The Kevin Sheehan Show - Our Redskins' Starting Quarterback Odds

Episode Date: June 12, 2019

Kevin opens the show with the Raiders getting "Hard Knocks". He then discusses the media's continued mourning over Kevin Durant's injury. Then it's a review of some of Jay Gruden's sound bites from yesterday which leads to Kevin and Aaron's "Opening Day Starting QB Odds". Bob Carpenter/MASN joined the show to talk Nats. Kevin finished up with Team USA's 13-0 win over Thailand, more Landon Collins talk, and some recent Maryland football news. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right. I am here. Aaron's here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that we told you to call. The play-by-play voice of the Washington Nationals on Masson. Bob Carpenter will be a guest on the show today a little bit later on. We'll get to the Nats and Patrick Corbin's recent struggles. with Bob when he joins us. I don't know, in a half hour, 45 minutes, something like that. Jay Gruden spoke yesterday. I'll work through some of that and give you the Kevin Sheehan Show Redskins quarterback starting the opener odds.

That was a long description. I think we can shorten it up. But the starting quarterback odds for the Redskins, courtesy of the Kevin Sheehan show, it'll be a mix of Aaron's odds and my odds, averaged out to a show odds on the three quarterbacks right now. Dwayne Haskins, Case Keenham, and Colt McCoy. We'll give you the odds a little bit later on on who starts opening day. And you know what? We can update those throughout the summer,

periodically, right through training camp until Jay Gruden or Dan Snyder, I would guess, names a starter, whoever that person is that's going to be responsible for the starting quarterback decision. The Raiders got hard knocks, Aaron. Not a surprise because John Kime, who was on with us last week, basically implied that he had information that indicated that it would be the Raiders. I just think it's a more interesting story for NFL fans, period. It absolutely makes sense. I just thought that the lore of Vegas would be too strong to overcome. But you know what? it's absolutely between Gruden and between Mayock there with all the cuts and stuff. I think that factors in.

And then all the players, you have Antonio Brown, you have Richie Incognito, you have all those crazy people. It makes all the sense in the world. Of course, it means that the Redskins probably won't get it for a while. They're in the business of ratings, and the Raiders are much more attractive to an NFL audience right now than the Redskins are. It's not even close. So I did think that you were on to something potentially with the Vegas thing, but the problem with that is, you know, if you're HBO, it's bird in hand. You know, you know that they're interesting this year.

You can't be guaranteed that they'll be interesting next year. So the Redskins not going to be the Hard Knocks team. The Raiders will be. And it will be a good watch, I think. I mean, it would have been fascinating for all of us to have seen the Redskins behind the scenes out in Ashburn, but I don't think it was as interesting to most NFL fans. To the NBA finals, I wanted to play a soundbite from the show The Jump, the Rachel Nichols show on ESPN. She had Brian Windhorst, who was an NBA reporter for ESPN, and Tracy McGrady

on the show yesterday with her. Listen to Brian Windhorst, talk about the Kevin Durant injury. Obviously, we're invested in these games, but I'm not a fan of either of these teams. I'm a fan of the NBA. I felt sick last night. I mean, I really had difficulty getting over that, and I have only the most little tangential relationship towards that team and that player. I don't even know, I don't even know how they're going to go forward from here. And I saw some people were second-guessing whether Bob Myers was putting on a little act. No, that was-

No, that was genuine. I felt sick. Imagine if you're Bob Myers. Imagine if your teammates. It was a terrible moment. I don't know whether it's worth trying to find blame. I just think we have to look at as a terrible moment. That was Brian Winthorst, Tracy McGrady interjecting there.

He's not the only person who was spoken about the Durant injury in that way. And we talked about it a little bit yesterday. But since the game ended on Monday night, the reaction to his injury, has really traumatized people in a way that is very surprising to me. I must be missing something here. I'm watching the game on Monday night, and I'm into the game, and yes, it was unfortunate for Durant and the Warriors that he got hurt. And for basketball fans, and I'm a major basketball fan,

it sucks that he got hurt. I would have much preferred a series with a healthy Durant. I would have much preferred a final three games of Durant at his business. best, but the gloom, the somberness, the tone coming from so many in the media, and then the players and the GM, wow, I mean, I can't remember, I cannot remember so much mourning for an injured player. Morning's actually a good word for it, because Windhorst and others really sound grief-stricken, as if they've lost somebody close to them. It's been that way, since it happened on Monday night. Maybe there's a part of this story that I'm missing. When you hear people

talk about someone with such anguish, it makes you think about the relationship that Durant must have with so many of these people. I mean, Windhorst's reaction to an injured player who isn't dead or on life support, he's injured. And yes, a serious injury we think. By the way, parenthetically, it still hasn't been confirmed as of this morning as a torn or ruptured Achilles. I don't know what's taking them so long. I guess they're doing another MRI today in New York. But anyway, as sports fans, we deal with these injuries to players, star players, all the time. It's unfortunate that you don't get to see someone play because of injury.

But it happens all the time. I mean, the reaction to Durant's injury to me has gone beyond. what is normal and it makes me think about the relationship people must have with him. I didn't realize it existed. Certainly the fact that this comes during the playoffs magnifies it. I get it. The return the other night, you know, was much anticipated and it became very short-lived, and that adds more than the normal drama to it. But there must be a very tight-knit bond with Durant among players, coaches, execs, media members that I've just missed. over the years. I did not realize it was that he is so close to the hearts of so many of these

people, especially people in the media. I didn't know that. But clearly the reaction that is, you know, so much, I mean, people are in mourning here. They barely even care about the rest of this series. It's all about this just incredibly traumatizing Durant injury. Anyway, two more quick things on the NBA finals. The first is this. I still cannot believe, Aaron, how many people have missed the fact that Nick Nurse took two timeouts with three minutes and five seconds left in the game? Not one. One was a bad idea. Two was even worse because it gave the Warriors twice the time to recover from the beat down that they were in the midst of taking. It also took the crowd down about 50 decibels or I don't even know what the decibel counts in a hundred a lot and really

loud so I'll cut it in half it still is getting discussed though as one time out in the post today the headline of the story on the second page was quote nurse takes heat after his ill-timed time out singular I still don't think many people realize that he called two of them back to back You know, it's like, hey, let's give them a rest and give them a chance to regroup, not once, but twice. By the way, I missed this for yesterday's show. Draymond Green's quote about the timeouts. He was asked, did they help your team? And he said, quote, absolutely.

They had it going there. We took their time out. Again, not even, he didn't even realize it was two timeouts. We were able to gather ourselves, draw up a play. I think the timeout allowed us to settle in, closed quote. I think settled down would have been a more apt description. They were frazzled by the Kauai run. That game had gotten completely away from the Warriors, and they were done.

I would guess, Aaron, and I don't pay attention to the probability machine that some websites, I think ESPN does it, in-game probability, win probability stuff. My boys, you know, pay attention to it all the time. I would bet that at that moment, with the ball up six in the midst of a 10, you know, Kauai Leonard had scored 10 of the game's 12 points over the previous minute 45. I would bet that the Raptors in that moment had at least an 80% chance of winning the game. I believe the Warriors were plus 600 at that point. Plus 600.

