The Kevin Sheehan Show - Conversation w/Galdi

Episode Date: February 20, 2021

Kevin and Al Galdi today on the podcast. Galdi has an announcement about his next venture. The boys talked about that, WFT, and a lot more. Also, if you have time, help us out and complete this survey--The Athletic Podcast Network audience survey 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. All right, another weekend podcast and another special guest. Last week we had Jay Gruden on. If you miss that show, worth the listen.

So go back and listen to it. If you've already listened to it, go back and listen to the 25-20 mark. 25 minutes, 20 seconds into it. I've got more information on what Jay said regarding that particular. stretch of like two minutes, and I'll have that information on Monday's show with Cooley. But go back and listen. It's just two minutes or so at the 25-minute 22nd mark. Our special guest today is a friend, a longtime work colleague, a teammate, I guess you would describe him for the better part for me the last 18 years. But Al Galdi was at the station for

much longer than 18 years, and he'll tell us a little bit about it here shortly. But he's not at this station anymore, and that really came as a major gut punch for many of you and many of us that had worked with him over the years. It was a shocker, really, to him as well. But he's not going to be kept down for very long. Al joins me on the show right now, and Al has news for many of you out there who were hoping that they had not heard the last of them. Tell everybody what starts on Monday. Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me on. I don't know that I have any Deshaun Jackson, Pierre Garsohn stories for you, but I'll be my best here today. Yeah, the Al Galdi podcast is up and running. The intro episode is out, and we're going to start in full force on Monday morning. It's going to be every weekday, not unlike yours, so Monday through Friday. I'll be putting it out early each weekday. So, you know, for people who are up early and, you know, you're at the gym or you go to work early or you're walking your dog or whatever the case may be, I'll have it out. by 5 a.m. each day. So, you know, you can listen to it obviously as you start your day or whenever,

you know, you'd like to use it as a part of your day. And it's going to be my show. I mean, it's, you know, similar to what you do. You kind of bring your radio show to the podcast world, lots on the Washington football team, obviously, but we'll do plenty on, you know, the nationals and the capitals and the wizards and the Terps and some other people as well. So really excited for it. We'll have, you know, guests and we'll have some fun with it. And I'm really pumped for what this could be. So yeah. And I'm pumped for. for you. It's still very much, I would describe it, Al, as the Wild Wild West podcast land. But there's so much about it, you know, you and I've had several conversations over the last couple of weeks.

There's so much about it that's enticing and actually better than radio in so many ways. And then there's a lot that's uncertain about it, obviously. But I think the uncertain is becoming less uncertain, and I think you're getting into it, you know, at the right time. So you know how much I'm hoping it works out for you. Al is not only very good at what he does. He's a great guy. He's a weirdo, too, at times for sure. But he's been one of those guys that everyone at this station over the years has respected without reservation. You know, versatile, talented, worked as hard, if not harder than anybody that we worked with. And not one, person, and I know Tommy and I talked about this on the podcast a couple of weeks ago when Al left,

and I think Kooley and I did as well. Not one would tell you that they aren't genuinely wishing him the best professionally and personally. You know, when we did talk about you a few weeks ago, it came on the heels, obviously, of talking about Zabe leaving the station, which followed Doc, C.J. and Scott leaving the station. You know, so many changes, Al, at the station over the last few months. None of them have been pleasant for any of us. A lot less unpleasant for me. I understand that.

But still, it seems very different. We had a group for a long period of time. But the best part, and Tommy said this, I think, the best part, and I think you'd agree with this, we didn't work with one a-hole. You know, there wasn't one huge a-hole-jerk ego in the group. you know, we had some guest fill-ins over the years that had a ton of ego. But for the most part, the group that's been there for, you know, 15 to 25 years, you know, not that we were all best friends off the air,

but I think there was a ton of affection for one another and respect, in part because there weren't any jerks, really, you know, at that station. I think that that made it a lot easier. For sure, for sure. By the way, one man's weird is another man's paradise, so never forget that. But yeah, I don't think you'd want to describe the paradise. I think what you had too was there's like a genuine respect that we all had for each other. Because look, not to make it sound like what we did was the hardest thing on earth,

but it does take a certain skill and it does take a certain creativity and drive and commitment. And so when you see others who share that and that same passion that you have for this business, there's like a real respect that you have for people. And, you know, we had an atmosphere that was, you know, it was like being in a frat where like there was a real camaraderie. And, you know, you bust chops all the time. And it was a really good thing for a really long time. So, you know, the station has changed a lot.

I will be talking about why I'm gone from the station and kind of some things that have happened with the station on the podcast. And I'm looking forward to doing that because I feel like a lot of people who listen to us have been kept in the dark on this stuff. And I think it's time to, you know, open some eyes to what's gone down here. But no doubt, man. It was a great time. And I still wish the station the best.

Like I don't look at it and like, oh, my God, I hope they, you know, suffer in perpetuity here. It's like, no, you know, it was a special place. And it was, I think, a time in all of our lives that we'll always remember, for sure. Yeah. There have been a couple of times over the last couple of months where I've gotten nostalgic about it. Yeah. And it tends to be my nature to be. begin with. But it really, it's, it was, like you said, it was almost like a frat house,

but it's really important. And I think for those listening that were fans of the radio station for so many years, they were a big part of it too. And that's, that sounds cliche to a certain degree, but it's so true how many people all of us got to know over the years in terms of the listeners, you know, whether we were doing live events or whether we ended up, you know, developing relationships with a lot of the listeners. I still, to this very day, there are probably two dozen longtime listeners of the station that have become friends that I communicate with off the air, that, you know, give me feedback and have been so valuable. And, you know, it's just whatever. I think a lot of people have gone through that in work environment.

where you really were a part of something that maybe you didn't realize when you were in it was special, but you have sort of a yearning to have it back after it ends. And, you know, our place was that way. But anyway, you know, in all seriousness, actually, you know, the next to last day that you were on the air, I think it was the next to last day. It might have been the final day. I forget because obviously we were all caught off guard. you and I were doing this thing that they had introduced at the end of the show where I would hand it off to you.

