The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cowboys, Eagles, Cowboys, Eagles, Giants

Episode Date: May 13, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on a bunch of topics including the unprecedented Washington Football Team 2021 finish to its schedule. Other NFL, Wizards, and Nats also on the show. 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Well, the NFL schedule is actually out. Tommy, did you follow any of this during the day yesterday? I did a little bit on my phone because I was playing golf yesterday.

But the schedule was basically out. Everybody knew what it was before the actual 8 p.m. scheduled reveal by the league through the NFL network and through ESPN. How does that happen? Like basically it was done. Well, you know what? I mean, interest in, that means the NFL had all day interest.

They don't particularly, it's interesting you bring this up. Like the TV show on Vail is not that big of a deal anymore. I mean, because, I mean, because, I mean, TV viewing is so bizarre now. instead what they got was all day, all day long NFL attention. They really.

And that's probably more valuable. They really did. Yeah. Do you know, I was thinking. I mean, they're not playing a game. They're not playing. Baseball is playing. The NBA is playing.

The NHL is playing. And the NFL dominated the day with no games. Well, they do that during the draft in the lead up to the draft. I know. But this is, this is just, I mean, And so that's why I don't think they particularly care that it leaks out anymore. None of what happened yesterday really even contributes in any way to the outcome of a game. At least the draft, you can say, oh, they got that player.

This is, so somebody called the radio show this morning. And it was tongue in cheek and it was funny. He's a caller all the time. His name's Michael. And he just said, you know, I think it's the most. narcissistic and self-indulgent thing she and that you do, I don't understand this thing with the mock schedule and the attention you try to bring to it, et cetera, et cetera. And I was laughing and I said, well, consider this. I actually, for a brief moment, as everyone else was doing

all these mock schedules, and it's been that way now for a couple of years, I actually gave thought, I may have mentioned this to you the other day. I gave thought to being, okay, I was the first one, in, I'm going to be the first one out. But then I thought, well, how self-indulgent and narcissistic would that be? See, that's what I would do. I know you would do it. Because you are a narcissist. No, I'm kidding. Everybody, everybody's in the neighborhood now. I'm leaving. Do you know, well, you do know me as very contrarian in thinking on a lot of different things, not everything, but I really did. As people were sending me links to everybody in town, My friends of mine, you know, JP and Kime and Russell and everybody's doing them, but more than that, they're being done all over the country.

Teams are doing these on their team websites. They're doing mock schedules. So I don't think Washington did one. But I did for a brief moment, especially on Thursday night, on Tuesday night, excuse me, because Tuesday night I'm sitting there and I'm making sort of the final touches. to my mock schedule, which I was going to have out yesterday, which I did yesterday on both the radio show and the podcast. So there's a formula. The final touches would indicate that you actually have a plan.

It's a passion. But you must have a formula that you use. No, there's no formula. There's no formula. There's everything that's in my head about how the NFL typically, thinks about things and how they schedule and based on, you know, what Washington's had in recent years and maybe advantages here that they may not get this year. There's some, there's some logic, there's some thought. And when I say it's a passion,

I don't spend a lot of time on this, but I think, you know, typically like about two weeks ago, I just did a rough thing to make sure that I had all the teams right and all the places right, because that's what's known. The teams that they're playing and whether they're playing them at home or away. So I did sort of a mock schedule, but I knew that wasn't going to be my final, but I just wanted to make sure I had 17 games with the right teams and the right locations so that I didn't put out something that actually couldn't be right. And then on Tuesday night, I just went through it and I just started moving things around. And then we started to hear about how the NFL was going to release week one yesterday morning.

I'm like, oh, fuck. Because now, you know, by the time I put mine out, the week one might already be out there. And then all of a sudden, Nikki Javala from the Washington Post leaks out that she knows that they're going to play Denver on October 31st on the road. And then Cooley yesterday is like, well, you have to change your mock schedule. I'm like, no. I'm not going to change my mock schedule on something that's

known now and out there. I'm not going to do that. That would betray the ethics of the mock schedule. It would be a total betrayal. It would be an ethical betrayal of the mock schedule. And so I put it out. I knew, by the way, when I put it out yesterday, I already knew at that point that I had like three things wrong already because the

Denver game was wrong. The opener was already out against the Chargers. I had that wrong, which meant that the Carolina game and another spot was going to be wrong. Anyway, I really did think, like yesterday, first of all, I should have done it earlier. I should have done it a few days earlier. But the reason that I didn't is because there was a firm date for the first time. They actually scheduled it. Usually it's a very last-minute thing that the league tells the networks about, and they say,

oh, tomorrow night, get ready, we're doing the schedule. So I put it out earlier, which is if I do it again, it will be out much earlier. Secondly, though, I did give thought to, you know what, this is stupid. Everybody's doing it now. I mean, when everybody's betting on one team, what do I usually do? There you go. The contrarian.

When everybody's buying a certain stock, what do I do if I own it or don't own it? Short it. Sell it or short it. I used to do that all the time. I don't do that as much because that doesn't work as much. But anyway, maybe yesterday was the final mock schedule. The final one. Oh, my gosh.

I didn't get just for those that were trying to keep up with it. Did you send it? Did you send the mock schedule paperwork to the Canton to be displayed at the Pro Football Hall fame? No, I didn't. I mean, because if it's the last one, you should. I'll think about that, actually. Yeah. You know what?

I'm going to call up Larry Michael and see if. he can maybe and see if Larry will present me as a mock schedule entry to Well, Larry's been doing all of the, or was doing all the recent presentations for Washington football team related

Hall of Fame entries. You'd have to check with the witness protection program to get that address. So anyway, let me just tell you real quickly before we get to the schedule itself, which is actually incredibly weird and wild. I got three things kind of right. I didn't get one team on the correct day or at the correct time.

And that's not a first. I've been shut out in years past. And usually I'll have a couple of things that are kind of right or within a week of right. And I had a couple of those as well. And you got some that you basically claim are right. True. Here's what I did get right. I got Seattle being a home game on Monday night football correct.

Not the correct week. They're going to play Seattle on Monday night in week 12 at home. And I had them playing Seattle on Monday night football in week three. I had three primetime games. I got that right. And I had a Saturday potential game and I got that right. That's what I'm most proud of. And I'll get to that in a moment.

I had Dallas on the road as a scheduled Sunday night football game. the first scheduled Sunday night football game for Washington since 2017. That tells you a lot about what the league has thought about Washington in recent years. They got flexed into the Philadelphia season finale last year Sunday night football, but they had not been scheduled for Sunday night football since 2017 when they beat the Raiders on Sunday night football in week three at FedEx Field. And I said, I think, you know, coming off a division title, they're going to be at least once in the the prime spot. The prime TV spot for the NFL is their Sunday night package. And I said it's going to be at Dallas in November. I was wrong. It's at Dallas in December. So I consider that to be, you know,

pretty good that I guess the team and the location for their Sunday night football appearance. And there was no guarantee they would get that. I also predicted, and this is what I'm most proud of, actually. And I use the word proud very loosely, as I tell you that I predicted in my mock schedule that Washington would be one of the teams considered for a Saturday, December 18th game at home. Now, they were considered, they are being considered for a Saturday, December 18th game. It'll be on the road against Philadelphia. But that was, I got their Tennessee Saturday Saturday game from a few years ago, right? And I just had a feeling they were going to be back on a Saturday potential game this year.

