“Greg the Looper”

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show Episode: “Greg the Looper” Release Date: July 9, 2025

Hosted by This Show Stinks Productions, LLC

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1. Introduction

In this episode of "The Tony Kornheiser Show," Tony Kornheiser delves into a variety of engaging topics, primarily focusing on Wimbledon with guest Chris Clary and discussing significant organizational changes within the Washington Nationals with Jeff Passan. The conversation seamlessly transitions between sports, personal anecdotes, and insightful analyses, providing listeners with a comprehensive overview of current events in the sports world.

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2. Adaptive Open Golf Tournament at Woodmont Country Club

Lowell Singer provides an in-depth look into the fourth USGA Adaptive Open held at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville. This tournament is a testament to inclusivity in sports, showcasing golfers with a variety of disabilities competing at high levels.

• Inspirational Performances: Singer highlights remarkable performances, such as a golfer with cerebral palsy shooting an impressive 61 ([10:15]). The determination and skill displayed by these athletes serve as a powerful reminder of resilience and passion in sports.

• Course Adaptations: The course has been thoughtfully modified to accommodate players with different needs, including accessible bunker entrances and varied tee placements. Singer remarks, “The entrances are flat because you have some golfers who are walking in, in carts or there's other ways to get” ([09:33]).

• Emotional Impact: Tony emphasizes the emotional significance of the tournament, stating, “It'll make your day better, right? It made your day better” ([13:04]).

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3. Wimbledon Tennis Coverage

Chris Clary, a seasoned tennis writer, joins the show to discuss his latest book, The Warrior Rafael Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay, and provides expert insights into the current Wimbledon tournament.

A. Novak Djokovic’s Remarkable Run

At 38 years old, Novak Djokovic continues to defy age norms in tennis, vying for his 25th major title. Michael Wilbon marvels at Djokovic's longevity, stating, “He is so elastic and flexible and he's able to really, you know, dig into his knowledge and command the slice and use his serve very smartly” ([25:57]).

• Training and Flexibility: Djokovic's rigorous and consistent training regimen contributes significantly to his sustained performance. Wilbon notes, “They focused from a very, very early age on Novak's flexibility” ([26:29]).

B. Grigor Dimitrov’s Struggles

Contrasting Djokovic's success, Grigor Dimitrov has faced a string of physical ailments, causing him to retire mid-match in the last five majors.

• Audience Reaction: Tony describes a particularly jarring moment when Dimitrov collapsed during a match, capturing the crowd's stunned silence: “He hit a kind of an off Speed ace to win the game. And he's up two sets to love on center and on serve on the third to set an ace and then just drops to his knees” ([22:19]).

• Age and Play Style: Wilbon attributes Dimitrov's struggles to his dynamic playing style and advancing age, stating, “I don't think his body ultimately can hold up” ([21:53]).

C. Women’s Tennis Dynamics

The women's side of Wimbledon has been less predictable, with numerous upsets leading to a ninth consecutive different champion.

• Sara Sorribes Tormo's Performance: Tony praises Sara Sorribes for her resilience on the court: “And she seems to me to be a champion” ([27:48]).

• Mental Fragility: Wilbon discusses Sorribes' technical skills versus her emotional stability, saying, “She's so mentally fragile still” ([28:22]).

D. Technological Impact on Tennis

The conversation touches on how changes in technology, such as modifications to grass seed and string technology, have influenced playing styles and match outcomes.

• Ball Consistency: Wilbon discusses player complaints about ball consistency, noting, “there's far too not enough consistency in the kind of balls that they use” ([29:00]).

• Game Evolution: The shift towards baseline play over serve-and-volley styles is attributed to technological advancements in equipment and court surfaces.

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4. Washington Nationals’ Organizational Changes

Jeff Passan enters the discussion to shed light on the recent firings of Washington Nationals' long-time General Manager Mike Rizzo and Manager Dave Martinez. The Nationals are undergoing significant restructuring aimed at revitalizing the franchise.

A. Reasons for Firing

Chris Clary explains, “It was about Dave Martinez's option, which is a pretty weird time to have an option decision in July” ([36:03]). The Nationals' ownership decided not to renew Martinez's contract, which subsequently led to the dismissal of Rizzo due to their intertwined roles.

B. Introduction of New GM Mike DeBartolo

With Mike DeBartolo stepping in as the new General Manager, there is an anticipated shift towards embracing advanced analytics and technology.

• Technological Integration: DeBartolo is committed to “going high tech” and utilizing analytical tools that the Nationals previously resisted. Clary notes, “the Nationals are behind him” and criticizes the over-reliance on computer models, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach ([40:51]).

• Balance Between Analytics and Scouting: Passan highlights the importance of not letting analytical models override human intuition and scouting: “the pendulum has swung too far in terms of reliance upon this technology” ([46:31]).

C. Future Prospects

The Nationals' new direction under DeBartolo is seen as a potential catalyst for positive change, although uncertainties remain regarding his long-term impact and ability to integrate his vision with traditional scouting methods.

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5. Conclusion

Tony Kornheiser masterfully navigates through diverse topics, from inspiring stories in adaptive golf and the evolving landscape of Wimbledon to significant managerial shifts within Major League Baseball. The episode is enriched by insightful guest contributions and Tony’s characteristic humor, making it a compelling listen for sports enthusiasts seeking depth and breadth in their daily sports discourse.

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Notable Quotes

• Tony Kornheiser: “It'll make your day better, right? It made your day better.” ([13:04])

• Michael Wilbon: “He is so elastic and flexible and he's able to really, you know, dig into his knowledge and command the slice and use his serve very smartly.” ([25:57])

• Chris Clary: “In relationships in sports, they just wear out over time.” ([33:22])

• Jeff Passan: “You just don't know.” ([40:38])

• Michael Wilbon: “She's so mentally fragile still.” ([28:22])

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the essence of the episode, highlighting key discussions and providing valuable insights into the topics covered. Whether you're a fan of tennis, golf, or baseball, this episode offers something for every sports aficionado.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk about what's going on at Wimbledon with the writer Chris Clary. And we'll chat with Jeff Passon about the Nats cleaning house over the weekend. But first, let's do some commerce, boys and girls. Oh, hey. Hey.

[Jeff Passan]

Thanks for meeting me here. It's just you're my only lawyer friend and I need your professional opinion. You see that brand new Hyundai Tucson out there? That's all I paid for it.

