The Kevin Sheehan Show - Jason Wright Leaving

Episode Date: July 18, 2024

Kevin and Thom today opened with the news that Jason Wright is no longer the Commanders' Team President and will be leaving the organization by the end of the year. The boys then got to a number of things including sports teams public relations, the " ESPN Top 100 21st Century Athlete" list, Caitlin Clark's record-setting night, and the Commanders beyond Jayden Daniels that are the most intriguing entering the 2024 season. Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Wind Donation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com.

Mention my name, Tommy, for a free estimate. Tommy just mentioned to me just as we were about to begin recording the podcast today. There's breaking news, and there is Jason. This is from the Washington Post, the story written by Nikki Javala and Mark Maskey. Jason Wright, who became the face of the Washington commanders' attempt to transform their workplace culture after being hired four years ago as the first black team president in NFL history, will move out of that role immediately and will depart the organization by the end of the upcoming season, Wright and Commander's owner Josh Harris said.

He will assume the title of Senior Advisor while maintaining his responsibilities as the team's de facto president, focusing primarily on its search for a new stadium site and stadium naming rights partner. Tad Brown, who is the chief executive of Harris, Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, will lead the search for the commander's next president.

Jason Wright says in a statement written to the Washington Post, quote, this feels like the right moment for me to explore my next leadership opportunity. Yeah, it does. I'm extremely grateful. He's Magellan. He's an explorer. I'm extremely grateful to my commander's colleagues, our fans in this community, for all that we have accomplished these past four years.

And I'm looking forward. It's so much. to the start of a very successful season for the burgundy and gold. It's so much that you have to create a list of the top 100 things that Jason Wright did as team president. Well, I got the other list that isn't necessarily a top 100, more like a bottom 100. Actually, it would be the top 100 of the things he did that didn't really work out. Tommy's referring to, we're going to get to this ESPN top. 100 athletes of the 21st century list that has come out over the last couple of days and was

completed today. But real quickly, because I know I have sort of alluded to this subtly over the last few weeks. I've had many of you say, when is he leaving? Why isn't he gone? And what I've suggested is that it wouldn't surprise me if by the end of the summer there is a change there. His contract was set to expire in August. And so there you go. The end of the Jason Wright era in Washington. So go ahead. I'll let you take the first swing at it.

Well, I wrote a column about this guy in May of last year, where, you know, he was at the time before the team was sold, he was kissing up to the prospective new owners. And I compared him to Don King, climbing over Joe Fraser in the ring in 1973 to leave with George Foreman. You know? Yeah.

It was that kind of move. Look, this guy was an opportunist. And people who are opportunists like this, they're usually frauds. And this guy was a fraud. I mean, you know, I mean, the worst quote he ever had was when he was hired, and his quote was to front office sports, where basically he said, he said this. He said about the Snyders, Dan and Tanya. They shared, I shared, and I think that transparency, authenticity, and acknowledgement that we had shared values and a shared.

vision of what makes for a good culture and a good organization may be incredibly excited to jump into the partnership with them and coach Rivera. Anyone who can say that, you know, like on the first day of his job, is capable of saying anything. Okay? Anyone who could utter these words can lie to your face about anything. So, I mean, he's lost credibility from the day he came here. You know, I'm interested in what values that this guy shared with Dan Snyder. That's why, let's have the list of values on your way out, Jason.

And then he did another one, which, I mean, he just, whenever he spoke, it was just so so pathetically dishonest. You know, I think it was in, it was at the Super Bowl. in 2023, where basically he said, quote, we reverse the historical trajectory of the business of Washington football, and now the commanders have a very lucrative future ahead of us off the field, which allows us to invest in a championship franchise on the field. We righted the ship, and now that ship is ready to go on a championship voyage. But Josh Harris and company took over a steaming pile of shit.

That's what Jason Wright left them. Well, Jason Wright didn't leave them. The steaming pile of shit. Dan Snyder did. He took credit for it. He said we reversed the historical trajectory of the business of Washington football. They did not do that. Right. No, they didn't.

Right? No, they didn't. Okay. Yeah. No, it was just... They did the opposite of that. It was further embarrassment and... Yes.

The whole got deeper. Yeah. So... So that's my point. So this guy, just such a dishonest, fraud, and, you know, you're going to see sink offense in the media that are going to kiss up to him saying he had an impossible job.

You know? Well, maybe he did. Yeah, nobody can work for Dan Snyder. and be successful. That does not explain the blatant, disgusting, despicable statements he would make. Tommy, there aren't going to be any sycophants in the media for Jason Wright. I think everybody in local media have understood what's been happening here. Who's going to be a sycophant for Jason Wright? I don't know. I'm sure there were people that used Jason Wright as a source for information.

I've seen this happen before. You know? You didn't enjoy the lunch that you had with him that day? I'm sure. You know, I wrote that column about him like a month after that lunch. I know. I remember they. And I got an email from somebody who works for him who was shocked. at what I wrote. I don't know what they thought that was going to accomplish. Well, I told him it wasn't going to accomplish anything. Yeah, I certainly can't be bought for a lunch.

They reached out to me to say, would Tommy be interested in having lunch with Jason Wright? And then Gene as well, Gene Medina, right, Medina. And I said, probably, but if you think you're going to change his mind about any of thing. Don't waste your time. Yeah. Look, anybody, Jason Wright, Brian Lafamina, who when he got the job as,

you know, the president of whatever his title was, you know, famously said on this podcast, because I think we weren't doing a radio show anymore, you said, Brian, if you're listening, rent, don't buy. And you predicted that he would be out. within the year and he was out within 10 months. It didn't matter who was hired in this organization for a long period of time, whether or not

they were, you know, whether they were qualified or unqualified, honest or a fraud. It was never going to work out as long for anybody, in any position, as long as they were joining an organization known as the Washington Redskins owned by Dan Snyder. With that said, I mean, look, they did it because we're there in, you know, the throes of the summer of 2020 and name change and upheaval and, you know, all of a sudden, let's face it, they started to hire people to make themselves look like the most inclusive organization in the NFL. You know, Julie Donaldson, Jason Wright, Ron Rivera. I mean, I think Ron Rivera, given the choices that they probably would have had, was qualified. But look, he was hardly effective. I mean, whatever these quotes were that I just read, I'm, you know, I just want to blow them off.

Because there wasn't a lot accomplished. There was a lot of further destruction to what. what was already, which was already something that had been completely disrupted anyway. And let me just say this, Tommy, I have no idea if Jason Wright was good at, you know, his job overall. I'm not there. I don't work with him. I don't know people that, well, I do know people that have worked with him. But for all I know, he's a terrific salesman and he's great in front of the customer and he's very organized. Who knows? I know as a fan and as a media person about the front-facing stuff that he was involved in,

the stuff that we were exposed to. And pretty much all of that was disastrous. You know, the last second trying to save face to create and divert attention from anything that Dan was involved in of the decision to retire Sean Taylor's jersey. And the absolute disgraceful way in which that was handled. From, you know, the Sean Taylor family sitting in front of the urinals for the picture to that ridiculous mannequin, you know, in a glass thing that looks so stupid, to letting Pat Mahomes' brother, I forget his name, to dance all over, you know,

the Sean Taylor emblem on the field. I mean, it was disgusting that whole weekend. It was embarrassing. And we kept saying over and over again, as did all of you, you know, just hope that the Sean Taylor family felt loved by the fans. It was handled so poorly by the organization. You know, let's not forget, I think the first time I was really critical of him was when he posted that picture of Santa Claus urinating. Remember on the Cowboys logo on social media?

