The Kevin Sheehan Show - Dwayne Haskins: Yes or No?

Episode Date: April 23, 2019

Kevin and Thom open up with a Caps-Carolina Game 6 recap. Then it's the NFL Draft and the insistence from Todd McShay/ESPN that Dwayne Haskins is a Redskin target on Thursday night. Also, Harper, NBA Playoffs, and a few players Kevin really likes in the draft. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. That's right, Tommy's here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that we told you to call. We'll have a game seven tomorrow night in Washington. Carolina, Tommy, the desperate team, the home team. I think the better team. last night and the defending champs will have to win at home tomorrow night to continue their Stanley Cup defense. But I think their Stanley Cup pedigree may pay dividends tomorrow night. Look, it's been a, it's been a, look, the caps were 10 and 3 on the road last year in the playoffs. That clearly hasn't happened this time around.

It still could. They're 0 and 3 right now. They could win their next 10 on the road. Yeah, they could if they get a chance to play dose. But so far, this has been a home. series and if Carolina's crowd had a big impact once they get a lead to, you know, I think part of the Capp's strategy has been, and they did it early, what is to take the crowd out of the game. And that's pretty amazing that they value that so much.

You know, Caps crowd has to do the same thing. They have to be able to make it difficult for Carolina to concentrate. I don't know how much, how effective that always is, but they raved about it in Raleigh. I really enjoyed your column the other day on the Caps. I thought it was really well done. And you talked about, you know, the outside world, you know, speaking in terms of the Capitals franchise having Stanley Cup pedigree. Well, they do. They won the Stanley Cup last year.

And I think they have played thus far, certainly on Saturday night, with a championship swagger to them. I actually thought they played pretty well last night in the first period when they came out with the intention of ending the series right then and there. Last night. I really did. I thought that they played well last night in the first period. And then the final 40 minutes not so good. There was a controversial call, which we will get to here momentarily. Do you have an opinion of it?

Yeah, I do. Okay. But I did want to mention that our Capps segment today is presented, as it has been since the playoffs started, by Mama Lucha. Mama Lucha has a Caps hockey playoff special going on right now, $30 for a large pizza and chicken parm. So large pizza chicken parm for $30. However, you can get it for $20 if you order online at Mama Luchia Restaurants.com and use my promo code, Kevin Caps, all lowercase. K-E-V-I-N-C-A-P-S. Chicken Parm, large pizza for just $20 when you order online.

Use my promo code, Kevin Capps, and that's for either pickup or delivery. First of all, on the game itself, clearly, you know, you get into these situations in sports in general where you get the team that's down in a series and they're playing a home game and they have a wild frenzied home atmosphere, which Carolina clearly has. They have a sense of desperation. team doesn't. And they played like that. And even though, and I, that's why I thought I was impressed with what the caps did in the first period to sort of take control early on in that game, scoring the first goal, which is meant the winning team in this series in the first five games, and to take a

two one first period lead. And I thought the caps were in pretty good shape. I really did. I thought that they had come out and they looked like the team, not necessarily that it dominated on Saturday night, but a team that had, you know, the ability to end it last night. But Carolina was desperate. Here's the thing, and I'm going to talk in part hockey, you know, language I'm sure, and much of it won't be. The thing that has surprised me in watching the first six games of this series, and I think it does translate to increased win probability, if you want to talk in those terms. Carolina forechecks so aggressively, like they are constantly badgering the caps in their own zone, their defensemen, as they're trying to get set to move the puck up the ice,

they're down there, they're pressuring, they're badgering, they're inching their defensemen into the offensive zone, and what it led to last night, it appeared to me, and has led to this, in multiple games in the, the series is Carolina's just had more puck possession time and they've had more opportunities. Now, they didn't Saturday night, but last night looked like games three and four. Actually, games one and two. They looked a little bit like games one and two also.

They got outplayed in games one and two in terms of rush, in terms of puck possession, save for the fortunate goals that they got from Baxter and Ovechkin. They outshot the caps last night. The caps have been hitting and have been a very physical team here in the last couple of games. I think going back to game four, when the Hurricanes won game three. I thought the Caps had played a better game in game four. But am I right that Carolina's four check is leading to more puck possession time and therefore more opportunities? They are so aggressive and were last night their defensemen had possession of the

puck in the offensive zone a lot of the night last night. Like, it just seemed like the caps were always being pressured. Like, for a basketball analogy, it's the team that's constantly pressuring defensively. They're pressuring with full court pressure. They're pressuring man-to-man picking up, you know, at the half-court line. You know, and it just seems like Carolina at times, and I'm not saying from a hitting perspective, because I know that the caps have out-hit the canes and that they have been very physical, but from a style of play, it's been Carolina that's pressured more and taken it to

the caps a little bit more. And I think it's led to more puck possession time. Well, you know, we've talked about this in other playoffs, in other sports, that the hot team going into the, into the playoffs has an advantage. And Carolina down the stretch played some very good hot, played the hockey you're seeing now. There's no words. What they've had is they've had their foot on the pedal for a while, and the caps didn't have to. They really didn't have to.

They played well in spurts. They won the division, you know. But Caroline, compare it to the 2008 capitals, the Bruce Boudreaux caps, that once he took over around Thanksgiving, they went on a tear. They went on a tear, and they played the flyers in the first. first round in a seven-game series. And I've talked to George McPhee, and he says out of all the the failed playoff appearances, he thinks that was their best chance. 2008, more than 2010. Their first time, he thinks that was there, because of the momentum they

had carrying into the playoffs. They lost the game seven at home to Philadelphia. I mean, the momentum that they had at the end of the season, that carried them to a seventh game, I forget who they were lining up to play after that. But on my, podcast cigars and curveballs, he said that once because I thought the best postseason caps team before last year were the Dale Hunter caps. And they were to some extent. But 2008, the Capitals were Carolina, that hot team. Well, Columbus was really hot coming into this postseason. And now they've had to wait. You know, the Islanders in Columbus because they swept their opponents. And now the other two

series are going to seventh and deciding games, they may have cool off a little bit. It may be advantage to the two teams that advance out of the Boston, Toronto series and the Washington Carolina series. Now, last night was interesting too, because while I do believe Carolina played is the desperate team, the home team, they forechecked well, they had puck possession advantages, certainly in the last 40 minutes of the game. It was also typical of hockey in that there was tons of good fortune for them. You know, that first goal by Fogel, it was. I mean, that is just, you know, bouncing off different things. But that's a playoff goal. It's a spinning, you know, whirling dervish just fires it. It hits a bunch of things and goes in.

The Justin Williams goal. Okay. That's out of your mind. I mean, seriously, how many times could he do that? I understand the hand-eye coordination. with these hockey players is through the roof off the charts. Incredible. But just because you get your stick on a puck that's in the air doesn't mean that it's going to bounce in such a way that it goes under Holpe's legs. You know what that was like? That was like hitting a pool ball while it's going about 50 miles an hour

into the pocket you wanted to go to. Oh, I'm not, let me make sure I'm being clear on this. I understand that there is a skill level and that it's not unusual. for somebody in hockey to take their stick and pick a puck out of the air and deflect it somehow. It's the result of the deflection that is a one in 25 that it's going to go in? This was the blink of an eye deflection. I know, I know. Yeah.