Yeah, Galdi's show followed my show. I was six to nine, Galdi was nine to twelve, and I would hand it off to Al, and it was something that the new program director wanted to sort of, you know, make an easier transition, a friendly transition, if you will. And I remember that last day, and I'm pretty sure it was the last day, it hit me like two minutes before the hand. handoff, it was the anniversary of the Maryland Duke gone in 54 seconds game at Cole Fieldhouse. And as I was sitting there and I think it was Anthony who said to me, my producer said, you got a handoff with Galdi. I said, yep, okay, we'll do that when we come back. And then it sort of occurred to me during the break. God, you know what? Maybe Galdi called that game. And I texted you and you said, yes, I did call. I was part of the play by play of many of those Duke games. you were a student at Maryland at the time.

You're much younger than I am. And you called for WMUC, the campus radio station, some of the classic Maryland Duke games of that 2001 season. Yeah, that was such a special year. And I know this may sound weird to some people, but I've always kind of felt like the 2000-2001 season, in a lot of ways, is more memorable than the 2001-2002 season, even though the O2 season obviously resulted in the national championship.

But that 2000, 2001 season, that first final four season, the drama and like the story that was told that year, where they were in a real rut, you know, and it started with the gone in 54 seconds lost to Duke. But then you had a string of losses after that. You had the famous Valentine's Night loss at home to Florida State back when Florida State wasn't anywhere near what it's become in recent years, boot off the court. Gary Williams is getting heckled by people. at Cole Fieldhouse. And then, of course, comes a turnaround. They win this road game at Wake Forest and they start crawling themselves, you know, back into having themselves a season.

They beat Shane Battye in Duke on senior night. You know, they face Duke in another classic in the ACC tournament. And then they make the final four that year for the first time in program history. And the road to that final four was so interesting and so dramatic, where you had that string of games against the Georgia's and all with local ties, right? George Mason, Georgia State with lefty, Georgetown, you know, the great went over Stanford where they just, you know, completely castrated the Collins twins and Casey Jacobson to make the final four. And then a classic against Duke where they, they blow whatever it was, a 20 point or something like that lead in the first half. And they get robbed by the officials. And one of the nice things about that final four game, which we also called too for the mighty 10 watt power WMUC was where we broadcast that game actually from the court.

So we were able, like we had a great vantage point. At Cole, we were all the way up near the rafters. At the Metro Dome, we were down there near the court. And Gary Williams at one point screamed to the refs, how bad do you effing want Duke to win this game? It was classic Gary. And this was, you know, peak Duke getting every call there was from the officials. So there just was so much to that season.

I'll never forget it. I mean, the O2 National Championship is special for obvious reasons. But that first final four season, that to me, that is just some kind of year in terms of everything that inspired. Yeah, it's, I tend to agree with you that, first of all, for me, the, my favorite game of all time isn't the championship game. For people like me who had been sort of born and raised Maryland basketball fans had gone to Maryland, had had all of the heartbreak of lefties teams, lefties great teams, never making it to the final four, a couple of Gary's teams,

you know, the Steve Francis team that we thought was good enough to win the whole thing, that got bounced by St. Johns in the Sweet 16. To beat Stanford and to advance to the final four was so emotional for longtime Maryland basketball fans. To me, that is the most incredible win that I remember being super emotional about. There are other games, but we were finally going to the final four. And, you know, one of my favorite stories, and I didn't mean for this to turn into a Maryland basketball thing, but Galdi and I both love it and we're both alums, the whole thing. And we'll get to other things. I probably you. But one of my favorite stories about the elite eight win over Stanford is the story that's been told many times over the years. Casey Jacobson was one of the star players in college basketball. And they got to the under 16 timeout, so the first TV time out of the first half. And Dixon walks over and you could hear him say, Jacobson can't play. And somebody says, what happened? Is he hurt? No, no, no. He can't play. he's no good. And Dixon and Marilyn went on to torch Stanford that day to advance to the Elite 8.

And of the four Duke games that year, I think the highest level game, and they were all high level, was the ACC tournament semi-final game, which really was one of the more incredible endings. Blake hits a three. Nate James gets a tip-in with about two seconds to go. And then Terrence Morris throws it to Dixon. Dixon crosses half court and lets fly. with a shot at the buzzer that would have won it, and it hits off the front rim, off the back of the glass, and just off. But it was right online. And the game ends, and, you know,

they ended up losing three or four, and then the next year was the national championship game. But, yeah, you know, that year, too, the George Mason game was the game that nearly lost. They almost lost it because Mason had that guy who was like 35. Yeah. What was his name? And he almost beat them.

Yeah, I know. Nate James, by the way, was a local guy, wasn't he? He was from the area. Yeah, he was from the area. But who was the old guy that played for George Mason that nearly beat him? He was in the military. George something? Was it also George?

Maybe not. I think you're right about that. I can look it up. Whatever. You know, I was actually also thinking about something, and I don't think we've talked about it in the last couple of weeks when we've had conversations. But your brother, is he still working for the Phillies? Yes.

He's the director of baseball research for the Phillies. George Evans, by the way, was a player. George Evans, so it was George Evans. So it was George. So your brother is younger, correct or not? Yeah. Have you ever thought about, because I think you'd be excellent, getting involved with a team and working in, you know, analytics and then coming up through, you know, the baseball

operation side, not the on-the-field stuff, but the personnel side. Have you ever thought about getting into that? Oh, I mean, I've considered it. But the thing is those guys, they have high level statistical degrees and, you know, master's degrees. And, I mean, it's not just people who are baseball fans. It's people who are familiar with really not just even high level math. It's also high level computing, you know, because part of the job now is designing databases and designing like proprietary statistics that you can come up with. A lot of teams use stuff that we have no access to, you know, and they kind of use their own

proprietary data to judge players and things of that nature. So, you know, there's a level of education and qualification that baseball front of offices especially have now that I think would kind of blow people away. It's really incredible. Bullshit. Bullshit. You could do it. You could absolutely do it.

And I say that because I had a conversation with someone else that we work with. that isn't working at the station anymore. And I'm not going to mention them by name, but it was a month ago. And I said, you know, don't limit yourself because you're smart and you get it. And people will love you once they get to know you. And they'll realize you're capable of anything because he started with lack of experience and doing this and lack of this. And I'm like, to hell with that.

I've said this before when Tommy and I've had this conversation on the air. I think by far and away, and this is not meant to be a total slight of the people in management that we worked with, but a lot of people in management that we've worked with over the years have, let's just say, had limitations. But by far and away, the smartest people that I worked with and have worked with in radio have been the people on the content side, you know, on the air. And you're one of those people. You're totally capable of figuring out that stuff. It's, it's, you know what, I am sure that there are certain mathematical abilities that would benefit the position, but there's a lot of just hard work getting it and being, you know, savvy and smart and, and, and a lot of other things that I think that you would, I think you could absolutely do it.