I'm like, what are you doing? Like, what? I mean, you're the team president for crying out loud. I know, I know. And then remember with Carson Wentz, he publicly went after Scott Abraham for a totally legitimate question. And I'm like, what are you doing? This isn't your area anyway.

This is football. Yeah. which he kind of always wanted to get involved in. What were you going to say? I'm sorry, I've got more things. He was the guy at the top, and therefore, all the mistakes that happened under his watch are on his dance card. Yeah. You know, he's responsible for hiring a cruise company that turned out to be a con job.

Right. When they tried to have a teen cruise, he's responsible. for the mistakes on the logo that they came out with. You know, bouncing checks to contest winners. Yeah. Yes. Wrong player information and ceremonies, you know? I mean, you know, I mean, if that's all on his dance card,

other people may have done it, but you're at the top. And those are the people who work for you. But let's face it, the biggest one, his Super Bowl, was the branding of the name, the announcement, the rollout of the commander's name. That was his Super Bowl, and he basically got beat like the Chicago Bears beat the Redskins 73 to 6. Yeah, I mean, whatever. 2-22 is one of the most embarrassing rollouts of a new product that I've ever seen. It was so unprofessional.

It was so lacking in energy. I don't personally think that it has much to do with how people feel about the name. I think they were going to hate the name anyway. It certainly didn't help, though. No, it did not help. Yeah. I mean, look, it was with me on radio when they had botched the team crest with the wrong Super Bowl in championship years where I said to them, I said, ask your head coach if Ron Rivera played for the 86 bears or the 85 bears.

And, you know, to his credit, he listened to that, and he did change the dates on the crest. And I remember having a conversation with him afterwards because I said to him, you know, and this was in a personal conversation, I said, look, call people like me. I'll give you a short list of people to call. there's you know a guy like CJ who is handling the broadcast you know as a producer I said you got a guy in your booth every Sunday who knows more about the organization than anybody in your building ask him he's at least somebody you're paying but you can call me you could call Tommy you could call Andy there are a lot of people that you could call do it before you actually roll something out he actually did call me about something once before they roll it out and I literally took you know about an hour and made corrections it was like this thing they were doing

at the stadium to mark important dates with the information and they had all everything wrong or half of it was wrong and I marked it up and he was very appreciative and I said I I'll help you if you tell us tell me before

but the you know the crest and of course the name I mean 2222 was in absolute disaster and it remains a disaster and I'm sure that he has a real sense of ownership over it with the guy that he brought in that that left town but yeah the legacy you know website that they did what was it called command central or take command whatever it was with just the the number of errors and spelling mistakes and years I mean it was terrible. Yeah, the mug with the Washington State logo on it. I mean, you know, there was just,

everything public facing was not well done, period. We used to joke. It was like one of those things, how many days since the last accident in the factory. Yeah. You couldn't get past zero. You couldn't get past a few, it's six or seven anyway. So. Look, look, look. I don't know where he's going, what he's doing. He's going to be an advisor, right? I mean, that's just what he... They're doing this and they're handling this in a way that I think totally makes sense for everybody involved. Yes.

And so he's going to be looking for a new gig. You know, if he gets that new gig between now and the end of the year, he'll leave officially even sooner. But, yes, it would appear as if he is a senior advisor, you know, between now and the end of the year when he will officially be out. In the meantime, more importantly, because this is not surprising to me. It's not surprising to you. It's not surprising to anybody that's been paying attention. But I think a lot of people in media have understood that this was probably going to happen.

It was just a matter of it being the right timing for everybody involved. And look, like we said about the coaching staff last year, they got there at the end of July. It's not like they had time to do a lot of things. And they have, you know, proceeded in a, you know, I think for them, a methodical, prudent way before making decisions. You just don't come in and start shooting people based on what other people have said about him. And I want to be clear about one thing. I can only speak to, and really you can only speak to, the things that he did that were public. that was a big part of his job. There's no doubt. But there is a lot of other things that he probably

did on a day-to-day basis. And I can't speak to his effectiveness with respect to that stuff. I will say this, it was very, very, very apparent a year ago when Mike Jones wrote that profile of Jason Wright. And Ron Rivera wasn't unavailable to comment on Jason. right. He refused to comment for the story on Jason Wright. And I think that, you know, you can think whatever you want about Ron Rivera. That was, that was, I think, confirmation of a lot of things. But, yeah, I mean, wish him the best of luck. I mean, I've had several conversations with Jason right. You know, the Frank Herzog thing was probably the last time I talked to him, you know, the sunny induction, and I absolutely crush them on the air for not, you know, including

Frank Herzog and had Frank on the show, on the radio show. They got, they were pretty upset about it. And, you know, everybody but, um, but himself and the people in the organization were blamed for it. Uh, uh, you know, it's not that he's a bad guy. I just think like anybody else coming into this organization, he didn't have a chance. And then what he did have a chance to do, he just didn't do very well, period. For those of... Public comments were such a big turnoff for me. And I'm not sure he's going to find many places that are looking for a chief blunder officer. Yeah, the old CBO title, as you call them. Oh, look, these McKinsey guys, they're so connected to other McKinsey.

guys and companies. He's, I'm sure we'll have, look, I actually think he's got some personality and he's got the ability to communicate, although, you know, the big business buzzword talk drove me nuts. It was so McKinsey and consultant-like all along. It's like, you know, can you, can we get somebody to help us with some of the big words? But yeah, look, this is now, he was kind of of the former, group. He was the last

chip to fall for I think a lot of fans who wanted to see a lot of this from the last group go away. And he left us with a turd of a name and a brand. That's for sure. And I think it'll be changed. I don't think

there's any doubt about it. It'll be changed. There is a doubt. Because you can't guarantee that it'll be cost effective and that the legal will allow whatever they want to do. But there was a lot more to just that name. I mean, the Sean Taylor thing was really awful. That was bad.

Anyway. Yep. Okay. I wanted to read something to you, Tommy. This comes from Tom. Tom tweeted, you have to love Tom calling wide receivers divas. This is the same.

same guy who refuses to cover a sporting event unless he gets free parking. Okay, princess, would you like to respond to that? You know, that's been blown out of proportion. No. Is it just the, is it just the wizard? I don't want to tell that story again. Well, the wizards, it wasn't the parking. It was the, it was the, it was the insulting lack of respect. Uh, one of my favorite people. He's not with the organization anymore, and I wish him the best of luck because I know he listens to the podcast. Yes. They made a lot of changes to the organization a couple of months back.

He's gone? He is. He is. Well, I'm going to start going to Wizard's games again. Okay. I can't believe, honestly. Especially him. He's such a good guy.

Oh, he was. Oh, stop. Oh, no, he was a weasel of the first degree. stop it. I don't want to get it. I want to stop it right now. I want to stop it right now because I don't want you to get started on him because he's a really good guy and he's been incredibly helpful over the years compared to a lot of others. I know he's been incredibly helpful to you. Okay. But he's been a dick to me. Why? Which should be more important to you. Why? Why has he? What did you do to tell the story again? I don't want you to tell the story. You wanted parking for an event

and he didn't give you the parking. No, no, no. It's not that simple. Okay, I'm going to tell the story again. Oh, boy. Okay. I wanted parking for the season opener one year. Yep.