[Chris Clary]

Ah, let me get back to you on that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Deal's so right it almost feels wrong.

[Chris Clary]

At the Hyundai Getaway sales event, get.

[Tony Kornheiser]

0% APR for 60 months plus 0.

[Chris Clary]

Payments for 90 days on all Hyundai Santa Fe models. And check out our other great deals at your Hyundai dealer today. Offer end September 2nd.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Call 562-314-4603 for details.

[Chris Clary]

This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Chris Clary]

I mean, he's a machine.

[Michael Wilbon]

No one else is like him.

[Chris Clary]

He is Michelangelo. He is Mozart.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He is a guy eating hot dogs.

[Chris Clary]

Jesse Owens.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's not Jesse Owens.

[Chris Clary]

You know, maybe not Jesse Owens. He is the Michelangelo.

[Michael Wilbon]

He's the Mozart. I think I called him the Caravaggio Consumption.

[Lowell Singer]

This is General George Washington and you're.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. My friend Lowell Singer called me yesterday to say that this segment with Jeremy Shap now the second time we've done this is the best thing that we.

[Lowell Singer]

Do once a year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's in the car, he's laughing, he has to pull over to the side of the road.

[Lowell Singer]

It's the new weather forecast.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, yes, it is good. It's really great.

[Lowell Singer]

Brought to you by.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just so good.

[Michael Wilbon]

All right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We've got tennis on the docket today and baseball and docket. Christopher Clary and Jeff Passon are going to talk to us. I'm not going to. The Nats lose. They lost last night. I didn't watch a pitch. It was a rain delay and it was rain delay through 8:30 and I thought, okay, they're not going to play this game. So I bailed out.

[Lowell Singer]

The English teacher and me saw signs in that two hour plus delay, you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Know, so yeah, I bailed out. And then I read this morning that they lost, lost 4 to 2 or something like that. So there's a new GM, there's a new manager. There's the same on that.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Miguel Cairo]

So Miguel Cairo is the interim.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we're going to get, we're going to get off that I wanted to also mention because I don't think we're going to be able to have him on during the tournament. But Greg Garcia is on his way on his circuitous way at the moment to Lake Tahoe. That's where that tournament is played.

[Chris Clary]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

To Lake Tahoe for the, the celebrity tournament. Oh, that's on. It's on NBC, I think. I think it's covered. He's caddying for Nate Bargazzi.

[Miguel Cairo]

Caddy looping.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's never, he's looping. He's never caddied in his life. He does not know how to caddy. He's trying to learn how to caddy. I, my Michael would, I ain't pay.

[Lowell Singer]

No 50 cents for no Coke.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So Michael would know better than I. But I think the rules are show up, keep up and shut up.

[Lowell Singer]

I don't think he's going to handle the third one Very well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no, he's not going to handle the. Shut up. You know, so we're. We're rooting for. We're rooting for two things.

[Lowell Singer]

Can you imagine being the other players in that group?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, they're going to laugh a lot.

[Miguel Cairo]

Yeah, that's a good group to be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So we're rooting for two things. One is either Bar wins or he has a tremendous blow up and he and Greg punch each other in the head. What else could you root for? Right. I mean, that's. That's it. Speaking of that, by the way, our intern is here. Chris. Chris is here. Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

He's.

[Miguel Cairo]

He sampled some cherry tomatoes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, I. I've grown them. They're good. They're yummy. I ate them in front of him so that if I didn't drop dead.

[Lowell Singer]

Update on the zucchini. We have some yellow zucchini growing from the seeds.

[Miguel Cairo]

How about that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

From the seeds that were. The seeds were originally brought to us by Harrison.

[Lowell Singer]

Yes.

[Miguel Cairo]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. That's right. Not. Not Chris. Chris planted some stuff.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yep.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chris planted potatoes. And the potatoes aren't coming up.

[Miguel Cairo]

Well, we. We won't know until.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But there's no. There's no.

[Lowell Singer]

I think they've struggled with the heat.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, maybe that. Well, I don't know why they should. They're great baked. I mean, they're potatoes. They should know their destiny.

[Lowell Singer]

Slow roast.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They should know their destiny.

[Miguel Cairo]

I just wanted to bring something up. It's. It's a little viral online, so you probably have not seen this. There's video on a golf course of two. I guess there's slow play. Have you seen this?

[Lowell Singer]

No.

[Miguel Cairo]

There's slow play involved and it turns into a confrontation.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And slow play's the worst.

[Miguel Cairo]

The most aggressive guy who's really challenging.

[Lowell Singer]

This other group, Valjean and Javert.

[Miguel Cairo]

Well, he's. He's just really aggressive. But then it turns out the guy that he's challenging is a former thug from the NHL. Like one of the enforcer guys.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, okay. And punches him right in the face.

[Miguel Cairo]

Every time he punches, he goes, bam. Bam.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He literally says it as he's punching him.

[Miguel Cairo]

And he, like, tosses this guy around. He's like, now go away. It's the funniest, sort of strangest fight you've ever seen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, I have not seen it, but we're going to stay with golf. I'm not even going to mention that I snuck out yesterday and played 16 holes in the morning how I did. I'll get to that another day.

[Lowell Singer]

You stayed through 16 state to cross the bridge.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I wanted the T shirt.

[Lowell Singer]

One last chance.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I wanted that and then I hit it. I'll just say this straight into the pod. I played great except for the par threes.

[Lowell Singer]

You're the par three specialist.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I doubled the first, the second, third and fourth par threes. I doubled them. I didn't have another bogey all day. I had a bogey rather. I never did another double all day. I doubled all the par threes after the first par three, after number four. Anyway, let me get off that, but let me stay on golf. We have this nice note from Jim Kardachi who writes, I'm a volunteer at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville for the fourth USGA Adaptive Open. The tournament chairman is Ron Buce. Ms. Ronnie's the chairman. The morning food is provided by Bethesda bagels, as is the lunch wraps. So good. In 2015, the Women's Amateur champion at Woodmont was Rose Zhang, who two years later was the girls correct. Girls junior. So, I mean, she was a great player.

