The Kevin Sheehan Show - Mock Schedule + Thom TKO's Pick-Pocketer

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

Thom was back from Ireland with plenty of stories including thwarting a pick-pocket attempt. Kevin had his annual Washington "Mock Schedule" which included four prime-time games for the Commanders in 2024. The guys reacted to Jayden Daniels' appearance on Keyshawn Johnson's podcast, talked Nats-O's, Jamal Murray's non-suspension and lots more.   Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Wind Donation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. Mention my name for a no-risk free-in-home estimate.

Tommy is back. I know it's Wednesday, but he was in rest and recovery mode yesterday before heading off to Nats. Park for the Nats big win last night over the Orioles. We are going to cover multiple subjects today, including, yes, my 2024 Washington Mock schedule. Even though the news came out yesterday that the NFL schedule actually won't be released in its entirety until a week from tonight. But Tommy's back, and it was great to see you on Monday night. you're going to do today and tomorrow this week to try to catch up.

And we have a lot to catch up on so we can do back-to-back shows together. But that was a – before we get to the Ireland trip, Monday night, great night, big room for the first time. And I hope it was super successful. It was very successful. Biggest crowd ever, biggest take ever in donations. I'm always amazed at the end of the night. you know, when people come up to me and say, what a great time they have. And, you know, I'm not in the middle of that. I'm kind of like running things. I'm taking, you know, checking tickets as they come in. And then when that's done, I'm helping run the auction.

So I'm not in the middle of all the action. And I hear such great things about it. And it's always such a pleasant surprise because I don't really know how good of a time it is. Well, it's kind of like being at your own wedding. You know, everybody else has a great time, but you are, you're dialed in on the task at hand. And yes, you are, you know what you are? You're a terrific host for somebody who doesn't really host. Because it's a great night. Everybody has a good time. But Tommy is so focused.

I mean, it's hard to even get your attention. You're sitting down in the chair. You're focused on the auction items. focused on getting everybody in, but you have some help. You know, Chris does a great job. All the guys do a great job in helping out. It was a fun night, for sure. Always is.

And, yeah, I mean, it seemed to me to be the biggest crowd ever. Yeah, and we got a lot of money that's going to go towards the boys and girls. We play baseball and softball in our D.C. Grays MVP program. Like I told you before, we supply all the equipment. the coach is the works for more than 200 boys and girls. So it goes towards a great cause. Great cause. Star power there the other night.

You know, Davy Martinez showed up. What a nice guy. Mike Rizzo's always there. And by the way, Mike just doesn't show up to kind of, you know, bid on a few auction items and then leave. He's there for the duration. Oh, he's there after the duration. Yeah.

He sits and talks to people. people for hours. It's really remarkable. He's really a legit, good guy who really recognizes, I think, you know, a night like that and that people, you know, that he doesn't even know, want to talk to him about the team and about baseball and he always seems willing to do it. The great Howard Gutman was there as well. It was great to see him in between his travels because He's like you. He's a globetrotter. He's always somewhere, just not in D.C., so it was good to see him. We had actually the two legal contributors both there. Neal and Rockville and Howard Gutman were in attendance. It was a great night. Tommy, honestly, you do a great job with this. This is really, I'm shocked because I've known you for a long time that you can put together such a first-rate evening. I really am. I'm kidding. Let me just mention, we also had the great Doc Walker there. It was a star set at night.

Yeah, Ken Harvey. And Andy Pollan. Andy Poland. Andy Poland. Harvey and John Booty? Yeah. You know, for NFL players. You know, so it really was.

It was a great crowd. And, you know, the auction was a challenge because in the big room, the blowers are bigger. and louder, you know, to keep, because Shelley's has just a tremendous ventilation system. Right. That makes it easy, you know, to smoke cigars in there. But it's sometimes hard to hear people, you know, like yelling from one end in a room to the other. So next year we had a microphone. Yeah, that was what I told you at one point.

I said, everything's going well. It's a great night. But because we had a bigger crowd and it was a bigger room, so a little bit less into, intimate than in previous years, some of the people in the back were having a hard time hearing. So next year, and I even mentioned it to our wonderful, gracious host, Bob Moderazzi, that next year, what's really needed is a microphone. So whomever is involved in auctioning the items can be heard by everybody. But the bottom line is the results, and the results are biggest night ever for,

cigars and curveballs. So, congratulations. Well, thank you for your help and promoting it. I appreciate it. Stop. This comes from Ed in Traverse City, Michigan. Ed gave us five stars on Apple's review and rating opportunity, and he wrote, Kevin, I love your show, is I'm part of that odd generation of Skins-Oreal's fans. Even though I've lived in Michigan, for over 10 years, your show keeps me connected to home, and I'm super grateful. I am, however, somewhat concerned that I'm turning into Tommy. I'm cranky, old school, and jaded, but think I'm great at karaoke. I also get loud and pitchy when arguing irrelevant points just for the sake of argument. I'm only 45, so would love some advice before I grow a beard

and claimed to be Hemingway. Anyway, love the show and hope for an occasional O's segment during this summer. Ed from Traverse City, Ed, thank you for the five stars and the review. If you haven't had a chance to rate and review the show, pause the show right now and rate us and review us. It's a really huge help. By the way, the reason I read it was the Tom part, but also because we're kind of going to do an O's segment on the show. They lost to the Nats last night at Nats Park with Trevor Williams and his 1.96 ERA dominating the Orioles for five innings and then getting tremendous bullpen help. And the Nats, Tommy, are 18 and 17, first time above 500 in nearly three years.

