The Kevin Sheehan Show - Great Expectations

Episode Date: July 27, 2021

Kevin and Thom (not Dickens) spent the show talking about the increased expectations on Washington's football team as training camp opens, the pressure and expectations that may have chased Simone Biles from the Olympics, the expectation that Mike Rizzo will pull the plug on the Nats' all time greatest.  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. The podcast today brought to you by MyBooky. Go to my bookie. Go to my bookie.orgie.

Use my promo code Kevin, D.C., and they'll match your first deposit halfway all the way up to $1,000. You want to bet on the Olympic men's basketball team, Tommy? They're 39 and a half point favorites over Iran tomorrow. they should win. I mean, Popovich hopefully hasn't had to scout Iran for two years. He scouted France, apparently, for two years, and then acted like it was no big deal that they lost to him the other day in the Olympics.

Lots of baseball, plenty of NFL, plenty of UFC 265, which takes place next week. MyBooky will have it all for that UFC 265 event, starting next week. Go to MyBooky at My Booky at My Booky. at age use my promo code kevin dc and they'll match your deposit halfway up to a thousand dollars how's the beach going beach is fabulous great weather you know we started out in bethany uh on wednesday and then we moved our camp to wildwood crest saturday your normal spot yes the whole family's down here we rented a bunch of condos all in the same area. And last night we hit the dance floor, a Keene and's Irish pub in North Wildwood

for our annual visit to see the Soul Cruisers. The Soul Cruisers, not King's Soul, the Soul Cruisers. Not King'saw, this is the Soul Cruisers. Okay. They're a pretty big band up and down to Jersey Shore. They play every night at a week at some different location. And they play my kind of music, Wilson Pickett, things like that. They didn't ask me to get up and sing knock on wood with them.

So I didn't have that opportunity. Yeah, that's a good thing. You sound like you have a cold now. I know you were feeling like a cold was coming on. You now officially sound like you have a cold. Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. And it's not fun to have a cold when you're on vacation,

but I'm a make the most of it kind of guy. Yeah, not always, but when in Rome and you are on vacation, let's go for it, especially when you have a granddaughter that is probably very active and wants to do a lot of things. All right, let's get to sports to start the show because they're, you know, in the last 24 hours, first of all, first day of training camp for your Washington football team. I think most people know that down in Richmond. Boy, you miss Richmond, don't you? Yes, I sure too.

I bet there's thousands of people lining up to get in. I'll bet you they have crowd control issues down there. You know what? It's not going to be surprising to me if they have a decent crowd in Richmond. I think there is more optimism for this team than there's been in a long, long time. We've talked about that a lot. The news items of the last 24 hours related to the Washington, Washington football team is they got John Allen signed to an extension. This is something I talked about

probably four or five months ago that I thought it would be done by the beginning of camp. He signed a $72 million contract extension, $30 million of it guaranteed, four-year deal, puts his average annual in the top five in the league. It's not crazy, and I really do believe this, that if he had gotten to free agency next year, he may have gotten more on the open market, But he wanted to be here. The process I was told all along was pretty slow. And he came around to getting wrapped up before camp started today because he went to Ron Rivera. And he said, I want to be here, but I want this wrapped up.

And if it's not wrapped up by camp, then, you know, I'm not going to sign an extension during the season. And so Rivera was involved in helping get that thing wrapped up. I am happy for John Allen. This is, you know, over the course of many, many years now where you've had immature teams and immature rosters led by immature coaching staffs led by a child owner for all intents and purposes in terms of maturity level. This is a culture-changing guy. But beyond that, Tommy, he's an excellent football player and he's getting better and he's

entering his prime and he wants to be here. You know, wanting to be here and being a culture changer and a leader, that's all great, but you don't give him a top five money deal because of that. You give him a top five money deal because he's really good, and he is. I'm happy for him. I think it's the right thing for him. I think it's the right thing for the team. I agree. You know, I hate to start off agreeing with everything you said. But you did. You hit it all, everything. I mean, he's an important anchor on that defense. he's certainly an important leader on the team. He is, he does bring a level of maturity to the organization.

He's not a guy who mouthed off all the time. So when he does say something, you know it's important. And he's, he may, look, I don't know. I don't know if this is true or not. Because I think when healthy, Matt Ionitis is their best defensive lineman. But I think Jonathan Allen is probably the leader in that defensive unit. You're talking about interior defensive linemen. Yeah.

You know, we're going to find out. I mean, Matt Ionitis back, healthy. I mean, that could be another reason to be excited about this team. There are a lot of reasons to be excited. The other news-worthy item was reported by Mike Garofalo earlier this hour, and that is that the football team has signed Logan Thomas to a three-year contract. extension as well. So they're now in the business of trying to wrap these guys up before they get to free agency, which is smart. They really liked Logan Thomas. He had one year left on, you know,

a base salary of like $2.5 million somewhere in that neighborhood. I have no idea what the money is. It hasn't been reported, but I would assume that it's going to be in that, you know, five million to maybe seven million per year range, maybe five, you know, within the $5 million, and $6 million annual average range with some guaranteed money in there. But this is a position where they didn't have a lot of players or depth at this point. He played very well. And I'll tell you what, Ryan Fitzpatrick loves throwing to his tight ends. He loves distributing the ball.

But I thought Logan Thomas had a really good year last year. And a lot of what we heard early on in training camp is that the team really liked Logan Thomas. And they thought he was going to have a big year. And he did. He caught 72 passes, 670 yards, six touchdown receptions. He had a big year for a guy that when he was signed, everybody was like, okay, we'll see how it works out. But Logan Thomas gets a three-year contract extension as well.

Any thoughts on that? Are you going to agree with me? No, no, no. I agree with you on that. I mean, you know, Washington football, I don't know who in the front office or on the coaching staff said, let's take a chance on this guy, a former quarterback who tried to make it as a quarterback

and was making a position switch. But somebody had the right instinct on this guy because he turned out to be a great addition for them. 72 catches last year. And a couple people on social media, I don't recall who, pointed out that we just naturally assume, assume it's an easy thing to switch a position.

You know, it's just become a tight end if you can't play quarterback. But a lot of guys in the league have tried it and failed. You know, so I give Logan Thomas credit for being able to pull it off. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I mean, we don't see it work out a lot. I don't think Tim Tebow is going to make it at tight end. I mean, he might. it's still possible.

But yeah, I mean, Logan Thomas was a quarterback in college. It'll be interesting to see where his money comes in because remember, Pete Hainer, their tight ends coach, called him at the end of the year early in the offseason, one of the best six or seven tight ends in the game. You don't, when you're in a contract negotiation, you don't want your position coach admitting that necessarily. And I don't know if I'd put him in that. Look, there are a lot of great tight ends.

