The Kevin Sheehan Show - The Wright Move

Episode Date: August 18, 2020

Kevin and Thom open with Washington's hiring of Jason Wright to be the Team President. The boys talk Alex Smith off the PUP list and his first day in pads. Also discussed, the Caps and the NBA Playoffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A sports fix Tuesday coming up. We'll catch up on all the things that we missed over the weekend and yesterday, which was a busy day for the Washington football team. Tommy's standing by real quickly. Today's show brought to you by Window Nation. Window Nation's offering 50% off all window styles, no payments for two years with no interest. If you've been thinking about new windows and you should be if you need new windows

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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. It's a Sports Fix Tuesday here on August 18th. We'll do two shows this week, maybe a third. We'll see how it goes.

Tommy's in Wild. Woodcrest, New Jersey, enjoying himself at the beach, but he's calling in. So much, Tommy, has happened since the end of last week. The caps are on the verge of being eliminated. Alex Smith cleared from the Pupp list. The football team's got a new president, and the NBA playoffs are underway with controversy on night one. I'm going to try to get to that at some point, but it seems like a lot of the other stuff

for most of our listeners are of more importance. But I would start with, you know, how is the beach going? Did the change of scenery make you happier than you were on Thursday? Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, this is literally the first social interaction of note that we've had since March. I mean, you know, last week we visited with a couple up in Carlisle outdoors for a while. But, you know, we're on the beach. with about, you know, socially distanced about 15 people.

Are people socially distancing on the beach? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, they're not going to get near your group of chairs, that's for sure. You probably got a big sign-up that says stay away. So, I mean, we've all been very careful. We've got a family group here that is pretty cautious about it. And so everything's been called great.

I mean, yesterday it was beautiful, 80 degrees and sunny with a nice small breeze blowing in from the ocean. So we had some Max pizza last night. It was great boardwalk pizza. I went to the boardwalk to pick it up, but we didn't hang out at the boardwalk or anything like that. So, you know, so far it's been great. That's awesome. That's great. I mean, you're going to be there for the week, and is your granddaughter having a great time?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, she's having a fat much happier than sitting home with Grandma and Grandpa and watching Flash and Supergirl episodes. Of course. She's got more people to pay attention to her now. Yeah, she's got a lot of people to pay attention to her. You know, the biggest issue with young people at the beach, you know, Scott was telling me about this. So Scott was down at the beach, and, you know, Scott's got three kids under the age of, you know, nine, I think. Is it nine or eight? I think it's, I think his oldest is eight years old. And he said,

you know, he remembers me with my older kids when they were younger, complaining that the beach was not relaxing at all when you're on the beach with young kids because you're constantly, you know, you can't close your eyes or immerse yourself in a book, you know, and take it easy. You're always watching, where are they? Are they in the water? I mean, have they gone out too far? And like he said, he just stands there near the edge of the water as his kids, you know, are in and out of the water. And it's, you know, there's a lot of anxiety associated with that. And for a lot of people with younger kids and you've got a young granddaughter, it can be really stressful to be on the beach every day. But I guess that's not really your responsibility when you're at the beach.

Well, you know, she's 11. Yeah. Well, 11 still. But this is the first time we've kind of let her. go into the ocean on her own. Yeah, and how does she... Is she a good swimmer? She's an okay swimmer. All right. How are you as a swimmer? I'm a pretty good swimmer. Really?

Yeah, but she's an okay swimmer, and I would classify her for a young person as being relatively cautious. So like the first time, when she went in yesterday on her own, I walked down to the ocean, and I'm trying to... to keep an eye on or making sure I can spot her. And I'm just standing there for 20, 25 minutes. And I'm saying, I can't do this. I can't stand here. She'll stay in there forever.

Oh, yeah. I mean, hours. Yeah, so I came back and my wife said, don't worry about. She'll be okay. So I said, not my kid. Oh, but it's on your watch. I know. You know?

I know, but she was fine. She played, you know, she was playing with a bunch of other kids out there. And so far, so good. We haven't lost her. All right. Well, that's good. I think a healthy respect for the water is a good thing for sure. Yes.

All right, let's get to. And we have a pool where we're staying, too. So when we come back from the beach, we hit the pool. Right. All right. Very good. So yesterday morning, I'm up early, even though I have the week off from radio this week. And I get, you know, a text that says, look at this.

The team's about to announce that they've hired a new team president, and his name is Jason Wright. And I thought, wow, that's a big announcement. And then the Schefter thing came out. I think Schefter was the first to have it. And Schefter, and then, you know, it was actually very interesting, Tommy, about basically the way it came out. It didn't come out from the team.

Shefter reported it, and then I think Julie tweeted it out, and then the team retweeted Shefter. It was really strange. Like, you know, I'm not going to sit here and pick on their PR department. We've done that enough over the years. But it was interesting how their Twitter account retweeted Schaefter's reporting of it before they did anything else, before they tweeted out the team's official announcement, or before they even retweeted Julie's tweet about it.

It was almost as if, well, Schaefter's got it. He must be right. We're not even sure here in social media about this story. But anyway, I mean, I think it floored everybody. I don't think there's any doubt that this was an incredibly surprising announcement. You know, I think there's been plenty of discussion about whether or not the team would hire a team president, especially when we found out how much old Ron was doing there for a while. You know, the fact that Ron seemed to be in charge of everything from the name to accounting to ticket sales to new name, to, you know, trying to figure out whether or not, you know, he can get a practice into August, which they're practicing today in full in pads for the first time.

But still, I was very surprised at this news, in part, Tommy, because, you know, it was just on July 20th that the Washington football team hired Terry Bateman, who I know, you know, we've known Terry for a while. Terry was the CEO of the radio station. He's worked with Dan on and off for 25 to 30 years, probably even longer. And they hired Terry and gave him the title of Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. And to be honest with you, my sense of it was is that they gave him that position. He had been in the building. He had been, you know, a project guy, a consultant. But since Lafamina had left or was forced out, fired, Terry had taken on a lot of those responsibilities.

And I just assumed they elevated him to this title to say, all right, it's Ron on the football side. It's Terry on the business side. So I wasn't necessarily after Terry got hired expecting the hiring of a team president. but it came yesterday and it came with, you know, quite a lot of fanfare and a lot of, I think, real inspiration in that Jason Wright is black, and this is the most significant high office hiring of a minority in NFL history. There's never been a team president or an owner. You know, team president would be number two to the owner. there's never been an African-American hired to this position in the history of the league,

and it got, you know, not only national attention but international attention. What did you make of it? I've got a lot more on this, but I want to get your thoughts now. I was very surprised. I was very impressed with them pulling this kind of rabbit out of their hat to make such a dramatic and significant hire. Now let me ask you this. Is he president of business operations?

Or is he president? He's team president. So he's in charge of football too then? No, he's not. They made that very clear in the press release. Okay, then he's not the team president. Well, yeah, there are team presidents that do not have any involvement in the football operation. Bruce did, but there are plenty of team presidents league-wide that,

are strictly the business hire. Well, then I'd be curious what their exact titles are. Because typically, if you're the team president, you know, you are in charge of everything. Yeah, but that's not the case here. I know he's not. I know that. He's in charge of the business operations. Right.

He's had the job that Ryan Lafamina had. That's right. That's exactly right. He had, because Brian Lafayna, Amina was hired as he had the president's title as well. Yes. Yeah, and C-O, chief operating officers as well. Now, but they hired a guy whose credentials like the scene storybook.

