The Kevin Sheehan Show - Skins' Draft Odds By Position

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Kevin opened with an email about whether or not Washington will duplicate it's 14-win NFC Championship game season in 2025. He talked Rory McIlroy's epic win before bringing Steve Czaban on the show to talk Masters and Rory as well. Kevin finished the show with odds on which position the Commanders will select first in next week's NFL Draft.  Go to zbiotics.com/SHEEHAN and use SHEEHAN at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.Try hims.com/SHEEHAN for your personalized hair loss treatment options.Shop SKIMS Mens at SKIMS.com and SKIMS stores.Go To WindowNation.com. Buy 4 windows, get 4 free!If you want to bet on sports, go to mybookie.ag. Use code KEVINDC for a bonus!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Right back and through. And he's made it. He's done it.

It's a grand slam roar at Augusta National. Rory McElroy on his knees. Bent down in a motion clutching his head. He's won the Masters. He's won all. the grand slam events. He's the sixth in the history of the game. That was Mike Tariko's call of Rory's short birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win

the Masters yesterday. Terrico's call came on Sirius XM, satellite radio. I had no idea until I actually tuned in a bit on Friday that Toriko was doing golf on satellite radio. But like everything else he does, he's great at it. The show's presenting sponsors, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windonation.com if you need new windows. Zab's going to be with me on the show to talk golf in the next segment.

I always love Zabe on days like today. And I'm really glad he's coming on because Zabe is a lover of the game of golf, good player too. And I'm sure he's got some really good thoughts on not only, what we saw yesterday, but some of the, you know, ancillary stuff around it, the broadcast of it, et cetera. Final segment of the show today after Zabe, the odds on which position Washington will take with its first draft pick a week from Thursday night.

Before we get to Rory and my thoughts on yesterday's masters, a quick email to read. I read this right before recording the show today. This came from Bernie. Bernie writes, I'm not a commanders fan, but I listen all the time. I love the banter between you and Tom, and Cooley is the best football analyst I've ever heard. Please ask him to watch more football next year, L.O.L.

The reason for writing to you is that the commanders had one of those seasons that teams have in the NFL, but I'm not sure can be replicated. nine of their 14 wins came by five points or less, and seven wins came with less than five seconds on the clock. That's just impossible to duplicate. I'm a Vikings fan, and the season the commanders had was similar to our seasons in 2017 and 2022. We won 13 games in 2017, many of them, including a playoff win, by a touchdown or less, and then got blown out, in Philadelphia by the Eagles in the NFC championship game. In 2022, we won 13 games again, 10 of them by a touchdown or less,

and a record eight wins coming from behind in the fourth quarter. The following years after 2017 and 2022 were non-playoff seasons. It's just not sustainable what the commanders did last year. Thank you, Bernie, for that. I read this, and I'm like, I don't know if he's trying to get me on Kirk Cousins here to try to compare Kirk Cousins to Jaden Daniels. Like, is Sheehan actually going to say that Kirk Cousins is just as good as Jaden Daniels?

No, I would not say that. I mean, Case Keenham was the quarterback Bernie in 2017. And yeah, Kirk's my guy, but he's not Jaden Daniels. I know Kirk set the NFL record for fourth quarter comeback wins in 2022, including the largest comeback in the history of the NFL when they came from behind to beat the Colts. But that's the big difference here. You know, you had those two seasons which were incredible in very exciting and productive seasons. By the way, the Kirk team didn't win a playoff game.

They lost to the Giants. the Case Keenham team won one playoff game, the miracle over the Saints, the throw to Stefan Diggs, and then got blown out by the Eagles in the NFC championship game. That's just a terrible, terrible comparison. Jaden Daniels is a superstar elite quarterback. Case Keenham's a journeyman. Kirk Cousins, a very good NFL starter for much of his career, but not anywhere. near the elite level.

That's what Washington has. That's why it is sustainable. I think the better comparison would be to Josh Allen's breakout season in 2019 in Buffalo when they lost the AFC title game to the Chiefs at Arrowhead, not the 42 to 36 thriller. That came the next year in the second round. But they lost the title game 3824.

Since that season, they've won no less than 11 games in four straight years and they haven't missed the playoffs. And they've won five playoff games. I know they have not gotten to the Super Bowl, understood. But I think that's what you're seeing with Washington. They have a superstar quarterback. And unless, you know, he's not healthy, they're going to win more games than they lose

and they're going to be in the playoffs more years than not. But yeah, I mean, there is a lot to be said about how they got there last year. with a very average to in some cases substandard supporting cast. But that just sort of strengthens the argument that they have an elite quarterback. So therefore, if they build around him, and what did we say all last season? This is the worst supporting group that Jaden's ever going to play with. Yeah, I don't see.

This is like the second or third email we've gotten and we've read where people are kind of predicting a major stepback season in Jaden's sophomore year. I don't see it, you know, assuming health, knock on wood, I think they're no less than 9 to 10 plus wins and in the postseason in January of 2026. All right, golf yesterday's masters. Look, I know this isn't for all of you. I am curious to find out from those of you that don't give a rat's ass about golf if you found yesterday to be as riveting as golf fans did. Look, there's a backstory there that you kind of have to know to a certain degree to understand just how incredible the day was.

But the day itself, the up and down nature of the final round, I mean, it was insane. You know, one moment he's got the tournament one. Well, look, after number one, he's going to choke it. Then he comes storming back, and he's got a four-shot lead. He's going to win it, maybe going away. Then he stumbles, starting at 13, with that incredible third shot that just was horrible about as bad as you'll see. And then he's going to lose it.

And then he comes back at 15 and 17 with birdies. He's going to win it. And then he gets to 18. Oh, my God. he misses the putt, he's going to lose in a playoff, and then he comes up with another brilliant shot. I mean, there were like four to five just unbelievable golf shots and under pressure, and there were three to four or five, including some of the missed putts, that were just as bad as you will see.

I know the backstory. I'm a golf fan. This has been going on for six to seven years. We talked about this last week. We may have talked about it the last two weeks. We certainly probably brought it up in years past. Rory McElroy was a golf prodigy. He was seen as perhaps a poor man's successor to Tiger Woods. And yet, after winning his fourth major in 2014, he had not won a major since. He went completely silent in the majors for 11 years. One heartbreak after another, you know, he couldn't close like last year at Pinehurst. He couldn't complete a comeback. You know, whatever the scenario was, he just kept coming up short in the majors. And for all of the 11 years, it wasn't, oh, my God, when is he going to win again? Because after he won in 2014, it takes a couple of years before you start to notice,

man, Rory hasn't won in a couple of years. And you expected, and the expectation was that he, you know, in 2025 would have 10 majors, not four, that he would win another six, seven majors. That's how great he is. And he's won everywhere on the door, just not. majors. You know, he had four, but it felt like for the last six, seven years, he had zero. And this weight just kept building over the years on Rory's shoulders, this golf prodigy, this guy that won four by the time he turned 25 years old. This guy was, maybe he wasn't going to threaten

Tiger and Jack, but he might end up having the third most majors in the history of the game. He's built to win these tournaments. He's built to win at Augusta in particular at the Masters and he had never won a Masters. Yesterday completed the Career Grand Slam joining five others in winning the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA Championship. He had won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA. He had never won the Masters. I don't think that was the weight that he carried.

