The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rendon: Did Lerners Blow It?

Episode Date: December 12, 2019

Kevin and Thom open with the news of Anthony Rendon to the Angels. Do the Lerners deserve blame? Should they have moved off the "deferred" contractual path? A discussion about Josh Norman and Dwayne Haskins followed. The show finished with the news about the charges brought against Clinton Portis and nine others for fraud. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The SportsFix today on a Thursday. Tommy's here. Aaron's here and I am here. And we had news last night and the news was Anthony Rendon is gone. You predicted it. You were the first to say, think that Strasbourg will be back and probably not on Anthony Rendon. So why isn't Anthony Rendon? So why isn't Anthony Rendon? Rendon back, Tommy? Well, according to the reports that came out of the winter meetings in San Diego, that whatever offers that were made by the nationals, including the typical learners deferred money offers, and supposedly Rendon didn't want any part of that. The offer that he agreed to with the Angels has no deferred money. It's the full amount whatsoever. Now, the deferred money was fine for Scherzer.

He was okay with it. Strasbourg was okay with it. And then they tried to pitch this angle that Strasbourg's deferred money would give them a chance to sign Anthony Rendon. I knew that was just a Boris fairy tale, you know, about, you know, that Strasbourg being the great teammate was going to get Anthony Rendon to sign there. But he's gone. And really, what the nationals did is they chose a 30. year old pitcher with Tommy John

surgery history over a 29-year-old probably the second-best third basement in baseball about to enter his prime. That's what they did. Yeah, Barry's Ruluga mentioned to me this morning. You know, he had the report in September of what the Nats had

offered when I don't. 215 million. Between 210, 215 for seven years, with the deferred money not matching the level of deferred money. money for Harper. More like the deferred money for Scherzer and what we presume to be the deferred money for Strasbourg. But he said that he always felt like Anthony Rendon had one foot out the door while Strasbourg always had one foot in the door. And I don't know that anybody in Barry wasn't necessarily able to explain specifically why other than maybe the contract structure,

which, you know, according to Zuckerman, was a problem for Rendon. But I, I, I, I, I, I, I, do wonder why, you know, Anthony Rendon may have been, you know, sort of predisposed in his own mind to leaving Washington. You had mentioned to me, and I referred to this yesterday, I think on the radio show, maybe it was on the podcast. You said to me, I don't know, it was a year ago. It was before the baseball season. You said Anthony Rendon's a person that doesn't like change. He doesn't like to be the center of attention. And by the way, signing with the Angels with another major superstar on the team. and as Aaron pointed out, the second most important baseball team, even in the city, that he is going to be very much sort of in the background, even though he gets the big money. He's not going to, the expectations and the spotlight aren't going to be super bright and super high. But you said to me he's a guy that doesn't love change and that he's sort of a creature of comfort and that that may work in the Nats favor,

that he won't want to leave this situation that he's become very. comfortable in. But ultimately, why did he leave? Before we get to the structure of the contract, because maybe if they had offered him an Aeronado-style deal money-wise with not, you know, significant or with no deferred money, maybe he would have stayed. But do you think it was more than just the money or the contract structure? You know, I mean, it's just so speculative at this point. His best friend on the team that since he's been here was Daniel Murphy. And he saw Murphy go from New York to Washington to Colorado. So he's seen his best friend move around.

He realized that that's the way, that's the business of baseball. It's not the end of the world when you move from one team to another. I'm sure he probably took some advice from Daniel Murphy in that sense. But, you know, Rendon is such a strange cat. The nationals did all they could to try to. to connect him to the community by making him the designated player to be on the board of directors for the youth academy and figured that, you know, maybe, you know, like making him part of that community effort would give him more ties. But he just, he just, he's always been a distant kind of

player. I mean, you know, he's come out and said he doesn't want to play more than five or six years, even though he just signed a seven-year deal. So he's a different kind of cat who, you know, when you talk to him, he's great to talk to, but he doesn't like to talk to you. Yeah. You know, in that sense. Now, here's the other thing. Is this a deciding factor? No, I'm sure absolutely not.

But if I were the angels and I were selling Anthony Rendon, Anthony Rendon, Anthony Rendon is a devout Christian. He did an interview with a minister earlier this year that said he wants to be known as more of a Christian than a ball player. So it's very important to him. This was his connection with Murphy, both devout Christians. Well, he's going to one of the Christian capitals of the world, Orange County. And it is. I mean, this is where the megachurches were built. That's where the crystal, the Robert Schuhr, our power came from.

also a very conservative county. Yes, but it's very, I mean, this is, this is where the mega churches were born in Orange County. And I'm sure, you know, it didn't hurt if you're the angels to sell him on that. But ultimately, it was probably the money. I mean, it was probably the money. But, but. I mean, are you surprised that it was the angels and not the Rangers, like somewhere

closer to home? Yeah, I am. Because I thought, I thought the Rangers had a, I mean, it turns out that, you know, Ardy Moreno, uh, went to the, uh, You know, at the end, at the winter meetings, the owner of the Angels, really wanting Anthony Rendon, really wanting to make the move for him. I didn't expect that. I'd say if it wasn't for him, the Rangers probably would have been the frontrunner.

Now, I might want to point out that the Nationals had 2,99 days to sign Anthony Rendon without anybody else competing with that. Right. So do you give, how much heat do you give, do you give? the learners for not getting this done. A lot. I mean, you know, the minute Bryce Harper signed with Philadelphia, the next day, they should have signed Anthony Rendon. They weren't aggressive enough.

No. When there was no angels to talk to, no Rangers to talk to him, they just, they just, you know, treated it like a typical learner's negotiation. And people would say, well, you know, I mean, look, even Rizzo had some questions about investing a lot of money in Rendon. I know in spring training, I had heard that Rendon wanted Jose Altuve money and

the Nationals and the front office balked at that. But I mean, once Harper left, there was more to signing Rendon than just whether or not he was worth the money. You knew he wasn't going to be a bust. He had played long

enough and had performed well enough, particularly in the year before, where you knew your money wouldn't be wasted. I mean, you might be paying more than you think you should for, at the time, maybe 25 home runs and 100 RBIs and maybe a $290 average. But he wasn't going to be a bust, okay? The nationals overpaid a ridiculous amount of money to bring Jason Worth to Washington

for reasons other than baseball. I mean, that the whole point of the worth signing was a signal to the rest of the industry. that we're serious about winning. So they've done it before. They've overspent money before on a player for reasons other than baseball. They needed to do that again with Rendon. Now, you know, the Nationals, two of their three number one picks from 2009, 2011, have walked away. Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon.

I think the learners, you know, made a mistake. Their payroll is high. They spend money, but, you know, they had an opportunity to bring back the team that was arguably the best team in baseball from the end of May on last year. Well, it was. Yeah. And then, and like I pointed out, a chance to build something here that would make the Washington Nationals the premier franchise in all baseball. Not the Yankees, not the Dodgers, not the Red Sox. I mean, you know, what's better than one world series?