You were there last night. Yes. You know, there's something. I mean, that team does not compare to the Orioles, Ross. in terms of talent. Okay? There's just no comparison between the Orioles

who were probably going to walk through the American League this year and the nationals. But the nationals, they've got, and a lot of it is accident, and some of it is because

Mike Rizzo and Dave Martinez recognized the right mixture of guys. They've got a right group of guys right now that are really, I don't even know how to describe it,

but there's, There's something about that clubhouse that is good, that is connected to each, that are connected to each other. And I think it's very competitive. And, you know, I think they lead all baseball and come from behind wins, and that's no accident. But their special team to walk. Remember, I went to spring training really down on them. I mean, bad, bad, bad, and I came back from spring training, and I said, you know, I could be wrong about that. And you do that every year, though.

No, no, that was more this year than before. They definitely felt different in spring training. You know, they've got so many components that have come out of the blue for them. You know, I mean, Jesse Winker, the guy they, you know, picked up off the scrap heap has been one of the team leaders for them. them. They're getting great pitching that they didn't really expect. I mean, Trevor Williams was the back of the rotation guy. He was going to be their fourth starter. Now he's leading the rotation right now. Yeah, they're getting great bullpen help. They lead the National League in saves with 12. And they are a, they are road runners on the

base pass. They lead the bigs. with 61 steals. I mean, nobody's got more than the nationals have in stolen bases. I guess the question is we're only 35 games into the season, you know, and there's another 127 to go, including a lot of games left, even though the way the schedule's designed has changed, a lot of games left against two major heavyweights this year in the Braves

and the Phillies who are absolutely on fire. But where is this going? I would ask you right now. Because, you know, if the season ended today, they'd be the third wildcard team. But where is this going? Is this going towards 81 wins? Well, I mean, what they went last year, they won 71 games last year. Right.

Not that big of a jump from 71 to 81. I'm not sure if they could sustain this. I can't tell you. You know, 162 game season is really maybe the most honest measurement of a team in all sports. But I've seen teams rate until the beginning of September and then lose 20 out of 25 games

at the end of the year. Just go in the tank. I've seen a lot of teams that are good up to August, so I don't know if these guys or that or not. I don't know if the front office, if they are competitive at the trading deadline would be willing to make a move

I don't know if the learners would support that since they're not spending Jack on the team in the first place. And this team is good in spite of ownership right now, not because of ownership. And so there's a lot of components. I think it's just you've got to enjoy it day by day because it could all collapse. Now the Orioles, they're not going to collapse.

Okay, they're going to be there. And that could collapse at any moment. So you enjoy the day to day. Are the Orioles better than the Yankees? I think so. Okay. I think they are. Yeah.

Yeah, no, this is nice. This is, you know, unexpected, I think. You know, I don't think people expected them to be 18 and 17, even through 35 games. They've won five of their last eight series. You know, they've got some impressive wins. You've talked about the come-from-behind wins. but, you know, two shutouts against Texas in Baltimore in the last week, basically, with Trevor Williams pitching.

The way he's pitched has been really encouraging. And look, Wooden crews are still out there and down there, and who knows when they'll be up there. There's a lot to look forward to. And they play the Orioles again tonight. And Mitchell Parker, who had one of those incredible outings this year, pitches tonight. And then they go to Fenway for three.

and then they've got the terrible white socks. So I don't know. It's way too early, but if you get to June, and they're still kind of hovering, you know, a game, two games, maybe over 500, then maybe you really start to get excited. But nice start for the Nats, and I'm glad you were there. Just real quickly, is it still the same?

I've been to a couple of the Orioles Nationals games at Nats Park. Still primarily Orioles fans. What was it last night? Oh, yeah. was primarily Orioles fans. Yeah. You know, and now the teams are under new ownership in Baltimore. Right.

There's more cooperative effort. You know, they actually cooperated on a couple of partnerships, promotional partnerships. They both wore their City Connect jerseys. Yeah. And the series was called Cities Connected. And they had little league players, They had youth baseball players and softball from both cities on the field,

and the Orioles were going to make a donation to the National Youth Academy, and the nationals were going to make a donation to the Orioles RBI program. So this is spirit of cooperation. Meanwhile, and I write about this in tomorrow's Washington Times, As of now, Massin is still up in the air, still a dispute, still not close right now to any kind of resolution. You know, so until they get that partnership fixed, all this other stuff is window dressing. I love the City Connect uniforms, the Nat City Connect uniforms. I really like them.

I mean, I don't like them as much as I like my D.C. Grey's gear. That is great gear, great color scheme. Go to DCGraise.com to check it out. But I do like the CityConnect uniforms. All right. Speaking of cities, you were in a few of them in a different country for over a week. So tell us real quickly about your Ireland trip. Okay.

Well, I'm not going to bury the lead here. What's the lead? Okay. Our last night there, we were in Dublin, and we stayed in a neighborhood called temple bar, which is kind of like Beal Street or Bourbon Street. Right. But there's a temple bar, and then there's a neighborhood called Temple Bar. Right.

