The Kevin Sheehan Show - Ted's Take + Thom's Title Game Picks

Episode Date: January 26, 2024

Kevin and Thom opened with several thoughts on the AFC and NFC Championship games along with Thom's predictions on both. The boys weighed in on Wizards' coach Wes Unseld's departure and Ted Leonsis' letter to the "DMV" updating the move of the Caps and Wiz to Virginia. Kevin talked about the incredible season Jahmir Young is having after he took over and won the game for Maryland last night at Iowa. "You Heard It Here" first bold predictions and more as well.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation. Also, just a reminder, I mentioned this the other day. February 2nd, a week from tomorrow night, Bethesda Theatre.com for tickets to see 980 and 106.7. the fan together. I'd love to see some of you out there. I'll be there for the entire evening. This from Frog on Twitter. I know Tom was being sarcastic, but I actually 100% agree. If there was ever a documentary on RG Knee, you both certainly have to be included prominent local sports radio host during all of it. I don't see how they don't include y'all. I don't

think Tom was being sarcastic at all. I think you would expect to be a part of that. Yes, if they were going to pretend, if it wasn't going to be produced by RG3 himself, you know, documentaries these days, their love letters and not really documentaries. And I think a lot of people would just like to write a love letter about RG3 and leave out the bad parts. Well, obviously, if he produced, that would be the fear, right? You know, it's just like anything else.

When somebody who hasn't lived it ends up taking it on as the project, and they produce it and they maybe have a different impression going in about RG3 as an example, and maybe they were a big fan, and they think they're about to do this documentary on one of the greatest one-year quarterbacking. seasons of all time and then somehow the franchise ruined. Like, you really, I'm not saying

all documentarians wouldn't look into it and change their mind if they had a predisposed kind of idea of how the story went, but you'd really need somebody that lived it day to day to be in charge of that thing.

And I'm not saying that we would be the right people because I think we would go in with sort of this initial thought of, oh my God, wait till we tell you what this guy was about. Yeah. But it would have to be somebody that was familiar with sort of both sides of all of it. Because there's probably a lot to the side of the team that could have been done differently, and certainly the owner could have done things a lot differently.

Yes, absolutely. But, no, we just want to be, we just. want a phone call and an interview. That's all we want. We don't want to do the documentary. So we're too busy working on the documentary about us to be dealing with RG3. Yeah, that is a, that's one of those ESPN shorts, one of those 10-minute shorts, the one on us. Hey, don't forget to rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify, really helpful when you do it. Five stars, quick one to two sentence review on Apple. subscribe to the podcast, rate us and review us, really helpful as well.

So there are several things that I want to touch on, and I think we'll save the Wizards conversation, the relinquishing of his head coaching duties, Wes Unsell Jr., the move into the front office on the same day that Ted wrote this very long letter to all of his fans and supporters about the monumental sports and entertainment plan for the teams to move to Virginia. We'll get to that. I want to get to the Maryland win last night as well. But I wanted to start with this. I had Steven Spector on the show yesterday.

You remember Stephen, who produced our show usually as a fill-in for Mark when Mark was out. Steven's been running Sports Talk Radio in Kansas City for 11. years and he's a massive chiefs fan. But I didn't necessarily talk to him about this subject, but it kind of came to, through the conversation I had with him, I started thinking about it after the show. And I talked a little bit about it on radio today. We actually took calls. And it reminded me of something that I'm pretty sure you said fairly recently. You said, correct me if I'm wrong, that you think Patrick Mahomes, is the greatest quarterback you've ever watched.

Yes. He does things that quarterback I've never seen people do. Now, again, you always have to take into account the rule changes and the game changes. And, you know,

you have to consider could Roger Storback have done these same things? You know, if he played in this era, the Roger storeback of the 70s played today with the protection that quarterbacks have and the rules that favor the offense. That's the first guy I would think of who would benefit from that who plays like Mahom's place.

And he might even be better. So I understand all that, but we can't quantify that. So Pat Mahomes plays quarterback better than anybody I've ever seen. And you know me, I'm an old school guy. I say Johnny United's was the greatest for years. It's rare. I'll take a contemporary athlete and say he's the best ever. But this guy just amazes me with his composure under pressure

and his ability not to make the key mistakes under that pressure. Starback's a good one, by the way. I think Tarkington would be another one from that era. Yes. Yes, I do. But I think Staubeck was just a better quarterback. I do too. And a better player. But Tarkington would be a good one as well. Tarkington's numbers were better, you know, but Staubeck obviously started later because of the naval commitment and also ended his career, you know, rather quickly.

In fact, let me just pull this up. I don't think Roger Stawback's career lasted more than 10 or 11 years because his first season in the NFL, I think, was like, 1969 or 1970. And his last game was the 79 regular season game against Washington, and then they had the one playoff game. Yeah, 69 to 79 was his career. Roger Stauback only started 114 career games.

By comparison, Fran Tarkington started 239. games. He played about 17 seasons. Yeah. And when he retired, he had all the passing records. He did. The yardage, touchdowns, and it took a long time for someone to pass him in career touchdowns. I think it was Marino, right? I think Marino ended up. It probably was. I think the records that Marino set, I think he passed Tarkington. I think that's

right? I think Clark through 342 career touchdown passes, which was a lot more than anyone else had done before, and it took a while for someone to pass that number. I think Marino may have been the guy. Here it is all-time. Brady's 1, Breeze 2, Manning Farr, Rogers, Rivers, who were talking. Yeah, then Marino. So Marino in that era became the all-time leader in touchdown passes. Rotheltsburgh, Matt, Ryan, Eli, Stafford, Tarkington, yeah, Tarkington was the next one. So Marino passed Tarkington, and then probably the first to pass Marino was Farrv. I would assume that Farrv was the first to pass Marino. Probably.

I think that's probably true. And then in passing yards all time, again, Brady, Brees, Peyton, Farr, Rathelsberger, Rivers, Ryan Marino, all right, Rogers, Manning, Stafford, Elway. So Marino, no, Elway didn't, Marino passed Tarkington there too. Yeah, Tarkington's still 14th on that list. So it got me to thinking about the following.

I would not, I agree with you that watching Patrick Mahomes that, you know, he looks like one of the greatest quarter, when you're watching him of all time. And the bottom line is that if he retired before even this season began, he'd be a first ballot Hall of Fame. I mean, he already has two MVPs, two Super Bowl MVP's in six seasons of starting, six Pro Bowls, two-time All-Pro first team, 28,000-plus yards, 219 touchdowns. he would be a lock hall of famer.

But I think that his career up until now, while everybody looks at him as one of the all-time gifted, all-time talented quarterbacks that's ever played the game, even though he's only played six seasons, you wanted to see something that you didn't get a chance to see until last weekend and then this coming weekend. And that is him going on the road in the postseason. and winning. Not only winning, but winning with a team that isn't supposed to be a very good team. It's the worst team offensively. He's quarterbacked in the six years that he has started. It's probably actually the best team defensively. But he went and beat Buffalo last week,

and that's an accomplishment. His first road playoff game, he got a road playoff victory. But Buffalo was a beat-up, beat-up defensive team. Yes. Yes, absolutely. If they go into Baltimore on Sunday and he plays well and they win the game and they go on to win the Super Bowl again with him leading the way, the win over Baltimore against that defense, that team in that building on Sunday, and then to go on to win another Super Bowl, that will be the moment, I think, that anybody that's on the fence on Mahomes can't be on the fence. anymore. It will be... The crowling moment. At the moment, he's

got a lot of career left. It'll be the defining moment of his career. It'll be the most significant moment of his career. Because I don't think that they can beat Baltimore. I shouldn't say that because it is Mahomes quarterbacking the Chiefs. But I think the Ravens are a great team.

