The Kevin Sheehan Show - Early Ravens-Washington Pick

Episode Date: October 1, 2020

Kevin and Thom today on the first NFL Covid-19 game casualty. Kevin recapped the Lakers Game 1 win over the Heat. The boys discussed the lack of leaks this year from the football team. Thom had his Ravens-Washington prediction. And 45 years ago tonight, the "Thrilla in Manila".  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. Sports Fix Thursday, Tommy from the Fortress of Solitude and Frederick. I'm here in our studios in Bethesda. There's just a lot of different topics we're going to touch on today.

We're going to try not to go too long. I know the last few podcasts have been too long. We are working on that. Thanks for all of the advice. Tennessee, Pittsburgh is now, as we start to record this podcast, officially canceled. this weekend. They had postponed it until Monday night or Tuesday night. They're passing on that idea as more Tennessee players test positive. When they'll play it, I have no idea. We're going to get to the MLB playoffs, the NBA Finals game one, the upcoming game against the Ravens for the Washington

football team, and today is the 45th anniversary of one of the greatest fights in boxing heavyweight history. We will get to that shortly. I wanted to start with this, Tommy, that I played golf yesterday, and I know you don't care about these golf stories, but I'm just going to mention something. But I'm glad to, I'm glad to, that you're out and enjoying yourself. Yeah, I'm out and joining. I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, CJ, Danny Frank, our good friend who is from here, lives in New York, works for City, and he has been such a great friend over the years. And Danny set it up.

He's your good friend, I might want to point out. Yeah, he's. I don't know the guy from that. No, you don't. But if you, he likes you, I can tell you that. He enjoys the podcast. He listens to the podcast all the time. But, you know, the things that he helps people with, you know, he's sort of a fixer in many ways.

He's sort of like the wolf from Pulp Fiction. And, you know, he gets things. You know, he's red. He's red. And, of course, from our favorite movie. which I'm going black on now that I've only seen a hundred times played by Morgan Freeman. Red and Andy D. Shawshank Redemption.

Thank you, Tommy. Boy, I need to sleep more. Because Red was a guy, as Andy Dufrain said, Red gets things. He's a guy. Red said it. He said, I'm a guy that just gets things. Danny's a guy that gets things. He's a guy that fixes things.

And you don't, you know, when it comes to, you know, a golf venue or going to the masters, which Danny helped me out with a few years ago. I don't think that you're a big theater person or, well, you are a big concert goer. Danny can help you out with some tickets if we ever get back to live performing concerts. Yeah, if we ever have concerts. Yeah, but Danny's a, he's one of my favorite people. And we played at Caves Valley yesterday in Owings Mills up in Baltimore. and it's one of the truly great venues, golf venues.

You know, in America, certainly one of the top places on the East Coast. It's a beautiful place. They're going to play the BMW Championship part of the FedEx Cup next August there. And actually, I'm going to bring this up, the reason for bringing it up I'll get to in a moment. But what I learned yesterday is that Baltimore has not hosted a men's golf event in 60 years. They've had many big women's events, but they haven't held a major men's event in 60 years. And so next August is part of the FedEx Cup, a massive tournament. The BMW is going to be played at Caves Valley.

It'll be a spectacular venue for that tournament. Anyway, two reasons I wanted to get to this story, and I'm not going to sit here and bore you with the golf details. I had a terrible round because you don't care about that. Well, what's a terrible round for you? What's the score? I was in the low 90s. I just can't. Recently, I just can't hit the ball.

I ended up having a really good final hole, which really hurt CJ, which I'm happy about. But anyway. Did you get it in the clown's nose and then you got a free game? Yep, I did. Well, I got to pick a prize. And I picked the big stuffed teddy bear, which I brought home and gave to my wife. She was really thrilled about that. Anyway, the director of golf at Caves Valley is Dennis Satasher.

And Dennis was a quarterback at Duke in the early 70s. He was also a big-time golfer and was the assistant captain on the 1997 rider cup team, which was Tiger Woods' first Ryder Cup match. Tom Kite was the actual captain of that particular. team that played at Valderrama in Spain. They lost. The U.S. lost that. And Dennis was the assistant captain to Tom Kite on that team. He's good friends with Tom Kite, and they picked him to be the team captain. Anyway, Dennis was played the back nine with us, and I'll tell you who played the front nine with us in a moment, because that's the second part of the story. But

Dennis is a really good storyteller. Had a lot of really good stories, especially if you're into golf and different things. But, um, he told the story of that particular Rider Cup, many stories, but I wanted to share this one because I thought this would be the one that you would enjoy. First of all, that team, the U.S. Rider Cup team in 1997, had Tiger Woods as a 21-year-old rookie first-time Rider Cup player several months after winning the Masters at 21 years old in 1997. It had Davis Love, who won his only major championship that year at Winged Foot, actually, in the PGA Championship. And it had Justin Leonard who had won the British Open. The U.S. was heavily favored. Tom Lehman, Jim

Furek, Phil Mickelson, Marco Merah, Brad Faxson, all on that team. And they were supposed to handle Europe in Spain in this big Ryder Cup match. Well, anyway, to get to the story that I wanted to share with you. They get to the Sunday singles matches. You know how Ryder Cup Tommy works. When you get to Sunday, it's the 12 singles matches and everything else are team matches, you know, two-on-two team matches, you know, foursums, you know, afternoon four ball and best ball and all that stuff through on Friday and Saturday and Sunday you get to the singles matches. Anyway, there's a player on the European team. His name was Constantino Roca. Constantine Oka was a long-time

European player. He would play in all of the British Opens and played it. He was a big-time player. But Dennis was telling us the story. He's matched up against Tiger Woods in the singles match on the final day. This is Tiger Woods' first singles match. Tiger's the Masters champion.

He's a big star already. And Constantine Oroca comes to the first tee. As Dennis said, I'm not not sure if he was hungover or still hammered, but it had been a long night for old Constantino. There was a lot of vino. There was a lot of other things

going on, and he comes in looking completely disheveled, stumbling on to the first tea, either drunk or just completely hungover, smoke, you know, smoking, everything. And Tiger looks at Dennis and says, what's this?

And Dennis just sort of shook his head. And he said, I don't him, maybe we should offer him two strokes aside. We should give him two shots aside. Look, he's in terrible condition. Anyway, the best part of the story, because most of you who are listening have experienced this before, and maybe not individually, but with someone that you've played with that has stumbled onto the first tee, either still hammered from the night before or definitely hung over. Roka goes out and birdies the first four-hole. and annihilates Tiger.

And he beats him four and two. And there they were a young Tiger Woods going, what is, who is this? And what is, I mean, is this real? Like,

do I really have to play him? And even Dennis is saying, I think maybe we should offer him two shots aside. And he said, Tiger laughed. And back then, I don't think he laughed at much. And Roca goes out,

you know, his shirt untucked, disheveled. and birdies the first four holes and takes Tiger out four and two. And when he's telling the story, it's like anybody that's played a lot of golf, you know, and a lot of golf with friends and early mornings on weekends, many times, whether it was yourself or a partner, you all know the guy that stumbles in going,

oh, last night. Last night was a twister. Wow, I don't know how I made it here, you know? And then all of a sudden, then he goes out and shoots 77, you know, a really good round and takes your money. So I thought that was a funny story. Anyway, the second part of the reason I brought up Caves Valley, first of all, it's a gorgeous venue.

