The Kevin Sheehan Show - Wizards + Why Commanders Might Step Back in '25

Episode Date: June 26, 2025

Kevin and Thom covered it all today including a story from the Philippines about 34 men missing after accusations they cheated during cockfighting matches. Plenty on the Wizards' two first-round draft picks, Tre Johnson and Will Riley. The boys talked RFK Stadium deal troubles and finished up with reaction to a piece from Philadelphia titled, "10 Reasons the Commanders Will Be A Dumpster Fire This Year". 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor is always,

Window Nation. 86690 Nation, Windonation.com. There is some stadium drama with the City Council. We'll get to that in the next segment. How about 10 reasons Washington's football team will be a dumpster fire in 2025? We'll get to that on the show as well.

Tommy's got some gambling story he wants to share with us. The NBA draft was last night, and it will continue tonight. But Tommy, I start with this, breaking news from the NHL. The NHL and the NHL Players Association are in the final stages of agreeing to a four-year extension of the CBA that includes an 84-game regular season. Who knew that they needed two more games in hockey? Okay, so have you read it? I haven't read it yet.

No, I haven't read it. I just saw the headline. Yeah, and I thought to myself, I can't, you know, upon first glance, most of the discussions about all the sports other than football are about reducing the amount of games, not increasing. Most critics will say there need to be less regular season games.

Correct. Not more. So what could be the rationale? Money. For adding. Money. Two more games. So it's gate money, though.

Yes. No, it's gate money. Yeah, it's gate money. Yeah, it's gate money. It's gate money. And doesn't the NHL, for the most part, draw pretty well at the gate for all of their teams? I don't know. I know the capital.

draw very well. Right. I don't know. And I would think the Canadian teams and remarkably, Florida teams where I keep winning the Stanley Cup, they draw well. Yeah. I just saw this and I thought what you just said, I'm like, God, you know, the NBA is too long of a season.

There's been conversation about what would it look like business-wise to reduce from 82 to something, you know, less than 82. And here's the NHL adding two games. 82's been this fixed number for, you know, baseball and hockey forever now. And baseball's been at 162 since, what, the early 60s? Yes. The late 50s, early 60s. Yeah, the four major sports, football obviously went from 16 to 17 a few years back,

and that was the first change to... It was 14, though, when I was growing up. I know, but it's 1978. is when it went to 16 games. So from 1978 through 2021, right? 2022 was the first 17 game season. It was 16 games. But yes.

You know, there were dinosaurs on the earth before 1978. I tell you that. I doubt that's true. But yes, I mean, the NFL had a long run of 16 games. I certainly remember when it was 14 games. That's when I first remember football when it was 14 games. And, you know, if you go back, and I don't think I knew this, except when sometimes I go down these, you know, these rabbit holes of NFL box scores from the 70s where, you know, in games there would be like 12 turnovers. And that was like not unusual. I mean, that's like the biggest difference between football back then and football now is the number of fumbles and interceptions. Like protecting the football was not that much of a priority for some reason. But the thing that I figured out is the regular season didn't start until like mid-September when it was a 14-game schedule.

And it would end, you know, before Christmas. The first playoff games would be Christmas week. And now we've got, you know, three more weeks after Christmas week of regular season football. But the pre-season would literally go through like the first or second week of summer. September. How horrible was that? Oh, I know. They used to play six games. Six preseason games. Six preseason games. Yeah, because the players needed it back then. I mean, you know,

they didn't say, I mean, training camp was longer, you know, preseason was longer because players, you know, worked at car dealerships in the offseason. Yeah. They didn't spend their off season staying in shape. Oh, terrible. I mean, I I'm going, I kind of like the old way. Of course you do. Bob Coosie. I like the guys coming into training camp, you know,

fat and out of shape. I like that, yes. Washington's first game in 1971, which is pretty much the first season I remember, George Allen's first season. Game number one was on September 19, I mean, we're three, we're in week three now on September 19th. And if they go to 18.

Remember, baseball had a bigger presence back then. Sure. And in September in particular, when pennant races were going on, you know. Right. So, I mean, I think that was part of it, too. You know, but that's when baseball was still by far the dominant activity in this country. Yes, it was. Well, when they go to 18 games, it'll be interesting to see what happens because if you add a second buy week, then, and this guy, you know, Mike North, the schedule maker, who I had on the show, before the schedule came out and also after this schedule came out, I actually asked him about that.

And would a second buy mean that the NFL would definitely open up on Labor Day weekend? and he said a second buy with an 18-game schedule isn't a guarantee. Man, I would bet the players would really demand increased roster size and a second-by week with an 18-game schedule. I don't know. I don't think the NFLPA is very smart, to be honest with you. You don't? I mean, they seem to, again, I always thought football more than the other sports is just, it's difficult.

to get players to rally around the concept of union. You know, I mean, this is why it's always been hard to get players strikes in football. Right. Because the nature of the business of football is, you know, you fight for your job every year. Yeah. You know, if you can't win it, it's the next guy up. That doesn't happen in the other, well, that doesn't happen in the other sports with guaranteed contract. I'm looking it up right now because I didn't know the answer to this.

this. Do you know who the current head of the NFLPA is? Because it's not DeMores Smith anymore. No, it's not DeMor Smith. I know that. He's since retired. It's a player? Honestly, this is the first time I've seen this name. I don't know why. His name is Lloyd Hal Jr. He is the current executive director of the NFL Players Association. Well, this is a good thing. You shouldn't. I mean, If the game is going the way you want it, you know, ever want to hear it ahead of the players' union. Yeah, how about that collusion story from the other day?

You know, the Florio, Pablo Tori. I didn't know that that was going on. Did you know about that? I had no clue. I had no clue, and I kind of glazed over it. You did? I'm not trying to diminish the importance of it. I'm just saying that it just kind of glazed over it.

So Floreo, Mike Floreo Pro Football Talk and Pablo Tori and I don't know what he does anymore. Does he still work for ESPN? I have no idea. No, he does his,

he does his own thing. Okay. He's created its own media outlet. He's, he's a legit guy. Is he? I don't know much about him. Yeah.

