The Kevin Sheehan Show - Haskins' "Gallivant"

Episode Date: February 25, 2020

Kevin and Thom opened with the latest on Trent Williams and then got into Doug Williams' comments on Dwayne Haskins. They discussed overrated sports events in honor of this week's NFL Indy Combine. They talked more Fury-Wilder 2 and then finished with Bradley Beal's back to back 50+ pt games. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Yep, Tommy, he's still in Florida, but now he's on vacation. He's no longer doing his spring training responsibilities. And it'll be good to have him because, man, was he active on Twitter Saturday night after that fight, Aaron? Did you see him getting into it on Twitter? You do this all the time. Do you really enjoy getting into it with some of these people that really are in very many ways just trying to troll you? Well, I just like to take my shot at people who think like they know something. That's all. Because you know so much more? Well, no.

I recognize that I don't know anything. You know, I mean, you know, I'm like Socrates. A man who realizes he knows nothing knows everything. So that's me. That's sort of the way I gamble, if you've noticed over the years. It's an admission that I know nothing that someone else knows a lot more. But I would suggest that many times when you get into it on Twitter, you actually are claiming to know more than the people that you're arguing with.

Well, that's not hard to do. I mean, I breathe, I think. So therefore I know more. God, I can't stand. You know, it's not been a specific. or an intentional emphasis for me recently, but if you follow me on social media, on Twitter, I don't tweet much. Somebody mentioned that to me recently at work, and they're like, you just don't tweet much, and I'm like, I don't really, I'm not on Twitter much anymore.

I used to use it as a real news, you know, vehicle. Like, you really, if there's breaking news, It's much easier, faster, and actually more entertaining and sometimes more accurate on Twitter, on social media than it is on, you know, CNN or Fox or MSNBC or any of the networks, you know? But I don't know, Tommy, like I've gotten tired of some of the interaction with people. I, some of you are really bright and thoughtful and I enjoy the conversation, whether it's on the radio show, on calls, and sometimes on Twitter. but my God, I mean, what percentage of the people that correspond with you do you think are either A, really, really limited, all right, in terms of brainpower, or B, just trying to get you angry and upset and get you to respond? Put those two groups together. What percentage of the people that you interact with are that? No, I think it's a small percentage that are actually thinking, you know, I'm going to get a rise out of him. I think most people think they know something and have something to say.

Okay, so I think that's what it is. What about the percentage of people that are just really limited and don't have the ability to sort of have a conversation with you in an intelligent way? I welcome all takers. Oh, really? God, you're so, look at you. I mean, you're so well. welcoming. You're so easy. I mean, you really are. You're just going along to get along. He's actually the opposite. You are in control of your Twitter account. You can decide how much you read, how much you don't read, who follows you, who doesn't follow you, who you interact with, who you not. It's not like you're a prisoner. I don't block anybody. You can decide everything. How many people have you blocked over the years? Oh, or muted.

Oh, thousands. No, I don't mute anybody because muting is. is gutless. Blocking, it takes guts. Because when you block somebody, they know you block them. When you mute somebody, they're out there thinking, well, you know,

this guy's reading all my stuff, but he's not reading anything. It's talking. It takes guts. Well, it's also overly sensitive, in my view, unless somebody's truly threatening you. It's overly sensitive from the guy

who doesn't want to read Twitter anymore because it bothers him too much. No, it's not that it bothers me. It's just a total wasted time suck. I mean, I think... And we know how valuable your time is. Yeah, it's very valuable. Just ask me.

But I, you know, they're just, I would say that a significant... I think I agree with you that it's a very small percentage of people that are just trying to get a rise out of you. But there's also a group of people that just... It's a waste of time to get into it. but especially in a 280 characters or less situation. I mean, because they're going to require much more, you know, Karen, it's a handling situation where you've got to have a lot of care involved.

To sort of, and it just takes too much time. And how many kinds of... I don't think... Oh, God. I don't think you do. I mean, I look at it like Jack Nicholson in the movie Hoffa. Their aunts at a picnic, and on the picnic. Yeah, I don't really see myself as a picnic, but you've always sort of seen yourself in a much bigger way.

So, you know, there's actually a lot to talk about today, even though there's not one significant thing. Doug Williams said some things yesterday on Sirius XM Radio. We'll get to those things. Les Carpenter reporting in the post that Ron Rivera and Trent Williams have had meetings plural, face-to-face meetings plural. and that it really is about the money that everything else has been worked out. I mean, obviously, everything else has been worked out because Bruce Allen and Larry Hess are no longer in the organization. Yeah. But, you know, what's interesting to me, and I think we've talked about this together, I've done it on the radio show,

I'm not so sure that everything's been worked out there. And I'm specifically referring to the owner's relationship with Trent Williams, which I do think at one point was probably very close. And when Trent Williams came back, you know, at the end of October, right before the deadline for him to return, and he ripped into Bruce Allen and at the same time praised Dan Snyder. You know, and talked about how, you know, he really loves Dan and has always felt the support. But we didn't hear anything from Dan, and we still haven't specifically to, specific to Trinter. Trent Williams, but we don't hear from Dan, period. I mean, he didn't slip in between Happy Thanksgiving and Google Ron Rivera's record. Hey, I really hope we can get Trent back, because I love him a lot. We haven't heard anything, but I have this, Tommy, I have this

suspicion that not only did Trent Williams really piss off Bruce Allen, I think he really pissed off Dan Snyder. And I think it's because ultimately this was about, money to a certain degree. What percentage of it was money versus medical? We don't know, but we know some of it was about money because Trent admitted that. But I think that there was this feeling of sort of betrayal that the Redskins had been super supportive during multiple suspensions with Trent Williams, that they had been loyal to him. They'd given him a contract extension, you know, after multiple suspensions. He missed a key, a key portion down the stretch of of what could have been a playoff season in 2016 for suspension.

You know, that's a big letdown to your team, to get busted for marijuana again and to be suspended. And I think that there was this sense in Ashburn, and trust me, I'm not defending any of their behavior. And in fact, the stupidity of not doing something about it where you could have moved on, not had this become a huge drama, gotten a first-round pick plus,

I mean, I'm not going to forgive them for not doing that as a fan of the team. But I've always felt there were two big sides to this story. And even though Ron Rivera and there's a whole new group there, and Larry Hess and Bruce Allen are gone, and Les Carpenter's reporting now it's about the financial. I still wonder about the relationship with the owner. And maybe, you know, they'll sign him to a deal and they'll make up and the owner will say great things about Trent Williams.

But I'm just telling you, I have a pretty good feel. that Bruce Allen wasn't the only one really upset by what was coming out of Trent Williams' camp during that holdout. Well, like you said, the Redskins did so many things wrong, acknowledging that they may be upset by the way Trent Williams handled this. Doesn't mean they're right, but it does acknowledge their feelings. and I certainly would understand if Dan Snyder was upset by the way Tread William, not only like you say, betrayed, you know, in his mind, given the support they gave him,

but really embarrassed the organization. Yes. And I know this is hard to believe for people out there, but they still care about being embarrassed. You wouldn't know it by the way they ask what they do. it still drives them nuts when they get coverage like they did in the Trent Williams thing in the media. I mean, again, like it seems so far, given how they act that they would actually care what people think, but they do. So, Trent, I mean, really, I mean, he damaged an organization that was already damaged. He damaged it further with his comments and questions about the medical care in the organization.

