The Kevin Sheehan Show - FC Washington

Episode Date: July 9, 2020

Kevin and Thom did a short podcast to discuss Thom's news last night regarding FC Washington's ownership. Uniform colors, coffee spills, and D-Hall were a part of the show as well. 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.

We're going to do a special podcast today. Tommy's going to be joining me. He had a story last night that he broke. There's other news related to the Redskins and the Redskins name and Redskins ownership. So we will do a short podcast today. But before we get to that, quick word about Roman. If you were to guess on average how many days people in the U.S. have to wait to see a doctor, what would you say? A week maybe? Actually, on average, people have to wait around 29 days to see a doctor. in major U.S. cities, basically a month. If you're dealing with a condition like erectile dysfunction, you want treatment ASAP.

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two-day shipping. That's get-roman.com, promo code Sheehan, for a free online visit and free two-day shipping. You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. A special short podcast today. I'm on vacation. Tommy's working, but Tommy's with me by phone. Tommy had some news last night on Redskins ownership, which I'm going to let him get to here momentarily. There are also a couple of other stories here over the last couple of days since we did a podcast on Monday, and we'll get to some of those as well. Did we do a podcast on Monday or Tuesday? I can't even remember. It's Thursday.

We did it on Monday and Tuesday, I think. We did one on Tuesday. We can't even remember. Real quickly, I do have something for you because it's been it's been one of those mornings where everything's just been a bit off for me. I got up this morning. I went for a long walk slash, you know, partial run.

Ended up getting coffee and went to drink the coffee outside. The top was loose and the coffee spilled all over me. All right, that's the first thing that happened this morning. Then I was supposed to take my car in to get maintenance, you know, all that stuff, maintenance stuff. So I took that in and it was a complete cluster F from the start. I didn't have my insurance card, which meant I couldn't get a loaner, which is what I wanted

so I could come back and do the podcast while they were working on the car. That was the plan. The plan actually eventually worked out, but it was really hard because I had to contact. This is too long anyway. I'm just going to cut to the chase. So then they had a little coffee machine, and I poured myself a cup of coffee, put the top on it, and I swear to you, when I got into the loner car and went to take a sip of the coffee, the top was loose, and the coffee came spilling out all over me again.

I've been spilled by, I've spilled coffee on myself twice today. However, I want you to know something that people are, people look sad these days. Have you noticed that? Oh, Lucy, what are we going to do with you? Stop it, Ricky. What are we going to do with you, Lucy? And you want to be my latex sale. Exactly.

Oh, do I have a deal for you? Well, by the way, when I got back to the studio, I texted you and I said, I can't get into the studio. I don't have my key card and nobody's here. because I left the key card in my other car. Anyway, but what I... So here were the two highlights of what I wanted to open this short podcast with and tell you. Number one, I spilled coffee on myself twice today.

And number two, I noticed being around a lot of people this morning at the car, at the service department, at the car dealership, people just look sad. Everybody's got a mask on. everybody seems to be down. And you know what I did, even though I spilled coffee on myself earlier this morning, hadn't spilled for a second time. I just was going to be super nice to everybody. Like anybody that helped me, hey, thanks so much.

Great job. Really appreciate it. Not in a condescending way. Not in a sarcastic way at all. But in a real trying to build people up. You really underwent a dramatic personality team. That's not true. That would be a dramatic personality.

personality change for you. It isn't for me. I'm nice to everybody, but I decided to really focus on being nice this morning, because I looked around and it was crowded and there was sort of a waiting area and just, there's just a sadness and an anxiety, a combination of a sadness and an anxiety with people right now. You know, the wearing of the masks, I guess, covers up any potential happy face. You know, you really can't get that from just eyes, can you? I guess you can. But I think he can. It's pretty hard. Listen, you sure they just weren't sad because you were there? I don't think that was it. There's, I mean, you're there and everything, oh my God, there's a guy who can't drink a cup of coffee. Well, they, they, they probably, if they were looking, because I had not changed

since this morning, there were, there was coffee. I had a dark shirt on, but I had lighter shorts on. and there are coffee stains on my shorts. And, you know, the worst part of it is that I really haven't had enough coffee this morning because most of it got spilled. But I don't know, Tommy, there seems to be like a melancholy about people these days. Don't you, do you sense it or not? Well, listen, here's the contact I have with people. I know. You don't have enough.