What kind of degree does your brother have? Does your brother have a graduate degree in mathematics? something like that? Statistics and probability? He did undergrad at North Carolina Chapel Hill actually and then he went to Stanford and he got an advanced degree there. And you know, like a lot of it too is just being familiar. You mean it's not just a four year. It's not just a four year bachelor's degree from college park. No, no, no. It's it's slightly more than that. Well, you those are the kinds of things. Like I think sometimes, especially, and I guess my perspective, Al, too, is this.

This was a second professional career for me, as you know. I was involved in so many things beforehand. And I think I've always felt like if you're smart and you work hard and you're one of those people that just get it, that you can figure out anything once you get involved. But anyway. So your brother's really moving up the ranks. Yeah, I mean, he is. Is he going to be a GM one day, do you think?

You know, I don't know that he wants to be. He really likes what he does. Actually, it's really interesting the conversations I have with him. And I'll kind of be careful here because I don't want to say things he doesn't want me to say. But working at a front office, obviously, you're at the mercy of those above you and kind of like the direction of the front office as a whole. And I know he wishes that the team would be Uber aggressive in terms of the commitment to analytics. And that hasn't always been the case. Baseball has become much more progressive in that regard, but there's still kind of this old guard that only wants to take it to a certain point. And I know he looks at some of the other organizations like the Dodgers and the

Rays and actually the Yankees that are all in on this stuff. And I think he wants to be a part of something like that instead of where it's like you got one foot in and one foot out. So I think if there was in a situation where it was like, we're all in and we're doing it this way and we're fully committed to this from not just a philosophical standpoint, but from like a staffing standpoint. I think he'd like to be a GM in that situation. But, you know, it's tricky. Like the Phillies, they fired their GM. They fired the guy who hired him, Matt Clintack, and they hired Dave Dombrowski. And Dave Dombrowski's had a lot of success, but he's kind of an older school guy. And he's now the president of the team. And he is an anti-analytics,

but, you know, he's not going to do something like, say, what Andrew Friedman is doing with the Dodgers, where he's like, you know, he's all in on it and like, you know, this is what they're doing. So, you know, I think that's kind of part of his scenario right now where it's like you try to, you have to navigate waters. I mean, it's not unlike radio where it's like, you know, you only have so much control in terms of what you do and how you do it. And so I think that's kind of weighed in on him too. And I think the other thing, too, is being a GM, it's not just about, you know, crunching numbers, but you have to deal with negotiating contracts.

You have to deal with managing up, right, like dealing with ownership. And I don't know if that's appealing to him or not. So we'll kind of see where his career goes, but he's, you know, he was brought into the Phillies. The Phillies had like zero analytics department. And they brought him in about five years ago. And they gave him the keys to the car. And they let him put together a staff.

He has built up proprietary stats that the Phillies use internally. And so it's been a great experience for him. And I know he's met a lot of great people, and it's really interesting to hear some of the stuff he says. Oh, I bet some of those conversations, especially given your interest in that sport and your interest in advanced stats and analytics. I mean, what a great resource and what a great conversation to have. My brother is involved in seedier businesses, and those conversations are very interesting as well. That's the unmistakable voice you're hearing of Al Galdi, who's joining us here on the podcast. We'll do some Washington football team talk right after this word from one of our sponsors.

All right, Galdi joining us on the podcast. A lot of you have, you know, and Galdi's used to this as well, are we going to talk about like what they're going to do at left tackle? You know, what about, what about Corner? Are they going to re-sign Darby? Look, we talk about that too. But right now, the number one story in the NFL, and it's not even close, is the NFL quarterback offseason carousel. And where it stops and who's on which horse, period.

That's the story, more so than it's been in a long, long time, and Washington is a big part of it. I want your thoughts. I don't want you to share all of your thoughts, because I want you to save some of them for your podcast on Monday where you will do a lot of catching up, I'm sure. on what you missed over the last couple of weeks. But I want your thoughts on the quarterback situation. By the way, I was just looking at a couple of the polls that I've done recently.

I did a poll this week. How many of you would want Alex Smith back? Because he wants to play next year. He's made that very clear. 76% of the people said they don't want Alex Smith back next year, which I found to be overwhelming. But anyway, big picture, where are you right now on the whole Washington quarterback situation? So to me, the number one thing with the quarterback situation right now is what do Ron and Marty and Martin and Scott and anyone else think about the draft class?

I think that matters as much as anything because the ideal situation to me would be instead of giving up an asset or assets for, you know, a Sam Darnold or Marcus Moriota or whoever you want to come up with or even spending money on a Ryan Fitzpatrick, even though, you know, it's not like a ton of money. The ideal scenario would be you draft someone you're bullish on, first round or beyond, and you have that person under team control for at least four years, you know, low amount of football mileage on that body. You can groom that person as you see fit, and you bring that person to camp and that person competes with Allen and Heineke and may the best man win. Like to me, that's what I hope happens. But of course, that's not going to happen if the team doesn't like the quarterbacks available to them in the draft.

So I think that's like the number one wild card here is, is the draft an option or is the draft not an option at all? If the draft is an option, then I think that's the way to go, even if it means maybe trading up a few spots, okay? And now it's going to depend on who they like, who they think is realistically available to them. So there are a lot of variables within that draft variable. But I think the draft is like, that to me, that's ideally what happens here. If they don't like the quarterback class or they don't believe that the people they like will have any shot at being able to be. taken by them, then obviously you have this veteran route, you can go down. And when it comes to that, I am open to just about anything. I am not close-minded on any of this stuff. You know, if they feel like

Marioota is an untapped player and they can pull off a Ryan Tannahill with Marioota, then by all means acquire them. If they feel like trading for Sam Darnold makes sense because it's not going to cost a ton and Darnold is someone who's been done wrong by having to play for Adam Gase on these bad Jets teams, then by all means get them. But I don't. don't want them to do something just to do something. I want them to do something to get someone who they feel like has real upside and real potential. And I also think what's unique about this offseason, you know, yet another one of these quarterback needy off seasons for our team is, unlike in some previous off seasons, like say 2012 coming out of 2011 or 2018 coming out of

