The Kevin Sheehan Show - Do You Want Alex Smith Back?

Episode Date: February 18, 2021

Kevin and Thom on today's show with a "menu of excellence" featuring stories about Deacon Jones, Floyd Mayweather, Brooklyn Decker, Joe Jacoby, the Wizards, Terps, Tatis Jr., and more. Add to that, they spent a ton of time contemplating whether or not it made sense for Alex Smith who is leaning towards playing next year to play in Washington again. They discussed Joe Buck's admission that he doesn't mind a sip or two while he's calling a game. And lots on the NFL QB carousel. Also, if you have time, help us out and complete this survey--The Athletic Podcast Network audience survey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. All right. Tommy's here today. I'm here today. Despite the weather, I'm here today. I didn't miss my radio show, Tommy. I'm not missing the podcast today for weather. You know me. I don't miss things for bad weather. And it is bad weather here. I didn't do a podcast yesterday. My apologies. I will make it up with another Saturday morning podcast with another special. guest. I will just leave it at that. But last week we had Jay Gruden on Saturday, and that was the makeup for missing on Wednesday, and I will have another Saturday morning podcast with a special guest as well. The weather here, Tommy, it is frightful, but it is so for people like me, delightful. It was supposed to be like three to five inches of snow followed by a lot of sleet and freezing rain. We got no snow. That's not true. It's not true. It At 4.30 when I woke up this morning, we had snow for 10, 15 minutes, and then it quickly changed to sleet.

And I'm telling you, the sleet is already at 10.30 this morning as we start to record this podcast, an inch deep. I mean, it is the driving conditions nasty, but kind of fun. I was one of the only people out there driving around after the show this morning. I love this weather, but I would have preferred the snow. it doesn't look like we're going to get that. We've had, I had Doug Cameron on the show Tommy this morning, you know, and I love the weather people, and I didn't call him out on this, and I wasn't going to, you know, he talked about how, you know,

if you were watching me late last night, I told you it was going to be much less snow and more ice. But, you know, earlier in the day, most of them were saying three to five inches of snow, and it might stay snow longer, and then we'll get the ice. Well, we didn't get any snow, which is fine. I know how hard it is to forecast. But do you remember Bob Ryan's promos after he blew up a forecast on Channel 4? And I love Bob Ryan. He was great.

But they would be running promos the next day. As you heard right here last night at 1130. But meantime, the 6 o'clock newscast was totally wrong in his forecast. But at the very last second, pretty much after the storm started, he got it right. You know, it's amazing. And it's only gotten worse with... you know, more TV watching and things like that. And, you know, the whole channel, the weather channel,

how people are obsessed with the weather. It's always been that way, though, Tommy. I know that. But, I mean, I think it's more so than ever now. When I worked on the news side at the Baltimore Sun, any time I got assigned to write a weather story, it ran on the front page. They just put it on the front page.

When would you have ever gotten a sign to write a, a weather story? Well, let's say if it was a hot day on December 23rd. If it was 65 degrees on December 23rd, they'd say, go out and write a weather story, or vice versa. If it was like 28 degrees on May to 5th or something like that. I mean, it was unusual weather, they send a reporter out to do a story about it, and they put it on the front page.

All right. I mean, you know, Russell Buffalino one day and 65 degrees on December 23rd, the next. You were versatile, man. You were... Listen, if you're a good reporter, if you're a good reporter, you sat in zoning board meetings in Podunk, Pennsylvania, and had to explain zoning laws and variances the next day in the paper. and then a school board meeting the next night. So you got to be a quick study. Were there ever stories that you went on that you had to report on that you just didn't understand?

Like what you just said, like you go to some sort of county executive meeting and they're talking about some building and variances and zoning laws and the whole thing, and it gets so complicated that it's hard to write because I will tell you that some stories written by writers and reporters. Sometimes I'll read it and I'll be like, they don't know what they're talking about and they explained it so poorly. Did you ever get completely stumped and just wing it?

Because sometimes I read stuff and I'm like, they were just winging this. Oh, I don't think I ever just, you know, winged it. I mean, you know, but I'm sure I did a poor job explaining things from time to time. I mean, what you're trying to do is crystallize something that, some nugget of the most important detail of what transpired into something simple. Ultimately, you know, the process is not as important as the results.

And you don't necessarily have to explain the process. You have to explain the results. Sure. And why people should care about it. And when you read stories that are poorly explained, that's because they have, those are writer-driven. newspapers. And they're all writer-driven these days because there's not many editors anymore. A good editor is supposed to stop that, supposed to send that back and say, okay, write this so I understand it because if I don't understand it, nobody out there is going to understand it.

Yeah. But that happens more and more stories that you read because writers are, you know, they wrote it, so they like it. You know, they don't understand that it doesn't make sense. they wouldn't have turned it in if they didn't think it made sense. So, I mean, those are poorly edited stories when you don't understand what's going on. And you should understand pretty quickly. Like within the first four or five paragraphs, I mean, why you're reading the story and what it's about when you're writing a straight news story, that should be pretty clear.

There are many times when I will read a story and I'll be like, whoa, It took me this long to get to the point that is the most important point. That shouldn't happen. Like you just said, you know, the burying the lead thing. But like you said, the result in simplifying it so anybody can understand the result is really what you want to get to. Now, I'm not talking about a column that builds and it builds, you know, suspense and anticipation. I'm talking about, you know, reported story. Like tell me, did the, you know, did the, as an example here locally, and it impacted me and people in Bethesda in particular, did the purple line thing pass or not?

Are they going to put in the purple line? Yes or no. Don't hit me with, you know, all of the different bids that have been submitted and which bids going to be picked and which politicians are in favor and which aren't. Is it going to pass or not? I was thinking about you as a columnist over the years because you've been a columnist for much longer now than you were a reporter. Is that, that's accurate, correct? Yes, it is. I was a news reporter for 15 years and editor. And I actually wrote columns, too, as a news reporter, but that wasn't my full-time job. We've talked about various stories that you've been a part of over the years. I think certainly the most famous story would be, you know,

know your attendance at a mob dinner in which you stole the seating chart and ended up getting some big names that had attended this get-together. I think one of your great stories, because it was written so beautifully, even though you weren't there, was your coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Summer Olympics. It was so well done from a local watering hole where you never left the stool on the bar and watched it on TV. But in all seriousness, I don't know, I mean, you know, there were, as I've explained to people in the past, your office when we had our studios in Rockville was like this shrine built to yourself and about yourself. But I really didn't pay attention. I didn't like being in your office because it was just, it was dizzying.

But what is the best column you've ever written? And what was your most recognized column. Do you know what it is, like, off the top of your head? Best column I've ever written. One that you know, like, wow, that was phenomenal, that comes to mind. And then the one that also other people thought was great. And maybe award winning. A couple years ago, I won the Society of Press Professional Journalists

awards for national sports columns. And that's a big deal. There's no first, second, or third. They only pick one as a winner, and it's a nationwide contest. And you have to submit like three columns to do it. And one of the columns, which wouldn't have interested probably a lot of people, was about this guy named Scott Christopher, who was a minor league baseball player back in the 80s, with the Orioles, 70s and 80s, but he grew up in Fairfax, Virginia,

had a terrible accident when he was six years old with a glass that had cut up one of his hand and kind of left it deformed. And he wound up becoming, like, he played baseball University of Maryland and was a terrific baseball player with basically one deformed hands, not like Jim Abbott-like, you know, but it was. was a good story. And he wound up playing for the Orioles in the Orioles farm system. Then when he didn't make it in baseball, he became a famous artist, a world-renowned artist.

What kind of artist? Well, a painter. Okay. A painter. And that was one of the columns because it was, you know, a good story, and it was long. It wasn't a typical length of a column. That's one or three columns I remember that, I guess. captured their attention and telling his story.

But, I mean, it's hard for me to pick a sportscom. Look, I interviewed the old man from the old man in the sea in Cuba. That's a pretty good one for me, you know? Gregorio Flentes, the guy who Hemingway wrote about in the old man in the sea. That was his model, his ship captain. He was 103 years old, and I interviewed him in a small fishing village outside Havana. That was pretty good. That's one that comes to mind.

What's the most famous non-athlet you've ever interviewed? Have you ever interviewed a president? Have you ever interviewed, you know? Yeah, I sat in a White House. With Bush. With Bush. before on opening day of baseball at RFK, I remember that, along with Dave Shining and Hal Bodley,

and interviewed the president for almost an hour. And you enjoyed that, right? Yes, very much so. Look, I mean, that's politics, okay? That's different from what we went through. Okay, let's not get into this. Just tell me. I'm not going to, but my point is I didn't agree with George Bush's politics,

but I respected his office, and he was a very likable guy, I knew baseball writers who loved the guy when he was the owner of the Texas Rangers, and he was great to talk to. It made you feel very comfortable, you know? And if somebody voted, if one of your friends voted for him, if one of your close friends voted for him, you'd still be friends with that person. That's, yeah, because that's a difference of opinion. So, yes, that would be the case.

