The Kevin Sheehan Show - Tush Push In Trouble?

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

Kevin and Thom today opened with a recap of Thom's "Cigars & Curveballs" fundraiser last night. The boys talked about the two big NFL League Meeting votes scheduled for tomorrow. First, will the Tush Push be outlawed along with other pushes and pulls? And...will the league change the playoff format and seed based on record? Plenty of discussion on both along with Kevin's idea to play division opponents three times a year instead of twice when the league moves to an 18-game schedule. Juan Soto, RG3/Ryan Clark, the Sacramento Athletics, two Wizards make the NBA "All Rookie" team, and the NBA Conference Finals all part of the show as well.  Goldbelly.com, code sheehan, for free shipping and 20% off your first order of food from around the US.  Go To WindowNation.com. Buy 4 windows, get 4 free!Betting on sports? Go to mybookie.ag. Use code KEVINDC for a bonus! 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 Cheehan Show. He is Kevin. Tommy's here. I'm here. The show's presenting sponsor is always,

Window Nation 86690 Nation or Windonation.com if you've been thinking about new windows. Just mention our name and they will take really good care of you. You're moving a little bit slower today. So am I because that was a blast. last night. That was, that may have been, I don't know, it was equal to last year's turnout, but it could have been even a little bit bigger. It was at least equal to last year's turnout. And I got to tell you, I'm always blown, you know,

I mean, I'm a caught up in the moment kind of guy. I'm not really, I don't really see the whole room. I just see kind of like what I'm doing at this point. Yeah. So, and I'm very busy on the night that we have the cigars and curveballs fundraiser at shelley's back room like we did last night. So I don't necessarily while it's going on really appreciate how much fun everybody is having. But everybody always talks about how great it, especially if they're there for the first time. And they say, I got to come back next year.

And I, you know, it's like being at your own wedding. It's like being at your own wedding. When it's your thing and you've put your heart and soul into this, and it takes a lot of planning, which for you is just completely kind of out of the ordinary to begin with. It's not your, it's not your MO to plan, but it's well done. And then once it starts, it's the culmination of things.

And you get, you know, you can't enjoy it and you can't see it like the attendees can. But I will tell you, it was, a blast. It seemed to be very successful. It was well-run per usual. The venue is perfect for it, Shelly's. And Tommy, I mean, there were people hanging out there until late last night. Well, you know, long after the event ended, including, you know, several of us who ended up eating dinner there late. By the way, the burger, the burger was great. Shelly's has excellent food, Excellent food. Showy's custom blend.

But even Mike Rizzo hung out long after the event was over. He's such a good guy, by the way. He's so accessible. He's so generous with his time. And, yeah, I can tell you, because I could tell you, you're always caught up into it. You're sitting down in that chair and you're passing stuff out and you're making sure it was, I mean, I can't, like, I'm looking at the emails. before I called you to record the show today.

And there are several of them just saying unbelievable times. So nice to meet you. Every year we see familiar faces, but we always see new faces as well. And last night, I would say at least a dozen people, maybe a few more, first time we've met them. And they've been listening to the show or they've been reading you for years, you know? So, I mean, there was a group that, two groups that came in from me. out of town for it. I know. So, yeah.

It was nice. I mean, about a hundred. What was it? About a hundred people in that room? Is that the max? Maybe about a hundred, yeah. It was packed. I mean, you couldn't have fit too many more people into that room. No, it was packed. And Bob Matarazzi is a great host at Shelly. Phenomenal. You know, and like I've always told people in the commercials, if you're looking for a place to have an event.

You could, you're not going to find many places better in Shelley's where people come away saying what a good time they have. You know, it just creates that kind of atmosphere. Yeah. And we had a beautiful night so people could spill out, you know, outside in the outdoor seating area that they have on the sidewalk at Shelly's. So it was, everything went very well. the stuff that we put out for auction was great.

You were very generous with your bidding. A lot of people. Yes. Yeah. A lot of people were. Absolutely. So it was a great event for an organization that is run totally 100% based on donations. Grants, you know, donations.

We are totally, you know, nonprofit, totally all-voluntprofit, totally all-voluntary. volunteer, you know, in between the college baseball team that we field in the Cal Ripkin collegiate baseball league, and then the youth baseball program that we run. Right. You know, it takes, it's like every year we have to crank it up again to raise enough money to do it, and people responded in force with this event here, and it'll go to a good cause by a lot of equipment for a lot of kids that couldn't play baseball otherwise. Yeah, I mean, it's a phenomenal cause.

Now, there's one part of an email that I do want to read because I want to make sure that you can respond to this. This comes from Kevin, from Bailey's Crossroads. He wanted to congratulate you, Tommy, on another successful. Cigars and Curve Balls event. He said last year was my first year attending and this year was just as good if not better. Such a fun time

at a great venue and it's surprisingly entertaining watching people bid on items that I can't afford. That's what he said. A testament to the auctioneer's talent and Chris does a great job with the auction. The general manager of the DC

Grays, absolutely. He said he said the only moment deviating from your typical menu of excellence, we like to say about this podcast that every day is a different menu, but it's always got excellence as part of it. But he says, the only moment deviating from your typical menu of excellence was when Tommy was handing out cigars at the door, but was skeptical that I had actually paid for my ticket. Come on, Tommy. You're a man of people. You should know no one's going to try to sneak into a charity auction. Thanks for a great time, fellas. See you next year. Did you question somebody as to whether or not they had paid

for their ticket? You know, I'm not going to doubt them. I don't remember doing that because before the event started, I had talked to our board president, Mike Barbera, and I said, look, I'm not checking names. So I'm going to assume everybody who's coming in that has bought a ticket. So I don't know. Must have been a moment of not clarity, of confusion. Yes.

