The Kevin Sheehan Show - Trent Williams' Instagram

Episode Date: June 13, 2019

Kevin and Thom open the show with some Stanley Cup talk which morphed into a discussion about the women of "The Office". Then it was the Kevin Durant grief-stricken Warriors and whether or not they will suspend their mourning of Durant for Game 6 tonight. Trent Williams sent out an Instagram photo of presumably himself in a hospital bed. Scott Van Pelt was on the show to talk about the US Open and NBA Finals. The boys finished up with some Nats and West Side Story. <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. All right, I am here. Aaron is here. Tommy's here, chopping down a Safeway plain bagel with nothing on it. I wanted it and I needed it. Okay. This show's presented by Window Nation. You need Wind Donation. Yes. If you're looking for new windows, if you're in the market for new windows, call 86690 Nation or go. Go to Windonation.com and tell them we told you to call. There's no risk in calling them if you've been thinking about windows. They'll come out to your home within 24 hours and give you a free estimate. The NHL Stanley Cup goes to the St. Louis Blues for their first ever cup.

So we've got back-to-back ears of first ever cup winners. And they did it in convincing fashion last night in Boston. And Aaron, you said that the TV rating last night was the... highest in history. That's what a highest in history for an NHL game since they started tracking in 94. Wow. I mean, that's a little unpredictable, isn't it? You would think? I mean, Boston's a big market, you know, a blue blood NHL team, but St. Louis, I mean, you wouldn't think that St. Louis would have that kind of an impact. I mean, St. Louis is a really good sports team, but it's not a top 10 market. Right. I'm surprised at that too. Very surprised at that. Not,

not to mention the fact that, you know, last year there was a big story around the Stanley Cup finals, and it was Ovechkin's pursuit. There were two big stories. And the Vegas story. And the Vegas, the expansion team. And there was a lot going on in last year's finals. That didn't go seven, though. That didn't go seven.

That's true. That only went five. Good point. You had a seventh and deciding game for the first time since 2011 when it was Vancouver, losing at home and then rioting in Vancouver. So the seventh game obviously added something to it. But I think, you know, as a sports fan and not a hockey fan, there's not been anything that's drawn me to this series

other than perhaps the length of it, the fact that it went to a seventh and deciding game. Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, the only interest I really would have in it is just making sure that Boston didn't have another duckboat parade. I mean, that was the only thing I really wanted at this point. You really cared about that? Well, I mean, I do it. I mean, it's really getting old.

You know, I mean, it, you know, it was, It was a nice story for a while since they were denied for so long. Yeah. And, you know, then it became funny for a while. And now it's not so funny anymore. Pam and Jim had this big thing going on Twitter. So that was part of the attraction to the series. Did you see the video I said?

Did you see what Jim did last night? I didn't. Oh, I tweeted it at you. Oh, I didn't see it. What? He was sitting in like a suite or whatever. He says, you know, hi, Jenna. I had a seat right here for you.

Wish you could have made it. And then Roy walks by and sits in the seat. He brought Roy to the game. Oh, really? Yes. Is, is, I don't even know Roy's real name in where he's from. Is he a Boston guy? I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I have no idea. That's pretty funny. Yeah, that was pretty good. That's pretty funny. Both of her exes. Yes.

Sitting together enjoying, I'm sure, stories about her. But of course, it was a fictional television series. It was. I thought it was a documentary. It was, it was a documentary or a mockumentary. He's from California, so I don't know. Yeah, there you go. But good job by Jim, John Krasinski, to get, what is Roy's name in real life?

David Denman. David Denman, to get David to show up in Boston for the game for the purposes of a social media war, it sounds like. Yeah, yeah, I mean, look, have you ever seen the movie that John Krasinski? The silent movie thing? I did not see it. It's pretty, what's the name of it? You told me it was really good. Yeah, I forget the name of it.

There's like, there's no written, there's no spoken word in the moment. They're spoken word in the movies. Oh, but what's the name of the movie? A quiet place. A quiet place. But it's, I mean, look, it's science fiction, so there's a big stretch of imagination in a lot of parts of it. But the concept of speaking, putting you at risk of being killed by these forces is pretty novel concept. Well, it did well, didn't it?

Yeah, it did well. What were you going to say? I haven't seen it yet, but extremely well reviewed. Everyone loved it. It was pretty good. So how would you rank the females of the office? Oh. I mean, Pam is...

Is your runaway number one? Oh, my God. Really? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. What about Rashida Jones? No. What about Karen?

What are we ranking them on? You know who I would rate higher than Jan? Jan was a smoke show. Oh, after she got the poop job. Well, she was pretty hot before that. You know who I think was hotter? The married woman who Michael fooled around with. Yes.

She was very, very, very cute. Yes. Count me in on her. She was the dark-haired girl who was only on a few episodes, but that was a funny episode when he sent Dwight to investigate her. Yeah, to investigate. That was at the health club. And let me throw one in that's really going to screw you up.

Amy Adams was on a couple of episodes. She was the hot girl episode. And then became Jim's girlfriend and was a big part of the booze cruise episode. And Amy Adams is off the charts. But you know, this was before Amy Adams was Amy Adams. It was shortly after that that she became a massive star. Yeah, when she shows up at the office, that's season one, I believe. Right?

That's the, I want to say the second to last episode of season one. Yeah. Might even be the last one. I think even Kevin goes up to Pam. and basically says to her, how does it feel not to be the hottest girl in the office? No, I think Kevin just says she's hotter. Yeah, that's what he says.

Yeah. That was a great episode. And then when she, well, Jim dumps her on the booze cruise at the end of the Boos Cruise episode. And that was the first, you know, Jim, Pam. I don't know if it was the first one. but that's when you realized, I mean, what is she doing with Roy? Yeah.

This just doesn't make any sense. But, um... I've been on Lake Wall and Paul Pack, the lake where that supposedly took place. Oh, really in Scranton? Oh, yeah. Well, it's not in Scranton. Have you been on that lake in January? Because that's when the booze cruise was.

No, I have not been on there in January. It was cheap for Michael. Yeah. But it's not, it's not technically in Scranton. It's probably about 25 miles outside of Scranton. Now, there's a lake in Scranton. Scranton that's in the series called Lake Scranton. And that is truly in Scranton.

And that's where they had the company outing where Pam walked across the hot coals and Andy floated away in a fat suit. Right. That's a real lake in Scranton, Lake Scranton. Can you name the other star that became a star probably after this? I guess. I don't know the chronology of his career. Can you name the other well-known actor that's in the booze cruise episode?

Rob Rob, Rob Riggle. Yeah, Rob Riggle. Yeah, I'm not a big Rob Riggle fan. Nor am I, but I think one of the funniest parts of that episode is when Michael's trying to be the captain. And Rob Riggle, who is truly the captain of the ship, just shouts him down at every turn, and it's hysterical. I mean, you know, Steve Carill really was brilliant.

Yeah. He was so good, and that's one of those episodes. where he was just, he killed it. But anyway, we should do a sports fix booze cruise. In January, so we can get it on the cheap? Yeah, yeah, on the Potomac. On the Potomac? Yeah, we should start pitching it to people.

We need a sponsor. We need a sponsor. We need to invite people that listen to the show. Yes. And it should be on the Potomac, so it's close. Yes. And it should drop us off somewhere, you know, around the harbor. and we'll just load it up with booze and food and we'll be good.

You know what we'll do? We'll just go around in circles. We don't particularly care where we're going. We'll make sure to have plenty of plain bagels with nothing to put on them from Safeway in the buffet. I would say, by the way, just getting back to the question that I just randomly threw out to you, that, first of all, I think Angela is actually attractive, very attractive. I actually think that a lot of the women on the show were, but I would say Jan and Jenna. What's Jan's name in real life?

She's got an odd first name. Aaron, what's her name in real life? I don't know. I forget it now. It's like, it's an odd first name. Malora Hardin. Malora Hardin. I would say Malora Hardin and Jenna Fisher,

or one, two, in whatever order you want to put them in. Although I think Rashida Jones was really hot. What a great show. You can sit here and talk about that show forever. Yes. And the best episode of any sitcom, I think of all time, may be the dinner party. The office of the dinner party.

That to me is the... Where he talks about is three vasectomies. Oh, yeah, you know. Snips, snap, snip, snip. Do you know how painful it is? Right. And she just says, fine. You want to have kids?