2017, you do have viable internal options. How viable they are can be debated. But Kyle Allen and Taylor Heineke are viable internal options. So this isn't like after 2011 where you were barren, okay? And the Beck Grossman thing was a debacle. And you ended up going with two rookies is your top two quarterbacks for 2012. It's like they had nothing coming out of 2011. They almost had to trade up to take Robert. This is a year where it's like, if you love someone, go hard after them, free agency or the draft. But if you don't, I don't think the gun is to their head to where they have to do something. They have a couple of guys internally who they can. go with. And just to address the Alex Smith thing you brought up, I think it's so funny because

Alex Smith is both universally loved by us as fans, but it's also now universal that we don't want him back, you know? And the juxtaposition of that is so unique, but I think it's so true and I think it's justified. Like, I personally don't want him on a team next year. Okay. And if he wants to play more power to him, but I think Alex is largely a road to nowhere at this point. And he's not someone who I think there's real upside with. So yeah, I mean, it sounds bizarre because everyone worships at the altar of Alex and the comeback and everything else. But I don't want him on the team next year. And I tell you what's really interesting to me, I don't think Ron does either. You know, I heard the interview Ron did with you on 980 a few weeks back where you asked him

about the likelihood of Alex being on the team. And Ron says, I think that, you know, the chances are there. Like, what kind of an endorsement of that is, Alex being back on the team. It's not the first time Ron has spoken along those lines when it comes to Alex. So I think Ron is not all gung-ho about Alex being back on the team. I think there are a couple of things that you said. Number one, I think that their effort to trade for Stafford, which we know they made a significant offer for Stafford. It's been reported that they expressed interest in Gough, Carr, and Marriota. I think that speaks to A, how they feel about what they have and B, what they feel about could be there in the draft, whether at 19 or

what they could trade up for. Now, I've heard from pretty good sources that there are people in the organization that really like Justin Fields, you know, whether or not they have the draft capital or have the ability to move up to get Fields is a different conversation, you know, altogether. But they've made their feelings clear in many ways that they're looking to upgrade. on what they have. Now, it doesn't mean they'll be able to do it. If they can't do it, they may end up with Heineke, Allen, and maybe Alex Smith. And this is where I brought into the conversation yesterday on radio and with Cooley on the podcast. What about Ryan Fitzpatrick? On ESPN.com, there were more than

one of the ESPN.com analyst slash reporters in a column about predicting where quarterbacks will land and specifically who the Washington starting quarterback would be. Field Yates and Matt Bowen both said, it's going to be Fitzpatrick. And I thought about it. And I'm like, I'd be all in on that if they couldn't get somebody that they really wanted to not only be, you know, the guy now, but the guy, you know, for the next five to ten years. And it's, there's no guarantee they'll get that guy. That's, I do think that. they have really through their actions, if we believe all the reporting through their actions, told you what they think about their current situation and to a certain degree, maybe a lesser

degree, what they think about what they can draft, at least at 19. Yeah, I think that's very possible. I think, though, also, if you're in their predicament, you're not doing your job if you're not kicking the tires on all these options. So, like, just because they inquired about a Derek car or have some interest in a Sam Darnold. I don't know that that means that, like, you know, they're desperate to get them. Clearly they wanted Stafford and I wanted Stafford too, but looking at what he ended up going for, I'm glad they did not make that trade. I wouldn't have giving up two ones to get Stafford.

And by the way, Stafford, did you see what he revealed after the trade here to Mitch Album where he talked about all the injuries he dealt with this past year? Like, his body is falling up. The guy had a torn UCL this past year. Torn UCL is what people get Tommy John surgery for. Like, he's, I, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of glad now they didn't end up making this trade for Stafford. But yeah, with Fitzpatrick, look, if they really don't have any other viable options and they feel like Ryan Fitzpatrick for one year would be a nice fit in their quarterback room and some nice insurance if Alan or Heineckee falters or gets hurt, I'm fine with that. But Ryan Fitzpatrick clearly is not a road to

anywhere. Like he's just a placeholder. He's a guy you'd tread water with. Maybe, you know, he can help you to like a nine and seven season, which would be nice. I'm not trying to. But that's what Alex Smith would be. Yeah, I'm not sure if Alex is that, to be honest with you. I kind of feel like you might have more upside with Fitzpatrick than with Alex. I think that's a debatable. I agree with that. That's what I'm saying. It would be a much better move if, let's just say, they couldn't trade up for Justin Fields or they didn't get somebody else that they're like Darnold that they may want. I'd much rather have Ryan Fitzpatrick be the starting quarterback for this team next year than Alex Smith, or I'd much rather have Ryan Fitzpatrick in camp battling and competing with Heineke and Kyle Allen

than Alex Smith doing it. And, you know, I've given up betting against Alex Smith because it's proved to be, you know, a terrible bet multiple times. But I just don't see it, you know, for 16 games. And I think Fitzpatrick, unlike Alex Smith, is probably the kind of guy Scott Turner would love to have. and that is a guy that's incredibly versatile, fits the offense, but will push the ball down the field, you know, and you'll get big plays because of that. I don't think that they feel that way about Alex. No, I don't either.

And one of the nice things about Ron, I mean, he's not Jay Gruden-like in a lot of ways, but one way that I think they are similar is that Ron has a hard time concealing his true feelings on things. And he has multiple times the last few weeks and really months now, I guess, been given the opportunity to endorse Alex being back on the team next year or talk up the possibility of Alex being back. And he shuts it down each time. And we learned with the way Ron talked about Kyle Smith late this past year, those comments, lukewarm responses from Ron matter and are telling. The Kyle Smith responses turned out to be very telling. And I think these Alex Smith responses from Ron are going to prove to be the same thing. I don't think it's like Ron hates Alex, but I think Ron looks at this in a very sober and realistic way, which is where exactly are we going with this guy? And even if this, you know, mysterious right cap injury, which it turns out, I guess was a bone contusion injury, had nothing to do with the reconstructed right leg. I mean, what's the best case scenario? He's immobile.

Even before the right calf injury thing, he had three rushing yards the entire year, three rushing yards over eight games. He was more mobile than I thought he would be. He was actually more mobile than I thought he would be. But yeah, I mean, he's... It's a low bar. You know, something else that Rivera said to me during that interview on radio, when I asked about his current quarterback situation and suggested that there were many in the fan base that were really quite excited about a guy like Taylor Heineke, he said, well, we need to explore all of our options.

