The Kevin Sheehan Show - Kam Curl Love

Episode Date: June 15, 2023

Kevin and Thom today with a full buffet of carbs and culture. The end of the show featured Kam Curl's surprising spot on CBS Sports.com's Top 100 NFL Player list. Other sports topics like Washington Redskins/WFT draft day steals, the Nats' getting ripped off, US Open golf, and Bradley Beal trade destinations were discussed on the show. Also on the show, Hemingway, Cormac McCarthy, and Watergate (The White House Plumbers).  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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. All right, I am here. Tommy is here. I forgot to tag Tommy's karaoke to Tuesday's show.

Tommy, I was in a hurry. I had a tea time to make. But, you know, those are the important things. But I'm going to tag the karaoke from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the end of today's show if I'm able to do it with good quality, which I think I can do. Meantime, we have to start the show with a huge

congratulations. The Washington, D.C. Pro Chapter 2023 Dateline Award for Excellence in Local Journalism goes to Tom Levero of the Washington Times for

sports commentary columns. Woo! All right. It's a society for professional journals. It's a big deal. You've won this a few times. Yes, if this is the second year, I won the award.

Of course. Let me just say it's not on the level of recognition as the D.C. Podcast Association. Well, I was going to say, is it in the Pulitzer Arena? No, no, it's not. No, the podcast association is something I would treasure. treasure more. Yeah, well, we both do. We both do. But this is about you. I mean, I know you always want to make it about us or about somebody else. It's just, it's just the way you are, but this is about you. And where are you going to put this? I mean, God, you know, I don't know

if I know this or not. Do you have an office at home like you had at 980 when we were together, which was, as I've described many times, it was a shrine built to Tom, his office with awards everywhere, trophies, awards. It was just unbelievable. Here's what I've got. I've got.

We're in a two-bedroom condo now with a studio, too. And, you know, my wife has the studio for her artwork. Right. So I am in the spare bedroom. where I have a small desk. I have some things on the wall. I have a lot of things on the wall.

But it's also the spare bedroom, too. Okay. All right. It's not as elaborate as my office was. Oh, I mean, that was something else. Every time I walked into your office, I found something new that I hadn't seen before. You know, and... Well, you know what?

I still have displayed my Geiger counter and my brannick device. Okay, good. You know, I was watching 60 minutes this past weekend, which was, it followed the golf and the 72-foot put that the guy, the Canadian hit to win that tournament. And David Byrne, talking heads. It was a feature with Anderson Cooper, I think, was doing the interview. And David Byrne, it does not have a shrine built to himself. But he has a downtown office. and then tucked away in that office is this room with just all of this shelving,

and they're going through it, and there's lots of things that he's kind of won before, but they're all behind books and different things, and they're behind like three books. I think it was Anderson Cooper that did the story, found an Emmy Award that he had won. And he's like, oh, yeah, there it is. He had no idea where it was. Well, let me ask you a Tom Laverro question.

Were any of the books that they were behind my book? No, I don't think so. I mean, it wouldn't surprise me if he had one of your bestsellers. But no, I don't think he did. By the way, speaking of bestsellers, and I don't know if we've ever had this conversation. You know, like, you're much more of a reader. I was a better math student than I was a reader.

I just wasn't a reader. I read newspapers and magazines, like I was a voracious reader from that standpoint, but I didn't read novels. But I did read Cormac McCarthy's novels. And Blood Meridians, one of my favorite books ever written. And he passed away two days ago at the age of 89. And I'm assuming that you know who Cormac McCarthy is in his books. Did you read Blood Meridian or No Country for Old Men or The Road or any of? of them? No. I'm not a, I'm not a non, I'm not a fiction reader. Okay. I read nonfiction.

I read most, when I read mostly nonfiction too. Yeah, like I'm reading a book right now. I've been reading it for a while, the collective journalism of Marie Colvin. They made a movie about her called A Private War a couple years ago. She was a New York correspondent than for, I think the London Times or something like that. And she was in every war on the world, like from 2000 to 2020 or something like that. You ever get to see a private war? I recommend it as a movie. But I'm reading her journalism right now, literally her collective works.

So, no, I generally don't read fiction. It's very rare. You recommended something to me recently. I don't think you did it on the podcast. I could be wrong. But you said you should watch the Watergate, you know, mockumentary or whatever it is. Because I've only watched part of one episode, but it's called White House Plumbers. You know, it's...

And I'm going to tell you, Tommy, so how many episodes are there so far? I don't remember. I don't remember if there was eight or nine. or 10. I mean, it was over. You know, it's not like a second season coming or something like that. So I turned it on. My son, Corbyn, said, you've got to watch this. You're going to love it. And so I walked. Now, I turned it on last night. I was extremely tired when I turned it on. So I'm going to tell you right now that I did fall asleep in the middle of it, but not because I wasn't enjoying it. Because I was enjoying it. and it was hysterically funny.

And I can't wait to get back to it to watch this thing. But I got to tell you that Woody Harrelson is hysterical in it. And the guy that plays G. Gordon Liddy is really funny as well. Justin Thoreau. Oh, that's Justin Thoreau. Yeah. I did notice that Lena Hedy was in it. Of course, you wouldn't know who she is because you never watch.

Watched Game of Thrones. But I can't wait to get to that. Now, I don't know if I'm going to get to it this weekend because this is a U.S. Open weekend. This is a West Coast U.S. Open weekend, which is my favorite kind of U.S. Open because we have golf until 10 or 11 o'clock at night for the next four nights. You're excited about it. You know what's interesting about this U.S. Open?

Stop it. I'm not excited about it. not sense the sarcasm clearly. So, you know what, so, this is the thing that would interest you. You liked once upon a time in Hollywood, right, because of all of the old L.A. you know, things and references. Well, LACC, Los Angeles Country Club, Tommy, is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the United States.

It is smack dab right in the middle, middle of Beverly Hills. It basically splits Wilshire Boulevard. And you, you know, UCLA's a couple miles away. The Beverly Hilton is right there. The Beverly Hills Hotel is right there. And it's smack dab in the middle of it. In this thing, no one's been able. I mean, nobody even knows exactly how many members there are.

