The Kevin Sheehan Show - Luke McCaffrey

Episode Date: July 25, 2024

Commanders rookie WR Luke McCaffrey was a guest on the show. Before he called in, Kevin and Thom discussed a variety of topics including, the craziest ending to an event at the Olympics in Paris, Kevin's 10-7 Commanders' season prediction, RG3's "safe-space", the best pizza, Apple TV's "Presumed Innocent", Ted Leonsis, Kyle Shanahan's offer to Bill Belichick, and much more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's going to be a little bit different today.

Tommy's going to be with me for the first two segments of the show. And then I will have a special guest, a player from training camp, in the final segment of the show. we've gotten some really, really nice reviews and ratings, Tommy, on Apple. This one from Sasha. Sasha gave us five stars. Great show, appreciate the knowledge. What I really enjoy about Kevin and Tom is their historical knowledge and perspective of the D.C. sports scene, especially football.

The ability to offer context on daily news events is a rare find these days. we could talk news events on today's show because there have been plenty of them this week. But we've got lots more to catch up on before we get to that. This from Chip, who did not give us... Here's what you won't hear, though. What? Here's what you won't hear on our show.

Nuisance. You won't hear a nuance. I think we provide nuance. This from Chip... I don't know. This from Chip. Kevin, the English language. is vast. Pick a new name. Make it plural if it helps you sleep. And stop pining for the old one.

You're like a spoiled child pounding on a table because he can't get what he wants. Go back to the colors, uniforms if it lifts your spirits. Get the stadium back in D.C. because that's where it should be. But stop amplifying the loss of the old and embrace what's ahead. It's gone from tedious to kind of pathetic to approaching unlistenable. Oh, well, thank you, Chip. I'm not really pining for the old name. I understand it's not coming back. I'm just pining for a change from what we have. And yes, going back to the old uniforms would lift my spirits. It would. I don't think I'm amplifying anything, by the way, Chip, this is a massive issue for the majority of the band base. That sound you hear is the banging of thousands of people on the table. And I think actually

the groundswells to return a name has grown in the past year. That seems true to me. That seems right to me. I think that it does feel like the yearning for the old name is a bit more intense now than it was. And I think maybe one of the reasons for that is if you go back to when the name was lost in the summer of 2020, that was a very sensitive time. And people had become very hesitant to speak out, even fearful, to speak out, even on things that they thought were reasonable. And in hindsight, probably were reasonable. But yeah, I think I think you're right. I think that it's it's intensified in terms of, you know, wanting that, the old name back. It's just not going to happen.

And here's the other thing. Here's the other thing about the name. Yeah. I think it's resurrected in a movement because there, I mean, with the team, with this franchise before, there was so much chaos that went on that it was hard to really generate your outrage into one area because there was so much wrong with it. Now, it's pretty much run like a legitimate normal business. Yeah.

You know, so there's only a few areas, really, maybe one or two. Right now, it's the stadium in the name, and, you know, people are going to have to wait and see what the product is on the field this year. There's not much else, whereas before, you know, it was, you know, the daily disaster. Yes, that's true too. Look at us agreeing. But you're right. I mean, there was so much outrageousness going on that if you wanted to, you know, get angry about something and fight something, you had a lot of choices. But anyway, the shows presenting sponsors always is Wind Donation. Give them a call at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name and you'll get a free estimate. Tommy, news in from the Olympics. You know, the Olympics. are underway in France because the soccer has started early. I'm sure you've been paying attention to it from Wildwood, New Jersey. And the U.S. team is already down a game. They lost to France, three to nothing. And I don't know why they don't take your advice. I mean, Belichick turned down

the defensive coordinator job in San Francisco. Maybe he's waiting for this gig. It's actually a different coach. It's not the national team coach that coached them in the Copa, Copa America, or Copa Americana, whatever it was called. It's a different coach. Marco Mitrovich is the coach. But they lost to France. Now, they were an underdog against France. The big game is New Zealand Saturday in Marseille. They got to beat New Zealand on

Saturday to get out of this, you know, Olympic group stage, but Belichick should be the coach of the U.S. men's soccer team. Well, the U.S. men soccer team should be the Super Bowl champ, too. I mean, that's my whole other argument. You know, what's interesting, I read ahead a blurb about the story about the, you know, France defeating the U.S. I think I read it in the athletic newsletter to Pulse, which is really become very pathetic in terms of newsletter. It really is.

What do you mean newsletter? Do they have a newsletter? They send a newsletter out called a pulse. I'm a subscriber to the athletic. I love it. I love the athletic. I like the athlete. I like the content.

Whoever puts this pulse newsletter out, you know? I mean, like I said, I've said this before almost every day. It's soccer, women's women's basketball, golf, tennis, and then you get to the sports. You know? Yeah. And then you get to the sports. So I read a blurb in there saying the U.S. team lost, but there was some good to be taken from it, apparently.

I didn't read the story. So apparently it may have been a moral of victory kind of loss. Who knows? I read a little bit about it, too. It didn't come across my athletic newsletter. It came across the crawl this morning on ESPN. and it just made me think it would be something that I would bring up with you on the podcast today. And so I read a little bit about the game.

The reason it was kind of a moral victory is I guess it was nothing, nothing at halftime. Do they call it half time? Whatever they call it. And it was just a rough 10 minutes. It's time to get goldfish and juice. Yes. Yeah. And so they played them pretty tough for,

a lot of the game, but the final score was three to nothing. I mean, I know enough about soccer to know that three to nothing, for somebody to score three goals in a game, I mean, that's a blowout from my perspective. I mean, you can talk about, well, it was nothing, nothing at halftime. Who cares? You know, they play in soccer. They play, you know, 90 or 91 or 92, sometimes 95. It depends on how they feel that day.

They play somewhere in between 90 and 100 minutes for the game. You've got to be strong throughout. Three nothing's a blowout in soccer. Well, sometimes they play more, apparently, as we know this. Well, yeah, but not in a three-nothing affair. Well, let me give me my – because I've read a few stories about soccer. This is one I read. apparently there was a game between Argentina and Morocco.

