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- [00:00]
Tony Kornheiser
Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk with Michael Wilbon about the Thunder winning their first NBA title. And since Nigel couldn't be bothered to book a second guess, I guess that's what we have today. But George will be a surprise guest for us. Yes, George, who does not speak, will actually speak. First, let's keep the sales weasels happy. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Gone are the days of struggling to cram everything for your next road trip into your vehicle. Introducing the all electric Hyundai Ioniq 9. It's not just an EV, it's Hyundai's first three row EV. That's right. Room for the whole crew and all their gear. With class leading interior space and smart purposeful tech in every row, the Ioniq 9 Rear Wheel Drive S trim gets an EPA estimated 335 miles on a full charge. And when you're on the go, it can get up to 150 miles of range in just 15 minutes. Using a 350 kilowatt DC ultra fast charger and CCS adapter. With features like Highway Driving assist too and Blind Spot Collision Avoidance assist, you'll feel safer than ever. And it's all backed by Hyundai's 10 year 100,000 mile hybrid electric limited battery warranty. So whether you're hauling kids camping gear or just cruising into the weekend, this isn't just a new ev. It's a new way to drive electricity. Learn more about the Ioniq 9@HyundaiUSA.com call 562-314-4603 for complete details. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is the Chili Pad. Read Poor sleep equals poor results. But here's the kicker. Quality sleep isn't always about how long you sleep, but how well you sleep. And science tells us temperature plays a massive role in that. Meet Chilipad by Sleep Me. Its mission is to elevate the quality of human life through cool sleep. Whether you're an elite athlete, weekend warrior, or just hate tossing turning in sweaty sheets, Chilipad can end your nights of sleeping hotter than hell. The Chilipad cooling system was designed with athletes in mind. It lets you customize your sleeping environment to your personal temperature, ensuring you fall asleep faster and wake up recovered. It's like having a personal recovery coach, but for your sleep. Chilipad works with your existing mattress. It's a temperature regulated water based mattress topper that precisely controls your bed temperature from 55 to 115 degrees. The systems are buildable and designed for one or two sleepers. So if your sleep partner likes to sleep at different temperatures or you only need it for one side of the bed, that's okay, too. Plus, you can schedule automated temperature changes to trigger deep sleep and reduce night sweatshirt. Would chili pad dominate the day, recover at night? Visit www.sleep.metony to get your chili pad and save 20% with the code Tony. The special offer is available for Tony Kornheiser show listeners. Dozens of you and only for a limited time. Order it today with free shipping and try it out for 30 days. You can return it for free if you don't like it with their sleep trial. Visit www.sleep s l e e p.me m e Tony and see why cold sleep is your ultimate ally in performance and recovery. Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show. There's not a greater opportunity as a player.
- [03:23]
Michael Wilbon
It will be the pinnacle of all of their careers.
- [03:27]
George
And we want to sit here and.
- [03:28]
Tony Kornheiser
Talk about playing time to the star player. Come on. Okay. All right. In your regular day job, you still can't keep track of Messi, right? You do. Oh, absolutely.
- [03:40]
George
He's actually sleeping right now.
- [03:42]
Tony Kornheiser
I am making his bed when he gets up.
- [03:44]
George
He's got his coffee, his latte. The Tony Korniser show is on now.
- [03:52]
Tony Kornheiser
We love 12th. We do. We love Twillman. All right, so we'll start the show with this. I get this note from Mark Hughes in Ashton, Maryland. Dear Grandpa, just letting you know that TK jingle contributor Steve Lipton. Excuse me. Will be on bass Friday night, June 20, at Atlantis in D.C. he's playing with Hootie and the Blowfish guitarist Mark Bryant. In the unlikely event you make it to the show, maybe you can sit in for a song or two. On bass with the chops. You learn playing with Norwegian soft kitten. When did we get this? We got this afterwards. Yeah. After the last show. Last week afterwards. Yeah. So we couldn't announce it, and so I apologize for all that, but we didn't get it in time. Get it to us a little sooner.
- [04:35]
George
But I'm sure it was a great show. Yeah.
- [04:38]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I know. That would have been fun. Okay, I'm in Delaware. Nigel is with me. George, who doesn't speak, who promises to speak, is with me. Sean is running things today, and Michael is in D.C. so let us braving the heat dome. That's exactly what I wanted to start with. How hot is it expected to be? And you have small children, which is sort of like having pets, and you really can't let them get out Right. Unless they go swimming or something. What do you know?
- [05:06]
George
You can get out early, but even when, you know, even yesterday where it did not get into the 90s till the mid to late afternoon, the morning was so humid that it just affects the way you move through the air and the way that you breathe. So you really have to be careful. I mean, I think about this with you, which is why I'm happy you're in Delaware. But what's outside?
- [05:24]
Tony Kornheiser
It's not that it's not hot in Delaware, it's going to be excruciatingly hot, but it will be less hot in Delaware than in Washington. So I'll stay in Delaware for a couple of days till the heat breaks. And I'm worried about the dog. She's a long haired dog. Yeah. You know, not to get too specific here, but when she does her business, as they say, it's not normal, it's very soft, you know, I mean she's, she's affected by the heat here. It will get into the low 90s, George. Low 90s, low 90s. But Washington, the cubes have a breeze, right? Yeah, the breeze off the water is nice. Yeah. The cumulative effect in Washington is going to be A. Feels like 110, right, for a few days.
- [06:06]
George
Totally. And George would get this. I'm now old enough where I have started to wear what I call the teacher's pro hat. It's the big bucket hat that just covers everything.
- [06:14]
Sean McGuire
The sun hat.
- [06:15]
George
Yes, yes, the sun hat.
- [06:17]
Tony Kornheiser
So, and you played yesterday, right? You played early in the morning?
- [06:20]
George
I did. Had a great, had a great round. Got out with Tachi.
- [06:23]
Tony Kornheiser
All right. Oh, good, that's nice. So I, I've been out here for a few days and the reason to come out was to play in the member member tournament at Rehoboth Beach. And I played with Rick Burrell, who was burdened by me. I mean, let's be fair on one hole, on number 12, George, when we played, did you eagle four or 12? You eagled one of them 12. So this is the hole, a hole you know well. And you play from. Because you're a good player, you're a pro, you play from the tips. But with me you played from one up or something like that. Probably played from the blues.
- [06:59]
Michael Wilbon
Right.
- [07:00]
Tony Kornheiser
Hit your second shot onto the green, it's par five and eagle the hole. George is familiar with this. In this particular scenario the other day I'll get to other golf stories, so people should just stop listening because it's just nothing but golf stories.
- [07:15]
George
So I'm pulling up your scorecard as you speak. Yeah.
- [07:18]
Tony Kornheiser
Which gets sent to you for no beauty.
- [07:20]
George
So if only you knew someone in the pro shop.
- [07:22]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. So the, the, the hole, the, the pin is on the top left. It's an almost inaccessible pin. It's a very difficult pin because even when you get on the green, it's, it's just very difficult. I get on the green in three. This is fabulous for me, sitting pretty. Yeah. I'm going to par this hole. I'm going to get a five for four. I'm going to help my teammate who has received no help from me the entire tournament to this point. No help. And this is deep in the tournament because we started on 17. So if we go to 12. Oh yeah, yeah. And, and so I get on the green in three and then I five putt and wait. And. No, that's not the best part. The best part is I didn't even make the fifth putt. I didn't make it some two feet. I didn't make it. And then at that point Rick had a seven or whatever. It didn't matter. It didn't matter because it's a better, better ball score. I was terrible.
- [08:19]
George
So when I got to the green, did Rick stop playing mentally because he saw you were in good position, assumed you're going to two putt?