So I understand if Dan Snyder still has some deep-rooted feelings against why did you do this to me? You know, look what we did to you. I certainly would understand that. On the other side of that, let me ask you this. If Ron Rivera wants Trent Williams back, it doesn't matter what Dan Snyder thinks, does it? Well, I mean, that's a loaded question, obviously. I don't think it does when it comes to Trent Williams. So I would be worried that it might carry a significant influence when it comes to the quarterback.

But I think that if, especially if Ron Rivera says, we need Trent back, we got to pay Trent because he's going to protect your quarterback. He's going to give your quarterback a better chance. Again, we're operating under the premise that everyone has signed the Ron Rivera is right pledge at this point. And if Ron Rivera goes to the owner, says, I don't care, you know, what you think. about trend, I want him here. He gets here. You know, I was sent, I was sent, I was sent that pledge. I was sent that, you know, that, that, that, that oath that I had to make that Ron Rivera is always right. But apparently it's only a one-year deal, all right? And it's my option. Yes, it is. It's my option

to renew it at the end of 2020. At the end of 2020 season. It's not a lifetime pledge by any Right. So, you know, there is the other thing, too, and I want to move on from this and get to a couple of other things. But I do believe that there is this sense of why did you throw us under the bus this way? We were loyal to you. But I think that more of it is that they believe that they didn't handle it poorly. They believe that they, you know, when it got to, you know, there was a concern. that they told Trent to take care of it and that he had, you know, appointment scheduled that he blew off. Remember, that was part of what was coming out of the Redskins camp, you know, on this. And I think they have a completely different version of the story. And then on top of that, you know, they get thrown under the bus. And on top of that, it's hard for them to really talk because you've got,

you know, you've got some of these privacy things, you know, in play during all of them. of this. I don't know if we'll ever find out the exact truth. The only reason I bring it up is because I think there's this assumption from Redskin fans that Bruce is gone, Larry Hess is gone, and now it's a decision on whether or not they can get them enough money in a contract extension where they're comfortable with it and he's comfortable with it and they move on. I wonder whether or not just some ill feelings from the owner towards Trent Williams are playing any kind of role in this. And, you know, it doesn't even have to be ill-ill-ill feelings. It could be a lack of trust. You know, Dan could say to Ron, look, you know, this, he lost our trust during

this whole thing. There were things said that weren't true. There were things said that really damaged us. And as you said, it's hard to damage them anymore with anything. But, you know, I think there was a lot of resentment. and anger and, you know, at the way from Ashburn as to why he handled it the way he handled it. And I don't even know if they're right. I don't know the truth. But I bet, you know, the truth lies somewhere in between. I bet they were both at fault for a lot of them.

And, you know, we always have to, I think you always have to mention the caveat. The right way to have handled this was the trade, Tread Williams, before any of this ever happened. Yeah, of course. Instead of paying them. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, that's the right move. That was the right move, you know, at the end of last year. Right.

That was the right move. Yeah, before the surgery, it was the right move. And then you would have never had any of this. And if you had traded him after the surgery, there was still very likely going to be a Trent Williams interview in his new NFL city after the trade where he took some shots at the Redskins, you know, there was still going to be some of that. But you would avoid it the length of the length of the. drama and not only did you not take advantage of a really good opportunity to get a lot for a

really good player. It was the opportunity that you had because the opportunity is less now and he's going to want a lot of money. I'm not for paying Trent the best contract in the NFL for a left tackle again, but I would not be against. But I would not be against, you know, a significant deal to extend him if that's what Ron wants, because I I did sign the pledge that was mailed to me the other day. Yeah. Got it back immediately, too. All right.

More Redskins news from yesterday. Doug Williams did an interview with Sirius XM Radio. There were two sound bites. I'm going to play the first one that deals with Dwayne Haskins. And then we'll get to the second one that deals primarily with Alex Smith, but sort of implies some also address. This is some Dwayne Haskins in that one as well. Here's the first one.

This is Doug Williams yesterday on Dwayne Haskins. The games he played, you know, he played decently, but I think the last game of the season, the way he was playing that last game is the way we want to see that Wayne Haskin played his game because he got talent. And he got hurt, he heard his line got rolled up, but he had thrown like two TD passes. He was like 12 or 15.

And, you know, it gave you some hope that, This is where he's going to start off. And since that time, the kid has been where he's supposed to be, I think, in the building, working out on his own, trying to find out what's going on. Like I told him, him and I talk, I try not to tell him all the time, I'm not your coach. I just try to tell him what he has to do to get him out of that mentality that I can just gallibane all over the place on the off-season,

when really you need to be here trying to find out what I need to do for the season. So that's the part of the bite, the very last part of it where he says, the mentality of gallivanting or gallivanting all around the place that has gotten a lot of attention. I think it's actually hard from my perspective to decipher. Is he talking about sort of what he was last year, you know, or during the season before he started when he was gallivanting all over the place? or is he talking about now? What was your take on it? You're right. It's hard to say if he's talking about now or last year. But again, my issues with this kid are all off-the-field issues.

You know, I think he's shown, and like Doug said, like that last game, he showed a lot of talent. I think he's shown enough talent on the field in what, we see to think he's worth the investment moving forward. My issues have all been about, you know, the off-the-field drama, the high opinion of himself, the marketing campaigns, his relationship with the owner, all non-football stuff. The clothing line, you know, putting out tweets during this season leading up to one of his starts about, you know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday or whatever it was around Thanksgiving

for his clothing line. Yeah. Yeah. And you can argue with football stuff because it is kind of related in some sense to what you think is preparation should be. Well, not clothing line sales. No. No, it's not.

Okay. No, no, no that. But so, I mean, I just think there's still this perception out there among people. among honest Redskins fans that why didn't this kid walk into the building with the attitude of I've got to do everything I can to win this job. I've got to learn everything I can. I've got to devote everything I can to being the Redskins quarterback. That's problematic, that that is not part of his DNA.

I will get in the way of his success. I don't know. I don't know if it will. The fact that it's not part of his DNA, DNA is not the right way to describe it. It could be a part of his DNA. It could be that he is, was immature in the moment, that he's a fast learner, but he didn't know what it took at this particular level and that he is learning and he's going to be a more mature guy. I mean, the fact, suggesting that it's not part of his DNA almost as an implication that it can, or a suggestion that it can't get better. He had a lot of immature guys come into a league, into a sports league, and mature and become much different players. But this guy, this guy had his handheld by mentors like Sean Springs and others who should have told him exactly what he needed to be doing moving forward.

But he was not unaware of what he needed to do, I'm sure. Let's play this second part of Doug Williams, where he talks about Alex Smith. Alex Smith is a pro, a pro's pro. And when he walked in the building the first time, you felt his present from a leadership standpoint. And it's unfortunate that Alex got hurt because I think we, as a football team, Alex was the guy that had us where we were at the time

before he got hurt at 6 and 3. And since that time, when he was able to come back and stand up and go to meeting and work out, he's been in the wayne's ear. And I hear Patrick went home talk about him all the time. and I can see it translating into Duane. And we are all hopeful. Nobody works hard in him.

