The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rivera's Biggest Mistake

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

Kevin and Thom were all over the place today but in a good way. Thom's new technology addition started the conversation. From there, it was thoughts a day later about the potential moves of the Wizards and Caps to Northern Virginia. Kevin introduced Thom to a web site Setlist.FM that provides the setlists for past concerts. They discussed why Ron Rivera didn't do better here in Washington and the biggest mistake he made. Thom had his Commanders-Rams' pick and both had their "You Heard It Here First" bold predictions.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show presented, as always, by Window Nation.

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation. Tommy's with me for a second straight day. Jay Gruden will be with me tomorrow. Football Friday tomorrow. Only four of those left with Washington games anyway. although Ron, and I'll read to you what Ron said yesterday, Ron still thinks they got a shot. But I know you wanted to tell me about where you just were. Did something dreadful happen at the doctor's office that I need to know about?

No, no, no, no. My doctor was late, and that kind of push back a very tight schedule I had for this Thursday. You know, I'm much too busy from my age. I really am. You are? People look at me like I'm nuts when, you know, I tell them what I do. People my age and maybe a little bit older or something like that, and they look like I'm crazy, but I'm just too busy.

But anyway, the big story, the Barry the lead is I was at the doctor because I was getting hearing aids. Hearing aids. You've needed those for years. I know. I know. So now I've got hearing aids. I don't know how they'll work.

You know, this is my first couple hours they're in. It seems pretty easy. You know, I can control everything from my phone. And eventually I'll probably get used to it and it'll be helpful. But it's another concession. Another concession to my body breaking down around me. Can you hear me? Yes, I heard that.

Oh, really? They are working. They are working. Yes, I heard that. Because I can't tell. Now, for those of you that just listen to the show and don't listen to us off the air because it's not available, occasionally I'll be talking to Tommy and he'll just say on the other end, hello, Kevin, are you there? I'm like, I'm right here.

I'm right here. And it's just because I've lowered my voice a little bit, maybe. or perhaps I'm just a little bit off mic. So these things are working. That's great. Good for you. That is great. And, you know,

might help you with karaoke. Yeah, it may. I'm not, you know, apparently I can take phone calls on these headphones. Okay. On these things. So I have to figure out how to use them. They're pretty cool. And somebody said,

well, wouldn't bother you walking around with, you know, with hearing aids, people look at you and I mean you know I'm not particularly vain because that's easy for me because I don't have anything to be vain about so I don't care I mean do they act as kind of head like you can take phone calls can you listen to music through them or do you need yes I can listen to my TV through them oh wow okay I would have a big look up there's a big thing for because I I play the TV too loud for my wife well so do I But remember, you know, you, I mean, the two of us, me even more so, I've had headphones

on my ears for 17, 18 years now, every single day. And I did go a few years ago to get my hearing checked, and it actually was normal. But I'm expecting at some point in my life to have hearing issues. I think anybody, I think, you know, musicians, you know, people who have headphones on the, all day long, people who work in radio, et cetera, eventually have some hearing deficiency. And I do turn the TV up very loudly. And as you know, if you remember,

I have certain volume settings that are crucial for me. That's right. Yeah. That's right. That's right. That's right. You go out the exact levels for you. Yeah, well, it's, you know, before plays or before big games, it's got to be, you know,

and then if things don't go well, then I have to go to the other. I got to go to the backup numbers. So any thoughts a day later? After the Caps, Wizards move. I'm going to let you answer that, but I want to just mention one thing. I had Sam 48 on the radio show this morning. And I just said to him,

you know, after yesterday's presser seemed kind of definitive to me. I mean, I remember Jack Kent Cook and Doug Wilder, et cetera, but it seemed like they were all, you know, happy. And Tommy predicted that it wasn't going to happen. I didn't tell them that. I just said, what percent chance do you give of this thing falling apart? He said 25 percent. I think he's right.

