The Kevin Sheehan Show - Where Will The QBs Go?

Episode Date: February 13, 2020

Kevin and Thom talk about the 30th anniversary of Tyson-Douglas. They then talk about the Redskins before looking at what the QB Carousel might look like in this NFL offseason. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Aaron, me, Tommy by phone. Tommy by phone today, not because he's traveling to West Palm for spring training or on one of his, you know, big time trips, but because he's home calling us today. And that is because, Tom? I spent the morning in the emergency room because I had excruciating pain in my left elbow that started Tuesday, got progressively worse. And I couldn't even sleep last night. It was so bad. So I figured I better get this checked out because it's just not going away. And it turns out I have a joint effusion. You've got a joint effusion.

What is that? Yes. Well, that's basically fluid, like water on the knee. Is it like tennis elbow? I have fluid on my elbow. From all that tennis? Yes, from all that tennis. So for elbow pain, you went to the emergency room.

At what time did you admit yourself into the emergency room this morning? Well, I mean. Because I got a text from you very early in the morning. Yeah. I mean, I was in the emergency room by six in the morning. It was that bad? You couldn't wait for the doctor's office to open at 9? No, because what are they going to do? I mean, what are they going to tell me?

They're going to tell me the same thing. It's no big deal. There's no guarantee I'm going to get in to see my doctor right away. And I knew this would be a time where there wouldn't be that much business in the emergency room. So I got checked out. So you went it. I've done the thing where, you know, urgent care. that's one of the biggest scams in the world.

I mean, I've gotten to urgent care a couple of times over my lifetime and then wound up having to go to the ER because they can't do anything for you in urgent care. So I just cut right to... It's one of the fastest growing, you know, segments of the health care industry, those urgent care places. It's good for kids with cold and eerie. Yeah.

That's the only thing is good for. Not for old men with elbow pain. That's not what it's good for. No, and I'm sitting here with my arm in the sling right now as we speak. And also, I wanted to get on top of it because I want to get on that plane on Sunday to go to West Palm Beach. Yeah, no, I hear you. Which, by the way, I would think just West Palm and being down there

will do wonders for your elbow effusion. What are you talking about? Why would that do anything? I don't know. You'll be happy down there. You'd be warm weather. You'll be hanging out with all the baseball people. And you'll have a little bit of pain, but you'll be fine.

You'll just load up on Advil. So what is, it's in a sling. Did they prescribe anything, a painkiller for you? Well, they prescribe the painkiller, which the pharmacy doesn't have yet. What are you going to call me and let me know? None of your business. I want to know what you're taking. None of your business, stop.

Why? What are you? Like the FDA here? I'm just curious. What kind of, I mean, is it oxycodone? Is it hydrocodone? You know, is it, what are the other pain relievers I've taken? You know, remember that episode from the office, the favorite show for you, me, and even Aaron, to a lesser degree, when Creed is going through the list of all the painkillers? I forget what episode that was, but he goes through all of them.

I think that was when Meredith was in the hospital. Yeah, exactly. Was it fentanyl, methadone, oxycotton, what was it? He had them all. So what are you getting? Just tell me, I don't want you to be on that fentanyl. That stuff is dangerous. I'm not telling you.

It's very addictive, too, all of this stuff. Well, I mean, I'm not telling you. I don't understand why you won't tell me what painkiller they prescribed. Because it's none of your business. It's none of your fistment. Why? Why is that, why would that be confidential? Because it is.

It'll violate my hip-a-law. Seriously, this isn't a prescription for some sort of venereal disease. It's a prescription for pain in your elbow. I don't know why you wouldn't tell me what you're taking and what's been prescribed. Why is that such a big deal? Well, it's not a big deal. That's why you don't need to know. My God.

By the way, the doctor did ask me if I had sex with anybody strange for the last couple of weeks. Because apparently, sometimes VD, you'll get a pain in your joints or something like that. Come on. He didn't ask you that question. She asked me that question. She did? Not he.

Really? She asked me. And did you smile when she asked that question? Well, basically, I'm sitting there thinking, well, I'm not doing anything right now. But. I'm available? But. Yeah, I did smile because it seemed so funny to me.

But here's what I got fluid on my elbow. And, I mean, I have to go see. They told me to follow up with an orthopedist. And what they may do is they, I mean, it's not infected. I don't have a fever. It's not swollen or eight like that. That's the thing they worry about being infected. But they may have to drain it.

You know, stick a needle in there and drain the fluid out. Are you in pain right now? Sitting here right now, I'm not. Are you taking anything right now? You haven't gotten your painkiller, but are you taking ad? Did they give you Advil or anything like that? They gave me some time on all at the hospital. Okay. Very good.

You know, I have no problem talking about painkillers that I've taken before. I don't know if you remember this because I think it was after the podcast started because I had No, it was before. I had two root canals in a three-day period. I had a root canal done. I had just terrible, terrible toothache. I mean, a toothache is nerve pain. It's bad.

I mean, anybody that's ever had a real toothache, it is horrible pain. And I went in and I had a root canal done. It was done on the wrong tooth. Get out. Swear to God. Now, apparently, you know, the explanation after the fact was, because I got home and he said, look, you know, there's going to be some numbness and some thing. But, you know, there might be a little bit of pain, but that night I'm in excruciating pain again.

And he prescribed some percassette for, you know, if you're still in pain, because there can be some pain after for a little while, but then by tomorrow you'll be fine. I was an excruciating pain, and I took that percocet, and I'll tell you what, boy, That stuff worked and it worked quickly. I felt great. I've taken Perkinset a couple of times for various. I've broken my ankle a couple times and badly, you know, had high ankle sprains that have been, you know, super painful before and taken Perkissette.

You can see, by the way, whenever you take a painkiller, for those of you that have taken painkillers before, you can see how they are so addictive and how, you know, how dangerous they are because of how good they make you feel. But Tommy, I swear to God, I called the... guy the next day. This was not my dentist. This was more of, um, I forget actually what the title of this. Sounds like a witch doctor. Yeah, well, this is a guy that does root canals, basically, and my dentist, you know, sent me to him. Anyway, he said, well, come up, come back in if it's still painful. And I went back in there. And he said, you know what? I think you had a slight root canal

need in the tooth we did yesterday. But the one right next to it is really actually the one we got to do right now. And I was just like, you've got to be kidding me. You did the wrong tooth. And he's like, no, no, no, no. He's like, they're what you, you, you had a need in that, you know, and a problem in that tooth as well, which is why the pain was so bad is, is essentially you, you, you had a need for two of them. I think he was bullshitting me. But whatever, you know what? It sounds like it. You know what he did? He only charged me for one,

which sort of tells me that that first one was unnecessary. Yeah. Anyway, I don't know. Have you gone back? Have you ever gone back? I haven't had a need. I haven't had a need to go back to him. Okay.

I haven't. He was very nice. And you weren't on the phone with your lawyer? The minute you got out of there? No, I was not, Tom. I was not. It was a root canal. Okay.

It wasn't, you know. Yeah, but he did the wall. Listen, brain surgery. What? He did the wrong tooth. That's as negligent as it gets. I can't prove that he did the wrong tooth. I can't prove that the,

because he did say, you know, there's a lot of discomfort there because you got some stuff going on in there. This is, you know, you've got a significant need for this. We're going to get it done, you know, right away or whatever. And I think he just, I think maybe he was being honest that there was some sort of need in the other one. but the other one was worse.

