The Kevin Sheehan Show - Thom Is Back And Scott Van Pelt

Episode Date: May 16, 2019

Kevin and Thom opened the show with everything Thom missed while he was in Italy. They talked Nats, NBA Playoffs, Redskins, and more. Scott Van Pelt called in to talk Golden State, Zion, and the PGA Championship. <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. That's right. He is back. God, it seems like you've been gone forever. I've been gone a long time. You really have been in. I made a list of the things that I'm not sure you missed while you're away, but then I know some things you definitely miss. So we're going to go through some of those things. But that, of course, is the long-lost voice of one Tom Leverro, who is back from his Italy trip, and I want to hear all about it. This show is presented by Window Nation. Aaron's here, by the way. 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. How long were you gone? Well, we were there for 14 days. Yeah, I was going to say, it had to be a week and a half to two weeks. Yeah, we were there for 14 days. Well, that's the way to do it. Well, I got to tell you, at the end,

And maybe it was because we were in Florence at the end and we had no idea how crowded it would be in Florence. It was wall-to-wall people, like waves of people whenever you went out on every street. And that kind of got tiring. So we were thinking maybe we were there like one or two days too many. Well, was Florence? So Florence was your last part of the trip. And then we took a train to Rome to fly home. Okay, got it.

Now, you know what? God, Florence was so crowded when we were there over the summer. Apparently, it's crowded all the time. It must be. Now, I loved Florence, but it sounds like it was the end of your trip, so maybe you were tired. And there is nothing worse if you're tired at the end of a trip than just long lines and crowds and everything. Yeah. And we had seen a lot and done a lot.

Look, it was, it by far exceeded my expectations. The main reason was I met my family. I met family. The Italian side of your family, because you've got an Irish side of your family as well. Yes. Yes. My paternal grandmother and grandfather came over from Italy in 1910. They came over.

And on my grandmother's side, the name Gratani, I met that family. And we were the first American relatives to come over there since my grandparents left in 1910. Well, did they remember your grandparents, people in the family? Yeah, no, absolutely. Like, I had connected with one or two of them on Facebook, and their mother was my grandmother's sister. And they live in a small town called Grumo, just outside of Bari, which is like a fishing

village on the Adriatic Sea. And they came and picked us up in Bari, and we spent a day with them. we met like 20, 30 relatives. They took us on a tour of Grumoa, a walking tour, this small little town. They took us on a cemetery tour. In other words, to go see where our relatives were buried. Oh, really?

Yeah, which was... The Gratani side, your grandmother's family. Yeah, my grandmother's family. And then we ended the day with a four and a half hour, slow motion eating competition. That's what it always is. It really wasn't. It was by the seventh course. Here comes another course.

I said to my son Rocco, I said, well, dessert's got to be next. You know, I mean, they put seven things in front of us. It's got to be dessert next. Well, dessert came two courses later, and there were three courses of dessert. I mean, literally, for four and a half hours, we sat and ate. Hopefully you were also drinking some very good wine. Great wine. Yeah.

We had great meals, great wine. We started out in Rome. And the funny thing was, it turns out Dan Snyder was in Italy the same time I was. I heard that. I didn't know that he was there for the entire time, but he was on his yacht. Yeah, he was on his yacht. You know, we don't run in the same circles. No, just by maybe one group you're off.

But I did see him at the Coliseum sketching notes maybe for a stadium. Oh, you did? For the stadium. For the new stadium plans. What about the Laverro size? of the family. Your grandfather and your father? Any Laverro's? Well, they supposedly are from a town maybe just like a few miles away from Grummo, a town called Betetto, but we didn't get a chance to see. I have no contacts with them. I haven't been able to make any. So I just didn't want to walk into a

town and start screaming Laverro and see who showed up. Did your grandfather and grandmother come over in 1910 right to New York? Yeah. And then they settled in Brooklyn? Well, first they settled in Syracuse for some reason. Why? What did he do? I don't know. Well, he wound up in Brooklyn being an ice man. He had an ice ice business where they delivered blocks of ice to people's houses and they put those blocks of ice ice ice under their ice box and that's how food stayed cold. I don't know why they went to Syracuse and then how they wound up

in Brooklyn. But my dad was born in Syracuse. but then they I mean like two or three like by 1918 they were in Brooklyn, New York had your dad ever been back? No, no. It wasn't, I mean that, it never occurred to that generation

to go back. It just, you know, to travel the year. It would have never occurred to my family to take a trip to Europe. Right. It just wasn't on their radar. Yeah. You know, so, but Rome was great.

My son, Rocco. How crowded was Rome in spring? I mean, because it was really crowded when we were there last July. It was expected and it was manageable. Yeah. And we stayed. You could hit the Pantheon with a rock from our window. Oh, you see it right there.

Yeah. Yeah. So we stayed in great places. My son. It's a rather old building, isn't it? Yes, it is. A little bit. A lot of the buildings are intimidating.

Yeah, yeah, they are. I mean, I think our trip last summer, which was for my father's 80th birthday. And his wife put the whole thing together for my sister and her husband and their kids. And then, and then for my brother, et cetera, all of us were there. And it was spectacular. Now, we were in Florence and we were, you know, in Tuscany for the first nine days. And then we spent three or four days in Rome to finish up the trip. But I love Rome. Yeah. Rome was great. We saw the Vatican. We saw the Sistine Chapel. Was it, see, that was a marathon.

It is a marathon. Now, I don't know if it was as crowded. Like, we were in there. You couldn't even move. There were so many people in there when we went in. Well, first of all, we had to wait two hours. Of course. Online to get in.

And what they do, it's like a ride at Disney World. You, they keep having signs that say Sistine Chapel. Yeah. But it's not until the last thing. Exactly. I mean, so you have to, and look, you're looking at a beautiful art. And it's sort of overwhelming. And the one thing about the art that,

was really like astonishing is you're looking at this art all over in front of you. And sometimes you have to stop and look up and realize that every room you were going through, there were paintings on the ceiling. Exactly. Every room. I mean, everybody painted on the ceiling back then, which I think is a lost start. I'm surprised more people don't do it again. So it was, it was.

So you were in the Vatican, you did the Sistine Chapel. What about Trevi Fountain? What about the Spanish steps? What about all that stuff? We did, we did Trevi Fountain. We did the Coliseum one day. That was, I think that's spectacular. That is.

Yeah. That really is. That was amazing to see, the Coliseum. And we had great meals. Well, yeah, it's hard to get a bad meal. We had great meals that drank a lot of wine, did a lot of walking. It was a great, it exceeded my expectation. Did you?

From Rome, we spent three days in Rome. Then we went to Bari. and then, you know, we visited our family there. And then from bar, we took a train to barry. And then from there, we rented a car and drove up to Umbria, which is wine country too, and stayed in this little town called Tody at a winery. And it was my first wine tasting. Oh, yeah.