[Lowell Singer]

First USGA event back after Covid.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And he says, I played in an annual junior golf tournament. Told the. Called the Bobby Goran Invitation. I remember I asked the assistant pro named Hogan, do they still play? He said, oh, yeah, on the South Course. And he writes, I'm sure Michael played it. Which you did. The tournament will be in the Golf channel today from 2 to 4. The golfers and how they play with disabilities are amazing. There was a story today in the Washington Post by Gene Wong about this. All the different categories. My son surprised me this morning by telling me he went yesterday. Tell us about.

[Lowell Singer]

I have goosebumps just thinking about the hours that I spent on the golf course yesterday. So you're talking about the categories. We have. Intellectual impairment, lower limb impairment, multiple limb amputee, coordination impairment, seated players, short stature, upper limb impairment, vision impairment.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You're not allowed to say the word disability anymore. Like, you can't say that. You get. Like you can't. There are words that we are no longer able to say and everybody knows what those words are. So you have to find terminology that everybody can live with. There's no DL, right? There's no disabled list. It's the il.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Except for me and Wilbones, the DL.

[Lowell Singer]

And I'll start with the course here. So he. You know, we mentioned this local tournament, the Bobby Gorn, which is always a great kids tournament, regional junior tournament. That was. It felt like the big leagues and it was a match play tournament. You know, yesterday I walk out I start on the 13th hole, which is a hole where I very famously lost to a good friend of mine, you know, 15 years ago. And clearly Woodmont has a great relationship with the usj. They host sectional qualifying for the US Open.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There are two courses there, so there's.

[Lowell Singer]

The north and there's the South.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I had pro seen Doran is very wonderful.

[Lowell Singer]

I had not seen the south since it had been redone. And to me the first thought I had was this is the future of golf where you had this beautiful bunker work where the bunkers are cutting into the greens and then you start to notice a lot of the entrances to the bunkers. Very important for this event. The entrances are flat because you have some golfers who are walking in, in carts or there's other ways to get. And they're, they're getting supported, chair bound some of them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They are, there's all sorts of problematic situations for these golfers that they have to overcome more so than the rest of us. And some of them are great players.

[Lowell Singer]

Inspirational to watch. Golf is hard enough and I can't imagine playing with some of the circumstances that they play. And you have tees, you think about how do you play. You have what feels like kids, 17 year olds all the way up to players in their 70s. How do you create an inclusive and you know, open tournament where you have people across all these different needs from just a yardage standpoint. And you have these tees that then blend into the fairways. They have short grass that leads to a lot of different places. Everyone's playing in carts. You are able to move. I think Woodmont should be part of the, you know, the anchor rotation for this event.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It is, it is undeniably inspirational. You see people out there playing golf, playing well, and you cannot, you just cannot believe they have overcome all of these burdens. And I will use the word handicaps that are put in front of them and they're still playing. There was the first day there was somebody from England who has cerebral Palsy who shot 61. I mean, and I said what did he shoot? Is that from the regular tease? Is that from the members tees of the 61? Really?

[Lowell Singer]

You know, and you Popert, he's a British golfer. I saw him, I saw him teeing off and, and he is leading by 10 going to the final round today. He won the. I think he won the last one as well. And I walk into the tournament, you might remember this name, Amy Bakkerstead. She's a woman in her 20s now. She went Viral a number of years back because she played the 16th hole with Gary Woodland and she was just so charming. As she told her, you know, as she said, I got this. She didn't, she didn't want to just hit in front of the crowds. She then wanted to put out. And Gaul fell in love with her. And I got to see her on this dropdown par three. The 12th hole sticks it close, makes the birdie, the place goes wild. And she's high fiving everyone. And I think it's her dad who's catting for her.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So it's, it's just an inspirational is the right word. There are people, they have no leg or they have no foot or they have no hand or they are very, very small or they have mental. Is it emotional, Emotional problems or like intellectual problems?

[Lowell Singer]

A lot of times when you watch, when you watch a amateur golf tournament, this happens in the pros as well. It becomes a very narrow world where you're focusing on your own game and you're focusing on your own needs. How do I get this into the hole as quickly as possible? And to see these players understand how to give other players the space to finish, the space to compete was like what golf is all about for me. Because you have some players who you're trying to line up your putt or putt out, they need to be assisted to get into their putting stance. They need a caddy to help, you know, take a crutch away at the last moment. And they are, they are trying to balance all of those different needs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And by the way, they're playing in 92 degree heat. It was awful, brutal. You know, if they're all going to get heat stroke, regardless of what they got, they're all going to get heat stroke as well. You know, I mean, I was out there yesterday. We were. I was done by 10, 15 and there were guys going out. And this is at Columbia. There are guys going out at one o' clock in the afternoon. You say, oh, no, no, no, you know, not worth it. But, you know, it's golf.

[Miguel Cairo]

And then every day we'll get that huge threat of a thunderstorm. So if you're out in the course.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But it is the Adaptive Open. It is continuing to be played today.

[Lowell Singer]

It'll be on the Golf Channel late this morning.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're not charging admission to this. You can go. If you're in the area, go. And if it takes you to have a good cry and then to appreciate what's right in your life and then to, and then to have Empathy for someone in this situation and be thrilled by their accomplishments. It'll make your day better, right? It made your day better.

[Lowell Singer]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now the Adaptive Open. It's a wood, Mom. We will take a break. Christopher Clary, who wrote tennis brilliantly for the New York Times for many years, will join us. From the All England Club, I am Tony Kornheiser.

[Jeff Passan]

This is the Tony Kornheiser show. Tony Kornizer show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Jeff Passan]

Thanks for selling your car to Carvana. Here's your check.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Whoa. When did I get here?

[Jeff Passan]

What do you mean?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I swear it was just moments ago that I accepted a great offer from Carvana online. I must have time traveled to the future.

[Jeff Passan]

It was just moments ago. We do same day pickup. Here's your check for that great offer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It is the future.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's.

[Jeff Passan]

It's the present. And just the convenience of Carvana. Sorry to blow your mind.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's all good.

[Lowell Singer]

Happens all the time.

[Jeff Passan]

Sell your car the convenient way to Carvana.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Pick up.