I think so. Oh, my God. Just for the purposes of, for those that don't understand that. That's a long shot. Right, six to one, that they were going to win the game down six. And why six to one down six? Because it felt in the moment based on the momentum that the Raptors had that it felt like a 10 plus point lead. It really did. Nurse's answer, by the way, on why he called those timeouts is still mind-boggling to me because he said he was going to lose them if he didn't use them. Just complete insanity. He's a good coach. I think he's a good coach. I personally think Casey,

would have done the same thing with this team, because I think he's a good coach and proved it this year. But Nick Nurse made a mistake that cost his team a title the other night. He may still get it tomorrow night or Sunday night, still might win a title, but he got in the way of ending it on Monday night. There's no doubt about that in my mind. The other quick thing about this series that I wanted to mention is this. I was thinking about this last night. I was talking to a friend of mine. I found the other person that was enjoying these NBA finals for the games as much as I was. And he said the one problem we're going to have is that these NBA finals of 2019 are going to go down, regardless of what happens over these final games or game.

It's going to go down, and we're going to talk about it 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now, hopefully 30 or 40 years from now. It'll go down as the Warriors without Kevin Durant series. that's what it's going to be remembered for. You know, for me, though, it'll also be remembered for Kauai Leonard's run in the postseason, and I'll remember the run that Leonard has had in this 2019 postseason. It's all-time great.

But if Toronto wins in particular, this series will be thought of as the title they got against a Warriors team without Duran. You know, and that would be an accurate description. I think the intent of that description would be unfair because you know who else is playing hurt in this series? Kauai Leonard's playing hurt. You can see it. He's been hobbled going back to the middle portion of the Milwaukee series. Kyle Lowry isn't 100% either. You know, the Raptors are good.

They're really good. If Durant was healthy and playing like Kevin Durant plays, I still now, after seeing five games of this, I still think it would have been a hell of a series. One that the Raptors could have still won. To me, they'll deserve it if they win it, which I think they will tomorrow night. But it will make no mistake about this. These NBA finals of 2019, Toronto against Golden State, are going to be remembered for Durant missing the series. And obviously, if Toronto wins, it will be somewhat tainted by the fact that they didn't have to face Durant in this series. Other than Durant for, you know, 12 minutes the other night. Think about this, Aaron. They won by a point. Durant had 11 the other night. He was very impactful

to the final result in that game. He was. But they still, now, if he plays the game and he gets 40, well, you know, Steph and Clay don't get a combined 57 if he gets 40. But anyway, I personally will think that the Raptors deserved it. But I think that'll get away from many people, because it'll be remembered as the series that Durant didn't play in. All right, I wanted to get to Jay Gruden from yesterday. He held a press conference after the OTA day. I think it'll be his last press conference until training camp. At least that's a way it was relayed to me. And he had, this is what I've told all of you that I'm more interested in. I don't care what's going on on the field. We can't, we don't know what we're, you know, what we're looking at. Nobody out there knows what they're

looking at really, but sometimes you can, you know, you can pick through Jay Gruden's answers to questions and, and learn something. And I think we learned a couple of things yesterday. I'm going to play four or five cuts from yesterday. The first one was actually very interesting in terms of, I want you to listen to Jay Gruden's answers about, Monta Nicholson and last year's Monta Nicholson. Why do you think Monta had a down year last year? Pardon me? Why do you think Monta had, like why do you?

Well, he used to have it a good year. And I know we, you know, we made the trade for Haha, which moved them down to third, I guess. So the reps didn't quite come as plentiful as they were before we got Haha. So that's probably why. But do you... Let me just say, write that there. I heard this because I was listening to it live on 980. That is to me confirmation of what I've

heard and many other people have heard. Nobody but Bruce wanted the Haha Clinton Dix trade. Nobody but Bruce wanted it. He made it. They liked Monta. Monta had some injuries last year. Let's let's not forget that. He wasn't always healthy. But Jay basically told you right then and there, we made the trade for Haha and that limited Monta's reps after that. They didn't want, The football people did not want Haha Clinton Dicks last year. Didn't want him. All right, Bruce did. Listen to him talk about his defense, which I think we would all agree going into 2019 right now as we sit here in mid-June or approaching mid-June.

This would be the one reason more than any other to be optimistic that they can go have themselves, you know, a competitive season. They had a defense last year that was ranked in the top 10 there through the first, seven or eight weeks, you know, close to the top five, I think, at one point. And then it tailed off significantly. And it wasn't really because of injuries. It was because of poor performance. You know, they got lit up by good offensive teams that they had not faced in the early portion of the schedule. Let's not forget that. The Redskins last year got off to that really good defensive start, in part because they weren't playing great offensive teams week in and week out. And when they did, they got torched, like New Orleans.

in that Monday night game. But they opened up with Arizona, and Indy was still trying to figure things out offensively, and they had Carolina and Dallas and the Giants. When they faced New Orleans, and then Atlanta and Tampa, it all started to go downhill with the Atlanta and Tampa games. I mean, Tampa had 500 plus yards, and Atlanta had 450 or whatever it was, and then it just, it completely imploded defensively down the stretch. The giant game, really being the game that, you know, you looked at and you said, my God, I mean, this defense is nothing like what it was earlier in the year, as Saquan Barclay ran for 125 yards and a half or whatever it was, and they had 230 on the ground, and we're up 40 to nothing in a game at the end of the third quarter. So let's not forget that the

defense, I don't know where it finished statistically. It was like 16 or 17, I think, in yards allowed. I never look at the yards allowed number, but it ended up being somewhere in the middle of the pack of of NFL defenses last year. You know, if you take into consideration a lot of the different numbers. I think they were higher on things like sacks and much lower on yards allowed. Bottom line is, you know, qualitatively, not quantitatively. We watch the defense regress significantly, you know, as the season went on. And so I wanted you to hear what Jay Gruden said about the defense

because I still think that this is the one area to be very optimistic about. This is still the area compared to the offense that you're like it has talent. It's got young talent. It's got young talent in its front seven that potentially is very good. Allen, pain, ionitis, hopefully sweat next year. But this was Jay Gruden talking about his defense and what he thinks of it right now. Jay, when you added Collins, you've added sweat, you'd added some impact people on that side of the ball. what's your dream best case scenario for this defense I really like I know it's early but I like

our defense's mentality number one I think we have a tough edge to us and I'm expecting that to carry over I think it starts with our defense alignment Jonathan and Duran and Matt Carrigan and add and sweat I think those guys up front set the stages for everybody now you have a tone setter in Lannon Collins they can help stop the run, obviously, and be an impact player for you to come secondary. I've been really, really, really impressed with Fabian Moro. I think his development has been outstanding, both at the corner and a nickel spot. Obviously, the other safety, we talked about Apki and obviously Monte. Reeves, you know, some of those guys ever, those guys are going to step up. And then inside backer, you know,

even though we lost Rubin, we had high hopes for him, but we still didn't really know what he's going to bring to us. Have a Mason and Bostic competing in Sean Dian. Hamilton, I think, along with Fabian, are the two most improved players out here. So Sean Dionne Hamilton and Fabian Moreau, two of the most improved players, that would be really encouraging. I like the way he talked about the defense, having an edge to it. You know, we've seen defenses here in the last 10 years not have an edge, be soft, not get after the quarterback, not be able to create turnovers. You know, the Redskins last year, you know, were, I think, for the first time in a while in the top, you know, 10 area in takeaways.