Well, that can be another long day. We have a lot of, a lot of courses. Yes. Yeah, we did two, I think we did two wine. wine tours when we were there. Yeah. But it was more than just a wine tour. It's a day.

Yeah. It's actually, it was at a spa. My first time I stayed at a spa. Tommy had a spa. Yeah. Sort of like. Hopefully you didn't ask for a pedicure. No.

But and then from there, we wrapped it up with Florence and then we flew out out of Rome. Did you make it to that in Florence, that big market, I think they call it like Central market or whatever where all those food places are and all those out that was that was pretty cool yeah that that was very cool and and we but it is super crowded yeah it was much more crowded more crowded than rome it was yeah it was more because you walked out of your door and you got caught up in a wave of people one way or the other you could have had also do you know florence i think i could be wrong about this i think it is the number one um foreign you know studying a broad place for Americans. Like more American students in college take a semester abroad in Florence than any other

place in the world. I think that's true. And so what you may have had was the finish up to a semester with a lot of Americans. Were there a lot of Americans? Yeah, there were a lot of Americans. But I mean, the semester, I mean, people leave college at the beginning of May. It depends. So, I mean, for the most part. So I'm not, I didn't get the sense. It seems like you've been gone since the beginning of I know, I know. But it was everything I could have hoped for and more. And Italian, they're just the nicest people. Oh, yeah.

I mean, the best. I mean, you know, they want to make sure you're having a good time. They want to make sure. I didn't experience any, like, tourism resentment in any way, shape, or form. And I got smoked a couple Cubans while I was there. Perfect. You know, since that's a country with intelligence and sanity. In Rome, where you, I mean, you had a vehicle you were being taken around because it's a great, to me, it's a good walking city.

We walked almost. Okay, I was going to say, but for you with your knees. But my knees are good now. I know, they're good now. Somebody asked me about that yesterday. You asked me about your knees. Oh. That's why we couldn't do this trip before.

Yeah. I mean, but I bet you we average six miles a day walking. Oh, definitely. I mean, every day. And whenever we couldn't walk, I mean, we just took an Uber. My son, Rocco, travels a lot. He planned the whole thing. He got all the places to stay, made all the travel arrangements.

That's a good thing he didn't leave it up to you. Well, no, I can do that. What do you think he learned it from? I don't know. He learned it from me. Right, well, I've stayed in some pretty bad places with you before. Yeah, but you know, I didn't make those arrangements. You didn't, and I certainly didn't either.

We've done time in some places. That was one of the first trips we took together. It was a Super Bowl, right? Dallas. In Dallas, where, you know, we had an ice storm the night we got in and it was just tragic the entire week trying to travel in a place that doesn't have snow or ice removal. Right. And we stayed in a motel.

And Tom, you essentially said, you told our program director at the time Chuck Sapienza, I believe it was, you know, we're supposed to be down here working the Super Bowl and instead we're doing time. I mean, look, the reason I felt that was because there was an armed. cop outside the building all the time. God, I never understood that. Do you remember you didn't, we weren't together in San Francisco, were we? No, we did, we did my, we did South Florida. Yeah. We did, uh, we did Dallas. I did Indianapolis by yourself by myself. That's right. And then I did San Francisco in New York. Um, the San Francisco thing, like, you know, whatever. I'm not going to

spend a lot of time on this. But if they had just made a minimal effort, they would have found a perfect place close to Radio Row for maybe $12 more a night. But it was always, remember with that group, let's see how little we can spend no matter the inconvenience to the people that are going to be there working. Absolutely. I think one of those trips, we had literally where they had booked us, and I changed mine. I said, I'm not doing this. they had booked us like 35 to 40 minutes away from Radio Row. And by the way, told us no rental cars. Just one and you all have to share it.

And I just said, you know what? I got something much closer and I canceled that reservation and I'll pick up the difference of 20 bucks a night. Which is what it was. Yeah. It was stupid. So, you know, I distanced myself as much as I could from what was going on here. Did you leave before the... I left April 29th right after the draft.

Right when the draft was over. Yeah. But we have not been back together since the draft. No, we have not talked since the draft. I have followed, because it's hard not to follow it, the Dwayne Haskins Orgy from afar. The Dwayne Askins Orgy. Yes. God, you know, somebody, I was reading through Twitter last night, and I think it's because you sent out a tweet.

Tommy's got his event tonight. Tell everybody about the event. Is it too late for people to show up? No, no. A lot of people buy tickets at the door. It's Cigars and Curve Balls Fundraiser for the D.C. Grays, the organization that brings baseball opportunities to intercity kids in Washington, nonprofit organization. It's 6 to 8 p.m. at Shelley's back room in the 1,300 block of F Street, Northwest, in the district. For a $75 ticket donation, you get three cigars, appetizers, and we have a live auction of different things.

Are you going to wait until the end to do the live auction? Because I'm coming tonight, but I'm going to be there at the beginning and then I've got to take off after about an hour. When are you going to do the live auction? We usually do the auction at the midway point. Okay, good. We usually do, and we've got an Anthony Rendon signed bat. We've got tickets to the Delta 360 club, those old presidents club seats for the nationals. I was there last night in those seats.

Oh, okay. With Harley from Window Nation. There you go. So those are good seats. Do you want to tell everybody about the surprise guest, potentially? A potential surprise? No, I know. No, no, no.

All right, well, let me just say that there is a potential big name surprise guest that will be at this event. And that's pretty exciting. Come out. I'm going to be there right. If it starts at six, I'm going to be there at six. Okay. I've got to take off probably around seven, but I'll try to wait for that live auction. Do you have good, those NAT seats I got one of those years?

and it turned out to be awesome because it was a massive discount from what you'd actually pay for the seats. Yeah, we've got actually the Southern Maryland Blue Crabbs have donated four box seats to a Blue Crabbs game with a signed back from the whole team. We've got other merchandise and stuff. No, no, no, nothing from D.C. United. Because the Post, once again, I'm telling you, the D.C. United are a big deal. I mean, they take up most of the sports section every day when they play. Really? Yeah.

I mean, I'm sure they know their audience. They must. They must. I mean, you had two game sevens the other day, Tommy, in the NBA playoffs, and the following day's paper had DC United all over. I had to go to D6 to get the NBA. Not that I'm always reading the paper, but, you know, I still get it delivered. I'm still one of, you know, a half, you know, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a half million people that still get the post delivered.

I don't know if it's that many. I think it is that many. I don't think it is. I tell you one thing in Italy, they still read newspapers. There are newsstands all over Rome where you can buy papers. And I saw people reading papers at breakfast. What was your favorite part of the trip other than seeing? Other than the family was the winery.

It was just so good. And just like it was like being in a picture postcard all the time. And the food. Like you don't get pasta like that here. No. It's different. Everything about it is different. And the one thing about the food, though, look, my son and my wife, Liz.

