“Box 571 HC”

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Tony Kornheiser Show – “Box 571 HC” Release Date: May 23, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled “Box 571 HC” of "The Tony Kornheiser Show," host Tony Kornheiser delves into a variety of topics ranging from personal anecdotes and mailbag items to in-depth discussions on sports, particularly focusing on recent developments in the NFL and MLB. The episode also features conversations with notable guests, including Jason Lockanfora and Tony Reali, offering listeners a blend of humor, insightful analysis, and personal stories.

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Personal Updates and Mailbag Highlights

Tony begins the show by addressing items he received in the mail, sharing humorous and heartfelt stories that provide a personal touch to the episode.

• Gardening Homework with Harrison the Intern ([01:34]–[16:27]) Tony discusses his intern, Harrison’s gardening homework, illustrating the lighter side of the show with anecdotes about planting zucchini and dealing with garden pests like rabbits and armadillos. This segment highlights Tony’s nurturing mentorship and the relatable challenges of managing a garden.

  "I have to say, the bridge is imposing and maybe if there is, the next time I look sideways. DG." ([56:15])

• Recovery of Personal Items ([05:14]–[07:05]) Tony shares the amusing story of recovering a cherished Young Rascals album that was missing for years. This segment emphasizes the sentimental value of personal memorabilia and the joys of rediscovery.

  "So I have my album back. I didn't even know it was missing, to be honest." ([05:57])

• Candy and Cards ([06:05]–[07:08]) He further engages with his audience by talking about receiving Necco Wafers and a Katie Ledecky Topps card, showcasing the diversity of fan interactions.

  "I have a lot of things." ([06:52])

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Sports Discussions

Baseball Analysis ([08:02]–[11:28])

Tony provides a detailed analysis of recent MLB games, focusing on player performances and team strategies.

• Robert Hassell III’s Debut ([08:02]–[09:46]) Tony praises Robert Hassell III's impressive debut in right field, highlighting his speed and agility.

  "He steals second and he comes in and he scores. Like, he makes this fabulous debut." ([09:00])

• Team Roster Challenges Discussions touch upon the challenges of managing team rosters, particularly the overabundance of outfielders and the strategic use of designated hitters to optimize performance.

  "Alex Call is so valuable. Even though he doesn't hit a lot, it's for no power. He walks a lot. He gets on a lot." ([09:20])

• Game Dynamics and Strategy Tony examines the Braves’ game dynamics, emphasizing the importance of defensive strategies and bullpen performance.

  "They don't score a lot. And their bullpen isn't great." ([09:28])

Football Insights ([16:36]–[30:13])

The episode transitions into a comprehensive discussion on NFL strategies, focusing on the controversial Tush Push play and ownership decisions.

• The Tush Push Debate ([20:00]–[26:08]) Tony engages in a debate about the NFL’s pending decision on the legality of the Tush Push play, exploring the implications of the vote where 22 out of 32 owners opposed it.

  "It has to be illegal." ([23:08] Tony Kornheiser)

• Roger Goodell’s Stance Guest Tony Reali provides insights into NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s opposition to the play, suggesting it’s an aesthetic and strategic issue more than a safety concern.

  "He doesn't like it from the giddy up now looks like it's going to become trendy." ([25:23])

• Impact on Teams and Quarterbacks The discussion extends to how the play affects team strategies and quarterback performances, particularly spotlighting Aaron Rodgers’ uncertain future with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

  "I think he'll play and I guess he'll play with Pittsburgh." ([27:13])

• Jim Irsay and Ownership Critique ([29:36]–[30:13]) Tony shifts focus to the Irsay family’s ownership of the Indianapolis Colts, critiquing their management decisions and the resulting team performance.

  "Jim Irsay was a part of that." ([30:13] Tony Kornheiser)

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Guest Interviews

Jason Lockanfora on The Tush Push and Beyond ([16:36]–[36:50])

Jason Lockanfora, a seasoned sports analyst, joins Tony to dissect the intricacies of the Tush Push play and its broader impact on the NFL.

• Understanding the Tush Push ([20:00]–[26:08]) Jason provides a historical context for the Tush Push, explaining its emergence and the strategic advantages it offers teams like the Philadelphia Eagles.

  "It's perfectly legal when someone finds a way to exploit or maximize." ([24:08] Jason Lockanfora)

• Aaron Rodgers’ Conundrum ([27:13]–[29:46]) The conversation delves into Aaron Rodgers’ uncertain tenure with the Steelers, discussing the need for clear contractual commitments from both the player and the team.

  "He knows the reality... that's ludicrous to me." ([28:55] Jason Lockanfora)

• Ownership and Team Management ([29:36]–[30:13]) Jason critiques the Irsay family's management of the Colts, emphasizing the detrimental effects of poor leadership and lack of strategic vision.

  "They move him over with a bunt. And this is what happens when you have speed on the base paths." ([09:13] Tony Kornheiser)

Tony Reali on Transitioning Roles ([35:31]–[54:29])

Tony Reali shares his journey from being a stat boy to hosting his own segments, reflecting on the evolution of sports broadcasting and the dynamics within the newsroom.

• Early Days and Show Creation ([35:31]–[43:19]) Reali recounts his initial days at PTI, detailing the creative process behind developing segments like Stat Boy and the collaborative environment fostered by the team.

  "I was trying to build the show. My favorite parts, of course, were that we all had a voice." ([44:16] Jason Lockanfora)

• Challenges and Growth ([43:19]–[54:29]) He discusses the challenges faced over the years, including adapting to changes in the industry and maintaining relevance in a rapidly evolving media landscape.

  "I've had nothing but support now for six months because I know people know me to be a big feeler." ([51:08] Tony Reali)

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College Softball and Other Sports Updates ([55:20]–[66:55])

The episode also covers updates from the college softball scene, highlighting record-breaking performances and notable game outcomes.

• Binghamton’s Triumph and NCAA Tournament ([62:39]–[64:10]) Tony shares the success of Binghamton’s softball team, their historic wins, and their journey to the NCAA Tournament in Eugene, Oregon. He underscores the significance of their achievements within the program’s history.

  "The mighty Bearcats lost 92 to that ACC powerhouse Stanford." ([62:39])

• Record-Breaking Pitches ([63:05]–[64:17]) Discussions include Tennessee’s Carlin Pickens setting a new record for the fastest softball pitch and comparisons to existing college baseball records.

  "She threw a pitch 78.2 mph against Arkansas." ([64:02])

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Community and Listener Interactions ([55:20]–[58:09])

Tony engages with his listeners through various emails, sharing personal stories and humorous anecdotes that strengthen the community bond.

• Listener Stories and AI Use ([58:09]–[62:33]) Tony acknowledges listener contributions, including creative uses of AI in storytelling, highlighting the evolving landscape of media consumption and content creation.

  "AI is scary. Scary what you can do with this AI." ([58:09])

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Closing Remarks

Tony wraps up the episode by reflecting on personal memories, such as gardening with his father and the importance of resilience in facing life's challenges. The episode concludes with a blend of heartfelt stories and humorous insights, leaving listeners with a sense of connection and anticipation for future episodes.

"In 1932, it would have been much worse from steaming Carmody in Saginaw, Michigan." ([59:40])

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Notable Quotes

• Tony Kornheiser: "What you're into, it's on Prime." ([00:00])
• Tony Reali: "He's out to eradicate this." ([23:27])
• Jason Lockanfora: "We just have to get a couple more people over to their side and they'll get their way." ([25:23])
• Tony Kornheiser: "I am so old, I make so many mistakes now." ([14:33])

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Conclusion

“Box 571 HC” offers a multifaceted exploration of sports, personal stories, and the evolving nature of media. Through engaging conversations with guests like Jason Lockanfora and Tony Reali, Tony Kornheiser provides listeners with both in-depth analysis and personal anecdotes, creating a rich and entertaining listening experience. Whether discussing strategic plays in the NFL, analyzing baseball team dynamics, or sharing heartfelt stories from his mailbag, Tony ensures that each episode is both informative and relatable, catering to a diverse audience of sports enthusiasts and casual listeners alike.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk about some things I got in the mail. We'll talk to Harrison the intern about his gardening homework. We'll talk to Jason Locanfora about the Tush push, the death of Jim Irsay. We'll also catch up with our good friend Tony Reali about his journey from stat boy to host of around the Horn. But first, let's do some commerce. You know, there are a lot of passions. Some days it's sports, other days it's cooking or music or just diving into a great documentary. The thing is, whatever you're into, it's on Prime. Amazon prime isn't just about fast delivery, though. Getting stuff the same day is pretty great. But it turns out it's so much more. Prime Video, Amazon music, the whole range of services. It's like a hub for all kinds of curiosity. Prime helps people stay connected to what matters and keeps the journey of exploration going. Whether watching something inspiring, listening to a new artist, or getting gear delivered fast to chase a new hobby, prime makes it easier to dive in. So yeah, whatever you're into, it's on Prime. From streaming to shopping, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever sparks your interest. Amazon.comprime do you think astronauts fight over elbow room? Probably because advanced tech doesn't always mean more space. Until now. Introducing the Hyundai Ioniq 9, a three.