They wouldn't have been canceled. I really enjoyed. you know, interviewing the president there. So that was pretty big. Look, I wrote a column last January that nobody read for some reason. And I think it's one of the best columns I ever wrote. Oh, yeah, remind me. Right before the Super Bowl.

Oh, about the Chiefs, all the Hall of Famers. No. No, no, no, no, no. This was a different one. I put together my all Super Bowl brain damage team. Oh, yeah. It was so depressing. I'm one of the best things I've ever written.

It was the CTE column. But it was a column picking and all, position by position of brain damage players who have played in the Super Bowl. Dave Doerson, who was on the list? The linebacker from the Chargers. I remember off the top of my head. Yeah, Junior Seo.

Junior Seo. I'd have to go back. Did you have a player for every position? Every position. Really? Every position. And every position. Maybe not potter and kicker.

Every player that played in a Super Bowl, it was documented a brain damage from football or suspected from CTE? Yes. And I thought that was a pretty powerful column. You know, because people always put together all kinds of all-star Super Bowl teams. Yeah, Super Bowl week. Let's have fun.

and let's celebrate football this week, which was not what you did. No, and what I'm spurred, and let's remember, you've been on Radio Row, where half the guests that you get on Radio Row are people touting something that has damaged them. I mean, basically touting some kind of medical product to fix the damage that they suffered during playing football. So, I mean, I always thought that was strange during, uh, radio row is you have so many, you have people being interviewed who claim to have CTE.

You have people who, you know, who can't walk because of playing a football. And this is half a radio row are interviews like that. And I mean, I compared it to, you know, a tobacco convention parading people in a cancer ward up on stage. I mean. Not exactly, not exactly the same. There's not the same level of medical proof that there is. But it makes the point.

It's kind of a strange occurrence. You know, and our. The game to do that. All of those years of us doing Radio Row and having former professional football players paraded around to our tables and us saying either yes or no or sometimes saying yes because it meant we would get somebody else, do you remember any player that sat down in front of us that you knew was suffering from brain damage from a football career, you know, or, you know, potentially from his football career.

I mean, I remember some bad interviews, some really bad interviews. Okay. Nobody comes to mind. Of the athletes at the Super Bowl, who is your favorite one, one or two of your favorite ones to have interviewed? I mean, for the interview. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you right now, my fit. Because they like you, because you like them.

My favorite interview, and I don't know if you remember the details, I think this is actually on YouTube. Somebody shared this with me years ago was when we had Floyd Mayweather sit down with us. And I pushed him as to why he wasn't fighting Manny Pacquiao. And he said, well, nobody wants it. And I said, that's crap. That's the only thing everybody wants. Why isn't this happening? And he got really confrontational.

Do you remember that? Well, I should remember that, shouldn't I? Somebody sent it to me, and it might still be on YouTube somewhere, or at least part of the interview was. I thought he was fantastic, and I didn't realize how much charisma he had until he was sitting in front of us. Because he wasn't a charismatic fighter, but he was a charismatic figure. Yes. Yeah, two of mine. uh from the super bowl or i always like steve young because he always brought a tie with me

yeah right he was also he was also a good interview yeah but my favorite is deacon jones i knew you were going to say that he was great and for one for one particular moment uh i'm you know Deacon Jones was in an odd couple episode with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. And I reminded him of it. And, you know, it was very funny. And he was very good in it. And his eyes lit up when I started talking about the odd couple. He was so happy to talk about that appearance.

I mean, that's just, and I got such a kick out of that. You know, nobody else would care about it, but he cared. about it and he loved talking about it. I'm sure I brought up the fact that Deacon Jones was on the Brady Bunch. I remember that because Peter was getting bullied and Deacon came in and helped him out. You know, Deacon Jones, and I think many listening know this, but for those that don't, was almost like another son to George Allen and was like another brother to the Allen boys and George Allen's daughter.

he's really like a member of that family. Do you know there's a game, Deacon Jones finished his career in Washington. You know, George Allen brought him to Washington at the end. And there's a game, and I think it is the end of the 74 season. I think it's the end of the 74 season. They played the Chicago Bears at RFK Stadium. I'm looking it up right now to make sure that I'm right about this.

And George Allen, in a blowout game, Washington crushed. crushed Chicago. Let Deacon Jones at the end of the game kick an extra point in the game. I'm looking it up right now, 1974. Okay, Chicago was the season finale. There it is. Deacon Jones, final touchdown, kicked the extra point and he made it for 42 to nothing. That was the final score. Bobby Douglas was a quarterback for the Bears. Sunny quarterbacked for Washington. That would have been his last game, regular season game. He came in that year in a playoff loss to the Rams and threw like three

interceptions. But Deacon Jones, that's what I remember about Deacon Jones in Washington. That's it. I don't remember him being a good defensive player or a guy that had a lot of sacks because he was at the end of his career at that point. And they had, you know, Diren Talbert and Verland Biggs and, you know, Dave Robinson and Ron McDowell. I don't even know how much Deacon Jones played on that team. I can find out here. because they'll have his game log. But I remember him kicking that extra point against Chicago. I forget who it was, if it was Sunny or some other Washington football player from that era.

But originally, when George Allen, he'd been bugging George Allen the whole time to do it the whole year. What, to kick the extra point? Yeah. Oh, okay. And when George sent him out to kick it, Sunny cursed him out and told him out of the huddle and sent him back on the sideline. But George sent him out again. Because Sonny thought it was embarrassing for the Bears to do. He thought it was a bad look.

He thought it was rubbing it in. But George Allen insisted, so he got to kick it. That's interesting. I didn't know that part of it. You know, it was only a few years later where Chicago knocked Washington out of the playoffs on the final Sunday of the year in an ice storm in the Meadowlands against the Giants, and maybe they remembered that. I, yeah, that's what I remember about Deacon Jones.

I don't remember him being part of the fearsome for some in L.A. I don't remember those years. Yeah, I know you do. I remember that. I mean, that was such a great defensive front. He's still considered by many historians as the greatest defensive end of all time. I mean, him and Reggie White together. Right.

You know, there's a lot of great defense events you could make the case for. But Deacon Jones is always in the conversation. And Deacon Jones. They didn't keep stats at stats. Sacks. Yeah. Sacks. Yep.

Exactly. That's what I was going to say. It was long before they started to keep that number. But most people think that Deacon Jones probably would be the all-time leader in Sacks if they kept that stat during his career. The fearsome foursome, Rosie Greer, Merlin Olson, Deacon Jones, and who was the fourth one? Lamar Lundy. Lamar Lundy.

And Rosie Greer was the man that was there the night that Robert F. Kennedy was shot in the L.A. Hotel in June of 68. He was right by his side, correct? Yeah. You can hear it on the video, Rosie, get the gun. Somebody yelling Rosie, get the gun. Yeah. I met Rosie Greer once, too, and it was another odd couple moment. Because I met Rosie Greer at a dinner in Baltimore. and a lot of people were, you know,

were looking to meet with him. And so when I met him, I didn't want to take up too much time, shook his hand, we talked for a little bit, and then I whispered into his ear, Salatio Arms. Well, Salatio Arms was a character

that Rosie Greer played in a couple of Kojack episodes, some of the best episodes of Kojak ever. It was a great character. And again, his eyes, lit up and he just got this big smile because I can't, I'm sure, I'm sure it'd probably been decades since someone mentioned that to him. Well, God knows you knew every episode by heart. I did. I did. And still do. Listen, I found Mike Bragg, the punter for the team,

told me this story about Deacon, if I could share it with you. This is quote, Deacon was dying to kick and he was badgering George the kick in the last. game in a season. It was against the Bears. On the next to last time we scored, Deacon came into the huddle and declared he was going to kick the extra point. Mike Bragg said he was the kicker because Mosley was hurt. I'm looking at it. I'm looking at the box score. Mike Bragg kicked all the extra points before Deacon Jones did. And Sonny was the holder. Sonny told him, get the hell out of here and get back to the sideline. So Deacon goes back to the the sideline. We kick the extra point and everything is okay. About two minutes left in the game,

and Deacon runs to George and says, if we score again, let me kick it. George says, okay. George figures they're not going to score, but we kick off to the bears. They're going to sit on and run the clock, but they fumble it. Mike Bass picks it up and run for a touchdown. We score, and George, true to his word, told Deacon he could go out and kick it. So Deacon goes in a huddle, and I see Sonny's head pop out of the huddle. He calls timeout and walks over to the sideline and says to George, do you really want to do this? Don't you think it would be rubbing salt in the bear's wounds? George says, yeah, I know, but I told him he could do it. Sonny says, well, I'm not holding. That was Joe Seisman's first year. So George calls out, Joe, go in and hold it.

Wow. So Deacon made the kick, and it was on the front page of the paper. So Thysman wound up holding because Sonny wouldn't be part of it. That's really interesting. It also speaks to, you know, the relationship that Sonny and George had, which was not good. Sonny didn't respect George's, you know, ability to, or didn't respect his philosophy, which is basically, you know, if you put the ball up in the air, two, the three things can happen, two of them are bad.