- [08:25]
Tony Kornheiser
I don't know. I mean, I don't know what happened. The reason I hate these tournaments is because you have to put everything out. You have to put everything out. That's the rule. And, and I am used to, as anyone my age is used to. Anyone everyone my age is used to. I pick it up. It's good. And so you give yourself a lot of things inside four feet, right, George? You would say three feet. Three feet. But occasional five footer, certainly in so well, occasionally downhill seven times. So I'm not used to this. People my age just say it's good we move on because what we are trying to do is finish the round quickly. Right. The last thing you want is to be slow. And in tournaments, the combination of it being a tournament and having to putt out causes slowness. And, and I am in a group. Both groups that I was in over Saturday and Sunday played quickly. We have fast players. I'm a fast player. If I go out tonight at 6 o' clock after the PTI show, if I grab a card at 6 o' clock, I'll play at least 14 or 15 holes before I leave at 8 o' clock or 8:15, you'll get it all in, right? I'll get them all in. I'll play 18. I'll jump in the card. I'll play 18 because I'm not sitting around on a three footer. I'm not doing that. I got it. You know, so. So all of these things change and I was miserable. I was terrible. I was terrible. I'd been good the day before and bad the day before that. But these things happen. And so like people said to. I said to Rick, I guess you don't want me as a partner next year. And he smiled and said, I'm a free agent, so I have no partner. It was a very nice tournament, except for. And this is the part to bring George. This is George's job. He's the head pro. It's five hour round, slow, and it's five in the heat.
- [10:26]
Sean McGuire
Doesn't help.
- [10:26]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, why.
- [10:28]
Sean McGuire
Yeah, why do you.
- [10:29]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, why do you think it's.
- [10:30]
Sean McGuire
I think you nailed it right on the head. I mean you have everyone. So the field size was 112 players.
- [10:36]
Tony Kornheiser
It's a lot of people.
- [10:38]
Sean McGuire
A lot of people. 10, 10 B groups on 18 holes and you have everyone putting everything out. I mean you have to get ball in hole. So. Yeah, as, as you know, I'm sure Michael can attest to that. There's some grinds out there for sure.
- [10:52]
Tony Kornheiser
So do you like. Is there ever a consideration to cut it off at a lower number of starters? Which by the way, I would say don't do that because people join this place to play. But is there?
- [11:07]
Sean McGuire
Yeah. So, you know, we're always trying to make the event better and figure out.
- [11:10]
Tony Kornheiser
Ways you want to make the event better. Have comedians, you know, at every hole, you know, every three or four holes. Have some comedians come to the 18th.
- [11:18]
Sean McGuire
Yeah, yeah. So there's some things we're looking at for 20, 26 to help with pace of play and field size and stuff. So. Well, we got to find you a partner for.
- [11:29]
Tony Kornheiser
It was slow. I need a partner. Yeah, I was slow. I mean, because I'm not allowed to play in golf.
- [11:34]
George
This tournament, you know, is, is outside what I'm going to say. But in a, in a post Covid golf, boom, you have more people who have come back to golf. More people are new to the game and courses have had to squeeze in extra tee times and so people have just gotten used to playing slower rounds. It means you have more time to talk in between shots. And they've just started building that in what used to be 4 hours, now 4:30 or 4,40. A tournament golf round is different just because of, of marking and putting things out. But we have to try and remind people again about pace of play, playing ready golf, and if you are playing a match when it is appropriate to concede that putt and move on to the next.
- [12:08]
Tony Kornheiser
So if I play, Michael is a member, but I can't play with Michael because the disparity.
- [12:13]
Sean McGuire
No, you can't. You, you two should play well.
- [12:16]
Tony Kornheiser
What, what happens to him? Does he get penalized because he's a good player? We have a good group.
- [12:22]
Sean McGuire
He just has to play with you. Yeah, that's okay.
- [12:24]
Tony Kornheiser
That's the. So I need to tell this other story. So the first day I get here, there's, There's a thing called men's day where you have a blind partner. You play 18 holes. The person you're playing with so rarely turns out to be your partner because it's a blind draw. It might happen, but it's, it's rare. So you play with people that you know and then you submit your scores and, and the better you do. But again, you have a partner. So individually, if you, you have a number you have to reach. It's a stable for scoring system. You have a number you have to reach. I don't ever reach the number any. My number was 19. I had like 11. So if a partner of mine had a really good round, he hates my guts. Because when you add our scores together, he's out of the money. I'm always out of the money. Anyway, I'm playing, I'm playing with two guys that I know, and there's, and, and there's a fourth person who's going to sit with me in the cart. And everybody says, you're going to love this kid. Well, everybody's a kid to me. I'm older than everybody. So say you're going to love this kid. You're going to love this kid. He's a kid. He's 12. Oh, he's 12. He's 12. His name is Lucas. He's really good. He had 12 pars and six bogeys. He did not have any birdies, which disappointed him because he's a good player. Yeah, right. He's a good player. He's good for anybody. He's really good for 12. Sure. And I enjoyed being, watching him play. I enjoyed it because he's, he played from the whites. I mean, you can't penalize him. You can't put him all the way back. He's 12. So even if he gets off A good drive. It's going to be 220 or 230, which is a lot.
- [14:04]
George
You have to learn to score first.
- [14:05]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. A lot longer than I am. Right, okay. And when he's 16, he's going to hit a 280 to 300 in the air. Yeah. I mean, no question. He plays 36 holes a day. I learned so much about Lucas and he's in the cart and so I'm talking with him and talking with him and I call Michael that night and I say, I talked more to this 12 year old in four hours than I talked to you the entire year. You were 12, right, Michael, I can confirm this. Yeah.
- [14:40]
George
I think if you add up all three of my kids more of that combined 13 years.
- [14:44]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, yeah. No, so it was. But he was really good. He was disappointed. I mean, he wanted. He wants to go out and shoot even does he show. Why is the dog. Let me go check on. What's the matter, honey? She's hot. Even though in the house, she's hot. So, I mean, when you get a kid like this. Because I was talking to Chris who's does a lot of the teaching and Chris said he's, he's going to be very good. But there are. George, there are a lot of 12 year old kids. Not a lot, but there's 100. There's 100 in America who are shooting par every day. Right.
- [15:19]
Sean McGuire
More than 100 more.
- [15:20]
Tony Kornheiser
Right?
- [15:20]
Sean McGuire
Oh, yeah.
- [15:21]
Tony Kornheiser
So what happened? How does it. What you were probably really good when you were 12, 13, 14.
- [15:28]
Sean McGuire
Well, I didn't pick up golf till I was probably a sophomore in high school.
- [15:33]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, okay. So you got to it late.
- [15:34]
Sean McGuire
Yeah, I was late. But these young kids, and at Rehoboth we have some, some very young kids that Chris Gray has developed and is developing. And like Michael said, it just comes down to learning to score because at this point in their lives, at their age, they're still developing, they're still, you know, gaining strength. And so like he said, it's just a matter of learning to score.
- [15:59]
Tony Kornheiser
He's going to go out and play in national competitions. Michael, you played agg, AGJA or AJGA a couple of times, certainly tried it.
- [16:09]
George
I did not get the, the young, the young tiger son treatment in them, but. Yes, that's right.
- [16:14]
Tony Kornheiser
Right. But you mentioned you never picked up a golf club till you were almost 13 years old.
- [16:19]
George
I started playing around 11 and 12. And then once you joined Columbia, started playing a lot. And the path is you start playing in local and then regional tournaments. Oftentimes you see kids who are this age, they've been playing in the 10 and under and you really learn how to dominate those. And you can, you can predict the kids are going to go on to play college golf and maybe beyond by, by how they do that. Because in the AJJ and all those national events, the more points that you accrue from past tournaments, the more events you are then eligible to play in. But, you know, you think about the tournaments and the results. I just love the fact that a 12 year old kid learned how to sit in a golf cart with a older man from a different generation and.
- [16:57]
Tony Kornheiser
Just 65 years older than him. Yeah, I talked about women and money. No, that's a joke. Talk about potatoes. No, we didn't talk about potatoes. But he, he did know I had a podcast. Oh, yeah. Which, you know, so that was, that was nice. And the sweetest thing.
- [17:11]
George
Did he recognize you from pti?
