The Kevin Sheehan Show - Russell Wilson to DC?

Episode Date: February 7, 2022

Kevin has some news on whether or not Russell Wilson to Washington is a possibility. Andy Pollin joined Kevin to talk about the new name, fan reaction to the new name, Super Bowl, and more. Kevin finished up the show with some Wizards and Hoyas.  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. The show today is presented by MyBooky at mybooky.com and MyBooky.agy. Guys, if you already have a place where you're wagering on sports, I would take MyBooky's free money. They are offering a doubling of your first deposit all the way up to $1,000.

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Cooper Cup has the largest over-under number on catches and yards. Catches is eight and a half. If you think Cooper Cup's going to have nine catches or more, you bet over. If you think he's going to have eight catches or less, you bet under. Eight and a half for him. By the way, the highest on the other side for Cincinnati. Both T. Higgins and Jamar Chase's catch total over under number is five and a half. Yardage-wise, Cups got the highest yardage at 106.5 reception yards over under, and it's 80.5 for Jamar Chase for Cincinnati. Go to mybooky.com or my bookie.orgie. use my promo code. If there's something already written in the promo code, erase it, and write Kevin DC, and you'll get free money up to a thousand bucks to wager with. By the way, I was looking at their

futures odds on next year's Super Bowl, Super Bowl 57. The co-favorits right now are Kansas City and Buffalo. So Cincinnati's in the Super Bowl, but your co-favorites to win the Super Bowl next year are two AFC teams, Buffalo in Kansas City. The team in the NFC with the best. odds, the Rams. They're in the Super Bowl right now, followed by the Niners and the Packers and the Cowboys. Obviously, Tom Brady retiring from Tampa. If you're wondering where Washington is, they're down the list of ways. I think only five NFC teams have worse odds or longer odds to win Super Bowl 57 than Washington. Philadelphia's got much better odds, and obviously Dallas does as well in the NFC East. All right. I want to start.

start with Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson, there was a picture that was floating around the internet all weekend long and certainly on Twitter over the weekend. I saw it when Michael Phillips tweeted it out. It was a picture from, I think, an NFC practice session out in Vegas for the Pro Bowl. By the way, just real quickly on the Pro Bowl. What was that? Was that normal? I don't watch the Pro Bowl a lot. But when did tackling get outlawed? Like completely, like there was no tackling in the game. You know, from a gambling perspective, for those that care, for those that don't, I still think it's interesting. The over-under for the game yesterday, somebody told me, was 64. That's not a very high total for a Pro Bowl. I wonder if the odds makers knew that there was no tackling in the game.

You know, I know that the Pro Bowl has become kind of a laughing stock of a game and not real football, but yesterday it really wasn't football. It was first contact and the player was down. I tuned in for five minutes and I really thought that I wasn't watching. I thought that the rules had changed. People said, no, the rules didn't actually prohibit tackling in the game. But clearly there was an understanding between players and referees that first contact and the player was. down, but it was very arbitrary. It was very inconsistent because I saw a couple of big

runs where it looked like there was some contact or some touching that they allowed and others that they didn't. But whatever, you know, if you watch that thing for more than five minutes, bless you. I bet you it did a good number. But if the game continues that way, I can't imagine that people will actually tune in and watch it. It's not football. Maybe there was some entertainment in terms of interviews, I guess, maybe. I don't know. But anyway, back to Russell Wilson. So anyway, Michael Phillips tweeted out this picture, and he wrote,

I'm sure everybody will be super rational about this. And I'm sure that was funny because, of course, people weren't going to be rational. It's like, hey, Russell Wilson and John Allen, you know, our leader, you know, on the team. He's hanging out with John and his wife. Siara likes John's wife. Who knows? I don't know about any of that. Here's what I know from two totally reliable sources.

And you guys know that I don't have news very often. But when I've had it in the past, it's been pretty much right almost every single time. Now, being right here doesn't mean that Russell Wilson's going to end up in Washington. But what I know from two sources is that Russell Wilson, is not against playing in Washington. He's not against it. Last year at this time, if you recall,

he had a wish list with four teams on it and Washington was not one of them. I think if somehow a reporter got to Russell Wilson and Russell Wilson gave a wish list for 2022, that Washington might be on it. What I've learned, and from two very reliable sources, is that Washington would not be, be a definite no for Russell Wilson, that there would be some interest. Remember, he's from

Richmond. And Washington of the places that desperately need a quarterback would be probably the biggest market. Pittsburgh, Denver, and the AFC, Carolina, New Orleans, Washington, I guess Tampa now needs a quarterback. In Tampa, the Tampa St. Pete market, while not as big as Washington, is, you know, a good-sized market with great weather, of course. But Washington would be the biggest market of the markets where quarterbacks are definitely needed. Now, you know, we don't know what Indy's going to do. We don't know what Minnesota is going to do. There are other teams.

You know, Tennessee might move on. Who knows from Tanna Hill. But I think what makes this important or what made it interesting to me is that we always talk about, well, they're not going to want to come to Washington. Well, Aaron Rogers and Russell Wilson. aren't going to want to come to Washington. You know, we live in the day-to-day shenanigans and, you know, and just the dysfunction that is the Washington commanders, I guess.