But you see the deflections happen all the time, and that's what they're trying to do. They're trying to redirect the puck in a way in which the goaltender's not, you know, anticipating where it'll go. So are we assuming that he did that on purpose? Oh, there's no doubt he did it on purpose. but the result of what he did on purpose was flukish. Okay. Because the result, to me, I don't know what the odds are. It certainly seems like it would be a longer shot than one in 10 that it's going to go in.

Yes, it does. Okay, so it was that kind of good fortune, too, that Carolina, you know, that went with, they played with desperation, they played at home, they played well. But they also got good fortune. I mean, those first two goals are two of the four. The last, or two of the five, the last one was. an empty netter. Right.

I mean, the first one, again, that's the kind of goal you see in playoff hockey when you have traffic in front of the net. Your favorite thing. And by the way, Justin Williams, his success in the postseason, and I've heard this said when he was here. Yes. And now in Carolina, that he just knows how to get it done around the net. You know, and he was there a couple of other times with a chance.

Now, on the controversial no-goal call that would have tied it at 3-3 that sent Ovechkin into quite a tirade, profanity-laced, I didn't know the rule until we're watching last night. You see all the replays and you hear Locker and Joe B, and I'm watching that broadcast, not the national broadcast. and Joe B and Locker disagreed. Locker said that's the rule. He hit the pad, the goalie's pad, Ovechkin did, after Kuznetsoff stuffed it in there. I thought I saw the puck moving a little bit underneath his pad, and that wasn't trapped.

I think the referee would have been able to bail himself out of all of this had he just said, I blew the whistle. It was under his pad, I blew the whistle. But he didn't blow the whistle. It was the interference with Ovechkin not getting the stick on the puck, but getting the stick on the goalie's pad, which is not allowed. But the puck was still moving, Tommy, I thought. So I thought personally it was a bad call.

By the letter of the law, I thought the puck had to be trapped. Trapped to me means it's not moving. I thought the puck may have still been moving. With that said, the call on the ice was no goal, and I guess they didn't have clear evidence that it should have been overturned. Joe B's point was it's not the spirit of the rule. Right, right. Which really shouldn't matter necessarily, right?

No, it shouldn't. But I thought the puck was still moving. Therefore, I thought there was some evidence there that the puck wasn't fully trapped. Therefore, Ovechkin had the opportunity to go for whether there's, you know, I guess still at that point, would it be goalie interference if the puck hits the pad, if the stick hits the pad and not the puck, if the puck's loose, I don't know. It seemed like a goal to me.

It seemed like if it had been called a goal on the ice, it would have been a goal. It seemed like one to me. It did? Yeah, it did. But look, let's remember here, all you conspiracy theorists. The NHL wants the capitals in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They want to see the capitals move on. They're not interested in seeing the Carolina hurricane.

move on to face the New York Islanders. They want to see the caps. So they may be incompetent, but there's no personal grudge against the Washington Capitals. That's a really good point because right now in these playoffs, the caps are the biggest draw by far. Not just because they're the defending champs. If they had lost the Stanley Cup final last year, they'd be the biggest draw left in these playoffs. I think that's true.

Certainly in the East, with no Pittsburgh, right? and no Tampa. They're the biggest draw left in the east. Out West, I mean, you've already got upsets galore there. Dallas beat Nashville last night in overtime. I actually stayed up and watched that. That was very exciting. I mean, you talk about an overtime. It ended 17 minutes in a few seconds into overtime. And Tommy, those first 17 minutes of overtime, and by the way, the last 10 minutes of regulation in a 1-1 game, there were so many scoring chances. It was amazing that the game didn't and before it finally did. But out west, Dallas was the lower-seated team.

St. Louis was the lower-seated team. Colorado was essentially an eight beating a one. So you've had that twice in this postseason. And I think that tomorrow night you get the seventh and deciding game between Vegas and San Jose. How about that? That's pretty good. That's what they talk about postseason hockey. They're the biggest draw.

Yeah. I mean, I don't know who the stars are that are left in, but nobody's as big as star as Ovechkin. No. Nobody is. Speaking of Ovechkin and his temper tantrum, I want to read what Todd Reardon said after the game when he told reporters. He's all in, an emotional guy that cares a ton.

You look back a few years ago, and there were some people that talked about his lack of care four or five years ago. You did. And I think it's so far from that, he's all about wanting to win emotionally wears it on his sleeve that's not how we want to handle it but I think a little bit of it shows his passion and desire to win

and then he goes on to say like I said four or five years ago it would have been like well why doesn't he react and get mad and now he's unbelievably passionate about trying to do everything he can about pushing our team to the next level and knows that he's going to do everything in his power to help us do it. I expect him to be emotionally involved right from the drop of the puck at home,

and I believe in our team. Why bring up this perception of Ovechkin before? Why bring up the old perception of Ovechkin? No, I think it was just a way to illustrate what his perception is now. But when the view of view changes, that's because it was another way before. And he pretty much on record said people thought Ovechkin didn't care. You didn't think he cared. I don't think he cared.

I don't think he felt at this time of the year he was as interested in getting home in playing for his national team as he was advancing in the postseason. I mean, to me, to bring this up now is kind of foolish because, look, they've got a Stanley Cup banner hanging from the Rafters. They've got their name on the Stanley Cup. the greatest trophy in sports. They've got rings. None of that can be taken away from them,

no matter what happens in the seventh game. But years from now, I mean, Ovechkin and the Capitol still have this window of opportunity, however difficult it is, to win more than one Stanley Cup, which many people thought they should have had more than one by this time. Yeah, I don't. I don't have a problem.

I think I know what he was trying to do. I didn't hear it. I think he was trying to say, you know, for all of those people that thought that Ovechkin never had that burning desire to win, he always has had it, even though the perception was that he didn't have it before. And now you're really seeing it. I don't see him saying he always has had it. Okay. Well, I mean, here's the thing.

It doesn't matter anymore. Ovechkin, the fact that he doesn't have three Stanley Cups and Sidney Crosby. has whatever number is. We're talking about missed opportunities. Okay. Well, it would be much worse if they were talking about, of course, him never having won a cup. The 79 to 83 Orioles. They went to the World Series in 79. He lost to Pittsburgh in seven. In 80, they won 100 games and the Yankees won 103. In 81, you had the strike split season, and the Orioles won more games than anybody in America. But it was Dodgers Yankees. Yeah, because they didn't win their, they didn't win the split season. In 82, they lost to the Brewers on the last weekend.

You remember that? Yes. It was like a four-game set. They won the first three. It was a remarkable weekend. And didn't Jim Palmer pitch that last one? Yes. And got beat, badly. And got killed. Yeah. And then 83, they won it. I know that team thinks they should have had more to show for it than one World Series. And it bothersome. I know that the 86 Mets who lost out to the 85 Cardinals in the N.O. East, lost out. out to them again in 87 Cardinals in the N.O. East and then got beat by the Dodgers in the championship series in 88. That team should have had more to show for it than one world series. So while you always have that to keep you warm at night, there's part of you that thinks about

the missed opportunities. I mean, you could have been great times, great multiplied. And I think when he brings that up, it's a reminder of, look, you know, George, George McPhee thinks they would have won in 2008. I think the year that they took the Penguins to seven games and then got pummeled, six to what, six to nothing or six three. The road after that for the penguins was easy. The Caps could have had that easy path. I think there's at least, you know, the Dale Hunter takes the in the

semifinals, Eastern Conference semifinals, takes the Bruins to seven games. I think any of those three teams could have won a Stanley Cup. And I think that's going to be part of the. the narrative. It's not going to define him, but it's going to be part of it. You know, as you were saying that, I was thinking about, you know, other teams in sports that felt like they should have had more. You know, hockey is one of those sports where you've had these dynasties, whether it was the Islanders in the 70s and 80s, Edmonton in the 80s, Pittsburgh, et cetera. Even the Blackhawks. And the Blackhawks had a mini run there. You know who probably

at the end of the day when it's all said and done will feel like they should have had more? The Patriots. Seriously. I mean, they have six. But they went to how many Super Bowl? They lost four. But they, well, they lost,

how many do they lose? They lost to Philly. They lost to the Giants twice. Aaron, how many did they lose? They lost three, right? No. Brady's been to nine, lost one six. Okay.

