The Kevin Sheehan Show - Fitz For 2?

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

Kevin and Thom today rambling on various things in the open before getting to whether or not they think Ryan Fitzpatrick can be a 2-year solution rather than one. Some discussion on the Supreme Court ruling on the NCAA before finishing up with the Nats. 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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here today. The show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie.

Use my promo code Kevin, D.C. And they will match your first deposit halfway up to $1,000. If you had the Tampa Bay Lightning last night and the over, you won. Eight to nothing was the final score in the end. NHL's Game 5 Islanders Lightning Series, Tommy. It's the biggest gold disparity in like 30 years in a playoff game. In a shutout anyway. The third biggest shutout in playoff history of all time.

I did not watch the game last night. I will tell you right now what I did watch. I watched soccer yesterday. I watched the Euro. I don't even know who you are. I watched the Euro. It was so exciting. Denmark was playing Russia while Belgium was playing Finland. And Tommy, in Copenhagen, there were 24,000 sold out in this bandbox of a stadium. It was so loud. And the crowd was so into it. And they were not only rooting for their team to win,

but they needed Belgium to win as well in their game that was going on with Finland. you know, there's a lot about soccer I can't stand. And I'm not necessarily into the game itself. I still find much of it to be unwatchable, boring, and the flopping and the all that stuff. But the pageantry of these big events, it's kind of cool. I like it.

And you know what? I think we would both enjoy? If we were in Denmark yesterday and went to that game, I think it would have been an incredible experience, sports experience. I really do. It probably would have been. Although if we went to that similar experience in England, we would get pummeled. Why?

Because we're Americans? Yes. Nah. My brother goes all the time. He loves it and has tried to get me to come over to some of those games all the time. He said it's the best. the absolute best. The thing is, is that hardcore sports fans respect hardcore sports fans.

Like these... But we wouldn't be hardcore sports fans. But we are. We would be travelers in a soccer match. Well, if we're taking tickets away from somebody who was really passionately into that event, yeah, maybe. But I don't know. I mean, you know, these big events, I don't know. I'm sick of going to games, but yesterday I sat there thinking,

God, that would have been a cool place to be in. I felt the same way a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned it to you, when I was watching the Islanders beat whoever they beat in the last round at Nassau County Coliseum. It was like an environment that just, you know, maybe it's the year off of not seeing any of that stuff. The thing that I hate about... I think that's a lot. I mean, I think the crowd is magnified, even, you know, from watching it on TV because we watch sports in empty arenas and stadiums for a year. Maybe.

Maybe. Now, I went to a game, by the way. You went to the D.C. Grace game. I saw the picture that you put out. No, last night, but before that, Saturday night, I went to a Frederick Keyes game for the first time this year. Oh. Up here in Frederick. We have a little story to tell about them here in a moment, but I'm going to let you tell your story first.

Okay. I've known the history of the Keys since they began. I used to work for the Baltimore Sun covering Western Maryland, and my office was in Frederick, and the Keys started in 1989, and they played in an old field called McCurdy Field, where people around the fence sat in lawn chairs to watch them play. and then they built a stadium, a nice stadium for them that opened up in 1991 for the Frederick Keyes, a Class A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. And for years, I thought it was one of the best minor league franchises in the areas, certainly. And it was great if you were an Orioles fan to see future Orioles players.

I mean, that was the attraction. You know, for years, many years, ago, baseball thought it would be poisoned to put minor league teams near their major league clubs because it would take attendance away. And it did just the opposite. It increased major league attendance because people began following players from Class A all the way up. So, but they're not an Orioles affiliate anymore.

The keys were one of the 40 teams that kind of got whacked by Major League Baseball. when they decided to destroy their minor league baseball system this winter. And now the keys are in what's called the draft league. Okay? And I'm sitting there watching this game, and I can't fathom why what I'm watching is any different from what I watch the D.C. Graves play. It's college players playing baseball now.

So they're not... Nothing wrong with that. Right. But it's not professional baseball players. It's not what it was. It's a bunch of college kids that hope to get drafted. And it's a scam. It's a farce.

There were, and, you know, it's a shame what's happened to the keys. There were maybe a thousand people there on a Saturday night, and it's fireworks night. Now, that usually filled the place. There were maybe a thousand people in there. And I'd say half of them were kids, which it's really heartbreaking when you think about it, because, like I said all along, baseball's greatest marketing tools are their minor league teams. I mean, there were kids everywhere, and there's nothing like that in basketball, there's nothing like that in football, you know, where families can take their three kids to go see a professional,

a legitimate professional basketball game or a legitimate professional football game. But baseball has this product that introduces kids at a young age to baseball. And they're ruling it by screwing with this minor league system. This was a joke. It's college-age players who hope to get drafted now. It's no longer professional players who have already been drafted

who hope to play for the Major League team. and it's no look, with all due respect, it's no different than watching the Cow Ripkin League game. What, the Ironbirds or whatever they were called? No, that's, that's, they're still, I mean, a Cow Ripkin League is the league that the Gray's playing, like the Big Train playing the Cow Ripkin League.

You know, that's the college wooden bat league that I'm a part of. I don't, you know, what are the Frederick Keys in now right now? What is the league they're in? It's called a draft league. What is that mean? DRAFT? What does that mean?