You know, this is a guy who played seven years in the NFL and has worked for one of the most prestigious companies in America and McKinsey. I'm kind of distrustful of the McKinsey guys generally. Me too. Me too, because I dealt with a lot of them when I was in business. I dealt with a lot of the upper echelon consultants. I've told you those stories before. By the way, not being critical of the people and how smart they are

and how resume they are from an academic standpoint. But, you know, there was always, in my experience with a lot of those companies, and we never worked with the McKinsey people. Actually, that's not true. We did at one point a long time ago have a couple of McKinsey guys looking at the business. But anyway, to make a long story short, I always felt that they were, you know, very high on theoretical and very limited in practical. And that's just the nature, especially of startup businesses, which I was always involved in, that practice. practical experience went a lot further typically than whiteboard experience. Or whiteboard, you know, thought.

But anyway. But it's still, and it's an oppressive background. Yes. Oh, my God. Yeah. It's a very impressive background that this guy has. You know, let's remind everybody that Jeff Loonow, the Houston Astros general manager, was a McKinsey guy. Yeah.

And there's this, there's this belief that, you know, McKinsey's are like the Rockefellers and the Roth trials. that they're trying to take over the world. Right. Because they keep spreading these guys out into different kinds of businesses, and it's like a fraternity. They take a secret pledge. All that aside, it's a very, you have to say,

it's a very impressive hire. It's a huge win for the moment for the Washington football team and Dan Snyder. All right, I did find the Brian Lafamina exact title. He was the team's president of business operations and chief operating officer. This was the press release about Jason Wright. The Washington football team announced today that they have appointed Jason Wright team president. In this role, Wright will be responsible for leading the organization's business divisions, including operations, finance, sales, and marketing.

He will join coach Ron Rivera, who maintains all on-field responsibilities and football decisions in reporting directly to team owner Dan Snyder. You know, it's funny. Aaron texted me yesterday when he saw the team release. And he said, is this the first admission that Ron is also the GM? And I said, well, they don't list, they didn't mention specifically that he's the GM. And Aaron's point was, as part of the first paragraph of the Jason Wright press release,

the team points out that Ron Rivera maintains all on-field responsibilities and football decisions in reporting directly to team owner Dan Snyder. I'm not sure I thought that Ron's position was any different. I didn't think that Kyle Smith had a position that was level with him or above him. I thought Kyle Smith reported to him, which this makes clear, but I think I always felt that way anyway. I don't think anybody felt like... But now it's on paper from the team. That's right.

Right. And I think Aaron made a good point. I don't recall seeing anything as specific as all football operations related directly to Ron Revere. or by the team at this point. Right. So, I mean, I think it might be a little bit of a revelation, officially. But you're right.

It's what we all thought anyway. Yes. So the org chart is as follows. Dan Snyder and then there are two branches off Dan Snyder. There's team president, Jason Wright, and then, you know, another branch, I think it would be level with Jason Wright. Maybe it's a little bit.

below Jason Wright. Maybe Jason Wright's one line down, and then right below that is Ron Rivera. But Ron Rivera is basically running the football operation, and Jason Wright is essentially running the business operation. What is Terry Bateman doing? Terry Bateman, I think, is going to continue. Terry's an older guy. You know, Terry's always been in and out as a consultant, as a project guy, you know, as I've mentioned here before, you know, of the people that I've dealt with over the years in the organization, Terry, is the closest thing to smart and normal, as has been around that organization. But I would imagine that, you know, his role will be, you know, to be project based, to be involved in maybe a couple of specific areas. Maybe it'll be the name area. Maybe it'll be

the stadium area. But Jason Wright was hired to oversee all of that. You know, Terry is going to report to Jason Wright. Clearly, his title is executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Jason Wright is the team president. Now, let me get to this. Okay, so obviously this guy has an incredibly impressive resume from the time that he was playing professional football. He's a Northwest, Northwestern undergrad, played at Northwestern, you know, played seven years in the NFL, went to the University of Chicago Business School, okay? So that's a pretty tight. top-rate business school. I know certainly in terms of international business in particular, the University of Chicago is as good as it gets. And then he's worked at McKinsey here for several

years, lived in D.C. working for McKinsey since 2013. He was born on the West Coast, obviously spent a lot of time in the Midwest and has been here since 2013, had an opportunity to work in the league office at a high level a couple of times. Troy Vindexam. Vincent in particular, very, very complimentary. Roger Goodell, according to reports, had a lot to do with pushing Dan towards this hire, as we believe he pushed Brian Lafamina towards this organization there for a while. Everybody believes that Jason Wright is a star. Like Rivera, he spoke yesterday about the changing of the culture being one of the reasons he views the job as a great opportunity. He sees a great opportunity. He sees, seems to be coming in eyes wide open about what's happened here in the past. Bottom line, Tommy, from my standpoint, you know, I am happy, obviously, for him. I think the owner's hiring of diversity over the last eight months can be viewed cynically if you choose. But my sense is that a diverse workplace isn't something that he and his wife have ever been opposed to.

I don't believe that at all. I mean, we have seen that this has been an organization that has, you know, regardless of whether or not you think Doug Williams had any real clout, Doug's always had a very senior title. This is a franchise, let's not forget, over the last 20 years, Tommy, that I think has had as many black starting quarterbacks as any team in the league. I didn't go look that up. But, you know, between Jason Campbell, RG3, Dwayne Haskins,

throwing Tony Banks and Josh Johnson, I may be. be missing a couple of others, but they certainly have been diverse at that particular position. You know, Dan and Tanya, and by the way, I found it interesting, and I don't have an answer to this. I don't know that Dan ever met with Jason Wright face to face before hiring him. I believe he is still in the south of France on his yacht. And I've never with a hire, this is just an observation, you can correct me if you think I'm wrong. I don't know that in any recent big time hiring, have I ever heard Tanya referred to more than Jason Wright referred to Dan and Tanya multiple times and multiple interviews yesterday? And I'm wondering if Tanya was significant in the hiring of Jason Wright.

And maybe she has more input into the organization than she's had previously. That's just a guess and an observation. Did you make a similar observation or not? No, but I'm not as insightful as you are. So I think you're right. You know, I think it is. Look, I think you've got to read Tee leaves into everything at this point. And if Tanya is more prominent in the language of personnel, of a major personnel decision like this,

then you have to assume she's got more of a voice than she had in the past or at least they're more willing to put that forward anybody but Dan Snyder, I think at this point people are happy with. So what's the dynamic when there's a power struggle? I mean, because... Do we have to jump to that already?

I mean... Well, yes, I do. Is there a honeymoon period? Look, look, I'm always, this guy, this guy may be the smartest guy in every room he walks in. But my money is always on the aura of self-destruction, okay? And will remain so until it's proven that that aura no longer exists. So if there is a power struggle, how does it line up? I mean, because Lopamina, he came in with a bunch of underlings,

with him, who were his guys. But it was always two-on-one against Lafamide. It was Bruce and it was Snyder, who hired Lafamina against Lafamina. So he was fighting a losing battle. Now, you know, maybe this guy, maybe, you know, maybe it's Ron and this guy. Maybe they align themselves together, and it's enough to hold off Dan Snyder. I mean, because I don't care what they say if he's not involved in football operations. He's going to be involved in football decisions because the football decisions affect the business.

Ryan Lafamina, one of the reasons he got out when he did was because the Ruben Foster hiring, the Ruben Foster signing for them on the marketing side was the straw that broke the camel's back. So you're going to have football and business. and there's going to be times when they interact. And this guy's football background will certainly help him doing that. So I'm going to assume that since this guy seems to be very smart and very personable, that if there is a power struggle, he's going to align himself with Ron. Okay.

And not tighter. Can I circle back to that in a moment, please? Because, well, because I want to get a couple of things out to maybe, to maybe make you think a little bit differently about your position about this power struggle that you're not describing as imminent, but you're describing as certain. Yes. Okay. So I want to read from Les Carpenter's story in the post here, just two paragraphs. Quote, he's quoting someone, a person familiar with the team's decision making in recent years. speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide a frank assessment.

