“Have I talked about the soup?”

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Tony Kornheiser Show" – Episode “Have I Talked About the Soup?”

Release Date: December 24, 2024

Introduction

In the episode titled “Have I Talked About the Soup?”, Tony Kornheiser navigates through a myriad of topics ranging from sports analyses, weather woes, listener interactions, to humorous exchanges with guests Michael Wilbon and Chuck Todd. The episode encapsulates Tony's signature blend of sports commentary, personal anecdotes, and lighthearted banter, making it a quintessential listen for fans seeking both insight and entertainment.

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1. Weather Woes in Washington, D.C.

Tony opens the show by discussing the persistent icy conditions in Washington, D.C. He humorously laments his current wardrobe choices, highlighting his beloved yet "cartoonish" lined pants from Eddie Bauer.

• Tony Kornheiser [02:08]: “The single smartest thing I've ever bought in my life are these lined pants that I bought last year at Eddie Bauer. ... They are balloonish, cartoonish. They're terrible. But I'm not wearing them to the White House.”

His commentary on the weather sets a relatable tone, as he shares his strategies for navigating the icy mornings, emphasizing practical yet quirky fashion choices.

2. NFL Team Performance and Analysis

Tony delves into the performance of various NFL teams, critiquing the New Orleans Saints' recent struggles and labeling several teams as “truly bad” including the Giants, Saints, Jaguars, and Raiders.

• Tony Kornheiser [05:03]: “New Orleans could not. New Orleans went three and out like 12 times... They are truly bad teams.”

He extends his critique to other teams like the Jets, Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans, and Carolina Panthers, painting a comprehensive picture of the NFL landscape. The discussion also touches upon the Red Sox, where Tony and guests discuss the team’s pitching prowess and the implications of their recent signings.

3. Humorous Exchange on Soup Prices

A lighthearted segment emerges as Tony and Chuck Todd discuss the surprising cost of canned soup, showcasing Tony's knack for turning everyday observations into engaging conversations.

• Tony Kornheiser [09:34]: “One large mug of soup. Yeah. 3.99 was a little bit of a shocker to me. I didn't expect that.”

This segment not only brings humor but also highlights the inflationary pressures on everyday items, resonating with listeners facing similar frustrations.

4. Sports Betting Picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to sports betting, where Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey make their picks for various NFL games. Their dynamic interaction provides both entertainment and insights into betting strategies.

• Reginald the Monkey [22:01]: “I'm going to take Pittsburgh because for all the reason them are bust... But I'll go.”

The duo discusses games such as Kansas City vs. Pittsburgh, Baltimore vs. Houston, Denver vs. Cincinnati, Dallas vs. Philadelphia, and others. Their discussions are peppered with humor and playful disagreements, making the segment both informative and entertaining.

5. Listener Interactions and Mailbag

Tony engages with his audience by reading and responding to listener emails, faxes, and notes. These interactions range from humorous anecdotes to heartfelt messages, fostering a sense of community among listeners.

• Listener Doug Tilt [14:54]: “Peace and love to you all. P.S. to Nigel and R.I.P. Rickey Henderson, Doug Tilton, Nudie and Ohio.”

Tony's appreciation for his listeners is evident as he shares personal stories and amusing exchanges, further humanizing the show.

6. In-Depth Discussion on College Football Playoffs with Michael Wilbon

In the latter part of the episode, Tony converses with Michael Wilbon about the College Football Playoffs. They critically analyze the expansion to a 12-team format, discussing its drawbacks and the quality of the games.

• Tony Kornheiser [41:25]: “12 is too many. ... More doesn't mean better.”

Michael echoes Tony’s sentiments, arguing that the expansion leads to predictably poor-quality games and dilutes the excitement of the playoffs.

• Michael Wilbon [42:08]: “More doesn't mean better. ... this is completely predictable. It's not, it's not second guessing on my part.”

They delve into specific teams and players, including Jaden Daniels, assessing their impact on the playoffs and the overall competitiveness of the tournament.

7. Sponsor Messages and Ads

Throughout the episode, Tony incorporates sponsor messages seamlessly into the conversation. Notable sponsors include Prime Video, eBay, FanDuel Sportsbook, Liquid IV, Grammarly, Carvana, Zycam, and Nourish. These segments are brief and blend organically with the show's content, ensuring an unobtrusive listening experience.

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Notable Quotes

• Tony Kornheiser [02:08]: “The single smartest thing I've ever bought in my life are these lined pants that I bought last year at Eddie Bauer.”

• Tony Kornheiser [05:03]: “New Orleans could not. New Orleans went three and out like 12 times... They are truly bad teams.”

• Tony Kornheiser [09:34]: “One large mug of soup. Yeah. 3.99 was a little bit of a shocker to me. I didn't expect that.”

• Reginald the Monkey [22:01]: “I'm going to take Pittsburgh because for all the reason them are bust... But I'll go.”

• Michael Wilbon [42:08]: “More doesn't mean better. ... this is completely predictable. It's not, it's not second guessing on my part.”

---

Conclusion

Episode “Have I Talked About the Soup?” encapsulates Tony Kornheiser’s ability to blend sports commentary with personal anecdotes and listener engagement. From critiquing NFL teams and analyzing college football playoffs to sharing humorous takes on everyday issues like soup prices, Tony offers a comprehensive and entertaining narrative. The interplay with guests Michael Wilbon and Chuck Todd, coupled with Reginald the Monkey’s comedic presence, ensures a dynamic and engaging episode. As the holiday season unfolds, the episode wraps up with warm wishes and reflections, leaving listeners both informed and entertained.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll chat with Michael Wilbon about the college football playoffs and how good Jaden Daniels has looked this year. And Chuck Todd will call in to make his weekly picks against Reginald the monkey crushed him last week. But first, let's do some commerce, kids. This is the Tony Kornheiser show. Thursday Night Football is on, and it's only on Prime Video. This Thursday, the Seattle Seahawks travel to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears. Join Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet and Kaylee Hartung for this exciting matchup. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party, TNF tonight presented by Verizon live from Chicago. Not a Prime member? Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial. You can cancel it anytime. It's the Seahawks and Bears at 7pm Eastern on Thursday Night Football. And it's on Prime Video. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com Amazon prime for details.

[Unknown]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Michael Wilbon]

I asked him because I'd had another bad day. Give me something that dad is good at. Okay?

[Tony Kornheiser]

So they put their heads together quickly.

[Michael Wilbon]

And they say, I'm just quoting here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You'Re good at basketball, you're good at at baseball. And then there's this tremendous pause trying to find a third thing that dad is good at. And they huddle up like it's Family Feud and say, you're good at feeding the dog. That.

[Michael Wilbon]

That was it.

[Chuck Todd]

That was the third thing on the list.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is General George Washington, and you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. I hope I speak for everyone when I say how delightful Tim Kirchen is when he's on.

[Unknown]

Absolutely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just totally delightful. Yesterday's show guest loaded as it was, was totally delightful. Okay, a bunch of things. Michael is back with us. Not physically with us. And so Michael has avoided the. What is going on right now in Washington, D.C. which is an ice pellet, not a storm. I would be exaggerating to say a storm, but ice is falling on two.

[Chuck Todd]

Days in a row.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's crunchy. No, we didn't have ice yesterday. It's crunchy. Like you step on it, you don't really want to take another step because it's ice. It's not freezing rain at the moment. It's like around 8 o'clock in the morning as we go back to our normal schedule. It's ice. Nigel said to me yesterday that this was coming. And I looked at the apps that I have and it didn't say it was coming. Nigel was right. Nigel then said he was wrong, but he. It turns out he was right. He was right about this. And this leads me into something that I know I have said last year and I'm going to say it again.

