The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rivera's EB Riff

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

Kevin is back from some vacation and at it discussing Ron Rivera's comments today that a number of players have come to him to express concern over Eric Bieniemy's intense coaching style. Kevin weighed in on Albert Haynesworth's comments last week about D-Hall, Clinton Portis, and Chris Cooley. Also some thoughts on the Native American Guardians Association petition to bring the Redskins name back.  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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I'm back. After a few days in Vegas and a few days with Cooley in Wyoming. And in Montana, actually.

He lives really close to the Montana border. Really close out there means 45 minutes away. That's really close. But we had a great time. He's doing really well. The family's doing really well. We had a blast. I was there for all of like 48 hours.

But we fished. Didn't catch a lot of fish because it had rained the day before I got there. So a lot of the streams and rivers were pretty muddy. But we had a great time. And God, it is gorgeous out there. It is beautiful out there. By the way, I got there on the day. day that Albert Hainsworth made those comments to outkick Clay Travis, in which he referred to

DeAngelo Hall, Clinton Portis, and Chris Cooley as trash. And I said, have you seen this? He goes, no, he does not pay attention to anything. He certainly does not give, you know, more than a minute or two, maybe a month to social media. He does listen to the, this podcast, and he'll come on at some point. We'll talk more about the trip that we just spent out there, that I spent out there with him. But man, what a total buffoon Albert Hainsworth is, right? I mean, completely delusional. I'll have something to say about that a little later on in the show. A show today that is brought to you by My Bookie, and I want to mention that my Booky's online casino, it offers everything you would want in an online casino.

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You know, it is training camp. I'm not going to spend a lot of time looking back on early training camp practices. You know, injuries are always the biggest newsmakers. And so far, you know, David Bada and Troy Apke are the only serious injuries of camp. They've had some day-to-day guys, Emmanuel Forbes, Logan Thomas, Tressway. But, you know, nothing major major to a major. major contributor. The Jamon Davis situation seems unresolved after another hearing. Now it appears as if August 31st is the hearing of note where we might get a resolution to his very reckless

driving situation, the 140 in a 45 mile per hour zone. I did have a conversation early this morning with someone in the know out there, as in Ashburn. I was told defense looks awesome. The offense has a ways to go, but Sam Howell is making good progress. And quote, he can really sling it, closed quote. I did ask more than just arm strength questions, and the answer was everything else is coming along and no major roadblocks for Sam Howell so far. It's early. They haven't played a preseason game yet. They will do that on Friday night. So there you go on howl. I did not ask about the Ron Rivera comments about Eric B. Enemy from this morning because he had not said them at the point that I was having this conversation. I'll get to that in a minute. But the net of the last few days is that there's really not that much to go back and rehash.

By the way, to Bob, who asked me on Twitter why Stanford Steve and I didn't talk more about the Oregon and Washington moves to the Big Ten, along with everything else that went on late last week and even over the weekend. We recorded that conversation that you heard on Thursday and Friday shows on Wednesday afternoon. I took off on Thursday morning. But I love the conversation, and I always love the conversations with Stanford Steve. on college football, of course, but on the NFL too. I mean, he is as plugged in to the NFL as he is with college football contacts. He really, really has a ton of NFL information. So those shows were good shows.

But yes, understood, Bob, that the conversation about college expansion conference reshuffling was a little bit outdated by the time, perhaps. you would listen to it because things happened and they happened quickly. How about Stanford and potentially Cal to the ACC? Man, madness in college football, college sports. So no real headlines regarding the team while I was away. But of course, today, the first day back doing a podcast, Radio Tomorrow, I open up ESPN.com mid to late morning.

and there's a Ron Rivera Washington headline on the homepage, right? Not the NFL page at ESPN.com, the actual ESPN.com homepage. And it read, Some commanders players concerned by Eric Bianami's intensity, Ron Rivera says. Well, at least it's not a headline dealing with a new investigation into Dan Snyder. You know, those days hopefully are over. But even though it wasn't, you know, a congressional oversight and reform committee headline or some sort of harassment situation, we still had a headline related to this football team today. Ron Rivera went and opened up a can of worms this morning.

