The Kevin Sheehan Show - Tanya's Team

Episode Date: June 29, 2021

Kevin and Thom today with the news that Tanya Snyder has been named Co-CEO of the Washington Football Team. Plenty on the Nats' win over the Mets which included another home run barrage from Kyle Schwarber. Also, NBA, Darryl Morsell, fruit allergies, and soccer.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here today. I am here today. The show today presented by my good friends at MyBooky.

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news this morning related to the Washington football team. And I think we should start with this, Tommy. Tanya Snyder, the wife of Dan Snyder, has been named co-CEO of the Washington football team. The Wall Street Journal had it first. I'm not going to sit here and slap myself on my own back, but I am going to recall a conversation in which you, very much thought. I was reaching for straws that I was, you know, taking a big leap of faith that Tanya Snyder was going to become a more significant presence in this organization. When I observed Jason Wright's hiring and Jason writes comments after he was hired his team

president, where he mentioned Tanya more than anybody had ever mentioned Tanya and had mentioned, and had mentioned her as much, if not more, than Dan. And I made that observation and I said, they are really trying to push Tanya out there. She's going to have more of a role in the organization. And she was named co-CEO this morning, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now, what does that mean? We can discuss that in terms of what that means.

In terms of the organizational chart, just understand that Dan is still the chairman of the board. board. He is still the single largest shareholder and the majority shareholder of stock and voting stock in the organization. But in terms of CEO, he is half of a CEO and she is the other half. And then you get Ron Rivera and Jason Wright on the next line of the organizational chart. And then you get Herney and Mayhew and everybody else. What does this announcement mean to? you? To me, it's the most insignificant thing in the whole story. Okay, I didn't read this story. I did not read this story, by the way, yet. Okay. Well, here's a quote. Here's a quote from this chicken

shit story that's in the Wall Street Journal. What did you just refer to it as? Chicken shit. Chicken shit. Okay, I'm sorry, you got a little muffled there. Chicken shit. Let's make sure your phone's going to be okay. Okay. You got it. here's one quote about the change before all that could change Dan Snyder acknowledges that he had to change himself

and become more deeply involved than in the past when he was often distant from the management of the franchise that's in the story with no response or pushback the writer wrote that sentence right

the Wall Street Journal Andrew B was the writer of this story. Oh, my God. I mean, you know, just take your knee pads off for five minutes and acknowledge that this is a conflict compared to all the reports that have happened for the past 20 years. Then what they do, and I don't have the rest of it in front of me,

because I was able to read it this morning. Now I'm locked out of it, and I'll be damned if I'm going to buy a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. I have one. Well, that's good. You should read the whole thing because you're going to. They document the days. They document the days that Snyder has been in the building. They actually say he's only been in a building like 229 days in the past 10 years.

First of all, what relevance is that to anything? You don't need to be in the building to do the damage. It's pathetic. This article, this is how you've got to interview with Dan Snyder. Okay? this art, look, you are absolutely 100% right on Tanya Snyder, and that is significant in their, in their strategy to dig themselves out of this whole. It's very huge. But I can't get over the crap that's in this story.

It's, I'm telling you, I don't think the Washington PR department could have written a better story. This is pathetic. There's no pushback on anything. Well, remember, part of Rock Nation's involvement in this organization, I was told, and remember I mentioned this, whatever it was a month, two months ago when the Jay-Z News came out, is that they have steered clear of the Washington Post, and they have allowed the New York Times and Wall Street Journal to handle the big stories on the organization. The Wall Street Journal clearly is a more conservative newspaper. I find their news division to be very objective and very, and very, centrist middle of the road. I think their op-ed section definitely leans conservative. I think that's the way most people would view the journal. But they have steered clear of the Washington Post where, by the way, a lot of these questions that you would prefer have been asked with answers would have

been asked. Well, you can't let that fly, Kevin. You can't write that he needs to be more deeply involved in the past. You have to write at the very least. This is a conflict to the various reports of his drafting number one quarterbacks and hiring after 12-hour interviews

with coaches. And just you know, the whining and the dine is just this is an embarrassment. Wall Street Journal, I guess, you know, I don't know what their editorial makeup is. But this story is an embarrassment. I would have taken, if I'm Andrew, what's his name, Andrew?

Andrew Beaten, I'm going to try to get him on the radio show. He should take his byline off the story. It's an embarrassment to him. So there are a couple of things that since the Happy Thanksgiving introduction of Ron Rivera, which followed the dispatching of Bruce Allen on a day in which Dan Snyder was terribly nervous, obviously, where he made it very clear that it was all Bruce. Bruce's fault. Once again, this is a story that is suggesting from his perspective that all that has happened was the fault of Bruce Allen and others, Bruce Allen and others, not him. Now, let me mention

something that I've mentioned many times over the last 10 years. His presence in the building over the last decade and his true detailed day-to-day granular involvement in the football operation is less than what it was in the first 10 years. It was by every single person's account that sort of had experience with the Vinnie Dan days and then the Bruce Dan days. Dan was less involved in a lot of the stuff that he previously was intimately involved in. And it's true that he spent much more time, not just away from the building, over the last 10 years, but out of the country for the last 10 years.

So those things I have learned over the years, I think, are true statements. Now, for him to sort of absolve himself from all that's happened in recent years, as if somebody else was making all the decisions, is disingenuous at the very least. and it's clearly an attempt to sort of make himself look good and make himself look detached. And he wasn't. We know, we absolutely know, that he drafted Dwayne Haskins on that fateful April night in 2019. That was him. That was him saying, I don't care what your board says.