I don't know if I'm going to get used to saying that. Organization. You know, it's a shit show of an organization and who would want to be here. You know, Dan Snyder is reviled. People, you know, agents, players, coaches, they all know, know what an absolute mess this place is. Now, with that said, and Albert Breer spelled it out last week and we talked about it, you know, there's a reasonable case to be made that the football situation isn't that terrible compared to some places. And by the way, let me also emphasize

that Ron Rivera is very well respected, you know, and Mayhew and Herney, I mean, I think they're well respected. I think I think Mayhew is for sure. And I think Ron Rivera, Jack Dil Rio, are well respected. And you have everything that Breer spelled out, all the things we know, right? An offensive line that was a little bit underrated, even though they're going to be losing their best offensive linemen, more likely than not in free agency. There was some depth there.

There's a really good young receiver in McLaurin. There's a really good young tight end in Logan Thomas. Hopefully Curtis Samuel comes back healthy. Antonio Gibson, really good young back. Foundation on defense, lots of cap room, yada, yada, yada. So it's not the worst football situation. But I thought, you know, when I got this information over the weekend, I thought it was significant because it's like you pretty much kind of think,

well, you're going to have to outpay the market big time to get any of these teams interested if they're trying to do right by the player because the player's not going to want to come here. Well, Russ is not against coming here. Now, let's get to the reality of what, you know, that means. I'll start with this. Why would Seattle trade Russell Wilson? They didn't trade him last year, even though it seemed like he wanted to be traded.

He's got two years left on his deal. They brought back the coaching staff, Pete Carroll and company. They're not going to rebuild bringing Pete Carroll back and staff, right? They think they can win. They think they can win next year. And by the way, if you look at the way they played at the end of last year, when they got healthier, especially Russ got healthier, Rashad Penny got healthier.

They played really good football down the stretch. They won four of their final six games. Their final two games, they scored 89 points. They beat Detroit 51 to 29, and then they beat the Cardinals in the season finale 38 to 30 in a game that Arizona had to win. If they had won that game, they would have won the division because the Rams were losing to the 49ers.

And Seattle went in there and beat the Cardinals in Glendale, 38 to 30, behind a much healthier Russell Wilson. Now, I will tell you, one of the real reasons for Seattle's late season push, they ended up 7 and 10, by the way, was Rashad Penny. Rashad Penny had an unbelievable finish to the season for Seattle. He missed a bunch of games in, September and October in particular. Over his final five games, he rushed for 137 yards.

Then he had a game against the Rams, really good defense that they lost 20 to 10, where he only rushed for 39. His last three games, 17 carries 135 yards, 25 carries 170 yards, and 233 carries 190 yards. Rashad Penny's finished to the season. By the way, throw in there over those. final five games, six touchdowns. I mean, he was really good once he got back and was healthy. And Russell Wilson, you know, we know, because he came to Washington for that Monday night game,

and he wasn't, you know, that was his first game back off the thumb injury, and he wasn't completely healthy. He ended up having one of the worst years of his career, and for the first time, only playing in 14 of 16 games, not all 16. So he's still through 25 times. touchdown passes and six picks. You know, his completion percentage was nearly 65%, which is his career average. But they didn't make the playoffs. You know, he did not make the playoffs this year. They finished seven and ten.

And so there has been some discussion about whether or not Seattle will trade him this year. But I would say that it doesn't make a lot of sense with two years. years left on his deal, why Seattle would trade him? If they were going to trade them, why are they bringing back the coaching staff? Why aren't they just entering into a legitimate rebuild? Like, who are they going to get to play quarterback next year if they trade Russell Wilson? So, number one, in terms of the reality check to Russell Wilson coming to Washington, not what I, you know, gave you news-wise, which is Russell Wilson wouldn't be against being traded to Washington. I just don't see why Seattle would trade them.

You know, it's becoming more apparent, and I think it's a conversation that's happening, even more now than it ever used to happen, is, well, who are we going to get? You have to have one of these guys. It's a pipe dream to just kind of think, oh, we can get Trent Dilfer and build around them. We can get Nick Foles and build around him. We can get Jimmy Garoppolo and build around them. The teams that have these guys and Russell Wilson's one of those guys, I mean, they've been to the playoffs. Russell Wilson came into the league in 2012.

They went to the playoffs, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2015, 2016. They did not make it in 2017. They made it in 2018, 2019, and 2020, and then didn't make it this year. Every single year, Seattle, was a legitimate player. Two Super Bowl trips, one Super Bowl wins should have been two Super Bowl wins. They played in big games in January, year in year out, because of one thing more than any other, and that was Russell Wilson, period. Okay, number three. So why would you trade him? Okay, that's number one in terms of kind of a reality check to this. In terms of,

extrapolating it out from Russ, you know, wouldn't be against a trade to Washington to it actually happening. So why would Seattle do it? Number two is let's just say Seattle was open to it. Well, just like with Green Bay, they're going to look at the AFC first. Don't you think, you know, Pittsburgh, Denver, you know, his possibilities, they're going to look at the AFC first. And they're going to say, we don't want them in our conference. certainly don't want them in our division. Not that anybody in the division is going to be looking for Russell Wilson.