This is sort of an era of great tight ends. I mean, Kittle and Kelsey and obviously Gronk, although Gronk's on the downside of his career. And, you know, the two guys that the Patriots signed in the offseason, Smith, Jono Smith, and Hunter Henry are big-time talents. Darren Waller was phenomenal last year for the Raiders. There's some really, really good tight ends in the league and some emerging tight ends. Logan Thomas is among, at 30 years old, you know, he's just sort of emerging. But, you know, that position, we've seen it.

I mean, Jason Witten was playing last year at whatever age he was, you know, a different situation. But I'm glad they assigned him too. Look, overall, your job as a football coaching staff in front office is when you identify young players that are talented and that you think can be a part of a winning organization. and are people you want to be a part of the winning organization, you don't let them get to free agency. You lock them up before they get there so that there isn't the temptation of free agency,

and then all of a sudden you end up in a franchise tag or loss situation. This franchise, you know, with some players locked them up. They locked up Ryan Carrigan, if you recall. They locked up Jordan Reed when it seemed to make sense to lock up Jordan Reed. But they were unable to do with Brandon Sheriff and Kirk Cousins, but they did get John Allen done and certainly we're going to have over the next several off seasons this countdown to training camp and extensions with a lot of really good young players. You know, the young players like Terry McClearn on offense and certainly on defense the entire D-line.

Chase Young, Montez-Swet, Duran Payne, and, you know, ionitis at some point will be, you know, up for another extension. So when you've got that many players that you're thinking about extending, that's, I think, a good sign. And remember this, too, with respect to their cap. More likely than not, they're not going to have $18 million of Brandon Sheriff on the books next year. That would be my guess, and the cap's going to keep going up. A lot of you have said, well, if you spend that much on Allen, you're going to lose pain. I don't think that's necessarily true.

The caps going up, there are players like Sheriff that are taking up a big portion of the cap right now that won't. be a part of that cap allowance next year. We'll see how it goes. The increase in the cap will have a lot to do with it. We know it took a step back after the year of pandemic. Continuing with the big – Yeah, go ahead. The one thing is about the position is all the good teams have at least two really good

tight ends. You know, in this league, it seems like these days you need two. So, I mean, Washington does not have to. Yeah, not every team has two, not every good team has two really good tight ends. Not every good team. No. But a lot too. You know, Tampa last year had, you know, O.J. Howard was hurt.

So they had a veteran in gronk who wasn't, you know, gronk anymore, and they had Cameron Brayt, but they had great receivers. What you need is you just need a lot of really, really. you need multiple good pass catchers, whether they're tight ends or receivers. It's helpful if you've got two really good tight ends. It's helpful because now you're forced defensively to decide between nickel and base. See, Tommy, the way somebody explained this to me several years ago, a coach, he said the real advantage of having two tight ends on the field that can block and catch

is that you put the defense in an immediate quandary. If they go nickel and you've got two tight ends on the field that can block, you run the football successfully. If you stay in your base defense, now you've got matchup problems against two tight ends. And that's been the goal of many teams here over the last several years. If you can get two of them, but they're both really good at both things, They've got to be both good blockers and good pass catchers. You really put the defense into a bind in terms of, you know, how you play that.

Because you can still run the football if you've got tight ends on the field that can block against nickel defense. Anyway, Aaron Rogers is back. As we are sitting here doing this podcast, Aaron Rogers' video being shot of him walking into Green Bay's building. This is what Andrew Brant told. told me last week, Tommy, he said, I wouldn't be surprised if there's some sort of voiding of the final year of his deal to make this thing happen. And that's essentially, if you believe the reporting at this point, that's what they did. They cut out that 2023 season, and they sort of said at the end of next year, we will, you know, we're not going to use the franchise tag,

and we will trade you if you're still unhappy. Okay. Well, does that resolve it? Yeah, it's resolved. He's back. Have you not been following the Aaron Rogers story over the last 24 hours? Well, yeah, I know he was back, but does that mean he doesn't want to be traded anymore? No, it means that he probably will get traded at the end, that this upcoming season more likely than not will be his last in Green Bay, unless all the sudden, you know, Mark Murphy and Gutenkutzt, the GM, somehow convince him that they're much better guys and that Aaron will work. with them beyond. But then beyond, you know, there would be some sort of contract extension. So he plays this year. He gets traded at the end of this year, so the Packers still get something back for him, but they don't have his services in 2023.

Okay. So that means Washington football isn't going to get a chance to trade for him. Yeah, they might. But what if Ryan Fitzpatrick knocks the cover off the ball? Or doesn't, and they're not very good, and Aaron Rogers has no desire to come here at the end of the year, because it sounds like he'll have a say in where he goes as well. By the way, the other story that came out yesterday after the podcast is the Deshawn Watson story. You know, yesterday they, the Texans said they are open to trading Deshawn Watson. Today, another 10 women, I guess, came forward, including two that may file criminal charges against him. So we've gone from, you know, 22 civil cases to potentially 22 civil cases or more

and maybe still a couple of criminal complaints against Watson. He's untouchable at this point. Yes. You can't trade for him. As much as you might like to, you can't trade for Deshawn Watson, right? No, absolutely not. I mean, you'll be cruel. I mean, like, again, I mean, how many women are we talking about here? 30 now?

It's like between, I think, 24 and 30. You know, I'm getting mixed up with who came forward yesterday and how many of them are repeats versus how many of them are new. But there are now criminal, you know, complaints, whereas prior to yesterday, it looked like this was most going to be resolved in the civil courts. You know, down the road, but, you know, the NFL also has not even interviewed him yet because they can't until some of these issues get resolved. They can investigate, but he hasn't been put on any exempt list yet, but he's more likely going to be put on an exempt list.

I would imagine he's going to be put on an exempt list and not be able to play here early. reported to camp. I think he's going to be suspended for a certain number of games. I think he will be too. I think he will be too. So, I mean, if you had the opportunity to get him in a deal right now, you wouldn't trade for him, right? The reporting on this is that the Texans have talked and had preliminary discussions with several teams who have done some of their own investigating. But the reporting right now from the likes of, you know, Schaefter and others at ESPN is that there hasn't been a serious offer, one that Houston's been willing to accept. Before all of this started, we were talking three first rounders in two-star players, or at least one-star player. You know,

if it were Washington, it was like three first-rounders in Montez Sweat, three first-rounders in Cheshung, three first-rounders in, you know, or two-scenters. You know, or two-sets. seconds in Matt Ionitis. And I would have done anything to get Watson. Anything. I would have moved anything to get him pretty much. Feel the same way about Rogers. But right now, look, Neil pointed this out to me earlier. Neil and Rockville are a legal contributor. He said, no team's going to trade for Watson without talking to Watson. And no attorney with a license is going to allow watching to talk to any of these teams. You're right.

That's a good point. So. Yeah, I mean, he's to keep his mouth shut. Unless Houston said we'll just take, it will take one first rounder and you roll the dice on something like that. I mean, it could be the all-time deal, but this situation continues to get crazier by the day with him. because once Houston announced that they're willing to trade him and it reported to camp, then we had, you know, in addition to the 22 civil lawsuits,

we get a couple of more criminal allegations. Strange. I mean, this is just stunning. It really is stunning how these things kind of snowball, you know? Yeah. And how this can go on. with the team being like clueless about any of this? I mean, they had to have known.