The one that he did the next day was worse. Okay. Mr. Open Book, what's his name? I'm not going to tell you his name. You're not going to do a published service. No. All the listeners of the podcast. Because I don't know for sure that he...

It will be worth them to stay away from this guy. I don't know for sure that it was a mistake. I don't know for sure that he was not being forthright with me the next day. It could have been that I needed and had a need for two root canals. I just remember thinking, good God, I had a root canal, which, by the way, remember back in the day when root canals really were, like, horrible to have. Well, they're not anymore because you're numbed up. You don't feel anything, really. But I just remember that night being, you've got to be kidding me.

I had a root canal. I thought this pain was going to go away, and it was worse. Much worse. No, I'm not going to give you his name. I mean. I thought you didn't mind talking about you want me. I just told you all the pain killers. I just told you about all the painkillers I took.

You had an elbow joint effusion and you got a painkiller for it. So what? Just tell me what painkiller you got prescribed. You have a chance to help people by warning them to stay away from this guy. No, I'm not going to do that. I think that that would not, first of all, I would put myself at risk if I did that, right? Because what do you? mean why? Because it could be a false

accusation. I don't know for sure that he did the wrong tooth. I don't know for sure that both teeth didn't need root canals. I just know that the one that he did did not solve the pain problem. And when I went back the next day,

it was because another tooth had a major need for a root canal. Your Honor, let me present evidence A here. The doctor requested didn't not charge me for this toothed now. That would be, I think it was more because of him not doing both of them at the same time

and having to come back the next day. But yeah, do I think there's a chance that he totally did the wrong tooth? I do. I do think there's a chance that that happened. But I don't know it for sure, and I could never prove it. Why you just whisper to me the guy's name? Okay, I will. Why don't you whisper to me what pain killer you're going to take?

I don't understand the hesitance to tell me what painkiller was prescribed. That's weird. But whatever, if it's a private thing to you have at it. Just be careful, because those things make you feel really good. Oh, come on. How many times have you been on a painkiller? I was on Oxycontin and OxyCoting for two years. Really?

When I had bad knees. I went to a pain. When we were doing the show together, that could explain a lot of things. You were on a painketin for two of those? those years? Yes. And before I had a knee surgery. My knees were so bad, I went to a pain specialist. I remember that. It was all regulated and stuff. And you want to know something? What? It barely had any impact. It just took the edge off. I barely noticed I was taking it. And I stopped just like that. Didn't, didn't affect me in a lease. Well, at least you're consistent with

keeping painkiller taking private because you never you never told me that you were doing two years worth of of sports fixed shows all loaded up on pain killers actually i don't know if you remember this i um i'll never forget this because i i seriously think i was entering into like a psychotic episode. I had like this really bad rash on my like waste. I don't know if you remember this. And I went to a dermatologist and he put me on this hyper steroid medication and to get rid of the rash. So I took this steroid for, you know, whatever it was, two, three days. And man, I'm hyped up. I mean, I was feeling just different and off and hyped up. And, you know, eating a million miles a minute and doing everything super fast.

And then the prescription came, was coming to an end. And, I mean, this is, again, another situation where perhaps the care from the caretaker was not done well. But you're supposed to wean yourself sort of off of steroids. Yeah, you cycle off. You cycle off. Like from five a day to four a day. I didn't do that. Three a day.

Okay. And I didn't do that. For whatever reason, I don't remember the specifics of it. And because I didn't do that, I'll never forget being in that studio in Rockville with you one day doing a show where I thought I was going to kill myself or kill somebody else. I've never felt that crazed and off, ever. And I called the dude and he's like, well, did you get the other part of the prescription? You're supposed to sort of cycle down. I'm like, no. I didn't know that.

And I'm like, I'm going crazy here. And I really was. I was, I remember saying to you, like, on the air, I'm hyped up. I don't know what I'm going to do. I have no idea what's going on. You're like, this is fun. All right. Well, I'm glad you're home and that it's not something serious, like, you know, a venereal disease.

I'm glad you don't have an STD based on elbow pain. Yes, so am I. Can't wait for you to get on that fentanyl. Okay. Or Percocet. Or Vicodin. Whatever it is. Whatever it is.

What do you want to talk about today? There are several things I've got sports-related. I think we should get to some of the Astros' comments from earlier this morning as they opened up, pitchers and catchers spring training. Dusty spoke for a while. Alex Bregman and Jose Al-Tuve had these statements, which we, can get to a little bit later on in the in the show um but i wanted to tell you um about something that i was involved in yesterday so i i i was out in potomac at a restaurant and did sort of a speaking

q and a thing with a group of business guys a bunch of mortgage guys you know you've done these things uh over the years and and and you know i i was struck by the following i may this may not be the case for you. But when I've done these things in the past, typically the conversation tilts towards the Redskins, almost always. Like, you know, lots of questions about, you know, the team last year, the games coming up, or the offseason, or whatever. And this was a group of guys that, you know, are basically, you know, in their 40s, 50s, maybe 60s, they've been in the mortgage business for a while. Most of the guys are from here. year. They're all sports fans for the most part. And a lot of them at various points in time,

and actually many of them used to be Redskin fans, but many of them are not anymore. And in fact, like typically a lot of the questions, as I mentioned, will, unless you're doing like, you know, an event where you're talking at a Maryland basketball watch party or something, then all the questions are going to be about Maryland basketball. If you did something that was more Nats related or whatever, all of them. But if you're talking about, you're, you're talking about, doing something with just a general group of people that are sports fans, typically the conversation ends up being dominated by the Redskins. And so yesterday it wasn't, and I was surprised at that.

In fact, the only Redskinned conversation that there was centered on whether or not the fan base will ever return. And there were several people, a few, if not several, that were diehard Redskins fans at one point who have said they're out. And I have a lot of friends have said the same thing. I mean, look, we see it in attendance and in television numbers. The fan base has been chased off, you know, more than 50% of it. Probably, I would say that it's probably a pretty decent number, like more than 50% of it, because the TV ratings, based on where they were just five, six, seven years ago, are half of what they were then. And they're really like a third of what they

used to be way back in the day. So let's just keep it safe and say that, you know, the owner has essentially chased off and driven away 50% of the fan base. So I made the following comment. I said, you know, you're, I was talking to one of the people who said, I'm just, my kids aren't redskinned fans because they've been so terrible. I've essentially had the life sucked out of me as a redskin fan. I just don't care anymore. And I just, I don't see myself ever being passionate about the Redskins again. It's a lot to do with the owner as long as he owns the team. But to be honest with the egos, I just, I've grown up and I've had 10 plus years of complete and utter misery. It sucked the life out of me. I'm not interested anymore. And I said,

you will be if they win. And I have a lot of friends that have said the same thing. But I really believe that if two things were to happen simultaneously, almost all of those people would be back. You know, maybe not as season ticket holders, but they'd be back watching games and going to some of the bigger games. And the two things are this, that would change it almost immediately. A huge start to a season, let's just say next year or in 2021, they get off to a 7-1 start or a 9-and-2 start or a 10-and-3 start,

something that they haven't had at all during the Snyder era. And that coincides or is driven in part by a superstar player at quarterback, like a Dwayne Haskins. Like picture 2020, let's just say, because it happens in the NFL, you never know. It doesn't happen to this franchise, I understand that. And it probably won't. But if it did, if they started off 8 and 1 and Dwayne Haskins is lighting up the league, he's having a big year, a Pro Bowl year. I think most of those people would be back.

