The Kevin Sheehan Show - DL Coach Fired + Roquan Smith?

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

Kevin and Thom today talked both the firing of Sam Mills III as the Commanders' D-Line coach and the potential availability of Bears' LB Roquan Smith. Before they got to that however, they talked Bumstock, Hamilton, a Borgota win streak, Stranger Things, Belfast, and more. The guys also weighed in on the latest on Kevin Durant and Brooklyn and Serena Williams.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I'm here. Tommy is here. There is breaking Washington commanders news.

They have fired Sam Mills, the defensive line coach, which would not have been a surprise two years ago, even less of a surprise a year ago, and even less of a surprise than that a few months ago. but they just did it today. So I've got more on that coming up here shortly. Tommy, how are you? I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever.

I know. I know. It's been a while. It's just, you know, the August in particular, you know, it's been kind of crazy for me, vacation, flying across the country to bring my granddaughter back. And it's been crazy. And you took a vacation as well, right?

Yeah, I mean, I took, I took. two days, I took four days off from radio, Thursday, Friday, and then Monday and today. I'll be back on radio tomorrow. I've got more vacation at the end of the month that I'm going to use up right before Labor Day, and then that'll be it. But yeah, no, this is like what it is every year for us. I mean, in August. Now, what I did last week, and I want to just remind everybody, I pre-recorded a couple of interviews. I did an interview with this guy, Ronnie Watts. Do you know that name, Ronnie Watts, or not? No. Ronnie Watts was one of Bill Russell's lifelong best friends. And he is born and raised in D.C., went to Wilson, then played basketball at Wake Forest, then got drafted by the Celtics,

and played for the Celtics for two seasons during the height of the Russell, you know, Sam Jones, Casey Jones, John Havlachack championship run. He did not get much time at all on any of those teams. But it was a relationship that developed. And when Russell became a player coach, it is said, at least Ronnie Watts claims that he was kind of Russell's key assistant. And then the two of them did a commercial together in the 70s. It was an AT&T commercial where Russell was asked to do the commercial and pick somebody to do the commercial with.

And he picked Ronnie Watts. And it's about old friends connecting and staying connected kind of a thing. But anyway, he was, I really enjoyed that conversation. And then I also recorded an interview that ran on Thursday, I believe. And you guys can go back and find these. in the last week's episodes with Jason Reed, who wrote a book on the rise of the black quarterback and what it means for America.

And that was a really interesting conversation. I wish Jason the best with his book. You know, this is right now, as he, you know, talked about, I mean, we have, I think, 13, 12 to 13 starting quarterbacks in the NFL that are either black or biracial. And, you know, five of the top 10, at that position in the league are black players or biracial players. And it will soon be a sixth out of ten when Lamar Jackson eventually signs a big deal.

But we went back, Tommy, because I'm interested in this topic because I remember, as you know, as a child of the 70s, I remember very, very clearly, you know, James Harris and Jefferson Street, Joe Gillum, and all of the, you know, incredible story. lines around the black quarterbacks that got starts during the 70s, and then Doug Williams being the first quarterback to be drafted in the first round and by a southern team, you know, really the first quarterback to start, black quarterback to start for a southern team. And Jason had some incredible stories about Joe Gibbs and Doug Williams, one of which I had not heard before. And I'm wondering if you've heard this story about how Joe Gibbs on the Tampa Bay staff,

John McKay's staff as his offensive coordinator in 1977-78, before he went to the Chargers to work with Coriel. If you knew that it was Gibbs that convinced the Tampa Bay organization to draft Doug Williams. Well, I knew they were close. I think at one point, Williams lived with Gibbs, actually, at one point down there. I mean, they were very close. I don't know if I knew enough to say that Joe Gibbs was the one who talked them into drafting him now. Joe Gibbs

was sent down to grambling to work out Doug Williams and to make, you know, a, you know, to come to a conclusion on what the team should do, to give John McKay and management a recommendation. And Gibbs came back and said,

he's it, you've got to take him. He's the real deal. And the thought of taking him number one overall was not something that they wanted to risk. So they traded back and ended up taking them, I think 17th overall in the first round of the 1978 NFL draft. But it was Gibbs who said that. And he had other Gibbs stories.

I would urge everybody to go back and listen to it. Other Gibbs Williams stories, some of which we've heard before, you know, about when he was going to trade him before, you know, before the 87 season and told Doug, hey, I'm trading you to the Raiders. And then Gibbs went home, slept on it and changed his mind and came back the next morning and told Doug, I've decided not to trade you. And Doug was really, really upset about it. As mad as he's ever been at Gibbs, and Gibbs said, look, it's my decision. And I think I'm going to need you. And I think there's going to be a point in this season where the team's going to really need you.

And I need you on this team as the backup quarterback. And of course, the rest is history. You know, he comes in late in the year, starts at Minnesota, starts all. all the playoff games and becomes the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Anyway, Jason was really good. I hope the book does well. How are you doing? I'm doing great. I'm back home from the 27th annual Bumstock. I saw one of the pictures you saw. Yeah. Yeah, a picture of me and Bobby Gordon, a guy I'd known for 57 years. There's so many of them like that.

I mean, these are people who knew me when I was 12 years old, you know, and growing up. And it was a great turnout. It was great to see everybody. We didn't have it in 2020 and 2020, 2021. So people were very excited about this. And it was a good time. It's obviously not the same party that we used to have. But we did okay.

You know, there were no ambulances, okay? There was no need for a defib machine. No, no, there was no call for an ambulance. You know, that's kind of funny. You know, I have been one of those fathers that's done Beach Week, you know, with, you know, graduating high school seniors, which, you know, when I was a high school senior, Beach Week was, see you mom, see a dad. I'll be home in a week. I mean, there were no chaperones. There was nobody there to watch over what was going on, but it's a different time now.

And, you know, by the time I got to my second and third of my three boys, I would tell the inexperienced parents, look, there are two goals here, all right? Nobody ends up in the hospital and nobody ends up in a police station. That's it. Everything else, just understand it's all going to happen. And I think that's probably what bumstocks become. Just make sure nobody ends up in the emergency room. Yeah. Well, it used to be that way, too, but for different reasons. Of course. I mean, in the early days, it used to be that way. I can remember one time driving a truck. I wasn't driving. I was riding it. The other guy was driving his truck up a hill on the farm, and it was, you know, middle of the night and didn't see a big rock

in the middle of the farm and then crashed his truck into this rock. So there have been moments like that. Right. But, you know, people pretty much just arrive, sit still for six hours and then leave. Yeah, at this point, bumstock, nobody's going to end up in the emergency room because they got into a brawl. Not at this point. No. You're going to try to avoid those.