Quote, I don't know who's making these moves, but it isn't the old Dan crowd. The person was referring not only to rights hire, but the addition last month of Julie Donaldson, the first woman to have a full-time role for an NFL team's game day radio broadcast, who was also named the team's senior vice president for media. Fresh quote, continuing, fresh blood with fresh thinking, kind of refreshing, actually. Maybe this is a signal that they are really going to operate differently. Then this next paragraph, Wright said he was not looking to leave McKinsey, but became intrigued when he was connected with Snyder and Snyder's wife, Tanya, within the last

few weeks. That led to a meeting and conversations with not only the Snyders, but also Rivera, whom several of Wright's former teammates and his football agent know well. Through these conversations, Wright Rivera and the Snyders came up with a power structure that will have Wright and Rivera, reporting to ownership, but will also be what Wright called a three-headed leadership construct where we together are shaping a new culture. He added that he believes the Snyders are committed to changing what many have described as a toxic atmosphere around the franchise. Now, when I mentioned...

Kevin. Kevin. What? Who created the toxic atmosphere? Well, I understand that. That's obvious. Okay, I'm not going to dispute you on this. But bear with me here for a moment. I believe that Tanya had a lot to do with Julie Donaldson's hiring.

I don't know that for a fact. I've been told a couple of times that there was a relationship there and a real respect for Julie. And I'm just, I just read this, okay, sort of with you for the first time. And it came off of me 10 minutes ago suggesting that maybe the power structure is changing in that the Snyders, plural, are now running the organization. That he is including his wife now in many more of these decisions. And by the way, Tommy, from what I've been told, first of all, smart and much more compassion than the owner and a lot less arrogance than the owner. Just tell me if you think I could be onto something here.

No. You don't, really? No, the owner will eventually. I'm not talking about eventually. I'm talking about right now. Right now, of course, they haven't played any football. I'm going to get to that in a moment. Do you think Tanya did the interview?

Nobody asked in the interviews that I listened to, and I'm going to have them on next week, I think, when I'm back on radio. I don't think anybody asked if he ever interviewed with Snyder face-to-face. I'm curious as to whether or not Tanya was intimately involved in the interview process. He says he was connected with both. Why? It's fairy tale.

The NFL pushed it. It's a boys league? The NFL pushed this. I mean, and the NFL has it. The one thing working in this guy's favor is the NFL can't afford for this to fail. They can't afford for this guy to undergo the same kind of situation like Brian Lafamina did. So they will do everything they can to protect him from Snyder. So that may work in favor of this succeeding.

But this is an NFL move. It's not a Tanya Snyder move or a Dan Snyder move. It's a league move. I believe that you, I think both things are right here. I think definitely the league in the reporting is that Goodell was very much pushing Jason Wright. As he and as we both believe, and I think many others, believe they were pushing Brian Lafamina. I just think in the process, and maybe it's pandemic-related and the fact that there's true

physical distancing now, I just have a feeling that Tanya, with some of these recent hires, has been much more influential than in the past. I'll leave it at that, okay? I'll leave it at that. Let me just make this... Well, I mean, don't you think he's probably spending much more time with her now than he used to with Bruce? I just...

I mean, in the old days, don't you think most of his time he spent with Bruce? Yeah, I think Bruce was the influencer. Yeah, I mean, when that person on the condition of anonymity said, I don't know who's making these moves, but it isn't the old Dan crowd. Obviously, the old Dan crowd includes people like Bruce Allen and Mitch Gershman and some of these other people. What I'm suggesting is maybe part of the new crowd with more influences his wife. That's probably true. But this hire was NFL generated likely, and which Redskins fans should be happy about.

Because unlike the one with Brian Lafamina, this one the NFL has a lot more invested in. Okay, this is an important league-wide hire. The league is particularly under fire for its lack of my... minority representation in high-level positions. So the NFL can't afford to have this sale. So that will be interesting, the dynamic moving forward, if there are conflicts and there will be conflict. I mean, unless Dan Snyder has a lobotomy, there's going to be conflict.

Okay. How much power this new team president really has. He may have a lot of power, a lot of power. The power to say to Snyder, you know, you can't operate your business this way, Dan. You know, followed up by a phone call by Roger Goodell. Well, you may have that kind of power. What's still hanging out there is the lawsuit against Mary Ellen Blair and this media company in India that circles back potentially to Dwight Schar's son-in-law and daughter.

Like this drama didn't just get dropped with the hiring of Jason right yesterday. Right. Absolutely. Look, here's the bottom line to all of this. You know, this is an historic hire. I understand that. And it's a great hire. I know that there's been some discussion that Kevin Warren, who's now the commissioner of the Big Ten,

who has been in recent years at a very senior level with the Minnesota Vikings, he was the C-O, he was the chief operating officer for like four years and three or four years for the Vikings and he's now the Big Ten Commissioner. I know some people are saying, well, you know, actually Kevin Warren's hiring was the first in the most senior hiring of a person of minority in the NFL. But regardless, this is an historic hiring of Jason Wright. Here's the bottom line, though. I mean, come on, people. We all know this, okay?

if the team wins, everything will be fine. He won't have direct control over that. The organization's future is based on Ron Rivera and Dan Snyder more than anybody else. If Rivera is allowed to build and coach a competitive football organization that wins and wins with some level of class and decency, then all will be changed and all will be different. Okay, Ron Rivera and Snyder as the owner have control of where. or not this organization becomes successful because winning is number one on this list. And whatever is number two, as Coach Thompson used to say, you count five or six, you know,

steps before you get to it. You know, now Wright has a chance. Jason Wright has a chance to change the way others look at this team, non-fans, you know, non-media, the way businesses look at this team, the way Tommy local politicians view this team. Snyder and Allen and all the people that they've had were always thought to be too arrogant and too untrust and lacking in trust. Nobody trusted them. Right can change that part of the organization and that will help with the business of the Washington football team and the potential to perhaps get a stadium downtown. But winning is the biggest influencer, period. This is, and you know,

when it comes to team presidents, you know, it's like the PR guy. Like nobody knows anybody, any NFL team's PR guy, but everybody knew Tony Wiley because he was always in the middle of all of these controversies. Well, nobody knows the names of team presidents in the league for the most part. You know, they know the GMs and they know the coaches and they know the owners. Why? Because the results on the field matter. Do you know who Don Smolensky is, Tommy?

Yeah, he used to come to my house and eat chicken all the time. He's the team president of the Philadelphia Eagles. I did not know that. Jeffrey Lurie, you know, he's the owner and Howie Roseman, you know, because he's the team's general manager, and everybody knows who Doug Peterson is. Okay, no one knows who Don Smolensky is. Do you know who Ted Phillips is? No.

He's the team president of the Chicago Bears. We know who the McCaskies are. We certainly know who Matt Nagy is, and a lot of football fans know who Ryan Pace is. Nobody knows who that guy is. Rod Wood, you ever heard of him? He's the team president of the Detroit Lions. Okay, I could go on and on. Here's the only team president that you've heard of that's not also the owner of the team.

Mark Murphy. And you know why? Because he used to play for the Redskins. Yes, yes. That's basically it. So the point here is historic hiring, clearly a guy that is coming with an incredible resume, with incredible references. But the winning has to happen, and he's not going to have much say over that. That is Ron Rivera and Dan Snyder letting Ron Rivera do his job.

