The Kevin Sheehan Show - Ovi Closing In

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

Kevin and Thom today started the show with Kevin's Face-Time call with his sister as a tornado was bearing down on her back yard in Nashville. Lots on Alex Ovechkin as he is within three goals of Gretzky. Kevin had a Final 4 preview and two "Smell Test" picks. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor is Window Nation.

86690 Nation or Windonation.com. If you need new windows, mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free estimate. Sorry, no show yesterday. We were intending to do a show yesterday. It was my fault. I was held up, not literally held up. I was waiting for a meeting that I was supposed to be in

where the people showed up not on time, Tommy, not on time. I like when people are on time. I like when people are on time. Absolutely. Not only not on time. How about 35 minutes late? They know who you are?

And then the meeting went much longer than it should have. And then I had to call you and say, I think we're going to bail on doing a show. today. Can you do one tomorrow? And you said, as long as we do it early, because I'm going to see Alex Ovechkin. And I mean, like, you wanted to do it early this morning, and we are recording right now on early Friday morning, April 4th,

because of a game, you leave for games, like hours before they start. What time are you going to leave for the game tonight? I mean, I'll be at the arena by 3.30 or 4. Why? To get ready To get ready for what the game starts at 7 I know Are you

Same with baseball, same with football All sports writers do this I don't understand that Can't you get ready from home And then just leave When you get down there tonight at 3.30 Will you be the only person In the press box?

No, I won't be. There'll be others there And let me point out, if I get there by 3.30, I'm not driving a rush hour. Also, the parking spaces start to disappear at a certain point because the capitals, unlike the wizards, give me parking. All the media parking. The wizards don't give you parking now. Maybe they will. Yeah. Maybe they will.

Anyway. So the parking becomes a problem, the longer you wait. So between parking and traffic and the idea that what could go wrong could go wrong, I just, I'm always been early to all events. Man, you were. You would not have been among the group of people that showed up late. I would have showed up on time and you would have been sitting there waiting for me. That's right.

All right. I want to do, I want to, we'll get to OV and we're, we're, potentially going to witness even tonight. I mean, he's a hat trick away. A hat trick away from breaking the record. But it'll be a significant goal when he ties Gretzky, right? There are two goals here that are going to be significant. The tying and then the record breaker.

But I did want to mention... It's similar. It's similar to another number eight when Cal Ripkin broke Lou Gehrig's record. When he tied it, 2130, that was a big event. They had a big festivity at Camden Yards after the game and all that. And then the next night was the record breaker. That was easy to figure out because everyone knew that was a game the next day. Nobody can predict when Ovi's going to score a goal,

but he seems to score him at will at the age of 39. It's ridiculous the season he's having. No, that's a good point. And, you know, with yardage records, there's no, you know, there's no tying event. You know, there's only a breaking event. Now, I'm curious when Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth, I remember certainly the home run that set the record 715. But when did 714 happen? I don't remember today, but it was against the Cincinnati Reds and Jack Billingham was the pitcher.

I do remember that. Was it the year before? Because he broke the record in April. I don't think it was the year before. I don't think we had to wait a whole offseason. for this to happen. Okay. You know, anticipation of the record breaker. I think it was that same year.

Okay. It wasn't April, though. You're right. Yeah, I'm looking it up. After sitting on 713 all winter, Henry Aaron needed just one swing to claim his share of the greatest record in all sport. On April 4th, 1974,

all right. Al Downing. Well, Al Downing, 750. 715. Yeah, 715 is the record breaker. 714 was the home run that tied it. And you're correct. April 4th, 1974 against the Reds Jack Billingham. Aaron hit a three-run homer driving in Ralph Gar and Mike Lum to draw him even with Ruth. Aaron did not homer in the rest of the series and the Braves went home to face the Dodgers in a three-game set beginning on April 8th. And that's when he needed two at bats, homering in the third inning, off Al Downing to pass Ruth. You know, one of the gifts I've been given in this business was getting to meet Hank Aaron a number of times over the years.

And when you see him in person and you think of all those home runs, it's unfathomable. He's not very big. He wasn't very big. He wasn't a big man at all. but he had these unbelievable wrists apparently these strong quick wrists that would drive the ball out of the ballpark wow all right but we know you know how Barry Bonds broke the record

because it happened against the Nats yes but yeah but I still don't you know I don't remember the particulars of it because it was such a a, it just wasn't, there was always so much sketchiness around it. Yeah, it was in San Francisco. Yep.

They were on the road. No, it was a day game, I remember. Right? Wasn't it, it was an afternoon game, I'm pretty sure? I don't remember if it was or not. Mike Bassick was the pitcher for the Nationals, and he used that in his postseason career as a device. I think he did sports talk radio for a while. That was his claim the same.

Really? Mike Bassick. He was a talker. Oh, my God, yeah. He was a talker. All right. We'll get to Ovechkin a little bit in a little bit, because Tommy is going to the game.

I am definitely tonight going to watch this game. I mean, you cannot. I mean, tonight and then Sunday in New York against the Islanders, there's a chance he does it in the next two games. I mean, there's also a chance that he goes on a goal-scoring drought. But we'll talk about that because I wanted to actually start with two things. Number one is.