Of course you do. What do you think? No, I don't think. Why do you say, of course I do? Why did you say that? Well, because everybody I talked to who's a Redskins fan says the same thing. Oh, they'll be back. All they have to do is when.

I hear the same thing. And, you know, I mean, there's been so much damage to almost three. decades now for this franchise, that it's going to take more than winning. It's going to take more than winning one year. It's going to take a consistent track record of winning. Two or three years, or else people are not going to. And you know what? There's some people that are never coming back.

There are some people that have moved on and don't necessarily follow the NFL anymore. There's some people who have moved on and decided to become Ravens fans. those people are not coming back and they're not being replaced by young people, by new fans. So I just couldn't disagree with you more. I don't think like a quick start. A quick start helps Ron Rivera, but in terms of the fan base coming back,

I don't think it's going to have that much of an impact. It would be bigger than it's been. One thing I completely disagree with you on, and I'm not saying that there aren't examples of this, but those that have checked out on the Redskins are still NFL fans. Most of those people are still into the NFL. Whether it's watching it or participating in fantasy or gambling on it, they're still into the NFL. How many people do you know that aren't into the NFL? There's an age group where they get to a certain age, and it just doesn't seem as important anymore.

Well, I mean, you could, if they were winning big, it might not be as important when you get to a certain age in your emergency rooms for elbow pain. You know, other things become more important in your life than sports and being a sports fan. But I'm talking about this particular age group. You're right about the young people, and it came up multiple times yesterday. And I know this from personal experience. You don't see Redskin, you know, I had a caller today that said it's Spirit Day at his. school and he's a teacher and he said, I won't see one kid in a Redskins uniform today. I'll see a lot of, I'll see Mahomes jerseys, I'll see Ravens jerseys, I'll see other teams,

I won't see one kid in a Redskins jersey. That's true. You know what? And it made me think of something that I don't know that I ever brought to the show. Last Halloween, or maybe it was the Halloween before, how many Halloweens you sit there, you answer your door for trick-or-treaters, and a lot of the boys in particular will wear their favorite team. uniform, an NFL uniform. Right. 20 years ago, kids in a neighborhood in this city that were, the boys that wanted to dress up as football players were dressing up as Redskinned players.

Now, I saw a lot of Patriots, I saw a lot of Cowboys. I didn't see any Redskins for the last couple of Halleons. That is so true. In my own neighborhood, there are like multiple, you know, Patriots flags flying, you know, on Sundays. I don't see anybody with Redskins stuff. I don't. But I still think that if they were to win big and win big with a superstar,

a significant percentage of those people that say that they're out and have checked out, we'll check back in, even though they don't think they'll do it now. So in other words, you think they're going to do something that they don't think they'll do? Yes. Okay. That's awfully arrogant. I knew that was coming. Yeah, well, sorry, it's the way I feel.

I've said many times before, I'll never, ever see another movie with that person and I'll never go to this restaurant. Well, yeah. I say a lot of stuff when I'm angry too. Yeah, but people aren't angry anymore. They're numb. I know. They're indifferent. Anger would still mean passion.

So if they start off 8 and 1 next year, and Dwayne Haskins is the best quarterback in the NFC, you think the television ratings and the attendance will be right where they are, or just be barely up? No, I think it'll be up. But compared to what it was, I'm not even talking about the Gibbs era, compared to what it was when Snyder took over. RG3 year, compared to the RG3 year. Oh, it's going to take more than a quick start and a hot Wayne Haskins to do that.

Because remember, That's eight years ago now. You know, that's true, and I made that point to a caller this morning, that that's eight years ago now, and there's been a lot more damage done, and the erosion of this fan base has accelerated in the last two to three years in particular from where it was before. But if you recall, 2008, 2009 were rock-bottom moments.

2009 was a rock-bottom moment. I don't know if we had this exact conversation then, but a lot of people were checked out. and in 2012, they were all back in, all back in for a superstar player and a team that made a run into the postseason. It's not the rock bottom moment. It's the length. It's the length of despair. It's the years mixed in with the occasional, like the 2012 season of happiness.

It's the years that take their toll. This is what I've said about the Wizards all this time. The Wizards were playing the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs going to the seventh game, and people still were not showing up in that arena. Because they've gone to 50 years of walking through the desert. Game six, game six was sold out. The Gilbert shot. The Gilbert shot.

I mean the John Wall shot. The John Wall shot that won game six and fourths game seven. And that building was sold out that night. You know what? I don't think it was. I think it was. You may think it was. I think games three and four in that series were not completely sold out.

And I think the series before. I mean, so much so that they mentioned it on the broadcast. I remember Mike Torrico talking about it on the broadcast. So I just think that it's not just, you know, like, well, look at what's happened, you know, during the thorn years and how bad things were then. That followed the Gibbs here. So we weren't that far removed from at least the illusion of excitement. Now, I mean, we're going on basically 20 years of this. And we're talking about a generation.

That doesn't get repaired quickly. All right. We'll agree to disagree on that. But I'm not saying everybody will be back. I think the majority will be back. and I think it'll be a big deal once again. If they do win and win big, I don't think like, you know, 8 and 8 to 9 and 7 to 9 and 7 in the playoffs over the next three years,

that doesn't do it. It's got to be something, you know, it's got to be a bolt. It's got to be a lightning bolt, and it's got to be 8 and 1 or 9 and 2 with a superstar player, you know, specifically a quarterback. I guess Chase Young could be leading the league in sacks for the best defense in the league, and that would excite people too. but if it's Haskins lighting it up and they're nine and two

and they're getting ready to play the Eagles at home for first place, that'll be big. That would be big and a lot of people would be back on board, and I think the ratings and the attendance would reflect it. That's nice wishful thinking. Yeah, well, it's not even wishful thinking, because I'm not wishing for it anymore, but I would expect that to happen.

Before we get to some of the baseball stuff, I did this thing this morning on the show with Greg, actually. And Aaron, I want you to participate a little bit here too, because this offseason in the NFL is crazy when it comes to quarterbacks. And, you know, the quarterback carousel and where it's going to stop and who's going to jump on which horse. And, you know, a lot of the discussion already, where's Brady going to land? Obviously, that's the big one.

You know, what about Breeze? Is he stay in New Orleans? Like if you're New Orleans right now, you're talking about, does it make sense to move on from Breeze and pick either Bridgewater or Taysam Hill or stick with Breeze for another year and potentially lose both Bridgewater and Hill? Philip Rivers, obviously, is out there. Bridgewater, as I mentioned, James Winston, who just got LASIC surgery. I don't know if you saw that story.

Apparently, he's been nearsighted his whole career. I didn't know that. Aaron, you're a Tampa fan. Did you know that? No, I mean, there was a chance. joke about him squinting all the time, but no one knew he was near-sighted. So I just assumed this is going to be like a wild thing for Major League, and now he's never going to throw another interception. Right. Maybe next year it's 35 touchdowns, three interceptions, because he can see.