Word must have gotten back. Somebody must have complained at some point to somebody on the team before any of this came out. Yeah, I wonder like everything. You know, now you look back, you know, not that now is the first time. I mean, these allegations now are, you know, multiple months. When it first came out that he wanted to be traded, everybody kept talking and pointing to that guy,

Jack Easterby in the organization. And it was like, why wouldn't you get rid of, you know, the team chaplain rather than have if he wants the guy out? And, you know, the relationship with, you know, everybody in the organization, and there's a new GM there as well. But, you know, the bottom line was, I think most people felt, look, dude, you just signed this deal nine months ago. You can't ask for a trade nine months after you sign one of the biggest deals in NFL history.

You know, why was he asking to get out? You know, why was Houston? I mean, obviously, if Houston knew something, Tommy, as you're suggesting, they should have traded him then. But then if they knew something, did the rest of the league know something? I don't think so because remember early on, there were a lot of teams it was reported that would be all in on Deshawn Watson, but Houston wasn't going to trade him. So if they knew all this about Deshawn Watson, that's sort of a disconnect for me,

because if they knew it and felt like nobody else did, they would have traded him. I don't know if they knew all this, but they must have had an inkling that he had an issue like this. I mean, you don't have this kind of situation without at least one or two women calling the team and complaining about this guy or contacting the team

and complaining about him. It had to have happened at some point. People said, off of yesterday's news and even now, somebody in this league because of his talent will trade for him. Philadelphia has been one of those teams

mentioned. I am going to predict that he's not going to get traded, that teams are not going to take that risk. Even if they think it's a six game suspension or even a year-long suspension, and it would be worth giving up multiple first-round picks and a player at this point. I think that there's too much going on here that a team more likely than not won't be able to find out about. I mean, you know, these recent criminal complaints

added to all of the civil complaints, that's a big leap. You can't give up if you're a team right now. I mean, if they took, if they took, you know, a first rounder, you know, and you were willing to throw away a first rounder on the hope that this thing gets resolved favorably, that's one thing, but you can't trade a significant portion of your future for a guy that potentially, potentially could end up in jail. You can't do that at this point. No. You know.

But are we discounting at all, the PR? hit that a team would take for something like this? Well, that's why I said this morning, there's no way Washington, you know, cross Washington off the list. Right. You know, at this point, absolutely. At this point, even if he's cleared of all of the criminal and the civil stuff gets settled and you never hear about what, you know, some of these women got, Washington will never,

ever trade for Deshawn Watson. The old Washington, we'd say, yeah, even in the face of everything that they've gone through over the last year. But I don't think Washington, I think you can cross them off the Deshawn Watson list. They're not going there. No. But you know, the thing is, you know, I mean, my instinct would always be that no team would touch him because of the fallout they would get, particularly from like female fans and stuff like that. But I remain convinced now

that if he played and they won, most of the female fans wouldn't care either. I totally agree with that. I just don't think it would be this team. I think it might be another team as long as everything's... It wouldn't be this team. Yeah, it's not going to be this team. I don't think it's going to be any team right now.

Let me make my position clear. I think until the criminal stuff goes away, I don't think it's going to be any team. I think if it's all civil and it's all, you know, there are no criminal charges and it's all allegations and they go to civil trial and it's planned for next year and maybe there's some settlements, I think a team absolutely would trade for that talent. But, you know, if you're going to do that, you really do have to find out now what kind of person this is, clearly. You've got to be confident that, you know, this isn't a serial situation because that's a lot of. a lot of massage therapists. That's a desire for a lot of happy endings.

I would know about that. There's another big story this morning. I just want to touch on real quickly because it is the story of the morning, I guess, in sports for those that are following the Olympics. Simone Biles is out of it was out of the team competition for a medical issue. First they were talking about an injury and now they're calling it a medical-related injury. This was in the team women's USA gymnastics. They ended up getting silver. Russia got gold in this event.

The statement from USA gymnastics was Simone is withdrawn from the team final competition due to a medical issue, she will be assessed daily to determine medical clearance for future competitions. So there's a chance that she might not participate at all moving forward. She is, I mean, really the unquestioned, I guess along with Katie Delecki, and again, I'm not a big Olympics guy right now, but she certainly was, if not the biggest star of these Olympics, you know, one of the top two were three. Oh, absolutely. You know, she arrived at this thing, and on social media Monday, she posted something where she admitted that she felt the weight of the world was on her shoulders and that the Olympics were, quote, no joke, closed quote.

So, I mean, this could be another example of an athlete sort of not being able to mentally deal with the pressure or deal with the responsibilities or whatever. that would be too bad. She's quite the Olympic star and personality. I mean, this is a huge blow. Huge blow to NBC. It is. Huge blow. Absolutely.

I mean, there are people who don't care about sports know who Simone Biles is. And NBC relies on these big women's gymnastics ratings during the Olympics. This is, you know, women's women's gymnastics, some of the track and field, and some of the swimming.

But it's the women's gymnastics. Correct me if I'm wrong, you might know more than I, is the highest rated portion of an Olympic two-week summer, typically. I think so. I think it is. Just like figure skating is in the winter. Right. In the winter Olympics. Yeah, I think so. One more thing about the Olympics, because I didn't do this show with you yesterday. I woke up Sunday morning hoping to watch the U.S. men's basketball team play France, and I turned on NBC, and there was like three-on-three basketball going on.

Have you watched any of the Olympics? No, I haven't watched a minute of it. So, you know, I started trying to find, you know, there are like seven stations that have Olympic coverage, and it's really hard to follow. And I said, I think, on the podcast yesterday, I'm critical as to how difficult they make it on most people. But at the same time, I also acknowledge it's a logistical challenge. I mean, it really is to have all of these events and, you know,

all of these, you know, games and events that people want to see and having multiple channels and then having peacock, you know, as a distribution ability, as well. well, I'm sure it's not easy, but it's really hard to sort of figure out what's going on when and where and how you can consume it. Anyway, to make a long story short, the men's basketball game live, you had to pay via peacock. You had to pay their monthly premium of $4.99 a month to get the men's basketball game live. It's the only, based on what I can tell, it's the only Olympic event or sport that NBC is making you pay for. They're making you pay to watch the men's Olympic basketball team

live. Now, the game was on later that day, tape delayed on NBC. So I'm, you know, it's not even the amount. I'm not paying it. I have Xfinity. I get Peacock through Xfinity, but I don't get the peacock premium through Xfinity. I got to pay for that. I haven't paid for it. I'm surprised, actually, I had not paid for it, because it includes a lot of things on the number one reason the Peacock Channel launched, which was the office, Tommy, and all of the associated programming, including bloopers and, you know, scenes, deleted scenes and all that stuff, but I did not pay for it. I'm not going to pay for it for this men's Olympics team, even though it's always one of my favorite portions of the Olympics to watch the U.S. play basketball,

