The Kevin Sheehan Show - What's Ron Planning For '24?

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Kevin and Thom today with an NBA Finals preview with picks. Also on the show, Kevin and Thom discuss Ron Rivera's comments yesterday about his role as more of a "managing" and/or "delegating" head coach. The boys also talked Sam Howell, the withdrawal of the Brian Davis law suit, pepper gel, Ted Lasso, Joe Namath's 80th, the Nats, and more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. E.B. Terps 90 wrote us a nice review on Apple Podcast.

Gave us five stars. This is the greatest show for those who don't live in the DMV. I graduated from Maryland, 1990, grew up in PG County, hung out with SVP. That would be Scott Van Pelt because his friends lived on the same floor in Ellicott Hall. I live near Seaville now. I'm assuming that's Charlottesville. I love listening to your show and guests. Big Terps fan.

My family lives for the skins, WFT commanders, and Terps. My son has several times stated, why do I root for this team? The tractor beam keeps pulling him back to root for them. I hope that we get to relive another great decade of football. By the way, how will be the best QB that mistakenly fell to the meanders? I guess that is the shortened version of commanders, but it's spelled meanders. Fell to the meanders lap in the fifth round. Hope to meet you sometime at Xfinity or the Shell.

Thank you, E.B. Terps 90. Really appreciate it. Rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. Follow us. That's a big deal. as well. He's pretty high on Sam Hal.

Well, we are worldwide, though. That's one thing to point out, is he's an out-of-town guy, and we have spanned the globe, haven't we? Like ABC Wide World of Sports back in the day, spanning the globe. Yes.

I want to make sure that I believe that E.B. didn't write that this is the greatest show for those that don't live in the DMV as if you do live in the DMV, it's still a great show. I just want to make sure that if you live in the DMV, you're not turned off by those that live outside it

that really love the show. Everybody can enjoy it. You know, we're equal opportunists here. Here's the thing. We are a slice of home for people who aren't home. Yes. And if you're already home, you don't have to.

worry about it. You've got the flights right in front of you. Right. So it's funny that he mentioned Sam Howe in that review. I copied and pasted a bunch of the play-by-play action from Ashburn's OTA Day yesterday because yesterday was Media Day. And I think there were some bloggers and lots of different people out there. Look, it's exciting. I mean, I'll read a few of of them to you. Terry McClorn with a deep over-the-shoulder catch, he's an absolute beast. Sam Howe's been up and down today, but man, when he is on, it's beautiful, just excellent. This is one of my favorites. Give Rivera some credit on the draft. Looks like Forbes and Martin are money. Already, they haven't played a game yet. And already the first and second round pick.

Do you have to pay for this play-by-play or is it free? Sam Hal just threw a beauty to Cole Turner, deep ball to the right side in 7 versus 7. O-line having major issues in pass pro, big worry with an inexperienced quarterback. Dax Milne with a great catch, totally different player this year. Brissette just dialed up a beautiful ball over the middle in stride for John Bates. And then here's one of my favorites. Kevin, just watching some of the clips. This is somebody just watching clips on Twitter.

Looks like a better coach team to me. Tight, concise communication from E.B. as in Eric B. Enemy. Oh, my God. You know, Kevin, they're just feeding the beast. They're just giving the people what they want. That's all they're doing. I want to say, you know, I know we do this kind of every year. And I want to say that I do kid because I do love.

And I understand that there is demand for some of this. And by the way, even if there isn't, look at me, I did a mock. I do a mock schedule for crying out loud. So I understand content and, you know, putting content out there because there are people that are eating it up. And look, other than the O-line issues, you know, with an inexperienced quarterback, that was some encouraging stuff. I mean, it's a long way until September 10th, until they play a real good, until they play an actual team in a game. But, I mean, my favorite really is, though, the one that's, it's like, hey, wrap up the 2023 draft. We're already there.

A plus because Forbes and Martin are really, really impressing people in the seven-on-seven OTA days. I like the one that says they're a much better coach now, as opposed to all the coaching critiques that that person did in the previous years. You know, they can see the difference. Yeah. Hey, I mean. Look, Kevin, here's what you can make an issue of, and we've made an issue of it before. Oh, boy. But let's separate it from the people who give out the content to the people who respond to the content.

Okay. I certainly understand giving out this content. I do, too. I do too. And most of the people that give out the content are friends of ours. Yes. What separates the smart fan from everybody else is how you respond to the content. Well, look, other than for the purposes of communicating it in the way that I just did, I'm really not interested in that content, and I'm a fan of the team.

What I am interested in this time of year, as you know, and we've spent a lot of time on it over the years. I like to listen to what people say. And over the years, there have been various people that, you know, the both of us have had the chance to talk to. about, you know, what they're thinking. Like, I've used this example already this week, and maybe I used it last week as well. This time last year, I talked to somebody out there on the offensive staff who said, Jahan Dotson, 100% the right pick and the real deal. And that, by the way, was also being discussed by a lot of the people on the beat, you know,

and various people watching this. And it turns out that, you know, they do. know a football player when they see one. And at certain positions, it doesn't take long to figure out, this dude looks like the real deal. He actually belongs, and it's pretty obvious he belongs. And so there is some of that, but I don't think you get that from watching yourself. Look, we don't even when we're watching regular season games, we're not even sure what

we're seeing until about week seven or week eight of the regular season. But I think when you hear coaches and other players, I like listening to what everybody is saying and what everybody is talking about. As an example, I think that Ron Rivera mentioning that Casimir Allen, Cas Allen, three different times, unsolicited during his pressers over the last few weeks, is an indication that they really like this player. and they signed him because they think that he's got a legit shot to be their returner. No one was asking him about this guy. He didn't even know the guy's full name. He had it in reverse originally, but he knew that they signed him for a specific reason. So I do think some of that.

Like Sam Hal spoke yesterday, no, there was nothing monumental, but I liked listening to him. I liked Rivera talking about Bianami two days ago. I thought Rivera the other day, and I'm going to talk about this during the show today with you, talking about the kind of coach he is, you know, sort of this delegator as a head coach, something we've talked about in the past. But I think that's where, you know, that and of course the obvious, which is somebody gets really injured. That's, you know, real news. Other than that, yeah, if you're consuming this and actually thinking like, oh my God, I've got to revise my season prediction from 7 and 10 to 11 and 6 because rookie

Emmanuel Forbes just perfectly timed a pass breakup in front of Jahan Dotson from Sam Hal. And again, he just did it again over Terry McLaurin. If you're revising at this point, you know, your expectations for the team, I think that that's, you know, probably a little bit naive. and taking this stuff a little bit too seriously at this point when they haven't actually played a game yet. Like, you know, they're going to have... Emmanuel Forbes is going to have to cover A.J. Brown twice a year.

Enjoy the content you're getting. But don't overreact to it. Don't respond to every little thing. Have some perspective. I mean, realize that what happens here is... What you're saying is pretty much meaningless. You know, you've seen enough football to know that. Why can't you convince yourself of that?

