“I hate this phone”

Summary

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The Tony Kornheiser Show – Episode Summary

Episode Title: "I hate this phone"
Date: December 22, 2025
Host: Tony Kornheiser (with Michael Wilbon, Steve Sands, Sean, Eric DeLong, et al.)

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Overview

This lively episode of "The Tony Kornheiser Show" captures Tony’s trademark blend of sports analysis, personal storytelling, and curmudgeonly wit. Today’s central themes include a deep-dive into the Chicago Bears’ thrilling overtime victory (with a joyful and reflective Michael Wilbon), musings about the winter solstice, golf in cold weather, college football playoff philosophy debates, a review of Golf Channel’s new skills event (with guest Steve Sands), and, naturally, a cathartic rant about Tony’s phone woes.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Winter Solstice and Daylight Pet Peeves

• Tony muses on the winter solstice, correcting himself with listener-sent clarifications:
  • “I often say that it’s the best day of the year because everything gets lighter and brighter from that point on. I was corrected... it has already begun to stay lighter longer in the afternoon by seconds... but it’s not getting lighter in the morning for about two weeks.” (05:00-06:10)
• Tony and the crew debate if having daylight in the morning or afternoon is better.

2. Golf in Frigid Weather – A Kornheiser Report

• Tony regales his weekend golf outing in the cold:
  • “It never went higher than 41 degrees... but there was no wind. With no wind, I was dressed... I played because there were no carts allowed, and I can’t walk the whole course.” (06:44-07:40)
• Steve Rose, Steve Del Mar, and Chris Lamond are part of the cast of characters.
• Tony laments not having special warming equipment:
  • “I didn’t want to have to attach it to my body, you know, like around my waist, like the quarterbacks do.” (09:39-10:21)
• The group discusses walking golf in the cold, various hand warming strategies, and post-round food cravings.

3. College Football Playoff—Who Belongs? (Tony vs. Wilbon)

• Tony and Wilbon have their recurring philosophical clash over playoff inclusivity:
  • Tony: “My position is different than that. There’s only 12 teams... I don’t think this should be a charity event. I think... you have to have the best teams in there.” (12:00-14:00)
  • Wilbon (philosophy relayed by Tony): Prefers more inclusivity, referencing NCAA basketball’s big field.
• Sean adds: “You’re at this transition period... I would agree with you to have a more inclusive field.” (14:11-14:39)

4. NFL Coach of the Year Debate

• Tony lists coach candidates:
  • “Mike Vrabel at New England, Ben Johnson at Chicago, Liam Cohn at Jacksonville.” (03:27-03:53)
• Tony leans Vrabel for win improvement, Wilbon flags Ben Johnson for navigating the tougher division, and praises Cohn’s turnaround in Jacksonville.
• Both agree: “There are three completely legitimate candidates for Coach of the Year, that if you voted for any one of these three, you don’t have to defend the vote.” (26:41-26:54)

5. Michael Wilbon’s Bears Experience: “One of the Greatest”

• Wilbon describes the magic of the Bears’ OT win at Soldier Field:
  • “As you know, I don’t drink a drop of anything. That’s how great Saturday night was in Chicago.” (17:43-17:52)
• Vivid details: luxury box on the 50-yard line, Bears legends in attendance, palpable nervous energy amid fans, communal catharsis after the win.
• “No one left. Every seat was full. It was the Packers... but that day, when it was over, I didn’t move... I didn’t go anywhere, for 45 minutes, I just sat in my seat.” (22:04-22:28)
• Tony: “23. He can win championships in Chicago; you cannot win a championship in football in Chicago...” referencing Michael Jordan as the only palpable sports comparison. (23:45-23:56)
• Wilbon shares the joy of seeing the city unified, the “rivalry unlike any other,” and the afterglow among traveling Bears fans.

6. NFL Parity and Surprises

• Tony: “The best NFL season that I remember in a long time. And that’s because Kansas City is not dominating.” (29:47-29:59)
• Both hosts marvel that every week, “the team you think that’s really good loses every week.” (30:25-30:35)
• Quick Top-5 picks: Tony singles out the Rams and Buffalo, but hedges that parity rules the day.

7. Golf Channel’s “Relay Race” Event — An Experiment in Entertainment

With guest Steve Sands:

• Steve explains the novel relay/skills format:
  • “If you’re old enough to remember Battle of the Stars... what the Golf Channel wanted... when there are no PGA Tour tournaments... was to put together something different from regular golf, but that has the best players doing skills.” (36:22-37:14)
• The highlight: scrambling teams complete a par-4 in under 30 seconds, players stationed along the hole and sprinting between shots.
• Tony: “How about 28 seconds? 28 seconds!” (38:34-38:58)
  • Steve: “It was literally... spectacular. The guys were doing it in 28 seconds, 32 seconds. It was absolutely incredible.” (38:58-40:33)
• Emphasis on fun: “The interaction between players, showing off their personalities, letting fans kind of get to know these guys... was a really good night for the sport.” (41:20-43:06)
• Briefly compares to NBA In-Season Cup, muses on golfer compensation, and forecasts a push for bigger, more visible skills shows in the future.

8. Parent-Child Golf Tournaments

• Steve Sands reports on the warm atmosphere and generational camaraderie at the PNC Championship (“parent-child, not just father-son”).
  • “86 year old Lee Trevino... is out there playing like it’s nothing... it’s just a lot of fun to see these guys.” (45:00-45:33)
  • Matt Kuchar and son’s emotional victory.

9. Tony’s Perpetual Phone Frustrations

• Late-episode, Tony is exasperated by his non-functioning iPhone:
  • “I have not had emails in four days. I need my phone fixed. My phone is dead. I hate this phone. I hate the fact that iPhone people can reach into my life like this anytime they want. I don’t like this at all.” (54:44-55:01)
• The crew jokes about updates, landscape mode, and consumer helplessness.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tony (on the winter solstice):
  “Me personally, I’d rather have that light in the morning than in the afternoon... I’m out with the dog—would rather have that.” (05:00-06:10)

• Wilbon, pensive before Bears game:
  “Instead, I thought it was pensive because I think that everybody knew it was at stake... it’s not possible they wouldn’t make the playoffs. But that’s what existed right through yesterday’s crazy game.” (17:52-18:56)

• Wilbon, on the seats at Soldier Field:
  “No one left. Every seat was full. It was the Packers... but that day, when it was over, I didn’t move for 45 minutes. I just sat in my seat.” (22:07-22:27)

• Wilbon, on Bears-Detroit drama:
  “If you watch the replay... it’s totally offensive. He pushes him and turns around. Two hands! Two hands!” (19:10-19:11)

• Tony, about NFL parity:
  “Every week, the team you think that’s really good loses every week.” (30:25-30:35)

• Steve Sands, relaying the golf relay race:
  “It was a lot of fun... The best part was that relay. Watching a drive, then watching the second player running into the fairway or the rough with clubs, dropping clubs, standing there, hitting a second shot. Then the third player on the green... it was a lot of fun, it worked out well.” (37:14-38:10)

• Tony’s phone rant:
  “I hate this phone and I hate the fact that the iPhone people can reach into my life like this anytime they want. I don’t like this at all.” (54:45-55:01)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Winter Solstice/Light: 05:00-06:10
• Golf in the Cold: 06:44-11:00
• College Football Playoff Debate: 12:00-14:00
• NFL Coach of the Year Discussion: 25:00-27:15
• Wilbon’s Bears Victory/Chicago Narrative: 17:42-26:40
• NFL Parity/Best Teams Segment: 29:47-31:15
• Golf Channel Skills Relay (Steve Sands): 36:20-43:06
• PNC Championship Recap: 45:00-46:40
• Tony’s iPhone Rant: 54:44-55:01

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Tone & Style Notes

• Tony and crew maintain their signature banter: playful, acerbic, and occasionally nostalgic.
• The episode is rich in sports minutiae, but also full of warmth—especially when Tony and Wilbon reminisce about the visceral happiness sports can deliver.
• The phone rant is classic Tony: curmudgeonly, but amplified for comic effect.
• Steve Sands brings a cheerful, behind-the-scenes broadcast vibe.