I think they ended up with, you know, 25, 26 takeaways on the season. I want to see aggressive. We know there's some young talent on this team. We know that if there's speed on this team, it's potentially on the defensive side of the ball. Moreau can really run. That was one of the things everybody noticed with his first training camp. You know, when he fell to the third round, with apparently first round talent because of injury, but compared to the other corners,

Moreau can really run. You need that speed. It would have been nice to see Ruben Foster's speed on the field. They need more speed because remember, Zach Brown, Zach Brown had some speed to him. Zach Brown may have missed a lot of plays, but he made a lot of plays too. I want to see aggressive, I want to see sweat be a factor, which I'm very excited to see, and I hope I'm not let down on that. everything you hear them say about Montez Sweat is over the top praise. I haven't heard one negative about sweat from anybody out there at this point. They're blown away by his size, his speed, his length, all of that stuff. But I want a defense that plays with an edge. I really do. That's why Greg Williams, I would have killed for Greg Williams to have been the defensive

of coordinator for this team. I think that would have been a home run for this defense. Greg Williams has always coached up the level of talent anyway, but he's always been aggressive and with Allen and pain and ionitis and sweat and Kerrigan. And if it's true that Sean Dionne Hamilton and Fabian Moreau are two of the most improved players and they're going to have an impact and they can both run Moreau in particular. And then Collins added to it. And I hope Nicholson becomes the other safety. can run, he's long, he's got range. You know, this is where if you have any optimism, it's got to be because the defense has the potential to impact games.

You know, forget about statistically. You know, maybe if it really comes together, it's a top 10 defense, which would be phenomenal for this organization to have a top 10 defense. It's been forever. in 2015 and 2016 and those defenses were so god-awful. I mean, two of the worst defenses we've seen in the league in years, especially the 2016 defense on third down, third and long in particular, historically bad.

If you've got a defense up front that can stop the run and then get after the quarterback and make plays, you can win games. We know the NFL and we know that defense. can win games even in this day and age of high-octane rules favoring the offense. I'm excited about the defense. I hope it gets coached well. That's a concern. It should be a concern because it wasn't coached well down the stretch. It didn't play well. It didn't improve. It regressed last year significantly. Do they have more talent this year than last? Probably. Adding Collins and sweat potentially gives them two playmakers they didn't have on defense last year.

But at inside linebacker, you can say whatever you want about Zach Brown, but he made some big plays because he could run. This was Jay yesterday on Josh Doxon. I want you to listen carefully to what he says about Josh Doxon, because just a week and a half ago, I think it was, he talked about being very impressed with Josh Doxon. and how ready he looked for what was and will be a big year for Doxon. He doesn't, they didn't pick up the option for his fifth year.

He is a free agent at the end of 2019. But listen to Jay talk about Josh Doxon. So in terms of just what you've seen from him, how have you seen his progression? I know we feel like we've been asking this question for the last four years, but just what do you see for him kind of going forward? What do you guys need from him for the going? Yeah, same thing. We just got to get, you know, hopefully more production forward.

him, he gets more opportunities. But, you know, I can't promise he's going to get a ton of opportunities with the group of guys that we have. You know, with Jordan Reed healthy and Chris Thompson healthy, you know, still, you know, they're still going to get their opportunities. And then with watching Terry play, he's going to get his. And we haven't talked about Paul yet. Trey Quinn's going to get some. So I think the whole intent of this offense, Bill spread the ball around. Still want to run the ball, hand the ball to Adrian and Geis and Samaj. So, you know, it's about spread the ball around. thinking advantage of the number when our number's called. I thought that was interesting the way he said,

I can't promise he'll get the opportunities with the guys we have. I think that Jay, and I don't know if this is delusional or not. I mean, these are the guys he's seeing, but I think he is more excited and said so last week, I think it was, about the receivers that he has on this roster, then maybe many of us feel. He was impressed with Doxon and now, you know, mentioned Terry,

McLaren. And perhaps it's McLaurin that they're most excited about, you know, that this guy can play and is going to play. I think they like Harmon as well. He loves Quinn. You know, he mentioned Paul, you know, coming back at some point. But I thought it was interesting that, you know, he said, can't promise he'll get the opportunities with the guys we have. And that's only a week or a week and a half after he raved about Doxon and said that Doxon, you know, has really, shown him some maturity and some improvement and has impressed him. I think the answer to that would be less perhaps about Doxon and more about the other guys that he has that he's been impressed with here over these, you know, OTA days and mini-camp days. Two more cuts that I wanted to play.

The first one is on Samajai P. Ryan, who we mentioned last week, but listen to what he said about Samajai P. Ryan, and you'd have to think after listening to him that he's either putting pressure on other guys or P. Rhine's going to have a chance to get a lot of carries as a as they're running back this year. Here's what he said about P. Ryan. Last year you stressed having P. Ryan around to kind of be a backup to Adrian Peterson. Do you think Geis can kind of split those carries with Peterson or do you like having P.R. around to kind of serve that same role in 2019? You know, with guys not here in Peterson, not here for the majority of camp, P. Ryan has done an excellent job. He's been one of our top performers on offense, really. So I, I, I,

don't have, I wish I had a crystal ball to tell you, but I do know that those are three very good football players. Adrian, I mean, Hall of Famer. Geis, we drafted in a second round for a reason. And then Pete Ryan has continued to get stronger and stronger in a wake room. He's a powerful running back. And he has not had the opportunities that he probably deserves or needs. But we just have to figure out a way to make the competition fair and play the best player, no matter who they are where they're from. Make the competition fair and play the right player no matter where they're from. And that is, you know, right now from Jay, and you heard him, he's been in the weight room, he's more powerful, he's stronger. I want more than anything else when it comes to this football

team for Jay Gruden and the coaching staff to be able to play the best players, period. I don't care who they are. If he's better than Geis right now, who cares that Geis was a second round pick a year ago? It's coming off a serious injury. If P. Ryan gives them a better chance and is a better back. And by the way, I'm suggesting to you that he might be. I don't know that it would be crazy to think that P. Rhine, in the coach's minds, is better than what they have. Now, Peterson performed last year, and they know what they have in Adrian Peterson,

and he doesn't need to show up for these days. He'll be there for training camp. And maybe when we get to training camp and P. Rines put side by side with Adrian Peterson and Darius Geis, then it occurs. hers to Jay, man, P. Ryan looked really good when no one else was here. But now with the other two guys, he doesn't look as good. That's possible too. But, you know, Jay really was very, very complimentary of P. Ryan. It's the second or third time that he's been complimentary of P. Rine. And I'll just say what I've said to Cooley over the last couple of years. I think there have been moments

watching P. Ryan where you can see the talent and you can see what he could be. If you're he were your back. The problem, of course, he's had was holding onto the ball. All right, lastly, this was Jay Gruden yesterday on Dwayne Haskins and the importance of between now and the start of training camp. Dwayne told us a few minutes ago that he plans to spend most of the next five, six weeks around here, lifting, heading the playbook. How important are these, is this next month and a half for a rookie quarterback who's going into a training camp battle for the starting job? that's very important he's got to learn it you know if he feels like he's a little bit unsure of anything he's got to study it and continue to go over it in his mind and uh rehash it and we'll have

plenty of videos to watch and all that good stuff so uh duane's going to work hard at it that's for sure when he comes back to camp hopefully it'll be more natural to him call and plays in the huddle like i said before it's the first time he's had to do it we threw a lot at him formation uh motions protections route concepts run concepts all the Huttables, two minute, no huddle, all that stuff. There's a lot to learn for the kid. But we want to get it all out there for him, so he has understanding what it's going to be like come training camp.