And I apologize for that. Well, but hold on for a second. So you don't have to present anything when you show up? No, most people buy, but you know, they buy tickets electronically. So is their name on a list? Now, apparently, thanks to Mike,

he had some helpers last night, the people who go around with the little card reader and get the people's credit cards where they bid on stuff. That was for the option. They had the list of ticket people who had paid, and they were outside of the, they were in the hallway leading into the main room. I think I saw them. I kind of walked right by them, but I'm pretty sure I saw them. They were checking names, apparently, of people who were.

who had already paid. What about if you wanted to buy a ticket at the door? Well, they were there for that, too. Okay. You know, they had the card reader right there, so you could buy a ticket at the door. I just want to make sure that there's some level of, you know... Security? I don't think the crowd necessarily demands security, but as this event grows and it seems

to be growing, you know... We're going to get some people that are going to say, yeah, let me see, you know, let me see what that ticket at the door situation is really like. Maybe I'll go in and go in one side of the restaurant and come out the other. No, I'm kidding. That'll just be the cost to doing business. You know what, that's true. You know, the restaurant business, occasionally, some of it goes out the back door.

And there's not a lot you can do about it. It's a tough business, that restaurant business. The other thing is, I can't tell you how many people, but it was at least four or five, maybe six people last night, came up and asked me, are you going to Madrid or not? Are you guys going to Madrid? A couple of people, and I'm going to remember their names here. I think it was John and I forget who the other, his friend was. but they're going to Madrid. One person said,

why don't we all go in on an Airbnb together? And I said, I think Tommy's got a place to stay. And Airbnbs are awesome. I'm not saying they're not. But I don't know if I want to do an Airbnb with somebody that I just met at Tommy's cigars and curveballs fundraiser. I don't know if I can commit to that quite yet. But, yeah.

Madrid. I've already started. I've already started the ball roll, and I've reached out to my relatives in Spain, explaining what I'm hoping to secure for probably about a week, you know? Yep. And I've got one person who lives outside of Madrid, who has already, you know, said, I could stay at their place. but that wouldn't be as convenient as being in the city, which is where I really want to be.

Right. So I have one fallback option where I'd have to take a train into the city every day, and I'm hoping to avoid that. But I just cast the lines today. So we'll see. Yeah, I would like to be in a spot where I can walk everywhere, you know, worst case, you know, cab or Uber. I have looked, too, and I think I told you this.

last week, the prices basically for that week are double what they are the week before or the week after. So, yeah. I don't know the answer to this. I mean,

I could just say to hell with my actual employer to my W-2 job. I could say, you know, if they're not going to, you know, hook it up so that I can do the radio show from there, then I'll just take the week off. but it's just not really good form to take a full week off during football season,

which is what we refer to in the trade as high season. That is our high season. I can't believe they can't come up with some kind of... They might. They might be planning on it. I have to make some calls on that. But, you know, it's not like typically in radio, as you and I have learned over the years, that this is...

Now, I like our... managers. I actually like Chris Kynard, C.K. are program director and basically the head of the whole, you know, he's growing quickly in terms of responsibility. He's a great dude. He's the kind of guy that actually would look ahead. Plenty of people from our past, you know, like Simple Jack. Simple Jack would have said a week before the game in Madrid, oh, they're playing in Madrid against the Dolphins next Sunday? Um, you. Yeah, so I think I'm going to be able to plan, hopefully. There's some guys who look for reasons to say no,

and there's other guys who look for ways to say yes. Well, you know, don't start looking in the mirror and thinking you're the latter necessarily. If I want to do it, I'm going to do it, and I'm going to make it happen. But, you know, I did, I think broached the topic last week or maybe earlier this week, that my dear wife who, you know, the next sporting event she sits down and watches will be pretty much the first one, at least start to finish. I mean, she takes it all in when it's on because it's always on, but she couldn't care less until she heard that Washington was playing in Madrid,

and then she decided to offer everybody in the family, hey, on our, you know, we're going to handle it, but we're all going to Madrid if you want to go and I said, no, no, no, that's not the way this trip is going to work. We can do Madrid another time during the year, but not that week. I've already double-checked with my spouse. Yeah, you told me, she doesn't want to go. That, you know, nope, not in. So I've got clearance.

So did last night, are the returns in in terms of gross revenue? or net revenue from the whole event? Was it the most successful of all time? Because it seemed like it was heading in that direction. I don't know what the final total is, but my ballpark figures in my head tell me it's got to be the highest. Okay. It's got to be the highest.

And we had people who couldn't attend write checks, you know, as donation. That's awesome. Yeah. In addition to buying tickets, people who bought tickets. people who bought tickets, but could not attend, but they still bought tickets. We had other people who wrote checks. I'll tell you one story. Okay.

I was in my Frederick Cigar Hangout, Quartermasters. Ed Cobra was there last night, the owner of Quartermasters. He was sitting with Doc at that table there. Yeah. I was sitting with Doc. Yeah. Right. Yep.

And I was there at Frederick at Quartermasters. And I was talking to somebody about the Grays and somebody overheard the conversation, a businessman in Frederick, and got real curious and started asking me questions about it. So I'm explaining who we are, what we do. I'd never seen this guy before, met him. A couple of days later, he came into the cigar shop with a check for the D.C. grace. Just like that. How about that?

Yeah. So that was pretty special. Yeah. So there were a few of those, even before we opened the doors last night. So I got to think it's the best number yet. And we need it. We need it. Yeah.

And I'm telling you, I've said this before to you and Chris and Mike, the gear, D.C. Gray's gear is great. Like the whole color scheme, everything about it. If you go to DCGRAZ.com, DCGR-A-Y-S.com, they've got a team store there. And I love the DC logo, you know, because look, if you're out and about, and I have several DC grays hats and I've got, you know, a couple of t-shirts and different things. But if I've got that hat on, people from not here will say, oh, you're from DC. Yep.

And then they don't know it as the DC-Graise logo necessarily, but it's. it is a great logo and there's great gear, you know, available, you know, at their, at their store. So if you're out of town and you're wearing a Washington Nationals hat, people say, do you work at Walgreens? Well, I guess it could be. Yeah, depends on the color. Yeah, well, it could be.

Yeah. But D.C. is D.C. But, no, you got that D.C. Grace hat on is D.C. Yeah, it's awesome. All right. I want to talk about these rule changes that the NFL is going to vote on tomorrow because they're significant and they'll change two significant areas of the game if they're approved. We'll get to that and more after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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actually, they okayed. They voted yes to allow NFL players to play in the flagged football competition in the 2028 Olympics. I mean, I'm going to be honest with you. I didn't know that flag football was becoming an Olympic sport. Was it, it certainly wasn't a special. It certainly wasn't a in Paris this past summer. What last summer was it? No, but I think, and I think this falls under this jurisdiction. I'd have to check it to be accurate. I think the host nation can designate a sport or two that they can be have in the games

that's kind of unique to, you know, that they would like to have. Well, won't we dominate this particular competition? Yes. Nobody in the world. Nobody else in the world plays it. You're my look, absolutely dramatically. And look, I've been following the whole flag football marketing phenomenon, and it's brilliant by the NFL, and it's starting at the grassroots level for both men and women. I know here in Frederick County, there are women's flag football teams at the local high schools.