All right. I've got a lot to talk to you about because I had quite a couple of days off. I moved my son up to New York, which was the reason that I took the days off to begin with. He moved up to Manhattan, and I moved up with him and moved him in, helped move him in. But I've got some stories from that. But I want to start the show by reminding everybody to rate us and review us if you haven't done that. That's really, really big for us, especially this time of years. We're heading into football season. Five-star ratings and a quick one to two sentence review on Apple, Spotify, wherever you can rate and review a podcast really helps us. And I found this review, first of all, a five-star rating in review from Aaron. Thank you, Aaron. By the way, that's Aaron with an E. So I think that means Aaron is a woman, right? Aaron with an E is female.

Aaron with an A is male. Is that true? I don't know how that one works. I wouldn't presume that's a reasonable conclusion, but I really wouldn't presume anything. Aaron Rogers, A, you know, A-A-A-R-R-N, Aaron Judge A, Aaron Brockovich, E-R-I-N, what are other female, Aaron Andrews? Yes. She's an E. I think I might have that right, but you're, you know what?

I think my sense is that this Aaron, because I'm going to read this email and you can come to a conclusion at the end, but I think it's Madam Aaron who is writing this review for us. And I want to read it because I thought it was kind of interesting. It was very nice, too. Kevin, I have a question for you and Tom. We don't rarely get questions. We usually just get nice things said or not so nice things said, which we've gotten some of those as well. Kevin, I have a question for you and Tom. But first, I've been listening to you going back to the early days of Tony Kornheiser's show.

I, by the way, wasn't a part of Tony Kornhizer's early radio show career. I was part of the second iteration of Tony's radio career. He was on ESPN Radio with Andy for years on a national syndicated radio show, on ESPN Radio. It was on ESPN Radio in the early days of ESPN Radio. when he came back after Monday night football to do local radio at 980, that's when I became a part of his show. And it was kind of by accident. I just happened to have been doing updates during his show.

But anyway, going back to the early days of Tony Cornheiser's show, I've always enjoyed the way you have worked with all of your co-hosts and guests. Well, that's very nice. I'm a big Washington football fan, so you and Cooley together was all-time incredible for fans of the team. But there's no comparison to the chemistry you have with Tom. But why? Question mark, question mark, question mark.

I guess the odd couple, Aaron writes, I guess the odd couple thing is a part of it. But that doesn't explain the ability to do what you both have done together for so long without it getting old and stale. I would love to hear you both explain why you think together there is so much chemistry. What is chemistry? That was her final question. That's a really good question. I think most people would say it's always been kind of the odd couple thing. You know, that's what I think most people.

That's the easy answer to it. I don't know that I have an easy answer to it. Do you? No, there's no particularly easy answer other than the fact, other than it's me, you know, that that has a lot to do with it. What is that? What does that mean? You mean you carry it?

I mean, pretty much so, right? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, you pretty much carry it. Okay. No, seriously. No, I mean, that... I can... People ask us this all the time.

People ask us if we like each other all the time. Well, of course it will, so go ahead. We like each other. Huh? We like each other. Yes, we like each other very much, okay. But I, and this is going to sound obnoxious, I think there is a level of intelligence.

between the two of us that allows us to walk through the minefields that come up every now and then. But that doesn't, that's not a chemistry thing. Oh, I think it is. I think it is. I mean, if one of us was dumb, we'd be badger and the dumb guy all the time. You know? But I don't know that that speaks to chemistry because dumb people can have chemistry with one another. People who are... Yes, they can. Yeah. But if you've got, if you have one smart guy and one dumb

guy, you got to happen to Costello. Okay. Yeah. I think chemistry is, I don't know what it is. I think there is, when you see it, and I'm not saying that we have it, by the way, that's very nice, Aaron, very nice email. And by the way, write us back to let us know if you're male or female. I actually think the question strikes me, well, this is going to sound. I have no idea. Aaron with any more likely than not female. That's my guess. I think when I think about chemistry between, you know, if we watch a show or, you know, a movie and there's chemistry between actors or chemistry between people on, you know, I'll tell you what, like here's a, Scott and Stanford Steve have great chemistry together on Scott's Sports Center.

There's a real chemistry, but I think what it is, I think it's sort of your ability to be totally yourself and totally comfortable around that person. I think that's what leads to an easy watch, an easy listen is when, well I don't know what it is you know people have asked me many times like is radio or is doing what we do hard and it's like no it's not hard but it's like anything else

it takes a lot of reps and then you know as far as talk shows you really do want to end up and hopefully you end up with somebody that you are comfortable with and that to me kind of means chemistry because you and I have both

been on the air doing shows with people where it's a grunt where it's work. And I think maybe what chemistry is is when you can do something, whatever it is, and it could be at work as a sales team, or it could be at work in an HR department, or it could be it, you know, whatever.

It's when you can do it, and it comes naturally, you can be yourself, and it doesn't seem like you have to try that hard. In order to be yourself, though, with thousands and thousands of people listening, you have to have a certain level of confidence in yourself and fearlessness. Yeah. Yep. And I don't think either of us, I won't speak for you,

but I don't fear being judged by people who listen to the show. But you get upset when you're judged. You may not fear it, but you certainly react to it. Well, that's me I react to, but that's what. I mean, that doesn't stop me from being who I am when I'm on the show with you. I don't know. You know, as you're saying that, I actually, I think the last couple of years is definitely the hardest it's been to do what we do. And there are probably thousands of people in lots of different jobs that could say the same thing.

because there is a bit more of self-preservation present. I'd be lying to you if I told you that over the last couple of years, there aren't times where I definitely, you know, not a lot of times, you know, especially, certainly not when we're talking about sports specifically. But there is, you know, a governor where maybe beforehand there wasn't. But that's because I know what the consequences could be potentially by, you know, pissing half your audience off or pissing half of the management team off, you know. And right now, even though this is a cell phone podcast, I still have, you know, a major employer in my radio job.

So I would say that about me. I'm not going to say that about you, but that's for you to answer. I mean, you see, you can't, I mean, you're right in the sense. You can't ignore the consequences. But at this point in my life, I'm beyond those consequences. What can they, what could they do to me, Kevin? No, I hear you. But at the same time, you, well, exactly what could they do?

Could they fire you from a paper that you can barely even read online from a website? from a website that's just awful. Don't be smart. You see, this is one of those mindsfields I just talked about. No, that's not a minefield. It's, by the way, it's subscription only now. The Times is subscription only. As well, it should, as well it should be.