Yeah, he is. Is he the one that occasionally is on PTI when Will Bond? Yeah. He's the one? Okay. So Floreo wrote that he and Tori had this competition to uncover the results of this arbitration between the NFL Players Association and the NFL that I didn't know what was going on, but it basically was an allegation by the NFL PA that back in 2022, the league and it's 32.

to, you know, members colluded to limit guaranteed player contracts in the wake of the Deshawn Watson record-setting contract that was fully guaranteed, which is one of the worst contracts in history. The arbiter in the case did not award any damages and dismissed the NFLPA's case in its entirety, but did make a comment which Tori and Florio, I guess, I guess Tori actually talked about it, that the arbiter in the case, while he didn't award damages and dismiss the NFLPA's case,

he did say that the NFL management council suggested to the owners that they collude and stop. guaranteed contracts. The NFL management council, and I didn't know anything about them until the other day, is the legal arm of the NFL. It's not the NFL league. It's this separate arm of the league that essentially is like the lawyers for the league. But the reason the arbiter didn't find the NFL guilty of anything,

you know, essentially trying to net this out, is because the owners didn't do it. They didn't collude. It was suggested that they do it, but they didn't do it. Anyway, you know what, it's funny. I thought you'd be interested in this story. I actually thought you were going to say, we need to talk about this on Thursday show, but you didn't say that to me.

It makes my eyes glaze over. It does. It makes my ears glaze over, too. I'm totally glazed over now. I read through it, and I thought it was kind of interesting, but you know part of me thought it was interesting because the Deshawn Watson contract was not the first fully guaranteed NFL contract. You know who got the first fully guaranteed contract, don't you? Tell us, buddy.

Kirk Cousins did when he signed with Minnesota in 2018. And, you know, remember that when he signed that deal, people thought that that would open up the floodgates for guaranteed contracts. because it was like if Kirk Cousins got the first fully guaranteed contract, well then Patrick Mahomes and Matt Stafford and everybody, they're all going to get him. But it has not happened that way. Now, enough of it's guaranteed. Of all people, of all people, Kirk Cousins,

there should be a statue of him in the Pro Football Hall fame with money coming out of his pocket. Because what he was able to do financially, thanks to the Redskins, who gave him the ability to basically play one-year salaries at a time at a pretty significant amount because they kept franchise tagging him, he made so much more money than he probably should have over his career. Oh, there's no doubt about it. Career earnings, career earnings for Kirk Cousins.

You ready for this number? Uh-huh. Do you want to guess? I'm thinking $220 million? $294 million just north of that. $300 million. Yeah, I know. It's amazing.

I mean, even the deal that he's... For a guy who used to drive around a beat-up, what, minivan? Yeah, minivan. For something like that? Yeah. and you're 100% right. What started that whole process was Washington not getting him signed

early to a long-term deal and then going back-to-back years on a franchise tag. And look, you know I'm a fan, and those listening know that I am a fan of Kirk's. He doesn't earn all this money if he isn't good. I mean, he's...

He was obviously also a good quarterback. Yes, I'm not suggesting that he's not. Right. But of all the quarterbacks that we've seen in the NFL, he would not be at the top of the list of that list. No. No. All right.

How did we get into this? Oh, the NHL, going to 84 games. So the NBA draft last night. Let me just net it out for you. If you listen to the show yesterday, maybe the day before that, the Wizards at number six did what I wanted them to do. They drafted Trey Johnson. And I said of the players that are likely to be available there,

that's the one that I would pick. I think they got a really, really exciting player. I mean, they're 18, they're 19 years old. Who the hell really knows? We all understand that. but this guy is a badass competitor. He's fearless. And one thing that you always can count on in terms of something that translates from college,

from high school to college, college to the NBA, when you can shoot, you can shoot. No one's going to change your ability to shoot the basketball when you can shoot it. And he can shoot it. He can score. I think he's got a really, you know, huge opportunity, you know, with this team to kind of grow with this team. So I like that pick. Ace Bailey went the pick before. He seemed completely shocked by it. You know, there was all this

talk about, you know, he had a deal cut, you know, before with some team. Some people speculated. It was Washington. Utah, he said he never saw it coming. They never even, you know, never got any sense that they were going to pick him. And now he's going to end up in Salt Lake. Yeah. so funny. It's sort of like, that'll be a marriage, that'll be interesting to watch. I had... Danny A.m. runs the dad.

Yes, he does. Yeah, and his son. And his son. Yes. I had Chase Hughes, who I think does a really good job, even though he's working for a monumental, covering the team. And, you know, there were reports earlier this week that the Wizards

were interested and had reached out to teams above them. And I asked Chase if he thought that was true, and he said he did. And I said, Who do you think they wanted to trade up and get? And he said probably Dylan Harper or Vijay Edgecombe, who went number three overall to the Sixers after Harper went to the Spurs at number two. But I'm sure the price was just way too high to get up into the top two for sure.

But they stuck at six. They picked Trey Johnson. We'll never know if Ace Bailey had been available, if they would have taken Bailey. I have a feeling they wouldn't have. there was a lot of smoke around Ace Bailey. The pre-draft process, some of the other things. I mean, I know that some of you were like, you know, you got stuck on one game against Maryland.

He was terrible in that game and tapped out. But, you know, you can't judge somebody on his worst game, and he had some really good games. So I loved the pick of Tray Johnson. And then when they were on the board at 18, and you saw the trade pop up, we'll talk about the trade communication, like we do every year with the NBA draft at a moment.

But I was hoping at that point because Derek Queen had already gone. He had gone to New Orleans at 13. The guy that I was hoping would be there at 18, Yeager Damon from BYU, he went eight overall. I mean, this was a guy that was mocked anywhere from like 12 to 24. So I thought there was at least a chance he'd be there at 18. He was long gone. You know, Queen was gone.

and I was like Walter Clayton Jr. This is one of the guys that I really like at 18, and it may be too early for him because he was mocked in the 20s, and to me, I always felt like he was lottery potential. And sure enough, Walter Clayton Jr. got picked by the Utah Jazz at 18, because the Wizards traded back to 21. And they ended up taking Will Riley, another player that I mentioned yesterday, I thought could be in the mix for the Wizards at 18.

