“Cottage cheese and spin art”

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show

Episode: "Cottage Cheese and Spin Art"
Date: August 21, 2025
Host: Tony Kornheiser
Guests: Louisa Thomas, Buster Olney, Jason La Canfora

---

Overview

This episode of "The Tony Kornheiser Show" brings listeners a lively blend of sports discussion, nostalgic personal anecdotes, and current events, centered mainly on tennis, baseball, and football. Tony is joined by a trio of familiar contributors: Louisa Thomas (tennis writer for The New Yorker), ESPN’s Buster Olney (baseball analyst), and Jason La Canfora (football analyst/newspaper columnist). The conversations are conversational, quick-witted, and sprinkled with Tony’s trademark crankiness, pop-culture asides, and D.C.-centric humor.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mixed Doubles Tennis Controversy

(01:41–11:55)

• Background: Tony brings on Louisa Thomas to delve into her recent New Yorker piece about a controversial new mixed doubles format in tennis, which tried to lure top singles stars to a format historically devoted to specialists.

• Tony’s Take: Fascinated by the innovation and intrigued by the excitement it brought, Tony enjoyed the broadcast, especially that a “true” doubles team ultimately won.

  “I found it...honestly, to be a great watch…like you, I'm gratified that the traditional doubles team won.” (Tony Kornheiser, 04:29)

• Louisa’s Critique: She describes herself as “of two minds” about the change: It was fun, but also undermined the integrity and traditions of doubles specialists, who protested being pushed aside.

  “I think it's a terrible idea because...the only doubles team in the draw won the whole damn thing.” (Louisa Thomas, 03:34)
  “Doubles is its own thing and doubles fans...are fans of an event that features different kind of strategies, different kind of play. It's a lot of fun.” (03:55)

• Core Insights:

  • The new format provided a showcase for the skill and entertainment value of doubles.
  • There’s a call for compromise: Bring in singles stars but give dedicated doubles teams a chance (expand to 8 of each).
  • Both agree the athletic skill and unique teamwork in high-level doubles is underappreciated.

• Memorable Moment:
  Tony marvels at the quirky on-court communication:

  “They go out there, they talk to each other, like pitching coaches to pitchers. They cover their mouths as if anybody can hear them...It's great fun to watch.” (Tony Kornheiser, 05:59)

• On Tennis Reality Shows & “Shipping”
  Louisa is dismayed by a new reality dating show at the US Open and explains “shipping” to Tony (i.e., public obsession with celebrity couples), providing generational comic relief.

---

2. Local Color: Updates from Tony's World

(12:13–16:47)

• Dog Drama: Tony offers ongoing updates about his dog Chessy’s recent health scare, including a visit from Dr. Pearl, a mobile vet. The show takes a comedic turn as Tony, Michael, and Jason riff about whether Chessy will be “ready for week one” (in NFL terms), ultimately reflecting the show’s blend of pet, sports, and personal anecdotes.

  “Will she be ready for week one?” (Michael, 13:20)

• Gardening Woes:
  Tony bemoans the failure of his backyard flowers, only to learn—on air—from Michael and his guest that “the bunnies eat them.” The interplay highlights the show’s lovable trivialities.

  “Little tiny bunnies. I hate them. I mean, I love them.” (Tony Kornheiser, 15:52)

---

3. Buster Olney Talks Baseball: Nostalgia and Playoff Races

(18:48–33:12)

• Cottage Cheese and Spin Art:
  The segment opens with Tony reminiscing about Lake George, NY—site of his first cottage cheese encounter and his introduction to “spin art,” to Buster’s amusement.

• Playoff Races:

  • Cincinnati’s Surprise: Reds are a wildcard contender. Buster attributes this to dynamic young pitching and manager Terry Francona’s culture.

    “They have excellent young starting pitching...and I do think Terry Francona is a factor here.” (Buster Olney, 21:47)

  • Yankees’ Home Run Surge: Judge’s return sparks massive power numbers. Buster predicts a playoff berth largely due to Judge and their “easiest schedule you’ve ever seen down the stretch.”

    “Every time Aaron Judge is in the lineup, they're a good team. Every time he's out…they're not a good team.” (23:04)

  • Cubs/Brewers, NL Central: Cubs might be outperforming expectations, but rely on getting injured stars back.

  • Dodgers’ Ohtani Experiment:
    Ohtani’s pitching is being carefully managed for October. Dodgers’ injuries and pitching depth are a concern heading into postseason.

    “…their hope is…when they get into the postseason, that Ohtani and Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow…will all be throwing well.” (Buster Olney, 27:12)

  • Kyle Schwarber’s Impact:
    Schwarber’s unconventional place as a leadoff slugger is lauded, as is his leadership.

    “If I were to drop a list of the 10 best teammates, he would be on that list.” (Buster Olney, 29:11)

• MLB Realignment:
  With anticipated expansion (to 32 teams—Nashville and Salt Lake City as likeliest), Buster previews potential realignment to balance geography and scheduling.

  “Once you get 32 teams, there's the natural eight divisions times four teams...a lot of speculation about which teams are going to move to which divisions.” (31:30)

---

4. NFL News and the State of the Orioles with Jason La Canfora

(35:54–48:23)

• Orioles' Dilemma:
  Jason gives a scathing critique of the Orioles’ management, painting them as an “abject failure” for their “soft tanking” strategy and lack of present-day competitiveness.

  “They're not trying to win…this front office to me is an abject failure, a total joke when it comes to the major league level.” (Jason La Canfora, 38:50)

• Quarterback Entrances/Drama:

  • Browns & Joe Flacco: No real QB competition; Flacco is the stopgap until (if) a younger QB steps up.

    “This was never really a competition. This was about Flacco and then how the other sort of…ducklings fall in line. But he was going to be mama duck.” (41:08)

  • Colts & Daniel Jones Over Anthony Richardson:
    La Canfora is skeptical, but suggests it’s not necessarily permanent, nor a reason to give up on Richardson.

    “I don't know about Daniel Jones being a guy who's going to look the part week in, week out with that outfit.” (42:12)

  • Titans & Cam Ward:
    New coach Brian Callahan expected to improve entire team; Cam Ward could compete for Rookie of the Year in a weak division.

• Giants' Hopes:
  Jason is (relatively) optimistic:

  “I think the defense can be really good...I think there's going to be games where they dominate in the trenches defensively.” (46:25)
  He admits the team will likely use a mix of underwhelming quarterbacks, but the defense can keep them in games.

• Show Plug:
  Tony cues Jason to plug his myriad sports media gigs, poking fun at his relentless work ethic.

---

5. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is show 150. That was the aim…in the calendar year, beginning September 1st, ending August 31st, 150 shows.” (Tony Kornheiser, 14:32)
• “Artists. This was their canvas. They know what they're doing.” (Tony Kornheiser, on doubles specialists, 07:34)
• “If you told me, given his personality, at the end of the year [Schwarber] were to go to the Reds and say…'let's work out a deal because this is where I want to play'…He's one of the rare personalities that could actually see doing that.” (Buster Olney, 30:28)
• “They're not so good about rebuilding it back up.” (Jason La Canfora, on the Orioles, 39:05)

---

Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:21 – Toast-themed banter, start of tennis segment
• 03:16 – Louisa Thomas discusses mixed doubles
• 06:43 – Details on doubles coordination and fan experience
• 09:14 – US Open “Dating Show” chat
• 12:13 – Chessy the dog’s vet visit anecdotes
• 15:44 – Tony’s garden failures
• 18:48 – Dan Byrne’s “Nationals” song; start of Buster Olney segment
• 21:44 – The Reds as a wildcard story
• 23:04 – Yankees’ power surge explained
• 28:56 – Schwarber as leader and free agent preview
• 31:05 – MLB potential realignment/expansion
• 35:54 – Jason La Canfora segment: Orioles woes and NFL QB battles
• 41:08 – Browns QB situation
• 46:25 – Giants defense outlook

---

Episode Tone and Style

Tony’s signature blend of curmudgeonly humor, wistfulness for sports traditions, and exasperated affection for the everyday—whether dogs, gardening, or toasters—is on full display. The regular guests match Tony’s candor with their own sharp insights and playful asides.

