The Kevin Sheehan Show - Thom's Ted Take + Commanders In Miami

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

Kevin and Thom today with more reaction to the letter Ted Leonsis wrote to them about a potential future Summer Olympics in DC. The guys talked Guinness Beer and Jameson Irish Whiskey before getting to the Commanders. Some conversation about MMQB's Albert Breer report on his visit to Ashburn and then Kevin had plenty of follow up to Washington's joint practice in Miami including a telling quote from Dan Quinn about Jahan Dotson.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show is Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor as always as Wind Donation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com.

Mention my name. You will get a free estimate. Tommy, this from Hollywood Hendo via Apple Podcast reviews. Daily listener, even during wizard segments, one of the best DC sports pods out there, which is especially appreciated living in L.A. Pro tip for new listeners, though. Once you hear Kevin say,

tell us about Shelley's to Tom, you can almost guarantee any actual reporting or serious conversation is done. Laughing emoji. Hollywood Hendo gave us five stars. If you get an opportunity and you haven't rated and reviewed the show on Apple, do that for us. It's really helpful. If you think we deserve it, five stars and a quick one to two sentence review is all you need to do.

You can pause the podcast right now and do it on Apple. Follow us on Apple and Spotify and subscribe to the podcast if you haven't subscribed. That's a big help for us as well. This is going to be a show where Tommy's going to do the first two segments, and then I'm going to save the third segment for all of the joint practice with the dolphins today information to come in for the sound to be there. So the final segment will be about today's joint practice with the dolphins. But Tommy, we heard from Ted Leonis. He wrote us a letter. It was so nice. Yes.

And I talked about it yesterday, so I'll let you kind of give your spiel. But for those that haven't seen it and those that haven't listened to yesterday's podcast, Tommy and I had a conversation about Ted's retweet of a tweet about the Olympics ending in Paris and that D.C. had bid on the 2024 Olympics. Did not get the Olympics, as most of you know. But Ted had tweeted out that, you know, this will happen in D.C. one day, and it'll be a great thing for the community. And we talked about that the other day, and, you know, Ted responded to our conversation. You know, I was kind of surprised.

I mean, Ted and I have a long history. You know, there was a time when he actually really liked me. and he actually wrote that in one of his blog post, remember Ted's take, that he would do from time to time. And he wrote one, this is very early in his ownership of the capitals. You know, I really like Tom Laverro. He's smart, he's funny, and all this. But he was about to complain about something I wrote. But he wrote all that.

So I remember at the time, at the time I sent that to Stan Capp. And when he was still president of the nationals. And I said, Stan, look what Ted wrote. Why don't you write nice things about me like this? And Stan said, because Ted's better fiction than I am. But so we've had this relationship for a long time. We've had some rocky roads where he would push back on something I wrote or, you know, was just added a blue sometimes, and then I would write a column about it.

And, you know, it was kind of a situation where he figured out, you know, he just might be better off not saying anything. But I think at this stage in Ted's career, I think he's worried about his legacy. I think that's what the whole Olympic thing is about, reviving it now, you know, and saying that, you know, we can still do this someday. because the Olympics The Olympic bid goes down as another failure on his resume. It does.

I didn't even know he was a big part of the 2024 D.C. bid, honestly. And maybe I did know that at one time, but that didn't stick with me. The failure to get the Olympics in 2024 was not a shocker. It wasn't a major disappointment to the area.

No, but he, but he invested a lot. It was him and Russ Ramsey. That was pretty much it. And a cast of people who basically were recruited into doing it. But it was Ted's baby. And, you know, it came up short. And when they bid, they're only bidding for the United States Olympic Committee's designation. Right.

Okay. The U.S.O.C. designates an Olympic, an American city to bid for the United States. for the games to the IOC. Yeah. So that was only just one step. And they didn't even get that step. Well, the Boston won that bid from the U.S.OC.

And then Boston voters said, no, no, no, no, we don't want this. So Boston, after getting the bid, backed out of it. So they never even got to the IOC bidding process for 2016, for 2000, yeah, 2024. To 2024. So, was Boston going to get the bid? Well, they had the U.S.O.C. bid. They had the U.S.O.C. designation. Really?

Yes. Boston was going to be the American representative to bid for the 2024 Olympics to the IOC. But then the outrage from people who realized it was a scam. Remember, this is the, this is Boston T-Part area right here, baby. They said, you know, we don't want to hold the back on this thing because the host cities or host government municipalities have to guarantee the costs involved in these Olympics. You know, they go and say, you know, we'll generate all this money. We'll make money here. We'll make money there.

But if they don't, which a lot of them don't, the government has to put up the money for that. Right. And Boston voters said, no, no, thanks. We don't want this. and the outrage was so great that the mayor said we're out we changed our mind uh that's interesting yeah i'm reading that right now and then la ended up becoming the u s oc um uh bid for the 2020 24 games yeah no what no for 2024 and then paris got them and then they were for 2028 and they got the 2028 games so and la may be the only city in america that may ever hope that they ever hope that

the Summer Olympics in our lifetime. Because one thing, they seem to be well suited for facilities-wise. They had a good experience with it in 1984. And like I said to you, the last time we talked about this, you know, Washington, D.C. has a lot of baggage, political baggage around the world. And the IOC is a European-driven organization. and the last thing they want to do is really give a win to the United States in Washington by letting them post the Olympics.