You should pay for content. Yeah. You cheap skate? Well, why would I pay for that kind of content when I can get it from you for free? Okay. kind of for fun. I mean, that's really, I mean, like, if I did something that put my job status in jeopardy

and I were to lose my job tomorrow, so why? Yeah, I know. I'd be fine. I know. I don't. But you see, I've reached that age. I've reached that age. I'm past the finish line.

I used to say, like, I just want to get to the finish line, you know. Now everything here is pretty much gravy for me. I know, but as you're talking, it's like you said something, you said there's a fearlessness that we both have. And I do feel that way in a lot of things in life that I've never been overly afraid of much. But I just described to you basically being afraid. It's not that I'm, well, it is. I have definitely over the last couple of years understood the landscape and I like what I do. and I like, you know, what it provides.

And I'm not at that. And yet there are people who, you know, and this is to me the real definition of somebody who is fearless. And that is when there is everything to risk and they do it anyway. And they go for it anyway. And there have been many people who have done that and have come out the other side looking much better for it. But in many cases, it ends up being their democracy. eyes too. But anyway, what else? I wanted to tell you about my trip. Can I tell you about my trip

real quickly? Okay. You're going to tell about your trip, buddy. I'm going to tell you about my trip, because I think there are a couple things. Well, before I tell you about my trip, I am now through three seasons of stranger things. Three. So this time last week, I told you that I just completed season number one on a binge. I'm now through all the first three seasons. So now I'm kind of caught up with a lot of people who have yet to watch season four. You have watched season four, correct or not? I forget. Yes, I have.

I have watched season four. It's such a good show. I was not, I didn't think season three was great. I thought season one and season two were really good. I thought season three was just okay, but I think the finale, the final episode in season three, was spectacular. and was so well done on so many levels. And please, I'm going to give a spoiler alert right now. So if you haven't watched Stranger Things or you have,

but you haven't gotten through the season three finale, then just fast forward maybe 30 seconds. But I've given you that spoiler alert. But I just want to ask you, Tommy, my favorite character on this show by far is Hopper. I got to think that he's coming back for season four somehow, some way. You know, I hate to, I don't want to disappoint you. Okay, don't tell me.

I don't want to know now. Okay. I'm going to get to season four here shortly. This is August. I have a chance to catch up. I love this show, though. I think it's really well done. Was there, out of the four seasons, was there a, were any of the four seasons disappointing to you or not?

No. No, not really. And season four, I liked a lot more than my wife did, because I think she just got tired of it. You know, but, no, I wouldn't say disappointed. I got to tell you, I was surprised when it first started that I liked it. Well, I know we talked about this last week. It's the same way you would feel if you watched Game of Thrones.

No, it's not. Yeah, it's the exact same way. It's not. Yeah, no, it is. No, it's not. It is. So let me tell you about my trip last week. So I took my son up to New York, helped him move into his place in New York. And then on Thursday night, on Thursday night, we had pretty much moved him in, made a trip to IKEA, which I said to him, just order what you need online and make sure you get delivery and assembly, please.

But he didn't want to do that. So we went. to IKEA and we loaded up the vehicle and we brought some stuff back. IKEA? Oh, IKEA down here, not up in New York. No, IKEA up in New York. We went to an IKEA in Brooklyn, actually. And then brought the stuff back, put it in his place. And I just said, you know, it was Thursday and he was heading with friends to the beach from there.

And he said, I'm not going to have time to put it together. And I said, well, if you think I'm staying here in putting this stuff together on your own, you're out of your mind. And I said, you'll just have to do it when you get back. And he said, fine. So my oldest son, who lives in L.A., lives and works in L.A., the company that he works for is actually based in Syracuse. And so he had called to say, why don't you stay in New York? I'll catch a flight from Syracuse because I'm done on Thursday late afternoon.

I'll come down and we can go out to dinner. And I said, perfect. And then I was going to stay in the city. And then hang out, I love New York, and I don't get up there nearly as much as I used to. And obviously, in the last few years, not much at all. So I said, what time are you getting in? And he said, the plane lands at 8.50. So we got to make dinner reservations for like 9.30 or something.

Which is kind of late for me. But what I decided, I'm like, fine. Let's make dinner reservations for 10. And I'm going to go see a show. I had not seen Hamilton. and so I went and saw Hamilton up in New York. Have you seen it or not? I'm going to see it in October at the hippodrome in Baltimore.

Oh, okay. I think it's also at the Kennedy Center. Yeah, but I mean, I'm going with my son and some friends who live up around Baltimore. So I'm going and we got tickets in October to see it there. All right. So, you know, people have raved about it for several years now. had not seen it. I went in, by the way, one, there was one, a few tickets left, one in the orchestra. It was a great seat, but it was pricey. It was real pricey, but I did it anyway. And I will just tell

you, average. That's my opinion. And I love really good shows, but I thought it was just okay. In fact, it was between that and going to see the Book of Mormon, which I haven't seen. And I had a friend of mine who I trust very well said you should have gone and seen Book of the Book of Mormon I agree with you Hamilton's average but you would have loved the Book of Mormon but Hamilton was average anyway as I was getting sitting down on my seat my son calls and tells me that his flight is canceled so there was no there was no dinner afterwards I stayed in New York hung out in New York and then my father-in-law is down in in Jersey and I went down and spent part of Friday with him and then came the interesting part of

part of the trip. My plan was to just then get in the car and come home, but my GPS said four hours and 54 minutes from where I was in Jersey in Monmouth County. If anybody's familiar with like Spring Lake and Avon and Belmar, that's that's the area that I was in. And I guess it was beach traffic, whatever it was. Apparently there was horrible weather. But I decided then just to check how long of a trip it was from where I was to the Borgata. And it was only an hour in two minutes to the Borgata. So four hours, 54 minutes, an hour and two minutes, I chose the shorter trip and just thought, well, I'll go to the Borgata, I'll hang out for a while.

And then once the traffic clears, I'll head home late Friday night. well I'm not going to tell you what my marker was for and how much money I took out at the blackjack table which is where I started and by the way where I ended but I will just tell you that on five different occasions I was down to basically my final bet over like the first two or three hours I was playing I was playing at a table where there were a couple of other guys there we ended up it ended up being five of us nobody was with actually one dude was with a friend of his but we all were there at the same table for I think when all was said and done close to five hours um but for on five four to five different occasions I was basically you know I you know I just said all right it shoved it all in you know had a couple whatever I had left put it in and just said this is it and then I'm going to go home after this

and then each time it was like I get blackjack or I get you know one time of course I get the hand where I got two threes against a six which you know I got to split them and then I got an eight and I had to double down and I had then I had to take out another marker for more money so I could make sure to double down on 11 against a six and then the second three a seven came up had to double down on that soon now I had more money that I really wanted to lose on on Friday. night, you know, out there. But this happened like five times and I kept winning that final hand. And then the last time it happened, I won the hand and proceeded to win. This is a rough estimate. I think 18 of like the next 19 hands. And half of them were like double down opportunities or blackjack. It was for those of you that love cards and love playing, you know,

cards in a casino, blackjack in a casino. It was one of those runs. Everybody's had them. And it just, nothing can go wrong. And in fact, I think the one hand I lost was like the lowest bet I had put out there during the whole run. I won not only everything back that I had lost the previous four and a half hours, but got up a bunch of money. And what I did, and I would not have done this had I been with friends in a casino where we would have then just gone. to, you know, the dice table or we would have stayed there and I would have lost all of it back or whatever, it would have lost all of it back the next day. I got up, colored up, said, thank you very much, tip the dealer, and came home, which is so, for me over the years, unusual.