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Final Thoughts

For regulars and new listeners alike, this episode encapsulates the heart of the show: sports talk charged with personal stakes, friendly argument, and a dollop of lived-in humor. Listening is optional; Tony’s worldview is the feature presentation.

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Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk to Michael Wilbon about a thrilling win for his Bears. And we'll also talk to Steve Sands about the PNC championship and that other thing they had on Golf Channel, that sort of relay race. It was pretty cool. But first, commerce. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. You've heard me talk about collars and company, makers of the amazing dress collar polo. Well, now they've taken things to the next level with their brand new maverick performance blazer. And you have to check this out. These blazers are sharp, perfect for travel. Why? Because they're wrinkle resistant. Just throw it in your bag. When you get to your destination, slip it back on. No wrinkles, no stress. Finally, no more figuring out how to travel with a blazer. And it's not just about convenience. The Mavic performance blazer is made with stretch fabric so you can move comfortably all day long. Plus it's packed with smart features, inside security zip pockets, a built in optional pocket square and even a sunglasses loop. While you're at it, pair the blazer with The Collars & Co. Famous Dress Collar polos. They've already sold over a million of these comfortable polos with the signature dress collar on top. So Visit Collars and co.com use the promo code Tony for 20% off today. Use the code people. That should send me one of these. Yeah, I'd like to see this. A non wrinkle blazer. Yeah, because then I don't have to carry a steamer around with me all the.

[Dan from Heed the Call]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Now. Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show. Wilbon was just screaming, yelling. There was no point in me being on the show. There's no.

[Sean]

Point. So how quickly are you able to reset? Does it take you a full night and like, by today you're fine, you're going to have a great show? Or does this linger for another day or.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Two? No, it's not going to linger. I mean, the show weeks. No, the show. Every show is new and in every show there's a possibility of it being.

[Sean]

Great. But you'll try and needle them at every.

[Steve Sands]

Opportunity.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Absolutely. About the Indiana Bears. How many Indiana Bears. Can we please get some custom jerseys for you? Yeah, Indiana Bears. The Tony Kornheiser show is on now. There is no way that Wilbon will be angry. Angry today when we have him on. The Chicago Bears won at home in dramatic fashion in overtime. There's no way he's anything but.

[Eric DeLong]

Ecstatic. Gets the cheese heads.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right? Yeah. If he yells. Yeah. Who he hates. Yes. If he yells and screams, it'll be screams of joy. Yes, he can. If he's angry and starts. I, I can't believe he would be angry. I just cannot believe he would be angry. Yeah. The. Yeah. I rooted for them to lose. Well, but you know, but no, you know what? You know what? There's three guys out there where you say these coaches have made a remarkable difference in a first year. Mike Vrabel at New England, Ben Johnson at Chicago and Liam Cohn at Jacksonville. In first years, they have playoff teams, you know, from rising from the dead, honestly, I mean, you know, you can, you can vote for any. I would vote for Vrabel just because I think that he will have more wins than the others. And they were all in that 4 and 13 range. But I mean, I wouldn't argue if you voted for Ben Johnson in a harder division. I wouldn't argue if you voted for Liam Cohn because Jacksonville is awful. Had been awful for a while and Trevor Lawrence had shown nothing. And now they're a playoff team and they went on the road, they beat Denver. Beat Denver. That's.

[Eric DeLong]

Legit. Like, they beat them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Solidly. That's legit. So, okay, let me get to, first of all, to explain where everybody is and what our schedule is this week. We're going to do Monday, Tuesday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week. Yes. You know, we're not going to do Christmas Day. We're going to observe, you know, the, the solemn. Some people have a solemn nature about that, others joyful. But in any case, we're not going to, we're not going to ask people to come on the show on Christmas morning. We're not. So we'll do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday this week. Sean is with us today. But then leaving. Yes, leaving us in the hands of Bob. Yes, Sean, that's correct. And Bob. Okay, safe hands with Bob. Okay, so safe hands. Safe hands with all state. Yeah. Okay, that's good. Michael is away, but he's here. He's on the.

[Sean]

Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sorry. And we'll get. No, don't be sorry. You know, you're entitled, you and.

[Sean]

Your. To.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You. Oh, okay. All right. But you're on the show, which is really all that matters. So I understand the beginning of winter was yesterday. I think officially something like 10, 15 in the morning was the official winter solstice. And I, you know, I often say that it's the best day of the year because everything gets lighter and brighter from that point on. I was corrected. So I want to show that I remember the emails. I was corrected last year and the year before that by people who explained to me that it has already begun to stay lighter longer in the afternoon by seconds, not by minutes, not by chunks, not by hours, nothing like that. By seconds that started before the solstice. It is not getting lighter in the morning, if I understand this correctly, for about two weeks. It's going to get darker still for about two weeks. Me personally, I'd rather have the light in the morning than in the, in the afternoon. It's. I'm out with the dog, you know, rather have.

[Eric DeLong]

That. Yeah, I think I'm with Michael. It feels a bit depressing that it starts to get dark at about.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Three o'clock in the afternoon. Boston, Nigel, Boston is the worst. Boston, you're so far east, you know, you're so far east, it's dark and you're north and east. So. Yeah, all right. But I think I understand that. I hope I understand that. I don't know if I understand that. I did over the weekend, I played golf on Saturday. I played. Here's what I did on.

[Sean]

Saturday. There were no start of winter by getting out for a brisk 12.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Holes. Okay. Well, it was, it never went higher than 41 degrees on Saturday when I played, but there was no wind. Yeah, 41 is, for me, tolerable. And you know, with no wind, I was dressed. I didn't even have a second coat on. I just had the sweater and the two layers underneath that. And I played because there were no carts allowed. And I didn't. I can't walk the whole course. I played what is called the inner nine, where just at Columbia. Numbers 1, 2, 3, numbers 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 have a card path. The others do not. There is no card path. So you can go on the card path and then you leave your card on the path and you walk to your ball. I walked more on those nine holes than I would have if I walked 18, right, Michael? Because I'm constantly going back and.

[Sean]

Forth. Yes, all golfers know how much walking you have to do for golf. You know, golf cart.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Only. Cart path only. Yeah, card path only. It's, you know, so. But I. I played 1, 2, 3, I played 4. I walked forward to par 3. Then I came back to the path and I went on 12, which is a par 5. And there's like an area that you can use as a tee which is about 165 yards out on the right. Michael, you know, I'm talking about. Others do not, obviously. And so it becomes a par three. And I played that, walking that. And then Steve Rose was. Was back to play. You know, he had played, he went out with Tachi and he got to 12, and I waited for him and I played in with him. And that, you know, made me happy. I mean, it was fine to play. So he gets excited and he says, well, we'll play tomorrow, because I'm sure we'll have cards tomorrow. And in fact, they did have carts yesterday. And I was trapped into playing because it was cold, it was colder. Okay. I went out, when I went out at about 10:00 in the morning, the wind was, I would say, brisk. Not overwhelming, but brisk. And the temperature was, you know, reasonable, like 41, 42, 43, something like that. But by the time we got to the fourth hole we played, I was freezing to death. The wind had really picked.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And the temperature, though, it got to 45. Every time you looked at a. You looked at your phone, it said, feels like 28. I was really cold. And by 14, I was, I finished. But I was not only terrible, I just wanted to stop as it.