If that happens and the team wins, and they win, as I said before, with a level of decency and decorum, and Jason Wright will be able to make his impact in the business community. There's no doubt about that. And hopefully he can change the impression that many politicians, local leaders, businesses, the league itself has of this football team. But the only way for this team, this franchise, to get back on two feet again is to win. Period. Nobody knows who team presidents are, not minimizing their,

their impact or the position or the the importance of their position in organizations on the business side. But I mean, only in Washington could everybody think yesterday, and I was listening to your station a little bit yesterday, my God, it was worse than the way they treated Lafamina in terms of how completely convinced they are that the hiring of Jason Wright means Super Bowl. I mean, I'm exaggerating, but my God. I mean, there were. a few people on their knees. I'm happy for the hiring. I think it's another step in the right direction for diversity and all of that, and he's

clearly qualified, but he won't have the impact on this franchise if it gets turned around like Ron Rivera will or Dan Snyder, because winning on the field is what matters more than anything else. I can't argue with that. I mean, and I think winning quickly, winning quickly is going to go a long way to establishing Ron Rivera's dominance and presence over Dan Snyder. But with all that said and all these historic hires and all the changing that that's going on, this is still the same guy. He's the same guy. And I just am convinced that nothing is going to change that.

And sooner or later at some point, he'll put himself in a situation that will cause havoc within that organization and force people to leave. Again, the only thing saving him is maybe is the NFL's influence in this hiring. and the amount they have invested in this working. So I'm going to answer your power struggle question, but you just reminded me of one of my favorite Tommies of all time. This would go on the Tommy shelf, you know, equivalent to a Dundee, winning a Tommy, because when your station was basically on their knees servicing Brian Lafamina, were saying, you were the only one saying, are you kidding me? This guy better rent. He better

not buy. And you predicted in August before the season ever began, before he ever talked about and eliminated from the minds of some of those delusional, the delusional few that there was still a waiting list, that there wasn't a waiting list, you predicted he wouldn't last a year. I mean, seriously, you were the only one, the only one. But my. question to you is, would you suggest to Jason Wright that he rent and not buy? He already lives here, though. So that's really not. But would you suggest to him, be careful. This may not be for the longing. You know, like I said, the NFL need to make this work could be a mitigating factor. No, no, no. He's in trouble. He's in trouble. He may think he knows what he's got in

into. He may be absolutely convinced he's sure that he can handle it, but there'll be a moment where he'll come home from work and say to whoever he comes home from work to, what the heck did I get myself into? I hope not. He was a absolute guarantee. Here's what could change that. Just consider this as a possibility that the track we're on here is, the last few moves for the Snyders, that the plan here is to eventually, you know, figure out whether or not Dwight Schar was behind the funding of the disinformation campaign. And by the way, just as a complete standalone topic,

if I was, if they didn't have anything to do with it, if truly somebody was smearing me in the way that Snyder was smeared tied to Jeffrey Epstein and many other things, sex trafficking and drug abuse and bribing NFL officials and the lead up to that post story, which again, as we've described, ironically, actually probably helped them more than it hurt them. But I'd be pissed off too, and I'd be looking to find out who did that to me. And if I found out it was one of my minority owners, if I found out that you were spreading a misinformation campaign about me,

I'd come for you. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. People wouldn't believe that of you. People believed it of Snyder. Yeah, it's true. So let me get back to my main point. My main point is, what if these are the last moves by the Snyders,

hiring an incredibly diverse group, and minority head coach, the first female to become a part of a broadcast booth, the first black team president in the NFL, but that we are still potentially heading down the path of a sale, of the team. You know, and it's... So, so he's laying the groundwork for a magnificent exit? Oh my God.

Yeah. A glorious exit? Yes. What do you make of that theory? I think, I think it might be the craziest thing you've ever said. Really? Okay. I think it might be insane.

That, this guy is not going to go out, kicking and screaming if he ever goes out. Instead, he's going to say to the world, look what I've done for you. Look what I've left for you. Yes. Now I'm going to leave. Yes. Because actually...

Because he's such a benevolent fellow. Well, you know what? You know what he isn't? And I really believe this. He's not opposed to hiring diverse people. I don't believe that either. I agree with you. So, and let's not forget.

This is something that I don't know if it's come up here in the last 24 hours or not. He was on this path long before George Floyd was murdered in the name. name was taken away. He wanted to hire Rick Smith. Remember when he hired Ron Rivera, there was also the discussion that he was trying to talk Rick Smith, who lost his wife. His wife had passed away, and I don't think he's taken a job in the league since that. I could be wrong, but there was a lot of reporting about how Snyder wanted to hire Rick Smith to come in to be the team's president slash GM. Now, that would have been a football hire more than it would have been a business hire. But I think he's been on this quest to hire and be out at the forefront of hiring diversity for a while.

And by the way, I'm not suggesting that it's diversity for the sake of diversity. Rick Smith would have come with an incredible resume. Jason Wright comes with not only an incredible resume, but just overwhelming support from everybody, including the league. but he was sort of in this process anyway. Kevin, I'm not going to ask you his question, because I don't even want to know what your answer is, to be honest with you. But this guy's a prick. He's been a prick probably since high school.

No doubt. And he is still, and he may be a rainbow prick, but he's a prick. Wait a minute, we have a new label. We have a new label. Tommy just coined it. A rainbow prick. That's pretty funny. Hey, don't forget, he also hired the first ever black female coach, right? They hired a black female assistant coach. I know. Absolutely fine. That's great. You know, but by the way, I love saying pricks because we're not on the radio.

And one of my favorite George Carlin thing is when he talks about different words is, Remember, you can prick your finger, but don't finger your prick. Do you know that Eric Bienemy yesterday in describing Patrick Mahomes used, he kept calling, he called them three times in a Zoom conference call. Eric Bianami, the offensive coordinator for Andy Reed in Kansas City, who was a head coaching candidate in this last offseason. Eric Bienernery referred to Patrick Mahomes multiple. times as a competitive prick.

It was a great description of, he's essentially saying he's so competitive that he's an asshole, which is by the way, exactly the way Michael Jordan was described, you know, maybe not pricking you, but you know, as a competitive asshole. And he said that about, in a very complimentary way, about Patrick Mahomes multiple times in his conference call yesterday. Anyway. You know who's not a prick? Who?

Alex Smith. We'll get to him in a moment. I just would, the power struggle question, I don't, the power struggle will be won by the owner of the team, whomever that is in the moment. And if it's Dan Snyder, if we get into, you know, if they're four and 12, five and 11, 3 and 13, and the stadium when fans are allowed back in, is a third full, mostly with opponents fans, and there's no stadium opportunity downtown, and the name thing turns into a disaster? Well, they're all gone. They're all gone. Yeah, probably. But I would like to see

once and for all how the owner would handle a competently run business and football operation to see if he could not put his hands or get his hands mixed into it. Like, you know, when... Had he had opportunities to do that before? Well, the Marty Schottenheimer thing's the best example. That arrow was pointed straight up, straight up. So he's had opportunities to do this. He hasn't done it before.

Yes, and, you know, obviously, as the owner, he could have gotten in the middle of the Bruce Allen Kirk Cousins thing and ended that and said, what are you kidding me? We haven't had one of these in forever, and you're going to keep franchising him? Pay this son of a bitch already. But, yeah, I mean, Gibbs retired for, you know, family reasons, et cetera. the Zorn thing was a disaster. The Shanahan thing ended in disaster. He obviously got in the middle of that with RG3.