I'm assuming if it's in Frederick County, it's in a lot of other places as well. So I think this is a brilliant idea that the NFL has had, and I'm sure in part I think it was born out of the concussion. No doubt. Yes. Yeah. It was born out of that, but I think it's turned into something bigger than they, just like anything with the NFL, I think it's turned into something bigger than they expected. Look, flag football's always been a sport, and flag football was even available when I was a kid. But the majority of kids, boys anyway, that wanted to play football, play tackle football.

Now, because of the concussion issue, because of the fear and legitimate fear that many parents have about kids playing football, especially at very young ages, flag footballs become even more popular and so many kids are playing flag. And let me just say, you know, football's always been the sport. some of you may disagree with me, but I think that, I think this is true based on personal, you know, observation and experience. Football is one of those sports where if you decide to play tackle football for the first time as a high school sophomore or junior, you're not going to be at a massive disadvantage. It's one of those sports where if you're an athlete, You can step in and play tackle football for the first time as a freshman or a sophomore in high school. You know, basketball and some of the other sports that require so much more skill and learned skill over a period of time,

those are tougher sports to jump into as you get older. But if you're an athlete, you know, you can play basketball, lacrosse, you know, flag football, and then decide, you know, as a high school sophomore, you know, hey, I'm going to try to play tackle football, and you're not going to be at a massive disadvantage. I think that's my opinion. I don't know how many of you out there would agree with it. I think there are a lot of coaches out there that would agree with it. But, you know, not every position. You're probably not just going to be able to step in and play quarterback right away if you haven't had some experience in it, but there are plenty of positions where you go out and play.

Yeah, but you are at it. disadvantaged knowledge-wise. I mean, someone who's played the game that you're competing against will have a significant knowledge advantage over you. You may have the talent to compete with them, the physical talent, but obviously there's a knowledge to the game, just like any game, that requires experience. But I understand what you're getting at. So anyway, flag football and Olympic sport, there are some rules.

I'm happy. I think it's great. I think it's great. I think it's going to be good for the NFL. And it'll be exciting if they let NFL players play flag football in the Olympics. You know what I'm wondering is if there are enough NFL players from other countries where, you know, like obviously, like Samoa. Like there are a lot of Samoans in the NFL, right? Now, Samoa is, it is American, correct? Isn't Samoa American owned? There's, am I right about that or not? You might be a cabinet member. I'm pretty sure Samoa's American owned, right? I think it's called American Samoa. Yeah, right. So, you know, would that be a separate, you know, nation? Would, I don't, I mean, are there, what other country has NFL players in, you know, I mean, the NBA would be easy, but these are, these are complex international issues that are above our people. I'm actually interested in this, NFL by nationality. Let's see if there are, because remember, they had the international program.

you know, where you have the ability. I bet they're mostly kickers. Yeah, I'm like, there's some Australian kickers. There are, well, this is like in the history of the NFL. So list of NFL players currently born outside the U.S. Oh, this is in history. Not the NFL's very much an American thing, period. I mean, it's grown in popularity, especially in the UK and in Germany and soon in Spain,

but those countries have not produced a lot of NFL players. Anyway, there is a rule that limits one player per NFL team on each national team participating. So, yeah. And you get a designated international player to play for his home country, and I would bet that most of those people are kickers and punters. Okay. Let me get to what I really wanted to get to, which is the tush push and the playoff seating change.

Two different rules that the NFL's owners will vote on tomorrow in Minneapolis. They require three-quarters vote, so 24 out of the 32 owners have to vote yes for these two things to pass. The first is basically the tush-push rule, which was presented in March at the league meetings in Palm Beach, but tabled because it didn't have the votes. There were 16 owners that were in on banning the tush-push, but that was eight short. And they came back, the Green Bay Packers did, with a significantly changed proposal. Now, it's still referred to as the Tush Push proposal, but it really is so much more than that. This is a rule that will get voted on tomorrow that would prohibit an offensive player with the football from being pushed, pulled, lifted, or assisted in any way other than players blocking for that player, blocking opponents. So it's not just Jalen Hertz being pushed from behind by Dallas Goddard in the Tush push.

It's a running back in the open field on third and five who gets hit, held up two yards short of the first down, and then three offensive linemen come in from the back and push that runner five yards forward, and it's a first down. or, you know, a runner gets down to the six. They haven't whistled forward progress, and here come three big dudes pushing them from the six all the way into the end zone. And we've seen a lot more of that in recent years. That would be prohibited as part of this rule as well. Interestingly, pulling and pushing players in the open field was a rule for a long period of time.

you were not allowed to do it, but for whatever reason, it was never enforced. So this is the rule. If you are penalized for it, it would be a 10-yard penalty. I didn't see whether or not it's a 10-yard spot penalty or it's a 10-yard from the line of scrimmage. But I am 100% in favor of this, even more so because of the other part of this rule that was added. I don't like when a defense seems to have a running-back stop. a couple of yards short of the end zone. And here comes, you know, the big uglies from the offensive line pushing the runner

and sometimes even lifting the runner into the end zone. That just to me isn't football. I don't like it. And I am in favor. I would vote yes to this rule, which, of course, would also include no more tush-push. I don't feel that passionate about it, but I don't like the, I really do not like like you, the additional part when they've got a running back stopped, and the referee has not blown the whistle yet, and the offensive line and try to push them along. So I do not like that part of what has become part of the game. So, I mean, I'm fine with this.

I mean, I don't get that worked up over the rules. I think this is a big deal because Philadelphia has had so much success with the tush push. You know, there are a couple of things, though. Number one, I think it's a pace of play issue. And we saw the pace of play, you know, come to a screeching halt in the NFC championship game because defenses decided they were going to get creative to try to time the cadence and stop it. And then all of a sudden we found out that they, if the defense did it one more time. If Frankie Louvo did it one more time, Philadelphia could be awarded a touchdown.