Let's have a fucking kid. That's hysterical. She's brilliant in that episode. She's really good when she's taking... Pam and Jim threw her candle room, you know, and this smells. And she's like, when I get frustrated, when basically when Michael's driving me nuts, I just come in here and sniff away. It's very funny.

All right, enough about that. I did not watch the game last night. My plans changed because I did not know that, you know, that my middle son is in a band. What's the name of a band? The Petty War Club. Okay. All right, they put out their first EP.

It's like five songs. And what kind of music did I put? It would be, I think, categorizes alt rock, rock, emo, that kind of music. He plays guitar, he writes the songs, and he sings. The drummer's exceptional, the bass player is exceptional. It's a three-piece, although they have a fourth guy that's touring with them right now, because they're actually touring, which sounds like a big deal, but trust me, they're not staying at the Ritz Carlton, and this is what I was going to say to you.

So they left on Sunday, but they were back last night. playing at a VFW in Falls Church. Okay. So I went over there to watch them. Came home, saw the last period of the Stanley Cup finals or the last 12 minutes. Woke up this morning. And I lost count after, I think, 11 people

sleeping on a floor in my basement and in the family room on the next level up. So apparently not only his band, but there are one to two other bands that came back and crashed at our place. This sounds like a scene in Almost Famous. Yes, exactly. Now, what's amazing to me, though, is that I didn't wake up.

They had to be loud coming in. I did not wake up. I came down early this morning, and I went downstairs, actually, to get on the Peloton. Okay. But when I got to the bottom of the steps, there were people all over the floor. And including in our, you know, workout exercise room,

There were people sleeping on the floor as well. Any groups? You know what? That's a really good question. I don't know whether or not there were because it was really dark. Okay. It was really dark downstairs. I just realized very quickly, because I also looked out the front door, and there was basically a van, a huge van out there that clearly one of the bands is touring in.

Yeah. And so I just, I went to Dunkin' Donuts, got two dozen. and donuts, got a bunch of juice, got a bunch of coffee, and just brought it back and put it out there. I hope they'll eat it. I did not. I was thinking about bagels. I would have had I gotten plain bagels or any type of bagel, I probably would have gotten some

cream cheese to go with it. Now, you were there, all I'd have to do is walk down the Safeway, get a couple of plain bagels with nothing, and you would have been fine with that. And what is wrong with that? I didn't say anything was wrong with that. Then why would you point it out? Because it's, I think it's unusual to see somebody eat a plain bagel with nothing on it. Nothing.

You eat, you're just chawing away. It's not cut. You're just chewing. And by the way, Safeway bagels, Tommy, come on. I mean, that's, that's not really a bagel. It's not? Not really. I would not, I would not put safely on the top of my list of bagels.

You're even an elitist when it comes to bagels. No, I'm not even, I wouldn't even categorize myself. or characterize myself as a bagel snob, more of a pizza snob than a bagel snob. But I do know that Safeway bagels aren't really bagels for the most part, as Tommy chomps on that last bite. So I did come home and watch the last nine minutes of the hockey game, which, you know, I was sort of excited to see St. Louis one on the road.

I think it's a good sports town. It is a good sports town, right? Go ahead, finish that plain bagels. It's a little dry, isn't it? A little dry. It's good. with the orange juice. Okay, that's good. So you just flush it down with the juice. Yeah, so it works out just fine. Yeah, St. Louis is a good sports town that's lost two football teams. Right. So how good of a sports town can it be? Well, is it, so you know it better than I. Is it a good baseball town? Yeah. Is it a good hockey town? I mean, they don't have an NBA team. They don't have an NBA team. They did. Right. They had an ABA team. They had an ABA team. St. Louis spirits, Moses Malone. And Marvin Barnes. Marvin Barnes. I'm sorry. Marvin Barnes. Yeah, they had more bad news barns.

Moses went to the Utah stars. Yeah. So they've never had an NBA team that I know of. Did they have the St. Louis Hawks? Yeah, the St. Louis Hawks. Yeah, the St. Louis Hawks, that's right. They were an NBA championship series against the Celtics. That's right.

Okay, so. Bob Sharman played for the St. Bill Sharman. Bill Sharman played for the St. Louis. So they lost an NBA franchise and they've lost two football teams. Did you play against Sherman in your day? No, I came after him. Okay.

I came after him. He was a coach when I was playing. Lakers coach, right? Yeah, he was a Lakers coach. You know, we handled Lakers pretty good when I played. I know you did. I know you did. We showed Will Chamberlain.

By the way. Who was boss? By the way, you know what? I should have said to you the other day on the Tuesday show after Monday night's NBA game five. That in many ways what Durant did was Willis Reed-esque. Oh, please. No, in that, in that, Willis Reed's participation in that seventh in deciding game in 1970. or 73. It was in 70.

Okay, in 70, where he came out of the tunnel, had been injured, and the crowd goes nuts. The crowd goes nuts. They're going crazy, and this game was on the road. But he barely played and barely contributed in that game. It was more of an emotional lift

to the Knicks in that game. Am I right about that or not? First of all, that was the seventh game. Right. That was the deciding game. Understood. I said that. It was the seventh and deciding game at home. And Willis Reed walked with a limp out of the locker room onto the court to warm up. So he had a noticeable limp in everything he did.

So Kevin Durant didn't look like he was walking with a limp until his leg went out from under him. Willis Reed made the first two shots of the game. Two outside shots put the Knicks up for nothing. Didn't make another shot. Didn't make another shot. Did he play the rest of the game? didn't play as much the rest of the game. That's the game where Wolfraiser had 36 points and 19 assists,

you know, basically took over the game. But it was an emo, but yeah, look, I'm just so elated that Willis Reed's, that Willis Reed's act in that game 7 is still considered the gold standard by everything else is measured for court courage, for lack of a better word. You're a huge Willis Reed. Oh, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's,

He may be... Him and Siever. Him and Siever are the two biggest icons in my life. Absolutely. Sports icons. Yeah. Well, you're one of my... Well, I was going to say, I would imagine that...

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you out there. I would imagine that you have guys in your profession, written, the columnist profession, that you looked up to. Besides me? Beside you. Yeah, I have a few. Jimmy Bresden. Yeah. Yeah.

All right. All right. you go. That's our hockey discussion, everybody. That was it. That's hockey. That was it. But the reason I said that I should have brought it up to you the other day was to get conversation from you about Willis Reed, but that it was short-lived lift. He didn't play the whole game. Willis Reed came out and made two shots. That was it. Durant came out, scored a quick 11 points in 12 minutes. That was it. But it turns out that they needed every one of those 11. Because they The one by a point.

Yes, they did. And it was a lift to that team for him to come out and play. Of course it was. And I understand that the anticipation wasn't that he was coming out for a short period of time and then leaving the game because he was legitimately hurt. Although, man, Tommy, I spent some time on this yesterday, but there's even more to this thing from Durant and the Warriors. He did have a ruptured Achilles, and he sent out a long Instagram post

with a picture of himself in the hospital bed post-surgery. And Durant, you know, Instagrammed out. What's good everybody? What's good, everybody? I wanted to update you all. I did rupture my Achilles. Surgery was today and it was a success. Easy money.

My road back starts now. I got my family and my loved ones by my side. And we truly appreciate all the messages and support people have sent our way. Like I said on Monday, I'm hurting deeply, but I'm okay. Basketball is my biggest love. And I wanted to be out there that night because that's what I do. I wanted to help my teammates on, quest for the three Pete. It's just the way things go in this game and I'm proud that I gave it

all physically, that I physically could and I'm proud my brothers got the W. It's going to be a journey, but I'm built for this. I'm a hooper. I know my brothers can get this game six and I will be cheering with Dubnation while they do it. So that was his Instagram with a picture of himself in the hospital bed post-surgery. Here are a bunch of the quotes yesterday from Steve Kerr and others. I, this is Kerr. Quote, I completely understand the world we live in. As Bob Myers mentioned the other night, there's going to be blame, there's going to be finger pointing, and we understand that, and we accept that. This is kind of what you sign up for when you get into coaching, general management, the NBA. There's all kinds of coverage, judgment, criticism, and it's all part of it,

so we accept that. The main thing is our concern for Kevin and these last couple of days just checking on him. Obviously, everybody feels horrible for what happened. As Bob mentioned the other night, this last month was a cumulative, collaborative effort in his rehabilitation. And that collaboration included Kevin and his business partner, Rich Climman, our medical staff, his own outside opinion, second opinion, doctor outside of our organization. Kevin checked all the boxes and he was cleared to play by everybody involved, closed quote. It sounds like Trette Williams and his experience with the Redskins, doesn't it? We'll get to that in a moment, but it's really, Kerr goes out of his way to make sure that

everybody understands, yes, we feel for Kevin and all of that. But this was a decision reached by not just the Warriors, but Kevin's team and doctors that Kevin and his business partner went out. and sought advice from. Well, he was smart to do that. I think he's smart to do that. Why does he feel compelled to do it? Well, because he said, I mean, in this society,

people are ready to assign blame. And we talked about this with Bob Myers' emotional breakdown at the press conference. They feel some level of guilt for putting them out there. And I'm sure. But he made a point that they didn't put him out there, that it was, that there was, that this was a decision reached by Kevin and his people, including outside people and outside doctors, and the lawyers.

