The Kevin Sheehan Show - Move the Game?

Episode Date: December 16, 2021

Kevin and Thom with some ideas on the Washington Football Team's Covid crisis. Their game Sunday in Philly is currently on as scheduled but should it, will it, change? Thom's thoughts on the Post story, Urban Meyer reaction, and an early "Smell Test" pick from Kevin at the end of the show.  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.

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You won't be disappointed. 86690 Nation or windownation.com and tell them that Kevin Sheehan sent you. Tommy is with me today. I got the podcast out very late yesterday. I know many of you said, where is it? I was waiting for all of the COVID news to come in on Washington because I knew there was more coming. And today, you know, Tommy, we're sitting here at 10.30 in the morning recording the podcast.

And I have a feeling that by the time many people get this podcast, there are going to be some new NFL rules regarding the handling of COVID positive tests. That's my guess. I don't know that for sure, but if you follow the reporting of people like Mark Maske and Judy Batista from the NFL Network who have been down at the league meetings, it would seem as if the league is going to try to do something about this massive outbreak and the impact it would have on many big games this coming weekend and maybe beyond if they don't do something about it.

What are your thoughts? What do you think they'll do? I think that, well, you know, I have said to you before, you know, sort of off the cuff at times and sometimes a little bit more thoughtful. I don't have all the answers here, but I don't understand why they're testing, you know. I do understand why they're testing, but most businesses aren't testing. Most people get vaccinated, and if their company said, hey, you've got to be vaccinated, they provide them with the vaccination card, and then that's it. You know, they don't get tested when they come into work. And certainly with this outbreak, we know that it's a country.

countrywide outbreak right now. And there are many people that are spreading COVID who are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic or with mild symptoms that are going into work. And the same thing's happening in the NFL. And because vaccinated players were only being tested weekly, we've had a surge here. And I have said, why test? Baseball didn't test at the end of the year, vaccinated players heading into their postseason. And if you aren't going to test, Maybe there should be a rethinking of positive tested players who are vaccinated but are asymptomatic. That seems to be what the league is considering. All of the comments from Dr. Sills yesterday through everybody that was down at the league meetings, it seems like they're headed towards if you're asymptomatic and you've been vaccinated but you've tested positive, they're going to make it easier for you to return to the lineup. And then the other option, and I discussed this yesterday, is the NFLPA tweet yesterday, which is you've got to test more frequently.

Yeah, like you either... But the players don't want that necessarily. There was so much pushback to the NFLPA tweet from a lot of the players saying, no, we want to play. We're fine. We're healthy. But the truth is it's more logical to either test everybody every day so you avoid a major breakout, like you had yesterday and this week, or you don't test at all,

or you just say, if you're vaccinated and you're asymptomatic and you're positive, go ahead and play. Well, there's another option is requiring a vaccine. You could mandate vaccines too, but that doesn't matter. It's not going to stop people from testing positive. All of the players, 95% of the players testing positive are vaccinated. I know that, but these circles. of players who would be asymptomatic and testing positive would be far greater.

Say that again? In other words, if everyone was vaccinated, you'd have a lot of these players testing positive who would be asymptomatic likely. The chances of that goes up, which would make it easier for them to get back on the field. Yeah, but it's not going to stop the spread or stop them from playing with a positive test. Right, right, I get that. But the implication is you're not going to hurt your teammate as much because you're all vaccinated. Okay, well, the other way to worry, the other way to approach it is, look, if you're not vaccinated, that's your problem, you're taking that risk.

We're vaccinated. We have reduced exponentially our odds of getting sick because that's essentially what the vaccines become. It's become a therapeutic. You know, it's just increased the chances significantly that you're not going to get ill. the chances of these players getting ill to begin with were pretty low, and now they're even lower if they're vaccinated. The unvaccinated players, the chances are still pretty low that they're going to get sick, even if they test positive,

but they don't have the same odds as the vaccinated player. So what you're suggesting is to protect the unvaccinated, are those players that choose not to get vaccinated by not putting them in harms away. Well, actually, I wasn't looking at it that way. I know you weren't. I was looking at it. I was looking at it more to try to convince them to act like adults, but they're not going to do that.

They're not at this late date. They're not going to do that. That's something that would have to be negotiated with the union. And, you know, ironically, I don't know why they wouldn't do it at this point, since most players are vaccinated. 93%. And only a handful aren't. Right.

The opposition to mandating vaccinations among players would be minimal. Yeah, the issue is what is it going to do? Vaccinated players are testing positive. I mean, of the Washington players, I mean, we only know of one unvaccinated player, two, Montez-Souet and Kendall Fuller. Everybody else that tested positive, the 16 players that are on the COVID reserve list are all vaccinated players. And let me just say, more likely than not, it didn't come from the unvaccinated player. Really? Really, doctor? How do you know this? No, I don't know that. I'm just saying more likely than,

not because we're seeing an absolute massive spread among vaccinated places. Like my family, every single person is vaccinated. I get that. More likely than not, since most of these players are on the defensive side of the ball, and it started with the defensive linemen who sit in the same meetings with Montez Sweat. Yeah, except he wasn't in the building. I would consider him Typhoid Mary. Yeah, except he wasn't in the building, according to John Allen and others,

at all since his injury. No, he wasn't. Until he tested positive, he was in the building. No, he wasn't. Not in the meeting rooms. I was told that he, until they were bringing him back, until they were going to bring him off of injured reserve, he had not returned to the building.

