The Kevin Sheehan Show - Fear Or Love This Podcast?

Episode Date: June 2, 2022

Kevin and Thom today talk Matthew McConaughey, Two For The Money, Steph Curry's chance for an elevated legacy, Commanders & Congress, the NBA Finals, and more.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here and I am here and I just sneezed about 12 consecutive times right before we started to record. And Tommy's been waiting for me to come up for air and I am ready to go. And I'm going to start the show by reading this very nice review from one of our last.

listeners. We get these reviews in on Apple. If you're listening to us on any format that allows you to rate and review the podcast, please do it. It's a big help to us when you do it, especially on Apple, five stars and a quick one to two sentence review is a big help. This is from Jay Gruden via Apple Podcast. I don't believe that that's John or Jay. And this is just the first initial Jay Gruden, but this is clearly this person's handle. Two Queens at Casino Night is what this is titled. And I'm reading this because I want you to weigh in on it to see if you know what this references, because I don't. Quote, would you rather fear this podcast or love this podcast? Easy. Both. You want to be afraid of how much

you love this podcast. Closed quote. That was Matthew McConaughey at the D.C. Sports Podcast Association Award dinner. The quote rings familiar a little bit, but what's it from specifically? I'd rather be feared than love. Yeah. That's from, I think it's from a Bronx tale. Yeah.

When Sunny is telling the kid. about, you know, more important to be feared and loved. Well, why is he using Matthew McConaughey? I don't know. Look, it's not a novel concept. I'm sure it's been used in other movies as well. That's just the one that comes to mind. You know, it may come from a godfather thing for all I know. I mean, it sounds godfatherish in a way, doesn't it?

Yeah, it sounds like it should have come from some sort of mob movie, for sure. Yes. Yeah. You know, it could have come from, you know, the show that I watched year one of that everybody loved that I thought was really good, too. And I'm blanking on the name. McConaughey was in it. Oh, oh, true detective. Yeah, true detective.

Oh, my God. Is it possible that it came from true detective? I don't think so. I don't think it did. My God, I can't, I've watched that three different times that season one. I mean, that is really, as I say in the business, they toured the fourth. I watched season one. I loved it.

I never, ever watched season two or season three. You know, season one, Woody Harrelson was brilliant in season one. Yeah, it was great. Season two was just the opposite. Couldn't be worse. Who was in season two? I don't remember who was in season two. Vince Vaughn was in season two.

Treat Williams was in season two. It was terrible. Oh, that was Colin Farrell. Colin Farrell was season two. Yeah. And then was there another season? So what's not Treat, William. Yeah, season three was okay.

Okay. But again, I mean, they should have stopped at season one. They're going to have a season four, apparently. But season one, you can't replicate that. It's just amazing. Brilliant television. Yeah. Look, you know, Matt.

I don't want to get bogged. I don't want to get bogged. down in this, but I want to mention it. I don't know if anyone out there has seen it. There's a series that was on YouTube TV, and now it's on Amazon Prime. I think it came out two, three years ago. One season called Wayne. No. Not familiar with it's about. Oh, my God. Oh, this is like a 16-year-old dirty Harry teenage kid out there who with his girlfriend

is on a road trip on a dirt bike to Florida and it's just unbelievable it's it's I can't explain to you how much fun it is to watch what made you think of this true detective because you mentioned yeah you mentioned one season

you know there's a of the first we talked about the one season of true detective how good it was there is only one season of Wayne. It's not like anything you've ever seen before on TV. It's really good. Do you like McConaughey? Yeah, I do. I like McConaughey. I like him a lot. Most movies I've seen him in. I liked him in contact. I loved him in The Wolf of Wall Street. He did a great movie called Mud. That doesn't get a whole lot of attention. Mud was excellent. That's the movie where he's kind of

out there and there are these kids and there's a boat and all this stuff going on down in the bayou, right? Yeah. Yeah. I like him and almost everything he's done. Yeah. And we highly recommend mud to anyone. You know, he played, I don't know if this was his big first, his first big role or not.

But one of the Grisham novels that turned into a film, and this one was, I think, called A Time to Kill. I didn't read the book. And this would have been after the firm and after Pelican Brief. But this was the one that he was in with Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock, where he's playing the white southern attorney that was trying to put away the people that had raped Samuel L. Jackson's daughter. Did you ever see that movie? I've never seen that.

I've heard of it, but I've never seen it. I think that may have been one of his first movies. I'm pulling up his... His film... His big movie... His first movie that made him a big... that made him well-known was dazed and confused. Oh, got it.

That's where the all right, all right, all right, all right. Right, right, right. You know, that's what really kicked him off. By the way, the Lincoln lawyer? Another great McConaughey movie. Yeah, that was okay. the movie where he plays the Marshall football coach, We Are Marshall.

He was pretty good in. I like that movie. You love Tropic Thunder. You've already talked about Tropic Thunder this week. I have not seen, to this day, Dallas Buyers Club, which apparently was so good, and he was so good in it. Neither have I. I didn't see that movie.