So it's never coming here, certainly not in anybody's lifetime who exists now. So for those that are just catching up and don't really know what we're talking about, when Tommy and I discussed this the other day, and Tommy's been incredibly consistent over the years when it comes to Olympic host cities and the damage it does and the the damage it leaves for host cities after they're gone. You know, pretty much said this would be a disaster if it ever happened. And Ted wrote us a letter. He, you know, said, Kevin and Tom, I listened and I appreciated the conversation, wanted to put my thoughts down in response. And it's a long letter. And I appreciate Ted taking the

time to write it. It's a long letter. He writes, Kevin and Tom, I'm too old to be involved with the next generation bid for the Olympic Games in D.C., but I do have institutional knowledge about the process and hope a younger energetic leader locally can emerge

willing to activate the community and go for it and take the risk and the slings and arrows that would be coming their way. The U.S.OC must pay respect at some point to the hand that feeds them, federal D.C. And our community has many of the same pieces that a Los Angeles has as to infrastructure,

arenas, stadiums, airports, and universities. We're the most global destination in America, and we're accustomed to hospitality for tourists and VIP visitors. By the way, is D.C. more than New York, the most global destination in America for people outside of this country? I know tourism is our number one industry after the federal government. But do you think that we generate more tourists a year than New York? I don't know. I don't think so. And he also writes, we are also the most secure destination on the planet.

The games to be bid on would most likely be held 20 to 24 years from now. And Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. will all support the games and host events. I bet even Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas will be supportive as events would be hosted across the region, including in her district. Of course, Louise Lucas was the one that pretty much single-handedly blew up the move to Virginia for Ted with the Caps and the Wizards. And then he writes, Tom may still be writing for the Washington Times, and Kevin, you may still be hosting your show in 24. Doubtful on both fronts, Ted, but thanks for the confidence. But we need new younger leaders to think big and go for it in the community and country.

benefit. There's more and more. And then the last two paragraphs, I think, are where he kind of attempts to tell us how he really feels with respect to what we talked about the other day. He writes, and please muzzle the whiners that say, but the traffic, the heat, the investment, the white elephant buildings, lazy loser recycled complaints. I've watched the London games. I've watched the London games and now the Paris games closely. And while some games like Brazil did not help the economy as advertised, London and Paris were huge wins for all. And then he lists, you know, uplifted tech infrastructure, new public transportation, low-income

housing, activated tourism, expanded city limits, created venues that are now used by the communities that they were erected in, cleaned up rivers, made waterways usable for commutes, and reintroduced London and Paris as world-class modern cities. I think I knew before the Olympics that London and Paris were world-class modern cities. But anyway, filled with history and great and engaging people, drove ongoing

tourism, put people to work to stimulate the economies during the construction stages. And then he writes and concludes this long letter, I think we either make dust or we will eat dust as a community. Don't look back, Tom and Kevin, look forward and let

us all get motivated to be healthy and live long enough to cover the greater Washington games. Become cheerleaders for our community. Grow interest in sports and competition. Shine a positive light on our locale and people. It is a great life mission. Tommy, there is the last leg of your life, the last quarter of your life. This should be your life mission. Go get it done. Be positive. Shine a positive light on our locale. And the people that live in it. He used the word that drives me nuts, cheerleader.

He's cheerleader. You know? I mean, there's no shortage. I've always contended to people who say, why aren't you more positive? I said, this city is full of cheerleaders. They're all over the place. You know, there's not that many people who aren't. And I basically consider that part of my responsibility, such as this.

A 2016 study by the University of Oxford, okay, pretty good school came out and said that the Olympics average, all the Olympics, all the summer and winter Olympics, they averaged cost overruns of 156%. All of them. Here's the London Games that he so proudly heralds. The London Games were at the time the most expensive Olympics ever at $15 billion. That overwent their original budget by 76 percent,

76 percent higher than the cost that they had told the public it would be. Quote, when it finally turned out that the final cost overruns were slightly below the revised budget, the organizers falsely but very publicly claimed that the London Games had come in under budget such deliberate misinformation of the public about cost and cost overruns treads a fine line between spin

and outright line so people like to tout the fact that London eventually came in slightly under budget but that was only because the budget had increased by 76% from the time they had originally proposed it. So again, it's a fraud. It's a scam. It exists to create infrastructure for the powerful who get to build this infrastructure.

And I know I sound like I'm like standing on a soapbox here with this part. But the benefits for the people who live in these communities are nil. So I read a little bit, too, about some of the actual quantifiable, you know, numbers for a lot of these games. The London games were a disaster financially in terms of just a straight P&L. Beijing was a disaster. Rio was a disaster. So, you know, you've been right with this critique of host cities for the most part, really struggling. after the fact. I don't think that that's what he was specifically referring to, though, in this letter.

Let me just give him the benefit of the doubt on, I think he's really talking about what it does long, long term. You know, the spotlight on the community for two weeks or on the city for two weeks, you know, activates tourism. Not that we need tourism because it's our number one industry after the federal government. But the infrastructure that's created can be leveraged after the fact. You know, public transportation, the stadiums that are left. Obviously, if we had an Olympics in 2024 in D.C., we would have a brand new football stadium by now. We'd have a new arena for basketball. You know, when he's talking about just infrastructure and transportation,

and clean rivers. And he's not, I don't think, really referring to the fact, and I think it is a fact in most cases, that the bottom line is really ugly after, you know, in the immediate aftermath of these games for the host city. You know, I want to, yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. No, go ahead.

I wanted to respond to what you said at the beginning because it made me think of something. When you said you think that Ted, kind of interested now in his legacy, and that this could be a big part of the legacy that he leaves. That's interesting to me, because personally, there's nothing about the Olympics coming to D.C. with Ted and Russ Ramsey leading the charge that, for me, would make me change my mind about Ted's legacy. For me, it's all about the Wizards becoming a contender at some point during his ownership. That's so much more important to me.