especially when it's not certain that they're going to win gold. and it's not certain. So they lost to France the other day. And I wanted to mention this. I was listening to Fran Fraschilla, who has been a longtime ESPN college basketball guy, draft guy, with an expertise in international basketball. Fran Fershilla was a coach for many years,

and I was listening to him. I think he was on Mad Dog show or the Mad Dog X-M-Series station yesterday. and he got after Popovich a little bit, and I did two on the radio show yesterday, for not having his team prepared to play against the French. And, you know, he thinks, you know, some of the sagging defenses, the true zone ability in international basketball. And I didn't think France played a ton of zone, actually, if any at all, but they switched their man throughout the game, and they sagged a little bit. And they looked totally unprepared for it. After the game, Popovich made some comments that were sort of dismissive of the loss. He said, when you lose a game, you're not surprised.

You're disappointed. I don't understand the word surprise. That sort of disses the French team, so to speak, as if we are supposed to beat them by 30 or something. That's a hell of a team. They've got NBA players, other talented players playing in Europe, who've been together for a long time. I think it's a little bit of hubris if you think the Americans are, supposed to just roll out the ball and win. You have to work for it, and for those 40 minutes,

they played better than we did, closed quote. Now, let me mention that before that game, Tommy, he said that he had been scouting the French team for two years in anticipation of this. I know. I mean, this is his job. This is his job to get them ready to play a team as competitive as France was. Everything he said right there should not have been a surprise to him. They were in these exhibition games. I could tell they were not prepared, especially for true zone defense. And by the way, they've got Jay Wright on that staff. So they've got a college coach. And by the way, Jay Wright's a really good zone offensive coach team at Villanova. But anyway, who knows if, you know, the great Popovich listens to.

to anybody on the bench. By the way, he looks completely disheveled over there on the sideline. It looks like he hasn't shaved in 15 days, and he's got his shirt untucked, and he just looks like a mess. But let me just make one thing clear. You are supposed to beat France. You're a big favorite to beat France. You should beat France.

We all know they've got NBA-level players. Rudy Gobert is really good. Evan Fournier and Nick Batum are, you know, role players in the NBA. Those are your three NBA players. You have all NBA players, and most of them are stars on your team. And this notion that, you know, like the world's caught up with the U.S. And, you know, you're the ugly American if you assume the ball should just be rolled out and you should win. Bullshit.

You know, there's nothing like jingoistic about thinking that the U.S. roster made up of the players that it has should roll through this Olympic Feud. because it should. And to use it as an excuse, well, these other teams, they're together forever. You know, they play together. They're much more of a team. Well, they certainly play like much more of a team because they were better coached the other day than the U.S. team was. But, you know, you mentioned the NBA players.

They haven't been working out with the French team for years and anticipation or months. They've been playing in the NBA. Nick Batum and Rudy Gober were deep into the playoffs. So I just, this guy to me is insufferable and has been for years, and I'm not suggesting that he's not been a really good coach, but I am suggesting what Fran Frasilla mentioned, and that is the other day his team looked totally unprepared for a team that he claims he scouted for two years and a team that talent-wise the U.S. is much better than. Not a little bit better than, much better than. I still think the U.S. can win gold and might win gold. They certainly should win gold. Yes, they should. To suggest that, like, you know, it's somehow ugly American to diss the French

because they've got NBA players and the rest of the world's really good too and we're not as good as we think we are. You know, you can be patriotic, you know, pop. You can be patriotic and, by the way, be realistic without being obnoxious. You guys are the best team by miles. You have the most talent by miles. It's not even close. He sees what's coming.

I mean, look, nobody, after Shashefsky's success, coaching the Olympic team, nobody wants to be the guy to basically fail following that, because nobody will forget it. Nobody forgets. As great as we love the coach, John Thompson, that his team lost.

But college players. Right. In the Olympics. And people will remember that because the expectation is based on reality that the best players in the world are here in the United States and they'll win the gold medal. So he already sees a blemish on his pretty impeccable resume as a basketball coach. Yeah. Well, yes. I don't think he sort of feels the pressure of that, though.

It doesn't seem like he's that moved or will be that impacted if they lose because he'll chalk it up to, you know, world greatness. Like, you can give the opponent like the French or anybody else they lost to in the run up to the Olympics. You can give them credit and also say, we have to be much better because we got a lot more. talent. We should win these games. Like, you know, you don't have to act like you're an underdog. You know, you're not. You're a heavy favorite. And the French team was good. And they got a little bit lucky at the end.

You know, the U.S. could have easily won that game. But it was his reaction that to me was typical pop-off pudding. Like, you know, it's okay. It's okay to say we're really good at basketball and we're better than the rest of the world. And the rest of the world's really good, too. and the French team's really good. But we have the best team and we, you know, he doesn't need to say that, but he doesn't need to knock down his own team and uplift everybody else to make himself look good.

That team wasn't prepared. They'll kill Iran. They're a 39 and a half point favorite over Iran. But I don't know. There's something about him that just has always rubbed me the wrong way from those very sarcastic. sometimes antagonistic and condescending end of quarter, end of half interviews with whomever it was out on the floor. Right. He's just way too fond of himself, and he's been a great coach, and he's won a shitload.

But you can't lose the gold with this team. You just can't. And they probably won't. Probably won't. All right. Wasn't Larry Brown the coach in 2004? Yeah, when they lost. Yes.

Yeah. But Larry Brown's resume is so all over the place that no one really remembers that. Right. I mean, Larry Brown's resume is like a bumper car ride, so nobody remembers that. But Popovich loses the gold. People will never forget it. Where is Larry Brown right now? Wasn't he coaching in Italy? I think he's an assistant coach. No. Well, maybe he is, but I think he's an assistant coach. He is. On somebody. Memphis. Memphis. He's in Memphis. He's in Memphis. He was in Torino.

Okay. And he said it was an absolute joke with the smoke haze in the building and everything else. And then, you know, he was at SMU for a few years too. God damn. How old is he? He's got to be 80. He is 80. He's 80. He's 80 years old exactly. What a resume. What a resume. Okay. We will get to Washington Football Conference. right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

Training camp underway today in Richmond for the Washington football team. By the way, just a reminder, subscribe to the podcast. If you haven't, it doesn't cost you anything. It helps us. Rate us and review us where you can. And tomorrow morning on the radio show on the Team 980 at 8 a.m. Ron Rivera will be my guest. So tune in for that.

You can listen to it on the Team 980 or the Team 980.com or the Odyssey app. I, you know, Tommy, I think this is a training camp that is different than the last several. I mean, last year was obviously weird because it was not really an offseason. But it was, you know, the first year of Ron Rivera. But there was so much going on at the time. You know, it was the sexual harassment. It was the name change. It was the, you know, Alex.