I don't care what you're trying to sell me. let me sell you or let me tell you why taking Dwayne Haskins makes the most sense. Terribly damaging, a first round pick overall. I mean, that is... I mean, there's countless examples. He interviewed defensive coordinators, while the defensive coordinator who was still there... He was in the room. He was, yes.

Yes. So, I mean... Why Greg Minoski? Right. I mean, you would think that the head coach would be the guy to be able to decide who his defensive coordinator is, but that's never been the case here in Washington. Give me other examples because the biggest example, the biggest example of the damage that he did during this, let's just call it, era of less involvement, was his relationship with Robert Griffin III.

It was terribly damaging to the organization. Yes, absolutely, absolutely, 100%. Look, I understand why Dan Snyder wants to present this image. You know, I get that. Right. What I don't get is when somebody, when you write a story and somebody says something like that, you have to have the research backed up in case it says, well, he may have said this, but this is the truth.

This is the reality. this is the other side. There's no other side in this. It's a PR puff piece. So do you think this is one of those puff pieces where he got the list of questions before? I don't know about that. Because how...

I don't know if he did or not. Because if presented, if this writer had been, you know, let's just say well-researched, and it said, well, sir, Dan, what about the discussion, the stories, the reports that you trumped your football people on draft night 2019. What about the reports that you sided with your 23-year-old quarterback over a head coach and a staff that has produced four NFL head coaches? What about those stories? It would have been

great just to get his answer. I wonder if he was allowed to ask those questions. But maybe it's a suggestion it's what you suggested and that is maybe he wasn't prepared well enough for it. Well, no, I think you can't be that you have to fall onto the planet to be a reporter

and not have some kind of context of Dan Snyder's history. So and I don't know if it was in person. I think it was in person because I think they describe it sitting in his office or sitting in a New York office or something like that. I recall the story.

I could be wrong about that. Okay? But, I mean, you've got to respond to it in the story. You may not be able to admit. Snyder may not answer the question, but you have more than enough evidence to say, but this, this, and this. And then let the reader decide what the truth is.

I mean, I just, I hate, I mean, I don't. Let me read from you as I've opened up the story. just read one one line here it was in october of 2019 months before the team was drowning in controversy when Snyder says the first wake-up call came over and over he heard a clip from a press conference held by then team president bruce allen in which alan was asked what he thought of the team's culture and alan described it as damn good we all remember that moment um i said that uh by the way as an ad on The team was 0 and 5 and it just fired its head coach. Snyder loved the question because he disagreed with the answer.

At that very moment, it triggered us to say, we've got to fix our culture. Close quote, Snyder says. He doesn't need a house to fall on him. He needs a whole neighborhood to fall on him, apparently, before he realizes, hey, maybe we should change the culture. It's a joke You've got me

You've got me fine up Yeah You're one You're one incident away From all this totally self-destructing all over again It's a fragile buildup PR buildup

It's walking so far You know But it's very fragile Let me just So let me just As I'm just sitting here Reading from this So a couple of big takeaways

Number one yours Okay, bad job by the reporter, a terrible job, not to be well prepared. I don't know what the parameters of this interview were or what the guidelines were to get this interview, but there is no pushback here. Secondly, it is what I've said for years now. There is a level of detachment from reality with this owner that astounds me. And I do think sometimes it's very much a detachment from reality. I think he just doesn't understand what his fan base,

the significant majority of his fan base has thought about his team, not just recently, but for a long period of time. Number three, it's never, ever his fault, ever. This is, you know, this is, by the way, a hallmark of a narcissist. It's always somebody else. And this has been a go-to for Dan Snyder for years. It was Norv's fault. It was Marty's fault.

It was Zorn's fault. It was Vinny's fault. It was Mike's fault. It was Bruce's fault. It's never been his fault. And lastly, the notion that somehow he believes that, that pushing this narrative that he hasn't been involved enough and that somehow getting involved more will be well received by his fan base,

how clueless can you be, dude? They want you gone! They don't want you anywhere near this team. They were begging, begging over the last year, for somebody to have the smoking gun on you. that you were forced to sell the team. Nobody believes that this isn't your fault, except for Ivan, my caller from Florida now, where he's living in a state where he's much more comfortable. It's, you know, to say things like, you know, we've made mistakes to talk about what he's

talking about as in, I wasn't close enough. That's why things turn badly. I am going to going to get more involved. And by the way, my wife's going to help me. And let me just say this. I don't know, Dan, I don't know, Tanya. A lot of you believe that those of us that have worked for the radio station for years owned by Red Zebra, which Dan Snyder was the principal and majority shareholder and investor in somehow knew these people. They were very, Tommy will tell you, they just were hands off until the very end when they got hands on. But it wasn't Dan who was hands on. It was others in the organization, and they really, really messed it up in a big way. But we're not going to-

Like I've called people before, I've never met Dan Snyder. You were with me a couple times at Super Bowls where he stopped by and said, oh, you were gone at that point. Yeah, because you, once our show ended, Tommy was out of there, man. He had, our show was over in studio, and our show ran from 12 to 2. 202, you couldn't find him. Actually, that's not true. he would bury himself in his shrine of an office built for himself.

