The Kevin Sheehan Show - No On Washington Warriors

Episode Date: July 12, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on Washington Football Team President Jason Wright's statement from earlier this morning that the new name will not be the "Warriors". Thom talked about singing live yesterday at Caddie's and the boys talked some MLB All-Star game, NBA Finals, and a little soccer too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I'm here. I know I didn't do radio this morning.

I was just off. I wasn't fired. For those of you that reached out to check on me, not yet anyway. Just a couple of days off. You know, Tommy, I think, would agree with this. If you're serious about doing the sports talk show kinds of jobs in this city, you really can't take days off once football season starts in September. So you've got to get in some of those vacation days, you know, during the summer.

So on radio, I'm back tomorrow and Wednesday, then off the end of the week. And I'll be taking some days off from this podcast as well between now and Labor Day. Not sure exactly when yet, because Tommy, we are in the midst of sort of a complicated move that gets more complicated by the day. It'll all work out fine, but I will keep everybody posted on that. Tommy had a very interesting weekend, which we are going to get to here at the top. But I do want to tell you that we will be discussing for the majority of the show today. The presidential briefing from Jason Wright, the Washington football team president from this morning, and the interview that he did with The Washington Post.

late last week. I am sorry I wasn't there. I told you in advance that I was more likely than not not going to be able to make it unless there was a big rainstorm yesterday, but I had a previous commitment yesterday. But tell me how the event at Caddys with your guys, King of Soul in a very, very, I know, heartfelt event for you for the D.C. Grays, how did it go? It went fabulous. It would be hard to have for it to have gotten better. We had a great turnout. We raised $2,500. That's awesome.

For the grace. King's Seoul was fabulous, giving up their Sunday afternoon to play for free. Patty's was a great host. Everything just went great. I want to give a shout out to Neil and Rockville, who came and helped one of our board members, members, Chris Spira, hand out some grave tokens and stuff to people while the event was going on.

That was a big help as well. So that's pretty much it. Neil is always, by the way, so helpful on these things. And Neil, seriously. And some of you hear Neil on the radio show because he's sort of a legal contributor. He was for Tommy and I for years. and there are others, not just Neil, but so dedicated to everything that we do and we're involved in, and that's always appreciative. We're always appreciative of that. I was sent a video by you. Tommy had a surprise for everybody, which he teased on the last show that we did last week together,

and it was a video of him singing, knock on wood. With King's soul. With the band. Tommy grabbed the mic, moved a little bit, and sang his little heart out, didn't you? Yes, I did, baby. Yes, I did. It was a big hit. It was a huge hit.

I can't get enough of it. I can't get enough of it. You sent it to me this morning, and I've listened. I've watched it. It's outstanding. Look, I mean, keep your day job. that's the one thing I would say but the

fearlessness that you had to get up there and belt it out Otis Redding style was awesome it was great yeah I've done that before you know many many years ago I mean 35 40 years ago

there were a couple of songs that some bands used to invite me up to sing with them back in the old first edition days in Jersey but I haven't done it in a long time and it wasn't my idea King's soul invited me up to do it they said before the event

you better start practicing your knock on wood because we're going to call you up to do it that was awesome Tommy my greatest fear my greatest fear is screwing up the lyrics while you're up there I've sung that song a thousand times

but you know I just was so worried I was going to screw up the lyrics somehow I think when, look, if this is one of your favorite songs, typically, that's one of those long-term memory things that are pretty much ingrained. Hopefully, if you start to, if you start to forget the lyrics of your favorite song, you probably need more sleep or maybe a neurological evaluation. But you looked great up there and I'm, honestly, the people that showed up, I know it meant so much to Tom, it meant so much to the D.C. Grays. It meant so much to, to everybody that was there.

That's awesome. I wish I could have been there. I would not have gotten up on stage with you because while I certainly know this song, I would not have known the lyrics. So I would have been like a doo-wop in the back for you in a best case. That would have been good.

That's a preview for next year then. Okay, very good. But it was a good day. It was a really good day. Yeah. Everyone was very generous. A lot of people showing up for the event. So I want to thank everybody.

If this money goes to getting uniforms, getting equipment, you know, fielding travel teams, all for kids in Ward 6, 7, and 8 in the district. That's awesome. Who would not have these baseball opportunities otherwise. So it's a good cause. Big show for a big cause, like I said. That's phenomenal. All right.

I think we have to start with... And one last thing. Yes. Because people were asking, there will be a cigar event this fall. There will be a cigars and curveball fundraiser this fall again. Yes. Okay. We, I mean, you didn't have it obviously last June.

Right. And so you're going to have one this fall. I am committed to having and making it to that one. That one I won't miss. You've always been a big supporter of that. I really appreciate it. Okay, whatever. But I do enjoy that.

In fact, I think the last one that you had was when Dave Martinez and Mike Rizzo both showed up. And it was pretty much at the 19 and 31 mark. And then they made the run. Anyway, all right, I want to start with Jason Wright. By the way, we'll talk a little bit about the NBA. finals because they were for all intents and purposes revived last night by yonnas at tentacompo um the euro by the way yesterday um i did not i did not see it um live really but it went to italy on what was just an absolute insane day uh in london and at wembley did you see some

of the video of the fans basically running through the barricades they uh you know the estimate is that there were thousands and thousands of fans in Wembley yesterday that did not have a ticket. Anyway, I, um, Jason. You are going to watch the home run derby tonight. Yeah, well, I want to see Otani in particular. And I hope Juan Soto does, does well also. The Nats obviously limping into the All-Star break, literally and figured it. Yes, they are. They got swept by the Giants.

