The Kevin Sheehan Show - Forgiveness Or Permission

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

Kevin and Thom today on a multitude of topics including Kevin's on his way to Ireland while Thom's heading to BumStock. Plus, is it better to beg for forgiveness or ask for permission? The boys discussed. Plenty of Commanders' talk too. Add to that, Thom's candidacy for Mayor of Shelly's, the Olympics, and much 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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Windonation.

Give them a shot. 86690 Nation or Windonation.com. They'll come out to your home and give you a free estimate if you mention my name. So Tommy, I'm actually heading out of the country tonight. I'm heading to Ireland tonight. There will be a show, by the way, tomorrow, and one on Monday as well. My Monday show, which I have already recorded, is an interview with Chris Gordon, the longtime legendary local TV, news reporter, and anchor.

And I'm going to tell you right now, he's got interesting stories, great memory. I mean, he was here in this market for the better, part of almost a half century, 46 years. But I'm going to tell you something right now about that interview, and you'll hear him tell the story, but I thought that you would be entertained by this. You know how he arrived in Washington? Have you ever heard his story? You know him, don't you?

I know Chris very well. Actually, his son is a big fan of the podcast, yes, and came to Cigars and Curveballs. That's why... The cigar event. That's how I got in touch with Chris, is that Michael, his son, was at your event and said, you know, my dad would be a great guest. And by the way, he's right. He was a great guest.

But Tommy, he was a lawyer in upstate New York. He graduated from Cornell Law and was practicing law in Rochester. And the movie, all the president's... men, which had not come out, but the book had, Robert Redford's film company picked up the rights to do the movie. And Chris, no acting experience, really? He just figured he'd be the guy to play Carl Bernstein in the movie. He loved the book, and he reached out to Redford's movie company and said, I'd like to audition for the part of Carl Bernstein. Well, long story, sure. because there is more of that story, and you'll hear it on Monday's show.

He didn't get the part, and he didn't even get an audition, but he came down to D.C. to interview Carl Bernstein under the premise that he was up for the part of playing Carl Bernstein. I love it. I love it. And so Carl Bernstein wouldn't see him, but he spent an hour. with him on the phone. And it was at that moment that Chris said,

I'm probably not going to get this part more likely than not. But man, wouldn't it be cool to be a reporter in D.C.? And that's the next step was he basically walked into Channel 9 and said, when do I start? It's a fascinating start to a career. you know, balzy, fearless, the whole thing with him. And you saw that, you know, over the years in his reporting style. You know, he and I talked after I recorded this interview,

and I didn't bring it up during the interview because the interview was about him. But you know this story that when I decided like I wanted to be in broadcasting in sports broadcasting, which this has been very much a second professional life for me. I think a lot of my listeners know that I was in four different startup companies, tech startups, and then came into this business because I loved sports talk radio. I'd listened to it all over the country. And I also thought I could do play by play. I have no idea why I thought I could do these things. But the first thing I did was I called up Catholic University because they had posted that they needed somebody to do the play-by-play of their games

on their website. And they said, well, what's your experience? And I said, well, let me just give you a couple of my references. Scott Van Pelt and Steve Buchance. Call them. They'll tell you. And they said, oh, we won't. We don't need to do that. You've got the job. And then the other thing I did is there's this local cable station in Montgomery County, Channel 21. I don't even know if it still exists. But my guy Brandy Sims, I think you've met Brandy before. I've met Brandy quite a few times. He was the anchor there forever.

By the way, Bram worked at that station as well before leaving, I think, for a job in Nebraska or something. But I walked into Channel 21, and I basically did the thing where, you know, I worked in television. I'm getting back into it. Why don't you just give me a cameraman, and I'll head out to College Park. I'll head out to Redskins Park and do some stories for you. And the news director looked at me like I was nuts, and he said, well, just go talk to our sports guy, Brandy. And so I went in and I told Brandy basically, I start tomorrow. And I took the play-by-play stuff that I was doing at Catholic and this Channel 21 stuff, by the way,

Three days after Channel 21 and Brandy said, sure, you can do some TV workforce. Joe Gibbs came back to coaching. The big news that they had hired Joe Gibbs. So I went out with Brandy and I was doing my own stand-ups and reports on one side, and he was doing them on the other for Channel 21 in Montgomery County, a cable outlet. But I took all that stuff and I ended up sending it to Bennett Zee. who was the head of Clear Channel radio and actually was a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. And I walked in there and I had also put together like an update tape.

I didn't even know what an update really was, but I listened to a few and I put that together. And somehow, I don't know why they did. They gave me a chance to do updates on weekends. and the first weekend was with Bram doing a show from the Preakness, and I was back in studio doing his updates. And then the second week, week two, and I was going to do Saturday and Sunday updates, Meredith Joseph, who was the morning update person, Meredith was great. She was so good on the air, great person too.

She left on maternity leave, and nobody wanted to do the early morning updates. and I said, I'll do them. And Castleberry and CJ gave me the gig. No one wanted to get up that early. And it was the only gig I could actually do at the time because I was in the midst of one of these like, you know, 18 months after we had sold a company consulting agreements where I had to go to Baltimore three days a week.

I had to go to Owings Mills three days a week. But I didn't have to be there until 1 o'clock. So, you know, right around lunchtime. And so it kind of worked out. And then it was really lucky because Tony came back from Monday night football to start doing radio again. And I was doing updates on his show. And he made me a part of his show. That was actually, you know, Meredith and Tony.

If Meredith doesn't have her first child and if Tony doesn't come back from Monday night football to do radio, I probably wouldn't be talking to you right now because I would have just gone and done something else. So lots of luck along the way. but Chris and I were talking about this afterwards, and he really is like one of those people I'd so appreciate. Like, he just thinks he belongs, you know? He just walks in like he owns the joint. And that's basically what he did. He walked into Channel 9 and said, I think I'd be really good at this.