The only time I've ever met him and had even the briefest of conversations were at Super Bowls on Radio Row. He never set foot into the radio station when any of us were there. The only relationships he had were with some of the former players like Doc and Cooley in terms of the people that worked at the radio station. You know, very early in the days when he was more accessible from a media standpoint, Bram, who was our Redskins beat reporter at this station, got to interview him probably more than anybody else other than Doc over the years. But anyway, what I was going to say is, I don't know him, I don't know her. We obviously know people who know them and have worked with them.

and the big takeaway would be he is unpleasant and she's very pleasant. So putting her out more front and center, by the way, you know, a huge, huge bonus and pioneer, if you will, of breast cancer awareness, and the NFL's involvement of that awareness is Tanya Snyder-driven. And so having her more of sort of along with Jason Wright and Ron Rivera out front and center is much better. But let's be honest, one of the true statements about him and his lack of involvement would be if he had gone a step further and said, I've been very reclusive from media because he has been. We just don't hear from Dan Snyder. This story right now probably has more Dan Snyder quotes in it.

than anything we've had in a long period of time, long period of time. Well, now we know what it takes to get that kind of access, don't we? Yes, we do. But we've heard this before, Tommy. We've heard this before, that they are only willing to do this if there are sort of parameters around it, if there's some level of control. But the idea, this is where, again, it just, over the, the years, like those of us at the radio station and other media people, like a lot of us have had these conversations where if they would only involve us instead of some of the dummies they've

had in helping them navigate this from a PR standpoint, they'd be much better off. Like, this is terrible advice to have Dan go out there and try to bullshit people into the reason our culture went bad is because I removed myself. Now I have to insert myself again. I mean, nobody wants to hear that he's going to be involved. And nobody believes that he wasn't involved. We've already given you two or three prime examples of reported on, solidly reported on, he made decisions that damage the franchise.

He's the problem. He's never looked in the mirror and acknowledged. It's him. it's not all of these other people. Which leads to this. This organization since last July in that very first Washington Post story has become Tommy. I don't know this definitively like I've got the data to support it. It's very much observational.

It's become the most progressive organization in the NFL and it's hiring. It's hired. I think that's fair anecdotal. I think you're right anecdotally. And you talked about that early on in the process, the road that they were going down. Yes, I had this sense early on that they were going to really try to become

a very diverse organization to sort of counter, by the way, I'm not suggesting that any of these hires weren't based on resume to. But come on, we're living in a world in which we can make observations. And not, you know, I can't stand the people that say, you know, stop being so observational. Well, life's boring if you're not observing. We can see that many women and many minorities have been hired to key positions in the organization much more

so than before, much more so anecdotally than other NFL teams. I think that this was always going to be the push coming off the Washington Post stories. And I also really believe that the quid pro on lowering or waiving the debt limit, then loaning him money, as you reported, I think before anybody else, to buy out Fred Smith, Bob Rothman, and Dwight Schar. I believe that the agreement here is that there will be a 30 to 40 percent minority owner within the next year or something. so made up of minorities and that the league wants more diversification and more diversity in its ownership and that Dan's going to provide it and the reason he's going to provide it is the trouble the organization's gotten into and oh by the way if you don't want us to go down the path of trying to

remove you um that's what i think's coming next by the way just to be clear i am not in any way suggesting that the hiring of Ron Rivera and Jason Wright and Martin Mayhew and Julie Donaldson and et cetera, et cetera, the CFO, that these aren't all people totally qualified for the jobs. I'm just saying that clearly there's been an emphasis since last July to hire a more diverse executive team. Well, let's face it, his track record, up until except for the brief moment where he hired the Laphimina team, his track record pretty much, for the most part, has hiring people who aren't qualified to do the job.

That's right. So this was a breath of fresh air, at least, you know? Yeah, no, that's a really good point. And by the way, you know, the truth is over the years, you know, they haven't been, it's not that they haven't been a progressive organization in their hiring, It's just increased exponentially over the last year. Now, let me ask you one thing. You got the story in front of it.

Can you scroll down to the bottom of it? Yeah. If you could, because there's a reference there that it's still ringing in my head that I thought was problematic about buying out the limited partners. Hold on. Tanya is the most important figure in the organization has only become more true over the last 18 months. or involvement is deepened.

Publicly, many no time. It's really, the last two paragraphs, I think, of the whole story. Yeah, I don't see anything about the ownership. I don't know what you're referring to. Okay. Hold on. Because there's a reference there that indicates

all the problems that Snyder had were because of his limited partners. And now that he's bought them out, there won't be any problems anymore. I said Fred Smith and company were the cause of all this. Tommy, I don't see that. Okay. All right, don't worry.

Let's move on to something up. Okay. Why don't I see this? By the way, are you going to write a column on this? You have to, right? I think I do, don't I? Absolutely. You do.

Yeah. I'm going to write a column about it. Yeah, and I'm just, looking through also various responses to this and a lot of people sort of have look you you've got you've got to understand the history here you know if you're an outsider and you're like okay his wife is co-CEO you know okay well whatever and they be they're really a progressive hiring organization and you know but wow um yeah all right What about the idea?

Let's just talk to this of Tanya now being, what is she, co-CEO or CEO? Co-C-C-E-O. Co-C-C-E-O. Okay. Do you think that they're getting ready for the possibility that Dan has to step aside for a little while? I don't. But I'm not, but I don't know anything. I don't think that that would have been, I don't think,

When you say step aside, you mean in terms of like a punishment, like a suspension? Yes, I think that that's definitely in play. I'm sorry. I didn't understand what you're saying. Yeah. Yeah. He may be out of the picture for a brief period. Yeah, but I don't even know what that means when it comes to an owner.