---

For New Listeners

This episode embodies the show’s appeal: sharp, friendly, and sometimes salty conversation about sports, as well as a generous (and often hilarious) dose of Tony’s personal life and pop culture asides. It’s accessible to fans and non-fans alike, thanks to the chemistry between hosts, guests, and contributors.

---

If you need more sports, more curmudgeonly wisdom, or simply want to know why your perennial flowers mysteriously vanish, this is a must-listen episode.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. If you're hearing this, it means that Nigel has flushed the mouse and forgot to have me record something new. So who knows who our guests will be today? Maybe Mick Jagger, Sandy Koufax, Dalai Lama? Long hitter? The lamb? Probably not, but I guess you'll have to tune in to find out. But first, let's keep the sales weasels happy. 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 Big Moments or small moments, they.

[Commercial Announcer]

All deserve great style. Our over 800 stylists are here to help you look and feel your best. Visit your local maurices to find fashion fit for you. With a little help from us. Previously on the Tony Korniser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael, have I talked about the revolution toaster out here? It is so great. It has pictures of everything that you can possibly cook in it and shows you, you know, what degree of cooking will result in what degree of burntness or doneness or something like that, you know, it's just great. The toaster is just great. I'm really.

[Michael]

Have you tried the toasty yet?

[Tony Kornheiser]

What is that?

[Michael]

The panini sandwich? Yeah, like a panini.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I haven't tried that. I'm afraid of that. The Tony Kornizer show is on now. All right, we are guest loaded today. Guest loade. We have three different guests and one we got late yesterday. Luisa Thomas, who wrote a lovely piece in the New Yorker that's dated on the 17th of August. So that's four days ago in anticipation of this thing that Chris Clary and I talked about the other day, this weird new mixed doubles format where they attempted to attract all the biggest stars in the world for a division of a sport that, that doesn't have that the big stars don't play. Big stars don't play mixed doubles or any doubles because they want to concentrate on singles because the prizes on singles are so vast and mixed doubles don't matter all that much. I don't want to keep talking, but Chris and I thought that it was sort of intriguing and I made a point to watch some of it last night. Didn't know. Didn't watch all of it because it ended at 11:45 last night. I thought the finals were on last night. It was a semifinals and the finals. But Luisa, you took a different point of view with this. You weren't as enthusiastic about it as Chris and I are. You seem to align with the traditional doubles teams in this as being sort of thrown off the bus. Can you explain that or am I getting this wrong?

[Louisa Thomas]

Well, I'm of two minds really, because I think that I will admit I had fun. I watched it, it was great. I had a blast. They seem to have a blast. On the other hand, I think it's a terrible idea because I think that, you know, it was just kind of. Yeah. I think that the best case scenario happened, which is that the only doubles team in the draw won the whole damn thing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. They won't. Italian. Yeah.

[Louisa Thomas]

And I think that that, that shows you something. I think that there is a kind of arrogance about saying, hey, like let's bring in all the top singles players. Let's completely forget the double team. There was, it was no guarantee that they were. That the defending champions were going to get a wild card anyway. And they actually watch a protest when they announced the change in the format. And yeah, so I think it goes to show, like doubles is its own thing and doubles fans are fans of an event that features different kind of strategies, different kind of play. It's a lot of fun. I think the best thing about this is that it showed a lot of people, A, the Devil's is actually a pretty fun event worth watching and B, that hey, you can't just like waltz up and the top players can't just waltz up and claim to be the best players, doubles players in the world.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So in reading the piece, you know, you talked about the conflict between a big draw like they were going to have and, and cutting out all of the people who had done this for years and years and years. And the best line to me was when you said, but what is it, you know, like what is it that they're doing here? They've changed the amount of games you have to win. They've compressed it into a two day format and they had big stars and by the way, for those paying attention, Jessica Pula did lose again. They were up four in the tiebreaker and, you know, and lost again. I found it. I couldn't stay up all night, but I found it honestly, to be a great watch. And like you, I'm gratified that the. That the traditional doubles team won. But I think I'd stay with this format.

[Louisa Thomas]

You know, I think that there was an opportunity, and I hope that there still is an opportunity because it's. It's not too late to take this approach to bring in a lot of the top singles players, but also make space for the top doubles players. I mean, I would be genuinely interested if it were eight team.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, eight and eight.

[Louisa Thomas]

Eight team and eight. Exactly. Instead of just bringing this one team that sort of had to this incredible pressure, actually, because they were very upfront that they were playing for all doubles players and, and they backed it, you know, good for them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I was, what. I was watching the beginning of that match, the second match, and John McEnroe said that the woman on the doubles team at one point was ranked 2 in the world. And of course, everybody looked at him and said, no, no. But she ended up being ranked 5 in the world at some point. I had never heard of her, but she's a total pistol out there. This is the thing about mixed doubles. They go out there, they talk to each other, like pitching coaches to pitchers. They cover their mouths as if anybody can hear them or read lips, which is insane, of course. And they go through all of that choreography, but then it is bang, bang, bang. It is great fun to watch. And she's a complete pistol. I would want to have her on my team on anything, wouldn't you?

[Louisa Thomas]

Oh, totally. I mean, wasn't it amazing to see how well coordinated they were? They were really. They really were doing something different. And Vavasori up at the net with these long arms, his ability to cover her quick hands. I mean, she was taking these shots that Casper was like, ripping right off the baseline. It was like ping pong, you know, it was. It was amazing. And I love. My favorite thing, actually to see during this whole tournament was her, like, you know, toss in a 66 mile an hour serve and watch some, like, top male singles player be totally befuddled and hit the back of the fence with it, you know, it was just. It was a lot. It was a lot of fun, but it actually really made me appreciate what they do because they were. They were just on a different. On a different level. And it was so Much fun to watch them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They were artists. This was their canvas. They know what they're doing. The others may have more individual talent, but they played better. They understood. They understood how to negate the disadvantages they had against better players with the way they position themselves on the court. And they, you know, and the one thing you have to be. You have to have incredibly quick reflexes at the net because they're going to pound it at you at 100 miles an hour. That's the cool. Louisa. To me, that's the coolest thing to watch, is how quickly they react.

[Louisa Thomas]

Oh, yeah. And it's also very cool to see, you know, there's a lot more singles. I love, you know, I love tennis. I love singles. I write about things. It's how I actually got into sports writing, was writing about tennis, so. And I'm there for the singles. But I've got to say, there is so much interesting, like spins, angles. I mean, there is just so much going on in a doubles match and happened so fast. I mean, I hope that it converted a lot of people. It did. Cover me. I've got to say, I'm going to actually be, you know, interested to watch a little more double this year. I think so. So in that sense, like, I think it was a huge success. I just think that they. They made a total mistake in not recognizing what they had, actually. And hopefully, you know, next year we're going to see a much more.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, this draw. Well, this. Will they have to stare at this. They have to stare that the traditional team won and that the people loved watching it. And so if you go eight great star teams and eight doubles teams, I mean, I suppose that'll work. Is there a dating show? Did you write there's a dating show at the US Open?