A lot of people can't. I mean, we could go back. Let me do this for you, okay? Since 2016, the record's been 7 and 9, 7 and 9, 3 and 13, 7 and 9, 7 and 10, 8, 8, and 1. They have not won a playoff game. I guarantee you that if we went back during that six-year stretch this time of year, we would find the exact same stuff. Yes.

exact same, you know, oh my God, are you kidding me? And by the way, they would have been right about Terry McClurend, you know, with an over-the-shoulder catch. And some of these things will actually prove to be right. But there is, look, that's what makes the NFL great. With most franchises, not this franchise. What makes it, and maybe it will change with new ownership, but what makes it great is that really and truly everybody does have a chance, more. More so than in the other sports. Still need a quarterback. Anyway, enough of that.

The NBA finals are tonight. I'm really excited about it. You're not. I'm interested. Well, they're unwatchable to you. It's been unwatchable. It's been unwatchable and overcompensator. The two are the two themes to Tuesday show that really

stuck with me after the show. Unwatchable, but they've got the best ratings in years, and overcompensating as if to know you know, as if you know how I really feel. Sometimes I am really excited about things and not just, you know, I don't know why you think I would fake my excitement. Because that, because the reality, the truth would be a little bit depressing, that you can't recognize how unwatchable this is. Then that's true. I've been fooled just like the 14 million that were watching the other night, which would have made it the highest rated NBA game in two decades had it been close. You know that just because people watch it on television doesn't make it good. Well, I would say that don't you know that just because some people on Twitter agree with you

that it may not be unwatchable? Oh, I think for people who love the game, it's unwatchable. Oh, my God. So everybody that's enjoying this right now. I'm going to watch it because I enjoy Yogan. They don't love the game. I enjoy Jimmy Butler, so I'm going to watch it. Okay.

Well, I don't know why you are. Why would you waste your time with something that's unwatchable? Well, maybe it'll pleasantly surprise me. You're off next week. I mean, next week begins your summer's, schedule of, you know, Spain, Italy, and, I don't know, Croatia, wherever you're going this summer. Listen, I'm going on a road trip that most of people listening would envy, okay?

It's much bigger than the NBA finals, I can tell you that. I don't think most people will envy it unless it includes you going somewhere where you can dance and people can watch you dance. So a lot of feedback to Tommy's dancing, including from Seth who asked me, have you seen, have you actually seen Tommy dance? I think I have. And I can't remember where, but I think I have. I don't think you have.

Did we go to a wedding together? No, we've never been to a wedding together. We haven't been to a wedding. So you didn't go to Galdi's wedding? No. Nope. What other weddings were at 980? I kind of feel like there was another wedding at 980. No, you have never seen me dance.

I think maybe I've seen you dance on a video that you put out with you dancing. You know, there may have been people that posted videos at King's Soul shows from time to time. Yeah. But you can't, even the video you can't fully appreciate. Not probably. You know, it's like the, uh, It's like the singing. It's like the karaoke.

The video's okay, but you can't fully appreciate it unless you're there. Right. Well, I mean, let me just say that the video, from what I recall, certainly was flattering. So the fact that I thought that, wow, Tommy's got a little bit of rhythm. If I had actually seen it live, I would have been blown away. It would have been very watchable had I seen it and been with you live. You have to admit.

You have to admit. You probably had very low expectations. No, I don't think I would have had. Like, if you had never mentioned it and then somebody had said, what kind of dancer do you think Tommy is? Because you like music and you like the kind of music that, you know, I mean, we both kind of like the same kind of music, not completely across the board.

But the fact that you were a big R&B fan. a big soul fan. By the way, a big early rock and roll fan. It wouldn't surprise me. Not that, you know, loving music makes you a good dancer. No, it doesn't. But now I probably would have surprised me. I would have probably been very surprised.

Considering that for the most part, whenever we've been away together, I've had to chauffeur you from one door to another because you were incapable of basically walking from the parking lot to wherever we were going. That was on ice. That was on ice. That's my ammo. That's my ammo. I'm the guy you don't see coming.

You were not. I used to be the guy on the basketball court where one guy would turn to the other and said, holy shit, that guy can play. He can play. He can dance. He can sing. And I swear to God, if he were on a train for more than an hour next to Carly Simon, he'd be dating her right now.

God, you are something else. Total, total talent. I'm the guy he never see coming. No. Actually, you are the guy. I'm not talking about your physical imposing size. I'm talking about you make sure everybody knows you're coming. All right.

I do want to just real quickly, because you're not going to have a lot of thoughts on this series, but you might have a few, and I'll let you, you know, share with us what you think might be watchable in the NBA finals. But I really am excited about this series and this matchup, game one in particular. I mean, I've talked a lot about these two teams over the last month and a half. I realize that. These are two really, really good basketball teams. The Nuggets aren't just a great basketball team. They're also really talented.

and they have a player that we've talked about before. And I'm not going to sit here. Oh, actually, you know what? I want to read these tweets because I forgot to do this. This was from Jack on Twitter. And I saved this for the NBA Finals. He just wrote three words and then hashtagged it. Kevin, thank you, hashtag NBA playoffs.

Landon sent me a note. I stopped watching the NBA years ago. Your persistence paid off. I'm a convert. Yokic might be my favorite player since Kobe Bryant, and playoff Jimmy is a pleasure to watch, as you would say. Yes, he's a pleasure to watch. Nicola Yokic is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. That's not an exaggeration. I'm not saying he's the greatest. I'm not putting him in front of Wilt or Russell or even Hakeem or Shaq, but when it's over and he's only 28 years old, he's going to go down as one of the great players to ever play. the game. He's already a two-time MVP, and this will be a defining moment for him. Not that I don't think that he'll have the opportunity to win championships moving forward. But this is a sport, Tommy, where you really are judged on championships. It's completely different than football.

You know, with five men on the floor at one given time, you really are judged on titles. So Yokic, you know, needs to get one, or years from now, we'll just talk. about him in the same way. We talk about Patrick Ewing, and we talk about, you know, Charles Barkley and some of those players. And look, the way we would have talked about Dirk Novitsky, had Dirk not gotten his in 2011. I don't get it. Don't we talk about those players as some of the great players of their time? Yes, but they're never considered the greatest because they didn't win it. The greatest, all, when we start comparing the greatest, we talk about the number of titles they have in that sport. Do you disagree? No, I don't. I don't because, I mean, but

if you have a number of titles, it doesn't mean you're on the list of the greatest. No. I mean, it's not the same kind of thing. Of course. In other words, okay, so that's my point. Robert Orre is not one of the greatest players of all time. That's the extreme, but I'm extreme example. But I'm talking about when we're comparing the greatest players of all time. There's a separation. You know, there's a metric that separates and its titles. I know, but it's still a short list of the greatest players that we argue about. I mean, Barclay is in a conversation, arguably, among the top 15 to 20 players ever. If Barclay had won a title, would he be in the top 10? I'm not sure he would. I don't think he's in the top 15 or top 20 consistently that we talk about.

He's more like probably after 20. I'm looking at that list that we argued about forever, the top 100 ESPN list. I want to see where Barclay comes in on. But I agree with you that, Yokic already with two MVPs, and if he gets an NBA championship would still, plenty of years ahead of him, hopefully healthy years. He will be in a conversation then among the greatest players of all time. Patrick Ewing's at 37, okay?