So a long way to go, but I like where he's at. That was Jay Gruden on Dwayne Haskins. So a bunch of people said, did you hear what he said about Haskins? What do you think? I'm going to tell you what I think right now. I think Keenham's going to start the opener. I think Keenham is the favorite to start the opener right now. and maybe a clear-cut favorite to start the opener right now.

Obviously, the owner can change that and jump into the middle of this. But I think what Jay is telling you is that, you know, he's a young guy and he's not really called plays in a huddle before, and that's a big challenge. You know, we've heard this about a lot of young quarterbacks, you know, coming into the league that have basically walked to the line of scrimmage and looked over to the sidelines and gotten somebody to hold up on a cardboard, you know, cut out the play to be called.

And it's different in the NFL. It's a process, and he's got to get there. And I think what Jay's telling you is he's got a ways to go. And by the way, what wasn't asked there is Case Keenham comfortable calling plays in the huddle right now with a new system. Well, he's going to be more comfortable calling plays in a huddle because he's been doing it as an NFL starter and backup for a few years now. but how comfortable is he with the system and how far along is he in understanding the offense? Got me to thinking about odds for the starting quarterback for the opener. And we can do this today and then we can put another one out a few weeks from now,

but this will be the Kevin Sheehan show odds for who will start the opener in Philadelphia at quarterback. We've got three quarterbacks to take into consideration here right now. I mean, that could change, but right now it's just three. Haskins, Keenham, and Colt McCoy. And what I asked Aaron to do earlier was to come up with his own odds for each of the three. I did the same, and then we averaged them out to give you the following show odds. The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast odds on who starts opening day for the Redskins at quarterback. The favorite at plus 125, a money line of plus 125, that means you wager 100,

and if he is the starter, you win $125, is Dwayne Haskins. Now, let me just mention to you that I had Keenham as a favorite. Aaron had Haskins as a significant favorite and the averaged out for the two of us on this show. And this is something we both enjoy doing, is looking at odds and gambling, all right? The average of the two put together made Haskins a plus 125 favorite to be the start on opening day. I personally believe that Keenham should be the favorite and had it that way, but Aaron's got Haskins and had Haskins as a significant favorite to start opening day. And I would just ask you why you feel that way.

I still think that when it comes down to it, it's what we were saying as of a month ago. if it's close, Haskins starting. There's going to be pressure from higher up that unless it's very, you know, unless Haskins can't do it or unless Keenum is so much better, it's going to be Haskins. So because of that, yeah, I have him as a favorite of about 50%, 50 to 55% to start week one. And I had Keenum more as like a 60 to 65% favorite somewhere in that neighborhood.

Anyway, we ended up with Haskins at plus 125, all right, as the favorite to be the starting quarterback. My sense of it is, by the way, I didn't feel this way a few weeks ago. My sense of it is, is that hearing from all of the beat reporters, I think I mentioned this before, and listening to Jay, I just think Haskins is going to take a little while longer to get to the point where he's legitimately competitive with Keenham and ready to start.

And I think that they're going to, I didn't necessarily, I didn't necessarily feel this way a few weeks ago, but I feel that this way now that they're going to, the coaching staff's going to win out on being more patient with him. So with that said, though, Aaron feels differently, and the show average basically comes out to about a plus 125 favorite, all right, to start the opener. We had Keenham in our average at about plus 130.

So it's very close in terms of the show odds for starting quarterback. Keenham came in at plus 130. I had him more of the favorite. Aaron had him as the second favorite, but Aaron had Haskins as a more prohibited favorite to start. Keenham comes in at plus 130, and then the average for Colt came out to be plus 1,200. So essentially, Colts about a 12 to 1 choice, a long shot. Keenham at plus 130 and Haskins at plus 125, very close to almost equal odds right now of starting the opener against Philadelphia. So that's where we have it. We'll update this. Let's not forget what we did because I can see it right now.

We decide to do this three weeks from now. We're like, well, what did we have originally? So write it down, Aaron. Haskins on 612, 2019. The show odds are Haskins at plus 125. Keenham at plus 130, Colt at plus 1,200. Based on those odds, I personally would put my money on Keenham. And that's how I would bet it.

And you certainly would put it on the favorite, Haskins. Real quick word about Windonation before we get to Bob Carpenter, who will join us. Right now, Windonation's summer savings event is in full effect. If you need new windows, now's the time to buy them from Windonation. If you buy one, you'll get one free. If you buy two, you'll get two free, buy four, get four free. There is no limit. I know you like free.

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for free windows and tell them that I sent you. All right, let's bring in the voice of the Washington Nationals on Masson, Bob Carpenter, who I enjoy watching Bob and FP call these games night in and night out. And last night the Nats lost a tough one in Chicago 7 to 5. You probably got back super late, so I appreciate you joining me, Bob. I want to start with a couple of positives here. First of all, this was a team that was struggling for a while, and I remember some of those nights where you and FP are calling these games and just everything that seemed to go wrong went wrong or had a possibility of going wrong, went wrong. And it's been a lot differently, especially offensively here over the last stretch, you know, the 12 and 4 stretch before last night.

what's in your mind been the key to this offensive resurgence? Well, I think it's getting everybody other than Ryan Zimmerman back healthy. You know, that adds to need Ryan Zimmerman in this lineup. He's one of the best hitters in a game when he's healthy. He hits for high average. He drives in runs. He gets extra base sits. And we miss him.

We miss Ryan. We also miss his defense at first because he's a magical glove over there as well. So other than that, I mean, getting him. Soto Dodge and obviously getting Anthony Rendon back to getting a turnerback. And these things take a while because I think the Nats were once the first seven games that Trey was back from the broken finger and then they started taking off. You know, that's when this whole 12 out of 17 things started. And I think just getting Trey on base, Adam is a very good number two

hitter. You know, he's not as quick as Trey. I mean, who is? But Adam can move the ball around. He doesn't try to pull it all the time. And then you've got those two guys setting the table for Rendon and Soto. And Juan Soto has warmed up lately as well. So I think that's helped the offense gel. Getting Matt Adams back has helped even though Matt doesn't hit for tremendously high average, the threat of the home run or the RBI extra bisona is always there. So I think that's the big thing, Kevin, with the offense. And to your first point about those first two months of the season, not to make light of anything, but FP and I and some of the guys had kind of a running joke in the booth that, you know, for two hours every night, we were really doing

some compelling TV. And then when the bullpen came in after those two hours, those six innings or those seven innings are over, that's when things really got rough. And that's when we were losing games because the bullpen just couldn't get anything done. So they're better to do in that part of this whole thing now. And I want to get to the bullpen here in a moment. But I remember in that first two months, April and May, how many nights the two of you actually said, and I think it was the way everybody was feeling watching those games is you were waiting for something to go wrong. The first six innings were solid. You had a lead or you were in it, and then you were sort of waiting for things to go wrong,

and they often did, and that's changed here recently. But before we get to the bullpen, just talk about Anthony Rendon and what he means to this team. And where he is right now, Bob, just relative to, you know, compared to other National League, you know, offensive stars right now. Because he just, sometimes I think he flies under the radar as an elite star in this game, offensive star. Well, I think that's a good observation because Anthony does not seek the line light. You know, you see the post game or rather the post-home run celebrations in the dugout when the guys are jumping up and dancing around, and Anthony participates in that for about three seconds, and then he shuts it down.