They lost three. Because the page, they lost to the Giants twice, and they lost to the Eagles. Right, and they lost by such a, by such, at least in some of those games. All of them. All of them were winnable games. By a close margin. Right.

But, but, you know, the bears of the 80s got one in 85. Yes. And it was a team that I think lost to the Redskins twice as a number one seed in the NFC playoffs. They were certainly a 14 and two team one of those years when the Redskins went in there. I think that was the Darrell Green punt return game. And the other year when Flutie had to start for McMahon, I think they were. had the best record in the NFC, but they certainly had home field advantage. I'm not trying to diminish what Ovechkin has done. I'm just saying if they lose this series,

it will stick in their crawl again because they seem to be good enough to continue to compete for the Stanley Cup championship. Well, remember, after the Pittsburgh loss in 2017, people thought the window had started to shut because Ovechkin was getting old. and his best was behind him. That was the conversation after they lost to the pens in 2017. Last year, when they're down 2-0 to Columbus in the first round, and most people thought that series is probably over, that was the end of it.

That was going to be the end of the gaps. Yes, that would have been it. So this, you know, they won it unexpectedly last year. They are now in contention in the favorite to win it again. this year because of what's happened earlier in the postseason, all after the window was supposedly shutting or closing. Right. I don't know.

You know, we say this all the time about hockey, and yet hockey's had these dynasties as we just, you know, laid out, you know, from the Islanders to Edmonton to Pittsburgh. It's just the postseason results for the caps when you go back through it. So many of them were really fluky. Yes. And some of them, like their game seven lost to the rain. in 2013, the game seven loss in 2009. So some of them.

So 2010 to Montreal. Well, the Montreal thing was a goaltender standing on his head. Yes. You know, the goalie, the hockey thing. 2008, you said, that surprises me, their first playoff team during the Ovechkin era. Remember, they had Federoff on that team too in this last year. Right. And, well, they had Federoff for the loss to Montreal, too.

That's right. They did. Right. the 2009 home loss in game 7 to Pittsburgh when it was 5 to nothing in like an hour and 10 minutes. Remember that? It was 3.0 before people got in their seats. Exactly. So some of it, they were completely outplayed.

So my point is. And Ovechkin remember in a lot of the game sevens specifically, I remember going through this last year before the Tampa game seven. And a lot of those game sevens, he didn't play well. No. Now, in the postseason in general, statistically, Ovechkins had very, very good results. Yes, he has. This is my point is, I mean, I don't think he's saying that wasn't true that that narrative of Eschen before. I don't think he's dismissing it. So what's wrong with admitting it? If it is true, if you're if you're assuming that he's being truthful, what's

wrong with talking about a man who's grown? Well, there's nothing wrong with it except it means missed opportunities that nobody will care about if you go on to win another Stanley Cup or two. you would have erased that. If, you know, Alas of Vechan is done in 17 years and has one Stanley Cup, he'll always have that. I mean, his legacy is set,

but people might, I think some people will look back and say, why didn't he have more? I think that that'll be a part of the conversation. I think clearly that will be a part of the conversation. And clearly what he's avoided, though, is the conversation of being Patrick Ewing and Berkeley and really a step above that.

They can't take that away from him. Because he really was arguably the best player in the game. And I don't know that Barkley and Ewing were, with Jordan in the NBA, they weren't the best player in the game. And maybe people would say, well, with Sidney Crosby in the game, Ovechkin hasn't been the best player. But he's certainly, you know, been a Hall of Fame, Locke, you know, all time great. And it's just funny the way hockey works.

I know that we get wrapped up into the randomness of the sport. and there's a lot of things that would say that it's not as random when you look at the dynasties. But for the caps, man, over the years, there was definitely some choking going on in some of those games. Three to one lead against Rangers. And, you know, not playing well in close-out games or seventh games. I think, by the way, just taking it to tomorrow night, I think they're going to play well and win. I think they are too. I just have a feeling that, first of all, I think I don't know this to be true.

I assume that they're more talented than Carolina. I assume that Carolina, after watching these first six games, that really, if Ovechkin and Kuznetsov in particular, play their best, nobody on Carolina is as good as either one of those two players. Yeah, but Kuznetsov is on the hot seat. He was basically invisible last night until near the end of the game. And he was really the reason they made their run last year. I mean, if you go back, I think a lot of people said this,

that Kuznetsov was really the MVP of the postseason for them last. sure. Now, did they miss Oshy last night? They didn't miss him in game six. Did they miss him last night? I think they're going to win tomorrow night. I'm basing it on, for whatever reason, they're a defending champion. They played with this swagger, with this confidence on Saturday night in a, you know, in a pivotal game five and a two-two series. I just would be shocked if they don't play well tomorrow night. I think you're right. You're right on all counts. I would not have felt this way a year ago. No. Okay. But, after what happened last year,

and then I thought we saw some of that in game five. I think it's called a Stanley Cup pedigree. Just real quickly, because I was saying that, because you had mentioned to me before the show started, that there was, you know, that some of the out-of-town announcers were talking about the caps and their Stanley Cup pedigree, which is very... And it jumped out at the screen to me.

I said, whoa, the Capitals? I know they won the Stanley Cup, but now they have a pedigree? I thought that was that was an impressive turnaround for this organization that outside announcers basically think of them as a Stanley Cup champion. Now that may seem obvious. They won the Stanley Cup. But for a team that was always seen just the opposite direction. I mean, like Todd Reardon said about Ovechkin, I mean, they were seen in the opposite viewpoint before.

I just think it's impressive the turnaround. You know, part of that, too, is that last year wasn't, you know, a fluke Stanley Cup win. They came back against Columbus. They came back with two shutout victories over Tampa. Pittsburgh in that second round, they got through the team that had, you know, basically ended their season so many times and been the biggest impediment to playoff success. And then, you know, they gave up a bunch of goals in a frenzied atmosphere in Vegas and they won four straight, including clinching on the road.

And then the celebration, there was something about the way the Caps did it last year, too, that I think makes hockey people say, I have a confidence level in this team that I've never had before. Yeah. Now, I can remember last year after that game won in Vegas, one columnist in town in particular said the series is over. I do remember who was that? Series is over.

Who was the? I mean, you score four goals on the road against Fleury and lose. you've lost your opportunity to win the series. I thought in that moment it was a brilliant column. I did. Didn't turn out that way. Let's take a moment to mention Windonation real quickly. Have you started your spring checklist? Tommy, do you have a spring checklist?

I never have a checklist. I move forward every day with what's in front of me. You don't have a to-do list? To-do list. Who do you think I am? You are not that organized. You've got to check right now to see if your hose works. You've got to check to see if the lawnmower works.