[Sean]

Was just so I'm imagining the Bernie Sanders meme. You just sitting cross legged with.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The arms just, you.

[Sean]

Know. Do you have cart.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mittens? I do not. I do not. Now, Steve Del Mar yesterday, and Chris Lamond told me to get this warming thing that the quarterbacks use in the NFL. You put both hands in it from side to.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Side.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And Chris said, it's hot, it's great. It's life changing. Should I get that yeah, definitely. But I didn't want to have to. I didn't want to have to attach it to my body, you know, like around my waist, like the quarterbacks.

[Eric DeLong]

Do. Oh.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. And. And Chris said you could leave it in the cart. And it still works. Yes.

[Sean]

Yes. This is like that hand warmer Muff.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Yes. Well, how much you think that co. I have.

[Sean]

Shop? I think there's definitely different.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Levels. 100.

[Sean]

Bucks. I'm sure Mr. Del Mar can put an order in for.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You. He's got one. He had one in the shop. He handed it to me, and I turned away. I. I wasn't sure. You weren't ready yet. I weren't ready yet. I should get it.

[Sean]

Yes. Yeah, don't. Don't ask no questions. Have it waiting for you in your locker next time you go to the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Club. Okay, well, that'll be tomorrow, you know. Yeah. Okay.

[Sean]

Close. Today, question for you about playing by yourself. When you. When you finally joined up with Steve, did this disrupt your counting? Because I'm sure you had some complicated pattern in your.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Head. Yeah, I was. I was playing three and four balls at a time, you know, not on first shots, on second shots, third shots, playing three and four balls, having a. I was having a lovely time. I was out there by myself, having a lot. You know, I was out there by myself because nobody else was out there. So it's like seven people on the entire course by the time I was, you know, halfway through what I was going to do. And it was lovely. I.

[Sean]

Was. I was with you in spirit as I was tackling I95 south for approximately 10.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hours. I know, I know, but it.

[Sean]

Was. It was construction in the lower part of North.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Carolina. That's no good fun. No.

[Eric DeLong]

Good. A question, particularly after the round on.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sunday. Yesterday.

[Eric DeLong]

Yes. Did you get a club.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sandwich? I did not. Oh, I got. I was so cold. I was so cold. I got a cup of coffee and I went home, you know, and I. You know. I know. I was just. I was really.

[Sean]

Cold.

[Eric DeLong]

No. Triumphant.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sound. I was really cold. No, you know, it was, you know, and I had dinner. I had dinner on Friday night with Jimmy Crilly and his wife. With John Sturm and his wife and Charlie Tate and his wife. Charlie listens, so he's going to be so excited now that I mentioned his name. I saw him yesterday, too, so excited. Makes me happy. You find out people listen. It makes. It makes you happy. Then you find out people listen in, like, I don't know, Australia, and you go.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Why?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Why. Why would this Be all right. Let me get to the college football. Just. I'm sure Wilbon and I will talk about this on pti. I know his feelings about this. Mike's feelings are to be inclusive and to have group of five teams in there. And he says, look, you have 64 teams in the basketball tournament and you know, they, they're 16 seeds and when they play a one, most of the time they lose. Almost always they lose. And my position is different than that. There's only 12 teams in this. There's not 25, there's not 30. There's only. Even when they go to 16, there's only 16 in this. 16 out of about 80 or 90. It's only 16. It's not like 64 out of 300. It's. The math is a little bit different, but it, but I don't think this should be a charity event. I think if you watch James Madison, who covered, by the way, and you watch Tulane, who did not cover, by the way. Carbo won on one of those. Jeff MA1 on one of those. If you watch this, I think Chuck took both teams to cover. So he split. They were not games. Oregon was up like three touchdowns in six minutes, you know, really? Ole Miss was up three, you know, 18 point early. No, you know, no, it's not charity. But if you put Notre Dame and Texas in that tournament, Notre Dame, if you watched the awful, awful Miami A and M game, which was awful until the last three minutes, one of the most exciting game of all time, you know, but if you watch the first 57 minutes, you said, what are they doing in the playoffs? And if you're Notre Dame, you think we could be both of them now, they beat us in August by one point and three, but we could beat them. And so I think if Notre Dame and Texas were in this tournament, you would have the representation of, you know, the best 12 teams in the country or something close. And I don't think with James Madison and Tulane you have that, you know, so philosophically, Wilbon and I disagree. I am less inclusive. He is more inclusive. I want the purity of the best teams in there. Michael, thoughts? Sean.

[Sean]

Thoughts? I would just say you're at this transition period where you're still moving away from the old bowl model and you will eventually get to this larger field. So while you're in this in between, I would agree with you to have a more inclusive. I, I'd rather to have field. We're not quite at that basketball field yet, but I still think it's, you're getting enough representation and you have enough time to show you're. You're worthy of getting in. Except for this one example we have this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Year. Really? Yeah. By the way, both in the, in the, in the actual games between actual good teams, both road teams won. That did not happen.

[Eric DeLong]

Last. That's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. Teams were 0 and 4. The road teams are now 2 and oh, Alabama was a road team. Miami was a road team. And I'm not knocking Miami because I always said Notre Dame should be in ahead of them. They're a good team. A M's good team. Although A M has two losses in a row now to Texas, into Miami. Yeah, It's a terrible way to.

[Michael Wilbon]

End. Bad way to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

End. What was a terrific bad way to end. And Lane Kiffin. Nobody hates him now. Yeah. I mean, everybody still hates him, but nobody hates him like they really would have hated him had Ole Miss.

[Steve Sands]

Lost.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. In that particular game. All right, so we will have Wilbond today. We'll have Steve Sands if he's not circling. If he's not circling. If he's landed, we will have Steve Sands. But Wilbond when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here wishing you.

[Dan from Heed the Call]

A very happy half off holiday because.

[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Love. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. This is sent to us by Functional Poly and they say hello, Dr. Kornheiser. Happy holidays to everyone on the show. We're hoping you play a couple of songs off our new holiday album, Functional Holly. We love singing our harmonies together on fun holiday songs. It's of Cammie, Clint and Carissa. Functional Poly. And this is familiar to everyone. This is God rest you married, gentlemen. We three kings. And so we're doing Christmas music probably all week. Yeah, if we have it, we'll do.

[Eric DeLong]

It. I think we.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do. And they play in Michael Wilbon. And I'm just for all the people that write in and say God. Wilbourne was angry today on the show. God, what is with Wilbon? Why is he calling everybody stupid? Why is everybody a young dope? Why is he so mad? This is the other side today of Michael Ray Wilbon. You had the greatest, one of the greatest experiences of your life on Saturday night, didn't.

[Michael Wilbon]

You? Yeah, Tony. I'm still hungover from Saturday night. And as you know, I don't drink a drop of anything. That's how great Saturday night was in Chicago. If you root for the Chicago Bears and there are millions there who do. I was at the game, it was, you know, people expected it to be raucous to start because it was a 7:30 game. It's Christmas week, The Bears are already playing well, you know, people expected it to be raucous. Instead, I thought it was pensive because I think that. Yeah, yeah. Because everybody knew it was a stake. The loser of that game, and particularly if the Bears was. Is likely to not go to the playoffs at all. So you go from being in the catbird seat to winning the division to maybe not making the playoffs. And it, given the season the Bears have had, it seems not possible they wouldn't make the playoffs. But that's what existed right through yesterday's crazy game between Pittsburgh and Detroit. Because the Bears have a game at San Francisco Saturday night, now another Sunday night prime time extravaganza, and then finish up with Detroit, which he is hanging on to his.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Playoffs. Can I. Can I just. I'm going to interrupt for a second. We'll get right back to this. If you watch the replay of that play where they called offensive interference, it's totally offensive. He pushes him and turns around. What?