We need to make sure. And then he got into, we have to exhaust and explore all of our options. sort of in the same vein in terms of the way he's talked about Alex Smith. And as you mentioned, the way he sort of spoke about Kyle Smith over the last year, which turned out to be an indication that they were going to move on from him. Galdi is joining us on the podcast. So I'll let you elaborate much more on your thoughts on this, you know, because I'm sure you'll get into it in the first podcast.

So I don't want you to burn it up all here. But I do want you would mention to me a couple of things. about the Gruden interview that you wanted to discuss. And I also have a reaction to, I guess, a tweet that the team put out yesterday about the team name. We'll do both of those things when we come back. Al Galdi joining us here on the podcast here on a Saturday. Here's a word from one of our sponsors. When we talked the other day, you and I got into a conversation about the Gruden interview, and I said, well, why don't we just do this when we talk on Saturday? What stuck out to you? So it was a great interview.

I think your number one all-time interview was the Mike Shanahan omnibus of a few years back where just every item possible with the Robert Saga got untangled. So that was great. But the Jay might be number two, man. I mean, Jay is such a great talker. He cannot help himself in terms of saying things. I mean, when he and like the first answer or so starts saying to you, yeah, we had people here leaking stuff. And like he just can't help himself.

He has to say stuff like that. He's a great subject. He is. And he comes off very likable. He's got a sense of humor. He always has. He's always been likable. He's always had that sense of humor.

100%. Just wasn't a great head coach. No, no. But I think the thing that stood out as much as anything, and a lot stood out. But when he said or at least indicated that the chiefs may well have released Alex and that Washington could have signed Alex without ever. having to give up the pick and the player, right, Kendall Fuller.

And it was interesting the way Jay said it because he said it, he indicated it, and then he kind of walked it back where he was like, I don't know, I don't know. You know, so it's like, I don't know if he has intel suggesting that the chiefs were going to cut Alex or if he just kind of thinks that may have happened. He clearly brought it up, though, as a shot at Bruce Allen and as a shot at the reality that he was kept in the dark on the trade and didn't find out about it until after it happened. but I think that's so significant if it's true. And I have doubts about whether that's true because Alex was coming off the best season of his career,

even if the chiefs were going to go to Patrick Mahomes, the idea that they were just going to cut Alex. They wouldn't have found some sort of trade partner for Alex. I kind of find that to be far-fetched. But maybe Jay's been told some stuff. And if he has, that is a fascinating postscript to that Alex Smith trade that not only did you give up what you gave up to get him, but it may well be that you never had to give up anything to get him if you were so dead set on getting them.

line from that was, you know, Andy, Andy Reid, you know, got them. It was an LLL.L. You know, it was, it was the, it was the Fuller, it was the third round pick, and it was the assumption of the contract, and then they gave him a contract extension. But, you know, I thought the same thing that you thought. I didn't remember that Alex Smith potentially could have been had on waivers. remember this. If there's more than one team interested, you're taking a risk by letting them get cut because you may not be the team that he decides to sign with. So there's always that. The Marriota situation may be somewhat similar, although Alex Smith was a starter and had a really good year that year and they made the playoffs that year. But Mariotta's contract is 10 million base salary, but if he plays, it's very expensive. The bottom line is the Raiders are in a cap situation. where they may have to cut Marriota loose if nobody's willing to trade for him. And maybe Kansas City situation is somewhat analogous in that they were going to start Patrick Mahomes in 2018. It wasn't going to be Alex Smith anymore.

Alex Smith had a stretch of games towards the end of that year that weren't very good, and then they blew a 21 to 3 lead in the playoffs. I've mentioned this many times. I think Andy Reid deep down, if injected with Truth Serum, will tell you that if Patrick Mahomes had been inserted into the starting lineup at some point late in that season, they may have won the Super Bowl. He knew what he had in Mahomes at that point. And Alex Smith was not a Super Bowl caliber quarterback, and they blew a 21-3 lead at home at Arrowhead to Tennessee and were knocked out in the first round. So perhaps, you know, because of his contract number the

next year, there was no way he was coming back at that contract value as a backup to Patrick Mahom. it was too expensive, so maybe teams knew that and we're going to wait for him to be released. That would be maybe what Jay, you know, is referring to, and maybe he's right about that. The only problem, of course, is if you don't trade for a guy who's got contract left, then you're hoping he picks you, or you're hoping you can woo him with an offer because then he's able to pick whomever he wants to pick, you know, at that point. Anyway, yeah, that was, you know, it was almost as if Jay was saying, yeah, Bruce was, you know, taken to the cleaners on that deal as he was with the Donovan McNabb deal back in 2010.

You know, a guy that Andy Reid traded in the division. Andy Reid, when looking to dump quarterbacks that he no longer needs, his first call was Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder. And what's so funny about the Alex trade, too, is that was. was kind of a knee-jerk reaction. A lot of us who didn't exactly love the trade brought up was, well, we just went through this with Andy Reid not that long ago. We fleeced us then. Who's to say he's not doing so now? And there were all kinds of excuses made of, well, no, this is different. And Alex isn't McNabb. And this is a different situation. You can't just draw that parallel. It's like, no, actually something very similar happened. Even if Alex never gets hurt, I think you're looking at a situation where it may have really gone poorly, even with that, you know, Alex did not play. very well in 2018. And I think one of the interesting questions I've always wondered is, would they have still taken Dwayne Haskins in 2019 or taken a quarterback in 19, even if Alex never got hurt in 2018?

He wasn't having a very good year. And so, like, I think there's that aspect of it, too. It's kind of a revisionist history with what happened that season and how things were going with him. Six and three, Al. Six and three. How many times have you and I been told? They were six and three.

And actually they- Third in the NFL. in every meaningful statistical category. You know, you can maybe say, well, Jay didn't adjust enough to Alex. Okay, fine. He was off on throws. He was skittish in the pocket. I mean, it wasn't great.

And when they lost, they lost bad. You know, they won close and they lost bad. They lost bad to Atlanta. They lost bad to New Orleans. Like, it wasn't a season that you looked at and you were like, oh, well, you know, this is a really good team. They were a house of cards. And the house of cards may well have collapsed, even if he never got hurt that year.

I think that's true. I've always felt that way. I also thought it was interesting. Jay basically, and we both were, you know, we were both on cousins long before any of our colleagues were. I mean, you and I, we were on it long before. And then all of a sudden, everybody jumped on it and acted like they were on it all along. But there are two things. Number one, Bruce needed an answer to losing Kirk Cousins for a compensatory pick and didn't consult anybody.