[Louisa Thomas]

I still don't believe it. There is, but, you know, I will. I guess I say. I guess I should say I'll believe it when I see it, but I absolutely will not see it because this thing looks like. Yeah, it's not for me. Let's just say.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can you explain it to people what this dating show is? It's a reality dating show.

[Louisa Thomas]

So it's a Pilates instructor. I'm a little bit worried about getting some of the details wrong.

[Jason La Confora]

Yeah, don't worry about it. I get everything wrong. Don't worry.

[Louisa Thomas]

Okay, great. Perfect. My kind of show. There's like a Pilates instructor, a former figure skater who is going to go on. I don't know if it's seven dates or she's going to be courted by seven. I assume they're guys. And they're gonna go around. She's a tennis fan. They're gonna go around the Arthur Ashe, you know, State Stadium and the, you know, Billie Jenkins Tennis center, and they're gonna, I don't know, talk tennis.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is it gonna be filmed? They're going to allow this to be filmed?

[Louisa Thomas]

It's going to be on YouTube. Apparently. It's being filmed actually this week, and I think it will be airing during the US Open, and it looks like. But you have to understand that I'm someone who did not know what Love island actually was until shockingly recently. Like, I'd heard of it, but I was not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We don't know what it is. Yeah. Pretty sure Tony doesn't know. We don't know what Love island is.

[Louisa Thomas]

So apparently it is a very, very successful show. And this is the kind of thing that kind of makes me want to die, to be honest, because there is this kind of derivative, like, let's give the people what they want. And I'm like, really? Really?

[Tony Kornheiser]

By the way, you used a term that I had seen for the first time, not yesterday, the day before yesterday. I'd never heard this term. And you used it to refer to Alcaraz radicano, that they are. They ship. They ship. Can you. This is so beyond my life. Can you just explain to people who are old, who are listening what that means to ship?

[Louisa Thomas]

So the tabloids, basically, they want to actualize something. You know, they are, like, rooting hard for a romantic couple, and they are kind of just trying to make it happen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But. But the word takes itself from the end of relationship, right? Is that how it works? Yeah.

[Jason La Confora]

Yeah.

[Louisa Thomas]

But it also has a certain kind of like. I mean, I think it has. It's actually kind of a great word because doesn't it. Doesn't it remind you of, like, a ship sailing?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Louisa Thomas]

I mean, it's. It's one of these words that sort of carries.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That ship has sailed, kids. That's what you want to say? That's what you want to say to Alcaraz. No, no, no. That ship has sailed. So anyway, that was. It was in your piece. I. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. So thank you for being on the show. It's a pleasure for us. Thank you.

[Louisa Thomas]

It was a lot of fun.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Louisa Thomas, boys and girls. Let me get to the rest of the open now. Oh, Dr. Pearl came over yesterday to look at chessy the dog. Dr. Pearl, who was the mobile vet that we have Used before Bruce Pearl. Right? That's not Bruce Pearl. It's not Bruce Pearl.

[Michael]

You're in their system. Glad you're in their system.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. You're regular. I am, I am. And Dr. Pearl looked at Jesse and what, what we assumed was a hot spot. He said, I don't think it's a hot spot. I think it's a wound of some sort. I think she walked into something and maybe it cut her. So he treated it a little bit differently. And then we have a spray that we put on, you know, three times a day and stuff like that. And so I was.

[Michael]

Did you ask about the, the breathing that she was struggling with?

[Tony Kornheiser]

He said that is common with. Well, it's not that she's struggling, she's just panting all the time. Is that with the shot she got? Yeah, he said that's the steroids, you know, and that will last. That could last as much as two weeks. So. But she also sleeps. So he, he pronounced her in good health. Okay. Which. That made me happy.

[Michael]

The real question, and I think, Michael.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You'D agree with me on this.

[Michael]

Will she be ready for week one?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know. I don't know if she's ready.

[Michael]

All in all, I don't know if.

[Tony Kornheiser]

She'S all in for week one.

[Michael]

No pressure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know.

[Jason La Confora]

I don't know.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The pga. Oh, Jose Ferreira. I'm wrong. I'm wrong. He did it again. He saved the game last night. He's built to be the closer. Don't put him in. In any other circumstances. And you know, one other thing. If I'm sitting here and I'm writing back and forth to my friend, Norby is a big Mets fan, and, and I'm saying that Brad Lord is a five inning pitcher. He's a five inning pitcher. And then you're going to get to face the worst bullpen in baseball for the last four innings. Six, seven, eight, nine. Why? If I know that, why doesn't Miguel Cairo know that? Why did he put him out there in the sixth inning where he got lit up? What? You've been with the team all year. Why is he out there in the sixth inning? What happened in the sixth inning? Four runs happened in the sixth inning.

[Michael]

Got to try and delete some outs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, come on. Well, come on. Manage the team. Yeah. Let's give this a try. Manager. Okay, you to know that, but they win. They went. PGA Championship starts today.

[Michael]

Tour Championship.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Tour Championship, Yeah. Now the PGA is a different event. The PGA Tour Championship. Where's this One played. This is in Atlanta at Eastlake.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is at the home club of Bobby Jones. Right. That's why they play it there. For historic reasons. Sure, they play it there. And. And one other thing I wanted to say. This is show 150. That was the aim. In the calendar year, beginning September 1st, ending August 31st, 150 shows. Three a week for 50 weeks. Two weeks vacation. That leads me to vacation next week. But I probably won't vacation the whole week. I'll probably by the middle of the week say, let's do a show. Let's do a show. And the other thing, if you remember my. My upset at when I bought asters and I bought Black Eyed Susans.

[Buster Olney]

Yes.

[Michael]

Your perennial phase three or four months ago.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Why did I buy them?

[Michael]

Well, you just wanted to have something pretty to look at. And you wanted something for pollinators.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Pollinators. I wanted to save bees. I wanted to give bees a reason to come in the backyard. And they never grew. And they never grew, and they never grew. And so yesterday I was talking with Alex, came over from Pineapple. Alex came over and I said, alex, they don't grow. And he goes, the bunnies eat them. I go, the bunnies, not the deer. He goes, the bunnies eat them. And so we are. We are over.

[Michael]

I told you this. I don't know, two weeks after you planted the morning. You could just see day after day, the damage being done right at bun every day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They never grew little tiny bunnies. I hate them. I mean, I love them.

[Michael]

You can get them, the deer and rabbit. Liquid. I think it's liquid fence. They're little pellets or a spray. You come out, but it smells terrible.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well. Well, I'm not going to be out there smelling it. Or does it smell?

[Michael]

It gets on your hands when you. When, like when you try and put it down. So you get little spray bottles. They sell it right at the checkout at Home Depot for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, then I should get that. I mean, for next year, because it's. They're done. We have big plans for the waste crops next year.

[Michael]

Has Michael seen the tubers?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael. Michael needs to see that. After the show today. Michael needs to go outside with me and see gigantic size of these. I don't know if they're squash. I don't know what they are. They could be apartment buildings.

[Michael]

So I don't know what Harrison planted back then.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're so unbelievable big. Yeah, they are four hill stuff. Yeah. Oh, my. Future farmers of America right here, kids. I Will take a break. Buster Olney will join us. I'm Tony Korn.

[Commercial Announcer]

Buying a car in Carvana was so easy. I was able to finance it through them.

[Jason La Confora]

I just.

[Louisa Thomas]

Whoa, wait.

[Commercial Announcer]

You mean finance?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, finance.