San Francisco is going to go with Trey Lance and Staffords and L.A. with the Rams and Kyler-Murries and Arizona with the Cardinals. But AFC, to me, you'd have to outbid an AFC team. And then even if the NFC or other NFC teams were a possibility, you're going to have to offer up the best package. Now, maybe Seattle, if they got to the point where they said, okay, we are going to trade them. Maybe they would do with Russell Wilson what Detroit did with Matt Stafford last year, and that is try to accommodate them. But it was easy for Detroit,

remember, because the Rams offered the best deal by a lot. So it's not like they had Washington sitting there with three firsts and Duran Payne, you know, as a way to match, you know, the Rams. They didn't have a choice. They took the best offer. It just happened that the best offer was also the place where Matt Stafford wanted to go. I don't know how accommodating Seattle would be with Russell Wilson. They're going to take the best deal, so then you get to will Washington pay the going rate

or even exceed, like outbid everybody else? I believe actually, and this is just a gut feel, I believe that the answer to would Washington pay in terms of what it would take to get them, I think the answer to that would be yes. I just don't think Washington has much of a choice. with the debacle that was last week, the debacle that is their season ticket base.

They've got to make this new name and the new uniforms and the new branding. They've got to win and be significantly in the race to win right from the jump. They've got to be there. They've got to be a contender. You're not going to be a contender more likely than not drafting Malik Willis at 11 or Kenny Pickett at 11. that's probably not going to make you an instant winner. You're probably not going to be a big-time contender if you sign Mitch Trubisky and draft somebody.

You're certainly not going to be a big-time contender if you draft somebody and play Taylor Heineke. So I do think on the question of whether or not Washington would pay up, I think they would. But I think the bigger question really is, why would Seattle trade them? But, you know, for those of us that have thought, yeah, they're not going to want to come here anyway. Well, apparently, Russ would not be

against coming to Washington in a trade if, you know, Seattle decided to put them up on the market. I was talking to somebody earlier, too, who said that a few people in Mobile had mentioned Russell Wilson. I'm not, I'm talking about reporters. I think, um, uh, Garofalo, the guy from NFL network had either reported or in a conversation said something. Oh, I know what it was. Ben Standing told me that he was on his podcast and mentioned that, you know, Russ and Washington would be a much better fit than most people perhaps think it would be. So something to get us started here on this Monday. Monday, February 7th, February 7th, the Monday of Super Bowl week. The Super Bowl will be on its latest date.

ever this Sunday, February 13th. I was looking some stuff up literally right before my radio show this morning because I was thinking about what the latest date of the Super Bowl was prior to this year with the 17 game schedule. That's why we've got the latest date to the Super Bowl ever. February 13th this coming Sunday. By the way, Kooley will be on the show this week to do a Super Bowl preview with me. Tommy will be on with me tomorrow.

And I'll have definitely a Super Bowl smell test on. on Friday looking to try to get back to 500, which means I'll probably have some totals and some half totals in there. First half lines in there as well. And there is a side I like a lot in this game. I'll just tell you right now, I like the Rams a lot. I think the Rams, first of all, the public seems to like Cincinnati,

coming off the win at Arrowhead, which is kind of surprising to me. me, I guess. But I like the favorite in the Super Bowl this year. Had the dog in the Super Bowl last year. But I was looking at dates. You know that, so February 13th will be the latest that the Super Bowl's ever been held. There are three, the three latest Super Bowl's prior to this year were three February

7th games. Last year's game was played on February 7th between the Bucks and the Chiefs. Super Bowl 50, which was the Carolina Denver Super Bowl, was played on a February 7th. And the Saints beat the Colts in Super Bowl 44 on February 7th. And then for whatever reason that got me going down this hole of, when did the Super Bowl become a February thing? Because it wasn't always a February thing. For most of the Super Bowl's history, all right, it was a January thing. And I landed on the first February Super Bowl was actually accidentally.

Well, not accidentally. It was because of a tragedy, 9-11. The first Super Bowl to be played in February was the February 3rd Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Rams, the first of what would be the Belichick Brady run of nine Super Bowl trips in 18 seasons with six wins. That's really amazing when you think about it. I was stuck on pro football reference here very early this morning. Just nine Super Bowl trips in 18 years, one every two years for the Belichick Brady Patriots, and they won six of them.

Their first one was the 2000 season when they won the Super Bowl over the Rams. On February 3rd, they won that Super Bowl. And then all of the first 35 Super Bowls all came in January. They were all in January. In fact, the earliest the Super Bowl was ever played was January 9th, which was the date in which the regular season ended this year. I understand 17 regular season games. In January 9th, 1977 was the earliest the Super Bowl ever was. That was Super Bowl 11 between the Raiders and the Vikings in Pasadena. The Raiders smoked the Vikings 32 to 14. And it was a 14 game regular season back then. But the Super Bowl was January 9th. And that's the earliest the Super Bowl's ever been played was January 9th.

Like even the first Super Bowl was the 15th. The second Super Bowl was the 14th. Super Bowl 4 was January 11th. But January 9th, 1977 was the earliest. And then this year, February 13th, 2022 will be the latest. The other thing that I just wanted to mention for those old-time 1970s football fans, you know, that Super Bowl featuring the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings on January 9th, 1977 was a Raiders team that had finally beaten the Steelers in the playoffs.