You know, it's not just the occasional fourth and one or fourth in inches or fourth and goal from the one. Philadelphia has countless numbers of times done it on third and two to set up fourth and one. I don't need to see two tush pushes in a row. The other part of this from my standpoint is I actually think Philadelphia is leaving a lot of yards on the table. Like, Sequin Barclay, that offensive line, third and one, and they're, you know, going into a scrum and pushing for that yard to move the chains, when do we typically see the biggest, most explosive runs, short yardage, you know, third and one, everybody's at the line of scrimmage, and then all of a sudden, Sequin Barclay breaks a tackle,

and there's nobody but one safety to beat, and he's off to the races. I actually think this could work out in Philadelphia's favor. Now, you might say, well, let's take the first down and move the chains, but with Barclay in that offensive line, they're going to pick up the first down on most third and ones anyway, and they're also going to have big plays that come off of it. There was one other thing to this. Frankie Louvo, Washington's linebacker, who I thought was their best defensive player on the team last year.

He was on the NFL Network's show Good Morning Football. They asked him about it, and he said, quote, my personal opinion about whether or not they should ban it or not, he said, I think they should ban it. It's kind of a cheap-o play. It's pretty much a scrum in rugby. That's how I kind of look at it. And we've got to have a scrum too on the other side. And the scrum is we have a cadence where we all go at once. It's not like you hard count and this and that where you're now getting us or myself

jumping over the pile thinking that you're going to be there for the snap of the ball. You know, a couple of things about what he said. Number one is, you know, Dan Quinn was asked about this two or three months ago. And he just said, yeah, I don't have an opinion. We're just continuing to work and come up with ways to stop it. You know, he didn't want to give Philadelphia any fuel and be the team that voted for it. So he might, you know, yesterday, Tommy was Monday, which meant that Frankie Louvo was participating in his own version of Tell the Truth Mondays, you know, which is one of Quinn's favorite days of the week, Tell the Truth Monday. And he told the truth in terms of what he really wanted.

And I actually wonder whether or not, you know, Quinn will say something to him. Like, we didn't want to be the team in favor of banning this. This is our rival. We don't need them posting something on the bulletin board before we play them. We don't have to play them until December about how Washington was one of the teams that banned the tush push. Here's Frankie Louvoo's comments. But I'll tell you this, Tommy, you know, that play is, poorly officiated.

There's neutral zone infractions. There's lining up off sides by the offense. The defense is trying to time the cadence. By the way, I don't know if what he was saying was like, we all have to have the same cadence on that play. Like Philadelphia is going to say, all right, we're running the tush push and we're going to go on one. That's not going to happen.

I'd like to see this thing voted for. really can't stand the play. It has nothing to do with Philly. I can't stand the play. I'd rather see Seyquan Barkley get the ball. I'd rather see, you know, a running back or a quarterback. He ain't going to be there forever. You know, you're still going to have the rule. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm just saying I would rather see a running back, you know, have a chance. I'd rather see a traditional quarterback sneak. And, you know, with Jalen Hertz and that lower body and those legs of his, he doesn't really need much of a push. But I have a feeling I had Maskey on the radio show yesterday.

He covers these things very closely. He didn't know which way this thing would go, but he said there's a chance it'll get voted yes in terms of the ban. I hope it actually gets past and we don't have to see it anymore. And we don't have to see the other stuff. I've gotten sick of watching linemen push running backs seven yards into the end zone, rather than the running back getting there himself. So the other rule is the seating, which, by the way, Maskey does not think we'll get 24 votes tomorrow.

He thinks that they'll hold off on the seating until they get 18 games. But what's open for vote tomorrow is a Detroit Lions proposal. that basically says once the seven teams are qualified for the playoffs in each conference, we cede them one to seven based on record. What we've had here previously is that the four division winners, regardless of record, get seated one through four and get to host a playoff game. And this would mean that teams that win divisions make the playoffs, but are not guaranteed a home playoff game.

Last year is an example if what Detroit is proposing had been in play, Washington is a wild card team at 12 and 5. They would have been a four-seed, and they would have hosted a first-round game against the Green Bay Packers instead of being a six-seed and going on the road and facing Tampa Bay. Now, they won the game anyway, but in the A-Vos, you know, when the AFC last year had the rule been in place, the chargers who went to Houston and lost would have hosted the game against Houston. Maybe they would have won that game. I am also in favor

of this. I've talked about this for years. I think it's competitively unfair that a 14 and 3 Minnesota team last year who is playing on the final Sunday night of the season against the Lions is 214 and 2 teams with the best records in the NFC, and they were playing for the one seed and the NFC North title that Minnesota lost for the third time in 17 games and had to travel in the first round of the playoffs to 10 and 7, L.A. Now, the game ended up getting moved to Arizona because of the wildfires. But, you know, what if that four seed last year had been one of those terrible four seeds, you know, like a 7 and 10 or an 8 and 9 team? And 14 and 3 Minnesota. has got to play a road game against an 8 and 9 team.

I'm in favor of this. I hope they do it. Masky seemed to think that they won't. The other thing that this almost guarantees is that more games at the end of the year will have stakes, will be meaningful. There will be fewer games that will have no meaning because teams will be playing for seating. rather than being locked in as a division champion at 8 and 9 or 9 and 8, knowing that no matter what happens, you're going to be hosting a playoff game.

I think it just would be better for the regular season, better for the postseason, and it doesn't mess with the division integrity, because you still could be a 7 and 10 division winner, but get to go to the postseason. So the divisions would still matter. It's the way to qualify for the playoffs. the first way, winning the division. It just shouldn't guarantee you a home game.

I'm in favor of that. What about you? You know, this is going to be awfully boring, but I'm in favor of it too. I think it is important that the division, winning the division has some level of merit to it and reward. And the fact that you probably, if you were just stacked by records,

and you had, let's say, a 7-10 record, you wouldn't make the playoffs, but if you won the division, you would. So I'm in favor as long as the division titles, you know, folks we don't go to a thing of, you know, where records are the only thing that matters, and I don't think that's ever going to happen. No.

This is, this is the league where divisions matter. I don't even know what the NBA divisions are. I think one is the Gilbert Arena. division. I'm sure. Yeah, I think that, you know. I like both these. Me too.