I know that it was more special that he won at Augusta for the first. time in 11 years winning a major. And you could see the exhilaration of winning there. But the weight that built up over all these years was a guy who had the expectations of winning at least one major a year or one major every two years that hadn't won one in 11. I don't think the pressure was about winning the masters to complete the grand slam. That was kind of icing on the cake. That wasn't the pressure that built up on this player over many, many years.

It was that he couldn't win another major for whatever reason. And in many situations, he kind of choked. You know, he missed two makeable putts last year, Pinehurst. Difficult put on 18, but an absolute put that he should have made on 16. You know, he had the situation at St. Andrews. He's won so much over his career everywhere else, but for 11 years, nothing. And it just became an unbelievable burden asked about it all the time. This was Elway before he won a Super Bowl. This was Ovechkin before he won in 2018.

Rory actually had won four times. But again, the feeling after 11 years was that he had zero. You almost felt like he didn't have any. And that's the thing about sports, man. when you get these storylines with players or coaches that can't, you know, Andy Reed had that label attached to him for many, many years. Some players and coaches never got it done, never broke through Dan Marino for sure. We talked about this, you know, last week, you know, and looking at players like to meet Lamar Jackson now is probably at the top of the list of guys that haven't won the big one. And he needs it. He needs to get there. The problem with him too is he hasn't played well when it's mattered most. I think that's the difference

between say a Lamar Jackson and a Josh Allen. But the backstory was this incredible talent, like all world talent. I had Denny McCarthy, who's on the tour from here, went to Georgetown prep, went to UVA. We've had Denny on the podcast, had him on the radio show today. He finished tied for 29th. It's a good listen if you're a golf fan to go to the team 980. dot com and listen to him describe it. But he said, you know, he's played with Rory a bunch of times. And he's like, you just can't believe how good he is. It's just incredible how great he is and how gifted he is. And yet, 11 years. So that was the backstory. And he started off on Thursday, well, but then faltered down the stretch on the back nine, but came back Saturday with a big round.

Friday with a big round, another one on Saturday, and he had a two-shot lead going into the final round. Now, I thought Bryson D. Shambo was going to win yesterday because when he made that putt on 18 on Saturday, he seemed built for this and seems built for this, and Rory has faltered in this situation. I thought D. Shambo was going to win before the round started yesterday. And then the round did start, and Rory double-bogied won. Oh my God, lost the lead at the end of two. He was behind Des Chambos. But that, he said, kind of calmed his nerves.

Like he was a nervous wreck, but it kind of calmed him that he had, you know, faltered early and that they had a long way to go. And then he got hot. And then all of a sudden he has a four-shot lead at the turn. And then comes 13, inexplicably. he hits after laying up and playing the hole conservatively, which every golf person seems to think was the right move. I actually think being aggressive.

He was less nervous when he was swinging big than nine iron over the trees on number seven as an example. The incredible seven irons at 15 and at 17. I think when it got to more subtle finesse the nerves got to him. The third shot on 13 was disastrous. It seemed like a shank. Now, I asked Denny on the radio show.

He said that wasn't really a shank. If it was a shank, it would have never gotten to the creek. I mean, he would have been so much better off swinging on his second shot. If he had gone in the creek, at least he would have pulled out and been hitting his fourth instead of his fifth. after going in on his third shot. And I don't know, the way he was swinging big all weekend, I think that he probably would have landed on the green. It was such a horrendous shot, and then he missed the bogey putt that just barely, you know,

missed on the right side of the hole. And there he was, like, all of a sudden, you know, he bogeed 11, he double bogey 13, he bogeed 14, and were tied with a surging Justin Rose. Oberg's back in it. Patrick Reed's in it. DeCambeau at that point it faltered. He was pretty much out of it. And then comes the seven iron at 15. But he missed the eagle putt. You know, Denny told me that was a very, very difficult putt. So I'll give him, you know, that's fine. But he made Bertie there and then the unbelievable seven iron at 17 and the made putt there. He missed a put on 16 too. And then you get to 18. And all of the he has to do is par. First of all, I thought the CBS broadcast, I love Jim Nance. Jim Nance, it was like a victory march when he got to the 18T box. I'm like, he's talking about, you know, the family and how they would get down to their last token for range balls and, you know,

the blue collar upbringing and the whole thing. I'm like, he's basically giving you and narrating a victory march. What are you talking about? He's got a one-shot lead over a guy who's in the clubhouse. I could easily, and every golf fan could easily see Rory bogeying 18 and going into a playoff or even double bogeying 18 and losing outright. But he hit a great t-ball. And then he had an easy 125-yard wed shot to a green with a backstop, and he put it in the trap. Nance is still waxing poetic about this being the first major and the, you know, I'm like, what are you guys doing? And then he missed the putt. It was, Denny said it was not an easy putt. I thought it looked like an easy putt.

You know, four feet, three and a half feet, whatever it was, five feet, maybe max to win the Masters. And he missed it. He missed it. I think most golf fans knew there was a pretty good chance he was going to miss that. We've seen that so many times. How does he recover from that? He's got to get into a playoff. and with Justin Rose, who banged one in from long range on 18 to shoot 66. And Rose, it's his honor because he's the first in the clubhouse at 11 under. And he puts one in the fairway. And I'm telling you, I thought I was going to get sick watching Rory hit that T shot in the playoff. I wanted it so badly for him.

I think a lot of golf fans did. And he put it in the fairway. He crushed it. And then Rose hits a great shot. shot to the green. He's got a makeable birdie putt. And I'm like, oh my God, here we go, the pressure. And he hits a phenomenal wedge, the one he didn't hit on his first go round on 18. And there it is, two and a half to three feet for the win. Now Rose has to miss. If Rose makes, oh my God, if we then missed it and lost. But Rose just barely missed it, slid a little bit right of the

hole. And then I don't know how many of you thought Rory would make that putt. I was 50-50 on it. I was hoping, but I could have easily seen him, you know, miss it. It was actually not one of those putts that he just jammed in and went center of the cup. It was inside left. And, you know, it was in for the win, but it wasn't like perfect. Didn't have to be at that point. And then the reaction afterwards. Wow. That's what 11 years. of building up of the kind of pressure he has felt, the questions at every major, the questions at Augusta every year,

when is he going to win there? When's he going to win another major? Why hasn't he achieved what everybody thought he would achieve? It was John Elway when he finally won it after losing three times. This one's for John. It was Michael Jordan after banging his head against the pistons and winning it against the Lakers hugging that Larry O'Brien trophy. you know, to get that massive monkey off his back.

Now, he was so emotional, if you recall, that year, because his father had just been killed recently. LeBron, when he finally got it done in Miami after, you know, to me, LeBron's a better comp for Rory, because both just outrageously gifted. And before LeBron won one, everybody thought he should have won a couple. but he was the reason often that they didn't win.