So I was on the phone with my sister yesterday. She lives in Nashville. I don't know if you followed the weather outbreak, the tornado outbreak, throughout the southeast. You know, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia. But it was like, I mean, the weather channel was around the clock. So she called me, you know, late yesterday and she said, are you following what's going on down here? here and I said no and she's I said a little bit but I didn't realize that it was that you know significant in Nashville where she lives and she said literally my phone has been going off every 30 minutes all night long

meaning on Wednesday night the sirens go off every 30 minutes and I said well has you know has a tornado touchdown anywhere near you guys she lives in a suburb called Brentwood it's it's a southern suburb, just southeast, I think, of Nashville. And she said, nothing near us, but not that far away. And, you know, like, apparently at that point, four or five lives had already been lost in Tennessee from the tornadoes. And then she said, hear that? Hear the sirens?

And so I said, yeah, I hear the sirens going off. And she's like, oh, my God, my phone's going nuts here. But she said, but she's like, but this. has been happening for basically eight you know almost a day now and i said well what what do you do and she said well we go into the pantry um and because they don't have a basement in the house and then all of a sudden her husband with screams look at this and i said face time me i want to see it and there was a massive funnel cloud as out the back of their house. Massive funnel cloud.

It was not like moving in a big way, but it was probably, I don't know. I think it may have been about a quarter of a mile away, quarter of a mile to a half mile away, maybe. And you could just see this dark funnel cloud just coming down from the sky. and and then she and then I'm like well she's like I should have said well you need to go seek shelter but I'm like get a better view move the move the phone around I want to see it from this angle it's actually not funny because it was a big funnel cloud and they you know finally they're like we got to we got to go and so um you know I said well just text me or call me when

you know, it goes by or whatever and stay safe, the whole thing. Literally, two minutes, three minutes later, you know, she calls and said, it just kind of evaporated. This one, and that's what happens sometimes. Like, the funnel cloud will come down and then it'll just kind of disappear. So it didn't stay on the ground for very long. You know, there are long duration tornadoes and then there are very short duration tornadoes. but man they have been dealing with it and I and I said you know have you ever seen one down there

because they've had tornadoes before and she said never seen one but one did touch down at the girls my niece's high school after they had first moved down there I don't know 11 12 13 years ago whatever it was. But those people, man, in that part of the country in the springtime, when you have these tornado outbreaks, they're just constantly dealing in this day and age with phones just blaring, sirens going off. It's disruptive. It's dangerous.

Yes. We don't have that here. It's a lack of, no, we live in an area that as far as natural, disasters is relatively safe, wouldn't you say? A hundred percent. I mean, the most severe natural disaster, really, that we're capable of having, is a blizzard, which we've had, you know, multiple times, like a severe multi-foot blizzard. We've had, I mean, in 2010, we had two of them in essentially 2009-2010 winter, we had basically

two of them in the same winter. We had one in 2016 as well. Now, we do get tornadoes, but they're typically the smallest of tornadoes, although La Plata, Maryland, for whatever reason, has had disastrous tornadoes. Yes, they have. You know, they really have College Park had one year. We certainly get the remnants of hurricanes, but they're typically at tropical storm strength, not at hurricane strength by the time they arrive in that. And they can be very damaging. We dabble.

We dabble in disasters. We don't really live it. Like some areas, there's a disaster season in some areas. You know, like on the West Coast, with the wildfires, although it seems to be 12 months a year now for California when it comes to the wildfires. And I'll tell you, the one for me, The scariest one for me would be an earthquake.

Well, I was just going to say, you say we dabble and we do, we do dabble. But we more than flirted with an earthquake in 2011. I mean, we had, the National Cathedral is still, you still, when you drive by it, there's still construction going on. Now, I think they have fixed all of the earthquake damage. But, you know, in my life, that was very personal, because I was on the air when it happened. I know.

With Stephen Specter, who's been out. You would have thought it was the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the way you talk about it. Well, you were off that day. You were on vacation, and it was just me, and Mark was off, Stern, our producer, and Stephen Spector was producing that day. And I'll just never forget the, you know, the mics that we used to have in that studio that would hung from the ceiling just started swing wildly. I mean, like, legitimately swaying like a pendulum. And you felt a rumble. And, you know, I've played this sound forever.

And I can play it at the end of the show today, too. But I immediately said, Stephen, did you feel that? He said, yeah. I said, look at the mics. I'm like, I think we're having an earthquake. And that's when our fearless leader, Simple Jack Simple Jack came into the studio

and started screaming Get out! Get out! And that's when I'm like Holy shit, it must have been a bomb that went off. You know, in like the garage. But Simple Jack, you know, and I think I said, We got to go. And we immediately got up and we, you know,

headed for the stairs to get out. But yeah, Simple Jack, who we did talk about, I think, recently on the show. Simple Jack came in screaming, get out, get out. So, yeah, no, you're right. We dabble in, you know, real natural disasters. It's really hard for big northeast cities because there just isn't enough space for them for tornadoes to touch down and then be long-duration tornadoes. We don't live on, you know, with lots of open spaces. But we do get tornadoes.

We do get tropical storm strength winds that have been very damaging in this area and have put power out. We get severe thunderstorms. You know what we had? Remember in 2012, the Durachio? That was a, oh, yeah. That was incredibly damaging. But, but you see, there are, the other areas of the country, there are seasons. Yes.