I don't... I said the same thing the other day to my son. I said, I just don't see how the Ravens can get beat, unless they beat themselves. Unless, you know, Lamar has key fumbles and interceptions that Kansas City capitalizes on. I see a Baltimore defense that it's not only good, but it's punishing. They're not only good, but they're tough.

And I see them going against the Kansas City receivers that are not only not that good, but soft. it's a bad combination for the chiefs I think the Ravens are going to win big yeah I've just blown away not blown away but I'm kind of taken

with how Kyle Hamilton they wind up being when by the time the season is over considering one of the best defensive players in the league he was the guy that I wanted Washington to draft. But I did, I... You were very good at this, buddy. I'll give you that.

I didn't have a problem, though, when they traded back and drafted Dotson. So this isn't a Kauai Leonard NFL moment. This was... Hamilton was the guy, the whole off-season that at 11, I wanted them to draft.

But when they traded back and picked up other picks, they picked a player that I really like to in Dotson, which I may be wrong about. But back to the Ravens. Kyle Hamilton. One thing, he's a Mensa member. He's brilliant. Oh, so smart. He has an off-the-charts IQ. Yeah, so smart. And he's, and he's, he's a superstar already. But back to Mahomes for a moment. That's why I think this is the moment, because this doesn't, they're only three and a half, four-point underdogs, okay? It's not like they're double-digit underdogs on the road. They're a shorter favorite than actually I would have guessed, which

makes me a little bit concerned about my real, I'm convinced that the Ravens are better and they're going to win this game. By the way, I don't think this game is going to fit into the smell test one way or the other. The action's pretty split on the game overall. I'm just saying that if Mahomes beats this Baltimore defense and they win the game, not because Lamar Jackson turned it over, not because Gus Edwards fumbled, but because Mahomes threw for, you know, $2.90. and three touchdowns, including the game-winning drive, that's his moment. And I think they'd have a chance to go on to win the Super Bowl. But even if they didn't, I would then just say, Brady, the greatest all-time winner.

But Mahomes now is in the conversation of just the flat-out greatest quarterback we've ever watched. So you agree with me on that, correct? I mean, you've agreed anyway. So now I want to talk about Lamar Jackson. If Lamar Jackson wins on Sunday and then goes on to win a Super Bowl, and Lamar Jackson is sitting there now with a ring, and he's going to more likely than not win his second MVP in this offseason, he'll have two MVPs, he'll have four Pro Bowls,

he'll have three all pros, and let's just say he's got a ring and a Super Bowl. Bowl MVP in three weeks. Do you start to consider Lamar Jackson as one of the greatest quarterbacks that's ever played? I'm not saying this is a different conversation than the Mahomes, Brady, Manning, Elway, Montana, Marino. This is now, does Lamar Jackson start to enter the conversation with Steve Young, with Stauback, with Aikman, like borderline top top

10. You know, I think maybe he does. Just briefly, if we compare him in Mahomes, Mahomes got started on his greatness right from the start. As soon as he started playing, starting after he sat for his rookie year. Right. You know, it's taken Lamar a while to get to this point. Lamar was the MVP in his first full season starting. I know that. Yeah. I know that. I know that. But he's had a number of playoff failures. Right. So it's taken him a while to get to this point.

I wouldn't consider him certainly in the top 10. I would have to evaluate if he's a top 20, all-time NFL quarterback. Okay. That was my first reaction this morning when my producer Denton said, If Lamar were to go on, win his second MVP, he'd have the same number of MVPs as Mahomes. He would have been the guy in this era that beat Mahomes and won the Super Bowl. Burrow didn't do that. He beat Mahomes in an AFC title game at Arrowhead, but then lost the Super Bowl.

Lamar would have shredded completely the idea that he couldn't win in the postseason. I actually think that Saturday's game against Houston was a big sort of, you know, you know, weight lifted off his shoulders. It didn't even seem he was playing that way. He was so great in the second half. But I did think that there was some pressure on Baltimore and on Lamar when that game started because the last time they were the number one seed, the year that he was the MVP, they got destroyed by Tennessee in the first game in Baltimore. And that ended their season. And, you know, he had a one and three playoff record coming in. He's now two and three. I start, My reaction when Denton said, I think he automatically becomes like a top 8 to 12 quarterback of all time.

And I said, no, no, no, no. It's whether or not he starts to sort of get into the conversation of the top 25 quarterbacks of all time. And then I started to go through the list, Tommy. And you start to look at the accomplishments of some of the others. There would be very few great all-time quarterbacks that were two-time MVP. and a Super Bowl MVP. And so, you know, Steve Young would be the cop. Like, for me, I think Steve Young's almost been somewhat underrated in terms of his career.

He was a two-time MVP, and he was, you know, a three-time Super Bowl champ, but only two with him as the starter. You know, the other two with Montana as the starter. but that's the comp in terms of the style of play. And if Lamar gets one and he's got two MVPs and he's got a long way to go, and I think Steve Young is a top 10 quarterback or right there, right around 8, 9, 10 somewhere, I've always had him that high, then Lamar's not that far behind. He's not at 25. He's probably closer to 15.

Yeah, I think he's under 15. between 10 and 15, maybe. Yeah, because I made this list, you know, and I'm not including, sorry, but you can do it in yours. Baw or Autogram, okay? I'm looking at like post-merger quarterbacks. Brady Manning, Elway, Montana, Marino, Unitas, Mahomes, Rogers, and Young, okay? Those are the quarterbacks that to me, and the order, I don't even care about debating the order, but those are like the nine that I've always had kind of in my top nine.

And then after that, you know, guys like, I'm not a Fav guy. I am a stawback guy. I am not as much a breeze guy as I am maybe more of a Warren Moon guy. But you start getting to that next batch of quarterbacks. And, you know, Lamar would be in the conversation of like, you know, 10 to 15. if he were to get this done. You know, it's interesting. You mentioned Moon, Warren Moon, and Breeze.

I mean, I would pick Warren Moon as a greater quarterback than True Breeze. Even though Warren Moon has never won a Super Bowl. Look, I think you're right. I think Lamar is in the top 15, that 10 to 15 conversation, if he wins the Super Bowl and his second MVP. Yeah. I don't know if it's 10, but it's probably no worse than 15. And I think that would surprise people that are listening.

I think, you know, people would say, wait a minute. You know, he just last summer, the Ravens were somewhat hesitant as to whether or not they were going to give him a contract. He didn't finish last year. He didn't finish the year before. That's been the issue with Lamar Jackson. That's why this is really an opportunity he needs to pounce on. because I think the big question with him is how many of the next five seasons where he is the starter? Because he has essentially been the starter in Baltimore for five years.