It would have been more interesting had they determined him to be colorblind. That would have made more sense on the interceptions. But you've got, you know, you got guys under contract like Dalton and Derek Carr and even Cam Newton. And recently, you know, there have been some stories about Matt Stafford potentially being on the trade block. There's a lot of potential moving pieces at quarterback. It's crazy. I can't remember a year like this. I mean, I'm sure we've had them, but I don't remember one.

I'm not even talking about the guys that could be drafted. I was going to say, plus you have about four potential first-round rookies. How about three in the top six or seven in the draft? So I'll give you a minute to think about it, Tommy. And I'll start with Aaron, and I ask you, give me. me like one, two, or three bold predictions on quarterbacks and landing spots? Andy Dalton is the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears in week one. All right. Where does Trubisky go? Is he the backup?

I think he, they, right now I would say, yeah, they have a competition and Dalton beats out Trubisky. What do they have to give up to get Dalton? Fifth, sixth. No, more than that. I don't think so. It's not a fifth or six. It's probably like a third or a fourth. It's no better than a third or four. I don't think it's... Andy Dalton's a starting quarterback in the NFL. That's fine, but as you say, there are so many options out there that I don't think there's going to be a big market for any of the... That's true. Part of that is true.

You know, Bill Barnwell, who writes a lot for ESPN.com and all of his stories being very long, has Brady going to Chicago to replace Trubisky? So you just went, you know, from Brady to Dalton to Chicago. Give me another one real quickly. Oh, I will say that we're including. the rookies in here or we're just talking free agents? It can be anything you want. Justin Herbert's the week one starter for the Chargers. I actually think that there's a really good chance on that,

although I predicted this morning Dalton to the Chargers. And perhaps taking Herbert, but being more of a long-term play. Tommy, are you ready for a big bold prediction or two on the quarterback carousel? Yeah, I'm ready. Go. Philip Rivers to the Washington Red Tew. Did you see that story that was written in sporting news by some dude? I mentioned it yesterday.

No, I didn't. He said Rivers is the perfect fit for Washington because he knows Ron Rivera really well. Ron Rivera was the defensive coordinator in San Diego during a prolific stretch for Rivers at the end of the 2000s. And Norv Turner was his head coach. Yes. And his general manager was T.J. Smith, the father of Kyle Smith. Right. Can you...

Look, I don't think the Redskins can afford to spend that much money on the quarterback position. Unless the new guy from Carolina is the magician that Eric Schaefer was that we always heard about. Yeah. Such a great... It's so hard to do what he did. Yeah. Where is he? Who hired the great Eric Schaefer?

I'm just curious. Oh, I think he's still fielding offers. Well, he's probably, to be fair, he's. probably still being paid. Yeah. I can't imagine that that would prevent him from taking a new gig at this point. But whatever. Whenever we've had this.

If they could work out the money, I could see Phillip Rivers sharing Washington. If you want to make a big splash, if you're Ron Rivera, that's a big splash. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm not so, you know, I'm a big fan. I just wonder whether or not he is. really Philip Rivers anymore. That's going to be the question for anybody. I had a few here. I think Brady's going to stay in New England. So do I. You do too. I mean, I think it would be really exciting, actually, if he ended up somewhere else for the league next year. But I think

he stays in New England. I think Teddy Bridgewater is going to start next year in Indianapolis. I mean, you know, Bridgewater could end up in Carolina. He could end up in Tampa. I think Bridgewater ends up in Indy. And then I agree with you, Aaron, that the Chargers are going to draft a quarterback. It's going to be Herbert or it's going to be something. The Chargers are going to address quarterback in the draft. But it wouldn't surprise me if they end up with somebody like Dalton or Marriota, as an example, as a stopgap two-to-three-year, one-to-two-year answer as a start.

I think they have Tyrault Taylor, and that would be fine enough if you're just looking stopgap there. They have a good team, though. Do you really want to waste – they have talent, and they're a good defensive team when they're healthy. Like the Chargers could easily, if the quarterback position is solved, then they're healthy next year, which they weren't at times this year. They could easily go from – where did they finish this year? Five and 11, something like that, to 10 and 6. They could easily be a flip next year.

I think Rivers, if he's physically fit and they deem him to be Philip Rivers in terms of arm strength, I think it's Tampa for Rivers. And the Tribisky thing is really interesting because he actually started to play much better at the end of last year. I don't think he's terrible. Dak Prescott stays in Dallas. There's no way to Cowboys let Prescott go. They either franchise him or they get him signed to a long-term deal. I was listening earlier this morning about some of the same.

some of the numbers that are being thrown around for Dak Prescott, up to $39 million a year. Are you kidding me? For Dak Prescott? I mean, this guy's got to be, it's got to be in the low, it's got to be in the 30 to 33 range, doesn't it? Aaron, no way, $39 million for Dak, Prescott. I think you're going to see more guaranteed for him and less average value. I have a prediction right now for the Redskins.

The Rivers thing would be, it really would be, it would be great for us in terms of of the controversy in the discussion. Yes. I think they're going to sign Brett Hundley. I think he's going to be the veteran one year, maybe a two-year deal, whatever. Not a lot of money. Backed up Kyler Murray last year. Backed up Aaron Rogers there for a stretch in Green Bay.

I think that it's going to be somebody like him, and I'm just throwing him out as a possibility, because I actually think he's got some talent to back up Haskins. and then they probably sign an undrafted free agent, you know, after the draft to be the third quarterback, you know, whether or not they'll keep three. More likely than not, no, but they'll have that third for training camp. I just don't see the Redskins signing a legitimate competitor for Haskins this year. Could happen next year. I don't think it'll happen this year.

I think they're going to give them a full year to prove it. So no Ryan Fitzpatrick? You know, that's interesting, the whole Miami situation. think Miami should, you know, get rid of Rosen, which I think is going to happen, keep Fitzpatrick. And obviously, they're going to be looking to draft somebody. They're going to try to, they'll be one of the players trying to make a move, I would think, up to, you know, to, you know, to, you know, where Washington is or three where Detroit is, to draft Tua. You know, that's going to be a big part of the draft discussion as well as, you know, if Tua is healthy and he looks really good,

you know, there will be, A, a Tua versus Burrow conversation, and then B, does Burrow, you know, end up going in the top two or three? Will the Redskins be sitting on a pot of gold at two because Burroughs gone and everybody wants Tua? Or will Detroit be sitting on that opportunity at number three because the Redskins may say, you know, it doesn't matter what you offer us, we're going to take Chase Young. Lots to figure out over the next couple of months. You know, I've heard people talk about, what about Brady to the Carolina Panthers? I've heard Brady to the Cowboys, Brady to the 49ers. You've got a new owner in Carolina who looks like he wants to spend a lot of money and have a big impact. Yeah.

I think, though, that Brady, don't you think Brady is going, if he leaves New England, he's going to a team where he thinks he can win the Super Bowl next year. And I don't know if that's Carolina. I think it's Tampa more than it's Carolina. Okay. All right. You don't, Aaron, you're a Tampa fan. They've got the talent offensively.