And, you know, Argentine... Yes, in the Olympics. And Argentina was down two to one and then scored a goal, a late goal, in the 16 minute of added time. 10 minutes of added time. But that's not the bizarre part. So the score, the games seemingly ended two to two.

The fans, you know, they were very angry about the late goal. They didn't think, you know, all of a sudden this magical added time admitted to Morocco fans. And they sort of rioted through bottles, ran onto the field. And then they cleared the stadium, and then they brought the teams back and played three more minutes.

What? of added time. No, they, come on. And then disallowed Argentina's tying goal, and Morocco won the game two to one. Okay. This is like Sandlot baseball. Yeah, I want a more detailed breakdown here. So when you said extra time, was that the stoppage time?

You know, at the end of 90 minutes, they say plus four or plus five and it was plus 16? Is that what you're saying? I'll read the AP story. I mean, I didn't delve into this. The Olympic men's soccer tournament got off to a violent and chaotic start Wednesday with Morocco shocking two-to-one win over two-time gold medalist Argentina. The result only tells part of the story after a traumatic end to the match, which had to be suspended for nearly two hours,

when furious Morocco fans ran onto the pitch and threw bottles from the stands to protest a late goal by Argentina in the 16th minute of added time. Okay, so it was 2 to 1. So that means it was 16 minutes of that. I think they call it stoppage time. Don't they call it that? You're saying added time, stoppage time. During that time, Argentina tied the game.

At 2-2. Have you ever seen, I've watched enough soccer here recently. I've never heard of plus 16 of stoppage time. Either of I. Okay, but, okay, they cleared the stadium of the crowd. They made the players come back out and play another three minutes of added time in front of an empty stadium and also disallowed Argentina's late game-tying goal because of an alleged off-sides, and Morocco came away with a two-to-one win.

So after, so they tied it in the 16th, minute of stoppage time. And then that was it because I guess it's a group stage game. So there's no overtime. There's no extra period. There's no shootout in these group stage games. If it ends in a tie, it ends in a time. I know.

Look at me. Wow, you know you're... Well, I'm pretty sure that's true. I think when you get to knockout stage is when you get to overtime and penalty kicks. I think. 16 minutes, they tied up. The Moroccan fans go nuts. They destroy the pitch, and then they bring everybody back out, and they say, look, the goal is disallowed because of off-sides?

Yes. And it's two to one, but we're going to add three more minutes of time? Yes. Where did they come up with that? And then to Argentina didn't score, and it ended two to one Morocco. Yes. Did the Moroccan fans come back and clean up and help clean up the mess they made? I don't think so.

I don't think so. So this is your game, everybody. It's soccer with the extra time. It's just amazing like the mafia doesn't run soccer. Well, maybe actually FIFA does, so they do actually run soccer. That's amazing. You know, it really is. The, you know, teams coming back out after a game has ended or you think it's ended.

I'm trying to think, like something, there's a famous game where that happened. You know, remember we've talked about the Celtics and the Sons in 76, the NBA finals, game five, when Gar Hurd hit that shot. I think that they put a second back on the clock. And I think the Celtics fans storm the floor as if the game were over, but they came back out and put a second on the clock and made them play that one last play, which Gar Hurd then hit the shot and forced the third overtime. That may be the game I'm thinking of. I don't know.

That's crazy. Well, actually, I think in baseball, Yeah. Okay. The Pintar game, which there was just the George Brett. Yeah, the George Brett Pintar game, which happened on July 24th, 1983.

The Royals protested the game. The protest was upheld by America League President Lee McPhail. And he ordered the game be continued from the point of Brett's home run. the game was resumed 25 with nobody in the stance, I think, and the Royals won five to four. I forgot that part of it. So I think that was an incident where nobody was in the stance when they resumed the game. I don't know why they used the video for the off-sides thing. Why didn't they overturn it then?

I mean, when you have replay, which I'm assuming they do, they did in the euro and in the Copa, you overturn it then or you don't you call it a goal and you move on how did they come back out it looks like the Moroccan fans kind of pressured them into it it would seem they got bullied yeah they got bullied in France wouldn't be the first time would it uh wouldn't so what i mentioned this but i thought a really interesting story yesterday was kyle shanahan uh telling um the athletics podcast, the Bay Area podcast, that he offered Bill Belichick basically any kind of position that he wanted with the 49ers, but he specifically offered him the role of defensive coordinator, which was eventually filled by somebody on the staff. Nick Sorenson was promoted

to that job. He said, I threw it out to him. He loves football so much that you never know what he might be thinking. I can't believe that he's not a head coach of a team right now. I know what I would do if I was an owner, so that shocks me. And the last thing you want to do is insult someone like Bill Belichick, but I know he just loves ball in its simplest form, so I threw it all out to him, whatever he wanted to do. I was like, would you be interested?

And he was very nice and appreciative, but he politely turned me down. So I have a couple of thoughts here. The first is this. Do you think Belichick's okay with Shanahan going public with that? No. Why? I don't at all. Why?

Well, because Belichick is pretty much, I know he's a media figure now, and he may be, he may change, but he's pretty close mouth about his business. You know? So I don't think he, I don't think he likes anybody talking about him. period. I was thinking of it from another perspective, and maybe he's at a point and he deserves to be where, who cares, from his standpoint,

but that, you know, turning it down would make him look like he's, you know, it's a job that's just beneath him, which, by the way, it is at this point. It is. He's the goat. You know, the Shanahan's, Mike and Belichick were close. They were always very close, and so I'm assuming Kyle knows Bill very well too. It is kind of interesting. I know we've talked about this previously when he didn't get any of the gigs here in this offseason.

I can't believe that teams didn't hire him. I can't believe the Falcons and Arthur Blank didn't hire him. It seems like maybe some people got to. talked out of it by Kraft maybe? He should be, do you think he didn't get hired because he's a pain in the ass at this point and Kraft said so? Or that people looked at it and said, yeah, Bill's pretty good, but look what he did when he didn't have Brady, nothing.