Two world series. Why not three world series? You know, why not? Why not think bigger? Why not think about, we've got an opportunity to hear. We have right now a great baseball team that's together and we have a chance to bring them back next year. And without a 19 and 31 start maybe this time. So I just think that, again, it's a lack of vision.

It's always a lack of vision. when it comes to these people. It's a bottom line mentality and a lack of being, and a lack of boldness and vision. You know, as you were talking, I was thinking that A, I agree with you, that, you know, that they should have been more bold,

they should have had more vision, and they could have gotten a deal that was probably favorable for them that would look great today. Yes. You know, in similar fashion, I'm not making a, an apples to apples comparison

with Kurt Cousins. All right, I'm not doing that. Rendon's a superstar. And it is a champion, I understand that, but it's the same lack of vision the Redskins had with cousins. They could have gotten him on the cheap, essentially, you know, and it would have looked really good down the road. But as you were

talking about the learners, you know, it occurred to me that these are people who, first of all, are very financially disciplined, and they've got a philosophy financially, and when it comes to operating this team. They've had a philosophy financially. And the worst time to tell someone like that to think differently is right after they've won it all. Yes, it is. So they're

not going to all of a sudden change the way they do business after winning the whole world series. In fact, there's probably something in them that says, we'll show them again. No Harper last year, no Rendon this year. This is the way we do business. And we'll figured out we'll win it again next year. You watch us. I'm sure there probably is. But do you agree with me? Yes. That that is, that's the moment where you need to

step on the gas even more. Definitely. When you're leading the race. But people who are conservative, you know, financially and very disciplined, it's hard to shake them from their spot, especially when they're having success. And they've had success, you know, in business.

They've had success in baseball. and now they're a champion in baseball. So you're not going to get them off their game. The only thing that I would say is, first of all, they should have had the vision and should have seen it earlier and done something about it. But when you have that kind of financial philosophy and discipline, you know, you can, coming off a unique circumstance,

a unique win, which is the World Series, which with it brings increased revenue, unexpected increased revenue, unexpected increased valuation and your franchise value, that maybe then you can just come off your mark a little bit and say, you know what, let's go for it again. And this guy's crucial to it.

And so maybe we do veer off the path here that we've always stuck to because we just did something that was utterly unique, totally unique for us, which is win the whole thing in baseball, and we can justify it because look at what we're projecting in revenue, because of increased attendance,

and increased television stuff. And I know there's a whole mass and mess still going on. But they're going to get their money at some point. So in the value of the franchise, even though we never intend to sell it, it's going to be in the family for decades and generations to come. The value of the franchise is going to go up. Maybe we change for this specific person,

because you know what? We do know who this person is. He's our own. He's a great player. He's a star player. He's a clutch player. He's a low-maintenance player. He's a great teammate.

He's a beloved player that just went through a month, along with Strasbourg, that as we talked about the other day, matches maybe only Riggins in January of 83 in terms of postseason all-time performances. And maybe, you know, this is the one we veer off our normal track for. But I don't think that clearly there's also in there a little bit of a defiance, you know, like, We proved it to you that we could do it by not, you know, by structuring the deals that we want them structured. And if the players don't like it, we'll win without them. We won without Harper. We can win without Rendon. I do, I would like to understand more about the structure of these deals because it was made,

I was told yesterday, maybe, or maybe this morning, that there is interest payments involved in this deferred money. I'd love to know what that interest rate is because you can do the math on this, and I'm not suggesting that Boris and Rendon don't do the math on this. Clearly the deferred contract structure is not as appealing as a structure that doesn't have deferred money.

That's obvious to anybody. Basically, you're not getting the value of that money today and the value of that money working for you for the next many years. It's working for them because they're holding onto it and they're not paying you for another 10, 15 years or whatever it is. And in Harper's case, you know, it was reported that the last payment of the deferred money was in 2052.

Yeah. Which I can understand that that would be a bit of an off-putting way to present a deal if some, if you want to feel truly wanted. Right. That's not the kind of deal that's going to convince somebody that they should stay. Right. Now, the Strasbourg, you know, he didn't have a problem with it. But remember, he didn't have a problem in 2017 or 2016 signing a deal that was much under market value according to most. He wants to be here.

Yes. You know, so they were going to have to come up with something different. We're going to find out, by the way, I would think at some point, and Barry didn't have that information. If they ever came back and up their offer from the September offer of $215 million over seven years, I would assume that after what he did in October, that that offer went up if they had a new offer, that it went up at some level. I wouldn't. I wouldn't.

I wouldn't. No. Okay. Well, because if you just said they came up at a new level. back and they offered $225 for seven, you're talking about in real dollars before you get to the deferred, if it was a true seven year, 225, the difference of $3 million a year between that and the Angels offer. I know.

And that's where you get, you're like, really? Yeah. But again, it's not, you know, that's not the way to compare it because the Nats offer would have had significant deferred money. Right. He's going to be missed, you know, I think Hart, I know that people think they won the World Series because Harper wasn't here. I don't really understand that mindset. Maybe it's true. Maybe the clubhouse was different. Maybe it lent itself to a more, you know, winning environment without Harper

there. I don't get that. I think Harper was a great player. And by the way, it turned out to have a pretty damn good year in his first year in Philadelphia. But they had Robles in Soto there. You know, they had sort of an answer. They don't really have an answer here unless, of course, they're going to do what everybody thinks they're going to do, and that is go out and pay a 34-year-old, 100 million over four years in Donaldson. And you don't know how he's going to fit into your clubhouse. He's apparently a different character.

Yeah. Yeah. So you don't know how he's going to fit in to a remarkable, I mean, the best chemistry that Nationals team has ever had at this point. Right. That's why Howie Kendrick, one of the reasons Hallie Kendrick wanted to come back. Right. Because he recognized that this was something unique

and something special. that you can't necessarily replicate any place else. Again, you know, the time to sign Rendon was before he went to free agency. At any point, they could have done that. They knew what kind of player he was. You know, he capitalized on an MVP caliber season. But even before that, he was a terrific player. And, again, they knew their money wouldn't be wasted.

They might overspend. They might have paid him more than they thought he was worth, but their money would not have been wasted at that point. So, you know, now we move on and we're not moving on yet because. Well, because we got to see how the nationals respond to this. We just have to, like, we got to remember what this dude did over the month of October. I know. He had 33 hits.

He had 328. He had 3.28. He had three home runs and 15 RBIs. He had a home run in the 8th that cut it to 3 to 2 before Soto's home running game 5 against the Dodgers. He had the home run against Granky that basically led A.J. Hinch to believing that Granky was just about done, which may have been the key to them winning that game. God, did he deliver? You could argue they don't win the World Series without Rendez.

He delivered in such a way that, I don't know, it's appealing to me in the same way Kauai Leonard's appealing to me. It's like there's no look at me. There's no self-absorption. There's no, you know, craziness on social media. You knew what you had in him. You had a first-class clutch performing player who, right, is entering his prime at this point? Yes. He's 29 years old. He's entering his prime.

