Tony Kornheiser (3:07)

Yeah, I feel the way you do that. Like, let's have a little bit of caution here. Let's not speed into the playoffs. As I was hearing this morning on a variety of shows. That was an overly rosy outlook to me. Look, the Giants have been awful for about the last 10 years. Not as stinking as the jets because nobody has been, but the Giants have only won more than six games twice in 10 years. They went through, let's see, Ben McAdoo and Pat Shermer and Joe Judge and Brian Daboll. Not one of them had been a successful head coach prior to getting that job with the Giants, and not one of them had a winning record there. The Giants had great success, obviously with Bill Parcells and then with Tom Coughlin, but that's it. In the last 40 years, nobody else has had any success. So this is not a sure fire ascendant.

Mike Wilbon (3:53)

No.

Tony Kornheiser (3:53)

All right. You're not taking over a great franchise. You are not people managing the Yankees. It's not that. All right. Is it a good fit for the Giants? Great fit for the Giants. The guy won 193 games. It's a great fit for them. He's got a pedigree. Is it a great fit for Harbaugh? I. I'm not sure about that. I'm assuming since he wanted this job that he likes Jackson Dart and thinks he'll be there for a while. There are other players. Malik Neighbors is out there. He's a good player. Maybe Scatterboo becomes a good player. Defensive line looks pretty good, but they were, Mike. They were 4 and 13 this year, 3 and 14 last year, 6 and 11 the year before. That's 13 and 38 ways to go. Okay, so don't put them in the playoffs just yet. Don't put them in a playoffs this year.

Mike Wilbon (4:39)

There's some real work to be done.

Tony Kornheiser (4:42)

Yeah, let's move but it's an upgrade.

Mike Wilbon (4:44)

It is an upgrade. Yeah, we know. We agreed down the line. Tone.

Tony Kornheiser (4:48)

Yep.

Mike Wilbon (4:49)

Let's move down I95 south a couple hundred miles where the commanders have unveiled the first renderings of their new back in town, clear roofed stadium.

Product Spokesperson (4:59)

A roof.

Mike Wilbon (5:00)

Tony pictures show the stadium built literally upon the foundations of the old RFK where Washington play while winning three Super Bowls. The team hopes to complete construction of the venue by 2030. Tone, these renderings, you look at them, they make you feel what they make.

Tony Kornheiser (5:18)

Me feel, as I'm sure they make you feel nostalgic for rfk.

Mike Wilbon (5:21)

Yeah.

Tony Kornheiser (5:22)

All right. Where you and I covered games for almost 20 years, you know, in that particular stadium, RFK, it looks like RFK, there's a sweep. Like it's not going to be the same stadium as you say. It's domed. A clear roof would be very, very nice. Actually. I think the people who are who have designed it, designed the really beautiful stadium in Minnesota designed so far. But, yeah, it makes me nostalgic for rfk. And like everybody else in Washington, I hated that dump in Maryland that Jack Ken Cook built. All right. RFK was vibrant, RFK was welcoming. And FedEx Field had raw sewage leaking out. RFK, it actually bounced. You and I were there when it actually bounced, when the team was winning. And the other one, the FedEx field, sits there sort of like an open sore. Look, it's very deliberate what is going on here. They're building it inside the District of Columbia. They're building it on the RFK site. This is a deliberate attempt to attach themselves to their great past.

Booger McFarland (6:25)

And.

Tony Kornheiser (6:25)

And their great pass is pretty much long gone. And so they have to recreate it. And this stadium, this stadium is a step towards that recreation of a once great franchise.

Mike Wilbon (6:37)

Let's keep in mind RFK is a dump. RFK has long been a dump. It's just a charming dump, which we like. As opposed to FedEx Field, which was just a dump dump, which nobody liked after about three weeks. So let's get that straight. No, I looked at this and the columns that they use, I mean, it really looks like, wow, the columns, the saddle top, which is just like RK. If you go. If you're in Washington, D.C. and you stand in front of Abraham Lincoln and you look out away from the District, you know that they're in line at the Washington Monument and then the Capitol of the United States and then rfk, they're in perfect alignment. The angles are perfect. And so, yeah, it conjures up a certain Warmth that hasn't been felt for that franchise until it was sold. Till Dan Snyder got out of Dodge. But it's cool. I think we can agree the roof thing, I hate roofs. Yes, I hate roofs on all these stadiums. Play outdoors, but nobody's listening to me.

Tony Kornheiser (7:43)

Looks good. It looks good. And the fact of the matter is that in the last five, six, eight years, people from Washington were outnumbered by people from visiting teams because people in Washington hated the owner and hated the stadium.

Mike Wilbon (7:57)

Yeah.