For a wizard's season opener. He said, no, I'm sorry. We don't have enough parking. So I left me go. I let it go. I was fine, you know? Not enough parking, no big deal. I only been in town at that, at that point,

covered sports for, I don't know, about 30 years or 25 years or something like that, but they don't have parking for me. Fine. I didn't make an issue of it. Next year I went back and I asked for parking for the season opener. Okay? And now, at this point, the person we're referring to, the person who will not be named,

he is the boss of the media. Zach. Zach Bolano, who used to have that job, came back to work for the Wizards, but was under him at the time, said to the guy, look, You really should give this guy parking. You know, he's been around a long time. He deserves it. He's reached a level in this town where he deserves respect, and he blew Zach off.

Now it, somebody went to him in the organization and said, give this guy parking, and he still said no. That is bullshit. Did you ever find out why he didn't like you? I mean, it's... You know what? That doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if he has a license or not. That's true.

You know what? That's a really good point. We've talked about PR people for sports teams forever, especially in this town, where pretty much every team not named the football team should be begging people like you and people like me to talk about them, to put people on the air. You're 100% right. I mean, I'm not going to get into something, but recently, recently I had to tell, recently I told somebody because somebody that I asked for, they said no, and then they said no again. And I said, you do realize that I'm actually doing you the favor here because nobody really cares about your team and nobody knows that your team's about to play a game of some significance.

And so, look, a lot of times it's just younger people and they don't know. And that wouldn't have been the case with the person that we're talking about. But to your point, you're right. It should never matter. I remember, I'll tell you something, I'll never forget something related to the same franchise, the Wizards franchise. And you know what? It was our friend, Zach Bolno. Zach was the lead PR guy for the wizard.

Zach, you know, Zach was at Maryland for years. He was at George Mason. He was back to the Wizards. Zach's been, you know, he's been all over the place and has been, he's a really good guy. But I'll never forget something. Zach, God, I'm going to forget who the player is. I'm going to have to look it up. But when I was doing this show with Riggins, you know, this would have been 2006 through 2008, okay?

before the season opener in that season, I called them the Wizards up and I said, hey, would love to get Gilbert, would love to get Antoine, would love to get Karan Butler on the show. Rigo would love to have one of those guys on the show. And I was told that, well, we can't do that for you because John doesn't go to games.

and I said, and so they gave us, and I'm looking up the roster from that year. I want to say they gave us somebody like, you know, it was like, but we can get you, we can get you Andre Blotch if you want him. Or somebody like that, okay? It was somebody even lesser than that. And I just, I said, Riggins going to games or not going to games should not matter at all. Your job is to get people to talk about your team and promote the fact that your team's opening up its season in a town that during the month of October, November, is consumed with

one team and one team only. And it's John Riggins. Are you kidding me? And I basically told them as it related to the player, and I don't think it was Andre Blotch. I said, André Blacher, whomever it was, could walk in here with a jersey with his name on it, and no one would know who he is. So the answer is no. We'll take Gilbert, Karan, or Antoine, and they didn't give him to us. And I remember saying to, in that moment, I said, that's a bad job by you guys. Because we couldn't care less if we don't have one of these players in the middle of October on our air.

couldn't care less. And it was just Riggins, who said, would love to have one of those guys on the show. And I said, all right, I'll call them up. We'll get one of those guys on the show. But I bring all that up because it shouldn't have mattered at all what anybody thought of you. The fact that one of the longest running columnists in town wanted to come to a game,

they should have accommodated you. I agree. Yeah, yeah. And my point is, again, last thing I'll say about it, It wasn't about parking. It was about respect. And I'm not a big, I don't get hung up on respect. There's a lot of, there's a lot of battles that take place over the issue of respect that are pretty foolish.

But this was one that I felt. I just found the player. It was Roger Mason, Jr. We can get you Roger Mason, Jr. And I said, please tell me, you're kidding. This is John Riggins. There's no gain in us talking about the wizards during October. All right, no gain.

And they wouldn't do it because he wouldn't go to games. I said, let me just tell you, I guarantee you he's not coming to a game. He has zero interest in going to a game. And that shouldn't matter at all. You know, it's interesting because I've had conversations with other people in the market. about this. Like I would, seriously, I would be a great PR person for a team. No, I would never do it. I don't, I mean, it's, it's a hard job and it's a job where you're on call 24-7. It's not an easy job. And you're, you're being told by everybody that you work for to go fuck yourself,

basically. No, we don't want to do that. We don't want to do that. We don't want to do that. And the PR person knows, well, you should be doing that, you know. I would, I'd be outbound, outreaching to everybody saying, got your player, got your coach. Because in this town, and a lot of towns are like this, 90% of the teams, really, when it comes to the overwhelming majority of sports fans are irrelevant. They're irrelevant unless it becomes an event. you know, they're in the playoffs, or they've got a big game, or they're playing an opponent that's coming into town that has some star power, right?

And I think, you know, what happens in these small little bubbles of these teams is that they kind of create the illusion that they're the ones that, you know, should be catered to. And it's just for our format anyway, and I think for you as a columnist, you're going to write what you want to write about and something that you find interesting. But if your column has to appeal to the most people, 90% of the teams in town just don't move the needle. And they should be doing a better job of helping their organizations become more noticeable. I mean, look, Ted's teams, he's got this, I think, he has this feeling that his teams are

somehow, you know, a big part of the sports conversation in town. They just usually aren't. You know, they just usually aren't. You're right. Look. Look, I mean, in order to be a good, being a PR guy in sports is tough because you have to have the trust of the players and the trust of the media. So you're serving two masters in a way because the players don't want to talk to the media.

Right. and the media want to talk to the players. So you have to, in that clubhouse or locker room, gain a certain level of respect. So once they bitch at you, they still do what you ask them to do. Okay. Now, a big part of that is up top. Of course. Of course.

Of that PR purpose. Yes, I was going to say that. Those people have to give the marching orders to everyone in the organization that he speaks or she speaks for me. if I were a PR person say, I'll tell you what, I'll take my alma mater because I'm a big fan of Maryland sports. I'll talk about Maryland here for a moment. I'll do respect to the University of Maryland's sports programs, including its basketball program, which used to be, it isn't anymore, but it used to be way up on the hierarchy of important sports, you know, franchises. in town. Maryland basketball, you could argue for many years when Gary was there, was number

two to the Redskins. Distant number two, but number two in terms of passionate following, in terms of interest, especially when they got into big games in the month of March. You know, I've said this, I've told people this before, but one of the highest rated months in the history of 980, you know, the team 980, sports talk 980, ESPN 980, whatever iteration. it was. One of the highest rated months ever was March of 2002 when Maryland was marching towards a national championship. But it's just a different landscape now. We are a much, we were much more of a professional sports town than we were in 2002 or during Gary's height because we have a baseball team. We've got a hockey team that's won a Stanley Cup. This is a much bigger pro

sports town now than it used to be. And if I were the PR person at Maryland, I would be calling people like me and you and the people at the Post and the people at 106-7 the fan. And I would be constantly saying, hey, you want to have Coach Locksley on this week. You want to have Coach Willard on. We got a player for you. We've got somebody from the past who's, you know, promoting something because they got it they don't sell they don't sell enough tickets the football stadiums empty for most of those games unless oh unless ohio state or michigan's in town the basketball team ticket situation isn't anywhere near what it used to be and and i will tell you because and others in town will tell you the same thing they're not that accommodating it's not

that easy and so what you end up getting is well why would i i don't i don't need to this, you know, for people to listen to the show, you know, the football team is what drives in this town, no matter how bad they've been. They've driven the conversation forever. And that you can always in this format or, you know, in your, you know, column world, you can't lose by writing or talking about the football team. Or the end. NFL for that matter. Because I think in order it's the skins and then anything about the NFL. And then everything else is a matter of whether or not you can make something of it to interest people or it just happens to be a major topic that day or that week. And those things pop up

all the time. But yeah, it's not an easy job. I understand it. But if I were a PR person, I would convince the higher ups, you got to give me the authority to tell play. and to tell coaches, we'll work around your schedule, but you got to do this because it's the best thing for the organization. You got to go on with these guys. You got to call in from here. You got to do this interview with this columnist because we don't sell enough tickets and there isn't enough interest in our team. And this is one way to do it. And oh, by the way, it's free. Yeah. Well, you know, the PR people are either. are incompetent enough or don't have enough support within the organization.