When do I start? And they hired him. That's great. You know, you may be the. ultimate beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission guy. I definitely have always been that way, no doubt. Yes. But less of that actually as I've gotten older, I think.

I don't know. Yeah, but you're that way too. You're the same way. Not so much. I think you are. I don't think so. I don't think I am. I know a lot of people who are like that more than me.

I am generally an ask permission kind of guy and usually am taken the task by somebody if I'm working with somebody besides you would say no let's just do it. We'll worry about what happens later. You know? There's no doubt that that was a part of me

before broadcasting. It was no, we're just going to do this and we'll figure it out because the chances are better that it'll work out than it won't. But yeah, but he had some incredible stories and memories and people that he worked with and stories that he covered. So I'm going to run that on Monday. And there may be a Tuesday show, but then there probably won't be a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday show next week. But when I get back

on Monday the, what is that, the 12th? Yeah, Monday the 12th, we will have a game to talk about. That will be the first show after Jaden Daniels' first preseason game against the Jets. But I'm going to Ireland. You've been. We're presuming that'll be Jaden Daniels' first game. Yes, I guess. I'm presuming he'll play. I think he'll play.

Of course, I think it'll play, but we don't know. I mean, you're right. We don't know for sure, but I did this two weeks ago. or whatever, the history of Kingsbury is a head coach and Dan Quinn is a head coach is they play their quarterbacks in the preseason. So I'm expecting Jaden Daniels to play. Yeah, I think it's almost a certainty, but it's not an absolute yet. Right. So I'm heading to Ireland tonight. You gave me a recommendation. I had heard of that place. I am going to play golf twice. That's it. This is not a golf trip, really.

Right. I've not, I've told you, I've never been to Ireland. A dude named Sheehan's never been to Ireland. Everybody that has been, and a lot of my friends have been, and my wife has been, that Sheehan is essentially not like Smith, but the next rung down in terms of common names. Yes. Yes. You see it on a lot of stores and bars and stuff like that.

I'm excited about this trip. I the European trips and the international trips that we've gone on over the years, my wife will tell you, it's like I got to get there before I realize, oh, this might be a good time. You know, it's not that I'm kicking and screaming going, but I don't view typically some of those trips as vacations. You know, like how many cathedrals, how many museums before you're just, just, you know, spent. It's like that's not lying, that's not a beach vacation. Yeah.

But this one, you're right. Yeah. You're right. I remember Ireland. I mean, I felt that. Look, we had a great time in Ireland, but it was nonstop. There was, we had, we had an itinerary for every day, you know. And I just remember, I just remember at some point that, well, I just like to spend

the day, just sitting, drinking somewhere and doing nothing, you know, because we were always on the go. But, you know, I mean, we had fun doing that stuff. It just, it just required a lot more energy. Well, not as much as the fight did, not as much as when you knocked the guy out. I didn't knock a guy out. Well, whatever. You pushed him through a fence or whatever it was. somebody got a little too close and got a little bit rough with Tommy and he didn't realize that he'd picked on the wrong dude. I'm with you though. Like I'm playing golf twice only because, I mean, my wife's, it's, you know, it's more

of a family trip. My son and his girlfriend are, they're joining us for the first half of it. So I'm going to play golf with him. I never play, I don't play golf by myself. I mean, I have zero interest in ever playing golf by. myself. I prefer to be, you know, play with other people because that's kind of part of it is the camaraderie of it. But so we're going to play twice before he leaves and that'll be it. But I did say to her, there's going to be a night where I'd actually just like to saddle up at a pub

and have a few pints with the locals. That's what I'd like to do. Yeah. Yeah, we had a couple nights, I forget what town we were in, but we went to see the cliffs of moor, I'm sure I'm just pronouncing that. Yeah, we're doing that too, I think so. Yeah. And then we stayed in a small town nearby, and we stopped at a pub after dinner and listened to some music. Great music. You know, that was probably the best bar night we had there. We were sitting there for a couple hours, listening to a great band. And I remember, uh, the band didn't, you know, they covered these two songs. And I added them to my playlist after I got back. One of them is a song, uh, I think it's called Las Vegas and Donnie Gall. Uh, it's a great tune. And the other is a, uh, uh, I forget

what the other one was about, but, but that we had one night like that. That was spectacularly Irish, you know, surrounded by Irish people in an Irish pub with Irish music. And that was great, but you'll have a good time. You know, the Irish, they're really Irish. Yeah. You'll look around and you'll see everybody, everybody looks Irish. They're just, you know, it's not necessarily a melting pot. Right.

And it's not necessarily beautiful weather much of the time. Like I looked at the forecast and it is basically highs in the upper 50s, low 60s, wind and rain. Yeah. And that was pretty much it every day. But we got true. We never let it stop us. Yeah. Here's a question for you because it just popped up as a text message just a little while ago.

the question was, are you packed? When do you pack for a trip, like a real trip, a many-day trip? I'm a last-minute packer. I don't need much time to pack. I mean, I'm pretty methodical when I'm concentrating on something. I'm pretty methodical about, you know, what I need to do with each step. so I can pack pretty quickly and I usually don't forget to bring anything. I am very much a, not just a last minute, but like a last second.

Like we're leaving for the airport or the Uber is going to be here in three minutes. Are you packed? No, but I'll get there real quickly. I just don't. The funny thing is I'm more, I am a planner to a certain degree. But when it comes to packing, man, no. I have not even thought about it yet. And her point was, you need to think about it because we're not going on a summer beach

trip vacation where it's a lot of shorts and warm weather. She's like, you got to bring, do you have a windbreaker, a rain jacket? I don't even know if I have a windbreaker or a rain jacket. I think I do. I think I've got a golf windbreaker rain jacket. Yeah, I mean... You don't need it. Yeah, apparently so.

