The Kevin Sheehan Show - Montez Sweat vs Preston Smith and Jeopardy James

Episode Date: June 4, 2019

Kevin and Thom opened the show with Thom's big lifetime achievement award and a discussion of Jeopardy James' final night. Then several Redskins-related discussions that included the defensive coaching staff (aka The Over the Hill Gang) and an argument between Kevin and Thom about the differences between Montez Sweat and Preston Smith. They finished up with Kawhi Leonard's new Toronto purchase, the Nats, and Roger Goodell's comments about decreasing future preseason games. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. That's right. Tommy is here on Tuesday, June 4th. Aaron is here as well. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. I walked into the studio this morning. Tommy was already here. And on our table, that we share with him on one side of the table with a microphone in front of his chair and me on the other, right in the middle of both of us was this monstrosity of an award. My God, that is big. Tom, as he told you late last week, was at the Copa Cabana in Manhattan on Saturday night. Friday night. And Friday night to receive the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Bioburn. boxing journalism for the year 2018, and this is quite an award. It's like it's a statue. Is that you?

Yeah, yeah, that's me. You can tell by the definition. The definition looks just like you. Yes, absolutely just like me. Actually, the guy Ruiz looked more like you. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Which, a fight that I didn't go to the following night, I wish I had, because it would have been worth a few laps. Well, I did read your column because essentially within 24 hours of each other, two non-defined guys in many ways, not just physically, were having great success in New York City. In New York City and boxing. So how was the night? Oh, well, the night was pretty cool. You know, the best part besides E. Ward was seeing Ray Leonard.

So he was there? Yeah, he showed up. and we talked for a while. We had, we had, he, he looks great. He looks like he could fight tomorrow, you know. Tommy, how old is he? 60? Yeah, I think so.

And a little bit older than that, me, might be 61 or 62. I mean, because in 1976, how old was he probably? 19? 19, maybe. Something like that. Yeah. So, but he was there. Bernard Hopkins was there.

And what was, what's weird, though, is the guys who voted for, for me for this award are past Fleischer Award winners. There was only one of them there because none of them cover boxing anymore. Either they're retired. Give me those names. Well, guys like Wally Matthews. I remember him. He worked on ESPN boxing for a while.

Yeah. Now he works for Yahoo covering baseball in the New York Mets. He does some boxing. Ron Borges, who still does some boxing. New England guy. He's a lot of NFL football for the Boston Herald. And, you know, guys like Eddie Schuyler from AP is retired. Mike Katz from the Daily News is retired.

Tom Archdeacon, one of the great boxing writers, doesn't really write about boxing anymore for the Dayton Daily News. So, I mean, it was a bittersweet night because the business has changed so dramatically. None of the people who I used to cover fights with were there. You said one person was. person, Bernie Fernandez used to be to Philly Daily News boxing writer. Now he writes for a website like everybody does who covers boxing. It's very rare that newspapers cover fights like they used to. So it was kind of strange in that I didn't really know anybody except for a handful of people.

But yet I was getting recognized by the Boxing Writers Association for this award. Well, the boxers that were there, Ray Leonard knows you, Bernard Hopkins knows. you. Yeah. And there was a cruiserweight champion sitting at our table who I had never seen before. I didn't even recognize him and his manager who I'd never heard of. He won fighter of the year. And his manager won manager of the year. And I never heard of either of them.

Well, did you even know the Ruiz Joshua fight is happening Saturday night? Yeah, I knew that. And I mean, I figured it would be a walkthrough for Joshua. I mean, it was just supposed to be his American debut, you know, something to keep him busy to eventually he would fight Wilder at some point. Now we know he probably never had any intention of fighting Wilder. I mean, because this guy has a glass jaw. Yeah. You know, and Wilder, look, Wilders, the whole, Andy Ruiz is a heavyweight champion for these times because the heavyweight division stinks. So he's the

perfect champion for a guy who probably has no business. I don't care how skillful he is at boxing being heavyweight champion. But yes, he is now. And like a guy like Wilder, he hits hard.

He knocked the guy he fought a week or two would go out one round. But he throws punches like he's in a road rage video. There's no science to it. I mean, you know, and so Andy Ruiz is the perfect heavyweight champion for these times. But now we've got a generation of people who are excited about the heavyweight division.

People are getting interested in it. And I just can't do it because I know what good boxing is and good heavyweight boxing is. And this ain't it. Who are right now the big boxing draws? Is Canello still a draw? Oh, yeah. Is Triple G a big draw still? Yeah.

Who else? Spence is a big draw. A few others at the welterweight middleweight division are still big draws. I think Triple G is fighting this weekend at the garden. And Canelo got the biggest contract of any single athlete in sports. Right. He got like this 10 fight $360 million deal from DeZone, that streaming service. All right.

So tell me about the night. First of all, did they take good care of you? Did you have good parking? Well, I took the train up. I'm kidding. Yeah. What about the hotel? They put you in.

Nice hotel? They didn't pay for the hotel. They didn't? No, they didn't pay for the hotel. Really? No, the Washington Times. They pay for the train ride up? No.

They didn't pay for that either. No, they didn't pay for that either. So maybe you purchased this award. No, no, I got in free. It's $150 to get into the dinner. Okay. So I got in free, and my wife got in free. That's good.

And I had to pay for my son, Rocco, to get in. But the Washington Times paid for my train ride in my hotel. We stayed at the Marriott Marquis right around the corner. Right in Times Square. Yeah, right around the corner from the Copacabana. So did you, where were you on the rundown? Where was your award? First one. First one. First one. And I got to tell you, the other ones, they pale in comparison and at least looks to this thing. There's nothing. There was nothing, no hardware they gave out that approaches this trophy. I'll take a picture of it and tweet it out here. Remind me to do

that, Aaron, right before the show. So I was one of the first ones, and I had to give up and get up and give a speech. And, of course, the first thing I did. Who introduced you? Another boxing writer who I have no idea who he is. And did he have a nice introduction of you? Yeah, a very nice introduction. And elicited all of your accomplishments.

He did. I didn't know who he was. Okay. Who was the MC for the night? This guy? No, some other guy I don't know. What a night. Yeah.

All right. So how did your speech go? Well, it was good. You know, like I opened all my speeches, I opened it by thanking you. You know, thank you very much. Like I do with all my speeches for everything you've done for my career. I appreciate that. And I thought it was, you know, my wife videotaped it.

I thought I did pretty good. She did videotape? Yeah, you know, it's interesting. Will you send it to me? Yeah, I'll send it to you. What's interesting is I cut a short a little bit because. Shorter's better. Yeah, I just, when I was up there, I just had a sense that they got a

a lot of awards to go through. And you may have been, had, you had sketched out something a bit too long? Yeah, so I just cut out, I probably cut out about 30% of it. Okay. So it worked out just fine. So it was a nice night. You take home this big award and did Ray come up to you and say, Tommy, or did you find Ray? I mean, Ray knows you.

Yeah. Well, because I remember when we were trying to get Ray for that thing, and he's like, and I said it's going to be Tom and I, and he's like, oh, my God, I would love to do it with Tom. He's the best. He's one of the best boxing writers ever. Of course, he never did it with us, but whatever. No, he never did. But he did appear on my podcast.

He did. Cigars and Curveballs, which you can still find on the internet. On iTunes? And iTunes and stuff. But I saw Ray at the cocktail hour. Okay. And, you know, he was very, he's a very nice guy. I introduced him to my wife and my son.

He was very nice. And we talked a little bit about boxing. We talked about these Facebook fitness videos he does. He does these Facebook fitness videos. I follow him on Facebook, so I see the videos, and he was very excited about that. And he is in great shape. He lives in L.A., right? Yeah, yeah.

And I think he did the commentary for the fight Saturday night. Oh, I didn't know that. But I'm not sure. But, you know, when you're Ray Leonard and you're at a boxing dinner, everybody wants a piece of you. Right. So, I mean, he was pretty much consumed, and he's very good at that. He is good at that. He likes.