This is spring, yeah. I mean, but here, it's the sporadic moment, you know? It's not a, it's not, it's not, oh, here comes tornado season or here comes earthquake season. There's no, there's no, there's no earthquake season. No, there's not. That's true. Yeah. That's true, you know, that earthquake, maybe I, maybe I would need a building to fall on me if I wasn't an earthquake because I was on the fifth floor of a hotel in New Jersey.

Okay. and on Wildwood. And everybody else was at the beach. I was doing some writing back in the room. And everyone on the beach felt it. You know, they all jumped up, apparently, started panicking a little bit. And my niece texted me and said, are you all right? And I said, from what?

She said, the earthquake. I didn't even know. I didn't even feel it. I'm five stories. You would have thought I would have felt it. Right. high up. Right.

You know, a building swaying a little bit, but I was kind of oblivious to it. So maybe that's God's protection for me that I wouldn't even know I was in an earthquake. Well, you know, we've had very small earthquakes. I mean, I think you read about them sometimes and you don't feel them. You know, there are faults around here. There's like a couple in Virginia. It was the one that I think was responsible for the 2011 earthquake, and I forget the name of the fault,

but there is the possibility of the earthquake that we got, obviously. We got a five, it was like a 5.9 or something like that. And, you know, California people laugh at that, but when you're in high-density areas and you have an earthquake of that size, it can do damage, Obviously, it did. How much damage did it do? I want to see what that earthquake did.

The Washington Monument would shut down for a couple years. Yes. 2011. And it certainly scarred you, that's for sure. No, it was exciting, except for that one moment when I thought maybe a bomb had gone off and we weren't going to get out of the building. Okay. August 23rd, 2011, 5.8, earthquake.

hit the Piedmont region of the United States. The epicenter was in Louisiana, Louisiana, 38 miles northwest of Richmond. Several aftershocks ranging up to 4.5 in magnitude occurred after the main tremor. So it looks like basically it did about $300 million worth of damage. That's pretty hefty. Yeah.

Yeah. What was the... But one of the reasons I would not live on the West Coast was, I mean, I would live in fear that my land would wind up in the ocean someday. Because that's what we've been reading about. For years. We were kids. Yes, true. We've been reading about for kids.

The San Andreas fault, it's going to erupt one day, and there's going to be a new coastline because the coastline that exists will be underwater and gone. the spots I remember that when I was a kid in high school reading about that I do remember that I do remember you know the idea that California

would one day after an earthquake end up in the ocean but I also as a kid I mean California was so so incredible

to dream about like there was something so not for me oh really I did this for me oh my God I

I'm trying to think I think the first time, I don't think I went to California until I was 17 or 18 years old. Oh, I was 19. It was my cross-country trip with my, you know, when I told the story before, but we got in a car, drive-away service, took a car from Bethesda to Oakland, but we went all summer. and we were in California for a couple of weeks. And L.A. was, yeah, there is something magical. There was something magical about California for me as a kid. You know, I think where it stems from more than anything else, obviously Disneyland and the idea of that as a really young kid.

But watching football, college football in particular, on a Saturday afternoon when the game was at USC or UCLA, and it was dark and damp and cold on the East Coast. And then you turn on the TV and it was just these bright colors, sunny, beautiful. That was part of it, I think, for any sports fan that was an East Coast person. But yeah, earthquakes. There's no season for them. There is some predictive ability, but not much.

Spotsylvania is the It's the Spotsylvania fault I remember it being something else But that's what it says in this Wikipedia page Okay The other thing that I wanted to tell you about Well your sister's okay Yeah everybody's okay but I think they had another long night

And I think there's another chance of like Another outbreak Today Or tonight maybe Anyway yes Thanks for asking she's fine If she hadn't If they hadn't survived or if they hadn't

survived or if there had been a serious injury, I don't know that I would have told this story so gleefully. So I watched this show the other night. Have you watched adolescence on Netflix? No, I have not. My wife wants to watch it. I have not. All right, watch it. It's easy. It's four hours. It's four episodes. It's four one-hour episodes. I think a couple of the episodes aren't even an hour long. For those of you that have watched it, and apparently, like, over 100 million people have watched it or 100 million downloads of the show,

or however, you know, streaming is measured. It's like already one of the most watched Netflix shows in history at this point. And it's only been out for two and a half weeks. It is a British drama. It's a crime drama, but it's not a... whodunit. It's more of a why was it done? And that's the incredible part of the story. The only thing I would tell you,

because you're very impatient in general, is don't get antsy on the first episode. I thought the first episode, I was told how great this was by my son and also a friend of mine, so we sat down to watch it two nights ago. And four hours later, Tommy, I came home. up. I just kept going until it was two in the morning. And I had finished watching it. And then last night, late last night, I watched episodes three and four again because I thought that they were so incredibly well done. But the first episode I thought was slow. And I was like,

really? This isn't, so you got to stick through the first episode and then I think you'll like it. You know, it certainly would be something I would recommend, especially for parents. but really for anybody. So that's all. I'm not going to talk about it anymore. We can talk about it after you've watched it, because if your wife tells you she wants to watch it, then you'll watch it.

Me recommending it typically doesn't do much for you. That's not necessarily true. It's the opposite, usually, because we have very different taste. There's a couple of issues which I have. First of all, it's a British show, and I generally don't watch British shows. Because there's enough American. Because there's enough American, good American television available.