When I go from my walk, you know, cross paths with people, we make sure we, everyone's very accommodating about distancing. You know, like if we're on the sidewalk, both of us, me and the other person, we usually walk onto the grass. And usually we'll give each other a nod or a wave, because I usually have headphones on. That's it. that's that's my interaction with human race i know you really have been um well is it how do you feel about it you know i'm sure you're following some of this you know the the um the mental anxiety depression you know suicides all those numbers are up here in the last there's there i mean there's obviously awareness because think about this we've gone through march april may june

we're almost the middle of July. We're almost on five months, okay? August, September, October, November. We could have another five months to go before we get any indication that this thing could change. So in other words, we could face a situation where it will be cold and it'll be bad weather. Oh, and getting dark early and, I mean, oh, Tommy.

That's depressing automatically. Oh, my God, because, you know, when you think, about it, we had daylight savings time within a week or two weeks after the whole thing started. Right. So I just think that, you know, if you add up what we've done, we might not even be halfway there. Yeah. It's, um, yeah, okay, that's fine. I, whatever, I don't want to depress everybody.

I just know, this morning, I think because I, because I, I, was at other than a supermarket or food places. I don't know that I've been to a lot of other places with with a lot of people. I mean, I mean, nobody's been in here, really. I mean, I've played golf. There have been people out there, but on the golf course, nobody's wearing masks and everybody's happy, except for the people who aren't playing well, which is most of us. Um, but, uh, anyway, whatever. You're going to make my day better. starting right now. I really feel it. So tell everybody that missed it the story that you broke last night. Well, I had a column in yesterday's paper, The Washington Times, based on information

I had learned a day before, that A, Snyder was not going to be forced to sell the team. And according to my information, that he wasn't intending to sell the team. and as a result of that, a source of mine called me yesterday, very good source, and said, you know, but I raised in the column, I raised the question of something strange is happening. Something very unusual. I mean, all that said, something unusual is going on with the partners and Snyder. I mean, there's a lot of things that don't quite make sense. You also ended the column with Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, which still doesn't make sense.

But my source said, well, what's going on is that Fred Smith led an effort to try to buy to Strong Arm Snyder to try to buy him out. And they were unsuccessful. Snyder wouldn't sell. That's what's going on now. So now they're looking to get out. So that's what I, and it was a very, it's a very good source who I trust, who's never been wrong.

So I posted it on Twitter last night. He didn't give me a timeline as to when that happened. I don't think it happened in the last couple of weeks. But however long this thing has been going on, it did start with Fred Smith trying to buy Snyder out and Snyder refusing to sell. That's a big story. And I'm glad I'm glad you you had it. I I definitely think that something's going on, you know. You know, I've talked to a bunch of people too over the last week, really.

And it's funny, in recent days, there's been a lot of conflicting information from various people. That's when I always try to just, you know, lean in one direction without saying anything definitively, because I'm not sure I know anything definitively. The only thing I think I know now is if Fred Smith at one time was interested in putting together a group or leading a group to buy Snyder out, I don't think he is now. I'm not disputing that that may have been the case a year ago or further back than then. But I don't think he's interested now. I think they like where they are. I think he is dedicated to his company, FedEx, from what I've been told, and that being an NFL owner,

if he were going to be an NFL owner, he would probably prefer to have been an owner in Tennessee rather than in Washington. But I think that, you know, what you have in terms of at one, at some point that that happened is definitely in play. I think that Snyder, if you asked me to wager right now whether or not Snyder is interested in selling the team, I would lean in the direction of, I think he is interested in selling the team. I don't know that for a fact. I've heard so many conflicting things. He and his wife have been over on his yacht in the south of France for a while now. You know, remember, they're both cancer survivors, and they're both, you know, people that are vulnerable to COVID-19.