And there's a certain level of arrogance to think that you can just go out and replicate this by getting another player. Yeah, but try to tell them they're being arrogant right after they won the World Series. I know. I know. And they can point to all of these massive real estate properties and developments and communities that they own, which is why their real estate business, they are the richest owners according to reports in all of baseball. Yeah. And for people who's... How many billion are they worth?

What level of billions? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know either. It's billions. I know. It's probably five at least.

I'm going to look that up. I remember reading this recently. You know, maybe Rendon also just likes a more laid-back lifestyle. Like I was thinking about the whole, you know, you mentioned, you know, Southern California and the Christian thing in Orange County. But, man, when you live in Southern California in Orange County, you're playing in Anaheim and you can go, you know, and hang out at Newport Beach or Laguna Beach and some of those places that are like 20 minutes away, 30 minutes away. What's wrong? What's wrong with Dewey Beach? Nothing's wrong with Dewey Beach.

Nothing's wrong with Bethany Beach at all. maybe the lifestyle something that fits his certainly what we see outwardly, this personality of total laid back calm, you know, easy going. You know, what's interesting.

Maybe he didn't like the rat race and the real difficult media market that is Washington, D.C. That's sarcasm. He's not crazy about that. But what's interesting is last spring, when he met with reporters, Rendon

basically went out of his way to say Boris works for me. Okay? Remember that? Yes. Yeah. And again, I think that the not no deferred money was strictly a Rendon thing because Boris is used to working with the learners. He's done it already.

He's done it already. I mean, did Harper basically tell Boris? The thing about the Harper deal. The Harper deferred money would, yeah. But again, the Hartford deferred money was not as, was not the figure that everybody reported. That's what you've said.

Well, it's true. Okay. I mean, it wasn't $180 million. But it was much different than the Strasberg, Scher, and Rendon deferred money. Yes, it was longer. It was so much deferred money and so out in the future that it was almost an offer that he couldn't accept. Well, all I know is the present, according to the Players Union formula, the present day value of that deal was $267 million. Right, which is about.

63 million short of the Phillies offer. Right. But also about 80 million. $80 million more than what Boris's media minions reported. When they reported, it was $180 million present-day value. We're parsing millions of dollars there. Well, no, that's $80 million. So there was a big difference.

$267 and 330. No, I'm saying $267 and $180. Oh, I was comparing it to the Phillies. And I'm comparing it to what was initially reported by Boris and his media army. Yeah, it was I found that I found that this morning. It was,

who was it that reported the 180? It was Virducci. Yeah. That it was basically came out to 184 million. And that's not true. It was 267 million. Yeah. Okay.

Goodbye Anthony. Still not a move. Still not a move to convince a guy to stay. No. No matter what you say. And again, you know, I mean, there's a level of arrogance at play here.

instead of having the vision to say, you know, it's like being in the strip club and you finally get in the VIP room. Oh, God, don't do that. It's expensive. And now you've got to figure out how to stay in the VIP room. No, no, no, no, no. The VIP room's a trap. You got to figure out how to stay there. You've been trying to get in.

You finally got the VIP room. Now what are you going to do to stay? Stay away from the VIP, aka the champagne lounge. Stay away from it. It's a trap. All right. When we come back,

like I'm breaking the radio, after this read, we're going to talk a little Bill Callahan and what he said yesterday about Dwayne Haskins and Josh Norman. But first, a quick word about mybooky.orgie. It's an exciting time for sports. You've got Thursday night football. Aaron and I gave you out two free winners yesterday, didn't we? Aaron, Illinois, Rutgers.

We did give those out on the podcast, right? Yeah, we definitely mentioned them. They were odd-looking point spreads like the Maryland Penn State line was the night before. Rutgers won outright beating Wisconsin last night as a favorite, and Illinois won outright beating Michigan as a one-and-a-half-point favorite. I don't have anything for you tonight. I've already looked at the college basketball board. There really aren't any games. Iowa State plays Iowa.

And I don't like the, I'll tell you right now on the smell test, no pick tonight, although that line for the Jet Raven game keeps going up. It's 16 and a half now. Jackson's going to play. You know what it almost is. It's almost the line that the Baltimore Colts had over the New York Jets in the Super Bowl. 17, right? I think it was 17.

I think it was 17 points. Maybe 19. No, it wasn't neither 19. It might have been 18. It was 17 and then the Chiefs, I think, were 13 and a half or 14. The Vikings were the next year over the Chiefs. And then the Chiefs also won. So that's a Baltimore line that's close to the Super Bowl line.

There you go. So it is an exciting time of the year, the holiday time, all the football, all sports going on. Great time. If you're looking to get into wagering, be careful, tread lightly. But if you don't have a place to play, check out mybooky.orgie.org. If you join right now, my bookie will match your deposit halfway, all the way up to $1,000. That means if you deposit $2,000, you get an extra $1,000 in free money to play with. You have to use my promo code to qualify for that.

My promo code is Kevin D.C., K-E-V-I-N-D-C, promo code Kevin D.C at my bookie. Kevin, you know, I was just talking about, you know, the VIP room at a strip club. Which I'm unfamiliar with. I've heard about it. I've told you stories about it because I've told me stories about it. Because I've heard stories about it. You know, and at the time I was talking about it, I get a call on my cell phone from Russia. Now, I've heard that there's a lot of Eastern European women in these clubs.

I wouldn't know about that. I don't know that either. I wouldn't know about that. I'm kind of surprised about that. But it's a unique coincidence that I get a call from Russia. Yeah. When I'm discussing that. Have you been to Russia?

No, I've never been to Russia. I thought you've told me before you've been. Have you been to Russia? I haven't. I'd actually like to go. I've heard it's fantastic. I have no desire to go. Why?

Well, because I don't care. You don't care. But you care about traveling. You like to travel. Yeah, but I mean, I don't, why would I want to go to Russia? Because I've heard it's spectacular and beautiful in the whole thing. I haven't been to any of the eastern block. I've been to Berlin, but I have not been to any of eastern block.

Actually, I'd like to go to Prague because I hear Prague is supposed to be the hot city. Prague's great, too. Yeah. So that's pretty much it. Other than that, I have no particular interest. Is there a place that you'd like to go other than Prague? What's on your travel list? Well, I want to go to Ireland.

I've never been to Ireland. I haven't either. I want to go to Ireland. I'd like to go to Alaska. I've never been to Alaska. Not another country, I realize. Yeah, thanks lefty, Drusel. I just might want to point that out, not another country.

But you can see Russia from Alaska, Tommy. Yes, yes, you can. Yeah, yes, you can. Other than that, you know, I'm curious about Africa because I really do think that over the next 20 to 30 years, that there's going to be tremendous opportunities in Africa, I mean, in terms of growth and change. But as far as traveling, I've been to Australia, I've been to Italy, I'd like to go back to Cuba. I've been to South. I mean, my job took me to a lot of places. Yeah.

You know, I was very lucky. Ireland is now on the top of my list. There you go. That's at the top of my list, too. I'm going to do with my three sons at some point in the very near future. We're going to do, you know, sort of an Ireland and maybe a Scotland combined golf trip. You know, where we... That sounds great.

