“It’s Resistable”

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Tony Kornheiser Show

Episode: “It’s Resistable”
Date: May 29, 2026
Host: Tony Kornheiser
Guests: Chris Clary, Paul Finebaum

Episode Overview

This episode of "The Tony Kornheiser Show" takes a classic roundtable approach, blending wry commentary, personal anecdotes, and expert insights. Tony dives into three main topics: the predictability and lack of excitement in recent NBA playoffs, a dramatic French Open tennis upset with Chris Clary, and the intensifying debate around college football playoff expansion with Paul Finebaum. Throughout, the show maintains its trademark blend of humor, sports expertise, and casual banter among friends.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. NBA Playoffs: “It’s resistible” Not Irresistible

[03:50 – 06:06]

• Tony’s Take: Tony expresses disappointment with the quality of the current NBA playoff games, finding most games uncompetitive and therefore "resistible."
  • "Basketball was not unwatchable after the third quarter because it’s not close… the games aren’t good. It’s a bad product. Well, I shouldn’t say it’s a bad product. They’re great, great athletes… but the games aren’t close." (Tony, 03:47)
  • He contrasts this with Michael Wilbon’s view, who finds this playoff season "irresistible," but Tony pushes back: “It’s resistible, you know.”
• Game 7 Allure: Despite the lopsided games, Tony notes the appeal of an NBA Game 7 for fans, adding, "Game Sevens are better than anything else. So if you have an opportunity for a game seven, that gets you to sit in front of the set." (Tony, 05:44)

2. Tennis at the French Open: Jannik Sinner's Collapse

With Chris Clary, [18:37 – 30:35]

• Heat and Player Health:

  • The major upset discussed: Jannik Sinner, world #1, lost after being up two sets and 5–1 against Juan Manuel Cerundolo in Paris—an unprecedented collapse attributed to the heat.
  • Chris Clary explains that while Paris wasn’t as hot as Australia or DC in the summer, it was unusually hot for the French Open, and Sinner struggled physically:
    • “We’re talking about high 80s and 90 and the humidity is not crazy… but there’s no question that Jannik Sinner has struggled in the heat in different parts of the world.” (Clary, 18:37)
  • Tony: “The reversal of fortune is almost unprecedented, right?” (Tony, 19:54)
  • Sinner’s defeat is described as both shocking and evidence that tennis may need to rethink its rules for extreme weather conditions.

• Rule Reform Discussion:

  • Clary advocates for examining tennis’ approach to cramping and extreme conditions:
    • “The other issue is there’s still no allowance for cramping because it’s considered a conditioning problem… I think that needs to change because it’s just not a good look.” (Clary, 23:12)
  • Tony and Chris agree the rules have not been updated enough for player safety, comparing it to historic collapses in other sports (e.g., Ken Venturi in golf, 23:30).

• Format and Governance:

  • The escalation to best-of-five matches for men versus three sets for women is debated—does this format still fit the times?
    • "Do we really need to still be playing best of five at this point? ... Is it out of tune with the times?" (Clary, 25:49)

• Tournament Impact:

  • With Sinner and Alcaraz out, Novak Djokovic potentially benefits, though “you cannot count the guy out at 39,” and “the path is there” for him or a breakout star. (Clary, 27:52–28:50)

• Rafa Nadal Documentary:

  • Clary shares his involvement with a new Netflix documentary on Rafael Nadal:
    • "I don't think it's going to be classic, you know, veneration of Rafa. I think it’s going to go into his pain, of which there has been plenty." (Clary, 29:33)

3. College Football Playoff Expansion: SEC vs. Big Ten and the Future of the Sport

With Paul Finebaum, [33:21 – 44:52]

• Playoff Expansion Debate:

  • The Big Ten wants a 24-team playoff; SEC is pushing for 16. Both are motivated by money and influence rather than competition quality.
    • “If we have 24, which means you’ll have a number of eight and four teams in there… it’s just going to completely overpopulate what’s already…I mean, Tony, this last year, I mean... There are already bad games the first weekend. Now we're going to have quadruple that number.” (Finebaum, 34:24)
  • Finebaum fears further expansion will erode the value of the regular season and conference championships, making classic rivalries less consequential.

• Conference Dynamics:

  • Though SEC and Big Ten previously “signed this blood agreement,” they are far apart due to media affiliations (ESPN vs. FOX), acting as the USA and China of college sports.
    • “This is essentially the USA and China. These are the two superpowers... and they have different interests and they’re never going to come together.” (Finebaum, 37:56)

• Player Health & Lengthening Season:

  • With expansion, the season could run until late January, overlapping NFL playoffs.
  • Finebaum points out repeated use of "player health" as lip service: "I don't really think they care about anything other than making more money right now." (Finebaum, 39:51)

• Kirby Smart’s “Secession” Comments:

  • On talk of the SEC breaking away: “It would be the worst thing in the world for the SEC… Nobody wants to see the SEC play each other 12 times a year.” (Finebaum, 40:21)
  • Tony and Paul agree this would set back progress and regional pride in college football.

• Potential Compromise:

  • Finebaum predicts a short compromise at 6 teams, then rapid expansion to 24 within a few years, driven by school interest in playoff appearances and coaching job security.

• Impact of NFL’s Dominance:

  • Both bemoan the NFL’s television dominance.
    • “College football has made so many mistakes. But allowing the NFL to take over some of their spots is one of the biggest ones.” (Finebaum, 43:26)

• Congressional Involvement:

  • On efforts for federal oversight:
    • “For the first time, a Senate bill was introduced to fix college sports... The reason why college athletics is asking Congress to fix college sports is because they screwed it up.” (Finebaum, 43:59)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Tony on NBA Playoffs:
  “Wilbon, you know, says it’s irresistible. It’s not. It’s resistible.” (04:10)

• Chris Clary on Sinner’s Collapse:
  “It was like a man hitting a wall. And then we all had to watch what happened for the next hour and a half after that.” (Clary, 19:02)

• Tony on Playoff Expansion:
  "But if you go to 24 games, unless my math is off, the winner may play five playoff games. Five playoff games? What?" (Tony, 38:43)

• Paul Finebaum on the Expansion Push:
  “I don’t really think they care about anything other than making more money right now.” (Finebaum, 39:51)

• Finebaum on SEC Secession:
  “Nobody wants to see the SEC play each other 12 times a year… It would just take a lot of the Southern schools… right back to where they were.” (Finebaum, 40:35)

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Fun & Memorable Moments

• Potato Report:
  Tony gives a highly detailed, tongue-in-cheek update on his backyard potato planting (09:29 – 11:15), celebrating even the prospect of “one real potato” as a success.

• Rant on Email Spam:
  Tony delivers a relatable rant about email spam and scams:
  “There’s just too many emails. Yeah, it’s too many emails.” (Tony, 12:24)

• Reader Letters: Rapid-fire wit and nostalgia pepper the mailbag segment, with listeners chiming in about everything from time zones to unique middle names (“Maxi Hamburger Stevenson”).