And it's full bars and restaurants and people walking around all the time. So on Friday night, we're walking to a restaurant, a beautiful restaurant, a renovated church that's now become this real beautiful restaurant. And I feel in my back pocket, I feel a hand, trying to pull my wallet. So I grab the arm, and I throw them around, and there's this guy who's trying to pickpock him. He's like slam him up against this, I slam him against this chain-link fence,

and I started screaming, M-F at him. I mean, you piece of shit and all this stuff. And then a part of me, you know, composed myself to think that, okay, he didn't get the wallet. I've sufficiently, you know, marked my territory. People who do this business for a living could have maybe a razor or a knife with him. So I think it's time. I probably just let him go. So I let go and he ran away.

and I'm screaming at him as he's running. So that was the highlight of the trip. Oh, my God. Wait a minute. Hold on here. So are you in a restaurant in that temple? No, we're not in a restaurant. You're walking around?

Okay. So I'm assuming it's a big pick pocket area, right? Must be. Yeah. I mean, I didn't think of it. And you had the wallet in your back pocket? Yeah, that was stupid. But it's hard.

to get the wallet. You've seen my wallet. It's a Costanza wallet. It's hard to get it out of the pocket for me. It is, it is a dad's wallet. It's filled with a lot of shit. Um, so, so you feel the hand. You turn and grab his arm with his hand. No, I didn't turn. I reached back while he was back there. Right. I reached, was it crowded? Was it really crowded? Were there a lot of people walking together? It wasn't real crowded, but there were people on the street. Okay. And I grabbed the arm, and I threw them around in front of me. And I've got a pretty good grip on it.

You pulled them around in front of you. Yes. Okay. And then it was a chain-linked fence next to us. So I slammed them against the fence, and I'm holding them there with my other arm. Okay, stop for a moment. Tell me about what you saw when you wheeled this guy out in front of you. Was he a big dude?

was a young, old? Describe the thief. He was probably in his 20s. Not a big dude. You know, average size. And he looked scared. He did look scared? He did look scared.

And so... But I got to tell you something about this. The same exact thing happened to me in Barcelona. I was going to say Florence. Okay. It happened to you in Barcelona? Same thing. Yeah.

I did the same thing. I felt the hand back there. I grabbed the arm. I threw the guy around, and I started yelling at him, and then he ran away. And my kids were there that time. And that was the highlight of the whole trip to Spain. It was the fact that caught a pick box. So he did not, you threw him up against the chain-linked fence, and there was no fight.

He didn't fight back. Oh, no, no, no, no. Okay. And was he with that? anybody. Did anybody come to his rescue? If he had a partner, nobody came through. Maybe the partner saw how quickly you wheeled him around and

slammed him against the chain link fence and turned and ran. Left his boy there for you to pound on him. Now, did you throw any punches? No. No, because again, I... You verbally berated him up against the chain at link fence. You called him an MF. I had my... Piece of shit.

I had my forearm on his chest, holding him against him. offense. But I did. I stopped at all myself. If I'm a pickpocket, I'm not doing this unless I've got a knife or a razor or something on me to protect myself. Well, who was with you? So I thought myself Liz and Rocco and his partner. They were all with us. But they were walking in front, you know, because I'm the slowest walker. They're in. You were a slow walker. And so did they see this? Liz saw it. The two guys didn't see it, but they heard it. Wow. Look at you. Bad-ass Tom Leverro, the Irish side coming out in Ireland.

There it was. Hey, were you, did you have a couple of pops in you at that point? Well, I had a couple of pops to me. Right. Right. So, you know, there is some liquid courage involved in the response. I mean, I had so much Guinness in me. They almost closed down the battery. Oh, my God. That is a good story. And it ended well. It ended well. You know, pickpockets are, I'd love to know the success rate. But if he's a professional pickpocket, hell, if he's professional,

he would have lifted your wallet without you grabbing his arm. But I would bet these guys understand that occasionally they're not going to, you know, they probably take some lumps, you know, for the upside of lifting a few. Most of them have a partner. Yeah. And like you said, maybe that partner didn't want any part of it. Didn't want any part of Libera at that point. Not with a case of Guinness in him.

Wow. I had my pocket-picked once successfully, unfortunately, in New Orleans on a trolley, on a streetcar. I've been mugged before, but I've never had my pocket picked. Never. I should have kept my wallet in my front pocket. Even though it's hard to get out, I still should have done that. Yeah, you know, Europe, obviously, some of these cities, especially with, There are so many tourists, you know, like you mentioned Barcelona and, you know, Florence and Rome.

Like, these are the big warnings, right? You know, just be careful. Pickpockets there. And, like, I think, I'd like to look this up, actually. I don't know what the advice is, but I would bet you the advice is not to keep your wallet in your back pocket. Probably. Yeah. Probably should have.

Now, other than that, it was a typical tourist trip. We saw some unbelievably scenic mountains. I mean, like, you've seen the Lord of the Rings? Yeah. No, I haven't. I'm not a Lord of the Rings guy. I've not seen it. I've seen the movie.

Yeah. And the scenery in those movies, they were filmed in New Zealand. The scenery in those movies is so stark and rocky and like from another planet. Right. And that's what we saw. We saw parts of Ireland that literally looked like you were on the surface of another planet. He drove through Connors' Gap and the gap of Dunlow and the Ring of Kerry, all small, windy roads through these mountains. That was just breathtaking.

It was just absolutely amazing. We went to the cliffs of Mohar. I think I'm saying that right. These huge cliffs right on the coast that you can visit. We went to Galway for a couple of days, you know, saw Galway Bay. We went to a lot of pubs, listened to a lot of great Irish music. We flew into Dublin, drove to Galway, and circled around south on the way back to Dublin and the trip. Did you go to Cork?

No, we didn't go to Cork. Okay. Sorry. I thought you told me that you were going to Cork. But you, but you, so you like the trip. Oh, yeah. Yeah, everything, the travel, the airplane, the hotels. No horror stories traveling like you've had in the past?