Tony Kornheiser (7:57)

All right, let's move to the NBA. While everyone was busy slamming the Clippers, including us, for their miserable 6 and 21 start, somehow the Clippers have awakened and might be good. Well, last night they beat the terrible Washington Wizards, but that ran. That was their fourth straight game in a row that they won. They're 11th of 13. They ran their record up to 17 and 23. The Clippers are now just one half game out of the play in. And James Harden says, and I'm quoting here, we can come all the way back, unquote. Wilbaugh, do you think they can come all the way back?

Mike Wilbon (8:27)

No, Tony and I think they're. Look, when the season started and I looked at the personnel, I think we all thought the same thing, which was, wow, this team is old and wow, these guys have been great. Can they summon this again? And if they can, how sustainable is it when Kawhi Leonard is out there and he's been out there a little bit more lately than I think I thought he would. When he scores 30, they're winning the game. The Clippers are winning the game. Kawhi looks like he did in 2019 when he O led a team to a championship in Canada. So, so I, I like what they've got, but we're talking about Harden and Kawhi, essentially, and then a cast of people. San Antonio's too good. Denver's too good. Houston, when they play some home games, because they haven't, they're going to be really too good. And we know OKC's good. So all the way back to. I can't see them climbing ahead of any of those teams.

Tony Kornheiser (9:21)

We are in agreement on that. I don't see them climbing ahead of Minnesota. I don't see them climbing ahead of the Lakers either. I see them finishing like at best, somewhere around eighth. So when Harden says we can come all the way back, there's no because the other teams are actually better. It's funny, for some reason, I always, when I think of the Clippers, I analogize them to the Philadelphia 76ers, I think, because they have big name talent that's been there for a few years and big expectations and stuff like that. Philadelphia got off to a mediocre start. I think they were 10 and 9 at one point. Clippers obviously got off to a terrible start and now they're working their way back up to where they should be. But last night I watched the Sixers a little bit get destroyed by clean. That let me get the Exact score here. 133, 107.

Mike Wilbon (10:09)

Yeah.

Tony Kornheiser (10:09)

And so what I'm reminded of is in the euphoria of a winning streak then, then you get a bad loss to a pretty good team. And so you want to say, oh, stop, stop for a little while now. Yeah, like let's not get crazy. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Mike Wilbon (10:23)

Yeah, Tony, let's not get crazy. And particularly in the west, where a league, I know we're not used to young people dominating the NBA, it's always older guys. And so that's why I wanted to believe in the Clippers. That's the history of this league. But man, you got a lot of great young players, particularly in the west, on those teams we mentioned.

Tony Kornheiser (10:42)

It's good that you use the word young. I love James Harden. He's 36. Yeah, he's going to hold up after 82 games in the playoffs because he likes to play 82. He's old school, too. Let's take a break. Coming up, the Texans have the best defense in football. We're going to ask Booger McFarlane have the Patriots offense matches up.

Mike Wilbon (10:58)

We'll also ask him why teams stop My Bears early in the games, but not late, not in the fourth quarter.

Tony Kornheiser (11:07)

Wow. Is it seven wins when you're behind?

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Tony Kornheiser (11:52)

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Tony Kornheiser (12:51)

We have football questions for our great friend, ESPN NFL and college football analyst Booger McFarlane, wearing a shirt from Old Memorial, one of his local tracks in Tampa. Let's start with this Texans defense. Awfully good. How does the Texans defense match up against the Patriots?

Booger McFarland (13:09)

You know, Tony, for the very first time you asked the wrong question because you're asking how does the Texans defense match up to the Patriots? You need to ask it the other way around. How does the Patriots offense match up to the Texans? Mike Tyson never got asked, how do you match up against the opponent? The opponent was always asked, how you going to deal with Mike Tyson? Because. And I make that comparison. Not joking. This is the best defense I've seen the last couple of years. Guys, pay attention to what they did on Monday night to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They're going to send Aaron Rodgers into retirement. Mike Tomlin has retired. It's an unbelievable speed so that they play at. Everybody talks about the two ends. When you talk about Daniel Hunter, Will Anderson Jr. But it's everybody. When you watch their tape, it's almost as if somebody has hit fast forward and they're playing at a faster speed. DeMeco Ryan's the head coach, is an outstanding defensive mind. They do a really good job of rallying to the ball. They don't give up big plays. They can cover on the back end. It's the best defense I've seen in football in quite a while. And so the question should be not how are they going to deal with the Patriots, but how are the Patriots who are going to start two rookie offensive linemen on the left side? Guys, they got to block the Houston Texans. To me, that is a mismatch on the offensive line for the for the Patriots and the defensive line for the Texans.

Mike Wilbon (14:24)

Tony sounds like Booker is leading toward a little road dog situation here. Sounds like that from the way he's talking up those Texans. They do look, fearsome. The Broncos booger have a very good defense, too. And of course, the Bills have Josh Allen. Are you leaning defense again here?