Yeah, like baseball draft. Okay. And these are supposedly players that are playing to develop to hope to be drafted. But are they former college players that didn't get signed by big league teams and put into the minor league system? I think. As I understand, and I need to talk to more people about this, but my understanding is they're players who graduated or who left school or who were playing high school ball, you know,

who, you know, hope to be drafted, literally to be in a draft or signed by somebody. That's all they are. That's all they are. I think it's interesting, and I'm realizing, how little I know about this. God, it's really weird. A little bit of digression here. I was just watching Sports Center and the lead to the Sports Center

was like some of the College World Series stuff. And I thought to myself, it's weird that I've never, ever gotten into the College World Series. And it's become, you know, a pretty popular event. Yes, it has. Even on television for ESPN, and I've never gotten into it. But anyway, I, you know, like over the years, like when somebody says, oh, he's going to go play in the Arizona

Fall League. I'm like, okay, whatever the hell that means. Like, I understand Big League and then AAA, Double A, Single A. And I know that there's even, you know, different levels of some of those single A teams, I believe. Yes, there are. There's the South of, the South Atlantic League and the Carolina League. So I don't, but after that, Tommy, I have no idea. I have no idea like where the Nats after Harrisburg, right? Is there

AA? Is there double A? What's their AAA? Rochester. Rochester. The AAA has been moving around. Yeah, it's been moving around. And then you have obviously, you know,

the Potomac, you know. But now they're the Fredericksburg. Okay. Right, I did see. I did read that. And then what's their other A-level team? You know what? I don't know offhand. Okay.

I don't know off hand. So I understand big league, minor leagues. Then what? What's the Arizona League that I've read about a lot? What's this draft league that I've read about? What are all these other things? Like no other sport has this stuff? Well, it should be an entry.

It's all about player development. Chief player development I might want to point out. Right. You know, because most minor leaguers don't get paid a lot of money. Right. Well, they're not generating a lot in revenue. Right. Although they're very profitable.

I had a friend of mine that was a minority owner in a minor league team, and he said the business model for minor league teams are phenomenal because your cost. Well, you don't pay for any of the players. Yeah. Yeah. You don't pay for the players. The major league team is. Right.

Yeah. All you buy is the hot dogs and the fireworks and stuff. It was just disappointing because the keys I thought were a good product for years, and now it's not the same thing. Nobody's going to show up to watch these guys play. I mean, not pay to watch them play. I mean, you can go to a D.C. Grays game like I did last night for free. You know, I bought the most expensive tickets to go see the keys.

Now it's only $13 a ticket, but still. You know, I mean, I wasn't watching, you know, minor league professional baseball. And it's a shame. And I'm going to find out more about it. I'm going to talk to some people I know in minor league baseball. But supposedly how this happened in a lot of places, baseball. Well, the pandemic really, the pandemic hurt a lot of minor league baseball. Well, it did.

But baseball, what they did in order to cut a, like, Like 40 minor league teams, they sort of came up with this criteria to force them to improve the conditions at the ballparks, like improve the clubhouses and spend money. In other words, to spend money if they wanted to survive. And I'm not sure if the Keys refused to do that, if the city refused to do that, or what. But that's how they weed it out about 40 teams. What they did was they made they changed the playing field. They made the rules different, and some teams couldn't afford to keep up with those rules.

So they lost their teams. And some of those teams have been replaced by what these draft league teams, which is college players. I'm not disparaging these players, but it's not what the keys were. And they're not going to get people to show up on a regular basis and pay money to watch these guys play. A thousand people on a Saturday night for a Keys game, that's pretty lame. So can I continue the mudslinging on the Frederick Keys? Sure. Go right ahead.

And I have one more key story to go. But yeah, absolutely. Let's go with your second Keys story. Okay. This should be, and this has nothing to do with what we were talking about. But this should be a Tommy Storytime segment. Okay. I know we can't play the Tommy Storytime.

music. I don't have it anymore. I know that. But in 1994, they're in a baseball strike in December. The Keys had only been around about four or five years then, and they had their winter festival, which is a banquet that they had up in Frederick. And I was covering the Orioles as a beat writer then. And I figured, well, this would be a good thing for me to go to because there'll probably be some club officials there that I can talk to. Remember, there hadn't been playing. baseball since August because of a strike. And so this would give me a chance to see, like, Rowan Heem and the general manager, a few other people. Right.

So I got invited to a pre-bankrupt cocktail party at this holiday in and Frederick. So I'm standing at a table, and I'm drinking with Tom Clancy and Frank Perdue. You've told me this story before, but keep going. I'm remembering this story now. Go ahead. Yeah. Frank Perdue, the Chicken King, he's just about to start a minor league team in Salisbury, Maryland. Clancy from Baltimore, by the way.

Yes, Clancy was a minority owner in the Orioles. Right. The second biggest shareholder in the Orioles behind Angelos. Right. And Frank Perdue was about to own an Orioles minor league team in Salisbury. So that's why they were both there. That's where the Purdue headquarters were you. Yes, drinking with these guys.

And Tom Clancy is bitching about the baseball strike. Now, earlier in the week, the New York Daily News had a front-page story about how Frank Purdue some months back had reached out to John Gotti about union problems he was having with his plant down in Salisbury. Really? You know, and wanted to. I don't remember this story now, so this is a different story. Go ahead. And wanted to know if Goddy could do something about it. This is a big story in the Daily News.

And this is 94. This is 94. Yeah. So Gotti is still part of the Gambino crime family. He hasn't been arrested yet or right? I don't believe so. Okay. And I don't know how far back he had asked him to intervene, but the story was he asked the mob. to help him with a union problem. So we're sitting here drinking, and Tom Clancy's bitching about the strike, and all of a sudden he blurts out, you know what we should do, we should get the mafia to take care of the baseball union. And he's joking, and he has no idea what he said. I'm convinced he has no idea what he said,

as Frank Perdue looks at him with daggers, you know? As Purdue is thinking, this son of a bitch, he's rubbing that daily news story in my face. I don't think Clancy had any idea, you know, connecting the two. Right. I just couldn't believe it. That was pretty funny. That is hysterical.

He's Clancy story. Did you write about it? No, I didn't write about it. I didn't write about it. I bet you were tempted. Yes, I was. I was tempted, but I was the beat writer then. And, you know, I basically, I was, I just basically wrote the news at that point.