But I had this guy, Brody Miller, who writes for the athletic, on the radio show yesterday. He was excellent. And he had written this, column on the athletic that I read. And it's one of the more mysterious, I mean, look, you hate the whole golf thing in the golf culture. And look, there are a lot of things about some of the clubs, obviously, that, you know,

have really, really poor histories. However, there are certain golf clubs that aren't just really exclusive, but the golf courses themselves are just beautiful, like aesthetically. from a greenery standpoint. Like, I've been to Augusta to see the Masters. That's one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever been to. I've never seen anything so beautiful without any blade of grass, like out of place. But LACC, the USGA's been trying to get the open there for decades upon decades.

This is not the club where entertainers belong. In fact, they don't want entertainers. They don't want any kind of Hollywood. The Hollywood people are all members at least. like Bel Air and Riviera and some of the other places, because L.A. does have a lot of clubs and golf courses. But they finally got the L.A. Country Club to commit to having the U.S. open. And it started earlier this morning.

And it is one of the broadcasters, and it may have been, I'm forgetting who it was because the USA had the coverage. I was not watching on Peacock. He said, he opened, or part of the broadcast at the beginning of the, the broadcast, he said, it is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and it is the finest golf course I have ever witnessed in person. There is, but the shots as they're being hit, you see downtown L.A. in one direction. You see, you know, the hills in the other direction.

I know you don't love this stuff, but I don't know. I think the fact that this is smack dab in the middle of Beverly Hills, You know, down, literally a minute from downtown L.A., and nobody goes into that thing is interesting. Well, I hope you enjoy the weekend. If it brings pleasure to you, then I'm happy for you. What would really be pleasurable for me is to one day have a chance to play it. Now, that would be, that would be a lot of fun. I can't believe with your contacts that you haven't played there before.

Oh, stop. Stop. I mean, actually, I do have a friend that's played it a couple times. Of course you do. I actually have a couple of friends that have played it. But they're not members. This is one of those things where, you know, they got invited by one of the, you know, a hundred or less members that are there.

But can- Well, I have a full agenda this weekend because I have two D.C. grade games I have to go to Friday night and Saturday night. Who were they playing? is they're playing at the National Seas Academy in southeast D.C. If anyone wants to come down and join me, admission is free, parking is free. I know, but I think I said, who are they playing? Are they playing anybody good? Oh, who are they playing? I don't know who they're playing. Somebody in the Cal Ripkin's, you know, collegiate baseball league.

But Friday night is Mason's night, the Anacosta Lodge of the Masons in D.C., of big supporters of the Grace. You know, Justin, who you met at my, cigar thing. Yep. He's a Mason. So we have a Mason's night where a bunch of the masons come to watch the game. I'll be there for that. And Saturday night, we have Sabre Night, Society of American Baseball Research.

The local chapter in D.C., I think it's a Bob David chapter. A lot of their members will come to watch the game. So I'll be there Saturday night as well. So I've got a full dance card. Yeah, you're very busy. I'm going to miss all the golf action. It sounds like you're going to miss the open. Well, you can catch the end of it, you know, on Sunday night when you get.

Sunday night isn't going to be. What I'll do? You know what I'll do? No, I don't know. I'll record it. You don't even have the ability to record. You don't even have a DVR. I have a DVR.

What are you talking about? What kind of myth? Are you operating on that? Well, you didn't at one time, and it wasn't that long ago. I have had a DVR for probably 15 years. Oh, bullshit. You told me. didn't have a DVR as recently as five years ago because I mocked you about it.

I got a DVR since we lived in Columbia and that is 13 years ago. Yeah, every bit of it. All right. Ricky Fowler, by the way, as we're recording this, five under with the lead. He has been missing in action for several years until very recently when he just started to play well again. Good for him. All right, so we will, I'm sure on Tuesday's show, break down the U.S. Open and what you thought of it.

Can't wait for that. So I got this tweet that I wanted to read. It was from Adam, who wrote Kevin. Yokic is the most unlikely potential goat, greatest of all time. Up there with Brady. He doesn't look at, he doesn't sound like. it. He just is it. Denver got lucky. He went 41st overall. They took Doug McDermott in the first round. Yokic in the mid-second round is equal to Brady being drafted in the sixth round. Name me one other

all-time great that comes close to the misses on Brady and Yokic. So I just Googled the biggest draft steals in NFL history and in NBA history. And by the way, then I did it in Redskins history, which is actually what I want to talk about here for a moment. And sure enough, I mean, I think it's obvious that Brady's number one on the all-time NFL list, right? I mean, that's a given, the sixth round pick who becomes, you know, arguably the greatest player in the history of the NFL. In the NBA, when you Google biggest draft steals in NBA history, Nicola Yokic on almost every single list, certainly recent list, number one. So I think Adam got it right.

Now, some of the others that you... Who would be in baseball? I'm going to guess Mike Piazza. I didn't look up baseball. I will do that right now. Biggest draft steals in MLB history. I mean... I mean, Mike Piazza is a Hall of Fame catcher.

he was drafted like in the 51st round or something like that of the MLB draft. Top 20 MLB steals of all time. Hold on. He was the last player picked in the 1988 MLB draft. Last player picked. Mike Piazza's number one. Yeah. Yeah. Mike Piaz and Nolan Ryan's number two.

He was picked in the 12th round overall, the 226th player. Pooholz. was picked in the 13th round, overall, the 402nd player. NFL, though, Tom Brady, obviously number one. I started to think about after him, and I thought of, the first one I thought of actually that came to mind was Johnny Unitas, and I forget where he got picked, but I knew he was picked very late. It was the ninth round.

And he was cut by Pittsburgh, and then signed as a free agent in Baltimore. Bart Starr was selected in the 17th round of the 1956 draft. Deacon Jones, who you could say if they had kept stats for sacks during his era, the greatest pass rusher in history of the game, he was a 14th round pick. Number two on the list, though, was Joe Montana was third on the list, and he was the third round pick. Number two on the list was Roger Staubeck, who was a first round pick. who was a 10th round pick, but remember, he had a four-year military commitment, you know, after graduating from the Naval Academy.