I haven't watched it either. Oh, I forgot about this. You know what movie? movie he was in, he was in Two for the Money. Do you know what Two for the Money is about? The Al Pacino with Al Pacino. Yes. About the gambler, what's his name, Brendan or Brandon? Brandon, yes. What's his last name? You know. Brandon Lang. I don't know. Brandon Lang. I don't know why you don't know. He was on our

show for one football season. Actually, that's not true. He was on with Doc and I, or just me, one football season. It was before you and I started to do it. I'm going to tell this story. I love when you correct yourself like that. Well, you know, not everything I did was with you, but it feels like everything I've done was with you. But I think I have told this story before, but I'm going to tell it again. And Brandon Lang was basically what we like to call as gamblers.

a tout. He sold his picks, you know, and he created a business around, hey, I've got the five-star, you know, AFC North Lock of the Month, you know, go to Brandon Lang.com, or in the old days, it was get to Western Union, Kevin, and get me $150. And I'll give you this pick. And, you know, anybody that's ever gambled, especially those that started gambling years and years ago, always these tout services that for whatever reason when you're young and very naive, you think these guys know something. And so, you know, you end up paying for picks until you realize they don't know anything more than you know. So those are, you know, those are the early lessons of gambling. You know, it's like, it's like the guy that gets stuck at the strip club

running his credit card to the max thinking that she's going to go home with. them. You know, that's a rookie mistake, clearly. Do you remember that friend of ours that we couldn't find for a couple of days in Vegas? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He maxed, he didn't max out one credit card. He maxed out two credit cards. But anyway, Brandon Lang created and really became one of the biggest touts out there. And I'm going to be a little. going to be a little bit off on this, I am sure. But where he made his name was he had a stretch of hitting on like 25 consecutive Monday night football games over like a one and a half year period. You know, the picks he gave out and he was selling on Monday night were hitting 25 of them

in a row or something like that. It was some ungodly number in a row. And all of the sudden, he had a business. And I don't know if that's what really launched the business, but that's what really made him into kind of one of these handicapping tout stars, you know, back in the 90s and in the early 2000s. Anyway, I'll try to speed this up. Early on in the pandemic, we were playing golf one day at the place that I play golf, which was open and a lot of places were not opened. And the caddy business, Tommy, is really an interesting business. Caddies at certain places, they all know each other. They all know each other, like New York guys and D.C. guys and Boston guys on the East Coast

at certain places where they catty. It's like kind of this inside world of everybody kind of knows everybody and they know where they are. And they all then, during the winter, they go and caddy at various places in Florida. to try to speed this up, we're playing golf one day. And there was, there were new caddies at the place that I play. And these caddies had come down from Long Island, the Hamptons in particular, because all of the places up there were closed. So we had one of these new guys out caddying for us on this particular day.

And, you know, we're going along, you know, hole number one, hole number two. were like on the fourth or fifth hole. And the friends of mine that I was out playing with, we tend to wager on just about everything that's going on on the golf course. So after my drive, somebody walks by me and just says, five to two on a par, you know, something, five to two that you can't make par. So, you know, my 20 to your 50, if you make par on this hole,

from where you are on the drive. And so I took the bet. And then the caddy walks over and he says to me, Kevin, you don't want to take that bet, man. You need seven to two at the most. You need seven to two at a minimum. And let me just say something, no offense. But what you really need is like, you need close to five to one to make par from where you are right now in this hole. And I said, really?

And he said, yeah, that's what I would put it at. Anyway, but if you need any advice as we go through, you know, you can come to me for, for odds. stuff. And I said, well, I don't really usually struggle with the math and the odds. And then we started to talk before my next shot. And then I stopped dead in my tracks. And I looked at this dude.

And I go, you're Brandon Lang. And he goes, what took you so long? I said, well, I've never met you. I've never really talked to you in person. He goes, I

came on your show that one year. And then you ditched me. And I ended up going on with Andy, with Zabin and Andy Poland in the afternoon. And I said, I remember. And he said, so why we ended up talking? And I said, you know, the issue was I had this segment on my show called The Smell Test, which was essentially admitting that nobody knows anything. So there they were putting you on my show and you're a tout, basically.

And he just starts to laugh. He's like, I knew. I knew that you knew better. Essentially is what he was saying. And I go, it was no offense. And if we were generating revenue off the segment, I wasn't going to get rid of you. But I went to them and said, look,

I don't really want to tout on the show unless it's really meaningful for the station. But there are a couple of other shows that maybe it would work better on. Well, he's been going on the junkies apparently for years. And he went on with Andy and Steve for a few years. Anyway, he was caddying. for us. And one of the jobs that he's had over the years is during certain portions of the calendar, he'll go caddy at various places. And he says it's a way to generate clients in business. I don't know if that's true or not, but he turned out to be the best dude we had the greatest day.

We had the most fun that I didn't care if the stories were exaggerated or not. Like a couple of my friends were like, that can't be right. And I'm just like, who cares? He's a great storyteller. This is a lot of fun. Well, the real story, the story that's 100% factual, is that they made a movie about

Brandon Lang called Two for the Money. And Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey were in the movie and McConaughey played Brandon Lang. Well, I asked him about the movie. Like, how did that

happen. And he told the story, which he's told many times, and apparently it's 100% accurate. He was caddying in L.A. at Riviera. And René Russo's husband, I don't know what his name is, but he is a director in Hollywood. And he had Renee Russo's husband that he was caddying for in what he called was a fairly high-stakes match. And they got to the final hole. and Renee Rousseau's husband said, I see that a little bit left to right. And Brandon, as he tells the story, said, if you hit it left to right,

it's going to go off the green and you're going to lose all the money that's basically riding on this hole. It's a foot right to left. So René Rousseau's husband took his advice, hit it out a foot right to left, it drops right into the cup, he wins a shitload of money,

And he goes to tip Brandon a bunch of money, and Brandon said, I don't want any money from you today. I want you to sit down with me and let me pitch you, a 10-minute pitch on a movie idea that I have. And he ended up making Brandon's movie. Wow. Two for the money. That apparently is a true story on how it came about. And, you know, the movie was okay. I mean, look, if so...

It was okay. Renee Russo was in the movie. That was Al Pacino's wife. Right. Jeremy Piven was in the movie. You know, uh, uh, uh, uh, and, yeah, uh, Armand DeSante was in the movie. One of my favorite actors. He played the mob guy who, right, uh, Brandon up. Yeah. Brandon really, I mean, Tommy, a great guy, phenomenal storyteller.