I think it's more of the pain in the ass mode. People, I mean, figured that, you know, if I bring this guy in, you know, it's not going it would be any fun being owned. I won't be able to do anything. Now remember, there was a report that Magic Johnson lobbied hard for Belichick to get the job here in Washington. I know. They wanted the traditional GM structure. You know, I think, and we talked about it at the time, I'm fine with the direction that they went because I am in benefit of the doubt mode. but I would have been as an owner, as a new owner, having paid $6 billion for the team, I can't imagine not having meaningful interest in Belichick.

Like I would have wanted to go down that path until it really just didn't make sense because he was going to be difficult to work with. He was going to want way too much control. I don't know, but I would have been very interested in that. also interested in the path that they chose, you know, which is kind of a longer-term view. But, yeah, we'll see. I would bet this time next year he's a head coach, probably in New York or Dallas. Yeah.

Now, what's interesting about this news, this story is that what does it say about Kyle? I mean, because, I mean, it says that Kyle, I know they have a relationship because of his dad, but you have to be supremely confident in your ability to bring in a guy like Bill Belichick and think that people aren't going to look at him as the head coach and not you. You really do. Yes. You really do. I mean, for all the benefits that you,

you would get, I think, you know, even without Belichick doing anything to undermine you, you'd be looking over your shoulder all the time. Well, let me just say that between, of the two of them, Mike and Kyle, they're both very confident men. Kyle is extremely confident. Kyle has always been very, very confident in his abilities. And by the way, he's backed it up time and time over and over again. But if you want to know how good Kyle is, just ask him. He'll tell you.

Whereas Mike was much more sort of subtle and not nearly. I think that's a surprise to some people when they hear that. We've talked about it previously. Mike did not have the ego that Kyle, that his son has. and they're both phenomenal, you know, coaches in the history of the game. But Kyle, I don't think that there would have been any concerned with Belichick on his staff because Kyle, I'm sure, thinks he's the best coach in the league. And he's pretty damn close to it.

Yeah, but to think it, and to watch it play out every day in the media or with questions, I think it changes the focus and the spotlight of your team. Maybe this is why. Maybe because in a situation like, I mean, I think Belichick would be a distraction as much as an asset if he was on your staff. Yeah, I mean, they, you know, they got rid of Steve Wilkes. That was a bit controversial when the season ended and they were, you know, in the mode of trying to find somebody. D'Amico Ryan's obviously was a great fit for Kyle. Robert Sala was a great fit for Kyle.

You know, Kyle all of a sudden is creating quite the coaching tree. So I'm looking up Kyle's record. Like, I'm just curious how he's a head coach since 2017 in San Francisco. He's 64 and 51 career, 8 and 4 in the postseason with two Super Bowl losses to the Chiefs. And two NFC championship losses, one in which he had multiple quarterbacks go down at Philadelphia. And the other one against the Rams, they lost, you know, they essentially had an interception in their hands to end the game and dropped it. He's pretty close to four Super Bowls in the last five seasons in terms of trips. And they're the favorite again this year.

Trent Williams is holding out. He wants a bigger deal. Brandon Ayyuk is doing this thing that they call hold in. You know, the hold out now, you can't waive the fines once training camp starts. That was part of the last collective bargaining agreement. So now there's this thing that the player shows up, but he doesn't practice so he doesn't get fined. Ayuk is still a possibility to get traded, although I'm still predicting the 49ers will end up getting a deal done with him before the season starts. All right, I wanted to share with you, because I don't think you know this, that on the show yesterday, I went early on my season prediction for Washington.

And I will come back with you, you know, in September, and we will do our normal NFL picks in our Washington season prediction record with footnotes, you know, sometime, you know, in the days after Labor Day. but I just feel really confident and optimistic about what's going on football-wise. And I went in early at 10-7 and being the NFC surprise team is a wildcard birth team in 2024. How could you do that? I mean, after one day of training camp, how could you possibly do that? I mean, talk about overselling. I just feel really confident in what they've put together. And looking at the NFC landscape,

I look at, you know, San Francisco and Detroit and Philadelphia as three teams that probably will be separated during the course of the year from everybody else. But then I think it's a free-for-all for basically four playoff spots. and if Jaden Daniels is who I think he is and he has a year that even just approaches it doesn't have to match but approaches the year that C.J. Stroud had last year I think that they have a chance to be that team.

Every year produces two to three teams that you didn't see coming, sometimes more than that. And they haven't been that team in a long time. And it's not the do theory. I just, I like what they have. I like the staff. It's a loaded coaching staff for the first time in a long time. Not just the head coach and the coordinators, but the assistance that they have.

I'm a big Kingsbury believer. I'm a big Jaden Daniels believer. And I think some of the pieces they added defensively, I can't imagine that the defense isn't a lot better. It's the first time, Tommy, since you know who, is quarterback in 2017 that I've predicted a winning record for this team. I don't think you've predicted a winning record since the Roosevelt administration. That would be the second Roosevelt. And you can include, if we're going to do this today, we can include this year too.

You're not going to predict a winning record. No, I don't think most people will. There's too many new, there's too many new pieces, too many new pieces and still, still too way too many questions about whether Jane Daniels can express the talent that he has with this team. I like Kingsbury. I like Kingsbury a lot. I mean, I, but he can't play left tackle. Yeah, you know, you've been at the beat.

this week and I played the sound bites two days ago I'm not going to play them back right now but I'll just summarize them Peters was asked in the introductory press conference or the training camp press conference about Cornelius Lucas and he it's not that he gushed over Cornelius Lucas but I read his comment but then the follow-up to that a few questions later Dan Quinn said about the team's weaknesses. He said what may be perceived as a weakness externally might actually be something stronger internally.

He didn't specifically point to offensive line, but the number one external perceived weakness is offensive line. I think they... This is his Zen philosophy kind of answer, you know? You may think it's a week, but it may actually be a strength. Come on. You're falling for it all right. No, the offensive line, I've talked a lot about it, you know, during the offseason.

I think it's one of those things where last year, I'm not saying that when I watched it, I thought it was good. I want to emphasize that. I just think it was probably a lot more on the quarterback and the coordinator. Okay, Grant-Coff. Yeah, that's fine. And, oh, by the way, it's not the same offensive line. Three-fifths of the starters are going to be new.