You know what, Tommy real quickly? Baltimore, the horse country part of Baltimore, you know, when you get west of the city and the suburbs, it's so beautiful out there, don't you think? Yes, it is. I have a friend who lives up in Harford County in that part where they've got a lot of horse farms. Yeah.

Remember the scene in Diner at near the end where Boogie is trying to impress the girl who rides horses and rides his own horse? He meets his girl riding a horse out in the farm in Diner. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a beautiful country. It really is. It's a beautiful country. Anyway, so Dennis, who played with us on the back nine, and is 70 years old.

hits it further than any of us. He was very impressive as a golfer. It was really nice to meet him, actually, and he had great stories to tell the entire back nine. On the front nine, we were joined, CJ Danny Frank and I were joined by Tommy Morrison, not the boxer Tommy Morrison, who that would be hard to do. Yeah, that would be hard to do. That would have been a story. Yes. Not the Tommy Morrison from Rocky Five, not the Tommy Morrison that died of AIDS. But Tommy Morrison is the number one ranked sophomore high school golfer in America. And he's from here, but his father's moved around in the last few years. He's lived in North Carolina.

And over the last year, he's lived in Dallas. His father took a job in Dallas, and that's where he's been. But he's back in the area. And I guess he was at Caves yesterday and was looking to play, and we didn't have a fourth, and they sent Tommy out with us on the first hole. Tommy is the number one sophomore golfer just accepted a full ride to the University of Texas. Texas is a golf power. His final two choices were Texas and Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State's a powerhouse in golf and has been for years. Tommy is every bit of 6-6. I mean, he was a basketball player. He did the smart thing because after watching him hit a golf ball, he gave up basketball. ball, which is probably pretty smart. But big six-foot-six. Well, now, it's funny, there have been stories written about Tommy that I didn't realize. But, you know, if you Google his name, he's one of the top, you know, amateurs in the world right now.

And again, the number one sophomore high school golfer in America. He's already committed as a sophomore to the University of Texas. But there's stories that list him at 6-8. He's not 6-8. He even told me, I think he even told me he was 6-6, which seemed right. I've been around enough super-tall people to know the difference between 6-6-6-8. 6-8's like starting to get really tall. 6-6 is tall.

Like Scott is 6-6. Van Pelt is 6-6, and he's probably his size. By the way, this guy's in, he's an athlete. Like he's a big, strong athlete. He hit the ball further than anybody I have ever played with. Really? And it's not, I've played with some good players and some really good young players. I've never seen somebody hit the ball further than he hit it.

He hit it. He was flying it in the air, 310, 315. So by the time it finished, you know, it was probably 350 plus. Wow. He, you know, you can see the extraordinary talent. The funny thing about golf, Tommy, is every single person out there that knows golf, knows that and is played with and is seen extraordinarily talented young people that never come close to making it to the tour. So I have no idea if one day he's going to be on the tour. I know that

there are a lot of people that are talking about him and know who he is at this age. By reading about him, not, you know, talking about him, you would have never known it. He was such a nice young kid who really, you know, seemed to have his act together. And he would have never, he just was, he was, he was the opposite of a self-promoter, so it was hard to get any information about himself. He was one of those rare young people who was as interested or more interested in us than he was in telling us about himself, which I love that about him. But anyway, the point is that it's what's between the years ultimately. I mean, there is, the mental part of that game is the big separator because there's so many guys

with that kind of talent. So many. But he seemed to have his act together. I just, I'm not sure I've ever played with anybody. I've played with some guys that can really hit it a long way. I don't think I've ever played with anybody that hit it as far as he hit it yesterday. A name to keep in line. How many big big big?

Uh, pGA golfers are there? I mean, big. Ooh, there are some big ones now. I mean, you know, obviously, Dustin, you know, Dustin's 6-4-65, right? every bit of it. And Dustin is one of those, you know, strapping athletes as well. Brooks Kepka is a pretty big guy. Kepka might be 6-3, 6-4, but 6-6.

Like, it says that he's 6-8 in this story written about him. I don't think he's 6-8. Kepka's not 6-4. I'm wrong on that. He's 6-1. I don't know who the tallest golfers are right now. I'm going to Google that real quickly. this guy Thomas Peters

who's been playing really well, 6-5. Tony Fee now, 6-4. God, he's an athlete. And, you know, Bubba's 6-3-6-4, Coutcher's 6-4, Dustin's 6-4. So, yeah, 6-6 would be very tall. Yeah. Yeah.

Would be very tall. Anyway. That's what I thought. I was a good day yesterday at just a beautiful, beautiful spot. All right. Let's get to this Tennessee-Pittsburg story right after I tell you quickly about Pepsi. Thanks to a lack of natural athleticism, Tommy, and maybe even commitment. You and I are in the League of Football Watchers. We're not in the National Football League.

We're not in the National Basketball Association. We're not playing Major League Baseball. I like to fancy myself as a decent athlete, but certainly lacking. in the natural athleticism that would be required of playing at a very high level. I know you have had a lot of skill as a hoops player as well. But bottom line is, no matter what we think of ourselves as weekend warriors, we're in the league of football watchers when it comes to Pepsi. And this football season is a bit different.

And Pepsi understands that. Did you know, Tommy, that fewer than 1% of 1% of people will ever play professional football? I've heard that before. I remember camps, basketball camps. Do you guys realize that the chances of an NBA player being here at camp today are 0.0000001%? Make sure you do your homework, men. Make sure you do your homework. That was always the message.

Anyway, instead of entering the NFL, those less than, you know, those, you know, those, those greater than 1% have joined another league, the league of football watchers. The football season this year is different. Pepsi's here to get you ready for game day, no matter how you watch. Because Pepsi isn't made for those who play the game, it's made for those who watch it. Pepsi, made for football watching. Go to made for football watching.com to check out the latest football watching content from Pepsi. All right. So here's the latest on the Tennessee thing, which broke right before we came on the air. The Steelers Titans game, which was going to be one of the biggest games of the weekend,

two three and O teams, will not be played at all during week four because there have been two additional positive tests to Titans, a player and one personnel member have tested positive. Mike Vrable also mentioned that several of the players who have tested positive or also experiencing flu-like symptoms. So there was this effort, Tommy, I think, to really stand down this first mini outbreak by the league by not canceling on Sunday.