Now, he was the reason that his teams won 60 games and were winning playoff series, but when they lost to Orlando or they lost to Boston in his final game in Cleveland the first go-round, or when they lost to Dallas in the first championship series when he was in Miami, when he was literally, you know, getting rid of the ball and hiding in corners, it was, you know, nerves, anxiety.

And you just saw the reaction of 11 years. You know, more like six or seven to be fair, because, you know, the first couple years he doesn't win one, you don't think that much of it. But then after, you know, two or three years of not winning one,

you start to wonder, ooh, what's going on? And then, you know, it kept going for 11 years in total. Really happy for Rory McElroy. It's not that I'm the biggest Rory fan. I do like Rory. I've always really appreciated how great he is. And I think he has always come off as a gentleman.

You know, there was the little dust up with the live when he was probably talking a bit too much. I'll tell you one thing, man, I'm not a Bryson Deschambeau guy. Bryson Deschambeau, you know, afterwards talking about that Roy didn't talk to him during the round. Yeah, do you know what he was carrying around in that final round? Do you pay attention to the game? And by the way, you're in the thick of a competition.

I mean, talking to it, he didn't talk to me the whole round. DeCambeau's whole kind of makeover over the last couple of years, I'm a little bit skeptical of. But anyway, unbelievable sporting event. The up and down, the back and forth was so freaking sports great. But then when you factor in what he's carrying around the course, 11 years, and then the reaction afterwards. It was so great. At one point, I think I said to my wife, you know, who's not a big sports fan, but she was watching it with my son, my middle son, Corbyn and I. Corbyn loves Rory, always has. And we were emotional watching this. And I'm like, you know,

she occasionally has said over the years, you're going to do what? You're going to watch golf all day? like in a major. Yeah, that's what we're going to do. Why? Even she got caught up in it and I said, these are the moments where sports are great. You know, I don't want to be overly hyperbolic. It's the way I feel and I know it's the way a lot of golf fans feel. I do understand that a lot of you couldn't care less about golf. But man, if you're a sports fan and you weren't at least slightly moved by that yesterday, I don't know. That is the sporting event of the year. We didn't have anything like that in the NFL playoffs. And we haven't gotten to, you know, the hockey playoffs or the NBA playoffs. But we didn't have a memorable game in the NFL playoffs.

Maybe the KC Buffalo AFC title game, but kind of ended right with the Chiefs running the clock out, the Washington, you know, Tampa Bay playoff game. You know, we didn't have that memorable, classic game in the postseason. We had Ovechkin breaking the goal scoring mark. We did have that. But this right now, the sporting event of the year, Rory McElroy, a candidate for the athlete or sportsman of the year. I don't even know who does that anymore. Does Sports Illustrated do that anymore? I don't know. And who knows? Maybe this just opens it up. Maybe all of the sudden, all that pressure is off him, and he goes nuts and starts winning majors at a at a big time rate he's certainly capable of it he's only 35 years old and apparently the

courses this summer quail hollow oakmont uh and then royal port rush in northern ireland are all courses that kind of suit him well maybe he goes on a tiger 2000 kind of a run that would be fun all right stevehs zabin next after these words from a few of our sponsors Hey guys, if you're starting to notice your hair thinning when you look in the mirror, you're not alone. Life, you know, it gets busy and you can feel like there's not enough time in the day to do something about it. Here's an idea. Try Hymns hair loss solutions. You can avoid jumping through a bunch of frustrating hoops and get access to treatment without even leaving your home. Hymns provides you with convenient access to a range of hair loss treatments that work all from the comfort of your couch. makes treating hair loss simple with doctor-trusted options and clinically proven ingredients. You can choose from personalized chewable, oral spray and serum treatments to find what works best for you. The process is simple and 100% online, so there are no uncomfortable doctor visits. All you do is answer a few questions, and a medical provider will determine if treatment

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It's free. They won't obligate you to anything. They'll leave you with a quote. You can decide what to do. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. Jumping on with me right now, Steve Zaven. I reached out to Zabe because when it comes to a big golf event or a golf topic, I want to hear what Zabe has to say.

He is incredible when it comes to a lot of sports discussions, but golf is a passion of his, and he's hosted many a golf show, in addition to the sports reporters for years on the team 980. He's got a podcast called Zabcast. You can find that wherever you get a podcast. and he's also the host of Morning Drive in Milwaukee on 97.3 FM, the game, which he does actually from his home in northern Virginia. But yesterday was so, I described it as just a riveting sports event, the best of the year so far. And I wanted, I would have, if you couldn't come on with me today, I would have been listening to your podcast to see what you thought.

but I'm glad you're here with me right now, so let's just start. What did you think? What was yesterday in the words of Steve Zabin? Yeah, it was the stuff of life, the stuff of sports. Golf being the greatest game ever played, as you know, since you are a golfer, is one of our favorite sports. Yes, they're athletes. Golf is crazy because it just puts you out there in such a naked way.

and the best of the best, the gods of the greens, as we saw yesterday, two things that boggle your mind. I mean, Rory's seven iron on 15 was like a thunderbolt from Zeus, but his wedge into the creek on 13 was the most brain dead, stupid, you idiot, shot ever, and you and I hit those as well. So that's the appeal of golf for a recreational player when watching a tournament like the Masters. But I think the Masters still drags in people who are not really golfers because they can appreciate drama, right? They can appreciate the moment, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, not to mention the beauty of it. You know, in springtime coming off, you know, a winter in, you know, parts of the country that are just miserable.

It's just a beautiful scene on TV. But, you know, I'm curious as to what you were thinking during the round. Going into it after DeCambeau drained that putt on 18 on Saturday, did you think before the round started Rory was going to win? I did. I thought, I thought, I predicted DeCambo would shoot 75 and Rory would shoot 16 of mine. And I got the DeCambeau 75, right? I obviously missed.

on Rory. I just set the table here. I used to be the biggest Rory Stam out there. I love the fair-haired Irish boy, the lad that was for many, many years. And then I cooled on him a bit

when the live split came because he talked too much, he kind of flipped, he kind of flopped, and he just kind of wore me out. So I've never been anti. I just am not as crazy pro rory as before.

That said, I was rooting for him to win, and I was very happy that he did win, but I'm also Deschambe neutral, which I don't know about you and your golf circles, but there's a real split in my golf group chats about DeCambo. I would say 40% of the people think that he has done all of this YouTube stuff and sort of change of persona at the behest of a PR firm that he is hired to change his image and that it's all fake. And I'm like, man, I can't go there yet on him. I believe that he is genuinely trying to find his way to a more normal place as a human being. But after the round, when he was all petulant about Rory didn't talk to me at all, I'm just like, that was the same DeShambo that

turns me off. But for the record, I'm DeCambeau neutral, Kevin, and I would have been fine with either one winning. I preferred Rory. I just I never want to see anyone implode. I never, there's no golfer I dislike enough.