You didn't ask for a ham and cheese sandwich or a peanut butter sandwich. No, no, no. I bought into the Italian thing. Okay, good. From the moment I got there, I ate croissants and pasta. And you're not a big wine drinker. No, but I drank wine every night when I was there. But my wife and my son, they're what you would call foodies.

They care about food a lot. they're particular about it. And the one thing that kept coming up, and eventually I got used to it, but when I order food and we're all sitting down to eat dinner, I don't want to eat your food. I don't want to eat his food. And I don't want to eat her food. You're not beginning to share it.

No, I want to eat my food. Yeah, I know. You know, that's why I ordered my food. If you wanted my food, you should have ordered my food. I think you've got to ease up on that. You're on vacation and it's family. I mean, you don't have somebody from the next table asking you to taste. But it's not my style.

It's not what I'm used to. It's sometimes I'm thinking, no, I don't want. I don't want what you ordered. It's not your style to go to Europe either. So we got you out of the house and got you out of the state, which was good. So let's go. And one last thing. It's harder to get in the Nationals Park than it is to get in Italy.

We just walked in the Italy. It was pretty much unbelievable. I said, is that it? Is that it? That's all? Yeah, well, they're easy going there. All right, so where do you want to start? Let me actually real quickly, because last night, and I wanted to thank Harley and Ethan and less, the guys that were with us last night. But last night was one of those nights, Tommy.

First of all, Cooley was in here yesterday, did the show. He and I went and played golf. It was like a really good day yesterday. Beautiful day outside. We played golf. Then I headed down to Nats Park. met Harley from Window Nation. He was with Les and Ethan.

Ethan works for the post. Ethan, thanks. I know you had a lot to do with getting the tickets. And then we went to the MGM after the sixth inning. You know, that's a pretty good day. You know, I don't have days like that very often. But, you know, golf and then the Nats game, we left in the sixth inning. Now, Les and Harley and I left, Ethan was convinced that the 5-1 lead would be given up by the bullpen.

and he typically wouldn't be wrong, so he stayed, and then we jumped over to the MGM. Which is really close by. Oh, it's just a 10 minutes. Yeah. I mean, that's, no, seriously, you know, the Nats game for six innings, and then the MGM is a pretty good plan for a Wednesday night. Yes, it is. It's not a bad plan for a Wednesday night. Of course, it would be better if we all won money, but they didn't build that big place out at National Harbor with the expectation that people were just going to go to the Nats.

game for six innings and come over and clean house. No, no, they didn't. But it was a really good, it was a really good night anyway. You'll actually get a kick out of this because Windon Nation is a client of the podcast. And Harley is a friend, but he's a client and Aaron and everybody from Window Nation. And he got the tickets for the game. And my wife said to me, wait a minute, he's the client. He's getting the tickets?

And I said, yeah, he is. And they were great seats. and he got me good parking too. Harley, you're the best. Go to Window Nation.com or call 86690 Nation if you need new windows. Seriously, they will take good care of you. They always do, and I'll have more on the great deal they've got going on in a bit. I did not because I went to the Nats game last night, where, by the way, that's the second game I've been to this year in both games.

They have won. Who pitched the first game? The first game that I went to, I want to say it was Helixen. I think I saw Helixen pitch his first game. I think that's who it was. Last night, it was Corbin, and he pitched great, but they got a lot of run production early on. Early on, the game in early on. And they ended up winning the game 5 to 1, but it was a beautiful night.

So I'm 2-0 so far at Nat's games, which is pretty good. You know, they've- Well, you know what? I mean, you've seen most of their wins. I know. I pretty much have. I was there Tuesday night. Oh, you were? Oh, I got it.

I've been home since Tuesday? I got home Monday night late. And I had to go to the park Tuesday to transact some business. So I stayed for the game. And they looked so bad Tuesday night. I mean, they had another first inning error that cost them the game. Right. I mean, they couldn't turn a double play.

And Hellixon, for the second time he started in a row, was backstabbed by the defense in the first. first inning and he's not the kind of pitcher who can recover from that. In the first, in his previous start, against Milwaukee, he had given up a home run to Christian Yelich for one nothing. Right. And was about to get at any inning with just giving up one run. But then Rendon made an error, Anthony Rendon made an error, gave away an out, and then Milwaukee

wound up scoring three more runs that inning. And they were, you know, to Alexson goes back to the dugout down for nothing. in his previous start, just like he did Tuesday night. You know, I mean, they couldn't turn to double play. Ramos winds up going to the plate and hits the Grand Slam home run. So, I mean, they just look terrible. I mean, Brian, look, Brian Dozier is a mess. I mean, he hasn't clicked.

And Wilmer Defoe has taken a step back development-wise. He's been terrible at Shoresup. He's been the worst shortstop in the league. They've only won two series so far this season. They won a series in New York against the Mets, I think in the second week of the season, and they won a series in Philadelphia early in the series season. Actually, that's not true. The series that I went to, the game that I went to against the Giants, they won that series too.

But they've got a chance to win a series today against the Mets to take two out of three, which would be huge. That's how you climb back in. Yeah, just winning two out of three. You win a series. It's a long season. I mean, you take it one series at a time and you try to win the series. You're not trying to win every game. They then have, you know, a pretty hot team in the Cubs.

Yeah. Coming in. And by the way, we have an autographed Joe Madden item for auction at tonight's. That's awesome. Cigar and Curb. You've got some really good items tonight. Yes, not bad. Shelly's back room, by the way, it's easy to get to whether you're metroing it or driving.

There's plenty of parking right there, like literally across the street. Plenty of parking. Yes. So come on out tonight. So I was going to say that, you know, being at the Nats game and then being at the MGM, even though when we were playing Blackjack and the TVs were on behind, so I was watching some of the NBA game. And one of the things you have actually missed since you've been away, some good NBA playoffs

in that second round, the Houston Golden State series losing Durant and then Golden State winning two games anyway. There have been some really interesting, you know, games. not, I know not everybody's into it. I am. But I didn't see the game last night really start to finish, Saul, you know, parts of it and then highlights this morning. I really want Toronto to win, and so I was rooting for them to win last night. I did not play the game last night, but I picked the Bucks in five. They're really good, Tom. Yeah, they are. They're really good. But they're not good enough. Well, to beat Toronto? No, to beat Golden State. Well, it's funny,

because I don't know if I mentioned this on the podcast, or if Aaron and I were talking about this off the podcast. But I think if it's Milwaukee Golden State that it's going to be shocking to many of you how little of a favorite Golden State will be. Really? Yeah, the books, Vegas is very, very bullish on Milwaukee right now. They just think that the bucks are the real deal. And last night, Toronto had

him dead to write for a cover. I mean, they're getting six and a half. If you took Toronto, you may have bought the half point to get it to seven. And they somehow lost by eight because they didn't score over the final three minutes of the game. In fact, everybody but Kyle Lowry, the rest of the team went 0 for 15 in the fourth quarter. And Tommy, you've missed some incredible Kauai Leonard performance in the postseason. I saw the game winning shot. Yeah, that was incredible. I mean, I saw that.