That's what he said yesterday. I'm talking about in the moment, in the moment they felt the pressure of having put him in a situation that could have cost him his career. Whether it was his decision or not, he can't play unless they tell him it's okay to play. So, I mean, the warriors also have, you know, a responsibility in this. I'm not saying they shirked. I'm not saying they did anything wrong. So I'm sure they felt the pressure of that responsibility when they saw what happened and they saw that basically,

you know, Duran's career could be at stake. I mean, no one, I mean, there's no guarantee he's going to come back from that and be the same player. Right. So, look, I don't, I don't have any problem with since the night that it happened, the way the organization has acted. I thought Durant's Instagram

Look, it's the generation today It's something This is what happens You know, they put everything out there And to let people know what's going on in their lives And I mean, I think what Durant said was pretty reasonable On his Instagram Yeah, no, I didn't have a problem with it

I guess the, you know, given I don't know what the real facts are other than what we're reading Because I do have this sense, as I have going back to Tuesday, when we had a conversation about it, that there is this tremendous guilt. And the guilt, and by the way, this associated anguish and grief-strickenness over this athletic injury. All right. Bad injury, but an athletic injury, not a death.

And I wonder whether or not, you know, this guilt that they feel. and now, by the way, you know, trying to make sure that everybody understands that it wasn't just the Warriors, it was Kevin and his people, that maybe Kevin could have helped the situation out a little bit more by saying nobody's to blame in this situation. We all, the Warriors, the Warriors team doctors, my doctors outside of the organization, we all came to the conclusion that this was, that I was ready to play. Like, I think he could take them off the hook even more if they deserve to be on the hook. What if he felt that the warriors could have taken him off the hook of with this whole thing by declaring he can't come back to play? We're not putting him at risk. It's too much of a risk.

And we're not going to put him on the court. I mean, the organization never said that. I mean, they could have basically protected him from himself. He felt the pressure to be out there. He knew what people were saying, you know, and there was this idea that he was taking too long to come back, that, you know, that he was healthy enough to play. By the way, I never, as an NBA fan closely following these playoffs and NBA finals, I never felt once, this is almost a post, you know, injury reaction to this. I never felt once that Kevin Durant was, you know, was slow in getting back that he was ready two or three games ago. and just wasn't pushing himself.

That is a complete revisionist feeling about the... Look, you're right in that the Warriors did, you know, keep saying right now he is questionable for game two, you know, questionable for game three. And perhaps Kevin Durant felt like, why are they saying that? They know I can't play right now. They know I'm not ready to play.

I haven't been cleared to play. I would have been just really clear. And maybe they were. Look, we're going to make it, you know, we're not going to declare you out of any of these games because it's a competitive advantage to us to make the opponent believe that there's a chance you might play. You understand that, right? I mean, I don't, it's not sinister. It's not an attempt to make them look bad.

Yeah, but it, look. I'm not saying that he didn't feel that. Okay. I'm just saying that I don't think that that's why the warriors were doing it to put more pressure on him. And I certainly as an NBA fan didn't feel, as I heard about the possibility of him playing in game three or game four, and he didn't play. I just figured, look, we saw that injury. I didn't think he was coming back at all. I mean, I thought, and even said this before game five, Aaron, I think I said this before game five.

I'm not sure that there's any chance he's coming back. This was a serious injury, and it may have even been the Achilles, and they just didn't say the Achilles, because they want to, they want the opponent to think that there's a chance he might come back. The only thing that made me think it wasn't the Achilles is he wasn't on crutches the last couple of times we saw him. But I just, I think it's a little bit, it's like people are looking to blame the warriors for putting him into this position of feeling like he should have rushed back. Like he had to rush back. And I never felt that following the story all along. You say he could take them over to hook, off the hook, if he publicly came out and said, you know, this, I mean, this was basically said with the warriors just.

what Kerr said. And I'm saying maybe, I'm just grasping, that maybe there's a possibility that he felt the Warriors didn't take him off the hook by leaving open the possibility that he could play. I understand what you're saying. And I'm not saying that you're wrong because I think we know that he is sensitive

and probably read much more about why isn't he back? Yeah. From the, in my view, the minority. I didn't feel that way. I saw the injury in Houston. I didn't think he was going to play again. What was not a minority was the storyline of the finals, and it was Kevin Durant not playing. Right.

And in the words, it's what these finals will always be remembered for. If the team had said Kevin Durant is not going to play in the finals, then that story goes away. Yeah, and then maybe he could have surprised him by coming back in game five, and he would have looked like a hero. That's true, too. Yeah. That's true, too. I just think from a competitive standpoint, I don't know how much of an advantage it is, but I think from a competitive advantage, you're sitting there, you're with Kevin, look, we're going to, you know, as we enter these finals, we want Toronto to think

that you're a possibility for these first few games, even though we know that it's not a possibility, probably until game five at the earliest, but we're going to put it out there that, you know, you're questionable, that there's, you know, and each night will rule you out. I mean, this is in no way an attempt to make you look bad and look like you're, you know, somehow resisting, coming back, you know, when you're ready. But the warriors have no consideration. over the narrative once it gets out there. It just, to me, I know some people are probably listening saying it was out there. It just wasn't out there with me.

I wasn't thinking that Kevin Durant was shirking, you know, and avoiding coming back when he was fully healthy and ready to come back. I just didn't think that. I thought it was a serious injury. That remember, when it first happened, and we found out that it was the calf and not the Achilles, a severe calf strain was several months. months. A mild calf strain was at least a month, if not longer. So I just didn't think he was coming back. I was actually surprised when they ruled him in for game five. But you're right, too, that maybe he felt

slighted or he felt like they put this undue pressure, public pressure, that there was, you know, they were giving people hope that he might play. And when he didn't, it was disappointing to those people. and that led to thoughts of he's ducking or whatever. I just, I guess we just don't really know for sure, but the organization, man, they've gone out of their way now. By the way, one of the things that Kerr said, wanted to find this, there were a lot more quotes from him

and about other people in the organization and the medical stuff, and they're almost too long. Like it's paragraph after paragraph of Steve Kerr talking about, you know, why they thought he could go. But at one point, he acknowledged that the shock and sadness still exists within the organization, you know, and almost, and I said this on yesterday's podcast, it's almost as if, like, winning the title in game six at home to force a game seven has taken a major

backseat to this morning of this injury. You're right. It's a good point. It's weird to me. It seems a little absurd. It does to me. It's a little absurd. We've seen...

But you know what? It illustrates the culture of the NBA, where the star is the ultimate thing over the game. No doubt. Yes. You know what? That is absolutely true. That the stars in this game and the players who basically dictate everything

are more of the story in this particular situation than the game. And the games themselves. Yeah. Where are they going to go? And you know me. I love the games much more than this other stuff. Right. Yeah.

But now that's... And cannot wait until tonight. Right. The culture of the NBA, though, is the stars and their lives. Yeah. It's interesting because the one thing, and I played this Brian Windhorst quote, Tommy, yesterday, from the jump, the Rachel Nichols show where, you know, he says he was sick to his stomach. And, you know, a lot of media have reacted in the same way.

You know why? Because what you just said is probably true with. the media too. They get caught up more in all of this other stuff than the games themselves and want to make themselves feel like they're so invested in these players and how, again, it was grief that we read and heard the last couple of days with game six looming tonight to force the seventh and deciding game. We've seen major players, star players get injured before. But I mean, I'm looking at this Instagram picture of Durant. It really is unfortunate.