They've got the talent offensively, but if you're talking about Super Bowl, I think Carolina is generally viewed to be a more complete team, but I could be off on that. I don't know if I feel that way. I don't know what other people are saying. I don't know that I, to me, Tampa is an awfully dangerous team. You take away half of those interceptions last year. They're an 11-5 team. They were a potential, you know, first wild card in the NFC playoffs last year.

They were seven and nine, eight and eight, whatever they were, and you know this. How many games did they lose on the last possession? Oh, a ton of them, or because they fell so far back early on because of three interception in the first quarter. It's a really good coaching staff with Ariens and Leftwich and Todd Bowles on defense. It's an incredibly talented team. Godwin and Evans and O.J. Howard and, you know, the running back situation, they've got the guy Ronald Jones, right? Yeah, but I think they, I mean, everyone's talking about possibly if the Cardinals cut David Johnson that he ends up in Tampa to reunite with Bruce Ariens.

Got a bunch of number one picks on their defense, you know, in Devin White and the big guy from Washington. Vita Vaya. Wow, I couldn't come up with that one. Is he any good? He's been fine, but I mean, Shaq Barrett was almost defensive. player of the year last year. Yeah, Shaq Barrett, literally almost defensive player of the year, you know, with bowls. I know they weren't good defensively, but they were always put in a bad situation by the quarterback who kept throwing the ball to the other team. Tampa, Brady to Tampa, you know, rivers to Tampa, if it's the real rivers,

that would be a team I think could be really dangerous next year, really dangerous next year. The other thing that's come up, not just, well, Greg Huff really believes that this is in play, but I've read it a couple of places. He's Brady to San Francisco, you know, and basically taking that team from a Super Bowl loser to a Super Bowl winner, because that, of course, is a team with great quarterback play set up to win the Super Bowl and to be the favorite to win the Super Bowl next year. I just don't see that. I wouldn't put the Super Bowl loss on Jimmy Garoppolo necessarily, right?

I mean, the game was played almost 10 days ago. I've already forgotten about that game. I agree. I think that Garapolo took a lot of heat, unfair heat in that game. On the other hand, remember Kyle's father, Mike, really made an effort to try to get Peyton Manning here in Washington. Right. yes he did well you know

Tom Brady there's no reason why Kyle couldn't do the same thing with Tom Brady yeah boy they'd be eating a lot of money with that Garapolo deal that they gave him I mean they couldn't I don't think they can get rid of Garoppolo

I don't think they could get rid of Garoppolo he'd have to back up Brady again until Brady's done wouldn't that be funny yeah also just a quick NFL note there is a suggestion in a couple of spots that the Vikings are considering extending cousins. You know, it's been a big conversation as to whether or not he would get a contract extension.

There have been a couple of reports that believe that the Vikings are trying to figure out a way. Part of the extension would also be a way to lessen the cap hit next year for cousins, which, you know, with the three years that the guaranteed $28 million or whatever it was, it's a huge number next year for them, and they've got some free agents, and so by extending him, they can perhaps lessen the cap number next year. That's one of those things that's going to be really interesting

from this perspective, Tommy, is that, you know, Kirk was treated poorly here, but also didn't, what was not very accommodating and probably wasn't going to be accommodating to these people. I think he likes being where he is. At the same time, we know what Kyle Shanahan thinks of him. And if Gropolo doesn't have a great year next year,

it could be Kirk to San Francisco in 2021, reunited with Kyle. And because of that, does he want to sign a long-term contract extension to stay in Minnesota? I think that's actually a very intriguing storyline, NFL storyline. If Minnesota comes to Kirk with a big contract extension to help, with the salary cap in the short term, will he sign it? I don't think he will. I think he will.

I don't think he will. I mean, I think he liked the idea of betting on himself last time. I think he likes the idea of having freedom to move, whether it's Washington or Minnesota. I don't think he's particularly interested in being kept in one place for a long time. Yeah, we'll see. You know, bird in hand. Remember, he thought he was going to San Francisco at one point when he was here. Now, of course, it was Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder that prevented that from happening. And by preventing that from happening, that meant that they passed on a first round pick, just like they did with Trent Williams.

The team could have two first round picks in this upcoming draft. By the way, that was some news that broke since the show on Tuesday. What did you make of finally the Redskins reaching out? out calling Trent Williams. Trent Williams calling Ron Rivera back and, you know, maybe tensions are starting to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, peace in the future between Trent Williams and the Redskins. Well, look, you and I have both agreed on this. They should be trading Trent Williams, and they should have traded them before all this hoop was started. Yeah.

I mean, so I still think they should trade them. I guess the phones are working on the yacht now. Yeah, well, if that's where he called him back from or if that's where he called them from initially, I think he was, remember, there was this big February 10th, you know, start date to the off-season, so I think he was in national. I got to give you, I have to give you a heads-up, you know, because we discussed this a little bit on Tuesday on the podcast. So I went on with Chad, Duke, yesterday afternoon, from 4 to 6, like I do, every Wednesday I want to six, seven a fan.

And near the end of my segment, I brought this up, and I said, why isn't the coach reaching out to these guys? I mean, it should have been the first thing he should have done when he got the job. I mean, Gibbs flew to Kansas to convince Rigo to come back. If he really wants Trent, why didn't he get on one of Snyder's claim and fly out there and meet with him? And why, I mean, what's he been doing since he got, hired. And oh my God, the phone line split up like a Christmas tree. And I got, I got

roasted for questioning St. Ron's work at it. I did the same thing. And I did the same thing, actually, for the first time, I think, on Tuesday, or maybe it was the last day of last week. And no doubt, more people were upset with the notion of me. you know, criticizing Ron for not having... I'm like, look, I like Ron. I'm bullish on Ron. I think it's going to work out more... You know, I'm hopeful that it'll work out.

But Trent Williams would have been the call on January 4th. Like, I don't know why we had to wait until this magical date of February 10th. You know, let's either fish or cut bait on this guy, and you're not going to know for sure until you talk to him. But, man, he was dead set on this February 10th start date, because a lot's happened since... since three days ago. And I was told, and other hosts on the station said, well, he had a lot to do.

You know, he had a lot to do. I mean, it's hard being an NFL head coach. There's lots of ins and out, lots of things that you have to do. You have to hire staff, even though he had his staff hired before he even got there for all intents and purposes. What you can't call Trent in between interviews with coaches? I mean, come on. Apparently not.

It's ridiculous. I was told that I don't understand how involved it is being NFL head coach. Those people don't understand. You understand quite fine. I mean, there's... I said, you can conduct business from anywhere, whether you're 35,000 feet up, or whether you're in an office at Redskins Park. You can still conduct business.

Look, there may be a real reason and a legitimate... reason why no one reached out to Trent Williams until, you know, earlier this week or late last week or over the weekend or whatever it was. I'm not suggesting that there isn't, but the reason that they were too busy to do so is a dumb reason. That's not what the reason was. Okay, that doesn't make any sense at all. It's a phone call. Now, to me, maybe they were determining whether or not they wanted to reach out to him. Maybe there was some strategy. as to do we let him just sit out there again and burn away another season? Maybe, you know, it's time for him to let us know how he feels.

