The Kevin Sheehan Show - The Kyler Murray Impact on Redskins

Episode Date: February 12, 2019

Kevin and Thom discussed everything today including but not limited to Kyler Murray's decision to play football and the impact that may or may not have on the Skins' quarterback situation. Also discussed was....Caps, Wizards, Terps, UNC-UVA, Frank Robinson, Bryce Harper, AAF, Kirk Cousins on Twitter and more. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Yes, I am here. Aaron is here and Tommy is here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Good morning. Good morning, buddy. The world outside was suffering yesterday because they didn't hear your voice. That's all I read on. social media. Well, apparently you read some mean things about you, which you're very sensitive about. I read mean things about you every day. So, and you probably about me every day as well. You know, we tried to, before we came on the show here, before we started the show, we were

trying to get each other pumped up, you know, a few little words of encouragement. And then Kevin said, let's get this party started. Who was, who were you quoting? I just quoted pink, I guess. Now, now, let me just say there's a rule. If I was to come down from the mountain with tablets from higher up, one of the Ten Commandments would be, you can't use a color for your name.

Okay. Okay? Yep. That's fair. Unless you're in a quitting Tarantino movie. Am I right, Aaron? Didn't she have? Yes, that was pink.

Yeah, that was one of her first things back in the early 2000. How do you feel about Red Man? How do you feel about Red Man? What do you feel about Red Man? What, tobacco? I don't chew it. Do you know what February 12th is? Yeah, it is Abraham Lincoln's birthday.

Very, very good. Kevin, I mean, I didn't just roll out of bed this morning and find the world at my feet. I would have been surprised had you not gotten it. Do you know when George Washington's birthday is? February 22nd. Very good. Well done. I didn't know there was going to be a civics test.

Now, do you remember, because clearly this was the case for you and it was just barely the case for me, When I was in elementary school in the 70s, we got both days off. We had a holiday for Lincoln's birthday on February 12th and a holiday for George Washington's birthday on February 22nd. And then they merged them at some point, I'm going to guess in the 80s maybe, into President's Day weekend and gave Monday off. Yeah, I guess, look. Do you remember that or not? Or am I remembering it incorrectly? Well, I go back a little bit further.

We used to get Julius Caesar's day. off. Well, of course you did. In our school. But, you know, it's funny, I don't remember us getting Lincoln's birthday off, but I remember it's getting Washington's birthday off. Like, maybe it's a closer to Washington, D.C. thing. I think we got Lincoln's birthday off, too. If you grew up in the 70s and we're in elementary or junior high or high school in the D.C. area, tweet me at Kevin Shee in D.C. and let me know if I'm right about that. I could swear as a kid,

We got both days off. We did not have at that point a President's Day weekend. No, that was definite. We did that. That came along later. And I just remember getting George Washington's birthday off. I don't remember Lincoln's. I'm going to look up President's Day weekend to see when that started.

Because it may not have started until late 80s or 90s. President, here it is, how it became. But, you know, I mean, really, President's Day? I mean, you know, I mean, it really does a disservice to Lincoln and Washington when you think about it. Because is it arguably to encompass everybody who's been president or just those two? Well, the fact that it's in February and it came off of the Washington's birthday holiday, which George Washington's birthday was definitely a holiday. I could be wrong about Lincoln. Yeah, it was.

Washington's birthday was a day off. Yeah. Yes. I can't find any information on it. Aaron, maybe you can look it up as we're sitting here talking. Anyway, what are we talking about here? I don't know. We started a civics lesson here.

It's coming up this weekend. Yes. And it's a three-day weekend for most. I don't think that we've ever had the day off for the Monday for President's Day weekend. Not for President's Day. Anyway, I know the Caps won last night. And since the All-Star break, they're now four one-and-one. Although all of those games, with the exception of last night's game,

were one goal games that they could have, you know, that they, they're still, they're still not dominant like they were at one point. Like I'm, since the All-Star break, they had the one goal went over the flames. They lost to the Bruins, but won nothing, beat the Canucks 3-2, the Avalanche 4-3, lost to the Panthers 5-4 and beat the King six to four. Are they, Kuznetsoff had a big night last night, which I guess everybody's happy about. Kuznetsoff has been hot of late. Yeah, since the All-Star break. Yes. And that's no coincidence that they've played better in the last five games than they had been previously. You know, the reason I said after the opening game that this Capitals team could be better

than last year was totally based on Kuznetsov. Right. On the idea that he was ready to take the step that we saw in the postseason last year to basically be in 1A to Alex Ovechkens won. I mean, to be that kind of superstar player to basically, you know, between the two of the capitals would be unstoppable offensively. And he's floundered and has not been the player that people expected him to be, but he has been of late.

I was at the Panthers game Saturday night. And their problem is still inconsistency and letting other teams and digging a hole for themselves, you know, letting other teams build up a lead being down 2-0-0-3-1. That's been a chronic problem. That wasn't the issue last night. No, it wasn't. But over the year, that's been a chronic problem.

But again, you know, they may be, they should be at this point, considering this is basically the team from last year and the year before, they've been together a long time. They should be able to fix this themselves, whether Todd Reardon is the coach or Barry Trots is the coach. They should have a veteran enough team that they can figure this out by the time the Stanley Cup playoff starts. So, I mean, again,

If Kuznetsoff is like he was last postseason and Holtby is like he was last postseason, they're going to be difficult to beat. Well, they have, you know, I was looking at this because someone had mentioned to me last night on Twitter. You're going to talk about the caps at all. They won. And so I did minimal research coming into the show this morning to talk about the caps. And, you know, my go-to move is to look at the schedule. They have had the benefits since the All-Star break of playing every single game.

at home. They just finished a six-game homestand, in which they went four, one-and-one. Right. All right. Now, they have six in a row on the road. They have nine of their next 11 on the road and 13 of their next 17 on the road. This is why last night's game was so important. Yeah, big. And a lot of these games, they've got a West Coast swing, but, you know, they have, they have some big games during this stretch that takes you into the middle of March, including games on the road against Pittsburgh and Columbus and the Islanders they play on the road coming up. The Islanders are in first place in the Metropolitan right now. The Islanders are playing great hockey under a guy who used to coach the Capitals. Barry Trots, look, you know,

there's too much traffic in front of the Nick. Oh, Jesus. That's your analysis for the day. No, they're not getting enough good defense play to take the pressure off the goaltender, whether it's Holti or his back of Phoenix Copley. They're not playing well defensively for the most part. It is interesting as you look at the standings, and I do look at these, just how good Tampa is. I mean, Tampa's point total of 86 points, is 11 better than the next best team in the entire league,

and that's San Jose, who's got 75. I mean, Tampa has been a true, I mean, they're having a dominant season right now, with still 26 games left. They've got 86 points. And, you know, Toronto's good. You know, the islanders are obviously, you know, good. Everybody thought Columbus was good coming in.

Pittsburgh. Just a lot of good teams in the East, period. I mean, it's going to be, as it always is in the NHL, the playoffs are always entertaining. All right, I want to get to the Wizards because I would have said the same thing yesterday on the show that I'm going to say today. First of all, I did see at one point over the weekend, And because I got involved in being, you know, involved in this tweeting back and forth between you and somebody where you basically were saying they beat Cleveland and they beat Chicago, which is true.

Their first two wins with the new players. They beat two teams. Bad teams. Not just bad teams. Yep. Two teams that who have made a commitment to losing. Yeah. Cleveland's been playing better of late. But yes, that's true.

Yes. But I'm going to tell you what I would have said tomorrow after two straight wins. lost last night in Detroit, 121 to 112. Here's what I am willing to say about the Wizards. They are a better team than they were before the trades. They are flat out, a better team than they were before these trades. The addition of Portis and Parker and Wesley Johnson make them a better team. They're still a bad defensive team and a team that, just hold on for a moment that needs Dwight Howard, believe it or not. They really do need a defensive big guy, because they don't have one. Thomas Bryant's been a nice revelation. He's going to be a nice

player. He gets bullied. They all get bullied. But they're a better team. They're not, they're not going to miss Otto Porter, all right? You're never going to rue the day that you let Otto Porter go. I am highly enthusiastic about Bobby Portis. Okay, back up. Okay, let me Back up. Okay, let me conclude that they're not going anywhere. If that's what you're looking for for me. No, no, highly enthusiastic about Bobby Porter. Yeah, I am.

You know, I was in that direct. Yeah, I get that. I get that. And him and Jabari Parker played on a team that, you know, that won 13 games. Yeah, bad team. Well, yeah, I know that. But now the Wizards are a better team because the two guys who couldn't get better than 13 wins.

They're just a better team. I'm just telling you right now. Of course they're a better team. That doesn't mean I'm predicting them to make the playoffs and win a series. I'm just saying that watching them, and I watch them a lot, watching them the last three games, they just are a better basketball team than they were. They're still not very good. Bobby Portis is a bit of a self-destructive player, too.

I don't know. Why do you say that? Well, he tends to beat up teammates. He's very, he's highly competitive. Yes. He has an edge personality-wise. So it's a good thing John Wall is not on the court. Do you know who he plays exactly like?

Who? Kevin Garnett. He's not Kevin Garnett. I'm not saying he's Kevin Garnett. But Bobby Portis is the kind of player. If he is a worker, if he matures with some of the stuff you're referring to, if he's coachable, he's 24 years old right now, when he's 27, 28, 29, it's going to be a really, really good player. Really good player.

may not be here. Washington. It may not be here. That won't be in Washington. I might want to point out, when the Wizards traded for Markeith Morris, after that trade, they went seven and two in the next nine games. Look, I'm not suggesting that they're somehow going to figure out a way to get to 40 wins or 41 wins. I just want to point out.

There tends to be. They're not good enough defensively, but they are, they're definitely a better team. and actually I enjoy watching them the last three nights a little bit more. You know, did you see the, I'm sure you saw this, it made all of the rounds on social media late last night, the Beal travel that didn't get called. Have you seen that yet? Yeah, I saw that.