- [17:13]
Tony Kornheiser
I don't. I didn't get that sense. I think he was sort of prepped as to who I was, but I didn't get that sense. Did he call you Mr. Kornheiser, a T dub or anything like that? T dub. That would be funny. No, I mean, no. I mean, I think he didn't really know what I would have told him if I'd have heard. Mr. Kornheiser said, no, no, no, no.
- [17:31]
George
Did he keep your scorecard?
- [17:33]
Tony Kornheiser
He did not. He did not. I kept mine. I just put in eights, nines and things like that. Yeah, yeah. The sweetest moment was they have a house across from the tee box on 18 and his mom came out with cold water. Isn't that nice? That was so nice. Yes. Could be coming over for dinner now. I would say that two years from now. Well, maybe not two, but certainly three years from now when he's 15, if she pulls a stunt like that, he'll say, get out of here, I'm fine, don't come out here. But it was so nice. And he's a, he was a lovely kid. It's hard to talk to somebody who's the age of your great grandfather. It's hard. And he did a very good job of it and even told me about the fact that his dad had grown up in Vestal, New York, which is actually where Binghamton University is. It's in town of Vestal. So he went to Vestal High School. So I met him later. Nice. He's a doctor, you know, radiologist. Yeah. Nice fella. So that was. But my experience was that I Was really bad. And the next day, when I played with people closer to my own age, I was much better. Okay. Because again, no. Yes. I could curse and. But beyond that, I didn't have to come up with a series of things to talk about. I could not talk at all if I wanted to. But I'm riding with a kid and you want to be avuncular. A word that the kid doesn't know. Not a 12, but you write, Michael, you want to try and be nice, which is not really who I am. I'm not nice.
- [19:05]
George
Yeah.
- [19:07]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. You can't say like. So. Have you ever seen the Americans? That's a good show. I haven't. I didn't do that. Yeah, I didn't do that. What have I got here? Oh, I look. Oh, I. The gnats. I missed them. They were. I could have watched. I couldn't watch yesterday because I was playing in the afternoon, but I miss them because they started at 10:00 clock at night. Michael, how did they do? James Wood had a home run or two, didn't he?
- [19:29]
George
There is a home run barrage on Saturday evening. They had come back in the. I think it was the first game to make it close, but they ended up losing those first two. They win.
- [19:38]
Tony Kornheiser
They always come back. They're always down seven nothing and they score.
- [19:41]
George
Three is great. That's a 410 start for us. Local here we were texting a friend out on the west coast, thought it was a little bit too sunny and hot to go to the game. And you actually saw the sun playing in those first couple innings where people dropped some balls. Mookie Betts dropped one just a sky high pop up in the infield. And it was a delight to get to watch Ohtani pitch and to. To watch with my boys and to just see the breakdown of the pitches. So to watch his sweeper, the first couple batters was awesome. And then you have a big home run to get a 3 nothing lead. When something looks like it could have been interference with somebody just over the outfield wall, it ends up being a 31 homer. Game's looking pretty good. Moving along quickly. And then you get to the sixth inning is where you get to the Nats undoing and your favorite reliever comes in and the game immediately gets out of hand. You have a grand slam.
- [20:30]
Tony Kornheiser
Was it Jose Ferrer at some point?
- [20:32]
George
It was not this.
- [20:33]
Tony Kornheiser
He's the worst coming in. He's the worst. They're all the worst, but he's really the worst.
- [20:38]
George
I'm turning on the grill to Preheat. And I come back and Liz's face is. Just goes, you're not going to believe this. And it's just, it's over.
- [20:45]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, yeah. Max Muncie hit a couple of home runs, but he's a good player. Yeah. I don't know. That was not, it's not great. It is the Dodgers. I understand. Michael, how many, how many pitches did Otani throw did? Was it just one inning?
- [20:59]
George
Oh, it was just one inning.
- [21:01]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
- [21:02]
George
I mean, the first battery, it was a one pitch grounder. So it was a pretty efficient ending. He had a, he was trying to get some. I mean, he was, he was toying a little bit with Wood, but he was, he was in good command.
- [21:13]
Tony Kornheiser
It is thrilling to see him pitch because of the possibility that he will be, for an eight to ten year period, the greatest baseball player in the history of the game because he's going to win 16 to 20 games and he's going to hit 50 home runs. And Babe Ruth didn't do that on a regular basis. He may have done it once. Yeah, I don't think he did it more than once. If he did it once. When he always talks about Babe Ruth, let's say see it. Well, no, you've already seen it. Yeah. When Ruth really just. They said you're going to be a hitter. Like, he really didn't go back. He wouldn't do both. I think it overlapped a little bit. But when he was a hitter, he was just focusing on hitting.
- [21:51]
George
And to your point, we're watching with our, we're watching with Bootsy who's going to turn eight tomorrow. And you're trying to explain to him the modern superhero quality of this guy. And he. And then you're like, wow, it's hard to believe he got his first strikeouts with the Dodgers in that first inning just because, you know, he hadn't pitched in two years. And I did not know how much gray area there was around what exactly his surgery was because they say it was not Tommy John. It was just, you know, I thought.
- [22:18]
Tony Kornheiser
It was Tommy John. It wasn't.
- [22:20]
George
I was watching the broadcast. I, I thought it was as well. And they said it was. He. His agent does not say it was Tommy John.
- [22:26]
Tony Kornheiser
Well, you never really know. I mean, at least it's not hockey. I mean, if you are. No. Shohei Ohtani receives an amount of personal coverage beyond any other. Maybe Messi gets the same, I don't know. But beyond anything in the United States, like in Japan, they probably go through his garbage, Right? I mean, Come on. Yeah, they probably do. So hit to. To keep himself sane and safe, he probably discloses as little as possible. Does that make sense, Michael? He probably discloses as little as possible. And justifiably. I mean, you know, it's nuts. All right, we'll take a break. Wilbon is going to join us. And then what? We're. Because we have George, who hasn't said as much as I'd hoped to this point. And I'm sure that Pat is listening and laughing at George at this point, but we want to talk about the golf tournament. The Travelers. Yeah, the first thing. And I want to talk to Michael about this, too. The field was tremendous. This is a tournament. After the Open, you would think that people would take the next week off.
- [23:30]
George
There's one reason why.
- [23:32]
Tony Kornheiser
Money. Right. The answer to all your questions is money. Right. It had to be money.
- [23:36]
George
Yeah, but it had the last signature man of the year.
- [23:39]
Sean McGuire
Yep.
- [23:39]
Tony Kornheiser
An unbelievably great field. I really. So we'll talk about that. But. But Wilbond when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
- [23:47]
George
This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.
- [23:50]
Tony Kornheiser
Uncertainty is the essence of competitive sports. Think about it. If we knew the outcome of every sporting event before it happened, would we even be remotely interested in watching? Like in the 74 Masters, when I trailed Jack Nicklaus by three strokes in a back nine on Sunday, nobody expected me to go six under on those last holes to be Jack from my first green jacket, but I did. Okay, maybe I didn't, but that would have been a great story. And you get the picture. Uncertainty may be good for sports, but that doesn't mean it's good for small businesses. With rising cost, tighter lending standards, and slowing consumer demand, the economy is clearly softening, leading to uncertainty for small businesses. Which is why now is the time to secure working capital before you need it. Revenood offers fast, flexible funding that's made for times like these. Revenood is built for small business owners. Unlike banks, Revenood approves businesses based on revenue, not your personal credit score. You can get access to up to $250,000, and in as fast as one business day. Funds are available on demand. You can draw only what you need when you need it and only pay for what you use with revenue. Flexline your available funds replenish as you repay, giving your business the breathing room to stay resilient. There are no application fees, no maintenance fees, and no draw fees. And people are seeing real Results. More than 10,000 business owners used revenued to power through uncertainty. Revenood is Rated Excellent on Trustpilot with over 9005 star reviews. Apply now at use revenue.com that's use revenue with a D dot com. Apply today and be ready for whatever comes next.
- [25:30]
George
This is the Tony Korneiser Show.