And so we're not going to throw it that much, which, of course, you know, Sunny too had the disappointment. of finally getting the coach that he wanted in Lombardi and, you know, the prospect of winning under Lombardi and then not getting that opportunity. You know, the interesting thing about the Sunny Billy George Allen thing is Billy didn't start because George Allen picked Billy. Sunny was the presumed starter until he got injured in the preseason before George Allen's first year in 1971.

And then in the 72 season, the Super Bowl season, he tore his Achilles at Yankee Stadium and was lost for the year. But Tommy, this game that you're referring to, which I brought up because I remember Deacon Jones kicking the extra point against the Bears, in the 74 finale, Washington went to the playoffs that year. So I'm looking at the box score. Kilmer was not involved in the game for whatever reason. And actually, I know why he's not involved in the game. I can see it right now. And the reason is, is that they had already clinched their position in the postseason. They were playing the Rams the next week at the Coliseum, and Kilmer started that game.

So Kilmer was basically resting in the season finale. So Joe Thysman came in. Sonny started the game. It would be Sonny's last start of his career because 1974, he was 40 years old. It was the last start of his career. It would be his last start of his career. And Joe Thaisman came in and had a perfect passer rating. He was six of seven for 123 yards and one touchdown, a 158.3 passer rating.

It would be, for Joe, it would appear one of only two perfect passer rating games of his entire career. The other was a game in which it really didn't count because he was one for one. So that doesn't really count. This was he came in in relief and was six to seven for 123 yards and never had a perfect passer rating game again, not even in his MVP year in 83, although he had a lot of 100 plus passer rating games that year. Thaisman and that offense in 1983 was brilliant. But the next game for Washington, the playoff game at the Coliseum against the Rams, they lost

19 to 10. Sunny Jurgensen came in for Kilmer in relief to try to rally Washington, and in a 13 to 10 game, he threw a pick to Isaiah Robertson that got returned for a touchdown that ended the game in the fourth quarter. Sunny was picked off three times in basically a half in his final game as an NFL quarterback. He was 6 of 12, 78 yards, three interceptions and a half of football. And they They all essentially led to the Rams winning the game 19 to 10, which knocked them out of the postseason. In part of that stretch where George Allen had them as one of the best teams in the NFL. Okay. Oh, I wanted to mention, for those of you wondering if we were going to mention the Brooklyn Decker interview at the Super Bowl and Radio Row,

because there were a few people I know, and we would have gotten this on Twitter. That was a memorable interview, but it wasn't. a great interview. It was memorable because Tommy melted down. And that's, you know, a legendary, it's a legendary, accurately told sports fix story about how Brooklyn Decker, the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue girl that year sat down in front of us and Brooklyn and I, the two of us, hit it off very much. And Tommy couldn't speak for the first five minutes of the interview because he was so taken with her beauty. I wanted to mention...

Well... I don't want to hear... I don't want to hear about how you're trying to come up with some guy's name. I was trying... I just couldn't come up with this guy's name, this director. And I... It's Dugan, who was the director of the movie he was promoting. Yes, okay.

I mean, he was Ritchie Brockleman. I couldn't remember his name. Should have been more prepared. Because it didn't... That is why I was flustered. Well, you were sweating profusely. The other thing I was going to mention to you real quickly, speaking of Super Bowls and Radio Row and weather, and we mentioned this the other day.

On the Weather Channel, about an hour ago, Jim Cantorri was in Dallas, and he was having this back and forth with the anchor in Atlanta. Well, she's clearly a Texas and a North Texas Dallas girl, and she said to Jim Cantori, a lot of people are saying, a lot of my friends and family members back in Dallas are saying that's what's happened here the last day and a half is the worst since the Super Bowl week, which we were there for the entirety of it. We've already talked about it this week. But it was funny to hear somebody say that, and I guess people who live in Dallas do consider that to be the worst winter weather week they've ever had, which we were there for the entirety of it.

and it was not pleasant to be in Dallas that week at all. And, you know, all this does, what's going on now, is just guarantee that Dallas will never get another Super Bowl. Well, if the weather had been good that week, they probably would have gotten another Super Bowl. But what the damage that did, and now people can see 10 years later that it can happen again, they'll never get a Super Bowl.

No other Super Bowl's been in Dallas since? No, I don't think so. I don't think so either, actually. Are we sure about that? I was until you brought it up. Hold on. I think you're right, but for whatever reason, something makes me think that I should check it

to make sure that there wasn't another Super Bowl in Dallas. Let's see. I'll put your staff on it. My staff is on it. Arlington, Texas, February 6, 2011. and no, it has not been back. There you go. And it's not coming back.

It isn't? I thought there was one scheduled for there, but maybe not. Put it this way, Tommy. The chances of that happening, obviously, are once in a, you know, 100 years, although maybe once in every 10 years, clearly, because 11 years later, they've had the same thing. All right, we've got a couple of things that I want to get to, including the Joe Buck, Colin Cowherd podcast. I don't know if you heard what Joe Buck said on Colin Cowhert's podcast about drinking on the air while doing a game. We'll get to that. But up next,

Alex Smith told the NFL network pretty much he's coming back. The question is whether or not people in Washington and the team itself would actually want him back here. We'll get to that right after this word from one of our sponsors. More man rush. The back. The end zone reaching up and making the graph of the touchdown. Logan Thomas high in the air to put Washington back on top again. Terrific grab.

Logan Thomas at 6.6. 250 and needed every inch. That was the touchdown pass that Alex Smith threw to Logan Thomas that gave Washington the lead in the first half. end of the first half against the Eagles in the game they had to win to end the season. The game in which Doug Peterson essentially at the end of the game tapped out by pulling Jalen Hertz and putting in poor Nate Sudfeld into that spot. I'm bringing Alex Smith up today because he did an interview Tommy with the NFL network's

Kyle Brandt. I think it's the morning show on the NFL network. I think that's what it is. and there were a couple of things that he said, and I'm going to read them to you. He was asked if he was going to play again in the future. And he started off the answer by saying, you know, I had no idea how my leg and body would respond to the combination of being out for two years and the injury and the limb salvage and all of that stuff. I had to wear a brace to do anything. I had no idea how I would respond to that.

It's one thing to go out there one day and roll, but could I do it over the course? of this season. And I think the most encouraging thing for me, I pounded on my leg every single day harder than I ever thought. And I felt like I got stronger and stronger and stronger. The more I pushed it, the more my body responded. And my leg did, for that matter. I felt like if anything, it only fueled me even more that I can roll and keep going. Obviously, it was unfortunate at the end of the year to get the bone contusion and struggling the last couple of weeks, but it was completely unrelated to my prior injury. So I'm excited. I'm excited to see what I can do this off season. I feel like I've got a list of things football-wise and just life-wise that I

want to do again. And I've been wondering about ever since I broke my leg and wondering if I'd ever do it again, I want to go chase those down this off-season. He said, I still feel like I've got a lot of room for growth on the field based off of what happened last year. So This in combination with the report, I think from Jeremy Fowler over the weekend on ESPN, that he's going to come back, or maybe it was Albert Breer, I forget. You know, I think the indications are there. He wants to play next year. So I actually put out a poll and ended up taking calls this morning on the radio show.

The poll was really simple. It was, if Alex Smith decides he's going to play football next year, do you want it to be here in Washington, you know, for the Washington football? team. And 2,500 votes later, 77% of the people say no. 23% say yes. And there's a lot of comments in there because there's, you know, not everybody says no, definitely. A lot of people say no, but if he comes back, you know, at $4 million a year as a backup or as a guy that could compete, but he's not going to be handed to starting job, maybe he's been such a great leader, yada, yada, yada. By the way, just If I haven't said this this week with either Tommy or Cooley, he's not coming back next year under the deal he's under.

That's the absolute lock when it comes to Alex Smith. There is no chance that Alex Smith is going to be a $24.4 million cap hit on Washington's roster next year. If he ends up in a Washington uniform, it's going to be under a complete new restructured deal where he gets, you know, four, five, six million with some incentives. How do you feel about this? I'll let you go first and then I'll share my overall thoughts on whether or not I won Alex Smith back next year. Well, I mean, I think that the Tom Brady performance this year

leaning up to a Super Bowl championship probably reinforces the notion that this guy, Alex Smith, thinks he, what is he, 37? Yeah. Six years younger than Tom Brady. Right. He's got some more, he's got some more years than him, he probably thinks. If the leg isn't an issue for him, which he may believe it's not, then he's probably thinking, I love playing, I can compete.

Why shouldn't I keep playing? So I understand why he's doing it. I just don't think he's very good. I mean, there is that. You know? I mean, he's not going to lose a game for you, but he's not going to win that many either. And although, you know, this year, I mean, he was better under Scott Turner and Rivera

than he was under Jay Gruden's offense. I thought so. You know, I thought he was more productive, but I still don't have a lot of faith in him. Not that I have a lot of. of faith in Kyle Allen or the Heineken guy. But I know what you're getting with Alex Smith, and if I'm a Washington fan, I need to see something different. I mean, Alex Smith, I don't think it's going to take you to an 11-win season.