And that Steelers team, Steelers fans will tell you that the 76 Steelers may have been the greatest of all of the Steelers' 70s teams. The dynasty that was the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 70s, they won four Super Bowls in four trips, they beat the Vikings in their first Super Bowl trip, the Cowboys in their second, the Cowboys in their third, and then the Rams in their fourth Super Bowl.

They went four for four with all of those Hall of Famers. But many Steelers fans will tell you that the 76 Steelers team was actually the best team. However, Bradshaw got hurt that year, only played half the games. They ended up 10 and 4, and they had to play that AFC championship game against the Raiders on the road and they lost 24 to 7. But that Steeler team, the 76 Steelers, that Steel Curtin, Steeler team, they had five shutouts.

It was a 14-game regular season. Five shutouts in 14 games. held their opponents to three points or less in half of their games. So in seven of their 14 games, the teams they faced either didn't score or only scored three points in the game. Eight of their 14 games, they allowed only six points or less. And in 12 of their 14 games, they held opponents to less than 20. We talk about the greatest defenses in NFL history, the 85 bears, the 2,000 Ravens as an example. The 76 Steelers were unbelievable. And I know it's a different day and age, a different, you know, football that's played today. And it was a much more physical game

defensively, and you could get away with just about anything defensively. But my gosh, God, that defense was unbelievable. The Steelers defense was of that particular era. They were so good. It was such a great team. They just didn't have Terry Bradshaw for half the games. But listen to the Hall of Famers. Okay, listen to the Hall of Famers on this team, on the 76 Steelers.

Jack Lambert, Franco Harris. Terry Bradshaw, Jack Hamm, Mel Blunt, who am I missing from here? Lynn Swan, John Stallworth. Wright Stallworth's a Hall of Famer, I'm pretty sure. What a team. What a rivalry the Steelers and Raiders of the 70s were. It was an incredible non-divisional rivalry,

a within-conference rivalry. I guess you would call that an intricate. conference rivalry. We haven't had a lot of those. Most of the greatest rivalries in NFL history are divisional rivalries, you know, but the greatest non-divisional rivalries are the Steelers, Raiders of the 70s. And then you could probably say the Cowboys 49ers of the 90s in particular. They played in three NFC championship games. And then you had the Brady versus Peyton Manning, the Patriots Colts thing. of the aughts in particular.

You know, so those those are kind of the biggest rivalries that weren't divisional rivalries in NFL history. I guess you could say the Steelers, Cowboys, were a big rivalry in terms of one conference versus another. I think the Cowboys and Steelers

having played each other in three different Super Bowls, that's the most of any matchup in Super Bowl history. Actually, we were pretty close to matching that this year. If the 49ers had won that game, the 49ers in Bengals would have been playing for a third time in a Super Bowl. Anyway, as he says anyway, all the time is a crutch.

Let's get to Andy Poland next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. It doesn't cost you a thing. Please rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. take you literally 30 seconds. You could pause it right now on Apple just to rate us five stars and give us a quick one to two sentence review. That's always a big help for us. Andy Poland is my friend,

longtime colleague at WTEM 980 for many, many years. And I'm having you on the podcast today because you know, you're one of the people, and you and I have been texting back and forth over the last few days, but you're one of the people like me who are not only long-time media members, Andy, longer than anybody in this market, but longtime fans from birth of this team.

And I wanted to know how it struck you last week, sort of the finality of it all, of the name not only being gone as it has been for two years, but now a new name and really in many ways a new look. Well, I heard your conversation with Zabe last week, I think it was Friday, And I don't know whether it's Jabe or you who hit this, but it feels like an expansion team. Yes. You know, it's got the different name. The uniforms are relatively the same, but the road jersey has strawberry instead of burgundy.

It just doesn't feel like the team that we have watched. But realistically, for the last 20 years, you know, what does it felt like anyway? Has it felt like anything we watched? I mean, I go back to the George Allen days. So I had, you know, almost, what, 20, 25 years of good football. The last 20 have been, eh, nothing. I know, but we've been talking about that for a while. I mean, obviously, you know, the last 22 years specifically with Snyder owning the team

have really, I think, sucked a life out of it for a lot of us. But I think there was a finality to it using one of John Madden's all-time favorite terms when a season would end. There's a finality. of the whole thing. There was a finality to it with like, that's not even our team that we're going to be watching. The announcer is going to be calling it a new name,

and you're going to look out onto the field, and it's not even going to look like our team. And I was the one that mentioned expansion team, and I think that's kind of how I feel. I think it's even different from last week, but it doesn't sound like it's different for you, or am I wrong? Yeah, no, it just feels, I'll tell you what, like my wife grew up in Baltimore.

They had season tickets to the Colts, and the Colts left. And the Ravens came in with a new name and new colors, and the older people said, you know, doesn't feel like it's the Colts. But they've been there so long that they're now generations of people who have no memory of the Colts, and the Ravens have been their team, and they won two Super Bowls. I think that's, you know, I don't know if this team will win two Super Bowls, but I think as the years go by, people like you and me who have attachments to the old are going to go away, and there'll be a new generations of commander fans who hopefully

have a team that's hell of a lot better than when we've been watching for the last 22 years. I mean, you're very much kind of an historian when it comes to the team, and you know that I, you know, I think I get more nostalgic than you do about the team and have been. I just felt like it was a bit sad the other day. Yeah. Did you feel that way or not? Yeah, yeah, I did, but I've felt sad for a long time.