• Tony’s Music Appreciation:
  Includes a nod to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and their nostalgia-soaked letter. (“The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, a real band…” 17:54)

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Key Timestamps

• NBA Playoffs Discussion: 03:50 – 06:06
• Potato/Gardening & Spam Calls: 09:29 – 12:24
• French Open Deep Dive with Chris Clary: 18:37 – 30:35
• College Football Playoff Expansion – Paul Finebaum: 33:21 – 44:52

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Tone & Style

The show maintains an easygoing, conversational, and lightly sarcastic tone throughout, driven by Tony’s self-deprecation and the guests’ expert but informal commentary. The humor is dry, and sports analysis is leavened with pop culture and personal stories.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show is a strong example of the show’s appeal—mixing critical sports analysis, listener engagement, and the quirks of daily life, all wrapped in Tony’s world-weary yet affectionate outlook. It’s essential listening for anyone wanting insight into the French Open's shock upset, the politics of college football, or simply the ritual frustrations of spam and gardening.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk to Chris Clary about a huge upset at the French Open, and we'll chat with Paul Feinbaum about what's been going on in the SEC this week and college football in general. But first, commerce. This is the Tony Kornizer Show. Support for today's episode comes from Square, the business platform that helps sellers become neighborhood favorites. Whether you're gearing up for a busy season or just trying to keep up with everyday demands, Square keeps your business running smoothly from payments and point of sale to online orders, inventory, staff and more all in one place so you can focus on your customers, not your to do list. You can really notice when a business uses Square. The line moves fast, the receipts hit your phone instantly, and the staff actually has time to chat. Instead of wrestling with a clunky system, it just feels seamless, like everything's working the way it should, which honestly makes you want to come back. Square helps run your business more smoothly, bringing payments, operations and insights together in one place so you're ready for whatever's next. Right now, listeners can get up to $200 off square hardware when you sign up at square.com go tonyk that's s q u a r e dot com go tonyk get started with Square today and build a setup that works the way you do look.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Chris Clary]

And then 2010. I got a concussion about 14 months before that tournament. I would have gone to that World Cup.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But did you go in 2002?

[Chris Clary]

No, because I was young. I was still young.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you. You've never been in the World Cup?

[Paul Feinbaum]

No, no, I was.

[Chris Clary]

I've been an alternate many a times, which is fun.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're too old now, or I would lead a campaign to get you on this team.

[Paul Feinbaum]

No, it's great, Tony.

[Chris Clary]

Let's talk about my dog dying two years ago too.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You want it? Okay. The Tony Kornizer show is on now from Steve Gilmore in San angelo, Texas. Dear Dr. Yeah, Potato Man. When you're trying to crush Taylor Twelveman's soul by reminding him of all his misfortunes, at least remember to remind him he missed out on his opportunity to play at Augusta National.

[Paul Feinbaum]

Remember that when he talks about that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's fabulous.

[Heather Dinich]

Oh, he's terrific.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just. Just fabulous.

[Chris Clary]

All right.

[Michael Wilbon]

We have to play golf with him next month. I'd love to do if he's traveling through the east coast to go up to Philly.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, because there's no games here. There's no. So we'll try and play with them.

[Heather Dinich]

You're, like the only big city that didn't get the matches right.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's not like it's a big summer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. Unbelievable. So you're probably expecting me to talk about the basketball and have guests about the basketball. I'm not Will Bon. Basketball was not unwatchable after the third quarter because it's not close. Look, I expected San Antonio to win. I'm happy it's going seven. I'm happy it's going seven. But the games aren't good. It's a bad product. Right? Well, I shouldn't say it's a bad product. They're great, great athletes. They make shots that are impossible to believe. They make these shots. They make them routinely, all the time.

[Michael Wilbon]

The angles that you have to take now because of one particular defender, a

[Tony Kornheiser]

guy seven, five, it's unbelievable. But it's not an exciting game. The Knicks games, when they win by 60, are not exciting games. That's what I mean by bad product. The games aren't close. Most of the games. A large majority of the games in the playoffs this year have not been close. They're just not close. They're one sided. Wilbourne, you know, says it's irresistible. It's not. It's resistible. It's resistible, you know. You know, we're not going to talk about it today more than this because we have different guests. We have Chris Clary, who's one of the great tennis writers of all time ever, and he's in Paris and he's going to talk about Jannik Sinner being boiled on the court. Wow. Being boiled and is out. And we're going to have Paul Finebaum talk about this craziness in college football where the Big Ten and the SEC are now, you know, trying to hit each other in the face and figure stuff out. So we're staying away from the basketball. We've done so much. I mean, I'm gonna have to do it on pti. Obviously it's every day. It's the lead story. But that was a lousy game in terms of a game.

[Michael Wilbon]

Do you think the fact that there's going to be a game seven makes up for the fact that you've sort of weakened the story of the Knicks just because it's going to be a full week before you see him again?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think game Sevens are better than anything else. So if you have an opportunity for a game seven that gets you to sit in front of the set.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Doesn't mean you'll sit there for 48 minutes, but you'll watch. But yes. Yeah. So no, I think the game seven is a big deal and I think it'll be ginned up for the Knicks. The thing's not going to start until June 3rd. So that's next Wednesday, isn't it?

[Heather Dinich]

June 3rd, Wednesday, game one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's not going to start until then. The Knicks are going to be off. I don't know. They could actually go to Paris and watch the French Open if they wanted to.

[Heather Dinich]

Absolutely could.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, they're off for so long. A couple of small things. I called Dave Spector last night from Bell's up.

[Heather Dinich]

Oh, that's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Cause he had sent me a case of wine and I felt that was so nice that I would buy a case of wine. And he said, wow, you went through that pretty quickly. And I said, well, I got five bottles left. But, you know, it's a pleasure to talk to him because people go out there and he takes them on tours of his winery. Yes, Littles go there. Makes everybody happy. Seems very lovely, you know, in Oregon. Makes everybody happy.

[Michael Wilbon]

The best part about this is I get an email for the shipping information because I'M sure it's coming to my house. So you are so happy to reveal that you've ordered this and I can break down what you got.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, I don't know what I bought.

[Michael Wilbon]

Candide. You got three of the Maestro.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I told.

[Chris Clary]

And we're trying that new one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, The. The Italian grape. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, I said pick out some wine. So happy to do it.

[Heather Dinich]

Vanilla wines? Anything like that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. Strawberry? No, no. I have. I have a rant. I'm going to make it. I'm not going to really rant a lot. I'm sure I'm not the only person this happens to. I get hundreds of emails a day, unwanted emails. Hundreds from people trying to sell me something. Hundreds. And in most of them, there's a thing that you can press that says to unsubscribe.

[Michael Wilbon]

But then another thing, you have to

[Tony Kornheiser]

click after I press to unsubscribe, and then I get an email from. What is it? Mailer demon. That thing that says, hate to see you go. It says, you can't get through that your email did not go through. So you.

[Heather Dinich]

So there for life.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're taunting me. They're sending me this thing, and I say, I can unsubscribe. When I attempt to unsubscribe, but now

[Michael Wilbon]

I know that you're active.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I can't unsubscribe. They won't take the email. There should be something, a law against that. You think at the bottom. There's another thing to click.

[Michael Wilbon]

So oftentimes it opens up a new window. Then you have to. What do you want to unsubscribe from? Do you want to stay in this email list?