He lights up a room. Yeah, and he's willing to get his picture taken with everybody who wants him to, you know, get their picture taken with him. So it was, look, it was, this award, congratulations. A lot to me because of the people who have won it before. Right. I mean, some of the guys I mentioned are guys who have tremendous respect for. Right. You know, like I said in the, in the speech, I,

told the story about the first fight I covered as a boxing writer, which was Larry Holmes fighting Van der Holofield, Holofield defending his title out in Vegas. I think it was in June in 92. And there was this legendary restaurant, old school restaurant where the, where mobsters, hustlers, boxers, boxing writers hung out called the flame. And it was still open then. It's close since then. Bert Sugar's Holden Court? In this place? Well, I walk into the flame one night, and I don't know anybody among boxing later.

At that point. I've only been at the Times for six months, and I wasn't a sports writer before that. So I walk into the flame, and at the end of the bar are Ed Schuyler from AP, Mike Katz from the New York Daily News, and Pat Putnam from Sports Illustrated. And I said, for me,

this was like a rookie in New York in the 1950s, walking into a bar and seeing Willie Mays, Duke Snyder, and Mickey Maddo at the end. Yeah. I mean, it was a dream come true to see these guys, and I wound up hanging out with them and drinking with them and became really good friends with them. Right. So that's one of the stories I told. This is, all those guys have won this award.

Didn't we, didn't we grab lunch or cocktails or something with Burt Sugar at one of those fights? I'm sure we did. I remember, you know, it was well after our show was over, but we were out there hanging around. I was probably gambling. Yeah. And you said, you know, come meet me wherever, and I showed up at whatever bar that was. The MGM. Yeah, it was in the MGM.

It was in the Lovby bar there. And there you were with Bert Sugar and a bunch of boxing, you know, guys. But, I mean, Bert Sugar with that hat and the whole, you know, he was really a boxing, you know, legend when it came to being a writer and a commentator. University of Maryland graduate. Yes, he was. And very, very proud of being a Terp alum. Yep.

And, you know, he came to some, when he would come to functions at the University of Maryland because he'd be invited down sometimes, he'd always give me a call and we'd get together and go out. I took him to Shellies one night. He loved shelley's. And here's the other thing. When I was with Bert and a lot of nights I was out drinking with Bert, we never paid for a drink because it was like being with a rock star.

Right. Everybody wanted to buy him drinks. Yeah, he was that. Well, congratulations. It's a nice, big award. You carried it in here. You probably needed help carrying that thing in here. And you already told me that you had to ship it back because it wouldn't have, it wouldn't have fit on the train.

Well, you know, this brings up another idea that I've had. I've discussed this with you before, and I discussed it with Chad Dukes when I was on 1067 a fan last week with him. we need to start a Washington, D.C. Sports Talk Radio Boxing. No, Sports Talk Radio Hall of Fame. And give each other awards. You know what? Why not? Let's prop ourselves up since no one else will. Yes, let's give each other awards and we'll decide who gets in. I like that idea. You like it? Well, especially if you and I are in charge. Yes. Yeah, we could, you know, we'll pick the people we like and dismiss those that we don't like. Yeah.

Although we like almost everybody. No, we don't. Well, you don't. You do. You don't. In sports talk radio, is there anybody I don't like, like, personally? I don't think so. Okay.

I know, well, I know you. Okay. You better veer off this path. It's a veer off this path. The truth is, I don't really know anybody at your station. Right. I really don't. I mean.

I like my guys. Yeah, I know you do. All right. A couple things. First of all, you're not. paying attention and you haven't been watching Jeopardy. No. Because you've already made fun of the conversation that Aaron and I had about it.

It was so much Game of Thrones like. I can't believe. It's nothing like Game of Thrones. The conversation was. It's Jeopardy. No. The conversation didn't have, did not resemble Game of Thrones like. And all it did was make me so happy that another tsunami of nonsense has gone through

the social media world that I have no clue about anything. I know. Well, when you aren't in on it or you don't understand it, it is just, you know, it's, you minimize it to a point in which it's not recognizable. That's a small thing. Because that's an insecurity of yours. That's a very small amount because there's very little that I don't understand. Jeopardy James just ask you, you'll tell us specifically what you don't understand, and that list is very short, according to you. I think it's much longer than you believe it is. But Jeopardy James lost last night on his 33rd episode.

He was within $60-something thousand dollars of breaking the all-time mark set by Ken Jennings, who is a Jeopardy legend. Do you watch Jeopardy ever? Not since I was 15 years old. What, when it was on in the middle of the day? When Art Fleming did it. Art Fleming. Yes, I used to watch it religiously.

Did Alex Trebeck replace Art Fleming? I mean, Alex Trebeck's, he's been the host of this since the 80s. Yeah, there might have been one brief person. I can't remember exactly, but he was very shortly after flying. During the summers when I was off from school before I'd hit the bricks and go out and play basketball, ride my bike and stuff. Look, it was Hollywood squares. Yeah.

And then Paul Lynn right in the middle. Yeah, and Peter Marshall was the host. And then Jeopardy right after that at noon. So, yeah, I used to watch it then. You didn't watch Tick-Tack Toe with Bill Cullen? No, that didn't do much for me. I watched Password. Password was good. What about match games? Do you ever watch a match game at night?

No, no, that Gene Rayburn irritated me. Really? Yeah, that stupid microphone he had. Yeah, he had a big old microphone. So there are two things off of Jeopardy James losing. First of all, he didn't break Ken Jennings record. He, however, holds the top 10 all-time show records, I believe, in 23 of the top 27. Yeah, I think it might be the top 15 at this point even. Whatever it is.

The bottom line is his strategy, which now people think will become a new and accepted strategy of being very aggressive, you know, especially with daily doubles, et cetera. But he set all of these, you know, individual show records. Ken Jennings took 70-something shows to get to 2.5 million. And James was already at 2.4 million through 32 shows. So he was going to break the record in, you know, in less than half the time. there were two things that came out of the show last night. If you all are into this and you were watching, and if you're not, I'll get to the second piece,

which may be more interesting to you. The first part was that he had a very odd final jeopardy wager that people didn't get, and it led to a lot of discussion on the internet about conspiracy theories, and this was the night where it was rigged for it to end, and Alex Trebek, at the beginning of this particular show, show, Aaron, was pretty adamant saying, is this the night? Is enough enough of James? Anyway,

the final wager on final jeopardy that he made actually made a lot of sense. Aaron and I understand it. This would sail completely above your head, including your awards head, which is even taller than your head right now. But basically, I don't think in any particular episode, correct me if I'm wrong, Aaron, he had trailed going in the to Final Jeopardy until last night. And that's why people thought it was so weird because he bet so low when he was defending his lead in the past and this time he was trying to come up from second place. The net of it is his bet made sense because if Emma, who ended up winning and she's a librarian from Chicago, very good, very smart, she was quick on the buzzer too. And she actually

had the lead for the first time against Jeopardy, James going into Final Jeopardy. If she got the answer right, he was going to lose. He assumed correctly that she was going to bet to lock him out. Enough to lock him out if she got the answer right. So what he did is he protected against the third place guy and bet just enough to make sure that if he got the answer wrong, he would still finish a dollar ahead of the third place guy. And then if she got it wrong, she was trying to wager enough to make sure that she beat James,

he would win. It was smart strategy, which by the way, I don't. see that strategy ever employed by the person in second place. No, you usually go a dollar more than if the person bet's zero. Right. So it was actually the really smart strategy because he realized the only way he was going to win is if she missed the final Jeopardy question and then he could beat out the, then it was him against the third place guy and he ensured that he would have beaten the guy in third place. Anyway, she got the answer right and she won and now it's Emma from Chicago moving

forward. But the other part of this, Tommy, is that the show's results got leaked early during the day. Well, not leaked. It was aired. The show was aired in a couple of markets early in the day where it runs like at noon time. Or even, I think it's Selma, Alabama. It runs at 9 in the morning.

9 in the morning in Selma, Alabama. So once it ran on Selma, you know, local television, Darren Ravelle felt it was his job to let the world know that James was going to lose when basically 90% of the markets get Jeopardy at night. And people unleashed on Darren Revelle, like, I swear to God, you've got to read the responses. He tweeted out very early in the day after it had actually aired.

In today's episode of Jeopardy, which is already aired, and he says in multiple markets at that point, James Holeshauer loses on his 33rd episode. We talked to him this morning about his final episode, his run, and what's next for his pro sports betting career. There were close to 2,000 responses to Ravelle's tweet, of which I would say 1999 of them were you turd for spoiling this. What are you doing? I mean, it's just, they called him every name in the book.