They have underlying, you know, health issues. And I think that they've been over there for some time, and I think they're comfortable being over there right now. And, you know, it's what I said to you, Tommy, like, a week ago Friday, or maybe last Friday, I can't remember at this point, when I just said to you, how much fun could he possibly have owning this team right now? How much fun is the family having owning this team right now? Because that's probably, that may factor into some sort of decision as well. You know, they are, as we've pointed out many times, they are not very popular in the town in which they live. They are really as despised, not her. In fact, you know, anytime I've ever heard anything

about Tanya Snyder, it's always first-class, first-rate, great person. And the kids, you know, I've told you this before. I've had coaches and teachers from various schools that I've run into, you know, without any solicitation whatsoever, rave about how quality their kids are. So this is not a personal thing. The despising has to do with the owner, Dan Snyder, and the job that he's done owning this team for the last 20 years in driving it into the ground, something that was so beloved in this city for so long. And I do think that, you know, if you, I know that there's probably a sense that, oh, he'll never sell, and he's only in his mid-50s, and, you know, he's competitive or he's delusional or whatever.

I just think that it's probably owning this team, especially in the last few years, is probably taking a toll on them. It may have. Look, my information tells me that he has no intention of telling the team. Could be wrong. It could have been right that day, and it could wind up being wrong.

But that's what I've been told. And if you go back, and you mentioned this, he is in his mid-50s. 55. I went back and looked at all the sales of NFL franchises this century, and they're either when someone died or when an owner was in their 70s. Or got in trouble. Right, or got in trouble in Jerry Richardson's case. The only one that's similar, Randy Lerner sold to Browns when he was 51, but he was

never enamored. He inherited them. from his father, like 10 years earlier. It's not like Randy Lerner bought the Brown. You know, and he never really was in it. So, I mean, except for Randy Lerner, there's no owner in this century that has sold the team as young as Snyder is at this point. And again, telling it now when you're on the verge of in the next year or two, new TV contracts, that's only going to up the value of your franchise, I don't think he's going to sell before then.

So I just don't think he's going to sell. And I think, look, you and I know Redskins fans who are excited about Ron Rivera, who believe this may be a chance to change. Well, if Redskins fans think that, Snyder thinks that as well. Yeah. I don't know, you know, I'm making it. this really clear because sometimes people after this podcast in particular and the radio show will say, oh, you know, Sheehan said this as if it's a report. I've told you guys before and Tommy

knows this. If I'm saying something as this is actually out of my realm of what I usually do, but I have it on basically 99.9% confirmed. I've done that several times in the past. That's not what I'm doing today. I've had multiple conversations. I can't tell you with people who are, you know, people I've relied on before who are, you know, in the know or have been in the know. And it's all conflicting. So this is my opinion based on what Tommy has and based on other conversations. I think Tommy's probably right that, you know, a while back, not recently with Fred Smith, but a while back perhaps,

there was an effort or discussion about buying Snyder out when, you know, long before, you know, another terrible season and everything that happened, you know, during this season and then after the season. But I do think the one part of it is you may be right in terms of when you learned about it. I think I would wager on if I had to, and I'd get some good odds on this too. So, you know, I'd probably get five to one odds minimum, if not 10 to one. I would wager on him being in a state right now of thinking about selling the team. Now, you know, he is very, as anybody who's ever dealt with him, he is, he changes his mind with the wind. I mean, this is not somebody who, you know, is always steadfast with, hey, this is how I feel, let's go with it. It can change tomorrow.

That's not an excuse for not having a strong lean right now, but it's just true. Anybody that's ever worked closely with him has said the same thing about him. But I think that there are two factors. One, it's gotten old and the feeling family-wise of this being incredibly stressful being is not very well-liked. Not to mention that I don't think he's super well-liked. in league circles, as we've talked about. And then I think there's a financial situation here, too. Look, I mean, all things are relative.