Booger McFarland (14:44)

You know, I'm leaning more complete team because I think the Denver Broncos have the better team. And when you look at Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, it's Josh Allen, it's Cook, and then it's a bunch of guys that kind of work well together. When you look at the Denver Broncos, they're a more complete team. Defensively, they led the league in sacks this year. Offensively, courting Sutherland, the running back. Harvey, I think if you're Sean Payton. Here's the question you got to ask yourself. How much am I going to put on Bo Nix's plate? Because Bo Nix is the key. The last time these two teams played each other, which was in the playoffs last year, Bo Nix wasn't ready for the moment. Now, fast forward 365 days or so now Buffalo is coming to Denver's house, and Denver's the 1 seed. If you're Bo Nicks, are you going to perform better? Are you going to play better? If you're Sean Payton, how much of the meat and potatoes do you put on Bo Nix's plate? I think the defense will play well, but you're not going to be Josh Allen. 17 14. They're going to have to score in the mid 20s. And if Bo Nicks can do it and he can play turnover free football, they'll win. If both Knicks can't do it, then Superman, along with James Cook, they'll come into Denver and they'll get the win Booger.

Mike Wilbon (15:54)

I'm going to ask you about the most mysterious team in the league, at least to me, the Chicago Bears, and why it is that teams can have success against the Bears for as many as 3/4 plus, but not late. What? What, is there some secret sauce? The hell is going on there?

Booger McFarland (16:15)

Well, I don't know if there's a secret sauce, Mike. I think early in the game the Bears kind of beat themselves. And listen, and when I say the Bears, I'm actually talking about this offense because the defense is terrible. Yeah, they led the league in turnovers all season long, which has masked some of their deficiencies. But the defense is not good. And so early in the game, it takes a little while for this offense to get going. It's almost as if Ben Johnson, who's the head coach and the play caller, has to kind of figure out what the defense is doing against him. And then when you get Caleb Williams backed up in the Corner DJ Moore. Those guys get to going. And Caleb Williams has that it factor. Mike, you've seen it. Tony, you've seen it. We've been around sports a long time, guys. Sometimes you can't quantify it, you can't describe it. But you know when an athlete has it and Caleb Williams has it. And it's almost as if late in the game he tries to will his team to victory. He's not a perfect quarterback yet, but he's got the effect and he's a star. So I think against the Rams, he's going to have to play more consistently. He can't wait three quarters and then come on in the fourth quarter because Matthew Stafford, the presumptive MVP, might put up 35 against that defense. So he's going to have to play a little bit more consistently throughout the game. But make no mistake about it, early in the game it's typically the Bears beating themselves.

Tony Kornheiser (17:29)

We will get you out of here on this. And it's a college question. We've talked about the pros. Now let's talk about college. It's Monday night. Miami is playing at home against Indiana. What kind of chance do you give Miami against Indiana?

Booger McFarland (17:42)

Well, first of all, I truly hope the paramedics are around because Michael Irvin may just pass out at some point during the pre game between he and Ray Lewis. He, he, he may just pass completely out because he's going to be so on cloud nine because his Hurricanes are playing for the championship. It's another case, guys, where you look at Curry Signetti and we've talked about this on the program all season long. He's got his guys believing that we're the best team. It's not about the number of four or five stars because they don't have many. It's about the complete team. They got the presumptive number one pick in Fernando Mendoza. He can go ahead and start buying real estate in Las Vegas. He's going to play for the Raiders. Brady and Spytek are going to pick him number one. This game comes down to can the team known as the Indiana Hoosiers, led by Signetti and Fernando Mendoza. How do they compare with some of the star power that Miami has? Carson beck took the 4 million bucks, came to Miami. You got Malachi Toney, you got Ruben Bane, you got Hakeem Mazador. They got first round picks everywhere on this team. But here comes lulo Indiana, who's 15, 0, who's favored by eight and a half points. Can the star power of Miami play more consistently and play turnover mistake free football. Miami's biggest issues. They beat themselves in a lot of game. When they lost to Louisville, Carson Beck threw four interceptions. Is he going to be able to play mistake free football? If he does and Miami plays to the level, we're going to get an all time classic. If he doesn't, then we're going to be talking about the Indiana hoosiers as the 2025 national champions of college football. And I don't care who you talk to. Nobody had that before the season started.

Tony Kornheiser (19:15)

Absolutely nobody. No. It's one of the great seasons. If they win, it's one of the great seasons of all time. Of all time. Booker, as always, thank you so much.

Mike Wilbon (19:23)

Thank you, sir.

Booger McFarland (19:23)

Appreciate you anytime. I appreciate it.

Tony Kornheiser (19:27)

Fellas, let's take one last break. Still to come, a trio of buzzer beaters in college hoops and Jonathan Kaminga.

Mike Wilbon (19:34)

Reportedly demands a trade from the dubs.