And the Schottenheimer thing with Fred Drasner being one of the minority owners and hating Marty, he got he wouldn't, that thing was headed in the right direction. There is no doubt to me it's the single worst decision he's made since he's been the owner, the single worst. because if he had just left Marty to his own, Marty would have built a winner here over a decade. And I have no idea whether or not they would have won a Super Bowl, but they would have been a competent, consistent winner,

you know, 10 plus, 11 plus games, playoffs, division champions. And he wasn't having any fun, as he told people back then. So if Rivera and if Rivera does his part on the football side, and Jason Wright, which by the way, make Jason Wright's job much easier if they have a winning team to sell, not just to fans, but to businesses and sponsors and sweet purchasers and leasers and local politicians for a new stadium, all of that stuff will be much easier if Ron Rivera does his job. The key will be, can Snyder sit back and just let it happen? And the answer to that is a big no. It's a big I don't know for

me. I hope that he wouldn't get in the middle of that and fuck it up. But the odds probably favored that he would and that he might even get involved too early before they even have a chance to do something. I am a Ron Rivera fan. I'm optimistic about Ron Rivera. I'm optimistic about parts of the roster. I'm optimistic about Jason Wright as much as I can be without him having an NFL resume. But with the resume he has and with the references that he comes with, and I'm not optimistic about the owner. That's my position. Okay.

What else before we get to Alex Smith? That's it. That's it. Okay, let's get to... Let me just make it clear. Yeah. I think it's a great hire. I think it's a huge win for the organization,

and it keeps everybody from paying attention to all the muck and the mire that's in the background. Agreed. Let me tell you about MyBooky, because now we've got legitimate games. Okay, we've had some regular season games. We're in the midst of the NHL playoffs, and now the NBA playoffs have begun. And your boy has been eyeballing the My Booky board the last couple of nights. I've not fired in on anything yet, Tommy. I've not made one wager since early March. I'm actually proud of myself for that. But many of you now are back in full. swing and we are just weeks away from the beginning of the NFL season. I've told you this before, but it's really important if you're going to use a book, if you're going to use a place to place bets, you've got to know that they are reliable, that first of all, they're fair. You're getting quality lines, quality pricing, and that if you win, you will get paid. And my bookie is one of the few that you can rely on and trust. If you go to my bookie right now, they will match your first deposit dollar for dollar up to a thousand dollars if you enter my promo code Kevin DC that's

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You've got day-to-day baseball. You've got the NFL, which we are at this point. Pretty certain we'll start on September 10th with the Chiefs and the Texans on a Thursday night with a full week one scheduled after the NFL, which we are at this. that. The teams are practicing now in pads, so we're getting closer. MyBooky.ag, enter my promo code, Kevin, D.C. for your deposit to be matched dollar for dollar. You don't have to deposit $1,000. You can deposit $100, and they'll match it with another $100. They'll put it right into your account. Remember it. MyBooky, the terms are simple. You bet you win. They pay.

All right, the other big story since we last did a podcast was Alex Smith coming off the Pupplist, which, again, it's incredible that he, after the documentary that we watched, the Project 11 documentary where his leg looked like it had been eaten by a great white shark, that he is out, you know, running around, you know, doing football drills, and is actually eligible right now if they had a game tomorrow. to play in the game and to be active in the game. With that said, the story written by Nikki Jabavala, I think that's how you pronounce her name.

I'm not entirely sure from the Washington Post. She's been covering the team for the post. It's a very detailed story. You know, included basically some information that Alex Smith, while he's been cleared by doctors and he's off the Pupp list, and cleared for football activities doesn't have full control of his foot, Tommy. He wears a sleeve and a brace on his lower right leg

because he doesn't have full strength in his leg. Muscle from his left leg was transferred to fill the front part of his right leg but not to create movement. Rather, tissue and accompanying artery were provided to provide coverage and a blood supply to help the bones heal. Smith still has his right calf muscle, which allows him to plant his back foot and run,

but to help him with Doris Flexion or the ability to lift up his foot, he uses a customized spry-step brace. That doesn't sound good. But hold on all of the excitement and all of the talk of quarterback competition when he came off the pup list. Am I the only one that still believes that he's never going to take a snap on an actual NFL football field unless it's ceremonial again? No, that's two different things, Kevin. and you keep changing this around. I don't believe he's ever going to play quarterback either. I've never thought he would.

I didn't say that you did. But if he was 100%, 100% physically able, with no foot problems or anything like that, my position is he would be the starting quarterback. That hasn't changed. my position on that hasn't changed no matter how bad his foot is. Because, I mean, if his foot is bad, then, I mean, that's my point. I just don't see how he's going to be able to pull this off.

But, you know, according to Ron Rivera said today, Alice Smith's foot movement is crucial when they're evaluating. He said he saw good movement in his progressions. Quote, you see that he is still in tune with that, unquote. That's on the coast today about his foot movement. Yeah, I'm just getting some of the quotes from Rivera here and seeing what some of the other beat reporters who were at practice were saying, and they said that he looks pretty normal, you know.

Okay. I just, I don't believe it. I don't believe that he's going to play. Again, I mean, like, this is not, you know, a disrespect thing or an uncaring thing. This is amazed that he's gotten himself into this, but this would also be, to me, incredibly unlikely and in many ways not advisable for him to play professional football. But who the hell am I? I mean, I'm not also in this camp, as you know, Tommy, of being the guy that doesn't

understand that these guys have a different mentality and a different competitiveness, and I'm all for that. It's one of the reasons I love Dwayne Haskins, by the way, because I think he's really super, super competitive and urgently competitive in games. But I also think just, if we're talking about the future of this football team, Haskins has to be the starter in 2020. You've got... I understand that. I understand that. Well, I still disagree with you. that if all things were equal, I think Haskins would beat him out, because I think Haskins is good. I think he's going to, you know, in year two, prove that he's totally capable. But I did have this conversation with Ben Standing on Friday about just this possible, you know,

scenario. And it would be this, that Ron Rivera, while talking about culture change in three, four, five years of military time before you can create a culture change, and essentially asking for time, right, Tommy, he has. in several interviews, that really what he believes when he looked at this situation in November and early December was he saw a team that could be competitive right away on defense with his coaching, and that he believes that defensively they're going to be good this year. And if they can get some steady veteran quarterback, don't lose the game, play, that maybe this year could be a 10 and 6 year.

year. I'm just saying in his own mind. Now, let me, veteran was the wrong way to describe it. Solid understanding of the offense, competent, don't lose the game, game management kind of play. That maybe Kyle Allen might have a chance to be the guy. But here's where, I'm coming up with a way that Haskins isn't a starter. But every time I go down that path, as I did with Ben the other day, you know who was a really good game managing quarterback last year for Bill Caller? DeWan Haskins was. I mean, it's sort of ironic because everybody feared that he couldn't manage the game, that he couldn't get him out of the huddle, that he couldn't get a play called in the huddle,

that he couldn't get a snap off on time, that they were going to burn timeouts, that they were going to be penalized. And as it turns out, with a strong running game, he was a pretty good game managing quarterback last year. You're right. None of that came into play. You're absolutely right. I mean, they weren't calling timeouts left and right. which had been a problem under Jay Gruden, actually, over the year.

Oh, yeah. Not getting plays called in time. That did not happen with him. You're absolutely right about that. So, anyway, some of the things... If you're not buying into the whole Alex Smith thing, then you think the Redskins and Ron Rivera are basically perpetrating a fraud. Yeah, that has such a negative...

sort of implication. I mean, they're counting this line about Alex Smith, you know, competing and being right there, competing for the job where you think it's all bullshit. So they must be making itself up.

I think that there is a level of certainly hyperbole, but I think it's self-serving. I think they would like to create the illusion for Dwayne of, hey man, this guy can come back and take your job because they want him to feel threatened and to see how he responds

to that. They want him to compete. He's talked about that Rivera has. Everybody's competing here. You know, nobody's got a job. So I think there's some of that that's a bit in their own mind, perhaps beneficial. I also think it is top down, Snyder down, of we are going to support this comeback in every possible way we can and we will not publicly, first of all, this. This This is ridiculous that this kind of messaging, clear messaging, would come from this owner. But I think organizationally, they like Alex so much that they're not ever going to publicly say, yeah, he's not going to play until he really, until the decision has to be made about him not playing, that they're totally supportive of everything he's doing.