I think that's what I would say. Maybe just a little bit higher. Look, under normal conditions, a lot of these things go wrong. You know? I mean, the majority get done, but a lot of big, projects like this, a lot of things can go wrong. And given the political atmosphere, like I said yesterday, political volatility of the state of Virginia, where in Richmond, they just turned down a casino twice. So if you think they turned, if they didn't want one in Richmond, what makes anyone

think they're going to want one in Crystal City, you know, in northern Virginia? Again, there's a lot that can go wrong. So I think that's a pretty accurate estimate. as to whether this happens or not. And there is a fallback position, which I think, you know, for Ted, which I think heightens the chance of it not happening because he doesn't have to put up with maybe less than what he agreed to in Virginia if things go south.

Yeah, it's just, I didn't take yesterday as a day of creating more leverage for Ted with the District of Columbia to stay at Capitol. No, it didn't, but, you know, that would have been a long way to go for that because they had, they had the governor, they had a lot of people. I mean, again, the woman that introduced the governor, Governor Yonkin, was so emotional, she broke down crying as she was introducing him. It was such an historic day for all of these people in Virginia. And of course, you know. And the governor is Ted's friend. So I don't think he's going to intentionally burn, you know, Glenn Yonkin on something like this. But things go wrong.

And in Virginia, things particularly go wrong with stuff like this. So I think that's a reasonable percentage, 25%. I might make it 30%. But, you know, he's been covering the story, so he should know. I forget if it was you... I tell you what else? Yeah, go ahead. Upon reflection today, and you, you know,

You brought this up yesterday a couple of times. And I think you're right. More and more I think about it. It was a bit unseemly, Ted's whole act yesterday. Yeah. It really was a little bit over the top and very, very insensitive of the ground that he just plowed over to get where he was yesterday. I thought it was a bit insensitive and just a bit too much, period. Well, he's always that way, but the more I think about it, I mean, you know, crowing that, you know,

he's performing some kind of public service. You know, he has his idea that someday it's going to be one big city from Richmond to New York. He's going to buy Delaware. They're going to acquire Delaware. He said they were going to acquire Delaware, jokingly, of course. Nobody in Delaware is rooting for any of his teams, unless it's Bethany or Hobos. Yeah, that's my second day reaction. It's, it wasn't his fine this hour.

I don't know that he has many fine hours personally. Look, you and I have been on him for years. He's gotten a complete free pass. as have the learners because of Dan Snyder. I mean, you know, the things that we've nitpicked about have bothered me for sure, and they've made him insufferable from the outside looking in. I don't know Ted. But, you know, the Ted's take and the sitting on the bench, you know,

with his basketball team and, you know, constantly talking about these incredible brands that he's building and how smart he is and how happy he can make everybody. I think upon reflection for me, Like I know I said this yesterday, and I'm not deviating from, I probably if I had a chance to put myself in their shoes and have all of the information that they have, and also to have dealt with Mayor Bowser and the D.C. people and probably been neglected a little bit in, you know, one of the things Sam told me, which was pretty amazing, I didn't realize this, is that pre-pandemic, 21 to 20, on a given night for an event, police officers would be on foot outside of the arena. Post-pandemic because of, you know, a lot of the issues that we've had in many cities across the country with the loss of police force. And is that they had three, three. I heard four.

Three and four and Ted had to go out and hire like 15 or 20 on a job. Yeah. And that he had been asking for. So it's possible that the combination of the financial part of the deal combined with him sort of being taken for granted, that maybe a lot of us would have done a similar thing. You said differently, but I'm not backing off that from my standpoint. For me, though, I just don't want it to happen. Like maybe I got hopeful with our conversation yesterday and then with Sam this morning. I'd really like to see this completely fall through.

I don't want them to move. I don't want the city to be hurt by the loss of two sports teams. I mean, we said very seriously that, you know, the football team and the baseball team being in the city are actually more significant than the basketball and the hockey team, but I want all four to be there. It would be very disappointing to see them move. And it's not far away. And, you know, I think that part of it was exaggerated to a certain

degree. Like I said yesterday, it's further inside the Beltway than FedEx Field. But it's the point of how big of a blow it will be to Chinatown and perhaps, you know, Penn Corridor and City Center and the areas around there, maybe the whole city. And what Abe, you know, took a huge risk on doing, like you read that quote yesterday. You sent it to me because I read it on the air, you know, from Ted's, you know, business of happiness book about A being a remarkable, you know, person and the city he loved, he did it for the city he loved. He was an act of civic generosity. I just, you know, oh, the other thing, too, I mentioned, well, look, he wouldn't be the only one.