Okay. So, I could be wrong, that's a really good source close to somebody in the defensive lineman room. But when initially, that's funny, did you really refer to Ms. Typhoid Mary? Did you tweet that out? Yes, I did. Of course you did. Yeah, I was told, and I mentioned it the other day. I thought it was with you on the podcast. It might not have been. But for those that were blaming Montez sweat, I was told from a very good source that most of the defensive linemen haven't seen him in three weeks.

Okay. Okay. But you don't really think that the only place that vaccinated people are getting the virus are from unvaccinated people, do you? No, I don't, but I think the likely, I think if I was doing a police lineup, I would pick the unvaccinated players as the source to sort of start your investigation. I was telling somebody, I was talking about it on radio this morning. I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday. I think I may have said it on the podcast that really the vaccination at this point, somebody should have had the foresight. Of course, you can't because you don't know what's happening next to not call it a vaccine.

If they had just called it a shot that'll keep you from dying and keep you from getting sick, everybody would have gotten it because that's eventually what this is turned into. And by the way, I do understand that your chances of getting the virus are also reduced by being vaccinated. But clearly the 95% efficacy, you know, numbers on Pfizer and on Moderna, you know, they clearly didn't live up to those early numbers with respect to avoiding the virus. But they call the flu shot a vaccine, and that's a 50% shot at best. Right. Do they call it a vaccine or do they just call it the flu shot? Well, actually, they call it the flu shot. Yeah, I'm talking more about just the labeling of it because,

Right. If you had labeled it as a shot that would keep you from getting really ill, just like this Pfizer pill, you know, that is now, you know, becoming a story here, will be considered a therapeutic, will be considered a medicine that you can take if you get COVID. The shot, if it had been labeled something other than a vaccine, but just something that would help you from getting sick, maybe no one, I just seems to me that everybody would have lined up and gotten it. Well, you're probably right. Not everybody, but it would have taken some of the emotionality issue for some people. Maybe. So back to as it impacts this football team. If the league doesn't do anything today or tomorrow, which it's certainly, if you're reading the tea leaves and you're following Maskey and Judy Battista, and it certainly would appear that something's going to happen.

You know, Sills said yesterday, hold on, let me find the thing from the Maskey column, Dr. Allen Sills, on the possibility of adjusting protocols to allow for vaccinated asymptomatic players to rejoin team activities sooner. They're following a positive test. Those are obviously ongoing discussions and something we will consider. This is urgent for us, just as it always has been. testing doesn't prevent transmission. It doesn't prevent transmission. The testing more frequently would just identify who has it sooner so that that person isn't in the building.

And I think that was the NFLPA's tweet yesterday. It's like we've been trying to tell you if you tested these vaccinated players every day, you wouldn't have had a major outbreak. Maybe that's true. It seems logical that that would have been true. But at this point, I think the league is considering either not testing or just letting these players who are vaccinated. and asymptomatic just play. Alan still said the league is seeing transmission of the virus

with the team's facilities for the first time this year. He also said the league sees evidence that the enhanced protocols are working for those teams that are in them. And, you know, Judy Batista and Mark Maski both said something's coming probably before the end of the week. But let's assume for a moment that the league doesn't do anything to, increase the chances of more of these Washington players on COVID returning. Do you think that they should move the game, postpone the game?

I don't know. I got to tell you, it's, I mean, I think that's the decision. When do you have to make that decision by? Well, last year they kind of, they definitely postponed some games at the 11th hour, right? Wasn't, weren't a few of those games the day before, moved from Sunday to Monday or Sunday to Tuesday. You know, that Ravens Steelers Thanksgiving night game was initially moved to a Monday or Sunday, then it was moved to a Tuesday, which then put the Washington game against Pittsburgh the following week from a Sunday to a Monday. There was a lot of flexibility last year. Remember at the beginning of... Yeah, go ahead. Well, my position would be that wait until the last minute to make the decision. Right now, I'd say,

you're hoping that some of these players come off the list and are available. You're hoping that no more show up on the list to make it worse. And if the list is reduced, I think you go ahead with the game. Right. But that's what I'm saying. What I'm saying is if the league does nothing to make it easier for players to return. Right. And Washington's list of 18 players, Kyle Allen, Cams, Samus, Reyes, Cornelius, Lucas, Montes,

went James Smith, Williams, Casey Toohill, John Allen, Tim Settle, Matt Ionitis, Colleen, Cooleek, Hudson, Mayo, Eiffler, Fuller, Apkey, Forrest, Bradley, King, and Hemingway. Hemingway, just for those of you that didn't know the list, which would include in terms of potential significant contributors, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, nine players. Maybe ten, if you include Apkey as a significant contributor, which he is on special teams, but really nine. If all of those players don't produce two negative tests within a 24-hour period prior to 1 o'clock on Sunday, would you postpone the game and move it to Monday night or Tuesday to give Washington a better chance to field a team that's closer to even like moderate level strength?

It would depend on the percentage of that group that you're talking about. So what's the magic number? I think if you can get, how many was that, eight players? 18 players on the list right now. No, no, no, no. You said these central players. Eight to nine players that are significant contributors, or would have been this Sunday. If you get two-thirds to them back, you go ahead with the game.