[Chuck Todd]

Do you have the crampons on yet?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I do not have them on yet because I had walked the dog before the ice started. So the ice started when we were in the backyard, you know, so it was okay. I don't, I don't have to maneuver this. And they say it's going to go away by about 10 and later in the day it's going to be above freezing. But the last three mornings in Washington D.C. were below freezing. And yesterday and the day before were significantly below freezing. Like 16, 17, 18, 19, when I went out to walk the dog. The single smartest thing I've ever bought in my life are these lined pants that I bought last year at Eddie Bauer. Now people say they're really ugly. They are. They're a horrible olive green. They're balloonish, cartoonish. They're terrible. But I'm not wearing them to the White House. I'm not going out to some fancy bar. Yeah. In my lined pants.

[Unknown]

Not on the catwalk.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm walking the dog in my line pants. And they're wonderful. Now I don't know what they cost. I don't know if I got a break. You know what I'm going to guess? 50, 60, 70. I don't know. I don't remember. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. They are the best thing I ever bought line pants. And if next time I go out to Delaware, if it's cold, I'm gonna buy another pair. I'd be like, wilbon put them in all the houses though. Why would you want line pants in Arizona? It doesn't really get that cold, but it's been really cool.

[Chuck Todd]

It's pretty sitting pretty sad in the closet right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, you can't wear the corduroy suit. It's over. Yeah, I wore it my one time.

[Unknown]

It has it stay in the sun.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I wore it my one time, so I'm okay with that. So I wanted to get that out. I don't want to talk much about the game last night because it was awful. It stunk. New Orleans could not. New Orleans went three and out like 12 times, right? Yeah. In scoring points. They have an incompetent court. Spencer Rattler is not good enough to be in the NFL. They don't have NFL players in a lot of positions. They don't have NFL players. They fired their coach, Dennis Allen, with justification. This guy they put in Ritzy, who's the special teams coordinator. He's out at the end of the year. This is the way it goes. It's a bad team. There are four truly bad teams in the NFL that you don't want to see ever. The Giants, the Saints, the Jaguars, the Raiders. They are truly bad teams. There are other bad teams. New England is a bad team. Tennessee is a bad team. Carolina's still bad, though.

[Unknown]

Improving, improving.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The jets are a bad team. Cleveland is a bad team. The Chicago Bears. Wilbur doesn't want to hear it, but he knows it.

[Chuck Todd]

Or a bad team got half of the commander's wins.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, those are bad teams. There are like truly bad and otherwise bad. And then other people you can watch. But I did Monday Night Football. You get a stinker like this every once in a while. There's nothing you can do about it. The schedule is made long before the season starts. And you think to yourself, well, this might be a good game. And everybody wants to go to Lambeau in the winter to see how cold it is and see sort of what a cathedral to football it is. But the game, there's no point in. After a quarter, I stopped. I think it was 21 nothing. Whatever it was, it was just. I understood after years of watching football, there was no chance that New Orleans was going to be competitive in this game. Yeah, it's just a bad, bad game. New Orleans won their first two games and scored like 85 points. They look great. And since then they're like two and eight. They're, they're, they're bad. They're truly, truly a bad team. So as long as Nigel's here. One of the few British Red Sox fans. You got Walker Bueller and Austin Crochet, like the pitching. The Red Sox are going in on pitching.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Are you excited?

[Unknown]

I'm starting to get excited. I mean, they still got some work to do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They've been out of it for two years and now it looks like they're back in. Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

And they've been in the conversation.

[Unknown]

Thank you, Michael. Because it's exactly the word you see on every free agent on Shohei Ohtani, you know, on Soto. Oh, the Red Sox are very engaged. They're very involved in this and they wouldn't get anything. So it's nice to see them do this. And certainly you got to get pitching to compete. And it looks like they've at least built somewhat of a foundation way if.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Walker Bueller doesn't need a third. Tommy John.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Crochet is healthy.

[Unknown]

I think Crochet is healthy. He's a little bit unproven. I know. He throws 105 miles an hour. And there was some other chap they. They signed named Sandoval, who I guess won't pitch until.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not the Penguin. Sandoval.

[Unknown]

No, no, no, no.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Third base. No.

[Unknown]

The Panda.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Panda.

[Unknown]

Panda.

[Reginald the Monkey]

No.

[Unknown]

This is a pitcher who's quite good, but is coming back from Tommy John. Won't pitch probably to the end of the season.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Everybody's coming back from Tommy John. Every single staff in baseball.

[Unknown]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Has a Tommy John problem. Their pitchers are here for an hour and out for a year. And they get multiple Tommy John's. On my email friend Jim Colonel sends me pictures of them all the time. With their motion, where their elbows are.

[Unknown]

It's inevitable.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tommy John. And he's right. He's right most of the time. I never talked about the soup. Right, Michael? I never talked about the soup.

[Chuck Todd]

No. Now I'm interested.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, you told me.

[Chuck Todd]

Oh, this is the soup from the grocery store. Not a soup that you attempted to make.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I didn't attempt to make any soup. I mean, I made the soup. I took it out of the can, poured it into a bowl, heated the bowl. So I made it. But what was surprising you, saucepan or.

[Chuck Todd]

A Pyrex kind of guy?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Saucepan. Saucepan. Progresso soup, which I like. Yeah, progress is good. I like Progresso soup. Michael said, you have no idea what it costs, do you? And I said, no. And I went to a Safeway and I assume a Safeway's cost is the same as everybody else's cost. Sure, pretty much. Maybe it's more Expensive than Food lion, which I think is the cheapest. Aldi and Food lion are the cheapest or something.

[Unknown]

I think so, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't go there. I go to what's close, 3.99 a can. That was a little bit of a shocker because one can is one portion of soup.

[Unknown]

Well, it's funny how they say portion.

[Chuck Todd]

It's according to can.

[Unknown]

No, no, it says two servings.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no, no. It's one large mug of soup.

[Unknown]

Yeah, that's what it is. It's not two servings, which they.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One large mug of soup. Yeah. 3.99 was a little bit of a shocker to me. I didn't expect that. If you had asked me to guess, I would have said A$50,$2 on the outside, not $4. So that was surprising. Michael shops more than I, and I shop for the same thing all the time. It's rare that I shop for something different. So I absorb the higher costs and just say that.

[Chuck Todd]

And there was no soup special because you're in soup season now, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, no, I think I got, like, 50 cents off with a Safeway card. I think it was, like, maybe a dollar off. Maybe it was 299 purchases.

[Chuck Todd]

You buy twice a year, and you just wait for whatever flavor that's right. Like to be on sale and you buy them all.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I bought six cans of soup.

[Unknown]

I think Campbell's probably would have been a bit cheaper.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Campbell's salty for me.

[Unknown]

A lot of salt in that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Campbell's is too salty for me. I grew up on Campbell's soup, and I love Campbell's soup. And I will not say anything bad about Campbell's Soup. I'll just say for me, yeah, personally, Campbell's Soup is a little bit softy salty, rather. We have a show on tonight, I think. I think they air the. Oh, is this the end of year special that Wilbourne and I did last week, that I brought different clothes for not shocking everybody in the office?

[Chuck Todd]

Is this a full hour tonight?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, it's 30 minutes. We just picked the best teams. Yeah, 30 minutes is really the length. That's the right length for a show. Yeah, especially like that. I mean, just. You don't want to go on and on and on and on. People get bored.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So we talked about, you know, the plays of the year or the rookies of the year or the teams of the year. And Mike, you know, agreed with me on most, and I. Mike went first. So, you know, I agreed with Mike most of the time, which. Well, no, actually, it doesn't, but it's okay because we were together. We're in the studio. So, like, that dynamic works for people. Do you remember about a month ago I read this note that I got from Jen Randall? You know, well, Mike, it says, I'm a longtime fan of PTI and your podcast. I grew up in a small town in Kentucky, had the good fortune to play for the University of South Carolina women's basketball team from 1992 to 1995 as kid from Kentucky. We grew up around basketball, bourbon, and horse racing, of which all three I adore. Light bulb moment, Proprietary gourmet ice cream with top shelf alcohol and Proof Hard ice cream was born. Recognizing you were an ice cream fan too, I wanted to share the proof with you and your team. Like I have a team. The Mets. I love your shows and team. I guess she's talking about the three of us. And Sean, the four of us love your show and team. Keep being great. Jen Randall, CEO Proof Hard Ice Cream. Well, I had it the last few days. I had the chocolate. It's chocolate Martini. I personally couldn't taste the martini. I didn't have a reaction to it.