But that's a personal preference. If you told me the Olympics in 2040 or 2044 or within the next five to seven years, the Wizards have a legitimate, sustained contending team, I would take that, the latter, every day of the week and twice on Sunday because I haven't had that since I was. in my childhood years in the 70s. But when you said legacy and you said the Olympics, do you remember the conversation we had about Dan Snyder for a few years?

When it became clear to Dan, I don't know if it ever became clear to Dan, it became clear to all of us that his team was never, ever going to win. He was going to be labeled one of the worst sports owners in the history of professional team sports. And that's when he really started to focus on the new stadium. And we had the drawings from the Danish company or the, you know, the architect in Danish with the moat and the, and it looked really pretty. And, and I remember coolly telling me that, you know, Dan actually is much more of a

creative person than he is anything else. And that's what interests him more than anything else. And he thinks leaving this city with a great football stadium would really help his legacy and the way people think about him. You only worry about legacy if you're a sports owner when your teams haven't performed. And that's the issue with Snyder. And it's the issue with Ted, who let's face it has had a free pass as the learners have had. Now, the Stanley Cup is real. They won the Stanley Cup.

We all understand that. A World Series was won the year after, and that's great. But for the most part, Ted's basketball team, which could be an absolute powerhouse in this city, if it ever was a contender, has been an outright disaster. And I think, you know, when you mentioned legacy and he's concerned about it, how often are you concerned about your legacy? if your teams are really good. That's your legacy. Well, yeah. I mean, I think you're spot on.

Sports-wise. Sports ownership-wise. Yeah. I think you're spot on with a lot of that. The things that he did talk about, first of all, like we discussed before, what are we talking about with tourism? The actual tourism of the event? Because, like, we've documented. No, that's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about the fact that your city is, is the focal point of the entire world for two weeks. And by the way, this city would look great. Right. It would look great on television. It would look great. But Washington does not need that kind of help. Washington is not being that.

International, right. Tourism help. As far as the benefits, the infrastructure benefits, you know, there's a government process in place that, like it or not, that exists to basically to, basically meet the people's desires when it comes to growth and infrastructure and things like that. And to foresee that through the back door of an Olympic bid over the wishes of people who I think if you put it to the vote in almost every city in America, people would vote

against hosting the Olympics. And to say that this would bring all these infrastructure benefits, maybe it would, but at what cost, you know, basically you've ignored the democratic process that's in place to create these kinds of things. You know, I mean, there's a process that exists that when it's time to have something built or clean something up, there's a process. public process in place to put pressure on that. The Olympics bypasses that. You know, that's just like, like when they had the committee that Ted and Russ were part of, first of all,

for almost a year, they kept quiet all the other members of the committee, you know, and there was no information that came out about them. So what I don't like is part. Wait, which committee? The D.C. Bid committee? Yes. Okay. Yeah, they basically, the other members of the committee were kept secret for almost the year until that finally came out. Now, that may be because they couldn't get anyone else on board. Well, who else was on the committee? Did you find out who else was on the committee? Yeah, it actually came out. I forget who at all.

The usual suspects of government leaders and corporate leaders and things like that. But for a year, it was just Ted and Russ Ramsey. you know and and these organizations they operate secretly with government money and that's never good so uh i mean ted's arguments i think are hollow you know and uh i'm just glad he responded though that was fun yeah i'm i am definitely interested like i said the other day i would actually love to see what went into that bid. Is that if you, why isn't that bid available? Is it available?

Like, whatever they pitched to the U.S.O.C, whatever year they did it for the 2024 games, shouldn't that be available? I think, I don't know if the whole thing's available or not. Because I'd actually, I'm certainly willing to read through the pitch and try to understand where the obvious benefits are and consider whether or not they outweigh the cons. Because I'm sure that there is, in the things that he refers to, I think that's the vision, is what it does for the city and how it builds the city into a different city because of the infrastructure. But Tommy, who pays for all that infrastructure?

When you host, does the host city pay for that? Or is it the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee's funds that pay for that. How do the economics work? Well, that's what they tell you that the money generated from the Olympics would pay for a lot of this stuff. But that doesn't happen, you know? And as far as the pitch, you can guarantee it's a fraudulent document. Yeah. Like every Olympic pitch is, because they throw out a ridiculous budget figure that they know is too low

to try to soften the blow of what it's going to cost. And like I said, if D.C. Maryland and Virginia were involved, all three of those entities would have to sign off on saying, you know, if there's cost overruns, we'll fund them. Yeah. You know, the part that just bent me a little bit is the, you know, muzzle the whiners that say, you know, but the traffic, but the heat, you know, lazy loser recycled complaints. You know, Ted, and we've had conversations with Ted over the years,

although not many at all in recent years. You know, we did the sit down with him 10 years ago. ago, 12 years ago now, I forget when it was. It was a while ago when we had them on for the lunch with a legend two-hour show. And there was a lot of the, you know, I'm the visionary here in this conversation. And because of that, you know, listen to me. You know, remember, there was a lot of discussion about how we did not talk enough hockey on our show and that we were going to get left behind if we didn't start talking about more hockey on the show. But whatever, we've talked about that in the past. But, you know, I can't imagine personally that things like traffic and transportation

and weather aren't in consideration and aren't discussed when considering a host city for the Olympics. I mean, I can't imagine that that's really a lazy loser recycled, you know, a discussion point. because you'd never host an Olympics in Phoenix in August. You know, you would never have Miami or New Orleans, two hurricane areas host an Olympics in August. Of course, weather and traffic have to be part of the conversation. Or maybe they're not. Maybe it is lazy, loser, recycled conversation.