And they are. Now, the way it works with the NFL for this particular weekend is they take five games. They put TBD next to those games for that particular weekend, which is week 15. And then sometime in November, they pick three of those five games and they put them on the Saturday before on December 18th. and they, you know, create a national television triple header out of it. So Washington, Philadelphia is one of those possibilities. So those are the things I got right.

Now, enough about my mock schedule. Let's talk about... Well, wait. Wait. No, wait. Let's wait for a minute. You know, you said many things over the years that were cringe-worthy, you know, that required me to say, you know, he's not really like that.

he's not, that's not really who he is kind of thing. You mean on the show or afterwards when people ask you? After the show when people would ask me. Something I'm sure you're familiar with. I'm very familiar with. People ask me, is he really that way or not? But, but go ahead. What did I say?

I don't know if you've ever said anything that rivals talking about the mock schedule and said the words most proud of. That's true. That was cringe-worthy. I mean, most proud of. I did follow it up by saying. I use the word proud loosely. And probably not.

That's a very loose interpretation. You know what? I've never, I've always wanted to hit on a couple, but usually what I want to hit on are the national TV games and like the opener and the closer. And I haven't gotten any of those right in a while. I've gotten the national TV games. I was convinced that Carolina on the road was a good bet.

Like that just seemed like Ron Rivera back at Carolina. As an opener, no. They're opening with the Chargers at home. Do you know they've opened with the Chargers, Tommy? Here's some trivia for you, okay? They've opened with the Chargers previously when the Chargers were in San Diego. They've opened their season with the San Diego Chargers, the Chargers organization, two times prior to this upcoming season.

do you know and can you remember as the author of many historical books on the Washington football team can you remember either one of them well I'm proud of those books I know you are they're available but I have no idea what the answer is to this question okay so um the first one I'm going to tell you about is the one that I remembered right off the top of my head yesterday when I saw that that was the opener and that was in 2001 the first one The lone Marty Schottenheimer season opened in San Diego against the Chargers with Jeff Georgia quarterback, and they got blown out 30 to 3. They were horrible. And two days later was September 11th. And so the season shut down for a week, and then they came back in the

Monday night game following 9-11, the first Monday night game, and got shut out by the Packers 37-0. They were outscored 67 to 3 in the first two games with Jeff George, and then he cut Jeff George, and then, you know, they won eight of their final 11 with Tony Banks. But that was the last time they opened up with the Chargers. But I thought you would remember the one time it happened before. In 1973, they opened the season at RFK Stadium against the San Diego Chargers. They won the game 38 to nothing. and the starting quarterback for the San Diego Chargers was

Johnny Unitis. Very good. That's why I think I might remember it. No. Once you mentioned 73 in the Chargers and that they got beat, I mean, yeah, Johnny Unitas. Unitas. A very sad ending to his career. Oh, my God, it was a sad ending.

Do you know what he? The Chargers were, I mean, he told me stories about the Chargers were train wreck. They were just so out of control with drug, use and drinking and just crazy personalities on those Chargers teams. It was a zoo. So I'm assuming in 1973 they didn't have Dan Fouts and John Heddle was gone. Yes. That would be a reasonable assumption.

What was interesting was I think they might have had Fouts then because United's told me stories about how the coaching staff. told him that they didn't want him talking to Fouts and influencing him, and they wanted him to stay away from Fouts. Why? Because they were assholes. That's why. Because coaches are assholes.

Fouts was a rookie on that team. Okay. The 73 Chargers was Johnny Unitas's last year, and Fouts was drafted that year. He was a rookie that year on that roster. Yeah, that's what Johnny told me that story, that they wanted him to keep away. from Fouts, who he really liked Fouts, United States. Do you want to hear something else as I look through this? First of all, he was 6 to 17 in that opener with three interceptions against Washington

and a 38-0-0 loss. Listen to the people that were on this San Diego Chargers roster in 1970. I know Deacon Jones was on that roster. Exactly. Yes. Deacon Jones was on that roster. And then Deacon Jones came to Washington the next year to finish up his career. Yes. But listen to some of the other names that were on this roster. Mike Garrett was on that

roster. Walt Sweeney, who ended up playing for Washington, was on that roster. Another huge headcase. He got kicked out of, he got released from Washington after he shot a gun into his pillow at training camp. Oh, boy. Coy Bacon was on that roster. Coy Bacon. Coy Bacon. Rough character. Oh my God, but what a good player. But a rough character.

How so? Make no mistake of just, just that's the best way I can describe it. A rough character. He played in Washington over a four, three or four year period to end his career after he had some really good years in Cincinnati. And Washington had Coy Bacon and Lamar Parrish play for them from the Bengals. and they were part of that 79 team that lost to the Cowboys, 35, 34. And then Tim Rosovich was on that roster. He was the guy that played for the Eagles, right?

Yeah, he was the linebacker at a USC. Crazy, right? Oh, he ate glass. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you two, Tim Rosovic stuff sometimes. It's worth of who.

He wasn't that good of a player, but he was outlandish. Anyway, Unitas started four games, and that was it. That was the end of his career. And then Fouts replaced him. And Fouts became obviously, you know, a legendary NFL quarterback, following a legendary NFL quarterback. Now, I've shared this with you before. But since we're talking about Unitas and Washington, the year before, when the year went Sunny went down with the injury. What year was that?

72. Seventy-two. George Allen had called Johnny Unitas on the phone. He said he was going to trade for him. Right. But then the Unitedis said nothing ever came of it. He never heard anything after that. Well, I mean, in 72, it was the game at Yankee Stadium against the Giants. Remember, Kilmer was basically the starter, but they were going back and forth, you know, that particular year. You know, Kilmer started games, Sunny started games, and then Sunny was done.