Steve Nash is at 30. Alan Iverson's at 29. John Stockton's at 28. This was the list that they put together a few years ago. Barclay was at 23. He wasn't in the top 20. I think if Barclay had a title, if he had won the year that they played, you know, Chicago,

I think Barclay would have been considered to be a top 15 player of all time. So I do think that his overall ranking is impacted by not having a title. Anyway, we're getting sidetracked because Yokic is one of the greatest that's ever played. I'm just saying I think he'll need a title maybe two to be in that conversation where you and I always put, you know, the big, the big man conversation, the Wilts, Russell, Kareem, for me, Elijah won as well conversation. And you can't keep Shaq, you know, completely out of that list. Shaq's always been a little bit lower for me, Elijah won a little bit higher.

But Willis Reed. Yeah, he's not in that conversation. He's not. Yes, he is. He is for you. He's not for most people that, you know, do this. Well, I can't compensate for the ignorance of most people. Well, I know. I'm just saying real basketball people aren't going to put Willis Reed into that conversation.

And by the way, he's got the titles. Yeah. Just like, you know, you had John Havlachack, I think, in like the top 20. And then when I started going through the list, you're like, okay, maybe he is outside the top 21. I don't want to do it with Willis either because we've done this stuff before. But on Yokic. We were just talking big men. We were just talking to Big Men to St. I know. I know we were. I'm aware of that. Nicola Yokic is averaging for the postseason a triple double. And it's not your, you know, 16, 14, and 10 triple double. The triple double that he's averaging is 29.9 points per game, so basically 30 points a game,

13.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists. he's had games in this postseason that are otherworldly. He is shooting in this postseason from the floor right now. He is shooting, hold on, I had this a second ago. Where is it? He is shooting right now from the floor, 53.8%. He is shooting from behind the arc, 47.4%. And he's shooting, actually, it's down after his last two games.

He's now down below 80% at 78.4% from the football. free throw line. That is all-time playoff great to be near 50, 40, and 80 as a center. It's all-time great. I mean, some of the numbers in these games that he's played in are wilt-like. Now, not regular season average wilt. Those are still the numbers that are the biggest outliers statistically in almost any sport in the history of sports or Wilts' crazy 50s. and 25 average numbers. But this is where Yokic is. Yokic also will be when you watch him, maybe for the first time tonight or over the next week.

He is one of the smartest, highest IQ players that's ever played. He is one of the greatest passers, big man or otherwise. I would say big man. Legler said he's just flat out one of the greatest passers of all time. And he's one of the most unselfish players you'll ever watch. The rest of the team is. good. Jamal Murray's a legitimate scoring star, elite in the NBA, and they're well-coached. They are prohibitive favorites to win the NBA finals. Anywhere from minus 360 to minus 420, I've seen.

The favorite in terms of games that this series will end in, you know, by one team, is Denver is a plus 275 favorite to end this series in five games. That's the favorite of all of this scenarios. You know, Denver in four, five, six, or seven, Miami in four, five, six or seven. Denver, the favorite, by far and away, is Denver in five games. Most, I haven't seen one person pick Miami. Kind of like the game on Monday night. Nobody, other than Tommy, really thought Miami had any chance against Boston. Denver's a prohibitive favorite to win this series. The third biggest favorite in the last 20 years in the NBA finals. With that said, Tom, I think Miami, Miami is going to really compete and they're going to surprise people by winning a minimum of two

games in this series. What if they win game one? What if they win game one? I hope it happens. What is that to do? I am rooting for them so hard tonight because I do think in some ways tonight's a chance. First of all, they've won game one in every series so far in the postseason on the road. They won game one in Milwaukee.

They won game one in the garden against the Knicks. They won game one and game. to in Boston against the Celtics. And I think the Nuggets having 10 days since they last played, I mean, could be a factor. Maybe the rest is good and Miami's worn out after what they went through over the weekend on Saturday and Monday night. But if Miami wins tonight, they won't be favored to win this series.

But it will be just another, oh my gosh. God, this team shouldn't be in a series with Denver, and they're going to be in a series with Denver, and they're going to have a chance. Because that's what I would say tomorrow. I think they have a chance anyway. I'm picking Denver in seven games. And that's an outlier pick. I mean, that is a contrarian pick.

You know, as I said, Denver and five is the front runner. Denver and six is the second pick. I've already played Denver in 7 at plus 350. And so I like Denver in 7. I'd love to think Miami could win this series. Either result I'm going to be okay with because I'm a fan of kind of both teams and Butler and Yokic in particular. But Miami can win this series if, if, and it's a big if,

they have to be able to defend Denver. It starts with Transva. They're one of the best transition teams in the league. And believe it or not, their seven-foot center, you know, flubby center, Nicola Yokic leads the fast break after made buckets and miss buckets a lot of the time because he's their best decision maker as a passer. You've got to get back in transition. Transition defense is number one. And then number two, how are they going to guard them if they stop their fast break. If they slow it down, are they going to play zone like they did against Boston? By the way, Brad Stevens says Joe Missoula is coming back in Boston, says he's a great leader

and he'll learn the rest of it, you know, as he gets more experience. It's sort of an admission that he didn't really know what he was doing. Maybe he is a great leader, and maybe he'll figure the rest of it out. That's like the guy, the Wizards just hired to be the president of basketball operations. Michael Winger, who told the Washington Post that West Unsell Jr. has great potential. Right. And maybe that's what Brad Stevens is saying about Joe Missoula, who really, you know, wasn't supposed to be the coach in Boston this year. But what Miami is going to find very early on is throwing a bunch of defenses isn't going to confuse Malone and this group of Denver Nuggets. they'll run great zone offense.

They run great offense in particular. If it's the dribble handoff with Yokic and Murray or Yokic and Porter Jr., they've got to be able to guard that. In their zone, they're going to have to pick their poison because Denver will find ways to get the ball to the middle of the floor in the middle of that paint with Yokic and let him make the decision. And then it's if you collapse, he'll end up with 18 to 20 assists, and if you let him go one-on-one with BAM,

he's going to shred them at the rim, but at least it's only counting for two. That to me is the interesting part. If Miami can't guard them, if they can't get back in transition, this could be a really quick series. Denver's just too explosive, and they're just too good offensively.

But if they guard them and they can keep them to, you know, less than 115, 1-10 somewhere in that range, then they're going to be in some of these games, and they've figured out a way to win some of these games, you know, in the fourth quarter, from behind multiple times. Looking forward to it. I've got nothing else left.