And what was interesting is I was going through this. People who are Vegas sports guys, who apparently are also into jeopardy, consider Ravel to be a major mark, like, you know, not really under. He writes a lot about sports gambling, sports business, for ESPN for years. Now he's with the Action Network. Yeah. And it's funny because I'm guys I follow in sort of the sports gambling world. were ripping him on his Twitter, just saying,

what a horrible thing to do. And then they were getting into conversations with themselves about him being a no-nothing sports betting guy. And I said to Aaron earlier today, I can't remember if we had him on the podcast or it was on the radio show on 980. But the last time I had him on, it was shortly after sports betting got legalized.

And I remember hanging up from the interview going, he doesn't know anything about sports betting. I mean, he understands the legal states and what they need to get it, but he actually doesn't understand anything about sports betting. It was clear to me that he was not a sports better, which is okay, but all these guys that are were just ripping him, because apparently he tries to come off as a big time better. But it was some mean responses and mean memes.

And I actually think people are right. I mean, not that I would rip him like that. But why would you spoil it? You said Steinberg put something up yesterday and then took it down immediately? It wasn't immediately. It took a little bit because he was getting the same really angry response to that. I had no idea that people would. He viewed it as a sporting event.

He viewed it as the same as like posting the Olympic results when it's in a different time zone. And people viewed it as a TV show. So he must have taken a quick response, Ravel-like. Oh, yeah. But he was, last I saw before he deleted, it was something like 200 responses and all of them were negative. I mean, some of the tweets were, you know, not as mean-spirited, but very sarcastic. Like, let's spoil it for the rest of the country, Darren, because it's already aired in Albuquerque, you know, things like that throughout. But he spoiled it for a lot of people.

I still would guess that it's going to be the highest-rated show of all of them, in part because people knew he was going to lose. I'm sure. Don't you think? Because not everybody was catching it every night. And I didn't catch it every night. But when I knew that he was going to lose last night, I tuned in and watched it. I mean, the ratings overall for the run were ridiculous. They were beating the NBA finals in some markets.

Does that make you feel any differently about it? No, first of all, I'm in awe. I am in awe of your game show knowledge. It's stunning. I had no idea that you had so much knowledge about such a real. rich and valuable subject has gay shows. You know, I mean, I have a newfound respect for you. I was a big Richard Dawson fan.

You know, maybe you should... Fanny flag. Maybe you should go around the senior citizen complexes and give talks. You know what? Leisure World's invited me. I could understand that because I'm betting the conversation. It's pretty much like this there. By the way, 10.1 overnight rating.

Oh, my God. Are you serious? That's what I'm saying. I want to point out everybody's beating the NBA finals these days. A 10.1 for, by the way, that's early fringe. That's not even prime time in most markets because there's no way Jeopardy errs any later than 7.30 local time. It's generally 7 or 730. Sometimes you'll see in the 6 o'clock hours.

And I think, by the way, just about Alex, you know, one of the conspiracy theories was that Alex Trebek, who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is pretty aggressive. Yes, it is. cancer, that maybe he wanted to be around for James' final show. But I think, Aaron, correct me if I'm wrong, there was news recently that he's getting healthier and it's in remission. Well, it's not completely in remission yet, but it's... But he's gotten very good news. It's heading that way.

Apparently the tumors have reduced by 50% and he's apparently on his way to remission. The doctors believe it's coming. Tommy right now. He's just rubbing his eyes. He's like, what are we doing? doing. The most important thing in sports today is Jeopardy James. Jeopardy James was quite the show there for a while. I am so glad I'm close to the end instead of the beginning. I am so glad. By the way, he was annoying. He also, you know, like all of these

self-proclaimed professional sports betters, which I'm sure guys like Darren Ravelle, you know, slobber over. When a professional, when a guy, a self-proclaimed professional sports gambler

tells you that everybody in Vegas knows who he is and also takes all of his action without limits, he is a

sports gambler, not a professional sports gambler, which they're really, no offense to the people that, you know, count cards.

It's a totally different thing. By the way, speaking of cards, you know where I slipped into the other day for about,

An hour and a half? The MGM? Yeah, because I had to go out to, I was out in Suitland actually looking at a van for my son who was in a band and they're touring this summer. Anyway, and we got done and I was like, it's easier to go around the other side of the beltway to get home. There you go. And we popped in and played cards for about an hour and a half. Got some dinner at the MGM. It went into that, you know, a burger tap restaurant out there.

Yeah, the sports bar. Yeah, the sports bar because the game was coming on. This was Sunday night. And so, you know, it really is, I think we've talked about this. It's very well done, what they did out there. I think it's a tremendous facility. Really well done. And very scenic in that sports bar.

Oh, yeah, when you walk outside there and walk out and see the city, I mean, you're, you know, you're well south, obviously, of all of the, you know, of the mall. Yeah. I mean, in the monuments barely in your, you know, in the distance. But the Potomac is right there. Potomac's right there. It's a beautiful facility. See, there, watch the planes land.

And the parking, look, I've been there on a Saturday night for a fight. The parking's easy. Super easy. Yeah. Everything about that facility is very easy. And, you know, I mean, because you and I have both done Vegas like lots of times over our lifetimes. and there's nothing that equals Vegas. There just isn't.

I mean, there's nothing that equals the scene. There's nothing that equals the hotels, the casinos, the food, the entertainment, all of it. I'd say the air feels different in Vegas, but yet I've had trips where I've barely actually experienced outside air. You breathe some cold air conditioning. But I really, and it's only my third time out there, I guess. And it's just well done. Yes. They really did it right.

And you're right, the parking is easy. Yeah, and apparently they really bring in boatloads of revenue. Oh, I can only imagine. I think than expectations were. Well, you know, it was interesting is that being out there on, it was Sunday night, it was after the hail storm, and then I had to go out and check out this vehicle and right, you know, an hour before the game tipped. And I was like, we can go home or we can stop into the MGM.

gamble for a little bit, get some dinner and watch the game at that place. But you know what I think it's used for by a lot of people, you know, is restaurants, the restaurants and shopping and a place to hang out, you know. And as you said, it's fairly scenic. Yes. For now to go out and get a, you know, a couple drinks in dinner. Now they're starting to have more boxing matches for a while it was dormant. When it first opened, they had a couple like every month.

then it was dormant for a while but they're starting to bring them back there's a boxing show there in July you should go see a boxing match here I have not go see some gambling go do some gambling I'll do see a boxing show why don't we do that together okay um also a big fight in

Baltimore I think it's a showtime fight isn't it coming up next month is it really uh yeah uh Javanta Davis oh okay yeah in Baltimore where I'm not I think it's at a real farms I'm not 100% on that but I think so I know he's having his first big fight, though, in Baltimore. Okay.

You know, the theater out there when they opened it up was getting some really good shows and good concerts. I don't know if it still is. I would assume that it is. It is. I saw Steeley Dan there. But I think the anthem and the anthem opening since that opened has probably heard it a little bit. Well, listen, right now in Washington, the competition for music venues has dramatically changed. So many music venues in this area

Compared to five, six, seven years ago. It's incredible. Just think about it. Still have the 930 club. You still have the Fillmore. You still have smaller venues like the Black Cat, Which I was down at a week and a half ago. One of my favorites, Bethes, the Blues and Jazz. Right, which is even smaller.

Yeah. And then you've got the theater at MGM. You've got the anthem on the Wharf. And by the way, the anthem, I've been to two shows down there now. That is a, that is a. first-rate facility. That place really is well done. Everything about it. Seeding, acoustically, everything is great. There's a couple of small music clubs down at the Wharf, too. Pearl Street Warehouse is a good one. There's never, I think City Winery at City Place now has a lot of

live music. I mean, live music, I don't remember it being this lively. Because it never was. It never was. I'm just looking at like upcoming shows at the theater. I, I, The birch mirror is still, you know. Aerosmith is coming to August 10th and August 13th. And you got, you know, you got Wolftrap, Jiffy Lou Blive, and Maryweather. Well, yeah, I'm talking about the smaller venues. Smaller endings, yeah. Yeah.