Now, I'm not sure if it's a big can or a small can, and I don't think he did it intentionally. I'm not even sure it occurred to him in the moment that he had just created a headline. But here it is, if you haven't heard it. Nikki Javala, Washington Post, at the end of this morning's head coach press conference with Ron Rivera, the very last question, even though you'll hear she gets in a follow-up question. But here it is. Going back to the enemy in his intensity, have players had to kind of adapt to that and have any, I guess, sort of struggled with that at times?

Yeah, I mean, they have. And one of the biggest things is, you know, and I had a number of guys come to me and I say, just go talk to him. I said, understand what he's trying to get across to you, you know, and I think, you know, I think as they go and they

talk and they listen to them, it's been enlightening for a lot of these guys. I mean, it's a whole different approach. You know, again, you get a different kind of player from the players back in the past, especially in life how things are coming out of college football. So a lot of these young guys, you know, they do struggle with certain things.

And a lot of you also are going to take for where they've been. I mean, guys coming from certain programs are used to it. Guys come from other programs aren't as much. So, you know, us as a coach, you know, I kind of have to assimilate and get a feel for everybody. You know, Eric has an approach, and it's the way he does things that he's not going to change. And because he believes in it, Jack has his approach. You know, having been a head coach, I think Jack, has a tendency to try and figure guys out a little bit more as opposed to, hey, this is it,

this is the way it's going to be, that type of stuff. Where Eric, Eric hasn't had that experience yet. Just that when they came to you, it was just they felt like Eric was riding them too hard? Well, they just were a little concerned. So my response to what you just heard is going to be kind of a two-parter. Part one is just the facts, all right, what Ron said. Part two is more opinion. opinion. So the first part, you know, if we take him at face value and we assume that, you know,

Nikki's questions generated and honest and accurate response from Ron, then we can't really debate what he said. I mean, what he said is what he said. You know, when asked if any of the players have struggled adapting to Eric B. Enemy's intensity, Ron said, quote, they have, closed quote. Let me just add one thing for contextual purposes. Nikki's question, I don't think, was a question where she had information about players going to Ron and was going to try to get it from Ron. She was following up on a response that Ron gave to an earlier question about Eric Bianami's impact on the team. And that answer was pretty benign. You know, it was pretty positive overall.

Ron did acknowledge, which he's acknowledged in the past, that Eric is loud, that he does things different. but that he appreciates it because it gets them out of their comfort zone. So I think that's where Nikki's question came from. But Ron's answer, quote, they have, closed quote, to the question of players struggling to adapt to Bienemese intensity. You know, we're not going to debate how we answer these questions. He put these answers out there, okay? You know, the second part of that, and by the way, they have adapted or struggled to adapt to Bienemies' intensity, that's not a headline, really.

I mean, it's a small headline, but it's not a damning answer in any way. You know, old school, loud coaches, you know, a lot of players have a difficult time adapting to coaches like that. You know, we as sports fans, we as people who have played sports at any level, by the way, no matter what level you got to, you've probably been around yellers and screamers before.

And you know that there are some players, who struggle with it, some who just deal with it, and others that actually thrive under it. I personally couldn't care less about Eric B. Enemy's style. Results are what matter. I actually think there's been a need for some old school ass kicking in this organization for a long time. Now, there's another part of Eric B. Enemy, and I'll get to that in a bit, that I am a little bit skeptical about, but we're not going to have a handle on his results until we actually get to real games, which is one of the reasons why saying what he said today didn't make a lot of sense. But Ron didn't stop with just saying they have to the question of players struggling to adapt

to Eric B. Enemy's style. If that had been it, it had been a small headline. It probably wouldn't have even made, you know, the front page of ESPN.com. It would have been more on the NFL page, maybe. But Ron didn't stop with just saying that. Ron just kept going, all right? Ron said, and this is, you know, this is the one more than anything else he said in that answer. Ron said, and one of the biggest things is, I had a number of guys come to me.