[Harrison]

Row electric SUV with over 300 miles.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Of range, ultra fast charging capability and lots of space. The all new Hyundai Ioniq 9 space in an EV.

[Harrison]

Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ioniq 9 is available in extremely limited quantities at select dealers in select states only.

[Harrison]

EPA estimated range based on fully charged.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Battery for customers comparison purposes only.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Actual range will vary based on several factors.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Previously on the Tony Kornheiser show. Have you ever been on a train? You ever been on an Acela where they had to evacuate? Like happened to me on Sunday morning right outside of Newark. Have you ever been on that? It actually happened to me a few weeks ago on the way from New York City to D.C. and in Baltimore we had to evacuate. And so unfortunately it has been happening with increasing frequency. We're going to have to do something about it. Well, we're going to have to get my points back.

[Tony Reali]

I used.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I used all my points. The Tony Kornizer show is on now from Neil Ayervase, our lawyer friend in Littleton, Colorado. All the littles are heartened to hear that, having fortuitously become aware of the tragedy that befell his fellow Binghamton alum and doctor of letters for an untimely train evacuation and the resultant loss of his cherished points, Representative Hakeem Jeffries has drafted and signed on as the principal sponsor of the Crypt act creative response to yelling about points lost by Tony. This enactment will not only restore Dr. Toney's points, but quadruple them for all his pain and suffering. Additional provisions will eliminate all future electricity delivery charges, provide for federal marshals to hand deliver all Cornheiser payments made by check, put the Space Force in charge of air monitoring and protecting Tony's garden, and enjoin ESPN from ever putting PTI on espn, too. Due to the efforts of the influential Littles lobby and the even more influential members of the Wilbond text chain, including Richard Dent, the Crypt act is receiving historic bipartisan support and contemplates rapid passage. In response to an objection from one of the few recalcitrant legislators that the ax max of just another pork barrel favor, Senator Schumer was heard to say, certainly not pork. Maybe brisket. That's a nice email. Okay, I may have my points back. Satisfaction I may have. I called up and I gave my guest rewards number and I asked for my points and they said I had the equivalent amount of like 20,000 that I had lost. But before we claim victory, we wait another day and we do it again.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. We wait another day and we do it again. I have a lot of things.

[Nigel]

I love how you find the time to make these phone calls.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, I have nothing to do all day because I'm old. I'm prepping pti and in. In that space that's open to me, then I just go make phone calls. High school classmate of mine, who I don't know at all, don't know at all. Don't have any recollection of him. Just don't know him. I called Eddie, I said, do you know Jeff Lieberman? And he said, I think so. And then he looked him up in the yearbook and said, no, he. That was a different guy than he thought of, but he thought he knew this guy, too. He sent me a picture of him. I don't know him. Look like a big guy. Okay, I don't know big guy, but he writes. Hope someone passes this on to you. I'm career filmmaker. Look me up. And among docs I've done was a Sonny Liston doc for HBO that won an Emory or three. Anyway, I'd love To talk to you about a boxing doc that's never been done. If you dig it, maybe play a part in it or at the least guide me to who's who at espn. And he said I could respond. And I, you know, and I will, I will respond. He also, I looked him up. He makes those crazy horror movies, you know, the movies where people's heads get cut off and stuff like that. Like really scary.

[Nigel]

Lot of crossover there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

A lot of scary. Did you, did you look at him?

[Nigel]

I am looking him up, yeah. Thought I found the wrong filmmaker, Jeff Lieberman.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I got that and that was interesting and I'll respond to that. Yes, but a more personal level and on a. Something far greater to me. I get in the mail yesterday. Michael, what is this?

[Nigel]

That looks like a. Oh, it's a record. Yes, the Young Rascals.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, it's the Young Rascals album from, I don't know, 1966, something like that. On the back of it is me signing Tony Kornheiser. Box 571, HC Harper College. Okay, so it's mine.

[Michael]

Yes, it's mine.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I get this. Having found this in my basement a few years ago, I came to realize I was actually in possession of the probable ground zero for your infatuation of the Rascals. Still a procrastinator. I've been meaning to send this to you to share with Michael, Nigel et al for some time. But it took my son Mark and daughter in law Annie's efforts to finally make this happen. You have come a long way since box 571, HC Dave Carpenter. Glens Falls own Dave Carpenter stole it. Clearly. Steerly stole my Young Rascals album. So he put it on the set yesterday.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thinking that maybe the three surviving Rascals would see it and some of them might watch the show, but hoping that Carpenter saw it, that it's up here, you know. So I have my album back.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't even know it was missing, to be honest. I didn't know it was missing.

[Michael]

Well, it's been been a couple years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's been like 60 years, you know, of the Rascals.

[Nigel]

Who's most likely to watch pti?

[Michael]

I think Felix maybe.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I would think Felix Cavalieri maybe, but I don't know. I think none are realistically going to watch pti. They don't know what PTI is. That's my guess. But anyway, so I was very happy about that. They also received. I went to the office the other day and received Necco Wafers Old Candy. Necco Wafers. Remember Necco Wafers? Yeah.

[Nigel]

They brought them back, Right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is from Michael Kinslinger and Bill Horner. Hope these retro candies brighten your lag. Ba o mare, which is some sort of holiday months and months ago. I have Lifesavers. Butter rum, which I don't like.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Which I'm giving away. Michael, do you like butter rum?

[Nigel]

That sounds disgusting.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, so Harrison gets these. Harrison the intern gets these.

[Michael]

Well done.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And Necco wafers, all chocolate. And the assorted. Do you like any of those?

[Nigel]

I'm all set. That's New England Confectionery Company.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, these are good.

[Michael]

Well done.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now, these are good. They're also. It's possible they're 50 years old.

[Michael]

It's possible, yeah. The expiration date has to be a while.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And. And I got a letter and a card. A Katie Ledecky Topps card. This is from Dan Linke, who writes, Since October 2001, my DVR has always been set to record PTI. Even though Wilburn talks too much, I'm a Hawkeye and St. Louis Cards fan. I have heard you speak affectionately about Katie Ledecky on past episodes. I'm making you a gift of this card as a small token of how much I enjoy your commentary and humor. Hope you enjoy it. I assure you, it's been nowhere near Uranus. And it's for. For Pride and Country. It's a Katie Ledecky card. Now, these people watch pti. They don't know. None of these people know I have a podcast. Yeah, so they're not going to know that I've mentioned them, but it's okay. Hopefully some of them. So we move on. Get to the gnats in a little while. Michael can yell at me. Michael, you don't really watch the games. You don't really understand, Right? That's what you said. You and me and Chuck.

[Nigel]

You and Chuck.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Todd.

[Nigel]

Dads. It's like you expect the other team not to try.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Here's what happened last night. All right, first of all, Robert Hassell III makes his debut right field. RH3.

[Nigel]

No pressure, no diamonds.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Conveniently, right? Because conveniently, Dylan Cruz is on the ir, right? Or, yeah, whatever, he's on. All right, he's on the 10 day. So hassle comes up first, second pitch, boom. Single, right? And, you know, and it's. It's a wonderful moment. Then he steals second and he comes in and he scores. Like, he makes this fabulous debut, which leads me to believe. Here's what we got. We got now have too many outfielders.

[Nigel]

Good problem to have.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. James Wood and Dylan Cruz aren't going anywhere. If Hassell's good, he's going to play. This puts some jeopardy for Jacob Young and some jeopardy for Alex Call. I love Alex Call. Jacob Young's a great fielder. This is what I don't know. Can Robert hassle the third field? I don't know that. Can Dylan Cruz play center? I don't know that. I don't know that.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Right.