He basically averaged, I think, 35. You know, you really, I said this a number of things. times, but it is remarkable. I mean, you had him picked in that draft when he was coming out of where. San Diego State? Yeah, San Diego State. Beyond Vesley draft. You had

him, you said that's the guy you should go after. And I told Ernie Grunfeld before that draft. Did you really? Yeah, don't you remember we were down there, I think it was you and me, and I said, Kauai Leonard, I said, nobody has him, you know, where you are at six or wherever they were picking. I said,

but that guy's going to be great. And that was the year after I told him that I said, I think Steph Curry is going to be a really good NBA player. I'm telling you, you know, the job. Kevin. What? The job's still open. It's still open. It's still open.

It's not as desirable. They're looking at talent in Chicago right now, but they don't have a GM at the, what do they have, the workout? Yeah. Like their version of the combine. The NBA has right now in Chicago, but they don't have a GM yet. I'm sure Ted and Zach have yet to find a nerd that meets their requirements. Well, they've, you know, they hired this consultant.

who's got his start in, I think, Premier League Soccer. It's an English guy. But who's very highly respected. The Rams, Sean McVeigh hired this guy to study his organization. Wait, hold on. Who is this guy you're talking about? I forget the guy's name. Do you know, Aaron?

It's a consultant that the Wizards have hired. I know they were hiring a consultant to help them with their GM search. And to help them with their whole management structure is what Ted has pointed out. Now this guy's very, look, I did a lot of research on him, even though I can't remember his name now. It sounds like it. A lot of research. Look, I did at the moment. Okay.

So, but I know that. Got some initials? No, I don't. That Sean McVeigh had hired him to be a consultant for his organization. So he hired a guy who's got tremendous credentials to figure out what's wrong with the Wizards. But I noticed that while I was gone, Candace Buckner, who does a good job cover in the team for the post. she writes a story saying the problem with the wizards was the culture. Yes, she wrote a very good story, and I referenced that story and told everybody to read it.

I think it was a very good story with quotes from a lot of people that essentially said what you felt all along. Yes. Which was that Ernie was just too good of a guy, and the culture was basically, if you're a star player, you can do whatever the hell you want to do. I just wanted to point out this was the essence of my problem with Ernie. It was not, look, he was not how incompetent he was or wasn't. It was that you had coaches that tried to change the culture and had their knees taken out from under him by Ernie. So, I mean, I was glad to see that story because I think it just validated everything I had been saying and written. Well, he's gone now.

They haven't replaced them. It would have been easier to replace him had they gotten the number one pick or at least something in the top three. Yeah, instead, they've got pick number nine. Let me ask you a question about that. Shouldn't there be at least nine really good players in this NBA draft? Aren't there? It's college basketball that bad, that there's not nine good players that could be good pros? There are more than that.

But that's not how people view it in the moment. You know that these things are never, ever, ever. even 50% right when it comes to the drafts in any of these sports. Certainly in football and basketball, the two sports that I follow the most. And baseball's even worse. So, you know, it's like everybody believes that this is a top three pick draft. And by the way, I do think Zion Williamson's going to be a major star. And I think John Morant's going to be a big time star.

If the Wizards had ended up with the second pick and not the first, I would have been just as happy with that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, Zion, did you see already in day one thousands of new tickets sold? Like, he's a needle mover. Now, I want to my point, remember I came back from New Orleans in January, and I said that was an invisible franchise in town. I mean, basically there wasn't a billboard.

There wasn't a hat for sale. There wasn't a T-shirt anywhere that said to New Orleans, you wouldn't know the Pelicans were in New Orleans when I was there for three days. Have they ever been into the New Orleans teams there? You know? Going back to the jazz, did they care about the jazz in the 70s? I have a column that's running tomorrow that talks about that because I went to New Orleans when the Hornets moved from Charlotte and were just about to start. And I did some research on the jazz.

And the jazz, the jazz had, they had a following. They were right in the middle of the NBA attendance, you know, at the time. And remember, they had Pistol Pete. They made a trade with Atlanta to get Pistol Pete, and he was an All-Star for four of the five years that he was there. So they had the LSU superstar Pistol Pete. They drew pretty well, but they played in the Superdome. That's true.

And that was a disaster. That makes sense. I remember. It was not a basketball atmosphere. They get 30,000 people for a Lakers game, but even still, you know. Would they really get 30,000 if the Lakers' game? The Lakers, the Knicks, the 76ers at the time with Dr. Jay. They were probably the first basketball team.

Now, I know Elvin Hayes played Lou Alcindor in the Astrodome in the famous Houston UCLA game, 1969, when Elvin went for 39, and they ended UCLA's winning streak. But a team playing regularly in a dome, they had to be the first. And not only did they play regularly, they were the stepchild tenant. I mean, the city took care of the Saints first, then they took care of the car shows, then they took care of the flea markets, and then the jazz got whatever dates were left. They'd go on three-week road trips sometimes. So they were kind of set up to fail from the beginning.

And when your team moves from New Orleans to Salt Lake City, you know, you're thinking, oh, my God, we're never going to get it again. But like most teams who lose a sports franchise, they spend the next decade or two decades trying to get one back. And eventually they did with the Hornets, but they had not. Look, Katrina did a lot to that town. And whatever traction they were trying to get, that really they lost a lot with Katrina.

The population of the town, it's slowly coming back, but it's almost 200,000 less than it was when the team moved there. So, but Zion Williamson will change all that. Well, I mean, you know this about New Orleans. Orleans is a very underrated sports town. Now, it's football driven. It is Saints and LSU football. I mean, that is, you know, one in one A. It's just, everything pales in comparison. But it's a good, like, their football fans are great fans. Oh, yeah. And so if you provide a winner for them, they'll probably support it. You know, those early teams with Chris Paul, a couple of those teams that were, you know, okay. I think they got supported. Back to the draft. for a moment, because I was looking at it yesterday, a morning before the show, just to sort of think about, you know, who would be there.

We're going to see so many different things mocked. And we haven't even had the pro days and the opportunities. Like right now, by the way, Aaron, have you seen this? Bruno Fernando is mocked out of a lot of first rounds into second rounds. Yeah, there's a few. I know the athletic had him at the very end of the first round. A few have had him at the very end of the first round. But yeah, overwhelmingly, it's kind of in that 28.

a 36 range. He ends up in a second round with no guaranteed contract. It'd be a bummer. Be a real bummer. Well, he wouldn't be any worse off than he would have been at Maryland. It wasn't, it's not like he was making any money at Maryland. No, no, I'm just saying that he loved Maryland. I know.