And, you know, some say, well, why don't you just give up your fandom to the team? Well, to me, it's like a son who has a drug problem. You know, it's still my son. I still love him. I've said he's got a drug problem, yes. But, you know, that's the way I've looked at it for the last 25 years. I mean, look, you watch every game like I do. You take notes.

Don't you spend most of the game kind of shape? your head, right? Yeah, I mean, I don't even, to be honest with you, if I didn't do what I do for a living now, my passion's been sucked down to a level in which there are many of the games I would have turned from many times and focused in on Red Zone or a better game. Right, yeah, me too, but it's something that I've always done. I didn't have the Red Zone channel for most of my life watching the games. And, you know, how routine-oriented I am.

You're rather a creature of habit. Yeah, yes. Saturday, Sunday afternoon, if the game's on, I'm watching it, you know, because it's what I've always done. There was a time when, you know, I'd get down on my knees at third and one, and I pretend I was Rigo trying to dive across the goal line. But those days are long gone. Those are ancient memories.

I know. I wonder whether or not just age would have eventually kind of turned us into a different type of fan, even if they had been great. But I don't know that that's true because I remember the glory days and I remember those people of every age, of every age, you know, down on their knees before a Wade Wilson throw that Daryl Green was able to break up, you know, intended for. for Nelson. You know, and I texted you about this last week. When Jason Wright, Jason Wright, went in front of the economic club last week,

and he said that they had raised the season ticket base 80%, and they hoped to go to 150% next year. I thought to myself, my God, how low could it have gone? We remember the days when people would fight about season tickets in divorces and in wills. And now the base is so low that you may raise it 150% next year. How many, how few could they have?

10,000 at most, right? Yeah, I think that that season ticket base probably prior to last year doing the math, if you figure that, you know, it was roughly 25 to 30,000 fans, that that ticket base could have been literally at like 7, 8,000. I mean these are things we've been talking about for a couple of years because obviously that that season ticket waiting list was a complete and utter fabrication for many, many years. But no, it's become, it's really remarkable, right? That where we are, we've talked about this a lot together, and you've probably talked a lot about it on your show and I have on the shows that I'm on. It's not believable that 30 years ago you and I would have had a conversation to say, you know, in the year 2020,

there are going to be like six, seven, eight thousand season ticket holders. You're going to be the lowest in attendance in the league. And literally half the people that used to watch will be watching on television. And by the way, for both of us individually, we won't care nearly as much. And that's why I think like an expansion team would have actually been better because it would have come with new hope because it would have come with a new owner. Well, that's the main thing. Yeah.

I mean, that's the absolute main thing. and maybe Jack Kent Cook was Mushugina, but he was beloved. This guy is hated beyond anyone else who has ever owned a team in this area. I mean, maybe Bob Short, who took the senators out of town in 1971, but other than that, yeah, we've got that. And also, you know, back to the attendance, Zabe said this to me on the air within, I think, the last 15 years. He said, we're five years away from blackout.

That's when the NFL still had the blackout rule. And I said, oh, absolutely not. I mean, they haven't even reached the point where they're putting individual tickets for sale. You know, it was still only season tickets, season ticket, and only sales. Well, that's deteriorated in rapid time. I mean, it was incredible how fast that deteriorated. Well, fortunately, the blackout rule was outdated anyway, and so they did away with the blackouts. But, yeah, I mean, by the way, the Bob's short thing really isn't even a good cop because,

5,000 people were going to Senators games in 1971 when they moved. I think Dan Snyder legitimately is the most despised non-politician in the history of the city that you and I call home as actual, you know, born and raised Washingtonians. I don't think there's a close second. No, sure, it would be second because, you know, we didn't have baseball for 34 years. I think John Wilkes Booth would be second. that he would be second to Snyder.

You know, I was thinking about this. You actually, among the people in the media, in the early days, you actually, I don't want to say got to know him, but you spent some time with him, right? In those early days? I did the, I think I did the first interview with him after he was named owner. They named him at the owner's meetings. I think they were taking place in Miami, and we stood in radio stations.

You should actually have money to spend. We sent a reporter named Rich Cook down there, and he was standing outside the meeting room with a cell phone, and he put it in Snyder's hand, and I was sitting in a studio, and I interviewed him, and one of the questions that I asked him was about the name, because at the time, there was litigation going on in court, you know, whether they would have the trademark rights and so forth, and there was a lot of people who thought, oh, 34-year-old Jewish guy, you know, he's probably going to be open to the idea of changing the name, and he said he wouldn't change the name, but I then followed up with, well, what if you

lose the trademark right? And I don't think he had any idea what I was talking about. But that was his position from the beginning. I also did an interview with him. I want to say three or four years into his tenure, which he denied a lot of things that I've later found out to be true. What? We put him in the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. you know, so I had, I wouldn't say I have a relationship with him, but I would say that I encountered him, talked to him, met him three, four, five times over the year.

What did he deny that you later found out to be true? Well, I mean, there was one that they were not, that they were going to name, who was the guy now, his name, the guy who came with FedEx, it was Pepper Rogers. He denied that. And they would do that they were going to hire him when they fired North Turner. and he said that that didn't happen. I'm trying to remember. There were a variety of things.