He and Dan said, we got to get somebody. And as Jay told us in this interview last week, he never knew about it. Doug Williams had told us he never knew about it. They didn't consult any of their football people. They just made the deal. And I think there was a lot of pressure on Bruce after losing cousins to come up with an answer for a team that he kept saying was close, you know, or indicating that was close. The other thing I thought was very interesting and revealing, I knew that Jay liked Kirk as a quarter.

I don't think they ever really got along super well or were super tight like Sean and Kirk were or like Kyle and Mike and Kirk were. But Jay, I thought it was revealing in that interview, Jay really liked Cousins. And I thought the distinction or the comparison that he made between Alex being very much a checkdown game manager quarterback, which he said, you know, specifically that's the kind of quarterback that he was. And Kirk being a guy that threw the deep ball and the deep post well, you know, Kirk could really throw it down field. It's just the opposite of what so many people think, but statistically those people have always been wrong. You know, Kirk was never a checkdown, Charlie.

That was Alex Smith. That's what he did. They named a stat at pro football focus called the football outsiders, excuse me, that they dubbed the Alex. at, which was the checkdown throw. I don't know. Maybe Alex and Jay would have figured something out. Jay did point out, Alex was tough, he was smart, and he didn't turn the ball over. And if you don't turn the ball over and you manage games and you've got a good team around

you, you can win. And that's what he had in Kansas City when he won. You know, that's what he had in San Francisco when they won. Well, he didn't have that really here, but they were better in 2018 defensively, at least talent-wise, than they had been. Yeah, and they had some big rushing games with Adrian Peterson. It was kind of a weird year with AP because it was like he either rushed for 20 yards or like a buck 20. It was kind of like really hitting this.

But the games in which he ran the ball well, he ran the ball well. They stopped the run. When they were winning, they stuffed Kristen McCaffrey, they stuffed Ezekiel Elliott. They stuffed Sequel and Barclay. And then, you know, the defense kind of fell off the clip that year. Yeah, against really good. The Kirk thing is interesting, too, from that Jay interview you did because I was kind of like you, it did seem to sour between Kirk and Jay in especially that final year for Kirk here.

And Jay was very complimentary of Kirk in that interview. But I remember when Kirk was in the midst of leaving the team, Jay brought up the money thing. I'll never forget this. On his coach's show on NBC4 talked about how it's probably all about the money with Kirk. Like he really was saying, you know, he would bring up to Jay Wood, if you remember with Josh Doxon. He was like, well, our quarterbacks just need to throw on the ball more, throw him more 50-50 balls.

and clearly putting that on Kirk. You didn't get any sense of that in the conversation he had with you. Jay sounded very pro-Kirk in that conversation. And actually brought up the McLuhan thing, which was interesting, that Kirk kind of always held it against McLuhan, that McLuhan only saw Kirk as like, you know, a middle of a pack type guy, which I don't, you know, I know, like it's been said at times, that McLuhan was aggressive and trying to sign Kirk early.

But obviously, Kirk had the famous thing with McLuhan of, you know, you like that. And Jay kind of, I think, indicated that there was some animosity between Kirk toward McLuhan because of the way Scott had viewed Kirk. Well, they lowball. I mean, McLuhan was the one, you know, at least according to him, that went to Dan and Bruce and said, we need to sign him now. Yeah. But they didn't make him a bona fide offer. Just like after 2016, they didn't make him a bona fide offer.

This is the, you know, this is the area of, you know, information that I debated. a lot with the people that are like, well, Kirk was never coming back. And that may have been true when Sean left. And Jay sort of felt that way in the interview. But the bottom line is they never made him an offer that he could accept. Not once did they make him a legitimate market value long-term offer. They didn't do it in 2015. And they were well short of the mark after 2016. I'll never forget, and I think I've told this story before on the podcast, Cooley, who, you know, had conversations, as we both know, with many people in the organization, told Bruce Allen late in that season when Bruce, you know, Bruce, I guess, asked Cooley, what do you think his market value is?

And Cooley said he's going to get 75 to 80 million guaranteed. And Bruce laughed at him. And Cooley said, why are you laughing? That's going to be his market value when this season's over. If you guys want them, you're going to have to come up with 75 to 80 million. And we sort of all had a sense of what it was going to be. It was going to be super costly. Keep in mind, the third franchise tag was going to be an outrageous sum of money for one year. You know, because they had already given him two. They'd given him $44 million in two years. And Bruce offered him $54 million, $53 million guaranteed.

That was $31 million short of what he got eight months later from the Vikings. And nearly $40 million short of what the Jets offered. It really is a reflection of just how much they missed the mark. Not just him, but, you know, we can go. through the years and go deal by deal. They just weren't very good at it, and Bruce wasn't very good at it. Bruce was cheap. Unlike Dan and Vinny, who paid 15 to 20% above retail, Bruce was thrilled to get a guy

for 20% below retail, even if the guy sucked. And now when he had a guy that was good enough and his head coach thought he was good enough, they lowballed him twice, which is insane. And Jay was right, and I think, I know I was on this, and I think, I know I was on this, and I I think you agreed at the time. When they made him that offer, I'll never forget. I was on vacation, but I called into the show that I was doing with Cooley, and I said, they should trade him now because they just made him an offer that was well below his market value that he cannot accept.

And then Bruce goes on and does this press conference where he throws him under the bus and makes him look like the bad guy. And I said, they should trade him now. This is over. and you'll be able to get a first round pick. And Jay, you know, Jay admitted there were multiple suitors for, you know, significant compensation. And that was a big mistake. It was a mistake not to sign them early and it was a mistake not to trade them. Both of those things are true.

Jay was very adamant in his conversation with you that they would have gotten a very high pick for Kirk. I was told by Mike Jones in an interview, I'd say a year, a year and a half ago, that San Francisco would have given up its first round pick. for Kirk. You could have had a top five pick for Kirk. San Francisco had the number two overall, which they would trade amazingly with Chicago because Chicago traded up a pick to get Trubisci. But I know for fact that that second overall pick was available for Cousins. That's how desperate Kyle was.

