The Kevin Sheehan Show - Covered Bridges & Tummy Aches

Episode Date: October 15, 2020

Kevin and Thom opened the show with a Loverro deep dive on covered bridges. They talked Maryland geography, weather, and the state's political demographics. Then it was a discussion of Dwayne Haskins and "tummy ache gate". Then they discussed a new documentary on Ali-Frazier I. There was more nonsense too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. It's a sports fix Thursday. I'm here. Tommy's in Frederick at the Fortress of Solitude.

It's a beautiful fall day here in our nation's capital and surrounding areas. It's going to be gorgeous today. Sunny in the 70s. These are the days, Tommy, these mid-October days that are honestly my favorite days of the year. When we get into the beginning, early stages of fall, so it's not too cold yet. Temperatures in the upper 60s, 70s. I took a walk early this morning before the radio show. How about that?

Yeah, I got up. It was like 415, 430, and I opened up. It was pitch black. And I just took a walk around the neighborhood for a little, you know, was listening to various things. And it was so pleasant and peaceful out there. And today it's going to be warm. Best days of the year in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Wow.

We got the warm and fuzzy, Kevin, today. I like, I love this weather and I think it should be in these, in the times we're living in, these are the days that should really be cherished. Especially because of what's coming. Winter's coming. As they say in that stupid series that you watch, winter's coming. Winter is coming. Yes. Ned Stark told us that many years ago. Five o'clock, five o'clock darkness and a lot of cold weather.

Yeah. It is supposed to turn chillier this weekend and very rainy, I believe, tomorrow. Hold on. I'm pulling up my little weather bug here. I think it's tomorrow. Tomorrow we're going to get rain in only low 50s into the 30s tomorrow night, Tommy. into the 30s, and then we've got another stretch of pretty good weather. Now, I was looking at the long range because a couple of people that I follow on Twitter that are weather-related were pointing to some of the long-range models hinting at cold weather for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast right around Halloween with maybe further north, not here. some snow or sleet or whatever it would be cold rain here but i enjoy these days these are days and look our lives are crazy um and maybe you know cherishing things appreciating things a little bit more than we used to um is a good thing like i actually like last night i took the dog for a walk it was

it's about 930 915 930 and i my youngest son surprised us from Penn State came home. I don't know why he came home. And I told him really, I don't want you home. You know, there's risk with him coming home. Now he's going to go back and then he's going to come home again right around Thanksgiving. Anyway, I said, why don't you come for a walk with me? It's so nice.

And Joy, the weather will catch up. No, it's okay, Dad. Of course. I mean, I would have been shocked if he would have said yes. Yeah, so I went by myself. and enjoyed that actually last night. You know, I'll give you some hope. It turns around someday.

It turns around how? Well. Oh, with the kids. Yeah, and here's what happens. The, you know, we usually have a big family gathering on Thanksgiving. You've heard about it. I can't watch football. In Philly.

In Philly. Yeah. Right. Well, we're not going to do that this year. I mean, because of the virus. everyone's going to be on their own. That must really upset you. Well,

so my son just bought a beach house in Bethany Beach. Nice. So he's invited us down to his

place. That's perfect. To spend Thanksgiving at the beach. I was so happy. I was so happy. I said, wow, this is great. That'll be a great Thanksgiving at the beach. Yeah. Yeah. So it turns around someday. You know, it's interesting. You talk about what a great day today is. My wife and I, Liz and I, after I get done with, I get done with the podcast, I haven't done this. She's done this. Frederick County has several covered bridges. So we're going to go drive around and go see the

covered bridges here in Frederick County. I don't, what do you mean, a covered bridge? No, it's a bridge, a wooden covered bridge. It's covered, it's, you drive under a bridge, you drive over the bridge, but it's covered. Right. You don't know what a covered bridge is? Well, I know what it covered bridge is, but I don't know why it would be so interesting to drive over. Well, they're very rare, and they're very rustic.

Right. And sometimes are they the ones? The blind spots that you've got. Well, I mean, I'm. If I mentioned covered bridge to anyone else, they would have the image of a wall thing. I know what a covered bridge is. With a rustic covered bridge. I mean, it is so cliche for this kind of thing, and you don't even know what I'm talking about.

I do know what you're talking about. I just don't know why it would be so thrilling to go out and drive through covered bridges. Well, are covered bridges usually in the middle of a city? No, they're not. they're usually out in places like you live, Frederick. Are they usually scenic places? I don't know if they're scenic places. Maybe they are.

That would be the part that I would admit to you that I'm sort of missing. I mean, I know what a covered bridge is. I know it's sort of, but I don't think I've seen many covered bridges. Oh, that's because there aren't many anymore. Okay. But they used to be prevalent. Okay. How long ago were they prevalent?

it. Before my time, how's that? Yeah, I would guess that they were. Horse and buggy days. I just pulled up covered bridges. A covered bridge can last 100 years. An uncovered bridge, the lifespan is 20 years. Is that true? I don't know. I've never gone into the facts and the physics of the bridge building. Oh, you know what? Here it is. there is a driving tour of covered bridges, bridges in Frederick County. Historic covered bridges driving tour. And that's what you and your wife are going to do. And by the way, I'm looking at the map.

You're going to be up and around Thurmont, Maryland in Frederick County, which is right there in the Catoctin Mountains, where you have very good trout stream fishing. This is where when I was a kid and I went trout fishing, my father is a big fly trout fly fisherman. And I grew up fishing, fly fishing with my father. I lost interest in it as an adult. I'll concede that.

I haven't done it in years. But he continues to do it. And this is where we used to go when I was young, up to Thurmont, Maryland, and Big Hunting Creek was the name of the stream. It was a catch-and-return area. And it's where Camp David is. It's right.

In fact, one time we went looking for Camp David and we found it. Oh, you did find it because I know it's really hard to find. Yeah, but we found a fenced-in area that we were convinced was Camp David, which since Obama left is pretty much dormant. I mean, this guy never goes to Camp David. He's been there a few times, I think. I think he's been there a few times. I rarely read of him going up to Camp David, which is kind of his. his territory, you know?

I mean, up there. Yeah. Those are his people. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. I mean, it's, you know, the state of Maryland is really an interesting state, as we both know. First of all, from a geography standpoint, it has beaches and it has mountains, you know. And then it has a lot of small towns and it has big cities.

politically, it's very, very democratic in the big cities, and in Montgomery County and in Prince George's County, et cetera. And when you get out west to Garrett County, and I think in order, it goes Frederick, Washington County, Garrett County. Did I miss one? Allegheny County. You're right. It's right before Garrett. That's right. Frederick, Washington, Alleghenian, and Garrett, you're talking about super conservative out there. Allegheny and Garrett County is Appalachia. Well, it is. It's part of the Appalachian Mountain Change.

But I mean, it's the Appalachia culture. I mean, I covered this area for the Baltimore Sun for two years. I spent a lot of time out there on roads that nobody knows existed to talk to people who probably hadn't seen someone from the big city in a long time. That's Apple H out there. That is a different way of life. Well, okay, so, you know, first of all, Cumberland was a steel town. I'm correct about that, right?