He's such a great player. And the fact that this was a ruptured Achilles at 30 years old, the data is out there, and it suggests that he'll never be the same again as a player. I don't think he will. And so, by the way, one of the other things that people are taking and running with is the fact that their favorite time of year, free agency, more than the finals. You know, the NBA free agency, you know, who's going to land where is like bigger than the fact that we've got a game six tonight in the NBA finals. It's going to change a lot because teams, you know, the Knicks in particular were making plans.

Oh, did you see the front page? Was it the front page of the New York Daily News? I told you this the other day after the show, and I forgot to mention it on the show. The front page of the Daily News on Tuesday after game five. was the Knicks lose game five. Yes, I saw, I heard that. I heard that. Yeah, you heard it from me.

I told you. I think I heard it from somebody else. No, I told you after the show the other day, and you thought that was funny, and you said, why didn't you mention it during the show? And I said, I forgot. But I think I heard it from somebody else. I don't remember hearing it from you.

You know what? You need more of that brain food. You know, can I finish my bagel? While we're doing the podcast, I would prefer you wait until we go to a break, even though we don't have actual breaks. We don't have actual breaks. Well, I read some spots here.

and there, and that's a chance for you to break it. Now instead, you're eating and you're chewing, and there you go. On the game itself tonight, I like Toronto. This will be the sixth straight game in this series that I'm going to bet Toronto. I'm three, I told you, I'm three one and one in the first five. I like them. No one else likes them. Nobody likes Toronto again. Nobody's given Toronto any due. I picked Golden State before the series started and I bet on Toronto in every single game. The line is like two and a half, three somewhere in that neighborhood and the action's more split on this game than it's been on the others, but I don't know, I like Toronto tonight to end it in Oakland. Anyway, you, do you have a thought or is your mouth full? I have some thoughts.

I'm sure you do. I have some thoughts. So there was a story. this morning about Trent Williams. Bit of a story. Bit of a story. And Instagram story is, as the kids like to say. As the kids like to say, Trent Williams on his Instagram put out a picture of what appears to be him in a hospital bed with, you know, people standing around looking at him, a doctor and a, you know, doctor's, you know,

uniform. Are they, are they, stethoscope around his neck? Are they Redskins doctors? I don't know. Are they wearing funny hats? They are wearing funny hats. They're not wearing funny hats. That's the way you can tell if they're Redskins.

Is that how you can tell? Yeah. Well, so anyway, on that Instagram post, there wasn't anything written, right? No, there was. Wasn't there? No, no, there wasn't actually. Yeah, I don't think there's anything. It was part of his Instagram story.

Yeah. Yeah. So we had to wait for, you know, Ian Rappaport. J.P. Finley, I think, was the first to put the Instagram story out there from the Trent Williams' Instagram post. But Ian Rappaport tweeted this morning, from what I understand, this latest surgery is to clean up the area where the original scar was. Not considered major, not related to a setback. That's great news, if it's true.

I ask you, why did Trent Williams feel compelled to Instagram this picture out of him in a hospital bed without any details? This is the first we've heard from Trent Williams. directly, since the Jason Lockinforre report that Trent is unhappy with the way his medical situation was handled by the team. So if that is false,

if that story is false, and it's not false people, it's not false. If that story were to be false, why would Trent Williams go ahead and continue to feed into it by posting an Instagram of him having a medical procedure?

You know, not to mention the fact if Ian Rappaport is right, this is not, you know, a significant medical procedure. Right. You know, it's, he had the surgery. I don't know if any of this is fact, but based on what we seem to know, he had this surgery to remove this tumor from his scalp. When it was removed, they found out fortunately, thankfully, it was benign. There may have been some concern going into the surgery that it could be malignant, or at least he felt there was. with some reporting on that. It wasn't. This is a follow-up procedure to that that apparently is not a

very significant follow-up procedure. Trent Williams, in the midst of all this stuff about him over the last 10 days now, sends out a picture. I'm assuming it's him. It's his account. It's his account. I mean, all I've seen is J.P. Finley's retweeting of Trent Williams's Instagram of, and JP writes, looks like he's clearly undergoing a medical procedure. Do we know for a fact that this is Trent Williams in this hospital bed? Do we know for fact this is a hospital? Do we know for fact that these are actually doctors or people dressed up as doctors? I mean, seriously, what do we know for fact?

If we assume that that's him and he was in a hospital bed and he had a minor medical procedure, why did he put this out there? I do you know what Trent either tell us what it is or don't well but you know

he didn't look he never has come out that's game playing to me well yeah it is it's game playing and following the Jason Lock and 4 report and what's even more

telling is you don't hear anything from his agent which if this look this was bad business what that report that was out there about Trent Williams. It's bad business for the Redskins. If there was any lack of validity to it,

an agent who has to continue to do business with the Redskins, presumably throughout his career, would have come out and said something to shoot it down. Right. Since there has been nothing but silence from Williams and his agent, you have to make the reasonable assumption that they don't have a problem with the report as it stands out there.

Here's my immediate reaction to this. Whatever game he's playing right now, it's a little bit off-putting to me as a fan, and I hope the Redskins don't get caught up in it themselves. I hope they actually do not respond to this. I would have preferred for them to have responded, you know, to the Lock and Four report about, as you described, protecting their own medical staff.

but I try to trade this dude. I love Trent Williams as a player. He's not going to play 16 games for you for the final two years of his contract each year. He's probably going to play, he's probably going to play 24 games the next two years for you. Giving him a blockbuster contract extension really doesn't make any sense. He has you buy the nuts with respect to leverage to hold out. But you don't have to play that game. You can just trade them. There are teams out there that would like, love to have Trent Williams that are truly on paper contending teams that would love to have Trent Williams that have the cap space that will give them a new deal and give them comfort that their doctors are better than the Redskins doctors. Trade them. And by the way, I'm not in agreement that the Redskins have no leverage with respect to a trade. I'm not in agreement on that.

I think that the Redskins do, I think a starting Pro Bowl left tackle is such a critical piece to certain teams out there that want to make a run, especially if you're patient here, and maybe you get to training camp and you can't pull the deal off until training camp when somebody realizes we need a left tackle. We got to have a left tackle. Somebody has an injury and then desperately needs a left tackle. I think you could pull off at minimum a package that would include a second, a third, and something later in the draft, if not more. I really do for a player like him. Okay, so your reaction to this, do you think that by Trent Williams putting this out there and playing this game, do you think he's trying to basically push the team to trade him?

I don't know what he's doing. I think he's reminding everybody, like, you know, again, I'm sure he's reading or I'm sure he's being told what's being said about this. And people are saying, my belief is it's much more about a new deal than it is about the medical, but I have said and suggested that the medical stuff isn't inaccurate, and it's a part of all of this, but what he really wants is a new contract. You know, everything comes to... But a new contract may be someplace else. Yes.

You know, I believe that to be the case also. Well, if that's the case, then... He knows Bruce isn't going to give him one, or that Bruce doesn't want to give him one. Right. Well, then why wouldn't you do this if you're Trent and Williams? Why wouldn't you stick a pin in the team? every chance you get.

Why would you let, instead of letting them off the hook? Why can't you be more direct? Well, that's, well, you know, that's a good question. I mean, because I don't know, I don't think he particularly cares about sympathy for the fans. That's a good question. Why not just come out and say trade me? Come out, well, not just say trade me, say trade me and give reasons why you want to be traded. Yeah.

I mean, if this is really an issue, if he was done wrong, he should, we should have more explanation. Maybe they are concerned about libel, slander. I don't know. All of this could be playing into it. The hippest stuff I mentioned to you the other day could be playing into this as well from the team's perspective. You know, the privacy laws. I don't know. I just know that if this is actually him and it's true that nothing was written in this Instagram post,

he's just trying to stir it up a little bit more. This is a middle finger. At somebody. Or just maybe he's just having fun. maybe he's just like watch this could be could be and then he's going to show up the training camp and say hey you're right

what'd you think about that Instagram picture that's possible it could be man this team yep this team the R of self-destruction I mean this is a guy honestly when you think about this organization over the last 5, 6, 7, 8 well by the way wait wait for all you children

out there you might want to put the headphones down for a couple minutes. All right, too. Okay. But it really is, you know, for this organization that's, you know, had a little,

I mean, let's say that they had some forward momentum off of the draft. I think it's, you know, coin flip as to whether or not it was a good draft or not,

and we're not going to know for years, but they were able to take a lot of these grades from these so-called experts that said their draft was really great and that they killed it.