The coaching's going to be new. Yeah, I... All reasons for me to think they're not going to win 10 games. Okay. Well, I'm not asking... I can see them win in eight games. Okay. That's not bad.

I can tell you what my formula is. What's your formula? My formula is, take your optimistic number and minus two for, everything that can go wrong. That's your formula. I mean, but this is the most optimistic I've been in years. Years. I mean, 8, 8 and 1 is the best I could come up with for any of these teams since Kirk left

and got that one right in 2022. That may be one of my best calls ever. It makes you happy. I'm happy for you. All right. So you could see 8, but we'll wait. for your season prediction until September. And I reserve the right to change it.

Like if something happens in preseason games and they lose players, injuries, or maybe they just look terrible like Jaden Daniels looks awful like you can't do it. And Marcus Marriota ends up being the starting quarterback. Well, then I would reserve the right to change. That's not going to happen. That would welcome a change of view if Jayden Danis is not the start. come opening day, opening game. All right.

You want to bring up something about RG3. You want to talk about where you had pizza in Wildwood, New Jersey. And I want to tell you about one of the better season finale that I've seen for a television show in a long time. We've got that and more coming up right after. These words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Okay, well, I'm in Wildwood, New Jersey.

and it's one of those places where, you know, civilization has left us, okay? There's no smoking allowed on the beach at Wildwood, which I never did in the first place, okay? Because I am not arrogant enough not to recognize that smoking in beach, crowded beach areas would affect other people. So I never even considered that. but I used to like to smoke on the boardwalk. They have a great boardwalk in Wildwood, maybe the longest on the East Coast, and it used to be even longer.

And sometimes I like to sit there and smoke cigar, and people watch because the boardwalk is a great place for people watching. Well, you can't smoke on the boardwalk anymore. So at the end of the street of our hotel, there's a little sitting area at the end of the street. and I go out there at night and have my cigar. That's what I'm limited to, that little space, okay?

That little space, and Shelley's backroom in D.C. are two places where civilization still exists. And all the time I was sitting there smoking, I was thinking of Shelley's backroom because I was smoking a Churchill, a Cohiba Churchill that somebody had bought at Shelley's backroom from their great cigar. selection and had given to me recently. And I was saving it for a special occasion, and it just felt right to do it last night.

So even though I was sitting there at the beach at Wildwood Crest, New Jersey, smoking a cigar, my mind and my heart was at Shelley's backroom, which is a good place for it to be. And I would urge all of you, if you haven't had the Shelley experience yet, please make an effort. to head to Shelly's backroom at 1331 F Street Northwest. So you have a place like I do when you're far away and the whole world is shutting you for your civilized practice of enjoying a nice smoke. You have a place to go to in your mind, and that's Shelly's backroom. I love when you say, I'm not arrogant enough to believe.

That is some self-awareness right there. All right, so you're at the beach. You have been following, it would appear, based on our pre-show meeting, you've been irked a little bit by someone on social media, one of your all-time favorite players in town. So tell us all why Robert Griffin III is annoying you on Twitter. Well, I mean, he's so annoying, you know. and normally, I mean, I don't follow him, you know, but, you know, thanks to the ridiculous algorithms that, you know, X set up.

Yeah. I get all these stupid accounts that show up on my feed that I have no interest in reading, and his is one of them. RG3's account is one of them. It shows up. You know, and this was, this is just a political statement. I don't want to get into this whole political thing, but this is just what set me off. He posted the other day, Dear America, America. Now, he wasn't just talking to sports fans. He was talking to America.

Yeah, yeah. This is a safe space. Oh, yeah. Joe Biden has dropped out of the presidential race. Who do you want to be the Democratic nominee? Now, taking the politics aside from that statement, and whatever you may have. This is a safe space.

I went off on this a few weeks ago. Did I not do this with you? I know he's done it before. Yeah. I know he's done it before. What does that mean? I think about the name, about the command. Yes, that's when he did it.

That's when I noticed it. Yes. Yes. That's when he did it. And, you know, I mean, it's so pretentious. Oh. You know, like, you'll be okay here, everybody. Right.

I'm super welcoming to all, you know, all ideas and all opinions. This is a safe space. Oh, my God. Yes, except one from Kyle and Mike Shanahan. I'm not open to those ideas. Yeah, don't bring your Kirk Cousin stuff here. No. Dear America.

It's so pretentious. He's something else, me. I mean, I got, you know what, this guy's going to wind up. I know you think he's good, and, you know, he basically got drummed off of the Monday night football. Oh, he was not good on that. He's good on games. That's it. He's not bad on games.

He's going to social media or pretentious comment his way out of a job at some point or another, and that's when he'll run for power. That's when he'll run for office. Definitely. But he doesn't have a job anymore. Yeah. You know, like a lot of people do. Then he'll run.

for office and he'll win. He'll win. So I just pulled up his Twitter account and I'm like you. I get, I don't follow him, but I get it through whatever algorithms are sending me his stuff. And let me just tell you, the pinned video from yesterday is him shooting jump shots on a basketball court. It might be at his house. I don't know. And he writes, there isn't an analyst out there with a better stroke or ballsmanship. Now, let me just tell you, okay, he's got a good stroke. There's no doubt. He's got a good jump shot, good stroke. And then he also took a soccer ball and dribbled it a little bit where, you know, you bounce it off your foot a couple times in the air. I've always considered RG3 to be,

from an athletic standpoint, outrageously athletic when it comes to speed and strength and all of that. but I've never thought in watching him play football that he would be a great basketball player because I wouldn't think that he had the vision to be a great basketball player. But he's got a really good stroke and he says there's no analyst out there with a better stroke or ballsmanship. Let me tell you something. My boy Scott, Van Pelt's got a great stroke. So the show that he was on. Does Tim Legler have a good?

stroke? I think Tim Legler might have a good stroke. Yes. Yeah, in terms of analysts out there, yeah, that would be the response to this. I don't know if you've heard of them, but Legler won the three-point shooting contest in the NBA. Yeah. It just set me off a little. Normally, I just dismiss them and, you know, go on its way. I haven't blocked them yet. You know, I block people left and right every day. I haven't blocked him yet because sometimes he says something that's relevant to the areas that we cover that would require some kind of comment. So he's worth observing only for business purposes, but for no other reason. I mean, I would block him. If I wasn't in this job, he'd be blocked. I don't really consider RG3 to be very interesting.