Apparently so. Are you a minimalist? Are you checking any bags or is everything carry on? So when I go on a trip where I have a lot of shit in a bag, I check it. You know why? Because I don't feel like lugging it around the airport. I don't feel like, you know, worrying about whether or not there's going to be overhead. And I say this, and I swear to God this is true, and I knock on wood when I say it.

I don't think I have ever, I think maybe once, long time ago. And I think it was in Portland, Oregon, of all places. United, or maybe it was Delta. Other than that, I don't think I have ever had a lost bag, lost luggage. Oh, I've had a few. I've had a few. I mean, I'll have a carry-on with a bunch of shit for the flight. And by the way, the flight is an issue.

We did not book it. We did not plan well with respect to booking the flight. And so, you know, it's a seven-hour flight. We've already had this conversation. I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, beat it to death. But right now, we're in the back. And I'm trying to figure out, you know, how to get upgraded to a nicer seat up front. And right now the flight is full.

So we'll see if that works out I have a feeling it's not going to work out The way I want it to work out I think coming home we're good But going there pain in the ass Anyway Yeah this is one that I'm really looking forward to It's I don't know

I'm so I've never been to Ireland Can't wait to go to Ireland Feel like you know A lot of my cousins have said that you know They've gone to Cork And all of our family stuff is like you know you can trace it back i mean there's shians everywhere but they've found actual relatives and somebody apparently works or owned a bar for a while and they're a distant

relatives so i i don't really care about that stuff um but um i'm looking forward to it uh that's great yeah um it'll be a good time it should be a good time what are you doing uh and where are you going Next. On Saturday, my favorite day of the year. Hold on. Bumstock. Bumstock is Saturday? Yes.

I thought you stopped going to that. No, no, no. That's Wiomania. Wyomania, you stopped going to. We stopped doing. But Bumstock is entering. It's 31st year. Holy shit.

Okay. And, I mean, I'm really looking forward to it. Bumstock is to get together. We do everything. every year of many of the kids guys that and women and men that I went to school with. Is Mary going to be there? Strausburg. Is Mary?

Mary's not going to be there? No, she won't be there. Will you be at Rudy's at all? I love Rudies. I don't think I'll be at Rudy's this trip. Okay. I'm going back up at the end of August where I'll probably wind up at Rudy's, but not this trip. Because Harry, Fisher, who hosts it on his farm, lives in Bangor.

And that's over the mountain from East Strausburg. So I don't think I'll be making it over the mountain. It's just to go to Rudy. Yeah. You know, the ultimate bump. I mean, it's a lot different than it used to be, you know, given our age. You know, I mean, the ultimate bumstock was we went through five-half kegs one night, and then it's midnight, and we're out of beer.

and Harry knows a guy who owns a bar nearby. So we drive to the bar and we buy a half keg from him, and we bring it back. There's no more of that. No more of that. I mean, how hard can you hit it at this thing with the age that you guys have gotten to? It's limited. I mean, I'm usually good.

If I'm there, okay. Let's say I'm there drinking. seven or eight hours, let's say. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'm usually good for a beer an hour. Yeah.

That's a good. You know what? That's a reasonable pace. That's a mature pace. So if I'm there for eight hours, I'm usually good for eight beers. Yesterday I played golf. Scott came out with us and two friends of mine, and we got that storm came through. There was a nasty storm.

I don't know if it came through Frederick, but it poured. And the horn went off, and we thought there was a chance that we were going to get back out and play. But I was so pissed off because I played the worst nine holes I've played all summer by far. But what I decided to do, because sometimes in some of you people who play golf understand what swing oil can do for your game, meaning, you know, a couple of beers or transfusion, which is Tommy a vodka-related drink for golfers, it kind of loosened you up. And I, at that, we don't have an actual turn.

There's a shack at the seventh hole, and I was hitting it so poorly. And I, and I'm like, I'm going to need, I'm going to need some help here. So between hole number seven, and the time the horn blew, which was after the 11th hole, I drank four beers, which, you know, is not, that's a beer, a hole. That's not bad. I mean, that's a beer every 15 to 18 minutes. But the point was, that was supposed to set me up for a nice back nine, but the horn blew, and we had to go in. So it's kind of like the person who has to take Ambien or has to take something.

before a flight and they take it, you know, an hour before the flight, and then the flight gets delayed. And they're sitting there and they're like, well, what do we do now? And they're out cold. Yeah. So that's what I felt like yesterday. You know, I've never, I've never been in a sports competitive atmosphere with you. So I'm kind of curious about this. Are you a, are you a yeller? Are you a slammer? No. Like if you're not hitting it well, do you slam your club? Do you scream at yourself? No. Now, have I taken a club and wrapped it up against a tree really hard and snapped it? I have done that. Yes. I think everybody's done that at one point. But no, not at all. I'm not a screamer. I'm not a yeller. I mean, there are guys. It's like every shot. And they stink. And it's like, oh, Tommy, what are you doing? Like, stop. And let me just tell you, I've gotten to the point.

The camaraderie of golf and having a good forsome of guys that you enjoy their company and everybody, you know, look, the handicap system is what makes golf so great because at any level you can play with somebody at a completely different level and still enjoy the day. Now, it does suck when you go out with somebody who really can't play at all because it slows you down to a certain degree. No one would ever accuse me of being a great golfer, but no one would ever accuse me of playing slowly. That would be the thing I would be most angry about is if I played slowly. But no, I'm not that way at all. You know, never. Because it's not a sport that I feel like I, I mean, Tommy, I'm a mid-handicap golfer. I didn't start golfing until I was in my mid-to-late 20s, really.

and it's just become more of a passion in, you know, over the last 15, 20 years. Right. And so, and I know that, you know, I'm limited in terms of what I'll ever be able to accomplish. I mean, I just like, you know, hitting a couple of really good shots, playing a couple of decent rounds, and having a few cold ones with good people. That's why when you knock golf, part of golf you would love. You'd love it because it's not always just about the golf. But anyway, I'm not going to try to talk you into that, just like I'm not going to try to talk you into Game of Thrones.