Well, actually, as it relates to basketball teams, if no one else moves in the next five years before 2028, they would be the only NBA team not playing in the urban city they represent. Every NBA team since the Pistons moved from Auburn Hills back to the city, every single NBA team plays in the city that they represent. Lots of football and baseball teams play outside of the city because you need more land for a state. and, you know, Santa Clara and Orchard Park and Arlington and East Rutherford and Landover, obviously. And there are, I think, a couple of hockey teams that don't play in absolute downtown. But every NBA team does.

And I just, I hope it doesn't happen. I was definitely, as I mentioned to you yesterday, a little bit off-put by all of the giddiness, all of the excitement over it. I thought it was, you just used a much better word. yesterday to me, I just said it was off-putting, but it really was in many ways kind of insensitive towards D.C. So I hope it doesn't happen. I also, you know, I got a couple of tweets on our conversation, and I actually continued the conversation to a certain degree on radio this morning. There was one from Bernie who wrote, you know, that Tom and Sheehan were insensitive to the

crime problem around Capital One Arena in Chinatown. I had a couple of others that were similar to that after the radio show? I mean, relax people. Please. All I said, and I think all Tommy said, and I think we both agreed, is that I don't, I think the discussion about Chinatown is being

like this crime-ridden area that isn't safe. I understand crimes up in the city. Trust me, I understand that. It's up in the suburbs, too. It's up everywhere. Okay? We, I understand that. I'm just saying that when I go to

Chinatown or when I go to City Center and my wife and I will go out to dinner at City Center once every couple months. We were just there about a month and a half ago at Centralina, which is one of our favorite restaurants. I never feel unsafe. That's me. Everybody's perspective is different. I can't, I've noticed a difference. Clearly I've noticed a difference. I've noticed a lot of businesses that are gone in that area. And that saddens everybody. But, I don't think that it's this, you know, for anybody that remembers what D.C. and a lot of neighborhoods were like before, you know, before Abe moved the basketball team to Chinatown and areas that used to be dormant, became incredibly vibrant, this city's so much better and so much safer than it was 30, 35 years ago.

I mean, there were neighborhoods you wouldn't walk into in D.C. during the daytime. you know, in the 90s, in the 80s. I don't feel that way at all about Ashburn. If you do, that's fine, and I'm not knocking that at all. But I don't see how you get off a metro stop, a half a block from Capital One arena with hundreds of people and feel unsafe walking into Capital One. I agree.

I just don't. I mean, it's not a scene out of escape from New York, okay? You know, I mean, I'm downtown. I'll be downtown tonight. I teach tonight. Yeah. You know, where I teach is downtown. So I'm downtown often.

And look, whenever you're out on the street late at night or at nighttime, you always have your wits about you, but I don't feel unsafe. No, not in that area. There's two different things. Yes. Of course. Of course. Of course, I'm more aware of my surroundings, which is important, wherever you are. If you're in a parking garage outside a mall in Rockville, you should be aware of your surroundings.

Right. But I'm not scared, and I'm not scared when I'm downtown. I don't think that something, you know, some kind of crime's going to be committed on me. Well, nobody wants a piece of you anyway. You don't have anything for them, except for some hearing aids now. Maybe the hearing aids are worth, maybe that's the most expensive thing on your being. You probably don't want to publicize that. No, I completely agree.

Of course you are in areas in, by the way, as you said, not just in the city, but in areas in suburban areas. You have your wits about you, but there's a difference between that and feeling unsafe. I can't tell you that I have ever felt unsafe in Chinatown since that arena went in. But if you do, do, that is a real thing. And by the way, part of what Ted is concerned about. And he's trying to,

you know, lessen that feeling of unsafeness for those that feel that way. Yeah. But, you know, stop it with the, you know, irresponsible on talking about the crime problem around Capital One arena. There's a crime problem. It's an increased crime problem, acknowledged. Okay. Anything else on yesterday? I just hope it doesn't happen. I really, I really would love to have all four of it. There's something, when it moved Tommy, we didn't talk about this yesterday. You went to the Cap Center. I went to the Cap Center a lot. I mean, I mean, I was of that age when the bullets were winning the title and contending, and I went to so many games and so many years after that and concerts there. First concert I ever went to