[Nigel]

And you saw the way that the game ended last night where you see Hassle again in position because he was the last out. He becomes the ghost runner. Alex Call moves him over with a bunt. And this is what happens when you have speed on the base paths.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Alex Call is so valuable. Even though he doesn't hit a lot, it's for no power. He walks a lot. He gets on a lot.

[Nigel]

Stand up triple.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He knows what he's doing. Yeah, he hit it to right field. He had a triple. So, you know, one of those guys. Call or Young would be in a certain amount of jeopardy. And then you could have some as DH. In other words, you could play James Wood 120 games and left and you play him 40 games as a DH.

[Nigel]

Rotating DH.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You could do that. And then. And then the odd man out becomes Josh Bell, who. Come on. He can no longer hit major league pitching. He's in a.

[Nigel]

Got the obligatory single last night late.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's worse than Dom Smith. It's. It's. It is. It's, you know, and he's a nice guy.

[Nigel]

And I'm sure there's a. I'm sure there's. There's a presence with all those young players in the dugout. But it would be nice to see the rotating cast of characters going through the dh and you watch the Braves lineup. The power of. When you can put left, right, left, right. Every single.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, you can. That's an important thing. You stifle the other people's pitching plans at that point. So the other thing was that. And Michael got mad at me. I knew Finnegan was coming in for the night. Can't watch him. I don't care how many saves he has. First guy who always gets on. Hello. First guy singles. And I didn't watch.

[Nigel]

This is why it's cool to listen with the sound. Because you find out, like, okay, they bring in Sean Murphy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't.

[Nigel]

Does he have any history with Finnegan? Then you find out he's five for 12 going to that. So that's where these matchups as to when you use pinch hitters, because I know a certain dad, Chuck Dodd wanted to bring in a pinch hitter in the. I think it was the. Maybe the bottom of the seventh inning to try and really open it up before he got to the extras.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What I was afraid of. And that's ultimately won the game. The Nets don't score runs. So when you get six, seven, eight runs, you can't waste that.

[Nigel]

They also don't. They don't win games by more than a run. I mean, had they held that lead, that would. They would have been behind only the Mets, I think for one. One run wins.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Because they don't score a lot. And. And their bullpen isn't great. And they got Ferrer. I just better get the ball. Get Ferrer out. Dfa.

[Nigel]

When you feel that bunt, you cannot throw it to first and ultimately right field.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There are things that happen, you know, there are also, you know, two out second, one out second and third. Nothing happened. You know, there were points in time in the game where you go. You just can't have that. I think that. Who was the starter? Who was the starter?

[Nigel]

Williams.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. When they took him out is because he walked. The base is loaded. You just can't do it. The ninth hitter, he walked the night.

[Michael]

Went.02 and walked the ninth hitter come back from that.

[Nigel]

And if there's not a bloop single in that. That earlier early stages of the game, if there's not that bloop single, the game probably goes a lot faster and does not feel as dead.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So. So.

[Jason Lockanfora]

But you didn't.

[Nigel]

Were you not crying with the K. Bear Ruiz with his first parents.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Those. His parents. Lovely.

[Nigel]

The first professional game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He got a double. That was lovely. It is the first professional. Yes. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah. Well. And they were next to Hassell's family, I guess. Yeah.

[Nigel]

Just celebrating all.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I guess they have a whole section for parents at the end of the day. I guess Juan Soto contributed that money for that.

[Nigel]

Well, related to that, the final piece of the Juan Soto trade years later, coming through.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Oh, I got in this thing back and forth with Salizza on this last night. It's a great. He's now. It's a great trade. It's not a great trade. He gave up Juan Soto. Juan Soto's got a shot to be one of the greatest players of all time. It's not a great trade. You got something back. Okay.

[Michael]

Although there is something amiss right now with him. With the Mets.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. He shouldn't have Gone. He should have stayed with the Yankees. He was happy with the Yankees. They got to the World Series. He's playing with Aaron Judge. What are you going for? You're going for. Because your agent, who could be the devil, Scott Boris, convinced you that this was the right move to make so that Scott Boris can make more money in the future. No, he should have stayed there. They gave him everything. Yeah. Come on. The only thing they didn't give him was the. Was the luxury box. So buy it yourself for $575 million. Yeah. Come on. You know, it's not that I hope he's unhappy, but it's not going to bother me if he's unhappy, because I was. I was very surprised he went to the Mets when I found out it's not that much more money. On that level.

[Michael]

On that level. It really isn't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's like less than 5%. Yeah. What are you doing?

[Nigel]

5%. That's all the difference, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

It shouldn't be.

[Michael]

But Judge has really dropped off without Soto, hasn't he?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no.

[Michael]

That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's never been MVP here. The Thunder win. They cruise in the second half. Ant man, who Wilbon loves, had a lot of points, but was 1 for 9 from 3 and didn't win. No. So, you know, I have to listen to this. I'm going to say to Wilbot, you told me that Ant man and Julius Randle were going to be the difference, and they are. Their team is losing. Julius Randle had, like, no points last night. I didn't watch all of it, but I watched enough of it. The other thing I dropped in on here and there was Florida. Florida's up three nothing in the first period. On the road against Carolina wins five nothing.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That series looks over. That one looks over. That looks like a sweep. Yeah. Who knows, but that one looks like a sweep. We are next week going to do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday shows. We try very hard and often succeed at doing 150 shows a year starting the first date of that is September 1st because of contractual circumstances. And so we'll. We'll try to do Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, next week if we can.

[Michael]

And that gets us to 150. So no more shows after that until September?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I didn't say that. That doesn't get us. Doesn't get us any close.

[Michael]

I'm kidding.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Our intern now has something to do. There's nothing to do on this show. I sent him. I sent him to get flowers and a zucchini plant and old potatoes. Why did I want old potatoes so.

[Jason Lockanfora]

They can grow the better to. Better to grow. Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So the eyes come out sooner so you can plant them. You plant the potatoes with the eyes up. According to Buster Olney and Kelly Hodges, you plant the potatoes.

[Nigel]

You gave specific instructions as to where to find these. Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I said go to a store and ask for the oldest potatoes. You have the potatoes they're about to throw out. You came back with how many potatoes? Four. One large and three very tiny. Yeah. Which we hope will plant. We'll just plant them.

[Nigel]

You'll cut them, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, if we get some sprouts on the eyes. Yes. We'll cut them up and we'll plant them in various spots. I asked you to get flowers. How many flowers did I ask you to get?

[Jason Lockanfora]

You asked me to get two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How many did you get?

[Jason Lockanfora]

I only got one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, so you got half.

[Michael]

So it's not looking good for Harrison right now, is it?

[Tony Reali]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. And they're a little. The one you got is a little bit bigger than the opening I had. But. But the effort, and it meets the.

[Nigel]

Requirement for partial sun shade.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you do. Did you. Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Nigel]

Nodding enthusiastically.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Excited about that. And I asked you to get two zucchini plants and you got.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I only got you one. But.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But there's gonna be a great reason.

[Jason Lockanfora]

But I didn't know if you wanted the seeds or the plant, so I got you both.

[Nigel]

Or Prep for the 2026 season.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we're a little late on the seeds. We're a little late. We would. We would start the seeds probably in January. Indoors.

[Nigel]

Yeah, we'll start them under, like a lamp inside.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, so we'll do that. But. Okay. So we're. And you're excited about planting them after the show, you're gonna plant them?

[Jason Lockanfora]

Yeah, of course.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Have you ever planted anything?

[Jason Lockanfora]

No.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So this is great. I'm sure your father is really excited about this internship.

[Michael]

Well, it's teaching him everything he needs to know about broadcasting right here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we don't need anything. And we just need stuff like that. So that's. That's the open of our show. And now we will get out of here. Who we going to first? Jason.

[Michael]

Jason.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jason Lockinforo. And we're gonna talk about the Tush Push and other things, too, I guess. Jim Ercek, you know, I mean, Jason's a Baltimore guy. He is gonna be less kindly disposed to the Irsay family. Not necessarily Jimmy, but the Irsay family, I would think, than other people might be.

[Michael]

And probably not all that happy about what's going on with his Orioles either?

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Orioles stink. Yeah, we should ask him about the Orioles as well. So we'll come back with Jason. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Now let's talk about that car you own but don't use, the one you're paying to keep registered and ins taking up space out front and is just sitting there doing no one any good. Let me tell you what you should do about that car. You should give Cars for Kids a call and have them take care of it for you. That's right. Just give them the info. They will come to you as soon as the next day. Take that car off your hands at no cost to you. Even better, they will turn that car into funds to help kids. So visit carsforkids.org Tony that's cars with a K and the number four to donate or call cars for kids directly at 1-877-cars-FOR KIDS.