[Chuck Todd]

Mean, you know, I was more of an espresso flavor.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was just great. I don't know, because I'm not an espresso person.

[Unknown]

And chocolate's a little out of your.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no, chocolate is my second favorite.

[Unknown]

Oh, chocolate Cherokee first.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chocolate.

[Unknown]

Oh, I didn't know that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. I love chocolate.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And it was really, really good. I can't speak for the other ice creams. And I can't tell you that I walked away feeling that. That I had consumed alcohol on any. I didn't. Didn't.

[Unknown]

Tipsy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. And I didn't, you know, I mean, I went through the pint of ice cream in four or five sitting, so, you know, I'm not gonna have a full pint and then, you know, fall into a couch or something like that. It was really good. The chocolate was really good. So if Jen Randall is listening, I. I'm very appreciative. It was.

[Unknown]

It sounds good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it was really good. It was really good. Did I mention that I went to Delaware last week? Stayed one day. So cold and windy.

[Chuck Todd]

There goes the holiday plans.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So cold. Yeah, I was going to stay for a while, play golf.

[Chuck Todd]

You're going to watch games at the Grill.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's impossible to stay.

[Unknown]

It's just.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And now I can't watch games at the Grill because it's Netflix tomorrow.

[Unknown]

Yes, Netflix.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Netflix. It's all private. Which sticks me with the NBA games. I'm not watching the NBA games. I don't want to watch the NBA.

[Chuck Todd]

I'm sure you already have this Netflix queued up so you could watch Hot Frosty, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

What is Hot Frosty?

[Unknown]

Yeah, it is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, it's.

[Chuck Todd]

It's the new ID holiday movie they just did a piece on in the Washington Post for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. I will tell you though, that every time I walk past a secondary television in my house, Hallmark. It's Hallmark. Carol's watching another Hallmark movie. They're all the same movie as we know. But she's. She watches them faithfully. She does. She watches them faithfully, you know. But I don't know about Netflix. I don't know about getting Netflix. I'm not getting it.

[Unknown]

It's gonna be a challenge.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not getting it for two games.

[Unknown]

No, you probably do. You know, I think you have.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Carol may have it. I don't know. I don't watch it.

[Unknown]

We'll do a test.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't really know. Anyway, that's Michael. How's South Carolina? Is it warmer than here?

[Chuck Todd]

It's warmer than where you are, but it is cold for down here. We've had mornings in the mid to high 30s. You know, you're still getting out. The kids are playing. Playing a little bit of golf, but good. No, this is about just celebrating family being together.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can I read? Can I read you a nice note?

[Chuck Todd]

Sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And then we'll get out of the segment. This is from Douglas Tilt.

[Chuck Todd]

Is it a continuation of your criticizing my memory?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Chuck Todd]

All I could think about was Cats. When you get into that open yesterday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I envy your memory.

[Chuck Todd]

For the Kirchen kids, they could get to two. I stopped at one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah. From Douglas Tilton in New Vienna, Ohio. Greetings. I feel it is time to give a big shout out to one Michael Kornheiser. I was fortunate enough to hear him speak for the first time on your show and I was impressed from the get go. He has a great radio voice. But now it's time to acknowledge the comic chops this young man has developed over the years. I love the comments he interjects during the course of his father's rants. Many are so laugh out loud funny. I consider them the highlight of that day's show. And he has sold me on mayonnaise on grilled cheese. Peace and love to you all. P.S. to Nigel and R.I.P. rickey Henderson, Doug Tilton, Nudie and Ohio. Isn't that nice about you, Michael?

[Chuck Todd]

What a lovely note.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Made me happy. And let me thank. I do have three long, long emails. Huh.

[Unknown]

Duke's mail.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. That's the way to go from thank you to Jeff Taylor. Thank you to Jason Lumpkin. Thank you to Brad Young. They are long emails. I appreciate them. Thank you for your best wishes. Happy holidays to all. Tomorrow, first day of Hanukkah and Christmas day.

[Unknown]

The first time rarity 30 years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In 30 years is what I was so nice.

[Chuck Todd]

They have a sweater for each night.

[Unknown]

Oh, seven holy sweaters.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Religious icons.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I went yesterday and delivered yet another sweater to be fixed.

[Unknown]

We have to get the popcorn bins. That's priority one. Have to get those.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you. You've looked this up?

[Unknown]

Yeah. I found we get them very quickly and very, very easily.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, that's what I need to get. Yes. And I'm gonna put a note on top. Die more die moths. All right, let's get out of here. Chuck Todd. No, no. Michael Wilbur.

[Unknown]

No. Chuck Todd.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chuck Todd when we return, go first in the show.

[Unknown]

That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mike's going to go second. Yeah. Chuck Todd when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. This is the liquid IV read. Whether you forget to take a sip of water during the office holiday party or start feeling parched after a long day of traveling or hosting, keep liquid IV on hand to stay hydrated. What?

[Chuck Todd]

Just a big night out.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

With convenient packets of their hydration multiplier or sugar free hydration multiplier. You get eight vitamins and nutrients, three times the electrolytes of leading sports drinks and no artificial sweeteners. You. You like this?

[Chuck Todd]

I love this. And this is often the time of year where you forget to take care of yourself. So I will be in an all day car ride coming up in the near future and you take one of these on the road with you. You just have to fight off the little kid in the backseat going sip, sip. But for you, I mean, if you go hiking, this is the time of year where you forget to.

[Unknown]

You think you stop for the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Because it's not hot. Yeah.

[Unknown]

You think the only time you need to worry about hydration is the summertime. But no, the wintertime, it's equally as vital. So yeah, now got to have it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tear poor live more. One stick of liquid IV plus 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. It's powered by Liv Hydro Science, an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients. That turn ordinary water into extraordinary hydration. Stay hydrated through the holidays with Liquid IV. Get 20% off your first order of Liquid IV when you go to Liquid IV.com and use the code Tony K at checkout. That's 20% off your first order when you shop Better hydration today using promo code Tony [e-mail] use the code people.

[Unknown]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is a Grammarly read AI tools are critical these days, but it's not always clear which are actually good for your business. Grammarly employs enterprise grade security measures to protect your organization's data and keep your private information private. There's a lot of healthy discussion about AI's effectiveness and how easy it is to implement. Since Grammarly is designed to fit your unique professional needs and works right away, it can also help contribute to your business's overall success. We are all sort of afraid of artificial intelligence and with good reason. Yes, I know how to write, so I don't worry about this. But I have seen examples of how it helps writing. You've seen that, Michael? Yes, it can really help writing. So you know when.

[Chuck Todd]

Because you can write doesn't mean that you always want to put that energy towards creating new right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. When every word your team writes is clear, concise and on brand, everything gets better. Teams that communicate better with Grammarly report 25% faster time to resolution for support tickets, 52% less time spent writing sales emails, and that can save 19 days per year per employee. Grammarly works where you work from docs to messages to emails. It integrates seamlessly across 500,000 apps and websites. No cutting, no pasting, no context switching. Join 70,000 teams and 30 million people who trust Grammarly to work faster and hit their goals while keeping their data Secure. Go to Grammarly.com enterprise to learn more Grammarly Enterprise Ready AI.