But to me, it's just more. of like a natural reaction to, oh, you're considering that city. Like, again, considering our city for this time of the year in the summer, God bless the people that show up for it. I hope they have umbrellas and some self-misting technology. But of course that's part of the discussion in the discourse over a host city, I would think. Look, Ted's been, I got, I don't understand it, but, you know, he's been, he was, he went on a, you know, the whole, and the whole Olympic, the, the whole Virginia arena thing got, got, you know, basically blew up in his face. He went on a media tour, basically.

instead of, you know, licking his wounds, he stood out there on a media tour and basically blamed it on everyone but him. And he would speak to anyone who would listen, except to us. He wouldn't talk guts about it. No, we'd try. But he would speak to anyone who would listen about that. So, I mean, this continues. It's basically shameless effort to paint a picture that just, I tell you what, it's not very transparent. parent. Here's how he turns around the narrative on himself. Get his hockey team and basketball team.

I'm talking about the NBA team. All due respect to the mystics. But the NBA team and the NHL team to win and win consistently and eventually win big. And they did it once with the hockey team. I've said this for my entire life in certainly all the years that I've been doing this, many of which have been with you, that if the Wizards ever became a legitimate NBA championship contender, it would be the only thing that would rival the football team. And it would come close. It would be massive. Ted knows that.

Ted's a basketball guy. He bought the caps so he could get the Wizards, right? I mean, he's from Brooklyn. He's more of a basketball guy than he ever has been a hockey guy. And if that happened, his legacy would be cemented for good if he could bring an NBA championship back to this city. It would be incredible. That's what I'm most interested in with respect to all of his holdings. Do respect to the Caps, Mystics, the e-sports team, and monumental sports network.

By the way, Tommy, on the show the other day, the radio show, we did do a Twitter poll in the wake of Ted's tweet. Would you want the Summer Olympics in D.C.? 60.6% said no. 39.4% said yes. Now, let me just say, that was on a couple hundred votes. When we do any sort of football, poll, we get thousands of votes when we do a Twitter poll. So the interest level in this poll wasn't very high to begin with, which may be telling. But still, you know, enough votes and enough of a sample size.

you know, basically 61.39 would say no to the Olympics being in D.C. But anyway, I personally don't remember a lot about the 2024 bid process. I'm sure we talked about it on the show, but I think it also speaks to it wasn't a big deal except for the, you know, the TED monumental FBR Russ Ramsey bubble. You know, it was a big deal for those people, for the greater majority of people that follow sports or are big time sports fans. I mean, we tend to have a good feel for that because of what we do. This was never a massive topic. Maybe it's because the assumption was D.C. wouldn't get it.

But I don't know. Anything else on this? Ted, we'd love to come to a game. This was the first year, the first year of my life that I've not been to a wizard's game. Oh, that's not true. I did go to a Wizards game this year. What am I talking about? I went to see LeBron.

It's the first year. Oh, I went to another game, too. We sat in the suite. Oh, my God. I went to two games. Well, let me just say, it's the fewest number of Wizards games that I have ever been to in my entire life. I look forward to the day where Balal Kulubali and Alex Saar and, you know, hopefully, hopefully somebody like Cooper Flagg are leading the Wizards deep into the playoffs in late May and June.

That would be fun. And at that point, the legacy starts to turn. His legacy will be based for himself and the people around him that are close to him much more than just his sports team ownership, I'm sure. What else? By the way, you mentioned Kulibali. Yeah. He's pretty much a disaster in the Olympics.

Well, Tommy, he's 19. He's visible. He's 19. He played 11 minutes for game. I understand that. But he was the youngest player on the team. He wasn't expected to play a lot. He made the team.

You know, that was a big deal. France was loaded. I mean, they had a lot of, they had a ton of NBA talent and a ton of older players. He actually played more in that final against the U.S. and had a couple of big shots because I don't think he played at all in the semi-final win for France, but he ended up playing more in the final. But no, it's not a disaster. It was a credit to him that he made the team.

That was a hard team to make for a. 19 or 20-year-old. I like what I've seen from Kulabali so far, a lot. There were two NBA players on that team. No, there were more than two. Side to him. No, there were more than two. What are you talking about?

Well, Evan Fornier, Victor Wambignana. Let me pull up the French team. What's his face from Minnesota? French... Rudy Gobert. Rudy Gobert. That's three right there. Hold on.

Let me just get the roster. All right. Kulabali's four. Batum is five. Nicholas Batum is five. By the way, I didn't realize until this Olympics, what a legend he is in France. He's been on all of their Olympic teams. I mean, Batum's 35 years old now.

So I think Nittalinka is in the NBA. One, two, three, here it is, the teams they're on. One, two, three, four, five NBA players on their team. Canada had the second most to the U.S. I think Canada had nine. But no, this was, that was a hard team to be a part of. You're wrong about that. I think it was a credit to him that he made the team.

I don't think I have. I think it was a bad sign. Bad sign at 19 years old? Come on. 20, by the way. Huh? He's 20. He just turned 20.

End of July. I just looked up his birthday. July 26th. So he made the team as a 19-year-old. Stop it. By the way between Alex Sar in the Summer League and Kubali in the Olympics. You got to wait on basketball players when they're drafted that young. You got to wait three or four years.

I will say this. There was a player that played for France. and I'm looking their roster up right now. DeColo, he was number 12. He's 37 years old. I was wondering how old he was. God damn, he was a tough competitor. He was big for them.