Then they canceled Sunday and moved it to, we're going to get this done Monday night or Tuesday night. And now on Thursday morning, which, you know, you could have potentially tested for the next couple of days with all of those people that tested positive, quarantined and potentially played on a Monday night or Tuesday night, they have bailed on that idea. And they're saying the game will be played later on in the season. I don't know what that means and where they put that game. But I think what we've just experienced here for the first

time after three clean weeks of NFL football is what baseball went through early in their season with the Marlins and the Cardinals. There is a big difference. however. There just isn't a lot of room to make these games up in the NFL. And they're saying later on in the season without any detail at this point, you can do it in your own mind, right? If you get 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of these over the next couple of weeks, more likely than not, you're either going to have to extend the regular season by two weeks and push back to Super Bowl and the playoffs, which I think there is a plan in place for. Apparently, Tampa is a little bit flexible on the Super Bowl date. Or we are going to get what many predicted, which is an

unbalanced competitive season where some teams don't play 16 games. There is no way, Tommy, there are 256 regular season games. There is no way if you end up with more than a few of these many outbreaks that you're going to be able to play all 256 games. No chance. But they're going to move on no matter what. I mean, it would have to be, I mean, no matter how unfair and how unbalance records and schedules may wind up, the NFL is not folding up shop. I mean, it would have to be, it would have to be like a church-like outbreak for the, for the,

for the NFL to fold up shop. Here's the difference between what baseball went through. It's the time of year. This was the whole point of what I said the NFL would be facing in October and November. A time of year where people get sick normally, you know, under normal conditions. The time of year where supposedly, and we haven't seen, we don't even know if we've seen a second surge yet, because we really haven't gone through the first search, actually. You know, we're not finished with that.

So I just always felt that October and November, we're going to be the biggest problematic things, the time of year facing the NFL right in the heart of their schedule. Well, you're right about the first thing that you said, which is they're not going to shut it down unless, I mean, my feeling all along is that my, my feeling all along was it would take a real serious illness. And I used what you had always suggested because I think it made sense,

which is even if the league and the teams were intent on moving forward past a serious illness and or death, it would be the players that might put a halt to it because of their concerns and their associated anxiety. As long as nobody gets sick or seriously ill, This season's going to continue to be played. I mean, as long as there are games to put in each of the television windows, even if you're short four games a week or two games a week, and even if you end up with some teams playing 16,

some playing 15 and some playing 14 or 13, they're going to move forward through this. They're not slowing down. It's going to take serious illness and or death to shut it down. Now, I mean, I'm talking about permanently, the year. Like, they'll bail on it. There's just no way they're going to bail on it absent of real serious sickness. I think you're probably right, but it's going to, like baseball in a way, it's going to,

it will make for a warp year. I mean, you know, it'll be the kind of thing where it'll be the kind of season that, not an asterisk, because that's too benign. You know, people will remember it as a warped season. I think people will remember the baseball season as a warped year, not a not normal year, not what, not what they wanted to see. And I think if you have a team play 14 games that's competing for a playoff spot and loses out, I mean, how are they going to fix that? You're just going to have to deal with it. I mean, you're just, as a fan, you just have to understand. This is a completely different thing. What's the options? The alternatives are no football and wait for fair football? No. I'll take this any day of the week.

You know, in many ways, we're already beyond what people like you thought. And I'm not singling you out in a negative way. I'm just saying you were part of a large group that just thought this wasn't going to happen. We were never going to get here. We were never going to get to the end of an NBA season. We were never going to get to the end of an NHL or a major league baseball season. And football, that was a joke to think of it. And we're already through three weeks cleanly. By the way, Albert Breer has explained essentially how the league has set this up. I knew that there was a solution with biweeks, but I had looked at Tennessee and Pittsburgh's byweeks, and they were actually not the same byweeks. But Albert Breer actually explained it.

He said, as has been discussed this week, the schedule allows for a fix. The Titans' buy week is week seven. The Steelers buy week is week eight. The Steelers and Ravens play week seven. The Ravens have a week eight buy. So you can move the Steelers Ravens to week eight and slide the Titans Steelers into week seven. So that's how it will get solved. That is the solution. And I would imagine the league's going to announce Steelers, Titans, in week seven within a day. I would imagine that that would be the answer. That makes total sense. But what happens if the Titans miss out on another game or what happens if you get to, you know, you get three or four of these and there aren't, you know, easy solutions like that.

I know that they've built in the solutions. I think it was four, week four, or through the first four weeks with buy weeks within a week of each other. So there you go. That will be the solution. I can't imagine that it's not. going to be anything else but that. You know, Maskey's usually all over some of this stuff, and he just wrote, you know what, none of the players' names have been reported. Am I right about that? I'm pretty sure I'm right about that.

I have not seen anything anywhere in terms of the players' names. Yeah, because it doesn't matter anymore, but if they had tried to play this game on a Monday night or Tuesday night, at some point we were going to find out who the players were. And if it was Derek Henry and Ryan Tannehill and Jeffrey Simmons and, you know, and AJ Brown,

I mean, you were going to have a big line movement. I mean, it was going to be, because the line really hadn't changed much. Anyway, there you go. You know what hit me? Look, I was having a talk about this with Chad on my appearance on his radio show yesterday. And

And, you know, I mean, he asked me about what if they play Tuesday night. And it really hit me. I said, and I'm not a huge, like a football fan. I enjoy football, but I'm not a huge fan. It wouldn't bother me if they play football, if they were a football game every night or the week. It really wouldn't because there's, I mean, as far as network television, what else, what are your options? I mean, look at look at what. Look at what network TV is these days.

It's talent shows, game shows, reality shows, and piss poor dramas. I mean, there's no quality of television on network TV. But those aren't your only entertainment options. I know that. You have cable. You have streaming. But I'm talking about putting NFL football on network TV more. than just Monday and Thursday night.

I'd be fine with that. I think most of the country would be fine with that because what they usually watch if they can find themselves to network TV is crap. Well, it's funny that you mention that. I don't think I've told you this this week. Guess which show I started to watch over last weekend? A Tommy recommendation.

What? Yellowstone. Really? Uh-huh. I've watched the first three episodes And it's, I'll be honest with you, first episode, I'm going through this. I'm like, man, this is long and this is dragging. But as I've gotten through the third episode, it's good.

It's really good. You know, it's not good, but, I mean, it's not a good show. I don't think. I thought you, I thought you recommended it to me that you liked it. No, I like it. Look, there's lots of things that I like that I recognize that aren't very good. You know. Are you saying it's not good because it's not well-acted?

It's just not well-acted. I agree with that. You know, it's like the Corleone's moved to Montana. I know it is a little bit. I mean, there are bodies dropping everywhere. Yeah. I mean, nobody can't kill that many people in Montana on a regular basis. Yeah.

That can't happen. I'm enjoying it. Okay. I am enjoying it. I enjoy it tremendously. And I'm going to continue. But to your point, and it's actually, I didn't think of it this way. If I really become, like, addicted to a show, I just keep going.

And I did stop after episode three this weekend. And I had opportunities to get to episode four pretty quickly and didn't. But I'm enjoying it. Like, it's getting good. It's getting better. But I think you have a really good point. I think there have been a couple times where I'm like, like the woman who plays Beth,

you know, John Dutton's daughter, who is, you know, she was quite the... She would be your golf partner early in the morning. Yes, who would roll in with cigarette out of mouth and completely disheveled and hung over. Who is she, by the way? I recognize her. I don't know who she is.