[Jeff Passan]

Times may vary and fees may apply. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. The Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is Edie Cary and this is sent to us by Michael Granberry. So I don't have to tell you how good it is right now. Michael Granberry is 100 for 100. He's 200 for 200. He's 1,000 for 1,000. He gets it Right. And he writes, I first heard edie Carey in 2007 at Uncle Calvin's Coffee House in Dallas and again at the same dearly missed venue in 2013. In the years since, Edie has soared, having shared the stage with Sara Bareilles, Brandi Carlisle and Sean Colbin, and co written songs with such artists as Sean Mullins and Shelley White. As the Chicago Sun Times once wrote of Edie, Carrie may have started out wanting to be a doctor, but she found her true calling in music. Her Pope, Faux Pope, folk songs, pop folk songs. Tony Get It Right are smart tales of love, life and longing. And I love this about Edie. She provides a service called Custom Songs, in which she writes songs exclusively for those who request them, for a fee, of course. The letters Edie posts on her website show how deeply the recipients of Custom Songs appreciate having Edie write a knockout ballad about them. This is called the Old Me. And as with all Michael Granbury submissions, they're better than we are. It's just that simple. Edie plays in Christopher Clary, who for many years wrote great tennis stories for the New York Times. It was my pleasure to have read them. They were better than the ones that I wrote for the New York Times. He's in Wimbledon now. He's written a book. We're going to talk about Wimbledon, but I want to mention the book, the Warrior Raphael Nadad and his King Nadal and His Kingdom of Clay. You wrote great at the Times. You walked away. Why did you walk away?

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, I felt like I was repeating myself a little bit. I felt. And I also felt like I really enjoyed this book I wrote when I was still there. I took a leave of absence to write a book about Federer called the master back in 2021. And I just realized it was. It felt fresh and really challenging to write long form. It could be too challenging. But I felt like when I got another deal to do this book on Rafa was a good time at my stage of my career to step away and kind of commit fully to that. And it's been good. It's been definitely a big, big change, not having that daily sword over your head with the deadlines and the news breaking.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you were most known for tennis as a writer. Why did you play? I mean, why tennis? Why not? You know, Wilbon would say you have to do basketball. Basketball, why tennis?

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, I covered everything in my time with the Times in the International Herald Tribune, which was New York Times, Washington Post, international arm, pre Internet. I was based in Paris for a long Time. So I covered most sports over there. A lot of Olympics, track and field, a lot of sailing, a lot of soccer. Different things. But tennis always felt like home to me. I mean, I had been a. A mediocre college player, Division 3 at Williams College. I played my whole life was a sport I grew up watching with my. With my parents. And my family was a tennis family. And whenever I wrote about it, I felt like I actually had a clue, which wasn't always the case when I was writing about other things. So it was. Yeah, it was a comfortable place to be, and I just always connected with it. And my first two bosses in the business, guys that, you know, I'm sure you know, were Barry Lorch, ex Washington Post tennis writer, who was my editor at the San Diego Union when I started my career, and then Neil Amber at the New York Times.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And they both covered tennis guys. Absolutely.

[Michael Wilbon]

A lot of tennis. So that was the connection for me into that world.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Barry. Barry actually worked for commercial Union for a while. I mean, he was always around tennis as sort of an official tennis person and not just a writer. And Amdur. Amdur loved tennis. Amduro. The great Amduro. Yeah, I know him both. Knew them both very well. Barry gone. Neil still with us, I believe, right? Neil's still with us. Barry not.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, correct.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Michael Wilbon]

I owe everything in my career to those two guys, to be honest. They really were the ones who opened the doors for me. And Barry also, you know, very nicely, when he had a family matter in 1990, said, Kris, I want you to go to Wimbledon. And I was wet behind the ears, and he sent me over there, and I just did the candy store. It was amazing. And it was very generous of Barry to do that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good for you. Good for them, too. Let me get to Wimbledon a little bit.

[Michael Wilbon]

And.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sinner is playing today to get into the semifinals. It is right now, full disclosure. A quarter to eight in the east in America. So it's quarter to one in London, England. Do we know if he's going to play? He had physical problems. This is a guy who sort of always looks like he's one step away from walking out of a match. Do we know his physical condition? He's going to play Ben Shelton, who's a pretty athletic young man and can run him around the court a little bit.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, absolutely. Ben is very dynamic, I think. And he gets set to play. He practiced this morning over here with a sleeve on his. On his right elbow. Sleeves are all the rage in sports, as you know.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

This is one he doesn't usually wear. And I think he's going to give it a go for sure. I mean, it's, he's, he missed, he missed three months earlier in the year with a doping violation suspension. So he's eager to play. And I think they tested it out, MRI was, was negative. So he should be able to go. Whether he'll be able to go at full speed, you know, nobody knows till they get out there. But Ben Shelton should be a threat. But Yanni, Normal Situation would be the favorite based on 100, his ranking and everything else.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, 100%. And speaking of injuries, Gregor Dimitrov, this is an unbelievable statistic to me and it's, it's actually not believable. He has dropped out of the last five majors, retired in the middle of matches with some sort of physical ailment. Is he in the wrong business?

[Michael Wilbon]

That's the kind of tennis history you want to be making. I would agree, and I'm sure Grigor would agree even more. Yeah, I mean, it's. Grigor is, has always been this tremendously talented player. Unfortunately, compared early in his career, Roger Federer with his style, one handed backhand, very graceful mover. But Roger Federer never in his entire career, 20 plus years retired from a match. Wow, that's probably the most amazing stat, actually. And then Grigor, unfortunately, his stylistic acolyte has retired from far too many. And I just think in his mid-30s now, he's even more vulnerable. And he plays a very dynamic style and very acrobatic. And I don't think his body ultimately can hold up, I mean, proofs in the five straight retirements. But he should be back for the US Open. Whether he'll be able to finish that one, we'll see.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You could see this when he was sitting down and the trainer came over. You could see him wincing every time he put his hand near his shoulder in the pectoral area. Like there was. I mean, I thought to myself, unless they shoot this guy up like he's a football player, and I don't even know if that's legal in tennis. I don't know, it's legal in football. But unless they shoot this guy up, he's done, right? I mean, you could see the anguish on his face, right?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, I was sitting right behind where it happened. I was on center court, in the center court press seats there. And honestly, if you were watching the match from a little bit of a distance, there was absolutely no clue that was coming. He hit a kind of an off Speed ace to win the game. And he's up two sets to love on center and on serve on the third to set an ace and then just drops to his knees. If you watch the replays, you can see he had a little bit of pain the previous point. But this just. I've never seen that. I've never seen where somebody comes down with a pectoral injury like that mid match and. And has something probably to do with age. Something to do. Also, they took a long break to close the roof before the third set.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, got a cold. I don't know, but it was. It was really jarring. And the crowd was stunned. And rigor has been in that situation, you know, far too many times. Every time it's a different body part.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I mean, you say to yourself, why he's going to take out the number one seed in this whole deal. And yet he can't. You know, it's Anthony Davis, it's Joel Embiid is. These guys are just. They can't actually get on the court. All right, let me get to what I think at the moment, at least, if he's still playing, is the overarching story of this Wimbledon, and that is Novak Djokovic at 38 years old, having a chance, playing pretty well and having a chance to win the 25th major in his career. People that, you don't know me, but I don't like him. I mean, it's not that I don't think he's a great player. There's just something about him that I don't like. And a lot of it is comparative to Federer and Nadal, who you know very well. But I would assume, Chris, that he's the story there at the moment. And how impressive is it that at 38, he's this good?

