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Mike Wilbon
In case you didn't know, these young men are driven, quite remarkable, magnificent and unmistakable. These are the prodigies, the savants, the ones we've been waiting for. And they are not asking for you to pass the baton. They are methodically planning the perfect moment to take it. A new generation of Toyota drivers are here, and they want you to know one thing. You can't stop my drive. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. It's national talk in the third person day. Tony, you ever talk in the third person?
Tony Kornheiser
Tony Kornheiser does it when Tony Kornheiser is feeling sussy.
Mike Wilbon
Sussy? Who comes up with these things? Seriously, are people hired? How do you. Who sets these stupid national days? Who does this?
Tony Kornheiser
There's three or four every day. There's three or four different ones.
Mike Wilbon
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Best third person talker in sports, Rick Henderson.
Mike Wilbon
Ricky Henderson. Ricky Henderson. I go with that.
Tony Kornheiser
Number one. Welcome to pti, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Lakers stay hot. The Celtics blow a big lead. And controversy in boxing. But we begin today with the 49ers trading running back slash receiver Debo Samuel, who you love, Wilbon, to Washington. Samuel was unhappy in San Francisco. He wanted out. Washington will assume his entire $17.55 million contract. Wilbon, what does this do for Jaden Daniels in Washington? And where does this leave the Niners?
Mike Wilbon
Well, I'm going to dismiss the Niners. The Niners know how to replace people. They know how to draft, they know how to sign. They have money. They don't whine. They go get people and they contend. That's the end of the Niners portion of my comment. Washington, the commanders, I mean, Tony, it gives them a weapon. And look, I don't know, you know, my fascination, as you alluded to with Deebo Samuel for years, I don't know whether he was just in a funk because he sort of wanted to be paid more and kind of, sort of didn't want to be there, or is he done? Which one? He's taken a lot of hits. He's played that combination position of receiver, running back, and been so terrific at it. Tony, when you add him to Terry McLaurin and I hear people saying, well, he's not really a number two anymore. I don't. I don't want to hear that he's a weapon. However, you decide to deploy him with a young, ambitious quarterback who is his own weapon himself with his legs, in addition to throwing the football. It does. It does. I don't know. It should boost everybody who's in that locker room and following that team in Washington to have Deebo Samuel on board.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with any of that. You're 100% right on all of these things. This could be potentially a complete steal for Washington. They gave up nothing. They gave up a fifth round pick. The general manager now at Washington was working with the 49ers when Samuel was drafted. He saw him at his best. Now he has regressed the last few years. In 2021, Mike, he had a total of 14 touchdowns through either passing or, you know, receiving yards or rushing yards in the next three years. He had total of 16 in three seasons. But he was unhappy. Sort of like Jimmy Butler. He didn't want to be there. I mean, if he's anything close, if his skill set is anywhere close to what it was three and four years ago, then Washington has a great weapon. And as you say opposite Terry McLaurin, if you're Jayden Daniels, you have to be thrilled. And if you look at the Washington team objectively, you would say they are now a contender for the conference championship. They were fluked this year.
Mike Wilbon
No doubt.
Tony Kornheiser
Now they would be a contender. And I agree with you about San Francisco. San Francisco isn't going to miss him at all because the Debo Samuel they wanted didn't want to play there. And he was, he was already lost. That's right, he was already lost. And Kyle Shanahan knows how to plug and play. He knows how to do it. So you and I are on the board on this whole thing.
Mike Wilbon
We are. Fifth round pick is the way to go. I mean, come on. Even if he only has last year's numbers, Tony sort of 800 yard ish and three or four touchdowns for a fifth round pick. Now you want to get more out of him than that and I bet you they will. I'll bet you they'll get more out of him than that. Let's move to the NBA where we have some intriguing storylines involving the second seeds in each conference. In the west, it's the Lakers who besides being the object of Tony's fascination, have won six straight. And they're just percentage points ahead of the Nuggets in the East. The defending champion Celtics beat the Nuggets yesterday, but blew a 22 point lead against conference leading Cleveland on Friday night. Tony, which second seed right now impresses you more?