So teams backed off drafting him. He would have been much higher had he been eligible to play much sooner. The Cowboys selected him in the 1964 draft in the 10th round. But, yeah, Brady's number one. Now, the NBA list, you know, Yokic is at the top of that list. And number two on that list, hold on, I just had it up a moment ago, bear with me. Number two on that list, then we get into a lot of players that were picked in the first round, just not early in the first round.

Like Kobe was picked in the first round, but he was picked 13th. Carl Malone was picked in the 1985 draft 13th. And this is a draft Tommy. It's not up there with my Kauai Leonard call. But my friends and I who were big Bullets fans, you know, in those years, the 1985 NBA draft, the Bullets had the 12th pick in the draft, and the Utah Jazz had the 13th pick. And I remember thinking, if Carl Malone's there, they better take him. Because he had played in tournament games for Louisiana Tech, and you could see what a great player he was.

And the Bullets picked a guy to basically, unless you were an ACC basketball, fan. You didn't even know. Kenny Green, they picked it 12, and the next pick was Carl Malone. Now, you know, in basketball reference, they give you all of the career data. Kenny Green played two years, 60 games, 265 total points. The next pick, they passed on Carl Malone, 19 years, 1,476 games. and 36,928 points for Carl Malone. That was a pick that I was pissed at. Could not believe that they passed on Carl Malone. And then the others in NBA history are some of the ones more recently,

like Kauai Leonard in 2011. You know, Kauai went 15th overall. Yannis went 15th overall in the 2013 draft. Yeah. Dennis Rodman was a second. round pick. And Draymond Green, it was a second round pick as well. Dreymond's number nine on the list of all-time draft steals. Willis Reed was a second round pick. He's not on any list that I've seen as a steal. Well, I mean, he's only a two-time final to MVP. In addition to being an MVP in regular

season as well. He really was a second round pick? Yeah, eight-round in the second round. He's pick in the second round. So immediately after I talked about this on the show, somebody sent in and said, okay, well, who's your biggest Redskins draft A steal? And two names immediately popped to mine for me. I'll tell you who mine are. You tell me right now, draft steals, all-time draft steals for the Redskins in the history of the franchise. Who's the biggest draft A steal? Well, this is easy, Chris Hamburger. So I will tell you, that's not the first name that popped into my mind, but good for you because he was number four on the list. Now, there are several lists, but this was the – he was picked in the 17th round.

He was actually selected in the 18th round in 1965. The first name – He's a Hall of Famer. Yes, as a senior entrant into the Hall of Fame. True. And by the way, I was – There's no after it next to his class. I know. I know there is.

saw his bust. There's no asterisk next to it because he's a scene. And I'm glad there isn't. Because I loved Chris Hamburger. He was one of my favorite players as a kid. But the first person that popped into my head was Dexter Manley. And to me, Dexter on this particular list was number five. And I'll get to the top three in a moment. But Dexter in the fifth round is one of the all-time steals. Now, Hamburger, did not pop into my mind right away. So good for you. And then Denton was kind of quizzing me,

and I didn't get him until he told me it was in the mid-60s, and he was on defense. And then it finally sunk in that it was hamburger. The other one that immediately came to mind for me was Monty Coleman. Monty Coleman is one of the great players in the history of the organization. He was selected in the 11th round in the 79 draft. Now, he was eighth on this list. Dexter was fifth.

Chris Hamburger was four. Mark Rippin's got to be on there. Mark Rippin is not on here as a sixth round pick. And a Super Bowl MVP is not on here. Yeah. The others, when I started to think about it, Larry Brown came to mind. He was an eighth round pick in 1969,

became the NFL MVP in 1972. I thought of Brian Mitchell, who's not on this list. And of course, B. Mitch should be. on this list. He's second all-time career all-purpose yardage in the history of the NFL, as most of you know. He should be in Hall fame. Selected in the fifth round. Jacoby doesn't count because we were talking about draft steals, but of course he counts because he wasn't even drafted, so should have been on this list. But number one on this list, and, you know, I'm not going to put up a big fight about it, but he was selected in the third round. Russ Grimm.

He became a Hall of Famer, and he wasn't a first rounder and wasn't a second rounder. He was a third rounder. And by the way, their greatest draft in the history of the franchise, that was the draft that Dexter was selected in as well. And then number two was a bit gimmicky. And the reason is it was Gary Clark in the USFL supplemental draft. That doesn't, I don't know. Gary Clark's one of my all-time favorite players, in addition to being one of the, the all-time greatest players in franchise history, but I don't consider him a draft

a steal because of the supplemental USFL draft. Larry Brown, third, hamburger, fourth, and then Dexter was fifth, followed by Charles Mann, Chris Cooley. Cooley was a steel, considering he's second all-time in franchise, tight-end receptions and yards. Eighth was Monty Coleman, George Stark 9th, and Rallo. Raleigh McKenzie was 10th. Raleigh. you, that's a good one. I would not have come up with that one. He was selected in the 11th round. But missing from this list clearly is Brian Mitchell. And Rippin's a good call, too. Rippin should be ahead of somebody like George Stark. No offense. I mean, Rippin won the Super Bowl MVP. Don't tell me then. Don't tell me then. Why? Because I want to get it.

I don't think you want to spend much time trying to guess this. Why? Is it super obvious? I think it is. Well, is it from, is it pre when the NFL started? Pre-Shean, the merger? No, no, it's when she was active on the earth. Okay. Give me a time frame.

No, I don't want to do that. Why? I'll just, I'm just going to tell you who did. No, no, don't tell me. I like doing this. I like trying to figure it out. Well, it's your podcast, so yeah. Okay, we need a time frame.

21st century. It is the 21st century. I don't know. I can't get it. Just tell me. Okay, so now I can tell you who it is? I guess. You know, this should have been obvious.

Oh, oh, Kirk Cousins. No, Kirk Cousins. Yeah. No, Sam How? No, I did mention, I did mention Kirk this morning. I did mention Cousins this morning. Okay. But Cousins.

No, Sam, how? fifth round pick. I know. And he's now the starting quarterback. But Cousins really should have been... Apparently... What? Apparently what? And apparently, he's got a great career ahead of him.