But you know what, Tommy? He's playing really. Oh, yes, he is. He really, yes, he is. He's fun to watch. He can really score. It's his team. He can really score.

It's his team. He's the best player unless he leaves. You know, well. somebody else's team. You know who else can really score? You know, we all, like, you grew up playing basketball too, you know, and so anybody out there can relate to what I'm going to say. There were always guys that just could figure out a way to score. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, I'm one of them. I've heard. But Jordan McCrae, watching him, he's just a dude that knows how to go get buckets in so many different ways. He's leading the G-League right now. He's averaging

like 30 a game in the G league he was before he got called up. The G league that you don't want to go see a game with me with. I will. I told you I would. But I enjoy watching him play. And he's like, you know, he's another guy. Like basketball is interesting, you know, because what you watch in college and what you watch in the first few years after these drafts are physically immature people most of the

time. There are exceptions. But most of the time, these guys don't. don't come into their own physically, the whole package. Well, that was Bradley Beale in the early years. 27, 28, 29 years old. I mean, Bill, the first couple, couldn't stay healthy physically. He wasn't strong enough.

But so many of those guys who become 28, 29 years old, and are playing overseas and are playing really well overseas and have physically matured and mentally, you know, psychologically matured, their opportunities have gone. Like, there are just so many guys that. can play. There's so many guys out there that aren't in the league that can play in the league if the situation were right. Well, considering the limited amount of skills you need to play NBA basketball these days, yes. Now, you need a lot of skill to play in the NBA. And I'll leave you. In a few things. Well, this is my last thought on the, on the Wizards game last night,

because it involved the Pistons who I don't think I've seen the Pistons play once this year. I haven't. Right. I've told you this before the show. Blake Griffin is just a freak. He is so skilled. I mean, I don't know that there are many players. I mean, Anthony Davis is certainly one of them. There just aren't many. This is the difference, by the way,

between the NBA that we both loved in the 70s and the 80s in particular, in the NBA of the last 15 years, is that a guy that's 6-11 can, what he's able to do offensively, he is able to bully you to the rim and just dunk on you, post you up and drop step and dunk, or drop step and go reverse layup, then he's able to face you from the mid-range and drop a 12 to 15-foot jump shot on you.

And then if you decide to back off him a little bit, then he just takes you out to the three-point line. He is such an entertainment, player to watch. And I was looking to see he obviously came on the scene as a young player and was a physical athletic freak when he was younger. He's 29 now and he's sort of learned how to play the game a little bit. I don't know. It's just fun to watch him. I don't think I'd seen Blake Griffin play all year. He's an all-star, as he should be. But he is a spectacular player to watch because of all of the things he can do offensively at his size.

Yes. He's got a great handle for a guy six days. Yeah, he does. He does. I'll grant you that. Let's back up to the Wizards one more time. Okay. Since you're,

you say they're a better team now than they were, and they are because they were a pretty bad team. They were a one player team with Bradley Beale before the trade. That would mean, that would seem to indicate that the arsonist fireman was successful in and putting out the fire a little bit, you know, by trading Otto Porter. Ernie Grunfeld was successful in putting out the house that he set on fire in the first place by signing a guy like Otto Porter to a max contract.

So the arsonist fireman strikes again. This will be his third fire that he's in the process of putting out. And again, we're going to go through a third rebuild. Two big ones. A third, yeah, two big ones. Well, no, no, no. What are the two big ones? Well, I would say Gil, signing Gil to that big contract.

Well, I put Gil, Karan, and Jameson all in one fire. I don't. The Gil's the only thing that I put into that big. Well, no, he had. Signing Gil to that ridiculous contract, which, by the way, we have both heard that that was really an abe, you know, push thing. My point is Gilbert, Jameson, and Butler were always a flawed team that was never going to be better. You're right. They were.

And then when they got old, they had to ship them out. That was Ernie's first shot at putting the fire out that he had built. The second one was the ridiculous big three that Ted talked about of Nick Young, Javelle McGee, and Andre Blotch. And Andre Blotch. That was the second fire. That was the big fire that Ernie managed to put out. and now he's on his third fire that he's putting out.

And he's going to get to rebuild the house one more time, which is like just unbelievable. I feel differently now. I feel like there's change coming. Oh, come on. Come on. I think it's gotten to the point where I think, you know, Ted made those comments on TOP about making the playoffs.

I mean, this was before the John Wall injury. But I sensed because I went back and listened to the, that. I did sense a little bit in the tone that there was a, there may have been a bit of an ultimatum there. And remember, Wall wasn't coming back this year. By the way, I think the, I think one of the worst ideas that Ernie ever had. And Ernie's made good trades over the years. He's drafted very poorly. But I think you let out a lot of fires. I think you left out the worst move of the Ernie Grunfeld era. And that was in the 2009. draft trading for Randy Foy and Mike Miller. You know, a top five pick for Randy Foy and Mike

Miller. That is one of the worst trades made no sense. I know because we talked to him before that draft. We had him on because they had just hired Flip Saunders, remember? Yeah. And we had some wonderful things to say about Ernie on his exit. And we had him on the show and then we talked to him afterwards, or I did. I don't remember if you did. I can't remember. But I know that he liked Ricky Rubio a lot. I know that he loved Hardin a lot. He really did like Hardin. And I think that Ted nicks that deal. I do think that it was, yeah. Oh yeah. That was what's reported. Yeah, I think Ted nicks that deal for Hardin because he didn't want to have to pay Hardin. Yes. So, you know, Ted takes some of that blame along the way for that. But trading the number five overall for

Randy Foy and Mike Miller was for all of the good trades Ernie's made over the years, and some of them were arsonists, you know, we're firemen, you know, putting out the fire. But, well, this is like, well, Tommy. This is like saying, you know, a dictator made the trains run on time. No, it's not. Yes, it is. It's exactly. And this, this pales in comparison to the deal he made where he should have been jailed,

should have been locked up and put in, in, in Lorton, if Lorton was still around. Isn't Lorton still around? I don't think it is. It isn't? No. Okay. When he signed, Jessup, when he signed Andre Blotch to a contract. I agree. That was an arrestable offense. You know what, Ernie's flawed in a lot of ways. One of the areas where I think over the years he has just missed is he has not, like there's clearly a psychological profile. You have to, you know, there's due diligence on sort of the psychological makeup. And as a personnel guy, you're going to have a gut after a long period of time of the kind of person you need to win. He's been missed out on that all along.

But he's missed out. He has been wowed by talent. He was like that in New York with the next. Yeah, I guess. Same way with the next. I'm not disagree with you. I'm ready for them to move on from Ernie. I've said that for four years running.

I'm still never going to compare. him to Vinnie Serrato. Vinnie Sarato wasn't, couldn't even get a job as a scout. Ernie is Vinny with a personality. Actually, Vinny had a personality. Yeah, bad one. All right, there were some things that happened yesterday in the world of football. First of all, what do you want to say about Jack Gruden, the son of Jay Gruden who got arrested at one loud?

No, you were, you were like, you can't let this guy on the team. Well, no, because you brought it up. He's 22 years old. got completely out of control. Like every single one of us or at least our friends got in places late at night at 22 years old where, you know, I had friends that wanted to fight everybody at 2.15 in the morning. Kevin, like I said, if my life was under the social media scrutiny that today is, I'd be an episode of forensic files. You know what's funny is that you and I actually had we grown up together at the same age, we would have been friends.

Yes. We would have actually been friends. So, no, my point is, again, it's a minor embarrassment for a team that has a library full of embarrassments. And I know you could say he's a kid, you know, I mean, we went through the same thing. But if I worked, if I was 22, even back then, and worked for a business that had a public profile, I would have been fired. This is a non-event to me. I mean, I saw people reacting on social media, reacting the way you are.

It's another embarrassment for the team. This one doesn't even make the list. I get that. It doesn't even make the list. Answer my question. What? A public, an organization, a business with a public profile, and you did this when you were growing up. Three times got in the fights.

One night wound up getting arrested. one night. Now one night where he, according to the report, he picked three different fights. Well, how many? Yeah, of course. Because he was completely shattered. Okay. I get that.

Kevin. Answer my question. If you did this in 1972. Yeah. Or 75. Right. And you worked for a business. That was a public profile.

Yeah. Would you have been fired? No. Are you kidding? I don't know. You tell me. I don't know what a big. Ben. I don't, why? I thought it was tougher today to get away with things.

And my, my point is, you can't work for an organization that, that, that, that, that, it's a public profile, public high profile organization and be a low level employee, even if you are the son of a coach, and do stuff like this. Okay. Should you get, you get, I, I don't care what happens to them. Should they fire them? I don't care what happens to them. Look, if, look, I don't care. What, I'm cute. You know what? Actually, you've made me think a little bit more about this.

I wonder if they're considering firing him. I don't know. I don't care. My point is, it's the Redskins. And it's just an expect, it's come, again, the organization. If you're his father as the head coach, be an interesting lesson to teach your son. You know what? If I'm the father as a head coach, my son's not working for me.

They should ban nepotism in the NFL. Oh, that's bullshit. I mean, it, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, It's unbelievable. That makes, I don't understand. I don't understand that concept at all. In fact, because nobody does anyone any favors. Most of the cases of nepotism, and I don't have the list here, have been positive in terms of the production.

Except you don't have the list here. I don't have the list here. I know that. But I can think about the Schottenheimer's and the Shantanans. The Schottenheimer's. Yeah. The rest of the Schottenheimer's have been a joke. They keep getting jobs.

Because they're quality. Oh, yeah. Their quality. Yeah, Brian's shot. He's an offensive genius. I'm not saying that they were head coaching material like their father, but the reason they keep getting jobs is because they're competent. They're competent.