I think that's what we're going to do. And I haven't been to Ireland either. So when are you going to do it? And I'd also like to go to Newport Beach, which is not out of this country. But after talking about Orange County and thinking about Newport Beach and how beautiful it is. It'd be great to get out there for a few days when it gets cold here. So when are you going to do this trip? You know, you got

you got to stop talking about it. You're right about that. And we've talked about it and talked about it as a family. And we're going to do it. Maybe this coming summer, if not the following summer for sure. The problem, it's always a problem, is now my oldest, you know, he's not in school. He's out working. He's got

a job. It's tough for him to take a week and a half off. But he'll figure out of a way. It's tough for me to take a week and a half up, but not in this summer. We can do that. All right. So, yesterday, Bill Callahan. My guy, Bill. My man. Bill Callahan had, oh, my God, Tommy, this press conference yesterday. It was 14 minutes long.

I've told people this before, and somebody asked me, well, how do you know? Well, because all of these press conferences are available to all of you. Some of you have said, how do you listen? You're not out there, right? No, they're all online. Go to Redskins.com. Go to eagles.com. they put all of their press conferences up there for you to watch.

And if you go through a bunch of NFL sites and look at the Wednesday press conferences from the coaches, you'll see most of them average six, seven minutes, eight minutes tops. He's got him at 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 minutes. Being a member of the media, you should welcome that. Well, he gives you more content. That's true. There you go. He's just trying to explain things.

He does take some time explaining things. So there were two things yesterday that he talked about that were interesting to me. Number one was his comments about Dwayne Haskins, which we'll get to in a moment. And then number two, and you missed the conversation yesterday that I had with Aaron and everybody that listened to the podcast yesterday about Josh Norman and how, you know, he continues to be active, even though on Sunday he did. He didn't, at second straight week, he wasn't out there for one snap, special teams or defense, and was only one of two players who wasn't on the field for a snap in the game.

I'll start there and I'll come back to Haskins in a moment because the Haskins conversation may require, many of you demanded an apology for me on Monday. I may actually demand an apology from you on what Callahan said about Haskins. You know, some of you may have to cover your ears for this one. You may have to. So Josh Norman, Tommy, has not played a snap the last two games. On Sunday, he was one of only two players that didn't play a snap. The other one was Case Keenham, although many of the people out there think that

Case Keenham should have been in the game. He has in his contract a $500,000 annual bonus, which gets divvied up into 16 weeks, $31,250 a week for being on the active 46-man roster. Last week against Carolina, this guy Chris Odom, remember him number 50, played really well after being signed off the scrap heap earlier in the week. Yes. And he was down, fully healthy.

He was a healthy scratch. And yet, Josh Norman was up for the game. And, you know, Galdi was actually talking about it yesterday morning as I was on my way in, and I thought, wow. And it had me thinking about a lot of things, which I'll get to with you in a moment. I don't want to be repetitive from yesterday's show, but I do want to have that conversation briefly with Tommy. But it is insane if you have no intention of playing Josh Norman to have him up and active.

When you've got a guy in Chris Sodom that played really well that you may want to see more of. I mean, all of these young players should be getting these minutes. You've already decided that Josh Norman's not going to play for you. You had injured players on Saturday at the corner position. Moreau went out, came back in, Dunbar was hurt, and he still did not go into the game. Didn't play one snap in the game. I think if they had lost another corner, Case Keenham may have gone into the game to play corner before Josh Norman. And so yesterday, once again, Callahan was asked about Norman being inactive in the game.

And these were among his shorter answers. on why Josh Norman remains active. Quote, he's in some different packages and he's still up and in a role where we could potentially play. So that's his role as it stands right now. Shortest answer of the entire press conference by Miles. Then he's asked a little bit later on, I think it was by Ben Standing as a follow-up on Josh Norman. Basically, but, you know, he wasn't, you know, you had injured players and he still didn't play a snap. And then Ben followed up again and said, what does he need to do to get back onto the field?

And Callahan said, quote, just continue to work and be himself, improve on all aspects of his game. As we are, we are looking for a few more players. Danny Johnson's come up. They just brought him up. He came up out of the pup, and we put him up this week. So Danny will be up, and we're looking at him, and Colvin's getting a little bit more of a look. So we're looking at all these DBs because of where we're at late in the. year and we're just trying to get a little bit more evaluation of the younger players.

Close quote. Really didn't answer the question because he doesn't have an answer for the question. Because in my particular opinion, it's not his decision. It's not his call. Even though, remember, he demanded roster control. Somebody is putting Josh Norman and demanding that Josh Norman be active, I think, in this, I could be completely off, but it makes sense to me that. somebody's got them up there because they want him to continue to collect these bonuses.

And my question is, why? Why would they cave and kowtow and genuflect to Josh Norman while simultaneously trying to bleed figuratively, Trent Williams to death? Exactly. If the idea is to show to players that you're not going to hurt them, that you're going to, you're going to hurt them, that you're going to support them, that ship has sailed with Trent Williams. It's so ridiculous.

I don't, and so when, you know, I just gave you the quotes from the answers yesterday. Callahan, I guarantee you, if he's active again on Sunday, maybe the pressure and the questioning of this is going to make the Redskins reconsider on Sunday. But if he's up again and doesn't play a snap and you've got younger players healthy that are down,

Well, then, I mean, we've already seen it two weeks in a row. So you have to question already why they've done that. And maybe he'll be down this week. Maybe they'll feel the pressure of some of these questions and say, oh, it becomes too obvious that we're trying to get Josh some of this extra money. It's just, it's stupid. It's so them. It's so, and I said yesterday, and I'll shorten it because many of you have already heard it and you listened to it yesterday and you agreed with me, most of you. It just made me think about what they are. are as an organization about how, you know, they tend to focus on things that don't help winning, you know, and I went through all of their community involvement, all of their charitable, you know, causes. You know, we know because we worked for the station that was owned by Dan Snyder, how important a lot of these charity events and how important how often we got asked to go to an event with Ryan Kerrigan or with somebody else. Right. And this is what they really, you know,

lived for these things, the community things, and there's nothing wrong with that. And I made that very clear yesterday. It's all to be applauded and admired. But it's always been the most important thing for the owner. You know, Ryan Carrigan should have been traded. But Ryan Carrigan is a true redskin. Yeah. You know, in Dan's eyes, this is a guy that's been a true redskin, even though his record as a redskin, you know, is 5686 and 1. That's the team's record since Ryan Carragon's been here. with zero playoff wins. But that's important to them, and they're already beginning to make plans

for his Ring of Fame induction. And I mentioned yesterday, let's hope they don't do a London Flector, you know, with Carrigan, and they spell his name correctly. But it's always been so important to them, and many of people said, did you take it too far there?

I think maybe part of my perspective comes from knowing and dealing with them. These are the things that matter. It's what Doc always says. You know, it basically comes from Doc's theory about the Redskins that nobody does Monday through Saturday better than the Redskins. It's game days that have always been the challenge. And part of it is that the owner, he doesn't know anything about football. He doesn't know how to win in this sport.