Here's a good rating that we got. Five stars on Apple from Prime 86. Prime 86 writes, I come for the weather models and updates. I stay for the Shelley's commercial. Tom is in the wrong line of work. He should run for office. Have you ever thought about running for office, any kind of office?

Well, here's what's interesting. And I don't know if every news reporter thinks this. But when I was a news reporter and I covered government officials and politicians for like 15 years, okay, I think every news, at least I was always curious about how would I do on the other side? Right. You know, if I was, if I was one of them, if I was running for office, or if I was part of a campaign or something like that, I think a lot of news reporters have that curiosity. But I never did it because, of course, I know the work involved, and the second part would be I'm pretty much unelectable, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I said that, by the way, not because of your political bent or views.

It's just that people would rummage up some of the columns you've written over the years, and you might be in a little bit of trouble. But you remember when Sali ran for like a county council seat? The school board. It was a seat on the school board, right, in Montgomery County. He got a lot of votes. He didn't win. he was close to winning.

Yes, he did. I admired him so much for that. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. Steve Solomon, we're talking about. I used to cover school boards and county councils and things like that, you know. And I know how the steps, I mean, you know, you go through the process, you get

named by the county politicians. you get named to like a board, you know, like a recreation board or to parks and wrecks board or something like that. And you make a little name for yourself. And then you move up the ladder a little bit. That's generally how it used to be done, you know. And at some point it's your turn to run for the county council or something like that. Oh, my God. That just sounds terrible.

The whole thing sounds so terrible. And, you know. It's an ego thing. It's an ego thing. There was a movie. There was a mini-series by David Simon and Bill Zorsi. Two guys I worked with at the Sun called Show Me a Hero. And it was, I'd recommend it to anybody.

It was based on the fight for public housing in Yonkers, New York, a very conservative and white community at the time. and a lot of it focused on the local politicians there. And the main character, I figure Isaac, I forget the actor's name, it's Isaac something or another. But he played the mayor, and part of his allure was he loved the juice of being mayor of Yonkers New York. You know, I mean, being like the big fish in a small pond, there's a certain amount of juice that comes with politics. You know, it's like there's a certain amount of juice that comes with sports or, you know, with journalism. Politics is the same way. And I think there's, you know, some ego involved in the idea that you would be put in power.

Look, there's nothing worse than the head of a local HOA. Okay. Okay, that is, that is, that is power gone amok usually. but that shows you the ego involved. You know, it's the head of the local HOA. Now, that's democracy where it's all head and no beer. Don't even start down that path with me because I've had this conversation with my wife many times. And yet, she has been asked and has taken on those responsibilities.

And she's very much like me. Like it's like, no, we're just going to do this. and if it doesn't work out, we'll figure out a solution to it. And that's just not how government and those kinds of things tend to work. And it's, I remember, I think it was the second neighborhood. No, it was the first neighborhood we lived in after we got married. We needed one of those variances to build a fence, you know, one of those neighborhood variances, you know. And Tommy, I was, I mean, we had just gotten married and I am like, no, no, no, we'll just,

Let's just build the fence. And she's like, no, we actually can't do that here. Because the fence we wanted to build actually was alongside of the road. We lived on like the corner of an intersection. She's like, no, they'll see it. They'll stop it if we start. And we had to go to the, we had to go to like seven meetings, seven meetings with plans. And then they had to get back to us for a fucking fence.

And I remember going, oh, my. my God, we're not building this stupid fence. These people, I mean, you could, some of those people just could never work in certain environments. You just couldn't. They couldn't. And I just remember saying, I'll never, ever be on one of these neighborhood association things. It would drive me crazy. We did ultimately get the fence built.

I lived in Columbia, Maryland for 30 years, which is the ultimate. not in my backyard community. I mean, you have to get approval to pay the money. Oh, there are other neighborhoods. There are neighborhoods in Chevy Chase and Bethesda that I'm sure are just as bad. Okay, well, and I remember at one time when we were in a townhouse association in a village in Columbia, they wanted to put in new sidewalks. Yeah.

And we really didn't need new sidewalks, but I wasn't paying attention. I was working 60 hours a week. at the Baltimore Sun at the time. I didn't care if they used mud on sidewalks, but my wife cared. And so she, and another neighbor, started a petition against it. And then they had to show up at a homeowners association meeting,

a townhouse association meeting, and it was at a house, this guy's house who was the head of the townhouse association. And when they sit down for the meeting, the guy sitting there at the table with a gun, on the table. What? With a gun on the table.

Are you kidding me? No. As an intimidation technique? Yes. Yes. Did anybody go up to him and take a swing at him? Well, I mean, we're talking about a lot of housewives. Oh, okay.

And was he the only male in that meeting? I don't remember if he was or not. I wasn't there. Okay. Yeah. I wasn't there or else. It's a good thing you weren't. Yeah.

But what's funny is they lost the fight eventually. There were no new sidewalks put in. So it's my wife's greatest political victory. It's a good one. It's a good one. All right. Bumstock, you're looking forward to it? Absolutely.

All right. Well, we'll talk about that when you get back. When I get back, we'll have lots to catch up on. is some sports today. The commander's practice. Dan Quinn spoke before the practice. We'll get to that more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code. Kevin D.C. and MyBooky will give you a cash bonus when you initially sign up. Tommy, all the preseason lines are up. I have friends that swear by preseason NFL betting.

I am not in that camp. I don't bet the NFL in the preseason. I don't personally think that you have some sort of advantage based on the way you kind of know the coach thinks about preseason. But there are a lot of dudes that love NFL preseason betting. And my bookie's got all those lines up. Tonight is the Hall of Fame game. Chicago, a two-point favorite over Houston.