And I don't think, I mean, he was not considered one of their best players. But you could see this was his last Olympics. He wanted it so badly. The French team wanted it so badly. I've always been a Batum fan. He's always, you know, depending on the team that he's been on, he's always been, I think, underrated on the teams that he's been on. You know, played in Portland forever,

and then has been a part of the Clippers in some of their playoff teams in recent years. You know, we got, I didn't pull it, and I'm going to paraphrase it here, but I got a tweet from somebody who said that they essentially appreciated the conversation on the Olympic final, but said there's no way in hell that they'll ever, he would ever consider the Olympic final to be a memorable Steph Curry game. He's got so many more, and to consider the shots that he made as memorable as a joke. And I didn't respond, because I meant to pull it for the show.

I don't think I said that it's the most memorable moment of Steph Curry's career. I did say that the last two and a half minutes, the last two and a half minutes, no, I'll concede this. The last two and a half minutes were memorable. They were. I'm not saying that I'm going to remember that more than, you know, the championships in Golden State. But his four threes over the last two and a half minutes in a gold medal final game are memorable. The other point he made, and I can't find the tweet right now, is that they were 17 and a half point favorites and they were hanging on for dear life. This is not going to be a game that's remembered. Very negative about the entire.

experience of the Olympic final, I thought it was a tremendous basketball game, not cleanly played, but the intensity of it. And I thought seeing how Curry played down the stretch was memorable. But it's not like I'm saying it's one of the most memorable basketball games of all time, or that the Curry shot Tommy, the one at the end, the heave that went in, which was a phenomenal shot. You know, that's not Jordan over Elo or Jordan over Byron Russell or Gar Hurd at the buzzer to force third overtime. But it was exciting. I thought it was really exciting. And I thought it was a moment for Steph Curry for sure.

But anyway, Kula Bali making the team. Nice job. And I thought he played okay in the final. You know what? What? You can sign up for Ted's Army then. You know I would never do that, but I am interested very much in his basketball team. Always have been and we'll be here hopefully one day when they're good,

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You know, it's like one giant menu of excellence when you're talking about Shelley's back room. They have three menus on their website. shelley's backroom.com. They have their drink menu, which is top shelf liquor. They have their food menu. And they have their cigar menu.

You know, and all that is available online to you. And look, I'm not a liquor guy. You know, I don't, I mean, I'll take a drink if somebody buys it for me, a shot, or something like that. But I've always been a straight beer guy, pretty much for the most part. and I know it's like a lot of bars

make it a point of prize about the selections of beers that they have available you know, some of these bars they count, you know, like all these IPAs and stuff. Shelly's has, for not being a brewery bar, for being a cigar bar,

Shelly's has a remarkable list of beers available on drafts like Bell's Amber Ale Blue Moon, Belgian, white, D.C. Brow, IPA, dogfish head, IPA, they have Gittes, Stout, they have Modelo,

Sam Adams, my favorite. Is Sierra Nevada, Pale Ale? You know, they have Yingling, black, and tan. They have I mean, they have a tremendous selection of beers here. The thing is, you know, I like

beer, and people know I like beer, but when people want to talk to me about beer, I really don't know anything about beer. Right. Okay. Here's what I know. I know I can drink it.

And the same thing with cigars. You know, I don't have a particular great knowledge of cigars. I just like to smoke them. But here's the thing at Shelley's, they have a knowledge of both. The bartenders have a great knowledge of the beers and the liquors that they have available and are there to offer their expertise. And the help is also there to give you. some expert advice on what kind of cigar you should pick from the many cigars that they have

available for purchase at Shelley's. Their staff is a menu of excellence as well. Check it out for yourself at Shelley's backroom, 1331 S Street, right down in the heart of the district. You know, I don't think I told you this, but when I was in Ireland, I did not go to the Guinness factory, but I did go to the Jamison Distillery. and took that tour. I'm like you. Like, I drink beer. I don't know a lot about it.

I know beer that I like. I know beer that I don't like. When it comes to, you know, straight booze, I'll drink vodka. That's really my preference. But I'm not a whiskey drinker. I'm not a gin drinker. I'm not really even a tequila drinker or a rum drinker. I'll drink vodka.

but for me, especially recently, Tommy, it's been all about beer for the most part. I just, I don't, the day after or even the night of with booze is a problem. You know, like it's just, you get effed up way too quickly drinking vodka and whiskey. I can drink, I can sit there and drink beers with you all night long and never get to the point where it's really rough. and usually, by the way, I feel okay the next day. But anyway, this, I just didn't know much about whiskey and the process of making whiskey. That is quite the process. You know, when you see one of those whiskey bottles with, you know, 12 or 15 or a number on it,

that's how many years it sat, you know, fermenting. I forget the term now, and I was just going through the, the, And I just went on the tour last week. But it is quite the process to make whiskey, to make good whiskey. I will say this. Irish whiskey, you know, Jameson, Power, some of the others. There was a tasting, Tommy, and it was fun. And sitting there and doing a tasting of whiskeys was actually fun,

although I actually would prefer doing that with wine. But anyway, it was an interesting tour. I did not do the Guinness Tour. A lot of people said, oh, you got to do the Guinness Tour. I did the Heineken Tour when I was in Amsterdam. I don't know. The last time I was there, maybe, actually it may have been before that. And it was just okay.

I mean, I would have rather been doing something else. I think you were right. I took the Guinness Tour, and it's become so popular. It's more like an amusement park ride. and it is an actual tour of a brewery. Right. You're really not seeing behind the scenes what they're doing. I've been on many brewery tours.