You know, some of these kids are coming in to get their one year and they're gone. Like Josh Jackson, right, from a year ago. You know, came in from Toronto. He wanted to play. got hurt and ended up going anyway. Bruno really loved Maryland and loved playing college basketball. Even without him, by the way, Maryland right now is a preseason top 10 to 12 pick for next year. So I was looking around and there were college players that I really, really liked. And I hadn't checked out a mock draft in a while until yesterday morning.

And like to me, Grant Williams out of Tennessee is a sure thing. Now, is his upside what, you know, a half dozen guys that'll be. take it in front of him. Is it that high? No, but his floor is super high. He's going to be a 12-year pro. He's going to make a couple of all-star teams. He's going to be a solid, you know, pro. He just has the whole game. He's just not, you know, over the, you know, top athletic. But if he were sitting there at 9 and even if he were mocked at 23 or 18, I think about taking him. By the way, a mature kid too. Keldon, John. Johnson's one year at Kentucky, you could see how good of a player he's going to be. I liked

Cam Johnson after he transferred from Pitt to North Carolina. To me, he looks like a big time shooter and scoreer in the NBA. The kid from Kentucky, Tyler Harrow, who really got hot late, he's going to score big time in the NBA. But those are, you know, Brandon Clark from Gonzaga, I like a lot. They're going to have a chance to take a player and hopefully they'll get lucky and take a player that ends up being a player that six teams in front of them screwed up on. But they're usually the one. Yes, they are.

And they have been when it's come to the draft, that they take a player, and then 15 players go after them, and two of those guys end up being all-stars. This is why you need to be the GM. No, I don't know about that. You know what? I tell you why, I got a better idea.

Let's make buck the GM. You know? Let's just make them the play-by-play guy. I know. Let's start with that. I know. That's a true. travesty that's still going on.

Oh, Jesus. Yeah, I don't, we're not, we're not going to talk about anything until it's official. We talked about it when it first came out, obviously. But I just would be really I'd be fine with Buccas at GM now. I'd be, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. All right, so there's a lot of Redskins stuff. A lot of Redskins. By the way, real quickly, just since we were on NBA for a moment, I like the Blazers tonight plus seven and a half. I know I like them in game one, two. I really like them tonight plus seven and a half. I don't even think it's a smell test pick, Aaron. I would guess that the public's on Golden State tonight laying seven and a half. I didn't even check on that, but I just think the Blazers are going to win two games in this series, and I think one of them

comes tonight. Certainly plus the seven and a half, I like him tonight. Did you see the hockey controversy last night? I actually watched the highlights of that. I've read about it. I followed it on social media. You didn't, the caps were done when you left for your trip, right? Yes. Okay. Yes, they were. I thought. they were. There was a hand pass in overtime that led to the game winning goal for San Jose. And apparently it's not something you can overturn. You can review, I guess. I mean, that seems like an obvious one that you'd be able to review and call no goal. It should. I mean, I think you should review everything. I mean, for crying out loud. I mean, hockey, they do it quick. Yeah. You know, it's not like a long, drawn-out affair when they're reviewing in hockey. They pretty much have a good. system that were probably the best of all the reviews.

All right. Let's get to some Redskins stuff after a quick word for Wind Donation. And I think Scott's going to call on as well so we can talk some PGA Championship with him. It's already underway. Tiger double bogeyed, number one. I think he's got it back to one over at this point. It's Kevin Sheehan for Windonation. It's graduation time, not just for schools, but it's time for your home to graduate,

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One of the things I'm sure you heard and read about was just how over the moon people were about the Redskins draft. Yes. I mean, this is really, in all honesty, this is what they needed. What it means, we're not going to know for years. I've emphasized that over and over again. But really, when you consider where this franchise was in late December and early January, they have actually had an off-season. Kevin, they win the off-season.

It's what they do. They haven't under Bruce Allen. They haven't under Bruce Allen. But they needed it, and I said to you from the beginning, this was going to be an off-season where Dan was not going to put up with the typical Bruce Allen. and look who I got you and look at the deal I got on him. It was going to have to be something bigger and better. And they went after AB, Antonio Brown, they didn't get him.

They went after Golden Tate. They tried to get C.J. Mosley, a bunch of different guys. They did get Landon Collins, which was huge. And then they drafted Dwayne Haskins, the guy that the owner wanted. By the way, stop with the pushback on us talking about Dwayne Haskins being Dan's pick. He was. Just deal with it. It doesn't mean he's wrong.

and it doesn't mean that I'm not going to be supportive and hope that he plays well, even though I was not a big Haskins fan. I'm not going to change my mind over that. But this was Dan Snyder's pick more than anybody else's in the organization. If you don't believe it, you have every right to not believe it, but every single bit of reporting, including all of the conversations I've had with people in the know, suggests to me that the football people, scouts and coaches, would have never taken and Dwayne Haskins at 15, and you heard Cooley say the same thing yesterday.

But the owner wanted it to happen, and one of the reasons he wanted it to happen was because he wanted this off-season to be an off-season that created some hope. Yeah. And I think they've done that. Well, I think it's been achieved. I get that, but, you know, it gets cold in December. It gets pretty cold in December. You know what I mean?

And it rains a lot in November. Yes. So we still have that to look forward to. Here's the thing that that's so off-putting, I think, and what scares Redskins fans that they don't want to admit it. They know what the potential for damage to a young kid like Dwayne Haskins can be with an owner who's enamored with him. They know what, look, I watched the whole Joe Thaisman jersey thing from afar.

Oh, that's right. You weren't here for that. No, I wasn't here for that. but what they did to a kid who already has been empowered by the owner, the only prospect that the owner met with at the combine, and the one who the owner called the night of the draft to tell him that he was picked by the Washington Redskins. That kid's going to walk into that locker room with a special dispensation

for a jersey that any other person, in that locker room wanted to wear they couldn't for any realm. If Jordan Reed decided he wanted to wear number 81, how do you think that would work? That's not going to happen. And the last

thing they needed to do with Haskins, the entertainment company that they've set up. Yes, H&H. Yes. Is empower them with special treatment by giving him a jersey that Redskins fans value

that he didn't do anything. It hasn't even stepped in the locker room yet to earn what they, based on what happened, you see, if they think they did anything wrong with RG3 and they don't think they did anything wrong with him, they would realize, you know, what we need to do with this kid is to say,

you're just like any other rookie. You haven't done anything for us yet. You want a number? Pick a number and make it special for you. Make your number. You know, Joe said that to Haskins and said, I want you to go think about this and then get back to me a little bit later. And he thought about it and got back to him and said, I want number seven. I get that.

I understand that. Because that's good business for Haskins and Haskins. I understand that. And it's his number. You know, I mean, that's what he wanted. But, look, again, the situation with Thaisman, people say, well, Joe said it was okay. Well, what was he going to say? Once the team refused to step in and say, no, you know, we're not giving a.

that out. What's Joe going to say no? I mean, you puts him in a bad situation. So you have, by the way, real quickly, because I totally agree with everything you're saying, just because you weren't here for this to hear my view on it. I totally agree with what you're saying. This is not a Joe decision. This is an organization decision. And that that's the way all of these things should play out. And I do think ultimately to make things really simple, they retire some jerseys and then they leave and then they don't retire jerseys. And they make the decision on which jersey. he's retired and which aren't and we move forward, you know, with that. I agree with that.