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah. And then they say, why do you want to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How do they get. Well, they get everybody.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Because people sell them your name.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just because at one point, you bought a box of chocolate, and so people are calling you, you know, with windows to sell you.

[Heather Dinich]

We know you like the chocolate. How about some windows for that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

One other thing, too. I am now getting blind phone calls from people who are in the loan business. My phone. They call and leave messages. Yes, you've been approved for a $32,000 loan. Just call us back.

[Michael Wilbon]

Nice. Good for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I don't want.

[Michael Wilbon]

Credit's going up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't want these. So I call back. No, don't call. I did. I called back and I said, you have to leave me alone. I don't want your loan. I'm doing well, thank you. I'm old. I don't want this.

[Michael Wilbon]

My takeaway is there's no Nats game last night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So there's no Nats game. Right. So. So I get somebody and says, yes, yes, yes. But first I go, no, no, first stop calling me. Stop. I'm. I'm getting these.

[Michael Wilbon]

I get the voicemails about property that I have that they're interested in the outskirts of Atlanta.

[Heather Dinich]

A great opportunity. But see, now that you've answered, I

[Tony Kornheiser]

don't want this top of the list.

[Heather Dinich]

They will mark on their log. He picks up. You know he's there. This is a live phone.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't want their loan.

[Heather Dinich]

No, they're going to double down now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me get to the. To the headline news. The potatoes are in the ground.

[Heather Dinich]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nigel and I yesterday took seed potatoes. We found out we have five bags. Nigel said we have three bags.

[Heather Dinich]

We have five.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And then it's, yes, sir, yes, sir, Three bags full. But we have five bags. And we put dirt in. We put dirt, then the potatoes. Eyes up. Yep. Then potting soil. Good dirt, then more dirt, and then we'll see. Yeah, we'll see what happens. They're in bags now. I. If you get a good potato yield, I don't think you're going to get more than three potatoes per bag.

[Heather Dinich]

If we get three potatoes in total, I'll be happy. Would be a massive success.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One real potato.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And the potatoes Michael that you have, that Michael went out of his way to buy potatoes dinner.

[Michael Wilbon]

Potatoes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But now they're going to be eaten because they didn't sprout eyes. And now we. We're out. We're out. We've done it. We're in the ground. Ground in the ground with seed potatoes.

[Heather Dinich]

Yep. We've got.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And we've got a. Buster is excited.

[Heather Dinich]

We got a backup location to see if that, you know, has any.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, it's a backup location.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. We have different things we had to control. Yeah, we have. We have. We put some dirt in the area where last year we grew the squash. We haven't planted any squash this year. We didn't have an intern.

[Heather Dinich]

Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

Thanks a lot, Harrison.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. So we didn't plant.

[Heather Dinich]

Honestly, Harrison.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. But the potatoes are in the ground. And we await to see what happens with the potatoes.

[Heather Dinich]

And Buster only was on. Was on the PTI show. As you talk to him about all

[Tony Kornheiser]

this, he seemed very excited.

[Heather Dinich]

Very excited, very optimistic.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I don't know why.

[Michael Wilbon]

Baseball people.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Last year. Last year we had nothing. We had no.

[Michael Wilbon]

We had rocks.

[Heather Dinich]

It was a tough year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No yield.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah. I was a lean winter.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And what if I needed those potatoes to eat? I wouldn't have been able to eat anything, and I didn't need them. And by. And now I know that if I need potatoes, I can get a $32,000 loan. Right.

[Heather Dinich]

By as many. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you get that? Do you get calls from these people?

[Michael Wilbon]

I do, but again, most of mine are about the real estate and all, like, local politics.

[Heather Dinich]

Oh, yeah, I get those.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you get calls?

[Heather Dinich]

Oh, I get call. I get the loan stuff.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah, I get all sorts of.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How do they.

[Heather Dinich]

I have.

[Chris Clary]

No.

[Michael Wilbon]

I've googled some of the names because they all leave voicemails. They're real people and real companies. I don't know how I'm on this list.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah, it's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You've been approved for. I didn't apply for a loan. I don't want the loan.

[Heather Dinich]

Do they at least refer to you as Tony and the Tony Kornheiser Show?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, they just. They don't even know who you are. They just say, I am so and so. And I'm happy to tell you that. Yeah, I don't want it. I don't. Leave me alone. Get off my lawn. How more specific can I be? Emails. They're not. They're not worth the trouble. No, there's just too many emails. Yeah, it's too many emails.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Leave me alone. From Jenny's. From Sean Bach at Jenny's Ice Cream. Dear insert name of podcast show. It's funny. It's Sean from Jenny's. I heard you're now venturing into the exciting world of celebrity endorsements. I've taken. That was like the guy who said, would I read this guy's 80 million word book? I've taken the liberty of sending you our summer collection. Drop it. Should arrive by the end of next week at our previously agreed upon drop dead location. Since you're a busy man, I've drafted a few endorsement quotes for you. Just pick one. We'll slap it on the website. Confetti Brownie battery. I've seen the future of ice cream, and its name is Confetti Brownie Batter. Hibiscus chili punch. I loved it. It was much better than cats. I would eat it again and again. Darkest chocolate. This ice cream doesn't have any schmutz in it. Campfire S'. Mores. It's good around the campfire, but it's even better next to the kitchen sink. And strawberry pretzel pie. Jesus wept. We'd be grateful for any endorsement by Friday, June 12th this offer is melting faster than ice cream on a cruise ship. This is just brilliant.

[Chris Clary]

Terrific.

[Heather Dinich]

We love Jenny's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Jenny's people, right?

[Heather Dinich]

Columbus. We figured out Columbus, Ohio, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think so.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think so. And Jenny's a real person. Yeah, you know, Jenny is a real person. So we will take a break and as I say, we have Chris Clary and we have Paul Feinbaum and Chris Clary when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. Right now, new FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get 250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. That's right, turn five bucks into 250 in bonus bets just for getting started. And when every possession matters in the playoffs, FanDuel makes it easy to get closer to the action. From player props on your favorite stars to all the tools you need to back them up, FanDuel puts player research right at your fingertips so you can check stats, trends and matchups all in one place and make your picks with confidence. It's everything you need all in one app, so don't miss your shot. Head to FanDuel.com podcast to get started. FanDuel play your game must be 21