Smith's story and then eventually the coach got cancer, et cetera. Right. But I do think that this season, and I know we've talked about it before, but now that we're finally here, I do think that the expectations for this team from the fan base, both the active fan base and maybe the passive fan base, are as high as they've been in a long time. Do you think it's justified? I would agree with that, and I think it's justified because of the presence of the new coach and the new front office.

You know, I mean, it's always justified, I mean, when you have a coach who hasn't failed here yet, there's always going to be a level of excitement, especially a coach with an NFL resume that includes some level of success, along with a lot of failure. still. But, so yeah, I think it's justified. I mean, last year was, you know, I think, you know, the idea that they managed to win seven games and get to the playoff, probably pumped fans up a little bit. But I still think they're almost like in brand new mode with Ron Rivera, some of the fan base. I mean, this is, I mean, like you just said, last year was such an aberration in so many ways. this is the first real training camp under the new coach. So, yeah, it's, look, it's always justified, almost always justified when you have a new hire,

brand new people coming in, even though this has happened time and time and time and time again, and it's failed. It's still, I understand why fans would be excited about the new regime, the new coach. and the new face is on the team. Yeah, I mean, I feel like we've been repetitive, but that's what happens this time of year. But I do think, and I totally get why expectations are increased compared to previous years.

I get it why some of you are excited. I put out a poll this morning. We have to do a Twitter poll every morning on the radio show. You can, you know, vote if you want at Kevin Sheen, D.C. on Twitter. And essentially, I just said, look, describe your feelings or your expectations about the upcoming season. And I gave four options. You know, you're excited because you think it's a very good team. You're cautiously optimistic.

You think it's a year or two away or you don't care. Cautiously optimistic's got 60% of the vote. That doesn't surprise me necessarily because I think that even the most optimistic, fan who's super excited about, you know, the talent on defense, which there is talent on defense, some of the young talent on offense, which there is. The expertise in the competence level of a coaching staff in year two, it's so much more than it used to be. A quarterback upgrade, no matter what you think of Ryan Fitzpatrick, yes. So at the very least, you're like cautiously optimistic that they are on the rise. Now, what that means in terms of wins and position in

the standings and playoffs, et cetera, you know, there's probably a big disparity among many of you, but I am certainly cautiously optimistic that the football operation is on the right track here. Now, you know, we've done this before where we get to, you know, this stage of just comparing it to what it used to be. Like, I remember when Vinnie Serrato was finally hired, and they hired Mike Shanahan and Bruce Allen, you know, I was and many people were like so excited, but it's just because, you know, anything would have looked better than what they had had before with Jim Zorn and Vinny Serrato. And so I, but, but it's more than that this time. You know, it's more than just Mike Shanahan. It's more than just, well, they may have found their quarterback with

RG3 or while they may have found their quarterback with Kirk Cousins. This is a more well, well-rounded roster than it's ever been. It still has a big question mark on the most important position on the field, which is why you can't go all in and say, this is a legitimate, you know, division champion maybe wins a playoff game or two kind of team. You can't do that when you're not, you know, a hundred percent sure that you've got, you know, the quarterback. You know, it may be much improved from where it was last year, but if it's Ryan Fitzpatrick the way he's been throughout his career, you're going to have some heartbreaking moments during this season. Yeah. But it's a more well-rounded football roster than it's really almost ever been,

or been in a long, long time. It's a better coaching staff. And for the, moment, organizationally, there seems to be a bit of stability as it relates to the football operation compared to years past. That doesn't mean it will continue. It's certainly

not a better coaching staff than when Mike Shattahan was here. No, I would agree with you on that, but I'm comparing it to the six years prior, which was the Jay Bruden in all of those, you know, one bad defensive coordinator after another. I agree. I agree. And you know

what? I agree with you on the roster, and I know this is kind of ridiculous to say this about Mike Shattahan, and I'm probably totally wrong about it, but I think he underestimated how bad the personnel was when he first came here in 2010. I mean, it was a really bad, bad, bad roster he was inheriting. No doubt. And Ron Rivera inherited a good defensive, a good defensive roster with at least one pretty good offensive player in Terry McCorren.

So, yeah, I think it has progressed since then to a far more well-rounded roster. You know, here's something I was thinking about. And this hit me with the Olympics. And this is why I could probably never be a fan anymore.

I can't separate the reality from the fantasy. anymore. I'm not capable of it. You know, compartmentalizing what you know as opposed to what you want to believe. Give me an example. I can't do that anymore. Well, I mean, I can't enjoy the Olympics because I know what a con game and a fraud it is. I know the corruption that goes on behind the scenes. I know I know the damage it causes as an event to the places that hosted. And I can't separate that from the athlete's performances anymore.

I can't do that. So with Washington football, when we talk about this all the time, the idea is you have to separate what you know about the owner and his track record, the Surgeon General's warning, from the hope to be optimistic that this could be different.

Well, I'm not capable of that anymore. I can't do it. Yeah, it's just that this moment in time is perhaps a unique moment in time where he is at his most vulnerable and maybe just sort of recovering on the ropes for a little while after the last year. Now, the unfortunate part of that is there wasn't, you know, a real reprimand of anything. that happened here previously, and he almost felt like he won. Like there was some sense that he won this whole Beth Wilkinson investigation. But whatever.

I understand. And I have tried to explain to everybody that listens and friends of mine that while, you know, I have to compartmentalize here because like we've said before, like what's the point? Like if you're going to. Yes, exactly. If you're going to just say, well, it's never going to work as long as he owns the team, which may be true, then what's the point of even paying attention and having, you know, paying attention to the team or even having a job like the one I have where you've got to talk.

Like it's much more fun to talk about the games and the team and the players than it is the other stuff. And to treat it as sort of a one-off every season, maybe this will be the season that they actually, go nine and seven or in this particular case, 10 and 7, and win a playoff game for the first time in 2005. Overall, though, like the football operation itself, if you can for a moment, separate the fact that Snyder still owns the team, is in one of the healthiest positions it's been in in a long time. It's got the most well-rounded roster that it has had. It's got real depth. It's got a good salary cap position.