Oh, I still, to be honest with you, for a summer, like a good concert, to me, Maryweather Weather is still phenomenal. And Jiffy Loeb Live, for us, is just a pain in the ass to get to. Yeah, anytime you got to cross over the river. Right. Right. And, you know, wolf trap for those of us that have got. a little bit older is a great venue. It's a great venue. All right. Let me do a quick word for

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Yesterday, Tommy, I did, I had a discussion. Actually, two conversations that I want to have with you because one, the result, I'll start with that. Actually, we'll come back to Rob Ryan here in a moment. But I had Tark El Bashir, Michael Phillips, and John Kime on the show yesterday, just to sort of get a sense with them being out there for every OTA.

Minicamp starts, you get minicamp here for the next three days. And actually, I'm going to be out there tomorrow for minicamp. And so, you know, some more information. Another chance to hear what Jay Gruden says, which is always the most interesting. to me. But there was an answer that all three were consistent with, right, Aaron? And that is about Haskins' timetable for starting. None of the three think he's going to start the opener. Really? They all believe that he is going to start sometime, you know, after the beginning

portion of the season where, you know, I'm not hung up on the schedule, you know that, and I think some are, some aren't. John pointed out as well that, you know, trying to predict what the schedule is going be like, but they all, you know, sort of were in that area of looking at after the first five games. Which is what I've said repeatedly. And then starting at Miami. At Miami. Putting him in the best position to succeed. I will be disappointed if he doesn't start sooner than that. I will really be disappointed if he doesn't start sooner than that. I understand that not, that not every top 15 pick as a quarterback is going to start the opener. But for most of them, over the last few years, it's within fewer than five games. It's the second game of the year,

the third game of the year. I think in Trubisky's case, it may have been the fourth or fifth game of the year. But in some of those situations, there was better competition than Case Keenham and Colt McCoy. I want Haskins to really advance, really grasp everything that's going on there this summer. I want all of the, you know, the word coming out about how impressed they are with how quickly he's picked up on the system, how quickly he's gotten it in the huddle, in calling plays, and the physical part is already becoming, you know, the physical part's already there, but the mental part's already becoming second, you know, nature. I don't want to see, I think if they're sitting there, you know, in the first part of the season, in case Keenum is

starting for five games or six games, it's just an interesting. indication to me, not that they're being super patient with Dwayne Haskins, but that, you know, it's more of a developmental thing with him. I don't see why if he's not grasping things this summer and in training camp and the competition's close, I don't need him to win the competition, I just need him to be close in the competition, put him out there and let's get rolling. I did think it was interesting because, you know, I take John and Mike and, and, and, and, and, and, Tarek and J.P. and others who are out there talking to these guys every day. I talk to some of these guys every once in a while, but they're out there every day and they're talking to coaches

and players, and they get a sense of what they're thinking. And all three of them were aligned in that, you know, it's probably going to be five or six games into the season. Well, you know, let me ask you, let's say it's not. Let's say that he starts the opener. It's isn't there, based on what you know now, and you'll probably have more knowledge, a lot more knowledge by then, obviously. But isn't there a real possibility that that call is being made then by the owner,

and are you okay with that? No, I'm not okay with that. And when I say I want him to start the opener, I want it to be because the coaches are comfortable with him starting the opener. It's a fair point because that's in play. That is in play. And here's what's also in play.

Jay Gruden knows he needs to win every football game he can. So he needs to put the quarterback out there at the beginning of the year that he thinks gives him the best chance to win that game against the Eagles, that game against the Cowboys. And given their defense and the way they played last year with Alex Smith in the beginning of the year, Case Keenum is the closest thing to Alex Smith. I think Jay Gruden thinks he's better than Alex Smith. So if that's the case, I mean, Jay's,

If Jay is playing for his job, and we suspect there's part of Jay that's thinking, you know, I don't particularly care if I keep my job, but I think there's part of them that would like to keep it. So I'm thinking that if Jay's playing for his job, he's going to look at who gives me the best chance to win game one. So it just occurred to me as you were talking that you and I haven't had a conversation, but I have had this conversation on the podcast without you and with others because there is this interesting situation.

and I brought it up with John yesterday, and that is let's just assume for a moment that Jay really does want to be employed for a long period of time here in Washington as the head coach. That's the assumption. Now consider the dilemma. Is it better for him to develop Dwayne Haskins and not make the playoffs?

Or have a chance to and maybe squeak in as the five-seat or the six-seat going nine and seven with Case Keenham, which is better for his long-term employment prospects? That's a no-brainer. I mean, if you're dealing with rational people, that's an argument. But if you're dealing with Dan Snyder, who's trying to get people to come to the stadium, you've got to squeak into the playoffs.

You've got to be the accidental Redskins playoff team that we've seen from time to time. If you want to keep your job. So then what are you doing in 2020? If Case Keenham started 16 games, you went 9 and 7 and you lost a first round wild card game. Well, look at the chiefs. Let Alex Smith walk on a year. How am I? They won 13 games or something like that, right?

12 games. So you can do it. And at that point, Jay Gruden's going to have maybe another two-year extension, at least, maybe more. So he does have to worry about his job so that he could turn around and say, okay, you know, let's go with Haskins. I don't know what the right answer. I don't agree with you that it's obvious. But it's only obvious because of the people we're talking about. Yeah, but I think because of the people we're talking about,

Man's going to want to see Haskins play and be developed and have an understanding. But that fight will have been settled long before the end of the season. But to have an understanding that Jay's the right guy to continue to develop him. And if you don't play him, you're not going to know. That's a big wish. And if you play him more likely than not, you're not going to the postseason. But you could end the season with some big wins or close losses to finish seven and and it's trending upward because Askins is really starting to play well.

By the way, this is something I did without you last week as well. This is my research, and no one's corrected me on this, so I'm going to assume that I'm right. In the last 10 years, there's only been one coach, only one that's missed the playoffs four consecutive seasons and been brought back for that fifth season. And that was Jeff Fisher. And the reason was, I think, they were moving from St. Louis to Los Angeles, and they They were going to wait on the coach until they had all the other stuff and related to the move worked out.

Everybody else basically, including Tom Coughlin, a Super Bowl winning coach. When he missed the playoffs four straight years, he didn't get a fifth year. Harbaugh wouldn't have come back this year had they not made the playoffs last year. Sean Payton missed the playoffs, three consecutive seasons. And the discussion, if he had missed a fourth, is that he may have been out of New Orleans, also a Super Bowl winning coach. Imagine Jay Gruden doesn't make the playoffs, four consecutive seasons, and he's Jeff Fisher coming back for next year.

But the circumstance would be the reason you could see it happening is if Dwayne Haskins is improving. And Dwayne Haskins, I love Jay Gruden. I love Kevin O'Connell. I don't want you guys to switch these guys out. It's working. We're going to be good next year. I don't see... I see Dan Snyder blaming.

If things go south this year, even though Dwayne Haskins develops, if the team's play goes south bed, and by December, you know, Ghost Town Stadium is really worse Ghost Town Stadium. I think that Dan Snyder will blame Jay. I think he'll blame him. I think also, and I don't know if I've thrown this out, I think Kevin O'Connell is really important in this. year it's something to keep an eye on.

Is he another genius? Because they got a lot of geniuses out there at Redskins Park. That if the relationship between O'Connell and Haskins is really strong, that that could be a way to move on from Jay, but keep consistency. I ask you, is he another genius? You know, because their cup runneth over with geniuses at Redskins Park. They've got many of them. I know.

So the other thing I talked about yesterday that got quite a reaction on my Twitter notifications was mentioning that Rob Ryan had basically said he's got a top five defense that he's working with. And my point is, like it always is this time of year, whether it's Landon Collins predicting, you know, multiple Super Bowls or whatever over the years, you know, Ryan Clark and Josh Norman and all of them. That's just the constant, you know, we're close and we're good and we're going to be top five in this and we're going to win this division and we're going to do this and just. And the results always being the opposite.

The results always being the opposite. So I basically said, Dan's got to get a hold of this situation once and for all. It's funny because I did hear from somebody that listened to the podcast yesterday. And let's just say they're very close to the organization, if not in it, that said that conversation, needs to happen, should have happened years ago, but will never happen. Never happen. We'll never happen. No.