I mean, I always, I still say this to this day. People on top, and I'm talking about like people on the athletic side. Yeah. You know, not the business side, on the athletic side, don't recognize the value of sports media to their product. And of all teams, what you saw here in this town with the football team, and how, like, the media drove some of the, the well-earned negative views about this organization. You really should pay attention to the media. If you're a general manager of a sport, you've got to be well-versed in media.

You're cheating yourself and your organization if you're not. Yeah, I mean, I look at it just from a pure, and cents business to the point. I know. I mean, every single team in our city right now, every single team has a difficult time drawing. I would say the only team in town that's been consistently a big draw of a live audience is probably the capitals, right? Absolutely. But even that's dipped in recent years. But then when you combine not only live but people watching on TV,

nobody is killing it anymore. They are all in the business or they should be in trying to promote their own product. And I'm not propping up, you know, just this podcast or your column. It's everybody in sports media. If I were a PRP person, I'd be reaching out to everybody. But let me just say, as I mentioned that, I mean, we draw more people and more listeners to the podcast today

than show up at the arena. for hockey or basketball games, and many days more than the football team drew to the stadium in the last couple of years. At least the football stadium for Washington. Yeah, for Washington fans anyway. But I don't know how we got. We started this with our conversation. Well, let me just think two things.

First of all, I would encourage anyone maybe if they get a chance. to maybe sign up for classes at Georgetown, sports industry management program, and take my business of sports media class. It's a great class. I'm teaching this fall for the ninth year. Will it be Thursday nights again? It'll be Thursday nights again,

and you know we'll call on you for your expertise. I would love to be on and be a part of your class again. By the way, we've been talking a little bit about the Wizards. I got this from REL, is his name, or her. name. Love the show, even though we may disagree on certain topics. You're really good in the podcast game. Thank you. Question. You have always said how passionate you are about the Wizards. Did their name change from bullets to wizards rile you up the same as the name change from the Redskins to the commanders? First of all, it didn't go from Redskins to commanders. It went from Redskins to

Washington football team to commanders. But it's a great question, Rel, because I know I've mentioned this previously. During those years where we would talk about the name when people were pressuring the team to change the name, I used my personal experience as a longtime bullets fan as a warning of what can happen in terms of being detached emotionally from a product. Now, I will say that I don't think I was ever as passionate about the bullets

as I was, you know, the Redskins. But I was a big bullets fan. I mean, growing up as a child in the 70s, that was the heyday. They were in the NBA finals three times in the 70s after they moved to Washington. Four, if you include their time in Baltimore, and I did not, I don't remember really them being in Baltimore. But, you know, I remember so much going to those games against the supersonics and the spurs in the playoffs.

And through the 80s is the bullets. I was so into the, you know, the Beef Brothers team with, you know, teams with Ruland and Mahorn. And, you know, they were going to the playoffs each year, even though they weren't very good, but they would qualify for the playoffs and typically lose in the first round. You know, the year, I think it may have been the first year that Bird won a title. Bird won the title in his second season. It was 81.

No, this would have been 82. So that would have been a Lakers title year. The Celtics beat the bullets in a seven-game series. It was a conference semifinal series. It was four games to one, but every game was essentially a buzzer-beater or overtime. Like, I remember that series so well. I remember the last team that was a bullets team playing at the Capitol Center. This was the team with Juan Howard and Chris Weber and Rod Strickland and Muris

and, you know, Cal Cheney and the team that went back to the playoffs after not being in the playoffs for a long time. And they played the Bulls in three games they lost, but Jordan said, look out, this is the team of the future. Remember that, Tommy? Yes, I remember. I covered those games. That was the last, I'm pretty sure that was the last year of the bullets. And then the next year, they moved in to Chinatown into the then-called MCI. Center, right? MCI Center was the first name of the building. They changed their uniforms. They changed their name. I remember the vote on the team name change. By the way, I hated it. I thought

it was stupid. Everything about it. I didn't like it at all. You know, Abe held this vote, you know, this public vote. I don't remember what all the options were. I do remember C-Dogs was one of the options. And it was like every option was like seriously. And look, the reason Abe did it was that DC had become pretty much the murder capital of the United States. You know, we were in the midst of, you know, the 90s and the crack epidemic and the drugs and the murder rate was incredible. And Abe felt that somehow Bullets is a team name was inappropriate. You know, with so many people being shot, it didn't sit well with him. I think from what I've read, there may have been more to that.

What the I'm acrobine thing? The assassination of his friend. I remember. I remember that too. I was going to say that. Yeah, I think that came into play as well. Look, I never thought that the dropping of the name would save a life, just like I never thought keeping the name would cost a life.

I think that's still kind of silly. But it's what he wanted to do. But as far as for me, because I know I've talked about this previously as we went through all those conversations during the years about pushing back on those people that wanted the name dropped, Redskins dropped. The name change and the uniform change made me feel differently about the team. It did for a long time, you know.

And remember that the team wasn't. good. I mean, they came off that season, which was an exciting season, and even though they got swept against the Bulls, I remember those games. Those games were super close, and I was pumped up about that team. But when they got to MCI Center and they stunk the next year, if my memory serves me correctly, and they had the teal uniforms with the goal. I mean, I couldn't, it wasn't my team anymore. It looked completely different. I remember going to several games. that first year at MCI Center because I wanted to see the building downtown, but I remember feeling completely different about the team.

And I don't know, I mean, I will tell you that eventually I got back to it, the Gilbert teams. I was into those playoff games. When they went back to at least the red, white, and blue uniforms, that got me more into it, you know, from a rooting standpoint. And the teams that when you and I were doing shows, you know, the Randy Whitman teams with Brad and John and Neney and Gortot, it's, you know, or Risa, etc. I really actually enjoyed watching those teams and was very much into it. But to answer the question, I don't think I ever have felt the way I did, but they haven't given me reason to feel differently.

and I was always more passionate about the Redskins than I was, the bullets, you know. That is a good question. Yeah. Well, it was a warning. I remember using it as an example. Look, this is what will happen. You change this name, these people, these dumbasses that think somehow it's going to end up being a net positive because everybody's going to buy new gear.

It's not the way branding works with a longstanding brand. When you change something significant with it, there's great risk. We've seen it. We've seen it with the commanders. And I'm sure the wizards dealt with it for a long time after going from bullets. But I don't think the jarring change of bullets to wizards is comparable to, you know, losing the Redskins name. And then eventually seeing what happened with the rollout of the new name. Yeah.