I loved Will Riley's, you know, game at Illinois this year. You know, he was the sixth man of the year in the Big Ten. He played his best in Illinois's biggest games. And listen to this, quote, our guy Chris Miller had this on Twitter last night. I thought this was very interesting. Chris Miller talked to Illinois coach Brad Underwood. All right, Brad Underwood said about Will Riley, quote, he's a very high IQ player, but he's one of the elite hard shot makers I've ever coached, just has the ability to put the ball in the basket.

I was fortunate as an assistant coach and coached Michael Beasley, and I've said, Will's the second best offensive player that I've ever coached. That is high praise. Underwood's coached some very good players at Illinois, Oklahoma State before. If that's true, that would be a real find for the wizard. He's talented, really talented. And then about Trey Johnson, this is what Fran Fershilla said. Fran Fershilla, I think, has always been a really good sort of analyst college basketball, ESPN.

He's been their international guy for several years now. Fran Fershilla said about Washington's number six overall pick, Tray Johnson. Quote, Trey Johnson scores in his sleep. Great shot creator and deceptive playmaker for a scorer. Longhorn coaches told me he was the biggest basketball

workout junkie since KD. I saw that last September. The Wizards are OKC Thunder 2.0 under Michael Winger and Will Dawkins. They now have a plethora of good young players

for the future and an improving salary cap sheet. High praise. I wrote a column for the Mars Washington Times, where I suggested that the Wizards' best fans, their best hope, is some of that Oklahoma City DNA that Winger and Dawkins, you know, maybe it brought it, they brought it with them.

And it rubs off a little bit on them. That's their best hope. Because Oklahoma City three years ago was a 24-win team. Look, the Oklahoma City going from 24 wins to two years later winning the title is not your typical, you know, path. And I think it's very much an aberration. But yes, the Wizards have, you know, a guy that was part of the architect of that team. It's just interesting. KD. and Michael Beasley both referenced in sort of comparisons with the Wizards first round picks,

both, you know, area, you know, all-time area grates. Yeah, I liked what they did. I have no idea whether or not it'll be, you know, something that works out. Absolutely. There were a couple of things. I think that the trade from the other day, along with, you know, Walter Clayton Jr. being available, Washington not being interested, apparently. I think it says that

Bub Carrington, out of all of the young players they have right now, is the player they believe in the most. It's why they were, I think they moved on from Jordan Poole. They want to give Bob Carrington, you know, the ball. They want to give him the lead point guard spot. They want to give him the ball. They want to see him develop. They want to see all of their young players develop.

But I think out of Carrington and George and Sarr and Kula Bali, you know, the two drafts before last night, I think Carrington's the one they believe in the most. And then hopefully they got somebody last night. They did pick up a second rounder for tonight. And I think what we're in the midst of netting it out, Tommy, is Kulabali, then the draft last year with three first rounders, this year with two first rounders and a second rounder,

next year with multiple picks in both rounds. And then maybe the year after that. It's going to be four to five drafts, and they have to get three to four guys right and one really right. And then they've got to develop these players. They've got to get that one right. One has to be a franchise changer. I think so. I agree.

I agree. But, you know, next year I don't think another 18 win season is going to cut it. I think they're going to have to do better. Yeah, I don't want them to do better. I want them to be in that very high range next year for, you know, a draft that is also considered pretty loaded at the top. It includes Carlos Boozer's, you know, sons or the one son of the twin boys that, you know, could be number one overall. Just a couple of comments about the draft. First of all, you're not going to like this.

the only person last night that I could stand to listen to on ESPN or ABC's coverage, the only guy that was worth listening to was Bob Myers. It's, I mean... I'm not going to say you're wrong. Yeah. I'm just going to say, look who's around them. I understand that. And you got to put, I had to put up with the Stephen A screaming every single answer.

My God, he's an entertainer. I get it. He's not an analyst. But does he have to scream every answer? But the ESPN broadcast was, I mean, I couldn't. Bob Myers knows basketball. He obviously knows basketball. He is a championship general manager many times over.

So I actually enjoyed listening to him. But a couple of other things. ESPN has to figure out this trade communication on draft night. I understand that no trades official until July 6th or they've got to fix this. It's been happening now for years. We're on the draft coverage. They just confuse the shit out of everybody. It's a confusing, a very confusing night when at number 18, the wizards have traded the pick to Utah.

But he announces it as Walter Clayton Jr. has been selected by the Washington Wizard at 18 overall, and then he walks up and they put the Wizards hat on him. Why do they do this? Why can't they figure it out? It's so effing, confusing to everybody. It can't, it's not that hard, Tommy. With the 18th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Washington Wizards have traded the selection to the Utah Jazz

for Utah's first round pick at 9th. number 21, a second round pick and future second round picks. With the 18th pick, the Utah Jazz Select Walter Clayton Jr. And then he walks up and they've got a Utah Jazz hat that they stick on them. Why don't they do that? This is a league that needs, I know they just signed a $76 billion television deal, but they got to make it easier for their fans, for people who are just tuning in for the first time. why do they do this?

You don't seem to be upset. You don't watch. You probably didn't even notice. I mean, I knew the draft was going on, and I was following it on social media. Yeah. I didn't feel I needed to punish myself

by actually watching the ESPN coverage of it. So, you know, but you know, look it, the whole NBA, the whole trade, uh, the whole trade, language is something that only accountants like. I know.

Exactly. I mean, it's so frustrating. I mean, you trade for a play. It's the only league where you trade for players you can't wait to get rid of. By the way, if I really wanted to punish you, I would have made you watch it. DJ Swarendger talk. Yeah. It's so for, like, the lawyers and the accountants.

It's like, please, when we're talking about the customers, keep them out of the room, please. Adam Silver's a smart guy. I just don't get it. It's so stupid. They should start selling T-shirts that say expiring contracts on them. Yeah. I mean, the best part of the night is, you know, Dylan Harper's mother, who was Drop Dead gorgeous. Oh, gosh, I did see that.

Yeah. And the girlfriend of the South Carolina player that was picked, she's also a basketball player. Colin Murray Boyles, she was pleasant to look at. And apparently a hell of a player in her own right. All right, we got other things to get to. We'll do so after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, basketball season's over,

but the action never stops on prize picks, because baseball is just heating up. Step up to the plate with prize picks and add your favorite baseball players to your lineup, whether it's strikeouts, RBIs, or first inning runs, make your call with more or less and play for your shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash today.