Cumberland in Frostborough. A manufacturing town, yes. But I thought it was steel. I mean, when you get out into these areas, you're essentially now, you know, approaching Western PA as well. But when you get to Garrett County, first of all, Garrett County basically is at 3,000 feet,

you know, elevation. and higher. And a lot of people from Washington, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh in particular, you know, spend a lot of time at Deep Creek Lake. Deep Creek Lake is a huge destination. And it's in Garrett County. And it's beautiful. I mean, my brother-in-law had a house there for many years.

We used it all the time. When the boys were young, Tommy, they had much more fun at Deep Creek Lake than they did at the beach because there was so much more to do. You know, four-wheeling and snowmobile. in the winter and the climate difference of Garrett County and the rest of the state because of the elevation, they get the lake effect snow that places like Cleveland and Buffalo and Pittsburgh get. They are at an elevation level where two and a half hours away from where I sit right now and two hours away from where you are less than two hours, they average 120 inches of snow winter

in Garrett County. Believe me, I know that, you know, what you have out there is what's called the eastern continental divide. That's right. And they're on, where water falls on one side of the divide goes eventually, supposedly into the Mississippi. And on the other side, on the eastern side, winds up in the Chesape. Is that really? Is that true? I didn't know that.

I'm not 100% sure about where it eventually winds up. But that's the idea that divide water on either side winds up in a different direction. Well, look. And you're right. I mean, it's a different world in terms of weather out there. Oh, completely different climate. It is. I can't tell you how many times I drove on I-68, which was the interstate that they built within the last 20, 25 years or so.

Maybe a little bit longer than that. But, yeah. 30 years. Look, I remember when they opened it. I covered the opening of I-6. Well, you used to have to take to get to Deep Creek Lake, I think, like Route 40 all the way. 219 is the one that runs north-south. Yes.

And you take it south into McKenry, Deep Creek Lake, Oakland, Maryland, which is actually the big hub of Garrett County is Oakland, Maryland. Yes. That's the county seat, in fact. But I think it was Route 40 before 68 was there. Yeah. Am I right? Yes, it was. But I remember driving on 68 many times, which is a four-lane interstate where it was one lane on either side.

That's all that was open. Well, there have been times. I mean, we went to Deep Creek Lake a ton, especially when the kids were young, again, because my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a house there. And we used it probably as much as they did. And it was great. I mean, it was such a nice place. And, you know, the thing about it is it's, you know, it literally is two hours and 20 minutes, you know, without bad weather. But when you're, first of all, it's some of the most beautiful autumns out, out there.

But winter is harsh. And when you come out of Cumberland, Frostburg, when you come out of Frostburg on 68, you start to really climb to higher elevation levels, it completely changes weather-wise. because it can be in Cumberland, raining in 40, and then 30 minutes later, you're in a blizzard. And it's kind of cool about that to be out there. We've been out there during weekends where, you know, it snowed two feet. And it was nothing. And by the way, they handle it out there. They clear the roads.

They function out there. But again, how did we get this started? Oh, we got it started by talking about the state of Maryland. and how different it is. And the weather. And the weather. Yeah. And how beautiful it is out.

Yeah. But Maryland really. That's how all this started. Maryland has, you know, so much to the state. You know, I mean, I mentioned the beaches. We have the Chesapeake Bay and all of the, you know, beautiful towns that run along the, you know, the northern neck. And, and, and, and, and, and, in all the, the, the bay towns are incredible. Anyway, whatever.

Now, as far as take, as far as. weekend. I know it's going to be. There are a lot of covered bridges down there, too. Yes. A lot of covered bridges. I don't think there's many covered bridges in the state of Maryland. Well, there aren't Frederick. One's in Frederick. I know. We're planning on going to Berkeley Springs this Saturday for today. You ever been to Berkeley Springs? Yeah, that's up near Martinsburg and up in Shepardstown, that area. Yeah. Yeah, it's in Washington County. Right. Just before you get to Allegheny County. and I had been there, you know, 30 years ago when I used to work out in Western Maryland, but I haven't been there for a while, and I've heard it's a pretty nice town.

So we're going to spend the day out in Berkeley Springs. But when you say you were working in Western Maryland, it was when you were with the sun, you were just covering Western Maryland. Yes, that's what I did. I was responsible for writing about what happened out in Western Maryland. In fact, I even did a story for the Sun about where exactly, Western Maryland started because that's a big source of debate among residents out here. You know, a lot of people in the East assume it starts in Frederick.

But the farther west you go, the more people say, no, no, no. It doesn't start until you get to Frostburg, some people say. So there's a big debate as to where Western Maryland really begins. Well, I wouldn't consider Frederick Western Maryland. First of all, it's not Western Maryland on the map. A lot of people think once you hit South Mountain. Yeah, South Mountain, that's Hagerstown, right? Well, it's closer to Frederick than Hagerstown.

Okay, because South Mountain's the one, it's the elevation. I'm going to tell you right now, it's 1,200 feet because when you drive up, you see South Mountain 1200 feet. And you're right, it is in Frederick on 70 as you're approaching Hagerstown, right? Yes. A lot of people have always thought that South Mountain is really where West. Maryland starts. Well, that would make more sense. I just pulled up a map. Frederick, map-wise, is not Western Maryland. Hagerstown, at least you're further west and further north as well. But I would, see, Frederick to me, has become a Washington, D.C. suburb, extended suburb.

It has. But remember, I wrote this story 30 years ago. I know. Right. When you were just a pup. I'm looking at the map now. And, yeah, I would say that Western Maryland is beyond even Hagerstown, but definitely no less than Hagerstown. You know, I should have called you and asked you what your opinion for the story. I was right. Well, I would have been a young pup.

I wouldn't have had nearly the experience and perspective I have now. But I'm looking, it's really interesting because, you know, Maryland's got that Western panhandle, which Oakland essentially is at the south. part of the western panhandle, Deep Creek Lake sort of right in the center. And you drive about 20 minutes south of Deep Creek Lake to get to Oakland, which you said is the county seat, which that makes sense to me. But you're then basically, you know, five, ten minutes away from the West Virginia line. Yeah. And then you're... Like right next to Cumberland is Kaiser, West Virginia. Well, yeah. Well, I mean, look, I mean, West Virginia is a state that, you know, butts into, you know, close, well, I mean, you get Martinsburg, you know, West Virginia,

it's right next to Hagerstown, you know, so it comes up, Shepherds town, you know. Right. If, if you're driving to, you know, throughout Western Maryland, you're going to hit West Virginia, like, with a stone throw sometimes. Sure, Harper's Ferry, which really, you can make it to Harper's Ferry from the D.C. suburbs in, you know, less than an hour. Really, I mean, right around an hour. And then, of course, there is Charlestown. I had this guy, Eric Zimni. Eric is such a good guy and a great guest.

I've had him on the podcast before, but I had them on the radio show yesterday. Eric is the VP of the Sports and Racebook at Charlestown at Hollywood Casino. And we were just talking about how difficult it's been this year in football to, you know, certainly with the over-unders. He said they got caught off guard with the over-unders early. All the points that are being scored, you know, it took a while for odds-makers to catch up with it. And I said, well, did the better catch up with it?