Sunny had a game the week before, maybe two weeks before, where he beat the Cowboys in one of the first big showdowns between Washington and Dallas. sat RFK. This was the year that Washington went to the Super Bowl with George Allen, 172. Larry Brown was the NFL MVP. He was the league MVP that year. And Sonny and Billy were going back and forth. I think Sunny may have been injured a little bit in the preseason. Kilmer started that season and then Sonny was done after the Giant game when he tore his Achilles. And there's that famous shot of Sunny walking off the field as Kilmer's walking onto it. And then, you know, that was certainly the year in which

if Sonny had been the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl against the Dolphins, a lot of people think Washington would have won the game. There's a lot of players on that team that think they would have won. And at the same time, they loved Billy, too. Yes. So when they called Unitas then, so was he going to bring Unitas into that particular

season to back up Billy or to start? I don't know. I would imagine he would do the same thing he was doing with Sonny and Billy. He would alternate. Yeah. You know? Interesting. And I mean, Johnny wanted, he wanted to get out of Baltimore because that was when Joe Thomas, you know, Ursa had wound up, wound up owning the team in the franchise. Erseye bought the Rams, swap franchises with Carol Rosenblum.

and Joe Thomas, the hard-ass general manager, took over in Baltimore and Juanita Railroad United is out of town. So Johnny was looking to get out as well, but the Chargers weren't a team he would have loved the he wanted to go to. Tommy, why, I know I know I've read about this before, but I can't remember it off the top on my head. What what prompted the swapping of franchises between two NFL owners, the Rams and the Colts? I don't know. I don't know. Who would buy the Rams and then I don't know the whole story behind that and switch franchises to go to Baltimore? You know? I mean,

it doesn't make sense. Well, I don't. The whole Carol Rosenblum ownership thing is a whole mystery in a way. There are lots of rumors about his gambling. He died what some people think is a mysterious death. He drowned off, I think, the coast of Fort Lauderdale while swimming or something like that. So he's a mysterious character. Was he married to George Gronter. Was he married? He was?

The show girl, yeah. Yeah. So I don't know about the whole franchise swap. That's an interesting story. But I don't know what it is. It's certainly weird. Like, I don't, I can't think of it happening in that sport or any major sport. I'm sure, like, back in the days of the ABA or the NBA, you know, there were things like that.

Who knows? Oh, you know, the closest thing to it, which is a remarkable. Oh, wait. Tommy. Tommy. Oh, my fault. My fault. Sorry. Rosen Bloom was born in Baltimore.

Um, he, he, Rosenblum was born in Baltimore and sold the cult swapped with Ursae to move out to L.A. Yeah. So he was from Baltimore. Okay. Where was Ursa from? I don't know. Midwest, I think. Mm-hmm.

But, uh, yeah, Indiana. The closest thing to this. Chicago, Chicago he's from, yeah. is what happened in baseball in 2002. That led to the return of baseball to Washington, where the Red Sox were sold to an ownership group that included John Henry, who was the owner of the Marlins at the time.

Okay? So baseball had set this up. So John Henry was part of the ownership group that purchased the Red Sox, Jeff Loria, who was the owner of the Expos at the time, then turned around and bought the Marlins, and then baseball wound up taking over the Expos. So it wasn't like this franchise swap, but it was this bizarre, three franchise transaction where all the deals relied on each other. Right.

You know, and that's what it ultimately led to the return of baseball to Washington was MLB taking over the expoes and then putting them up for sale. Interesting. Interesting. You know, this isn't an owner swap story, but many of you may recall this story because the NBA just a few years ago basically bought these guys out. But one of the more incredible business decisions and business sports stories of all time, and I'm looking up their names right now because it was the St. Louis spirits, I'm pretty sure, of the ABA.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. But anyway, the St. Louis spirits of the ABA, when the NBA merged, they were going to take a certain number of teams, and the others were essentially going to take a buyout from the NBA. And it was, you know, a couple of million bucks or whatever to go away. and the owners, here it is, the Silna brothers, Ozzie and Daniel Silna, were the owners of the, I think that's them. They were the, yeah, of St. Louis. Okay, so the offer, here it was, in order to complete the deal with the NBA, the ABA offered St. Louis and Kentucky, which were, I guess, the two ABA teams that were not going to merge with the NBA.

The NBA offered both franchises $3 million to fold their franchises. The Kentucky owner John Brown, who by the way later married Phyllis George, correct me if I'm wrong. And became governor of Kentucky. Haggled the ABA up to $3.3 million and then folded the team. The Silna brothers turned down the offer. That created a major problem for the ABA. Without a deal with St. Louis, there would be no merger. The Silna's used this fact as leverage to make an unusual counteroffer.

This is truly one of the great sports business stories of all time. The deal that they offered is that they would receive payment for any of their players that were drafted by an NBA team, an amount which came to approximately $2.2 million. But the rest of it, they would receive as a one-seventh of the main. media rights of each of the four ABA teams that were joining the NBA, which worked out to 50% of a full share of media rights for the NBA. Now, that includes television rights. The four ABA teams were the Denver Nuggets, the San Antonio Spurs, the New Jersey Nets, Tommy,

and the Indiana Pacers. Very good. Yeah. All right. The ABA and NBA liked the deal. For one thing, 2.2 million was far less than the 3 million originally offered, or the 3.3 million that John Brown haggled them up to. What's more, television rights were basically an afterthought in 1976.

Not even until it would be 10 years later until the NBA playoffs were all broadcast as live games. Remember the days of the NBA showing tape delay. late at night of the NBA finals. At 11 o'clock at night, I know. As far as broader media rights, no one had the foresight to predict the internet. All of which may have caused the NBA to ignore a key point in the deal. The Silnas would own their share of media rights in perpetuity.

As long as the NBA existed, they would keep getting paid. Since the deal specified that no merger teams would receive TV money for the first three years. In 1979, the Silnaz started getting checks of around $200,000 a year. Not bad. And then, then, here come Magic and Larry into the NBA. And it explodes. By 2014, the Silnaz had received a total of approximately $300 million.

My God. Every year, the NBA was writing a big check to all the first. franchises for media rights and then had to write one to the Silna's as well. Eventually the NBA got tired of cutting those checks and did the math on what the future could hold. And in 2014, so it was more than just a few years ago, seven years ago now, in 2014 negotiated a one-time payment of approximately $500 million in return for the Silna's media rights. $800 million on that deal versus maybe 3.3. By the way, they got the 2.2 for the players anyway.

So they were only 800,000 short of what the offer was. And they got these TV rights in perpetuity. That's amazing. That's remarkable. It really is. Absolutely remarkable. Now, you know, the $500 million offer, these guys were, I'm sure, smart enough to do the math on what their stake would have continued to have been worth. And would have been worth probably a lot more than $500 million over the next, you know, whatever years.

But why not? You know, a half a billion dollars to go to the, to go with the $300 million you paid us anyway. A pretty good deal. We'll take it. Wow. That is truly. You know, it's interesting. You're right.

You're right. It's a remarkable deal. deal. And it's interesting, you bring this up. I read now, you know, newsletters are a big thing these days. And I read about maybe a half a dozen sports and sports business newsletters. I read John Orion's newsletter. Yeah, it's a big deal. You know, it's funny, Dan Steinberg at the Post a few years ago was, you know,

was changing from writing columns. to doing a newsletter. I remember sent him a message saying a newsletter for what? Some kind of club or something like that. I made fun of it. And then they stopped doing it to post it because I guess it didn't go over that well. But now newsletters are a big deal. Anyway, Axios has a great sports newsletter that I read.

And they said they just had this today. 45 years ago today, the New York Nets won the final. final ABA championship. Can I guess who they beat? Yeah. Good. I'm going to say that it was Denver. Yes.