He's not a guy who's going to call attention to himself. Does that hurt him on a national basis? I don't know, you know, because nobody's knocking down his doors for endorsements or anything like that. And, you know, Anthony, and people need to know this. You know, he's still a new daddy. You know, he's embracing the whole fatherhood family thing. He does a lot of volunteer work for the National Youth Academy since the departure of the

investment. Anthony has kind of taken the baton, and he's the guy that leads the effort that bridges the team to that youth academy over there in Anacostia. And, you know, that takes up some of his time, too. So he's that kind of guy. He's, I don't know, the reluctant superstar, is that a good way to put it? Anthony, I think, is just that kind of guy. And he deserves more run nationally. I mean, he's fifth in the voting behind the likes of Josh Donaldson, who's sitting around two-four. and has like, you know, nine home runs and some RBIs. And, you know, he should be up there neck and neck with Nolan Aronado. And he should be above Chris Bryant.

But you know how Cub fans are. They're going to vote for their guys and more power to them for doing that. So it's a frustrating thing. At the same time, I can't think of a guy I would rather have on my team. After the departure of Harper, the Nats need to resign Anthony Rendon. I hope it happens. In some cases, your mind, Kevin, goes to the fact that it has to happen because if you don't resign Anthony Rendon,

it's going to cost you some season tickets. It's going to cost you some jerseys in the team store. It's going to cost you ball games, obviously, and it's going to cost you a fantastic player who's going to end up playing somewhere else and probably being great for the next 10 years of this career, as he, you know, I think just turned 29 last week. So Anthony Rendon is the real deal on both sides of the ball. The only thing he doesn't do, and I don't blame him for this. He doesn't steal a lot of bases.

He sold more early in his career, but I don't want Anthony Rendon getting beat up, diving into second and third, and being reckless on the basis. I want him in there for 155 to 158 games a year. So, reluctant superstar that he is. He's, in my opinion, the most important guy on our team right now, and then that's have to get him wrapped up. Well, the timing for him couldn't be better, because he's on pace right now for career highs and batting average, on base percentage,

slugging percentage, and OPS right now. I mean, he is, we know he's – And that's after missing two weeks. Exactly. He's missed some games. Yeah. Yeah. He was out for two weeks, and as soon as he came back, he was second in the league and doubles,

and he was in the top three or four in extra base. You know, it's amazing that you could take a chunk out of the early part of the season like that, and the guy is still up there among all the league leaders. That's how good he gets. It's getting more expensive. by the day, Bob, and he's gaining in leverage if he ends up having a career year. One more thing offensively before we get to the bullpen. Howie Kendrick, and Tommy yesterday on the show, Levero just said he's a professional

hitter. And every single time we've seen him since he's been here when he's been healthy and he's been out there, he is a professional hitter. How valuable is he to whatever they are able to do? you know, over, you know, the remaining 60% of the season. Well, Howie is amazing. I mean, in his mid-30s, he's playing like he's 28 years old. You know, he's strong as an ox out there.

I mean, just to look at him. His nickname is Truck, given him by Tori Hunter years ago, out in Anaheim, and how he's just the consummate professional. Now, that term that Tom used, professional hitter, broadcasters and I think writers and radio people tend to throw that term around a little too much. Now, we'll say that was a professional at that after Adam Eaton pulls the ball to the right side

and moves Trey Turner over to third base on the first out of the beginning. Yeah, that's a professional at that. But to be called a professional hitter, you have to do those sort of things and drive-in runs and hit for high average and collect RBIs over and over and over again. You know, having two pro bets for three per week doesn't make you a professional hitter. Having 10 or 12 of those or 15 of those of bats a week, I mean, that's what separates Holly from some of these other guys.

He can go the other way. When he's really swinging well, it seems like the ball ends up in left center. It doesn't go right down the line and left that much. He can play second base adequately. He can play first base as well as you need him to. He can shuffle over to third if you need him to because he's got the arm to play over there. and he's not only a professional hitter, Kevin, but he's a professional ball player.

Great presence in the clubhouse. The guys look up to him. They respect him. They want to learn from him some of the young guys. I mean, if I'm one of our young menjielers, if I'm Adrian Sanchez, you know, when I'm in the big leagues, or I'm Trey Turner or any of those young guys, I'm hanging out as close to Howie Kendrick without being a pest as I possibly can

just to soak in what the secret is to what. what this guy brings to the table every day. He is an amazing addition to our ball club. I'm so glad the Nets brought him back. Knock on wood, he stays healthy after the hamstring pull in spring training that we saw on Masson. We all got concerned, you know, after the Achilles thing last year. And so, you know, he comes back from that, and then he, you know, just rakes throughout the season.

So, how Harry Kendrick's the real deal. And he's just one of every ball. for me to have a guy like that. All right, let's move to pitching. The bullpen ERA is actually improved. It's now just 6.33, which is an improvement from where it was a few weeks ago. What's been different here over the last couple of weeks with the bullpen? In two words, I can give you the first answer, and that is Tanner Rainey. This guy has taken the bull by the horns as he has, you know, come to the big leagues with the Nats. Obviously, the Tanner for Tanner deal.

The Reds got Roark. We got Rainy. And I love this kid. I mean, the ball just comes out of his hand so easy. And it's 97-98. He's hit triple digits. You know, but it's, you know, Kevin, it's not all about the velocity. It's about the slider that's 86, 87 to go with that,

which makes him a young, and I'm not comparing him yet to this guy, but it makes him potentially down the road a Craig Kimberl type of pitcher because that's what Kimball does. His fastball just comes out of this hand and just explodes onto the hitter. He's got the nasty strikeout, you know, breaking ball, the slider to go with it. And relief pitchers who throw like that, they don't need a change-up. They don't need a center. They don't need three or four pitches. They need those two pitches and command those well.

So to me, he's been a big factor. I think he has nine consecutive. scoreless outings now. And he's not only getting guys out, he's just overpowering hitters. And it's a fun thing to watch. So I think along with that, Matt Grince has made a couple of adjustments. And Matt's starting to get left-handers out, which obviously is his forte. I think Tony's Sip, the further he gets away from spring training, the more regular season

caliber he is, because, you know, he signed late, he started late, and that's not easy for anybody, pitchers, hitters, you name it. So I think those three guys are real key. And, of course, the glue to the whole group the whole time has been Sean Doolittle, because without Sean, that thing totally falls apart. And then that's probably would have been 15 games under 500 by the time things started turning around. So, you know, some other guys have been in out of the bullpen.