- [25:35]
Tony Kornheiser
Michael Granberry sends this in, which means it's great. He says, one of the reasons I love baseball is that it's easily America's most conversational sport. Case in point, on June 4, I purchased a single ticket to a Red Sox game in Fenway. Luckily, I ended up sitting next to Jack Albert and his wife Maureen, and soon we were conversing as though we'd known each other for years. I told him about sending music to the Tony Kornheiser show and Jack's Face Brighton. He told me about his good friend Sean McGuire. And when I heard Sean's songs, I knew I had to send them. Sean grew up in Indiana as a son of a dad who was himself a gifted singer songwriter who introduced his son to the music of the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. Sean went to college in Nebraska, and there his songwriting talents continued to blossom before. Before too long, he found himself in Chicago, where from 2012 to 2016, he was chief songwriter and band leader for the folk act the Lula Bells. In 2015, Sean won the grand prize for folk at the John Lennon Songwriting Contest. He's since won numerous awards at similar contests and recently released his fourth album. Love brought Sean to Massachusetts, where he and his wife Kristen and their two children now make their home. This is a song from an album called Echoes in the Wind. This is. What is the name of this song? Believer. Believer. He's great again. Michael Granberry plays in Michael Wilbond. There's a lot we can talk about. We obviously have to start with Game 7. Last night, Oklahoma City won. Oklahoma City outscored Indiana 3420 in the third quarter, and it was never under 10 after that. So you could say it was a romper and maybe it was a romp, but the first half was very close and very good, and Indiana lost their best player and they lost their best player in the first quarter to an injury that, you know, I'm not going to say you could see it coming, Mike, but he had it a few days ago and he went out to play. And so if he goes down with that injury, you go, yeah, okay, I get it. You were. We talked last night. You were visibly or not visibly, because I couldn't see you, but I could hear you. You Were upset. You were upset?
- [27:40]
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, I was done. I was done with the game and Halliburton got hurt. I wasn't interested anymore.
- [27:45]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
- [27:45]
Michael Wilbon
And those are game seven. It's four championship. Oklahoma City did what the opponent should do. They. They. They jumped on. On a. On a weakened foe, and they won a championship. That's what they're supposed to do. But it doesn't mean I have to be interested. It just doesn't. And seeing Halliburton like that, a young player that I got interested in a couple of years ago and got to have some conversations with on the road and just find him thoroughly enjoyable, and he was having this ascension. It was not without bumps along the way. But then he has this. This playoff run in this unbelievable finals.
- [28:28]
Tony Kornheiser
Unbelievable. It's good. Look, I'm not going to say it's the best ever because you don't want to get involved in that, because you don't want to get involved with Michael Jordan or Kareem or Magic or stuff like that, but it's as good a run in the playoffs and as dramatic a winning bunch of shots in the playoffs as anyone has ever had. It's there.
- [28:43]
Michael Wilbon
Yep.
- [28:44]
Tony Kornheiser
Right? Yeah.
- [28:45]
Michael Wilbon
And so I just. I loved seeing him play against Shay Gilders Alexander, who I think is the perfect super. The perfect superstar. Perfect for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with the stuff that most people care about. I care about. So Halliburton and SGA and a cast of interesting young people who are different and new to the stage and basically kind of bumping LeBron and Steph and others off the stage or at least to the back of the stage. And so when he get. He went down, I watched and I just. I didn't care anymore. I just felt so bad. When he was pounding the floor, everybody said, talking about the pain, I said, no, no, no. The pain was him saying no. He knew he couldn't go on anymore. His dream of winning a championship for now was over in that moment because he knew exactly what happened. And you know, my friend Dr. Jason Daniels, who you've got to know through me here in Arizona, who, you know is just sort of a wizard of a physician and can diagnose things and see things that a lot of other people cannot in time, that over years now, you've seen him do this, you know, I consult with him on everything. And as soon as Tyler Burton went down, I get a text from Jason that just says Achilles, just like that. Just. That's it. And then from others, and people didn't have to wait to know. I just wasn't interested. Yeah, I just wasn't. There was no more game. It was a game for a quarter. Because the Pacers have such. The Pacers have my admiration. I don't care what else they didn't have in that night. Because here's, here's the number of teams in the NBA that would win a championship or game seven on the road without their best player.
- [30:46]
Tony Kornheiser
0. 0 is the correct number. Yeah, I mean, you can. Here's what happens. So he's, he's been hurt for the last three games. They won one of them. You can win one, you can't win two. You can't win two.
- [30:59]
Michael Wilbon
No, and not that one.
- [31:00]
Tony Kornheiser
And not that.
- [31:01]
Michael Wilbon
So I, I just, you know, I started watching baseball and other stuff. I just didn't care. It's a wholly unsatisfying way to end the season for me. And the NBA's got a problem which the NBA didn't create. The world created it. But in the last three months, the NBA has lost to these terrible Achilles pops, tears, whatever ruptures. Dame Lillard, Kyrie Irving, Jason Tatum and Tyrese Halberton. That's four. All league level players.
- [31:40]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, well, it's, it's, that's, that's, that's bad that you put a tremendous strain on your body. I, I mean, you know, these are great athletes.
- [31:49]
Michael Wilbon
Yeah. But if they're great, if they're that great, you didn't see any of them greater than Wilt as an athlete, Any of them greater than Jackie Robinson?
- [31:58]
Tony Kornheiser
No, no, no, no.
- [31:59]
Michael Wilbon
This is what happens. Listen, I know why this happens. And I have access because I'm at youth basketball games now for the past 12 years. And I'm there with people, their parents who were physicians, other physicians who were there, the trainers were there. And these kids play. These kids play five games in a weekend.
- [32:22]
Tony Kornheiser
They play too much and they play only one sport.
- [32:24]
Michael Wilbon
Anything else? They play one sport. Okay, so, so they're not. They're mean. Jackie Robinson played in Kansas in canvas shoes and they hitchhiked the games and they didn't. Will, as you know, Tony, he often drove the games from Boston to New York to Philly because he was sitting in coach and he wilt and he's sitting next to some grandma and he's got three feet of leg room. And so that condition, all the conditions that people played under 40, 50, 60 years ago, would have produced way more snapped Achilles than these.
- [33:07]
Tony Kornheiser
And they didn't. And they didn't. And they didn't no.
- [33:11]
Michael Wilbon
So this is not of the NBA's doing, but yet the NBA has to suffer through this.
- [33:17]
Tony Kornheiser
Do we learn anything? Like, you know, I know what you're going to say, and I'm going to say the same thing. Do not make this team into a dynasty yet. Do not do it. We've had the last eight years. There's been a different champion every single year. You can tell me the ESPN ran a graphic today about how all of them are under contract for the next 50 years. And this, you know, they got this and they got that. And you say to yourself, don't be stupid. Don't. Don't write, don't.
- [33:46]
Michael Wilbon
Were you just pay. Are you paying attention? Do they all have an extra Achilles in the suitcase? No, no, no. I mean, come on, they just won two game sevens. Two game sevens that they trailed.
- [34:00]
Tony Kornheiser
That's right. That's right.
- [34:02]
Michael Wilbon
So it doesn't. No, there's no, you know, stop with the dice. I really want to slap anybody that says anything about dynasty. And Houston's coming, San Antonio's coming. Yeah, you know, they are. And there are teams coming that we don't know yet because they. Because the league has basically conspired. And I think, wisely. I do, I do. I think the league has conspired to prevent the quick slapping together of super teams. So you got to build a team, you got to draft and develop. And so what happens is you now get five or six teams in a year that are a threat. And so the Boston Celtics last year, weren't they a dynasty? Oh, yeah, they were until.
- [34:53]
Tony Kornheiser
No, no.
- [34:54]
Michael Wilbon
Oh, you mean Tatum couldn't go to that extra Achilles at the end of the third quarter, down nine.
- [35:00]
Tony Kornheiser
I think basketball is, you know, is one of the sports where it's harder to have a dynasty. I do, I think it's easier in some sports than it is. I think it could be easier in baseball, but it is. Dynasties are not. They don't happen all the time.