Yesterday they are, what, six games, five games under 500 now. They went from being the hottest team in the major leagues to a team that's really floundering right now, and a lot of it really is injury-related. So anyway, I want to read Jason Wright's briefing because my sense of it is that some of you haven't seen it unless you're following the Washington football team on Twitter or unless you're on their website. And I know that they don't have nearly as many followers or as interested website. fans as they used to. But I want to read this to you and then I want us to talk about it because the first thing, and I won't bury the lead, the first thing is, and the most important thing to come

out of this is the official termination of one of the new name possibilities. If you were a fan of the Warriors as the next name for the football team, that will not be the name according to this morning's to this morning's presidential briefing from Jason Wright. That was part of the big takeaway from this morning's briefing. In fact, I think it was really the intent of this morning's briefing from Jason Wright is to tell everybody it's not going to be the Warriors. And he explains why. But let me read this to you, all right? And then we can go back through it. I know you've read it. It's not a long read. But for those that haven't heard it, it starts off with Jason Wright saying since we made the decision to change our name, the past nine months have given us a unique opportunity

to reevaluate our organization in terms of who we are today and what path we want to take into our future. A key to that determination is acknowledging and understanding our past. You could say it's a chance to watch the film on ourselves, not just through our eyes, but also through the perspectives of others. It's no secret why we began this journey of finding a new brand identity. It's centered around our old name and its use of Native American imagery and racialized language. Though I wasn't here for the rescinding of the name, I believe it was done with faith that the connective ties of this fan base run deep and that the deeply loved traditions and positive aspects of our identity can be preserved and even enhanced under a new name.

that does not offend any member of our community. Quite simply, it is the right thing to do. He continues, we recognize that not everyone is in favor of this change, and even the Native American community offers a range of opinions about both our past and path forward. But in these moments, it is important to prioritize the views of those who have been hurt by our historical use of Native American language, iconography, and image. Let me also be clear. Moving on from the old moniker does not invalidate the poignant memories so many of you had with loved ones watching your football heroes in Burgundy and gold. There are moments to cherish and we need your help to ensure we preserve those memories under a new banner that should bring even more fans into the Washington family. With this in mind, we made it a priority to run an inclusive process to listen to all voices. We have given it. particular emphasis to engaging, listening, and learning from Native American leaders and

individuals throughout the country. This process has exposed us to the very deeply held personal feelings about our previous imagery and association and not just the simple, easy to categorize who's for or who's against polling of our old name, but research revealing the psychological effects of Native American team names on American Indian and Alaska Native youth. In sum, this engagement demonstrated to us a consensus that moving forward with no ties to Native American imagery is the right path. I am personally and deeply grateful for the Native American community leaders who engaged with us, sharing painful, raw, and real stories that persist to this day. Their stories affirmed our decision to move in a new direction in the creation of our new name and identity,

and we are proudly forging ahead in this journey with a promise to our community, a promise to continue to be inclusive in our process and collaborative with our fans. In the spirit of that engagement, I want to address a name that is emerged amongst our fan base, warriors. One might look at this name as a natural and even harmless transnational, transition, considering that it does not necessarily or specifically carry a negative connotation. But as we learn through our research and engagement with various groups, context matters, and that makes it a slippery slope. Feedback from across communities we engaged clearly revealed deep-seated discomfort around

warriors and the clear acknowledgement that it too closely aligns with Native American themes. Such an embrace of potentially native adjacent iconography and imagery would not represent a clear departure that many communities have so forcefully advocated for us to embrace and that, frankly, we set out to do when we started this process a year ago. We have 89 years of history in this league and failing to acknowledge our past use of native imagery in the consideration of the new name wouldn't be mindful of the individuals and communities. that were hurt by the previous names, by the previous name, excuse me. We've made significant changes in our organization and our culture, and our new name must reflect these changes. To that end, we will choose an identity that unequivocally departs from any use of our approximate linkage to Native American imagery.

I know this may be disappointing for some folks, but as I've said many times before, our new identity should unite us. It should bring us together the way this team comes together on the football field and the way we have seen our fans come together and proudly support our team and our DMV community. With training camp around the corner in the 2021 season nearly upon us, we feel the momentum building during this off season. We've made significant progress in our rebrand journey and are entering a very exciting phase. We are now down to a short list.

We are now down, excuse me, to a short list of final names. based on, hold on for a second, where am I? We are now down to a short list of final names based on our strategic approach, research process, and insight phase. We will continue to rely upon the insight in support of many of you as it moves forward to a final decision.

As a team, we are confident that our new brand identity will honor our legacy and lead us into our future as a franchise. So that was the presidential briefing this morning from team president Jason Wright. After reading it, what were your reactions? Well, I mean, he knows how to get a message out. I think he's very good at what he does. And I don't think it's going to matter much to the people who are still upset.

about the name change. I don't think they're going to hear him. But, you know, I'm not sure he's writing for the fan base, as much as he's writing for the NFL, and, you know, the eyes that are supposedly going to be watching this franchise, moving forward. So I think he accomplished what he wanted to do, how effective it is, I have my doubt.

Okay, can I go through it and nitpick it a little bit? Sure. Let me start with this. I think that he communicates a lot. He enjoys communicating a lot. And that's certainly a different modus operandi than before. And we've got somebody in the organization that is constantly communicating. There are reasons for that.

The reasons are is they have a business that's floundering. You know, this isn't a position that this organization has been in much over the last 89 years, certainly not the last 50. So having a new face and intelligent voice communicating with what's left of the fan base, I think he recognizes is important. So I give him a lot of credit to staying in front of the fan base. I also am going to give him credit for the first time today to sort of understanding the past. You know, a lot of people get here and they just don't get it.

You know, they don't understand the name or why people would have been attached to it or, you know, why the fan base is deteriorated and whittled away. And, you know, it's an amazing thing. You get into this organization and you almost take on the owner's detachment from reality about why, you know, the organization and the business of the organization is in the spot that it's in now. But I want to start with this because he starts off. by talking about, you know, we made the decision to change her name. The past nine months have given us a unique opportunity to reevaluate our organization. A key to that determination is acknowledging and understanding our past. You could say it's a chance to watch the film.