And he goes, no, they never catch up with it. Basically, you know, before we do. But, you know, the over-under numbers last week in the NFL, it was the highest aggregate number, over-under number, for all of the games in NFL history. I mean, you had so many games of 54, 55, 56, 57. I mean, the college numbers. And the reason, if we haven't discussed it already, I think I mentioned it to Cooley,

but I heard Aaron Rogers on Pat McAfee's XM Serious show two weeks ago, and he said, the answer is easy. There's no crowd, which means when you're on the road, there's no challenges on offense. and this was after they had played in the Superdome, which was what, week three or week four. And he said, my first two road games this year were in Minneapolis and in the Superdome. Those places are unbelievably loud, and it limits what you can do offensively. And he said, it's been the easiest of all time to operate offense on the road.

So that's a big part of it. There are other reasons. You know, people are talking about the penalties, and there have been an increase of defensive pass interference penalties. obviously that's going to lead to more points because the clock stops after a DPI and you typically get a big chunk play offensively out of it. All other penalties though, most of the others are down this year. But anyway, yeah, Charlestown is also in that. This is by Charlestown, my favorite horse track now, by the way. I really miss going there. I mean, I'm good for two or three trips a year, and I usually take family members or friends with me.

And they love the dining room there. The casino and sports book is actually well done. It's well done. It's all well done. The racing is well done. Yeah. It's all good. I like going out to Charleston.

So actually, in keeping with sort of the topic, because I had this to share with you. Is this the National Geographic portion of the show? is over? No, this has more to do with gambling. So I saw this story late last night, and this is really a reflection of the times. Los Vegas was picked and selected and approved to host an NCAA tournament men's regional, Western Regional, in 2023. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah, so it'll be the first time that Nevada is going to host an NCAA championship. They did hold a women's regional at the Thomas and Max Center in 1991, but I would bet that the reason for that,

and they didn't say this in the story, in the Wire story, is that no one was accepting bets on women's sports in 1991. I mean, I don't think I remember any women's sports being available to be wagered on, and it would have been basketball. It would have been women's college basketball. There wasn't a WNBA in 1991. I don't remember those point spreads ever being available. So that's probably more likely than not why there was a women's event in 1991.

But yeah, the men's Western Regional Final in 2023 in Vegas. I wish Jerry Tarkhanian was alive to see that. Oh, no doubt. You get a real laugh out of that. What a character. One of the great characters of all time in college basketball. it will be held. I would assume it's not going to be at Thomas and Mac.

I would assume it's going to be at the Raider Stadium. I would, that's what I would assume as well. Yeah. Unless it's at the MGM arena, which seats about 21,000. It does, but I think for these basketball regional finals, we've seen it. You're probably right. But there is another option now besides Thomas and Mac.

Yeah. Out there. Or Tommy, we could just throw up, We could throw up a court in the parking lot at Caesars or the Mirage. Yes, yes. I've covered fights in the parking lot at Caesars. I've been to fights in the parking lot at Caesars and the parking lot at the Mirage, which it went from the parking lot at Caesars to the parking lot at Mirage to then, actually,

Mandalay Bay had the arena and then the MGM. The MTCM had the arena first and then Mandeley Bay. Oh, I thought Mandalay Bay had it first. No, Mandalay Bay was built after the MGM. Where was the Holyfield Rockmont fight? Holyfield Rockman, I don't know. That's where Rockman got hit on the head. Second round knockout.

I was at that fight. And I thought that was that man, I thought that was that Mandalay Bay. Overfield Rockman. You mean Lewis Rockman? Oh, it was Lewis Rockman. My fault. Lennox Lewis. I don't remember where that was.

I may have been at Mandalay Bay. And that was a fourth round knockout, I think. I think it was second. I'm going to look it up. Oh, it wasn't second. Why do you say it wasn't Senate? Because I was there. I covered it.

God, we didn't know each other then. Hold on for a second. Lennox Lewis Hesim Rockman. We're going to find this one out. That happened right after 9-11. Exactly. It was 2001. You're right.

Yes. And one of the things I remember about that weekend, I'll tell you in a second once I find the results of this. Okay, the first fight, which was April 22nd, 2001, this isn't the one I'm looking for. No, that's in South Africa. That was the one where Rockman knocked them out and stunned everybody. So number two was at Mandalay Bay. Right. All right, on November 17, 2001.

And you're right, fourth round knockout. You know, I mean, don't you just have a button that you put that says, you're right. All right, you're right about that. I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you about that night and I'm going to tell you about that weekend. That was the weekend. That was the Saturday that Maryland clinched the ACC title at NC State. They had beaten Clemson the week before. This is Ralph Regens' first year at Maryland 2001, and they were the surprise team.

And we sat in that Mandalay Sportsbook because we had tickets to the fight. And I just said, look, if this game goes longer, I'm watching the game. And if I miss the fight, I don't care about the fight. And Maryland beat NC State in Raleigh on that Saturday night. It was a night game on ESPN, and they clinched the outright ACC title. and that meant the Orange Bowl for Ralph in his first year. Remember, they ended up playing Steve Spurrier in Florida in the Orange Bowl. The other thing was the next day was an NFL Sunday, Tommy.

And it was Patriots Rams on Sunday night football. And this was, you know, this was long before, you know, that would be the year there would be a rematch in the Super Bowl. But they played during the regular season in 2001, and they were a huge underdog. And these are the greatest show on turf ramps, right? This is the greatest show on turf ramps. Yes.

And they were a big underdog that particular night. I want to say they were like a 13-point underdog. It may have been less than that. But it was maybe a 10-point underdog. And for whatever reason, I'm like, God, I like this Patriots team. And I remember I was out there with my really good friend, Billy McGulrick and a few other guys. And I'm like, I like this Brady. I like this team.

They're well coached. They're going to win this game outright. You remember your losses, your worst losses, much more than you remember your really good wins. But this is one of the wins. I'll never forget. I had the Patriots plus the points, and I had the Patriots on the money line and Sunday night football.

We didn't come home that particular weekend until Monday morning. We didn't fly it back. That was the Sunday night game, and the Patriots didn't win the game, but it was really close. They played them really well, and they ended up, you know, playing, you know, really well the rest of the year. I think that ended up being their last loss. I think that was their last loss of the year unless they lost one game going into the playoffs before they beat the Raiders in the snow game.

I have to look that up, and I'm actually in the process of doing that right now. See what we can do on a podcast that you usually can't do on radio? No, you can't. Pro football reference. I used to do it on radio. I know you did. It's because I think. because I could just keep talking as you were doing your thing.

Here it is. Here it is. November 18, 2001. That was the night after the fight that I was there. The Rams won the game 24-17. The Rams were eight and a half-point favorites. Okay, I remember it as being a 10-point favorite, but I won the bet. I didn't win the money-line bet, but I won the bet.

But I remember saying to my friends, I think the Patriots are good. And I got on them the rest of the way. And here it is. They won, they didn't lose. That was the last loss of the year. That was their last loss. To the Rams on Sunday night football, they beat the Saints, Jets, Browns, Bills, Dolphins. They had a buy week in week 16.