Kurt and Brian, both when they were here, were good coaches. Brian Schottenheimer has been an offensive disaster. Well, you know, I don't have his record here, but he's not continuing to get opportunities because he's incompetent and he's Martin's son. Incompetent people get hired around this league all the time. But it's not because he's.

coaching staff. But it's not, that's true. That is 100% true. But it's not because he's Marty's son. Well, anyway. Anyway, look, I hope I hope the kid, you know, comes out of it okay and, and maybe becomes an NFL head coach. What did you tweet out about One Loudon? Well, I tweeted out that it might be time for somebody to assign a beat writer to cover One Loudon because there's a lot of stuff going on there. There's a lot of stuff going on in those way out suburbs. Yes. Yes. Um, yeah, that's... I mean, we had the Monta Nicholson fight that took place there, but there is a lot of stuff that never sees the light of day. A lot of stuff that has not seen the light of day.

A lot of stuff from that one Loudon that is not seeing the light of day incredibly to me. Yes. Um, and you're not going to, it's not going to see the light of day on this show. No, it's not. No, it's not. That would be irresponsible. Yeah, it would be irresponsible. We're not going to do that.

We're not going to do that. But I really, if I, if I, if I, if I, if I, If I was a sports editor with unlimited funds like the Post seems to have, I'd have a guy sit at one Loudoun every five nights a week from 10 to two. I'd certainly be there on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Anyway, although this happened, when did this happen? I don't know. Do we know when this happened?

It had to be over the weekend. I bet it was Saturday night. Anyway, whatever. The kid got banged up and got belligerent. People are looking at him wrong and probably saying some stuff about his pop. Who knows? Yeah. So he was probably sticking up for his dad.

He may have been. That's it. He may have been. He was wronged. He was wronged. I have no idea. He was arrested 215 Sunday morning. Yeah, of course.

Of course. He wasn't getting ready for church. Kareem Hunt, what's your reaction to that? You know, look, he's not banned by the NFL. He'll be suspended at some point. But the NFL has made it clear that once, you serve your punishment, whatever that punishment will they deem to be, you can get back in the league. Those are the rules of the employer.

So, look, I would not like to have him playing for a team that I rooted for, but I'm not going to sit there and he should be banned. Say he should be banned. He should not be allowed to. And it's not because of second chances. These are the rules that the league is set up. I mean, they haven't said that, you know, we're banning anyone. You know, with any kind of evidence we find to be credible involving domestic violence. But he'll be suspended.

How does this compare to the Ruben Foster signing? I figured that's where you would go first. Well, there's a video in the Kareem Hunt thing. Right. Which technically makes it worse. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

So, I mean, I think they're both going to wind up being suspended. I understand that. But with respect to the Brown signing Kareem Hunt, there was a video out there. And the Redskins signing Rubin Foster, and there wasn't a. video out there and there's actually a lot of conflicting information and some information that's not so conflicting. She recanted the first one and the second

one he was not ultimately you know the charges were dropped. And I might point out as a qualifier for the first recant that the district attorney out in California did not believe the recant. They believed absolutely that she had been attacked

and abused and wanted to proceed with the case but the judge wouldn't let them. So there's a certain level of credibility to that first recant. And again, if I covered the Browns, if I was a columnist in Cleveland, I'd probably criticize this move. Because I'm the philosophy that you don't have to compromise your standards for talent. Now, I'm in a minority about that.

A lot of people think, you know, they don't care as long a guy is talented. But, you know, I mean, I would probably create. criticize the move if I covered the Cleveland Browns. Here's a big difference between Cleveland and the Rubin Foster thing that nobody either wants to remember or thinks it's important and they're wrong. Just six months ago, the Redskins were ground zero for the NFL cheerleading exploitation scandal. The front page of the New York Times, whether it's being reported that cheerleaders are being

coerced into being topless at photo shoots into flirting with sponsors and season ticket holders on trips and cruises that team can't turn around and again

put themselves in a position where they're seen as ignoring the sensibilities of a big part of their fan base All right, a couple of big differences because really to me, this is why it's a relevant story here for us is because of the Ruben Foster thing.

And the debate that the signing of Ruben Foster became among Redskine fans, you know, in particular, because it was a debate. You know, there were a lot of people that felt it was absolutely okay for them to do it. Absolutely. And for the reasons that you just listed, among others, you and I both thought that it didn't make any sense at all. But what the Browns did in the way they handled it was completely different. Remember, I said at the time, you know, if you and I had been, you know, working in the PR department for the Redskins and Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder insisted on signing Rubin Foster, we would have laid out a Bruce Allen or Dan Snyder press conference, you know, opening statement that would have owned it. You know, it would have owned it. It would have said, we're trying to win. This is what we're trying to do. If these charges stand, he'll never put on a uniform and play for us. But we did some due diligence. We talked to various people in various places. We knew this person a lot during the

draft. We liked him a lot. We wanted to draft him in that particular draft. We knew we were going to be criticized for this and we will take it like men up here, but understand this. We are not, in no way does this mean that we condone domestic violence on any level. And if he's found guilty or charged, he'll never wear a uniform for us. And there's still a chance that even if he isn't charged. He won't wear a uniform for us because he's going to have to do a lot of things to prove that he's worthy. But remember, we didn't hear anything until Doug Williams went on with Doc Walker and stepped all over his, you know what, and then had to come out and apologize for that. Instead, and so you had a 72-hour window of the arrest and the signing where really, how much

due diligence did they do? Well, we know that they didn't call Northern California, the Santa Clara, the district attorney's office because Tommy talked to them and the Redskins had not talked to them. But this one happened in December when he was waived by Kansas City after the video came out, Kareem Hunt. And now we're talking about basically two and a half months later. And when it happened, you get an extensive statement from John Dorsey, the general manager. Quote, my relationship and interaction with Kareem since 2016 in college was an important part of this decision-making process, but we then did extensive due diligence with many individuals, including clinical professionals, to have a better understanding of the person he is today, and whether it was prudent to sign him.

There were two important factors. One is that Kareem took full responsibility for his egregious actions and showed true remorse. And secondly, just as importantly, he is undergoing and is committed to necessary professional treatment and a plan that has been clearly laid out. We fully understand and respect the complexity of questions and issues in signing a player, with Karim's history and do not condone his actions. Given what we know about Karim through our extensive research, we believe he deserves a second chance,

but certainly with the understanding that he has to go through critical and essential steps to becoming a performing member of this organization, aside from what the NFL determines from their ongoing investigation. We fully understand that Karim is subject to discipline by the NFL. Here at the Browns, there is a detailed plan with expectations laid out that he understands, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It goes on. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you needed from the Redskins. I can't argue with that.

Now, at 72 hours from the second arrest and less than a year, that was going to be a tough press statement and a tough press conference regardless, because it was too soon. Yes. And it was too soon, as Tommy laid out, for this particular organization and their recent history in particular. But this is how two and a half months later, and then you get a full, well-thought-out statement. Who knows? But I'm all for second chances. This is another thing that came up during the conversation about Ruben Foster. You guys don't believe in second chances has nothing to do with second

chances. Had no had nothing to do with his presumption of guilt or innocence. It was that this organization, 72 hours after the second arrest and less than a year, shouldn't have done it for all of the reasons that we mentioned. Anyway, now you're right about the Browns. They, they handle a lot of things right in that statement was much more professional than what. Of course it was, because the Redskins, when it comes to public relations, they're unprofessional. And they really have never, for whatever reason, no matter who it's been in the Dan Snyder era, they've never truly understood the importance of it, A, and B, how to communicate. Absolutely. Important messages.

Absolutely. And an era where it's more important now than it was when Dan Snyder bought the team. And yet they think they do communicate well. I know. Now, one thing about the Browns here. What? For all the lofty words that John Dorsey said about what they did, there's one person they didn't talk to, the victim.

And that's a key part that's missing. How do you go about talking to the victim? I mean, is it possible that they tried to reach out to the victim? It's possible. Yeah. It's possible. Because why would the victim want to talk to? I mean, that's a delicate thing.

Yeah, there's probably a lawsuit involved. And if there is a lawsuit involved, the victim's not going to talk to the Cleveland Browns. So that may be the case. But as far as we know, so far there was no effort. If I were to Browns and I tried, I would leak that information. I would leak out that we tried to talk to the victim. Now, we haven't heard from the victim, who I'm assuming has a lawyer. You know, we heard from Ruben Foster victims.

lawyer pretty quickly about the Redskins. I don't think we've seen anything from any attorney representing the victim in this situation. But yeah, you're right. I mean, the Redskins are a textbook. If you were teaching a class, there's one way to do it and there's one way not to do it. The Redskins were the way not to do it. The Browns were the way to do it.

Here's an interesting, I think, dilemma that, you know, other teams are going to be faced with potentially, you know, hopefully not, but probably will be. And that is the dilemma that faced the Chiefs. I think they did the right thing by waving him immediately. You know, in this day and age, there's video, and remember, pretty much from all corners, most corners anyway, they were congratulated on moving very swiftly and releasing one of their best players, a player they drafted. This is an organization out a couple years ago had a flight. Had a flight. had a player on their premises with a gun. I know.

Who had been involved in domestic violence, then turn around and kill himself. So this is an organization that has to be very sensitive to anything like this. The dilemma is this, though, that Kansas City drafted this player. This player became one of their best players. Oh, yeah. And the player makes a mistake. And the victim pays the biggest price. Yes.

I'm not, you know, of course we're going to acknowledge that. But the chiefs pay a price too, because they did the right thing, and yet the Browns potentially will be the beneficiary of a player being made available because the player made a mistake, a mistake that forced the team to make a move that they probably hated to make, but had to make, because as you say, we live in a world of perception and public relations are important, and these are public trusts in these cities. and the issue that this Me Too era is unrelenting.

I'm not knocking it. It should be, but you can't afford to, you know, when you're in business, have any sort of perception that you're supporting or you're condoning these actions. So now the chiefs lose Kareem Hunt, and the second chance is given by the Browns after sufficient due diligence, two and a half months worth of it. worth of it. Nobody's knocking them giving Kareem Hunt a chance. There's some debate, I'm sure. If they had

signed them immediately, they would have been accused and treated the same way the Redskins were for signing Rubin Foster immediately. But it just sort of sucks for the Chiefs. Yeah, on the other hand, and we've seen stuff leak out in dribs and drabs, that

this was like the third incident, at least, of alcohol and incidents involving Kareem Hunt. So the chiefs may have thought we've got a problem on our hands. We need to cut this guy loose. This may not have been an isolated incident. The question though really is, is there a way for teams moving forward to keep the player? No. No, there's not. There is, every situation is different. Every situation in this particular situation given that there was video, it was tough. Yeah, every situation is different.