So I think Sam Howe has got to be on this list. Okay. So Kirk Cousins should have been on the list. I can't believe I didn't mention that on the podcast. I did mention it on the radio show. I mean, he owns six or seven franchise passing records. people throw up in their mouth when I say that over and over again. But he was selected in the fourth round, and he's the best quarterback they've had this century.

Brad Johnson did start in 2000, though. So I'll put Brad Johnson ahead of him. Can't put Mark Brunel ahead of Cousins. No way. And RG3 is one year. Last week, Cousins is in the pro football hall fame. I know. I know. And by the way, there's this Netflix thing coming out. Have you seen this called Quarterback? Yes, and he's part of it. It's Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Marietta

were miced up for the entire year last year. So you get, you know, behind the scenes, you know, in-game scenes, and I don't know how many episodes there are, but the trailer came out yesterday, and the show drops July 12th. I'll be honest with you. I'll be honest with you. I wonder, actually, I did figure it out. I can't imagine that Kirk Cousins would have been, like, for this kind of a show, would have been desirable. I mean, he's not very exciting, or maybe that was kind of the point. But Peyton Manning's Omaha Productions Company is producing this. Peyton is the executive producer, and Peyton is a huge Kirk Cousins fan.

And they've become friendly. He's become friendly with the Manning family over the years. So I'm assuming that that's probably how it worked out. Actually, the trailer looked great. I bet that'll be phenomenal. Plus, you'll get... It's probably really good. I'm looking forward to watching it.

But, I mean, I have a bit of an issue with today's so-called documentaries. Yeah. Because I grew up with a documentary, you know, being like an all-suffer. sides kind of look at a subject. Right. You know, and these, these are all pretty much love letters. You know, the Reggie Jackson documentary was a love letter. I didn't see that.

They're fun. They're enjoyable, but, you know, it's not, they're going to do a Barry Bond documentary. I'm wondering how real, how probing that's going to be. So, I mean, I enjoy them, but they're not what I learned what documentaries were. I mean, let me just ask you, is it even called, is this quarterback called the documentary? Because I agree with what you're saying. I don't think it actually should necessarily. Well, it is documenting.

But, oh, here's another one that we missed, unless you saw it. I heard the Bill Walton thing is great. Now, that might be. I have it on my list. It might be a love letter again, but it would be really interesting to see. You know what? I asked you, it's on Netflix. You should watch the Bill Russell one.

Okay. The Bill Russell one is very interesting, and you can't just do a love letter about Bill Russell because he was such a prickly, controversial guy. So you can't get away with doing that. Right, like Jim Brown. You certainly couldn't do that for Jim Brown. Yes.

Yes. Okay. We've got a lot of things to watch here coming up. We have really filled up. going to let golf get in the way. I'm going to let golf get in the way this weekend, no doubt. By the way, that just reminds me to wish all of you dads out there a happy Father's Day with Tommy here on the Thursday show. I might remember to do it tomorrow, but I might not. All right. I want to get to a few things, including the Nats finish last night. And the top 100 players in the NFL is one of those lists that like everybody does starting this time a year.

And the first one is out. And one of the players from Washington that's on it shocked me. We'll get to that and a lot more following these words from a few of our sponsors. Ground ball towards short. They're going to come home. They get the force out there. They throw the first. And watch the base runner, Jake Myers.

He's on the inside and eventually veers back to that bag as it ricochets off the helmet on top of the bag for the game-winning error. That was the controversial end of last night's Nats game in Houston. They lost the game five to four on a throwing error by K. Bear Ruiz. But the base runner, Jake Myers, was clearly. inside the base path and should have been called out because of it. And the same way, Trey Turner was called out in the World Series Game 6 in Houston in 2019. But they did not call him out.

They called it in error. And Jake Myers was on first, and Abrahue came home. Well, that game was over. The winning was over on the court. Yeah, the game was over 5'4. By the way, just for those that didn't see it, It was actually part of a double play.

The bases were loaded with one out, and the ball came home first. K. Baer Ruiz on the force, tagged the runner out, I'm sorry, got the runner on a force at home, and then threw to first, and it hit Jake Myers deflected off of them. They called it a throwing error when it was clear that Myers was well inside the base path. In fact, his feet were on the infield grass, and it should have been a rough. and it should have been obstruction, and Davy lost it after the game. So I thought the play was interesting. I know you've watched it, and I watched it early this morning before the radio show,

and I noticed there were two things that I noticed. Number one, because the home umpire had to make the call at home first, if you look at the video from behind home plate down the first baseline, The umpire doesn't lift his head and look at the runner, Jake Myers, until Myers had already veered back into the proper base path. And so he missed him outside of the base path because he was calling the play at home. And I had Mark Zuckerman on the show this morning and he said, that's exactly right. But the rules are set up that only the home umpire, home plate umpire can make that call. The first base umpire saw it the whole way.

He knows what the call should have been, but they're not allowed to caucus and have the first base umpire help out the home plate umpire in that particular situation. They should fix that rule. Yes. Yes, they should. And Davey, unlike the last time, Davy didn't get thrown out of the game like he did in the World Series game. And the only reason that didn't happen is because the game was. over. If the game had been going on, he surely would have been taught.

Right. Because he would have came by that, that dugout, with steam coming out of his ears. You know, he didn't get any kind of response, satisfactory response from the home plate umpire about the call. And look, I think part of what's at work here, you know, they came back. They were down four to one. I know. They tied it up in the ninth. Three runs in the top of the night. Had a chance to take the lead the top of the night. Yeah. Yes. So, I mean, this team has involved in a lot of one-run game over the course of this year. And they've lost

13 of their losses have been by one run. And you know, those missed opportunities for a team that doesn't have like a lot of room, when they have a chance to win a game, they have to grab that chance. And I think

part of what you saw there is the frustration of, you know, that they haven't been playing well lately, or they've been losing lately, They're 14 games under 500 now, and they're not the kind of team that can dig their way out of a 14 under 500 game deficit. So I think he's also frustrated about the missed opportunity for a game that they could have won, and there have been a lot of them this year, 13-1-run losses. And I just think, you know, as the course of the season goes on, like I said at beginning of the year,

they're going to find their level, and it's not going to be a good level. And the concentration is not going to be about the brave, fighting, spirited gnats. It's just going to be about the gnats that are maybe on their way to lose in 100 games again. This was Davey last night. If you want to hear how emotional he was, how pissed off he was, he was holding up a photo of Jake Myers clearly out of the base path. And this is what he said. There it is right there.