Justin Miller's been hurt. You know, some other guys have been in and out of their. Cowell Bearclaw has struggled. He had a nice clean inning in Chicago. last night. So maybe good things are ahead for Kyle. But as a group, and now with the addition of Trevor Rosenthal, who's still, you know, the jury is still out and will be for a while, you know, you look at what the bullpen is doing and what they're capable of, and you just hope they can keep doing what they've been doing for the last three weeks, because, you know,

in a couple weeks you'll look up and the ERA will be in the fives and maybe eventually down into the fours, the mid-fours of the high-force, which is okay by, today's pitching standards in the major league. So I think Tanner Rainey kind of came up. He's the one guy who has taken the bull by the horns and is wrestling that thing and is winning. And to me, he's one of the guys who has come up and some of the other guys have fed off him and said, hey, if this kid can do it, I can do it. And I think that's one of the big reasons this thing is turned around. Yeah, I mean, it's fun to watch him pitch. You know, I was thinking about Doolittle the other night. And watching that game real late, I think it was Friday night, the one that he came in and gave up

the lead in San Diego and in face two lefties too. And the lefties did damage in that spot. And I thought, you know, that's going to happen every once in a while. But it was the Met game, you know, a month or so ago when he came in in an unusual spot. And it's not the only time it's happened this year because he came in the eighth in that particular game with a, I think it was a one-nothing lead. I think the game was a one-nothing lead. I think the game was a one-nothing. at that moment and just had a rough outing. And he's had a lot of great outings in between those two. But I was wondering if you think that, you know, it almost seemed in that particular

night against the Mets, Bob, that it was a bit desperate at the time, you know, that they had lost some games to the Mets and they needed that one and he brought, you know, and Martinez brought Doolittle in early. Is he a guy that just has to be into a routine or, Do you think they'll continue to try to leverage him every once in a while, that spot in the eighth, try to get four outs or five outs? Well, let's hope that that doesn't have to happen anymore because, you know, desperate times, desperate measures, you know, that whole thing a couple of weeks ago,

and some of that has gone away. So let's hope that that doesn't happen. There may be a time when Davey just has to bring him in in the eighth inning if there's a tough left-in-a-batter. Yeah, that thing in San Diego was an aberration because he gave up his to two left-handers in the same inning. You know, Eric Cosmer hit that triple, and then the Josh Naylor kid, the rookie, got the game tying base hit. And two left-handed hits and one in it. He gave up one hit to a left-hander last year, one season long. That was nuts.

So, you know, those sort of things are going to happen now and then. So I hate the fact that we lost last night and didn't get a four-and-two road trip, but at the San Doolittle did not pitch in Chicago. And he's ready to go for what now is a huge homestand. Diamondbacks four, Phillies, four, Braves three. The Nats have to have him locked and loaded and ready to do some one-inning work in this homestead. Because, I mean, with seven against the Phillies and the Braves, if you lose five of those, yikes. If you win five of those, you're back where you need to be.

And that's a big thing for this ball club. So, you know, Kevin, all those things you reference, hopefully that does not happen again. And we do not have to call on Sean to get more than three out at any time to get a All right, starting pitching, Bob. What's gone wrong here in Corbyn's last three or four starts? Yeah, it's been interesting because, you know, in two of those starts, one in San Diego, one in Chicago, if Patrick does what he usually does, then that's probably come home with a five-and-one road trip.

And then you're looking at a ball club that had won like 16 of their last 19 or 20 games and they'd really be on a roll. I think, you know, and Patrick did hold up the ship early. in the season when some of the other guys were scuffling. So I think these things are cyclical, Kevin, as far as the starters go. But it looks to me like right now he's fighting some mechanical things. For him to not be able to command his fastball for strikes, that's huge like it is for any pitcher, because then your secondary pitches all work off of that.

And I almost hesitate to call his slider a secondary pitch, but it's not a fastball. And it's how he gets a lot of guys out with swinging, down into right-handers, low and away to left-handers, and that's really his put-away pitch. So if he's got to throw that, behind the count or any time in the count just to get a strike, you know, that's a rough go. So he needs to get his fastball command back. You know, that's something for him and Paul Menhardt to work out.

You know, I'm not a pitching coach and can't nail it down to the, you know, to the minute details. But it just looks to us up in the booth, and FPS commented on this on TV. that it just looks like he's fighting himself and just trying to get a feel out there for his mechanics. And once he gets that thing straightened out, you know, the way Fetti and Sanchez have come on to join the always great chooser in Strasbourg, the Natchel really be onto something with those starting five guys. You've mentioned the schedule a couple of times in this big homestand that they've caught coming up, 11 games, four with Arizona, four with Philly, and three with Atlanta.

And then, by the way, you go on the road with three, you know, at Miami in an eye. opportunity there. They're 14 games before the halfway mark with 67 played. I sense that you believe that this is a crucial stretch right now and a very important stretch in their schedule. Well, I think it is because you're chasing not one team, but you're chasing two. And they're both here for the, you know, ripe for the picking on this homestand. You know, the Nats did a good job in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, won both of those games when they They pounded the Braves pitching pretty hard. And then, you know, against the Phillies early in the season,

they won a series up at the bank, split the first game here, and then the Phillies took the second series up there. But, you know, I think as far as the Braves and the Phillies go for the Nats, they're beatable. They can beat those guys, and they can beat the Diamondbacks. And you've got to take care of things at home. With the recent good homesstand play, the Nats are back to 500 at home, so that's a good building block to go forward.

And, you know, we'll see how it progresses. But, you know, make or break, crucial. I don't know. It's still early June. I mean, people were saying must win and crucial and make or break on stuff a month ago, which I thought was too early. But we are approaching, you know, we are approaching that halfway point. I mean, the All-Star break's not the halfway point.

That's beyond the halfway point. And, you know, that's what's happening here. And these 11 games, say the Nats, no matter who they beat, they've got to go seven and four at least on this homestand to really start to make that move. Because you really can't be, you know, you really can't be a contender until you get the record back to the 500 mark. And that's what the Nats are trying to do right now.

So that'll be huge. But Kevin, I think at least seven and four and eight and three on this homestand will really be a giant step toward what's down the road. to this team. Well, you've got the night off. That series with Arizona starts tomorrow night. I really appreciate the time. I always enjoy talking to you. Thanks so much, Bob. Hey, Kevin, I enjoy our conversations as well. Have a great week, buddy, and thanks for having me on. Always a pleasure. My pleasure, too. Thanks. Always good catching up with Bob Carpenter. Love Watch 3, 2, 1. Always love catching up with Bob

Carpenter. He's excellent at what he does. I started listening or watching Bob Carpenter when he was calling college basketball games, Aaron, for ESPN back in the 80s, and betting on almost all of those games when I was in college. But always enjoy catching up with him. He is a really good guy and made time for us on his day off. Quick word about stamps.com. Listen up if you are a small business. You need stamps.com. It's a popular time savings tool for small businesses in particular. Stamps.com eliminates trips to the post office and saves you money with discounts. You can't even get at the post office. Stamps.com brings all of the amazing services of the U.S. post office right to your computer.