And again, why should that be the difference? Well, if you're talking, I compare it to, let's say, let's say you're working at a sports talk radio station. And you've been there for 10 years. And you get arrested, you get a DUI or something like that. And it looks pretty bad for you. But you've been a good employee for 10 years with a clean record. You've built up a credibility and reservoir of goodwill. if you've been at that radio station for six months

and you do the same thing, you don't get that rope. That's just human nature. You just don't get it. And that's how these situations can be different, you know, moving forward. So there's no absolutes unless the NFL would say, and it may come to this.

The NFL would say if you get arrested for domestic violence or if you get a domestic violence conviction, you can't play in the league anymore. It could come to that. I mean, again, the NFL is not a democracy. It's a private organization. It's a business. They can fire people if they want to.

You might think it hurts their rights, you know, innocent until proven guilty. But again, think of where you work. If you did something to embarrass your employer publicly. And hurt the bottom line. because of it. You don't think they could fire you? Of course.

Well, it's the old saying. I mean, freedom of speech is not freedom of consequence in a private entity. That's true. Window Nation. Did you just make that up? No. Really? Because that's pretty good.

You've never heard that before? Yes, I have. Window Nation you've heard of. Window Nation should be your go-to for windows. If you're thinking about new windows. And this winter, we've had some cold weather. And if it's a little drafty in your home, you should get new windows. You should at least have Windonation.

come out to your home if you've been thinking about it for a free estimate. I've bought Windows from Window Nation twice over the last decade. It worked out for me. Right now, smart shoppers know the best deals are always in the off season. So if you buy a snowblower or snowboots or anything cold weather related, you want to buy that stuff in the summer and you'll save tons of money. Window Nation knows this too and they're offering an amazing deal. Buy two windows, get two free, get zero percent financing for five,

full years also. The buy two windows, get two windows free does not stop it too. You can buy four, get four free, buy eight, get eight free. There is no limit. Plus, if you call soon and you purchase a house full of windows, window nation's going to pay your heating bill until your new windows are installed. You'll save thousands. When donation, when they come out to do the installation, they do it room by room to cause as little disruption as possible. Plus, they're paying your heating bill all the while. Wind donation needs to keep the factory busy and their installers working during the slower months after this nasty cold weather. You'll probably need new windows. Buying in the offseason makes sense. Call 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. That's 86690 Nation or

window nation. You'll get two free windows with every two you buy with no limit plus zero percent financing for five full years. 86690 Nation or windownation.com and you'll get two free windows. You'll get two free Tom, and tell them that I sent you. All right, let's get to Kyler Murray, who announced yesterday that he is fully committed to an NFL career, and he's putting on hold right now his baseball career. This guy's going to get picked in the first round. He's going to get picked in the top half of the first round. In fact, I think he's going to be picked in the top 10.

It sure seems to have gained a lot of momentum since he made the announcement that he's going to be in the draft, and he's going to play football. And the only thing that would derail that would be some kind of poor performance in the combine or pro day. Which he's going to participate in. Yeah, but yeah, this guy sounds like he's going to be gone in the first 10 picks. If he were to get selected in the first round, this is amazing to me, and I didn't know this until I read this late last night. If he gets picked in the first round, according to Elias,

he will be the shortest quarterback selected in the first round, since the common draft began in 1967, the shortest to ever be taken in the first round. If he is taken in the first round... But how does Elias know how tall he is? Well, they're guessing that he is... Well, that's a good question. Right now, according to the assistant athletic director at Oklahoma,

he is about five, nine, and three quarters is his height. So I guess, according to Elias, only four... Five quarterbacks listed at 510 or shorter have even thrown an NFL pass since 1960. That's amazing to me. And the last one was Doug Flutie in 2005. The last quarterback listed at 510 or shorter to have thrown an NFL pass was Flutie 13 years ago. And by the way, I always thought Flutie got a raw deal coming out of college. I thought that he could have played in the NFL, but there was such a lack of confidence in him because of his height.

By the time he went to Canada, when he came back in the NFL, the second time, it was clear he could play. I always thought he would have had a better NFL career if he'd been given a fair shake initially. You know, I never thought that he was a bad quarterback when he played in the NFL early on. One of the things you really saw on those great Bears teams, which were his first. teams where Jim McMahon got hurt. He in fact started a playoff game against the Redskins at Soldier Field after the 1986 season, a game in which the Redskins went in and totally rendered him completely useless and they won going away. Back then, it was all about his height. The only reason Doug Flutie wasn't successful was because of his height. And then he would grow and he'd get further

opportunities and he ended up becoming, you know, with the bills, with the chargers in particular, you know, an effective at times quarterback. And if he had come with a different organization than Dicka and the Bears, he might have had a better opportunity. Do you know who was listed at six, or at less than six feet for a significant portion of this career? Did you know this? The Iceman? No. Another Redskins quarterback, the greatest Redskins quarterback of all time. Sammy Ball? Sunny. Okay. I guess Sammy Ball would be. I don't count the years that you watched football.

Sonny was, you know, during a significant portion of his career, was listed at 5-11. That's according to this article. I didn't realize that. Look, we know Sonny. Sonny's not, Sonny is not six feet tall. You know, Sunny is 5-Eleven. If he were ever listed at six feet at any point in his career, it's not the right height. program height, but he was listed for much of his career at 5 foot 11. So I would consider the greatest under six foot quarterback of all time to be Sonny Jorgensen. Like to me, who were the others? Drew Breeze is listed at six feet. How tall was Fran Tarkinton? Fran Targinton? He might have been under six feet. Do you think Tarkington was better than Sunny? Statistically he was. But no one would consider Tarkington. Tarkington was listed during his career

at six feet. Okay. Sonny was listed at 511, 511, on pro football reference anyway. Okay. Well, you know, I think Targerton was probably shorter than that. But Targenden took a team to three Super Bowls and had over almost 350 career touchdown passes. He played on much better teams, including the teams in Minnesota with the, you know, the

purple people leaders, one of the great defenses in the history of football. But he's six feet, so he doesn't count. He doesn't count. Although he didn't look six feet. No, he didn't. I mean, I can't. And again, I'm, you've, you've seemed to have value this. more than I did. I used to, not anymore, because the style of football is different. You have

true dual threat football in the NFL. And it's, I mean, I just always laughed, you know, and I laughed during 2012 and 13 and 14 to all the dummies who said, you know, that the zone read was already, you know, had already been figured out and that this style of football would never hold up. Well, they were wrong. They were wrong in the moment. Like, they didn't recognize what it was. But look, Russell Wilson has already proven that, you know, and you've got plenty of other examples of quarterbacks who are playing dual threat football at six feet or taller. Yes. You know, Deshawn Watson, you know, comes immediately to mind. Marcus Marriota comes to mind. So I don't have a problem. I would evaluate Kyler Murray based on, you know, his ability to throw the football

from the pocket to anticipate throwing, but then also it's got to be with a coaching staff that's going to figure out the right way to play football. Now, the one thing about Murray, he's like Griffin, Tommy, he's got a gun for an arm. He's got a big arm, regardless of his size. The difference between him and Griffin, at least based on watching him at Oklahoma, is he throws with anticipation. Griffin couldn't see the field. Never could, probably still can't. Therefore, he never could. He never could throw, as Shanahan would explain to us with anticipation, which is

the key to throwing in the NFL. You know, what's interesting about about Kyle, look, Kyle Murray couldn't, the other thing that he has in in, in,

uh, that's alike with Griffin is he's got, he's got a father who's very involved in his career. Is that what happened on the Dan Patrick? Yeah. Yeah. His father was standing off camera yelling, no comment, no comment while the interview was going on. And from all

reports, he's made it clear he's very involved in the decision making for his son. So having been through that here in Washington, that should be a red flag for anybody among his performance at the Super Bowl in

interviews. Now, what's real interesting is the Arizona Cardinals who have the first pick in the draft. With a coach who really likes him. Could trade. Josh Rosen and pick

Kyler Murray with that first pick. In fact, that seems like a smart idea. You know what? I didn't even think about that. Yeah. If they like him a lot, if that coach thinks he's that good. Here's the problem. If they're going to draft Kyler Murray number one overall, if Cliff Kingsbury

really likes him, which he does, and he wants to draft him, he's going to lose some leverage on Rosen. If that's what he wants to do in teams know that once he decides that once they put out that Rosen's available, they don't have a lot of leverage. The leverage is the desperation of teams wanting a Josh Rosen. Yeah.

They'll be lining up. I'm trying to figure out in my mind what Josh Rosen is worth a year after being picked, what, 10 overall? By Arizona, was he 10? Overall, somewhere around there. He could wind up in a New England uniform, baby, because they still need. a quarterback at some point for Tom Brady. What about the Redskins for Josh Rosen?

Yeah, yeah. You know, he's on a rookie deal. Yes. So the money's not going to be a big issue. I would imagine, given that he was a, was he 10? 10. He was 10 last year. So do you get a first for Josh Rosen a year later?

You don't get a top 10 pick. No. You're not going to get a top 10 pick because the, the Cardinals are not going to have a lot of leverage to a certain degree, unless there are multiple teams, and then they would. But Rosen, I didn't see a lot of the Cardinals. He was the youngest. He was the youngest of that group of quarterbacks.

Yes, he was. You know who you get a one from if you're the Cardinals? The Patriots. Yeah. Yeah, you could get a late, a super late first round pick. I think you get a one based on team desperation at a quarterback. It might be a one with a four back or something like that, not a pure one. But yeah.

I loved watching. Josh Rosen as a college quarterback at UCLA. There were games in which they were out of it, and he brought him back. He's got, there's something to him, but remember all of the pre-draft stuff. Oh, yeah. You know, he's too smart for his own good.