[Michael Wilbon]

Right. Two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hands. Two.

[Michael Wilbon]

Hands. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It. Come.

[Michael Wilbon]

On. And Detroit runs the pick. Plays more than anybody else. And they get the touchdown. You got a guy. It's so funny. I think it was Tom Brady's description. Maybe he was destroying. I don't want to give credit because it was such a great line and it Talked about that 6 foot 7, 320 pound tight end that the, that the Steelers have and whether it was Troy or Tom, one of them said it's like throwing a screen past the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Shaq. Yeah, it's, it's, yeah, it's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Enormous. And so that guy is involved in a pick play and you want to fish and moan, to hell with the Lions. I want to hear it. Well, I know we'll.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Get. I mean look, I think, and you know that I think this, I think the Lions are the most disappointing team in the league this year because I think they're really good. I do, I still think they're really good. But Ammon Ross, St. Brown, that's a clear. You have to call it. You have to call it. This is not hand fighting. This is not hand fighting. So go back, go back to the Bears. Where did you sit? Who were.

[Michael Wilbon]

You? My friend Jim Reynolds, Luke Capital Southsider. And my peer group. And we've known each other forever and ever and ever. Jim has a suite that is on something called the 50 yard.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Line. Oh.

[Michael Wilbon]

Okay. And in Soldier Field. And if you were invited to go there, it's just, it's, it's, it's magical. Even when the Bears are bad, it's a rollicking good time. And then the people that he is tight with and I have become friends with over the years because these guys live there include Richard Dent and Otis Wilson and you know, I mean some of the most famous Bears players ever. And they are there watching a game and I watch wig games with them. You know that because I've told you that over the, over the years. And Tom Waffle stopped by and it's great because you, you're watching with people who have skin in the game who never left town. They never left town. They took the jersey off. In the case of the first two guys I mentioned, they won a championship. Richard Dent, I still think may be the only guy who is a so pro exclusively a defensive player who won super bowl mvp. Is there more than Richard? I don't think there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is. I think there was a safety, I think a Dallas safety.

[Michael Wilbon]

One. Okay, okay. So maybe, maybe, maybe Woodson won. So anyway, we're all watching this thing and it's nervous because you, we gotta win this game. And the way the game unfolds, it's just not possible to win a game. And they can't score, they can't do anything. We're unhappy with play calls, we're unhappy with Caleb, we're unhappy with the run defense, we're unhappy with everything they can't win, except Green Bay only has field goals. And you get this situation. I'm not going to go to the fourth quarter. Tick tock. But it was impossible to win that game. And they won that game. And I said, when I was. We just sat there, Tony, no one left. No one left the building. At one point, I literally looked at the aisle to see no one left. Every seat was full. It was the Packers. And all day long, people walked around Michigan Avenue doing their Christmas shopping wearing their bear stuff or their packers stuff. Remember, we're talking. This is different even than Philadelphia, Washington or New York Washington. We're talking about a fan. Two fan bases that are the same people. They live in the same, they occupy the same space. And so that is unique with that rivalry, too. But that day when it was over, I didn't move. I didn't go anywhere for 45 minutes. I just sat in my seat and I said to Jim, and Jim is like me. He's got a suite of Bulls games. We go to everything. We follow everything. At times you've said to me, when one of them's going, well, what's bigger? You know, the Bulls, the Bears, you know, the Cubs. I can't ever choose because we follow everything. This was somehow different. This was the only thing. You'd have to have Jordan in the mix for it to be bigger than what happened Saturday night. The only things I've ever been to in Chicago that were bigger than that game, that win, that circumstance, that Joy. It involved 23. So, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

23. He can win championships in Chicago. You cannot win a championship in football in Chicago. Not the chair, not the Super Bowl. It's not going to be in Chicago. Right. So that's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Different. And we've won. We've played in those that. I've been there. We've won two of them. And it wasn't. It wasn't like. It wasn't like.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This. Did you meet the mayor? Did you see the.

[Michael Wilbon]

Mayor? I know the mayor. I know the mayor. You know, Mayor Johnson was. Was there. The Secretary of state was in the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Box. His.

[Michael Wilbon]

Holiness. What's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That? Was the Pope.

[Michael Wilbon]

There? The Pope would have been there. The Pope probably wishes he was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There. That's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right. There's a great. There's a great. There's a great. I'm sure it's AI. I'm sure everything's AI. There's a great. Like, it would be a poster in the old days. And it shows the Pope in this picture with Caleb and Ben Johnson. And they're in there in Blues Brothers stuff, and the Pope is dressed like Ditka. It's so great that I want it to be real. The Pope is a Bears fan and we all. We know that. But, yeah, it was just short. He was the only person not in attendance on Saturday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Night. So now you're not number one in the NFC at the moment. The Seahawks are. I don't know if the Rams are ahead of you. Is. I don't know how it works. Are.

[Michael Wilbon]

You. I think so. Ahead of us. We're division leader in the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Rams. Are you going to win the division? Is there any way you don't win the division.

[Michael Wilbon]

Now? There is a way. It's so convoluted. I've read about it. I mean, you know, this is two nights with no sleep. Saturday night, there's no sleep because, you know, a lot of people want flights going where they're going for holidays. I flew to Arizona. The whole Arizona plane was like a charter. People just came straight from Soldier Field in their stuff. Or the cheeseheads. They did because we all live in the same place. Second home. Winter home is not Florida for us. It's Arizona. And people are on the plane singing Bear Down. I mean, it's just like, what? So everybody doesn't know the permutations, even though people are studying them and they think they know. But we could. We got San Francisco and Detroit to end the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Season. Detroit's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Done. San.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Francisco. Detroit's done. They're.

[Michael Wilbon]

Done. Well, it looks like it because they lost that game to Pittsburgh. And I thought there was no way they were going to lose that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Game. Me, too. I agree. I never.

[Michael Wilbon]

Thought. I thought Detroit was going to win that game. They are done. They've been undone largely by injuries. But I know at the beginning you scoffed when I said there was brain.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Drain. No. You know what? I thought about that yesterday. I think you may very well be right. I thought about that yesterday. That losing both coordinators. You may be right about that. What you were not right about is your fear that the bears would.

[Michael Wilbon]

Go.05. That's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. The Bears are good. And this brings up this question, and I led the show with this. There are three completely legitimate candidates for Coach of the year, that if you voted for any one of these three, you don't have to defend the vote. One is Ben Johnson, one is Liam Cohn, and one is Mike Vrabel. I assume you would vote For Ben Johnson because of your ties with the Bears. I think I would vote for Vrabel because it's the largest turnaround in terms of wins. But what Jacksonville did yesterday was the most impressive thing in the day, wasn't.

[Michael Wilbon]

It? Denver, I thought was the most impressive.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Win. Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes. In terms of the opponent. Although I know the Bears were at home beating Green Bay and a lot of people right through last week had Green Bay winning not only that game, but.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Being. Well, it hurts them that their quarterback got hurt. I.

[Michael Wilbon]

Mean. Well, it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Does. That.

[Michael Wilbon]

Hurts. And that there were some. Boy, there was some gallows humor over that in the box. I won't relate to you, but it was laugh out loud stuff. You don't want to laugh and somebody's getting a concussion, but it's a cheese head. Come on. I will repeat this because Richard Dent is so funny. And when you're Richard Dent again, when you wear a gold jacket and a Super Bowl MVP ring and you're a defensive player, you can say anything you want. And you know we. First of all, don't tell me the hit was dirty. I don't want to hear it. A six foot five guy, which is what Jordan Love is, he lowers his head into another 6 foot 5 guy. That's why they wear.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Helmets.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. And he goes down. Jordan Love goes down and we don't know in real time, Denji screams out, hey, just put a cape on him. He's cold. Get him.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Up. Yeah, you figured he'd play. You figured he'd go right.