I won't count him out. I mean, it's hard to believe, but when you're watching every day in the wait room and what he's doing, you say to yourself, wow, how he doing that? So I think in his mind, and he feels like he's going to play, and I think we've got to almost go along with him until he say I can't do it. But until that time, you know, the most important thing, stay in Duane's here. Okay, so first of all, just real quickly on Alex Smith, I think you're hearing Doug say what a lot of us believe, which is it's great that Alex Smith is working towards being healthy enough to play, but he's not going to play.

Alex Smith, I don't think, is ever going to play football in the National Football League again. But that last line from Doug, the emphasis on being in Dwayne's ear, you know, combined with the first bite, sort of the mentality of, you know, not gallivanting all around, whether it was early in the year and he was sort of predisposed to behaving that way or preparing that way and maybe he isn't now. I don't know. I don't think Doug mentions that if there isn't still a concern to a certain degree. And I think some people out there listening right now have the exact same concern you have. I wanted to mention this, though, because here's...

the bottom line with the Redskins in the quarterback position. Ron Rivera and Scott Turner in this staff, if they truly have the autonomy to make any decision they want to make, they have to understand that this is the opportunity now if they're not sure about Dwayne to come up with a solution. They've got the number two pick in the draft. There are a lot of quarterbacks out there in free agency. They've got a lot of salary cap space to just blow it off and do what I am hoping they do, which is I want to see Dwayne play 16 games. Let me be clear on that. I actually saw a lot with Dwayne Haskins. I have a completely different opinion today than I did a year ago on Dwayne Haskins. I watched him play. I'm a football fan. I saw a badass competitor that got better. I

listen to guys like Bill Callahan and Chris Thompson and others sort of shy away from complimenting him early in the year. Callahan going as far after he got the interim job to say, I don't know about Dwayne this year. I think even Dwayne would say that it's probably not this year that he plays. To at the end of the year saying things like, quote, Dwayne Haskins is not a mistake repeater. He learns, we teach him, and he doesn't make the same mistake twice. That to me is an absolute sign or an indication by a head coach that the player is coachable. So we saw a player play and get better. We saw opinions about him change once he started to play.

I want to see him play 16 games next year. And I want at the end of the year, hopefully, to realize, hey, you got a guy that can be sort of in that top 10 range. I don't think he's ever going to be Aaron Rogers or Patrick Mahomes, but I think he's got the potential to potentially one day be in that next group, which would be better than anything they've ever had, you know, in recent years. But my point, Tommy, is this. You can't, if you're the Redskins, say to yourself inside those walls in Ashburn. Maybe, but maybe not.

You know, there's so much here, but, We're not convinced. If you're not convinced, you have to seriously consider making a move now. You will not have the same opportunity a year from now. If you get to the end of 2020, and it's more obvious that he isn't the guy, you're not going to have the same opportunity to fix the problem. You're not going to have a chance to draft Tua. You're not going to have a chance in free agency to potentially sign a guy like Teddy Bridgewater.

You know, you may not have the same salary cap situation. You probably won't have the same draft position next year at number two overall. They have to really be able to project now so that they can act accordingly. You know, you can't really predict what their situation will be a year later. So you can't operate under the premise that we better do something now or else we won't have the opportunity. You may be right. I'm probably right on that. But you don't know.

It's actually hard to have one of the two worst records in the NFL. In a year in which there is one guy that everybody thinks is can't miss and maybe a second guy that many teams will think is a can't miss. Look, the quarterback, no one can deny that we are in the same situation that we were seven or eight years ago with a quarterback, a coach, and an owner. We don't know the dynamic between those traits and how it will influence decision-making in the building. And that's problematic. That's the big question. You know, what will Dan Snyder's relationship with Dwayne Haskins, how will it affect the decision-making involving Dwayne Haskins if they want to hold?

That's why I went with the assumption that they have autonomy. And I'm just saying that if they do have the ability to do what they think is right for the organization long-term, they really have to have a formed opinion before they ever coach him in a game. Now, you could say, well, if he really isn't any good, well, they are going to be in a position next year to draft Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields or somebody like that. But, you know, it's hard to be one of the two worst teams in the NFL. Yeah, yeah, it is. It's hard to lose 13 games. You are right about that.

But, look, I think you're right. But the uncertainty of the owner and the quarterback, You know, the two buddies, Dan and Dwayne, the two Ds that remains a big thing. I mean, and the ultimate Canary in the coal mine, if things have changed, is if the Redskins do move on from Dwayne Haskins. Then you do know that there is a new culture, right or wrong, at Redskins Park. So, I mean. Well, it would be a lot righter than it would be a lot more right than wrong.

I mean, they might get it wrong, but the fact that they were able to make that decision would be right. Yes, and again, I think he's shown enough that he's worth the investment moving forward. I mean, I'm not as bullish as you are, but I am foolish on him. That he hasn't shown you anything at the end of the year to indicate that he can't play quarterback in this week. He's got some talent. Whereas in the beginning of the year, you know, when he first got on the field. And look, you got to admit, he had no weapons last year. He had nothing.

I mean, it's a tight end league, and he didn't have one tight end. You know, so he really didn't have much in terms of working with weapons. They need to get him some weapons. So if they're going to commit to them, they need to get him some offensive help. Yeah. I mean, yes, that's true. And I mentioned yesterday, I think they need a veteran wide receiver. I think they need a tight end, especially in a North Turner type of system.

So, yeah, I agree with that. You know, the last thing on this particular subject, do you hear anything from Doug Williams that says he is still concerned? He still isn't sure. He's relying on Alex Smith to be in his ear. or do you think that, first of all, I wonder why Doug Williams continues to speak. Doug, Doug's the senior vice president of player development. I mean, he should be involved in developing players.

I don't know why he's doing all of the talking these days. But do you think ultimately your takeaway from listening to Doug is that he is not sure on Dwayne Haskins? A little bit. I think so. I think, look, it could be a situation where, sort of like RG3, although maybe not to a lesser extent,

that he doesn't feel that Dwayne is listening to him, that he doesn't feel that Dwayne listens to Doug. You know, it could be a generational thing. I mean, I can't fathom why he wouldn't listen to Doug,

but RG3 didn't either. So, there could be some of that going on, and is why he mentioned Alex, who was closer to Dwayne Haskins' age and relevance factor as opposed to a Doug William. So Doug may just have some concerns that this kid doesn't, I'm in his ear and this kid doesn't hear me. But the greatest

thing about what Doug Williams said is Gallivant. Am I right? Am I right? I mean, this is a word that my mother, you should say to me. Greg said the same. Don't go gallivant around. Greg said the same thing to me. He said it's a boomer word. I guess that's true. No, it's not. It's a pre-boomer word. No, no, no, no, no. No, it's a greatest generation word.

It's not a boomer word. And we heard it maybe when we were kids, but we heard it from our parents. I did. My mother used to say it all the time. I never told anyone to not go gallivant around. So, no, no, no. This is a pre-dates boomer. This is an old word.