I don't think anybody's playing in that. game. And then Washington, and they just put up the week one preseason lines, Washington's favored over the New York football jets in the preseason opener next week. I would bet you any amount of money. It's because the expectation is that Aaron Rogers will not play in the preseason, and Jaden Daniels will. Washington's a one and a half point favorite over the New York Jets. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin, D.C. Do you remember when the Hall of Fame game? I bet you never felt this way. And the way I'm going to describe is really for hardcore football fans. There was a time when the Hall of Fame game, it was the first time you had seen football on TV since the Super Bowl or the Pro Bowl, which usually was a week after the Super Bowl.

and it was must watch. It's like we get to see football on TV. And oh, by the way, way back in the day, the starters played. And they played sometimes two quarters of the first preseason game. But now there's just so much football on, even though I don't follow the XFL or the UFL, whatever it's called now. But yeah, I don't feel that way anymore. But I remember there was a time I would be excited to see football on TV.

again. It was always an afterthought for me. Yeah, it's an afterthought for me now. Although tonight you get to see the new kickoff rule for the first time in an NFL game. The opening kick, you'll see what it looks like. And, you know, I'm wondering actually in this preseason if teams are going to hold back whatever their strategies are for kickoff returns and kickoffs for the regular season or if they're going to test some things out. You know, to see them actually on the field. I don't know. But, you know, Washington added a kicker yesterday.

I know you were excited about Riley Patterson being added to the roster. Well, it's certainly a storyline now moving forward and in training camp. I mean, it's been a pretty benign training camp. You know, it's pretty much listening to the coaches, you know, with coach speak, watching Jane Daniels and how great he is and everyone's fawning over him. But now we've got some kicker issues, and let's face it, for a team that will probably have some close games this year,

they're going to need a kicker if they're going to want to win some games. Yeah, I mean, I thought all along that the kicker that they have currently on the roster, Ahmed was not going to be the kicker when they got to. the regular season. And Riley Patterson got released in Washington with that second position on the waiver wire with the second worst record last year. That actually comes in handy because obviously Carolina didn't want Riley Patterson. Washington got that second opportunity with a player on waivers.

They signed him. And now they've got a kicker with real experience. He's kicked for four years. And probably with a chance to actually be their kickers. this year, whereas I don't think the other guy had that chance. By the way, the competition between the two today, for the people that were out at camp, they tweeted about this, they each kicked five balls from short distance all the way back to 55 yards, and they were both five for five. So see what competition does for kickers? Yeah. Yeah.

There were a... So that's going to be worth watching. I guess. It's a kicker. But it's important. It's a kicker. You know, the last second field goal in game five, it's going to be important. No doubt. Look, every kickoff is going to be important this year. This is, you know, a whole new game from a kickoff standpoint. So there were two quotes from press conferences today that I wanted to read.

The first one was from Brian Robinson, Jr., who, talked after practice today for the first time. And he was asked about Cliff Kingsbury's offense and what he liked about it most. And he said, quote, the versatility. He plans to make sure we have a balanced offense. He emphasizes that. Just making sure he balances the run in the pass and also to keep it versatile. So it's very exciting. It's an exciting offense to be a part of. I'm just excited to see him take that next step. Man, I'll tell you what, seriously, people, I know that we have hammered Eric Bianami a lot. Some of you have actually been offended by it.

Sorry. I'm telling you, there was never a chance at any point during the season last year that Eric Bianami was going to be back this year as the head coach, let alone, you know, and not even as an offensive coordinator. I mean, hence he's not in the league. There would have been multiple players asking for trades had he come back in any role for this franchise after spending one season with him. But from a running back standpoint, look, they threw the ball to Brian Robinson last year and he proved that he could be really effective out of the back field. I think they're going to run the football.

I think you've got to run the football with a young quarterback. That is proven over a long period of time. You can't put it all on him no matter how good he is. You've got to be able to run the football. You've got to be able to play good defense. Have a big target like a Zach Ertz. And I bet Kingsbury understands that. I think Brian Robinson, Jr. could be a workhorse this year.

He's very much like James Connor, build-wise, even running style-wise, which is who Cliff Kingsbury had in Arizona. And during the season in which they went 11 and 6, between him and Chase Edmonds, they had the seventh most rush attempts in the NFL. So I think that... That is encouraging. Yeah. Because, you know, it's hard in this day and age to find offensive coordinators

who don't speak with a fourth tongue. Right. You know, everyone talks about balanced offense, and then they get out there and they can't stop themselves from throwing the ball 50 times he came. Yeah, and look, he comes from Air Raid. I had Sam Fortier on the show yesterday, and Sam, you know, who has a real good grasp, I think, among a lot of the reporters when it comes to football. You know, he calls it air raid adjacent. I'm not even sure it's that, really. you go back to Kingsbury in that season in 2021.

They were like 5644 passed a run. And I think they're going to be that. You can't really air-rated out in the NFL anyway the way that guys like Leach and Mummy and those guys did it. They relied on no tight ends. They relied on hash marks being in a different spot. They relied on different, you know, offensive line splits. You just don't see that actually in the NFL.

in part because you really can't see it because of some of the things that I just mentioned. But I think they're going to be a big-time pound the ball team, or they're going to try to do that with Brian Robinson, Jr. this year. Well, I would hope so, because I think he is a stud, and I think that we haven't seen the best that he has to offer. You know, I mean, will they miss Antonio Gibson? I think they will. Yeah, I mean, I like...

I'm not a big Echler fan. I liked Gibson. I love that. I've always loved Echler. So, you know, I think that's the perfect replacement, and it's an experienced replacement for Echler. I'm just looking to see where Robinson was in attempts last year. He was 32nd in the league for rushing attempts in the NFL last year.