But, you know, I mean, pre-Trump, it was kind of jarring to find out that he just basically lied to my face. All right. Well, we do this all the time where we, you know, we sit here in Bashio and Ertzold. I mean, everybody in town knows that it's probably not going to change as long as he's here, but that doesn't stop us from talking about football anyway. So let's talk about football.

Who do you want them to get to be their next quarterback? What would you like the quarterback result to be here in the offseason? Aaron Rogers. That's it. I mean, I've seen Russell Wilson not be very good. Now, the Rogers also, you have to look at what is his record post-Super Bowl in playoffs? 7 and 9, right? No.

Post-super Bowl? Yeah, post-Super Bowl, it's a losing record. now. I think it's 12 and 11 overall. Something like that, yeah. Seven and nine post-super Bowl and losing. But just getting to these games would be a help. Yeah. And good quarterback play is something that we haven't seen since when.

Kirk was – Kirk at times was good, just not consistently good. But, yeah, I mean, consistently good quarterback play. How far back do you have to go? Brad Johnson? Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, Aaron Rogers puts them into contender status immediately.

By the way, so does Russell Wilson. You know, he puts them into contender status as well. I'm with you, by the way, given the choice, and I did a call segment on this, on the radio show this morning. If, you know, the price were the same and they were both, you know, not against coming here, which would you prefer? Most people said Russell Wilson because he's five years younger. I said Aaron Rogers.

I would love three years of Aaron Rogers at his. at his peak powers, because I think you'd make legitimate, you know, runs for, and we play in games that they haven't played in in 30 years, like, you know, actual, you know, beyond the divisional round. You know, they haven't played in the division round since 2006. That's amazing. Yeah, and that was a miserable performance against Seattle, which they were totally overmatched. No, I think that Charlie Castelley told me this, and this may be 20 years ago.

Charlie said it used to be you have a five-year plan in the NFL. Now it's two. So if your plan is two years, what's the big deal about taking a quarterback who's 38 years old? To me, you know, after what we saw Tom Brady, the level he played at the last couple years. Plus, I would draft somebody. I would take a quarterback in the first round if you have a first round pick, if you make a deal for Rogers. But I would draft the quarterback and hope you develop somebody. But yeah, for three years for Rogers, why not?

Oh my God. I mean, there isn't a price that I don't think I would pay. I mean, the point here is, I think all of us have come to the realization that as long as Dan Snyder owns the team, there's only one perfume, and that is an elite Hall of Fame kind of quarterback. Just like it was right, Andy, when Peyton Manning joined the Jim Ursay led Indianapolis Colts. Just like it was when Bidwell struck gold by, you know, signing Kurt Warren. when he was still playing at a Hall of Fame level. I mean, it's pretty much the only thing. And even if it's just a two or three year run, it would be nice. Although I'm still a little bit skeptical as to what it would do. I think it would generate a ton of interest if they were able to trade for a Russell Wilson or Aaron Rogers, a ton of interest. But I wonder with which group of people, younger people?

Or do you think people like us or people that we know that have checked out would be back in? I wonder about the number of people our age that have really checked out. There's some, obviously. But I think that they've lost really two generations. And I look at my son, your kids are a little bit younger. But I think by the way they've played, they just haven't regenerated the new fan. So when you look at the television ratings, the Alta Cockers like me are still watching because we watch television. Whether that brings them back in, whether that brings them in the fans, yeah, it would probably help.

Also, look at the effect of a good quarterback. Last year, after Joe Burrow got hurt, a lot of people said, oh, yeah, say, old Bengals is going to ruin this guy, they can't protect him, and they're going to still stink. And one year later, they're in the Super Bowl. And so I think if you had that guy, whether you're not going to probably draft him, but yeah, if you brought in a Russell Wilson or Aaron Rogers,

this team immediately becomes respectable. And you probably have to have, and I know, I know you've read that Albert Breer story on the air, and I looked at that as well, where there's enough cap room, where if Rogers comes, he brings Devante Adams, maybe, and that gives you two top receivers in a thousand-yard running bat. I mean, that's an offensive line that even when they lose guys, seems to be able to protect pretty well. So to me, that's a formula for winning.

Does any, do radio shows go to Radio Row for the Super Bowl anymore? Dave and I were talking about that on his podcast last night. I really don't know. Last radio row that I did would have been the one in New Orleans when I guess San Francisco played the Ravens. And it had devolved into such a point where you have to do like horse trading. Like if you want like an A list guest, you have to take the one-legged tap dancer. Oh my God. Yeah. It really was. I mean, the people they would parade around, hey, you know, you can get such and such, but you've got to take these four guys. You know, half of them, God bless them, you know, were really impacted by too many years playing football.

Well, that's another thing. That's what our friend Tom Laverro likes to talk about. It's like the tobacco convention where they parade around people that have cancer. Yeah. That was the last one you went to. Didn't you, weren't you in San Francisco with us? That was a fun time. I think I think I was fired before that.