So these other things that, you know, he believes fans are relating to like holding up Chris Samuels and all of these former players and Ryan Kerrigan's going to be the next one. And, you know, taking care of Josh Norman, you know, and, you know, doing right by Josh Norman is somehow like meaningful. It's not meaningful to us. This is coming from the owner then, you think. I don't know. Not coming from Bruce. Could be coming from Bruce.

That doesn't sound like Bruce, though. Could be coming from Bruce. Bruce is a bottom line guy when it comes to money. Except that Josh was his guy. Yeah. You know, that was one of those. Josh in Deshawn Jackson and then the Alex Smith trade. Right.

You know, were the big three, you know, different moves for him. and then landed Collins this year, and maybe he got pressured into that one. But remember, Bruce Allen has made a career here in Washington of underspending for subpar players, getting great contract value on very average to less than average players. That's going to be what I remember. I'm going to remember Bruce Allen for a lot of things, winning off the field, you know, damn good culture, all of that stuff. But good God, you know, this guy would fit in perfectly with the learners. What do you mean?

Yes, he would. What do you mean remember Bruce Allen? You speak of him in the past tense. I might want to point out it's Thursday, December 12th in the week that Bruce Allen was going to be jettisoned and he's still there. In fact, I think I read somewhere he went with Dan to the owner's needs. Yeah, apparently he's there. So this doesn't sound like a guy. No, God, you're hoping for it so much.

There's nothing right now, Tommy's number one priority in terms of local. sports is for Bruce Allen to remain in the same position, if not given more power. Like, wouldn't you love a press release that says Bruce Allen, he just, he's the team president. He's also been given now additional responsibilities in the football operation. He's the new head coach. Oh, my God, that would be a dream come true for you. He's the new head coach. I don't think he's coming back.

Well, here he is. He's still here. And I said on the podcast and on the radio show last week, I said keep an eye on this week. right now the week of the league meetings for some news and Lock and Forra and I think a couple of others reported the same thing. We're not done with the week yet. No, we're not. We're not.

But, you know, maybe coming close to beating the Packers. And I warned everybody if you get a close loss or God forbid a win over the Packers, it could change everything that they're thinking about. Absolutely. Look, I still think winning out against three division opponents, they got three games left, right? All against the big. Yeah.

Eagles, Giants, Cowboys. If it went out against three division opponents, that totally changes the conversation. Oh, my God. And they could. Can you? They could. They can beat the Eagles.

They can beat the Giants. Imagine. Imagine. Bruce Allen back. Bill Callahan back. You know, and somehow they're trying to sell that to you for 2020. I mean, I, people are locked in.

to season tickets, you would have... Season tickets are... You would have nobody there next year. Nobody there. I know. You know, they outrated the Buffalo Baltimore. Yeah, I know. I know. But still...

But I think there's more about the Packers. Yeah. Yeah. And the opponent. But still, I mean, I mean, that we're having this discussion now every week, that whose ratings are higher is something you never thought would have happened. So how about the conversation that started yesterday with the Scott Allen's, story in the post about, you know, how some diehard, lifelong Redskin fans are now rooting for

the Ravens. I'm going to get to the Haskins thing in a moment. Remind me not to forget what Callahan said about Haskins. But how about that whole thing yesterday? Did you write a column on it or were you on radio talking about it? No, I was on radio talking about with Chad yesterday. I do think that there have been a handful of diehard Redskins fans who have changed allegiance. I think what you've seen more is a generation of sports fans here that have grown up. The younger fans. I know, but that's not what we're talking. That's not what Scott Allen was writing.

I know that. And I'm saying I, he was writing about somebody like me who decided because of their disgust, I'm going to root for the ravens. And I'm saying that that's not the biggest problem. The biggest problem are the young fans. I agree with you. And the new fans moving to the area that decide, well, you know, my team was the Chicago Bears.

but I mean I live in Washington. I live in PG County now. I live in Montgomery County and I want to root for the local team. They're going to pick the Ravens because the Ravens are a lot more fun and just as easy to get to from any of these places. And a much better live stadium environment. So that's the big concern. The big concern are the new fans. Well, I mean, you should be concerned about the parents who have kids who, you know,

the kids often look to the parents to say who's your team. to be my team. So there is some of that, but I agree with you. Of course. I mean, my boys are not massive die. They have no emotional connection to the Redskins. The only connection they have to the Redskins is me, you know, in the time that they would spend with me watching Redskin games, you know, when they were younger. They still care. I got, you know, two of my three boys will watch the games and start to watch the games. But like this year, I know they're, you know, they immediately turned to the rest of the NFL, you know, the Red Zone channel to watch the other games. You know, they're not sticking with a loser like the Redskins, you know,

week in and week out for three hours. Look, at the presence and influence of the Ravens are a problem. It's a problem. I mean, we can argue how big of a problem it is, but it is a problem. You think the second biggest fan base behind the Redskins in this town, NFL-wise, Ravens or Cowboys? Cowboys. I think, I do too. But that's been, that's been that way. It might be that in every single NFL city. Yeah, and in Washington, the Cowboys have had a strong presence since the early, since the George Press and Marshall days, when a lot of African-American fans rooted for the Cowboys

because the Redskins didn't have black players and the Cowboys had a lot of them. And so that's rooted in some deep, deep generations, the Cowboys fans' presence here. I still think the Cowboys would be the second biggest, particularly in the city. I think once you get out to Montgomery and PG County, then it changes. More Montgomery County and PG County. But even there, that's the bat. That's where the Ravens, the Ravens would love.

I mean, look, everyone knows. I don't know if everyone knows the stories, but Steve Bishaddy and Dan Snyder are not friends. Nope. There was a confrontation, according to the story. at Steve Bishotti's house that that was an embarrassing confrontation. Go ahead. Tell it for those. I don't know the details of it. What we've all heard. That Bishotti was throwing a big party. Right. That Snyder showed up with, you know, some of his henchmen, whoever they were.

And at the front door said, please tell Steve that Mr. Snyder's here. Yes. Right? Yeah. And Steve Bishotti basically said, Mr. Snyder, really tell him to go fuck himself. Yeah. And he's not invited into the party. That's the story. I have no idea if it's true. But it's a story that has a lot of less. I got that right, right? More or less, I think it was a reference to the Mr. Snyder reference. Yeah.

I don't know if Dan said to Steve Boshadhi that, you know, you call me Mr. Snyder or something like that, which he's done to a lot of people over the years. So the Ravens would love nothing better than to be able to tweak and bury the Redskins as much as they could. Right. I mean, there's certain limits that they can, they can't, and they can't, there's certain marketing restrictions. against them coming into the Redskins market. But every other way they can, they'll push the envelope. Well, you know, what's ironic is that, like there are a lot of Oriole fans in Washington because we didn't have baseball for all of those years, there are many less.