And, you know, I'm not saying that they're fraudulent in the way they're inspired by it. I think everybody's inspired by it. But yes, I think deep down, they don't have any belief that Alex Smith is going to start football games for them this year. I do believe that. Does Alex, do you think Alex Smith believes it? I have no idea, but on some level, I think, you know, again, I think fraudulent is too negative a description. But I think on some level, Alex Smith's plan is just to get back to the point where he's ruled, and he's maybe even active or made inactive on game day, but he's on the roster and he's

mentoring these young people in the room, but that, you know, for he and his family, they know it's not the right thing for him to go back on a football field either. Well, that seems ridiculous, Kevin. Talk about an illusion. I mean, Alex Smith, he's not some crotchety old man. I mean, this is the guy who's got a lot of pride. You think he's got to, that his goal is to basically, you know, perpetrate this fraud on Redskins fans? Stop calling it a fraud being perpetrated. That's not what's going on.

That's what it is. It's an ugly way to describe it. You're saying that everybody's in on this thing where he's not really going to compete for the job. And everybody's in on it except Redskins fan. It's a community comeback with just inspiration, wrapped in inspiration. but it's not going to lead to him playing football again. And whether or not that's the team decision or his decision or a collaboration of both, I just don't see it. What if he thinks he can play?

Well, then if this is my organization and I believe he can play and he wants to play, I'm going to make that happen for him in another NFL city. This organization cannot risk putting Alex Smith back on the field and having something terrible happen. That needs to happen if it happens somewhere else, not here. That's number one. Number two is, Dwayne Haskins, we have to find out whether or not this 21-year-old or 22-year-old is our future. And we have to find that out this year. So you're right about all that. Now, if Alice Smith is the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins. Is that an indication to you that it's business as usual at Redskins Park?

No. The team is still stuck in a dysfunctional mess. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I would just tell you that it was a major indictment of Dwayne Haskins. That he can't do it, that the Rivera and Scott Turner and the coaches just don't believe he's the guy. There is no situation where you could say and make me believe that if Alex Smith started the opener and was the starting quarterback this year, and they tried to sell you on, but Dwayne's the future, that I would believe it. Okay. I mean, I just can't believe that Dwayne Haskins, if he gets beat out, it's because either he really can't do it, or that the coaches certainly don't believe that he's their future. You know, the coaches may believe if he gets beat out that he can play in the NFL

and maybe be a low-end starter or a backup, but if he gets beat out, Tommy, by Alex Smith, it is an indictment of his, it is certainly a reflection of what this coaching staff at the very least thinks of Dwayne Haskins, and that is he's not their future. Do you agree? Yes, I would agree. Even if they say Dwayne is the future, and Dwayne's going to be the backup? I wouldn't believe that. So then you have a team now that has no future starting quarterback, according to that plan. That's right.

That's why I think, you know, I think Dwayne will win the job and win it easily. By the way, you don't know this. So I had Rivera on the radio show on Friday, and he was great. He's actually a pleasant guy. I think I'm optimistic about him. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I just really am. Like, if I weren't in this mindset of being less passionate about the team than I used to, I would almost be as optimistic as I was when Mike Shanahan got hired.

And that was pretty damn optimistic because you and I were doing a daily radio show together, as you recall. But I asked him, Tommy, because the following day would have been the first preseason game against the Titans. And I said, you know, tomorrow, or I think I got it wrong. I said either tonight or tomorrow would have been your first preseason game. If that had been true, who would have been your starter? And he said, oh, Dwayne Haskins would have been. And then he said, and then next week, you know, Kyle Allen would have been the starting quarterback.

And then we would have had the competition leading up to, you know, opening day. But his immediate response, without even thinking, was Dwayne Haskins, which tells me, and some of you didn't agree, and a lot of you did, at least on social media. I read some of that from over the weekend. it tells me that this is easily as it should be Dwayne's job to lose. Like he would really have to lose it to not be the starter on opening day. He would have to be clearly unprepared, not committed. And by the way, what we've heard from Ron Rivera about everything is that he's been very pleased with all the things he's asked him to do

and encouraged by his commitment to everything football related. So you don't think that if Alex Smith simply beats out Twain Haskins, that's good enough. I don't think Alex Smith can beat out Dwayne Haskins. I don't know why you don't think that. What is it? I mean, what are you talking about? I mean, Alice Smith is a veteran NFL quarterback who, I mean,

Dwayne Haskins has a long way to go, a long way to go to be as good as Alex Smith. And you think he's going to beat him out in a one-on-one competition, everything being equal? Well, again, again, I mean, everything being equal is so ridiculous because, you know, because it probably can't be equal because he can't even lift his foot up without aid. But I'll play along here. So why would they put him out there? The last time we saw Alex Smith, he wasn't very good.

The last time we saw Alex Smith, it just wasn't that good. Why would they put him out there if he can't lift his foot? They haven't put him out there against anybody that can actually tackle him yet, have they? No, they haven't. Okay. So when they put him out there with the possibility of him being tackled or blindside hit or rolled into, then we can talk. Okay. Okay.

I don't think he's going to ever play football again. either. But my position remains, if he does, he's the starting quarterback. I know. What else do we have on Alex Smith? Anything else on Alex Smith? Did we leave anything out? The word is that he looks great and, you know, the drills

today and, you know, dropping back and whatever. Obviously, they can't hit him. They can't get near them. During these things. But, you know, we do have football teams, Tommy, with pads on. We got football teams with pads on. Now, they haven't traveled. They haven't, you know, they haven't played against anybody else. They're going to be much closer to each other starting today than they have been. Did you see the story about the chiefs? The chiefs are planning on 22% capacity for opening night, September 10th against the Texans. That would be equivalent to, I think it said,

16,000 fans at Arrowhead for the opener. And it's interesting. The Ravens are planning on having fan. Right. And other teams aren't. And the Cowboys haven't, you know, made a decision. The Redskins have. And the Ravens and the Redskins and the Washington football team, they play in the same state. Yes, they do. They do indeed. They play in the same state. All right, we'll finish up with some discussion about the Capp situation, and I'll get to some NBA playoffs from last night as well. But I want to tell you about Ernest at earnest.com. Interest rates have hit record. lows, which means it's a great time to refinance your student loans and see if you can lower your monthly payment. This goes for parents that are handling some of those student loans as well.

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when you refinance a student. loan with earnest.com slash my promo code Sheehan. That's earnest.com slash sheen. Once again, you get a $100 cash bonus when you refire your student loan at earnest.com slash shean. Now, it's not available in all states. You visit earnest.com slash sheen for more details. Terms and conditions apply. Ernest student loan refinance loans are made by Ernest Operations LLC NMNMNM. MLS number 1204917, California financing law license number 6054788 3033 Second Street, Suite 401 North, San Francisco, California, 94107. Visit earnest.com slash licenses for a full list of licensed states. I wanted to talk about the caps a little bit. Obviously, they play tonight, Tommy, to keep their season alive against the islanders.

It's been, I've watched all three games. I've actually enjoyed the NHL playoffs. I think it's really been, they've been fun games to watch the games that I've watched. The Caps Islanders games have been intense. I think the NBA playoffs yesterday and last night were pretty intense too. I'm coming around on the bubble sports. I always, I like hockey from the jump, had a more difficult time with the NBA. Saturday changed for me.