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First of all, game seven tonight in the NHL Stanley Cup finals. I'm excited. I am too. Looking forward to watching the game tonight. Blues Bruins, 8 o'clock NBC. Doc Emrick one more time this year. I don't know what it is about the games he calls, but it just makes them more of a pleasure to watch.

But game seven in the hockey playoffs, I mean, the only thing that would be better than this is if the game actually goes to overtime. And you got an overtime game seven. But prices for tickets in Boston, I saw that just to get into the arena, it's $1,500. Just to get in to the arena, it's $1,500. I did not watch, just so everybody's clear on this, I did not watch any of the soccer from yesterday. No, I'm shocked. But it does seem like there's a lot. a big deal being made out of the 13 to nothing record-setting win by the women's team over who'd they beat

Thailand Thailand um and the sportsmanship associated with that you know did they run up the score they were according to what i had read it's not like they stuck with their starters the entire game right when you put people into a world cup game and they have not yet played in that game you don't want them to do their best. You don't want them to experience that opportunity, which they may not have the opportunity to experience in future games in the cup. Let's be clear about the other thing about this. This is Big Girl Soccer.

Big Girl Soccer, Goals matter. That is the first tiebreaker. Right. It's a tiebreaker. Yes. They clearly, by the way, with a 13 to nothing win, I would assume, Aaron, you can correct me if I'm wrong that no one else has won by anything closely resembling 13 to nothing. No, but no one else has played Thailand.

India. Is Thailand the worst team? I assume at least the worst in the group. Because the U.S. women are the favorites to win this thing. Yes. And it shouldn't need to it, but hypothetically, like, it could factor in. Okay. So that's a good point there. Who's in their particular, you know, bracket? I think Sweden might be the other team. Okay. So, and who else? I don't know who the fourth team. Well, Sweden played Chile yesterday. Okay, so it would probably be Chile. So you think the Chileans are going to, if they've got a chance to run it up, on Thailand for a better seating or an opportunity to move on to the knockout round that they're not going to try to run it up on Thailand? Come on.

This is big girl soccer. I mean, there's no bad sportsmanship here. This is not, you know, Florida State, you know, playing a game early in the season against Northwestern State. All right. Elite, we shouldn't even use Florida State anymore as bad as they've been in recent years. Oklahoma. Is it Northwestern State in Oklahoma? Actually, I just think that might be right. Southwestern whatever, say yes, or Chattanooga, whoever you want to put in there.

Let's call it Bama against U.T. Chattanooga. The funny thing is, remember Bama played, was it the Citadel last year? And it was like 10-10 and half time. But any of those mismatches, it's quite different when you had the opportunity to not throw the football in the third quarter, fourth quarter up 63 to nothing. I mean, this is, scoring is so elusive in soccer anyway. I mean, I'm sorry, I missed the game. I wish I'd gone to a coffee shop yesterday, sat down with a laptop, and watched that game. Sportsmanship police have been out in force over the past few days, and it's getting really

involved. I want them to run up scores. I want them to celebrate after every goal. I want people to pimp home runs. I want it all. Well, I just, I think you made the best point about this. The gold differential is factored into whether or not you advance. Now, I think the U.S. is a heavy favorite to advance.

Sure. You know, but it comes down to if there's a tie with the records in your quadrant, it's four teams in a group, you know, in your quad, in your foursome, you know, it'll come down to gold differential. Well, I think they just made a statement on that. They're not going to have any issues with gold differential, 13-0. Sweden wins 13-0. Right.

And you know what? I wonder if it was a situation where the Thailand team, you know, that they were asking for autographs after the game. That happens a lot when you play a team with so many stars. How many goals did Alex Morgan have? Five. She had five goals? Yeah. Oh, my God.

Were you impressed that I knew who that was? I am. I can understand. If you're going to pick one, though, Alex Morgan's the one to know. It's probably the one to know. We missed this the other day that Marilyn got another transfer. Shaq Smith, the linebacker from Clemson. I remember when he was first being recruited, and Maryland was trying to get him.

Big-time recruit of IMG in Florida. Maryland football, I don't know what it could become in this market if it ever was like a consistent top 15 team contending for, let's just say, a potential birth in the Big Ten title game, you know, winning eight, nine, ten games a year. I do know this, though. When Ralph Region had it going in the early 2000. thousands. They sold that stadium out for about three straight years. And that's what led, by the way, to the expansion of the stadium, borrowing money to expand the stadium, which ended up being a big mistake for the athletic department. I think football's so popular, and I think college football in major cities in particular, in D.C.'s one of them, isn't anywhere near as popular as the NFL is,

but that's because in major cities, most of them you don't have a big, time college football contender and program. You do in Los Angeles, you know, with UCLA and USC. And I think you could argue in terms of the top 10 markets in the country, maybe, well, Miami is a top 10 market, right? I think South Florida would be in that category, too. But L.A. with SC, I mean, people have argued over the years that, you know, after the Lakers, you know, Southern Cal football is the most important thing in that market. But you don't have a it in New York, really. You don't have it in Boston. You don't have it really in Philadelphia, although there are a lot of Penn State fans in Philadelphia, a ton of Penn State fans throughout

that entire city. Now, I don't know, I don't have a sense actually for, you know, as an example on Sports Talk Radio. Do they do a lot of Penn State talk on WIP or any of the other Philly stations? I don't think they do a lot of it, but there are a lot of Penn State alum in the Philadelphia market. There are a lot of Penn State alum in this market. But, Philly, Boston, New York, D.C., you know, Chicago is a big Notre Dame town. There's a lot of Notre Dame fans in Chicago. Dallas would be an example of a big college football market, even though, you know, the University of Texas is in Austin. There are a ton of UT fans. And they're just, you know, in Big 12 countries, so they'll just talk football.

And Atlanta is also a big college football market. And you know what, New Orleans is too. Now, New Orleans is not a top 10 market. No. But anyway, I wonder, maybe this conversation is more about the East Coast, you know, the Northeast and the big cities of the Northeast and college football's presence there, not being anywhere near what the NFL is. But I wonder if Maryland ever became a legitimate contender in the Big Ten, a top 10, top 15 type of team year and year out, how big would it be in this market? It would never overtake the Redskins. What if the Redskins continued to stink? It would never overtake the Redskins. I agree with you. But it would get bigger.

And here's the thing. I think that right now you have the right person in place where if it did get good, he would make it bigger. Because he set, Mike Loxley is such a personality. And he gets it. He gets that he has to market the program, which some of the past coaches, in number of sports, have not quite gotten that. That if it did get good, he would be everywhere making sure. people knew what was going on at Maryland. I think I agree with everything you just said, from it would never overtake the Redskins

to Locksley being the right guy to be out there and be the face of it if it ever became really good. Follow-up question. Would it ever exceed Maryland basketball in terms of popularity among the Maryland community? Oh, boy, that would be... You know what? I'll say this. I don't think amongst the alumni, you know, my age and older it ever would.