Take a good look at it. Is that on the line? I don't think so. I'm over this play. Seriously, they need to fix the rule. If this is what the umpires see that he's running down the line, I'm tired of it. Tired of it. Fix it.

We lost the game and he had nothing to say about it because he can't make the right call. Brutal. Brutal. Oh, Tommy, he was pissed. I mean, I really feel for him because of what you just said in the kind of year that they're going through and in the midst. of this rebuild. I mean, he's a world series

winning championship manager, and there are good things happening with some of these good young players, and they've got the number two pick in the draft coming up with two apparently unbelievable prospects that they'll likely land on one of them.

Man, you know, I hope he's okay, and I hope he's healthy, because remember he wasn't healthy a couple of years ago. Yeah, I remember that. I mean, they're on their way to their fourth straight losing season, and that takes its toll on a young franchise. This is a young franchise. When I mean young, I mean the actual team.

Right. How long they've been in Washington. Oh, well, that too. Yeah. And, I mean, you know, somebody pointed it out on Twitter. I forget who it was. The congressional baseball game last night at Nats Park out through the Nats games, their regular attendance by 5,000. You don't want that.

Did it really? Was this the game where, like, Scalise was shot a couple years ago? Is that the game that we're talking about? I believe so. I don't know if he was shot at the game or practice or what. I don't recall all the details. Who won last night? The Republicans or Democrats?

The Nats draw on average of 21,000 fans per game right now. And last night's congressional baseball game threw over 26,000. Oh, my God. Who won it? Oh, the Republicans. I think the Republicans were winning. Yeah, they won. And I just pulled it up.

But they won 16 to 5. This is why the front office wanted to field a more competitive team and spend a little bit more money. You know, there is value. And particularly this year, because the Mets suck. I mean, this is, yeah, total. Now, they've got injuries, obviously. The Mets are not good. I mean, so you could make some hay and at least.

be maybe fighting for third place in a National League East. Now, you're going to say, well, does that mean? It doesn't mean anything. On some level, it doesn't. But if you're paying to go to the ballpark a couple of times a year, it does mean something. Yeah, I mean, I guess that's true. I'm not going to dispute that from a business standpoint. For me, I either want my, I mean, I want my team to be a contender.

and if they're not a contender, actually it really doesn't matter what they are. You know, other than they're on the right path to contending down the road. It won't stop me. Like a 500 team or a team that wins, you know, that ends up with a 420 winning percentage at the end of the year, that's not going to be the difference between two home games that I attend. I'll go to games because it's a night out, not because, you know, watching a good team or a bad team. Now, either contend

or not. So I wonder, honestly, how impactful that is to attendance when you're just not competitive versus being average. I tell you, I don't know, I don't have any particular study to tell you.

I could tell you that the front office believed it was important. Right. The owners didn't. The front office did. Tommy, who's going to buy the team? You know, it's hung up in this mass and limbo. Right.

And nobody has really stepped forward that I know of that it's a serious buyer other than Ted Leones and his group. And David Rubinstein, that group? Yeah. Yeah, but it's not going to get resolved until the Masson thing, which is still, you know, I mean, you know, the Masson lost a big court case in New York State a couple months ago. I haven't heard anything more about, you know, if they're going to now sit down and negotiate that figure, how much, you know, the Orioles, Madison's going to have to pay to Nationals. That could be a long, drawn-out affair as well. You know, in talking about that play last night, I mentioned that I had two things to say about it.

K. Bear Ruiz's throw was not a great throw. If it's a good throw, it wouldn't have mattered. you know and Zuckerman pointed out to me that sometimes they actually throw it in the area in which if it hits them it's going to get called but that throw was way inside and if it's a good throw it wouldn't have mattered where he was running and I went back and I watched the Trey Turner play from game six in the World Series in 2019 and that wasn't a good throw either but you know fortunately for the Nats they went on to win that game anyway because of, you know, Stephen Strasbourg's epic, you know, game six performance. It's funny, the last two days I've had, I had Mark on the show today and I had, I forget who I had on the show yesterday. I mean, that was all of you, that was yesterday. That's a long time ago. But I haven't asked you this on the podcast because I think the news came down when you were

away. But Strasbourg, you know, they found out the nerve damage. He's, you know, shut down. And this looks like it's it. Like I don't think he, you don't think he's ever going to pitch again. right? He's done. No, I knew he was done in spring training. I've been saying he's been done. So, you know, at the end of this year, when he probably hangs it up officially, it'll be time to talk about Steven Strassberg's legacy, but let's do it here for three minutes. I hope his legacy,

I really do, has nothing to do with the contract that he signed and then only pitch 31 innings or whatever it was after he signed it. He's one of the greatest clutch performers in the history of this town for the four major pro sports teams. That's his legacy to me. I was always a Strasbourg fan, but I fell in love with him that day at Wrigley.

When Dusty was talking about maybe he had the sniffles when, in fact, he actually was legitimately sick and he came out the next day in horrible weather with them down 2-1 in that series and struck out 12. on the way to a shutout win. And he, the game six performance is one of the great clutch performances

we've ever seen in this city for anything. I mean, Rigo obviously in Super Bowl 17 tops the list. But Strasbourg in game six, down three, two, was, I just, how will you remember him? Because you'll end up writing about him when it's official. I will write about his legacy as, you know, it's a complicated legacy and nothing to do with his contract because the contract goes on the resume of Ted Lerner, the late Ted Lerner, the owner. That's where the fault lies with the, to me, if you're looking to be critical of the contract,

you know, you point to Ted Lerner, who bypassed Mike Rizzo and made this deal with Scott Borses behind Rizzo's back to sign him to this long-term contract. So I wouldn't even hold a contract against him. And I wouldn't hold this against him, but as great as he was, as much as he delivered, the expectations were greater. Right. You know? Okay. He never wanted to sigh on. No, he didn't.