And look, From my standpoint, as far as the draft goes, I thought they did pretty well, too. I'm not a huge fan of Haskins at 15, but I liked a lot of the other pieces, Sweat, Harmon, and Bryce Love in particular. I loved all of those picks, but I don't know anything when it comes to the draft. I'll be proven wrong on 50% of it easily, as will they and every other team three years from now. But they had a little bit of forward momentum with that, a little bit of juice, the quarterback being a part of it.

And their most respected player, you could almost say. Oh, yeah. You know, not only. And maybe the most influential in that locker room. Yeah, maybe, you know, I would hope a guy like John Allen is becoming one of those guys, especially in the defensive side of the ball. But now you're in this at least perceived, I don't know if it's real or not, but the perception is you are at war with the most.

respected player on your roster just a month and change after you got a little glimpse of momentum, a little glimpse of hope. But this is what they do. It's amazing the way it always works out this way for that. I mean, the most telling thing.

Why does it keep happening? Was two, before the season started last year, and I know I'm repeating myself, but this is really telling. Ben McAdoo was a coach for the New York giant. He led them to 11 wins. he may have been an idiot,

but after he got fired, last year, he was asked to assess the NFC East. And when he got to the Redskins, he said, well, Washington's Washington. Right. You know what he meant there. I know.

And that's the industry-wide view of this organization, that they will find a way to fail, not find a way to succeed, find a way to fail. If the Redskins one day have one of those NFL seasons where everything breaks right and they win 11, 12 games and they win a playoff game or two, there isn't anybody in this league, and I'm talking about outside this market, the league execs, coaches, people of longtime league reporters, there isn't anybody that will say anything other than they did it in spite. of their front office. Yeah. That this is just what happens to even bad franchises.

The accidental winning season. Yeah, they hit the inside straight once out of every 10 years. The problem with them is they've never hit it during the Snyder era. Not once. They haven't had one of those real lucky seasons that the Cardinals had with Bidwell as the owner. They got lucky. They got Kurt Warner there for a couple of years. But the Redskins, as we all know, they have not won more than 10 games in a season once under the Dan Snyder regime.

It even goes back before Dan's night. No, I know. We've gone through that. The years leading up to Dan Snyder's ownership in 99 were not good years either. But they were much closer to 91. Yes, they were. Yeah, it wasn't that far in the rearview mirror. Yeah.

All right. Scott Van Peltz coming up on the show. We're going to talk some U.S. Open and some men. NBA with him as well. But a quick word about window nation. Wind donation summer savings event is in full effect. You need new windows. Get them now. You buy one. You get one free. You buy two, get two free. Buy four, get four free with no limit. I know you like free. How about zero zero zero zero. Make that zero down payment, zero payments, and zero interest for 12 full months. Any style, by the way, vinyl, wood, fiberglass, any color as well, all engineered for the specific climates we live in.

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Call today, 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. That's 86690 Nation for free windows. Tell them that I sent you. All right, let's bring in Scott Van Pelt. I want to talk Pebble Beach, U.S. Open with him. which is underway this morning, but I want to start with the NBA playoffs and ask you if you have this sense

that the Kevin Durant injury has essentially overshadowed everything else about these NBA finals. And if you agree with that, why? Well, I agree with it because I was hosting the show the other night after they won, and it was like a funeral. Right.

I mean, we had Bob Myers, their GM, openly weeping, and not just weeping, but sobbing. I had Steph Curry on who has been really gracious through their run and their run is coincided with me having his show and he's come on more than anyone else on that team and they just won and they won remarkably pulling it out of a fire there and he was on the verge of tears

and I appreciate the emotion and I understand the source of it but it was just amazing to me that there seemed to be almost zero satisfaction in the wind and this amazing amount of real just pain. And again, I get the pain, but that just goes back to your question. Has it overshadowed everything? Yeah, because then it turns into whose fault it is and this nonsense about they had to know and they made him play. And I disagree with all of that.

You know, I brought this up to Kevin. I think the reaction to the Durant injury, how it's overshadowed the actual finals, is illustrative of how this league, the stars and their lives dominate what people care about more than the actual product itself now. You're right. You're right. And I think we've talked about this to some degree, like the amount of interest that. there is and what happens in free agency and who goes where, it becomes more interesting to people than actually who plays.

And I don't get that. I mean, my point is always, can we watch the games or we just want to know, like, where Kyrie and Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler and everybody else is going to go in July? Like, I mean, how about there's a game tonight? Yeah. You know, I'm with you. I'm with you. And the fact that so many of them live their lives via social.

media. Like, apparently, Durant wanted to share this news yesterday, so the Warriors played this, well, we don't really know what's going on role yesterday during their media availability, which of course they knew what happened. But they, I guess, Kevin wanted to share the news. So he did in that picture on Instagram. So the team said, yeah, well, you know, they played dumb. Because, again, your life has got to be shared on social media because that's how so much of what the league does gets consumed. It's fascinating all of it. I'm going to tell you on this podcast with you here what I said to you the other night. I think, you and I are on the same page on this, and I think Tommy's in agreement with this as well.

But it was just an incredible post game the other night. It was weird. It was, and you did such a great job. I know, look, it's a subjective thing, but you captured and you asked every single thing that I was thinking in the moment. of Steph Curry and of the others that you had on. And even as we sit here, you know, on Thursday, three days after, or two and a half days after the game, I'm still blown away at the morning, the grief-strickenness of all involved

in Kevin Durant's injury. I mean, I played yesterday Brian Windhorst, who was on with Rachel Nichols on the jump and Tracy McGrady, and he was talking about how he felt physically sick. and it was just a terrible feeling. And I think that even the media, and you don't, but I think even the media jumps into this being more interested in everything that's not game-related. A lot of the conversation in the last couple of days has been about free agency and how KD's injury is going to affect free agency.

Who cares right now? I'll be real curious how the broadcast goes tonight, at least until they actually start playing the game. Yeah, I, I, I, I, I, um, Steve Kerr said, you know, they had all these comments. Tommy and I spent some time talking about this, Scott, about, you know, they went through, you know, just, you know, who was involved in making this decision. I mean, there's, there's this sense that I have that there's tremendous guilt somewhere. And, you know, in this, this, this, everybody wants to blame somebody and that's why we're explaining everything. That's just part of it. But, you know, they went through Kevin's doctors and the second opinions and the third opinions. And this was a collaborative. effort to make a decision on his availability. And then Kerr said essentially, we are still in shock and sadness

about this Durant injury as an organization. And I'm like, well, you better get over it. Game 6 is tonight. Yeah, I agree with all of that. And I just I'm, I'm, I started to say

amazed, but I'm not, because people will say in anything. Now we know that. But like, watching Durant, who lives to play, lives, like spends his summer seeking out anywhere in any place to get a run in, to play, because that's what he loves to do. He's on the show for a month.

His team's down 3-1. They vet it as best they can. And then his Achilles pops. Well, guess what? Like, when people's Achilles pops, you just, you never know when that's going to happen. Well, they should have known. What does that even mean?

Like, you're supposed to know the, unknowable. Well, they forced him to play. They forced him to play. Like, again, Kevin's a very, he's a deep thinker, he's a guy whose ears hear everything, is he hearing that he's got to try

to go? I mean, none of us can know any of that. And all I know is when he played, he looked spectacular, and then he made one basketball move, and it went. And if that was the case, then who's to say that would have happened? Had he

not played in these finals and then went out and played pickup this summer. And in the first movie made, it went. I mean, again, no one could know that either. But we lived to assign blame with no knowledge of whether the people that we blame are the people that are actually to blame, or if it's actually a blameless situation. But the bottom line to your point, boys, is this. All this angst that's hung around them, they need to, they need to, they need to, they need to flush it by 8 o'clock Eastern tonight, or else they're going to get run by a team who's been better for the bulk

of these five games. I think just one point, I think there's been an overreaction to the expectation of blame by all involved in the Warriors' organization. How so? Well, because I didn't really

have a sense, and you know I'm into this, and watching everything in these games, I didn't really have this sense prior to game five, that there was like majority opinion that Durant should have already played and that he may be, you know, shirking, playing because he's healthy and ready to go. I never had that sense. To me, that's a revisionist a little bit. I agree with that. I didn't hear calls for him to play.