Prize picks is the best place to turn your sports knowledge into cash. With millions of members, prize picks has made daily fantasy sports, accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash. Download the app today and use my code Sheehan to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Again, download the app today and use my code, Sheean, S-H-E-H-E-H-A-N to get $50 instantly after you play. your first $5 lineup. Prize picks, run your game. Window Nation's got a great sale going on right now.

If you need new windows, you should reach out to them. 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. They'll come out and give you a free in-home estimate. It doesn't cost you a thing. You'll actually find out which windows need to be replaced. But right now, if you choose to move forward after they leave you with a quote with Window Nation, You're going to get four free windows with every four purchased. You'll get a house full of windows and a free entry door if you purchase a house full of windows.

And you don't have to pay anything for two years. No money down, no payments, and no interest until 2027. Call them 86690 Nation or visit them at windownation.com. So yesterday on the podcast, I had Eric. Flack from Channel 9 on with me. And it was right before the city council chair, Phil Mendelsohn introduced legislation to take the RFK deal out of the budget. Eric told us that that was a possibility.

And now it would appear as if they are going to take this RFK deal that the mayor cut with Josh Harris and the team. They're going to separate it from this 2026 budget. conversation, and they may not get to vote on it until August or maybe even September, which goes beyond the July 15th date, which is the date that in the term sheet, the mayor and the team agreed that the city council would vote on the RFK deal. The team responded to this introduced legislation by Phil Mendelsohn saying, quote, the Washington commanders are committed to working with the council around the clock

to keep this project on schedule and deliver a world-class stadium for the district by 2030. This is about more than just a stadium. It's an investment in families, local workers, and long-term economic opportunity that will transform this community, district, and the region. any substantive delays will jeopardize D.C.'s ability to attract premier concerts, global talent, and marquee events, including the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup. Most importantly, it will slow new jobs at a time when the district needs them the most. We are hopeful the council will continue to work in an expedited way to approve this deal and deliver a significant win for the people of D.C.

So, what do you know, what do you think? Oh, first of all, oh, my God, they might lose the Women's World Cup. Yeah, it's a big event. I mean, it's a big event. I think that the council needs to call an emergency session right now because we don't want to lose the Women's World Cup. How pathetic this is that you hang out the Women's World Cup as like the deal breaker here.

Like, you know, like this is the sense of a sense of emergency. You're going to lose this event. One thing. The numbers, for all these events, are always inflated. Okay, so don't come back and write to me and say it brings $60 million into the economy. These are always inflated numbers. I have no doubt it will bring some, you know, it will bring some revenue into the district. It would be a big event. Come on. It would be a big event for the city. It's not the Super Bowl. It's not the Men's World Cup.

It's not the final four. Okay, it's not even... Well, the thing is, is that it's a multi-week event, so that's different than a one-off, right? Listen, I don't have... I inherently don't have a problem. I don't know the particulars as to why they're doing this, as to why, as to the city council,

taking their time to vote on a project that's the biggest expenditure in the history of the city. Okay, I don't have a chance. I think what's going, I doubt, again, the team is getting a lot of real estate money that they're going to be the developers for, okay? And they're going to hire developers and be partners with those developers

to reap the rewards of all that, all the hotels, the restaurants, all that. The city's getting that money. And that's why they're not going anywhere. So this exclusive window, you know, when I thought that Maryland was going to be the choice because it was the path of least resistance, that was before I knew the deal that the district was going to get with this real estate. Okay, so a couple of months is not going to make that much of a difference. I think what's going on here with the team

and with Josh Harris in particular, I think he carries some battle scars from what happened in Philadelphia with the 76ers Arena. I think it took a year from the time they introduced talking about the arena to the city council up there until it finally got approved. And two days after they approved it,

the city council approved it, Josh Harris said, never mind, we're going to stay in South Philly and build an arena with Comcast. But they went through a lot with the city council in Philly, a year's worth of arguing and debate and delays and back and forth. And I think the experience in Philadelphia is partly driving the commander's strategy here in Washington. It's not similar because Philadelphia was a hot-button issue, Chinatown. You know, they were going to build it outside the Chinatown district in downtown Philly. There was a lot of emotion about that neighborhood changing drastically as a result. That's not going to be the case with the RFK site per se.

But I think what happened in Philly is driving part of the commander's sense of urgency to get this done. I think they want it opened in 2030. I think they want to start playing football there, and I think they want to attract all of these events. And I think that there's probably some truth to, if it doesn't get passed by the city council, it's going to mess up the time frame and maybe add costs to it as well. What what happened in Buffalo? Yeah. They add a half a billion dollars that had any cost overrun.

And you'll miss out on big revenue opportunities, no matter how much. you minimize the 2031 FFFFWomen's World Cup. By the way, something that would be beneficial for the city to have and for these city council members to have as well. It'd be great for all parties involved. But when I read the part of the statement that says, we're committed to working with the council around the clock to keep this project on schedule. And at the end, we're hopeful the council will continue to work in an expedited way.

it's it's a hundred percent from the team standpoint a frustration over the the perception that they're not working in a timely manner that it's bureaucratic snails pace kind of a thing and it's just not the way these guys operate i don't know that they can get them off the start line any faster with you know any kind of threat or any kind of increased leverage if they went back to to Maryland in July. You know, to your point, I think on Tuesday or maybe last week, they want to be in D.C. They don't want to go to Maryland. They don't want to negotiate with Maryland. They want to be at the RFK site. And maybe there are things like, you know, Eric suggested that, you know, parking revenue, which right now is all the team's revenue, you know, per the deal, that the city council

wants some of the parking revenue. and that union versus non-union workers on the project is a big deal as well. You know, my question would be not if, you know, a month of delayed, of a delay before a vote is going to, you know, derail the whole project. But what happens when you get to, all right, we're really focused on this and it's, you know, mid-July and, you know, maybe they're going to plan a vote on August and they say, well, we're. want, you know, a piece of the parking revenue. And the team says, well, we're not giving it to you. Well, we want, you know, union workers versus non-union workers, or we want this, or we, and the team just says, no. You know, that's negotiation. I understand that. But what if they end up, you know, a deal that

seemed like a, you know, a really good deal for the team? You've suggested a great deal for the team. one that the mayor was willing to sign off on. And by the way, I'm not being critical of the city council. Their job is to get a better deal and to get the best possible deal for the tax-paying residents of the District of Columbia, which I am one. But what if there's a big snag on a big deal point that was agreed to in late April and nobody wants to budge? You know, deals do fall apart. Yes, you're right. I'm not saying they don't.