But I said that Snyder basically needs to go grab that red-faced team president of his and his head coach and tell them both that if anybody lips off one more time about how great we're going to be and how great our defense is going to be or how great this guy's going to be or whatever. They're getting fined $50,000. And if it happens twice, all of you are fired. but this guy said this is exactly this guy told me said what you said Dan Snyder should say to the organization should have been said 10 years ago but he doesn't care and in some cases he doesn't even know what's going on I'll bet you he

likes it but but he said that conversation will never ever happen no and I said why and he said well one he's not a communicator in that way with with you know the team, he may communicate stuff when he's really angry with people, but not necessarily with Bruce. Anyway, I digress. Rob Ryan predicting, you know, top five defense, says, you know, he's got a top five defense on his hands. You know what? If they don't finish in the top five defensively, fire Rob Ryan, Greg Minusky, and everybody else. But here were my favorite responses to it. Because a lot of you agreed, most of you agreed. And some of you, of you, of course, are saying, well, what do you want them to say? Nothing is what I want him to say. Just go out.

and show me, don't tell me anymore. Oh, you know, this is them. I mean, they've got confidence. They're trying to instill confidence in everybody. Really? How has that worked out for them over the years? The Kool-A drinkers. Oh, my God.

But from a Cowboys fan who had Rob Ryan in Dallas, mark my words, before this season is over, Rob Ryan will blame Greg Minusky for a loss. I had another tweet from a Saints fan who said, Rob Ryan will throw everybody in the organization under the bus after the defense gets torched in the game. I didn't even think about Rob Ryan from that standpoint.

He is a buffoon of the highest order and has been. And by the way, it was not a good coordinator. And was out of football before he offered a job with the Redskins. Well, you want to share something with me about Rob Ryan's name for the coaching staff. But the point is that I didn't even think about it from the standpoint of how it's ended for him in other places, and many times it was because of big mouth backstabbing. Yeah. Results also.

And you have to admit, the place where big mouth backstabbing can grow, can flourish, can grow like a giant beanstalk, is Redskins Park. There's no better place. I mean, no. I mean, he is in the perfect incubator for that kind of act. there's Jackson laying seeds all over the place. Yes. So he couldn't be in a better place to fly his wares. So tell me what I missed about something that Rob Ryan said.

Well, one of the things I read in, I guess, in his interview with NBC Sports Washington, he talked about how the coaches are kind of long in the tooth, he said, pointing out that, you know, between the lines that two of the coaches weren't even in football last year. or actually three of them. Including himself. Yes. Yeah. And he said, you know, I know this is a big deal in Washington,

but we're the over-the-hill gang. Well, he's old enough to remember it. We're the over-the-hill gang for coaches. So now- Maybe Bruce put him up to that. Maybe because that's his dad's team. You know, and so now you've got a situation where not the players, we've criticized the players for coming up and with names

for their defensive units before. like capital punishment and things like that. Oh, all of the self-proclaimed names. Now the coaching staff has come up with a name for themselves. Was that Chris Baker who came up with capital punishment? Yeah. How'd that year do defensively. By the way, he's out of football now.

Is he? Yeah. The over-the-hill gang. Yeah, he was. Probably an over-achiever. The Over-the-Hill gang for the coaching staff. So the coaching staff's going to have a nickname. Yeah.

That's great. I love it. It's awesome. I see T-shirts coming with Rob Ryan's picture on them. Rob Ryan, Jim Tom Sula. See, Tom Sula, so I also pointed out yesterday that John Allen had a quote in a story on NBC Sports of Washington. And I don't have it in front of me right now, so I'm just going to paraphrase it. It was, we haven't done anything yet.

So all we need to do is focus on minicamp, training camp. Like, this is a guy who played for Nick Sabin, a legitimate winner and knows what it takes to win and knows that part of winning means you don't tell people. you're going to win before you win. And it's almost like I think guys, like I'm, I love this young defensive core talent-wise. I think they did pretty well in the draft for the most part. But who the hell knows about a draft? But I will say that drafting John Allen over the last couple of years, I don't think he's going to be Aaron Donald or Fletcher Cox. I think he's going to be a very good player and a potential pro bowl player at some point. Not a dominant player,

but really good. But when you put him with Duran Payne and Matt Ionitis. This is the kind of maturity, the kind of disposition, you know, in culture that this organization needs. And sometimes, I mean, look, you got to give somebody credit for bringing these guys in. You know, because not only was John Allen, you know, incredibly impressive on film, but they also knew what kind of guy this guy was. Like he's smart, he's a leader, he's no nonsense. Duran Payne appears to be the same.

Matt Ionitis is definitely in that same cultural place that John Allen is. I would bet that they often look around at some of the things that are being said and say, stop. Yeah? Stop. We got our asses kicked last year. The last time people watched us last year, we were down 40 to nothing at halftime against the Giants. or early in the third quarter. We got blown out last year

more than any team in the NFL not named the Cardinals. This is just reality. Like top five defense, they're nowhere near a top five defense. This needs to be reminded. Top 12, 15, maybe. This needs to be reminded,

I think, a number of times because everybody wants to bury it, and I don't think it should be buried. I think it's far more significant than what people realized. One of the leaders, of the team last year, one of their best defensive players,

couldn't keep his mouth shut about how bad the coaching was by the defensive coaches to the point where they cut him. DJ Sweringer, whatever you think of DJ Sweringer, he was one of their best defensive players last year. He was a leader.

The minute he got here, which happens all the time with the Redskins, the new guy winds up being the leader. They were hoping, Reuben Foster was going to be a leader of this team. So you had a situation where a guy was mouthing off, not about how good they were, but about how bad they were and why. And it got him kicked out of Redskins part.

Yeah, I mean. And I understand that. You can't have players publicly ripping the coaching staff, but you need to look beyond that and consider whether he was speaking the truth. Yeah, no, I know. But I can tell you that DJ Swaringer, among the players on defense, had gotten to the point where they couldn't take him anymore either. I mean, maybe they felt like some of the words that he was speaking were accurate and there was some truth in it. But, you know, guys like John Allen, real leaders.

I know, but they would never rip their coaches publicly no matter how bad they are. I said you can't have that. Yeah, they had gotten to the point where this is disruptive. I understand you can't abide that. Right. But you need to look past that and wonder if he was, if he knew what he was talking about. I hear you. God, you know, the one thing about the Redskins 2019 season that's changed in the last couple of months is it has become more interesting than it was prior to, you know, mid-March, certainly end of April.

it's become more interesting, which I'm sure is part of the goal. Like if you're mapping out a revitalization strategy, which they had to have some meetings about, what do we do? How do we fix this? Part of it was we got to get people talking about the team a little bit because right now nobody's talking about the team. And getting aggressive in free agency more than they have in recent years. I mean, they didn't land everybody that they wanted to land, but they had a different...

We got one big name that people got excited about. And then drafting the quarterback and Montez Sweat, who by the way, all three of the guys I had on yesterday. And the person that I talked to yesterday about my comments about Snyder also said that sweat just looks like a beast. Like already so impressive. Let me ask you about sweat. Because this is kind of disappeared. What about the supposed heart problem he had? I don't know.

Like I should look into what this. specifics were on that, he claimed that it was a misdiagnosis. Right. And that's possible. It happens. You know, with some of these, you know, big, strong, long-armed athletes, sometimes it's enlarged heart stuff, you know. I know, but sometimes, you know, on an echocardiogram can show up as something that, you

know, can be concerning, but in some cases can be totally benign. That could absolutely be the case. I'm not trying to be a cardiologist here, but I follow some of this stuff. But here's what I wonder. and I only know this because I've read this from people who cover the league. Usually during the draft, when you have a player like that, there'll be a letter that's put out by the league doctors to all the teams. Well, there was something that said he's cleared medically.

I don't recall seeing that from the league. I don't recall that at all. I think there was something that came out like literally the day. Well, maybe it did. And if it did, then it's put to rest. But that's my question is, I don't recall seeing anything like that. Hold on here. So.

But yeah, he is, he looks like he's going to be a tremendous talent. But is he going to be any better than Preston Smith? Yes. Really? I think so. Okay, but what if he's just as good at Preston Smith? This team just wallowed through four seasons or five seasons with Preston Smith. So as great as Montez Sweat is, they had a guy in Preston Smith.

And what was the sum of all that talent? I'm sorry. I'm sitting here looking up stuff about, and I'm just going to read this to you because go ahead. Ask the question again. I'm sorry. I'm trying to be a good co-host and fill time while you're researching. Because no one wants to listen to you research on your computer.

Ask the question again. Well, my question is, as great as Montez Sweat. can be, they had a pretty good defensive player in Preston Smith. He was okay. He was pretty good. He was okay. Okay. Yeah, he was very inconsistent.