But when people say he's got most of his net worth tied up in his team, understand that that's not liquid wealth. You know, when you see the $3.4 billion valuation in Forbes for the team, that's only if he sells it. Now, the NFL allows you, from what I've understood, to borrow up to 10% of your valuation or whatever the team. is valued at. I think the Redskins, quite honestly, right now, could get close to $4 billion in a sale. He owns 60% of that, so that would be $2.4 billion, or he and his family do. But I think it's

a combination of he's not as liquid as he once was, perhaps. The team, by the way, this is something that came out, I think after our last podcast. The Redskins over the last five years have had the slowest growth by far of any NFL team in the league. And that's obvious, right? The live attendance, the corporate sponsors, you know, the corporate suites, like all of the revenue that they get to keep has shrunk. It's eroded significantly. And what the league isn't happy about in addition to all of that is you've got a big market. You got the number six market in the country and the television ratings for its NFL team are in the dumper, basically. And they have been for a couple of years. So all of that sort of come together.

If I were forced to bet today, I'd want really good odds, but I would bet that there's an attempt by him to sell the team, but I don't know anything. That's just really intuition and maybe leaning with one of the people that I've talked to. Others have completely disputed that and backed up your assertion that he'll never sell, that he's not interested in. Yeah, I don't think he is. And again, even if he was, why would you sell when you're on the verge of a whole new set of TV contract that's only going to raise the value of all the franchises significantly? You can sell on, you know, based on what that's going to bring to the league.

I mean, that'll be factored into the prices that somebody's going to be buying this team. you could be underselling yourself. You could be. You know? Yeah. I think you have to see that true. Yeah. Look, I mean, the case has been made to me that, you know, it's been so bad and he didn't really realize how bad it was until very recently. You know, I think, I'll tell you what was really a game changer for him in terms of understanding,

because he's really been detached in so many ways. is showing up at that stadium the last couple of years and seeing nobody there. That's a jarring sight when you have been used to showing up at your stadium with your box full and you've got, you know, you've got fans in the stands, and instead, they've been showing up for the last two years with hardly anybody there. I mean, it's unbelievable. Oh, I know. I've been there. And then the local television ratings and the big sponsors that are dropping. And clearly, you know, the whole name change thing, we've already talked about this, I am absolutely convinced that we are not here having these conversations today without what happened in Minneapolis on Memorial Day weekend.

You know, the name change, some of you may say, well, it was eventually going to happen. Okay. Well, in the moment prior to Minneapolis, the Redskins were off of a couple of years of nothing but positive news for them. as it related to this, the post poll, the Supreme Court decision, the other poll that Native Americans identified, proud is the word that most comes to mind when they hear Redskins. So you had all of that going for you, and you would agree, right, that the issue was as quiet

as it's been in a long time over the last year, two years. No, the post-poles drove a stake through it. Yeah, Supreme Court decision, a second stake through it. Yes. So. Absolutely. But, you know, it's funny after our show on Monday, both radio and podcast, I had a, there was a lot of, a lot of feedback. I was reading through it on Wednesday night.

What's today, Thursday night? Is today Thursday night? Tuesday night, I was reading through it two nights ago. And I am not, I don't know that I'm surprised, but Tommy, I'm telling you, and this is obviously not scientific. But I would say more than 50% of the responses were anger, you know, and sadness about the name going away. A lot of people... Now, we, you know, I appeal definitely more to a Redskins crowd. So it's a hardcore, diehard Redskins fan base that is listened to our show together, podcast, radio, all the shows at the station over the years.