Okay. Now, they haven't been able to practice all week, so they're already at a major disadvantage, right? Because they're not even able to prepare for Sunday's game. I know, but is a day or two going to make a difference? I think it does, but, you know, I think it would be better to have them than not to have them, whether they practiced or not practiced. I'm not particularly wedded to playing the game on Sunday. They play it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

I don't particularly care. If I'm a Washington football fan, I don't want my team to go into an important game like this with my team, you know, so depleted in terms of players. but what if it gets worse? What if you wait and then come Tuesday or Wednesday in next week? The list is longer. I know. No, it's a good point.

It's a good point. I don't know what the right answer is. I mean, you know, I mean, it is. It's an unknown. Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons said yesterday, I wrote down this quote, at some point with this thing you feel like you're fighting a ghost, you don't know where to swing next.

It's so unpredictable, which is why I think the league's going to have to loosen these rules. They're just going to have to. And if they don't, then Washington certainly, if competitive fairness, like remember the league said they're going to be inflexible. No moving of games, no rescheduling. Well, that was at the beginning of the year and that was used, I think, as an incentive for teams to get their vaccination rates up. Well, the vaccination rates are through the roof. The league did a phenomenal job, you know, in getting players vaccinated. It's not their fault.

They didn't break any rules, we don't think, that led to this major outbreak. And of the 18 players that tested positive, 16 of them are vaccinated. So you can't punish them for doing exactly what the league asked them to do and then make them show up with 38 players on Sunday to play the biggest game of their season. You know, they've increased the practice squads, which were supposed to cover for that. but you're going to go in there with a depleted roster and you're going to be going in there with guys that haven't really even played

against a team, by the way, that hasn't had any issues. By the way, our girl Sabah basically threw out that this was an NFC East conspiracy against Washington. Well, I don't even know where that would come from. Like, why would they even care? But, and she said, we ought to switch up the test packets

with the Philadelphia test packets. I would imagine the leagues all using the same test packets. procedures, right? Yeah, I would think so. Look, Washington, ironically, was considered a model franchise last year for how they handled COVID. Right.

You know? So, no, I don't think they've done anything wrong. I don't think they put themselves in this situation. I think they're, as Crowley would say, a victim of circumstances. But, you know, has every team gotten their by week? Is that all finished? Yeah, finished last week.

The Eagles were among the last teams with the bottom. be a 17-game season this year. Maybe it'll only be a 16-game season. That won't happen. They're playing all these games. There's way too much money. What if you can't play a game for two weeks? Oh, are you saying like, I thought you were saying like they're just going to pause the season and resume and just skip a week. Well, you know, that brings up another question. If Washington has no chance going to Philadelphia because they've got 39 players that are going to dress or 40, of them, but none of them are any good. Somebody called in and said this morning, they should just take the forfeit and rest up.

They're still in the hunt. The final three games give them better chance to win their final three games. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they're going to do that. Yeah. Look, this gives Ron Rivera a chance to do the David versus Goliath story again. Your David Goliath isn't dead yet. Absolutely.

It's in play now. Right. Pink is. We didn't see a biblical play coming, I guess. I don't know, man. I just, I want to watch football. This season's been great. In the last four weeks, we're setting up to be phenomenal.

And I don't want to see these games get compromised. I don't want to end up with a game, like a couple of the games that we had last year, where players, so many players are out, it totally created a massive competitive advantage one way or the other. I'd rather see these teams have a chance. to play at full strength. And I think the league feels the same way. We'll see.

Again, I think by the time people listen to this podcast, there's going to be some sort of decision by the league. But if the league decides, no, this is what we're doing. We'll deal with it. You're going to have to do your best. Then they should also then say simultaneously, but we're going to be flexible in terms of our scheduling. You know, if you've got a major problem, we've got Monday night, we'll play two games on

Monday night, we'll play two games on Tuesday. like they did last year. They figured it out, they got through it, they played every single game, and we had games on every single day of the week last year. We had games on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. The entire gambit of a seven-day week was covered by NFL games during the course of the year, and I think that they should do that.

I'd hate to see Washington, and I am a fan, I'd hate to see them go in to this big game against the Eagles without, essentially with one defensive tackle, because that's where they are right now. They have Duran Payne, and that's it. John Allen, Matt Ionitis, Tim Settle, all on the COVID-19 list. They would have to... You can't let that happen. Yeah.

Against the number one rushing team in the NFL. Yeah. You just can't let that happen. So, we'll see. Unless you just say, unless you're Roger Dowen saying, you know, know, this team is a goddamn pain in the ass to me all the time. I got to go, I might have to show up at Capitol Hill and testify because it is goddamn team.

Screw them, let them get their ass kicked. Yeah, but they're, I mean, Cleveland has this issue, the Rams have this issue. I know. Somebody else said the same thing, like Roger Goodell is going to call up the team and say, seriously, like I'm covering up this Wilkinson investigation for you. I waived the debt limit. I loaned you the money to buy out those people, and now you want me to move your game?

Go to hell. Speaking of that, you know, well, we haven't talked about it together. We haven't talked about the Post story. And Snyder's reported interference in the Beth Wilkinson investigation. But what I said yesterday on the podcast, which is what Will Hobson told me on the radio,

he was right. The league was asked, Goodell was asked about it yesterday about the report in the post that Snyder interfered with, obstructed the Beth Wilkinson investigation. And the commissioner's response was, quote, it didn't interfere with the work that our investigator did, closed quote. And Will Hobson told me yesterday, he said, I think the league's answer is going to be, well, eventually Beth got to sit down with the woman and interview her.