The Memphis Portland game was so exciting. and then the games last night in particular, the Clippers Mavericks game, which had some controversy, which I'll get to at the end of the show. But the caps not only are on the verge of losing to Barry Trots and the Islanders, who were the underdogs in this series, they're on the verge of getting swept. And you know, Tommy, I was thinking about this. And maybe I'm wrong because I'm not a hockey expert. And maybe some of you would dispute this and you can have at it and tweet me at Kevin Sheen, D.C.

but I don't think this is like one of those random hockey results. I think they've gotten their ass kicked. This has been one of those hockey series that's not decided just on a couple of fluke, you know, skate deflections, that they basically, especially five on five, gotten their ass handed to them. Like this has been a beat down. You know, maybe it'll change tonight. but that's what I've seen.

I've seen a team, especially five on five, not have a chance against the other team. And I think that's surprising to most people. You know, I like to sit here and say I agree with you, but I have no idea. I haven't watched one list of any of the cats. You really haven't? Not one minute.

But you're going to have to write about this if Trotsie sweeps them or takes them out. I write once a week. Kevin. I know. I don't write three times a week. I've already written my column for tomorrow. It's about college football. So, I mean, I won't write again until next Tuesday for Wednesday. Who's going to care about the cats then? I don't have, I don't. Why did you choose, why did you choose to write about college football for tomorrow's column instead of Jason Wright, Alex Smith, or the Caps? Well, because, well, what they get a Caps. I want to talk. I'm going to the Caps play.

They play at 8 o'clock tonight. Okay. That's a little bit past my deadline. Okay. By the time that game would be over. But you didn't even know what time it started, so you didn't consider them. Well, no, I didn't consider them because I had an angle for college football, and I was determined to write it. Okay.

But did you consider writing about Jason Wright or Alex Smith? No, I mean, because if I don't write this college football one now, it could change in a couple weeks. Okay, well, I want to hear about, I want to hear about, I wrote it next. I want to hear about it because one of my observations of you now for many years, and it's a great thing because you're really good at not necessarily watching a lot of games, but coming up with a lot of angles. I can remember so many days when we did our show together, and in the podcast too, when I would say, well, did you watch the game?

No, I didn't watch it, but don't worry, I have an angle. And it's brilliant because it's coming. And by the way, the best part about you is the angle that you've come up with may or may not be right. And it may not be backed up by anything that happened in the game that you didn't watch. But you're not coming off that angle. There's no chance of getting you off that angle once it's been written. I might want to point out my angles are used. usually spot on 100%, or at least 98%.

Well, I don't know if the percentage is that high, but I will say this, whether your angle is right or wrong, you always write it in a very entertaining way. Well, so I wrote, look, I'm like an op-ed columnist now. I don't necessarily write about these day-to-day activities because I don't write that often. I write once a week now. I'm thankful that I still have a chance to write once a week. I know some people in its business who aren't writing at all. But that kind of changes to what I write about a little bit. Not always, but I felt that this case it did. I'll have plenty of time to write about Jason Wright. Why am I going to write now? I mean, I did some research on them.

You know, there was nothing that stood out that would have made for something interesting other than what every other asshole is going to write about, that it's a great hire, and it's a wonderful thing. So what can I lend to that argument that hasn't already been out there? Nothing. Okay. So I wrote about something about college football. I'm not trying to do your job for you. I discussed this with you last week, and it's my angle, and I'm sticking to it. The fact that the conferences that have decided to play football are populated with states that are among the lowest poverty level, the lowest education level, and the lowest health care level in the country.

So they value – a lot of things they value in those states, but quality of life is not one of them. Wow. Wow. So they don't particularly care who goes down with the coronavirus. that much in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Making a lot of friends with this column. So that's my column. Read it in the washington times.com. Click on sports.

You know, the PAC 12 has some states and some markets and some, you know, out there cities in, you know, Pullman, Washington and Eugene, Oregon. that aren't so different from the South? Oh, I have to go get my pad with the list on because I check the rankings for health care, poverty level, education, quality of life, and believe me, you don't get to Washington State until way, like, much closer to the top than to the bottom. The states I mentioned to, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, those kind of states, They're usually in the bottom five of every category.

The SEC announced this morning their health and safety guidelines for fans to attend games. And it includes that everyone will have to wear face coverings at the events, including everybody that works at the venues. They put out this statement, quote, These fan guidelines have been adopted by the 14 member schools of the Southeastern Conference as baseline recommendations for campus management of fan health and safety. Although local and state guidelines will determine if and how many fans can attend games, these guidelines provide conference-wide expectations for protection of guests who are able to attend our games.

You know what I think is going to be really interesting. Is in the places where they're allowing fans to attend sporting events, even if it's a, you know, 20 to 30 percent of capacity allowance, are people going to actually go? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Look at the photos of beaches and bars. Yeah, you're right.

And a lot of, I'm like my... They're the same dummies. And a lot of those people will be in the south and in, you know, big college football areas. They're going to have, they're going to party. And again, I mean, You know, the data that came out yesterday or the day before that now, you know, 20, people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are right now the biggest spreaders of this, you know, including people in their early 50s who are asymptomatic or the biggest spreaders of this right now. Yeah, I mean, you know, Justin Fields, the quarterback at Ohio State, you may have seen this, Tommy, the petition that he put together over the weekend that had at last count like 220,000 signatures. asking Big Ten

chancellors and presidents to reconsider. You know, parents, players, coaches, they all want the Big Ten to reconsider the decision. The Penn State Athletic Director, she essentially said she doesn't even know if the chancellors and presidents voted on this. She doesn't know how the decision was made.

I don't... You know, it's their own fault. Athletic directors got nothing to whine about. They have a chance at March. to deal with this thing together on their own. And they left it to the school president. And this is what they got. What do you mean they could have dealt with this on their own?

In other words, I mean, school administrators, athletic administrators around a country, could have basically banded together and realized that they were heading down a path where their sport was going to be in trouble this fall and needed to come up with some kind of plan or guidelines to present their school presidents to mitigate liability.

Instead, they did nothing. And it was left the school presidents who were only worried about liability issues and could care less about the football issues. So they deserve what they're getting in this. The coaches, the athletic directors, they did nothing. They did nothing to try to address this situation.

But the decision, Tommy, was going to be the president's decision, the school president's decision. But you have to present. You have to convince the president. And they didn't do that. And they left the president to say, well, I mean, we don't want to get sued. You know, we don't want to become laughing stock.

And by the way, and you can read this in my column in the Washington Times when it gets posted. This is Dr. Cameron Wolfe. He's a Duke infectious disease specialist. He's chairman of the ACC's medical advisory team, the ACC choosing to play. quote, we believe we can mitigate it down to a level that makes everyone safe. Can we safely have two teams on the field? I would say yes. Now, in June, Dr. Wolf told a television station in Durham saying,

if we are a foot apart from each other outside, I'm still close enough to pass this to you. Well, that sounds like a line of scrimmage to me. Yeah, well, what do you accomplish? count his change to? What do you, what do you account for in terms of his change of opinion? Money? Well, I have no. No, I think he's getting paid. No. I just think there's tremendous public pressure in places like North Carolina where, I mean, it's a debacle right now, you know, right there. I just think there's tremendous public pressure in states like the ones I talked about. I think college football is more important than people's health.

Sabin was on the Greenberg show this morning, get up in the morning on ESPN, and said that if there's no season, like the idea of a spring season is he essentially equated to something that would be the equivalent of a JV football season because the juniors and seniors would all opt out that they wouldn't play in a spring season. So, you know, the Big Ten and Pets. Pact 12 announced a week ago that they weren't playing the Big 10 specifically said that they would, you know, look at and hopefully can play a spring football schedule. I'm not sure if the Pact 12 said that or not. I think they may have.