By the way, Gotti was finally incarcerated for good in 94, actually. Okay. His final appeal on that last, you know, series of charges was rejected by the Supreme Court in 94. God, you know, he, so Gotti passed away. in 2002, all right, in prison, passed away. There are pictures here on his Wikipedia page of him being beaten in prison in 1996. I don't remember this story. Oh, my God, he was beaten to a pulp in 96.

Really? And he was in solitary, so it was, anyway, that's a great story. That was not the story I thought you were going to tell me. Is there another story with Tom Clancy and you? That's the only time I met Tom Plancy. Oh. Okay. Okay.

Let's bury the Keys now with a couple shovels of dirt here. You sent me. No, go ahead. You sent me a note the other day, and you said, the Frederick Keys have a game on June 26th, and Brian Baumgartner, aka Kevin Malone from the office, is going to be there signing autographs.

taking pictures. You know, it's a Brian Baumgartner night for the Frederick Keys game. You should see if you can get him on the show. And so, of course, being the office fan that I am, and by the way, being a big fan of his podcast, the deep dive on the office, it's excellent. He's done a great job. I bet you, by the way, it's one of the most successful podcasts out there.

Because what's her, Jenna Fisher and Angela, Kinsey, their podcast, the office ladies, has essentially been an absolute home run. I mean, millions and millions of downloads, you know, they're probably making more money off that podcast than they did off the office. But anyway, his podcast, to me, is much better. It's like he's got everybody on. He's got Steve Carell on last week. He's got everybody from the show.

He's got writers from the show. He's got the, you know, he had Ricky Jervais. and Stephen Merchant on the show, you know, and how the whole thing came about from the British adaptation, et cetera. And it's a really good, it's very good. I listen to the podcast all the time. So I was like, God, I'd love to get him on the radio show or podcast. So I called the Frederick Keys. And I said, you know, I had the main number.

And I said, may I speak to somebody in your PR department, marketing department, anybody that's involved with this Brian Baumgartner promotion? And I said, I think I can, you know, I didn't say anything. And they said, well, who's calling? And I said, well, I go, my name's Kevin Sheehan. I have a radio show in D.C. and a podcast. And I'd love to get Brian on the show. I think it would help, you know, promote the night that he's going to be there.

So can you hold for one second? And then the person gets back on the phone. Yeah, contractually, Brian is only making that appearance and not doing anything else. And I said, okay. I said, do you have a number to reach him? or his agent or whoever set this up. We do, but we cannot give it to you. And I said, I'm trying to help here.

Like, it'd be great for me, no doubt. But, you know, I can't imagine that you don't want this big night with this guy promoted somehow, right? They need all the help they can get up there. And so I just said, and I said that in a nice way, and I just said, who is his agent? Where is he? What agency is he with? Do you have any information that?

can just give me and then I'll find the phone number. Nope, we can't give you any of that. So I'm like, okay. So whatever. I'm sure I could find, I'm sure. I don't even know who's in charge of the franchise anymore. I don't know if they're still owned by the same owner. The guy who owns the Keys, I think owns the Bay Sox and the Norfolk Tides down in Norfolk, I think. I don't know who owns this, to be honest with you anymore. I got a lot more recent. search to do, which I'm going to do, but I was just outraged, knowing what the keys were and what they've become. And this is a perfect, your experience is a perfect example.

You know, I mean, most mightily teams would jump over themselves to try to get publicity for an event to there. I just, as I'm sitting here, I pretty much just sort of gave up, and that, but what I just did is I just Googled, and I think I've got a phone number for his agent. So maybe I'll reach out to the agent or at least, you know, what I've come up with here to see if I could do it that way. But no, no, you're a hundred percent right. When you are, look, even the professional teams in this day and age, and we've talked a lot about the PR people with the various, you know, professional teams in town. And sometimes, you know, how we believe, at least from our perspective, they're missing sort of the boat.

You know, it's very much a, they think they're doing us big favors when really it's very much sort of, you know, we're doing each other a favor. You know, look at the ticket situation with a lot of the local teams. And not necessarily the Nats of the Caps, but the Wizards in the football team in particular. You know, the football team is in a position, Tommy, over the last, let's call it five years, that they were not in through the last 50, the previous. 50. They really should be aggressive in marketing their product because even though we're inside this world of talking about the football team all the time with a lot of you that listen and are interested in the football team, the truth is the numbers have dwindled significantly and their ticket sales have been horrific the last couple of years. And then last year,

you know, there were none obviously. But I would bet you right now, even with a division title, even with some excitement over Ron Rivera and Chase Young and new management and Ryan Fitzpatrick, I would bet you they are still very much struggling on the season ticket package front. Oh, I would, I would, well, one thing, the whole, you know, look, I think Jason Wright is probably smart enough to recognize this. I don't know him from Adam, but based on his resume, I would think he's recognized smart enough to see the trends in the business.

And season tickets are, you know, are not the lifeblood that they used to be for any franchise. That's right. I mean, people like to make their decisions about going to events like the younger people, as we say in the business, like within a day or two. Yeah. You know, when the last time that football team had an idea of the importance of promotion, when Brian Lafamina was there. That's when they understood. He understood it.

Yeah. He had a, he had not one roadblock, but two. He had an owner and a team president who didn't like him much after he admitted that there was no season ticket waiting list. That was really, you know, Brian, you know, Brian was a nice enough guy. You know, I spent, I told you, he invited me out there. I spent two or three hours, two hours. two hours within one day out at Redskin Park. And I still think one of my favorite all-time Tommy predictions was it was maybe, you know,

oh, I know when it was because it was the launch of this podcast. And you and I, you know, started doing it together two days a week. And it's been that way ever since we launched the podcast two and a half years ago. But I remember one of the, maybe the first show we were having a conversation about Brian LaFey And you said, if Brian Lofamina calls me, I've got one piece of advice and he better listen and he better listen closely. Rent, do not buy. And then you said, I give it one year before he is gone. And it was less than one year before he was gone.