That's the key, you know, if you can leave when you're up or leave when you're even, because going to a casino and breaking even is basically winning. But if you can leave, leave in that moment, well, you know, good on you. And so it was good on me at that point. Now, I didn't really have a lot of options. I had asked them at one point, you know, do you have any rooms? They said, no, we're fully booked. And she came back. The casino host came back and said, Kevin, because I've played a lot at the Borgata and various places that are affiliated with the Borgata. So they're familiar with me in the Borgata. Not that I had been there because I hadn't been there. don't think in a couple of years. Actually, that's not true. I was there like maybe a year and a half

ago, year ago. But they came back and they said, look, we do have a room if you want to stay the night. And I was thinking about it because it was late at this point. It was 11 o'clock. I mean, I'm in bed by 11. And I just said, no, because that would have meant I would have stayed, I would have given it all back, or I would have gone to bed, gotten up the next morning, and given it all back. So I got in the car and drove home a winner, a winner, at least that time. Doesn't always happen, but man, Tommy, Tommy, I'm telling you, this is an estimate, but there was a stretch of like 20 minutes, 20 to 25 minutes, I didn't lose a hand. It was like 18 out of 19, something like that. One hand I lost. God, that's so much fun.

So when you get home, the next morning, you come down for breakfast. and share your joy with your wife? Yeah, I told her. I mean, when I told her, I said, I just got, I just, you know, because I left her father and I just said, she said, are you coming home? I said, yeah, I'm coming home.

And then I called her back and I said, four hours and 54 minutes, according to GPS. For a trip time, it's usually just over three hours. And she said, the weather's terrible down here. And that gave me kind of the end to say, all right, let me get back to you on this. And she said, what do you mean?

get back to me. I just want to check one thing. And so, you know, right down the Garden State Parkway, uh, to the Atlantic City expressway, uh, and in. And, and it was, uh, yeah, I think I got there like six left at 11 and was home by, I mean, I made at that point and by the way, loaded up on coffee at that point. I had to. Um, I think I made it home from that there in like two hours and 40, five minutes, because there was no traffic at that point. Right. It may have been less than that. I don't know what it was.

But that was my weekend. Stranger Things, Borgata, Hamilton, and, oh, I made one other note. Did you see the movie Belfast? Yes. Did you like it? Yes, I did. Kevin Brannar. Briner is the one who directed it.

Okay. Yeah. Oh, yeah, I don't know who directed it. But I watched that the other night, and I thought it was really good. And I would recommend that to anybody. Absolutely. She, by the way, she's Irish, too. She is beautiful.

She was in that movie Ford versus Ferrari. I don't know if you saw that movie. Which I haven't seen that yet. I think I liked that movie. A lot of people I know liked it. Christian Bale was great. Playing, you know. Great in everything.

He plays, it's a true story, the Ford versus Ferrari, you know, story. Right. And he plays that race car driver, you know, the Irish race car driver that raced for Ford in the 24 hours of Lamonts. God, his name. is escaping me. Oh, Ken Ken Miles. And the woman who plays his wife in Ford versus Ferrari

is the woman who plays the key character in Belfast. And she's... I don't know, I'm going to look up her name right now. Hold on. So Kevin had a weekend where he was in New York, went to a Broadway show,

went to a casino, and won pocketfuls of money, Not pocketfuls. And I had a weekend where I went to a senior citizen ticket. Well, I guess, you know, let's reconvene in 20 years, 10 to 15 years, and I'll be right there with you. I don't know if mine will be bumstock, and I damn well guarantee you, I won't be wearing some hat with a Budweiser can on the top of it. Let's talk some sports in the breaking commanders news when we come back. back right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

So there was breaking news right before we began recording the podcast today, breaking Washington commanders news. And that breaking commanders news is that defensive line coach Sam Mills was fired today. I have been talking about the disconnect between defensive line coach Sam Mills and his players, the defensive lineman since 2020. Okay, I mentioned on this very podcast and on the radio show that I had someone, it's completely in the know, that told me that Matt Ionitis had gotten so frustrated that he asked for a trade at one point, that there was major, major problems with Sam Mills

among the defensive line. Now, the performance in 2020 as we got to the end of the season was really good. and the players seemed to really, for whatever reason, you know, they overcame. Maybe it was one of those situations where it was a new way of coaching and a guy they had to get used to. But eventually they figured it out and they were pretty good at the end of the year. But we all know the quarterbacks they faced and the teams they were facing at the end of the year. And then last year, obviously defensively and the D-line as well underperformed. This is not surprising to anybody that has inside information.

and receives inside information on this football team. We've known about the Sam Mills problem for a while now. What's strange about it is the timing. Why Sam Mills got fired today instead of when the season ended and Ron could have gone out and hired somebody to replace him then. Something must have happened here in the last couple of days. Jeff Zanina, who was part of the time. of that coaching group was elevated to D-Line coach.

I know, and I talked to somebody right before this podcast began, they like Coach Z, as they refer to him a lot. He's very well respected. He's very well-liked. He's also very close with Warren Sapp. And if you remember... Warren Sapp is at camp today. He's at camp today, and he's been at camp previously.

Yes. So, now, I don't know if that means Warren Sapp. on the verge of being hired, Ryan Carrigan's been around as well. But Zanina is the one that's elevated into the Mills position. But this is not a surprise. If you're a fan of the team, I wouldn't be that upset about it.

Apparently it's been something that's been requested and asked for and suggested many times over the two plus years that Rivera's been here. But the timing of it, Tommy, is weird. The timing of it, again, speaks to an organization that can't get out of its own way. I mean, like, if you fired him at the end of last season, you have a whole offseason, then to interview and look for a new defensive line coach. You know, to fire a coach in the middle of training camp does not speak well for the organization

in any organization. Okay, and we don't know what happened if there was a particular incident. Sam Mills was in Canton this weekend to watch his late father be inducted in the Pro Football Hall fame, and he comes back and he's out of a job. Are the two connected through some bizarre way? Did he take too much time off? Did they tell him, we need you here to coach, you know? Who knows what happened?