What does that even mean? You know, it's like the equipment. I don't know. It's like a manager getting kicked. It's like a manager getting kicked out of a baseball game. He still gets to manage, but he has to do it from his. office. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, as long as they have text messages. Right. I mean, I don't know how you keep him from what he can't sit in his box during games. Okay. But it is curious that they supposedly documented the days he's in the office. He's been in the building. Wow.

I find that very curious. You know who would know that? B.J. the receptionist. Why don't we ask, oh, that's right, she got fired. You know, I've thought about recently, this was a conversation, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago with somebody, who could write the book? There's some people that are out there, and I don't know if they're quiet because they're getting paid to be quiet for a while. but there are some people out there that could write a pretty good book about the last 20 years. Oh, yeah.

Right? And she would be one of them. She would be, but there are people with much more access. I'm talking about the people that traveled with them. I know. Those would be. Oh, I know that. Yeah.

Yeah, those would be the ones. Okay. We've got to get to Kyle Schwerber. We've got to get to the Nats. We've got to get to, yes. the soccer from yesterday, and more, all coming up after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, we're going to get to the baseball, we're going to get to the basketball, we're going to get to the soccer on the show today.

During the break, Tommy asked me to cut and paste the Wall Street Journal story and send it to him. And I did notice, you know, because I was reading it while we were doing this segment, my fault, it's a story that ends very abruptly, Tommy. It's weirdly written at the end, and the paragraph that you were looking for, and I just sent you the whole thing via email, there's a paragraph that says, and it's a two-sentence paragraph. In addition, Snyder took one step that makes it clear that going forward, there is no one else to blame if things go wrong. He settled his protracted dispute with his limited partners by buying them out. That's the end of the story. There's nothing else after it.

And I guess I just figured there was more after it. It's a weirdly written end of the story, but whatever. There it is. And your point is it's another thing where Snyder tried to make it clear that, hey, now that I've gotten rid of one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, Fred Smith, Bob Rothman and Dwight Schar, we're all good now. I got rid of those heathens. That was the problem.

Again, it's never him. I know I've said this a million times, and I know it'll never happen. But people can accept mistakes if you throw yourself on the mercy of the court. If you say, you know what, I am 55 years old or whatever he is, it's been me. I've been a terrible owner and I have been way too involved and then I haven't been involved and then even when I wasn't involved, I got involved enough to screw things up. It's been me. I tried to blame everybody else, but the one constant over the last 21 years is me.

I take full responsibility and accountability and I'm going to try it to be better. And I will be. Boom. I don't think people will forgive him and I don't think people will believe him but he's never taken that step and you can't take that step unless you actually believe it to be true

and he well I guess you can but he doesn't even believe he doesn't believe it like he thinks it's a joke to put it on him because remember Tommy for how many years have we heard even from the few supporters that he has all he wants to do is win

and he'll spend whatever it is. Yeah. Except he doesn't know how to go about winning. And the first step in going about winning would be to remove himself completely from the organization's football side, period. Forever. Instead, he's going to do the opposite. Apparently.

Okay. You know, just one thing, when you think about it, if all he wants to do is win, that makes him the big. biggest loser in the history of sports. Because if his prime motivation is winning... He hasn't accomplished it. He's so bad at it. Yeah, but a lot of people have in this sport.

But he's terrible. We've never heard that as an excuse for people's behavior so much as we do with this guy. All he wants to do is win. It's supposed to absolve him of everything. Yeah. You know, I know, I don't know for a fact. but my sense of this is that he has been really good at a couple of things in his life. He's been a really good salesman.

And Tommy, people who are really good at selling, and then people who combine really good sales talent and ability, the ability to convince, the ability to persuade with a fearlessness, which I also think he probably has had his entire life, and the willingness to take big risks believing in himself, those have been his strengths. That's my guess from afar, that he has been a relentless, hardworking, hard-charging, fearless salesman. And that's what built that first business. That's what led him to be completely oblivious to the names and the caliber of people that he was approached.

to invest in his businesses early on. And he got lucky to a certain degree with that business because it may have been a bit of a house of cards business, but he sold it in advance of anybody identifying it as a house of cards business. And I've known a lot of people over the course of time that have been involved in businesses. If you want to go back to the 90s consolidation roll-up plays, several of which, which happened in this particular market. Look at Jonathan Ledecki and some of the things he did with roll-ups in the 90s. Huge successes for him personally, not so much for later investors or acquirers or those that got acquired. Lots of those stories over the years.

And his timing was perfect. And that first business gave him an unbelievable payday, which allowed him to, to buy in to something that never goes down. It only goes up, and that is the NFL. No matter how incompetent you are as a manager or as an owner or as an operator, you can't fail in the NFL financially because you're part of 32 and you're part of 32 that have basically etched a spot in the American psyche that average. advertisers continue to pay more and more every single year because people can't live without it.

And so the value of that franchise has gone up. I mean, who knew that $800 million would turn into $4 billion plus? You know, what Forbes has at it, whatever it has it, at $3 billion or two or whatever. But if he sold it, it would be for $4 billion plus. But every other business, Tommy, that he's touched, has not worked out. No. No, no, it has it. from Johnny Rockets, the Six Flags.