We had so much fun. And, um, I actually, it's funny because I think I had them on the show like the next football season on one Friday, and we talked about that day, and he's invited several of us up to play a couple, like Shinnecock, where he, up on Long Island, and we have not taken him up on that, but we might at some point. But really good guy. And anyway, it just reminded me McConaughey played Brandon in that movie, and, you know, circling back to the original reason we started to talk about Matthew. McConaughey, Jay Gruden

send us a very, very nice review saying that you want to be afraid of how much you love this podcast. Thank you, Jay Gruden. So, the NBA finals open up tonight.

I know that you're not really into this. Will you even watch it? I'll try. I think... I'll try. What will you do instead tonight? Well, no, I'll probably will watch it tonight.

I mean, they probably don't come on until 9 o'clock, right? The game starts at 9 o'clock tonight, I believe. Yeah, I think so. No, I'll probably watch it. It might be 8.30. 9 o'clock, 9 o'clock on ABC. I'll make a prediction on the series later on in the podcast. That's not, I don't think, what's going to interest you.

I think what would interest you in a conversation here, maybe brief, is just putting it in the context of history. Golden State is playing in their sixth NBA finals in the last eight years. They've got a chance to win a fourth title in their last eight years. I would refer to that as a dynastic run, would you? Yes, absolutely. Not the Celtics of the 60s, not even the Lakers of the 80s, but this has been a dynasty. Going to the finals six times in eight years, remember the two years that they didn't go,

We're weird years. You know, it's a pandemic one year. Yes. And not that they were going to threaten in the year when everybody was hurt and it was only Steph and Dremond. But six appearances and potentially four titles in eight years. Okay, good. So that's a dynasty.

Here's the other part of this. Steph Curry, who without any debate has been the constant great all-time player on this team, Kevin Durant's the other one, but he's not on this team right now. Steph Curry is on the verge, potentially, if they win this series, of winning his fourth NBA title. Fourth. That would put him on quite a list of all-time champions. You know, the guys that have won four include Shaquille O'Neal and LeBron James. The guys that have won three that he would pass are guys like Lange.

Barry Bird and Kevin McAil and James Worthy. He's on the verge of winning his fourth title. I say on the verge. That's the wrong way to describe it. He has a chance to win his fourth title. If he does win his fourth title, where do you put him now on the list of the all-time greats? Because you've never, never given Steph Curry any credit for anything other than being a guy

that just shoots it. Well, that's not fair. He is a guy that just shoots the ball. And in one fell swoop, this guy has been maybe one of the most significant game-changing players since Will Chamberlain in the way the game is played. Okay? I mean, his impact on the league is among the greatest of all time, impact-wise. He's also helped wreck the game by turning it into a three-point festivity and having generations of kids grow up or wanting to be Steph Curry.

You know, so, I mean, I acknowledge that he's a game changer, huge impact on the game. game can't be denied. In terms of one of the greatest players, I put him in a top 20. Yeah, that's what I was waiting for. The payoff was worth it. So if he wins this title,

if he wins this title, he's a top 20 old type player. The athletic in a January article, put him at 15. Okay, but if he wins a fourth title, that's what I'm asking you. Where is he? now. Where is his legend

now? See, I... Top 20 player. I mean, Oscar Robertson won one title, okay? Does that make Steph Curry better in Oscar Robertson? So stop with the title. Well, that's a debate that you could start to have.

You might want to have it already. I know you wouldn't want to have it. But it is the sport more than any other where titles really are the measurement. not in the NFL. Super Bowls are not the measurement in the NFL. It's far too hard for a quarterback to have. He's got the most influence of any player on the field, but a great player with five players on the floor at any given time has more of an impact on the result. By the way, I don't know that

I'm going to disagree with you a lot here, which is going to be upsetting to me. Top 20 is a joke. He's certainly right now bordering on a top 10 to 12 player all time. And if he wins this because titles are important in evaluating all-time greats in the NBA, you know, I think you can squarely put him, you know, in the top 10, somewhere in the top 10. Ahead of who? Isaiah Thomas? Yes, definitely. Really?

But I don't know if Isaiah Thomas is top 10. I mean, if you're going to talk about top 10, you're going to have to knock out somebody that you really love, you know, like Bill Russell. Or... Well, you can't do. That's ridiculous. Because that's like one and two right there. Russell and Chamber. What about knocking out somebody like Tim Duncan?

You can't knock out Tim Duncan? Of course you can. No, you can. Yes, you can. No, you can. You can knock out Tim Duncan. I, um, a few years ago, because I keep some of these things around to remind me of what I said, you and I must have been having a similar debate about like the top 10.

players of all time in the NBA. And I had my top 10. And then I had the next four players out just outside the top 10. My top 10 went Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Wilts Chamberlain, LeBron James, and Bill Russell as the top five. Then it was Kareem, Larry, Kobe, Elijah one. I'm sure I have Elijah won much higher than most. And I had Shaquille O'Neal 10. The next four in order after that, Tim Duncan at 11, Oscar at 12, Kevin Durant at 13, and Steph Curry at 14. If Steph Curry is, you know, a central figure in another title and maybe wins an MVP, which he has not. He's not won a finals MVP off of their championship teams. It was Igadala that first year, which was a joke, and then it was Durant twice.

Curry moves up on the list. He moves ahead of Durant. He moves ahead of Oscar. He moves ahead of Duncan. And he probably moves ahead of Shaq into the top 10. And if he doesn't move ahead of Oscar, then he moves ahead of Elijah one. And I put Elijah one just outside the top 10. And I put Curry into the top 10.