He puts it in quotes, watch the film on ourselves, not just through our eyes, but also through the perspectives of others. I would suggest to him that the perspectives of others are much more important than their own eyes. Their own eyes have deceived them for years. But a review of the film, Tommy, would indicate, you know, Jason, that your team on the field hasn't been very good for 21 years. You know, that's what the film reveals, is that the team is sucked for 21 years. And the reason is very poor leadership. And beyond just putting out an inferior football product for much of the last 21 years, the inferiority has come with an attention.

attached embarrassing behavior time and time again, that's made it even worse, made the losing even worse. There's your macro film review recap. That's it. Your review of the film is that your football team has sucked because your owner is a bad owner. And the losing has come with a level of embarrassment that has chased droves away. The only thing that's kept most of what was once an incredibly passionate fan base from completely disappearing is number one people still love football.

It is still the number one sport in this country. The NFL is a safety net. The NFL, no matter how bad the local franchise can be. That's right. Football is still, the NFL is still a big safety net. That's a great way to put it. That's one of the reasons that there are still people hanging on. And two, you know, there are these past memories, however distant, that people are still attached to.

And by the way, those memories include a very emotional, visceral attachment to the brand and everything associated to the brand. But that's, you know, I hope that big picture, I remember when Brian Lafamina, you know, asked me to come out and sit with him after he had taken over the short-term president's chair, which only you predicted would be short-term, told him to rent, not buy, said if he's here, if a year from now, you basically would pay almost anybody a thousand bucks. You could have made a lot of money off that one. But I just remember telling him, look, this is really simple. the football product has to be not only a really good football product, but it's got to be one that steers clear of embarrassing behavior. Because the memories that people still hang on to come from an era where not only did they win, but they won with a level of decorum and class that was top shelf, the top shelf.

Not only in the NFL, but in all of team sports. That's it. That's win. Win. Win and don't embarrass people. And that's not something they've been able to do now for basically coming up on 30 years. And I point this out all the time. And it's fair to say that certainly the embarrassing behavior has been the last 21 years since Dan Snyder took over his owner. But the losing has been going on for essentially 29 years. You know, after Gibbs left and they were an old team and they, you know, with the salary cap, you know, introduction. in 93. They were going to lose for a couple of years, but they lost for a lot of years in a row, and they lost big for a lot of years in a row. He continues in his briefing. It's no secret why we began this journey of finding a new brand identity. It centered around our old name and its use of Native American imagery and racialized language. Though I wasn't here for the rescinding of the name, I believe it was done with faith that the connective ties of this fan base were

deep and that the deeply loved traditions and positive aspects of our identity can be preserved and even enhanced under a new name that does not offend any member of our community. Quite simply, it is the right thing to do. You know, one of the things I liked, and he's communicated a lot since taking over. This isn't the first briefing. This isn't the first interview, but this is the one that is getting a lot of headlines because it eliminated one of the name possibilities, which we'll get to. But on this particular part of his briefing, let's be clear. Okay, the name would still be the name, if not for George Floyd's murder and the aftermath, which included economic pressure put on the team by the team's biggest business partners and sponsors, Federal Express, PepsiCo, Bank of America,

and others. The name would still be the name. This was not something that they were going to go into voluntarily. You know, it's no secret why we began this journey of finding a new brand. It's centered around our old name and its use of Native American imagery. But no, the no secret is FedEx and PepsiCo and Bank of America threatened to pull away big, big money. Period. That's why the name got changed.

A year ago, by the way, Tommy, tomorrow is, I think, when the whole thing started. Yeah, it wasn't some kind of social revelation. that the ownership underwent. And let's also be clear. You know, there was no quite simply in any of this. You know, when he writes quite simply, it is the right thing to do. There's never been a quite simply in this discussion, whether it was last summer or the years that preceded last summer.

The right thing to do was always very complex. Always very complex. He goes on. We recognize that not everyone is in favor of this change, and even the Native American community offers a range of opinions about both our past and the path forward. But in these moments, it's important to prioritize the views of those who have been hurt by our historical use of Native American language, etc., etc., etc.

These are the moments to cherish. He said, the old moniker does not invalidate the poignant memory so many of you had with loved ones watching your football heroes in Burgundy and gold. Those are moments to cherish. We need to help to ensure that we preserve those memories under a new banner that should bring even more fans into the Washington family. One of the things that I like about this note this morning, first of all, like even though I've joked about all of the business speak

and the business lingo and the business buzzwords that he uses in almost every single communique he has, it's very clear to me that he is by far in a way the brightest person that's been in this organization in years. Like in years. And not only that, his ability to communicate, even though sometimes you probably have some people going, what does this little business buzzword actually mean? What's you trying to say here?

He just, you can tell he is innately very bright. Now, does he have any experience in running an actual business by himself? No, he's been a consultant. Consultants live in the world of theoretical and whiteboard drawing. They don't live and have never lived in the world of practical. But he is very bright, and I would think is going to be bright enough to figure it out. But being in the business of running a business is much different than being in the business of talking about how a business should be run. There's so much more to it.

But what's very clear to me is he is by far in a way not only the brightest, but the guy that, you know, is communicating in a way. Dan can't communicate. We've known that for years. The organization has been truly one of the most limited intellectually in all of team sports for a long period of time. That's changed here recently on the business side with Jason Wright. I would say I appreciate too, and I respect. him acknowledging that not everyone has been in favor of this, you know, like the majority of the

customer base hasn't been in favor of this. By the way, he also includes the majority of those that matter the most in this conversation, Native Americans themselves. Now, he doesn't refer to a majority of Native Americans, but we know that, you know, more likely than not, the polling isn't that, you know, in 90-10, even if the real numbers are 60-40, it's still a majority of Native Americans over the hundreds and hundreds of tribes that exist out there. And I think it's over 500 nationwide that have not had an issue with this. I think Jason's pretty smart and understands that in communicating from his office, you have to address everyone and not speak down to those that don't agree.

You know, that's smart on his part because Tommy, they are desperate for fans right now. We live in a bubble of communicating with people that are really into the football team. I can tell you from a business standpoint, and last year, who knows what would have happened because they didn't get a chance to see that because of the pandemic, but we know the TV ratings were really, really low for most of the year. But they're desperate for customers right now. They've never been in this position. They have in a short 21 years taken away one of the most insanely committed customer bases.