That's a mother-father word. So when Doug is saying he's gallivanting around, What is he saying? I'm basically saying, you know, burning the candle at both ends, however they are. You know, that's from his mother or father. I mean, he grew up here in that word. Yeah, I think if I use that word with my boys, I don't think that they would know what it meant. And then I would have to say something like, just, you know, stop, you know,

stop cruising around, roaming around, you know, wasting time kind of a thing. But Galavant, it's a great word, and we should reintroducing it. I love it. We are reintroducing it. Absolutely. Somebody tweeted me earlier, there was no greater gallivanter than Marion Barry. He gallivanted all around town in much different ways that I think Doug is referring to Dwayne gallivanting all around town. He still ran the city. Yeah, he did. He did. I mean, when he says, you know, Gallivant all around town, I think, you know, I was thinking about this,

and I was just like sort of looking through his social media, you know, which, oh, God, I just, I don't want to overreact to people's social media anymore because I just think it's a totally different perspective for somebody like him than it is for me or even you. your perspective actually might be closer to his than mine. But I think it means, you know, you got to be in here. You got to be in the building. You can't be gallivanting to the Wizards game and gallivanting at home playing video games, spending all day on social media.

You know, that's sort of, I think, I think if Doug were asked to be specific, he would say, it's got to be in the building, he's got to stop going to Wizards games and tweeting all day and playing video games. That's probably what I bet, you know, Doug, you know, he comes in here, he works out, and it's great, he's here for a few hours, he says hello to everybody, and then he's home at his place playing video games all day and tweeting out stuff about Stefan Diggs. Like, stop. You know what? It's hard to overcome that work ethic question. It's always in somebody's mind. That's what it is, Kevin. I mean, athletes go to sporting events, other sporting events. all the time, and they don't get questions. I mean, I think if there was a perception right from the start that Dwayne Haskins was a hard worker, I don't think Doug Williams would care about seeing him at a wizard's game.

Yeah, I agree with that. But I think it reinforces an early perception of Dwayne. Yeah. You know, the, if has, I don't know, I think what we've learned, for those that didn't think it existed before, is that there definitely was a question about his overall work ethic, preparation, priorities in terms of where football should lie

in his day-to-day priorities, that at least at some point early in the season, there was concern over that. I would also just remind everybody, you know, Baker Mayfield has a lot of that going on as well. You know, there are other, he's not the only other, he's not the only quarterback that is getting questioned about work ethic, preparation, you know, how important football is, you know, et cetera. He's not the only guy. And I, again, I think this might, and I'm hopeful that this is a bit dated anyway to earlier in the year.

It may be. It may be. And we need to remember something, too. This guy is Simba. We can't forget that. He's Simba. He's D.H. Simba. Yes.

So, I mean, you know, he has important responsibilities at Simba. So let's not forget that. He is the, he's an entrepreneur. He's got a lot of things going on. You know what? He is a lying thing. In all seriousness, when it comes to this stuff, not that we're not being serious, you know, before now. But, you know, what would bother me more than anything about anything,

that's happened. First of all, the number seven thing does bother me. But that was Snyder's fault. The selfies at the end of the Detroit game actually doesn't bother me. Oh, bothered me. I know it did. I think it was just a lapse in judgment, immaturity, thinking the game's over, super excited for his first, first win, et cetera. You know, you're right about that, because I've seen so many other young people do it as well in NFL games. They probably do it a lot in different various, you know, professional fields. Hey, I made my first sale. Oh, I forgot to get him to sign the paperwork. I'm out drinking. I'm hammered right now. Why would I care? Why would I care what any young person in another profession does? It didn't bother me as much as you bothered you.

But, you know, what does just sort of, what sort of irked me more than anything was that Thanksgiving weekend. When he's putting out on social media, all of this stuff about his kingdom of Pride, you know, Kingdom of Pride clothing line. Black Friday, we got sales going on, big opportunity, and then Monday, it's Cyber Monday, and he's got, and he's, and he's, that's to me, and I'm sure there's a really good chance somebody's managing that for him and they use his social media and they do it himself. I don't want my starting quarterback about to make his, what, second or third start of his career, having any interest or any attention paid to another business that's important to him, another

entrepreneurial endeavor. I want my guy totally dialed in on football. And there's no doubt that he's got a lot of stuff going on that isn't football related. Now, maybe he can manage the two. Maybe he can multitask. Maybe he can build a business and also build a great quarterback career. I just can't imagine that Peyton Manning or Tom Brady in their rookie season after two starts was really in and concerned about their clothing line and how it would do on Thanksgiving weekend. Look, there is no other business without the first business. There's no clothing without being the football player. So, I mean, you know, I mean, so you need to end. And look, we bring up Joe Seisman a lot, obviously, because he wears his number for one thing.

And Seisman was a one-man entrepreneur when he played. I mean, he was everywhere, you know, selling everything. When he was a punt return. Yes, that's it. Joe Seizman volunteered to return punt to get on the field when he first came to the Redskins. He understood the priority of being a football player first. Well, he was also, I think, making plans to open up a restaurant simultaneously when he got to town. What year did that restaurant open up?

Oh, I don't think so, what, 77? Okay, well, that's only... And he came to town, he went, 74. 74. Hadn't really been a starting quarterback for very long in 77. No, he hadn't. Joe was interested in a lot of other things, including football. Yes, he was. But again, to get on the field, he volunteered to return punts.

Yeah. All right. Quick word about stamps.com, all right? If you're a small business and you're continuing to, you know, buy stamps or use a stamp machine and stamp everything together and then send somebody to the post office, you don't need to do that. Usestamps.com. 700,000 plus small businesses are already using Stamps.com. It saves you time. It saves you money. You get five cents off every first class stamp. You get up to 40% off priority mail. Go to Stamps.com. There's no risk. And if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C., you get a special offer that includes a four-week trial plus free postage and a digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts required. Stamps.com. Click on the microphone at the top of the

homepage, use my promo code, Kevin DC. That's Stamps.com promo code Kevin, DC, if you're a small business, and you'll save money, and you'll save time, and you'll never have to go to the post office again. Okay, real quickly, the Indy Combine, you know, is underway, and it is a highly promoted event that actually does pretty well in the ratings. Joe Burroughs' hands were measured at nine inches. Smallest hands, tied for the third smallest hands since 2008 at the Indy Combine. I don't know if you saw his tweet or not, but it was very, pretty smart. Very well done, very well delivered. It went like this from Joe Burrow at Joe underscore Burrow 10. Considering retirement after I was informed, the football will be slipping out of my tiny hands.

Please keep me in your thoughts. That was well done from Joey Burrow on Twitter. This shouldn't be a concern to anybody. Patrick Mahomes' hands were nine and a quarter, so not that much bigger than his hands. But anyway, it got me to thinking about the Indy Combine, and I did this on the radio show this morning. The Indy Combine is number one on my list of the most overrated sports events, games, events, you know, whatever you want to say sports related on the annual sports calendar. There's nothing less interesting to me than the Indy Combine that gets promoted so heavily.