was at the Capitol Center. You know what it was? It was somebody who we both like and enjoy at a high level. And that's Elton John. All right? Late 70s, my father took me to see. That was the first concert I went to. Saw Rod Stewart at Capitol Center. Saw the Stones a couple of times at Capitol Center. Saw the Who at Capitol Center. Missed a couple of shows that I wish I could go back. Do you ever look at the web, it's like a website called Set List? And it gives you all. of your favorite artists in every concert they've ever done and on the date and the set list they played that particular night? So if you, if there's a concert that you remember going to and you'd love to see what the

set list was from that particular show, go to, it's like set list FM, I think it is, and it'll give you the setlet. I think it's set list. Hold on. Let me look it up real quickly. Okay. Yeah, because I'd be interested in looking at it. I know you would.

Setlist. Setlist.fm. All right. And so... Not FM. Yeah, so you can put in, you know, a concert that you went to, and you'll find exactly the set. Give me a concert right now from a venue and a year.

Harrisburg Farm Show Arena. Harrisburg Farm Show Arena. Farm show arena. Uh-huh. Would have been Elton John. and it would have been 1972, Thanksgiving. Oh, my God.

72. Here it is. November 22nd, 1977. All right. By the way, he didn't play many songs. Did you know that?

Here's the set list, it says. Your song, Tiny Dancer, Leavon, Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatters, Madman Across the Water, Danielle,

and then seven is unknown. He played more than that. That's what's here. Okay, well, he played more than that. It was, I mean, it was in Clement Weather, but this is Pennsylvania in 1972. You know, bad weather was not a big deal back then. Let me see on that tour

because he played the next night in Jacksonville. Oh, yeah. And here's the full set list. So this was two nights later, November 24th, 1972, in Jacksonville, Florida. And there are 21 songs on here. I won't go through all of them. But this was... Okay. I got one for you.

Okay. That's not going to be on the list. Okay. Okay. It's the first concert I ever saw. I saw a bad finger at my high school in 1970. Well, that's not going to be... It was the East Rouseburg High School.

It's not going to be on there. Wouldn't that be funny? I think it's going to be on there. Bad Finger. Yeah, I saw Badfinger. Hoover, we're a pretty good band. Yeah, I'll just... I mean, Baby Blue is a great song.

Oh, Baby Blue is the final song of... Yeah, of Breaking Bad. Yeah, in the finale. It's a great song. So Bad Finger... I don't know how they wound up... Go ahead. So Badfinger had a tour in the U.S.,

and I'm looking for something that was near... Pennsylvania. It's 1970, I think. Yeah, this is November of 1970. You went to a lot of shows in November. How about Syracuse, Horsehead, New York,

Portland, Maine, Harrisonburg, Virginia. But it's going to be the same tour, right? It's going to basically be the same tour. So do you want me to tell you the songs that were played? Sure, go ahead. Hold on. Let me find one.

has the full set. Oh shit. Some of these are, yeah, actually they're popping up without. Oh, wait, here it is. Okay. This, by the way, is a high school. DePue High School, New York, November 10th, 1970, Bad Fingers set list.

Bloodwin, we're for the dark. I can't take it, no matter what. Come and get it, which was a Beatles cover. That was their big hit. That was their first hit. come and get it. Well, it says it, oh, no, no, no, I'm sorry. The next is the Beatles cover, obviously. Love Me Do, Long Tall Sally. Then no matter what, Johnny Be Good, a Chuck Berry cover,

and no matter what for another time. They played no matter what three times. Well, that was a big hit for them, which a great song as well. Yeah. You know, they were discovered by the Beatles, I think, Bad Finger. They recorded on the Apple label, and they played at my high school. I don't know how they wound up at my high school, but that's the first concert I ever saw. That's awesome. It was so cool. That's awesome. Yeah, so setlist.fm, for those of you that want to go back and find out, you know, what was, what did they actually play?

What did the Stones play that night? Huh? Sounds like a great website. All right. Enough of that. Am I going to edit that out, or do we keep that in? We keep that in. If you want me on the podcast, you better keep it in.