[Michael Wilbon]

Back. I figured he. I figured he'd come back. But this is with a concussion and you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Don'T. Nobody wants to see that this is happening all over. Didn't I think Jackson Dart got one yesterday.

[Michael Wilbon]

Too. Every week. And that's why you have to seriously consider drafting Mendoza. If you are the Giants and you pick one. And the job of the Giants and the Raiders playing each other this week for the number one pick for the loser. But you mentioned the coaches of the year. You know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to argue against one of those three.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Guys. No, you.

[Michael Wilbon]

Can'T. And by the way, you said that, you said that New England had the biggest turnarounds. The Bears were. The Bears lost 10 in a row last year. What was their one game more than New England? They won five, New England won.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Four. Right. And what is newing and now what are their records right.

[Michael Wilbon]

Now? 11. The Patriots won last night. So they've got.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One. They're one more or no, they Got one. That's what I'm.

[Michael Wilbon]

Saying. Right. They got one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

More. But the opposite way you argue that is you say Chicago's in a much tougher division.

[Michael Wilbon]

Conference. The nfc, yes, definitely. Much more impressive, as it turns out, this year. And so that would be. If you want to make that argument, you can make it for.

[Steve Sands]

Jacksonville. It's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Just. It's. Wow. By the way. By the way, how about San Francisco? Suppose they wind up with the number one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Seed. They. It's some convoluted way they can have that as well. I will say it's the best NFL season that I remember in a long time. And that's because Kansas City is not dominating. That's why it's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Better. Well, you don't need.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

It's.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's. It's. I'm going to say it's the only sport where you don't need the champion. There are enough important fan bases and there are enough teams with history. And by history, I mean 100 years. So it's not Major League Baseball history, but it's. It's second to that, that you don't have to have the reigning champ, you know, that other mix of.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Franchises. The best thing is that every week, the team you think that's really good loses every week. So this week, the Rams and Denver.

[Steve Sands]

Lost. So.

[Michael Wilbon]

Who. So give me your top five right now. Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now. I still think. I still think the Rams are the best team in football. I think it'll be the Rams and Buffalo in the Super Bowl. But, you know, but I don't. I don't know. I'm. You know, I would have said Denver, but Jacksonville beat them soundly, Mike.

[Michael Wilbon]

Sadly. But, you know, but you're not going to win every.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Game. Nope.

[Michael Wilbon]

Nope. And they used to, what, ten in a row? Denver had won.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right? They had won 11 in a.

[Eric DeLong]

Row.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. And now Jacksonville's one win. Six, seven in a.

[Michael Wilbon]

Row. I mean, Jacksonville's one. So at what point we could start talking about peaking too soon. Have Jackson. Has Jacksonville done.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That? I didn't think they were any good. I didn't think Jackson was any good at all. And this guy has totally turned.

[Michael Wilbon]

Them. We go back to the Joe Gibbs phrase, and I'm sure Joe's not the only coach who subscribed to it. You win first and then you get good. And I think the Jacksonville and the Bears have sort of taken that route. That's probably, you know, they don't. They don't fear playing anybody now. And I don't know if it was that way, eight weeks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ago. All right, I'll talk to you.

[Michael Wilbon]

Later. Let me tell you who we don't want to. I don't want to hear about anymore. I want to hear about the Baltimore.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ravens. Yeah, they're.

[Michael Wilbon]

Done. They're one of your.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bottles. They're absolutely done. All right, I'll talk to you later. Michael Wilbur, boys and.

[Eric DeLong]

Girls. I couldn't find the meme he was talking about, but I did find.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This. Oh, Picture of the Pope in a bear's hat and bears regalia. Raymond. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it's.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Fabulous. All.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. Steve Sands. When we return, I'm Tony.

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[Steve Sands]

Apply. This is the Tony Kornheiser.

[Jingle Singers]

Show. Here we come. The.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wasp once again. This is Functional Poly from their album Functional Holly, a bunch of Christmas songs. It's very, very nice. Michael. If people like Functional Polly want to send in their original music that we can play, how do they do.

[Sean]

It? Send us your music by emailing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It to jinglesonyquinizershow.com and they play in Steve Sands. And right before we went on the air, Steve said he was in Colorado in Vail. And I said, do you ski and tell. Tell the people what you.

[Steve Sands]

Said. Well, I went to Colorado State University, born and, born and raised in D.C. so I can't imagine anybody from the east coast goes to school in the mountains, in the Rocky Mountains and doesn't ski, but, you know, whatever we digest. I went, flew here last night. Drop drove up from Denver after the PNC championship and got here late last night. And we're all here for.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Christmas. It's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Great. I, I've never skied in my life. I've never skied. No. No. Do you, what kind of skiing do you do? Do you do that fast stuff? Do you go real.

[Steve Sands]

Fast? Well, I'm going to be 57 years old here in a couple of months. I don't go quite as fast as I used to. Don't do, don't, don't do the bumps quite as much as I used to. But our three sons love it. Val Sands Loves it. And it's something we do every year, and it's. It's just a lot of fun to get together. It gets more challenging as the years go on, for sure. But it's. It's my favorite week of the year, for.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sure. Oh, that's great. That's great. All right, let me get. I.

[Sean]

Want. I'm just imagining Steve still has, like, a neon ski suit from his college.

[Steve Sands]

Days. No, you know what's funny about that? In our. In my college days, you know, we would wear jeans and, you know, shirts and stuff like that. We don't do any of that.

[Michael Wilbon]

Stuff.

[Steve Sands]

Stuff. But our boys and Val all have, you know, all that kind of fancy stuff, and they beg me every year to buy stuff and buy stuff, and I'm like, I'm just not into that kind of thing. But it's a lot of fun. And once, one time this week, it's the only time I ever do this. Ever. I am not a jersey wearer. I'm not one of these guys. But the boys, ever since they were little, now they're in their 20s. The boys, ever since they were little, always wanted to one day, if it's warm enough, and not have to wear a big jacket to wear skins jersey or a caps jersey or something like that. So one time this week, we will. We will throw on an Art Monk jersey or a cap sweater or something like.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That. Lovely Langway jersey. That's lovely. That's.

[Steve Sands]

Great. Love, Rotten Langley, number.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Five. Oh, yeah, I knew him. I liked him. He was great. I thought, actually, this is getting really deep in the weeds on Cap's trivia, because it's not like they won with him. They didn't win. But I thought when the Washington Capitals got him, it was similar to when the Washington Nationals later got Jason Worth. Oh, yeah, that. It gave. It gave that franchise an identity and a reason for people to want to go and play there. Do you agree with.

[Steve Sands]

That? Getting Langway was a huge credibility play for the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Cats. That's way before Alexander Ovechkin, but you have to know the history of a team. All right, so let me get to this before we get to the father child thing, which I watched last night, you know, back and forth, and the Matt Kutcher stuff, which you can explain. But what about the thing on the Golf Channel that we talked about on pti, that relay? What. What exactly was that? And what did you think of that entire sort of, you know, Pro bowl experience for.

[Steve Sands]

Golfers? I meant to text you after I saw you guys Talk about him. Pti. Because I thought it was so cool you guys were talking about it on pti. But I just, I just kind of put my phone down after a day after studying. So I never studied that hard in my life to figure out the, the rules and the regulations for that night. It was a lot of fun, you know, if you. For the people who are listening, who are old enough to remember, like, Battle of the.

[Sean]

Stars.