So, you know, I'm getting feedback from a lot of people that have been diehards. And in some cases, older diehards, you know, so it's harder. But, boy, people do not like that this has been forced without having a real dialogue and a real conversation and real, you know, data used in making the decision. But that ship is sailed. The name's changing, period. and a lot of other things here over the last six weeks have gotten swept up, and more things are going to get swept up, and some of the things that get swept up are going to be good that they're swept up,

and others are going to be rather curious that they got swept up. In this particular case, though, like I said, my passion for it has been reduced over the years to mild at best, mild passion. Now the anger that you hear, let's face it, is from a smaller group than what you would have heard from 10 years ago. That's true. That is true.

It would have been 90%. Yeah. Yeah. And the whole group of passion one way or the other had Trump. Yeah. So, you know? Yes. And, you know, like I wrote, my column, I think that Redskins fans, if they knew that Snyder was gone,

you could call the team the Dallas Cowboys for all they care. I don't know. The Cowboys might lose their name. Cowboys were vicious towards Indians. No, you're right. You could call them anything. Every single person right now would take that trade. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Anyway, so a couple of things have come out here in the last couple of days since we last did a podcast. Number one is that the color scheme of burgundy and gold, apparently according to reports, right? I think John Kime had this, Tommy. You've been maybe following this more closely than I have, but I think Kime had that the color scheme is going to stay the same,

and I think Schaefter had that the Redskins are going to be moving away from Native American imagery with the name. Well, I think we both agreed on that. They need to get out of the Indian icon business. Yeah, I need to stop that. I totally agree. I can tell you that one of the things that I feel confident about is that the owner and the people that were a part of all of those reservation visits

for several years, that they feel a responsibility not to leave that, you know, not, not, not to continue to honor them as they feel they have been doing. Kevin, did you see the USA Today story about donations from the foundation? I did. That they set up. Yeah, I did. In the last year, zero.

Yeah. Well, I mean, they've already distanced themselves. Well, they had spent six and a half to seven million dollars. I know. And it was like a, you know, a multi-year campaign. And I think they just had, they had done what they accomplished, what they set out to do. Why do you think it's, I read that. And I, it doesn't look good, but they had a multi-year plan.

I don't even know if they had a multi-year plan. They had this thing together for several years. They probably visited well over 100 reservations and donated an S-load of money, amount of money and goods and services to a lot of Indians throughout the country. I think that based on what I read and what I had heard is, somewhere between six and ten million bucks. I'm just saying that I don't think the connection anymore

is that strong or going to compel them to feel obligated to do anything. Okay, that's fair. That's what I meant. And keep in mind, another reason why maybe some of that funding dried up for this is because the team ain't making as much money as it used to. Oh, fair not.

Not even close. Yeah, Kime had the source that said Washington plans to keep its colors burgundy and gold. I'm certainly in favor of that, I think. You know, it's an opportunity to make the move to maroon and black. It's right there. And get Jim Zornbeck. And then Schaefter reported that Washington will discontinue its use of Native American imagery.

So as it relates to imagery, is warriors in a Native American name or is it a military name? I think it's a little bit of both. I think I've read some opposition to warriors. I think Snyder, you know, I talk to some people and say, well, won't he want to do something D.C. related? And I said, well, for one thing, he hasn't done anything D.C. related. He's not going to do it now. The other thing is, to Snyder, military and defense are D.C. Right.

that's the most important group to him. Yeah, no doubt. A military defense structure. No doubt. A lot of the revenue generated over the years have been defense-related businesses in this city. Yeah, so I wouldn't be surprised if the name,

if it's not Warriors, has something to do with military defense connection in some way, shape, or form. I know, and I feel confident in saying, that that is the name if they were ever going to change it that he would have preferred. You remember this is going to be a very extensive, deliberate process of going about figuring out what the new name should be. Should take two years to come up with it. From everything that's been reported, it appears as if basically it's him and him. Maybe a little bit of old Ron.

In Ron's opinion, mixed in with it as well. And it's probably going to happen before the start of the season. Yeah. I mean, it's hard. You know, think about logistically what you have to do to swap out one brand with another within a few months or within a few weeks. You know, it's not easy because it's everywhere. You know, it's in the stadium.