That's what I would do. I think he's the greatest ball handler and shooter in one body in my lifetime. The only guy that was close was I. Isaiah Thomas. I know you love Marevich. Isaiah Thomas, if he had played in an era where the three-point shot was emphasized, Isaiah would have been a great three-point shooter. But Curry is the greatest ball handler shooter in one body. And by the way, he's more than that.

He's a great scorer on top of being just a great shooter and a great ball handler. He's a great player. So if he wins another title, I have him in my top 10 all time. There's no way that you would put him ahead of Shaquille O'Neal or Kevin Durant. There's nobody on the planet who would do that. I would. Except you. Well, that's not true.

I know. I would put, look, Steph Curry's not a top five all-time great. He's not. Mrs. Curry would. Mrs. Curry would. Me and Del, me and Del, Curry would. I want to make one thing clear here. It's debatable.

I understand that. It doesn't sound like you really want to do. debate this, but it's debatable as to whether or not he's a top 10 all-time player. And as you start going through lists, whether old or new, you start to realize just how many great players there are and how much of a challenge it is to put him in front of some of the people that I've just suggested that I'd put him in front of. I would never put him into the category of, you know, the Michael Magic, you know, in even the non-center conversation, the Michael Magic, LeBron, Larry Kobe kind of conversation.

But I think if he wins another title, and by the way, if he wins an MVP, which would be his first, Digadala got the first one, that was a joke, and then Durant got the next two, and they're not winning a title without Curry being a force in this upcoming series. But I think that there would be a reasonable debate of putting them ahead of some of the people that I've mentioned. By the way, you and I don't disagree on the very top of this list. I mean, I have Michael won Magic 2. I know that you and I have always agreed that Magic's in the conversation of the greatest player of all time.

He's still your number one, right? Well, only of that era, Welch is my greatest of all time. And then Russell is my second greatest of all time. And then we can start. I would say magic is in top five. With Michael. Okay, probably behind Michael. With Michael, of course.

Probably behind Michael. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't mean for us to turn this into a conversation about, you know, our top tens or whether or not Steph Curry is a top 10 player. I just wanted to have a conversation about whether or not Steph Curry if he wins a title, you know, if his legacy, it changes, is enhanced. and now all of a sudden he starts to get kind of this consideration as one of the greatest players that's ever lived. You've already said how influential he was and how he changed the game. You also said he wrecked the game, in your opinion.

I think that the truth of it, beyond watching the greatest shooter and greatest ball handler in one body that I've ever seen, the impact on the game wasn't the three-point shot from him. Because people were shooting lots of threes, you know, before Curry came along and started bombing threes and winning titles, either with just Draymond and Clay or the two with Durant. What he did and how he's changed the game. And the guy from ESPN, I think his name's Kirk Goldsbury, who's kind of an analytics basketball nerd, he wrote about this a while back. And it was, it's the distance of the three-point shot that is changed because of Steph Curry. Curry doesn't shoot three-pointers. He's, you know, he's the first to really start shooting four and five-pointers,

meaning, you know, three feet, six feet, eight feet behind the arc. You know, for so long, the three-point shot was a shot that was shot just behind the arc. You know, feet planted right beyond the arc, barely, you know, a foot. behind the arc, if that much. And Curry was putting up bombs. Curry was a guy that you had to pick up when he crossed half court. And the reason that has changed the game is that the longer-distance three-point shot has changed the spacing of a basketball floor.

It is made it very difficult when you have guys that can shoot. from well beyond the three-point line like Curry. It's made it very difficult to guard teams because now you're extending your defense out to 35, 40 feet to guard a player, sometimes more than one player on a team, and it creates so much more space in the middle of the floor to attack a defense. And that is really the impact that Curry has had.

The three-point shooting, certainly the volume of three-point shots, but more than anything, it's the distance in which he's been shooting those threes. He was really the pioneer of the 35-foot three-pointer. The in-transition, I'm pulling up from 38 feet, and I can make this shot, and you're going to have to come out and guard me, and the next time you come out and guard me, I'm going to give you a quick head fake, and I'm not going to lose my dribble, and I'm going by you to the rim to either set up somebody for an easy dunk because we're playing at that point five on four as you run at me. And that's really with so much more, you know, space in the middle of the floor. And that's really the, you know, the basketball X's and O's impact that he's had on the game.

That has changed the game. Not that he's made a lot of threes and he shoots a lot of threes and more teams are shooting lots of threes. That's important, but it's the distance of the three-point shot that Curry really introduced more than anybody else. And that's why I would, you know, more likely than not, I think I've already said that I would do it, put Steph Curry into the top 10 of all-time greatest players if he wins a fourth title. I just don't think he'll crack the top 10. I don't think people will move guys out for Steph Curry. I think there's some people that will look at them as a one-trick pony.

It's a big trick. I'll grant you that. If you're going to be good at one trick, this is the one to be good at in this league. But it's not one-trick. That's the thing. That's completely unfair to describe him as a one-trick pony. He's not a horse contest winner. He's a great score.

Oh, I think he is a horse contest. Oh, he's not. I think that's the very game. That's the very NBA today. No. A glorified horse contest. No, because of the floor that he's created, he's become an incredible passer. He's also an incredible score.