But, but Joe, Joe can't be put on the spot. It's awkward. Yes. You know, and it's, but to your point, and I made this point, too, about the lesson that we have to hope that Dan Snyder learned from the RG3 experience, but then again, to learn a lesson, you think you, you have to believe and admit that you made a mistake. And I don't think that they think they made a mistake. But, um, the reason that, you know, he left it up to.

Joe is he knew Joe would be in an awkward position and he wants Haskins to wear seven. Of course he does. He knows the merchandise sales for seven. Although I didn't see any Haskins jerseys in Italy. I was kind of surprised. Well, it's early, maybe next year. I was kind of surprised at that. And I don't know Dwayne Haskins from Adam. Everything I've read from him about him is it seems like a really good kid. Seems like he's got a lot of talent. He's very savvy from a business standpoint. He and his father. Yes. The draft not, you may not know this. They wanted to spend it with friends and family,

and they did out at a bowling alley in Gatorsburg where they charged $50 ahead to get in. Haskins and Haskins. So they can generate some revenue off of this brand. And I don't resent that in a vacuum. It's just that you know what it represents what it's represented before.

What it's represented before? You can't, I mean, unless you're taking a lot of medication, You can't forget what has happened before. You know, it's so funny because I haven't, Aaron and I have talked about it. You know, a couple of other people that I've had on, we've talked about it. There are two things here with Haskins. One is the football thing. And then the other, because you can't do it in a vacuum, you just can't,

because the context is an owner that over the years with a player that he's enamored with has effed it up for the player and the team. Yes. And so, but what's amazing is how many people will say, you know, just let him play. We're going to let him play. We don't have a choice. Of course we're going to let him play and we're going to evaluate him when he plays. But to ignore, you know, a draft night of 50 bucks ahead and a Bentley with embroidered logos

into the seats of his clothing brand in the context of this owner, an RG3 and, you know, and everything else. Like Tommy said, you must have been medicated for the last six or seven years. It doesn't mean that you can't simultaneously believe that it won't end up the same way and that you're going to, we're all going to sit back, we're going to watch it. As a fan of the team, I hope it turns out completely different because, and, you know, bottom line with something like this, more times than not, it comes down with an owner like Snyder. It's going to come down to the kid.

It's going to come down. He's going to have to be really strong. He's going to have to be strong. He's going to have to have the right mindset. He's going to have to understand that he's going to have to earn it. He's going to have, Tommy, I spent 20 minutes on the show, I think last week or the week before you weren't here saying that the owner has to somehow, if it's not the owner, then the player is going to have to understand this. But it's going to have to be made very clear that there is one voice when it comes to, football related matters.

And I say one, it's the head coach, but it's his position coaches, et cetera, too. But these are the people that are going to have to make him earn it and make him accountable. And then once he's earned it, they're going to have to make him continue to earn it. Because that's what the great ones do. That's what the great ones do. The great ones are not handed special entitlements before they've thrown their first touchdown pass or after a really good season. made to feel like they are the second most important person in the organization after the owner.

He made that mistake with Griffin. It sabotaged the relationship between not only Griffin and his coaching staff, but Griffin and many of his teammates. Yes. And his teammates. He cannot do that with Haskins. His teammates are going to look at a rookie who already has more power than most of the veterans in that locker room. And Haskins has to recognize. And he can't, he's got to, he's got to just go about.

Griffin was, you know, unfortunately for the situation, he was the wrong guy to entitle. Because he was already massively self-absorbed and then took it and ran with it. You know, my sense of it is, is that this guy is not going to be another Griffin. And hopefully he will be able to, you know, remember, Griffin was at Baylor. Baylor wasn't a football power. The success that he had at Baylor was new for Baylor. It changed the program. It changed the program.

Haskins was at Ohio State where, you know, there have been a lot of guys with much bigger names than Haskins. Yes. To come through that program. But there's. And he had to sit and learn behind, you know, J.T. Barrett. Haskins may not be R.G.3, but the senior Haskins may be a worse version of the senior RG3. He could be a ball. It could be a ball situation.

It could be bad. I mean, based on that conversation he had with that New Jersey reporter, we're talking about a little bit of unhingement there. And so, look, we're just saying, I'm just saying, look, I understand why Redskins fans would be excited. If you've been walking through the desert for 20 years and you see a water fountain in the day, distance. Even if it's a mirage, you're excited about it because you don't know it's a mirage

until you get there. So, I mean, that's what it is. He's a drink of water in the desert. So I understand the excitement. What I don't understand is the Orgy Fest on the Haskins and Haskins network, otherwise known as NBC Sports Washington. I mean, that is just unbelievably over the top. Look, Tommy, Tommy, look. Please. The benefits to everybody that talks Redskins, that covers Redskins, that coaches, plays, owns, manages Redskins, right now there is a benefit to them having drafted Dwayne Haskins at 15. To your point, it gets awfully cold in December, and it may not last long, but right now, I totally get how everybody is trying to leverage this. I think when you do what you do and what I do and what, you know, I think that the bottom line is, is that the only thing that really works is being totally honest.

Yes. It's the only thing that really works. But, you know, they're a partner of the Redskins. And it's right now, things look pretty good. Things look pretty good. I mean, when I say pretty good, it just, things are optimistic. I'll tell you, I am optimistic about Montez Sweat. This is a guy I wanted. This is a guy I loved. It's a guy I loved watching play.

And if he ends up being Von Miller or something close, the Redskins are going to be able to compete with a really good defense. That to me is as important to watch here in 2019. But nothing's guaranteed. I still think this is a double-digit loss team in 2019. I still think it is too. But I might want to point out for people who say I'm so negative about the Redskins, and I don't particularly care that you say that one way or the other, before the season started last year, after I watched them in OTAs and after I watched them before at least before the first game of training camp when Darius Geis got hurt,

I thought they were a nine-win team going into the season last year. We both thought that they were going to be much improved with a really good defense and with Alex Smith managing the game that a nine-win season was in play. I don't think that about 2019. And we were wrong last year. Yeah, we were. They ended up seven and nine and the offense wasn't very good,

even when they were six and three. on the way to six and four. So that's all. I understand the giddiness, just from a media perspective, I think it would be, I think, be more professional if it was tempered. Yeah, I think there's, I think when you've had, you know, the rock bottom hit in December, early January, that rock bottom affects everybody. Yes, it does.

It affects everybody. And I've said this a million times. Even though I don't necessarily think that we've been really devastated or hurt badly by their dysfunction, winning would be 10 times better. Them winning and becoming a contender would be so much better for everybody in the market. I just don't know. That's the truth. That's the truth.