[Commercial Announcer]

Got pre qualified for a Carvana auto loan, entered my terms and shot from thousands of great car options, all within my budget.

[Louisa Thomas]

That's cool.

[Commercial Announcer]

But financing through Carvana was so easy. Financed, Done. And I get to pick up my car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow. Financed, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's what they said.

[Commercial Announcer]

You can spend time trying to pronounce financing, or you can actually finance and buy your car today on Carvana financing, subject to credit approval. Additional terms and conditions may apply. I've never felt like this before. It's like you just get me. I feel like my true self with you. Does that sound crazy? And it doesn't hurt that you're gorgeous. Okay, that's it. I'm taking you home with me. I mean, you can't find shoes this good just anywhere. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at your DSW store or dsw dot com. This is the Tony Kornizer Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Tony Kornizer Show.

[Dan Byrne]

Schwaber, Harper Soda. Scherzer. The Nationals should rule the fall with Schwarber Harbor. Sodo Scherzer. The Nationals should win it all. What do you mean they moved along? What do you mean they've already gone? Whatever happened to the Nationals that I loved? What'll I tell my kids about what the Nationals did? Swarbard, Harper, Soto, Scherser. I'm all cheap, choked up that teary with Schwarmer, Harbor Soda with shirts and we could have won the series. Whatever happened to the Nationals that I love?

[Tony Kornheiser]

The brilliant Dan Byrne expressing my chagrin every single night that I see one of those three hitters hit a home run against the Nats, which has happened in the last week. Scherzer hasn't pitched against him yet. I don't know if he will. Church is on Blue Jays, right? Toronto. So I don't know that he will, but that would just kill me even more. Love. All those guys plays in Buster Only who is in LAKE George, N.Y. and for those of you who don't know where Lake George, New York is, It's where my college roommate David Carpenter is from and where he lives at the moment. Like Lake George. When I was a kid, they had. I don't know if. I don't know if it still exists. They had a lovely hotel In Lake George, called the Montcalm. M O N T C A L M, which is the first place in my life. And I'm going back way over 60 years now, honestly. First place in my life where I ever ate cottage cheese. They put cottage cheese on the plates. Like a first course would be cottage cheese. And I said, what is this? I love this. So tell me, does the Montcalm still exist? Do they still have cottage cheese? And what are you doing in Lake George, New York, Buster?

[Buster Olney]

So. Oh, man. So I don't know of the Montcalm. I've never heard of the Montcalm. So I don't know if that exists. You know, I've been coming back to the same spot since I was a little kid. My great greats built a house here that houses 18 people on what's called the Bluff Head, right in the middle. It's a finger of land that goes out into the middle of Lake George from the Vermont side. And myself and my siblings rent the house from our cousin Jesse every year and hang out here with a bunch of dogs and a lot of swimming and a lot of great meals every night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was when I was very, very young. It was a touristy place. Probably still is a touristy place, but it was the first time I ever saw that stuff called spin art, where you put. You take the paints and you squeeze the paints into a cylinder that revolves very, very quickly and sprays the paints onto, you know, a receptive white piece of paper, and you have made art. Do they still have that?

[Buster Olney]

I don't know. So far, you know, the two things you're associating with Lake George are cottage cheese and spinning art.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Buster Olney]

That is different than what my experience has been.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, well, those things happen.

[Buster Olney]

I think more of swimming and hiking and rattlesnakes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And I understand that. Thank God rattlesnakes weren't in the picture for me a long time ago. By the way, I looked at the wild card standings this morning in the National League, and I have to say I was stunned that Cincinnati, a team I think has been stinko for, I don't know, eight to 12 years, was only one game out. I'd love to attribute this to Terry Francona. I'm just sort of wondering, are they for real, Cincinnati?

[Buster Olney]

Yes, they are for real because they have excellent young starting pitching, and they just got Hunter Green back from the injured list. And as we go forward, that is their biggest hope. And I do think Terry Francona is a factor here. I mean, look, if you look at the history of his teams, whether it was with the Red Sox or whether it was with the Cleveland Guardian, they always get better during the course of the year. It was part of the reason why the Reds hired him, you know, and because of how poorly they did in one run games last year. And I think Frank Kohna is making a difference down the stretch. And of course you got Abeli De La Cruz is wildly talented shortstop, you know, dynamic player. The first time that Terry ever met him, he flew down Dominican Republic last fall and he asked him, what do you want to want to accomplish in the game? And Ellie looked at him, said, I want to be the best player. And Tito's response was, okay, that's great, but how about being the best player on the best team? And they've gotten better as a team as this year has gone along.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's really nice to see it came out of the blue. Every once in a while things come out of the blue and you simply don't expect them. You do expect the Yankees to be good. They've had ups and downs this year. They are pounding out home runs like Babe Ruth at the moment. What is going on there?

[Buster Olney]

Well, at some point, you know, once, I mean, first and foremost, you know, every time Aaron Judge is in the lineup, they're a good team. And every time he's out of the lineup, they're not a good team. That's been pretty clear. And so he's back and he's hitting home runs and they've got a bunch of sluggers on that team. And they're going to have games where they did what they did two days ago. Nine home runs and five yesterday, 14 home runs in a two game series, which ties a record. You know, the big question going forward is will Aaron Judge's right elbow hold up, especially as he tries to transition to play in the outfield. And here's the other thing too. You know, as Yankee fans, as you know, they operate under the George Steinbrenner doctrine, which is if you don't win the World Series and you suck.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Buster Olney]

And three weeks ago there was total panic in that group. You knew the Yankees were eventually going to stabilize, I think for, you know, three reasons. One, the Yankees are a good team, they're not a great team. Two, they're in the American League and the American League stinks. There's more parity in that league than ever before.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Buster Olney]

And number three, they have the easiest schedule you've ever seen down the stretch.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Really?

[Buster Olney]

Oh, my gosh. I mean, think about this Finishing group of games for the Yankees in this season, they will play the Minnesota Twins, who are like their Washington Generals.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Buster Olney]

Then they will play the Baltimore Orioles, who've been wildly disappointing. Then they play the White Sox, and then they get to play the Orioles again. Those are the last 12, 13 games. And, you know, they're at the forefront right now of that very easy finishing schedule.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, let me go from the easier league to the harder league. And this is a Wilbon special. He left the Cubs for dead about a week ago, and now they have come back in their last series with the brewers and they have won a bunch of games. The Cubs have had a great season because nobody expected this, and the brewers are probably a better team, but this is real life with the Cubs. What do you make of that?

[Buster Olney]

That, I mean, this was something that they needed. You know, this reminder in this series against the brewers that, yeah, they are a good team because they, you know, they were one of the best teams in baseball for, you know, three and a half months. And then they went into a tailspin offensively. And I think that's mostly because Kyle Tucker, who they traded for in the off season, has been playing with an injured hand. And as you know, with hitters, you know, hand and wrist injuries can be so difficult. And since the beginning of July, he basically hasn't hit at all. Craig Counsel, their manager, finally acknowledged yesterday, which seemed apparent that he was playing hurt. You know, they gave him a couple days off and, you know, they're hopeful that he'll find his swing again, but he has just simply not been the same player. And so while it's great that the Cubs have had this, you know, the success against the brewers during this series, they need to get Kyle Tucker right? They need to for him to get his swing back and stop hitting pop ups to left field and start hitting line drives again. And it's obviously an important year for him because he's a free age in the fall and the, the expectation when the year started was that he was going to get a 450, $500 million deal as a free agent.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I will just add parenthetically out of need to refer to the Nats, that James Wood is in the same situation since the All Star Game, except he's not hurt and he can't hit lefties. And he just gets up there and fans, time after time after time after time and still is batting leadoff, you know, but that's me. That's just me. I'll get out of me for a second. Let me Go to the Dodgers because the Dodgers. Great. Hope. The Dodgers, like the Yankees, have lost starting pitching over the course. Not as badly as the Yankees, who lost Garrett Cole, but they've lost starting pitching. The Dodgers. Ohtani went out there yesterday. He threw four innings. He got hit on a comebacker, but. But he was not sharp at all. What. Are there any true thoughts for concern? He went four innings, which I guess is the most he's gone in about six starts, right?