- [35:16]
Michael Wilbon
No, they don't.
- [35:17]
Tony Kornheiser
And when you look at Oklahoma City and you say, oh, yeah, they'll win for 10 years. No, don't, don't. Don't be dumb.
- [35:23]
Michael Wilbon
One of them, maybe they get a second one, but maybe not.
- [35:26]
Tony Kornheiser
So you mentioned the sort of slapping together quickly of super teams. One of the people who does that or tries to do that all the time is Kevin Durant. He gets out. He gets out of Dodge and he goes into Dodge and he gets out of diagonal. Now he's going to Houston. He's excited, of course. He's Excited. But what do you, you know, Houston gave up one very good player, one mental case and five worthless second round picks. The second round picks are worthless.
- [35:54]
Michael Wilbon
Yeah. I thought Phoenix doesn't get all that much out of the deal.
- [35:57]
Tony Kornheiser
No.
- [35:57]
Michael Wilbon
With it. Because he's 37 years old. Yeah, Kevin Durant and, but, but Houston, I mean Kevin Durant is now not part of a super team. He goes into a place where there's a coach and he knows that coach because that coach was his assistant coach in Brooklyn and I'm pretty sure on the USA teams. And so he goes in there with a role that seems completely possible to me to challenge Oklahoma City. I'm not going to say when, but, but they're going to be in the mix the next couple of years. That's as long as you can do this now given the finances. But Houston's got something, you know, they got, you know, they got this, they got this. They got one of the Thompson twins who really is a two way marvel. And so he, that kid's going to emerge like his twin brother on Detroit. Those two kids are going to emerge as maybe Shay Gildas. Alexander has emerged as great young players. And they got more than that. I mean they got Shingoon and they got, they. Houston's got stuff and they got a coach. So I think Kevin Durant gets lucky this time where he doesn't just. He gave them a list of teams and Phoenix felt the need to sort of have to do that. But the other thing is because he did that there were other teams that wanted him as much. Kevin Durant who didn't try to make the deal, the Knicks. You know, I thought there was a perfectly reasonable possibility of Cat Karl Anthony Towns, who makes about the same as Durant being traded to Phoenix to play with his best friend Devin Booker. And that might have been a better deal for Phoenix. Maybe not.
- [37:45]
Tony Kornheiser
I really.
- [37:46]
Michael Wilbon
Durant is at the center of another.
- [37:48]
Tony Kornheiser
One of these things as will Antetokounmpo be at the center if he is indeed traded? I mean, I think Kevin Durant is a great, great basketball player. I also think, as you know, he's a miserable human being who's unhappy wherever he is. And I don't know, I don't know that that works. I, I mean maybe for one year. I don't know that it even works for two.
- [38:11]
Michael Wilbon
I think, I think you, I think Houston will challenge next year. Remember, he's not going, this is, he's going to the number two seed and he's not going to a place where he has to be in the role that he's been all his life.
- [38:29]
Tony Kornheiser
Certainly not a leader.
- [38:30]
Michael Wilbon
He's not even interested in that.
- [38:31]
Tony Kornheiser
He doesn't care.
- [38:32]
Michael Wilbon
And you don't know. He's not, that's not what he does. He's a mercenary. He goes in. But that thing that he does, shoot a basketball, he does as well, you know, as anybody has. And so, so, yeah, that we, that, that, that story is. Takes us hostage for a couple of.
- [38:50]
Tony Kornheiser
Days, but then I think, I think it does antetokounmpo, then maybe he gets traded and, and again. And the difference between basketball and all other sports, with the exception of quarterbacks in the NFL, is one guy going to a team can change it, you know, can Change it by 80%.
- [39:13]
Michael Wilbon
Disproportionately. Disproportionately. And if you're. Again, if you're San Antonio, you, you, You've got that one guy, you think anyway.
- [39:23]
Tony Kornheiser
That's right.
- [39:24]
Michael Wilbon
And, and when Banyama. And you've got the second and 14th picks this year.
- [39:29]
Tony Kornheiser
So maybe you make a trade. Maybe you make a trade.
- [39:32]
Michael Wilbon
Maybe you do.
- [39:33]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
- [39:34]
Michael Wilbon
A lot of teams would have to listen.
- [39:36]
Tony Kornheiser
It's interesting. I mean, I, the thing that I'm always, I always caution myself about is. And like, you can get sick of LeBron James, you can get sick of his movement, you can get sick of Kevin Durant and his movement. Curry is not in that category, but you could say, okay, it's enough. It's 15 years, it's enough. But I think the greatest thing that ever happened to American basketball was the Olympics. And those three guys did it, Mike. Those three, they were. Steve Kerr had enough sense to put them out there for whatever they needed. And I thought last summer was fantastic because of them, didn't you?
- [40:17]
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, I did.
- [40:19]
Tony Kornheiser
Just so great.
- [40:21]
Michael Wilbon
It doesn't rate with me to 90 to 1992. Because they invented the modern Olympics.
- [40:29]
Tony Kornheiser
Yes. But they were much better than everyone else. And now that's not true.
- [40:34]
Michael Wilbon
Well, but. Because it's not true. Because of them.
- [40:37]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, because of them. Right. They. Everybody said, we can do this. That's right.
- [40:42]
Michael Wilbon
Yes. And so.
- [40:43]
Tony Kornheiser
No, I'm not, I'm not saying. Yeah, I guess I did say that. I just thought it was thrilling to watch.
- [40:48]
Michael Wilbon
It was. It was great. It was.
- [40:50]
Tony Kornheiser
It was great.
- [40:51]
Michael Wilbon
By the way, they won by a hangnail.
- [40:54]
Tony Kornheiser
That's right.
- [40:54]
Michael Wilbon
I mean, as great as they were.
- [40:56]
Tony Kornheiser
And they had to make every shot down the stretch, and they did. And they did.
- [41:00]
Michael Wilbon
Other, other, other countries. When you watch these playoffs when you watch these two teams last night, you see how many kids from Canada on those two teams.
- [41:09]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, there's a lot of kids from Canada.
- [41:10]
Michael Wilbon
So don't, like, don't tell me. A gold medal in the next Olympics.
- [41:15]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, sure. They can. They can. They can. All right, I'll. I'll chat with you later. All right.
- [41:20]
Michael Wilbon
All right, Tom.
- [41:21]
Tony Kornheiser
Michael Wilbon, boys and girls. We'll take a break. We're going to talk amongst ourselves when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show Once again, this is Sean McGuire. This is a song called Cora's Song, inspired by the birth of his and his wife Kristen's baby girl, Cora. Whatever Michael Granberry sends us. Yes. Is fabulous.
- [42:04]
George
Yes.
- [42:05]
Tony Kornheiser
I mean, I envision Michael Granberry sitting in his house. House and saying, okay, who do I send them next? What? Of the top hundred people that I've heard in the last 10 years, who do I send next? And everyone's a home run. No, they're all great. Yeah. Independent music, independent artists. They're all great. Michael, if people like Sean McGuire want to send us their music or have Michael Granberry send it, how does that work?
- [42:29]
George
Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesonyquinizershow.com all right, so we're gonna.
- [42:35]
Tony Kornheiser
Get back into golf. We're going to get back into the Travelers Tournament. So this is the tournament right? Near Bristol, Connecticut. This is Hartford. I played this course a few times.
- [42:46]
George
I played it with you.
- [42:47]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. The entire.
- [42:48]
George
Dan Davis. The Duke.
- [42:49]
Tony Kornheiser
Right, right, the Duke. The entire course is the last three holes. I mean, that's, you know, that's what you. That's what you pay for is the last three holes. Prior to that, it's a bowling alley. You know, there's houses up on the. You know, it's okay. It's okay. It's fine. It's. What is it called? TPC River High, you know, and it's okay. But the last three holes are really good and they're really cool, and they're extraordinarily memorable. And tournaments are won or lost often. On the last three holes, we have a haiku from Shad and it says Ken Keegan won it and Tommy Fleetwood lost it. Both be true statements. So George wasn't watching the end until today because we were involved here in a member member tournament and a shootout and stuff like. But, Michael, you watched it. I'm one of those people that thinks tournaments are either lost or won, but in this case, Was it both?