It has a very, very intriguing defensive core that looks like it could produce not only one, but maybe two or three great NFL defensive stars, you know, including maybe the best defensive player in the game at some point. Offensively, you've added some pieces. You still have the question of quarterback. and, you know, I would almost say, look, I think they could go 9 and 8 this year and be in the playoff hunt. You know, I think 10 is sort of an outlier until I know exactly what they have at quarterback, but I think that they can get to Thanksgiving and still be in the mix, you know,

at 5 and 5 or 6 and 4 or, you know, 4 and 6 in a bad division. Who knows, with still a lot of their division games left. Remember, the schedule this year lays out in such an odd way, They play five of their six division games over the final five games of the season. They have Dallas, Philly, Dallas, Philly, New York to end the season. You get more than three months that pass between their first division game and their second division game this year. That's crazy. But I think until we know what they have at quarterback, not just for this year, but in the future,

you have to dial back expectations that reach like late January and certainly early February. It's just not realistic to expect them to be a Super Bowl contender or an NFC championship contender unless you know you have one of those guys at quarterback, and we don't know that right now. But they could have over the next few years a big-time defense with two or three players that are pro bowlers on defense and maybe the defensive MVP at some point over the next two to three years. And that's really encouraging overall. I wanted to mention one player in particular because I talked about this guy. I think when training camp begins, there's always like a guy. I try to focus in on one or two guys that I think I have a sense that the coaching staff really believes will

break out to a certain degree this year, and maybe the fan base isn't thinking about that player. And my player is Colleen-Hudson, number 47, Cooley's old number. He played a lot of snaps at the end of last year for a guy who was primarily a special team's player. He played 50% of the snaps in the game against Seattle late in the year. He is high motor, high energy, can really run and can really hit. They loved him on special teams. They singled him out a few times last year.

It's a position that doesn't have necessarily a lot of the depth that other positions have. And I think that 47 Kalee Kudson is going to be a significant contributor on this team this year. And overall, I find the linebacker position in particular, one of the more intriguing because, and I will ask Ron Rivera this, they've got to become a better run-stopping defensive team than they were last year. For those of you that think that this was a great defense, and statistically it measured out as like, you know, top four or five, that's bullshit. It wasn't a great defense. They feasted on some bad offensive teams and some backup quarterbacks, which raised their quantitative statistical profile and ranking. This is a defense that was way too streaky and inconsistent.

against the run. And unless they're great against the run, they're not a great defense. Remember Ron Rivera's line when he got hired. We're going to stop the run on the way to the quarterback. Well, they got to the quarterback and they generated a lot of pressure, but in key moments, they did not stop the run. They've got to become a better run-stopping team in 2021. And the key to that is did they improve at linebacker with the addition of Jamie Davis? And maybe, maybe we saw at the end of last year the emergence of a guy like Khali Kudson. That's going to be crucial.

The secondary is well. They play a lot of nickel. Their nickel defense is almost their base defense. They've got that Buffalo nickel position with Cam Kural. Collins will play it. Kalee Kudson might play it, you know, at times. But I think one of the real keys to this year, beyond the obvious, which is quarterback is, is this defense capable of being a great run-stopping team?

If they are, then they may raise their level to elite, to really, like, legitimately top three or four. And that's going to keep them, Tommy, in every game. It's going to give them a chance, even against the schedule they're playing, to be a really competitive football team. You see, ladies and gentlemen, that's compartmentalizing right there. Yes, it was. Absolutely.

What would you suggest? That's a classic case of it. It is. No. No, I agree. Like I said, I think you have to if you're a fan. You have to do it. You have to if you're a sports talk show host in Washington, D.C.

Because what are you going to do? Oh, I don't know if you do. What are you going to do? Come on the air every day and say, oh, that's great. You know, Chase Young's awesome. Montez Sweets great. But Dan Snyder still owns the team. Let's talk, you know, let's talk hockey in August and September.

No, that's not going to work. And, you know, like we've always said, people still, even if they don't believe that this team will ever amount to anything as long as Dan Snyder owns a team, people still love football and people still love watching football. Like, there's no close second. And so do I. You're right. It's the safety net that has protected the owner and still made him a rich man in spite of himself when it comes to the football team. I think there's also going to be, and this is just a general observation, more excitement this year, because people are desperate to be excited after going through COVID.

You know, I mean, they want to feel excited. They want to feel optimistic. I'd be shocked if they don't have a good home crowd for their first home game. I agree. What about you? I think that, you know, I don't think it'll be a sellout, but I think that they will have, one of the more pro-home team crowds that they've had in a long time. Obviously, last year, no crowds. In 2019 and 2018, even when they got up to the good start, it's still. I mean,

you know, the game that Alex Smith got injured in when they were six and three against Houston wasn't anywhere near a sellout. But yeah, I tend to agree with you. And, you know, they have the benefit here of starting with two home games in September, you know, against the Chargers who won't bring a big opponent's fan base into the stadium. And then they have the Giants on Thursday night. So you do have, you do have that. Anyway, you want to get to the Nats and that devastating loss last night and the day before and what they're going to do next. I want you to tell us what they're going to do next. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Couple more things and we'll be done for the day.

First of all, before we get to the Nats and another topic that we're going to address here, I just wanted to mention that Nikki Javala just posted, Nikki covers the team, the Washington football team for the post. She just reported that as of July 26th, which is yesterday, Washington still had the lowest player vax rate in the NFL, with 60% having received at least one dose per se. source, Indy is the second lowest at 63%. Overall, nearly 84% of the NFL players are at least partially vaccinated.

So Washington lowest vaccination rate right now, or as of yesterday, in the NFL, with 60% having received at least one dose. Well, that's, you know, for anyone with a brain, that's got to be very disappointing. if you don't recognize the scope of what that does to the team, what that potentially can do to your team, then, you know, then, you know, you'll buy anything this team does then. You'll buy anything they do. No matter what they do, they can't do anything wrong.

If you don't understand that and how this hurts the team. Yeah, let's see where it is when, you know, they get to playing games where they're at risk. But I want to make one thing clear in Nikki's tweet, 60% having received at least one dose. That means 40% haven't had at least one dose. So 40% as of now have been anti-vaccination. And that's a big percentage of a football team in the NFL. And by the way, that's a big percentage of our area. you know, there are areas of this country where vaccination rates are much higher and there are vaccination

rates in states that are much lower. This is one of the areas of the country where, you know, the vaccination rates are high. And by the way, that is associated typically with a very high education rate in our area. But anyway, I digress. I just wanted to give that information. I watched the Nats game. By the way, I went to the Nats Orioles game Saturday night. Did I tell you that? I forget if I told you that or not. No, you didn't.

Yeah, I was up in Baltimore with one of my sons, and it was sort of a last-minute decision. And I'll tell you why it was a last-minute decision. It's because I do love Camden Yards. I haven't been to Camden Yards in like three or four. I think the last time I was at Camden Yards is when we did an opening day for the station because we carried the Orioles. So that may have been three years ago, four years ago, something like that.

But I love Camden. Much longer than that. Well, no, Cooley and I did one. Oh, okay. And I had to be up there for an opening day, even though I wasn't doing a show one of those years because we all had to be up there. But anyway, I love Camden Yards.

It was a beautiful day Saturday and Saturday evening. It was not hot and it wasn't humid. But really, Tommy, you know what I thought? I thought that there would be a small crowd. And I thought it would be easy to get tickets, easy to park. We could stay for five, six innings, leave if we wanted to. Do you know it was the largest crowd at Camden Yards in two years Saturday night? It must have been a giveaway.