[Buster Olney]

Yeah. And look, I mean, all along, as they've ramped up Ohtani's pitching, they've made it clear their whole focus is to have him right for late September and for October.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Buster Olney]

And by then, you know, they'll move them up to six innings and that progression will continue. They'll work on that. You know, their hope is, is that when they get into the postseason, that Ohtani and Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow and some of these other starters will all be throwing well and will be healthy and ready to go. At the beginning of the year, when idiots like me were talking about them winning 120 games with this crazy lineup, you know, internally, I think the Dodgers focus was, let's just get through the regular season, win enough games to make the postseason, and then hope that our pitching is healthy enough. And they have just been devastated by injuries, and there's no guarantee that they're going to have enough bullpen, you know, enough healthy relievers to actually make a dent in October, I think, whereas last year they probably went into the postseason as clear favorites to win. I don't think that's going to be the case this year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me go to the Phillies and let me refer back to Dan Burns song that played you in. One of the people mentioned in there is Kyle Schwaber. Kyle schwaber hit his 45th home run last night.

[Buster Olney]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Kyle schwaber now ranks third. Third all time with the most home runs with a single team. In his first four seasons with that team, he now has 176. The only two people ahead of them are Mark McGuire with the Cardinals and somebody we refer to as George Herman Ruth with the Yankees. Schwaber's batting leadoff. You know, everything I learned about baseball as a kid says Kyle Schwaber cannot bat leadoff. But they put him at leadoff. He's got 45 home runs. He is the bell cow with a team. He's really, really been great. What do you make of him?

[Buster Olney]

So it's been really cool to see him have this kind of year, because beyond the Fact that he is one of baseball's premier sluggers. He's also is, for me, in my time covering baseball, if I were to drop a list of the 10 best teammates, he would be on that list.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow.

[Buster Olney]

Because what you hear from the coaches is when he shows up every day, he cares about two things. One, winning, and two, to have a group of players who are pulling together. And he will, you know, he will, after games, meet with coaches and say, hey, I, you know, I see that rookie, he's kind of hanging by himself in the corner. How do we get him into the mix more? How can we work with this guy? And so, you know, the fact that Schwaber, you know, he got in much better physical condition last year, he's been killing lefties. He basically decided, you know what? I'm just going to stand on the plate against lefties and give myself a better chance against them. And that's part of how he's gotten numbers. But behind the scenes, he has such an impact, which is why, you know, his free agency at the end of the year is going to be fascinating. I think if he wants the most money, he'll wind up working out a deal to stay with the Phillies. But he's also the personality. Tony, you and I, you know, we hear stories about, well, that guy might go play in his hometown. You kind of roll your eyes because you assume they're going to take the most money. Kyle Schwarber's from the Cincinnati area. If you told me, given his personality, at the end of the year, he were to go to the Reds and say, hey, you know what? You guys aren't a big market team, but let's work out a deal because this is where I want to play. He's one of the rare personalities that could actually see doing that. And it's total speculation on my part, but that that's who Kyle Schwarber is. You know, not only great player, but a really respected teammate.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's a remarkable story because you're not supposed to have a home run hitter, an all or nothing guy, a guy who has literally batted under.200 in the big leagues. You know, you're not supposed to have him lead off. And it's worked fabulously for years now with the Phillies. I'll get you out of here on this. I was not aware of this. There is talk of realignment. There is talk of actual geographic realignment.

[Buster Olney]

Yes. The other day on our Little League Classic broadcast, Rob Manfred waded into that conversation, sort of unprompted, and he talked about Expansion and realignment being around the corner, which told me, you know, a couple things. One, that they really feel good about the ballpark future ballpark situations for the Tampa Bay Rays and the A's, which, as you know, just hung over the sport for 20 years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yep.

[Buster Olney]

And once we get past that, and once you get past the next labor deal, which is the current labor deal set to expire at the end of 2026, there we'll be talking about expansion. And once you get 32 teams, there's the natural eight divisions times four teams. And so this week has been filled with a lot of speculation about, you know, which. Which, you know, which teams are going to move to which divisions.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow. So would it be. Would they try to be more specifically geographic and move people from the National League to the American League to balance that out? And you know what? Certain teams you can't move because there's nothing you can do. With Seattle, it's the end of the earth. There's nothing you can do. But there are teams in the middle. You can move around.

[Buster Olney]

Well, what you can do is to balance out, you know, the, the. Some of the, you know, the number of teams in each part of the country. And, you know, Nashville, I think it's a fait accompli. Nashville is going to get one of the two teams, and if I had to guess, I think Salt Lake City is going to get the other one in part because of what you just said. The Mariners.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Buster Olney]

So there would be a division potentially with the Mariners, you know, with the Salt Lake franchise, Colorado Rockies, one other team, you know, in part because, I mean, everyone has known for a long time that Seattle sort of works at a disadvantage, traveling far more miles than any other franchise.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I agree with that. Nashville, huh? Nashville, yeah. Salt Lake City. Well, they just got a hockey team. Their basketball team is a very good draw, you know. Yeah. Salt Lake City is an untapped market for a lot of things. Buster, thank you so much. Enjoy your time in Lake Georgia. And if you don't get any cottage cheese, I just feel sorry for you. Thank you, Buster.

[Buster Olney]

I love cottage cheese. Thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Buster. Only boys and girls. We will come back. Jason La Confora will talk about football when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. Hey, I'm Brett Podolski, co founder of the Farmer's Dog. We make fresh food for dogs. We started the company when we saw what a huge difference it made in my own dog, Jada, when she stopped eating ultra processed kibble and started eating fresh, fresh whole food. The farmer's dog food isn't fancy. It's just real food delivered to your door in pre portioned packs. It's better for them and easier for you.

[Commercial Announcer]

Get 50% off your first box at the farmersdog.com trial50. That's thefarmersdog.com trial50 avoiding your unfinished home.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app Download Today you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is Post Sex Nachos and they Write. We wanted to follow up Tarred Hearts mailbag message with the Jumbotron footage of us at Busch Stadium throwing at the first pitch on Sunday 8:17 when the Cardinals hosted the Yankees. Tony, you may or may not have been mentioned by the announcer. Reading our bio was an amazing experience we will never forget, especially considering the shock of the crowd when they said our name. This is our third time being invited to Bush. Tremendous honor every time. Our drummer, whose fandom resides with Chicago Cubs, took one for the team and wore the Card City Connect jersey. Many close family and friends have reprimanded him. If there are any listeners with connections at Wrigley to let this boy live out his dreams as well, the Cardinal fans in our band would gladly don a Cubs jersey to return the favor. Anyway, we're thankful to be mentioned on the pod. We're attaching a link to our latest single Been Somebody if the team feels so inclined to play it on the show. Of course we do. Of course we do. Of course we do. It's fantastic what happened to them. I mean, I think. I think that's fantastic. It absolutely is. They play in Jason Locanfora and you heard me take a lot of pride before in saying that I the podcast now had 150 shows in the calendar year, which was the goal all along. Loconfura works every day. Every single day. If you want to be on his betting show, want to bet? It's on YouTube, but mostly it's a on Twitter. Jason works every single day. Why you do that? Why do you work every single day?