Well, let me just say, getting back to our... introductory topic briefly, I am so happy because now I'm going to go to a wizard's game. Let me ask you questions. I go to, I apply for credentials and I apply for parking. What do you think will happen? I don't know. I'm sure you'll get it. I mean, I can't imagine. Is it, are you telling me that you seriously haven't been to a wizard's game for years? I have not been to a wizard's game since Scott Hall disrespected me. Why wouldn't you have just reached out to Ted?

And said... Because that wasn't the point. That wasn't the point. You know, because I'm afraid if I saw the guy, I might choke the guy. He was actually a really good guy. I don't know what he had against you. I don't know. One of these days, I'll ask.

I'll ask him. You know, he used to call my boss and complain. about stuff I wrote. Well, there you go. Shouldn't complain about anything. You know what? Again, for teams like that, they shouldn't care what you say or what you're right as long

as you're talking about them at all. I mean, I don't, it's, it's like I'm coming off as being like, you know, frustrated with PR of local teams. It's not that really.

It's just more of a frustration of, God, I wish I could actually legitimately say, this is how you should do this. I know it's not an easy job, but you should be pushing to us. I mean, if I were the PR person for the Wizards, take the Wizards, I would be calling every Sports Talk radio station, every columnist in town. I'd have my list every week. You know what? got you Alex Sar from Vegas.

Want to talk to Alex Sar during the Vegas Summer League? I never get any of that. Nobody does, unless Tommy, as you know, unless they have something they want to promote. And then what's sometimes truly entertaining about that is you'll say, great, yeah, no, I'll promote his charity or whatever. And then they'll actually say, but you can't ask him about this.

Yeah, okay. Like if you had Alex Tsar on today, you probably couldn't ask him about going 0 for 15. Yeah. Oh, man. That was rough. They play again tonight. Do you know that that was, if that had been a regular season game, it would have been the worst regular season game, the most shots without a make, I think, ever since they started to keep those kinds of numbers. It's also absolutely.

You couldn't go. You couldn't go over. for 15 in a Vegas game. Okay. Today I could because I don't play anymore. But let me just tell you, if you've ever been a shooter of the basketball, you never lose that. And that was one thing that I could always do. So if you stuck me in Vegas, put me in the corner and said, you know, just take any sort of pass,

off of penetration and the collapsing of a defense and just shoot threes, if I got six or seven attempts, one or two of them are, they're going down. One of them's going down. One of them's going down. And let me just promise you one thing. And people who have played with me over the years understand this. If I missed the first four or five, I wouldn't be hesitating on number six. I'd still be firing. All right, we've got some sports to get to. ESPN put together a top 100 list of 21st century athletes. I think Tommy's got a bit of a problem with it.

We'll get to that. There's also some Caitlin Clark news, including what she did last night. And I have my top five, and Tommy will do his as well, giving him a hundred, homework assignment in between segments. Players we're looking forward to seeing in this upcoming Washington football season. We'll get to all of it and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Football season will be here before we know it, guys, but that doesn't mean we're not watching other sports, baseball, golf, tennis, soccer, the WNBA.

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actually told you about this right before the show. You didn't know that this existed. But in looking through the list, you had a lot of reactions to it. But let me just set it up by telling everybody that ESPN, for the last week, basically, they had ESPN people all over the world, 70,000 votes on a list ranking the top 100 athletes of the 21st century, which would mean year 2000 and on. Remember Tommy that sports century series they did back in 2000 or 1999, the greatest athletes of the 20th century. It was very well done. And Jordan was one.

Babe Ruth was two. Ali was three. Jim Brown was four. Wayne Gretzky was five. the way, did you like that order for the 20th century? Relatively. I didn't have a big problem with it. Yeah, I mean, I would have thought that Ruth, Ali, and Jordan would have been the top three. You could put them in any order, I guess.

Jim Brown probably deserved to be in that conversation as well. Anyway, they did the same thing. Look, we're only 23 and a half years into this century. But, or is it 24 and a half years? Whatever. We're not a full century. We won't be around for the full century list, I don't think. But let me give you the top 10, and then we can discuss other portions of the list of because I think that there is a massive underrating of one athlete in particular. So 70,000 of votes from ESPN contributors all around the world.

And here is the top 10. Michael Phelps is number one. 28-time Olympic medalist, 23-time Olympic gold medalist. Most gold medals at a single Olympics ever when he won eight at Beijing in 2008, you know, considered to be, you know, up there, if not the greatest Olympian, U.S. Olympian of all. time. Number two on this list is Serena Williams, a 23-time major champion. You know, Serena, you could argue, is the greatest female tennis player of all time. And if not, the greatest, certainly in the conversation of the top two or three. Messi is third,

the soccer player. LeBron is fourth. Tom Brady is fifth. Roger Federer is sixth. Simone Biles, the gymnast, and she is going to participate in Paris. is seven. Tiger Woods is eight. That, let me just say, is a joke. I didn't think when I, before this list revealed the top 25, I didn't think he'd be any worse than the top three. Usain Bolt was nine and Kobe Bryant was 10. So, you looked at this list for the first time just before we started to record the show. What'd you think? Well, it's not my list. list. Okay. Here's what I

have a problem with, and this is the old man yelling get off my lawn. But, I mean, I don't understand the business anymore. The business we're in. I mean, I get, you know, they're all

kids. I don't understand when you put a list of the greatest athletes of all time in the century. Okay. You have a swimmer, you have a tennis player, you have a soccer player. Okay, there we go, you got a basketball player finally. Yeah.

You know, a football player. Oh, another tennis player. Oh, a gymnast. Yeah. A gymnast. Yeah. Absolutely. Mm-hmm.

You know, a golfer, all one of my favorites, a track star, and a basketball player. Okay, not one baseball player in a bunch, not one boxer in the ball. bunch. But not one horse in the bunch. Secretariat, people would argue as one of the greatest athletes in the 20th century. I know. And no triple crown? Well, I don't know. No triple crown winners here? You tell me which horse should have been in the top ten. I don't know. I'd have to go through. There have been a couple of triple crown winners

recently. Okay. You know? But, I mean, it's hard for me to take seriously when the sports that they're picking from are not serious sports. Well, they are serious sports, Tommy. But they're not serious. They're just not highly consumed sports. Okay, there you go.

There you go. In other words, like if you were making a list of the greatest foods, your greatest foods, would you put foods on there that you barely consumed or would you put foods on there that you like to consume? Would I put like some exotic fruit that, you know, I don't really eat, but, uh, Probably not, but that's not the list. Okay. The list is the greatest athletes,

and, you know, by accomplishment, and whatever, I don't even know what the parameters were because I don't think they really spelled them out. But I don't have the issue you have. They have, look, the greatest athlete maybe we've ever seen is playing baseball right now, and his name is Show you, Tani. Right.

This guy is just amazing. Now, maybe we haven't seen enough of him to include him on this list. But for me, I have, I've seen enough of him. Let me see where he is on this list and see. Oh, I bet you. I think he's like 49th or 50th. Now, they don't get to a baseball player until like 23rd or so, and they list Albert Pujol.

Oh, Vetchkin, by the way, if you were wondering about, you know, local players, he would obviously be the one on this list. list. He's 54. Right. Sidney Kraz. Actually, Max Scherzer's on the list. Shersers on the list. Yeah.

Yeah. Otani's 62 on this list. Yeah. Shersers on the list. Bryce Harper's on the list. Yes, and he should be. Bryce Harper should be on the list. Yeah.

