The Kevin Sheehan Show - Early Praise For Daniels

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

Kevin and Thom today opened with the early mini-camp praise coming from all corners for rookie QB Jayden Daniels. In particular, the guys had thoughts on some of Terry McLaurin's comments on Daniels after the first day of mini-camp. Thom weighed in for the first time on Caitlin Clark's omission from the USA Women's Olympic team. The boys talked about the importance of tonight's NBA Finals Game 3 for Kyrie Irving. Plenty on the passing of Jerry West as well in the final segment of the show as well. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. He's very charismatic. I think he's really personal when he walks into the building. He just has a calm demeanor about him. He's very approachable.

So guys have no problem with you're an offense alignment, receiver, running back, talking to him, communicating what the objective is of this play or what he's seeing or what he's thinking. And he came in really. prepared. I feel like when he was getting one's reps or where he's working with the twos, like he does a great job of getting the most out of the reps that he needs to accomplish. And I think he's going to be a really good player because of the time and the work that he puts in. Like, I don't think I've had a young quarterback that really has come in.

And within the first week, he's like, hey, can we get this route or let me get this rep after practice? And so it's exciting for me because, you know, that opens the door where they're, know they got a lot on their plate, but at the same time, when you know there's that open door communication, and he's not afraid to get that work in before, after practice, or talk through things, it makes the growth part a lot quicker. That was Terry McLaurin yesterday after MNICamp Day number one,

talking about his new quarterback, Jaden Daniels. I'm here. Tommy's here. The show, as always, is presented by Windonation. Call them at 866.90 Nation, or head to wind donation.com. Mention my name for a free, no obligation in-home estimate. Terry McClorn had more to say about Jaden Daniels that was very positive as well.

But I came in with that sound bite, Tommy, because, man, we've heard a lot of the same stuff about quarterbacks here over the last couple of years, especially last year. Look, I think everything he's saying is true because I am all in on Jaden Daniels, even though I have no idea how it will work out. But you know how big of a fan and I just have been on Daniels going back to early last college football season. I want to be right. I want it to work out for him. But in listening to Terry McLorn, who I trust, I hear a lot of the same things that he was saying last year about Sam Howl.

Like they were gushing about Sam Howe this time last year. So take it for what it's worth, I guess, when it comes to praising the new quarterback in town. You know, I'm going to take it on face value. I know, look, I mean, nobody's more skeptical than me about what players are going to be saying about their own teammates after like a week, a couple weeks. couple of OTAs in many camps. But I'm more interested in what Dan Quinn has said about him,

about Jane Daniels, a number of times. Because I have to admit, I'm impressed with the way Quinn talks about his team without really blatantly overselling him. You know, he describes more of the process than he does about accolades. as to what they're doing. And with Jane Daniels, he keeps referring to his experience, which we've talked about before. He's played a lot of college football games, right?

Over 50 or something like that? Yeah. You know? So he's had a lot of starts, and he's 23, right? Yeah, about to turn 24, yes. Yeah, right? I think so. He has maturity.

He has maturity. experience. So, I mean, I think that's probably what is forming the opinions of what is seen as a young player, you know, being introduced to the NFL. I think people are impressed with both his level of experience and maturity. Yeah, you said something just, you know, and I want to come back to Terry McCorn and what he said, and there's another part to what he said about Jaden Daniels that will play here in a moment. But you just said that you think, that Dan Quinn's done a good job of just when he answers questions talking about the process and not doling out accolades. I actually think he's doing both. You know, look, he talks,

his answers are very long and he's, you know, doing his, he's very much riffing at times and doing his best to give as much information. You know, it's not anywhere near what Ron Rivera, you know, what we got from him. But there have been some accolades. Like I played a soundbite on the show, on the radio show this morning, he was asked about kind of, remember when he said, you know, we're not going to talk about rebuild, we're only going to talk about recalibration. You know, we're recalibrating, we're not rebuilding. And somebody asked, you know, what stage is the team at at recalibrating? And he, I'll read you the answer.

I don't have the audio ready to go, but he said, I think number one, there's always going to be some tweaking and adjusting to go. But I think for this group of players and coaches, they've absolutely nays. this off season. You know, that was... I did read that. Yeah. You know, he said that was, could we throw the best off season?

Any of them have ever had as a ball player or a coach, you know, and I think we've seen that by and large. I mean, no, it's not the overselling or, you know, the accolades that have been given, you know, the trophies that have been given out this time of the year with the last regime. But, you know, he's very, he's just a positive guy. in general. So I kind of get that. But I thought that Terry's answer where he said, you know, he hasn't been around a young quarterback like this. And everybody has emphasized the same thing when it comes to Jaden Daniels. And I think I've talked about this. But this is the one thing that

people have said that I'm most confident in because, you know, I could go full Doc Walker because I actually agree with Doc when he says, none of this matters. None of it matters. matters until they get the pads on and they're playing in a game. And I totally understand that. But over and over again, what we've gotten from coaches, I had Sam Cosmy on the radio show this morning. You can go listen to that on the Team 980.com or via the Odyssey app. Sam, by the way, is an excellent guest and is really an excellent player and getting better. but they all talk about his preparation and his work ethic.

And the preparation, they also attribute some of that to what you talked about, which is he's come in with a lot of experience, which, you know, he has seen a lot of this stuff at the college level and at the highest of levels in college, the SEC. But that's the thing that I feel best about, which is, I understand, I think, what his talent is, what his physical abilities are, but all we've heard over and over again is how hard he works and how prepared he is. I don't think we're going to get, yeah, the guy, you know, we got, you know, and we would never get this publicly, hopefully, but we're not going to get behind the scenes. Yeah, they're a little bit limited right now because they've got a young quarterback and he's got a long way to go and learning the offense.

and he's, you know, it's going to take some time for him to adjust. And there's a lot of that for sure. But I think we're going to see less of it with him. I feel confident in that. I know, but you are right. I mean, it is, the point is we're talking about OTAs and one day a minicamp. Yes. You know, when training camp starts, let's see how, let's see how his experience and work ethic plays out.

I have no doubt they'll both play out less. A very little doubt, let's say that. But, you know, each, again, the more evidence you have, the more reasonable your opinion can be. And right now it's just kind of like not necessarily a reasonable opinion. You just have to believe what you're being told until proven otherwise. Right. But you can also acknowledge that these are things we've heard about other quarterbacks, the past. When Terry says, and Terry's the most believable player on this team, and he's probably

the, you know, most mature and, you know, he's just, everything about Terry McClure, you know, you do take at face value, but players forget, too. I mean, they were gushing over Sam Howell a year ago. Now, let's remember, Terry McLaurin, as a small sample size of young quarterback. Well, just... Wayne Haskins and Sam and Sam Hal. Well, and Taylor Heineke. And Taylor Heineke. So it's a small sample.