I think there's a lot of different matchups that are interesting. I think Bam and Yokic is a really interesting matchup. Yokic's own BAM in the regular season. Will they use guys like Zeller and other guys on them? Is Jimmy Butler going to play a little bit? bit better than he did down the stretch in the Boston series. He looked tired. He looks sick in game six. I think Jimmy Butler's got to be much more assertive than he was in the last two games. He was super patient, and there's something to be said for that. I love that about his game,

that he is patient in that way, and he lets the game come to him. But they're going to probably need him to be more assertive as he was against the Bucks, as an example, when he went for 50, you know, He went for 50 and 42 in back-to-back games. But I'm looking forward to it. It's not going to be, I'll tell you right now. I had John Oran from Sports Business Journal on the radio this morning. John's a good friend of ours. You know, he talked about how, you know, the game Monday night,

even though it was a blowout, was the most watched Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals history on TNT, third highest in over 10 years, how the playoffs are way up in viewership. but he conceded there's a problem with Denver and Miami because the stars and the markets and the marquee teams are the draw. You know, it's not the NFL where we could open the season with Detroit playing Jacksonville and you'd still have a massive audience. You need what you've had here over the last few weeks, LeBron advancing, you know,

having that Warriors Lakers series, having Boston still be alive. But I'm going to enjoy it, and I can't wait for tonight's game. I do not like a side tonight one way or the other. The line is nine. You know, I know Miami's won every game won in this series, and they've been incredible as like an eight plus point dog in this postseason. Tommy, they've been unbelievable just against the number in general in the post. season, but I don't like them tonight.

We'll rather just sit back and watch it tonight. We'll see what happens. Do you have a pick and a thought or two? Well, I like Denver, but I think if Miami wins game one, I think that changes the entire series. Then, I mean, then I think you have maybe Denver questioning themselves and thinking the idea that Miami has some kind of, some kind of special aura about them to come in there and to win game one against a team that was seemingly unbeatable at home in these series.

So if Miami has a chance to win the series, they have to win game one. Yeah, I mean, they've been so good on the road. And Denver's been great at home. Yeah, I mean, well, they got to steal one of the two, and game one would really make people. make everybody feel great about it. The thing about it is, like, I don't, they're not going to be favored. Look, they were barely favored. In fact, it was basically a pick-um after they took the first two in Boston.

I mean, I think they were still an underdog at that point. I think they may have been like a, you know, Boston was still like a minus 120 favorite after losing the first two at home. And then when they lost game three, then it was the first time in the series that the, the were actually favored to win the series. But anyway, all right. By the way, I wanted to mention that 44 years ago tonight, 44 years ago tonight was the last time

the Washington NBA franchise played an NBA finals game. And you're going to, when we go to break, I'll play for you. The Brent Musburger CBS Open to Game 5, June 1, 1970. at the Capitol Center in our favorite PG County Town, Landover, Maryland. And since then, they haven't even sniffed the NBA finals. They've been in one game seven in a conference semifinals. And that happened in 2017 against the Celtics.

But they have been out in the wilderness. As you've said many times, they missed the magic bird. era. They missed the Jordan era. They missed the Kobe Shack era and they missed the LeBron era. They were non-participants in all of it. It's amazing that 44 years and they haven't even been to a conference final. I know. That's insane. It really is. It's like, you know, they missed the whole time that the NBA has grown and prospered, they were just passengers. They've missed the entire growth of the NBA and the growth of the game and the way it's played.

It's just such a much better game now than it ever was, and they haven't been able to participate. You know, that game 5, Tommy, in 1979, I was there with my father. I was at two of those games in the 79 finals. I was a game one where Larry Wright won the game with two free throws with like two seconds to go. That was the only game the bullets won. And then game five, they were down three one, but they had been down three one in the Eastern Conference finals against the Spurs and come back and won the series.

They had won in seven games against the Hawks in the conference semifinals. They were the defending champs that year. And by the way, that was the last time they won 50 or more games in a regular season. I think they finished 54 and 28. Yeah. Let me ask you something. Do you think in our lifetime, while mine being different than yours, but say your lifetime? Knock on wood.

I hope we're around for a long time. That you'll ever go to see the Wizards in an NBA final? I mean, I don't know. I mean, I hope to have, you know. What do you think? What do you mean? Yeah, I'll say yes. I'll say yes.

I'll say yes. I'll say yes. Really? Yeah. Michael Winger is going to hire a really good GM and they're going to pull off some moves. And in 2028, they're going to be in the NBA finals against an older version of Nicola Yokic and the Denver Nuggets.

Okay. I don't know. It's so hard in the NBA. God, you know. I mean, I don't think they're going to. And by the way, and I write this for my columns tomorrow, I talk about the Caps, new coach, and the Michael Winger, the new team president of basketball operations.

Who's going to hire the coach? I mean, are you going to hire a GM and then let the GM hire a coach? What if the new GM wants to fire Wes Unsell Jr? Is he going to be able to do that? See, I don't quite get this. I mean, I understand this is like a big transformational hire, and I give Ted credit for getting somebody with the background and a resume that he has, but he's still going to hire a GM.

And if that GM doesn't have the power to hire or fire their coach, then it's not a real GM. Yeah. I think that that person will. In conjunction with the president of basketball, which will be Michael Winger. I am Junction I've been in conjunction before that's a painful place to be

It can be You know Did you read the report that The Wizards offered Bob Myers $15 million a year Was it a legit report? I don't know if it was What do you mean

No it's where What was the source of the report I'll find it you I mean the one I saw that came from a guy With about 10,000 followers on social media, so I immediately dismissed it. So I hadn't seen it anyplace else. Okay.

Look, I would expect them to have made a run at Bob Myers. That would have been the reasonable thing to do. I want to see who reported this, because I had several people send it to me, and I just assumed, I don't always assume, but I thought. I don't mean to diminish the person who wrote it. It's just that you've got to make decisions. about source material, and I made a quick one there that, well, you know, I mean, not enough credibility there for me to think that this is accurate. It's certainly reasonable to believe.

Well, now I can't find it. Now I can't even find it. If they did, they didn't get them. So they got the next best guy. They got Winger. According to Chris Persinian of WFUV FM, I don't even know what that is. Okay. Yeah. Is he an NBA guy for some local television station? I think he's the local guy.

Okay. You know what? Let's go with it, though. Let's just say that he did actually offer Bob Myers $15 million. It's just a podcast. It's no big deal. He's an on-air talent and a Knicks beat reporter. And, hey, you know, he went to Fordham University. Let's not disparaged a guy. I don't mean it disparaged. guy. He knows much more about the NBA than I do. He went to Fordham where Keith Urgo coaches, Keith on the podcast several weeks ago, a local guy,

great family, and he does color commentary for WFUV Sports, which is a New York call-in radio show. And it's the Fordham Rams flagship station in New York. All right, we'll just go with it. Did he talk to him about the new commander's quarterback? Because they signed the Fordham quarterback as a free agent. Right, they did. I forget what his name is, but he's like their fourth quarterback.

So do I. All right. So you've got Denver in how many games? I'm going to take Denver in six. I'll take Denver in seven. And I'll take the Wizards in the NBA Finals by 2028. you'll take them never. And I have no idea.

I'll tell you what, the Michael Winger thing. Here's something that's interesting about both Michael Winger and the Capp's new coach, Spencer Carberry. Both of these individuals were at least according to more than just W.HUV radio, the home of Fordham basketball. These were two very sought-after coaches. slash front office exec. Carberry was

sought after. Michael Winger was sought after. And Ted... Oh, after by who? Oh, my God. If you read a lot of the guys on the athletic, a lot of the NBA guys on the athletic. Okay.

Look, I have... Yeah, they talk about how this guy was been been talked about for several years now as a guy that was, you know, going to be a star in the front office and has been sought after by multiple times. teams over the last couple of years. And he picked Washington for some reason.