Okay, Ron admitted that players basically went above. Eric B. Enemy to the head coach to discuss their struggles with Eric Bianemy's intensity. There's your headline. Did he mean to create it? I don't think so. But let's be clear, he went public with players coming to him to express concern about Eric Bianney's style. Now, he followed up with a lot of other things in here. I don't know if he started to realize that maybe he said something he shouldn't have, but he said, you know, after saying one of the biggest things is that I had a number of guys come up to me. He said, I said, hey, just go talk to him. You know, understand what he's trying to get across to you. And I think as they go and they talk

and they listen to him, it's been enlightening for a lot of these guys. I mean, it's a whole different approach. Again, you're getting a different kind of player from the players back in the past, especially in light of how things are coming out of college football. I'm assuming he's talking about the Northwestern situation. So a lot of these young guys, they do struggle with certain things, and a lot of it you've got to take from where they've been. I mean, guys coming from certain programs are used to it. Guys coming from other programs aren't as much.

And he's talking about, you know, kind of the yelling, screaming, demanding, hard coaching. And then he said something that, you know, was interesting. He said, as a coach have to assimilate and get a feel for everybody. Eric's got an approach and it's the way he does things and he's not going to change because he believes in it. Jack has his approach, is in Jack Del Rio. Having been a head coach, I think Jack has a tendency to try and figure guys out a little bit more as opposed to, hey, this is it. This is the way it's going to be in that type of stuff. Where Eric hasn't had that experience yet. That part from Ron, I think, is just his attempt to say,

look, Eric's lack of head coaching experience means that, you know, he doesn't understand that with some players, maybe you have to be a little bit less rigid. I think that's what he's saying. And then there was this follow-up from Nikki. When they came to you and they were just like, you know, Eric's riding them too hard, he said, quote, they just were a little concerned, close quote.

Look, regardless of your personal reaction to what he said, and everybody can interpret in their own way. Let's all agree, okay, that he admitted today that a number of players are struggling with Eric B. Enamey's intensity, and they went to him to discuss it because they were a little concerned. That's just factual. He admitted today that the players essentially came to him, went above Eric Bianamy, and went to the head coach to express the concern. So part two of my response to what Ron Rivera said is more of an opinion. Okay, it's just my reaction really to reading this on ESPN.com earlier today.

My first reaction, and I had a few of them, but my first reaction was, why, Ron, why did you say that? Now, I don't think, as I said before, I don't think he was trying to get this out there intentionally. Like, I don't think he was trying to get a message to Bianmi through the media or throw Bianity under the bus because he's jealous. I don't think he was any of that. I don't think he was trying to call out some of his players for being too soft. I just think he was doing the Ron thing, where he just rambles too much. My first reaction was this is such an unnecessary thing to say. It's an unforced error.

You can't say that. Now, I guess, like if he's actually really going through. a major problem with Bienemy and the players. Like there's a mass revolt on his hands versus just a few guys bitching about being coached hard. But still, like even if that's true, and I've heard nothing about a rift between Bianemy and the players. Nothing until Ron said it.

Or until Ron suggested that some players are concerned over Iraqi enemy's intensity and style. But even if there was a major rift and he just couldn't help himself, it's still got to be an answer and something that's handled behind closed doors. Ron's job on a question like that is to protect his coach. The coach he hired in the offseason and gave a huge title to. You don't put something out there that can be perceived as a suggestion, perceived as a suggestion of a rift between your new offensive coordinator and his offensive players,

even if it's true, that stuff gets handled behind closed doors. It's not for the head coach to put out there for public consumption. I mean, Ron essentially said something today that usually we would find out because a player leaked it anonymously to a reporter. That's usually how we would find something like that out. not the head coach telling us directly. So my immediate reaction was, God, Ron, just you can't say that, all right? The answer to that question, by the way,

let me give a solution to the complaint. The solution is, after he gets asked the question by Nikki, he says, quote, from my vantage point, the players and Eric are adapting very well to each other. closed quote. That's it. That's the answer. Whether it's true or not. Instead, Ron put it out into the public sphere. And while I don't think he did it intentionally, it was something that he should not have done. I feel like that is my reaction to this that is spot on. Like, you'd really have to

work hard to convince me that Ron didn't make a mistake saying what he said this morning. I just don't understand why he would say that. All right, a few other thoughts. You know, I did think, wow, it's August 8th. They haven't even played their first preseason game, and players are going to Ron about Eric. You know, this could be a problem. Could be a problem. Let me emphasize, could be a problem.