I don't need to watch the British imports. Okay. The second thing is I don't particularly, I watch television for joy and escapism. I don't watch it to be emotionally wrecked. That's not interested in those kind of shows. Okay. Okay. My wife would be, but I'm not.

I mean, over the years, I've had enough that would have qualified as programming to deal with that I don't need to watch it. You're just impossible. I mean, honestly, you're just... What is it? I mean, first of all, haven't you told me... Haven't you told me before that you're a Monty Python person? Oh, yeah, when I was younger, Bonnie Python and Benny Hill. Okay, there we go.

There's my limit. Yeah, okay, that's your limit. I mean, you just, you make all these statements all the time, and it's just easy to poke holes. But you have to admit, there's more British television than ever before. Here's what did it for me. The line in the sand was when Larry King left his show on CNN. And Pierce Morgan replaced him. And I said, are you kidding me?

You can't find an American to do this show. You have to go across the ocean. to find this dope turned out to be. So that was it. That's why I said, that's it. I'm done. Watch American.

So there is, you're going to want to subtitle it, for sure. I mean, there's no doubt that it's much easier with subtitles. All right, Mr. Benny Hill, Mr. Monty Python.

I don't do bird shows. What's funny. What's funny. The Wire. I don't do fantasy. Stranger Things. What? The Wire's a great show, yes. The Wire's a great show, yes. The Wire's a great show. But several of the main actors, I mean, the most Baltimore actor, McNulty is British. Yeah. Right. And Stringer Bell is British. One of the biggest, you know, criminals in the show. So, I mean, I have a little leeway. Well, you're talking about, you're talking about Idriselba. Is he, is he British? Yes. Yeah. I believe so. Yeah, I think so.

Yes. Not Australian, British. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I don't have the same issue with Aussies. And I know this is sort of piss off. We have a lot of British listeners that don't take it personally.

Yeah. We do very well in the UK. Yes. At one point, we were at one point on Apple, I think we were the number two sports podcast on Apple in London. Or at one point... No, actually it was Wales. In Wales, I think we were really popular.

Okay. So part of the UK... Well, let me apologize to those people. I don't mean to offend you. It's just sort of a cultural thing for me when it comes to television. Okay. That's all.

You know what? Let me just undersell it. You might like it. You might not. But, you know, if you've got, if Liz is going to sit down and watch it, I'd recommend you just, you know, give it a shot. Just be a little patient in the first episode and just tell me what you think when it's over if you do watch it. Well, that's all.

I mean, you just always... It's not homework, is it? It's not homework at all. I do think that it's really, you know what? I'm not going to say what I was going to say. I'm going to leave it at that. and then if you watch it and you decide, hey, I watched it, I want to talk about it for whatever reason. Because we've done this before where you've said, I want to talk about it, and then you've loved it,

and then we've done it where you've watched it and you've said, I hated it. It was dumb. But Mr. No British, No Fantasy shows, Stranger Things, Monty Python, Benny Hill. I think that this emotional British kind of show might be something you like. You know what? I guarantee you your wife will like it. That I guarantee. Good.

All right, let's talk some sports when we come back after these words from a few of our sponsors. Window Nation's got an incredible deal going on right now if you've been thinking about new windows. For every four windows purchased, you get four free with no money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. If you buy a house full of windows, you'll get a free entry. Door. Wind donation is to be trusted. They've got a great product. Their customer service is as good as it gets, 96% customer satisfaction rating and over 20,000 five-star reviews. Their windows come with a lifetime warranty and they're some of the best made windows you can buy when it comes to insulation, saving you big money on heating and air conditioning bills. Don't overpay for expensive windows

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86690 Nation, windonation.com. Mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free estimate, no pressure, no obligation. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. All right, caps tonight at home against the Blackhawks, and OV is three goals away from breaking it, two goals away from tying it. Let's just talk real quickly about the season.

that he's having. This guy's 39 years old, and right now, you know, his 39 goals, remember, he missed a big slug of games. Yes, yes, with a broken leg. Yeah, his, basically, the average goals per game would put him, you know, in one of the top three goal scoring seasons of his career. And it's just amazing what he's doing, 39 goals and 59 games and on a total heater right now, having scored six goals in the last nine games that they've played. He does have Tommy this year two hat tricks. He had a hat trick against Edmonton in late February, and he had a hat trick against Vegas back in November. So it is possible that you are going to witness history tonight. I'm just glad he didn't rush too much because you were really upset that he was scoring goals too quickly

and that you would not be prepared and ready for tonight or any of the home games coming up. It's still a little bit quick for me. I did not expect this kind of performance from heaven. Here's what no one, I don't think that anyone has really talked about. Okay, I think he's going to break the record before he ended his season now. Yeah.

Okay. He's going to come back and play another year. Yeah. Right? You know? I think so. I mean, at the level he's playing at, there's no reason

why he should retire in terms of performance. You know, there's nothing in his performance that would make you think, okay, old man, it's time to hang it up. There's nothing. I'll bet you this is a guy who is like Yager. Yager, I think, played over in Europe until maybe last year.