Tony Kornheiser
Okay. The Boston Celtics are the defending NBA champions. They went through the playoffs last year, 16 wins, three losses. I mean, they know how to win because they've actually won. These Cleveland Cavaliers have won anything. They haven't gotten to the conference finals at this point. You know, the Celtics are a wonderful team, but as you are correctly predicting, I am smitten with the Lakers at the moment. They have won 11 straight games over teams with a.500 or better record. And I know they're small, Mike, and I worry they're going to get ground up, you know, against a big team.
Mike Wilbon
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
But they've got, at the moment, they've got luka Doncic and LeBron James. And let me say that again, if people miss it, they've got Luka Doncic and lebron James and they're doing something that they haven't done and Luke has never done, which is play defense. And I believe against the Clippers the other night, they went seven and a half minutes at the end of the second quarter, didn't give up a point. They can give up a point. So I'm going to use a sentence now that I didn't think I would ever say and I never believed I had any reason to say it. But J.J. redick has, has made over the entire face of the Los Angeles Lakers, to his credit and their credit.
Mike Wilbon
And he had to do it again. He did it in the first half. Then he gives Luka and loses his best defensive player, Anthony Davis, and loses Max Christie, who we see has value. And, and he's done it on the fly like a hockey change. And so, yes, a really standing ovation instead of golf clap for JJ Redick and everybody cooperating with him. But Tony. Yeah, I, you know, I, I'm not going to say it's the Lakers because the Celtics are defending champs. So, you know, I came into the season and you'd like to give me, you like to give me a little jab every now and then because I said nobody's repeating. And I'm going to stick with that tone.
Tony Kornheiser
I know you said.
Mike Wilbon
I'm going to say that because Denver is a team that's only once removed in case they climb to the second spot. And obviously the Lakers are now in the second spot. I think there are enough challengers there to make life a little rough for Boston. Cleveland. That's the question. You're right about that tone. But I'm going to tell you here's one thing real quickly. Nobody plays big anymore. Hardly anybody. Cleveland plays big. But they, the Lakers, their ability to scramble and cover and just intelligently play defense, that might make up for the lack of size. And their backcourt is big. Maybe they don't have any lack of size in the backcourt, the Lakers. So, no.
Tony Kornheiser
And as they say in hockey, they're on a heater. I don't think they're as good as the Celtics, but they're on a heater right now. And it's great. It's great to watch. We'd like to end this segment on a boxing story like we used to do in the old days. It was a controversial bout on Saturday. Take Tank. Davis was fighting Lamont Roach in the ninth round. Davis briefly took a knee because he had gotten his hair done two days before, and some goop from his hair got into his eyes and he couldn't see, so he took a knee. But it wasn't ruled a knockdown. And the fight ended as a majority draw, which allowed Davis to retain his WBA lightweight title. Wilbon, is this a fair outcome?
Mike Wilbon
I don't care about the outcome. There's no fair outcome. Halftime in boxing anyway. I don't care. This is such a great story. I know when you first heard this, you thought, oh, my God, we miss boxing. We do miss boxing. Now, you called it goop. Let me tell you what it was from the 19, late 70s, certainly early 80s, until. I don't know, Covid. It's Jerry curl, bro. That's what it is.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay?
Mike Wilbon
Thanks to my friend, dear friend, family friend, the Gardeners, and specifically Tracy Gardner for inventing Jheri curl on the south side of Chicago. Thank you very much. The Jheri curl would get in your eyes. This is the subject of jokes, of memes, of videos for a couple of decades. Jheri curl jokes. It warms my heart. Now he's not wearing a Jheri curl. Jheri curls have gone. Anybody? 30 years old, don't even know what I'm talking about. But if you're older than that, you had some Jheri curl juice get in your eye at some point. Maybe you were trying to say something nice to a young lady. Whatever you were trying to do. This is so great. That curl activator in your eyes is back. I love it.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. So I don't really know what we're talking about here in this sense. It's not the other guy's fault that this guy got his hair done and stuff fell into his eyes. This is like Rudy Giuliani with the hair dye. It's his hair dye. It's his problem. It's not the other guy's problem. He went down on one knee. There's no timeout in Boxing, you go down on one knee, the ref has to come over and give you an A. Got to give you an eight.