[Michael]

You don't want to sing it?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not singing it.

[Nigel]

Donate your car today.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now. I will never get that out of my head for the rest of the day and they will get that car picked up in a jiffy.

[Nigel]

Join the band.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Plus you can get a tax deduction, vacation voucher and life will be just great. They've been around for 30 years and have done this over a million times. Call now or head over to cars4kids.org Tony right now and get this done. That's carsforkids.org Tony remember, that's cars with.

[Harrison]

A K. This is the Tony Kornizer Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Harrison]

This is the Tony Kornizer Show.

[Nelson Bragg]

I'd like to think that you could believe I'd be there if you needed me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is Nelson Bragg. This is a song you could believe. Big Stir Records presents his album Melody to Nelson, A Pop Anthology. He's an LA singer songwriter. Nelson Bragg, he was the guy who did the Brian Wilson song.

[Michael]

Yes. Played with Brian Wilson.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we're.

[Michael]

We're fans.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. We're inclined towards him.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Because he did the Brian Wilson stuff. And you can hear it. Yeah, I mean, you can hear it. Nelson Bragg, you could believe plays in Jason Lock and Flora, who we wanted to talk to for a variety of reasons because the NFL was. Had their meetings. They had him, I guess, in Minnesota. And Jason, we'll start with this. The Tush push lives, but 22 owners, 22 out of 32 voted against it. What is. What does that mean for the play? What does that mean for the NFL? What is, you know, how does Roger Goodell look at something where you need 24, which is an arbitrary number, 75%, but you get 22. It's a lot of owners. Yeah.

[Tony Reali]

Well, look, this has been in Goodell's crosshairs for a while and, you know, they can go under the guise of health and safety or, you know, whatever they want, but to him, it's been, you know, sort of. Now it's a bad look. He doesn't. He doesn't. He's not a proponent of it. He, I guess, maybe aesthetically doesn't like it. Obviously, the situation with the commanders in the playoffs brought some of this to a head. He clearly didn't like the way that played out, and he's been letting that be known to these billionaires and trying to build sort of a conglomerate of them enough to meet that threshold that you mentioned. It's probably the last year for it. I mean, you just go from. If you chronicle this over the last 18 months or so, it went from something that, you know, hey, we're kind of ruminating on it, like, yeah, you guys ask us about it sometimes and you know, we're going to have to see something that they wanted to have a more formal temperature taking on in terms of a vote. And at the last meeting when it was going to be obvious to anybody who was digging around on this that Goodell didn't have the votes, he pushed it back. And they didn't just push it back for a year, but hey, you know, let's just table this for a couple months. So then they call in some more favors and they work some more people over and then they get pretty close to that threshold. And now all that's on the record. And so, you know, basically they just have to get a couple more people over to their side and they'll get their way. And I would imagine that, that, that that would happen because teams are, you know, the Eagles, obviously, most notably, but they're not the only team. Teams will keep using this and you can continue to gather information to say whether you think it's unfair or unsightly or whatever hogwash you can talk to try to, you know, relitigate this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So when I first saw, you know.

[Tony Reali]

He'Ll, he'll win in the end.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You think you're all.

[Tony Reali]

There's always things you can offer people, you know, more prime time game. There's so much horse trading that can go on in this billionaire boys club. But it's clear that he's got, he's, he's, he and the league office are out to eradicate this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay? So this interests me in this regard. The first time I saw it, two or three years ago, I said, as anybody would say, this has to be illegal. It has to be. They're pushing the guy. It has to be illegal. Excuse me. But then I found out that in 2005 they made a ruling that it's okay to push people, which leads me to this. Jason, why did it take almost 20 years for somebody to come up with this play?

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, you know, you'd think Belichick or one of these people might have found. Well, look, I think part of it is the Eagles have a quarterback who's not built like every quarterback. You know, not every quarterback squats whatever. He squats these.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. £350 or something.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah. Not every center is, you know, had the build and the ability to undercut everybody and sort of the. I don't know if they would call it country strength of Kelsey. And they, you know, they found themselves, I think for whatever reason in a lot of short yardage situations. So I don't. Look, I'm not going to tell you I know the entire genesis of it and how all that came together. But I do think there was a bit of a confluence of some people who just physically their build their traits. What they were already sort of asked to do, you know, lent itself to. Lent itself to it. It does feel very sort of syriani. There's a bit of, I think sort of like a flippant nature to it or, you know, a bit of a flipping on the middle finger like, you know, and it worked and it. It works pretty spectacularly and you know, sincerest form of flattery and all other. I think when it really became. Probably started getting the Goodell when it looked like it was something that was going to maybe become something that maybe he didn't like from the giddy up now looks like it's going to become trendy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Tony Reali]

And there's different derivations of it and the Ravens have a derivation of it and a couple other teams have a derivation of it. And so that's when I think he's like, look, do we want everybody to do this or do we want to have nobody do this? I think it's all pretty pathetic. Like it's perfectly legal when someone finds a way to sort of, I don't know if you want to say exploit or maximize or derive more utility from something that most people had never spent a second thinking about in the first place. Then I would say you adapt to that innovation and you either find a way to stop it or you find a way to make a part of it your own in some capacity. But it seems like over there the powers that be are more like, well, we just want to take it away.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I mean, to me, the first thing I would say is don't let him get to the one yard line. You know, get a defense that doesn't allow that. But the other curiosity I have is there, and I'm wondering if maybe Goodell engineered this as well. Is there a particular reason why the packers were leading the fight against it?

[Tony Reali]

I don't know. You know, it's. That's interesting to me, like because they don't have an owner. There's not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Tony Reali]

To a person. They've got Mark Murphy, who's kind of that guy. And Mark Murphy is quite a company man and Mark Murphy, I believe is, is going out anyway. I don't know that the packers were particularly aggrieved by this or from this, but they have a unique arrangement there in their ownership structure and I don't know, maybe that had something to do with it. Murphy's a very well liked guy over there at Park Avenue.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, let's move on. And this is your wheelhouse. I'm not asking you to slam him, but I mean, is Aaron Rodgers alive? Is he going to play or do we know? It doesn't look like he's going to play.

[Tony Reali]

Doesn't look like he's super enthused about it. I think the real question is how long do the Pittsburgh Steelers allow themselves to be a party to this, to this folly, you know, to this whole charade, to this publicity stunt or whatever it is. I mean, he certainly led them to believe that he's going to play and he'll most likely play for them, but he'll play, you know, at the right time and place and sort of at his leisure. We've started to see remarks pop up a little bit from ownership that I guess you could infer, at least connotes the idea that they know that this is kind of silly and they know that they're seasoned. Like, I'm not the biggest OTA guy in the world. I think it's kind of a joke, as much attention as they get. But if you're a team like them in this unique position of just getting in the playoffs isn't good enough anymore, and we all acknowledge that. And currently Mason Rudolph is our quarterback and we really want this other guy and we know we'll only have him for a year and he doesn't know anybody in our building and it's a different system and he's very quirky and we need to learn him and he needs to learn us. And we can't get him in our building yet. And we're doing these practices that are kind of starting to look like football and we're having these meetings that really are kind of all about football and we don't know where he is. Like, that's, that's ludicrous to me. And for me, any serious organization at this point would have given him a cutoff of May the first. Like, if you have designs of being our starting quarterback this year, then you need to be in our building starting May 1, and you need to be in our building with some regularity. Voluntary for some, but not for you in this situation.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree with, I agree with all that. I do.

[Tony Reali]

You're not, you're not our punter. You're not our, you know, you're not some aging running back who's been here for 10 years and knows it all and has done it all and fits the system. Like you're a very stubborn mule headed quarterback who wants to have his fingerprints on everything we do and wants to have the ability to audible in and out of everything. And so you. We got to be well vested in each other if we're going to get there. And he, to your point, initially, he doesn't seem particularly interested in any of that. But I think he is interested in not having his career. And as inglorious as it would be if his last down was with that terrible Jackson.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Tony Reali]

Last year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Agreed.