So I was disappointed in the Guinness Tour, except at the top of the building, where they have, like, where you could look out all over the city, and they have a bar there, you know, to sit there and drink with a great view of Dublin. You probably, I wish I had done the Jameson tour. We didn't do that. Yeah. It was fine. It's in Cork, by the way.

All right. So Albert Breer was at camp this week out in Ashburn. Albert Breer, longtime NFL reporter, now writes for the MMQB column for Sports Illustrated. And when, you know, national reporters come to camp, I like reading their summaries. Because Tommy, I always feel like, and I think we've talked about this before, but if we haven't, I want your opinion on this. I just think coaches open up more to national reporters. I think that national reporters sometimes are given more information than the people on the local beat or even local broadcasters.

You agree with that, right? At least this franchise. If you're looking to raise your profile, you want a relationship with a national media member. Absolutely, because it will benefit you as a coach. Right. So there were a couple of things in his write-up that I wanted to point out because I think they might be slightly revealing. He writes, it's hard to take two steps in this place

without hearing from someone about how impressed they've been with quarterback Jaden Daniels, of course. One thing that's very consistent is what you hear about how he conducts himself day-to-day. In short, they see a guy who entered the NFL as a professional in just about every way. And the practice I saw on Tuesday backed all of that up, including how smoothly he operated the first team,

how calm he looks in the pocket, and how easy to gas and accuracy he has on his throws. The coaches have also been impressed with how quickly he's picked up Cliff Kingsbury's offense. One example is how fast he's able to get to run checks within it. Anyway, here's the part that I wanted to read. He said, one thing that will help with Daniel's development, is what the commanders get from their backs in the run game.

Brian Robinson's been a load for the defense in camp, and head coach Dan Quinn had a feeling for that, having coached against him. What's been a bit of a surprise is what he's shown catching the ball out of the backfield. He should pair well with former Los Angeles Charger Austin Echler, who's shown he still has juice and should be a souped up version of what Chase Edmonds was, for Kingsbury in Arizona. Edmonds had 96 catches in 28 games over the past two years, those two spent together. This is something that I've had just more and more of a gut feel on, which is as much as

Jaden Daniels has that might entice Cliff Kingsbury into spreading things out and chucking the ball all over the park and, you know, having him involved in a lot of the run game, which I think he will be a part of the run game. I think the five carries from Brian Robinson, Jr. on the opening drive of a preseason game was about as much of a reveal as anything you'll get in a preseason game. That combined with the fact that they had essentially zone read plays for all four quarterbacks. Like, that's going to be a big part of what they do. No huddle's going to be a big part of what they do. but Brian Robinson is he's a good back. You know, when you see rankings of running backs in the league, nobody mentions him.

I mean, he, in part, look, he was 32nd in the league last year in rushing attempts in Eric B. Enemy's offense, and that's because we know they didn't run the football at all. They threw it 70% of the time. But back in 2021, James Connor, who is essentially a. physical duplicate for Brian Robinson, Jr. James Connor, same exact size, 6-1-2-30. You know, Robinson's essentially right in that general frame. In 2021, the year that they went, 11 and 6, 202 carries, 752 yards, 15 touchdowns rushing. Chase Edmonds, as Breer pointed out, 116 carries 592 yards.

From that running back spot, they had a combined 318 carries for 1,34 yards out of the tailback spot. And then, you know, you go to the receptions. Edmonds had 43 catches out of the backfield. Connor had 37 catches out of the backfield. So the running backs are going to be a big part of this offense. And I think it's going to be run first. Now, they're going to be in the shotgun. They're going to run a lot out of the shotgun.

They're going to run. You saw some of the zone runs on Saturday. You saw an under center pitch sweep, which was really outside zone. You're going to see a lot of that. I really think that Kingsbury is going to approach this rookie season responsibly and understand best friend for a rookie quarterback, no matter how talented he is, is a run game. And then, oh, by the way, a big tight end like Zach Ertz and, you know, a responsible play caller. and I think the reference to Brian Robinson's been a load for the defense in camp. And by the way, they shouldn't have been that surprised with what he's shown catching the ball out of the backfield because he did that last year.

He surprised us last year. But then comparing Echler to Chase Edmonds, I think you go back and you look at the 2021 Arizona offense and Kyler was the quarterback. I think you've got a much better and a more polished, passing quarterback from the pocket, not to mention a much taller one. And you've got, you know, two backs who are going to be featured a hell of a lot. By the way, Zach Ertz in that particular season caught 56 balls in that Arizona offense for 574 yards. And he was...

I think you nailed this. I mean, I think you nailed this. You mentioned it before, before the, even the Albert Breer visit. And I think it's smart, particularly with a young quarterback, to basically use security blankets, like the running backs as part of the offense. So this is, I think, I think this votes well to keep commanders, that commander's offense in the game. Now, along those lines, when you use running back, you're using your tight end,

you're controlling the ball in that sense. You're not big home run hitter. You're basically moving runners on base when you use that kind of offense. So the offense is going to have to control the ball in order for them to do that. Yeah. I think the defense will be improved too, and obviously that would go a long way towards helping Jaden Daniels, you know, field position, turnovers, you know, score not getting out of

hand where you're forced to throw the football in dropback situations. There was something else. Two other things that he wrote. He wrote, the defensive act that has stood out, has been Frankie Louvre. He's not Micah Parsons, but Quinn signed him up with the idea that he could be a movable piece in the front seven the way Parsons was for him in Dallas. And Louvue looks capable as a player who's quick, explosive, and clearly at his best moving toward the line of scrimmage. I don't know that Frankie Louvo is going to be Michael Parsons, but Frankie Louvo is athletic and aggressive, and you saw that on the bad teams he played in, played for in Carolina.