And are the windows easily opened? If you're struggling and it's making noise and there's moisture and they're hard to get open and maybe they're even cracked. It's time to think about new energy efficient windows from Window Nation. Take advantage of their 33% off sale, which is going on right now. You can get 33% off on your entire project, including installation. Windows, siding, and doors, the entire job with install is 33% off. Plus, to make quality even more affordable, get a house of windows for as low as $69 a month.

That's cheaper than your cell phone bill. And if you call this week, Window Nation will give you free blinds for every window you purchase. Think about it. Take 33% off your entire order. And for $69 a month, that's about $2 a day, you'll get brand new energy efficient windows plus free blind. If you're in the market for new windows, siding or doors, give Window Nation a call to experience their industry best customer service with a free in-home estimate. Harley, Aaron, and Eric, they built a company that is one of the best window companies in the nation. I know these guys. I've used them in the past. Trust me, these guys at Window Nation will make it work for you.

Let them put a check on your home upgrade checklist. Tommy doesn't have a checklist or to do. list. He just goes with the flow. That's right. You don't even know what you're doing after this show today. You got a column to write. That's all you know. What's in front of me is what is what's on my list. Call 86690 Nation today or online at windownation.com. Again, 86690 Nation. You will not be disappointed. Tell them that I sent you. All right. Let's get to some NFL draft talk. And actually, yeah, baby. Redskins talk in general. In fact, I'll start with this. I don't know if you saw this.

But there was a poll taken by Greg Rosenthal. I'm sorry, it was a story written by Greg Rosenthal at NFL.com where he did his NFL general manager rankings. And he, Tommy, basically took the new general managers and put them in a category on their own where they weren't really ranked. I think there's seven new guys basically, like Mike Mayock. And Eric DeCost is finally taken over for good in Baltimore. Baltimore and Chris Greer in Miami.

And so that left 25 general managers, all right? You know, lead guys, personnel guys in organizations to be ranked 25 to one. I would think somebody with the Prince of Darkness's credentials, somebody like Bruce Allen, who's been a front office person for a long time. I mean, you know, Oakland, Tampa, Washington, Somebody as respected as that would probably, I think, rank in the top 10, right? No. I don't think so.

No. Number one was Belichick. They counted Belichick is the lead personnel guy. Well, because they count him as the lead guy in everything. Yeah, Howie Roseman in Philadelphia was two. Kevin Colbert and Pittsburgh was three, despite what Colbert said about Ben Ruffelberger and Ben's children, his 45 children. John Dorsey in Cleveland flies up the rankings from last year. He's number four, and Demetroff in Atlanta is five.

I would have thought John Schneider would have been at the top of my list in Seattle. Of course, Schneider was here in Washington to start his career off, but he was number six. Where does the NFC East guys come in? Well, I mentioned Howie Roseman at two. Next up, believe it or not, in these rankings is Jerry Jones. at 12. Jerry's considered the lead guy, even though he really isn't necessarily the lead guy. Isn't it Stephen Jones doing a lot of decisions? And they have a true general manager as well.

But Jerry's ranked 12th. And then Dave Gettleman for the Giants comes in at 19. So those are the other three NFC East teams. Out of 25 people. Wait a minute. 19? You're down to 19 already? And I haven't gotten to Bruce quite yet. Oh, that must be a mistake. So out of the 25 general managers, and remember, Bruce does not have a general manager title, just like, you know,

Jerry Jones doesn't have, I don't think a general manager title. I don't think he has a human title either, but that's neither here or there. But what Rosenthal is really writing are about the key and lead decision makers in these organizations when it comes to,

you know, roster management and personnel. Seven new guys, not ranked, 25 guys left that have been there, and Bruce Allen out of the 25th was 25th. This is what Rosenthal writes. Alan has proven excellent at gaining the trust of ownership in Oakland, Tampa Bay, and Washington, bridging the gap between ownership and the football side of the building. However, constructing a long-term vision in any of the locations has proven more challenging. This ranking reflects his body of work rather than just the last few years, along with a preference for management.

that aims for championships rather than the soft middle of the NFL's standings. I'll remind everybody that Bruce's record is not the soft middle. It's 40 and 72 since coming to Washington. It's the soft bottom is where his overall ranking is, or his record is. Which, by the way, he made very clear a year ago. That's what everybody should be judged on in the organization. And bridging the gap between ownership and, And the football side, that falls under Weaseldom.

That's what that falls under. Weasledom. That's what it is. It's one way to view it. It's sucking up to the ball. Yes. Yes, exactly. By the way, just because you've had, you know, in the last couple of years,

you've had these seven and nine, you know, seasons. Just because Tommy, his record in the last few years, by the way, I've got, I had the record wrong. 59, 84, and 1 is the overall record. 42 and 70 was what pro football reference had, and I said, that can't be right, and they left two years out. Anyway, 5984 and 1 is his record. Just because you've been in the soft middle for four straight years, which they have been, 9 and 7, 8, 7, and 1, 7 and 9, 7 and 9. This guy, and you could say it was Shanahan's organization in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. And if you want to discount those and just start with 2014 and say, well, Bruce really didn't have, you know, control of the organization until Mike left. You know, even then, you start with four and 12, nine and seven, eight seven and one, seven and nine, seven and nine.

I guess at that point you're talking about the soft middle. But overall, Bruce has had a losing record in virtually. every place he's been as the lead guy. And, you know, he's not a good personnel guy. He believes that he is. There are probably some things that Bruce does well for the owners that he's owned for, Al Davis being one of them. And then, of course, Dan Snyder here.

And I think what that is, is that Bruce is a good voice in lieu of the owners that he works for. Like he is a more preferred league voice. He's a more preferred communicator than Dan Snyder would be, or Al Davis would be, or the Culverhouse family. Well, Al Davis was pretty near the end of his life when Bruce worked for him. Yeah, that's true. Well, then his son. Yeah.

I mean, you know, would you want Mark Davis to be the lead communicator? No, he looks like a dope. Yeah. So I don't, I can't, I can't, the glazers, by the way, did the glazers or the culver house's own? I think the glazers. The Culverhouses owned it, but I think the glazers owned it when Bruce was there. Anyway, we don't have to spend a lot of time on that. Well, let me just point out that, you know, Bruce's name came up on another list a few years ago.

Yeah, least trusted. Least trusted agent, least trusted general manager among NFL agents in the league. So he's got quite a resume. Does he get plaques for that? being a bottom feeder for both? I don't, you know, I wonder sometimes whether or not this is like a badge of honor for him, like, or if it's embarrassing for him. I don't, we've said this a bunch of times.

I don't know what his reaction to the fire Bruce Allen hashtag has been to virtually anybody that follows football thinking that he's among the worst at what he does. I don't know what his reaction is. I think I might have it. I don't know what Dan's reaction is. I think I might have a guess. Liquor. I think I might have a guess.

Let's get to the nitty-gritty, baby. Let's get to the draft. A couple of things. Let's get to what's going to be the biggest story of this draft. Which is what? Which is the Redskins trading for the rights to draft Kyle and Murray. You want to bet on that? No, I don't want to bet on that.