How about that? That would never happen again. They played Carolina in week 17, and then it was the, you know, the tuck rule snow game against the Raiders, the win at Pittsburgh. I had them against Pittsburgh, too. had them on the money line in the AFC championship game. And they were a big dog in that game. You know, 10 point dogs. What I remember about the tuck game, I was in Chicago for that

because that was Michael Jordan's return to Chicago as a wizard's player to play the Bulls. Yeah, yeah. So they sent me out there to cover it. I remember being in a bar in Chicago watching the tuck game that night. Maybe I thought the Lewis knockout of Haseem Rahman was the second round, because I got into the fight and just caught the last two rounds. Maybe that's possible. Because I was watching Maryland clinch in ACCC football championship,

which that was the last time they did it. Speaking of boxing, I just wanted to alert everybody, there's a big fight this weekend, and it's on regular TV. What's the big fight? Vasilya Lomchenko versus Teofimo Lopez for, a lightweight unification fight. These are two terrific fighters. And this would normally be a pay-per-view fight.

For some reason, it's on ESPN, Saturday night. Okay. So I highly, and here's, I'm hoping this is a TV fight. On the undercard is the guy who is worth watching and boxing right now. Edgar Berlanga. What weight class? He's a super middleweight, 168 pounds. he's 14 and 0 with 14 first round knockouts wow 14 I saw the last one he had because when he was 13 and

oh I said I got to watch this guy so I'm on TV and sure know what's his name Edgar Berlonga and he's a super middleweight yes 14 and 0 14 first round not that this is unbelievable I forget what the record is. But I think there's only two guys who have ever done better than that in the history of boxing. But this guy's worthwhile. So if you look Saturday night, it's worth turning

to ESPN to watch some boxing. All right. Very good. I mean, Georgia, Alabama is Saturday night. It is... Well, you know, it depends. Maybe it is. Yeah, you know, it's funny as we are recording this, there was the story earlier this

morning that Atlanta was having this big outbreak. The Falcons were having a big outbreak. And then Schefter updated the story to say it was actually just one person that tested positive and it was not a coach and or player. And so Sunday's game... But they did shut down the facility. They did shut down the facility.

Yes. Yeah. And then and then you know, yes, several, I mean, LSU Florida's postponed, Vandy Missouri's postponed. Georgia Bama is on. But, you know, and Les Sabin's like coaching from some quarantine situation booth.

He's not going to be there. And Tommy, I was really surprised. I've never seen this before. A coach not being there. The line moved two points with the announcement of Sabin not being there. It went from six and a half down to four and a half. It's actually down to four now. I think I saw that earlier.

This is a heavyweight matchup. And I know it's a weird year. I understand that. But Georgian Bama don't play each other. typically during the regular season. You know, Georgia's in the, you know, the SEC East and Bama's in the SEC West, and it's rare that they play each other. They're not natural crossover partners.

So you get this game Saturday night, 8 p.m. on CBS, and, you know, I would guess that Sabin won't be there. That would be my guess. I would guess he would not be there. Yeah. All right. Let's take a break and let's get to the news of the day, which is for a second straight day,

Dwayne Haskins is a no-show at Washington's practice. It is a sports fix Thursday, and we will be right back after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, there's actually a lot of Washington football team news. First of all, they sent out this press release. Did you get it already about the new hire? Yes, very impressive. It's a very impressive resume.

It's a new position, position that didn't exist, should have an impact on media and public relations. The Washington football team announced the hiring of Julie Andrieff Jensen as new SVP, senior vice president, of external engagement in communications. That's quite the title. I've never heard of that title before. Jason Wright, the new team president, made the hire and she will be working on his, side of the building. Now, for those of us in the media, and you guys don't care about that, but she's not being hired to handle public relations as it relates to players and coaches, etc. Sean D. Barbieri, who's been there for a few years, got a promotion to director of football communications. It's so funny, like I'm sitting here reading this, like it's news.

Nobody listening gives a shit about this because only in this town, anybody know who Tony Wiley was. Remember that? There's no other football city that knows PR people. And why does it know PR people? Because there's a lot of damage control with PR people being involved. And so you'll learn their names. Although I don't think many people knew Tony's name anyway. But, you know, it's another female hire. It would be an important position. It would appear on the business side of the building. And, um, You know, let's see what, let's see if there's another shoe to drop here in the next few days on almost anything. It could be anything. Another woman, yep. Another female hire. Yeah. And another person, I'm assuming that the new team president, Jason Wright, made this hire.

Yes, he did. He was responsible for the hire. Well, this is somebody else in the Jason Wright Army, somebody else who owes their job to him. That's how you have to keep track of things in dysfunctional places. Who owes who? But to be fair, Jason just got here. He's not been a part of any of the dysfunction. No, but I mean, you know, you know this as well as anybody.

You want to build up a group of people who you hire who will be answerable to you to basically cover your behind in a place like this. You know what that place is like. I'm in it. I'm in it. I took the job. Wow, this place is unbelievable. I've got to get some help in here.

I've got to get some people that have my back because the arrows are flying in this place. Yeah, I, look, I'm, these resumes are incredibly impressive. Jason Wright's resume in particular, I have not spent a lot of time reading. the new hires resume. But it's, you know, this is all about getting quality people, getting diversity into the organization.

And I am sure if there's more controversial stories to come, you know, a way in which they probably believe they can say, hey, don't read that over here. Look over here. Look what we just did. This is what we just hired. This is who we just hired. this week. Let's go for it. Right. That was the tweet

yesterday. Oh my God. Well, you know, God bless them all. As long as... You know what this also is, too. It's watching the lamb being led to slaughter. Maybe. It is. This poor woman.

I'm sure she thinks she's getting something. I'm sure she thinks, you know, her life is changing for the better. Well, I don't know what her... That's not true. We know that's not true. That part, can we say it's not true?

Yeah, when you take a position in that organization as exciting as maybe it, you know, it might be for people to think, oh, I'm working for an NFL team. Yes. It's especially at the senior level, it usually doesn't go very well. No, not true. I mean, I'm sorry. She's probably a wonderful woman, but someday she'll look back. and she'll say what the hell was I thinking. Yeah.

Well, I mean, who knows? Maybe they all understand there could be a bigger change coming. I mean, maybe eventually the big change that's coming is at the top. Maybe. That's a gamble. That is a gamble. That's a reasonable gamble, actually, I think. You know, here's the, I just put.