That's an indictment. Yeah, and you go back to 2021, and the 2021 regular... season. You had James Conner, who was 17th, but they also had Chase Edmonds, who had 116 carries that year as well. So anyway, yeah, I like Brian Robinson, Jr. I like Echler. I think actually their running back situation is fine. I was impressed when Chris Rodriguez got opportunities last year. It's not going to surprise me at all if they are very, very, very, very, you know, run heavy at times, trying to establish Brian Robinson, Jr. By the way, using Jaden Daniels in that running game, you know, using him in a lot of zone

read stuff. And, you know, there's definitely a benefit to 11 on 11 in the run game. There's no doubt about that. So there's another quote that I wanted to read. And this one's from Quinn. Quinn actually had a press conference today in which there was actually some really good substance on players, really said some nice things about Duran Payne and Diyami Brown as well. I think Diommy Brown apparently is having a very good camp. But I think it was JP towards the end

of Quinn's press conference who asked the coach how he views players that they brought in versus players who were already here. And he said, quote, I didn't want to have any bias in that regard. And so that was also part of the free agency, the draft part to say there isn't a sacred cow that was told no matter what this, no matter what has to happen. And so I think as an NFL player, they don't want to be bullshitted. And many times they have to try to read between the lines with that. And that's not what we're about here. If we're going to say we're going to be about competition, then we're going to have to have moments like today where we are competing. And it's not on reputation. It's on the performance. And I think every good ball player knows that. It's like,

what are you doing? How are you performing? It's the performance. That's the reputation, not what you have done. And so days like today, and I guess they had a bunch of competition stuff today, that's how it goes down. You know, Rahim Morris, who is the new head coach in Atlanta was on that Ryan Clark podcast. And it wasn't Ryan Clark who was actually doing the podcast that day. I forget who it was. But this was the other day. And Rahim Morris called Dan Quinn the best connector with players of any coach he's ever been around and that he learned a lot from Quinn, I guess, in Atlanta when he was there. And I think that the number one thing we're learning about Dan Quinn, this of course before any games are played, is that he has been able to establish

a level of trust with his players. And it's because he doesn't BS him. You know, he basically tells them the way it is. And that's what he was talking about. Nobody's earned anything. Even this, you know, no sacred cows, you know, you might think Terry McClorn and John Allen and and Duran Payne and Sam Cosmi are. And they probably are. He just would admit it. But I think that he is a really good communicator with that kind of group of professional athletes. Here's the other part, though.

There's no reason to believe he's not. Everything looks like it is. But when they start playing games, my experience has been covering these guys, covering football players. is, you know, the most important thing is they feel they're put in a position to win on Sunday. They feel the game plan and what they've been sent out to do puts them in a position to win. And that's still, I think, the most important thing a coach can do to gain the confidence of a player is they feel like, okay, I have to execute, but I've been sent out. there with what I need to execute.

Right. And I'm not sure they felt that way, the players that were here last year, that they felt that way last year at all. I don't think so. You know, as I was kind of describing Dan Quinn and the way people talk about him around the league, that he's just a very good communicator and he's a guy that players and coaches trust, again, hate to keep coming back to this. but these are the same things that were said about Ron Rivera.

They just weren't. Ron Rivera still around the league. Carolina? Yeah. And Carolina, he was beloved by media and players. No doubt. He still has a great reputation around the league with people in the league. They love, people really liked Ron Rivera.

I mean, He, you know, didn't happen here, that's for sure. Yeah. And there were a lot of circumstances. I mean, one of the biggest is he was dealing with cancer, which will certainly affect anyone's personality, having to go through something like that. Yeah.

And having to work for such a dysfunctional organization, there were a lot of mitigating factors that would, make you less than your best. Yeah. Well, like we've said, and everybody understands, nobody had a chance to succeed here, as long as Dan Snyder was the owner. So I wanted to read this. I read this on the radio show and we took calls on this, but I want to ask you sort of the follow-up to this. But this came from Jack. Jack wrote, I don't have a problem with the guy who wrote you and said to dial back expectations this upcoming season. Tommy, I got an email and I read it on yesterday's show from

Stephen H who said, Kevin, your 10 and 7 prediction is ridiculous. I love that the old Kevin is back, but this team doesn't need these kinds of expectations. This is a season that should be about back to respectability. Seven wins, three more than last year would be hugely successful. Obviously with the idea that Jaden Daniels is good, but we don't need 10,000. this year. We need it next year and down the road. And I shot back at that email saying, look, there's definitely a scenario in which at the end of the year, seven wins was a successful season. But you don't go into the season thinking that we don't want 10. I mean, if they start to approach 10, stop because we've got to stop at 7. But anyway, Jack wrote, I don't have a

problem with the guy who wrote you and said to dial back expectations this upcoming season. They're not winning 10 games. They're just not good enough to win 10 games. Not sure why you're setting yourself up for disappointment. This season is all about a litmus test for Peters and Quinn. We need to know at the end of 2024 if they can pick players, develop players, and coach the players. If they can't, nothing else matters. So, I'll ask. you, what would a successful season be? You know, it doesn't even have to be a record. What at the end of this year needs to be learned? That Adam Peters can pick good players. I mean, that's the most important one, the general manager, that the personnel that they've picked are quality

players or good players. You know, I mean, it really doesn't matter how good your coach when there's never not one player or rarely one player named in the top 100 of the NFL players year after year. It really doesn't matter how good of a coach you are. So, you know, in the players that Adam Peters drafted, that it's a successful draft. There you go. A successful draft will make a successful season.

So I think basically it's about Jaden Daniels. Like we have to get to the end of the season and feel like they got that right. And there's a chance there won't be a strong opinion either way. More likely than not, though, if he stays healthy and he starts 17 games, we'll have a strong opinion, hopefully at the end of the year one way or the other. Because if it becomes clear that he's not the guy, well, that's a disaster, and by the way, that falls back on Peters. But if it turns out that he is the guy and you feel like we got him, we got the guy for the next 10 years,

you know, that's what you really want out of this season. But let me just tell you that that's not, you know, exclusive as a goal for the year. Like I know that they're not thinking about, well, this year is just about finding out if our quarterback can play. It's not what they're thinking. They're thinking, you know what? We're one of those 25 teams that if everything breaks right and we stay healthy and we catch, you know, certain teams that might be better on the right day because they've got somebody injured, we could win nine or ten games and make the postseason. Because it's a completely different team. 52 of the 90 players in camp are new.