I got about 20 minutes left. Well, you might, you know, the problem now is you're going to be able to hear everything after the show is over. All right. Let's get to your Skins-Rams prediction for Sunday. We've got a you heard it here first. And I want to mention something that Ron Rivera said yesterday. We'll get to that and a lot more right after these words from a third. few of our sponsors.

This segment of the show brought to you by MyBooky. Go to my bookie. Go to my bookie. Go to my bookie. Go to my promo code, Kevin D.C., for a cash bonus on your initial deposit. The Thursday night game tonight is a dud. Raiders' Chargers, no Justin Herbert for the Chargers. He's done for the year.

The Raiders are three-point favorites in the game. The total, my God, we've seen some low totals in the NFL this year. 34 and a half for the game. game tonight. No smell test pick on the game tonight, but plenty for tomorrow. Washington, a six and a half point dog with one of the

highest over under totals of the week at my bookie at 50 and a half. By the way, real quickly, and I was talking about this on the radio show this morning with my producer Denton, I think that Josh Allen and Dak Prescott in the Buffalo Dallas game

this Sunday, I think one of I think Dak Prescott can almost lock in, you know, a two-way battle with Brock Purdy the rest of the year by playing well and beating Buffalo for the MVP. But I think if Josh Allen plays exceptionally well and Buffalo wins that game, I think Josh Allen then is in the race with Prescott and Purdy and maybe passes Prescott. Right now at my bookie, Prescott is a slight favorite at plus 145. Purdy's at plus 167. Then it's Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hertz, and Josh Allen. Josh Allen is fifth. I think Buffalo's coming here the rest of the year.

Kind of rooting for them. MyBooky.ag promo code, Kevin, DC. Before we got sidetracked on the setlist.fm discussion, the reason I brought up the Capitol Center is that when they moved downtown, Tommy, I went to like two games shortly after the new arena opened. I wasn't there opening night for the Wizards first game. But it was so cool to be down there. To have it down, it made it feel like more of a real city.

Not that I didn't consider in 1997 Washington to be a real city. But it wasn't a real city like other cities were in that a lot of their big events happened downtown. The Capitol Center was strange. You know, other places had it. Detroit had it. Other places had it. But it was just, I don't know, I'll miss it if it's gone. I guess it won't be gone. They're going to host the mystics there. We'll go to a miss. I wonder where Georgetown's going to play. Because there's no way that Capone can stay around forever with the mystics as its main tenant. Right? I agree. Can't imagine. I agree. And like I said, you know,

you've got this entertainment and sports arena that Ted owns 5% of, the city owns the rest, where the mystics play and the wizards practice. Yeah. That's going to be, that's going to be a ghost town, the new ghost town arena. Ghost town field to ghost town arena. So I wanted to read something real quickly to you. This was Ron, or I'm going to play it for you.

This was Ron Rivera yesterday. talking about kind of the goal for the final four games of the season. It's really about, you know, being the professional that we are and going out and doing your best, giving it your best. I mean, you know, stranger things have happened where you were still in it, obviously, numerically, but we'll see how it goes. And at the end of the day, you've got to take care of your business first and foremost. So Tommy, stranger things have happened.

We're still in it, obviously numerically, but we'll see how it goes. You got to take care of business first and foremost, and that means beating the Rams, beat the Rams, and you're five and nine. Look, you could be two games out on Sunday night of that final spot with a win over the Rams. He's still thinking that way. You can see the Rams Ravens game? I did.

Yeah, I watched a lot of that game, actually. Actually, there are two games out now. I'm sorry? You see those Rams receivers? I did. Yeah, they're pretty good. I've got both of them on my fantasy team. Nakua and Cooper Cup. So we're not going to do playoff scenario talk here. Trust me. That's long gone. But I was wondering if there is an actual mistake or a problem that Ron Rivera had, other than working for Snyder, which was, of course, going to be something he wasn't going to be able to overcome.

him. But what was his biggest problem here? What was his biggest problem? What was his biggest mistake? Why didn't it work for Ron Rivera here? And why didn't even, it didn't even come close to working for Ron Rivera here? What do you think? Well, I think his biggest problem was when he really hit the ground, when he first got the job here. And in my mind, And we went through this with Shanahan, too. And so I don't quite understand it. But in my mind, Ron Rivera had all the leverage when he took the job here. Like we thought that the team was lucky to get Ron Rivera as a coach. I did. Given how toxic the place was.