[Unknown]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is sent to us by Rob Litowitz from Northwest Washington who says for your consideration, here's music from Walter Johnson. High school graduates Drew Littlewitz. Currently residing in Brooklyn. He writes, performs and records under the name A Place to Go. The first track is called An Hour to Kill, which sums up the podcast quite well. I was happy to hear Pierce Pettis on the Pod. A while back he and his daughter Grace performed at our House concert series, now located in Chevy Chase. Okay, Chevy Chase, D.C. yeah, Pierce and Grace were terrific. We're planning our next show. Maybe you can put in a good word with Dan Burn. And he writes my sympathies about the moth problem. We battle the pesky pets for years. They seem to have good taste. Zanyan Canali were favorites. Yeah, it's what you worry about most. Yeah. The expensive stuff they go right for it. Wants. Gotta hate good taste. So this is drew but it's a place to go forward it as a place to go and this is called an hour to kill. It plays in Chuck Todd and I need to read this first. This week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the monkey are brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. Chuck had a good week. Now, he lost the Sunday night game betting on Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay was robbed at the twice in that game. Dallas came down with 50. 50 balls and just took them away from Tampa Bay players or Tampa Bay would have won that game and Chuck would have covered. Carville won that game because Carville was great. Carver was five and oh. And won three overs. Carville was three. Three overs. Jeff Ma one and five down the drain. Chuck was four, two and one. His record overall is 62, 46 and three. So if you bet with Chuck, he's a leader. Everybody else is under. Yeah, everybody else is under. Chuck is over and over substantially. My theory is that it was because you were in here last week. Yeah. And it was. It was a change of pace, a change of scene and I thought maybe that helped you. What do you think?

[Reginald the Monkey]

I think so. Change of scenery. I guess I regress to the mean. I don't know.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Reginald the Monkey]

You know, I'm not a pro.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So.

[Reginald the Monkey]

What a pro does well. Well, they're regressing to the me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Again, everyone else is under, including the pros.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah, we're all mean.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, we're all pretty mean about it.

[Reginald the Monkey]

No, it was. Yeah. I think change of scenery and you know, got coming in. You're meeting your boss.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right.

[Reginald the Monkey]

You know, end of the season, you know, we can't mess up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You did well. You did well for two and one.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Here we go.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Kansas City is at Pittsburgh. A game that is a little less meaningful than it was last week because Kansas City won the game against Houston. They're at Pittsburgh. This is meaningful for Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh is beginning to slide for the first time all year and Baltimore seems to have gone past them. I don't know if that's true in the standings, but they dominated them in that game the other day. Kansas City is a road favorite because Patrick Mahomes is going to play their road favorite. They're minus three. It's interesting to me. I think Pittsburgh really needs the game. I'm not sure Kansas City does. Where are you going on this one?

[Reginald the Monkey]

I do too. And I tell you, I wouldn't bet any real money on this game because you just don't know. Why does Kansas City need to win this game? I'm not 100% sure why Mahomes is playing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Right. It's locked up. Is one seed locked up?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know. I think theoretically they can finish with the same record, Buffalo.

[Reginald the Monkey]

And they lose the tiebreaker.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They would lose the tiebreaker. But this game isn't as urgent as the next one might be. It isn't.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So.

[Reginald the Monkey]

So I just. And then I struggle. You. Yes. Tomlin as an underdog, but Tomlin with a short week. And for both of them now. Right. This is the third game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Reginald the Monkey]

12 days or something like that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

11 days. Third and 11.

[Reginald the Monkey]

11 days. I'm going to. I'm going to take Pittsburgh because for all the reason them are bust. They have to have it and they're at home.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Reginald the Monkey]

And I don't. It's a safer place to be. But given how hard betting Kansas City has been all year. Right. This week feels that much harder with them. I wouldn't touch it with real money, but I'll go.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree with that. I agree with that. Baltimore is at Houston. Houston lost a great receiver. Picked up a former Baltimore receiver, not really a Baltimore receiver because he refused to enter the game, which is why they got rid of him. Deontay Johnson. Baltimore on the Road is a 5 1/2 point favorite over what we thought was a good team. That's a sizable number. But Baltimore is that team that so many people want to fall in love with. And as soon as they win one game, people do fall in love with them. I would point out they have five losses this year. You know, they're not 13 and one at the moment. Five and a half point favorite at Houston. Christmas Day. Who you got?

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah. And there's. And there's not a lot of fans of Houston out there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Reginald the Monkey]

This is a playoff team that no one believes is going to win a playoff game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Which is probably the time to bet on them. I'm just going to go with the Christmas at home that if you're going to. But again, this one feels like another tough one to bet. People are going to bet this game because they have nothing else to do and their apps are on their phone and they're going to do it. But it's probably not the smartest way to use your money on Christmas day. But give me Houston.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. The home team Denver is at Cincinnati. Cincinnati probably too late to get hot. Joe Burra is the best quarterback in the game. He's not as great a football player as Patrick Mahomes. Please do not try to use my words against me. But right now he's the best quarterback. He's like eight straight weeks, three touchdowns a game. Had Cincinnati won one other game, they would be a serious contender. This is a Saturday game. I don't know that they are. Denver is plus three and a half. So Cincinnati is a three and a half point favorite, I'm sure based on the fact that lately they've been really good. They have also, much like Dallas, stunk the joint out at home often this year. Who you got?

[Reginald the Monkey]

And there does seem to be an effort by. At this point, the only thing Cincinnati has to play for is what number one overall offense breaking a few records between Burrow Chase and all of that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And T. Higgins, it is they.

[Reginald the Monkey]

They still. They're still technically alive.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, they are. Yes, they are.

[Reginald the Monkey]

They have to win everything. And does Denver have to lose 2?

[Tony Kornheiser]

That I don't know.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah. Not only that to win this one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But I also think Denver has six losses, right? They have six. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Definitely. And the last game is the Chiefs when they may not need Mike. It might be Carson Wentz.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Give me the Bengals. They've been fun to their. At least fun to watch. I mean put them on Saturday. That is an entertaining game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Always fun to watch. Is that on Netflix as well the Saturday game or is that.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Can we get some sort of GoPro video Nigel of watching Tony try to find these Christmas.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I can't find.

[Reginald the Monkey]

I think it'll be fantastic.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right?

[Reginald the Monkey]

You'll have all sort of QR codes pop up. You'll have all sorts. I mean the game will. First game definitely over before he logs in.

[Unknown]

Without question.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. What are you going to do? All right, next game. Dallas at Philadelphia. Jalen hurts. His status is to me yet unknown. I don't. I don't know. It's a Sunday game most of the time in concussion protocol. These guys are allowed to play the next week. I don't know though. Dallas is minus nine on the road. Philadelphia is plus nine. Rather plus nine. Yes. I'm sorry. Philadelphia is a better team than Dallas and Philadelphia may need this game. Dallas is out of the playoffs, but Dallas has won at least two in a row. I think three out of four or something like that. They may actually be saving Mike McCarthy's job if he wants it. He may want to go someplace else. That's a pretty big number in a division game. You going to take the nine?

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah, I think that's a large number too.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Why does Philly need it? Are they still in contention with all the teams in the NFC north that they can or do they have three losses now?

[Unknown]

Philly's got three losses.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So they're probably. They can't get the one seed. Probably.

[Reginald the Monkey]

I think that's pretty much it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just needed for your fans, you know, because everybody will turn on them. Well, I don't know. I mean, Detroit, that they should have. Look, that was a great game. The Washington Philadelphia game was a great game to watch. Philadelphia should have won it. They twice dropped passes that were right there. That would have changed the outcome of the game, right, Chuck? They would change the outcome, no doubt.

[Reginald the Monkey]

But five turnovers?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Reginald the Monkey]

I mean, you could argue that without the five turnovers, does Washington just pummel Cruz?

[Tony Kornheiser]

You could. You could argue that, yeah. Okay, what do you got?

[Reginald the Monkey]

I'm taking the dog, the division dog.

[Tony Kornheiser]

On this one, you know, take Dallas. Okay, Dallas plus nine. Green Bay coming out of a ridiculously easy game last night. An absurd game. No point in watching the game. Green Bay is on the road in Minnesota. Minnesota has a slightly better record. A one game better record than Green Bay, maybe game better record.

[Unknown]

Green Bay 11 and 4. Minnesota 13 and 2.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Two game better record. Division game. Tough game. Green Bay looked great last night against a non entity. Now they're back in division. I think Chuck will know this better than I because he cares about that division. I think all their losses are in the division.