And let me just say this, if I didn't say this the other day when he got hired to you, if the first move isn't to try to trade Bradley Beale, then he wasn't the right hire. That should be an absolute given. Now, whether or not they'll be able to do it or not is one thing, because he's got a no trade clause. Now, if they come up with the list of teams. And by the way, he said the other day he loves Beal, loves Beal as a leader. It said all of the things you should say if you're going to trade him is how great he is and how much you love him. Not doing what Ron Rivera did with Chase Young three months before the deadline to pick up his option.

Because by the way, I don't know if we've talked about this or not. I believe that they did put feelers out there on a Chase. young trade. And I don't think what they got back was anything that they desired. I think if somebody'd come back with a second rounder, he'd be gone.

And that's why, you know, when Ron Rivera started to talk about basically questioning his motivation with maybe he'll do what Duran did, maybe not picking up his option will be an incentive for him. You know, and just the idea

that they were contemplating not picking up the fifth year option on a second year, on a number two overall pick in the draft, was just the stupid way to handle it if indeed you really were motivated to trade him. Now, let me be clear on this. Putting feelers out to see what you could get back for them is different than being really, really interested and desperate to trade them. I'm not saying that. I do believe that they put feelers out there to see what.

what he would bring back. And what they found out was it wasn't anything that they would have traded him for. You know, it wasn't what Detroit got a fourth rounder back for Okuda, who was the third pick in that draft. That's probably something where maybe they would have gotten a fourth rounder back and they weren't interested in doing it for that. Right. Right. One last thing about Winger, getting back to Michael Winger. this is what he said about Brad.

This is how you know that he really clicked with Ted. According to the story in the Washington Post, Winger said that Beal's presence was, quote, a wonderful canvas to start with. Right. I mean, that's Ted language. I know, right? Yes, but it's also the exact way you'd want to handle it if your goal is to trade him. I know, wonderful canvas to start with. Come on. That is a TED description.

All right. I want to talk about something that Ron Rivera said on Tuesday, which was the media day. No, yesterday, Wednesday during the Media Day. We'll get to that. Sam Howell tearing it up at OTAs. All's well. It looks really good for Sam Hal number 14 at the beginning of next season. By the way, I am starting just from these OTA days,

to Rivera, listening to Be'Anne, not so much Beemone, listening to some of the players. I had Logan Paulson on the radio show today. I like Logan a lot. I think Logan is, you know, plugged in for sure. I think that your prediction that Jacoby Berset is going to be the starter at the beginning of the season is going to be wrong. I don't think that you're going to be wrong that he will start games next year. But unless he gets hurt, Sam Howell gets hurt, I'm taking that out of the equation. I think this really is his job to lose. Like, I think that's really what they want to do.

They want to do Sam Hal. Well, my question would be, we can't really make that decision until Jacoby Percette shows up for OTAs. I mean, based on everything I've read, he's not really there, is he? he's there what do you mean well i just haven't read much i haven't heard the coaches talk much yeah i haven't heard anybody say much about chicoby per se that's kind of my point i think that i think that this is this is so early and now we're doing in words what they were doing yesterday in clips um uh as in play-by-play clips i i just i think that they really want sam how be the starting quarterback. I think there's so many reasons for it. Of course they do. I think they

do. But you know what? There's a lot of things that will get in the way between now and September. It's possible. It's possible. I also think that the offense that the enemy's installing is probably better for Sam Howl than it is even for Jacoby Brissette. All right. Something Ron Rivera said the other day that I want to get to with Tommy. We'll do that next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The nation's capital, Washington, D.C., perhaps the most powerful city in all the world, certainly one of the most beautiful. But the action tonight is just to the east of downtown Washington, the capital center,

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simply put, there's never been a better time to start exploring the world of online sports betting during these NBA finals than with My Booky. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with my bookie. I did want to mention you did not continue with Ted Lassau, right? No, I gave it a couple of episodes the first season and bailed on it. So last night was the season three finale, and it may have been the show finale. I really enjoyed season three. Yes, it's hokey at times, it's corny at times, it's really, really, really. really goofy at times, but God, I loved the show. And I thought season three was so much better

than season two. And if that was the last show, it probably should be the last show, actually. I think three seasons was enough of it, but I really, really enjoyed it. I also wanted to tell you something, because you and I were talking about this during the break, and I realized that I had not told you this. And I don't think I've mentioned it at all on the podcast. But, uh, I'm I got a call. My phone was ringing the other morning at 5.30 a.m. Now, I'm still up at that hour, which is an hour later than when, you know, an hour and a half really later than when I used to get up. But now with the radio show hours changing, you know, at least I can just stay in bed. I don't have to get out of bed that early. But my phone started ringing at 5.30 and it was my oldest son. So when you see, you know, a 5.30 a.m. call, you know, from one of your kids, that's usually a concern initially. So I answered it Usually a police station call So I'm like

I just answered I said are you okay And he goes I'm fine I'm totally fine everything's fine But I have to tell you this story So he tells me the story He was in Zurich He's been traveling for work And for pleasure as well

I believe He was in Zurich Switzerland Which is beautiful by the way Have you ever been to Switzerland? No I have not maybe i'll maybe i'll make that one of my summer i'm shocked that you haven't been on one of your summers away from home i mean i i love the fact that you you guys just keep the place in frederick to keep up this you know like uh this idea that you're an everyday man you know oh we've got this condo in

frederick meantime you know he winters in florida he summers in spain and in italy um anyway uh He tells me this story about how they were at a bar the night before and that somebody tried to bust through the beginning, the front of the line, and the bouncer took out pepper gel and tried to spray the guy that was kind of rushing the front door. And he missed that guy and hit my son square in the face with it. Now pepper gel, I didn't, I had never heard of pepper gel. Neither have I. I've heard of pepper spray, and I know pepper spray can be incapacitating. And pepper gel is more highly concentrated. It actually has more of an effect than even pepper spray.

And so he's telling me this story, and he said, I was blinded for an hour plus. Could not see anything. I was completely blind. And it was terrifying. and, you know, they were, you know, helping and they were apologetic, and then police showed up, and then they started to pour milk all over my face and my head and in my eyes. Apparently water will spread it. Water is not the move.

Milk's the move. And like after an hour, he could see and everything was fine. But during the whole process, the bar, according to his friends and his cousin who was with him at this place, they were very concerned that they were liable for something very serious. And at one point... They should have been concerned. And at one point,

my nephew said, Casey just started screaming, I'm not going to sue you. Just help me see again. And they were like, and then the police came over and they had milk and eventually he could see. But it was, I had never heard of pepper gel.

I've heard of pepper spray. Never pepper gel. And he said it was one of the worst experiences of his life. Yeah. And he said, you wouldn't have believed that he said it was the nicest bar and one of the nicest areas. Zurich is so lovely and beautiful. And here I am getting pepper geled right in the face.

So for those of you that... Did they give some chocolate or something? They didn't even, he said, I said, I hope they at least picked up the tab for the rest of the night. And he said, well, we did eventually make her way into the club. I'm like, are you serious? You didn't go to, you know. He said, no, I didn't go anywhere. Eventually I could see it.