He's like, well, it is 50s. And he kept playing. I bet you Ovi's that kind of guy. When he's done in the NHL, he'll go play over in Europe or Russia, and he'll probably play another 10 years because he has such a love for the game that clearly comes through. So he'll be back next year And so that once he breaks the record Then every goal is a new record

And very unlikely We would think that anybody will come close To breaking that record Especially if he turns in another year next year Like he did this year It's absolutely made You know I talked to Joe Ben and Addi about this And I'm so glad that they made a deal

that, you know, Joe B. and Locker, who is back from surgery, back in the booth, I'm so glad for that as well. They'll be able to make the call on the game. And Joe B compared it to who we were just talking about before, Hank Aaron breaking the home run record. I think that's comparable. Wow.

That was, I was going to ask you, like, I'm sure we've talked about, this already this year. But, you know, where this kind of ranks on what sports fans thought were, you know, unbreakable in terms of records. This was supposed to be a record that stood forever, right? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think so. Look, we're kind of in shaky territory here because we don't We're not hockey experts, let alone a hockey history experts. But my impression was that, you know, Gretzky scored and played in an era where it was easier to score, okay, than it is now. And his numbers would probably never be matched in terms of career goals.

But Ovechkin hit the ice when he was, what, 18 years old or 19 years old in his debut? scoring two goals in his first game, and he's never stopped. It's incredible what kind of goals score. I was reading something about him yesterday that every time I've had, you know, whether it's Joe B or, you know, any of the Wyshinsky, any of the hockey people that we have on to talk hockey with, and almost all of them seem to be incredible guests all the time. But over the years I've asked, you know, when we've had conversations about Ovechkin,

You know, where is he on the all-time greatest player list? Because he's clearly, you know, the greatest, you know, among, with Gretzky, the greatest goal score of all time. And, you know, in many, on many lists, he's not considered even a top 10 all-time player. You know, he's more in that range of 10 to 20, typically. And even guys that, you know, call his games and have followed. followed his career, they'll even say, you know, he's right around sort of top, you know,

number 10, you know, give or take a spot one way or the other. You know, they always mention, you know, Gretzky apparently is without question the greatest player of all time. Bobby Orr, Mario Lemieux, Gordy Howe, and I'm forgetting some of the others that are on the list in front. Crosby. Crosby is considered to be a greater all-time. time player, all-around player, than Ovechkin. I wonder if breaking this record will change that. I think it will. I think it has to. I think I think in terms of what he's accomplishing at this time in his career, I think it'll give a new perspective to what he's done. And we haven't even talked about, You know what could really increase the perspective on this and change the whole view?

If the caps go on to a deep Stanley Cup run, the caps are the best team in hockey. They are, but what's interesting is that the odds makers don't have them as anywhere near the favorite. They're like four or five teams that have better odds to win the Stanley Cup than the caps, which I don't know anything about anything. and by the way, when it comes to hockey, the odds makers don't know anything about anything either. I'm just telling you that in terms of the best teams when we get to the postseason, the caps right now have like the fifth best or sixth best odds to win the cup. Now, they're much better than they were a month ago,

and they're third in the Eastern Conference behind Florida. Florida is the favorite to win the Eastern Conference. and then Toronto, Carolina, and I think Tampa and Washington are kind of all right there. But yeah, they are right now, they got a shot. They're battling with Winnipeg for the president's trophy. Yeah. So, I mean, that's a whole other, I mean, once you get past the record, then you're looking at a playoff.

What if OV has, like, a remarkable playoff performance as well? Yeah. then we are talking about a top five player, I think, at that point. I wanted to go back to what I started to say before I got sidetracked talking about where Ovechkin ranks on the all-time list of players. Because what I was reading yesterday was, you know, what you talked about, you know, the eras being much different and Gretzky playing in an era where it was easier to score. but that, you know, one of the reasons that Ovechkin has so many empty net goals is that he's become a much better defensive player, that when he first got into the league, he was not a defensive player at all. In fact, he was like allergic to defense, but he has become a much more complete player, and you're not on the ice in empty net situations unless you're a good defensive player. So that was one part of it.

And the other part of it is the empty net goals that he has, which lead the way of all-time, you know, empty-net scores, is that he's played on good teams. You're not going to get empty-net chances unless you're on a good team year-in-year-in-year-out where you've got leads at the end of games. And so I thought it was interesting. They've been good teams in large part. Because they have Alex O'etskid on them. Yeah, right. And in saying that, I guess when you have that kind, I mean, yes, I guess that's kind of obvious. If you've got a player that that's, that is that great, your team's going to be pretty good, typically.

But just the idea, though, that he's become a better all-around player from where he used to be. because apparently defense was optional for the first half of his career. Always lucky in the sense that by the time perspective came into his life where he, you know, he married with kids and the lifestyle he led before wasn't as important anymore. And it basically is maturity. Yeah. His maturity kicked in while he was still a very good player. You know, Mickey Mantle once said, and this had more to do with the way he treated people than playing,

but Mickey Mantle said, I learned how to say hello when it was time to say goodbye. You know, and the idea that I think Alex was fortunate in that by the time he learned what was important to him, he still had the talent to be a great hockey player. He's apparently too very well-liked. And hockey fans appear to appreciate him. The reaction to the goal the other night in Boston, the reaction to the goal against Carolina, if he ends up breaking this record on the road,

I mean, Joe B told me a while back that if it ends up being the season finale at Pittsburgh, He thinks it'll be received very well. That there's just... I would think so. Yeah. Yeah. That there's actually a real respect and a healthier respect between the penguins, the caps,

and then Crosby and Ovechkin than there's ever been. But he appears to be very well liked among players. You know, back to the idea of this record. I know we've probably done this before. What is the most unbreakable record? record in sports? What's the record that's never going to be broken? Because I think I used to think that it would be 56 games, and maybe that is it. But I, at one point, thought it would be 100 points, the Wilt 100-point game. It would not shock me sometime in the next 10 years if somebody scores more

than 100 in a game. Yeah. Look, a lot of the, this number is dictated by the, era and the circumstances around the era. Like Sy Young won 511 baseball games as a pitcher. No one's going to ever do that. Right. No one's going to come within 200 of that, you know, probably again. So that's never going to be broken. I mean, that's just an absolute at this point.