[Tony Reali]

I think he'll play and I guess he'll play with Pittsburgh. But Pittsburgh should give him a public cutting off point and frankly that should have already happened.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We moved to the Irsay family. Bob Ursay, villainous. Obviously, in Baltimore, it's the most notorious act ever in the NFL to call the Mayflower vans and move your team in the middle of the night, which literally happened. I don't know if Jim Irsay was part of that. And I would ask you just your sense of him as an owner of what became the Indianapolis Colts franchise.

[Tony Reali]

Well, look, he certainly had a much different public Persona than most owners. And yeah, I think he reveled in being a little bit of an outsider, which is odd because he was literally born into their billionaire boyfriend. But, you know, he had like sort of a rock and roll mentality and was a little bit more loose and free with what he would say to the media. He obviously had personal struggles that spanned decades that put him in situations that frankly, if you weren't born into a billionaire boys club, there probably would have been more ramifications from at least professionally. I mean, look, Peyton Manning saved that franchise. I think we need to be real about the whole thing. They moved to Indianapolis. It was a thing for a minute and then that dome was empty and then they didn't think the dome was good enough and the organization kind of fell into disrepair and you know, the quarterback saved them and the quarterback changed the entire fortunes of everything. And the quarterback helped them get that sparkling new stadium, Bill. And you know, the quarterback got them rings and the quarterback brought credibility and you know, that's to me, sort of the story there. And you know, maybe they would have been onto something there. Again, lightning struck twice for them. Andrew.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Andrew Luck. Andrew Luck is expected. But yeah, I mean I looked at them drafting Andrew Luck and thought that he's the next one. Then he left after three or four years.

[Tony Reali]

Yeah, I mean, maybe, maybe that would have happened, but I mean, you don't always get to pick in that spot and have a potential generational quarterback to take. Most of the time you don't. And you know that they had that, they had that happen twice. And now we'll, I guess we'll find out what, you know, his, his daughters can do with it and what the next iteration of, of that franchise is, but they don't have a quarterback right now. And, oh, no, that's, that's a pretty significant issue for them, I think in the afc.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know. I don't know the answer to what I'm going to say, and I don't think you do either. The Orioles are terrible this year. They won a hot over 100 games two years ago and they're winning 50%. No, they're not. They're winning no less than 50. They're winning nothing. Basically. They fired a manager. Is that the answer? Is there something really broken there?

[Tony Reali]

Oh, it's really broken. I mean, their culture is warped and toxic and they have three people who decide everything. And they've had unfettered autonomy and no checks and balances and no pushback and nobody in the organization who doesn't think and act and, and perceive the game of baseball exactly like they do. And if you're always convinced that the reality, the real reality, like what should have happened when you say things like should have, and you say things like baseball gods, and you say things like, well, at the end of the year, I have a pretty good idea how many teams will deserve to be at least 500 in the AL East.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Then you, you, you, you're an idiot.

[Tony Reali]

You're a fool. You have allowed the numbers in your algorithms to convince you that if you're given enough time, you will always be correct. Because if not for these injuries and if not for rain that day, and if not for all the things that impact human beings who are paid money to play baseball professionally, if you just want to sit there and look at your computer and say, we have to be right, we will be right, we're always right. Just give us more time and you don't change and alter the course of your franchise to any of these factors. Boy, why are all these pitchers getting hurt? Boy, why do we keep having people take, have Tommy John surgery later than they should have? Boy, like why, why, why don't any of these Kids we call up to the minors know how to field a singular position. Well, maybe because you're asking them to play three and four positions a week in the minors, like they're so broken and so over their skis. I didn't think they'd be good, I thought they'd be bad. I didn't think they'd be this bad. But I'm not shocked. Brandon Hyde had to go because you keep losing seven and eight games in a row. Somebody's got to pay for it. Especially when you know, your owner said he thinks you've got, you know, a playoff team. But that's not going to change anything. That won't change anything. The guy they have as the interim now, I feel sorry for him. I mean he wasn't coached up. He's got no business doing this. He knows he's got no business doing this. And boy, they still got 100 some games to play. So yeah, it's a mess. I hope they fire the GM and let somebody else run the trade deadline. I don't think they will. And that's a shame because he will just keep running this thing into the ground. He was the perfect guy for the first three, three and a half, maybe four years of a rebuild to do all the behind the scenes stuff and the infrastructure and the IT and the analytics department and the Dominican Academy and yeah, you give him a top five draft pick, you know, he might get some of those right. And he's, he was good at all that. But when it comes to the actual major league product, he's got no clue.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow. Wow. I'm glad I asked that question. What are you working on? You doing, are you doing something you want to promote? What are you doing?

[Tony Reali]

I am. I don't know if it's going to be at noon every day but it's going to be at noon today and it'll probably be at noon most days. Doing a little betting game show called wannabet. Me, my producer, my radio show, Ben hall and a rotating cast of professional handicappers. In about 20 minutes we'll give you all the information and some yuck yucks that you need to be an informed better for what we're playing, why we're playing it today. It's pretty unique format. It's a game show where hopefully the winner is you. We're not making money off it, but we're trying to make money for you. We've got a banger, banger of a theme song. This AI is scary. Scary what you can do with this AI and We're having a lot of fun and a lot of people are participating and we've already made some people some money.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So yeah, you can check that out.

[Tony Reali]

It's just on my Twitter stream for now. Asunlachenfora YouTube on the way beyond that, who knows? But having a lot of fun with that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you. Good luck with that.

[Tony Reali]

Thank you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Don't ask me to be on because I don't know how to bet. Yeah, I know.

[Tony Reali]

I'm thinking at some point though I might and somebody could coach you up, you know what I mean? And you could just sell it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I would just like to start screaming, bet on this. Bet on this.

[Tony Reali]

I could, I could tell you, you know what I mean? Like covertly. I could give you the notes and you just, you just go out there and do it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sell anything. Thank you, Jason.

[Tony Reali]

Thanks guys.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jason Lock and fora boys and girls, we'll take a break. Tony Reali, our original stat boy, will join us when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser show. FanDuel is giving all new customers a shot at $250 in bonus bets. Join FanDuel today. You'll get started with $250 in bonus bets if your first five dollar bet wins. From three pointers to steals to assists, FanDuel has so many ways to bet your favorite player props. Plus after the game tips off, you can even combine live prop bets into a same game parlay. For a chance to win big, just visit FanDuel.com TonyK to get in on all the NBA play in tournament action. That's FanDuel.com TonyK for your shot at $250 in bonus bets.

[Harrison]

Must be 21 plus and present in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana. Permitted parishes only Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia or Wyoming. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. First online real money wager only $10. First deposit required. Bonus issued as non withdrawable bonus bets that expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See [e-mail] gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com rg in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. Call 1-800-Next Step or text Next Step to 53342 in Arizona 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chadinc 1-800-9 with it in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770 stop in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1-800gambler.net in West Virginia or call 1-800-522-47 00. In Wyoming, hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-550 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-hopeny or text hopeny in New York or visit OASAS.NY.gov gambling standard text mess sports betting is void in Georgia, Hawaii, Utah and other states where prohibited. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You've heard me talk about Collars and company, makers of the amazing dress collar polo. Well, now they've taken things to the next level with their brand new maverick performance blazer. And you have to check this out. These blazers are sharp, perfect for travel. Why? Because they're wrinkle resistant. Just throw it in your bag. When you get to your destination, slip it back on. No wrinkles, no stress. Finally, no more figuring out how to travel with a blazer. And it's not just about convenience. The Mavic performance blazer is made with stretch fabric so you can move comfortably all day long. Plus it's packed with smart features, inside security zip pockets, a built in optional pocket square, and even a sunglasses loop. While you're at it, pair the blazer with The Collars & Co. Famous Dress Collar polos. They've already sold over a million of these comfortable polos with a signature dress collar on top. So Visit Collars & Company. Use the promo code Tony for 20% off today. Use the code people. That should send me one of these. Yeah, I'd like to see this. A non wrinkle blazer. Yeah, because then I don't have to carry a steamer around with me all the time.

[Jason Lockanfora]

This is the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Once again, this is Nelson Bragg. This is a song called Forever Days. We are inclined towards Nelson Bragg because he played with Brian Wilson, right? Yes. And so we're inclined to anybody who ever played with Brian Wilson, 100%. I think Brian Wilson's a genius. That's just me. Nelson Bragg in Forever Days. Michael, if people like Nelson Bragg want to send in their original music and get it played on this show, how.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Do they do it?