[Jason La Confora]

Well, I mean look, we were in Boston seeing the Organs at Fenway and Hotel. The Internet connection hotel was Terrible. So it would have defeated the purpose to try to do it, but nothing. I mean, look, there's sports. I mean, I don't know. I'm. I guess I have a work ethic or something.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. But, yes.

[Jason La Confora]

Probably has something to do with how I was raised, but. No, it's a labor. I mean, I don't really consider it labor. Like, if I'm going to be, like, researching all these games and I'm going to be, you know, betting them myself, and why would I not want to share what I think is the best information? So other people have the same opportunities, so. No, we enjoy doing it. You know, soon I think it's gonna be on even more platforms. Well, not. I think. I know. Yeah. And we'll see where it goes. And in the meantime, I love writing for the Washington Post, and I love doing my radio show here locally in Baltimore. And then why not do some national radio over the weekends? And, you know, it's all good. It's all good. Tone, I'm not digging ditches, bro. I'll be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I know. I know. You know, I've done all those things.

[Jason La Confora]

It ain't manual labor.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Jason La Confora]

I've bust tables for a long time. I've jumped in dumpsters. I've done all kinds of stuff. This. This ain't bad.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Off topic, the Orioles. You went to see the Orioles against the Red Sox? Yes.

[Jason La Confora]

Beat the Red Sox twice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It seems like they had come to life. But earlier in this show, Buster only said they were the most disappointing team in baseball. What do you think?

[Jason La Confora]

Oh, no, they're. Look, they're. They're at a metaphysical, like, crisis level here. And I don't know what ownership is thinking or if ownership spends a whole lot of time thinking about baseball. Anyway.

[Tony Kornheiser]

New ownership.

[Jason La Confora]

New ownership, it might just be a private equity, you know, asset value, play. That's what it looks like so far. Doesn't look like something where they're living and dying with each other, win and loss, and thinking about how they could possibly, every single day, make the product better. It kind of feels the exact opposite of that, but we'll see if they. If they blow out this front office like they blew out their old manager. And if they make changes, I mean, they need to make wholesale changes throughout their business operations, throughout their baseball operations. They need to rethink a lot of things that got them into this situation they're in where this is supposed to be liftoff. And, you know, you watch all these 108 loss seasons and all that stuff, and all your best Players going somewhere else because you're supposed to be better for it on the other side. And now they're having a soft tank going on. Now they're not talking about as openly as they did, but if you watch the product every night and how long they ran, 4A players out there pretending they were trying to win, they're not trying to win. Nobody could sit there and listen to Tony Manzolino pretend to talk about baseball after these games and think they're trying to win. Nobody keeps kids in the minors like they do, hoping one day to maybe get an extra draft pick from and not giving a damn what that does to the kid's psyche or what that does to your fan psyche or what that does to your product and your standings, like in the ALE standings in real time, because you're always focused on the future and some other, you know, potential way to game the system for getting a pick here, getting a pick there based on a potential Rookie of the Year finalist and how many kids are in the top 100 of prospect rankings. It's all pretty pathetic and doesn't have a whole lot to do about winning baseball right now. So we'll see. Tom, They've been better lately for sure, but this front office to me is an abject failure, a total joke when it comes to the major league level. They're real good at running it down so you can lose 108 games real smooth. Like, you know, they're not so good about rebuilding it back up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sounds like the Wizards. Sounds exactly like the Wizards. We'll move on. We'll move on to the NFL. Couple of quarterbacks in the news. The Browns have picked Joe Flacco. What does this mean?

[Jason La Confora]

Well, this was. This was. This means nothing. Like this was when they signed Joe Flacco, they had picked Joe Flacco. I think we talked about this a little bit much earlier in the past. This was Joe Flacco's job. They didn't want to get Joe Flacco hurt. They weren't going to get Joe Flacco hurt. Joe Flacco was there a few years ago. He's very familiar with Kevin Stefanski. I don't think this is going to be nearly as joyful and fun as it was last time for him, mentally, physically and spiritually. I think this is a worse version of the Browns. I think the offensive line has big problems. I don't think they can run the ball that effectively. They're missing a lot of the talent that they had, and I don't think he's going to be able to have seven step drops and bombs away all over the place. But that's sort of the idea is he's here to get us as long as he can take us, and then we have all these other guys to pick from. So the only way Joe Flacco wasn't going to be opening day starter if he got hurt, and they went to pretty great lengths to make sure he didn't get hurt. At the same time, Shador Sanders was getting hurt and Dylan Gabriel was getting hurt. So we'll see. I think the good news for Browns fans is unfortunately, Gabriel and Sanders were compromised by injury already. But when they did play in preseason pretty good, they both were pretty impressive.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They did.

[Jason La Confora]

They look pretty good with that. That might not mean a damn thing come, you know, October 10th where one of them has to go in there and play football. But no, this was, this was, this was never really a competition. This was about Flacco and then how the other sort of, you know, ducklings fall in line. But he was going to be mama duck.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Colts picked Daniel Jones over Anthony Richardson, and it seems to be authoritatively, it seems to me to say that Anthony Richardson, we really. Yeah, we're done. We're done with you. Is that how it looks to you?

[Jason La Confora]

Boy, if it was somebody other than Daniel Jones, I might be more willing to go there. I don't think you're getting a whole lot for Anthony Richardson right now. I don't think like trying to get him out of your building right now should be the goal or is the goal. I don't know about Daniel Jones durability. I mean, I watched Daniel Jones in my own eyes in the 50 yard lines a couple weeks ago in the preseason opener against a lot of Ravens backups and guys who won't make the team. And it wasn't pretty. Riley Leonard, the rookie from Notre Dame who came in after him, looked better, frankly. Now he can do things that Anthony Richardson is still struggling with, like figuring out where the free blitzer is coming from and throwing it the other way. But I don't know about Daniel Jones, you know, being a guy who's going to look the part week in, week out with that outfit. And if he doesn't, I don't know why. Because you don't have anything invested in Daniel Jones. You wouldn't give one more shot to Anthony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, I agree with that because that's.

[Jason La Confora]

Probably the only thing that could save your job at that point. Chris Ballard, I mean, he's, he's outlasted the grim reaper a bunch of times here, but I just don't think you survive something like this unless one or two things happens. Daniel Jones turns out to be one of the 10 best, you know, free agent acquisitions of the offseason. Or he's still Daniel Jones, but you go back to Anthony Richardson and for the last eight, 10 weeks, whatever, he starts to show the promise that you saw in him when you drafted him, where you did. The reality tone is probably, you know, what the, what the Indianapolis Colts are. It's probably something in the middle where neither quarterbacks that great and their division stinks, but they're still not able to win it and they're under new ownership now and there's a reboot in the offseason.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, let me stay in that division, I believe. Cam Ward, Tennessee, number one overall pick, pretty complete quarterback. I've played four or five years in college. I thought, you know, I don't think he was a one or two year guy.

[Jason La Confora]

No.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How does that. That's a bad team. What can he do there?