And by the way, watched, like the Indy Combine numbers this weekend, Aaron, will equal, if not exceed some of the big college basketball games and definitely the NBA games. Without question. Without question. And I find it to be absolutely worthless to watch. I mean, I'll have people on this week to talk about what's going on, and Ron Rivera's going to speak, and Kyle Smith's going to speak. And obviously, that's interesting to me. But I don't, watching the Indy Combine, some people watch it hours upon hours.

Overrated. What else is overrated to you on this morning calendar? Oh, I don't know. I don't know, Kevin. I can't play this game. I don't know what else is overrated. Most things are overrated. Did I need to give you preparation?

time for it? Yeah. Yeah, you needed to give me a little bit on this. I think people watch the Indy Combine for the most part. For all the shoulder programming that surrounds it, there's much more programming, NFL programming that's involved. Like you said, there's more people who speak, there's more interviews, there's more access.

I don't know how many of the percentage of people are actually watching guys in short time. Oh, a lot of people do. And look, I understand it's a big team. I'll bet you in the NFL headquarters right now because I saw Jim Ursay mentioned this on TV or in an interview somewhere that they're already figuring out we need to start shopping this around the country.

Why should we keep it in Indianapolis? We should turn it into the NFL draft and have city bid for it. I mean, go for it. I'm sure there'd be interest. I'm sure there would be interest. Yes, Erse already came. out and felt like the need to basically say there needs to be the tradition of the combine

in Indianapolis. That's because somebody's talking somewhere about, you know, moving it around the country turning into a bidding process. And I'm sure, I think that's a smart idea. I think cities would bid on a chance to host the combine based on what it's become. There's been open speculation not necessarily moving around the country, but just possibly completely relocating it to L.A. every year. Well, it'd be a hell of a lot better for the media covering it if it were in L.A. instead of of Indianapolis. So can I go through my list of overrated things on the sports calendar?

Number two on the list is NBA All-Star Saturday night. Could not care less about any of that stuff. That is so old, it's so overdone, yet it is so hyped. And number three on my list, Tommy, is the Army-Navy football game. I enjoy the pageantry at the beginning. I understand the significance of it for our military and our servicemen, and I respect all of that. The game itself gets promoted like it is this incredibly important, dynamic game.

I couldn't care less about it each year. It's a standalone game on a weekend where I'd like to see actually an 18 playoff begin with quarterfinal Saturday. that would be much better for the sport, but that's on my list in my top three. But let me give you the thing that's entered my list because you're very interested in this. Aaron, I want something from you that you think is very overrated

in terms of a sports event. You know what doesn't matter anymore to me anymore? And I'll watch, obviously, Maryland in this. College basketball conference tournaments. They're just way overrated. Way overrated. They don't mean anything like they used to mean. The conference reshuffling of the last 10 years has taken away all the tradition from these things.

The ACC tournament used to be something super special. Even when the tournament expanded to 64 or 68, it was still a big deal. Now you go, I've got friends that are UVA guys or Duke guys or Carolina guys. It's not the same thing anymore going down there and hanging out with people from Syracuse and Louisville and Boston College. Virginia Tech, you know, and I'm sure in Notre Dame. Like, it's just not the same college basketball conference tournament weekend gets really hyped and built up. It's insignificant and overrated.

You know? You don't think so? I'm looking forward to the Big Ten tournament. I think it's diminished. Obviously, diminished significantly. I still think it's a big deal to college basketball fans. In the scheme, I think you're right. You can basically choke the conference tournament, and you're still in the NCAA and wind up winning the NCAA championship.

But I still think it means something to college basketball fans, just not what it meant before. But that doesn't make it, like, irrelevant or insignificant. It's overrated, is what I'm saying. Well, I think the larger conference tournaments might be overrated. I think the smaller conference tournaments are some of the most fun. it might be the most fun week of the year. Well, because it's the automatic business, and that's how it's determined.

Yes. I mean, in all seriousness, you know, when people, when they're promoting conference tournament, you know, weekend, and it's a big weekend, they're talking about the ACC tournament, the Big Ten tournament, the Big East tournament from Madison Square Garden.

And I'm just telling you as a massive college basketball fan, who used to care a lot about that weekend. And I've been to 6, 7, 8 ACC tournament, over the course of a long period of time, have not been to the Big Ten tournament yet. And I am looking forward to just seeing Maryland at the Big Ten tournament because they're really good this year. But I think the whole weekend's overrated, and I think most college basketball fans are just counting down to Selection Sunday.

Selection Sunday is the biggest event of that weekend, not these conference tournament semifinal, quarterfinal, and then championship games. but overrated and on the list of insignificant are two different things. I agree. I'm saying overrated. It's on the list of overrated for me. It's significant because it actually determines a lot of bids to the NCAA tournament. But I mean, to put it in the same class at the NBA All-Star Saturday Night, that's insignificant. That's not just overrated.

I didn't. I had that rated higher, much higher. I just said what's entered my list, and I wouldn't put it in my top. Here's something I would put ahead of college basketball conference tournaments. I think the Heisman trophy ceremony and just the Heisman trophy in general is overrated now. I agree with that. And it didn't used to be. It used to be a big deal.

It was huge. Big deal. Huge. I agree with that. The Heisman every year, I mean, growing up, it was the race for the Heisman. And then it was the big, you know, ceremony in New York on a, On the Saturday night, by the way, following the Army Navy game, I'd like to see that Saturday actually become more significant for football fans in general.

A lot of people called in this morning and said the Olympics. I think the Winter Olympics are overrated for this country. I actually enjoy the Summer Olympics. Well, the TV ratings would indicate otherwise. That's why NBC spends so much money on the Olympics. I dwarfs everybody else. it's still, again, a huge TV boost, not just for watching the games, but for promoting the network programming moving forward, even the Winter Olympics.

Yeah, but the summer are much higher rated than the winter in this country. Yes, they are. Yes, they are. I mean, the women's gymnastics ratings are always through the roof. And so are the women's figure skating. Yes, true. Women's figure skating is, that's, that, am I right that that is, the single biggest television event of the Winter Olympics in the U.S. It has to be.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. What else was on my list? Drafts? Do you have drafts on your list? The NBA draft is completely overrated. The NFL draft is not overrated. The NFL draft is actually a very good... The MLB drafted,

too. Well, I don't think the NLB draft is rated. Yeah, or even rated. But the NBA draft, yes, I would agree that because the bottom line is most of the players picked on that night that dress up in unbelievable attire are never going to have a significant impact on the league. And that's just the truth of it, whereas the NFL, you get three days of true, sometimes roster reconstruction for various franchises. And it ultimately does have an impact on teams and team's futures.

Okay. You know what else I would put on that list? What? 2020 heavyweight championship fight. All right, let's get to that. We can go to that next. So I'll just tell you what I told Aaron and what Aaron and I discussed yesterday and

then I'll let you have at it. I bought the fight. I was entertained by the fight. Tyson Fury definitely was attractive to me as someone who will make me buy his next fight and pay for his next fight. You were right about Deontay Wilder not being a good boxer, but I thought Tyson Fury was exceptional, and I thought he had very good boxing skills, and more than that, he is quite the charismatic, interesting figure that can bring people back to the sport.

That's the way I felt watching it. real quickly before I let you respond, if people miss this story. Deonti Wilder, first of all, he confirmed that there's going to be a third, you know, Fury Wilder fight. I don't know if the Joshua fight comes before that or not. You guys might have more information on that. But did you see what he said about, in essence, one of the excuses as to why he lost? There were so many excuses.