It's in your place. It's in all of your marketing materials. It's everywhere. The NFL has it everywhere. Amazon isn't going to have it anywhere anymore. They're taking down all their merchandise with Redskins on it. But apparently, now, I think Golfeet mentioned this this morning. They still, what's the old Indians logo?

Chief Wahoo? Yeah, I think they still sell Chief Wahoo stuff on Amazon. So they haven't taken that down. But it's about getting after the Redskins right now. This is front and center. And, you know, that Amazon owner, if the current owner ever does sell, that's the leader in the clubhouse in terms of buyer. Because he could write a $4 billion check and not even sneeze. Anyway, I'm still hearing that Snyder has won it all along Warriors, but I'm sure a lot more thought is going in.

to this, and I'm sure the league might have some say in this as well. I'll be honest. I don't care. Warrior sounds fine to me. Red Tail sounds fine. Red Hawks. I think they need to have the least complicated name that they think that they can market. You know, I don't know what that is. I don't either. Some people think it should be Washington FC, Washington Football Club. You know what? That's what they should do in the short term until they come up with it.

name. That could be the holding name. Yeah. Seriously, FC Washington, like a soccer team. It would be unique. No other NFL team would have it. I think, you know what? Has somebody suggested that for real? I've read it a lot on social media. I think, I actually think that's a really smart thing. Don't rush into this. Don't be impulsive. You know, you've got time. You swap everything out and just call it Washington FC right now. Tell everybody to call it FC Washington or Washington FC. By the way, the FC for those non-socker people out there, football club. Washington FC and put that out there and say, we're going to take our time on the name. We're not going to be rushed into this. We're going to do this right.

And we'll, in the process of, you know, calling us Washington FC, you can, you know, we'll be taking down all of the Redskins-related stuff. You know, by the way, it would be two different marketing. opportunities, the interim, all the Washington FC stuff that they could sell, and then the new name when they get to it before the 2021 season. Yes, it would. Two different opportunities, two different names. Now, the name, if you were going to try to sell the team, wouldn't you wait until you sold it

and let the new owner change? And I mean, if you're out there bidding for this team and they just take it. the name like six months earlier. Yes. Yes, I would. I would. I would be happy if you were, if you were a bitter. I would consider that to be a more attractive offer for the new owner to get to, to brand it, to create the brand around it. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, I mean, with it, it's like, that's like, I can't think of anything to compare it to, but I'm just think if I was a buyer and they had just changed the name six months before, it wouldn't be as a track. I'd say, why should you do that? Why didn't you just wait? I would have paid you more if you'd

let me name the team. I like FC Washington or Washington FC. By the way, during that process, everybody will refer to them as the skins anyway. You know, if people are uncomfortable, first of all, trust me right now, the name change will prompt a lot of Redskins fans who have not been to games in years or only a couple to show up whenever the crowds can come back. I mean, there's not going to be any crowds in 2020, more likely than not. But when you can come back, if the issue is still, you know, the issue is going to be changed at a time where fans cannot voice their approval or disapproval at a stadium. Yeah, I mean, it's not like you're going to have 30,000 people singing hail to the reds.

Right. But you know, Tommy, if we didn't have the pandemic going, there would be a lot of people that would show up in everything that they own that says Redskins on it. And they would be singing Hail to the Redskins down 34 to nothing to make a point. I think it's going to be hard for a lot of people. I mean, look, we still call them, it's San Diego Chargers. You know, the L.A. Some people still St. Louis Rams, but you and I are old enough to remember that they were in L.A. before they went to St. Louis. people are going to refer to them as the Redskins or the Skins for sure.

I think I've probably used skins in my description of my favorite football team more times than Redskins over a lifetime. It's always skins. I've always used Redskins. So skins, it's because you're very formal. But a lot of people have always referred to them as the skins. So if it's FC Washington, you know, in conversations, what the skins do today? They beat the Giants 1710, or they probably lost to the Giants 1710.