Even Patrick Cantley, probably my least favorite player. They'd still be playing had he been in the final bearing. Well, yeah, right, exactly. I don't ever want to see anyone just you know, go into the tailspin on the course because we've all been there as recreational players where nothing works. You can't make sense of anything. It's horrible. It's the worst.

So I, so you thought Rory would win going in. I did not. I thought DeCambeau when he drained that putt. I just said he's built for these moments and I'm not Deschambeau neutral. I'm not a fan. I think a lot of what happened in the last year and, you know, the Pinehurst win. And it just, it comes off to me as he's trying way too hard. So you're kind of of the same mindset that this might be a bit of a storefront facade. Yeah, I think so a little bit. But what do I know? And I, you know, I talk to people, as you know, my very best friend for 35 years now,

has been a part of the whole golf world for a while. and, you know, I can remember his conversations about Phil Mickelson way back in the day, and I would say, like, I'm mesmerized watching Phil, and he's like, yeah, but Phil is not very popular on tour, and I would be, like, shocked, you know? Right. You know, like. And when Phil was called the candidate, and there was whispers about, there's more to Phil than you know. Right.

That certainly became the case. Yeah. You and I are old enough to know that it's not wise to put any of our favorite athletes. athletes up on pedestals because they almost always fall off, you know. So I think we're cautious. Our age guys are cautious about getting to win the guys. But, but yeah, so I thought, listen, you know how we play could or shoulda-woulda as weekend golfers saying, oh, there's no reason to make bogey there.

I was in the middle of the fairway, right? Right. So you do your coulda-wooda-shoulda-shoulda-shoulda-shoulda-score in your head. My could-a-wood-shoulda-shoulda-s score for Rory literally was minus 24 walking up 18. I went back and I was like, that shouldn't have been a double. That was an easy par. He made bogey. Why did he do this? Like, he played way better overall than what showed. But the real shock was just that. Are you saying minus 24 over the four rounds? You're not saying yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I was yes. Wow. By the time you got to 18,

well, you would have should have been minus 24 and eight clear. It would have been a new record. It would then unbelievable because he left so much out there. But the shocker was that wedge on 13, because I was telling my boys on a group chat, I go, they're like, it's over on number 10 or 11. I go, wait until he's on the Azalea side of 12. Once he's there and he makes par, then I'll say, okay, you're clear to land, return to base. So let's talk about... Because that's the most dangerous hole out there where you can make eight or nine.

Nobody makes eight or nine on 13. Right. It might make double like Rory did, but not an eight or a nine. So as soon as he got past 12, I'm like, okay, now it's over. And he lays up perfectly. He's got a wedge in his hand. And then I liken it to a bird strike. Sully Sullenberger over a clear Manhattan sky bird strike.

And the next hour and a half was white knuckle mayhem. Yeah. So back to just the first hole. I'm curious if you changed your mind after he doubled one and was behind after two. I didn't necessarily change my mind. I just was like, oh, boy, please God, don't make this a four-hour hate watch as Rory implode. Because look, you can shoot 80 on Sunday at the Masters. Rory has done it.

Speed has done it. It's brutal. So I was just hoping that would not be the case, and it wasn't. So that's good. But, yeah, it's just great theater. Golf is so amazing, and the fact that these guys, while they can hit shots we can't conceive of, they also can screw up and miss teeny tiny little puts. I mean, hell, half of the kids in the drive chip and putt would have made the first four-footer

for Rory on 18. I mean, it's that simple. But golf puts you on the spot, man, and that's the beautiful thing. I had Denny McCarthy on radio with me just a little while ago, actually. And he actually said the putt on 18, he thought there was a decent chance he'd miss it. He thought it was a really difficult put.

And I thought he'd miss it just because that's the kind of putt Rory always misses. You know, you love the granular detail of these rounds, not that we're going to go through shot by shot, but at 13, when he laid up, everybody seems to be in consensus that that was the right thing to do before he hit it in the creek. I'm assuming you were okay with him laying up there with a, at that point, a three or four shot lead, right? I was not okay with him hitting three wood off the T.

Oh, okay. Because that was something he hadn't done all week. And he has not hit big out-of-control sniping hooks, which is the only real danger off of that Tee to dump it left into Rays Creek. He hit, you know, the misses, especially on Sunday, were just little bleaters, five-yard fades, like on one that didn't clear the bunk, like on eight, the par five. I mean, those were the misses for him.

So a five-yard bleeder on that hole with driver put you up in the pine straw, and there's all kinds of windows to shoot through, like Mickelson did that one time, and just get over the creek and two, and then you're fine. So I didn't like the lay, I didn't like to lay in back with the three wood, because as I like to say, and I said on Twitter, when it comes to golf, God hates a coward. and when it came to 18 and he's got a one-shot lead, I think a lot of people were like, hit three, would, hit three, I'm like, no, driver.

You have to step up and own the moment and hit driver. And he did on both the regulation 18 and the playoffs, and I thought that was awesome. I mean, on some level, as you're talking, it's like, to me, the less nervous shots for him, or the less nerve-impacted shots for him, are when he's swinging big. You know, the nine iron on seven,

the seven irons on 15 and 17, it's when you get to putting in some of the more delicate shots like the third shot on 13, where maybe he just feels it a lot. Yeah, because he's human, like we all are. And that's also the beauty and the mystery of golf that guys like Rory McElroy, who was played in, a million competitive golf events since the time he was six,

could still feel that way over what are supposedly simple little shots. But anyway, he survived. It showed great stones. It could be the summer of Rory, given that this is now off his back. I was trying to think, and maybe you can add some to this, the biggest monkey off the back moments in sports. My first thought was Steve Young at the Super Bowl for the Niners, where he literally told his teammates, NFL films showed it,

saying, get that monkey off my back because he was such a great player who finally won the championship. Yeah, I mean, so we've done a lot of these the last, I did it last week talking about, you know, who's got the biggest weight on their shoulders in sports right now? Rory was one, and Lamar Jackson is two for me. I think Lamar Jackson right now. So is Lamar next?

I do think so. Do you have one that's better? Josh Allen. He doesn't have the same number of MVPs, and the big difference is, is that Josh Allen's played well in the postseason when they've lost. You know, he played incredibly well in that first, you know, 43, 41, whatever, 43, 42 lost to KC when he didn't touch the ball in overtime, or whatever the final score was, 42-36. Lamar hasn't played well consistently in the postseason, and he's got more MVP's. I think it's Lamar. right now in sports.

My producer, my new producer in radio, came up with Kyle Shanahan as an answer. I thought that was a pretty good one, too. I mean, he has a little bit of weight. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, but I think it's Lamar. Yeah, I think there's a lot to unpack with Kyle and the Niners.

I think they had a window, they missed their window, they came really close. If Jimmy G. doesn't underthrow, I forget who it was in the Super Bowl badly. They might win that one. They lost it over time. The Mahomes, I don't know. You know, the funny thing is we in the chattering business in sports, we construct these magnificent narrative castles based on literally a flip of a coin. If a ball goes in, right?