But the first baseball player is Albert Pooholz at number 24. That's the... Floyd Mayweather boxing number 25. I have Floyd hired in that. So that, so they're, couple of things here that I first of all I don't have a problem with Phelps number one

Serena 2 I just don't I think that they are among the most accomplished athletes clearly of this century I can't believe Floyd Mayweather is 25 that's a joke he should be much higher than that much higher

I also don't think Kobe Bryant should be 10 I don't I mean I think Kobe is is certainly top 15 top 20, top 25. But I think that's a bit too high. I think I'd probably have Steph Curry right there with him.

Tim Duncan was 16, Shaq was 17. Personally, I mean, Kevin Garnett, 23, no offense, I'd have a couple of players below him in front of him. Yokic came in 28th. I mean, we're just at the kind of middle part of his career. I'm glad they at least recognized him because 28th probably is too high. for some people, given that he's really got a lot of career left. But Dwayne Wade is 35.

I probably would have had him higher. Bonds is 38. I realize a lot of what Bonds accomplished was in the last century. Kevin Duran at 39, I think Duran should be higher than probably Wade in Garnett. But no Mayweather, Mayweather 25 is a joke. Kobe, I think at 10, is, you know, too high. But by far and away, I mean, especially, you know, you don't want to hear about golf or swimming or soccer. But since you do have swimming, tennis, and soccer is your top three, it's a joke that Tiger Woods is an eight.

I mean, Tiger Woods is one of the most accomplished, you know, competitive competitive. Forget about golf whether or not you think it's a sport. Athlete ever. He is either the greatest or the second greatest golfer in the history of the game. And that is really reliant on, are you just going to look at majors? If you just look at majors, it's Jack. If you're going to look at the career, it's Tiger. I mean, Tiger, what Tiger has accomplished, and you don't even know this because you hate it so much and you don't like him.

I mean, this guy's one of the most. I do not dislike him. I don't like the fan voice. He's arguably the most dominant individual sport athlete of all time. You can put him in that conversation. And by the way, one of the first people I thought of before I saw the top 25 list, I did think of Serena. And I thought of Federer and Nadal and Djokovic as well. I actually think Nadal and Jokovic could be up a little bit higher. And Phelps, I don't have any problem with it.

I know how dominant he was. I think Katie to Ledecki's too low. If you're going to put Phelps at one, she's at 15. But Tiger is not eight. Tiger is 100 percent one of the five greatest athletes, you know, in accomplishment of this century. His dominance in his sport, you know, let me just read a couple of things to you, because I've done this before, but, you know, he made 142 consecutive cuts.

Do you know how hard it is to make 142 consecutive cuts? It's an all-time record. Nicholas was at 105. Byron Nelson was at 113. Tiger, during 26 years as a pro, is one nearly 25% of the time he's entered. Do you know how hard it is to win a golf tournament, let alone one out of every four? He has won six consecutive events once, seven consecutive events once, five consecutive events once. Between 2005 and 2009, he won 31 of the 75 events he entered.

In golf, in golf. He's got 15 majors, three behind Nicholas, way ahead of everybody else. You know, he holds the record for the Masters, you know, lowest, the U.S. Open lowest. How about this one with Tiger? He's got 41 wins on the European tour. It's the third most ever on the European tour. He was never a member of that tour. His weeks spent at number one, 683 weeks,

number two all-time Greg Norman at 331. I mean, Tiger Woods, I don't know how he ended up. With the people that were in front of him, I have no idea how he ended up at eight on this. I have to agree with you, as painful as it is for me. It's a joke. I have to agree. He's in front of Biles, he's in front of Federer.

He's in front of LeBron. I can't speak to Messi. I have no idea. I would have Brady in front of LeBron. I mean, LeBron's disappointed more in the biggest, you know, in the championship category. And he had more control as a player in basketball than the quarterback does in football. But I can't believe that you're not more into. to how is Mayweather 25. Tommy, where is Mayweather

on the list of the greatest fighters of all time? He's in top 10. I mean, again, he's, you know, I mean, that list is Joe Lewis, a lot, list is full heavyweights, along with Ray Leonard, along with Duran, and maybe Alexis Argueo or somebody like, that's a tough one. But in the 21st century, he was boxing. Yes. You know, he was boxing. He made, I mean, he was undefeated.

He was undefeated. Never lost. Never lost. No. He wasn't an exciting fighter. He was not an exciting fighter, but for the people that really appreciate the sport, he was one of the greatest, you know, counter-punching defensive fighters ever. He beat everybody their own.

was. Yes. Did you say Alexis Argueo? Did you have him in your top five? No, 10 we talked about. Oh, okay. I just threw that name out there. I mean, I'd have to sit down and figure out.

We got some... Isn't Sugar Ray Robinson consistently in the... The best pound for pound of all time? Right. Followed by Ollie. Followed by Ollie. And then Lewis. He's followed by Joe Lewis.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. And Giran is on my list, too. But, you know, the problem with these lists is that they have an agenda a lot of times. You know, they're trying to dot all the eyes and cross all the T's, which is more important than put together an actual legitimate list. I love how you're sort of coming around to this. It took you a few years.

All right. We got other things to get to. I want to talk a little bit about the record that Caitlin Clark set last night as we talk about women's basketball on this show today. We're really hitting all of them today. Maybe we can talk a little swimming, gymnastics, tennis, and golf in the final segment. Let's get some snowboarding in there. We'll get some commanders in there as well.

Rookies reported today. That and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, most of us are interested in our mental and physical well-being to a certain degree. And with that in mind, I'd like to welcome and introduce a new sponsor to the podcast. The new sponsor is Unified Healing, Unified spelled, U-N-I-F-Y-D healing. It doesn't matter if you're a big-time world-class athlete or just a somewhat athletic podcast. like me, we all understand the importance of mental and physical well-being and proper recovery for top-notch performance. That's why I'm excited that Unified Healing is sponsoring the podcast now.

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advice or a substitute for professional medical advice diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, including EE system. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, you know, Shelly's back room, I've always talked about how they have a menu of excellence at Shelly's. And you can read about their menus. If you go to Shelly's back room, their food menus, their drink menus, and today we're going to talk about their cigar menu a little bit.

Okay. But they have some of the best cigars you can find anywhere in the district. And they go out of their way to make sure they get the top 25 cigars. Cigar aficionado is the Bible of the cigar industry. It's a great magazine, and they picked the top 25 cigars every year, sort of like the list we just talked about, you know, except that they do it year by year. And Shelley goes out of their way to make sure that they have those cigars,

you know, sort of a Rocky Patel, they always make sure a patron. They make sure the Alec Bradley-Prince-Prentzado, you know, The long-lived, the queen, ace of hearts. I love that name. I love the names of some of these cigars. You know, like names of horses. Aren't there a lot of cigars named after Churchill? Yes, there are.

It's a style. Churchill is a style as opposed to a brand, you know. Yes, there's a lot of Churchill's, and I'd like a Churchill. You know, here's one. Leia Roma de Cuba, me I wore Churchill. Okay. Yeah. Who's the greatest cigars?

Who's the most memorable cigar smoker of all time? Is it Red Hourback in the sports world? That's a good point. I mean, I think it has to be Red Hourback. I mean, you know, Red Hourback, the legendary story goes about legal seafood in Baltimore. In Boston, they had printed on the menu, no smoking except for Red Hourback.

Yeah. Didn't CoSell smoke cigars sometimes in the booth? Or was it a pipe? Who? Cocell. Purcell was a cigar guy. Yeah. Cigar guy.