But like you, the algorithms on X on Twitter, I end up getting a lot of his stuff. I don't find him to be very interesting as a person, but I think he has an interesting future because he is a very good communicator. He's got charisma. He's certainly not dumb. He's a bright guy. I definitely, and I've talked about this before, I could see politics being part of his future. You know, he's not on the Monday night set anymore. That's over. I mean, he was sucking the

air off of that set, trying to create, you know, a viral moment every time he was on there. And that's just not the kind of show that these pregame shows in the NFL, especially the lead into Monday night football. That's really supposed to be a football show. That's not the TNT pregame, postgame, with Chuck and Shaq. Nothing's ever going to be that. These NFL shows, people want football talk. They want the game analyzed. They want the weekend of games analyzed. By the way, I had John Orand on the show yesterday. TNT's last year with Ernie, Chuck, Kenny, and Shaq is this upcoming season, and then that's it. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon offers them a deal. Yeah, but Ernie apparently would not be a part of that.

Bernie. Yeah. Yeah, that is true. Look, that that whole NBA deal is remarkable from a local viewpoint. You know, because, you know, you had James Dolan write this letter of outrage to Adam Silver about the deal, because if you have a local RSN, like the Knicks do, it undercuts you. You know, I mean, basically now you have more national partners, which will require more national exclusive TV games, which means less local games for the local network. And also, say that again, hold on, I didn't follow that. Like, now you have, how many, you got Amazon, you got NBC.

ESPN, ABC are the partners. They're all going to want their own exclusive games. Right. And if it happens to be a game that the Wizards are in, that can't be on the local RSN. Right. But that was the case already with ABCS, ESPN, Tanner, and NBA TV. Now you have another. No, no, not with NBA TV, I don't think.

Yeah, NBA TV, too. NBA TV had games, and it looks like, I don't know. I know NBA TV had games. I'm not sure the local TV lost. Oh, got excluded when those games run. Yeah. I think they did, but you might be right. Okay, so how many games of the Wizards are they going to won anyway?

Well, it depends who they're playing. Yeah. You know? I don't know. It depends who they're playing. I mean, it's less corporate sponsorship sales available because, you know, like if they're playing in your arena, if it's an Amazon game, they're going to block out your local sponsorships to put their own. sponsorships up there. It's just

it's not a good deal for Ted. And I don't understand why he's not outraged about it either. Outraged, $76 billion shared by 30 teams. He's got a network with no programming, and he

can't afford to lose the program. So whatever miniscule amounts of programming he has. Oh, my God. That would be, you know, that would be one of those where if he was upset about the $76 billion deal because he might lose a few games off Monumental. I'd look at him and I'd say, are you insane? Nobody's watching your games on monumental. They're not watching any other programming on Monumental.

He can't operate that way. You're lucky. You're so lucky to be one-thirtieth of this TV deal, given how absolutely, you know, I mean, in the gutter, your franchise has been for as long as it's been. But he does have a local network. However, however invisible it is, it exists, and he thinks it's a big deal. Of course he does, but nobody else does. I mean, right? It's not a great deal for RSN. And I think this is another reason why Ted purely wants the nationals, because I think he needs that programming now more than ever. RSN's basically dying anyway? Streaming's taking a bite at all this.

I know that. He has one. What's he supposed to do with it? He can't do that. He just put all this money into it. It's just like the arena football teams he purchased. And he said, this is the next coming. And two years later, it was over.

And then it resurrected itself recently. But his teams weren't a part of it. He's been not the most clairvoyant. when it comes to seeing the future. He likes to think that he is way ahead of everything, but I'm not going to put him in the Dan category where basically everything Dan touched failed, except for the football team.

But Ted's got a rather mixed history of investments, doesn't he? When it comes to sports? Yes, he does. Yes, he does. You can include e-sports in that. he thought that NBA Y2K, whatever it was, was some kind of e-game sport, was going to outstrip the actual NBA product some years from now. And I think it just went belly up or folded or something like that. His e-sports predictions have not come true, just the opposite.

Yeah. Look, the NBA deal is just incredible. no one saw this coming. John explained that basically it was the perfect storm with more bidders than product available. And, you know, with Warner Brothers losing out, but having Disney, NBC, Amazon, and Warner Brothers, who owns TNT, TBS, et cetera,

that they were able to just leverage that into just an incredible deal over the next 11 years. And I believe the NBA shares equally in this deal, you know, right, don't they? Does he get 1 30th of that deal? I think he does. It's like the NFL. Yeah, so I can't imagine that he's upset. As much as he likes to be the guy looked at as the dealmaker and the visionary,

I can't imagine that that gets in the way of him saying, wow. I mean, that makes my team worth a lot more money than it was before this deal. Well, we'll see what his response is because I asked him in an email. Oh, you did? Okay. Yes. That's what he said. This was reported recently. Five years ago, Ted Leonez has said that I believe in 10 years, an NBA 2K player will be more well-known, popular, and better compensated than LeBron James. It's just math.

Okay. So apparently, the story was they resurrected this quote because the NBA-backed NBA-2K league is revamping its operation. So they're basically, they've been basically trying to stay afloat at this point. So it did not turn out the way. On the other hand, he has a billionaire, he's a billionaire, right? Yeah. Look, I'm reading the quote. from when they bought the Washington Valor, the Arena Football League, and then bought the Baltimore team. You know, I firmly believe in indoor sports that they are ascending. You know, there are plenty of quotes about how he's, you know, was seeing the future of arena football and it was going to be, you know, picked up by streaming services like Amazon

and Netflix. There's a big appetite out there. Well, there wasn't. As much as I criticize Ted, I'm reluctant. to criticize him too much as a businessman, you know, because probably spends in cufflinks what I spend in a year. I know, I understand that, but being rich doesn't mean that every decision you make is a smart one. But of course, of course, when you're talking about somebody with hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars plus, you can look pretty silly consistently criticizing that person for business decisions when you don't have anywhere near that level of wealth.