Was anybody going to hit more than 56 games? Well, I don't think that's a product of era. I think, you know, I think somebody could do it today. They could start today. It could happen. It's never going to happen that someone's going to win 511 baseball games. Cal Ripkin's record. I mean, no one plays 162 games in a season, let alone 2,632 in a career straight.

So I would think Cal Ripkin's record is another one that basically because of the times and the circumstances will never be broken. It's possible. okay, I don't think it's possible for anyone to break Sy Young's record. Think anybody will ever score 100 points in the game? I'm with you. I think it's certainly with a pre, considering he did it with a two-point shot, I think somebody certainly could do it with a three-point shot.

Yeah, I did, I remember talking about this fairly recently, the all-time interception mark, which is held by, I think, Kraus, right, all-time interceptions, is never going to be broken because quarterbacks just don't throw interceptions as much as they used to. He's got 81 career interceptions. And the only player currently on the list active players with interceptions, you've got to scroll so far down to find an active player. Harrison Smith plays in Minnesota. He's got 37 career interceptions. He's tied for 104th all time.

And he's got maybe a year or two left in the league. Paul Krause, 81 interceptions. No one will ever break that mark. Quarterbacks just don't throw interceptions like they used to. But to your point, you know, in football, the heiress stuff would be all about passing yardage, you know, and passing touchdowns. And then, you know, on the defensive side, interceptions.

which, all right. Well, enjoy tonight. I'm going to be watching. I think still, right now, based on goals per game, it's still scheduled, you know, if it continues to happen this way, still like late next week versus Carolina at home or even at Columbus on Saturday, April 12th. But nobody's going to be surprised if he gets one tonight and two on Sunday to break it. I'd like to see him do it at home, but it would

wherever he does it. I'm in for the next three home games, the last three home games of the year. Tonight, next Thursday, and the following Sunday. Next Thursday, it's a 7.30 game. You may want to leave. When you get home from tonight's game, you may want to pack up and get ready to leave for Thursday night's game tomorrow. You know, I can just go up late, like the Yahoo's for your meeting.

Hold on. Sunday, Columbus, April 13th, is a 6 o'clock game. Now, you don't have to leave super early for that one. No traffic on a Sunday. So if he hasn't broken the record, you can leave at like 3.34 and get down there at about 5.5.15 for that game. That's not going to work. That's not going to work. Some final four talk and a smell test pick or two when we come back.

All right, Tommy. Tell us about Shelley's. Look, everybody, you got the first weekend in April coming up. The weather's a little bit sketchy. Okay, it's supposed to be rain at different points of Saturday and Sunday. So you might be coming down to D.C. for some kind of event or, you know, some kind of family thing, or go to a museum or something like that, you know, walk around the mall. If you need a place to get out of bad weather, head for Shelly's back room.

always said it's an oasis in D.C., and that's just what it is. If you're looking for a place to get out of bad weather, you go to the place that has cozy couches, soft lighting, overstuffed chairs, and eight high-definition televisions. While you're there, you can choose off of their great menu of excellence when it comes to food, the top 25 cigars named by cigar officiantado and their top shelf liquor and beer selection as well. You can go to shelley's backroom.com at 1331 F Street, Northwest, and you can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. And I'll be at Shelly's tonight after the Caps game. If anybody wants to stop by and say hi. All right. Yeah, that's a good spot tonight, people. If you're

at the Caps game, go from the Caps game to Shelly's. Tommy, you'll probably write after the game, and then you'll be there after you've written, correct? Or will you write tomorrow? I don't know. It's such a complicated process. It certainly seems like... What should I do, boss? Well, I don't know. I mean, does the column need to be in tomorrow's paper? Is there a tomorrow's paper for the Times? No, we're Monday through Friday published. We have an online presence on the weekend. Okay. Right. So there's no urgency to write. So there's no urgency to write. No. Okay. So I, if it were me, games over, you'd talk to the people you need to talk to, and then it's straight to Shelly's for, you know, hopefully some of your fans will be there.

Tommy's great to hang out with. You just got to catch him early before he gets tired. All right. Let's get to these final four games. I've got thoughts on each of the two games. You can weigh in Tommy if you want to. and then I've got two smell test picks to finish up the show. So I always feel the Final Four is a bit anti-climactic because I think the first two weekends of the tournament are really a show with all of the games. But this is going to be a great Saturday night. I mean, you've got four number ones for the first time since 2008.