I like both these, but I don't get that worked up over, over these kind of rule things that much. So I kind of, on radio this morning, I don't know how I got into this. I know that I have mentioned it previously, but it had been a long time. But if they go to 18 games, and it's really not if.

It's when they go to 18 games. This league's going to add another regular season game. It's going to cut the preseason to two games, and they're going to try to sync it up each year so the Super Bowl is played President's Day weekend, so that Monday ends up being a national holiday following Super Bowl Sunday. So when you go to 18 games,

if the current, you know, division format is there and you play each team in your division twice. The division games will be exactly one-third of your entire schedule, six out of 18, you know, and how they add the 18th game in terms of who you play. It might be another AFC team is my guess. But I had an idea, and I know I've had this idea before, but I think it's really a creative and good, idea. I'm willing to have holes punched in it for sure. But when they go to 18 games,

two years from now, three years from now, I think they should consider playing nine division games. Rather than having division games only be a third of your schedule, add one division game per division opponent so that you're actually now playing, if you're Washington, you're playing Dallas three times in a season, the Giants three times in a season, and the Eagles three times in a season. So half of your schedule would be division games. The other half would be probably five NFC games and four. You'd play a division from the AFC, a division from the NFC, from the other divisions,

and there'd be one other random, you know, whatever place you finished in, NFC team from the division that you didn't play in full. I think it would emphasize and put even more emphasis on the divisions, on the rivalries, because the NFL's, you know, about rivalries. You know, rivalries are a big thing in the NFL. And it would reduce travel, which would be, you know, a healthy thing. for all players. Because now, you know, not every division has, you know,

total geographic proximity like Dallas and the NFC East. But for the most part, you know, you would be reducing your travel on an annual season basis. The big hole that you'd punch in it would be you'd make the division games not as anticipated because there would be so many of them. And you might like oversaturate the market with division matchups. And that's a reasonable pushback to that. But I think that there's, and you know, you'd play this year, Washington would play Dallas twice at home once on the road. And then next year they'd play Dallas once on the road twice at home.

And you just rotate it. Some years you'd have four division games at home, five on the road. Some years you'd have five at home four on the road. You know, you just end up rotating those matchups. I think that would be an interesting thing to see. You know, I don't know, maybe I got the wind taken out of my sales last night. Maybe I'm just in a good move, but I think that's a brilliant idea. I think it's great.

Do you remember when baseball increased the number of division matchups like 15, 20 years ago, wanted to really, like, I think it went to, like, at one point they were playing each division team 19 times, and I think they reduced that, actually, in recent years. Yeah, I think it's now 14 times. Yeah. So maybe they got to the point where it was, like, too much, I don't know. But can you imagine three games against the Cowboys Eagles and Giants every year? I think it's brilliant.

I don't know if it's brilliant, but I've never heard anybody mention it when they talk about an 18 game schedule. You know how people will say every year you got, I mean you got to go better than 500 in your division. You got to, you know, no you don't. No, you don't. Six games

are against your division opponents. 11 right now are non-division opponents. In two years or three years when you're in an 18 game schedule, potentially, you know, two thirds of your schedule isn't going to be division games. You better

do well in your non-division games if you want to have a good season. That's the majority of your games. The significant majority of your games. Now, it's hard to go 0 and 6 in a division and win it, hard to go 1 in 5 because that's 5 losses. But you certainly could go 3 in 3 in the division or 2 and 4 and do really well outside the division and make the playoffs or win the division. I just think if you really want to make those division matchups mean the most, once you go to games, you've got to have more games. You've got to have more division games. I agree.

I agree. You're like an NFL industry onto yourself. You know, these are the silly things that I think about. They're stupid. They don't really help me at all. You know what? And I brought this analogy up in the movie, Diner. Yeah.

Great film. Bomber. Stern is having an argument with his wife, Ellen Barkin, about his records, because she keeps putting the records in the wrong place. He has the records, you know, stacked according to style of music, alphabetically, artist, because he's passionate about his records. And he's screaming at her, you know, you don't put the records in the right place, and you don't know that this is, you know, rhythm and blues and this is jazz and this artist borrow from this artist and she looks and her, she says, I just want to hear the music.

That's how it kind of is to me with football in particular. I just want to see the football. You know, I'm not that particularly interested in writing the rules every year. So if somebody else wants to do that, I have at it, see my man for the job. You know what? I'm not, but I think I could be, I think I would come up with some ideas that maybe people in league meetings might say, hmm, I haven't thought of that one before. You know, my good friend, Scott Van Pelt, makes fun of me all the time. I've probably told this story before. But this

goes back to 1995 or something like that. And the Redskins under Norv Turner, we're playing a game. in which they were down by one point late in the game. And I forget specifically what the game was. It was like 17, 16, and they were out of timeouts. But the other team was still running plays. And this was, I swear, I'd never seen this done before at the time. And I remember saying to Scott, let them score. Like, you got to let them score because it's the only way you can win this game.

you'll be down eight, but you'll have the ball with a chance to go down, score, two-point conversion, and tie. And he's like, that's really smart. I'm like, it's just simple math, but teams weren't doing it back then. They weren't doing it back then. So I wrote a letter to Norv Turner. I wrote a letter to Norv Turner, and I sent it Federal Express. And, I mean, I ended up getting, like, you know, one of the. those form, thank you very much for your interest, you know, glad you're a fan, the whole thing

with a, you know, a stamped North Turner signature. Nothing about, you know, what I had sent. But over the many years, like, if I am, you know, complaining about something, Scott will just say, why don't you write a letter to Norv Turner? And that's just me. I got, yeah, I got two questions. Yes. Do you have the copy of the letter that still have copied of the letter you wrote? No. No, definitely not. Do you have the copy of Norfleter back? I don't think so.

I do have in my attic two big boxes of a lot of shit. Like, I don't even know what's in there. Although, I remember, because we didn't move that long ago. You know, we've been in this new house now for three years. So when we moved, I ended up just perusing quickly some of these boxes. I think I've told you before. In one of the boxes, I have a lot of old newspapers, you know, Washington Post newspapers.