No. No, no, no, no. Everything just went great. One night we stayed in a castle that's been turned into a hotel. And it was called Droma Land, and it was unbelievable. It was way above my pay grade, but we stayed there. for one night. Nice.

You would have loved it because it's on a golf course. Yeah. Okay. So keep it in mind if you want to take a trip to Ireland. It's called Dromo Land, the castle and the restaurants. They had a great indoor swimming pool, and there were people playing golf around us. So that was pretty cool one night in the castle. Our hotel accommodations were good, though.

Good. What about you've, I mean, you've mentioned the pubs and the Guinness. What about the food overall in Ireland? I've heard very mixed, very mixed reviews. Well, you know, for me, I mean, I have a very limited pallet to begin with. So basically, I would eat sandwiches and burgers, and that would be pretty much it. Okay. It's not a great selection of food to begin with.

Right. Not like Italy or Spain. Right. Or something like that. Okay. But what they lack in culinary excellence, they more than make up for in beer. Okay. And liquor.

Yeah. And being Irish, I tell you what, the Irish are really Irish in Ireland. Yeah. That's what I've heard. I've never been. I can't. I'm going to, you know what? I'm going soon.

I'm doing that trip soon. And it'll be a trip that I will do. I'll do that trip also with my boys and we'll definitely play some golf too. Yeah. So, all right. Well, what's... One of the thing we did. Yeah, please.

In Dublin, we went to the Irish Rock and Roll Hall fame, a museum. Actually, Irish Rock and Roll Museum. Right. And that was interesting. You know, there was a lot of youths. in there, Van Morrison, but primarily the biggest attraction in the museum was this band that came out of Ireland. I didn't even know they came out of Ireland in the mid-70s called Fitz Lizzie.

Yeah. Thin Lizzie. Remember Sidney. Yeah, they had a big hit called The Boys are back in town. Yeah, I remember Thin Lizzie. The great song, you know, but they are revered in Dublin. I didn't know they were even an Irish band. Lots of great Irish bands over the years.

Lots of them. Yeah. So the Irish Rock and Roll Museum was a pretty cool place. And we did to get its factory, which is really, it's like going to the Hershey factory. Everything is so high-tech and, you know, all meant to, you know, bombard your senses and stuff. and then when you get at the top of the building, it's like six, seven stories. There's like a glass restaurant where you can see the whole city and stuff. So all that, it was a great trip.

Nice. What's next on the agenda, the travel agenda for the Laverro clan? Well, I think we're in domestic territory for the foreseeable future. You know, we've never been to Yellowstone. We've never been to Yosemite. those are both on our list of places to go to. I'd like to take a road trip on the Pacific Coast Highway, so I think we're more domesticated for the next couple of years.

Really, for the next couple of years? So no Spain, Italy, south of France trips coming up soon? Well, it depends. You know, Italy actually depends. I mean, I'm in the process of trying to get my Italian citizenship. You are? Yes. You didn't tell me that. Why?

Well, because I thought it would be handy to have dual citizenship. For what reason? Well, I don't really want to discuss it. Oh, boy. Guess where Tommy's moving if the election goes in a certain direction in early November. That's funny. By the way, that drive down the Pacific coast, that is definitely a great trip.

I've done Yellowstone and Yosemite. Yellowstone's beautiful, they're beautiful places, but I think, God, that trip, you know, when you're talking about, you know, going, you know, Big Sur and Pebble and, you know, all of those places are, it's just beautiful. By the way, driving all the way south from San Francisco after those areas, you know,

in Carmel and Monterey, et cetera, you know, when you get to Santa Barbara, on your way down to L.A. That used to be, by the way, when I was a kid, that was always my dream. That was always my dream just to be in California next to the Pacific Ocean in one of those places that, you know,

you fantasized about because you saw it on TV all the time. Of course... Right. That the Beach Boys would sing about. The Beach Boys would sing about, but also, of course, Jim Rockford would be driving around a lot of those places. All right. I'm glad you had a good time.

And yeah, Tommy's back. So is the mock schedule. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, guys, now with the NFL draft behind us, it's time to focus on springtime games, like real games, playoff games. For me, it's the NBA playoffs. And if you're a daily fantasy sports player,

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Remember, I wasn't convinced that I would do it again. But why not? I mean, I miss it. If you wouldn't do it. I mean, it's fun, and there's not enough fun in this world. It's not that fun. But everybody does it now, which was kind of the reason for perhaps avoiding it. But a lot of you actually like it, and a lot of you don't like it, but I think more of you do like it. So over the last two days, Tommy, I've leaked out part of the mock schedule. I leaked out the opening. I've listened to you on the radio. The opener, and I leaked out another game late in the season, but I've got the whole thing here for today's show. Now, the NFL schedule, the NFL announced or it was reported that the NFL will actually do its schedule next Wednesday night. So a week

from tonight, I don't know why it's a little bit later. It'll be the latest that's ever come out. Why? I know why, because they don't want to conflict with yours. Well, no, I make sure that my mock schedule comes out before the actual schedule. If I did it after the schedule came out, that would be unfair. I'd get a lot of them right. I know, but they don't want to be so close within a couple of days. Of yours. So a couple of things. They don't want that to take attention away from what they do.