But if you tell me that, you know, Maryland basketball is what it is over the past decade, and Maryland football gets good, I think you're going to see the high schoolers, the students coming in, I could see that potentially happening, yes. I think you're right again. I think for longtime alums in particular, basketball's always going to be number one. I can just speak from my personal viewpoint. I went to Maryland. I grew up rooting for Maryland football and Maryland basketball,

and football was never for me as important as basketball. I would take, you know, a final four and, you know, five losing seasons in basketball over, you know, six straight bowl games in football. It just, it's always been more important. Maryland is still, you know, an example. and a unique example of a Power 5 school where basketball comes first because the majority, the significant majority of Power 5 conference schools are football first schools.

Now, not in the ACC, all right? You've got obviously Duke and Carolina and Wake and NC State and then the newer teams, right? Louisville and Syracuse are obviously basketball first. schools. But, you know, in the true football conferences, in the Big 12, is there one school in the Big 12, Kansas? Kansas would be the only one, right? Kansas is the only Big 12 school that you would consider to be a basketball first school. I don't think Iowa State is. I think Iowa State is still probably more football, even though they've had more success in basketball over the years.

K-State's actually a pretty interesting, you know, they probably like both equally. In the Big Ten, you have Maryland, Indiana, Purdue. Those are probably the only three examples of... You think Purdue's basketball first? I think it might be. I think they've had more success, but man... I mean, let me just say, for those that would say, what about Michigan State?

No, Michigan State, you ask an alum, football's bigger than basketball. Football's bigger than basketball. They're both equally important, and they're into their basketball program. Don't get me wrong. But if you want to take Purdue out, that means that Maryland and Indiana are the only basketball first schools in the Big Ten, right? They're the only ones. I mean, I don't even know what Northwestern is. I mean, does it really matter?

But it's probably football still with Northwestern, given, I mean, they've never had basketball success. Right. Pac-12. UCLA really is in maybe Arizona, but I think if you talk to Arizona fans, they'll tell you, football is equally as important as basketball, even though they've been a basketball power for a long period of time. But UCLA is the only obvious basketball first school. I guess you could argue Arizona. In the SEC, you've got Kentucky and you've got Vanderbilt. That's it. That's the list there. Arkansas football is bigger than Arkansas basketball. And what's even another one that would be debatable? I think there was a time where...

I think you could even debate Vanderbill if you wanted to. Maybe, but they've had much more success in basketball than in football. You know, Missouri, for a long period of time, had more success in basketball than football. And I think they are into their basketball at Missouri, but football's still number one there. Even if it's not the team, it's just SEC football. Yeah. Did I hit all Power 5 conferences, or did I miss one? I think I got them all.

Anyway, I think Maryland basketball will always be more important for most of, people over the age of 30 than football. But if football ever got good, and the reason I bring it up is, you know, this is another transfer. He's had several big name transfers. He's recruiting his ass off. And next year's class, you know, apparently, or the 2020 class is off to a potential great start in terms of who he's involved in and with. And this particular season upcoming, if they get decent play at quarterback, they can. have a, you know, they could have a seven-win season this year. You know, they stay, they have games early on the schedule. They have, Syracuse is at home. They open with Howard. They play Temple

on the road. You know, 500 Big Ten schedule during a bowl game. Did you see the Big Ten also changed up some of their bowl affiliations? They got the Las Vegas Bowl now. I'm excited about that. Is that the one that's played on Christmas Eve? No, they're moving it around. I think it's going to be a much bigger bowl game now because they'll start being played in Raider Stadium. Okay. I didn't see that. Lastly, I was just going to mention that I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but it just popped up as the first thing on ESPN.com this morning,

and it was a headline that read Giants Redskins rivalry about to get heated and then, quote, it's going to be crazy, closed quote, said by Landon Collins. and mention this multiple times, but, man, has he been busy talking since he signed that $84 million deal to come here? I mean, he's got some walking to do to back up the talking because every chance he's gotten, he's talked about how, you know, he cannot get the giants off his mind. everything that comes out of Collins's mouth is a bitter taste, a sour taste about the Giants not wanting him anymore. And he's dialed in on that. He was asked at a recent event. It was a celebrity softball game.

It was his celebrity softball game in New York, by the way. He talked about having the two games circled on the calendar, the Giants game, the Giants games circled on the calendar. He said, quote, it's going to be crazy in talking about the rivalry between the Giants and the Redskins. You know, he was in this event and Daniel Jones was, I think, at the event. And he said, look, as I've said from the get-go, I appreciate Daniel Jones coming out to this softball game. But I still think we got the best quarterback in the draft. Talked a lot about the Giants. You've got guys that they let go.

They didn't draft a guy that everyone wanted them to draft, stuff like that. they've got issues. You know what? Again, I hope he backs it up. You know, we've got these Giants Redskins games circled. He predicted Super Bowls, plural. You know, we heard that. Obviously, we've got the, you know, the quote that will follow Dwayne Haskins throughout his career.

Quote, league done messed up, closed quote, in comparing him to the quarterbacks that got taken before him, specifically Daniel Jones. So we'll see. But Landon Collins, every opportunity he gets, it is. And they're sticking a mic in front of him. I get it. But again, I know this gets old for some of you.

I would just prefer the answers to be, look, the Giants did what they thought was right. I'm in a really good spot now. I'm really excited about being a redskin. We got a lot to build here. We've got some good talent. but, you know, we haven't proved anything yet. That'll happen, you know, in actual games on the field beginning in September. All right.

Thanks to Bob Carpenter for being on the show today. Thanks to all of you. Tomorrow is the beginning of the U.S. Open, which I'm very excited about. A West Coast Open is amazing because you get to watch that on the East Coast at night, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I hope the basketball ends tomorrow night. So Sunday night, we don't have, you know, the leaders. coming down the back nine at Pebble Beach while the NBA game seven is underway.

Tommy will be on the show tomorrow as well. We'll obviously do some basketball in preparation for game six, do some Redskins, do some Nats. And I'm going to watch a hockey game today. I'm excited for a game seven in the Stanley Cup finals. When was the last time we had a Stanley Cup finals game seven? I think it was very recently. I'm pretty sure it was very recently.

I didn't hear anybody said that, but I remember having this same conversation not that long ago about a seventh and deciding game in the Stanley Cup finals. Are you trying to find that for me? Yeah, 2011. 2011. So it wasn't as recent as I thought it was. Bruins over who? The Canucks. The Canucks.

That was when the Vancouver went crazy and rioted and stuff. Oh, but they lost. They lost the game. Yes. All right. Oh, I got a list too here. 2009 the Penns beat the Red Wings in a seventh and deciding game two to one. And before that it was 2006.

So for whatever reason, I thought we had a recent game seven. We did have in the last round, right, a game seven in the Western Conference finals, because that was the St. Louis series that went to a seventh and deciding game against the sharks, I believe. Right? I think that's right. Sounds right. We're really, we're killing it on the hockey. hockey talk. I can do Stanley Cup when you tell me the exact game scores of of cover size. Yes. No, I'm wrong about that. The Shark series, I just pulled that up. That was six games. The series with

Dallas was seven games. So they beat Dallas in the round before that in seven games. So there you go. What was the Eastern Conference Finals? Boston beat Carolina. Yes. It was Carolina. And they did it pretty convincingly. It was four. They swept them. Was it a sweep? Yes, it was a sweep. Boston swept Carolina, the team that beat the caps. All right, there you go. There's your hockey talk for the day. Have a great day, everybody. Back tomorrow with Tommy.