I'm not saying Kyle Allen will either, but I just, I mean, if I'm a Washington fan, I want to see something different than Alex Smith. I've seen enough of them. I know what the expectations are, and there's a ceiling to it. Yeah, there's a ceiling to it, I think, too. You know, he was five and one as a starter. This year he was six and three as a starter before he's 11 and 5 as a starter. Many people tweeted me, do you know what his record is as a starter? It's the best record of any starting quarterback here in 30 years. Yeah, no, I'm familiar with his record at 11 and 5. I'm also familiar with the fact that watching him, he's never been that dynamic of a quarterback, and he's never, in my mind's eye,

been a quarterback that you're going to win a Super Bowl with, or you're even going to go deep into the postseason with. Now, the bottom line is they don't feel that way either about him, because if they did, they wouldn't have tried to trade for Matt Stafford. If they did, they wouldn't have expressed interest in Jared Goff, Derek Carr, Marcus Marietta. And by the way, I was not on the pot. a podcast yesterday. I know pretty much for fact that there are people in that organization that

do like Sam Darnold. And there are also people in the organization that like Justin Fields a lot. So keep that in mind as we continue through this, you know, offseason of the quarterbacks in the NFL and perhaps a quarterback carousel being the number one story. So Ron Rivera and Scott Turner and now Martin Mayhew and Marty Herney, they don't think Alex Smith is the answer either as a starting quarterback here next year because they've tried to upgrade. They don't think Taylor Heineke or Kyle Allen is necessarily their best option either because they've tried to trade for starters,

and they've expressed interest in guys that they would bring in more likely than not as the starter. Maybe not Marriota, but probably Goff, probably Carls, if they indeed expressed interest over either one of them. So the point is that they're ready to move on from Alex Smith. If they had traded for Matt Stafford like the Rams did, if Washington had pulled that trade off, Alex Smith would already be released. He'd be gone.

And they would have said, hey, we want to give you plenty of time to find your next spot. We're going to release you now. He wouldn't be on the roster if they had traded, and if they had been successful trading for Matt Stafford. Here's the thing. I want them to continue to swing big and try to upgrade at that position.

I've already expressed how I feel about Deshawn Watson. I'd almost give up anything to get Deshawn Watson. I really wanted Stafford. They couldn't pull it off. I like Sam Darnold. Many of you have made it very clear that you don't and that I'm out of my mind. In terms of the quarterbacks in the draft,

I'm not sold on any of them, and I'm not sold on trading up for any of them, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did. I don't know what the answers are on Kyle Allen or Taylor Heineke, but I would bet that they're not franchise quarterback answers. That's just a wager I would make if I was forced to make it. I don't know the answer. Maybe Taylor Heineke is. Maybe Kyle Allen develops into a guy that's a true franchise quarterback. but just their actions in this offseason already would tell you that they're not convinced of that. You're not going to trade a first, a third, and a player for Matt Stafford if you think you've got a top 10 to top 15 quarterback on your roster making hardly any money in Taylor Heineke and or Kyle Allen.

So they've told you through their actions that they don't think they have their long-term or franchise quarterback on their roster. And so I want them to continue to take swings at this. if they fail because they've already failed. They failed, you know, to get Matt Stafford. And there is nobody left that they really want. You know, they couldn't get Sam Darnold if Darnold became available. Watson and Wilson and Prescott and Winston. You know, none of those guys were ever available.

And they weren't really interested in Tyrod Taylor or Andy Dalton or Ryan Fitzpatrick, who, by the way, to me, would be a great one-to-two-year answer. or Derek Carr, and they strike out on all, you know, on the whole process of trying to upgrade at quarterback. I don't, I'm not against Alex Smith coming back at four to five million bucks a year with incentives with Taylor Heineke, you know, at a million bucks a year, and Kyle Allen at $875,000 a year, and having the three of them compete for the starting job. And if Alex doesn't win it, his leadership, his mentor.

and his backup ability is still on the roster. But that's only if they swing and miss on everything else that they want. So that's my position, which would lead more likely, it would lead to me saying my preference would be that he's not on the roster next year. But if he is because they couldn't get anybody better, I'm okay with it. Like he did play well at times last year. The game he had against Detroit was really an outstanding. game. The game he managed

against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. The second half against Pittsburgh, he had some really good moments. He was influential in them winning five of their final seven games. It's not lost on me that the two games that they didn't win

were the two games that he didn't play in at all. The Carolina and Seattle games. So So that's where I am on that. If he's back because they couldn't get anybody and they restructure him and you got all three of them, okay, that's fine. Let's go get a middle linebacker. Let's get another corner.

Let's get a left tackle. Let's get another receiver. Let's not spend draft capital or big salary cap space on a quarterback. And let's bring Alex back and have him there like he was. this year. And who knows, maybe he will be better next year. Maybe he will be healthier. And if you told me right now, oh, another off season of him doing what he did last off season, he's going to be much healthier. You know, then I would be, I would be intrigued to see what he was next year. But with that said, to your point, even perfectly healthy, pre-injury, I just didn't think the ceiling

was very high. Yeah. Now, the nightmare scenario for everybody is they make a trade for a quarterback. Whoever it is, whether it's a Marriota

or a Darnold or something like that, and it doesn't work. They get it wrong. Their big shot at the quarterback and they get it wrong. That's a nightmare scenario.

Well, it depends. If you give up a fifth rounder for Marcus Marietta, because the Raiders are going to release them anyway, that's not a big mistake. It's a big mistake. The chance of making the big mistake is much greater in the draft than it is via a trade or a free agent signing. Either way. Either way, like I've said before, I believe. that Ron Rivera does not have a step-back year. Not that he's going to get fired,

but he doesn't have the luxury after seven and nine division-winning season to step back to four and twelve. I don't think he does. I think all that does is unless the owner, the current owner is not there anymore. If he's still around, all that does is empower. the current owner if Ron Rivera takes a step back, because the grumbling will begin if he does. And if he takes a step back with the quarterback that he picked, that he traded for,

then that's even worse. Well, you're not moving on from one of the owner's favorites. I mean, at this point, he understands the limitations that Alex probably has. So Alex is no longer a favorite, even though it was Bruce and Dan that basically traded for Alex without consulting anybody in the organization that knew anything about football. You know, you're not moving on from RG3. You're not moving on from, you know, an owner favorite. And the owner probably recognizes, hey, we need to make a move in this area.

You know, I doubt the owner sitting there like some of the fans are thinking that Taylor Heineke is the answer. Although Taylor Heineke would be a phenomenal story. Of course he's, I mean, How many jerseys can they sell? Tail a hobby? Look, Dan Snyder, and I don't blame him for this, you know, probably goes to sleep every night thinking about Deshaun Watson. Who wouldn't?

Right. You know, real quickly, on Deshawn Watson, Jason Lockenforah, I think, wrote this story last night, that if he is available, that Carolina will be the one that will be most aggressive going after him. Yeah. And in thinking about that, let's just say, I don't think Houston's going to trade Deshaun Watson. I don't think that Dak Prescott's going to be available. I think he'll end up being with the Cowboys. I don't think that James Winston's leaving going anywhere either.

But if he ended up in Carolina, then you could add that to the list of quarterbacks that Washington will face next year. And then you basically hit every, basically most lists of the top. 10 quarterbacks, Washington would be facing seven or eight of them next year on their schedule. I've gone through this before, but basically in the AFC, if there's a 17th game, Josh Allen, plus they're playing the AFC West, which means Pat Mahomes. So Josh Allen, Pat Mahomes, two of the top five or six, obviously Mahomes probably number one. They're playing a first place schedule in the NFC, which means they're playing Aaron Rogers and Russell Wilson. and then they've got the entirety of the NFC South,

which means Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, and if Watson went to the Panthers, Deshawn Watson, that's seven right there of the top 10 to, you know, I don't know where you'd have Matt Ryan, but Ryan's been a top 10 guy or close to it at various points in time. I didn't even mention Justin Herbert, who they will also face in the AFC. You know, you're basically going to have half of your schedule

if all of those quarterbacks are upright and healthy where you're playing a top 10 quarterback. And in many cases, the entirety of the top five. Mahomes, Josh Allen, if Deshaun Watson ended up in Carolina, Watson, Rogers, and Wilson. That's the top five, brother. You're not missing any of them on your schedule next year if Deshawn Watson ends up in Carolina.

So just keep that in mind. Most of you know I'm not a big schedule guy, but quarterbacks are the ones that typically are available and are playing. Not always. But anyway, there was a ESPN did a story this morning predicting the 32 NFL teams starting quarterbacks for 2021. So, you know, Kime does it for Washington. Kime projected Ryan Fitzpatrick.

I say it's Kime. It's not initialed with Kime here, but usually Kime will do that. this for ESPN.com. And Ryan Fitzpatrick, and it's written that Washington is in the same category as the Patriots, in need of a quarterback edition, but too far down the draft order to count on that, excuse me, is the avenue to address it. Fitsy is about as well-traveled as any other player in the league over the past 15 years, but he continues to play at a strong enough level to merit starting consideration.

It's often a roller coaster with him under center, but he has an infectious energy that cannot be discounted. We saw it last year in Miami when he helped the team in a few got-a-have-it situations. I think that would be really interesting to have Ryan Fitzpatrick here next year. I think that it would be... I think it'd be a lot of fun. I think it'd be so much fun. Unless he's stunk up the place. But if he's typical fits, I think it'd be a lot of fun. Yeah. There is... The NFL, the other piece on ESPN.com, and it was interesting to see all of the guesses, was guessing Washington's quarterback, starting quarterback in 2021.