Because it would have been Irving against David Thompson, Skywalker. Yeah, 112, 106. They won the series 4 to 2. Irving had won his third straight league MVP, was the MVP to playoffs. He averaged 35 points a game. Wow. 12.6 rebounds and five assists in 13 playoff games.

Wow. So I remember watching those on TV. What TV were they on? I don't know. Where were you living? Where were you living? I was living in, I was living in Pennsylvania at the time. And so I'm sure we got New York cable.

Yeah. We got New York cable channels. In 1976, you were getting New York cable in Pennsylvania. I do remember, I do remember, I've told you this before. My father, the first basketball he ever gave me was an ABA basketball when I was five years old or whatever, four years old. I'll never, I remember it was the red, white and blue ball. My father was an AFL guy. He was an ABA guy.

He was an Ali guy, not a Frazier guy. He was definitely sort of cut from that sort of, of, you know, rebellious. He was definitely a rebel in many ways. And so I remember he followed the ABA and I followed the ABA. And in fact, I didn't go to this, but I remember he went to a game. I think he told me about going to a game at the scope in Norfolk, Virginia.

that's how the people from down there, you know, pronounce it. I have relatives that are from there. Norfolk, not Norfolk, Norfolk. And on the Virginia Squires team was Dr. J, George Gervyn, and somebody else that was really good. Maybe it was Artis Gilmore. You know, because Gervyn and Dr. J. Gilmore played for the Colonels, Kentucky Colonels. Okay.

Well, Dr. J. and Gervyn both played for. for the Virginia Squires at some point. You know that, right? Well, I knew Dr. Jay did, yeah. And by the way, the first basketball game that wasn't a Maryland game that I went to, and I barely remember this, but it was the old Washington Caps,

ABA at the Coliseum downtown, when Rick Barry played for them. Now, I don't know if Rick Berry played for the team that I went and saw. I'm thinking that I saw it, I was living in Scranton at the time, and we got both New York and Philly channels. So I'm sure it was probably on a local New York channel, Channel 9 maybe, out of New York, W-O-R before it became a super station. I'm sure I saw it, like, that's how I saw it.

You know, for as many old games as NBA TV shows, I don't think I've ever seen them show an old ABA game. Like how cool, that has to exist. One of Dr. Jay's, you know, New York Nets games against... It doesn't necessarily have to exist. I mean, there's amazing the amount of historic TV that was erased and lost. I know. I mean, it's just stunning sometimes. Well, what is available on YouTube is that famous 1976 ABA dunk contest.

Yes. Which was Dr. Jay and David Thompson and Gervyn. and then it came down to Thompson against Dr. Jay, and Dr. Jay had the dunk where he took off from the foul line and dunked it. And that was, I think, at McNichols Arena in Denver. That would have been the last ABA All-Star game. That is something that was not erased. Yes.

Anyway. Okay. Let's get to 2021. I want to get to the actual schedule. for Washington because it includes something that was totally unprecedented. We'll get to that right after this word from one of our sponsors. Storytime with Tommy is over. Do you remember when we did that segment?

That was a great segment. Tommy's Storytime. Tommy's Storytime. With the music and everything. Exactly. I love when we get tweets that say things like, all right, Gramps, get to something that, you know, is at least in this century. All right. The NFL schedule is final.

it's out and Washington's schedule includes something that's never happened before since they went to the new divisional format which is the four divisions versus the three they went to that in 2002 so it's been you know entering our 19th season of four divisions in each conference 32 NFL teams and Washington is closing their season with five division opponents they only play six division games and their final five games are December 12th against Dallas at home, December 18th or 19th, either that Saturday or Sunday game against Philadelphia on the road. Then it's Dallas again in Dallas on Sunday night, December 26th. Then it's Philadelphia at home on January 2nd, and then it's at the Giants.

They finish Dallas, Philly, Dallas, Philly, the Giants. It's never happened where a team has finished with five straight division opponents since 2002, since the new format. And it's only happened once overall since the merger. The Bucks in 1995 closed the season with five division opponents. But keep in mind, back then with five teams in a division, they played eight division games, not six. So they had three other division games scattered among the other, you know, 11 games before the final five. That's a crazy ending to the schedule. And I do have a note to to try to get John Orand on the radio show to ask him what the thinking was. A friend of mine, Ted, if you're listening, Ted, because he and I were going back and forth,

he said he remembers recently the league saying that they were going to try to backload schedules with primarily division games. But Washington last year, only one out of their final six games was a division matchup. And that was the last game of the year. Their schedule last year included Philadelphia in that final week, obviously. But prior to that, they were playing, hold on, it was like Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Carolina, Seattle, yeah, Carolina. One out of their final five, I'm sorry.

One out of their final five. Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Carolina, and then Philadelphia. So, I mean, they went 12 years ago to finishing the season. against the division team because they wanted the division matchups in that final week of the season in case there were, you know, meaningful playoff kinds of games. And they've stuck with that. I do not remember them saying they were going to backload the schedule with division games. And we haven't seen that necessarily play out. Five division games to end next year. I honestly can't figure out if I like it or don't like it. But I will just propose or throw out one

possibility. Before those final five games, the 12 that they play before, which will include only one game against a division opponent, what if they're like three and nine or four and eight? Then these games that we look forward to all year long, the two games against Dallas, the big division matchups, they're not going to mean anything. That's what's in play now. Or everybody's seven and five or six and six and six and it becomes an epic close to the season. Both things are possible. I don't think I like it. I would rather than be, I don't mind ending division division, ending Philly, New York, or even ending the Giants, Philly, New York with three games. But five in a row, I would have rather played two of those sprinkled in, you know, in earlier portions of the season,

I think. Well, you should, you know, let them No, you should tell them that. You've got influence. Yeah. You don't care about this stuff. No, I do. I've gone through the schedule and mapped out the wins and losses, buddy. Well, go ahead.

I mean, the one thing that you should do with the schedule is the thing that you don't even care about. Nope. Don't care about it. Think it's silly. The guy who creates a schedule at a thin air then thinks it's ridiculous actually, rate the chances of wins and losses in those games. Yep, totally ridiculous. The only time I've ever done it was with Andy,

because Andy and I used to do that show on the schedule show, either that night or the first thing the following morning. And, you know, Andy insisted that we do this. Well, Andy, Andy had his moments. He was right. Okay, so go ahead. What do you have them? Go ahead.

Take me game by game. I got them winning that home opener against the Chargers. That's a win, buddy. What do you think the point spread on that game is? Oh, I don't know. Go ahead. Why don't you tell me? Well, I actually guessed it on the podcast.

Oh, I think the Chargers are favored by a point. They are. They're favored by a point and a half. I guessed yesterday with Cooley. I said, I think it'll be a range of like, you know, pick them to minus one either way. You know, minus one plus one. There are one and a half point underdog. The Chargers, people are expecting big things in Justin Herbert's second year.