I don't know. There could have been some sort of strategy to it. I've had this sense, actually, for a couple of months that while everybody sort of pinned this deterioration of a relationship on Bruce Smith, that I'm not so sure. Bruce Allen, excuse me, on Bruce Allen. I'm not so sure that Dan loved what Trent Williams was doing either. I think the organization and management, they were pissed off. And I'm not saying that they aren't culpable for a lot of this,

and they certainly are at fault for letting it fester and go on and on and not return phone calls from other teams and listen to trade offers. That's just plain stupid. But in terms of the reasons and what was being leaked out through friends of Trent, about the medical and the training staff and all of that, when in fact, Trent admitted when he got back that it was about money too. You know, it was about, you know, a contract extension. I think the bottom line is if this story ever gets told about what happened

over that period of time from the surgery until, you know, he came back end of last October, if we ever got the whole story, I think we all, as normal people, would look at it and say they're both at fault. I bet that the truth lies somewhere in they both effed up the situation. I think you're right. I think you're right. But there's only one side that's trying to run a team and win football games. The other side is just trying to take care of his own special interest. And that's Trent William. They made mistakes in handling it as far as what was best for the organization. I'll never not believe that.

But I'm not that's when you're assigning blame and right and wrong, none of it matters if ultimately you're not doing the best thing for your organization. 100% right. You can feel like what am I, why am I letting this guy bully me around? Why would I even deal with this guy? But unless you can answer that question, is it best for the organization that we fix this or,

or not. And, you know, that's the question that always needs to be asked. And I took it, look, and I took it beyond Trent. I said, if I hired a coach, I'd want him reaching out to all the key players on my team early

and say, hey, you know, I'm just, I'm just, whether going to visit them or by phone and just say, look, this is what we're going to do this year. We're going to change the culture here. I mean, that's what I'm, I would have wanted my coach to do.

Not just to Trent Williams. Yeah, of course. It's introductory at the very least. Like, hey, I've watched you. You're, you can't wait to meet you. I'm the new coach. You know, you know, whatever. But with all the key people, of course. Look, there was a reason if they really

didn't reach out to Trent Williams until last week or Monday or February 10th, whenever that was, they have a reason, and the reason isn't we were, you know, that we just didn't get around to it. There was some sort of strategy in there, I think, that we're missing. But it certainly wasn't because, oh, we were too busy interviewing and hiring our coaching staff and moving in my wife and family into the new, come on, it's a phone call. Jesus. I know.

And they should have called them. And they should have called somebody like Quentin Dunbar who, you know, is, is, it has no guaranteed money left on his deal and is due to, you know, earn just $3.25 million and who played at a very high level, you know, last year when he played. You know, before it got to the point where he went public with this demand, and I'm sure you saw this, Doc Walker talked to Quentin Dunbar, and Dunbar backtracked, you know, significantly saying, I'm not demanding a trade, I'm not demanding to be released and just wanted to be heard sort of a thing.

Well, you know what's funny? But most of the reaction I got was we don't want players who don't want to play for this team. You know, we don't want those guys. We'll go get other players. Let them come to the coach and reach out to the coach and introduce themselves. The coach shouldn't have to do this. And anybody who doesn't want to play for the team, we don't want them. Yeah, I love the people.

It goes hand in hand with the people say, if you're not a fan, if you've gone to root for the, you can stay away. Well, really, dude, then you'll be the only person in the stadium next year. Because there aren't many of you. Most people have checked out or moved on. And as I've said many times in the podcast and the radio show, if you've been insulted so much that you've not paid for a ticket, you haven't watched a lot of games, and you've even contemplated rooting for somebody else, if the Redskins start winning, you're

welcome back. Okay, you have lived through a nearly unprecedented situation for the last 20 years. You're entitled to have felt and to have acted based on the way you were treated and abused for 20 years. You're welcome back. I mean, you know, to that point, it's like, really, you don't want to be here? Well, I would guess that at the end of last year, most of the players on the team didn't want to be here. So if you keep saying... I said to them. I said to them. I said these people. Good luck trying to find a player who want to be here. Right. Like, again, one of my favorite all-time lines from Tom Leverro came when at the end of the 2018 season, DJ Sweringer was released, and you said, if they really wanted to punish him,

they would have made him stay, which is still, it still makes me laugh and thinking about it because it's so true, and it's such a cutting insult to the organization in such a creative way. And I guarantee you, if you had polled, you know, 100 NFL players last year on the team and on other teams, the Redskins would have either been last 30th or 31st among the teams that they wanted to play for, including their own players. So if you keep saying, you don't want to play here, you're out. Well, you don't have anybody to field a team. team. Although I do

understand with a new coach and a new organization and a sincere attempt and hopefully sincere recognition of what the culture's been, first of all. And then an understanding of that it needs to change. You know, if Ron Rivera says to Quentin Dunbar,

dude, you're either in or out. You're, you know, we're going to work with you, but you're either all in or all out. It's what Gibbs said when he got here in 2004. If you don't want to be here, if you don't believe in what we're doing, I'll find a place. to ship you. And remember, Laverneus Coles, after one year, 90 catches, 90 balls he caught in that first year for like an average of 4.3 yards per catch or whatever it was. There was more than that.

He wanted out, and Joe accommodated him, said, see ya, and brought in Santana Moss, traded him for Santana Moss. But let me just one last thing on Trent Williams, because I haven't told you, I think I said it on the podcast yesterday. I do think that the team has to figure this out sooner rather than later. And there are two choices here. You trade them or you extend them. That's it. And some of you will say, well, what would the other choices be? Well, the other choice would be Trent, if you're going to play, you're going to play on this last year of your contract, period. You signed a deal. We got one year left. And Trent, this particular season might say, I can't skip two years. I got to play. And then be an unrestricted free agent at the

end of this year. That's not a good move for the Redskins. You don't want him to play for one year and then be gone for nothing. You've got to find out right now. Do you want him? Does he want to be here? If he does, let's work out a contract extension that keeps him around here for another three years with maybe a team option for a fourth. And if you don't, let's trade him. And they don't have the same leverage they've had before because the draft is loaded with tackles and he's only got one year left on deal versus two. There are a lot of things that are working against the Redskins in a trade of Trent Williams now compared to what they would have gotten a year ago or over the summer or

early in the season. Of course, there is. That's the Redskins way. Yep, exactly. All right. Let's talk some baseball here. I want you to hear what Jose Altuve and Alex Breggman said this morning when the Houston Astros held their initial press conference at spring training in West Palm.

Thank you, Jim, and thank you, Alex. I also will be brief. We had a great team meeting last night, and I want to say that the whole Hustros organization and the team feels bad about what happened in 2017. We especially feel remorse for the impact in our fans. and the game of baseball. And our team is determined to move forward, to play with intensity, and to bring back a championship to Houston in 2020.

Thank you. That was Jose Altuve, basically like a 30-second statement. Then this was from Alex Bregman. I am really sorry about the choices that were made by the organization and by me. I have learned from this and I hope to regain the trust of baseball fans. I would also like to thank the Astros fans for all of their support. We as a team are totally focused on moving forward to the 2020 season.

Thank you. Wow. That was quite the confession, quite the acknowledgement of all of the wrongdoing there in those two statements. I mean, you didn't get much. No, you didn't get much. And the owner, Jim Crane, who's like typical arrogant owner, basically said what they did in 2017 did not impact them winning a world championship. And why did they do it?