Oh, I forgot. Sorry about that. You know, those Super Bowl Radio Weeks, it would be like, oh, God, do we really have to? And then it was fun once we got there. You know, once we got there. Yeah, there was money. We'd have some nice dinners. And it was like, as Dave called at one point, the Fuller Brush Convention,

where you see all your guys from around the country. But, you know, if you're doing a full week of it, After a while, that blue curtain gets real old. You know, and so I enjoyed doing, I probably went to, I must have done 20 radio Rose. I think I've been to about 25 Super Bowl. And, you know, it was the opportunity rose. I'd do it again. But I don't even know what the business is like anymore. I think everything has totally changed in the 10 years since I've done one.

I always felt to, and I think you and I, I think we were on the same page on this, when the station was spending big bucks to send all the shows out there and we'd all be out there. You know, we'd leave on Sunday and come back. I'd always come back on Friday. I didn't care about staying for the game. I always felt like the bang wasn't worth the bucks. Like, you know, ultimately, you know, parading, you know, Paul Horning and Max McGee around from one table to the other and then, you know, getting Buck Buchanan to stop by.

maybe so you could get like a Kurt Warner or something to talk Super Bowl. It just wasn't worth it. I don't think the listeners necessarily cared if you were there or not. I go back to the days. This is a far back I go. Before everybody got attached to a product, it was a free-for-all. So you would be in Radio Row and Jerry Jones would walk in. and 12, 22-year-old people-based producers

fresh out of Syracuse would attack them like a school of piranhas. Come to our table, come to our table. And then everything got kind of organized and corporatized and it was what it was. Again, having not been to one in a long time, I couldn't really tell you what it's like that. Yeah, I'm not saying I miss it at all. I mean, you know, when we would go,

I mean, I ended up having to essentially be a chauffeur for Leverro anyway, you know, have to drop them off at front doors everywhere and then go park and walk two miles because Laverro wasn't going to walk. But we had some fun times. All right. Oh, the Dallas one real quick. Remember the Dallas one? Of course.

Yeah. Yeah. And that's before Tom had his knees replaced. Yeah. So the hotel was like six. The hotel was 600 yards from the restaurant. Yeah. He took a cab.

Well, it wasn't a hotel. First of all, it was a motel. And it was basically, you know, six feet from the highway. And none of us were very happy about it. But I just remember Tom's like, I can't walk on this. And I'd have to bring the car right up to his room door, basically, have him climb in and drop them off right in front. That was a hellish week for sure.

Yeah. All right, back to Snyder for a second. What do you think happens? Do you think any of this leads to him being in jeopardy of losing the team? No, no, and I heard your conversation with Neil and Rockville today, that they can basically bury this. And this is what Gidell is paid to do, you know? I mean, and he's playing the show game with the Ryan Flores suit, too.

I don't really think it sees the light of day. And I think the company line is, This happened a long time ago. We've moved on. Jason Wright said they've turned over the front office of the personnel under him 100%. And I think that's the message. You know, that's ancient history. We're a different team now.

So I don't think anything happens. I don't think Snyder loses the team. I don't think. And what are they going to do? You know, they said, what, since last summer that he's away from day to day? Have you seen any evidence of that? No. I had Ron Rivera on the show every week during the season.

And on two different occasions, I just, I don't even know why I asked. I just said, so have you had any discussions with Dan and Tanya? And he's like, yeah, I see Dan around the building. And, you know, and I said, is he positive, supportive? Yeah. So it's not like he, look, Snyder went out of his way, Andy, to call people who had said on the air, he called Tom or written that he was fined or he was suspended. His lawyers called Tommy and said,

It wasn't Dan who was suspended. It wasn't Dan who was fined. It was the team who was fined. And Dan was not suspended. Not at all. Right. So I think that's the answer. I think that they will just continue to point to, you know, there's this audit that came out of their current situation.

And it was reported by Axios last week that said that all of a sudden the culture is, you know, 100% different. It's a top, top shelf culture now, you know. in the NFL with all of the diversity and all of the stuff in place to make sure these things don't happen. And also you don't have the slimy Bruce Allen speaking like every three years. You have a very polished president who's got very advanced degrees speaking very, very eloquently about the situation. So I think that they're in a public relations position now where they can try and convince the public that the page has been turned, and they're not the organization they were four, five years ago.

Yeah, the team president who oversaw the change of the name and the brand and got the championship years wrong on the crest. Well, again, but that matters to you, it matters to me, but it may not matter to the overall public. Look, I mean, I've said to anybody that will listen there, they need people, and I've thrown your name out, and I said, me, you, a couple of people, you bring us in, and just to audit what you're about to do just to make sure you stop making boneheaded mistakes, whether it's the Sean Taylor thing

or the new crest for the logo or whatever it was. Anyway, who cares? All right, who do you like in the Super Bowl? I kind of like this kid. You know what reminds me of. Now, Montana was a third round pick, and it happened in his third year. But what happened was, with the 49ers is they came out of nowhere. That first Super Bowl, they had been a terrible team the year before. They had lost a few games early, and then, like, in October, they blew out Dallas, and then they rematch them in the championship game and, you know, the famous Dwight Clark catch. I think there's a lot of similarities between the two Joe's, and I think somehow, even though, you know, he got sack nine times a couple of games ago, and the Rams front four

is tremendous. Frontline is tremendous. I just find, I just, I just, just think he's going to find a way to win, and this kicker is going to kick, you know, a 75-yard game winner somehow. I don't know, but somehow I think Cincinnati is going to win this game. They do have a great kicker, and you're right. I mean, the Montana 49ers, they were two and 14 two years before they won the whole thing and came out of nowhere to do it. Nobody was expecting it.