And I think we kind of understood that Louvo is going to be a pass rusher. He's going to be, you know, a guy that Quinn moves around the field. but I thought it was notable that he essentially got from Quinn that he's comping him to Micah Parsons. And then there was this. This was the last paragraph. There's this. It's still year one, and there's a lot of work to do on the roster, but the commanders feel really good about where they are in the middle of the field.

They know they've got a little further to go on the perimeter. The receiver spot is good, but at offensive tackle, defensive end, and corner, there remain questions that will probably take another offseason or two to solve. But they feel really good about the middle. Now, again, not a big reveal, but they feel good about Biotic, Allegretti, and Cosmi on offense. They feel good about Duran Payne, John Allen, Bobby Wagner, Frankie Louvre on defense. That is, at least on paper, going into the season. I actually, I believe this again, and I felt this way last year,

you know, that the defense was going to lead them totally wrong, but it started up front, and it started up front with the ability to stop the run. You have to stop the run in the NFL before you get to anything else. And, of course, last year was a total disaster, but they should be, they should be a good run-stopping. team this year with pain, with Allen, and with those linebackers, which are improved. And with, you know, with Wagner in the middle being, you know, the coach on the field, with chin down the middle of the field at strong safety.

I am very optimistic about what this team could do if it stays healthy and the quarterback plays well. You're 10-win optimistic. I am. I'm not quite as optimistic. I don't feel good about the Vegas number, which is six and a half. You know, I'm looking right now at the over-unders on MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie.

Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., they'll give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. Right now at MyBooky, Washington's number is six and a half. You know, their total is six and a half wins for the upcoming season. By the way, you have to lay 130 if you go over. So they're, you know, they're incenting you to take the under at plus 111. But, you know, I would have preferred to have seen a seven and a half. Last year, you know, Houston's over under number was five and a half in a lot of spots. So less was expected of the Houston Texans last year than Washington this year.

I want to ask you real quickly before I let you go and then the last segment will be about whatever happens today at the joint practice. Juan Soto, four home runs in four consecutive at bats with the Yankees. Did you see that? He had three the other night and then he knocked one out of the park in his first to bat last night. I mean, and then last night Aaron Judge got to 300.

home runs for his career. Man, by the way, did you see they walked Soto to get to Judge before he hit that home run last night? And he hit the home run, Judge did on a 3-0 pitch. Said he was really pissed off that they walked Soto to get to him. But Soto's been on fire. Well, they're coming to town. August, I think it's August 26, 27th, and 28. I'm going to go.

Are you going to go to one of those games? I'd like to go, I've not seen, that's not true, I saw the Yankees the first year. I think I saw the Yankees at RFK one of those years. Are you going to, I'd like to go to one of those games. Well, I'm going to be working, definitely Monday, the first game. Yeah, I'm not going to go sit up there with you. It's too high up there. I'm going to go as a fan.

It's the 26th, 27th, 28th. I actually have a couple of days off later that week. Love to see the Yankees. Nat's lost to the Orioles last night, by the way, 4-1. But DJ Hearst pitch pretty good for them. Okay. I didn't watch any of the game last night. The race...

He gave up two runs and six innings. The race in the AL East is phenomenal. When do the Yankees and Orioles play next? It's the next to last weekend of the year. September 24th, 25th, 26th at Yankee Stadium. Three games set. And then the Yankees close the season with the pirates and the Orioles travel to Minnesota

in the final weekend of the season. All right, good job. I will talk to you next week. Enjoy the rest of your time up in New Jersey. We'll do. I'll be back after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation, if you've been thinking about new windows.

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Mention my name by the end of the month when you call, and you'll get an extra $250 worth of credit. Windonation.com 86690 Nation. Tell them that I sent you. So Tom was on with me for the first two segments, and we recorded that earlier. And then I saved this final segment for just an update on the joint practice. with the dolphins today. It's not going to be a long segment here.

Let me give you some of the noteworthy reports from the people who were down there. First of all, they started outside, moved inside. I'm assuming it sounds like that it was damn hot down there. So they moved it inside into the air conditioning. Secondly and most importantly, no serious injuries. Bo Bauer, he's a deep on the depth chart linebacker. banged up early, a leg injury, but it doesn't appear to be overly serious, but no other serious injuries. We found out before the joint practice during Dan Quinn's presser, a few things.

First, Zach Ertz wasn't there today. Dan Quinn just said he's not here, but it's for a very good reason, so I think everybody assumes that he's with his wife and they're having a baby, Mazel Toff. Congrats. We also had confirmed by the head. coach today, that Sam Hartman and Marcus Marriota are out for the preseason game on Saturday. That means a ton of Jeff Driscoll and a lot of newly acquired Trace McSorley after Jaden Daniels gets, I think a series maybe two. We'll see, but Quinn once again implied that this preseason game will be handled like last weeks, in part because of the major work they got today in the joint practice.

Now, Dan Quinn also weighed in prior to the practice beginning. Once again on the wide receiver spot and Jahan Dotson. First of all, listen to this. He's asked about the competition for wide receiver number two. Here's what he said. Where are you at with the wide receiver two search? I would say we are right in the middle of it. And so you'll see a lot of guys in today.

You'll see two, three, four, five. There's a lot of guys that are really battling. I've been really impressed with Alamede. And I thought he's had a really strong camp. I'm looking forward to getting Luke some extra work into here. Jahan, Diami. So that's where we're at. And then the special teams is going to have a factor in that as well.