They've taken that insanely committed customer base and chased away the majority of it. And many of those chased away, they need back desperately. Because many of those that they chased away, that the owner in part chased away, they were the big spenders, Tommy. they were the big, you know, 20% of the people generate 80% of the revenue. They were the suite holders, the premium seat buyers, you know, the big corporate sponsors. These are the people they have to get back. There is a percentage, as we know, of this fan base over the years, that will never think that this team can do wrong

and will spend their last dying nickel on this team. That's not, they want that. I think, and hopefully they respect and appreciate that, but they need the significant percentage of their fan base that left. They have to get it back. He writes, with this in mind, we made it a priority to run an inclusive process to listen to all voices. We've given particular emphasis to engaging, listening, and learning from Native American leaders and individuals throughout the country.

This process has exposed us to the very deeply held personal feelings about our previous imagery association, and not just the simple, easy to categorize who's for, who's against, polling of our old name, but research revealing the psychological effects of Native American team names on American Indian and Alaska Native Youth. I guess the only thing I would say is I wish there were something in this note or previous communications from him. that acknowledge that this is a tricky situation. Because the bottom line with most things is there's a group of people that almost anything you put out there,

you're going to offend a certain percentage of people. You can't run or build a business on attempting to satisfy every single person. They make being offended. But he did say quite simply it was the right thing to do, which would indicate to me that he's thought for years that, his name was offensive, personally. That's an interesting takeaway. I didn't feel that that way.

I think that he doesn't... Like you said, it's not quite simply. It's not quite simply. For him to state that would indicate to me that he thought, he's probably thought for years that this was an obvious issue that should have been dealt with. Boy, if that's true, sort of amazing he got the gig. Yes. So I don't know if I, I sort of sense about him and I could be way off.

I think he is very open-minded to the opinions of lots of people. Look, they, once we got real economic impact to the name, the ship sailed. It was over. So it's time to move on. What he's trying to do is address. you know, everybody in this process because they are desperate for more customers. He doesn't want to beat the people down that still love the name. He can't do that.

He needs many of those people back. I just think that, you know, ultimately, with anything, you can't attempt to satisfy everybody. You can't build a business trying to satisfy people that make being offended, you know, a cause and often even a business. But anyway, then he gets to the Warriors thing. You know, he talks in some, this engagement demonstrated to us a consensus that moving forward with no ties to Native American imagery is the right path. Well, that's not new news. We knew last summer when the name went away. There wasn't going to be a name with any ties to Native American imagery.

You know, this is, Tommy, I go back to when we used to have this debate before the name was lost, people would say to me, well, you're wrong. Would any new business launch their business and use this name? Well, that's not a relevant point because it wasn't a new business. It was an 80-plus year old business with an established customer base that was very attached to the name and the brand. Of course, if I were starting a new business, I would never intentionally pick a brand or a name that was controversial in any way with any percentage of polling. So, of course not. But I think we knew, you know, there wasn't going to be Native American imagery, you know, to this.

So he says, in the spirit of that engagement, I want to address a name that is emerged amongst our fan base, warriors. One might look at this name as a natural and even harmless transition, considering that it does not necessarily or specifically carry a negative connotation. But as we learn through our research and engagement with various groups, context matters, and that makes it a slippery slope. Feedback from across communities we engaged in clearly revealed a deep-seated discomfort around warriors, with the clear acknowledgement that it is too closely aligned with Native American themes. Such an embrace of potentially native-adjacent iconography and the imagery would not represent a clear departure that many communities is so forcefully advocated for us to embrace, and that frankly we sit out to do when we started this process a year ago.

So, Warriors is not going to be the name. There are a couple things here that he says. You know, context matters. Man, it's one of the things I've been saying for years, right? context matters. You know, the Washington Redskins, the context has never been Native American themed. It's been, you know, language evolves. We've seen this with fighting Irish and Yankees and lots of other, you know, team names. Language evolves. And I've always said to you and others, boy, it's time for like a second non-pejorative definition of the word, you know, that simply is noun the team that plays football in

Washington. But, you know, that would have been sort of creating context matters and considering that language evolves. But that's, you know, that ship is sailed. I understand that. I do also completely understand because I've read some of it over the years about Native American imagery in particular, even more than names Tommy, that have been, you know, uncomfortable at the the very least, if not, you know, painful, raw, and hurtful to many Native Americans. And nobody wants that. Nobody, you know, with a heart wants that. Now, he says that they, you know, address this and they got feedback across communities and engaged in this conversation, specific to even warriors.

It would have been, I think, helpful for him to kind of put in some of that data. But whatever, I think most people understand that there is a feeling. with Native American imagery, with some that it's hurtful. And with others, it's a way to keep the Native American, Native Americans sort of alive and in top of mind in a country that has long since sort of, you know, moved away from Native Americans, sadly. But warriors. So here's what I would say. First of all, I don't think, I think they lost Warriors. I think Warriors was number one. I was told that, you know, before even a year ago, that Warriors would be the plan if they ever did lose the name, that that's what Dan wanted. And then for whatever reason, typical of a poorly run business, they lost or let the trademark sort of run out and did not renew it.

And so it ended up in the hands of somebody else? Isn't it a little bit disingenuous and not transparent that the president doesn't address that in any reference to the name? Well, I mean, I don't think in this purpose he needs to admit that Warriors was a frontrunner at some point and the team messed it up. Because Tommy, here's what I would say. The war is like people are saying, well, that means the Golden State Warriors are going to lose their name. No, it doesn't. There's no imagery. there's no context that puts Golden State Warriors into the Native American conversation.

If this football team picked Warriors, it's different. It would be. So, I mean, I sort of understand, like, even if they hadn't let the trademark, you know, elapse and they hadn't lost it, or it didn't cost too much to get it back, that this... But you're missing my point. What's the point? If they did not lose the trademark, do you think they would move forward with it? I mean, if that's the case, then everything this guy wrote is crappola.

I think that this guy would have been a strong voice for, you know what, Warriors may work in the Bay Area with the basketball team because there's never been attachment in their brand. with Native Americans, and warriors can be used to describe lots of different things, you know, our own military and our own veterans and all of that. But with this organization, I think he would have made the internal case that we've got to move away from this because it would be almost like, okay, we can't use Redskins anymore, but let's use the next best thing. Okay.