So a couple of things about the NFL schedule this year. They are going to, for the first time, have a Friday night week one game. That game will take place in Brazil between the Eagles and the Packers. That'll follow the Thursday night opener with the Tuesday night opener with the chiefs at home. We'll find out next week who they open up with. They're going to play a double header on Christmas Day. Christmas is on a Wednesday. I actually think that may be part of the challenge of doing the schedule this year is to make sure competitively that everybody has, you know, that Thursday, that Sunday to Thursday turnaround, which is, you know, a horrible turnaround for NFL

teams and that these teams that are going to be playing on Wednesday, Christmas Day, don't have a significantly massive disadvantage scheduling-wise compared to the other teams because there's no way they can play on Sunday and then play on Wednesday. They have to play probably the previous Thursday or Saturday, I guess. But yeah, Christmas Day is on a Wednesday and the NFL says, who cares? We're going to have a double header. The international game, There's a game in Germany this year. The Panthers will host that game. Three games, four games, excuse me, in London. The Bears, three of them, excuse me. The Bears, Vikings in Jacksonville, always Jacksonville will be the hosts. Washington doesn't play any of those teams on the road,

so they will not be involved in an international game this year. So my mock schedule is presented, of course, as always, every year by Windon Nation. Call them at 86699. Go to windownation.com. Mention my name for a free in-home estimate and get access to their deal right now, which is 50% off on all windows and five years of zero percent interest. If you've been thinking about new windows,

go to windownation.com. Go call them at 866.90 Nation. They'll take really good care of you. All right, here we go. I've already told you that my season opener for Jaden Daniels and the Washington commanders at the Giants Sunday, September 8th, 425. Week 2, Tommy, how about a matchup on Monday night football in week 2 with Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears in town?

Caleb Williams, the first pick in the draft. Jaden Daniels, the second pick in the draft. Hopefully he's starting at that point. as part of a Monday night two game offering from the NFL. They'll play Chicago in the first game at 7 o'clock Monday night, September 16th. Week three, the Steelers come to town for a 1 o'clock kick. Week four at Philadelphia at 1 o'clock. And then Washington will get a buy week.

They've had very late buy weeks the last couple of years. They get a buy week on Sunday, October 6th, week five of the NFL season. Then it's Atlanta at home on October 13th. Kirk Cousins returns. And then on Sunday night, October 20th, Washington at Baltimore. They have played on Sunday night football before. A matchup of Lamar Jackson and Jaden Daniels on Sunday night football, Washington has not had a scheduled Sunday night football game since 2021 when they played the Cowboys late in the season.

It was that COVID year where they had a bunch of players out and they lost 56 to 14. Their Sunday night game in 2022 late in the season against the Giants was flexed. So this is a scheduled Sunday night game October 20th up at M&T Bank against the Ravens. Then on October 27th, they're on the road again at Tampa Bay. They're home against Carolina on November 3rd at Cincinnati, November 10th at 1 o'clock. And then the first of two games against the Cowboys, home against Dallas, November 17th at 425. I've got that as a big second half of a Fox or CBS double-header game.

Sunday the 24th, Cleveland at home at 1 o'clock. And then Tom, Thanksgiving night, Washington hosting Philadelphia. Washington plays on Thanksgiving again in 2024. They've had a lot of games on Thanksgiving the last 12 seasons. They played on Thanksgiving last year in Dallas. They will be on Thanksgiving night at home against Philadelphia. They've done that once before. They played the Giants in that Thanksgiving night game back in 2017.

And then a week later, they will play the Cowboys on the road Thursday night football 815. I explained yesterday that the Cowboys always have, or seven out of the last eight years. They have had their Thanksgiving Day game, and then a week later played a home game at night on Thursday night football. Washington in 2017 played Thanksgiving night against the Giants, then played at Dallas a week later on Thursday night football. That's what I have happening this year. It's just Philadelphia at home on Thanksgiving. And then at Dallas on the 5th. Then they are at Arizona on December 15th. Army Navy play at FedEx Field or Commander's Field on December 14th, so they'll probably make sure Washington is on the road. a lot of research goes into this mock schedule, Tommy.

Can't play back-to-back-home games in December at that field, I don't think. So I've got them at Arizona on December 15th, home on December 22nd against Tennessee, at New Orleans on December 29th, and a season-ender against the Giants on January 5th at home. So they open with the Giants, they close with the Giants. They've got Philly on the road in late September, Philly at home on Thanksgiving night, Dallas at home on November 17th, and then at Dallas on Thursday night football. So they have four scheduled primetime games, Monday night against Chicago, Sunday night in Baltimore, Thanksgiving night against the Eagles, and Thursday night a week later at Dallas. and there's no real, like this isn't a schedule that's going to generate a lot of controversy. They have nine home games.

They have eight road games. There's only one West Coast trip this year. That's to Arizona. And that's it. That's my schedule. It ends, you know, at Arizona, Tennessee, at New Orleans, Giants. If they're in contention late in the season, that schedule finish with at Arizona, Tennessee at New Orleans and Giants looks favorable.

It's probably the most favorable part of this schedule. So there you go. How many will I get right? Probably none, but I hope to get one right. That's the goal every year, like last year when I got the opener right. Let me just break one down for you and ask you. Because it seems like if I understand it, you had to have the commanders playing on Thanksgiving night because of the second game of the season,

the way you said that, because of the second reveal that you made yesterday? Yeah, I kind of got ahead of my skis yesterday. And I had... It sounded like it. So you listened to it, so I had a second reveal. And as I was revealing it, for whatever reason, it occurred to me that maybe if Washington whoever plays Dallas on that Thursday night a week after Thanksgiving, it just kind of occurred to me in the moment that that team

typically plays on Thanksgiving Day, whether it's against Detroit or whether it's in that night game, which changes every year. And so I had already said at Dallas on December 5th, which meant that I pretty much had to lock Washington into Thanksgiving night. Like they don't play at Detroit, so that meant they had to play the night game because you're not going to play. You can't play at Dallas on Thanksgiving and then play at Dallas a week later. You only play at Dallas once a year.