I don't know how his investment in Dick Clark Productions. Remember, he owned Dick Clark Productions for a while. Right. And I don't know how that turned out, but eventually he unloaded that. Radio stations? Yes, we know that one. Yeah, he's sort of overpaid for some shitty signals, like by 30-fold, which was the big mistake.

Sports radio actually, as a business for many years, was a good business, a profitable business, but they had paid so much for the original stations that they purchased, Red Zebra did, that they would have had to have 50 years of home run after home run year to pay for how much they overpaid for the stations to begin with. He was a bit of a mark on those stations when he bought them. I mean, it's still amazing. Remember, the three shitty signals that Red Zebra bought that launched Triple X, ESPN Radio. I was a part of it. You know, as one of the first, you know, Bram and I were the, and Rigo were the first three employees hired to be on the air.

And they paid a sum of money exceeding $55 million, I believe, for three stations that you could barely hear. they were probably worth maybe an aggregate $6 million and are worth probably an aggregate today, not even a million dollars. But anyway, that's neither here nor there. All right, Kyle Schwerber, this is getting ridiculous. Why is he having the year that he's having? Is there any explanation for this record?

setting stretch that he's on, 15 home runs in 17 games, the most ever for a leadoff hitter, and only Bonds and Sosa can match it. I mean, I have no explanation, but, I mean, I just keep thinking to the credit for this goes to Dave Martinez and Mike Grizzow. I mean, because they got Kyle Schwerver coming off a bad year, you know, with the Cubs. I don't think they expected this kind of outbreak. But, I mean, it's not hard to connect Kyle Schwerver's home run stretch with a turnaround by the nationals of late, because their offense was struggling for weeks until he went on this pair.

It's still not, you know, it's still not Murderer's Row. But given the pitching that they've gotten, Kyle Schorber's bat has given them enough of a lift to carry them through this. And now they're, what, a 500 record with maybe two or three games out of first place? Three games out, yep, all alone in second. They've won 12 of their last 15, 14 of their last 19. Now, they've got a brutal stretch, and we've been talking about this coming up. You know, the raised Dodgers, the two World Series teams, the Padres and the Giants, then after the All-Star game break the Padres again.

This is like a huge 16-17 game stretch. And the Mets, by the way, lost yesterday to the Nats. The Nats won that game 8-4. Another wild game, by the way, not just the Schwaber homers, but the fact that Espino pitched so well. And then the bullpen nearly blew it. And then Ryan Zimmerman comes up with a massive three-run shot to put the game away as a pinch hitter. But the Mets lost for the ninth time in the last 14 games.

So, you know, you look at it. And it's so early, and I know that, you know, this is a long stretch. We're not even halfway through the season yet. You know, the Nats just played, you know, game number 76. So you're five games away from the halfway mark. But if you look at the National League, the real and maybe the only path to the postseason is winning the division. Because the NL West has the Giants, Dodgers, and Padres. And the Padres are in third place, 14 games above 500.

and the Nats are in second place at 500. So more likely than not, I didn't even include some of the teams in the other division that have winning records like the Cubs and the Reds, who will be in contention, you know, certainly the Cubs will, for these NL wildcard spots. So they're going to win the division,

but this stretch coming up is going to be crucial that they, you know, stay around the 500 mark against the best teams in baseball. which is going to be hard to do with Steven Strassburg still sidelined showing no real signs of coming back anytime soon I mean they really have gotten some opportune start from Espino

Fetti Joe Ross I don't know if they've showed enough to be consistent but they're really patching a lot of their starts together trying to tread water with Strasbourg out. It's difficult for imagine. I mean, you know, maybe they do it. You know, it'd be nice if they did. But that's just hard to imagine.

Fettie was on, Fettie's on the injured list. They've gotten really good starts from Corbyn recently. Lester a little bit inconsistent. But, yeah, I mean, you know, it's one of those. things were three weeks ago people were talking about Max Scherzer being potentially trade bait at the deadline. We still have a month to go. Who knows? They could go on a five and 11 run here and be eight games out and they might be sellers. I mean, we don't know what will happen over the next, you know, month. But more likely than not,

they might be buyers for a starting pitcher or a bat, Tommy. You know, they could use another bat in the lineup. You know, certainly, you know, at third, for Castro, you're not, you're not going to, you don't need a corner outfield or bat. Victor Robles is interesting. You know, he's struggling clearly. He's had major base running errors in a lot of games this year. They need him to, you know. He's been a major disappointment to them.

I can't tell you how many teams wanted Victor Robles and trade deals and the nationals refused to trade them. I agreed with him at the time. Yeah. But he's been a major disappointment. And let's remember, this offensive surge is happening without Juan Soto showing much of the power that we've come to expect from him. He still could have issues with his shoulder. You know, so they've been able to sustain that as well. Yeah.

He's been better here over the last four or five games, six games. I mean, he had that stretch of like two RBIs. in like 12 games or whatever. And I think he's got three or four in the last five games. But yeah, and, you know, I had Charlie Slowes on radio this morning, and I was just curious as to what the organization thinks of Carter Keyboom and whether or not he's performing in the minor leagues. I've not kept up with that.

And, you know, they've had opportunities to call him up and haven't done it. So obviously, he's not, you know, it would appear a short-term answer. remember we've gone into the last two you know off seasons thinking Carter Keyboom was going to be the starting third baseman yes you're right but I mean if they're looking for a bat

third base would probably be the logical place they'd be looking for at this point five home runs last night four of them solo shots two of them solo shots from Kyle Schwerber, who is just tearing it up. The number of, you know, you get this now so much more than you used to with all of the statistical research arms out there.