Yeah, a big cigar guy. Who else? Who else is known for having a cigar in their mouth? Well, Arnold used to be a cigar guy. He stopped smoking. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big cigar guy. Churchill, obviously. Yes. Churchill would go through eight or nine a day, apparently.

Wow. God. You know, that's a lot of cigars in a day. And Jack Nicholson used to like the smoke cigar. I just found, listen to this, the top 100 cigar smokers of the 20th century. We'll wait for ESPN to provide the 21st century update. number one, Winston Churchill, and they give his favorite cigar, a Romeo E. Giulietta. John F. Kennedy is number two. He smoked a lot of cigars? Okay. I guess he did. Fidel Castro is number three. Of course he is. George Burns is four. You know what? I kind of remember George Burns having a cigar hanging out of his mouth. Yes.

Mark Twain is five. Milton Burns. Earl is six. Bill Cosby is seven. I don't remember Cosby smoking cigars. Yeah, he was a smoker. No, no, uh, no, uh, Fidel Castro? I said, Fidel Castro's three. Oh, okay. He's three. Okay. Yeah. Um, Red Hourback is eight. Jack Nicholson, you mentioned nine, Babe Ruth. Yes. Yes. Alco marks, very famous cigars. Al Capone 11, Groucho Marx, 12. Bill Clinton, 13. Okay. Well, I guess he was with... I've never seen Clinton at Shelley's, so I can't speak to that.

Michael Jordan 14. I see a lot of famous people at Shelley's. And Arnold Schwarzenegger 15. I won't go through the rest of the list. I'm just seeing... Yeah, I've seen Arnold at Kelly. ...on this list. Where's Levy on this list?

It's the top 100. I'm not on that list. Look, I'm used to being disrespected. But there were, I mean, writers, like old-time writers, had, you know, had something hanging out of their mouth. Cigarette, cigar, a pipe, or something. Hemingway was a pipe guy. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. There we go. Joey's back room. 1331 F Street, Northwest. A menu of excellence. It is a menu of excellence, always. So, Tommy, I got this from Jeff. Jeff wrote, Kevin, will somebody ask Jaden Daniels, about Brandon Ayuk today.

Jeff writing that because today is actually the first day of training camp, although it's not really the first day of training camp. It's the day in which rookies are reporting to training camp. One of those rookies would be Jaden Daniels, but the veterans don't report until Tuesday. Training camp, for all intents and purposes, opens Tuesday. This is, not every team does this. About half the teams have their rookies.

rookies report early. It's 20 rookies. They're doing walkthroughs and meetings for the next few days. Training camp really gets underway Tuesday. So, Jeff, there's no media there. There's no press conference scheduled with coaches or players. So if he ends up getting asked about it, I would expect that to happen early next week when training camp starts on Tuesday. But I'm going to ask, Tommy, you, and I'm going to give you a list as well. If we all assume that as we are on the verge of training camp here, starting next week, that Jaden Daniels is the player that we're most excited to see. It is for me, I would imagine it is for the massive majority of fans.

Can't wait to see the number two overall pick in a Washington uniform. Then who? After Jaden Daniels, who's intriguing to you? I put together earlier today for radio just a quick top five list of the players I can't wait to see. Because I do think, Tommy, that this training camp will be one of the more anticipated training camps in a long time because of Jaden Daniels. Now, the fan base isn't as large today as it was in 2012, 2013. 2013 in Richmond was out of control. You and I were there for the second year of RG3. I don't think we've had anything approaching that, not even close.

But I think this will be a much anticipated training camp. But for me, after Jaden Daniels, can't wait to see Frankie Louvue play, was a fan of him at Carolina. This is a high motor overachieving. He has a chance to be a player in that back seven, you know, in that box especially, that ends up being a real impact player. had many of those at that position. I'm looking forward to Louvo next after Jaden. I can't wait to see Bobby Wagner. I think he could have an unbelievable impact on this team and on this defense with his Hall of Fame resume IQ leadership ability, but he played great last year at the age of 33.

He'll be better than anything they've had. I can't wait to see Mikey Sanra still, the rookie out of Michigan. He was such a big-time playmaker in college, and Nick Saban referred to him as the best pound-for-pound player in the draft. And then lastly, I really am interested and intrigued to see what Austin Echler can do, because I was always a fan of Echler as a charger. And I'd kind of make that a tie with Jehan Dotson, because I think Dotson has tremendous talent, and maybe with a real quarterback and perhaps a better offensive approach, we might see Dotson's talent realized. So for me, after Jaden, Louvo, Wagner, Sanra still, and then kind of a tie between Echler and Dotson, who's intriguing to you after Jaden Daniels heading into this camp?

Well, I'm interested in Luke McCaffrey because I'm interested in how good the bloodlines work in the McCaffrey family, you know, from Ed to Chris. to now his brother, Luke. We heard some good things coming out at a OTAs and mini-camp that the coaching staff really liked what they saw from him, and we're trying to figure out ways to use him in their offense. So I'm interested in Luke McCaffrey. I'm interested in Brandon Coleman, the young offensive linemen they drafted,

to see if he winds up becoming a solution at tackle for them. You know? Yeah. So I left tackle for them. You know, that may be too much to ask of him at this point. But I'm interested in seeing if that works. Like you, I'm interested in Dotson because he had such a disappointing second season. And I thought very highly of him, too.

And I'm also interested in Rameez Hamet. Yeah, the kicker. Yeah. because no one's ever seen him before in Washington uniform. No. No, it's going to be an issue. I mean, we're going to see in these preseason games, this dude, Ahmed, he's going to have a chance, I guess, to kick his way onto the team.

I think more likely than not, Tommy, the kicker in the opener at Tampa, we never see in training camp in the preseason. It's somebody that gets cut in that 90 to 53 cut down. on September 3rd or whatever it is, September 1st, and that's the kicker. But who knows? I mean, look, Dustin Hopkins, for those of you that missed it, signed a three-year contract extension in Cleveland to become one of the top five highest-paid kickers in the game. But this is going to be an – this will be a storyline in camp.

Rames Ahmed, number three in your program. Thank you, Brandon McManus. Absolutely. For being a dope. Yeah. Who knows? The other guys that I'm interested in watching. Yeah, all right.

I wanted to mention... But I look it. I mean, the major one is quarterback, obviously. Yes. Not just Daniels, but Marietta as well. No doubt. I wanted to recommend something. Actually, I should recommend a show to you as well. But there's a column written by Dan Pompey in The Athletic about Montez Sweat.

It's really a good read. There's a lot in there about Montez's life that I don't think most Washington fans knew. He really had a tough upbringing. He's had tragedy in his life. We know that he lost his brother. His brother was killed while he was a player here. It's a really good read. But let me get to kind of the part that is, you know, the deals with his time in Washington.

Sweat, it's written, went into the 2023 season hoping for a contract. extension as his rookie deal would expire after the season, but the commanders caught in the politics of an ownership change never engaged his representative, Demarius Bilbo. The commander's defense just finished a tape review of a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on a Monday in October, and the players were making their way to the practice field. That's when Sweat's phone lit up, and his agent, Bilbo, told him that he had been traded to the bears for a second round pick. Montez in this story said, quote, I was shocked. I was shocked. I I was in disbelief.