And that sample doesn't include one good quarterback either. Right. This was the other thing that Terry McLaren said about Jaden Daniels yesterday at minicamp. His touch on the D-Balls is amazing. You know, I love getting extra reps after practice with him, just catching the top end of a deep ball. That's big for me. You know what I mean?

I get to track the ball over my shoulder and it's big for him to be able to get used to dropping the ball in the bucket. But he just naturally has an ability to throw the ball. He sees the windows really well. And now he's just, you know, continue to get adjusted to the speed and the past rush. I think these reps that he's getting are unbelievable during 11 on 11 because he's getting the field pain and Allen and D.A. and Cleveland Farrow, like we got some dogs up there who are going to come after him.

You know what I mean? And we got some great guys up front who are going to protect them. And so these reps, I feel like, are even better than just seven on seven. Seven on seven, I think he could do it in his sleep, to be fair. Like, he throws the ball really well. But when you get this 11 on 11, two-minute drill, you're putting them in game-like situations. And I'm looking at him in his eye. I'm like, we play a real ball now.

Like, we plan, you know what I mean? And you just see no, no anxiousness in his game and his demeanor, which is extremely exciting. And then, you know, he's extremely lighthearted and he's always smiling. So he's joking with Lyman, D-Line. He's just cool with everybody. And like I said, like for a rookie quarterback to come in like that where guys are gravitating to him and he's not afraid to be who he is, that's dope. I think he has a bright future.

You heard that soundbite earlier, and there was something that stood out to you. What was it? Well, again, it's just too much. It's too much. The guys who were coming after him in practice are great. The guys who are protecting him are great, you know? I mean, it's just too much. you know, I mean, again, that, that's, we know they're not great, okay?

We certainly know the guys who are protecting him are not great. So, I mean, you know, that's just, that was just too far for me. Well, he was talking about the pass rush, yeah. I know. We got some guys up there. Right. And he mentioned the guys who were protecting them, too. And, you know, I mean, we know that's not true. If the pass rush was great, we would have seen it last year.

certainly the past protection is still up in the air question. So, you know, that was just, that was a little bit frustrating to hear. Well, it is different. It's different up front on offense and it's different up front on defense. Come on. What? I know. Basically, they passed to work an offensive line.

They lost most of their good pass rushers. They lost one, their best pass rusher from last year. They traded him. Montez Sweat. I've got something on him, by the way, coming up here in a second, but go ahead. So, and as far as the offensive line, they didn't spend any money on the offensive line. Didn't sign anybody of note. Okay? We're hoping that they can function okay.

But, I mean, just like this is some kind of test. You know, the unit, like, the unit he's going up against is, like, tremendous in practice. That's bullshit. Okay. It's absolute bullshit. So you're not taking this part of Terry at face value? On the other, no, the one thing he did talk about how he drops the ball in the bucket. He seems to be very good.

Like, he could win a lot of money at carnivals, I think. You know, from football. Yeah, at county fairs. Yeah, I think he seems to be tremendous. The county fair quarterback? Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, I'm not criticizing.

He's just very good. at that. In film we've seen of them and games, we've seen him play. You know, he seems to be very good at dropping it in the bucket. So that's a positive thing. Well, you look, Tommy, the offensive line, this is something again. You know, it was not as bad as everybody thinks it was last year. We've gone through this many times before. It finished 14th. 14th in NextGen's past block win rate number. 14th in the league. I get that.

Yeah. That's good. The issue was the quarterback and the coordinator. Everybody who saw them knows that they didn't do their job. They didn't look like a good offensive line. But the problem with that is that when you just judge it on the end result, which was a lot of sacks, the bottom line is a lot of those sacks were on the quarterback and on the coordinator. Sam Cosme was the third highest rated guard per pro football focus for the season. And I know that we can say what we want to say about pro football focus,

but the next gen pass block win rate number was 14. And it's a different offensive line. They've replaced two fifths of it. You've got a veteran, very good center that you brought in in Tyler Biotish. You've got a starting guard in the Super Bowl for the Super Bowl champions, Nick Allegretti. I have no idea how good he will be. And you've got, you know, by far and away, I think their best offensive linemen. And a guy that has emerged is one of the best guards in the league in Sam Cosme.

So we'll see. Defensively, it's a complete new group as well. You know, you have Payne and Allen, but you've got Armstrong, you've got Farrell, you've got Fowler Jr., you've got Louvre, everybody's been raving about. So, you know, real quickly on the defense, this is the area of the team that, If it's not massively improved from last year, I would be surprised and disappointed. I understand what I thought of the defense this time last year, thought it was going to be great, and it wasn't clearly. And defense, you know, the variance year to year with defense is much different than it is offensively.

But beyond that, I mean, they sucked last year. They were, you know, 31st, 32nd, depending on which metric you use. They were a terrible defense. but they've added a lot of talent. Louvo in particular is exciting. Chin is exciting. Bobby Wagner is, but more importantly, Dan Quinn, Joe Witt, Jr.,

and, you know, versus the old group who basically were in lame duck mode last year. I actually... You'd be disappointed. And I agree with this. I mean, I think their coaching staff has taken a big step forward, big step up. But if the defense isn't that good, it's probably a coaching situation.

If their defense, first of all, wouldn't it be almost impossible for the defense to be worse than it was last year? Okay. I mean, they were awful. So when I say that, like, I think defensively, it wouldn't surprise me if, you know, they jumped from, they were either 31st or 32nd. I think 31st total DVOA on defense. If they're not in the top 20, I would be disappointed if they don't move up to at least 20, you know, 11 spots. I'm not saying they're going to be a great defense.

They were top 10 two years ago, but these things change a lot, man, year to year in terms of defenses. But based on the talent and based on the coaching, if they don't make a massive jump, then, yeah, I mean, I would probably say to you they were either really injured or, I don't know, if you'd put it on the coaching, you could ultimately end up putting it on Adam Peters and the players he brought in.

I have no idea. But I feel very confident in Frankie Louvo and Wagner in particular, although he is 34 years old. You know, you mentioned pass rushers. Well, first of all, real quickly, Terry McCorn mentioned something about, you know, seeing it and seeing the pass rush.

Dan Quinn had this quote about Daniels. He said, when will you know that he's mastering the system? And he said, you know, he said, I'd say, quote, at times when he gets out of a bad play, when you see a blitz to this side and then you get the check and you get to something else, knowing where to go with the correct read. Like when he said that, and I had that soundbite on the radio show this morning, it's like so obvious that you know a quarterback has reached that moment. where he's getting it.

