that. I just say, I like reading the emails. Point taken. Yes.

All right. Tell me about the Washington Post replacement sports section in town that's coming to town. Let's just remember something. When we discuss all this, there is one D.C. sports columnist left in this town. Yes, that's true. You have mentioned that, I think, previously. That said, before we get to talking about the Baltimore Banner, I want to mention that there's news that Chelsea Jane, who did a very good job. I love Chelsea. Yeah. She just got to hired by SNY, the regional sports network in New York as their MLB insider. So she already got a job. Good for her.

You know what? Cream rises to the top. Yes. And there are plenty of people there that are very talented and will get gigs. Good. Now the Baltimore Banner has announced. Baltimore Banner is a digital newspaper in Baltimore. There's no hard copy of it.

Okay, it was started about maybe four years ago by the Bainham family, put up the money for it. The Bainham started that? Yes. As in Stuart Bainham? Yes. Wow. Well, I... But it's supposed to be like a non-profit situation.

Like a lot of newspapers, like the Fillingquire right now, is run by like a, a, nonprofit organization who basically make it self-sufficient eventually, you know, where they operate on their own and they're not interested in pleasing shareholders. Right. Like newspapers used to be. And so that, and the Baltimore Banner has grown significantly in terms of circulation over the last four years. They do a great job covering news.

They want to pull a surprise a few years. years ago for their coverage, and I subscribe to it. Yeah. Now, they've gotten, they've gotten some help because the Baltimore Sun has become such an unreadable product, you know, the paper I used to work for. So people are looking for something like the banner up there. Well, they announced a few months ago that they were going into Montgomery County to cover news in Montgomery County, too.

They were going to open up a bureau there. You told me that, yeah. And then they just, and then they just announced recently. recently they were going to do the same thing in Prince George's County. Well, now they've announced they're going to start covering sports in D.C. Under the Baltimore Banner heading, label? I don't know what they're, I would assume so. They're going to have a beat writer for the commanders, a beat writer for the Nationals,

and then they'll cover when they can the heads keep the capitals and the Wizards. they'll be more Hold on a second What do you mean? What do you mean they've said that they're only going to cover two teams regularly? Well, with beat guys,

there'll be a beat writer who's going to produce For the skins in the Nats, you're saying? Yes. And then the coverage of the capitals and wizards will be a little less frequent,

I would imagine. I don't want to speak for the Baltimore Banner, but that's the impression I get. Tommy. Okay. You can't call. call it the Baltimore banner if it's going to be a DC sports product.

But even if you do call it something else, it's still a Baltimore operation. That's fine. That's fine. But it can't be marketed that way. Listen, the Baltimore son had a beat writer who covered the Reds game the whole time the Colts were gone. Vito, right? Yeah, Vito Stilino. Yeah.

But the Colts, they didn't have an NFL team for those years. Right. Right. I don't know. I don't know how that's a good point. I don't know if they're going to change it to like the Washington banner. I don't think they can because they're not producing a whole different newspaper. Didn't you tell me Mark Eind was going to do something in this area?

Well, Mark Eind, it's been suggested that he was going to do something. And actually, there have been reports. that I think if I have this right, and I hope I do, but I may not have it right, he and other investors went to the post a while back when there was talk about how the local news and the sports were in trouble and offered to buy those sections literally from the post, you know, and run it through their operation, but they never heard back. How do you buy a section? Well, how do you close down a section, you know?

Well, no, I understand that, but what do you have bought it with the post, you know, brand? I mean, if you're shutting down a sports section, which the post did, and you want the post-sport section, you just hire the people that wrote for the sports section because you're not getting anything other than, I guess, the brand of the Washington Post. That's what I'm asking, like, would you have run it as the city paper, Washington Post Sports section? I don't know. Back to the Baltimore banner.

Baltimore and Washington are rival cities. Everybody understands this. I love Baltimore. Baltimore and Washington for people, especially that aren't from here and think like they're the same, they're not the same. They're completely different cities with completely different sports teams. And I can't imagine that the Baltimore banner, if they're looking for the most possible, this is subscriber only, right?

Yeah, digital. If you're looking for subscribers, you're not going to call it the Baltimore banner Washington sports section. You're going to rebrand it. I think the stories will be part of their sports section. Okay. But they'll just be generated and want, you know, they'll be generated about Washington. teams. It will be included, I think. But nobody, Washingtonians don't subscribe to the Baltimore banner.

I'm not saying Washingtonians don't, but I'm saying it's a Baltimore paper. I know that they're expanding. I get that. I know that. And there's personalities. There are two different personalities when it comes to cities. But there are thousands, thousands of people who live in Baltimore and commute to D.C. every day. But we're not talking about it. those people. We're talking about this is about sports. We're not talking about news. We're not talking about local news.

Those people read. They'll read sports. They'll want to read about the Washington teams, maybe when they're working in Washington, even if they're living in Baltimore. They will? I think so. It's certainly possible. Okay. I mean, we have

a lot of listeners in Baltimore. Lots of listeners in Baltimore. Yes. Listen, I, my son, You should go to a bar up in Baltimore, and the owner at a bar was a big fan of ours. You listened to the podcast all the time. This was like in Locust Point, Baltimore. You're probably right. We're only talking about four people, two B-writers and maybe two feature writers.

It's not a huge investment. They're not going to make, again, they're not going to make Washington Post salaries. And whoever generates, like I've said before, any kind of anything publication to fill the vacuum, they're not going to pay Washington Post salaries. Right. It's impossible. They don't have to. You said last week, and it sounds like this is what will happen here, that basically it's going to be done.

You said with kids, I think, is the way you described them, you know, just out of, you know, journalism school. Yeah, interesting. I'll, you know what, when the product launches, we'll give it, we'll give it a try, right? Well, you will. I'm not a subscriber. You'll tell me whether or not it's worth subscribing to. Yeah. They do a good job.

I'll tell you, newswise, they do a real good job. Sports, they cover the Ravens pretty good. They do a real good job covering the Ravens. Yeah. You know, there's a lot of Ravens fans in pre-T and Montgomery. County, too. Yes, there are. There are. There are a lot of Ravens fans in other surrounding counties because of the Snyder era. A lot of people decided to do that. All right, anything else today? Here's what you're not going to see. What? You know, and maybe 20 years ago, I would have talked

to you into it. You're not going to see Kevin and Tom's paper. No, no. There's not going to be a Kevin and Tom's paper out there. I might have tried to talk you into it 20 years ago, but no more. No. Not now. No, we have a hard enough time, you know, talking our paper out to our listeners. All right. You are staying in Florida for how much longer?

I leave February 28th. Oh, my God. Well, we got a major warm up coming up next week, 50s next week. week up here. Going to be a lot of melting going on. A lot of melting. That's good. I'm happy for you.

I'm happy for you. You've got to have another 25 degrees to catch up to me, though. Yeah, it's going to be interesting because we're going to get rain this weekend, too. So we should get a lot of this stuff melted and out of the way. Although there are, you know, I told you this before, but the big, you know, piles of snow and parking lots that, you know, are eight, nine feet. They're not going to be gone until April at this point. They're not going to be gone for a while, but we'll get a lot of melting coming up soon. All right, good job.

I'll be back tomorrow with the show, and Tommy will rejoin me next week. All right, boss.