[Nigel]

Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesonyquinizershow.com okay and Nelson Bragg is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Playing in Tony Real. I go back all of Reali's life as an adult, you know, around the horn. This is the last day of around the Horn. We're not going to talk about this at any great length. Nobody really understands why this is happening, but it's happening. So we're going to go to a different direction, which is. Do you remember the start? Like, do you remember the start of pti? Do you remember how you got involved in the television business that has now put bread on the table, you know, for over 20 years?

[Jason Lockanfora]

Absolutely.

[Tony Reali]

Of course.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Yeah. I was writing trivia questions for the ESPN show Tubing a Drill. Kenny Main was the host. Kenny Maine's very funny tone.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Jason Lockanfora]

And writing those questions, but you can't be writing funny trivia questions. So. So the show made it three seasons. They told us on a Monday, Friday's your last day. That type of feeling. And there happened to be a piece of paper in the greater office that said, there's a new show out of D.C. that needs a researcher. So I applied with Ride Ohman Kelleher and Shannon Suzuki. Kelleher and I signed on for PTI a month before we went to air in October. So that would have been the end of. The end of September. First day of October was my first day at pti.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you were supposed to be a researcher.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I always was. Once a researcher.

[Tony Reali]

Always a researcher.

[Tony Kornheiser]

TK okay, so how did Stat See? We. We could use. I am so old, I make so many mistakes now. We could so use Stat Boy. How did Stat Boy come about? Because it was not on the first show. Was not.

[Jason Lockanfora]

It was on the first show was. It was a week before, you know, we did a. We did a special maybe the Wednesday before we launched. And it's possible. Stat Boy was it on that show. But definitely October 22nd, I want to say 2001. Remember a week and a half before we were doing run throughs on set.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You don't remember sitting chair.

[Jason Lockanfora]

You don't remember?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't remember. I thought we just went on the air. I don't remember these other things.

[Jason Lockanfora]

It wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't too much, but we did some run throughs. This is what camera one is. This is what camera two is. I'm right off camera with you guys.

[Tony Reali]

And.

[Jason Lockanfora]

And it was pretty clear to me neither of you were going to be taking my research as maybe I imagined it in my head what relationship we had where I would give you this, this, and this. Boom, boom, boom. One Two, three, not ten pages of research, which is maybe the history of researchers at espn. So I'm sitting in your chairs when you guys are saying, that's it. We did it once.

[Tony Reali]

That's it.

[Jason Lockanfora]

And I did 2, 3, 4 with Josh Maurer, an intern. Your name you will recall many, many moons ago. And Kelleher and Ride Home are in the control room and Maurer and I are. And there's video of this are going through impersonating you. My line, Tony, was, I'm not Tony Kornizer, but I'm playing him on tv. And I would start the show and that type of, you know, energy was something I think Keller and Reinholm appreciated. But even more than that, Tony, remember the room, the control in the newsroom? I was, I was giving it back to you guys, and it was the most eye opening experience in my life. You created a newsroom where everybody had a voice. I've since now done a show with 5,000 episodes where we gave everybody a voice. 60 people on around the Horn. How ridiculous is that? But the intern, or in my case, the researcher, could walk in and prove why their opinion was better than the columnists in that moment.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, that's because we came from that. We came from that with George Solomon at the Washington Post. The most democratic newsroom of all time.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Yes, exactly. So both the corrections page came right out of a newspaper.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Jason Lockanfora]

And it happened to be my energy and my, My personality in the room that I, I felt confident talking to you. I've known you my whole life, Tone, in any number of ways. You're, you know, you and I, outer borough slash Long island slash New Jersey energy. We, you know, Italian and Jewish. I mean, I mean, come on, what are we talking about? Food cooked differently. You know, we have better sauce. I think we would all agree we have better sauce. But even.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, better. Yeah. Were you so. I don't, I'm not kidding. I don't remember any of this. I truly don't. When we went on the air the first time, you were stat boy. The first time, were you nervous? Were you confident? Did you know what it was going to be?

[Jason Lockanfora]

I think in my head I was confident. If I looked at the film now, and I remember Kelleher, of course, and right on telling me, break the tape, break the tape. I'm doing 10 to 15 seconds of airtime. This is not landing the rocket back down on earth. But, you know, I had done radio at Fordham for four years. I had been in the Yankees clubhouse for three years interviewing World Series teams. I Had hosted longer, you know, call in shows for three hours. I had worked with Marty Glickman for three years, so I had some chops. My friends and partners in college were doing pro jobs, calling games, so I was hopeful that that could be a career for me. So I wasn't scared about the talking part, but there's a red light on you for the first time. And it came so suddenly. You know, maybe I would have said, I have nerves now, but I. You know, I. It was you guys. It was. It was. I was only talking to you guys. That's all.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that. I mean, it was very important. I. I miss the concept of corrections very much because I grew up with newspapers, and we make mistakes, and it's always good when somebody points out the mistakes. And it seemed to me, and it seemed to Mike that you were complete natural at it. But I wonder at that moment. Okay, because you're in your early 20s at that moment, and I'm in my 50s, and Mike's in his 40s. At that moment, did you see yourself as a host on a television show? Did you see yourself as a panelist? You weren't, right?

[Jason Lockanfora]

No way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I saw myself, and I still would aspire to be Matt Kelleher as a human. I think at that point, I had made a shift into I can be a show creator. Showrunner is a word that's come out in the last 20 years. That probably was not an even in the lexicon then, but that was where I was maybe come 2001 and through the first season of PTI. I mean, 20 seconds of airtime. I wasn't trying to fill in for you guys when you went on vacation. I was trying to build the show. My favorite parts, of course, were that we all. I mean, it was very much a democratic process, but I felt a little ownership over the game segment in the show became, you know, what's the word? And I think no one should be taking any credit for any of this, but I remember saying, I want to see Kornizer in a police uniform. You know, the way he tips that cap. And good cop, bad cop cracked me up and still does. I can get the image. I have just these flashback echoes in my memory of the littlest things you guys do. The little. The way you move in your chair tone, the way you give us a little. It's a penguin dance, but. But almost like if it was at. At one of these old school dances where you weren't allowed to really dance, so you just do a little penguin dance when you're in five good minutes, and you ask a question that you, you know, you think you got somebody on love.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I really. I love the games. We don't do the games, and we don't do anything anymore. We're on fumes. Obviously, we're doing all right, you know, but. But I love the. My favorite game was the game that for, you know, for politically political correctness, we had to stop the conjoined twins game where we'd cut people in half. We'd cut the heads off.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I mean, so that's what we're talking about here. We were really just throwing stuff on the wall. And you, of course, wanted to dress up, which is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Jason Lockanfora]

It's an amazing little, you know, mechanism that the show could lean on, and Wilbon didn't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But he really always put on a costume. Always. It's okay. I don't. So what? It's entertainment. It's not important. It's entertainment.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I feel this way, too. And I was just talking to an interview I did. They called me a recluse this month because I don't do interviews. I'm on TV every day for 25 years. I got kids after that. I'm not gonna go do interviews. That wasn't how I did the last 23 years. But I'm happy to talk to everybody this week. They called me a recluse. But somebody said the show horn is very serious, and I rep. I accept that representation. One in ten topics may have been serious. One in five shows, we did 50,000 topics. I'm the guy who created yes. Types of games where we would be cutting your faces and dressing up as cops. And I. Wonderful sneakers on tv.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Loved it. I loved all of that. I loved all of that. You've been doing this a lot. I mean, I'm an old man. Wilbur is almost an old man. You're an actual man. I love you, and I want the best for you. I mean, is there stuff you want to do? Is there any. I don't want you to talk about things that you can't talk about. But you have, you know, do you have my life?

[Jason Lockanfora]

Like, you have reached out so many times in the last six months, and it's always wonderful to hear from your friends telling you things about you that lift you up is the best feeling in the world. It really is. So I've had nothing but support now for six months because I know people know me to be a big feeler, and they know how much I put into this show, and they're gonna initially think what Is he gonna do May 24 when that show is over? This kid, this was his other child. This was his heart outside of his body as expression, you know, So I am walking on air and I feel triumphant. I always re. I mean, PTI has even got a bigger number than Horn. We're both in the top 10 all time of talk shows. Tom. I don't know. You don't know that. You don't know that. But we're more than Oprah Winfrey did. We're more than Letterman did. And I don't know what the end number is going to be for PTI. I hope it's today. 10,000 today. I put a lot into that in putting in numbers. I'm a numbers guy. I'm a fat guy. So I love that Regis started at 23 on TV and he @ some point set the Guinness record of making the most episodes, you know, and Trebek did that show for so many years. I, so I appreciated that. But now I also see the value in not just doing one show. And I'm gonna have some amazing opportunities because 23 years of hosting one show to 5,000 episodes, that's part of, you know, the most successful hour in an hour doesn't come in the market often. So I'm not worried about that part.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you remember, I mean, if people don't remember this, I, I do remember this. Around the horn started and Max Kellerman was the host.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And then Max Kellerman. Yeah. Max Kellerman then got an offer from Fox and he left. Do you remember? You must remember when somebody went to you and said, you are the host. What was that?