because it matters who the players are. Right? If it's a bunch of new guys who aren't going to make the team anyway, not a big issue. If it's a group of guys that aren't used to being coached this way, because they've always had the laid-back guy, you know, who stays positive all the time. And let me just add, you know,

Eric Bianamy is a yeller and a screamer, and he gets on players when they mess up. But from what I've been told, he's also a big encourager when players, when players do well. But, you know, if it's guys that aren't going to make the team or guys who are just, you know, having a first experience or they haven't had it in a long time dealing with a yeller and a screamer,

that's okay. But if it's Terry McClorn, if it's, you know, Charles Leno Jr., if it's Jahan Dotson, if it's Logan Thomas, if it's Sam Cosmy, if it's Sam Hal even, that wouldn't be a good thing, you know, because, now look, look, if it is, them that went to Ron. It doesn't mean that they won't come around eventually and say, you know, it was rough at the beginning, but, you know, we understood what his, you know, he had a method to his madness and we're all good now. But you don't want your better players or your more important players or your leaders. You don't want them already feeling concerned enough, as Ron put it, or feeling concerned as Ron put it, that they go above the enemy. directly to Ron. You know, you don't want that from, I doubt it's Terry McClorn and some of those

players I mentioned. I doubt it is. That's where it would be a problem. Other than that, I don't see it being much of a problem. I still don't think Ron should have said it. By the way, too, there is some context for all of this, too. You know, the context being, and I know I've talked about it a lot, Washington was the only place that offered Eric Bianami a job. You know, the chiefs would have likely hired him back, but Matt Nagy was going to be the offensive coordinator moving forward. You know, if he wasn't already last year, even if not in title. The reason why nobody but Washington was interested in Eric Bianemy,

I don't know, you know. We've talked about this for months. I don't know for sure. The speculation certainly has been that Bianney's style has a shelf life. to it. And whether it was for a head coach or an OC that he was interviewing for, you know, and he eventually settled on being okay to take an OC job because I think he wanted to spread his wings beyond Andy Reed and beyond Patrick Mahomes. But when he was willing to do that, still, Washington was the only team interested. This is something you know I've been talking about since the

day he was hired. I've made this very clear. to those of you who have said to me that the hiring of Biennamy was like this major get. No, it wasn't. Nobody else wanted him. That's just true. They could all be wrong for not wanting him. That is a possibility. But nobody else wanted to hire Eric Biennamy as a head coach or an offensive coordinator.

The only other team that was reportedly interested in, interviewing him for an OC position, but they didn't, was Baltimore. There may have been one other team I'm missing, but Washington was the only team that interviewed him, and they offered the job to him. So I don't, you know, we do have this as kind of the backdrop here, like if you're being realistic about what happened. Some of you are convinced that this was a major coup. Like, oh my God, Eric Bion. Enemy's coming here. Are you kidding me? What a good. No, no one else wanted him. I mean, think about it this way.

Do you really think that if Eric Bianamy had a bunch of options that he would have picked here? A place that, remember, this year is huge for him if he's ever going to be a head coach. So if he had a lot of options, he's going to pick the place that doesn't have a quarterback of note. That also has an ownership situation in flux. Now, if you want to say, oh, well, he came here, and he picked here above all of the other places that were offering, nobody else was, because he knew Ron Rivera was a lame duck, and he was going to be a head coach here within a year if his system worked and if they were good offensively. No, I mean, even if that's true, like he was okay with Washington because of that, it still doesn't change the fact that nobody else offered him. This is where, you know, you just got to stick with the facts people. Like Carson Wentz was released and traded by two different teams,

or traded by two different teams, at a massive salary cap hit and expense to those teams. That's a fact. And that just doesn't happen in the NFL unless they just desperately want him out of their building. Eric B. Enemy wasn't offered by anybody else. And the coach and the team that offered him just happens to be close with the coach that he just worked for.