And I was fine. But he said they didn't even really pick up, you know, the tab or pick up even around to drinks. That's a mistake. Yeah. You know, if you're running that place, at that point, you're kissing that person's ass to make sure that he's okay. and that he's happy and that he's, you know, and I don't even know what you, you know. Can you do any favor? What?

Off the air, can you text me the name of that bar so when I do go to Zurich, I stay away from there? Yeah, I will text you the name of the bar so that when you go to Zurich next summer, you can act like you're representing my son, Casey Sheen. Yeah. Because you'd have been screaming, I'm suing everybody. All right. Between the MS. So I want to play something that Ron Rivera said the other day and talk about it.

He was asked a question about where he puts his time and energy and, you know, about delegating things to other coaches. And he said the following. Well, the big part of what I'm doing more so anything else is I'm just kind of observing more so the different groups out there now, talking with the younger coaches. coach is talking with some of the younger players, you know, and seeing how they're developing and growing. I mean, like you're saying, I mean, I feel more like a manager at times than I do anything else. It's about making sure that, you know, I'm delegating the authority of these guys and let

them do their responsibilities with a very veteran coach like Jack. I've been able to rely on him and as staff to go forward, spend a little more time bouncing in between the different groups. So the one part of that answer where he says, I feel more like a manager at times than I do anything else. It's about making sure that I'm delegating the authority to these guys, letting them do their responsibilities. With a veteran coach like Jack, I've been able to rely on him and his staff to go forward, spend a little more time bouncing in between the different groups. By the way, I want to point out that it was almost a year and a half or two years ago.

You said that you learned from somebody that Jack Del Rio does a lot of the coaching on this team. That Jack Del Rio is significant for Ron, that he relies on Jack Del Rio to do a lot of the coaching. And, you know, probably not so much Scott Turner, although Scott Turner, I think, did have some autonomy offensively. But there was this part, and then he answered a few more questions about this later on in the press conference. Some of the reporters came back to it. And he said at one point, he said, is this the most he's delegated in his career and on the adjustments he's had to make doing so? He said, well, I'm just getting used to looking at personnel reports. And he laughed about it.

And he said, that's one thing that's a little bit more different. Well, I mean, remember, he came in as coach-centric run. He came in as the head coach and the number one football decision maker in the first. organization. So it's not like that his job wasn't going to change a little bit anyway. But I'm wondering if you think that when he says, you know, I'm more of a manager now, if what we're starting to see is, in combination, by the way, with some other things that he said and not said, like not being available, not just not being available, but declining to be interviewed for the profile piece on Jason Wright, written by Mike Jones in The Athletic, because

Jason Wright has, you know, some people believe has aspirations of becoming kind of the head of the football operation. Do you think Ron sees himself a year from now as in the organization, but no longer the head coach? I think it's possible. I think it's possible that he's trying to position himself to be that guy. Yeah, I think it's certainly possible. Look, I think the presence of Eric B. Enemy has changed a lot of things, maybe including that. Because no one thinks Eric Bianmi is here for any long period of time.

He's a short timer. If he's really good at what he does, he's going to be a head coach either here or somewhere. I was going to say he could be a long-timer here. Well, if he's not particularly, yeah, if he's good. Right. If he's good, he's not going to be a long-timer in this position. I don't think he's going to be the offensive coordinator here for a number of years if he's good. He'll get that.

If they have a really successful offensive season next year, Eric B. enemy will be a head coach somewhere. Yeah. If they're not very good, then I'm. I don't think he'll be around here either. I think it's possible. This is it for him. I think it's possible that Ron, in part, you know, brought Eric Bianamy in here because he did want, you know, he wanted to change at offensive coordinator.

He and Andy Reid are very close. He, you know, was looking at this year as perhaps his last as a head coach anyway and wanted to give Eric that shot, that platform to do it without Andy Reed, without Patrick Mahomes, somewhere else because nobody else was giving him that opportunity. And perhaps that he saw Eric B. Enemy potentially as a guy that could replace him as he moved on to a front office position, which Eric B. Enemy would support. He would completely support because Ron's the one that gave him this opportunity and would step aside potentially with new ownership. I certainly, I think that's all feasible.

I don't think any of that is necessarily good for the organization, but I certainly think it's feasible. Yeah, I'm not asking if it's good. I'm asking if you think that's his play. I do think that most people try to, with the uncertainty of future, of any business or organization, are going to try to position themselves in the best place possible. when the moves come. And I think he's trying to do that. Yeah.

Ron is, Ron's a politician to a certain degree. Yes. And I think, I don't think Ron's dumb. I think Ron also is a likable guy for most people in that business. And I think he sees the writing on the wall

as far as the coach piece, you know, is concerned. And he may be okay with it. So I do think that this could be part of his play. And what would bother me about it is that is he focused on being a head coach right now? Or is he delegating too much? Is he handing it over to Eric B. Enamey and Jack Del Rio? And by the way, he told me this a few years ago that he was much more of a CEO head coach than he was in Carolina. for obvious reasons he had many more responsibilities here. And the fact that he had gotten sick in that first year and had to delegate a lot, you know, while he was out.

But I would personally right now for this team this year like him to be focused on being the head coach and, you know, and the head football decision maker, not on his next move. And I think he's thinking about, you know, this is like, you know, he's getting ready to announce that he's running for 2024. You know, he is running for team president in, you know, in 2024. And he probably would make, you know, a play to not only be the head football decision maker, but to take Jason Wright's position as well and then hire like a VP of sales. Because I don't think those two are the best of friends.

That would be my guess. You know, I don't know why you think it would be great for him to be, to concentrate more on being the head coach. It's more about concentrating on this team this year. Let me put it that way. This team this year, not what he is getting ready to go, you know. Right now he is setting up a search committee, you know, to look. He's putting together a group to determine whether or not he can raise enough money. and win enough primaries to be the general election candidate in 2024.

And I, you know, and he's got a job right now. Part of that job is being the head coach. Like I know governor, you know, our governor wants to run for president. I'm just saying hypothetically. But you've also got a job to do. The governor of our state, do that job first. I know, but sometimes you think the state will be better off without that. guy covering him. I'm not saying that his involvement's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm just saying,

I don't, it just, to me, I just have this gut feeling that that's a possible play for him. And that he sees, look, I'm not going to be the coach in 2024 more likely than not. But, you know, we kind of like it up here. You know, we like living up here. Look, it's a nice place to live. I'm not saying that, you know, Charlotte isn't. But, you know, you've got a little bit more to offer up here. And, you know, it's a great place to live. And I'd like to, you know, I'd like to be around, well, I mean, for those of us that live here year-round, some of us only live here for some of the part of the year. But I just, I think that the whole declining of the interview with Mike Jones about Jason Wright was really interesting.

Like that was a red flag. the moment we read it. We were sitting here. We read it on the air together. And I'm like, if that's not the biggest red flag, you don't decline. If you don't want to say anything, you're not available to be interviewed. And you know, I don't know, something that's interesting, it's a good Pete thing that other people were able to pick up on that before you did so you were aware of it. Why are you saying that?