[Jason La Confora]

You know, I think we're going to find out a lot about, you know, Brian Callahan, the young coach there this season last year was, was pretty untenable, you know, being saddled with Will Levis or whatever. Yeah, the man is king a bad roster, you know, but look, his dad is a savant in terms of scheming things up up front and in developing offensive linemen and coming up with blocking schemes and pass protection and run schemes that make life easier for quarterbacks. So like, I just, I think they'll look like a more professional operation this year. I mean, some of the games they lost in the first six weeks of the season, while the defense was number one in the NFL, it wasn't just. Okay, I guess they were pretty much number one first five, six weeks of the season. And Levis is like rolling balls to the other team in his own end zone. It was pretty pathetic. So, like, I think that, you know, there'll be a modicum of progress for sure. I think they'll look like a more professional operation. I think Cam Ward will certainly have a good season and maybe even enough to win Rookie of the Year. I think Denard Wilson can get that defense turned around again and get him closer to how they played in the first half of the season, the second half of the season. So like, you know, in that division.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, it's a weak division.

[Jason La Confora]

I don't think Houston's like the juggernaut.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Jason La Confora]

And I think on paper they're the best team, but that still might only be nine or 10 losses. So, like, I don't think anybody else is going to be above.500. And again, I don't think Houston is going to be all that far above.500. So, you know, I think the Titans will be one of those teams that maybe, you know, is it mathematically eliminated from the playoffs super early just because they're within screaming distance of the Texans?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me, let me get to a team that has been bad for a while. The New York Football Giants. Bad for a while. I watched them, albeit against the Jets. The jets also bad for a while.

[Jason La Confora]

A long while.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Russell Wilson was effective. Jackson Dart was effective. And I thought to myself, can the Giants be good? Can they actually be good?

[Jason La Confora]

I think they can be like, I, I think they can be like quasi good. Yeah, I've talked to a lot of people about them. I have a piece coming out at some point here in the next few weeks about them in the post, but it's pretty thoroughly reported. And I think the defense can be more than good. Like, I, I think the defense can be really good. I think the front seven can be excellent. I still have some questions about the back end. You know, they're trying to get some defensive backs turned around and sort of in line a little bit. They, I like the pieces they added, you know, to the back end at safety in the off season. I think that the rotation up front could be. I think there's going to be games where they dominate in the trenches defensively.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow.

[Jason La Confora]

And if Russell or Jameis or Jackson, whoever, the quiet, I think they will cycle for quarterbacks. Whoever isn't peeing down his leg. Like, I think they're going to, I think they're going to have a chance to compete. Like, I think they're going to be an under team. I think New York Giants unders are going to be something I'm exploring with a little bit of vigor early in the season. I don't think they have any quarterback who I really would want to see play at this stage of their career, more than six to eight games. But if you got three of those, I'm not very good at math. I'm good enough to know. Like, that might be enough to get you through and keep you, you know, maybe at eight wins, maybe at nine wins. I mean, there's a part of me that thinks maybe if you really want to dream, maybe a touch better, I need to see more from their offensive line. But I think the defense is going to be good enough that if the offensive special teams just don't horribly screw it up then, you know, I think they're in that big parity ball with a lot of other. We know, with most of the league, which, let's face it, they've been outside the parity bowl.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, they have.

[Jason La Confora]

They've. They've been pretty putrid.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, that's absolutely true. All right, plug your radio show for us and we thank you as always.

[Jason La Confora]

No, thank you. You can listen to me on Inside Access, on Spotify, iHeartRadio, Odyssey app 157, the Fan in Baltimore, all over the place from two to six daily. You can catch us breaking down our favorite wagers and explaining why we like them and trying to help. You bet smarter as well on Wannabet, where we're up over 50 units since launching on May 21st. You can get that on my Twitter at Jason Locker4@wannabet with us on Twitter or YouTube.com backslash@wannabetwithus. You can catch me in the Washington Post two to three times a week writing about the NFL. I think that's right. I think that's it for right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And he's gonna come over and clean the lawn later.

[Jason La Confora]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you, Jason.

[Jason La Confora]

Let me know. I'll definitely walk you. Gong.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's the best. The best.

[Jason La Confora]

Thank you, gentlemen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jason Luck. And for our boys and girls, we will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Commercial Announcer]

Epic views, waterfall, mists, summit, sunsets. It's all better outside and with all trails, you can discover the best of nature. With over 450,000 trails around the world. Download the free app today and find your next adventure. Summer's winding down and whether your kids are just soaking up the last few weeks or already asking when school starts, this is the perfect time to ease back into learning. If you're looking for a way to help your child catch up, stay sharp or get a head start this school year without the stress. IXL is the answer. IXL is an award winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand what they're learning, whether they're brushing up on math or diving into social studies. It covers math, language arts, science and social studies from Pre K through 12th grade. With content that's engaging, personalized and yes, actually fun. It's the perfect tool to keep learning going without making it feel like school. Studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests. This has been proven in almost every state. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and listeners of this podcast can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixlearning.comixl Visit ixlearning.comaudio to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

World Champion Whistler. Chris Ullman. Yes indeed. World Champion Whistler. Tremendous. You want to do the Bethesda bagel ad for us? Yes, Bethesda bagels. We love them.

[Michael]

You will as well. Just go to bethesdavagals.com for the location in the DC area nearest you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled. And before we get to the mailbag, let me just say I got something to say that might cause you pain. If I catch you talking to that boy again, I'm gonna let you down and leave you flat because I told you before, you can't do that. John and Paul, boys and girls. Thanks to our guests today. Louisa Thomas, Buster Olney, Jason Lochem for thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts. Spotify ought to see if you get show through Apple. Leave us a review.

[Michael]

Did the Mon Comme Hotel serve a large curd cottage cheese?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, they did a large curd cottage cheese. It was my introduction to.

[Michael]

Did you store it upside down?

[Tony Kornheiser]

They just put it on a beautiful white plate. It was a first course. It was an appetizer of sorts served.

[Michael]