People do, you know, make bad decisions in the heat of the moment that go against their interests. That's a paraphrase from a line in Casablanca, by the way. In the heat of the moment, men sometimes do not always make decisions in their best interest. You know, I've never seen that. And that could happen here. Actually, I have seen it. You're right, because it's the best interest. That's the best interest.

of both parties to have this deal done. I think there's significant pressure on the city council for the momentum to have this thing built. I think the fallout from it totally falling apart would be devastating for the city. Okay, that said, the team has too much money at stake. again, the field, nobody's paying attention to this. It's the biggest component of it all.

The real estate money. They're going to make a ton. They're the ones that are going to hire developers. I mean, I don't know why the city can't be a part. Get a piece of that. Why the city can't say, okay, you can have this land to develop, but we want 15% of whatever you get out of it. I don't know why the city can't get that.

Well, maybe they can if they invest $2 billion instead of $1 billion. Well, $1 billion is, again. I'm just saying it may be if the split isn't, you know, 2.7 and 1, maybe they can. Look, I didn't read through the term sheet in great detail. I think it is available to be, I think it is. I think the Post put it out there. By the way, the Post did a story this morning where the City Council members, stand currently.

And there are four yes votes, three undecideds, four no unless something happens and one hard no. You've kind of suggested to me, and others have as well, that when they do get around to voting on this, this is going to be an easy, easy yes vote. I think so. I don't know about easy. I think it's not going to be the same as the baseball stadium. and the 11th hour, you know, 7 to 6 when the crop battle.

Okay, it's not the same thing for everyone involved. But I think that I don't think if I was the city, I wouldn't give them one nickel more than the $1.1 billion that they're promising to kick in. And I don't think it'd be unreasonable for the city to expect more from the team. That would be me if I had a stake in it. it's too good a deal for the team not to kick over a little bit small percentage than what they're doing well but like i said in my column about magic johnson i've never built a 3.8 billion dollar

nor a i project so what do i know nor of i magic may still uh be available to you know sway the undecideds and the nose he's still a part of ownership isn't he i believe so I think they should use them. Somebody may have written about that recently. But what does that person know about $3.7 billion stadium projects? That's just me. What do I know? Okay.

We'll finish up the show with 10 reasons Washington will become a dumpster fire in the NFL next year, after these words from a few of our sponsors. So, guys, if you're starting to notice your hair thinning when you look in the mirror, join the club. you're not alone. Life gets busier and busier and you don't have much time to think about it or do something about it.

That's why I'm going to help. I'm going to suggest Hymns. Hems is a hair-loss solution product. You can avoid jumping through a bunch of frustrating hoops and get access to treatment without even leaving your home. Hems makes treating hair loss simple with doctor-trusted options

and clinically proven ingredients. You can choose from personalized chewable oral, spray and serum treatments to find what works best for you. The process is simple. It's 100% online, and there are no uncomfortable doctor visits. You just answer a few questions, and a medical provider will determine if treatment is right for you.

If prescribed, your treatment is sent directly to you for free. No insurance needed, and one low price covers everything from treatments to ongoing care. Start your free online visit today at Hems.com slash Sheen. That's H-IMS.com slash Sheen for your personalized hair loss treatment options. Hems.com slash Sheen. Results vary based on studies of topical and oral monocidil and phenosterite. Prescription products require an online consultation with a health care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate.

Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Okay, Shelly's backroom at 1331 F Street, Northwest in the district. Maybe you're coming to town next week for July 4th festivities. You know, July 4th weekend, which includes the fireworks on the mall and things like that. If you are, make a point of stopping at Shelley's backroom, just a couple blocks off of the mall there. Easy in and out for you.

And I'm going to do what you do. to read the reviews that the podcast gets, and I've never done this before, but there's many reviews for Shelly's on various websites, including Google. And here's one from Chris that says, cool old school place, crazy goods, cigar and drink list, plenty of food options, cigar place, but air filtration is awesome, comfy lounge chairs and tables for groups. It. You know, I couldn't say that. I couldn't say it any better myself. That's pretty much it. You know, here's another one. Didn't get a chance to eat the food, but the wings look great. Re-selecting cigars? They didn't look good. You got to find a better review than that. I didn't eat the food, but the wings looked great. I think, look, if somebody tells you your food looks good, I think that's a pretty good review. Okay. It's better than it doesn't look good.

Okay, there's a great selection, scars, and the waitstaff and the drinks. Yeah. We're amazing. Weight staff's phenomenal at Shelly's. Yes. Phenomenal. Yes, they are. Yes, they are.

So, look, don't let me preach to you like this. Find out for yourself. Take a trip down to Shelley's back room, particularly if you're looking to do something during this next holiday week. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. All right. You said you had a story to tell me. that it's gambling related. Tell me the story, and then we'll get to the 10 reasons the commanders will be a dumpster fire next season,

as in this upcoming season. What's your gambling story? Let's hear it. It's from People Magazine. Your favorite, yeah. Okay. Authorities are searching for 34 men who have gone missing and allegations that they cheated while betting on cockfights

in Manila and the Philippines. The search is pointing towards a lake, a volcanic lake, where it's believed that the men's bodies might have been disposed of. Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on. 34 men are missing after they cheated on cop fights? While putting on live stream cockfighting in the Philippines. Are these Filipinos? Are these 34 Filipino men?

I believe so. Okay. By the way... I believe that the men were killed, according to this, and dumped into the volcanic lake by a group of six security guards. How did they cheat? How do you cheat in a cockfight? I don't know.

I don't know. you slip the one chicken, a Mickey or something like that. Okay. You take one of his plates off his claws. Here's another, here's one of the top lines. What are the suspects that come forward to give in an interview, claiming that they killed and disposed of more than a hundred bodies? What?

Well, this is mass murder. Well, over the years, yes. Oh, over the years. But what's the 34 in one actual disposal? No. I think so. Okay. I think over time.