Well, it was Jim Palmer Bumblehead night. There you go. That's why it was the largest crowd. Well, it's also because they were playing the Nats. And so you had a lot of people. No, no, no, no. Trust me, the Jim Palmer Bumblehead was the game changer for that crowd. Okay.

I got one, and I'm putting it up here in the studio, and I'm for you. Actually, you know, in the process of this move, I've got a couple of things that I've found. That one of these, the next time we get together in person, you're going to love some of the things that I found. As we started to move, and I had boxes up in the attic. of various sports-related things and various newspapers, old newspapers. I was a collector of old newspapers, and I have a huge box. I used to be, too. I have a huge box of old newspapers, and I thought about throwing them out, and then I decided

not to. Also, I had a lot of unopened football cards, which I was immediately, I was like, do I open these, or do I leave them unopened? And I got a really good advice about leaving them unopened. So anyway, I went to the game and it was really crowded. It wasn't a sellout, but it was really crowded and ran into a couple of people who really enjoy the podcast. So for one of the guys, Ryan came up, talked to me for a while. Joe came up, talked to me for a while. Joe really loved the podcast and was talking about several recent episodes of the podcast.

But I went and saw the Nats. They lost that game. They lost on a walk off Sunday night, and then last night, my God, poor Brad Hand can't get anybody out. He, with a 5-3 lead, gives up a three-run homer after a wild pitch, a walk, and a three-run shot to Andrew McCutcheon. They've lost five in a row. They're nine below 500, and eight and a half out. And I would assume tell me they're going to be big-time sellers here over the next 72 hours. I think that's a reasonable assumption at this point.

The one that will hurt will be Max Scherzer. I mean, that's the one that's going to, even though he's a rental, because, you know, I mean, he's only under contract for the rest of the season. That's still probably the one that would bring the most return. I don't think they're going to be trading, Trey Turner, who will be a free agent, not next year, but the year after. They should not trade Trey Turner. Of course not.

and Soto, obviously, are the untouchables. But yeah, I know that, but let's remember. I mean, this team has not signed its young players, except for Strasbourg. They've let them go. You know, so, no, I don't think they're going to trade her because I don't think, if you remember the learners, at the last minute, Rizzo was all set to trade Bryce Harper in July of the trading deadline. It is last year.

and the learner said no. I know. The Lerner's backed out at the last minute, so they're not going to trade Turner at this point. But, you know, Scherzer, I mean, you know, he's going to be a free agent at the end of the year anyway. If you haven't signed him to a contract extension at this point, you want to try to get something for him.

If you wanted to bring him back, although that never seems to happen, you could bring him back, you know, when free agency starts. But it's a shame because he's become one of the most important athletes in Washington sports. And it will be a shame to say goodbye to him if that's the case. It really will. I'm just reading Jeff Passon right now who suggests or reports that the Nats have shown a willingness to move Trey Turner.

I hope that doesn't happen. I mean, in terms of the teams that Scher would go to, it looks like Tampa, and any playoff contender, obviously, is going to be very interested. Let me just point out something. In reporting for this, Heyman. People, general managers talk every day about players on their roster and possible trades. that doesn't necessarily always mean anything.

In other words, like Mike Rizzo could have gotten calls from six general managers saying, you know, we're interested in Trey Turner, and Rizzo's going to say, well, what are you offering? Right. I mean, that's natural. That happens all the time. Sure. That doesn't mean they're going to trade, Trey Turner. Well, look, we're going to know here in the next 48 to 72 hours, but your guess is Max Scherzer.

gone and what, maybe Hudson too? Yeah, maybe Josh Bell, Josh Harrison. Who would want Brad Hand at this point? Yeah, I know, but, you know, Daniel Hudson, probably maybe. So, I mean, but the only one that will hurt that fans is, is, sure, sir, I mean, you know,

I mean, behind Alex Oveskin, I think he's become the most important athlete in this city. Let's finish with what you wanted to talk about that you mentioned during the break. Okay. There's some reports that Simone Biles, who declined to compete in the team gymnastics competition finals, for some kind of injury that has been deemed not physical. So everyone is assuming it's some kind of mental issue with her, she may not compete in the rest of the Olympics. There's been speculation that that may happen.

And people who cover the Olympics, cover gymnastics, say that she has had a tremendous burden on her carrying the fate of the United States Olympics for probably five, six years now. And it's been tremendous pressure for her. And people who are smarter about this and me have talked about that and have expressed sympathy for her situation. And that's fine. But she's 24 years old.

She's not a 17-year-old competing. And I'm just wondering, will we now, if we're changing the way we think about this, if a 24-year-old quarterback sitting on an NFL bench in the fourth quarter says, I can't go out there, I'm frozen, I can't do it. I have too much pressure on me.

I can't go out there and do it. What would be the sympathy and what would be the pushback on that? There wouldn't be any. I think there are degrees of sort of mental stress. You know, there is what Simone Biles is saying, and, you know, we're picking up on more of this as it comes out, and it's coming out as we're doing this podcast from the very beginning. You know, she says she was afraid she'd be injured if she continued to compete in a rattled state of mind. She's been fighting the pressure demons.

There's a quote here. Hold on for one second. Let me pull it up. that she needs to put her mental health first. I didn't want to go into any of the other events. Second guessing myself. I just wasn't in the right head space for this. I think that I'm not a psychiatrist and I'm not a mental health therapist.

But someone who has been diagnosed with mental health issues related to, say, you know, anxiety issues, depression, which is obviously very serious, things like, you know, OCD and panic disorders and all of these other things. I can't even begin to list them, but, you know, somebody who's really been diagnosed is suffering from a mental health illness, I think there should be plenty of compassion for and plenty of leeway given. I don't know that she has said that. And, you know, Osaka didn't necessarily say that either. Osaka just said that she felt the pressure of these press conferences

and the negativity towards her as something that was impacting her game. To answer your question, of course, the 24-year-old quarterback, you know, the quarterback that's two years, three years removed from playing college football, is not going to be given that much sympathy if there isn't a true like mental health illness diagnosis that comes along with the announcement. You know, Kevin Love suffers from anxiety, depression, and panic attack disorder.

You know, and I think there was some compassion for him. DeMar de Rosen also was diagnosed with some of that. And they were, you know, they're veteran players in the league. And I think that there was, you know, an appropriate, amount of compassion for those players. But if a player came out and just said too much pressure, oh, the football player would be treated much differently than Simone Biles. Yeah, and let's take a 21-year-old college quarterback.

Much different than Simone Biles. Much different. Yeah. And that doesn't seem fair. It might not be fair, but let's be candid here. a young female athlete in an individual sport that is a team sport in the Olympics, whatever, but it's primarily sort of an individual thing, is perceived to be, whether true or not, and it may not be true, more fragile.

And so if you are attacking that person, you come off as, you know, a bit too, Um, harsh. Yes. A football player isn't perceived in that way. I'll tell you what. Maybe we're seeing, maybe we're seeing a change here. A change. Well, I mean, we've had professional athletes admit that they suffer from mental, you know, health issues.