[Tony Reali]

What happened?

[Jason Lockanfora]

I got the phone call. It had to be 7 o' clock on a Sunday night. I had, of course, been. We were right next door and I had filled in two or three times when Max had a sty in his eye. I literally wore Max's clothes one day and just filled in and then ran off to the set because. But these are these stories you hear about in the show business industry that you never imagined, Right? And we know about Wally Pipp and Lou Gehrig and all these things and, and, and how you can be called up at any moment. But I got a call at 7 o' clock on a Sunday night. It happened to be Tony the day the Patriots, Panthers, Super Bowl 38 was being played.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Jason Lockanfora]

It happened to be the day Janet Jackson was doing halftime with wardrobe malfunction. So the biggest sporting news day of the year, the highest rated show of the year. I happened to have an event in the middle of halftime that was out of my pay grade and headspace. That's when I got the call. I said, yes, it was. It was Bill Wolf who was calling me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sure.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I didn't know this is going to be more than one day. I can't believe, you know, I had enough clothes to finish out the week because I had a dress in suits back then and I had a contract on a day to day for over a year. You guys were magnanimous and said focused on that show for the first month or so. And then I came back to do Stat Boy. And I never let go. I never wanted to let go. And I was able to sign on for 23 years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's wonderful story. I mean, I'm sure that Mike and I said, what do you mean? He's doing a show. We need him here. Let's stand in the way of his career completely if we possibly could. Let's ruin his life and let's keep him here. Right? That's consistent with who we are, isn't it?

[Jason Lockanfora]

I think that's the direct quote that time. You don't remember it, but you were you verbatim. It was an amazing thing. You guys are so supportive because let's not overstate. That boy is a great little character. And it was 20 seconds of airtime and this was a 30 minute TV show. The day after the Super Bowl. I watched the video with Pablo last week. For the first time in my life. I thought I'd be wincing through. It's a very watchable show that day. I'm putting on a little bit of a voice because people are supposed to sound like this when they make tv but. But other than that, very watchable show. I appreciate the show when it was more bombastic. That meets my energy in my life and life with kids and all these things. But I did think the show could evolve, should evolve. And in 23 years, I can imagine we had five or six different types of shows. The bombastic one, the silly one, the one that was more, you know, nuanced, I guess.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I love it. Thanks for doing this.

[Jason Lockanfora]

I love you too. Thank you for. I mean, this is my last one. The reclusive reality. Who was called handsome this week?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Handsome. Handsome in New York magazine. Handsome Tony Reali. I never got that. Howard Cosell said, doesn't he know he's unsightly?

[Jason Lockanfora]

You know what though? For both of us though, you know, the objectification of our sports yappers really needs to stop then. Right? I will accept. We'll Accept Hansen. We always will. That's nice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Fantastic. I'll talk to you soon.

[Jason Lockanfora]

Thank you T. I love you. Talk to you soon.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tony Realy boys and girls. We'll come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Harrison]

Meet Maisli, the first ever milk alternative. Made from non GMO corn, it's creamy, fiber rich and made with coconut oil without seed or vegetable oils. Perfect for coffee baking or just sipping cold. With 8 grams of fiber per cup.

[Nigel]

It supports gut health too.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Even better, it's sustainable. Corn requires less water and land than.

[Harrison]

Almonds, soy or oats. Head to maizely.com and use code NEW tasty for 20% off your first order.

[Jason Lockanfora]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Nelson Bragg]

Sam SA.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We'Ve had enough rain the last few days that we don't need to be more wet. But this always makes you more wet. Jeremy Vint is just so peaceful. Tremendous.

[Michael]

Love that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tremendous. You want to do the Bethesda bagel ad for us?

[Michael]

Yes, Bethesda bagels. We love them. You will as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And before we get to the mailbag, let me just say she's got everything she needs. She's an artist, she don't look back. She's got everything. She's an artist, she don't look back. She can take the dark out of the nighttime she can paint the daytime black. You'll start outstanding proud to steal her anything she needs you'll start outstanding proud to steal her anything she needs. But you'll wind up peeking through a keyhole down upon your knees. You write that so I didn't write that. But the woman who later became my wife had a boyfriend in high school who wrote this for her and claimed he wrote this and she once showed it to me and I was. Your boyfriend was Bob Dylan. Because Bob Dylan wrote this. Who's this clown you know you were with? The guy's a clown, an idiot.

[Michael]

And happy birthday to a day in advance to Mr. Zimmerman.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. Thanks to our guests today. Jason Locanfara, Tony Realy thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember you remember. You can listen to us on Apple podcast, Spotify and Odyssey if you get the show through Apple Podcasts. Please leave us a review. I gave the Necco Wafers to Harrison to bring home to his parents who will remember Necco wafers though he looked looked at it as if it, you know. Yeah, arrived from outer space, but bring them home.

[Michael]

That's how candy used to be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

A haiku from flowers like the zucchini. It's either the deer, rabbits or maybe the birds, said Mr. Squirrel Michael. You think it's rabbits?

[Nigel]

It's definitely rabbits.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's eating the asters and they are eating the Black Eyed Susans that I bought specifically. So does this look like the culprit? That does look like. You take a picture of that rabbit.

[Nigel]

Again, liquid fence in. It's the deer and rabbit repellent. Smells terrible, but it should work until it gets wounded away.

[Michael]

And we do have the sonic disruptor.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That should be.

[Nigel]

Sonic disruptor.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. You take that to sonic, they give you a hamburger, I think. Chuck Kamurik Somerville, S.C. i have to say, Mr. Tony AI really scares me. I asked it to draw a despondent Tony Kornheiser standing in his potato patch. Give this to my son. This is freakish. It's just freakish. From Linda. We have armadillos that keep eating our orange trees and our plants and even our strawberries that are covered up. They like to dig in the yard when we're sound asleep. They are an ugly creature. Armadillos.

[Michael]

Yeah, they appear fish armadillos. This, by the way, this AI picture of you is very.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It makes me upset.

[Michael]

Yeah, but it's a great. It's like an orange rust colored sweater.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Makes up. Yeah, yeah. Richard Crenshaw. Richard Crenshaw In Chase City, Virginia, almost 30 years ago, when my dad was in his 80s, I would drive from northern Virginia to southern Virginia every other weekend and meet him at the family farm. He always wanted a garden, so we had one in a small corner of the garden spot of his youth. One year he decided he wanted potatoes. I planted them on St Patrick's Day in keeping with Southern tradition. By the masters. They were up and strongly growing. By the US Open, they were blooming. And by the hottest day in mid July, I started to dig them. Dad sat on the truck tailgate while I sweated myself through shoveling and sifting, only to come up with a paint can worth of small spuds. I was verbally disgusted, but when I finished the whining, my dad just said, well, son, that's the shame. But this would have been a much bigger problem in 1932. I still own the farm. I raised potatoes most years. That's a lovely story.