Right. Or if it goes out. But it's like, okay, we can now build this castle narrative, you know. But I do think there is a burden on Lamar Jackson. I think, you know, Josh Allen as well, you're right. Josh Allen doesn't have as many MVP, but, and he's played better, but he's got the weight of the most cursed, good football city on his shoulders to undo them. You know, I saw a video this past playoff.

Some guy who's a Bill fan, Shan. He was a big fisherman. Every time he caught a bass, he would hold up his phone. with a highlight of Josh Allen to the bass and then throw the bass back in the water. And I'm like, why? And the answer is there is no why.

It's called sports fandom. Yeah. I mean, I do think the narrative castle that we built and everybody in sports chatter built around Rory was a pretty solidly built castle with a lot of thought that went into it. Yeah.

Yeah, it was well. reinforced as a guy, and I would say about Rory, I go, look, he is the fastest Ferrari in the field when it's not in the shop. He is the quintessential frontrunner. When he's on, he's on, and he blows everyone away. Yeah. The only, the only major he won where it was at all of a fight was at Valhalla in the dark. Right. The other three prior to this, he just lapsed the field. Yeah. You know, mentioned Steve Young, it's interesting. I thought of a lot of people in terms of when they had the moment that Rory had yesterday. I didn't think about Steve Young. By the way, for Steve Young, it would have been beating the Cowboys probably just to get to the Super Bowl, even though

even more so than it was winning the Super Bowl. For me, it was Elway. You know, it would have been Marino. Marino never got to that moment, but Elway remember the reaction and this one's for John. And even Jordan and LeBron to a certain degree. I mean, the weight of the world was taken off their shoulders when they won it. LeBron, I actually comped more to Rory than Michael. Because Michael, when he wasn't winning him for the first seven years of his career, it wasn't because of him. LeBron, when he wasn't winning, he choked against Orlando, against Boston, against Dallas in the finals.

And then when he finally got over the hump beating Boston in a game six to force a seventh and deciding game, and then they won for the first time, it felt like that. But yeah, did you think... Well, hold on. In Jordan's early years, he didn't win because assault and battery was legal in the NBA.

Well, that's true. And the Pistons. And the Pistons made liberal use of that loophole. Yeah. The whole drama that followed, like, the feeling that he had, did you think he was going to make that putt in the playoff or not? I wasn't willing to bet my salary on it.

No. Did you? I sat there, and I thought, people have missed these before. I mean, please, God, don't let him miss this. And thankfully, he didn't. You know, it was not dead center. It was inside left. Every golfer knows a punt that's dead center on what it looks like.

Yes. And that one was not. But, you know, the thing is he's got, you know, he's got facts and as his putting coach now. And his technique is to not take a practice stroke. Right. And I think that can work Monday or Thursday through Saturday. I'm just not convinced that it's the best strategy when you're standing over, say, a downhill five-footer for Eagle on 15th. and you've got to step up to it and just gun it.

So I don't know. My boy John Rona's on the Capitol Golf Gang says it's because it's because FACC knows he's a crap putter, and so he's like just get it over with. No practice stroke. Right. Sometimes it's just go up there and just be an athlete to a certain degree and don't think about it.

Yeah. Yeah. Right. Like it's going to be what it's going to be. You're not going to help yourself by doing a practice stroke. I don't know. Golf is so fascinating because, man, there's so many ways to do it.

And everyone's different. And, you know, you find something and it works for a while, and then it stops working. And you're like, okay, well, I've got to go find another thing that works. If he had lost, if he had lost, where would that have ranked in the all-time chokes? Jesus. I mean, it'd be the worst choke in master's history, surpassing, in my opinion, Faldo choke, or, excuse me, Norman, choking to Faldo. it'd be the worst because he was the most

hold of four of players, meaning the fans wanted him so badly. All of the golf establishment, all of the past greats were picking him openly. Nicholas Watson, player. And they're like, I think it's Rory's time,

and I'm just like, shut up, you guys. It's like too much pressure. So that would have been the worst because he kind of, he threw it away three times. He threw it away on number one. He threw it away again on 13, and he threw it away on 18 when it was literally in his hand.

So had he thrown it away for good in the playoff? Oh, my God. It would have been awful. Again, I don't even want Patrick Cantlay to suffer that. Although maybe I could get behind it. So tell me, because I'm sure on your show this morning, you did some CBS television discussion. Oh, yeah.

So I was irritated by a few things. What did you have problems with? The largest problem I have is that their accent triplets, as I call them. Emailman from South Africa. Frank Novelow from New Zealand. and Ian Baker Finch, Finch, from Australia. These guys are, according to everyone who knows them, the nicest guys ever. And they come off across on TV as the nicest guys ever.

But you know what the broadcast lacks now more than ever since Fern retired is some gravitoss, some weight, some oomph, some punch. I don't need syrup, okay? I don't need, oh, that's so great. Ian Baker Finch is too syrupy for my tastes on his best day. Don't care for him. I know he won a major. He won a British and then fell off the map.

Imelman won this tournament, the Masters, and then fell off the map. Nobalo has all of one PGA tour when the Greater Greensboro Open. Now, I ask you this. If you were to say, boys, we got Michael Campbell, we got Rich Beam, and we got Mike Weir, we got the dream team of broadcasting, baby. Just put them on the air and let them cook. Right. Nobody would say that's a great threesome,

but it's the equivalent threesome without accent. And so I have a problem with that philosophically, and people come at me like I'm some monster. How dare you say that about these guys? They're really nice. I'm just critiquing it from a broadcast standpoint. That's all. So that's my biggest problem with CBS.

I'm still very much Nance positive. People know are starting to nitpicking them, saying he's losing his fastball, this and that, and I get it. They're always going to come at the king, but I'm still Nance positive. I think they've done a lot of really good, new wrinkles to the broadcast about some drone shots

and angles we haven't seen before, but their shot tracer was too inconsistent for most golfers liking, and they don't use the graphics that normal broadcasts for golf major. use, which is the map of the hole with the balls and the numbers next to the drives showing he's here, he's here, blah, blah, blah. And they don't use the shot link data that the tour uses, which gets you, he's got 5'7

inches for Bertie here, or he's got 9.4 inches or 9 feet 4 inches for par. That data is being collected. It's on the Master's app. you notice they never used it on TV. So it left Nance and others to kind of eyeball and guess he's got about four feet left. Well, that's not good enough. Golf fans want to know because the make difference and other golf broadcasts have your make percentage by foot, you want to know, is it four and a half feet or is it seven?

Because the numbers start going down quickly the further out you get. So they don't use that from, I think, an aesthetic standpoint or just a stylistic standpoint. I don't know if the club itself is leaning on them to say, I don't want to see all this junk on the screen, but it's got to get more modern. And the other thing to me is Butler Cabin, I can smell it on TV when I see it. It smells musty and old and like grandmother's hell. Oh, my God. And I think it would be a wonderful...