The first matchup, All-SCC, between Florida and Auburn. 14 teams started from that league. You've got two left, and I think the two best. Then you got Duke in Houston, and that's really the matchup I'm really interested in watching because I have a really strong feeling about Houston winning the whole thing. I'll get to that in a moment. The first game, Auburn and Florida only played once during the regular season. Florida actually went to Auburn when they were number one in the country in early

February. Auburn had a 14-game winning streak, and I don't think people knew at that point how good Florida was, and Florida blew him out. I mean, they were up by 21 at one point in the game. They won by nine. Walter Clayton Jr. went the entire 40 minutes. You know, it had like 19 points, nine assists, made four threes. He was just an outstanding player in the game. And Florida's really not looked back since. They had one blip. on the road against Georgia. But they've won handily, you know, in most of their games, the rest of the way in the SEC winning the SEC tournament crushing Tennessee in the final.

They had a tough matchup with Yukon in the second round. No doubt the defending champions didn't go down easy. Maryland was kind of easy for them in the second half. And then really Texas Tech imploded a bit at the end of that game. They missed free throws. Walter Clayton Jr. had 30 in that game was huge. I kind of would lean Florida in this game, but I don't have a strong feeling either way. I didn't love Auburn with the way they were playing coming into this thing,

but they have really played well in the tournament. And Janiy Broome is just a bona fide star and such a versatile star. You know, at his size to be able to stretch the floor, to be able to post up, to be able to put the ball on the floor. You know, an 18 and 11 guy during the regular season. You know, at 610, 611, 250, so smooth with that left-handed shot. And, I mean, the game against Michigan State was legendary. He gets injured.

He comes back in first offensive possession, knocks down a three as Michigan State was threatening to get back into the game. 25 and 14 in the elite eight on 10. of 13 shooting. This is a great matchup. I really don't have a strong feeling about this game, and I don't have a pick on this game as far as betting-wise. In this game, Florida is favored.

Auburn's the number one seed in the tournament. Auburn was the regular season, SEC champion. Florida's a two-and-a-half-point favorite. This is for me a sit-back and enjoy it. I think betting-wise, if you forced me to play it, I'd probably bet Auburn because I think there's a little bit more action on Florida. But at the same time, it's a guard, you know, game, especially this time of year. And they've got the best guard in the game in Walter Clayton Jr.

The second game is Duke in Houston. And I've mentioned it all week long. I really like Houston. I like them to win tomorrow night. And I like them to cut down the nets against either Florida or Auburn on Monday night. They're just right now, to me, the best team of the four. I liked Duke the most before the tournament started. I thought Duke was the best team, and I thought Florida and Houston were right there.

I now think Houston is the best team. I think Duke's really good. Don't get me wrong. And this should be a great basketball game. But there are two things for me. Number one is Houston's got revenge on their minds. They lost to Duke last year in the Sweet 16. and they lost because of an injury in that game to Jamal Shed, their best player.

They lost 54 to 51 with Shed. They win that game, and they become easily the biggest test for Yukon to repeat last year. I would have loved to have seen Houston and Yukon last year, but we didn't get a chance to see it. And so this is very much a revenge game for the leftover players and the staff. And then for me, in watching Houston throughout this tournament, I just see the Baylor team of 2021 in terms of just the overall attitude and the defensive athleticism and physicality. That Baylor team back in 2021, they played Gonzaga in the final. Remember, Gonzaga was undefeated.

They had Timmy, they had Kispert, they had Suggs, they had Nembard. and that Baylor team had Davian Mitchell and Jared Butler, and Baylor just looked like grown men compared to Gonzaga, who had really good college kids playing in the game. And that was probably the largest wager I had made all year long, playing Baylor getting points in that championship game. And I see a lot of that, you know, Baylor team in this Houston team. Now, Gensaga didn't have a Cooper flag on the floor, so there is that.

So Duke, you know, has the best player in this game. I'm not sure that night, in all honesty, that anybody was better than Davion Mitchell and anybody that had been better than Jared Butler in that game. Cooper flag's the best player in America. He's the player of the year as a freshman. So there is that aspect to it, but I just think Houston's defense, their roster is so experienced. I mean, how long, you know, has Roberts been there? I think it's five years. You know, Cryer's been in college for five or six years, two years in Houston.

Ozone, the transfer from Oklahoma, I think. They just, they've got, arsenal, they've just got guys that are Kelvin Sampson guys. And that means they are going to defend. They are going to relentlessly defend with traps and double teams on the post, on picking rolls out at the perimeter. They're going to turn you over and somebody's going to be hanging on the rim on the other end. This is a team that can really shoot it much more so than even the team last year. Houston's the number one defensive efficiency team per Ken Palm, Duke's the number one offensive team. That's a great part of the matchup. But Houston's, you know, pretty damn good offensively, too. And with They did to Tennessee, and I know Tennessee can't score, or they've had trouble scoring,

holding them to 15 points in the first half. Are you kidding me? You know, at one point I think the score was 29 to 8, and we're talking about super late in the first half, and it's 29 to 8. I think Houston could swarm and overwhelm Duke. Now, Duke can score. Tennessee couldn't score. But Duke's went over Alabama, was against a team that doesn't guard anybody. They are going to be for a rude, rude awakening based on that Alabama result. I also think Houston just, they're tested, man. They went through this rugged Big 12 Duke went through the ACC.