Me neither. I didn't think he was going to play. Say again? I didn't think he would play at all. Neither did I. I thought it was a... The longer it got, the later it got in the night, I'm like, all right, well, it's going to be tomorrow. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're running out of runway here. You've got to get the plane in the air, just don't take off.

And I don't know. All this, everyone was forcing into play, and they're, like, they were calling himself. Like, find me that headline. And then what is... And we all do this in media now. We go everyone saying, who's everyone?

Right. Is it some idiot on Twitter? Is it three eggs on Twitter? Is there one columnist from, from Kansas City? Like, finally the headline. Like, where was that, where was this consensus that he was, that he was coming up small for his team? I didn't hear it. I didn't either.

I don't know. Now, let me just point out, we're dealing with a player who has clearly shown all it takes is one person out there. Agreeing that narrative that would affect him. That's true. I mean, we're dealing with that kind of player. That is 100% true. Right. And the other, and the other thing is, like, I pointed out to Kevin, and this is just, this is,

really guessing. And not, I'm not going to say irresponsible, but it's, it's conjecture. Maybe Durant felt that the team could have taken him, could have taken the plane off the runway by declaring from the start he's not going to play in these finals. And then it's not an issue by basically declaring it right from the start. Here's what I. But it sounds like they gave it as long as they could. It wasn't, like, it wasn't like, okay, an injury where they were able to look at an MRI and go, oh, right there.

Yeah, there's a tear. You know what I'm saying? If absent that, Tommy, then I guess they were all kind of leaving it in his lap. Yeah. Look, there's nothing structurally here. So, like, we're not going to, like, Clay, they said they protected Clay from himself, from himself in game three. I guess they felt like it's been a month and there's nothing here. And this is conjecture for me.

None of us know. I'll stop talking because I don't have an effing clue what I'm saying right now. I mean, none of us do, but it doesn't mean that we, like, my answer to Tommy was, and I felt this as it was happening in the moment. I felt, I didn't think he was going to come back from that injury the night that had happened in Houston. I didn't, you know, if it was a calf strain mild or severe, we're talking about more than a month, and sometimes multiple months, just on the calf. Forget about an Achilles, obviously, which is, you know, many, many months, if not a year. I just thought the warriors were putting it out there that he's questionable, that there's a possibility for competitive advantage. Make Toronto think there's a chance he might play.

And I don't know why that would be a problem. It might be a problem with somebody like Durant, but if you went to Durant and said, Kevin, we've got to do this. We know you can't play, and we know you're not ready, and we're not forcing you and pressuring you. You're going to play when the doctors say it's okay for you to play, and you're comfortable. But it's an advantage for us to make Toronto believe there's a chance you might play.

Right, exactly, a little cloak and dagger, a little gamesmanship. But they cleared him, he looked great, and then, you know, now here we are, and it sucks. Let's not forget, boys and girls, close to home, John Wall ruptured his Achilles tendon. And supposedly, he did it in the shower. So I guess it could happen anywhere. Well, yeah, all right, let's, before we get to the open, what do you think happens? as far as the game tonight and the potential two games left, what's your prediction on the rest of the series?

I think Toronto's been the better team, and given the shell-shocked sort of stents I have on Golden State, I don't think it gets beyond tonight. I feel the same way. I picked Golden State before the series started, and I bet Toronto in every single game, and I'll have them again tonight, plus the two and a half or plus the three, whatever it is.

I just think they've been the better team. You know, it's purely hypothetical, but I said yesterday that I, after watching this series that if Durant had been healthy and it played and it was Kevin Durant, I wouldn't, you know, after seeing what I've seen, I wouldn't have just written Toronto off. I still think they would have had a chance in this series. Oh, yeah, because they're really good.

They're really good. They really are good. All right, the U.S. Open is underway at Pebble Beach. By the way, I was reading this story yesterday on ESPN about Tiger Woods in 2000 and winning at Pebble. And it was a story that I'm assuming you've heard before. I had never heard, never read about a second round in which Stevie Williams basically had one ball left in Tiger's bag. Do you know that story? Oh, yeah, this is legendary. I didn't know this story.

I'll let you tell it then. Well, it was the round that got suspended because of weather. and then Tiger had the bag in the room the night before and just took all of the golf balls out to just, you know, hit some puts, and then didn't put them back in the back. So when they went back out there to to go finish the remainder of that round, there were not the normal allotment of balls in the bag. And Tiger actually shared some more insight into the story in something I saw on golf TV. I want to say it was this morning on Twitter where he explained that back then, and anybody that plays golf

remembers the face of the ball used to cut a lot more. It was so much softer you'd cut it. And he cut the face on a couple of different shots. They get to 18. There are only two balls left in the bag. Tiger manages to smother hook one into the Pacific.

There's one ball left in the back. And it's fascinating to go back because it happened exactly as it's described. Stevie Williams, steps in to say, maybe we should hit iron here. And Tiger's like, get out of my way. Give me the ball. Give me the ball. I'm in the driver. That ball that he's hitting is the only ball that is left. They would have been out of balls at that point, which means it would have been a DQ. He would have had nothing left. I'm out of

ammo. You don't get to reload. Like you can't just say, hey, fellas, can you toss me one year, you know, whatever you're playing? That would have been it. So Tiger smashes the drive past the tree, but then it doesn't end there because now it's par five. And now he's going to hit his second, but actually now it's his fourth. And he's got a four iron and he's firing right at the flag. And Steve's trying to convince him to lay up. He's like, no, man, get up. What are he talking about?

Get out of my way. And he hits a four iron right up there. But the entire time that that's happening, only Steve Williams knows that this is the last ball. And if he manages to go left again into the ocean, we're done. So that one of the greatest championship performances that we've ever seen was one ball away from being over in the second round. That's good stuff.

That's going to have gone down for years. I thought I read that there would have been a two-stroke penalty, and he would have been given time to try to find another ball somewhere. But it had to be a Nike ball, and that's what he was playing back then. But whatever. It's a great story. It's a great story. Exactly.

Exactly. The dilemma for Stevie. Well, yeah, exactly. I mean, he's got to, his heart's got to be in his throat, along with every, along with any other anatomical things south of the border that could have shrunk up, man. That would have been horrifying. Like, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. Please don't get it left.

No, no, no, no. And Stevie claims that he didn't tell Tiger because he just thought it would make him way too nervous on any shot he hit. Right. Well, he didn't tell him until a month later. And I mean, look, we've seen with Tiger at like, you know, at Phoenix a million years ago where they moved a Boulder and they called it a loose impediment. Like, look, they'd have figured something out maybe within the framework of the rules. But it's just one of those stories that after the fact to know that it happened, it just, again,

it only adds to the lore of what turned into the group, the most dominant performance. in the modern era. All right, tell those that we'll be tuning in that watch major golf, but don't watch a lot of other golf. And this major golf, I think, is going to be, you know, through the roof ratings-wise, especially if big names are in a Tiger in particular because it's a West Coast open and it's prime time on the East Coast. But tell us about Pebble Beach, because I was reading that Brooks Keppka says that he's only

going to use a driver on three to four holes on the course. Give us a sense of what people are thinking in terms of a winning score, et cetera. Well, first of all, everyone that I've traded messages with or spoken to is raving about the condition of Pebble Beach. And what's interesting is that, you know, when you think Pebble, you think February and Pro-Am and it's, you know, it's rainy and the conditions are, you know, set up so that amateurs can get through the round. Well, in June, it's set up for a National Open, and it's the same course, but it's not recognizable from a competitive. sort of setup. It's not that long, but the key is you've got to hit fairways because the roughs so deep and the

greens are so small. So Kepka's not going to need driver much. Andy North was on with me last night. He always grumbles that the fairways are too wide, but that's just old school. Andy, you know, he wants him to hit it on bowling alley, and he wants the greens be running into 20. But every player that I've traded a note with this week said, it is so good. it is so perfect, now it's just a question of will the USGA F it up?

Because we know that they love to play with PAR and they want to protect the score and blah, blah, blah. But guys tell me that they think red numbers are going to be getable and that a score maybe, I want to say that one of the prop bets was the winning score being eight under. So that's an amazing sort of starting point. And I asked a player, I said, eight under seems like a crazy low for an over under for the winning score. And he said, that sounds about right. So people believe that you're going to be able to break par here. Well, I mean, I'm just looking, you know, and we're sitting here on Thursday morning.