When you see, you know what? Here they came with zero coverage blitz. He saw it and he burned it. You know, he checked to something and you could see, you know, on the field that he checked to something. Or when you hear the offensive coordinator, you know, during the week when he speaks and he's talking about the quarterback and he says he got us out of, you know, two running plays that would have been dead.

And we ended up moving them to the other side and we ended up with an eight and a 12-yard carry. Like those are the kinds of things that, you know, take time for quarterbacks, typically years sometimes, that I'm hopeful he's a quick study on. Because they're referring to him being kind of a quick study on this stuff. But it'll be interesting. But I found this, Tommy, in a story on ESPN this morning about sort of GMs and roster construction in the NFL. and you had mentioned they lost their best pass rusher. They traded their best pass rusher last year. Ryan Poles was quoted in this story in a section that was about team culture

in terms of the building of a roster and having culture be a big part of some of the decisions you make. And Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Chicago Bears, said that he keeps a decision log in which he records, decision he is made since becoming the Bears GM and what he's learned from it. And he gave an example. He says, this is an example of a good, respected veteran at a key position and the impact he can have on the rest of the roster. Quote, when we added Montez, as in Montez Sweat, there was a different feel to our defense. I didn't realize the impact it can have when you have a dude at a premium position like that.

Other players' confidence in swagger changed once they had a dude up front. And just the accountability, guys don't want to let down a guy like that, closed quote. That was surprising to me to read that. Not that he doesn't think that the guy's a dude, they paid him. They gave him the money that he was looking for and probably a little bit more. But the accountability and the implied leadership from Montez Sweat, I never really viewed him that way here. I didn't.

No. I didn't view him in the opposite way. No, not in the opposite way. But not like John Allen. No. No, I didn't view him as a team leader. And maybe he was intimidated because of the personalities of Alan and paint. I mean, it clearly was their offensive line, their defensive line.

And Chase Young got all the accolades. Young was a big personality, too. Right. You know, I mean, Montez-Swed, I mean, I dealt with him a couple of times. Very nice, well-spoken, kind of quiet. Yep. Very respectful. And he just may have been overwhelmed by the other three guys on the line were probably all bigger personalities than him.

12 and a half combined sacks last year on the two teams he played for, Washington and Chicago. He had seven and a half of those after the trade in Chicago. He had actually seven and a half over a four to five game stretch, I think it was. You know, we'll look back, you know, because they had the cap space to extend him and keep him if they had wanted to. Washington ended up dealing number 40 overall, the second round pick they got from Chicago to Philadelphia, and they picked up the other second round pick. Well, they had three of them.

They had their own Johnny Newton, and then they took 40, turned it into 50 and 53, and that was Mikey Santer Still and Ben Senate. So the corner and the tight end versus keeping a big-time pass rusher that you would have had to pay, we'll see. Like if Montez blows up into a great player in Chicago and ends up being, you know, one of, you know,

look, he has the size and he's got the athleticism. He's always had that. To be great as a pass rusher. For whatever reason, he just always got close but never consistently got home. But this is a guy who's what? at this point, 26 years old, you know, drafted in 2019 because he was the Dwayne Haskins draft.

So 18, 20, I mean, he's probably 26 years old, 27 years old, whatever it is. I mean, this is him entering his prime. And if Chicago gets a dominant pass rusher in Montez Sweat, you know, that'll be, you know, it wasn't Adam, but, hey, it was not Adam Peters who made the decision. it was but I'll bet it was probably Josh Harris yes well I mean

we know that Josh Harris said do what you want to do but we'd love to have more assets for the new group coming in yeah that's that's that yeah no it's and we've seen since Adam Peters has come here they couldn't stand the sight of hardly any players that were that were on

that Ron Rivera had anything to do with yeah they were not fans of the roster of the roster building that Ron Rivera very used to talk about all the time. But look, both things can be right. He can turn out to be a, he can blow up to be a standout, all-pro defensive end. And given the time that the deal was to be made, you had an ownership that was probably

in the right frame of mind that said, we just want all the chances we can get to pick our own players. So get draft picks. I know, but I wonder if Adam Peters, like, if they hadn't, like, if Adam Peters was a consultant, you know, who knows, maybe Bob Myers in the consensus group told him to do this. But I wonder if Adam Peters looks back on that and says, ugh, kind of wish, you know, we had Montez sweat entering his age 27 season because this dude can really do it. I hope not. I mean, he's not, Adam Peters isn't on the job three or four months. I hope he doesn't have regrets already. Well, it wouldn't be his regret. It would be a regret on behalf of those that made that decision. By the way, one other thing I wanted to read real quickly. I guess Austin Echler at some point yesterday said that Jaden Daniels has many similarities to Philip Rivers.

and he also sees a lot of similarities between Daniels and Justin Herbert as well. So there you go. I mean, there is not been, I don't think, one even constructive criticism of Jaden Daniels so far. He is undefeated right now in June. Cannot wait for the season to get here. Sam. Yeah. I am, having Sam Cosmi on the radio show this morning,

I asked him to just kind of, you know, tell me about some of the players that have really stood out to him. New players in particular, although he actually mentioned an existing player because he said Diami Brown, which I had not heard, he thought has been very impressive. But he mentioned a guy that almost everybody seems to mention, and that's Frankie Louvre.

You know, that addition, free agent. There was a lot of competition for him. He ended up coming here. He's going to be a difference maker, I think, on this defense. Can't wait to see him play. But he also mentioned Austin. That would be nice to see since linebacker position has been irrelevant on this team for a while. It'd be nice to have impact players without positions. It would. All right. We have several things to get to on the show today, including the news that broke this morning. Jerry West passed away. We'll get to that in the final segment of the show. Have some Caitlin Clark, yes, some Mavs Celtics to talk about, and the Nats are rolling once again.

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They had to put their best out there to win. The women, too, are about winning gold, not producing it. That's a good line. This is a competition conversation. I'm surprised that you've taken the other side. Tommy was not available to come on the show yesterday. We have not talked about together the Caitlin Clark decision that the U.S. Olympic Committee made to not have her on this summer Olympic team.

So before I respond to Hal's email, what's your position on this? Well, I'm still in amazement about how dominant the conversation. Oh, right. I forgot about that. That's right. You asked me the other day if you should even be writing about this. Right, if I should even care. Yeah, right.

I mean, and I think most of the people, and I think I'm safe in saying this, who are debating it, could not care less about women's basketball. They care about Kate and Clark. And they care about women's basketball if they do because of Caitlin Clark. Now, that would be seen to make a great argument to put her on the Olympic team. Okay? But my argument would be, what do you care if anyone watches the women play or not? Why would you care?