Real quickly, before. They have a new coach, though, don't they? They do. I always take the new coach into account. Okay. Well, let me just tell you that the something I said this morning on the show that I think I've said before on the podcast, but several people really had an issue with it. If I could go back and redraft the 2020 draft, I would take Justin Herbert number two after Joe Burrow, not Chase Young.

So would I. Some people think I'm nuts. You know, I mean, what? I mean, I can't figure out. When's the last time a linebacker won the MVP of a Super Bowl? Well, he's a defensive end. But, but. Well, whatever, defensive end.

You know, I mean, it's the same. Yet he's a great player. He's, and he's fun to watch. And he has, he has become one of the leaders of this team. And he could probably have a great career with this team. But he's not, he's not going to put this team on his shoulders. and carry them to the playoffs. Now, just so everybody understands, I don't, I would not do it with Tuatunga Vailoa.

I just, I'm not sure about him. I'm much more sure after watching Justin Herbert for a year. Yes, yeah. And even if I'm wrong, it's the risk that you should take, you know, based on the information at hand. It's the same people, it's the same 33% that I pulled last week that wouldn't pull the trade off for Aaron Rogers, a trade that didn't include Chase Young. Like you got you people are out of your minds You know I wrote I wrote a column about how they should trade for Aaron Rogers

We talked about if you knew We talked about the other day We did it the other day on the show Yeah maybe I don't know you know I know why you're bringing it up But any No no no no not anyhow hold on hold on Because this is this is an apology Tom did ask me to retweet his

column from the other day. And I forgot to do it. And I, we've, we've had this conversation before, and I don't usually forget to do it, but I have forgotten to do it before. I told you, I don't like to do it in the middle of the day when I'm, when I'm tweeting out stuff for either the radio show or the podcast, because I don't like tweeting a lot. I like the tweets to stand by themselves rather than having another one in front of it. But I was going to do it that night, and I forgot. So I promise you, I will do it tonight. I'm putting it in, to my, is it too late to tweet out that, Colin? I don't think so.

Okay. I don't think it's too late. But my point is, the reaction I got from a lot of people was I never make this trade. I know. I mean, you know, I mean, I'm taught. That's the old way of doing business, they would say, you know? Let's build it the right way. Yeah, it's the right way thing.

Yeah, the right way thing. How is the majority of the reaction? I know. I got it. I've had the same thing. I've had the same thing. Now, the majority of people, you know, in that poll, and even when we did calls, said, no, no, of course they would do that.

And it's insane. Like, building it the right way, what does that mean exactly? So when you get to the point where you've got, you know, both the offensive line and the defensive line, and you got some receivers and you got corners and you got backers, so then what, a quarterback? Because Ryan Fitzpatrick's going to be 40 or whatever. Well, that's one. will go get the quarterback. Oh. Just like that. So that, just like that, that's when you'll go get the quarterback. No, you had, you had in this offseason three incredibly unique opportunities.

You had the Matt Stafford opportunity, which Detroit amazingly decided to comply. They decided to actually, you know, give in and give them a chance because they were going to start over and they were going to rebuild with a new organization. And Stafford was available. And Washington went for it, but they weren't able to close on him. Then the Deshawn Watson thing became a totally unique situation, never, never in history that we could remember, was a 25-year-old quarterback, not even in his prime yet, already at a franchise level, borderline elite moving in that direction, available via a trade with, by the way, a contract already in hand. Obviously, we know that that's not a situation that's even worth discussing right now because of everything

that's happened with Deshaunna Watson. And then the Aaron Rogers thing hits. Okay, he's older, but still Brady, by the way, you know, the general manager of the Bucks the other day, Jason Lick said he wouldn't be surprised if Brady plays until he's 50. And Brady said and sort of said very subtly that he can't really even begin to contemplate life without football. By the way, he strikes me as somebody who really would fear not having this anymore. But anyway, the Rogers thing, I don't want to trade Chase Young. I love Chase Young, but yeah, I would trace. But this all started that you would have drafted Justin Herbert, and I agree with you.

But I have Washington winning that home opener. Want to know. Okay. against the Chargers, and then they played the Giants the next week at home. A tough division game. I've got them winning that one, too. So now they're Tuesday night games. They're two and oh.

They got a chance to start two and oh. This is a third time, believe it or not, in seven seasons. Washington's had the benefit of two home games to start the season. They are one and three in their other four games. They drop both of them in 2016 and they split them in 2015. Then they're going to play at Buffalo. They're going to play another. New York team at Buffalo, that's a loss.

Okay, two and one. Okay. Then they played a Falcons away. Yep. Could be a team, but I got them winning that game. Oh, okay, three and one. How about James Winston and the Saints coming into town? The Saints coming into town without Drew Brees with an uncertain quarterback situation.

That's a win for Washington. Oh, four and one and a showdown with Patrick Mahomes coming to town. Four and one. All right, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in town Sunday, October 17. That's a loss. Four and two. Then they're at Green Bay. Are we assuming Rogers? Yes.

Okay. That's a loss. Four and three, though. Not bad. And then Halloween, 425 kick on Fox at Denver. That's a loss. Ooh. So you got them four and four going into their buy week. More importantly, on a three-game losing skid.

But they've got the week. to get healthy to rest, and they come back and they face Tom Brady and the Buccaneers on the 14th. That's a loss. Four and five. Now Ron Rivera returns to Carolina to face the Panthers, where Teddy Bridgewater yesterday said about his experience last year in Carolina. Matt Rul and Joe Brady, they don't practice end-of-game situations or two-minute drill very much. He was very critical of the coaching staff's preparation. So Washington has dropped four in a row.

They're four and five. They're at Carolina. That's a win. That's a win for Washington. Ron Rivera leaves Carolina victorious. All right. Back to 500. Five and five.

Last game in November, a Monday nighter at home against Seattle. That is a big L, a big loss. Five and six. Now, going into December, five and six, this is where Ron Rivera does his best coaching. His teams have always played great. going back to Carolina late in the season, similar to Joe Gibbs. Five and six, going to Vegas. Are we going to go to that game?

I'm up for it. Five and six. Do they beat the Raiders or not? That's a loss. Five and seven. All right, now we get to the five division games to end the season. First up the Cowboys on the 12th at five and seven. At home, that's a win for Washington. Yes.

Then they're at Philadelphia. maybe on Saturday, six days later, short rest, six and seven at Philly. That's a loss. Six and eight. Now they go to Dallas, probably on life support. Probably need to run the table, maybe, maybe to get the final seven seed as a wild card. At six and eight, they go to Dallas on Sunday, December 26th, day after Christmas, Sunday night game. What happens?