And the expectations, particularly after that debut, which I still think is the greatest moment I've ever seen at Nats Park. The expectations were greater, and they got to rail out by physical injuries. But it was still a great legacy. And you're right, that ended up with a World Series championship. Right. But, you know, there's some. some people that will make the case, and there have been teams like this before, that those NACs teams of, you know, the 2010s should have had more to show for it than one World Series

title. Yeah. Well, I mean, there are a couple of poor relief performances in game fives. Yeah. But I, I, since you are a Hall of Fame baseball voter, I realize he's not going to the Hall of Fame. trust me, but I'm curious as to what you think he would have had to do in the regular, you know, as a pitcher, more so in the regular season. I mean, his 1.46 ERA is second to Sandy Kofax.

Just for those that are rolling their eyes when we talk about him being a great postseason, clutch postseason performer, 1.46 ERA second to Sandy Kofx. That's where Strasbourg, you know, is playing in in terms of postseason. not like he only pitched in, you know, in three games or two games. He pitched in eight postseason games and had a legendary performance in the World Series. And certainly for, you know, us, a legendary performance in 2017 against the Cubs when they forced game five. But I would ask you, like, would one Cy Young, would two Cy Youngs, would more volume? Because his career ERA, I think, was three point, was it

3.24 or 3.34, whatever it was. It was a decent career ERA. You know, he was, I think, 50 games over, you know, more wins than losses. For anybody that cares about that particular stat, I know you do more than a lot of the, you know,

nerds do. But what would he have had to do? How much more would he have had to have done? To have been Hall of Fame worthy? Well, you know, There was always this notion that you wouldn't even be considered at the starting pitcher for the Hall fame if you didn't have over 200 wins minimum. Now, that standard is changing because it's harder for pitchers to get victories.

You know, and wins are not considered as important as they used to be. They are to me. But it's harder for pitchers to get victories. stay in the game as long. So that figure has probably dropped. Like Scherzer will get in the Hall of Fame because he has three Cy Young. That will put Scher

in the Hall of Fame. Strasberg, I think, has 118 career wins. He needed to get 150 and beyond and at least a Sy Young to get consideration. Yeah, that seems I was curious as to

what you would say. That doesn't seem unreasonable. I mean, the closest... And that's just off the top of my head. I mean, he, he, the best he ever finished in the Cy Young voting was third in 2017, when he went 15 and 4 and had a 2.52 ERA. But that particular year, I think it was Scherzer and Clayton Kershaw, won two. That was a hell of a year for pitchers in the National League. Yeah, I just pulled it up. Scherzer was one. He won the Sigh-Young. Kershaw finished second. Strasbourg finished third. Zach Granky, fourth.

Kenley Jansen, fifth. And Gio Gonzalez finished sixth that particular year. Got 18 votes. Anyway. All right. I want to get to this top 100 list. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy.

Tell us about Shelley's where I'm sure. or they'll be open, cigar smoking, drinking, eating, great food, and watching golf all weekend long. That should be exciting. You want to meet down there and we can watch some golf together? Okay, that sounds good. Let's do that. Look, and actually it would be a particularly good day to bring your dad, your husband, your boyfriend, whatever, to Shelly's back room on Sunday, Father's Day.

be a great way to spend the day. And if you can't do that, I talked about this a couple weeks ago. Now we're down to the wire. You know, Father's Day is a couple of days away. You can go online and buy gift certificates to Shelly's backroom to give your man for Father's Day. You know, from $5 to $250, you select the amount as to how much you want to give him. Yeah, I'm sure Sunday, particularly if it's a nice day,

Shelly's will be filled with golf fans both inside and outside as well. Shelly's backroom, 1331 F Street, Northwest, in the district. I was there Tuesday night after the awards dinner, which was at the National Press Club right across the street. There you go. I would think that maybe a lot of dads, instead of having the whole family come down with dad on Sunday, maybe just say, hey, dad, go to Shelly's.

We got a gift certificate for you and hang out with your buddies. That might be a better gift for dad. But some dads would love to take the whole family down there, and certainly Shelly's will accept everybody on Father's Day. All right, before we get to this top 100 list per CBSSports.com, I did talk about this briefly yesterday because the news was breaking at the time that I was recording the podcast. But Bradley Beale clearly is, you know, on the trade block here. And there are a lot of, you know, potential trade partners.

I mean, you can read all of the stories out there. Miami's been the one that we've been talking about for a while now. I mean, Miami would, you know, would love to, you know, add another, you know, big-time player next to Jimmy Butler and Bam to try to make another run before Butler's too old to make another run. And those deals, you know, a lot of the deals that have been proposed out there are deals like Tyler Hero and maybe a couple of their first round picks. As I discussed yesterday, I think, and I want to get your thoughts on it too, Tommy. Number one is this. It's really good news.

that the people that Ted hired didn't come in and say the same things that Ted and Tommy and others have been saying for the last couple of years, which is Bradley Beale's so important to our franchise and so important to our community, and we're so thrilled to have them at $50 plus million a year with the no trade clause. we've talked about this so many times in recent years. Ted wanted to keep Bradley Beal. I believe that. I'm not saying that it was... Tommy Shepard wanted to keep them, too. I was just going to say, I'm not saying that it wasn't a consensus thing, but Ted really wanted Bradley Beale.

They loved Bradley Beale. And Bradley Beale, by all accounts. You know, from afar, Bradley Beale's been a really nice representative of that organization, and he's been a really good player. But I said when they had this press conference last week, Tommy, if one of the first things I hear isn't, you know, a report that they're looking to trade Bradley Beal, then I'm not going to have any confidence in this group. And the first, you know, it's four days later. and they are talking to Bradley Beale's agent and trying to figure out which trade scenario will work best. Now, it was a joke that they gave them the no trade clause. That was, you know, as Ben Standing discussed with us, that was a major unforced error.