All right, that's it. Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it. Hope you're well. Thanks, Kevin. Talk to you. Always good to catch up with Andy. a few more things from over the weekend,

which we will finish up with right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, let's finish up the show with just a couple of other things that happened over the weekend. I wanted to talk a little bit about the Wizards first. They lost to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday by a lot. They were down at halftime, 59 to 32. 59 to 32 was the score.

They lost 95 to 80. The 80 points, the fewest for the Wizards this year in a game. It was hideous to watch. Look, Phoenix is really good. And Phoenix is really good defensively. Although going into that game, it's funny, I was looking at the points spread, and I was wondering,

could the Wizards actually put together another game like they put together against the Sixers the other night? But before they played the Wizards, they'd given up the Suns had, 124 to the Hawks, 111 to the Nets, and 110 to the Spurs, and 124 to the Timberwolves. So I thought, you know, the 80 in particular was a standout number for the recent Phoenix Suns games. For those of you that don't follow the NBA, and I know many of you don't, Phoenix is the best team in the NBA. The Western Conference champions of last year and the NBA champion runner up to Milwaukee,

they're 42 and 10 on the year. They are really, really good. Phoenix and Golden State out west, and right now it is really jumbled up in the east. I mean, I think Chicago is excellent. I think Miami Healthy is excellent. Milwaukee's right there again. Cleveland, and they just pulled off this trade for Carislevert, the Sixers. There are a lot of good teams in the east, even though the Brooklyn nets are fading quickly. They got all sorts of issues. But here's the thing. The trade deadline for the NBA is Thursday. And the Wizards, you know, there's,

there are rumors flying around right now about various deals involving the Wizards. And the Wizards players have been talking about, you know, kind of, and even Beal said the looming trade deadline and people wondering if they're going to be there or not be there, et cetera, has really weighed on them. The bottom line is they look disinterested as a basketball team. They look disinterested. But one of the rumors out there is somehow they're going to cut a deal to bring Subbonus from Indiana to Washington. You know, you got Montrose Herald as an example on an expiring contract.

All of these proposed deals, you know, we can evaluate them when and if they happen. Because I think the Wizards should be maneuvering here at the trade deadline. But the big one is Bradley Beale. You have to know if Bradley Beale is going to say, sign to stay here. Because if he isn't and you don't trade him by Thursday's deadline, you made a major error and you missed out on bringing a whole lot back for a player that's got significant value, maybe less value today than he had a year ago.

But still, I had Tommy Shepard on the show a couple of weeks ago and Tommy said, we have an understanding. Brad wants to be here. And we would know, like, you know, essentially saying, Brad would come and tell us if he's not going to be here. What I'd hate to see happen is, you know, this summer, yeah, I'd change my mind. I know I probably should have told you before the trade deadline. I'd change my mind.

It's going to be very interesting in the next couple of days to see if the wizards are involved in any deals and to find out if something, you know, if they go to Bradley Beale and say, we need to know. and if he says, I'm staying, okay, there's a real relationship there, and it's nice to have a player of his caliber or want to be here. But as I've said many times, if Bradley Beale is your number one player, you're not going to contend for a title. That's not going to happen. The college basketball from over the weekend,

I wanted to mention the Georgetown situation for two reasons. Number one is this. Georgetown is winless in the big east. They are 6 and 15 and have not won a Big East game. They are 0 and 10 in the Big East. Most of their games and most of their losses have not even been close. Their closest Big East game was a three-point loss at Butler. They just haven't been close in the Big East.

This has to be it for Patrick, right? I would think it's got to be it for Patrick. Would be interesting to see who would be interested in the Georgetown job because there is a former coach from the other superpower, if you will, in the market, who I think will be sought after this offseason. I wanted to mention one last thing before the end of the show. Providence had a terrific performance in their game against Georgetown yesterday, and it was by a kid, a young man,

young man that I know because he played at Georgetown Prep on one of Georgetown Prep's best basketball teams ever. They finished number two in the city in 2018, won the IAC regular season, when the IAC tournament. Jared was a first team all met. Jared Bynum was. And I got to see every single one of his games because my son was on the team. My son didn't play at all, nor should he have played at all. But it was an incredible experience for him to be on a team that had four future Division I players on the team. They were loaded and they were really good. And Jared was a really, really fun player to watch

and to watch grow over the years that he was at Georgetown Prep. And I'm so excited that he has turned into an excellent college basketball player. He had 32 points in 31 minutes yesterday for Providence. He was 7 of 8 from behind the arc, made six of his first six from behind the arc. Some of them were impossible. shots with the shot clock winding down. He had five steals and five rebounds as well. He's turned into an excellent college basketball player. He's a junior in terms of his standing right now at Providence, the 15th ranked team in the country. They are 20 and two under one of my favorite coaches for

many, many years, Ed Cooley. I've always been, as many of you know, a huge Ed Cooley fan. I just think the dude can flat out X and O it with the best of them. And Providence and Jared Bynum in particular are going to be fun to watch in March. All right, that's it for today. Back tomorrow with Tommy.