You recognize her, though. We've seen her in other things. Not really. I don't recognize her. No? I've seen her in something else. I can't remember who it is. I'm looking it up right now because I don't even know her name.

Her name is Kelly Riley. I don't know her from Adam. Let's see what she's been in and where we would have seen her. Now, my favorite character on the show is Rip. Oh, definitely. Hold on. I don't see anything. Oh, true detective, of course.

she was in true detective in 2015. Well, which, which, McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Okay.

I think that's a season she was in. Anyway, um. Well, I'm glad you liked it. I liked it. And I would, I recommend it, but, but it's, it's, it's, it's not absurd. All the people that get killed. Yeah. Rip is great.

You know, Jamie, what's he, what's, he's been in a bunch of things, too? like he's very there are people in this show that I've never seen before Kevin Costner for those of you that don't know is the lead character and by the way other people who have recommended this to me said that when you get

to the end of it that Costner was just great in this and I think he's pretty good so far but Jamie what has he been in his name is Wes Benton I have I have no idea I don't recognize you know most of the actors

in this. But, you know. He was in the Hunger Games. He was in We should have branded Oh, he was in American Beauty. He was the next door neighbor in American Beauty who you know,

the real weirdo in the movie with Kevin Spacey and Annette Bennett. He was the one who sold. He sold pot to Kevin Spacey. By the way, that's a great movie. Yeah, that is, now that's a great movie. That is a phenomenal movie. Yeah.

He was in that. Well, I'm glad you're enjoying Yellowstone. Well, I'll keep you posted on that because, you know, it gets more absurd. Trust me. I'm telling you, it's like a mob war at some point in the middle of Brooklyn. Okay. Anyway, we were talking about Tennessee, Pittsburgh. Let's move on from that.

My prediction is that we end up with a couple of teams that don't play 16 games. And that's going to be okay with me. I'm going to be okay with that. I just see this as like, I mean, look, with Miami and the Cardinals, it never really blew into a league-wide thing. This has to be a wake-up call, obviously, for the league. And I don't know if the Titans could have done anything differently to have prevented this. But this is one of those things where it's like, look, if we're going to play 16 games times 17 weeks, 16 games times 32 teams,

if we're going to play all of these games, you guys have to leave the facility. go home and be wearing masks and socially distancing at all times. I mean, it's going to be incumbent upon the teams. Baseball didn't have, it didn't lead to something greater. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's going to be the time of the year that gets them. Yeah. Meanwhile, Washington doesn't have those problems.

They've got bigger problems. What are Washington's biggest problems? The biggest problem is they're playing Lamar Jackson. Yeah, they are playing Lamar Jackson. There's more to the Washington football team that we can get to. I did want to just mention real quickly the NBA finals, game one last night. Why? Because, well, because I'm interested in this.

I know you're not. I don't know why you're not because you like basketball. But anyway, that's fine. I was hoping that the heat would be competitive. I picked the Lakers, I think, in five on the radio show. I don't know if I mentioned that on the podcast yesterday. I might not have. I picked the Lakers in five on the radio show, but I was really hopeful that the heat could keep it competitive. I really like their team and watching their team. They're very well coached. Spolstra's outstanding.

They have some really good players, some really good competitors, and Jimmy Butler and Otabayu and Goran Drogich and all of them. I like their team, but man, Tommy last night was the varsity against not the JV team, the freshman team. the Lakers were so dominant and so overpowering. And the Miami Heat had some injured players, but I don't even think the injured players were going to matter. Last night's game was like, this could be so short. And that'll be fine, whatever. Miami, no one expected them to be here.

But this was not what you would think of in terms of a true NBA finals game. and I don't know that the last time I felt in watching one game of a series that it was so obvious that one team was so much better. And LeBron, I'm not a big LeBron fan in terms of just personally. I just think there's a phoniness to him that I've just never really liked. But my God, at 38 years old, LeBron just, or 35, 36 years old, whatever it is, LeBron just keeps getting better. It's really physically better too.

There's no physical deterioration. He's just so good. And Anthony Davis is a star. He's a top five player in the league. He's not the best player in the league. Those of you that are saying that after last night's game. And to see, you know, playoff Rajan Rondo, who's just brilliant. And even Dwight freaking Howard, I mean, has come alive for,

for this team. My takeaway after game one is that if Miami wins a game, that would be almost a miracle. The Lakers are going to win this thing. LeBron is going to get another title, and I would be shocked if he doesn't. It was a beatdown. You can't let them get out on the break. They're like the old Lakers on the fast break. It's a show when they get up and down the floor.

You didn't watch any of it, right? No, I didn't watch any of it. But I have over the last couple of years come to a newfound respect for LeBron James, not just as a basketball player, but as a responsible athlete and recognize really what he has done over his career. I have a newfound respect for him. It's hard for me, but part of it is I'm being stubborn because I have boys who love the NBA and, you know, I've mentioned this before. They basically laugh when I talk about magic and Michael and they're like, please.

I mean, we've watched the highlights. I mean, Kobe and LeBron. I mean, for them, that's the, you know, those are the two greatest players in the history of the game. It's not even close. And the LeBron conversation is the one that irks me because I loved Kobe as a player. But I just don't love LeBron James. But his his IQ basketball IQ has never been in question.

He's always been, you know, more magic than Michael, as we've described over the years in terms of how he makes everybody better. That's always been true. I still am never going to let go of what we witness there for a several year period. LeBron James didn't want to have anything to do with winning time, which was the opposite of MJ, which was the opposite of Kobe, what was the opposite of the greatest players that had ever played. I mean, there's still, to me, for him, you know, the haunting images of him basically hiding in corners in the NBA finals against the Dallas Mavericks in his first year in Miami. He didn't want to have anything to do with crunch time.

And, you know, there were those series against Orlando when he was. in Cleveland or Boston when he was in Cleveland. I had Legler on the radio show this morning, and Legler totally nailed it, and I've referred to this game as well. The game that changed it all for LeBron was when they were on the verge of being eliminated for a second consecutive season in Miami. And they were down three games to two to the Celtics, and they had to go to Boston to stay alive in a game six.

And LeBron, I'll never forget. the just feeling the pressure for him. Like you knew he had to be feeling it at a level that was just insane because there was the narrative on him back then that he couldn't close, that he was afraid, that he would hide in clutch moments. All of that was crazy, but it was true. You know, so they had lost, the heat had lost to Dallas the year before, and he went out very meekly, and here he is down three, two,

to Rajan Rondo in the Celtics, and they've got to win game six to force a seventh and deciding game to stay alive in the Eastern Conference finals. And LeBron went for 45 points, 15 rebounds. And I forget what the assist number was. His shooting percentage was through the roof. And he delivered. And it was the big moment for him of his career. Legler said it this morning.