He's got some of the greatest feel for scoring in and around the basket of any player in the game. He's the trick, the shooting trick that he does a lot, if you want to call it a horse, He's the greatest horse player in the history of the NBA, but he's a lot more than that, a lot more than that. Okay. Whatever you say, I mean, look, it's not, it's not the game that I loved. It's not an artistic game anymore. It's a game where, I tell you what, again,

he's raised a generation of kids who, if that 40-foot, three-pointer isn't working, they have no idea what to do after that. Oh, how would you know? I do agree with you on one thing. There are some kids, and I've been in many a gym over the years here, where there are some kids that do that trick really, really well. They can really shoot it. It's one of the biggest changes, no doubt,

and it is the effect of guys like Curry for sure, where you see a lot of kids that can really, really bomb it. But there are plenty of young players out there that because they can shoot it so well, it's opened up so much more of a game for them. But anyway, we got to get to this Congress story, Congress requesting that Dan Snyder and Roger Goodell appear in front of it on June 22nd. You and I haven't talked about it together. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

You want to bet on the NBA finals? Go to MyBooky at MyBooky.com or MyBooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And they'll match your first deposit dollar for dollar all the way up to a thousand bucks. Golden State in game one is a four-point favorite tonight in game one at home against Boston. They've had a longer layoff. The Celtics had Sunday nights game seven. But still, plenty of rest leading up.

to game one in San Francisco tonight. The totals 2.13 and a half. The series price, Golden State, is a minus 150 favorite. The comeback on that is plus 130. So if you want to bet the Warriors to win the series, you've got to wager $150 to win $100. If you want to bet the Celtics, you bet $100 to win $130. Or if you bet $200, you would win $260 if the Celtics won this. series. If you're interested in a lot of prop bets, they've got plenty of prop bets on the NBA finals, including MVP odds on the finals as well. Steph Curry and Jason Tatum are essentially co-favorits to win the MVP of the NBA finals. Go to MyBooky at mybooky.ag or mybooky.com, and they will take good care of you. Don't forget to use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and if you

go to put something in the promo code and there's something already there. Just erase it and put in Kevin, D.C. So, Congress, the House Oversight and Reform Committee, wants Dan Snyder and Roger Goodell to testify at a congressional hearing on June 22nd. Tommy, I had Howard Gutman. Howard's so good puts it in such simple terms that everybody can understand. He was on the show yesterday. And he said a lot of things. One of the things is a potential strategy for Dan Snyder and the league is to kind of go Dean Smith four corners and wait this thing out until, you know, there's a Republican Congress, which in all likelihood there will be in November. And then these things will go away. But I don't personally believe that we'll ever see either one of them testify in front of Congress, even though actually Howard did say that, you know, the timing of must.

might be better now while there's an investigation still going on because they really can't say much. But I wanted to get your thoughts on this news story yesterday. What do you think? Well, I think the delay tactic is real. It is real. I think that really could get in the way of what the committee is trying to do. I don't think there's any way Snyder shows up to testify before this committee on TV, unless it's at gunpoint. So, I mean, I could see Goodell, doing it because that's kind of what he's paid to do. It would be a hot seat issue, but, you know, I mean, Bud Seleck has done it and looked like an idiot,

but sometimes the commissioner's paid to be, look like an idiot. But Snyder, no, he ain't going there unless it's at the end of a gun. So I don't see that happening. And the delay issue, look, I'm sure the committee is aware of the day, of, of, they're facing that delay. and I think they're going to try to do everything they can to move this forward before that happens. So it's basically a race. It's a time race between what the committee is doing and how good the commanders can play defense.

And based on the fact that they're not good at anything they do, I kind of like the committee's chances. Well, you say Dan Snyder's not going there unless it's, you know, unless there's a gun pointed to his head. But if they subpoenaed Dan Snyder, he will have to show up. Yeah. That's what I mean. That's literally what I mean. Yeah. If they manage to subpoena him, he would have to show up. But an invite, no. He's not taking an invite. Do we think if he subpoenaed, is he going to show up in his sweatsuit with like a 10-day-old beard that look that he seemed to have adopted now? I don't know. I mean, somebody should give him some advice that he shouldn't walk in to Congress looking the way he looked for the Sean Taylor

weekend or the 2222 debut. Yeah. Can you imagine the, first of all, it wouldn't be televised, but it might be live streamed for all of us to watch. Can you... I think it would be on C-SPAN. Yeah, it might be on C-SPAN. There you go.

How, I mean, this would be. rough for him. This is not his thing. Yes. You know, he's not a communicator. He's not somebody that is able to look smooth. He sweats these things. And so do most people. I'm not knocking him for it.

Most people have these anxieties. But this would, this, you know, like Howard said yesterday, he's like, look, you know, on some level, it might make sense for them to accept this quickly and try to go hurry up while Mary Jo White's investigation is still going on because Dan can basically answer every question, look, we're in the middle of an ongoing

investigation. This is what we're looking into. Mary Jo White, you know, when she gets done with this investigation, we'll have more answers on that. This is why, you know, the league is investigating and why I offered to, you know, to basically finance the investigation up front because we wanted to get to the bottom of these allegations. and that could be the answer to almost every question. That could be.

If her investigation is still going on by June 22nd, when they want to hold these hearings. Right. I could see him doing that, but I could also see him being provoked into saying something stupid, no matter what kind of defense that he has. He's going to be a hostile witness.

He's going to have hostile questioners. Let's say that. uh, for the most part. And, uh, he, you know,

he may have a plan to get up there and talk about, well, you know, we've got this, you know, the NFL is looking into us. We take this seriously and all that.