And Nick Saban this morning basically said if they do that, it's going to become a JV football season because the juniors and seniors will opt out. All that said. the new proposed saliva test could change everything. That could change everything. But you have to distribute them and get them to the right people. You have to manufacture them, distribute them, and get them out there if they are as effective as everybody says they are. Ironically, the NBA, what are the driving forces behind that?

Amazing. So I'll branch you a cheap daily saliva fit test that feed people. feel confident about could be a game change. Yeah, well, the FDA, yesterday or the day before, basically authorized like an emergency use of this saliva test. First of all, apparently it's very cheap. And the turnaround time is super quick. So let's get these things out there.

If they're just as accurate as the nasal swab test that takes the normal person, you know, 10 to 14 days, maybe longer to get. back. Yeah, this could be a major game changer. I agree with you. It'd be awesome to get this thing out there quickly and inexpensively. And yeah, it could be a huge game changer. If you could take that thing the night before or whatever and have the results back in a few hours, then you're putting players out there that you know aren't positive. That's a big game changer. If you could do the same thing with fans that want to attend the game, you know, I don't know how you would do that. You probably can't. I had Howard Gutman, who listens to the podcast and was the former ambassador to Belgium,

who I really enjoy. He spent almost an hour with me on radio one day a couple months ago. He's involved in this company that basically reduces the chance of somebody entering a stadium or an arena with an infection to a very low number, because not only do they take temperature, but they take blood oxygen levels, you know, immediately under a scanner. So you would get scanned like you would for, you know, make sure you're not bringing weapons into a stadium. And that would also act simultaneously as a temperature in blood ox scanner. And if you, you know, if you're outside the norms on either one of them, you would be told, you know, you can't enter the stadium.

I still think, you know, just the process of getting even 16,000 people, into Arrowhead socially distance is going to be a nightmare. How are they going to handle the concession stands with social distancing? Bathrooms. I agree. It's going to be a logistical nightmare.

Yeah. But, you know, yeah, the saliva is a blood off meter here with it. Yeah, I remember you told me you got one. Yeah. Yeah. I've been checking it every day, too. Oh, you have been? Yeah.

And how's it been going? That's good. Good. 98, 97, good numbers. All right. Wanted to just mention really quickly before we leave for the day that the Porzingis ejection last night, if you watch the Dallas Clippers game. By the way, the NBA playoffs started yesterday.

If I didn't make this clear before, I think the Clippers are going to win the title. I think the Clippers are the best all-around team. I'm also rooting for them because I'm a huge Kauai Leonard fan, And as most of you know, I really thought even going into the postseason last year that Toronto had a chance to win the title. And yet, it took maybe Kevin Durant getting hurt in the finals for them to win it. But I just, Leonard was my favorite player in the tournament last year. He's my favorite player. And this one, they are terrific defensively with George and with Beverly, et cetera, with Montres Harrell back.

I'm picking the clippers to win the whole thing. I was also very surprised over the weekend when the final odds came out that the Clippers in Vegas are actually the favorite now. They were not a week ago. The Lakers and Bucks were the favorites to win the title. But when this thing got closer to starting, Vegas made the Clippers the favorite to win the whole thing at like minus 220, minus 230. It was very close. I think the Lakers were minus 240 and the bucks were minus 250, at least on one of the sites, my bookie and a couple of the others that I look at. But anyway, last night's game one between Dallas and the Clippers was a joke. First of all, Porzingis gets hit with a ridiculous technical foul on a block shot

where he argues and he gets teed up immediately. But once you've teed up a player of his level once, you cannot tee him up again on a play in which one of his players, his star player, Luca Donchich, is being approached by Morris, okay, by Marcus Morris. in a physical confrontation way. Porzingis jumps in. Shouldn't have jumped in. That was his fault. But he jumped in and just moved with his hand,

Morse away from Donchich. It didn't really start a brawl of any sort. And they hit him up with his second tee, tossed him from the game, and that really cost Dallas a chance to steal game one against the Clippers last night. I thought that was a horrendous officiating decision. You've got to know as an offensive.

official that you've teed a star player up. And it's got to take an awful lot, a lot more than what Porzingis did to throw him out of that game. That was a disgrace last night from an officiating standpoint. And trust me, I'm rooting for the clippers, and I want them to win. And they were on the ropes a little bit last night. They were down at halftime. They were down double digits at one point. They were in trouble. I mean, the game started off if you were watching it. You know, it started off with a big clippers run,

but then Dallas came back and had the lead at halftime. So it was a terrible decision. Hopefully they get the message. You can't throw players like that out on something like that. Today we're going to get a bunch of games, again, a quadruple header that ends with. with Lakers Blazers tonight, Tommy. The Blazers have been the most entertaining team to watch in this Orlando bubble since it started.

I'm not going to act like I've watched a lot of their games. I did watch the game on Saturday, the playing game against Memphis, and it was very entertaining. And, you know, right now Dame Lillard is just flat out one of the best scorers in the game. and I mean, the dude was averaging in the final three regular season games over 51 points per game. I mean, he can just flat out get it done. They're just terrible defensively. I don't personally think they've got a shot to beat the Lakers.

But you know who came up big in that game was Carmelo Anthony? I mean, he knocked down some big shots, you know, however old he is, 36, 37 years old. I know you're not watching this. If you're not watching the caps, you're not watching this. But it's starting to get pretty entertaining. And, you know, it's over two months, and they've got the sound. The television product isn't terrible. I think the hockey product's better.

But, you know, there's going to be some good NBA playoffs to watch here. Do you think the caps get swept tonight? No, I think they managed to win a game. I have no idea. I told you, I haven't watched any. Why would you even ask you? I don't know. I don't know why I asked you.

I don't know why you answered. Hey. I don't know why I did. When I got something to tell you one last thing, show you how business has changed. Street and Smith has announced they're not going to publish anyone that you mean. Really? Yes. Wow.

Yes. Do you know that? It's like the Sears catalogs, like, just continuing. There was a time for me, and it's been years, that Street and Smith's college and pro football issues would hit the stands in, like, early July. mid-July, and they were must-reads to preview the college football and pro-football seasons. I mean, 100%. The best college football preview, and he still does, you know, a paper version is the Phil Steel college football preview.

He's got dedicated loyalists. I mean, he has been spot on for years with his college football preview. But, man, yes, Street and Smith was the Bible there for years. Yeah. Now business is changed. No more. It has. All right.

Did we miss anything? I don't think we did. And if we did, we'll try to cover it on Thursday. We covered everything. Go enjoy yourself. I think people got their money for it today. Do you bring a cooler out to the beach with some, you know, beers and do you have your cigars ready to go on the beach?

What's your deal on the beach all day? I don't drink on the beach and I don't smoke on the beach. Okay. I don't smoke cigar. I'm very careful about smoking cigars as to not offend other people. Like if I'm walking down the street smoking a cigar and let's say somebody was approaching with little kids, I'm going to stop puffing within 20 yards that I'm getting here and wait until they get 20 yards past me before I take another puff. So I'm very, I mean, you know, I don't need to make a statement.

You're very considerate. I mean, that's what everybody says except you. That has nothing to do with drinking. Like, one of my favorite things at the beach is to be at the beach from about 5 o'clock until 7 o'clock, or 5 o'clock until 8 o'clock. You know, when the sun is setting and it's cooling off and the beach is emptying and to be out there with, you know, some family and some friends and a couple of cold beers, that's relaxing.

But I'm assuming by 5 o'clock you're already back. at your place. I'm in bed by 5 o'clock. You're looking for the blue plate special on the boardwalk somewhere. All right. Thanks. We'll talk on Thursday.