Yeah, that whole thing. And he comes from affluence to begin with, and he's had the concussions, and at some point, you know, he's got a father who's a doctor at some point. They may just say it's not worth it with one more concussion. Yeah.

You know, so the other words, he may be too smart to put. football. The, I, you know, we saw him a couple times during the course of the year when the Cardinals were on and he looked like a young quarterback at times. Yeah, he did. You know, not with a lot around him other than Larry Fitzgerald. Right.

Who, you know, that's a pretty good, that's a pretty good guy to have in your first year as a rookie quarterback. So anyway, look, the Redskins aren't going to wind up with Kyle or Murray, right? That's pretty much a given now. I still don't think the Redskins are going to draft a quarterback. That was my, was that with you or by myself on a day in which I did it. You heard it here first and I just said, you know why I don't think they're going to draft a quarterback?

Because everybody's telling them they have to draft a quarterback. And it's just like everybody's telling Dan, he's got to get rid of Bruce. Even in the third or fourth round? Is that count? No, no, no, no. I'm talking about that at 15 overall or higher. Okay. But they will draft a quarterback at some point in this draft.

I just want on Kyler Murray. Because we saw a lot of Oklahoma this year. Aaron and I watched a lot of college football this year and saw a lot of Kyler. Marie and most of you probably did as well. I don't know that I've ever seen a quarterback with his speed. His raw speed and explosiveness. So in a dual threat system, he's going to be a difficult check. If you have the kind of coach and the kind of offensive coordinator

that's going to run the stuff to make him better, Like if he were coming out and the Shanahan's had him, you know, or other coaching staffs that have embraced this style of football, I mean, he could be lethal as a dual threat quarterback. He also throws with anticipation and he's got a gun for an arm. He's got a big time arm and he can throw from all sorts of angles. Oh, that's the baseball. You know? That's the baseball background. And he's got that kind of Michael Vic, Russell Wilson, you know, it's elusiveness.

You know, he has eyes everywhere. Like, what Griffin was was a straight line guy. I've done this, I've made this analogy many times on a basketball, comparing it to basketball. He's the guy dribbling down on a three-on-one that's going to dribble it right into the one defender. Kyler Murray, Michael, Vic, Russell Wilson, they see the whole floor.

They see the whole field. You can see that when he plays. He's got a feel for where people are in space. He's really beyond being ridiculous. He's got that vision athleticism too. I would love, I'd love to see him as the quarterback of my team. In this day and age, with the right coaching staff, I think watching him play next year, if it's with the right team and the right fit, is going to be a lot of fun.

Now, at five, nine and a half, he could get broken in half. Yeah, he could. In his first, you know, season two? But you know what he'll do? He'll sell some tickets. Oh, okay, so with respect to the Redskins, if they were to draft Kyler Murray, that is not a get out of jail free card necessarily, but that is a jolt. Yes, it is. That is a jolt that they can't get anywhere else.

No. They can't get it from whatever they do in free agency unless they were to trade for Antonio Brown or sign Lady on Bell. They signed Joe Flacco and they trade for Antonio Brown. But that's not going to do it. Not, well, I mean, if you know, and ain't going to do it like this guy. Flacco and Brown together. That, that's your solution. Yeah.

They can't afford it. No, they get rid of, they cut a bunch of guys and get rid of a bunch of contracts to sign Flacco. Did you? And they trade a bunch of draft fix to get Antonio Brown. Baby, it's, it's 2000 all over again. You know, I'm all for the blow it up option. I have really come around to that over the last month. I think if you really look at this franchise and you play out the probability,

the probability is that they're not going to be very good in 2019. And the probability is that Alex Smith is never really going, more likely than not, never going to be the quarterback that you traded for. That's why I would blow it up in 2019. I would take the poison pill. I would take the, I would just, I would suffer through a 3 and 13 season, get rid of every bad contract, take every big cap hit.

Alex Smith's in particular, trade away players that can bring back value in the form of draft choices, Ryan Kerrigan, Trent Williams are two players that come to mind. I'm not trading away my young players. Don't worry about that. I'm keeping John Allen and I'm keeping Darius Geis and younger players that, you know, Brandon Sheriff. I'm extending Brandon Sheriff this offseason, which by the way is going to put a little bit more pressure on the cap as well. Yes, it is. Now, that said, Kevin, if they do that, and I'm not saying

they shouldn't. Charlie Casserly was on with me last week, and he said, he said they should be considering this. Well, I think you're right. He said it's hard to do it if you're in the organization. Yes. But from the outside looking in, this is something they should be considering. But here's the problem. They don't have enough ex-redskins in the area to stop at Metro stops and give away tickets, then. There's not enough X redskins. round to send them to do every metro stop to beg people to take the free tickets. I got to talk to Kooley to see if they're planning on having him do that next year. I don't think he'll do that next year.

In fact, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do that next year. Well, that was part of the Lafamina plan, I'm assuming. Yeah. The Rosen thing, you know, first of all, I think taking Kyler Murray one overall is really high for Kyler Murray. Yeah, but if this coach knows him better than anyone and does it, you have to feel confident that he knows what he's doing. Cliff Kingsbury?

I mean, yeah. He's never coached in the pros. Yeah. I mean, he's a, yeah, I know that, but he knows the quarterback we're talking about. Yeah. You know, there are, there are some really good defensive players in this draft. I mean, to pass on a Nick Bosa, you know, potentially at one overall or, you know, the guy it's blowing up over the last month,

Josh Allen, the outside lineback of the pass rusher from Kentucky for Kyler Murray. You know, the Giants, to me, at six, are going to, they're going to have a chance to draft Haskins or Murray. One of those two, they're going to have a chance to get their quarterback of the future. God, the whole, this offseason of quarterbacks, you know, and quarterback moves is going to be very, very interesting to watch. Which is interesting. Given the fact that last, yes, yes, it is, because of the free agency as much as anything.

I mean, because we all heard about how this draft class was not nearly as strong as last year's draft class when it came to quarterbacks. But it's still going to be interesting. You know, Flacco to me is Denver or Jacksonville. Foles to me is Denver or Jacksonville. Like those two split up Denver and Jacksonville. That makes the most sense to me. I don't know why, and I've read this recently. I mean, Andy Reed,

might trade Nick Foles in the division, I don't know if Peterson's going to do it off of a Super Bowl and a near, you know, in a near Super Bowl run. I mean, they were close there. Yes, they were. If Alshon Jeffrey holds on to the ball, they're probably in the NFC title game. Yeah.

You know, against a team they had already beaten. Yes, by the way, those of you that sent me the link to Bill Barnwell's off-season domino story. Who? Bill Barnwell. I'm not familiar with the guy. I've talked to you about Bill Barnwell before. I was not familiar with him until you brought his name up to me.

That's surprising to me. But you now know who he is because I brought him up to you in the past. But I still haven't read anything. In the story on ESPN.com. He's a geek squad guy. NFL's offseason dominoes. He writes super long stories. That's because he's very smart and has a lot to say.

It's not all analytics. I enjoyed this one, though. Yeah, I did. You choose your own adventure. Yes. Yeah, choose your own adventure thing. Exactly. Basically, they listed six or seven players from Levion Bell to Joe Flacco to Teddy Bridgewater

and basically had paths to them getting to the places they got to. I'm bringing it up for one. I think you should get him on the show. That's what I think you should do. You should get him on the show. Can I tell you why I'm not? Why? He's not very good on television.

I just will tell you he's not very good on television. He writes, he's one of those guys, he writes very well. He's not cut out to be on TV or radio. Okay. There are a lot of those guys, right? I mean, you're a dual threat guy, all right? But a lot of you, a lot of you people aren't. But you're delaying me from getting to what I wanted to get to

because several people tweeted this to me yesterday. And it's amazing how much, how sensitive Redskins fans are to this. If you are a, if you, like I believe that the name issue is debatable, unlike the, you know, the change the namers, change the name people who think it's not a debatable subject, in Barnwell's story, when they list the teams in which these players may go to, Raiders, Colts, Packers, 49ers, Jets, Jags, Giants, Saints, Wash, W-A-S-H, period. Yeah, I pick up on that stuff all the time, too. So, I mean, I didn't see this until people had linked me to the story, but I do. And there's no doubt in my mind that it's intentional. No doubt in my mind. Now, I'm surprised that I don't know if that's Barnwell doing it or if it's ESPN.com doing it,

or if it's that particular, I don't even know how these, are there editors for his stories? Yes, there are. There's the editors, but I'm thinking that this is his personal decision. Okay. I mean, I am not aware of an ESPN policy against the name. No, there isn't. Okay. There isn't a policy by any NFL network against the name.

But again, but we're not talking about a network here. We're talking about an NFL partner. Yeah. So I don't think there's any policy. I think it's his personal decision. By the way, Barnwell, in one of these paths to getting to where different players land, he's got the Redskins landing Ryan Tannahill on a two-year $22 million deal. That's exciting.

Exactly. Tannahill actually would fit the Gruden system well. He's a poor man's, poor man's. Colt McCoy. Yeah. No. He plays actually like Alex Smith played in Kansas City anyway, which is not the way for some reason that Alex Smith played here. but I think you know you may have laid out another potential jolt to the organization of some positive juice something what we're talking about here is what can this franchise do in the off season to get people remotely interested in the team and we're talking about now the majority of what used to be the fan base right in that words to keep the seat to keep the people that came to the park that came to the stadium

last year? They're probably coming again. Okay. Really? Probably. Really? I don't know that. I think the people that were there last year.

To see a 3 and 13 team? Well, no one was there for the finale. I know that. Except for Philly fans. But no one was there when they won after their home opener after they won their game. So my point is. Maybe I'm talking about the people that showed up for the home opener are the people that, to me, a significant, you would agree with me, a significant minority of the fan base.

They are among the group. that just is hope, just hopeful, always hopeful. Yeah, my point is they need to try to figure out a way to hang on to the people that are still willing to show up. Yeah, they need, they need to figure out a way to get the people that have checked out to check back in. Yes. Yes. Because what's happened here isn't just at the ballpark. You don't really say ballpark. No, stadium. What's happened here isn't really about what's happened at the stadium. It's the incredible precipitous drop in television ratings that are reflective of a football, a Redskins fan who still likes football because they're watching the other games.