It's hard to keep tracking them all. But I think I know which one you're talking about. The one I'm talking about is the 40-pound costume that he wore coming into the ring. Apparently, it weighed 40 pounds. It was a costume that was designed as a tribute to Black History Month. The quotes here, the first one is there were a lot of things that went wrong leading up to the fight in the last minutes before the fight. But I accept full responsibility. But I paid a severe price because my legs were how they were because of my uniform.

My uniform was way too heavy. It was 40 plus pounds. We had it on 10 or 15 minutes before we even walked out and then put the helmet on. That was extra weight. Then the ring walk. Then going up the stairs. It was like a real workout for my legs. When I took it off, I knew immediately that game has changed.

I really let the designers freelance with it. It was really their idea. By the third round, I had no legs. I was completely done. My legs were gone. I had to step into survival mode very early, et cetera, et cetera. How ridiculous is that? Ridiculous.

How absurd is that? Well, I mean, absurd because he was wearing that, that uniform or that costume, or absurd that it could have impacted how tired he was. That it could have impacted how tired of. unless Kevin people train with 40 pound weights while they're people run training and they're exhausted

when they train that way is a way to get in shape so that when they enter the ring they don't have that on and they feel great so when they take it off they feel great right it should be just the opposite no no no no not right when they take it off when they take it off they're exhausted but it's to prepare them to not have it in an actual fight.

No, that, well, that's true, Tommy. When you train with that extra weight, you're exhausted when you're done, but it's a way to get you in shape. I know that, but if you've been doing, if you've been doing, if you've been training for this fight, a 40-pound costume for 40 minutes is going to have zero impact on you. I disagree with that. I think it's ridiculous because he would wear this thing

and put himself at risk for this. I'm not going to say, I don't think it was the determining factor in the fight. He got beat by a much better fighter, a much better fighter. It's an embarrassment. This guy's an embarrassment. He's a joke. He was never a good fighter.

He was a guy with a punch. That was it. That's all he ever was. Well, he had that. Yes, he did. Except he didn't have it Saturday night. Now, a couple of things I might want to point out. You know, because of Tyson,

his Fury's size, he did hit, he did hit him in the back of the head a few times. Yeah, well, I think the first knockdown was in the back of his ear. Yeah, that's what split the ear opened. Yeah, and he complained about that. And I don't know what you can do about that when you tower over a six foot four, six foot five guy. Well, six seven. It wasn't necessarily rapid punching, but Fury was punching down and did punch.

on the back of the head a couple of times. And he did this thing where I was surprised the referee let him do it, where he kept grabbing him in the headlock, you know, and hitting him as well. I thought that was kind of unacceptable. Do I think it contributed to his loss? No. But I just thought it was a little bit of poor referee

to have let that go on and not have stopped it right from the start. So you did watch the fight. Yes, I did. I watched it in a place that was offering, you know, the fight for freight. So after the game, I went to the Astros Nationals, you know, first exhibition game, and that ended early, thanks good goodness, after two innings because of a rainout. So I was able to make it to the fight. Fury had some boxing skills.

He's not a great box. He just had boxing skills as opposed to the other guy, who basically has none. Yeah. He's very, he's a showman. He's a tremendous showman. Oh. Very entertaining. Yes.

Yes. And he will bring eyes to boxing. He will put bannies in the seats. Absolutely. He's a very dynamic guy, but there's nobody for him to fight. There's nobody worth his arms. His job. Oh, please.

Andy Ruiz, Ruiz beat the crop. of Joshua. A fat, overweight, unmotivated guy who wears a 40-pound costume all the time. Who's, I mean, what are these costumes about? These uniforms, stop it. Well, no, I'm fighting for the heavyweight championship. They carried Fury, and Fury did it better. They carried him in on a chariot, basically. I mean, he... When I meant Andy Ruiz wears a 40-pound costume, I meant he's 40 or 50 pounds over. overweight all the time. No, I understand that, but I mean, just the whole notion that this guy Wilder came in with 40 pounds weighing him down to try to be entertaining. Like, just, I'm not

suggesting you've got to come in Tyson style with shorts and gloves ready to go. But my God, I mean, I, just the stupidity of that is beyond, beyond belief. I, you know, you say Fury has some boxing skills. For his size, 69, 270, you know, maybe the sum is a little bit more. I saw more than just some. I saw a guy that could box.

And I saw a guy that was really smart in the ring, too. You know, there were a few haymakers thrown that didn't even come close. And you're right about Wilder, clearly, and I hadn't been paying attention to the sport, really, and hadn't seen him fight. I think I may have seen him fight once.

I was, you know, certainly, in watching, you're thinking, well, Wilder does have the ability to throw one-punch connect and end it. But man, if you didn't know that about him, you would have, and I was, I was thinking this guy was in serious trouble of being injured seriously. He was outclassed from the jump and in a painful way. You know, he was hit with everything and that ear was gushing. and I did think watching it, it made total sense that if his eardrum was busted, then his whole sort of center and balance and equilibrium could be impacted. But his eardrum wasn't busted.

It wasn't, yeah. It turned out it was just cut. It was not busted. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, and Mark Freeland, who is an Olympic gold medal winner, remember from that 84 team, was one of the trainers. He threw in the towel, and they were very upset about that,

but they should thank Mark Freeland because he was pretty much at that point. Wilder was pretty much, he couldn't defend himself at that point. So, I mean, I think throwing in the towel was the right decision. I do too. I just think that the interesting part of that is that that was not the most trouble or the most vulnerable that he seemed. I thought the two previous rounds, I thought there would have been, you know, good reason to end it then, even for the referee at one point to stop it. But I thought actually in that particular moment, Wilder had actually just had a flurry 20 seconds earlier, and he didn't look nearly as much in trouble.

But it doesn't matter, because if you were watching the whole thing and you knew the context, you knew there was zero chance of him winning and a much greater chance of him. being seriously injured had it continued. Listen, as an exercise, go look at Wilder's career record in Box Rick. Okay? Before he fought Tyson Fury the other day, he fought Louise Ortiz. Yeah. Who's considered in this heavyweight era a decent fighter, except he's probably over 40 years old and he's a steroid freak.

He knocked him out, I think, in, I don't know, eight rounds. Seven rounds. Seven rounds. Then he fought a guy named Dominic Brazil. Dominic Brazil is currently under suspension by the New York State Athletic Commission. And he fought Fury before that and had the great fight with Fury. Did he fought Ortiz before that. Then he fought Bermaine Stivert.

Yes, Stavirn, who was the champ. Right. Or the first time he beat him, he was the champ, or it was for a title. Who fought twice in the last four. year. Yeah. Okay. I want to point out, and keep going down with the record.

Gerald Washington, you ever hear that great heavyweight before that? No, I remember the 49ers receiver, Gene Washington. Yeah. By the way, this is a guy who's lost three of his last five fights. You don't need to, you don't, we get it. He doesn't have a great track record. He knocked out 41 tomato cans and 42 fights. We understand that.