Less than one year. But it's a new day, a new dawn and a new day. It could be. I mean, you know, it's. It could be. In this particular moment, considering all that he has on his plate, it could be a new day. Did you have any thoughts on the patent and trademark offices, you know, declining of the trademarking of Washington football team? I talked about it a little bit yesterday.

It kind of bores me. I don't particularly have a grasp of it. How's that? Well, I'm surprised because to me it's an indication of just, it's another, it's another example of arrogance and incompetence in combination. Oh, I get that. I got that out of it. Too arrogant to ever think that never, never, never might be someday, someday, someday, someday. And then too incompetent to even just spend, it would have been nothing.

to spend a little bit of money on a bunch of names, future names, and trademarking all of them. I think they're scrambling behind the scenes right now on a lot of this stuff. Now, they can buy their way out of it, you know, but who knows what some of these squatters are sitting on and how much they want, and apparently you're not allowed to do that with URLs anymore, but, you know, this one guy owns like 25 different trademarks

of potential Washington names. And I did hear, you know, late last year that they let the Warriors trademark that they had. They let it lapse. And somebody else picked it up. But look, look, I know we all get caught short sometimes in our decision making. But good business is, you know, having a backup plan, even if you never use it, never use it. Never use it. It's never a waste of time to prepare for something that won't happen. But that could happen. Yeah, look, it can be a waste of time to prepare for something that'll never happen. But that could happen.

But the could happens, and this was always a could happen, even when it seemed at various times, including five years ago after the Washington Post poll came out, the post poll that reflected nine out of ten Native Americans had no problem with the name at all, did not find it to be pejority. or insensitive or any other, you know, description you want to give to it that would be negative. Even then, you know, somebody in that organization should have said, yeah, but Dan, here's the deal. The world changes, bro. It changes. We've seen a lot of these, you know, things that never, never, never, never. But then eventually, and this is not a never, never, never, because it actually could because you'd have to change it if the revenue streams that you collect from big sponsors and corporate sponsors were cut off. And they said, you have to change it. Like, that was always what was going to change it.

So there was always a possibility, even in the times when it seemed like it was a total long shot. But, you know, look, the bottom line is how many businesses has he been in that have actually worked? His first one, which ultimately, you know, wasn't a great business. he sold it just in time. And then the NFL team, everything else has failed. I'm sure there have been a couple of other hits. But, you know, between Johnny Rockets and the movies and the various other things, they've all sort of failed.

And this football team has failed. And the only reason it's- Radio stations. And the only reason, well, you know what? The funny thing is it failed because he got completely duped on the prices going in. So it was never going to work. for him. But, you know, the football team is a failure, even though it's propped up by this, you know, by the 31 other teams and the television contracts, you know, so it'll never actually

fail. But this, you know, the actual performance has been, you know, gross over the years. Anyway. So, I don't know. We're just sort of rambling here per usual. Frederick Keyes, Washington football team trademark. into other things. I did want to talk about a comment that Ron Rivera made. It's the second time he's made it, and he made it about Ryan Fitzpatrick. We'll get to that and a few more things right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So Ron Rivera, Tommy, has been making the rounds with the beat people. And he did an interview the other day with John Kime. He did one with Ben Standing. We talked about

some of that last week. He also did one with Nikki, Jabala, from the Washington Post, in which he said the following about Ryan Fitzpatrick. He said, I think for now the focus is shifted to shoring up the rest of the positions. Again, there's nothing that says Ryan Fitzpatrick can't be the guy for a while. If this dude continues to play at the level he has, and with Brady showing everybody that these veteran guys can do it, just ask Phil Mickelson, he'll tell you, then why not? not. Why would we want to move on? This is something that I said the day they signed them.

This may be a one-year deal, but this could be a two-year-plus solution for them. This is the second time he has said it. And so I am curious just, you know, and I took calls on it this morning, and it was pretty much split. How many people think that Ryan Fitzpatrick is not only the starter now, but it's more than just a one-year solution because I think the odds are even money that he's the starting quarterback for at least the next two years. Now, I could probably get better odds on that, but the reason I wouldn't be able to get much better odds on that is there's not an obvious

person waiting in the wings, even though the fan base, not the fan base, a percentage of the fan base believes that Taylor Heineke is there waiting in the wings, and he shouldn't even wait that he should be the guy right now. But I'm not surprised that this is not the first time he's said this. I think this is the second time that he has said this. But I think Ryan Fitzpatrick, if you force me to wager right now, I would wager that Ryan Fitzpatrick is the starter this coming season and in 2022. Well, I would go, I think, the opposite direction on that. I don't think he'll be the starter at the end of this season for this team. You know, most NFL players take a beating.

And he's played in 165 NFL games all for bad teams. Okay, so I'm thinking he's probably taken his share of beatings over the years, unlike Brady, who didn't take that many beatings when he played for the New England Patriots for years. and I just think that nature takes its toll. I think the odds are extremely against Ryan Fitzpatrick being successful at this age with his miles on him. I know he's coming off two of its most successful years

in the NFL as an elder statesman, but that can creep up on you real quick. that breakdown of the body can happen before you realize it. And I just think the odds are greater that he's not going to be able to withstand a pounding for a full season for this team. And it won't be the starter for the full 17 games, I got to get used to that, let alone start next year as well. Look, there's always the chance, and it's not, you know, a far-fetched chance that his age 39 season, which is the one upcoming, and then if I'm right and he plays in 2022, he'd be 40 years old, that it's possible that he may just break down. And even off of the two most productive years of his career at ages 37 and 38 with, you know, not a great team. in fact, a terrible team in 2019, but a much-improving young team in 2020,