The only thing is Shack, carpeting? Yes. It smells through my TV. It's so must be an old. I look at Butler Cabin, I think this reminds me of field trips in school. When you got off the big yellow bus, and you went to go see, you know, Martha Ross's childhood home. And you walk in the hallway.

Yeah. And there's a velvet rope, and you lean into the room. Look at the antique typewriter. Spider webs everywhere. Yeah. Right. Right. So for me as a viewer at home, I'm watching in glorious 4K, this incredible golf course, the golden sunshine, the blooming azaleas, et cetera.

The last place I want to be when there is live golf going on, inside Butler Cabin. Yeah. To hear any interviews, it is such a buzzkill. But it's tradition. and you know some traditions die really really hard and i am certain that the green jackets are insistent that that continues to be a part of their presentation it's just dumb just like the green jacket ceremony in the butler cabin they do a second one outside yeah the outside one is way better yeah i watch the outside one last night yep yeah you don't you don't need the inside one

like just let that sunset and it'll be a thing of the past so i i mean look look They used to make the tour players hire a local caddy. And that didn't end until like 1983. So when you're seeing Nicholas and Watson and those guys went in the 70s, you're seeing some good old down-home Augusta caddies who are absolutely pimping birdies by their man, you know, waving the flag. I mean, watch old master's highlights of the local loopers.

Yeah. Hilarious. Yeah, right. By the way, I'm just reading your tweet. CBS just needs to understand that nothing kills the buzz of a tournament that hangs in the balance than the dead innards of the Butler cabin, which, you know, I was pissed off when they went to the interview with Bryson, while, you know, all I wanted was just a close-up of Rory, just the pressure that was building. So I'm surprised you didn't mention what I mentioned, which is this. Which is? Jim Nance on 18.

It was a victory march conversation and narration. I'm like, are you out of your mind? This could easily be a bogey playoff, if not a double bogey loss. And he's got the story of the token and the 30 balls on the range and the parents and the whole up. He had the whole thing planned out for a victory march, and it wasn't. a victory march. This was, you got a part of win and it's Rory for crying out loud. Everybody that's watched him knew there was a chance he could bogey 18. Yeah, a lot of people were definitely on your side on that, that it was a premature, you know,

sort of unspooling of a narrative and a story and storytelling and all that. it's just he had a hundred and twenty-four yard gap wedge to the biggest, fattest green, with a backstop behind the pin. Yeah. Like the fact that he dumped it into the bunker is mind-pottling. It's a terrible miss. So my only bitter defense of Nance is that it should never, like he dumps it on the green, it's over.

It's over, it's over, it's over, but Nance was in storytelling mode. I mean, this is, as I tweeted, now it's time for Nance to cook, put on the hat, let them cook. I do think, you know, that story about the range tokens. And I know that, you know, Rory's parents were working class and they weren't, you know, elites or rich. I look at, I listen to that story, and my only response, like many sports stories that we get flooded with now on podcasts and whatnot.

Cool story, bro. I'd be true. I don't care if it's true. It's a cool story. I take all these stories with a grain of salt because something tells me that Jerry Matheroy wasn't really skint and out of money until Tuesday. He just wanted to go home.

So he told Rory, I ain't got more money until Tuesday, hit this one like it's a last shot of the man. And I'm meeting my mates at the pub. anyway, we got to get out of here. Right. Yeah. He said, you know,

he said that he worked 100 hours a week. And I'm like, really? He was like cleaning toilets and whatever at a sports club in the morning was the bartender, noon to 6 at the golf club in Hollywood. Right.

Went back to clean later that night. I'm sure there were some weeks he worked 100 hours. But I don't know. Plus, he was an Irish, He was an hour's bartender. By the way, some of this conversation, I mean, I'm just so glad Tommy's not here participating because we got into it last week.

We've gotten into it before. You know how much he hates golf because he considers it to be the elitist of the elite sports and that the only people that play it are people who belong to country clubs. And I have to explain to him. It doesn't. I know, but he doesn't understand it. He doesn't understand it. I give him all the data that there are more, so many more public courses, so many more public course players,

so many players that play professionally that aren't, that are not blue blood, you know, elitist, but he is, you know, once you get Loevy down that path, it doesn't matter. He's not going to change his opinion. He considers it to be only a sport for people who come from massive amounts of money. money. Anyway, what else? By the way. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's plenty of examples of guys who did not have much money that are now some of the top players in the world.

Right. Or in the case of Europeans, a lot of them get put into academies early on by their national federations. Sure. So there's a lot of different ways to it. By the way, the Bernhard-Longer retrospective piece before the Masters came on the air yesterday was great because Germany is not a golf crazy country. Right. And so they had these vintage photos of Langer coming up, and they were wild.

And it was just cool to see the backstory. But no, Langer came from a working class background. Do you know, Steve Sands had him on Saturday morning maybe? I think it was Saturday morning. And I texted him, I said, that was a great interview. You longer is really interesting. And he talked about how he had a serious, he had serious bouts with the yips when he was a young player. And he didn't think he'd ever get over him.

And somehow he did. But yeah, really interesting because Germans, you know, I don't know where the sport is today in that country. But when he was coming up, no one was playing golf. Yeah. Well, he helped produce Martin Kimer. Because timer followed in his footsteps. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, shoot, Sevi. Okay. Sevi came from a very lower class working family in Padrona, Spain. And they made a movie about Sevi's life, and it's on the Golf Channel periodically. It's actually very well done. They mix in some historical clips with dramatization, a cast and a script, and actors who are played to look like a young Sevi and his parents to tell the story. But, yeah, when Sevi was a teenager, you know, he was caddying at the local club, which was only for the elites.

And he would hop the wall once a week to go try to play a few holes before they chased him off. But he would then go hit golf balls on the beach and just taught himself out of play. And, you know, his parents wanted him to just go down and, you know, make fishing nets at the village, because they were seaside and vain. And he was like, nope, I'm going to go pursue this, and his parents were distraught. They're like, you're wasting your life. What are you doing?

It turned out to be one of the greatest golfers of all times. So, yeah. All right, last one, you know how all those years, like whether it was Lee Westwood or if we go way back, you know, it was Tom Kite before he won. Lee Westwood never won a major. But is there a player right now in the game who's the best to not win a major that we care about?

I don't think so. Do you have one? Oberg probably, but he'll get his. Yeah, but he's too young. He's very young. A guy who has persevered and has not one a major? Yes. Well, assuming we're going to sunset Westwood,

because he went to the live and he's kind of done now. Right. Right? Yeah. Who would be a guy that has persevered? Maybe can't lay female? Yeah. Maybe. Let me look up PGA Tour Money list. They probably have to be over, what, 30 years old?

Yeah, right? Maybe 35. I don't know. I mean, when we started to talk about Westwood, he was number one in the world, right? Tom Kite before he won, where did he win it? Pebble Beach, right? I don't think Westwood, I don't think Westwood is ever number one. Are you sure? I thought he was number one briefly. I know Luke Donald was. That was kind of a joke because he was never considered the best player in the world, but he had so many top tens and majors. Westwood reached number one in the world. He did. Yeah.