But it's a very bizarre to happen in training camp like this. And again, not good for the level of competency in the organization. I mean, you know, we're surprised that he was hung on this long. Yeah, and, you know, he's part of the Carolina Mafia. You know, he's part of Ron's Carolina Panther Mafia group. And now I think there's just there are two that are no longer with the team. I mean, Ryan Vermillion was chased out of the building by the, the DEA last October.

And Sam Mills is gone. But for a team that's won 14 games in two years, we talked about this, you know, in the January through March time frame that it was odd that they were keeping basically the coaching staff completely intact, coordinators and pretty much the majority, the significant majority of the coaches. You know, usually when you've got back-to-back losing seasons, and as many of you continue to remind me, you know, Ron's basically, I think, got four out of his last five or five out of his last six seasons have been losing seasons. And I am aware of that, by the way. I do understand what Ron Rivera's record is and the fact that he hasn't had, you know, a winning season since 20, the year they won 11 and 5 and lost in the wild card game to the Saints. That would have been the 2017 season. So he hasn't had a winning season. in, you know, going on five years.

So, yes, I am aware of that. I am. There were issues in Carolina with the health of the quarterback. That explains a lot of it there. And this was a terrible football team that he came in to take over in 2020, especially on offense. But anyway, yeah, something must have happened, right? You know, it couldn't have been just that Ron finally, you know,

succumbed to the requests and the pressure of people. that play for him or coach with him or whatever and said, all right, let's do it today. Because if that's the case, you're right, it speaks to, you know, some poor timing and some dysfunction there. Yes. Yes, it does. The presence of Warren Sapp, I don't see Warren Sapp becoming a defensive line coach.

Does he seem too high profile for that? Well, I mean, especially given, you know, his background for this organization. I don't. Oh, that's, yeah. You know, I mean, then they wouldn't invite them in for the first place. Well, I guess. But inviting somebody in and then, you know, and then hiring a guy with a domestic battery charge in this organization. And, you know, the other things.

I mean, he's got a bit of a recent last, you know, decade. He's had some issues with the law. Yes, yes, he has. A hell of a player. Hell of a player. Oh, yeah. A deserved Hall of Fame player, absolutely.

Look, I don't know. I mean, no one that has any real knowledge of behind the scenes stuff would have been surprised if he had been let go in that first, after the first season. You know, last year, no one would have been surprised. So it's just the timing of it that's strange. My guess is that, you know,

someone will learn. I'm hoping to find out if something specific happened in the last couple of days. I mean, you know, we're into two weeks of training camp now. I mean, you don't. I know. You just don't. Yeah. That typically doesn't happen that way.

I also just wanted, you know, I talked a little bit about this yesterday. I'm not going to sit here and give you the play-by-play of Carson Wenz's training camp practice today. Are we going to talk about the horror of Carson Wentz's training camp? Yeah, that's what I'm going to do that. Good. Yeah, that's what I'm getting to. Let's do that. You know, I played on yesterday's show before I had Doc on. If you didn't listen to Doc yesterday, it's a must listen.

Doc, you know, Tommy is going to be calling the preseason games with Kenny Albert on NBC Sports Washington, which I can't wait to hear. Oh, that's great news. I know. So I'm not going to sit here and read from every single beat reporter about how on target, and how accurate Carson Wentz was today in seven-on-sevents. Okay, I'm not going to do that. I've already made my feelings clear about, you know, these play-by-play accounts of training camp.

But I did want to give Tommy a chance to weigh in on Carson Wentz. What I said yesterday, and I'll summarize real quickly, Carson Wentz has never been a particularly accurate quarterback. You know, if you just, you know, box score read or you just go, to numbers. He's had some decent completion percentage years, but if you've watched him play, he's never been particularly accurate from a consistency standpoint. But if you're worried about it in training camp, when he is with his third team in three years, third system in three years, third group of receivers in three years, third terminology in three years, well, I can't help you.

This is not the time to be concerned. You can be concerned after they play four, five, six, seven, maybe eight, nine games. Not now. Go ahead. Now it's your turn. I myself would not be concerned about training camp performances or even preseason performances, for that matter. I think there'll be enough time during the regular season where Carson Wentz will give everybody a reason to panic.

I think that will happen. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So there's no point getting worked up about it, you know, when the games, when practices are going on and the games don't count because you'll have plenty of time to do it when the games do count. Mm-hmm. Okay.

Yeah. But I do, but it does fuel. It does fuel this machine that's out there. It's a small machine. It's not a big machine anymore because it's a small machine. team with a small focus group that follows it, but it's still a machine. That machine out there that will take this stuff and use it as fuel and, you know, like a snowball rolling down the hill, you know?

Carson Wentz, I mean, the guy who got rejected from two other teams can't even make completions in practice against his own team, and let's like he doesn't look good in Carolina. Meanwhile, the other guy who apparently is doing a Bible. study with Carson Wentz is looking better. And people are going to notice this. And before you know it, which guy? It's week one.

What's his name? Sam Hal. My mind. No, no, no. Taylor Heineke? The guy who's going to be a starter before the end of it. Taylor Heineke? How did you forget his name? It must have been a hell of a bumstock weekend. I drank a lot of beer on Saturday. A lot of beer. Usually it takes more in a couple of days to recover from that anymore.

But, I mean, there's going to be this machine that's going to grind up this quarterback position and turn it into a battle. It's going to be a battle. This is why he can't afford. I don't care about it. And I don't think it's serious, but he can't afford to look bad in seven-on-seven drill. Yes, he can. He needs to win a lot of people over. Oh, come on.

Stop it. No, I mean... I will make a wager with you right now. This man, unless he gets injured, injuries avoid the bet here. This man starts 14 games minimum. The first 14. Okay. The first 14.

And then if they're completely out of it and he has sucked all year, then maybe they play Sam Howell those final two to three games to see what they have in Sam Howe. No, I'm not going to do that because injuries too. No, I'm not doing an injury. You're suggesting it's going to be about performance. Coach's bench guys for fake injuries all the time. Oh, stop it. He's not getting benched for a fake injury. Oh, okay.

Well, I mean, it's possible that he'll get injured, but he could play, and they're done with him at some point. But it's going to be because they're done with him at some point. Well, how are we going to know that? We'll know. We'll know. I'm not making this bet unless it's injuries included. Well, he's an injury.