Yes, he played in 2018. He ended up playing in that playoff game against the Chargers. But it's been five years. To play another five, how many of those five are going to complete? because there is a risk with that with him of being able to complete a season. He's been healthy this year. He's been great this year. He is a spectacular player.

But let's see what happens head-to-head with Mahomes. The other thing that would be in sort of the – it would be a feather in the cap for Mahomes is that if he beats – a feather in the cap for Jackson, excuse me. If he beats Mahomes and wins the Super Bowl, well, that's something that Josh Allen hasn't done. That's something that Joe Burrough hasn't done. Burroughs beaten him, almost beat him twice, but didn't win the Super Bowl. Lamar would then be the guy that would be of this group below Patrick Mahomes,

would ascend to that at least perceived next spot, even though I think I would take Josh Allen in front of Lamar. Jackson if I were drafting quarterbacks. Might even take Burrow. I don't know. Big, big weekend this weekend. That game is, that game

is the much more interesting game for me. I can't wait to watch that game Sunday. Absolutely. I'm with you 100%. I mean, great. I don't think in the other game we're ever going to be mentioning Jared Goff or

Brock Purdy among the great quarterbacks of all time? No, no. The two best quarterbacks, and I think the best team, and that best team has to go through the best team of the last, you know, six seasons for all intents and purposes, to get back to a Super Bowl. You know, the other conversation, too, is just Andy Reid. I mean, the idea if Reid ends up winning another one,

and he goes through Baltimore and then let's just say beat San Francisco in the Super Bowl. And now Andy Reed is a Super Bowl winning coach three times. It's amazing, man, Andy Reid's career. I mean, it was only six years ago, basically, that Andy Reid just couldn't get it done in the postseason. He was a bad game and clock management coach. You know, terrific offensive guy, you know, a Hall of Fame coach, but nowhere near the top of the list. You know, you'd rip off eight, nine coaches before you'd name Andy Reid. And now after drafting Patrick Mahomes and starting Patrick Mahomes, he could be on the verge of a third Super Bowl, not to mention he's been to the Super Bowl several times beyond that.

Yeah. Yeah. Andy Reid. I mean, this is a big, it's a big game for a legacy of a lot of guys on Saturday. Those three guys, it's a legacy game. I mean, I don't think if any of them lose, it diminishes their legacies. But I think if they win, it significantly enhances it. It significantly enhances Mahomes. It really advances Lamar Jackson's, understanding both of them have a long way to go.

For Andy Reed, it now puts him into the conversation of, you know, if you've got Belichick 1, it puts him in the conversation with guys like Shula and Landry and Gibbs, you know. It puts, I'm forgetting somebody, I'm sure. Hallis, I guess you would say. but it would put him in that mix of, you know, if you've got Belichick won, and not everybody does because of the last few years and him not doing much without Brady. I personally think in terms of give me a coach for one season,

I'll take Shula, but Belichick is the greatest winner of all time. But Andy Reid, and who knows how much longer Reid's going to do this? Do you know what Schefter suggested this morning? morning. It was crazy. Shefter said, you know, as of now, as the recording of this podcast is taking place, Bill Belichick is not the coach in Atlanta. And it looks like things are a little bit messed up with the Atlanta Belichick thing, which seemed like a given, you know, over the weekend, earlier in the week. And now maybe he's just asked for too much because Atlanta's, you know, now interviewing Vrable. and we don't know what the latest with the Falcons job is,

but it doesn't look like it's an absolute foregone conclusion that it's going to be Belichick. So Shefter in talking about that it's possible that Belichick doesn't get any of the available jobs now, but he said, what if Andy Reid wins another Super Bowl and calls it quits? To suggest that maybe Belichick would go to Kansas City? and I thought to myself, no chance Belichick would replace Andy Reid. That's it. Look, I don't know Andy Reid personally, or Belichick for that matter. But what I know from far away, their styles in handling players and people are drastically different. But it's not even that. It's the idea that Bill Belichick, the goat, most people would say,

is going to wait and then take the Kansas City job, which is teed up to keep winning more after Andy Reed retires? No. If Belichick's going to coach again, I hope it's more challenging than that. That would almost be the equivalent of, you know, LeBron, Bosch and Wade coming together and saying, you know, not one, not two, not three, etc.

like he would be walking into another Super Bowl or two. I know, but that's not going to happen because that's like Barry Switzer taken over Jimmy Johnson's team. Exactly. And winning a Super Bowl with it. But Roeachek is not that kind of guy. Exactly. That's what I'm saying.

It's just, but not just for his sake, but for the team to hire him. I mean, the team would be looking for somebody who would create wrestling. waves, not more waves. You don't need a culture change when Andy Reed Lee. No. No. I just, I thought it was the most absurd thing that I'm like,

Adam, think about what you're saying. There's no chance Belichick, even if it were available, would ever go follow Andy Reid. That's for, you know, it's like whoever's following you is like,

Remember the guy that followed the guy? You're not a follow-the-guy guy guy. You're Bill Belichick. I would like to see him get the Atlanta job. So would I. I don't buy into this whole the whole Belichick isn't as good a coach

because he didn't win without Brady. I've done this dozens of times. Most great coaches have not won without one single quarterback attached to their legacy, like Bill Walsh with Montana, Lombardi with Bart Starr. Gibbs is the rare exception. Exactly. And maybe Parcells.

Like Chuck Knoll? Well, I know people bring up Parcells. Let me get to that in a second. Chuck Knoll has a losing record without Terry Bradshaw. Okay, just like Belichick now is a losing record without Tom Brady. And while you're right about Parcells, two different quarterbacks, if you include, Ostettler, who was the quarterback for his second Super Bowl, the backup, here's who Parcells did not win a Super Bowl without.

Bill Belichick. I know. I know in Lawrence Taylor. I mean, it's almost like the combination of Belichick and Taylor equals the great quarterback that he didn't have. I mean, Phil Sims was a good quarterback, and Hostelor wasn't the starter the entire season. He came in for an injured Phil. Sims and led them to a Super Bowl. And leading them to a Super Bowl is kind of not really accurate. They beat the 49ers in that NFC title game with five field goals, 15 to 13. And then they ran the

ball to beat Buffalo and had Buffalo miss a kick at the end. But now, I was just, Parcell's just consistently won, you know, without ever having a true. star quarterback. Like he got the Patriots. I think Sims is in that category. I don't. I think Sims is in the Thysman category. I think that they were really, really good players.

Yeah, but he's not a Hall of Fame quarterback. He was an MVP. I know. That's why I've always, I actually think that Joe was the better quarterback. Don't get me wrong. but I put him in the same category of guys who were really good in their era but weren't elite and weren't Hall of Famers. Now, Joe was an MVP and he deserved it in 83. That was his best season.

Sims was never an MVP. Oh, just up the Super Bowl. Yeah, just a... He just played the greatest game he ever played in the Super Bowl against Denver. Yes, he did. Yeah. That's what he did. He was like 22 of 24 or something.

22 out of 25. Yeah. For like 270 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, I think. Yeah, Denver's defense was terrible. I think that's what he did. Yeah. And Joe's career, let's face it, his career numbers were hampered by a couple years in the CFL and then a couple years sitting on the bench here in Washington.