With like a melon.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't remember that because I'm not a melon eater. I just remember, remember the cottage cheese. It's just wonderful at the Montcalm. All of which are gone now, apparently. Couple of things to say before we get to the mailbag. One, my great thanks to Sterling Dorrance, a veterinarian who says, I've been doing dairy cows for 35 years. Pretty sure you have no cows, but you do have a dog. My wife Gail is also a vet, but a small animal vet. And so if you ever need some help and we have a phone number to call, I'm grateful for that. Yes. And on the literary front, former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Wright, who taught school at the University of Virginia for a number of years, this is given to me by my friend Mike Crowley. And Charles wright will turn 90 on Monday. Kay, have you been the poet laureate? Because I have not been. Have you won a Pulitzer Prize? Because I have not. And so we acknowledge that he apparently watches pti, Crowley says, and may even listen to the podcast. But we acknowledge it now because we're not going to be on on Monday. Yes. Happy Birthday. Yes. All right. From Guy Dagata in Nagoya, Japan. After relating your story about struggling to find veterinary care for Chessy, you said we're not going to talk about this again. There's no reason to. I'm sorry to have to say that as the host of this show that carries your name, you strike me as being remarkably unfamiliar with this show. When has there ever been something that we talked about only once on this show? We all understand that it's after reading this email for the Mailbag segment, you will read about a half dozen other emails about veterinarians, which I just mentioned one. So please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about how this show works. From Brandon Borzelli in Lebanon, New Jersey. Maybe next year you can obtain your Tony Korneiser podcast Intern from a Veterinary School sure, they might want to fulfill an internship in a meaningful way at a hospital or a clinic, but as an intern with your show, an internship could open up doors to becoming a very new niche veterinarian. They could use some famous person's personal vet. Maybe they could become the vet for the Used to be Sportswriter Vacationing at the beach crowd. With Nigel focusing on the 2026 Scrabble tournament, it seems unlikely he will be able to help with any future pet issues, let alone train the next intern on the finer points of booking guests and planting potatoes. P.S. the Dew Point in Lebanon, New Jersey is currently 61. Tell Michael from Mark Maliko in Trophy Club, Texas. Wow. Trophy Club, Texas? Never heard of that. As you stated, many vets, like human doctors, don't work on the weekends. Many vet practices only have one or two vets. They can't be available every hour of every day. The good news is there there are emergency rooms for pets that never close. My daughter Madison graduated with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in May from Washington State University. Madison was recruited by and now works for VEG Veterinary Emergency Group in the Seattle area. Veg has over 100ers, 24, 7, 365 emergency pet care. Madison has wanted to be an ER veterinarian since our first year of veterinary school. Being an ER vet is a challenge. Unlike a regular doctor, you never know what species is going to come in next, Madison told me. They see any animal that can get through the door. The cool thing about VEG is that you get to stay with your pet the entire time. Less stress on you and your pet. My family often vacation on the Delaware shore in Rehobo with Bethany And South Bethany. I agree that having a pet ER near the beaches would be a great idea, especially this time of year. Love the show. I hope Jesse is feeling better soon. Well, she seems to be all right. Yeah, we don't. We're not sure. Joe Castor in Chester, New Jersey. I guess we have a lot of. I guess we're not gonna not talk about this again. I was sad to hear about Chessy having a tough weekend at the beach. There's nothing worse than feeling like you have a sick dog you can't help. I don't know if there's another way to get this service, but my pet insurance policy with Pets Best comes with a 24.7helpline to speak with someone. I've used it before for my dog, Randy. And you get a real person who can at least tell you if you need to go to an animal hospital. I don't think there's a promo code, but there is a little peace of mind. Hope you never have to use it. Thanks for all the years and laughs from Mark Feiner in Greenwich, Connecticut. I got an email Friday telling me it was time to schedule my annual physical due in late September. I called Monday and was informed they were booking now for July, 10 months after I'm due. I'm incredulous. I asked why the call hadn't come sooner. The reception said, oh, that's just the robot exercising enormous restraint. I restrain. I did not demand to speak to the robot supervisor, but I did channel you. And I said, I've been a patient here for over 20 years. I did exactly what I've done every year and exactly what I was told to do by you or you and your cyborg assistant. How can this be? She said, this is the way things are now. All of which is to say, if you still have that number for the vet in Dover, please send. Yeah, I mean, you know, come on. Yeah. You can't change the rules and then be like, yeah, now you stuck with it. The restaurant owner, Dan Tanner, passed away. His restaurant was in LA and was a famous hangout for the Hollywood elite. I've been there. It's really cool. Great food and a lot to look at. Dg. He sent me this last night. I've been there, too. Oh, you have? Once. I went there once. Yeah. Stephen Parker in Laurel, Maryland. I'm sure you have received more than a few emails regarding your new Revolution toaster. Use it in good health. You deserve perfect toast. I do have several thoughts. So it strikes me as somewhat amusing that a man who responds to new technology as if he were trying to read Japanese while blindfolded would purchase a toaster that advertises itself having advanced algorithms. Honestly Grandpa, you can't even do the self checkout at the local grocery store. Did you purchase the one with a touchscreen and 38 bread modes?

[Michael]

Yes, it's intuitive.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Or did you scale down to the one having only 5 bread modes? Is it wi fi enabled at least? Listeners can look forward to future shows where Grandpa tries to update his smart toaster operating system. I can hear it now. Representative Representative from Clay Mason the answer to your problem in finding a veterinarian on a Saturday in Rehoboth is, to quote a wise man, money. The woman to whom I'm related by marriage is now a one eyed veterinarian gardener. See my previous email who was around a lot of recent vet school grads. The cost of vet school is astronomical, almost approaching human med school. The young vets come out deep in debt, so they need to work where better money is available. Rehoboth, being a tourism town, doesn't have the full time year round population to support having an emergency vet hospital, which would probably involve bringing in weekend staff and extra costs. Or a clinic could hire a temp vet to come in for the summer. So yes, yeah, you hire a temp. What's wrong with that? Again, money. Because how much does it cost for housing in that area for the vet anyway? There's a lot of other factors such stay at my house, by the way, other cost factors such as staff to stay on weekends, possibly overtime overhead for the clinic, blah blah blah. Anyway, it's money. Also, tell Mike Wilbond the recent half dozen years of mad baseball, mad front office deals and mass scouting for draft picks has left the Cardinal Nation in a meh mood. P.S. oh, not for reading on the air. It's a phone number. He can, you know, if we need. Oh, that's nice. Dr. Mark Wysocki this is Dr. Mark, veterinarian from Asheville, North Carolina. The excessive panting is from the cortisone shot the vet gave her. Okay, she may also be very thirsty for a week or two. Yes, she has been. These are normal side effects and nothing to be concerned about. I find it ironic that you think the veterinarian should be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but driving an hour to go to an emergency hospital is too far. I guess Chessy isn't that important. Oh, oh, quick question. Is driving an hour to golf also out of the question? Didn't think so. She's a very common. Common skin condition called hot spots. Although, Dr. Perlman, I'm glad you were able to get her taken care of. It's not just the driving, the hour, it's. I don't know where it is. Yeah. I don't know where I'm going. And that's. I have no idea how to get to Salisbury. I know how to get to Dover's. The capital of Delaware. Yeah. There's not going to be a big sign off the highway. Here's the vet.

[Michael]

You see the speedway?

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know. Yeah. The speedway? Take a left. Come on. A haiku for cellular phone weather from Chad. You may not need a weatherman to know which way the wind and rain blows. Yeah, that. It was. It was blowing sideways. It was really weird. Brett. Bossy Lee, New Hampshire. I was surprised to hear John Wall retired. They don't. Don't get me started. Don't get me started. I just assumed he retired after Game 6 since we haven't heard anything from him since then. That's perfect, ricky. Herb Barnegat, N.J. i recently switched from left sock to right sock. Left shoe, right shoe to left sock, Left shoe, right sock, right shoe. Thought you should know.

[Jason La Confora]

Thank you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Appreciate that.

[Michael]

You gotta have good balance for that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And from Kurt in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Don't you ever get tired of reading emails from idiots like me over the air? I just turned 47 and now can only look forward to looking for my car keys and listening to you talk about how you missed that putt and only got clubhouse credit. Have a nice shirt. What? Have a nice shirt. What? If you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white. How much weight do you think I could bench press?

[Jason La Confora]

Just make a guess. Ballpark figure.

[Dan Byrne]

Swarmer, Harper, Soda, Scherzer. The Nationals should rule the fall. Which warmer? Harbor, Soto. Scherzer. The Nationals should win it all. What do you mean they moved along? What do you mean, they've already gone? Whatever happened to the Nationals that I loved? What'll I tell my kids about what the Nationals did? Schwarber, Harper, Sodo, Scherzer. I'm all choked up. And with Schwarmer, Harbor, Soda and sh. We could have won the series. Whatever happened to the Nationals that I love? Can't bring myself to take your picture of my world. I know there's gonna be a shadow that glow over it all. You know I'm trying to accept what I cannot change but it hurts me to know that you are Gotta do it that way so much I've been somebody Been somebody like you know I can't do nothing? Can't do nothing to love you more? I guess it happens when you're older? I want to think that we could change the world gets so much colder? Everyone else starts to look the same? You know I'm trying to exact what I cannot help but it hurts me to know that you still feel the pain?

[Tony Kornheiser]

That you.

[Dan Byrne]

So much have been somebody? Been somebody not? You know I can't do nothing? Can do nothing to love you more? Sam, you know I can't do nothing? Can't do nothing to love you more? I.