He's like, that turned around his career, turned around the narrative. It got him going and it got him to the point where he believed and he could function under pressure. Legler described LeBron pre that game as a guy whose motor skills and memory skills failed him, and he, especially as a shooter, which was 100% right in such a great observation, because the tightness and the pressure got to his shooting mechanics. And the only way he could score in those moments were layups or dunks. I remember him being fearful of going to the free throw line. he didn't want to be anywhere near the free throw line in a clutch moment.

And I think one of the more interesting parts of LeBron's career is how, you know, that was eight years ago. And since then, he's been a magnificent closer, you know, and he hasn't won all of the championships that he's had a chance to win. But on a couple of those Cleveland teams, he didn't have any support. You know, Timothy Mosgov and Amman Shumpert and Matt Delavadova. know the year that they didn't have Kyrie Irving. And then the year they did have Kyrie Irving, they probably would not have won that series. I don't think that they would have won that series had you not had a very controversial ejection and then suspension of

Draymond Green in game five. But LeBron delivered in that series. He's certainly in the top two or three of greatest of all time. I'm just not ready to put him at number one yet. I don't hope I'll ever be there. Michael. I'll never be there for that, but my respect for him has come off the court. As a successful businessman, as the power that he's built for himself in the NBA, he is the NBA. I mean, more than any other athlete, more than MJ even, when he was in the NBA. LeBron runs the league. and the work he's done in charities and speaking out on social justice issues,

that's why I really have a profound respect for LeBron. And let's face it, you know, I know this is kind of a stupid thing sometimes we talk about. You've never seen a LeBron situation where he's put himself at risk out there publicly with his being. behavior. You've never seen anything like that. I will agree with that. I don't think that everything that LeBron does off the court is to be admired. I think the kowtowing to China in particular, and obviously there's a business relationship between the league and China that is lucrative, to say the least. But whatever, I don't want to get into that. We spent more time on that the other day in that conversation, but not everything off the court. I don't know that he's on

the right side of everything all the time. But to your point, he is, without a doubt, the most powerful person in that league. There's not a close second in that league. No. And so, I mean,

I admire him for what he is built. Yeah. All right, Sunday at FedEx Field, no fans, Washington and Baltimore. Oh, big rivalry. Big I-95 rivalry. Capital Beltway. What are the other things we've called it?

The Parkway rivalry? So stupid. This is not a rivalry, people. In the NFL, your rivalries are either in your division, and every once in a while, they're in your conference. Washington Baltimore is not a rivalry in football. Baltimore is a 13, 12 and a half to 13 point favorite right now. This will be Tommy's chance to weigh in on the game.

I was going to say to you that this is a big game. It's really not a big game. But. Well, it is a big game if Washington wins. Well, that's true. That is true. It would be, Tommy, it would be the biggest win in a few years if they beat the Ravens. It would be a remarkable victory if they beat the Ravens.

Sure it would be. Where do you put their chances of that happening at? Not very high. But I'll tell you this, because I said this to Cooley yesterday, that this team, through three games. It's a different team than last year's team. And that's not saying much because last year's team was so god-awful. But this is a capable team.

You know, it is a legitimately capable team. And in the NFL, you know, 10, 11, 12-point underdogs, 13-point underdogs, it happens in the NFL. Big underdogs win outright. Yes, it does. Last year's team incapable of pulling off that kind of win. This year's team, capable. of pulling it off. I don't know if they can do it against Baltimore, maybe it next week

against the Rams where there'll be a double-digit, you know, underdog. If they win one of these next two games, the whole idea of Ron, you know, and the 2014 Carolina Panthers that were 3-8-1, that he got back to 7-8-1, where we believe that he woke up Monday morning and had this epiphany that, oh, my God, this season actually is a season that we could compete in. Cooley suggested that he, woke up Monday morning, not only looked at the offensive film, but more importantly, looked at the defensive film and said, man, my defense is pretty good. And we're in first place.

If they won one of these next two games, it would be on. And I hope personally if they win one of the next two that Dwayne has a part, a big contribution in it. I don't know if that'll be true, but I hope it's true because if it isn't true, and he's almost preventing it, then we might be in for a QB change sooner. rather than later. You don't think they have a chance Sunday, do you? No, I don't. But I agree with your description that they're capable of doing. They'd be more capable if Chase Young was in the lineup.

You know, that's and Matt Ionitis. I mean, that's going to really hurt them defensively. I mean, they can make up. It's not like they'll be rendered helpless without those two guys. But you could make the case, those that are two best defensive players. Yeah, well, definitely the first one. I don't think there's any doubt that Young is their best defensive player, but they have a lot of good defensive players.

I know they do. That's what I mean. It doesn't render them helpless. But it certainly would give them a better chance of pulling off the upset if they were at their best defensively. You know, it's hard to believe that all of a sudden Ron Rivera woke up and decided his team had a chance to win. So what you're saying is we're going to see a different timeout strategy from now on, right?

Yes. Yes, I believe that. I believe that this Sunday, I said this to Cooley. If they're down 23 to 14 with three minutes to go and Baltimore runs a play that sets up a third nine, they'll use a timeout this week. If they do, it has nothing to do with Ron Rivera waking up. and deciding his team is competitive. This is absurd.

Why? I mean, because he would have, the coach would have to be an idiot to all of a sudden decide, wow, my team has a chance to win. He should have known his team from the get-go, even in a shortened training camp. He's not an idiot. He didn't just wake up and have an epiphany, you know?

If he'd sounded like in that interview with J.P. If he changes his time-out philosophy, it's because it's become an issue. It's because it's become a story. It's because people are talking about. Oh, I disagree with that. I think he has already made it very clear that there is a stubbornness to him where, I mean, we've seen it two weeks in a row where he is convinced he's right and he's not going to give in to appease, as he said, it, the naysayers or the critics.

What if those critics are in the locker room? The players, I guarantee you, are having the same conversation that we are about the timeouts. They've been asked about the timeouts. I think it was Dwayne who said, I'm not the coach. I think he could be just as obstinate and bullheaded in that locker room and with coaches as he could be with the media. I disagree with you on that.

What I heard is somebody that was really, really dug in. Now, what would change that? I've got another theory on what could change that. Are you ready for this one? That not only did he wake up on Monday and watch the tape of the game, which revealed a defense for a third straight week that was actually pretty good despite the final score, that revealed a standings in the NFC East

where his team had lost two games in a row but was in first place, and it reminded him of the 2014 season. But that after watching Duane against Cleveland, essentially single-handedly cost them the game, he's gone from the long game, which, by the way, is all about, this is a theory, is mostly about the quarterback to,

I've made my decision on the quarterback. And we are going to, try to win games, and I'm going to give him another week or two to bounce back from this, but we're going to try to win games. And if he ends up being the problem in trying to win a game one or two more weeks, then we're going to make the change. So the whole mindset has gone from long game to, yes, we're in the midst of this long game culture change, but now we're going to try to win games. And when he calls the timeouts against Baltimore, he's going to say, look, You know, last week was one of those moments for me where, you know, I realized we've got a chance this year.

