The Kevin Sheehan Show - Washington's FA Misses + Brackets

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

Kevin and Thom opened today with Kevin reacting to the Commanders' free agency pick that Thom didn't like along with his bewilderment over the players Adam Peters and company missed on. Kevin accepted on-air an invitation to the go to the World Cup Final in Jersey this summer. The boys filled out NCAA Tournament Brackets, discussed the teams in sports they have hated more than any others, while also breaking down which counties in Maryland are "DMV" counties. Kevin also had his first NCAA Tournament "Smell Test" pick for tonight's "First Four" games.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Our listeners get the Harry’s Plus Trial Set for only $10 at https://www.Harrys.com/[INSERT CODE]  #Harryspod 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 Sheehan Show. He is Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor is always,

Window Nation, 86690 Nation and Window Nation. com. Tommy's out on the West Coast. You want to tell everybody why? Sure. Some family activity. My son just had, my son and his girlfriend just had a baby boy.

Congratulations, Grandpa again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And we're here to, you know, to help them for a few days with the transition and dealing with the baby. And I'm in the Pacific Northwest, and it's rainy and not a miserable. Are you in Spokane again? No. No.

No, I'm not in Spokane. Okay. No. No, another part of the state. Do you get along better with your granddaughter? remember the early years weren't very easy. Oh, we get along very good now. Okay.

She's actually very smart, you know? She's pretty smart. She's a little bit dysfunctional, but pretty smart. Okay, well, we won't get into the reasons that she's dysfunctional. I do remember your frustration over just sort of the goth period that she went through. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah, but actually she's turning into quoth. quite a good adult. All right. You know what? It takes... I always think that the parents that judge so quickly on other people's kids are insane. Just think about your own life experiences, people that you went to school with in elementary school or middle school or high school, and what they ended up, you know, turning out to be

as adults, both ways, by the way, those that you expected nothing from and those that you expected a lot from. It's very hard to predict. Yes. You know, it's funny. I was spoken cigars the other day up in Frederick, and there are two guys talking about, you know, their kids and, you know, how much homework they have, and they're always on them, a homework.

And they said, you know, they don't have as much homework as we did when we were young. And then they turned to me, and I said, my books never left my loss. Really? Never. And my junior senior year, I never did homework. My books never left my locker. Yeah. I mean, I was definitely an underachieving student in high school.

After being, I guess, somewhat overachieving as a younger person. I mean, you know, I was much more interested in, you know, having fun when I I got to high school. Driving cars, you know, having a girlfriend, you know, a serious one for the first time and all of that stuff. Yeah. Not that it got much better at Maryland in terms of study habits, but I think I always did enough to just get by. Like I could always do enough to get by and do well enough, I guess. But never did I. You got to learn yankles. Where are the shortcut? There were a lot of angles to be played. Yeah. I, you know, but the group that is now coming up, and we may have talked about this recently, just about remote working and hybrid working and in-person working.

I'm pretty sure we had this conversation, but just think about what you can get away with. I can only imagine as a remote worker, you know, as an adult. I mean, you're working from home. You got the TV on. You're eating. You got friends over. Oh, wait a minute, hold on. I got to get onto a quick Zoom call, you know, for 35 minutes or whatever.

I just, you know, that whole thing bothers me. I just can't imagine that professionally and even more importantly, socially, that remote work that you get as much out of it. That's important. Well, my business, I mean, I worked remotely for, I still do, but I've worked remotely for 35 years. because if I wasn't working, you could see it in the newspaper. Right.

You know, it was easy, easy to judge. Well, if you know what, if young kids are home, partying while they're supposed to be working, they should enjoy it while they can, because there's something called AI right around the corner that's going to take their job. You really, you know, you were the lone occupant of Laverro Island, and somehow you were able to, you know, knock out a few columns a week,

from there without anybody bothering you. All right. Well, congrats. And he looks super adorable and healthy and all of that. So that's great news. You guys are out there for a while? We'll be here until next Monday. Okay.

All right. This from Pixies 90 to open up the show. Pixies 90 writes, It's not a good sign when you're welcoming back guys. You were willing to let leave. And when they took you up on it, nobody wanted them. See Chris Paul. I'm not a big fan of anything they've done in free agency, Kevin.

You and others have premature excitement issues. Thank you for that, Pixies 90. I promise you, by the way, that that's not an issue. Premature excitement issues in the way that I think he, meant it. Not at our age anymore. But anyway, also Pixies 90, if you're Pixies as a handle because you're a fan of the Pixies, we have that in common. I loved that band. I know Tommy's not familiar with that band,

but they were at Anthem last summer, played back-to-back, sold-out shows, and I just happened to have been away. That was the time I was out in or down in Mexico City over the summer and missed those shows. I was one of the reasons I didn't like leaving. But great band from 80s, 90s and beyond. But Pixies 90 here, let me just mention. For those that, you know, I don't know. And Tommy, I think you know, but I'm sort of telling this because I'm not sure you do know.

Chris Paul is back. I'm thrilled about that. But to Pixies' 90s point, you know, I'm not even totally convinced to end up in the starting lineup. Like, I think there's a chance that Chris Paul is back at the number that Adam Peters wanted to pay him. And he doesn't end up in the starting lineup next to Laramie Tunsell like he was this year for this reason. And it may have been one of the reasons they were willing to let him go. A new offense with David Blow may mean more zone run plays, which typically requires more athleticism from the offensive line. And that's more Brandon Coleman than it is Chris Paul.

Chris Paul, I'm sure, can be very good in that role as well. But maybe they were willing to let Paul go because they thought Coleman might be a better fit for their offense. anyway. But Chris Paul, there's no doubt that his agent and him thought they'd be worth more on the open market than they ended up being. And look, there wasn't a lot of interest in Chris Paul and a lot of their other free agents because none of their free agents. And I think I may have mentioned this on a previous show. But their free agents were all pre-free agency, not. wave one guys, tier one guys. You know, the highest ranked free agent heading into free agency was Debo Samuel at 53 on the ESPN top 100 list. Chris Paul was 61, Marcus Marioota was 74, Bobby Wagner was 96. So they only had four players in the top 100 per ESPN and none higher than 53. So it's not like they were supposed to be, you know, lose all of their free agents in week one. Debo's going to end up signing somewhere else.

I feel confident in that. I think that Bobby Wagner is going to play another year. It still wouldn't surprise me if Bobby Wagner ends up back in Washington. They still don't have their true middle linebacker, their true Mike linebacker. They don't have that guy yet. Maybe they'll draft him in sunny styles. but they don't have that player yet, so it wouldn't surprise me if Wagner... Well, let me just say this.

It would surprise me, but I think that it's something that absolutely could happen. Could happen with Wagner back. Okay. But... Listen, I understand, I have concerns about some of the free agent signings that they've done, but Chris Paul wouldn't be one of them to me. I mean, I would think this is sort of like found this guy won a starting job. He wasn't the starter.

Right. You know, going into the season. And he impressed enough during the season to become a reasonable anchor on that offensive line. You know, so I would think that this is like found money for him coming back. I mean, look, what he's at? That was he just, it's not like he was poor a weak link on a bad unit. They were a good unit. Right.