[Michael Wilbon]

All of them, at least in the nfc. Right.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Two to two to Detroit. Well, one was to Philly, so three of the four.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So they're in. And they're in the.

[Reginald the Monkey]

But they don't need this. They're kind of locked in.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They are.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So they don't.

[Reginald the Monkey]

I don't know what they do on this other than. Other than wanting to mess with Minnesota, but it's a strange position they're in. They're sort of locked in. You don't want any of these guys hurt. By the way, the NFL, there's only two days this week that they don't have gates. Yeah, it's good today and Friday. It's called ratings with Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday and any.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I know that you can get all of the NBA games tomorrow on regular TV and. Or cable. Television. Yeah. There'll be a stampede to buy Netflix to watch those games instead of the NBA games.

[Unknown]

Don't think the NBA say, oh, Friday's open.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let's move all these Friday. All right.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Well, I can't wait to see the highlight reel.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You're going to. Yeah. You're going to take one and a half. Are you going to take Minnesota and give.

[Reginald the Monkey]

I'm. I'm going to. I'm going to take the packers and bet against Arnold here. And I think this is the last. Least. I think this is the last game they put. They put Fuller. I think it's really hard, though. Hey, guys, we don't need this game. But. But don't, you know, but put in full effort. I don't. I just. I'm very curious to see how they come out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But you said you're going to bet against Arnold. If you bet against Arnold every single week, you'd be losing a lot of money this year. At what point do you say Sam Donald's good? At what point? Because I feel the same way you do.

[Reginald the Monkey]

It's kind of like Case Keenan, though. We saw that. We see. I feel like we've seen this with Minnesota before.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Reginald the Monkey]

They got conferences sort of comes to an end.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, you're right. You're right.

[Reginald the Monkey]

It eventually comes to an end. But I was telling my son, I said, I still never forget Sam Darnold's freshman year at usc. He still is not as good as he was that first year at usc.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's great. Unbelievable.

[Reginald the Monkey]

He was looked like we were seeing something we'd never seen before.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's why Pete Carroll said stay in school and stay in school. So what are you going to do? Atlanta at Washington. Washington is hot. Washington with a chance to go 11 and 5. It's just unthinkable, the turnaround that they are in because of a new coach, a new offensive coordinator, and mostly a new quarterback and some key position players. But their turnaround is amazing. Atlanta got a great game out of Michael Penix Jr. Making me and Wilbon feel and look foolish because we said it's crazy to start this guy. Now they got a great game out of him and they're not going back. No matter what happens. Kirk Cousins is not playing another down. No. If Michael Pennington gets hurt, they'll go to an emergency quarterback. They're not going to have Kirk Cousins. Atlanta is getting four at Washington.

[Reginald the Monkey]

This is another one. Washington doesn't need it right either.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, they don't.

[Michael Wilbon]

It.

[Reginald the Monkey]

This is Atlanta, obviously now in a dogfight with Tampa.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. That's the only way in. And they're ahead of them now. They got to keep winning. Yeah, well, they.

[Reginald the Monkey]

They have the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I believe they have the tiebreaker. Yeah, they're in first.

[Reginald the Monkey]

My only hesitance on Atlanta is, you know, panics. He didn't have to be good last week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not against Giants.

[Reginald the Monkey]

No. They sort of. They got. And I'll tell you, those receivers dropped a lot of balls. I mean, the one interception he had was. Was sort of the receiver allaying it to the defender in some form. And yet I. There's a part of me that doesn't trust a rookie quarterback with a. With film. Right. This is the first week with film.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yep. Yep.

[Reginald the Monkey]

With tape. You have a smart defensive coach. And Quinn, I'm gonna go with Washington here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Because of that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. And one more game. Not the game anybody wants to see. When the schedule came out, you said this could be a great game. This could be the game that everyone watches because it's going to determine the number one seed in the nfc. This is Detroit at San Francisco. And San Francisco had no year. They had no year. They're out of it. They have nothing to play for, though. They are at home. This is the Monday night game. Detroit is a three and a half point favorite. Who you got?

[Reginald the Monkey]

Do you ever have any Monday night games that were just like last night?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Yes. You have one or two real come up.

[Reginald the Monkey]

You can't be a. Feel like you have a whole backup plan of what are we going to talk about?

[Tony Kornheiser]

You have a lot of things to say. You do as much because you think it's going to be a. But you sort of have an idea it's going to be a bad game. So in the interviews, you know, you go off book a little bit and you get a whole bunch of string that you can use during the game when you anticipate it being bad. And sometimes, sometimes you get a good game when you don't. You know, you're struggling to breathe in the booth because, you know, you just telling stories at that point. Yeah, that was really a bad game. But the good news is if you're Troy and Joe, you don't really have to worry what you're saying in the fourth quarter because everyone has stopped watching.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Everybody. I was just going to say that's when you really unleash.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's when you talk about, you know, talk about dinner.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, you talk about where you going. What do you think of next? What about places to eat? And this is Some point.

[Reginald the Monkey]

I didn't realize this Joe Buck was talking about Indiana and the college football playoffs. He was defending Indiana.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, I was long gone. I left after a little over a quarter. There was no reason, and it was just. The Saints are a truly bad team. They're a terrible team, that's all.

[Reginald the Monkey]

They ought to bring the paper bags back.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. The ain't.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Give me, give me, give me. The. The Lions, they're playing for something.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Give three and a half. Yeah.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Yeah, I think so. That's a really small line. The only thing that has.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Like, you're like, whoa. That would be. I believe they call it a rat line.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, I don't know that term. Well, that's good.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Something stinky. Yeah, something stinky about it. You know? What don't we know? Shouldn't this be six and a half or something?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Five and a half and five. You know, when you get to the number like five, it doesn't really matter, but I would have said five and a half at least. So. Yeah. Okie dokie. Thank you.

[Reginald the Monkey]

Merry Christmas.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I'll never find it. I'll never find Netflix. I have no chance.

[Reginald the Monkey]

It'll be awesome. All right, thanks. Good luck.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chuck Todd. We gave you Chuck Todd. That would be more than enough. But we don't. We don't stop with Chuck Todd. We give you a monkey. See the monkey, he's scratching Watching his.

[Unknown]

Ipad Smoking and laughing Hanging with Bud.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Grant Tap, tap, tapping on his purple.

[Unknown]

Attache Sing along, people. Sometimes he throws and he's had too much Johnny Walker Blue.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So what happened? He had a bad week. He was 030 and 3. He's 20, 24 and 1. There was a point where it's not good.

[Unknown]

He thought he had that Philly Washington game. He thought he had that in the back pocket. But no. Tough week for the monkey. I went down to the National Zoo expecting to see him there. I'd forgotten. Every year at this time, he leaves town, just wants to clear out, goes to Turks and Caicos.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Unknown]

Just to surround himself with some really close friends, you know, to celebrate the holidays. So he Skyped with me. Doesn't like Zoom. So we Skyped and I saw in the background some. Some celebrities that were there with him, including Helen Mirren.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is there. Yeah.

[Unknown]

Rob Deer, former baseball player.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

And Keith Richards. Who?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Keith Richards, to his credit.

[Unknown]

Thought he was actually in Cannes at the film festival. Wasn't really clear where he was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

But they seem to be having a fun time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's good.

[Unknown]

But he took a few moments to go over these matches with me. And the first one we gave him was one of the Christmas Day matches. The Ravens giving five and a half at the Texans. And Reginald showed me a very old photograph, this is at least several decades old, of him sledding on a toboggan along with Joe Alto Belli, Johnny Unitis and Mark Belanger. So that tells me he's going Baltimore. He's going Baltimore with that five and a half. Yeah, he doesn't care about the spread now. The next one we gave him was the Vikes at home giving a point and a half to the packers. And it's not going to be a surprise to anybody. Whipped out of his wallet, a picture of him ice fishing without a hut and obviously without jackets or sleeves. With Bud Grant, Anthony Carter and Chuck Foreman, by the way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So he'll go Minnesota.