His 11 homers in his last nine games is tied for the most in any nine game span since 2001, which is incredible. Frank Howard, by the way, did it in 1968 for the senators. and it's the most, the 15 and 17 games is the most ever for a lead-off hitter. I don't know, I would guess that they certainly didn't expect these results. You could have never expected these results. But I wonder what the expectations were just moving them into that lead-off spot. But they're not taking them out of it anytime soon, even if Tommy, there's nobody on base when he comes up and hits these home runs.

You can't move them out of this spot. I am curious why teams aren't going, aren't pitching around him now. And I understand it's Trey Turner and it's Juan Soto who are on deck, which is good news. But still, this dude's hitting so many home runs. You've got to pitch around him. And if you walk him, you walk him. He may start getting the Barry Bond treatment. He could.

As hot as he is. I wanted to talk about three other. things. The first thing I want to mention before I get to the thing that I want to spend just a little bit of time on this morning. I do want to mention that the NBA game last night, that the Clippers stayed alive. Paul George was phenomenal. He had 41 points. This is what a superstar player in the league has to do with his team on the brink of elimination. He's got to have the kind of game that Paul George had last night. Paul George not only had 41 points, but he had 13 rebound, six assists, and three steals in the game. He was 15 of 20 from the floor. Okay, I can do that.

75% from the floor. He was unconscious in the third quarter where he had 20 points. He had 30 of his 41 in the second half, many times, along with Reggie Jackson, basically, you know, turning away the sons as they consistently tried to make runs. They did it with one of the smallest lineups you will ever see an NBA team start. With Zubots out, they started Jackson, Beverly, Morris, George, and Terrence Mann. The biggest starter in that group was Marcus Morris at 6-8. Rarely we see a team that small in the NBA. I guess Paul George technically at 6-8, maybe 6-8-5 with the tallest starter out there. DeMarcus Cousins came in and was unbelievable in the game.

The officiating is terrible in this series. I just want to mention that. It's just horrendous. Paul George got fouled on two different occasions, and they didn't call it, and then they called Patrick Beverly for a ridiculous, flagrant one on a foul on Chris Paul shooting. It was a terrible call.

And by the way, Patrick Beverly is one of my favorite players to watch. I saw that. I saw the video of him reenacting Chris Paul's move. It was a terrible call. I mean, he was coming around a screen. There was nothing flagrant or intentional about that. Now, he mocked Chris Paul. Beverly, like Russell Westbrook and a few others,

like he's in that category of just hyper-competitor energy, tries harder than anybody else, and just is nasty defensively. And he's really created some issues at times for Devin Booker and for Chris Paul. Anyway, I think the Clippers can win the last two games. I think they can come back from three one down. Every single game in this series, they've had a legitimate chance to win. The three that they lost, one of them they had one if Paul George makes two free throws

or not had one in game two. And the game the other night that was low scoring, they certainly had a chance to win. They had 12 opportunities to take the lead in the fourth quarter. It's a really entertaining series, and they're doing it without cooperation. Leonard. I stand corrected because the Clippers may not win this series, and I think they would have with Kauai Leonard, but they still might without Kauai Leonard. And I didn't think they could beat Utah without Leonard. And the only way they could do it is having several players step up. Paul George is one of them, but Reggie Jackson is making himself a shitload of fans in these

playoff games. I've always been a fan of Reggie Jackson. I advocated when he was available a few years ago for the Wizards to go get him. And he is making anybody that's been a Reggie Jackson fan look really, really good. He is a killer as a scorer and as a shooter. And last night, he was outstanding with 23 points, including some hellacious knockdown threes and dunks at the rim. I loved watching him play. Tonight, by the way, Trey Young is out, not out yet.

He's questionable. I can only tell you that right now, Milwaukee in Atlanta here in this game tonight is a seven-point favorite tonight at Atlanta. So the expectation is Tray Young's either not going to play or that he's going to be compromised. If that's true, this series is over. There's no chance. You know, the Clippers have proven that they have a chance without Kauai Leonard. The Hawks would have no chance without Tray Young. I also on the basketball front, Tommy, just wanted to say to Daryl Morsell, you probably saw this, transfer to Marquette, which generated, you know, a big response from the Maryland basketball fan base. And a lot of people don't understand it. I explained it two months ago when Daryl potentially, by putting his name into the NBA hat, also suggested that he could go transfer portal if that doesn't work out. and he wrote a wonderful note publicly on social media to Mark Turgeon and to Maryland, and Turgeon did the same to him yesterday. This is not, for those of you that think somehow this is a reflection of Turgeon fucking something up. It's not.

Darryl Morsell wants a new experience. He got this fifth year because of the COVID. Last year doesn't count. He also, I understand, feels a little bit like the younger players that have been waiting their opportunity should have that opportunity next year. It's also a team that's taken in a bunch of transfers, which potentially could have limited, yes, even the defensive player of the year, could have limited some of his opportunities this year. Because Darrell, you know, offensively, that was never his strength. And the team at times struggled offensively, not just because of him,

but he wanted a new experience. And he's going to take this fifth year and he's going to play for Shaka Smart in Milwaukee. for Marquette and good for him. And no Maryland fan is doing anything other than wishing him the best. He is really going to go down, Tommy, not as one of the greatest Maryland basketball players of all time. I mean, we know the list is pretty deep on that front. But he's memorable.