Scott Piercy's five under through six holes to start the round. Do you prefer an U.S. Open where they struggle to shoot par or a tournament that's a course that's more fair? I think a lot of people enjoy the Open more than other majors because they love to see these. guys struggle. Do you prefer that or a fair sell? Well, I mean, I don't think they have to be mutually exclusive. That's true. You can make, like, Shinnock. Shinnock's a great example last year. That's a really hard golf course, and it's hard enough as it is today. Like right now, if you went there, if the best in the world went to Shinnock today and turned up to play, that would be a

plenty difficult test. But what I don't like that the USGA does is they're in there and they mess with the way the course is set up. My favorite example is Marion. They played at Marion back six, seven years ago, maybe smaller than that time. It was quicker.

In Philly, and they were terrified because it was so short that guys were going to shoot nothing. And so on the 18th pole at Marion that year, the way they set up 18, zero players made Bertie on the weekend. on

so the best players on the planet on Saturday and Sunday not one person made a birdie on the par 418 that's just stupid that's stupid like they're the best in the world someone had to make a three by accident

and no one did because of how they set it up and that's just unnecessary and that's what they do and I can't stand it and none of the players can stand it and they get one event a year and it's our national open, and they stand around with their hands on their hips, puffing their

chest out like they invented the game. So it'll be interesting to see if given the perfect sort of piece of clay that they've been given, if they can, you know, leave it alone and let it be, or if they screw it up. And, you know, I'm not predicting they'll screw it up. I just hope they don't. All right, so give me the players you liking this thing. Kepka trying to win a third straight U.S. Open, which would be ridiculous. And he is the favorite. Who do you like this weekend. I like Dustin Jonathan just because his history here is excellent. He's won

in the pro-am. He had the lead going into Sunday in 2010 and absolutely pooped his pants and shot 82. He's not the first guy to make a big number out of the last group and he just had a rough go. But if you look at

how often he's played well here, one at Oakmont, played great last year at Chinnecock in the final group. He gets beat by his boy Kepka. He's just way too good to only have one major. And this is, of course, where he's been good. And at some point, it's time for him to be great again in a major and win. And I just, I like him.

And, you know, the usual suspects are the people that you should look to. I mean, Kepka certainly is there. I mean, Tigers played well in through the years. You just have to, whoever wins, it's going to hit it straight. Because if you hit it sideways, you're just not going to have any chance to. to really move forward much. So I think Johnson's ability to fly it over a lot of the trouble and his accuracy, I don't know, seems like his week.

What's the setup like for Tiger? Start at the T. He can hit iron, and if he's good off the T, then he should be fine. I mean, fine is being a relative term. He'll have an opportunity. I think you'll compete. I mean, it's easy to bring up 2000 because, again, it was a good. greatest we've ever seen.

But, I mean, I was several lifetimes ago, you know. And he's also won. He's also won at Peppel otherwise. So I just, I think there's, he has plenty of frame of reference here in positive, positive vibes, blah, blah, blah. And he won the Masters. Him winning the Masters this year is more important than him winning in 2000, you know, when he was a kid.

I think, I think he'll compete. Speeth has played better here recently. Do you give him a shot? Yep. I do. He's fascinating. I looked at some of the matchups from a betting standpoint, and he's a massive dog in head-to-heads with guys like Dustin and Tiger,

which I thought was really interesting. And this is maybe really minutia from a gambling standpoint, but I think it's instructive. Like if you're head-to-head, like Rory and Dustin, it's a coin flip. You're going to have to lay 110 for either guy, right? So the odds aren't better for either player. He was like a – like –

Dustin was almost it was like minus 200 against him. him. And I'm thinking, well, where are they seeing that that big a gap between the two, given that Speeth played so much better lately? Right. I don't see that. I think, I think Spieth, who, another guy who has won here, I think he's got the temperament in the game to compete, but he's got to hit it straight. Maybe that's it. He's been so crooked

off the team that they think that he just can't, he can't possibly score if he does that here. And that's true. That is true, but man, has his short game come around here in the last month and a half, two months. Without it, well, when he was great, that was what he was. He was a genius there. In our golf pool, just out of curiosity, had you used Dustin already this year?

I had not. I took him and Xander Schaughley this week. Okay. I have Rose and Fienau. I had not used either one of those two. I've got Orville movie. That's well played, Tommy. It's not one person list. giving me a big fact of what we have in our golf pool.

But there are plenty of people listening when Tom's on the show that know who Orville Moody was. All right. Thanks. I'll talk to you later. Thank you, Scott. All right, boys. Have a great thing. Quick word about stamps.com. No one's really got time to go to the post office. You're busy. Who's got time for all that traffic, parking, lugging all your mail and packages, especially if you're a small business and you're bringing a lot of it.

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Now the savings. With stamps.com, you get five cents off every first class stamp and up to 40% off priority mail. Stamps.com is a no-brose.com is a no-brainer. It saves you time and money. It's no wonder over 700,000 small businesses are already using Stamps.com. Now the opportunity you have if you're a listener to this podcast. My listeners get a special offer that includes a four-week trial plus free postage and a digital

scale without any long-term commitment. Just go to Stamps.com, click on the microphone at the top of the home page and type in my code and that code is Kevin D.C. K-E-V-I-N-D-C. That's Stamps.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage and enter Kevin D.C. All right, the Nats start an 11-game homestan tonight. I had Bob Carpenter on the show yesterday and he spoke to the importance. I mean, there are a lot of games left and we all understand that, but that this is an important stretch. Especially since seven of those are with the Philips. boys and the Braves. Exactly.

The first four against the Diamondbacks, and then it's four against the Phillies, and then three against the Braves. Do you agree that this is a critical series for the Nats? Well, like, yeah. Critical stretch, home stretch for the Nats. Yeah, I guess so. Look, they're all critical when you're trying to climb your way out. When you're trying to climb out of a hole every time you slip, they're all critical

because you're going to get tired at some point. So, yeah, yeah, these are important games. particularly games against teams that are in front of you, like the Phillies and the Braves. I mean, that's where it takes on the added importance, where a win, you know, is more significant, and a loss is more significant for them. You know, part of this, what is it now, 12 and 5 stretch over the last 17 that started with those wins over the Marlins at home Memorial Day weekend, I think it was, included two wins in Atlanta. Atlanta's in first place this morning.

They won last night, the Phillies lost. They are actually in first place, and I think the Nats are seven and a half behind them, whatever it is. But, yeah, I mean, they get the Phillies and the Braves a lot more in the second half of the season, but this gives the chance for the Nats, I think, Tommy, not to be, you know,

if they ended up in this 11-game homestand going three and eight, and all of a sudden they're 11, 12 back, it could be over at that point, for the most part. This gives them a chance, worst case, just to hang in there. Because right now, anywhere between 5 and 7 games, even when you get to the All-Star break, if you're 5 or 7 back, you're in good shape.

Absolutely. Even if you're 5 back at the trading deadline, you're still there. Yeah, I don't know that it gives them a massive upside by doing well, but they can protect their downside by playing, you know, by going 6 and 5 over this stretch, you know, worst case. and keep themselves in it. I got something interesting. Apparently, Case Keenham spoke yesterday,

I guess in the last day of OTAs, and he brings up at something that will be reminiscent of a familiar name, a blast from the past. Case Keenham compared, you know, it's his 15 and eight seasons, and he talked about learning different systems going from team to team. And he said it's sort of like jumping from English to Chinese. This was a quote, then he said,

I would say I've been in Spanish before. This is like Portuguese. Do you remember the Portuguese prince? No? No. Who is the only Redskins quarterback that we know of to actually be able to speak Portuguese? Colt Brennan?

No. John Beck. Oh, John Beck. John Beck, baby. who spent two years in Portugal on a Mormon mission, you know, whatever those mission things that they do, and spoke Portuguese on our show for us. Well, maybe that's why everybody was so impressed with them.

So it's so funny that Case Keenum of all things brings up Portuguese. Somebody asked them how his Portuguese was doing, and he said, I wish I knew a Portuguese word to say like, so-so. Well, John Wall could help. John Beck could help him with that. He could help him with his Portuguese. Well, so are we to believe that this system, the Jay Gruden system, is the most difficult he's been in?

I don't think so. This is going to be interesting to watch all summer, because it's not that Haskins is in there competing against a mainstay, against a guy that's been working with Jay Gruden and Kevin O'Connell for multiple years. Colts, that is the only guy that's got that advantage. Yeah, and isn't he due for another operation, sir? Perhaps, but apparently I heard he's going to have it outside of the organization. I'm kidding.