Well, look at you. Look at you. Well, I was a big brain on me. No, I thought for whatever reason. I mean, people are certainly, oh, here's one. But you know what? It's been so long, but Ricky Fowler? I mean, but he's just not been in contention for so.

long? No. No, he is not. I'm really scrolling pretty far down of guys who are still out there knocking it around, and I can't see anybody. There's a lot of younger guys that they burst on the scene. Like, oh, this guy's going to win majors. Hoblin. As if it's so easy. Yeah, Hovland and, you know, Fienow and who else? Cam Young. Yeah. I mean, We would have been having this. It would have been Zander, if not for last year. That would have been the easy answer. I mean, Max Homer was brief.

How about Max Homer finding his game at Augusta? Yeah. Finish in months. That's a crazy thing right there. How about, by the way? How about Nick Dunlap? Did you hear the story about Nick Dunlap after he shot 90 on day one? I did not.

So Nick Dunlap does not WD, which is a very well-respected move, because he could claim a al-turbic-like injury. Oh, my arm, it's broken, you know, whatever, in WD. He was hitting, like, shank drivers. You should Google some of Nick Dunlap's worst shot on Thursday. They're horror shows, right? So he doesn't. He doesn't WD.

Goes back to the house he's renting for the week, sends his caddy out the target to buy six dozen of the cheapest balls he can find. and then starts firing them off the back deck into the woods in the middle of the night. Couldn't see where they were going, just trying to get a feel. How incredible that, and then he shoots one over the next day to redeem himself. One under, Zabe. One under. Shot 71.

Yeah. Yeah, one under. It was the widest margin between rounds. Wow. Yeah, 971. He's gutting golf ball. into the woods behind his rental house trying to find something. But good for him.

Yeah. You know who we didn't talk about? How about Patrick Reed's tournament? And he had a three-footer at 13 for Bertie and ended up three-putting. And that was the difference of not coming in at 11 under par. Now, he had to drain one from the fairway on 17 for Eagle. Is he still not anywhere near a favorite of almost anybody on the tour? Oh, he's about as popular as herpes.

He is not like, yeah. Yeah, he is not liked by anybody. As evidence by the fact that when he hooped it on 17, there was barely a roar. It was like golf clap, and that's why when they cut to him in the fairway, He's like, what happened? Did that go in? Imagine if any other player dunks one on a bounce at 17, at the 71st hold of the masters, you would hear about it.

You would hear about it all the way in Athens. And he is so hated. They're like, okay, great. Reg just made it. All right. Thanks for doing this. It was an incredible sporting event. And, you know, it is true, right, that A, Quail Hollow,

Oakmont and then Royal Port Rush are courses that do set up nicely for Rory's game, correct? Well, certainly Quail Hollow. He's won there four times. Yeah. So now he didn't win the PGA when it was there, but he's won there four times for the Wells Fargo. So that is a horse, that is a course that fits that horse. Oakmont, I don't know. He's just a great player, so I'd expect that he would be very much in contention there. And then Royal Port Rush, you know, for quite a while, Rory had a reputation that despite being from Ireland where the conditions are harsh, he didn't play in tough conditions very well.

Yeah. And the one, and the British Open, he did win the weather laid down that week at, I think he was in Liverpool. cool. So I don't know. I think port rush is amazing. I've got to get there and play someday, but that's a story for another day. All right. Thanks. Appreciate it as always. All right, buddy. Good to talk to you. Another day we'll talk about what's going on with the badges and the ticket situation down there because that's equally fascinating to me. All right. We'll do that. I'm planning on it for next year this time, but going into the tournament.

But we've got more golf talk the rest of the summer. All right, I'll talk to you soon. Thanks, buddy. Steve Zabin, everybody. We'll finish up the show next with the best odds on the position Washington will select with its first pick in the draft that starts a week from Thursday night. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. For those of you that haven't heard yet, Skims now offers men's underwear, and I'm here to tell you it's worth the hype. They sent me several pairs when we first started doing these skim spots two or three months ago. I'm now wearing skims primarily.

It's great. It is totally worth it. I'm wearing their five-inch boxer briefs. I had worn the same underwear for a long period of time, the same brand, the same type. The skims boxer briefs are so much more comfortable. They give you the movement that you need when you're working out. They don't ride up on you. By the way, they come in a lot of different shapes and sizes, and they just, I'm telling you, are

worth trying. Shop Skims Men's at skims.com and Skimms stores. Let them know we sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey, and select our show in the drop-down menu that follows. Skims is the official underwear partner of the NBA, the WNBA, and USA basketball. Chris Miller, Drew Gooden, on the call of the final shot of the Wizards' 24, 2025 season. An impossible shot by Bubbington, high off the glass, contested at the buzzer to win in Miami yesterday.

119 to 118. The problem is they really didn't want to win that game. More on that in a second. If you get a chance to rate and review the show and you have 60 seconds tops to give us five stars if you see fit and write a quick one to two sentence review on Apple in particular, it would be much appreciated.

It's a big help for us when we get those ratings and reviews. Also following the show, hit the plus button, hit the follow button. that is a big deal for us as well. Yeah, the Wizards end up now with the second worst record in the NBA. They did have the worst record in the NBA. Utah ends up 17 and 65. The Wizards end up 18 and 64. So the Wizards have the second worst record. Now, the only way that that hurts them is if they don't land one of the top four positions in the draft lottery. They have the same equal chance with Utah and Charlotte to land the number one overall pick. The three worst teams in the league all have a 14% chance of landing the number one pick, which would be Cooper Flag in the June draft,

a perhaps transcendent, transformational, franchise-changing player. Not like Victor Wenbanyama, I don't think, but certainly a massive, you know, opportunities. for the Wizards if they can land number one. That draft lottery picks the top four spots, and then it goes into sending order. So if the Wizards had terrible luck, instead of their worst case being fifth in the draft, after winning yesterday, their worst case is now potentially picking sixth in the draft. If everything goes terribly wrong when we get to the draft lottery night,

which I think is still about a month away. A couple of other quick sports notes from over the weekend. The first two are NBA related, but I think they're interesting. The Oklahoma City Thunder ended up with the best record in the NBA. 68 and 14 they went this year. Their average margin of victory smashed the previous mark, which stood for nearly a half century. Actually, more than a half century.