But if you get a, but the gamble is not only the guy who departs, meaning, the unspoken owner, but when you have a new owner come in, that doesn't mean that you're going to stay there. The new owner is going to have his people. Yeah. So it's a risky proposition that you're thinking things will get better if they get rid of the guys who, the owner who hired me. I'm looking for her quotes in the press release to see if she refers to Jason or if there is a Mr. Snyder or if there's a Dan and Tanya. Jason, Jason Wright was all about Tanya primarily

and some Dan, but at the time, I think he was still on the boat over, you know, in the south of France. Quote from Jason Wright. I don't see anything, I don't see a quote referencing anybody in the organization. Her job. She was captain of the sweats. team at what uh where does she captain of the swim team at at american university all right is she a local

uh no she she no she she went to a she went to a u law she went to a u law i don't know she was captain of the swim team uh she grew up in buffalo all right you're very good people from buffalo buffalo are good people um she the job says does anybody even care about this? No. They don't. Let's get to the Dwayne Haskin stuff. So, Dwayne,

he did not, he arrived at the team facility today, but he was ill and he was sent home by the training staff again. The illness still not considered to be a COVID-19 related illness. So he is now

missed not only two straight days of practice, Wednesdays, or the first days, you know, it's the first day of the week where they begin serious preparation. Mondays a day in which they come in if they need work, they need trainers, and there's looking at film, but it's not a practice day. Tuesdays a day off typically in the NFL. And then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you begin your serious preparation and practice. So he's, he missed the game Sunday. He came into the facility on Monday, according to Scott Turner and then left. And he's missed the last two days. I'm not going to.

to get into, you know, the discussion of, is he sick or isn't he sick? Clearly, you know, this is, he could be sick. But, you know, coming in to the building to take these tests, if he's really ill, wouldn't they be going to his house with a doctor or a trainer? He's coming in. He's saying he's not feeling well. He's leaving. Again, I don't know what this situation is.

Bottom line is, it's not a good relationship right now. between anybody. And John Kime had a long story this morning, and I'll just read a little bit from it on ESPN. He said that a breakup with Haskins appears inevitable. Both sides want to move on. Several sources say concerns about him not being the first one in and the last one out, not staying after practice to work on his games,

and not doing the things that the coaches have asked during the week. to prepare for games and even practices are the concerns that the staff has. And as Kyn points out, it's not just one staff now. It's two staffs that have had issues with this. The coach yesterday during his press, and he'll speak again today, essentially deflected the questions. He didn't really answer the questions about whether or not they were looking to trade Dwayne. He did say and made reference to, you know, I hope Dwayne's able to develop here, and we

have a chance to develop him. And even Sam Fortier in the Post, and I'll read from that this morning, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, Rivera is not interested in trading Haskins at this point and hopes to continue developing the quarterback with the possibility of him returning to play later this year or next. Now, Ben Standing had a lot on this yesterday. I'll read a couple of things from his story. Hold on. Let me just get to the parts that are relevant. Questions about Haskins' work habits and maturity have resurfaced and may have played a factor in Rivera's decision. Sources, including those familiar with this situation in the team's quarterback room, expressed such concerns to the athletic.

Ben writes for the athletic. A trade deadline deal appears plausible despite Rivera's claims of not giving up on Haskins. The coach balked on two occasions yesterday when asked about trading Haskins. Entering Wednesday, league sources tell Stannig tell Ben that there's a question about whether or not there's a viable marketplace. and that one prominent player personnel executive says he believes Rivera has positive intentions with Haskins, but he also stated his team had pre-draft questions about the quarterback's work ethic and makeup, though liked his tools and size.

As for a trade, this person said a mid-round selection could happen. Another executive stated plainly, nobody is trading for Haskins, at least for any value. The athletic also confirmed a report from Grant Paulson at 1067 that people in Washington's locker room felt the quarterback gloated about his stats after throwing for 314 yards in the 3117 loss to Baltimore in week four. Yeah, that would be a problem. Well, I mean, it's it's what we saw on his social media last year. You know? Yeah. I mean, you know, and again, for a guy who wanted to be named captain,

I don't think he had any clue what the role of a captain is. The other thing of this is true. The other thing from Ben's story is that based on conversations with league sources, including two high-ranking executives with other teams, Washington wouldn't be as fortunate as Arizona was when they got a second rounder back for Josh Rosen. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's, look, the last week and a half is interesting because you had the benching news and then you had the team deciding that it would go the route of their predecessors, which is they've soured on somebody, so now let's summary that person publicly. Let's talk about how the other play.

players in the team are frustrated that the other 52 players deserve better. And then let's leak a couple of things to the post so we get out our, you know, what was going on here, which is he wasn't preparing. He was lazy. He had a bad work ethic. And now this week, I think they probably realized, well, if we want to deal them, it's, you know, you got to paint it at least and make it look shiny and new. And so they're telling people, you know, Ron,

talking about still wanting to work and, you know, Sam Fortier has the story about, you know, they're interested and they're not interested in trading them. It's too late on that. You know, they've already, they already, you know, basically screwed the pooch, so to speak, on his value. He's damaged goods right now. Yeah. And I don't know how much they would have gotten had they come out and said, Tommy, hey, we're benching him not because of performance or because we don't believe in him. We do believe in him. But we actually, we've got this division, and we think we can make hay in this division. God, the next six weeks look like winnable games. And Kyle just, we feel better about him running the offense right now. We didn't have an offseason. We didn't

have training camp. I mean, Dwayne's picking it up. He's getting there. I mean, he's going to be a quarterback for us. But we just feel like right now, Kyle Allen gives us, you know, a slightly better chance to win. So we're going to do that right now. And then, you know, we'll come back to Dwayne later and then privately try to move him. You know, privately try to trade him and just say, yeah, we're open to any offers for Dwayne. He's a great kid. Great kid.

Oh, my God, can he throw the ball? Look at some of the plays he had in the Arizona game late. But that's not what they did. You sound like the senior vice president of external engagement and communications. What a title, huh? What a title. I don't think you realize this, but I had that title at the radio station. Yeah.

I was in charge of external engagement. God knows you. There was no internal engagement from you on your end. There was nobody you wanted to internally engage with or communicate with back in your office by yourself in a shrine built to you. Tommy's office was literally like a shrine built to Tommy. He had every single award and signed. thing and oh my god pictures of wasn't enough room for every award no yeah there wasn't enough room yeah the awards were kept in your office was like a guy who if the cops expected to get fired you needed to get

out of the out of town within five minutes i've always i've always stayed hungry i do not want to look fat and happy and like i'm like i expect to be there forever every day is another day to go out and prove myself tommy every day um and Anyway, where are we on this Dwayne thing? I mean, listen, I'd like to get back to the sick part for a minute. And this is important to me. Julie Donaldson, okay, tweeted the morning of the game. Dwayne Haskin stayed at the team hotel.

He was in team meetings last night. He's been dealing with an illness for a few days. Okay, so that's Sunday morning. morning. And she says he's been dealing with this illness for a few days. A few, technically, is three. So I assume that at the very minimum, he was sick on Friday that they, that they knew of on Friday. I know a question that nobody cares about. If this is a real thing, if he was really sick. I know what you're going to say. You said it yesterday. Yeah. I mean, you know, what? Supposed to Ron Rivera.

But, you know, that's a problem for me. The other problem is this is a pretty long-lasting stomach virus. I mean, we're almost six, seven days away from that. Of course it is. And maybe it is, look, maybe it is something serious. And I hope he's well. I know he lost his dog, his puppy last week. You know, that was something he tweeted out.