You know, it's not like the team didn't have other options. You mentioned Brandon Coleman. But, you know, this is it. Brandon Coleman was their guy and Chris Paul beat him out. Right. Yeah. So I would think that this is a lot. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I'm happy Chris Paul is back. I think, you know, what I've heard a lot of, In recent days, because we're now over a week into free agency, is, man, our roster must have been horrible, given that nobody wants our free agents. I mean, you know, there were some that signed deals like Jacob Martin got a two-year deal and Chris Rodriguez got a two-year deal. And Jonathan Jones and Noah Igben Nogeni and Josh Johnson all signed one-year deals. But they just didn't have that kind of a free agent. Look, part of it is that they didn't have a great roster. I mean, let's not kid ourselves.

I mean, they didn't have a great roster in 2024 either when they won 12 games. Yeah, this, but I wouldn't personally get super worked up over the idea that their own free agents weren't swapped up, you know, by the dozens in week one. They just didn't have, you know, those guys necessarily. You know, I think about the, you know, the challenge that Adam Peters and company, Lance Newmark, et cetera, had when they got here. You know, the previous regime did not leave them with a lot. I actually went and looked this up earlier this morning. I know I've looked it up before, but just to see where some of the other players have landed recently. Rivera and company Martin Mayhew, you know, Marty Herney, the whole Marty party, they picked 33 players over four drafts, and only six of those remain with the team.

Now, there are others around the league. Cameron Curles played very well, just got a new deal. Chase Young just had a very good season in New Orleans. You know, Forbes, Rodriguez, Antonio Gibson, Dotson. The ones that are still here are Diami Brown. who came back, Quan Martin, Chris Paul, Sam, Cosmy, Percy Butler, and John Bates. What really hurt this franchise and set this franchise back as much as anything did over the four years of Rivera is that they essentially whiffed on four straight first round picks, three of which were picked in the top half of the first round. Now, Chase Young may ultimately end up being, you know, end up being a pretty good play. because he certainly made a comeback last year in New Orleans. Jamon Davis, Jehan Dodson, Emmanuel Forbes.

I mean, they left here at the end of the 2023 season with four straight first round whiffs. Like that should be four players who are major contributors to the current roster. And none of them are here. None of them are here. That's actually pretty remarkable that they went 0 for 4.

Like they had four first round picks, and they didn't hit on any of them. And they weren't only that. In their effort to plug in a quarterback, they kept stumbling over themselves on that too. Of course. Yeah. I mean, part of the reason,

ultimately that they traded back in the Dotson draft was because they thought they could pick up more picks and maybe get their quarterback, Sam Howell, in the fifth round. Fifth round. By the way, what about that guy? He's making his way through the NFCE, isn't he?

Who did he just sign with? The Cowboys. Oh, he did? So has he been on, he's been on the Eagles, briefly? Yes, yes. Washington, not the Giants yet.

Not the Giants yet. That's next year. That's next year. I mean, the other part, like I think that we talked about the other day everybody getting worked up over the first few hours of free agency or the first day.

I think ultimately they're doing a nice job. I mean, time will tell. But they got here. The cupboard was bare, courtesy of Rivera and, you know, the Marties in their drafting. But they also, you know, inherited, you know, or arrived in an organization that had one of the worst cultures in the entire sport, if not all, a sports. And none of that was going to be fixed overnight. But here's the good news for everybody out there worried about the free agents that didn't get picked up or even worried about the guys they did sign or haven't signed yet.

Jaden Daniels is still on the team. And he's going to play in 2026. And when he played in 2024, they were a pretty damn good team. When he didn't play in 2025 for 13 out of the 17 games, they weren't very good. So if you get him back and he's healthy for 17 games, you're going to be a lot better, along with hopefully the upgrading of the roster through free agency, through the draft, through last year's draft, the one before it, we'll see. But, yeah.

Actually, he's going to play really soon. In that flag football thing? Yes. Yeah. Didn't we already talk about this or not? Yeah, we talked about it. I don't like that he's playing in that. I know.

Well, that's coming up, I think. Next month, I think. No, I thought it was the end of this month. It was going to be in, wasn't it going to be in Qatar or, where was it going to be? UAE? It was going to be in the UAE. And now, obviously, it can't be over there. So where are they going to play?

It's in LA. Okay. Yeah. Again, I mean, this is nitpicking. I just, after the season he has. had in which every time he walked on the field, he walked off the field, you know, a quarter later or a game later. I just like his first football, you know, after this past season, to be when he plays for our team, not some charity flag football team.

I don't mind if he's calling him plays or coaching him up and making appearances. But, I mean, you know, put him in shotgun, snap it to him and get rid of the ball. quickly. No running around. No running around at all in the flag football. You said to me before the show that you actually have a problem with their free agency moves so far, or was it just one move? Well, if I'd be worried about one, it would be their biggest one. You know, it would be the one where they spent the most money on. Adafio. Odafi Owe. Okay. I'd be most concerned about, well, because it's based pretty much on what the Ravens saw when they drafted him, but never saw on the field until he went to the Chargers,

played and basically turned in a half season under Jesse Minter as a defensive coordinator, and that that's got him the $100 million deal. I mean, if he does not play, his track record tells you that whatever the conditions, last year, had to have contributed to his success because he didn't have that success before. Well, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't, 24 with Baltimore. Uh-huh.

He had 10 sacks in 2024. Okay, okay. Did that change your mind? Yeah, back me up here. Well, well, no, I mean, he... Because all I ever heard from Ravens fans that he was a disappointment. Well, this is, so Adafi O-A was Washington's biggest, you know, free agent signing so far. I'm sure that's going to be it. A hundred million four years,

68 million guaranteed. The guaranteed money may have been a little bit high, but there was definitely interest. I mean, he was ranked pretty much a top 10 available free agent one week ago heading into free agency or eight days ago heading into free agency. He got drafted in the first round by the Ravens back in 2021 out of Penn State, where we've had a lot of, you know, past rushers recently. And he played well in the first three seasons, you know, not great, but pretty well. And then in 2024, he really had a good season. Overall pressure rate, pressure percentage, and 10 sacks as well in 2024.

But the first five games in Baltimore last year were a disaster. He didn't have any sacks. He didn't, you know, really play well at all. And that was, of course, the first year that Mike McDonald's. wasn't, well, no, Mike McDonald's first year was 2024. So he was without Mike McDonald in 2024 as well. But when he got traded to Jesse Mentor in L.A. for the Chargers, he had seven and a half sacks over 12 games in the regular season. And then in the postseason, he had three more sacks and two forced fumbles in the playoff game against New England. So in the final

13 games, he had 10 and a half sacks. That's pretty good. Now, I have my guy Bob Trossett, who has one of the biggest Ravens podcasts in Baltimore. And I did ask him earlier this week. I said, just give me the Baltimore take on Oway. He said he had the nickname almost Oway among the fan base. He was impactful but never consistently finished at the quarterback. Athleticism off the charts, had a good year in 24, yet really struggled the first six weeks, it was five, I think, of 25 leading to the trade.

Minter unlocked him post-trade and he went nuts, 10 and a half sacks, including three in the wild card loss. He's going to be extremely motivated in Washington, always played with a chip on his shoulder, and now has one even more after leaving Baltimore and didn't feel he was used to his strengths. So, yeah, I mean... I don't get that. I don't get, you know,

is playing with a chip on a shoulder. Guys who get paid $100 million don't play with a chip on their shoulder. Some do. Most don't. To prove that they earned it. Most play with a chip on their shoulder to make the $100 million. I don't know if that's completely true. It was certainly true with Duran Payne.