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, it's. It's remarkable. But I guess it's less remarkable than it would have been 10, 15 years ago when people like Pete Sampras were retiring at 31 or Stefan Edberg was retiring at 30 and. And Becker was done by that age. I mean, these guys have kind of reset the bar where it used to be. You know, back in the day, Ken Roswell was playing into his early 40s, Jimmy Connors Grand Slam finals against Jimmy Connors in 74, US Open Wimbledon when he was 38, too. So there is a precedent for this. Pancho Gonzalez in tennis. Obviously, Martina Navratillova played, you know, deep, played into her late 40s and doubles and her 40s and singles. So it's been done. But in recent times, with the way the games change and the velocity and the. And the ballistic nature of it, it's quite amazing that Cetera, Nadal, all went into their late 30s and Federer's case played his last match at 41. So, you know Novak, it's a little bit less mind bending than it would have been. But I think what's remarkable about Novak is just how consistently great he's been all the way through. He has a chance to reach his seventh straight Wimbledon final. I think it's going to be a tough ask. Likely he's going to play center Shelton. And I think Novak's got to beat Flavio Caboli, a new Italian player who's emerged in order to get there today. But I just. He is such a tremendously adaptable player. He has treated his body like a temple for a long time. He is so elastic and flexible and he's able to really, really counter so many different types of game styles. And grass court tennis is not like back in the day when there were three of the four majors on grass. Now it's only the one tournament on grass. They only got about a three or four week season. So it's really for veterans and people who have experience that has a big advantage. And Novak uses that. He's able to really, you know, dig into his knowledge and command the slice and use his serve very smartly. So for sure he's got a shot at this. I think he's number three in the pecking order for me. I put Alcaraz, the top center behind him, and then Novak, third. But he's in there. And that is just to say that at this stage is kind of wild.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You mentioned the elasticity of his body. A friend of mine sent me a clip yesterday of his warmup and all the things he does in this warmup, all the stretches, all the devices he uses, and it's like Steph Curry, except if Steph Curry was clinically insane. It's just wild. You've seen that, I assume, Chris.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, yeah. I remember his wife, Elena. I was once asked how they spent their holiday and she goes, well, it's very simple. I watched my husband stretch.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's just.

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean, this is not new. And I remember interviewing for a New York Times story back in the day. I went to Belgrade to kind of trace Djokovic's roots when he first emerged at the very top of the game. And I remember talking to his childhood coach, Elena Gencic, who was really a remarkable sort of mentor type with These pale blue eyes and had coached Monica Seles and Goran Ivanuzevich as well and really understood sports and the mental aspect of it. But she told me they focused from a very, very early age on Novak's flexibility. And that was really important for her, that even when he was 6, 7, 8 years old, they didn't want him to overload his body and they wanted him to stretch. So this is something he's been doing, what, he's 38 now. He's been doing this for 30 years, and certainly it's paying off.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, yeah, good for him. By the way, on the women's side, it doesn't feel as competitive as the men's side at the moment because so many. There was carnage in the first two or three rounds and everybody went out. But I watched Sabalink. I watched her play two matches. I watched her yesterday, and I watched against Radicanu, if I pronounced that name correctly. And she's down and you think she's gonna lose. And she steels herself and she wins. Point here and a point there and a game here and a game there, and then she breaks, then she wins the whole set. And she seems to me to be a champion. And my colleague Michael Wilmot cannot stand her. Just doesn't like her. Where are you on this?

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, I wouldn't mind the volume getting turned down, to be honest with you. I mean, the men, the men grunt as well. I mean, Nadal everybody seemed to love, you know, grunted plenty in all his grunt strokes. People get on Saba Lenka for that. I think what's interesting when you watch her play is that she's a tremendous ball striking talent and she's improved her other parts of her game a great deal. Just a physical force, very Serena, like in the way she strikes a tennis ball. But she's just so mentally fragile still. I mean, she's number one by a huge margin. And yet you saw the end the French Open final against Coco Gauff. Oh, yeah, she just melted down. And she lost other matches this year and not dissimilar fashion. So that's sort of the thing that's fascinating to me is that she's come such a long way with her game and yet still there's that lingering doubt she wants it too much. Can't quite manage the emotions. So I don't know what's going to happen here. Wimbledon has been the real outlier in recent years. In the women's game, where you've had big surprise this year, there's so many surprises. It's not surprising anymore. Yeah. So we're going to have our ninth consecutive different women's champion at Wimbledon, which would once have been unthinkable in the Martina and Serena and Billie Jean King days. So it's, it's a. It's because grass is an unusual surface now. And I think also because the women's game is really very balanced. There's a lot of depth in there and a lot of threats.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you believe this Djokovic thing, that the balls are fluffier in the last X amount of years and it gives people a chance to stay on the baseline and it, it elongates the rallies in grass tennis. Is that, in fact, true? Did Slazinger do that, or is this some nonsense that is being, you know, passed around to people?