Yes, they are. But they're not watching the Redskin games, which is remarkable. We saw that towards the end of the season where Cowboy games and other games that were on were outrating the Redskins. Skins game, which, you know, as recently as three or four years ago, would never have happened unless it was very late in the season of a three and 13, four and 12 type of season. But again, but the, the jolt would be a quarterback at 15 or higher. Kyler Murray would be the biggest jolt of the quarterbacks. I do think a trade for Josh Rosen, another young quarterback, or even selecting a Daniel

Jones or a Drew Locke or somebody like that, would be. I think that makes people curious. Yeah, I think people would be interested in. Kyla Murray's the game changer. Yes, yes, he is. And then what you said, like, you know, I just don't think it's possible. You can't, you're not signing Flacco and then trading for Antonio Brown. But Eric Schaefer's a genius.

According to whom? No, he's not a genius. Antonio Brown just got decided for going over 100. Maybe you only have to give a fourth for him now. There you go. He reckless driving over 100 in a Porsche. Oh, really? Yeah.

Did he take the Jason Worth route? Exactly. What's the fastest you've ever done in a car? Driven or a passenger? I don't know about driven. I was at a vet one time where a guy clocked out 125 miles an hour on the highway. Driven, I probably drove 90 maybe.

I mean, you know, or something like that. Tops, maybe. Yeah, you're not. I'm not a risk-taking kind of guy. I have a problem with sports. speed and cars. Big problem. I got reckless in Virginia like 10 years ago,

and Rigo's attorney got me off. Homeless Jerry, as we refer to him, he got me off of that one. But I think I've done, I think I've done 120. Really? Yeah. I think I've done 120 before. You do have a problem.

I mean, but that's, you know, nobody's on the road. Like, I'll tell you this. I made it back from Penn State, State College, after dropping my son off. there a couple weeks ago, remember. I made it back in two hours and 40 minutes. This is not something to brag about.

I know. I know. I got a problem. And I admit it. I've been, I try, I don't do it when there's someone else in the car. Like if one of my kids are in the car,

I'll do it with my wife in the car, but not with my kids in the car. Or at least when they were younger, I didn't do it as much. So I like the way he says, okay, I'll do it with my wife in the car. Exactly. Because I do what I want when my wife is around.

My wife doesn't tell me what to do. If I want to go 120 miles an hour with my wife in the car, I'm going to do it. You know, here's why I'm able to say that, because there's zero chance she's listening to this podcast. Zero chance. All right. I know you wanted to talk about a couple of things, including Bryce Harper and Frank Robinson. I wanted to mention a couple of things real quickly before we get to that. I watched North Carolina, Virginia last night, and I didn't get a chance yesterday because I didn't do the show yesterday.

yesterday to talk about North Carolina, Virginia, Duke from Saturday. First of all, I really, I know most Maryland fans feel the same way. God, I miss. Of course. I miss the, you know, the high profile weekend Saturday game at 6 o'clock or at 9 o'clock at night or whatever. You know, Aaron, you know, the big games that you'd build up to all day long, Maryland hosting Carolina, Maryland and Duke, or hell, like everybody always focuses on Duke and Carolina. There were plenty of games that we got fired up for against Virginia or in some other teams

in the league. But it was such a, that game Saturday night and the game last night, the intensity of ACC basketball, the Big Ten, Tommy is a great league. It really is a great basketball league, but it's a football first league. And the ACC will always be a basketball first league. And the intensity of those games and the the the the the atmosphere around them just the big 10 can't match that I'm sorry it doesn't match what we saw building up to Duke Virginia on Saturday night would you agree with that Aaron sure I would agree with that I'd also say that most games even in the ACC didn't build up to that I mean that was one of the most anticipated games in college festival I remember I know but every single season there are a half of four to five of those in the

How many of those are there in the Big Ten? I actually disagree with it because I think Saturday's game had a different level of anticipation for it than most. Any more than the one that they played a month ago? Well, that's what I'm saying. You're not getting one verse two every year in the ACC either. Yeah, but you've got two Duke Virginia games. You've got two Duke Carolina games still to come. But I'm saying the past.

And I don't think that'll get the level of anticipation of those games, Scott. Let me just, okay, here's what I would say. There have been more of those games out of the ACC. than any other league by fivefold over the last 20 years. Games that sports fans are like, man, number two against number three tonight, Duke, Virginia. In Maryland, for a long period of time, had three or four of those, two to three of those anyway, a year. We don't have those in the Big Ten. I'm sorry, the Big Ten's a great basketball league.

Top to bottom, it may be the best league right now. It really may be the best league top to bottom. The bottom of the Big Ten is better than the bottom of the ACC. I mean, Illinois, and they're not even at the bottom anymore, but teams like Rutgers and even Penn State, they're in dead last right now, right? Penn State. Penn State would beat the hell out of Wake Forest or beat the hell out of who else is in the ACC at the bottom. Wake is bad. Boston College.

BC's actually, I've watched them. They're not terrible. Pitt is not very good. Pitt's terrible. But anyway, part of it, too, is that the, you know, the, you know, the, you know, the, you're not. The ACC's games, most of them are still on ESPN. It's a big difference from FS1 or even Fox. Now, CBS has big, Maryland plays a game on March 3rd at home against Michigan on CBS, a 3.45.

That's going to be the biggest home game they have all year. And we'll be one of the bigger games in the league this year. But tonight's game against Purdue, it's 630, 630 on a Tuesday night. For a game between number 12 in the country. Some people think Purdue is a legitimate national championship contender. I'm going to be there. I'm going to be there as well. Will you acknowledge me if I'm there tonight?

Listen to you. Will you? I hope you will. Because there have been times I've walked and I've waived and you've just said, yeah, yeah. You just sort of blow me off. I'm working when I'm there. I'm not like you. I know.

I know. I'm not like you signing autographs and stuff like that. I can tell you this. If certain people walk by, you'd wave, you'd get up for them. But Maryland plays Purdue. Real quickly, though, on the Carolina Virginia game last night. Do you know what time that game started and ended? Did you watch it last night?

I was flipping back and forth between a few things, but yeah, it was one thing I watched it. First of all, the last five minutes were intense. I mean, Virginia was down at one point. I think they were down seven with six or seven minutes to go. They came back and they won the game, basically going away. Kyle Guy was huge for them. They've got, this is the thing about Virginia.

People say, well, it's the system, it's the whole thing. No, they've got real talent, real talent. DeAndre Hunter is a lottery pick potentially, and I think both Ty Jerome and Kyle Guy are going to play in the league eventually. But that game last night was over in an hour and 50 minutes. I'm just going to take 20 seconds of your time here to just tell you that college basketball has to be fixed. Every other sport has looked to shorten their product over the years, and college basketball does not have enough product. There are tournament games in March that will be over if they are loosely officiated,

meaning they're going to let them play. They will be over in an hour and 45 minutes. It's not enough product. I would do two things in college basketball. Last night was intense, but it's like it's over. If you get there late, you're leaving an hour and 20 minutes later. They should, first of all, they've got to add a sixth foul, personal foul before somebody fouls out. Five fouls. You take too many of your best players off the floor too early in games. Six fouls, please. And then I would go to either 22-minute halves or 11-minute quarters. You need more product in college basketball. It's too short. That game was great. It was over at 8-51 last night. And it started at seven or a few minutes after seven. I think the total elapsed time of the game was like an hour and 49 minutes by the time they tipped it off. It's just too short. Before you know it,

Like a game that starts, last night at 7 o'clock, at 737, it was like the under four timeout for TV. You're like, I mean, I don't even get a full hour. Like a half is like 45 to 50 minutes. I wish they would extend it. And then one other thing is I would add a defensive three second rule in college basketball because the true packed in zones where you can just sit and pack it in, it slows the game down a little bit too much and it makes the floor harder. I'd add a defensive

three second rule like the NBA has. Anyway, just wanted to mention those things there. I'm very much looking forward to tonight. I think Maryland, although they're a two-point dog, I thought we were going to be favored. They'd open out of a pick and it moved. I thought Maryland

would be favored in this game. Let me ask you about Maryland. Yeah. If they wind up flatlining this year and early exit. Uh-oh, I smell a column. I smell tomorrow's column. If they have an early tournament exit, first game, one and done,

which would be really bad. Because they'll probably be a four seed or a five seed, right? Well, right now they're in that five to six range. The Illinois loss and the home game that they gave away, thank you, Kevin Anderson. I think it was Kevin Anderson, has already cost them at least one seed line by moving that game. Okay. So if they do that, my perception is that people think that this is Turgeon's best team. I do. And most talented team.

I don't know if it's the most talented, but I think it's his best team. And he would have wasted that opportunity. What are you asking me? I'm asking you, you think that's fair or accurate? Oh, my God. If this team is a one and done in the tournament, there's going to be outrage among the fan base. Outrage. Well, you hope there's outrage, and it's not the other way.

No, it's never going to be. This isn't a redskin situation. No, Aaron, no. People still, look, the move to the Big Ten has more to do with people who became apathetic about Maryland basketball than Turgeon's run. The move to the Big Ten had as much anyway to do with that. If they were consistently making the second weekend, I think you see a lot more interest in the team. With or without the Big Ten? This is a second weekend team.

The talent that this team has, this should be a team that wins two games and advances to the Sweet 16. Now, if there are a five seed, that means that the second round game is against, and the first round game in a 512 is going to be a good team, and then they're going to play a four seed that's going to be really good, and probably based on seeding. They could be an underdog in the second round. But I look at this team, and I see at least a Sweet 16 team. and I also see a team that's dangerous when they get in.