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[Tony Kornheiser]

listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Whether you're on the go or at the ballpark, T Mobile is built to keep you connected wherever the game takes you. With America's best network, you know your phone is going to work even in a crowded stadium. For instance, if you lose track of your friends after a long seventh inning stretch, one quick message and a shared location later, you'll find each other without missing the next pitch and you can upload the video of the game winning hit and share it before you even leave your seat. And on the days you can't make it to the ballpark, streaming the game on the go feels just as electric. No buffering, no interruptions, just every moment as it happens. Find out how baseball hits different with T mobile@t mobile.com MLB fastest based on analysis by OOKLA of Speed Test intelligence data of national speed score Results for the second half of 2025. Best based on analysis by OOKLA of the Speed Test intelligence Data for the second half of 2025, you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. These are the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. This is a song called Spaceship Orion and they write and Dwight Glenn of the group writes it's your old friends and we emphasize old. After 54 years of making music, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, we wanted to share that we have a new old single being released today. Friday, June 19th oh I'm sorry. Down in June 19th. I thought it was today in May, but across all streaming platforms and services, the song is called Spaceship Orion. Originally appearing on our debut album recorded in London at Olympic Studios with legendary producer Glynn Johns in 1973. At the time, Glenn had recently worked with the Beatles, the who, the Rolling Stones and Eagles, and was apparently looking for a raw, rudimentary bunch of musicians with strong vocal harmonies and good songs. Somehow we fit the bill and we will be forever grateful for the opportunity to make our first two albums with him. We decided to re record Spaceship Orion because our band now features the incredibly talented musician and vocalist Molly and Healy, who began performing the song live with us last year. From the first performance, we knew we needed to get her interpretation out to the world. She brings something truly special to this beautiful song written by the late Larry Lee. Isn't that nice? It really is, you know, and they thank us for supporting a ragtag group of old hippies from Springfield. That's great. The Ozark Mountain Daredevil is a real band. They play in Chris Clary, who's in, in Paris at the French Open. And this is important to say that, you know, on the PTI show we actually talk about all sports. So we had in the A block yesterday that Jannik Sinner lost. And I now this morning watched the highlights or low lights from that. He was cooked. He was physically cooked. How hot is it in Paris, you know, and what are they used to.

[Chris Clary]

Hi, Tony. Yeah, I mean it's, it's funny because by, you know, global standards or by, you know, even tenant standards, it's not that hot. I mean, right. We've all seen Australia where you can fry an egg on the court if you want. And we all know Washington D.C. and you know, July is like so, I mean it's, it's surprising in a way because you know, we're Talking about what high 80s and 90 and the humidity is not, not crazy crazy. But I think it's just the context of the place and the pressure and it's just very, it's very unusually hot for Paris and this time of year here. So the players probably have a certain expectation they're dealing with too. But there's no question that Jannik Sinner has struggled in the heat in different parts of the world. And he was, you know, beyond struggling after he was up two sets and 5, 1, 51 yesterday against one of the Cerundo brothers. And it was just, it was like a man hitting a wall. And then we all had to watch what happened for the next hour and a half after that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Completely brutal. What I was watching this morning and I told a story yesterday of covering Wimbledon one year and Wimbledon is the next month. But in England, you know, hot is 80. It's really hot. So it's like, I don't know, 82 or 83. And they were, as they like to say, queued up to get into the stadium. They were fainting. They were fainting and you know, that's just standing around. I can understand this, Chris, in the sense that, you know, you're out there working. It's really, really hot. There's really no respite from it. And it's hours of this and you know, I, you know, I've covered the US Open when it's really hot, but I'm in an air conditioned booth. So, you know, Sinner comes from northern Italy, right, where it's not nearly ever Hot. What did you make of it? I mean, he, he. The reversal of fortune is almost unprecedented, right?

[Chris Clary]

Yeah, it's one of the biggest upsets in tennis history. No question. Just because sinner was number one. He won 30 straight matches. A lot of his, you know, biggest rivals are out of here, including Alcaraz with an injury in his wrist. He was just dominant, dominant. So to go out in the second round is a huge shock. And against Juan Manuel Cerundolo who's like ranked in the 50s, had had no wins of this type before and. But the thing that really separates us is what you said. It was just a reversal of fortune like I've never seen in a big match, I don't think where you're that dominant and then suddenly going to basically unable to perform. I mean, I guess it's the equivalent of straining your ankle or, you know, twisting your knee with a 51 lead. But there was none of that. It was internal and the body breaking down. And I think there's probably much more to the story, Tony, than we know. I mean, you may remember Pete Sampras, of course, you know Sampras. But Sampras only revealed late in his career that he had thalassemia, which is that, you know, blood disorder that really hurt his endurance. And Pete suffered in these heat oriented matches and suffered a lot and nobody ever understood quite why and only became clear later. You know, I'm not speculating that Sinner has the same thing, but it's, it could well be a problem like that that he's struggling to control and understand. So I think it's. It looked like there was the heat which he said was not the main factor, but it may be something else with just pure endurance or being ill or whatever. But it was unbelievable situation to watch in slow motion. Crash basically, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I have a vague recollection of Guillermo Vilas either being the one who lost, you know, being up two sets and five something in the third or being the one who won being down two sets and five something in the 3rd. It's a long time ago. This guy lost 18 straight points. He lost 18 of 20 games. He's the number one player in the world. And it leads me to this, and this is such a vague question, but is it fair? You know what I mean, is it fair under those conditions to. If the guy is suffering, what do you, what can you do if anything?

[Chris Clary]

Yeah, I think tennis needs to make a long look at this again. They looked at it recently. I mean there didn't used to be any limits on, you know, when they would close a roof or when they would, you know, keep playing the match. I remember when I covered the Australian Open the first time in 93, Jim Curry or Edberg in the final, they came off the court and you could smell the burning rubber on the players shoes. I mean, it was just so, so hot. And it was almost a situation where they felt like, you know, that was part of the game to push your endurance and part of conditioning. But it's happening so often in so many places now. I think knowledge about the science of it has changed, and there is a policy in place here, you know, but maybe they need to revise it and go, you know, a little bit on the conservative side because you don't want to see players at risk like that. And the other issue is there's still no allowance for cramping because it's considered a conditioning problem. You're not allowed to treat somebody on court.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow.

[Chris Clary]

For that because they're considered. Considered part of your conditioning. I think that needs to change because it's just not a good look. And also, you know, the players are really suffering. But center, again, this is a situation that's arisen before, and one. Well, Serindolo was running around like a rabbit in the end of the fifth set, so it clearly wasn't a problem for every player.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. No. So, I mean, that's the hard part about this. This is how the game is played. It's, you know, when it's outdoors, it's outdoors. The same thing happens in golf many, many years ago. I was alive, but nobody else was. Ken Venturi had heat stroke at the US Open at Congressional. I mean, was. Was delirious, basically, and had to be hosed down and finally won the thing. It's considered a tremendous act of bravery. And, you know, I know what Wilbon would say. Wilbon would just say, oh, stop, grow up, play. But, you know, if you want the best of them, maybe you have to put a policy in place when it's obvious that somebody is just going down the drain. Right.

[Chris Clary]

Yeah. It's an interesting call. I think maybe they ought to move the bar a little bit, if you ask me. But I think. I think there probably still should be a bar. I don't think we should be accommodating. Right. Left. It's an outdoor sport.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chris Clary]

I mean, maybe some guys. Some guys, like, I know Agassi was. Was a great player, you know, in the wind. So when it starts to get windy, do you block the wind? If you get too much sun do you block the sun in your eyes? I mean, right. At some point, at some point there's an element of that, right? You got to be able to, to say, you know, you're not, you're in an outdoor situation, you got to deal with this. But you don't want people going to the brink of, you know, major medical problems. And this has been a really, you know, crazy week. And we've seen other crazy weeks in, in Australia over the years, for sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And has this, has this happened to other players? Sinner's not the only one, right? Other people. This has happened this week, right?