You know, I didn't expect it. I didn't expect a division. I hope he's smarter than that. I didn't expect a division to be where it is. You know, it's kind of like the guy with the light bulb over his head in the cartoon. And wow, we have a chance to win. I mean, all you had to see, when they beat Philly, that told you what you needed to know. pretty much. That first week of the NFL told you what you needed to know about the NFC East.

I mean, I just don't know. I mean, if he all of a sudden had any pivoting, he's not as smart as I thought he was. That said, you know, I think, you know, Sunday's just going to be an absolute train wreck. I just think it's going to be a beat down, a train wreck. It will be a loss of epic proportions. Right. What's the, what's the, uh, the, um, the Warner Brothers cartoon, uh, character, Elmer Fudd. Um, it's like there, there's the, the old light bulb that comes on above Elmer Fudd. Hmm. Wait a minute.

We could win this division. Time out. Time out. Time out. And he starts calling him in the first quarter because he's so excited. You know, that Chase Young managed to get hurt, even though Ron still had all his time out. The whole thing is infuriating. I mean, it's just, it's, there's, we've talked about it so much.

I don't want to talk about it anymore. Like, it's just, there's nothing that makes sense about anything that he did. So I think most people, by the way, real quickly, those that don't understand that, you're not invited to this conversation because you just don't know what we're talking about. anybody that says, no, no, no, no, you're going to question Rivera on this? Yeah, we all are. All of us that know just a little bit, know enough that, A, it was dumb to do. B, the explanation made no sense.

And for those of you trying to explain it yourselves, I've read some of them, and they're dumber than his explanation. Go ahead, Tom. I can guarantee you they're talking about this in the locker room after games among the players. They absolutely are. Let me put a theory to you here about Dwayne. Real quick. Yeah.

Do you think he misses Adrian Peterson? Now, I know they ran the ball pretty well at times. They had 105 yards rushing, I think, in the game. And Gibson shows flashes of brilliance. But Adrian Peterson is a security blanket kind of running back. He was for Alex Smith. And he was, you know, he was for Dwayne at times. last year. And he's averaging over, I think, almost five yards of carry. He's playing really well

in Detroit, yeah. Running the ball in Detroit. And do you think that not having him back there, it hurts Dwayne? No, because first of all, no, I don't. I actually think their backs have been very impressive. I thought he might. Not the same run, not the same kind of running game. It might, well, but they weren't going to go with that offense anyway. I, I, I, I don't look you now this is different you could make the argument that going back to something much more conservative a run first offense with Dwayne booting and play actioning and that worked at times last year and he was much more of a game managing kind of quarterback you could argue that with this defense it might be the perfect year for that kind of offense but that's not what Scott Turner is doing and I like what Scott Turner is doing I think he's actually really been impressive here. especially against Cleveland. I thought you were going to say when you brought up Adrian Peterson, does he miss Adrian Peterson?

Like as a guy that remember was tough on him, but then was a big public supporter of him last year. No, I don't put much stock in that. I mean on the field more. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I mean, that's crazy to say that they don't miss a guy, you know, Hall of Famer who's still playing well.

There's something else with Dwayne I want to bring up. So Dwayne held his Wednesday press conference yesterday, and it was a big one because it was off clearly the worst starting game of his career, one in which there was no debate that Dwayne cost them the game. Did you listen to it or read the transcript at all? I read the transcript. All right, I'm not going to sit here and bore you with all of it. I'm only going to say this because I want to get into something else. I actually thought he did very well. And I thought he did well, too.

I thought he's shown a maturity in handling things this year publicly that he didn't have last year. And I thought he handled it very well. Yeah, there are some things in there that some of you tweeted me about where he mentions he wants to be a Hall of Fame player. And he mentions, you know, it's about getting to the playoffs. And, you know, look, he is last year he came off as flippant, arrogant. if many of you thought, I thought he was nervous. He didn't say much this year. He's made a real conscious effort to be respectful to the media, to give answers, to answer, in some cases, give too much information in the answers, which I'm not going to be critical of. And I just

think, you know, when you get somebody in that spot, every once in a while he's going to say something, but I think in context, and I went and listened to it last night, I thought he was really, I think he's shown signs there of really progressing and maturing. This is what I wanted to get into. All of the discussion about Haskins really starting last week after the Arizona game, but really accelerating this week after four turnovers against Cleveland, regardless of whether or not you think he's the guy or not. And I would say right now, by the way, I mentioned this on the radio show this morning, I think if you were to pull the fan base, like a significant percentage of the fan base, is he the guy or isn't he the guy?

I think it's 60. He's not 40. He is. It might be 70, 30 now. it's not split. There is a lean, I think, among the fans that he's not the guy, which you might be right. I'm not, there's no way that I would say you're definitely wrong. I think it's very much up in the air. I'm not sure. I'm hopeful, and I see some things that I really like, but I'm definitely not sure. But this is why I'm bringing this up. Last year, it was such a dysfunctional situation that he was brought. into. And as part of the dysfunction, there were leaks coming out of the organization about Dwayne, real nasty shit about Dwayne last year. You know, and there were people with agendas in that organization. There were people in that organization that were really angry at what the owner did

on Draft Day 2019. And I think, you know, as a 21-year-old and a guy, a kid, a kid who had played one year at Ohio State, it was really the most dysfunctional situation he could have gotten it into. I don't think there's any doubt about that. One thing that I've noticed here, you know, in the first three weeks of the season, even going back to training camp, number one is this. The organization, much different in the way they are treating and talking about Dwayne publicly, and I give them all the credit in the world. Has Ron Rivera challenged his quarterback publicly? He did in the offseason. He did after the game on Sunday, even though he backed them. But they're not throwing them under the bus publicly. They're not talking badly about him.

Behind closed doors, it's their job to coach him up and make him accountable. And if he doesn't perform, then they move on to the next guy. But publicly, with young players like Dwayne, you can't do what this organization did to him last year. I thought it was a disgrace what was going on last year and said it at the time. You know what you have not gotten any of Tommy, none of it. Not one leak on Dwayne Haskins this year. Am I right about that? I may have missed one. Not one leak about him. And if he had had a four turnover game in one of his first starts last year, place would have been leaking like a sieve in that organization last November, October, whenever it was, he finally got the first. Look, the timing last year was different, Kevin. The notion that the owner

had forced this quarterback on the team was still very fresh in every one. one's mind. People have, I think a lot of people have gotten over that and say, well, whether the owner forced him or not, he's here kind of thing. Last year, it was still raw from, from the idea that the owner was forcing this quarterback on everybody. I think that that may have, that may play into it some way, shape, and form. But look, this organization, very tight-lipped about injuries. We had a player, and I can't remember who it was last week who said, if I say that, I'm going to get in trouble. It was about an injury situation. The veteran wide receiver. He told reporters this week, yeah, he told reporters who asked him a question about somebody, are you going to pay my

fine? Right. So yeah, they're very tough about that. So there's a discipline here and they, in an adult management group in the locker room coaches that is much different than what we've seen. I'm just pointing it out as an example of, you know, after four picks, After three picks and a fumble, we just have, now, somebody tweeted me and said, isn't it a big tell that his teammates haven't come out and publicly supported him this week? I think it's a bigger tell that there haven't been any leaks about him, personally. I think it's... I would agree. I would agree that it's definitely much more professionally run.