I see a team that's capable of beating anybody. I agree. I agree with all that. I'll be real curious to see how they play tonight in this game at home. The point spread bothers me, but I really, when I looked at this game over the last few weeks, I thought this was going to be a win. I think Maryland's got to win their home games. If they win their home games and then they can win at Penn,

state, what would that be? A five and one finish, something like that, five and two finish, then they're probably going to end up being right near the four lines. So if you include that win over Michigan. A Michigan then at home. Yeah. I mean, that, that erases. Michigan's beatable. That erases the Illinois loss. Yeah, Michigan's beatable. Yeah, I would agree with that. I would agree with that. A win up Michigan, a win over Michigan and home would be big. Maryland should be able to win at home the rest of the way. They, they, and hopefully, they will have the environment that they used to when they had a really good team.

And hopefully you'll see that tonight, although 6.30 is the worst possible time for a Maryland start. One other thing real quickly before we get to you. Oh, come on. I got some stuff I want to talk about. Kirk Cousins, stop tweeting. He can't help himself. Somebody get from the Vikings organization needs to sit down with him

and tell him to stay the hell off social media. He's embarrassing himself on social media. He's actually, he's looking like a guy that got paid and has no worries anymore. None. He's done. He should have been done. Tommy, as frugal as he appeared to have been here in Washington, the first franchise tag should have been enough for him and for generations to come.

But the contract that he signed, it makes him look like he is completely detached from the team. results this past year. I agree. I agree. He needs to go silent. He's been tweeting like all the time yesterday about Kyler Murray. Congrats, man. Have to imagine that was a tough decision to make. What a blessing to be in that position though, exclamation point, as if to say, I was kind of in that position a year ago. You know, like it's just, it's enough already. It's really, he tweeted a picture of himself throwing on a beach the other day. You know, got to throw all off season to keep the arms strong. This is like, seriously, he's become, he's become really, like, for someone who's a

Kirk Cousins fan and a diehard Kirk Cousins fan, he's, he's making me angry. He's making me not like him. Like, almost borderline want to root against him. Yeah, I don't understand. And maybe he won't listen. Maybe he just won't listen. He wants so bad to be a star, I think. Last thing, I had one more thing.

This is for Aaron, because I didn't have a chance to talk about it with him yesterday, the AAF from over the weekend. So I did not watch one second of it. Did you? No, I was at the Caps game, so I didn't watch any of them. Well, it wasn't just on during the Caps game. When else was it on? They had a game on Saturday night, then they had a game on Sunday, on Sunday, like on FS1,

or Fox Sportsnet, or on CBS, or on CBS, Sports Network. Yeah, and they've actually, one cool thing, they have all their games online on the website. You can just choose whatever game you want to watch and watch it. So people were, tweeting, I saw about the ratings, they beat the NBA. Saturday night, I actually was watching the NBA in college basketball. I was watching Houston in an OKC, which was a phenomenal game. But that's me. I prefer basketball to spring football. You're not going to get me into this AAF. Okay, but it's people we need to recognize. It's a developmental. League, it's not going to be

the NFL. There's nothing, I mean, they don't really need. If they're going to be on the CBS Sports Network, they were on NFL network over the weekend. Yeah, and the NFL's a partner. The NFL's supporting it. Yeah, clearly, yeah. Because they want a developmental league. And Bill Paulian has been

the guy who set all this up. So, I mean, they have low expectations in terms of their success. So I think it could be successful. That said, I think it's kind of nuts to start a new football league. But as long as they keep the expectations low,

I think they'll do okay. It's a developmental league. Aaron, did you like it? I mean, look. Did you bet it? I did not bet the thing I said I was going to bet because Aaron Murray didn't end up playing. I did bet a couple unders, though, and they hit because none of the games went over. None of them went over.

What were the totals for the games? They were like high 30s low for it. They were low scoring, but I pretty much thought, okay, this is going to be like, you know, preseason football. They're not going to be able to, you know, they're still, if I've only been practicing for a little bit, they're not going to be able to get. And that's what happened. I like the ideas they have, though.

There were a couple really cool moments. There was a review. You saw the people in the booth. You heard them talking through it, like all the people communicating. Who? The refor. The booth review people. They have a sky judge, basically.

Well, they were miced up as they went to the review. And you heard them saying, all right, here's what we're looking at. Here's what's happening. They were going back and forth. And one person actually changed their mind in the middle of it. That was a cool idea. The fact that, like you said, there's a sky judge. If there's a really egregious error, the referees can be corrected immediately.

No commercials after punts. They're just kind of keep going. These games are a lot shorter. And no kickoffs. Yeah, no kickoffs. And no extra points. Any of the fourth and 12 onside kick plays? I didn't watch into the second half of any of the games.

But I don't, so I don't know if that happened or not. But again, that's another rule I really like. You know what? That is the one that is in. intriguing to me. And it wouldn't have been in recent years, but it is after this past year, with the changes made to the onside kick, basically making an onside kick probability of recovering it like a less than 10, less than 5%, you know, proposition or whatever it was this year. So the, you know what, so this AAF has decided that if you want to onside kick, the replacement for the

onside kick play is fourth and 12 from your own 28-yard line. You can only only, you can only do that if you are trailing by 17 or in the last five minutes of the game that you can't just say, okay, I'm never going to... Well, I like that too. That because if you have a prolific offense, you might just, the other team may never touch the ball. But on a

fourth and 12 play, if there's a penalty, obviously you get the penalty yardage and they get another chance on fourth and you know, if it's fourth and seven or whatever. And if it's a defense of holding penalty on fourth and 12, it's an automatic first down and you get the ball, right? I actually think that that's something the NFL

should investigate. I agree. I actually would be open to that, and I don't like a lot of change in the NFL. But that one to me, the onside kick now is such a non-play. Personally, I don't think I'd rather see, you know, eight players lined up on one side and going down and just taking people out to try to get the ball. I'd like to see some of the, you know, the danger put back into the play, because I'm a fan and I want to see an on-side kick have an actual chance. But The fourth and 12 is not a bad idea. It's actually, to me, too, it's completely in terms of probability of what you want the onside kick play to be probability-wise. You want it to be a 20% play, right?

Something like that, a 1-5 opportunity, that 4th and 12 is probably like a 1-5 play. I like that. I did have one more thing. He's angry. Glowering. Did you, it has to do with our favorite player of all time. Magic Johnson. Uh-huh.

Did you see him- Nobody cares about this? Did you see him complain? Nobody cares about this. I care about this. Nobody does, Kevin. I don't care. I care about it.

Nobody cares about Magic Johnson tampering. Did you see, no, it wasn't that he was tampering. He basically went public with the Pelicans really not acting in good faith, not negotiating in good faith on the Anthony Davis trade talks. And I was disappointed in that for this reason. And I'm so glad the deal didn't happen. Anthony Davis had contract left. He had another year plus on his contract.

Yes. I am sick and tired of players dictating out of signed contracts. And for the Pelicans, it's like, so they have a player that doesn't want to play for them, that they're paying. And now the league, by the way, says you have to play them. Yes. All right, because of the integrity rule. And then you've got magic, one of the all-time greats, my all-time favorite player, among the two or three all-time favorite players, saying that they didn't negotiate in good faith.

You talk about an organization that just got completely hosed, got completely hosed publicly. In the court of public opinion over the last couple of weeks, it's the Pelicans. He's under contract. He's our player. We're not trading him unless you give us the all-time of great deals. And now you're going to badmouth us? The whole thing, I don't know why Magic would have gone public with that, especially an old school player who, to me, the whole Anthony Davis thing is what's wrong with the NBA right now.

You just can't have these players dictating trades and dictating teams that they want to play for. And he didn't necessarily do that, although he basically said the only team I'll sign a long-term deal with are the Lakers. All right, I want to get to your thoughts on Frank Robinson. and Bryce Harper. I know you wanted to do that for a while here. But first, let me tell you about launch workplaces in Bethesda and throughout town. Launch workplaces is a great place if you are working from home and there's too much noise because the kids or the dogs and you're looking for a place that's quieter. And it doesn't have to be a full-time thing because they've got co-working desks and shorter term rental opportunities. But go to launch workplaces. And go to launch workplaces.

com. Their facility in Bethesda is brand new. They've got fully furnished offices, beautiful conference rooms and offices and co-working desks, high-speed internet, they've got a cafe, they've got free parking, 24-7 access. You can find out all you need to know by going to launchworkplaces dot com or by calling 240 86714 and telling them that I told you to call. If you call 240-86714, you'll receive an exclusive free two-day trial. Now they have places all over town, not just in Bethesda, but the location in Bethesda is brand new. So if you live in that area, Upper Northwest,

in Upper Northwest D.C., Chevy Chase, Bethesda, even just over the bridge in northern Virginia, and you're looking for a quieter place to get work done, consider launch workplaces in Bethesda. Again, they've got locations all over town, but it's 240, 86714, or launchworkplaces.com. All right. I had a little bit to say about Frank Robinson,

but you knew Frank Robinson really well. So I was looking forward to hearing your thoughts on him because I thought just the reaction from media in general that knew him, it was really, it was overwhelming. People really loved this man, didn't they? Well, a lot of us here in the Baltimore, Washington area, were fortunate to get a chance to cover him. In Baltimore, when he was the manager of the Orioles,

and then in the front office where I got to know him when he was an assistant GM, and then here in Washington when he was manager of the Washington Nationals, the first two years he was here. And Frank, for anybody who's been involved in baseball, is on the short list of greatest players of all time. He's royalty. And an interesting story.

In 2004 in September, I was going up to, that's when I was going up to Montreal every September. And this time in September of 2004 was really the Death of the Expos. And Camden Yards, the Orioles had had a celebration earlier where they announced for the 50th anniversary of the franchise, the 50 greatest Orioles of all time. And they had determined that Cal Ripkin was number one. And I kind of wrote a column basically saying that. So I get up to Montreal and I walk into Frank's office like I usually do to shoot the breeze. He's got the article on his desk.

And he starts stands up and starts yelling at me, get the hell out of here. Really? Get the hell out of my office. Get out of here. And I'm trying to explain myself But he's saying, get out of this office. And it took another day for him to talk to me. Really?