[Chris Clary]

Well, we saw, I mean, there was, obviously, it's just such a sad thing with Haley Baptiste getting hurt, but that was a separate issue. But we had Jakob Menchik, one of the most promising young players, you know, playing through Krantz at the end of his five set marathon, almost, you know, four and a half hour match in the heat. And literally when the match was over, he collapsed and laid on the clay for three or four minutes and could not move. They tried to lift him up, he couldn't get up. His whole body had kind of gone into basically temporary paralysis. Ended up being okay. But these players are pushing themselves to the extreme. So it's more a question philosophically. What does the sport want to emphasize? Where do they want to go with this? Do they want it to continue to be about your conditioning and pushing the limits that way? Or do they, you know, they want to try to maybe be a little bit more in tune with the times? And then it also begs the question, Tony, of we're still playing best of five sets for the men.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Chris Clary]

In 2026. And the woman had been playing best of three, as you know, forever, except for a couple exceptions over the years. And do we really need to still be playing best of five at this point? You know, it's a hard thing to let go of, but is it out of tune with the times as well? I don't know.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm sure that people in tennis are going to think about all of these things because Sinner is the number one player in the world. But I would also, you know, I guess what I wonder about is, is there somebody in charge? In other words, is there someone who can make this call and say, you know what, we're going to stop this match now, we're going to resume it under different conditions today, but maybe later or maybe indoors or I don't know if they have that capability. But is there someone in charge who can make that call?

[Chris Clary]

Yeah, there are rules in place now. The French Open does have a policy and. And both tours do as well. And it's based on sort of, forgive me for my lack of knowledge on the ideals. Figures of this, but it's like the wet bulb.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chris Clary]

Wet bulb metric. And they use this combination of humidity and pure heat to decide when they would stop a match in Australia. They actually closed the roof and similar recall was up against an American named Spazeri, third round of the Australian Open. He was melting down there, and they invoked the wet. You know, the wet bulb situation, and they closed the roof and basically saved him, and he ended up winning the match. So there are. There are limits put in place. But are they. Are they low enough? Are they. Are they accommodating enough? I don't. I think there's going to be a debate about that now. And. But what I don't want to see, Tony, what you don't want to see is you don't want to see them making separate rules just because the top guys are having issues. You want to see it be a. That's democratic in that way and be fair to the ones who are the surrender laws of the world. You know, it was better conditioned, maybe, and able to handle the heat better. And that's why he won yesterday in part.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I love that you called them the Sorundolo brothers. It made me think of like an aerial act in a circus.

[Heather Dinich]

Wallendas.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah. So let's get to the. To the next question. What does it do for Djokovic? Alcaraz out, didn't play. Sinner out. What does it do for Djokovic at 39?

[Chris Clary]

I mean, it's amazing.

[Paul Feinbaum]

It's just.

[Chris Clary]

You have Sinner, who was the ultimate favorite, right. And so all the pressure was on Sinners. You know, he's used to the mountains and the alpine life, and it was just all came off of him and went through the whole field. And now there are several guys who must be thinking, oh, wow, now or never. Alex Vereff's number two. Number two seed here never won a major. Kind of choked at the US Open when he had that chance back in 2020 against Dominic Thiem. You got Caspar Rude, the Norwegian, and then you get Novak, who hasn't won a slam in a couple years, has hardly played this year. But you cannot count the guy out at 39. And he's. I think it's going to be tough and these conditions this week. He's got a tough match tonight against this young Brazilian, Phenom Fonseca. He would play potentially Caspar Rude or Tommy Paul in the next round. Tough ask, but you cannot count that guy out. He's, he's tenacity defined. So, yeah, huge opportunity to win that number 25, which I thought he'd never get a shot at like this. Yeah, no center, no Alcaraz.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Agreed.

[Chris Clary]

Basically the path is there, or we could see somebody totally, you know, more out of the blue for general sports fans, like this new Spanish kid, 19 year old Rafa, familiar name Oda. And he could potentially run the table. He's got that much talent. So you just, it makes it a pretty, honestly conservative, rather, rather dull men's event into this crazy wide open extravaganza. So I personally am not happy for center, obviously, but I'm happy for the tournament as a whole lot more.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, if you talk about the French Open, you have to talk about in the dollars one at 8, 85 times and all of that. I'm told there's a new documentary.

[Chris Clary]

He finds a way to win this year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I'm told there's a documentary on him that you're, that you're involved in in some way.

[Chris Clary]

Yeah, it's coming out today. Netflix, they spent a lot of time on it. Rafa was a big part of putting it together. You could, you could say yourself, oh, no, it's going to be some sort of hagiography and I don't think it's that I've seen chunks of it. I was interviewed like a lot of people were, at great length. They went super micro Tony on the, on the interviews and I know you've done a lot of those, but it was just such a pretty much, honestly emotionally exhausting experience talking to them because they were so interested in all the details. So I'd be curious to see what they put together. But I don't think it's going to be some classic, you know, veneration of Rafa thing. I think it's going to go into his pain, of which there has been plenty. It's going to dig into his final season, which was really downbeat and disappointing and also going to go into the past with the flashbacks of this incredible career. As you said, it feels like 85 times. Yeah, it was only, it was only 14 that he won the French Open. Only 14. But it's. I think, I think that's a number. Unless we start playing with robots here, that'll be. That'll stand for a long time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree. Thank you so much for being on the show. It's always a treat to have you. Thanks so much, Chris.

[Chris Clary]

Thank you, Tony. All the best. All my respect.

[Paul Feinbaum]

Thank you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's terrific, Chris. Clara, he's just a great writer and a great talker. Obviously, we will take a break. We will come back with Paul Finebaum and maybe he can explain this college football I would call nonsense.

[Heather Dinich]

Can I just give you credit?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Heather Dinich]

So U.S. open semifinals, 1975. Guillermo Vilas versus some bloke named Manuel Orantes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Manuel Orantes had as a, was a great player, ranked in the top three for about two years.

[Heather Dinich]

Vilas took the first two sets, 64 and 6 1. Orontes won the third set, 6 2. Vilas was up five love in the fourth five love didn't win and lost. Rontes took that 7, 5 and then the fifth, 6, 4.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Rontes was from Spain. Vilas from, I believe, from Argentina.

[Heather Dinich]

Yes, I believe you're right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. All right. As I said, Paul Feinbam when we return, I'm Tony Kornhouse.

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This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is Gavin Grimes. This is his song called Parachute and he writes, I hope all has been well with you. My stepfather and I have been keeping up with the podcast and the talk show and it's great. As always, we wish the Orioles were doing better. Thank you for great thank you greatly for featuring two of my songs in your podcast in the past. I'm so appreciative of that. I have a new song I put out recently. It's called Parachute. It was written, produced, recorded by me and my good friend helped with some of the producing as well. I'd be honored if you could check it out and put it on the show. Here it is. Parachute by Gavin Grimes. Michael if people like Gavin Grimes, independent artists who want to send in their music, get it played on the show, tell people how to do it.

[Michael Wilbon]

Send us your music by emailing it to Jingles at Ton show and Gavin

[Tony Kornheiser]

Grimes plays in Paul Finebaum earlier this week we have the familiar fall two shot with Feinbaum on the right and Heather Dinich on the left. I mean, I get used to this all the time. I know both of them. Did you? You probably don't know that Heather Dinich was an intern at the Post.