if that was an aberration and, you know, and he breaks down, obviously I'll be wrong on this. I will take the chance that this guy, by the way, has been hurt, but never super seriously hurt where he, like, lost a whole season like Brady did, right, in whatever the year that was when they still went 11-5 with Matt Castle. played. Yeah, Matt Castle played instead. But I think that the big, the reason I believe this is, first of all, they had a guy that physically couldn't do it last year, but had great leadership and great intangibles. And they only won seven games, but they won a division, they played in a playoff game. And even though they only won seven games, and it was sort of a flukeish division

win because the division was so bad, there's recognition that there's a really good team in the making in different parts, you know, defensively. And even, you know, in some players offensively. And I think one of the reasons that they really went for it on the quarterback this year and then ultimately settled for the older of the potential plans is they think they can be competitive right now. And they can be competitive with a guy that has the experience, has the leadership, has the intangibles. And oh, by the way, plays the way Scott Turner wants his quarterback to play, wants him to push it down the field. But is also a guy that really spreads it around well. I think he's a good fit for this

offense. I also think that if you go back over the course of the eight different cities that he's played in over the course of his career, this would probably be in the top two or three in terms of surrounding casts. He's been on a lot of bad football teams over the years. He has started, you know, a hundred and forty-five, 146 games during his NFL career, most of them, 80% of them have been on bad teams. And this one's a good team around him. It's not a Super Bowl contending team, and it's not a

deep into the playoff team without a great quarterback. And I'm not suggesting he's great, but he's good enough for this team to be competitive with him. And if they're an improved team offensively this year, and he plays well, then I think he's back in 2020. too. By the way, I think there's a good possibility, Tommy, that they're an improved team this year and don't make the playoffs. I think that possibility exists. And in part because of the competitive landscape. And you know, I hate the schedule game, but I've already talked about the quarterbacks they have to face, etc. Like they could win eight or nine games this year, you know, one to two games more than they won a year before, but not make the postseason this year. You're right. But you know, it's interesting. Yeah. You brought up, and this is, you know, how you're, you know, different perspective on things, and you can use it any way you want. You brought up the fact that he's played for bad teams as a way to be hopeful that with a better cast,

he'll be able to play better. And my argument would be the fact that he's played for bad teams his entire career tells you something about the quarterback. What is to tell you about the quarterback? I'm saying the surrounding cast... And I'm saying that he's not good enough to play for good organizations. Well, I'm not saying that he's a guy that elevates a bad organization like Aaron Rogers or the four or five that can do it.

I'm just saying that he hasn't had the benefit of being a Jimmy Garoppolo on a team like that. and he's better than But I don't think that's an accident. I think that's by design. I don't think anyone wanted to touch him. You know, that's not unfair. It's funny, you want to hear something really interesting? You talk about a journeyman career.

That with Ryan Fitzpatrick can be measured based on his record, which is 59, 86, and one as a starter. the now on his ninth team, you know, over, you know, a career that started in 2005. So, you know, entering what, his 17th season as a quarterback. I mean, but let me give you another way that journeyman's reflected and you can describe it. I went through his contract history because somebody asked me this morning about Taylor Heineke's contract versus Ryan Fitzpatrick's contract. and Taylor Heineke signed a 4.75 million aggregate deal with just a million and a half guaranteed, whereas Ryan Fitzpatrick signed a one-year $10 million deal with $6 million of it guaranteed.

It's still cheap for a quarterback. But listen to this, Tommy, okay? He in the last, now seven contracts that he has signed, all of them have been for either one year or two years. that is definition of, yeah, we like him, but, you know, he's just sort of, you know, out there. And we need a backup or we need a guy who can start in a pinch. In 2013, and listen to the values, too. So over the course of his career, he's only had one massive deal.

In 2011, off of a really good, you know, couple of years in Buffalo, that Buffalo stretch, you know, he was playing well, not great teams necessarily, but they liked him as a starter. He had started, you know, 13 games, 16 games, whatever it was. He signed in 2011 a six-year deal worth $59 million, $15 million of it guaranteed. So a real long-term deal. It's the only long-term deal he's ever signed in his career. Since then, two-year deal in Tennessee for $6.5 million. bucks or 3.25 per year. Then a two-year deal in Houston for 7.2 million in aggregate, so 3.6 million a

year. Then a one-year deal with the Jets for 12 million in 2016. That 2016 season for him in New York was off of him coming in the year before and going 10 and 6. So he got one year, 12 million. He got one year, bucks from the Jets in 2016 after he had played with them and gone 10 and 6. Anyway, then it was a one-year $3 million deal with Tampa, a one-year $3.3 million deal with Tampa, and then he played well enough that Miami signed him to a two-year $11 million deal. If people aren't following, the bottom line is here, like he's been the master of one-and-two-year deals.

and his compensation goes up, comes down. Goes up, comes down. And this year, it's up. He was making $5.5 million a year in Miami, but off of two good years, he just got a one-year deal worth $10 million. It's just, it's interesting to see the career of a quarterback who will never be thought of as Hall of Fame or Pro Bowl or anything else,

true journeyman, and to see the contracts sort of mirror the kind of career he's had. He's made a shitload of money, though. Like, overall, he's made a lot of money. Like, I think guaranteed, you know, overall, you know, it's coming up on, you know, well north of $55, $60 million in overall aggregate earnings during the course of his career. Anyway, I don't...

Good for him. He's a likable guy. I don't know. nobody gave a chance coming out of Harvard. No. Look, it's just, I mean, I mean, you know, I just think it's just a real gamble. He could, he could, you know, have a year like he's had in the past, and he'll have better talent around him.

You're right about that. But I think if there's odds, I think the odds would be that he'll break down. Yeah. I think it's, I also just think it's like, over the last 20 whatever years of 30 quarterbacks or whatever it's been. I don't have the list of all the quarterbacks in front of me. I guess, you know, you could sort of compare it to, I don't know, who could you really compare this to?