He is a memorable player in the annals of Maryland basketball. Four years, pretty much a starter for most of those four years, a defensive player of the year in the Big Ten. a competitor, a tough, tough, hard-nosed heart and soul kind of teammate and leader. And he'll be remembered. But this was not, for those of you, wanting to make something out of it. This was not a situation in which the team was blindsided or it was a result of Turgeon or a result of a relationship with the school or the coach or the coaching staff or other players.

No. This was just a grown man making the decision that with this fifth extra year, he wanted a different experience. Good for him. Good for him. You don't have any thoughts on this? No, I don't. I don't have any thoughts on it. Maryland's ACC opponent and the Big Ten ACC was determined yesterday, it's going to be Virginia Tech at Xfinity Center.

And so it's not Duke, although Jeff Irman wrote that there's still some rumors out there that Marilyn and Duke are talking about. some sort of game in Coach K's last year. I'll believe that when I see it. I don't, I've not heard anything on that front, and I would not believe it. All right. One more break. I got. One more break.

One more break, and then I want you to finish up with what you have, and I want to tell you what I watched four hours of yesterday, and why I watched it. That's next after this word from one of our sponsors. I just told Tommy that I've been eating. fruit this morning after the radio show. I just went down and got a bowl of fresh cut up fruit from Safeway. And my mouth is swelling up. So there must be something in the fruit that I'm allergic to. It's not a bad situation. I'm not going into anaphylactic shock or whatever it's called. I don't need a shot here of adrenaline. But my mouth is sort of swelling up on my lips.

So Tommy said, gave me some great advice. What was your advice? Don't eat the fruit. Stop eating the fruit. You know? To which I said... That's always been my go-to move. Don't eat the fruit.

To which I said, oh my God, but it's been so good. It's so good. Raspberrys, blueberries, strawberries, cannolopes, red and green, watermelon. Wow. It's just, it's a... bowl of fruit, but I can't eat. I got to stop eating it right now.

Yeah, you do. You do because your mouth is your livelihood, buddy. It is. I guess it is. So what do you have before I finish up with soccer talk? Well, two things. I want to remind everybody about the D.C. Gray's Benefit concert Sunday, July 11th, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Caddy. on Cordell, featuring the great band King's Soul. Donation tickets are $25 a piece.

You can buy them at DCGraise.com. I'll be there, and I guarantee you a good time will be had by all. And the other thing I wanted to tell you, I was in Bethany for about four or five days. Oh, okay. And I was walking on the beach one day, and all of a sudden I hear this voice behind me,

yell Tommy. And I turn around, and it's a guy who's a big fan of the show and was actually listening to you on the podcast as he was sitting on the beach. Oh, that's great. And I walked by. His name is Carrie Hall. I wanted to give a shout out to him. Very nice guy. We had a nice conversation.

And he's just, you know, just another fan, random fan I found on the beach of Bethany. Where were you in Bethany? How many days were you down in Bethany? Five days. And so where were you staying? At my son's house. My son's condo. Where's your son's condo? What's the sea colony. Oh, really?

Yeah. What sea colony house? Sea Colony West. Oh, so it's Sea Colony West, so it's on the other side of the highway, on the Bayside. Yeah. I will What a setup The colony is

What a setup It's unbelievable So that's where Every single summer Of my youth was spent Because my parents My parents had a condo there Well I mean

They have a great setup They've got pools All over the property Yeah they do You got tennis courts They got pickleball courts They've got buses and carts that take you around.

You don't, you know, you can take you right to the beach. It's great. Yeah, you can jump on the shuttle from Sea Colony West and go right across the street. So netting it out. My wife grew up on the Jersey Shore. Her parents had a house up in Spring Lake, New Jersey, which is a beach place, not a lake place, although there is a lake in Spring Lake. And it's beautiful, and Belmar, Spring Lake, Avon, by the

see that area of Jersey is where my wife pretty much and her family spent beach time. And I think we've had this conversation before, so I'll net it out. Everybody loves the beach experience that you grew up with for the most part. She couldn't stand like the Bethany, Rahobith, especially the high rises of Sea Colony. She just didn't really like that. See, I love Bethany. And Sea Colony, when you have kids that are young, is the easy. It's the easiest because you're right there. Somebody has to go to the bathroom. You just go right back upstairs.

So it's very easy. So I always loved it when the kids were young because it was so easy, so convenient. But I love Bethany. But I also love the Jersey Shore, where she always spent time. And you've spent much of your summers on the Jersey Shore, not in Bethany. Right. Wildwood Crest. Right.

At fact, we'll be going there at the end of July for a week. for our annual family vacation, but I had a great time down at Bethany. And actually, we're going to be there for about three or four days before we head to Wildwood. Oh, good. And then take the ferry over. Bethany's great, and I love Bethany, downtown Bethany on a summer night. It is, you know, quintessential Americana beach town to me. And it's not overly crazy and built up like Ocean City and Rehoboth.

Anyway, I want to finish with this. Because how many times during World Cups or Euro events have we had conversations, the two of us, together? And we've mocked those that have been really into it. You have said about... I believe the term I've used is a Seinfeld term called Hipster Dufus. Yeah, but you've also said, soccer is the sport for non-sports fans. I think that's your... Right, for people who don't like sports.