[Paul Feinbaum]

I did know that. And the only thing that irritated me the other morning that we were having our normal conversation with Greenberg and Wilbond suddenly shows up. Hey, has he been thrown his house? Because I mean he's living in that get up studio right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's unbelievable because I'm old and so I get up at 4 in the morning and you know, by 7 I got to watch something on TV and Wilbon pops up at about 7:15. And then if you follow the Wilbond chart through the rest of the days on like nine times before pti, he's just on constantly, as I say, all the time. I hope he gets paid per appearance because he's killing it. He's out there all the time. All right, let me get to this because this is a Wilbond thing too. Although he has, he has stood up. He's a trustee at Northwestern. He said, I don't like 24. I don't think that's the right way to go to put 24 teams in in the playoffs. Why is the Big Ten screaming for this and what sort of support do they have?

[Paul Feinbaum]

Well, they have a lot of support and the reason they are screaming is right now they are blocked out of the CFP. The CFP is exclusive to ESPN as long as the number doesn't go above 14. So they want a piece of the pie. Understandably so. But there is so little justification for it. And it's not as if the Big Ten isn't already doing well. They've won the last three national championships. Yeah, but there's this fake argument from not from the Big Ten, but from the ACC and others that, you know, we're putting such an investment into college sports. That's their fault, by the way. We want a return. And what, what coaches think is this, that if they get in the playoff now they'll Keep their job. Do they need to look to McDermott at the Bills in the NFL just because making the playoff will not keep you your job. The scale will change. And if we have 24, which means you'll have a number of eight and four teams in there that don't belong anywhere other than maybe the Weed Eater bowl in Shreveport, it's just going to completely overpopulate what's already. I mean, Tony, this last year, I mean, I realize the group of four or five, whatever they're called, you know, get automatic bids in like Tulane and, and jmu, but they're already bad games the first weekend now we're going to have quite quadruple that number. And it's just, it is. It isn't going to make this sport better. And my biggest concern, I know I sound like a traditional, is that the regular season in college football is sacrosanct. You're going to damage that by possibly having an Ohio State Michigan game that has very little meaning other than will you host first round wild card game, so to speak, or do you get a buy?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, no, I have those questions about what effect would it have on the regular season. And obviously conference championships, which people like would go away. But I want to get first to the SEC. Are they holding out for 12 or for 16? Whatever they're holding out for, is that really they're holding out because they want to keep more money or is there some other reason?

[Paul Feinbaum]

Well, the SEC right now wants to go to 16. And what they are claiming is, is that the SEC championship game is too valuable. Now, Tony, six weeks ago, the SEC said that the SEC championship game was worth $50 million. That's the game in Atlanta. Yeah. This weekend in Destin. At the SEC meetings, the commissioner said it's close to 100 million. I don't know how it doubled in two weeks, but you will lose that game. And by the way, the championship games are going regardless. If we, if we go to 16, which is the number most likely, you can't have that game because you run out of real estate. You have. You can't end the season. You can't start the season in the middle of August. It's 150 degrees in Tuscaloosa. And you can't, you don't want to end it on Valentine's Day. Like, like the Super Bowl. This year. This year, the college season ends on January 26th in Las Vegas. It used to end on January 1st or January 8th, as you well know.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, we are in total agreement on that. It's going to go longer and longer and longer. I guess the sort of differing postures of the Big Ten in the sec, which are the only conferences that matter. I thought they were supposed to be partners, and now it looks like they're fighting each other.

[Paul Feinbaum]

Tony, two years ago, they signed this blood agreement that they would work together. What that was supposed to do was help them with Washington, D.C. help them make sure more money goes their way in the cfp, and it did. But other than that, they have not agreed on anything. And it's understandable. This is essentially the USA and China. These are the two superpowers in the world, and they have different interests and they're never going to come together. And that's not even a possibility. But the idea was so they could work together on thought. And it's not happening. And the reason it's not happening is television. One is married to espn, the other one is married to Fox, and they can't get those two together for good reason.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I understand that. But if you go to 24 games, unless my math is off, the winner may play five playoff games. Five playoff games? What?

[Paul Feinbaum]

Tony, I'm old enough to remember two years ago when all these commissioners, three years ago when they were. They weren't sure we wanted to go to 12. We were at 4. And the commissioner of the ACC and the big 12 said, we don't fall out of your chair. You know, we have to be concerned about the health of the student athlete. And that's. That's. That no one's concerned about it. But the problem in college football, these are. It's different than the NFL. And by the time you get through 12, 13 games in the regular season, you're. You're losing players at a high rate. And that has cost schools national championship. It cost Georgia a national championship a couple of years ago when their quarterback got knocked out. And I mean, I know that in this world where there's so much money, you only get lip service. I don't really think they care about anything other than making more money right now. And the reason they care about that is there are. A year ago today, we were on the verge of the house settlement, which tapped every roster at $20 million this past season. There were $40 million rosters. And there was a lot of speculation at that. The meetings in Florida this week, that LSU roster under Wayne Tiffin right now is about $60 million.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, that's a lot of money. That's more than the Nats payroll. It's a lot of money. Speaking of Georgia. You mentioned Georgia. What is Kirby Smart talking about? Is that something we should pay attention to? No. Okay.

[Paul Feinbaum]

It's. First of all, when I hear the word. When I. When I'm at a. I'm in the deep south and I hear a Southern coach who used to have a Confederate flag as part of the state flag, say something like secession, I get very nervous.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chris Clary]

And.

[Paul Feinbaum]

And it would be the worst thing in the world for the sec because it was. I mean, even though the arrogance in the. In this league and I'm part of it, as you know, is high, the testosterone is through the roof. And there's no doubt the SEC can say, you know what? Screw you guys. We're going to. And having our own party. But nobody wants to see the SEC play each other 12 times a year. There are. There's something great about Ohio State going to Texas this year, Oklahoma going to Michigan or. Or these other games that do matter. And I think it would stay in the SEC forever. It would polarize me. After 50 years of hard work of trying to get away from the. From the 60s and all the things that went wrong in the South, I think it would just take. It would take a lot of the Southern schools, perceptively, especially where you are. Right back to where they were.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This year the thing is set in stone, but not next year. What do you see as the reasonable outcome? Where do you think we're headed? Do you think we're headed for 24?

[Paul Feinbaum]

I think that we. What we are, yes. I think what's most likely to happen. There'll be a compromise where for three years we go to six and then we go to 24. Even with. I mean, I was walking around that meeting in Florida Tuesday and Wednesday, Tony. And there are SEC people who want to go to 24. And the reason is simple self preservation. If you're going to pay a coach $12 million, you need him to get to the playoffs, no matter what the playoffs look like.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But you so devalue your regular season. You take away and, you know, everything is replaceable. But you. The conference championships, for example, people like to go to those things. That means something within a conference, the bragging rights, does it not?

[Paul Feinbaum]

It does, Tony. There is nothing as unique as a Southern Saturday in Oxford, Mississippi or Knoxville. You covered sports for a long time. You've been to the. And I'm not taking anything away from a Steelers Ravens game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They don't care as much. They don't.