You know, you're not in Comcast. You're not NBC Universal. And why would you care about, if you're a casual fan, why would you care about it? about growing the game. You know, well, what do you care? Are you asking me that question? I'm asking, I'm asking general population and including you. You know, all the people who are outraged that she's not on the team, like she would play like 20 minutes a game if she was even on the team. Less than that. If she was on the team, people would be pitching that she'd be on the bench. Right. So I have no problem with her not being on the team because I don't care what kind of ratings

and NBC sports gets. I don't care how much it grows the women's basketball game because I don't care about it. You know? But I don't either. I don't either. That's not really the point. The point is, do you think they made the right decision or not? Well, again, I think they didn't make the right decision.

Okay. I mean, because I don't think, I don't think you're going to see her play. or she could still wind up making the team, as I understand it, as an alternate. I don't. But, I mean, she's not going to play. Yeah, I don't care if more people watch women's basketball. I don't care if they end up making money for the first time in the history of the league, or if more people care.

That's not really what the conversation's been about. The conversation has been. No, that's not true. Well, for me. The conversation has been about, you know, this should grow the game, and people are saying NBC must be going crazy. But in the context of whether or not they made the right decision, I think a lot of people weighing in, I'll speak for myself, I don't care if the women's game grows in popularity or they start to make more money. I'm simply responding and interested, yes, because I think it's an insanely stupid decision. At the same time, like I do understand the people that don't think big picture, don't think in terms of whether somebody's made a good business decision or not,

and they're only about winning the gold medal. And 99 and a half percent of the time, that's the way I think too. It's just that this league's completely different. But to answer your point, I don't care one way or the other. I don't watch much women's basketball. The only reason I have watched it over the last year is Caitlin Clark. It's the only reason I've watched. I'm simply giving you an opinion based on what the decision was

and whether or not it was a right decision or a wrong decision. You know, the fact that they've made the wrong decision, in my opinion, it doesn't affect me at all. I mean, but it doesn't mean that the conversation isn't still an interesting one, because I think it is a very interesting one. Well, look, the WNBA needs to, and its players, they need to grow up a little bit. We've gone through this whole thing now where you've got WNB players, NBA players, walking out of press conferences, if they don't like a question, you know, or not, or like Angel Reese saying that she's one of the reasons people are watching and then not showing up for a press conference. Right.

You know, so these players need to mature and grow up, which is, I think, is part of the problem with Caitlin Clark is that my impression is, and I think Christine Brennan wrote this, and I certainly believe Christine Brennan, that there would be a lot of dissension on the team. if Caitlin Clark what was had knocked the um knocked it yeah so I think there

I think that you know if they want it like I wrote I put on Facebook I put on Twitter you know if these players

keep back like this they're going to be flying the games in Cessness not chartered jets like they want to you know they need to grow up

a little bit so I so with that said I think Caitlin Clark's present would become a story and not a positive story. I think what Christine Brennan wrote would probably come the past, and there would probably

be dissension on the team. I have no reason to doubt her, okay, and her information on that. So I just don't think it's a good, it's a good decision all the way around to have her on the team. Well, Christine Brennan, who I had on the podcast Monday, if you missed Christine, she was great. She wrote that it's the dumbest decision she's ever seen. her, you know, 40 years of covering the Olympics. Right. I know that. Yeah. But I don't necessarily agree with it.

Again, I don't care if anyone watches. It may be a stupid decision, but, you know, I just think it's a complicated one. And again, the biggest thing to me is she's not going to play. Even if she makes a team, she's not going to play. But I just want to be clear on this. I understand that you don't care what decision they make, but you then just said it may have been a stupid decision. So with respect to how you feel not about the consequences of the decision,

but the decision itself, if you, analyzing the decision itself, do you think it was the right decision to keep her off the team or the wrong one? I just want to be clear on this. I think it was the right decision. And it was the right decision because why? Because the timing would be all wrong. I think it could become a negative story for them instead of a positive one. I think if Christine Brennan wrote that, you know, that, you know,

like the other players would be upset, and I think that's something you have to take into account. These players have been playing together on this Olympic team, as I understand it, for a while now. Yeah. You know? So I just think they're making the right, I understand the frustration. I think overall it's the right decision.

So the head of the Team USA selection committee, Jen Rosati, basically says, look, her lack of experience in international play, but she really honed in on this following part of the statement, quote, it wasn't the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could, closed quote. That was the explanation as to why Caitlin Clark wasn't on the team. And this is kind of, you know, leads to what I've said about this, which is the basketball people can't just had to be out of this decision-making process. more, you know, the people, I don't want to call them grownups, but the people with a bigger stake in this needed to make the decision as far as this was concerned.

So, you know, first. But you understand how, in other words, you're saying that the people in charge of the business needed to overrule the people in charge of the sport. Well, that's ridiculous. That's exactly what I'm saying. Well, that's it. In any other sport, in any other situation, you know, But no one, you've got your decision-makers making the decision.

But this is the point. There's no other situation that's similar to this. I would never say this about the NBA, or men's basketball or men's football, or men's hockey, or men's soccer at this point. The MLS makes money. This league loses between $10 and $25 million a year. This league has been supported. He's not going to play. It doesn't mean.

matter. Do you know how many jerseys would be sold? Do you know how many more people would be tuning in to hope she plays? And by the way, the controversy, oh, is she going to play or isn't she going to play? No, this is lightning in a bottle. This is the most leverage to create new interest, new viewers, new revenue. This is not comparable to any other situation. This is a league that's been hemorrhaging for 27 years and has needed the NBA to bail it out year and year out by writing, according to Ben Strauss's column in the Post, probably over a 27-year period, $300 to $350 million just to make payroll. This is not a similar situation.

Merit in this situation for me, if I were a stakeholder, say, if I were a WNBA equity holder, which Condoleezza Rice just, they had to raise money two years ago, $75 million. You know, this is a professional league out raising money, raising capital. They're about to get, you know, this big, you know, boon in television and a television deal, which, by the way, is wrapped into the NBA deal, but it's the perfect timing for this. They're not negotiating their own deal. It's the NBA deal.

The NBA runs the WNBA. They're the largest equity stakeholder. They own 60% of it. There's a lot that's not known about the actual structure of the WNBA, per Ben Strauss's column in the post or story in the post. I find the whole thing very interesting and how they'll report what the TV revenue that's allocated to the WNBA actually is. Experts believe that Caitlin Clark's arrival has tripled the television revenue deal that they will get.