[Unknown]

He's going to go Minnesota in that one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He'll go Minnesota.

[Unknown]

And the last match we gave him the Washington game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. You always give him the Washington.

[Unknown]

The Washington.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

Washington. Yep. Giving flex at home. Yeah. Flexed against Atlanta. Giving four again. This was a really old picture he showed me. And I'm not sure what the purpose was behind this, but. But it was him visiting the Great Wall of China with George Allen, Sonny Jurgensen and Charlie Taylor. Not sure if that was like a Nixon peacekeeping mission, but they were there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So he will take Washington.

[Unknown]

He will take Washington.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He always takes Washington. Except last week.

[Unknown]

Now he's back on Washington.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's good to know. This week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey have been brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more and we will have Michael Wilbon when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. Bada, bada boom. Sold. Huh? Just sold my car on Carvana.

[Unknown]

Dropping it off and getting paid today already.

What?

You still haven't sold yours? You told me about it months ago.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I just.

[Unknown]

Is the offer good?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, the offer's great.

[Unknown]

Don't have another car yet.

[Chuck Todd]

I could trade it in for this car I love.

[Unknown]

Come on, what are we waiting for? Ah, you're right. Let's go.

Whether you're looking to sell your car right now or just whenever feels right, go to Carvana.com and sell your car the convenient way. Terms and conditions apply.

[Tony Kornheiser]

When you feel a cold coming, shorten it with Zycam, the number one cold shortening brand. Oh, no, not before the holidays. Your cold is coming. Your cold is coming. Thanks, Revere. I really should keep Xycam in the house. Getting A cold is on no one's wish list.

[Unknown]

Take it from America's most revered messenger. Shorten your cold at the first sign with cold shortening products from xycam, the number one cold shortening brand available in stores. Or see where to [e-mail].

[Tony Kornheiser]

You'Re listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. This once again is a place to go. And a place to go is actually Drew Litowitz, who resides currently in Brooklyn. Walter Johnson High School grad, as is Tim Kirchen. Oh, that's right. Yes. Walter Johnson High School.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is a place to go. And this is called the ocean. Michael, you're back with us today. If people want to send in their original music, how do they do it?

[Chuck Todd]

Send us your music by emailing it to [e-mail] and this plays in Michael Wilbon.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We gave Wilbon the day off yesterday because we were going in the afternoon. I'm sure he was busy in the afternoon. I want to go back to the college football playoffs because you and I have spent a lot of time over the course of the year talking about the college football playoffs. And you know how I feel about this, that the games were bad, three of the games were terrible. And one of the games, the Clemson Texas game, gave you a little bit of hope. But every time Clemson scored, Texas just went right down the field and scored as well. So my first reaction was that this sort of proved 12 was too many. And I also don't like the home field advantage. That seemed to be an enormous advantage in the first round. Whereas the teams with the buy, they're not getting that in the second round. What were your overall thoughts on, on what was right and what was wrong with the first weekend of the College Football Playoff?

[Michael Wilbon]

Tony, I have one overriding thought. One, just one. And you, you've already had it. You've already expressed it. 12 is too many. Yeah, that's it. I mean, but you know, I've been saying that, look, for 20 years as a columnist at the Post, starting In, you know, 1990, I started screaming about having a playoff. And I was a person who was coming out of covering college football. And so I'd been to all the attempts to manufacture an on field national championship situation, you know, Catholics versus convicts, back when the Fiesta bowl could put such a thing together. Because the Fiesta bowl had no conference tie.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

Put Miami and Notre Dame out there, two independents. And you know, they, they attempted to do this and then they attempted to get 1 versus 2 with a vote. And, and no, no, you needed a playoff. And so we got a playoff. We got a spectacular 14 playoff for a few years. And of course, everybody got greedy. By everybody, I mean the college football powers and the network powers and the networks. Sure. And so they got greedy and they, you know, you could see, you could, you could just look at it. More doesn't mean better. And so this was, this was completely predictable. It's not, it's not second guessing on my part. You know, I didn't. 12 was awful. I thought it was awful going in when they decided to get 12 and now it's going to go on too long. But it's going to make a lot of money because people are going to watch and they're going to, they'll probably try to go to 16. You know, it's, this is what sports is, all sports. Not just college football, but it's all sports. It's all too much. They're all too many in the playoffs, in every sport. Too many regular season games. Too many games. But if people watch, and it's the only thing people do watch live, they don't watch news anymore. They don't have appointment viewing on the weeknight because they get their favorite shows on ABC or NBC or whatever it might be, they don't have that. There's one thing in the culture that people will sit down and turn on in lifetime and consume and it's sports. And so they're going to keep doing it. And it's awful.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In the absence of having a more reasonable playoff, either four or eight, no more than eight, I at least think they need to seed. Like I now fear. I don't know how you feel about this. I now fear for the Boise State game and the Arizona State game. I fear that they're going to be run out of the gym.

[Michael Wilbon]

I don't think so, because those are not home field for one. And then the other thing is, I think Boise State is as. I think they have a team that like they had a few years ago, 15 probably years ago now or more that can account very well for itself. And so I don't really have that fear. Arizona State has proven to be really good. So I don't really have that. Okay, that's. But that, but that's not the point. That's the second weekend. You've already eliminated four teams that were a waste of time. So if you started with eight and you started on neutral, that's what we're seeing this weekend is completely different than what we Just saw we're seeing eight teams on neutral ground. We didn't see that. So it was just a waste of time. And I'm glad I did not reconfigure my personal schedule to watch any of it on Saturday. I didn't. I was happy to go to DePaul, Notre Dame, DePaul, Northwestern, basketball at my school's gym and spend the time watching that and not just peaking. I peaked because we're in the. We have a great lounge, thanks to Steve Wilson at Northwestern now our new arena. You were there when we opened it. And we have a great lounge in which we've got wonderful food and space to sit and convene and lounge around and watch games on huge flat screens while we wait for our own game. And instead of that being football, which it is every Saturday, that was. That was football. We were waiting for basketball. And I'm just. I'm looking at it thinking, yeah, yeah, glad I didn't cancel my Saturday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I mean, I was very interested. We talked about this on the last PTI show, and I was very interested to see how the ratings would break down because college football gets enormous numbers. Yeah, Enormous numbers. But if you were. If you were a sports fan. Now, I'm making a distinction here between a fan of the teams playing in the game and an overall sports fan, which I consider myself an overall sports fan. I got off the college games and went to the NFL games because the college games weren't any good. Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

People that trying to. The people they're trying to reach, our overall. There are no more overall sports fans.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no.

[Michael Wilbon]

People follow one thing. That's all they have. They have bandwidth for. They follow maybe a couple or maybe they follow all football. So therefore they could have gotten off the game. They're not sports fans. You talk to people now. Yes. In each. In each town, there are sports fans will follow all the teams in their place. But not like we grew up, Tony. They're not like that. They're not that discerning. They want to wave a number one foam finger and drink some beer and watch football. That's what America does. And so that. That's why our bosses and the football people can get together and put anything on.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, yeah, you can put anything on.

[Michael Wilbon]

People are discerning tonight. So you can watch football on Saturday and they'll watch it again on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What do we make, you and I, of not just Washington's win over Philadelphia, because you can say they faced a secondary quarterback they didn't face Jalen hurts. But what do we make of the turnaround here and what do we make of Jaden Daniels?