[Paul Feinbaum]

I mean, this is. You only have six or seven of these games and listen Your manhood, if you're a Southerner, is based on your football program. It's a little different in the NFL. Not. Not that much. But you take. You devalue that, and it's just. It. You don't want to be the NFL. The playoffs are fascinating in the NFL, but. But they're capped. I mean, you only have 32 teams. And here's another problem. Because college football is going so deep into December and January, they're going head to head with. With the NFL. And guess what, Tony, they're getting killed by. The NFL is now playing on the same Saturdays. The NFL is now on Thursday, Friday, and that's. College football has made so many mistakes. But allowing the NFL to take over some of their spots is one of their biggest ones.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's amazing. I mean, it drives Wilbond crazy because he thought the NBA owned Christmas Day. And then one day someone in the NFL woke up and said, why don't we put a game. Game or two on Christmas Day? And they outrated the NBA by a factor of 8 billion. Because that's what. That's why golf gets out of the way. The NFL is what the NFL is. I mean, it does not create. Stir the passion like college sports does. It does not. But it blasts them out of the tub in terms of viewership. Right? Blasts them.

[Paul Feinbaum]

And another mistake colleges made, and it happened this week, and I'm not going to waste much time on it. But for the first time, a Senate bill was introduced to fix college sports. And Tony, I heard Ted Cruz talking yesterday, and it's a pure comedy show. Because first of all, this has been going on for seven years. And the reason why college athletics is asking Congress to fix college sports is because they screwed it up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Paul Feinbaum]

Twelve years ago, if the head of the NCAA had said, you know what? We're going to let everybody, college athlete, make $1,000 a year, everybody be happy. Would have solved this problem. And now, I mean, there are players, there are college football quarterbacks making $6 million right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And one of them was gambling it away. And he's not allowed to play this year. Thank you, Paul. Thank you.

[Paul Feinbaum]

Always enjoy it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Paul Feinbaum. Love Paul Feinbaum. Wonderful show. We'll get out of here, right? We'll come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser. I'm Kiana.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

And I leveled up my business with Shopify. Once I figured out that Shopify was a thing, I never turned back. I can create a site with my eyes closed. Shopify thinks ahead of us. You know, and it thinks about the

[Tony Kornheiser]

customer more than anything.

[Sponsor Voice 1]

Every day I'm thinking about some other new business, but Shopify is doing it to me because it's so easy to use.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's like I can't stop. I'm addicted. Start your free [e-mail]. this is the Tony Kornheiser show. That comes to us from Japan from the Zama Middle School guitar class. Yeah, love that. I would love to go to a school named Zama. Where are you going today? I'm going to Zama.

[Heather Dinich]

Zama High.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Zama. It's just so good. You want to do the Bethesda Bagels again? So hot.

[Heather Dinich]

I could barely carry the bag again. Yes, yes. Very excited about that. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say I'm getting to the point where. Where I'm no fun anymore. I am sorry. Sometimes it's hurt so badly I must cry out loud. I'm lonely. I'm yours, you are mine. You are what you are. You make it hard. Crosby, Stills and Nash, their great, great debut album was released on this date in 1969. And I remember this well. Yeah, it is a great album. Thanks to our guests today, Chris Clary and Paul Finebaum. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey if get shut through Apple Podcasts. Please leave us. A review from Mark lynch in Camby, Indiana. Tony, myself and Taylor Twellman have a lot in common. He didn't make the 2006 US World cup team and was the best player in the country. I haven't been invited on the Chuck and Roxy podcast as the best emailer from Camby, Indiana. Well, Mike Boak, Troy, Michigan during your segment with Taylor Twellman, I can't be the only little whole was waiting for a comment from you that never came. Late in the segment when Taylor said, let's talk about my dog dying two years ago. No, let's talk about Tahoe, who I had to lead with four holes to go and I lost that too. Anything else you want to do? In my head, I could hear the question coming from your mouth as you laughed. Since you asked, did you not want to talk about Augusta? I'd forgotten. I had forgotten. Thank you for allowing us to get a peek behind the curtain all these years. From John Holt, no H in John in Chester, Virginia. Taylor Twelman makes me wish that I liked soccer. That's it. That's. Yeah, I don't like it either. No, Agent John, there is one in Holt. Never mind. This is why I don't email anymore. If you made it this far, tell Steve Bernanke to eat it. From Julie Arafat in Las Vegas Wednesday's discussion of daylight savings time and time zones reminded me of a trivia question other littles might enjoy in which Atlantic Coast State and Pacific Coast State can you be separated by only one hour? The answer is Florida and Oregon. The western part of the Florida Panhandle is in the Central time zone and the eastern part of Oregon, Malure county, to be specific, is in the Mountain time zone. Information for life. How about that? I never.

[Heather Dinich]

I never, never in a million years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Never. No chance from See the sycophant On Wednesday's pod, in your sterling effort to stop year round daylight savings time, you stated that the current 24 hour day has been going on for about 10,000 years. Well, you're a wee bit off. It's been about 4 million years while you were 40,000% off. At least it wasn't 50,000%. Jim Carlile Simi Valley, California I heard on Wednesday how your New York Times subscription has skyrocketed to 30. $31 31$31 after starting at $5. It was going to be much the same with me, and I had reluctantly decided to cancel my digital digital subscription. When I pushed the final cancel button, the website said something like we're sorry to see you go. Would you consider continuing with your introductory price of $5? I said yes, and every year I now go through pretty much the same thing whenever my subscription is up for renewal. It's not a huge victory, but somehow I always feel like I've beaten the system. I'm not sure it would work with you since you've already agreed to the higher price, but it might be worth a try. And this goes on special important pile along with Wolf Trap.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's got a road to rotate emails.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah and I think I'll try that.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Get the introduction west son Derek, who told us how to do streaming. Evan Martinez, Longwood, Florida first time, long time. You would appreciate this, Mr. Tony. You know you can get free New York Times access by using your library card. Michael will still have his inheritance. Now I don't have a library card anymore, but I'll go get one.

[Heather Dinich]

Might be tough.

[Michael Wilbon]

You have to sign your name.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's. I can do that. I can write in cursive Unlike your children.

[Michael Wilbon]

They're learning it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, good. First grade, are they?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Curses. I heard they stopped doing it.

[Heather Dinich]

Oh, that's very exciting.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good, good. Bob Walsh in Wethersfield, Connecticut on Wednesday. Show you discussed the concerns about the Boss's concert being waylaid by the weather. You needn't have worried. On July 27, 1984, my college roommates and I, along with our wives, attended Springsteen's concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. As you may know, most of that venue is lawn seating. We got there early despite the impending weather and just found a comfortable stretch of lawn when we felt the first sprinkle of raindrops. Fortunately, Bruce chose that moment to come out and do a sound check. To no one's surprise and everyone's delight, the weather vanished as Springsteen played. Who stopped the Rain? We remained dry the rest of the night.

[Heather Dinich]

That's great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

John Colblam.