It's not comparable to the Oriole fans in D.C. But there are, I hear from them all the time. A lot of them listen to us and have listened to us for years. You know, when the cults left in 84 on that snowy, morning in whatever March of 84, whatever it was, you know, a lot of people, because the Redskins were at their height. You know, they were winning Super Bowls and they were, it was the Gibbs, you know, it was the Gibbs era. A lot of Baltimore cult fans, you know, they were so disgusted with what Ursaid had done, they rooted for the Redskins. I think you're overstating that. I said it's not

comparable to the Oriole fans here, but there are, I know a lot of them that started to root for them. But it's a fraction of the D.C. sports fans that adopted the Orioles. Right. Okay? I'm making that point, but there are some of them. But anyway,

I just think personally on the whole issue of, you know, jumping ship, it's okay, this is my opinion. It's okay to watch less, to not spend money on the team anymore, to not go to games anymore, to not care,

to demand change, to become apathetic. I have a hard time believing that if somebody at, you know, call it 35 years of age or older, so they really had an attachment or had the opportunity

to be attached to the Redskins, that they jumped ship for the Ravens or another team, I have a hard time believing that that person was a real, loyal, emotionally attached, passionate fan to begin with. There's zero chance

in the way I'm built, that I could root for the Ravens as my favorite team, or root for the Cowboys or the Eagles, or adopt another team. I agree with that. I just couldn't do it. I agree with that. I'm disgusted with the Redskins.

I don't like them right now. Having a position where you essentially do a personal boycott of the Redskins is not the same thing as changing allegiance and rooting for, you know, in this way, a financial rival more than, any other kind of rival. I mean, if you want to make a statement, and I know you scoff at this, but if you want to make a statement and root for a team,

go see the XFL. I'm really excited about Cardell Jones. Go see the XFL defense. They fill that stadium for every home game. What do you mean? They fill it. They haven't played a game yet. If they fill that stadium.

For all their home games, and they represent any kind of competitive. Who owns the team? Vince McMahon. He owns all the teams. Oh, he owns all the teams. Yeah, he owns the league. Yeah. So, I mean, that, if you want to make a statement on another team, show up at XFL games. That's what I would do if I was a fan. I wouldn't, I wouldn't root for the Ravens if I was a Redskins fan.

I wouldn't do that. I would like, I mean, like when I, you know, I compare it to when I was a Mets fan and they traded Tom Seaver. And I said, that's it. I'm out until they sell the team to new owners. But I didn't turn around and root for the Yankees. You would have had to stuck needles in my eyes for me to root for the Yankees. Oh, my gosh. And really, the Ravens are not the equivalent. No. The Ravens are not a rival of the Redskins.

Just financially right now. Financially, they're a rival. But not a football rival. No. No. I want to get to this comment about Dwayne Haskins. So, my man. Bill Callahan.

He practiced yesterday. Did he? Did he? Did he really? The ankle didn't bother him? No. And Callahan said afterwards, he looked great. I think everything he did an individual was seamless. I thought it was really clean. I thought it was flawless.

I thought there were no setbacks. I saw fluidity. We moved him in and out of the pocket quite a bit today as well. So if there was any apprehension of possibly not testing it or looking at it deeply, we wouldn't have done what we did. There were a lot of movement actions, a lot of different things we did on him on the perimeter. So no, there was nothing holding him back. He was fully clear.

It was just a very mild ankle sprain that he went through Sunday, closed quote. It didn't look like a very mild ankle sprain. I love the way, like, he's essentially laying out. We basically did everything on the field today to tell him that we knew there wasn't anything wrong with his ankle. And that he was overly dramatic on Sunday, which he was. Don't we know that now? How about an apology to your boy? All of you demanding that I apologize because I accused.

him of faking an injury. I never did that. I accused him. I suggested, didn't accuse him. I suggested based on, you know, personal life experiences. Occasionally there are people when they're sick or injured, they play it up big. Like, I played a lot of basketball over my life. You know how many dudes have missed like a breakaway layup and then all of a sudden they're limping going down on the other end of the court? Like they were hurt. Like that's why they missed it. Dwayne wasn't playing well. He did get an ankle injury. We saw it the Preston Smith landing on the ankle. He played it up a little bit during the game. He came over. He was cleared. Why was he cleared? Because there wasn't like there was a lot of issues with the flexibility, with the movement in the ankle after they

tested it. But he was playing it up, playing it up big time. And because of it, man, did he get some people riled up? You know, people in the media comparing him to the RG3 situation, how could you do it? What Callahan's doing here is he's mocking you who thought he was seriously. hurt and to a certain degree making sure that Dwayne knows, A, you're fine. We had you going through all this stuff just to prove to you that we know that you're fine. He was fine. But when you talk about an ankle sprain, mild, you don't say very mild.

No. Ankle sprain. He was trying to make the point that he was fine. I think I may have had that one right. I think you did. And look, more context on that. Not faking. Okay.

not faking, just playing it up a little bit, a little bit dramatic. More context on that. Let's not forget the press conference after the Detroit game, where he was asked about missing the open wide receivers. And instead of standing up there and saying, you know, I got to do a better job or there was some miscommunication on my part or something like that, he all of a sudden said I had a wrist injury. Yeah.

You know, and I think that was the first time that Bill Callahan ever heard. that Dwayne Haskins had a wrist injury in that game. Now I'm going to take a portion of this show to be more positive about Dwayne Haskins, because I am more encouraged and more positive about him than you are, I think, and a lot of other people, because I'm going to read to you what Callahan said when he was asked about what Haskins has progressed in. You know, how's he improved? Be specific, and it was a long answer.

It was like a three-minute answer on this one. going to read you just a portion of it because I thought this was interesting. Callahan said, quote, everybody is throwing everything at him. What I like about him is nothing phases him. He's got an unbelievable poise about him. He's got a calm that he recognizes the fact that he's getting heated up or seeing these different pressures and looks. He's just absorbing it, taking it all in, learning, going back to the bench, sitting down with Kevin O'Connell and Tim Rete, going through it, recognizing what he needs to do better and then trying to improve the next time around. I like that aspect of him.

He's not a repetitive guy, a repetitive mistake player, where you continually see the small mistakes over and over again. He makes a mistake. He recognizes it. He moves on and you don't see a repetitive error come back into his game. There's been a lot of growth in that respect. Closed quote. You know, so this was part of like a three-minute answer where he was being very

positive about Dwayne Haskins. And it makes me immediately think back to, you know, September and October where, you know, Callahan himself said Dwayne knows he's not ready. Remember he said that? And all of the leaks coming out about his unreadiness, about his lack of preparation, about him not knowing the playbook, et cetera, et cetera. Which, by the way, just as a quick aside, is why I think in these press conferences, some in the media believe he comes off as a bit smug or arrogant.

I think he's just distrusting. That's what I'm seeing. I'm seeing a guy that is distrusting of the people in front of him because of everything that happened in September and October before he started to play, which, by the way, a lot of it came from national pundits, more than local media people. So he's a victim already. No, I'm not paying about to be a victim. If you distrust somebody, you think they did something to you. Okay, if that's your debt, yes, based on that, I think he believes that he was a victim of some bad and inaccurate media. Well, that's a familiar position for the Redskins quarterback.