They didn't have to do it. The Supermax deal was enough. So they've now lost some leverage. But the real loss was not doing this two years ago, not doing it a year ago, not doing it before certain trade. deadlines the last two seasons. They really, really missed out on an opportunity to bring back a haul. And with the no trade clause, they have even less leverage. With that said, you know, there are lots of, you know, it would appear that Miami, Milwaukee, the Knicks are all interested. You know, there's a possibility we've always heard of, you know, Jason Tatum and Bradley Beale being

really good friends. And somehow if, you know, Jalen Brown got moved somewhere, and Beal went to Boston. Maybe the Wizards could end up with a bunch of picks, you know, as part of a three-way trade, which my producer Denton put together today on the air. I'm just glad that they're taking this step. And I, you know, we can judge how they do based, you know, once the deal is done.

But understand, they don't have a shitload of leverage here in trading Beale. And if they're going to trade him, he's only going to want to go to a contender, which means, you're not getting anything of major quality back, and the draft choices you're getting back are going to be late first round picks more likely than not. That's the thing with the no-trade clause,

is that, I mean, their return will be diminished as a result of having that no-trade clause. But big picture, Winger and Dawkins and Travis Schlenk, et cetera, like they're doing the right thing. They've got, you cannot contend for anything of note with Bradley Beale being your highest paid player and being your best player. Being the highest paid player doesn't mean that you're the best player.

And, you know, it would have been nice had they added a draft choice or two in recent years that blew up into their best player. But that hadn't happened. I'm sorry, go ahead. I agree with that. But remember when Winger got hired, he first told the Washington Post that Bradley Beale was, quote, a wonderful canvas to start with.

So he didn't come out of the gate, you know, not saying the kind of things that Ted likes to hear. I mean, that's Ted language, you know, a wonderful canvas to start with. Yeah, but we talked about this, and I told you that day when we read that quote on the podcast, I said, that's exactly what you do say if you want to move him. You don't do what Ron Rivera did with. Chase Young. You don't talk about a guy that, you know, isn't worthy, or we have to figure out whether or not we're going to pick up with the fifth year option on the number two pick in the draft.

Maybe he needs to be incentivized. I mean, Rivera basically, you know, damaged any real possibility of getting something back that maybe they would have accepted. Winger handled it the right way. We got a star. I know that. But the first day out, he said, you know, there may have been the way to handle it, but his first comment about Bradley Beal sounded like a guy who they were going to build around. I can't. There's no way he takes

that job. If, no way he takes that job, if they don't have an agreement with Ted to move Beal. I know that. I'm just saying his first words were, you know, we're going to build basically about Bradley Beal. No one took it seriously, but he did

because I don't, I mean, he's here. to trade Bradley Beale for crying out loud. Yeah, I'm just saying. But what am I missing here? What am I missing? What am I missing? I'm saying that was the right thing to say strategically. What are you saying? Because you said he came in, you know, didn't, you know, say, oh, we love Bradley Beale

and all this stuff when he actually did. Yeah, I know. He said that, and that's what I thought he should say. Okay, but you said earlier when we were talking about this, that he didn't say something like that. No, I said he did. Oh, maybe I misspoke. No, he did say that.

Okay. But you and I... Okay, and I agree with you. You and I talked about this last week ago. You don't want to trash the guy that they want to trade. Exactly. But what I was saying is we did talk about this on the podcast two weeks ago before you took the first of your six or seven vacations this summer.

We talked about those comments and I said, that's exactly what you should say if your intending on trading him. Okay. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Here's the other thing about the athletic story. The athletic story has a caveat, which I don't take seriously, but it's in the story,

that he says, the story says, if they decide to rebuild. I didn't, so, there's a little bit of confusion on this, on my part. Who broke this story? Shams. The athletic. So it wasn't it wasn't Woge? Well, maybe Wohge on his podcast, but I read an athletic story that said with the caveat if they decide to rebuild.

Okay. Because I had Josh Robbins from The Athletic on, and he said to me this morning, well, we broke this story. And that's fine. Woj Noreowski wrote it as if he broke the story yesterday. And that was the first story I saw. Because he said, you know, sources tell ESPN. They did not, you know, they didn't credit the athletic at all. But whatever.

Yeah, well, I think they did. And they have the caveat if they decide to rebuild, which is kind of laughable. You know, what are their options? You know? Really. I mean, everyone knows that they're going to trade them. Right. But it's possible that they can't trade them.

So, because Bradley Beale could mix every deal if he wants to. Yes, he could. So that's the problem. So that's part of, you know, if they choose to rebuild. I think that if Beal became difficult, like there were some decent deals for the team and decent places for him to go, that's when you say to him, well, look, that's fine, but you're going to be here then for, you know, a three-year rebuild. I mean, you're going to be on some bad basketball teams the next three years. We're giving you a chance also to finish up your career. he's an 11-year veteran now.

It's really amazing how the time's flown on Bradley Beale. I still think he's got several years left. Don't get me wrong. But if you want to contend, if you want to play in your career in some games that really matter, you better take this opportunity because we're going to win 18 games a year for the next three years.

That would be the leverage. If you've got any leverage with B, It's that if you stay, it's going to be miserable. You're going to be the best player on a team with a bunch of trial and error young players that we're going to go through. That would be if they decide to read, but they said they won't trade them if they decide not to rebuild. What we don't need to see is we don't need to see Bradley Beale not getting traded. Porzingis and Kuzma both being re-revely. re-signed. And they say, you know what, when these three together are healthy and we've got the

number eight pick and we think we got a player at number eight if he's there that really, no. You're going for 44 wins. Best case. Best case. And a first round. Ted likes that playoff home playoff money. Yeah, but I think his hires last week and his his discussion last week was more about doing something different. You would think so. Absolutely. However, I want to point out, I think that if this guy Winger doesn't trade Bradley Biel, can't trade Bradley Biel, then his hiring was an absolute failure. This is why he's here.

That's what I said last week. If these guys don't come in, well, look, if he can't trade Bradley Biel because Bradley Beale refuses to be traded. Well, that can't be on him. Okay? I mean, Ted and Tommy were the ones that gave him the no trade clause, which is handcuffs to begin with. But the fact that they want to trade them,

at least it's a good sign for me anyway. That's just the way I feel. At least we're not getting the, no, no, actually, when I said two weeks ago when I got hired that, you know, this is, it's great to have a, you know, a blank canvas with one exception in that being Bradley Beal or whatever it was that he said. And believe it. They don't believe it.