But it's all negotiated by the WNBA as, I'm sorry, by the NBA as part of this seven plus billion dollar deal that they're going to do here shortly, which by the way blows away the previous deal. You know, the NBA is incredibly popular and worldwide popular. And there's, you know, a lot that, I mean, it's amazing that this is, that this new TV deal is going to be worth $7 plus billion for the NBA. But the WNBA is wrapped into that. The, when this, first of all, let me just be one clear on one thing. I have taken the other side, but I do understand people who, are only thinking about, wait a minute, this is a competition, these are sports, just because they're women, we're going to say, no, I understand somebody who is only focused on winning

gold. Now, let me just say, they're going to win gold. Like, I know that, and I've read recently that the rest of the world is closing the gap, but not like the rest of the world closed the gap in men's basketball. Like there's no threat, you know, at least according to the people that understand this, that the U.S. women aren't going to win gold. Like, yes, they've gotten better internationally, but still there's a wide, wide gap. So one position on the team wasn't going to probably be the difference maker. Not to mention, by the way, the other point that Christine made, and I totally agree with

her because I made the same point earlier this week, is that. Caitlin Clark's having an absolute killer rookie season. It's historic. Yes. You know, she is not one of the 12 best players right now. That is totally fair. She hasn't earned it based on merit. Totally fair.

For me, merit doesn't have anything to do with it. Deservant doesn't have anything to do with it. This is business for a business that has been looking for a silver bullet answer for 27 years, and, you know, they finally have it. and this is a huge opportunity that I think they're wasting. But she's probably, you know, it's not that she's like the worst player in the league. She's probably a top 25 or top 30 player in the league. You know, Christine tried to make the case that you could international play three-point or emphasis,

three-point emphasis. You might make the case on merit that she's right there in the conversation. But that aside, you know, even if she weren't even close, I personally as if it were me involved and I did have a stake and I did care about the outcome, I'd be incensed at this. I'd be like, what are we doing here? Stop putting us into the same conversation with any other sport or any other league because we're not that. We've had to be supported by the NBA for 20-something years.

And we finally have the person that actually might take us into the black and we're We've got an opportunity to leverage that. And if she doesn't play and people are bitching and whining, even better. All these controversial conversations involving her haven't hurt. They've kept women's basketball in the conversation when nobody cared before she got here. Nobody. I mean, some people did. We didn't.

How many women's basketball segments do you think we did before Caitlin Clark arrived? on this scene. Did we ever, you know what, I bet we probably talked about a Brenda Free's team or two, because I've had Brenda on the show before. She's great. Listen, I think the only time we've really done it is when you've talked about how, if you had a couple weeks that you could probably play in the No. I may have said that 20 years ago. I promise you, I would not say that right now. But, you know, that was one of the things, and I did not spend a lot of time on this. But during the month of March, I mean, I can't tell you how many, you know, notes I got, you know, when we would be talking about Caitlin Clark in Iowa or whatever with people that would say, honest question, how do you think they would do in the men's tournament?

people who don't understand this, don't understand it, that's fine. But the answer is they might not score in a game in the NCAA tournament. That's the real answer, unless the men's team decided to let them score. It's just two totally different sports. Yeah, it is. It is. It is. It is.

And you have to accept that. Yeah. You really do. Yeah. Uh, you know, and look it. I hope, I wish nothing but good things for women's sports. Right. Okay.

But like this is what we talked about like a week, a week or so ago when I was bringing this up. Uh, you know, like there's almost this, these marching orders that I, that the media has some kind of obligation. You hate marching orders. That's for sure. To cover women's basketball. Uh-huh.

And if that's the case, does that mean we have to cover, women's soccer too and then women's no no why you know why why why why would that mean that well because the obligation it's not the basketball the obligation are the fact that you're given women attention that they normally wouldn't get and now there's this this conversation out there that there's some kind of media obligation

to give them coverage god you hate being told that you've got an obligation I make the obligations, buddy. Nobody else. I mean, you know, I'm sure your readers got a much bigger kick out of reading about our good friend, Fred Sturrneberg going into the Boxing Hall of Fame than maybe if you had written something about Caitlin Clark not making the Olympic team. I'm not making your decisions. You do what you want to do, but this is clearly a massive topic in. sports, and it's because of one person. It's actually not because of the WNBA or women's basketball, although I think she has exposed women's basketball to so many more people. And the truth is

some of those games in the NCAA tournament that involved her, because we watched her games, most, you know, primarily, they were exciting games. They were. They were, they were, they were exciting athletic competitions. They were intense, and they were, you know, they were fun to watch. All right, real quickly, and we'll finish up with Jerry West, but Dallas and Boston tonight, Christopps Porzingis is injured again. And the injury, I mean, I don't know if you read anything about it, but basically it's almost impossible to even pronounce. It's a torn medial retin a column with a posterior tibolus tendon. He's being called questionable for game three tonight in Dallas. This guy just, they called it an injury that they've never seen in the NBA.

It's a rare injury for just normal people, let alone NBA people. This guy just can't stay healthy. It's a shame because he really is a town. Yeah. And he's been a major factor in this series. Oh, a huge factor in game one, absolutely. You know, absolutely a huge factor. And he is very talented. And it is a shame that he can't catch a break. I've been doing my homework, boss. Yeah. I've been watching these games. And I got to tell you, I love me some Drew Holiday. Yeah.

Give me Drew Holiday. Any day it will. week, baby. I mean, because he, I mean, one of the things he doesn't do is he doesn't stand out and hide in the corner or or on the, or at you know, up at the, you know,

top and wait for the ball. He goes. He moved. He's moving. And he's scored so many points, you know, uh, with a way in the area where people used to score points. I just love his game.

Um, Yeah, he's great. He's a champion. I mean, he was so important to that Milwaukee championship a couple of years ago that you remember so well. So far, 38 points in the first two games, zero turnover. Zero turnovers. Yep, he's been outstanding. I think the Celtics were they're really going to miss Porzingis defensively. He's been a massive rim protector for them. I saw this stat this morning.

Dallas in that restricted circle in the paint that you say is basically not inhabitable during NBA games. Oh, you said it's quicksand, so they're avoiding it because it's quicksand. 40% or 44% in the restricted circle with Porzingis in the game, 74% with him out of the game. That is what you call true rim protection. And so he's going to be missed, I think more on the defensive end. And I think Dallas has a chance to get back into the series without him in it. I can't see them winning four out of five. But here was the thing that I heard this morning, and I read this morning earlier this morning,

and I talked a little bit about it on the show, radio show today, and I wanted to talk about it with you briefly. Kyrie Irving is an interesting NBA player, probably not to you, But to those that have really followed his career, he's one of the most talented small players, one of the most skilled small players we've ever seen in the NBA. I don't think that's debatable. You might debate it. But his handle, his scoring ability all time, way up there on the list in terms of talent.