You know what? If sweat is good as Preston Smith, then it would be a successful draft pick. No, it would not. Yes, it would. He's got to be better than Preston Smith. Okay. When you trade back to... You'll actually go back to research on the computer.

When you trade back into the first round and you take a Montez-Swet, who, by the way, you know, has top five talent in this draft, but obviously fell because of the concerns medically. Look, if he has a medical condition and it ends up being impactful to his career, that's different. But if he's healthy, I'm not saying that I want Von Miller out of it, but I want a double-digit sack guy every year. I want a, Preston Smith was, what was his best sack year,

Preston Smith's? I don't even know. But apparently he was better. Preston Smith is not anywhere near the talent that Montez Sweat is. Montes Sweat is a legit elite talent. He is, Tommy. This was the guy who was on all season long, and I'm thrilled and I'm more excited to watch him than anybody else.

But I do want to just look at what his stats were. Here they are on Preston Smith. Eight sacks, four and a half sacks, eight sacks, four sacks, four sacks. Major disappointment if Montes Sweat ends up being a 20. 24 sack guy in four years. Major disappointment. For me, anyway. Preston Smith's 2018 grades on pro football focus

were high quality, between high quality and elite. Yeah, he's not an elite player. In my view. I mean, I don't live with pro football. I didn't say you have to live with it. I'm just pointing out that it's a different point of view than what you've managed to figure out. No, my point of view is that Montana,

Suet's talent is much greater than Preston Smith's talent. So if he ends up with Preston Smith results, I'm going to be disappointed. Well, you keep dealing with numbers. And so, Montez Sweat. Let me take the numbers out of it. Qualitatively, Montes Sweat is a much more explosive player, a bigger, stronger, faster, longer player than Preston Smith, who was a dominant, dominant defensive player in college football, arguably the best defensive player in college football last year.

Preston Smith didn't have that kind of talent coming out of college, and it manifested itself in the pros as a guy that was just a good player with good talent, not a game-changing player. Montez Sweat was selected by the Redskins and traded up in the first round. It is my opinion. No football focus seems to have a different opinion of Preston. It's my opinion. That is 100% my opinion, and I think almost anybody else that's followed this would share that opinion with me that Montez Sweats upsides much greater than Preston Smith.

Let's go to the videotape. Okay, what do you want? What do you want? I'm waiting for you, I'm waiting for you to come up with the information about press, about sweats medical condition. Oh. God, damn it. I just had it open and now I think I just closed it out.

God. We got sidetracked there. We got sidetracked because I was dancing while you were looking it up. I read through it quickly and now I don't have it in front of me. But basically, everybody, you see what I have to deal with? It was. regular basis. It was an enlarged heart, you know, a cardiomyomyopathy that was diagnosed at the combine that the teams, when they did further studies, got comfortable with it because basically

it's one of those things that a lot of people, a lot of athletes have already. And there is some risk with it, I think, with an enlarged heart. I don't know. I'm not going to speak as if I'm a cardiologist. Jesus Christ, I had it. Are you looking it up now? Yeah, I'm looking at up. Wait, wait, here it is. Here it is.

Okay. He has an enlarged heart. Yes. Yeah. An unusual heart. Here's the story. Okay. Red flag was reported at the NFL Combine, but he was allowed to work out anyway.

The heart issue was... The thickening of the heart walls. which would mean there is no risk for Montez-Swess under this diagnosis, according to Ian Rappaport. That's right. The original diagnosis was an enlarged heart and may need the precaution of an external defib machine at every practice in every game. And it's now in this particular story they write,

this makes the issue sound like it's cardiac myopathy with potential arrhythmia issues, thus the need for a defibrillator. That sounds significant, but an AED is standard at all practices, games, and even on team flights, so the adjustment would be minimal. Okay. Look, I'm not wishing for him to have a hard condition. Oh, my God, no. He may be the number one area of excitement for me as a Redskins fan.

I cannot wait to see him play. Seriously. All season long, watching that Mississippi State defense, and watching him play, I kept thinking every time I watched him, my God, he is going to wreak havoc in the NFL as an outside pass rusher and he'd be perfect as an outside three, four pass rusher. And they got him, which is awesome. They had to trade back up. I thought they were going to take him at 15 and would have been thrilled if they had taken him at 15.

But anyway, this last five, six, seven minutes with the medical condition and you're trying to compare him to Preston Smith has been boring for most people. What else did we have today? You know what's been boring for most people. You all over the place like a bumper car. I know, I am. I'm all over the place. I agree.

I agree and I admit it. What else did you have Redskins related? You said Zach Brown said something. What did he say? Oh, I don't know. In Philadelphia. I'm too bored to pay attention to what Zach Brown said. I'm bored.

Everybody's bored. I think, Zach Brown basically said that the culture in Philadelphia is much better than the culture in Washington. Yeah, that's pretty much what he said. But what does he know? Shocker. You know, he was this lousy linebacker who the coaches said, I mean, what was so interesting based on some of the comparisons from that hard-hitting press corps out at Redskins Park is that Zach Brown, you know,

missed a lot of assignments was, you know, was really lacking. It really had a poor year, you know. This is what we heard from certain segments of the Redskins Press Corps. Right. Which is my contention is, all along, there are certain segments of the press corps that know what the Redskins want them to know. I'm not following that situation. Zach Brown was so bad.

Why is he with the team now that everyone thinks it's going to go to the Super Bowl? Look, last year when they re-signed Zach Brown, and I had heard a lot of the flaws in his game and a lot of the concerns that coaches had in the game. and all I kept saying to Cooley is he's the fastest guy on defense and makes more plays, impactful plays, than anybody else on the defense. And if he can't cover, then don't have him cover. Why is that so difficult? But, yeah, I mean, we'll see what he does in Philadelphia. He can run.

We know that. Like, at that position, inside linebacker, he can really run. And he can cover sideline to sideline with the best of them. but apparently he is such a liability in coverage that the Redskins were ready to move on from him. Couldn't wait to get rid of him. Couldn't wait to get rid of him. In fact, I think that a year ago that there were plenty of coaches that would have been fine had the Redskins not resigned him to that one-year deal. And I think Bruce wanted to bring him back and others.

I thought it made sense to bring him back. Quick reminder that if you're listening to the show on iTunes, if you could rate us and review us, that would be great. If you haven't done it, subscribe. Doesn't cost you anything that helps us as well. Were you going to interrupt? I was. I don't want to bore anybody. It looked like you were going to say something. No, I don't want to.

Risk boring somebody. No, I don't want to say anything. Risk it. No. Do you know that you and I are both huge office fans? Yes. I was a huge BBC version of the office, but we're both fans of the American show as well. And it was, I don't know, maybe two months ago.

But we may have talked about this, but Jenna Fisher was on one of these late night shows. It may have been with Conan. I think it was with Conan. And he was talking about the office, which is now many, many years ago with her. And she was talking about how she got the part. And her agent or the casting director said before her audition, dare to bore them to death. And that just stuck out when you just said that,

because I want you to dare to bore people to death. Well, I don't have to try to bore people to death. I do it naturally. No, you don't. No, you don't. We enjoy each other's company, and hopefully even when we get sidetracked and I lose my, my path and veer off it, hopefully not people, you know, look, you don't have to sit there and wait, you can just fast forward to the part where we pick it up. We're not going to talk about Jeopardy anymore. You know what?

I did want to talk about Kauai Leonard. We can always hope. We can always hope. So quick word about Kauai Leonard. The story came out yesterday that Kauai Leonard has purchased a property in Toronto. A hot dog stand? No, a residence, a residential property in Toronto. Now, several months ago, the reports came out that he had reportedly purchased a $13.5 million property in Southern California.

And the assumption all along here is that Kauai Leonard's going back to Southern California. Whether it's with the Lakers or the Clippers, more likely than not the Clippers, that's where he's going. But why would he buy a property in Toronto if it isn't a possibility? I was reading about this early this morning, and there are lots of people that now feel like there's a chance he'll sign a one-year deal and play one more year in Toronto, regardless of how this series turns out, because he's enjoyed it and they've got a chance to contend and win a title next year as well. He doesn't have to sign a long-term deal to stay in Toronto. Right. Right. Look, again, I don't know.

this has anything to do with it. But like I've told you before, Toronto is a very cosmopolitan city that's welcoming to people of color. People feel very comfortable there from all cultures, all races, all walks of life.