Jeff Hostelter, when they signed him at the end of his career. What about John, John Freese? No, no. Oh, in terms of journeymen? Yeah, but I think that John Freeze was much younger. I'm trying to think of like quarterbacks they signed that were truly older quarterbacks over the last many years. Brad Johnson wasn't super young, but he wasn't old. I think when they signed him, he was probably, I don't know.

He had to be in his late 20s, worst case. Doug Williams was in the back part of his career. you know, Alex Smith was definitely in the back portion of his career to a certain extent, definitely. Oh, McNabb. McNabb was, but McNabb had so much more success. But when McNabb got here, he was 35 years old. Anyway, I don't know. Just Ryan Fitzpatrick talk, I guess.

I think there's a good chance. Watson and quarterback talk. I think there's a good chance. I think there's a good chance he's going to be the quarterback for the next two years. And I also think to your point, you don't think he'll finish the year. If it's because of performance, obviously, he won't be back. And performance because he hit that wall at 39 years old. But if he plays well, but towards the end of the year, they're out of it,

and they give Taylor Heineke a bunch of starts, then it comes down to what does Taylor Heineke look like? But I don't think if he doesn't start all 17 games, that that means he isn't coming back. I think they could be an improved offense and an improved team and not make the playoffs this year, and he could still be back. A few things to finish up the show on when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about this because I think I figured out on my radio show this morning that personally I care a little bit about it, but I had this sense that a lot of listeners don't care.

And I'll tell you why I think that in a moment. But this Supreme Court ruling yesterday against the NCAA had so many different columns written about it as if yesterday's opinion was going to be the beginning of the end for NCAA sports as we know it. I had our good friend Neil and Rockville on the radio show this morning to try to explain and walk me through a lot of it. And basically, I think simply put, what this all the last. allows college athletes to do for the lack of a more descriptive description, of a more elaborate description, is it allows them to make money off of their educational track. College football players could not get paid internships. College basketball players, college athletes have not been able to get paid for summer jobs.

that may be an internship or associated with the career track they want to be on. To me, that's been a silly thing all along. But many people believe that this is the beginning of the end, that it opens the door for ultimately what we've all talked about in the past, which is college athletes being paid by schools. It was a 9-0 ruling. Almost everybody that's written on this, Tommy, column-wise, says this was a significant day in the history.

history of college sports, that it opened the door for eventually college athletes to be paid and everything we know about college sports and the structure of college sports being changed. Brett Kavanaugh wrote one of the opinions on it, and he was really adamant and took very much, believe it or not, the liberal position on a lot of this. And he wrote, he wrote, quote, Nowhere else in America can business get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate. And under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different. The NCAA is not above the law, closed quote. His opinion pretty much tore into the NCAA's assertion that amateurism,

is the defining feature of college sports. And I have no idea personally where this goes. The only thing, and I also am not sure that anybody else really understands. Because I think one of the things that most people don't understand is that most college athletic programs don't make money. I know that seems like a surprise to many, but like 90% of all college, major college athletic department, do not make a profit. The 10% that do, in some cases, make wild profits. Ohio State, Texas,

Alabama, Georgia, the big super football powers. And then even after they pay for all of the expenses of their sport and the other 27 sports that don't generate any revenue other than men's college basketball, they have profits. I think over the years, and I've, you know, you and I've had some of these conversations over the years. It amazes me how many writers and columnists think that like $4 billion television contracts with, you know, the NCAA equals profit. That's revenue. That's gross revenue. And then in any business from that, you know, top line revenue number, you start to subtract all of the costs. And then you're either left with a profit or not a profit.

And in most situations, there is no money to pay players. There's no money. Should players be able to make money off of their name, image, and likeness? Yes, I'm all for that. Even though I do think it'll create a slight recruiting advantage for the bigger powers, especially those in markets like Columbus, Ohio, and Tuscaloosa, where there will be mega opportunities to make money off name, image, and likeness. Do I think they should get more money in terms of a stipend?

Yes. Do I think they should have perpetuity in terms of college degree opportunities after they leave the school and being able to come back for free? Yes. I think there are a lot of things that are really stupid. But to think, and this is what people are writing, that this is going to open the door for college players to get paid. They're not going to be able to get paid by 90% of the institution. So what will happen is you'll end up. having a breakup of the NCAA with those schools that can pay creating sort of their own Super League

of Alabama, Ohio, State, Texas, etc. You'll have a Super League. I'm not sure that's bad. I'm not sure that that's a bad thing. And then maybe the rest of the college system can get back to actually being a normal college operation. it's bad Tommy because um the sport college sports have big brands um huge brands in the overall you know in our overall sports culture and what's ironic um in my view is that those brands really aren't built on the players the players come and go you know in most cases in basketball in less than

four years. Coaches are actually more the college basketball brand than the players themselves. The programs, the traditions, the coaches, the, you know, all of that stuff is as much the brand in college football as Tim Tebow was. Again, I think the players are wildly underserved in the current system, and I would, I would create ways for them to make money. They should be able to make money off of an internship off of a summer internship. That's ridiculous that they haven't been able to have jobs and earn money.

Now, what they're worried about is that in some of these small towns or even big towns, you know, you get boosters that have car dealerships or businesses, and all of a sudden that internship is worth 50 grand over a summer. And that creates recruiting inequities. But netting the whole thing out, most colleges and most colleges, and most college sports programs, even if you cut out all of the other non-revenue-generating sports. So football and basketball pay for the other 25 sports.

Female sports, male sports, all of the sports that don't generate any sort of reasonable top line revenue, you know, money. Even if you cut out all those other sports, they still would barely make any money. So I don't know where like this, thought from columnists over the years, including guys like Jay Billis who run TV, where you're just going to start paying players in all of these places. You can't do it. It doesn't exist. That possibility doesn't exist. Now, if you want to just claim, well, it exists for the coaches.