But, uh, I'm betting that he could be provoked. Look, this is, this is what the committee has been waiting for. To get these guys in front of them and testify. Because I think they have a sense that,

somebody, one of the two, particularly Snyder, could blurt out the wrong thing and hang themselves. You know, the net of it is Howard thought two things, more important than anything else. He said, what this does in the immediate is it impacts his effort to get a stadium and get anybody to do business with him on the stadium front. You know, these are the kinds of headlines that when they pop up, Congress wants Dan Snyder to come testify. it's really hard for politicians to then look their voters in the eye and say, I just voted yes to give Dan Snyder a bunch of money to build a stadium. And the other part of this is, you know, Howard pointed out,

is just the ongoing angst that the owners have over this whole situation. It just never ends. And they want it to end. And the only way for it really to end is for Dan Snyder not to own the team, any team. in the NFL ever again. If he goes away, so does most of this. And then they can deal with all of their other things, like Deshawn Watson and Jerry Jones and, you know,

John Gruden's situation and all of that. But this is why there was that quote in the Mark Maskey story last week from an owner at the Atlanta owners meetings that said, look, we wish he was gone, but, you know, there has to be more than what we have now, more of a harsh punishment is really what the owners were talking about to Mark Maskey last week. And what's interesting is, as I understand the Virginia legislative effort, which is on hold now, they would have to bring that up for this year, I think, by June 17th.

Right. It's the last day they could bring that up. And that's five days before this scheduled hearing. and I mean, I would think that if you're a lawmaker in Virginia, you know, on that committee to vote on this, you really want a risk given what could be $200 million by that point. Over to Dan Snyder, and then have them five days later testifying before Congress and looking like public enemy number one, I mean, that they have to worry about the ramifications of the Attorney General's investigation in their own state, and nobody knows if that'll be completed by the time

the Virginia bill for the stadium development comes up again. So, I mean, it's not looking good in Virginia, this year at least, for the money. Even if it resurfaces again, I don't see them getting the votes to get this done. I don't either. I think the Virginia thing is dead. and we had Michael Phillips on the podcast yesterday, and Michael thinks there's still a chance, and then if it doesn't get passed here in this legislative session,

maybe they won't have a deal this time next year, and the organization could be in a different place. Look, there is definitely an argument to be made, and we've talked a little bit about it, and Ben Standing wrote about it the other day, that this is not the time for the team to be looking for a stadium deal. they should wait this out. It can't get any worse than it is right now, which is potentially Virginia offering nothing, D.C. offering nothing, and Maryland offering 400 million in infrastructure, which they're going to spend regardless, but nothing for the stadium. Like, if they wait a year, you know, potentially all this congressional stuff gets dropped with a Republican House. You know, there's a chance. There's always a chance that the season goes better than most of their other seasons. and that they might have a stronger hand and there might be more interest

and you might have created more distance from all of the recent controversy. But they don't have to be at a FedEx Field by 2027 or 2028. They can stay there forever if they want. And their ultimate fantasy is D.C. And you've got the issue going on in D.C. right now with Bowser and Mendelssohn and Eleanor Holmes-Norton in the whole thing. I mean, they really, if Virginia doesn't bring this up for a vote or votes it down, and I think it would be more that they wouldn't bring it up for a vote.

If they bring it up for a vote, actually, it's probably because they think they have the votes. If they don't bring it up for a vote, it's dead in Virginia for at least a year, which to me means dead in Virginia. I think your prediction all along is the right prediction. I think they're going to play in a brand-new FedEx field in 2028 right next to the existing FedEx field. Everything he said about waiting makes a lot of sense, except let me ask you this. Dan Snyder has owned the team since 2000. When has waiting ever made him look better?

Never. Okay. But waiting can't make him look any worse. I know that, but in terms of looking better, I mean, in terms of trying to trying to dream up what could be down the road, we're not warped enough to do that, but there's something down the road. He's never going to look better, but the team could look better. And the complaints from that guy, you know, Chapterson and others about the team not being viable with no fan base, I mean, that could improve a little bit if they were to have a winning

team. Yeah, it could. It could prove a little bit. Oh, and by the way, you know, When they were doing this Virginia stadium push, remember Ron Rivera tweeted out how excited he was about the plans that he saw? Yeah, what are you going to say? I can predict it. So I think this means that stadium questions for the coach are on the agenda. Oh, I thought you were going to say what makes Ron think he's going to be around for the new stadium offering. I'm not saying a lie, I'm saying his head coach. Because he probably –

No, I didn't mean that. because he probably won't be. That's a long time. You can ask the coach any question you want about the stadium because he's weighed in on it publicly on his social media account. He's got something to say about it. So the next time he's asked and he says, well, you know, I only deal with football.

I say, well, that's not what you're – that wouldn't be what your social media account says. Well, good. You can ask him some stadium questions the next time you are at a press conference. All right. Up next, I'll have a final. prediction, and Tommy settled his case with Southwest Airlines. We'll get to both of those things right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This final segment of the show is brought to you today by Window Nation with home prices on the rise. There's no better time than now to improve

the look and value of your home with new windows from Window Nation. Get two free windows with every two you buy, plus pay nothing for two full years. No money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com. Mention my name, you'll get a free estimate. Did you see who passed away, Tommy, former cowboy Marion Barber III, 38 years old, no cause of death. Do you remember Marion Barber III for the Cowboys? Listen, I remember Marion Barber Jr. His dad, who played for the Jets in the 80s.

Right. And with Freeman McNeil. And it was a similar back in that he was very difficult to bring down. He wasn't real prolific because they didn't use him a lot because, like he said, they had Freeman McNeil. But was a hard guy to tackle, just like his son was. The reason I'm bringing it up is because there was a moment in his career that is very, you know, infamous for Redskins fans. It was the 2008 Jim Zorn, I will comply season. Actually, the I will comply season was 2009.

But in 2008, Jim Zorn's Washington Redskins got out to a six and two start. And then they played two games. They played the Steelers on a Monday night where the terrible towels made it appears if they were playing at, I guess then, Three River Stadium. It might have been Hinesfield. And then the following game, after a by week, was a Sunday night game against the Cowboys on national TV with first place in the division on the line. The skins were six and three. The Cowboys were five and four. And Marion Barber, with six minutes and 46 seconds left in the game and the Cowboys,

leading 14 to 10 touched the ball on 11 consecutive plays to run out the clock. Washington had the ball in the fourth quarter with a chance on a fourth down in Dallas territory.