I mean, that's another similarity. I mean, this is going to sound incredibly condescending towards the ACC. But, you know, Gonzaga coming out of the West Coast Conference, by the time they got to the final, look, they had been tested, you know, the tournament and they had played a good non-conference schedule and Duke's certainly been tested in the tournament and Duke played a really tough non-conference schedule but the ACCC was terrible horrible this year and so Houston was tested Texas Tech BYU Arizona Iowa State they got tested in a big way against Purdue they got tested in the second round by Gonzaga Duke you know has had you know

they blew out Mount St. Mary's in the first round. They had a Baylor team that just wasn't anywhere near capable of matching up with them. Arizona, really good, big 12 team. They knocked off, and they were leading by a lot in that game before Arizona cut it down to a reasonable score at the end. Alabama just, you know, Duke handled them start to finish, and that was off Alabama, you know, going 25. of 51 from behind the ark and their win over BYU. Duke's really good defensively too. I should mention that. I just think this is grown-ups against really good, really good college kids. Not that Duke doesn't have experience with a guy like Proctor. They've got experience, but they got

a lot of young players, and they also have the best player on the floor. But I like Duke to bow out. They're favored by five and a half. I like Houston to get it done tomorrow night. This is a major anti-public play, as I will get to in my smell test. But I look for Houston to win, something like 65-58, 65-60, something like that. It'll be an entertaining game because both teams will get after it defensively, but wait until you see Houston defend. It's fun to watch the kind of relentless energy.

that all Kelvin Samson teams have. I'd love to see him win a national championship. I think he's been one of the best coaches in the game for a long time. Anyway, do you have a thought or two on either one of these two games? I mean, I don't have a real feel for it. I mean, I'm kind of, you know, on the Duke bandwagon, the Cooper flag bandwagon. So actually, in my bracket, I had Duke winning the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, you did.

I had Duke losing to Maryland in the championship game. Look, Duke was super impressive against Alabama. And while I'd be surprised if they won tomorrow night, it certainly wouldn't be a shocker. They're favored and they've got the best player on the floor. Hopefully a future Washington Wizard in Cooper Flagg. All right, let's get to my smell test to finish up the show. Kevin looks where the John Q Public is putting their cash and does the opposite.

It's time of the smell test. MyBooky is the sponsor of the smell test. Go to my bookie.orgie.orgie.orgie and use my promo code, Kevin D.C. You'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. Even if you've got another place where you're betting, take the free money at MyBooky and know this, that MyBooky's numbers and pricing are fair. So use it as a comparison shopping opportunity for the best number, for the best price. They've got everything you need for the final four.

right now Duke is a five and a half point favorite over Houston in the night cap. The total's at 137. In the first game, Florida's a two and a half point favorite with the total at 159 and a half. Plenty of prop bets. You want to bet on the most outstanding player from the men's final four. Cooper Flag is the favorite at plus 115. Walter Clayton Jr. next at plus 400. They've got the women's semifinal games tonight. South Carolina is a five and a half point favorite over Texas, and Yukon is a seven and a half point favorite over UCLA. Betting hoops, betting March hoops, it doesn't get any better than MyBooky. Go to my bookie.orgie.orgie.org and use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. I won three games last weekend, went three and O after a bad stretch there, but I won two on Friday

night in the Sweet 16 and then won the one elite eight game that I had. I had Duke laying the seven and a half against Bama, 12, 9, and 1 overall for the NCAA tournament. So let's see if we can hang in there tomorrow night and get ourselves into a position where we win more than we lose. That's always nice, which has happened most of the years that I've done this. So, and I'm not backing off. I'm not going to, you know, not give you much or just give you. you one more play so that I end up with a winning record. I'm going to give you the games that fit the overall profile of my philosophy, contrarian, you know, betting against the public, but also betting with the sharp money on games in which the public is on one side. So I love

when the sharps are opposite heavy public action. And you have that in the nightcap. Duke is the biggest public play of the two games. I'll take Houston. and plus the five and a half. I love them anyway, but I'm also getting the side in which the most bet public team is on the other side. Also, let me just mention lots of liability if Duke wins this tournament for a lot of sports books, because they have taken a lot of Duke to win the whole thing action going back to long before the tournament began. From what I understand, Duke winning the tournament is the biggest liability for almost every sports book out there. So they would love to see Houston beat Duke tomorrow night.

They would love to see, I'm sure, at this point, a Houston, Florida final. I don't know, there's probably a lot of liability on both Florida and Auburn. But Duke is always a popular bet for public beters, and they've got a ton of risk if Duke wins the whole thing. So I like Houston plus five and a half and then the total in this game is 137. Public's going over the total. I'll take under 137 and that is the second play. I really wanted to give out last weekend and I didn't because there just wasn't enough of a public difference in action, but I really liked both of the unders last weekend in the final two Elite 8 games, the Michigan State Auburn game and the Houston, Tennessee game, both of those

games went under. This has been a very chalky tournament, lots of favorites, but really lots of favorites winning outright. So that's one of the reasons that books haven't been smothered in this tournament is because you get a lot of underdog betting in the NCAA tournament. You get a lot of underdog money line betting. The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games, last weekend. 8-0 Sweet 16 games, the favorites winning outright, not against the spread, but straight up, and then 4-0 the favorites winning in the Elite 8 round. They would love to see Houston beat Duke. Houston plus 5 and a half and the under in that game, under 137. All right, Tommy, that's it. We will talk on Tuesday. Enjoy the game tonight.

Okay, boss. All right, I'll be back on Monday. Have a good weekend.