[Michael Wilbon]

I, that to me, that tone was set in like week four. I mean, I think, I don't think anything new. The team is well put together. The general manager knows what he's doing, it's well coached. It is not the whole thing is not the, the franchise is not the freak show that it was for 20 years. And so they made a decision to draft this quarterback and, and, and, and coach him a certain way. And they, I, I think, you know, the revelation about the quarterbacks is, and it shouldn't be, is that if you, if you actually draft quarterbacks who have played, yes, 30, 40 games, 60 games in college, yeah, they're going to look better. But the Washington commanders were always going to draft Jane Daniels. They were always going to coach him a certain way and they thought they could get a certain thing out of him. And they have. In this sentence, to me, this storyline hasn't changed at all. So I'm so like, the surprise took place in September, October. I, I'm out of surprise. I know I picked Washington to win that game in my pool. First of all, you're not going to win more than 10 in a row. How many in a row you going to win? How many? 2, 10 game winning streaks simultaneously in the NFL. So that's fabulous for the Eagles. And I don't think you need less of the Eagles for losing a division game on the road that they didn't have their prime, their best player and they still almost won the game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

But you know, Washington Post with it. Look, they're going to be in the playoffs and when you have a great, when you have a quarterback who's having a great season, you need one more than one year to declare a great quarterback. RG3 had a great year. He didn't turn out to be a great quarterback. CJ Stroud had a great quarterback.

[Tony Kornheiser]

CJ Stroud is just who I was thinking about.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, but who wouldn't take Jaden Keno? I mean, so you take the year he had, you take what he projects to be when you watch him and listen to him and all those things. So they got to be thrilled. They got to be thrilled they're going into the playoffs. I don't know. I don't think there's a great team out there. Even though the Eagles just put together 10 straight. And I think you would think they'll just sit Jalen Hurst for Two weeks and get him back because you know he's got a concussion if, if he can come back. I mean we see, you know one of the Bears players who's a hell of a player having all pro year the first six weeks he went out, he was out like five weeks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, I thought, I thought he would be eligible to come back this week. So maybe I'm wrong.

[Michael Wilbon]

There's no eligible. They have to re examine you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, no, I know, I know.

[Michael Wilbon]

We don't know it's late. We don't know what his deal is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You and I got two things wrong. We got two things wrong. We thought Mahomes shouldn't play. Mahomes went out and played in Kansas City. 1 and we thought it was disastrous to go to Michael Penix, you know, this late in the season and he looked great and they won. So I'm eating crow. How about you?

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, Patrick Mahomes is an opinion. I mean it just. I would have sat him. I still would have sat him. Right. I didn't see, I don't see taking the risk. So I'm not eating crawling that Pennix. We gotta let. That's gotta go. One game didn't get Atlanta. One game didn't. It may have, it may have stopped. It stopped the slide. It did turn Atlanta season around to the point where they can make the playoffs. We don't know that. Tampa lost a hell of a. In a hell of a way Sunday night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

And so you know they're. Now are they.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Technically.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well if it, Listen, if it works then we. I crow. Yeah, I got no problem doing that. None. Phoenix look great. Does that. Do you know now they got film on him. Whoever's. And then Washington's got Atlanta, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Sunday night.

[Michael Wilbon]

One more win. Okay, so they need to win a game. One more and then I don't know who the second guy. I don't know who the last game for Atlanta's against. But it's not against Tampa.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, it'd be great if it was, but it isn't somebody else, you know.

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean I'm not, you know, I'm not quick to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I, I think it's Carolina. I think it's an easy game.

[Michael Wilbon]

I know Carolina's not easy anymore.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, they're better now. They're better.

[Michael Wilbon]

They're not easy. They're. What? They're not great, but they're not easy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And that's a different game.

[Michael Wilbon]

I don't know where it's gonna be played.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'll get you out of here in this I'm gonna go to the division. You've watched your whole life and you've watched Detroit be terrible most of your life. You watched Minnesota be up and down most of your life and you've watched Green Bay usually good. Usually good. How did that division get this good?

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, they had bad teams who draft high and got it right with the hires. Three of the four got it right with the hires. One of them spectacularly has not with four straight hires since letting go of Lovey Smith following a 10 and six season. So they, to me, there's no mystery there. They, they, you. When you draft Aiden Hutchinson, wasn't he.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The first player chosen first or second?

[Michael Wilbon]

Okay, so you know, you choose the players that they, that they were, that they were, they had access to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They moved up to get love and it was criticized in the moment because they had Rogers and they were right. They were right.

[Michael Wilbon]

They get it right and they did move up to take him. And so I, you know, but the other thing is they got the, they got the coach hires right? And so that, that, that's a huge thing, you know, going into week six. And I feel bad for Detroit now that they got, they're going to get some players back, but they need so many people injured. They need Montgomery. I know Jameer Gibbs is great, but the two headed running back is what makes that offense go kind of like, you know, the model of the old Dolphins and Steelers and guys now much more used in much more diverse ways with catching the ball and you know, being part of any passing, great passing game. Detroit's, Detroit's a menace if they're healthy, but they're not. We talked about them having 23 people.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Unbelievable amount of people on the injured list. Unbelievable.

[Michael Wilbon]

No. How many?

[Tony Kornheiser]

The next highest is like nine. It's unbelievable. Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

So they, listen, they have a quarterback. Where was Golf drafted?

[Tony Kornheiser]

He was overall number one. Golf, he went to the Rams number one. They traded him for, for Stafford.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right. Okay. So, but, but so that's a one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And Aiden Hutchinson is an overall one or two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One or two.

[Michael Wilbon]

Okay. So that's how you get great. You, you, you, you don't, you don't, you don't screw it up when you get the chance. When you, when you, you do two things, you identify the player and you coach him. You know, you know, my team, the fourth team in that division has gone from being inadequately coached, too spectacularly badly coached and with an interim and it's just too bad. But they have to get the, they have to get the coach Right. And because you can see what they've got in certain place, you know, everybody. People say to me, would you regret the draft of your career?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no.

[Michael Wilbon]

Caleb Williams just due for 300. You realize, by the way, he has the longest. With as bad as the Bears are, he has the longest streak without an interception in the league right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't know that. What. What I know is that he gets sacked more than any quarterback.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, he does. He takes the sack. Yeah, he takes the sack rather than throw it away. And a sack is not as bad as a turnover usually.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, but throw it out.

[Michael Wilbon]

330 yards on Saturday. On Sunday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, he's good.

[Michael Wilbon]

So, you know, they.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They Daniels at the moment.

[Michael Wilbon]

At the moment. Here's who is nobody.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Bo Nix is right there. He's right there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Aren't they 10 and five as well?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, they're nine and six.

[Michael Wilbon]

Nine and six.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nine and six.

[Michael Wilbon]

So with those two. Those two kids have played.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Spectacularly over the course of his.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And to your point, they started for 12 years in college.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So they walk into the NFL, they're not scared. They're not.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, but not even not scared. They're not unaware. They're not. They're in. They're in control. They can be. In short order, they can be in control at a level that sort of tries to mimic or approach their college situation.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

So, yeah, you know, they. They're good. Very excited to watch both of them in the playoffs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Me too. Me too. All right, have a good holiday. I'll talk to you tomorrow.

[Michael Wilbon]

Happy holidays.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mike Wilbon, boys and girls. We'll take a break. We will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Unknown]

If you have health insurance, you might be able to see a personal dietitian for $0. Out of pocket Nourish connects you with a dietitian that fits your needs, covered by your insurance. Nourish accepts hundreds of insurance plans and 94% of patients pay $0 out of pocket. Meet with your dietitian online and message them anytime through the Nourish app. With hundreds of five star reviews from real patients, you know you're in good hands. Find your [e-mail] that's usenourish.com this is the Tony Korneiser show.

Here comes Tony Mailbag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Got your emails, your faxes and your notes.

[Unknown]

Here comes Mr. Tony's mailbag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gonna read some for all of you folks.

[H]

Have mercy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So envious. Bruce Griffin. So envious.

[Unknown]

It's a really good life skill.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Do you want to do Bethesda Bagel?

[Unknown]

Bethesda Bagels. We love them. You will as well. Don't forget they'll be open on Christmas Day, on Hanukkah Day and tomorrow the 25th. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop one in, my friend, and you will be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So before we get to the mailbag, let me just say that this is actually my favorite Christmas song of all. So this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over and a new one just begun and so this is Christmas I hope you had fun. The near and the dear ones, the old and the young. That's John Lennon. Yeah. I just really love that song.