But that's not, no, I mean, like Kevin Love sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter, when his coach tells him he needs to go in the game and he says, I can't coach. Well, he did. I mean, during a game. He had to leave the arena. He had a panic attack or he had an anxiety thing. That was a real thing. He got, there was another story about Kevin Love being terrified and going into, you know, having a real issue on a flight.

You know, I understand that. Yeah. I mean, in this specific situation. I pulled up the story. I just pulled up the story on love. just before the 2018 NBA All-Star game, Toronto Raptors Guard, DeMar DeRosen, revealed via tweet that he had been struggling with depression. In a recent interview with TNT analyst David Aldridge,

DeRosen explained how support from fans and others around the world have helped encourage him since disclosing his struggle. In the Players Tribune, and this would have been dated, I don't have the date on this, but it was, I think, last year. in an essay in the players tribune cleveland cavaliers all-star forward maybe even two years ago Kevin loved disclosed that he suffered a panic attack earlier this season during a game in the piece which is entitled everyone is going through something love explained that he suffered a panic attack on november 5th during the cabs

117 one-15 home loss to the hawks um according to the associated press recap of the game love left the game in the third quarter with an illness, and the team announced that Love, who had four points and four rebounds in 19 minutes, was treated and released. He said, I was winded within the first few possessions that was strange, and my game was just off. I played 15 minutes in the first half, made one basket and two free throws. After halftime, it all hit the fan. Coach Lou called the time out in the third quarter. When I got to the bench, I felt my heart racing faster than usual. Then I was having trouble catching my breath. It's hard to describe. Everything was spinning like my brain was trying to climb,

I'm out of my head. The air felt thick and heavy. My mouth was like chalk. I remember our assistant coach yelling something about a defensive set. I nodded, but I didn't hear much of what he said. By that point, I was freaking out. When I got up to walk out of the huddle, I knew I couldn't reenter the game, like literally couldn't do it physically. Coach Lou came up to me. I think he could send something was wrong. I blurted something like I'll be right back, and I ran back to the locker room. he said, I felt like my body was trying to say, you're going to die. I ended up on the floor in the training room lying on my back, trying to get enough air to breathe. The next part was a blur.

You know, these are all symptoms of panic attack, according to the Cleveland Clinic. And so this is a diagnosed mental, you know, health illness. I understand that. Right. I understand that. That was a November game that no one was paying attention to. I mean, Simone Biles' situation is the fourth quarter of a playoff game. Yeah.

A deciding game. Everyone's going to notice it. And I just think that if their sympathy for her, and it all may be warranted. People much more informed about this, you know, are expressing their support for her, that you have to do the same thing if it happens to a player in a competitive situation. in college or professional sports.

If there's like a cover of, if she's on like the cover of some big time magazine tomorrow, you're going to tweet it out and say, it looks like she's not feeling the pressure as much as she was before. I forget. I forget what your tweet was now. Only if she uses it for her own purposes. Well, she's holding up.

Somebody else did. She just held a press conference. read to you some of the quotes. We don't have the whole gist of it. I, look. Look, and I understand. I believe her. I'm sympathetic to her. I'm just saying that if this is an acceptable reaction, then it's got to be acceptable to everybody who faces this. You know, if it's, I mean, I don't want to just draw like a hard line that says

diagnosed mental health illness or not, and if it's not, then, you know, you're going to have to tough it out. You know, you committed to this thing, you're part of a team, you're going to have to tough it out no matter how much pressure there is on you. But on some level, I sort of feel that way. I just hate feeling that way towards a young female athlete, but I shouldn't feel any differently, but we don't know what it is with her. But my point is, if we all of a sudden get into this situation where athletes start saying, you know, there's just too much pressure, I couldn't deal with it. So I left the team. That's not acceptable. That's not acceptable. Everybody in life has pressures. You know, people go into work every day feeling the pressure

of performing. And when you're part of a company or you're part of a team, unless there is a legitimate, I mean, legitimate issue, physical or mental, and there could be a lot of the time. I don't know, man, sorry. You know, this is, you know, adversity facing. This is part of, you know, maturing as a human being. You know, you can't go around it. Sometimes you've got to go right through it.

It's the only way. But let's make it clear, you're not talking about Simone Biles. I'm not talking about Simone Biles, because I don't know if she has some sort of actual mental health illness. Yes, I know that. I'm just clearing it up. Just so there's no confusion for people out there. And neither am I in a situation like that. Right.

But there's just a story about a strike that was settled by Frito Lay because some of its workers were striking about working conditions that included an 84-hour work week. that's pressure. Yeah, I mean, you know, there are degrees of pressure, and by the way, it's a very subjective thing. But, yeah, I mean, look, this gets into a long conversation that I know many of you out there as parents have had and, you know, about this generation and their ability to handle adversity, their level of accountability, their level of responsibility,

I think about that a lot, and I sometimes wonder if it's my fault, you know, if it's our fault. You know, Tommy and I've talked about this. And, you know, I had a job when I was 13 years old. Like, sorry, you got to get out. You got to work. It's summer. And, you know, and I always had a job. And I tried to do that with my three boys, not at 13 necessarily, but my oldest had a job, you know, working, you know, as a 15-year-old.

And I said, every single. summer. You got to have a job. You got to have responsibility. You got to learn what it's, you know, what it is to have people, not your parents, but people, other people, relying on you, you know. And that's like an important thing, I think. And I don't know how many, you know, I wasn't able to do it with all of my boys. You know, every, every kid's different. Every kid is completely different. But it's, uh, I don't know, man. I don't have any of the answers. That's for sure. I hope she's. okay, but if it's one of those things where it's just like the pressure and the, well, yeah,

because you're great. And by the way, you're making a fortune. Or if you haven't already, you're on the verge of making a fortune because of this. And there's a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure that comes with it. But again, to be clear, if there's a mental health illness here, she's got to just focus on fixing that. None of the other stuff matters. I agree. Do you know, Tommy, that the number one, somebody may correct me if I'm wrong, but I read this recently, that the number one reason, the number one cause of suicide, teenage suicide, is social media shaming now, especially for girls. I don't know if that, if it's number one for boys, but somebody may correct me if I'm wrong, but I read something recently that, you know, um, um,

Teenage suicide has gone up significantly over, you know, several years, if not decades at this point. I don't know what the numbers are on that. But now with social media, the number one reason for teenage suicide in girls, maybe boys too, is social media shaming? I mean, it's unbelievable to me. I believe it. Well, I do believe it. Social media, yeah, it's so important to that I generate. And it's their wife was.

And it's so cruel. Yeah. And, you know, yes, it's so important to them. And they're unable, unfortunately, to handle that. I don't have any of the answers. Are we done for the day? Yes, we are, boys. I got a beach to go to.

Go to the beach. Take care of that cold. I'm back tomorrow.