But we know. I can buy that. I can buy that. Not the best. but one or the best in the conversation. But what we know about him is he is sabotaged multiple situations. He has had a real difficult time behaving, you know, in a way that was team friendly, almost everywhere he's been, with the exception of when he played with LeBron in Cleveland.

And so the question was asked this morning on one of the early morning TV programs, is this Kyrie Irving's biggest game of his career tonight. This is a guy, remember, who played in a game seven, hit a game seven game winner on the road to beat one of the best regular season teams of all time in Golden State, coming back from 3-1 down to win that series, and was in many ways, I think, the go-to guy. LeBron was great in that series in 2016. trust me, I'm not suggesting that he wasn't, but Kyrie Irving was brilliant.

But when you played in a game seven on the road, that would seem to be the biggest game of your career. But they're saying that because he's played so poorly in the first two games. Now, let me just say, I would not say that this is the biggest game of Kyrie Irving's career, but Tim Legler said something that I thought made a lot of sense. unlike 2016, which probably was the biggest games of his career, they're down 3-1 in the NBA finals. And in the last three games, he goes for 4123 and 26 and hits the game winner in game 7 on the road to beat Golden State. A series that, by the way, I don't think they would have ever won had Draymond Green not been suspended for game 5 of that series when they were up 3-1. But anyway, but he said the big difference.

is that if they had lost that game seven or lost that series, no one would have blamed Kyrie Irving. They would have blamed LeBron. If Dallas goes out the way they lost the first two games, he's going to take all of the blame. And this narrative that's changed during this postseason about Kyrie growing up, Kyrie's become a great teammate.

Kyrie has become selfless. Kyrie's matured. And by the way, also, Kyrie's played brilliantly at times. Taking and being a big part of being kind of the Robin to Luca Donchich's Batman, taking a five-seed, because they were a five-seed. Some people don't know that.

They were a five-seed. They have not had home court advantage in any of these series, and they're in the NBA finals. But if they go out quickly, in four or five and he doesn't play well, he will get blamed for it. I totally agree with that. If he continues to play the way he's been playing, and he'll be remembered not for how he played and how he behaved to get him to the finals,

he'll be remembered for his finals performance. So from that standpoint, this is a huge spot tonight. And game four, really, for Kyrie Irving. what? I would agree with Glegal's assessment. I mean, winning a game seven as a young player

with LeBron on your team, that's a big of, that's a big of a game if you're going to play in probably your career. But like you said, he wasn't the guy who was supposedly carrying the team at the time.

That was supposed to be LeBron. I mean, now it will fall on Kyrie's shoulders because Luca, is seen as heroic. He's scoring over 30 points a game while they're shooting them up with pain killers. Right. Yeah, I saw that. So, yeah, it'll fall on Kyrie's shoulders. So I agree with his assessment. Yeah, I mean, Kyrie is 13 of 37 from the floor. He's zero for eight from

behind the arc. He's averaging 14 a game, where in the conference finals, he averaged 27 a game, shot 49% from the field, 37 and a half percent from behind the arc. And he was outstanding in that series. It's been interesting to watch him in the first two games. I think playing on the road and playing in front of that crowd, he's done it before and they've had major issues with him. He looked like he was lacking confidence. And that's never been a Kyrie Irving situation.

but he looked just so non-assertive for him. He's got to be much more aggressive. I want to tell you that there's a way to watch the game tonight and enjoy it even more, and that is by downloading the prize picks app. Prizepix is the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America. It's just you against the numbers. You don't have to battle other players.

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We'll finish up with a conversation about Jerry West, who passed away earlier this morning right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, most of us are interested in our mental and physical well-being to a certain degree. And with that in mind, I'd like to welcome and introduce a new sponsor. to the podcast. The new sponsor is Unified Healing, Unified spelled UNI-F-Y-D Healing. It doesn't matter if you're a big-time world-class athlete or just a somewhat athletic podcaster like me. We all understand the importance of mental and physical well-being and proper recovery for top-notch performance. That's why I'm excited that Unified Healing is sponsoring the podcast now.

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and before undertaking a new health care regimen, including EE system. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Well, Shelley's back room, one of their biggest days of the year is Sunday, Father's Day. That's the place you want to take your father on Father's Day. There's lots of choices to treat your dad on Father's Day. Shelly's back room would be a nice treat for your dad to have a nice smoke from, you know, they only have the best cigars that you can buy in the city. Cigar Officiano, the top 25 cigars, you can buy them at Shelly's.

You know, if you've never been there, they have a great staff that will help you pick out the right cigar. You have a great menu for lunch. and let's say you can't be there on Father's Day with your dad, the next best thing is giving him a gift card for Shelley's backroom. He might like that better. Yes, when he opened this way, that way he can bring all his buddies. Right. And he can leave you at home.

Exactly. Yeah. Yes. So you can get a gift card. You go online at shelley's backroom.com. They have different denominations from $50. on up. And I mean, I'm sure he'll be surprised.

He'll be elated. And it's a story that he'll talk about for years to come. Because, like, my experience with Shelly's, when people go there for the first time, after hearing me talk about it, they always say, I can't believe I've never been here before. What a great time. That's a father's day present for you right there. Shelly's backroom at 1331 F Street Northwest. in the district.

That's a great Father's Day gift. Yes. By the way, happy Father's Day to you in advance, because I don't, you're not going to be here with me on Thursday or Friday, correct? Do I have that right? Right. I mean, that is correct. Your schedule changes a lot.

I just wanted to make sure that I'm, I know that you're not going to be here the next two days so I can plan accordingly. Okay. Okay, you got that shot in? You happy about that? Do you feel good? Jerry West passed away this morning at the age of 86 years old. You remember him as a player.