What am I talking about? The 7172 L.A. Lakers with Wilts Chamberlain and Jerry West, and I think Gail Goodrich on that team. Their margin of victory was 12.3 points per game. Oklahoma Cities was 12.9 points per game this year. The biggest margin of victory in NBA history for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They're such a young team. Shea Gilgis Alexander probably. going to win the MVP. They have seven guys that average double figures. Their 68 and 14 mark means that they were 16 games better than the number two team in the West, Houston. That is a

massive difference. Can they hold up in the postseason? Can they continue to perform in the postseason? Can they win 16 games over the next two months? NBA history says probably not. You know, teams that are more experienced, more seasoned in the postseason, which is a completely different sport than the regular season in the NBA. You know, history says you've got to gradually earn your way towards a chance to win a title in the NBA with an older, more experienced team. They won a series last year and then lost to Dallas in the second round. Can they win an NBA title this year? I don't know. But they're going to be interesting to watch, that's for sure. The West is loaded with teams that are experienced and can, I think,

knock off Oklahoma City. Teams like the Lakers, the Nuggets, the Clippers, the Warriors, the NBA playoffs in the West are going to be incredible. of Western Conference NBA teams. How about this story from this afternoon? Mike Budenholzer, the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, got fired after one season. He got hired by owner Mattashiba, the son's owner last year after they fired Frank Vogel and gave him a five-year, $50 million deal, $10 million a year. I'm assuming it's guaranteed. They fired him after one season. Why? Well, the Sons went 36 and 46 with the highest payroll ever in NBA history. That's why this story is interesting, in my opinion.

The big three of Durant, Booker, and Beale just haven't worked out. Bradley Beale, if you haven't been paying attention since he got traded to Phoenix. He has missed 29 games each of the two seasons in Phoenix. His availability has been his biggest issue now for six or seven years. Not to mention the fact that Bradley Beale's a good player. he's not a great player. He's never been a great player. He's never been a number one or a number two on a contending team. Maybe a number three, but he's got to be available. And they had injuries everywhere this year. People used to get upset with me when I would say Bradley Beale's a good player. He's not a

great player. He's not a top 10 player. He's not a top 15 player. He's not, you know, he's barely a top 20, top 25 kind of a player. Really good player. I mean, had some incredible seasons as a score, but just hasn't been able to stay on the floor. He just can't stay healthy. But the highest payroll in the history of the NBA, 36 and 46, and out of the playoffs. I had one other thing before I wanted to close with kind of the odds on positions in the draft for Washington.

Where is that? Oh, yeah, the San Diego Padres over the weekend, they had three shutout wins over the Colorado Rockies. That's the first time in, at least a three-game series that a teams won by shutout in all three games. In eight years, the Indians were the last team to do it. I don't know. I thought that was kind of interesting. The Nats lost two of three to Miami over the weekend. The caps dropped two to Columbus over the weekend. and the Columbus Blue Jackets all of the sudden could potentially be the Capp's first round opponent.

The wild card spots are not wrapped up yet in the east. Ottawa has clinched one of those spots, but the second spot, which will be the spot that faces Washington, is either Montreal or Columbus. Montreal's got a three-point lead over Columbus, each of those teams with two. games remaining. So Columbus, who just swept the caps over the weekend. Ovecine got a goal yesterday, 8-96, first goal since the record setter a week ago Sunday. But Montreal, Columbus will find out by, I guess, either tomorrow night or Wednesday night, who the cap's first round opponent will be. By the way, another quick hockey note. Look at me with the hockey stuff on the show today.

first time in NHL history where four of the original six, specifically the four American original six members, if you don't know the original six, the original six hockey teams were Detroit, Boston, Chicago, and the Rangers, along with Montreal and Toronto from Canada. This is the first time in NHL history that the four American members of the original six are all going to miss the playoffs in the same season. Detroit, Boston, Chicago, and the Rangers, none of those four teams are going to make the postseason. Now Montreal and Toronto, Toronto is in. Montreal still has a shot, but that was something that I read that I thought I would share with all of you. I bet most of you didn't know that. All right, let's get to what I wanted to close the show with, which

is the odds on the exact playing position of the first drafted player by Washington in the upcoming NFL draft. So MyBooky has great futures, great prop bet opportunities. Go to MyBooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. You'll get a cash bonus when you sign up for the first time. They'll have everything you need for the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs. but they've got a lot of stuff up for the NFL season in 2025 and the NFL draft. And they just posted over the weekend the odds for the playing position of the first drafted

player for each team in the NFL. I wish I hadn't looked at it and I wish I'd like kind of sketched out what I thought the odds would be for each position group. I definitely would have nailed number one, the odds on favorite. The odds on favorite for the position that Washington will take with its first pick, that could be at 29. That could be if they trade up. That could be if they trade back. But the first player they select, the odds on favorite is that that player will be a defensive lineman,

either a detackle or a defensive end or edge rusher. Plus 166 favorite. Now this is a draft deep, very deep at that position. exceptionally deep. I've seen 16 to 17D linemen in various mock drafts selected in the first round. Washington has a need, obviously, for a defensive end in particular. So plus 166 favorite, a defensive lineman, as Washington's first pick at my bookie. Now, number two, I think I would have guessed corner. It's offensive linemen.

So that could be a tackle, a guard, or a center. It won't be a center. There are no centers projected to go super high this year. But O lineman is second on the list of positions by odds, selected by Washington with its first overall draft choice, at plus 350. So anywhere along the offensive line at three and a half to one. D-line the favorite at plus 166.

O-line second favorite at plus 350. the third favorite corner at plus 430. I could see corner. I would have probably put corner second and maybe wide receiver third before O line. But look, getting bigger, stronger, and better in the trenches is a goal. They've done that on the defensive line in free agency, and they obviously did that with the additional Laramie Tunsell on the offensive line. O-line was second at plus 350.

Corner was plus 4.30. That was the third odds-on favorite for the position. Then it was wide receiver at plus 500. So O-line, corner, wide receiver, pretty close. I think those are the four position groups that I would have said, D-line, number one, and then the next three, you know, you could put them in any order. And they kind of did, you know, the difference between O-line and wide receiver plus 350 to plus. 500. And then it's safety at plus 900 and running back and tight end both at plus 1,000. So running back and

tight end are both 10 to 1. Safety's 9 to 1. I think I'd have running back a little bit closer to wide receiver and after wide receiver. Linebackers plus 1,200 and then the two massive long shots. Quarterback at plus 26,000. Okay, they're not taking a quarterback with their first overall pick. And then they've got a category called kicker, punter, long snapper. It also plus 26,000. Makes sense to me. D-line should be the favorite. I think when we're sitting here on Friday discussing the first round,

they have either traded back and didn't select a player or they selected a defensive end. A Pierce, a Stewart. I love Green, but Green apparently has some baggage. He's the one that really pops. on tape. There are a bunch of them. Nothing's going to surprise me, though. They'll go best player available. Like, if it ends up being a corner, I wouldn't be shocked.

If it ends up being a wide receiver, I would not be shocked. If it were a running back, I'd be sort of surprised, but we've talked about this. If they see a running back at 29 that they believe is, you know, Bejan Robinson, Jemir Gibbs, Sequehuan, Barclay, Christian McCaffrey-like, they should consider taking that running back in the first round if they think it's that kind of an impact player because they don't have that player right now. They have decent players,

but they don't have a massive game changer. Debo, if he has a Debo kind of year, will be that player at times out of the backfield. But right now, Debo's got one season in Washington. All right, there you go. D-Line is the favorite, and a solid favorite in terms of the position that Washington will draft with its first draft choice, wherever that comes. That's it for the day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.