And, you know, he had a rough week last week. You know, he gets benched. He lost his dog. Sounds like a country western song Yeah And he got sick I don't know if he's sick or not I really don't but I'll tell you what seriously

This is Joe Thaisman this morning on radio Told me that Joe's reached out But Dwayne hasn't gotten back to him You mean like from one number seven to another Yeah from one number seven from From a number seven who did have a protection on that jersey To the number seven that took it But you know and I don't look

I mean, maybe he doesn't, maybe he doesn't care to talk to Joe and maybe he's talking to other people and maybe other people that are giving him good advice. But Joe said something today that just it's exactly the way I feel. And that is, and this is where I wonder whether or not he's getting this kind of advice. You are faced with adversity in your life. You're a young guy. You're 23 years old. No one wants to get benched. No one wants to be told that you're not good enough.

you can, you know, you can bail on this and you can stay home and you can stay sick and you can avoid the whole thing and you can blame everybody else and you can ask for a trade and you can go start over somewhere else or you can, you know, if you're really sick, you can go into the hospital, you can get yourself onto, you know, into an IV and get hydrated and get better quickly and you can get back to work and you can start to prove to them that they were wrong to make this decision. And you can be the first one in the building, the last to leave. You can be sitting in the front row of every meeting, asking every question, taking every

scout team rep. And in this particular week, you know, impersonating Daniel Jones on the scout team, the guy that you basically said, the league done messed up and you were pointing at him. And you can try to kick people's asses in practice this week. And you can try to prove them wrong and maybe even change their mind. But I, you know, that's not who he is. Okay, so what I'm saying to you is, I don't know if any of this is true, if what I'm about to say. But if he's not getting that advice from the closest people to him, that's a problem because they're in the business of having all the answers and doing, by the way, what this organization's always done at the top, which is blame everybody else for their record.

blaming everybody else for their failures. And, you know, if he really was slacking off, and by Tommy, there's too much smoke here, too much good reporting on this to believe that it's all been made up, right? You agree with that. I would agree. I would agree. So there's an issue here with his preparation, his work ethic.

And it's the old thing that, you know, I've mentioned many times and talk to you about it and coolly about it. Some people get it and some people don't. and those that don't understand what kind of effort it takes, you know, and the responsibility that you have, sometimes they'll never get it. But they're definitely not going to get it if they've got people around them that are telling them they're right and that they haven't made the mistake and that they haven't been treated fairly. You know, even if he hasn't been treated fairly, so what?

show up and if you compete and if you go in there and try to change their mind at least now that word will get around to the rest of the league too and somebody will be more look this kid could be in trouble right now of never being picked up I think he's got way too much talent for somebody not to take a chance on him but it looks like they may not be able to trade him because no one's going to give up anything for him when nobody's going to give up anything. If this is true, for a guy that was drafted in the first round a year and a half ago and has not been seriously injured, that's unprecedented. Unprecedented.

Jamarcus Russell was being taken around to building seven years after he'd failed. I don't know about Ryan Leaf. I sort of forget the Ryan Leaf path. I mean, this kid probably doesn't understand, and those around him may not understand. Yeah, he was drafted into an absolute terrible situation. That's a tough break for him. It's too bad that he wasn't drafted into a situation where somebody had his back, other than the owner.

I'm talking about football people, had his back and wanted him to succeed. He hasn't been in that situation here. So what? You know, but, you know, now you got to find that place, but you're not going to find that place by staying home from work and basically quitting. Just the notion, if you have as much pride and confidence in your ability as you would think Dwayne Haskins does, just the notion that Kyle Allen is starting ahead of you should be motivation enough. Just the fact that you're looking at yourself and you're saying, look at how good I am,

and this guy's starting ahead of me, I mean, I'll show you. I'll show you what you got there. Yeah. I mean, there should be at least that level of pride that says your job just got taken from a guy who you think can't carry your job probably. Yeah. Look, there's no doubt about that. And if the story, which I believe to be true, Grant reported it first and Ben at the athletic, you know, confirmed it, you know, think about that. You've just gotten your ass kicked by the Ravens.

and you're talking about your stats and you're gloating about your stats, that's a child. I mean, that is the maturity level of that. I mean, the doesn't get it level is just, I'll tell you this, Tommy, if I were the coach, and I had a guy in there after we got our ass kicked

talking about his stats and his fantasy numbers, and I was already predisposed, to thinking that he couldn't do it and couldn't help me long term, it would be over, done. I wouldn't publicly summarize them. I wouldn't leak stuff, and I'm not saying that Ron did, but it wouldn't surprise me if another coach did. I have no idea if that's true,

but somebody in that building leaked something about the work habits. Think about who would have gained the most based on his performance and the team's offensive performance through the first five weeks, through the first four weeks, to find out that the quarterback wasn't preparing and was lazy and had bad work ethic. You can do the math on that one. But anyway, if I was already leaning strong in a big direction towards he's not my guy for the future, and he was in that locker room after a 3117 loss to the Ravens gloating about his, stats, I would have told him he's not coming back in the building. I mean, actually, you couldn't

handle it that way, because you've got to trade him. But I would immediately tell him, you're not playing next week, you're the backup now. And then I would immediately go into Kyle Smith and to Dan Snyder, Dan Snyder, and say, we're trading him. This is what happened. I will not coach the kid, period. He's a child. He's a child. He doesn't get it. And I don't think he's that good anyway. We got to move on. I'd love to be there for that one. I mean, again, these coaches... It wouldn't surprise me if it happened with Ron Rivera.

I think that, no, that would surprise me if it did happen, actually. Really? I think ultimately, yeah, I think ultimately most of these football coaches, if not all of them, are intimidated by the people who hired them. Jay Gruden, Jay Gruden wasn't intimidated by Josh Norman. No, by the people who hire them, the owners. No, I'm suggesting that if Ron, if that story is true and I would believe that it would be given, I would believe that it is true, that Ron probably went to him and said, and if he heard it, said that you're not, that would, that may have been the last straw. Yes, it may have been, but I don't see him walking into the owner's office and declare. Well, he had to tell the owner that he was benching him.

Why? What do you mean why? He said that he had he talked to Dan about benching him. Okay. And Dan said he was fully supportive. Why did he have to? Well, why do you think he had to? He said that he didn't have to talk to anybody and then remember 30 seconds later in the same answer, he said he did talk to him.

Because he didn't have to talk to anybody. Arguably, he's right. He's the coach. Well, I understand what would be right in the way to do it. but what are you saying? You don't think he had to tell Dan? You think he just benched? You think Dan just picked up the, you know, picked up his phone and saw on Twitter that Dwayne got benched and the coach didn't tell him?

Well, obviously not. But what would be the stronger message to the owner? From the coach? Yeah. You made me coach-centric. Told me that I've got control. This is what we're doing. But that's not the way he does it.

He talks to Mr. Snyder all the time. There's no way he would have left Mr. Snyder out of the loop. There's no chance. Mr. Snyder is always in the loop. He's Mr. Snyder. That loop. Boy, that loop is frayed and greasy and dirty. There's something else I thought.

There's something else I thought. Let me just predictions today on Dwayne Haskins. Yours first. I don't think he's going to be traded this season. I think he'll be traded in the office. I think he'll wind up back on the field somehow. for this team. I mean, I think what's the most unlikely scenario?

For Dwayne? Yes. That he's the starter in 2021. I think that's possible. I mean, I've adopted the George Costanza opposite there. Yeah, the contrarian opposite thing. Yes. Whatever you think couldn't possibly happen is what's going to happen.

Actually. But it's this snowballed so quickly, and no one would have predicted by week four that Dwayne Haskins would be off the team, literally. I think the possibilities in order. I'm going to rank them for you. You're ready? Number one, he gets traded by the deadline. And I'll put that at 22%. Okay, traded by the deadline at 22%.