They failed. The Cowboys took over and it's the game in which guys like Cowboy Clay in particular will say, remember the Marion Barber game when you guys couldn't stop them and he ran it right down your throat? And he did. It was like it was such a unique way for a game to end.

They took over, and I went back and found the play-by-play. Six minutes and 46 seconds, first and 10, Marion Barber, five yards, Marion Barber, seven yards, Marion Barber eight yards, Marion Barber five yards, Marion Barber, no gain. Marion Barber, two yards. So six straight carries, one first down, and then they're facing third and eight after Washington starts to call their timeouts, and Tony Romo throws a 10-yard pass to Marion Barber. And then Marion Barber had two yards, and then he had three yards, and then he had four yards. And then with a minute to go on fourth and one, Marion Barber ran for three yards.

Marion Barber touched the ball on 11 straight plays to run out the final six minutes and 46 seconds of a 14 to 10 game. It was infuriating. It was so frustrating. It's like, get the ball back. It was one of those situations where you're sitting there and you're like, you've got to be kidding me. The clock's down to him two minutes and they can't stop him. They got 15 people on the line of scrimmage and they couldn't stop him. He was such a hard runner. And I mean, so many of those yards, if my memory serves me well, were at, after contact at the line of scrimmage. He just ran it right down their esophagus.

And then on the one play where they had him at third and eight, Romo throws it out of the backfield to Barber and he rumbles for 10 yards. An amazing way to end the game. And on the final run for a first down, they did, Tony Romo did take two knees because Washington was out of timeouts at that point. But, you know, that was also really. the beginning of the end. You know, Washington fell to six and four, and ultimately that season finished eight and eight. You know, they cratered the second half of the season to two and six,

and they did not make the playoffs, and then we know what happened the following year with Jim Zorn. Jim Zorn was hanging out with us more than he was coaching his team. But Mary and Barbara, rest in peace, I mean, for cowboy fans, you know, there are lots of heroes in divisional rivalry games, and Merriam Barber's name isn't going to be, you know, in a top 10 anywhere. But he did, he had a good career. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't just one game. But certainly, you know, I remember as a Redskin fan being so frustrated that they could

not get the ball back one more time down 14 to 10 or 17 to 10 at that point. But anyway, you had a story about your trip from hell down to, down to Disney World that was so pleasant for all of you, your wife, your granddaughter, and yourself, and how it got rectified with Southwest Airlines.

Well, and a lot of people were surprised by this who know me, who, basically who were involved in this decision because it's unusual for Southwest to step up like this. I have reached a financial settlement with Southwest Airlines.

Okay. I want to announce that, okay, that's satisfactory to all parties involved. Okay. And I think what kicked it off was, first of all, they had, their first response to me was, well, we'll give you $200 flight credit. I remember that. Yeah. And I sent a response back saying, I'm sorry, there must be a mistake here.

somebody inadvertently sent this to me as a way to appease me for what I went through. So I'm just letting you know that this is a mistake so you can fix it. And then I never heard back from them. So I got something in the mail from Southwest, a credit card offer from them. So I posted a picture of it on social, on Twitter. And I said, these guys can't keep a promise. for anything, and they're selling credit cards? I said, isn't this mail fraud?

You know? You did that? Yes. That got a response. Right away on social media. I got a direct message from Southwest saying, what's wrong, buddy? You did.

And I laid it all out for them what I went through, which I said you should have already, because I wrote a very eloquent, long, involved history of our trip. And the person on the other person said, well, you know, you're right. We really screwed up here. We're going to do something different for you. We're going to fix this for you. So they came up with a list of expenses that they would reimburse me for.

basically everything except the actual theme park costs. And they said, we'll send you a check. Just send us receipts, which I did. And I got the check in the mail the other day. How much was it again? $800. So you basically, you got a $4 to 1 return on their initial mistake offer, the mistake email that you got.

Yes. Plus, we got six. $600 total in flight credits. So you could argue it's a $1,400. Well, it is a $1,400 settlement. What do you mean? $600 in flight credits allows you to fly for $600 for free the next time you fly Southwest if you ever fly southwest again. You know, you did not keep me up to date on everything you were doing.

I did, not that I'm about to take any credit for this, but I did tell you that if you push them hard enough and you really document everything, they're going to bend eventually. Like they expect you to just take the first thing that you offer and walk away with it. Now, your social media move was brilliant. I'm going through your Twitter account and I'm looking for when you responded with the mail fraud line to them on a credit card offer.

Now it's a while back. Yeah, I haven't found it yet. But clearly somebody with like 30, followers probably wouldn't have gotten a response, but you have you have 18,000 followers. So they thought, well, we got to fix this one. This guy's going to continue to hammer us. So that was that was clearly the move that paid off for you. God, man.

Yeah. I don't think I've ever, well, I haven't. I've never used social media as what to generate something like that. But it is powerful from that standpoint, clearly, because you were. They'd still be ignoring you without that. Of course they would. And the only reason they got back to you was to quiet you. Yes, and it worked.

Now that I've announced it on the podcast, I'm going to issue a statement on social media saying I've reached an agreement with Southwest. I've reached a settlement. And I will continue to do business with this fine company now. Do it in press release form, you know, date it. and put like, you know, Frederick Maryland, June 2nd, you know, 2022. Leverro settles with Southwest Airlines. Do something like that.