Mike Wilbon
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
Right. Now, this famously happened. The same sort of thing famously happened in the first Clay Liston bout. Okay. Somewhere around the fourth to the fifth round, Clay got, was blinded. He couldn't see. Both Clay and Angelo Dundee believe that that Liston's corner put some stuff on the glove and stuck it in his eye. Okay. But Angelo said, you got to go out there, you got to run for a while until you can see you can't stay here. Clay wanted to stop in the corner right there and the referee was coming over and Angie pushed him into the middle of ring and said, run. And what happened? It cleared by the sixth and he won the fight. He won the fight.
Mike Wilbon
It's sort of, you know what sort.
Tony Kornheiser
Of, kind of similar.
Mike Wilbon
This is so great. And of course his name then in that fight was Cassius Clay. You sound like you're in the 60s and you're Howard Cosell. And then, and then Clay comes out and says about a month later, what's my name? Howard? What's my name?
Tony Kornheiser
Right. I'm Muhammad Ali.
Mike Wilbon
We need more boxing. We do. We don't need. MMA stinks. No science for that.
Tony Kornheiser
No, no. Tennessee's win over Alabama was dramatic. But was there a bigger story for the weekend in men's college hoops?
Mike Wilbon
And on the women's side, is it fair for top ranked Texas to get the second seed in the SEC tourney by a coin flip? Huh? Once my name Howard.
Tony Kornheiser
Once his knee goes down, once his standing down.
Mike Wilbon
Amanda. Yes, there's no question about that.
Tony Kornheiser
The other guy got robbed.
Mike Wilbon
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Tony Kornheiser
Let's find out what's motivating the masses in mail time. What's first I go to my glasses. These are the new glasses, but I think tomorrow. New glasses. Okay, last week's new one. Then we get another one. Here we go, Bigger women's hoops headline Number one, Texas being seated. Number two in the SEC tournament based on a kind coin flip. Or number four, USC beating number two, UCLA again.
Mike Wilbon
Well, you know where I was Saturday afternoon in la, Courtside. That's right, ucla, usc. Thinking that, okay, UCLA is going to get a revenge game here after having lost a narrow, narrow decision at Southern Cal a couple of weeks ago at usc. And they couldn't get it because Juju, my goodness, she came out on fire. Tony, you know how great players says, okay, I know I'm going to meet fire when I come out of here. I'm on the road. I'm at ucla. I'm at the court made famous, the building made famous by John Wooden. I mean, it's Mike Warren and Marcus Johnson in attendance, among many others. And you're playing under the banners and it's ucla. And I, I was totally in awe. Been a long time since I've been there. Reggie and Cheryl Miller at courtside and Juju said, have some of this, have some of this 20 in the first half. And they couldn't counter her. They made a nice comeback. But that's the story. A coin flip. Coin flips happen all the time. You don't get two teams in the top five locally, both local teams who can go at each other, who can both win a national championship. And you know, I went to support Kiki Rice largely. They couldn't win. Maybe they'll meet again in the Big Ten tournament, maybe.
Tony Kornheiser
This is an unbelievable amount of name dropping that you just did.
Mike Wilbon
Good.
Tony Kornheiser
I stand at war of the name. I am awed. I'm not going to deal with that game because you went to that game. I find the other story to be fun in this regard. Texas is the number one team in the country and they're not the number one team in their own conference because of this coin flip. Now I understand it. Both Texas and South Carolina were 15 and one in the conference and they split the games between them and they have to come to a decision so they go to a coin flip. But my point is, Mike, the NFL, for example, you don't get to the coin flip till number 10. Like, you gotta have something like point differential or like most points scored or most points given up. You can't have the coin flip as the third option. Mike can't have it.
Mike Wilbon
No. Crazy. I totally agree with you. It was just sort of lazy. Like, let's flip a coin bigger.
Tony Kornheiser
Men's hoops headline. Tennessee's buzzer beater versus Alabama. Or St. John's clinching its first outright Big east regular season title since, hello, 1985.
Mike Wilbon
All right, we're going to have the same answer. So I'm just going to say the answer to the question for me is St. John's and I know it is for you. I'm going to leave that for you. Briefly. I'll talk about Tennessee getting the ball back when the game is going to seemingly be over because of a five second count on the other on the baseline, where it helps you. And then you. You get the ball and you run this and you get a shot. It wasn't really a heave. It was a shot, a deep shot shot. But to win the game like that. Kids have so much range now, Tony. It's unbelievable how much they practice these shots. The game was tied. They go to the logo. They practice these shots before the game. You get there two hours early and everybody over eight years old is going to a logo and shooting a basketball. And Tennessee made it work. And it may matter because it may determine. I don't know, may help determine the number one seed in the tournament. But I know we think it's a hard one.