[Steve Sands]

Yeah. You know, to see Daryl Green run 100 yard dash without pads, you know, and see how fast he is, that kind of thing. And what the Golf Channel wanted to do more than anything, Tony, was, you know, this time of year when there are no, you know, PGA Tour tournaments, there's a Skins Game and they have matches and these, these kinds of things. I think what, what our executives decided to do was let's put together something that's different from regular golf but has the best players in it doing skills, and, you know, they're going to tweak it as it goes on. It was the first time they ever did it. It was a rousing success. People really loved it. Golf fans, even the most hardened golf fans in the world who don't want anything other than just regular golf, you know, enjoyed it. The guys, more importantly, enjoyed it very much. And the best part was that relay. You talked about watching, watching a drive and then watching. The second player on the team is teams of four. Second team player running into the fairway or the rough with clubs, dropping clubs, standing there, hitting a second shot. Then the third player on the green with the fourth player on the green running, throwing clubs, jumping in bunkers, hitting chips and pitches, hitting putts while still moving. Not the ball, but the player. The guys really were into it. It was a lot of fun and it worked out well. And it's different than regular golf. And in December, why not give it a shot? So the audience liked it and the players liked.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It. I loved watching it. Wilburn, of course, hated it. But that's, that's just Wilburn. But I. Yesterday when I was out on the course, I said to the people I was playing with who had not seen it, so I said, so this is what happens. They're trying to finish a hole as quickly as possible. It's a legitimate par 4. And how long do you think it would take? And so they would say things like eight minutes or 10 minutes. I said, now remember now, they're not all walking the course. They're stationed out in the middle of the course, stationed on the green to as quickly as possible get to the ball and advance it. And they said, oh, okay, maybe four minutes or five minutes. And I said, how about 28 seconds? 28 seconds. I mean, Steve, you never, like, before this happened, you would never have predicted 28 seconds, would.

[Steve Sands]

You? No, it was. It was literally. It really was spectacular. Look, you know, I talk about my wife all the time, but. But Val doesn't watch a lot of that kind of stuff. Doesn't watch a lot of golf. She's sports fan. Doesn't watch a lot of golf. She thought it was awesome. My sister Michelle, who never watches golf, watched it and thought it was awesome. People just, look, you want to. What you want to do. And you know this, Tony, as you famously say, it's a TV show. It's TV show what, what you want. It's entertainment, man. What you want to do is not offend your core audience to allow them to continue to watch the best players on the planet, but also bring in new people to the sport who might not ever want to watch a regular tournament. And that's. That's what the night was all about. And I'll tell you something interesting. We did a rehearsal. You know, it was the first time ever doing it. And the production was outrageous, man. The people behind the scenes, Tony, putting this together, you cannot imagine how much production was put into this thing. So we did a rehearsal on Monday night and then did a hurt. Excuse me. Monday afternoon. Then did another rehearsal Tuesday, and then Tuesday night. And we did that with eight players, four players on each side. We got, you know, PGA Tour players who you've never heard of, you know, some of retired players, some guys who live down in the area, some guys who can really, really, really play. A couple of Corn Ferry Tour guys. Those kind of guys. They were doing it in like, 48, 54, you know, 58 seconds, that kind of stuff. When the big boys showed up on Wednesday, I mean, my goodness, they did it in 28 seconds. 32 seconds, 37 seconds. It was. It was absolutely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Incredible. I loved it. Where was that. Where was. Where was that.

[Steve Sands]

Held? Trump National. Trump International in Jupiter is right next to the Bears Club. Enough Donald Ross.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right? So. So they had the lighting because you could see. See with the. With the lighting. I. I mean, here's what I would have done in a skills competition. And I don't know what else was on, what else you broadcast. I just saw that one clip. I didn't know it was on, but I would have players with, like, irons in their hand, and I would tell them they have to break plates like they do in hockey, you know, from 50 yards or something like that. If anybody can do that. I mean, I would do a lot of those. I, I just thought it was fun and it, it just seemed. I never expected in my life they'd be out in the middle of the fairway waiting for the ball to.

[Steve Sands]

Land. It really was a fun night. And look, I am a old guy and I'm an old school guy and I am not someone who likes those kinds of events. And I was, I was hosting that. I was doing the play by play for it and I, it was way more fun than I thought it was going to be. And I think we all, we were all wondering what it was going to be like. Nobody knew what it was going to be like. And when it played out, we were all like, you know, it's, it's. Do you remember the series big break from 10 to 15 years ago on? Yes, the, the signature event in the Big Break, I think will be involved next year was when not breaking plates, but breaking the glass. And they would put glass, a square glass out about 50 yards. Yeah, you have to try to, you know, got to hit it. And I'm talking like five feet in the air. I'm not talking about, you know, 50ft in the air and just kind of go yard by yard. I think that'll be implemented next year. This year there was that flop wall from the Big Break, which was very cool. Trying to see them hit trick shots over the wall. If you, if you think of the Big Break and the old ADT skills challenge, it was a combination of those two. They just wanted to stay away from regular 18 hole golf with a big purse at the end. They wanted to do skills and let these guys show off and mic them up and show off their personality. And here's another thing, Tony. They had things in there. They had earpieces where they could hear program so they could hear us. So they could go back and forth with Keith Mitchell. They were giving me a lot of crap about how bad of a golfer I am. Smiley Kaufman, Brad Faxon, Johnson, Wagner was there as well. So the interaction between the players, showing off their personal personalities, letting the fans kind of get to know these guys a little bit. It was, it was a, it was a. So, you know, it was a really, it was a really good night for the.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sport. The NBA cup, which I think is nonsense. It paid all the players $530,000 who won. That's not a lot for them because they make millions, but it's A lot to get in your hand at one time. How did you get. Did you, was there purses involved for the. How did you get these.

[Steve Sands]

Players? That was the other thing I thought was brilliant. Normally this time of year, the Skins Game, it's all about, you know, shot money, shot money. The matches one by one, shot money, shot money. In this, they said, listen, let's just pay them. And then what's on the line is a medal. You know, you're putting a medal around your neck. Obviously they're professional golfers and obviously fans know they got paid. Scotty and Rory got quite a bit of money to show up. And the other six guys, there were 14, two teams of four. The other six guys got, you know, pretty hefty appearances as well. But the beauty of it was that it, it wasn't about the money. It was. I'm not saying they didn't deserve to have.

[Michael Wilbon]

It. They should get.

[Steve Sands]

Paid. They're professional golfers. They're putting on a show in primetime for three and a half hours. But what was on the line at the end was just putting a medal around. And those guys were absolutely into it, way more into it than I thought they were going to be. And it was, it turned out to be a lot of fun. And I think you're going to. Next year there can be a lot, there's going to be a lot more promotion about it. It's got one more year left at Trump and Jupiter. Yeah, because I think people weren't really sure what it was going to be like, so they were not, not afraid to promote it. We just didn't promote it like you would normally promote a show because nobody knew what it was going to be like. And I think now that it was a success and now they have some video, they have some audio to promote. I think next year when they have it again down at Trump, it's one more year at Trump and then who.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Knows.

[Steve Sands]

Okay. It was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Fun. How was the parent child? And I say parent child because it's not just father, son. I mean, Annika is in it and Steve Stricker's daughter is in and it's not father son. So how is that? Did you enjoy.

[Steve Sands]

That? It's an awesome event, Tony. It's, it's a lot of fun. Look again, it's December golf. It is what it is. It's great old players, great current players, major champions, players, champions. Annika in there, the greatest woman of all time with her son Will. And, you know, 86 year old Lee Trevino, you know, making A holing out on 13 from the bunker. You know, he's 86 years old, Tony, 86 years old. He's out there playing like it's nothing and hitting great shots, and it's just a lot of fun to see these.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Guys. Good, good. What's coming up? What's. When does the real tour begin again? Doesn't begin in.