He's been injured a bunch. I'm not going to make a bet where injury, where I don't get a break for an injury. I mean, I could have done that with Ryan Fitzpatrick last year. He didn't make it into the second quarter or barely into the second quarter. But, yeah, I think any controversy related to the quarterback position is, off the table for months, plural. I mean, it's... I think you are wrong.

Okay. Absolutely wrong. All to take is the handful of commanders fans who show up to the stadium to start booing him after the first half of the Jacksonville game, and they'll be all hell will break loose. Can you imagine if they... And by the way, what? Apparently, I wasn't, I wasn't at this, like, this ghost town field practice. that they had, but apparently when they introduced Jack Del Rio, he got booed. Did you see that?

No, I didn't see that. What I did hear is that it was a very nice crowd. It was, you know, not empty. It was free. I understand that. I'm trying to give them some credit here, okay? That they had, you know, a decent crowd, and it was a very enthusiastic crowd. And as I said, on yesterday's show, the other part of that is that the players, a lot of the players stuck around in, chase, Young apparently stayed there for over an hour signing autographs. And I actually think that these are the kinds of things that when you are a startup business, which for all intents and purposes, they are in a lot of ways. I know that that's an exaggeration. But, you know, you get my point with respect to the new brand and a fan base that has basically been, you know, ground down to something closer to zero than a hundred.

They're going to have to do these things. You know, this is what new businesses do. This is, I think it's smart. And the other thing I want to mention, I've mentioned her name before, but this Caitlin that does a lot of their social media stuff, she's great. She is, whatever they're paying her, it's not enough. She is incredibly positive all of the time in the face of responses that are just, not all of them. are ugly, but I have this sense that this is, you know, part of the new group of people out there, which, by the way, Michael Phillips wrote about the other day. Did you see that?

Yes, I did. Yes, I did. And they got an A-plus in there on their report card for the way they behave now. Yes. They behave like humans, so let's give them an A. So what do you say? Well, what do I say? I mean, what do I say? I mean, I mean, people who mel these issues together? Don't get it. What's going on right now in terms of Dan Snyder is about accountability and responsibility, not about how the team is running now. Right. That's right. Yeah. I mean, they're not the same things. Okay? So don't show me your report card while you're behind bars. Yeah, basically, Michael Phillips had this report that,

I guess, you know, one of these auditors, Tommy, had, you know, had written up Washington's progress. And this is something that's going back to the league periodically. I think three times a year. They've got to get a progress report on the commander's transformation from where they were to where they are now. This is in the wake of, you know, the penalized, the $10 million fine, which really wasn't a fine, in the wake of the Wilkinson investigation report. And this is, you know, the vestry light auditing firm, HR auditing firm that keeps, you know, providing these progress reports.

And, you know, they basically said it's a consistent, you know, improving culture. The turnover among the staff has been high, but it's been necessary. There was an approval of the Jackdell Rio handling with the fining of $100,000. There were, I mean, there were quotes from Jason write in this story from Michael Phillips. I know. I thought that was odd.

A study gets leaked and the president of the team is making quotes about it. Yeah. I mean, that's so, that's so freaking obvious. It's unbelievable. Yeah. I mean, they must think we're as dumb as they are. You can say congratulations on the progress over the last two years. Because, you know, it'd be hard for anybody to not make.

any progress. I mean, this was an in-the-gutter franchise two years ago. And you can also say simultaneously, they keep fucking things up consistently, one, but you know, things like Sean Taylor, things like the 2-22, things like the, you know, having a Del Rio situation, the thing from most recently, what was the most recent thing that was a, they fucked up. Oh, the Trent Williams thing. I'm not being on the next 10. They continue to do all of those things. And you can, you can, you you can say they keep fucking up a lot of things, but I'm sure it's a better place to work than it used to be. But all of that to the side, I'll say what I said two weeks ago. I just don't want Jason Wright's name to be in the news anymore. Nobody gives a shit.

No team has any, team's fan base has any clue as to who their team president is. I like Jason. I think he's smart. I think he's capable. I think he's probably done some things out there that have absolutely been the right things. And it doesn't, you know, I'm not the auditing of their HR and their culture and it being much better than it used to be. Kudos to them for that. You know what matters to people?

Winning. Now go win some fucking games. Stop telling us about how inclusive. and diverse and how, you know, auditing firms are lauding your new HR, you know, culture. That's great, all right? But none of that is going to draw people back or get people excited. Jason write quotes about the HR department getting high grades doesn't mean shit. You got to win games.

And then you got to find a stadium when you start winning that people actually are interested in coming to. Those are the two big things. Win and then find a stadium in D.C. Or somewhere near it where you don't have to drive two and a half hours to get to it. Boy, you know, I haven't heard anyone say the word stadium in so long. I forgot they were still interested in one. I don't think that, you know, the truth is, I don't think many people are interested in the stadium anymore. So I'll take that one back.

What they don't, they just, again, I don't want to throw cold. water on good news, but why are we reading about this good news? It doesn't have anything to do with what's going to happen on September 11th against Jacksonville, because the Snyders are still there. And the quote was very, very much kind of, no one's buying that the Snyders and their change in the way they view things is really behind this, because Dan was just out running a shadow investigation a year ago. You're right.

I agree with you. I agree with you. But, you know, again, it's amateur hour. I mean, you know, people will say, and you've mentioned this, that Jason Wright has cleaned house over there, got rid of a lot of bad people, a lot of the talk people that contributed to the toxic work environment. All that's left are the incompetent people.

No, I don't think that's true. Well, I do. I don't. Because I think most people who are good at any of these jobs are not working for this organization. I think it's fair to say that if you've got better options recently that you would choose something else. But I think they've chosen it because of Jason. I think Jason, you know, has built up a stable of people over the years that he's very familiar with that he's brought into the organization. And I...

Based on all his management position, isn't bad? No, you know how I feel about that. I think that, you know, the one thing, obviously, he hasn't done necessarily in his career is manage an organization. He's been a consultant. But when you're a consultant for a lot of different companies, you meet a lot of people that are working for these various companies. And you get to know those people. And I do think that he understands and understood when he got there that one of the best, biggest issues was the arrogance. And by the way, just the delusion of thinking they were what they

were 15 years ago or 20 years ago or 30 years ago. And a lot of those arrogant and dumb people are gone. And several of the new people that I have had the chance to meet or have conversations with are a lot different in their approach. But again, that's great. Congratulations. Now, Now, win some games, because none of that really means anything to the end user. The consumer wants a winning football team. They want a football team that they can be proud of. They want to get to a day where the HR people and the president of the organization and the PR people are names that you never hear. Because that's the way it is in most good organizations.