Well, nothing's completely true, but I think it's generally true. Let me just tell you, that's where the teams that do this well, you know, versus those that don't really matter because you got a, you have to psychologically profile what this person's going to be when you give him $68 million in guaranteed money. But, you know, Bob's nickname, he said the Ravens had the nickname of almost Oway, right before free agency began, and I can't remember who I had on the show if it was podcast or radio. But we were talking about Oway, and I said, I really like him. I think he's very Montez-Swe-esque in the athleticism, the size, the whole thing.

And you know what we used to say about Montez Sweat? I mean, how many times did it seem like he was going to get a sack but didn't? You know, there were all of those games in which it just seemed like Montez Sweat had these pressure, high percentage pressure rates, etc. but just couldn't finish consistently, you know, enough. And I did think Montes Sweat was an effective player. I did think that. But, you know, if you look at his sack numbers in Washington,

he had 7, 9, 5, 8, and then 6.5 in 8 games on his way to 12.5. His best season when we traded it. That's not a number one pick, though. No, it's not. And by the way, it's not a trade into the first. first round, which is what they did. Because remember, that was Snyder saying, all right, I am

picking Dwayne Haskins, but if you guys want you can go ahead and trade and get your guy. Yeah. But Sweat just didn't get there enough, it seemed like, for the player that we thought he could be. And maybe that'll be Oway. But

let me just tell you something. Getting close enough consistently will be a big upgrade over last year. I mean, because they didn't, yeah. Actually, the funny thing is they were not, you know, I think they were in the middle of the pack of them in Sacks last year. But go ahead.

What were you going to say? What? Why wouldn't the commanders have pursued Trey Hendricks? I think, well, they did. I know they did. But his contract is maybe, that he got one he got from Baltimore is similar, maybe even better than the one Owe got.

Why would they come up short on Hendrickson? He got $112 million deal with $60 million guaranteed. He's over, obviously. Yeah. They did. They went after Hendrickson, too. I know. Yeah.

They went after Hendrickson first. They swung and missed. They swung and missed on Hendrickson. Yeah. He chose Baltimore. Right. Yeah. So they did go after him.

What's your point? What am I missing here? Well, if you just go after, this is what I meant from when we talked about this when we were texting each other back and forth and stuff last week. You know, I mean, being in on guys and then missing them, that's not good. I mean, this whole price point thing, Adam Peters has a price point, and he's not going to go over it. You know, I mean, that's a little bit anal, don't you think? Are some guys worth going over?

Yes, and I think that they did that with O-Way. They went over by a little bit, for sure. I think Hendrickson was a more secure risk. Well, Hendrickson's coming off, you know, an injury. They were interested in Hendrickson last year. Hendrickson is, what, four years older than O'A? 31. Yeah, so I mean,

And Hendrickson was, you know, the premier edge pass rusher in free agency. And, you know, if you want to go Jalen Phillips too, fine. And then Oway was in a small group with Maffa and a few others, you know, right behind them. They did, I don't know what to tell you. They went after Hendrickson and I don't know why they didn't get Hendrickson. I don't know what the offer was. I do have a sense that they were seriously interested. in Trey Hendrickson. I think I talked about that last off season when not a lot of people were saying it,

but I remember somebody telling me, Washington is interested for the right price, but they had to trade for Hendrickson last year in Cincinnati. This year it was all about money. So I don't know. For all I know, they offered him more or maybe the same, and he just wanted to go to Baltimore and wanted to play with the Ravens. It's possible. It's certainly pot. You know, Jesse Minters, a lot of people are excited about him as a defensive head coach. And remember this, right? No. At that point, the Crosby deal was already off, right? Anyway. Yeah. Anyway, also, but I always thought a lot of people wanted to play for Dan Quinn.

Well, they've signed more players than any team in the league in terms of new players. So I guess the answer is they do. Nobody in the league. Nobody in the league in free agency through the eight days has signed more new players than Washington. They've spent the third most money. In the whole league, yes. So clearly people do want to play for Dan. I know that. Well, you said that maybe Trey Hendrickson wanted to play for Jesse Minter. Well, maybe he did.

Or excited about him. But I would think he would have been excited playing for Dan Quinn, who at least has been a head coach, who has been celebrated throughout the league. Maybe he was. Maybe he was, but he was also excited about Jesse Minter and Baltimore offered a little bit more. That's a lot of excitement. I mean, this path that you're going down, they just signed more new players than any other team in the league. You don't think O'Wea had a choice. You don't think Leo Chenal had choices. You don't think Chaseon had choices, cross-ed choices?

This is like celebrating your wife for shopping at Costco. What are you talking about? Oh, I've got more groceries here that I would have gotten if I shopped at Whole Food. Well, I mean, that's just, that's strategic. They had so many more holes to fill. I mean, you're discussing strategy. Is it better to go pay three guys top of the market money, or since we have basically a hole at every position on defense,

go out and get the lower tier one or the upper tier two guys and sign more of them. But the guys they signed, there was competition for. It's not like they went, they didn't do what Bruce Allen did. They didn't go to T.J. Max and go to the bottom floor and look at the bargain basement bin and start picking out people.

I'm not talking. You know what? Maybe it's better. not to go for three guys, but go to one guy, the game changer, the guy who is involved, who is involved in every discussion about what happened during the game, and then fill in the blanks after that with people around them. Maybe it's better to make the big investment in the game-changing player. Well, they went after Pierce, and they went after Hendrickson,

and they went after Linderbaum. And then, but at the same time, they went after Owe and they went after O'Conquo, and they went after Chenal, and they went after Chasun, and they got players that also were very, you know, much sought after and had choices. In terms, if you want to say they went O for their top three choices, I don't know that I can disagree with that. I don't know if I can disagree with it. If you're going to tell me that they went O for three because, you're going to tell me that they went O for three,

because they don't like Washington and they don't like Dan Quinn, and this just wasn't a place they were interested in, I would say that that's probably not true. I would say on Pierce, right from the beginning, the Colts knew that they had him. I mean, they waited until free agency because the agent wanted Alec Pierce to sign the biggest wide receiver free agent contract in NFL history.

That deal could have been done at 1159 a.m. and it wouldn't have been categorized that way, and it sounds like it was ready to be done in advance. So other teams didn't have the chance that maybe they thought they didn't. The stories came out. He and Daniel Jones are apparently best friends. Now, Linderbaum got an obscene offer for center. Now, that's the one that, quite honestly, I think I would have overpaid for, because I think they really need it.

Logan Paulson talked to me off the ledge last week. I would never have paid a center, that kind of money. The expectation was $20 million a year, Tommy. He got $27 million a year. So obviously, Washington wasn't going to that level. Adam Peters. And then you get to Trey Hendrickson. Yeah, Washington, by all accounts, was very much involved.

And it was very, you know, it was close. And he chose Baltimore. I don't know the specific reasons he chose Baltimore. But if you're trying to... We'll never know. We'll never know. But it wouldn't be the best of your takes to say that this guy

that built this culture that everybody wants to play for and they couldn't get the people they wanted... That's not what I'm saying. Okay. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that it's a real possibility they didn't get the people they wanted because they weren't willing to pay enough for them.