That is player personnel malpractice of the highest order. And there's no other way to label it. And of course, what is so funny about all of this is they ended up paying O'Kirky on the franchise tag back-to-back years. So the guy who wasn't worth big money, you ended up paying huge money to over a two-year period. Like, if you didn't think he was that good or that worthy of top-of-the-market money,

how come you tagged him and back-to-back years and paid him what you ended up paying him? Like, it's just so ridiculous when you think about it. There were better places for him to play his prime years of his career in. This was a toxic place, and he didn't want to be a part of it. And the one guy that really, all of the guys that truly believed in him, Kyle, Mike, and then Sean were gone. And I think Jay did believe in him. And let's face it, Kirk ran Jay's offense pretty well. And that, you know, he wasn't even sure how long Jay would last.

And he wasn't going to stick around to be a part of a Dan Snyder, Bruce Allen run organization, not for a $30 million discount, which is what they were asking him to take, which made absolutely no sense. sense. Anyway, do you think if week 17 in 2016 doesn't happen? Yes. If he doesn't throw up on himself in that game against the Giants and they make the playoffs that year, do you think he ends up being resigned here? Yeah, I think that the deal was basically, they were already, you know, again, now I say that, and if it was going to be the Bruce deal that they did offer him, okay, then he wouldn't have accepted that. He couldn't. His agent knew that he was going to get, you 75 to 85 million or more in guaranteed money. Like Bruce Allen was so off, so many times, on real players, on good players.

He was great at nailing down the Kendall Reyes's of the world and the David Brutons of the world. He was able to get those guys for bargains, but they sucked. When it came to really good players, you know, unless it fell into his lap like Deshaun Jackson did, like Josh Norman did, you know, he was always off the mark because he was a bargain basement shopper. And even if they win that game and let's say they win a playoff game and then losing the second round, I don't think he offers the deal that Minnesota or the Jets offer. I don't think he... Yeah, I mean, well, obviously never know.

It was always so interesting, though, that Bruce would reference that game. Others did too. You could tell that that game really stuck with them. And that really helped to shape the narrative of Kirk as a choker. Yeah. And, you know, and people saying things like, well, he's never won a big game. He's never come up clutch. And of course, the year prior, he won a huge game at Philly to Clint's the Division.

And he had had plenty of other, quote, unquote, clutch performances. But that week 17, 2016, really, I think, shaped the narrative. And that felt like that was it. That they just, their mind was made up. And this guy was never going to get an offer beyond a certain level. And it's too bad because. like you said, he's not great, but he's quite good. He's exceptionally durable, which he never gets credit for, and he's better than anything our team has had since he has left, and it's not

even a conversation. Yeah, that's 100% true. All right, one more thing to get to with Al, and I want to mention real quickly, my bookie at mybooky.orgie.orgie. Go there. I've told you many times. It's a trustworthy place. Solid lines, solid pricing. You get paid if you win. Not all places are that way. And right now, they'll match your deposit halfway up to $1,000. So if you deposit $1,000, they're going to give you an extra $500 to play with. That is a no-brainer. Even if you are on other sites, you should take the free money and use my bookie as a second or a third online sports book to comparison shop point spreads. If you're a big college basketball better and you look at a card like today's card where

there are 50-some-odd games, there are going to be significant differences in lines. Why lay six when you can lay five? These are the things that really sharp betters do. They don't get gouged with the worst line and the worst price. You should comparison shop. That's one reason to go to my bookie at mybooky.com. and then use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and take the free money. They're going to give you an extra, you know, $500 on a $1,000 deposit,

an extra $250 bucks on a $500 deposit to play with. It's worth it. MyBooky, my bookie.orgie.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. Galby joining us on the podcast. His podcast launches Monday. So look for that anywhere you get a podcast. So somebody made me aware of, on the team's website, they have a pull-down menu titled Brand Journey.

And when you pull it down, there's a big graphic with Chase Young on it, and it says, new name, new era. And then there's text below it that reads, we've transitioned from our old name. Now it's time to write a new legacy. And then you click check it out, and they've got a bunch of information about exploring the journey, we've retired her old name, launching a new kind of legend, join the journey, and you can hit enter, and I guess it gives you the opportunity to sort of weigh in with ideas. And we've heard Jason Wright suggests that they've had thousands and thousands of ideas over the last several months. Anyway, this person pointed out to me that there was new text added to this graphic,

that it writes new name, new era. We've transitioned from our old name. Now it's time to write a new legacy. And then this person said an extra line was recently added. The future of Washington football arrives in 2022. Now, I know Jason Wright has talked about 2021, maybe not having a new name ready for next season and that they'll stick with Washington football team.

I would just add, though, that the emphasis that it's not going to arrive until 2022. Maybe an indication that they're not going to move on the new name until they have total confidence that the owner isn't going to have to sell the team. If he has to sell the team, the purchaser would find it much more attractive if they got to name the team. I would suggest to all of you listening that that may play a role in the business. them waiting until 2022, because a year and a half is plenty of time to come up with a new name if

you're ready to move forward with a new name, meaning they lost the name in the summer of 2020. By the beginning of the season in late 2021, they could have a name, a year plus. They could have that new name. They could have it trademarked. They could have all of the legalities taken care of. I believe that this may have something to do with just the possibility. I'm not saying that it's a probability, but the possibility that there may be a new owner. I think it's interesting with Jason Wright. He has been actually pretty consistent now

in saying the name will remain through 2021. He said it back in early December. He did this virtual roundtable with fans on Twitter, and he said Washington football team would remain the name through 2021. So they've been pretty sure that the temporary name is going to be for at least two seasons for a while. I think what you say makes total sense. You know, let's kind of see where this ownership thing is going, even if we all kind of acknowledge the likelihood is Dan Snyder will remain majority owner. The other thing I would say is this, are you familiar with the D.C. statehood theory when it comes to the Washington football team name?

No. That because there is this push from certainly one side of the aisle to make Washington, D.C. a state. And that if that happens, the name of the state would not be Washington, D.C., because there's already the state named Washington. So I don't know what the name of the state would be, whether it would be, you know, D.C. or District of Columbia or something like that. But that they want to figure out what the name of Washington, D.C. is going to be because that would obviously be a part of the rebrand. You're not going to call them the Washington Warriors. And then a year later, have to change it to something else because it's no longer Washington. and that's the place in which you're saying you play. So there's that part of this, too,

that maybe this D.C. statehood push could be a factor in all this. Oh, my God. That's a whole other conversation. So now we're going to lose Washington as our city's name. I'm sure it has something to do with what the city's name is named after in the person and all of his flaws from back in the 18th century here in this country. I thought it was going to impact me more than it actually has the name change. I know that there are some people.