[Unknown]

Really good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

My thanks to Michael Wilbot and to Chuck Todd. My thanks to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts Spotify and Odyssey. Get the show through Apple. Please leave us A review from Brian Lippman in Wilmington, Massachusetts. Do you know where that is? Wilmington, Massachusetts?

[Unknown]

I'm not familiar with Wilmington.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, it says last week I wrote in regarding my trip driving from Boston to Florida this past Saturday and needing help navigating around Fredericksburg, Virginia while using the express lane around 1pm the woman to whom I'm related by marriage happened to look over at the through lane traffic and said to me, hey, look over there. Traffic is is moving. Yes, until the merge, both the express and through lanes moved. A waste of tolls paid, and we still sat in Fredericksburg traffic. Well, we made it to our destination safely Sunday night and now the planning starts for when we make the trek back. Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend PSU occasionally ask people to leave reviews on itunes. What do you have against Android users who use YouTube Music? Do you not want reviews left there? This is so over my head. I have no idea. Yeah, I have no idea. And if you happen to read this on the air, Mike Bush can still eat it. Michael, you went through Fredericksburg and you went through good, right?

[Chuck Todd]

We had a easy trip through Fredericksburg, which is a rarity. Now we have the. We have to figure out our own way back because we're going to be going against the the toll lanes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, you're not going to have them open. You're just going to have the same three or four lanes.

[Unknown]

And Wilmington, Mass. Just north of Boston.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, Here we go. PV stands for Palos Verdes, which is south of LA and referred to as the Hill. My brother AG has lived there 45 years and plays at Rolling Hills Country Club, which is where Tiger was going when he had his accident. The road he crashed on. I've been on many times and I can still hear my mother. David, you're going too fast. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year and happy holidays, dg. Thanks, dg.

[Chuck Todd]

But the arm. No seat belt.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Tiger. Not good. No. Jeff Barger, Hillsborough, North Carolina. The four remaining monkeys have parked themselves in the woods just outside the facility from where they escaped.

[Unknown]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Traps have been set to capture them. It's rumored that among the items used in the traps are Netflix passwords so the monkeys can watch football on Christmas. By the way, Wegmans is opening in Rockville next year.

[Unknown]

Oh, that's big.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's just far away from the Iran. Yeah. From Tony T in Brooklyn and Brooklyn in Washington. One of the neighborhoods recently I had an email read raising concerns about Jesse and Mr. Tony being targeted by the renegade monkeys. It was a very proud moment having an email read. Now I have a scratchy throat and one of my dogs has the runs. Coincidence? I think not. If the monkeys get me for exposing their evil plot, please tell a woman I'm related to by marriage and my kids that I love them. Please know how important the show was to me. Pray that I make it through the holidays. Rick Franzosa Episode 252 in Cincinnati, our cover band, Muscle Memory, is suffering. That's a nice name for a band. That is a good name. Suffering. General fatigue of decades of playing the same old songs. This has led our bass player to ban four songs from our repertoire. Margaritaville, Take It Easy, Desperado, and yes, Brown Eyed Girl. They have been replaced by a pirate. Looks at 40 already gone wild Nights and Moondance. Until we get tired of them, no matter what we choose, I will remember the lyrics while forgetting everything else. Yes. Yes. Again from Jeff Barger. We have two from him today.

[Unknown]

Double double header.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's about the Dylan movie on Monday show. You wondered if anyone under 50 would want to see the Bob Dylan movie. My college age daughter asked me to go with her to see it this week. To quote another musical act, the kids are all right. That's a who line.

[Unknown]

That's good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Dan Walsman, Damascus, Maryland. I'm looking forward to the Christmas podcast. We all will need a break from the kids and from that crazy aunt and uncle you only see once a year, which is one time too many. I know. But as you know, Michael, Michael said no Christmas. Right, Michael? No.

[Chuck Todd]

Out of respect for everyone else on the show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, that's fine.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah, you don't get the rant on Thursday. I got my own things to share.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Here's what I would do. Honestly, if it was up to me and only to me. I do every day this week. I have nothing to do. It's too cold to play golf. There's no PTI mind talking. Yeah, you know and everybody knows I repeat myself anyway, I'm just an old man.

[Chuck Todd]

Have you heard about the soup from.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Peter Park, Southington, Connecticut? We talked about him. Yeah, he had one on yesterday. Show those moths, you mean business. Crank up the bee gees to 11 and revert your wardrobe to its heyday, pure polyester that would Kevin Brown In April of 2001, the day after my wedding, I was headed down to meet my groomsmen for breakfast in Tucson, Arizona. I was waiting for the elevator when the doors open and there stood a gentleman with a large equipment bag. I entered and soon realized it was Ricky Henderson. While going down, I turned and said good luck on breaking the record this year, as I believe he was going for either the all time run scored or the all time walk record. He had started 2001 in the minors, rehabbing, but breaking the records were imminent. Ricky says Thanks. I arrived with my party and told the story about my brief encounter. When asked if there was anything else said, I paused and said, no, you don't understand. He literally said, ricky said thanks. It was the perfect interaction of everything I had heard from the hall of Famer and the greatest leadoff batter who has ever lived so great for Michael sandler in Warrington, Virginia. In 1985, during my freshman year at the University of Maryland, I bought a red hoodie sweatshirt with pockets in the front to keep your hands warm and white lettering in the front. I got it for $15 back then at the college bookstore on the clearance rack, a bargain from my buddy Clarence, as I like to say. I wore it for about 10 years until the time I got married in 1995. Then I put it in the closet. It had shrunk by then from all the washing. My son Samuel was born in 1998 and wore a lot in high school when it was resurrected around 2012, and then it was worn by the three sisters born after him over the past dozen years. My eldest daughter, Naomi still has it in her room and it's probably seen service at least 300 times. Still bright red, the hoodie string long gone but not a tear or hole in it, so we are easily talking about less than a nickel per wearing this Is the new game People try and beat me. Good value here is a shared haiku. It's Christmas Day and the first night of Hanukkah. Happy Chris Mooka. Is that how it pronounced? Chris Moka. Chris McCaugh. Yes. And from Brian.

[Chuck Todd]

Not an OC fantasy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, what is that?

[Chuck Todd]

Early 2000s TV show?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, no, I didn't. I don't know.

[Chuck Todd]

Seth Cohen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I don't know it. O.C.

[Chuck Todd]

Welcome to the O.C.

[Unknown]

Yeah, I remember that show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I know. What an O.M.G.

[Chuck Todd]

O.G.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, geez. The original gangster.

[Unknown]

That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

O.C. is what? The Ocean Club? That's what I would have guessed. Or.

[Chuck Todd]

Oh, California, here I come.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Brian Sunak, St. Petersburg, Florida. As a lawyer, Little I felt obligated to email John A. Lederer, the CEO of Staples, to relay your dilemma with your yearly pilgrimage buying a new journal. Here is John's response. First of all, Tony's all done. The Kornheiser family don't even have that kind of muscle anymore. You're getting chased out of Chevy Chase by Barzini and Carol. Speeding tickets on Fessenden Avenue. What do you think's going on here? You think you come to my staples and take over? I talked to Barzini. I can make a deal with him and still keep my staples. Do you know who I am? I'm John Lederer. I made my bones when Michael was going out with cheerleaders. Thanks for a fantastic year. If you're out on your bike tonight, everyone, as always, to wear white. It's real nice having you with us for the holidays. I couldn't think of any better place to be.

[H]

This one's for power this one might make you feel insane Take this every hour and tell me that you feel Spray paint on the flower.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They don't.

[H]

Make me feel any less alone I've got an hour to kill I thought you knew me well by now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I've.

[H]

Got another to do Before I will go with you this one's prepared hour this one might kind of do Take one every hour Tell me when you feel less insane I've got an hour to kill I thought you to swallow Go down Take this every hour you feel fine Tell me when I've crossed the line she, she she's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sa.

[H]

She she's got the ocean swimming through she's got the ocean swimming sa.