Right, soccer is for people who don't like sports. So I have, over the years, become more and more interested. I've talked more and more about it on the shows because I've watched it more and more. Why have I watched it? The primary reasons have been just intrigued. Like, why does the rest of the world, why is the rest of the world other than this nation

on pins and needles over this World Cup game, and we couldn't give a shit. Now, the popularity of soccer obviously has risen in this country, but the MLS is like, you know, the 15th best professional league on the planet. You know, it doesn't even compare. But anyway, let me cut to the chase. If soccer ever cared and they don't

about bringing Americans in mass to the sport as fans, viewers, et cetera, Yesterday would have been the day that they would have said, carve out four hours, sit down, and watch Spain, Croatia, and then France, Switzerland. Tommy, I swear to you, I am more open-minded about this and I've become more interested in it, but I still don't love the games. I like the other stuff more. I still hate the flopping.

I still hate the inaction for a lot of these games, the nil-nills and the 1-0-0s and the 1-0. and the whole thing. But yesterday, if someone who was dead set against thinking that they would ever enjoy soccer sat down and watched these two games, they would be lying if they said they weren't entertained. These were two, I will admit, out-of-the-box unique aberration games. Croatian Spain played a 5-3 extra-time game. 5-3 is the equivalent of 63 to 56 in the NFL. Like, it never happens.

In a college game, it would be like Texas Tech playing SMU, 69, 63. That's what 5-3 to 3 is in a soccer game. But more importantly, Croatia scored in that stoppage time, you know, after the 90th minute, to tie the game after they were down three to one. Three to one is like, in my view, being up 28 to 7, three to one with 15 minutes to go. I'm sorry, with five minutes to go. They were down three to one with five minutes to go in this game.

Being down three to one with five minutes to go is like being down 287 with three minutes to go in an NFL game. Like it's impossible. So they scored twice, forced the extra time, Spain scored twice, and they won the game 5'3. Beyond that, it was constant scoring opportunities. They scored eight goals, not on eight opportunities, but on like 30 opportunities. There was constant action in this game. I am losing Tommy, I can tell. Then we go to France, Switzerland. France is up three to one with 15 minutes to go in the game.

By the way, I say 15 minutes, Tommy. You're never really sure in soccer because the clock doesn't count down. It counts up. And remember, it's so imprecise. Like, the 90th minute, you are going to get what they call stoppage time. Like, it's an arbitrary, uh, we think we delayed the game after goals

and after injuries, like roughly four minutes. We're going to add four minutes, but it may not be four minutes. It might be 3.45 or it might be four minutes and 30 seconds. So you're never really sure how much time is actually left in the game. But at the 75th minute, Switzerland was down three to one after France scored. And they scored in the 81, in the 81st minute, and in the 90th minute, again, the final minute of the game, two goals in the final 15 minutes to tie it at the time. 3-3 and eventually Switzerland won on penalty kicks.

I thought it was high sports drama. It was thrilling. I mean, I'm sitting there and with every goal that hit the post, it was like, you know, a deep bomb that, you know, was caught inside the 20-yard line on a big drive or a big three to give them, you know, to give an NBA team the, lead in the fourth. It was great sports theater. I am also betting these games. There you go. There you go. You buried the lead. It was great. You buried the lead. It was awesome. And today, I can't wait. England,

Germany. We could be talking about a cockroach race if you had bet it. England, Germany, at noon. This will be, along with Portugal, Belgium from the other day, one of the most watched sporting events of the year. I think Portugal and Belgium may have been the most watched global sporting event of the year. Well, I'll have to watch it because my life feels so empty with what I missed. I think you should just be a little bit more open-minded to something like this. I think you should stop wasting your time and start watching Bosch. I know. There's a lot of it.

Watch something that you enjoy. You can't bet on Bosch, I know. You can't bet on the outcome of programming. And that's a problem for you. Do you know, by the way, the 14 goals scored yesterday? We're the most ever in a double-header of a knockout stage World Cup or Euro championship. course it was, 14 goals and back-to-back games unheard of in soccer. I mean...

Unheard of. And do you know what the totals are in these games, Tommy? Why do you keep asking me? Do you know? I don't know anything. Okay. Do you want to know what the over-unders are in most of these soccer games? Oh, yes.

Please. Please, Paley Head. Tell me. Like two, two and a half. And so, I mean, those are the expected goals, two, two and a half. Like today's England-Germany game, the over-under is two and a half. Yesterday you had eight goals in one game, six in the other. Those would be called easy overs.

I loved it. I enjoyed it. I'm getting more into it. I'm just being honest, I think. And I'm looking forward to the World Cup. But you know what's interesting, Tommy? I don't really care if the U.S. qualifies or not. Well, that's sort of like takes the pressure off the failure of rooting for a team that's only going to disappoint you.

I guess. All right. Do you have anything else to promote? I got nothing else. Okay. I got nothing else. All right. You know, if anyone's left, I got nothing else for you.

Tommy and I, for the first time since March of 2020, when the pandemic of 2020 began are going to be in studio together here on Thursday, and then we are planning on getting lunch together after the show. I'm sure he's... And maybe we'll go watch some soccer. I'm sure there's a reason for this lunch and this visit that I will find out when we get together on Thursday. But I'm looking forward to it.

And now I'm wondering if I have to do anything with the microphone and headphones here to get it ready. I have not had anybody do any programming with me in this studio since that, you know, since March of 2020. Well, get ready, baby. I'm coming. All right. All right. We're done. Have a great day. Back tomorrow.