Look, netting it out, big takeaway for me, Ron Rivera, I mean, God, what are you doing? Just less is more, please. You know, he created headlines everywhere. And it was totally unnecessary to do so. It was an unforced error. And for me, you know, takeaway, a second takeaway is just that I really think the only real ramifications are if the players complaining to run are the players of note. You know, they are the players that matter.

Because if the players complaining aren't going to make the team anyway where they're not, leaders. I just don't see that being a major issue. You know, Marty Schottenheimer turned off a lot of the veteran players in 2001 when he got here. Daryl Green couldn't stand him. Bruce Smith couldn't stand him. They were complaining. They were going over Marty's head. They were going to Dan. They were going to anybody that would listen. Vinny, anybody that would listen. Marty did not give a shit. He couldn't care less. He wanted his guys. And he had them by the end of that season, remember, his first season. and his last season, unfortunately. Eric B. Enamey's got a lot of belief,

and he is very staunch in the way he coaches. He's going to get buy-in from some, and perhaps he won't get buy-in from others. But as long as the buy-in comes from Terry McLaren and the leaders on that offense and the best players, I don't see this amounting to too much. Again, part of it is that until this morning, I did not hear and had not heard,

and I don't think it had been reported that there was a major problem or any kind of problem, you know, a concern from players until Ron brought it up. You know, it just wasn't super smart for Ron to bring it up. And yes, he brought it up. He wasn't asked if players had come to him directly. He offered that up. That was the headline. You know, being asked if players are struggling, getting used to be enemy's style,

didn't need to lead to him offering up that players were struggling and then beyond that had come to him directly. Not a good answer at all. By the way, I was thinking to watch Ron Rivera try to walk this back tomorrow. What he shouldn't do is he should not try to blame the media for this one because the media didn't say it and didn't report it from any sort of source or anonymous leak. He said it. But he'll try to walk it back and describe, I would guess, what he was trying to say. But it's going to be interesting to see if he can extricate himself from saying that players came to him directly to express their concern. Also, by the way, Eric B. Enemy held a post-practice, excuse me, press conference today.

And I did watch it. I like Eric B. Enamey's communication ability. It's not for everybody. There's a lot of coach speak. There's a lot of third-person references. You know, lots of that stuff in it. But he is authoritative. Like, there is something to his ability to communicate.

Now, I don't know. lot about Eric Bianamy. I certainly am skeptical as to, or curious as to why Washington was the only place that was interested in having him in their building as a coach, as an OC. And we're going to find out. And it could be just, you know, that everybody else screwed up and that, you know, he's been living in the shadows of Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelsey and everybody else there. That's, that could be it. And he just needs to spread his wings and he's going to blossom into this great offensive coordinator and future, great head coach. I can tell you this. If he does, he's going to be one of those communicators that's going to get

that will be quoted often. I thought he handled the questions about what Ron said very well. There was one specific part. I'm going to read the answer because the video was actually breaking up and I tried to record it into the show, but his sound wasn't smooth enough. But anyway, someone asked him, and I'm forgetting now, about, you know, addressing players, like, you know, when players come to him, because they're struggling with adapting to his coaching style. And he said, before it goes anywhere, I make it the point to address the conversation because my job is to be very observant. I got to know the people that I'm discussing and working with. So my job is to address if there's something that they may have an issue with. And if so, he's like, let's discuss this.

Here's the reason why I feel a certain way if the player says that. Here's why I said what I said. You know, I put it back on the player and you've got to understand we're in a grown man's business, we're in a grown man's world. My job is to make sure that I'm doing the best possible job of communicating clarity. I take tremendous amount of pride in that. They also know when I'm getting on them, it's nothing personal. What's personal is that I want us to win.

I expect that particular player to be great at all times. I expect the effort to be a standard that's accepted by all of us. So when you're not reaching that, it's my job to address it. So sometimes they may like the highlights and the praise, but sometimes they may not like it, and I'm perfectly fine with that because that's my job. Because if I ain't doing my job, my ass gets fired. So it's my job and my responsibility to make sure that I'm getting our guys. to do what I expect them to do, closed quote.