Yeah. By the way, good memory. 22 of 25, I think I said 22 of 24. 22 of 25, 268 yards, three touchdowns. And their 39 to 20 went over Denver in that Super Bowl. And I think that is the highest completion percentage of all time in a Super Bowl. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, big, interesting weekend.

The other conversation, and we may have had this together the other day, is just, I do think of the four teams, the pressure is on Baltimore to a certain extent, but I think the pressure may be greater on San Francisco this weekend than any of the other four teams. If they were to lose to Detroit at home, the bottom line is that Kyle Shanahan's a great coach and they've assembled a great roster, but they have whiffed badly at the quarterback position. and because of it, they don't have anything to show for it, other than a couple of conference championship game appearances and one Super Bowl appearance, but they didn't win it.

Okay. Okay, let me ask you question then. Yeah. That's the conversation, you think, if they lose? Yeah, I've talked about this all week, and maybe we didn't do this on Tuesday. I think that in the same way that we talked about Josh Allen, not being able to get it done when they lost to the Chiefs on Sunday, If Kyle were to lose to the Lions at home, if the 49ers were to lose to the Lions at home,

and by the way, they're 0 and 4 without Debo Samuel this year, so let's see what happens if he doesn't play, then the genius, you know, description, perception, I think takes a big hit. And the other thing I would add to this, Tommy, and it's something that Stephen brought up with me yesterday when we were talking about it, Debo Samuel, you know, banged up, George Kittles been banged up here and there, McCaffrey, Trent Williams is 35 years old. You know, it's not like the window's shut, but they've got some cap issues going into the

offseason. And the window might be at least starting to close a little bit because they are, they, they're a physical team. And yet because of the way those guys play, sometimes they miss games. And they're not getting younger. So, yeah, pressure on the 49ers this weekend, maybe more than any other team. What do you say? You're probably right.

I mean, Detroit, I mean, the fans there, they can't believe they're in the NFC championship game. In terms of pressure, Detroit is the Cinderella team right here. They have probably the most likable coach in the playoffs, even more than Andy Reed in Dan Campbell. but I'm kind of curious if that conversation of the San Francisco failure includes the new Washington general manager. I don't think it would include him as much, Tommy, because it's all about the quarterback evaluation and failure to find the quarterback. They tried with Trey Lance, and that was obviously a big whiff.

You know, the first move that they wanted to make that they never were able to make was for cousins. They went with Garapolo. They've gone with Purdy. I don't think Purdy played well last week. Purdy is not played particularly well without Debo Samuel on the field. And they almost lost Saturday night. He was great in that final drive.

Give him all the credit in the world. And I'm not sitting here and telling you that Brock Purdy isn't a good quarterback. But I don't see greatness in Brock Purdy at all. I mean, it's funny how that conversation about Brock Purdy is gone here this year. Like, you know, if you dare question Purdy because he's a seventh round pick because that's what people want to say, oh, just because he's, no, just because I've watched him, and he's, he's good. It's all right to say he's okay and not say that he's great. He's not great. There's nothing about the way he plays that speaks to, you know, top five, top seven quarterback,

even though he was in the MVP conversation. But yeah, House money, Detroit, house money really for Kansas City. They weren't supposed to be here. A little bit of pressure on Baltimore, but I think they took a lot of that off the plate with the win over Houston. But it's probably better that Baltimore is playing Kansas City rather than Buffalo because everybody will understand if they lose the Mahomes. but the 49ers, they've got to have something to show for all of this.

They've been a great team with a great roster, but they don't have a ring to show for it, and they've only been to the Super Bowl once. Yeah. But Adam Peters, to answer your question, I think Kyle Shanahan was the primary decision maker when it came to quarterback for their roster. I think that's even been said before.

And Brian Greasy was actually more involved in the Brock Purdy selection than even Adam Peters. So I don't know that you blame Adam Peters for any of the decisions. And I don't know that you credit him for drafting a guy that's, you know, an NFL starter in the seventh round. Yeah. Okay. So since this is your last show of the week, the two championship games on Sunday. Let's start with Baltimore and Kansas City. Give me a prediction.

I like Baltimore, 30 to 20. I think they're really going to, I mean, these Kansas City receivers, I think they're going to be running for the exits when they face Kyle Hamilton and that Baltimore defense and Roquan Smith and those guys. You know, I compare it. I remember when Tampa won the Super Bowl, with Warren Sapp and that crew. That was the same year that they played Washington, right?

No, no. They lost to the Rams in the NFC championship game the year that they beat Washington. Yeah. That was it. But they had Brad Johnson and quarterback the year they won it. Right, right, that's right. The Rams, I mean, the Buck's defense always reminded me of a head. heavyweight champion or any kind of champion in boxing who wins the championship rounds,

who wears down an opponent throughout the fight, and you're not even notice it until the 10th round comes round, and the other guy is just spent. It's got nothing left, and the champion is just getting started. That's how I see the Ravens defense. I see them winning, I mean, I see them a third and fourth quarter winning team. And I think they're just, they're just going to beat down on the Chief, and it'll take its toll, and come, you know, the third and fourth quarter, the Chiefs won't be able to hold up. They just won't. I agree with you. I do think Rishie Rice has turned into, and I thought, I felt this way going back to watching him in college. I think he's turned into a legitimate weapon for Kansas City wide receiver, but I agree with you. I just think Baltimore is much

better. And that Tampa team's an interesting comparison, because remember, that's the year after the Baltimore team with that great defense won the Super Bowl. And in the case of Tampa, right, correct me if I'm wrong, but it was the corner, it was Dexter Jackson, the safety, that won the MVP of that Super Bowl. I'm pretty sure that that's who won that Super Bowl MVP, right? wasn't Dexter Jackson a Super Bowl MVP? Yeah, he was the Super Bowl MVP and the Super Bowl went over the Raiders. Anyway, I see a 30-20 Ravens win. 30-20 Ravens win.

All right. What about the NFC championship game, 49ers and Lions? I'm going to go with Detroit. Really? Yeah. I'm going to go with Detroit. I think Detroit's going to win this game. I think Debo Samuel, if he's on the field, it's not going to be effective enough.

I think he won't be on the field long, like in the last game. And I just think that Detroit will punish them defensively enough and limit their offensive weapons. And they've got some kind of karma going. I mean, I'm going with the momentum and the Detroit. Detroit Love. What's your final score? Detroit's going to win. I think Detroit's going to probably win 24-21. Wow. The Lions finally make their first Super Bowl.

By the way, Baltimore beat Detroit in the regular season, 38 to 6. Baltimore crushed San Francisco, 33 to 19. All these good teams, they crushed along the way. I don't know if I mentioned this already on the pod this week. I know I mentioned it on radio, but the look-ahead point spreads, Baltimore would be a five-point favorite over Detroit. I actually thought it would have been more than that. And against San Francisco, the look-ahead line is a pick-um.

That's surprising to me, given what they did to San Francisco on Christmas night. and then San Francisco would be a two and a half point favorite over Kansas City, and the Chiefs would be, I think, a three-point favorite over the Lions. That would be a rematch too. Unless it's Kansas City, San Francisco, any other matchup is a rematch from the regular season, including Detroit, Kansas City, which we saw as the very first game of the year. All right, Tommy's got... One last thing.