I just unfortunately, as a die-hard lifelong fan have come to the realization that as long as Dan Snyder owns this team and Bruce Allen's running it, It's a long shot, if not impossible, to have sustained success. Unless, and we've said this before, unless somehow they draft accidentally Patrick Mahomes. And maybe Dwayne Haskins is Patrick Mahomes or Ben Rafflesberger. That would be awesome. We need to get Scott in here because he's got to go. But quick word about stamps.com. Stamps.com is perfect for small businesses.

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K-E-V-I-N-D-C. That's Stamps.com. Enter Kevin D.C. All right, let's bring in Scott Van Pelt for his weekly visit with us. I do want to talk some PGA Championship with him. It's underway at Beth Page Black. But before we get to that, let's talk about the NBA playoffs for a moment and talk about Golden State. what does it mean that Golden State got through Houston without Kevin Durant, you know, from the third quarter on in game five, and then winning game six on the road, and then handling Portland in game one. By the way, I like the Blazers tonight a lot, plus seven and a half, as an aside. What does it mean? Like, what are we watching? Are we watching a team that could have won the last two titles without Durant?

Um, I don't know. Maybe. I mean, they're really good. good without him. Steph Curry is really good. And Draymond and Clay's a great shooter. I don't know that they would have won the last, I don't know that they would have won without them. I mean, they had one without them. I think they're going to be without them next year.

So they probably should get used to life without them again. It would be my guess. But I don't know. I mean, what difference does it make? Oh, I think it makes a big difference. I think that there's been, you know, a debate. and maybe a one-sided debate that, you know, Durant was largely responsible for this dynasty,

that they did win one without him at the beginning, and then they lost one without him, and then he has been arguably, you know, a top two or top three player the last two years. But I tend to think after watching this team here recently that they certainly could have had similar results without him. I think it's remarkable that, that they potentially didn't need Durant to win three titles in four years.

Well, I mean, the record without him and with Steph's been great. And I just personally enjoyed seeing Steph be great in the fourth. I feel like he gets scrutinized more, and his poor performances nitpicked more than a lot of other players. And I don't know. He was just spectacular watching him in that fourth quarter against Houston was amazing. And then watching Portland decide to just let the pigs not sort of double. I mean, it was astounding.

I mean, you're going to let the best shooter come off a pick and get a wide open look. How does that work out? Well, I thought it was funny what Terry Stott said afterwards when he was asked about that. He said, so did Houston double him off that pick and roll? The answer was yes. And how many points did he have in the second half the other night, 33? and then he said. No, I like that. I mean, I appreciated Stutt's response, and his point was he only got a few of those out of the pick and roll. I just think, I mean, look, Steph's one of the

greatest shoes that's ever lived, and you sort of had to pick your spots, and he's probably going to get his one way or another. I think it is true, though, and I saw the debate that you had after Game 6 with Stephen A on your show, because it followed that game last Friday night. And I do think that he gets picked on. And I think there's a lot, like, I even have sensed it from maybe players who have said, you know, Steph ain't all what you guys think he is. You know, first of all, he's a terrible defender. And if you really crowd him, you can muscle him and beat him up. And the dude went after zero in the first half in a game, in a close-out game against a team that, you know, was so convinced they were robbed a year ago. And by the way, that's my favorite part of the

playoffs is that Houston's done. And he goes for 33. I do. think he's been picked on, and there's been this underlying thing about Steph Curry, not being as great as many of the fans think. Yeah, that's a thing. And then, you know, he goes out and scores 23 in the fourth and 33 in the second half. Then he has nine three-pointers in his first game against Portland. I mean, I've taken to just making fun of it on the show, just sort of laughing and saying, you know, how's your step slander working out?

And he's certainly not above being criticized, of course. Of course you can. You can criticize him. But I mean, I think it just, the team's just gross. And Durant's a luxury, which is amazing because he is arguably the best player on the planet and they don't need him. And they'll get him back at some point between now and the finals. And I think they will need him because I think they're going to play Milwaukee.

And I think Milwaukee is the best team in basketball because they have been. You know, Kevin, I think maybe some of the players, look at Steph and just say, well, he's just shooting the ball, you know. I mean, that's all he's doing. He's just shooting the ball. That's been Tommy's thing about Steph because he's been one of the reasons. What's so great? He's just shooting it.

I mean, that's all he's doing. Better than anybody in the history of the game, including Rick Berry. Okay, it's a glorified game of horse. Okay. That's fine. Well, let's not talk about lack of respect. What about Steve Kurt? Does he get any respect in any of this storyline as to where his place is

in coaching history? Not really, and that's kind of odd because, I mean, you know, everyone talks about Phil Jackson and he had several of the greatest players that ever lived. I mean, show me the coach that won without great players. I'll wait for that list. Oh, you're right. I mean, I've seen a lot of coaches screw up talent, so I never penalize a coach for winning with great talent.

I agree with you there. No, but the main thing, and Jackson obviously did it instead, and Steve Kerr's having to do it, is manage, manage. Gos, managed personalities, and it's certainly different now. It's fascinating, actually, now to see the way you have to deal with it in the era where everyone's thinking out loud on social media and everyone's sensitive. And Kevin Durant certainly very high on the list of those people. You have to figure out how to navigate all of those types of things.

And I think Kerr has been great at that. Because he lived it. I mean, he played for that circus with the Bulls back in the day and knows kind of what personality management's like. He dealt with the all-time alpha and Michael as a teammate. So, I mean, he ought to get credit. I just don't think we're in the business of really giving lots of credit these days to coaches because they just go look at who he's got.

You've loved the Bucks all year long. They were the best team record-wise in the regular season. Toronto had a shot last night to steal game one, and they didn't. I've come around on your thinking on Milwaukee. I actually liked them to win this series, even though I'm rooting for Toronto. I thought they would win it in five. When they get to the finals, which I think they will,

and I think they will against Golden State, I think the series price is going to be interesting because I think Milwaukee is definitely that Vegas is bullish on the bucks, and I think the public will just think Golden State, because we know a lot of people when it comes to this sport, tune in for the NBA finals. I think that price, even with Durant, is going to be really slim. Do you agree?

Yes. I think Vegas has told you, without telling you, all you have to do is pay attention. The numbers are there with what their series price was against Toronto. I mean, they were prohibiting favorites against a good team. And what they were to win even a week ago compared to Golden State very similar. So, I mean, look, they went 16 and 22. They had more blowout wins than anybody in the NBA. Their profile, if you take their name off of it, their profile is finals winner based on what they've been and what the numbers say about them historically.