Rivera texted Sweat, asked him to come to his office to talk about the trade. Sweat didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to yell about it. I was very emotional. I was angry and probably said some things I would want to take back. He said it felt like somebody kind of gave up on you like you aren't good enough anymore. Meantime, he has thrived since being traded to Chicago. He had a stretch in November and December where he had six sacks through a four-game stretch,

10 quarterback hits and a forced fumble. He said that basically he's given much more freedom in Chicago and had to play more read and react when he was here. He said it's kind of based around me in Chicago. In Washington, everyone was kind of like an alpha male, and they are great players, but it was hard for guys to make sacrifices for us all to be of one across. chord in Chicago. We don't have that problem. We all work together. First of all, I don't know why it was a shock to Montes sweat that he was traded. I mean, there was certainly conversation about whether or not Washington would try to move sweat because there was this big question about whether or not they would be

able to get him signed at the end of the year. And there was a question about whether or not he wanted to play here because Atlanta is where he has a home. And he did. say in this story, I would have preferred to have been traded to Atlanta. He loves Chicago and he thinks it's worked out well for him so far. But I don't know why it was such a major shock because we were talking about sweat. We were talking about Chase Young. We were talking about, you know, whether or not Washington would be, you know, busy. I think what we learned post is that Rivera and some of the football people would have preferred to have kept him, but they got such a good offer. And remember, Josh Harris, you know, was a part of those conversations.

And he told them to do what was best in the long-term interest of the franchise. And that's when they decided to take the second round pick, even though they knew they wouldn't be around to make that pick. Yeah, but this story suggests it was an ownership decision to trade. How so? That, it doesn't say that both Del Rio and Rivera did not want to try? trade them? In this story, I don't think it says that. I saw, I saw excerpts from this story that didn't match up to the story itself, if that's what you're reading. Okay. Because, but Tommy,

I don't think that Del Rio and Rivera, they said that. They said it afterwards that they didn't want to trade sweat, that they weren't not, they didn't go into that trade deadline thinking that they would trade Montez Sweat. They, because, but they were blown away with. with the offer. The guy they wanted to trade was Chase Young going back to the draft the previous year. Yeah, but the Bears offered a second. The Bears were also interested in Chase Young briefly. You know, look, read the story. It's a good story about Montess. I read this story. It's a good story. And he was an absolute freak at the Combine. He was an absolute freak at Mississippi State. He was one of the players I really wanted in that draft. and he never realized the unbelievable athleticism

and the athletic profile that he had coming into the league here. He had some games, he had some moments, but he got close much more than he got home. But still, if he were on this team, well, you wouldn't have been able to take Johnny Newton or trade back for San Ristill and Senate, right? but he'd be the best pass rusher if he were in the building right now, but you would have had to pay him.

And he got big money from the Bears. By the way, his Bears contract, I found this interesting. I didn't know this, but it makes sense considering, you know, the time and the Bears' history. He's the highest paid Bears player in the history of that franchise with that contract. Wow. I mean, that's a pretty storied franchise. Yeah. Not of late. Not of late. Not of late. All right. Lastly, before we get out of here, last night, Caitlin Clark set a WNBA record with 19 assists in a game.

She also had 24 points in the game as well. She broke the single game assist record set by Courtney Vandersluat, Tommy. back in 2020. She played for the Chicago Sky. 19 assists. She had 24 points. She was 10 of 19 from the floor. She scored or assisted on 66 of the 93 points that Indiana scored. Is that good?

That also is a- I don't know. Is that good? That too is an WNBA record. She surpassed Diana Tarasi's 65-point combined scored and assist. on points back in a game in 2006. Scoring and assisting on 71% of her team's points is a record as well. She broke Tarazi's record on that as well.

And she just had her third game of 20 plus points and 10 plus assists. In the history of the sport, rookies have combined for one game of 20 and 10 that came back in 2009. For those not paying attention, she's having a hell of a season. She is minus 2,000 at My Booky to be the WNBA rookie of the year. A massive favorite. Go to MyBooky.orgie.org. Use my promo code, Tommy.

Kevin, D.C., if you want to bet, you got to lay $2,000 to win 100. You wouldn't do that. Angel Reese is the second favorite at like plus 600 at MyBooky. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin D.C for all of your sports betting needs. But she's having a hell of a year. By the way, Angel Reese is too. She set the rookie record for double doubles in a row. Did you know, and I bet you didn't, that the WNBA All-Star game is on Saturday night

and that the three-point shooting contest and the skills competition is tomorrow night? Did you have any idea that that was going on? I had no idea. You know, with so many WNBA players in the top 100 athletes of the 21st century, you would think I'd know that. Well, I think Diana Tarazi was on that list, wasn't she? Oh, no, there's a lot. There's actually quite a few.

Oh, I thought you were kidding. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. There's quite a few. Oh, look at you. Look at you. Tommy all the sudden is, you know, getting a little bit offended by all of the inclusion. Oh, what a change here over the last few years. You know what? Maybe she should have been on the top 100 for her college career. Yeah. I mean, for her college career alone.

Yeah. So the WNBA All-Star game is Saturday Night in Phoenix. She is on the All-Star team because it's 50% fan voting. So clearly she was going to get, you know, a high-level fan voting. And the other, I think, is media and then players vote. So she's in the All-Star game itself. But tomorrow night, 9 p.m. ESPN is the three-point shooting contest. She's currently, I think, fourth in the league and made three-pointers.

There are five players participating, and she's not one. of them. Now, she was asked about whether or not she was asked to be in it, and she said, I don't know. So let me preface what I'm about to say with. If she was asked to be in it and she declined, well, then this is what I'm about to say is null and void. But this is the dumbest effing thing. I mean, this combined with the Olympic decision, but this more so, because it's your league, it's your show. It's not a competitive event that matters. It's an entertainment vehicle.

I'm going to think that she bowed out and doesn't want to say so. There's nobody stupid enough to run this contest and not ask her. Well, I don't know, Tommy. This has been a pretty petty, jealous kind of situation with her this season. I mean, that's... Yeah, it has. If they didn't ask her to be in the three-point shooting contest on Friday night, that's one of the dumbest things I've ever seen.

This is a league that, by the way, just got... The numbers are out there from the $76 billion, you know, NBA deal. The WNBA is going to get $2.2 billion of that. That's an increase of $140 million a year in revenue. Thank you, Kate. Clark. Some people will say it's not enough. The NBA's been funding that league for 28 years. It's lost money every single year. I don't think they're about to hand over all of that money and more just in one offseason. But if they didn't invite her to that three-point shooting contest,

which is nationally televised tomorrow night, that is some of the dumbest stuff I've seen in a while. I think the Olympic thing is insane. You know, Christine Brennan was on with me after, that decision and she actually made the case that on merit she should have been considered. You know, now, a month later, on merit probably should be considered for the Olympic team.

Yeah. But I mean, you've got to be kidding me. I mean, who's going to watch that if she's not in it? Now, they'll watch the All-Star game that she's in it, but why not make it, you know, a double bang for your buck and put her in the three-point

shooting contest? You might be right. Maybe she was asked, and for whatever reason she's not commenting on it right now. The winner of it last year was Sabrina Inescu, I think, is the way you pronounce her name. She won it, and she remember she also beat Steph Curry in a three-point shooting contest.

She wasn't invited back for it. Now, I don't consider that to be as much of a whiff as not inviting Caitlin Clark. She's the greatest thing that's ever happened to women's team sports. Yes. Yes. All right, that's it for the day.

A busy day with the Jason Wright News. Tommy will be back with me on Tuesday. I will have a show out tomorrow with a special guest. So tune in for that. Thanks, Tommy. See you, boss. Let's not drag it out, Jason. What is the new team name?

What is it? We are the commanders.