More than half the starters at – half the starters at least are – going to be new and it's a completely different coaching staff and it's a different atmosphere. Last year was sunk before the season started. But to me, it's like I want them to be a competitive team. I want to have games that are meaningful and I think there's a chance based on what I said last week. I'm all in on them being the surprise team, one of the two or three surprise teams that you get every single season. But at the end of the year, really big picture, they need to know Jaden Daniels can play. Now, your answer to me, I just think that it's too soon to judge Adam Peters after this

first season. Most of the free agent signings were one-year deals with players that may or may not work out, but he understands that going in because he's really just trying to keep that opportunity and free agency open for next year and the year after. if they need more pieces and maybe a couple of big pieces, they just didn't spend much in free agency, and they're going to still have a lot of salary cap space. It's always too early on a draft to know for sure after one year.

For sure, but you can pretty much tell when a player doesn't, when a first, when a second or third round pick doesn't get on the field when there's a need at that position, you can tell, or you can tell like if a Spencer Coleman winds up being starting, you know, what? Brandon Coleman. Brandon Coleman. He's brother. You know, being one of the starters on the offensive line, that would certainly be a step in the right direction.

There are things that you can tell after the first year. It might not be, it might not be fair to judge him over the first year, but there are things that could emerge that would tell you that it was a successful. draft beyond just Jay and Daniel. Yeah, I just think that, you know, I, we've talked about this before. I do think that

Adam Peters is going to be judged sooner rather than later because of the situation he came into, which was terrible football team, six picks in the top 100, including number two overall in a very, very, you know,

kind of perceived, strong quarterback draft. I mean, six of them going in the top 12. Second most salary cap space, not only this year, but next year as well. No ties to a coach. He got to pick his coach. I mean, he had the blankest of slates to start this rebuild. And so the quarterback and the coach alone,

we're going to have a strong feeling about at the end of the first year. By the end of the second year, we'll definitely have strong feelings one way or the other about both of them. So I certainly think, you know, 34 regular season games, two years, then we can really start talking about the job that Adam Peters is doing. I just don't think we're going to be in that position after 17 games. But I do think we'll have an inkling on Jaden Daniels after 17 games. I do think of the Speaking of the 10-win prediction and optimism

See, this is why I think that that guy who wrote that was right in the sense that you mentioned 52 new players a whole new coaching staff all that has to come together that's a lot of change to happen for one organization

and for all that to mesh and that could take some time. So I think 10 wins is wildly optimistic. I know, but that's what they say about two to three teams every year that end up being in that position. Last year, obviously, was Houston more so than any other team. But every year you get one, two, three teams that people think don't have enough. It's too early, it's too late, whatever it is. And it's a league that just is decided week in and week out with very, very,

very close lines. And I don't, you know, every year there are a couple of teams that are elite. There are a couple of teams that are terrible. I don't think this team on paper looks like a terrible team. I know how people have been evaluating the roster. I've seen some of the rankings, you know, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. I don't view it that way. I think they're among the masses of, you know, hey, if everything breaks right for us this year,

we could be 10 and 7, and if it doesn't, we could be 7 and 10. You know, and that's 25 to 27 or 28 teams every year when you look at it, you know, afterwards. All right. We've got other things we'll finish up with right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Well, you know, I mean, you've always heard me talk about Shelley's backroom. I'm kind of an expert in the field of Shelley's backroom and the history of Shelley's backroom and the pleasures of Shelley's backroom at 1331 F Street, Northwest, in the district.

One of the great cigar bars in the whole world. If there was an Olympics for cigar bars, shelley's would be a gold medal winner. Let me just say that. But we talked about politics before and running for office. and I got to ask you, Kevin, don't you think I should be mayor, Shelly? I don't know, there are a lot of very important people, very famous people that frequent Shelly's. I certainly think you would be on the ballot. I don't know.

I'd like to see your stump speech, although I get to, I think we get to hear it basically in this spot twice a week. Yes, and let me just say, if you vote for me for mayor, of Shelly's, I'll make sure you never have to vote again, okay? So, vote for me. Yeah, it'll be the last vote. No term limits for Tommy. Right. Last vote for Shelly's on the guy that can deliver the goods. And just ask, Eddie, we've had a number of listeners to the podcast who went to

Shelly's because of what they heard here and always reported back what a great time they have. So all the polls, all the elects results indicate Shelly's is number one, and I should be the mayor of Shelly's Backroom. Shelly's Backroom, you can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. Because we're always current, I would ask you who you're considering for the ticket. Who's your vice mayor going to be? Oh, now we're going to do something new. There is no vice mayor.

Okay? It's me. Because you are a dictator. I'm the city council chairman. I'm the school board president. I run the whole thing. You also handle the cash, I heard. All right.

You wanted to talk about the Olympics a little bit. Go ahead. Well, I'm in watching, you know, a lot of swimming. That's opened it. And I watched Katie Ledeckie with her secretary type performance. God, she's amazing. In the 1500 meters where you can't even see anybody on the screen who's in second place.

But one of my favorite parts of the Olympics is starting started, I think, yesterday or today. I started yesterday, boxing, Olympic boxing. I mean, you know, I love Olympic boxing. I love covering boxing

at the Olympics when I was in Sydney in 2000. And there is a local kid, Jamal Harvey, a featherway from Oxen Hill, Maryland, who was competing as a featherweight in the Olympics, and he won his first match. Oh, wow.

He won a three to two split decision in the federal weight division, and now he moved on to the quarter fight all on Saturday. He's a featherweight. He's a featherweight. Yeah, which is 125 pounds, I think, for the Olympics. Now, Olympic boxing is in real danger of being cut from the Olympics. What? There's a lot of speculation.