Traded in the off season, I'll put it 20, actually I'm going to put, traded by the deadline at 32%. Trade it in the off season at 31%. Those are, it's almost a dead heat that he's traded. Okay, so I've got 37% left. So let me give you this one. He's on the roster next year is... 8%. He's on the roster as a starter next year. Actually, that's 8%. He's, that's can't be 8%. Let me, let me change my

percentages here. You're a little bit limited sometimes. Traded at the deadline is 42%. Trade, traded in the off season is 41%. Okay. That's 83%. Released by the, in the off season. In the offseason, season is 7%. Okay. You got 10% left. I have 10% left. Released by the trade deadline is 4%. Starting quarterback next year is, oh, I've got...

You got 6% left. Is 3% and backup quarterback is 3%. I want those to be at 1%. So I'm going to make each one of those at one. Those are zero percent. What am I talking about? Those are zero. Here are the odds.

The odds are he's going to be traded. And I think it's almost dead even odds on traded before the deadline or traded in the off season. I also think what comes after that is he could be released. He's not going to be on this team next year. Okay. Maybe a 0.5% chance. Okay. Are you glad we went through that exercise?

I'm always impressed with your math skills. I do want to share something with you that I was thinking about right before the show started because it has to do with the football team and we'll do it right after this word from one of our sponsors. So I was thinking about this before the show started today and I don't know what made me think about it. But do you know that it was only a month ago? One month ago, we were talking. about the big win over Philadelphia, the Chase Young performance, and how great he was,

and how great the defense was in the opener against Philadelphia. And how great the coaching staff was. And how good the coaching staff was, and how Dwayne came through with some clutch throws late. But as we were looking forward to, on the Thursday before the Sunday game at Arizona, and I said to you, I think I am as excited about a game,

game as I've been in a long, long time. And you said, no, no, no, you're curious. It was a curiosity thing. But you agreed that, yeah, there's a reason to watch this game against the Cardinals. They beat Philadelphia in the opener. The defense was better. I mean, we already had big expectations for the defense. And it had, you know, whatever it was, it was seven sacks? I think it had eight, eight sacks. Eight sacks and 30-some-odd preface. It was unbelievable. And they made Philadelphia, they beat the hell out of Carson Wentz. And it was like, wow, this game at Arizona is a really intriguing game.

I'm excited for it. I was. I was like, you know, if they can win this game and it's another dominant defensive performance and Kyler Murray has trouble and they shut DeAndre Hopkins down and Kenyon Drake, I mean, what are we going to be talking about a Monday if they're 2 and 0? And that was only a month. ago, only a month ago. And here we are, a month later,

they've lost four games. That's okay. That's okay because now they've got the winnable part of their schedule, according to the head coach. The next six games. Yes, now, now they can start playing. They weren't really playing before. Since then, they've lost four in a row.

The quarterback of the future has been benched and will likely be traded and will never play again for this team. And it's just amazing. Not just lost four in a row, but giving up 30 points or more in every loss. Yeah. Cooley did a really, had a really interesting defensive breakdown. For those of you that missed it yesterday, go listen to it.

It starts at about the hour nine mark, I think it is. But one of the things he said, he said it's really clear to him in watching them that Rivera's defenses, which were good defenses in Carolina, were really spearheaded and led by their line. backers, Luke Keekely and Thomas Davis. And Jack Thompson and others. And the linebacking situation is awful. He said that John Bostic played one of the worst games that he's ever graded for a defensive player since he's been doing this on Sunday. And he said, you know, they have to get linebackers. They've got to get linebackers.

And Micah Parsons, who plays at Penn State, and I mentioned this yesterday, is a projected top three to top five, top six pick. He opted out of the season, which starts next weekend in the Big Ten for the COVID-19 opportunity to opt out. But it's just amazing how much a month changes the perspective. You know, my perspective on the organization hasn't changed. I've always said, like you've said, you know, your surgeon general's warning, I understand that completely. And as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter. As long as he owns the team, they're going to lose more than they win, and there's going to be more turmoil than less, period.

It'll never, ever, ever work. They'll have the occasional oddball season where things seem to come in line and they stay healthy and it's nine and seven and it's a first round playoff loss, but that's the best that they can hope for. But, man, it is amazing how quickly things change. of course, to your point, the coach probably, and I think he legitimately believes that Kyle Allen can come in

and the competition. He called the next five games yesterday, interesting. I mean, if that's not like for the opponents, he basically just referred to us as winnable games. Yes. You know, like, really? Washington?

I think I said this to Cooley. yesterday I'm going to say it to you. The Giants, I've watched them a couple times. Washington's not better than the Giants. I'm not saying they won't win the game Sunday, but Daniel Jones, for all of the flack that he's taking, you know, with the results and the turnovers, the 0-and-5, he passes the eye test for me. I watch him and I'm like, yeah, I would definitely continue to invest in this. there is something there. I feel the same way about Sam Darnold on the other New York team.

I just wouldn't give up on that. They're licking their chops about getting the first one of the year this Sunday. I mean, they're favored for crying. Does Rivera even know that the interesting part of the game is actually not that all of a sudden they've got this weak part of the schedule, but they're going to be underdogs in all of those games as well. You know, I don't know where you're driving this train or not, but there's a couple of other subjects that I was hoping to bring up before we're done here.

You're entitled, and let's get to them right after we take another break for a word from one of our sponsors. All right, you had something else that you wanted to get to before we finish up for the day. Yeah, get back to boxing because there was a documentary. And if you wanted to find the link for it, I posted it on my Twitter account and my Facebook page. It's called The Fighters, documentary on Ali Fraser One. It's a rare documentary that hasn't been seen that much. And I know there's been a lot out there about the fight, you know, traditionally, because it's considered the greatest sporting event of the 20th century.

But what's interesting about this is there's lots of footage of Jacksonville. Kent Cook, the former Washington football owner in this documentary talking. Cook being the guy who put up the $5 million. Right. You know, for the fight. So there's a lot of Cook footage. And briefly, there's some George Allen footage in there. George Allen?

Yes. But why? Because Jack Ken Cook at the time was a minority owner? Yes. Cook had a party before the first. fight, celebrity party, and Lorne Green is shown, you know, the Bonanza star, Ben Cartwright, talking about the fight and standing next to him is George Allen. And he's not drinking a glass of milk.

I can tell you that. Really? It could be water, but it ain't milk. Well, you know, Tommy, the fight was March of 1971. So George Allen had just been hired. He hadn't even coached his first game. in Washington. That would come in the fall of 1971. But I'm just, I'm wondering in 1971, Cook had a, he's, he had a minority interest from the late 60s on, right? Yes. Yes, he did.

It's a great documentary. It shows the whole fight, which everyone has seen many times. But the stuff before the fight is really good. Good stuff on Bert Lancaster, who did the analysis. on the on the the uh with don dunn dunphy yeah on the closed circuit broadcast right uh you know pictures of all the celebrities in the crowd pictures of of frank sinatra taking pictures for life magazine he covered the fight for life magazine but but the cook and the brief glimpse of alan i thought was pretty interesting so if you want to take a look at that uh you could find it on on my Twitter account. The other thing I wanted to bring up to you is, have you ever heard of a guy named a Ninja? No, I have not.