So let's envision how this conversation went. the owner has his second choice lined up for years. I obviously wanted the Washington Warriors, okay? And then the new guy comes in and says to Dan, you know, Dan, that's too close to Redskins, not a good idea. I wouldn't do that. And the owner says, you know what, Jason? You're probably right.

Do you think that's how it went? I don't know how it went. All right. But by the way, it's not a how it went. It's how it may have gone because I don't think they had much of a choice. I don't think. I mean, they could always pay for it, I guess. But by the way, I don't know where this is going as far as the name is concerned.

But I'm going to give you my thoughts on this in a moment. But the net of it is, Tommy, on this. I actually, I guess part of it is that I just don't care that much anymore about this part of it. but I do understand this organization jumping to Warriors if it were available, if they did own the trademark still, I think it would have been one of those choices that would have had attached controversy. But it would have been their MO. Yes, but you know, their MO had to change after last year.

year. And it had to change because of the post story. And it had to change because of the Wilkinson investigation. It had to change because of a lot of things. Even if the change is short term, you know, by the way, once you lose what it is that you said never, never, never in capital letters to, at that point, you know, it would be a small, small victory for warriors or a small, small victory for some other, you know, name that could be construed is having some ties to Native Americans. I think the owner is into small victories. He doesn't have many big ones. Well, the big victory that he had last week, he wanted it to be even bigger because he had his PR and lawyers calling and emailing people like you to make sure that they knew that not only did he

win, he won big. I just think this whole essay that he wrote is a bit disingenuous in the light that they can't use the name Warriors. I think that that is potentially true, but I don't know that I would call it disingenuous, because I do sort of get why Warriors would be complex, would be potentially problematic. So look, like I said, you know, when people used to say, would you ever start a business and have Redskins as your name? No, I wouldn't. But that was never the point. They didn't, they weren't starting a business. They had a business that was already 80-plus years old, you know, was apples and oranges. But because they lost the name in many ways you are starting, especially when you consider that this fan base has been reduced in recent years to its lowest number of, all time. I mean, certainly pre-1960s and pre-Sunny Jurgensen, you know, that in many ways you are now starting a new business. So why would you pick anything that could even remotely be perceived as controversial? Look, like I said earlier, you're always going to offend somebody, but don't offend

them where the answer can be too close to what you had before, too close to the imagery. and you're keeping the colors and oh, you picked a spear for the helmet. I mean, they couldn't go down that path. And I think we sort of knew that a year ago. I agree with you. I agree with you logically. But I mean, look, I'm a back of a baseball card guy, and the back of Dan Snyder's baseball card would indicate this is my name.

This is what I've had plans all along. I'm moving forward with this. Yeah. But I can't because I don't own it anymore. I would love to hear that story in more detail because I already am familiar with a few of the stories where they didn't exactly dot eyes and cross-tees very well in agreements with various people or institutions. You know, they have not been what you would call a buttoned up organization over the years. The little things were sort of overlooked. I would love to hear the details of, you know, wait, June 1st is the day to, you know, renew this.

And then it's June 7th. Oh, we forgot to renew it. Somebody already swapped it up. And they won 10 million bucks for it or whatever. Really amazing. No, on the back of his baseball card would read 149, 202, and 1 with two playoff wins. And just six playoff appearances, or six playoff games, excuse me. And just five playoff appearances or whatever it is at this point.

I can lose track. It's not hard to lose track, but getting old. No, it's not. It's not hard to keep track of all of it. All right. I want to get to some of the things that Jason Wright said in his interview last week with Nikki Javala. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So Nikki Javala, who covers the team for the White.

Washington Post had a story, I think it was from Friday. It may have been Saturday that it came out, titled for Jason Wright, WFT's outsider president, the future is all about change. And I wanted to read a couple of quotes, not only from him, but also a couple of quotes from former Raiders, president and CEO, Amy Trask, because I thought these were interesting quotes from her as well. Well, I'll start with this particular paragraph written by Nikki. Since he arrived in Ashburn, Wright has overhauled the franchise's business operations and installed an executive team composed primarily of more NFL outsiders who, like him, believe they can create something once unimaginable, a model franchise.

Wright said he wants Washington to, quote, set a gold standard and to evolve into a sports media and entertainment company. Continuing, we want to be writing the playbook for others, not so we can beat our chests or to pat ourselves in the back, but because we have a unique team that has been intentionally assembled to do that. Closed a quote. This is where I personally get frustrated, Tommy. I don't, I, look, it is.

admirable. It is perhaps even effective to have and to become the standard bearer of an organization that has diversity and inclusivity, which is what they talked about last week and all of their follow-up responses to the Beth Wilkinson report and everything else, that this is a major goal in the organization. But when he says we want to set a goal to standard to evolve into a sports media and entertainment company. Man, that hits me like, whoa, this is what Dan Snyder's always cared about. Jason, you don't understand. What he's cared about is what our good friend Doc Walker used to always describe as Dan's great Monday through Saturday. Sundays are the problem. You know, this is an organization that always had the marketing figured out. You know, the media,

in terms of, he says, a sports media and entertainment company, maybe that's a little bit different than what I'm thinking about, but it hit me like, stop talking about these things. The only thing people give a shit about is Sundays. Are you good on the football field? Are you finally going to be a winning franchise? That is so far in a way, number one, Tommy. And if they still don't get that, then they're not going to succeed.

If number one for them isn't winning on the field, not off the field, then we got a big problem moving forward. We want to be writing the playbook for others. Well, if it's with innovative offense or aggressive, you know, pioneering defense, great. If it's creation of sports, media, and entertainment options for fans, who gives a shit? By the way, nobody. You mean you don't want them to own an e-sports team and maybe a European soccer team and all that stuff? I don't. And he talks about that.

He talks about some of that stuff. I don't give a shit about any of that. And wouldn't you agree with me that the significant majority of people that either root for this team or used to root for this team don't care about that shit either? Who cares about that? They're not going to get those guys back by becoming some kind of diversified. sports marketing business. No, you're right. The fans they need to...