- [43:44]
George
I am happy to lean into paradox and Tommy Fleetwood. Fairway Jesus is such a popular player. This was going to be a great story.
- [43:53]
Tony Kornheiser
Such a likable player.
- [43:55]
George
And if you look at the deliberation going up the 18th fairway, what club did. He always plays a little bit of a sawed off controlled iron. He ended up clubbing down. He misses the green just off the front. He's still putting. I think it just gets to the fringe. I hate to say it. I think in this instance he did lose it. He has to two putt to try and maintain his one shot lead over Keegan Bradley. He plays first. He hits it to, you know, probably 50ft. Keegan Bradley then steps into his shot and hits a short wedge to about five feet right up the hill. It gets back better from there because as they're walking up, Fleetwood plays first. He putts. It's a pretty indifferent putt. It ends up finishing just outside of Keegan Bradley's match. At this point, you are decidedly in a match play situation, which I think is important to what I will say shortly hereafter. Russell Henley has already chipped in for a miraculous, you know, leap up into what eventually becomes T2 and probably a delta of about a million dollars for that chip. And wow. Keegan's about to get a great teach. Both players historically have had some issues with short putts. There is a reason that Tommy Fluitt has not won a never won on the PGA Tour.
- [45:13]
Tony Kornheiser
Finished top 10 more than anybody ever. Without a win.
- [45:18]
George
Without a win because I believe it's 40 top tens, which is the most in any player in 19 early 80s without that win. And you know, even going back 10 years ago, he was a presence at a lot of big majors. You think back to when Bruxy won at Shinnecock. So he, he again is punning and.
- [45:37]
Tony Kornheiser
It is the greatest nickname. Fairway Jesus is just the greatest nickname.
- [45:42]
George
And he just plays with such a, you know, just a casual confidence as he strolls around the fairway like he'd rather, you know, he just happens to be a professional golfer playing for millions of dollars and he's just sort of enjoying it. He misreads the putt and it doesn't really have a chance. So at this point, there is the potential for the two shot swing. Keegan has the read, he has the teach. This is the Ryder cut moment that he wants. And he buries dfc.
- [46:09]
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
- [46:09]
George
Kids go wild.
- [46:10]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. So Keegan Bradley, for people who don't know this is from New England, this is the only tournament played on a regular basis in the New England area. Keegan Bradley's aunt was Pat Bradley, One of the greatest women players of all time. Won a bunch of majors. Keegan Bradley's a weird guy. He's like a big weird guy who steps into shots with a certain crazy hesitation where you go, tilt the eye. Is he going to bother to hit this or is he going to walk off into the crowd? You know, but he's a very popular player. He won this last year. Year, didn't he, Michael? Wasn't he defending champion?
- [46:49]
George
He has one. I'm not sure if it was last year, but he is one or the year before.
- [46:52]
Tony Kornheiser
Everywhere he goes. Yeah, he's so happy to win in New England and everywhere he goes because he's the Ryder cup captain. People chant USA all the time at him. And now. And what is the drama? The drama isn't who he's going to name to the team. The drama is, can he play himself? Can he put himself out there? And George, you're a professional at golf. He just won a tournament. Is he a. I think he's a. And I thought he was legitimate the last year and didn't get on. I think he's legit. What do you think?
- [47:25]
Sean McGuire
You know, I. Watching his press conference after. After the win, I really like what he said. He. He said, you know, he's not sure where, you know, what's going to happen, but he's going to do what's best for the team. So, you know, I would love to see him playing. I think he's at this point deserves a spot. And that, you know, will come. I mean, we'll find out. But after that win, I think, you know, he's. He's going to be playing on that, on the. On the team.
- [47:52]
Tony Kornheiser
Michael, would you put him. Would you say to him, put yourself on the team. You've earned it?
- [47:56]
George
I think at this point, you're going to have the rest of the team openly saying through the middle and late parts of the summer, we want him hitting that first tee shot or something to that effect. We want to rally behind him. And you look at what have been such good stories the last couple weeks with JJ Spawn winning, who now looks like he'll be a lock for the Ryder cup with Keegan Bradley winning here. He's been so good with his communication. So you talk about what it means to play and win in New England. He was talking about the responsibility to play in that area. He's from. This is the messaging that the PGA Tour has needed. He's been on this press tour as, as captain for Beth Page, and he has just, he has nailed every talking point. And you look back at the edit he got from the full swing show on Netflix and I mean, he let the cameras see him in one of his, you know, lowest moments, where he gets the call saying, you're not going to be on the, you know, the team and effectively you're not in the locker room, you're not with the in crowd. And I think it's this idea of in and out and you have a changing of the guard, where you look at guys like JT and Jordan Spieth, the guys who have always been on that in crowd, and they are pretty far down the list. And even if he were to finish outside of that automatic top six, I think you're going to look at those other players who say, we want someone who's been out there trying to chase this, has not been getting the sponsors invite into these signature events, but has been earning it himself. We want you to play, play as much result as you want. And you have those assistance for a reason.
- [49:20]
Tony Kornheiser
They had a great field. I mean, again, I didn't expect this the week after the US Open. I thought people would take the week off. They had a great field. Yes. It's a signature event, which means there's a lot of money in it.
- [49:32]
George
Keegan got $3.6 million to that week.
- [49:35]
Tony Kornheiser
Wow. Wow. So, but this is what I wanted to ask you. He didn't just win the, you know, the, I don't know, the Tony Kornheiser Classic. He beat a great field. Does that not work in his favor as well?
- [49:53]
George
It totally does. And it comes down to you. Have you had a question, you had to birdie that last hole to see if maybe you get into the playoff. What happens from there? You had to chase down Tommy Fleetwood, who had some, again, a great story. Tommy Fleetwood had some mishaps early on, but there was four players in that, in that chase, including Jason Day. You had some people who really wanted to win. And again, I think it comes down to what the other players are going to start to say. You have a lot of quieter personalities. I mean, you have Russell Henley, who's at the, you know, one of the top players for that, for that Ryder cup spot. You have JJ Spawn, you have Shoffle of Scheffler, you guys, who, who are not necessarily seen as the biggest leaders and certainly not the biggest social movers. So it just feels like that's going to be the personality that they really want to rally around.
- [50:42]
Tony Kornheiser
I mean, the Ryder cup is great fun and it'll be great fun. And very loud. Oh yeah. And boisterous. At Beth Page. It's going to be like the people on the other team are going to know they're in a hostile. Yeah, this is going to be the.
- [50:58]
George
Redux of War by the Shore, 1991.
- [51:00]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. I mean this, it's, it probably would be great fun, George. I mean, how do you people like Tommy Fleetwood? Did he gag it? I mean, is it a choke?
- [51:12]
Sean McGuire
I am a huge fairway Jesus fan and unfortunately, you know, I wasn't watching it live, but I saw my phone blow up and then had to immediately watch some of the highlights. And you know, it looked like he, he, he choked it and, and I did. He was, he was in a position, you know, to win, but I think he looked, you know, visibly kind of uncomfortable and, and to three putt from where he did. I think, you know, it.
- [51:40]
Tony Kornheiser
We didn't five putt. He didn't five, five putted and I didn't even make the last one.
- [51:45]
George
Yeah, he did cut it out.
- [51:48]
Sean McGuire
But I think if you put them there, you know, on a, on a Thursday, you know, the Thursday morning, he, he, he too puts that 10 out of 10.
- [51:55]
Tony Kornheiser
I, I will say this. The par there is 70. If you are going to be, if, if no one is chasing you when you have a 10 shot lead, then what I'm saying now doesn't, doesn't matter. But if people are chasing you and it's a Sunday and you shoot over par, you lost the tournament. I mean, that's, that's how it works.