So whatever his efforts were to obstruct. they didn't work. I didn't know that that's how it worked. I didn't know that you could just try to obstruct, try to interfere, try to prevent something from happening after pledging full cooperation, and then if it doesn't work, you're good. You're only... This is like trying to rob a bank a couple of times and being unsuccessful and then just give it up, you know? And people say, well, they weren't able to break into the bank and rob, even though they tried a couple of times. We're not going to charge them. Right. So, so much for attempted. Yes. So what did you think of the post story? Well, I thought it was a pretty good story and certainly

keeps the pressure on, but it didn't come as a surprise to me. I sort of, I guess I sort of thought that that's what he was already doing. I mean, there have been stories. out there about him, you know, sending private investigators to the houses of employees and former employees. And there have been allegations of that kind of harassment that have already taken place. Yeah. Right. But the new part was that he interfered with the Wilkinson investigation.

Well, I just, I know that. I get that. I mean, you didn't, you didn't know. what he was doing. Why would you assume that that's what he was doing on that front? Just assuming the worst? That's what he was doing. I mean, where the parameters ever put in place as to when he was sending these private investigators to harass? No, your point's a good one. Your points are good one. You're saying the going around to the people that were going to potentially speak to Beth Wilkinson. and but you know this was different in that it was the big story about the $1.6 million settlement and in the post story they said that they actually offered her through her attorney Brendan Sullivan

more money not to talk to Wilkinson. That's definitely new. Yeah. I didn't I didn't know or expect that. By the way, who is this woman? I mean, she had Brendan Sullivan as her lawyer. Yes, she did. Representing her.

I mean, you know, that's not an intern, you know? I mean, I don't know. I'm not saying I want to know, you know, I don't want to invade her privacy, but I certainly am curious that she could have such a high-power lawyer represent her pretty quickly in a case like this, because he represented her according to all counts when the settlement was reached back in 2009. Right. Yeah. Um, okay. I, you know, I, I, I gave my view yesterday. There's not much more I can add to it. I mean,

you know, the commissioner spoke, you know, like you said, hey, he tried to rob the bank five times, but he never got a dime, so he's good. You can let him go. Um, yeah, but the, oh, what about the, the part of the story about the Bruce Allen text to Ron Rivera? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That was the funniest. that was the funny is that he demanded as part of their settlement that that Bruce sent Dan a congratulatory text on hiring Rivera

what a year after it happened seven months after it happened it's amazing you know I mean that's what I don't get how can these guys in power I mean you know who went with him to the owners well went with Tanya to the owner's meeting is Jason Wright

Yeah. How can these guys work for him? I mean, if that's what he is, if that's how petty he is, and that gets exposed, we've got to figure maybe 5%, 10% of what this guy is, is out there exposed. And again, like I always believe, what happens behind the scene is far worse.

Want me to finish it for you? I've heard it many times. Yeah. You know, if you read something that's pretty bad, odds are it's much worse if you get inside yeah I mean when I read when I read that I just said well there it is in a nutshell not that it was surprising but it's like when you have somebody that small you know and that insecure and that petty I mean how are you ever ever going to attract you know high quality people to help you do something that you're not very good at

doing. Yes. Yeah, I know. I mean, it's just, you know, it's, it's, there's not much that surprises us anymore about this owner.

And, you know, right now, the hopes of Washington football fans rest on the idea that, look, if this congressional committee makes enough noise,

it's going to it's going to bother the other owners. I mean, they don't want to be, they don't want their commissioner dragged before Congress in a congressional hearing. I mean, the NFL spent a lot of money on lobbying, and here they are, you know, possibly the target of a congressional investigation into the way they do business.

I kind of think, like, some other owners are just going to say, they might say, yeah, but the grace of God go I. On the other hand, they might say, you know, I know 10 guys that would buy this team who wouldn't give us this much trouble. Right. But that gets back to whether or not they have something that would legitimately be something that they could, you know, three quarters vote them out.

And that's, so this story, I think, once again, kind of reinforced in my mind. And several of you push back and it's fine. And you think I'm way off on this. But I'll present it to Tommy. I think, you know, the fact that she interviewed this woman. Like for a while, we thought this $1.6 million settlement, what happened on the plane?

Maybe that's it. Maybe that'll be the thing, right? So Beth Wilkinson interviewed this woman. I think we have to presume that she interpreted. interviewed the woman because she wanted to find out about the $1.6 million settlement and what happened on that plane. I have to also believe that, you know, this woman's sitting down with Beth Wilkinson and feeling like it was okay to do so. I'm still surprised at that. Like, how is a $1.6 million settlement? How does it not include some sort of ironclad confidentiality that,

you know, this woman and her attorney would have said to Beth Wilkinson, yes, sorry, we're we have an agreement I can't talk about this. That part of it I don't understand. But assuming that Beth Wilkinson knows what happened on that plane, and then by extension, you would have to assume that the league, when she made her oral report to the league with her findings from the investigation, also knows what happened on that plane, then to me, and I know some people say, God, man, you're naive.