Tony Kornheiser (19:36)

Is that going to happen? Does he have that kind of status?

Mike Wilbon (19:41)

No, no. But. But they gotta trade him Tony to get better this year.

Booger McFarland (19:46)

To ward tonight on SportsCenter at 6 Eastern, Adam Schefter with the latest on the Giants pursuit of John Harbaugh. Plus, what will it take for the one seed Broncos and Seahawks to advance on Saturday and why Indiana's defense may.

Mike Wilbon (20:00)

Be the key to Monday's CFP title game against Miami.

Booger McFarland (20:04)

SportsCenter coming up next on ESPN.

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Tony Kornheiser (22:12)

Happy time people. Happy 77th birthday. Bobby Gritch History Lesson kids. Gritch was a terrific second baseman, first for the Baltimore Orioles, then for the California Angels. Both franchises inducted Gritsch into their halls of fame. Gritsch was a six time All Star, three for each team, a Silver Slugger winner and the American League home run leader in 1981. There are a lot of big stars you go through on the Orioles before you get to Gritsch, like Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Boog Powell, Jim Palmer and later Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray. But Gritsch was a solid second baseman, a position that is often overlooked.

Mike Wilbon (22:48)

Tony it is, but also overlooked. How about the staff? If we're talking about Oriole stars of Palmer, Cuellar, McNally and Dobson, guys who all won 20, I mean the Baltimore Orioles, you're gonna they have to be described as small market team, but they had big market stars for years.

Tony Kornheiser (23:09)

Happy anniversary Bill Sharman. This is posthumous. But on this day 69 years ago, Sharman tried to send a long pass to his fellow Boston Celtics all star teammate Bob Cousy. Near the end of a quarter at the All Star game, Charman's pass ended up going in the basket, counting as an 80 foot shot for what is still considered the longest made basket in All Star history. After the basket, Cousy said to be joking, asked Sharman, don't you have a pass? Sharman and Cousy with the Celtics original great backcourt giving way to Sam and KC Jones. Sharman is in the Basketball hall of Fame as a player and coach, won four NBA titles as a player, one as coach of the Lakers and four for as a Lakers executive.

Mike Wilbon (23:47)

Greatness everywhere. When you mention those names, I'll ask you this is the Laker team that won 33 in a row and won the championship with Wilt and West and Goodrich. Is that the greatest team in your mind ever in the NBA?

Tony Kornheiser (24:03)

No, no, no. The Wilt team. The Wilt 76ers team. That. Oh, okay. In the mid-1970s. That one team. All right, happy trails to several teams at the buzzer last night. Let's start with Ole miss beating number 21 Georgia in Athens on a put back in the lane at the end of overtime. Next, Kentucky beat LSU in a way that was very reminiscent of the legendary Christian Laitner shot that beat Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional Final. I was there. And then SMU took down Virginia Tech on a half court heave as time expired. Also of note in college hoops last night, Texas hand 10th ranked Vanderbilt its first loss of the season. And Stanford fans rushed the court after the Cardinal beat number 14 North Carolina in Palo Alto.

Mike Wilbon (24:45)

I'm trying to warm up to men's college basketball. I'll eventually get there. Trying my best.

Tony Kornheiser (24:52)

By the way, I'm wrong. I was off by a decade. The Will team was in the mid-60s, not the mid-70s.

Booger McFarland (24:57)

60S.

Tony Kornheiser (24:58)

That was a great big finish. Here we go.

Mike Wilbon (25:00)

Let's do it.

Tony Kornheiser (25:00)

Jonathan Kaminga reportedly demanding a trade from the Warriors. Does that make sense?

Mike Wilbon (25:04)

I don't care if he demands it or not. It's time for them to park company. It's just not working between the Dubs and Kaminga. And I don't understand all of it. The feds indicted 20 people, including 15 current or former players in an alleged college basketball point shaping scheme. Is it significant?

Tony Kornheiser (25:23)

Of course it's significant. But there is none of the basketball power schools are in it. I don't think the Sony Open begins the PGA Tour season today. You're intrigued.

Mike Wilbon (25:31)

Real golf, not indoor, whatever that is. Domed golf. Real golf, yes. The recently retired Clayton Kershaw will play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Your reaction?

Tony Kornheiser (25:43)

It's sweet. It's a valedictory. Last one. Women's college hoops tonight. Number four, Texas. And number two, South Carolina. Who you got? I know who you got.

Mike Wilbon (25:50)

Mystery Dawn Staley in the Gamecocks. You know who I got?

Tony Kornheiser (25:55)

It's always Dawn. I'm Sean Staley all the time.

Mike Wilbon (25:57)

Rataton.

Tony Kornheiser (25:58)

Try and do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheim.

Mike Wilbon (26:00)

I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. When I tell dawn you don't like me picking our team. And now, here's Sports center pti.

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