And they probably needed that game to get in a playoff. Yeah, right. Some people believe that. Maybe it'll happen. Maybe this is the karma they've had to do away with for 20 years, Tommy. Maybe this is the turning point. I do understand, though, and I didn't make this point further. Some of the correspondence that I got from people who were angry, they just said, look, I just can't right now.

And there was one, God, I wish I had it in front of me. There was one tweet who said, if this is the right thing and it's no longer going to be this offensive, you know, draining thing for a culture, then I'm happy about it. But it's going to be really hard for me to really identify with this team as my team. you know, it's going to be really hard. I can't see it. And I understand that, you know, I was thinking back, and I don't think I had mentioned this before, to you anyway, when the bullets changed their name, keep in mind they weren't very good at the time. Now, they had that season with Joanne Howard and Chris Weber and Rod Strickland and, you know, that series against Chicago where Michael Jordan was talking like the bullets were going to be a big deal. And then they changed the name a couple of

years later, and they weren't very good. I think the feeling if they were really good right now and coming off a Super Bowl or they were one of the winning organizations in the league, I think that reaction that you said you would have had 10 years ago might still exist. But I remember, I remember, you know, being such a massive Bullets fan. And I do remember it took me a while to sort of view it as the same team and the same franchise that I had this real passion for. And really the thing that brought me back were the Gilbert Arenais, Antoine Jameson, Corman, Butler teams, or even that first team with Gil and Larry Hughes before Coran when they beat Chicago in six games, you know, that famous Game 5, Gilbert

arena shot in Chicago to win game five in a two-two series. They came back, clenched, and then they lost to the heat in the next round. But it took until that year. I mean, that's, what, eight years, seven, eight years until I was really back on board. I really, I hadn't thought about it until a couple of people, you know, mentioned what, you know, how they felt about the bullets and the bullets don't even pale in comparison to the way they think about the Redskins. and I do remember feeling less attached.

You know, it's that consumer emotional attachment and detachment that I've talked about. And I do remember that. I do remember feeling a little bit more detached emotionally from that team, but they also sucked for several years. So it was easy to detach. And this is where branding and marketing, you know, they'll tell you that if you're going to change a significant portion of your brand, You know, just say out of the blue.

This is a different than out of the blue situation here. But you better win quickly with the new brand. Like it better be a really good over-the-top product pretty quickly. Or you really can distance yourself from those people who are attached. All of that is intuitive. But more than that, that's marketing and branding to anybody that's ever spent any time in it. But whatever. They don't have a choice.

This is what's happening. It's happening and whatever. What else did we have for the show? Oh, did you see the DeAngelo Hall stuff? Yeah. How can you flame them? Is he right? DeAngelo Hall.

Where did he say this, Tommy? I don't know. DeAngelo Hall signed a six-year, $54 million contract with the Redskins in 2009. In 2020, days ago, he said the following. He said that he made a big mistake, that he should have signed with the Patriots. It would have changed his legacy. Quote, when I signed to play half of the season with Washington in 2008, remember he was with the Raiders, and there were all sorts of problems with the Raiders,

there was a line in my contract that said the team could not franchise tag me that next season. I remember negotiations for a new deal with Washington weren't going well. and there were other teams in the picture, including New England. At that time, players didn't take short-term deals, but Randy Moss had just signed a three-year, $27 million deal with the Patriots. I couldn't believe it. He said in my own discussions with the Patriots, I recall Bill Belichick telling me they couldn't give me the contract Moss signed.

Being a young and greedy knucklehead, I chose to stay in Washington on a long-term deal, which ultimately had me making the same, per year salary as Moss. Over a few million dollars, he said, I could have changed my legacy by being a part of that dynasty. That was on the table for me, and I wish I would have made the decision to take less money and play for Belichick.