Well, again, I don't know... To me, that would be a problem. I mean, again, It's great to have a guy in the front office with financial discipline. Yeah. Okay, but there are some guys that he just opened up the bank book for. I'm not saying Tray Hendrickson is that guy. Okay.

But, I mean, and I don't know if that guy was available in free agency or not. But I just don't see. If they got outbid for guys that they wanted, that would be problematic. for me. Well, they didn't get out bid for Oway. No, they didn't. So they really wanted O'Way, and just like he really wanted Kinlaw last year. You know, so we do have a bit of a track record of him being super disciplined around certain players that he does not want to go above what he believes to be fair market value, but we've also got some history here of him going above market value for players he feels are really important. People saw the Kinlaw deal last year, 45 million, you know,

for three years and said, whoa, 15 million a year for Javon Kinlaw, but he really felt Kinlau was not only important, but was a better player than people knew he was and was willing to make that commitment. This year, there was probably more, I'm guessing, competition for Oway. But, you know, again, the third most amount of money spent in free agency so far. So you can't really call them cheap at this point. No, you can't. Okay. But again, that's not exactly an accurate measure because of what I said before, you know.

I mean, which of the two? You're more concerned that they're being too stingy with the players that are at the top of the free agency list, or is it that you're more concerned that players actually don't want to come play for Dan Quinn? Which, is it both of those things? No, it would be a former, not the latter. Okay. I just, I just, I just, I just, I think, I think that that's, that's, uh, that's a story that's been overplayed. Well, look, and, uh, that's all. I, I think Pierce ultimately wasn't gettable. Linder, Linderbom got way too much money. for Hendrickson.

It sounds like they really would have loved to have gotten Hendrickson. And by the way, what would have been interesting is, what if they'd gotten Hendrickson and then also went and got O'Way? I doubt that would have happened, but Baltimore appeared ready to pay both Crosby and Hendrickson. I actually, I got to tell you, and if I haven't said this yet on the podcast, I know I've said it on radio,

of the new players that they've signed for this season, I'm most excited about Oway. I actually think they've got a player that is going to end up being, I think he and O'Concoe would be my two favorites. I like Leo Chenol a lot as well. And I think we may be sleeping on Rashad White a bit. But Oway, to me, when you watched him at the end of last year, and you go back and watch him in that playoff game against New England.

There's something about the way he played in that game. If you get that from him, he's, you know, at 27, he is 27 years old, right? I think he's 27 years old. Yes. You may be getting the player that's about to explode as a pass rusher in the league. And that may depend on their new defensive coordinator. Yes. And he needs to be better than the,

guy that was here before. But at least he'll be handed a roster of defensive players, thanks to the last eight days, that at least on paper, are going to be better than what they've had. And they're handing it to a guy who's never been a defensive coordinator in the NFL. Yep, they're doing that too. A lot of the greatest defensive coordinators in the history of the game at one time were first-time coordinators. That's not true. They're, they're, they're, they're, They're born. They come out of the wound defensive coordinators. Yeah.

I'm sure some arrived that way for sure. All right. We've got a lot more show to go, including, let's see if Tommy's prepared for this, brackets. We'll get to that and a lot more after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, how about a barbershop quality shave from the comfort of your own home? That's the Harry's Plus experience. and I've been experiencing it for over a year now. My old razors dulled too fast, irritated my neck.

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When they install your windows, they'll do it in a day or less, and they'll leave you with a lifetime warranty. I promise you this is an experience and a product and an overall price that you won't beat anywhere else. 86690 Nation, window nation.com. I just read Tommy an email that I got from my brother during the break. My brother lives in Costa Rica. I think I've mentioned that before. And he has a son. He's got a 12-year-old son, 11.

Ben is either 11 or 12 right now. and he said, I think I might have an extra ticket for the World Cup final. Ben and I are going, do you want to come? It's Sunday, July 19th, NYC. I've got a place for you to stay. Well, that sounds like a hell of an offer to go to a World Cup final. Yeah, this is a no-brainer. Look, I could care less about soccer.

Me too. If somebody offered me a ticket to the World Cup final. World Cup final, I'm there. I think I'm going to do that. Now, I will tell you that my wife has started the process of putting together our summer vacation plans, and typically we do much of it in July before training camp begins and before I've got to be back kind of at work on a semi-regular basis before the regular season starts. But I am saying absolutely yes to that. And you need to get on the phone to her right now while we're on the podcast and say, don't map out of vacation for July 19th.

I guarantee you that that was pretty much the time of year, because that's the month where we both have open simultaneously for the most part. But I'm going to the World Cup final. I'm definitely going to the World Cup final. I'm pretty much definitely. I'm pretty much definitely going to the World Cup final. Okay, okay. You sound like you're trying to convince yourself your ghost. I just sent them back, yes, exclamation point.

Count me in. Yeah. Yeah. Does you have a ticket? Meadowlands, right, obviously. Well, where else would they? Exactly. I don't know.

I mean, do they draw big crowds to this thing? I'm kidding. Where they're playing. Huh? Yes. So it's really Jersey, whether it would be East Rutherford, New Jersey, correct. Well, that is, that's Jersey. Yeah, I know.

We don't have any World Cup games here. We did not have a qualified stadium, correct? Right, which is insane, because this is the 250th anniversary of our country. Right. And we couldn't even host one World Cup game, you know, because it has a lot of, stadium. We did host World Cup games the last time the World Cup was here, right? Weren't the games at RFK the last time was here? I think in 94, right? Yeah. Here are the sites. Toronto, because this is not just a U.S. World Cup, it's a North America World Cup.

Right. Toronto, Vancouver, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterey, and then in the states, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York slash New Jersey, Philly, Seattle, and San Francisco Bay Area. So, Philly's the closest, and I would bet a lot of D.C. soccer heads, you know, the people that are soccer fans because they're not sports fans. Isn't that what you say? Soccer is for the non-sports fan? The sport for people who don't like sports. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. So they'll be traveling, a lot of 20 and 30-somethings will be traveling up to Philly into the link to see some games. But yeah, I've known that he was coming to see some games. I did not realize he was coming for the World Cup final. When do they kind of plan out the games and the sites? Don't they have some sort of drawing?

Or have they already done that? You know what? You'd have to ask somebody who actually cares. I'm actually interested in that. I wonder if they've... I mean, don't the game. start in June? I think so.

So, well, don't you at some point have to know well in advance what groups you're in and all that stuff? Let's see if the World Cup has, what do they call those, pods or groups? They're like four World Cup groups. I'm going to look that one up. Oh, yeah. They got this thing ready to go. This thing's all decided.

mapped out, looks like. God, we are the worst. I mean, soccer. For me, it's all about the pageantry of it. All right, so... Yes, it's the event. All right, so the U.S. is in

Group D with Paraguay, Australia, and then Slovakia, Kosovo. Is that these these initials? I think so. Okay.

I don't know if you... We're in a group with not one country has one tenth of the population that the United States has, and I bet you we don't get out of it. I bet you, honestly, the chiefs could go to soccer camp for a week and do pretty well in the World Cup. Oh, did that get people fired up? People actually thought you were serious. That was the best. So I am serious.

Actually, four weeks. It's four, three weeks. It's three weeks. Three weeks. It's soccer camp. Yep. Three weeks of soccer camp for Mahomes and company, and they might be able to win the World Cup. Yes.