Yeah, but you know what isn't familiar? What isn't familiar is that he's not making continually the same mistakes over and over and over again. Because one of the things that Robert Griffin III did, we were told this by multiple people, including Mike Shanahan, and others after the fact, is that he continued to make the same mistakes over and over again. And the reason he did that is he wasn't coachable. Remember what we were told was Griffin's favorite answer to any kind of direction or coaching? Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it, I got it, except for the fact that he never had it. And then the next game, he continued to back up instead of stepping up into the pocket.

And it was the same mistakes, repetitive mistakes over and over again, because he didn't get it. and he thought he had all the answers, but he didn't. I love what Callahan said, first of all, about nothing phases him, because that was my first hunch about Dwayne in watching him in a Redskins uniform, is that this guy is not the kind of guy you rattle. This is not the kind of guy that's going to become less confident because of poor results. He's competitive, and he's going to feel always like he can do it. And I love that about him, and I do see a poise and a calm about him.

There have been a couple of big-time throws he's made, including on Sunday. You know, that throw to Sims on 3rd and 6, the throw to Kelvin Harmon on 3rd and 6 or 3rd and 8 or whatever it was, which turned into a really good throw, where he held on, poised and threw it at the last second. You know, and Harmon made the catch, and then a great run afterwards, set up the first score, which came after the ankle injury, as an aside. But I am rooting for Dwayne Haskins. I know people have tweeted me like it sounds like you're sort of rooting for him. I am because I think that he was, I think he took the brunt of some of this media and some of these leaks.

And some of it was probably unfair and inaccurate. And I think that even a guy like Bill Callahan is starting to recognize watching him play that there's more to him than they thought in September and October. And that he's not the massive long-term project. I'm not suggesting or I'm not predicting and I'm certainly not convinced that he's the long-term answer a quarterback. I don't feel that way yet. I don't. But I do think that week in and week out, we see more from him.

And I watched his press conference yesterday. I've been watching them all on Wednesdays. And, you know, I think there's a little bit of an underdog element to him right now. And so I don't, I don't, I'm not predicting he's going to turn out to be great. I'm not. There's some flags. I don't know how red they are. You know, Haskins and Haskins and the wrist and the overly dramatic, you know, way in which he carried his, you know, ankle around with him on Sunday. But I, there's a lot to him also that I think, you know, is, for me, just gut tells me that he's got a chance. And also tells me that unless they could draft Joe

Burrow, which they're not going to be able to draft him, that he's going to be the guy. in 2020, and I hope that, you know, I don't think they're going to be a competitive team next year more likely than not. It's the NFL, who knows, but next year, 16 games will tell the tale on him, and that they can make the decision on him after 2020. But anyway, go ahead. Well, that's providing that Alex Smith isn't your quarterback next year. He's not going to get a quarterback. Okay. I mean, it could be. I mean, I think he's going to be the GM for the assistant GM. Oh, he's going to have a voice. Yeah, I know.

And that Redskins front office, absolutely. But he still thinks he can play. So, I mean, he's going to push that through. Right. I just can't fathom how you are dismissing the, I'm not. I'm not. Yes, you are. I'm not. I'm not.

I said there are flags. I'm not sure how red they are. But those flags, they might be red. Those flags, given the team he works for, are far worse. I understand that. I mean, every, all the issues that, that, I mean, I have with Haskins are off the field. I mean, I think he's had moments where he's played well. I think it's very difficult to judge him, given the lack of talent and the poor coaching that he has to deal with.

So I haven't seen anything on the field that tells me that he's a bust or that he's not going to eventually be a success. And he has had some terrific moments. And everything you said about him on the field is true. The off-the-field stuff, though, in an organization where that, will only grow instead of being stifled is a huge problem. That Detroit post-game press conference, I mean, I would run away from having a guy like that on my team. So, I mean, this is not any other franchise.

This is the Redskins where that kind of behavior gets rewarded by the owner. Why can't Doug Williams get through to some of these people? I mean, Doug Williams has to know when he retweets his own profile. football focus numbers that that's not that's not a Doug Williams thing to do no i mean but i i i wonder what kind of any if he has any influence over anything in that organization he's not the key decision maker when it comes to a lot of these things if people if you people out there didn't know that already was maybe he would have more yeah maybe he would have more credibility if everybody in the locker room looked at him and said that's our gm yeah maybe that would happen

I don't know. So I just think that you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, on the, uh, off the field stuff and victimizing him as, as, as, as, as, as somehow being treated unfairly. You can, you can, you can say that based on, you know, pure definition that because I said he's distrusting of people that he, he, he views himself as a victim. That's fine. But it's really not the way I feel. I don't think he's, he's playing the victim role. I just think that he got burned a little bit. it here, you know, in his rookie season because of the organization that he's in. Because there was shit that was leaked and people were making a big deal out of it. He was not even playing. He was a victim the night he was drafted when he said the league done messed up.

He already played the victim part right from the first night. And charging 50 bucks ahead for people to come in and share draft night with him when he claimed that he just wanted to be with his family, which is why he wasn't in New York. Or I'm not New York. Where was the draft this year? Nashville. Nashville. Yeah, I get all of that. I'm not naive to those things potentially being things that we'll look back on and say, of course, of course it didn't work out. And a lot of those things could, we could look at back at him at some point and say he was immature. Look at how mature he is now and look at what kind of player he's developed into. That's possible to. People don't mature in this organization. I do think, because I've heard this, that he is a good kid, that he's not totally self-absorbed like RG3 was, and that he's coachable, which is what Callahan essentially was telling you right there, is that he's coachable.

And we heard with Griffin, once Kirk Cousins played and didn't run the read option in Cleveland, that he was not coachable. He had everything. He had all the answers, and you just had to ask him to get him. and yet he kept making the same mistakes over and over. And what happened when he made those mistakes? He threw his teammates under the bus for him. So as an aside, we're not going to see him tonight. I don't think.

I think Lamar Jackson is going to play. I know. I'm not crazy about that. I think the Ravens could beat the Jets without Lamar Jackson. And I would do everything I could to protect that kid's legs. Yeah. Quick word about stamps.com. Why are you going to the post office anymore?

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Click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and type in my promo code, Kevin D.C. That's Stamps.com. Enter Kevin, D.C. Stamps.com. You never have to go to the post office again. Kauai Leonard last night was welcome back with open arms by Toronto in such a crazy unique way.

Like I think about Kevin Durant. Remember the first time he went back to O'KC and the treatment he got. Of course, he wasn't a champion either going back to O'KC and he wasn't the MVP. But I just thought it was really cool. Toronto's clearly a great sports town. And they won a championship last year in the NBA finals. They won the NBA finals and Kauai Leonard was the MVP. And he left and they cared, but they weren't about to turn their back on him.

And he went back and there were MVP chance and they gave him his championship ring. and then he went out with the clippers and destroyed them. I think Toronto fans knew the minute Kauai Leonard got there that he wasn't long to be there. I know. I mean, I think they realized that we had a moment where we accidentally got the best player in the league for season. And, you know, it's a moment that they've never enjoyed

in the history of their franchise. And I think a smart fan would say we were lucky to have that. I mean, because most players are not going to decide to go play in Toronto. Nothing to the wrong with Toronto. It's one of my favorite cities. But, you know, I mean, the whole Canadian tax thing, there's a lot of issues that go. So do you think Anthony Rendonnell be received in the same way? Do the angels do the Nats?