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean, players complain about the balls no matter what they do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

And I would agree there's. There's far too not enough consistency in the kind of balls that they use. And that's not good for your arm to be playing, you know, in the clay court swing or the grass court swing with different balls every week. I think what really happened at Wimbledon was, you know, around 2003 or so, the year that Layton Hewitt broke through and won from the baseline exclusively. I think they just changed the mix of grass seed. They started using a grass seed that allowed the ball to bounce up a little bit higher. And I think you're seeing just the style of game has changed. Where there's strings that they've been using for the last 20, 25 years, these poly strings allow people to hit these pass shots that just dip and are so hard for net players to really control. So that kind of put an end to serving volley as a regular staple on the tour. So I think the baseline game might have not prevailed at Wimbledon if it hadn't been for those changes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Leighton Hewitt's a great name. Wilbon loved Leighton Hewitt. Leighton, you had sent Wilbon an autographed pair of shorts. He did. Wilbot just went crazy about how great Leighton Hewitt was. Mike. He's won one tournament in this whole lot. Anyway, Chris, Christopher Clary has written a book called about Rafael Nadal, who is a sweet guy, actually, Rafael Nadal, and plays a lot of golf at United States country clubs. And every time he plays, everybody at the club says, I really like that guy. The Warrior Rafael Nadal and his Kingdom of Clay. Chris, thank you tremendously for doing this and for the great writing over the years. Thank you.

[Michael Wilbon]

Hey, much appreciated. It's an honor. Thanks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chris Clary, boys and Girls, we'll take a break. Jeff Passon will join us. We'll talk about something completely different. Baseball. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Jeff Passan]

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[Chris Clary]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Once again, we have Edie Carey, and this is called Veil. A Michael Granberry discovery. Well, not a discovery, but I mean, he sends us the music of the most talented people in the world. It's just fabulous. Michael, if independent artists like Edie Carey want to send in their original music for us to play on the podcast, how do they do it?

[Lowell Singer]

Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesonyquinozzershow.com and I know Johnny O has a sale, but we have, I believe, a promo code tkbday. Big birthday month for you and the hammer.

[Chris Clary]

God.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. It's very soon, very soon. I'm already the oldest working person in America and I'm getting another number tacked on very, very soon. I'm just. Oh, God. All right, Jeff Passon joins us. Did you have. Did you. I want to talk a little bit about. And by a little bit, I mean for the rest of my life about Rizzo and. And Davey getting fired. You were credited with having that first. Did you have that first?

[Chris Clary]

I did have that first, actually, yes, sir.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good for you. Why do you think they did it?

[Chris Clary]

It was time. You know, in sports, the cliche get hired to get fired is true, but under the surface of that is a reality. That in relationships in sports, they just wear out over time. And the fact that Mike Rizzo survived more than a decade and a half with the Washington Nationals as their general manager, you just don't see that a whole lot anymore in any sport, really. And especially with a guy like Mike Rizzo, who in a sport that has become increasingly computer oriented, was, I wouldn't say famously anti computer, but he resisted that idea. He was a scout. He was the son of a scout. He was a guy who was from a different era. And so for him to survive as long as he did, and along with that, Dave Martinez, who was his ideological partner in this situation, for them to last for this long was honestly pretty surprising. And 2019 clearly bought them a whole lot in terms of time and leeway. And a World Series should do that. But at the same time, man. So you asked me earlier if I broke the news on this. I did. I was on Baseball Tonight at the time, actually, and I got a text from a source that said, Dave Martinez just got fired. And I was like, whoa, yeah, that's. That's a. That's a big deal. And so I was reporting this just as if Davey was going. And, you know, I start sending messages out, I'm not getting a whole lot in return. I'm nervous that I'm going to get scooped on the story and finally I get a confirmation back. And it also said. And Rizzo, and that shocked me because Tony, like, the timing of this, it just did not, in that moment make a whole lot of sense to me. With the amateur draft coming up and.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They have the number one overall pick. Yeah.

[Chris Clary]

Yes. Like, they've had the number one overall pick twice in franchise history.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Strasberg and Harper. Pretty good.

[Chris Clary]

Yeah, just. Yeah, just a couple of guys.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, pretty good.

[Chris Clary]

And this for. For a franchise that feels like it's been stuck in neutral for the last half decade, this is a very, very important pick. And the person who's going to be making it now, Mike DeBartolo, has never been in that seat before. He has never, you know, done a one on one negotiation with Scott Borse, who has arguably in Ethan Holiday and Kate Anderson, the top two players in this draft. Beyond that, he's never been the one to say, yes, we will make that trade. With the trade deadline coming up July 31st. And yet this is kind of gnats of them, isn't this. The Nats aren't the Rockies. The Gnats aren't the White Sox. The Nats aren't that far behind either. Of them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Certainly not this year. They're not. Certainly not. And so I want to get this. Tim Kirchen was on PTI yesterday and I said, I just want to ask you this. Not on the air. It was off the air. And I said, what do you think of this? And he said, I was really surprised at the timing of it. Really surprised. I don't get it. I'm hearing sort of the same thing from you, which is not to say that it's not justified. It is justified. I'm not going backwards on this. It may not be deserved, but it's justified. But, you know, right now it seemed like a stunner. What do you think precipitated it right now?

[Chris Clary]

From what I was told, it was about Dave Martinez's option, which. It's a pretty weird time to have an option decision in July, right? Dave Martinez's club option for the 2026 season was due, like now, just in a matter of days. And the Lerner family had determined that they were not going to pick up the option. Now, others have reported that Mike Rizzo had an option for his contract that was set to be picked up at the same time. I did not get that same information. I don't think that Rizzo's was due right then, or at least I don't have sources who have told me that at this point. But. But clearly at some point it was going to need to be exercised as well. And really, I think in the eyes of ownership, Davy and Rizzo, Rizzo and Davey, one in the same, like they were tied at the hip. And because of that, you get rid of one, you're going to get rid of the other. And yet if they had fired Dave Martinez and kept Mike Rizzo around for another month and then fired Mike Rizzo after that, perhaps it would have opened them up to, what are you doing letting a guy who's not going to be here make decisions about the future of the franchise? And yet, at the same time, unless you're planning on hiring Mike DeBartolo, who is a very capable executive, by the way, a guy who's been worked his way up from intern to assistant general manager, who was not just in the room when they executed the Juan Soto trade that really over the last six years is far and away the highlight and is going to be paying dividends for a long, long time, was just in the room for that, but was an integral part of, like, the group of six people who were making that decision. So it is well within the realm of possibility that he winds up with a job full time. But it's probably likelier that he doesn't. Well, there's, there's a, that there's a fresh start. And if, you know, if somebody else comes in, that person's going to want to bring his or her own people along. And so the person ultimately making the decisions now might not be here either.