And then write it as if it's like a newswire story. You should. I will. Tom Leverro and Southwest Airlines reached a settlement after a long, yeah, that would be funny. I still can't find where you put this credit card offer. It's a long time ago It took a while for them to come up with the money I mean you know

I mean I see I wasn't going to say anything about it until I got the money Yeah All right The check has been cashed and deposited And I'll be flying southwest again this summer Because I don't have any choice

Yeah I really don't have much of a choice to the places I want to go, they're still the best option. No, you're right. I mean, they fly to a lot of the places that we all like to go to, and they have a hub right up the road at a very convenient airport called BWI. Tommy, I'm going to finish up with just a couple of quick thoughts on the NBA finals and a prediction. I know a lot of you that are listening aren't into the NBA,

especially the regular season. You may pay attention during the playoffs, and then you will tune in for the finals. you probably won't even do that, but I think a lot of you will. And I'm telling you, you're going to be tuning in at a really good time. This should be a hell of a series. You have two really good basketball teams that are playing very well. This was my predicted finals matchup before the postseason started. I thought Boston would come out of the east, and I thought Golden State had a good chance to come out of the west, and I thought it would be a great matchup. I'd be lying to you if I told you that I was rooting for Boston in games six and seven.

I really wanted to see Jimmy Butler finish Boston off, especially after Friday night's game in that 47 point performance where he was the best defender, the best facilitator, and the best score on the floor in one of the great individual performances I think I have ever seen in the postseason. I was rooting for him to get to the finals, but it wouldn't have been the matchup that Boston Golden State is. I think Miami would have been clocked in the finals by Golden State. I don't think they would have had much of a chance. Boston is loaded and they are a great defensive team. And that's the matchup here in this series that will be really interesting to watch. Boston doesn't really put a weak defender on the floor. There's nobody Golden State can kind of single out and attack. Now Golden State isn't a seek-out. the weak defender and attack kind of a team anyway.

The ball moves quickly. The spacing is great. And they are hard to guard. But Boston is as good defensively as anybody in this postseason has been as anybody in the league's really been. And they're playing at a very high level. And it's going to be really interesting to see what Golden State does in the half court. I think it's possible that they're going to struggle a little bit in the half court.

Miami did at times. I mean, not as dynamic as Golden State for sure. I think Golden State's going to have to get out in transition. The ball moves. They don't hunt weak defenders, and there's no weak defender to hunt out anyway on Boston. But I think they've got to really get out and score in transition, and they've got to protect the basketball. They have averaged 14 turnovers a game in the postseason. That's really when they've looked their worst, is when they've looked their worst,

is when they've been very sloppy with the ball. But the ball moves, the spacing's great, the shooting's obviously outstanding, the getting to the rim and creating, whether it's Steph or Clay or Jordan Poole, they've got depth. And when they go small with Draymond at the 5, that'll be interesting to watch to see how Boston guards that.

I think Boston will probably use a lot of smart on Curry. but they switch a lot, you know, and again, they can switch because they really don't have a weak matchup defensively. So I think Boston defensively against Golden State offensively is going to be really fun to watch. And I think Golden State's going to need to get out in transition to really loosen Boston up and get some easy scoring opportunities because it may not be that easy in the half court, but that's what I'm going to be watching tonight. Can Golden State run really good offense and create really good shot opportunities and score consistently against Boston if they are facing Boston's set defense? On the other end, Golden State does have somebody that Boston will seek out.

Boston is a team that will hunt out a mismatch. And Steph Curry is that mismatch. Jordan Poole can be that mismatch when he's on the floor. and Jason Tatum getting a switch and getting matched up against Curry could be a problem and then you'll see what Steve Kerr does to combat that. Will they double Tatum off of picks? Will they hedge hard and recover and then let Steph guard him and then once he puts it on the floor double him or run somebody at him and make him give it up?

I mean, he gives it up to players who can really do something with it. But you don't want to see if you're a golden, State, Boston coming down, looking for the matchups, seeking out Steph defensively and taking advantage of that. They've got multiple players that can do that, including Smart, Brown, and Tatum. Overall, two really well-coached teams, two superstars in the series in Curry and Tatum, a lot of really good supporting players. It should be a great series. I have definitely leaned Golden State since Sunday night when Boston won the Eastern Conference title. I think I've changed my mind here, Tommy.

I think I like Boston in this series. It's almost impossible for me to pick because I kind of feel like Golden State's experience and home court advantage might be the difference in this series, but the more and more I think about it, and I had Michael Lee from the Post on this morning, and he was making sense of a lot of things. I think I like Boston in seven,

like maybe winning a seventh game on the road in San Francisco like they did in Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. I'm kind of rooting for Golden State, but I think I would not bet this series at all, but I think Boston's the better team. I think Golden State's more experienced. They've got the home court advantage. But I'm going to pick, I'm going to change my pick, maybe even from the radio show this morning,

because I can't even remember who I picked. I'm picking Boston in seven games. You know, the one thing about the Celtics is, and, you know, I mean, if you're a Wizards fan in the know, it's got to kill you, is Al Horford. Yeah. That might have been the game changer for this franchise. Yeah. The Wizards were in play for Al Horford, what, six, seven years ago now?

Yeah, it was... As a free agent. Right. And not only did, he didn't go to your team, but he went to your opponent in the division, Boston. Yeah. And Al Horford could have changed a lot of things with this franchise. Al Horford would have been a phenomenal addition to this franchise. And he would have been there for the year, his first year, would have been the year.

would have been the year that they made it to game seven against him playing for Boston in 2016, 2017, because really he was the replacement for Pierce after Pierce was the replacement for Arise. And then Horford was very close, very close to signing in Washington. And that would have, that would have been an interesting team with him and Brad and John that particular season. So, all right, I'm done. I'll be back tomorrow. Doc's going to be on the show with me tomorrow. And we may have one other guest as well.

Tommy, have a good weekend. All right, boss.