That, I guess, was what Kime wrote, or maybe that was a consensus of what everybody thought. But there were several Cam Newton's in there, several Ryan Fitzpatrick's in there, and several Sam Darnolds in there. So it's not, you know, most people do not think that Washington's starting quarterback is going to be Alex Smith, Taylor Heineke or Kyle Allen.

I actually do believe that those are the odds. Like here it is. This was the other column. Who will be Washington starting quarterback in Week 1 in 2021? Well, the consensus was Ryan Fitzpatrick. The guess is per writer. Kime actually wrote Sam Darnold. Matt Bowen, Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Mike Clay said Alex Smith. Jeremy Fowler said Sam Darnold. Dan Gratziano said Cam Newton. Jason Reed said Sam. Danald. Kevin Seaford, who I really respect, said Sam Darnold. Seth Walder, the analytics guy, said Cam Newton, and Field Yates, said Ryan Fitzpatrick. So there's only one guy there. I was wrong. One guy thinks it'll come from the list of Smith, Heineke, or Allen. And it's Mike Clay. He thinks that Alex Smith will be the starting quarterback. I, my guess, I think we've already done this,

but I'll just do it again. My guess is that Kyle Allen is the starting quarterback opening day 2021. That's my guess. That they swing and miss multiple times in the offseason. They end up with either two of them, Heineke and Allen, or all three of them, including Smith, and that Allen wins the job. What's your guess? I think that's a good guess. I would agree with that. Okay. I mean, you know, they traded for Kyle Allen. They really like him. You know, I think they want to. I think they want to see a full season of him here in Washington. I mean, you know, if he can stay healthy. So I think the odds are that Kyle Allen is your starter at the start of the season. If he's healthy. I'm looking through this story because I think it's interesting. It's actually

the first one that I referenced where the guest was Ryan Fitzpatrick. And I was wrong. This was not a John Kime pick. John Kime picked Sam Darnold. The story's written by Yates, long-time ESPN NFL insider. And he guesses the starting quarterback for each of the 32 teams opening day 2021. He's like, you have the teams that are obvious. You know, the Chiefs with Mahomes, Brady, Buccaneers, Rogers, Packers, Russell Wilson, Seattle, despite the, you know, recent stories about Russell Wilson may be being traded. Josh Allen, Buffalo, Lamar Jackson, Baltimore, Kyler, Marie, Maria, Arizona, Ryan Tanna Hill, Tennessee, Justin Herbert, The Chargers, Baker Mayfield, Cleveland.

He's got Dak Prescott in Dallas, Joe Burrow, Cincinnati, Matt Ryan, Atlanta, Ben Rothusberger, Pittsburgh, even though I've read some things about that where Kevin Colbert, their VP of Football Ops, it really sounds like Rothelisberger is going to have to take a major, major restructuring so that he helps out their salary cap for him to be back. But he's got Rathlisberger there, cousins in Minnesota. with the Raiders, Garoppola with the 49ers, Hertz in Philadelphia, Tua in Miami, Daniel Jones for New York, and Drew Locke in Denver. So now he's got teams with new starters. Rams, Matt Stafford, Lyons, Jared Gough, we know that. Jags Trevor Lawrence, Saints James Winston. And then he's got Deshawn Watson in Carolina. He's got Watson to Carolina in a trade.

He's got Carson Wentz reuniting with Frank Reich in Indianapolis, Marcus Marriott being the starting quarterback in New England. As I mentioned, Ryan Fitzpatrick in Washington, Justin Fields in Houston, Zach Wilson, the BYU quarterback for the Jets, Sam Darnold for the Bears. This is actually, you know, this is an interesting story because this is what people are trying to do right now.

Like, who's going to be where opening day? That's a lot of movement, man. That is a lie. I mean, because you got the Stafford and Gough thing already. Watson to the Panthers, wents to the Colts, Marriota to the Patriots, Fitzpatrick to Washington, Houston drafts Justin Fields, the Jets drafts Zach Wilson, and the Bears trade for Darnold.

That's a lot of quarterback change potentially in one off season. A lot of it. And right now, you know, as of February 18th, there's only been one official move. Stafford to the Rams, golf to the Lions. That's the only thing that's definitely happened. And I know the league's year doesn't start until March, but for the trades, you can get those done now. You know, you're now in that window of either franchising or signing your own guy like a Dak Prescott or a James Winston to a long-term deal.

None of those things have happened yet. But anyway. I'm just kind of curious. Where does the Alabama quarterback Mac Jones fit in for you? I don't know. I'm trying to think. I think I had this conversation with JP or somebody yesterday or the, day before it may have been been standing.

If Washington stays at 19 and the guys they have a chance for are guys like Mac Jones or Kyle Trask, I've been a Trask fan from the day that he took over for Felipe Franks at Florida. I actually, the first night he came in. He was the third stringer and then he became the second stringer. And Felipe Franks got hurt for Florida two years ago in a game against Vanderbilt, which, by the way, I had Florida for the legal limit that night. So that's why I was watching the game. And Tras came in and he played so well.

And he looked, like he's 6-5, 6-6, 6, 6, big and strong, Tommy. And he just looked the part. And I remember sitting there with my son going, that dude looks like an NFL quarterback to me. And then, you know, he continued to start and continued to have success. And then obviously at one point this year, he was one of the Heisman Trophy legitimate contenders, and he's worked his way into a potential, you know, potential first round status.

So I like Trask. I do like Trask. By the way, that game was against Kentucky, not Vanderbilt. I like Trask a lot. But he's not the mobile guy. He's immobile. Mack Jones, who knows? He's got the best talent, and he's throwing the guys.

who are wide open, and then when they get wide open and catch the ball, they score. But to be fair, Trask has had a bunch of those guys, too. He had the best tight end in America, maybe the best tight end prospect in years in Kyle Pitts, and Cadarius Tony is going to be a first round pick as well. I don't know. I honestly, I think it's so hard. My guess is that Kyle Trask ends up being an NFL quarterback. I don't know if it's a good one, but I think he's in the NFL for a long time.

I'm not sure about Mack Jones. People loved his Senior Bowl and the Senior Bowl week. And a lot of people think that he could be, you know, a top 12 guy now. I am not a Kellyn Monde fan, the guy from Texas A&M, that people have, you know, late first to fourth, somewhere in that range. I did like Jamie Newman when he played at Wake Forest. I would have liked to have seen him play at Georgia, but he opted out of the season because of COVID concerns. but my number one off-season preference of what was, to me, realistic, was Stafford. I think this team would have been a contender for the next three years with Stafford a quarterback. I think that they, even if they ended up playing a brutal schedule, which it is on paper now,

but if it turned out to be that, I still think they would have been super competitive next year, and then in 2022 may have come back as one of the favorites to be legitimate. NFC favorites, one of the two or three teams. But they didn't get him. I don't consider Watson to be reality. I think that's total fantasy. First of all, I don't know that he'd want to come here. The Carolina thing makes sense because he's from that area of the country. So, anyway. I mean, most of the other guys that we've talked about, and I don't know, I put Fitzgerald in this category or not. Fitzpatrick. Maybe I would.

Fitzpatrick. Like I've said before on the podcast, if you're not going to make a big jump a quarterback, I just assume stand pat. I don't think, I don't have a problem with that. I just have a problem with those that say

don't make, don't take a big leap. Don't trade a lot of draft capital. Don't spend a lot of money. You know, all of these quarterbacks that end up winning Super Bowls, you know, take Brady out of the equation, usually are drafted by their teams. Okay. Right. And how's that worked out for 30 years? Like, to me, I'm, to me, I'm thinking big when it comes to that position. I'm thinking big. I'm swinging big. But for the right guy, to your point, I'm not going to overpay for

Marcus Marriota. I'm not going to overpay for Sam Darnold, even though I like him. I'm not giving up, you know, more than a first rounder. I think I would give up a first rounder for Sam Darnold, but certainly not a first plus. But I wouldn't even, and Cooley has really emphasized this, and I think I've come around to his thinking, he's much less concerned about draft capital if you are convinced that it's the right guy. Like if you are absolutely convinced, say Matt Stafford is going to make you a Super Bowl contender or Deshawn Watson, then draft capital should be the least of the potential forms of payment that you should be concerned about. It's trading players that you already know are good rather than players that may

or may not be good. I think I agree with that philosophy. I didn't have a problem and it would be totally revisionist history. I didn't have a problem with them trading what they traded to get up to draft RG3. I thought, well, why not? Who cares? If he's the right guy, I mean, if he ends up being a superstar, the position, is anybody going to care that you gave up three ones and two-toes? No.

Nobody's going to care. If you get it right. If you trade, you know, a first, two firsts and a third, or a first and a third to move up 12 spots to drafts, Justin Fields and he's the right guy, or let's say two firsts, you know, next year's in the year after to get up to number four to draft Justin Fields. And it turns out that he's the right guy and he's the next Pat Mahomes. Will anybody care that you gave up those draft choices?