Yeah, you know, there are, and look, I'm not going to bring up my many years of youth basketball coaching, but I do understand that a lot of coaches who are tough on their players, that the players take it personally when it's never intended that way. You know, and in many cases, if they're not getting after you, that's when you should worry. That's when the players should legitimately worry. Because when a coach isn't getting on you, if he's a tough coach, then he doesn't really think you can give him anything as a contributor. So I'm not trying to sit here and tell you that my years of high school basketball and being a 30-plus-year youth basketball. basketball coach, that I have all of this experience. But those of you who have participated as a

coach or a player at any level understand that more times than not, and I'm not saying that there aren't abusive coaches out there that need to be rained in, of course, or need to be, you know, gotten rid of. But in the case of just tough coaches that are good coaches, it's never really personal. It's all about they think that that that play. player has something that the team can use to win. I don't know. We're going to find out September 10th can't get here fast enough so that the results, the real results can actually be judged.

But there is something about Eric Bienemy when he is communicating that I like. But again, in the back of my mind is, well, why didn't anybody else want him? Maybe we're going to find out that as well. Or maybe we'll find out that everybody else screwed up. All right. When we come back, what Albert Hainsworth said at the end of last week, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by the Circa Million and the Circa Survivor pools.

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you just share in the $8 million guaranteed price. But I hope it is alive long enough for us to talk about it during the regular season several times. Again, the Circa Million and the Circa Survivor Pool put on by the Circus Sportsbook, the biggest and the best sports book in Las Vegas. Don't forget to rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify, a five-star review and a quick one-to-two-sentence. Five-star rating, a quick one-to-two-sentence review is much appreciated.

Follow us as well on both. That's really important. We are getting through the upcoming football season calendar ad sale campaigns, and all of your ratings and reviews and follows are tremendously helpful for us right now. Anyway, so when I arrived at Coolies on Saturday morning, I looked at my phone, and so many of you had tweeted me the Albert Hainsworth comments. on an outkick podcast, I think it was. I'm going to play them for you right now.

I'm going to play the last minute of his comments. He started off by talking, the question was, what was it like to play for Dan Snyder's organization in Washington? And, you know, of course, because he was Dan's guy, and Dan, you know, fired up Redskin One and went and paid him the largest contract at the time in NFL history for a defensive player. And Dan was such a, you know what sniffer.

all the star players were treated well, and he had no problems with Dan. You know, he did say that, you know, Dan was a bit of a fantasy football owner, and he didn't know much about football. But for the most part, he had no problems with Dan. Of course he didn't. Because, you know, all of the star players, Dan treated well, especially the players that he picked. I do want to mention real quickly so that I don't sound hypocritical here.

I actually was in favor of the Albert Haynesworth signing in the moment. I was. And one of the reasons was he was coming off a tremendous year. And Washington had only to that point spent their big money in free agency on skill position players. They had not spent it on offensive linemen or defensive linemen during the Dan era. Obviously, we had Stubby and Wilkinson prior to Dan. But so I was like, Jesus, finally, they spent money on an interior lineman. You know, where the games won in the trenches.

And he fooled me in that introductory press conference. I thought he sounded great and he was going to have a great career here, dead wrong. But I wanted to put that out there. Here were the key, here was the key portion of the interview where he talks about three players specifically on the team that he played for in Washington. I mean, in that locker room, it was a joke. Like, I mean, guys are just, they're just joking. Like, I mean, I got a couple guys that still, like, talk to what most of them are trash. Like, they got their check and they were done kind of thing.

Oh, dude, they would be like talking about it in the, coming out in the tunnel, what club they're going to and they got a table on the site. Oh, it was just, it was whack. And it's the ones that be like chirper to try to talk about me, you know? I was like, dude, I could call you out about all. all the stuff you guys are doing, you know. So, like, don't even, don't even, like, bring my name into it. Yeah, it's all them, like, DeAngelo Hall, like, I don't see, like,

Clint Ford is, like, freaking, what's it, Cooley or whatever. Chris Cooley? Yeah. Dude, it is just a, they're a joke. Like, they belong in Washington because they are what that team represented back then, which is trash. And they, when they just got their paycheck, and it was time to go party and blow it.