Look, you know, NFC East teams are always prominently featured, you know, in big spots. Like last year, the Christmas Day game was Giants Eagles. You know, Cowboys Giants Sunday night football seems to be a lock every year. Not this year because Washington's going to open against the Giants on the road. considered Washington at Dallas for the Sunday night opener, season opener. But yeah, I kind of boxed myself into that one. But you know what? Doing it without boxing myself in hasn't worked very well over the years, so maybe

this will work out. Right? I mean, the best I've ever done, I think one year, I think one year I got three, right and a fourth was like the right date but it was like at Philly instead of home against Philly or something like that but most years I'm really striving to get one right and then be within a few weeks you know be within one week on like two or three others I have no idea I would imagine honestly that Washington with Jaden Daniels is going to get more priming time opportunities than they've gotten in recent years. Washington has not been a big time feature

of prime time games. You know, last year they had, you know, Chicago on Thursday night football, because everybody has to play a Thursday night game, and they had the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving Day. That was it. They didn't have any other games that were, you know, nationally televised going in. 22. They had a Thursday night game against Chicago. They had a Monday night game. Remember, the Eagles were undefeated, and they beat Philly on Monday night football. And that was it in terms of what they were scheduled for. Now, they did have that game late in the season against the Giants flex to Sunday night football. But they have been avoided like the plague by the NFL schedule makers in recent years.

I mean, again, they haven't been scheduled for the NFL's prime spot, which is Sunday night football, not Monday night football. They haven't been scheduled for it since 2021. They used to get scheduled for it all the time. So I do think this year because of Jaden Daniels, and maybe it would have been the same had they drafted, you know, Drake May. But I think Daniels and the excitement around him to a certain degree might give them three or four, and I've got them with four prime time spots. That would be double what they've had, you know, recently.

Okay. Now, I may be late to this conversation, but we're all assuming that Jane Daniels is their quarterback this year. Yes, I am. On the field? Yes. All the time. Yes.

Okay. When you say all the time. I mean, from the beginning of game one. I think he will start week one. It's actually well done on your part, even though I know you didn't intentionally do it. But we're going to play some Jaden Daniels sound from Kishon Johnson's podcast yesterday. And he was actually asked if he thought he would start week one. So you will hear what he said right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, including EE system. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, you know, I shouldn't have to tell anyone about Shelly's. All you got to do is read the reviews that are online from Monday night Cigars and Curve Vault event at Shelley's. A lot of people got a chance to see firsthand what a great place Shelley's backroom is at 1331 F Street Northwest in the district. That's what I would hear from people. What a great time they had.

And then I would hear what a great place this is. I wish I knew it was here before. Well, I've been telling you it's there. Now you know it's there. Tell your friends about Shelley's back room. the great camaraderie. I mean, it was obviously tremendous camaraderie because the room was filled with a lot of people there. But on any given night at Shelly's, you can find a great crowd with great people to talk to, great cigars, great drinks,

just sort of almost like Monday night. It's like a festival every night at Shelly sometimes. Okay, you can find out more at Shelly's Backroom.com. I just want to thank again the owner, Bob Matarazzi, for his generous hosting of our event year after year and the generous donation that he makes to the D.C. Grays. And he bought at the auction the framed D.C. Gray's jersey that has the signatures of every national from the 2019 World Series championship team. All the nationals from that autograph.

graph that gray's jersey and it's framed and he says he's going to hang it up in shelley's someplace yeah i mean you had you had some great uh auction items i mean you had some people really come through for you because those aren't easy things to get um and that was that was a good one for sure yeah all right uh so you asked me at the end of the last segment do i think jaden daniels start. And if you're specifically asking me, do I think he'll start right from the beginning of the season? I do. Why? Do you think that they will, you know, ease him into it? I don't see any reason why they would, unless it was a problem. I mean, if there's a problem, he's not going to be on the field. If he's right where they think he should be, he'll be on the

field game one. I'm completely in agreement with you. I think given how much college football he's played given how much people talked about him being perhaps the most ready to play right away. Then you consider the environment. He's going to a team that doesn't have an incumbent starter. This isn't a Jordan Love, Alex Smith, Patrick Mahomes situation, Jordan Love, Aaron Rogers situation. I think if he doesn't start right from the jump or certainly very early on, I think it means that they didn't get what they thought they were getting. Now, I don't think that it would mean that it's over that early. But I think it would be disappointing, I think, to them if he wasn't ready to step in and play week one.

So I do think that he's going to be ready to play week one. I anticipate that. That said, some of it may depend on how much they can protect him. which I'm not real enthusiastic about right now. Right. I mean, the same, I see, as of now, I see the same problems that have persisted with this offense in the previous regime for the past couple years. Poor pass protection. Yeah, there was some poor quarterbacking to go along with the poor pass protection.

Because we've talked about this. But he's going to have a guy learning on the job. He may be a great quarterback, but he's learning on the job. and, you know, if the past protection is worse than I even think it is, I don't know if they want to stick them out there and take a beating. Remember, and I know I've mentioned this, the past protection based on, you know, a lot of the analytics, you know, groups last year was not as bad as most in the fan base think it was.