[Steve Sands]

Hawaii. Soon it does, but it's split in half now. The Kapalu event, the century Tournament of Champions, you know, the beautiful Kapalua Hill.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Maui. It's not.

[Steve Sands]

Working. They have no water, so they had to cancel the event. So the season will start on the PGA Tour at the Sony Open in Hawaii the week of January 14th, 15th that week. So there's a little bit of a break here now between the PNC Championship, which, by the way, the Kuchers won. Matt Kucher, very emotional at the end. His father, Peter, passed away suddenly earlier this year when he was celebrating their mom's 70th birthday out in St. Barts or somewhere in the Caribbean. So it was a very emotional day yesterday. That's why he was crying. If anybody was wondering why he was crying, that's why he was crying. But from yesterday until, you know, the week of 1-14-15, there is no PGA Tour golf. And I can tell you there are a few people who are not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Upset about that, including the Sands family. All right. All right, good. Enjoy yourself. Have fun skiing. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you.

[Steve Sands]

Steve. All right, guys. Happy holidays to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Everybody. Yeah. Steve Sands, boys and girls. We will come back with email and jingle. And let me always tell you that you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts Spotify. If you get the show through Apple Podcasts, please leave us a review. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. Eric DeLong and the Slappy Boys. Give us the Bethesda Bagel.

[Eric DeLong]

Reed. Yeah, Bagel sandwiches.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Today. More than. More than we.

[Eric DeLong]

Need. More than we asked.

[Tony Kornheiser]

For. We love them more than we.

[Eric DeLong]

Need. Yes, we got the great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sound. In the absence of Michael, we don't know what to do with all this.

[Sean]

Food. You'll find a way to enjoy it later this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Week. Eat it over four days or something like.

[Eric DeLong]

That. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location of the DC area, then pop on in and you will be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thrilled. From Scott Gurney in East Selkirk, Manitoba, in Canada, as he writes, where we know snow. Hey, Captain Tony. It's comforting to know that Wilbourne is protected from the elements in his three Canada Goose jackets. I hear the wind chill in the barren wastes of North Scottsdale can be brutal. From Joe Murphy, a proud ad sales weasel, formerly a Fairfield Kinetic. Phoenix, New York. Phoenix, New York. Tiny upstate town. Don't know it at all. Tony, a succinct definition of Wilbourne ism. Seldom right, but never in doubt. Yeah, okay. Alex Schwarm, Glenridge, N.J. hearing that the Lillehammer jacket still works and I worked this morning as well. At 26, I think reminds me of my own version of such apparel, the Winnipeg coat. When I worked in international television, my team would disperse and go to different markets around the globe, while my boss sent my LA counterpart to conferences in Sydney and Seoul and she would go to Cannes in October, in London around Christmas time, she sent me to Winnipeg, Manitoba for the first week in January, which puts us, you know, Manitoba. Scott Gurney is in Manitoba, where we know snow. Yes. Do you know what time the sun rises in Winnipeg in January? Try a quarter to nine. So I show up to this conference and I get invited to an opening night dinner. A few blocks away, I gathered with the group to walk to the restaurant in my new Columbia. Three in one jacket, waterproof shell with an insulated inner layer. I thought I was prepared. An exec at the Manitoba Film and Music Commission greeted me and said, that's what you're wearing here. I nodded in the affirmative and she just said, no, no, get through tonight and see me tomorrow at 8 in the morning. I survived the walk to and from dinner. It was rough. I think the high was minus 8 that day. And then met the Manitoba commissioner the next morning. She takes me into our breakout room off the main ballroom of the convention, where I find about five coat racks with about ten parkers a piece. She says, what's your size? Excuse me? I say, large, and she goes over to her rack, grabs a park and hands it to me. On behalf of the Manitoba Film and Music Commission, welcome to Winnipeg. I tell her I can't take this, it's too much. She says, trust me, you need to take it, honey. We give these things out to Americans like you like. It's a welcome brochure. I graciously accept it and still have the Winnipeg coat now nine years later, and on the few occasions have to pull it out in suburban New Jersey. It still works. From Rob Perez in Santa Barbara, California. Catching up on the old pods Hearing you rave about the the club sandwich at your golf club reminds me of the club sandwich at Eaton Canyon Golf Course in Altadena, California, where I used to work when I was in high school in the early 90s. I mostly worked there part time after school, but on weekends, day long shifts were available which were always a nice boost to the paycheck. We cleaned and parked golf carts, picked the driving range, balls kept the range clean and ball basket stock. Little did I know at the time that'd be the best job I'd ever have in my life. I always heard people around the course talk about the club sandwich in the restaurant of course. And finally one Sunday afternoon I gave it a shot. The stories were true for something so simple as the best sandwich I'd ever had that in a basket of fries. And every Sunday afternoon became my routine as long as I worked there. I completely forgotten about the club at Eaton Canyon until you started talking about your club on the show Recently I looked at Eaton Canyon website in the menu for the grill. No club sandwich anymore. Such a shame. A side note to the club sandwich, when we worked the closing shifts, of course, if there were any hot dogs left over in the roller in the bar, the bartender would pop in and let us know. We'd run into the bar and grab however many were left, pour coke and go sit in one of the carts and feast. A great little bonus for a growing high school kid. Thanks for reminding me of a simpler time and a great sandwich that now appears to be nothing more than a footnote in history for a local 9 home muni track. How about that? It's lovely. Dave Juvonen or Javonen Grandma Race Manitoba Heading out to Newfoundland tonight after after 35 years of teaching middle school, today, Friday, December 19th will be my last. How am I sure it's time to go? Probably while helping my grade seven students with graphing X and Y coordinates. And we're graphing the pairs together. 3 and 5, 4 and 8, 5 and 11. Not that good. I couldn't help saying that out loud. The girl in the front row looked at me with that combination of contempt and pity that only 13 year old girls are capable of. Don't worry, I told her, you'll be old one day too. One of the nicest gifts I got was your TK sweatshirt from my friend Scott Gurney of East Selkirk. Wow. Wow, who can definitely eat it. And I knew it was a hit and I opened it. My wife said, who's that guy? Some things are best kept private. I plan to wear it proudly as I move out to Newfoundland, where my wife has decided we will spend our retirement. She was born on Fogo Island. You really should come one day. I hope to track down Adam Benson who has written you in the past. I asked my brother in law if he knew an Adam Benson in St. John's and he told me David's it's Newfoundland. I know seven Adams Benson's. I didn't think it was that hard. Can you tell them I'll wear the Sweater at the St. John's Farmers Market on Saturday, Dec. 27. It'd be nice to meet a new Little. Thanks for all the laughs and stories. Isn't that nice? That's very they know each other. Meet cute Drew Holler Speaker 1 My mother who lives in Lewis told me that's in Delaware. She told me. And my father she told told me she and my father went to a Spanish wine testing tasting at a local liquor store. Lo and behold, the liquor store was none other than bin 66. Yes. Flying the banner in the attached picture. Yeah, the best liquor store oh in America. Quotes me Michael it says Tony Kornheiser. The Tony Cornheiser Show. That's amazing. It's not like I get a discount bag. Wow. I have the tote bag now. She's no Little, but thanks to my father, she's familiar with your name and face. Arguing with Wilbon on ESPN for years. Knowing I'm a loyal little, she shared this beautiful tribute with me, after which I had to explain the backstory of the wine that made this the best Little the best liquor store in America. Thanks for this bit of connective tissue. We are loaded with connective.