And this is even before the congressional hearings. It was toxic then visibly. okay so so he had this leverage he comes in and he accepts the quarterback the owner's quarterback

as his quarterback instead of saying to the owner saying that's your quarterback that's not my quarterback I'm going to pick a quarterback who's going to play for me that would have established a lot of things

right from the start I don't think he really concentrated right from the go on the most important position he would have to, a position he still struggle in the fill, you know, four years later, and that was quarterback. And he didn't do that because he accepted Dwayne Haskins as the quarterback. You can make arguments. There were reasons for that. Askins had potential. A lot of people were high on them. But, you know, that was the owner's quarterback. And you had to make a

statement right from the start saying, no, no, no, no, no. I'm picking my quarterback. and that's how we're going to build a team. We're going to build a team starting from there. That was his mistake. Yeah, that is, that's on my short list, that he had a chance from the jump to say no to Dwayne Haskins. And I kind of have this feeling that his gut told him that he wasn't going to be his long-term quarterback.

And, you know, like a lot of others that came here and took the money, I mean, they, you know, perhaps he doesn't get the job. if he doesn't commit to Snyder. I mean, he claims that he never had to commit to Haskins to get the job from Snyder. But we know what Snyder thought of Dwayne Haskins. It was easy for him to do that that year because Chase Young was so highly thought of. And so passing on Tua and Justin Herbert for Chase Young was not criticized by many in the moment. It just wasn't.

I know there are a lot of you listening that say, I called you, Sheehan, I told you. No, you're right. But for the most part, it was not, it was not, it was a pick that was lauded for the most part and complimented. But truly, if he knew and felt like he was going to be in need of a quarterback, then he should have manned up and said, I'm not taking this job unless you are okay with Dwayne Haskins not being the quarterback. In fact, we're going to consider drafting one. and if we don't draft one, we're going to try to trade for one or sign one in free agency because I don't believe in him.

And you have to have one here. And even though we've got this long, you know, term plan here, that's not the way I want to start. So that was a mistake. I think ultimately Ron Rivera's just not cut out to do two jobs, you know, be the head coach and then also be the lead football decision maker. And again, I've cut him slack. because of all that happened after he got here, including his own personal health crisis,

which I think had great impact on him. But even without all of the additional investigations and toxic, you know, and all of the bad things that happened after he got here that already added to the toxic environment, he's not good at doing both. And I really don't think he's very good. at the personnel side. And the personnel side took away from him more as a coach.

And him coaching and being involved specifically with the defense was probably his strength at Carolina. But they haven't, you know, as it turns out now, they haven't drafted well. I don't think they've drafted horribly, but they certainly missed on Chase Young's first pick. They, you know, they didn't land an absolute home run with their second first round pick in Jamon Davis. It certainly doesn't look like Jahan Dotson at this point through two years looks worthy of 16 overall. I mean, still time on that. And certainly Forbes struggled in his first year. They missed on every opportunity that they went for at quarterback. They missed on Matt

Stafford. Look what Stafford is still doing. You got your Super Bowl. Then it looked like it was done. It looked like it was a one and done deal. No, they're going to be potentially in the postseason again. They'll see them this weekend. And Detroit offered up Jared Gough two firsts and a third. And Washington, you know, offered up a first and a second, I think it was, maybe a first and a third. I'm forgetting, but it was nowhere, you needed to be more aggressive. They were very aggressive with Russell Wilson, more aggressive than they were with Stafford. The Fitzpatrick thing was, you know, always going to be a Band-Aid for a year, maybe two. The Carson Wentz thing was a complete and utter disaster.