The pass block win rate next gen's number was right in the middle of the pack of the NFL. And I've said before, I didn't think watching the offensive line that it was a good pass-protecting offensive line. I admit that it looked bad to me too. I also recognized Sam Howell had a big hand in all of those sacks. I think what it is is that there aren't a lot of great offensive lines in the league. it is really hard to have a great pass-protecting offensive line. There are a lot of offensive lines in the league that, you know, according to numbers like NextGen and PFF's numbers were a lot worse than Washington last year.

But I'm with you. I still look at that as an area of weakness that needs to be improved. I think his mobility, and by the way I would suggest his ability to re-defense, and a pro-style offense at LSU, I think he's going to be ready with or without an offensive line issue. I do. So yesterday, Jaden Daniels was on Kishon Johnson's podcast called All Facts, No Breaks. And Kishon asked him if he was going to be ready and anticipates starting in week one. Here's what Jaden Daniel said. Do you anticipate starting week one?

Do I anticipate? I mean, I'm confident in my abilities, but that's a decision that they got to make. That's a bugger. And I ain't asked you, stop. That's a decision. Do you, as a number two pick of the draft, anticipate starting? Or you think they're going to bring you along slowly, so to speak? From what I heard, they say whenever I'm ready, I'm ready.

Yeah. So whenever I feel like I'm ready, I'm ready. I didn't start. I'm trying to think when I start, I probably didn't start to midway during the year. Yeah, they didn't tell me like, oh, like you got to start week one. They just said, whenever you're ready, like, you ready, whenever you feel ready, we feel you ready. We're going to throw you out. I know most of you know this by now that I am a fan of Jaden Daniels and I am rooting for Jaden Daniels, but I do think I have the ability to be constructively critical. I mean, they haven't played a game yet. we are at that time of year where all we really have are interviews and comments to, you know,

nitpick to death like we typically do. But I think he's really handled a lot of these things very well. I think that was a great answer. I think he handled. I think he handled that very well, but I think they were trying to go to him and saying, yeah, of course I should be the starter. They absolutely were. And he didn't take debate. Smart enough not to take debate. That would... Yeah, and then there was another, you know, trying to get him to take debate question. Listen to Keishon Johnson's son, who is a part of his podcast,

try to get him to make a big proclamation about winning the NFC East. Jayden, do you think the commanders can win the NFC East this year? I don't even know. Yeah, you think, yeah. I mean, I'm confident in my squad, but I got to... to get out there and go to work and see, see everybody working with. Yeah. And see how tight we could bond.

I mean, obviously we got DQ and what he did in Dallas as a D.C. He went to the Super Bowl in Atlanta. One of the Super Bowl is a D.C. in Seattle. Yeah. So I think, I think once we, everybody get there, everybody get to working, how quick we could come together, you know, we should see. I think we can make some noise, though. again Tommy the right answer you know I know there are people that are that are out there

like oh real competitor would have said yeah we're going to win the NFCs no no no no he did not take the bait at all yeah and he handled himself very well with those questions I mean I don't want to do what you did in 2012 and fawn all over the new quarterback before he's played an actual like you did when he waited for the planes to fly overhead so that everybody could hear his answers. But this guy is not taking the bait. And I think many of his answers really just speak to a guy that wants to get to work. And this is what Adam Peters talked a lot about is what we really loved about him is he puts in the work. He's about, you know, the work and getting better.

And I think, you know, you kind of hear that. and some of his answers. So I don't know. Yeah. I feel good about everything so far. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,

High marks for doing that. Doesn't mean much until they actually play games, but he's not out there doing what, you know, a lot of players in this organization did for years and years and years, which is over-promise big time in May and, you know, June and July and August, and then fall short when the game. were actually played.

Yeah, well, I mean, it was kind of a ridiculous question because something I wanted to ask you about that I saw before I left for Ireland, I think. So it's been a long time. I think your guy, Ben Standing, who we both know and respect as a beatwriter, suggested at one point that it's very likely that commanders will finish with a top 10 pick in next year's draft.

that would mean they're not going to be very good. Right. So? So to ask the question, do you think you can win the NFC East? There's a big gap between that and this other view that they'll be bad enough to still win in the top 10. Do you think that? Jordan Reed at ESPN last week had his 2025-7 round-bock track. I mean, that's a lot of work.

Was it seven rounds? I don't know if it was seven rounds. No, it was two rounds, my fault. He had Washington picking second in the 2025 drive. There'll be a lot of disappointed people if that happens. They're over under is six and a half. You know, it's not what Houston's was last year. Houston's was like four and a half, maybe five and a half.

I mean, Houston was supposed to have the second pick in the 2024 draft, and they won 10 games and won the division. Look, that's the aberration. That's the exception to the rule, what Houston did last year with a rookie quarterback. I don't think that they will be a playoff team in 2024. I also think that they're not a four-win team with the players they had last year in a normal situation, meaning a coaching staff. that wasn't lame duck, an offensive coordinator who was perhaps more qualified to be an offensive coordinator at the NFL level. You know, there was a lot working against them before last season even began. And four wins, I don't think, was reflective of their talent. I'm not saying that, you know, eight or nine wins would have been. But, you know, I think just the changes to front office, coaching staff, and if you get better quarterback play, which we're certainly hoping for,