No, it's like if you want to build on a solid fan base, that is the way to do it. If you want to expand, but you have to have a foundation first. Yeah, yeah. And they don't have that foundation anymore. Yeah, they, he just, you know, that stuff, God, I, you know, I think that still in their minds, you know, they're much better and greater and capable than they really are.

Like sometimes it's like keep it simple. Before you expand to a 50 store text mex chain, you got to make one work. You got to have a prototype. You got to figure out, okay, how much square feet do we need? What's the menu look like? What kind of employees do we want? You've got to make one pencil out. You know, then you can replicate that.

Then you can diversify. Then you can go into other businesses. But your core business here is winning fucking football games, period. That's your core business. At least it is for this particular customer. That's all I care about. And you already have people like me that are much less passionate. about the team than we used to be.

And that doesn't even include the name change, but it includes the 21-year beatdown by this horrendous owner. So to get me back to the level of passion that I used to have, to get many of the people you know and that I know and many of the people that are listening to this, passionate again about the football team, owning a piece of Manchester U or Chelsea or expanding into e-sports, you know, and by the way, starting to run your business like Ted's running his

businesses. No, win. You've got to win. This dude who's Jason Wright, ultimately he's going to be responsible for profit and loss, period. He's going to be responsible for increasing revenue, Tommy, and increasing profitability, the bottom line. The number one way that happens and nothing is a close number two is winning football games on the field period having sustained success being a playoff contender playing in playoff games winning playoff games getting deep into the playoffs and potentially one day being back in a super bowl and doing it with a level of class and decorum that doesn't turn off those that you know won't just jump back on because you're winning So winning is much more important than the latter there.

But all the other stuff, a sports entertainment and media company, nobody gives a shit about that. Nobody. Is it important to your business that if you start to win, that you have the kind of people that can, you know, expand your business and diversify your business? Of course it is. Yes. But you've got to walk before you can run. and they forgot how to walk. I've seen so many in my lifetime, Tommy,

read so many business plans and over the years because I was involved in a lot of that stuff before I got into broadcasting, where it was so clear from the jump that the entrepreneur or the group of entrepreneurs had this vision that was just too far, you know, out there that they wanted to get into everything from the beginning, Instead of prove to me that this core business idea that you first pitched before you got into all of these other businesses that you were going to be in, that it actually works, that there's actually a market for it, that it actually is profitable, that you can actually sell the product for a price that covers the cost of making it and distributing it and marketing it and everything else.

because this is a guy who comes from at McKinsey, you know, a consultant background. And I sat in enough of those meetings over many years, Tommy, to know the way they think. It's like, you know, this is what you got to do here. But then look at where it goes and look at how exciting this is. And it's just, you know, it's theoretical. It's practical. Not practical. It's much more theoretical.

And that world right now in professional sports to me with this organization in this moment, Ron Rivera better produce a winning football team or Jason Wright isn't going to be able to do anything with rebranding or e-sports or ownership in soccer teams or anything else. None of that shit will matter. None of it will. They've got to win on the football field. They lost Tommy by if you go by television. numbers and attendance, you know, some key numbers over the last 10 years, they've lost roughly 60 to 70% of their passionate fan base. That's a great. That's a lot. And even though we're in

this bubble of talking about, you know, did they get the right tackle? Is Leno Jr. going to be good at left tackle? Is Jamie Davis the right choice at linebacker? There are a lot of people that used to be involved in that conversation that don't care about it anymore. And the only way you're going to get those people back is by winning and winning big. And, you know, there are some people, let's face it, with the rebranding that are never coming back. That would that, nobody understood that more than Snyder and some of his marketing friends. Nobody understood what the change of a name and a total rebrand would mean there were some people that were never coming back. And I still, you know, often think about, you know, fast forward.

you know, two years from now. And let's just say that they went 13 and 4, and they won their divisional round game, or wild card round game, and they are in a divisional round game. Let's fast forward. They're in the NFC championship game. It's Fox. It's Sunday. It's late January.

It's cold outside. And they're playing, you know, on the road against the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game. in Irving or in Dallas. And they come on the air and they say, you know, Fox Sports presents the National Football League championship, the National Football Conference Championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Argos. Like, how are you going to feel if that happens? You know, the Washington...

I don't know. The Washington Monuments, the Washington Red Wolves, the Washington Red Tails. I think people, if they have success, I think most people will get past it. I think they'll have a much better chance of attracting a younger demo, for sure. Yes. Because they are for a younger, for a younger demographic here, this is a startup for all intents and purposes. They don't have ties in poignant memories. They don't.

It's been too long. It's been 30 years. you know, a 35-year-old does not remember the last time that they were a real NFL franchise. So the opportunity to restart is greater with them. Go ahead, I'm sorry. It couldn't have come. The whole demise couldn't have come at worst time for a sports franchise. I mean, look, the NFL had proved last year,

that they can count money without anybody sitting in the stand. Right. Still. But, like you pointed out, they would prefer to have people in the stand. They prefer to have fans. I mean, that would be the preference, you know, but they could live without it, but it's not the way they'd like to do business. But the old, you know, the season ticket list,

the old myth about that, that Brian Lafamina buried, that's not even the way sports teams do business anymore. I mean, they still have a season ticket base, but they're dealing with a young fan base right now that doesn't like to commit to a season's worth of tickets. They like to decide, what do you do with today? Hey, let's go to the football game and buy tickets that day. And I've watched the Ravens adapt to that with their own marketing and how they've come up with different social media ticketing plans

for those kind of fans. And that's what this franchise is going to have to do. The old days of doing business up until March, showing your season tickets and then close it up shop, that's over. Yeah. Yeah, I agree with you. It's different. But what isn't different is the significant percentage of revenue still comes from these TV deals.

It's why none of the 32 will ever go out of business. But those that become much more profitable and end up having bigger standalone businesses beyond just the 132nd share of the TV money are those that are able to attract, you know, the biggest sponsors can charge more for sponsors, can fill up their suites and their premium seating, can sell more product. And to do that, you've got to have a product that's worth, you know, buying and worth investing in. I wanted to just mention a couple of other quick things. Number one, Amy Trask was quoted in Nikki's story multiple times.