And after watching him the other night, you know, it's amazing to me that he didn't lose before that. I will say this, though, about your description of the Fury, as you call it, the Otto Wallen fight. It's Vollen. He's Swedish. And they played that fight. I think it was on FS1 very early Saturday morning. I happened to have been up, and I watched that fight. That guy, Valen's actually a decent fighter, okay, who was also undefeated coming into the Fury fight. I don't know who he beat to build up that record. But my God, Fury had a gash over his eye at the beginning.

Volan hit him with a shot that opened up a cut, and how they didn't stop that fight is beyond me, but Fury put on an unbelievable performance with basically one eye against Volan to win that fight. You did not give that fight or Fury's performance in that fight anywhere near their due it deserved. Just wanted to point that out. I didn't give Elnar Otto Wallin to do he deserved at the age of 29 with an impressive record against guys like Nick Hintzner and Adrian Grenet and Shoredon Gobichop. You're not telling me anything. I don't know anything.

You could be naming some really good fighters as far as I'm concerned. You are your track record in everything you do. don't know that that's a bad track record. And I'm telling you it is. Okay. I'm just telling you that Fury in that fight had one eye against a guy that was hitting him throughout and showed incredible courage, as he did against Wilder when he got knocked down in their first fight. The net of it is Tyson Fury is a star, and he's worth watching. He is a star. He is a star. But please, people, please, you're not watching a great heavy

way champion. You're just watching a freak show. Tyson Fury is a freak show? Yes. A 6'9, 270 pounds, who's got quick reflexes for being that big. But in terms of boxing skills, like somebody said,

how would he compare, like, to boxers in 91? So I went back and looked at the box wreck top 10 list for 1991. Generously, he might be ranked 8th on that list of boxers in ninth. Ray Mercer would take him apart. Just absolutely take him apart. You know, I mean, so, I mean, just know what you're watching. That's all. That's all I ask. I mean, I don't think this is a conversation about where he ranks or how he do in a different

era. I mean, that's your conversation. That's the response, I guess. That's why I tweeted out after the fight. For everyone who dared to mention Dante Wilder's name among the great heavyweights of all time, please leave your tongues at the door as you leave because you are never allowed to talk about boxing again. God, you are so demanding. How did that go over? What were the responses to that? You know what? It was pretty quiet. Yeah. Pretty quiet. I have no idea if you put Tyson Fury back in 1991 how he'd do against Holyfield or Tyson or, God, I'm trying to think of the fights I went to. Obviously, Riddick Bo, because I went to a Boe Holyfield fight or two. Lennox. Where was Lennox Lewis in the early 90s?

In 91, Lennox was trying to. No, he was. Foreman, George Foreman was probably. you know, on a list back in 1991? Here's how it would have gone when most of those guys. Timber! All right. I'm not going to, I want to watch him fight a couple more times.

I actually think there's something to him. I think he's more athletic. I think he's more skilled and less brute, although he is a brute, man. He is that. And that leaning all over, Deonté Wilder, who was already, you know, 40 pounds of costume, followed by 270 pounds of Fury all over him. And he looked exhausted at the end of the first round.

Yeah, well, his corner should have known it was coming by the weight that Fury came in at. Yeah. It was obviously he was going to use his weight. Yeah. You know what? What's the other thing. There's no good trainers left in boxing anymore either. You know, what was interesting about watching,

Wilder's corner in that fight, there was not a real sense of urgency about his condition. Now, maybe that's just style and it isn't substance. But I think actually Lennox Lewis at some point during that broadcast said, they're not letting this guy know that he needs to show something where they're going to stop this. You know, you didn't hear any of that. You know, usually you'll hear, you know, you go back to Angelo Dundee, you got to show me something, kid. You got to show me something, you know? And there was no real discussion that you could hear with Deonté Wilder in that corner.

None. But I don't know if that. I agree. I did like, I liked everything about Fury, and I will be all in on whatever the next fight is. Last thing for the day, Bradley Beale last night had 55 points against Milwaukee. He is the first player since Kobe Bryant in 2007 to go for 50 points or more in back-to-back nights, not back-to-back games in back-to-back nights, which are back-to-back games, but to do it, you know, like he did on Sunday night and then last night.

He had 53 Sunday night in their loss to the Bulls, and he had 55 last night in their overtime loss to the bucks. He is second in the league right now in scoring behind James Harden. He's averaging 30.1 points per game. And Tommy, he's got a chance. He's got a chance to become the Bullets-slash-Wizzards all-time scoring for a season guy. Walt Bellamy and 61-62 average 31.6 points per game. Gilbert's 2005-2006 is second at 29.3. So he is ahead of Gilbert, which would make him Washington's all-time single season.

scoring champ if he holds firm at 30.1. Here's the other interesting thing about the last two games. He has, he's not like hunting shots on every single possession. He was 19 of 33 last night. He shot 57.6% from the floor. On Sunday night, when he went for 53, he was 15 of 27. You know, when James Harden gets 50 plus, there's 40 shot attempts in the game. Beale had 27 on Sunday night, 33 last, and he got to the line a bunch on Sunday night, that's for sure. And he's killing it from behind the arc. He is, right now, in this league, he's become an elite score. It's really hard to debate that.

He has become an elite score. I don't think he's an elite player. I wouldn't even have him anywhere near my top 10, and it'd be really difficult for me to get him even into my tight top 15 of play. in the NBA. But he is putting on quite a scoring display, and he's done it with significant improvement overall in his game. It's not just because John Wall's not there, or there aren't other good players. He's just a better offensive player all the way around. I still don't love the fact that, you know, he's up there in turnovers per game. He had nine last night. Could have

had 14, very close to having, you know, more than that. But Beal is having, you know, from a offensive scoring standpoint an all-time franchise season. And so we are entering, just when you don't think it's possible, a whole new chapter of Wizard's fertility, that they're going to waste the greatest scoring season that any player in their franchise ever had. This is a whole new level for the Wizards. They haven't done this before.

Yeah, I don't know what the Walt Bellamy bullets were in 61, 62, but I know that, I know Gilbert's seasons, you know, were playoff seasons. They were playoff seasons. I thought they were a mirage, but they were at least playoff season. Bernard King, Bernard King averaged 28.4 in 90, 91. I'm pretty sure they were in the playoffs that year. So, so this is a new chapter of futility. They're taking the best offensive season a player ever had for them, and they're probably, probably going to win what, if they're lucky 30 games this year? Yeah, yeah. I mean, they're actually in the playoff hunt, but they've lost three straight games. They're not going to make the playoffs.

Yeah, 30 games at this point, what have they played? How many games have they played? They got like 20 something left? Here it is. 20 and 36, 56. So they get 26 games left. So they'd have to go 10 and 16 to reach 30 games. A bit of a reach.

That's doable. Barely. We can only hope. Go for that magical 30. We can only hope. I don't think that Bradley Beale's ever going to be a player that can be your number one player and have you be a significant threat to win anything meaningful. He's doing this without a lot around him right now.