Okay, so let's cut the coaches salary from $6 million to $3 million. Or at a Power 5 school like Maryland where they pay the basketball coach, let's say $2.5 to $3 million, cut it to a million and a half. Do you really think it's going to make that much of a difference? It's not. And by the way, they're not amateurs. They're not amateurs. They're coaches. They're in a capitalist system. They're paid based on what somebody thinks they're worth. The players are in a situation. I don't want to get into the value proposition, which I think the NCAA over the years has done a poor job of explaining the value to the athlete. in playing college sports. I'm not talking about just room tuition and board. I'm not talking

about food or training. I'm talking about the marketing platform that is college sports. So many of these players would not be known, would not get drafted, would not get the year, that first contract at the level that they get, wouldn't get endorsements that they get coming out of college unless they played at Kentucky, or unless they played at Duke, or unless they played at Georgia, or Bama, or Auburn, or USC. If they just went to the G League, or they played internationally, or they had Uncle Freddie coach them up and then a year later entered their name into the draft, their first three years in the league income-wise would probably be a fraction of what it is now if they played college sports.

I'm still waiting for somebody to do that analysis. People always point to room board and tuition and food and training and medical. That's not enough. How about the marketing platform for these guys that earns them millions in their first contract in the NBA or in the NFL? Whereas if they didn't have college football or college basketball, it might be 40% of that. But whatever. I don't think people really understand this story. I don't think I understand it completely, to be honest with you.

And I think the only thing that people care about when it comes to this conversation is, are they going to pay the athletes yes or no? and how will that impact college sports? And we're not there yet. Well, I mean, look, I don't have the same passion for college sports that you do. So, and I think, like, I mean, it's kind of obscene. In my own personal viewpoint, it's obscene what's happened to so-called college athletics in this country. So I'm all for anything that helps it crash. I am. I am. I'm all for anything that helps it crash to the ground.

God, isn't that funny? I mean, I love college sports more than I love pro sports. I mean, a lot of it has to do with you went to a school where it was a big deal. Well, basketball was obviously a big deal, and I love college basketball, but I love pro sports too. But I think, I don't think, that's an interesting question. I wonder. how many, I wonder whether or not the pre-requisite for loving college sports more than pro sports or as much is that you had to go to a school where it was important. I think you had to grow, I don't think that's true because I think in a lot of, you know, the southeast and the Midwest in particular, in smaller markets that don't have pro teams, it's the college teams always,

even if you didn't go to those schools. Yeah, well, let's take out the people Let's take out the fan base that didn't go to college. Okay, let's take them out of the equation. If you're heading down the track of, you know, minimizing the people in an area of the country that may not be as smart as you are. No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that for people who went to college, if you went to a college where a big-time sports were a big deal, I think you carry that for your life.

If you didn't, I don't think you care that much. Like I've told you before, like I have lots of friends in the Poconos who are huge Penn State fans who never went to college. Right. I'm not dismissing them. I'm just saying that. There's a lot of those people in the southeast in the Midwest and in Middle America. College sports are bigger than pro sports. Yes.

I agree. Okay. Let it all crash and burn. What'd you say? Let it all crash and burn. I did want to ask you about the Nats and their big weekend and, you know, they've got a big, Scherzer's pitching tonight, Fettie's been amazing, Lester's been good, Corbin's back, and how about Kyle Schwerber? By the way, I'm trying to get him on the radio show. God, the Nats should help out more often. But anyway, leading off, and...

and hitting, you know, hitting five home runs with eight RBIs in two games. I mean, he's killing it right now. He's got 18 home runs this year. I know. Looks like a genius. And that's due for picking him up coming off a down year with the Cubs. And you've got to give Dave Martinez credit for that. He was one of Davey's guys when Davey was with the Cubs coaching over there with Joe Vad.

and he was the one who worked with Scherzer to help him be a better outfielder. And he was the one who convinced Rizzo, yes, Schorber to bring him over here. So, look, I mean, one of the things that, and, you know, I like Davey, and I think he's a good manager, one of the things you have to say about Dave Martinez is that his teams never quit. You never hear about grousing in a clubhouse when they go through hard times. times. You never hear about, you know, lack of effort from the players. You hear about bonehead plays and stupid baseball from time to time. And to be honest with you, their whole

premise this year was to start off much stronger so they didn't have to go through this. Look how tough we are. We're going to come back thing. But they're doing it again this year. But I think that speaks to Davey's ability to connect with his players. It's a good point. I mean, they've never quit on him, and last summer's really not the example.

I mean, look at they are, this was a key stretch for them because I was talking to Zuckerman about this the other day. Their schedule, or actually was Dave Jagler, who I had on the show the other day, their schedule after these two games against Philadelphia and the four against Miami, Mets for

one game, a makeup game, Tampa, the Dodgers, the Padres, the Giants, and the Padres again. That is a killer stretch of schedule. You're playing really the best teams in the entire sport over about a month, you know, over a three to four week period, the All-Star break, you know, mixed in there a little bit. You're playing, you know, teams who in aggregate are, you know, an average of like 15 games over 500 right now. So the fact that they came through this last stretch. They won seven of their last date, puts them in position for these games to mean something. They could have been like 10, 11 back right now, and the season truly slipping away. But look, their starting pitching, Tommy has been huge during this stretch. Huge. Without Scherzer,

without Strasbourg, Corbyn, and Fettie in particular. How about Eric Fetty and what he's done recently? If you're a Knack fan, you're crossing your fingers. that this guy may finally have it. And this was a first-round pick. Yeah. You know, from 2004 to 2014 draft. And now he's pitching finally like a first-round pick. And, I mean, if he has found his place, that's found money for this team.