And no matter what we think of Sam Hal now, whether we're convinced one way or the other or we don't know, they lucked into that. That wasn't the plan if it turns out that Sam Hal can play. You know, this idea, this revisionist history, we had a first or second round, great on them, and you trade it out of the fourth round. You let other teams that had quarterback needs pass on them. You were lucky to get them at the beginning of the fifth. round. And you didn't even want to play them in the season finale last year. We're not going to

forget that. So I think that what you said was on my list, the first decision going with Haskins probably to make Dan, you know, give him the job and all of the responsibility. And then he just wasn't very good at doing both jobs. And I think it cost him as a head coach being the face in the voice of the organization and the chief football decision maker. And a lot of the stuff that he ended up having to talk to certainly wasn't anticipated. But that's mostly it for me. Everything else, I mean, we could go through a lot of other moves. But ultimately, they had a chance with their first draft at number two overall to take a quarterback, Justin Herbert or Tua,

and they took Chase Young. In hindsight, it's a mistake. But it wouldn't, Chase Young wasn't a mistake at the time. But again, the key being, Ron didn't stand up and say, no, I'm not taking this job if it comes with Dwayne Haskins as someone we have to play

or at least try to make work. And then he just wasn't very good at the personnel side, and that kind of led to him less focused and more of a delegator as a coach, which hurt that effort. effort to. So, you got a prediction for Sunday? Yes, I do. What is it? I would take that over if I was everybody. Rams 38, commanders 20.

38 to 20. I like that. And my asterisk is that Jacoby Berset will wind up in the game. Hmm. Okay. That would make things spicy on Monday. And you're not talking about just taking a knee at the end of the game like he did against the dolphins. No. No, no, no, no. And I'm not necessarily saying that Sam Howell be benched. You know, I just don't want to talk an injury into existence, but I think Sam Howe, who's been very tough, one of his qualities is he stood up under a beating this year so far. I don't think that's going to work on Sunday. We'll finish up with our, you heard it here, bold predictions for the week right after these

words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, I can tell you one great franchise that's not going anywhere, Shelly's back room. One of the greatest cigar bars in the entire country is right here in Washington, D.C. And they're not going anywhere. They're at 1331

F Street Northwest. And you can count as them as being as the oasis in the city. Even if the city is not in such great shape inside Shelly's. It's a fabulous shape. Great food, great drink, great atmosphere, great camaraderie. I'll be there tonight

after I get done teaching like I always am on Thursday night hanging out with my buds watching some football. They've got these eight big, high-definition TVs throughout the place and these nice soft, cushy chairs and couches

It's beautifully decorated. And it's just, it's like, like Kramer said on Seinfeld, it's the place to be. Okay. Shelly's Backroom, you can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. Great spot. All right. Let's get to our bold predictions for the week. I've been waiting to hear what the big announcement was going to be.

You got it right here. I heard it here first. All right, Tommy. what do you got? What's your, you heard it here first, bold prediction for the week? You heard it here first. It's at some point in 2024, there's going to be a story out there that Bryce Harper wants a trade. Ooh, Mr. Philadelphia himself? Right, because they're not going to pay him?

Yes, but they're not going to pay him. He's going to look at his paycheck and realize that he's making 7-Eleven money that that next to Otani, who's a D.H. Next year. He's not pitching next year. And Boris will – I tell you what, Boris has got to be steaming at this contract. So my bold prediction is, you know, there's a long shot, a chance of it happening. Rice Harper's name will come up in trade talks next year.

All right. My bold prediction, and this is really, really bold. So sit down before I deliver this one. The new head coach of the Washington Whatever's in 2024 will be Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin will be... Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This was my bold prediction weeks ago.

I know it was. My bold prediction for this week is that Joe Flacco, who they have fallen in love with in two games in Cleveland, Kevin Stefansky said, an absolute pro and winner. Miles Garrett had two words for Joe Flacco after the game last week. He's elite. That was hysterical, you know, taking us back to the conversation about, is Joe Flacco elite or not elite? My bold prediction is that Joe Flacco and the Cleveland Browns beat the Baltimore Ravens in a playoff game.

It's very possible they could play in like a divisional round game. Cleveland, first of all, Cleveland's still got a chance to win the division. They're two games back, and I think they would win the tiebreaker if they can even it up with Baltimore. And Baltimore's got a very difficult schedule. But imagine Flacco takes the Browns into Baltimore for a playoff game. Wow. That would be wild. Cleveland beats Baltimore in a playoff game led by Joe, I don't give a crap, Flacco.