If it didn't have a big impact, why did they do it? Ridiculous. I can't wait to, you know what? Jose Al-Tubei said, interesting case. Because think about this for a minute. I think it was 2018. I forget what year.

Maybe he was 17. Jose Al-Tuvie won the Hank Aaron Award for, you know, like the best hitter in the American League. Right. And he was, and he's presented, they do it at the World Series. And you're presented that award by Hank Aaron in person. Well, Hank Aaron, two weeks ago, came out and said he thinks everybody who was involved and this cheating should be out of baseball, period.

So the guy who, he won this award from, the Hank Aaron award that Jose Al-Tube now has at home, that guy wants to see Jose Al-Tube ban from baseball. That's got to hurt. I'm reading these quotes from Crane, the owner, and they are really interesting. They're the worst. Our opinion is that, how about,

there are a couple of them. You mentioned the one about, you know, he says, quote, our opinion is that this didn't impact the game. We had a good team. We won the World Series and we'll leave it at that. Well, he didn't actually leave it at that. When asked by reporters about the speculation that the Astros were wearing buzzers under their uniform, the Altova walk-off home run this year to beat the Yankees in the ALCS when he's telling people not to lift up his shirt, don't take my shirt off, which definitely looks sketchy, very sketchy. Crane says about that, he says, I truly believe there were no

buzzers. I don't even know where that came from. And then when asked whether or not he would acknowledge that the Astros cheated, you know, in 2017, his answer was, quote, we broke the rules. You can phrase that any way you want, closed quote. What do you mean phrase that? We broke the rules. Those are the four words in the sentence. You admitted it. We broke the rules. But then what he really wants to say is, we broke the rules, but it really didn't help us when a world's series. I love the way the quotes, too, completely, it's like all of the quotes that we've read about this over the last couple of months since the athletic broke the story with the fires, you know, sort of being the whistleblower, is that it's all focused on 2017, you know,

because that's what they were caught for. But does anybody believe that they weren't doing it in 2018 and 2019? Well, no, I think everyone believes they were doing it all along. I just think that people were more aware of it as the years went on, and particularly in 2019, where people inside baseball were more aware of it and prepared for it. But no, there's no reason to think they weren't cheating. You know, maybe with Alex Corrigan and Carlos Beltran gone, maybe you could make that case. But 2017, the hardware year, that's when they won the trophy. That's what's going to get the most attention.

Yeah, but they knocked off teams like the Yankees this year to get to a World Series. You're absolutely right. You are 100% right. And maybe there are some teams that are not willing to kick up too much of a fuss because maybe they were doing it too. You know, there's some teams that don't want to get exposed in this, maybe. Yeah. You know, but I've got to be curious to see how that clubhouse moves forward. handling the constant questions that are going to continue to come.

Well, Dusty can handle it. I didn't hear Dusty today because I was on the air. I want to go listen to Dusty. How did he do this morning? Did you watch it? I didn't watch it. I don't know. I love Dusty.

You know that. He's my guy. Yeah. I'm not sure he can handle this. He's usually able to steer the conversation into, you know, Bill Walsh, when he and I used to hang out, and I used to drop some plays for the 49ers. and then all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute, that's not what we were talking about.

Did you... Listen, it was Dusty's misspeaking and inability to handle the message that ultimately got him fired. That was the difference maker. Well, got Strasbourg out there for his first great postseason performance. But the leftover damage from that and the beating that Strasbourg took the. for 12 hours before he finally did go out there and pitch. The learners pinned that on Dusty, and that's something that they couldn't abide.

So did you see this stuff from Barry Zverluga and Dave Shinen in the Post? Yes. That Nationals players and even Dave Martinez received warnings prior to the World Series. Several Dodgers players apparently reached out to Natsenfield or Brian Dozier to warn him. about sign stealing because Dozier had played with the Dodgers in 2018, but that Red Sox manager Alex Cora reached out to Davey Martinez to warn him about the sign stealing. That according to Zverluga and Shinen, that's pretty remarkable, right?

That Alex Cora reached out to Dave Martinez prior to the World Series after the Nats had swept St. Louis to warn Davey about this. Here's more, too. Martinez, according to one person, this is from Zverluga and Shinen, also reached out to Tony Sip, a reliever for Houston from 2014 to 2018, who spent the first part of 2019 in Washington. Martinez and Sip did not connect, but Natt's pitcher Max Scher took his own steps to track down Sip. It is standard for pitchers and catchers to switch to a more complex set of signs with runners on second to prevent the runner from stealing the sign and signaling it to the

batter, which has been a practice for years, that's been acceptable, you know, an acceptable practice. But Scher asked Sip whether the nationals needed to be concerned about the Astros, even with no runners on base. And Sip said, yes. Yes. Yeah, I know. I know.

Look, I mean, they've become more culpable with every new story that comes out, that details are cheating. and there's so much anger that the players who are involved in this basically are not being punished. I don't think that anger's going away. I don't think anything will happen, but I think it's going to be a very rough year for the Houston Astros. They are going to be the biggest villain in all sports. Think about it. You say you don't think anything is going to happen.

And from an MLB perspective, I agree with you. Do you think that players are going to start taking it in their own hands, and they're just going to drill Altovae and all these guys over and over? I don't think so. I don't think that's going to happen. I mean, because it's too much. I just don't see them doing that, putting themselves at risk, putting, you know, the outcome of games at risk.

And the commissioner would stop that the first time he got a whiff of it. You know, I don't think that's going to happen. You know, so first of all, the owner obviously is, you know, has a, I mean, when you come, that's a bad answer. That's a bad couple of answers on a day like today, unless you really, really believe it. And you think, you know, these are things I don't personally understand, and I don't know that anybody really does. Like, ultimately, what how, what did this advantage actually give you? in incremental benefit, which led to how many additional wins that you wouldn't have gotten and how many of those games in the postseason were impacted, et cetera. I don't know the answer

to that. I don't know if anybody knows the answer to that. It actually just reminded me briefly, and I'll take two seconds here, promise. But it's almost like the whole Russian, you know, involvement in the 2016 election. And I'm not saying that they didn't, it weren't involved in the election. You know, whether or not there was, clearly Mueller said there was no collusion and no conspiracy, but whatever. The point is, like, if you read through a lot of the social media stuff that so many people were concerned, like, they just spent so much on social media to impact our 2016 election, and it came out that they spent like $240,000 on Facebook ads. You know, like, did that really swing the election? I have no idea if it did or it didn't, but it wasn't nearly what people

had sort of made it out to be. And I wonder if this could be the same thing. That yes, they cheated, and yes, that they had this elaborate scheme for cheating, but what did it really give them? Well, look, I'd have to look it up, but I've read cursory reports about the statistical differences for players, like when Houston played at home. Home versus Road. Yeah, and some of the statistics against certain pitchers. when they were using these. I mean, just dramatic differences at the plate for some of their hitters. Dramatic differences.

And you can't predict the outcome of games, but the hitter's production, it clearly benefited from this. Well, here's what you didn't get today. You didn't get, you know, a massive sort of admission or, you know, a request for, you didn't get a major mea culpa today. You just got sort of planned statements, although I am reading this one quote from Justin

Verlander who joined the Astros in August of 2017 and he says he does wish he had done more to try to stop what was happening. Quote, once I spent time and understood what was happening, I wish I had said more. I can't go back and reverse my decision. I wish I had said more and I didn't.