That's a loss. Oh, and they're probably eliminated right there. Six and nine. Philly at home on the second. They win that one. Seven and nine. But that's not going to mean anything to either of them. And then the Giants on January 9th

to finish up the season in the Meadowlands. Well, it's the Giants at the end of the year, so that's a loss. Seven and ten. So they matched their win total from last year. All right, should I do it? Yeah. Chargers lost. Giants win. They start out one and one. Buffalo loss, one and two. Atlanta loss one and three. New Orleans at home win two and three. Kansas City lost two and four. Green Bay lost two and five. Denver win three and five at the by week. They come back against Tampa Bay. They beat the Buccaneers at home to go to four and five. They win at Carolina. They even up their record at five and five. And then home and a big one against Seattle, they win to go to go.

go to six and five. They've won four in a row, and they're on fire. Then comes the December schedule. They lose in Vegas against the Raiders to fall to six and six, beat the Cowboys at home to be seven and six. That Philadelphia game, they win to get to eight and six, and they're in a first place tie at eight and six with the Cowboys as they go to Dallas for a Sunday night showdown looking for a sweep of the Cowboys in two weeks. They lose that game. Eight and seven. They beat Philly nine and seven. They go to New York needing to win to stay alive for a playoff birth.

But the Giants are also in the hunt for a playoff berth. And they lose to the New York Giants. And their season ends at nine and eight. Well, they're two better than the year before. Nine wins. Yeah, nine wins. You got them making progress. I got them making progress.

I have them totally in the hunt playing a game for first place in the division on the day after Christmas. How big would that be, though? I mean, if the Cowboys in the Redskins, if the Cowboys in Washington were both eight and six, it's Sunday night football, December 26th, holiday weekend, and you got a big showdown against the Cowboys. We've seen how big it can be huge. It can be huge. But, you know, this is building the right way. A couple of wins, you get better every year.

You know, two more wins, nine wins, that's progress. This is slowly getting better and building the right way. I really think the, and I, you know, all these, this exercise was lots of fun. Let me just tell you. I think the giants are better than people think. So do I. I really do. And I'm looking at their schedule right now just to see because they, did they get the fourth place schedule or did Philly?

I guess Philly got the fourth place schedule. You know, none of these schedules seems easy. I mean, like, you know, they have to play Miami as their 17th game, or, you know, as the added AFC game on the road. The dolphins are really good. They got to play Tampa on the road. They got to play the chiefs on the road. They got to play the chargers on the road, the bear.

They've got a brutal schedule, too. But I just think the Giants are better than people think they are. and that they, and I think Daniel Jones is going to end up being better than people think. Whatever. I agree. Okay. I did want to mention this one last thing about the NFL schedule overall, and I'll do that right after this word from one of our sponsors. So a couple more things just from the NFL schedule overall.

Immediately after the schedule came out and dates were put next to the games that we all knew were going to be played anyway. the demand for tickets, because I think people are starting to believe that when we get to September, that a lot of these places will be at full capacity or something resembling full capacity. I forget if you and I talked about this, I know Cooley and I talked about this, but just how in-demand the Vegas games are going to be, not only for their hometown fans, but for every road team. That's going to be... Oh, absolutely.

It's going to be a huge road trip for fans. It's going to be a massive road trip for fans. Because you don't even have to, you don't even have to be at the game. Exactly. If you're a fan. Because you want to be in town that weekend because it'll be filled with fans like you, rooting for your team, but you don't even have to have a ticket to the game. You just go watch it in a sports book.

Cool. Cooley said to me yesterday, he goes, are we going to go to the Vegas game? I said, yeah. And he said, but are we going to actually go to the game? And I said, of course not. Yeah. I mean, it's like, I mean, I've been to fights when I've been in Vegas, and I like going to fights, but many times, you know, we didn't go to the fight, even though we were out there for the fight weekend. And we used to do this thing many years ago with a group of us that used to go out to Vegas at least, I don't know, a half dozen times a year, seriously.

We used to do, you know, a week, a fall weekend, a fight weekend. and then, you know, one of either the opening round of the NCAA tournament or the Sweet 16 round or whatever, but we also did the Super Bowl in Vegas a lot. And we would always say, yeah, we're going to the Super Bowl this year. Oh, really? You're going to New Orleans? No, we're going to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl. Because it was just as fun, if not more fun, in Vegas for the Super Bowl as it was wherever the Super Bowl was being held.

So anyway, Tommy, vivid seats, you know, one of these ticket brokers, put out already the list of, the most in-demand games for 2021. The number one game is not a surprise. The Buccaneers and Tom Brady's return to New England on Sunday night football, October 3rd. The average ticket price right now is $1,370 just to get into the stadium. Wow. The next four in-demand games, Ravens at Raiders, Chiefs at Raiders, Bears at Raiders and Eagles at Raiders.

So there you go. The Raiders are the next four games on the list of the most in-demand tickets for Vegas trips, with, by the way, you know, passionate fan bases, right? Kansas City, Chicago, Philly, you know, the Ravens. And what'll happen here after a while? After the novelty for, you know, AFC West teams sort of wears off about, you know, it'll never wear off. But where it'll be most in demand is for the NFC teams that are only going to make a trip every eight years out to Vegas to play the Raiders. Yeah. And that's where you're going to see,

you know, outrageous prices. Like when they play NFC teams with large fan bases and big traveling fan bases, like imagine when they play the Packers. Imagine when the Raiders play the Packers, you know, in Vegas. Or the St. Steelers in Vegas. That's not an FD. Oh, my God, yeah. How expensive those prices will be. But anyway, there was that. Also, a couple of other things from the schedule that I wanted to point out. So there were a lot of odd things with the schedule. We've already gone over the oddity with Washington and their situation. How about this. Cleveland, the Cleveland Browns are going to face the Ravens in week 12th. Then they've got

a buy week, and then their next game after that is the game against the Ravens. They're going to play back-to-back games against a division rival without any games in between. Now, there is a buy week, but on Sunday, November 28th, they're at Baltimore, then they're by week, and then Sunday December 12th, they host Baltimore. That's almost like a two-game playoff series. It's weird, and it's only happened one time in the history of the league since the merger. And that happened in 1991 when the Seahawks, who were then in the AFC West, faced the chargers with a by-week in between back-to-back games.

The NFL's doing some weird things. You know, the Ravens actually have also one of those schedules that are backloaded with division games. Five out of their final seven are against division teams. So the NFL decided to backload a lot of teams' schedules with a lot of division games. And I will tell you this, there's only one reason the NFL does anything with this schedule. Only one reason. And that is television ratings, you know, aka revenue. They want to generate as much revenue for their network partners so that the next deal they do is even bigger.

So, you know, the networks are involved in a lot of this decision making. And so they, for whatever reason, there is a thought that backloading these schedules with all division matchups is going to pay off in December. You know, when by the way, the NFL has its biggest numbers typically because it gets cold and it's dark early. And, you know, you've got people that are much more. sort of hunkered down watching the NFL. Baltimore goes Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Green Bay, Cincinnati, Rams, Pittsburgh. I mean, they basically play one division game before the end of November. Washington only plays one division game before the second week in December.