[Michael Wilbon]

Like, you just don't know.

[Chris Clary]

So it's, it's an odd position to put him in, having to do all of these negotiations when he's not been the shot caller to this point.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So let, let's, let's speak to that because there's a very good and interesting column today in the Post by Barry Zverluga about the things that DeBartolo has done so far and the things that DeBartolo said yesterday in St. Louis, beginning with the fact that we've got to go high tech. We've got to use all of this analytical stuff that we weren't using. So what Barry points out that the interim manager, Cairo, has pledged himself to what Davey did, but that the interim GM, DeBartolo, has gone away, even though I'm sure he's very close with Rizzo, but has gone away philosophically from him. And Barry sets it up that this could be fascinating. Are you hearing the same sort of thing?

[Chris Clary]

Yeah, Barry's the best. So I would not question anything he's reporting on the Nationals. He is the source, he is the authority. But yes, I think he's spot on with that. That being said, though, generally the manager falls in line. It's been so interesting in baseball, the paradigm shift over the last couple of decades in terms of power, the power used to rest in the hands of the manager. That is not the case anymore anywhere. Yes, yes, it's the GM show now. The GM is the brains of the operation, and among the 30 teams, what he says goes. That's just how it is. And the manager has to contort himself to the whims of the gm. So Miguel Cairo might think like Dave Martinez, but he needs to execute the vision now of Mike Barlow and that that's just the way it is. And frankly, I agree with Mike Du Bartolo. The Nationals are behind him. When I, when I compare them to organizations like the Rockies and like the White Sox, it's not just in the idea that they stink. It's in the fact that they have not embraced the full extent of what's available technologically across Major League Baseball. Now, Tony, I want to make one thing clear. I think the Pendulum, in many cases, has swung too far in terms of reliance upon this technology. I think there are too many organizations that are out there right now that look at their model, their analytical model, as if it is a God as opposed to a tool that they're letting the computer do too much of the work for them. There are some clubs that have struck a wonderful balance there, where the model is used as a complement to not just the things that they're seeing with their eyes, but the things that they're feeling about where the team is in, in the current baseball world and how that matters. And what I mean by that is, let's use Sandy Alcantara for an example. Now, Sandy Alcantara, this year has been bad. He is an ERA over seven, is coming back from first full season from Tommy John surgery. If you look just objectively at that, the stuff hasn't been where it was and the performance has been bad. But I think to a man like you talk with scouts and you talk even with some analysts and people who use the computers for a living, and they will suggest that they would really like to have Sandy Alcantara on their team, that maybe he's a few tweaks away from being, if not the pitcher he once was, then certainly some facsimile of it. And yet there are a number of models out there that say Sandy Alcantara, who's owed around $38 million over the next two seasons beyond this year. They wouldn't even take on that contract for free. They wouldn't even bring in that guy, let alone give up a haul to get him back. And that just seems ludicrous to me. That just seems like the computer as not acknowledged. This is a guy who's done things before and, you know, maybe it is worth the risk.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, well, look at Jacob deGrom, who's had two. Look at the year he's having now. You just don't walk out of the hospital and pitch good. Takes a while.

[Chris Clary]

It does. And so I think, you know, in the end, in baseball, the best franchises are ever more trying to strike that appropriate balance. And at very least it's not striking that appropriate balance. Asking themselves the question, how do we get there? How do we avoid allowing the computer to be the thing that makes the decision for us? Because while, you know, while analytical models, I think, are a net positive for baseball, I think the second we start losing the plot here in terms of what they're best for, we go to a place where the game shouldn't be. And I fear that in too many cases, we've gotten to that point.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, we'll see what happens. I mean, I, I can't predict this. I don't have any idea. I mean, two things have to happen. The owners of, of this team in Washington need to say we are recommitting to spending money the way we used to. We're not going to be landlords anymore. We're going to try and win. And then they have to make a decision because Mike DeBartolo is presenting to them something different from Rizzo. It's different. Is, is that persuasive enough for them? That's because this year is gone. It's about, you know, the coming years. Anyway, thank you, Jeff. Thank you. Thank you.

[Chris Clary]

My pleasure, Tony.

[Michael Wilbon]

Thank you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jeff Passon, boys and girls. Always a treat to have him. We will come back with email and jingle. I am Tony Kornheiser.

[Jeff Passan]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. What is, what instrument is that?

[Miguel Cairo]

Probably a synthesizer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm thinking the computer. Josh Himmel's back.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's like the first time I heard Good Vibrations. And I said, what is that? What is that? Thank you.

[Lowell Singer]

Saw that was lovely.

[Miguel Cairo]

I think he was his, he was trying to channel 80s video game sounds when he did that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was pretty good.

[Miguel Cairo]

Yeah, I think he did a great job.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ready?

[Lowell Singer]

Player one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bagel land.

[Miguel Cairo]

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

[Tony Kornheiser]

So before we get to the mailbag, let me just say, when I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all. And though my lack of education hasn't hurt me much, I can read the writing on the wall. That's Paul Simon talking about Forest Hills High School. Obviously it's, it's one of the greatest lines ever.

[Miguel Cairo]

Yes, it's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Everybody knows the first time they heard that song went wow. When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school. It's a wonder I can think at all. Just brilliant. Thanks to our guests today. Chris Clary, Jeff Passon. Thanks as well to today's sponsor sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ought to see if you get the show through Apple. Please leave us a review. We have a haiku from Shad about the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest. A fine line between chew your food and inhale it, glory, guts and gas from Mike Boak in Troy, Michigan. Part of the connective tissue of the show is the understanding and acceptance of the quirks of you and your guests. Tim and Avocados, Bob Ryan and Upsets Jason and Aaron Rodgers. The list goes on. As a middle school math teacher, listening to Gary talk math with would always result in closing of my eyes and rubbing my temples. It's been a while since I performed that set of movements, but I caught myself doing them yesterday while listening to your segment with Jeremy. Everyone agreed that five hot dogs and buns weigh roughly one pound. Jeremy quickly did the math in his head and calculated that Joey Chestnut ate 75 pounds of food in 10 minutes. A creature like a Tyrannosaurus rex could do that, but not a human. Joey effectively ate 15 pounds of food in 10 minutes. If you ever need to fill a segment, you could always get Jeremy and Gary on to discuss how some of the modern sports analytics are calculated from Brett Hobbs in Linton, Indiana. This past Memorial Day, a farm and garden chain store called Rural King invited Joey Chestnut to come to Terre Haute and demonstrate his eating skills. The product to be consumed was popcorn, because Rural King gives out fresh popped popcorn to all its customers while they shop. Joey proceeded to eat 3724 ounce bags of popcorn in eight minutes. I would have invited you, but I know you don't have a high opinion about this professional sport. Maybe if he was eating boiled chicken you would attend. Yes, tell Lee Panic and Ryan Grove to eat it. I got this. My friend Doug the other day says that he's hung around with the eater Crazy Legs. He's hung around them. He said you cannot. It's not the same as other humans when these people start to eat. It's not the same.