They'd have a better chance. Yeah. I'm looking to see what the odds are on the World Cup at my bookie. It looks like Spain is the favorite. Spain's the favorite to win the World Cup. You can bet on the World Cup right now. Spain is plus 400 to win the World Cup. England's plus 550, France is plus 700,

Brazil's plus 800. Do you care what our odds are? We're way down there. We're way down there. Plus 5,000 is our odds. So we are 50 to 1 to win the World Cup. Wouldn't that be amazing if my first World Cup final, the U.S. was in it? I don't think that would happen.

That would be pretty amazing. MyBooky's got not only all of your World Cup betting opportunities, but they've got everything you need for March Madness. All you got to do is go to mybooky.ag or my bookie.com and use my promo code, DC Reload, D-C-R-E-L-O-A-D, and my bookie will give you a 50% cash bonus when you use my promo code. DC reload for a 50% cash bonus at mybooky.com or my bookie.orgie. Now, I gave you a little bit of homework, but I didn't think you'd complete it,

but I think you did. You filled out a bracket, didn't you? Yes, I did. Once in a while, the responsibility bug bites me, and I figured, well, I should do something for this guy. has me on his podcast twice a week. So yes, I did feel out of podcast. I mean, a bracket.

It's usually pretty hard to reach you on Levero Island. And if you are on Levero Island, you're usually, you know, watching reruns of Rockford Files or CoJack. And so it's hard to get you to do it. But the tournament does start tonight with the first two games of the first four. In the very first game, Tommy, is the only DMV team in the tournament. Howard. Howard. And at my bookie right now, Howard is a one-point favorite. That line has shifted significantly. I do have a smell test pick in the final segment of the show. I am doing smell test picks again for March Madness this year. All right, well, let's go ahead and fill out brackets then. Where would you like to start? Let's start in the east. Start in the east. Give me your upsets.

Okay. I have South Florida over Louisville. Ooh, that's a good one. All right? Yeah. And then I've got another Florida, UCF over UCLA. Okay. And over seven. So everything else is the higher-seeded teams in the east. All right. Well, let's go. I'll give you mine for that particular bracket. my bracket in the East Regional, I have just one upset, and it's one of the two that you gave out. I have UCF upsetting UCLA, and let me just tell you that I actually like UCLA going into this tournament,

but they're injured a little bit, and the public's kind of all over UCLA in this first game. So I'm going UCF as my only upset of a lower-seated team over a higher-seated team. That brings us to the second round. You have in your second round, Duke Ohio State, I'm assuming Duke. Yes. St. Johns, Kansas. I have St. Johns. St. John's.

South Florida and Michigan State. I have Michigan State. And then Yukon and UCF. I have a Yukon, even though I hate Yukon. Well, do you know that that regional Sweet 16 and the Elite 8 games, you know where they are? Capital 1-0. Right here in Washington? Wow.

Yeah. My... So college basketball does exist in the DMV. Yeah, thank you. Just not local team. My Sweet 16, I've got Duke over Ohio State. I do have St. Johns over Kansas. I've got Michigan State over Louisville, and I've got Yukon over UCA.

My Elite 8 game is St. John's upsetting Duke. Calipari. Nobody at Maryland apparently wanted John Calipari because, you know, there was too much baggage. I mean, look at the sport now. St. John's over Duke and Michigan State over Yukon. I mean Patino. What did I say? What did I say? You said Calapar.

I meant Patino. My fault. Yeah. Right. Petino was available for Maryland after, you know, the Turgeon exit before Willard. But nobody at Maryland wanted to take that chance of hiring Rick Petino. Yes, I meant to say Patino. I get Petino and Calipari and all of my Pizons a little bit mixed up occasionally.

How about Italy and the World Baseball Classic? That was pretty impressive. You know what's funny? Italy is a baseball classic. The roster was comprised of people of Americans who had a tint or maybe more of a pinch of Italian blood in them. Yeah, right. You know? Yeah.

But, you know, for years, I've been trying to get dual citizenship. Ireland and Italy. No, in Italy, Italy in the United States. I know. But you have half Irish blood. and I spent significant amount of money to do this. You didn't tell me that. Yes.

And they just passed, and they passed a law recently that's now been upheld by the courts. That pretty much kills my chances to be an Italian citizen. Well, if you were a lefty throwing a hundred, you'd be an Italian citizen right now. Yes. Yes, I guess I would be. Yeah. I have St. John's in the final four out of the East region. led by one Richard Petino. You've got Duke St. John's in one Sweet 16 game, Michigan State, Yukon, and the other.

I like Duke and Michigan State. That would actually be a rematch of the Elite 8 game played the last time Capital One had the regional, which was 2019. And it was quite a game. Michigan State beat Duke in a great basketball game. I was there. That was the Zion Williamson. season for Duke. So who do you have in the final four?

Duke or Michigan State? I have Duke. You've got Duke. All right. Can we move to the South region? Let's look at the South. Same side of the bracket is the east. So go ahead.

Give me your upsets. Okay. I have number 12, McNeath State over number five Vanderbilt. That's a big upset. Vandy's playing well. They were in the SEC final. Okay.

And I have number 10, Texas A&M over number seven, St. Mary. And that's it? Yes. Those are your first round upsets in the South region. For me, in the South, I have all chalk. I've already done my bracket for the radio show, and, man, I had a lot of chalk in this tournament. So give me the Florida Clemson winner for you is who? The Florida Clemson winner? I've got Florida.

And then Nebraska against McNeese State. By the way, we both have Nebraska winning their first ever NCAA tournament game. They've never won a game in the NCAA tournament. McNeese, Nebraska for you. Well, they're going to beat McNeese this time, too. Okay. Carolina, Illinois. I've got Illinois.

And then Texas A&M in Houston. I've got Houston. Yeah. Kelvin Sampson and Matt Painter are the two teams that I'm really rooting for, Purdue and Houston. Really would love to see one of them cut down the nets in the championship games. So for me, into my suite 16, I've got Florida playing Vandy in a rematch of a game where Vandy just crushed Florida in the SEC title game. And I've got Illinois and Houston winning their second round games. And then I've got Florida Houston, a rematch of the national championship game in the Elite 8. And I've got Houston on to the final four to face St. John's.

For you, you've got Florida and Nebraska in one sweet 16 game. Who wins? Florida. And then Illinois, Houston. I've got Houston. And then Florida, Houston for you as well. Who's in the final four? Florida.

All right. The defending champs against Duke. Man, that would be a ball game for sure. All right. Let's move to the West region. Give me your first round upsets. Well, I only have one, and that's Utah State over Villanova. That's it, a nine over and eight.

Okay. Yeah. For me, I have in the West region, I have all chalk. I don't have one upset. Wow. I really went all chalk in this tournament. You know, it's not going to happen that way, right? We all know it's not going to happen. Of course. Of course. Arizona, Utah State for you.

Second round game. I've got Arizona. And then Wisconsin, Arkansas. Oh, no, no, I'm sorry, Arkansas. Arkansas. uh, BYU, Gonzaga or Gonzaga? Gonzaga, I'll take Gonzaga. And then Miami and Purdue.