We're not comparing Toronto to Milwaukee. We're comparing it to Southern California. Right. But Toronto... And home is selling. There's no American city that's comparable that I've ever been in to Toronto for,

even D.C., for the lifestyle that it offers to people from all sorts of races and cultures. It just doesn't. There's no city that's really... What about Vancouver? Well, Vancouver's a Canadian city. I understand that. So is Toronto.

So I'm saying an American city. I've never been to Vancouver. So I couldn't tell you. And I can't... I bet that in some small way, at least, that comes into play, that he's very comfortable in Toronto. And again, I'm not saying it's a... driving force, but I think it comes into play.

I would love to see him stay in Toronto. I wanted them to win this series. Did you watch the game the other night? Did you have any thoughts on that? Yeah, I watched it. I mean, you know, it's interesting that Golden State found the perfect way to use DeMarcus cousins. Keep them on the shelf for the whole year so you don't have to deal with the foolishness of DeMarcus cousins and then bring them back for the NBA finals.

a few games. He's only got a few games. I mean, because he played well. He played really well. He really played well. So you're getting, you're not going to have to hang on to DeMarcus cousins long enough to, to suspend him or find him or watch him get kicked out of a game. This way, you, basically they imported one of the most talented players in the league. I think he's a loser. But in this case, it's the perfect fit for the time that's, you know, they're using him. I think Golden State's still going to win the series. He was really good the other night for them.

One of the things that I said yesterday, and I think after they beat Houston, it's so impressive to see winning cultures and what they do to everybody on the team. You know, like Quinn Cook came off the bench and was sensational. But it wasn't just the results. Like the old sand, like the spurs. The spurs, like the Patriots. Like when you see these long-term winning organizations. There's a culture there that just makes everybody that's associated with it feel invincible.

Like there's this confidence that it brings to the last guy on the bench. You know, we've had Alonzo McKinney and Quinn Cook and Kevin Loonie, who's now out for the rest of the series, by the way. That injury is going to take him out of the rest of the series. And he played so well for them over the last three weeks, you know, going back to the beginning of the Houston. series, but just that everybody associated with the franchise has this air of confidence where it doesn't matter what position you put us in. It doesn't matter which player we have to bring

off the bench. It doesn't matter that a player's been injured and is coming back and has been a problem everywhere else he's gone. He's going to be good for us. You know, it's maybe the flip side of that, that's it in a good way. I think there's also the pressure of fear. In other words, You recognize you're surrounded by greatness. You don't want to be the guy to let them down. There's probably some of that we've seen. I mean, you're in a situation where you don't want to beat a weak link. Right.

You walk into a locker room, let's use to Marcus Cousins, as an example. And he has been, you know, a headache in other places. And he's looking around at all these, you know, championship players with all of these rings. And it's like, man, I don't want to let them. them down. I don't want to be the guy that F's it all up. I think there's some of that. That would really be a hit to my legacy. If I'm the guy that comes in and screws it all up, even Javelle McGee was okay with them. You know, it's like, it is a, it's, you know, what comes first though, the culture or the, you know, the winning? Like, do you, like the Patriots in 2000,

when they went on the run, like, they could have easily lost that playoff game to the Raiders in the snow and never made it. And the next year was, a missed playoff season in 2001. I think it's, I think like anything else, it starts way, way up on the top with the owner. I think it really does.

You have to have an owner that recognizes, that recognizes how to hire talented people and let them do their jobs. But then you need, you need a break or two that leads to winning in a championship, and then it can start to snowball a little bit. But you're right.

The groundwork has to be laid. Yeah. Because you're not going to put yourself into a position where you can get a little bit lucky. Yeah. I mean, do you know who owns the Golden State Warriors? Yeah, it's that guy. Yeah, you see, that's what I mean. That's the kind of owner you want. I know. Why am I blanking on his name? I can picture him right now. By the way, he was the first

off the out of the crowd the other night to be on the floor congratulating them. But anyway, So my point this, I mean, Robert Kraft. Lakeb. You know, Robert Kraft, whenever, you know, he's not indulging himself in Florida, is a good owner. Yeah. You know, it's a good owner.

Steve Bishaddi's a good owner. Yeah. Who owns the Spurs? You see, we don't know. I don't know who owns the Spurs. I know who owns the Dallas, but I don't know who owns the Spurs. You know what? I wouldn't have gotten this.

It's Peter Holt. who is the chairman and CEO of Spurs, Sports, and Entertainment. So my point is it really starts with the ownership. And it could be just simply not doing anything than just not getting in the way. Right, right. And hiring and having faith in the people you hire. Do we have one good owner in this town? I don't think we do.

I don't think so either. I think that we have. I think we have less offensive. and less, you know, destructive owners. Yes. Which I would put the learners and Ted into that category. Yes. But none of them are geniuses and none of them have created, you know.

Look, the bottom line on Ted is they got Alex Ovechkin. They were in a position to draft him number one overall. And if Alex Ovechkin hadn't been a part of this organization since 2006 now, or whatever it is, the results would have been probably you know middling yeah no i don't think we do have a good owner now we have some people and i give brian mcclellan credit for this because i think he's a pretty good gm and obviously i think mike rizzo's a good gm i think we have people who protect the organization sometimes from the bad ownership uh particularly on the baseball side right more maybe than the hockey side uh but no i wouldn't say

any, I wouldn't feel good about any of these guys owning my team. I think that Ted is good at creating a really good consumer experience for his teams. I think he isn't as good at making a part of that consumer experience winning, consistent winning. The interview, I think he did with Chris Miller. Chris Miller? I had Chris on the show the other day. Didn't he basically say he didn't really talk to anybody in the Wizards organization, say for Ernie?

Yeah, Ernie was the guy. I mean, so in the words, when, look, I'm sorry, but when I'm writing year after year that this guy's a disaster, that you have to get rid of this guy, that when I'm putting in his one loss record

on social media, after every game, isn't there at least a curiosity by the owner that's saying, Jesus, I know this guy. He may be an idiot, but he's not this stupid. Maybe there's something to what he says. Maybe I should look into this to see if there's really a problem.

And he didn't do that? Do you know that one of the things he admitted to Miller to Chris is that in 2016 they made mistakes? Remember during that whole period of time when we, you know, I forget which side you were on. I was on the side of they're not going to get Durant. They shouldn't clear this space. They should keep Trevor Areza. Oh yeah. They should keep, you know, some of these other guys. If they keep down this path, they add another piece, auto develops a little bit, they're going to be fine. And he admitted to Chris that he wasn't as close to that. And that they made mistakes in clearing all that cap space to go after Durant. How can you not be that close to it?

What are you consumed with your e-sports team, Team Liquid? Is that who you're close to? Well, at that point, he wasn't yet consumed with his restaurant and sports book. That's true. He wasn't Sam Lotzy yet. I mean, one of the things, Ted, you know, comes from this environment. It's funny because he acts very much like he comes from this, you know, established corporate environment. And yet really, AOL was an entrepreneurial, you know, young, aggressive company early on.

Now, he wasn't there at the beginning. He came via acquisition with his company out of Florida. But he's very patient. I predicted that his answer on why he didn't have. a GM yet would be, you know, corporate speak about being patient and crossing every T and dotting every eye and making sure we get it right rather than getting it fast, all the things that you hear, you know, in the corporate world. But the bottom line is, is that they don't have anybody yet. I think they're waiting on somebody from one of these two teams. It has to be that at this

point. Or Tommy Shepard's going to be the GM. Yeah. But, uh, yeah. No, the answer would be, I agree with you on that. I mean, you know, I don't think any of the owners in this town are good owners. I do think, unlike the football owner, at least Ted and the learners have created for, by the way, sports that, you know, appeal to fans using them in a way that isn't driven by winning. You know, 81 dates at the ballpark, 41 for basketball and hockey. You know, we're not talking about eight games a year. we're really, you got a win to draw. You got to win to be relevant.

They've created, I mean, I like going to Capital One Arena. I like going to Nats Park. I think they, you know, if you compare that part of it, the consumer experience, I mean, they are way ahead of where Dan Snyder is. Oh, yeah. Way ahead of them. But anyway, all right. You got to, I won't see you until Thursday.