Well, don't you think the word would have gotten out? Hey, not a good idea with your, you know, with your hen or your rooster, whatever it is you're using in this cockfighting competition. Not a good idea to cheat. Don't you think the word would have gotten out? Yeah. Here it is. the suspect alleged that the men were bound, in words tied up after they were taken.

He said he was responsible for talking to people who were accused of cheating. After that, another group of people took over, and I guess dumped them in the lake. A volcanic lake. Yes, a volcanic lake. Justice Secretary, Crispin Ramula said, told the press on June 19th that divers would be

employed in the lake to search for human remains. Quote, we just can't let it pass and just let it go. We have to be responsible enough to seek the truth, especially in cases like this. Well, let me just begin with this. The people that are putting on the cockfighting events, they have to get, the security people are going to be, you know, are going to be charged, I would imagine at some point with murder. But the people that are putting on the, well, maybe it's legal.

Maybe it's not illegal in the Philippines. It is legal. No, it's legal in the Philippines. Okay. Yeah. Certainly not legal here. No, it's not. You know, one of my favorite stories was when the Expos in 2003 went to Puerto Rico to play a series just to generate more interest.

Yeah. I went there with them. And one day, you know, before they started playing the same thing, series, I went on a tour with the commissioner of cockfighting for Puerto Rico to various cockfighting farms, training camps, and arenas. I wrote a big story about it. I still have, in this little case here at home, a set of cockfighting spurs that the commissioner gave me as a souvenir.

More people watch, more people go to see cockfighting in Puerto Rico than any other sporting event. Really? Yes. When was cockfighting made illegal in the U.S.? I'm assuming it is illegal, right? It is. I think Louisiana or Florida were the last two places where it was legal, maybe, and I think it's illegal everywhere now.

But I'm sure it still goes on, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you know, so. But yeah, that was my big gambling news. Did you ever worry about winding up in a volcanic, No, no. I think, well, I've told you the one story that my buddy and I, you know,

were in a bit of a bind with the book. We were in college, and the book offered my buddy a chance for us to clean the slate if we would just drive a vehicle to Missouri to St. Louis. And he actually wanted to do it, and I said, are you out of your mind?

Let's get the money. and pay these people off. Do you have any idea what would likely be in the trunk of that vehicle? And by the way, once we drove it, don't you think we'd be in? Like, we can't get out now? No, no, you can't get out. There's no one favor, and then you're done. No. I mean, I was that close. But I mean, I was never going to do it, but he wanted to do it. And, you know, like, you know, we were like sophomores in college. And, you know, we probably owed a, thousand dollars something like that but a thousand dollars was a hell of a lot of money to come up with um and he's like we can get out of this he said all we got to do is drive this car to st louis

drop it off and then you know they'll get us back yeah they'll get us back and then we'll have another car to drive to Detroit boy that's one of those light-changing uh decisions yeah it could have been yeah the next car was going to you know Detroit and the next one was going to jersey multiple places in Jersey. All right, I want to finish up with this. Ten reasons the commanders will be a dumpster fire this coming season. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you want to bet on sports, my recommendation is to go to mybooky.ag or mybooky.com.

Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and MyBooky will give you a cash bonus when you sign up. initially. They've got all the NFL futures for the upcoming season available for you. They have all of the week one and week two points spreads up. Washington remains a six and a half point favorite over the Giants on September 7th. The total is 46. That has come down from at one point it was seven and a half. And I think I've mentioned that their week two game, which is just four nights later, Thursday night football at Lambo, the Packers are one and a half point favorites over Washington in week two. They've got everything you need for the NFL season. The preseason lines are up and ready to go, Tommy. For those of you and I have friends of mine that bet a lot of NFL

preseason game, they swear by it. It's all there. MyBooky.ag, mybooky.com promo code. Kevin D.C., no cock fighting odds at my bookie. Certainly not Filipino cock fighting odds. You know what I failed to mention during that conversation? And you and I both know this because we've been in Vegas multiple times for Manny Pachial fights. Filipinos love to gamble. God, they love to gamble.

And when there is a big time Filipino fighting in Vegas, those hotels are overrun with people from the Philippines. They enjoy gambling. By the way, everybody enjoys gambling. Not everybody, but everybody of lots of different nationalities like gambling. But remember some of those Pachial fights? Oh yeah. Being, you know, in the casino

and it was like, oh my God, are we in Manila? Yes. All right. So there is a story on phillyvoice.com written by this guy Jimmy Kemsky. It's titled Tommy, 10 reasons the commanders will be a dumpster fire this season. It is, you know, a typical rivalry hate piece. It's the first of three that he's going to write on the Eagles three NFC East foes. And he's got 10 reasons why Washington's

going to step back and have a bad season this coming year. What's interesting about it is, yeah, It is, you know, one of those pieces that will make the majority of our fan base pissed off. Like, this guy's an idiot. But if you actually read through it, it's a lot of the things that we've talked about as to why, you know, next year may not go as well as 2024. So I'm going to rip through these 10 reasons. And I'm going to stick on a couple of them that actually are really interesting because this guy has a lot of data attached. to these reasons. Reason number one, regression is coming. The commanders won four games in 2023, in 2024, they won 12. That was the biggest win improvement last year. It ties for the ninth

best improvement since the NFL went to a 16 game schedule in 1978. And then he lists 15 teams that had an eight game improvement from one year to the next. over this span of 1978 through last year. Fifteen teams since 1978 have had an eight game or better improvement from one year to the next. Washington's improvement was from 4 and 13 in 2023 to 12 and 5 last year. That's an eight game improvement. There were other teams that had more of an eight game improvement. The 2018-49ers were 4 and 12.

They had a 9-game improvement. They went to 13 and 3. So it's 8 games or better from one year to the next. 15 teams this has happened to since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978. Of those 15 teams, well, actually of the 14, because Washington, we don't know what happens in 2025. But of the 14 teams that have had that kind of an improvement, 12 have had step-back seasons the following season, following their excellent season.

One team had the exact same record, and only one team improved from the year before. I think this is interesting. The one team that improved, the 98 jets were 1 in 15 and 96, nine and seven in 97, and then they actually improved to 12 and four, a three-game improvement in 98. Every other team had at least a two-game, you know, regression, but several teams had five, six, seven, you know, nine-game regressions. the worst were the bears in 02 went from 13 and 3 to 4 and 12. The Panthers of 2016, they were 15 and 1 in 2015 with Cam Newton winning the MVP.