Purdue. Okay, you've got your sweet 16 in the West. For me, in the West, I've got Arizona beating Villanova facing off against Arkansas, uh, who beats Wisconsin. I've got Arkansas over Wisconsin. I've got Gonzaga beating BYU and Purdue beating Miami. I have Purdue beating Gonzaga beating Gonzaga. and Arkansas with not Rick Petino, but John Calipari, got it right this time,

coaching Darius Acuff Jr., who may be a guy that becomes a household name during this upcoming tournament. I've got them in the Elite 8 against Purdue, but I've got Purdue with those guards, Smith and lawyer, advancing to their second final four in three years. years, Purdue out of the West, but what would be a phenomenal Elite 8 game in terms of guard play? Who do you have advancing to the Elite 8 and then the final four? Arizona, Arkansas. I've Arkansas. We both have Arkansas. And then Gonzaga and Purdue? I've got Gonzaga. All right. And then who do you have in the final four? Arkansas. Arkansas. Wow.

Calipari and Petino into the final four from, well, I have Patino in. You have Calipari in. Okay, let's finish it up with the Midwest. Any first round upsets? I've got two of them. I've got number nine, St. Louis, over number eight, Georgia. Okay. And I've got number 10, Santa Clara, over number seven, Kentucky.

Wow. What do you like about Santa Clara? because I have... I like their guard quick. I have this... Well, they're big and skilled. That's their thing. I actually have that as my only first round upset.

I've got Santa Clara over Kentucky. Kentucky's injured. Santa Clara's got big people, but they're super skilled. I could easily see Santa Clara upsetting Kentucky. Then I have Iowa State over Santa Clara, Virginia over Tennessee in the second round. Bama, even with the... Suspension, you heard about the 2.2 pounds of pot, the felony drug trafficking arrest.

So Alabama loses their second leading score. But I still have them, still have Alabama advancing to the Sweet 16 to play Michigan. So who's your Sweet 16? Michigan over St. Louis. Michigan over St. Louis. Yep. And then Texas Tech Alabama. Who wins that game?

I'm going to go Texas Tech. Okay. Tennessee, Virginia. I'm going to go Tennessee. And then Santa Clara and Iowa State. Iowa State. Iowa State Tennessee for the right to play in the Elite 8? Tennessee. Rick Barnes' team, he's another one that would be kind of fun to see him win the national championship.

I don't think Tennessee is good enough to do it. And then Michigan, Texas Tech. I'll take Michigan. And then who's into the final four? Michigan or Tennessee? Michigan. Okay. So you have in your final four,

three number ones and a number four in Arkansas. For me, out of that region, I've got Michigan beating Alabama and Virginia beating Iowa State, but I've got Michigan advancing to the final four. So I have a number five in St. John's playing a number two in Houston, and Purdue a number two playing Michigan, a number one. They just played in the Big Ten. final and Purdue beat Michigan in the Big Ten final.

We will tell you who our championship picks and our championship winners are when we come back. We've also got a little bit more on this show after these words from a few of our sponsors. Thrive Markets a product that I've been using. I think you should use it too. Thrive is a membership-based grocery service where you can shop from wherever you are, simply just hop on their app. The membership breaks down to just $5 a month, and it gives members access to weekly sales,

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All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley. Speaking of the March Madness, I don't know what your plans are out there for watching the games when they start in full, the full 64 on Thursday. It's an all-day festival of college basketball. You can opt to maybe be one of the drones and go to like a sports bar and sit with the other drones, if you like. or you can have a little bit of class and enjoy the atmosphere of Shelley's backroom at 1331 F Street Northwest. Because I guarantee you it will be wall-the-wall NCAA basketball at Shelley's that day and night. They have eight high-definition TVs throughout the bar, which is filled with these plush, comfortable chairs and couches. and it's the only place where you can drink from their menu of excellence for drinking,

eat from their menu of excellence for food, and then smoke a stogie, smoke a cigar while you're watching the festivities. And you'll be, you'll, you'll, you're likely, instead of wind up with a bunch of geeks, you're likely to wind up with sophisticated people from Capitol Hill, you're likely to wind up with people coming through town who may have a rooting interest. It is an eclectic crowd who I guarantee you will be all in because I've been there for Final Four

and if the place goes nuts for, I mean, for the NCAA. What's going to be like tonight for St. Patrick's Day or all day? Well, I mean, every bar is, you know, good for St. Patrick's Day. You know, this is the day. Like at this point, at this point, you know, in the old days at Rudy's in East Strausburg, I'd probably be home napping now. I haven't turned in the first shift on the bar stool from 7 a.m. to 3, you know? And then I'd probably come in later, maybe like 9 or 10 o'clock,

to pick up the bar stool for my final shift from 10 to close. Yeah. So that was Rudy's at St. Patty's Day. And then drive a car to the nearest church and just leave it right there on the front sidewalk in front of the church and lose the keys. No, I didn't do that on St. Patrick's Day. That was Christmas Eve.

I made better plans than that. Yeah. But look, I'm sure Shelly's back room is going to be hopping on St. Patrick's State, just like any other bar. But make an investment in watching some college basketball at Shelly. back room. Do you have any plans for St. Patrick's Day out, you know, in the state of Washington, the beautiful Pacific Northwest?

No. I do not. All right. All right. Your final four, Arkansas, Michigan. I like Arkansas. And then Duke, Florida. I like Florida.

Florida, Arkansas, an all-SCC final who wins the national championship. Arkansas. Wow. Al-Pari. That'd be pretty good. That would be, I like watching their team. I'm telling you right now, Tommy, one of the best players. And I have a feeling that by the time we get to the NBA draft,

everybody's been talking about, you know, obviously A.J. DeBonsa, obviously about Cam Boozer and also about Darren Peterson at Kansas. that, you know, Peterson DeBanso 1, 2, probably Cam Boozer 3. But Arkansas's got a player that right now is playing at an absurd level. Darius Aikoff Jr. And he could easily have one of those insane kind of, you know, tournament runs. And this scoring for him in recent weeks, I'm pulling it up right now because I just want to give you some of the games that he has had here recently.

All right. Let's get it up here. Darius A. Cuff Jr. By the way, 6-3 scoring guard. Average this year, 23 points a game and 6.5 assists per game. His shooting percentages, Tommy, you tell me if you think this is good. 48.6% from the floor, 44.5% from behind the arc. Okay? That's pretty good.

That's pretty good. He's also an 80% free-throw shooter. He had 30 in the SEC championship game on Sunday against Vanderbilt, 24 in the semifinal win over Ole Miss, and 37 against Oklahoma. So he averaged basically just over 30 a game and was the MVP of the SEC tournament. But listen to some of these outputs recently. he had 49 on February 18th at Alabama and double overtime. Not only did he have 49 in that game, he was 16 of 27 overall, 6 of 10 from behind the

arc. In the game before that, he had 31 against Auburn, 10 of 15, and 7 of 10 behind the arc. He has had obscene games this year, and I'd think there's a chance when we get to June, you know, a month before the World Cup final for the NBA draft. I think Darius A-Cuff may sneak into the number three spot ahead of Camboozer. And maybe the wizard. And maybe the team that ends up getting him will just be lucky to have gotten him

because he might be the guy. Yeah. He could end up being the guy. All right. My championship matchup, well, I already mentioned. No, I didn't. Purdue, Michigan, I've got Purdue in the final against Houston. I think my two favorite coaches in the tournament that I want to see win a national championship,

Houston loses to Purdue in a great final. Matt Painter's team cuts down the nets in Indianapolis. Keep in mind, Purdue in a final four in Indianapolis might be an advantage for them. might be an advantage for them. All right. So the other thing that I wanted to just mention to you is I did this segment on radio today, and you said you had a team that would fit. In talking about the tournament, I just talked about Duke and how it's that time of year

where Duke's going to be highlighted. The ratings for Duke games are going to be through the roof as we go through this tournament. And that they've become pretty much the most poll. polarizing team in maybe all of college sports, even ahead of Notre Dame in football. And it's been that way for, you know, a solid 30-plus years at this point. They're with the Yankees and the Cowboys and, you know, the Dodgers and the Lakers and Celtics in terms of true polarizing teams. So I asked the question, give me the team in your lifetime of being a sports fan that you despised, that you hated

the most and why you hated the most. We did, I think, an hour plus a calls. And people had a lot of answers that had nothing to do with pro sports. I mean, there were high school rivalries that, you know, kind of lived with people throughout their lifetime. What is it for you? Who's the team for you? Well, this is easy for me. It was the Yankees. I mean, because I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. And we were a National League household. That's how you were defined in New York if you were a baseball fan. Were you American League house or a National League count?