So Golden State at 1-1, what happens? Golden State wins. In 5 or 6? In 6. Okay. I still like that. I picked Golden State before in 6, I think. I think I'm going to stick with that as well.

I think Toronto really missed out on an opportunity, huge opportunity on Sunday night to grab a 2-0 seriously. They really had them by the nuts at the end of the first half and just let them back in it at the end of that first half. and then, you know, and then got blown out at the beginning of the third quarter. I mean, it was close at the end, but that 18-0-0-0-0-run really decided the game. I wanted to mention real quickly one other story that came out since yesterday, and it's Roger Goodell and him talking about pre-season football games,

saying he was at a charity golf event in Buffalo or Western New York. It was a Jim Kelly charity golf tournament. And he was asked about the pre-season games before, he has said some of this in the past, but he essentially said four preseason games are too many. And he said, quote, I feel what we should be doing is always to the highest quality. And I'm not sure preseason games meet that level right now. I'm not sure talking with coaches that four preseason games are necessary anymore to get ready for a season to evaluate players, develop players. There are other ways of doing that. We've had a lot of discussions about that. Without

revealing any details, Godell called it, quote, the best sign, close quote, that the league and union have already begun discussions about a new CBA nearly two years before it expires. That's going to be a part, I don't know, I felt this way the last time and I was wrong. I think that we're going to be down to three preseason games minimum, hopefully two, after the next collective bargaining agreement. But again, you know, I mentioned this all the time. time. Not everybody's in agreement on this from the team's perspectives. There are some teams that say we need these games to, you know, really evaluate players.

And then from a business standpoint, it is all revenue very low cost. So how are they going to make up that lost revenue? Well, you would theoretically do that by adding regular season games, which would generate a lot more revenue. Yeah, but I mean, we can agree that the talent in the league can't seem to hold up for 16 games. No, you would have to increase roster sizes to do that. And add a second buy week.

To me, that's how you do it. You have to do all those things, and neither of those things would help you with the quality of quarterback play in the league. It would drop dramatically at 18 games. You see a lot more Case Keenham and a lot less guys like Peyton Manning. I don't agree with that. Why do you say that? Because I just don't think, I mean, I think teams won't play their starting quarterbacks for 18 games, even if they're healthy.

Why? Because they'll protect them. Because of two additional games? Yes. I completely disagree with that. I don't even know what, I mean, how do you, so right now you're playing, now you're playing 16 games and the teams that go to the playoffs and advance in the playoffs are playing at least 18. Right. You think they're concerned about their quarterbacks over those 18 games?

Yes. Really? Yeah. I think they thought about, hey, we're a playoff team. In October, we're going to be a playoff team. Let's rest him right now. So he's strong at the end of the year? No, I don't think they did that.

But once they expand to 18 games, yes, they would. All right. I don't think they will. I think that's why you increase roster spots, certainly to handle greater attrition, potentially. And you add a second by week. You'll have two games in January. that most of the time will be meaningless, that in many cities will be unwatchable,

that no one will pay attention to. Sort of like preseason football, except it will be at the end of the season. And I don't have all of my information on this topic, which I developed several years ago about the 18 game schedule, which I'm sure would have been really thrilling for you to sit through. But the bottom line is there's as much of a possibility of an 18 game schedule, schedule creating more meaningful games at the end of the season than you have now, as it would be less meaningful games than you have right now. So you're not really minimizing, right now,

in many cases, the final two games of the regular season are meaningless for multiple teams already. If you had an additional two games on top of that, you actually may be playing for more stakes. I think what should also go with the 18 game schedule is a a true seeding process for the NFL playoffs, meaning it's not three division, it's not four division winners and two wild cards. It may be a division winner, it's still the four division winners plus two wild cards or if you want to add a seventh playoff team for 14 total, but the seating has to be based on record. It's true seating based on record. So you are playing for something in those final few weeks. Like if you are a, right now, if you're a nine,

and 16 in the NFC South, and you've clinched the division going into week 16, and you are already locked in as the four seed, as the fourth best division. If you were playing to potentially avoid the six seed or the five seed position, you're going to play that game because it might give you a chance at a home game. You might get a chance at a three seed. I think true seating, seating based on record would have to be a part of this. Are we done Jeopardy Johnny? Yes, we are. We're done.

We're done with that. What else did you have? I got nothing else. What about the Nats? Just give me something on them and the role that they're on here all the sudden. And Scherzer the other day. Yeah, well, Scherzer, again, you know, I don't think that they can pull back to compete for the division title, but I could be proven wrong. I think they're only six and a half out.

Six and a half. The Phillies lost last night for the Padres. They're six and a half out. Six and a half. I know. With 102 left. Yeah, which is pretty remarkable. This division has been like everything I've been wrong about this baseball season.

I thought the division would be so good. And it's just, it's competitive because it seems so bad now. Right. Nobody can win. So the Nats may benefit from that. Listen, the New York Mets won the wild card. No, there was no wild card. Won the National League East Division title in 73, I think with 82 wins.

I think that's the lowest any teams ever won a division title. We may see something like that. And if that's the case, then the Nats are in play. But Mike Rizzo is signing every relief pitcher who walks down the street. Any relief pitcher within a phone call, he's getting a call from the Nationals if he's on the street. They brought in, you know, like who was the guy they brought in? Rodney, Fernando Rodney. Yeah.

He's 42 years old. What did you think of Shurs are just waving off Martinez the other day? He's a badass. Yeah, he is. He's fun to watch. He's the best thing to watch. Of course, if the nationals by the trading deadline aren't close, then of course you should trade them for some prospects. Sarcasm from Tommy, because that's what everybody said if you're not going to make the, look.

Trade him for prospects. At this point, we are what? is July 31st the trade deadline or end of July? So we've got basically two months of baseball. If they're sitting six and a half out at the end of July, and it could potentially be a lot better than that, you're still in it. You're still in it.

Insurers, by the way, is the guy that will keep you in it and give you a chance. Then you've got to pressure the learners to be buyers. Right. The mistake they made last year. Last year was not buyers when they decided not to be sellers. I've heard you say that before. Right. Well, you know what?

I don't forget any of your, anything that you say, I say smart. I always remember. Well, I don't know if you have enough space in your brain for all that stuff. I do. I do. I've got plenty of space in my brain. Look at the big brain on Kevin. On big Brad Kevin. I did watch the hockey game last night. That's good.

It's very exciting. Yeah. I'm rooting for St. Louis. I'm rooting for St. Louis too. All right. St. Louis is one of my favorite towns. I love St. Louis. I like St. Louis too.

It's a good town. It's a good restaurant. They got great barbecue. Great music. Great music. Yeah. I love St. I remember many years ago having to go there to meet with schnooks, schnooks supermarkets.

Look them up. They're really good. Good company. You ever take a tour in Budweiser brewer? I did. One of the first times in St. Louis, I did that. It was pretty cool. Yeah, we did that.

It was pretty cool. And what I remember about it that was impressive was you hear commercials where, like, companies use these terms, like Budweiser would use beechwood aging. Yeah. And it was meaningless to me. Well, they really have beech wood in these tanks. And they age it with the peach wood. I was like flown away by that.

I went through the Heineken Amstall brewery when we were in Amsterdam a couple of summers ago. That was actually pretty cool as well. All of those. Brewery tours are always great. They are. Have you been to the Guinness brewery up in Halethorpe yet? Up in Maryland?

No. I haven't been there either. Do you enjoy a brewery trip and tour or what you just got done with in Italy wine tasting afternoons. Well, look, I mean... Wineries are fun too. Wineries are fun.

That's my first time ever doing that. And I was pleased that you enjoyed it. Well, how could I not enjoy it? I was in the middle of a picture postcard in Umbria, Italy. It was hard not to enjoy. And we just sat at a table, and people kept bringing us food to eat. Food and drink, yeah. And drink to eat all afternoon.

This is like in the middle of the afternoon. Right. So that would be hard. But did you tour the vine? vineyards before you? Yeah, yeah. It would be hard not to enjoy that. That was a lot of fun. That is fun. Again, I mean, my wife's been to Napa with my son a couple of times. I guess I would like Napa. I imagine I would like it. Oh, it's beautiful. Yeah. I mean, that whole thing. I haven't done that in years, but that's, that's beautiful. All right. I think we're done. I do have a quick word about stamps.com. Stamps.com for small businesses is a must.

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