But in another box, I had a seat cushion from Super Bowl 26 in Minneapolis, and I opened it up and there was a lot of stuff. Like you showed up, I was at the game, you showed up, and there was like a seat cushion and there was a lot of stuff in stuffed into the seat cushion. And one of the things in there are, there's like two packages of unopened rookie cards, NFL cards. And I have no idea if I have a card that might be, you know, valuable or not.

You know, the 1991 NFL draft, you know, featured like players at the top. I mean, I looked at this, you know, three years ago, and it was not like a who's who, necessarily in that draft. So I'm trying to think there was one there is one player in that draft. Hold on. Now I've got to pull it up. I just remembered like the first round looking through it and it's like even if that guy's card is there

it's not going to be worth much. I don't know much about cards. Brett Farr. Brett Fav was in the 91 draft. He was picked. There's a new documentary out about Brett Favre. Really? very explosive documentary that just dropped today on Netflix. I actually want to watch the Gilbert Arenas Netflix documentary.

I've heard that's very good. Yes, so we need to watch at least the Brex-Farv one. I think it's, I think it's, I mean, I think it dropped today. So I got on my calendar to watch it. All right. A lot of stuff in there about, you know, because he had a very complicated life. far. Yeah.

I'll try to watch it too. But I'm looking at the 91 draft now. What if in that unopened package there's a Brett Farr of rookie card? I don't know anything about cards. I mean... I think I'm not sure. I don't either. If it's unwrapped, you know, maybe it's worth something.

Yeah. If it's in, you know, men condition, you know, what this leads me to say, these two boxes, you know, since they're just sitting in the attic. I know. I'm not doing anything. Right. You need to bring them to the auction next year, the boxes as is, and put up the she and papers for auctions.

You know what? I had a thought last night, and I, you just remind me of it, and I did not, you know, put it into my phone as a reminder. You know, some of the, there were some really good auction items last night. I don't even know if this would be a good auction item or not.

But I have a, the school, in 2012, the school that my boys were going to at the time, or two of the three boys were going to at the time, I think, was this school over in Bethesda. And the kids in that school did a big mural of RG3. And it was really well done. And the person who was running the school came to me and they said, is there any chance you could get it signed and then we would auction it off and I said yeah I'll do my best and so you know you and I were doing the show at the time and I forget if you remember this or not I don't even remember this coming up okay so

there were two there were two RG3 murals two of them but now I just want to say there was like a duplicate of the mural like maybe it was two pictures of it. I don't know what it was, but there were two versions of it. And so, you know, I talked to Tony Wiley at the time, the PR guy, and he goes, you know what?

When you're out here, you know, he walks right by you, if you want to ask him. And so I did. I, you know, we were out there doing a show one day and he was walking into the building and I asked him

and he said, sure. You know, and he signed him both. which was very nice. By the way, RG3 is in the news with Ryan Clark. I don't know if you... Oh, they're in some kind of pissing match, baby. Oh, my God. It's just unbelievable.

But I love that Ryan Clark basically said, you were a lousy teammate. Oh, my God. He skeered him in terms of the Monday night football set. You know, needless to say, as I've told you, I've heard many of those stories. And I think I warned somebody that I know very well it's not going to be the most pleasant of experiences

because he's kind of into himself. But anyway, he was very kind, and he signed both of those, and they used one of them in an auction, and it went for, I mean, went for a lot of money. I mean, I think it went for like $4,000, $5,000, something like that. I mean, remember how he was the star in town. Oh, he was. He was a superstar. He was the sun by which all planets went around.

You kind of like Jaden's become. Just two different people. I feel convinced and confident in saying that. Absolutely. But the other one, they didn't auction off. And I remember, like, I got them both signed. Long story short, I ended up with it. And when I moved, I saw it.

It was in one of those boxes. And I was thinking last night when, you know, you had the Dexter Manly, the Rigo stuff, the Sean Taylor jersey, you know, authenticated sign jersey, was a massive item last night. And I was thinking, and I thought, you know, that's the kind of thing that if you just framed it. But then I thought, well, who would want that? I know. Huh? I tell you what, it would be worth, look, it's up to you.

It's sitting in your closet. Yeah. You think it's worth something? I think it might be worth something to somebody. It's a very unique item. No matter what RG3's Sordid History wound up being here, it's still a very unique piece of memorabilia. If I was a collector, that would interest me.

We need to get a couple of big-time collectors out at this thing from now on. Well, let me just... You know what, Tommy? I think there was an item or two last night that if they own it, they could probably get a lot more than what they paid for it last night. But that's the case in any auction,

you know, in any kind of fundraising auction. But here, let me just tell you, I don't know if I would ever, I wouldn't sell it. I mean, the guy signed it for me for the school and for the school auction. I'm not...

Yeah, but this is for a nonprofit for us. No, no, no, yes, yes, yes. That would be what I would use it for, something like that. Okay. Yeah. I know you wouldn't sell it. Right. I mean, that would be profiting off of an artist's work who intended to make it as a contribution.

Exactly. So I get that. Yeah. Well, that's pretty cool item, though. No matter how I feel about RG3, I'd be real curious to see it. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm telling you, the she and papers, just bring the boxes. You know? Somebody bid on this box. There's no telling what's in here, but you know my life for the past 20 years. So it's in here. Let's make a deal, box one, box two, or curtain number three? Yes, instead of donating them to the Montgomery County Library before you pass on this way, you can see them auctioned off.

Yeah, there's some stuff in there. I know there's some stuff in there. But on the Norv thing, I don't think that I kept the Norv letter. And I certainly didn't have, if I had a copy of the Norv letter in 1995, it was on, it was in Word on my desktop. You know, I didn't save it. But it was a pretty good idea to let him score, wasn't it? You know, the first time that happened in a game, I'm pretty sure, was speaking. of Brett Fav. The Super Bowl in which Green Bay is the defending champions, they were playing Denver.

That was the Elway first Super Bowl win. The, you know, the John Elway Super Bowl were, you know, he took off like a helicopter on that run. But the only Green Bay let Denver score late in the game. Now, they were down three, but Denver could have run the clock out. They were running plays. They scored. And then Green Bay got the ball back down. 10, which was still their only chance to win. But down 8, now you see it happen all the time. And over the years, obviously, teams have gotten to the point where they understand. Go down before, get the first down, but don't score.