One last thing. Yep. This is a statistic I've been hanging on to. The Ravens have nine two-plus touchdown wins over teens with winning records. That's never been done in NFL history, supposedly. Say that again? They have nine two-plus touchdown victories. Against winning teams.

Over teams with winning records. Yeah. Their margin of victory. Yeah. It's two touchdowns or more. Yeah, I mean, they beat Houston twice by more than two touchdowns. They crush the dolphins. They crush the Niners.

They beat the Jaguars by 16. They beat the Seahawks by 34. The Lions by 30, it was 38 to 6 by 32. 32. Yeah. Yeah. They crushed the Browns early in the year, too, and the Browns were all banged up. And then the Browns actually beat them.

I think that's their last loss. was the Deshawn Watson win in Baltimore. Well, they lost their season finale, but I don't count that. They didn't play their starters against the Steelers. All right. That's a good number. Look, I mentioned yesterday, per that DVOA metric, Baltimore is the sixth greatest regular season team of all time.

Per that same metric, the 49ers this year are the ninth greatest regular season team of all times. So they really, you had two excellent teams historically this year based on their regular seasons. Washington still the number two greatest regular season team of all time and the number one all-time Super Bowl winner per the DVOA metric. They got saved by the Giants who beat the Patriots who were considered to be the greatest team in 2007 of all time. All right. We will take a break. we will come back. Ted Leonsis sent out a rather lengthy letter to all of his fans and supporters. We'll read some of that. And the Wizards made a major change. Plus, we've got some Terps to talk about.

What am I doing? I'm teasing like it's a radio show. We'll be back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Today at Shelley's backroom is Cuban Day. And it's always great to be at Shelly's backroom when it's Cuban Day because their special is their Cuban burger. One half pound of Shelly's custom blend, which is Angus Ground Shuck, Beef Short Ribs, and Beef Frisket on a butter toasted roll with Cuban roasted porkloin slice with cheese. That sounds great. Let me tell you something.

If Adele Castro was in Washington, D.C. day. Yeah. He would go to Shelly's, he'd say, give me one of your best cigars, because Shelley's only has the best cigars, the top 25 rated by Cigar Officianado, and give me that Cuban burger. That's where you want to be, not just today or any day, because they have a menu of excellence like the sports fix does, a menu of excellence every day at Shelley's backroom.

You find out more at Shelley's back. I'll tell you. The worst thing you do on this show for me is when you read the Shelley's menu when I haven't had lunch yet. That sounds so good. Oh, yeah. I know. All right. So before we get to some of the local sports news of the day, Dave Canales, the Tampa Bay offensive coordinator, goes to Carolina.

That leaves Washington, Seattle, and Atlanta now as the three spots that have yet filled their coaching vacancies. And I think still, like I said yesterday, I think Ben Johnson's going to be the new head coach. I think that that is a really high probability. I think everything out there points to Ben Johnson getting offered and him accepting the job when the Lions lose. They can interview him and they're going to Detroit on Monday, but they can't hire him. that they're playing in the Super Bowl, as Tommy expects them. So Canales to Tampa, Harbaugh to the Chargers, and Vic Fangio got hired in Philadelphia to be the Eagles defensive coordinator.

So Rivera did interview for that job, according to the Post, according to Nikki and Mark Maski, but they hired Vic Fangio to be the defensive coordinator there. I had several of you asking me if I knew that the Eagles weren't going to hire Ron Rivera. When I said the other day, I would highly doubt that the Eagles will hire Ron Rivera to be their defensive coordinator. I think if he ends up with a job, it'll be as a linebacker's coach with maybe an associate head coach title, something like that, if he ends up coaching anywhere. No, I didn't know that at all. I just don't think Ron Rivera is going to get hired to be a defensive coordinator. Did you see the defense this year?

Did it get any better when he took over the responsibilities? I think he has got some clout in the league with a lot of people. He garners a lot of respect among teams and players. So I could see him if he really wanted it, being on a staff and as an advisor, or as a linebacker's coach slash associate head coach, something like that, I don't see him having a top three job on a team. I just don't. And if Philadelphia is the one job that he was interviewing for as a defensive coordinator,

that goes to Vic Fangio, who is now 65 years old. I'm surprised that Miami wanted to move on from him. But anyway, all right, so I'll give you the first. swing at this and I'll set it up for everybody. Ted Leonces, first of all, if you even have noticed, the Wizards moved Wes Unsell Jr. out of the head coaching position and into a front office advisory role after two and a half years of being the coach. By the way, when I saw two and a half years, I was like, really? It's been two and a half years for Wes Unsell Jr. Brian Keith is the interim head coach. He was on the bench with Westonle.

Wes Unseld Jr. The Wizards are 7 and 36. They've got the second worst record in the league. And defensively, they've been terrible, which was supposed to be Wes Unsell Jr.'s, you know, calling card. I'm not sure why they're doing this because the intent here is to be a not very good team in 2024. But that was followed up a couple of hours later by a letter that Ted Leonce's out on monumental sports and entertainment letterhead titled Dear Fans and Supporters, I'm writing to update our community of fans, customers, athletes, employees,

our union workforce, sponsors, partners, and extended family members regarding last month's announcement that monumental sports and entertainment has reached a framework of an agreement for a public-private partnership to create a world-class entertainment district at Potomac Yard, the cornerstone of which will be a brand new state-of-the-art arena for the NHL's Washington Capitals and the NBA's Washington Wizards.

That was a long first sentence to a press announcement. And then I'll just net it out from my perspective. He goes on to essentially claim that monumental in all of the teams that are under the monumental umbrella are not, just DC teams, they're DMV teams. And there's a heavy emphasis on DMV. And there's a big reveal, which Tommy, I think I told you a couple of weeks ago on this podcast. And that is that 44% of the fans of the Capitals and Wizards live in Virginia. 41% live in Maryland. 15% are from Washington, D.C. The teams represent the DMV, Ted writes. and they belong to the entire DMV, this will never change.

I'll add one thing to this and then let Tommy have at it with Wes Unsell Jr. And this press announcement on the update on this. Not once in this entire letter. And I read through it while I was on the air because it came through while we were doing radio this morning. Not once does he mention how any of this will lead to his team's winning. more, specifically his NBA team. This is all about, hey, I know you're mad at me, many of you are, for leaving D.C., but we're not a D.C. team. We're a DMV team. All right, have at it. What did you, what did you think of the day that was monumental moving West Sunsell Jr. into the front office

and this long letter from Ted? Well, you know, it was so funny. In the email, I got from a monumental. It says, West Unsel Jr. transitions to front office roll. That's the kind of language they use at funeral homes. Well,

it's kind of language they use in other places, too. I didn't get that first one. But anyway, continue. And look, they tried to protect West Jr. this year. They hired two extra assistant coaches.

So we had six assistant and coaches on his staff. I'll give you, I don't know, I didn't check with everyone with the league, but I know the NICs have four on their staff, okay? And that wasn't enough to protect them. The players clearly were not listening to what Wes had to say. You know, Ted was very reluctant to do this, I heard, because he's very protective of the unselfed family.