And but, but, and this is what Rivera is. it's talking about when he says there'll be a point where, you know, he'll have, Dwayne will have to produce. It's the point when, you know, the locker room recognizes it. It's the point where the players say, we're losing games because of this guy.

He's costing me money. Right. I know. And Rivera did say there is a cutoff point, and he said at some point, you know, those other guys will deserve better. And that's the most critical he's been of,

Dwayne, for the most part, when you hear the coaches talk about him, it is encouraging publicly. You know, the first thing he said after the game is, I've got his back. This is a process, and Dwayne's doing some good things. And today there was, you know, we'll see. I mean, it could completely crater and the next few weeks could be about, oh, my God, he just cost us another game. We had, it was 70, it was 10 to 9 in the fourth quarter against Baltimore, and we were already in field goal range. And Dwayne took a sack. and then through an interception. Who knows?

And then it could be all over. But I think that this is so much more professional. And I think if a change were to come, it will come without a lot of buildup and leaking. And, you know, national guys getting the story and talking about things and writing stories where you can clearly see that Jay Gruden or Bruce Allen had contributed to the story.

I don't think we're going to get that with this group. I hope I'm right. Unless Twain and the owner push back. Yeah, but then you'd get a, what? And then all of a sudden there's the fight between coaching staff and owner again? Yep. Okay. Well, you know, the last time they beat Baltimore at FedEx Field was the 2012 season.

And that was when RG3 got hurt. It was the game that really changed everything. They won that game, and then the following week was the Cleveland game, and that game is, you know, it's one of those games that, you know, would be completely forgotten if it had not been for RG3 out there two hours before game time running wind sprints and telling the owner he's ready to go. And then the owner going to the coaching staff saying, Griffin's going to play. He's ready to go. And Mike looking at Dan like he had four eyes and saying, no, he's not. The doctor said he's not playing. and he didn't practice this week.

Will you ever forget that unbelievable RG3 press conference after the Cleveland game? He didn't play the game. He didn't play the game. The owner came up to him after the game, not Cousins. Walked right by Kirk Cousins, went right up to RG3. I mean, this is the 2012 season and the 2013, leading into 2013 off season,

And there will be, when the 30 for 30 is done, that's going to be the best part. Just the best part. All of the stories that we've heard, and we've shared a bunch of them. But, you know, everybody remembers Griffin holding his own press conference after a game that he didn't play. And we should have known right then and there. This is not, this is weird. This is strange. Yeah.

But then, oh, man. But that, they won that game. You know what? They've won their last two against the Ravens. They beat the Ravens in 2016 in Baltimore. So the big rivalry between Baltimore and Washington has been owned by Washington recently. Owned by them. Crowder had that big punt return in that game a few years ago.

There were a couple of wacky plays in that game, if I recall. All right. Let me give you a score before we go. Okay. Well, I'm going to let you give me the prediction. We've got one more segment after this. I want you to give me the prediction, and then I want to talk about something that happened 45 years ago tonight,

which we will do to end the show. But before we do that, I want to tell you about my bookie, because, by the way, there is a Thursday night game tonight, Tommy. This has got to be one of the worst Thursday night games in history this early in the season. It's just... The only point of watching is to watch Adam Gaze's eyes roll around in his head as he coaches perhaps.

his last game. Yeah, well, Vic Fangio, you know, I don't know how many games he's got left either. Broncos and Jets tonight, two oh and three dreadful teams. Both teams decimated by injuries, too. My God, Denver's lost half of their team, basically. Brett Riffin's going to start tonight. Mark Rippin's nephew is going to get his first start. The Jets are one-point favorites. I don't know that they'll even be close to being favored again the rest of the year. But if you want to bet it, go to mybooky.ag. If you don't have a place or if you have a place, might as well get a second place. MyBooky.ag, I've actually been fooling around in their online casino recently.

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And that if you win, you're going to get paid. Right now, my bookie's got a $100,000 super contest for just a $10 entry. They're giving away $5,000 in cash prizes every $1,000. weeks. You'd be crazy not to invest in MyBooky.ag with those kinds of opportunities, but there's another one. If you sign up today at MyBooky and use my promo code, Kevin D.C., they will give you a 100% dollar-for-dollar matching of your deposit up to $1,000. So if you open your account with $500, they'll put another $500 into your account. You can do that up to $1,000. MyBooky.ag, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C.

All right, Tom, I do want to talk about what happened 45 years ago tonight, but give me your Ravens Washington prediction. Ravens 45, Washington 20. Wow. That's a lot of points against that defense. I think the most interesting matchup, and we'll do a Washington wins if tomorrow. and Cooley will be a part of that.

I think it's going to be really interesting to see this Baltimore attack against the Washington defense and the run defense in particular, which I think actually performed well, even though the numbers wouldn't necessarily say that they played well against the run Sunday. I think for the most part they did. I think it's going to be really tough to stop Baltimore. I think their better chance of a big upset is next week against the Rams. Although on some level, if defensively they can do. what Kansas City did, which is maybe hit him a little bit and slow him down, force them into third

and longs. That's where Baltimore struggles. You know, the AFC, I think I talked about this yesterday, or maybe with you on Tuesday, the AFC is more loaded than people think. This is not an absolute lock, you know, about the Ravens, you know, being the second best team. I think Tennessee and Pittsburgh and Buffalo are all excellent and clearly what Belichick is proving in New England. One other quick thing, because I don't think I mentioned this to you, maybe I did. If I did just cut it, me off. You know, NFL scoring through the first two weeks is up by 5.4 points per game. I saw that. So some people are attributing it to fewer penalties being called. I actually wouldn't attribute it to that. Actually, sometimes fewer penalties means a faster game and fewer

points. So those that are automatically chalking it up to the reduction in penalties. It's about two less penalties per game than in 2019. I was listening to Aaron Rogers on Mad Dog Radio on the Pat McAfee show the other day, which also has A.J. Hawk, former Rogers teammate in Green Bay. And Aaron Rogers, who's a weekly guest on that show, said that the biggest advantage for offenses through three weeks is no fans. He said, when you're on the road in places where they've played on the road, Minnesota and New Orleans where they won Sunday night,

it is a massive advantage not to have. Well, you saw him. You saw him on, if you watch Sunday night, I mean, his hard count and his work at the line of scrimmage. Right. I mean, he's moving the ball down the field just with that. Yeah, but he, like he made the point, he said, it helps with teams like us that use Cadence to try to draw and get free plays.

But he said, really what it's about is you come. to the line of scrimmage and you're not using hand signals. I mean, you're able to run your stuff and you're able to operate. And in those environments, it's very hard to operate on the road. And defenses, he said, are at a major advantage without fans. Boy, this game would be a lot better without fans in the stands, wouldn't it? It's been, the games have been great, but no, I would prefer to have fans. All right.