[Michael]

That really is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In the Great Depression, it would have been much worse from steaming Carmody in Saginaw, Michigan. It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw, including a photo of my small garden in which I'm growing potatoes in garlic. I planted the potatoes six weeks ago. I'm so late on the potatoes. As you can see, potato plants do indeed grow above the ground. On the positive side, they do seem to deter rabbits. Since you already have a potato guy, can I be the official Michigan Public Radio reporter for the Tony Kornizer show? Yes. And the potatoes. Yeah, they have flowers that go above the ground. I didn't know that. I thought it was all below the ground. It's not gonna work. You know, I'm trying. It's not gonna work next year. Maybe not this year. Patrick Graham, Catonsville, Maryland if you were looking things for your intern to do, you could have them text or call me when the new episodes have been released. That would be great. I was driving home from High Point, North Carolina yesterday after attending a sales meeting and fabric show. I've done this trip a thousand times, usually around eight hours. When I put it in ways, it said nine hours. And I wasn't surprised because I was traveling through north Northern Virginia and the D.C. area. I breezed through Fredericksburg at 80 and I was great, almost to the Wilson Bridge. When ways said the words, you dread traffic for 27 minutes, I said to myself, you can translate what this is. After getting over the bridge, they got me off on 50 towards Annapolis, which I've done before and usually take 97 to the Harbor Tunnel. Then I saw take the bay Bridge to 301 North. When I saw Bay Bridge, I started to freak out because of all I've heard horror stories. I got so nervous I was stuck in traffic before the bridge, had to pee on the side of the road. I have to say, the bridge is imposing and maybe if there is, the next time I look sideways. DG. Of course. Of course it's DG from Larry in Clayton, North Carolina. 100% guilty as charged. Yes, I absolutely used AI to help write that story because although I was lucky enough to attend the original public Ivy, the University of North Carolina, I couldn't be bothered to show up from any class. So before I'm sent out on a pontoon boat, hear me out. As surmise, creating that piece wasn't just a matter of typing Tony Kornheiser, but Hemingway and hearing enter and hitting enter. Getting someone getting something like that takes a strange cocktail of deep show lore, prompt engineering, hocus pocus junk, and an unhealthy familiarity with the Bea Arthur Joke. By day, I run corporate events and conferences, but this summer I'm actually presenting at our industry's big conference on how AI can help event professionals be more creative and efficient. So I spent a lot more time than is probably healthy learning how to make the robot right, like an erotic charter boat captain with a grudge against Greg Garcia. So yes, AI did the heavy lifting, but like any good fishing trip, it takes the right bait, patience, and knowing exactly where the weird stuff is biting. Warmest regards, Larry and Clayton. P.S. bob Ryan is still wrong. It was an upset. So that was that letter that we thought was so beautifully done. And and so what do you need?

[Nigel]

It's all about the prompts.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What do you need? How you get how you get AI to get to where you want to go. Scary.

[Michael]

It truly is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Should be outlawed. It's not going to be outlawed. Should be outlawed. Oh, Binghamton Softball Update.

[Michael]

Yeah, not a great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sadly, that's okay. Yeah. On Monday's episode, I had the honor of sharing the news about Binghamton winning the America East Championship and heading to Eugene, Oregon for the NCAA Tournament. Sadly, the Fighting Cornheisers weren't able to make it to super regionals. The mighty Bearcats lost 92 to that ACC powerhouse Stanford and battled Weber State before losing 74 late Saturday night. Binghamton finished the season 36 and 14, the second most wins in program history. Also, they swept both the America east regular season and tournament championships for the first time in program history. Head coach Jess Bump would be thrilled if you shouted out our team during PTI this week. As for fun softball facts, Michael mentioned pitchers throwing 75 miles an hour. Well, let's see. This season, Tennessee's Carlin Pickens set the record for fastest softball pitch ever recorded. She threw a pitch 78.2 mph against Arkansas, besting the previous mark set by another lady Volume, Monica Abbott, who set the mark during a 2012 National Pro Fast Pitch game with a 77 mile an hour heater. In a fun coincidence, Tennessee also holds the record for the fastest ever college baseball pitch thrown. Ben Joyce said that record 105.5. Lastly, on Monday's PTI, you brought up Liberty beating overall number one seed Texas A and M to advance to the super regionals. That marked the first time ever since national Seeding began in 2005 that the number one overall seed did not make it to super regionals. As the official college softball podcast of the Tony Kornheiser show, we look forward to continuing providing updates to the Littles and if you're in need for us to come on the podcast to talk about it. We're ready. Thanks again for being the connective tissue that brings us all together.

[Nigel]

Let me just say this, a 75 mile an hour softball pitch would have the same reaction time as 100 plus in baseball.

[Michael]

Yeah, that sounds.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Which means I can't hit it and couldn't hit it when I could play softball. Wilbond's team, Northwestern, won the golf tournament. They beat Stanford and they won the women's golf tournament. Much congratulations. Yes, I am thrilled that Binghamton played against Stanford. Stanford University is the finest combination of academics and athletics in the country. If Northwestern aspires to that, if Duke aspires to that, if, you know, other schools aspire to that, God bless, because they are number one. And it's not just the big sports. They have so many Olympians that come out of Stanford. Have you heard of Tiger Woods? I think he went to Stanford. Katie Ledeck? Have you heard of John McEnroe? Because I think he went to Stanford. Have you heard of Katie Ledecky? She went to Stanford. They do everything. And so for us to play them and lose to them, it's okay. It's okay to be in the arena with them. Michael Sandler in Warrenton, Virginia in 2023, I discovered the Nats, a team in Fredericksburg, and started going to a couple of games each year. The ballpark is beautiful. All the seats are closed, all the games are good. The first game I went to in 2023 was close, going into the ninth inning when the closer came in when Marquis Grissom Jr. Yes, that Marquis Grissom Jr. Whose dad was drafted by the Montreal Expos. I saw him strike out the side on his way to 11 saves that year. Over the next two years, he proceeded to crush it in High A and Double A. Recently promoted to AAA Rochester, he struggled the first few games. But trust me, this is the guy for whom you've been waiting. Remember the name and remember it was Michael from Warrenton, Virginia who told you about him. Thank you, Michael. Mark lynch can be Indiana. You read an email from Kevin Lee, who was a Fox pit reporter for the Indy 500. He referenced me as a friend. I don't know if I'd go that far. Look for me on Sunday. I'll be the tall white guy in turn too. Thanks. It's funny. Mike Corey, Rochester Hills, MI I share your concern about what happened to Mercy Danger of Hot Pink Hangover. The last I'd heard, she was taking a pottery class With Fawn Leibowitz, but I haven't heard from her again. It's funny. And Jennifer Vasilek in Alexandria, Virginia, talking about the NBA Conference finals. Tony, who do you like? Mike, who do you like and why? Mike. Boy tone. It's gonna be narrowly done in both. I think I like the Knicks in Minnesota, Tony. Really? Minnesota even saying Oklahoma City would win the title all year, Mike. Yeah, and I'm not. I'm not going to reverse field now. I'm not going to change who I think should win the championship. Never change, Wilbond. Never change. You did change. You're out on your bike tonight. Everyone, as always, do wear white.

[Tony Reali]

Hey, what's happening, Norm? It's a doggy dog world, Sammy. And I'm wearing milk bone under underwear.

[Nelson Bragg]

I'd like to think that you could believe I'd be there if you needed me. I know the world has treated you unkind. The people telling tales behind. Yeah, I've seen them all before. They have nothing worth crying for. When you're taking painful words too hard you can tell them I'm not very far. Cuz I like to thinking you knew I'd be there just for you. Can't you see I'm not a stranger Tempting fragile hearts to danger. I'd like to think that you could believe. I'd like to think that you could believe me. I'd like to think that you could believe. I'd like to think that you could believe I even if you needed me. Look into my eyes what do you see? Can't you tell I've got some fight in me. I'd like to make you new. I'm a little bit like you. We'll take over fight together. You don't have to be alone forever. I'd like to think that you could believe. I'd like to to think that you could believe me. I'd like to think that you could believe. I'd like to think that you could believe I'd be there if you needed me. Take it easy. No one can ever take it all Take it easy. If you lose yourself up here you come. I'd like to think that you could believe. I'd like to think that you could.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Believe.

[Nelson Bragg]

I'd like to think that you could believe. I'd like to think that you could believe. Even if you needed me. You tell me it's all right. We always take things off so hard. The time is passing slowly oh so slowly. Like a dream I try and take it like a man. Sometimes I wonder if I can. The price of winter breaks me. The house is spinning all around. My heart is turning upside down. I wanna break these far away Forever days. Forever days. I never ever thought I could feel so far. I never ever thought I could feel so far away. You know it's such a shame to find the one that stands the test of time the best of times so shorter than we had to part. The road was long today I walked until I felt it I counted steps from rocky hill Until Till I reach the farmhouse door. Until I lost my mind some more. I want to break these forever days Forever days. I never ever thought I could feel so far away. Forever days Forever days. I never ever thought I could be so far away. Waiting for the change. Waiting for the change to come. Waiting for the change. The girl I love to know she lives alone back home. The girl I always dream about. The girl I always seem to doubt Forever days Will take your love away. I wanna break these forever days Forever Days that never ever stop. But I can feel so far away. Forever days Forever days. Never ever thought I could feel so warm. I never ever thought I could be so far away.