That's my, remember we used to do long-shot predictions? Yeah, bold predictions. Bold predictions? You heard it here first. heard it here first, baby. Dan Snyder has been spending every waking hour trying to figure out a way to get Kyle or Murray in a Redskins uniform, and things seem to be slipping in his direction. I think he might be thinking more about getting Dwayne Haskins into a Redskins uniform and how to make that happen. Again, I mentioned this yesterday. So there's still a lot of smoke around Haskins and

the Redskins, primarily coming from Todd McShay, who I watched early this morning, basically say, just a lot, I'm hearing a lot about the Redskins and Haskins. And he said specifically that he thinks, if the Redskins really want Haskins, they're more likely than not going to trade up. Doug Williams told you yesterday that it's more likely that it'll trade back than trade up, but that you almost have to get in front of Denver at 10 to be assured of having a shot at Haskins. God, I hope this is not true. if it is true, I will absolutely be adamant that this is now Dan Snyder's pushing and influence.

Because I don't think the football people think Haskins is a better quarterback than Locke as a prospect. And I don't even think they think Locke deserves to go at 15 overall. Remember, and I mentioned this yesterday, Jay Gruden's comments about a month ago where he said, Locke is more ready now. Haskins, it would take a while. Jay doesn't want to take a while He doesn't have a while He doesn't have a while

But I've heard that the football people Like Locke more than Haskins I've also heard recently That a couple of key football people Scouts like Daniel Jones More than they like anybody, not named Murray So if the Redskins end up On Thursday night or Thursday

afternoon trading into a spot And then ultimately taking Dwayne Haskins I really believe that that would be an indication that Dan Snyder is back involved in a major way. I think he was with Landon Collins to a certain degree. I think they tried to go get Antonio Brown. I think this has been an offseason about Snyder saying,

Bruce, I can't take the guys you've been giving me anymore. I'm not getting excited about Orlando Scandrick or Paul Richards in this offseason. You've got to give me more. And then we've got to draft a guy that we can build a marketing plan around, that we can sell tickets around. And I think, you know, Aaron and I talk. about this yesterday. After Kyler Murray, Haskins, by far

and away, has the most marketability of any of the quarterbacks in the draft, because people know him. It's a big drop. It's not that big of a... Yes, it is. It's a big drop. Well, Kyler Murray, the personality, the dynamic way in which he plays, but

Dwayne Haskins was on TV just as much as Kyler Murray was. I know that. In Ohio State, you knew who Dwayne Haskins was. My point, that's fine. Murray a little bit more than Haskins. No. But Haskins...

No, not a little bit more. Yeah, it is a little bit more. No, it's not. If you're selling... You're not a massive football or college football. But I know, I know about business. I know about sports business. You do?

And that's what, you know, I only teach a course in it at Georgetown. Oh, God. You know, so I know who's going to sell a lot more tickets. And that's Kyle or Murray. True. That's my point. True. I would say, I would not debate that.

It's Murray. big drop to Haskins and then big drop to everybody else. I think it's a bigger drop from Haskins to everybody else than it is from Maria Haskins. Because I think most football fans never saw Drew Locke play one game. I think most football fans never saw Daniel Jones play one football game. But they saw Dwayne Haskins, even by accident, you saw Dwayne Haskins play a lot. I will give you that. I'll concede.

There's a difference between Marie and Haskins from a marketability standpoint. No doubt. In terms of name recognition, though, Haskins. has much more name recognition and people can vision what Dwayne Haskins looks like playing football more than they can Drew Locker Daniel Jones. Plus, he's a family friend. Well, he certainly, you know, was a classmate of Dan's son.

Yes. This would be a big mistake for the organization to make. I don't have, I'm not a draft expert, you know, that's not what Tommy and I have done over the years, although Aaron and I are going to fool around tomorrow with a mock draft and have a bunch of people calling and make the picks for the Redskins. Coolie's going to be with me on Thursday. We'll do a full draft show on Thursday together.

Portis is going to be on tomorrow. Get his thoughts. CP and Smoot, actually, of the ex-players in town that are part of the media, they watch more college football than anybody. Trust me on Clinton. Clinton watches a lot of college football. But I do, the players that I've watched, you get as a college football fan, Aaron's a big college football fan, watches a lot of games too. From the get-go, I was like, this guy is going to be a big bust in the NFL.

I just, I would see him panic against pressure. And you can point to the big games that he played in against Michigan and then the Big Ten title game against Northwestern. That's who they played in the Big Ten title game. And then against Washington, who does have a lot of NFL. NFL players on their defense. And by the way, he struggled a little bit in the second half of that game, of that bold game against Washington. If the Redskins make a big trade up, you know, they give up a second rounder or, you know, a third rounder to move up a few spots and they take Dwayne Haskins, I personally will not be excited at all. I won't be excited if they take a quarterback right now

in this draft other than Kyler Murray. And if they made a big move and they went for it with Murray, you know, I would understand that and I would be intrigued by it because I do think there's a chance that this guy could be sensational. Yeah, there is. He could be Russell Wilson, but there's also a lot we don't know about him. And he also could be RG3 when it comes to off the field stuff. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, come on.

You read the Klemco piece. Yeah. I mean, there was another one today about he's got some issue. That Dan Patrick interview was the shape of things that come. From a talent standpoint, he's the one. I'd get excited about it. No one else really. I mean, the Will Greer stuff recently, Ben Standing reported that. I actually would be intrigued by that if they got Will Greer in the second round or maybe even more fortunately the third round, although I doubt it. But man, I would not be excited about Haskins.

I really wouldn't be that excited about Jones or Locke either. So are we off the Josh Rosen train? That's not happening? No, I would still, you know, love to see Josh Rosen for a package of the second whatever. but last week I had this sense and I'm sticking with it that it's not going to happen. And I think now more and more here over the last couple of days, including Adam Schepter's podcast yesterday, you're getting a feel for the Redskins being out of the Josh Rosen thing. Yeah, you are. But, you know, you also. It could be smokescreen too.

It could be smokescreen. And look, I mean, I feel confident that the Cardinals are going to take Kyler Murray. But there's a lot of people that think that it may not happen now. I mean, whatever, it's the NFL draft. We're going to have, we're not going to know until we know. I did want to mention a couple of things. Number one, we're going to do this draft show. We're going to have a lot of draft conversation tomorrow

and sort of a lot of the beat reporters for the skins coming on to make the skins 15th pick overall. Cooley will be on on Thursday as well. Several of you asked if Tommy and I or Cooley and I would do some sort of draft night thing, which we've been doing on radio for years. We're not going to do it. We're going to put a really good show together on Thursday,

and you'll be able to listen to it, and then we'll come back and we'll recap everything on Friday. I personally, you know this is the way I felt over the years when we've done these draft shows. I would have preferred myself as a listener if I had been a listener to watch ESPN's coverage of the draft or watch the NFL network's coverage of the draft, draft or listen to ESPN Radio's coverage of the draft. This is a niche business, this draft

business. There are three dozen people call it that spend the entire year for these three days, Thursday night, Friday night and Saturday. They have a much better sense of what's going on than the person that's hosting an all-around radio show or is doing sports on sports, Center or whatever. So I would much prefer to watch it for the first time and forever, because I really do think the draft is a great television show on Thursday night. I think it's entertaining in part because you get to listen to these people who've spent the whole year preparing for this one night. I love watching Mel. I love watching ESPN's coverage and have over the years more than NFL network's coverage, but we've never gotten a chance to do it on the first two nights. It's

always the third day. And many times we were watching. working on the third day, but we will have a really... Many times I was working on the third day. Not we. I did for the first couple of years. I, me, I. I was the one out at FedEx Field for the draft day parts. Well, you and I were together for a couple of times.

Until you talked your way out of it. And then I was able to talk my way out of it. Well, I had more heavy lifting on the first two nights. Yes, sure. Sure I did. By the way, quick, I guess the point that I'm making is if I'm, a football fan and if I'm a Redskins fan, I've always felt this way.