They'd cover this up in a heartbeat. I don't know. I part of me just, I think practically speaking in this environment, the league would be taking a massive risk to cover up some, you know, some sort of an event that Snyder had to settle for $1.6 million that would be so damaging to him and then so damaging to the league for the league not doing something about it. I think they got whatever it was. I've made this important distinction.

This is a sexual misconduct case, as it's been described, not harassment and not assault. Far different than assault or harassment. It's been described as a sexual misconduct event that was settled for $1.6 million. And I just wonder whether or not Beth Wilkinson said, here's what it is, and the league said, Oh, we can't boot him for this. Here's the thing, though.

They paid $1.6 million for something. I understand that. And I don't think in this atmosphere, anything that falls under the parameters of sexual misconduct will be forgivable. I think everything is potentially explosive. Right. Even if we're leveling degrees, third degree, second degree, first degree, you know, I think any degree of sexual misconduct, whatever that word means, in this day and age, I think if it came out, what it happened, I think the public outcry would be even greater. And I think the pressure would be even greater for them to do something about it. I don't think that's unreasonable, and I would also add that you would have whatever it was combined with all of the sexual harassment allegations from all of the women that were in the organization at the same time as well.

You know, it would be, that wouldn't be the whole investigation. You know, there'd be a lot more to the investigation. But I do think degrees are important because I think from the sort of a risk reward, you know, or a risk situation. from the league. It's like, if we go after him for this, this petty litigious SOB is going to tie us up and it's going to be hideous. And we know the lengths to which he will go to expose other things about other owners or other things that the league doesn't want out. Because he's that guy. I mean, we've already seen that with Bruce. He's not going to go away quietly. But you have 31 other titans of industry who can't be quivering in fear of this small man in Washington.

That's not the way they got to where they are. There may be some level of putting the league at risk in terms of fallout from what Snyder could uncover. Do I think it dictates if it becomes more, most more of a problem, which I think it's going to, then they're willing to put up with, then I just think they cut them loose. Yeah, I don't, it's, it's kind of hard to, to know because we don't know what happened on the plane. And until we sort of, and then it's, and then it might still be subjective, especially if it's some sort of, you know, sexual misconduct thing where it was, you know, just guys chatting in the vicinity of this woman and she felt offended by the conversation or whatever.

You know, I don't know what it would be, but I do think that the other 31 Titans of Titans of Industry, as you describe them, are also all men and could potentially look at whatever this settlement was, and their reaction could be, why the hell did you give this woman $1.6 million for that? You know, it could be that reaction, too. And we just don't know. I just don't, I just think that the league would be taking a huge risk if this was something really obvious to everybody.

by covering it up. I don't know. I don't know what that, what is acceptable sexual misconduct? I don't know. I don't know. You see, I don't think, I think right now there is none.

Yeah. I just have a feeling. And by the way, there's two NFL owners who are women. That's true. My fault. Just, just correct. Terry Pagula and.

The woman who owns the Bears. The Bears, right. McCassie. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, Tanya Snyder also is an own and co-ceeo CEO. Yeah.

Yeah. All right. Are we done with this? I mean, I, you know, I just, I do, those of you that expressed fatigue, I do get it. And I do get like, it seems like the Post is on the attack. But, you know, as much as, you know, you might think that the Post has a vendetta against Snyder, which they may have. I actually think the reporting's been pretty good going back to July of 2020.

The reporting has been good. And let me explain to you a little lesson on journalism. Please. When you have a story, that's your story, you pound it as much as you can. Again, it's not Snyder. It's the story. I always tell people, most of the bias that they tell, talk about in journalism is the story. Most reporters that I know when they have a story are

driven by the story, by getting anything new that can get out there, by advancing the story further. That is what's driving this. And they're in competition with the New York Times on some of this stuff. But as far as the Post is concerned, this is their story, and they're going to advance it whenever they can, however minutely. they can. And I don't blame them for doing it. I used to tell my reporters when we would have a story that we uncovered. I said, I don't care of it's the smallest little thing. I want you to write anything that's new as a story. Just keep pounding on it until everybody knows that if they want to read about this, they're going to have to read us. That makes sense. I mean, and there was something new

here. Now, if we find out down the road, because the team vehemently denied, that they had interfered with the investigation. If we find out that they were wrong on this, well, you know, we'll say it. But I don't know how much they've been wrong on on this story so far. And by the way, the point that... Well, you know, actually, the first story that the posted, the team said was right, wasn't it? Didn't they? You got evidence to that. Yeah, the team sent out a letter to all of their corporate sponsors and advertisers and

partners with the actual story attached saying this is true the other stuff about Epstein isn't I still I still keep coming back to um all of the uh the hype to the first story and all of the inaccurate reporting or inaccurate rumor mongering on the internet about Epstein and sexual trafficking trafficking and all that and it it actually benefited the team. They're too stupid to realize it, but it actually benefited them. And then they tried to take advantage of it. Like they're fighting all of it and saying, who did this? And we're going to get to the bottom of it, you know, this Indian company. And yet really the best thing that happened to them that week was the Epstein rumors. The other part of the, there was the other part of the story that

sort of indicated that Snyders, all those lawsuits against, you know, Allen have been, you dropped and the former shareholders have been dropped, but he is still going after that Indian marketing company. And then, you know, the whole thing with the attorney Dave Donovan, who was the attorney for Snyder, and his lawsuit against Wilkinson was, I think a new, I think that was new in this story as well. You know, we knew that he was involved in a lawsuit. I don't know that we knew specifically that he had sued Beth Wilkinson because he was afraid, at least according to the post, that she would find that the investigation that Donovan spearheaded back in 2009 essentially was a joke. But again, whatever joke of an investigation it was, they paid this woman