They play the Angels in California this year. Only out there. Yeah. Okay. So he's not going to be back this year. Maybe in 2021. Yeah. Maybe in a World Series.

Maybe in a World Series. Yeah. Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, leading the Angels against the Nats. I think he would be welcome back because it's sort of the same thing. I mean, he was such a special player, and I don't think people will harbor ill will towards Anthony Rundon. No, I mean, look, people weren't particularly passionate about Anthony Rendon one way or the other.

Well, they were after October. Yeah, after October they were. Yeah. I wanted to mention one other thing, and I know it's NBA related, but it's really not, although it is, I guess. But you're just going to roll your eyes. Dwight Howard plays for the Lakers this year. Did you know that?

Yeah, I know that. I know that. And they went back to Orlando last night, and, you know, there was a skirmish and the whole thing. But did you know how well he's playing for the Lakers? Yes, I did. And let me just point out one thing, Kevin. What? It's December.

I understand that. I've been saying for people that thought his career was completely over, you know, here where he never basically played. He's gone to L.A. And he's on the Lakers, and he's playing, you know, basically 15 to 20 minutes a night. And averaging, you know, like 7.7 rebounds and, you know, a block in each game each night. Like, he's actually playing at a really good level, you know, as a bench player, you know, on a really good team, obviously. But it's crazy. Like, he was here, couldn't even stay healthy.

Now he's in L.A. and he's playing great. Again, give him time. We got Davis Bertans. We get a first round pick for him. God, he's spectacular to watch. I guess we've got to mention this story that's become, as we were doing this podcast, the number one trending story in sports on ESPN.com. It includes Clinton Portis, and I'll read the story to you. Clinton Portis, Joe Horn among ex-NFL players accused of defrauding leagues health program.

From ESPN, 10 former NFL players, including ex-Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis, have been charged with defrauding the league's health program of millions of dollars. The players are among a group of 12 facing charges in the Eastern District of Kentucky, the Department of Justice, announced today. They are accused of filing more than $3.9 million in fraudulent claims, of which more than $3.4 million were paid from June 2017 to December 2018. along with the charges that were announced, the Department of Justice said it will seek charges against two others,

including former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Horn. This from the Department of Justice. Ten former NFL players allegedly committed a brazen, multi-million dollar fraud on a health care plan meant to help their former teammates and other retired players pay legitimate out-of-pocket medical expenses. Today's indictments underscore that whoever you are, if you loot health care programs to line your own pockets, you will be held accountable by the Department of Justice.

The other 10 players or the other players involved, Robert McKeown, John Eubanks, Tamarck Vanover. I remember him from Florida State. Carlos Rogers. Seondris Brown, James Butler, Fred Bennett, Correll Buckholter, Hulter, and Etric Pruitt. The government also intends to charge Donald Rishay Caldwell. He was a Redskin remember for a brief moment back in 2005, I think. 2007. Remember, he was, Risha Caldwell was a receiver with the Patriots and then he came to the Redskins. Portis was reached by John Kime at ESPN and he said, I don't have any comment on that

closed quote. Clinton's in trouble, buddy. This is trouble. And this is the Justice Department. And they like making examples of high-profile people, whether it's musicians, actors, or athletes. I mean, because what happens here, if you can go after a high-profile figure

who most people would think would be immune or protected, from from such stuff then everybody then that then law enforcement believes everybody else will fall in line i mean people might be think twice about committing fraud when they turn around and see you know when when major you know names are made examples of um it happens i you know i like clinton a lot you know he is one of those players tommy you know over the years you know after their career because he's been in the media a lot of us that may have had conversations with him or interviewed him when he was a player and didn't really know and knew him from afar is, you know, Southeast Jerome and Sheriff going to get you and all of the other things.

He is, I mean, I can only speak from my personal experience because I've done a lot of stuff with Clinton. We've done that Showtime show on NBC4 for several years now. I've had him obviously on the radio show and on the podcast so many times. and I just consider him to be very kind-hearted and to have a great sense of humor. So I hope these charges aren't true when it comes to him. But it certainly seems pretty serious. Yes.

That's for sure. That's it for the day. I was going to mention just the Antonio Brown stuff. Did you see him go off on Twitter yesterday? Yeah. I mean, he's clearly got issues. Somebody's got to get him help. It's going to end very tragically.

That's Dway. And Haskins, uh, new wide receiver. Okay. Oh, yeah. That's true. A. B to D.C. Yep. A. B to D.C.

Also posted on O'Dell Beckham's, uh, Instagram yesterday. Wait, yeah, what, what was going on with that? Uh, you know, uh, O'Dell just kind of posted one of the generic, you know, I think it was something like, you can't, uh, can't appreciate sunshine until you went through the rain or something along those lines and God, he's in a shitty organization. I mean, he wanted, all those people like, well, landing Collins and OBJ, Dave, Dave, Gettlement, the Giants. This place is a mess. And they ended up in Cleveland and Washington, the two of them.

Let's make sure that in this discussion of social media and Antonio Brown that we don't hashtag something that we don't understand. Let's make sure we don't do that today. Okay, we'll do that. That's it. We're done. I don't think I have anything else. Do you? Pick the Redskins game since you're not going to be with me tomorrow. Oh, the Redskins win. They beat the Eagles? They beat the Eagles, baby. This is the first of three in a row for to Redskins. Redskins win. This one, 24 to 21

on a field goal. Can you hear what Tommy is really rooting for now? He's rooting for wins and Bruce Allen and Bill Callahan and they all come back. He would love to see it. I think they've earned it. Aaron and I have no college hoops games to give out tonight because there aren't many games tonight. Kind of like Iowa State.

I don't. In fact, I think I would have liked that a little bit the other way, Iowa, but I'm not playing that game. I don't like the NFL game one way or the other tonight. That lines climbed to 16 and a half. I don't like the Ravens. I don't like the Jets. I don't like the total in the game. So no smell test pick on the game tonight. Do you like it one way or the other, Aaron? You're going to play it? No. I don't think I'm going to. If it gets to 17, I might take a flyer on the Jets. They can move the football a little bit. As you know from when they played the Redskins. Yes. They moved the football pretty good. With Darnold, they can move against the Redskins. They moved it against those dolphins last week. I might want to just mention that people can hear me on 106-7 fans Saturday morning from 9 to noon and read me in Washington Times, Washington Times.com.

And I'll be at the Redskins game Sunday. Enjoy it, brother. You'll be one of the only people. Actually, you know, they're going to be some Eagle fans. Not like last year. No. And not like last year because the Eagle fans right now are looking at a team that they don't believe in at all. Last year, remember, they were the defending.

Super Bowl champions. Yeah, but they may come just to harass Redskins fans. Yeah. The three that show up. Exactly. Have a great day.