But because their name says Milwaukee and because there's still very little buy-in because it's like, okay, well, what are they all other than Janus? It's like Bledsoe, Brooke Lopez, Middleton. Well, he's an all-star. Middleton is an all-star. And if you don't understand that, well, I can't help you, and I don't care. You don't have to be smart if you don't want to be. They're really, really good. So when you see that number and you're going to dive on Golden State,

I think the values are Milwaukee. If there's a plus to them for that series, that you should just take it. If there's a what, or did you say a plus? I'm sorry, you faded out there. Yes. If there's a plus, there's definitely going to be a plus if Durant's back, and I have no idea what that is.

But I think even if Durant isn't back, it's still going to be a plus. It may be a plus 130 or a plus 140, something like that. But the public's going to play Golden State, and they're going to try to bait you into taking them too. I agree. I'm just saying that the smart play would be to take the better team. What did you think about the lottery the other night?

and where Zion's going. Compelling. Really compelling. And it's fascinating how much interest this young man has around him. And this whole he's going to go back to Duke. I mean, and I don't know that any smart people were saying it other than like, oh, well, he doesn't want to go to New Orleans. Well, how did anyone do that be the same people that were saying he shouldn't play at Duke after his shoe blew up or the people saying he should go back to Duke?

Just stop talking. Wait a minute. What are you talking? People are saying that he should go back to Duke. Now? Yeah, there's some people that are saying that. Well, he can't, right? No, I think he can.

He can. He can. Sure he could. I mean, you're allowed to sign with agents now and go back. Yeah. If you, there's a path back. And if you just go back. Would New Orleans own his rights next year?

Would New Orleans, he'd go back into the draft next year? I think so. But there's no care. No, they own his rights. Really? Right. People don't understand that. and they also don't understand how much money is going to make for a shoe deal.

And people just talk to talk. Yeah, it's ridiculous. The whole looking, New Orleans screwed up Anthony Davis, so they're supposed to blah, blah, blah. You want to know what it is. Winning's hard. It's really hard. Like Philadelphia went through three years of sucking so they could be great because you don't want to be a middle-of-the-road franchise. They could only win like a first-round playoff game.

You know what Philadelphia is done for all their processing? Nothing. They went through first-round series. that's what they've done. Well, even if he went back into, let's say, let's say, I mean, if there's a lottery next year, let's say he did go back. Scott's saying that New Orleans would own his rights,

so he wouldn't go back into the draft. Is that what you're? With my understanding. Okay. I can't. Look, don't take my word for what I'm just saying. I have no idea. Well, I mean, it would be brutally unfair. Well, it's a whole ridiculous conversation

to be going back to Duke. I agree with that. So, anyway, my reaction was that I'm, glad that the teams that tried not to win didn't get it. I think that the whole tanking, I hate tanking, I hate it. And the fact that the teams that had the three worst records got three, five, and six, no reason you can't get good players at three, five, and six. But I'm glad they didn't get Zion just because I don't feel like you should get rewarded when you don't try.

I hate that. So it's, I mean, he, he single-handedly has a attention that's unique. This guy Wiseman makes year maybe the number one player, he's not going to have it the same way Zion did. He's rare in that way. Oh, yeah. I mean, Tommy, I actually wish you were here for this conversation, but I went back through the list of all of the number one picks in NBA history. And he's in a select class of about 10 to 12 players that are not just consensus number ones. There have been many of those, but players who were thought to be in the moment, guys that were historically great and would immediately alter the fortunes of the franchise that took him. And Zion is in that class. I mean, he's the biggest needle mover as a number one pick, probably since LeBron.

And we got to see him for a year. We didn't even get to see LeBron. And in the era of a, I mean, I think what he did for college basketball this year was amazing because, you know, it's one of our favorite sports, Scott. And the truth of the matter is the popularity's been waning. And he gave it a jolt this year. And it was followed up by a great NCAA tournament, as it turned out, with epic games. He really was responsible for that. Anyway, PGA Championship. Tiger got off to a rough start. He's actually, I think he's got it back to one over now as we speak. Nobody cares about where he is right now. But who did you like going into it? I picked Kepka. I said it's a big boy golf course, and he's a big boy. That was the line I gave for our PR

folks that asked for a pick, and he's off to a roaring start. You're going to have to be able to smash it out there. And he just elevates his game in majors. And I like them, and he's off to a great start. I mean, as we talk here, it's early, you know, half the field hasn't even played their first round. So, you know, it's, who knows, but Kepka's, he's that guy, man, he gets a sniff of it, and he's tough to deal with. This guy right now in sports is one of the top clutch, big game, big tournament, and their sport performers. He's become that, you know, in two years. And yeah, he's off to an amazing start. By the way, had you played him in our golf pool? Do you have him? I did. So who's your other? We picked two. Fee now. I thought I picked,

I thought you had two. I did, but I was wrong. I ended up picking Justin Rose and the Masters at our golf pool. No one cares about our golf pool, but I had Fee now and books. That's nice. I'm just By the way, I looked up this thing about draft rights as we were talking, and I knew it was something about if you go early, not that if you're, if you're an early entrant, the draft rights are held until one year after the first NBA draft they could have entered as a non-early entry player, if that makes any sense. So it's not forever, but it's more than a year. Anyway, he's not going back to Duke just going back to that conversation. He's going to go play for New Orleans. he's going to make a shit ton of money. All right, thanks.

Appreciate it. Thank you, Scott. All right, boys. Have a good day, boys. All right, you too. Scott Van Pelt, everybody. Go to launchworkplaces.com. If you've been thinking about a new office space,

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and you can find out where all of those are at launchworkplaces.com. Don't forget, by the way, to rate and review us on iTunes. And I did hear from some of you, and Aaron, I don't know if you got this or not, some of you had mentioned that the show wasn't automatically downloading the last few days. We're looking into that. One of the things I would suggest if for whatever reason you're not getting the show normally like you have is to potentially just delete it and resubscribe. And that should kick it into gear.

But I did put out a note to our platform provider. And I'm hoping to get some answers as to why that is happening, especially on iTunes. And I know also that I guess Google Play, you get it a little bit later. Some of you have mentioned that too than everyone else is getting. I don't know why that is

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These are the problems of a broadcast tycoon. Tycoon. Ant-sized. All right. So tonight, if you're not doing anything and you're thinking about, I got nothing to do tonight, beautiful night again tonight. Yes. Come down to Shelley's backroom for Tommy's annual event.

It's a great cause. It is a great cause. It's a great cause. And you always have a good turnout. And I'm going to be down there for a little. a while and I'm sure other friends of yours will be there. Not all of your friends because some of them don't want to come down downtown, but it's actually easy to get to Metro and plenty of parking around Shelly's. What else do you have to say? That's all I got to say, except I'm glad to be back. I'm

happy that they let me back in the country. I mentioned your name and that got me back in. I'm glad you're back to. Missed you as always. And I think all of our listeners did do. Not all of them. Not all of them. But you know what I say to this? them. I don't really care what they say. I have fun on Tuesdays and Thursdays with Tommy. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to all of you back tomorrow.