Trash and, yeah, I'm blood and all on the plane and everything like that. Like, they were just, they were trash. I know all of us understood listening to Albert Hainsworth that he was actually describing himself, not DeAngelo Hall, Chris Cooley, or Clinton Portis. Some of you were frustrated with the interviewer not going back at Big Al and saying, well, what about you lying? on the field for, you know, 30 seconds and not moving as people were jumping around you chasing

Michael Vick on a Monday night against the Eagles. What about that time that you were so exhausted that you faked an injury, left the field, but then came back, you know, in the second half and played a little bit? What about you being a complete and utter menace to the community that you lived in, sexually harassing waitresses, punching people in the face during traffic altercations? What about all of that? What about the fact that you didn't produce anything after getting the largest contract in the history of the league? And I don't want to hear from those of you that say 3-4. He didn't want to play the 3-4. He came here. It was going to be the 4-3. Nobody liked him from the moment he arrived. Hainsworth questioned Greg Blosh in a 4-3 and questioned Mike

Shanahan and Jim Haslett and a 3-4. He was, and I admit it, I admit it, I admit it. I I was in favor of the signing because it was an interior delineman, and they hadn't signed an offensive lineman or an interior defensive lineman in free agency during the Snyder era. And I thought maybe this would be helpful. I was wrong. So was Dan. You know, I remember many times, whether it was Cooley or Clinton or Santana or any time Albert Hainsworth's name would come up, they thought he was an absolute freak talent.

Like they understood why he had gotten the contract and how he was able to play at the level he played at, you know, the year before Washington signed him. They recognized how gifted he was, but they all knew, you know, what a bag of trash he was for taking the money and never, ever really caring about winning and doing what, you know, he could do to help the team be better. Anyway, that's enough on that. Let's get to a few other things to finish up the show. We will do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This final segment of the show is brought to you by Shelley's Back Room, 1331F Street, Northwest for the best cigar bar in town, bar none.

It is a great spot, not just for cigars. And by the way, if you're one of those people that don't love smoky cigar bars, they've got the best ventilation system. So if you just want to go in there and grab lunch or dinner, do that. They've got a great menu, incredible food. The drink menus, great, cocktails, wine, beer list outstanding. And who knows, you might even see Tom Levero when you're in there. 1331F Street, Northwest for Shelley's back room.

So I wanted to finish up the show, and it's a quick show today because I only had a limited amount of time to get the show done today. Catching up on a lot of things after being away for four to five days. But so many of you continue to send me the link to the Native American Guardians Association Twitter petition. The petition to bring back the Washington Redskins name. It's up to 65,000 signatures. Pretty damn impressive. I love, by the way, the way they put former players on the banner to announce the petition number, signature number. At 65,000, they've got a picture of Dave Butts up there. Rest in peace, number 65. The greatest, right? The greatest defensive tackle in franchise history.

I don't think that's debatable, is it? I'm just trying to think right now. Darrell Grant, Dave Butts, it's Dave Butts. Who else am I missing? Well, John Allen and Duran Payne may get there eventually, but they're not now. You know, for a team that's had, you know, Hall of Fame players, and on defense, Darrell Green, Ken Houston, Chris Hanberger. Am I forgetting any defensive players? Champ Bailey doesn't count because, you know, he went in as a Denver Broncos. Sam Hoff kind of went in as a giant. More offensive Hall of Famers than defensive Hall of Famers. I think I'm right about that, right?

Rigo, Sonny, Sammy Ball, Art Monk, Russ Grimm, Bobby Mitchell. I'm sure I'm forgetting some names there too. Anyway, I like the way they put Dave Butts on there. Dave Butts, the best defensive tackle and franchise history. If I forgot somebody, just tweet me at Kevin Sheen, D.C. So this is an impressive number of signatures, and it's growing. And it's an impressive effort. And most of you know the way I feel about this.

I would love if Redskins came back. It's a part of me. It's a part of a lot of you. It feels different since that name left. It feels very different since the new name was introduced. It just does. And for a lot of people, it's a real deal breaker. It is.