He'll have no idea if it's even a playoff game. But he looked really good against Jacksonville. actually have a very tough game Sunday, an underrated tough game against a Chicago team that all of a sudden is playing really well. And that was going to be my bold prediction is that Chicago makes a run to the playoffs. I think they're going to have a chance for the postseason after they started 0 and 4. But Flacco and the Browns beat Baltimore in a playoff game. If we could just get to Cleveland versus Baltimore in an actual playoff game, that would be enough to earn this bold prediction, a blue ribbon, I think, whether they win the game or not.

Well, since you make up the rules, I guess you make that call. Yes, I do. You don't like the rules sometimes. Did you see that George McGinnis passed away? Yeah, I did. An interesting guy on the basketball court, because I remember, look, I was an ABA fan, and George McGuinness seemed like a force of nature in the ABA. unstoppable. I mean, a huge upper body strength guy who just couldn't be stopped going to the rip. Okay? And then in the NBA, he was good, but he was never as good as he was in the ABA. He never lived up to the hype that came with him and never took the Sixers to the championship that they thought he would when they brought him over from the ABA.

I mean, are you suggesting that McGuinness was a bigger star or as big of a star as Dr. Jay was when they both joined the Sixers after the merger? He was a close second. Really? Yeah. I remember McGinnis with the Sixers. I don't remember him, the ABA. I think I've told you this before. With Indiana Pacers or something.

Yeah, my father loved the ABA. The first basketball he ever got me as a kid was a red-white and blue ABA ball. But I remember George McGuinness, man. He and Dr. Jay had the biggest, they had the biggest hands of players in the league. I mean, the ball looked like a softball in their hands. And McGinnis had this one-handed jump shot. It would literally be like one hand that he would shoot it. But I remember McGinnis as part of the 76ers teams that everybody assumed would win

championship after championship, never getting it done. Losing to Portland, then the next year they lost to the bullets in the Eastern Conference finals, and they did not get back until a lot of those guys were gone. Dr. Jay was still left. I think Bobby Jones was still left, a couple of others when Moses Malone got there in 83, and they won it against the Lakers. But I do remember McGinnis. I did not remember him being nearly as big of a star as Dr. Jay.

I remember Dr. Jay when he came to the NBA when they merged. That was a big, big deal. And I need to ask you this because I don't know the answer to it. The Pacers and the Nets were both teams that survived and were part of the merger with the NBA. So how did Dr. J get with Philadelphia? How did McGinnis land with Philadelphia? Well, I don't recall all the details. I know that the Nets owner at the time was really hurting from money.

I don't know if that was a factor involved or not. The guy's name was Roy Boe, I think, was the owner. And he had some financial issues. I can't tell you why those deals took place off the top of my head. Okay. You know, the greatest story of the ABA is the owners of the St. Louis Spirit. think it was. Yeah.

You know, during that merger, they were offered, you know, essentially cash to go away. And instead, they took a piece of the television, future television revenue for the NBA in perpetuity. I'm forgetting the exact details. But they basically earned something like $500 million over the years before they finally sold the little steak that they had. had. You know the story I'm talking about. I forget their names now. Yeah, absolutely. I'm pretty sure it was the St. Louis Spirit. I'm looking it up right now,

actually. St. Louis Spirit, Marvin Barnes. Marvin Barnes. Ozzie and Daniel... Bob Costas used to do to play-by-play for them. Ozzie and Daniel Silna, two brothers who own the Spirits of St. Louis, former ABA team, negotiated what became known as the greatest sports deal of all time. With the help of their lawyer, they received a portion of the NBA's television rights fees, which added up to an estimated $300 million. The NBA long wanted to somehow end the deal,

and they finally did with an upfront payment, in addition to the $300 million that they had made over the years, they paid them $500 million in 2014 to get at, to get their stake of the television revenues. Not a bad deal. No, we don't need to be a part of the merger. We'll just take some of the television media rights. Amazing.

All right. You got anything else? I got nothing else for you today, boss. All right. Interesting show today. Well done. I'm glad you can hear me. Back tomorrow with Jay Gruden.