Tyler Blevins, his nickname is Ninja. Okay. This guy is an e-sports star. And I'm enamored with e-sports because it's a whole world that exists that I don't. know anything about but there's there's huge amounts of money being made in it right now right well this guy tyler levens was was made a star because he was a apparently a tremendous fortnight player that a video game right that everybody plays and he wound up you know he would broadcast him playing on twitch you know twitch is this this online network have you ever watched twitch no

watched a little bit of it here and there. Basically, it may be the future of sports broadcasting, where people watch the games and fans interject their own commentary, and there are no color commentaries or play-by-play guys. But this guy had an account on Twitch, and he used to broadcast himself playing Fortnite, and he wound up with 16 million followers. Well, it says that he set the Twitch record. in March of 2018 for the largest concurrent audience or on an individual stream when he was playing

Fortnite with Drake, Travis Scott, and Juju Smith Schuster. Yeah. He just got, what the news was that just, his name just came out because he just signed a deal with a creative arts agency, CAA, to represent him. You know, the Hollywood reporter said he wants to try his hand at producing. acting, and other entertainment adventures. This was some goofball at home playing Fortnite who became a star.

And Kevin, it's scary because this is a world, I'd like to think I understand media. This is media. I have no clue about it whatsoever. Yeah, I mean, I don't either. I mean, I've played video games more recently than you have because I was big into Tiger Golf and Madden. with my boys, you know, up until a few years ago.

So I know that he, you know, I'm familiar with e-sports and I'm familiar with the growth. And obviously, I think there are people here locally like Ted Leonis who believe it's, there's a huge future to it. And you just, you just describe that. Can I just go back to Fraser Ali one for a moment? It's your podcast, buddy. It's funny that you brought it up because the other night it was on TV. I think it was on ESPN, maybe ESPN 2 or something, and my son was watching it.

Corvin, my middle son was watching it. And, you know, he's gotten into boxing recently. He's gotten into sort of watching, you know, the documentaries on Ali and different things. And he knows that that's an era that I loved boxing. And, you know, I said that he goes, do you know what this is? And I go, yeah, that's Ali Frazier 1. And I said, that is probably the. greatest and most anticipated sporting event of the 20th century and he's like seriously and I

said without question I don't know if there's even a close second I don't know if you'd agree with me or not Tommy but Ali who I think had one one warm up fight against Jerry Quarry maybe two I don't recall but um off of the three year hiatus he did have to he fought bona vana before he fought Fraser okay he had a tough fight against bonovena who's a tough guy 15 rounds Yeah. And then that set up a match between two unbeaten champions, the current, you know, champion, which was Frazier, who took Ali's crown, and the people's champion, which was Muhammad Ali. And it was a culture, you know, battle between, you know, anti-war and war, or, you know, establishment and anti-establishment. And, you know, I've watched so many documentaries, which have included so much on this fight. I'm going to watch. what you're asking me to watch. I can't wait to watch it, actually. But that fight, everything you read from anybody that was there, it was the most electric atmosphere for anything, the most anticipated sporting event of the 20th century. And there's not a close second. You would

agree with that, right? Well, there is a close second, and it's another fight. It's the second Joe Lewis-Machmeling fight in 1938, the whole world. Right on the brink of World War II. you've got Hitler's heavyweight champion, Max Schmelling, fighting Joe Lewis, the Brown bomber. Lewis knocked him out in the first round, right? Who he had beaten. Schmelling had beaten the first time they fought. This was a rematch. Yeah.

That was probably the close equivalent to, at the time, Oly Fraser won in terms of political overtones beyond a fight. The heavyweight championship used to be an important, powerful political, tool. Oh, yeah. I mean, you know, Hitler wanted the heavyweight champion. Mussolini thought, you know, when Primo Carnar, who turned out to be kind of a stiff, was the heavyweight champion for a while, Mussolini was infatuated with it. There was, there was a strong symbolism to being a heavyweight champion right up until the end of the 20th century. And now it doesn't mean anything. Didn't Lewis knock him out in the first round? Yes, he did. And didn't they eventually,

become friends? Yes, they did, because Max Schmelling was not a Nazi. Right. And he became a very wealthy man as the guy, I think, in charge of Coca-Cola in Germany. And but he was very, he was a very good man, very kind to Joe Lewis in his later years. And, you know, who he fought for was not reflective of who he was. Where was the fight? smelling. I think it was in Yankee Stadium. And you know who the referee, the referee was Art Donovan

Senior. Artie Donovan, who played for the ball. His father referee 23 of Joe Lewis's fights. Wow. Heavyweight title fights. I mean, I've got some of it on audio. I listen to it sometimes on my phone. And it doesn't last very long, but it's great. And Donovan watching the two fighters very closely. You know, I just pulled up the Wikipedia page on this. Do you know that Schmailing negotiated after his victory over

Lewis, his next fight was going to be with James Braddock, who is Cinderella. Yeah, he's Cinderella man. Cinderella man. And it's in Cinderella, he's Cinderella man. And the talks fell through and that led

to a much more anticipated rematch. between Lewis and Braddock. What was the first fight? I know Schmaling won, but was it a decision? Was it a knockout? I don't remember offhand what it was. Yeah, wow.

And here's one more thing about Ali, if you're watching that fight again, you know, one of the things I've been doing when I've been home, I have a bunch of interviews I've done over the years that are typed up on paper, but not digitally anywhere. So I've been transcribing all these interviews. that I've got and put in them in digital. And I have tons of interviews with Eddie Futch, who was Joe Fraser's trainer for that fight.

And I came across a line that when you read it, all of a sudden it hits you, but you don't think about it. It's just watching Ali. Ali never threw a body punch. Never. In that first fight. And Eddie fight. No, not many. He was not a guy that went to the body.

No. It was scoring with that jab and just peppering that jab. It was all headhunting. And he was such an unorthodox, unusual fighter. He rarely would go to the body. He would almost always go to the head. Sharp shoot like that. I mean, that's just, that's just stuff.

If you watch all his fights, it's stunning to see a fighter successful who doesn't, you know, go to the body and the head will fall kind of philosophy. It's also when you watch his fights, amazing to see somebody with that speed and that division. Yes. Yes. Anyway. All right. That's it for the day. Back tomorrow. Football Friday. Cool he'll be with me. We'll preview, if you're even interested, Giants and Washington. Some other big games this weekend and certainly a huge college game on Saturday night. By the way, another college game just canceled. Cincinnati, who's undefeated. They've got COVID tests, and their game with Tulsa was just canceled.

This is, I don't know how the college football season is going to make it to, they're going to, you're going to end up with a playoff, Tommy. You're going to end up with four teams in a playoff at some point in January. But they're going to be a bunch of games that just, I don't think we'll see, we'll see, you know, rescheduled. They'll be rescheduled. I don't know that they'll ever make it to it. Yeah, because like, I mean, unless you're hiding on there,

somewhere or you want to stick your head in the sand, the COVID situation isn't getting better. I know. All right. Thanks. Back tomorrow.