Right. You can understand that. I mean, you know, I mean, for a generation, when Wes was not the coach or the general manager, when Wes was a player, he was franchise royalty, okay? So you can understand why Ted would be protective of his son, but it just wasn't working. On the other hand, like you say, I'm not sure of the timing. You know, I'm thinking, well, maybe they're worried, maybe they might have a worry about young players, you know, wasting their development moments with a coach that nobody on the team

listens to a respect. But there aren't any young players on this team that are really going to be part of their future, are there? No. No. No, there are none. So it's not like his presence is, I don't know, it's, you know, toxic to any. these young players they have because

we haven't even gotten to the building of the roster. Kulabali has played really well here in his rookie year. Okay, no, Kulbali. You're right. You're right. My guy. And Kisburt's played better this year. And Denny Avdia is still young. So there are some young players.

But I know. So maybe that's it. Maybe they just say, I mean, because you want to lose, but you don't want to be, you know, turning the young players' brains in the basketball all mush. You want them to develop some kind of knowledge. So when they are a functional team again, they'll be able to perform. But maybe that's it. Okay. And it is curious at the timing of the other part of this, the DMV letter to fans from Ted comes on the day he transitions his head coach,

that if that even matters, you know? Yeah. I mean, this is where I actually think they just don't understand how few people care. You know, that that that that complete and utter show of a press conference in the giddiness, which actually was off putting to me, um, that day, about how giddy they were, about leaving, you know, Chinatown and, and, and what would, you know, end up happening, uh, to that area. Um, and then, you know, this idea that, you know, he's this, transparent Ted and he won't take questions. This is another opportunity for him not to take questions. He basically tries to answer all the questions that he once asked in this long letter.

But beyond that, seriously, you could count the number of people that truly care about Wes Unsell Jr. Not being the head coach anymore on two hands. And I mean, the news came out at like 7 o'clock this morning. 7.30 this morning. And then you got the other letter that came out a little bit later on. Look, I didn't do this with you, but I'm going to share this with you if you didn't see it. Did you see the interview that Martian Gortot did with Hoopshype.com? No. So he did this. Remember Gortot, what a great guest he was, how, you know, sense of humor, smart, the whole thing.

So he did this long interview with Gortot came out yesterday. And I read it and I retweeted it. I said there's some really good nuggets in here about the time in which, if you recall, the Wizards actually weren't that bad in recent years. They had a good team. They had an excellent coach, in my opinion. And he said, you know, they said, what went wrong during that time? And he said, we should have kept Randy Whitman as a coach.

coach. And he said Randy was one hell of a coach and we had a good team. Now, he got a little bit crazy in talking about the team back then, about how great it was. No, it was a good team. And it was a team that had a chance on a couple of occasions to go to the Eastern Conference finals and probably would have made it that one year had John not broken his hand. But the point is, is that they got rid of a really good coach in Randy Whitman. That was excellent in in holding people accountable. He wasn't everybody's favorite on that team, but he was the right coach for John Wall

and Bradley Beal and Gortot. And so they hired Scott Brooks, and Scott Brooks was the nicest guy in the world. Scott couldn't draw up an in-bounds pass at Oklahoma City when you watched. It was like how many times in clutch situations they couldn't even get the ball in bounds. And then they have the big consensus,

like you compared the hiring of Tommy Shepard, But you could also say the hiring of Wes Unsell Jr. to everything that, you know, you thought and perceived Josh Harris doing with this search committee. My God, the number of people and I don't know, did they use search firms for Wes Unsell Jr? I mean, and they, he messed that up too. Terrible hire. Terrible hire. And but if he's sensitive about the reaction to Wes Unsel not being the car,

coach after two and a half seasons, he doesn't have to worry because nobody cares. It pains me to say that because it's the team in town that, you know, other than Maryland basketball and the football team now that I'm a little bit more into now that we've got some excitement here in the offseason and who knows, maybe a new day, I want the Wizards to be good again. I love the NBA playoffs. I want my team to be relevant. And nobody gives us. of shit. Denton said to me this morning, my producer, what do we do? Should we get a guest? I'm like, nah, no. It's just not, I mean, we've got better things to talk about. I mean,

the percentage of our audience that will care about Wes Unseld not being the coach anymore is minimal. Like, you know, but he had to put this long letter together to maybe mask the fact that he failed again on hiring. a coach, don't worry about it. Nobody's really obsessing over Wes Unseld not working out. Nobody is. Well, here's the thing. Ted is in a PR battle

over, over this thing. I mean, this is where the battle is going to be won. Explain. Or lost. You know, in the PR battle on the image, because over in Alexandria, the very vocal and active

stop the move organization. I forget what the name of it is. I should probably get in the name wrong. And they have undergone, they have been very vocal and active in their public relations moves in sending and staying in contact with residents there, in organizing protests, in grilling public officials. Right.

And then in the district, you have a group, literally called, I think, stopped the move that has protested and spoke out against it. And that's a particular thorn. thorned for Ted Leonces, who's about to go into Black History Month with all kinds of events planned for his arena to honor Black history when you have a group in the district that has couched this, leaving the district as a race issue. Yeah. Whether you agree with it or not, that's what that's, that's, that's what the most,

movement in D.C. against the move has been painted as an issue of race. Well, he kind of addressed that in the letter. Yes. But that's the fight that he's fighting at this point. Yeah. And he's got a rough month ahead of him. I get that. I get that.

He, as part of this long letter to, you know, as he said in the opening sentence to the community of fans, customers, athletes, employees, union workforce, sponsors, partners, and extended family members. Did he leave anybody out? He's got a section. You and me. He didn't mention you and me. We would have questions.

He had a section titled Capital One Arena and Downtown Washington, D.C. And this is the, I'm going to read it real quickly. I want to address the situation around Capital One Arena. We care about downtown Washington, D.C. We are proud of the years of support that we have provided, And that is why we would be open to the opportunity to maintain a presence by continuing to manage Capital One Arena through 2028 and beyond. We intend to continue to support downtown Washington, D.C., and we are confident that in working with the city, Capital One Arena can remain a vibrant part of the fabric of downtown Washington, D.C. for years to come. At the same time, it is clear to us, and many of our neighboring businesses and residents in Chinatown, that the needs of downtown Washington, D.C. and its businesses and residents,

are significant and challenging for the city. Just as monumental sports and entertainment was part of the initial renaissance of downtown Washington, D.C., we would like to be part of the next renaissance. So there are two things that I wanted to just respond with. Number one is the city's at fault for him feeling like his customers aren't as comfortable being at Capital One Arena anymore. that is not on TED.

That is on the city. That is on the mayor. It doesn't matter what we said before about Chinatown. I think Chinatown, Penn Quarter, city center. I think that whole area, I don't have a problem with it. I do recognize it's different than what it was. I still don't think it's like super dangerous, as some people have described. But that's beyond this.

The bottom line is many people in his customer base, felt that way, and the city didn't do enough about it. And by the way, they kind of thought he was bluffing all along. So that's, in his defense, they kind of pushed him into doing something, and he did. I wish he didn't, but they kind of pushed him into this. But secondly, the idea that, you know, being able to be a vibrant member of hopefully this next renaissance in the, this area without the hockey team and NBA team in the building is ridiculous. And the big concerts that are now going to be in his new arena.