[Miguel Cairo]

Wasn't Crazy Legs the nickname for Elroy Hirsch Hirsch?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Crazy Legs, yes. Who was a running back and receiver for the Los Angeles rams in the 1940s and 50s. Ryan Grove, Falling Waters, West Virginia along with adding impulses contrary to eating to the sports lexicon. From your interview with Jeremy Shapp, I'd like to kick off a new game for the show. Let's add some new terms for Mr. Toney, such as impulses contrary to good service or impulses contrary to remembering or impulses contrary to Birdie's. Yeah, that's. It was a great line by Jeremy, obviously. Impulses contrary to eating. It means something bad is going to happen to kids. Something bad. Kelly Campbell, Naples, Florida I was listening to Wilm tell that story about meeting Mo Green with his son. It was not Mo Green from the Godfather.

[Miguel Cairo]

Obviously he didn't specify, did he?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. With his son it's okay. More easier. And I couldn't help but picture another Mo Green. You know, the one who got shot in the eye in the Dogfather. Did he tell Matthew? Do you know who I am? I'm Mo Green. I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders. Now I'm just hoping Wilm's son didn't ask for an autograph and get handed a casino skim report and a one way ticket to Lake Tahoe. I mean, what are the odds? One Mo Green blazes up the track, the other gets taken out before dinner by Michael Corleone. Wilbon may want to double check if his M.O. wears sunglasses indoors or has any connections in Vegas. Just want to say thanks for the laughs. And if Wilbon ever introduces you to a guy named Fredo, run. David Bradley Sterling, Virginia Tony, please tell Wilbon that you don't fly to Europe to see Usain Bolt race and talk to a man like Mo Green. Like that, you know? Charlie Burt Springfield, Virginia One can hardly remember Zsa Zsa Gabor without remembering the slap heard around the world when in 1989, she slapped a traffic cop who had twice pulled her over. She served three days in jail only after milking the legal process for every ounce of free publicity. To her credit, she spoofed the incident in the opening of the second Naked Gun movie. The series always began an ever present siren and blue light combo traveling through high speed chases, car washes, bowling alleys, outer space, etc. And as it came to a stop, she got out of her Rolls Royce and smacked it. P.S. sure, Joey Chestnut rules the hot dog game, but how is he at eating Frisbees?

[Miguel Cairo]

Not as good as It's a fair point.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mark Sandler, Chevy Chase I'm catching up from last week, so I'm sure this has been sent already, but Max's is the first place in the area to serve Vanderwen's ice cream. No more coolers for Nigel Vanderwen's Vanderwins coffee is very, very, very good. I don't know how they get it here because that's, that's, you know, that's in Delaware.

[Miguel Cairo]

Obviously not using the cooler system.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know how that works. We're getting ice cream today. Oh, Ice Cream Queen. From Sarah McConnell's. We're getting McConnell's infused with seas candy, supposedly coming today. I'm staying here all day to make sure I get my hands on it. From Joseph o', Hara, currently of Oakland, California, always of Norfolk, Virginia. I work at a National Park Service in Wilbourne's favorite city of San Francisco. At San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. Once a year we have a 24 hour reading and acting of Moby Dick. I have been asked to participate almost every year with the offer of overtime. I always decline as I would rather have another colonoscopy since I would at least be unconscious with colonoscopy. From Shane Gillespie. Happy summer, Gramps. Shane from Aurora, Illinois, checking in the family. And I just got home from an Alaskan cruise. Is it wrong to be disappointed there was never an ice cream night? And from Joe Farrell in Jupiter, Florida. Is it true? Bonjour. Is it true? Rizzo and Martinez got the news from Raju Narasetti. Let's be honest. Rizzo's been on the hot seat since trading beloved outfielder Lane Thomas. You're out of your lifetime. Everyone, as always, do wear white now.

[Michael Wilbon]

If there's anything I can do for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I certainly hope you'll die.

[Michael Wilbon]

I certainly hope you'll die soon.

[Edie Carey]

Her bed is not so big. Your whole body is in my reach but your heart is miles away from me. It's been a long night, long night and I can't sleep. Hold you tight, hold you like the old me. I know you're arms like crossbones across your face and I know what your silence means. It's been a long night, long night and I can't sleep hold you tight, hold your leg you open me the baby's crying soft against my skin.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Our.

[Edie Carey]

Love back then we didn't need no sleep you would hold, hold me tight, hold me like you were afraid I'd.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Leave.

[Edie Carey]

Those loneness lo you and the old me we thought that we could kiss the moon in the window on the way back. Diamond stars on velvet blue in the window on the way back. Daddy carried me to bed my arms heavy around his neck If I was not sleeping I pretend oh the sweetness of your breath just like when you were a baby full surrender on my chest I've been noticing lately Every day you need me less and I know this for the best yeah, I know this for the best we cannot go back no matter how we wish it we cannot go back Now I've been traveling all this time I get a force field around me and for a moment moment we were flying and the floor became the ceiling A storm of blast and crushing steel Though it did not seem real My hand still clinging.

[Chris Clary]

To me.

[Edie Carey]

We cannot go back now the veil is lifted we cannot go back now we cannot go back no matter how we wish it we cannot go back.

[Michael Wilbon]

Sam.

[Edie Carey]

When I'm waving through the crowd I wonder are they with me or against me? But we won't say these words out loud but we scream it on the small screen I've never seen such a great divide so wide so wide they spend here all this time we cannot go back now the village lifted we cannot go back now we cannot go there I'm scared that we can't fix it we cannot go we thought that we could catch the moon.