I mean, a lot of you have issues with that. I'm sorry. You know, as I've said before, you can't, you know, you can't tell people or change the way people feel. This is a very visceral, emotional thing. You know, this kind of brand, what it was and what it meant. I would love to see it come back, of course. I would love to see the case made, again, that Native Americans en masse and significant majority, based on most of the polling, want the name back, that this is not the equivalent of the N-word.

That's the dumbest argument of all time. And anybody that espouses that just doesn't know anything about what they're talking about. I mean, there are Native American high schools in this country that still have Redskins, name one high school in this country that has the N-word as the team's school nickname. You can't find one because that name is obviously. Obviously, that word is a slur. Redskins is different. It's more complex. It's very debatable. No matter what the dictionary says, there's a lot of data out there. There's a lot of information out there that suggests it's not the slur that the dictionary defines it as. And I've always said and have said for 10 years now,

it wouldn't even matter to me because language evolves and this word means something different than what it meant 100 years ago, 125 years ago. Redskins, noun, non-pejorative, the football team that plays in the NFL in the city of Washington, D.C. There's your new second non-pejorative definition. I know I'm repetitive on that and have been over the years, but for those that are just listening to the podcast for the first time, there's what somebody should be working on if they really want the name. back is petition dictionaries for a second definition. But anyway, let me just tell you, I would love this. It would be great, you know, and it would be great if I knew for sure that it didn't

hurt people and that it wasn't, you know, something that people were really, really Native Americans, okay, they're the ones that matter, that, you know, there was a significant more than just the 10% or 15% or whatever it is, that it really was more of a split thing, among all the reservations, and it was a very hurtful thing. I would not want that. I would not want that. I said that when the name existed. But I didn't feel that anybody had really proven that that was the way Native Americans felt.

So obviously I would love to have the name back. It's always been important to me as well, and I've never once thought about this name in a negative way, in an insensitive way, nor have any of you. however, I just don't think there's any chance in hell this is going to happen. I know I up my percent chance from zero to one percent. It's just not going to happen because the corporate sponsors will never be convinced because many of their consumers won't be convinced. And I'm not talking about their Native American consumers.

You know, I'm talking about more progressive consumers. They're never going to think that they're wrong about this. And because of that, and because it's gone and it doesn't exist anymore, they're not going to bring back that controversial element to the league. They're not going to bring into play potential loss of revenue. By the way, there was something from a commander's spokesperson. Somebody sent this to me. A commander's spokesperson said that they are aware of this petition,

and that the owners, oh, so because the owners, you know, Josh Harris, Mitchell, Rails, Magic Johnson, Mark Ine have all made reference to Redskins, have used that term. You know, they've been asked why they've been so comfortable in using that term. And so they put out a statement or a commander spokesperson put out a statement saying, commanders owners making historical reference to watching and rooting for the Redskins does not signify a shift, nor does it change the reasons for dropping the name. Close quote. Look, I don't think they're going to consider Redskins. I think they're going to consider a name change for sure. I'd put it as the favorite, but I don't think they're going to consider Redskins.

You don't pay $6 billion for something and then change back. to something that invites controversy. Now, I guess somebody could make the case that if they changed it back, 30% of people who would never buy a ticket or buy anything because of the loss of the name will trump those that will then say, I'm not going to support the team moving forward because you went back to that old name. And I bet that that number is greater in terms of the number of people that would then embrace the team versus those who would not if they brought Redskins back.

But I don't see it happening. I really don't. I know some of you are so excited about this, and you've expressed your excitement to me on Twitter about the incredible number of signatures on this petition. And I am rooting for it to succeed. Don't get me wrong. I just would never, ever wager on Redskins coming back.

I would be pleasantly shocked if it did. I hope I'm wrong. Like I hope, you know, Magic Johnson gets behind, you know, this movement. And he's able to go reservation by reservation and convince everybody and then go corporate sponsor of the NFL to corporate sponsor of the NFL to convince them that it's okay to do this. But I just don't think that's going to happen. All right. That's it for the day back tomorrow.