He's not due for another surgery. Not that we know of. Not that we know him. No, unless he's in the bed with Trent Williams right next to him. There was a headline yesterday on ESPN.com. Mid-afternoon, I guess. It's a quote from Kirk Cousins. Did you see it?

Basically, I'm a 500 quarterback. Yeah, he said I'm a 500 quarterback, need wins for the next time. level. And it was a story about the Vikings and Kirk Cousins entering year two and how, you know, year two there's a chance for, you know, him to be more comfortable in the system, et cetera. But as part of this story, he said, I think the next level really for me is all about winning. I'm pretty much a 500 quarterback in my career so far. And I don't think that's where you want to be. And that's not why you are brought in or people are excited about you. If I don't play well, If I don't have gaudy statistics, but we win multiple playoff games this year, the narrative will be, I went to the next level.

And I may not walk off the field every day feeling like I did, but if we win, that's the life of a quarterback at the next level. If I have my best year, which he did in 2018 statistically. Yeah, yeah. But we're 8 and 8, I didn't go to the next level. That's the reality of it. I think they were 8, 7, and 1 last year. Just to clarify. What's interesting, at the end of the year and afterwards, the first week or so, I mean, it seemed like Kirk was a little bit tone deaf as to the perception of him in the outside world with some of his social media.

Right. I agree with you. It got to be too much. Even for somebody like me, a big fan of it. I mean, I don't think he had a full grasp of the animosity towards him out there. And maybe this one is sort of a recognition that, you know, I can't, I can't be, I can't be happy, go lucky. I have to recognize that I'm in a bad place right now. I mean, it's bad a place as a rich guy could be.

Yeah. You know, I mean, I'm not where I want to be. I'm not where I need to be. He needs to recognize that publicly. And he sounds like he finally did do this. But we'll see. I mean, you saw that the Vikings managed to sign Kyle Rudolph. And all I heard was that they weren't going to be able to sign them because of Kirk Cousins.

Right. I think the biggest benefit for Kirk in year two is going to be Gary Kubiak. I think that the situation with the offensive coordinator last year and then all of the injuries they had and the problems they had with the offensive line, which, again, you can say whatever you want to say about me defending Kirk. The fact is the Minnesota offensive line was horrible last year. They lost their coach to an unexpected heart attack death before the season started Tony Sperano. And then the injuries led to really them and the Giants having the worst two offensive lines in the game. And they couldn't run the football.

And their defense was banged up and wasn't as good as it was the year before. With that said, I will be the first to say this in key spots where he needed to elevate the team and give them a better chance of winning, especially late in the season, he was unable to do that. Right. I think that they fired the offensive coordinator. I think Gary Kubiak's going to be really good for Kirk Cousins. But it's a new offense, again, very similar to what he was running. But again, new terminology, new offense.

You've got Kevin Stefansky there who stayed after being elevated, and you brought in Kubiak. like any other team with a quarterback that isn't elite, everything around him has to be good. And it's got to be a team effort. Personally, I think Minnesota has a really good chance to have a very good season, and I think Kirk has a chance to have a really good season. There was a stretch there through the first seven, eight games. He was having a very good season last year, and they looked to be a playoff team. The Bears were better, though.

Bottom line, they lost two games to the Bears. The Bears were just a better football team last year than Minnesota was. Well, hopefully the new system is in Portuguese. Because I don't think Kirk can speak Portuguese. I hope he stays off social media, doesn't say things that make him sound detached, which I think he did last year. You know, the 500 quarterback thing, you know, I think Kirk is very much this process, you know, guy.

He always talks about the process and that he doesn't think about the results. he thinks about the process. And, you know, this quote is him thinking about the results. Yeah. And what the results mean to the way people view him. But anyway. You know what I'm doing tomorrow night? I don't know what you're doing tomorrow night.

I'm doing something really cool tomorrow night. What? I'm going to see West Side Story, the movie, in Baltimore at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra playing the score of the movie live. So they're going to play somewhere? Oh. I mean, you're going to have the singing in the movie, but the actual score, the music. Yeah.

I mean, the score is different from the soundtrack. Right. Okay. And I didn't know that. Well, it is. Okay. The score is basically the music you don't notice throughout the whole movie. Okay.

That is manipulating you. You just don't notice it. And the BSO is going to play the score while we're watching the movie on the big screen. The reason I'm excited about this about a year or two ago, I saw on the waterfront. at the Strathmore with the score being played by the National Symphony Orchestra. I remember you telling me about this.

It's one of the best things I've ever seen ever. So I'm very excited about this. It's sort of like a father's day present for me from my son, except we're going on Friday night. So that's really cool. I'm very excited. Plus, West Side Story is one of the two most influential movies for me as a kid.

Were you a jet or a shark? I was a jet. Can I ask you, that was the early 60s, right? Why was it so influential? Well, because, I mean, it was about gangs in New York, and I grew up in a neighborhood with gangs in Brooklyn. I mean, I knew this dynamic. Were you a part of a gang?

No, I was a little kid. I was too little to be part of the gang. But you remember the gangs? Oh, my gosh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And look, there were, there weren't, you know, I can remember in Brooklyn, in my neighborhood, if you walked into the wrong neighborhood, you made a mistake.

Right. And I'm just talking about because it was somebody else's turf. Right. I can remember me and a friend of mine being chased a couple of blocks when we walked into the wrong neighborhood. What was the wrong neighborhood? Italian or Irish? You know, I couldn't even tell you. Was it one of the two more likely than not?

Well, yeah, probably. But all of a sudden, we're walking down the street and these kids are up on a roof. Because a lot of people, a lot of roof hanging. That's why the Carol King wrote that song up on the roof. Because that was, that's a legitimate way of socializing in New York. All of a sudden, these kids are throwing rocks at us from the roof. I mean, big rocks throwing at us and we're running down the street. And that was a situation where we went into an area where that wasn't friendly.

You were probably looking for a good bagel. So I'm psyched about seeing West Side Story. That's pretty cool. I mean, I, of course, know the movie, and I know the music from the movie. It's Leonard Bernstein, right? Yes, and he did the score, too. And again, the score is the music

that you don't notice during the movie, but is basically manipulating you in all sorts of directions. Is Barbara Streisand somewhere the most famous song to come out of West Side Story? The most recognizable. But she doesn't. didn't sing that she did did eventually she did okay well eventually she did i mean that's the version i know uh-huh but if the was there an original version without her sung by somebody else i'm sure there was

okay maybe there was i don't yeah but that that that score is from the movie that that that that's song yeah that song's from the movie yeah that's what i meant okay um all right well that's tomorrow night right what are you doing tonight what am i doing tonight i'm watching uh actually i'm gonna watch the nvaa finals tonight. Today is a good day for me as a sports fan because you got the U.S. Open on and it'll be on right up. It'll be on after the NBA game six starts. Tiger doesn't tee off until I think 505 Eastern. So figure, you know, a four and a half hour round, the game will be.

He'll still be on the course as the game starts. That's why I hope the series ends tonight because Sunday I would rather be dialed in on the U.S. open, then have to go back and forth with both. Oh, goody. You hate golf. All right. I had a couple of things here that I was going to ask you. I was going to ask you if you had any reaction to all of the reaction over the

Women's World Cup team, winning 13 to nothing. Well, I can tell you briefly, I mean, I had no problem with it. Yeah, I didn't either. In fact, Aaron made the best point yesterday. The gold differential is taken into consideration if there's a tie in your group. Yes.

Like that, that's all you need to know. They should have been trying to score more. Yeah. I had no problem with what the women did in the celebrating or the goals. All right. Good show today. I enjoyed it. Really?

Yeah. I thought it was pretty good. Well, I think, you know why it was good? Because I started off with a bagel, a plain bagel with nothing on it. It's a good way to start a morning. Yeah. All right. I suggest you try it sometime.

If you're listening to us on iTunes, rate us, review us. Also, subscribe. It really helps us. It doesn't cost you a thing. let everybody know that isn't listening to the podcast, but wants to listen, that they can listen at the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. Thanks to Scott for coming on. Aaron did a great job, Tommy.

I will see you next week. Enjoy the day. Enjoy the weekend. Back tomorrow with definitely an NBA guest and maybe a surprise NFL guest tomorrow. Have a great day.