I don't just tell me about Jerry West. Tell everybody about Jerry West. Well, first, before we get started, I'm going to give you a chance right now to apologize for what you said many years ago when you ridiculed Jerry West after watching film of him. I'm going to give you a chance now to apologize for that. Well, I remember specifically what I said. On NBA TV, the 1962 NBA Finals, they were showing the seventh and deciding game between

the Celtics and the Lakers. And I remember coming onto the show the next day and just saying to you, oh, my God, I think DeMathas JV would have won game seven by. 25 points. You laughed out loud. You called me a buffoon, and I said, your beloved Jerry West couldn't even dribble with his left hand. Every single time he got the ball, he had to go right. Now, they couldn't stop him going right, and he was awesome to watch. But I guess on a day like today, I'll just say, I'm sorry. It's probably the easiest thing to do. Now, you see, what's interesting, the late great Kobe Bryant,

had a different view when he was watching game films of Jerry West. What did he say? Because when Kobe Bryant was growing up, he used to study Oscar Robertson and Jerry West game films. And he patterned his game more after Jerry West more than Oscar, because Oscar had a big, strong body. And Kobe built up his body eventually, but he still never was as big as Oscar was. he felt more of a kinship as a player to jerry west and there's a quote from coby talking about him jerry about jerry west his pull-up jump shot was vicious he said oscar used his body but jerry is kind of

like me he doesn't have that big old booty he's got to use his quickness to get his shot off that's what so coby when he was watching the film with jerry west he had a little bit different opinion than you. Okay. Did he talk about his ball handling, his offhand ball handling? I guess he was too impressed with the fact that he was

scoring. Well, I'm totally impressed with that too. He could score. One other brief story. Yeah. A friend of mine, sports writer friend of mine shared today,

Tom Keegan, he once played 18 holes in golf with Calvin Murphy. Calvin Murphy came along in the 70s. Yep. Great great. The standout NBA guard from Niagara, a small player, one of a great foul shooters in the history of the league. He said Jerry West was the toughest defender he ever faced.

Wow. The toughest. Jerry West is in the top ten of NBA players. Okay. He just, top ten NBA player. Is he? He was one of the greatest players. Yes, I think so.

You know what balls me? is, and this is not you, okay? I think it is. I have such a low opinion of Shaquille O'Neal as an NBA player. Right. And the fact that there's a generation that worship at his altar when he was a lazy stiff, okay, who never nearly got the amount that he could have.

Kobe couldn't stand him because he was a lazy hump. Okay, so it calls me to even mention him. Right. You know, in the same conversation with Jerry West. Well, Jerry West put that team together as an executive. I know. I know. He was pretty impressive. And he was the right team. It was the right team.

Yeah. He did a great job with that. But I think he's a top 10 NBA player. He's a very subjective list. I'll grant you that. And, you know, he had a terrible childhood. His father was terrible to him. He was beaten by his dad.

And there's a story that he told about his sister being beaten by his dad, and they had a shotgun in the house. And Jerry was a young kid, and he pointed the shotgun out of his dad and said, if you touch her again, I'll shoot you. And after that, he slept with a shotgun under his bed. He had a terrible childhood. He was a tortured guy. He was a tortured guy.

But he wasn't that. He wasn't that way, like to the media. Like, I interviewed him once in New Orleans when I was there doing a story about the new, the second coming of the NBA in New Orleans, and he could have been better to deal with and better in his answers. And there's so many players like Michael Jordan just spoke today, how he used to dream of how he wish he had played against Jerry West, but what he really wishes is if he had been a teammate of John.

Jerry West, the guy was just, his level of respect cross generations. Okay, and he is the logo, and I think he'll remain the logo from, you know, from here moving forward. The five-time defensive, all-defensive team, when I was reading, you know, a bunch after he passed this morning, that actually did surprise me. I didn't know that he was such a great defender. I had no idea that that was the case. But I know how great Jerry West was, Tommy. I mean, he was one of my dad's guys. I mean, hearing him talk about Jerry West and the scorer that he was and the player that he was.

And hearing you talk about him over the years. By the way, I pulled up that list that ESPN did top 75 on the 75th anniversary of the NBA. where they ranked the top 75 players of all time. They had West at 19. You're not going to like some of the players they had in front of them. Some of them I don't think you'd have a problem with, but they have Shaq at 11. So I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't. And they had Oscar at 9.

Like, would you have Oscar ahead of Jerry West? Yeah. But close. Yes, I would, but close. And let me tell you, I've talked about this many times. My problem with Shaquille O'Neal is that a guy as big as that he was, okay? He never let the league in rebounding. Not one year in his career.

That's just that's studying because rebounding is about heart, okay? And when you've got a body like that, if you've got desire and heart, okay, you should be able to lead the league in rebounding at least once in your career. And to me, that speaks to who he is. Yeah. He was an unstoppable force when he wanted to be. Do you remember the game? One of the things that I remember about Jerry West,

and I'm just looking it up because I didn't do this earlier, and I think I found the game. I remember that one of the big shots that Jerry West hit was a half-court shot at the buzzer in the NBA finals. That was against the... 60-foot shot. So what do you remember? Yeah, against the Knicks.

So what do you remember about it? I think it sent the game into overtime, which I think the Knicks, I think the Knicks wound. They did. He had a half-court shot at the buzzer to force overtime. They were not down three back then. They were down two. There was no three-point shot. And they then went on to lose the game in overtime.

He had 34 in the game. And that would, wait, was that, was that the one title they, they, who did they beat? He only has one championship win, right? He's got one NBA, because they just got beat by the Celtics all the time. The 72 finals, I think. The 70, but he was an older player then, right, Tommy? Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was.

him and him and elgin were both older players yeah the 19th i think elgin might have been gone by then i think elgin was gone by then the 72 finals they beat the nix in five games four games to one wilt jim mcmillan jerry west happy harston gail goodrich were the starters Pat Riley was the number one guy off the bench for that team. Dale Goodrich with a great left-handed jump shot. Can you name the Knicks on that team? I mean, that wasn't the team you played on, but can you name the Nick players on that team?

Well, I think Earl was with that team then. He was. Maybe not. He was. Earl, Fraser, the Busher, Bradley, Willis Reed had injuries that year, so he wasn't himself. but I think he was still part of it. Phil Jackson.

Dean Meminger. Remember Dean Meminger? Played for Marquette? Yeah. Oh, you remember him? I mean, I just remember the name. I don't remember the player. I don't remember him at Marquette.

But he was a contributor on those next team. You're forgetting that Hall of Famer whenever we have this conversation, the one that I never get. Jerry Lucas? Yeah, exactly. Okay, okay, that's a major trade before then. Okay. I was sure if he was on that team or not.

He was on that team. Yeah, and then they won it in 73, and Willis Reed was the final MVP for the second time in his career. Who was the coach of those Red Holtzman? Red Holtzman. Who coached the Lakers? Although Red Holtzman basically coached the defense, and Dave the Buster coach the offense. That's pretty much how it were. Bill Sharmine was like a coach on the court.

Got it. And Bill Sharmine was the coach. of the Lakers. And then, yes, they played in the 73 finals and the Knicks won in five games. And Jerry West, that was his, is that his final season? No, he actually, he played in the 73, 74 season.

The first season I really remember, because keep in mind, the bullets moved to Washington or to Landover in the 73-74 season. They were called the Capitol Bullets in their first year. And Tommy, I remember that team. And they beat Bob McAdoo and Buffalo in the first round. Elvin Hayes had like a 50-point game.