$1.6 million. Right. To make sure that she would never talk again, and yet she did. I don't get that part. I still don't understand that part. This was not, she, there was, There's no subpoena. This is a private company, a private investigation. She didn't have to sit down with Beth Wilkinson. And she certainly had to. If she knew she wasn't going to risk her money, I would think she'd want to. Maybe, but if they actually did offer her more money, why didn't she take more money and not talk? Well, maybe given the atmosphere today, she recognizes that, you know, a greater good is served. heard by her talking. My point, though, is I can't imagine they wrote this check, you know, and they, that she's got this $1.6 million and that there wasn't as part of the settlement

a very strict confidentiality clause. What do you think they were buying for $1.6 million? They were buying her silence forever. And yet she talked to Wilkinson. I don't understand it. Now, Will Hobson said, well, remember, you know, the team and Snyders, they released all of those other women from their NDAs. There's a big difference between an NDA and a $1.6 million confidentiality clause and settlement over a sexual misconduct that happened on a plane. I don't get how she was able to talk without violating that deal. Now, come chase me for the money. You know what the money's spent. Come get it.

I'm talking to this woman. Maybe that was it. Right. I don't know. Maybe. All right, let's get to a couple of other things. I've got a story that I want to read to you that I think is an interesting conversation to have. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

A smell test pick for the Thursday night game is coming up. there were some stories, big NFL stories, Urban Meyer out in Jacksonville. Not a big surprise. Part of this story that was interesting is that that kicker Josh Lambo, there was a story in the Tampa Bay Times yesterday that Urban Meyer kicked him in the leg while he was stretching during warmups during the preseason. Anyway, Meyer is out. That didn't seem to be a big surprise.

I think I talked about it yesterday, maybe the day before I forget, but, you know, let's not forget that Urban Meyer was in Dan Snyder's suite in the season finale against Philadelphia in December of 2019 to see Dwayne Haskins and Terry McLaurin. And there were all these rumors flying around. And most of you out there would have been totally fine with Urban Meyer as the coach or general manager. Yeah. You would have been. I've never been a big Urban Meyer fan. I never was not an Urban Meyer fan. I think he was an offensive, I mean, genius.

Genius is this stretch, but he was a great offensive coach. I think what we've learned from this thing is that in places like Columbus and Jacksonville, as long as you're, Columbus and Gainesville, as long as you're winning all is well, no matter what kind of person you are. So the Wizards lost lightning last night. wanted to mention that as well. They blew a 12-point lead. This is falling apart really quickly here at the 30 game mark. They play the Sons tonight, so assume that they lose that to drop to 15 and 15. They've lost six of their last seven, and they've lost six of their last seven, you know,

all of them except for two of them by double digits, and those games weren't really competitive. Last night they had a 12-point lead in Sacramento lost. I knew I wrote that Tommy Shepherd calm too early? I mean, I don't know what's going on, but I think I predicted with you on Tuesday. I think Beale will be traded before the deadline or, you know, by the deadline, and they'll have a completely new team. And it's going to be interesting to see how Tommy handles all this. I can tell you this, I didn't watch the game last night.

It was late. But I watched the highlights, and Spencer Dinwiddie does not look healthy to me. That would be the one thing. They've got to be careful with that. They may have to sit him for a while. He does not look right physically. So yesterday was college football signing day, Tommy. And Mike Loxley had another really good day.

I mean, he's a hell of a recruiter. Right. There is no doubt. But I want to share with you this one story about a recruit that he flipped from South Carolina to Maryland at the last minute. You know, Shane Beamer, Frank Beamer's son, is the coach at South Carolina. By the way, Shane Beamer did a hell of a job this year at South Carolina. They looked like one of the worst teams in America early in the season, and they ended up rallying and having some big wins and getting to a bowl game.

South Carolina is a place where there are high expectations, and I think there were some questions about Beamer early on, but he did a really good job in South Carolina's going to a bowl game. So anyway, I want to read to you the story about, Jay Sean Barham. He was a four-star linebacker out of St. Francis in Baltimore. He committed to South Carolina on Saturday

before flipping to Maryland on the first day yesterday of the early signing period. Beamer was asked about what happened with Barham, and this is what he said. Quote, I can't say it's a surprise. This particular young man committed on Saturday and about 10 minutes later I got a call from somebody in the know up there that said, just so you know, it's all part of a plan.

He's going to flip on Wednesday and go to Maryland. I can't sit here, Beamer said, and tell you that I was shocked. But when you're on the phone with a young man as recently as 10, 30, 11 o'clock on Tuesday night, and he and the mom are telling me how thankful they are that they found a home at South Carolina, how appreciative they are for how we do things, how they knew South Carolina was the place for them on their very first visit to South Carolina and how excited they are for the future

to be feeling pretty good about everything. Certainly the young man you're referring to, some strange things happened overnight, but that's a story for another day. That story, I can't tell you if that story's true or not. I have no reason not to believe Beamer. I don't know why he would make that up about the young man and about somebody calling him to say that this was part of a plan. I do know that this has happened in the past in other situations and other schools where there's more of an effect if it's a last second, hey, they flipped him.