They went to the Super Bowl, lost to Denver, and then they went from 15 and 1 to 6 in 10. Now, they had injuries, including to the quarterback. And so the question is, what will Washington be in 2025? Well, out of the 14 teams that had eight game improvements, 12 of them went backwards. By an average, by the way, of four games difference. If Washington were four games different, they'd be eight and nine next year. By the way, there's also something that you have to keep in mind with this list. I think a lot of teams ended up going from terrible to really good because of schedule ease,

and then from really good to worse because of schedule difference. difficulty. Once they had the great season, they got a harder schedule. I don't know how it played out. Sometimes those things don't work out the way they're planned, but probably it was schedule related. So we'll see. So that's one thing. You know, the guy talks about Washington's lucky season two, you know, week two against the Giants, no kicker for the Giants, the Hail Mary game, you know, playing the Eagles late in the season when Jalen Hertz got hurt, et cetera. So that was reason. number one. I found that interesting. I didn't know that the massive improvement seasons were almost always followed by stepback seasons. We'll see what happens. Any comment on that?

I think it's, again, I think the overall story would make you pause and think if you're a commander's fan that maybe it's not going to be one big party this year. Yeah. Now, 12 and 5, they could, you know, regress by two games and still be 10 and 7 and be a playoff team. Yeah. Because, you know, and, you know, I would also argue in looking at this list, you know, it would certainly appear that Washington, you know, looking at this list, now there's a Peyton Manning team in here. There is a Kurt Warner team in here.

there is a Phillip Rivers team in here there's a boomer Asiason team in here but mostly the teams had different offenses and different quarterbacks, much lesser quarterbacks in Washington had. All right, reason number two, Washington becomes a dumpster fire. What are these stupid trades the team made?

And then he rips into the Marchion Latimore deal, Debo Samuel, Laramie Tunsell deal. I don't really. think there's much to that. Reason number three, what are these stupid signings this team made? This is just now, you know, kin law, you know, they ripped the deal, overpaid kin law. That's the primary part of that. Number four, good lord, this team is old as F. I didn't know this, all right? Washington has 30 players on their current roster who are 29 years of age already or older. The next most players on a roster of 29 or older, the Falcons, Lions, and Texans have 19 players.

Washington's got 30. That is a major outlier. And they are, by the way, for their 90-man roster per spot rack, they're the oldest team in the league and easily the oldest team in the league. Keep in mind, they've got Bobby Wagner, Zach Ertz, and Tressway on the team. They've got some old dudes on the team. Their best players, though, are younger. Jaden Daniels, Frankie Louvre. But I thought that was interesting. Washington is, and probably will be, when we start the season with their 53-man roster, the oldest or certainly one of the oldest teams in the league. Now, reason number five, their past defense will probably suck. And they focus on the fact that they don't have an obvious pass rusher. And that is true. And then number

six is, and I want to just spend a bit of time on this, their run defense will almost certainly suck again. And I have known without maybe the data every single time I've talked about this, that when you are bad against the run, you usually are not a good team. Rushing the football and stopping the run, along with turnover margin, are three things you can look at, and they are very predictive historically, of winning records versus losing records, playoff teams versus non-playoff teams. Last year, the top 10 worst rush defenses in the league were the Panthers,

They were the worst. The Saints were second worst. Washington was the third worst, followed by Dallas, Chicago, the Giants, Titans, Jags, Colts, and Patriots. Among those 10 teams, only one team had a winning record. Washington at 12 and 5.

Every other team had a losing record, and the best of the losing record teams were the eight and nine Colts, but there were two, three, and four. 14 teams, the Giants and the Titans. There were two four and 13 teams, the Jags and the Pats. There were three, five, and 12 teams, the Bears, Saints, and Panthers. The Cowboys were 7 and 10.

The Colts were 8 and 9. Nine losing records, one winning record, among the top 10 worst rush defenses in the league. I went back and looked at the last two years, and it's basically like eight out of 10, eight out of 10, losing records. And all season long, Tommy, like I said, you can't overcome a terrible rush defense. But they did. And they did it, you know, all year long. The teams that the other nine had a 288 win percentage.

They were 44 and 109. And Washington was a major outlier with not just a winning record, but 12 wins. Now, you could look at the other nine teams and say, quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, you know, over the nine teams. Nobody had a quarterback. They either had a quarterback and that quarterback got injured or they had a terrible quarterback situation. And Washington didn't.

So if you're going to have a bad rush defense, you better have an elite quarterback if you're going to overcome it. That's the lesson. A particularly elite quarterback in this case. Yeah. Yeah. With a set, with like, like Liam Nielsen, a special set of skills. A special set of skills that allow people like me to find you.

And when I find you, and I will, I will kill you. That wasn't the exact delivery of the line. But we love that movie. Taken. Very good. Taken such a good movie. So look, with a team. Coming off at 12 and 5 season, we all understand the schedule on paper is going to be tougher.

They're going to face, by the way, really good running backs again this year. They'll start off with Tyrone Tracy, then they'll get Josh Jacobs, then they'll get the rookie Ashton Genty, then they'll get Bejohn Robinson. They face, you know, during the course of the year, Jamir Gibbs and a lot of really good backs. And I'm not even mentioning Barclay because he comes twice at the very end of the schedule. but they're also going to face much better quarterbacks than they faced last year. I'll say it. This to me is the biggest concern going into the season, defense, but specifically run defense,

because if they don't stop the run for a second straight year, can Jaden and Cliff Kingsbury and Terry and Debo overcome it? Maybe, but not to the tune of 12 wins. Maybe 9 and 8 like Cincinnati was last year, and maybe missing the playoffs. Maybe it's 10 and 7, and they make it. Seventh reason on the list, their rushing offense was carried by their quarterback. Yeah, that's true.

You don't want to see that again, people. You know, Baltimore with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, you know, James Cook in Buffalo, Derek Henry in Baltimore, Sequin Barclay with Jalen Hertz. They all had running backs that were their teams leading. Washington's leading rusher was the quarterback. Number eight is the idea that Jaden Daniels will only continue to get better is not a given. And they basically go through the list of quarterbacks that have won rookie of the year over the last 20 years. And most of those quarterbacks with the exception of Cam Newton,

Kyler Murray, and Justin Herbert all had a lesser season from a QBR standpoint. I mean, I think Jayden's... I think this is the weakest, the weakest argument of them all. Yeah. The last two, the commanders converted on an unsustainable percentage of fourth down conversions. That may be true. 20 of 23, 87%. And by the way, they were outstanding, you know, in the postseason two.