[Eric DeLong]

Tissue. Yeah, that's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Great. Josh Ridgeway, Richmond, Virginia As a JMU fan on a trip to Eugene, Oregon, we were very close to Willamette Valley. I heard a group of JMU fans debating how to pronounce Willamette, at which point I pronounce it's Willamette, dammit. I sadly met by looks of confusion instead of thanks, but was happy to let the show educate the masses. Anyway, I'd love to be the official JMU TK correspondent. It's still available. Go Dukes. Yeah, they got beat. They got beat. But you got there and they covered it. Great that they did cover. Yeah, they lost by 17. They did cover. Aaron Waterloo, Ontario, Canada what are we doing with all the Canadian emails? The drama from the iPhone update continues. Yesterday I played your rant to the woman to whom I'm related by common law status. She found your old man yells at cloud moment. A portentous vision of me in 30 years. But being a practice, she ran those very same updates and went on with her day. However, deep in her unconscious, something was stirred for last night she had a bad dream. In this dream, she boarded the wrong airplane and once seated couldn't check her boarding pass because the new updates had changed all the settings. Before she could figure things out, the plane took off carrying her and her up to date phone into the darkness. She woke with a gasp. Lesson update later is not just an option on your phone, it's a pathway to good mental health even for a philosophy of life. I have not had emails in four days. I get 300 emails a day. I have not had any in four days. I need my phone fixed. My phone is dead. You know, I am getting texts and I am using it as a phone but I am not getting any emails.

[Sean]

None. But it's not switching from portrait to landscape. So there's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That. That. That's.

[Eric DeLong]

A. That is a.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Win. I hate this phone and I hate the fact that that that the iPhone people can reach into my life like this anytime they want. I don't like this at.

[Eric DeLong]

All. It's for your own.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good. No, it's not for my own. No. I just really think that there should be a law against this. From Matt Clark in Washington D.C. as 2025 comes to a close, I'd like to take a moment and thank you and the guys for a wonderful year of entertainment insight and laughs. That said, I also write today with hopes of fulfilling a Christmas wish. Am I going to not like this on background I was introduced to this show 10 years ago by my brother Pat Clark, a Laura Little die hard sports fan fervent Brian Cashman apologist. Pat and I have both written to the show.

[Eric DeLong]

Before. No, I just. I just remember what this email.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He with an invite to my wedding at the Shoreham Hotel in 2022 and I to a relay and spring training conversation that I had with Buster. To relay a conversation with Buster only regarding dairy cows and logging back in 2024, later corroborated by Buster on air. Pat and I grew up as the bookends of eight children, a family in Dunmore, Pennsylvania. In a family as large as ours, you can imagine how difficult it becomes for each of us to ascertain Christmas gifts for one another. Long ago we adopted a grab bag style operation when we each get a gift for the other one other person. Now Pat is a difficult guy to buy for this Christmas season is the task at hand. As I write this letter. I'm fresh off a stop at Calvert Woodley Fine Wines and Spirits while others in line had dreams of fine Gruyere and exquisite Parmesan for their holiday cheese boards. I was there for one reason, one reason only. To obtain branded merchandise from the vaunted lecheserie. Much to my delight, there were hats on display and available for purchase. I was able to find a hat that would fit Pat's head, which is sure to grow should this letter be read on the podcast. But no gift would compare to the holiday cheer that would beam for my brother if he is able to play this recording ad nauseam around the table at dinner on Christmas night. And I promise you he will do that. P.S. how fast did Wilbourne ask you to start recording the pod? Just to talk about the Caleb Williams walk off TV in the early 70s, Q magazine sold a poster with famous New York restaurant matchbooks covers. PG and I had it on our first apartment in Brooklyn. Brian Swardloff. Seems like the new game is who child. Whose child has the better birthday date? Well, my non masculine child's birthday is 66 12. How do you like them apples? Pretty good number Pretty good, yeah. John Stieglitz or Stieglitz. I'm in baseball withdrawal and was wondering if you could settle an argument between me and my brother Dave and tell him to eat it. Who's the greatest living baseball player? We're clearly coming to you because you've seen every living baseball player's entire career. The answer to this question was easy until last year when Willie Mays died. Now it's an open question. Dave says it's Derek Jeter because the point of playing baseball is to win championships. And who is more responsible for his team's five rings than Jeter and the 3465 hits don't hurt. I vote for Michael Jack Schmidt because if you were building a team and I offered you 18 years of Gold Glove third base and 548 home runs, I'm pretty sure you'd take him first. My concern is you're going to say Barry Bonds, then I'm going to have to stop listening. Sandy Kofz. Not even closer. Sandy Koufax. Thank you. Nathan Ackerhelm, Charlotte, North Carolina. I want to add some context to Carville's 6 million data points algorithm. I majored in math at Haverford College. I'm currently pursuing my master's of data science at Wilbourne's Northwestern. There's a concept called noisy data, which is when large data sets contain extra meaningless information, inaccuracies or errors. I don't think Carville took this into account when he took Memphis in the Gasparilla Ball. He got trounced on that one. Now, he won other games, got trounced than that. Sam Fritz, Schaumburg, Illinois. Tony, it's sad seeing you resort to these measures after being caught buying 30 pints of Haagen Dazs. What is this man charged with? Stealing $6200 worth of ice cream from delivery trucks in Indiana. Oh, boy. Griffith, Indiana. Christopher Stewart was arrested.

[Eric DeLong]

Stealing. He did it over like several.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Weeks. Benji portnoy in Pittsburgh. Mr. Toney, after listening to your interview with David Remnick, I called my grandmother. My grandmother is in her early 90s, and for a large part of her life she collected New Yorker magazines. For her 80th birthday, her descendants created a 40 page mock new Yorker revolving entirely around her, titled the Altekka. The COVID of art for her attached for those watching on News Channel 8, drawn by a granddaughter in depth, articles about her upbringing, humorous submissions, and art by three generations and close family friends. When she made it to 90, the family regrouped and made a brand new second edition. So when I called her to ask if she was aware of the Netflix documentary and if she was going to watch it, her response was, I have Netflix. I just don't know how to set it up. Michael, we feel your pain if you read this. Tell my brother Joey to eat. That's very wonderful. If you're out on your bike tonight, everyone, as always, do wear white. It's real nice having you with us for the holidays. I couldn't think of any better place to.

[Jingle Singers]

Be. God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior was born upon this day to save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray whole time Tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy. From God our heavenly Father this blessed angel came and unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same now that in Bethlehem was born Son of God by name O tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Old tidings of comfort and.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Joy. Of wonder Star of night Star with royal beauty bright as we're leading to proceeding Guide us to my perfect life. Born a king on Bethlehem's flame Gold I dream to crown him again Drink forever pleasing Never over a song to rain oh, star of wonder, star.

[Jingle Singers]

Of night Star with royal beauty bright.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Westward leading still proceed Guide us to thy perfect life. Glorious now behold him Arise king and God and sacrifice. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. Worshiping God, Lord most times. To my perfect.

[Jingle Singers]

Life. God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you discomfort. God rest ye Mary, gentlemen, let.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Nothing you disclaim God rest ye Mary, gentlemen, Let nothing you disclaim God rest.

[Jingle Singers]

Ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you disclaim. Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green Here we come a wandering so fair to be seen Love and joy come to you and to you your wassail too and God bless you and send you a happy new year and God send you a happy new.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Year. Here we are not daily beggars that beg from door to door but we are neighbors Children whom you have.

[Jingle Singers]

Seen before Love and joy come to you and to you your vassel too and God bless you and send you a happy new year and God send you a happy new.

[Functional Poly (musical group)]

Year. God likes the master of this house like wise and mistress and all the little children around the table Love.

[Jingle Singers]

And joy come to you and to you your la too and God bless you and send you a happy new year and God send you a happy new year. Love and joy come to you and to you you're myself too and God bless you and send you a.

[Sean]

Happy new.

[Jingle Singers]

Year and God send you a happy new.