He's coming to Southern Cal or he's coming to Maryland or he's coming to Ohio State. They flipped a five-star guy from Florida State to, you know, Florida or whatever. But I will tell you this, if it is true, it is so wrong to do this. That coach works his ass off. This is a big day for him and for him and his, you know, parent to sit there and lie to him the way they did the night before when they knew they were going to announce Maryland the next day. where's the adult in the room to say, no, no, no, we're not doing this. Sorry, you're not going to do this. I don't care what kind of attention it'll get for you or the school. This is not right.

You don't do this to people. You call him up and you tell him, coach, I really appreciate everything. I really respect you in the program, but I'm going to stay close to home and I'm going to go to Maryland. You don't lie to him the night before or the weekend before, and then he finds out the next day when you announce Maryland. What is wrong with people? Seriously. What assorted business college athletics is? It really is.

I mean, my God, it's so dirty. It's so slimy. I don't even know if it's for sure true, but I have no reason not to believe Shane Beamer's story. And by the way, Loxley's flipped a lot of guys in the last couple of years. I don't know if these were similar situations were to sort of get the effect of it. I don't think that's the case. That doesn't seem like Mike.

Mike's been a hell of a recruiter. He hasn't had to go out and flip guys at the last second. This guy's a first-rate recruiter. But if that's true and if it continues to happen throughout, somebody's got to put a stop to this. You know, many years ago, I think it was Ralph Freedion's fifth or sixth year at Maryland. There was a very high, highly recruited player. And I'm forgetting the name.

I think his last name was Elamene. I think somebody may correct me on this. He was a local, and he invited Ralph and Ralph's wife and all of the key Maryland people to a restaurant in Baltimore, where he was going to announce the school that he had chosen. And of course, the fact that he called up Ralph and said, bring your wife and bring all the people up there, it led them to believe that he was going to announce Maryland, right?

Well, no, he didn't. He announced Penn State. Oh, my God. Many of you will remember that story. But this story, if true, you know, I don't even really blame the kid. I can't imagine that it was his idea. Maybe it is, and maybe this is, you know, again, I know this has happened recently in other places, but that's personally and professionally wrong.

You know, that guy could have, you know, offered that scholarship to somebody else at the last minute that maybe he had put off and said, we don't have a spot for you. There's so many things that were wrong about that. But anyway, those are my thoughts. I can't argue with that. I mean, I can't argue with that. I mean, your credibility in the end is what you really have. And if this kid moves on in the public arena, he'll find his credibility should be more and more important.

I do have a smell test, and I did want to talk about the game tonight just briefly. We'll do that. Maybe you've got something else. Maybe you've got a car update for us. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Smell test coming up in this segment early on the Thursday night game. This segment's presented by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com.

MyBooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. They will double your first deposit all the way up to $1,000. They've got everything you need for this Saturday's Jake Paul Tyron Woodley fight. They've got all of the prop bets, straight bets on the fight. if you're interested in that. And of course, all of the football get started tonight. From tonight through January 4th, we should have football every single day and night,

or at least at night, for the next three weeks as bowl games get started tomorrow afternoon. So I will have a smell test coming up here shortly on the game tonight. But did you make any progress with Liz on the car or, whether or not more people or less use consumer reports to make their decisions, they're purchasing decisions on a car. Well, in her informal email poll, every member her family said they used it, but they're all Boy Scouts, you know? I mean, they're going to go by the book.

Right. You know, that's who they are. You know, and people who weren't part of her family, for the most part, said they don't really use it. So what was the conclusion? Where is she? Did she acknowledge that maybe you're right and she's right, at least? Oh, yeah.

Are you married? Yeah. Okay. I brought that poll home. I brought my poll home about the Thanksgiving eating time. No. No, that didn't. We just kind of like let it fizzle into thin air.

I'm so sick of looking for this car. You know, information overload. Did you get any suggestions from Twitter? after we talked about it? It looked like there were a bunch of them. You know, on Facebook, we were looking at a car, at a CarMax, and in the history, it came up that there were liens on this car, basically what came up online.

And I thought that was unusual. But then I also thought, well, CarMax is not going to sell a car that has liens on it. They're going to own the car. They're going to have the title. You know? There's not going to be other times. And it also brought up the idea that may be multiple titles.

So my real normal reaction would be, well, they're not going to sell a car that they don't own. Okay? I mean, I'm going to see the title before I buy it. So, you know, I'm not that worried about it. But, you know, the upside of the equation was very concerned about it. So I posted on Facebook, how alarm should I be? I asked people, and almost everybody says you walk away from the car. Okay.

You know, and I mean, do we really think that CarMax is selling me a car that a couple people own? I don't know, but I'd hate to see them try to get it from you. So I just assume not buy, I just assume this all go away. We don't buy a car right now, and we let it sit for a couple. God, just buy the damn car. Just get a car. Considering how little you drive, why don't you just lease a new car? I mean, have you ever considered leasing a vehicle given how little you drive?

No, I have not. Well, you should look into it. I mean, what do you guys want to do? Were you going to pay cash for this car? Yeah. Yeah, we were. All right, so you don't want a car payment. Well, I mean, do the math.