You want to talk about what happened 45 years ago tonight? Yeah, 45 years ago tonight was the Thriller in Manila, the third fight between Joe Fraser and Muhammad Ali. I think the first fight in 71 that Fraser won was a better fight. I think this was a more brutal fight. I mean, by 75, both of them, you know, were, had taken a beating over those last three or four years. and were not the same fighters, but when they fought each other, they found something in each other. And it was a fight that Fraser was winning probably through the 10th round. And if you've never watched The Thrilla and Manila, I'm sure it's, look, it's on YouTube, the whole fight.

Do yourself a favor and watch it. I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I've spent many hours with Eddie Futch, Joe Fulch. Fraser's training. Yeah, who threw in the towel between rounds 14 and 15. Much to Frazier's dismay. He did not want to stop. No, he didn't want to stop. And I, you know, I put on Facebook and Twitter, my lengthy conversation I had with Eddie Futch about that fight and how it changed between the 10th and the 14th round and what he was thinking when he stopped the fight, you know, for Fraser. Basically, he was thinking about saving his life because Fraser couldn't see any punches coming. He would have just been literally a punching bag. The ironic thing is there were people who worked for Fraser on the other side of the ring.

And, you know, in Ali's corner, they're Ali's corner. Right. Who said that Ali was ready to quit as well. And they tried to get Eddie Fudge's attention not to throw in the time. Calh. Now, Ali was going to quit, but they didn't do it in time. And then, you know, Fraser wound up losing on a technical knockout after 14 rounds. It is one of, I think, the most incredible fights to watch. And it's available on YouTube. And, you know, it's anywhere you want to get it.

It is, I think you called it right. Look, the March 1971 fight is the most anticipated. sporting event of the 20th century. I think that's well documented. The buildup for that fight, two undefeated champions, Ali fighting after three years of his prime against the guy that took his title in Madison Square Garden. People that have described it that were there say it's the most electrifying atmosphere they've ever been in in life, forget sporting events. And that was a great fight that Frazier won, knocked Ali down for the first time in his career in the 14th round. and he won the fight. The fight in Manila, like you said, they're four years older, and the heat,

right, Tommy? It was an unbelievable heat in Manila. And the brutality of that fight, just, there's a moment in that fight, and I've watched that fight 20 times, there's a moment in that fight where Ali looks dead on his feet. And I'm talking like the ninth round, 10th round. And And then what's amazing about Ali and one of the greatest, you know, attributes of this person's life was his resilience and his ability to battle back with a championship part. And then he had Frazier, you know, in major trouble. And this is the fight, if you've seen it, you know, where, you know, Ali hits Frazier and the mouthguard goes flying out at one point.

But I read the Thomas Hauser biography on Ali. It's one of my favorite books of all time. I mean, that thing came out, what, in the 90s, Tommy, probably. And that's the fight, and you just said it, where Ali, first of all, at one point in the fight, says, this is the closest to death I've ever been. And then at the end of the 14th round, a brutal round, Frazier can't see. And as you described, Eddie Futch threw in the towel and was not going to let Fraser go out there and get hit and maybe killed because he couldn't see where the punches were coming from anymore.

Ali said to Dundee, cut my gloves off, I'm done. Yeah. And Ali described it in the Hauser book, and I'm paraphrasing at this point. But he said, that fight basically I just got lucky because Frazier quit before I did. I was about to quit. Yeah, here's what Eddie told me about the end of the 10th round. At the quote, at the end of the 10th round, Ali was ready to come out. Angelo Dundee kept him in there.

Ali wanted to come out, but Angelo badgered him to stay in there. So he wanted to come out in the 10th round. Yeah, that's where that famous line, I think, is he said this is the closest. It's the closest to death I've ever been. And then in the 11th round, it was when Ali started coming on. I know. And when the swelling really started around Fraser's eyes. Yeah, I mean, nobody had a second wind like he did.

It really is, you just, look, I don't think you get this kind of stuff in sporting events. It just doesn't seem like it anymore. That is, that's the third of a trilogy that, you know, many people think that that's the greatest fight of all time, Tommy. There are a lot of people that will say that is the most dramatic and the greatest championship fight in the history of the heavyweight division. You think the first fight was better, right? Yeah, I think the third fight was more brutal. It was brutal. You know, one of the most brutal.

But I think you got the best of them in a way. Well, you never, you didn't get the best of allie. No, you did. Because he left, he left his best three years behind with the band that kept them from fighting. But, yeah, it's, I mean, you just, this is why, you know, it's hard for me to get interested in Tyson Fury and Deontay Wild. No, I understand. You know, I mean, it was a golden age. The 70s was the golden age of heavyweight boxing.

Yeah, it was. And then the 80s, I think, was the golden age of the middle divisions. Yes, yes, it was. But that fight, for those that haven't seen it, do yourself a favor. Sit down one night in front of your computer and dial up the thrill in Manila on YouTube. Because it is, you know, it was the third fight, the forgotten fight, the second fight, which was the rematch to the 71 fight that didn't come until, I think, two or three years later, Tommy, was also considered to be a great fight that Ali won in a 12-round decision because Foreman was the champion at that point.

Yeah, neither one was champion when they fought the second time. Right. And there's a lot of controversy about that fight because Ali, Ali did this a lot of his later fights, but he really did it in this fight. The rabbit punching and the holding behind the neck. You know, you watch that second fight, that's all he does. And the referee, Tony Perez, let him get away with it the entire fight. The entire fight.

Who was the referee in the thrill in Manila? It might have been... It might have been... It might have been a Filipino. It might have been a Filipino referee, I think. Okay. for whatever reason Steele's name was coming to mind

But he was more in the 80s He was more in the 80s, yeah Yeah And I was thinking Zach Clayton But it might have been a Filipino Unbelievable drama That fight incredible

I mean two men who were never Most people say this right Tommy Neither man was the same after that night Mentholed In terms of their their functioning their brain functioning. It was, they got beat to nearly death that night to each other. I mean, that's the thing about boxing.

It's the thing about sports in general. Like, there's nothing better when there's greatness, but there's simultaneous greatness. And you get those rivalries of great. And Frazier and Ali, there's just, I don't know. I mean, I would say in the annals of sports history, it's a top five rivalry of all time. It was a Filipino. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I think it's top. I think it's the greatest rivalry. Carlos Padilla. Padilla. But he was from the Philippines. Okay. Yeah. I can picture him right now. Yeah. And steel was black. So I should have remembered that. All right. Watch it people. If you've

never watched it before. It is definitely worth the hour of investment. And that's how long it took. All right, Tommy, 45 to 20. Yes. Oh, 45 to 20. Okay. A serious, a serious beat down, mostly generated from the defense inability to stop the Ravens offense. Very good. All right, everybody back tomorrow with Cooley.

We'll do a football Friday previewing Washington, Baltimore, and the other NFL games.