No. Okay. But let's say you swing big and on a guy that you're convinced of. Right. And you're wrong. Yeah. It's over. Well, it hurts.

It's all over. But what they gave up to the Rams, look at who the Rams used all of that draft capital to draft. Nobody turned into a superstar. You don't care what the other team does. I mean, what do you care? But the possibility exists, you're going to strike out on all those picks, too. I know that. Look, what I have rather had.

But the only position that counts, the one we're talking about for the past 20 minutes, is the quarterback position. And if they swing big and miss, it's over. If they swing big and not miss, yeah, miss. If they swing big or bigger and get a guy they want and it fails, it's over. Well, I don't know what you mean by it's over. They're going to continue to play the games. It just would be a major setback and hit. You'll be in the same cycle you've been in,

and Ron Rivera won't be the coach in a couple years. Tops. Yeah, but the problem with thinking that, way is if you decide not to take the big swing where you could potentially miss and you decide to, okay, we're going to keep that position light in salary cap space. We think Taylor and Kyle can do the job and you play them and neither one of them turns into the franchise quarterback and you've got middling seasons with a really good defense. It's over for you too. I get that. But I mean, the setback.

I'm not saying that he shouldn't do it if it's a guy they're convinced of, but they better get it right. Well, Deshawn Watson, to me, the, Deshawn Watson, if he actually became available, I'd be all in. I'd make sure that nobody topped my bid and that I went full, you know, full force after him. You know, the only thing, to me,

the only way that that would get ruined would be injury. And that's always a risk, you know? What about Russell Wilson? Oh, my God. I mean, I would love Russell Wilson here. I don't get. Now, the age difference between he and Watson, I'd rather have Watson.

You know, there's seven years difference. But, you know, Russell Wilson is a massive impact player. Imagine Russell Wilson here with this defense, add another receiver. And by the way, you attract, now all of a sudden you're going to attract, people. You know, with Kyle Allen and Alex Smith and Taylor Heineke, all of you that are like, well, we're going to go get Alan Robinson. Well, Alan Robinson may not want to come here without, you know,

a quarterback that he feels comfortable with is going to throw him, you know, a hundred balls this year this upcoming season. You know, you've got to have people that can attract other people because, I mean, I wonder how attractive Washington is now relative to recent years anyway. It's probably more attractive because at least it's not, you know, a hot mess. But they don't have a quarterback answer that we're sure of. So offensive skill position players like Alan Robinson may be able to go to L.A. and play with Matt Stafford on a team that will contend for the Super Bowl this year versus coming here and maybe having Taylor Heineckee or Kyle Allen is his quarterback.

And he may view that as Mitch Trubisky number two. Yes, he may. I mean, why would I leave Chicago to go play for Taylor Heineke? Yeah. By the way, that was another in this column. Where will Alan Robinson be playing in 2021? Jeremy Fowler said Washington. Jason Reed said Washington of the writers that answered that question.

And then there were a couple of Rams, a couple of Colts, a couple of Patriots. I like Alan Robinson a lot. I think he'd be an incredible side-by-side guy with Terry McLorn. In fact, in many ways, I think Alan... They're going to have to pay them, right? Well, they've got money. They've got cap space, that's for sure. Alan Robinson, just as a quick, you know, comment, Alan Robinson would be more the wide receiver one than Terry McLorn would.

It's close. But Alan Robinson is definitely a number one. So is Terry, but I think Alan Robinson's a little bit higher on the number one scale. It's close, though. If they... Look, Washington proved last year. that they wanted another receiver. They offered Amari Cooper a boatload of money more than Dallas did.

And so I fully expect them to be in the wide receiver market and free agency again. Whether it's Robinson or Kenny Goliday or Godwin is a slot guy, I expect them to be in that market. They wanted Amari Cooper on a team last year that they weren't expecting to contend for anything. But they knew what Amari Cooper and Terry McLaren meant. of their quarterbacks. So they're going to go after a receiver. And I think Alan Robinson seems like a really logical target.

It makes a lot of sense to go after a guy like that. All right, I wanted to get to this Joe Buck thing. I know you wanted to mention the Titique Stee Steel in San Diego. We'll do that right after this word from one of our sponsors. This segment brought you by MyBooky at mybooky.ag. if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. They'll match your deposit halfway up to $1,000. Some really good college hoops tonight,

including Houston, who's excellent this year, playing Wichita State in the line, to me appears to be a bit short at minus seven and a half. Wisconsin tonight home in a Big Ten matchup against Iowa, laying two against the Hawkeyes. That reeks a little bit as well. MyBooky at mybooky.ag. They've got, you know, live betting, in-game betting.

They've got a live casino, a race book, so much more. Go to MyBooky at MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. They'll match your deposit halfway up to $1,000. My bookie is fair, and you get paid if you win. I wanted to play this soundbite for you. This is Joe Buck as a guest on Colin Cowherd's podcast, I believe. believe it is. I want you to listen to what he said when Cowherd asks him about the relationship

and the comfortable relationship that Buck has on the air with Troy Aikman. I told Troy this. I said, every broadcast partnership has a different feel. Regardless of who is the analyst, Al Michaels always feels like he's leading the broadcast. Tony Romo is the energizer to Nance. You and Aikman are different. You sound like college buddies. You sound like you both have a small glass of bourbon that you sip occasionally during the game. And it's an incredibly comfortable experience for me as a consumer. And I'll ask you what I asked Troy. How long did it take to curate that?

It took longer for Troy and me to get there than it took Smolts and I to get there. And I'll say this, we have had that glass of bourbon in the booth, although it's not bourbon. It's tequila, splash of Graham Arnay and grapefruit juice. I went through a couple of years where in the first inning of every postseason baseball game, I had the runner go get the biggest beer that the stadium sold. And I had it sitting there and I would sip it from time to time to remind myself to relax and have fun. I'm just doing a game.

And I brought that over to football, but because Troy is a man of finer tastes, beer somehow became tequila, grand marnier and grapefruit juice. We haven't done it in a long time now. but it was good for a stretch. And I feel like it's a good mental trigger to just chill and remind yourself that you're not refueling an F-16 in mid-flight. You're doing a sporting event. And if you treat it like anything other than that, you're doing yourself a disservice.

All right. Before you respond to Joe Buck on Colin Cowhert's podcast, I want you to listen to me read this lengthy thread on Twitter from Joe Buck yesterday and follow up to this. he got criticized a lot for saying what he said. Here it is. Quote, I don't tweet much anymore, but I feel compelled to send a few about this dumb drinking in the booth story

that is complete clickbait. Also, me giving it more attention is moronic on my part, but so what. My bosses at Fox have not said a word to me about it. They know how dedicated I, we are, and how hard we work and how much we care about every word that's in all capital letters. that comes out of our mouths.

Most of all, they trust us. For those three hours and through all the prep, nothing, again, all in capital letters. Nothing is more important. My only regret with anything I said on Collins' podcast was mentioning Troy Aikman. Nobody has more integrity or works harder than him, and I am blessed to call him one of my best friends on the planet.

We have fun with what we do, and back then I started this trend in baseball, and when I went back to football, I told them I had the beer in my line of sight as a visual reminder and took a sip from time to time to be loose and remember to enjoy it. I have a tendency to get stressed and try to be perfect calling a game as impossible as that may be. As I said with Colin Cowherd, it wasn't there to be consumed. It was there as more of a visual reminder that the world wouldn't end if I made a mistake. It was symbolic in one of the many things I would use, like texting with my wife and kids or calling my mom at halftime just to chill.

Troy had zero to do with it. I'm an open book, sometimes to a fault, but I just really don't like hiding anything. And then he writes in parentheses, see hair transplants or battling depression and anxiety. But when a New Jersey.com headline writer says, I said that I had one or two drinks during a game, well, it is just another reminder that journalism is indeed dying and clickbait rules the day. Please listen to the podcast, starting at the five minute mark and let me know where I said that. I didn't. I am 51, not 15. I believe I am old enough to understand what a drink is.

that's quite a long response on Twitter to this. What do you make of it? Well, listen, I mean, you know, we've done remote radio shows from bars. Okay? Yeah. And I've drank during the show. Yeah, me too. Never had a problem with it.

And so, you know, I'm not going to critic it. criticize him. It's funny in press boxes in the old days, they used to have beer on tap in the press box. It was not unusual to have that.

And I can remember after a game, while I'd be writing my story, having a beer while I was writing it to sip on while I was, you know, in between writing. it's an adult thing.

You know, I know there's this idea that, you know, you're not supposed to drink on the air because, like he said, you're not flying an S-15 or something like that. Right, but you are at work. I know. I know you are at work. But, okay, look, you're, I'm the wrong guy to ask.

I mean, I grew up in newsrooms where half the people in the newsroom had bottles in their death. You know? Yeah. Did you? No, I've never been a liquor guy. No, you're not. And I never kept a six-pack there.

So, but I've drank what other people have had, you know. But, you know, I mean, the extreme of this is Howard Cotsell, the story about him being drunk on the air one time. Giant Eagles Monday night game. Yeah. Right. And they had to take them off. Right.