Not that it'll stop us from getting after him when we think he deserves it, given our positions as talk show hosts and opinion makers. We're willing to take on anybody without having any understanding of what it's like to be in their shoes. Yes, we are. You said that you went and got your feelings. favorite pizza yesterday. So tell me about the great pizza on the Wildwood, New Jersey boardwalk that you love so much. Well, you know, I think people are always sure. Pizza is a food that people are generally protective of, of their opinions. I think they form opinions about pizza,

you know, and I think it's one of those foods maybe on the highest level where people have opinions about their favorite pizza. You know, there's people who argue about deep dish pizza versus thin pizza and all that stuff. Well, there's a pizza on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey, called Max Pizza. Actually, they have two stores on the boardwalk. They used to have five when the boardwalk was real big. And they have this thin, cheesy, oily pizza that's got so much oil on it. I said on social media, when you go there, you need to either bring a roll paper towels or change of clothes.

That's how much oil that this pizza has on it, and I love it. It's, I guess, you know, it's for, it's New York-style pizza, but it's the best I've ever had. And it's the thing I look for, one of the things I look forward to the most when I come to Wildwood. And I mean, I love my thin, cheesy, oily, pizza. I don't like it sick. I don't like, I don't want to eat the bread. Okay.

I want to eat the pizza and the cheese and the tomato sauce and all that that comes with it. But what was interesting, what threw me off, though, we're walking the boardwalk last night and we're up, you know, near the north end of the boardwalk. and there's a place called Sam's Pizza. And there's a line of people waiting to get in. Right. I mean, there's no other lines on the boardwalk waiting to get in except for rides.

Okay. And I asked the guy, I said, waiting to get into this place. He said, yeah, I heard that Sam's Pizza is the best pizza in Wildwood. So now, you know, actually we're coming back down here in again in a couple weeks. I think I'm going to be compelled to try Sam's pizza. Yeah, you should if there was a long line. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

But it was a line of people, and there are choices to eat everywhere on the boardwalk. Well, you know, that's a good sign. Yes. Yeah, I don't think D.C. is a good food town. I think it's better than it used to be, but it's certainly not New York. it's certainly not San Francisco. It's not Chicago. It's not L.A.

It's gotten better. Actually, we went to a place for dinner. Let me just mention it about a week and a half ago. Down on Capitol Hill in southeast, called Caruso's Grocery. It's Italian. And it's been rated very high, and they opened one up in that place out in Rockville, what's it called, Pike and Rose or whatever. but apparently that one isn't as good as the original.

Love that restaurant. Italian, really, it was excellent. Everything that's been written about it, it lived up to it, and I loved it. But anyway, I digress. I think D.C.'s gotten better as a food town. It's not a great pizza town. I mean, all due respect to my, you know, heritage and roots of Lido's Pizza in College Park. And look, sometimes nothing hits the spot like Lidos.

You know, it is... I love Litos, too. But, you know, D.C. is not, you know, a pizza town. It just isn't. You know, New York is Chicago with deep dishes. You know, Detroit is. Obviously, Connecticut has, you know, a style in New Haven in places like that. You know, my personal favorite pizza is,

is, you know, New York style in New York. You know, you go into the West Village and you go to Joe's or you go to Johns on Bleaker. I mean, those are my favorites. I mean, you should probably refer to New Yorkers to get a better sense of what they think. But they're always highly rated. I love both of those spots. For us, I mean, I think Andes has done a decent job of doing a New York style slice. I think Wise guys done a pretty good job of it.

We go to Two Amies a lot, Neapolitan style. I think their pizza is great. You know, it's more of a higher end neapolitan style. Going there is great. Always busy right there on McComb Street. But, you know, we're no Jersey or New York, that's for sure. You know, like when you threw out the beach and the boardwalk, you know, for those of us that grew up and many of these people are still, you know, down there every summer, you know, in Bethany and you go to Bethany. and Dewey and Rojobith and Ocean City.

I mean, Grotto's been a legendary pizza, you know, down there. It's okay. It's okay. I like it. But, look, it's a great pizza when you're out and you've been having a good time, and you've got to get a slice or two at midnight. It certainly serves its purpose. But New York...

What if you have a... I'm looking at Caruso's grocery. Yeah. But I'm always interested in restaurants, choices in D.C. when we're in town and we're looking for one. What did you get? Do you remember? Yeah. I got this ragu thing that was really good. I'll pull up the menu and I'll tell you exactly what it was. Yeah, because I'm looking at the menu right now. And they don't have veal parmesan, which is always, always a disappointment. Actually, I think they had it as a special that night

and my son got it. And it was really, really good. Yeah. I mean, because I think restaurants try to avoid it now, because I don't think it's politically correct because of the little calves that have to suffer for your field pommar. Really? I haven't heard of that. Let me just tell you that some of the appetizers were incredible. The meatballs were great. The calomari was great. They did this garlic, this cheesy four-cheese garlic bread thing with this sauce that was really good. The barata was great. The Caesar salad was great. My wife got another salad. It was great. But the entree that I got was, if you're looking at it, that spicy Neapolitan ragu. It's beef and pork tossed with, you know,

there was a pasta. There was a whipped ricotta on it. It was so good. It was very rich, but it was excellent. I think my son's girlfriend had the, it was like a mushroom. It was like a restroom risotto thing that was really good. Everything was great. The desserts were incredible. Like, they just brought them out because it was our first time there, and they just brought out a couple of desserts, and they were really good. But that place has been written about a lot. It's a small, seated restaurant. Yeah, that's what they say. Yeah. And it's sometimes hard to get a reservation, but we got one. It was like on a Wednesday night at like 9 o'clock, and we went down there. It was great.