And when I was, when my dad was a young man, there were three baseball teams in New York, and two of them were National League teams. We were a Brooklyn Dodger fans. I was three years old when I saw the Dodgers play, so I don't remember them. I was, you know, six years old when they torn down and Everett's Field. So, you know, I had this pocket between when the Dodgers left in 57 and when the Mets came in 62,

where I fell in love with baseball, but the Yankees were the only show in town. I used to drive my dad nuts. But I talked them into taking me to a Yankee game once. And I wasn't necessarily a Yankee fan, but I was a big Mickey Mantle fan. But once the Mets came to town, I was all in on hating the Yankees, all in.

And because that was, look, rooting for the Yankees back then was like rooting for U.S. Steel. You know, it was a team with the most money, with the best players, and they acted like it. And, you know, so I grew up hating the Yankees. That was easy. I think that's interesting because you're basically at that, very impressionable age. And you're too young to really remember the Brooklyn Dodgers playing and your father's love for the Brooklyn Dodgers in your National League household.

But during your most impressionable years, you're telling your dad bring me to a Yankee game and you love Mickey Mantle. I'm surprised that maybe, I mean, not to mention, that you had, what's his face, Roger Maris set the home run record when you were rooting or following the Yankees. Did you ever during those years remember yourself rooting for the Yankees? I think maybe, no, no, I don't. No, I don't.

Look, the first time I really remember was 1961 baseball. is that Roger Maris? Home run thing. Yeah. Yeah, that was the home run thing going on. That's when my dad took me to a game at the old, old Yankee Stadium. And, but, you know, I grew up hearing stories about the Brooklyn Dodgers, not from my dad, but from my Uncle Rocco as well. He was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan.

I mean, my Uncle Rocco drove when they would have it, they would have parades for the Dodgers, you know, when they win a pennor or something like that, Uncle Rocco would drive a convertible car in a parade with a couple of Dodgers. Really? Yeah. That's pretty funny. So I would hear stories, you know, about the Brooklyn Dodgers, and they were passionate stories.

And so as soon as the Mets came to town, which were, you know, which basically were the offspring of the Giants and the Dodgers, you know, I was it. I fell in love with them, and the Yankees were, Yankees were not mentioned in our household anymore. Right, and because the Mets were so bad for the majority of your youth, for the most part, until the Miracle 69 Mets, they really didn't have a rival, right, in the National League?

Not really. Yeah. Not really. I mean, when they went in Los Angeles, Dodgers would come to town or the San Francisco Giants, that would always be bitter. Did your dad root for the Los Angeles? Angeles Dodgers or no? Oh, no. No. No.

When they moved out, they were dead to us. Yeah. You know, they were dead to us. And he became a big Mets fan. We went to 10 Mets games the first year. I went to the polo ground. That's where the Mets played the first two years. Yeah. These are historic baseball stadiums that haven't existed for years. I got to think that seriously, the loss of

of the Brooklyn Dodgers for Dodger fans in Brooklyn, the loss of the New York Giants to the booming California, you know, rush out west. They both moved the same year, correct? Yes. I mean, the devastation left behind. I mean,

when owners move sports teams, who, that is really, really harsh. I mean, You know, there is something about, you know, the, the sports teams being, you know, a trust. You know, what's the word I'm looking for? Sorry. You know what I'm trying to come up with. A public trust.

Yeah, public trust. It's, that's really, really rough. And in that case, correct me up from wrong, but it wasn't about a new stadium. it was you know right i mean there weren't votes for to keep the well it was with the it was with the brooklyn dodgers in some case i mean basically uh the owner wanted to build a stadium in brooklyn uh down on atlantic avenue where actually the next arena is now in brooklyn uh yeah in brooklyn but robert moses the guy who was redesigning new york and building these highways to get people to move out of the city farther away.

He blocked it and said they'd have to build it in Queens, and Walter O'Malley didn't want to do that and moved out west to L.A. So there was some stadium thing. Look, the Brooklyn Dodgers remain, the Brooklyn Dodgers, not the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Brooklyn Dodgers remain one of the most passionate fan bases in all sports still to this day. How is that possible with everybody that died off? Because the stories are handed down, and it's like, it's like, because of Jackie Robinson, for one thing. Jackie Robinson played for them.

You know, the Brooklyn Dodgers were more than a baseball team. They were like national figures. and Dodger fans were just considered you know, I mean, the idea of they had a band

of fans, the fans were like bringing musical instruments he'd see all the stuff going on with the Dominican Republic in the WBC well that's how Brooklyn Dodger games used to be to some extent.

You know, very passionate because Brooklyn was much more of a working class town. I mean, I think I read somewhere one out of five, men who served in World War II were from Brooklyn at one point.

So it's, you know, it's something that I'm glad it's part of my heritage. I think there's something so cool about considering what it would have been like to be, to just transport yourself back to like 1954 or 55 and walking down to Ebbets Field in the middle of the day on a Thursday to go see a game. What time did the game start, like at 12 noon, 1 o'clock? I forget. I don't know. Yeah.

I don't know. I went there when I was 1957. I was three years old. I have one memory of it because you could leave the stadium through these. You could walk down the warning track and go out these two large outfield gates, like garage door gates, that would open up. And I remember that. That's all I remember about being at Ebbets Field is leaving through those gates.

All right. Well, for me, it's the Cowboys more than Duke. The team that I grew up truly hating and despising and having, you know, and having my heartbroken time and time again, Clint Longley, on Thanksgiving Day, for 1974, the 1979 season finale is still, for me, as a sports fan, the most gutting loss ever when the Cowboys came from 13 down over the final two and a half, three minutes, to not only win the game 35 to 34, but to completely eliminate the Redskins from the playoffs. I mean, they were literally three minutes away from being the one seed and the favorite to go to the Super Bowl, and then it was over.

The season was completely over, and it was over because they lost a tiebreaker for the wild card with the Bears, who had to beat the St. Louis Cardinals on the same day by more than 42 points to force Washington to win the game and win the division, or they'd be eliminated with a loss. The Cowboys actually would have been in the postseason as a wild card team had Washington held on and won the game. But that's the most gutting loss of my lifetime. I mean, there are others that were equally bad. I remember when Maryland lost to NC State in the ACC Final in 74. Corey Lucius' shot to end Gravis Vasquez's career in the second round of the 2010 tournament

was just, I mean, I couldn't move for 30 minutes when the game ended. It was just, but nothing like what the Cowboys were in the 70s, and I was a child of the 70s. in the 80s, 90s, and what that rivalry was. I mean, the Maryland Duke rivalry, Maryland was much bigger rivals when I was a kid with NC State and North Carolina than they were with Duke. The Duke thing really started in the 90s, you know, the mid to late 90s when Gary got there. And then the incredible epic games they had with Duke in the late 90s, 2000s, really throughout the 2000s. but for me, I despised the Cowboys.