It's crazy. Crazy stuff. I wanted to mention one other football team. related thing, Washington football team related things. So yesterday they signed this guy Charles Leno, left tackle, played for the Bears, was a pro bowler in 2018. He started a lot of games at left tackle. And a lot of people, you know, seem to be really excited. Wow, they have done a phenomenal job here in the off season. Right way. They're doing it the right way. Of addressing the left tackle situation. So a couple of thoughts. And then I want to get to the

wizards and the Nats to finish up. Number one is this. They drafted Sam Cosmy in the second round. I've already been told that there are people in that organization that believe Cosmi is going to step in and start almost asap, certainly if not right from the beginning, soon enough that he's that ready. Second thing is this, just because they signed this guy Leno to a one-year, $5 million deal, by the way, why did Chicago not want him anymore if he's so good? Well, they did draft Kevin Jenkins in the early portions of the draft. But remember last year when they signed Sean Davis, the defensive back out of Pittsburgh.

Sean Davis was penciled in by all of you as a starter at free safety next to Landon Collins. They gave them guaranteed money. They paid him, I think it was a one-year $4 million deal with $2 million guaranteed. Now, I have no idea what they've paid Leno so far and guaranteed money. I haven't seen that. But the deal was presented or reported as a one-year $5 million. deal. And all I'll tell you is that when we do this, we are way jumping the gun. Ron Rivera's already proven that he will cut a guy that he's given guaranteed money to that was penciled in

as a starter if somebody beats him out. Troy Apkey, I think, was probably the guy that beat out Sean Davis. Now, that's a little bit frightening, you know, in hindsight. But still, you know, Sean Davis is essentially Leno right now. You know, Penciled in as a starter by all the fans and all the media people, but I'm hearing that Cosmy, a lot of people love him. Now, we'll find out, you know, there's a whole summer to go, and there's camp this weekend, and there will be plenty of time. So that was one thought off of the signing of Leno. The second was this. They have now signed this guy Leno. They drafted Cosmy in the second round. They traded for Eric Flowers, who's going to play guard on this team. But what it says to me is they've added two tackles

to the mix with, you know, Christian, with Cornelius Lucas. Don't forget that he's there. It says to me that last year's fourth round selection, Sadiq Charles out of LSU, where we were told that he was a first round talent, but injuries and other red flags dropped him to the fourth round. But remember, they had a lot of discussion, a lot of fans had discussion, a lot of media members had discussion that Sadiq Charles was, you know, a friend of mine, Cole Kublaq, who works for SEC Network. I've got him on the radio show all the time. He's excellent. He said last year, that guy, if he can get his act together, that is a starting left tackle in the NFL. Well, adding Cosme and adding Leno to me says that Sadiq Charles is not the answer in their mind. If Sadiq Charles

was the answer at left tackle, they wouldn't have drafted one in the second round and they just paid five million bucks, not that it's a lot of money to this guy who is a former pro bowler in 2018. They either don't view Sadiq Charles as a tackle. They either don't view Cedic Charles as a player or they view him as a guard, is my guess. Because remember

Brandon Sheriff, very likely will be playing his last year in Washington. I don't see a long-term deal being done by July 15th with him. I think he wants to get to unrestricted free agency, and then the price for somebody like him will go super

high. By the way, as just a side note to this. If Washington, what did you have their record, you had them at 4 and 5 at some point? I have 4 and 1 at the beginning. Not 4 and 1.

And then 4, 2, 4, 3, 4, 4. I've got them 5. No, I've got them 5 and 5 at 1 point. You didn't have them 4 and 1 to start. Did you? Win, win, loss. Yeah, 4 and 1. Okay.

And then they lose their next two. Next four. What I was going to say is if for some reason you get to that trade deadline in October, end of October, and maybe with the 17-week season, I don't know when it is, maybe it's early November, Brandon Sheriff is going to be a hot commodity if Washington's not in the thick of a race. If they're not, you know, trending upward with a bad record or have a great record or in a terrible division where they can win it with a bad record, he's going to be a trade deadline move because that is one of those things potentially at the trade deadline,

a team that really is desperate for some interior offensive line help that is a contender. And by the way, I'm hopeful that Washington's a contender. You know, I had them, and what I just did, I had them on a bit of a mid-season role there. Yes. And in the hunt. But if they're not, they could really, what they should be thinking, just like they should have been thinking and they should have done it with Trent Williams with the Cleveland Browns, when the Browns came with a first round offer for him.

They should not mess around with letting Brandon Sheriff walk for a compensatory pick at the end of this year. If they can strike with a really good package for, by the way, a guy who is coming off an all-pro season, the first all-pro season for this franchise since Matt Turk, Matt Turk, whoever the punter was, had the all-pro season in 96. They should be thinking aggressively. By the way, if Eric Flowers and Schweitzer and some of these guys and Sadiq Charles ends up being a guard and they can move them before the season, I don't want them to move to Brandon Sheriff because I think Brandon Sheriff is their best linemen.

Don't get me wrong. I think he's a really good player. But I also don't think he's going to be here more likely than not in 20. 2020 in 2020. And if they feel that way also, you know, they and they all the sudden, you know, traded for Eric Flowers and maybe Sadiq Charles with the signing of Leno now as more of a guard, you know, West Martin and Schweitzer. Maybe they feel they could go into this year and be okay at guard and move sheriff for a big time pick in 2022. Now, somebody's going to have to be convinced that they can sign them to a long-term deal before they trade too much. That's the

problem with the trade. But anyway, let's finish up when we come back from this break with a little bit on the Wizards and a little bit on the Nats. The Wizards lost a second game in a row last night to the Hawks. I'll just say this about the game. If they had Bradley Beale, they would have won the game. I thought Scott Brooks made a major mistake leaving Alex Lenn. in the game down the stretch instead of putting... You think? Instead of putting Gafford back into the game. He was, apparently, he was tired.

Yeah, I saw that. It was fatigue. You know, and I get that. It's hard being an NBA player. It can be tiring. You know how many minutes he played in the game? 17. 17 minutes.

I know. He had 16 points in 17 minutes. This guy is so productive, and he was so good last night when they built the lead in the third quarter. So why wouldn't he? have played them. And getting arrests to begin, you know, you know, sometime in the fourth quarter is fine. To rest them for seven minutes was, didn't make any sense. Len was really, you know, look, Len's not a terrible player. Len, to me, out of their three-headed center is actually the third best. Gafford's the best. Lopez is really effective at times. I actually like Lopez a lot. And Len has had some really good

moments. Len just, you know, totally missed on a couple of offensive tips and putbacks and rebounds that Gafford would have absolutely hammered on somebody's head because that's what he does. And I just didn't understand why Gafford sat for that long as Atlanta came back and then took the lead. It didn't make any sense to me. I was screaming as I was watching the game, get Gafford back in the game. And Lenn, you know, Lens a decent player.

Like he's a decent player. Gafford is a difference maker right now for them. If he can't play 30 minutes a game, okay, if he wants to continue with this three-headed center, but you go with the hot hand. Gafford had 14 of his 16 in the third quarter. He had the hot hand. I didn't understand that. Lastly, real quickly, I know that there were some complaints about the Bertans three that it came too early when they were down 119, 116.