All right. Three division games. Nine total. Three against each opponent. Let's discuss NFL. You're on fire, baby. Let's finish it up with a few things, including something that I, I did not know about this baseball season that I'm kind of embarrassed about.

We'll get to that more after these words from a few of our sponsors. Tommy, tell everybody about how great Shelly's is. Well, we were sitting there last night at Shelly's at the end of the night, and Kevin and CJ and others are wolfen down the food from the excellent menu of food that they have at Shelly's. and Shelly's backroom at 1331 S Street Northwest in the district. And I said to Kevin, you're doing a Shelley's commercial tomorrow because you're eating it right now. Well, I mean, look, I've known Bob forever. Bob was my next-door neighbor for over a decade.

His mother and father who owned the house before he moved in were two of the loveliest people. I think I've told you about Mr. Matarazzi. He was Italian intelligence during World War II and just an absolute interesting person to talk to, who just enjoyed it all the time. And then Bob moved in. And Bob told me about how good you and your wife were to his mom and dad. He told me several times about that. His father was so interesting to talk to, Tommy.

I mean, the stories. And I mean, he just, they were, they were lovely people. But Bob moved in after his parents passed away, and we were neighbors for several years. He's such a great dude. He's just a guy's guy. And I remember, you know, when I met him for the first time, I remember saying, what do you do? And he said, yeah, I own a cigar bar. And I just said, Shelly's?

He said, yeah. And I said, you know, Leverro? Tommy? He goes, of course I do. But Bob does such a great job. It's such a well-run place. The people in it are awesome. Like you've said before, there's this, you know, there's always somebody in there that's going to be interesting to talk to even if you go and by yourself. But, you know, you know, I'm not a cigar guy. I, you know, I went through that phase like in the 90s, you know, late 90s, early 2000s. The Al Capone phase, I call it. And, but I'm not a big cigar guy, but you're, it's, it does, being in there, the ventilations, you know, works so well. And, you know, cocktails, beers, great wines, great, you know, incredible food. And, yeah, we, of course, like five people said, you're going to get the Argentina burger tonight. And I said, I hope it's on the menu, but no Argentina burger on the menu last night.

Just, you know, their regular burger, which is an outstanding burger. but they've got a, you know, great food. It's just, you know, it's very neighborhood-ish. I love those kinds of places. Yes, it really is, right, in the heart of D.C. Right. And D.C. can be a cold place sometimes. This is a place to get warm and find fellowship.

You can find out more, including reading their great menu for yourself at shelley's backroom.com. Thanks, Bob, again. great job. And Bob is, you know, a big supporter of the podcast, too, which we appreciate. Yeah. So I was looking before the show started today, radio show today. I was looking at just kind of the standings in Major League Baseball. I always check out the standings, see who's kind of on a roll, who's doing well. By the way, the Mets are in front of the Phillies took over first place in the National League East. Have you seen some of the stuff on Soto that he's not running, you know, things out? Yeah, and then he left without talking to reporters after the game.

And, you know, $700 million will change a person, won't it? Well, I was going to say, you can get away with that in D.C. You can't get away with that in New York. No, you can't. they're going to kill you. Like I love when, you know, we've gotten in the past, whether it's from listeners or fans or even, by the way, players and coaches. You guys are brutal.

No, we're not. Trust me. You have no idea what brutal is. But I, yeah, I mean, but I loved Soto. Are you surprised? Like, what's going on there? I am a little bit surprised because he was the same guy. that he was in Washington in San Diego.

He was the same guy with the Yankees, but something has turned with the Mets. I know he hasn't gotten off to a great start, but he's going to have his 30-plus home runs, 300-runs, 300-a-verage and 100 RBIs by the end of the year. Shouldn't that be the only thing that matters? No, he should be people. Look, the money is always an issue.

and when you see a rich guy, a rich ball player not running out a ground ball, that's going to turn people off. It's human nature. Is it one time or is it a practice now for him? I don't know if it's a practice. I just know that there was one issue that was glaring. You know, the broadcasters brought it up. You know, you could see he really did not hustle. And I don't know what's going on with him, but that's not the guy I knew here in Washington.

you know, but again, you know, being in New York can change people, okay? And now he, this is his second full season coming up here in New York, different team. Last year was the Yankees. He was a kid when he played here. You know, everything was new. Now he's considered one of the, maybe the second biggest star in baseball behind Otani. And maybe it's all getting to them. I didn't think that was possible, so we'll have to wait and see.

So I was looking at the standings, and I noticed the American League West had the Seattle Mariners, the Houston Astros, the Texas Rangers, the L.A. Angels. And then it just said, the athletics. And I'm like, that looks weird. And then it kind of occurred to me. I'm like, wait a minute. They moved to Vegas already. I thought it was going to take a while to build that stadium.

And I had to go look it up. I had no idea they were playing in Sacramento. Really? None. But I then remembered that there was a very sad final game last year in Oakland. But that's because I thought they were moving to Vegas. But then I remember the issue with the stadium and it was going to take longer. So my question to you is, why didn't they just?

play in Oakland until Vegas is ready? I don't know. I don't know. There were a lot of bad feelings there. About leaving Oakland. Yeah. But I got to think that was the franchise's decision. I mean, the city, however frustrated they would be, I would think that they wouldn't turn down the revenue that it would generate to still have the A's there. But maybe they did. know all the details about why. I certainly knew they were playing in Sacramento. I don't have all the

details about why they wouldn't have played in Oakland during this time period. But the stadium, you know, it's proceeding from my friends in Vegas, you know. It's proceeding as planned. You know, the ground has been broken

and they're starting to build it and that's going to be, you know, Las Vegas is going to go it's going to have three professional sports teams. Of all the teams, you know, the hockey team was the first one in Vegas. The Vegas Knights, maybe what, now about nine years ago, maybe? Something like that.

And then the Raiders and now the A's, so hockey, NFL, MLB, it's funny because I would have thought the first one in Vegas would have been the NBA. that seems like a Vegas kind of sport. You know, small arena, you know, kind of flashy athletes. I never would have thought that hockey would have been the first sport of the major professionals in Las Vegas. So now it'll turn out, and the NBA, you guys think eventually they'll wind up there in Vegas.