Boy, that's going to warm the hearts of Redskins fans, isn't it? Well, who could, I mean, did he have to say it? No, but of course I would be shocked if he didn't think that. I'm sure a lot of players had chances to sign with the Patriots and chose money over the Patriots and signing with the Patriots could have changed their legacy completely. Of course. I mean, that's a no-brainer. And you know what?

They would have loved D. Hall. The D-Hall that we ended up getting, you know, from about 2011, 2012 on, they would have loved that D-Hall. Oh, yeah. He was a player and he turned out to be. really, it was an incredible transformation from the perceived knucklehead. He said he was a knucklehead for not taking the money, but he was perceived as a knucklehead for a lot of other reasons as well, to, I'm telling you, a really tough competitor, a really good player.

I'm not going to say an elite player, but certainly a good player, and a guy that turned out to be a real leader and a real mature guy, right? Yes, yeah, absolutely. You know, I remember hearing through the grapevine years ago that it was a conversation he had with Emmett Thomas, the great defensive back from the 60s who's in the Hall of Fame, who was a defensive back coach with the Redskins for Gibbs for a while, and I think he was with DeAngelo Hall, maybe in Atlanta or something like that,

but De Ansela Hall considered him a mentor, and Emmett Smith told him at one point in his career, say, hey, you know, time's going to run away quick, and your career is going to be over before you know it. This is how you're going to be defined as this malcontent kind of guy. So I've always been told that there was a conversation with Emmett Thomas. Wow, I never heard that story. On him, yeah. You know, we both had conversations with Dee Hall over the years. most of mine have been with him on the air, but I've talked to him occasionally off the air.

He really, he's innately bright. He's, like, there's something about him. Like, I felt the same way about Josh Norman. Josh Norman had a charisma, but DeAngelo Hall is much more down to earth and, I think, more normal. And remarkably, when you see him in person, you have tremendous respect for him as a football player. because of the courage it must have taken to be that small to play that game. Well, I mean, the one that always from a size standpoint just blew me away during those days, Santana Moss was so tiny and looked like he was in eighth grade.

You know, and you're like, that's Santana, like, if fans saw Santana Moss getting out of his car and walking into the park, you know, out in Nashville and walking into the building, they would think like a ninth grader or a 10th grader just showed up to bring something to his dad at the office. I mean, Santana Moss had the baby face, but had the build of really, he was tiny and he was so good. Santana Moss really was a good player, really good player for this franchise. I guess because he was a defensive player, D. Hall was more impressive to me. A tremendous athlete, an absolutely tremendous athlete. an absolutely tremendous athlete. Great athlete. All right. Was there anything else that we should get to?

I don't know. If we talked about this on the podcast, I just wanted to touch on it. In the column I wrote for Wednesday's Times talking about the stadium in D.C., I quoted a pretty plugged-in D.C. official who said one of the many problems that Snyder had is, is he had zero relationships in Washington. He's made no effort to build any kind of political capital. He has no connections there. Zero. None, I was told. You know, he basically, I wrote that he's a walking gated community who shuts everybody out.

Tom, he's been a recluse for years. I know, but in order to get a stadium deal done at the very minimum, That's why Bruce was here. Yes, that Bruce and Jack Evans had the relationship, and now they're both gone. You know, so, I mean, that's just one of the obstacle for a stadium. And I also was told that a new owner does change the equation in the district. Sure, I would imagine it would.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Short today, wanted certainly with Tommy's news. to get that on and for us to discuss it. Doubtful, we'll have a podcast tomorrow or Monday. I'm off Monday, definitely off Monday, and I'll be back on Tuesday with Tommy for the next podcast. We've had some good ones recently. Appreciate the feedback from everybody. You can go listen to those. I think our podcast on Monday was really Friday and Monday as all of the news related to the Redskins came out.

If you haven't listened to those, some of that stuff is. dated at all. And you can go back and listen to those as well. But I appreciate you checking in with us. And right now, the plan is to be back on Tuesday. So stay safe. Stay healthy. Tommy, I'll talk to you then. Okay, boss. I'll talk to you.