I actually really disagree. I thought it was one of the best set plays that I've seen out of a timeout. out in a clutch situation that I've seen them run in a while. The ball came into Bertons. It went right back to Westbrook and then Len set a really good screen to free Bertons up to shoot a three. Was it contested a little bit at the last second on the closeout by Hurtor a little bit, but that's a really good look for your best shooter, who at the time was four for nine, and he's been hot recently.

So I didn't have a problem with that at all. In fact, I was really impressed that they had a plan coming out of the timeout. Because most of the time, there isn't any sort of set play or a plan. It's get the ball to one of your playmakers and let them make a play. And I didn't mind that. Now, the Wizards, you know, the thing that sucks is the Beal injury cost them these two games because I think they would have won both, if not one of them, certainly one of them with Beal. and so now the prospects of them getting into that eight position

and being in the double elimination playing position much longer. They're a game and a half behind Indiana, a game and a half behind Charlotte for the eighth spot. It can still happen. You know, if they win their final two, Charlotte's got a really difficult final couple of games. But more likely than not,

they're going to be in that 10 spot, and they're going to have to win two games to get into a best of seven, and they're going to have to beat either Indiana or Charlotte to begin with, and then they're going to have to beat either Boston who stinks right now or the Charlotte Indiana winner in the second game. But they'll have to win two in a row. Let me pose to you real quick, the scenario here. Okay.

There's been speculation that Scott Brooks has a playoffs or you're gone mandate. Is that play-in round or is that the actual playoffs? I don't know. Okay. I don't know exactly what it is, but let's say under any conditions, it's, it's, you're in the playoffs or you're gone. What's better for this organization moving forward? I hate to do this to you because you get upset when I do this to you, but I need to know

what the potential solutions are. I need to know who is out there. And I don't have a sense of who's out there right now, in part, Tommy, because I think he's coming back. And I think he's coming back too. But I'll guarantee you that Tommy Shepard has had a list that he's carried around for quite a while in his wallet of the five coaches he'd like to hire if he had a chance. I'll bet you Tommy Shepard knows he's out there, obviously, and has guys that he would

want. He inherited Scott Brooks. And I just think that the best thing for this organization, if it's the playoffs or mandate, they need to bust. I know that that is definitely the feeling of a lot of fans. And you know, I've said this to you for many years. I don't consider Scott Brooks to be a very good

exes and O's kind of a coach going back to Oklahoma City. I do, I've come to understand that he does some of the other things that are really important for an NBA coach, like really get along with his players, like really manage. the players. And by the way, I think Tommy Shepard's done a phenomenal job of putting higher quality players in terms of their personalities into the organization than Ernie did. There's no doubt about that. You know, there's been a real emphasis on character, on work ethic, on leadership,

the whole thing, and making sure that your best players like Beelen Westbrook are also, you know, great example setters, unlike some of the other, you know, best players of the past. I just think that Russ is going to want Scott Brooks. Yes. And I think he's, Scott is Russ's guy. He's made that clear. And it wouldn't.

Russ said he, he gets me. He lets me be me. And it wouldn't surprise me if Beal is okay with Brooks coming back also. Yeah. I don't. I mean, I,

God, you know, like Randy Witt. Whitman to me was a guy that really knew what he was doing, but apparently the players didn't love him. I know. Thibito's a guy that I think really knows what he's doing, and he's proving it in New York, but he's also a guy apparently that's got a real shelf life to him. Like, eventually it's too much. You know, it's too bad a guy like Spolstra, who's brilliant, you know, isn't here.

You know, like there are so many guys that are really good, and they haven't had any, they haven't had the combination of the really good. X's and O's, and the really good people person manager. I don't know what to tell you in terms of who the list of guys are that are going to be available, but part of me hasn't even thought about it because I believe that Russ, they're going to run this back because they'll think that the last month proves that they can win 45 to 50 games next year be a top three or four seed in the east. Okay. One last thing real quick. Yeah.

My preakness, my preakness trifecta. Medina Spirit, the cheating horse. Is Baffir de Chaucer? Is Baffer to Teter? Apparently. Concertor, 9 to 1 favorite is 9 to 1 odds on him. And the moneymaker is a 30 to 1 long shot. Franz Go de Iena.

Okay. 30 to one long shot. Put him in your try. Bet them to, bet him to show separately. Is there anyway? He's a Japanese horse who threw his jockey off the, off the, off the mount this morning,

but I still like, I like his jockey. I like Jose Rosaria. What are the odds of Brad Hand's next game having another blown save? I mean, seriously. You know, we're slowly getting to. that 19 and 31 record.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. How many games back were they when they were 19 and 31? I don't remember. I don't know. I'd have to research it. Put your staff on it. The Mets are rolling right now.

I think they've won seven in a row. Yeah. And the Nats, I think they might have the worst record in the National League right now. Hold on. No, the Colorado Rockies have the worst record. The Nats have the second worst record, though, in the National League. They've lost four in a row. They're 13 and 19 after they lost a 2-1 lead in the ninth last night.

And then watch Bryce Harper, who's killed him in these first two games, lead off the 10th with a single, which ended up being a three-run 10th. They've lost four in a row. And they get the Phillies again this afternoon. So that's the good news. They get another shot at the Phillies this afternoon. And, you know, I think Patrick Corbyn's pitching. And he's pitched pretty well as of late, I think.

You know who's pitched well is Lester. Lester speaks. Yes, he has. Yeah. But after the, Corbin's pitch much better, right after that disastrous start when he got, I mean, I think his ERA at one point was over 20. Remember, like early in the season? Yeah. So, you're not, I mean, it's too early to be concerned about the Nats.

Yes, it is. Okay. Do you have a prediction on the caps? They open up their series on Saturday night against Boston. No. I have no. I tell you what. Against Boston, they're going to lose.

They're going to lose the series. Okay. That was great insight. Appreciate that. You know what? Let's hear your insight. Well, I'm not going to give my insight, but what I will do is I will effort to get somebody on the show tomorrow to share true expert insight. into this series. I love hockey playoffs. I think they're so exciting.

And, oh, you know, the other thing I was thinking about Tommy as we end this show today, do you know it's like the NFL had the schedule release later than normal? We're now three months away from the first preseason game. But what's really going to be different about the next couple of months is that typically we would be approaching that time of the year where the NHL would be moving towards their Stanley Cup final. the NBA would be, you know, moving towards their NBA conference finals and finals. The NBA and the NHL playoffs are going to be going on in July. Yes.

You know, so when, you know, and I love the NBA playoffs, and I like the NHL playoffs as well. So we're really not going to have a down period. And I say that because, you know, for June, July, August, it's all baseball pretty much. but here we're essentially going to get into July with championship level games in two major sports and then when it's over, we're going to be a couple of weeks away from training camp. There you go. I'm done with you.

Are you done with me? I'm done with you. All right. Everybody enjoy the day back tomorrow.