Am I right? Why are you saying that? I know what you're saying that for a reason, and I can't remember why you're saying that. Why did you say that? Say what you said again. It's a good thing other people... It's a good thing that other people picked up on that little thing that happened in that Mike Jones piece and made you aware of it. Oh, I know what you're talking about now.

Yeah. Yeah, well, I mean, look, we're not very perceptive, and we have to rely on others to, to, to, to, I know. identify what we should be identifying ourselves, and then we can just repeat it like it's our own. All right, enough of that. Stop. What else do we have for today? I read your column just right before the show. Did you? I did. That's awfully nice of you. You're welcome. There was an update on the Brian Davis situation. We should get to that, and we can talk about your column right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, as the NBA final start, I got to tell you, a great place to watch the NBA finals would be Shelly's back room.

Even the unwatchable. Even the unwatchable becomes watchable at Shelly's. Yes, that's a good slogan. I wish I'd have thought of that. Here's what you probably don't have at your house while you're watching the NBA finals. an elegant space that features soft lighting, cozy couches, and overstuffed chairs. All the while while you're smoking one of your favorite cigars and having one of your favorite drinks. I'm betting most of you watching the NBA game one finals are not going to have that. If you go to Shelly's at 1331 F Street Northwest in the district, that's exactly what you'll have. elegant space, cozy couches,

oversuffed chairs, great cigars, great drinks, and great banter with the people around you who will be watching the game as well. Shelley's backroom. The absolute best Shelley's back room. All right. So before we get to your column and maybe a couple of other things,

Brian Davis dropped his lawsuit against Bank of America. the guy Daniel Wallach and others were the first to report it. I think Daniel Wallach actually was the first to report it early this morning. But the notice of voluntary dismissal was filed five days after Bank of America expressed doubts about the genuineness of the $5.1 billion in bank drafts that was presented by, Davis to Bank of America. What was interesting to me, Tommy, when I read this this morning,

is not that this thing, you know, is, I guess it's over. I mean, I can't believe anybody that's been gullible enough to believe that there was anything real to this. All you had to do was Google his name, you know, day one. But the, I remember, I forget who told me this now, because we've had so many of these people, Lozanian and Cosman and Wallach and all these different people on. And they've all been great,

whatever. But that check, he wanted that check back. He wanted that bank draft back. Remember, his name's not even on the bank draft. You know, and it came from Citibank, and it was that Severino, the estate of that guy that, you know, was there in World War II when the Japanese were burying, you know, yeshemite gold in the Philippines. And, you know, there was some thought that maybe he just wanted that thing back because it was like almost proof that something had been fabricated. But Wallach tweeted out that it was interesting that Davis pulled the plug two days before a court-ordered joint status report was due. And he did so without any stipulation on the record from Bank of America regarding the return of the bank drafts. But anyway, this thing, I think, is over.

I mean, like we said from the jump, he doesn't have that kind of money. And even the bank draft was an indication that it wasn't his money. So, um, what do you think is wrong with that guy? I don't know. I mean, there are, I mean, I've written about a lot of con men in my time. Uh, I wrote about a guy who, a mom. who tried to buy Branf Airlines, which they didn't know money at all. Yeah, right.

You know, but I still don't understand the mentality of thinking, you know, it's just, like, they seem just immune to the idea that they couldn't be believed. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. I mean, whatever. I mean, this has been a waste of everybody's time, but really, I don't think it wasted the time of the league or the Harris Group or anybody actually involved. And, by the way, it provided a little bit of a diversion

and some entertainment, because that interview, I have to say, the interview that he did with the sports junkies, was really entertaining. It was really entertaining. But clearly he's not a legitimate bidder for a $6 billion property. All right. So not a bad segue, actually, into your column. You want to tell everybody what your column was about?

Because we kind of started this conversation on Tuesday. Yes. My column is about the trademark name mess that the commanders currently find themselves in. and basically what makes it so aggravating, I would think, and so embarrassing is, you know, Jason Wright's proclamation when they were in the process of coming up with commanders of dismissing the names that supposedly fans preferred, like Red Wings or Red Hogs or things like that. And he was adamant in his statement that we found that those names basically would have created trademark issues. And we didn't want our fans to bear that kind of burden. Right. You know, that was his statement at the time.

And they are exactly now going through the very thing that he assured people he was protecting them from. Right. And yet, like you wrote, what's ironic about this trade. trademark thing is that most fans would actually love to bear the fight against the current name. So, yeah. I mean, again, this, for those of you that are saying, do you guys not understand how the whole trademark thing is? Well, actually, we really don't understand it. Most of you don't either.

I have filed for trademarks and even patents before. What I do understand is that it takes a lot longer that, you think it should. Like they just got approved for Washington football team, which is, you know, three and a half years after they changed it to that name or whatever it was. Maybe not three and a half years. It's coming up on three years anyway. But that's not the point.

The point is what Tommy said. They picked commanders. They said because they understood the weight and importance of our team name, the excitement. and they didn't want to risk going down a route that could be dotted with legal hurdles. The prospect of years of litigation wasn't something we wanted you, our fans, to have to bear as you begin to embrace a new brand. And here they are without approval, without trademark approval. It doesn't keep them from using the name, but they need trademark approval. Every sports team needs trademark approval.

so that nobody can copy and infringe upon their name and make money off of it. So that they're the only ones that can make money off of it. But it's just, that's, that's the irony is that they essentially tried to paint this picture that commanders, there's no issues with. It'll be fine. It's smooth sailing. It's ours. All of these others are going to, you know, there are going to be some issues with trademarks and everything else. and we're going to go down the path of lease resistance here.

And here we are a year and a half later, and there's, you know, the trademark was denied. Like I said in the column, on that blackboard that you keep about days without screw-ups, don't get rid of those erasers. No, just erase another. Let's just get the new owner in. Let's get the new owner in and get Sam Hal onto the field on September 10th. And we can start to really evaluate. Sam Howell and Eric Bianamy. It's going to be an interesting season, isn't it? By the way,

PFF put together a list of the three best players on all of the NFC East teams. And I thought it was interesting because I think that if you asked right now, Redskinned fans, commanders fans, Washington fans, if you asked them who the three best players on the team are, two of the three would be absolute Givens, Terry McClain and John Allen. Like it's really obvious that they are two of the best three players on the team. But PFF said that Montez Sweat was the third best player on the team. And I know that per PFF's grading, I think he was. But I think if you just watched every single game and you watched the overall impact,

even if certain plays were graded in a certain way, I think Duran Payne was. clearly the third best player on the team last year. I think so too. And I would agree with that. And I think Montez played well. I think he played better than a lot of you actually think he played. But to me, Duran Payne was the third best player on the team. And I think this time next year that there are going to be some guys like

Jahan Dotson and, you know, and Cameron Curl, who you actually could have made a case for top five. Brian Williams, Brian Williams, Brian Robbins. Robinson Jr. They've got some talent on the team. That's what's interesting about the team. If they didn't have any talent, then with the total mystery at quarterback, I would be on the record already at 4 and 13 or 5 and 12th.