And we made money on those draft shows. So that's why they were worth doing. But I would have never tuned in to the, you know, a bunch of local guys talking about their own team for three hours before the pick was made. I never, I always sat there.

You and I had this conversation. Kulley and I had this conversation. I'm like, right now, would you be listening to us or be watching Mel and McShea and all the people that have been working year round on this. By the way, with their beat reporters who have all of the NFL contacts and really know what's going on, we'd sit there and basically read from Twitter. Yes. You know, but you remember the year we got to interview Josh Larivas.

I do remember that. You thought he was French. He reminded me of Pluto from Animal House. I think he's still in the league. Well, what I was going to say, just to finish the thought is once the red skin, are on the clock or maybe a couple picks, that's when you want local guys. And then you would love to hear from the draft choices,

and I'm sure 980, I don't know if they'll have the ability as a rights holder to get the players. Sometimes we did. We'd get the player within an hour. When Bruce didn't know about it. After they had done the other stations first. When Bruce Allen didn't know about it.

Right. But we're going to do a really good draft show on Thursday, Cooley and I, and tomorrow will be as well. And then Friday we'll be here to recap. the whole thing. I got two things I wanted to say. Are we leaving?

No, we're not leaving. Okay. What do you mean? We got a lot more to talk about. We got a lot more to talk about? Yeah. You know, I'm kind of wiped out here. You're ready to go?

Yeah, I'm ready. I got my lunch pail packed. I'm ready to go. Okay. Okay, go ahead. No, no, I don't want to get in the way of your show. Is this NFL draft related? Oh, no.

Okay. I already forgot what one in them was. You're looking at the clock. Do you think you're ready to go right now? I thought I was. I don't even know what I was going to say now. I was going to mention that Colt McCoy, J.P. reported that Colt McCoy had another procedure on his leg. Maybe that's just getting his toenails clip.

No. I mean, I could, listen. You don't have nails on your leg. Listen, when I click cut my toenails, it's a procedure. Trust me. Oh, I'm sure it is with your toenails. They must be attractive to live. You know, at the Olympics in Salt Lake City, there was, there was, there was,

somebody giving away free pedicures and manicures. And they came up to me and I said, not unless you have power tools. It's not going to work. I did have a little bit more before we get to something that isn't NFL related for you. I wanted to mention just a couple of guys that I'll spend more time talking about in the future. But with Cooley, I've done this running back thing, which I'll say for Cooley on Thursday. But of the guys that are all sort of projected in that, you know, one through, call it 25 range right now,

and we'll end up with three guys inside the 25 that weren't supposed to be there on Thursday night. But guys that the Redskins may or may not have a shot at, but more likely than not could have a shot at. My favorite players in this draft, in order, Kyler Murray to me is the most intriguing at the most important position. and if I were in a position to draft Kyler-Marie, if all the due diligence said, you know, a lot of this stuff, the Dan Patrick interview, his father being really involved and all that stuff,

isn't a big deal. I would go for it. If I didn't have a quarterback, I would go for it. Again, the personal stuff not being major red flags, which they could be. Or the baseball.

That's part of the personal stuff. Yes, you're right. But he is really, you know, when you just think about watching him last, year and then you watch a lot of the follow-up tape that's out there. Good God, is he gifted and talented? And to me, he's Russell Wilson except even more dynamic with a stronger arm. And if you end up drafting Russell Wilson, it's not the third round like Wilson was in 2012. Who cares where you get Russell Wilson? And Kyler Murray could be better than Russell Wilson.

I love Devin White at LSU. He's to me going to be a superstar NFL inside linebacker and the right system coached by the right guy, but it's going to be, even that won't be able to stop his talent. He was a playmaker every time you turned LSU on, and he just looks to me like a star in the making. I am less sure about the other Devin, Devin Bush. Devin White to me is a superstar,

can't miss. Devin Bush question marks, more question marks. T.J. Hawkinson, the tight end from Iowa, is going to be a star player in the NFL. And by the way, is not getting out by number 10, nine or 10. Hawkinson's a top 10 pick, easy, maybe a top 7 pick.

I could see him dropping to 12 maybe, but just because of, you know, teams are going to be hesitant to take a tight end in the top 10, but he absolutely could be. But he's not going past 12, that's for sure. deceiving athletic ability in all around tight end. I'm not saying that it's going to be Gronk 2.0 in terms of the talent, but he's big, he's strong, he's got soft hands, he catches everything,

and then basically drags people after that. T.J. Hawkinson's going to be a star. Perhaps the most talented defensive player in the draft, but I would not take him, because this guy has, a ton of red flags all over them. There are warning signs all over Ed Oliver. But Ed Oliver is the most talented interior defensive lineman in the draft from Houston. What are you talking about?

So what, the red flags? The Redskins are now running a Boishtown. They're talking about the Redskins. I'm just taking it. These are my thoughts in general. I mean, if you're the Redskins and you've got a guy like that, you just put them on the Rubin Foster program. You could put them on the Ruben Foster program at this point. But watch Ed Oliver on Taylor on.

he's unblockable. Yeah. To me, he really does have next great interior defensive line, you know, talent as more of a guy. And I'm not talking about a nose tackle, by the way. I'm talking about a D tackle. I'm talking about in football terms, a three technique guy, not an over-the-center guy, and he's not a D-end either. If you've heard me talk about Montes-Sweat all year, I love Montes-Swett's talent. think he'll be a star. The problem is this heart condition, which is why apparently he is plummeting

right now. God, I hope he's healthy, and I hope it's not a major risk. If it's not, and somebody takes him later, they may have gotten a steal of the draft. If this heart condition drops him from, we're not taking a top 10 pick and using it on him, it's too much risk. Remember the John Allen stuff, John Allen would have been a top five pick if not for the arthritic shoulder concerns. I mean, the Redskins benefited from that. You know, somebody may benefit. from this heart stuff with Montez Sweat, but I hope he's healthy. From a pure leadership winner, you know, attitude, teammate guy, Christian Wilkins may be number one in this draft.

And you can't go wrong with the talent either. The Redskins can get themselves a really good guard in this draft, and Chris Lindstrom would be there at 15, I think. He is the number one guard in this draft. He would start day one personally. I don't think you use number 15 overall in the guard. When are they going to keep the good guard that they have? Brandon Sheriff, I don't know when that extension's coming.

I have no idea. But Lindstrom is definitely a guy that if they were to take him at 15, you shouldn't roll your eyes at that. He's a great player who will step in and start, and oh, by the way, conveniently fill a major need for them offensively. By the way, just two more guys. I'm off of Brian Burns as an edge. rusher. He is flying up draft boards. I don't personally see it as much. He's too lanky and almost

too tall, even though he is explosive. I don't want Burns at 15, but I would potentially at 15. I would not have a problem, although I'm sure people will say you can get this guy later in the first by trading back, but I would not have a problem if they drafted Marquis. Brown at 15 overall. Charlie Casserly said it on Friday. He is a difference maker and the only difference maker at wide receiver in this draft. He is another

guy that, you know, he was injured, but if he's healthy, he's Deshawn Jackson. I personally think Paris Campbell has a lot of Deshawn Jackson as well. But if they take Marquis Brown at 15 or if somebody took him that high, wouldn't have a problem with it. All right, go ahead.