Yeah. So he was being serious? Oh, he was being semi-serious. In other words, he was joking, but he was letting you know something that bother him is that he never did get the do that he felt he deserved. As a player in Baltimore or as a player in general? As a player in general, in 1999,

MasterCard picked an all-century team. that was a big deal. Frank Robinson was not on that team. It was just like stunning. How is that possible? I mean, really, it's amazing. Mark McGuire was on that team, but Frank Robinson was not on that team.

So he was right. He always got slighted. Why? Well, he played in Cincinnati and Baltimore as opposed to New York. Yeah, but Baltimore was a winning team with him. Yes, they were. Yes, they were. Look, and I don't know why he got slighted.

You know, he wasn't Will, Mays. He wasn't Hank Aaron and he wasn't Roberto Clemente. Although he, look, he wasn't Roberto Clemente in that he wasn't as flamboyant as Clemente and he didn't die in a tragic plane crash

helping earthquake things. So he just never really got his due and he always felt that way. But we were luck because he was just he, you're around, you're always telling yourself you're around greatness. And he was so

so much, so interesting and fun to talk to, a great storyteller who liked going back and forth with the media. He liked the give and take that you would get. And I wrote, look, there was a lot of great stuff written about him, like you said, over the last few days. I wrote a column for Monday's paper, Washington Times. It's on Washington Times.com where I talked about how I did interviews with a couple of Orioles, including Paul Blair, who died in 2013, to talk about the racial makeup of those Orioles teams in the late 60s. Frank Robinson was from Oakland, California,

where the Black Panthers were born. Brooks Robinson was from Little Rock, Arkansas, where at Central High School, you had National Guard troops preventing nine African-American students from entering the school when they tried to integrate it. Brooks Robinson went to that at high school two years before that. So you had a black and a white player from very, couldn't be more different backgrounds.

And they couldn't have been closer. And they set the tone at a time where race relations in this country were very volatile, the late 60s, where race didn't matter in that clubhouse. Paul Blair said that it was all Brooks and Frank. They set the tone for the clubhouse where they were a close family. unit and whatever was happening outside and there was a lot going on. I mean, you know, Baltimore was one of the cities on fire in 1968 from the riots. It never affected what happened inside the clubhouse.

Frank and Brooks had lockers right next to each other for the whole six years that Frank played there. So I wrote about that, how their relationship was very unique given the racial tenor of America. at that time. And again, you know, for personally, it's taken me a long time to deal with Frank Robinson's death. It really is. I knew that when he passed, that it was going to be difficult for you. You've always, always had an incredible respect for him. Yeah. I mean, again, I talk about the gifts that I've had in this job, and there are many gifts. One of the

greatest was having the privilege of knowing Frank Robinson. Look, there's a statue of Frank Robinson in Baltimore outside Camden Yards. There's a statue of Frank Robinson in Cincinnati, where he played the first 10 years of his career, outside Great American Ballpark. There's a statue of Frank Robinson in Cleveland outside the ballpark there, where he was the first black manager in the history of the game. and his name is in the ring of fame at Nationals Park for him being the first manager. Is there anybody that's ever had that much impact on three or four different cities?

No, there's nobody like that. I mean, Jackie Robinson's numbers retired by every Major League baseball team. Yeah, different. But other than that, Frank had a presence that had to be respected and couldn't be ignored everywhere he went. So who was the greatest story of all time? You have to say Frank. For six years, they won four World, they won four American League pennants and two World Series in the six years he was there.

It was Frank. Now, Brooks and Cal may go back and forth as to who the most favorite Oriole is. And, you know, Cal had a great career, probably the greatest career of any shortstop in the history of baseball. But like I said, Frank Robinson was royalty. He was right there with Maze and Aaron.

He was that kind of player. How did Jim Palmer fit in? to that clubhouse of that era because he was such a big personality. Well, he was, that's when, he came up in 66. Yeah. So he was,

he pitched very well against the Dodgers. Yeah, he was a kid then. You know, so he was a young kid then. He wasn't going to, you know, pop off with Frank and Brooks. But the teams in 70 and, yeah. Yeah, well, look, pitchers are different.

Pitchers are different than position players. Position players generally are your, leaders. It's very rare to have a pitcher who's a leader of a clubhouse. The Braves pitchers were that trio of Maddo of Maddox, Glaven, and Smoltz. David Cohn was a leader.

Rick Sutcliff was a leader. Max Scherzer is a leader of the Nats Clubhouse. But generally position players rule. So Palmer was just seen as a pitcher who couldn't shut up. What was the last one on Frank Robinson, unless you've got more, but

what was he like? Did you get to know him better when he was in Baltimore or when he became the manager here? Oh, in Washington. In Washington. Yeah. I mean, I got to know him better, but I knew him pretty good before he got here, just through various, you know, like I said, he was an assistant GM in Baltimore when I covered the Orioles, and I used to talk to him a lot then because he sat in the press box on the road and would watch the games. and I'd go up to Montreal for a couple years. I got to talk to him a lot then.

But Mark Zuckerman, who covers the team from Masson, wrote when he first started covering the nationals in 2005, he wrote in his appreciation of Frank, the advice I gave him. And the advice I gave him was that you can't be intimidated. I mean, that's, I mean, if Frank gives it to you, you have to take it and give it back. and he took that advice

and I mean that's what Frank wanted Frank yeah I mean he didn't have much respect for people who were intimidated and he wanted to and try to intimidate you I mean nobody nobody in our lifetime played the game harder he got a hit almost 200 times at the plate Jesus

and he would the more you hit him the more he dig in uh he sounds like a fascinating figures, you know, of all time. I mean, I, you know, my memory, I don't remember him as a player. Vaguely remember some of those Orioles teams of the early 70s, you know, the teams that played the Pirates, you know, in the World Series. But you know what, Tommy, and I was saying this to Aaron last week, my first baseball memories, I do remember, and I've told you this before, I do remember being taken to

Senators games when I was really young. My father was, and still is, he loves baseball. and going down to RFK and watching the senators in the final year or two. But my first real baseball memories are of those Oakland A's teams. Oh, yeah, with Reggie and Joe Rudy. And Vita Blue and Ken Holtzman and Catfish Hunter and Burke Campanaris and Sal Bando and all of them. Three straight World Series. Three straight World Series. And underrated teams in the history of baseball.

Are they underrated? Well, yeah, I mean, three straight World Series? Absolutely. But aren't they considered to be the A's of the 70s, like almost the Dines? They're in it. Yeah, they are, but when people think about them, people tend to forget about them. Yeah. Interesting.

Charlie O. Finley. Yeah. Now, one last thing. What? Bryce Harper. Yep. The regular Bryce Harper update. It occurred to me, and I tweeted this out, that with the San Francisco giant seeming gaining momentum in the, in the, in the, their discussions with Bryce Harper, I realized that the guy who's a.

special advisor to Giants president and CEO Larry Bear is Dusty Baker. He was hired after he got fired by the Nationals. They hired him in San Francisco to be the president's special advisor, baseball advisor. That's very interesting. Bob Nightingale from USA Today, who I think is very plugged in. he went on radio today and said, it's down to the Giants and the Phillies at this point. It doesn't mean he's right, but I think he is right.

And I think the Phillies, if Manny Machado signs before Harper, I think the Phillies will open up their checkbook for Harper and give him an offer he can't refuse. I don't think the Phillies are walking away from this postseason without one of those guys. You know, yesterday, somebody tweeted me a link to the odds on Bryce Harper right now. And the Giants were a heavy favorite to land them. In fact, I think the Padres weren't even listed second. Well, the Padres were.

I'm sorry, no, the Phillies. The Padres were listed second. The Giants, I think, were even money. And I think the Padres were like two to one. Five to two, I think it was. Okay. Here it is. Hold on.

Giants were even money. Padres were five to two. You're right. Philly's four to one. The Dodgers were seven and a half to one, 15 to two, and the Nats are 10 to one. So the Nats apparently, at least according to the odds makers are fading. And it sounds like you who had him last week coming back to Washington now think it'll be the Phillies. I just think, again, if Machado is the first one to sign, I think the Phillies will open up their checkbook for Harper and make him an offer that will be difficult for the next. nationals to match. Now, you've mentioned the Dodgers, and that was my team all along. Yeah, you had them all along. Now, the nationals I found out last week inside their front offices, they were convinced he was signing with LA too. That's the team they thought he was going to wind up with.

But that's not the case. I think what's really interesting is not where he lands, but how much money he gets? Like, what's going to be that number? If it's a 10-year deal, is it how much north of the? 300 million is it? What if it ends up being less than 300 million? Man, was that market completely misjudged by everybody? Yes, it would have been. But anyway, all right, well, I mean, it's got to happen soon, I guess, but you keep saying it doesn't really have to happen that soon. Jake Arietta, who's a bore's client, signed with the Phillies two weeks in the spring

training last year. Okay. Anything else? That's it, boss. The read Tommy's column two and Frank Robinson, relationship that Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson had. Those things are always interesting from that era in particular, you know, when, you know, like you said, in 1968, you know, half of our cities are burning the ground. And they had a situation that was unique. I mean, it's, you know, probably not unlike Gail Sayers and Brian Piccolo. Yeah. Although they went to training camp together in 1964, was it? Right? So a little bit before the tumult of the 60s. Because really that started more...

And Brian Piccolo was not one of the leaders of the team. No, he wasn't. He wasn't. All right. Thank you. Good to see you. Same here. See you tonight. Acknowledge me if you see me. I'll see what I can do. If you're listening to... You'll be busy signing autographs. If you're listening to... No, I won't be. If you're listening to the podcast and other people want to listen to it and they don't know how to do it on iTunes or Apple Podcasts or Stitcher or tune in or Spotify or Google Play, just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. It's

really easy. Had a friend of mine in the neighborhood, Tommy, who I ran into over the weekend. And he said, I want to listen to your podcast. You say this once in a while, but I find it hard to believe that you have friends. I know. You've done that before, but you don't really mean that. I don't think you do. I think I have more friends than you have, actually. But just go to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com. Makes it easy. And if you are listening to us and you haven't subscribed or you haven't rated the podcast yet, it would really help us if you could. do that doesn't cost you anything. Have a great day back tomorrow.