- [52:13]
George
I mean, he's the first. He's the only player in the top 20, 20 spots that was over. You have to go down to Wyndham Clark at T17 who was plus two.
- [52:23]
Tony Kornheiser
And then Windham Clark was of course went into the locker room afterwards and destroyed all the lockers. Was, was Fleetwood up two in the last hole? Did he give one away in a later hole as well? Because he was up to most of the day.
- [52:37]
George
He was not up two at that point. He was up one because Keegan had a birdie on the parth three.
- [52:42]
Tony Kornheiser
Okay.
- [52:42]
George
And the big shakeup was just. He had, he came out of the gate with three birdie or three bogeys, quickies.
- [52:48]
Tony Kornheiser
Who did?
- [52:49]
George
Tommy Fleetwood. Three out of all three of the first four.
- [52:51]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, that's no good. I know. And it's not that people were rooting against anyone else, but I think a Lot of people would have been happy if Tommy Fleetwood won.
- [53:00]
George
Oh.
- [53:01]
Tony Kornheiser
Because.
- [53:02]
George
Ready for it.
- [53:03]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. He projects in a nice way and. And people do like him. And by the way, he's going to be on the Ryder cup team. And, you know, it's conceivable he could play a match against material, you know, so what. Who would you bet on in that? Who would you bet on if they were head to head on Sunday? Who would you bet on in that?
- [53:23]
George
I mean, I think Keegan at. Keegan at Beth Page is a. It could be a different force.
- [53:29]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Yeah.
- [53:30]
Sean McGuire
So I will say I give Tommy Fleetwood a lot of credit for speaking with the media after. After that tough loss.
- [53:36]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Because as we know, Rory would have done. Rory would have been on the private jet.
- [53:43]
George
There was an embrace with his family right after that was just heartbreaking.
- [53:46]
Sean McGuire
It was hard to watch.
- [53:47]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, what happened? Oh, really? No, just.
- [53:49]
George
He has. He has. I mean, his kids were hugging. I mean, it just. It's a reminder that these are. These are professionals with families with outside lives. And we often just see the joyous moments and there's just a lot of. You know, most players lose every week.
- [54:03]
Tony Kornheiser
So. So we don't. You're saying we don't see the moments where the father says to the son, you're killing the family. You understand that, right? You gag.
- [54:11]
George
Get back to the practice grade.
- [54:12]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. All right. We will take a break. We'll come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
- [54:18]
George
You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.
- [54:21]
Tony Kornheiser
Here comes Tony's mail back. Got your emails, faxes and your notes. This Mr. Tony's maybe back.
- [54:31]
Lizzy
Going to read some for all of your folks. I.
- [54:38]
Tony Kornheiser
Brandon Costello. Yes. Is that a new one? No, no, we just. An old one. Yeah, it's an old. We haven't played it in some time. Do you want to do the Bethesda bagel ad? Yeah, Bethesda bagels, we love them. You will as well. Just go to bethesdabeagels.com for a location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop one in. Plug the bagel place we went to today because they're good. Surf bagel. Yeah, it's very, very good. Friendly staff, good products. You know that George tipped me off to. To a pizza place around here. Do you remember when you told me about Henlopen Pizza?
- [55:04]
Sean McGuire
Henlopen City Pizza Kitchen.
- [55:05]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. That's. That's where I ate last night. It's fantastic. Delicious. Very good. We get just three slices of pepperoni. Fantastic. Why don't you get a whole pie? And I didn't think I had room in the, in the, in the fridge. No. Yeah. Tony's disappointed. Yeah, I would have had some before we get to the mailbag. Let me just say as I walk this land with broken dreams, I have visions of many things. But happiness is just an illusion filled with sadness and confusion. What becomes of the broken hearted who had love that's now departed. That is Jimmy Ruffin. Yes. Who I believe is the older brother of David Ruffin, who was the Temptations lead singer for 70 years. Thanks to our guest today, Michael Wilbon. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts Spotify and Odyssey if you listen to Apple. Please leave us a review. George, how have we done? Have you done well today? Have you enjoyed this?
- [55:58]
Sean McGuire
Love it.
- [55:58]
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, you're not talking as much again as we would like, but it's a little bit more than usual. Michael, can you coach George up when you bring the boys?
- [56:07]
George
I have sent a swing of Bootsy's recent range session for George to take a look at.
- [56:12]
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, so that's important. From Steve the Sycophant. Even though the summer Solstice already hit D.C. at 10:42 on June 21, I know you want to note its occurrence. For those of us who are scientifically challenge, it's good to remember the Earth is not closest to the sun on the summer solstice. But as the Earth is tilted on its axis, the maximum amount of sunlight hits the Northern Hemisphere. The axis, I should note, is a line running pole to pole through the center of the earth tilted at 23.5 degrees. By the way, this axis is imaginary. Don't go to either pole expecting to see it. The amount of sunlight we get on solstice varies wildly. Quito, Ecuador receives only an extra six and a half minutes of daylight, while while Fairbanks, Alaska will have almost 22 hours. Why then, you ask, is in June our hottest month? Because the amount of the sun's energy continues to be greater than the energy lost at night until late July or early August. So, dear Toby, when the D.C. temperature hits 100 plus by Tuesday. Don't fret. Compared to the 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface of the sun, it's cool. I don't know it's going to go over 100. I don't know. Cameron Stevens in Sydney, Australia Dear Northern Hemisphere, I'm back for more sunlight. Regards, Southern Hemisphere Scott Phelan. Scott Phelan Bozeman Montana. I moved from Bozeman, Montana to Seattle while the woman, whom I'm related to by marriage, finishes her family medicine residency. When we moved, we began taking our two large dogs on walks in our neighborhood. We quickly established our typical route and made it routine. On that route, we discovered a home that places a box of raw potatoes out for the unhoused. We found it comical giving raw potatoes to people that don't have homes or presumably any method to cook them. We also found it comical that our one dog fell in love with the potato box. Every walk, he would eagerly charge to the box and select the largest potato he could find. He'd proudly walk back home with a large potato in his mouth and then settle onto his dog bed and slowly munch it with joy. About a year ago, he started having seizures. Yes, because you can't feed dogs potatoes. Yeah. He had no prior history of seizures. He's now on medication to control the seizures, which seem to help. You can imagine my utter shock when Carl Van Winkle wrote in on Wednesday informing you the potatoes are toxic to dogs. I mean, looked into the matter and discovered that indeed they are in some cases can result in seizures. Your show may have just solved my dog's seizures. When I move back to Bozeman in two weeks, I'll be sure to keep my dog away from Buster only and his potatoes. Yes. Yeah, I'm glad we can help. Jim Berry Woodbine, MD Dear Ms. Mr. Tony Restaurateur, Charter boat captain, potato farmer. Isn't it obvious where fate has been leading you all along? Chatter 2.0 DC's best fish and Chips from Keith Masson in Manmo in South Wales in the uk. Been listening to the potato conversation with interest. I've just started gardening myself, so I'm always listening for tips. I've not heard the very knowledgeable Buster not mention anything about building up the soil around the stems and leaves. A pot potato plant as it emerges. This means that the plant will produce more actual potatoes. I've attached a picture of my garden to demonstrate. Keep up the great show. And he has. And he's got a thousand potatoes. Yeah, it really does good. Huge crop Tomatoes and squirrels is the title of this from Jim Dugan in eastern Maryland by way of Baltimore attaches my first tomato of the year. It is a personal best record for how early it was. It was picked more on the pink side as I feared it, leaving it on the vine another day or two. Taking the chance that a tree rat, a squirrel, would enter my garden and ruin it. With a single bite. Last year, the squirrels decimated my tomato crop, maybe because of the long dry spell. In spite of fencing, hot peppers, peppermint oil trapping, and fox urine pellets, I could not rid myself of these varmints. I even considered going full Elmer Fudd with a Daisy BB gun. A neighbor of mine recommended the installation of an owl nesting box. These stealthy raptors will munch on a variety of pests, including mice and squirrels. So this spring, I installed a screech owl house high up on a tree with a convenient branch for a perch. I knew it would be a long time before an owl might roost in the box, but within a week, I had a tenant. A freaking flying squirrel. Yes, Rocket J. Squirrel and his misses have installed themselves in the owl box. The tomato gods are punishing me for my hubris. While flying squirrels do not eat tomatoes, per the Interweb, I now dread the arrival of Bullwinkle, who will come in and eat and trample the entire garden. Thank you and your minions for an enjoyable show. So, yeah. He sends a picture not just of the tomato, but of the squirrel. Rocky. Yes. Yeah. Bill Jones in Pauley's Island, South Carolina. This is my first year attempting to grow vegetables. I have a raised planter box on wheels. I was worried about the squirrels. I wanted peppers and tomatoes, but the local nursery also encouraged me to plant basil. She said the smell and bitter taste would inhibit the squirrels. It appears to be effective. So far, no issues with the critters, but the basil grows like crazy. I'm already trimming and giving some away every couple of days. Michael, should we have done that? Should we have put basil out there?