Have you backed up from your initial position a while back saying that overall, you just as soon seen them do nothing a quarterback? Yeah, I'm fine with them not doing anything. Okay, so that's still a play. Because I wanted the blow-up option. Right. So I don't want them to reach for a quarterback.

Now, if they took Will Greer, you know, somewhere in the second round? Oh, a second, I'm not talking about a second round pick. Well, second round pick, Tommy, is a pick in which people are going to say that's the quarterback, that's the guy. I think when you take them third round or later, even though you could end up with your starter. The idea going in is we really like this guy and we could see this guy being our starter down the road, but he's not going to come in and start right away. I mean, second round guys here in previous years, I mean, Jay Gruden had one and Andy Dalton. You know, could be perceived

as a potential week one starter. So if they took Will Greer early in the second round with their second round pick, I think there would be some conversation about Will Greer competing to the job. Not as much if they picked the quarterback at 15. not. Right. But I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't want them to reach for a quarterback in a draft where you could get difference makers on defense at 15. You could get a difference maker and a wide receiver in Marquise Williams and Marquise Brown, excuse me, at 15 as well. Okay. And again, and I mentioned this, like if Chris Lindstrom were taken at 15 overall and he's a guard, I would not have a problem with that. He is a legitimate day one NFL starter at the

position. Well, they got one, Eric Flowers. Right. I also think the two positions that they should solve, and I expect them to solve, or attempt to solve, is safety, their other safety position, and wide receiver. I think that they will somehow, in the first four rounds, get a guy that can start at wide receiver, and get a guy that can start at safety, and I'd be surprised if a safety and wide receiver aren't taken by the Redskins in their first four selections, which are the first round, second round, and two third rounds. So I would be surprised in those two third rounders, the second rounder, and first rounder if a wide receiver and safety aren't taken.

Because I would bet that when they get to the second and third round, that they'll have a safety and wide receiver that will be close enough to the top of their board where they would also be filling a need. Right. And you heard Doug Williams say one thing. We need a go-to wide receiver. They need a playmaker, and they clearly need another safety. By the way, did you see that tweet the other day from Landon Collins?

We didn't talk about that, did we? About trying to get, what's his name? Jalen Ramsey, trying to recruit him? Yeah. Yeah, I saw that. So for those that missed it, Jalen Ram's, Landon Collins, new Redskins, safety, tweeted out the other day, and I'm looking for it now because I can't find it. here it is. It was, I guess, Saturday. He tweeted to Jalen Ramsey, the Jacksonville Corner,

one of the best corners in the game, but a little bit nuts. And by the way, the setup for this is that Coughlin and others have been very critical of Jalen Ramsey and him speaking out and lots of other things and not showing up for OTAs. Lending Collins tweeted to Jalen Ramsey as the newest Redskins. If you don't want to be on a team where your VP, your vice president, is all in the media, all in your mentions, talking about voluntary workouts and questioning your work ethic, then come to the Redskins. Well, I just don't want Landon. First of all, he is, right now, I think he's under contract with Jacksonville. Yes, and Landon Collins has been here for five minutes. For five minutes. It's like, but by the way, it just shows his naivitate because

if you've been in the organization for a while, as you said with DJ Sweringer, the real punishment would have been to make him stay, not to cut him. It's like you're not encouraging, you know, potential friends or existing friends to actually come here. No.

Landon Collins hasn't been here long enough to realize that this is not like a lot better than where he was in New York. It's actually worse. But I'll tell you what, Jaylon Ramsey has always been one of my favorite corners. I mean... I would love to see him here.

Of course you would. But anyway, he wants Jalen Ramsey. Can you imagine your corner is Norman and Ramsey? Yes, that'd be pretty good. They'd be having matching celebrations for every pass they defended. All right. What did you have something else? Did you want to talk about Harper and Arietta?

No, I don't want to. Jake Areietta calling out Harper for getting ejected? You know, what's interesting is here. Do you want to talk about the Nats losing last night? No, no, I don't want to talk about that. Arieta, I don't know if he still is, but he's a Boris client, or unless he quit Boris. I'll have to see here. He may have quit Boris, but he's a fellow Boris client or has been in the past.

Unless I've missed it, I think he's still a Scott Boris client, and it's very unusual for Boris clients to take shots at each other. Like he did. He took a real shot at Baseball. Basically, Bryce Harper. It's not something Strasbourg ever did. No, no, no, he didn't. All that's missing are the hands around his neck from Jonathan Papelbaum. Right.

Look, they're going to find out he is exhausting. He is exhausting as a teammate. He's annoying. He's not a bad teammate, but he's exhausting to be around. And you'll have situations like this where he gets thrown out of a game. He had no business getting thrown out of. And he's going to wind up. He could wind up being suspended for his little outburst as well.

Can I just real quickly for those that missed it just read with Jake Areeta said. Arieta was very critical of Harper getting ejected. By the way, if you've seen the video of Harper running out from the dugout, he had already been tossed. The umpire tossed him when he was, you know, when he was yapping from the dugout. But Arieta, you know, was disappointed. And he said, we need, quote, we need him in right field. I don't care how bad the ump is. I need him in right field.

I need him at the plate, and he wasn't there. So that hurts. He missed some pitches, but for both sides, talking about the umpire. If that's the case, that happens on a nightly basis, usually. The umpire is going to miss some calls. So what? Next pitch, we've got a game to play. That's not going to go over well with Bryce, favor.

You don't think so? Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's not going to go over well with him. He took a lot of the blame for too, and he said, can't happen. You know, in a game like that against the Mets, division rival, can't happen. I mean, I think sometimes. No, they have a teammate call him out like that when he's trying to, you know,

win over the clubhouse and the fan base, and you've got their star pitcher basically, well, their second best pitcher, basically calling him out. No, no, Bryce is not going to like that. Although Bryce, Bryce did the same thing to Papobon when he hit, Mani Machado with a pitch, basically hung him out to dry after the game for doing it. That's what led to the whole thing. So they're going to find, like, he's a lot like Reggie without the World Series championships. He's got a big ego.

He's a, it can be a great player. Come on, he's not Reggie. He's a lot like Reggie. He's got that big of an ego? Not as big as Reggie. Reggie was outsized all time outsized. I mean, exhausting as a teammate to be around. Do you understand what I'm saying?

Some people are exhausting to be around. I've worked with somebody that's been exhausting over the years. I mean, and very annoying at times. So that's who he is. He's not necessarily a bad guy, but they're going to find that out. They lost last night, too, in their first game out in Colorado. Yeah, but that means they'll win tonight, so it'll be 500. It'll be 500.

All right. Did you have anything else? Yeah, I do. I got a couple of things here. Go for it. Okay, first of all, I wanted to remind you. that starting on Monday for two weeks, I'm going to my homeland.

I know. I'm going to Italy. Yeah. For two weeks, the first time back in the homeland, I've already hooked up with a relative, an Italian relative that I didn't know I had. We've been, you know, messaging other back and forth.

We're going to go see him. Where? In Grumo, it's a town, little town about 20 kilometers from Bari. Bari is a city on the Adriatic Sea. So, you know, we're going to spend a few days there, a few days Rome, and a few days in Florence. So I'm really getting psyched up about that.

And I'm going to do a scouting mission of the Coliseum and tell you, you know, how it compares to Dan Snyder's Redskins Stadium plants. You know, I was there last summer. Were you really? Yeah, I was in Italy last summer and went to the Coliseum, and it really is all of that stuff, you know. I can't believe they let you in the country. Why? That's so hard to believe. You know, the other thing is...