Yes, because the organizations that run amateur boxing are considered so corrupt, and the judging is considered so corrupt. And you've got to be really corrupt to be drummed out of the Olympics for corrupt judging. But there's a lot of question as to whether boxing will continue to be the Olympics. This could be the last time you see it for a while. That's crazy. I know. I mean, because for American, I mean, some of our favorite memories are from boxing in the Olympics.

The 76th with Sugar Ray Leonard. Spinks is. The 84 team with Pernell Whitaker and Evander Holofield, Oscar de La Jolla at the 1992, Barcelona Olympics. You know, so I'll be tuning in the Olympics when boxing starts again. And looking forward to see if this kid, Jamarmon. Marl Harvey comes away with gold medal. We haven't had a gold medal winner, I think, since David Reed, who was a middleweight, maybe in 96.

Where are most of the medal winners coming from? Are they coming from Europe or are they coming from South America? Eastern European. Yeah. I mean, that's where boxing is big. The East and Europeans, you know. A lot of you... The old Soviet Union.

Yeah. A lot of you responded, and I forget if I did this on the podcast with Tommy on Tuesday or whether or not it was a radio thing that I did yesterday. But a lot of you reached out to me to say that Peacock is the best way to consume the Olympics, that you basically can go to Peacock and choose. And it's very easy to navigate. And there's a menu there and you can just choose what you want. Tommy, I mentioned the other day that, and again, I forget if I did this with you on Tuesday. Tuesday, there are 329 events. You know, we talked the other day about what's more important gold medals or total

medal count. There are 329 events over like 39 sports, four or five of which are new. And 15, 15 different networks, NBC networks that are carrying these Olympics. I just think it's very hard to consume now. And I don't. I don't. I sat down and I've watched a little bit here and there because Kara's been watching it. She's been into the gymnastics in particular and the swimming.

But, you know, even watching the gymnastics the other night and watching the team event, and I think Simone Biles won gold today in the individual. But it's just hard. Like, you know, all these things are going to. going on at the same time. You've got uneven bars. You got the balance beam here. You got the floor exercise. You got things going on all the time. I don't know how they score. I remember the Nadia Cominich Olympics, which I think was Montreal in 76. When she got perfect tens, and now I see scores that are 13.647 repeating. I don't know how to even watch it. The only thing that makes sense to me

is when somebody messes up. That makes sense to me, and I'm like, okay, well, that was a mess up. But even Simone Biles the other day stepped off the actual floor, and I thought that was supposed to be a big penalty, but it wasn't. I don't know. I just, I'm not into it. I think it's really hard to keep track of all this stuff. Yeah, I got a little tip for you.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, the wire. The wire. Turn the clock back to when you were 25 years old. then you'll be able to keep track of what's going on. You think it's that? You think it's that?

I think it is. I think it is. I think you have a generation that grew up basically consuming information this way and not the way we used to watch the Olympics. I understand the difference in the way the Olympics used to be presented versus now. I mean, there were three networks in 1976, ABC, CBS, and NBC, and ABC had the Olympics and that's what everybody watched

because there were no options. I understand the fragmentation of programming, etc. and all the choices. But Tommy, how many events were there in 1976? There weren't 329. No. No, they weren't. But like anything else, the Olympics needs to grow.

It does? No, two, two. They've got to, have you heard of the breaking? Do you know what breaking is? It's break dance competition. Yeah. Yeah. I admit, some of it's absurd, but it's all to bring in new consumers.

Yeah, I guess. I wonder how it is rating. I have not paid attention to that. I would assume the gymnastics and the swimming are doing pretty well. But I wonder. It's a worldwide product. It's not just an American product. For NBC, it's a worldwide product?

No, well, no, I'm saying pretty, Olympics themselves. Oh, I understand that. I'm talking about more, you know, how it's consumed here. Okay. I bet are the Olympics much more important in other countries than they are here? Oh, I think so. I would think so. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. Uh-huh. I mean, let me just say this. I think having golf in tennis and soccer in the Olympics is dumb. there's nobody that could ever convince me that the tennis players want to win a gold medal more than they want to win wimbledon or the U.S. Open or the U.S. Open or the French Open. These golfers are soccer players, they want to win the Euro, they want to win the World Cup,

they want to win the Masters. I agree with you. I agree. I don't know why we ended up. Basketball is different because it's the international, competition that's number one. I mean, for the U.S. team, it's not an individual sport. This is how they competed, and we have competed, you know, over the years internationally. Golfers and tennis players are competing internationally in every tournament. Yes. I don't know. I'll watch

the basketball. I'll be in Ireland. I'd like to watch the basketball. I might be able to get to watch it live, given the hours. That hurts the Olympics, too. when you kind of know the results when they air, you know, in prime time. But anyway, thanks for the Peacock recommendations, everybody. I'll tell you what was kind of cool. And I didn't watch this live, but I was watching some of the highlights of the opening ceremonies, which were, you know, very controversial, I guess, is when, you know, there are countries that go by that you've just never heard of.

I mean, there are so many countries that you look up in the screen, you're like, I've never even heard of Kiribati before. I've actually never heard of Lasotho before. I mean, there are a lot of new countries. The opening ceremonies changed dramatically after the breakup of the Soviet Union. That's true, too. Sure.

Yeah, you ended up with a lot more. flags. Tell you what, at Shelly's, there's only one flag and there's only one mayor. That's right, baby. So those opening ceremonies are short and sweet. All right, you enjoy the weekend. We will reconvene when I get back from Ireland. You have a great time, buddy.

I will. I'll talk to you soon. All right, that's it for the day. I will have a show out tomorrow. Fred Smoot will join me on tomorrow's show. And I'll also talk about Devin Hester going into the Hall of Fame this weekend and whether or not Brian Mitchell should be next. That's tomorrow's show. There will be a Monday show as well while I'm away.

But that will probably be it. There's a chance I'll add one more show that I'll get recorded before I leave later on tonight. All right, that's it. Enjoy.