I think doubling their win total isn't crazy. That doesn't mean that they're going to be in the postseason if they go eight and nine. But seven or eight wins to me doesn't seem that nuts, which would put them close to top 10 territory in terms of draft choices. But yeah, I don't think you're going to see improvement. You can't predict this thing because you can't predict things like injuries when it comes to the NFL seasons, but they should be better. They've revamped the roster. They got better players in spots where they were hurting last year. And they've got, I think, a better coaching situation. Dan Quinn, Cliff Kingsbury, the staff they've put together is a first-class staff. It is. You know, they needed Quinn to put this staff together. But last

year, you know, and I don't knock Ron and haven't knocked Ron for being some pitiful coach like some of you have out there. I think Ron proved himself over a long period of time that he can coach. But last year was a loss season for him. You know, he was, this was not about, you know, trying to win 10 games and stick, you know, for his fifth and final year, get a contract extension. and I think he knew from the beginning, new regime, you know, he's done when the season ends. I think that's one of the reasons he gave Eric Bienemy the shot. You know, Andy Reid's a good friend of his, and I think there was something there with that opportunity that Eric Bianne got in Washington when no one else wanted to employ him other than Kansas City.

What a disaster he was? The whole situation that he came into in his defense was a disaster. or two. You know, I mean... But he didn't adapt to that situation. Yeah. No, I agree. It was not...

It was... Like, we talked about last year, we don't keep going back to it, but there was a reason that nobody else wanted to hire him in the entire league. But I feel good about Jaden Daniels so far. You know, there haven't been any answers that have been reason for concern. But football doesn't start real football until September, although rookie minicamp is this coming weekend, right? We'll see him in a jersey. You know, he and Tressway have a planned announcement on Friday. Did you read about that?

No, I can't say I caught that. Do you know why they might have? No, tell me. Well, because Tressway wears number five. That's Jaden Daniel's number. Oh, okay. Yeah. You're running out of steam here, aren't you here at the end? I can hear it in your voice. Well, somebody's going to pay somebody, and that money's going to go to some kind of charity, right?

I guess. I don't, you know, trustway seems like a great dude. They don't have to buy up a lot of trussway jerseys that are out there in circulation. There's probably not a lot there. I do think it's kind of interesting, just that the guy that's been in the organization, the longest and who has arguably been their best and most consistent player for the last decade that he's got to give up his number for the rookie? I don't know. Maybe he's willing to do it. I mean, you're the guy with the smart business mind. If that's the case, would Tressway be better off saying, look, you can have the jersey,

but I want this percentage of, of the money that comes from the Jersey sales. But it doesn't work that way, though, doesn't. I forget how the Jersey sales thing works. I mean, I don't think Jayden Daniels gets more because his jersey sells more, does it? Coolies explain this to me before. I'd have to look this up.

Okay, well, I'm not sure. I don't want to fall over myself on this one. Players receive two-thirds. From April 2021, players receive two-thirds of the proceeds from Jersey sales. The remaining third typically goes to the union, which then puts some of that money into a pool for all players. So they do benefit from the sale of their own jersey. Well, I know they benefit, but they do. Does Jay and Daniels make more money because his jersey sells more?

Or does it go on just one big pool that the players divide? No, it says right here, when it comes to. jersey sales, NFL players receive a portion of the proceeds. Specifically, players receive two-thirds of the proceeds from jersey sales. The remaining third typically goes to the union and then put some of that money back into a pool for all players. So I think that's saying that two-thirds of the proceeds goes to the player whose jersey is sold. So if that's the case, that's the deal that Trestway should make at a percentage of that. Forever.

Yeah. Forever. What percentage would you ask for? I mean... Well, I would rely on somebody with more expertise than me. Yeah, me too. I need to see what Kooley's given me these numbers before, and I just forget them. All right.

Are we done for the day? I did want to mention real quickly, and I'm sure you didn't follow this story, I'm surprised, maybe not surprised, but I'm disappointed that Jamal Murray didn't get suspended. for what he did the other night. He should have been. I know the story. Okay. I've seen the highlights. He should have been. My God. I mean, if I was a fan, they ban him from the stadium. I just don't know how you throw something from a bench at a referee

and you actually put in danger players on the floor who are playing and you don't get suspended. But what it says clearly is that Adam Silver in the league, It's called, you know, it's business, baby, it's business. And we need our best players on the floor because Jewel and Bede could have been suspended in that Nick series for grabbing Mitchell Robinson's leg from when he was on the floor. And they didn't suspend him. They didn't even tee him up, I don't think. They didn't eject him anyway. I actually was wondering, and I think the point I'm going to make is actually a good one for once.

I think if Denver was up two games to nothing in the series rather than being down two games to nothing, I think they would have suspended him. What he did is unprecedented. You know, no one's ever, and you have to have some sense of protecting your referees, which a fine doesn't do in this case. The fine, by the way, was $100,000, which is nothing. It costs to do in business. Yeah.

And I think if Denver were up two games to none, he probably wouldn't have been frustrated. and throwing things at the referee. But my point being is they need Denver to get back into this series. They need this series to go six, seven games. They'd probably prefer Denver to win it, although Anthony Edwards is such an up-in-coming superstar, and him on the big stage wouldn't be a bad thing either. But I just think he should have been suspended for that.

You're right. I'm 100% behind you on that one. All right. Are we done for the day? You sound like you're running out of steam. I'm still recovering from Ireland. I know. I can hear it in your voice. Sorry, we're done today.

We've got other things to talk about. We didn't cover everything we wanted to cover, and we'll save it for tomorrow. Tommy will be back tomorrow. See you, Tommy. Okay, boss. I'll see you.