They know that they can't win anything with Bradley Beal making $50 million a year. It's just not going to happen. All right. Right. I want to finish up the show with this. So, you know, it's June 15th. And over the next month and a half, and even through training camp, we're going to get all these lists,

and we're going to get all these rankings, and we're going to get all, as Seth Walder from ESPN last week, called it June musings, June NFL musings. The NFL.com or NFL network countdown of the top 100 players is actually voted on by players. The CBSSports.com top 100 list, which came out today, is actually done by Pete Prisco. And, you know, all of these lists are interesting,

just to see what the perspective. of our team is. I enjoy the whole list, but I immediately start to scroll through to find out how many players from Washington are on this list. And I figured Terry McClure and John Allen would probably be on the list. Terry McClorn is on the list. He's 68 on the list. And he's the 13th receiver, by the way. That's a conversation maybe for down the road a little bit about, you know, we've had this conversation in the last couple of summers, where does Terry McClureen rank on the list of great receivers? They're great receivers in the NFL. And the receivers that are in front of him are Justin Jefferson, Tare Kill, Jamar Chase, Devante Adams, Stefan Diggs, Cooper Cup,

even after the injury, A.J. Brown, C.D. Lamb, D.K. Metcalf. I can't read my handwriting here. Waddle Garrett Wilson. I'm missing somebody in between. I'll figure it out. Whatever. Oh, Debo Samuel. Excuse me, Debo Samuel. Those are the 12 that are in front of him. And then he's got some receivers after him at 68, like Devante Smith comes in at 69.

Alave is 72. And then T. Higgins is 79. I'd have T. Higgins ranked higher. And I'd have a Monroes St. Brown from Detroit at 83 ranked higher. Not necessarily higher than Terry, but just higher than where they were. Look, C.D. Lamb, to me, is not better than Terry. McLaren. I have felt that way for a couple of years now. I wouldn't put Garrett Wilson after one year ahead of him. He might be next year. I'd have him at least at 11 and close to 10, but more time

to think about that later in the summer. Here's the shocker. There was one other Washington player on the list, and it wasn't John Allen. It was Cameron Curl, who was 85 in the top 100 list of NFL players entering 2023. And Pete Priscoe writes, who? Pay attention. This kid is developed into one of the best young safeties in the game. He's good in both the run and against the pass.

Now, John Allen and Duran Payne were the only other two listed as honorable mentions. John Allen's a better all-around player than Cameron Curle. So is Duran Payne. But Cameron Curl really played well last year. their safeties in general Derek Forrest as well played well last year and I mean I'm shocked I didn't expect to see a top 100 list and see Cameron Curl on there by the way a big part of

what they need to accomplish this summer once the new ownership takes over is get Cameron Curle signed to a contract extension but um anyway I mean these are all things to you know have fun with and quibble about who cares though they're going to play the games Anyway, but I'm surprised John Allen is a top 100 player on Presco's list. I would agree. I mean, it bodes well for what should be a very good defense for this team. To have three players either honorable mention or in the top 100 in the league. I would have had Montez Sweat is honorable mention too, and he wasn't there.

You could easily make the case for him to be, you know, in the top 130 or 150, if you add in the honorable mentions. Yeah, they're going to be really good defensively. They're going to be a really good defensive team. They are. And what really is missing is that game-changing player that forces turnovers, that gets the big sack, and we'll find out whether or not it's going to be Chase Young

because he's going to get a chance, despite all of the trade rumors out there. They wanted to deal him before. the draft and get a pick in that draft and get a high pick in the draft, and nobody offered that to them. So, Chase Young, I'm all four riding it out and seeing what he has. I'm not confident that he'll produce, but I hope he does. What else do you have today? Anything on that list other than what you just said? No, I have nothing else to say about that list. Do you have anything else to say about anything.

Yes, you mentioned my numerous vacations. Yes. You know, sarcastically. Yes. Throughout the summer. Yeah. I sent you in Spain. Yeah.

Alerting you about different dates I can do upcoming podcasts. And apparently you did read it. Yeah, I responded to you. Because you responded to it. Right. I think with a brief word, okay. Well, I was getting ready to go on the air this morning on radio when I read it. I didn't have time to write a dissertation. Sorry. Did that, I mean,

I just wanted to, what? You might appreciate this. What? One of the reasons I can't do as many podcasts next month. Another award? In July, I'm going to Key West Florida. Okay. Do you want to know why? A University of Miami reunion? I am taking part in the sloppy, Joe's Ernest Hemingway look-alike contest. Really? Yes. I am. Hold on.

I'm pulling up. I want to see what this. What's it called the Sloppy Joe's? What? Sloppy Joe's is a bar down in the U.S. Right, right, right. Hemingway's Museum or whatever is, yeah. And every year they have a look-alike contest.

And I've been meaning to do it for a year, so this year I'm doing it. it. I don't think you look like Ernest Hemingway. Well, all I can tell you is, first of all, I met the old man from the old man in the city. Yeah. I interviewed him in Cuba. The second thing is, one night when we were in Cuba in 1999 for the Orioles game, a bunch of kids came running down the street and started pointing at me and yelling, Hemingway! Hemingway! Hemingway! Hemingway! And that became my nickname on the trip with all the ball riders. Yeah.

I mean, fully, you know, gray beard. I can see it. It's the beard, but I don't see a resemblance other than that. But good luck. Good luck. What's the prize? What's first prize? Because you'll probably win it. You win first and everything. I have no idea what the prize is. It's the satisfaction of getting together with my fellow Hemingway Ice. By the way, anybody that missed the Ken Burns Hemingway PBS documentary, that was outstanding. Well done.

Yeah. Okay. I'm done with you for the day. Next week you're here. I know next week you're here. And by the way, I am taking some time off too. I should probably send you my schedule. And I will at some point.

Wow, Ricky Fowler, seven under par. Wow. And he's not done yet. All right. Have a great day. I'll be back tomorrow. See you, Tommy. Okay, boss. See you, boss.