You don't know who those people are. they're running the business and building the business based off of the success of the football team. That's how that business works. And I've said before that Jason, you know, has said and has, you know, and people have told me he's trying to build a business that's losing resilient and that is possible in today's day and age. That's fine. I don't buy it. I think the business is still at its core winning football games. And then everything else takes care of itself.

I think it is possible for a sports team to build an organization that could be losing resilient, but you have to have a much stronger foundation than what they've had here. They've wiped their foundation out. I mean, you know, it's just this. Not this team. This team can't afford to do that. I just want to let you know I'm going to get a firsthand look at the horror of Carson Wentz's training camp. because I'm going to training camp tomorrow.

Are you going to go to the preseason game Saturday? No, because I got a busy weekend. Yeah. You know who's coming to town this weekend? I don't. Juan Soto. Oh, that's right, the Padres are in town. Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about that, too.

I just don't want to be at Natch Park Friday and Sunday. I'm not going to see a preseason game with the commander Saturday. There's nothing worse than preseason football. I want to just... But I am going to practice tomorrow. I am going to training camp tomorrow. I want to add something to something you just said. You know, for someone who I do believe is a quality person in Jason Wright, okay?

And I think they have many more quality people and competent people. I disagree with you that they're, you know, all that's left is dumb and incompetent. I don't agree with that. I think they have many more quality people and competent people in the organization than they've had since Dan Snyder on the team. And if you believe, and I don't know that I believe this, But if we are in a new day and age where the entertainment isn't just about the product on the field and you can build a successful organization, even if the football team doesn't win, it can't happen here. It won't happen here because Dan Snyder still owns the team. That's an impossibility.

That ship has sailed on him, people. Everybody understands that. and that you can throw compliments to Dan and Tanya all you want in quotes on leak stories about, you know, progress reports, all you want. But those of us that have been here and those of us that are even, those of you that are even willing to give them a chance football-wise, are never ever going to believe that it can be a consistent winner on the field as long as Dan Snyder owns the team. And the reason that they don't believe it is because it can't happen. It won't happen. You can, you know, as we've talked about many times, a good season here or there is possible.

They'll never be an upper-tier football organization as long as Dan Snyder owns the football team. Take that one to the bank, period. Absolutely. So all of the other stuff. That is something we agree on. Congrats on the progress reports. and that's great. And I do believe that they're better in quality and smarter people.

But, you know, personally at this point, if you think that that kind of leak and that kind of progress report is going to win the day or generate new sales, you're looking for the easy marks, man. Because there aren't many of them that listen to this podcast. We've got more to get to, including Roquan Smith wants to be traded. We've got other things to finish up the show with. We'll get to those next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So there is some NFL news today. Roquan Smith wants to be traded from Chicago. He wrote this long letter to the fans.

He's playing on his final year of his rookie deal. He was one of my favorite players in the 2018 draft. Went to Chicago. You know, he said all the right things about loving Chicago and loving being a bear. But apparently he's gotten low-balled on some of these contract extensions. offers and they've now reached an impasse and he wants to be traded. If you're wondering what my opinion is on Roquan Smith and whether or not this football team should trade for him, my answer would be yes and yes and yes. I don't know what the price would be for Roquan Smith. He's a really

talented player. This team is desperate for playmakers at linebacker. I like him a lot. I think he's been on a bad football team, you know, obviously for the last, for the first four years in Chicago, I think he's got great potential. I think he is a sideline to sideline playmaker. He is violent. He's physical. He's fast. He's athletic. I don't know if it would require a first round pick, or maybe it would be a package of a second and something else. But if I were Washington, I would definitely look into that as a possibility. I think the Bears would be nuts to let him go. He's been, he's been, you know, getting, he keeps getting better, too.

There was a game last year they played against the Ravens. It was the game in which the backup quarterback for Baltimore quarterback the game, the guy. Tyler, Tyler Huntley. Yeah, Huntley. Yeah, exactly. And Roquan Smith was all over the field in that game. That was a, you know, Huntley's one of those guys that actually,

I think Tommy can play in the league and can even potentially be kind of a bottom half of the league starter. Like you wouldn't be embarrassed starting him in a game. But I think that is the game. There are Ravens fans with the running game, if it's healthy that they have, who think they'd be fine with Tower Hunley's quarterback. Well, he's not, he's not Lamar Jackson.

I mean, he doesn't have that kind of explosiveness, but he played some good games last year, if I recall. That game against Chicago, Roquan Smith, I'm pretty sure that was the game, had a phenomenal game in that game. All right. Can I just ask you, why are the Nats continuing to put Patrick Corbin out onto the mound? You know, I haven't been to the ballpark in a couple of weeks, so I can't really tell you why.

I don't know anything more than anybody else does about why they keep putting them out there. You know who he's become? He's become their Chris Davis. Remember Chris Davis up in Baltimore? Yeah. Who one year had, I think, like, 50 home runs or something like that. And they signed him to a long-term deal. And then he literally couldn't hit after that.

And they were paying him year after year. And they trot him out there. And he'd strike out and have. like 250 strikeouts in a season. He's become their Chris Davis. They're paying them, so they're playing them. But I think that's got to change. I mean, the game against the Phillies on Saturday,

he didn't make it out of the first inning. I mean, it was, it's painful to watch him because, I mean, the guy was massive during their 2019 run. In his last six starts, he's got a 12.46 ERA and has allowed 44 hits in 21 and two-thirds innings. I mean, guys averaging giving up two hits an inning. They got so many problems. They're heading for 110 loss. I know, Tommy, this is.

Unless they managed to start winning some games. And you look, I mean, when I said at beginning of the year that they could be competitive if a lot of things went right, not only did a lot of things go wrong. Almost everything has gone wrong. Let's say Cesar Hernandez, the free agent who they signed to play second base. He had 21 home runs last year. He has zero this year. None. You know, I mean, Nelson Cruz had 32 home runs last year. He has eight this year. Right now with, I mean, Look, everybody, except for Josh Bell, had a down season for this team. Even the bad players had their worst seasons.

There's nobody who's had a career year or anything close to it, not one. Yeah. They're 36 and 75. You said they're on pace to lose 110? Yeah, that's about right. that's about right because I mean they're leading

home run hitter right now what's the most losses is it is it the Mets what Mets team lost 120 or whatever 1962 expansion New York Mets lost 120 games that's the record right

yeah but they were lovable having watched them lose those 120 games they were at least lovable while they were doing yeah poor I mean I don't know why they keep putting Roquint Smith

I don't know why they keep putting Patrick Corbyn back out there. Maybe I'll find out more. Maybe we'll all find out more in the days to come, but I'll be at the ballpark Friday and Sunday and maybe have a better idea what's going on with him. The meantime, the Padres have lost five in a row, you know, basically since the trade. I know. I know.