- [60:55]
George
We still can. I can get you some plants, and if you have extra basil, just make some pesto.
- [60:59]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, yeah. I don't like pesto. But Carol does. But I don't. But I'll give it away. Okay. Ryan Chait from Cincinnati. The year is 2013. I was managing bartending at a bar in downtown Indianapolis during the Eastern Conference finals, when who should walk in and sit at the bar but Jeff Van Gundy. I go over to him to take his order, and he says, hey, has anyone ever told you you look like. And before I can finish my sentence, he says, he replies, yes, it's me. Nobody would ever admit to being this ugly. He just ate and left. So there isn't a riveting tale of adventure or a touching moment of wisdom to impart. But the only story I have is my bartending days were soon over. Tony T. In Brooklyn in D.C. in the 90s, I bartended at one of the four soccer bars in D.C. i love when Taylor Twellman visits. Visits. He will know all the USDC United players I served. He's right. How American Major League Soccer has gone astray. It makes me sad. More importantly, the Funky Cornheiser goes live tonight. It's a dive bar, so the news Channel 8 viewers might not be impressed with our menu. Maybe I can get some sort of AI to fancy it up. And it's. Oh, it's all of these. Yeah, I think. Circle the ingredients. Try our special Funky Cornheiser Scotch on ice with a dash of sour and a plus splash of sweet vermouth. You got to try it. I mean, I don't have to try, but you have to try. Okay. Dennis Royer, Independence, Missouri. Somewhere around 15 years or more ago, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils opened for our band Saucy Jack from KC at a venue then called the Horny Toad on Lake of the Ozarks. I tell you, they open for us because their fans being an older demographic than the normal weekend crowd at the Horny toad, preferred the 9 o' clock start. I always loved Ozark Mountain Daredevil's hit song Jackie Blue and I was surprised to see the drummer singing and I thought, man, that sounds just like the original vocalist from the 45 Record my brother had of that single. I did my research and found out he was the original singer of that song, which was cool. All of OMD band members I encountered were gracious and they all disappeared after their set and left us with half a dozen drunk younger folks who danced late into the night. Please tell David Royer to eat it. Dennis Bounds. We've talked to Dennis Bounds before. We have Redmond, Washington. Your pods connective tissue is strong in the Pacific Northwest. Last Thursday, I was at a local hospital for a hernia operation. I've had that in pre op. I was tended to by a number of wonderful nurses reviewing my medical history, blood draw, IV setup, all the important stuff prior to surgery. Having spent 25 years on local television news and nine years in retirement, I become fairly anonymous. But after a while, the nurses started to recognize me. I saw your name. I wondered if you were him. Your voice sounded familiar. I grew up watching you. That Dennis Bounds. It's always nice to still be recognized. I'm always appreciative. But what was especially gratifying happened in post surgery. While coming out of an anesthetic stupor, another smiling nurse walked up to me and said, dennis Bounds. I Always listen to Tony Kornheiser every show. To which I responded with slightly slurred but emphatic and understandable a cheesery. You're everywhere. May you and your team always keep us company and laugh. From Andrew McEwen in Wyoming, Ontario. Not our Wyoming. Their Wyoming. Dear Captain Potato man was Soliza at the Nats game at Dodger Stadium on Sunday. I asked because the guy touched Lowe's home run in the third. Had used huge biceps. The only people I know that have that kind of huge biceps are prime Mr. Olympia, Arnold and Saliza. Christopher Lindeman in Los Angeles, a captain at sea, a farmer at home, and I have a piano are the two greatest songs ever aired on the pod. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, that. That AI song was scary. Yes. Jay Wolf in Delaware, Ohio. What? There's a Delaware, Ohio? So I went to my local Kroger store. I was greeted by a big sign. Red cherries, 3.99. It looks like we just give these things away here in central Ohio. You want some? I have the digital coupons. Let me know. If not, no big deal. Please tell my Uncle Herb to eat it. And from Brandon Borzelli in Lebanon, New Jersey. The best way to deal with an unstable or an ankle that has fallen victim to a mild roll is to do the following. One, wear comfortable footwear around the house. Nothing too tight or too flat. Two, distribute your weight evenly between your legs. Three, take straight, slow, but deliberate steps, one foot equally in front of the other. And four, open the medicine cabinet, remove a container of Advil, and swallow two of them. Repeat this after breakfast and dinner every day, possibly for the rest of your life. Tell Michael. Did you like. Did you get that? Michael? Up.
- [65:19]
George
Taking notes.
- [65:20]
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, you're out of your bike time. Everyone, as always, do wear what you know. They all get involved and they all.
- [65:25]
Michael Wilbon
Got their gear already.
- [65:26]
George
And so they're going to be all colored up in.
- [65:28]
Tony Kornheiser
In the maroon and black and yellow. Oh, no.
- [65:31]
Lizzy
Yeah, I can feel it. That everything gonna turn out just fine. I'm all in believing tonight. Tonight. Cause if hearts are for breaking Then sign me up for the tattoo. I'm all in believing tonight. Tonight. So here's to the ups and downs. Here's to the spinning round. Here's to the rain that falls upon my face. Here's the to the rights and wrongs. Here's to every single song that I sing. Here's to believing on a slow drag. Just wind me up and watch me fly. I am only believing tonight. Tonight. It's been so Long since I lost my faith and I lost my mind But I'm all in believing tonight Tonight to kiss to the upside and downs here's to the spinning round here's to the rain it follows upon my face. Here's to the rights and rounds here's to every single song that sing can't you believe it? It's the pain you feel when it goes two ways. But sometimes battle is the only way it can be saved. So chin up, my child don't let the world tell you your place. Be free, be wild, be honest and be grave I can feel it Everything gonna turn out just fine I'm all in believing tonight. Tonight. So cheers to the ups and downs. Cheers to the Spanish and round here's to the rain falls upon my face yeah, here's to the every single song that I sing. Jesus, you believe in.
- [69:53]
Tony Kornheiser
Lizzy, we got it.
- [70:24]
Lizzy
Wherever you pray, Wherever you lay I'll be there when you call me. Over rivers and roads Wherever you roam I'll be there when you call me. When time starts to break and the dawn is away I'll be there when you call me. At the end of day day when the world is away I'll be there when you call me. So hum this tune and hold on tight I'll be with you in the morning light. Close your eyes and listen.
- [71:44]
Tony Kornheiser
Listen.
- [71:45]
Lizzy
Close your eyes and listen. Oh, what a beautiful sound. Close your eyes and listen to the sound. When all hope has escaped and the darkness waits. I'll be there when you call me. If your direction home is lost amongst the cold I'll be there when you call me. So long as you hold on tight. I'll be with you in the morning, morning light. Close your eyes and listen. Close your eyes and listen. Oh, what a beautiful sound. Changes all around Close your eyes and listen to the sound sa I will cross the barren desert. I will walk among the fires. I will run to the deepest honor. See you face to face. You are my present in my future the reason I am safe. Sam. Wherever you pray, wherever you lay I'll be there when you call.