She is the former CEO of the Oakland Raiders. And this is, by the way, what I would consider to be, you know, a general feeling among most NFL players. people, owners, executives, et cetera, when they're asked to speak about Washington, whether it's on the record or off the record. In talking about the recent, you know, Snyder was not suspended, you know, Tanya's been, you know, co-CEO, some of the Jason Wright conversation. Amy Trask is quoted as saying, quote, there's that old saying, actions speak louder than words. And I do believe that if Jason and Coach Rivera are given the leeway to effectuate change, they will effectuate change.

But only time is going to tell if the leeway it appears they are being given is true leeway and if it's lasting leeway. Closed quote. That's what everybody in the league is thinking. And, you know, the last week with Snyder having PR people and lawyers reach out to reporters to say, he wasn't suspended the team was. Or he wasn't fine the team was. This was not one of those things that, you know,

and Amy Trask looks at and says, oh, he's learning. It's the opposite of that. He's not learning. There's one more quote in here from her in this story that I wanted to, it's the last paragraph. For the past 11 months, Washington's business operations and its football team have shown signs of change. But whether Wright and his team

of outsiders can create a new product or merely a new facade will depend on the top. Quote from Amy Trask, former Raider CEO, I've been very outspoken over many years going back to my years in the league about changes that needed to be made in that organization. If these two, meaning right in Rivera, are given the opportunity to write some of the wrongs that were effectuated by those in place before them, we will see that. Time will tell. close quote. Trust me, Tommy and I've talked about this many times. The league doesn't want him to own the team.

They want somebody else and his owner. And, you know, on this name thing, I don't know if Jason Wright realizes this. I bet you still, the majority of fans present or past, would take a new name if it meant a new owner. Remember we did that call segment? Yes. Yeah. Absolutely.

I think you could call them a cowboys if you could switch owners. Yeah. If you could get rid of the owner. Long conversation about basically the big takeaway being no warriors. No warriors. And they're going to have the name and the new, you know, brand announced sometime in early 2022. What were you going to say? I'm sorry.

Well, one last thing. You know, like I mentioned this earlier in a podcast earlier. about all the faith being put in Ron Rivera, not just on the football field, but his presence in the organization. And I pointed out that he was there in Carolina when Jerry Richardson was going off on his sexual harassment spree and making racial comments about football scouts. And he wasn't sound in any alarms about that. Well, in December 2017, after Carolina clinched a playoff berth,

with a win over Tampa Bay, after Richardson had already, after the news had already broke about the various sexual harassment charges, and that Richardson was going to step down and sell the team. This is what Rivera told his players in the post-game press conference. Just remember, guys, this is about team. Everything we do is about team. The most important thing is about team, okay? All right.

Do me a favor. Mr. Richardson on three, one, two, three. And what happened? Did they all say Mr. Richardson? Well, yeah. In other words, this owner who basically, you know, treated women and minorities in the organization, with such a level of disrespect that he couldn't own the team anymore, Ron Rivera used him as a rallying cry after a playoff went.

Oh, my. And this was his defense. What? I know nothing about that. I can only speak to what he has been to me and the players. In other words, I wasn't sexually harassed, so I can't speak to that. I mean, we make this guy out to be Gandhi. He's just a football coach.

No one's made him out to be Gandhi. No one has. But he's a good football coach, but I appreciate you doing the research on that and uncovering that because that is reflective of something. Yes. And, you know, the bottom line is that while I think he has said mostly the right things with respect to the post stories, and have we really heard from him since last week? Oh, I mean, you know, the way they did this was so brilliant. There's nothing for them to speak to.

there's no report. Yeah. Well, there is the... You know, I mean... There's the league summary, which calls it a toxic environment, and they did find him $10 million. Or they fined the team $10 million.

But, I mean, I was going to hold their feet, both him and Jason Wright, to the fire, if they didn't have something to say about the outcome. But it's such a nebulous outcome. You know, I just found this. Mike Freeman last year tweeted out after the Washington Post story first hit. Mike Freeman, who's written as an NFL writer for years.

The stuff is far worse than what happened under Jerry Richardson and the Panthers. Far worse, not even close. Okay. So just so everybody understands, Jerry Richardson used to be the Carolina Panthers. He sold the team in 2017. after he was accused of claims involving sexual harassment, as well as racism, by the way. Yes, yes. Richard said football scouts, not office workers.

Right. Football staff. There was a 2017 Sports Illustrated article that broke the story about the allegations. Here's a couple of the quotes. Quote, Friday was Gene's Day when most staffers at the Carolina Panthers team offices would wear denim to work. The female employees knew what that meant. As the team's owner, Jerry Richardson made his rounds on the way to his spacious office, he would ask women to turn around so he could admire their backsides. Then, in his rolling southern drawl, he'd offer comment, drawing from a store of one-liners

he'd recycle each week. Among those in the heaviest rotation, show me how you wiggle to get those jeans up. I bet you had to lay down on your bed to fit into those jeans. Did you step into those jeans or did you have to jump into them? Oh my God. This was one of the many cases in which Richardson engaged with sexual harassment with female workers. Unfortunately, his disgusting behavior didn't stop there. Here is another account from the article that described the sickening acts that were allegedly committed by Richardson. Quote, former employees allege that in addition to verbal harassment, Richardson engaged in improper acts. According to sources, on multiple occasions,

Richardson requested female employees to visit him during a weekday in his suite inside Bank of America Stadium. The women would be escorted by Richardson's assistant who would then depart, leaving the owner alone with a junior employee. One former female employee recalls Richardson, who stands six foot three, arriving barefoot and asking for a foot massage. Says one such invitee, the first time you thought it was an important meeting with the owner, you then realized it was never anything that couldn't be discussed over the phone.