Because they weren't too big inside the organization at this point on Feddy. they thought he was basically, you know, at some point, about a year and a half ago, I remember having a conversation with somebody who thought he would be never anything more than a one or two-winning pitcher out of the bullpen. Well, that's changed dramatically now. Last three starts, no earned runs and nine total hits in his last three starts. All three wins. That would be a huge lifesaver.

if they could add a fourth quality starter to this rotation when it's healthy. Yeah. Big stretch coming up because two games against Philly and Miami, you know, if you can win four out of those six, then you can, you know, you're inching your way. You've inched your way almost back to 500, and that, you know, that sets up and bodes well for that brutal part of the schedule. They get Scher pitching tonight back after he pitched, what, two pitches, you know,

last Friday before exiting. All right. I just wanted to mention that, yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry about that. What? I wanted to mention people can read my column about the Wizards and Jay Wright, the stuff we talked about in the podcast last podcast in the Washington Times. Go to Washington Times.com slash sports.

You can find my column on Twitter and Facebook. and just a reminder, Nats Benefit, D.C. Grace Benefit Concert Sunday, July 11th, 2 to 5 p.m. at Caddys on Cordell featuring King's Soul. You can go to the D.C. Gray's website

for tickets. That'll be awesome. I wanted to quickly mention that the odds, apparently, on Ben Simmons being traded to the Wizards, are the second or third best odds. I do not think the Wizards will trade for Ben Simmons. And I know at one point, I think a month or so ago, I said I would take Ben Simmons over Bradley Beale. I would not. I was wrong about that. And I don't think that the Wizards

will trade for Ben Simmons. And Doc Rivers and the 76ers are in a bind here because he was so awful in that seventh and deciding game and so afraid in that seventh and deciding game the other night that anybody that was interested is less interested now. And so, Rivers' talk yesterday was about, you know, helping him become a better shooter, which he needs to become. You're a shooter. I fancyed myself as a shooter at various points in my way. You are a shooter from what I've heard. From what you've heard.

I appreciate that. Look, I said this earlier today. It's you can't, if, when you are so bad as a shooter, I don't know how much better he can become at 24, 25 years old. Now, we've seen guys who were inconsistent shooters, like Michael Jordan in college, become really good shooters in the NBA, but Michael Jordan knew how to shoot a basketball. You know, he had proper form shooting a basketball. Ben Simmons needs a total restructuring of the way he shoots a basketball.

And it's like a golf swing, Tommy, which you know nothing about, nor do I, by the way, because I don't have much of a golf swing. But if you learned your golf swing at a very young age, you have it now. And it's the best time to learn it. You know, muscle memory, all those different things. And a golf swing, anybody that plays golf and you're listening, you know what I'm saying. If you learned golf at a young age and you learned how to swing and you had a good golf swing, you've got one now. If you didn't develop a golf swing or start playing golf until you were in your 20s,

you may be a good golfer, but you don't have that golf swing more likely than not. But he doesn't have to be a good shooter. He just has to be able to shoot. Yeah, he's got to be able to shoot. So I don't know, given his form and given the fact that nobody, for whatever reason, ever taught him properly how to shoot a basketball, if he will end up being a good shooter. Rivers talked about, you know, doing the work. We've got a plan, but it's got to be a plan where whatever he's working on, he's working on the correct way.

You know, Markell Fultz had this anxiety issue too there for, you know, a year or two, the top pick, the Dematha product. And, you know, he's overcome that. Simmons is such a phenomenal player in every other aspect of the game. He's an incredible defender. He's a great passer. He's a great ball handler. And he's a good finisher, too. when he's around the rim and wants to finish,

he just can't stroke it with, you know, elbow in, elbow extended, free throw, you know, finger tips, you know, spinning that ball backwards with backward rotation. It's got to learn it from scratch. It would be one thing if he were taught as a kid how to shoot it properly. And then eventually, you know, he was just inconsistent. And you needed to tweak it a little bit or you needed to practice. this it more, but it's the wrong stroke. I say that, and there are guys over time that haven't had the perfect stroke, but have figured it out. Yeah, they have. They've come up with their own way

of shooting. Right. Jamal Wilkes, Tommy. Remember Jamal Wilkes the way he shot up a basketball? Absolutely. And it was like above his head, two hands on the ball, moving it right side, and moving it left side, bring it around to the right side and just sort of a set. It was the ugliest thing you've ever seen, but he was very effective with it. Look, Kai Rai Leonard, my favorite player in the NBA. He has these super long arms and these big hands. He shoots very much a flat shot. There's not a lot of arc, but with his shot, plenty of backward rotation, lots of fingertips, lots of extension. He's got the long arms, which get it out there, and he's just incredibly accurate with more of a flat shot.

But Simmons doesn't have anything working for him right now in terms of the shot. It's like they've got to start it from scratch. I've read somewhere that somebody suggested switch hands. I've heard that. I've heard that a couple of times from a couple of people. Yeah. Yeah.

Because I think he is amphidextrous. I think he anyway, they'll work on it. I did want to mention real quickly. Chris Paul's out again tonight. I don't understand why he's still out unless he actually continues to, I thought that the protocol had him out ready to play on Tuesday, which is, or on Monday, which was yesterday. Game one was phenomenal. Game two is tonight. No Kauai Leonard again. I have a feeling his knee is shot and he's not playing at all again in these playoffs,

but the clippers are just hopeful and maybe they're just keeping it out there for competitive reasons so Phoenix has to think he's playing but he didn't even make the trip to Phoenix. I hope he comes back but I like Phoenix tonight to take a two-nothing series lead for those

of you who care. They're laying five. I kind of like them minus the number. Anyway, we're done for the day. You got anything else? I got nothing else for you, boss. Okay. Back tomorrow although there is a bit of a possibility, we may take off tomorrow and then try to do something as a makeup over the weekend. But I'll figure it out between now and then.

Have a great day.