But I'm not. I think that they got a chance to win 7 or 8 again, maybe more if Sam's the real deal. Hey, I want to finish up with this unless you have anything. Because I just saw that you tweeted this out. Joe Namath is 80 years old. Holy shit. You should read the ESPN story that Rich Simony did. He spent a day with Joe recently down Florida.

It's a great story. Joe is, you know, he's got new hips, new knees, a new shoulder. You know, he's been clean and sober ever since the Susie Colbert incident. Well, that's now how many years ago? 15 years ago. in Florida. Isn't that like that's every bit of 15 years ago now, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. You know, he handled that well. He apologized for publicly. He went into rehab, got treatment, and he's been ACEs ever since. That's my guy, Joe Namis. Yeah, I know he is. Do you know? I've never met.

Of all the icons of my childhood, he's the one I have not met. Really? Yeah. I saw this thing tweeted out a while back, and I don't know, I may have mentioned it at the time, but that 70s football site or old-time football, I don't know, there are Twitter accounts that are old football-related that I follow that every once in a while,

you know, some video will pop up and I'll be like, wow. Like recently, actually, a video popped up of Washington playing Carolina in the Sunday night football opener in 1997 on TNT. Sunday night football was on TNT. Washington went down to Carolina, beat Steve Burline in the Panthers in the opener. Then they lost in week two to Pittsburgh, and then they opened up FedEx Field in week three against the Cardinals in September of 1997. but they had like the whole highlight package. But that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is a specific game in which Joe Namath and the Jets played Johnny Unitis in the Baltimore Colts at Memorial Stadium in 1972.

And the numbers that Namath put up that day are some of the most eye-popping numbers I think I've ever seen. And I'm just going to read him to you and then tell you why they're eye-popping. He was 15 of 28 for 496 yards and six touchdowns. He did have one interception. He averaged 33 yards per completion. He had in the game a 65-yard touchdown pass, a 67-yard touchdown pass. That one, by the way, to Rigo, who I saw the other day.

I ran into Rigo the other day. He looked great, by the way. He had a 28-yarder to Don Maynor, a 10-yarder to Castor, a 79-yarder to Castor, and an 80-yard touchdown pass to Castor. In one game... A big, tall, tight end. Very talented. In one game, six touchdown passes with touchdown passes of 80 yards, 79 yards, 67 yards, and 65 yards. That's unbelievable.

I don't know what the record is for average yards per completion in a game, but my God, that's got to be close over 33 yards per completion. He only completed 15 balls in the game and threw for 496. And a game that ended up, by the way, Tommy, 44 to 34. In that game, Unitas threw for 370. They combined for 873 yards of passing and eight touchdowns. You know, I watched that game on TV. I remember watching it.

That was so much fun. Oh, my God. I mean, and that's back in an era where, you know, D.Bs could literally, you know, mall you at the line of scrimmage. Namath, look, he's my father's all-time favorite, too. My father, you know, I've told you before, love the AFL, love the ABA. He was definitely the contrarian and the anti-establishment, but he loved Namath. So I grew up, you know, just hearing the Namath stories.

I don't remember Namath playing. I remember vaguely Namath at the very end of his career when he played for the Rams and he was on Brady Bunch. I remember when he was on the Brady Bunch as a Los Angeles Rams quarterback. That's where he finished up, right? He finished up with the Rams. Did he play anywhere else? No, no. It was at the Rams.

And then he was benched during the season for Pat Hayden. For Pat Hayden. Yeah. That was probably a Chuck Knox Rams team. I think that was 77. Yeah. Well, you know what? In 77, Allen coached his final year in Washington

and then went back to Los Angeles to coach the Rams. But he got fired before the season started. Remember that? Yes. And so, and then was that, did they hire Chuck Knox? Or did he come? Was there, I'm looking to see Rams head coach history because Allen never made it to that, the beginning of that season.

So 77, George Allen, 66 to 7. and then he replaced Chuck Knox, but then they fired him before the season, and Ray Malavasi took over. And Ray Malavis. He did. Vince Farragamo. And Wendell Tyler. That team went to the Super Bowl and lost to the Steelers in what was the fourth of the four Super Bowl

that the Steelers won in the 70s. That Super Bowl was the 79 season, you know, the January of 80. Super Bowl, if they were making a crest with new management, they may have written the 1980 Super Bowl, but it was the 79 season. Namath, 80 years old. Wow. Joe Willie Nameth. I mean, I can hear CoSell right now talking about because CoSell loved himself some Namath and Ali in those years, right? Am I missing anybody? No, you're right. And you really had to be there. really appreciate the impact of Namath.

I mean, you know what today's fans would say. Joe Namath? Have you looked at his numbers? Yeah, I know. For a career, he completed 50.1% of his passes. He threw more interceptions 220 than touchdowns at 173. And his all-time winning record is 6263 and 4 as a 7%. starter. Let me just assure all of you, Tommy, will emphasize this. He's one of the greatest deep ball throwers in the history of the game. Yep, he is. And the thing, the column I posted

was an old column I wrote that pointed out that he was a top baseball prospect, a top baseball prospect who was offered 50 grand to play with the Cubs when he came out of high school. and if it was up to him, that's the deal he would have made, but his mom wanted him to go to college. And the point of that column was how history in New York and Chicago could have been different if Namet signed up to play baseball with the Cubs. Well, you know where he was going to go to college, right, before deciding on an element. Maryland.

I know. He initially committed to Maryland. And I don't know. I'm looking to see if I have the answer as to why he changed his mind. Here it is in Wikipedia. Namath had many offers from Division I College Football Programs, including Penn State, Ohio State, Alabama, Notre Dame, but initially decided upon the University of Maryland

after being heavily recruited by Maryland assistant coach, Roland Aragone. He was rejected by Maryland because his college board scores were just below the school's requirements. after ample recruiting by coach Paul Bear Bryant, Namath accepted a full scholarship to attend Alabama. Bryant stated his decision to recruit Namath was the best coaching decision I ever made. Yeah. Did he follow Stabler or was he before Stabler? He was before Stabler. Before Stabler, yeah. He would have been before Stabler, of course. All right. Do you have anything else?

I have nothing else for you today, boss. Good win for the Nats. last night. We'll finish up with that. K. Bear Ruiz, two home runs. Wow. Did it to his old team, the team that he got traded for, as part of that Trey Turner and Max Scherzer deals, right?

Trey Turner. Trey Turner coming to town this weekend with the Phillies. Yes, he is. With Bryce Harper as well. All right. Enjoy your trip next week to all of those Cleveland destinations, right? It's the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

No, no, it's not just Cleveland. It's Ohio. We're going to a Guardians game. Right. That would be Cleveland. And then we're going to the Rock and Roll Hall fame. That would be Cleveland. And then we're going to Canton the next day to the Pro Football Hall fame.

And then we're going to Pittsburgh the next day to the Clemente Museum and go see a Pirates game. God. That sounds like a fun trip. That's a road trip, baby. That's a road trip. Enjoy it. All right, I'll be back tomorrow.

Unselled inbound. Start the countdown. Ballard. Off with the shot. Sonic's control from the corner. I don't even have to come in. Five, four, three, two, one. Let the celebration begin in Seattle. It be a ship series in five games. Beating the Washington bullets 9793. But listen to the crowd in Landover.