It's because he's going to take the first place to take care of for Ted every morning will be his new arena. Of course. And the other one will get the crumbs. They'll get crumbs. And then he has a third arena. that he needs to throw some crumbs too. Yeah, I just, well, that's, you know,

that's the one at the St. Elizabeth's, you know, campus over there where the go-go plays. I honestly cannot tell you that I know anybody that's been to a go-go game. I don't. I don't know. I've been to boxing matches there. I know you have. And they've had some decent crowds for fights there. And it's a nice arena.

I like it. But I think he says in that. paragraph, something that is true. And in his defense, you know, perhaps if we were in the same position presented with the same opportunity that Virginia was proposing, we probably would, I think it's very possible I would have done the same thing and come to the same conclusion. The city was not supportive, thought he was bluffing, and came with some sort of late 11th hour offer that still wasn't anywhere near the Virginia offer. Meantime, over the last couple of years, especially post-pandemic, you know,

there hasn't been nearly the same level of security on game nights. Ted's had to pay for that out of his own pocket. You don't have to weep for him, but it was more of a city responsibility. I can imagine that there were some frustrating days for the people in the Wizard caps, front offices, and business offices, and certainly into Ed's office. But still, I wish that it would work out, but I don't think it's going to. Anyway. Well, I still think there's a chance it's not going to work out.

Okay. I mean, I still think there's a chance they're not going to be able to make this move. But you're right. The cindians have fault for not taking care of the teams that they had already in their borders before they went around flirting with the football team. You needed to take care of what you have before you try to grab more. So you're 100% right on that. The city fell down, the mayor fell down.

This is why they're under tremendous pressure to accommodate and figure out a way to get the football team in the district. Yeah. I mean, it gives Josh Harris a lot more leverage than perhaps he had before, as we talked about a month ago. And also, as we talked about a month ago, I think if you gave sports fans in the DMV a choice of two of the four pro sports teams to be in the city, they'd pick the gnats and the skins. They would pick the football team and the baseball team over the hockey team and the basketball team. So if we end up with that, so be it.

And again, it's not like they're moving to Fredericksburg. I know. I know. One other thing that he talked about in the letter, something that, I mean, he's been talking about this for over a decade, and I hate it. What? I mean, it's just, it's just, it's just the premise of him trying to show he's smarter and everybody else. The whole super city's conversation. He uses that, like, from Richmond to New York or from Richmond to Boston, we're all just one big city.

Yeah. You know? Ted City. Tedland. Yeah. Yeah, he called the DMV. The DMV is a super city. We have three international airports.

Two in Virginia. One in Maryland. Dozens of renowned public and private universities. Large green spaces, most notably, the National Mall. A defining business sector in our case, the federal government. And finally, professional sports teams. Well, D.C. is a... Tommy, you've been here long enough, and I've

lived here my entire life. This was a completely different city 30 years ago. It is now... I've been here for 40 years. Yeah. It is... I'm not going to call it a southern, a sleepy southern city like it was apparently in the 40s and the 50s and even into the 60s. I didn't live during that time. But it was a city with, you know, for a long period of time, that was not a northeastern city personality-wise, sports teams-wise, culturally, food, etc. It was a federal government town with definitely affluence, high education, but it wasn't a booming business market. There was no tech corridor in northern Virginia. there was no biotech corridor in Montgomery County. And then it started to change in many ways because of Abe Poland's decision to build the MCI Center in Chinatown.

And all of a sudden we became a city of neighborhoods. We were never a city of neighborhoods 30 years ago. I don't want that to change. I guess that's my biggest fear is that you take that area which was vibrant, you know, not just China. of town, but the surrounding areas of Penn Quarter, city center, et cetera, et cetera. And, you know, somehow it's the beginning of the deterioration of the city. Hopefully that's not the case. But anyway, yeah.

But you just watch, there's going to be a big stepped-up PR campaign by Ted and monumental about this situation. And this is already part of it. All right. Let's finish up. I want to talk about Maryland's surprising win last night at Iowa. and we've got a you heard it here first bold prediction for the week. So we'll get to that and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Due South is throwing the hottest Mardi Gras party in town on Fat Tuesday, February 13th.

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Learn more at DoSouthDC.com. Maryland beat Iowa last night on the road, Tommy, 69 to 67. and Jemir Young had another memorable performance. He scored 10 of their final 15 points. He scored their last eight and hit the game winner with 1.5 seconds to go. And Maryland beat a team on the road that they've struggled with since they entered the Big Ten on the road. They haven't had a bunch of wins at Iowa.

They were about a six-point underdog last night, and they won the game 69 to 67. For those that haven't followed it closely, Maryland's 12 and 8 right now. They're 4 and 5 in the Big 10. They were supposed to be one of the top three or four teams in the Big 10 and an easy NCAA tournament team. You know, the preseason brackatologists had them anywhere from a four seed to an eight seed somewhere in that range. But they're not a tournament team and they haven't played to an NCAA tournament team level this year. Now, there's a lot of season to go. There are games left in January.

There's a whole month of February, and then there's March before the tournament. But Maryland's played better recently. They knocked off Michigan. They're terrible, but they beat Illinois on the road a week ago Sunday. Illinois is the 10th ranked team in America. They lost a heartbreaker at Northwestern, a heartbreaker at home on Sunday to Michigan State, and then they beat Iowa last night, 69-67. The story of the game and the story of Maryland's season, other than the fact that they haven't been as good,

as everybody expected, is their senior point guard, Jemir Young. Jemir Young went to D'Mathah. He went to Charlotte. He transferred to Maryland last year. He was the number one star player on their team last year that went to the tournament and won a game. And he came back this year as a preseason all Big Ten first team selection. And he is having Tommy one of the memorable individual seasons in Maryland basketball history.

And there are a lot to choose from, as you know, and a lot of you who are listening know. Maryland's had some unbelievable individual seasons in the history of their basketball program. But right now, Jemir Young is the second leading score in the Big Ten behind Zach Eadie, who's going to probably be the national player of the year. He's averaging 20.8 points per game. He leads the nation in a stat called clutch points, which are points in the final five minutes of a game in games that are within five points, one way or the other. Leads the nation in clutch points.

He's got games that have just been completely, completely ridiculous. He had 37 in carrying Maryland at UCLA in late December. He had 28 and 8 in the upset win against Illinois. He scored 36 at Northwestern last week, where he literally, I think he scored 14 of the team's final 16 points and put on one of the greatest individual performances in any game by a Maryland player in that loss at Northwestern. And then last night, he scores the final eight of the game, a step back three, a three off of a screen, and then a driving layup. I have no idea why Iowa didn't double-team Jemir Young, and the Terps won 69-67. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Jemir Young is going to leave Maryland as one of the greatest players in the history of the program.

That would not be true. But he's in the midst of one of the great individual seasons in Maryland history. In terms of points, all-time points per game, Walt Williams in 91-92, average 26.8 points per game. He had a stretch, which is still an ACC record, of seven straight games scoring 30 or more points. They were on probation that year, but Walt Williams was an absolute show. In more recent times, Len Byas led, it was the all-time scoring leader, or second all-time leading score in a season. He averaged 23.2 in 8586.