I mean, you know, you drive, you don't drive a hell of a lot. This car wouldn't get driven a hell of a lot. You lease a new vehicle with like, you know, a 10,000 mile max per year thing. You know, depending on what you lease, I mean, there's some good lease deals out there, especially with rates being where they are. You're probably going to get a car payment that's going to be really, you know, given how much you drive, it's probably better to lease than to buy. But you're not financing the deal anyway, so it doesn't matter.

You're looking to pay cash for something used. I don't need another option. Okay. You're not helping. Well, if you lease something new, you wouldn't have to worry about multiple liens on it. You know, just shut up. You wouldn't have to worry about some dude coming. Hey, wait a minute.

That's mine. You know, as it's parked downtown outside of your cigar bar. I'm looking at my Jackie Robinson. baseball bat here right in front of me that I would use on the guy who tried to take my car. I know. That's what I said. I would not, you know, I'd find out, by the way, if Tommy ends up with your car, you better do your research before you start coming for it. So, no, we're nowhere. We're going to look at another car today. All right. Well, have fun with that.

If we decided, you know, we're not going to buy it now, I'd be perfectly fine with that. The Chargers are my smell test pick tonight, early smell test pick. I was one in three last week after just an absolute sizzling month with the smell test to go above 500. One and three last week. The winner was the Rams on Monday night. I got unlucky on two of the games. The Buffalo game, I had them plus three and a half. The Patriots touchdown the Patriots.

The Buccaneers. God, I do that all the time with Brady. And the Buccaneers is calling the Patriots. You know, they scored the touchdown instead. A field goal would have been a winner. And somehow the Bears scored 30 points at Lambo and didn't cover. But anyway, the Chargers are a major anti-public side tonight. They're getting three.

Echler is supposed to play. This is a big-time heavyweight matchup tonight in this NFL season. The winner is in first place in the AFC West and also has, you know, a shot. I know the Chargers have five losses. But if the Chargers pull off the win tonight, they have the Texans, Broncos, and Raiders left. So they would be favored pretty much in all of those games to get to 13 and to get to 12 and 5, excuse me. And, you know, they'd have a shot depending on what the Patriots do down the stretch of getting the number one seed in the AFC. Everybody's in the hunt for the number one seed.

every single first place team in both conferences is very much in the hunt for the number one seat. I would say the Ravens are the longest shot in the AFC, and maybe the Cowboys are the longest shot in the NFC. But tonight's game's a big game. The Chiefs have not played great against anybody not named the Raiders offensively, even though they've got a six-game win streak. And the Chargers, in their last, like three out of their last four games, they've scored 41, 41 and 37 points. Great matchup, obviously, with the quarterbacks to Herbert and Mahomes. But early smell test pick is on the L.A. Chargers tonight plus the three at home.

Looking forward to watching that game tonight. What else do you have? Anything? I got nothing else for you, boss. I'm not going to do a prediction on the game Sunday. Oh, right. Why not? Because of the COVID? Yeah. Because I don't. Because I don't. Don't know. Why don't you give me two predictions? Why don't you give me one if they're really depleted and another one if they get most of the players back? Okay.

If they're really depleted, they're going to get B 32 to 10. And if they're not really depleted, they're going to get B 32 to 20. 32 is the number. 32 is the number. The Eagles right now, the three teams that have been most impacted here, the Cleveland Browns went from being a six and a half point favorite. to being a one and a half point underdog at home on Saturday. They've got to play on Saturday. So Mayfield, Stefansky's definitely out.

By the way, this will be the second game that Kevin Stefanski's missed. I think I read that it's the third time he's tested positive for COVID. But remember, he didn't coach the playoff game last year. The Washington game went from Philadelphia minus three and a half minus four to minus seven, which is where it is right now. and the Rams game at home against Seattle after their COVID cases after the Monday night, they went from being a seven-point favorite to just a four-point favorite Sunday at home against the Seahawks. So, you know, this is going to be a crazy couple of days.

Nothing. I've been checking Twitter all day, you know, to see if there's been anything yet from the league as far as what's going on with respect to. you know, a potential COVID change. Washington practicing today. Oh, here we go. The list expands. Breaking news here at the end of the podcast from our good friend Ben Standing. Cam Kural, center Keith Ishmael,

and center Tyler Larson, who was probably out anyway because the Achilles injury from Sunday, now all on the reserve COVID list. That's 21 players. Well, they're not playing this game. I mean, now you've got, you know, Fuller and Curl gone from the secondary. Ishmael was going to be the starting center because Larson got hurt.

Apparently Brandon Sheriff was taking practice, you know, center snaps yesterday. So, yeah. They're not playing this game. They're not playing it on Sunday unless the, unless the, unless the league relaxes the rules and all of these guys who have tested positive but are asymptomatic and vaccinated can play. We'll see. Wow. Cam Curl, who I thought had a really good game Sunday.

Cam Curl and Kendall Fuller, two players who I thought played really well on Sunday, both out. Again, remember, if they're vaccinated, they could produce two negatives and play on Sunday, but still, the odds are. No, 21 players Washington has. Games got to get moved if they don't relax the rules. All right, that's it for today. We'll be back tomorrow with a preview of the game. And, you know, depending on what's going on with the team and the COVID cases and the whole thing, I may wait to get as much news as possible before doing the podcast tomorrow,

but there will be a podcast tomorrow. Okay, that's it for the day. Tommy, thanks. Have a good weekend. I'll talk to you next week. You too, boss. I'll see you.