Are you going to Rome, obviously? Are you going to Florence? Yes. Florence is awesome. Yes. That was a fun part of the trip. Yeah, we're going to Florence. That's where we were for a big part of it or just a few, as you would say, kilometers.

So should I drop your name anywhere? No, you probably don't want to do that. I don't think I made my mark there. But drank a lot of wine. We did that last summer. Oh, yeah. I'm looking forward to that. We drank a lot of wine and brought a lot of it back with us.

Good for you. Yeah. Also, one more reminder, Thursday, May to 16th, 6th 8 p.m. at Shelley's backroom, my D.C. Grays, Cigars and Curve Balls Fundraiser to help our non-profit baseball organization that helps inner city kids play baseball in D.C. For a $75 ticket donation, you get three cigars, you get appetizers, you get to take part in a live auction of sports memorabilia and tickets and services. and there's a lot of good camaraderie. And Andy Pollan has shown up. Mike Rizzo has been there in a past, and even Kevin Sheen has shown up before.

I am going to show up again this year. I'll be there on May 16th. Again, if you want to find out more or get tickets, contact me on Twitter at Tom Levero. You can find me on Facebook or email me at Tom Levero at yahoo.com. All right, the only other thing I was going to mention were the two NBA games last night.

I didn't. The bucks are really entertaining to watch. Yeah, they are. They're very entertaining to watch. And I personally think that Toronto can beat them in a Best of Seven and will. The way Boston destroyed Indiana,

now that becomes a really interesting series, Milwaukee Boston here in the next round. I just don't, the NBA is all about earning it. You don't go right to the NBA finals. No, yeah. It's a league that really, really takes a couple of years to get that playoff experience because it really is a completely different game than a regular season NBA game. And then last night, I actually watched much more

of, because I watched the Caps game, which was on during Bucks Pistons, but I did watch Houston, Utah last night. You know, there are a couple of places in the NBA that, and I know Green Bay is the example in the NFL, but the small market teams in the NBA, Tommy, like, and so, like city is a small market team. Oklahoma City is small market team. Portland. That's a AAA City. Yeah, it's a AAA City. It's amazing the way those crowds show up and they are ready for these NBA games, especially, you know, last night in Utah, they're down 3-0 in the series. The series is over. Nobody. I think it's 0 for 134 or something coming from 3-0 down. And that place was lit up. You know, Utah has had one of the more,

criticized fan bases for opposing players in terms of vulgar language and personal attacks and racial taunts, etc. But my God, I mean, can you ever see in a big city, New York, Boston, D.C., Chicago, do you ever see everybody put the T-shirt on where every, you know, it's a, in Oklahoma City, they've all got the turquoise on, you know, on whatever night or the orange night. Do you ever see that in the bigger city places? I saw it in D.C. Well, you see it in hockey, definitely. I saw it. I saw it with the Wizards one year

in the Gilbert era because there was one guy who wouldn't put his t-shirt on, who they kept putting the camera on trying to shame him to putting his shirt on. Look, there's a difference between the majority of people putting the t-shirt on and everybody putting the t-shirt

on. This was everybody. You couldn't find anybody in that Utah crowd that didn't have the white t-shirt on for last night. They found the one guy in this Wizards playoff game, and they harassed them the whole night. I think it's one of the unique things about the NBA that they have these smaller market teams where, you know, Utah has the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. They don't have... Sacramento.

Anything else. Sacramento is the same thing. Portland, the same thing. San Antonio. Oklahoma City, the same thing. San Antonio. It's all they've got. Yeah, the same thing.

I mean, we're talking, minor league baseball cities. Yeah. It's what we're talking about here. Well, remember back when Portland and Phoenix were essentially the only two, I mean, Utah, Salt Lake City, the New Orleans jazz moved to Utah. Salt Lake in the late 70s. I forget.

Something like that. But in the early to mid-70s, late 70s, it was Portland and Phoenix, and every single one of their games was sold out. Oh, yeah. Every single regular season game. But they were good. They had some good teams. They were good. Yeah, the Phoenix teams were good.

And then Portland had a really good run. Yeah. Where, you know, they actually won it. Where they got to the finals. They lost to Detroit and Chicago, right? They got to the NBA finals twice with Portland that stretch in the early 90s. Oh, yeah. Well, the Walton team won it in 77.

Right. Yeah. And then probably would have won more had Walton not gotten hurt. Yes. And the Phoenix teams, which you recall, and I think you played against some of these teams with Westfall and Sobers and Alvin Adams. Paul just went into the basketball hall. All fame.

Did he? I'm still waiting for my call. Anyway, both games last night were blowouts. Tonight, you get a quadruple header tonight with three close-out opportunities. And then the only series in the NBA that got to 2-2 in that's San Antonio and Denver. Make sure you watch because if you don't, they're going to have to hold a bake sale for the networks because the ratings are so bad. They are terrible, aren't they? I haven't seen the numbers.

I'm assuming they're terrible. First report I saw was down 26%. You know, a lot of times, you know, your personal anecdotal sometimes is reflective of, with me in the NBA, I've got friends that when they are watching, I know the NBA's got really good ratings. And when you go to have a conversation with them like in the last week and they say, I haven't watched any games, I guarantee you the ratings are off. They have to be without LeBron. Yes.

Yeah, especially in the early round. The early round, it was just, what is LeBron doing? but I think this is more than LeBron. I mean, we're going to get, we're going to get some decent, I mean, we're going to get Houston Golden State here over the next two weeks. That's coming up. I think Milwaukee, Boston is interesting. I think Philly, Toronto could be interesting.

Portland, Denver, or Portland, San Antonio is probably not going to draw a big crowd. All right, that's it. I'm done with you if you're done with me. I am finished. Good. I want to mention, as we always do, launch workplaces. Their Bethesda location is brand new. So if you are looking for smaller offices or a co-working desk,

a place to come in a few days a week and get work done in a quiet, professional environment, you're working at home or you're in a small office right now, and it's not working out for you. Check out launchworkplaces.com. They're Bethesda location, brand new, affordable private office solutions. They've got fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, cafe, parking available 24-7. You can get more work done today by moving your office to launch workplaces.

Call today for an exclusive free two-day trial. 240-86714. That's 240866714. They've got locations also throughout the city. You can find out all of those at launch work. Workplaces.com. Sorry you missed the Game of Thrones Recap show yesterday. A lot of people seem to like the Game of Thrones Recap episode. You know, I don't need a recap because I watched it.

No, you didn't. How do you know? Because you can't stand it and you mock everybody that does watch it. But maybe I watched it anyway. You don't even have HBO. How would you watch it? I have HBO. You do?

Yes. You're finally paying for something other than basic cable? Yes. Did you watch it? Well, maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. Answer the question. If you want to prolong this conversation, you did watch it.

I think I did answer it. You watched it. Maybe I did. That's not an answer. It is an answer, but it's not a definitive answer. I don't know. I don't remember. That was Sunday night, wasn't it?

It was Sunday night. This is Tuesday. That's a long time ago. Go take a nap. Tomorrow, Aaron and I will mock draft to 15, and then we'll have all of the Redskin Beat, beat reporters in town or most of them call in and tell us who they would take based on the board falling the way we'll make it fall in the first 14 who they would take at 15 portis is going to be

with us and we'll get his thoughts just on the players he likes and the players he doesn't like and then coolly will be with me on thursday the day of the draft um to preview uh the entire draft and talk about all the players that he has looked at on film have a great day