[Paul Feinbaum]

All right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chairman Pathology, Cleveland Clinic. Been a while. Hi, gang. It's been a while. A few updates. Calves are an embarrassment. Tony nailed it when he said they would be swept after the game. One collapse trading Garland for the turnover machine. Harden didn't pan out as planned. We have a spot for you at my daughter Genavi and future son in law Zach Hindu's wedding on June 20. Went to my 101st Bruce concert in Cleveland this week. Phenomenal. Very political, which was well known in advance by all who attended, but very uplifting and hopeful. I was really thinking of coming to Washington D.C. for the concert, which is tonight, when he wrote this, but my schedule prevented it. I did go to Nationals ballpark the last time Bruce was there, which was only last year with your occasional guest, Morgan Pressell, my niece, who made a big point of introducing me to Steve Sands before the concert. I'm guessing he'll be there tonight. Always Hope all of you Anyways. Hope all of you are well. Have a fabulous summer. Remember, if you need biopsies reviewed, I'm your guy. It's just a fabulous email. It goes. It goes around, you know, from first to second to third, the Homes got everything going on. It's really good. From Tim and Hyattsville. As both a die hard Guardians fan and avid listener to the show, I was very much looking forward to an easy sweep of the Washington Nationals this week based solely on Mr. Tony's daily complaining about the team's roster. Get rid of Tenna and. And who's the other guy? Vivas.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah, Vivas.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Get out of here. Stop with this righty lefty nonsense. When they strike out with the tying run and scoring position. C.J. abrams had stolen the base to get into tying position. Get rid of them. They're not major league hitters anyway. Mr. Tony's daily complaint anyway at the team's roster as well as their prepubescent manager and gm. Lo and behold, three days we Guardians fans were thrilled to see Washington leave town. James Wood and C.J. abrams appeared destined to join Tony on the Hofwaff and look like they're on their way to Cooperstown as well. They beat us. I know Tony's a lot of things Orange ball diverse to most social gatherings, but I never thought he was a sandbagger. They're better. I didn't see it coming.

[Heather Dinich]

And more importantly, they're fun to watch.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't see it coming. Gary McCarry, as a fellow not of this world old guy, 74 years young, probably relate better to you than anyone on the planet. As a Padres fan living in the San Diego area, I extend to you this gift. The Padres have the lowest team batting average in all of baseball. 216, 28th and runs scored with a cleanup hitting hitter hitting.169. Manny Machado serves him right. Took out the Boston guy. Well, Fernando Tatis has as many home runs as you do. And here they come to Washington to face the highest scoring team in baseball. That starts tonight, doesn't it?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, well, they come off a sweep.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's a mismatch made in heaven. So in enjoy the weekend to the fullest. P.S. i played on a team coached by Wilt Chamberlain. Yes, that Will Chamberlain. In February of 1970. It was at a small Christian college in SoCal and Wilt was on the Lakers disabled list at the time. He was talked into coming to the college for this one game coaching gig by his good friend and former Nick John Rudiment. Will came off the disabled list a month later, just in time to lose to a hobbled Willis Reed in the Knicks. If you want my autograph, it can be purchased for a minimal fee. Very good. Craig Stevenson, Mobile, Alabama if unusual middle names is the new game we are playing, I think I have the winner. I've always found it to be a bit funny, a funny bit of family trivia that my grandfather's middle name was Hamburger. Indeed, his given name was Maxi Hamburger Stevenson. He went by Max. As the story goes, my great grandmother ran a boarding house as many people did in the early part of the 20th century. My grandfather was born in 1915. The handyman at the boarding house, an old German immigrant named Mr. Hamburger died just a few weeks before my grandfather was due to be born. So my great grandparents decided to name their newborn son after him. Years later, when my grandmother became pregnant with my father, she wanted to name him Max Jr. Supposedly my grandfather replied, hell no, you're not shackling any son of mine with that name. Thus did my dad become Max Hamilton Stevenson. The Max first name has apparently died with him, though my older brother did get Hamilton as his middle name. So there you have it from Chip Robinson in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. My real first name is William and I'm a junior. While I haven't met that William Robinson Jr. We are both that Smokey. We are both better known by our nickname, so we have that in common too. Though I will that Smokey is cooler than Chip.

[Heather Dinich]

Yeah, it is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From James Highland. I was watching pti. I noticed a book flush the mouse on the credenza behind you. Yes. Yeah, Tony Beeson's book. We had it up for two days. I've tried to look up the book and apparently it doesn't exist. Can you give me any info regarding it? I did read what the term means in the sports world and I would love to get it for my grandkids. This is from Jane Hyland.

[Heather Dinich]

I'll get with Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Tony will send. I'm sure he'll send you a copy. Yeah, he hasn't contacted us, but I'm sure he's happy that we put it up. Yes, I think he's thrilled he got his two days. That's good. From Greg M. I question the motivation of your potatoes. Could be we looking could we be looking at a load management situation? Tony T. In Brooklyn in D.C. for Memorial Day weekend I drove my mother out to Centerburg, Ohio for her 70th high school reunion. The construction around Galena was intense, but traffic was pretty light. Watch the Reds game and the play by play guys were talking about goose gossage. No matter where I do what I. No matter where I go what I do, this stinky positive, joyful show is always present in my life. I could do worse. And from Brandon Borzelli in Lebanon, New Jersey. The nice thing about covering sports is you don't need an 80,000 plus word thesis to get your point across. Sometimes things like both teams played hard.

[Paul Feinbaum]

My man is sufficient.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Six words and you got your headline, five line and punchline. The rare reporter strikes gold with just a three word thesis. Dejected. Deject this drought on your bike.

[Sponsor Voice 2]

Tight.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Everyone is always do wear white.

[Musician / Song Performer]

Who made the egg salad sandwiches? Sam? When a man Comes to you and tells you what you always knew was coming. Feel it came twice as fast. You always thought the world would last way past you. But now you find that there's nothing left around you. Spaceship Orion's there waiting to part the air above you. Waiting to take you. Waiting to place you in a world exactly different from the one you leave behind. If you find it, then you're lucky but it still be the same. You catch me my call. You catch you feel like home to you There there you can see like home it can feel. To you There. It can be like home it can't feel like home to you the. Oh I've been thinking of jumping and I think I made up my mind and if you gave me a parachute I still wouldn't think twice I'm never trying to be selfish and I'm always taking advice this is the one time I'm going out to spread my wings and fly oh when I been all by myself Walking around this dead town oh and I can't find no one else not one single soul around. Living life on the edge I've been thinking of jumping and I think I made up my mind and if you gave me a favor dude I still wouldn't think twice I'm never trying to be selfish and I'm always taking advice this is the one time I'm going out to spread my wings and fly Me wondering why I'm holding on to nothing enough Been all by myself Living life on the edge Think it's crazy that this day and age of conversation Turns you to faith when you state your beliefs and you stick to your faith to the weight of the world but you say it stay and I believe that we pinned against each other and I believe that we must care about one another oh, I've been thinking of jumping and I think I made up my mind and if you gave me a parachute I still wouldn't think twice Never trying to be selfish and I'm always taking advice this is the one time I'm going out Just spread my wings and fly oh, I've been thinking of jumping and I think I made up my mind and if you got me a should I still wouldn't think twice I'm never trying to be selfish and I'm always taking advice this is the one time I'm going out Let my w I'm the losing don't get it twisted no need for confusion look up to the Lord and you know what you doing Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen.