The Kevin Sheehan Show - Golden But Gone

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

Kevin and Thom recorded their live reactions to the Washington Football Team cuts on the pod today. They also reacted in real time to the Cam Newton release in New England. Scintillating podcasting. They also discussed the debut of Nats' catcher Keibert Ruiz, talked Bryce Harper, Bryson DeChambeau, Ted Lasso, and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here with me today. The cuts are coming in fast and furious. If you are a Washington football team fan or any NFL team fan.

We're not going to have all of them as we record this podcast. And I know that Tommy is just sitting there, just riveted on Twitter, for the next piece of 80 down to 53 news to break. Well, I haven't revealed my 53-man roster. You're going to do that tomorrow, right? Yes, I'm going to wait until tomorrow. That's a good idea. That's an excellent idea.

That's the way to go. Yeah, I mean, you know what? I bet you'll probably get most of them right. You might not get all of them right because you don't, you're not very coachable and you don't pay attention, but you'll get most of them right. I know, but I do the best I can. What do you think about this day?

I think there was a time in which, you know, obviously without technology, you would essentially find out, you know, that night on this 6 o'clock news sports section, sports segment or the next day in the paper. But, you know, during the last 20 years, it's really ramped up in terms. It's like the practice thing at training camp, you know, getting play by play of seven on seven drills, except this is actually more meaningful because it is your roster. It's just, you know, you're talking about the difference between maybe one to two roster spots that they're, you know, that people are sort of waiting on. Most people who really follow this

and project it usually get it right to within one to two spots maybe. Maybe they get one to two wrong, three wrong, maybe. There's not much of a, so, the surprises so far today, are Morland, Reeves, and Peyton Barber. Yes. But what do you make of a... What about Danny Johnson? Was that a surprise? Not to me.

Okay. Because I think that Danny Johnson, you know, it was crowded at corner and he wasn't going to be the kickoff for Turner this year. Here's some breaking news. And this... Okay, so I said the other night, and I said on the other night, and I said on the show Sunday or Monday when I did the post game that I like Dax Milne more than Antonio Gandy Golden. And a lot of you really got after me saying why, and I gave you the reasons why.

I think he catches the ball cleanly. I think he looks like a better after the catch guy. And I think he can be their punt returner. Well, guess who Washington just released? Antonio Gandy Golden, that is the big surprise so far today. That would be the biggest of the surprises. They were very high on him when they drafted him. That's a lot of potential. I think part of his biggest problem was he needed to settle on one name. I think it would be easier for the uniform at least if he had one name. Which of the names would you have chosen? Gandy or Golden? Well, I would go with Golden. I mean, that automatically connotates, you know, you're someone special.

Andy, it sounds like you're a character in the Bowery voice. And either, yeah, true. And either name could be a first name too. And his first name could be a last name. I mean, we could go Gandy Antonio or Golden Antonio. Oh, Tommy, Tommy, be careful what we're doing here. The man just got cut. Let's be more sensitive to his release.

Well, you know what this is? You talked about this. and this is the ultimate kind of, I don't know, development for social media, this kind of, that's basically what it's doing is everyone standing there waiting for the emperor to go thumbs up or thumbs down. You know? Yeah. And you're waiting for Ron Rivera to go thumbs up on this guy, thumbs down. And people get into that, whether it's a TV show or NFL cutdown day.

So this is a perfect social media type of festivity, for lack of a better word. Yeah, it is, I guess so. And, you know, I guess it's better to have more information and more people interested in this. Again, I'm sort of a believer that some of this stuff is a little bit in the bubble. and it's not the majority of people that you stood for this team that are waiting for every seven-on-seven past completion or pass-drop or waiting on every single one of these cuts. But the people that are listening to this podcast, I know many of you care. So on the cuts that are coming out, and again, we're not going to have all of them for this show,

but they're coming out literally as we're recording this show. And Tom Pellasar is the first. this is the other thing that's going on is just the competition to break the news first and then if you don't have it to make sure that you credit the person that got it right, boy,

that's a lot of work on a day like today. How about if you get it, put it out, not worry about whether or not somebody had it or not. And if you don't have it, and you see somebody tweet it, just retweet it. I don't think it's that hard. So the Antonio Gandy Golden thing to me also confirms what I said yesterday in the podcast, which is something that I had learned, which I actually got some pushback on from various people,

and I won't go into the list of names. It was a very short list of names. And I said that on the podcast yesterday, I said all this talk of Rivera saying four spots, maybe six, were, you know, decided on Saturday night against the Ravens, well, I learned that that was, you know, a major exaggeration, that the roster basically, you know, with the exception of maybe one spot, perhaps two, but probably more like one spot, was set and etched in stone before the game Saturday night,

which, by the way, is usually true, no matter how good or how bad your team is. well, you know, Antonio Gandy Golden had by everyone's account watching the game a very good game. Like a, this locks him in kind of a game. And he was released today. So I think that the other night really did not determine much at all. And I think it's, why does Ron Rivera say that? Because these are tough days for coaches and they want these players to know how close it was and how, you know, how much they stressed over these decisions and how much that game the other night did mean something,

and they wanted them to go out and play, and they wanted them to believe that it was on the line. But I doubt that more than one actual roster decision was truly on the line the other night. But AGG not making it definitely means, I guess I could be proven wrong here shortly, but I think that means that Dax Milne's going to make the team unless they go with DeAndre Carter as the sixth wide receiver and he's the kickoff returner and punt returner. But I think Milne's going to make it. I think Milne's going to make it because I think that the coaching staff really likes him. And I, as I said, and I know that this was a contrarian view for those of you that were

really paying attention, to me he looks the part a little bit more than AGG. The big difference was AGG's size. That was a big advantage he had. but I like the way Milne, I think Milne should be their punt returner even more than Carter, but what do I know? I mean, we didn't see enough in the preseason on these punt returns. He just looked very comfortable back there.

Your opponents have to punt in order to determine who the punt returner is. It's a good point. You know, the Jimmy Morland thing, to me it's not like I'm a massive surprise. It's a little bit of a surprise. Danny Johnson's not a surprise. Jeremy Reeves, I wasn't really. really paying attention enough at safety. I guess that means they're going to keep Derek Forrest, the kid that they picked out

of Cincinnati. What about West Martin? West Martin got released. I don't think that's a surprise. I think he had fallen on the depth chart. I think tight end is going to be a very interesting position now since they have released Barber and Antonio Gandhi Golden. I wonder if it'll come down to Milner Carter.

I would assume that it's going to come down to Milne or Carter. And I think Milne's going to make it. Maybe both of them do. But with Barber gone, maybe now that opens up an opportunity offensively for a fourth tight end, if they keep Reyes, maybe they keep Seals Jones, who I know they like a little bit, or they keep that 10th offensive lineman. We'll see. I don't know.

Perhaps the cuts on offense means freeing up somebody else on defense. I said yesterday that I thought that Dax Milne and Troy Apke were going to make the team. Those were two of the things that I said on the show yesterday. The Apkey thing is, you know, I've been on that for about a week and a half, whatever. And the Milne thing was just a gut feel that I had that he was going to make the team. And I think he's going to. I guess they could cut him. I guess they could.

but I think he's going to make it. They cut a couple of their defense events, didn't they? I'm sorry? They cut a couple of defense events, I think, didn't they? The news is coming out. I'm looking to see. Yeah. It's like we're not doing a podcast today.

It's like we're doing live radio, which is so ridiculous because by the time people listen to this, they're going to know all the cuts. Morland was released with an injury designation, Gandy Golden. I'm following Ben primarily. I mean, I've got John and Nikki up here as well. JP, yeah, the defensive lineman from, yeah, they released David Sharp. That's interesting, I think. Yeah.

You know, on the AGG thing here just for a moment. They released, I can't even pronounce the guy's name. Boone Rotimi. Okay, yeah, I don't think he was ever a threat to make the team. Okay. I think the AGG thing is also goes directly in conflict with those of you that think, oh, they're picking, they're taking all the players they drafted over the ones that, you know, Kyle Smith drafted.

I mean, I went through the list yesterday. Most of their best players were drafted by the previous administration. But that's fine because these, you know, that's usually the case. when you inherit a team. You don't cut everybody that was on the team and start over from scratch. But I think there was a thought that Gandy Golden would be kept

because this group drafted him and they drafted him in the fourth round. So, yeah, I think that's the one today. Maybe Moreland a little bit. Morlin was drafted by the last administration. Morlin was thought to be a big-time playmaker, but he really, I mean, I guess he made that one play last year.

Was it in the Philadelphia? No, that wasn't even him. That was Moreau that made that big interception at the end of the first half. They also cut William Bradley King. Yeah, I know a lot of people thought he had a chance, but the defensive linemen that they like is the one they drafted in terms of the guys that, you know, may have come into camp. The kid from Penn State?

Well, I like Chocotony a lot. I think he is going to be a player, and I didn't know if he would make this roster. or not. But they really like James Smith Williams, the seventh round pick last year out of NC State. Like he's a lock to make the team, which means you've essentially right there got seven

defensive linemen because you've got sweat Allen Payne Young Settle Ionitis and Smith Williams. I did think it was interesting that Settle was playing late in that game the other night. And yeah, I was not paying attention closely, but I did notice Settle

was in the game late the other night. Peyton Barber means that there are three backs that are going to make this team. It's Gibson, McKissick, and Jared Patterson. So Patterson, the undrafted free agent, makes the team. Peyton Barber, their short yardage back, they release. And I think the other night against Cincinnati, a week and a half ago now, when they had Gibson in there on those short yardage plays, I do think it was a bit of a look to see, can Gibson be our short yardage back? And he made one of them and he missed the other one, but I think Gibson will ultimately be the third and very short yardage, third and fourth and very short yardage back. Peyton Barber did it pretty well

last year, but I think Gibson's going to become that guy this year, although Patterson might be that guy too, who knows? The, even though Patterson's very versatile. I mean, he can sort of play McKissick's role, and I think he might be able to play Gibson's role. The, the The quarterbacks, Montez got released yesterday. I mean, you know, I don't even know why they would bring them back to the practice squad. I mean, remember there was the discussion that Montez was going to be used like Taysom Hills used in New Orleans? Updating that story, because I got upset last week after watching Winston that it would even be a question of Winston versus Hill. And it's not a question.

They announced over the weekend that Winston was going to be their starter in New Orleans. But I can't imagine that Washington would keep two quarterbacks. I don't care if they really feel good about Heineke is the backup. And I do think he probably won the backup job during camp, mostly because Alan wasn't healthy. But this franchise has played so many quarterbacks over the last several years. To have three of them on your roster that you feel comfortable with can run your offense is a big deal. There's no way that they're going to keep two quarterbacks.

I can't see that happening. What do you mean two quarterbacks? Well, I think that there was some discussion, you know, it was a reach discussion in my view that Kyle Allen could be on the fence in terms of making the team. Or maybe they would figure out a way to, you know, for him to be a little bit banged up after the game the other night and to end up somehow not being on the final 53. But I think you've got to keep the three quarterbacks. Have to.

Yes, I think you do. Okay. Well, during this podcast, I guess this is what we're going to do after, you know, trying to go down the path of getting Tommy to mock it. I got something. I mean, I'm not going to mock it. A lot of people put hard work into this thing. Like I said, I'll come up with my list tomorrow. You know, anyone can do it today.

Yeah. Anybody can do it today. Yeah. Anybody can predict tomorrow's weather today. Try doing it the day after. Okay, what? Well, I have a question. I don't know why this popped into my head, and I could be full of it.

But, you know, everyone loves Chase Young, right? It's fair to say, you know, just disappeared on Family Feud, you know. How did he do on Family Feud? Oh, I don't know. I don't watch Family Feud. Okay. So I have no idea. But who had the better rookie season?

Chase Young or Brian Arakpo? Chase Young. Really? Yeah. He was the defensive rookie of the year. Okay. Because I'm looking at 11 sacks for Brian Arakpo. Right.

Compared to seven and a half for Chase Young. Yeah. I'm looking at 50 tackles for Brian Arakpo. as opposed to 44 for Chase Young. I'm looking at 15 quarterback hits for Brian Arakpo as opposed to 12 for Chase Young. Now, Chase Young played one less game, but I don't think that makes up the difference. So what's your measure? No, I think the numbers that you're giving me are actually a little bit surprising to me.

I didn't remember Brian Arakpo's rookie year being that good. I didn't, but my answer doesn't change. Chase Young was the defensive rookie of the year. Brian Arakpo wasn't. No, he wasn't, but he was a candidate. Say that again? He was a candidate for defensive rookie of the year.

Yeah, I guess he was. It's funny, Tommy. His rookie year was 2009, right? Because 2010 was Carrigan. 2009 was Arakpo or Arapco, as Vinny called him. Yes. and it was the miserable Zorn final season with all hell breaking loose all year long. I remember Iraq Poe not getting many sacks in the division,

but eating up the Raiders quarterback that year. And I forget who. He got four sacks versus the Raiders. Yeah, there you go. Right. It's just a terrible Raiders team. Who was the quarterback for the Raiders? It wasn't Jamarcus Russell, was it?

No, I don't think so. I don't want to look that up now. I don't know a good quarterback. It might have been Jason Campbell. No. No, I don't think so by then. Hold on for a second. That one is interesting to me now.

Now, Brian Cushing was the NFL defensive rookie in 2009. Pretty good player. So, oh my God. Jim Marcus Russell was in that game, as was Bruce Radkowski. That's who I sort of remember getting sacked a bunch. But they sacked

Russell six times and Greg Kalski twice. They had eight sacks for 65 lost yards on the sacks. And yes, Brian Arakpo, four sacks in that game. Andre Carter had two. But Arakpo had four sacks. Andre Carter played, even though Raqpo was technically a linebacker, he was a pass rusher. And Andre Carter played on the other side as a defensive end. and he had like 12 or 13 sacks. Andre Carter was a good player.

Yes. Yeah, he had a big, he was on the other side, he was, that probably helped the Rackpo as well. But, you know, I mean, Chase Young had Montez sweat on the other side. I just think that, you know, nobody fawned over Brian Arakpo like they do Chase Young. And the numbers indicate, I mean, as a measurement, that Arakpo was at least as good, if not better, in his rookie year. Yeah, but the qualitative measurement, what your eyes saw is you saw a player who was at times. Well, yes, almost everything, you know, when we're...

No, what I gave you was not subjective. What I gave you were facts. Yeah, what you gave me were numbers, and I'm saying in terms of an evaluation, a big part of an evaluation is a subjective evaluation. I'm telling you that Brian Arakpo's rookie season wasn't as good as Chase Young's. I initially said it's not even close. You gave me some numbers to support your argument, but you don't have a subjective piece to the argument. Do you remember how Brian Arakpo played versus how Chase Young played?

Do you have a qualitative opinion? It's hard. It's hard to measure because there is so much hype in every game about. Chase Young. I think the perception is clouded by the hype that comes with him. I'm not saying he's not great, and he's not going to be great. But you, you, you, no one, no one expected Brian Arakpo to be the second coming of, I don't know, he was a, he was a first round pick, but you're right. No, nowhere near the hype of the number two pick, not just the number two pick, but what was thought to be maybe the best defensive prospect

since Von Miller. It's hard for me to measure Chase Young's eye test when I go into every broadcast hearing about how great Chase Young is before they take a snap. Well, that doesn't really, that doesn't impact or influence me in my evaluation. I think part of it is... Well, you're a better person than I am. No, it's not that I'm a better person. I just don't care what someone else says about somebody and how somebody's been hyped.

I'm going to watch and determine on my own. I determined on my own when he was coming out that he was one of the best defensive players I had ever watched in college football, which is why I so desperately wanted them to lose to the Giants and the Eagles so that they would remain in that number two spot and have a chance to select him. I thought it was a significant end of the 2019 season for their future on defense. And as it turns out, look at the Giants. The Giants could have had them. Had they not gone down the field and had Daniel Jones throw his fifth touchdown pass of the game. But in watching him last year, there were moments where I thought that he was just impossible to block.

He was an absolute havoc wreaker on the field. I know what his numbers were in his rookie season in terms of sack. But I thought he was dominant at times last year, even in the midst of that one stretch where Boz wrote the column using all the numbers that he's having a disappointing season. I didn't think he was having a disappointing season. With that said, I thought he had a very disappointing final game. I thought the game against Tampa Bay was his worst. And I thought it was his worst because he wasn't necessarily game planned for throughout.

They weren't doubling him. They weren't chipping him. They weren't, you know, focused on him. And he did nothing in that game. He was manhandled in that game. That was a disappointing game. Arakpo never had a chance to play in a big game in his rookie season. And for this...

His problem as he got older was he couldn't stay healthy. That is true. I never thought Brian Arakpo really was much of a... I thought he was a very average... player. He certainly wasn't what we thought we were getting when they drafted him in the first round. Chase Young's rookie year, to me, is as good a rookie year for a defensive player. Well, he's the only rookie of the year in franchise history or since Mike Thomas, right, in 1975. Or no, Robert Griffin the third. First defensive rookie of the year in franchise history.

That doesn't speak to anything. That speaks to how bad they've drafted defensively over the years. Yeah, well, it speaks to a lot of things. And it's a very subjective thing in terms of the voting. I'm not saying that Chase Young is not great and will not be great and is a beast. And along with Montez Sweat will probably be a wrecking machine this year. I'm just pointing out I got the fawning over his rookie year in terms of the comparison of Brian Arakpo was over the top

Well yeah I mean it was going to be that way one way or the other I mean his his performance in his rookie year was going to be highly scrutinized It was going to be everybody was He was the number two pick in the draft and one of the best prospects we've seen defensively in years Let me also just make one thing perfectly clear to you if my opinion is better supported by the numbers in the future I'll use those. Okay. Well, this year they probably will be.

No, I just think, in thinking about Arapco's Arapco, Arakpo's year in 2009, I don't really remember it being as good as you described it. Like, I'm looking right now. he earned after the four-sack performance against two of the worst quarterbacks and a terrible football team in the Raiders. I know, but if we're going to do that, I mean, Chase Young played against a long list of bad quarterback. No doubt. Very good point.

He earned NFC defensive player of the week for that performance. I don't know what I can look at Chase Young's here in a moment. And Arakpo was selected. I did not remember this. He made the 2010 Pro Bowl. Okay. Pro Bowls don't do that much for me. I understand. I mean, it's another measurement.

It's another measurement. But still, I would have never, I would have never remembered that. Well, that's because Vinny picked him. He wasn't even the alternate. He was the reserve. He made the roster as an outside linebacker. Demarkis where Lance Briggs. He had a good rookie year.

You're certainly making me aware of that. I did not remember that his rookie year was that, you know, I don't remember him ever here in Washington, ever being the kind of player Chase Young was in several games last year. A total game-changing kind of a player, which is what Chase Young was in the Cincinnati game, what he was in the San Francisco game. I don't remember Iraqpo having games like that. Somebody's going to send me a tweet and say, don't you remember the game against the Bears or whatever?

Okay, that's fine. No, they won't. Everybody's going to jump on the Chase Young bandwagon and say, this is a stupid argument, and it may be. But no, no one's going to rush to Brian Iraqpo's defense, buddy. Trust me. No, but what I'm saying is that the fact that I don't remember a lot about that very good rookie year that he had. I mean, in looking at his career from a number standpoint, it was the best year of his career.

Yes, it was, because he had a lot of injuries in this next few years. And I don't think he had Andre Carter on the other side either as well. Right. And, I mean, that has an impact. He had some good seasons in Tennessee with a much better staff in Tennessee. And Chase Young, NFL defensive rookie of the year, Pro Bowl, you know, all that stuff, and his rookie of the year. And I think I'm right, Tommy, that he's the franchise's only defensive rookie of the year. The last offensive rookie was RG3, and before that it was Mike Thomas in 1975.

I believe that's true. I don't know. What are we doing here in this show today? It was just something I thought that would be of interest. We'll update you on the... Given Chase Young's appearance on Family Feud, I thought it was worthy of conversation. I don't remember Brian Arakpo doing a lot of game shows.

I don't either. I do remember the Family Feud discussion during OTAs. Initially, there was a report that he missed one of the OTA days for the taping of Family Feud, and somebody tweeted that out. So, of course, I read it on the radio, and then Washington's PR department quickly got to me literally during the break of the show and said, no, no, no, that was recorded in March. Okay. And so...

So there was no excuse for missing the OTAs, as it turns out. No, there wasn't, there wasn't any excuse. And for those of you that continue to remind me about my position on that, You're not going to change my mind on that one. I never said it would affect his upcoming year. I said that it was a thing that when you're trying to change the culture and your head coach wants you there, it might be a good idea just to show up like every single other player did

on the roster except for him. He's got extraordinary talent, extraordinary talent. I think he's going to have a big year. In fact, I think he and Sweat are going to have. big years. The key for them this year is going to be stopping the run. Go ahead, what we were going to say. Now, you're much better versed at this than I. I mean, you know, when we're coming up with the 53-man roster, some of it may depend on who gets cut elsewhere around the league, right? Yeah, of course. I mean, if there's a player that Washington really wants on another

team, this could change dramatically. Yeah. No doubt. I think, of course, they could pick somebody up and cut somebody that just made the team today and somebody that's going to celebrate tonight and say, I made it. And then tomorrow they may be released. You know, I think one of the things just on these final roster cuts, I don't think I've emphasized this enough, Ron Rivera keeps talking about culture and people and creating a culture of sustained winning. These last, you know, three, four players on a team, I mean, even some key reserves that are making it over guys that potentially are not making it. They're fitting into Ron's

culture. They've bought totally in to Ron's way. They're probably, every case is going to be a different case if they were injected with Truth Serum on why somebody got cut. and why somebody was kept. It's not uniform. But if you're not bought in to Ron's way right now, you're not going to be on this roster, unless you are just outrageously gifted. Right.

That's the way it should be. I have no problem with that. I have no problem with that. I mean, you know, I mean, you've got to sink or swim. If you're the decision maker, you've got to sink or swim with what you think. I mean, you can't sit there.

And as far as, like you said, unless you're really, really outstanding, well, yeah, that would be a difference maker. But generally, I don't have a problem with a coach, you know, having guys who buy into his program. You know, that may not translate to success. But I think that's where it starts. I really think that the, well, I think I said this yesterday, whatever.

My point yesterday was, I don't know that Ron Rivera and his staff are upper echelon of the league. But what I do believe Ron is, is I just think he's one of these guys that gets it. That he understood what he was inheriting. He understood the dark age that this franchise has been in. He's also old enough and played in the league and played in some of the games that mattered back in the 80s and 90s to know what this once was. And there is something about him that is like he has an identity or he has a plan. And his plan is he wants people to be disciplined. He wants him to be tough.

He wants him to be no excuses. People he wants him to buy into his way or the highway. I mentioned that there's a lot of Marty Schottenheimer in Ron Rivera with one exception. I think Ron's bedside manner is much better than Marty's more likely than not. But I think what's happening right now, if you can push aside the fact that they were seven and nine and won a division last year and played in the playoff game, even if they hadn't, look, the perception of the team is what it is now because they won the division. It would be much different outside of this town and maybe even inside this town if they hadn't won the division and played in the playoff game.

But I think that his goal from the jump was to change everything about the kind of people that were in the organization, the kind of players they were drafting and acquiring, the kind of system that was in place, the kind of coaching staff that was going to be put together. And I, you know, ultimately, he may not get it done because the owner steps in. and fucks it up again, or maybe he won't get it done to a high enough level. But I do think the process, not to sound like Kirk Cousins or Dustin Hopkins the other night, I think it's the right process for building a sustained winning organization. Yeah, it may not get them where they want to go, but this is where it starts. But I felt this way about Mike and his staff, and I felt this way about Marty, and I felt this way about Marty. and I felt this way about Joe.

But, you know, Joe turned the personnel decisions, a lot of them over to Vinny and Dan and allowed them to continue to be involved at a significant level. You know, we've said it before. Maybe this is the right moment for someone to have the autonomy and the authority to do it the right way. And it's good that they have somebody in this moment

that I think knows how to do it the right way. So, anyway, whatever. The NFL's crazy. They could have 17 injuries in week one and go three and 14 this year. And then it'll be a whole different conversation. What? What were your thoughts about the preseason game? Any particular thoughts?

No. What do you think about people starting to panic based on that preseason performance? Well, I think it's ridiculous. I mean, they have. They haven't paid attention to the league over the years. Yeah. No, it's... You judge this team based on the last time you saw them on the field in a game that counted.

Yeah, but you don't... It's almost even hard to do that. Yeah, you really... But even then, you have to assume that they're better than that since they've had a full year of training camp this time around, a full year for the coaching staff to work with them. So, I mean, at the very least, I think it's safe to assume that this team is better than the one that finished the season last year, which has no resemblance at all to what happened in the preseason game.

The question is, are their opponents better, you know? Yeah. I think they're better. I think the roster that they have, will have, entering week one, is the best roster they've had since 2005. but more likely than not 2000 in terms of the level of talent. And I mentioned, I think, yesterday they have, you know, five A-level talents on the football team. They've never had that.

And you could argue that they might have six. And maybe this time next year, it's seven or eight. They just haven't had that. You know, they've had one or two max. But, you know, with respect to the preseason, Tommy, I think you and I are in complete agreement on this. First of all, this was a different preseason because it was three games and there was this two-plus week time difference

between the final preseason game and the season opener. So I was curious right from the jump how teams would handle it. And they handled it in a variety of ways. And who's to know right now if there's a right way or a wrong way, And by the way, there might not be a right way or a wrong way, really. These are preseason games. They are a, you know, Scott Turner, I think I played this soundbite on the show yesterday. Scott Turner essentially said, you don't learn much, but you do learn one thing.

You learn whether or not a guy gets stage fright because it's different from a practice, because you're going out in a stadium with lights and people and another opponent, and it's on television. and you know, you could learn that, ah, man, that guy just, the lights came on a little bit for him, and he had stage fright. You know, those are the things they're looking for. They've learned all they need to know a lot, especially offensively. But defensively, you know, defensively there's hitting and there's real tackling much more in a real game, obviously. But anyway, the point is Ron Rivera decided he was going to sit everybody Saturday night, okay?

I don't know if it's the right answer or the wrong answer. John Harbaugh didn't, and he lost his starting tailback for a year with the torn ACL. Tom Brady's 44 years old and was out there slinging the ball around all over the park the other night against the perceived worst team in football, Houston, with a lot of starters out there with him. Aaron Rogers didn't take a snap in the entire preseason. Justin Herbert didn't take a snap in the entire preseason in year two. You could say, well, Rogers is a veteran. Herbert's in year two.

None of the Chargers, key players, played one minute or one snap in the preseason. And yet Josh Allen in Buffalo, you know, many people think the bills are a legitimate contender this year. They were last year. They made it to the AFC championship game. Josh Allen came out the other night, the other day, in the final preseason game, and on 33 offensive snaps drop back to throw the football 28 times. He had to scramble once. He got sacked once, and he threw 26 passes on three drives. I just don't know that if Tampa and Buffalo start off 3-0,

and Washington and the Chargers start off 1 and 3 or something like they play each other, people will point back to, well, they should have gotten ready. They should have played their starters. But no, the truth might be Buffalo and Tampa are just really good. And maybe the Chargers in Washington aren't as much. I don't know. I don't know what the answer is. We just know how Ron Rivera played it.

And it's not an unreasonable position to say that you wish that they had played their starters more because there are a lot of new players and you want to see them more game ready for the opener. That's not an unreasonable position. but the part that's unreasonable to me is that the results of these games somehow matter. They don't. Yeah. No, they don't. And I do fall under the more cautious category and do what Ron Rivera did by not playing his starters the other night.

I think that's the way to go. I actually, if you were to put me into a category, I think I'd be in the other category. I would be especially with, you know, offensively with a new quarterback and new receivers, I would have done what Buffalo did in at least one of the three games. I would have had my starters out there for a half, and I would have had Fitzpatrick throwing 25 balls. That's what I would have done. You can get injured in practice. You can get injured in these games.

You can get injured on the first series of the first regular season game. I think that, you know, just, but they know better. And Ryan Fitzpatrick said it. It's my 17th year. I know what I need to get ready. And then, you know, you could say, well, whatever you've been doing, it hasn't led to, like, a lot of playoff games. No, it hasn't. All right, let's move on from this, and we'll update the cut list here in our live recording time.

I do want to mention real quickly, those of you who have reviewed us and rated, us recently, much appreciation. It would be great for those of you who haven't, if you could just do that on Spotify and Apple and Google, wherever it allows for a rate and a review. Rate us five stars, write a one to two-sentence review. Last night, for whatever reason, I started reading a lot of the reviews recently that you all have written. They're so very nice, and I know you did that because you were prompted to do that, and so I really appreciate it. I also know that, you just one-twentieth of our regular audience essentially has rated and reviewed us. So for those that haven't, if you could do that, great.

If you haven't done it because you can't figure it out, I understand that. But really, I think if you're listening on Apple, all you have to do is maybe unsubscribe and then subscribe again, and then the rate and review pops up at the very beginning. So maybe you can't find it because you had the opportunity to do it early. you didn't do it, which is fine. But anyway, if it's not too much trouble... What's the breaking news? The Patriots have released Cam Newton.

Wow. Yeah. Hello. Yeah. Last quote I saw from Bill Belichick about Cam Newton was, I think he's going in the right direction. You know what? They were trying to trade him clearly.

You know, that he was hoping somebody would give him something for him. Tommy, I was surprised from the jump after watching... Newton last year, that he would be a starter again for New England. But then, you know, they drafted a rookie quarterback. But Mack Jones, in terms of like an independent single player evaluation, really did look to be very comfortable in these preseason games. So, I mean, he appeared to really have a grasp of what was going on. Now, again, who was he playing? Who was he playing with? All of those things are true. But Mac Jones, if he turns out to be the next great young quarterback, we'll look back on

that as Washington fans because they were only a few spots ahead of them, right? He was picked at 15, Washington was at 19. Washington talked about, you know, trading up potentially for Justin Fields. You could do this. You could do this in almost every draft with every player that ends up being a great player. It's magic time, baby. Rate us, reviewists, especially on Spotify, Apple, and Google. It's really appreciated.

Subscribe if you haven't subscribed. That also helps us. It doesn't cost you a thing. All right. I do want to ask you a couple of things about the Nats Catcher Prospect that they debuted last night. We'll do that. We'll do more football. And I got a couple of other things that I didn't mention on yesterday's podcast that I want to get to.

That's coming up next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. You'll figure out when we're recording the podcast this morning, based on the information that we are breaking news here on a recorded podcast. But Cam Newton released by the Patriots. So Mack Jones will be the starting quarterback. I want you to know. one quick thing. I'm just remembering this. Do you know that there was one other team last summer or last off season interested, according to Schefter, in trading for Kyle Allen? And that team was

the New England Patriots. So the Patriots right now in terms of their roster quarterback-wise do have Brian Hoyer, the longtime veteran who's played there. And they still have Jarrett Stidham on the roster. But he, last year, Schaefter reported that Washington ultimately had to trade a fifth round pick for Kyle Allen because there was interest. And there were other suitors in Kyle Allen, one of them being the Patriots. So, well, Mack Jones is going to be the starter. And they'll use Hoyer as a veteran backup to the rookie. You know, the Patriots are an interesting team this year.

There are a couple of those teams. They had, I think, eight opt-outs last year. They have so many players coming back this year. They have a lights-out defense. Don't forget, they added Matthew Judon from Baltimore. They have a lights-out defense, and really what stopped them last year was quarterback play. You know, they traded Sony Michelle the other day to the Rams, so their backs are Damian Harris, and they still have James White. Their receivers are, do they still have Nikiel, Harry?

Hold on. Let me pull up the Arlads depth chart here. Uh, okay. Nelson Aguilar. Okay, I forgot that they added him. Uh, they still have Nikiel Harry. They've got Jacoby Myers, Kendrick Bourne. Oh, of course, they added the two big tight ends and free agency, John O'Smith and Hunter Henry. So, um, perfect for, uh, the Patriots, Tommy, they're going to be a good team this year. think they could be a really good team with a rookie quarterback this year. A rookie game managing, check it down, find these tight ends, quarterback with Belichick, by the way, just how hungry do you think he is to be great this year after last year? Of course. Of course he is. I would not

bet against the Patriots. Right now, they're in the unusual position of chasing Buffalo. Yes, they are. And Buffalo's legit, and Miami's an up-and-comer. And, they're a And the Jets, you know, who knows what Zach Wilson will be, but they've had a bunch of injuries in that training camp. Okay, so I did want to ask you about the debut last night of the prospect that came back as part of the Turner-Schurzer deal with the Dodgers, the number one prospect that they got back in the draft, the catching prospect, Kbert Ruiz. What do you know about him?

There was a lot of excitement last night before their game with Philadelphia about his debut, not to mention that they had on the mound again last night, Josiah Gray, who's pitched really well but did not pitch well last night. In fact, correct me if I'm wrong, I think that may have been his worst outing since he got the opportunity. Yeah, but he had, I mean, from five outings before, he had some pretty solid outings. Right. So this was the first time he got hit around. Gray and Ruiz as part of the Dodger deal for Turner and Scherzer. Tell me what you know about Ruiz,

because a lot of people seem to be very excited about him. Well, I wrote a column in yesterday's Washington Times, posted it on my Twitter page and Facebook, and you can find it on Washington Times.com, click on sports. I did an interview with Mike Rizzo about, you know, how does he feel a month after the dust is settled from the trades? And he specifically mentioned Ruiz, quote, we had interest in Ruiz way back in the day, Rizzo said. Now, Ruiz was signed by the Dodgers as an international free agent in 2014. So I don't know if they had it that far back, but Ruiz is a guy that they had their eye on for quite some time.

quote, he was kind of our targeted player at the trade deadline, and was somebody we really wanted to acquire at this period. We made it known to the Dodgers that there were certain pieces we had to have to make the trade for Turner and Max, and we got several those pieces we felt we had to get for us to make the move. The key was Ruiz. That's the guy they wanted. He was one for four in his debut last night in the bigs, and he was catching.

Before he got there. he had hit 308 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 20 games with AAA Rochester. Yeah. Okay. I mean, you know, in the column, Mike does not use the word rebuild. He uses retool. He'll never use rebuild. Is it because the learners don't want to hear that?

No, I just don't think. He doesn't think they're far away. I don't think, you know, this is not like a rebuild, like what you saw back in, you know, when they lost 100 games a season for like two years or something like that. Do you think they're far away?

I don't think they're that far away, especially in a division where nobody can get out of each other's way. You know? I mean, look at the Mets. The Mets are a train wreck. I mean, the Braves and the Phillies, nobody can consistently put together. any kind of winning.

So, yeah, I think in this division, if Strasbourg comes back healthy, and they add a couple more pieces, and, yeah, I think they can. What's intriguing to me is this kid, Lane Thomas, who they got from

the St. Louis Cardinals, who's been getting a lot of time in center field instead of Victor Robles. And he had four strikeouts the other night Thomas did, but for the most part, He's been lighting it up offensively. And Victor Robley's had just been an absolute disaster this year for them, particularly offensively.

Is next year a playoff year or is next year like the year before a playoff year? Probably the year before playoff year. Remember, in 2011, they went 80 and 81. Right. I mean, they finished strong after they hired Davey, after Jim Riggelman quit, and they hired Davey. Navy, and they went 80 and 81, and that's not really that far away from competing in that division. I could see them being a 500 team next year depending on their health, you know, depending on

on the health of Strasper. I mean, that's the key, you know, he's coming back from serious surgery. Corbyn has been up and down, has not been consistent for them if he gets any kind of consistency. Fettie, who at times looks like you can trust them, and other times he's lost out there on the mound. They got a lot of questions on their starting rotation right now. But they like some of these young prospects that they've got, that they just moved up to AA Harrisburg, Kay Cavali, and Seth Romero. So I think it's possible they could be a 500 team next year.

And if you're 500, you can compete. How about Bryce Harper against Washington this year? I mean, he's absolutely destroying the Nats this year. It's really interesting to watch. Last night, another big night, two for five. I think he's 11 for his last 25 at Bats against the Nats. I think somebody tweeted that out last night. And he's got in his last four games against the Nats,

he's got three home runs. You know, Bryce Harper's re-entered the MVP conversation. I think we've talked about this already. It's not like he just re-entered it. He's just been on an incredible role. He's hitting now over 300. His on-base percentage is 417. His OPS is super high.

I mean, he's now, because I think in part right, because Titis Jr. was out for so many games. Harper's now in that conversation. I mean, it's funny because I know we had a conversation. earlier this year. I'm pretty sure it was the two of us. And I said, you know, Harper isn't perceived anymore among the truly elite, you know, the trouts and maybe even the Sotos at this point. And I disagree with you. And you did disagree with me. And I, and I, and I, but is that, I was talking more about perception, maybe, than, than reality. The reality is he is one of the

elite players. But you disagreed with me on that. Yeah. Yeah. But what's interesting, as great as he is, he's not better in Juan Soto. The Nationals have a player. The Nationals let Bryce Harper go and have a player who's better. Yeah. In Juan Soto. I mean, Juan Soto. I mean, Juan Soto's name, if you Google Juan Soto and Ted Williams, it comes up a lot. Yeah. Soto leads, the big leagues in on-base percentage. And it's not even close. His on-base percentage. His walk is unbelievable.

Yeah, it's 442. Harper is second at 4-17. Soto's walked 104 times this year. Six more than Joey Gallo in Texas. But right now, Harper leads the bigs in OPS. He's fourth in slugging percentage. second on base percentage. Where is he in batting average right now?

I know that people don't necessarily care that much. He's got to be top 10. Oh, we do. He's 10th in batting average, hitting 302. It's funny, his RBI totals are not very high, but he's missed a lot of games, and that would play into that. Harper has...

His RBI totals have never been that high. The year he won the MVP, I don't think he had 100 RB. ice that year. Right. Harper has played this year 110 games. Where are they at about the 140 mark right now, somewhere around there. I know the Phillies are still within reach of Atlanta. They're at 131. Okay, so they've played 131 games. So he's missed 21 games this year. The race, you know, the race in the National League. I've sort of been following it a little bit, even with the Nats out of it, because I don't know, I'm sort of rooting for Harper to be in the postseason. I'd like to see

Harper in the postseason. I also want to see Scherzer and Turner in the postseason as well. You know, and remember when we talked early in the year about how the National League East was going to be a one playoff team division. There was no way they could get a wild card team out of it. Well, you know, because San Diego had all those injuries and they have fallen way back, the Phillies actually are very much in the wild card race. They're very much in the division race. They're three and a half behind the Braves, who I think I was looking at this the other day, are right in the midst of a brutal part of the schedule for them.

They're playing the Dodgers. Well, they played the Giants over the weekend, and now they're playing the Dodgers. but they actually are I think are just three games out of the wild card race the Phillies are. They're three games behind Cincinnati

for the final wild card spot. So interesting races. The Yankees... I was going to just say the Yankees got real hot there for a while now. They've lost three in a row.

There's some really good baseball races going on, not necessarily division races in the American League. The National League West and the American League East have tight races, but there's some really good battles for the wild cards going on. You know, what's remarkable is Tampa is clearly the best team in the American League and have been now for the last couple years, and nobody goes to see them.

Nobody. Yeah. Yeah. Do they have the best record in baseball? Or is it the Giants? The Giants are a half game better, or a full game better, than Tampa. Man, the Giants are

a surprise, you know, having a surprise season. They were not supposed. It was supposed to be the Padres and the Dodgers won two in that division. Dodgers won. Remember at the beginning of the year, people were talking about the Dodgers potentially winning more games than any, like this was the most dominant team. And I remember talking

about the Vegas odds. They were like one of the biggest favorites to win the World Series before a season started and early in the season than any in recent memory. That's how dominant people thought the Dodgers were going to be this year. Well, they still could be after adding Max Scher's to that pitching rotation, which doesn't even include Kirschall right now. Right. I just wanted to point out, I went back and looked at Bryce Harper's RBI totals. Yeah. His first year with the Phillies, he had 114. His last year with the Nats, he had 100.

Those are his highest RBI total. The year he won the MVP in 2015, he had 99 RBIs. Wow. But that year, his war and his OPS and his on-base percentage were through the roof. He had 42 home runs. He had 118 runs scored. He had 38 doubles. He had on-base percentage of 460, slugging percentage.

649 OPS of over 1,000. Well, his war that year was outrageous, if I recall. I know that, but I don't pay attention to war. Do you have his numbers up in front of you? The 42 home runs is a complete outlier for him, right? Has he ever been close to that? I don't think so. Well, his first year in Philly, he had 35 home runs.

Oh, he did? Yeah, and it's last year in Washington, he had 34 home runs. Okay, well, it's still, you know, far short of the 42 that he had for his MVP season. How many home runs does he have? Okay, here it is. That's 22 home runs. 26 right now? Oh, yeah, 26 right now has got 26 home runs right now.

So with still, you know, with still, what did I say? A chance to go over 30 home runs this year. Yeah, so with 31 games left. he's going to hit over. He's certainly going to hit. He could hit, you know, 35. Be interesting if he came out of nowhere after the start. And it's amazing. I think, Tommy, if you go back and look at this, I could be wrong. But Harper starts every season slowly. And then as the season goes on, August and September end up being his months. It just seems that way to me. Am I wrong about that? That there's always a talk about how Harper's struggling.

I have to go back and look, but it certainly seems that way. I wanted to mention and actually recommend two different stories. I didn't talk about the golf yesterday. I totally forgot to talk about the golf yesterday from Sunday. Tommy doesn't care about the golf from Sunday. But the golf at Caves Valley in the BMW Championship, the next to last in the FedEx Cup, was really incredible sports theater, in my opinion.

I mean, I'm a golf guy. I love golf. I think even people who don't love golf but love sports understood the drama of Sunday, of the playoff between Cantlay and Bryson Deschambeau, which Cantlay won on the sixth playoff hole, which was incredible on Sunday. But really, the recommendation here is to read two different stories about Bryson DeCambeau. Kevin Van Valkenberg, who writes for ESPN, Tommy, and he's written a lot of good stories.

Do you know him at all? I'm curious. Vaguely. He's a Baltimore guy. He wrote a really good story about Bryson Deschambeau, who is one of the most, it's a really interesting dynamic with Deschambeau, Tommy. He is doing things that have never been seen on a golf course in terms of power. And yet, in a sport where there is really.

very rarely, you know, heckling of, you know, consistent heckling of any single player. He is heckled everywhere he goes. This Brooks Kepka, Bryson DeCambeau feud, where everybody's yelling Brooksie every time, you know, he steps over the ball or right after he hits it, has clearly gotten in his head. Van Valkenberg wrote a great story about DeCambeau. And, you know, there's a paragraph that he wrote that I wanted to read from this. And by the way, the other recommendation is Barry's Verluga wrote a really good column about DeSambeau as well. Both of those, I don't even care if you're a golf fan.

If you understand Bryson Deschambeau and sort of the situation surrounding him as a professional athlete, it's really amazing in this sport that a guy is, I don't even. even know if he's polarizing. I think he's just much more disliked than liked. Now, I could be wrong. Maybe it is polarizing. I can tell you the other day, because my son was there at Caves Valley. The Cantlay was the overwhelming favorite of the gallery. People, and it wasn't because Patrick Cantlay, Patty Ice, is like this, you know, highly popular fan favorite player. It's because everybody seemed to be rooting against DeCambeau. But Van Valkenberg writes the following.

He said, if you're not a golf fan, let me back it up, excuse me. Can you really boot someone from a professional sporting event for shouting another player's name at a player who doesn't like it? And that's the heckling that's going on with people yelling Brooksie. When does heckling cross a line and morph into bullying? And can you really bully a professional athlete who, was built like that. It's a surreal ethical dilemma. If you're not a golf fan, I suspect you find all this utterly perplexing. But golf is going to have to come up with an answer at some point, because it's not going away. The NBC broadcast team repeatedly implied the Brooksie chance

weren't much of an issue throughout the weekend that fans were mostly supportive of Deschambe. But anyone who walked with DeCambeau at Caves Valley could tell you that was to be generous, grossly misleading. I heard it dozens of times while walking with him and Can't Lay, walking with him and Can't Lay during the six-hole playoff. DeCambeau had plenty of fans, sure, but also had plenty people openly rooting for him to hit the ball in the water. A huge contingent of the crowd was chanting Patty, Patty, Patty, Patty for Cantlay, and roaring with glee when DeCambeau's drive found the creek during the playoff. I won't tell anyone that they should root for DeCambeau or change their mind.

He has earned a lot of the criticism thrown his way, but I do think we're losing the plot a bit, overlooking how compelling he is as a golfer, even if he can't seem to resist saying foolish things. He isn't as thoughtful behind the microphone as Rory McElroy or John Rom. Few athletes are. DeCambeau just shot the lowest score in PGA tour history by someone who didn't win a golf tournament, an absolute showcase for a city that hasn't had a PGA tour event in 60 years. And yet he seems on the verge of a Mareembourg. meltdown because he can't tune out the people who delight in mocking him.

In an era where we are encouraging athletes to talk about their mental health, is it's still okay to openly ridicule Des Chambot simply because he comes across as less likable? The column's great. In other words, in other words, it comes to, less likable means jerk. I think, and look, I talk, we, everybody knows, Scott is one of my. my oldest, closest, best friends. Steve Sands is a good friend. You know, these guys are really in tune.

I've asked both of them on this podcast and the radio show what people think, and they've been very honest. A lot of the players just think that he is insufferable. You know, his scientific, analytic, you know, I've got all the answers, you know, approach is a big turnoff. He clearly, as Barry wrote, I think, he's missing a chip, you know, like there's something socially, or at least from a self-awareness

standpoint that he's missing. I'm not a fan of DeCambo. I find him totally annoying. But at the same time, in this particular sport, what you're witnessing is somewhat new, where one player is just totally singled out in every tournament. And Scott and I were talking yesterday. Yeah, go ahead. Okay. The whole, our whole culture these days, look, I've talked about the impact of Vince McMahon and professional wrestling on American culture, period, from the White House to the golf course, okay? And we pick heroes and we pick villains.

That's what we do. That's what they do in wrestling. There's heels and there's baby faces. But the audience handles it differently. and has over the years and now they're not. The audience... But it's inevitable that it's going to seep into every part of our culture, including golf. Yeah.

It just took a long time to get there, and you needed the right kind of asshole for to generate it. Yeah. The funny thing is he's not like... He's not... He's not like an overt asshole. He's a subtle asshole. He's not an in-your-few... face asshole. He's just a subtle, annoying figure. I think he is, but he's not to everybody. Again,

this is a subjective thing. There are no numbers behind this. But I do think it's like, I think there are people that are wowed by his game, and his game is crazy, powerful. And it's fun to watch, but these press conference that he has, these interviews that he does, you just, you can sort of sense from afar if you're, you know, anywhere near a keen observer of the human condition, you can, you recognize why he's not well liked by players. He's full of himself. I, um, they did that thing with him and Brady and then Mickelson and Rogers. It was Rogers and DeCambeau against Mickelson and Brady,

and that made for TV event a couple of months back. And the biggest takeaway was how quick, for me, was how quick-witted and sharp Aaron Rogers is. And what a duller dummy Bryson D. Shambot is and how the joke always sails over his head. He's like he tries to have a sense of humor, but he just doesn't. I don't know. Here's the net.

You know what? The net of it. Read these two columns. They were excellent. He's got to live with it. Simple as that. But you can't you change? Can you change?

Andre Agassi. So Scott and I were talking yesterday, and I said, you know, there are guys that are despised early in their careers that are great talents and end up winning that end up in their older veteran years being beloved. I mean, Tommy, couldn't you say that about Ali? Great example. Who is? Agassi is a great example of that. That's the example I use, but couldn't you use the same example with Ali? I think what happened is the country came around to Ali, not Ali came around.

Okay, fair enough. I think it was the other way around. Yeah, and in Agassiz's case, Agassi was this little immature, brady, all about show, all about style, all about clothing, all about everything other than, you know, using this incredible. gift and talent that he had to win and win big. Now, he did win, but it took forever. It took him to fall to the satellite tour, the depths of professional tennis where you're earning your way back in to the main draws of these tournaments. I think Agassi dropped to like 141st in the world or something like that. And then he fought his way back and then ended up having the biggest years of his career later in his career. And then the back injury that he had ultimately ended his

career maybe, you know, a year or two or three earlier than it had to. But he was beloved at the end of his career by everybody. He didn't get there. He didn't get there. In other words, we don't know if that change would have happened without what he went through, without being vilified. Yeah, and without falling to the depths of like being, being. nearly out of the sport. Like Dishambeau would almost have to have, because he is a threat to win every single tournament he enters. And he's already a major champion having won the U.S. Open at Wingfoot last year.

So you have a guy that's already won, but maybe he's got to fall, you know, out of the world top 50 and missing cut after cut and then sort of fight his way back from that. I think people like to see a redemption story. We always root for the redemption stories, even if we didn't like the guy to begin with. Right.

Look, one thing, I think this whole mental health era of athletes is more of a media creation than anything else. And I don't have a lot of patience with writers who bend over backwards to be. sympathetic to the subjects they cover and dismisses of the fans who pay who create those sports so I'm assuming that you're not a big fan of Javi Baez these days no not a fan what an idiot basically gets everything he deserves I forget if you this may have been your line if it wasn't take credit for it the number one rule

for athletes and team sports in particular, don't criticize the fans. Don't criticize your customers. And rule number two is refer to rule number one. It's just not a good idea to go after the customers. In any situation, any retail business, in any sport, it's just not a good idea. What Baez did, especially considering that he's hitting like 207

since joining the Mets is just so lacking in self-awareness. And by the way, let me make it clear. Let me make it clear. There's a distinct difference between throwing popcorn on a player and an arena and booing them. Of course. Okay. But, you know, but there's a lot of media that want to tie it all together. Like, it's the road to hell.

You know, first starts to booing, and before you know it, they're throwing bricks from the stand. Well, I was going to say there's a big difference, too, between throwing popcorn and throwing a battery at somebody. Dropping a little popcorn on somebody's head isn't the end of the world, in my opinion, but we don't need to relitigate that argument with the Westbrook situation from a couple of months ago. Just, you know, if you're going, you never criticize the customer. But if you are going to take even a subtle jab at the customer, do it when you're on. top. And he has sucked since being moved to the Mets at the trade deadline. Sucked. Hitting 207 for the Mets as they have completely tanked and fallen out of a race that they were winning there for a while. I know that they've had issues and injuries and various things, but

they're pretty much out of it. I shouldn't say they're totally out of it. I think they're six or seven back. But the Braves and Phillies both appear to be better teams right now. now. Okay. All right. I've got one or two other things, and we'll update the cut situation right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Updating our recorded breaking news on the final cut day, John Kime reporting that Samus Reyes and Troy Apke will be on the final 53 man roster. Now, let me see if I got this right. Sammy Reyes, the fans loved. because they think, because they love this experiment, and they've never really seen him play.

Well, because he hasn't played. And they hated, and they hated Apkey, right? Fantayette. Yeah, yeah, they do. They do. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Apkey is, you know, they moved him to corner, but he's just too good of a special teams player for them. And he is, he's a Rivera kind of a guy. Like, he just, he can really run and he hustles. I don't know if he can play corner. We know that he really struggled at safety, but I did think that he popped in some of these preseason games, his speed, his effort, and I think that's, you know,

it goes with the culture. You know, Apkey is a hustler. Apke and Reyes is, as Ron referred to him after the first preseason game, I think it was, right against the Patriots, where he said, Reyes might be our most physical tight end. When you hear a coach say that about a player and he just played his first actual football game of his life, that's highly complimentary on what they might get with his upside. The key for him, he's not the Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Graham type. He's a blocking tight end.

He's a physical blocker. So of the basketball tight ends, and I mentioned this in my, it was just an obvious. observation I made watching his college basketball tape from Tulane that he wasn't a very fluid college basketball player. He was a powerful bullying brutish player, whereas these other guys had more basketball skill and feel, which is why I said when they signed him, I don't see him, you know, the basketball players just have great hands, great feel. He didn't seem to have that. Well, as it turns out, what he does have is that bullying brutish physicality, he's going to be a blocking tight end.

That's unique for the basketball, the football transition at tight end. Usually it's an athletic pass catcher, you know, before it is a blocker. This guy's going to be a blocking tight end more than anything else, at least initially. He could develop into the other thing. With Apki, though, to me, it's all about the,

the guys first of all they love team speed and he's got it he's a great special teamers special teams guy they must think that he is a much better corner than safety but i just think he's another guy that fits into everything they're trying to do remember he ran one of the fastest 40 times coming out of that draft from penn state when Washington selected him so um all right um what did you have to finish up the show very interesting i don't want this to be a long thing but I just wanted to mention that I was somewhere where I saw the first two episodes of Ted Lassa. Okay. Was not particularly impressed.

Of course you weren't. Two episodes. I mean, I wasn't the only one. My wife watched it and didn't see what the big deal was. Okay. So you're not going to give it any more time? Well, I mean, look, I knew after watching one episode of the Sopranos that I was watching something I never saw before. Did you feel that way about breaking back?

You're watching Breaking Bad that I was watching great television after one episode. I knew in the first five minutes of the wire that I was watching something great. Two episodes, that's a movie. Well, it's not a movie. They're 30-minute episodes, and the shows you're citing are hour-long episodes. But two episodes would equal an hour, and so there you go. I mean, I'm trying to think back to the episode one of Breaking Bad. because I do remember season one of Breaking Bad, the first episode or two, it was a slow build.

The first episode has Walter going along with his brother-in-law for a ride-along and has Jesse jumping out of the window of a house trying to avoid. I thought that was pretty good. Well, and, you know, but the whole part about him being diagnosed with cancer, I've got to go back and remember everything about the first episode. Look, Breaking Bad to me and Game of Thrones is probably one, two in some order for me. And I love the Sopranos, but I would put Breaking Bad Game of Thrones one, two in some order there. But I do remember Breaking Bad being a little bit of a slow build in season one. And people saying, just hang in there, hang in there. Because I watched it well after the fact. You pushed it on me for years. And I finally relented. And I,

And I binged it, and it's just, you know, anybody that hasn't watched breaking bad at this point. Isn't the story basically the script of Major League? Uh, a woman owner who wants to destroy the team? Yeah, but it's a different kind of comedy. It's just a different, you, it's a, look, there is definitely a uniqueness to this show, which is very focused on comfort and feel good and warmth around the comedy. Let me just tell you where I am right now in this show. I think season one is great.

I loved season one. Season two is good. I did not like the Christmas episode. I thought it was way too much of a reach, way too corny. I am definitely in the minority on that because at least based on people that I know that watch the show, they loved the Christmas special. I didn't like it at all. But the two episodes that they came off of the Christmas special with here in season two have been really good, have been really good, especially episode five. But I would say, my son and I were talking about this the other day, I'm like, how many seasons are in this show?

Like, to me, I think maybe two years should be it. And he's like, no chance. He's like, this is at least a four-season show because they've got to be, they've got to work their way back up to the Premier League team. Ted and Rebecca have to get together and probably have to get divorced or have to break up and there's that. And then probably they have to win the Premier League at some point. I like, I loved it.

Yeah, there's a lot of series. There's a lot of series I've seen that should have only played for one year, but they milked. They tried to milk more out of it. Right now, I loved season one. Season two is a step back from season one. That's all I'll say. For me, so I wonder whether or not season three could be,

or look, there's still four episodes left in season two. So we'll see. I'll tell you what, Tommy, I forget if I told you this or not, I am into this Formula One show. Now, I've watched five episodes of Formula One. It is an excellent show on Netflix. and it really has like the Belgian race on Sunday. I actually turned it on for a brief minute or two

because I've got a lot of catching up to do and it's going to be hard with football season starting because I just feel like there's never as much time once we get into football season with games going on all weekend long. But I am enjoying season one. Formula one is big around the world. Oh, huge. It's, it's, you know, the most, the highest grossing, uh, athletes in the world are soccer players, you know, tennis players and Formula One drivers. And then you get obviously, you know, the occasional LeBron James from team sports, well, soccer's team sport.

Formula one's a team sport, but the individual drivers make a shitload of money and the investment into these Formula One teams. I mean, they're into the billions. These are, this sport, like horse racing, is not for the, you know, it's not for the nine-figure guys. It's for the ten-figure guys. And gals. Anyway. Okay. What else do you have?

Okay. Anything else? You got nothing else? You're sure. That's it. Yeah. All right. I think that's it.

Any other news on these? cuts no not that I can see yeah um okay uh yeah the AGG I'm still real and from the Stephen Montaz news the AGG thing I said yesterday I thought he was going to make the team but I also thought that Dax Milne would make the team too there's no doubt I think that Dax Milne will make the team now um and you know if AGG is really the player that a lot of you think he is then maybe someone will pick him up and he'll have a chance to prove it elsewhere. I'll tell you the name that I'm looking forward to finding out if he makes the team now

is Shaka Tony. I think he's got real talent, like quick twitch, you know, get thin, come around the edge as a 4-3 defense event as a specialized pass rusher. That's what he was in college and he showed it a little bit the other night, I thought. I wonder if he ends up making this team. because they love his upside. Or maybe they can, you know, some of these guys, they're going to feel comfortable bringing back to the practice squad.

But I have a feeling that we've seen the biggest surprise. You know, the Morland and AGG releases are probably the biggest surprises that we're going to get. I don't see another one coming unless they release Reyes and keep a guy like Seals Jones. but Reyes does what really none of their tight ends do as his primary responsibility, which is, you know, block. Yeah. Okay. We're done. Might be back tomorrow.

Definitely will be in Thursday with the first of the 2021 smell test. I think I'm going to have a Thursday night game involved in the initial smell test of the year. Those of you that know how I do this probably can guess the game. already. But more likely than not a day off tomorrow, unless there's big news. And to me, the rest of these cuts aren't massive news. But definitely in Thursday with the first smell test of the year, which will, as it will be all year long, be presented by MyBooky at mybooky.orgie. Go to MyBooky, use my promo code Kevin D.C., and they will match your first ever deposit, dollar for dollar, right? They're going to double your.

deposit. You put in $1,000, $2,000, put in $500, they'll give you $1,000 in your account. All right, you'll have $1,000, an extra $500,000 reflected in your account balance when you get started, if you're going to get started this weekend. You know what we didn't talk about was the story you sent me yesterday about how poorly D.C. sports betting is doing and how underperforming. Let's do that on Thursday. You had pretty much said. That was your take on it. I predicted from the beginning that it was going to fall well short of the projected revenues for this particular market. Now, to be fair, the pandemic has a lot to do with that.

We didn't have sports for a lot of months there as all of this stuff was getting launched. But there are a lot of reasons, and I've given you a lot of the reasons that I thought that would be the case before. We'll talk more about this on Thursday. And we will also talk about the recent deals, which Tommy brought up the other day, with the NFL and big legalized sports gambling partners, which came out yesterday, along with more vaccination testing. I'm more COVID testing for players,

even if they're vaccinated. Man, I mean, there are going to be some games, I think, Tommy, with the way this Delta variant, you know, is infecting people at the rate. It's infecting people. There are going to be some games like last year that are in jeopardy of not being played on the day, that they're supposed to be played, I don't think the NFL will end up forfeiting a game.

They didn't last year. I don't know why they would do it this year. Okay, that's it for the day. Probably back on Thursday.