I talked to some of these people that really could not even get into the season this year. They're done. The name change ended it for them. It's over. They're never coming back. At least that's what they claim. I didn't want the name to change unless there was obvious new data and new polling and new information that revealed something a lot different than what we know to be the information of the last 20, 30 years of what was important and what wasn't important to Native Americans when it came to this name.

But, you know, the name's gone and it's never coming back. And I thought I would be more impacted by it. But I really wasn't, you know, I watched every game, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. and I would have even if I weren't in this business. And I'm hoping that they're able to turn it around and turn it into a good football team. I don't want some of these names that to me seem like names like that a lot of young basketball players that I've coached over the years and, you know, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth grade would come up with. I don't need those names. I'd like something more substantial.

But, you know, that's subjective. So anyway, yeah, the statehood theory had not heard that. interesting. Something to consider. I think you and I disagree on this. I don't want Washington football team as a name. I don't want Washington Football Club as a name. To me, they do need to pick a name. Calling them the football team or the football club, that's not a name. You're punting on the issue of a name. So I think they have to pick a new name. They can take their time. I think Washington football team is perfectly fine as a temporary name, even for multiple years. but I don't want Washington football team or any variation of that as the permanent name.

Like they got to put on their big boy pants and they got to pick a name and they got to go with that. And I think people will get used to it. Like to the point that you just made, I think there's a tendency in life where we're like, we're very resistant to change and then the change happens. And then it turns out we get more used to the change and we get used to it quicker than we ever thought we would. So I think if they pick a name that's, you know, good and has decent support, people will get on board with it, especially, of course, if the team is actually. actually good. But I know Wright has kind of floated these trial balloons of, well, maybe we'll

stick with Washington football team. I don't want them to do that. And I don't sense a lot of support for that, but we'll see. Oh, I have zero support for Washington football team. I think it sounds stupid. I think it is stupid. I absolutely would be okay with FC Washington or Washington. Why? I don't get that. Well, first of all, to me, it's much easier to brand. Washington football team is bland, and it's three words, and it's difficult to brand, much more difficult to brand. I think. Well, because it's almost like, you know, we're used to it, or a lot of sports fans are used to it because that's essentially how the whole soccer world works. And then a lot of those soccer teams that are, you know, FC this or, you know, city name followed by FC, they have

nicknames. And I think the nickname would continue to be the skins, you know, and it doesn't have to be the Redskins anymore. But I think people would continue. to refer to them as the skins, which I do, you know, occasionally, not on purpose necessarily. I don't think people in the media would do that, though. I think maybe fans would. Yeah, fans would. Your announcer saying skins. No, but I, announcers should refer to them as Washington. Like, those that went overboard this year almost in an effort to embarrass the team by calling them the football team, that was ridiculous because, you know, a lot of announcements. over the years, even if it's not a controversial name, we'll just, you know, refer to the team by

the city's name anyway. You know, Washington first down, Washington touchdown. I mean, not football team, you know, first and 10 at the 37. It sounds, sounded stupid. It's dumb. I just feel like the FC thing, that's a soccer thing. This isn't a soccer team. Yeah, well, it's sort of a, it's sort of a slap back at, you know, the, you know, the, those that wanted, okay, you want change. Well, here it is. Here's our change. We don't want a new name. We had an, we had a name for 80-something years. It's a name in which at the very least it was debatable as to whether or not it should have been changed. And we don't want a new name. We don't want to replace that name. We won't use that name and we will abide by that. And certainly my feeling about this all along is I would

never want to utter a name that was truly insensitive to a group of people. But we know how that's gone. We know what the polling's been. We know that there's never been any proof other than a dictionary definition that a large group of people are truly offended by this name, including the most important group of large people, a large group of people that would have been able to change my mind on the name. If those people had said it's incredibly offensive, it is pejorative, It is not only dictionary-defined racist or racially insensitive. It's the way all of us feel, but we never got that. We got the opposite.

We got nine out of ten said, it's not a big deal. And many of those said, please don't change it. So, look, it was always a debatable issue. We could go round and round on this. I don't have a problem if they don't replace the name with another nickname, but I think Washington football team sounds stupid. So I would have been fine with FC Washington from the beginning, but I think they had issues with that and getting that trademarked,

because I think somebody had done that already, and it was going to be costly to get it. I don't know if they'll be able to do that. By the way, I think I've mentioned this before, and I think you know this. Jason Wright is a huge soccer fan. Yeah, I know, but that's fine. You can go play FIFA on a video game console.

I don't want that with our football team. This isn't a soccer team. Well, I'm with you on Washington football team. If you tell me that I get the choice of FC Washington or Red Wolves, I'll take FC Washington. Thank you. You got to be more open-minded to Red Wolf. It's not as bad as you make it out. Whatever.

It honestly sounds like, you know, a sixth grade rec basketball team. But all these teams have nicknames like that. Not really. I don't know. What is Patriots? Is Patriots some great name? Well, it's reflective of the area in New England. I mean, a lot of these, I mean, what is Red, I mean, look, not.

every name is a name that sort of corresponds with the geographic location of the team. But I don't know. Red Wolves to me is just silly. It sounds very, look, it may be exactly what they need to appeal to a younger demographic who really doesn't care about this football team. You know, they did lose generations, plural, of potential, you know, rabid fans through the, you know, over the last 21 plus years. So I don't know. You know what?

It's not going to, here's what I've come to the conclusion on. It's not going to stop me from following the team and rooting for the team to do well. No. And I think for most people it won't too. Even the people who are outraged that Redskins is no more. And I understand that outrage. But that should not, to me, stop you from being a fan. Like you should still enjoy the team and the sport.

And the name thing, it's just a name at the end of the day. Like you don't root for the name. You don't root for the owner. You don't root for the team president. You root for kind of your memories with the team, your fandom of the team. Like that's what it's about. So you shouldn't let this other stuff take away from that. I've never felt that way.

All right. Monday, anywhere you get a podcast, Galdi's first show will drop. He's got the introductory show out there. We all had to do that because that's the way you get it put into the Apple and, you know, Stitcher and Spotify system. So he's got, you know, a five. minute show out there right now, but he will start on Monday. And, you know, I wish you the best of luck. I appreciate that. Yeah, it's the Al Galdi podcast. So just search for that and it'll come up. And I really appreciate it. Thanks, man. All right. We are done for the day. I'm back on Monday with

Cooley. Have a good rest of the weekend. Thanks, Al. Thank you.