So, I mean, I think it's more of a big deal that I think people want to hate Joe Buck, and they look for any reason to hate Joe Buck. I like Joe Buck. I think people like to hate the guys that they hear all the time for the most part. They look for reasons to hate the guy who comes into their living room most of the time. And I don't get worked up about announcers. I think Joe Buck and Akeman, I've always liked Akeman. I think they're good and I don't think this is that big of a deal.

Real quickly, I've never had a problem with Aikman either, but you know many in the fan base have always had a problem with Akeman. They think Akeman's biased against the NFC East teams other than the Cowboys. I've never found that to be the case. I'm not, look, I'm not a massive Joe Buck fan. I never have been. I think he's fine. I think the team of Buck and Akeman calling NFL games is fine.

I think Buck and Smolts together are good. You know, he's not my number one. Right now, it would probably be Nansen Romo. I really love Toriko and Gruden. I like Toriko, period, as a play-by-play guy. I think Buck's fine. Never been a massive fan one way or the other. So this is not unusual and it's not a big deal.

Pat Summerall, you know, the stories about him are legendary. He obviously battled alcoholism. And whether he was drinking on the air or he arrived to the game, you know, completely, you know, stumbling, hungover, you know, from the night before, those stories about those days with him and others probably are legendary. I think I don't have a problem with a beer being, you know, by side and him having a sip a beer to try to ease the anxiety and loosen up a little bit or tequila with Grand Marnier and what was it? Was it lemonade in Grand Marnier?

was with the tequila. Hopefully it's good tequila. I don't really have any issue with that. What I do find really interesting is the sensitivity and the defensiveness to it because he said something in part of the thread here in responding to this. First of all, for him to say in the very first tweet, me giving it more attention is moronic on my part. He's right. He didn't need to respond to this. he should have responded to his employer to say, this is what's coming out from the Colin and this is what I meant and leave it at that. But he really probably brought more attention to this than even it would have gotten otherwise. But I thought there was a couple of things in this Twitter thread that were very interesting.

First of all, I did not know that he battled depression and anxiety. Did you know that? I mean, he said, I'm not... I have a vague recollection of him talking about it. Okay. So, you know, one of the ways that a lot of people who deal with depression and anxiety, you know, anxiety in particular, and the two are very linked, is alcohol. You know, so if he is a guy that gets very anxious and angst-ridden before a game,

it's not, you know, it certainly wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I'm sure many people would recommend against it, but for him to have, you know, a quick beer before going on air probably loosens him up a little bit if he's really tight. And, you know, he mentioned, you know, I have a tendency to get stressed and try to be perfect calling a game as impossible as that may be. And, you know, you have a pop or two. You're not going to really care as much about being perfect. You mentioned it, and I talked about it this morning. All of those live remotes that we would do from golf tournaments, we were out playing golf or out riding around, and there's beer everywhere,

there were many days where you and I, by the time we got on the air, had had a couple of pops. And by the way, before the show would start, we'd say, can we get another sent over here to the table? And, you know, those shows, and by the way, your demeanor, not you, but just the general demeanor of the talk show host more times than not is going to change a little bit. You are a little bit more loose. You may take a little bit more risks. It could be a little bit more dangerous to be even buzzed. You know, in this day and age, for sure, because you say the wrong thing. You're done.

I mean, you're talking about Rivera makes the wrong decision. You say the wrong thing live. You're done. But I thought it was interesting. I mean, this was one, two. three, four, five, six, seven, a seven tweet thread in response to this. Just the volume of tweets in regards to this. And the way he said some things, it's defensive, it's sensitive. By the way, I'm not criticizing it. I'm actually trying to find out why. And I think it's because the alcohol being present is a bit of a crutch for him.

That's my psychoanalyst's analysis of it. Knowing that he has suffered from anxiety and depression, I think having a little bit of tequila or a huge beer, look, there's nothing better that when you get to a baseball game, I love the big, large beer that's super cold, and you just start the game with that. That is, that's perfect. And it sometimes leads to too much,

and sometimes it's exactly what you need. But I have a feeling it's a bit of a crutch for him. I really do. I don't know that for a fact, but I think it's interesting that he worked into the explanation, getting stressed, trying to be perfect. It's not that important, but this helps me sort of realize and loosen up

and realize that it's not important. And, you know, I am an open book sometimes to a fault, but I really don't like hiding anything, including hair transplants and battling depression and or anxiety. It's fine, you know? These guys are, and this might be a generality, but a lot of these guys who are in the public eye like this are, you know, on a regular basis very often are really sensitive.

Al Michaels is very sensitive to criticism. Is he? I mean, you can, I mean, you read it in articles and interviews that he's done, absolutely. No one was more sensitive than Cozell. He read everything that anybody ever wrote about him. You would think a sip or seven would make him a little bit less sensitive to everything. He obviously didn't have enough sips the day that he chastised Randy Moss for mooning the crowd after that touchdown at Lambo. Remember that? That is a disgusting act by Randy Moss. But blurting this out was foolish because now anytime Joe Buck makes a mistake, people will pounce on it.

Yeah. He shouldn't have said it. He absolutely shouldn't have said it. People will pounce on it now. You know, like this whole thing of people want to hate them, I think there's a lot that goes on in broadcasting where familiarity breeds contempt. I think guys that we used to like when they first started and you hear them more. and more, and I think people get tired of hearing them, and they're critical of them. I mean, look, I saw this with Billy Packer, with a lot of people, saw it with Tim McCarver,

guys like that. I just think that, you know, the more somebody is on the air. Vital? Unless they're Vince Gulley and just likable, yeah. Although Dick Vital, it's just doing a whole act, I mean, as opposed to, you know, really being who he is. I think you get, the two examples that you gave actually really, I think, hit home for me. Like Packer was a legend early on.

And then towards the end, there were a lot of people that were like, all right, enough of Billy Packer having all the answers. And by the way, he was a very serious dude. You know, there wasn't, there wasn't a big sense of humor unless you go back to the 70s when he was doing those games with Al McGuire. Right. Like, there wasn't the ability to sort of laugh. at himself. Look, familiarity does often breed contempt. I mean, you and I both know it. When you're on all the time, there are some people that really develop dislike for you. It bothers you very much. You engage on Twitter with these people. This is why Joe Buck, I don't know why he engaged on

Twitter with this. I haven't read the comments. I don't know what they say. Yeah, I'm sure there's some But the more legs he gives this is, I mean, now he'll feel the pressure more than ever of not making a mistake. Because he's smart enough to recognize if he makes a mistake, his critics will point to the drinking. He's going to have to wind up taking a piss test before he goes on the air. I don't think I've ever been hammered on the air at all. I've never, I never let myself get to that point. Well, neither have I. But you know who did?

Usually, yeah. When I worked with Jake, when I worked with Jacoby doing the post-game show, which I did the post-game show with Joe, three years. I think we did it three years together. And I loved Joe, still love Joe. We would get to that restaurant bar wherever we were doing the post-game show. And, you know, yeah, I'll take, actually get me two of them to start. I mean, it was never one beer.

It was get me two of them to start. and it would continue as we watched the second half together. He would usually show up at halftime. I was there for the whole game because I did the pregame show from wherever we did it from. And then we'd get laid into that post-game show, and Jake was rolling. Jake was definitely served, appropriately, if not a little bit overserved, which led to... Go ahead. Well, it just led to the one moment that we, you know,

We definitely heard about something that was set on the air. I think I shared with you the Donovan McNabb trade about being on ESPN and making the comment that I made as a guest on an ESPN show Easter night, the night that McNabb was traded to Washington in 2010. And I said, to me, it's got red flags written all over it. Why would Andy Reed trade Donovan McNabb within the division? And that was the only time I ever got a call on anything. I got a call from our CEO at the time saying, were you just on ESPN?

was, what did you say? Why? Well, because I got a call from the big guy, the guy that was part of the, as in the owner of the football team, and they're not happy with you. And I'm like, you were a killjoy. And I said, well, you can go back and listen to what I said. I was complimentary about Donovan McNabb and his career and the whole thing, but I made one comment and it was, you know, the one thing I would be concerned about as a Redskin fan, which I am, in addition to being a media member, is why would Andy Reed trade McNabb within the division? To me, that's a big red flag. Well, they didn't like that. But anyway, I ended up getting a callback saying, you know, I smoothed it over. It's fine. But the other time we got a call, and I didn't get the call, Jake got the call, was from Joe Gibbs.

It was the year that they played the Packers at Lambeau Field, the year that Sean Taylor had all those interceptions in the same game. It was a phenomenal Sean Taylor game. They lost the game and late in the postgame show, and it was getting late early, as Yogi Berra once said. Is that Yogi Berra? Getting late early? Yeah. Jake was definitely well served, and he just at one point just said, as long as Dan Snyder owns a team, they're never going to win, ever. And like he was just, he just said, as long as he owns it, they're never going to win. He had had it. And Gibbs called him the next day and said, you've got to call him and apologize.

And I think he did. And that basically solved that. That's the- Oh, that was truth serum that day then. Yeah. What Jake was drinking was truth serum. It was truth serum. Well, Jake never held back.