And the obvious expectation is that John Wall and Bradley Beale are going to be. be together next year. We just don't know what John Wall's going to look like. They've got to develop another player, you know, another really good player. Bottom line in the NBA, and it's, you know, it's not opinion anymore. It's pretty much fact. You've got to have a top five player to win it all, period. If you don't have a top five player, you're basically playing for, you know, winning a series or two. If you're lucky, you get to the Eastern Conference Finals or the Western Conference Finals, but you're not playing for a title. You've got to have a top five player to play and win in NBA title. And they don't have that. They don't even have a top 10 player no matter what Beal's doing

right now. He's fun to watch scoring. I mean, he really, he can do it. He's got mid-range. He's got long-range. He's got post-up. He has the ability to get to the rim anytime he wants and finish. He is a tough guard right now. I mean, there's no doubt about it. He is a tough guard. They triple-teamed him last night when they were down three at the end of overtime. There was no way the Bucks were going to him get a shot off. And they nearly, Troy Brown Jr. had a corner three to tie it when halfway down came out. If he had tied that, Beale would have set the record, the single game scoring mark, which Gilbert holds with that 60 that he had that night at Staples against the Lakers in an overtime game when he went for 60. To be fair, to be fair, at this point, basically,

I think it's safe to say that Ernie Grunfeld got that. draft choice right? Yes, he did. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I mean, he did. He got that one right. You know, again, not a, you know, not a top five NBA player, you know. I mean, Ernie never hit on Kauai Leonard like I would have hit on had I been the general manager. Yes, he did. But you call, you call that. But Bradley Beale was a hit. Bradley Beale was a hit. No doubt about it. I think it's time with Ernie God and having retired the Ernie Grunfeld one loss record. I think it's time to resurrect the one loss record, but under Ted Leones. What's the franchise is one loss record now?

Go ahead. Start, start that. I'd be more interested in that. Yeah, I think we're ready for that because I think it's going to be interesting under transparent Ted. because he has a plan now. Well, I think the interesting thing, in all honesty, is going to be what happens to Scott Brooks. He got that big deal. Scott Brooks is a nice guy.

Players like him. I was never a fan, really, of his coaching at Oklahoma City. I think there's a lot of basically just let the players figure it out. But the NBA, he's not the only one that does it. Like, I'm watching that game last night. And it's basically, when it got to overtime, there's no real plan offensively for any team.

You know, it's just your stars are asked to make, you know, a play. You know, Budenholzer is the coach of Milwaukee. You know, he's basically just saying, Chris Middleton, go get it because Janus isn't here. And the Wizards are just handed it to Beal saying make a play. It really is, it's interesting what basketball has evolved into. And I know it's been this way for a while, but it really is so much whether or not you've got the players. I think basketball is always about that. You've got to have the talent. But there's no five-man offense in the NBA.

There's no five-man offense really in college anymore. Yeah, not anymore. It's all basically, you know, here's our star, here's your star, and we're going to just space the floor and let our star make a play. Kevin, I know, and I'm sure it's not what you teach. It's not what you teach in youth basketball, but on the AAU level, this is how they're brought up. This is how the generation of kids are brought up.

And you're going to ask them to go back and play basketball when this doesn't work. They're not going to be able to do that. As far as Scott Brooks, look, they're wasting time changing the culture with him as coach. I know they'd have to eat a lot of money, but they're just wasting time with him as the coach if they really want to change the culture. I'll tell you to be serious, I wouldn't even worry about the coach right now. You got to go get two really good players to go with Beal. Maybe Hotchamur turns out to be that guy.

I don't know if he does or not. I still believe that Brandon Clark was the Gonzaga player that I would have taken, and he's having a terrific year, although I haven't really looked at him recently, but at one point he was averaging, I think, you know, something like, you know, 12 and 7 or something like that as a rookie. And Hachamura doesn't guard anybody. They've got to get him a little bit tougher. But who cares about the Wizards?

We just spent far too much time on him. I just thought it was interesting that Beal, I mean, Beal's putting up some big numbers. Like, you know, to me it's, I don't know, I'm not going to sit there and watch every Wizards game start to finish. I haven't done that all year. But I'm going to be checking in each night to see how many Brad's got. because Brad's got a chance to have an all-time franchise season, and he's no doubt he was pissed off not getting into that All-Star game.

He's averaging over 36 since he got snubbed from the All-Star game. I've got to tell you, I'm rooting against them because I'd like to see the Walt Bellamy record stick. I want to talk about a stiff. Walt Bellby was a stiff. He was? He had tremendous talent. off the charts talent, but a real dog. A real dog of a player.

Why? I mean, he just, he didn't care. He didn't care. He didn't play hard. He didn't care about winning. He had one of the worst reputations in the league. The Knicks had him for a while, and they had him with Willis Reed as a forward. And Bellamy got traded in the big deal to the Pistons that brought,

Dave to Bushers to New York in 68. So, I mean, Bellamy was a great player, but no heart. No heart at all. He's in the Hall of Fame. That's how good he is. All right. You got anything else? I think I've contributed my share.

Okay. See you. Enjoy the day. What are you going to do? Is it a nice day down there in Destin, Florida? It's overcast. but it's 66 degrees. So I'll be enjoying myself walking on the beach, sitting on a deck.

Was your wife happy to see you? Why would she be? I mean, why would that even be a question? Aren't you happy to see me all the time? Yeah, I am, but I haven't lived with you for as long as she has. I'm in a different spot. All right, go enjoy the day. See you. All right, boss. I'll see you.

All right. forget the Team 980, 7 to 10 a.m. Weekdays is my radio show. You can listen to it on the Team 980 app, the Team 980.com, and also in D.C. on AM 980 and FM 95.9 FM, which is a new FM for us, but it's actually a pretty good FM in most areas around town. We're going to leave you with the following. I don't know. Did you watch the Kobe Bryant service yesterday? I didn't watch all TV, but I saw all the clips being posted and was following it on social media? It was actually, I thought it was well done the whole thing.

Shack was great. Shack had the line where he said, you know, Kobe early in his career was hogging the ball and his teammates basically went to Shack and said, Shaq, you got to tell him. He's got to start passing the ball. And he said, I'll take care of it. And he went to Kobe Bryant. And he said, hey, Kobe, there's no eye in team.

And Kobe's response was, yeah, but there is an eminent. any motherfucker, which got everybody laughing. Shack was great. Jordan was breaking down crying, saying Kobe got him because it's going to turn into a meme. Diana Tarazi was really, really good. Rob Polinka spoke, but the day was all about Vanessa Bryant. I mean, her eulogy, you know, not even a month after losing her daughter and her husband, was just so incredibly moving, so emotional. you know, the tension to see her less than a month get up and walk up there in front of us, you know, a packed house at the Staples Center, and really in front of the world, for all that matter,

people watching this all around the world, it was so beautifully delivered, you know, done so well under the circumstances. And so we'll leave you with her last line, which was really, it was a tearjerker, man, to watch her, and especially talk about her daughter that she lost. But we'll leave you with that in case you missed it. It was the end of her incredible eulogy. Have a great day back tomorrow. God knew they couldn't be on this earth without each other. He had to bring them home to have them together.

Babe, you take care of our Gigi. And I got Nani, Bibi, and Coco. We're still the best team. We love and miss you, Boo Boo Boo and Gigi. May you both rest in peace and have fun in heaven until we meet again one day. We love you both and miss you forever and always. Mommy.