Tony Kornheiser
Well, I do, but this is a hard one for me and I'll explain it. I grew up 10 or 12 miles from St. John's as a kid and throughout my career as a sports writer, I followed St. John's carefully. I can't believe, Mike. That's their first outright title since 1985. I cannot believe 40. It's 40 years. But if you ask me, I was rolling around the dial and I landed on Alabama, Tennessee with about four minutes to go. And Alabama had been up, I later found out throughout the entire game. And now you get to this point, it's at Tennessee. You get to this point where there's like three, three and a half seconds to go and Tennessee's going to. Not Tennessee. Alabama is going to inbound right under the Tennessee basket. They're going to have a shot to win. They have a shot to win. And a five second violation. It's an unbelievable call. And then Tennessee inbounds the ball. The guy takes three dribbles, maybe launches the shot saying boom, they win the game. He wasn't guarded. What? He wasn't guarded.
Mike Wilbon
I was just guard him. But I was just glad it didn't end on something like free throws from a bogus call, you know, on the inbounds play. Oh no. It ended. It ended in such thrilling fashion. Thrilling.
Tony Kornheiser
It did.
Mike Wilbon
Even better than the Michigan State, Maryland game.
Tony Kornheiser
Michigan State, Michigan State. Maryland ended the same way.
Mike Wilbon
Yeah, right at the end.
Tony Kornheiser
That's fabulous. Enough email. Let's take one last break. Still to come, the Eagles part ways with a big name on their defense.
Mike Wilbon
And Jimmy Johnson makes an announcement about his future.
Tony Kornheiser
I love Jimmy Johnson on that show. I gotta be fair.
Mike Wilbon
Hello, Jimmy Johnson, period.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, yeah.
Mike Wilbon
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Tony Kornheiser
Play the number one bracket game. Happy time, people. Happy 27th birthday, Jayson Tatum. You and I went through this last year, Mike. I thought Tatum should have been voted the MVP because he was the best player on the best team. The team that, by the way, went through the playoffs like a road grader. Sixteen wins and three losses. But I will not relitigate it again. Tatum is already a six time all star and a three time all NBA player. He's not particularly flashy, doesn't call attention to himself on the court like, say, Anthony Edwards and John Morant. Do what they say. What do they say in that banking commercial? He's dependably boring. Tatum was the third pick in the 2017 draft behind Markell Fultz and Lonzo Ball. And who's laughing last?
Mike Wilbon
That's why you hit your wagon for $600 million or so. To Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Brown was the MVP of the finals. Obviously, Tony, to me, he's still somehow absurdly underrated. But then Tatum. People act like there's something wrong or to criticize, there isn't. Tatum's a great, great, great player.
Tony Kornheiser
Happy anniversary, Wilt Chamberlain. This is posthumous, but around this day, 63 years ago, Wilt set the NBA scoring record with 100 points in a 169, 147 Philadelphia warriors win over the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania. In these early days of the NBA, franchises often played a few games in smaller cities close to their homes. Wilt played all 48 minutes, as he did virtually every game. He shot 36 of 63 from the field, all twos. There were no threes. Then he shot 28:32 from the line, an amazing performance from a notoriously bad foul shooter. Nobody has ever come close to Wilt's 100. In his previous three games, Wilt scored 67, 65 and 61. And in the following game, Wilt got 58, which is a smooth 70.2 average for five games.
Mike Wilbon
March 2, Tony, was the anniversary. I grew up with that because my mother's birthday was March 2nd and she would have been 99 years old yesterday. So that is tied to me personally, because Wilt, Wilt, and the day he did that. And you and I know somebody who was there. The great Sonny Jerk.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes, we do.
Mike Wilbon
Because NFL teams all had basketball squads that played prelims to NBA games. Sonny walks out of the locker room after his own game and wilt has like 30 in the first quarter. And Sonny says, I'm just going to stay here and Watch the rest of this so we know at least one person who was there. Hall of Famer himself. Happy great Sonny Jergens.