It wasn't like Jake held back anyway. even, but I would join Jake in a couple, you know, towards the end of the game and at the beginning of the post game show, but I couldn't, as the host of the show, let it get to the point where I was impacted. No, I agree, but ordering two beers, the first, when you first get the waitress or the waiter, that's a veteran move. Yeah. That's one of my moves. Of course.

Because you don't know when you're going to get their attention again. It's a professional move. Yes. He's a total pro. Absolutely. You were going to say something. No, that's what I was going to say. I'm very familiar with the two beers.

Look, you get from waiters and waitresses, and I do it because by the time I need a second one, you may not be available. You know, there's no doubt that the threshold for people going, ooh, or eye-rolling, is so much, less in the arena of talk radio. Like, Joe Buck has like, you know, comparatively in the eyes of a sports consumer, a real job.

You know, he's got like a real job. It's a very important job. He's a big time voice of the NFL and of Major League Baseball in one of the big networks. And he shouldn't be, you know, compromising his ability to do an A plus job. I think actually for him in his own mind after reading this thread, this is what enables him to do a first-rate job. And whether or not it's true or not, I think he thinks it is. But anyway, whatever. Well, I like Joe Buck.

But whoever gave him a show on HBO, that guy should still be drinking. He had a show on HBO? Yes, a talk show. Oh, it was massive. Magic Johnson memorable. Oh, it was that bad. Yeah. God, I don't even remember it.

That executive on HBO should still be drinking today. I don't really even remember it. I do remember the Magic Johnson debacle, and I remember being really excited because Magic was my guy, and I wanted to see if he'd be great at it, and he wasn't great at it. Yeah. The, I wanted to mention real quickly before we get to the big signing in baseball. all. Last night, the wizard, first of all, Maryland won, they took care of business. They are really right now on track to make a serious run to the NCAA tournament. And Aaron Wiggins was outstanding

again. And he is getting confident. And that could really end up propelling Maryland not only into the tournament, but being a team that, you know, at least early on would be difficult to play. So I was happy about that. And, you know, for all of you that, you know, lit me up on the message boards, because of my rant about Mark Turgeon yesterday. I appreciate that. I love getting the attention. You guys, most of you know nothing about basketball. Had a great conversation with Walt Williams this morning,

and we talked about some of the things that Marks really improved on zone offense, switching defenses, playing lots of defenses. Maryland's a well-coached team, regardless of you dummies who think otherwise. But, again, I'm with you. The postseason has not been good enough. has not been good enough. I get it. And I want better too. But I'm a big proponent of be very careful for what you wish for because you can do worse, a lot worse than Mark Turgeon. And Tommy, yesterday I advocated on the radio show that Damon Evans signed him to an extension. You know,

if they had played in the tournament last year, more likely than not Turgeon would have already had his extension, and this year, the coaching job that he's done with that team has been outstanding. If they're in the tournament and they make the tournament and they've got a decent shot to make it, it is an incredible job. Oh, by the way, here's some breaking news. The Eagles have traded Carson Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2021 third round draft pick, a conditional 22nd round pick that could turn into a first. rounder. That's it. Wentz to Indianapolis for a third rounder and a conditional second rounder in 2022 that could turn into a first rounder. So if he plays well, it's a first and a third is basically

the way I would read that. If he plays a lot, excuse me, it's a first and a third. If he doesn't play a lot, it's a second and a third. Interesting. Really interesting. Do you know what Washington paid for Donovan McNabb? in 2010, all right, for a quarterback that was much older and in the twilight of his career, they gave up a second and a third. It was actually a conditional third that could have turned into a fourth, but he played enough in that first year and produced enough that it turned into a third. This more likely than not is going to be a first and a third for Carson Wentz from the Colts. And he reunites with Frank Reich, who was in Philadelphia, and

Yeah. It's going to be interesting, Wentz in Indianapolis. Very interesting. All right, so that was news. Also, I wanted to say real quickly about the Wizards game last night because they've won three in a row. First of all, Davos Bertons, when he gets it going, man, God, can he shoot it? Same for Jamal Murray on the other side. But the Wizards did not foul Jamal Murray at the end of the game, up three.

And Scott Brooks said, yeah, we just haven't practiced that situation enough. And Jamal Murray made an open three from 30 feet. concede that, but his range is probably more like 35 to 40 feet, and they let him shoot it with barely even a hand in his face. You can't say that we decided not to foul because it's not something we were prepared to do because we haven't practiced it. It's not really that hard. If your choices to foul up three rather than give their best shooter in one of the great shooters in the game a wide open look, then foul. There's not much coaching to it. You know, it is a little bit tricky. You don't want to catch him in the shooting motion, but there was an

opportunity to get him rather than leaving them wide open. If your decision, Scott, is that you'd rather not foul in that situation. Just say it. I'm not a guy that fouls in that situation. Up three, you know, even their best shooters are still only 42%, you know, 43%. So we still have a better than 50-50 chance of him missing it and winning the game. The issue, though, is not that. The issue is if you do foul, what are your chances of winning the game? Are they better than 58% if the guy's a 42% three-point shooter? Probably, yeah, probably they're more like 80% if you foul and put them at the line for two free throws down three. Just not a great explanation of it. But the Wizards have won three in a row. How about that? They beat a good team last night in Denver.

Denver was on the second half of a back-to-back. But my God, there's no defense being played. And one last thing, Tommy, you know how much I love Russell Westbrook and have over the years. Woo! He is just at times horrible. He had eight turns. Like people say, oh, another triple double, 12 points, 12 assists, 13 rebounds. He had eight turnovers, probably should have been 10 or 11, and he was two for six from the free throw line. He's so lacking in confidence from the free throw line.

And as a shooter in general, anyway, what do you got on Tatease? big deal for a really good player. Yeah, 14 years, I think, what, $340 million? Yeah. And immediately, the reaction on social media for Washington National fans was, what about Wantsoto? Okay? I mean, how much is they going to take to sign Wantsoto?

When are the learners going to, you know, make sure that one of their superstars, you know, doesn't leave town? I mean, Wonsoto won't be a free agent, I think, for a number. other four years yet. But like I said, there's a lot of pressure on the nationals now among their fan base to

do the same thing that the Padres did with Tattee with Juan Soto. And Mike Roso acknowledged on a Zoom call this morning that they had preliminary talks earlier this year, but they didn't go anywhere

and they're just left it at that. for now. But I would say to the Nationals, take care of Trey Turner business first. Trey Turner has two years left before he is a free agent. He's one of the top five short stops, maybe in all baseball, coming off a COVID-60 game season where he batted 335. He's got a career batting average of almost 300. He's got power. He's got speed. I would argue that he's the leader of that team right now moving forward. But will Soto get a deal? Will Soto get a Tis Jr. deal?

Oh, he'd get more than that. I mean, I think he would get more than that if somebody was actually trying to, if the nationals were willing to do it. He's a much better player? The learners, yeah. But the learners aren't going to do that. and again, for national fans, it's very frustrating, and it should be frustrating, to watch all your stars leave town, except for Steven Strasbourg.

Well, without Harper and Rendon, this was gearing up to make sure that Soto didn't go anywhere. Well, but we thought the same thing went Harper. I know, but Tommy. Surely they'd sign Anthony Rendon, and they didn't. Okay. Well, do you really think after, you know, passing on Harper and letting Rendon walk, You're going to tell me that you don't think that Soto is going to be the biggest deal in franchise history? I don't know if there's any reason to believe he would based on what. They didn't let Rendon go because of Soto.

No, right. I mean, they let Harper go because of Soto. Right, exactly. In some part. But, I mean, am I confident that the learners will do it based on their track record? No. Absolutely not. So you better enjoy Juan Soto the last four years he's here.

isn't a shortstop valued at a much higher level than, you know, a left or right fielder defensively? And is that why? Defensively, of course. So isn't that why that this guy, that Soto's deal might not be like much greater than Tatea's Juniors? Yes. Yeah, but Tatee Jr. offensively is dynamite as well. Yeah, I know. He's a better offensive player than Trey Turner.

but not by much. Again, Trey Turner, that's where the concentration is going to be right now. That's where the emphasis should be. Signed Trey Turner to a long-term contract extension to keep him in Washington, then move on to the Juan Soto business. I want to watch Juan Soto here for the next 10 to 15 years, please. Thank you. I wanted that for Harper, too.

I wanted that for Rendon. Rendon was ready to move on. No, Rendon was ready to sign. Rendon was ready to sign a couple of times. They could have signed Rendon to a lot less money than what he wound up getting in that spring training. Rendon was willing to stay. The learners weren't willing to pay. All right.

What else you got today? Let me get this out. We've gone on for too long. I got nothing else. We got bad weather here, too. It's raining today, you know? I'm really sorry about that. I mean, I don't know if I'm going to be able to get by the pool or not.

Well, I hope you can make it out there. Just bring that umbrella that you always have over your head to keep the sun from baking you out. All right. My parasol? Your parasol. Great job today. Go get a couple of beers on me, and we will talk next week. Okay, boss.

Back tomorrow with Cooley, everybody. Have a good day.