Everything about them. Tech Schramm, you know, Tom Landry, Roger Staubach, Randy White, you know, Tony Dorset, Drew Pearson, the flex defense, the thing that the offensive line would do where they'd go up and down before the snap. You know, Texas Stadium. And, you know, George Allen started that for all of us. I know that there are people listening to this podcast that are older that remember Cowboys Redskins from the 60s.

I don't. But in terms of the games meaning something, they didn't start to mean something until George Allen got there and built a winner. And it was the best rivalry in the NFL for three decades. And it was one of the top two or three rivalries in all of sports for two decades. It really was. I mean, NFL fans, football fans, would make sure that they were by the TV to hear, you know, Summerall in Brookshire or Summerall and Madden on CBS call Redskins Cowboys at 4 o'clock.

Or for, you know, Gifford, you know, Howard and Dandy Don on Monday night football. Washington and Dallas held the record for Monday night football matchups until a few years back where I think it was the Raiders in Denver actually passed them. But that was the team. I mean, and it doesn't matter that the rivalry is less now, much less than it was. It doesn't matter that a lot of younger fans hate the Eagles and the Eagles fans more. The Cowboys were the first team that I despised and couldn't stand and the most lasting of all of them by far. I don't feel that way anymore, though.

It's hard to generate that kind of passion when we just went through 20-plus years of having so many meaningless games. But even with the Snyder years, there were some games, man. They were memorable games. The Monday Night Miracle in Dallas, when Mark Brunel hit Santana Moss twice in the final few minutes, I mean, that was thrilling. The 2012 season finale. Yeah, the RG3, Alfred Morris game. Yeah, a lot of them, a lot of them, but nothing like when both teams were among the best teams in football. Oh, McCoy, Monday night game.

Yeah, that was your game. Your son came through. That's for sure. All right, a couple things to finish up, including a quick smell test pick for night one of the NCAA tournament. After these words from a few of our sponsors. Did you know that fast-growing trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of trees and plants and over 2 million happy customers. They have all the plants your yard and home needs, including fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs, and house plants, all grown

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button, but that's a big deal for us as well. So tonight, Tommy, you get the first two of the first two. four games and in the first one, Howard plays UMBC. Before I get to my smell test pick on that game, I want to read this email that I got from Len yesterday. Len wrote, Hello, Kevin. As always, I enjoy the show as a former Bostonian who grew up with the legendary Eddie Andleman on the old WHDH and then after moving to Philly listening to Mike Misenelli on The Fanatic. I appreciate good sports talk radio.

It's hard to find these days. My kids mostly grew up in Maryland after we moved to Gathersburg from Philadelphia, and one of my daughters graduated from UMBC. When listening to your show, this would have been yesterday morning, and the talk around the NCAA basketball tournament and the, he calls them the MVA teams, Maryland-V-V-Gia area teams or metro, whatever MVA stands for. I found it's interesting that UMBC seems to be a team that's, quote, unquote, outside of your home team of interest.

And I'm curious as to why. UMBC is an extension of the University of Maryland, a mere 25 miles away, and has a basketball schedule that includes, among others, GW, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, etc. And yet when speaking of the area college basketball teams and in general, the NCAA tournament in particular, I don't think I've ever heard you talk about them in any detail. But as I'm sure you know, they've been to the dance before and are a play-in team this year. Yeah. So, well, we're all familiar with UMBC because they became the first 16 seed to ever beat a number one seed when they upset Virginia in the 28th.

tournament and that was a massive deal. Yeah, it's really simple, Len, and I did email Len back. UMBC's in Baltimore, and Baltimore isn't the DMV. Baltimore is a completely separate city and personality and geography and everything else. Yes, there are 30 to 35 miles that separate our two cities, but Baltimore doesn't claim anything in Washington, and Washington doesn't claim anything. And Baltimore, and it's just been the way it's been for years. I mean, the only thing that Baltimore and Washington share, at least, you know, D.C. and Maryland, part of the DMV is the University of Maryland sports. Baltimore is a big Maryland supporter, D.C. and Maryland here in the DMV are. But I, you know, for me, the DMV teams are Maryland, Maryland, Georgetown, GW, AU, George Mason, and Howard.

You know, those are the teams. The DMV, in terms of the Maryland part, tell me if you disagree with me, Tommy. It's PG County, it's Montgomery County, and then it's parts of Frederick Howard and maybe Anna Rundle counties. That's the Maryland part of the DMV. Yeah. No Baltimore counties. Well, I mean, you could go Charles County.

I mean, if you want it. Isn't that a little bit too far south for... You think so? I don't know. I don't know. It's just right outside the Beltway, isn't it? God, I don't consider it to be right outside of the Beltway, but I'm going to look up exactly where it is. I would have thought that it would have bordered PG County.

No? Okay. I'll go with what you said. No, I'm a major. Charles County is south of PG County. It doesn't border D.C. PG County borders D.C. You're right.

Fairfax County does. Montgomery County does, obviously. Anna Rundle is close enough, right? I think part of it counts. Howard close enough. I don't know. You could go with parts of Charles County. But the point is that UMBC is not a local team. UVA is not a local team.

Virginia Tech's not a local team. I don't really, I think for the purposes of football, because we only have two Division I college football teams pretty much in the entire area. I do kind of, even though they're in, you know, Annapolis is more Baltimore than Washington, right? That's the way I consider it. Yeah.

But I do kind of consider Navy football to be a team that the D.C. area follows or has over the years. But that's why UMBC is not considered a local. They're in Baltimore. So anyway, I'll finish up with this. Right now, my bookies got Howard at minus one. They started as a two-point dog. There is a ton of sharp money on Howard tonight in the first game of the tournament

and a lot of public money on UMBC. So the first, and actually I gave it out at play. plus one on radio because they were plus one earlier today. So I'm going to stick with the plus one. I mean, I can't give out two different numbers for my smell test pick. I've got to, I'm registered on radio as Howard plus one. At my bookie right now, they're minus one. Follow it.

Maybe it'll go back. But Howard is the play tonight. And obviously that would be to win the game outright, although at plus one I could push at plus one. I was 14 and 10 last year smell test picks for the tournament. The year before 13 and 13, but the two years before that, those were winning years. I just can't find what I did five years ago. I've looked for it. I think I won that year too.

But I've been very good in March Madness overall, just like the regular smell test with football. So play number one Howard tonight against year. UMBC. Kenny Blightonies done a really good job. Howard's in the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years. So we'll be rooting for them. All right. Anything else from you?

I got nothing else for you today, boss. Happy St. Patrick. Say, oh, one more thing. What? Let us remember. Today is the birthday of the greatest player in the history of Washington football, Sammy Ball. It is?

Yes. Hmm. Okay. I'm going to remember it now. Congratulations to you again on another grandchild, and I will talk to you on Thursday. Okay, boss.