And then they lost to the Knicks. No, my fault. They lost to the Knicks in 73-74. The next year they beat Buffalo and then they beat the Celtics and then they lost to the Warriors in the finals in 75. But they played in their first. year in Washington, they played the Knicks, and it was basically the Washington bullets. They were called the Capitol Bullets that year, playing against Earl Monroe, who was then a Nick,

and no longer a bullet. And that was a big deal. Yeah. That was a big deal. Jerry West as an executive, my God, the success. He's an all-time great sports executive. I mean, just champions everywhere he went, whether it was as the top guy, or is a top advisor, including the Golden State Dynastic Run, just clearly had an incredible eye

for talent and for roster construction, et cetera. I think that's why players liked him so much, because he really had a connection with players that could spot talent. He also, is it crazy to say that he might be the most beloved West Virginia of all time? Well, I'd have to go through my list of beloved West Virginians. You know, I think Billy the kid was from West Virginia. Was he? I think so.

Yeah. Joe Manchin's from West Virginia. Sam Huff. Sam Huff from West Virginia. Yeah. West Virginia sports heroes list. Let's see who we're missing. Rod Thorne.

What's another NBA player? Hot Rod Hundley. Mary Lou Retton is from West Virginia. Okay, there you go. Randy Moss is from West Virginia, of course. So is White Chocolate, who was Randy Moss's high school teammate. Nick Sabin was born in West Virginia?

I didn't know that. I didn't know that either. One more thing on Jerry West. You know, we both kind of were overwhelmed at the response to Bill Walton's passing a couple of weeks ago. I mean, it was, I know it was a holiday, but I mean, just it was awesome to see, but I was taken aback a little bit as to, you know, the incredible outpouring and all of the different, you know, thoughts that came from everywhere, the different, you know, segments that were done on all these shows.

But anyway, do you think the reaction to Jerry West passing will be equivalent to that or greater than that or less than that? I think in the industry, of basketball, it will be at least equivalent, if not greater. Outside the industry among people who didn't know him, I don't think it'll be nearly the same. Because everyone felt like they know Walton. Exactly. He became a public figure. Right. You know, he became a lovable public.

figure. I mean, Jerry West was the angry screaming lunatic that we saw in the HBO miniseries. Yeah. So, no, I think it'd be different, but I think inside basketball, based on what I've seen, I think Jerry West was beloved and respected as much as anybody could possibly be. Yeah, I think that's true. I mean, I think sports fans understand what a great front office exec he was, but that's still not the same as what, what, Walton was as a broadcaster in terms of his reach. Let me just, yeah. Let me just step one NBA thing. Yeah. There's a great new series on Vice Network called Uninterrupted, the real stories of basketball.

It's produced by LeBron James and his company, and it's a series of great basketball stories. And it's on the Vice Network. The first one was about those Seattle Supersonic teams of Gary Payton and Schen. Sean Kemp and how talented they were and how Seattle went nuts about them and how they always fell short of winning an NBA championship. They've got one now that I haven't seen yet about Pete Marevich. Check out the Vice Network. Uninterrupted, the real stories of basketball.

What surprised me that I didn't know, Gary Payton, Gary Payton was a great player, but he was a goofball. He never practiced. You know, he was kind of a head case. but he adored John Stockton. Gary Payton respected John Stockton so much that John Stockton was the guy who introduced Gary Payton when Peyton went in Hall fame. Really? I didn't know that.

Had no idea. They went up against each other so many times. And Peyton had nothing but tremendous respect for John Stockton. Wow. That's interesting. Yeah, because, I mean, that era of the 90s of who's going to play Chicago in the finals, you know, with the exception of the two Houston years, I mean, you had, you know, you had Utah and Seattle.

I mean, yeah. All right. How about the Nats, four in a row after losing four in a row last week? They're only a game out in the wild card race right now. I know. It's so great. You keep crossing your fingers. and hoping, you know, the middle of June, you know, if we can have this conversation in the

middle of July, it's a different conversation, but then you're only two weeks away from the trade deadline, and hopefully the learners would step up if they're competitive for a wildcard spot and become buyers at, you know, at the trade deadline, because they're getting starting pitching right now to back them up. It hasn't wavered. We are more than a third into the season. And, you know, and we haven't even gotten the infusion of young players yet. James Wood, who's on the, who's been injured now with, I guess, the hamstring. But hopefully he'll be up at some point, you know, maybe Dylan Cruz as well. So if they're in this place in the middle of July, then there's reason to get really excited. And there'll be a lot of pressure on the

learners to step up. Yeah. You know, and keep in mind, you know, that wild card, you know, since they added the extra playoff team in each league, it's not a one game wild card, like the Nats played against the Brewers the year they went to the World Series. You know, it is, you do play it in the, I'm pretty sure, it's best of three, but I think you play it just in one location. I'm pretty sure that's it. So the higher-seated team, because it's six teams, top two would get buys, and then it's, yeah, and then it's three versus six, four versus five. And so the three and the four seed basically host the best of three, you know, over a three day span if it takes three days. You don't get to play a home game if you're the lower seeded

team, but still, you know, it's not a one and done situation. Right, right. But yeah, that would be pretty cool. Yeah. Real quickly, no discussion today of the U.S. Open, which is, starts tomorrow at Pinehurst. But I would mention that if you want to hear what Scott thinks about the U.S. Open, he was on the radio show today, so you can find that at the Team 980.com or by downloading the Odyssey app. It is an incredible venue, and it is going to play very, very hard. I mean, Scott thinks that even par or something over par might win it.

If you want to bet the U.S. Open, just go to mybooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. They've got every single thing you want to, you know, matchups, overall odds to win it, plenty of prop bets. Amazingly right now, Scotty Sheffler plus 275 to win the U.S. Open. Tommy, these are tiger odds. I mean, you never, ever see in a golf tournament, the favorite at plus 275 at less than 3 to 1.

He's such a massive favorite. It's incredible. But MyBooky's got everything you need for your U.S. Open wagering. Go to my bookie.ag. You have to use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., to get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. All right. I will talk to you next week.

Happy Father's Day to you, and I don't know, are you doing anything for Father's Day? Are you doing, are you going to? Yeah, we're going to my son's house in Bethany. Oh, good. All right, well, enjoy telling you. I'll be at Bethany for the weekend. That's a good place to be because it's going to be hot for the first time this summer this weekend. I know.

I'm looking forward to it. All right, real quickly, I am seeing that Jaden Daniels is talking out at mini-camp. I'll have a lot of that sound on tomorrow's show. All right, done for the day, back tomorrow.