Will Hetzel averaged 23.3 back in the 60s. Gene Shoe averaged 22-s. something in the 50s. It's not going to be any of the bias seasons. It's not going to be the Dixon seasons. It's not going to be the Albert King season, his junior year, which you could argue is the best season by any Maryland player ever. It's not going to be a Vasquez season. But this is a memorable season and a memorable player. And he is keeping them competitive almost single-handedly. They do have Julian Reese in the Post. And on some nights, and he had a good night. last night. He's significant. Dante Scott's significant at times. But Tommy, Jemir Young is a

lock to be a first team all big 10, and I think has a chance to be an all American this year. Whether Maryland makes the tournament or not, he's got a chance to be, you know, among those top three all-American teams, you know, maybe make the last player on the third team. That may be a bit of a reach. I'll admit that. There's a lot of season to go. but my God, is he a good player? He is insane as a scoring point guard, and he's kept Maryland competitive, you know, almost by himself. I have not seen him play.

Well, I guess my point is, if you haven't seen him play and you have some time away from a Kojack or a Rockford Files repeat, maybe turn them on and see. how long he's playing. Oh, boy. I've got something for you, but we can do it

with you. You heard it here first that you want to talk about. Not talk about. I just want your prediction. Let's get to our bold predictions for the week. You heard it here first. I've been waiting to hear what the big announcement was going to be. You got it right here.

Heard it here first. All right, Tommy. What's your bold prediction for the week? Well, my bold prediction, I thought this is like the zombie segment. This one I think it's dead. It rises from the grave. Well, the Mike Tomlin thing didn't work out for you, it would appear.

No. But it was a great- So you're keeping track of these? Well, no, I just- Somebody, not your staff, is paying attention to these. I just thought that that was a really nice, you know, bit you were doing there for a little while with Tomlin. I enjoyed it. Anyway, go ahead.

That's good. Okay. Here's my bowl. addiction. Jim Harbaugh will make it to the Super Bowl before whoever the Washington coach is makes it to the playoffs. I don't think that's that bold. They're not going to be a good team next year, Washington, and the Chargers could be

a turnaround in one year with Harbaugh. That's my bold prediction. All right, you're ready for my bold prediction? And it's another reason. why this team should have went out and hired Harbaugh. Let me give you one more. Okay. He mentioned of the Rockford Files.

I found an old tweet when Harbaugh had driven the Pace car at the Indy 500. And this was Harbaugh's quote, as the number one fan of the Rockford files, to follow in the footsteps of James Garner, who did it three times is a real honor and a privilege. which, number one Rockford Files fan.

Well, he's number three. That's... Behind the two of us. That speaks. That speaks to a level of intelligence and character. That's like asking and got somebody,

who is your favorite beetle? You could tell everything about somebody if they tell you that they love the Rockford Files, right there. Okay? Well, what is it...

Who was your favorite beetle? My favorite was John. Mine was George. Yeah. Really? Yeah. That's like the introspective one. Yeah.

In that quiet introspective model. All which isn't fair is the kind of like shallow, not very thoughtful model. And John is considered the smart one. And Ringo considered the clown. I'm going to get the book on George Harrison apparently is great. It just came out recently. All Things Must Pass. And I've got that on my list along with whatever else you give me for the summer.

Here's my bold prediction. This is going to knock off the mock schedule opener for Washington really early. The Ravens as Super Bowl champions, which I think they're going to be this year, are going to open up the 2024 NFL season at home. against the Washington whatever's, probably the commanders next year. Washington and Baltimore in the season opener next year with the Ravens hosting a game in the first game of the year against Washington. They've got Washington on the schedule at home.

Now this will require the Orioles to be okay if they've got a game scheduled on the same day at home. Yes, it will. Yeah. So there you go. There's the first game on my Washington, schedule. Washington at Baltimore on Thursday night, September, whatever, in the

first game of the year. You know why, Tommy? Remember we say every year they could put anybody up against the Super Bowl champions and they're going to get a big rating so they don't have to waste it on the Cowboys or anybody else that they play at home. I don't even know who else they play at home. I just know that they play

Washington at home. They play the Eagles at home next year. That's not so bold. What are you talking about not so bold. You see, how's it feel? They have nine. That's a nine to one shot.

All right. Anything else? What else do you have? Yeah, I do. I got a story for you. Okay. A Florida story for you. This is the ultimate Florida story. I have a shirt that has pictures of Laurel Hardy on them. It's from a scene from one of their great movies, Sun to the Desert. I urge everyone to watch Sons of the Desert.

I urge everyone to watch Sons of the Desert, a comedy classic. And it's a picture of Lord Hardy. It's very colorful picture, lots of colors on the T-shirt. So I wore it to a local cigar store down here to go buy a cigar. And there was a young woman behind the counter who waited on me, and she says, I like your shirt. I like the colors. So it's Lauren Hardy, it's a young girl. So I asked her, if she's a little bit of her.

she knew who they were. And she says to me, it's one of them, Hitler? What? Because all the Hardy has a short little mustache. That was her first thought. One of them was Hitler. Who had Hitler being a part of today's show?

So what did you say? I said, no. I said, no. Not really. Did she know who Laurel and Hardy were when you told her? No, she didn't know who Laura and Hardy were. Okay. And I didn't really feel like asking her if she knew who Hitler was at that point,

because I'm not sure she did. I have a quick question for you. It's not a recommendation, by the way. My wife was watching this show on, I don't even know what it was on. I think it's on FX. I could be wrong. But it was a show about Betty Davis. and Joan Crawford.

I'm actually blanking... I've seen it. What's the name of the show? I've seen it. It's a series. It's a mini-series. Yeah. Do you remember what it's called?

No, I don't. Okay. No, I don't, but I've seen it, and I enjoyed it. I liked it. Jessica Lang plays Joan Crawford, Susan Sarandon, plays Betty Davis. And they apparently hated each other. Anyway, I just sat down as she was watching it,

And I, you know, got sucked into like two and a half episodes and then I checked out. I wasn't that interested. But I was curious to find out from you. Was Joan Crawford like some insane person? Was she, I know, you know, the story of like Mommy Dearest, like she apparently was a terrible mother in the whole thing. What was the deal with Joan Crawford? I know that it's a long time ago. Look, she's kind of, yeah, that's before my time.

I know it is. But you typically know this stuff more than I do. I mean, I know the only reason I would think she's insane from watching Mommy Dearest. That's all I would know about, and then watching this series a little bit. You know, so I really don't know a lot about them, but I know they were both Hollywood legends. So I was interested in that. That's why I watched the series. Okay.

I don't think I have anything else. And one last recommendation on this series I've given you before, and I've given our listeners, and some of them have picked it up and thanked me for it, is Louder Milk on Amazon Prime. I'm going to tell you, if you watch a couple episodes of Louder Milk, you'll call me at 3 in the morning to thank me for it. Well, I already, I still have not gotten to Fargo season two. I mean, season one was so good.

And I want to watch season two, and I want to catch up on that. So one thing at a time. All right, anything else. You were outstanding today. I got nothing else for you, buts. All right. Thank you. I really appreciate that feedback.

Tommy's got Baltimore in Detroit in the Super Bowl. I'll have my preview, picks, smell test, everything else tomorrow. Have a good day. Message, I'll get back to you.