Others talk of Richardson giving back rubs that lingered too long or went too low down the spine. Richardson didn't stop there. Here's one of the more despicable incidents that allegedly occurred in the Panthers' front office. Richardson was also known for what multiple women called the seatbelt maneuver. He would invite female employees out to lunch, and in keeping with his reputation as a self-styled gentleman, he would open the car door for his guests. Once they were seated, however, he would insist on fastening their seatbelt for them,

reaching across their lap and brushing his hand across their breasts before putting the belt in the clasp. By the way... Mr. Richardson on three. One, two, three. How could Mike Freeman write that this stuff with Snyder is far worse than what happened under Jerry Richardson? Not even close. I mean, if true, then how is Snyder still the owner? By the way, that doesn't add up.

They didn't for, you know, he had already been going down the path of selling the team. This just quickened that process. Yes. So Snyder has never had any intention of selling the team. So it's a little bit different with him. Anyway, Jerry Richardson, Warriors. On three, three cheers for Mr. By the way, you know, the new owner, David Tepper, Ron referred to as David,

because in that post-firing press conference, he referred to him as David multiple times. Clearly, Mr. Richardson was Mr. Richardson because he was much older. How old was Richardson? He was super old. Yeah, he was in his late 70s, maybe early 80s. Yeah, every bit of it, right? He played in the NFL for one season, I think. Yeah, he's 84 years old now, so he sold the team at 80.

you know, 25 years older than Dan is, you know, roughly 25 years older. Okay. A couple more things to wrap up the show right after these words from a few of our sponsors. I did watch the Euro final. I had another outdoor commitment yesterday, but I did see a lot of the highlights, and I bet it was thrilling to watch. And the Wembley crowd, completely insane, out of control. and there's been a lot of incidents and issues post that Euro match that we'll save for another day.

But overall, I really did enjoy the soccer over the last month. I did. I know you didn't, and I know a lot of you didn't, but I did. I did want to mention Tommy that I did watch the game last night. Janus was incredible. I still think Phoenix will win this series, and I think the key to last night's game was DeAndre Aiton getting into foul trouble. More than anything else, when he picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter and took a seat, that's when Milwaukee really put the game away.

Now, they had a great second quarter, don't get me wrong. But Aiton, man, Tommy, you love old school basketball. You'd love to see a game with centers. This dude really looks like he's going to be the real deal. And he was outstanding before he got in foul trouble and ended up playing limited minutes in the second half. And because of it, Phoenix's pick and roll was a real deal. nearly as effective, and Milwaukee's had major trouble guarding that. I think that was the key last night. Janice also was phenomenal, including going 13 of 17 from the free throw line. He became

Tommy just the third player in NBA playoff history to have 40 plus points and 13, and double-digit rebounds in back-to-back finals games. The only other two are LeBron and Shaq. We've seen this throughout the playoffs, you know, with all of these numbers coming out the day after, after phenomenal performances. I thought he was great, and I think one of the reasons he was great is he did not settle for jump shots. He is, as Tim Legler put it this morning, he's a center with a handle. With his long arms, his size, his strength, he really is at his best within five feet of the rim. And that's where he was focused last night. He was outstanding.

I thought Middleton was great in the first half. I thought Drew Holiday was outstanding last night. And when he's played well, they've played well. Bobby Portis continues to play great. Conitin was outstanding. And for the second straight game, you know, Chris Paul had turnovers. He basically didn't have a lot of turnovers in the playoffs at all. And in the last two games, he's got 10 in the last two games.

after essentially having like 10 in his last six games prior to that. I still like Phoenix. I like Phoenix to win it 4-1. That was my prediction. But I was glad if we're going to see some competitiveness in these finals to see Janice really respond the way he did. Well, that's good. You didn't watch any of it, did you?

No, I didn't. I was consumed with my own ego. I know. I know. I know. You know that. You were doing good things. Yes, I was doing good things, and I was, you know, embarking on my new career.

Yes, you were. Any thoughts about the home run derby tonight or the All-Star game tomorrow night? I'm really looking forward to it because of Otani and the matchup with Soto. I mean, Otani is, you know, like something we've never seen before. I mean, Babe Ruth is the one player that people go back to as being a great pitcher and hitter. But, I mean, I'm not sure if Eltoni is even better than that than Ruth was at this point. Now, I want to point out, and I'm going to write about this, and I'm not the only one writing about it. The Negro Leagues had multiple players who were both hit and pitched.

Martin Dehigo, Leon Day from Baltimore, like Ruth was from Baltimore, guys who were, you know, great hitters and great pitchers as well. This was something that was more prevalent in Negro League baseball. So, that's all. I'm very interested. Did Satchel Page hit or not? Well, they all hit, but he wasn't known as a hitter. Right.

Okay. You know? He wasn't known as a hitter. Leon Day, who was maybe the second greatest pitcher in Neon. Negro League history behind Satchel Page was a great hitter as well. Tommy, how old was Satchel Page pitching? I mean, wasn't he close to 50 and he was still pitching? No, when he broke into the major leagues, I think he was 48 years old. Jesus. That's when he first broke into the majors. Right. Wow. And he pitched about six

or seven years in the majors, if I'm off the top of my head. And that was with Cleveland, right? Wasn't it Cleveland? Bill Vick, the owner of the Indians at the time. Who would later become the owner of the White Sox, right? Yes. Am I right about that? I wish I could go back. Yeah, no, he did.

There's a guy I wish I could go back in time and meet Bill Vec. What a character he was. Was he the one that did all of the crazy promotions for White Sox games in the 70s? Yeah, he was, that was the guy. Right. He was the guy who sent Eddie Goodell, the little person, up to hit once in a game. Well, he also was the guy, right? The promotion that went wrong was like the disco, you know, the anti-disco music night, whatever that was called.

And that was the promotion by his son, Mike Beck. Oh, okay. Yes. He's a terrific guy as well. You're not here tomorrow. You're doing today because you are off tomorrow. Congratulations on the success of your event. I will be back with a podcast tomorrow,

and then Tommy will be back, I think, Thursday of this week. And I'll try to keep everybody posted on days that we're going to take off. I know I haven't been great at that recently, but I'll try to do better at that. but that's it for the day unless you have anything else. I got nothing else for you, boss. All right, back tomorrow, enjoy the rest of the day.