Closed quote. Okay. Well, How are they going to react like a week after spring training when reporters are still coming to West Palm Beach and asking the same questions over and over again? By winning the World Series this year, that's how they respond. When's the first ugly incident that's going to come out of that clubhouse? And there will be.

So if Dusty takes them to the World Series, will you be rooting for the Astros? As long as they're not playing the Nats? I'll be rooting for Dusty. Yeah. Like I said, I mean, I root for people I'm meeting this business, not necessarily teams, and I'd like to see Dusty do well. He's in for a really rough year.

His statement, part of it was, quote, I asked the baseball world to forgive them for the mistakes that they made, closed quote. Of course, he didn't have anything to do with it. All right, last thing before we leave today. We forgot to do this on Tuesday, but it's okay. We can do it today, and I mentioned it a little bit yesterday, and said that we would talk about it today. And that is that two days ago was the 30-year anniversary of Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson.

To me, Tommy, and I'll let you talk about it a little bit more. In my lifetime of watching sports, it's the most shocking sporting event I've ever witnessed watching it on TV or being there live. I've never, I mean, there have been a lot of them. You know, UMBC beating Virginia, the Olympics, you know, in 80 in late. Placid, and you live through jets over Colts, and I live through NC State over Houston and Villanova over Georgetown, but nothing, nothing made me that stand-up surprised when he got knocked out than that particular night in that fight. You know, I think it means more to you than it does to me because I didn't watch it when it

happened. Oh. You have a very vivid memory of watching it. where you were and when it happened. I mean, I found out about it on the crawl, you know, watching on TV. I had no idea that it happened until it came on a new call. That shocks me that you, I mean, maybe you didn't watch the fight. It was on super late.

I'll never forget that on HBO, and maybe you didn't have HBO. In fact, I'd probably guess that you didn't have HBO. And it was a fight that was supposed to be a nothing fight for Tyson. Well, we did have HBO. I wasn't covering sports back then in 1990. Right. But you were a boxing fan. Yes, I was.

But, I mean, look, I thought Tyson was just going to walk through him. I remember watching the fight. I think the fight before that was Carl Williams, and I think he demolished them in one round. 93 seconds. And then the fight before that was the spake fight. So, I mean, I didn't think there was anything to see. I mean, I know that talking to reporters years later, you know, Mike Tyson usually had an entourage of reporters that followed him everywhere.

The only American writers that went to the world were Ron Borgias from the globe and Associated Press, whose Japanese Bureau covered it. No other writers, and this is when writers covered by. boxing pretty diligently. No other riders made the trip to Tokyo to cover this fight. Well. Because they thought it was a waste of time. That's crazy. I mean, 42 to 1, the biggest underdog, you know, in a sporting event, to ever come through in a single game or event, not a season. We've had much bigger underdogs

win, you know, based on their preseason odds. But we've never, I mean, you know, Clay Liston, he was 8 to 1. I mean, Buster Doug. was 42 to 1. They're not even comparable in terms of the magnitude of the odds upset. I don't know. You know, what's a comparable for me is when Holofield beat Tyson the first time. A Holofield was a 25-1 underdog in the first fight against Tyson. And people thought that not only that Tyson was going to win,

but a Vander looked so bad in his previous fight against Bobby Chess. that people worried that abandon was going to get killed. And he wound up stopping Tyson in 11 rounds. He was a 25 to 1 underdog in that fight. That's the only one close, I think,

to Buster Douglas and Tyson. Yeah, I mean, I remember that, but Tyson, what Tyson had going into that Buster Douglas fight was the this air of you know,

Invincibility that not only was he going to win, he was essentially going to make people pee themselves, that they were so afraid, they were so scared, and you never saw anybody in his career really stand up to him and hit back. And the thing that I'll never forget about that fight, and I said it yesterday, and that is that it was remarkable early on how much bigger Buster Douglas was than Tyson. you saw that right from the jump, and then how he wasn't afraid. He hit back. And once you started hitting him, Tyson, you know, wasn't prepared for the fight, you know, as we found up.

But when he went down in that 10th round, you were, and didn't get up, it was shocking. Like, no one thought Mike Tyson could lose. He was truly the baddest man on the planet. Nobody was as tough as Mike Tyson was. No. And I remember that the post-fighter, Don King did all he could to try to change the decision.

He tried to lobby the WBC President Jose Suleiman to say that there was a long count when Buster Douglas went down. And I forget what exactly he did. But King did everything he could to try to get that decision changed in the minutes after the fight. All-timer. They never fought again. Douglas went into his next fight, got paid big time to fight Holyfield, and got knocked out. I remember watching that

somewhere in... It was in terrible shape. He was in 35 pounds heavier than he was in the first fight. I was down in South Florida, and I don't remember specifically the theater, but I watched that on closed circuit. There was pay-per-view back then, but you could also go to theater and watch it, and I think I was staying in a hotel where you couldn't get... You couldn't get pay-per-view. And that thing was over in two rounds. That fight opened the Mirage Hotel. Yeah. That was Steve Lynn's big opening. No.

It wasn't at the Mirage, but that was Steve Wind's big opening. It was at the Thomas and Mac Center. I think it was at the Thomas and Mac Center. But that was, no, that was a Mirage opening fight. The Mirage opened in 1990, in 1991, because I could have sworn that Leonard had, didn't Leonard fight Camacho at the Mirage before that? Leonard fought Camacho in Atlantic City. I was there for the fight.

Oh, okay, and I'm thinking about something else. The Marage opened in 89. It opened in 89, but Tommy's saying that that's the first fight at the Mirage. You know, the Marage, when it opened up, and I was going to Vegas a lot back in those days, that was Aaron. That was the sports book in. Vegas for a while. Sears had a good sports book. Of course, the Hilton was the oldest, you know, sports book in town, Las Vegas Hilton. But when the Mirage opened up and that, that sports

book was massive. And that came, I think, before Mandalay Bay Sportsbook. And obviously, you know, before all the others would come out in the 90s and through the 2000s. You said Holyfield Douglas opened the mirage? Actually, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto Duran. It was Duran. That's the fight. Not Camacho. I knew it was a Leonard fight. So Leonard Duran, which would have been Leonard Duran 3, was at the Mirage. It was really a bad fight.

Terrible fight. That was a bad fight, yeah. Yeah. All right. That's it. You got anything else? That's all I got, boss. I'm going to nurse my elbow here and take all this medicine.

Do you want to know what I'm taking? Yes. I'm not telling you. I thought maybe you had forgotten your position from earlier in the show. That wouldn't have surprised me. Feel better. As soon as I hang up this phone, I'm going to try to find out who that oral surgeon was who tried to hurt you. You won't find out. You won't find out.

Just put it this way. There are a lot of oral surgeons in town. It would take you a while, but you got a lot of free time. So get after it and check in with me if you figure it out. All right, boss. All right, see you. Don't forget, I'm on radio. the 980, the team 980, 7 to 10 a.m. in the mornings. Tune in for that. That's it for today. Back tomorrow, and we will preview Maryland Michigan State, which is a huge college basketball game this weekend for the Terps and for seating and everything else. It's a big one. We'll have a lot more on other stuff as well. Have a good day.