Tony Kornheiser
Happy trails to the Fox pregame show for Jimmie Johnson. The hall of Fame coach told Colin Cowherd today that he's retiring from his role as studio analyst. The 81 year old Johnson spent the last 22 seasons on the network's pregame show and called it, quote, probably the most fun I've ever had in my career. And that's counting Super Bowls and national championships, unquote. Johnson won two Super Bowls with the Cowboys and a national title with Miami. Fox honored Johnson during the pre game of the super bowl, but he hadn't officially announced his retirement until today.
Mike Wilbon
Jimmie Johnson was the sweet to Jerry Jones's sour and I know they were a package deal and Jerry knew what he was doing. But Jimmy made it go. Jimmy was the engine. Jimmy was the brains. Jimmy had the charisma. Tony. I was lucky enough to be covering college football when Jimmy was at Miami. He helped pivot college football in a positive direction. He's a really important figure in the history of football in America.
Tony Kornheiser
Let's go to the big finish quickly. The six time Pro bowl corner Darius Slade. Does that make sense?
Mike Wilbon
He's 34 years old, but great corners, they get cut all the time at him. What happens? More than 94,000 fans watched the Blue Jackets beat the Detroit Red Wings in Columbus at the Horseshoe. You liked that event, didn't you?
Tony Kornheiser
I watch it. I do like the event. They focused a lot on the rink. I would have liked the grandeur of the 90,000 people on a little bit more. Kevin Durant said the Suns embarrassed the fans and themselves in yesterday's loss to the Wolves. Do you agree?
Mike Wilbon
Yes. They've done it all season. The Suns are like four games out of the play in. They ain't gonna be in that. Joe Highsmith won the Cognizant classics. You're impressed, aren't you?
Tony Kornheiser
Never heard of him until yesterday. He finished 64. 64 on the weekend. That's unbelievable. Last one. Florida Panthers put Matthew Tkachuk on long term injured reserve. Is that a big deal?
Mike Wilbon
Not that long term necessarily. They hope to have him back for the playoffs. Just a regular season at Piplunch.
Tony Kornheiser
We are out of time. We will try and do better the next time. Tom Howard, we're thinking of you.
Mike Wilbon
Indeed we are. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. You can get the podcast on the espn Apple Apple podcast. Mike Warren. Tony, you're impressed with that too, aren't you?
C
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PTI Podcast Summary: "Deebo Samuel to the Commanders"
Release Date: March 3, 2025
Hosts: Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon
Discussion Highlights: Tony and Mike delve into the recent trade of San Francisco 49ers' running back/receiver Deebo Samuel to the Washington Commanders. They analyze the impact of this move on both teams, focusing on Washington's acquisition of Samuel's $17.55 million contract.
Key Points:
Impact on Washington Commanders:
Impact on San Francisco 49ers:
Notable Quotes:
Discussion Highlights: The hosts compare the performance of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, two top second seeds in their respective conferences. They assess the Lakers' six-game winning streak against the Celtics' recent struggles, including a blown 22-point lead.
Key Points:
Los Angeles Lakers:
Boston Celtics:
Notable Quotes:
Discussion Highlights: A contentious boxing match between Tank Davis and Lamont Roach is dissected, focusing on Davis's unexpected knee during the fight due to hair product interference, leading to a majority draw.
Key Points:
Notable Quotes:
Discussion Highlights: The SEC tournament seeding controversy, where top-ranked Texas received the second seed via a coin flip, sparks a heated debate. Additionally, St. John's clinching its first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985 is celebrated.
Key Points:
SEC Coin Flip:
St. John's Achievement:
Notable Quotes:
Other Notable Discussions:
Tennessee vs. Alabama Basketball Game:
Wilt Chamberlain Anniversary:
Fox Pregame Show Changes:
Notable Quotes:
In this episode of PTI, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon cover a breadth of sports topics, from significant NFL trades and NBA rivalries to contentious boxing matches and historic college basketball achievements. Their insightful analysis, paired with memorable quotes, provides listeners with a comprehensive overview of the latest happenings in the sports world.
Notable Timestamped Quotes:
This summary excludes all advertisement segments and non-content sections to focus solely on the meaningful discussions and insights shared by the hosts.