I know. But they're still in what – I think they're still leading the wild card, aren't they? I don't think so. I think – well, the Braves are leading the wild card race, right? The, you know, and they fell further behind the Mets, obviously, over the last few days. And then, here, I'm going to pull it up real quickly. It might be the Phillies now. The Phillies have been rolling.

Okay. So, yeah, the Braves have the first wild card spot right now, all right? And the second wild card spot would go to the Phillies if the season ended today. The Phillies are a game better than, the Padres right now. And the brewers are very much in the hunt as well. But the Phillies are on a role. I mean, you know, they beat up on Washington, obviously, here over the weekend. But I think they've won something like 10 out of the last 11. And that's without Harper back, although Harper apparently is coming back at some point. So, you know, the Yankees lost a bunch of games in a row.

I was listening when I was in the car I was driving back late that night they were running back a Mad Dog show from earlier that day or no maybe that was the other day I was listening to it but do you feel that the Mets with their pitching with DeGrom and Scherzer one two especially with those two that they

have as much of a chance to win the World Series as the Yankees or Dodgers? Yes Yes, I do Because the Dodgers I would I know if Buckshaw-Walter has his fault and people still remember

the time that he didn't bring in Zach Britain up in Toronto when they were in the playoffs against the Blue Jays in a key inning but I mean the Dodgers have a way of self-destructing in the postseason

because they've got a manager who's scared to manage because the front office is calling every move, and Buckshaw Walter is not going to do that. So, yeah, I think the Mets, even though the Dodgers are by far the most talented team, I think the Mets could wind up getting to the World Series and winning it. Yeah.

All right, two quick things just to mention before we leave you for the day. I wanted to just weigh in on this Kevin Durant story. I don't know if you followed this at all, but Josai, the owner of Brooklyn and Durant apparently met in London recently, and Durant basically gave him an ultimatum. It's either Steve Nash and Sean Marks, the head coach and the general manager, or me. You know, just so everybody understands this, Steve Nash being the coach that he and Kyrie Irving picked.

I mean, they gave Kevin Durant virtually everything he's asked for. And Joe Cy tweeted out yesterday or last night. our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets. This is really an interesting situation because now, I mean, Durant, it's out there that Durant wants Steve Nash gone. And so how, if they don't trade him, does he play for Steve Nash in the upcoming season? I'll net it out.

I really love Durant, the player, and more so in the last couple of times. of years for the reasons I've stated in the past is playoff performances last year against Milwaukee and even this year they got swept I understand that but I I love Durant's been a warrior as a player in Brooklyn I mean playing 48 for you know 53 minutes in that game seven overtime game against Milwaukee last summer the summer of 2021 you cannot you cannot give in to Kevin Durant This is no longer, you know, you're done if you're the owner giving Kevin Durant what he wants. You're trading him for the biggest haul in the history of the league because that's what Kevin Durant should bring back. Or you're not trading him.

And you tell him you're under contract for the next four years. This is your coach that you picked. This is your general manager. They're both staying. If you want to quit, if you want to hold out, that's fine. we're not paying you and are you going to hold out for the next four years? Like this is a situation where Kevin Durant's gotten himself into this. And I do, by the way, agree that Steve Nash probably shouldn't be the coach

and that they should have hired a real coach, somebody with experience, but they gave in to Durant and Kyrie Irving, who said they didn't really feel like they needed a coach, that it was going to be kind of a co-coaching situation between Durant Irving and Steve Nash. I think that was a terrible call, and they should have never let him get away with it to begin with. And probably what's in the best interest of Brooklyn moving forward would be to get rid of Steve Nash. But you cannot give in to Durant and trade him unless you get back enough that makes your organization more than whole. This is outrageous the behavior of Kevin Durant.

And I so love to watch him play. and even more so in recent years. He's one of the greatest of all time. But he'll get what he wants, Kevin. He'll get what he wants. It's bad for the league if he does. He'll get traded. He'll get traded.

Wilbon told me this is all good for the league, that the drama of this stuff is great for the league. I don't know if it is. Not this situation. You know what? It's good for the league's fan base. It's not good for the football. fan-based they've left behind. Okay.

I don't, I'm still a fan of the league, so it's not good for me. There's a point in which, you know, the problem here is it's childish behavior, clearly, it's immature behavior, but you can't treat him like a child because he's got more money than anybody, and he's really, really good. But, you know, this is one where I, you'd, you just, Kevin, look, suck it up, dude. They gave you everything you wanted. Convince Kyrie to behave better. Be a leader.

Convince Ben Simmons to actually play and participate. Oh, that's not going to happen. I don't think any of that's going to happen. But if Brooklyn digs their heels in and says, we're not trading you. We haven't gotten an offer anywhere near what we think you're worth. And so we're not trading you. And, by the way, we're not firing our general manager, and they shouldn't fire marks. He's a good general manager.

And, you know, we'll look into the coach thing, but that's about the only thing we're going to look into, which we would have done with or without you. But it's our call in looking into the coach, not yours. I wanted to mention. Nobody ever does that, Kevin. They always give in one way or the other. I wish the Wizards would offer them everything, but I don't think they've got enough to offer them. them. Serena apparently is announcing her retirement or saying that she's winding down. I hope she plays

the U.S. Open. I'd like to see her one more time. She's been one of my favorite athletes for a long period of time. She's truly one of the greatest individual, you know, sport athletes and winners of, you know, our lifetime. But she is 40 and she did not look good at Wimbledon. And, you know, She's 40 years old. You know, it's amazing that sport, Tommy. Remember it was a sport where Bjorn Borg retired at 26? Because 26, you know, when you got to 26, you were over the hill in tennis for a while. And now it's become a sport of the older players.

You know, Serena, obviously, on the women's side until recently. And then the men and Nadal and Djokovic and Federer until recently, you know, all being much advanced in age. It's a weird thing because there was a period of time, I would call it like the 80s, 90s, maybe into the early 2000s, that when you got to 29 years old, you were basically finished. That was it. But if Serena is done, what a phenomenal winner and an incredible tennis player. Loved the way she competed.

She was different from Venus. She was the pit bull of the two. And she was the better player. of the two. But she was the one that hated to lose more than anybody. But hopefully she'll play at the U.S. Open. Do you have anything else or not? I don't have anything else for you. I don't have anything else either. This was fun today. I'll talk to you on Thursday. Okay, boss. All right, we are done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow. So you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don't let me stop you. Make mistakes.

learn from them. And when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you're out of that cave. Please, if you don't mind, for the sake of your poor old dad,

keep the door open three inches.