If I mention your, call them and mention your name, I'll get a reservation. No, I don't think they knew anything about me having a reservation there. I don't do that. I just, my son got the reservation and we went to dinner and it was great. Okay.

But, yeah, pizza is so, such always a debated topic and very subjective. Yes. All right. What else with you? I got nothing else for you, boss. I wanted to...

I wanted to tell you that, you know, I don't want to oversell it, but presumed innocent, the television show. It's on Apple TV. It's eight episodes. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal. It is a whodunit thriller. The finale has an incredible twist. In fact, I think the finale was as good a finale to a show like that.

as I have seen. But I'd give it, you know, I'd give it a solid four to four and a half stars out of five. You know, while it's not, you know, similar in sort of style or environment necessarily to the show that you liked and I liked, Marevistown on HBO starring Kate Winslet, it has that same sort of build of trying to figure out who committed the murder. I think you and Liz will really like it. I would definitely recommend it. Many people who heard me talk about this show on radio yesterday,

I got a lot of tweets about the finale from a lot of you, and I agree. It was very well done. I think you and Liz would like it. I love the movie. I'm pretty sure I saw the movie, but I can't really remember it. Harrison Ford was in it. Yeah.

All right. I've got Luke McCaffrey to talk to. He's calling in here in a moment. So you're done. You did a great job today. Thanks. I'll see you. All right.

Call you to more. Luke McCaffrey, right after these words, from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation. Give them a call if you've been thinking about new windows. The deal right now is a good one. Buy two windows, get two windows free with no limit and no money down, no payments and no interest.

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no money down, no payments, no interest for 24 months. Make sure you let them know that I told you to call. Jumping on with me right now, is Luke McCaffrey, Washington's third round pick, a wide receiver out of Rice. Luke was a huge quarterback prospect coming out of high school, went to Nebraska first, then transferred to Rice, where he became a really good wideout. And of course, Luke is part of a rather athletic family. His brother, Christian, is the best running back in the NFL, his father, Ed, a standout for Mike Shanahan's Denver teams back in the 9th.

90s and early 2000s. Luke, thanks for doing this. I appreciate it. Is there a family consensus on who the overall best athlete is among all of the McCaffreys? Hey, yeah, thank you so much for having me on. I think if you were to ask any of the five boys, my dad, my three brothers and I, who the best was, we would all say my mom. She was a stud soccer player.

It was before the women's Olympic soccer team was there, but it was kind of right at the forefront of that, and she was an absolute stud. You know, I read something about your mom. I know that she was a great athlete at Stanford, but I read that her father, your grandfather, was an Olympic track athlete and considered at one point the fastest man in the world, like in the 1950s, true? Yeah, yeah, he was. You know, she had some great team.

So it was cool to grow up with her as my mom. She's an energy plug. She's a spark in our family. And it was such an awesome atmosphere with her. Yeah, I bet it is. I'm assuming that growing up in Colorado with your father is a Bronco fan, that you all grew up as Bronco fans, or was there one of you that said,

I'm going to be the contrarian and root for somebody else? Yeah, you know, we all went through different phases, rooting for different teams. My dad had been done playing by the time I was kind of old enough to comprehend, you know, what football was and the comprehension of it all. So we kind of rooted for all kinds of different teams and rooted for the game more than anything. So it was so fun to just grow up in a house with a competitive nature and a lot of great people, great role models for me as the youngest. Is there, you know, as the youngest, and I have three boys and my youngest ended up being sort of naturally the most competitive. And I think that happens in a lot of families

We're the youngest, you know, just to kind of get a seat at the table ends up being feisty and competitive. Was that you? Would your siblings say that you were the most competitive? To avoid a fight with our family, I'm going to refrain from answering that one. I think that'll show you how competitive we are. I think if somebody ever tried to claim that title, it would be a brawl back home. I bet there were some of those.

What do you think of our D.C. summers so far? Oh, it's been awesome. It's been so nice being out here, becoming acclimated with the team and the community. I'm so excited for this fall, for the energy that we're bringing to compete on the field every single day. Day one was awesome. Day two was even more fun, and we're just excited to continue competing, continue getting ready to put something on the field. See, that's a professional athlete, people.

Not one mention of the humidity, and he grew up in Colorado where they didn't have a shred of it. I spent the last three years in Houston. True, true. I got a good dose of humidity. Yeah, good point, good point. So far, and I know it's early, but what's the most noticeable difference for you between where you were Rice and the NFL? Yeah, you know, there's a lot of different abilities. You know, one is just the ability to take in the experience from your teammates.

you know, you have guys like Perry, guys like Zach Ertz on this team. He's played a lot of football and have a lot of high-level experience and a lot of great reps on tape. And so just to be able to learn from them every single day at practice can enhance and improve the process of trying to get better, right? It's only going to help being able to watch these high-level, high-level players every single day. Does anything stand out, though, like size, speed?

I mean, you're a pretty damn good athlete. I mean, do you find yourself feeling like you fit in athletically? Definitely, definitely. I think everybody here's athletic. A lot of it, you know, Terry talks to the wide receiver room a lot about it, but a lot of it's about consistency, attention to detail, and the ability to focus when you need to. And so it's been really cool to be out here and just to continue to compete.

All right, so we don't know what to expect as fans, as media members, and I'm a media member, but also a lifelong fan. but I'm excited to see what Cliff Kingsbury is going to put out with Jaden and the receivers, including you. How do you see Cliff using you in the offense? Yeah, yeah, I think he's such a good coordinator, and he's done it at such a high level. He's not afraid to get creative and have fun. And so I think we're going to have a unit who just has a great mentality,

who you can feel it, and you have the sense of competitiveness and just energy from a unit. So I can't wait to get out there and continue to hone in the details over this next month, you know, fine-tune them in preseason and then get ready to start week one. But specifically, do you have, you know, an idea at this point of how you'll be used? Will you line up more on the inside? Will you be more on the outside? You know, do you have a sense of that so far? Yeah, I think that's something that you're always building, right?