We're right in the middle of it, he said. and he singled out specifically Olamidi Zakias as a guy who's been impressive. You know, he talked about Luke McCaffrey getting in there more, mentioned Jahan. He was then, there were a couple of follow-up questions. This was a follow-up question. I think you'll be able to hear it where he's asked whether or not Jahan's going to get the same number of snaps against the dolphins that he did against the Jets where he led all skill position players.

in the game with 32 snaps. Here's Quinn. Do you expect Jahan to play a similar volume of snaps in the last week? Probably. Yep, I would say I don't know if it'll be the exact same, but it'll be in the similar space, same high volumes on the other guys that I listed as well. 32 snaps is what Jahan got as he played well into the third quarter against the Jets, and it sounds like that's coming again Saturday night against the Dolphins. And then one last Jahan Dotson question. from Nikki Jabala asking Quinn just what do you need to see from him here's what Quinn said yeah

I think with all the guys that we were talking about that spot um the urgency um the run game the past game so like you know the quickness in and out of breaks so not everybody plays the same spot Nikki but I do want to see with he and with all the other guys really finding some really competitive moments you know that plays after the catch the blocks you know at the point of attack sometimes even in man-to-man during this phase of evaluation, that he beat the person even though the ball didn't go to that spot. So I'm really trying to evaluate them with and without the ball. That quote is pretty telling.

I don't need to translate it for most of you, but for anybody out there that's played sports or coach sports, what you just heard from Dan Quinn in talking specifically specifically about Jahan Dotson, because he was asked specifically about Jahan Dotson. You heard a coach saying, I need you to hustle more. I need you on the floor diving for every loose ball. You know, when he says, I need urgency, I need quickness in and out of the breaks, I want to see, you know, the competitive moments, the plays you make after the catch,

the blocks you make at the point of the attack, at the point of attack. I want to see that even though the ball isn't coming your way, you beat your man in the route that you were running. You know, I'm trying to evaluate him, them without the ball. He's talking about hustle. He just summed up in that quote, the issue with Jahan Dotson. You know, again, how big of an issue is it? How big of a situation is it?

What is it exactly that Jahan Dotson is competing for? I'm not sure entirely. He has certainly been now asked on two different occasions this week about Jahan Dotson and has not given any sort of thumbs up compliment towards Dotson. He did with Zakias. Look, this week he actually complimented, I think for the second time, Jamin Davis, a guy that I think, we all thought going into camp was on the roster bubble.

We've heard positive things from Quinn about Jamin Davis. He's been given two opportunities this week to say something positive about Jahan, and he isn't. Again, what is he competing for? I don't think it's a roster spot, but it might be about a regular spot on the game day roster. And I would also say this, would anybody be surprised at this point to read a breaking news tweet from Adam Schaefter or Ian Rappaport that Washington has traded Jahan Dotson

to the Tennessee Titans for a conditional fourth rounder. I wouldn't be shocked at this point to hear that. I think Jahan is an excellent route runner. I think he's got excellent speed. I think he's got really good hands. I think he's got a big catch radius. But I don't think it's about any of these things. I don't think he's going to trot out there on Saturday night in Miami and play more snaps maybe than any other skill position player or any other wide receiver because they're not sure about his talent. It's about the things that Dan Quinn just said. It's urgency. It's hustle. It's blocking. It's playing until the whistle. Anyway, back to joint practice information.

Riley Patterson, the lone kicker on the roster, had a great day. Sam Fortier posted three-for-three on kicks 50 yards or longer. He nailed two 51-yarders, and he nailed a 56-yarder. Ben Standing on second-round pick Mikey Sanristill. Sanristill is standing out early in the joint practice. He's got a pass break up in the end zone while covering Tyreek Hill. He stayed home on a reverse the next play. The savvy rookie feels like the safest bet among the corners right now.

And then there was the quarterback. I saved the best for last. I'll just read you several tweets from several different people who were there. Let's start with this. Jaden Daniels was apparently, according to Sam Fortier and others, cooking in the red zone, throwing five touchdowns in a row in the red zone work. This was Omar Kelly. Omar Kelly is a columnist in Miami.

He tweeted out, for those Washington fans out there, he says Jalen Daniels. Jaden Daniels carved the dolphins up during red zone work. But when they went to full field work, he was neutralized. But the armed talent is legit. His end of practice interception to Kendall Fuller. Kendall Fuller plays for the Dolphins was a good throw. It's just the wide receiver who was Terry McClorn slipped. This from Pete Priscoe from CBS Sports, watching commanders practice.

today against Miami, and Jaden Daniels can really throw it. Passes, get onto the receiver in a hurry. He is going to be special. Lots of compliments coming about Jaden Daniels Day. This, by the way, from Kendall Fuller. Fuller after the joint practice said, quote, I haven't watched the tape yet, but how he carries himself, Jaden Daniels, he looks like a pro. He looks like he has an edge. He looks like he trusts in his ability a lot. Even just looking on YouTube, social media, I heard about him checking a play, the audible in the first preseason game against the Jets on the deep ball to Diami Brown.

He said to be able to have that confidence as a rookie to go out there and play football. because at the end of the day, a lot of the time we rely on X's and O's, and sometimes you've just got to play football. So I'm excited to compete against him on Saturday and hope he has a great future and enjoys it a lot. Lots of positive today on Jaden Daniels. But it's a joint practice. Still, three and a half weeks to go until Tampa and the opener.

All right, that's it for the day. I will be back tomorrow.