The NBA, I don't know if Vegas has that big. of a pie to have four sports teams. Tommy, it doesn't matter. You know why? It's the number one destination for opposing teams fans. So, you know, Aaron was telling me this, Aaron Oster. Aaron produces the podcast and works for the Circa out in Las Vegas. And he was telling me that, you know, it's like the Circa in all of the big hotels, like they're on pins and needles on this NFL schedule because they want to get the right teams in town. on the right weekends. And they got Dallas for a Monday night game in November, which is huge.

But it's the, you know, I think it's the week going into Thanksgiving or something like that. But that's big. The Bears coming to Vegas early in the season is massive. But the Chiefs fans apparently are just incredible. And they didn't get the Chiefs in Vegas until the final game of the year, which is the week after New Year's, and that apparently was a bad thing. But Vegas, at least with the football team, they see just a massive influx of the opposing team's fans for an entire weekend. So it's a big deal.

You know, I could see that with baseball as well, because in baseball, you play three-game series. Sure. So your team is going to be in town for a couple of days. And not like the NBA or the NHL when you're in and out of town, you know, for one game. But I could see baseball having the same impact because your team will be there for a few days. You could make plans accordingly. I've told you this before, getting back to the A's for just one moment. That was my favorite team when, you know, the senators left in 71.

I was young. but the first real baseball teams, and I loved baseball as a kid. I played baseball as a kid. I loved baseball. I collected baseball cards. Every kid did, you know, children of the 70s. And the A's became my favorite team. Like, I can tell you so much about those teams that won, you know, it was 72, 73, 74, I believe, right?

Maybe it's a very underrated historical team that won three world series in a row. they don't get to do that they deserve. Reggie Jackson was on that team. You know, Bert Campanaris, Sal Bando at third. Wow, yeah. The catcher was... Joe Rudy. Joe Rudy was, yeah, Ray Fawcy was a catcher.

Vita Blue was a lefty. He was my favorite. Like, I was a righty, but for whatever... Gene Tennis was the catcher. Gene Tennis was the catcher. That's right. Okay. Vita Blue Catfish Hunter. Blue Moon-O-Nodom, and I'm forgetting...

Ken Holtsman. Ken Holtsman. Yep. Yes. Vita. That was a great team. Wouldn't you consider, tell me, is Vita Blue considered one of the great left-handers of all time?

I mean, Carlton would be number one, correct? No, Warren Spawn would be number one. Warren Spawn? Okay. Yeah. Raleigh Fingers was their relief picture. Bollingers was the relief picture. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Vita Blue's play, you know, he was. was a guy who was brilliant. I mean, he won the MVP and the Cy Young in the same season. You know, that's a rare double, that's a rare exactive for a pitcher, he says. So, fight of blue, some people argue he should have a place in the Hall fame because, you know, he kind of flamed out quick, but for a period of four years, five years, he may have been the best

pitcher at all baseball. Yeah. But he was fun to watch. He was for sure. All right, I want to finish up with some recognition for our tanking wizards, something you mentioned to me that I did not know about before the show. We'll get to that and more after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by MyBooky if you want to bet the NBA playoffs. Western Conference Finals start tonight, Eastern Conference Finals, tomorrow night. MyBooky's the place to do it.

go to mybooky.ag or mybooky.com. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. They've also got all of the NFL futures opportunities. You can bet the Super Bowl winner, the conference championship winners, division winners. The over under numbers are up. And certainly the week one, week two lines are all up. And even some of the preseason lines are. up if you're insane enough to bet preseason NFL football. MyBooky.ag, mybooky.com promo code Kevin, D.C. All right, you mentioned something to me right before the show started, and that was that the Wizards had two rookies elected to the all rookie team. Alex Saar being one of them, and Bubb Carrington being the other. Alex Sar made the first team. I think Alex Sarah made the first team. I think Tsar finished third in the rookie of the year voting behind Castle and Rassas Shee, probably, who's the number one pick? So that's good, you know?

Hey, you know what they're doing a really good job of developing players? Yes, they are, which is what Ted told front office sports in an interview. You know, he was asked about tanking, and he basically looked at the commentator said, tanking. We're not tanking. Other teams might be doing that, but we're developing players. Oh my God. Unbelievable.

That's why I call them transparent Ted. Well, look, I mean, they are developing players. That's part of the process is to draft a lot of young players and then develop them and see if anything comes of it. But the teams that tanked before them.

They did the same thing. They just didn't draft the players and just say, just leave them there. They tried to develop them into really good players. Yes. All right. What else? The NFL passed, the NFL owners 32 to nothing passed flag football in the Olympics. We talked about that in the open.

That was just a little while ago. I think that they passed it or that they were going to, vote on. No, that they pass that today. Good listener. Okay. The NBA West... Oh, okay, wise guy. You know who died? Today? I don't. George Wenth died. Really?

Yeah, Norm. Oh, I kind of felt like we were kind of like a cheers place last night. Shelley has a lot of cheers elements to it. Oh, that's too bad. Norm. Yeah. Yeah. Remember he used to do on... When he would be on Saturday Night Live, they would do the Bears' skits. George Wentworth. Part of it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a shame. He was a great... How old? Hold on. I'm looking at it right now. 76 years old. Oh, that's too bad.

That's too young. Yes. The NBA Western Conference Finals start tonight. Two of the biggest, you know, emerging next job. generation stars going head to head. It's actually more than that because the Thunder have, in addition to SGA, they also have, you know, a guy like Chet Holmgren, who is a star in the making. But Anthony Edwards from Minnesota, I like Oklahoma City. I said this a few weeks ago. I think Oklahoma City's the best team, and there's no more experience left in the postseason. All of the

experienced teams are gone. Jason Tatum got hurt, Steph Curry got hurt, Denver got worn down and got hurt, you know, at the end. And I know a lot of you don't care, but these are two extremely talented teams. I think in particular, Oklahoma City's really well coached. I enjoy watching them play. God, do they defend? I think they'll win this series in like six or seven games. I think Minnesota is going to win some games. And then tomorrow night, the Eastern Conference finals start. I'm actually more interested in the Western Conference Finals this matchup. And I think Indiana's got a shot to beat the Knicks in like six games. All right. What else?

That's all I got for you, boss. Congrats on last night. It was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. I really appreciate it. Good. All right. Back tomorrow, everybody. The delivery right on your rookie campaign playing this one's for you.