You know, you always want to help out in as many ways as possible. And so I'm going to do, you know, my part and just completely. beating with the rest of the guys on the unit. And I think it'll be cool to see how we have so many guys that we should be able to mix things up and put some pressure on defenses. During the spring, during, I think, one of the OTA press conferences, Coach Quinn talked about the receivers being able to see who was versatile. And in fact, he mentioned, you know, some would potentially even line up in the backfield

at times. And that's something you've done. I mean, you've been a running back, you've been a quarterback who ran a lot at Nebraska. Can you, I mean, do you envision perhaps lining up in the backfield as a receiver, but potentially being a runner as well? Yeah, I could see that as being part of it. You know, we'll see what we get into week by week and what's going to be the most competitive game plan out there for us.

But I think that would be a lot of fun. Tell me what your impressions of Jaden Daniels have been so. far. I know the two of you have, you know, during the OTA sessions, mini-camp, we're getting in early, but just give everybody a feel for, you know, a teammate's perspective so far on Jaden Daniels. Yeah, I think he's so talented. And when you watch from afar, you think it's God-given, and then you watch him up close and you see how hard he works, how much he loves the game, what a great teammate he is, how competitive he is. And I think that gets you excited, right? that gets you fired up as somebody who's going to battle with a player every single day.

And so I'm so excited to continue to grow with them, continue to learn, and then get out there and compete with him. When people that are close to you ask you about him and maybe say, who does he remind you of? What's your answer? Yeah, I think it's so hard to compare people. You know, comparisons are going to make somebody mad no matter what. And so I think he's so unique and talented in what he does.

does, the way he throws the ball, the way that he can run with his feet, the way he can scramble and keep his eyes down field, and the way that he can rush the ball as well. And so I think just the multidimensionality of them, you know, has the marks of a lot of different talented people over time, but the mix of it is what makes him so good, and then just his ability to put the ball where he wants and to read a defense is high level.

What's Terry McClureen meant for you so far? Oh, he's been awesome. He's been the ultimate pro. right, just the ability to not only take care of his own thing, but to take care of the other people in our room, especially, you know, the rookies, me and Marcus, and just his ability to teach us and his ability to just do things the right way so that when I watch him, I can learn something across. Luke McCaffrey joining me here on the podcast, nice enough to call in after training camp

practice today, the second training camp practice. I know you haven't been here that long, but I'm wondering if there's a player that has really stood out to you that might be surprising to fans and media like me. Yeah, I don't know who you guys would think of. We have a lot of really talented players. I wouldn't be shocked if our whole roster has a great season this year, just the way that we compete right here at practice and the way that we're fighting and continue to battle together.

And so I don't know if I have a specific person for you, but I'm so excited for this year and just the competitive nature of this team. I think I love the energy that we bring to practice, and I can't wait to continue to grow that. Talking to a young man, but who is media savvy, that's for sure. You know, the kickoff return rules, I'm fascinated with what that's going to look like. And, you know, pretty much everybody is settled in on. Teams will end up having two returners. Are you a possibility to be a kickoff returner?

Yeah, you know, any ability you have. to help the team in every single aspect. I'm going to try and get in there on every special team, every single phase of the game that I can. And if that's something that coaches, OCs, as valuable, and then we'll utilize it. And we'll always be ready to do that for sure. What do you know about this market and the history of this football team

and what it's meant to this city? Your father played for the Giants, when the team was much more relevant, sort of in the national spotlight. involved in some of those NFC East battles with the then Redskins. But what do you know about sort of the history of the team and the market? Yeah, you know, I've been lucky my dad played with Mark Schleris. It was here for a number of years and part of the Hawks.

And so it's been awesome to be able to kind of learn a little bit from him. And he reached out and it was awesome when I was making it out here originally. And so just to learn a little bit from the history of guys who've been here. Doug Williams is in our building who is such a great cursory. to have here, just to learn from his experiences, to learn the area, to understand just what this team and what this community means to the people of the whole DMV area. I know you guys are close with the Shanahan's. Did you talk to either Mike or Kyle when you got drafted by Washington? Yeah, yeah. You know, they definitely have been in the area as well,

so to be able to learn everything you can about the history, about the culture, about, you know, what it means to be somebody competing as a football player in Washington. So I'm so, excited for this year. It gets me to stop and energize. Well, we're excited to watch you. Welcome to town. Really appreciate the time, and I wish you the best of luck. Awesome. Thank you so much. Yeah, have a great day. Luke McCaffrey, everybody. Nice young man. There's some buzz around Luke McCaffrey coming off the spring and early summer, OTAs and mini camps. I think there's an expectation that as a rookie, he's going to be on the field and he's going to be a contribute.

We'll see. I mean, Terry McCloran's going to be on the field. John Dotson, I'm pretty sure, is going to be on the field. And then after that, you know, it's McCaffrey, it's Crowder, it's Diami Brown, it's Zakias who they brought in. But McCaffrey is really versatile. You know, he's got some size to him. He played quarterback. He played running back. He settled in at wide receiver and a really good one at Rice. It's going to be fun to watch him. It's going to be fun just to see what Cliff Kingsbury does with some of the pieces he has in support of his rookie quarterback. By the way, just as I was finishing that up, Dylan Cease completed a no-hitter at Nats Park.

He is a pitcher for the Padres, not the Nats, for those of you that don't follow the Nats, but he no-hit the Nats second Padres pitcher in history to throw a no-hitter. CJ Abrams had the last opportunity to break it out, and he smacked one to right field, but it was caught by the right fielder for the third and final out. But the Nats lose all three to the Padres, and they get no hit by Dylan Cese today. He struck out nine, walked three, 114 pitches for Dylan Cese, as the Nassie. as the Nats lose three to nothing. But if you were one of those people lucky enough to be out there, look, when you got a team that's not in the hunt

and the Nats really aren't in the hunt for anything, and the opposing pitcher has a no-hitter going, I root for that. You know, I've been in a ballpark, not when a no-hitter's been thrown against the home team, but when an opponent, when an opposing pitcher has had a no-hitter going late into the game, and I don't know, I think even if you're a Nats fan,

you're route to see the no-hitter, don't you? Unless it's a game that really matters. All right, done for the day. Tommy, you'll be back with me again tomorrow.