But, you know, they have a cheat code at quarterback. So my guess is that their fourth down percentage numbers are going to continue. to rank very high in the NFL. It may not be 87% 20 of 23, but it's going to rank high. And that, by the way, was the best rate of any team in the Super Bowl era. And look, some of those were crucial to winning games. And then the last reason why the commanders will be a dumpster fire in 2025 per Phillyvoice.com. Dan Quinn turtled up in the commander's biggest moment. and they talk about how on the opening drive in the NFC championship game, they converted a third and six from their own 34,

another third and six from their own 45, but then they converted a fourth and five at the Eagles 43 and a fourth and two from the Eagles 28. And then on fourth and three at the Eagles 16, they write Quinn of 283 infamy, meaning his Atlanta team that lost the 283 lead in the Super Bowl to the Patriots. decided on the 18th play of that drive, that's enough risk for me,

even though we keep converting, let's kick the field goal. And they write, just so you know, every Eagles fan, the Eagles sideline itself, was happy with that decision. Yeah, they were.

I remember saying, what are you doing? It's the 18th play. You got them reeling. Why wouldn't you go for the fourth and three? Well, you know, part of it is it's a chip shot fuel goal, and you want to get on the board.

But I do think that, you know, we've talked about run defense, past defense, defense overall. These are the legitimate concerns because the bottom line is, while maybe they upgraded their defense with the additions of people like Javon Kinlaw and Eddie Goldman and, you know, Dietrich Wise and Jonathan Jones and Will Harris and Trey Amos, it doesn't seem like, you know, a convincing, it's not a convincing case. But things happen and they got year two with the same staff.

And players like Duran Payne could be much better and Armstrong could be better and Johnny Newton could be better. And Louvre, I think, is a star in the making. So we'll see. But I don't see a dumpster fire. I could easily see this team being a really good team. that struggles again on defense and ends up being a six-seed as a 10-and-7 team, which is exactly what they were last year with just a better record.

I think that's reasonable. Yeah. I mean, I don't think this team is going to fall apart. I think the coaching staff is too good. And again, Jane Daniels, as long as he's healthy, is the sun which all planets revolve around. Yeah. As long as he stays healthy, they're going to win more games.

and they lose, even if their run defense is bad again, even if they're defensively, you know, as bad as they were last year. And, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to say that it won't get worse defensively. You know, I've got, I've got some confidence that what they said about Duran Payne is true. I have a lot of confidence in Frankie Louvo. I have a lot of confidence. And I think, I think it's reasonable. Yeah. It's reasonable to expect more presence from Johnny Newton. Sure. Yes. And guys like Jordan McGee, who they loved last year, who didn't get a chance to play.

You know, who was it who told me maybe it was Kime who mentioned, oh, no, Logan Paulson mentioned to me a guy like Dominique Hampton they really like. Last year, I know they liked Javante John Baptiste as a pass rusher. I mean, you got a lot of guys, you got a head coach, you know, who's really good, especially on the defensive side. It's year two. defense is variable year to year. I don't see a killer pass rusher, though. I don't see a disruptive player. Frankie Louvo could become that for them.

You know, I think he's truly a legit star player. You know, Bobby Wagner, what if he falls off, a cliff at 35, 36 years old, whatever he is now? Because he had a hell of a year last year. He had an excellent year last year. He's 35. He's going to be 36. Actually, I just looked this up.

He's going to be 36 years old tomorrow, Tommy. No, he's going to be... He's going to be 35 tomorrow. It said age 35, but birthday's 627, 1990. That would mean that tomorrow he'll be 35 years old. Bobby Wagner, who I think got his MBA, didn't he, from Howard recently? I don't know. Yeah, I thought there was a story about that.

All right. Can't wait for the season to begin. You got anything else, boss? One last thing. This weekend I'm heads up to my old neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Rudy's. Oh, Brooklyn. Brooklyn.

No, this is Brooklyn. Yeah. This is before the poker. Yes. This is when you were firebombing Chinese laundromats. Yes. Yes. I'm going to show my family around some of my old neighborhood where I used to play stick ball

and punch ball. and got beat up on this corner. What was your old neighborhood in Brooklyn? It was Park Slope area. It was on Washington Avenue. Okay. Between Sterling Place and St. John's Place. Okay.

It was a couple blocks from the Brooklyn Museum and the library, and not far from Prospect Park. Got it. Have you been to Brooklyn recently? No, I have not. I know my neighborhood has changed drastically. Park's slope is very upscale now.

It wasn't upscale when I live there. It was probably more upscale than you want to lead people on to believe. Oh, no, no, no, no. You want to talk about you really tough. I'll show my family the bar across the street where I remember sitting by our window one night, watching the cops pull up to break up a fight, and then watching them go flying through the plate glass window

with the guys who threw them out of the bar. watching the corner show them the corner where there was a shootout where my mom was in the middle of it or showing him the other corner where I saw a guy get stabbed. Was it?

What was the, was it very Italian, very Irish, was it black? Irish, what was it? Irish Italian and black. Okay. Yeah.

Brooklyn, in the 1960s, I'm guessing. 60s. Yeah. 50s and 60s. God, man. What an era that was. and to be where you were in the midst of it. All right, I'll talk to you next week.

Have a good weekend. Okay, boss, you too. I'll be back tomorrow. I know Joel Corey is going to be on the show. We'll talk about what he believes the Terry McLaren deal will look like if and when it gets done. And I'm hoping we end up with Tim Legler on the show tomorrow. If you missed yesterday, John Wall was on.

We didn't talk a lot about the draft. So a lot of it is still very timely. He's good. John's really good media now, and he's doing a great job with the NBA network, NBA TV. I will be back tomorrow. See you, Tommy. All right, I'll see you.

And with the 18th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, the Washington Wizards select Walter Clayton Jr. From the University of Florida. This is the confusing part about the hats. Remember, Shams reported this being rerouted here, heading to Utah.